"Roy!"
Roy blinked, looking around. He wasn't standing anymore, he was lying on the ground, staring up at a bright blue sky. His chest hurt, his breath had been knocked out of him.
"Roy!"
It was Maes yelling, and suddenly the sound of a gunshot rang into the air, and Roy tensed all over. Panic gripped him, utter panic that the gunshot had sounded close — too close.
He tried to lift himself up on his elbows, to see if Maes was okay and dreading what he'd see, but a sharp pain in his chest startled his body and he fell back down to the ground.
He reached up to grab at his chest, feeling the lump of his pocket watch in his breast pocket.
Hands gripped him, and Roy opened his eyes, seeing Maes's green ones staring at him in panic.
"Roy, are you okay? Roy!"
Roy took out his pocket watch, and they both stared at the bullet lodged into the metal.
"Oh my god, thank god," Maes breathed, clutching Roy's shoulders tighter. He helped him up, and Roy winced — his chest would definitely bruise.
He noticed the dead body of their friend, lying right where he'd shot Roy.
"You shot him," he whispered to Maes. He didn't know how to feel — Heathcliff had been their friend.
"He shot you, Roy," Maes said forcefully, though his eyes betrayed the pain he felt at what he'd done.
Roy looked back up at the sky, but it wasn't blue anymore. It was thick with smoke. It had turned a dark grey, and the air was heavy. It was hot, burning hot.
Roy found himself walking the streets of Ishval, knowing a sniper could take him out any second. Maybe he hoped they would.
His thumb and middle finger rubbed against each other, small sparks of alchemic energy escaping from his pyrotex gloves. He'd told Maes to escape this hellhole, go back to Gracia, but Maes wouldn't leave him here. And now Roy was roaming the streets, trembling with anticipation that something would jump out from the shadows and he'd instinctively snap — and accidentally burn someone he cared about.
Riza was stationed with the snipers; she wouldn't be around the streets. He at least knew she was safe. From him.
A noise on his right had him whirling around with his arm up, fingers snapping in panic without his mind giving a conscious order.
The flame he sent forward joined the rest as they devoured the building. It was slowly losing its structure; soon it would collapse.
Roy panted as his heart hammered in his chest, and he swallowed, trying to breathe away the panic that had gripped him.
A gunshot pierced the air, and he pressed his back against a wall, his eyes frantically surveying, trying to find the shooter.
A flash of blond hair and he'd brought his hand up, fingers ready, but froze.
Ed stared at him wide eyed, looking confused and shellshocked.
Roy stared back, equally shocked.
He shouldn't be here.
Edward shouldn't be here.
"What are you doing here?" Roy said through gritted teeth, glaring at Ed. Ed being here complicated things. He was endangering himself, he shouldn't be here!
Ed opened his mouth but nothing came out. He looked around, frowning in concern.
Another gunshot rang out, making Ed flinch, and Roy quickly grabbed him and got him against the wall. He pressed his hands on the wall on either side of Ed's face, shielding him with his body.
He glared at him. "You shouldn't be here."
Ed's eyes were wide as he surveyed Roy's face, his pupils constricted. He looked speechless. "You're dreaming."
Roy gritted his teeth. "You're in an active war zone, how could you be so stupid!"
Ed flinched at Roy yelling in his face, but he needed Ed to understand. He was being stupid by being here. He didn't have his alchemy anymore to defend himself. He had to go home!
He wouldn't let anyone hurt him. He had to find a way to get Ed out of here — and whoever wanted to hurt him would have to kill Roy first—
Ed's hand gently touched his cheek. He'd gone a bit pale, and Roy noticed his hand was shaking. "You're dreaming."
Roy startled awake, sitting up.
His skin felt too hot, the sun having been beating down on him for too long. But despite the heat of the sun, he shivered, panting, trying to get his breathing under control.
Physically, he was in Resembool, but mentally the dream still haunted him; he was half in Ishval. With Ed.
What the fuck—
"Are you okay?"
Ed's voice next to him made him flinch, embarrassingly, and he turned his head towards him. Concern was written all over Ed's face, mixed with alarm.
Roy swallowed the lump in his throat, and tried to fight off the remainder of the dream.
"We fell asleep," he said flatly, ignoring Ed's question.
Ed shifted, coming a bit closer. "Are you okay?" he repeated.
Roy gritted his teeth. "I'm fine."
He stood, grabbing his jacket and shrugging it on. He wanted to leave. He wanted to walk away and get as far away from Ed as possible. He wanted privacy.
But he couldn't have any of that. And that pissed him right off.
He perhaps would've snapped worse at Ed if he hadn't been struggling to breathe.
Ed was silent behind him as Roy focused on his breath. He could feel his hesitation through the bond, his concern, his care. Because he could feel Ed cared about him in that moment, and it made Roy's stomach squeeze even worse to the point of nausea, and he wanted to get away.
Ed was never supposed to see him like this.
And he was certainly never supposed to make an appearance in his dreams.
No, Ed was only meant to know the stoic, blank-faced General Mustang. He was meant to wonder if he felt emotions. He was meant to dislike him. It was safer that way. But now it had all gone to shit.
"Wanna go for a walk?"
The last thing Roy wanted right now was to see more of Resembool. But he also didn't want to be somewhere in the Rockbell house, where they could potentially ask questions.
So his voice said, "Sure."
Roy didn't know where Ed was taking him, but he followed anyway.
At first he wasn't sure if Ed even had somewhere specific he wanted to go, or if they were mindlessly walking, but after the first five minutes his strolling took on a more purposeful edge.
Thankfully, he was quiet as he and Roy walked side by side.
Ed had thrown on a pair of shorts and a tank top, and every few minutes he would huff and blow air inside his tank top. It was a miracle he wasn't verbally complaining, really.
Roy was sweating in his uniform, but he expertly ignored it. He was used to sweating in this uniform.
They seemed to be headed into the village, which made Roy's gut twist. Did Ed seriously think he'd want to be around these people after the dream he'd had?
"I just want some flowers," Ed said, as if in response to Roy's emotion, appearing distracted as he looked around. When he found what he was looking for, he jogged over. Roy followed casually, appearing almost bored.
But his mind was just digesting his dream, and Ed's weird appearance in it. It had thrown him off guard, he didn't know what to think of it. Ed seeing his dreams was bad enough, but Ed living them? How could this bond keep getting worse and worse?
Ed didn't deserve to go through what he went through. He didn't desereve to be left with any more psychological scars, all because Roy had stepped on a stupid array the size of his palm.
Ed was chatting to a woman, who was wrapping some flowers for him.
"For Trisha?" the woman asked, smiling at him warmly.
Ed gave her a lopsided smile. "Yeah."
Her gaze slid to Roy, and he gave her the most charming smile he could muster. She flushed, averting her gaze. Perhaps not everyone hated him here. Maybe.
Not that it mattered.
Ed paid her and turned to him, looking a bit annoyed. "Let's go."
Roy knew they were walking to the cemetery. He didn't know how to feel about Ed having to make such a personal trip with Roy next to him. How did Ed feel about it? He couldn't find any emotion that stood out to him through the bond. It seemed like Ed was just neutral; he was just feeling calm.
He followed Ed until he paused in front of a grave, its tombstone having the words Trisha Elric engraved on it. Next to it, Van Hohenheim rested.
Ed's parents.
Roy had never bothered to find out where his own parents were buried. Would Ed be surprised that he hadn't?
Ed laid the flowers by Trisha's grave, and Roy's eyes inadvertently focused on Hohenheim's. Ed had hated his father for years, but he'd assumed maybe their reunion before the Promised Day had smoothed things over a bit.
Perhaps not, judging by the lack of flowers.
"I'm working through it," Ed said, the both of them looking at Hohenheim's tombstone. "Hating someone your whole life…It takes time." He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. But Roy could feel the slight guilt through the bond. The guilt that maybe he didn't love his father as much as he did his mother, and perhaps never would.
Roy nodded. It was none of his business anyway. "I can't judge, I don't even know where my parents are buried."
He saw Ed's head turn from the corner of his eye, slightly too fast, and Roy knew Ed was surprised by his admission. "Why not?"
Roy shrugged, keeping his gaze on the beautiful white flowers Ed had bought for his mother. "Never cared to look." His aunt must know, but he'd never asked.
Ed shifted next to him, at a loss for words.
He and Ed were very different in the family department. Ed treasured family and always put it first; Roy had no doubt that he would die for those he considered family.
But Roy had never really felt that sense of family. He'd been independent from a very young age, and now he didn't really have anyone he felt as comfortable with as Ed felt with Al. The closest thing he'd truly felt to having a 'typical' family was when he was invited to Maes and Gracia's.
Maes had been his best friend. His brother.
And he'd lost him.
He did care about his aunt and his step sisters, but it was different from what Ed felt. He could tell.
Ed was looking at him, but he didn't turn his head to meet his gaze. Ed looked at him a lot lately, especially when Roy was feeling this mixture of shitty emotions.
"Shall we go back?"
Roy nodded, turning away from the two graves and walking towards the gates. Ed was next to him, and his energy was now broodier than it had been moments ago.
Roy wondered what he was thinking about.
After they got back from the cemetery, they'd walked in to the Rockbell house smelling once again delicious. They must've slept longer than he thought, because they'd missed lunch, and by the time they'd returned from the cemetery the sun was beginning to dip.
They were going home tomorrow. Back to Central, back to his house. Despite Roy's initial resistance to being in Resembool, he did understand why Ed liked it so much. The grass was greener here, the sun just that bit brighter, the sky bluer. Central was fast paced; responsibilities took over very quickly and left little time for one to enjoy their day.
Being in Resembool felt like a holiday; there was this slower pace of life.
They were currently sitting at the kitchen table, eating a late dinner. Roy could make out the sunset from the window, the sky having turned orange and pink.
"What's for dessert, Win?" Ed yelled next to him. He'd inhaled his stew in record time. Apparently it was a Rockbell-Elric tradition to have homemade dessert every Sunday.
"Apple pie!" Winry yelled from the kitchen. She had retreated to the kitchen to take the apple pie out the oven and get it ready for serving.
Ed and Al grinned at each other, clearly excited.
Roy was quite excited himself. The stew had been delicious; Ed had told him it was his mother's recipe, and for some reason it had made Roy eat it slower, more deliberately. He had never met Trisha Elric, but in that moment he had felt like he had, in a way.
And now this apple pie…He knew it was going to be amazing. Maybe he could make Ed learn a few of these recipes and he could force him to cook for him while they were soul bonded. Yes, that sounded like an excellent idea.
Winry made her way back to the dining room, apple pie in hand. She set it in the middle of the table, and shared out the plates.
"Gracia's recipe," she told Roy, giving him a small smile. Roy felt a pang of something; sadness mixed with longing and nostalgia, at the reminder of his friend. He'd had Gracia's apple pie plenty times over the years whenever he'd been over at the Hughes house.
He hadn't had it in a while. While he still went over to the Hughes's fairly regularly to help Gracia whenever needed, Gracia hadn't been baking like she used to. Being a single mother had taken up so much more of her time; she'd gotten a job at a florist as well, so she was no longer a housewife. Roy supported her and Elicia as much as he could, but at the end of the day he wasn't Maes. No one was.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Ed turn to look at him, but he ignored him, opting for taking a slice of the apple pie for himself.
It was delicious. And very similar to Gracia's. So similar, in fact, that it brought forth memories; moments he'd sat with Maes at the kitchen table, while Gracia was putting Elicia to bed, the both of them scoffing down the freshly baked apple pie like they were starved. The apple pie never lasted very long.
"Fuck, it's good," Ed moaned, reaching for a second slice.
Winry laughed, but allowed it. "If there's any left tomorrow I can wrap some up for you to take back to Central."
A few minutes later, they were all stuffed and yawning, leaning back in their chairs in silence.
When he and Ed eventually made their way upstairs, Roy was too tired to be apprehensive about sleeping. It seemed like the nap they'd taken in the afternoon had somehow left him even more tired.
Even though he hated sleeping in unfamiliar places, he thought maybe he was so tired tonight he would potentially sleep.
As he got into bed, absently observing Ed strip and thread his fingers through his hair, he wondered if Ed would try and crawl into his bed again.
"Do you think we'll sleep tonight?" Ed asked him, flopping down on the mattress.
Roy sighed, the sheets whispering as he turned towards Ed. "I am tired, but hard to know. I don't sleep well in unfamiliar places."
Ed gave a slow nod of understanding, and then said, "I can fall asleep anywhere."
"I'm aware." He recalled that time in his office, when Ed had fallen asleep on his couch after a mission, completely oblivious to the fact that Roy had been talking to him. He'd looked so small curled up on his couch, his coat wrapped around him and in desperate need of a wash. Roy hadn't even been mad.
When Ed reached over to switch the light off, mumbling a goodnight, Roy felt the tiredness relaxing his body, his eyes shutting.
There was no dream that night, and Ed remained in his own bed.
A/N calm before the storm vibes hehehe