Work Text:
#22 - Journey
Roy wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea, and Edward knew it. They had been secure in their hideaway for what Roy assumed was months now; Edward knew it had been longer. Time had a weird way of flowing when you weren't paying attention, and the point of their seclusion was not only to get Roy more used to what he could and couldn't do, but it was also to let the furor die down around Mustang's rather spectacular exit from the Amestrian military.
Alphonse was the only person in the world who knew how to find them, and he kept in contact with the occasional letters. That would be when Edward remembered to trek in to town to pick them up. The longer that they stayed in the little cabin the less they needed. Edward wasn't sure if Roy noticed but they didn't eat nearly as much; usually only two meals a day if that. While this was all a learning experience for Roy, Edward still didn't know all there was to know and it frustrated him. He performed little experiments; tests of his endurance to see how far he could push himself. Usually he was quiet enough about it that Roy didn't notice; there was one time when he was seeing how long he could go without eating that he passed out and THAT freaked Roy right the hell out, so he didn't try that one again.
Anyway, when Alphonse finally rode in to find them, Edward knew it was time to prod Roy back out into the real world again. There was a whole mess of nephilim still out there plotting the destruction of the angels that was Edward's responsibility to clean up; and it wasn't like demons and other nasty things were laying all low and docile. He had to get Roy up to fighting strength, because things would get very nasty, very fast.
His brother helped them pack their few things. It was mostly Roy who had small things; Edward had learned when he was very young to travel light and the books he had kept in the cabin he'd read so many times he had memorized them. It wasn't that Roy had a lot of stuff, it was just that he had stuff in general. Edward wanted to hurry up and get gone before he got sentimental over the little wood cabin that they'd spent so long together, and alone in ... Roy on the other hand was sentimental about it.
"Will we be coming back?" He asked, as Alphonse swung himself up in the saddle of the horse he'd ridden in.
Edward shrugged loosely. "Always a possibility."
Roy had come so far from the nearly-catatonic state he was in when they left Central. He was not as ashamed of his new station in life even if he was more circumspect about certain aspects of it. Edward smiled despite himself, watching Roy rub the back of his neck and shoot Edward a look.
"You make me nervous when you grin like that," Roy informed him, and Edward intentionally turned the grin far more evil than it needed to be.
"Brother, stop teasing the colonel," Alphonse said dutifully, pressing his heels against the sides of the horse to get her moving at a brisk walk. Edward shoved Roy in the shoulder and trotted to catch up to the horse on the path. He didn't look back at the little cabin and, he sensed, Roy didn't either.