Orphaned

Hmm...mystery man on the phone...who is it and what does he want with dear Roy? And, of course, can Al talk any sense into Ed? Not likely...that boy's about damn senseles...Anyway, enjoy!

Pepp: Hmm, pretty far away, then. I'm up in Cecil...hick county...*sighs*...Hehehe, Ed probably would try to trash the house if Al doesn't get to him in time... Yeah, dirty thoughts are inevitable with me, though, so nothing new there (actually if anyone on this site has anything BUT dirty thoughts, then they should probably leave...).Hmmm...slave...interesting *dirty thoughts* see? They're everywhere! Thanks for reviewing!

Kai: Heh, well you were starting to act like it, lol. Oh, can you? Hmm, yeah, probably for the most part...but there'll be some twists and turns throughout, trust me on that! *keeps writing* Thanks for reviewing!

Juna: Lol, I wonder if smut would be the best thing right now...my mind says yes, but that's just because the dirty thoughts have plauged it...Lol, I'll be sure to put some good smut in here for you when the time comes. Thanks for reviewing!

Bookworm51485: You know, I've been wondering why people don't pay attention to what I say, too, but I guess I'll never figure that out...I guess it's possible you don't read the responses to the other reviewers that I put up, I just assumed everyone did (don't know why). I've already said that I'm going to explain everything. With this situation, in the current time where Roy and Ed are together, yes, Roy does know Ed's been raped (that's why he's not all over him all the time like the horny bastard he is... that and the whole age thing). They've already worked through it in a sense, but I have yet to get to that particular flashback (which should be in this chappy or the next one, actually). I'm not going to just pass it off as this minor thing, but it'll take some time to get to it. Whatever you have questions about (especially the big things) I'll answer them... eventually. But what fun would it be if I just gave you all the answers right up front? Anywho, thanks for reviewing.

creamybluebluebaby: Lol, bugging me to update is probably the only way it'll happen, so no worries about that. Thanks for reviewing!
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"Brother?" the timid voice of said boy's younger brother asked. It was no longer asking if he was alright, now it wanted something different, and Ed knew just what it was.

"What?" the muffled reply came, muffled since Ed currently had his head burried into his pillow, trying to block out the world. He couldn't ignore Al forever, and knew that questions and talking would have to happen sooner or later. He opted for sooner simply because he wanted to be asleep later and knew if they didn't talk now, Al would bring it up again just as he was trying to fall asleep. Not that he wasn't doing that exact thing now, but it was only because he didn't want to be awake, not necessarily because he was tired.

"Can we talk?" Al asked, entering the room and sitting on his bed, facing Ed.

The latter sighed and turned over in his bed, "It's not your problem Al, it's between Roy and I. You don't need to get involved with it." Ed told his younger brother.

"It is my problem, though, brother." Al objected, "I have to live here, too, and I don't want you and Roy fighting."

"Maybe we wouldn't be if he wasn't a lying, insensitive jerk." Ed muttered.

"He's not!" Al said, desperately. Ed gave him a look, and he thought about what he had said, "Okay, he did lie, true, but he only did it because..."

"Because he wants to protect us. Yeah, I know." Ed finished for him, sarcastically, "I don't care why he did it. The fact remains that he lied to me and I should have never trusted him; it was a big mistake." He said the last part a little sadly, as if regretting ever trusting Roy. Ed had never trusted anyone save Al after his house burnt down and he lost his mother. Then Roy came, and Ed thought he finally found someone he could trust again, 'He's just like the rest of them, though.' Ed thought, closing his eyes.

"Why can't you understand that he was only trying to keep us safe? He only did it because he cares." Al said, still trying to reason with his brother.

"Why are you taking his side?" Ed asked, opening one golden eye to look over at his brother.

"I'm not. I just...I don't want to see you upset, and I know fighting with Roy upsets you. So, I'm trying to help fix it so everyone can be happy again." Al confessed.

Ed snorted, "Happy? I haven't been happy for as long as I can remember."

"That's not true. You've been happy here and you know it. I know you might be afraid to open up to Roy, but..."

"I'm not afraid of anything." Ed cut him off, "Certainly not that bastard. I'm just pissed at him and don't see why I should pretend like I'm not."

"You can be angry, Ed, that's alright, but you should be unreasonable about it. Roy's really sorry that he lied to you. He was only doing what he thought was best."

Ed turned over in his bed to face away from Al, "I'm not being unreasonable." he objected, and closed his eyes once more, trying to deny the fact that Al might be right.

Al sighed and laid down as well, staring at the ceiling. He knew Ed had heard everything he said, and probably even agreed with most of it. His brother was stubborn, though, and it would take him a while to admit that Roy hadn't purposely lied to hurt him, 'At least he's not destroying the house.'

Roy knocked softly on the door of the man that had called him. He didn't know for what reason a man of such high regard would want to speak to him, but he wasn't about to say no. He only hoped it wasn't anything bad, 'Maybe he's been so happy with my work he wants to offer me a raise.' Roy thought, smirking. It wasn't that he needed the money, but it was a symbol of recognition among the workers there; a sort of scale. The more you got paid, the better an alchemist you were (at least in the boss' eyes), and the higher up you were on the scale.

"Come in." the voice on the other side of the door said. This man was sitting firmly on top of that scale, and not budging for anyone. He was by far the most powerful alchemist in the Underground, and the most powerful Roy had ever seen. Everyone was intimidated by him, and he got paid at least twice as much as anyone else there. Roy had no idea what he did with all the money, but could only imagine he owned quite a few tropical islands.

Roy opened the door and stepped through, closing it and turning to face the man behind the large wooden desk, "You wanted to see me, sir?" Roy asked.

"Ah, Mustang, yes. Come in, I'd like to have a word with you." Mr. Wright said.

Roy swallowed and obliged, sitting down, "What's the problem, sir?" he asked. He could tell by the tone in his superior's voice that the news wasn't going to be good.

"A fellow worker here at this fine company reported some strange sightings to me a couple days ago." Mr. Wright informed Roy, a knowing smile on his face.

"Strange sightings, sir?" Roy asked, knowing exactly where this was going.

Unfortunately, Mr. Wright wasn't one to beat around the bush, "You know what I'm talking about, Mustang. I've gotten reports of an alchemist living at your residence that isn't you. Care to explain?"

"Mr. Wright, sir, I..." Roy trailed off, what exactly could he say in his defense? There was another alchemist living at his house, and lying wasn't an option.

"You're a very skilled man, Roy, and I would hate to lose you." he told the younger man, "I'll turn a blind eye as long as you get the problem taken care of."

Roy's boss was ruthless, he knew, but this wasn't even thinkable, "I...He's only a kid, harmless." he said, defending Ed in any way he could.

"Harmless kids turn into the men and women you hunt every day. Unless he is either taken care of or initiated, I will have no choice but to consider him, and you as well, Renegades."

Roy froze at hearing this, "Sir, please..." he began, but was cut off.

"I cannot make exceptions... for anyone."

Roy knew what he was talking about. It hadn't happened when he was here, but he'd heard stories (the older alchemist had been in the Underground for many years prior to his arrival). A few years before he arrived, it was discovered that Mr. Wright's wife was a Renegade. The man himself was oblivious to this fact, but when he confronted his wife, she confessed to it. He gave her a chance to become a part of the Underground, but she refused, saying she'd rather die. He got the orders the next day to take care of her, and she was dead that night. Roy knew that Ed would be killed if he didn't cooperate, and he would not allow that. The black-haired man stood, "I'll take care of it, sir." he assured his boss.

"Make sure that you do." A quick nod dismissed Roy and he turned and left the office. He wasn't sure that Ed would cooperate, in fact there was a big chance that he wouldn't. That wasn't information that needed to be shared with Mr. Wright, though.

Returning home, Roy shrugged his coat off and glanced around the house. It was late, so he assumed both Al and Ed were asleep by now. Roy sighed as he thought back over his conversation with his boss. He needed to talk to Ed as soon as humanly possible, but didn't want to run the risk of pissing Ed off even more so by waking him up. He did notice, however, that his house wasn't destroyed, which meant that either he wasn't as pissed as he seemed or Al just kept a good eye on him. Whatever it was, Roy was glad he didn't have to spend the next four hours doing damage control.

Making his way out to the kitchen he saw a blonde boy sitting at the small island in the kitchen, holding a cup of coffe. Roy smirked, "Coffee at this time of night?" he asked, motioning to the cup.

Ed's head slowly looked up at him, tears streaming down his face. He didn't even try to come back with anything, just looked at Roy with begging, pleading eyes. Roy knew exactly what had happened, and he immediately went to the younger boy, encasing him in a hug. Ed started crying softly, burrying his face in Roy's soft shirt, "It wsa so horrible." he whispered.

"Shh. I know." Roy whispered, his heart breaking for the poor boy, "It's okay."

Ed shook his head, "It's not...how long will this...keep happening?" he asked in between tears, "It was so...so real."

Roy pulled back to look at Ed, "You want to talk about it?" he asked. Ed just shook his head no. Of course he didn't, he never wanted to talk about it. Who would? Roy knew if he had these reoccuring dreams of the night he was raped, he wouldn't want to talk about it. He pulled Ed back into a hug and softly kissed his forehead, "I'm sorry." he whispered, "That I lied to you."

"I know." Ed told him, when in truth he had said so much more. He said he understood why Roy did it, and even if he was still pissed, it would be alright eventually. Roy remembered the first night that Ed had had one of these horrible nightmares. It was also the night he found out such a horrible thing had happened to Ed.

Flashback (at this point, Ed and Roy aren't together yet)

Roy awoke to screaming. It wasn't so much screaming as it was yelling, protesting, almost begging. Concerned, he quickly got up out of his bed and made his way upstairs to Ed and Al's room. Opening the door, his gaze immediately snapped to Ed's bed, where the sounds were coming from. The older brother was tossing and turning in his bed, "Not again...get away...stop!" he yelled. Al was at his side, trying to wake him, but it was to no avail as it only seemed to panic him further; as if Al was the person in his dream, holding him down.

"What's wrong?" Roy asked, concern and worry in his eyes.

"He's having another nightmare." Al explained before turning his attention back to his brother, "Ed, wake up!" he said, shaking the other boy a little.

All of a sudden, golden eyes darted open and Al jumped back to avoid the fist at his head that he knew was coming; this had happened many times before. Ed sat up and stared at Roy and Al with wide, frightened eyes until recognition set in and he realized he was safe, at home, not being raped in an alley. Then, the memories cam flodding back as they always did and a couple tears started to fall from dull, golden eyes.

Roy frowned and sat down next to Ed, who flinched a little at the closeness, "It's alright, Ed, it's just me." he whispered, "Are you okay?"

Ed said nothing, and Roy looked to Al for an answer as to what caused the nightmare, "Ed..." Al started, but couldn't finish. He couldn't bring himself to speak of the horrible things that had happened to his brother; not when he still felt partially responsible.

Roy nodded and stood, patting Al's head, "He'll be okay, right?" he asked, not sure if it was okay to leave the two alone.

Al only nodded, "At least for tonight." he said, sadly, pulling Ed into a hug, which the older one leaned into.

Roy stood from the older brother's bed and exited the room, heading straight to the nearest phone. He quickly dialed a number and waited for a response, "Yes, Winry? Hi, this is Roy." he answered her questions about how Ed and Al had been, then got to the point, "About Ed's nightmares..." he began, but needed to go no further. Winry knew exactly what he was talking about, and filled him in on what had happened, "He was...I see...Thank you, you too. Good night." He hung up the phone and looked back towards Ed and Al's room. He never knew something like that had happened to Ed, and suddenly understood and respected the boy a lot more. Anyone who could make it through that and come out like Ed did (or at least how he was now) was someone Roy could admire. He knew he himself had had a hard life thus far, but nothing that horrible. The hardest his life had ever been impacted was his parents dying in that car crash, and though he had been devestated, he knew that Ed had been through the same thing and so much more. He vowed not to give the brothers (either of them, Al had been through so much as well) such a hard time about things. With that decided, he headed back to bed.

End Flashback

A lot had changed about Ed that night in Roy's eyes, and it was at that point that he started realizing he wasn't just a whiny kid that talked about knowing all the hardships of life. He really did, because he had lost nearly everything; his parents, his innocence, his childhood, any chance at a normal life. Roy looked down at Ed, who was leaning against him, snoring softly. Roy smirked and lifted the boy into his arms, carrying him back upstairs. He needed to talk to Ed desperately, but right now he wouldn't wake him for the world.
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Aww, more fluff. Well, a little anyway. Man, poor Ed...he really can't get over that. At least he's got Roy! Hmm, I wonder if Ed will agree to becoming part of the Underground or not. There could be a lot of trouble if he doesn't...hehehehe. *coughs* Anyway, that's all for now!