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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. 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.
Author's Note #3 - I used Morrocan influences for Ishbalan decor and the hyperlinks will let you take a peek if you want
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
chapter thirteen
chapter fourteen
chapter fifteen
chapter sixteen
chapter seventeen
chapter eighteen
chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
“Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow's dark array, Days of absence, I am weary; She I love is far away.” – Shakespeare
Chapter Twenty- Four
Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Homesick in Heaven
Stars left streamers behind them as Roy fell. Completely dazed, he could barely get his hands up to protect his face, doing a very poor job of it. His blind side felt like it was one fire. He heard Ed and Al shouting and Winry’s pleas for Dev to stop. Through the blood pouring down his face from where Dev’s metal plates had laid open his scalp, Roy saw Ed and Rotem pulling the tall Ishbalan away from him.
“Roy, Roy, are you all right?”
Roy looked up into Winry’s worried face and boldly lied. “I’ll be fine.” Or at least that’s what he hoped he said. His jaw ached. He could barely see, his eye swelling up. He could see enough to notice the soldiers advancing on Dev. “Armstrong, Hughes, no! Don’t arrest him. My fault…he’s having flashbacks.” Or at least Roy assumed. It could be anything, right down to Dev really did still want him dead but Roy had faith in his pronouncement, having lived through enough flashbacks of his own. “Winry, take him home. Ed, Al, you help her please. We can get Ed’s statements later.”
“Wait,” Rotem cried and Roy tried to find him through all the swelling and blood. “We should go, too.”
“We need your statements,” Hughes said, gentle yet stern. “It would be better now rather than later. You trust them to take care of Dev, right?”
Rotem gnawed his lower lip, looking at Winry and the Elric brothers, then nodded abruptly. “I guess I do. Onur and I will stay with you. Shouldn’t someone be calling an ambulance or something? Dev really beat the hell out of him.” Rotem pointed at Roy.
“I’m fine,” Roy replied blearily. “I’m just going to sleep on the ground, which is spinning nicely.”
“Well, at least you remember who you are this time,” Hughes said, kneeling down to check Roy out.
Roy waved at Ed. “Go on, get Dev out of here. Hughes will take care of me.”
“I will,” Hughes assured them.
Ed nodded, trying to stabilize the tall Ishbalan who had stopped flailing and screaming but he was still breathing heavily. Ed didn’t relish trying to move Dev toward wherever home was.
“Let me help, Brother.” Alphonse shouldered some of Dev’s weight.
“I know the way,” Winry said, starting down the street.
“Neither of you should even be here,” Ed grumbled but he accepted the help, regretting he had said yes to this mission.
X X X
“We’re here, Dev,” Winry said as Al used the young man’s keys to open the apartment. Dev didn’t answer her but she wasn’t expecting him to. He had been silent; eyes glazed the whole way to the apartment.
Ed grunted after he and Al muscled Dev to the couch, dumping him on the brilliant deep red and gold swath and floral cushions. Dev moaned, drawing his feet up onto the edge of the couch. He curled up over his knees, holding them. Winry sat next to him, nearly displacing a fringed pillow. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. “It’ll be all right now, Dev.”
“Can we get you anything?” Al fretted as Ed hovered near the couch, an impressive frown riding on his face.
Dev held out his hands, unfolding a bit from the ball he had made of himself. “I have blood on my hands.”
“I’ll go get you a towel,” Winry said but Al put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll do it,” he said and Winry let him go. There was only so much space in the apartment. Al would find what he needed easily.
“Ed, turn on some lights please, so I can see to clean him up.” Winry kept her arm around Dev who couldn’t seem to let his hands drop now that he noticed the gore. She wasn’t blind to Ed’s unhappy look but at least he didn’t say anything. “Get the one inside the table first.” She nodded to the odd little end stand next to the couch. Red hide had been pulled over wrought iron, graced by a glass top with an almost floral depiction of sun in its center.
Ed raised his eyebrows but found the switch and light glowed up out of the table. He went to turn on the wall sconces, more red hide in a dramatic shield-like iron work . “Why is everything red? How can you see like this?”
“Overhead,” Dev murmured pointing toward the ceiling. A large frosted glass and iron lantern hung there.
“The apartment is decorated in traditional Ishbalan style, Edward,” Winry said as Al came back with two wet towels and a large dry one.
“It’s very pretty.” Al eyed the brilliant yellow and red rug, with its hints of blue, that stretched in front of the couch. “Colorful. Can I get you anything else, Dev? Something to drink?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to jail.”
“No, you’re not. If Roy wanted to arrest you, he had soldiers enough to do it right then and there.” Winry wiped off Dev’s living hand first to get the sticky blood off his skin before turning to his automail. Bits of Roy’s hair was caught in the bloody joints. Winry tried not to see as she cleaned it away.
“I don’t know what happened,” Dev murmured. “I remember the fire…Ishabala, there were flames everywhere…then I was here.”
“You freaked and did what some of us have been wishing for, to beat the smug out of Mustang,” Ed said, ignoring his brother’s stressed, ‘Ed!’ “Though I think you did hurt him. Probably made his concussion worse.”
“I think he gets the idea, Edward,” Winry said crossly, holding Dev tighter as he let out a distressed moan.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I know, Dev.” Winry used the second wet towel to wipe Dev’s face. “Roy knows. That’s why he had us bring you home. Why don’t you take off your shoes and just try to relax. You’re all hung over to top it off. You just couldn’t handle the flame alchemy.”
Dev kicked his sandals off against the eight-pointed, star-painted stone table then went a clashing shade of green-grey. He pushed off the couch, raced past Al and into the bathroom.
“Guess all the color got to him,” Ed said wryly.
“Brother, that’s rude.” Al turned off the overhead light, seeming happier in the dim red light. “Better.”
Ed shrugged. “You’re hung over, too, not to mention you totally ignored a military edict.”
“Orders from you don’t count,” Al replied sourly.
“And I don’t listen to Roy either,” Winry said. “I’m going to make tea. Al, if Dev doesn’t come back out of there in a few minutes, have Ed drag him out. I don’t want him barricading himself in with razors, given his state of mind.”
Winry went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. The gas stove’s fire ringed around the pot’s bottom. She just wanted this day over or to go back to the beginning and start again. Getting out the tea set, she tried not to think about the blood she had just washed away. Had anyone called Riza? While the tea water was heating, Winry called into the office and talked to Havoc. Hughes had called in and Riza had gone to the hospital. Winry called the hospital but couldn’t get in touch with Riza and the nurses wouldn’t tell her anything, not even that the ambassador had been admitted.
Before the water completely boiled, she poured it into the silver tea pot. The mint tea the Ishbalans favored was delicate and brewed better at lower temperatures. Winry carried it out to the living room. Ed was seated on the vibrant yellow rug while Al sat on the floral-patterned saddle-shaped ottoman. Both men were studying the floral and sun designs on the lit table. She set the tea set down.
“I don’t care what your friend says, this is alchemic in origin. I know these symbols,” Ed said, running his hand over one of them.
“Please don’t tell Dev that. He’s upset enough. I think those symbols have been adopted into Ishbalan lore.” Winry sighed, flopping onto the couch.
“This place is…fancier than I expected,” Al said, his head craning around trying to take it all in.
“President Armstrong had it decorated in Ishbalan-style for them. I don’t think Dev’s had a real home in years. He certainly couldn’t afford all this.” Winry looked back at the door. “Did you check on him?”
“Yeah, he was still getting sick. I didn’t want to bother him,” Al replied.
“I can’t imagine he has anything left in him at this point,” Winry said as the bathroom door opened. Dev staggered out, looking barely able to keep on his feet. “Dev, I made you some mint tea. It’s brewing.”
Dev sat back down on the couch, staring at the tea set so he wouldn’t have to make eye contact, she didn’t doubt. “Why did he have to use alchemy?”
“It’s his second nature,” Ed shrugged. “And they did plan on executing us.”
“I should have known he would.” Dev ran a hand through his hair. “I’m so stupid. I should have known what he meant when he said he’d protect us.”
“You’re not stupid.” Winry started pouring the tea. “Obviously Roy didn’t think this out very well. He should have known better, too.”
“He’s still recovering from a concussion, which I probably just made a lot worse.” Dev let his head drop back against the couch. “Probably brain damaged him for life.”
“Well, I called the hospital but they won’t tell me anything since I’m not family. I should have called Li-Ying and Miao-Yin to let them know Roy’s back in the hospital again,” Winry sighed again.
“I can do that for you, Winry,” Al said, getting up.
“The phone is in the kitchen,” she said, “I’ll sweeten your tea for you, Al.” Winry did the same for Dev, handing him the deep blue glass with its gold floral embossing.
“These are something else,” Ed said, helping himself to a mug. “Striking.”
Winry shot him a look and wondered if he was trying to make nice for her sake.
“Traditional.” Dev sipped the strong, minty tea. He frowned, his eyes glistening. “They’ll make me quit my job. Aris and Uzziel will be so disappointed.”
“You don’t know that. Roy is a pretty forgiving person. You didn’t do this on purpose,” Winry said, resting a hand on his arm.
“No, but I still beat the ambassador to Ishbal into a fine paste.” Dev’s hand shook and Winry took his glass away. “I could have really hurt him. No one is just going to look the other way.”
“Li-Ying already knew,” Al said, coming back. “Riza called from the hospital. They’re waiting on x-rays and Roy’s in the operating room. They have to pull some of the glass shards out of his eye socket. You broke his glass eye.”
Dev groaned, flopping over onto the fringed bolster of the couch. “Now I’ve maimed him.” He pushed himself back up, reaching for his glass. “This time last year I would have been thrilled at that news, for what he did to me.”
“It’s understandable that you went a little wild being faced with alchemic fire, Dev,” Al said, a reassuring look on his face. “After you got caught in one as a kid.”
“From him. I can’t even imagine what...” Ed shook his head, words failing him.
“You don’t even know…I’ve never said.” Dev took a deep breath, then downed some more tea. “I didn’t caught in one of his fires.”
“I don’t understand,” Winry turned on the couch to look at him full on. “You’ve always said Roy was the one who burned you.”
“And he did but I wasn’t caught. I’m…” Dev’s face drained of color. “The boy in his nightmares. I’m the one he burned on purpose.”
Winry felt something deep inside her turn cold. “What?”
“Yeah...I knew...well, I guessed.” Ed set the glass down carefully, stretching his arms in front of him. Al nodded his agreement with his brother’s assessment. “Your reaction the other day, when he was talking about Winry’s parents.”
“You must be more perceptive than Roy…or he just doesn’t want to know.” Dev leaned closer to Winry and she put her arm around him.
“Why didn’t you just tell him?” Winry asked, trailing a hand over his back.
“I don’t know.” Dev’s eyes shut. “I’m really tired now. I want to go to bed.”
“Okay, I’ll stay until Aris comes home, all right? You shouldn’t be alone,” Winry said.
Dev shrugged, trying to get up. Al helped. Ed unfolded from the floor when Dev had trouble maneuvering, still obviously dazed, and Al wasn’t entirely steady, hung-over as he was. Winry went ahead of them and pulled down the covers. Dev just flopped down, nearly hitting his head on the headboard, a painted wooden affair with long, jagged points of wood in an arched design, every bit as riotously colored as the rest of the house.
“Dev, are you here?” Aris’ voice echoed in the living room as the front door opened.
“He’s back here, Aris,” Winry called as Dev curled up, burrowing his head under the pillow.
Aris walked in, wild-eyed. “Rotem called me from the military base. Dev, what did you do?”
“He beat the bastard up,” Ed said.
“Brother, could you sound a little sorrier about that?” Al shot him a sour look.
“Dev is really upset, Aris,” Winry rubbed Dev’s back through the blankets. “I didn’t want to leave him alone.”
Aris sighed, bobbing his head. “I’ll watch, Winry. Do you know how the ambassador is?”
“I broke his eye,” Dev mumbled from under the covers.
“The glass one,” Al clarified. “They didn’t know much yet but his sister didn’t think it sounded too bad. He’s not in any danger or anything like that. Roy used fire and, well, Dev sort of panicked.”
“I suppose that’s understandable,” Aris said, his tone nonjudgmental.
“I didn’t mean to hurt Roy,” Dev muttered miserably. “I don’t remember doing it.”
“We’ll go check on him now,” Winry said, “Unless you want me to stay.”
“No, go,” Dev said.
“I’m make sure he’s all right,” Aris assured him. “I’m assuming that since he was allowed to leave, Dev isn’t going to be arrested.”
“I don’t think Roy has any interest in that,” Winry replied.
“He said he was fine,” Ed added quickly. “I don’t think he’s going to change him mind.”
“That’s something then,” Aris replied.
“I’ll go call us a cab. Dev, if you need us, you just call. We’ll come right back,” Winry said.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, still not looking at them.
Winry was somehow not surprised Ed had hustled Al outside before she was even done calling for the cab, on the pretense of Al needed air. More like Ed didn’t want to be any place emotions ran too high. Al sat on the sidewalk when she got outside, Ed hovering over him. “The cab should be here soon.”
“Not soon enough to save my retinas. Between his place and Roy’s, how are you not permanently blind?” Ed rubbed his eyes for emphasis.
“Or at least soured on the very notion of color?” Al muttered.
“Maybe after looking at your boring black half my life I craved something bright?” Winry kicked Ed’s ankle.
Ed wrinkled his nose. “You got it. You probably can see it in your sleep.” He looked back at the apartment. “That alchemy really messed him up.”
“Burns are supposed to be the worst pain.” Winry touched his shoulder. “I don’t have to tell you about pain. Dev doesn’t like alchemy but he usually does okay. Still, we all have limits.”
“Remind me not to push him past his,” Ed said.
“I’ve never seen him like that.” Winry sat next to Al. “Should we go to the hospital and check on Roy?”
“We probably should,” Al replied, looking very much like he wanted to go home and die of his hangover
Ed gave Al a once-over. “Let’s take you home first. You don’t need to go near a hospital unless you’re checking yourself in.”
“I’m going to check on Roy,” Al replied, trying to sound awake and ready.
“They’ll keep you there,” Ed replied.
Al wrinkled his nose at him. “A risk I’m ready to take.”
Edward growled under his breath, shooting a glare at his brother. “And I’m supposed to be the stubborn one. Fine, fine, but we’re taking the cab, unless you puke in it, then you’re staying in the hospital.”
“Deal,” Al huffed. Winry just sighed, wishing she hadn’t missed this so much when they were gone.
XXX
“You’re staying.” Riza pushed Roy down into his wheelchair. She could see the irrational fear in his eyes, understood how much he didn’t want to stay but that didn’t sway her. He was hurt. He needed someone to care for him.
“Riza, I’m going home,” Roy lisped, trying to get back up.
“Roy, you have another concussion. More stitches in your head. A numb face where they injected you to get the glass out of the socket, not to mention you’re so swollen up you can’t see out of your other eye.” Riza tapped his bruised hand gently with each point. “And you’ve been loaded up past your eyebrows with analgesics.”
“You can’t make me stay.” Roy’s lip wobbled a bit. “I have to go home.”
“Winry, he’s going to cry,” Ed hissed just loud enough to be heard as Winry walked into the room. Al shushed him.
“We didn’t mean to interrupt.” Winry glared at Ed. “We just wanted to see how Roy was doing.”
“I’m going home,” Roy replied.
“No, you’re not,” Riza said, her voice sharp and he turned his battered face to her. Only a tiny slit of color showed of his eye under the swollen, purple flesh around it.
“Please, don’t make me stay. I’ll call a cab.”
“You look awful,” Ed blurted out. “You should listen to Hawkeye.”
Roy’s head swiveled around but he didn’t seem able to focus on Ed. “I nearly died in here once. I don’t want to stay. Winry is used to patients. I just have a concussion. I’ll be fine.” A fine tremor raced through him.
“Riza, if the doctor says it’ll be safe, I’ll help you watch over Roy. It’s not going to do him good to make him stay somewhere he’s this anxious over,” Winry said, easily reading a patient’s anxiety.
Riza nodded. “I’ll go ask the doctor. Edward, please make sure Roy stays in his wheelchair. Al…why don’t you just sit on the gurney since Roy refuses to use it.” When the Elric brothers nodded their assent, Riza strode off down the hall, trying to hold herself together. It was getting harder every day. She couldn’t take much more. She was barely aware of Winry padding along behind her until the young woman touched her arm.
“Riza, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have interfered,” Winry fretted.
Riza turned, staring into worried blue eyes. “It’s all right, Winry. You’re right. Roy will rest more easily at home. I should have realized that myself. It’s just…” She tried not to shake. She didn’t want anyone, not even Winry, to realize just how shaken up she was. “It’s almost as if he isn’t going to live until the wedding. We have an enemy we don’t know, let alone be able to find, after us and now our allies turn against us.”
Winry shook her head. “It wasn’t like that, not really. Those soldiers were really bad men.” She blushed. “Al and I followed them. I know it was dangerous but…okay, I have no real good reason why we did other than Ed treated us like kids.”
“You saw everything?”
“They forced Roy to use his alchemy and Dev couldn’t handle that. I’m sure in his mind, he was right back there when he was a kid.” Winry paused and Riza saw something hiding in the girl’s eyes, a hint of guilt but over what? “He really is torn up over it, Riza. He doesn’t even remember hitting Roy, let alone hurting him so badly.”
Riza’s lips thinned. She had already heard some of this from Roy. She knew it probably wasn’t the young man’s fault but she wasn’t feeling too forgiving at the moment. In the morning light, things would probably be different but right now she was angry. “Roy and I certainly can understand flashbacks,” she said more magnanimous than she felt. It was also sadly true.
“Is Roy really all right? He looks awful.”
“The doctor was very worried that the rebuilt part of Roy’s cheek had been damaged but it looked good on x-ray. He’s not as out of it as he was the last time he got concussed, despite getting hurt more this time. The glass did get lodged in the eye socket, which really was the worst of the damage. They said as bad as it looks, it’s mostly soft tissue swelling. Even his teeth didn’t get knocked loose.”
“Ed and Rotem were quick to get Dev away from Roy but obviously not fast enough.” Winry’s shoulders slumped as if the weight of all of this was one her.
Riza nodded, then spotted the doctor. After a quick consultation with the doctor who reluctantly agreed to have Winry and Riza monitor Roy’s mental status and after him extracting a promise to have the general returned in case he showed any signs of confusion or distress, they went to collect their men folk. Al was asleep on the gurney, draped gracelessly over it, snoring.
“Should you let him just sleep like that, Ed?” Winry asked.
Ed shrugged. “As if I could stop him. I told Al to go home but would he listen? No. And you say I’m stubborn.”
“Am I going home?” Roy asked so fuzzily Riza wondered how they were supposed to tell if his mental state altered.
“Yes. I drove here so I guess I’ll be taking us home,” Riza said. “You will stay in that chair until we get you wheeled to the car.”
“Okay,” Roy agreed easily.
“Is there room for me to squeeze in front with you and Winry, Hawkeye?” Ed shook Al awake.
“Why?”
“Because he’s concussed and could puke on me and Al probably has something left he’d like to paint me with,” Ed said, ignoring his brother’s sour look.
“Sit in the back,” Winry said without much compassion.
Riza ignored their bickering as they got Roy to the car. Ed did sit in the back, with ill grace. The ride home was quieter and vomit free. Ed helped her get Roy into the house without complaint. “Let’s just put you in the guest room, Roy. You’re in no shape to get up the stairs.”
“But,” He shot her a wounded look, as he leaned on Edward. “I want to be with you.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Riza replied as Li-Ying came into the room. The healer barely covered her shock at her brother’s appearance.
“Roy, let’s get you into bed,” his sister said. “I already stripped off the boozy, smoky sheets this morning. You just rest down here. Riza will stay with you and I’ll take care of everything else.”
“Sounds very good.” Roy sagged harder against Ed who grunted at him.
“Then walk,” the other alchemist said.
Once Roy was tucked in, looking very pale and small against the sheets, Riza lay on the bed next to him, putting her hand on his chest. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
“Won’t take me long.” He yawned. “You can let Black….” He didn’t finish his thought before he drifted off. Riza couldn’t bring herself to leave him easily.
X X X
Sanaa looked at the wanted poster, scowling, her red eyes hidden behind dark lenses. She had no idea what they were talking in regards to her bombing some grave in a hick town. She had never left Central. Still, the grave in question belonged to the mother of a state alchemist so she could hardly say she was broken up about it.
She didn’t like coming out into the open, into the city’s heart like this, but she couldn’t go to the Ishbalan Centre to meet with someone. Half of them were traitors there anyhow, working with the Amestrians, giving away their future to live on high-price charity. There were few true patriots like her left and she was waiting on one of them now.
“Didn’t mean to be late,” a young woman said, sitting down on a bench near the fountain next to Sanaa.
“Doesn’t matter.” Sanaa rapped the nearby light pole, drawing Anah’s attention to it. “Just catching up on my reading. What’s on the horizon?”
“We’re going after the monument,” Anah replied and Sanaa shook her head. She knew what the code meant. “I’ll take care of that. You need to pretty things up while I do.”
Lots of white teeth showed in Sanaa’s tanned face. That was code for a big splashy distraction with lots of collateral damage, the sort of thing she excelled at. “Not a problem.”
They parted company without another word. Sanaa already knew where in the city she would strike. This would be fun.
X X X
Anah watched Sanaa go. It irked her to throw suspicion on one of her own but Sanaa could be a loner, dangerous to the cause on occasion because she went too far and not in the right places or at the right time. She cared too little about collateral damage. Not that Anah cared much either, but she usually tried to keep her own people from getting hurt.
Unless, of course, they were useless and utterly worthless and to that end, she had thought up a way to keep Sanaa from getting caught and more importantly, protecting herself as well. She had given Eyal a few targets to bomb himself. Too bad Mustang was so well protected now. How had she missed killing him twice? It wasn’t like her. As for Eyal, he was as likely to explode himself as anything else but no one would miss him and he thought the commands came from Ranga who Anah knew had died last month. She and Sanaa should be well insulated if the idiot happened to get taken alive.
Anah didn’t know why Attaway wanted the ‘monument’ gone but she was glad enough to do it. One more alchemist who ruined her home dead would make her very happy. When this was all said and done, she’d be a hero. There was something she had to do before all of that, however. She needed to go check on Dev and try to worm her way into his affections. Why the hell was he so resistant? Weren’t Ishbalan girls good enough for him? Probably not, the traitor. Still, Anah was pretty confident she could hook him, without having to go the gruesome last mile of sleeping with him. Once that was done, she’d have a way in to Mustang and the Fullmetal alchemist and could take them out at her leisure, provided Dev hadn’t manage to get thrown out on his ass for his stunt with beating up Mustang. It would be a few more hours before anyone knew what would happen there, the attack still fresh but word of it had spread like fire. Anah would be surprised if he wasn’t arrested why she was at his apartment. She went to find that bakery that had started making Ishbalan treats. She might as well go to his place well armed.
onto Chapter twenty-five
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. 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.
Author's Note #3 - I used Morrocan influences for Ishbalan decor and the hyperlinks will let you take a peek if you want
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
chapter thirteen
chapter fourteen
chapter fifteen
chapter sixteen
chapter seventeen
chapter eighteen
chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
“Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow's dark array, Days of absence, I am weary; She I love is far away.” – Shakespeare
Chapter Twenty- Four
Where we love is home,
Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Homesick in Heaven
Stars left streamers behind them as Roy fell. Completely dazed, he could barely get his hands up to protect his face, doing a very poor job of it. His blind side felt like it was one fire. He heard Ed and Al shouting and Winry’s pleas for Dev to stop. Through the blood pouring down his face from where Dev’s metal plates had laid open his scalp, Roy saw Ed and Rotem pulling the tall Ishbalan away from him.
“Roy, Roy, are you all right?”
Roy looked up into Winry’s worried face and boldly lied. “I’ll be fine.” Or at least that’s what he hoped he said. His jaw ached. He could barely see, his eye swelling up. He could see enough to notice the soldiers advancing on Dev. “Armstrong, Hughes, no! Don’t arrest him. My fault…he’s having flashbacks.” Or at least Roy assumed. It could be anything, right down to Dev really did still want him dead but Roy had faith in his pronouncement, having lived through enough flashbacks of his own. “Winry, take him home. Ed, Al, you help her please. We can get Ed’s statements later.”
“Wait,” Rotem cried and Roy tried to find him through all the swelling and blood. “We should go, too.”
“We need your statements,” Hughes said, gentle yet stern. “It would be better now rather than later. You trust them to take care of Dev, right?”
Rotem gnawed his lower lip, looking at Winry and the Elric brothers, then nodded abruptly. “I guess I do. Onur and I will stay with you. Shouldn’t someone be calling an ambulance or something? Dev really beat the hell out of him.” Rotem pointed at Roy.
“I’m fine,” Roy replied blearily. “I’m just going to sleep on the ground, which is spinning nicely.”
“Well, at least you remember who you are this time,” Hughes said, kneeling down to check Roy out.
Roy waved at Ed. “Go on, get Dev out of here. Hughes will take care of me.”
“I will,” Hughes assured them.
Ed nodded, trying to stabilize the tall Ishbalan who had stopped flailing and screaming but he was still breathing heavily. Ed didn’t relish trying to move Dev toward wherever home was.
“Let me help, Brother.” Alphonse shouldered some of Dev’s weight.
“I know the way,” Winry said, starting down the street.
“Neither of you should even be here,” Ed grumbled but he accepted the help, regretting he had said yes to this mission.
X X X
“We’re here, Dev,” Winry said as Al used the young man’s keys to open the apartment. Dev didn’t answer her but she wasn’t expecting him to. He had been silent; eyes glazed the whole way to the apartment.
Ed grunted after he and Al muscled Dev to the couch, dumping him on the brilliant deep red and gold swath and floral cushions. Dev moaned, drawing his feet up onto the edge of the couch. He curled up over his knees, holding them. Winry sat next to him, nearly displacing a fringed pillow. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. “It’ll be all right now, Dev.”
“Can we get you anything?” Al fretted as Ed hovered near the couch, an impressive frown riding on his face.
Dev held out his hands, unfolding a bit from the ball he had made of himself. “I have blood on my hands.”
“I’ll go get you a towel,” Winry said but Al put a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ll do it,” he said and Winry let him go. There was only so much space in the apartment. Al would find what he needed easily.
“Ed, turn on some lights please, so I can see to clean him up.” Winry kept her arm around Dev who couldn’t seem to let his hands drop now that he noticed the gore. She wasn’t blind to Ed’s unhappy look but at least he didn’t say anything. “Get the one inside the table first.” She nodded to the odd little end stand next to the couch. Red hide had been pulled over wrought iron, graced by a glass top with an almost floral depiction of sun in its center.
Ed raised his eyebrows but found the switch and light glowed up out of the table. He went to turn on the wall sconces, more red hide in a dramatic shield-like iron work . “Why is everything red? How can you see like this?”
“Overhead,” Dev murmured pointing toward the ceiling. A large frosted glass and iron lantern hung there.
“The apartment is decorated in traditional Ishbalan style, Edward,” Winry said as Al came back with two wet towels and a large dry one.
“It’s very pretty.” Al eyed the brilliant yellow and red rug, with its hints of blue, that stretched in front of the couch. “Colorful. Can I get you anything else, Dev? Something to drink?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to jail.”
“No, you’re not. If Roy wanted to arrest you, he had soldiers enough to do it right then and there.” Winry wiped off Dev’s living hand first to get the sticky blood off his skin before turning to his automail. Bits of Roy’s hair was caught in the bloody joints. Winry tried not to see as she cleaned it away.
“I don’t know what happened,” Dev murmured. “I remember the fire…Ishabala, there were flames everywhere…then I was here.”
“You freaked and did what some of us have been wishing for, to beat the smug out of Mustang,” Ed said, ignoring his brother’s stressed, ‘Ed!’ “Though I think you did hurt him. Probably made his concussion worse.”
“I think he gets the idea, Edward,” Winry said crossly, holding Dev tighter as he let out a distressed moan.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I know, Dev.” Winry used the second wet towel to wipe Dev’s face. “Roy knows. That’s why he had us bring you home. Why don’t you take off your shoes and just try to relax. You’re all hung over to top it off. You just couldn’t handle the flame alchemy.”
Dev kicked his sandals off against the eight-pointed, star-painted stone table then went a clashing shade of green-grey. He pushed off the couch, raced past Al and into the bathroom.
“Guess all the color got to him,” Ed said wryly.
“Brother, that’s rude.” Al turned off the overhead light, seeming happier in the dim red light. “Better.”
Ed shrugged. “You’re hung over, too, not to mention you totally ignored a military edict.”
“Orders from you don’t count,” Al replied sourly.
“And I don’t listen to Roy either,” Winry said. “I’m going to make tea. Al, if Dev doesn’t come back out of there in a few minutes, have Ed drag him out. I don’t want him barricading himself in with razors, given his state of mind.”
Winry went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. The gas stove’s fire ringed around the pot’s bottom. She just wanted this day over or to go back to the beginning and start again. Getting out the tea set, she tried not to think about the blood she had just washed away. Had anyone called Riza? While the tea water was heating, Winry called into the office and talked to Havoc. Hughes had called in and Riza had gone to the hospital. Winry called the hospital but couldn’t get in touch with Riza and the nurses wouldn’t tell her anything, not even that the ambassador had been admitted.
Before the water completely boiled, she poured it into the silver tea pot. The mint tea the Ishbalans favored was delicate and brewed better at lower temperatures. Winry carried it out to the living room. Ed was seated on the vibrant yellow rug while Al sat on the floral-patterned saddle-shaped ottoman. Both men were studying the floral and sun designs on the lit table. She set the tea set down.
“I don’t care what your friend says, this is alchemic in origin. I know these symbols,” Ed said, running his hand over one of them.
“Please don’t tell Dev that. He’s upset enough. I think those symbols have been adopted into Ishbalan lore.” Winry sighed, flopping onto the couch.
“This place is…fancier than I expected,” Al said, his head craning around trying to take it all in.
“President Armstrong had it decorated in Ishbalan-style for them. I don’t think Dev’s had a real home in years. He certainly couldn’t afford all this.” Winry looked back at the door. “Did you check on him?”
“Yeah, he was still getting sick. I didn’t want to bother him,” Al replied.
“I can’t imagine he has anything left in him at this point,” Winry said as the bathroom door opened. Dev staggered out, looking barely able to keep on his feet. “Dev, I made you some mint tea. It’s brewing.”
Dev sat back down on the couch, staring at the tea set so he wouldn’t have to make eye contact, she didn’t doubt. “Why did he have to use alchemy?”
“It’s his second nature,” Ed shrugged. “And they did plan on executing us.”
“I should have known he would.” Dev ran a hand through his hair. “I’m so stupid. I should have known what he meant when he said he’d protect us.”
“You’re not stupid.” Winry started pouring the tea. “Obviously Roy didn’t think this out very well. He should have known better, too.”
“He’s still recovering from a concussion, which I probably just made a lot worse.” Dev let his head drop back against the couch. “Probably brain damaged him for life.”
“Well, I called the hospital but they won’t tell me anything since I’m not family. I should have called Li-Ying and Miao-Yin to let them know Roy’s back in the hospital again,” Winry sighed again.
“I can do that for you, Winry,” Al said, getting up.
“The phone is in the kitchen,” she said, “I’ll sweeten your tea for you, Al.” Winry did the same for Dev, handing him the deep blue glass with its gold floral embossing.
“These are something else,” Ed said, helping himself to a mug. “Striking.”
Winry shot him a look and wondered if he was trying to make nice for her sake.
“Traditional.” Dev sipped the strong, minty tea. He frowned, his eyes glistening. “They’ll make me quit my job. Aris and Uzziel will be so disappointed.”
“You don’t know that. Roy is a pretty forgiving person. You didn’t do this on purpose,” Winry said, resting a hand on his arm.
“No, but I still beat the ambassador to Ishbal into a fine paste.” Dev’s hand shook and Winry took his glass away. “I could have really hurt him. No one is just going to look the other way.”
“Li-Ying already knew,” Al said, coming back. “Riza called from the hospital. They’re waiting on x-rays and Roy’s in the operating room. They have to pull some of the glass shards out of his eye socket. You broke his glass eye.”
Dev groaned, flopping over onto the fringed bolster of the couch. “Now I’ve maimed him.” He pushed himself back up, reaching for his glass. “This time last year I would have been thrilled at that news, for what he did to me.”
“It’s understandable that you went a little wild being faced with alchemic fire, Dev,” Al said, a reassuring look on his face. “After you got caught in one as a kid.”
“From him. I can’t even imagine what...” Ed shook his head, words failing him.
“You don’t even know…I’ve never said.” Dev took a deep breath, then downed some more tea. “I didn’t caught in one of his fires.”
“I don’t understand,” Winry turned on the couch to look at him full on. “You’ve always said Roy was the one who burned you.”
“And he did but I wasn’t caught. I’m…” Dev’s face drained of color. “The boy in his nightmares. I’m the one he burned on purpose.”
Winry felt something deep inside her turn cold. “What?”
“Yeah...I knew...well, I guessed.” Ed set the glass down carefully, stretching his arms in front of him. Al nodded his agreement with his brother’s assessment. “Your reaction the other day, when he was talking about Winry’s parents.”
“You must be more perceptive than Roy…or he just doesn’t want to know.” Dev leaned closer to Winry and she put her arm around him.
“Why didn’t you just tell him?” Winry asked, trailing a hand over his back.
“I don’t know.” Dev’s eyes shut. “I’m really tired now. I want to go to bed.”
“Okay, I’ll stay until Aris comes home, all right? You shouldn’t be alone,” Winry said.
Dev shrugged, trying to get up. Al helped. Ed unfolded from the floor when Dev had trouble maneuvering, still obviously dazed, and Al wasn’t entirely steady, hung-over as he was. Winry went ahead of them and pulled down the covers. Dev just flopped down, nearly hitting his head on the headboard, a painted wooden affair with long, jagged points of wood in an arched design, every bit as riotously colored as the rest of the house.
“Dev, are you here?” Aris’ voice echoed in the living room as the front door opened.
“He’s back here, Aris,” Winry called as Dev curled up, burrowing his head under the pillow.
Aris walked in, wild-eyed. “Rotem called me from the military base. Dev, what did you do?”
“He beat the bastard up,” Ed said.
“Brother, could you sound a little sorrier about that?” Al shot him a sour look.
“Dev is really upset, Aris,” Winry rubbed Dev’s back through the blankets. “I didn’t want to leave him alone.”
Aris sighed, bobbing his head. “I’ll watch, Winry. Do you know how the ambassador is?”
“I broke his eye,” Dev mumbled from under the covers.
“The glass one,” Al clarified. “They didn’t know much yet but his sister didn’t think it sounded too bad. He’s not in any danger or anything like that. Roy used fire and, well, Dev sort of panicked.”
“I suppose that’s understandable,” Aris said, his tone nonjudgmental.
“I didn’t mean to hurt Roy,” Dev muttered miserably. “I don’t remember doing it.”
“We’ll go check on him now,” Winry said, “Unless you want me to stay.”
“No, go,” Dev said.
“I’m make sure he’s all right,” Aris assured him. “I’m assuming that since he was allowed to leave, Dev isn’t going to be arrested.”
“I don’t think Roy has any interest in that,” Winry replied.
“He said he was fine,” Ed added quickly. “I don’t think he’s going to change him mind.”
“That’s something then,” Aris replied.
“I’ll go call us a cab. Dev, if you need us, you just call. We’ll come right back,” Winry said.
“Thanks,” he mumbled, still not looking at them.
Winry was somehow not surprised Ed had hustled Al outside before she was even done calling for the cab, on the pretense of Al needed air. More like Ed didn’t want to be any place emotions ran too high. Al sat on the sidewalk when she got outside, Ed hovering over him. “The cab should be here soon.”
“Not soon enough to save my retinas. Between his place and Roy’s, how are you not permanently blind?” Ed rubbed his eyes for emphasis.
“Or at least soured on the very notion of color?” Al muttered.
“Maybe after looking at your boring black half my life I craved something bright?” Winry kicked Ed’s ankle.
Ed wrinkled his nose. “You got it. You probably can see it in your sleep.” He looked back at the apartment. “That alchemy really messed him up.”
“Burns are supposed to be the worst pain.” Winry touched his shoulder. “I don’t have to tell you about pain. Dev doesn’t like alchemy but he usually does okay. Still, we all have limits.”
“Remind me not to push him past his,” Ed said.
“I’ve never seen him like that.” Winry sat next to Al. “Should we go to the hospital and check on Roy?”
“We probably should,” Al replied, looking very much like he wanted to go home and die of his hangover
Ed gave Al a once-over. “Let’s take you home first. You don’t need to go near a hospital unless you’re checking yourself in.”
“I’m going to check on Roy,” Al replied, trying to sound awake and ready.
“They’ll keep you there,” Ed replied.
Al wrinkled his nose at him. “A risk I’m ready to take.”
Edward growled under his breath, shooting a glare at his brother. “And I’m supposed to be the stubborn one. Fine, fine, but we’re taking the cab, unless you puke in it, then you’re staying in the hospital.”
“Deal,” Al huffed. Winry just sighed, wishing she hadn’t missed this so much when they were gone.
XXX
“You’re staying.” Riza pushed Roy down into his wheelchair. She could see the irrational fear in his eyes, understood how much he didn’t want to stay but that didn’t sway her. He was hurt. He needed someone to care for him.
“Riza, I’m going home,” Roy lisped, trying to get back up.
“Roy, you have another concussion. More stitches in your head. A numb face where they injected you to get the glass out of the socket, not to mention you’re so swollen up you can’t see out of your other eye.” Riza tapped his bruised hand gently with each point. “And you’ve been loaded up past your eyebrows with analgesics.”
“You can’t make me stay.” Roy’s lip wobbled a bit. “I have to go home.”
“Winry, he’s going to cry,” Ed hissed just loud enough to be heard as Winry walked into the room. Al shushed him.
“We didn’t mean to interrupt.” Winry glared at Ed. “We just wanted to see how Roy was doing.”
“I’m going home,” Roy replied.
“No, you’re not,” Riza said, her voice sharp and he turned his battered face to her. Only a tiny slit of color showed of his eye under the swollen, purple flesh around it.
“Please, don’t make me stay. I’ll call a cab.”
“You look awful,” Ed blurted out. “You should listen to Hawkeye.”
Roy’s head swiveled around but he didn’t seem able to focus on Ed. “I nearly died in here once. I don’t want to stay. Winry is used to patients. I just have a concussion. I’ll be fine.” A fine tremor raced through him.
“Riza, if the doctor says it’ll be safe, I’ll help you watch over Roy. It’s not going to do him good to make him stay somewhere he’s this anxious over,” Winry said, easily reading a patient’s anxiety.
Riza nodded. “I’ll go ask the doctor. Edward, please make sure Roy stays in his wheelchair. Al…why don’t you just sit on the gurney since Roy refuses to use it.” When the Elric brothers nodded their assent, Riza strode off down the hall, trying to hold herself together. It was getting harder every day. She couldn’t take much more. She was barely aware of Winry padding along behind her until the young woman touched her arm.
“Riza, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have interfered,” Winry fretted.
Riza turned, staring into worried blue eyes. “It’s all right, Winry. You’re right. Roy will rest more easily at home. I should have realized that myself. It’s just…” She tried not to shake. She didn’t want anyone, not even Winry, to realize just how shaken up she was. “It’s almost as if he isn’t going to live until the wedding. We have an enemy we don’t know, let alone be able to find, after us and now our allies turn against us.”
Winry shook her head. “It wasn’t like that, not really. Those soldiers were really bad men.” She blushed. “Al and I followed them. I know it was dangerous but…okay, I have no real good reason why we did other than Ed treated us like kids.”
“You saw everything?”
“They forced Roy to use his alchemy and Dev couldn’t handle that. I’m sure in his mind, he was right back there when he was a kid.” Winry paused and Riza saw something hiding in the girl’s eyes, a hint of guilt but over what? “He really is torn up over it, Riza. He doesn’t even remember hitting Roy, let alone hurting him so badly.”
Riza’s lips thinned. She had already heard some of this from Roy. She knew it probably wasn’t the young man’s fault but she wasn’t feeling too forgiving at the moment. In the morning light, things would probably be different but right now she was angry. “Roy and I certainly can understand flashbacks,” she said more magnanimous than she felt. It was also sadly true.
“Is Roy really all right? He looks awful.”
“The doctor was very worried that the rebuilt part of Roy’s cheek had been damaged but it looked good on x-ray. He’s not as out of it as he was the last time he got concussed, despite getting hurt more this time. The glass did get lodged in the eye socket, which really was the worst of the damage. They said as bad as it looks, it’s mostly soft tissue swelling. Even his teeth didn’t get knocked loose.”
“Ed and Rotem were quick to get Dev away from Roy but obviously not fast enough.” Winry’s shoulders slumped as if the weight of all of this was one her.
Riza nodded, then spotted the doctor. After a quick consultation with the doctor who reluctantly agreed to have Winry and Riza monitor Roy’s mental status and after him extracting a promise to have the general returned in case he showed any signs of confusion or distress, they went to collect their men folk. Al was asleep on the gurney, draped gracelessly over it, snoring.
“Should you let him just sleep like that, Ed?” Winry asked.
Ed shrugged. “As if I could stop him. I told Al to go home but would he listen? No. And you say I’m stubborn.”
“Am I going home?” Roy asked so fuzzily Riza wondered how they were supposed to tell if his mental state altered.
“Yes. I drove here so I guess I’ll be taking us home,” Riza said. “You will stay in that chair until we get you wheeled to the car.”
“Okay,” Roy agreed easily.
“Is there room for me to squeeze in front with you and Winry, Hawkeye?” Ed shook Al awake.
“Why?”
“Because he’s concussed and could puke on me and Al probably has something left he’d like to paint me with,” Ed said, ignoring his brother’s sour look.
“Sit in the back,” Winry said without much compassion.
Riza ignored their bickering as they got Roy to the car. Ed did sit in the back, with ill grace. The ride home was quieter and vomit free. Ed helped her get Roy into the house without complaint. “Let’s just put you in the guest room, Roy. You’re in no shape to get up the stairs.”
“But,” He shot her a wounded look, as he leaned on Edward. “I want to be with you.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Riza replied as Li-Ying came into the room. The healer barely covered her shock at her brother’s appearance.
“Roy, let’s get you into bed,” his sister said. “I already stripped off the boozy, smoky sheets this morning. You just rest down here. Riza will stay with you and I’ll take care of everything else.”
“Sounds very good.” Roy sagged harder against Ed who grunted at him.
“Then walk,” the other alchemist said.
Once Roy was tucked in, looking very pale and small against the sheets, Riza lay on the bed next to him, putting her hand on his chest. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
“Won’t take me long.” He yawned. “You can let Black….” He didn’t finish his thought before he drifted off. Riza couldn’t bring herself to leave him easily.
X X X
Sanaa looked at the wanted poster, scowling, her red eyes hidden behind dark lenses. She had no idea what they were talking in regards to her bombing some grave in a hick town. She had never left Central. Still, the grave in question belonged to the mother of a state alchemist so she could hardly say she was broken up about it.
She didn’t like coming out into the open, into the city’s heart like this, but she couldn’t go to the Ishbalan Centre to meet with someone. Half of them were traitors there anyhow, working with the Amestrians, giving away their future to live on high-price charity. There were few true patriots like her left and she was waiting on one of them now.
“Didn’t mean to be late,” a young woman said, sitting down on a bench near the fountain next to Sanaa.
“Doesn’t matter.” Sanaa rapped the nearby light pole, drawing Anah’s attention to it. “Just catching up on my reading. What’s on the horizon?”
“We’re going after the monument,” Anah replied and Sanaa shook her head. She knew what the code meant. “I’ll take care of that. You need to pretty things up while I do.”
Lots of white teeth showed in Sanaa’s tanned face. That was code for a big splashy distraction with lots of collateral damage, the sort of thing she excelled at. “Not a problem.”
They parted company without another word. Sanaa already knew where in the city she would strike. This would be fun.
X X X
Anah watched Sanaa go. It irked her to throw suspicion on one of her own but Sanaa could be a loner, dangerous to the cause on occasion because she went too far and not in the right places or at the right time. She cared too little about collateral damage. Not that Anah cared much either, but she usually tried to keep her own people from getting hurt.
Unless, of course, they were useless and utterly worthless and to that end, she had thought up a way to keep Sanaa from getting caught and more importantly, protecting herself as well. She had given Eyal a few targets to bomb himself. Too bad Mustang was so well protected now. How had she missed killing him twice? It wasn’t like her. As for Eyal, he was as likely to explode himself as anything else but no one would miss him and he thought the commands came from Ranga who Anah knew had died last month. She and Sanaa should be well insulated if the idiot happened to get taken alive.
Anah didn’t know why Attaway wanted the ‘monument’ gone but she was glad enough to do it. One more alchemist who ruined her home dead would make her very happy. When this was all said and done, she’d be a hero. There was something she had to do before all of that, however. She needed to go check on Dev and try to worm her way into his affections. Why the hell was he so resistant? Weren’t Ishbalan girls good enough for him? Probably not, the traitor. Still, Anah was pretty confident she could hook him, without having to go the gruesome last mile of sleeping with him. Once that was done, she’d have a way in to Mustang and the Fullmetal alchemist and could take them out at her leisure, provided Dev hadn’t manage to get thrown out on his ass for his stunt with beating up Mustang. It would be a few more hours before anyone knew what would happen there, the attack still fresh but word of it had spread like fire. Anah would be surprised if he wasn’t arrested why she was at his apartment. She went to find that bakery that had started making Ishbalan treats. She might as well go to his place well armed.
onto Chapter twenty-five
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 06:01 am (UTC)Still, I'm not resting easy that Roy seemed to have come out of it only superficially scathed. I wouldn't put it past you to have Roy suddenly take a turn for the worse in the middle of the night.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:16 pm (UTC)yes the villians are finally doing stuff
Roy is giving you BIG eyes
thanks
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 10:00 am (UTC)Cant wait for the story to go on :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:04 pm (UTC)riza's at her wits end
thanks
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:35 pm (UTC)I did catch one error: “I’m make sure he’s all right,” Aris assured him.
I think you mean "I'll make sure..."
Al is adorable all hung over (pukyness aside). Finally he gets to be the stubborn one.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:40 pm (UTC)thanks for the edit
and thanks for reading
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 07:20 pm (UTC)Ed would be horrified by something that doesn't live up to his standards of Bad Assness.
No problem. You and your betas are so thorough when you have pages and pages of stuff it's amazing.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 07:26 pm (UTC)yes, Ed wants to see gargoyles nad dragons and well you get the idea
As always...
Date: 2008-10-30 03:41 pm (UTC)Re: As always...
Date: 2008-10-30 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 12:15 am (UTC)“Deal,” Al huffed. Winry just sighed, wishing she hadn’t missed this so much when they were gone.
So love this exchange.
Whee, someone else found a typo? WHEE!
I did find this one, though: Anah would be surprised if he wasn’t arrested why she was at his apartment.
Should be "while".
no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 02:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 11:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-31 03:29 pm (UTC)Dare I tell you I found typoes?
Date: 2010-03-30 07:06 pm (UTC)I'm here to make sure he's all right? I'll make sure he's all right?
Also, the scene that starts with Roy in the hospital, Riza sees his fear in his eyes...which would be kinda hard.
Re: Dare I tell you I found typoes?
Date: 2010-03-30 07:33 pm (UTC)Re: Dare I tell you I found typoes?
Date: 2010-03-30 08:18 pm (UTC)Re: Dare I tell you I found typoes?
Date: 2010-03-30 08:40 pm (UTC)