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Edward honestly had no idea how he ended up in this mess. The shock was probably the biggest cause for that – if the almost cold, untouched cocoa that he kept starring at for the past half an hour was any indication – but generally things escalated so quickly that his mind hasn’t quite managed to catch up just yet.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know that Shou Tucker was a slimy bastard. His gut has been screaming ‘danger’ since the first time he saw the man on the campus. But Ed was stubborn and impulsive – terrible combination, really – and he’s been dying to move out from his father’s place. His scholarship simply wasn’t enough to cover the expenses of renting something and he couldn’t possibly find time for a job with two majors and all the additional work has been doing for the Central University – fucking bastards should pay him extra for that, by the way – and, well... Tucker offered.
Ed knew him for almost a year at this point and despite a weird smile and some nasty but rather unfounded rumors about his private life, he was clean, as far as the young genius was concerned. He used to lease rooms to students a few years back before his wife ran away with some rich bastard and liked Ed enough to give him a huge rent discount if he promised to help with academic work once in a while – which he already did because half of his professors were completely incompetent. Besides, Tucker had an absolutely adorable daughter that Ed’s met a few times when he stopped by to borrow something from their library.
So Ed thought, why the hell not? He could always go back to Hohenheim if it didn’t work out and his asshole of a father wouldn’t even complain. He owed Ed that much after he left their family without any valid reason whatsoever. Because ‘world exploration’ and ‘scientific studies’ were not a valid reason when you have a wife and two sons below five years old at home, fuck that. And no, Ed won’t "understand when he’s older". He refuses to understand. He is a vagabond himself, true, but he still would rather spend the rest of his days in his tiny hometown than let his mother and Alphonse down.
Edward eventually decided to take Tucker up on his offer and move in with him and Nina. Or rather Nina and her dog because the scientist was almost never home and he tended to lock himself up in his office when he was, which explained at least why Nina was so open and trusting towards strangers. The poor kid was starving for attention. Ed was getting a pretty similar treatment from Hohenheim most of the time but he was almost twenty-one and she was eight, for god’s sake!
Ed didn’t really feel ‘at home’ at Tucker’s, not with the weird, unsettling vibe that the scientist was giving off, but he was still happy to be there, if only for Nina’s sake. And because of the library. Mostly Nina, though.
The little girl was an angel in human form. It must have been too long since he’d last seen his brother because the shit-ton of nostalgia that hit him every time he saw her playing in the snow outside was outright ridiculous.
(Damn Al and his fancy studies in Xing! They haven’t seen each other in person since the last Christmas gathering in Resembool. Which was almost a whole year ago! Unforgivable!
Edward was beaming with pride anyway. Xing was quite challenging and unwelcoming towards foreigners, yet his genius baby brother seemed to be doing just fine.)
Nina understood when Ed needed to focus, whether it was to study or work on a project or so on, and backed off quietly to play with Alexander somewhere else. She must have picked up that habit after years of dealing with Tucker and it made Ed want to punch the bastard in the face, his studies be damned. Apart from those brief moments, she never left him alone for longer than ten minutes, following him like a shadow and asking for help with homework, or building a snowman, or just drawing silently next to him as he read something from her father’s library. Ed adored every second of it and wasn’t scared to admit so if anyone asked. Most of his college acquaintances probably wouldn’t choose babysitting as their preferred form of spending free time, but most of them were also morons, so there’s that.
“Big brother?”
Ed tore himself away from the book he was reading and looked at the girl.
“What’s up, Gingersnap?” he asked, smiling as her cheeks lit up at the nickname.
“I told you I’m not ginger!” she protested.
“Depends on the light,” Ed shrugged unapologetically. “What did you want to ask?”
“Will you stay with us for Christmas?” Nina asked almost shyly, blue eyes shining with excitement
Ed faltered. “I don’t think so, Gingersnap,” he said apologetically. She pouted and he sighed. He hated disappointing her but he already promised to spend the holidays with his family and Rockbells in Resembool and he couldn’t possibly be in two places at the same time. “My brother is coming back from Xing and I want to see him.”
“Xing?” she asked, interested. “It’s that big country on the other side of the desert?”
“That’s the one,” he nodded with a smile.
“Your brother lives there? That’s so cool!” Nina exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.
Ed wanted to give her a hug, so he did. He pulled her into his lap from where she was sitting across the sofa.
“You know what? I can’t be here for Christmas Eve but I will take the first possible train the next day and bring your present then, okay?” he asked because he obviously had a soft spot for neglected children. He wondered where he got it from. “We will spend the rest of the day together,” he promised.
Nina made a delighted squeak that made Alexander raise his big fluffy head from the spot near the fireplace. “Can daddy play with us too?” Nina asked and Ed shrugged.
That would be the preferred outcome but he personally wouldn’t put that much faith into the man. Still, he answered, “Sure. If he wants to then why not.”
His holiday break started two days later and Ed left for the train station, only stopping by Hohenheim’s place for a few short minutes to grab a few things. He also used it as an opportunity to scold the shit out of him, of course, because it just wasn’t fair that the bastard wasn’t even able to drag his ass on the train once a year to see the part of the family that actually gave a shit about him.
Hohenheim answered with a sad smile that has never worked on Ed anyway. “Would you even want me there?” he asked.
“No,” Ed almost growled. “But mom and Al would,” he grumbled.
Edward might despise his father with a passion he rarely showed towards anyone else, but the other two Elrics stubbornly insisted on giving him a second chance. If only he took the initiative and asked them for it. Ed didn’t know what put him off more – the thought of forgiving the bastard or the fact that Hohenheim kept letting them down year after year.
His father seemed quite shocked by that exclamation but didn’t say anything, so Ed sighed with exasperation and left. He didn’t have time for that petty drama. He had a train to catch, after all.
*
Though no one was particularly happy that Ed was about to cut his visit short, they got over it pretty quickly once he explained the situation. Trisha looked a touch disappointed that he moved into the house of some stranger he only knew from classes, though. Ed suspected it was probably because it happened over three weeks ago and he somehow failed to mention it when they talked on the phone earlier, and not out of sympathy for Hohenheim. (Ed has always been a huge coward when it came to facing his mother.) Yet, she decided not to comment on it. It was Christmas, both of her brilliant sons were finally home and it would be a waste to spend time arguing. Especially since Edward needed to head back barely three days later.
It was already late morning when Al and Winry dropped him off at the train station. They made him promise to come back for New Year’s Eve, before letting him off the car, and, damn, Ed was glad he had a student discount for train tickets because refusal was not an option. Not when he had to face not one but two pairs of pleading puppy eyes. Fuck, he really was going soft.
The train got him to East City, where he had to wait over an hour for the interchange. Not to mention the weather conditions that slowed the journey even more. It took him almost six hours in total to get to Central’s main train station and by the time he made it to Tucker’s doorstep, it was almost completely dark outside.
He wasn’t worried, though. It was still quite early and Nina would forgive him completely the moment she saw the presents he got her. Apart from the one from him, bought earlier in Central, his mother also decided to contribute and somehow managed to conjure up a set of warm handmade gloves and a scarf. Nina was going to be ecstatic and Ed couldn’t wait to see her smiling face.
Everything went down from there.
He noticed subconsciously that all the lights visible from the outside were off, but he didn’t pay it any attention until he actually found himself inside. The hallway was bathed in darkness. The lack of Alexander’s huge paws against the wooden floor was even more alarming, and so was the unnatural stillness present in the house. Edward froze after making it barely two steps in, the front door locking behind him with a quiet thud.
“Nina?” he asked with a raised voice.
No one answered him.
What the fuck was going on?
“Oh, Edward.”
The boy nearly jumped out of his skin at the smooth, cold voice behind him. He was about to make his way up the stairs to Nina’s room, but now his head tilted back to see professor Tucker in the door leading to a living room. His silhouette was barely visible due to the faint light coming from the room, but Ed was pretty sure he was smiling.
It creeped him out.
“You are back early,” Tucker said. He was holding something in his hand, but Ed couldn’t quite make out what it was.
He let out a quiet huff of confirmation and composed himself. He refused to be intimidated by Shou Tucker of all people. “Yeah, I promised Nina to spend the rest of Christmas with her. Is she in her room by any chance?”
“She’s playing in the living room,” he answered, mentioning for him to come forward.
Ed did so, tentatively. Tucker had to be up to something because Ed couldn’t imagine the situation in which neither Nina nor Alexander came running to meet him the moment he stepped past the doorstep. Tucker moved aside to let him into a barely lit room and Ed’s world froze in place.
In the beginning, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Nina was laying on the carpet, eyes closed and face relaxed as if she was asleep. Her neck seemed a little redder than it should be but it was almost unnoticeable in the dim light of the lamp.
Then he noticed Alexander’s body – white fur colored red and stretched a few feet further in a pool of dark blood oozing out from his skull – and his breath hitched.
The butt of the gun hit his head with a considerable impact and Edward wobbled forward. Luckily, his combat training kicked in almost unconsciously. He managed to regain his footing before hitting the ground and twisted around to catch Tucker’s hand. The bullet fired into the ceiling. Ed wrung Tucker’s wrist and kicked the gun away when it hit the ground. He shoved Tucker against the wall with enough force that his head bounced back.
“Why?” Ed growled, golden eyes practically glowing with unshed tears.
Tucker’s lips stretched into a wide, disgusting smile that made a shiver run down Ed’s spine. “She wouldn’t shut the fuck up,” he said. “Just like her mother. It’s their fault for pestering me.” His voice was perfectly even. Only his eyes – sunk and dark as if he was on drugs – betrayed his true state of mind.
Ed punched him and Tucker landed hard on the floor, his glasses shattering and cutting his face. The next second, Edward was on top of him, pinning him down with his full body weight, one hand gripping his shirt and the other dealing blow after blow. A particularly hard hit sent a flash of pain up his arm, but Ed didn't care. His only thought at the moment was to make the bastard pay for what he had done to his own fucking daughter; to his own wife two years ago because it seemed like she hadn't managed to run away after all. The bastard deserved to die. What else could possibly equal the value of a human life?
Suddenly there were hands on his shoulders and chest, pulling him up and back, away from Tucker’s bloodied but still breathing form.
“Let me go! You don’t know what he did!” he screamed, thrashing in the stranger's hold, desperate to put all his despair into rage.
“We know!” The man answered in a deep raspy voice. “You did enough, kid, you need to let us do the rest”
The cold evening air poured into his lungs and the sound of sirens overcame the ringing in his ears. Only then his rage began to fade and he would have slumped to the ground if it wasn’t for the other man keeping him locked against his chest. All energy fled from him like air from a punctured balloon. He had no idea what was going on anymore.
*
Everything past that point was a blur.
He remembered talking briefly to the dark-eyed Inspector that pulled him away from Tucker’s fallen form. He must have told the man his name at some point because from then on he kept addressing him as Mr. Elric – he vaguely remembered being called ‘kid’ as strong gloved hands gripped his own shaking ones, but he was too out of it to react. The Inspector – his name was Mustang or something – said that the neighbors reported hearing screams followed by a gunshot. Alexander’s still body flashed before Ed’s eyes. Tucker must have shot him before he...
The world was swimming around him and it was getting worse with every passing second. The detective’s pale skin looked almost gray in the sharp light. He asked a few questions – two or three, not more – and Ed supposed his answers weren’t very informative since the man gave up so quickly. Still, Ed managed to say enough to get the barely conscious Tucker into the ambulance locked in handcuffs, not that there were any other possible suspects on the scene. He was still laughing and spitting out blood even as they packed him into the ambulance with two police officers. Ed felt the urge the knock the rest of his teeth out.
His knuckles were sticky with drying blood and raw but Ed was too numb to feel the pain. His head, however, where Tucker managed to land a hit on him was beginning to throb a little. To be fair, that was probably the reason why it was so hard for him to fucking think. Inspector Mustang must have noticed that something was wrong with him because he called over one of the paramedics and Ed was taken aside to get his wounds cleaned and wrapped up.
A group of people walked by them with a body bag on a stretcher, just as the medic was putting a gauze to his knuckles, but Ed didn’t look up. The image of Nina’s body, lying still on the living room carpet, was already engraved in his brain and if he let the reality of the situation sink in, he would break down right here and now, and he didn’t want to make a crying mess out of himself.
Mustang left the house a few minutes later, accompanied by a fair-haired detective that must have been his partner. They were approaching him in slow, unrushed steps, talking something over.
“You can slowly head home, Mr. Elric, but we have to ask you to come over to the station tomorrow. We still have a few questions to ask. I hope that’s not a problem?” the woman said.
Ed shook his head as if on autopilot, “I will be there.”
“Great. We will call you.” She said and turned to leave.
Mustang didn’t follow her, still looking at Edward with concern.
“Do you have a place you could go back to, Mr. Elric?” he asked.
“I... I used to live here,” he whispered. “For a while at least. I could go back to my father but... I don’t really want to.”
“I see,” he said and smiled at him faintly. “I understand that would be a hell to explain especially during Christmas time.”
His fair-haired partner shot him a warning look from a few meters away. Huh. So she did still listen to them. Not that Mustang seemed to care.
“I suppose,” Ed answered. “I will probably just go to a hotel or something.”
“With a concussion and in bloodied clothes?”
Ed glared at him. “What do you suggest, Detective Bastard?” he asked, too tired and broken to keep this banter going.
Mustang just smiled.
*
If someone told Edward Elric a month ago that he would be spending the first day of Christmas in the kitchen belonging to a Detective Investigator from Central’s Crime Department he would... well, he wouldn’t be that surprised.
But actually being there, constantly reliving the events from the last few hours... It wasn’t even half as entertaining as it sounded. Not in the slightest.
“Edward.” Mustang’s sharp voice brought him back to reality. The inspector was right in front of him, leaning on the table and looking at him with an edge of desperation. He must have been trying to speak to him for a while now, considering that it was the first time he called him something other than Mr. Elric.
His face softened the moment Ed looked up to meet his gaze.
“He will get a life sentence,” he stated, clearly trying to sound ensuring.
Ed blinked a few times, uncomprehending. Then it dawned on him.
He didn’t kill Shou Tacker. That human garbage was still alive and breathing despite all the beating he had gotten from Ed, and he will stay that way, while Nina was dead. Ed almost laughed out loud at the sheer idiocy of that. He never wished anyone death but now... he honestly wished corporal punishment was still an option, so he wouldn’t have to regret not hitting the asshole harder.
“You don’t know that,” Ed responded faintly.
“I will make sure he does,” Mustang said firmly. “It’s a clean case. We’ve got all the evidence we need as well as the ways to prove it at court. He won’t be getting out.” His voice was steady but with a touch of brokenness. He knew it wasn’t enough, but it was the best he could promise, at least without lying to him or sounding like a patronizing asshole. Deep inside, Ed felt grateful for that.
“I'll hold you to that.”
It felt like an oath. Detective Mustang and his people would bring Shou Tucker to justice. It wouldn’t bring Nina or her mother back to life and he couldn’t say he was satisfied with that outcome. He certainly wasn’t okay – he wouldn’t be for a long time – but for now, he at least felt safe.