Chimera

Well, I there will be a bit of a wait for the next chapter, but then we all know what a liar I am when it comes to updates, but at least you're warned. Thanks for reviewing! As always, I check them a dozen times a day.

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Bright sun woke the Flame Alchemist. He rolled, searching with his hand for the warm body that should have been tucked into his side. The edge came before he realized it and his butt hit the floor with a thud. Where was that boy? He’d been there, snoring softly, when the lights had been turned off.

He got up and dressed. A mental note to do laundry was made; he’d been there for almost two weeks already. Better call Riza, she’d be worrying by now. No sounds from the house indicated he was the first up and the kitchen called him. When he stepped into the room, he was surprised to see a blond head and gold eyes at the table. Breakfast was mostly made, tea, toast, and cut fruit on the table, eggs on low on the stove.

“Good morning, Edward. You’re up early.” He reached up and pulled down the plates and glasses required.

“Good morning. I couldn’t sleep. How are you today, General Mustang?” His tone was formal, betraying his nervousness. He was standing still, watching Roy set the table.

“I’m fine. Please, call me Roy. How are the eggs?” A slight start and the blond rushed over to check quickly. They were dished up and he yelled for the other blonds. The five men sat and ate quietly, no one mentioning Ed’s change. Al and Fletcher cleaned up while Russell opened the shop. “Would you like to sit with me for a little?” Roy invited the young man out to sit on the step.

A few minutes were spent in silence, watching each other from the corners of their eyes. “Why did you come here?” The tone was mild, slightly curious.

Roy’s mouth opened then closed. He looked at his hands, “I don’t know. I thought it was because I missed you two, because I was lonely. But, I thought you were dead years ago and hope only goes so far. A second chance maybe? I did miss you; I wanted to see you both again, to know you were healthy and happy. Maybe I was just so alone, I wanted to believe you would come home with me if I could just find you.” He looked to the side and his mouth kicked up a bit. “Maybe I just couldn’t give up, live without the hope of seeing you again. Even if you don’t want to come back with me, I’m happy I got to see you. I don’t want you to feel like you have to come with me, just because I want you to. I want you to make the right choice for yourself, whatever will make you happiest. If it’s staying here, I’ll go home tonight. If you want to come, we’ll pack up whatever you’ll need and send for the rest.”

Ed was watching him closely, looking for signs of lying or dishonesty. He took a deep breath, “I don’t know. I like you, I enjoy being around you, you’ve done a lot for me, us. I appreciate it, really I do, but I don’t know if I can just leave. I, understand, that you love me, but I just can’t. At least not now. I need more time.”

Roy’s head hung and his chest throbbed. “Yes, I suppose you do. Well, I guess I didn’t expect you to just rush back with me after so long. Would you like me to leave?”

“No. Please stay, I really want to spend more time with you. I’m sorry I hurt you, but I can’t lead you on.” Roy shook his head; he’d matured so much, different but still Ed.

“Of course not. Whatever you decide is fine. I’d be very pleased to stay for another week. I have to go back to work then. Perhaps a compromise? If you would like, you and Al, and the others if they wish, might come visit me in Central. I have a large house, there is plenty of room. Please, think about it, talk it over.” He smiled slightly. “There are many people who would like to see you, even if you don’t remember them.”

Even white teeth flashed in a quick smile, “I’d like that. I’ll ask the others who would like to come. It might be nice to see where we lived before; maybe we’ll remember a bit. We heard rumors sometimes, about the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother, and Fletcher told us everything he knew, but there aren’t a lot of facts. Were we strange? Al used to wear armor, why? What was my alchemic specialty? There are so many questions I want to ask.”

“Are you sure you want the answers? They aren’t all nice or pleasant. I can tell you some, there are records of others. Don’t you want to be free of that, free of your past? Do you truly want to remember?” Gloved hands clenched but he remained sitting, staring ahead.

“Yes, our pasts make us who we are. I don’t know who I should be half the time, nothing seems real some days. Please tell me. I know some things, like that we tried to transmute our mother and I lost my leg and arm, but what about Al? Tell me about the Homunculi, who and what were they? Did they ever find our father? Tell me more about what I was like, before.” Roy closed his eyes and swallowed.

Then, he waved the boy over to sit closer and took his hand. “Let me, please. If you hate me after, at least I’ll have been able to touch you again.” The blond stopped pulling away, “When you tried to bring your mother back, you lost your leg and Al lost his body. You sealed his soul into a suit of armor with your blood and traded an arm for him. I met you soon after and told you to come see me and become a State Alchemist. A year later, you arrived to take the test and become my subordinate, the Fullmetal Alchemist. You ran missions and I let you search for the Philosopher’s Stone in between.” He sighed and squeezed the small hand. “I told you some of this earlier.” The boy nodded. “Eventually, you discovered the Stone is made from sacrificing human lives, thousands of them. The Homunculi were created as the result of failed human transmutations. They manipulated wars and people to try and have them create the Philosopher’s Stone for them. They were guided by a woman who used to be your father’s lover. Your father went to destroy her and disappeared; we haven’t found him again.”

Ed interrupted him, “Did we create a homunculus?”

“Yes, and destroyed her.” Those bright eyes dulled and Roy hated himself for giving in. “You didn’t have a choice, she would have killed you both and anyone else who got in her way.” He waited until he looked up again and ran his hand through gold hair, brushing against a delicate ear. “You wanted to know what you were like?” He smiled at the slow nod. “You were sweet and bright and temperamental and spastic about your height. Brash, blunt, focused only on your goal, compassionate, honest, stubborn, and you strove to make everything fair. You were a true alchemist of the people; you helped anyone and everyone you could. I picked you up from the hospital more than once when you pushed yourself too far. Your temper and thirst for knowledge landed you in jail as often as not; I picked you up there often too.”

“Doesn’t sound like I was a nice person. Why did you love me if I was so horrible?”

The older alchemist laughed softly, “You were anything but horrible. Sweet, loving, generous, gentle, you were many wonderful things, even if they were hidden. Well worth the effort of dealing with your faults. Most of your faults were directly related to your goal; stubborn, impatient, impulsive. Many people thought Al was your opposite, and at first glance it’s true. He was gentle, patient, openly generous, he held you back when you needed restraint and shoved you forward when you faltered. Once you got close to him, however, you realized he was as stubborn as you, maybe more so, he could be impatient and blunt, not an angel at all. I was on the receiving end of that more than once. You two were so closely connected, I honestly don’t know where you ended and he began; I don’t think you did.” He laughed again, “The first time Fuery met you, he decided you two were psychic. You didn’t speak but knew exactly what the other was thinking. You even had a conversation, discussing options, and made a decision without speaking a word. He was terrified for weeks until I convinced him you were just geniuses.”

Ed stared at him, then burst into laughter. He squeezed Roy’s hand before gently disentangling himself. “Come in. I should help out, I haven’t done alchemy for a while, I’m sure there’s something that needs work. You can watch us work; I know you’ve been spending all your time with me. We have some interesting projects going.”

“Alright. Would you like help with anything? I specialize in fire but I know a bit about other forms.” The General stood and brushed his pants off.

“If you wish. We value all input.” Ed stood as well and led the way to the front of the shop to wave to Russell then down to the basement to show off their projects; fruit trees, array designs, complex plans for large transmutations. Roy stared, prodded, and examined, and realized he was very much out of his depth. The last time he’d been in here, he had focused on making certain Ed was calm, not what he’d been doing.

“These are impressive. Where did you get the ideas?” He was running his fingers under the leaves of an apple tree with three different varieties.

“I don’t know, they just show up around the dinner table I guess. Sometimes, I just clap and let the reaction make something. It’s always interesting, if not useful. Some of the arrays come from there; we modify them to be of use. Depends how much money we need; there’s a group of professors that pay a lot for a new array to study, they don’t care what it’s for. The four of us seem to be pretty good at coming up with ideas. Fletcher has a true talent for plants, he has almost a hundred new varieties developed, Al’s really good at theory and design, they use his arrays to teach at the college you know, and Russell works best with decomposing things to get their make-up, the professors say his lab is more advanced than the ones in Central.” The boy’s fingers ran over a design inlaid in the table.

“And you? Have you chosen a specialty?” Roy was looking up, he’d mentioned the others and praised them well, but nothing about himself.

“Oh, not really. I can do a lot of things, but I’m not reliable enough to be a major part of the company, with the changing and all. I do the biggest jobs, ones that need a lot of power, and help out a bit with designs.” He was blushing and watching his fingers move.

Roy took two steps and pulled his chin up to meet his eyes. “You have a lot of talent and power, your potential is unlimited. As for unreliable, that is the biggest lie I’ve heard in years. You are one of the most reliable people I know. Your talent is incredible, always was. I had to fight to keep you with me, at least once a month I had requests to transfer you. I was almost demoted a dozen times in three years fighting over you. At the time, my life goal was to become Fuhror, and your worth is plain by the fact I was willing to risk it just to keep you under my command. Do not doubt it, ever.”

The boy stared up at him, then moved forward abruptly, wrapping his arms tightly around the slim waist. “This is something else you were always good at, jumping to conclusions. Did anyone actually SAY you were unreliable?” The blond head shook against his shoulder. “They most likely don’t realize you think like that. You are probably a bigger help than you think. Once you all learn how to handle your changes better, it will be much more apparent, especially to you.” He ran his hand through the silky hair and rubbed his cheek against the top of the boy’s head.

“Thank you.” A low mumble, so soft he almost missed it. He smiled against blond hair and hugged harder. “Roy?”

“Yes?” He pulled back a little to look down.

“I want to come with you, to live.” Roy’s mouth worked soundlessly. “I do, I thought about it and I want to give it a try. I know you won’t make me stay if I don’t like it and I want to try, I really like you and” Roy’s lips cut him off, pressing firmly against the soft pink ones.

“Be certain, Edward. I can’t have you live with me and be just my friend. I won’t push or try to force you into anything, but I want you to come be my partner again, my love. I want us to live together, as a couple.” He stared down, holding his breathe.

A faint blush colored high cheeks but the blond head nodded slowly, “Can we, um, well, just go slow, um, please?”

A small smile opened his face. “Yes, of course. I’ll never push, I swear. Thank you, Edward, you won’t regret it.” Roy’s fingers tapped him on the nose and gold eyes crossed.

“Love me, that means you love me.” He grinned up. “I remember that, you used to do it in public a lot and it was a secret.”

A flashed grin told him he was right. “Yes, you always went crazy, jumping around and yelling at me. We won’t have to hide it anymore, if you don’t want to. You’re not my subordinate, or a minor, and I have enough status to withstand any rumors. So, whatever you decide is fine, alright?” The blond head nodded thoughtfully and Roy hugged him more tightly, breathing the scent of his hair. They just stood, holding one another, until Ed pushed back gently. Roy let him go immediately.

“You know I don’t love you.” White teeth worried a pink lip. Roy’s head nodded slightly. “I’m sorry, I’ll try, really hard.”

“No, just be you. Even if you never love me back, it’s alright. I’m happy just knowing you are. You don’t have to force anything or try, just relax and maybe you’ll find you love me after all.” An almost sad smile nearly made Ed take back his choice, but he stayed. It might hurt, but this just might be the best thing for both of them.