Work Text:
flashover: the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. a flashover occurs when all of the combustible materials in a room or compartment reach their ignition temperatures at the same time.
Without a word shared between them the two officers moved through the darkened warehouse completely in sync. No sounds were made except from their boots hitting the concrete floor. Shouts sounded from distant rooms, directing the two towards that location. Roy Mustang signalled with one hand without looking at his partner, stating he would open the door and Riza Mustang would enter afterwards, storming the room with her gun raised. She’d already let off three shots as they’d moved, incapacitating three men without a second thought. Her expression never strayed from the cold fury that Roy also wore, a mirror of his wife, and with good reason.
Roy kicked the door open with all his might, channelling all his anger and fury into that movement. He would have been surprised when the rickety old thing was knocked off its hinges, hanging on by the top one only, but other things were occupying his mind. Riza stormed in a second later, popping off two shots before the men in the room had even turned.
“Get down!” Roy ordered, lifting his hand poised to snap. Cold eyes calculated the room, picking out the number of men still standing. Riza was already taking down those who had moved to retaliate, but Roy saw as the remaining men lifted their hands in surrender, the eyes above their bandanas wide with fear. “Amestrian Military. Get down on the ground, now!”
A few complied, except for one standing over the Mustang’s target for infiltrating this warehouse. Roy glared at him, daring the man to make a movement. Oh, how he wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill them all for what they’d done. His anger was a beast raging inside of him, beating against his chest and clouding his vision. Roy was so close to giving in to it and letting this unrestrained emotion tear into these people and hurt them they way they’d hurt him and Riza.
But he couldn’t. Not in front of his son.
The boy whimpered from his spot on the floor. His eyes were as wide as saucers, skipping between his mother and father both in relief and desperation. Roy’s vision went red as he saw the bruise on his face and the rope tying his ankles together. His arms were pulled behind his back, no doubt restrained with rope too.
“Maes?” Riza called to him, voice even and controlled, ever the soldier. Without looking at her Roy knew her fury matched his. Riza was terrifying when she was truly angry. He’d only ever heard it, walking through those tunnels underneath Central years ago, but he’d never seen it. And while he hated to see her this way, Roy didn’t blame her. These bastards had taken their son and Roy wouldn’t stop her if she decided to tear them limb from limb with her bare hands. “Are you all right?”
The man standing over their son tightened his grip, levelling his gun. Riza fired and Roy snapped at the same time, the former hitting his shoulder to knock him down while Roy’s flames burned the weapon from his hands. With an anguished cry he fell to the floor, landing heavily on his back.
“Maes?” Riza barked, her anger leaking through. She was becoming desperate. She needed an answer from their son, needed confirmation that he was okay.
“I… I’m –”
“Get back!” one of the men cried, lunging for Maes. The boy’s eyes widened once more as a knife was pressed to his throat. “Stay back!”
Roy didn’t even know what happened. It was like he lost control of his body and another entity took over when his son’s panicked eyes desperately called to his. He’d just been pushed to breaking point and this was the result. Instead of the cold fury a calmness overtook him. He lifted his hand and snapped without a thought, flames erupting over the man’s arm. The knife clattered to the floor as he cried out. Roy was careful though and made sure nothing touched Maes. At the same time, Riza fired her gun, both attacks in sync, and she hit the kidnapper’s shoulder. It was uncanny how alike they were, especially in this situation.
Maes rolled away in horror, shuffling towards his parents as the man burned in front of his eyes, screams of agony filling the room. To his right, Riza looked on and made no move to stop her husband.
“Dad…” Maes whispered in horror. He was too far gone to think about how he was burning someone alive in front of his child. He didn’t need to see this. Roy was so lost in his anger, his pain, and his grief that he didn’t think about how after Ishval he’d promised himself and the woman beside him he’d never use his alchemy for something like this again.
But these bastards had kidnapped his son. He was beyond reason. Roy had vowed he’d rain fire and brimstone down upon them when they came face-to-face.
Roy knew both he and Riza were losing their grip on reality as they searched for Maes. They’d lived at the office for the last week, ever since he’d been taken. Maes had been kidnapped on his way home from school. It was neither of their faults, but both shouldered the blame.
The others were extremely concerned. When Havoc had told them both to go home, his own frustration leaking through as he yelled at them to take care of themselves for Maes’ sake, their glares had stopped him short. Because, how could they rest when their son was out there, alone, afraid, and possibly dead at the hands of men and women who wanted to hurt the General and the Captain? Havoc should know that, but he didn’t understand. None of them did. After that incident the search continued, but the rest of the team kept their distance from the couple. They were spiralling into a very bad place and Havoc had tried to help them, but their grief and fury created a cocktail of emotion that was difficult to break free from.
It even reached the point where they would argue with each other. Little things had them snapping at the other, almost insinuating blaming them for their son’s abduction. The words were never said but the implication was there. Roy hated it but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. Not when Riza was glaring at him angrily.
Their relationship was straining. They both knew that.
However, when the moment arrived that they found Maes’ location they were an unstoppable team. They moved fluidly together. Words were unnecessary because they both knew the other’s next move. They were both dead set on finding their son and would cut down anyone who tried to stop them or hurt their boy.
“Dad, stop!” Maes shouted, backing up and hitting his father’s legs. Roy eventually tore his gaze away to look down into his son’s terrified eyes. Something snapped within him and that calmness left him, leaving a burning in his chest as he realised he was scaring Maes. Roy snapped again, removing the oxygen from around the kidnapper, leaving the fire to go out and him to slump over, unconscious.
After that show of power, the other men shut up and went willingly.
Maes shouting at Roy to stop broke through his haze of anger. Blinking twice he looked down at his son but Riza enveloped him in a tight hug and drew those black eyes away from Roy.
The rest of the team entered the room, weapons raised and trained on the remaining men. They were arrested and escorted from the room without a word to the two parents. Havoc shot Roy a look as he passed the final time but continued on his way. Roy knew that look. He wasn’t happy with how the situation had been handled, however it wasn’t just Roy who’d been on the warpath, Riza had been too.
A problem for another day.
“Mum,” Maes whimpered, clutching onto his mother, burying his face in her military jacket. Riza had removed the ties from his wrists and hadn’t had the chance to remove the others because Maes had thrown his arms around his mother.
“It’s all right, Maes, we’re here,” she soothed. Something lanced through Roy’s chest at her words. Their son had watched his mother kill someone and his father burn a man alive. They’d been relentless and Roy felt ashamed that they’d been so furious they hadn’t even considered that.
What happened in Ishval haunted them to this day, over twenty-five years later. They’d both vowed they would atone for it but today – in front of their son – they’d almost stooped back to that level. Roy could use the excuse that their son had been taken and they would do anything to get him back, but he didn’t need to go that low and needlessly kill. The men would be punished for their crimes. Roy had taken enough lives with his alchemy. He didn’t need to take anymore.
And Roy had never wanted Maes to see them in action.
Maes knew what happened in Ishval. Both he and Riza had sat down and explained everything to him when he was ten. As part of the new education criteria Roy had introduced in order to educate the future on what happened there, Maes would find out in high school. They’d told him two years prior to when he would learn it, to give him warning and allow him to process it. They also explained everything that had happened with the late Fuhrer Bradley, but the story of the homunculi wouldn’t be taught in schools. That would instil fear and may give others the idea to try it somewhere down the line. No, those involved in Mustang’s coup on the Promised Day had all agreed to leave that part out.
Their son had been hurt and confused at first. His parents were good people, how could they have done such a thing? He’d even run away from home to Havoc and Catalina’s house, leaving the two of them petrified. Maes had refused to come home. Both parents were distraught but there was nothing they could do. It was what they deserved after everything they’d done, they reasoned as they held each other in their despair.
It took a conversation with Edward Elric to coax Maes back home. The ten-year-old had run into his parent’s arms, sobbing about how sorry he was. Ed had just nodded and left them to it, returning a few hours later when Maes had fallen asleep on the couch with Riza, both exhausted after crying for most of the time. Roy was exhausted too, but he’d forced himself to remain awake. He didn’t get to rest after everything he’d done, all the pain he’d caused. When Ed returned, he told Roy that they’d both chatted, and Ed had explained to Maes everything they’d given up after Ishval. Their lives, their happiness, their personal future in order to atone for what they’d done. Ed told Maes everything that had happened on the Promised Day, how his mother had almost died and how his father was forced to open the gate at the hands of Fuhrer Bradley and lost his sight. Apparently, that was enough to bring their son home and hear them out.
“I’m sorry,” Maes whispered into her jacket. “I didn’t mean to –”
“It’s all right,” Riza reassured him, rubbing circles on his back. “It wasn’t your fault. These were bad people who wanted to hurt your father and I.” Roy’s chest tightened as he noticed Maes stiffen at the mention of him. “It was not your fault,” Riza stressed, holding him tighter.
Remaining silent, Roy kneeled and gently removed the ties from his ankles. He resigned himself to the fact that Maes would always fear him after today.
That was something Roy had always feared.
After the ties were released Maes moved away from Riza and threw his arms around his father’s neck. Roy was surprised, his eyes meeting Riza’s. There were so many emotions on her face that it was hard to pick out just one. Relief and happiness that their son was okay and alive had replaced the rage that had graced her features only moments ago. However, there was a hint of sadness, grief, and shame mixed in there too. She too was ashamed of how she’d acted in front of their son. They’d both been pushed to their limit and had reacted accordingly. The whole week their fuse had been getting shorter and shorter, their moods and emotions volatile. When they arrived at the warehouse they had combusted together, and all bets were off. Entering this room and seeing that their son had been injured pushed them over the edge, reaching boiling point, the pair erupting into a rage that knew no bounds, and wanting to hurt these men in every way possible to make them pay for what they’d done.
Riza nodded at him, giving Roy’s hand a quick squeeze. Roy wrapped his son in his arms tightly, burying his face in his dirty t-shirt. Roy didn’t care because Maes was alive and he was safe now.
Both he and Riza had a lot of things to talk about and deal with in the aftermath of this week, but right now, Maes was all right and that was all that mattered.