The Waters of Lethe
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, I just like to play around in it's world and torture Ed for awhile.
Author's note: post series and very AU. Some movie events will happen, but differently
Warning: May contain movie spoilers. Will contain violence,death, and maybe sex.
42. Paradise Lost
Ernst Draco sat and seethed on the back seat of the embassy car.
The right amount of money into the right hands usually set the most reluctant tongues to wagging, and he was sure the information about Elric was correct. So sure, he had obtained forged extradition papers and gone to the village police with them. A little waving around of official-looking papers, some fast talking, a man hired to pose as a government official from Cairo, a little more money and the village headman himself willingly accompanied the Germans to the Forbes house.
They searched for over two hours and turned up - nothing. Nixen.
The Americans had such charming slang terms and he ran a few through his head. Zip. Zilch. Squat.
But Americans were lowly mongrels, just like the British dogs. Ernst angrily shook his head and attempted to drive that stray thought of Americans from his mind. If things had gone according to plan, Edward Elric would now be laying in a drug-induced slumber on the opposite seat. By dusk he would be loaded onto a Germany-bound zeppelin and Ernst Draco would have been richly rewarded for capturing the Shambalan.
It all seemed so easy just over a week ago. Their quarry had malaria and was unable to flee. Ernst hoped the day he'd gone to that British pig and told that convincing lie, that Howard would happily hand him over. But then that Forbes stepped in and said Elric was too ill to be moved. Stung by his failure, Ernst had returned to Luxor and brooded until he'd heard Howard had fired the tutor and given him just a week to recover. Ernst changed his plan accordingly. Yesterday, he and some embassy "muscle" laid in wait a half mile from the Nile ferry stage. They gave up at eight o'clock and drove hopefully down the main road towards Isis House. But the road lay empty and shimmering in the moonlight, Elric had given them the slip.
Until this morning when word came from locals he paid to spy on the British and American archealogists that Forbes had taken Elric to his house. But his high hopes had been shot down for the third time.
Hot and dusty, Ernst Draco sweated on the back seat and let his anger simmer. Once he got back to his rented house in Luxor, he would pour himself a very large glass of schnapps and make new plans for Elric's capture.
"I understand we've had some excitement here today," Dr. Alonzo Forbes said when he came into the kitchen area of his house after another long day of tending to the sick and injured of the area. He carried his medical bag in one hand, and a jar of pomegranite jelly - payment from one patient who had no money - in the other. Khadija was preparing the evening meal with help from Djura and some other women, but she put down the pot she'd been holding to greet her husband. They kissed, a quick peck on the lips and he handed her the jar. She took it with a smile and a nod, then jerked her head in the direction of the table in the dining room.
With a worried look on his face, Edward sat on a bench seat and traced ghost images of transmutation circles on the table's scrubbed wooden surface with his left index finger. Whenever something bothered him, his hand would move of it's own accord in this fashion while he brooded so deeply, he usually didn't realize what he was doing until someone disturbed him. Dr. Forbes set his bag on the table and watched the nervous movements for a moment before he touched the hand.
Edward jerked in surprise, then stilled when he saw who it was. He eyed Alonzo from underneath his bangs, "I should leave," he said quietly. "My presence is putting all of you in danger."
"Nonsense!" Alonzo grunted. He had opened his bag and retrieved a thermometer from it, then bent down and stuck it in Edward's mouth. He felt the younger man's forehead. "That sleep marathon was just what you needed, you your fever is gone, and you look much better." His fingers circled Edward's left wrist and took his pulse. "But you need to relax, your heart is pounding like a jackhammer."
A shudder ran through Edward's small frame and he spoke up once the thermometer was removed.
"I can't help it, Dr. Forbes. These people are utterly ruthless, they won't stop and they won't be bothered if innocent people get hurt, or killed - until - until they have control of me." Edward's voice steadily rose in volume as tears seeped from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks to drip on the table top.
Alonzo was only slightly surprised when Edward clapped hands over his face and burst into tears. This young man had endured stresses which would have broken down stronger people weeks ago. He put his arms around Edward's shaking shoulders, then pulled him close and let him cry. Like he did for his own children, Alonzo rubbed Edward's back and whispered soothing words until the crying jag wound down.
He handed the snuffling Edward a large white handkerchief, and waited patiently while he wiped reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks, then blew his nose with a loud honk.
"Feel a bit better?" Edward smiled sheepishly before he nodded, his cheeks stained red.
"Very good, Mr. Elric. I think you'll be fit to travel in another few days. That will give us time to formulate an escape plan for you. These Germansmay have money and power, but we have pluck and cunning. They have badly underestimated us and that is how we shall outwit them."