Soldier Blues

III.

“You’re getting sloppy, Ed.” Envy snarled, pressing a wet cloth to Edward’s forming black eye. “Last time we met, you were able to block that.”

“I wasn’t expecting to fight you bare ass naked in the fucking hallway!”

Greed tsk’ed. “Watch your tongue.”

“Screw you.”

Roy simply sat and stared at the trio, trying to figure out what the hell he had missed and why he had missed it. Greed glanced over at Roy and grinned.

“You look like your head is going to explode.” The Colonel said, propping his chin on his fist.

“I feel like it is,” Roy said with a sigh. “What the hell is going on here?”

Envy glanced at the black-haired Lieutenant Colonel before he turned his gaze back on the frowning blonde in the much-too large uniform, holding the cloth to the kid’s black eye. “Edward here is my shitty little brother.”

“And this green-haired palm tree is my shitty older brother.” Edward shot back. “It’s a long story.”

Roy made a non-committal sound, but he’d long ago settled in to hear a story. So Greed took up the verbal slack, since the two brothers were as likely to tell Roy the sky was falling than the truth.

“Envy and Ed are half-brothers, same dad, different mom. Envy joined the Amestris military because he likes making people miserable and Ed stayed in his hometown of Resembool.” Greed muttered. “We’d just gotten a letter from Alphonse, that’s the youngest brother, that Ed got pulled from the graduating class and tossed into this war.”

“Did they do it on purpose?” Roy asked.

Envy shrugged. “Who the fuck knows? Anyway, this stupid game of war is about to end. The last city’s fallen, so we’re all heading back home. Well,” he added after a moment, “the wounded are. Those that aren’t bleeding from multiple bullet wounds are staying in occupied areas.”

“What was the point of this war anyway?”

“Who knows? Who cares? The point is that it’s been fought and now it’s over.” Greed grinned a bit. “Maybe the higher ups just wanted to thin out the population.”

“I don’t think that was it,” Ed said dryly. “Amestris invaded out of no where, even in Resembool. The rebels just were trying to protect their own.”

“We didn’t invade, we came in uninvited killing people.” Envy replied snarkily, being none too gentle with Edward’s many wounds. “How the hell did you even survive, brat?”

“Luck.” Ed snapped back, baring his teeth at the elder. “And that’s called invading.”

Roy shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anymore. Amestris won, the rebels lost. What happens now?”

Envy looked to Roy, frowning. “We go home.”

“And Edward?”

“He’ll go back to Resembool.” Envy looked to the blonde. “Won’t you?”

Ed glowered at Envy. “Of course. Alphonse is there. So are Winry and Granny Pinako. Besides, it’s not like you’d take me with you.”

“Damn straight. I hate you.” Envy replied with a dangerous grin. Edward’s honey eyes narrowed, but he kept his mouth shut. Maybe it was for the better, Roy decided, watching something dangerous lurk in Envy’s eyes as the man doctored up the blonde.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Roy said finally. “We’ve been fighting for so long, barely anyone remembers what we were fighting for in the first place.”

“That’s how they wanted it.” Greed said in a low voice. “Let me clue you in, Mustang. Keep your nose out of it once you get home. You don’t need to get involved beyond what you already are.”

Roy frowned. “What about you?”

Greed looked to Envy. “I follow him, but he says I have a big mouth. So I don’t get to know anything.”

“But what you get to do with that mouth makes up for it,” Envy said in a singsong voice. Edward groaned and tried to cover his ears, only to get smacked for it as Envy’s bandage wrapping became uneven.

“Envy, this is a time to be serious.”

Envy made a dismissive noise. “I am being serious. All right, pipsqueak, get off to bed. You’re going to need your strength.”

“Who’re you calling a pea-sized midget!?” Edward shouted, shooting straight up into Envy’s waiting fist. Ed collapsed heavily onto the chair he’d been sitting in while being doctored and held his head, gritting his teeth at the feel of the forming lump.

“I didn’t say anything of the sort, Edward. Bed. Now.”

Edward simply glowered at Envy before he rose, muttering all the while as he slunk up the stairs, disappearing. The elder three were silent until they heard the door slam, and Envy released the breath he’d been holding, taking Edward’s vacated seat. Roy looked at his superior officer and fought to keep silent. Except those horrible eyes rolled toward him and stared at him until Roy was sure there was cold sweat dripping down his forehead.

“You wanna ask something, ask it.” Envy said. “You’ve got a brain, Mustang, figure it out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I can’t say anything more.” Envy said, rising. “I’m going to keep you away from home a little longer. You’re to escort Edward back to Resembool. Make sure he gets there safely.”

“General, sir, what’s going on?”

Envy gave Roy a long stare. “Like I said, figure it out. But be careful. Lots of good people have died in search of the truth and have found nothing but lies for their efforts. You may use a room upstairs. Dismissed, Lieutenant.”

Roy stared after Envy as the Brigadier General vacated the room, leaving the man alone with Greed. Roy looked to Greed then, frowning. “What does he mean?”

Greed shook his head. “Can’t say. But like he said, Lieutenant, you’re dismissed.”

Roy was left alone then at the table, staring after the retreating form of the Colonel. The Lieutenant Colonel sat back in his chair and rubbed his face. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was going to find out. He rose from his seat and moved for the upstairs, checking on Edward first. The blonde was lying in bed, sleeping almost peacefully, a few fitful tosses and turns here and there. Otherwise, he was fine, and Roy left him to sleep by himself, finding his own room. He leaned against the closed door and hung his head, heaving a sigh. He was in something deep, he knew, but if he wanted to know what was really going on, what this war had been about other than killing some insurgents, he would have to dig deeper. Probably get hurt along the way, probably kill people along the way. But he had to find out, because this war rubbed him wrong, and not just because the rebels had used children as soldiers, but also because no one remembered why the war was even happening, or why Amestris was fighting her own provinces for control. Roy closed his eyes and imagined the frightened face of a blonde boy with expressive gold eyes, innocent and guilty all at the same time.

And it seemed that, right now, Edward was his only chance for those answers.

As crazy as it sounded, Roy didn’t feel too bad about it. After all, if the Brigadier General Envy was the brat’s older brother, and Roy survived him, how bad could it be with Edward? Besides, it wouldn’t be like Roy would be completely unarmed, even if he was relegated to wearing civilian attire. Finally heaving a resigned sigh, Roy pushed away from the door and prepared for bed, taking off everything but his pants. His sidearm he slid under his mattress on the side closest to the wall. Experience warned him not to keep it under a pillow because, after all, you never knew if the woman you were sleeping with was actually the enemy waiting for a chance to blow your brains out in the literal sense.

Roy settled down and listened to the night sounds as they fell into place around him, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow would start a grand adventure that would either end in glory or in ruin. Roy had the idea of making it end in the former, but as the past few hours had shown him, his luck had just hit a low streak, so whatever Roy wanted wasn’t likely to come true. He fell asleep imagining he couldn’t hear what was going on downstairs between his superior officers.