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batsutousaiTitle: Come What May
Series: Part one of Our Sinner's Redemption
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Darius/Edward Elric/Heinkel, pre-Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Warnings: Ed's potty mouth, spoilers for FMA:B ending, canon-typical violence, pile 'o OCs, survivor's guilt, angst, original character death, slow build (btwn Ed & Roy), referenced underage relationships, off-screen violence against women
Summary: After the Promised Day, with his alchemy still intact thanks to Hohenheim's sacrifice, Ed finds himself and his chimera team getting dragged into the shadowy world of military secrets in an attempt to keep Bradley's legacy from causing a civil war.
A/N: So, here's the thing, everything I could find about recovering from muscle atrophy and malnourishment says Al should be pretty well recovered after five to six months. I went ahead and gave him seven before throwing him towards Izumi, though, because she's brutal and I'm nice. (Sometimes.)
Anyway, so, I get that in the series, Ed and Al didn't really have any future ideas right when they got back to Resembool, but they've already talked about the future in this fic, so they have no intention in cooling their heels for two years. Hell, they don't even last one year. But, you know, AU and all that, so... XD
Chapter Three
-0-
It was surprisingly easy to make heading into town once a week part of his schedule. The first week, when Ed met Mustang at the phone with doughnuts, then man had blinked and said, "You don't need to bribe me with sweets so I'll ring them for you, Fullmetal," even as he'd taken the doughnuts.
Ed had rolled his eyes and drily replied, "Yeah, whatever. I'll be over there, eating my share, until you're done." Which he'd done, had avoided listening in to whatever Mustang discussed with the Hugheses, and was granted the same kindness in turn. If he'd managed to sneak out of the house without someone asking him to pick something up, though, he'd stick around and listen to the update on Ishval, interested in spite of himself about the rebuilding efforts.
It wasn't going perfectly – neither of them had expected it to – but the Amestris troops were being as accommodating as they could be and Mustang had picked people who weren't likely to lash out if insulted – "It's really for the best you're not involved, Fullmetal," he'd added with a smirk, after hanging up at one point – so those troublemakers looking for a fight weren't getting what they wanted. Too, Mustang had switched to plain gloves and hadn't used any alchemy since stepping onto the train in Central, which, well, the Ishvalans knew who he was, but Major – Lieutenant Colonel, now, the bastard had been quick to point out – Miles had told Mustang, in confidence, that his bowing to their culture had won him some points with the council of elders.
Ed didn't find out about Scar's survival through Mustang's reports, though. He'd mentioned it after he'd hung up the first time Ed had stuck around, admitting that, while Grumman was aware that the wanted man had survived thanks to Major General Armstrong, they had all agreed that it was better that his being in Ishval not get spread around, since no amount of his helping on the Promised Day was ever going to wash clean his record with the military, especially given that he'd served as the perfect scapegoat to pin Bradley's death on.
"That's shit," Ed had complained.
Mustang had shrugged. "He was the one to finish him off, and we spent too much time playing on Bradley's side to turn around and villainise him now. Scar is aware he's been painted as the villain and he doesn't really care, said something about it being his due."
"It's still shit."
"No, Fullmetal, it's politics."
One of their post-phone call chats was also how Ed found out that Dr Marcoh had used his Stone to fix Havoc's legs, and he'd had to immediately run back home and let Al know, which had seemed to amuse Mustang to no end. "He's suffering through physical therapy in East City," he'd offered before Ed could rush out of the station. "He'd probably be happy to see you two, if you wanted to take a trip up there."
Which, well, they had. Went the next day and visited Havoc and the chimeras. Al felt strong enough by then to actually spar with Ed without him needing to pull his hits (with most of his limbs), and the chimeras had all been quick to comment on how much better he looked. Too, Havoc had been very obviously happy to see Al in the flesh for the first time, and they'd spent a good hour commiserating over the joys of strengthening muscles that had atrophied from disuse, while Ed resisted the urge to add his own comments in regards to strengthening his right arm.
Of course, Havoc was the first of Mustang's crew to ask, "So, Boss, you staying with the military or dropping entirely?"
Ed glanced back at him from where he'd been snooping through the shelf of junk metal, looking for anything that could serve his alchemical experiments or that he could give to Winry for the personal projects that kept her up at weird hours. "I'm sticking it out," he admitted before making a face and adding, "Grumman's making me go through officer training."
Havoc snorted. "Ho-boy. I lost that bet."
Ed turned on the man while Al chortled. "Of course you arseholes were betting on me. What'd you put in for? That I'd kick that shit like the worst habit?"
Havoc grinned. "Absolutely."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, nice try. Who won?"
Havoc took a moment to consider that, then hobbled over to the shop counter and pulled out a familiar small notebook. He went through a few pages before stopping and trailing one finger down the page he'd stopped on. "Officer training was never a consideration," he announced at last.
"Let me see that," Ed demanded, and Al came to peer over his shoulder as Havoc handed over the betting records.
Havoc had, indeed, said that Ed would drop them soon as Al had his body back. Breda said he'd stick it out for as much paid leave as he could wring from the military, then quit. Fuery suggested he'd take a research commission and settle down somewhere to practise alchemy in peace. Falman said that Ed would stick it out just long enough to finish reading the last dozen or so books in Central Branch that he hadn't got to yet, then quit.
Ed snorted at Falman's bet. "I haven't read that much of Central Branch's collection." Maybe half. If you figured in his reading with Al's.
"Half?" Havoc suggested.
Al laughed, beating Ed to a response. "Nowhere near. We had a very focussed area of study, which only comprised of maybe six percent of the Central Branch's collection." Notably, he didn't mention that they'd often needed to collect books in other topics to reference for translating an alchemist's notes, or those times that one or both of them just needed a break, so tackled a completely unrelated topic, and Ed knew his brother was intent on messing with Havoc, which the man totally deserved.
"But you two were always in there," Havoc insisted. "Like, every time you made a stop of more than a day in Central, you were in the library."
"Mustang and his fucking spies," Ed muttered.
"Alchemy journals aren't easy reads," Al offered. "We tend to put our work into code, and half the struggle is decoding the research, which can be as quick as a day, or could take a week."
"And neither of us have a photographic memory," Ed admitted drily, earning him a disbelieving look from Havoc. "We don't. So we'd have to look things back up again, just to make sure." Okay, not quite that bad, but they had occasionally pulled down old references to fact-check.
"Or something that didn't make sense the first time we saw it clicked after whatever we came across in a mission, so we'd have to go back and put that new information into its place in the context," Al added.
"So, what you're saying is, you two spent three years rereading the same books."
Ed and Al traded looks, Al raising an eyebrow in inquiry – 'Should we keep this up?' – and Ed replied with a smile that, he hoped, looked like they weren't taking the mickey, because, fuck yes they were keeping this up.
"My whole life is a lie," Havoc complained, flopping dramatically over the counter, clearly missing the exchange. "I demand my money back."
"Sorry," Ed quipped, motioning to the sign on the front of the counter, "all purchases are non-refundable."
Havoc groaned and snatched his notebook back. "Eh, fine. So, who won?"
"None of you idiots," Ed retorted. "You all suck. Grumman won; he's the one who talked me into fucking officer training."
Havoc snorted and snapped the book closed. "Yeah, okay. So, seriously, how the hell did old man Grumman manage to talk you into officer training?"
Ed grimaced, still a bit sore about the Führer's underhanded tactics, so it was Al who quietly offered, "He told Brother he'd do Mustang a lot more good as an officer."
Havoc's eyes went wide and he stared at Ed like he'd never seen him before. "Shit," he whispered. "Does he know? The chief?"
Ed frowned. "What, that I'm staying on?"
"Yes. No, that you're staying on because of him."
Ed crossed his arms over his chest, the phrasing making him feel defensive. "I haven't told him I'm staying on at all, and Grumman said he'd expected I'd quit, same as you."
"What about when you've talked to him?" Al asked, frowning. "It hasn't come up?"
Ed shook his head. "We haven't talked about my resigning or staying on one way or the other. I mean, he's still calling me 'Fullmetal', but I'm betting he'd be calling me that either way, so..." He gave a tight shrug. "Do you think I should?" he asked Havoc, because he honestly hadn't really thought about telling Mustang he was sticking it out, figured he'd just let Grumman pass that on through a massive stack of paperwork. (Assumed he had already, and Mustang just hadn't got to it yet; surprise, surprise, bastard should really do his fucking paperwork more often, shouldn't he?)
Havoc leant heavily back against the counter, looking troubled. "Okay, so, this is only conjecture from what I heard around the office and some of the things the chief and Brigadier General Hughes said, but I think Hughes' plan was always to stay one step below the chief, push him up from below. And what you're saying..."
Ed swallowed, his throat feeling dry. "Two steps," he offered. "Lieutenant Colonel."
"Still." Havoc shook his head. "I don't know, Boss. Tell him that you're not resigning, yeah, sure, he should hear about that from you, if Grumman hasn't already told him, but the rest..."
"He's going to figure it out," Al pointed out. "He's not an idiot. The minute he finds out you agreed to officer training, he's going to guess what's going on."
"Yeah." Ed sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. Fuck it. I'll tell him before we leave for Dublith in a few weeks." He huffed. "If he gets in a snit, that way, I don't have to fucking deal with it."
Havoc laughed at that, while Al sighed. "You know, Boss, if one of you're going to get into a snit–"
"Shut up, Havoc."
"Sir!"
Ed rolled his eyes. "What about you? Gonna sign back up?"
Havoc sighed and shrugged, the playfulness draining from his expression. "I don't know," he admitted. "Nothing against the chief, but I got used by that bitch because of him, because I was the weakest link. That...sucks." He shook his head. "Anyway, my folks are getting up there in years a bit, need some help managing the shop. I'd probably have had to resign soon to come help them." He glanced at Ed, looking rather like he was waiting for his judgement.
Ed met his eyes and said, "Okay."
Havoc's shoulders drooped. "That's it? Just 'okay'?"
Ed shook his head. "Havoc, if you're looking for someone to castigate you, don't look at me." He sighed. "You were the closest, you know," he added, motioning to the book on the counter. "A year ago, I would have turned in my resignation, no questions asked, as soon as Al had his body back. But, after everything that went down..." He shrugged and offered a helpless smile. "Someone needs to stick around and punch that smug look off his face."
Havoc's mouth twisted with a smile that was familiar to Ed, one that tugged on all the wrong muscles and ached the whole time you held it. "Yeah. You were always damn good at that."
"Now I'm gonna be damn fucking good at it," Ed insisted, and Havoc's smile eased. He reached out and lightly punched Havoc's arm. "It's not gonna be the same, though, without you around the office."
"Air'll be clearer," Havoc pointed out.
"Good point." Ed glanced over at Al, who was watching them with a sad smile. "Hey, guess what. You can visit the office after all."
"Brother," Al said on a sigh, sending a pointed look towards the full ashtray next to the register.
"Right. Go wait outside," Ed ordered, and Al rolled his eyes.
Havoc snorted. "You're as bad as Hawkeye."
"Learnt it from her," Ed shot back.
Havoc flashed him a knowing grin before quickly switching tracks, his expression turning serious. "Boss, I know you're not a gun person, but if you need any arms you don't want the military to know about..."
Ed glanced towards Al, who frowned and nodded. "We won't use them," he agreed, "but we've got some self-appointed bodyguards that might. Mind if we send them to you?"
Havoc raised an eyebrow at that. " 'Self-appointed bodyguards'?"
"Human chimeras," Al offered quietly. "They helped against Father, and we both travelled with them for a while, before the Promised Day. Jerso and Zampano decided they'd follow me to Xing, while Darius and Heinkel decided to reenlist under Brother."
"You just never do anything by halves, do you?" Havoc commented with a grin. "Yeah, sure. Have 'em tell me the boss sent them and I'll get them what they need."
"Sure," Al agreed.
Ed tilted his head, the talk of outfitting the chimeras reminding him of his earlier thoughts to get a diamond to carry in his pocket. He could transmute it from carbon, sure, but a non-transmuted diamond would be more stable. "How hard would it be for you to procure a diamond?" he asked.
Havoc frowned. "A diamond, Boss?"
"Brother?"
"Just something Heinkel said to me," Ed offered, looking towards his brother. "Can't shift the carbon in my arm to block another Pride, any more, but carry a bit around with me..."
Al blinked. "That's what you've been doing with the carbon and your shirts!"
Ed grinned. "Yeah. Keeping the flexibility has been proving a trick, but I've got it mostly figured out, I think." So saying, he clapped his hands together, envisioned the array he wanted, then touched his hands to his chest. The carbon fibres worked into his clothing quickly reformed around his hands, binding themselves to his gloves and crawling up his sleeves, giving him full coverage from fingertips – which had been shaped into claws – to about halfway up his forearm.
"Holy shit, Boss," Havoc exclaimed, stepping closer, and Ed held out his left hand to see, carefully fisting his hand so he didn't chance catching the man with one of his claws.
"That's inspired," Al decided, taking Ed's right hand and knocking against the covering. "You'll have to show me how to do this."
"Sure. Figured I'd show you and Teacher both when we got to Dublith." Given their fighting styles, a little extra protection wouldn't go amiss. "You'll have to start wearing gloves, though. You can do it without, but bonding to the gloves is what gives you the mobility." So saying, he wiggled his fingers at his brother.
Al glanced at his own bare hands and sighed. "Yeah, okay." He shook his head and stepped back. "If the carbon's worked into your clothing, though, why the diamond?"
Havoc had also stepped back, looking interested, and Ed quickly clapped his hands to return the carbon back to his clothing, grimacing at the odd sensation of it crawling over his skin. "It won't bind to the leather," he offered, tapping a finger against his trousers, "and I'd rather get used to a diamond in my pocket, than find myself in a fight without my shirt."
Al snorted. "Oh, yeah. You do have that rather unfortunate habit of losing jackets and shirts, don't you?"
"Shut up."
"Well," Havoc interrupted, "I don't have any diamonds in stock right now, but I should be able to get you a few. You said you're heading for Dublith in a few weeks?"
"Three or four," Al agreed, because they'd already discussed it a bit.
"I'll have something for you in two," Havoc promised, and Ed felt a grin taking over his face, which almost certainly mirrored the one Al wore. "How big do you want them?"
"Have you seen my trousers?" Ed demanded, motioning down at his well-worn leather trousers. Which, okay, weren't as tight as they could be, but still.
Havoc's eyes glinted. "So you're saying you don't want any large bulges?"
"What, exactly, are you implying about my bulge?" Ed shot back, and Al moaned, covering his face with his hands.
Havoc let out a startled laugh. "Who taught you sexual innuendos, Boss?"
"I wonder," Ed shot back with his best smug grin. "Let's aim for no bigger in diameter than a one hundred cenz coin, and no thicker than two or three coins."
Havoc shook his head. "Yeah, I can do that."
"Awesome." Ed glanced back at the shelf he'd been snooping through earlier and grabbed the small handful of bolts and scraps he'd set aside. "And these. Al, you want anything?"
Al went to pick out some food for them to take back to the hotel, and Havoc quickly rang them up. As he handed the bags over to Ed, he said. "Two weeks. Drop by then and if not's what you want, I'll sort something better."
"Got it. Thanks, Havoc."
"Anytime," Havoc insisted, and they smiled at each other before Ed and Al turned to leave.
Just before Ed could step out the door after Al, Havoc called, "Boss!" When Ed turned back, he found something that reflecting the shop light flying at his face and caught it with a scowl. "Hold onto that for me, will you?"
Ed opened his hand and found himself holding a battered lighter, which weighed, he was fairly certain, too light for it to be filled with lighter fluid. But, then, he suspected that this particular lighter hadn't been used to light any of Havoc's cigarettes for a long time. He swallowed and clenched his fist around it, looking back up at Havoc. "You got it," he promised, and the words came out rough.
Havoc's smile was edged with regret as he gave a sharp nod.
Once he'd caught him back up, Al asked, "What is it?"
"Empty lighter," Ed murmured, slipping it into his pocket next to his pocket watch.
"Passing of the torch?" Al suggested.
And it took Ed a minute, but then he got it and punched Al's shoulder, much to his brother's unending glee.
Ed returned to East City on his own two weeks later, to pick up what Havoc had for him. He'd found a handful of fairly small diamonds, which Ed took all of, as well as a knife, which he prefaced with, "So, I know you said you didn't need any weapons, you or Al, but I know how you fight, Boss, and you've lost your main weapon." He used the sheathed knife to tap against Ed's right arm. "Now, those claws of yours are pretty wicked, sure thing, but they strike me as the sort of thing you hold in reserve, right? Like how you used to transmute a spear or whatever before you'd use your arm."
Ed shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. So you found me a knife."
"Not just any knife," Havoc insisted, waving it between them. "This is a Drachman dull knife."
Ed gave him a flat look. "A dull knife. The actual fuck, Havoc?"
Havoc rolled his eyes and finally unsheathed the knife, revealing a blade that had been covered in what Ed assumed was black paint and which didn't reflect the shop lights. "Dull. Knife," he said, offering the handle out to Ed. "Won't give you away if you're walking around with it drawn and light catches the blade."
Ed took the knife and brought the blade close to get a look at the finish, which, if it was paint, it had been covered with some sort of particularly strong sealant, because Ed got nothing from scratching a fingernail over it. Even more interesting, the colour-change didn't seem to interfere with the sharpness of the blade, because it didn't take much pressure for Ed to cut his thumb. "Okay," he allowed, "that's pretty amazing. What's it covered in?"
"No clue," Havoc admitted. "I've got a whole crate in the back, if you want an extra to try decomposing it to base elements or whatever."
"Deconstructing," Ed corrected as he took a couple steps back from the counter, then performed a few controlled swipes with the knife, checking the balance and grip. The balance was good, different from both the heavy hunting knife that Teacher had left them with on the island and his automail blade, but something he could get used to without too much practise. The grip was crap with gloves, but Winry had some rubber tubing that he could make off with and add to the hilt, giving him some much-needed friction. "Sure, I'll take an extra," he decided as he stepped back up to the counter.
Havoc grinned and pushed away from his side of the counter. "Would Al use it?" he asked.
Ed shrugged. "He's never been much for knives," he admitted, though a large part of that had been due to the relative size of the armour, "but it couldn't hurt." After all, there were times when you needed a weapon, but using alchemy would chance discovery, or just generally wouldn't be fast enough.
"Got it." Havoc stepped into the back room, leaving Ed in peace to check how tight the sheath was, which was, well. He could probably tighten it up a bit to keep the blade secure when he moved, use the extra material to fuse it to his belt or something.
Havoc came back out with three more knives. As he sat them on the counter, he offered, "One for your experiments, one for Al, one for you, and one extra for when you inevitably break the first one."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Fuck off. What do I owe you?"
They settled up quickly, Ed promising he and Al would stop by on their way through to Dublith, then he left with a wave, knives hidden away under five quick meals, which he could share with the four chimeras, who he was staying with until the next train out to Resembool.
"So," Ed said once Mustang had hung up with Grumman. He and Al were leaving for East City and then Dublith the next day, which made this his last chance to tell the man he wasn't resigning.
Mustang raised an eyebrow at him. "So?"
Ed sighed. "I don't know if Grumman told you or not, but I'm not resigning."
Mustang blinked. "No," he admitted after a moment. "He only told me he hadn't heard anything from you either way." He stepped away from the phone, took a couple steps towards the bench Ed had claimed, then stopped, towering over him in that way that would have won a rant from Ed a year ago. (Might still yet, if the bastard didn't quit real soon.) "May I ask why? I would have expected you to stay with your brother." He frowned. "Alphonse isn't planning to join up, is he?"
"Fuck no," Ed swore. "I catch anyone trying to talk him into it, I'm gonna rip out their fucking spleen."
Mustang gave him a bland look. "No, you won't."
"I will be very, very tempted," Ed amended.
"That I'll believe," Mustang muttered, before finally walking the last two steps and sitting down on the other end of the bench. "Edward, why?" he asked quietly.
Ed swallowed, feeling a bit unsettled at the use of his given name. "We made a promise," he offered just as quietly. "I'm not leaving until I see it fulfilled."
Mustang frowned at him. "You hate the military."
Ed shrugged and looked away. "Yeah, well, I hate a lot of shit that I did over the last year." He snorted. "Better the monster you know, right?"
"I'm fairly certain you're misspeaking that," Mustang murmured, his eyes disturbingly sharp as they watched Ed.
"I'm fairly certain I don't give a fuck."
Mustang's mouth gave a faint twitch, but didn't turn into a smile. "This is about your father," he guessed.
Ed felt his jaw clench, and it was an effort to pry it open long enough to say, "This is about a lot of shit. You don't know a fucking thing about what I got up to while I was on the run."
Mustang's mouth tightened. "You're right," he admitted, some emotion Ed couldn't quite parse in his voice. "You were surprisingly low key."
Ed snorted, and it came out harsher than he'd expected. "Yeah. You just keep fucking wondering."
Mustang sighed. "When is your leave over?"
"January. Old man Grumman's making me take officer training." He grimaced.
Mustang blinked, straightening. "You're serious about this," he murmured, as though only just realising that.
"Yeah." Ed shrugged that away. "Training's over, what, end of March? Beginning of April?"
Mustang nodded. "End of March."
"Do you want me to come to Ishval? Or just fuck shit up in Central in your name?"
Mustang's mouth twitched again. "Let's avoid attaching my name to any destroyed buildings, please, Fullmetal."
Ed flashed him his best 'make me, bastard' smile.
That got a brief hint of what could almost have been called a smile. "Let's see how tempers are at the middle of March," he offered. "If they're still trying to pick fights, I'd rather you keep out of things."
"Because I can't control myself?" Ed asked, honestly kind of irritated that Mustang just assumed that, because he didn't have any trouble bringing Ed to violence, anyone could do it.
"Because this isn't your fight," Mustang replied, shaking his head. "You had no part in the massacre; there's no reason for you to listen to their vitriol."
Ed swallowed. "Fuck that shit, Mustang. The only people who deserve to listen to those kids' shit are either dead or sitting pretty in a fucking prison cell. No one down there right now deserves that abuse, and neither do you."
"I don't remember saying anything about deserving–"
"Cut the shit!" Ed snapped.
Mustang's mouth tightened. "It will be interesting to see," he said, his voice flat, "if officer training does anything for your attitude."
"Don't hold your breath," Ed suggested.
"I'm not," Mustang promised as he stood. "Shall I take this conversation to mean you're leaving Resembool?"
Ed sighed. "Yeah. Al and I are going to Dublith for a bit, then make a stop in Rush Valley before getting back into Central."
Mustang nodded. "Good luck, then." He turned and started towards the exit.
An air of finality lay between them, and Ed jumped to his feet, calling, "Hey, bastard!" in hopes of dispelling it.
Mustang turned back towards him, his expression tight. "What, Fullmetal?"
Ed stalked up to him and shoved a finger against his chest. "I don't need your fucking luck, keep it for your morose face." Then he stepped past the man and flapped his hand at him in a motion that sort of counted as a wave. "I'll see you end of March."
And then he made his escape, because he'd already done the awkward goodbyes with the bastard.
Teacher, after she'd beat them both to hell and back as a greeting, had hugged them, fed them, and then sat them down to catch up. She was clearly approving of Al's choice to travel outside their borders, especially when he told her he wasn't going it alone – the chimeras were staying at a hotel near the train station, but she'd met them all in Central before she and Sig returned to Dublith – but Ed's own future plans had brought a frown to her face, at least until he'd mentioned officer training.
Then she laughed and said, "Well, this will be interesting to see play out," before changing the subject.
Ed was going to punch Grumman in the face. Swear to fuck.
The carbon shield trick was a hit, though Teacher's dislike for gloves meant she couldn't use it in quite the same way as Ed and Al could. Still, working it into her clothing and then using it to form a quick shield over key parts of her anatomy, or just as a guard around her forearm to deflect hits and give herself an opening worked just as well. She did drag them out to Yock Island for a few days to work with the claws, though, since they weren't as mobile as uncovered hands, and they needed to learn to change their battle style to match, just like Ed had once had to learn how to fight with the blade on his arm.
While they were out at Yock, Ed and Al also showed off their new knives. Al had been intrigued by the paint job, same as Ed, and they'd ended up working together to find out the makeup of it. Teacher had been initially unimpressed with the non-reflective blades, but when Ed had proved they were just as sharp as unpainted blades, and that the finish the Drachmans had used didn't scratch off easily, she showed a bit more interest.
That said, weapons had never really been a part of Teacher's fighting arsenal, not like they were Ed's, so she waved off the knife Ed offered her, even as she asked about the paint finish, "Just in case."
The last week of their stay, Teacher had dragged Ed, Al, and the four chimeras out to Yock Island, divided them into two teams, and made them fight each other. "You need to know where your partners are," she told Ed when he complained about the unnecessary training. "You and Al have trained together for years, but you don't know a thing about fighting with those two–" she pointed at Darius and Heinkel "–which is going to get one of you killed. Stop bitching and go face your brother."
It was hard not to remember Darius punching him in the dark forest while they were facing Gluttony, so Ed had grudgingly gone back to the mock fight. Which, well, none of them won, and Ed was mildly cheered by the proof that his brother had just as much trouble fighting with other people as he did.
That night, tired and sore, he looked across their small, three-person campfire at Darius and Heinkel's equally defeated forms. "We have got to sort this out," he muttered, and they both glanced up at him.
When Ed fought with Al, he always knew exactly where he was, because they'd trained to fight as a pair. Likewise, Darius and Heinkel knew how to fight with each other, knew exactly what each other's skill sets were and where the other would be in the middle of combat. Ed was the one tripping them up.
He leant forward, frowning into the fire. He knew the strengths of their opponents, which wouldn't always be true in future, but he could use that now to focus them; working together as a team wasn't going to be a quick fix, but every battle was a learning experience. "Mr Lion–" Heinkel sighed, but didn't bother correcting him "–focus on Mr Toad."
Heinkel frowned. "Why?"
Ed glanced up at him. "Because you're fairly matched for speed, and your claws can cut through his saliva."
Darius sighed. "So I've got Zampano?" he guessed.
But Ed shook his head. "No, you've got Al. I can protect myself against the spikes better, and you've got a longer reach than Al or I. Unless you think you'll have trouble with his alchemy?" He met Darius' surprised look evenly.
Darius' surprise melted into a smirk. "I can handle a little shaky ground."
Ed snorted. "I figured." He paused, trying to remember if they knew about the carbon alchemy and deciding that he was better safe than sorry. "Though, watch out for claws," he offered before quickly clapping his hands and forming the carbon covering.
"That's a new trick," Heinkel commented. "Looks like Greed's shield."
Ed gave a short nod. "That's who I got it from," he admitted, before clapping again and reshaping the carbon to form arm guards, rather than covering his hands. "If you can get rid of his gloves, he can still form the claws, but he won't be able to move them much," he told Darius. It felt a little cruel, sharing his brother's secrets, but, well, all's fair in love and war, right? And, too, Darius and Heinkel would find out about this trick while fighting with Ed, would be helped knowing that, if he lost his gloves, he wasn't going to be able to use this trick quite so well.
"Wasn't Greed's shield part of him?" Darius asked, a glint in his eyes saying he being an arse, not asking a stupid question.
Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but if I started fucking with the carbon in my body, that would be human transmutation, and we don't do that."
Darius and Heinkel both laughed at that.
"Shut up," Ed ordered. "Go to sleep. I'm done looking at your ugly faces tonight."
"Just our faces?" Darius asked, and his eyebrows did a kind of disturbing little dance above his eyes.
"Stop that, it makes you look demented."
Heinkel made a noise of agreement, and Darius scowled at him.
"Anyway," Ed added, getting up with a wince and pausing to dust off his rear, "I'm not Greed. You wanna play 'Grope the Gorilla'–"
"Can we outlaw that phrase?" Darius pleaded while Heinkel chuckled.
Ed flashed him a smirk. "No. I like that one."
Darius groaned. "Of course you do."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You wanna fuck, that's your business. Keep me out of it."
Darius and Heinkel traded looks, then both nodded. "You got it," Darius offered, and Ed knew any further remarks of that nature would be jokes, rather than offers, unless he said otherwise.
Ed felt his mouth shift into a tired smile. "Awesome. Night."
"Good night, Ed," they returned, and Ed turned in for the night feeling extremely relieved to have cleared that conversation.
The next day's skirmish was a different beast entirely, and Ed was going to fucking treasure the horrified look Zampano put on when he went after him, rather than Al. Al's shout of, "Broth– Shit! That's my glove!" was also going to stay with him forever.
Al managed to hold his own against Darius, but Zampano was a fucking walk in the park for Ed, and Heinkel seemed equally capable of outmatching Jerso. Teacher, who had started laughing around the time Darius made off with Al's first glove, took pity and called a halt before Ed and Heinkel could join Darius against Al.
"You cheated," Al snapped at Ed, once Darius had handed back his gloves.
Ed wiggled his clawed fingers at his brother. "All's fair in love and war, little brother."
"Better," Teacher told Ed, Heinkel, and Darius, as Al stalked off to free Zampano from the ground, "but pre-planning isn't always going to work."
"Nah, but it helps," Ed insisted.
"Not for long," Teacher pointed out, and Ed turned to look towards where his brother, Jerso, and Zampano had their heads together.
Darius groaned. "It was nice knowing you two while it lasted."
"Stop being morbid," Heinkel ordered and Ed couldn't help a snicker that might have come out a little nervous.
Their next battle was far more drawn out, since the element of surprise had been lost. Al made a pointed bid for Ed, and he ended up fighting both Al and Zampano while Darius helped Heinkel finish off Jerso. With Jerso out of the way, Heinkel and Darius set about distracting Al and giving Ed the opening he needed to pin Zampano.
Teacher again called a halt before they could gang up on Al, then made them all sit down to tend to wounds and eat some lunch.
"If you'd allow guns," Jerso muttered, "this would be much easier."
Teacher shoved him over with her foot. "No guns. I am not dealing with bullet wounds." She looked them over, then pointed between Jerso and Zampano. "You're facing hand-to-hand combatants. Stop relying on your distance attacks and get your hands dirty. Or didn't the military teach you how to do that?"
While Jerso and Zampano made grumbling noises, Ed caught a gleam in his brother's eyes that meant trouble. He leant closer to Darius and murmured, "Can you cover Zampano?"
Darius glanced at him out of the side of one eye. "I'll manage. What's up?"
"Al's planning something."
Darius gave a faint nod and returned to demolishing his fish.
As Ed had guessed, Al had developed a plan: As soon as Teacher called for them to start, he clapped and slammed his hands against the ground. The ground under both Zampano and Jerso rose to just below tree-height, giving them the distance necessary for their preferred methods of attack, without leaving Darius and Heinkel an easy way to get to them.
"Fuck," Ed breathed, dodging a glob of spit and throwing up an earthen shield to protect Heinkel from a hail of spikes. He could focus on tearing the platforms down, but Al would fight him the whole way, and his group would be completely open. "Go after Al!" he shouted at Darius and Heinkel, falling back a few steps so he had a better view of the battleground and settling in to protect his partners from the attacks from above or – once Al realised Ed wasn't going to go after the platforms – whatever ground-based attacks his brother tried.
Teacher had to call a halt to that battle before they could all exhaust themselves. Because, while Ed was inarguably the better at offensive alchemy, his defensive alchemy was lacking, and while he'd managed to keep Darius and Heinkel from taking more than a glancing blow, he hadn't been able to find them an opening to bring down Al.
"Now I wish we had guns," Darius muttered as they took their break.
Ed closed his eyes and grunted. "Angle would have been shit. Should have just sent you two up after them and kept Al distracted on the ground. Fuck."
"So, next time he claps and drops, we'll stay still and you follow suit," Heinkel suggested.
Add in some walls to the front of their platforms and they should be fine if Zampano and Jerso decided to try attacking them while Ed was still moving them. Could work. Better, they could use the walls as boosts if Ed had to leave them short to distract Al. "Right," he agreed.
Their battles for the rest of that week mostly consisted of one of the teams developing some sort of masterful plan to completely screw the other one over for one battle, with the next battle providing a counter to the previous masterful plan. It was a week of constantly trying to one-up each other, which proved as irritating as it was fun, and Ed, at least, got back to the mainland feeling a lot more secure in his ability to keep tabs on Darius and Heinkel when shit blew up.
They spent one last night in Dublith, then it was on to Rush Valley. Winry had returned, so Ed got to sit through a lecture about how he was far too hard on his leg – he very kindly didn't mention that most of the scratches were Al's fault – and was he actually incapable of going a month without destroying his automail?
Ed ignored most of her bitching – he'd heard variations so many times throughout the years, he probably could have yelled at himself for her – and set about complimenting a piece she'd been working on when they'd arrived just before she reached the point where she'd start beating him over the head with the nearest tool to hand, which distracted her beautifully.
"I'm impressed," Al whispered when Winry left them to get a tool she needed to fix a loose fitting in Ed's leg.
"Shut up," Ed hissed back, and Al grinned at him, but obediently settled back into his chair without another word.
They spent a week in Rush Valley, visiting with the people they knew there. Ed let Winry talk him into buying her a particularly expensive toolset that she'd taken approximately three seconds to fall in lust with, while Al and the chimeras laughed at him from a distance, as if he couldn't read their fucking body language. He was going to kick all of them in the balls. With his left foot.
Winry had also, about an hour before their train was due to leave, dragged Ed and Al into a toy shop a couple blocks away from the station. "For Elicia," she explained, and neither brother needed to hear anything more before they were snooping through the offerings. Ed stuck to the books – he knew his taste didn't quite fit for a little girl – while Al tackled the stuffed animals and Winry wandered off to look at fuck knew what.
When they met back up at the register, Ed had five books (one on Xing, one on Ishval that didn't look racist at a quick glance, two on alchemy, and one about a princess that rescued a prince from a dragon, which had made him laugh), Al had four stuffed animals (a lion, a frog, a monkey, and a pig; Ed had fucking cackled), and Winry had found a tea set with machine parts painted on it (yeah, Ed was kind of disturbed, too). Winry paid for the tea set herself, but Ed gently shoved Al out of the way and bought both of their shares; he had plenty of funds, with his military job, but Al only had what money was left over from Mum (plus the trust account Ed had set up without Al's knowledge when he'd first made State Alchemist, which he really needed to tell his brother about when they got to Central).
At the station, Winry held out the tea set to Ed. "Give that to her for me."
Ed took it with a frown. "You're welcome to come with, you know."
She sighed and nodded. "I know, but I've been gone over a year, and there's orders I need to do." She glanced back towards the city. "I shouldn't have stayed in Resembool so long, I guess. But..."
"Yeah. Family's gotta come first, right?"
She offered him a helpless smile. "Right." Then she reached out and lightly punched his chest. "Every other week, Edward. You promised me."
"I did," he agreed, taking her hand and squeezing it. "If I can't, for some reason, I'll have Heinkel or Darius ring you, right?"
"To let me know where I'm coming out to so I can beat you over the head with whatever's left of my leg?" she suggested, a mean gleam in her eyes.
"My leg," Ed insisted before dropping her hand and taking two quick steps back, in case she decided to retaliate.
Winry huffed, then hurried forward to hug him as the train pulled into the station. "Stay safe," she ordered as he hugged her back.
"I'll try," he offered in return, because he was going to get into trouble, and there was no use trying to pretend otherwise.
She gave a quick nod, then left him to catch Al in a hug.
"So, when are you going to put a ring on that pretty lady?" Darius teased as they found seats.
"Brother's in denial," Al confided.
"All of you, shut your mouths," Ed snapped, before pointing at Darius and Heinkel and insisting, "You two arseholes are staying the fuck out of my love life."
"Or lack thereof," Al added cheerfully.
"When're you leaving for Xing again?" Ed complained.
"Three weeks," Al returned, looking so very gleeful about that. "Have to get all my licks in now; it's never as much fun if I can't see your face."
"Traitor."
"I love you too, Brother."
Ed leant over and bumped his shoulder against Al's. "Yeah," he agreed quietly, and Al offered him an understanding smile.
They got into Central late, so went straight to the hotel and checked in, before settling in for the night. The next morning, though, after a group breakfast, Ed and Al waved their goodbyes to the chimeras and made for the Hugheses' place, carting along the gifts they'd bought. On the way, Al made them stop to pick out a bouquet of flowers from a street stall, insisting it was the polite thing to do.
Gracia was the one to open the door, wearing a wide smile, while they could hear Elicia chattering excitedly in the background. "Hello, Ed, Al," she greeted, stepping back. "Please come in."
"Hi, Mrs Gracia," Al offered, holding out the flowers to her as they stepped inside. "We picked these up for you on our way, and I'm afraid we may have gone a bit overboard getting gifts for Elicia." His cheeks tinged with pink, which Ed would probably never not find all kinds of amazing. (Not that he intended to ever actually say that to his brother.)
"These are lovely," Gracia promised as she accepted them. "And, well, Elicia is the mistress of finding places for new toys." She shook her head. "Roy has a bad habit of spoiling her."
"That's him, isn't it?" Ed guessed, nodding down the hall to where they could hear Elicia still chattering. He hadn't realised what day it was, between all the travelling.
Gracia let out a quiet laugh. "It is," she admitted, before raising her voice to call, "Though I'm kind of surprised Elicia hasn't come running to greet her big brothers. She must not be aware they brought her gifts."
There was a brief silence before Elicia said, "Gotta go, Uncle Roy!" and dashed into the hall from an adjoining room, then hurried over to jump at Ed, who was closer, with an excited, "Big Brother!"
Ed dropped his bags so he could catch her, feeling a grin break out over his face. "Elicia!" he called right back at her, and she giggled into his shirt.
Gracia laughed quietly as she slipped past them. "Let me go hang up with Roy," she said as Elicia started squirming towards Al. "Elicia will show you through to the living room."
"Yup!" Elicia agreed once Ed had handed her over to his brother.
Once she'd had her fill of hugs, Elicia did indeed lead them into the living room, where they handed over her gifts and she exclaimed gleefully over them. When Al explained the reasons behind the various animals – tusks had been added to the pig and a bit more bulk had been added to the monkey to make them look a bit more like a boar and gorilla – Elicia declared that she wanted to meet the four chimeras, and Ed and Al promised they'd bring them over one day.
"Though," Ed had added, glancing around the flat, "it might get a bit cramped in here with all of them."
"Don't worry, Brother," Al offered sweetly, "you'll still fit."
Elicia giggled while Ed made threatening gestures with his fist.
When Elicia heard that one of her new books was about the place where Mustang was, she insisted they read it right then. Ed had proceeded to make the expected grumbling noises, but he didn't actually mind reading stuff out loud – he blamed Mustang – and none of the books were bad, he'd found when he'd checked them all over on the train. (Certainly not as bad as those fucking law books Mustang had always picked when Ed did something to irritate him.)
After the Ishval book, Ed had to read the Xing book, then they had a tea party with the set Winry had bought, while Ed passed on some of the things he'd heard about Xing during those times Greed had let Ling have control of their shared body.
After tea, they tromped outside and Ed and Al debated the arrays they'd need to make it snow, while Elicia collected some of her friends who lived in the same building or in the next one over. Once all of the kids – and most of their parents – had gathered, Ed and Al both clapped their hands together to activate their arrays, then set about chilling the air and drawing the moisture out into snow form.
"My big brothers," Ed thought he heard Elicia declare while he concentrated on the transmutation, "are amazing."
Once they had enough snow for snowmen, both Elrics ended the transmutation, then hurried out to the pavement so they could shift the snow that had fallen on the roadway into the little courtyard garden of the Hugheses' building. With that hazard taken care of, they returned to help Elicia build her snowmen. At her direction, they helpfully cheated with alchemy to make each one look like the person she wanted. By the time they went in for lunch, they had one for each of them, Hughes, Gracia, and Mustang. Gracia had handed a camera over to one of the other parents – Ed hadn't even realised she'd been taking photos – then came over to join them in standing with their snow-selves for a few pictures.
After lunch, Elicia demanded Ed read the two alchemy books, then got them to show her a few transmutations, leaving her a handful of new toys made from whatever they found in the recycling bin, or repaired toys from her own rather impressive collection.
They stayed through dinner, and were only allowed to leave after promising to come play with her more the next day.
"This is going to be a very busy few weeks, if Elicia has anything to say about it," Ed said as they made their way back to the hotel.
"It's good to see her so happy, though," Al pointed out.
"Yeah." Ed grinned about that for a moment, then sighed as he recalled the message Gracia had passed on from Mustang. "I guess I should go by Command tomorrow morning and report in. Let Grumman know to put my name on the list for January's command training."
"Before you 'forget'?" Al suggested, with the tone of someone who knew all too well how good Ed was at avoiding military headquarters.
Ed cast him a glare, huffing when his brother's only response was a grin. "More like, before Elicia manages to distract me fully."
Al sighed, slumping slightly. "She's going to be so sad come January. I'm off to Xing, and you'll be spending most of the day in training."
Ed grimaced. "Yeah. I'm gonna have to ask about that. Her birthday's right smack in the middle, and there's no way I'm missing that again. Hughes'll come back from the dead just to drag me over to the party."
Al laughed. "He would, too. And he'd be going on about how precious she is and shoving pictures in your face the whole way."
They traded grins.
"She is pretty precious," Ed pointed out.
"She is that."
Ed slowed slightly, his heart sinking. When Al slowed next to him, casting him a worried look, he admitted, "I wish we hadn't stayed away for so long."
Al sighed and nodded. "I know. But she was safer, for a lot of it, with us gone. And before, too, because Bradley and them didn't know she could have been used against us the same way as Winry."
Ed swallowed and let out a laugh that sounded hollow to his own ears. "They missed a lot of tricks, those homunculi. Though–" he shuddered, barely resisted the urge to hug himself "–I wonder if they didn't use them against Mustang. I know Hawkeye getting transferred to Bradley's office was to use her as a hostage, but..."
"Maybe," Al offered when Ed didn't continue, his own expression speaking to how much he hated where their minds had gone. "I don't expect we'll ever know."
"I don't think I ever want to know," Ed admitted. "They're safe and happy."
"Let's focus on that," Al agreed, and they brought up their hands to knock their fists together in sync, sealing the promise unspoken: 'Let's keep them that way.'
Come What May Chapters:
01 || 02 ||
11 || 12 || 13 || 14|| 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19|| 20
Extras:
Ch 04 (Roy) || Ch 07 (Roy) || Ch 10 (Roy)
Ch 10 (Darius - NSFW) || Ch 16 (Ed - NSFW) || Ch 17 (Roy)
We All Need Saving Chapters:
Unposted
Dancing With the Devil Chapters:
Unposted
.
