Reshuffled and Dealt

So, here we are at the last chapter. Kinda sad, I did enjoy writing this, even if it did take a long time to do so. But, it turned out fairly well and moves nicely into the sequel, which is only half written, so it'll be a while before that happens. However, I hope you enjoyed reading and thank you to everyone who reviewed and I hope you will continue to read and enjoy my work.

Moving Forward (an actual title!)

Nurses flooded the wing when the monitors went off but the blond was alone when they entered and Al headed up, knowing Envy liked to look down on the world when he was upset. He spotted the familiar figure standing on the edge of the roof. “Envy.”

“He talked about trading the baby for him. How long did he know?” The slim form didn’t turn, staring over the city.

The sixteen year old blond sighed and walked over to sit beside the half-bare feet. “I don’t know. A while. But I don’t think he knew anything, just a suspicion. I didn't find out until after the delivery when they couldn’t get him to stabilize again.” Faint fussing from the little bundle started and faded under light pats. “He loved you. He was really happy you came.” A small hand dug in his pocket and the gold locket was held out. “Here, he wanted me to give this to you, said it was yours.”

It was lifted by the chain and dangled in front of him. The arrays were in place, the edges resealed, exactly the way it had been when he gave it away. “I, ah, put everything back the way it was. Is that, yours?” The arrays sealed a piece of bone, bleached white by years and preserved by its metal casing. A faint nod and it was slipped over the tiny blond head to rest on the thin chest without a word.

Long minutes of nothing and they looked over the city. Finally, Envy spoke. “I wanted to leave. Take him away, somewhere without the military, no one looking over our shoulders. But he wanted her to stay here, with you.” He stared down at the sleeping baby.

“And you. He wanted you to be her father, to love her. We’ll help you, you’ll never be alone if you don’t want to be. You’re welcome to live with us, or we’ll find you a place of your own. Even get the one you have now.” Dark hair shook immediately.

“No, not there. Somewhere quiet. Your place is fine.” Everywhere he looked, he would see Ed, and with a miniature version of his dead lover around, he’d go crazy. “I’m, going away for a bit. I’ll leave a few stones for you. Give them to her if her form wavers, even the slightest bit.” Al looked a bit ill but nodded and held out his arms; a tiny hesitation and the little girl was handed over. The brunette turned and walked to the stairs, taking them slowly. The blond wanted to stop him but there was an edge there, a familiar bit of madness he didn't remember seeing but knew he had; until he came back, Envy would be in no condition to handle a baby.

Al found a small bottle of red powder in his bag when he retrieved it and went over the funeral arrangements. The formalities of adoption were started and he filled in the rest of the birth certificate information. Winry welcomed them home with tears and open arms.

************

The walkway was longer than he remembered it, the yard smaller. Or maybe the house was bigger, to accommodate the screaming children racing around on the grass. Gold flashed and his heart froze; a beautiful, laughing little girl ran by, chased by a pair of brunette boys close to her own age and a small black dog. The little dog stopped and examined him before determining he was no threat to his charges and racing off again.

A blond woman came to the door and called for the little ones to come in. She was dressed in oil stained coveralls and her long hair was tied back in a clip at the base of her neck, the same as she had always been. Her gaze settled on him and blue eyes widened in shock; a step, then another, and she was running, racing across the grass to jump into his arms. Tears streamed down her face and she laughed into his shoulder as he awkwardly patted her back.

“Winry, what’s the hold up? Lunch is getting cold.” A blond head poked around the door and he started at the similarity between the brothers. They had always looked so different when they were young but here was the image of Ed as he’d moved into his early twenties. “Envy?” Shock was replaced by a relaxed smile and he jogged over to pat the homunculus on the back, gently prying Winry off. “Come in.”

Lunch was a loud, boisterous affair, with three children and a dog demanding attention, spilling food, eager to be back to playing. “Keith Edward and Trey James, you put those back this instant. Cat, put that down!” Envy jolted upright at the names.

Al noticed and shrugged apologetically. “Couldn’t resist. Winry was pregnant when we brought Cat home, even we didn’t know yet. Ed told me your original name, so…” He spread his hands. “You were gone a long time.”

“Yeah, I guess. I lost track of time after the first month or so.” The blond man just nodded; without Cat to look after, he could understand not knowing what to do without Ed.

“Al! Help me!” Winry’s exasperated voice burst between them and they looked over to see her prying a pair of dinosaur toys away from the twin boys while she tried to prevent the little girl from dumping salt on the table.

“Ok you two, enough of that.” A thumb jerked over his shoulder to indicate outside. “Get out of here.” The words seemed harsh but love and affection shimmered from them. “Cat, stay here please. I want you to meet our guest.”

Big eyes shifted and Envy thought he might be sick; his stomach jerked violently and he swallowed hard. “Hi.” What was he supposed to say? “Um, do you know about your parents?”

“Auntie Winry and Uncle Al told me about Ed, Uncle Al’s brother. They said he died when I was born. My other daddy was away at war and hasn’t come back yet. But he will. He promised Uncle Al.” A bright, guileless smile. “I’m special, cause I have two daddies.”

His hand shook as he brushed the long hair back gently; she looked so much like him, even with curly hair and changing eyes. “Yeah, you are very special. And you look just like him, beautiful.”

“Did you know Ed?” Dark hair nodded slowly and she smiled. “Did you know my other daddy too? Was he nice?”

“Cat, sweetie, this is Envy. He’s your other daddy.” The brunette looked like he would cry and Al tried to help him a bit. Flickering eyes focused on said brunette in wonder.

“Really? Are you really my daddy?” Another slow nod. “Yay!” She scrambled up to his lap and crawled over his chest to wrap her arms around his neck. His arms slowly moved up to hold her, hugging lightly.

Violet stared down, then up across the table to where Winry leaned on her husband, both smiling at him. Shifting in his arms drew his attention back down and he examined her more closely. Blond hair was curlier than Ed’s, but the pert little nose, full mouth, and high cheekbones were all his. And those bangs, untamable and wild, appearing no matter how her father had tried to hide them or brush them out. Her eyes changed color and he let his match them, earning bright laughter.

After a bit, Winry took her outside to play, leaving the two men alone. “You’ve been gone almost five years. Are you staying?”

“I don’t know, maybe. She’s so like him, I don’t know what to do.” The sharp edges of temper and madness were gone, ground down after five years alone, but he wasn’t sure the fragile hold on sanity would remain if he spent time with a miniature version of his lover.

“Yes, she is. She has a lot of his traits too, hates milk, used to spit it up all the time and we had to get her weaned off as soon as possible. She’s growing quickly though, she’ll be tall and she’s pretty strong. There are a lot of things we need to tell you. Most importantly though, I think you should know that” Squealing from outside and happy screams of “Grandpa!” cut him off.

Envy stared at the door, working out who would be grandpa if Winry’s parents were dead and HE was gone. Mustang maybe, or. But no, that voice he still heard in his nightmares.

“YOU! Get away from my daughter!” The bearded man looked up from his seat on the ground, surrounded by children, and gave his eldest a blank look. The little girl was swept up and carried to the door from where her carrier snarled at the older man. Al appeared in the door and tried to touch the slim back. “And you! What the hell, you let that fucker near her?”

His instincts said fight, rip the bastard apart, but the innocent eyes of his daughter said hide, keep her safe. The porch provided a relatively safe area for him to think from. Al pressed him to the edge and forced him into a corner to be captured.

“Envy, please. Calm down, it’s ok. He’s been here the entire time, he just wants to be with his grandchildren.” A large hand slid over pale skin and moved up to rest on the slender shoulder. Cat clung to the brunette’s neck, eyes wide.

“Still calling yourself that? You should really change it, use your original name. It was much nicer.” Pointed teeth flashed in a furious snarl. “Put her down and let’s talk like decent people.” The older man stood and brushed his pants off, patting the dark heads absently.

The homunculus clung tighter. “I’m not decent people, you made sure of that.” Al’s hands were worming their way between the little girl and her father and he finally pried her out of the tight arms. Hair and eye color flickered but he was too afraid of hurting her to fight for possession.

“Dad, come inside. Cat, can you go find Winry and tell her Grandpa is here, please? You and the boys stay outside until I call you in.” She was released and ran off with a quick look over her shoulder. The oldest man slid past them while Al stayed between them, hands touching Envy’s shoulders. “Envy, just calm down. I know you’re upset, but even Ed forgave him. It wasn’t Dad’s fault, things just happened. I forgive him, just like Ed. Will you come in and at least listen?”

The hair was different, and he had to look up a bit, but it was Ed’s face, his gentle hands on the pale skin, and his voice begging. It suddenly seemed so much more real, more so even than when he’d held the still body and felt it cooling against his. Shuddering breaths and violet started to water; a miserable sniff and he was engulfed in strong arms hugging him close. “It’s ok, go ahead. I know you miss him, I do too.” Breathing was forgone in favor of deep sobs and hot tears fell freely, soaking the shirt under his cheek. “He loved you so much, he was crazy over you from the day you guys first went out. I don’t remember much from before, but he always said you had a lot in common, and he was right. This is exactly what he would do if your positions were reversed.”

Large hands smoothed over the pale back, rubbing heaving muscle. “Remember what I said, the last time I saw you?” A short nod into his shoulder. “None of the bad things were true. You never treated him badly, even when you guys fought. And I heard all about it, believe me. If ever there was a prize for whining, Ed would have had cartloads of them.” The blond smiled at the memory and patted gently. “I can’t say it enough, he loved you, almost as much as me.” An attempt at a joke but the brunette clung more tightly and cried louder.

It felt strange, to hold the slim man while he sobbed, racking shudders of loss that Al had never seen anyone cry before. Envy had always been so strong, standoffish and paranoid of touching people other than Ed. Only once he was pregnant would he allow others near him, and not many then either; the blond was actually surprised there hadn’t been a problem when Winry hugged him. All he could do was hold tightly and let him grieve, rocking gently on his heels. Wherever the brunette had been, it was obvious he hadn’t settled down to cry it out. “You have to move forward, Envy. Ed would be so mad if he saw you like this, he’d scream us both into the ground.” A soft smile at that and the slender man sniffed loudly. “You know he would. Come in and at least listen to Dad.” Dark hair shook quickly, wet face rubbing soft cloth. “Yes. You two have to get along, or at least not fight, ok? Dad lives with us and I’d like you to as well. Come on.”

Al pulled back, and entwined their fingers to tug the smaller body after him; soft flares told him Envy was shifting a bit but the blond didn’t stop, dragging his captive behind him to sit at the table and pour some tea.

Pale hands clenched and flexed but the brunette sat, not touching anything. “Well, my boy, I was a bit surprised to hear you’d moved in with Ed.” A faint snarl, which the eldest Elric ignored. “I always regretted trying to bring you back.”

“No shit. You took off before I even stabilized. Asshole. What are you doing here?” Wide shoulders shrugged faintly.

“I’m an old man.” A sarcastic snort from across the table. “I want to spend the time I have left with my family.”

“Oh, would be because you threw them out the first time?” A catty snarl. “Or did you just decide to see if you could do it again?”

“Envy, enough.” Al spoke up, his voice soft and even. “I really want you to stay here, with us. Cat needs you, she needs your memories of Ed and she needs you to be here with her. If you can’t forgive or forget, then ignore him.”

Violet shifted away and he looked at the floor for long minutes, letting the silence drag. Maybe Ed did forgive him, but he just couldn’t. A shriek of laughter from outside and he turned to watch his little girl run, chasing her puppy. Still, maybe the bastard could be ignored. “Fine. But you stay the fuck away from me.” He stomped out to play with his daughter and the twins.

An uneasy routine was set up, with Envy and Cat taking over the basement and Hohenheim moving into the attic. The blond man was tolerated as long as they weren’t in the same room and didn’t speak to the brunette. The new father shocked himself by being a decent parent; he could cook, clean, do laundry and still find time to play and help his little blond with her school projects. He taught her to control her eyes and temper, and how to hunt and fight with a viciousness earned only by the survivors of war.

His bottle of red powder was returned to him unused and he enlisted Al to teach her basic alchemy and how to use the locket, her most adored possession. Alchemy was tried but she had no interest in more than the basics, preferring to hone her fighting skills and medical knowledge; the fact that she read alchemic theory like a poem made no difference. Al dragged out the old notes from Ed’s research and she melded them with her own, honing her surgical skills under Winry’s tutelage.

Ed had been right, there were many willing to assist, military, friends, and family. Roy taught her all the dirty little tricks men use for attention and Riza taught her to shoot for her ninth birthday, Fuery taught her to take any mechanical device apart and put it back together with her eyes closed while Breda taught her to play chess and shogi. Falman spent hours running through the extended history of Amestris and Jean had a story of what not to do for every situation. Izumi and Envy reached a truce and Cat was allowed to visit during the summer to study martial arts, and in the warm evenings, Sig and Mason taught her the art of butchering.

Years passed and she grew to be five foot nine, inches over Ed’s head, and her living father laughed to himself frequently at the imagined fits. The thought of his blond no longer cut as deeply, even if he did flinch away from direct mentions of him. When boys started following his daughter home, Envy managed to scare most of them, the few she didn’t scare off herself. Only one stayed, wide-eyed but stubborn, with broad shoulders and a gentle, patient disposition.

When she came home one night with a ring on her finger, he kissed her cheek and patted the young man on the head. A few years later, little blonds crawled over the floor and he visited frequently to adore them; a miniature Ed called him En and he spoiled the tiny boy outrageously.

The night she died, surrounded by family, he disappeared again, leaving the locket to be handed down with a family legend; if you can open it, spill blood and help will come for you. Some believed and some didn’t, but they all carried it close to them along with the whispered secret to opening it.

Violet eyes watched them, turning up when he was needed but spending his time searching for a little blond with long bangs and gold eyes. Years turned to decades and longer, and the brunette wandered, letting time pass him by and finally establishing himself with Central as a base. Alchemy faded to a mere legend, a fantasy, and he was left alone with his memories, waiting for another to find him.