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batsutousaiTitle: Reverti Ad Praeteritum
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood/manga
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, May Chang/Alphonse Elric, Gracia Hughes/Maes Hughes, post-Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell
Warnings: Spoilers like whoa, Ed's potty mouth, canon-typical violence, pile 'o OCs, mute!Ed, original character death, angst, fluff, past dub-con, past adultery, Ed has all the guilt
Summary: Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.
Key: "Speech" | 'Mouthing words'
'Writing'
:Sign Language:
"In another language" | 'In another language'
A/N: There's a minor time jump straight to the afternoon of their attack (6 October 1914), because we've already gone over everything that happens in the meantime. (Generally.) This chapter also starts with the opening from Gracia's radio broadcast, because I wrote it when I first decided to have that as part of their attack/distractions plan, then realised there was no way Ed would hear it, but I still wanted to include it. So.
Forgot to put it in the warnings anywhere, but I assume it's pretty obvious that there's going to be character death in this chapter. Some died in canon, some are unnamed original characters, some are canon characters who don't die in canon. (None of the main characters, I promise. I'm not quite that cruel.)
Chapter Twenty-Nine
-0-
"Good afternoon, Amestris. My name is Gracia Hughes, and I'm the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, a member of the Investigations department in Central City. I would like to tell you all a story, one that started four hundred years ago and will end today, for good or ill. It was shared with me by my ward, Edward Elric-Chang, the Silent Alchemist, as told to him by his father. It's the story of the fall of the kingdom of Xerxes, the rise of Amestris, and the ones who will see our fair nation in ruins. It will all seem like a fairytale to you, but sit down with me next to your radios, and if you have a map of Amestris, take a moment to unbury it, because you'll find the truth in the details. And those of you in Central City? Please come inside. There's a storm brewing, and monsters are stirring..."
Ed was crossing the parade grounds with Alex Armstrong when explosions of colours filled the sky in the direction of lab four; Colourway had pulled off fireworks in rainbows of colours, because of course he had.
"That looks like a signal to begin," Armstrong said with a sort of grim cheer that Ed could relate to.
Ed flashed him a sharp-edged smile, even as he sped up to reach where Roy had stopped in the centre of the parade grounds.
"This," Roy called, raising his hands and showing off the arrays sewn onto his gloves, "is a coup d'état! I, Colonel Roy Mustang, am taking Amestris from the hands of her non-human ruler: The Dwarf in the Flask, Homunculus."
There was a momentary silence, as those not a part of their little rebellion looked at Roy like he'd gone insane. (Ed kind of understood the feeling, but this had been the best opening gambit any of them had come up with, as ridiculous as it sounded.)
And then multiple men and women reached for their weapons, only to find themselves surrounded by soldiers from the north and east, as well as Ishvalans.
"Drop them," Roy suggested, as Ed and the other State Alchemists finally reached him.
"Tell me this isn't it," Electric Storm complained, as the soldiers were disarmed, cracking her knuckles, then revealing two thin throwing knives.
"We're just getting started," Roy promised.
Ed jerked his head around towards the presidential manor as he felt the rising tide of souls gathering, letting out a whistle of warning.
Black spears shot through the doors of the mansion, aimed straight at Roy, who ducked and snapped, setting Pride's shadow alight. "Nice of you to come play with us, Pride!" Roy called. "Why don't you come out where we can see you?"
The shadows had pulled back a bit after being set on fire, holding close to the ground. They were still for a moment, before a mouth and eyes formed in them, bringing shocked noises from allies and enemies alike. "How cute, Flame Alchemist," Pride purred, mouth twisting into a grotesque grin. "It's almost a pity I have to kill you." And then the shadows rushed forward again, aiming for Roy's heart.
Ed stepped calmly into the path, deflecting the attack with the carbon bracers he'd fitted under the sleeves of his uniform.
Pride let out an angry snarl and ordered, "Move, Silent Alchemist. I have no intention in killing you."
Ed bared his teeth in a mean smile.
There came the sound of shattering glass from the direction of the command building, but Ed's refusal to look and see served him well in blocking the next attack from Pride.
"Führer Bradley!" a few people called, fear and then relief in their voices.
"What are you doing?" Bradley demanded. "Kill them!"
Ed couldn't look away from blocking Pride, but the sudden rush of rebellion in the qi of those who had been defeated, told him that Bradley's appearance – and, no doubt, 'miraculous' survival of falling out a window – had returned strength to their opponents.
"Watch Edward's back," Roy ordered someone, before – judging by the movements of his qi – moving toward Bradley.
Ed grit his teeth and hated that he was stuck on defence, while Roy got further and further out of his reach; where were May and Fu with those fucking flashbangs?
"King Bradley," Roy called as he moved, and Ed could almost see him adjusting his gloves as he did, the arrogant bastard. "Assumed to be an orphan, raised as an experiment to become Amestris' perfect Führer. You were given your human name only after receiving your homunculus one, isn't that correct, Wrath?"
"What an interesting story you tell, Mustang," Bradley returned, his voice way too cheerful.
"The truth is always interesting," Roy replied. "Shall I prove it?" And then he snapped.
Ed could only hope Roy remembered that pin-point attacks would be next to useless against Bradley, was a little relieved to hear the crackle of a different energy than Roy's alchemy – Electric Storm's electric attacks, most likely – and Armstrong's grunts, as the ground shook slightly.
Pride suddenly pulled back, and Ed took a moment to breathe, even as he watched the homunculus suspiciously.
"Silent, what–?" Stardust managed – she was clearly the person Roy had told to help him – right before Selim stepped into view in the doorway of the mansion, and then his shadows spread out and shot toward the nearest soldiers around them, not differentiating between Central troops and Ed's mixed allies.
'NO!' Ed shouted silently, even as he clapped and dropped to smack the ground at his feet.
Stone and earthen walls burst from the ground, curving out from behind him and Stardust to either side, blocking the attack and cutting them off from the rest of the fight.
It wouldn't last – it couldn't last, not when it was no more than a mix of stone and earth, not against Pride – but it was enough of an opening for Ed to throw a kunai at Selim.
The boy caught it, red sparking around his fingers, and he shot Ed an unimpressed look.
Ed shot him a violent smile, then clapped his hands together and used the same array he had on Gluttony, yanking all the water from his body.
Selim screamed as his shrivelled legs crumpled under him and he collapsed to the ground, red sparking around him. "I will see you dead!" he raged at Ed.
His shadows, regretfully, weren't troubled by his physical container's weakness, and Ed found himself struggling to fend off the attacks, while also directing the globe of water he'd pulled from Selim, to suffocate him.
One of the shadows made a stab toward the wall, and Ed breathed a, 'Shit!' attention pulled in too many directions.
Someone else's arm caught a shadow aimed at his face, and Stardust grimly stated, "I'll hold him off, you focus on the wall and whatever else."
Ed swallowed and nodded, desperately hoped she had sufficient physical defence training and he wasn't about to watch one of Roy's few friends get herself killed, then dropped and clapped, pressing one hand to the ground and closing his eyes to split his concentration between holding the wall and keeping the water around Selim's head.
"Stay back!" Stardust shouted, inexplicably, and Ed opened his eyes to find Mrs Bradley had appeared from inside the manor, running toward the being she thought was her son.
"What are you doing to him?!" Mrs Bradley shouted back, clawing at the water surrounding Selim's head.
Ed's concentration slipped and the globe burst, sprinkling to the ground with water, his kunai ringing like the toll of a death knell as it hit the stone at Selim's feet.
Selim shot him a single monstrous smile, and then his shadows reared up behind Mrs Bradley, the mouth opening wide.
"Run!" Stardust screamed, while Ed shook his head, feeling bile climb his throat.
The mouth closed around Mrs Bradley and her cry was cut off before it could even start, but they still had plenty of time to see her eyes filling with betrayal.
'Pride!' Ed snarled silently, kicking off from the ground and starting toward the homunculus, heedless of Stardust's shout of, "Silent, stop!"
Ed blocked two shadow stabs and was about halfway across the distance, glaring at Selim's cruel grin, when a dazzle of light flared above them, and the shadows disintegrated.
"Sorry we are late!" May called.
Ed felt his own grin bloom into something that felt violent, and Selim's eyes widened with horror as he cleared the remaining distance and pressed his hands together, calling up the Stone destroying array, then pressed his hand to the centre of Selim's forehead, where a little pink nub had been on another Selim. One who had survived the Promised Day and lived a happy life with his mother.
The mother he'd just killed.
Selim let out a single, heart-wrenching scream, the boy he could have been staring out at Ed through teary eyes, and then he disintegrated into nothing.
Ed closed his eyes and gritted his teeth against the scream that was clawing at his throat; he'd intended to save everyone, not just watch different people fall on the field.
"Edward?" May called, concern in her voice.
Ed sighed and set his shoulders, then turned to start back toward May and Stardust.
Stardust looked as heart-sore as he felt. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, something shifted underground, and Ed was suddenly cut off from the tectonic energy. "What?" Stardust breathed, confused.
But Ed wasn't confused what it meant, had suffered the sensation before, and the first thing to mind was the realisation that Roy was fighting Bradley without alchemy.
'Roy!' Ed mouthed, even as he stepped toward his wall and clapped. Earth and stone might not be alkahestry's style, but stopping at deconstruction worked no matter the material, and the part of the wall Ed touched shattered, giving them an unhindered view of the battlefield.
Fu was somehow managing to hold his own against Bradley, with the soldiers and State Alchemists providing a hail of bullets any time he was out of the way. Most of Bradley's clothing was gone, likely burnt away, and his eyepatch was vanished, but he looked as healthy as ever, while Fu was clearly tiring, and Ed could see red staining the stone under his feet.
:Help Fu,: he signed to May, before clapping as he started forward, gathering the necessary molecules from the air to form two long whips made of water.
There was a handy jut of stone in his path, and Ed used that as a jumping point – letting Winry's genius work give him some much appreciated extra height – and reached out with his water whips to catch Bradley's swords. He managed to yank one away from the homunculus' grip – the element of surprise – and he used the whip that had it to toss it back towards the command building, well out of reach, as he landed and spun to face the homunculus.
Bradley blinked at him for a moment – everyone seemed to have fallen into a disbelieving stillness, actually, for a moment – then he said, "You've been holding out on me, Silent Alchemist."
Ed flashed him a sharp smile, then cast forward with both of his whips, catching Bradley's shoulder with one quickly iced-over edge, while he made an ineffective slash through the other with his remaining sword, which just rejoined once the blade had passed through it.
Then Bradley got smart and started running straight at Ed, ignoring the whips and the bullets that answered Roy's half-panicked shout of, "Fire!"
Ed turned and made for the nearest wall of Command, losing his whips as he clapped, then running up the wall almost too far and pushing off, doing a flip back over Bradley and throwing a kunai back at the wall with one hand, while blocking the overhead swing of Bradley's sword with the carbon bracer on his other forearm. As soon as he touched back down on the ground, completing the alkahestric circuit he'd created before starting up the wall, the wall exploded in Bradley's face.
Ed didn't stop to enjoy the awesomeness of that victory, just clapped again and yanked up a rush of water from from an exposed pipe just slightly off to one side, freezing it and swinging it around just in time to block Bradley's sword as he spun to face Ed, his face still knitting back together.
"You will live to regret this, Silent, but they will not, I promise you," Bradley hissed, way too fucking close.
Ed shoved with his ice spear to get some space, and spun on his right foot, performing a roundhouse kick with his left leg. Unsurprisingly, Bradley tried to block it with his sword, but it just caught on the automail and snapped.
The last thing Ed'd expected, was for Bradley to grab the broken piece of his blade in his bare, free hand, and stab out toward Ed's face.
He jerked back, unbalanced, and curled backwards into a roll, barely missing another stab from Bradley, and losing his ice spear.
A hail of bullets gave him a much needed chance to get to his feet and stumble back, out of the threat range, rubbing a little too roughly at the gash on his cheek.
He clapped and called up some more water to form new weapons, managing to freeze them just in time to catch Bradley's next attack as he ran forward though the dwindling rain of bullets, his eyes almost seeming to glow red through the ruins of his re-growing face.
And then, without warning, the flow of energy shifted under their feet, tectonic energy once again accessible.
Ed managed a toothy smile, before fire ringed around him, melting his weapons and completely engulfing Bradley.
When the fire sputtered out, Bradley was nothing more than a charred corpse, his Stone's regeneration abilities spent.
"Edward!" Roy shouted, and Ed looked over to find him, May, and Stardust all running toward him, while most everyone else just sort of slumped in relief, and Armstrong and Sig clasped hands and beamed at each other like the best of friends.
Roy grabbed him as he reached him, and Ed only then realised that he'd been leaning a little too far forward, might have been about to fall over. (That was a lot more of alkahestry and alchemy and physical exertion than he was used to performing at a time, okay?) He closed his eyes and relaxed into Roy's hold, so fucking relieved that they'd both made it through. (So far.)
"Let me see your cheek," May ordered, both her and Xiao Mei tugging on the ruined remains of Ed's jacket sleeve; Pride's attacks had done a serious number on them, though the carbon bracers underneath seemed fine, which was really all that mattered.
Ed sighed and pulled away from Roy so he could crouch down, turning his head to the side and letting her work her alkahestry on the wound, while scratching Xiao Mei's head when she jumped over onto his shoulder. :Fu?: he signed once she was done.
May sighed. "He lost a lot of blood, and he is weak, but he should be fine."
Ed's right leg gave out and he plopped back a bit gracelessly, smiling and ignoring Xiao Mei's squeak of disapproval as she jumped back toward May; he'd managed to save Fu. He'd failed Mrs Bradley, but Fu would survive this time.
Roy sighed and crouched down next to him. "You realise you're insane."
Ed offered him a tired smile and shakily signed, :I may have underestimated how good he was.:
"He is dead now," May offered with a sigh.
"Pride?" Roy asked.
"Disintegrated," Stardust offered, before giving a shudder that was probably only a little for show. "He ate his...mother? Mrs Bradley."
"Shit," Roy breathed, and Ed lightly patted his arm, because he was still reeling, a bit, from that death himself. Roy sighed, then admitted, "I'm a little worried about Envy."
That caught Ed's attention, and he looked up, over the battlefield. 'He's not here,' he mouthed in realisation, while his stomach sank, because there were too many places he could potentially be, and they couldn't abandon their current position until they got word that the Dwarf in the Flask was dead.
As if the thought had called him, the ground under them shuddered, heaved, and shattered not quite three feet away from them, a blast of energy vanishing up into the sky.
Ed lurched to his feet and caught Roy's arm, dragging him back, away from the new hole, while May and Stardust also scrambled back.
The move was none-too-soon, as a golden blond figure who looked like Hohenheim's twin, wearing the tattered remains of a white robe, rose out of the hole and stepped into the same space Ed, Roy, May, and Stardust had just occupied, his expression flat and his qi a writhing mass of souls.
Ed didn't wait for him to make his move, simply clapped his hands together and formed a new water whip, snapping it forward, only for it to be stopped by a flare of a bright red shield.
The Dwarf in the Flask's response was to start walking toward them.
"That's him?" Roy asked, and Ed nodded, as he used his whip to strike at the Dwarf in the Flask again. "That's the Dwarf in the Flask!" Roy shouted to everyone else, before snapping out a gush of flame.
"Fire!" Lieutenant Colonel Lewis ordered, and a fresh hail of bullets, as well as stone projectiles and a shock of electricity shot past Ed, impacting with the bright shield.
"Push him back!" Roy called, as the air between them and the still approaching Dwarf in the Flask sparkled and a wind started to whip up, pinging debris against the shield, each minor impact lighting it up anew.
And then the Dwarf in the Flask held out one hand ahead of him, the tip of his fingers sparking red.
Ed yanked his whip back and changed the shape, using it to shove Roy and Stardust – May had already got out of the way – back, out of range, which brought him a couple steps closer to the Dwarf in the Flask, but that was fine, so long as Roy was safe–
The red energy sparked against his skin, whispering memories of agony best left forgotten, and then the ground exploded under the Dwarf in the Flask's feet and he stumbled.
"Stay away from my brother!" Al shouted, terror and fury in his voice and the looming shape of his qi, from where he, Teacher, Hohenheim, and Scar's party had all just cleared the edge of the hole.
A hand wrapped around Ed's arm and yanked him back, well out of range, and Roy snarled, "Do not do that again."
Ed nodded, gave himself a moment to rub at the tightness the Dwarf in the Flask's attack had left in his chest, then pulled away from Roy and clapped, dropping to the ground to destabilise the fucker's footing, give Al and the others the chance to run safely through his threat radius.
Al punched Ed's shoulder as he reached them, muttering what was (doubtless) insults aimed at Ed, but he couldn't make anything out over the thunder of gunshots. Al turned back to face the Dwarf in the Flask, clapping his hands and holding them over the ground to summon a stone spear.
Ed clapped his hands to reform his water whip again, returning to chipping away at the Dwarf in the Flask's Stone.
Ed couldn't say who actually landed the final blow, whether it was one of their alchemy (or alkahestry) attacks – Roy, Electric Storm, and Ed had all got inside the shattered shield at about the same time – or if it had been a bullet from the fairly constant hail in a semi-circle around them, but the Dwarf in the Flask seized almost as soon as his shield shattered, then sort of twisted up into a grotesque pretzel and winked out of existence.
There was a stunned silence, before a roar of victory went up from the soldiers around them.
Ed looked over at his brother and held out his fist. With a tired smile, Al reached over and bumped his own against Ed's, saying, "We did it."
"Hopefully the hardest part," Roy agreed quietly from just behind them, his qi as tired as Ed felt. He dropped a hand onto both Ed and Al's shoulders and, when they looked back at him, requested, "Collect May and see to any wounded, while I find someone with a radio who can give me an update on the other teams, and hopefully tell us where Envy is."
:Take someone with you,: Ed signed with a frown.
Roy nodded, then called, "Havoc!"
Ed rolled his eyes while Havoc hurried over, but didn't bother complaining about the limited guard; given the lack of reinforcements from inside Command, it was almost certain that Armstrong and Grand had managed to subdue any resistance, and he didn't sense Envy inside the Command building, which was well within his range, so Roy should be safe, so long as he didn't go far for that radio.
They found May with the Yaos, filling Ling and Lan Fan in on Fu's condition, while also healing a gash on Lan Fan's arm. Rather than pull her away – and have to explain the 'no alchemy or alkahestry on Ishvalans' rule – Ed and Al silently agreed to leave her to it, splitting any necessary healing between themselves, and turning the remains of their jackets into bandaging for the four Ishvalans who'd taken minor wounds.
Somehow, after they'd finished the rounds of their group and the Central soldiers who'd been caught out on the parade grounds – who appeared to have joined the fight against Bradley while Ed had been facing down Pride – the death count had held at a steady four deaths: the three Bradleys and the Dwarf in the Flask. Ed didn't really have words for the relief that had filled him at that news, but one look at his brother's relieved slump, said Al fully understood.
When Roy made it back out to the parade grounds with Olivier Armstrong and Grand – both of whom suffered some minor healing from Ed and Al – however, it appeared the news wasn't as good elsewhere: Their little mid-meeting coup had suffered three deaths at Bradley's hand – two members of the brass, one Briggs soldier – and nearly everyone in the room had been wounded to varying degrees, but the worst had already been treated and stabilised by the Command infirmary staff, and the rest were being seen to. The teams placing the outer points for the array had all made it through that fine, and while a couple of the labs were reporting minor wounded, no one had been critical enough to require hospital attention.
The worst mess, it turned out, was at the radio station, which Envy had attempted to infiltrate while disguised as Roy. Some pointed questions about why he was there – and a suggestion from Winry that they ask after Ed – had ended with some very suspicious responses, and the Briggs troops guarding the door had opened fire. When Envy had responded by changing into his true form, the Central troops that had been waiting outside for a chance to storm the station had joined the firefight against Envy. It had ended with a hell of a lot of property damage, five dead soldiers, two dead civilian bystanders, and almost two dozen wounded. (Roy was able to reassure Ed and Al that Gracia and Hughes were both safe, and Winry and the members of his team who'd been there had only suffered minor injuries, all of which had been easily seen to on site.)
That said, the incident had apparently been all the proof Central City needed to believe what Gracia had been saying during the radio broadcast, and none of them doubted the rest of the country would hear about it by the end of the week, solidifying their stance about there having been monsters, while also – with luck – making sceptics more likely to believe the rest of it.
Olivier Armstrong flashed a smirk at Roy after that had been passed on to everyone who'd been interested in the update, and said, "I don't envy you this clean-up, Führer Mustang."
Roy flashed her a smirk right back. "Thank you so much for offering your assistance, Lieutenant General Armstrong."
(Because, apparently, Roy's reward for helping him out and not fighting his grab for the Führership, was a promotion. That, or it was his twisted idea of a punishment. Some days, Ed was glad he couldn't actually read his lover's mind.)
Armstrong's smirk began to look a bit more like a grimace, but she didn't argue with Roy, about either the promotion, or the assumption that she would remain in Central to help with the clean-up.
Roy turned to Al and said, "Alphonse, take Majors Armstrong and Ruland with you and see about clearing out lab five, then close down the other labs until we can do a full inventory of current projects and staff."
Al bowed and agreed, "Yes, sir!" then turned and motioned for Armstrong and Electric Storm to follow him toward the closest exit to the fifth lab.
"Edward," Roy said, and Ed raised an eyebrow at him, "the parade grounds could use a few repairs, then I'd like you to take a team underground and snoop through those doors you couldn't open before, make sure there aren't any other nasty surprises waiting for us."
Ed rolled his eyes and signed, :Have everyone hold still.:
Roy frowned, but obediently called, "I need everyone to stay exactly where you are!"
Ed nodded, then dropped to sit on the ground and took a slow, centring breath. And maybe this was a terrible idea – rebuilding had never been his forte, and this was far more complicated than he should probably be trying after as much energy as he'd already expended today – but he kind of wanted to show off a bit, now he wasn't hiding how good an alchemist he was.
He closed his eyes and pressed his hands together, then touched them to the stone path to either side of himself.
The ground bucked once, stubbornly trying to refuse Ed's control, then began to – slowly, at first, but picking up speed as he bore down with his will – rearrange itself the way it had originally been. A spark of foreign energy mixed with his and helped feed the transmutation, red in his mind's eye, and Ed didn't have to look to know his useless father was lending a hand. (Which, well, he should probably be grateful for the assist, because this was potentially stupid, but Ed really just felt resigned to the fact that Hohenheim was going to find a way to interfere in his life, somehow, no matter how pointedly Ed pushed him away.)
When he finally opened his eyes, the parade grounds were again immaculate, and he was greeted by a stunned silence, with Grand, Roy, Teacher, May, and Stardust all giving him completely boggled looks; they, more than the non-alchemists, knew exactly how improbable that had been to accomplish.
"Remind me," Grand said drily, breaking the silence, "to never get on the wrong side of either of the Elric brothers."
"That's been my policy since I met them," Roy returned just as drily, before holding down a hand to Ed. "If you're done reminding all of us that your inability to speak doesn't make you any less terrifying an alchemist?"
Ed snorted and caught the bastard's hand, letting him pull him to his feet, then let go and stepped back to sign, :You're just jealous that one clap of my hands makes your gloves useless.:
Roy's mouth twitched, his eyes lighting with amusement. "Go make trouble in the tunnels," he ordered.
Ed flashed him a smirk, then tapped May's shoulder and a jerked his head in a 'Come on' motion, because she was the only one who he could fully communicate with there, after Roy and Havoc (who Ed would rather stay with Roy). Anyway, she looked a little lonely, with Al gone and Ling and Lan Fan arguing with the medical team that wanted to remove Fu to the hospital for proper treatment.
"Sure," May agreed, a whisper of relief in her qi, as she fell into step with him on his way into Command.
He was a little surprised when Scar joined them before they reached the door. When he looked back, askance, Scar held up his copy of Ed's map of the the tunnel system, which Ed didn't really need, but there was a certain edge of discomfort to Scar's qi, which seemed to be focussed on the group of Ishvalans milling around on the parade grounds. So Ed shrugged and nodded, and the whisper of gratitude in the man's qi made him kind of glad he hadn't turned him away, especially since one look at his scarred face had any soldiers roaming the building scurrying out of their way.
Ed had never tried to get down into the tunnels from inside Command before, but he'd spent enough time studying the official building blueprints and comparing them to his own map, that it didn't take him long to find a darkened stairwell marked as a maintenance cupboard.
He let Scar blast open any locked doors they came across, since there was no need for secrecy, and Ed wasn't going to waste energy picking locks. (Also, it had be a long fucking day.) The first room had a line of empty prison cells, while the second was very obviously some sort of fucked up alchemy lab with what appeared to be a chunk of rotting meat on the table nearest to the door.
"That is disgusting," May complained, holding her nose, while Xiao Mei growled at it from her position on May's shoulder.
Ed grimaced and nodded in agreement, as he stepped in to look at the papers spread out next to the meat. But then his qi-sense sparked, warning of another person in the room, and he clapped and flung out a hand as a whip of water formed around it, lashing out and slamming the person against one of the walls, far enough back in the shadowy corners of the room, he couldn't make out more than the gleam of the dim hallway light off their glasses.
Surprise sparked through both May and Scar's qi, and Scar stepped quickly past him, ducking the water whip, to see who Ed had attacked. "A male doctor," he called back, "with a gold tooth."
Ed swallowed against the memory of his only meeting with the gold-toothed alchemist, before, and what he'd later been told had happened after he'd been transported down to the Dwarf in the Flask, then clapped to shape the argon in the air to write, 'A particularly reprehensible alchemist. As much as I'd like to just kill him, he needs a trial, same as the brass.'
Scar let out a disgusted grunt, but reached down with his left hand, which sparked with alchemic light, illuminating a pile of some sort of fabric, which reshaped into ropes.
Okay, Ed hadn't expected that. He knew Scar had tattooed the reconstruction array on his left arm, before, but he'd no idea the Ishvalan would or had done it again.
Well, far be it for Ed to tell Scar what he could or couldn't do to his own body. If he wanted the ability to do alchemy – or alkahestry – properly, that was his prerogative, though it did explain, a bit, why he'd felt uncomfortable around his own people.
"He can go in those cells," Scar said as he dragged the bound alchemist towards Ed and May, Ed's whip having let go once it was clear Scar had everything in hand.
Ed nodded, then held up a hand in a 'Wait' motion, and clapped to pull some stone up from the ground, which he wrapped around the alchemist's hands, so he couldn't easily escape.
Scar grunted in understanding, then forced his prisoner from the room.
Ed turned back to the papers, while May grabbed one of the candles on the table next to the door and lit it, then stepped further into the room.
The research was expectedly depraved, and Ed was truly sickened to discover the hunk of rotting meat was actually human flesh. He quickly deconstructed it upon learning that, then sighed and started packing up all the research. He knew the smart option would have been to just destroy it, keep it well away from any other crazy fucks, but, if his life chasing after crazy alchemists, before, had taught him anything, it was that crazy fucks were going to find ways to conduct their messed up research, whether they had someone else's research to go off of or just rumours, and the best way to combat it was with foreknowledge. Which meant he was going to spend a week studying this shit, so he'd recognise and know how best to handle it if he ever came across someone's attempt to recreate it. (Anyway, he had a huge empty space in his alchemically locked safe box back home, now he no longer had to keep everything related to this mess locked away. Which reminded him, he needed to return that painting of the nationwide array to Colourway, at some point.)
He used some of the sheets Scar had used to make ropes, to alchemise a bag to carry the research in, then slung it over his shoulder and, after one last quick check to ensure they hadn't missed anything, led the way back out into the hall.
The next room they found was lit by the red glow from a series of glass cylinders filled with red liquid and what looked to be hundreds of Stones of various shapes. The walls of the room, past the cylinders, were lined with naked white humanoids, all hanging upside down and unnaturally still.
"What is this?" May whispered, horrified, while Xiao Mei let out an unhappy squeak.
"They're human?" Scar asked, stepping a bit further into the room and looking the nearest one over, his right hand posed to attack.
Ed sighed and shook his head, then used the argon array to explain, 'Mindless dolls in human form. They intended to fill them with Philosopher's Stones & have an army that obeyed orders without question & kept going despite wounds. They made no plans for the dolls' insatiable hunger that saw them eating even their makers.'
Scar closed his eyes, his qi curling with disgust and a hint of pity, while May defaulted to Xingan to whisper, "But that's horrible."
Ed nodded, looking down the line of still forms, then sighed and activated the argon array again to write, 'We'll have to take picture documentation of the dolls before we destroy them, but the Stones can be dealt with now.'
(Actually, his time in Investigations said he needed to leave the Stones for documentation purposes, too, but he had no interest in letting anyone get their hands on the Stones, and destroying them meant there was no way to activate the dolls, so he could claim it was a risk to national security, and whoever wanted to bitch would just have to deal.)
"Those are Philosopher's Stones?" May asked, as Ed moved over to the cylinders, a whisper of desperate want in her qi.
Ed frowned at her and nodded, then signed, :NO, May.:
She offered him a shaky smile. "I know, but it is hard not to wonder what I might do with one."
Ed shook his head and lightly touched the glass holding the Stones. He was actually kind of disturbingly unsurprised when the muted silence of the room, to his qi-sense, was suddenly replaced by a roar of agony and despair, and he grit his teeth against the onslaught, pulling away from the glass.
The muted silence fell again; the glass was clearly serving as an insulator.
Ed grimaced and pressed his hands together to activate Marcoh's Stone destroying array, hoped it worked, despite Scar's brother's array being active, and pressed his hands to two of the cylinders.
Nothing happened for a long moment, save the continued roar of the Stones attempting to ruin Ed's concentration, before there fell a sudden stillness to his qi-sense, the Stones in the cylinders apparently becoming aware of what Ed was trying to do.
The glass of the centre cylinder burst outward, and Ed stumbled back, mouthing curses as the glass cut into his hands and the red water splashed over his hands and forearms.
"Edward!" May screamed.
Another consciousness brushed against Ed's own – more than one – and red sparked across his skin, healing the cuts from the glass.
There was a Philosopher's Stone in him.
Ed felt his eyes widen with horror, but...it didn't feel anything like what Ling had told him that one night, before, when Greed had given him control of their body and Ed hadn't been able to keep from asking. There were only a handful of souls, for one, and they mostly felt young – as in they'd been humans fairly recently, not that they were children, though there was one with a very childlike sense to them – more scared than in agony or angry, and very obviously determined to help, supplying the missing knowledge and energy that Ed had needed – that Scar's brother's array blocked the Stones underground from providing – to activate the array and destroy the other Stones.
Swallowing against his own fear and horror, Ed stepped forward, into the puddle of red water and congealed Stones, and he didn't even have to clap, just envisioned the array, and the Stone inside him supplied the rest, sparking red energy across the floor and up the tubing to what remained in the shattered cylinder, as well as the two undamaged cylinders to either side. Those Stones and water all disintegrated, leaving behind nothing.
When the alchemic energy died away, Ed was left with what felt like two-thirds of the souls that had entered him. They sent him a sense of waiting, then curled up quietly, out of the way.
Swallowing, Ed turned back toward his companions, and found Scar was holding May back, his expression tight, while her cheeks had the remainders of tears on them, her hands wrapped tight around Xiao Mei. And at least his qi-sense didn't seem adversely affected by the Stones, because he could sense Scar's concern and distrust, as well as May's well of fear for Ed's well-being just fine. "Edward?" May whispered.
Ed raised his hands to clap, then stopped, uncertain if he could actually perform alchemy normally. When nothing happened – like the array activating without him needing to form the physical circle – he took a careful breath, then pressed his hands together to activate the argon writing array. The souls inside him didn't shift, and the alchemy felt the same as usual – pulling from the tectonic energy, because he'd never got around to translating this array into alkahestry – sparking blue instead of red, and Ed let himself relax a bit as he wrote, 'I'm sorry, I didn't expect that reaction. I'm fine.'
May ducked Scar's hold and hurried forward to hug Ed, which he returned with a sigh that didn't sound nearly as tired as before he'd ended up with a Stone hitching a ride. (If nothing else, at least the invasion had vanished his lingering exhaustion from the fight.)
Scar still had a lingering hint of uncertainty in his qi, but both he and May were very obviously relieved, and when Ed motioned that they should seal the room back up and continue on, there were no complaints.
It was remarkably easy to ignore the Stone inside him, as quiet as it was, which had pros and cons, but since Ed had a job to do, he focussed on the pros, which were namely that he was still himself, he could still use his alchemy fine, and his qi-sense wasn't broken again. Everything else, he could deal with later, especially since the next door they came across, almost directly below the prison cells, was full of the would-be-Bradleys, their eyes as dead as Ed remembered, and swords already in their hands.
'Shit,' Ed mouthed, as they all sort of stared at each other through the space where the door had been.
And then the men ran at them, yelling unintelligibly and spread out so they didn't bottleneck in the doorway, because they weren't that dumb. (Damn.)
Scar didn't stop to ask permission, he just dodged the first sword swipe, stepped into the man's guard, and shoved his right hand against the man's chest, deconstructing him in an instant.
Ed clapped his hands together and made a desperate grab for the closest water source that wasn't living, coming up with a tube just behind him, which sprayed out boiling water when it burst open. (Something he barely noticed, with the Stone almost immediately moving to heal any damage; convenient.) It was a moment's thought and a quick clap to add an array to change the temperature of the water, then he shoved forward with it, sending all the would-be-Bradleys back into their room.
May was already throwing a handful of kunai at the wall over the gaping doorway and pulling out a square of fabric that Ed had never seen. She unfolded it and tossed it to the floor, revealing her array, pre-drawn, then threw down her matching kunai and knelt to touch the centre.
Energy sparked between the two sets of kunai, and Ed let his water array go as the ceiling and wall caved in, closing the would-be-Bradleys away.
Scar turned and shot them both an unimpressed look. "What will that solve?"
Ed pressed his hands together and responded, 'They've been brainwashed & kept alive to be used as sacrifices. They deserve for us to try & find someone to help them.'
"You can't 'help' everyone, Silent Alchemist," Scar informed him flatly, despite the vague sense of relief that had unfurled through his qi at Ed's words, for fuck alone knew what reason.
Ed just offered him a smile that ached in response, and turned to repair the burst pipe, grateful to find it was no longer spraying boiling water, his temperature array having cooled everything down. Then he motioned that they should keep on, pulling out the map Scar had handed over and marking that spot as something to come back to later.
A room full of animal chimeras was next, and Ed made no complaint about May rushing back out of the room with a pitifully squeaking Xiao Mei, or Scar setting to work putting all of them out of their misery, while Ed collected any research laying around and added it to his bag. The last room had a few human-animal chimeras in it – none familiar, and Ed wasn't certain how he felt about that – and some humans in too-small cages which – the human-animal chimeras told him once they'd been freed and May settled in to heal their minor wounds – had the souls of animals in them, or something. Ed tried approaching the nearest one, but almost got his hand bitten off, and was then barked at. Sighing in regret, he nodded to Scar, who stepped forward and grimly finished them off.
They took a break, then, leading the chimeras and the gold-toothed alchemist up to be handled by people who actually had the clearance to make those decisions, which ended up being Grand – now a major general, by the new star on his shoulders – since it was all alchemy-related.
"This will be your job soon enough, Silent," Grand commented, and Ed wasn't really certain if it was meant as a threat or not.
Ed smiled in response, then pressed his hands together to pass on the information about the white dolls and the would-be-Bradleys. 'I'll collect whoever I can find from Investigations and get photos of the dolls, then we can destroy them,' he finished.
Grand shook his head. "Go get some dinner and go home."
Ed frowned and pulled out his pocket watch, only to find it was almost nine, well past the time he normally would have gone home. 'Fuck,' he mouthed, before argon-writing back, 'Is Roy still here?'
Grand's qi shifted with an odd sort of private amusement, half-hidden behind a well of resignation. "Unfortunately," he agreed drily. "He seems to be determined to work himself into an early grave, if you can imagine such a thing about him."
Ed sighed and nodded, because he was well-acquainted with his lover's stubborn self-recrimination streak, then clapped to write, 'I'll drag him out. Go home yourself.'
"If you get him out of the office, I intend to," Grand promised. "He was in the presidential man– Excuse me, the Diplomat House, last I heard, helping with renovations."
That sounded like an interesting story, and Ed fully intended to drag it out of his bastard, right as soon as they'd both got eight hours of sleep. Still... 'He's not there any more,' he offered, because Roy's qi was inside the command building proper, then turned to May and signed, :You and Scar head out. I'll drag Roy home. Over my shoulder, if I must.:
May coughed a laugh, her eyes bright, but very obviously tired, under the harsh lights of Command. "Of course. May I borrow your key?"
Ed nodded and tossed her his whole set of keys – including Roy's house and car keys, the Hugheses' house key, a key for the house in Resembool, and a handful of keys for the Investigations building – trusting that she wouldn't lose them.
May caught it with a huff, then looked up at Scar and said, "We should both return to our homes for the night, Edward says."
"Yes," Scar agreed, before turning and leading the way out of Grand's office without any further attempts at politeness.
Ed sighed and offered Grand a brief bow, then left to hunt his idiotic lover down.
He found Roy standing in the middle of Bradley's office, staring tiredly at the large desk – which had been moved away from the windows, thank fuck – and the piles of paperwork on it. Hawkeye was standing just inside the room, next to the door, a tired slouch to her shoulders. The new shoulder insignia and her stars marking her as a lieutenant colonel looked far too fresh against the oil stains marking the rest of her uniform, and Ed wondered, a bit, what excitement she'd faced while leading her Ishvalan teams. She started to attention as Ed stepped into the room, before relaxing back into her slump upon recognising him, her qi filling with relief. :Take him home,: she signed.
Ed nodded. :I intend to,: he promised in return, before letting out a whistle.
Roy spun, his qi filling with relief and love. "Edward," he said, sounding tired.
Ed offered him a smile. :Let's go home, you idiot.:
Roy cast an uncertain look back towards his desk. "I should get a start on–"
"Sir," Hawkeye interrupted, because Ed couldn't, "I never thought I'd say this, but you need sleep more than you need to be working, right now. Go. Home." Then she turned to Ed. "Please make sure you both get something to eat on the way, Brigadier General."
Ed began to nod, only for her words to register. He turned an incredulous stare on his lover, whose qi had taken on a faint sort of 'oh shit' edge. :You didn't,: he signed flatly.
Roy cleared his throat. "All of the members of the military who fought today, save the lab alchemists, got a promotion."
:ONE rank promotions are one thing!: Ed signed back irritably. :I haven't even been in the military a full year, yet, or had any training, and I'm mute and only fifteen!:
"You're also the only reason this battle happened, and at least half the reason it was won so easily," Roy returned in his most reasonable voice, then offered a strained smile and added, "I need people I trust among the brass, like you and Maes."
Well, Ed couldn't really be surprised that Hughes had received a promotion to general, especially since he was the highest ranking member of Investigations, with Gardner named a traitor; they needed their department to sort through all the top secret rubbish for the truth, and they needed to do it quickly enough to pin the traitors in tribunal and move on with all the peace reforms Ed knew Roy wanted to start enacting as soon as possible.
"Lieutenant General Armstrong and Major General Grand both agreed to your promotion," Roy added, as if that would protect him from Ed's retribution.
Ed huffed. :We are leaving and getting food and sleeping for eight hours.:
Roy sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I suppose."
:I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you out if you don't–: Ed started irritably.
Roy stepped forward and caught his hands, bringing them both up for a kiss. "Yes, love," he whispered.
Ed hit him – lightly – then caught his arm and pulled him along as he walked out of the office, the stupid bastard chuckling.
Hawkeye's qi followed them out, fond amusement rolling over the bone-deep exhaustion that made up most of it, and Ed was kind of grateful that'd she'd stuck it out with Roy as long as she had, even as a part of him wished she'd just gone home at a sane hour. (Or managed to get Roy to go home at a sane hour, preferably.)
Grand and Olivier Armstrong were both waiting for them by the front entrance, and Roy – who had stopped letting himself be dragged when they reached the stairs, and was walking at Ed's side – sighed and said, "Yes, yes, we can all go home."
Armstrong gave a disgusted scoff, while Grand just gave Roy an unimpressed stare. Both of their qi were heavy with exhaustion, but there was also some resigned amusement, a bit like they'd hit that point in the day when everything was at least a little funny. (Ed totally understood the sensation.)
Roy shook his head, then announced, "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm hungry." And then he flashed Armstrong and Grand a sharp-edged smile, "I know a place that's private enough, I can hear some updates."
Grand was apparently tired enough to shoot Ed an almost-pleading look, and Ed shrugged, because food was almost as important as sleep, when it came to keeping his idiotic bastard from keeling over, and he was actually kind of interested to hear what-all he'd missed while he'd been wandering around in the tunnels for hours.
"Yes, sir," Armstrong and Grand agreed with salutes, and they all followed Roy out of the building, through the front entrance, and down one block to a brightly-lit diner that was mostly empty.
The waitress sort of froze for a moment, upon seeing them, before Roy's easy-going smile apparently took affect and she relaxed a bit. "Führer Mustang, generals, welcome. Did you have a preference for where to sit?"
Roy motioned to a booth in the back, which looked like it might be a little cramped for all five of them, but their waitress unearthed a sturdy-looking chair for the end of the table, and Grand took it, while Roy and Ed took one bench, and Armstrong and Hawkeye took the other.
Over the course of the meal, they got the update on the labs – five was cleared of guards and all the bombs and research had been removed, one and two had both been reopened without any changes needed, while three and four would both remain closed until they could perform a proper overhaul of their programs and safety regulations – the state of the city repairs and morale, how those who'd been sent to hospital were faring, and some of the responses from the other commands about Roy taking over – only about half good, which they'd expected, but the support of Armstrong and Grand seemed to be leaving any potential opponents to Roy's new position more inclined to wait and see what would happen. Roy had – almost certainly for Ed – helpfully updated them on Investigations' progress – good; about half of the traitors had folded before they even got them into interrogation rooms, and a thorough search of their offices and homes had turned up plenty of evidence – as well as his intention to turn the former Führer's residence into a building to house visiting diplomats, since he had no intention of moving into it, not when he'd 'only just' finished unpacking.
(Ed tried not to roll his eyes; he assumed the idea for a place to house diplomats had come to him solely because they were still housing the Xingans, and it would be nice to have their quiet home back.)
Ed's own update had been a bit more difficult, given the bright lights of the diner, but Hawkeye had politely offered to translate his signing, and Grand was able to fill in some information, since he'd already got Ed's report.
He finished by turning slightly toward Roy and signing, :I want Al tomorrow, to tackle the Dwarf in the Flask's sanctuary, then I can turn to the labs or Investigations, whichever needs me more.:
Roy's mouth twitched and he nodded. "It sounds like Hughes has things in hand with the investigation; given the potential fall-out from the chemicals in lab four, I'd prefer you and Alphonse tackle that as soon as you've finished clearing the underground."
Ed nodded – that was a good point – and turned back to finish his meal.
They all finished not long after that, and walked back to the garage together, before parting ways at their cars. Ed and Roy dropped Hawkeye off on their way, then snuck into the house, Roy quietly asking, as he unlocked the door, "Who's here?"
Ed took a moment to consider the sleeping qi inside the house, then signed, when Roy looked back at him, :May, Ling, and Lan Fan. All asleep.:
Roy nodded and led the way in. As soon as Ed had closed and locked the door behind them, his bastard pulled him into a tight hug, his qi wrapping Ed in relief and love.
Ed hugged him back just as tight, felt a thousand times lighter at the fact that they'd both made it home in one piece, and the people they cared about had made it through alive, if slightly battered.
They'd done it.
"Sleep?" Roy whispered.
Ed snorted and nodded, pulling back and taking the lead up to their room. There, they both got undressed, then climbed into bed and fell asleep without any distractions, save one long, gentle kiss after they were under the covers together.
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