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Fullmetal tracked Roberts down first.
The city had been on high alert all night. News of a killer roaming the streets and randomly murdering soldiers in uniform had reached them at around eleven and Roy’s team, along with what seemed to be every available soldier and officer currently stationed in East City, had set out to find him. His identity was revealed and communicated roughly two hours later: Timothy Roberts. He was no stranger to the military. In fact, he had failed the State Alchemist exam for the third time just a few hours earlier. His alchemy, they were told, was not the reason for the military’s blatant refusal to hand him a pocket watch. He kept failing the psychological evaluation.
Considering what he’d done as a result of the repeated dismissals, Roy could see why.
Now, just after two in the morning, he was sprinting towards the fight taking place a few blocks down the street. Fullmetal and Alphonse had been assigned to that area and there was no doubt in Roy’s mind that they were currently fighting Roberts. Hawkeye was running next to him, her gun drawn, Falman following close behind them.
Roy caught a glimpse of the brothers when they turned the corner. They were racing after Roberts, who was about to cut across the canal over a nearby pedestrian bridge. Alphonse stopped to transmute a stretch of road into a half-formed ramp which Fullmetal used to cross over the canal and block Roberts’ escape route off the bridge. When Roberts whirled around to track back, he found himself faced with Alphonse, who took a stand on the other end of the bridge.
Slowing his steps into a jog, Roy raised a hand at Havoc and Breda when they joined them from a side street. “The Elrics cornered him.”
Havoc nodded and fell into step beside him. “He got past us. Fuery is out. His arm is probably broken.”
Roy frowned. “The order was to shoot on sight.”
“We did, sir,” Breda replied. “He dodged the bullets.”
“How?” Hawkeye asked.
“He manipulates air,” Roy reminded her. “Enough so that he’s able to slow projectiles down. I saw him do it during his exam.”
They were almost at the bridge, where the brothers had cornered Roberts successfully. Fullmetal jumped into a handstand, transmuting the cobblestone before pushing off his hands and easily flipping to his feet again.
It was a move Roy envied just a little bit.
There was an alchemical reaction, part of the bridge bucked up as if alive. Roberts was tripped by the cobblestone splitting and breaking apart, but jumped out of the way when the stone formed a fist trying to reach for him. The distraction gave Alphonse the chance to get close enough to grab the man. Roberts noticed, turned… and then it looked as if he was punching the air in front of Alphonse, sending him stumbling backwards, crashing into the bridge’s banister and ripping part of it out of its foundation. There was a yell from Fullmetal and then Alphonse fell over the edge.
Roy and his team started running faster, covering the last few steps of distance, when the oddest thing happened; there was an alchemical reaction of some kind, a spark of blue light from underneath the bridge, and then Fullmetal dropped, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
For one shocking, fearful, panicked moment, Roy thought that he was dead.
His heart skipped three beats while his feet kept running, his fingers snapping and sending Roberts back as he tried to approach Fullmetal. Roberts retreated, slapping at the flames licking up his sleeve and glared at Roy before taking off.
Passing by Fullmetal, who lay prone and motionless, Roy yelled over his shoulder, “Breda, Falman!” He gestured vaguely towards Fullmetal and then sped up his steps, closely followed by Havoc and Hawkeye. Roy took his next chance as soon as he saw it, pulling his gun this time and firing one precise shot to lodge in Roberts’ leg. The man stumbled and fell. Havoc gave him no opportunity to use his alchemy, restraining him and removing the steel glove that was wrapped around Roberts’ right hand. It carried a complicated-looking transmutation circle on the back of it.
Hawkeye caught Roy’s attention. “We’ve got it, sir.” She looked back towards the bridge and Roy nodded, turning to make his way back.
His lungs protested the cold night air by now, but he forced himself to run either way, to get back to the bridge as quickly as possible. He saw Breda leaning over Fullmetal, saying something, but when he got closer, he realized that Fullmetal wasn’t awake and Breda was merely trying to get him to open his eyes.
“Breda,” Roy said, crouching down.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s breathing, no head wound that I can see, pulse is a bit fast.”
Fullmetal’s face was lax, pale, his skin clammy and cold to the touch.
“What happened?” Breda asked.
Roy’s eyes found the gap in the bridge’s handrail where Alphonse had fallen through into the canal below.
Into the water.
Roy’s eyes widened. There’d been an alchemical reaction from underneath the bridge before Fullmetal had collapsed.
“Oh no,” Roy murmured and got up, hurrying to the end of the bridge and down the embankment, pebbles causing him to stumble and slip.
He found Falman crouched next to Alphonse, his uniform wet up to his knees as if he’d waded into the water. The visor of Alphonse’s helmet was open and Falman was staring, uncomprehending, at where he had probably expected Alphonse’s face to be. Aside from Hawkeye, the team didn’t know details about Alphonse’s condition or about the human transmutation the boys had tried to execute two years ago. Roy had ordered them not to ask any questions when Fullmetal had joined the team and they’d obeyed. He knew they were probably talking about it behind his back, though, making up theories and their own answers over a couple of beers on Friday nights.
Falman looked up at Roy. “He’s … unresponsive, sir,” he said, as if unsure if that was a correct assessment.
Roy crouched next to him and yanked the helmet off, staring at the place where the mark should be.
It was gone, washed off by the cold water.
Something heavy settled in Roy’s chest, pressing against his ribcage. He dropped the helmet.
“Sir?” Falman asked.
“He’s gone,” Roy answered.
“What?”
Pebbles shifted and crunched as someone slid down the embankment and Roy turned to see Fullmetal stumble towards them, his face still deathly pale and his eyes shimmering wetly in the low light of the streetlamps.
He knew but he still looked at Roy as if he would tell him he was wrong.
Roy rose to his feet and shook his head.
He didn’t know what he expected.
Maybe for Fullmetal to cry. He’d never seen him cry before, knew that Fullmetal probably would loathe the very idea of appearing weak in front of Roy of all people, but he assumed that losing Al could break down that stubborn defense.
What he didn’t expect was the tightening around Fullmetal’s jaw into some unspoken kind of resolve, his eyes hardening and his face becoming stony as he stepped forward. Roy tried to meet him halfway, to support him, maybe because he still looked unwell and shaky and for just a second, it seemed like Fullmetal would accept because he reached out… and then swiftly pulled Roy’s knife out of its sheath hidden beneath Roy’s coat. He cut into his palm before Roy could grab it back, blood dripping onto the pebbles as he approached the empty suit of armor, the knife falling to the ground.
And Roy suddenly felt stupid beyond belief, because he should have expected exactly this.
He grabbed Fullmetal’s automail wrist, yanking him around and pulling him closer to look at him. “No.”
Fullmetal’s eyes were wet and wide and angry. “Let go of me.”
Roy also caught his other wrist, blood running over his fingers as he held on. “You can’t.”
With a snarl, Fullmetal kicked, catching Roy’s knee. He hissed in pain but didn’t loosen his grip, making it a priority to hold on, to not let go under any circumstances. “Let go of me, bastard!”
He tried to clap, but Roy held fast, shaking his head.
Fullmetal caught him by surprise when he swept Roy’s legs from under him. Roy pulled him down with him as he fell, but lost his grip on the automail. The metal fist collided with Roy’s jaw, his teeth clacking together painfully and his head ringing, his fingers slipping from Fullmetal’s other hand. He needed a second to recover and managed to grab Fullmetal’s ankle when he tried to run, yanking him down and pinning him against the pebbles. Roy twisted Fullmetal’s automail arm behind his back and settled one knee against his lower spine, pinning his other wrist to the ground when Fullmetal tried to push up. He heard Falman and Breda’s voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying because Fullmetal was ranting at him, yelling, hissing insults.
Roy tightened his hold when Fullmetal almost managed to get out of his grip and averted his eyes when he caught the shimmer of tears on the boy’s cheeks. Fullmetal wouldn’t want him to see him cry. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Let go!” Fullmetal strained against his hold. “Let go of me!”
“No.”
Fullmetal screamed, furious and helpless and desperate, and then slumped. His scream tapered off into a sob.
Then another one.
“It’s okay,” Roy said, loosening his grip a little, gauging Fullmetal’s reaction.
He didn’t try to get out, didn’t fight. “Please,” he sobbed. “Please.”
“I can’t,” Roy replied. “I’m sorry.” He felt something lodge in his throat, heavy and choking. “I promised.”
It had been raining that day, just a month after Fullmetal had started his service and brought his brother along for the ride. Alphonse had been eleven and serious and sincere, seeking to speak to Roy alone for a few minutes and Roy had agreed.
Later, he’d wished he hadn’t.
Alphonse’s voice had been solemn, not faltering even once, not even at the end. “If that happens, if I ever disappear, you’ll stop him. You won’t let him get my soul back a second time. I don’t know what it’ll cost him and I’m not willing to let him find out.”
Alphonse had made Roy promise. It was a promise Fullmetal knew nothing about and Roy had hoped he would never have to keep it.
Pebbles were cutting into Roy’s knees, the icy water of the canal lapping at his clothes. He’d let go of Fullmetal’s flesh wrist, had loosened his grip around his automail further.
Roy could only see half of Fullmetal’s face; pale and shell-shocked and wet.
His fingers let go of the automail, moving up to Fullmetal’s shoulder, gripping gently. “I promised Al I wouldn’t let you do it, should this ever happen.”
Fullmetal’s breath stuttered and his bloody palm wiped over his cheek. He curled up on the ground.
Roy remained kneeling by his side, unsure what else to do but to try and explain. “He didn’t want you to lose anything else.”
A sound escaped Fullmetal’s throat, a wounded keen so unlike him that it hurt to hear it. “I lost him.”
Roy’s eyes burned.
It started to rain.
END
01/2022