Chapter Text
Roy stared at the wall blankly, letting his headache pulse and sway like waves in a glass bottle. It had been another gruelling night of nightmares keeping him up. He felt the sand in his sheets as clearly as those days. Roy shook his head before he could get dragged back into that hell. If he just kept it out of his head, he might have been able to forget it by the evening and before he had to sleep again. He shook his head once again. The nightmares definitely made it hard for him to stay focused that morning. It definitely further solidified their ploy. Only, he wasn’t asking for it.
The room felt too quiet. It was awful. He needed something else. He needed something that could drown out the ever constant screaming, the voices of the innocent children that ran.
The phone sitting on the corner of his desk rang. If not for his headache, he probably would have left the phone to ring on. He didn’t really have the energy for one of Maes Hughes’s calls, Hughes being the most likely person to be on the other end of that call. If it were Hughes, all he would have to do was push down on the cradle and let Maes talk into the void for a while. He didn’t feel like hearing a voice he heard in Ishval. It wasn’t fair to his friend, but when was life fair? Never. It was the sad truth.
Roy picked up the phone after sucking in a quick sigh for preparation. He put the phone to his ear, saying his name into the receiver as an automatic response. He fully expected to hear Maes’s excited voice start to ramble on about his lovely wife and daughter. Instead, Alphonse Elric’s quiet, timid voice was what filled his ears, staticky over the phone. It was certainly a surprise.
“Colonel Mustang, Sir?” Roy could practically hear Alphonse fidgeting on the other end of the call. His voice gave away his stress, which could only mean one thing. Fullmetal had gotten himself into trouble yet again.
Roy sighed through his nose, groaning at the childishness of his young subordinate. Any one of his other subordinates would have learned their lesson the first time. Well, any one of his subordinates wouldn’t have even tried what Fullmetal tried to accomplish in the first place. He didn’t even know what the boy had done yet, but he knew it was something Fullmetal should have known better about. That was always the case. The boy was such a problem child sometimes. Roy couldn’t believe his stupid luck taking in the most reckless and explosive—emotionally and literally—child there was out there. “What did your brother get himself into this time?” Roy asked, refraining from letting out another sigh of exasperation.
Fullmetal had probably pissed off the wrong person by being a brat to someone he either couldn’t beat in a fight or someone who outranked him. Now, he needed help from someone who could get him out of the trouble. Maybe he needed someone to get him out of jail.
It seemed like Fullmetal would have no issue skipping town without consulting Roy on the topic. And that watch of Fullmetal’s could get him out of a lot of trouble, but not everything was so quickly resolved with a swift flash of a pocket watch. That idiot seemed to forget he was pint-sized, and no one would believe his watch was real if they even believed it was his.
Roy waited for Alphonse’s equally exasperated sigh and some long spiel about his brother’s reckless behaviour. None came. Instead, Alphonse sounded panicked.
“I— I don’t know. I don’t know where he— where he is… Colonel, Sir, he— he never came back to the dorms last night…” Alphonse sounded genuinely terrified. He wasn’t the type to lie or kid around about those things, so Roy knew there really was a reason to worry, but then again, Alphonse did seem to be the type that tended to worry over nothing. “And before you say that I’m worrying too much,” Alphonse started, seemingly reading Mustang’s mind, “cause you and Ed are a lot alike, and that’s exactly what Edward would say.”
Roy opened his mouth to argue with that. He wasn’t super pleased with Alphonse’s comment.
Alphonse continued to speak before Roy could say a thing. “I know he wouldn’t disappear for this long without giving me some type of warning. He would have said something. He wouldn’t have left me to worry.”
Roy shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to contend the kid’s comment. He was concerned, and that needed to be dealt with first. “Alphonse, I understand your concern, but we need to think about this calmly. You know Ed, and he has on a few occasions spent the night out doi—” The door to his office echoed with heavy knocking. The sound and rhythm were unfamiliar, meaning it wasn’t one of his team. “Give me a minute, Alphonse. I have someone at the door.” Roy lowered the phone so that it rested against his desk. “Please come in,” Roy called to the person at his door as he straightened himself up a bit.
A slender young man pushed open the door, putting his fingers to his brow in a salute. Under his other arm was a parcel. “Colonel Mustang, Sir? This package is for you. It was left at the front desk earlier this morning.” The man’s voice was about as stiff as his posture was.
“Thank you. At ease. You may bring it to my desk.” Roy gestured to an empty spot on his desk. “I imagine my lieutenant signed for it at her desk.” She usually would have brought it in herself, so he figured she was keeping an eye on the team out in the office. Maybe everyone was having a hard day.
“Yes, Sir, it was,” the man said, lowering his hand and bringing the parcel forward. He placed the package where Roy had directed and stepped back, saluting again.
“Then you are dismissed.”
“Yes, Sir.” The man turned on his heels and was out the door in what Roy imagined was as quickly as he could while still maintaining an air of respect.
Roy couldn’t help the slight smirk. He picked up the phone again, putting it back to his ear. “Sorry about that, Alphonse. But, as I was saying, your brother is probably fine. He likely fell asleep in Central Library and got locked inside last night. You know him. He’s done it before. And I’ve seen him sleep for forever. He could still be sleeping as we speak.” Roy rested the phone between his shoulder and ear as he reached over his paperwork for the paper wrapped package. On it was Roy’s rank and name. The handwriting was feminine, though not flowery. Rank included meant it probably wasn’t from a girlfriend. Roy turned it upside down and loosened the string tying it together. It intrigued Roy plenty.
“Well, maybe,” Alphonse muttered, sounding unconvinced and a little distant as if he was turning away from the phone. It was all Roy could offer at the time.
“To put your mind at ease, I’ll send Hawkeye to the library to check.” Roy peeled back the paper as he listened for Alphonse’s response. “I’m sure she’ll find him there without an issue.”
“I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m just worrying too much.”
Roy sighed softly, almost a chuckle. He was glad he could convince Alphonse to at least worry a little less. They could address the issue when they knew for sure whether the boy was in trouble or not. For now, all they knew was Edward wasn’t around.
Roy opened the lid to the small box, looking inside. His stomach completely dropped. Familiar red cloth was folded so neatly inside. “Oh, shit.” He choked, feeling like he might throw up.
“Colonel, is something wrong?” Roy could hear Alphonse shifting the phone between his hands.
Roy couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. Roy ripped the fabric from the box, praying he was wrong. He wanted so desperately to be wrong.
But the clink of metal and that flamel told him everything.
Roy's eyes were wide.
Blood. There were flecks of blood on the watch that had fallen to his desk.
“Alphonse…”
—
Edward shivered as he felt dripping from the broken skylight above his head.
He'd woken up, not remembering having passed out before. He barely remembered his encounter with that woman… He just remembered her eyes and her hands around his throat. What had she wanted? He couldn't even remember.
She wanted…
No. All he could remember was the clicking. The endless clicking.
Click…
Click…
Click…
Click…
Was it his imagination, or were those clicks real?
Edward's head snapped up to the empty warehouse room.
So his imagination. The drug hadn't worn off? He wasn’t sure what it was that was messing with his head. Maybe he just had more faith in himself than he should have. His head was playing tricks on him.
The whole of the warehouse creaked on its supports.
Why did it all have to be so loud?
A new sound bounced off the walls. It was clearly a set of footsteps, but different from the last time. Edward turned, hoping he'd be wrong. Maybe it was his imagination yet again.
He wasn’t. The woman was walking toward him. She was dressed differently with a new set of shoes on her feet. They weren’t the clicky ones.
If Edward had to guess, he would have said it was late morning… The next day?
So Alphonse would have noticed he was missing by then. He wouldn't have long to wait. Edward perked up. He’d be safe. Once he’d been missing long enough that it was obvious he wasn’t doing something, Alphonse and Mustang would go on the hunt for him.
At least, Alphonse would. Mustang was a selfish bastard who would probably be glad to finally be rid of him. …If Edward wasn’t his human weapon.
From the looks of it, he was in your average warehouse. And it was quiet like the warehouse district. Not much in the way of human sounds… If there were any.
Mustang– because it was true he didn't want his walking promotion to be eliminated–would be able to find him in a warehouse. Those were some of the first places he checked.
“Hello, Sweetheart.” Her voice seemed softer, far less thirsty for Edward's blood. Her eyes said something different, though. She squatted in front of the cage, running her fingers along the bar of the cage Edward’s arm was tied to. “Guess where I just was.” She had a sly smirk on her lips as she cocked her head to the side, making her inquiry more pointed.
Edward probably should have contemplated his options. He had a tendency to make things worse. “Up someone's asshole, you piece of shit!” Edward muttered, clearly making the wrong decision. He never claimed to be all that clever when it came to that type of situation. He was always ready to pick a fight. He jumped back a bit, tugging on his arm. He didn’t want her hand on his throat again.
“Shhhh,” she simply said, putting a well manicured finger to her lips. “If you want me to keep you in the loop, I will expect a little more respect than that.” She did nothing other than look at Edward sadly as if she felt bad for him.
Edward wanted to bite her. She felt bad for him? She's the one who did this. She's the one who took his arm and tied him down in a glorified dog cage like a pet… No, like the dog of the military he was… Edward wanted to say, “Go to hell, Bitch.” But he refrained. Any information was good. Something might help him escape. H
Then again, he might have said it anyway if she hadn’t spoken first.
“Good boy. Central Command.” She reached through the bars, patting his head as she said it.
Edward froze. He looked up at her, not quite understanding. “What?”
“That's where I went.” She had the widest, sly grin across his cheeks. “I had to drop off a present and a card for our good friend.”
“What did you–”
“Shhh,” she shook her head. “Nothing more for you. You haven’t been a good enough boy.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but her mouth didn’t even crack open. She just stared at him like a freak. “I can’t wait to kill him.”
—
Roy hated waiting. He always considered himself a rather patient man, but when the waiting involved Fullmetal, all bets were off. He lost control of his senses.
Those stupid children seemed to have a way of completely pulling the rug out from under his feet. It was not fair whatsoever.
The door was thrown open violently, more so than Fullmetal's kicks. The walls seemed to shake. Alphonse stood there. “Where is it?! How do we get Brother back?!”
“We have to wait… This person… He wants us to play his game… At his pace.” Roy felt weak at his knees. All the letter left for them to do was wait for this bastard's call and hope Fullmetal was still alive.
The phone rang. Every neck snapped in that direction. That was it.