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A Little Light of Love	By : squallstorm Category: Fullmetal Alchemist > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 7987 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Disclaimer:
I do NOT own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters.....I'm just
playing with them.

Author's
note:

Thanks
to ZaKai for reading through this chapter and finding all my many
mistakes.

(1)
obviously genetic engineering didn't come about in the 1920's, at
least not at the level I'm suggesting. Just in case your
wondering...I made this up.

Chapter
15

When
the brothers finally broke apart, the tension was gone. Whatever was
happening between the two of them, Roy figured that they had somehow
sorted it out. He glanced over at the woman and the small girl, who
was practically beside herself with the need to rush at the brothers.
At the nod from the younger brother, the small girl came pelting
towards Ed.

“Eddie!”
The girl giggled and ran at him with her hands outstretched before
her.

Panicking,
Ed felt his groin squirm and sink into his body and he reflexively
tensed up. He reached out to catch her hands before they could plow
into a very sensitive area and moved them out of harms way with a
sigh of relief. Totally unaware of the harm she could have inflicted,
Isabella giggled loudly and bounced in place.

“Eddie,
eh?” Roy smirked, liking the way that sounded. It was cute.

“Only
she gets to call me that.” Ed frowned up at the dark-haired
man. He wrapped Isabella's arms around his leg and patted her head in
greeting. He glared once more at Roy in warning with the promise of
certain death if he dared call him that. Unaffected, Roy just smirked
at him in that annoyingly confident way of his. He would definitely
punch the guy out if he dared to call him that.

“Eddie,
come here.” Isabella tugged on his shorts, not wanting to be
ignored for grown-up talk.

Tearing
his eyes away, Ed looked down at the girl wrapped around his leg.
“What's wrong?” He knelt down to eye level of the small
girl. Ed could hear Al and Noa strike up a conversation with Roy, the
three of them moved away, giving Ed and Isabella some room.

Ed
tried to divide his attention between the girl in front of him and
the conversation between his brother and Roy. He looked over
Isabella's shoulder at Roy's back and suppressed a sigh. At that
moment, Isabella leaned in and kissed Ed on the forehead. “What
was that for?” Ed asked, touched by the simple gesture he
turned to face her fully giving her his full attention.

“That
man hurt you, so I kiss away your boo-boo's like momma does,”
Isabella said, looking at Ed from under her bangs.

“—That
was some fight. Is it always—”

“Thanks
Izzy.” Ed patted the girl's head once more, smiling into her
soft face, trying to hide how the sudden reminder made his gut twist.
He rubbed her nose with his finger and smiled at her as she smiled at
him.

“—It's
captain. Your brother insists on calling me colonel—”

“Are
we going to go home now? I want to see momma,” Isabella asked.
She reached down and caught the end of Ed's braid, and began to play
with it. It had seen better days, Ed noted with a sigh, willing the
bad memories to go away. He should probably put it up in a pony tail
soon before it got loose.

“I
hope so. We got to get out of here first,” Ed said as his eyes
sought out and found the back of Roy's head. Out
of here and then maybe....

“—It's
getting really hard to move about out there—” Al was
saying to Roy, who nodded in response.

Ed
stood then, pulling Izzy's hands off his braid. He leaned back into
the row of large, green, half-drum machines that hummed with the
turbines whirring inside; feeling the bite of the cold metal along
his spine. Concentrating all his attention on the group in front of
him, Ed listened in.

“—I
heard an explosion awhile ago, what do you think is going on?”
Al was asking Roy.

“Probably
my unit causing trouble. I wasn't able to get back to them at the
appointed hour.” Roy glanced at Ed and smirked, before looking
back at Al. “So they must have made alternative plans. My guess
is that they're working the disinformation angle, as well as creating
anarchy.”

“How
do you think we should escape from here?” Noa asked. She was
worrying a lock of hair through her fingers.

“Are
you enjoying your time with these mundane people?” Ed's spine
seized up and his breath froze inside his chest. His body refused any
instructions to move and he desperately wanted to move. He felt a
hand grope at his back making obscene shivers run down his back,
before it gripped his braid tight. The tautness meant that he was
trapped. He tried to call out to the others but his voice was locked
in his mouth. Ed pleaded silently with Roy to look his way, but he
wouldn't. Even Al wasn't paying him any attention.

“I
know how eager you are to protect everyone, so I took the liberty of,
ha ha, helping you.”

Ed
knew panic then. Izzy?
Where did she go?
Ed
searched for the girl with his eyes. She was gone. The bastard seemed
to like using her as a pawn. When
did she walk away? She wouldn't do that! Did he....?

Ed
snorted and checked again, straining against the hold on his hair.
She was gone. With anger fueling his body, Ed glanced over his
shoulder at the Seniore, causing his braid to pull tight along one
side of his head. The man had reached through the space separating
the machines in order to grab onto his hair. The Seniore's leering
face was flushed and his eyes were bright. Ed's revulsion tripled
then. Pawing
though his shorts, Ed franticly tried to locate the switch blade he
had taken from the soldier a while back, without letting the Seniore
know what he was up too.

“If
you come quietly, I won't have to shoot that dark man over there.”
Ed could see the dull glint from the barrel of the gun as the Seniore
brought up his other hand. “Maybe I'll shoot him anyway. You
seem to be fond of him,” the Seniore said, thoughtful.

Ed
stepped to the side and blocked the Seniore's view of the people
beyond. He let his eyes drift over to the man in question and he
allowed himself the briefest moment of longing before returning to
the task at hand. “I doubt you'll shoot me,” growled Ed,
barely moving his lips. “What prize would I be then?” The
hand in his hair tugged in warring. “What have you done with
Isabella?”

“Nothing...as
long as you behave.”

Ed
pulled the blade along his thigh and depressed the button, causing
the blade to flick open. There was enough ambient noise that Ed
wasn't worried that the bastard behind him might hear it. Sliding the
handle up, Ed thumbed the blade, testing its sharpness. He winced
slightly as the blade sliced easily into the flesh of his thumb. For
what he planned, it would need to be really
sharp.

Roy
looked behind him to find out where Ed had gone to while Al and Noa
continued to discuss Isabella's future once they got out. Having no
interest in the little girl, he wanted to maybe tease Ed a bit for
fun. He was missing the sharp tongue and attitude from Ed. When his
eyes landed on the strained face Ed was making at him, Roy took in
his whole appearance. He was stiff and flushed, like when he was mad,
and Roy could see the flash of a knife in his left hand. He looked
askance with a tilt of his head from the blond, and Ed imperceptibly
moved his head and frowned even more, his eyes swept around the area
and back to Roy. Ed was trying to tell him something, but what.

Roy
looked around, curious, wondering what he needed to see, but he
noticed nothing noteworthy. Roy met the blond's gaze again, a
questioning raise of his eyebrow. He saw Ed's lips moving, mumbling
to himself it seemed; Roy raised both eyebrows at him, and Ed made a
hand gesture at about hip height. All of a sudden, Ed slammed his
head into the machines behind him hard, making Roy wince. The dull
gong that sounded as a result made Al and Noa aware of Ed's weird
behavior as well.

Reaching
back Ed gripped the base of his braid with his auto-mail hand. He
didn't want the fucker to give him a concussion. It was now or never,
he'd be quick so that whatever the bastard had planed for Isabella,
he wouldn't get a chance to complete it. Pivoting on the ball of his
foot, Ed stepped wide and swung with his left hand, the blade of the
knife flashed as it came up in a graceful arc. The metal screamed in
painful protest as Ed slashed the knife through his hair; not quite
cutting all the way through. Ed ripped the remaining strands free and
was immediately scrambling over the top of the machines.

“Ed?”
Al scrambled after his crazy brother, wondering why he had slashed
the machine like that. But Roy was already on the move, dashing
forward to intervene.

“Why
you—” the Seniore growled loudly, stumbling from the lack
of tension on the braid he was holding. Dropping his half of the
ruined hair to the floor, he leveled the gun on the climbing blond,
and squeezed off a shot that went wide. Tracking him with the gun as
he leaped down onto him from above, the Seniore had just enough time
to bring the pistol aloft and fire another wide shot.

Ed
crashed into the fucker, his metal knee preceding him as it landed on
his face. He noted with satisfaction the wet crunching sound of the
Seniore's nose breaking. They fell to the floor in a heap, with Ed
rolling over his back to land in a crouch on his feet. Leaping up, Ed
slammed his foot down on the wrist holding the gun. The older man
groaned with pain and looked blearily up at him, still slightly dazed
from the strike to his face. Swinging his feet over his head, the
Seniore kicked out at the blond's stomach, forcing him to move or be
hit. The blond chose to move aside.

Ed
didn't give the man any time to gain his footing. As soon as he was
out of harm's way from the kick, he was dashing forward, yanking the
gun out of the bastard's grip with his right hand. Another shot went
off before the gun was wrestled away from the Seniore. His single
minded focus was on causing as much pain as he could before knocking
out this asshole.

With
his gun gone, the Seniore retreated. His hand to hand skills weren't
very good anymore; he was too content to let his underlings fight for
him. The Seniore looked into the face of his attacker. The blond's
hair was unraveling around his head, spilling across his shoulders.
The length was considerably less now, but even if it only came to his
shoulders, the Seniore could still live with it.

“What?
Can't fight?” Ed taunted, his grin was truly vile now, he was
enjoying this a little too much maybe, but this wasn't a time to
think about morels.

“Ed!”
Al popped over the side of the machine, and looked down at the scene
unfolding in front of him.

Not
sparing a glance for his brother, nor even seeming to hear him, Ed
advanced on the Seniore, who began to back peddle quickly. Lashing
out, Ed struck at his face once more, smashing the palm of his right
hand into the already broken nose.

“Ugh!”
The Seniore, bent double, holding his face. The free-flowing blood
spurted and splattered the floor and the Seniore's chest with the
second hit.

“Where
is she!” Ed yelled as he crescent kicked the side of the man's
head. The Seniore weaved to the side, a large gob of blood
splattering the machine. Ed hopped forward and sunk his foot into the
mid-section, causing the air to whoosh out in an explosive rush. The
Seniore retreaded further away from the advancing blond, gasping hard
as he looked for anything he could use as a weapon.

“Ed!
Stop this!” Al shouted at him from behind, but his brother paid
it no mind. Al grabbed his arm, holding him back, but Ed used his
other hand to backhand the man across to the opposite row of the
machines; the knife still clenched in his hand forgotten for the
moment. “EDWARD! No one's missing! Edward! Are you listening to
me?” Al shook his brother, trying to get him to acknowledge
what he was saying.

Ed
wasn't listening; he was trying to jerk his arm free in order to case
after the crawling, sniveling man. With one last tug, he freed
himself from his brother's grip and stalked after the blubbering man.
Ed stood over him, sneering. He was groveling at his feet. Perfect,
Ed
thought viciously.

“Ed,
Captain Taylor got hit. EDWARD!” Al pulled Ed's shoulder
towards him, making his brother about face.

“Al?”
Ed looked on his brother, surprised at his presence. “Who?”
His face crinkled in his confusion.

“Captain
Taylor...Roy...” Al clarified after Ed just looked blankly at
him.

“Roy?
What happened to him?”

“That
first shot hit him.” Al was glad he was finally getting through
to his brother.

“Take
care of him!” yelled Ed, scrambling over the top of the
machines once more he pointed back at the Seniore. Dropping to the
floor on the other side, Ed saw Roy lying on his back with his jacket
pillowed beneath his head. Ed just froze there, unable to move
closer. He didn't want to know that he was dead. That the chance to
maybe start something...anything...was gone. Noa was kneeling by his
head with her hands pressed to his chest, and there, just behind her
was Isabella, looking worried and afraid.

-
- - -

Pulling
out the manacles from his back pocket, Al advanced on the sniveling
form of Ed's tormentor. “Are we going to do this quietly, or
are you going to start some more trouble? Just so you know, Ed's a
terrible fighter compared to me.”

The
Seniore whimpered in response. “No! Stay away! Monsters!”
These boys were demons. What had possessed him to get involved with
these creatures? They weren't even human!

“Well
just for that, I'm not gonna be kind to you...oh wait.” Al
paused and adopted a mockful pose, one finger on his chin and the
other on his hip as though he was thinking. “I wasn't going to
be kind to you no matter what.” Al struck out and captured the
Seniore's wrist, pulling him around so his chest was now pressed into
the machine. Opening the manacles, Al locked one side onto the arm in
his possession. “Give me your other hand.” Al shook the
man in warning and the other hand was thrust out towards Al.

Now
with both hands bound, Al stepped away, pulling out the hand gun and
leveling it at his back. He wasn't going to use it, but the threat
should be enough to quell any ideas about escape.

The
Seniore grunted and pushed against the machines with his shoulder to
stand with his back to his captor. His momentary bout of hysterics
has passed and now he was thinking about his escape.

“Let's
go. Walk ahead of you nice and slow,” Al commanded.

The
Seniore spat out a gob of blood onto the floor, before he started off
as directed. If he was going to have any chance of survival he was
going to have to work all the angles. For the brother, maybe he
should try to rile him up somewhat. Make him aware of how good his
brother had tasted, get him nice and distracted before he would rush
him.

“You
know,” the Seniore said. “I take that back about you two,
you're not monsters.”

Al
warily listened to the man in front of him wondering what game he was
up to now.

“In
fact, your sweet brother—”

“You
don't get to talk about my brother!” Al growled. He shoved the
palm of his hand into the Seniore's back making him stumble. “In
fact,”
Al stressed. “You don't get to talk at all.”

The
Seniore sniffed at that, and continued to walk for a while without
instigating any conversation. After a few minutes, he began to hum to
himself, waiting to see what his guard would say or do. When he
didn't get any order's to stay quiet, the Seniore smiled to himself.
Not long now, and he'd begin his work.

- - - -

Noa
looked over at the noisy clatter behind her. Upon seeing Ed's pale,
white face, she beckoned him closer. Isabella shifted behind her, and
she glanced briefly at the small girl. When Noa had noticed her
absence, she had scoured the area looking for her, but as soon as she
heard the shot rang out and saw Captain Taylor drop to his knees, she
had abandoned her search in favor of the immediate problem of a
bleeding man.

Swallowing
his fear, Ed approached. Each slow, measured step closer made the
chant in his head louder and louder. Please
don't let him be dead. Please don't let him be dead.
Pleasedon'tlethimbedead. PLEASE DON'T LET HIM DIE!
A
small keening noise worked its way from his throat.

Noa
reached up a bloody hand to him, and he gripped it, allowing her to
pull him to her side. He finally let the switch blade fall from his
hand to clatter to the floor beside his legs. “Noa?” Ed
breathed, his eyes glued to the waxen face of the captain.

“Hey
there, buddy.” Roy cracked his eyes at the sound of his voice,
and blinked wearily at him. “What happened?”

Ed
wilted. “Ah...nothing really. Are you going to be okay?”
He fingered the hem of Roy's un-tucked shirt, unable to meet his
eyes. He should have planned better before acting out like that. Al
was always telling him to think before acting, and now, Roy was hurt
because of him. It was always
because
of him.

Ed
just wanted to cling to him, and never let go. But how would he be
viewed then? Even though Roy had sort of hugged him earlier, that
didn't mean he could do it now. Roy had pretty much said that they
couldn't...hadn't he? But the desire to rest his head on Roy's chest
was so strong
that
he wasn't sure if he could resist it for long. He had never felt this
sort of compulsion before in his life. He was just...he was sorry
that this had happened.

“Yeah,
it went clean through my shoulder, hurts like hell though,”
said Roy, laughing humorlessly. “That's some hair cut.”
Nodded Roy, indicating the loose hair. Geez,
the guy looks like he expected me to be dead or something,
thought
Roy, slightly awed by that. He wanted to be able to reassure him
somehow, but he could only think that maybe another—no, he
couldn't. This guy seemed to care that much about him already, and
that was somewhat worrisome. How should he respond to that?

Ed
laughed shakily at him. Someone was being kind to him and he wondered
just want he'd have to give up in order to pay this back. Swallowing,
the lump in his throat, Ed pushed at his hair as it fell over his
shoulder. He tried to look the injured man in the eyes but his gaze
was continually drawn to the wound on his right shoulder that Noa was
applying pressure to. Silence fell on them as each worked with the
feelings coursing through their minds.

“Go
ahead, Edward. He'll let you.” Noa touched his arm lightly. She
spoke softly so she wouldn't startle Edward as she told him what he
wanted to hear, and because of her contact with this man, she knew
the captain needed it too, even if he was denying it.

Swallowing
thickly, Ed leaned forward slowly, giving Roy a chance to halt this.
He avoided looking in Roy's eyes to see what kind of emotions might
be displayed there. Reaching his arm over Roy's chest he laid his
head on the uninjured shoulder. He held his breath, waiting to see
how Roy would react. He could feel Roy shift and stiffen at the bold
contact.

Roy
threw a questioning glance at Noa, wondering what this was all about.
Plus, how did she know that he had been thinking about something like
this. Noa just smiled at him with an enigmatic smile as she kept up
the pressure on his wound.

Craning
his neck, Roy looked down into Ed face. His eyes were closed, the
dark, blond lashes touching the top of his cheeks, and Ed's breath
tickled at his throat. After a moment's hesitation, Roy snaked his
good arm across the blond's back to latch onto his shoulder. He
squeezed Ed's neck and began to rub small circles with his thumb into
the flesh beside the metal shoulder.

“Hey...”
Roy whispered into the top of Ed's head. He allowed himself to relax
slightly and not try to focus on the wrongness of it. It was actually
nice to be enjoying the warmth of Ed's body, and despite his grubby
nature right now, Roy could still make out the faint scent of his
cologne. It was woody and earthy; it seemed to fit with what he knew
about the blond.

Ed
sighed, rubbing his face on the collar bone through Roy's shirt. All
his tension was melting away nicely, leaving him feeling all soft and
contented. He could really get into this cuddling thing. That massage
thing Roy was doing to his neck felt really good, and another sigh
worked it's way free.

Suddenly
Ed felt the pressing need to confess his feelings right now, but he
bit down on the inside of his lip to keep still. The fading fever was
probably still messing around with his mind somewhat. After a few
short moments of contented silence, Ed pushed himself upright to look
down into Roy's face. He didn't want to push it too much, too fast.
Roy's eyes searched his face, and again Ed felt the compulsion to
confess. Later...maybe he would...but later.

“What
are we going to do about bandages?” Noa asked, breaking the
moment, and pulling them back to the issues at hand. She looked
around for some inspiration, but nothing was coming. Thankfully the
blood had begun to slow, but the wound still needed to be covered.
Isabella shifted beside her.

“Use
the sleeves of my shirt,” Roy suggested, noticing her
indecision.

Noa
nodded. That was an excellent idea. “Edward, I need your help,”
she said.

Ed
shifted, looking around for the knife he had dropped moments before.
As soon as he found the blade lying almost underneath Roy's back, Ed
leaned over and stabbed the good sleeve first, making a tear. Ed
glanced into Roy's watching face for a moment. His eyes were drawn
down to his lips that were slightly parted. He could almost feel the
way they had brushed against his after the fall. He gripped the
fabric and ripped it. Licking his lips as he felt the heat rise in
his face, and looked quickly away.

Handing
the first sleeve to Noa, Ed shifted around behind the woman to kneel
by Roy's head on the other side. He repeated the procedure on the
soiled sleeve, making the tear large in order to not jostle the
injured side too much. Working under Noa's arms he eased the sleeve
down Roy's arm. Ed trailed his finger tips a moment behind his right
hand to ghost along Roy's forearm and down into his upturned palm. If
asked, he would blame it all on the fever. He turned his head away as
he heard the stifled gasp work its way free from Roy's throat, and
fought the smirk on his face, as well as the sudden spike in his body
temperature. What
am I doing!
he
thought, with a mental half laugh at himself.

Noa
took her hands off of the wound and began to work half of the
material into a wad of cloth for either side of the wound. Using the
other sleeve, she bound it all in place. “Where's Al?”
she wondered, sparing a quick glance around looking for the younger
Elric before returning to her bandaging.

-
- - -

Mr.
Maxton paced the control room as the damage reports began to come in.
All of their carefully collected vehicles of war were completely and
utterly destroyed, with no hope of salvaging any of it. All those
years of collecting...wasted. It was still unclear just what had set
off the ordinance to explode like that. They had been so careful to
store explosives. This shouldn't have happened.

He
listened to the soldier in front of him report what they had seen
with an increasing sense of dread and foreboding. Just where was the
oberführer,
and why was he staying away in this time of crisis? With a wave of
his hand he dismissed the soldier.

“Ah!
Mr. Maxton, I don't suppose you've seen my wife at some point?”
Lord Asherton asked as he stepped along side the man in question. “I
didn't expect her to be gone quite this long.” The lord clasped
his hands behind his back and watched the technicians work.

“I
don't have time to deal with your missing wife at the moment, my
lord,”
Mr.
Maxton ground out through his clenched teeth. “As you can see
I'm quite busy dealing with everything right now.”

“Yes,
about that, shouldn't Oberführer Schreck be doing that?”
Asherton asked, raising his eyebrow at the other.

“Yes.
He should, be he hasn't come back yet.” Maxton grit his teeth
in annoyance.

“How
is it that you're here commanding everything?” wondered
Asherton. “Shouldn't the second-in-command be working on this?”
The lord looked over at the commander who was bent over the table in
the middle of the room, directing where he wanted soldiers to search.

“I
took charge,” Maxton stated.

“I
just hope Oberführer Schreck won't mind...but I do wonder what
happened to my wife. Oberführer Schreck was escorting her
after—”

“What's
this?” Mr. Maxton demanded. His head whipped round to glare at
the lord.

“Oh,
that's right. You left dinner early to work on your little...project.
At my wife's instance he took her to go see the younger brother tha—”

“Soldier!
Get down to the cells and see if you can track down the oberführer.”
Mr. Maxton hooked his finger at the nearest passing soldier. The
private scrambled to comply and hurried out of the control room.
“It's time to put a stop to this,” mumbled Maxton.

- - - -

With
Roy now bandaged and the bleeding mostly stopped, Noa could relax
enough to stand and stretch her back. The captain was still pillowed
on his jacket, with Edward seated on his left. Noa
was
so thrilled that Edward would have this chance at happiness. She
prayed that everything would work out between the two of them.

Noa
knew that Edward wanted to start something with the captain, but he
was unsure and hesitant of the other. The captain didn't know what he
wanted, but knew he felt drawn to Edward. It might take an
intervention before the two of them could get on the same page, but
then again...Noa had the feeling that they may have shared a moment
that would make it possible for them to meet somewhere in the middle.

“Edward?
Where's Alphonse?” she asked, pulling Ed's hair out of his eyes
to gather at the nape of his neck. The captain turned his head
looking up at her and Ed. Noa watched closely to see how the captain
would react to her touching Ed like this. She ran her fingers through
Ed's mid-shoulder length hair and noted the briefest flash in his
eyes before it was quickly masked.

“He's
bringing that bastard,”
Ed mumbled. Some of the anger directed at the Seniore was still
coursing through his system, putting him on edge again. Although, Noa
combing his hair sort of made it hard to remain angry.

“What
happened?” Roy asked again focusing solely on Ed.

Ed
shifted a bit, and looked over his shoulder into Noa's eyes. She
freed her fingers from his hair and placed her hands on his shoulders
for a moment before standing upright. “The Seniore found us.
I'm not sure if he notified anyone else, but my guess is that he's
here alone, considering that no one has rushed out to grab us yet. He
said that he had Izzy, so I—I...kinda freaked. I couldn't see
her so I thought—Roy?” Ed half turned to look at Roy from
the corner of his eyes. “I'm sorry I got you shot.”

“What?
You didn't do that,” Roy told him. The left arm that was lying
splayed out over the floor, reached up and curled around the closest
shoulder. “You didn't do that,” insisted Roy, giving Ed a
little shake.

“Yeah...”
mumbled Ed, not feeling convinced at all. Turning his head away, Ed
glanced at Noa as the blood rushed to his face. At least Roy didn't
catching him blushing again. Yeah...I
did, I did do it.

“Isabella?”
Noa called the small girl over to her side. “Tell us were you
went.”

“Am
I in trouble?” Isabella shuffled her feet as she approached the
woman. Noa shook her head no. Gripping Isabella's hands in her own,
she drew the girl to her side and within sight of the two men. “I
see a mouse and I wanted to catch...but it ran away.”

“In
any case, we shouldn't stay here long, just to be safe,” Roy
said, dismissing the girl's explanation. He tightened his grip on
Ed's shoulder once more before letting his arm relax and fall back to
the floor. “It's only going to get worse up there, and it'll be
harder to move about the longer we wait.”

“So
then there's nothing to do but face whatever comes our way, I guess.
Plus we'll have the bastard as a hostage so that might count for
something,” added Ed, sorry that the hand was no longer there,
but trying to act like he wasn't.

“That's
true,” agreed Roy.

“But
Alphonse still hasn't come back,” Noa reminded them.

“He's
probably taking him around that group of machines.” Ed lifted
his arm and pointed in their general direction.

“What
should we do then, captain?” Noa wondered. “Should we
just walk boldly out there?” Noa hoped that he would say no.

“Well
if my uniform isn't too messed up, I could still pass as an officer.
I feel that I could talk our way out of anything that may come our
way, but we shouldn't count on that too much. I would have gotten
blood on my jacket. It'll raise suspicions.”

Ed
winced. Didn't
he just say that I wasn't to blame? But it WAS my fault that the
blood is there in the first place, wasn't it? he
thought. Ed
shifted minutely, turning his back more fully towards the man on the
floor.

“Still,”
Roy continued. “It is an option, one that we could use in a
pinch. Oh! That's right, Isabella, could you go and get the other
half of Ed's braid? It should be over there.” Roy pointed at
where Ed had leaned against earlier.

“Okay!”
The small girl broke out of Noa's hands and pelted across the way to
complete his request.

“Why
do you want that? It's garbage now,” Ed asked, leaning back to
see into Roy's face.

“It's
got power; you shouldn't throw it away so easily. You must respect
it,” Roy said. He remembered the ceremony his grandfather had
done for him just before he had left with his mother. He wanted to do
the same for Ed, but that would mean convincing him to go with him to
his home. His real home. A place he hadn't seen since he was eight.

“What?
Power? What are you talking about?” Ed asked, frowning at Roy
over his shoulder.

“You'll
see. I'll show you once we're out of here.” Roy pushed with his
good arm and sat shoulder to shoulder with Ed. “I think you'll
like it.”

-
- - -

Al
pushed the Seniore around the end of the turbine engines, heading
back towards his brother and the others. He was extremely annoyed at
the distance they had to come in order to walk around the obstacle
the machines made. He almost felt like he might like to force
the...Al's lips quirked...bastard over the top like he had done to
chase after Ed, but it would have been too much trouble with his
hands behind his back like that.

Al
looked up to see the Seniore looking back at him, and he frowned.
“Face front,” Al ordered, flicking the gun at him.

The
Seniore complied and walked ahead, wiping his nose on his shoulder,
smearing it with his blood. He felt that his captor was sufficiently
lulled by his silence that he could now start pushing his buttons.
Spitting out another gob of blood onto the floor, the Seniore sighed,
and pushed his lower lip out.

“You
know, I think you should help me clean up a bit,” the Seniore
suggested, starting light.

“Shut
up!” snapped Al, automatically.

“It's
just that all this blood is starting to dry and turn hard...”
whined the Seniore.

“I
said,
shut up,” growled Al.

The
Seniore fell silent for a moment, and he began to drag his feet,
slowing their progress. “It really is unfair of Edward to put
you through all of this.”

“What's
that?” Al's head snapped up at the mention of his brother's
name. If this guy was going to start talking shit about Ed then he
was more then prepared to 'teach' him a lesson.

“Well,
I really shouldn't say...” The Seniore glanced at the boy from
the corner of his eye, watching the confusion and uncertainty set in.
He heard the warning in the boy's voice. Time to change tactics.
“Well, it's just that...the dark man...” The Seniore
paused for effect, waiting for the boy to ask for the information.

“The
captain?” Al wondered what the bastard was getting at.

“Is
that what he told you?” the Seniore simpered without meeting
his eyes. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Well it's
to be expected, I suppose.” He was relying on the subtle clues
that Al was giving him in order to know what to ask next. If he
caused that man some trouble all the better. He didn't like the way
the dark-haired man had looked at Edward in behind the tents.

Al
frowned at the man's back. Did he mean to suggest that the captain
was somehow involved with him? Al had taken the appearance of the
double at face value, totally trusting this man with out any prior
knowledge of him what so ever. Could Thule know so much about them
that they knew to play this card?

He
reacted physically, shying away his shoulders as if to shake off the
offending thought. No, Al could tell. He was a good man...wasn't he?
Had he been too quick to trust this...stranger? That's what he
was...a stranger. They knew nothing about this world's Roy. What were
his motives? His goals? This would make it three times, since
starting out, that he would have misjudged someone's character so
completely. He can't have been wrong!

“Who
did he say he worked for? The British?” the Seniore asked when
he felt he'd been silent long enough.

“The
Americans,” Al mumbled. He frowned and made sure his gun was
level with the bastard's back.

“That's
a new one. He doesn't look American though.” The Seniore
smirked. He could practically hear the wheels turning inside the
boy's head as he tried to piece it all together. He spat out another
gob of blood onto the concrete floor as they walked.

“Does
he work for you?” Al asked. He watched the body language of the
Seniore, trying to sense if he was being lied to.

“No,
not me, but he does report to Schreck. I believe you met him on your
way down....” The Seniore trailed off and let that hang in the
air.

Would
Ed know? Al
wondered. Should
I wait until I talk to him about this before I jump to conclusions?
This could be just a ploy. It looks like Ed has spent more time with
this Roy. Would he be able to detect a thing like that? His
gut twisted uncomfortably at the thought that they had been betrayed
yet again. What
proof did either of them have? If he asked, would Roy be able to
prove himself?

“How
long has he worked with Schreck? What's his mission? And what did you
mean about Ed putting me through all this.”

“Oh,
well...I just have a feeling that Edward might be like me. I really
do like blonds.” The Seniore focused on the question about
Edward, ignoring the rest.

“Ed's
nothing like you! Shut up and keep walking,” Al ordered shoving
the gun into the Seniore's shoulder blades. He was breathing heavy
with his anger at the other man.

“Yes,
of course,” agreed the Seniore, dutifully picking up the pace.

- - - -

Oberführer
Schreck strode into the control room looking rumbled and annoyed, and
Mr. Maxton turned to welcome his return. He did not look very happy.

“What—”

“Where's
Marcoh? I want him up here right away,” Schreck ordered the
nearest officer. “You!” Schreck pointed at next closest
solider. “I want you to secure the research labs don't let any
unauthorized personnel near there. You! I want the ceremony room
secured and barred,” he barked at the next solider. All three
men scramble out of the control room to carry out their orders.
Schreck came to a rest beside Maxton, and surveyed the chaos.

“I've
had a bit of trouble dealing with things while you were away,”
Mr. Maxton began, trying to discover what mood Schreck would be in.
“What happened?”

“Why
are you dealing with them in the first place?” Schreck arched
an eyebrow at him.

Schreck's
second-in-command was standing a polite distance away waiting to
speak with him. Without waiting for Maxton to answer, Schreck strode
over to him to receive a full report of all the things he had missed
while he was help up.

An
hour later and Dr. Marcoh was escorted into the control room, looking
very nervous. “Doctor, I feel that this is an excellent time to
field test your creatures. The orders have already been given, and
the hallways are cleared of all non-essential personal. No official
announcement has been made. I didn't want to alert the escaped
prisoners.”

“Oh—well
I thought—but that's great! How many? Two? How about four of
them?”

“All
of them,” Schreck purred.

“All....a-are
you sure?” Marcoh practically bounced in place in his
excitement.

“Schreck,
do you really think that it's wise to release all
of
them. We need at least one of them to open the gateway,” Maxton
reminded him.

“Fine,
save one for the ceremony, but release the rest.”

“Right
away!” Dr. Marcoh spun around on his heel and dashed out of the
control room. Finally, he could show them is precious creations and
all they could do.

-
- - -

Foul-smelling,
yellow liquid gushed from each of the tall glass cylinders. The large
bulky sensors blinked off one after the other, as each of the
genetically (1) enhanced humanoids sank to the floor. As they slowly
started to breath the air, they began to test their limb's movement.
First one, then a second; soon they were all up on their feet while
Marcoh watched from inside the glass viewing area.

Most
of the humanoids were grotesquely deformed with large boil like
protrusions on the back or extra limbs. Their flesh looked reversed,
as if the top layers of skin had been removed and all that remained
was the red, wet, and raw skin. At the flick of a button, all the
chambers but one slid open. A few minutes later and the creatures
were stepping out into the cool room. They shuffled together and
explored their surroundings.

Stepping
over to the intercom, Marcoh depressed the button. “Seek and
capture mission,” Marcoh addressed the milling children, as he
liked to think of them. “Anyone not in a standard German or
Italian uniform are to be brought back to this location immediately.
Is that understood?”

His
children shuffled and murmured their acknowledgment in their own
garbled brand of commutation. Marcoh depressed a switch by the
intercom and a door swooshed opened on the left side of the room. The
milling creatures, looked over at the new noise and for a moment did
nothing other then stare. Then the closest of the hulking beasts
dropped down on to all fours and snuffled at the air coming in from
the open door way. In a flash the largest of the children was gone,
leading the others out.

Marcoh
picked up the phone receiver and cranked the handle. He waited a few
moments before the connection was finally made. “They're out;
dim the lights.” Marcoh waited for the acknowledgment from the
other side before replacing the receiver on its cradle.

--
To be continued –
- 14
- 15
- 16
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A Little Light of Love