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cornerofmadnessSorrow’s Dark Array
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cornerofmadness
Disclaimer - not mine, all characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa et al, Square Enix and funimition.
Pairing – Roy/Riza, Ed/Win (eventually) Winry/OC, mentions of Maes/Gracia and Al/OC
Rating – will vary from chapter to chapter, mostly Pg-13 but will eventually contain well marked adult chapters.
Time Line – anime based, spoilers all the way through the anime and the movie and does have strong manga elements such as Armstrong’s older sister and the land of Xing
Summary – As Roy and Riza prepare for their wedding, while dodging assassins, Ed and Al try to find their way back home.
Author’s Note #1– This was written after much prodding byevil_little_dog as a sequel to the source of sorrow and is now her holiday gift even if she has beta’ed part of it. So thanks to her and lyricnonsense for the beta. And thanks to evil_little_dog with help with some of the dialogue. You do not have to read the first story to understand this. You’ll quickly pick up that Riza has retired from the military to be Roy’s wife and bodyguard. Olivia Armstrong is now president and she’s assigned Roy as the ambassador to Ishbal; oh and that Roy was severely injured in the destruction of the Gate, requiring some of Winry’s automail.
Author's Note #2 - This is a longer work and like real relationships, the ones listed in the pairings, take time to mend and come together. They have to work at it. Hope you enjoy the ride.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I've gone and come back, I'll find it at home. – Rumi
Chapter Seven
Ed didn’t want to get up. Al had to poke and prod his brother to rouse him. Like a surly puppy, Ed finally rolled out of the covers, seeming stiff; almost old. Al hated seeing him like this. He could bury his own heartache and pain for now and just thankful to be home where his brother could get the care he needed. “Come on, Brother,” Al said when it seemed unlikely Ed was going to move. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get dinner.” Of all the things that had changed over the years, his brother’s appetite wasn’t one of them.
Ed rubbed his belly and it grumbled at him. “Yeah, I could eat now except…” His lips yanked down into a vicious scowl. “How could she have an Ishbalan boyfriend?”
“I guess things have changed and for the better,” Al said, not flinching when Ed’s hot gaze flamed over him. “Think about it, peace with the Ishbalans, that’s a good thing, Ed.”
Undoing his ponytail, Ed finger combed his hair back then retied it. “In theory, yeah. I just…does this feel like home, Al?” Ed stared at the floor, unable to keep the dismay out of his voice.
Al rested his hand on Ed’s shoulder. “Give it time, Edward. We just got back after being gone for years. You can’t expect things to have stayed exactly the same. It could be worse. We’ve talked about it.”
Ed nodded. Winry could be married with children. She might have died. Ishbalans could be running Amestris. The bastard could have actually been Fuhrer. Ed shuddered at the thought. “Dinner, then. I’ll behave.”
Al almost swallowed his sigh but not quite. Ed ignored his brother’s doubt in him. He offered his brother a hand up and couldn’t help notice how poorly Edward went down the stairs. Roy and Riza sat in the kitchen, lingering over cups of coffee, but the spicy smells of whatever Winry’s boyfriend had been cooking were gone. Riza’s brown eyes lit up, seeing them. She abandoned the table and threw her arms around both boys, nearly knocking Ed over. Al had never seen her so demonstrative.
“I almost didn’t believe it when Roy and Winry told me,” Riza whispered, squeezing them. “Roy has been looking for a way to bring you back ever since you left but he says he had nothing to do with you being here.”
The surprise in Ed’s eyes echoed in Al’s tone, “You were, sir?”
Roy nodded. “Without much success. I’m afraid we had all but given up hope.”
“Liar, you spent the whole time you were recuperating studying your books,” Winry said, coming into the room, smelling somehow metallic. “Unless Riza or I took them away. You never gave up.” She turned to the brothers. “Did you sleep well?”
Al nodded. “I feel better now. Hungry, though.”
“Sorry you had to hold dinner for us, Winry,” Ed said then gave Roy a begrudging look. “Thanks for trying.”
“I knew you wouldn’t want to stay in a strange new world. I mean, what would you do without me?” Roy smirked and Ed barked out a laugh. “You’ll have to explain to me how you managed to get back without a Gate in detail.” Roy shrugged. “And it’s breakfast. You boys slept through the night.”
“Really?” Ed asked, stunned. Al’s jaw dropped.
“Yes, really. Sit. I can get you breakfast,” Winry said, patting them on their backs.
“I’ll do it, Winry. You have patients,” Riza said, heading to the ice chest. “Scrambled eggs?”
“That would be great,” Al said with enthusiasm. “We can help.”
“You still look tired. I’ll handle it.” Riza assured him.
“Heat up some of that stew Dev made,” Roy said. “And bacon. And I want to be the next patient, Winry.” He lifted his leg, pointing to the empty space where a foot should be.
“Fine. I’ll give you back your foot but you have to promise to behave,” Winry said wearily, resting her hip against the counter.
“That will never happen,” a voice called from the back door, which opened into the kitchen. Dev peered in the upper half of the door, which was swung open. He wore his priest’s robes, the bright blue sash looking out of place against the sandy robe. His automail arm seemed almost garish against the backdrop.
“It won’t if you don’t stop bringing him work to do,” Winry said, seeing the sheaf of papers under Dev’s arm as she waved him in.
“Can’t be helped,” Dev said, casting an intense look at the brothers before taking off his sun glasses. He gazed at Winry. “You look tired. Want me to brew you up that energy tea?”
“No, thanks, it smells bad and tastes worse and you know it.” Winry wrinkled her nose. “You had prayers this morning?” she asked blandly, knowing that was obvious.
“What feast day or holiday is it this time?” Roy asked as Dev whacked the paperwork down in front of him.
“The Beginning of Harvest. It’s nearly autumn,” Dev said. “Time to ask for a safe harvest.”
“I have no idea how you keep all these holy days in your head. Ishbal seems to have so many of them,” Roy said, not moving to look at the papers.
“The same way you keep all that alchemy stuff in yours,” Dev replied, moving to Riza’s side. “Do you need help, Riza?”
“No, sit down,” she said, glancing back at the table and Al wondered if she was trying to decide if that was a bad idea.
“Sorry we sort of ran out last night, Dev is it?” Al asked and Ed nudged him under the table. “We had a very long trip here.”
Dev sat next to Roy then looked back up at Winry as if looking for guidance then said, “Winry and Roy didn’t seem to think you were ever coming back.”
“We weren’t supposed to be but…we’re just glad to be back home, no matter how much it’s changed,” Ed said, staring at the wood grain of the table.
“We’re glad to have you back,” Winry said softly, touching Ed’s shoulder. “We’ll have to have a long private talk once I actually stop shaking inside.”
Al watched Ed open his mouth then clamp it shut as if he didn’t know what to say. Al didn’t blame him since he had no idea, either. He still felt as out of place here as he had back on Earth. If not for Ziata, he might not ever have felt welcome there. Al closed his eyes, trying to wall up the emotions.
“Al?” Winry’s voice held a querulous tone
He stiffened his back. “I’m okay, Winry. Still just wrung out.” Al didn’t want to talk about Ziata yet or even about coming home. Ed was right. It didn’t feel like home like, at least not yet. Al had confidence that it would once they settled in. He studied Dev for a moment. “I got to know some of your people when my brother and I were…traveling, years ago. The encampments were…” Al stopped himself. He hardly had to tell an Ishbalan how awful those camps were. “I’m glad things are different now,” he added, assuming they had to be for someone of Dev’s background to be walking freely around Resembol dressed as he was.
“I grew up in those camps,” Dev said, getting up to get some plates when he saw Winry wasn’t. “We’re working on reestablishing our county. That’s what I’m doing here. They made this braying ass an ambassador.” His automail hand swept out toward Roy and Ed smirked at the insult. “But he is working hard to help us. Winry has set up a clinic back home and is trying to get some other mechanics to move from Rush Valley out there since she’s too busy here and in Central to give it full time attention.”
“Really?” Ed’s mouth dropped as he twisted in his chair to look at Winry. “That’s…that’s pretty incredible.”
Al knew what Ed had wanted to say, ‘that’s dangerous,’ but incredible worked. “We’ve missed a lot,” Al whispered.
“Being out of the country will do that to you,” Roy said, cluing the brothers in on the story that had been told about their disappearance.
“Is that how you and Winry got together?” Ed asked more politely than Al would have expected. Ed missed the exchanged looks between Dev and Winry but Al did not. He wondered at it but didn’t think it wise to ask.
“Roy was feeling guilty about burning off my arm all those years ago.” Dev put the plates on the table. “So he set me up with Winry to try the automail.” He glanced at his silver metal fingers. “I’m not very good with it yet.”
“You’ve only had it a few months. Be patient,” Winry said by rote. How many times had she said that to patients?
Ed patted his own metal wrist. “You’re lucky. Winry’s the best,” he said, making Winry smile.
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen my foot in months,” Roy grumbled, wiggling his truncated leg around.
“Today. I’ll put it on today if you just stop whining.” Winry rolled her eyes.
Well, the bickering felt like home, Al decided, then asked something he knew he shouldn’t but it struck a deep and unpleasant chord in him. “The colonel…sorry, general burned you?”
“That’s a complicated story,” Riza interrupted, bringing over the pan of eggs. She shoveled some out. “Too much for empty stomachs. Eat first. I’ll go get you that stew in a moment. Roy, I’m assuming you wanted a little, too, since you made a point of asking for it.”
He batted his eyes at her. “Please.”
“Don’t feed him until he signs all those papers,” Dev suggested, nodding his chin at Roy.
“I’ve tried that. It doesn’t work. He just gets skinnier.” Riza sighed.
Dev slipped his sunglasses back on. “Don’t let Winry put on his foot then.” Dev smiled maliciously at Roy.
“You shut up,” Roy grumbled, stabbing at finger at the priest.
“I’ll be back for the paperwork later. I can’t stay around today. I have to help Aris get ready for the afternoon prayers and some of the farmers here want a blessing on their equipment. Guess things are changing if they want help from an Ishbalan,” Dev said wryly.
“I thought Ishbalan priests were warriors?” Ed’s surprise shone through brightly. “I didn’t think you did things like that.
Dev shrugged. “No, there are three sects, the teachers, the healers and the most numerous, the warriors, and now with the automail, I might be accepted into the caste of the warrior priests…once I figure out how to make it work.”
“Patience not being the strong point of the Ishbalan priesthood,” Winry said, slumping over her eggs and Al wondered just how much - or how little - sleep she'd gotten last night. He sincerely wished that the arrival of his brother and him had little to do with that but didn't hold out much hope that it wasn't the case. “You’re figuring it out just fine, Dev.”
“If you say so.” He opened the door. “I’ll be back later.”
“I won’t have signed anything,” Roy replied and Dev shot him what Al figured had to be an Ishbalan obscene gesture Roy had no doubt become very familiar with. The young man left.
With his departure, the room quieted to just the sounds of the men eating ravenously. Al knew he and Ed were putting off the inevitable. Dev had made a nice distraction but sooner rather than later, they would have to fess up to who they had accidentally brought with them. Al didn’t know which would be harder, keeping Ed from saying something incredibly stupid about Winry’s boyfriend or telling Mr. Mustang about Mr. Hughes.
Finally, Al put his dish in the sink, arguing briefly with Riza about who would wash up then he sat back at the table with another cup of coffee clenched in his hands like a steaming life line. “Ed, we need to tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Winry glanced between the brothers sharply. She never had returned to her patients like Riza suggested.
Al winced at the dread he heard in Winry’s question. He watched his brother squirm, probably as much from the intense scrutiny Roy inflicted on them the moment he had opened his mouth as it was from the fact Ed wouldn’t want to tell them.
“We made a mistake,” Ed said, finally. “In coming here.” The color fled Edward’s face and Winry’s mirrored it. “I didn’t mean it like that. Coming home wasn’t a mistake. It’s just…I don’t even know how to explain it.” He slumped in his chair.
“Tell them about Alfons,” Al suggested.
Ed’s body quivered. He trained his eyes on the table, following the wood grain with his finger. “In that world, on Earth, there were alternatives of the people here. Well, some of them. There wasn’t any of you but there was another Al. Alfons and another Gracia. They look just like the people here, act a lot like them, too. It was…unsettling.”
“I can only imagine,” Roy said, turned as if to get up then stopped himself. He gestured at the coffee and Riza refilled it for him. Al wondered if that gesture was to give Ed time to compose himself. His brother took it.
“We became friends with some of those alternate people,” Ed continued. “Gracia, for one. Alfons…died and it was very hard. It was like watching my brother die of a terrible, lingering disease. And now Gracia is dead, too.” Al shuddered violently and Ed reached for him. Roy put his cup on the table. Ed stared at him. “There was another Hughes, Mustang, a policeman. He was almost like our Hughes, maybe not quite as brave, a little less insane, but there he was and in love with Gracia.” Ed broke off, his throat working hard.
Riza made a small distressed sound, reaching for Roy. Pale-faced, he grabbed her hand, squeezing hard. Winry took Ed by the wrist, tears standing in her eyes. He eyed her strong hand in surprise.
“Gracia was out with Ziata, my fiancée,” Al said, barely able to find his voice. He had to tell this part. “It was a snowy day. A car went off the road and onto the sidewalk, pinning them both.” Al buried his face in his hands. “They died.”
“Oh, Al.” Letting go of Ed, Winry stood and pulled Al half out of his seat and against her. Al flung his arms around her neck.
“I’m sorry, Al,” Roy said after giving Al a few moments to get his control back. The older alchemist didn’t sound very in control himself. “What does all of this have to do with the mistake you boys made in coming back?”
“Hughes wanted to come with us, said we were all he had left,” Ed said flatly.
“We didn’t plan on bringing him.” Al let Winry go. He sat up, wiping his face. “We didn’t tell him about the doubles.”
“But you did bring him,” Riza said slowly, the only one still able to speak.
Ed shook his head. “No! It’s just…he followed us.”
“He jumped through when we opened the gate. We didn’t mean to do it,” Al bleated.
“He’s here?” Roy growled, trying to stand up. He fell against the table and Riza steadied him. “You brought him here?”
“At the hotel,” Ed replied, not looking at the man. “We don’t know what to do with him now.”
“I’ll call Havoc just in case one of the men spot him and think he’s a homunculus,” Riza said, walking unsteadily to the phone out in the hall.
“How are we going to tell Mrs. Hughes and Elicia?” Al asked plaintively.
Roy trembled. “I have no idea. We don’t.”
“But,” Al started.
“We don’t!” Roy slammed his hand down on the table, making Al jump. “We don’t say a word until I meet this man. You don’t know that he’ll want to know there’s another Gracia, a Gracia that’s a mother to a child fathered by his exact duplicate.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Ed said bitterly. “We told him.”
Roy’s lip curled. “Perfect. This isn’t a mistake, boys. It’s a damn disaster.”
“We can’t fix it,” Al said, folding in on himself at the criticism. “We know that. And I don’t know that we can send him back. We don’t even know that he’ll want to go.”
Roy pinched the bridge of his nose. Al could see the pain and frustration building in the man. An explosion was imminent. “Now not only do I have to come up with a story for where you two have been for years, I have to figure out how Hughes came back from the dead. This world is big but you know how it goes. We have no luck and someone will see him and then the military will…I don’t know, say he faked his own death and deserted.” The speed at which Roy was talking laid bared his nervousness.
“They can’t!” Al protested, his stomach wrenching at the very thought. What had they done? He hadn’t even thought of that.
“Roy, let’s not start imagining the worse,” Riza cautioned, coming back over to the table. She rested her hands on his shoulders. “Don’t forget Armstrong is your friend.”
“That’s right, you already said Armstrong was talking to his sister about saying Ed and Al were abroad in Xing on a deep undercover mission but….that means you’re still in the service of the military, Ed,” Winry said, interlocking her fingers with his.
Ed stared at her hand in his, stunned for a moment then managed to rasp out, “But I could resign, right?”
Roy shook his head. “One thing at a time, Edward. For all I know, Olivia might want something of you two in exchange for signing off on this massive lie. I can’t impose on Olivia’s kindness for this because she has none. She’s as hard as her brother is soft.” Roy laced his fingers, resting his chin against them.
“You really are already working on this?” Al asked in surprise.
“Made the calls last night,” Roy said. “Had to. Got the alert you tried the bank about an hour after you came here,” he added with a hint of his old humor.
“We have no money at all,” Ed said, wisely keeping quiet about his alchemized gold. “What little we got from our pawned stuff was just enough to get us here and get the inn room for Hughes. We figured we’d have to swallow our pride and ask for help.”
“You have a place to stay here, Ed,” Winry said, the circles under her eyes seeming even darker now. “We won’t leave you two with nothing.”
“Are you sure your boyfriend won’t get mad?” Ed couldn’t hide his bitterness as he extricated his hand from hers.
“Brother,” Al snapped. He was not about to let Ed talk them into even more trouble than they were in.
“Let me worry about Dev. It’s all very…complicated.” Winry’s head dropped, her bangs coming down to veil her. She seemed so much older than she actually was. Al almost regretted coming here and burdening her.
“Take me to see Hughes,” Roy demanded, trying to get back up again but Riza pushed him down. “I have to see him before I do anything else.”
“He’s waiting at the hotel. I had no idea we slept all night,” Ed hung his head. “Should have called him before stuffing our faces.”
Roy glanced down at his leg. “I don’t want to meet him in this wheelchair.”
“I’ll put your foot on now,” Winry said, getting up. “And see if Granny is done with her patient so I can tell her what’s happening. Why don’t you go to see Hughes, Al? Bring him here but give me some time to get Roy squared away. You know how he’ll need to rest.”
“I’ll be fine,” Roy growled impatiently.
Riza squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t argue with your mechanic, Roy.”
Roy settled, unhappiness written on every visible part of him.
“I’ll go with Al,” Ed murmured. Al could tell his brother was unreasonably happy about being left out of Winry’s plan for how this was going to happen.
“You can barely walk,” Riza said, dropping a kiss against Roy’s crown. “You stay here. I’ll drive Al to the hotel. It would just be easier that way.” Her fingers squeezed Roy’s arm again. “You and Ed will not drive Winry and Pinako insane.”
Roy nodded. “There won’t be any problems.” He turned tired eyes on Winry. “If I have to sit on Edward myself to make sure there aren’t.”
Ed startled at that, his eyes darkening but Al cleared his throat and shot his brother a look that settled him down.
Riza just nodded then added a fiery look to it that Al knew meant bad things should either man not behave. He followed Riza out to the car, still unused to seeing her out of uniform. Walking behind her hadn’t been a good bet. Raw and hurting as he was, Al could still appreciate Riza’s athletic form, maybe a little too much. He had a major crush on her while he had been in armor. He slid into the car without comment. He nearly got behind the wheel before remembering where he was.
“Sorry,” he said as Riza turned the engine over. “I’ve been driving Ed around for the last year. He’s an awful driver.”
Riza chuckled softly. “I’ve been driving Roy. He’s no longer allowed to drive now that he has no depth perception which infuriates him but I’ll keep your warning in mind.”
“Believe me, don’t drive with Ed unless you’re a fan of finding ditches face first…or trees.” Al shook his head, allowing himself a small smile. It faded quickly. “I’m so sorry we’re causing so much trouble.”
Riza put a hand on his leg. “Alphonse, you are not causing trouble.” Her hand was gone as quickly as it had alighted, moving to the gear shift. Riza pulled out onto the road. “You and Edward are, of course, cause for much uproar but you are not trouble.”
“I’m not so sure,” Al replied glumly, looking out the window. Resembol really hadn’t changed much, nothing new to distract him. “Ed isn’t going to take Winry having a boyfriend well, even though he knew she probably would have one or even be married. I mean, she couldn’t be expected to wait forever on someone who should never have been able to come back.”
Riza glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Winry doesn’t have a boyfriend, Alphonse, not any more.”
“But…” Al wet his lips, wondering why the Ishbalan had lied.
“They are friends,” Riza said as if reading his mind. “Dev is being a territorial male, no surprise there. And it’s not my story to tell. You and Ed just need to give Winry some time to adjust to you being back. You boys need time yourself.”
Al ran a hand through his hair. “I know. We really do.”
“I know you lost your fiancée, Alphonse,” Riza said gently. Her hand strayed from the wheel briefly to stroke his arm. “I am so sorry.”
He ducked his head, his long hair shielding his face. He should have pulled it back, he thought absently. “Thank you. Winry said you nearly lost yours.”
Riza made a soft sound, desperation, pain, Al wasn’t sure but understood nonetheless. “Roy isn’t as strong yet as he likes to pretend. You may have to remind him of that from time to time. He’ll want Edward especially to think he’s just fine, just like nothing has changed.”
“That would be normal, Brother and him fighting.” Al went back to looking out the window. “I guess we just thought, we'd come back home and things would be...right. Normal, you know? But nothing is.”
“No, nothing is. Time marches on so they say.” Riza accelerated. “This is going to be so very hard on Roy, Alphonse, meeting this man.”
“I am sorry,” Al’s voice was a skinned whisper. “We didn’t mean to do this.”
“But you did and we have to deal with it,” Riza said not unkindly.
Al nodded and fell silent.
“He knew you were doing this but not that you weren’t planning to bring him,” Riza mused almost to herself. “You lied.”
Al blushed. “It was…necessary. We didn’t like it. We needed him, Miss Hawkeye. Ed was trying to study rockets and I was helping out in a doctor’s office but there wasn’t much money. Ziata was a little older than me. She had a job and I was thinking of going to school but then…” Al gnawed at his lip again as if pain was the only thing keeping him going. “He was just like our Mr. Hughes in that respect, ma’am. He took care of us and he was hurting just as much. We didn’t want to tell him ‘no’. We thought he would forgive us for leaving him. It was stupid on our part. If we had just told him the truth about our Mr. Hughes, about the Mrs. Hughes here, he might never have wanted to come, but we were afraid it would make him want to come more.”
“Well, what is done is done, Alphonse.” Riza glanced over at him. “And you can call me Riza. I won’t be Miss Hawkeye for much longer, though I have to admit being a Mustang will take some getting used to.”
Al made a sound that could have been a laugh. “Brother will probably moan on about your bad taste in men. He’ll never see just how much like the Colo…General he is.”
Riza laughed as well. “Oh, never. Roy, however, is aware of it but he doesn’t like to be reminded.”
Al nodded. “I believe it.” He fell silent once more, dreading what was to come as Riza parked in front of the inn. He thought the building must have had a recent paint job. The two-story wooden structure was a pristine white. In brilliant contrast, the wrap-around porch and full-length balcony were forest green, a very inviting combination. What wasn’t inviting was the task ahead of him. Al dragged out of the car as if he were the one with malfunctioning automail. Riza caught his hand, squeezing it. Al shot her a startled look then smiled. Even though she knew this was going to be hard on her, too, Al appreciated her attempt to comfort him. “We’re actually up there.” Al pointed to the dormer on the third story. “We figured we needed to be sure no one saw him just in case.”
“Wise.” Riza headed up the steps onto the porch. “I have no idea what we’re going to do now, Alphonse. This may get very…tense.”
“We know,” Al replied quietly, sneaking in front of her. He led the way upstairs, pulling his key out of his pocket. Before he tried to unlock the room door, he knocked. “Hughes, it’s Alphonse.”
The door opened too quickly, surprising Alphonse. Riza made a soft, distressed sound, stumbling into the young man. Hughes’ eyes widened at her plight behind his glasses but he showed no signs of recognizing Riza. Al steadied her with an arm. “You’ve been gone a long time,” Hughes said in gentle rebuke.
Al helped Riza inside, sitting her on the edge of his bed. “Things got more complicated than we expected. We didn’t know Riza and General Mustang would be here. Ed and I thought we’d have more time to plan something but we don’t.” Al rested a hand on Riza’s shoulder. “Hughes, this is Miss Riza Hawkeye.”
Riza shrugged away from Al’s touch, rising to her feet, her legs visibly shaking. “You look so much like him.”
“The brothers have told me as much,” Hughes said. “It’s nice meeting you, miss.”
Riza took another step closer to him. “You sound like him, too. It’s uncanny.” Her throat sounded tight to Al. He could see the gathering storm of clouds in her eyes. “I have…it’s...”
Hughes took her hand. “Sit, please. You have almost literally seen a ghost.” He guided her back to the edge of the bed. “Alphonse and Edward weren’t entirely honest with me about this world. If I had known….” He shook his head then pushed up his glasses. “I was a police officer. I can imagine what sorts of troubles my coming back to life might cause. If it is possible for me to just…I don’t know, go somewhere far away where no one will notice me, I would be willing but….”
“You came here to be with them,” Riza finished for him. Her lips peeled back into a weary smile. “Our Hughes was very fond of the boys, looked at them like little brothers or sons.”
Hughes smiled at Al. “I can understand that.”
Al flushed at that.
“And the military already knows the brothers are back. It’s possible that we might be able to resurrect Maes Hughes so you won’t have to run off,” Riza said.
“Or things could get really bad for me,” he said, rubbing his chin then studying her over the rim of his glasses.
“Trust her, sir,” Al replied. “They’ll do their best to keep you safe.”
A painful sigh escaped Riza’s lips and the tears fell. “It was so hard losing you once.” Her hands trembled as she put them over her face. “Roy is never going to get through this.”
Not knowing what else to do, Alphonse sat next to her, pulling her into a hug. Riza put her arms around him. Al rubbed her back. “We’ve made everything go wrong,” he whispered.
Riza pulled away then touched his cheek. “No, you haven’t. You’ve just made it…complicated and it won’t get less complicated here.” Riza wiped her face, looking up at Hughes. “Do you want to meet Roy Mustang?”
“I don’t think I have a choice,” Hughes replied, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Part of me doesn’t want to because I don’t want to cause any more stress but part of me wants to see if he resembles my lost childhood friend.”
“His Roy was murdered,” Al whispered, wincing himself as Riza flinched.
She got up, visibly giving herself a shake. “I’ll take you to meet him. Hopefully we’ll have time before someone else from the military shows up. If we’re lucky, it’ll be Armstrong.”
“Ma’am?” Al asked both puzzled and delighted. The blustering alchemist was a known quantity. “Because of his sister?”
Riza nodded. “And he’s now head of investigations so it’ll help.”
“I’m ready for what comes,” Hughes said not sounding convinced of it.
She gave him a long look. “I hope you’re right.”
X X X
“Roy, please you really should take something for the pain,” Winry fretted. Normally she let him and Ed stubborn out the pain but they were in a rush.
Firing the girl a look that actually backed her off, Roy instantly regretted it. Winry hadn’t done anything wrong. He was weaker than he should be, damn it, and the pain of reattaching his leg left him shaking. Maybe he should have swallowed his pride and met this fake Maes while still in his wheelchair. Too late now and he’d be damned if he met this man drugged to the gills on pain killers. Besides, for him they weren’t an option. Roy glanced at Ed but the young man’s face seemed made of wood. Roy couldn’t fathom what was going on in the blond alchemist’s head but he knew it wasn’t good. “I’ll be fine,” he lied so badly that Ed actually winced.
“I’ll get him some lemonade,” Pinako said, startling Roy. He had forgotten the old woman was even there. She had sent home their patients and closed her clinic for the day. He wished she would dump in some whiskey but that would just put him at a disadvantage. “You okay Winry? You look tired,” Roy said.
“Just a little queasy,” Winry replied. “Probably the stress of meeting Mr. Hughes. I don’t know anything about this man.”
“He was a policeman,” Ed said finally, so quietly that Roy had to double check it was actually Ed who spoke and not some…what had Ed said Fake Maes had called it? A Doppelganger?
“That much like our Maes,” Roy asked, equally soft, leaving Winry volleying looks between him and Edward as if trying to figure out who the strange soft-spoken men in her living room were. “What’s taking Riza so long?”
Winry frowned at his irritation and Roy instantly regretted his words. “You can’t think this is easy for her.”
Roy shook his head, hunching up on the sofa. He reached down and massaged what little was left of his calf muscles, trying to milk the pain out of them. Maybe he should let Winry get him an analgesic but he didn’t want to look weak in front of Edward. Besides, analgesics didn’t do much for this kind of pain. Narcotics could but he wouldn’t allow himself that, even if he wasn’t about to meet the doppelganger of his best friend. “I know it’s not easy, Winry. I’m sorry.” Roy let out a long slow breath. “I’m not in a good frame of mind.”
“I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble,” Ed said, sinking lower on his chair, as if being pushed straight into the ground by the weight of his sins.
Winry went over, her strong hand gripping his shoulder. “We know, Edward. We just need to figure out the best way of dealing with this.”
“It’s out of our hands, isn’t it?” Ed asked sourly, waving stiff-handedly at Roy. “If he contacted the military, we’re all already in trouble.”
“The military knew the moment you tried to access your account,” Roy said, not for the first time. “When it comes down to the military Edward, let me do the talking. Please.” Roy gave Ed a look that had the young man squirming. Roy broke it off as Pinako came back with the lemonade and a damp towel for his sweating face. The older alchemist accepted both gratefully. He wished he had thought to send Riza to the market for mint or that Pinako had used some of his ginger to spice the drink. “I can probably save everyone but only if you don’t interfere. If I need your input, I’ll ask.”
“I can take-” Ed was silenced by a combination arm jab from Winry and the look on Roy’s face.
“If President Armstrong only sends her brother, things will be different. You know how to handle him but I get this terrible feeling she’ll want meet you herself. You’ve never met her.” Roy licked his lips, tasting the tart and sweet of lemonade there. “You have no idea.”
Ed sat forward, letting his hair tumble like water down to shield his face. In a gravelly voice, he replied, “I don’t like not knowing what I’m getting into but I’ll follow your lead. You know what you’re doing.”
Roy knew just how much that admission had cost the younger alchemist. “In this, I do.” Hearing the front door open, Roy flinched. He stared at the archway to the living room, willing himself to stand but couldn’t. “It’s this next thing here that I’m afraid to do.” Winry’s hand brushed his shoulder to remind him he wasn’t alone and Roy wondered how Edward had ever left a girl like this; how had Dev? Finally, he levered himself up onto his foot, his nerves screaming, reminding him the automail wasn’t quite ready yet. The nerves hadn’t settled but Roy took the steps across the living room anyhow, instantly regretting his choice when Al and Riza came into the room, Maes Hughes sandwiched between them. Roy stumbled, Riza rushing forward to grab him arm. In spite of what Ed had said, Roy hadn’t been prepared for this. This man didn’t just resemble his dead best friend, he was him down to the last detail. Roy cursed under his breath, his hand coming up to clamp over him mouth, willing foul words and bile to stay down where they belonged.
“You must be Roy,” Hughes said and Roy felt like the man’s grave had opened up and he was tumbling headlong into it.
Roy was barely aware of Riza walking him back to the couch and he fell onto it. He couldn’t find his voice to say anything. This man didn’t just look like Hughes, he sounded just like him. What hell had the brothers brought with them? What had any of them done to deserve to have such deep wounds violated like this?
“Roy was badly injured in a bombing a few months ago,” Riza said and Roy hated that she felt she had to cover for his weaknesses.
“I can’t wonder if my friend would have grown up to look like you,” Hughes mused softly, his eyes never leaving Roy.
Roy swallowed and managed to stand again. Riza gently forced him back down, horror reflecting in her eyes. “There was another me, there?” He couldn’t remember what the brothers had said about that.
“You were killed.” Ed’s flat tone spun Roy around, his mouth gaping ridiculously. He snapped it shut.
“When we were still in school,” Hughes continued. “I’m glad that didn’t happen here.” He smiled gently then stuck out his hand. “I’m Meinhard Hughes.”
Roy looked at that hand then took it in his own. “Roy Mustang.” The surrealness of shaking hands with a man wearing his dead friend’s face, and not having said man being a homunculus made Roy’s innards twist. “I’m sorry. I’m not on my best behavior…this has thrown me.”
“I’m sure it has. I’ve had more time to prepare for some of this.” Hughes eyes knifed toward Edward, who turned his face away. “But not much.”
Roy sat back down. “You’ve met Riza. This is Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter, Winry. I have no doubts the brothers have told you all about her.”
Hughes smiled widely, holding out a hand to Winry. “I am so pleased to finally meet the brothers’ muse.”
Winry flung herself into Hughes’ arms, a ragged sob cracking through her armor. Hughes patted her back, shooting Ed and Al, who had moved to stand behind his brother, a panicked look. Pinako slapped both brothers.
“For not warning anyone properly,” she said when they turned hurt, surprised looks on her.
Winry broke away from Hughes, wiping her face. “Sorry. It’s not …I didn’t know Maes Hughes as well as Roy or Ed and Al but he watched out for them, he made sure they were safe and I loved him for that. And you have watched out for them, too, and I am very grateful for it.”
“It was my pleasure,” Hughes assured her, patting Winry’s shoulder.
“Sit down, Hughes,” Ed said, his voice dull as the paint on an abandoned house. The young man slumped in his chair. “I want to say something but I…I have no idea what.”
“I said let me talk,” Roy reminded him. “How much did the brothers tell you?”
“Not enough, not soon enough,” Hughes said, taking a seat on a chair. “I know about Gracia and her daughter.” Hughes’ gaze dropped to the carpeting. “I was married to Gracia as well but she and our child were killed along with Al’s fiancée.”
Roy gulped for air. “They told me. I’m sorry.”
Hughes scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “I’m just as afraid to be here, to risk seeing her, as you are to have me around.” He lifted his gaze, meeting Roy’s. “I’m not sure I should be anywhere near Gracia.”
Roy’s eyes dimmed. “You aren’t, not here. And I agree, not yet, but…as much as I don’t want to tell her about any of this, it may become necessary. The military already knows the brothers are here.”
“Riza told me,” Hughes interrupted, glancing over at her. “I know what kind of trouble I’m potentially in.”
“I think I can protect you but it will require being very honest with both Armstrongs,” Roy said, wagging a finger at the brothers. “About everything. Believe me, she’ll not want anyone to know there is another world across that Gate. It would be too hard to control people who would want to try and breach it. She would have to either kill us all and I don’t think she would try that, or keep a tight control on the information.”
“Which means putting a tight collar on us,” Ed said miserably.
“That’s why I said leave her to me, Edward. I know Olivia and how she thinks. I’m used to dealing with her. I’ll do my best,” Roy said and Riza put a hand on his arm. He lost himself a moment in the depths of her eyes. “To be brutally honest, Olivia wants me dead.”
“What?” Al barked, lurching forward.
”And you want us to deal with her?” Ed added, his eyes wide.
“Yes because you have to. Don’t worry, lots of people want me dead,” Roy replied and Ed snorted to that. Roy gave him a slot-eyed look. “Olivia knows killing me too dangerous to her own standing. So, instead, she keeps me relatively happy and keeps me right where she can see me for the most part.”
“What would that mean for me?” Hughes asked, eyeing Pinako’s pipe as if he wanted a smoke.
“I don’t know but that might mean keeping you in Central,” Roy said. “Alex Louis Armstrong is her brother and he was Maes Hughes’ subordinate in Investigations. He’s now in charge. She would very likely place you in the same department…as a brigadier general by the way, bumped two ranks in death.” Roy couldn’t keep the wry tone out of his voice. He knew he should be glad of it. That fact meant more in Gracia’s monthly widow’s benefit check. “But Gracia does live in Central.”
“One day at a time,” Pinako said, pulling the pipe out from between her tightly pursed lips, the events of the day obviously weighing on her even though she had never known Hughes. Roy knew the old woman knew how important Maes had been to the kids. “Get through this first. Whatever happens tomorrow is something you can’t worry on. Get to know each other first.”
Roy smiled at her. “Good advice. I don’t know you yet and I’ll be damned if I’m anything like Edward might have told you I was.”
“Said you were a bastard.” Hughes grinned widely and Roy’s heart clenched. It was just like having his friend back.
“Oh he’d know, being the biggest one….or should I say littlest one, himself.” Roy smirked at Edward who threw a pillow unerringly.
Winry reached over and slapped Roy. “Look who’s talking, Roy. Some days I swear your mother must have been Aunt Tricia’s sister or something. You have to be related to Edward. You’re too much alike.”
Roy just wagged his head, enjoying the “kicked by a mule” look on Ed’s face. The young man’s lips flapped doing his best landed fish impression before finally he managed to get out, “Winry! Take that back!”
“So, you’re stubborn, smart, rude, impatient and foul mouthed, Roy?” Hughes laughed.
Roy felt the black clouds over him break up, the storm having spent itself. He wanted to like this man. It wasn’t his fault he looked like Maes…really was Maes after a fashion. If Edward could stand living with a brother who wasn’t really Al then he could do this. “I’m every bit of that. You forgot arrogant.”
“Oh, how could I forget that? It’s Edward’s defining attribute.”
“You all can go to hell,” Ed grumbled but there was no heat in his voice. A smile seemed to be trying to take his lips hostage.
“You’re proving their point, Brother.” Al tapped Ed on the top of the head. “Anyone can see Roy is our oldest brother.”
Ed blew a raspberry. “Claim him in you want. I’m having no part of that bastard being in the family.”
“Just what I need, two of you.” Al rolled his eyes.
“This is why I couldn’t leave them alone,” Hughes said, favoring the boys with a fond smile. “They’ll kill each other and I would miss being part of the family.”
“Poor man.” Pinako snorted. “If they kill each other off, we’ll use their hides as rugs.”
“And they better not destroy my automail. That goes for you, too, Mustang.” Winry pointed a finger at him.
“Told you, Hughes. She loves her automail more than us but in Mustang’s case, who can blame her?” Ed snorted.
“Automail? That’s the limbs you make, right?” Hughes asked Winry.
“Yes. I need to fix Edward in the worst way.” Winry shot Ed a critical look.
“Don’t you need a gelding knife for that?” Roy asked sweetly.
Ed jumped up, nearly pitching on his face as the damaged leg wobbled. Al grabbed him before Ed could topple and shoved him back down. “I’m going to make you eat that automail foot of yours, you smug bastard!”
Hughes laughed loudly. “Oh yes, I can see how this could easily feel like home in a very short time.”
Roy glanced at him, surprised by how good that sounded to him. He hadn’t realized how desperate for a friend he was. He didn’t have many…any really. Havoc and the rest came close but in the end there was a gulf born of military rank between them. Armstrong and he had a lot of scorched earth burying bad memories so he wasn’t sure if he could call Alex Louis a friend, either. The one man he truly knew was his friend and nothing more was gone. What did it say about him that he was frantic to befriend a total stranger? “We’ll help you find one here.”
Before Hughes could reply, Winry stood up, a hand clamped tight over her mouth. Her skin had picked up the dull green-grey of a river pearl. She mumbled something like ‘excuse me’ and raced from the room.
“Winry?” Al cried, echoed by his brother. He helped a struggling Ed up and the brothers went after her.
“Is she okay?” Hughes asked.
Pinako tapped her tobacco out into an ash tray and set it aside. “She’s had a stomach flu. I’ll go check on her.”
Riza got up then seemed to think better of it and settled back next to Roy. He knew Riza felt he needed her more. Winry had plenty of people to care for her. She smiled at Hughes. “Tell us about yourself, Hughes. I can get us something to drink.”
“A little harder than lemonade,” Roy grumbled.
Riza shot him a slot-eyed look but nodded. “You as well, Hughes?”
“I think we might need it.” Hughes sat back, his long, lean frame relaxing. “I get the feeling this might be a long day.”
Chapter eight
Author -
cornerofmadnessDisclaimer - not mine, all characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa et al, Square Enix and funimition.
Pairing – Roy/Riza, Ed/Win (eventually) Winry/OC, mentions of Maes/Gracia and Al/OC
Rating – will vary from chapter to chapter, mostly Pg-13 but will eventually contain well marked adult chapters.
Time Line – anime based, spoilers all the way through the anime and the movie and does have strong manga elements such as Armstrong’s older sister and the land of Xing
Summary – As Roy and Riza prepare for their wedding, while dodging assassins, Ed and Al try to find their way back home.
Author’s Note #1– This was written after much prodding by
evil_little_dog as a sequel to the source of sorrow and is now her holiday gift even if she has beta’ed part of it. So thanks to her and lyricnonsense for the beta. And thanks to evil_little_dog with help with some of the dialogue. You do not have to read the first story to understand this. You’ll quickly pick up that Riza has retired from the military to be Roy’s wife and bodyguard. Olivia Armstrong is now president and she’s assigned Roy as the ambassador to Ishbal; oh and that Roy was severely injured in the destruction of the Gate, requiring some of Winry’s automail.Author's Note #2 - This is a longer work and like real relationships, the ones listed in the pairings, take time to mend and come together. They have to work at it. Hope you enjoy the ride.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I've gone and come back, I'll find it at home. – Rumi
Chapter Seven
Ed didn’t want to get up. Al had to poke and prod his brother to rouse him. Like a surly puppy, Ed finally rolled out of the covers, seeming stiff; almost old. Al hated seeing him like this. He could bury his own heartache and pain for now and just thankful to be home where his brother could get the care he needed. “Come on, Brother,” Al said when it seemed unlikely Ed was going to move. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get dinner.” Of all the things that had changed over the years, his brother’s appetite wasn’t one of them.
Ed rubbed his belly and it grumbled at him. “Yeah, I could eat now except…” His lips yanked down into a vicious scowl. “How could she have an Ishbalan boyfriend?”
“I guess things have changed and for the better,” Al said, not flinching when Ed’s hot gaze flamed over him. “Think about it, peace with the Ishbalans, that’s a good thing, Ed.”
Undoing his ponytail, Ed finger combed his hair back then retied it. “In theory, yeah. I just…does this feel like home, Al?” Ed stared at the floor, unable to keep the dismay out of his voice.
Al rested his hand on Ed’s shoulder. “Give it time, Edward. We just got back after being gone for years. You can’t expect things to have stayed exactly the same. It could be worse. We’ve talked about it.”
Ed nodded. Winry could be married with children. She might have died. Ishbalans could be running Amestris. The bastard could have actually been Fuhrer. Ed shuddered at the thought. “Dinner, then. I’ll behave.”
Al almost swallowed his sigh but not quite. Ed ignored his brother’s doubt in him. He offered his brother a hand up and couldn’t help notice how poorly Edward went down the stairs. Roy and Riza sat in the kitchen, lingering over cups of coffee, but the spicy smells of whatever Winry’s boyfriend had been cooking were gone. Riza’s brown eyes lit up, seeing them. She abandoned the table and threw her arms around both boys, nearly knocking Ed over. Al had never seen her so demonstrative.
“I almost didn’t believe it when Roy and Winry told me,” Riza whispered, squeezing them. “Roy has been looking for a way to bring you back ever since you left but he says he had nothing to do with you being here.”
The surprise in Ed’s eyes echoed in Al’s tone, “You were, sir?”
Roy nodded. “Without much success. I’m afraid we had all but given up hope.”
“Liar, you spent the whole time you were recuperating studying your books,” Winry said, coming into the room, smelling somehow metallic. “Unless Riza or I took them away. You never gave up.” She turned to the brothers. “Did you sleep well?”
Al nodded. “I feel better now. Hungry, though.”
“Sorry you had to hold dinner for us, Winry,” Ed said then gave Roy a begrudging look. “Thanks for trying.”
“I knew you wouldn’t want to stay in a strange new world. I mean, what would you do without me?” Roy smirked and Ed barked out a laugh. “You’ll have to explain to me how you managed to get back without a Gate in detail.” Roy shrugged. “And it’s breakfast. You boys slept through the night.”
“Really?” Ed asked, stunned. Al’s jaw dropped.
“Yes, really. Sit. I can get you breakfast,” Winry said, patting them on their backs.
“I’ll do it, Winry. You have patients,” Riza said, heading to the ice chest. “Scrambled eggs?”
“That would be great,” Al said with enthusiasm. “We can help.”
“You still look tired. I’ll handle it.” Riza assured him.
“Heat up some of that stew Dev made,” Roy said. “And bacon. And I want to be the next patient, Winry.” He lifted his leg, pointing to the empty space where a foot should be.
“Fine. I’ll give you back your foot but you have to promise to behave,” Winry said wearily, resting her hip against the counter.
“That will never happen,” a voice called from the back door, which opened into the kitchen. Dev peered in the upper half of the door, which was swung open. He wore his priest’s robes, the bright blue sash looking out of place against the sandy robe. His automail arm seemed almost garish against the backdrop.
“It won’t if you don’t stop bringing him work to do,” Winry said, seeing the sheaf of papers under Dev’s arm as she waved him in.
“Can’t be helped,” Dev said, casting an intense look at the brothers before taking off his sun glasses. He gazed at Winry. “You look tired. Want me to brew you up that energy tea?”
“No, thanks, it smells bad and tastes worse and you know it.” Winry wrinkled her nose. “You had prayers this morning?” she asked blandly, knowing that was obvious.
“What feast day or holiday is it this time?” Roy asked as Dev whacked the paperwork down in front of him.
“The Beginning of Harvest. It’s nearly autumn,” Dev said. “Time to ask for a safe harvest.”
“I have no idea how you keep all these holy days in your head. Ishbal seems to have so many of them,” Roy said, not moving to look at the papers.
“The same way you keep all that alchemy stuff in yours,” Dev replied, moving to Riza’s side. “Do you need help, Riza?”
“No, sit down,” she said, glancing back at the table and Al wondered if she was trying to decide if that was a bad idea.
“Sorry we sort of ran out last night, Dev is it?” Al asked and Ed nudged him under the table. “We had a very long trip here.”
Dev sat next to Roy then looked back up at Winry as if looking for guidance then said, “Winry and Roy didn’t seem to think you were ever coming back.”
“We weren’t supposed to be but…we’re just glad to be back home, no matter how much it’s changed,” Ed said, staring at the wood grain of the table.
“We’re glad to have you back,” Winry said softly, touching Ed’s shoulder. “We’ll have to have a long private talk once I actually stop shaking inside.”
Al watched Ed open his mouth then clamp it shut as if he didn’t know what to say. Al didn’t blame him since he had no idea, either. He still felt as out of place here as he had back on Earth. If not for Ziata, he might not ever have felt welcome there. Al closed his eyes, trying to wall up the emotions.
“Al?” Winry’s voice held a querulous tone
He stiffened his back. “I’m okay, Winry. Still just wrung out.” Al didn’t want to talk about Ziata yet or even about coming home. Ed was right. It didn’t feel like home like, at least not yet. Al had confidence that it would once they settled in. He studied Dev for a moment. “I got to know some of your people when my brother and I were…traveling, years ago. The encampments were…” Al stopped himself. He hardly had to tell an Ishbalan how awful those camps were. “I’m glad things are different now,” he added, assuming they had to be for someone of Dev’s background to be walking freely around Resembol dressed as he was.
“I grew up in those camps,” Dev said, getting up to get some plates when he saw Winry wasn’t. “We’re working on reestablishing our county. That’s what I’m doing here. They made this braying ass an ambassador.” His automail hand swept out toward Roy and Ed smirked at the insult. “But he is working hard to help us. Winry has set up a clinic back home and is trying to get some other mechanics to move from Rush Valley out there since she’s too busy here and in Central to give it full time attention.”
“Really?” Ed’s mouth dropped as he twisted in his chair to look at Winry. “That’s…that’s pretty incredible.”
Al knew what Ed had wanted to say, ‘that’s dangerous,’ but incredible worked. “We’ve missed a lot,” Al whispered.
“Being out of the country will do that to you,” Roy said, cluing the brothers in on the story that had been told about their disappearance.
“Is that how you and Winry got together?” Ed asked more politely than Al would have expected. Ed missed the exchanged looks between Dev and Winry but Al did not. He wondered at it but didn’t think it wise to ask.
“Roy was feeling guilty about burning off my arm all those years ago.” Dev put the plates on the table. “So he set me up with Winry to try the automail.” He glanced at his silver metal fingers. “I’m not very good with it yet.”
“You’ve only had it a few months. Be patient,” Winry said by rote. How many times had she said that to patients?
Ed patted his own metal wrist. “You’re lucky. Winry’s the best,” he said, making Winry smile.
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen my foot in months,” Roy grumbled, wiggling his truncated leg around.
“Today. I’ll put it on today if you just stop whining.” Winry rolled her eyes.
Well, the bickering felt like home, Al decided, then asked something he knew he shouldn’t but it struck a deep and unpleasant chord in him. “The colonel…sorry, general burned you?”
“That’s a complicated story,” Riza interrupted, bringing over the pan of eggs. She shoveled some out. “Too much for empty stomachs. Eat first. I’ll go get you that stew in a moment. Roy, I’m assuming you wanted a little, too, since you made a point of asking for it.”
He batted his eyes at her. “Please.”
“Don’t feed him until he signs all those papers,” Dev suggested, nodding his chin at Roy.
“I’ve tried that. It doesn’t work. He just gets skinnier.” Riza sighed.
Dev slipped his sunglasses back on. “Don’t let Winry put on his foot then.” Dev smiled maliciously at Roy.
“You shut up,” Roy grumbled, stabbing at finger at the priest.
“I’ll be back for the paperwork later. I can’t stay around today. I have to help Aris get ready for the afternoon prayers and some of the farmers here want a blessing on their equipment. Guess things are changing if they want help from an Ishbalan,” Dev said wryly.
“I thought Ishbalan priests were warriors?” Ed’s surprise shone through brightly. “I didn’t think you did things like that.
Dev shrugged. “No, there are three sects, the teachers, the healers and the most numerous, the warriors, and now with the automail, I might be accepted into the caste of the warrior priests…once I figure out how to make it work.”
“Patience not being the strong point of the Ishbalan priesthood,” Winry said, slumping over her eggs and Al wondered just how much - or how little - sleep she'd gotten last night. He sincerely wished that the arrival of his brother and him had little to do with that but didn't hold out much hope that it wasn't the case. “You’re figuring it out just fine, Dev.”
“If you say so.” He opened the door. “I’ll be back later.”
“I won’t have signed anything,” Roy replied and Dev shot him what Al figured had to be an Ishbalan obscene gesture Roy had no doubt become very familiar with. The young man left.
With his departure, the room quieted to just the sounds of the men eating ravenously. Al knew he and Ed were putting off the inevitable. Dev had made a nice distraction but sooner rather than later, they would have to fess up to who they had accidentally brought with them. Al didn’t know which would be harder, keeping Ed from saying something incredibly stupid about Winry’s boyfriend or telling Mr. Mustang about Mr. Hughes.
Finally, Al put his dish in the sink, arguing briefly with Riza about who would wash up then he sat back at the table with another cup of coffee clenched in his hands like a steaming life line. “Ed, we need to tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Winry glanced between the brothers sharply. She never had returned to her patients like Riza suggested.
Al winced at the dread he heard in Winry’s question. He watched his brother squirm, probably as much from the intense scrutiny Roy inflicted on them the moment he had opened his mouth as it was from the fact Ed wouldn’t want to tell them.
“We made a mistake,” Ed said, finally. “In coming here.” The color fled Edward’s face and Winry’s mirrored it. “I didn’t mean it like that. Coming home wasn’t a mistake. It’s just…I don’t even know how to explain it.” He slumped in his chair.
“Tell them about Alfons,” Al suggested.
Ed’s body quivered. He trained his eyes on the table, following the wood grain with his finger. “In that world, on Earth, there were alternatives of the people here. Well, some of them. There wasn’t any of you but there was another Al. Alfons and another Gracia. They look just like the people here, act a lot like them, too. It was…unsettling.”
“I can only imagine,” Roy said, turned as if to get up then stopped himself. He gestured at the coffee and Riza refilled it for him. Al wondered if that gesture was to give Ed time to compose himself. His brother took it.
“We became friends with some of those alternate people,” Ed continued. “Gracia, for one. Alfons…died and it was very hard. It was like watching my brother die of a terrible, lingering disease. And now Gracia is dead, too.” Al shuddered violently and Ed reached for him. Roy put his cup on the table. Ed stared at him. “There was another Hughes, Mustang, a policeman. He was almost like our Hughes, maybe not quite as brave, a little less insane, but there he was and in love with Gracia.” Ed broke off, his throat working hard.
Riza made a small distressed sound, reaching for Roy. Pale-faced, he grabbed her hand, squeezing hard. Winry took Ed by the wrist, tears standing in her eyes. He eyed her strong hand in surprise.
“Gracia was out with Ziata, my fiancée,” Al said, barely able to find his voice. He had to tell this part. “It was a snowy day. A car went off the road and onto the sidewalk, pinning them both.” Al buried his face in his hands. “They died.”
“Oh, Al.” Letting go of Ed, Winry stood and pulled Al half out of his seat and against her. Al flung his arms around her neck.
“I’m sorry, Al,” Roy said after giving Al a few moments to get his control back. The older alchemist didn’t sound very in control himself. “What does all of this have to do with the mistake you boys made in coming back?”
“Hughes wanted to come with us, said we were all he had left,” Ed said flatly.
“We didn’t plan on bringing him.” Al let Winry go. He sat up, wiping his face. “We didn’t tell him about the doubles.”
“But you did bring him,” Riza said slowly, the only one still able to speak.
Ed shook his head. “No! It’s just…he followed us.”
“He jumped through when we opened the gate. We didn’t mean to do it,” Al bleated.
“He’s here?” Roy growled, trying to stand up. He fell against the table and Riza steadied him. “You brought him here?”
“At the hotel,” Ed replied, not looking at the man. “We don’t know what to do with him now.”
“I’ll call Havoc just in case one of the men spot him and think he’s a homunculus,” Riza said, walking unsteadily to the phone out in the hall.
“How are we going to tell Mrs. Hughes and Elicia?” Al asked plaintively.
Roy trembled. “I have no idea. We don’t.”
“But,” Al started.
“We don’t!” Roy slammed his hand down on the table, making Al jump. “We don’t say a word until I meet this man. You don’t know that he’ll want to know there’s another Gracia, a Gracia that’s a mother to a child fathered by his exact duplicate.”
“It’s a little late for that,” Ed said bitterly. “We told him.”
Roy’s lip curled. “Perfect. This isn’t a mistake, boys. It’s a damn disaster.”
“We can’t fix it,” Al said, folding in on himself at the criticism. “We know that. And I don’t know that we can send him back. We don’t even know that he’ll want to go.”
Roy pinched the bridge of his nose. Al could see the pain and frustration building in the man. An explosion was imminent. “Now not only do I have to come up with a story for where you two have been for years, I have to figure out how Hughes came back from the dead. This world is big but you know how it goes. We have no luck and someone will see him and then the military will…I don’t know, say he faked his own death and deserted.” The speed at which Roy was talking laid bared his nervousness.
“They can’t!” Al protested, his stomach wrenching at the very thought. What had they done? He hadn’t even thought of that.
“Roy, let’s not start imagining the worse,” Riza cautioned, coming back over to the table. She rested her hands on his shoulders. “Don’t forget Armstrong is your friend.”
“That’s right, you already said Armstrong was talking to his sister about saying Ed and Al were abroad in Xing on a deep undercover mission but….that means you’re still in the service of the military, Ed,” Winry said, interlocking her fingers with his.
Ed stared at her hand in his, stunned for a moment then managed to rasp out, “But I could resign, right?”
Roy shook his head. “One thing at a time, Edward. For all I know, Olivia might want something of you two in exchange for signing off on this massive lie. I can’t impose on Olivia’s kindness for this because she has none. She’s as hard as her brother is soft.” Roy laced his fingers, resting his chin against them.
“You really are already working on this?” Al asked in surprise.
“Made the calls last night,” Roy said. “Had to. Got the alert you tried the bank about an hour after you came here,” he added with a hint of his old humor.
“We have no money at all,” Ed said, wisely keeping quiet about his alchemized gold. “What little we got from our pawned stuff was just enough to get us here and get the inn room for Hughes. We figured we’d have to swallow our pride and ask for help.”
“You have a place to stay here, Ed,” Winry said, the circles under her eyes seeming even darker now. “We won’t leave you two with nothing.”
“Are you sure your boyfriend won’t get mad?” Ed couldn’t hide his bitterness as he extricated his hand from hers.
“Brother,” Al snapped. He was not about to let Ed talk them into even more trouble than they were in.
“Let me worry about Dev. It’s all very…complicated.” Winry’s head dropped, her bangs coming down to veil her. She seemed so much older than she actually was. Al almost regretted coming here and burdening her.
“Take me to see Hughes,” Roy demanded, trying to get back up again but Riza pushed him down. “I have to see him before I do anything else.”
“He’s waiting at the hotel. I had no idea we slept all night,” Ed hung his head. “Should have called him before stuffing our faces.”
Roy glanced down at his leg. “I don’t want to meet him in this wheelchair.”
“I’ll put your foot on now,” Winry said, getting up. “And see if Granny is done with her patient so I can tell her what’s happening. Why don’t you go to see Hughes, Al? Bring him here but give me some time to get Roy squared away. You know how he’ll need to rest.”
“I’ll be fine,” Roy growled impatiently.
Riza squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t argue with your mechanic, Roy.”
Roy settled, unhappiness written on every visible part of him.
“I’ll go with Al,” Ed murmured. Al could tell his brother was unreasonably happy about being left out of Winry’s plan for how this was going to happen.
“You can barely walk,” Riza said, dropping a kiss against Roy’s crown. “You stay here. I’ll drive Al to the hotel. It would just be easier that way.” Her fingers squeezed Roy’s arm again. “You and Ed will not drive Winry and Pinako insane.”
Roy nodded. “There won’t be any problems.” He turned tired eyes on Winry. “If I have to sit on Edward myself to make sure there aren’t.”
Ed startled at that, his eyes darkening but Al cleared his throat and shot his brother a look that settled him down.
Riza just nodded then added a fiery look to it that Al knew meant bad things should either man not behave. He followed Riza out to the car, still unused to seeing her out of uniform. Walking behind her hadn’t been a good bet. Raw and hurting as he was, Al could still appreciate Riza’s athletic form, maybe a little too much. He had a major crush on her while he had been in armor. He slid into the car without comment. He nearly got behind the wheel before remembering where he was.
“Sorry,” he said as Riza turned the engine over. “I’ve been driving Ed around for the last year. He’s an awful driver.”
Riza chuckled softly. “I’ve been driving Roy. He’s no longer allowed to drive now that he has no depth perception which infuriates him but I’ll keep your warning in mind.”
“Believe me, don’t drive with Ed unless you’re a fan of finding ditches face first…or trees.” Al shook his head, allowing himself a small smile. It faded quickly. “I’m so sorry we’re causing so much trouble.”
Riza put a hand on his leg. “Alphonse, you are not causing trouble.” Her hand was gone as quickly as it had alighted, moving to the gear shift. Riza pulled out onto the road. “You and Edward are, of course, cause for much uproar but you are not trouble.”
“I’m not so sure,” Al replied glumly, looking out the window. Resembol really hadn’t changed much, nothing new to distract him. “Ed isn’t going to take Winry having a boyfriend well, even though he knew she probably would have one or even be married. I mean, she couldn’t be expected to wait forever on someone who should never have been able to come back.”
Riza glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Winry doesn’t have a boyfriend, Alphonse, not any more.”
“But…” Al wet his lips, wondering why the Ishbalan had lied.
“They are friends,” Riza said as if reading his mind. “Dev is being a territorial male, no surprise there. And it’s not my story to tell. You and Ed just need to give Winry some time to adjust to you being back. You boys need time yourself.”
Al ran a hand through his hair. “I know. We really do.”
“I know you lost your fiancée, Alphonse,” Riza said gently. Her hand strayed from the wheel briefly to stroke his arm. “I am so sorry.”
He ducked his head, his long hair shielding his face. He should have pulled it back, he thought absently. “Thank you. Winry said you nearly lost yours.”
Riza made a soft sound, desperation, pain, Al wasn’t sure but understood nonetheless. “Roy isn’t as strong yet as he likes to pretend. You may have to remind him of that from time to time. He’ll want Edward especially to think he’s just fine, just like nothing has changed.”
“That would be normal, Brother and him fighting.” Al went back to looking out the window. “I guess we just thought, we'd come back home and things would be...right. Normal, you know? But nothing is.”
“No, nothing is. Time marches on so they say.” Riza accelerated. “This is going to be so very hard on Roy, Alphonse, meeting this man.”
“I am sorry,” Al’s voice was a skinned whisper. “We didn’t mean to do this.”
“But you did and we have to deal with it,” Riza said not unkindly.
Al nodded and fell silent.
“He knew you were doing this but not that you weren’t planning to bring him,” Riza mused almost to herself. “You lied.”
Al blushed. “It was…necessary. We didn’t like it. We needed him, Miss Hawkeye. Ed was trying to study rockets and I was helping out in a doctor’s office but there wasn’t much money. Ziata was a little older than me. She had a job and I was thinking of going to school but then…” Al gnawed at his lip again as if pain was the only thing keeping him going. “He was just like our Mr. Hughes in that respect, ma’am. He took care of us and he was hurting just as much. We didn’t want to tell him ‘no’. We thought he would forgive us for leaving him. It was stupid on our part. If we had just told him the truth about our Mr. Hughes, about the Mrs. Hughes here, he might never have wanted to come, but we were afraid it would make him want to come more.”
“Well, what is done is done, Alphonse.” Riza glanced over at him. “And you can call me Riza. I won’t be Miss Hawkeye for much longer, though I have to admit being a Mustang will take some getting used to.”
Al made a sound that could have been a laugh. “Brother will probably moan on about your bad taste in men. He’ll never see just how much like the Colo…General he is.”
Riza laughed as well. “Oh, never. Roy, however, is aware of it but he doesn’t like to be reminded.”
Al nodded. “I believe it.” He fell silent once more, dreading what was to come as Riza parked in front of the inn. He thought the building must have had a recent paint job. The two-story wooden structure was a pristine white. In brilliant contrast, the wrap-around porch and full-length balcony were forest green, a very inviting combination. What wasn’t inviting was the task ahead of him. Al dragged out of the car as if he were the one with malfunctioning automail. Riza caught his hand, squeezing it. Al shot her a startled look then smiled. Even though she knew this was going to be hard on her, too, Al appreciated her attempt to comfort him. “We’re actually up there.” Al pointed to the dormer on the third story. “We figured we needed to be sure no one saw him just in case.”
“Wise.” Riza headed up the steps onto the porch. “I have no idea what we’re going to do now, Alphonse. This may get very…tense.”
“We know,” Al replied quietly, sneaking in front of her. He led the way upstairs, pulling his key out of his pocket. Before he tried to unlock the room door, he knocked. “Hughes, it’s Alphonse.”
The door opened too quickly, surprising Alphonse. Riza made a soft, distressed sound, stumbling into the young man. Hughes’ eyes widened at her plight behind his glasses but he showed no signs of recognizing Riza. Al steadied her with an arm. “You’ve been gone a long time,” Hughes said in gentle rebuke.
Al helped Riza inside, sitting her on the edge of his bed. “Things got more complicated than we expected. We didn’t know Riza and General Mustang would be here. Ed and I thought we’d have more time to plan something but we don’t.” Al rested a hand on Riza’s shoulder. “Hughes, this is Miss Riza Hawkeye.”
Riza shrugged away from Al’s touch, rising to her feet, her legs visibly shaking. “You look so much like him.”
“The brothers have told me as much,” Hughes said. “It’s nice meeting you, miss.”
Riza took another step closer to him. “You sound like him, too. It’s uncanny.” Her throat sounded tight to Al. He could see the gathering storm of clouds in her eyes. “I have…it’s...”
Hughes took her hand. “Sit, please. You have almost literally seen a ghost.” He guided her back to the edge of the bed. “Alphonse and Edward weren’t entirely honest with me about this world. If I had known….” He shook his head then pushed up his glasses. “I was a police officer. I can imagine what sorts of troubles my coming back to life might cause. If it is possible for me to just…I don’t know, go somewhere far away where no one will notice me, I would be willing but….”
“You came here to be with them,” Riza finished for him. Her lips peeled back into a weary smile. “Our Hughes was very fond of the boys, looked at them like little brothers or sons.”
Hughes smiled at Al. “I can understand that.”
Al flushed at that.
“And the military already knows the brothers are back. It’s possible that we might be able to resurrect Maes Hughes so you won’t have to run off,” Riza said.
“Or things could get really bad for me,” he said, rubbing his chin then studying her over the rim of his glasses.
“Trust her, sir,” Al replied. “They’ll do their best to keep you safe.”
A painful sigh escaped Riza’s lips and the tears fell. “It was so hard losing you once.” Her hands trembled as she put them over her face. “Roy is never going to get through this.”
Not knowing what else to do, Alphonse sat next to her, pulling her into a hug. Riza put her arms around him. Al rubbed her back. “We’ve made everything go wrong,” he whispered.
Riza pulled away then touched his cheek. “No, you haven’t. You’ve just made it…complicated and it won’t get less complicated here.” Riza wiped her face, looking up at Hughes. “Do you want to meet Roy Mustang?”
“I don’t think I have a choice,” Hughes replied, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Part of me doesn’t want to because I don’t want to cause any more stress but part of me wants to see if he resembles my lost childhood friend.”
“His Roy was murdered,” Al whispered, wincing himself as Riza flinched.
She got up, visibly giving herself a shake. “I’ll take you to meet him. Hopefully we’ll have time before someone else from the military shows up. If we’re lucky, it’ll be Armstrong.”
“Ma’am?” Al asked both puzzled and delighted. The blustering alchemist was a known quantity. “Because of his sister?”
Riza nodded. “And he’s now head of investigations so it’ll help.”
“I’m ready for what comes,” Hughes said not sounding convinced of it.
She gave him a long look. “I hope you’re right.”
X X X
“Roy, please you really should take something for the pain,” Winry fretted. Normally she let him and Ed stubborn out the pain but they were in a rush.
Firing the girl a look that actually backed her off, Roy instantly regretted it. Winry hadn’t done anything wrong. He was weaker than he should be, damn it, and the pain of reattaching his leg left him shaking. Maybe he should have swallowed his pride and met this fake Maes while still in his wheelchair. Too late now and he’d be damned if he met this man drugged to the gills on pain killers. Besides, for him they weren’t an option. Roy glanced at Ed but the young man’s face seemed made of wood. Roy couldn’t fathom what was going on in the blond alchemist’s head but he knew it wasn’t good. “I’ll be fine,” he lied so badly that Ed actually winced.
“I’ll get him some lemonade,” Pinako said, startling Roy. He had forgotten the old woman was even there. She had sent home their patients and closed her clinic for the day. He wished she would dump in some whiskey but that would just put him at a disadvantage. “You okay Winry? You look tired,” Roy said.
“Just a little queasy,” Winry replied. “Probably the stress of meeting Mr. Hughes. I don’t know anything about this man.”
“He was a policeman,” Ed said finally, so quietly that Roy had to double check it was actually Ed who spoke and not some…what had Ed said Fake Maes had called it? A Doppelganger?
“That much like our Maes,” Roy asked, equally soft, leaving Winry volleying looks between him and Edward as if trying to figure out who the strange soft-spoken men in her living room were. “What’s taking Riza so long?”
Winry frowned at his irritation and Roy instantly regretted his words. “You can’t think this is easy for her.”
Roy shook his head, hunching up on the sofa. He reached down and massaged what little was left of his calf muscles, trying to milk the pain out of them. Maybe he should let Winry get him an analgesic but he didn’t want to look weak in front of Edward. Besides, analgesics didn’t do much for this kind of pain. Narcotics could but he wouldn’t allow himself that, even if he wasn’t about to meet the doppelganger of his best friend. “I know it’s not easy, Winry. I’m sorry.” Roy let out a long slow breath. “I’m not in a good frame of mind.”
“I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble,” Ed said, sinking lower on his chair, as if being pushed straight into the ground by the weight of his sins.
Winry went over, her strong hand gripping his shoulder. “We know, Edward. We just need to figure out the best way of dealing with this.”
“It’s out of our hands, isn’t it?” Ed asked sourly, waving stiff-handedly at Roy. “If he contacted the military, we’re all already in trouble.”
“The military knew the moment you tried to access your account,” Roy said, not for the first time. “When it comes down to the military Edward, let me do the talking. Please.” Roy gave Ed a look that had the young man squirming. Roy broke it off as Pinako came back with the lemonade and a damp towel for his sweating face. The older alchemist accepted both gratefully. He wished he had thought to send Riza to the market for mint or that Pinako had used some of his ginger to spice the drink. “I can probably save everyone but only if you don’t interfere. If I need your input, I’ll ask.”
“I can take-” Ed was silenced by a combination arm jab from Winry and the look on Roy’s face.
“If President Armstrong only sends her brother, things will be different. You know how to handle him but I get this terrible feeling she’ll want meet you herself. You’ve never met her.” Roy licked his lips, tasting the tart and sweet of lemonade there. “You have no idea.”
Ed sat forward, letting his hair tumble like water down to shield his face. In a gravelly voice, he replied, “I don’t like not knowing what I’m getting into but I’ll follow your lead. You know what you’re doing.”
Roy knew just how much that admission had cost the younger alchemist. “In this, I do.” Hearing the front door open, Roy flinched. He stared at the archway to the living room, willing himself to stand but couldn’t. “It’s this next thing here that I’m afraid to do.” Winry’s hand brushed his shoulder to remind him he wasn’t alone and Roy wondered how Edward had ever left a girl like this; how had Dev? Finally, he levered himself up onto his foot, his nerves screaming, reminding him the automail wasn’t quite ready yet. The nerves hadn’t settled but Roy took the steps across the living room anyhow, instantly regretting his choice when Al and Riza came into the room, Maes Hughes sandwiched between them. Roy stumbled, Riza rushing forward to grab him arm. In spite of what Ed had said, Roy hadn’t been prepared for this. This man didn’t just resemble his dead best friend, he was him down to the last detail. Roy cursed under his breath, his hand coming up to clamp over him mouth, willing foul words and bile to stay down where they belonged.
“You must be Roy,” Hughes said and Roy felt like the man’s grave had opened up and he was tumbling headlong into it.
Roy was barely aware of Riza walking him back to the couch and he fell onto it. He couldn’t find his voice to say anything. This man didn’t just look like Hughes, he sounded just like him. What hell had the brothers brought with them? What had any of them done to deserve to have such deep wounds violated like this?
“Roy was badly injured in a bombing a few months ago,” Riza said and Roy hated that she felt she had to cover for his weaknesses.
“I can’t wonder if my friend would have grown up to look like you,” Hughes mused softly, his eyes never leaving Roy.
Roy swallowed and managed to stand again. Riza gently forced him back down, horror reflecting in her eyes. “There was another me, there?” He couldn’t remember what the brothers had said about that.
“You were killed.” Ed’s flat tone spun Roy around, his mouth gaping ridiculously. He snapped it shut.
“When we were still in school,” Hughes continued. “I’m glad that didn’t happen here.” He smiled gently then stuck out his hand. “I’m Meinhard Hughes.”
Roy looked at that hand then took it in his own. “Roy Mustang.” The surrealness of shaking hands with a man wearing his dead friend’s face, and not having said man being a homunculus made Roy’s innards twist. “I’m sorry. I’m not on my best behavior…this has thrown me.”
“I’m sure it has. I’ve had more time to prepare for some of this.” Hughes eyes knifed toward Edward, who turned his face away. “But not much.”
Roy sat back down. “You’ve met Riza. This is Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter, Winry. I have no doubts the brothers have told you all about her.”
Hughes smiled widely, holding out a hand to Winry. “I am so pleased to finally meet the brothers’ muse.”
Winry flung herself into Hughes’ arms, a ragged sob cracking through her armor. Hughes patted her back, shooting Ed and Al, who had moved to stand behind his brother, a panicked look. Pinako slapped both brothers.
“For not warning anyone properly,” she said when they turned hurt, surprised looks on her.
Winry broke away from Hughes, wiping her face. “Sorry. It’s not …I didn’t know Maes Hughes as well as Roy or Ed and Al but he watched out for them, he made sure they were safe and I loved him for that. And you have watched out for them, too, and I am very grateful for it.”
“It was my pleasure,” Hughes assured her, patting Winry’s shoulder.
“Sit down, Hughes,” Ed said, his voice dull as the paint on an abandoned house. The young man slumped in his chair. “I want to say something but I…I have no idea what.”
“I said let me talk,” Roy reminded him. “How much did the brothers tell you?”
“Not enough, not soon enough,” Hughes said, taking a seat on a chair. “I know about Gracia and her daughter.” Hughes’ gaze dropped to the carpeting. “I was married to Gracia as well but she and our child were killed along with Al’s fiancée.”
Roy gulped for air. “They told me. I’m sorry.”
Hughes scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “I’m just as afraid to be here, to risk seeing her, as you are to have me around.” He lifted his gaze, meeting Roy’s. “I’m not sure I should be anywhere near Gracia.”
Roy’s eyes dimmed. “You aren’t, not here. And I agree, not yet, but…as much as I don’t want to tell her about any of this, it may become necessary. The military already knows the brothers are here.”
“Riza told me,” Hughes interrupted, glancing over at her. “I know what kind of trouble I’m potentially in.”
“I think I can protect you but it will require being very honest with both Armstrongs,” Roy said, wagging a finger at the brothers. “About everything. Believe me, she’ll not want anyone to know there is another world across that Gate. It would be too hard to control people who would want to try and breach it. She would have to either kill us all and I don’t think she would try that, or keep a tight control on the information.”
“Which means putting a tight collar on us,” Ed said miserably.
“That’s why I said leave her to me, Edward. I know Olivia and how she thinks. I’m used to dealing with her. I’ll do my best,” Roy said and Riza put a hand on his arm. He lost himself a moment in the depths of her eyes. “To be brutally honest, Olivia wants me dead.”
“What?” Al barked, lurching forward.
”And you want us to deal with her?” Ed added, his eyes wide.
“Yes because you have to. Don’t worry, lots of people want me dead,” Roy replied and Ed snorted to that. Roy gave him a slot-eyed look. “Olivia knows killing me too dangerous to her own standing. So, instead, she keeps me relatively happy and keeps me right where she can see me for the most part.”
“What would that mean for me?” Hughes asked, eyeing Pinako’s pipe as if he wanted a smoke.
“I don’t know but that might mean keeping you in Central,” Roy said. “Alex Louis Armstrong is her brother and he was Maes Hughes’ subordinate in Investigations. He’s now in charge. She would very likely place you in the same department…as a brigadier general by the way, bumped two ranks in death.” Roy couldn’t keep the wry tone out of his voice. He knew he should be glad of it. That fact meant more in Gracia’s monthly widow’s benefit check. “But Gracia does live in Central.”
“One day at a time,” Pinako said, pulling the pipe out from between her tightly pursed lips, the events of the day obviously weighing on her even though she had never known Hughes. Roy knew the old woman knew how important Maes had been to the kids. “Get through this first. Whatever happens tomorrow is something you can’t worry on. Get to know each other first.”
Roy smiled at her. “Good advice. I don’t know you yet and I’ll be damned if I’m anything like Edward might have told you I was.”
“Said you were a bastard.” Hughes grinned widely and Roy’s heart clenched. It was just like having his friend back.
“Oh he’d know, being the biggest one….or should I say littlest one, himself.” Roy smirked at Edward who threw a pillow unerringly.
Winry reached over and slapped Roy. “Look who’s talking, Roy. Some days I swear your mother must have been Aunt Tricia’s sister or something. You have to be related to Edward. You’re too much alike.”
Roy just wagged his head, enjoying the “kicked by a mule” look on Ed’s face. The young man’s lips flapped doing his best landed fish impression before finally he managed to get out, “Winry! Take that back!”
“So, you’re stubborn, smart, rude, impatient and foul mouthed, Roy?” Hughes laughed.
Roy felt the black clouds over him break up, the storm having spent itself. He wanted to like this man. It wasn’t his fault he looked like Maes…really was Maes after a fashion. If Edward could stand living with a brother who wasn’t really Al then he could do this. “I’m every bit of that. You forgot arrogant.”
“Oh, how could I forget that? It’s Edward’s defining attribute.”
“You all can go to hell,” Ed grumbled but there was no heat in his voice. A smile seemed to be trying to take his lips hostage.
“You’re proving their point, Brother.” Al tapped Ed on the top of the head. “Anyone can see Roy is our oldest brother.”
Ed blew a raspberry. “Claim him in you want. I’m having no part of that bastard being in the family.”
“Just what I need, two of you.” Al rolled his eyes.
“This is why I couldn’t leave them alone,” Hughes said, favoring the boys with a fond smile. “They’ll kill each other and I would miss being part of the family.”
“Poor man.” Pinako snorted. “If they kill each other off, we’ll use their hides as rugs.”
“And they better not destroy my automail. That goes for you, too, Mustang.” Winry pointed a finger at him.
“Told you, Hughes. She loves her automail more than us but in Mustang’s case, who can blame her?” Ed snorted.
“Automail? That’s the limbs you make, right?” Hughes asked Winry.
“Yes. I need to fix Edward in the worst way.” Winry shot Ed a critical look.
“Don’t you need a gelding knife for that?” Roy asked sweetly.
Ed jumped up, nearly pitching on his face as the damaged leg wobbled. Al grabbed him before Ed could topple and shoved him back down. “I’m going to make you eat that automail foot of yours, you smug bastard!”
Hughes laughed loudly. “Oh yes, I can see how this could easily feel like home in a very short time.”
Roy glanced at him, surprised by how good that sounded to him. He hadn’t realized how desperate for a friend he was. He didn’t have many…any really. Havoc and the rest came close but in the end there was a gulf born of military rank between them. Armstrong and he had a lot of scorched earth burying bad memories so he wasn’t sure if he could call Alex Louis a friend, either. The one man he truly knew was his friend and nothing more was gone. What did it say about him that he was frantic to befriend a total stranger? “We’ll help you find one here.”
Before Hughes could reply, Winry stood up, a hand clamped tight over her mouth. Her skin had picked up the dull green-grey of a river pearl. She mumbled something like ‘excuse me’ and raced from the room.
“Winry?” Al cried, echoed by his brother. He helped a struggling Ed up and the brothers went after her.
“Is she okay?” Hughes asked.
Pinako tapped her tobacco out into an ash tray and set it aside. “She’s had a stomach flu. I’ll go check on her.”
Riza got up then seemed to think better of it and settled back next to Roy. He knew Riza felt he needed her more. Winry had plenty of people to care for her. She smiled at Hughes. “Tell us about yourself, Hughes. I can get us something to drink.”
“A little harder than lemonade,” Roy grumbled.
Riza shot him a slot-eyed look but nodded. “You as well, Hughes?”
“I think we might need it.” Hughes sat back, his long, lean frame relaxing. “I get the feeling this might be a long day.”
Chapter eight
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