A/N: More at end, but this takes place in the manga-verse sometime after…I guess Chapter 61 and before “Happy Ending.”
“The Beginning”
Roy Mustang was tired. Since joining the military, he had never truly slept. He stayed up nights, planning his rise in the military, expediting those thoughts into action, and occasionally worrying about those he loved—especially after Hughes. Everything became so real and mortal after he lost his best friend.
Today and the
previous week, especially, kept Mustang from even attempting to sleep.
The boy under his command—a one Edward Elric—recently
went AWOL. Elric was due into Central for a report
over a week ago and hadn’t shown, called, or even wrote an excuse.
Thus, when his secretary slipped into the room and announced, “Sir, the Fullmetal Alchemist is here to give a report,” Mustang was both relieved and pissed.
The colonel glanced over his shoulder at the woman who had taken leave to help in his search. “First Lt. Hawkeye, was I expecting a report from Fullmetal this week?”
Lt. Hawkeye’s face, too, was worn from lack of sleep. “I believe it was last week, Colonel.”
“Send him in,” Mustang ordered his secretary at once, who moved to the side to allow Edward’s entrance.
Leaning forward on his desk, Mustang observed Edward closely. The boy was undeniably exhausted, as well, with dark circles outlining his unbelievably golden eyes. His long hair still hung in a tight braid that swayed when he walked, while his red alchemist robes and black breaches were immaculate. Not even the boy’s antennae was out of place. If that was all, Mustang would already have torched the boy; however, Edward’s face unhinged the colonel. Calm and relaxed, his expression reflected no state Edward had ever been in—content.
That didn’t change the fact that he was pissed. “Fullmetal, where the hell have you been!”
When the door swung shut, leaving the three alone, Edward’s smile fell slightly, and he moved his automail hand up and down his flesh forearm. “I know I’m late, so if you want to slap my hand, go ahead, but…” He looked away. “I’ve come to petition that you don’t let my brother become a State Alchemist.”
Mustang scoffed and arched an eyebrow. “I believe we’ve already had this discussion, Ed. Your brother can’t become a State Alchemist—”
“—because someone might find out about our human transmutation. Yeah, I know, but—”
“And besides that, you owe me a report and at least an excuse of having half the military out looking for you!” Mustang pushed his chair back and rose to his feet. “Now, why didn’t you check in with me?”
“Brother.”
The hesitant voice drew all the attention in the room, and Roy Mustang’s mouth dropped open. Next to him, Lt. Hawkeye gasped, both beyond words at the implausible sight before them. Standing in the door was Alphonse Elric—flesh and blood. The boy, dressed in a suit almost identical to Edward’s, smiled at the colonel and Lt. Hawkeye, then charged into the room. He tripped over his own feet and would have crashed onto the floor if not for his brother, who lunged forward.
“Careful, Alphonse. I told you it’ll take some adjusting. Being a seven-foot suit of armor is a lot different from five feet of flesh.”
“Right, Brother. Sorry.”
“Stop being sorry,” Edward chastised, straightening his sickly thin brother, who still, sadly was taller than he. Smiling at Alphonse, his mouth just wouldn’t droop until he heard the faint meowing from under Al’s jacket. “I take it back.”
“But he was cold, Brother.”
“Al, no,” Ed growled. “Go put it back wherever you found it.”
“But can’t she at least stay until you finish your report?”
The weakness in Alphonse’s voice even alarmed the colonel, and Edward’s resistance immediately crumbled. The older brother smiled and grabbed his little brother’s hand, guiding him to the couch. With a push into Al’s chest, Ed forced the boy down on the cushions, then rolled his eyes at the tiny kitten’s head popping out of Alphonse’s collar.
Mustang stayed frozen behind his desk. He wanted answers, but Edward refused to turn to him. The boy simply continued to stare at Alphonse as if he feared to look away, his eyes all encompassing of his little brother’s being. When the younger boy noticed the colonel’s stare, Alphonse reached out and clutched Ed’s flesh hand. He squeezed it before murmuring something too low for Mustang to hear.
Only then did Edward squeeze back and turn, his brother’s hand still in his. “Colonel, as you can see, this is why I wish to petition for you not to allow my brother to become a State Alchemist.”
“Brother!” Alphonse wrenched Ed’s arm for help him stand, but the older brother simply pushed him back down to the couch.
“Al, shut up! This is between me and the colonel.”
“And what about me? It’s my fault you still have that automail! I should be the one—”
Al’s words dribbled into muffles as Ed knelt and clamped his hand over his brother’s mouth. “Hush, you.”
Al tugged his hand, trying to free it from his brother’s grasp, but under his slowly weakening body, he couldn’t even pull that away. With only one hand, he surely couldn’t over power Ed’s automail hand to free his mouth. Thus, he grumbled and fell back onto the couch.
Ed coaxed, “If you’re good, I’ll let you go.”
Al growled and started a rant, but with his mouth covered, all that sounded were mere mumbles.
“Are you going to be good? Right now, I wouldn’t even call this decent.”
Narrowing his eyes, Alphonse pierced his brother with a deadly glare, one that still brought a smile to Ed’s face. He nodded a second later.
“Good.” Ed released his brother’s face, and when Al opened his mouth, Ed tsked. “Nope. That wasn’t part of the deal.”
Alphonse glared, then averted his eyes to the kitten on his stomach. Lifting it up, he petted it while Edward simply laughed, tasseled the boy’s hair, and stood. Turning to the colonel, he shrugged. “So, we were discussing Al and not becoming a State Alchemist.”
Al hmphed; Edward smiled.
“Fullmetal—”
“Edward, how did you do it?” Lt. Hawkeye cut off the colonel, taking a step forward.
Edward shrugged. “Through Alchemy.”
“That isn’t an answer, Fullmetal,” Mustang grated. Though his voice had lost its firmness with the object of their discussion in the room, the colonel strode about his desk and stood in front of his subordinate, using his height to intimidate. “Explanation, now!”
It didn’t work. “I didn’t come here to give you a report, Colonel,” Edward replied sharply. “I just came to ask you not to honor my brother’s wish. That is all.”
“I’m demanding a report!”
“What makes you think I’ll tell you…sir?” The sarcasm in Ed’s address only infuriated the colonel more.
Grabbing the boy by the shirt, Mustang lifted him so they were almost eye-to-eye. “You are to report back to me with any and all findings, and if you do not do so this instant—”
“Why? What are you going to do? Court-martial me?” Ed pushed off Mustang’s chest. “Go ahead!”
“Fine! Lt. Hawkeye—!”
“He agreed to join Father and become Pride, like Lin had become Greed—”
Ed whirled. “ALPHONSE!”
“—and when the stone tried to take control of his body, he took control of it to get my body back.” Alphonse clutched the kitten to his chest and didn’t dare to look at his irate brother. “We couldn’t use to get back Brother’s limbs, though.” His voice trailed on with remorse, and when he spoke again, it was so low Mustang almost missed it. “The stone only allowed for one passage fee.”
Edward opened his mouth to retort, only to close it with a snap when Alphonse yawned.
Mustang had almost the same reaction, though anger boiled through his veins. He grabbed Edward by the shoulder and painfully whirled him around. “You joined Father and the homunculi? How could you even make a deal like that against the military?”
“I didn’t make a deal. I knew I could handle the stone.”
“That doesn’t matter. Simply by making a verbal contract, whether or not you attend to honor it, is still treason against the military.”
“Then I suggest you don’t tell the military, and besides, Wrath is the head of the military.”
“Fullmetal! You could be put to death, and if anyone found out about you transmuting your brother, they might want to experiment on him, to see how the stone worked.” He rubbed his forehead and growled. “And what if you couldn’t have controlled it? What if you would’ve become Pride?”
Edward sighed. “Stop saying ‘would’ve.’ I didn’t.”
Mustang once more grabbed the boy the collar. “Did you ever think about your brother? What you becoming Pride would have done to him?”
“Please. Al would have stopped me. Not once have I ever won a fight—well, except for that one time—right, Al?” When no answer followed, Ed glanced over his shoulder. “Al?”
The older brother stopped suddenly at the sight of his brother, asleep soundlessly on one of the two couches in the middle of the room, his head nestled on a cushion, his feet up and curled. The boy was still lifelessly pale, while his mouth remained openly slightly, allowing air to rise and collapse his chest. His long hair spread about his head, framing his slender cheeks. On his stomach laid the kitten.
As Mustang’s hands loosened, Ed walked over to his brother, taking off his robe. Tucking it about Al like a blanket, he sat down on the floor to be even with his brother’s head. He grinned ecstatically, something Mustang had never seen Fullmetal do, and stroked Alphonse’s long hair with his lithe fingers.
With one deep sigh, Mustang let out all his tension. He should have Fullmetal court-martialed. In fact, if anyone found out he knew that Ed had made a deal with the devil, he would surely be executed along with the Elric Brothers. But he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. Edward had done the impossible, turning steel into flesh and blood. He had gone to the depths of Hell to save the little brother who had been taken away from him, and now that Fullmetal reclaimed Al, could touch and feel his brother’s skin, how could Mustang deny the boy what little happiness the world had granted him?
After all, Wrath had to know, and if he wanted, he could have them all court-martialed and executed. But Mustang thought they wouldn’t happen. They were precious sacrifices, and Father wouldn’t dare lose them.
Watching Fullmetal brush Alphonse’s bangs from his forehead and caress his sleeping brother’s cheek, Mustang looked at Riza, who had watched the whole scene develop silently. “He lives and breathes for that kid, doesn’t he?”
“I think it goes both ways, Colonel.” She smiled. “Remind you of some other people?”
Mustang glared at her, then grinned slightly before walking toward the boy. “So, you’ve finally done it, eh, Fullmetal?”
Edward didn’t even turn to him. “Took me five years.”
Mustang laughed. “Five short years.”
The boy, for once, didn’t go ballistic. “Felt like a lifetime.”
Walking about the couch lightly, so as not to wake the slumbering boy, Mustang caught a glimpse of Edward’s intense and tired eyes. Dark lines contorted the boy’s ironically bright face, and exhaustion crept into his all-consuming eyes, which watched Alphonse with unwavering devotion.
Dropping to his knees and a hand on the boy’s shoulder, the colonel squeezed. “This is why it took you so long to come back. Your brother was weak from being at the Gate.”
Ed nodded, still watching his brother intently. “I wouldn’t have even been here yet. There are too many people who want us dead, and if Scar attacked us with Al this way…but Al wanted to come back to make sure I wasn’t court-martialed. He said he would stop eating if I didn’t agree, and…well…you can see that he needs to eat.”
Lt. Hawkeye settled down behind Ed. “Have you been eating, Edward?”
“Here and there.”
There was something far worse wrong, Mustang knew. While yes, he observed the light pulling of Ed’s cheek bones on his skin, he saw the greater problem, for he had the same symptoms. Edward couldn’t close his eyes A fear born and bred from experience kept him awake, but if he didn’t rest soon, the body would shut down for him.
“It’s okay, Fullmetal,” Mustang urged, his hand tightening on the boy’s shoulder. “You can sleep now.”
Edward refused to take his eyes off his brother, fussing still. “Y—You don’t understand. I can’t...”
“Yes, you can. It’s finally over. Now, you can rest.”
“N—No…” Ed hardly kept his tears in his eyes as he smoothed down his brother’s hair. “…It’s just beginning…”
“You won’t lose him again, Edward,” Lt. Hawkeye soothed, draping her jacket over the boy’s shoulders.
“But—”
Mustang put a hand on the boy’s head, almost petting him. “He’ll be here when you wake up.”
Edward glared up at the colonel, though his eyes drooped tiredly. “You better not snap, Sparky.”
Letting out a brief laugh, the colonel realized Fullmetal now held his brother’s hand, so if he didn’t see Al, he at least felt him. Mustang nodded once to Riza, who slowly scooted the sleeping Al across the couch. When Ed opened his mouth to protest, Mustang helped him up and onto the side of the couch. Never once did Ed’s hold on his brother’s hand ease.
“Sleep, Fullmetal,” Mustang pressed, one hand closing the boy’s eyes while the other continued to smooth down his hair. “To protect your brother, you’ll need your strength, and for just once, trust someone else with his safety—and yours.”
“You won’t court-martial me?” the boy mumbled, fighting to keep his eyes open.
Ed nodded, though Mustang wondered if the boy truly understood. After all, within a matter of seconds, Ed’s breathing stabilized, and for the first time in five years, the boy slept peacefully.
“You should take the same advice, Colonel,” Riza finally said to him, smiling as she sat down in the chair behind him.
Roy Mustang didn’t take his eyes off the boys in front of him. “Fullmetal was right, Lt. Hawkeye. Now that Al’s back in his own body, the one who transmuted him might return for him. This is just the beginning.”
And as if Edward Elric heard him, he curled defensively about his brother, protecting the boy even in his sleep.