Disclaimer: Legendarily Quiet does not own Fullmetal Alchemist.
"He wears a suit of armour. . . No, this is not a joke. . . Yes, he's a missing child!" Hughes held the phone to his ear and listened to the voice on the other end. "Yes, thank-you officer." Hughes set the phone down as his wonderful wife Gracia came up to him with a cup of coffee.
"Thank-you darling, you're such an angel!" Maes exclaimed as he accepted the much appreciated beverage. He took a sip, and it tasted wonderful, but it did nothing to soothe his worry for Alphonse.
"Keep your head up dear; I'm sure Alphonse is alright, wherever he is." Gracia came to sit beside him, and he forced himself to relax in her presence. "I can't help but worry though."
That was just like his amazing wife, to be so kind and caring to every single person she met!
Maes set his coffee cup down and embraced Gracia. "Don't worry honey; I'll find him."
Roy looked up from his completed paperwork and rubbed his tired eyes. It was amazing what he could do when he really put his mind to it.
He looked over at his charge and saw that Edward had made some accomplishments of his own as well. His head was tipped to the side – uncomfortably – as he slept, surrounded by alchemy texts. Roy hadn't even known that he had that many books, but Ed had forced him to get up to fetch almost every single one of them. And he knew for a fact that Edward had actually read all of them.
Ed was really something else, wasn't he?
A fond smile found its way to his face, and Roy got up to set Edward into a more comfortable position. Edward woke up a little bit and looked at him through heavily lidded eyes as Roy gently took a hold of his head.
He winced as a crick in his neck was straightened out, and Roy gently rubbed his neck. Edward must've been really tired, for he let his eyes fall shut again and tried to lean his head back.
"Oh no, you don't," Roy said softly. "I'm taking you upstairs."
Edward didn't give a reply, and Roy had to wonder if he had even heard him. Shaking his head, he picked him up bridal style – which he was getting very good at – and carried him upstairs.
He lay Edward on his bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. As an afterthought, he carefully eased the hair tie out of Ed's hair and let his golden locks spill over the pillow.
Edward turned his head slightly but his face remained peaceful. He almost looked like a different person when his face wasn't holding a frown and his brows weren't creased with worry. He wasn't wearing a shit-eating grin to hide his insecurities – Roy was sure he had some – and his face was a picture of open innocence. Roy found himself staring at the boy. No, it wasn't a perverted stare, but more like a gaze full of wonder.
Before him was a child.
But this was a child that had joined the military a year ago, and had made a place for himself in the adult world. He was able to take on dangerous jobs and handle them better than some full grown men could. This was a child who could take down bigger opponents and laugh in the face of danger while feeling truly confident, instead of breaking into hysterics like any other kid would.
Looking at Fullmetal sparked inspiration, but also great sadness.
This was a child who could look at a dead body drenched in blood and not throw up. He could turn his blade on another to simply complete a mission, or even to defend his own life. This was a child who had been forced to harden himself and throw away the title of a child, just so he could have a fighting chance.
And if Edward were to suddenly be dropped into the ideal family, he would be considered scarred.
Roy had always convinced himself that this had been Ed's choice, that it was the boy's determination that had led him here. And to a certain degree, it was. But when Roy went back to the beginning, to the first time the boy had seen that military blue, he couldn't deny that this was all his doing.
People had glared at him in disgust as he walked past, appalled at how he could bring a child into the military. He had countered it with the fact that this was just life. The world could sometimes be a cruel place, and people did what they had to do.
Whether they did it for their own gain or for the benefit of others was the question.
Looking down at Ed's face, the ruthlessness of his own actions slapped him in the face. If he had just left him alone in that wheelchair that day, would Ed have been able to recover by himself and grow up to be a happier person today?
Maybe, maybe not, perhaps he had only sped up the inevitable. Just by looking at Edward one could tell that he was a strong person, and loved his brother to the ends of the earth. His love and determination would've pushed him to do something eventually, right?
Maybe Roy introducing him to the military was just another means to an end. The end was the military, and if Roy hadn't intervened Ed would've still learned about the state libraries sooner or later once he got back on his feet.
In fact, maybe Ed was better off with Roy introducing him to the military instead of finding his way there himself. He had Roy to look out for him, to protect him from the greedy dogs that lay in the ranks.
But then again, maybe Roy was only kidding himself. He knew that people who had committed crimes sometimes twisted and warped reality so they could live in the delusion that what they had done wasn't so bad.
Roy had done something very bad and he couldn't deny it. He only hoped that Edward would never realize it himself. That he would still be seen as 'Colonel Bastard' only because he often made fun of Ed's height and not because he was the person who had thrown him to the wolves.
Though if he thought about it they were technically dogs, or to be even more accurate, humans. Adults. Adult world. Yeah, that was it. He had thrown Edward headfirst into the adult world, and the kid had been forced to deal with the worst of it.
Roy reached down to touch Edward's cheek. Even though this person had been through hell and back, he was still someone to be loved, and Roy loved him like a son.
Roy froze with his hand against Ed's cheek. Had he really just thought that? It was an alarming thing to think, really. Oh yes, it was wonderful and a bit shocking and exhilarating all at the same time, but mostly alarming.
Edward suddenly pushed against Roy's hand. He turned his head and before Roy could take action his hand got trapped between his subordinate's cheek and the pillow.
A warm rush filled him and suddenly he understood what it meant to feel fuzzy feelings of love. Yes, this realization had startled him, but he could accept it. No matter what he had done in the past, he could make up for it now.
He was doing all he could to gain Ed's complete trust, and make himself a person that Edward could turn to without hesitation. He hadn't realized it before, but he was not doing it because he wanted to bring a mysterious woman to justice, or because Maes had told him to. Roy wasn't even doing it because it was his duty; he had been doing it all along because he wanted to.
"Nngh." Edward shifted his head again and Roy took his hand away. The loss of even this small amount of warmth was enough to make Edward's eyelids flicker. Roy held his breath as Edward stared up at him with sleep hazed eyes.
"Watching me while I sleep?" he mumbled. "Are you not even the tiniest bit ashamed?"
"Nope." Nothing could ruin this moment now. Roy smiled at him while Ed stared back with a blank expression, still half asleep.
"Pedo–"
"I am not!"
Cassandra Bell sighed as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her tired eyes. The setting sun left her sitting in shadows as she listened to the laugher of her daughter that echoed down the hall.
Who knew such a simple plan could've gone so awry?
She hadn't meant for it to happen – never in a thousand years – for she had done it with the best of intentions in her heart. Yes, it was an experiment, and yes, she had known beforehand that it wasn't exactly stable, but she had never meant for it to turn out like this!
Cassandra had overestimated herself.
And now she was making herself look like a complete fool, while leaving the life of a child in danger. Or maybe he wasn't even in danger, but it wasn't like she knew what the drug was doing to Edward's body.
And if Cassandra didn't know, who could?
She had hit a dead end. Really, if her creation was more potent than she had designed it to be, then she would have to see the symptoms for herself if there was any hope of her finding a cure. Theory would obviously only get her so far.
But the whole thing had been based on just theory to begin with.
Cassandra pressed the heel of her palms against her eyes, willing her tears not to leak through. She had thought that she was a changed person, that the cold unfeeling eyes she used to examine her subjects through saw everything in a new light now, but she really was inhumane, through and through. It didn't matter what her reasons were, she had still used another human being, another child, as a test subject.
How could she atone for her sins and bring happiness to others if all she ever did was destroy lives while trying?
Cassandra let her hands fall into her lap, and tears ran down her face freely.
"Mommy?"
The door creaked open behind her and Cassandra swiftly brought a sleeve up to wipe away her tears.
"Yes, Anna?" She swiveled around in her chair to look at her daughter. She was peeking through the open doorway, fingering the hem of her shirt.
"Mister Alphonse said that it's time for him to leave."
"Did he now?"
Well, this was it. Cassandra didn't want him to go, but she couldn't blame him for his actions. Alphonse wasn't stupid, and had probably figured out before she had that she was just wasting precious time. She had had her chance to fix things, but had failed, and now Alphonse was taking things into his own hands. What a responsible boy.
But . . . Cassandra could be responsible too!
Cassandra clenched her hands into fists before leaping up and dashing through the door, pushing her daughter aside.
"Alphonse, wait!"
Edward opened his eyes slowly. The room was dark, so the sun must've set a while ago. He wondered idly if Roy would come for him any time soon. His stomach was growling, reminding him that he had skipped lunch, and probably dinner, too.
Oh well, it was nothing he hadn't done before.
Besides, Roy was acting a little bit creepy today. After buying him clothes and watching him while he slept, Ed was pretty sure he didn't want to be fed by him today. But then, how else would he eat?
"Edward?"
He squinted as his bedroom door opened and a beam of light from the hallway fell across his eyes.
"Yeah?" he mumbled.
"Do you want to eat now?"
Ed was about to say 'no', but his stomach answered for him. Roy chuckled lightly and stepped into the room.
"Sorry for being so late," he said as he threw back Ed's covers and lifted him up. "I was reading and I lost track of time."
Edward smiled, glad that Roy had a legitimate excuse for being late. "I know the feeling."
L.Q: Well.
Lest: Mm-hmm?
L.Q: Thank-you everyone, sorry everyone, and in the next chapter stuff will happen.
Lest: Hopefully.