Chapter 22 : Black Butterflies
Roy Mustang sighed in relief as he signed the final sheet of paperwork for that day. It had taken him hours, and several well aimed bullets from his lieutenant, to finally complete the monstrous stack he'd found on his desk that morning.
Now, it was ten minutes before he could finally flee the office without having to worry about anymore trigger-happy subordinates and Mustang was confident that, for once, he'd be able to go home at the time he was supposed to. There couldn't possibly be any paperwork left for him to sign after all?
Just as he thought that his door opened and Havoc glanced around the corner. Seeing the empty desk and his boss' satisfied smile, he gulped nervously, before entering the room at Mustang's call.
"What is it Jean?" Roy questioned, mind still caught up in his plans for his first paperworkless evening in weeks. Maybe he'd go and see if the cute redhead from the cafe down the street wanted to go out with him, she always wore the most delightfully short miniskirts. A satisfied smile curled at his lips and, unbeknownst to him, Jean shivered. He was rather abruptly brought out of his musings when Havoc cleared his throat nervously and slid several leafs of white paper that looked suspiciously much like paperwork on the Colonel's desk.
"Havoc...What is this?" Roy asked, voice doing a complete one-eighty from his earlier, happy, tone, as he gazed at the papers in distrust.
"They're from a resort town to the east, sir. Standard Elric protocol..." The blond-haired man trailed of hesitantly as he saw his superiors expression darken considerably.
"It will only take a minute!" He hastily added and watched in relief as the Colonel exhaled loudly in annoyance before grabbing the nearest paper and a pen.
Glancing at the clock Havoc was relieved to find it was 5 o clock and thus time for him to go home. He looked back at his gloomy commander one more time before calling out a quick 'Well, I'll be going then, good luck!' and ran out of the office.
Roy just massaged his temples tiredly, all too used to his subordinates antics, before returning his attention to the document in front of him.
He was halfway through the new stack when the door opened again, admitting Hawkeye into the room. "Sir" she addressed him respectfully, though he could hear the barely veiled surprise in her voice. She was carrying another stack of the oh-so-hated papers, his work for tomorrow no doubt, which she neatly placed on his desk.
"I hadn't expected you to still be working."
Roy just grunted in response and shoved one of the forms her way. Accepting the offered document with a curiously raised eyebrow Hawk eye scanned the page, only for her eyes to widen in realization as she saw the name at the top of the form. Seems like the Elrics have gotten into trouble again, she mused, as she scanned the hospital bill Roy just gave her.
Placing the form back on the stack neatly, her eyes softened slightly as she took in the exhausted form of her commander. She placed her hand on top of Mustang's own that was still cramped around the pen and gently pried his fingers loose. The man in question looked up, startled.
"Go home." Riza said softly. "I'll take care of this."
Roy's eyes widened even further in clear disbelief, though Hawkeye could see the hope shimmering in their coal depths. "Go on." She urged, amusement clear in her voice.
After that she didn't need to repeat herself again. Within seconds Mustang had pulled on his coat, grabbed his gloves from his drawer, where he'd put them to avoid any ink stains messing up the arrays, and was heading out the door. Just before he could really flee the office though he heard Hawkeye call out to him, none of the earlier gentleness present in her voice anymore. "And sir, I expect you back in the office tomorrow at seven AM sharp! Don't make me come get you!"
When she looked up she saw that the man had already left though. Riza watched after the dust cloud her commander left behind with a mixture of resignation and amusement. 'If only he put that much effort in his job,' she thought wryly, before continuing to straighten out the mess of papers and ink on the desk. How the man always managed to make such a mess when he usually didn't even do anything was beyond her.
When she finally finished, some twenty minutes later, she checked everything one last time before taking a small, blue post-it from the pocket of her uniform. On it was a request to meet with the Führer as soon as possible in regards to a special assignment for a certain pair of alchemically talented brothers.
Thinking nothing of it Riza stuck the note on top of the colonels desk, just underneath the dents Edward Elric had left in it during his last visit.
Looking things over one last time, she nodded happily, turned off the lights, locked the door and went home for the night, unaware of the dangers an unassuming blue memo had just brought into their midst.
"We need to talk."
These were the first words Edward Elric heard upon awakening in the hospital. Turning sluggishly, he found his brother seated in a chair near his bed, the large armor looking uncharacteristically serious. Thinking about what could have possibly made his usually so cheerful brother look this grim, Ed quickly came to the conclusion that Al wanted to talk about the battle of…a day ago? 2 days? He didn't even know how long he'd been out for!
"Can't it wait?" Ed groaned tiredly. "I just woke up!"
Al though, just shook his head. "No, Ed, this can't wait. Not anymore."
Ed, startled. He'd figured Al was serious, but he didn't know what could possibly have gotten his brother this worked up. Sure, they'd had another big battle and all that entailed- Ed briefly cringed at the thought of the dead miss. Park- but nothing that warranted the other to act like this, like…like he knew. But he couldn't! There was no way…was there? Ed had only just figured that out himself, and he really wasn't ready to confront that realization yet!
Al saw his brother's eyes widen slightly and a brief flash of fear flit through them, letting him know that Ed at least somewhat suspected what the coming conversation would be about. The question remained though, how much did Ed really know?
After seeing the small amount of fear in his brother's expression, Al didn't doubt that, through that last battle, Ed now had at least some inkling of the homunculus 'feelings', or intentions as Al preferred calling them, for him. What worried him was his brother's awareness of his own feelings and the way he reacted to the other's presence. Too bad there was really only one way to find out…
"Ed, what do you think of Envy?"
If he thought his brother looked startled before it was nothing compared to what he looked like now. In any other situation Al would have laughed at the gaping mouth and wide eyes, in this situation though, he just couldn't. Really, Ed's reaction said it all ; He didn't know.
Al let out a long, weary sigh, he'd have to be subtle then. If he started about his suspicions now he'd only be met with unneeded resistance and denial, not to mention that he'd probably piss his brother off in the process and then there really would be no talking with the volatile blonde. Still he figured it wouldn't hurt just to press his luck a little bit.
Looking back to the still paralyzed blonde Al slowly waved his armored hand in front of Ed's glassy orbs. "Brother? Hellooo, earth to Ed here, I asked you a question."
Ed snapped out of his thought, staring at the waving hand in question for a minute before he remembered. He pushed the offending appendage away with a disgruntled huff, wincing as the movement caused some of his injuries to ache. "I know that." He snapped. "I don't see why you'd ask something so stupid though. I hate the guy!"
Al just nodded in agreement, though there was something in his eyes that made Ed feel like the other was just humoring him, like he didn't believe what he was saying.
Not liking how his brother was reacting he repeated his statement, putting as much anger and disgust behind it as he could. "I do! I really, really-" Purple eyes full of longing and twisted affection filled his mind, images flashing past and making him falter "… hate him." He finally concluded, though he knew Al would have noticed his hesitation and silently he cursed himself for it. Why did he hesitate anyways? It was not like he was the one in love, on the contrary even!
Al watched as his brother sunk deep into thought, observing quietly as he got further and further lost within his own mind. He knew better than to interrupt though, Ed needed this.
"How could I not?" Ed suddenly broke the quiet, the words nothing more than a breath of air, and if Al hadn't been so focused on observing his brother he was sure he would have missed them. Before he could ask his brother about it though a sharp crack rang through the room, soon followed by the sound of glass tinkling as the window exploded inward.
Al moved quickly, his large, armored, body shielding his brothers more vulnerable one in the nick of time. He winced out of reflex as he felt the shards hit his body, but relaxed again as he felt nothing.
Turning around, while remaining protectively stationed in front of Ed, he looked towards the window, only to recoil in surprise at what he found there.
There, leaning nonchalantly against the sill, stood what looked like a younger version of Envy. The boy didn't have eyes for Alphonse though, instead he was glaring right over his shoulder, straight into Ed's confused orbs.
A tense silence filled the room as the two had their stare-off, and Al noted warily the way the homunculus' eyes seemed to be searching his brother, what he was looking for though, Al couldn't say. Ed seemed to notice it too, because Al could feel him tense up even further behind him.
Before either of the brothers could do anything about it though, Wrath snapped his head to the side and tched loudly. "I don't even know why I bother." He muttered lowly, sounding incredibly disgruntled for some reason.
He didn't give the brothers much time to think those mysterious words over though, instead straightening himself out in such a way that he now fully blocked the window, violet eyes focused steadfast on Ed.
"Edward Elric," He began, and a feeling of dread filled Ed's stomach, "Fight me."
AN/: So, I'm finally back with the new chapter! It took a bit longer than planned, but that was because (As some of you already know), upon my return from Crete I found my computer had magically with it all my notes about this story and several others :( I spent the past week mourning and trying to remember everything in those notes and rewriting some scenes before I forgot everything (With 20k notes, that takes a while)...
But now I finally found my inspiration again so here's the new chapter! A big thank you for all the reviewers, faves, and alerts. In two days it will be the one year anniversary of this fic and I honestly can't believe how much support and love this fic has received in that time. It certainly is beyond everything I ever expected :) So yeah, I love you all very much and I'm sorry for leaving things on a cliffie again (Yes, I'm actually sorry for the cliffie that's how much I love you guys ;). See you next time! xXx~Mai
Oh and steffy-chan, I updated. NO MORE BLANK PAGES. Now it's your turn...and I won't settle for just a preview this time!