Worlds Collide

A/N: Kuragari, plot is definitely here. Sadler Girl, I think that, since there was little Ed and Roy last chapter, a lemon between them should make up for it. Well, there has to be some way to open the Gate, so they need alchemists with natural ability. Wrath's finally started the long road to recovery. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, I knew when I made Kimblee a bishop, I'd bettwer make Armstrong, who is mostly himself, a decent Catholic to balance out the bastard. They're working on their grab for power, yes, but we aren't there yet. I make no comments on Dante, you'll just have to see it when it happens. And as for Russell, Wrath needed someone to stop babying him and dforce him to come to terms. Malcara, I know the pairings have been strange thus far, what can I say? Nomme de Plume, Russell knew Wrath still loved Edward, but it was the only way to get him to speak. The men are there to open te gate because they are guaranteed to have natural ability.

Chapter 30

Coming to Terms

“You made him start. You go comfort him,” Fletcher said with a push to Russell’s back.

“But you’re better with this stuff.”

“And I’m not the one he relates to.” Fletcher opened the curtain to the balcony where Wrath was sitting, sobbing. “Go."

For the last hour, Wrath had been crying to himself, hiding from the brothers, but apparently, Fletcher couldn’t take it any longer. The taller blond stepped out onto the questionable balcony, noticing that if it crumbled, as it looked like it might at any moment, there would be a three-story fall in his future. Russell’s thick, rubber-soled boots padded across the stone, where he knelt down beside Wrath.

There were so many things about the brunet that confused Russell, first of all being the drastic swings in maturity. One moment, Wrath was obviously more sensible than most three or four times his age, and the next, he was throwing a tantrum like a toddler. Russell had expected Wrath to cry, to hate the realization that he was breaking things off with Edward, and that was the real reason behind all of the arguments. What he hadn’t expected was to find the six-foot nine-inch man sitting on the floor of the balcony, long legs drawn up to his chest, arms wrapped around them, eyes pressed in his knees.

“Wrath,” Russell said, wrapping an arm around the broad shoulders, not entirely sure how to do this. Damn Fletcher, this wasn’t his area. Gently, he ran his hand over the now-loose braids, rubbing over the strange, coarse black hair, finding the texture very odd beneath his touch. When a set of violet eyes looked up from those knees, lit only by the lantern Wrath had brought out with him, Russell could see how red the outsides were, how swollen those eyes were.

“I’m sorry,” Russell said, feeling overcome with guilt for being the cause of this. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Wrath shook his head. “No. It was the truth.”

“It doesn’t make it any easier, but at least you can admit that now.”

“I still love him, though.” Wrath sighed, an involuntary hiccup-like sob escaping his lips. “Is there something wrong with me?”

“I broke up with my first a long time ago, Wrath.” How long had it been since Russell thought about that year-long relationship when he was eighteen. “And we didn’t end up as friends, but it doesn’t mean I don’t still care.” He patted Wrath’s back. “Just because you and Edward might have been breaking up, still being in love with him is perfectly natural. A very human thing.”

For some time they sat in silence, Russell’s arm around the younger man’s shoulders, the initial, hard crying having stopped, left behind by those sniffles and sobs that Russell hated as much as crying. He’d seen plenty of men full-out cry, but those sniffs and heaving chests just seemed girly.

Well, they had until the strong figure of the former homunculus was the one doing it. Now he hated them just as much for a different reason. They remained almost painful for ages, showing just how long and how intensely Wrath had been crying, out on the balcony alone.

“It will get better. I promise.”

********

The phone was ringing. Why was the phone ringing?

Ed slowly opened his eyes, feeling Roy pull away from him, a somewhat difficult feat, as dried remnants from a very long and exhausting night were covering both their bodies. It was rare that they fell asleep, completely spent without any regard for cleaning themselves or their bed off, but they had been thoroughly exhausted when they’d gone to bed last night, well that morning. Looking at the clock, Ed further corrected that. Two hours ago that morning.

Roy essentially crawled to the ringing phone, groaning in disgust as he hit a wet spot on the bed.

“Hello?” Ed’s husband said, groggily. He was still on all fours, his behind facing Ed, and even in the early morning haze, the blond thought the view was rather nice. Adding to the view was the fact that Roy was trying to straddle the mess he’d made on the bed last night, so his legs were spread just so…

And as he continued to rally, a perfectly devilish idea came to mind. Ed still owed Roy revenge for the groping during the meeting with nearly every one of their friends.

“Yes, Mrs. Polce,” Roy said, “I understand your concern.”

Once Ed realized it was the member of parliament Ed hated most, he really lost all regard for allowing his husband to be professional. Ed despised the woman, and she certainly had no business calling his home at six in the morning. He had children, damn it, who didn’t have to be up for school for another hour and a half to be woken up by a ringing phone at a ridiculous hour of the morning. Then, he glared at his very naked husband, who was not ending the call.

Slowly, Ed shifted to sit upright at the head of the bed, only a few inches away from Roy, his right hand grabbing for jar of lube from the night before. He stuck his first two fingers in the substance, his own member twitching as he heard his husband say the obligatory “Uh-huh’s and Okays and Yeahs” on the phone. Once he felt certain he had the stuff thoroughly smeared on his fingers, he moved his index finger to the somewhat parted cheeks, rubbing up and down the crack of his husband’s lovely behind, earning a rather angry glare from the fuhrer.

“Ed!” he hissed, holding the receiver to his bare shoulder, then picking it back up again. “Yes, Mrs. Polce. I understand.”

Well, he’d hoped to startle Roy, but so far, it didn’t seem to be working, so he turned to his husband in earnest this time. He circled around the already sensitive—thanks to last nights hours-long activities—opening. Roy, whose head was turned to look behind him, was trying to remain calm and stoic in his voice while his eyes seemed to show a desire to kill Ed where he sat.

“Where I stand in reference to the work on the strange happenings in Central’s sky is…” Ed pushed the single digit in. “nngh… that our… our alchemists and researchers are… doing their best…” Ed continued to wiggle his finger around the hole that was still relatively loose, deciding that he might as well go for the second finger if Roy was going to stay on the phone like that. “Do we really need to talk about this no-ah-ow?”

It was a little late to be asking that question. He should have told her to go take a flying leap the minute she’d called. Ed worked his fingers in slowly, Roy shooting daggers over his shoulder as he continued to talk.

“Right…” Just a little more. “Uh-huh. I understand your worry…” A bit farther, then just to curl them. “YESSSS. Of course.” Roy’s hips bucked, his back arched as Ed hit his prostate. Those fingers that Ed was certain Roy wanted to break began scissoring, widening Roy, letting the older man know exactly what was to come if he didn’t get off the phone. Much to Ed’s surprise, as Roy continued a mindless conversation with a mindless woman, his body was now bucking on Ed’s fingers. If that was what he wanted, and he felt up to another go, Ed would go right ahead.

He removed the fingers, Roy practically burying his head on the mattress as he tried to prop the phone between his head and shoulder. Roy was no longer fighting the game, and it excited and disappointed Ed all at once.
Ed pulled Roy’s behind down just a bit, his mind cursing the longer, pale legs that made it hard for Ed to reach. With his left hand, he slicked up his length and pressed the tip to the familiar body in front of him.

“Y-yes, ma’am. I assure you the work has not stopped, b-but we…” Ed began to push in. “we… have the assurances… oh… of experts that it won’t happen fu—for a long time.” He continued to move, glad that coherent sentences were a struggle, but he didn’t like that Roy’s brain was still capable of retrieving words like “assurances” from its memory.

“Mrs. Polce,” Roy said just a bit too loud, as Ed pushed himself entirely into his body, “This is much t-too early…” Ed began kissing Roy’s lightly scarred shoulders and back, enjoying they were nearly flawless, rather than entirely so. “If you would li-eee-ke to talk at a better time…” Ed pulled out almost entirely, then pushed in, moving his hips side to side, just a bit. “I would be glad to do-oh-oh so.”

Finally, Ed grabbed the phone from Roy, “What he’s trying to say is that I want to screw him senseless, it’s early, and he can talk to you in the office.” With a quick thrust, Ed pushed himself back inside of Roy, now able to reach the base of the phone to hang it up.

“Ed, do you have any idea what you did?”

“Got you…” He moved out. “off the phone.” He began kissing Roy’s back as he slowly re-entered. “And if you…nngh… really wanted me to stop…” Ed began working his way to a steady rhythm. “you could have sat down.”

Ed firmly gripped Roy’s hips in place, as the older man seemed to have forgotten about being angry and was lost to the sensation. Ed slowly rocked his body, moving faster, harder within the man he loved. No longer caring if Roy helped move things along, Ed shifted his body and wrapped his right arm around Roy’s chest, pulling their bodies together, his left reaching down and grasping hold of Roy’s member still enjoying the feeling of that firm yet soft rod covered in velvety flesh, which was practically flush against Roy’s firm stomach. The blond knew it wouldn’t take much, if the older man was already in this state.

Harder and harder, further and further he pressed into Roy, repeating words of love into the flesh of the older man’s back, while the body of the nation’s leader beneath him bucked and thrust along with him.

Almost violently, Roy came, hands fisting the sheet and his arms, but Ed wasn’t quite there, but with a few quick thrusts, he found himself being pulled into his own climax, screaming out Roy’s name before his body slumped against the larger one beneath him.

“Fine, you got your revenge for groping you around our friends, and I’ve already learned my lesson about using morning sex against you, but damn it, Ed, how am I supposed to face that woman today?”

“With your head held high, and I’m guessing, a limp in your step.”

Roy groaned.

********

Munich, Germany

Delegated to merely studying like the rest, Major Mustang looked around him. The bishop, Kimblee—he couldn’t begin to address him as mister or even by his first name—seemed to take incredible pleasure in antagonizing him, as did that witch Eckart. The Scot seemed to have lost all hope, as he’d been here the longest and had thought messages were getting through to his family.

Roy had thought the same.

Putting his head in his hands for a moment, ignoring the droning voice of one of the society members, Roy thought how worried Riza had to be, how his sons had to be. He’d thought he’d been sending them letters, treats from Germany, but there was no guaranteeing any of them had been received. He’d been caught, as he never had before. He’d thought he was too good to be caught, to skilled. After all, how many times had Major Archer been captured? How many times had he failed or been mentally even physically scarred?

The realization was hard to take. Major Archer had been protecting him, always taking the more dangerous, less certain tasks for himself because he was not the one with a family, even a love interest on the horizon.

Roy’s hubris had been his downfall, his lack of acknowledgement of advice from someone with more experience at the spy game—not wire-tapping and code cracking, as Roy had spent much of his career doing—his belief that the Thules were truly idiots, delusional to believe that such a place as Shamballa or even something like alchemy could truly exist.

No, he’d learned the truth. He was trapped now with a good-natures Scot, whose hope at seeing his family had all but vanished and whose faith was being tested by every minute around the bastard bishop, said bastard bishop, whose English comprehension was incredible when it came to insulting the major, and a half-literate cockney man who was still so devastated over the murder of his family ten years ago that he barely functioned.

Worst of all, was the realization that everything the Thules had told him was true. He’d felt the power in the main chamber, where the serpent was attached to the ceiling. But when they’d brought the four of their captives—as he was now one of them—into the chamber, it was obvious the power was more intense.

His only prayers now were that God kill them all before something terrible happened to his world, even possibly to the one he’d been told was on the other side of the “Gate.”

The droning stopped. They were being told once again to go out into the chamber, to see if any had learned even the basics of alchemy well enough to perform a bit for their captors.

********

Amestris

Later that day, Wrath was feeling somewhat better, wandering through the streets of the town, feeling lighter, somehow.

He could hear the Tringhams behind him; apparently they’d finished sending word to Ed and everyone else above that they wanted to meet over dinner, to discuss their findings, as well as reveal Wrath’s voice—though they were keeping that to themselves until dinner that night.

Looking at these old buildings, Wrath could just hear what Edward would have thought. The blond had always had an interest in architecture, one he probably would have pursued if he hadn’t been so interested in chemistry and rocket science. And at that, Wrath smiled. It had been a long time since Wrath had smiled when thinking about Edward. Standing near a building that so resembled the one where Edward had been serving his apprenticeship, he remembered the stink bombs the teenaged version of his lover had created.

They had been friends then. And if Edward had lived, he was the type that, Wrath was sure, they would have been friends regardless. It was just…

Wrath sighed. Russell was right.

It was just that once Wrath reached adulthood, they were a poor match. Wrath loved Edward for his kindness and intelligence, but he needed someone who he didn’t feel as though he had to walk on eggshells around.

It wasn’t long before Wrath reached a more barren area of the town, a place he’d been to before without really considering it, when a sudden power, one Wrath hadn’t felt since Munich froze him in his spot, his body once again beginning to perform alchemy on its own.

“Wrath!” two voices said in near unison.

He could feel the power coursing through his body, and really, he knew he had to be a sight to behold. He could see the brothers, both struggling against the sudden increase in power at this spot, Russell finally making it to Wrath, smacking him across the face. The shock of the pain brought the former homunculus around, and with Russell pulling his body from merging with the cobblestone streets, he made it away from the area.

A little more coherent, Wrath considered he’d preferred Edward’s way of bringing him back to reality to Russell’s, but it had worked all the same. As he collapsed to the ground, still reeling from the sensation of that much power in one spot, Fletcher put his around him, always the considerate brother.

“Are you okay?” Russell asked, crouching down next to him.

“The power…”

“I noticed that.” Russell patted Wrath’s back a moment.

“It was like Munich. I think this is our link to their world.”

“But wouldn’t we have felt it before? Fletcher asked.

“I think they’re trying to get through again.”

********

“Fuhrer, sir?”

Roy looked up from his desk, finding Frank standing at the door. “Yes, come in.”

Frank did, shutting the door behind him. Though Frank had taken a while to get over the shock of his father’s true personality, he seemed happy in his life and his relationship with Fuery.

“Um, sir, I couldn’t help but notice that you were sporting a bit of a limp this morning.” Roy looked up at him awkwardly. “You should be more careful sparring with Ed.” There was an undertone to Frank’s voice that let Roy know that he knew exactly what he’d been doing with Ed.

Frank set a small can on Roy’s desk, which he immediately picked up to analyze. It looked like pomade.

“It’s very similar to something I discovered on Earth. It’s a salve, very good for numbing and healing sore muscles and aches and pains. I’ve used it quite a few times since I got here.”

There was a knowing expression on his face. It was not particularly unknown that Frank bottomed quite a bit, but come to think of it, Roy hadn’t noticed the tell-tale limp.

“Thank you.”

Frank nodded. “Using it before your meeting with that obnoxious woman from parliament might be wise. I spoke to her secretary, and apparently, the woman is still in a mix of shock and denial. I don’t know why anyone would be surprised. You are married to a very active twenty-seven-year-old. Though, I notice they don’t seem as shocked when Ed is limping.”

“That’s one of his biggest complaints,” Roy said, feeling there was no longer the need to pretend they weren’t talking about exactly what they were talking about. “He says it’s as though it’s expected. We’ve had some heated discussions about that one.” Roy shifted in his seat, wincing a bit.

“I can imagine.” Frank folded his arms across his chest. “Any idea why the Tringhams and Wrath said they wanted to meet with everyone over dinner?”

Roy shook his head. “But apparently since they invited everyone, there’s been a new development. It seems the city below us is essentially the same as the chamber where you came from.”

He could see the concern on Frank’s face.

“But if we know where it is, we know the most concentrated place to place new blockers. We had them scattered through the city before. Now, we can put them at the source.”

“If there is anything I can do, please, let me know.”

“I will.”

********

Because the twins, not to mention Al, Armstrong, and Havoc’s kids were there, the discussion had to stay light and off the topic on all of the adults’ minds, but honestly, Ed wanted to find out what the Tringhams and Wrath knew.

Together with Rose, Gracia and Al, Ed had prepared the meal, being relegated to the items cooked on the stovetop, including the carrots and the mashed potatoes, with Rose’s help, while Al had done the turkeys and Gracia the desserts. On moments like this, Ed was reminded that once again he was taking the “wife’s” role in the relationship, but at least he was with another man. It felt somewhat less emasculating to know his baby brother often did the same tasks, but was married to Winry. On good days, he decided that meant those jobs weren’t part of the “wifely” role, and on bad days, he at least felt a step more manly than Al.

“Ed, could you pass the potatoes?”

“Sure.” Then, as the realization hit Ed who exactly had asked for the things, he nearly dropped the potatoes on the floor. “Holy shit! You’re talking.”

With a smile, Wrath nodded.

“Say something else,” Nicholas said, excitedly from the children’s table in the hallway.

“What would you like to hear?” Wrath asked.

“You really can talk.”

Listening to the former mute say his first words to the group began discussions just to get him to talk. Thankfully, their amusement lasted long enough that the children soon grew bored and went into the study to play, while the adults scattered around the library, discussing what they knew, finally able to discuss what the meeting really was about.

It was more than a little disturbing to find that the people on the other side were once again trying, as though someone with more knowledge than they really should have had on that side was helping them. The only person Ed could think of was his father, but much of a bastard as he thought the man was, he couldn’t imagine he would knowingly put his family and their world in danger, and according to Frank, the Thules were receiving information when there was no way Hohenheim could have been a party to it.

At least he hoped not.

********

Glasgow, Scotland

“Any luck?” Noa asked.

“None,” Hohenheim said. “I’ve been searching records for another center of power, and I’ve had no luck. Perhaps it is the only one, or at least, it seems to be the only one that’s been explored for that purpose.”

“Well, Father,” she said with a smile, “shall we go into town?”

“Of course, Daughter.” Hohenheim looked over at the gypsy, pleased to see how much the young woman had healed over the last few weeks. She had been held in captivity, but had, of all people, Eckart to thank for the fact that nothing else had happened to her, as the older woman felt that by keeping Noa “pure” it would make her powers stronger. “So, has that young MacMillan been here to visit lately?”

Noa, tilted her head down a bit, a red color coming to her cheeks.

“So he has. I know you two hardly know one another, but have you considered the fact that he seems to be courting you?”

Again, she blushed.

“If anything comes of it, or if another young man begins to pursue you, I would hope you would take them up on their offer if you think you can be happy with them.”

“But our work…”

“You’ve spent long enough doing work for others.” He offered her his arm and patted her gloved hand. “As a matter of fact, I’m considering just settling into my life here. It’s selfish of me to want to go home.”

He didn’t add that once again, the rotting had begun; it had been reversed with the passage through the gate, but it was back and proceeding faster than it had when it started in Risembool. He doubted he had more than ten years left, but he couldn’t complain. Ten years compared to four hundred was just a drop in the bucket.

********

Amestris

It was late, the twins asleep and the guests gone when Roy watched as Ed collapsed into the diningroom chair, wrapping his arms around the broom he’d been using, and resting his head against the handle.

“Ed?” Roy said, tucking the rag he’d wiped the table off with in his back pocket. “Are you okay?”

“Do we have any right to pretend we can be normal, Roy?”

The older man didn’t like the sound of resignation in his husband’s voice. “What do you mean?”

“I mean today, when we were… making love, having sex, one-upping one another, whatever, that was time I could have been researching the Gate. I could have been testing new blocks.”

“Ed, first of all, you can’t research and experiment all the time, though you try.” Roy grabbed a chair and sat on it backwards, legs straddling the back, head resting on his arms that draped over the top. “I mean, if I didn’t know that it was just the way you are, I’d be highly insulted at the fact that in the middle of sex last week, you insisted on pulling out a notebook. Somewhere an array struck you, and you couldn’t wait until we were done to finish it.” Roy toyed with the golden braid. “Everyone needs a break, and besides, Ed, was there ever a time we thought our lives were normal?”

Roy moved his hand beneath Ed’s hair, rubbing circles along the younger man’s back.

“We can all figure this out together, Ed. Don’t put the weight of two worlds on your back. There are plenty of us who can share that burden with you.”