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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: For those who have read Dreaming in Red and Gold, you may recognise a few OCs in this chapter.
Panic attack triggered by a nightmare in the first scene.
Chapter Nineteen
-0-
White, white, everything was white except for the monstrous stone gateway standing at his back.
"Welcome back, alchemist," that voice said, so very mocking.
Ed squeezed his arms around Megan, even as he looked down and glared at the seated figure. "Let her go," he said – said again? Hadn't this already happened? "You need a price, you take it from me, but you let her go."
Its smile widened, turned cruel, and it pointed towards the left. "We have our price," it said and Ed looked, found Mustang held in the clutches of a Gate, his eyes wide and terrified and blind as he reached out, out–
"Roy!"
Ed sat up in a rush, gasping for breath, still seeing Mustang being pulled in, helpless and–
"Ed." Hands came down on his shoulders, warm and familiar. "Ed, you need to breathe."
He tried to draw in a breath, couldn't, couldn't stop seeing Mustang reaching–
"Ed," Heinkel said, firmer, squeezing his shoulders.
'Water, thirty-five litres,' Ed mouthed, stared into the darkness of the room because the space behind his eyelids was filled with his nightmare, 'carbon, twenty kilograms; ammonia, four litres; lime...'
He took a moment to just breathe once he'd gone through his list, reminding himself that Mustang was in fucking Ishval and he could see fine and Ed was letting Truth get to him.
"Sorry," he whispered, reaching up and patting one of the hands on his shoulders. "Go back to sleep."
Heinkel squeezed his shoulders and drew away, knew well enough by now that Ed wasn't going to be going back to sleep that night. "Stay in the room," he requested as he lay back down.
"Okay," Ed agreed and got up. He found one of Mustang's old Cretan books and took that into the bathroom, where he could shut the door and have the light on without disturbing his team. He'd already read through this book, but he'd take pretty much anything, at that point, if he could lose himself in study and forget about the whiteness on the other side of the Gate and Truth's cruel smile, as if it knew–
"Stop," Ed whispered to himself as he opened the book, forced himself to focus on the page, on the words that were starting to become familiar. Maybe he'd converse with Mustang in Cretan next time, then it wouldn't matter if Darius was listening in.
The next day was much easier, and involved no fucking idiot alchemists trying to activate arrays they hadn't fully worked the kinks out of.
That said, Ed was somehow completely unsurprised to find Grumman waiting with a car outside of the lab at the end of the day, and he turned an irritated look on Armstrong. "Anyone else you called that I need to be worried about coming to annoy me?"
Armstrong, looking wholly unapologetic, informed him, "It is military policy–"
"Oh, shut up and go home," Ed interrupted, while Heinkel snorted behind him. "I'll see you in the morning."
Armstrong gave him a perfunctory salute, very clearly not expecting one in return, then turned and saluted Grumman, which he held until the Führer returned it, before walking to his own car.
"Lieutenant Colonel Elric, Second Lieutenant Potez," Grumman called, motioning to his car, "if you'll join me for dinner?"
Ed sighed. "Yeah, fine. But you get to explain to Darius why we're back super later."
"I sent another car to pick up Second Lieutenant Wright," Grumman offered, before sliding into the back seat and motioning for Ed to join him, leaving the passenger seat for Heinkel.
"You suck, sir," Ed informed him as he joined him in the backseat, and the driver let out a choked noise.
Grumman's moustache twitched. "Noted."
The restaurant they were brought to was one of those fancy-arse places that Ed wouldn't have set foot in if given any other choice, and, judging by the expression on Darius' face when he joined them, he felt the same. At least the military uniform – Ed and Heinkel had both worn theirs to the lab, and Darius had apparently changed into his when he'd been picked up – counted as acceptable dress for places like this.
The person waiting to sit them clearly knew Grumman, because he was ready to seat them before they'd even reached the stand, bowing politely before leading them out into the dining floor. (Of course, everyone knew the Führer, so Ed didn't suppose that response should have surprised him.)
They were sat next to a large window, Ed and Grumman next to each other with their backs to the corners of the window, while Heinkel and Darius were directed to sit on the dining room side of the table. Ed glanced out the window while the waiter asked after their drinks, noting the two parks with nice line-of-sight and the office of Central's largest newspaper. "What, exactly," he asked once the waiter had left, "are you up to this time?"
Grumman smiled at him, that same smile that Ed was beginning to understand meant he was going to hate whatever the bastard said next. "Can I not have a pleasant meal with one of my best State Alchemists and his team?"
Ed gave him a flat look. "I'm not in the mood to smile for the sake of your flagging popularity, old man. If you wanted your show pony, you shouldn't have handed me the labs."
Grumman considered him for a moment from behind his menu. "Pick something to eat, Lieutenant Colonel," he finally said.
"Ed," Heinkel murmured when Ed opened his mouth to tell the Führer where he could shove his fucking menu.
Huffing, Ed turned his attention to the menu. It was all fancy stuff, far outside of Ed's comfort zone, but Heinkel reached over and pointed at an option that didn't sound too terrible, and when Ed glanced up to shoot him a smile, he saw him doing the same for Darius, and he hid his amused grin behind his menu; it was always reassuring to know he wasn't the only fancy-inept one on his team, and they had someone who could help out when they found themselves in over their heads like this.
Once the waiter had taken their orders, Grumman requested, "What happened yesterday?"
Ed picked up his water, wished he'd taken a chance and asked for alcohol instead, and asked, "What did Armstrong tell you?"
"Never mind what Major Armstrong told me. What happened?"
Ed glanced at him, took a moment to decide that, yeah, Grumman was going to be a fucking bastard about this, and sighed, then gave the simplified explanation of what happened, the one that would make sense to a non-alchemist, that didn't touch on the reality of the Gate and Truth. But, too, just like with his team and with Mustang, he avoided mentioning Blooming's daughter, only said he'd been caught up in the array, not why, and he suspected Armstrong had done the same, because neither of them really wanted to get Blooming in trouble, or to drag Megan or Mary into the issue at all.
"Was there any way you could have stopped Dorn from activating the array?" Grumman asked at last.
Ed frowned; the thought had never even occurred to him, in all honestly, and he took a moment to go back over the events. "Maybe," he allowed. "I could have disrupted the array before he finished drawing it, cracked the floor under it so he couldn't connect the lines, but if he still tried activating it, it may well have caught all of us in the rebound." He shrugged. "I honestly didn't even see him until after the circle had activated – I was too busy trying to figure out what he was up to – but if I'd seen him, I probably could have knocked him out, or trapped him somehow. I dunno. Probably, but I didn't." He shrugged again, before offering a grateful smile to their waiter as he came back with their food.
Grumman nodded and waited until their food was set out and the waiter had left and before asking, "Where you inside the array when it activated?"
"Yes," Ed replied before taking a bite of his food and ignoring the frowns his team shot him; he expected that hadn't occurred to them, that he would have had to be inside the array to get caught up in it.
"Why?"
Ed swallowed his mouthful and met Grumman's stare evenly. "Stupidity."
One of Grumman's eyebrows raised slightly. "Are you intending to put that in your formal report, Lieutenant Colonel?"
"Yes, sir."
Grumman's other eyebrow joined the first, but when Ed returned to his food, he sighed. "Major Armstrong reports that he thought you were out of the array, but when it activated, you were back inside, but he didn't have an explanation for the discrepancy."
"I was on the edge," Ed offered flatly, "and the array finished on my side of the room; he probably just had a bad angle."
Grumman hummed and fell quiet to eat some of his dinner.
Ed glanced at his team and gave a minute shake of his head in response to their frowns. Darius' jaw clenched, but both gave the briefest of nods in response; they wouldn't press for details. For the moment.
"How are things in the labs otherwise?" Grumman asked at last. "I believe you finished lab three last week?"
Ed nodded and settled in to give him a brief report between bites; he'd have to write up a formal report once he was done, he knew, but he could see the sense in catching Grumman up about the important parts now, since they were already talking about the labs, and they didn't have to police their words quite the same way as they would in the office, especially since the tables closest to them were suspiciously empty, and their waiter was politely keeping his distance.
Once Ed ran out of updates, Grumman nodded, then said, "I need you to head out west next week."
Ed wasn't the only one who turned a sharp gaze on the Führer. "What have you heard that I haven't?"
Grumman smiled at him. "When do you get your updates?"
Ed frowned at him, wasn't about to admit that he was due to ring Youswell that night. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said instead.
Grumman nodded. "You'll hear soon enough," he offered. "Finish with lab two, then head out."
Ed glanced at Darius. "Car," he said.
Darius gave a sharp nod. "I'll handle it tomorrow."
"I'll drop my report past Command on our way out of town," Ed told Grumman.
"Excellent." Grumman motioned their waiter over. "Dessert, gentlemen?"
Ed glanced at his team, and when they both shrugged, he sighed and agreed, "Fine."
Grumman waited until they were all standing after finishing dessert, before he dropped a friendly hand onto Ed's shoulder and murmured, "Smile as we leave, Elric."
Ed huffed, disgusted, but obediently put on a smile, because he'd known he'd end up playing show pony for the Führer, but at least the bastard had waited until after he'd eaten before pushing it.
He pretended he didn't see the photographer failing to hide in an alley, and very purposefully offered Grumman a hand when they reached the two waiting cars, both with military drivers. "Thanks for the food, sir," he said as cheerfully as he could manage.
Grumman gave his hand a resigned look, but took it all the same. "Keep up the good work, Lieutenant Colonel," he replied, before turning to Darius and Heinkel, both of whom saluted. "Second Lieutenants," Grumman said, saluting them back.
Then they parted, each getting into their own cars.
Ed waited until they got to the hotel and their driver had left before muttering, "Now I feel dirty."
"I can fix that," Darius suggested, shooting him a lecherous look.
"Not in uniform," Heinkel reminded him, motioning for them to go inside.
"I need to make some calls," Ed warned, and was somehow completely unsurprised when they both joined him in walking over to the public phone, arranging themselves as a sort of human barrier against people who might listen in.
He rang Youswell first, traded a cheerful greeting with Halling, then settled in to listen to Morgan's report. The report that had Grumman sending them west came from Stephan, up in Isidra, near the border between the west and north areas, where they were having trouble with what could have been bandits, but they'd been getting extremely daring over the last two days, and had taken out a medical caravan just that morning. Isidra military command had been trying to catch them for weeks, but their only lead, as Ed had once warned, had led them no further than a building that was clearly meant as a front to stump the military.
"Tell Halling that, next time Stephan rings through, tell him we'll be there beginning of the week, at the latest," Ed ordered, because he could speed up his work in lab two a bit and get through everything before the weekend, and Morgan relayed that to Halling, who Ed knew from experience would stay in the room while Morgan passed on any reports. "Good. Anything else?"
There wasn't much else of note, a few hints of groups popping up here and there, but none as worrisome as the group out in the west, and Ed was actually super grateful about that, because he could only handle so many crises at a time.
After hanging up with Morgan, he immediately rang Ishval, because he'd promised and because it would be nice to not be discussing military matters for a bit. Or, well, the labs and the mess of the rest of their nation, at least. Fuery picked up, as usual, and Ed held him long enough to hear some of the Ishval gossip – he never heard how things were going there, since he usually rang when he was at the end of his rope, and it wasn't like Mustang sent him weekly reports – before letting him go get Mustang.
"How are you feeling?" Mustang asked as soon as he picked up.
Ed couldn't quite stop a smile. "Desperate to punch old man Grumman?"
Mustang snorted. "What's he done this time?"
"Dinner at some fancy-arse place with a nice view of a couple parks and the Central Times offices."
Mustang, because he was a bastard, laughed at him.
"Oh, go fuck yourself."
"I'll take that under consideration," Mustang returned.
Ed's ever helpful imagination supplied him with a mental image of that and he closed his eyes, his face feeling warm. "Ugh. Central is rotting my brain," he muttered, as if that was actually his problem. (Stupid fucking Mustang and his perfect fucking face.)
"When are you leaving?"
"Soon as I'm done kicking those idiots in lab two into line. Friend of mine passed on some interesting news."
Mustang was quiet for a moment, then he drily said, "You're going to spend tomorrow night grovelling, you realise."
Elicia. Ed groaned; he'd completely forgotten that he was going to have to tell her they were leaving early. "Aw, fuck. She's going to be a misery."
"Ed?" Darius murmured.
"Elicia," Ed offered, and he didn't need to see his team's faces to know they were joining him in dreading that parting. "You're a bastard," he told Mustang.
"I'll have to listen to her go on about how her big brother abandoned her, if that makes you feel any better."
"A little bit," Ed decided. "But only because every time she does, she's just proving she loves me best."
Mustang scoffed. "Hardly. She just likes that you're more her size."
"I'm gonna fucking slug you next time I see you, swear to fuck."
Mustang laughed again. "Once she grows a bit more–"
"I'm about to hang up on you. And then I'll tell Elicia it's your fault I'm leaving her."
"Below the belt, Ed."
"Don't–" Ed warned.
"Just like you."
Ed hung up. "I hate him so fucking much," he complained. "Smug bastard and his stupid– Argh!"
"Short jokes?" Darius suggested.
"He can actually punch you," Heinkel pointed out as Ed turned to glare at the part-gorilla.
Darius beat a hasty retreat.
Heinkel glanced at Ed, raising one eyebrow in that way that meant 'Shall we make him regret opening his mouth?'
Ed flashed him a smirk and nodded, and they started for the stairs together.
Ed finished lab two by unearthing a researcher who was was interested in the Philosopher's Stone and didn't care what he sacrificed to make one, and he left the idiot for Armstrong to drag down to the prison while he and Heinkel stopped by Command to drop off his report, then met up with Darius and left Central behind.
Ed checked in with Stephan as soon as they arrived in Isidra, got what updates he had, then they left to hunt down the fuckers. Which, in the end, only took a few days, because they were careless and sure of themselves, and Ed and his team were all fairly fresh from their holiday.
They were just debating where to head next, shifting through the rumours they'd picked up in the area, some of which had been handed off by Stephan, when a bright-eyed young woman walked boldly up to them, wrapped one arm around Ed's waist, and kissed his cheek. "Well hello there, gorgeous," she said, loud enough to carry, before quietly adding, "The madam's boy needs a word."
Ed made the sign he'd worked out with his team for Mustang with his free hand, while he wrapped his other arm back around the woman and flashed his team a smug grin. "I'll be back, kids."
"Okay," he heard Darius say as the woman led him away, "that is actually kind of not fair."
"Says the gay man," Heinkel returned, sounding so very unimpressed.
The woman led Ed down an alley and through a back door into what appeared to be the kitchen of a restaurant which wasn't open yet, judging by how empty the place was. "Phone's there," she said as she let him go, motioning towards where a phone was sitting next to what looked to be a board to write orders on.
"Thanks," he replied as he stepped over to the phone and picked it up, quickly dialling Ishval.
"Ishval Command," Fuery answered.
"Is he there?" he asked, because Fuery knew his voice well enough he didn't need to introduce himself, and if Mustang was reaching out to him, he wouldn't have gone far.
"Yes. Chief!"
The phone was handed over and Mustang, his voice completely Ed's CO, said, "Fullmetal?"
"What have you got for me?"
"North City."
'Evan,' Ed realised.
"Major General Armstrong is handling the incident. Can you write down an address?"
"I'll remember it," Ed promised, because he and his team knew North City better than Mustang probably expected, after hiding out there while they waited for Ed to fully heal from the mineshaft.
Mustang rattled off the address, then added, "Tell Andrea her old Flame sent you."
Ed raised an eyebrow at that. "Roger."
Mustang hung up without anything more, so Ed did the same. His guide had vanished at some point during the conversation, and Ed shrugged, took a moment to dishevel himself, then made his way back out the alley and to his team.
"Damn," Darius complained. "Since when have you been the love 'em and leave 'em sort?"
Ed shrugged. "Since I found her wedding ring," he lied, and Darius started laughing. "Get in the car so we can get with the leaving, would you?"
Once they were all in the car and the doors were closed, he ordered, "North City."
Heinkel nodded in understanding and peeled away from the kerb just fast enough that anyone watching them might well think they were running from Ed's fling's husband.
The house Mustang had given them the address for was on the outskirts of North City, not quite in the slums, but it wouldn't have looked out of place there, though it was trying to look respectable. Ed could see signs of alchemic repairs along the front-facing walls and the stairs up to the front door, transmutation marks visible even from a distance, suggesting a fairly low-level or beginner alchemist had been the one to make them, and he suspected he'd find much finer marks once he was closer, as he didn't think Mustang would send a member of his squad to hide out with some third-rate alchemist.
They pulled to a stop outside the house and Ed climbed out, leaving his team with the idling car, in case they needed to leave in a hurry – fucking shadows making him paranoid. He walked straight up to the door and, as he knocked, made note of the very fine hints of transmutation on the doorframe; no third-rate alchemist, then. But, whether the more obvious transmutation marks had been left purposefully to mislead, or just because it was easier to leave them, he couldn't say.
The woman who opened the door was about Ed's height, looked to be about Mustang's age, and was vaguely familiar, like Ed had seen her before, but he couldn't place where. She was smiling, but it was clearly not a friendly smile, more 'what can I say to make you go away?' "Can I help you?" she asked, her voice pitched pleasantly.
"Andrea?" Ed returned.
Her eyes narrowed and her smile became more obviously forced. "Yes."
Ed nodded. "Your old Flame sent me. Which, by the way, is tacky and I can't believe he made me say that." Because he couldn't not bitch.
She relaxed, her smile turning much more honest, and she opened the door wider, revealing a talisman in the hand that had been hidden behind the door, which looked to have an array on it, but Ed couldn't get a good look from the current angle. "He said you'd complain," she admitted, before motioning with her head towards the idling car. "Your team?"
"Yeah. Is there somewhere they should stash the car?" Ed asked, because he hadn't seen many vehicles on the road, and Heinkel had suggested those who had them probably had a garage of some sort.
She considered it for a moment, then shook her head. "It's close enough to military carpool, no one will question it."
Ed raised an eyebrow at that, but made the hand signs for 'safe' and 'join me'.
Their hostess waited until they were all inside before holding out her hand and saying, "Major Andrea Kozlova, the Stardust Alchemist."
Ed grinned at her as he shook her hand; she was the person who Mustang said he'd learnt some Drachman from in Ishval, and having heard her name before made him feel a lot better about trusting her. "Lieutenant Colonel Ed Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. These are Second Lieutenants Darius Wright and Heinkel Potez."
"Good to meet you, sir."
"Don't call me sir," Ed insisted, and she let out a quiet laugh, her eyes as bright as her second name. "Not to be rude, but where's Evan?"
Stardust smiled understandingly and nodded. "This way."
She led them through the house – signs of transmutation everywhere, like they'd had to repair the whole house at one point – and down into a largely-empty cellar, where another woman who looked exactly like Stardust – twins, Ed suspected – sat playing cards at a rickety table with Evan, who looked exhausted.
"Ed!" Evan recognised as soon as he saw him, dropping his hand to the table and standing unsteadily. "Thank god."
"Sit down before you fall down," Ed insisted, hooking the last chair at the table with his foot and dragging it out as Evan settled back in his chair. Before he sat, he nodded to the other woman. "Ed Elric."
"Major Francine Kozlova," the woman returned, far less friendly than her sister.
"Ci-Ci," Stardust hissed, and Kozlova shot her an unimpressed look. Stardust sighed, then offered, "Let me find you chairs," to Darius and Heinkel.
Ed shrugged and turned his focus to Evan. "You look like shit," he deadpanned.
Evan offered him a tired smile. "I feel like shit."
Ed reached out and ruffled his hair, leaning one elbow on the table to brace himself. "What happened and who do I need to punch?"
Evan's shoulders slumped slightly and he looked almost more stressed than when Ed had first seen him. "My father," he admitted.
'Major General Beardmore,' Ed knew. "Okay. Why am I punching him?"
Evan looked vaguely surprised.
Ed sighed. "Major General Armstrong's got clean-up of whatever mess you passed on; all Mustang told me to do was come check on you. And I'm happy to go punch your father in the face, but you've gotta give me a reason I can pass on to old man Grumman when he tells me off for breaking a major general's nose."
Evan blinked once, then he started laughing. It was the sort of laughter that you made when you'd just realised you were safe and you could relax for the first time in way too fucking long. It was the sort of laughter, Ed knew, that could very quickly turn into sobs, and almost always led to crashing hard.
He stood and grabbed Evan in a hug. "I told you, didn't I?" he murmured as Evan grabbed for him with desperate hands. "Your only job is to get the warning out and get yourself to safety. Everything else is on me."
He waited until Evan had relaxed into an exhausted sleep before bending over and picking him up with far less trouble than he'd been expecting; that didn't bode well for his health. "Is there a bed?" he requested.
"This way," Kozlova offered, standing and leading the way to a door that had been disguised against the far wall.
"Heinkel," Ed called over his shoulder as he followed her, "I need my suitcase and any loose files."
"You got it," Heinkel promised, and Ed heard him on the stairs as he stepped into the small room hidden behind the false wall.
The room wasn't particularly large, barely had space for a narrow cot and a toilet with a sink built over the tank, but Ed managed to lay Evan on the cot and pull the thick blanket up over him, without banging his own elbow too many times.
Leaving the door open a crack, Ed returned to the table, which Kozlova had cleared of cards. "What was Evan's report, do you know?" he requested quietly as he settled back in his original chair.
She shook her head. "All I know is that our general is taking a large force out to sit in Hamp until something blows up or they get an all-clear."
Ed blinked, caught on the way she'd said that, 'our general'. "Briggs," he realised, finally placing her face. "That's why you two look so familiar!"
Kozlova's smile was not kind.
Ed groaned. "Why is it that your commander is in my business whenever I'm in the north?"
Kozlova shrugged, her eyes glinting. "I answer to Major General Welrod, now."
Ed snorted, because Briggs' loyalty was as absolute as Ed's own; he would bet his right arm that Kozlova only answered to Welrod when it suited Armstrong. "Sure you do," he agreed as Heinkel returned with his suitcase, Stardust following him with some of the loose paperwork that Ed didn't really have the room for in his secret hiding spot, yet had too much value to leave with the unnecessary files Gracia was storing for him. (And, yes, he knew he needed to find a better place to store his mission papers and old alchemy journals, but Gracia had offered, and her place and Rush Valley were the only two places he could see himself going out of his way to visit, where he also trusted the people who lived there to keep his things safe.)
Once he had his suitcase, he quickly pulled out the papers in there, ignoring Stardust's impressed whistle at the clever hiding place, then dropped everything into the middle of the table. "I want any reference we have to Major General Beardmore, or any of those question marks that we couldn't tie to anyone."
It didn't take them long to find everything, while Kozlova ran out to North Command and brought back the file they had on the man. (Ed didn't ask how she'd snuck it out.) He'd been posted to North City before the Promised Day and, Kozlova passed on, had been in charge of minding Briggs once Armstrong transferred to Central. He clearly hadn't been in on the Dwarf in the Flask's plans, as he'd remained in the north during the events, but the fact that Bradley had trusted him with Briggs made it clear where his loyalties lay.
"Why didn't this flag?" Ed demanded. "Someone Bradley trusted never should have been promoted."
Darius shrugged. "If he wasn't in the inner circle, there wouldn't have been a reason to drag him before a tribunal. All he did was watch Briggs, and Bradley could have told any member of the brass to do that without anyone questioning their true loyalties."
"Not everyone knew what Bradley was," Heinkel added, and Ed slumped, "or what he and his master were planning. You don't have to like your commander to follow their orders."
"Thanks for reminding me," Ed muttered.
"You don't like Roy?" Stardust asked, and Ed couldn't keep from shooting her a startled look at hearing the man's first name from someone other than the Hugheses or Chris. "Sorry, Brigadier Gen–"
"I know what his name is," Ed interrupted, waving that away, "I'm just not used to hearing it from other military personnel. And I like him fine, when he's not being a smug bastard. No, it's old man Grumman I want to punch in the face for breathing."
"I thought you supported the Führer."
Ed shrugged. "As Führer, yeah, he's fine, but I hate him as a person."
"His laugh makes Ed homicidal," Darius offered with a mean little smile.
"Your face makes me homicidal," Ed retorted, and Heinkel sighed while Stardust muffled laughter into her hand.
"What are you going to do about Beardmore?" Kozlova interrupted, dragging them back on topic. "What you've got here is hardly enough to warrant– What is it you promised that kid? Punching him in the face?"
Ed snorted. "All I need is reasonable suspicion to have him dragged off by the MPs, then I can go through his files at home and in his office at Central Command until I find the proof I need, which is going to be there, because he's got his fingers in too many rancid pies. Then I can punch him in the face."
"And the kid?" she pressed.
Ed huffed. "You realise he's almost two years older than me."
Kozlova paused, looking a bit thrown by that, and Stardust let out a choked laugh.
Ed rolled his eyes. "He gave me the heads up, that's all I need from him. If you two are fine with hiding him for a couple more weeks, until I've got his father pinned for life, awesome. If not, I'll find other accommodations for him."
"What if I want to help?" Evan asked, and Ed turned to find him standing in the doorway of the hidden room, still looking tired, but far better for his hour of sleep.
"Evan–"
"You're not the only one he's hurt, Ed!" Evan shouted, thumping a hand against his own chest, his eyes burning with that same determination from months ago, when he told Ed he was sticking with him because Ed had given him the choice to walk away. "He made my brothers and I – all of us – think that his way was the only way, that the military was about blindly following orders, that the only person who would ever care about us was him and each other. And he said – after the memorial – he told me they didn't matter. That Rebecca and Nick and everyone on the front lines, that they don't–"
"Evan," Ed said, quieter, getting up and starting towards him.
"He called you a dog," Evan whispered, slumping against the false wall.
Ed sighed as he stopped in front of Evan, placing gentle hands on his shoulders. "That's what people call State Alchemists. You get used to it."
"I'll verify that," Stardust offered from the table, before helpfully adding, "At least you don't get the gendered or discriminatory slurs; I'm always the 'Drachman bitch'."
Ed winced and looked back at her; it hadn't even really occurred to him that she had Drachman blood, though it made sense that she'd have known enough of the language to teach Mustang because of her bloodline. "Sorry about that."
She shrugged. "You do eventually get used to it."
"Or you let someone else stab them while you–" Kozlova started, clearly not as blasé about the insult as Ed and Stardust were.
"Ci-Ci," Stardust interrupted, sounding tired, "please stop stabbing people in my name."
Darius, the arsehole, started laughing.
Ed rolled his eyes and turned back to Evan, who looked very much like he would be better served going back to bed. "People have been calling me a dog since I was twelve. I'm sorry that your father saying it hurt you, but it doesn't bother me any more." He shook his head. "Fuck, I'm more the military's dog now than I was as a kid."
"Mustang's dog," Evan corrected quietly. "You weren't the military's, you were Mustang's."
"...good," Ed decided, and Evan shot him a surprised look. Ed shrugged and switched tracks, having no interest in airing the depth of his loyalties to one of Armstrong's spies (even if Armstrong likely already knew Ed answered to Mustang first). "You can come with us," he agreed, firming his voice, "but you're going to follow my rules, okay?"
Evan immediately nodded. "Yeah."
"First, you're getting a full night's sleep, because it's a long trip and we're going to hit the ground running in Central, no matter how late we get in."
Darius groaned. "I'd like to lodge a complaint."
"Noted and discarded," Ed shot back, and Heinkel and one of the Kozlovas both let out amused noises, while Darius started making a pathetic whining noise, until someone – Ed suspected Heinkel – hit him hard enough they all heard it. Ed rolled his eyes at the idiot, but couldn't stop from quirking a smile when he caught sight of Evan's own. "Second," Ed continued, and Evan's smile faded a bit, "while we're in Central, me or Darius or Heinkel are going to be with at all times. You don't go anywhere alone, not even if someone who outranks me says so. And if shit goes down, you listen to whichever one of us you're with."
"Okay," Evan agreed.
Ed glanced back at his team and they both gave firm nods; they'd keep Evan safe. "Right." Ed looked at Evan again. "Are you hungry?"
"Not really."
"Then go back to sleep."
Evan's mouth twisted like he wanted to complain about that, but Ed put on his best 'I am your commanding officer and you're gonna fucking listen to me' face, and Evan sighed and nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Don't call me sir," Ed insisted as Evan returned to the hidden room, and the flash of a smile that Evan sent him said he'd done that on purpose. (Ed couldn't really pretend to be surprised.)
Once the door to the hidden room had fallen closed, Stardust offered, "We don't really have accommodations here for you, but I can probably hunt down a few blankets if you want to avoid getting a hotel?"
Ed frowned and glanced at his team; he didn't really want to chance whatever eyes Evan's father had in North City reporting back that they were snooping around, and he sort of wanted to be there if Evan needed reassurance in the middle of the night – Ed had been there, he knew how stressful it was to feel like you were being hunted and there were only a limited number of people you could trust – but still...
"We can bring down the camping equipment," Heinkel pointed out. "We'll be fine for one night."
Ed nodded. "As long as it's not going to be an imposition."
Stardust waved a hand at him. "Please. I'd almost rather have the great Fullmetal Alchemist on hand, just in case something happens."
Kozlova scoffed.
"Also, equivalent exchange: Teach me that trick with your suitcase."
"Ah, see, now I feel better about this arrangement," Ed decided, and all three of the non-alchemists let out disgusted or resigned noises, while Stardust smiled at him in understanding.
With that settled, it didn't take Ed and his team long to bring in what they'd need, and Kozlova was willing to show Heinkel where he could stash the car so it wasn't sitting out in front of the house.
While his team set up their bedding, Ed settled at the kitchen table with Stardust, admitting, "I don't know how well this will work for you, really. I'm essentially using a pre-set array as a sort of key to activate another array that seals and unseals the pocket, but since I don't use drawn arrays, no one knows what array I'm using."
"What array are you using?"
Ed smiled at her and shook his head as he picked up the pen she'd supplied with paper. "I can show you the array I made to set it up, though."
She let out a quiet sigh, though her expression said she'd known he wouldn't be telling her his key array. "Sure. How complicated does the key array have to be?"
Ed shrugged as he started drawing his array. "It should work with something simple, and it doesn't have to be a working array, either, because mine isn't. Keeps from accidentally setting anything else off while I'm opening my case."
"...that makes sense."
Ed grinned and took a moment to consider his array, before nodding and passing it over to her, tapping the capped pen against the blank space in the centre. "Your key array goes there, and that'll be the only array it ever reacts to." He sighed while she stared down at it. "It's intended for suitcases, right now, but I can probably tweak it to work with something else, if you need."
"You said you made this?" Stardust asked, shooting him a slightly wide-eyed look.
Ed blinked. "Yes? I needed a place to keep all my sensitive documents, and since I live out of a suitcase..." He shrugged. "It isn't that complicated, once you break it down into the component arrays. See, most suitcase frames are made with wood, and then they've got leather on the outside to protect against wear, and fabric lining on the inside to protect your belongings," he explained, before using the pen to point out each of his component arrays and symbols. "So you've got the basic deconstruction and reconstruction array, with the symbols for wood and animal skin and plant fibre components, that's obvious. And then you add in an array for fusing materials, which is, okay, not really basic, but I learned that one fairly early on, so I think of it as basic. And this one, here, that's for using with locks, which my teacher taught me not long after she took my brother and I on, but I had to fuck with it a bit because it tricks the lock into thinking you're inserting a physical key, not–"
"You know an array to open a lock without leaving evidence?" Stardust interrupted.
Ed sighed and pulled over another piece of paper to sketch that. "Yeah, Mustang didn't know that one, either. Pretty sure my teacher made it up herself, but I guess she might have got it from her teacher, I dunno, I've never asked." He passed that array over to her. "Super useful."
"I'll believe that," Stardust admitted, staring down at it and very obviously memorising it. "Did you share it with Roy?"
"That one–" Ed tapped the one he'd just finished drawing "–yeah, shoved it in his pocket because he was being a smarmy bastard again and told me to go fuck off before I could draw it for him, but we've never talked about this one." He tapped the array he'd made for his suitcase. "He caught me using it once, but never brought it up again. Whatever. He's probably got his own tricks. Like batting his eyelashes and smooth-talking."
Stardust just shook her head and started laughing.
Ed pointed the pen at her. "I'm right about the smooth-talking."
"I think, sometimes," she offered, "that Ci-Ci refuses to actually meet him because she's afraid he'll talk her into liking him."
"She may be right," Ed admitted, and Stardust snorted. "That said, I'm pretty sure the Ice Queen has a ready cure for that, so she wouldn't have to suffer for long."
Stardust let out a disbelieving laugh. "You're as bad as she is! I thought you liked Roy."
Ed sat back in his chair, shrugging. "I do. But I also know he's a smug bastard and women thinking he's a dick are good for him, so."
She just shook her head in disbelief and looked back down at the arrays Ed had passed her.
Ed watched her for a moment before, unable to help himself, asking, "Can I ask how you met him? Mustang."
Stardust blinked up at him. "How I met him?"
Ed nodded. "He said you taught him a little bit of Drachman, in Ishval."
"I'm surprised he told you that much," she offered.
Ed grimaced and shrugged. "He was critiquing my language skills and brought up that he only knew a little bit."
"I hope he wasn't critiquing your Drachman," Stardust muttered.
"Nah."
Stardust watched him for a long moment, then smiled and shook her head. "You're as secretive as he is."
Ed considered that for a moment, then shrugged. "I'll take that as a compliment."
She sighed. "We met in Ishval. Maes – Brigadier General Hughes – introduced us. I guess he'd met Roy in the academy, and he sort of got it into his head that two alchemists on a battlefield would equal true love?"
Ed snorted. "He was like that."
She let out a quiet laugh, a familiar, aged grief in her eyes. "He really was far too romantic for the battlefield. But, well, Roy and I became friends."
"With benefits?" Ed suggested, because he knew Mustang.
Stardust coughed, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Are you old enough for that kind of talk?"
Ed rolled his eyes. "Please. I practically grew up in the bastard's office, and one of his team, Havoc, was never shy with details about his exploits, even if Mustang was."
"At least he has some shame," Stardust muttered, and Ed snickered. "Yes, fine, friends with benefits. But, when we all got sent home, I came back north and he ended up in Central, then went back east. So we talk some, still, and I saw him at Maes' funeral, but we're just friends, now." She shot him a look that immediately put him on guard, before adding, "Regretfully."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Keep your regret on that side of the table."
She laughed and sat back. "What about you, then? Story is he talked you into trying for the exam. Youngest ever."
Ed considered her for a moment, debating how much to reveal, before finally saying, "My father abandoned us when I was really young, and my mum died the year after, so there was no one to stop me from trying some really stupid alchemy, and my brother got hurt because of it. Mustang suggested I could use the military to find a way to help Al, and since it was between that and giving up entirely..." He shrugged, looking away from the pity in her eyes. "He's better now, Al. Off in Xing, making eyes at one of the royal princesses."
"You didn't go with him?" Stardust asked quietly.
Ed snorted and tapped his left knee under the table. "Automail leg; Ishval is about as much desert as I can stand for any length of time." He shrugged and looked up, caught her sad stare. "You can keep your pity on that side of the table, too."
"My sister," Kozlova said, as she stepped into the kitchen, "is a bit of a bleeding heart. You'll have to forgive her."
Ed sighed. "Just don't start crying," he requested as he stood. "I don't do well with crying."
"You just need more experience, then," Kozlova informed him, her smile mean.
"I am going back downstairs, where I know I won't regret punching arseholes when they're asking for it," Ed shot back, before turning and leaving.
Behind him, Kozlova let out a bark of laughter, while Stardust complained, "Ci-Ci," in a tone that suggested she was far too used to her sister scaring people off.
Ed debated ringing Grumman to warn him that they'd found the mole all night, make sure he had permission to actually drag Beardmore in without worrying about rank – because Ed didn't care, but he could see the brass making a stink about a lieutenant colonel dragging in a major general with only a witness and circumstantial evidence to back him – and was still trying to decide when Heinkel started stirring at way-too-early o'clock.
"Ed?" Heinkel mumbled, somehow figuring out he was awake.
Ed sighed; he hated military politics. "I should ring Grumman before he heads in to the office."
"...did you get any sleep?"
"No." He sat up and rubbed at his face, feeling the strain from the long night. "I'll sleep in the car. Please get Darius and Evan up for me."
"Okay."
Ed stumbled his way upstairs and to the phone he'd seen in the kitchen while they'd been eating dinner the night before. He took a quick glance at the time – early enough that Grumman shouldn't have left for the office yet, but late enough that he should be up, at least – and dialled the bastard's home number.
"Hello?" an unfamiliar older woman said when the line connected.
Ed blinked once, thrown – Grumman's file said both his wife and daughter were dead, and Ed knew where his granddaughter was; he didn't think he'd dialled the wrong number – before recalling Grumman had said something about a housekeeper. "Sorry for the early call," he offered, trying to figure out how to get past her without letting on who was calling. Well, he didn't suppose anyone would expect Ed to know the bastard's first name? "Is George still in?"
"Oh, yes, one moment." Something – Ed suspected a hand – muffled the speaker, and he heard her calling out, then someone responding.
"This is George," Grumman said after the phone had been handed over.
"I found our mole."
There was a moment of silence, then Grumman cleared his throat. "Who?"
"Major General Rodrick Beardmore."
"You're certain?"
"Yes, but I'm going to need to go through his things for proof that will stand up in a tribunal."
"What do you have?"
"Reasonable doubt and a witness."
"Ed?" Darius called from down the hall.
Ed muffled the speaker with his hand. "Start taking things out to the car," he ordered quietly, mindful of the Kozlovas. "We'll pick up something to eat on our way out."
Darius nodded in understanding and turned to go back down to the cellar.
"You're on your way back to Central?"
"Yes. We should be there–" he did some quick calculations; last time they'd gone from North City to Central City, they'd only had two drivers, had been forced to take side roads, and been aiming for the south end of the city, and it had taken them almost four days; this time, they had three drivers and could take the straight shot to Command or the Beardmore home "–by tomorrow morning at the latest, but I expect we'll be getting in late tonight."
"As soon as you get in, come to my hou–"
"He has people watching your house."
Grumman was quiet for a moment, before snapping, "You think I'm unaware of that?"
"If he gets warning that we're back in town and meeting at your fucking house, he's going to fucking know something's up, sir, and if he starts destroying files, we will have nothing. And I have not spent the last six months chasing breadcrumbs for this to blow up in my face because you want a fucking verbal report," Ed snarled, barely remembering to keep his voice down in deference to their hostesses.
"I know you don't care about the military chain of command," Grumman returned, his tone icy, "but you will respect it, or this will fall to pieces far faster than it would without any proof."
Ed grit his teeth and closed his eyes. There had to be a way–
"When Kimblee and Raven came up north, to Briggs," he said as it occurred to him, his voice a little too tight with the memories, "Armstrong killed Raven in hopes of leaving Kimblee with nothing, except it turned out Bradley had given him absolute authority if Raven went missing."
"You want me to set precedent based on something a sociopath and–"
"Someone who most of this nation, including the man we're arresting, still holds in high esteem?" Ed interrupted, even as he wanted to punch himself for thinking it. "I don't fucking like it either, but if we're gonna have any chance of surprising him and keeping any evidence intact, I need to go straight to him. He's been too fucking cautious to not have some sort of plan to put into play if he realises we're closing in."
Grumman was quiet for another long moment, then he sighed. "I need to check some files. Ring me at the last town you can safely do so from before you get in to Central."
"Fine," Ed bit out.
Grumman hung up without a by-your-leave, and Ed followed suit.
He found Evan waiting for him in the hall, wide-eyed and pale, though still looking much better than he had when they'd first got in, which said a lot about how much he'd needed the sleep. "Heinkel said we can go when you're ready," he whispered, twisting his hands together in front of himself.
Ed sighed and nodded. "Yeah, let's head out, then."
Evan waited until they were in the car – both himself and Ed seated in the back, while Darius drooped tiredly in the passenger seat and Heinkel looked far too awake in the driver's seat – before asking, "Was that the Führer?"
Ed closed his eyes and shifted into the familiar almost-comfortable position he usually slept best in while in the car. "Yes."
Evan was quiet as Heinkel got them onto the road, but then he asked, "Who are Raven and Kimblee?"
"The fuck'd you hear those names?" Darius demanded, his voice harsh.
Ed blindly kicked the back of his seat. "From me, fuckwit." Then he opened his eyes and shot Evan – who looked a little skittish – a tired look. "Former Lieutenant General Raven was a member of the command behind everything that went down in Central last year. Major General Armstrong killed him when he told her their plans, then took his position to build up a resistance under their noses. And Solf Kimblee was the Crimson Lotus Alchemist. He was originally these two's commander, and almost killed the three of us when he decided to set off an explosion in an abandoned mine shaft."
"Oh." Evan shifted in his seat, looking uncertain. "Is he dead, Kimblee?"
"He'd better be," Heinkel growled, proving that he wasn't any more comfortable with the current topic than Darius was.
"He's dead," Ed promised, closing his eyes again. "We need to stop in Insselberg so I can ring the bastard again and sort out how, exactly, we're going to manage this whole thing. Until then, shut up and let me sleep."
Thankfully, they listened. And Ed assumed they'd stopped to get food before they left North City behind, but he was beyond noticing by then.
They got in to Insselberg a little too late for politeness' sake, but Ed still rang Grumman's house from a payphone, while Heinkel got them some food and Darius kept the car warm.
Despite the late hour, Ed was completely unsurprised when Grumman picked up before the second ring. "Grumman."
"What did you decide?" Ed returned.
Grumman sighed. "Bradley wasn't the first to give executive power to an officer so they could handle a matter that was outside the Führer's reach, but which the officer in question wasn't high enough ranked to handle alone. There have only been three incidents of an officer – always a major and usually a State Alchemist – using their granted power to arrest someone higher ranked than them, two colonels and a lieutenant general."
Ed stared across the street at shadows moving behind the shuttered windows of a pub. "So we can pull this off."
"Lieutenant Colonel Edward Elric," Grumman said, his tone gone formal, and Ed couldn't resist a grimace of distaste, "you are hereby granted the permission to do whatever it takes to bring the leader of this terrorist organisation to justice. As granted by myself, Führer Grumman, and approved by General Bess, Major General Armstrong, and your commanding officer, Brigadier General Mustang."
"Yes, sir," Ed agreed, largely unsurprised by the list of names; he hadn't expected Bess, but he knew Mustang generally had good things to say about the man, when he was mentioned at all, and it was too late to question Grumman on the decision to bring him into the fold, anyway.
"Elric," Grumman added, sounding tired, "please avoid actually punching or kicking him, unless you have no other option."
"You just had to go and ruin my fun, didn't you?" Ed complained, mostly because it was expected.
"Elric."
Ed sighed. "Fine. But I reserve the right to punch him once he's been sentenced."
"I'll take that under advisement."
"He'll be in chains by the time you get in in the morning," Ed promised, and he absolutely meant it.
"He had best be, or I'll have you demoted."
"That threat only works if I actually care," Ed pointed out. "Which I don't, so fuck you." Then he hung up and made his way back to the car. "Scoot over," he ordered Darius, and the chimera immediately shifted over to the passenger's side, leaving the driving to Ed.
"So?" Darius asked once all the doors were closed and Ed had shifted the car into drive.
"I've been granted the temporary power to do whatever it takes to bring him in," Ed replied.
"Yes," Darius snarled in victory, and Ed glanced into the rear-view mirror in time to see him and Heinkel trading high fives, while Evan's eyes gleamed over a smile that looked a little bloodthirsty; not for the first time, Ed wondered what it had been like, growing up with a father who was always there, but didn't show he cared about his sons.
(If anything could be said about Hohenheim, it was that he'd at least been willing to give up everything for his sons, in the end.)
"That said," Ed added drily, "the Führer wants me to resist the urge to actually punch him. At least until after the trial."
"He didn't specify that last part," Heinkel said.
"I told him so," Ed admitted.
Darius and Evan both laughed at that, while Heinkel let out a snort.
Ed shook his head and glanced at Evan in the rear-view mirror. "Where's your family's home in Central? Which neighbourhood? Heinkel, map."
"Are you not hungry?" Darius demanded while Heinkel went for their map of Central City.
Ed responded by holding out a hand, and Darius snorted and handed over a sandwich, while Evan showed Heinkel where he lived on the map. Heinkel relayed directions that any of Ed's team could follow without too much trouble, familiar enough with Central's streets, and Ed started setting out the plan that was forming in his head between bites.
Everything was ready to go, once they got into the city.
Come What May Chapters:
01 || 02 || 03 || 04 || 05 || 06 || 07 || 08 || 09 || 10
11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 ||
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
.