Housework

I'm sorry the last ones have been sad, but we all knew it was coming, it'll be over soon. Thank you for reviewing, I appreciate your comments. Hugs for everyone!

Ed's Story

Al was his usual patient self and fed his two house mates. He also volunteered to go out to Gracia's for a few days to give them time together. He hugged them both and told them he loved them before leaving, waving as he walked down the street.

“Ok, Roy. Couch? Or bed?” The older man just shrugged and Ed chose the bed, hoping it would help relax his lover. They changed and settled, Ed leaning with his back pressed against Roy's chest, the older man's arms wrapped around him. “Do you want me to go first?” Roy nodded.

“Guess I'll start with the alchemy. I don't remember our father, he left when I was about one, but the books always made sense. At least the pictures did, mom taught us to read later. Al and I read every book there was, every piece of paper in the office. Mom loved it when we did alchemy, it reminded her of him. One of my first memories is her crying at night and smiling all day. She always laughed when we made her things, so we studied hard to make better things for her. Mom loved us, spoiled us like crazy, we ran wild all over the country side. She always just smiled and welcomed us home, even if we'd been gone all day. Then, she just wasn't there any more, just a stone tablet on a hill. We just sat there, waiting for her to come back. After a while, we, I decided we should try and bring her back. How hard could it be right? There were books on it in the study, we could learn how. We realized we needed more training and Teacher happened through town. She didn't want us at first, made us spend a month on an island. Damn, that was hard, it was cold and we were hungry the entire time, even after we got better at finding food. Finally, she started to teach us, circles, runes, the flow of the world.

We were so focused on our own goal, we barely listened. Within a year, we were headed home. We spent another year developing the array, getting the ingredients, studying to make sure nothing would go wrong. We were so stupid. I saw... amazing things, information poured into me, the Truth took my leg and my brother, and left me with knowledge and a perfect corpse. I drew an array and called Al back, tied him to a suit of armor. It was the first time I ever clapped, the only time I did it with both flesh arms. The Truth took my arm in exchange; it's the only thing I don't regret doing that day. I don't remember a lot after that for a few days; Al carried me to the neighbors, Winry and Pinako, and they patched me up. They were auto-mail engineers and did the original work on my arm and leg. The surgery was brutal, painful and I was so scared it wouldn't take. It doesn't always work, you know, sometimes the body will reject the implants and you can't try again. It took a year to recover though Pinako said it would be longer. I couldn't just sit around and wait, we had to get going, to get our bodies back, so I pushed hard. She said I was stunting my growth, forcing my body like that, but it didn't matter, not then. I guess I was always a bit shorter than other kids, so it wasn't as important as getting moving.

We left as soon as I could fight. Before we went, I burned the house, to make sure we could never go back, we would always move forward. We wandered mostly, no real destination in mind. Just followed rumors of miracles, using alchemy to work our way, earning enough to move on and leaving. If we couldn't find work, we walked. It wasn't so bad, just us. We stopped at every library we passed, talked to any alchemist we found, learned and gathered as much information as we could. Al almost went crazy some days, I wouldn't let him carry around his notes. He spent more money on postage than we did on food some months. I bet Winry has a whole house full of notes by now. We should call her, see if she still has them.

Anyways, we ended up in Sylvado, there was a rumor of someone coming back to life there, a dead end, as always. The streets were full of soldiers and rebels, we didn't stay long. On the way out of town, we heard screaming and went to help. A young woman was being held down, we didn't understand then, just that she was being hurt. There was basket beside her and a baby crying. I thought we could take them, or at least distract them, there were only three. Well, there weren't just three, there were ten, the others were on guard duty and waiting their turn. At least she got away. They broke my arm and a few ribs, I could barely breath by the time they were done. Al was chained, his hands behind him, and couldn't move. I could hear them, laughing about just killing us, one even wanted me to take the woman's place, but at least some of them had a few morals. They finally decided to sell us, to different places, and I couldn't let them separate us. I managed to get my hands close enough to clap and changed my auto-mail into a blade. I cut Al's seal out and covered it with glass. I remember biting right through my lip to keep from screaming and didn't even notice for a few days. I managed to get changed back before I passed out.

They had their medic patch me up a bit, just enough to be presentable, and dragged us out to a farmer's place. He was huge and rough, running his hands over me to see how strong I was. He bought me, I don't know how much he paid, but refused to take Al's body. The officers took it with them, I don't know what happened to it, probably abandoned once they figured out it was just a shell. His wife hated me on sight. She refused to feed me more than scraps and left more bruises than she fixed when doctoring my arm. I had light duties until I healed; gardening, serving meals, laundry. She liked me to sing, I had a pretty voice, at least she said so. It was the only nice thing she said about me in over a year. My other duty was to be quiet when he came to me at night. The first time, I didn't know what he wanted until he flipped me over and took me. I used my arm to muffle the screaming, Al was in the room with me and I couldn't let him hear. It took a while, but I got used to it, he just came, did his thing, and left. He didn't hit me or want me to do anything for him, just be still and quiet. His wife started taking me to town and making me go to church; that's where I learned it was wrong to be with other guys and I started feeling guilty and ashamed, which was probably the point.

The madam from the Lotus Majicka saw us there and heard me singing in church. She was always looking for new blood and would sometimes buy young people from their families or set up contracts. No one had a lot of money then, the military was trying to tax them into submission, so it was a tempting deal. The farmer's wife was thrilled and sold me outright, right there in the street. I was so thankful I had brought Al, I took him sometimes, he needed to go out, I could have prayed to whatever god they pointed me to. The madam was nice enough, she patted me and gave me a bath. She fed me too, got my weight up a bit before she put me on the floor. Duties were pretty simple; serve customers food and drinks, give them what they want, don't talk back. Punishments were harsh, disobedience was heavily frowned on. The first offense saw you given to the guards for the night, brutal men who really didn't care what condition you were in as long as you weren't permanently damaged. The second could see you beaten then given to the guards, or a 'birthday party' might be held if it was really bad. I only got that one once, the first time I tried to run; one of the guards saw me and grabbed me on the way out. After that, I pretty much settled into wait for a better opportunity, to get stronger. One of the other girls watched me all the time, waiting for me to do something so she could tell. Didn't really blame her, a night off the floor was a pretty big deal, worth betraying someone you don't care about any day.

The first night I sang was one of the worst, my price tripled and I had six that night. I couldn't even move for days after and the madam set a limit. Three times a week I would sing and take three customers. This of course jacked my price up even more and I was watched even more closely. The other nights were request nights, special guests, different, odd, requests. One guy would come in every Tuesday and just wanted to hold me and pet my hair. He paid well and would stay most of the night, talking away about anything, what he'd been doing lately, things like that. He liked it when I talked too, so I made up stories about my week, chatted away like it was perfectly normal. Another regular was a woman; her daughter had died and looked a bit like me, so she liked to come in and have me dress in her daughter's old dresses and have tea with her. After a few weeks, she started with the 'I love yous' and I wouldn't say it. The next week, she brought a guy with her. We started as normal, but she wanted me to sit in this guy's lap. Then, he started groping me, but she ignored it. Finally, he just shoved the skirt up and slammed in and she started with the 'I love yous' again, saying he'd stop if I said it. So, I did. She lied. They came back every week and it was always the same, but if I refused to say it, they'd both hit me until I did. After the first time, I told Al that I loved him and wouldn't be able to say it again. He understood, if not why, then that I was hurt and it helped for him to love me anyways. As time passed, it became a more common demand and got easier to say it. It's just words, right? And it saved me a beating and that's all I cared about.

The last time, it was a group. I don't know why she sold me to them, if she was angry for something or if they just offered enough. She didn't want to take the risk of permanent damage, I was a pretty valuable commodity and would be for a few years because of my size, and didn't sell me to especially rough men or groups. There were seven, big men, but the worst was their leader. He was huge, bigger that Sieg or Armstrong even. They were rough, really rough, and I added a bunch of scars to my arm and still screamed myself hoarse. They liked to cut too, little ones down my back, Al tells me there are scars, I can't see them. The biggest got tired of hearing me scream I guess and wrapped his hands around my neck. I couldn't breath and finally passed out. I was out for two days, bleeding heavily when they returned me. They called a medic, the nurse couldn't handle it. Can you imagine? The Lotus Majicka, one of the worst brothels around, had to call a medic. I was shocked they bothered, but I guess she was hoping my voice would come back. It didn't, I was a week before I could even speak and I didn't until I could walk again, which was another week. The madam was not amused and decided to sell me to a lower class place, one with rougher clients with less discriminating tastes. I heard from one of the other girls there was a lot going to auction near Central; she was afraid the mines would buy her. It seemed like the perfect opportunity, we wouldn't be as closely watched there and we could get lost more easily, not as original. I kinda stood out, being male, small, and gold like I am.

I made gold from a penny and traded coats with a girl to sneak in, mine was too bright. We traded back for another gold piece once we were on our way and no one even cared that there was an extra girl in the load. They put me in with the younger girls but I picked fights so they'd move me. I didn't want to be chosen by anyone other than the mines and they just took whatever was left over at the end. Mostly, I just hid in the back and kept the others away from me with threats. Then, you wandered along and took an interest. You bought us and took us home and you know the rest. After you left, we used the stone like you said. The Gate took it as well as Al's coloring. He says it doesn't bother him, that he likes it. Good enough. That's everything I suppose.”

He leaned his gold head back and listened to Roy's ragged breathing. His hair was wet from Roy's tears and his chest was wet from his own. “It's ok, Roy, it's alright. I have you now, everything is ok. Don't cry.” He murmured until the tears finally stopped, then turned to press a soft kiss to his lover's lips. “Wanna take a break? I'm kinda hungry again.” A soft smile accompanied the words and they padded to the kitchen to have some leftovers. While they were sitting at the table, Roy started.