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. Some movie events may happen, but differently
Warning: movie spoilers, also violence, death and maybe sex
Beta: Jedimasterwithapen
57. Out Of The Frying Pan... (Aus der Bratpfanne heraus)
Later that evening, Dr. Simbach met up with Dr. Stein in the staff dining room.
"Hallo, Dr. Simbach. How was your first session with Herr Elric?"
"Very quiet, Dr. Stein, very quiet." Dr. Simbach replied in a resigned tone and picked at her food.
"How do you mean?"
"Herr Elric refused to speak, so we had ourselves a nice little staring contest for a half hour. I don't think he is over what happened with Fraulein Gulvarsson. He may need a little more time before he is ready to open up and really tell me what he feels."
"What course of action do you recommend, Dr. Simbach?"
"Herr Elric is one of those strong, silent types. He appears weak, but looks are deceiving. The harder we try to force him, the deeper he will dig in his heels and resist. I feel there a lot of mental trauma is in his past, but he's not going to tell me unless he wants to. The novelty of just staring will wear thin after a while. I just need to give him time."
Two months later (early April)
Edward hated the new order of things. He once had free rein to wander the grounds on his own, but no longer. Now Klaus donned his own coat and walked down the path behind Edward, ready to grab him should he attempt another escape. The extra vigilance annoyed him but there was nothing he could do.
One day during the first week of April, the younger man stood at the paths end. He hunched his shoulders in his coat against the early spring cold snap. The air was so frigid it hurt to breathe so Edward took short breaths.
He also exhaled in short bursts, steam coming from his nostrils in angry little puffs. They beat in time with his frustration.
Klaus's feet were getting cold and the nurse stamped in a vain attempt to get warmth flowing into his numb toes. "Come, Herr Elric. We must get back in time for your session with Dr. Simbach."
Edward responded with a low-pitched growl, because he despised the psychiatrist. He took almost three weeks to speak to her, about anything. For a while he took to refusing to look at her as well. Nearly a month of coaxing was needed to convince him to lie on a leather couch and relax. But he turned obediently and retraced his steps back to the Angelika, back to his prison without bars.
Edward wouldn't ever admit it, but he was freezing. Yet his innards roiled with bitterness.
He stopped so quickly after reaching the lawn, Klaus ran into him and nearly knocked him down. Edward staggered and flailed his arms before his nurse pulled him upright.
Both Dr. Stein and Dr. Simbach, coats on against the chill, waited on the south terrace. They were flanked by two men in black uniforms. Around their upper arms were red bands marked with black swastikas on white circles.
Standing at attention behind them were four soldiers in slate blue uniforms.
Nazis.
"What in the..." Klaus trailed off, confusion mixed with pinches of fear and anger in his voice,"Those men with Dr. Stein are Gestapo, the German secret police. I've read about them in the paper."
He put a hand on Edward's back and urged him forwards. "This is serious, Herr Elric. These two could make a lot of trouble for Dr. Stein, so please behave yourself."
Edward behaved as Klaus had asked, but his nostrils flared and his golden eyes narrowed to slits. His body was stiff with hostility by the time they reached the bottom of the steps and he raked both of the SS officers with his most evil glare.
One of them just looked at Edward with a poker face, but the other openly sneered at him.
"Edward Elric," he announced in a portentous tone of voice. "The time for you to serve the Fatherland with your unique gift has arrived. Pack your things because you are coming with us now."
Edward hissed between his teeth and he turned his glare on Dr. Stein, whose normally mild expression had turned quite perturbed.
"Please, Colonel Schwahn, Herr Elric is not well enough to leave yet. He and Dr. Simbach have made progress this last month, and I beg of you to give her more time to complete his treatment."
Colonel Schwahn turned such an icy look in the good doctor's direction, Edward was surprised he wasn't frozen solid on the spot. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Dr. Stein. Your only purpose was to keep Herr Elric until we were ready to use him, and that time has finally come."
He put one hand up when Dr. Stein opened his mouth and the doctor immediately snapped it shut again. "Not another word, Stein, or we can arrange some changes at the Angelika. Do you understand?"
Dr. Stein's face worked as if he was fighting an internal struggle, then it and his whole body seemed to sag in defeat. Edward's heart sank with it because the man suddenly looked a thousand years old.
"Very well Colonel Schwahn,the other patients depend on me and I shall do as you ask. Klaus," he said in a quiet voice. "Please take Herr Elric up to his room and help him pack. I shall get the paperwork ready."
Trailed by a concerned Dr. Simbach, Dr. Stein turned and walked slowly to the terrace door.
But he stopped when Edward said, "No."
"Please, Herr Elric," Stein replied with a slight whine in his voice. "There is nothing to be done, so behave now."
"NO!" Edward shouted, and dug in his heels when Klaus tried to push him forward. "NO! NO! NO!"
Colonel Schwahn gestured to the soldiers. "Take him!"
Edward spun quickly, dodged around Klaus who still pleaded with him to calm down, and bolted back towards the trees. Pounding footsteps told him the soldiers were in pursuit and he put on more speed to leave them in his wake.
/
The other residents of the Angelika gathered at the windows looking out over the terrace, some of the nurses, including Bruno, came out to stand next to Klaus. The big man looked to be on the verge of tears, and his friend tried to console him.
An angry shout made both of them look up, two of the soldiers were coming back and each was limping. One held a handkerchief over his face and tried to stem the flow of a bloody nose.
"He is a devil!" the other soldier, bleeding from the mouth proclaimed. Another shout sounded behind them and the other two soldiers came into view, trying to hang on to a fiercely struggling Edward.
First they tried to push him, but his dug in his heels.
He went limp when they tried to drag him, and then spun out of their grasp. They would seize him again and lift him off his feet, but he kicked with gusto, and they grimaced when each heel hit home on their shins.
They would be black and blue tomorrow.
As they got closer to the terrace, Klaus could hear what Edward was shouting and his face reddened. Almost every word was an obscenity and he was surprised the younger man knew so many. The SS colonel looked on with a sour expression until the strange parade reached the bottom of the steps, and then he walked down and silenced Edward with one hard punch to his stomach.
He uttered a loud "woof!" as the air rushed out, then hung limp between his captors and took shallow breaths.
Colonel Schwahn grabbed Edward's hair and forced his head back. Edward couldn't speak, but he was able to glare. "Obey me, Herr Elric. You will come with us and do as you are told."
Edward pursed his lips and spat in the colonel's face, and this action earned him a hard slap.
"You there!" the colonel jabbed a finger at Klaus. "Herr Elric needs a little subduing, go tell Dr. Stein to prepare a sedative. It's a long journey back to Munich and I'd rather not be subjected to Herr Elric's rude comments!"
Edward had his wind back and he resisted every step of the way. Neither Klaus nor Bruno wanted to do it, but they had many years of experience in dealing with unruly patients. After the two nurses convinced the soldiers to let go, they carried the struggling blond inside to a first floor examining room. It took the combined strength of both to hold Edward down on the table while Dr. Stein filled a syringe with a sedating drug.
"Please calm down, Herr Elric," he whispered while unbuttoning Edward's coat and pulling out his left arm. "My hands are tied and I cannot help you anymore."
Their eyes met and those kindly grey orbs had such a note of pleading in them.
Edward stilled.
The nurses let go of him. Edward unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt and rolled the left sleeve up before he fixed Dr. Stein with an unblinking golden stare.
"Danke, Edward. Danke." Dr. Stein tied a length of rubber tubing around Edward's arm and swabbed alcohol on the inside of the elbow. He slid the needle in gently but Edward shuddered, then he hissed between his teeth as the drug was administered.
"I'm sorry." was the last thing he heard before darkness took him away.
A few hours later...
Dietlinde Eckart was waiting at the front door when a black sedan, followed by an ambulance rolled past the gate of the Thule Society headquarters. The back doors popped open and two of the soldiers brought out a blanket covered figure on a stretcher.
She sucked in her breath when she saw Edward's face, he looked like he hadn't aged a day since their last meeting over seven years ago.
Heels clicked in front of her and she smiled when Colonel Schwahn bowed stiffly from the waist. "I take it Edward wasn't very cooperative?"
"No, Madame Eckart," the corner of Schwahn's mouth tugged upwards in the briefest of smiles and then his face was it's usual cold mask. "Dr. Stein was obliged to subdue him with a sedative."
"Very well," Dietlinde nodded. "His cell has been prepared, Hess will show you the way there."
/
She went to check on him after he was settled in. Edward looked like an angel, asleep with his long blond hair spread out over the pillow. His head was turned to his left, the hand on that side lay next to the pillow,the fingers curled slightly.
He stirred once, those fingers twitched, and he moaned quietly as if he knew she was watching. Dietlinde sucked in a breath, and felt a brief stab of fear. Suddenly, she was a little bit afraid of the Shambalan because the extent of his powers was unknown.
He would sleep for another hour or so, and she directed the guards to feed him something hot and nourishing after he woke up. Now Dr. Stein's treatment had built his strength up, it was important to keep the Shambalan healthy.
She left the cell and walked straight backed towards the main hall where the Great Array was. Dietlinde looked calm outside, but her insides were thrumming with excitement.
Soon, she would behold the glorious world of Shambala, and she could hardly wait.