For Her. For Him.

A/N: To my reviewers, 4thcry, yes, I did extend the Sloth death scene, mostly after reading yoru review and thinking it could use a slight extension. This chapter makes it really hard even for me to hate Archer. TrulyWished, this chapter is the beginning of a pretty big deviation from the canon, though I'm not done with it yet. Fluffy, though I appreciate the offer, I'll probably finish it anyway, without you needing to fulfill that. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, I get the impression Raine isn't winning points with you. I kinda like her, I mean, she wasn't even a character and she's so friggin pushy, she managed to get her way into the story. Oh, Lust's killer in the anime, I believe was Wrath. Nomme de Plume, there will be an explanation here. nette, though I wanted to do Archer in, I feel kind of like 4thcry having problems feeling completely unsympathetic for him. milky, Kumiko, and Merciful death, thank you.

Chapter 37

Aftershock

The dust and debris began to settle as screams from unfortunate victims of the red light rose up. Havoc began shouting out orders, telling the troops to begin treating the soldiers caught in the light and others to begin searching the city.

“Lieutenant Havoc,” Fuery yelled after the cloud had cleared. “Look!”

In the midst of the sand was a thick glass dome, glowing from within with a brilliant blue light. Havoc leapt from his place on top of a tank, finding he was running toward the rounded glass behind Major Armstrong.

Together, the two blonds managed to find the edge of the glass and began to lift, Havoc realizing that much of the work was being done by the state alchemist rather than himself. He also felt as though someone inside was helping, as two shadows became more distinct as the blue light began to fade.

The blonds finally had the dome lifted and found the two Mustangs guiding the glass away. At the two brunettes’ feet, Ed lay, looking completely exhausted and shaken. He struggled to just pull himself upright. The rounded covering gone, the colonel immediately knelt beside Ed, who had begun to cry uncontrollably.

Havoc had seen it before, though never from the boss. Exhaustion and the horrific reality of battle could make even the strongest of men break, even without a pregnancy and added hormones making matters worse. But there was also Al. Al had been in the town, and that realization made the lieutenant want to join Ed in his tears for a moment.

The colonel’s sister knelt opposite him and placed her hand over Ed.

“Everything’s fine. Let’s move him.”

Mustang scooped the teen’s practically limp body into his arms, cradling Ed as carefully as he could, despite the obvious fact that Ed’s weight was a bit much for the man.

“Colonel, if you would allow me…” Armstrong began, but the look on Mustang’s face made it obvious no one else would be allowed to touch Ed.

“Chief?” Havoc asked, walking beside Mustang.

“Tend to the wounded, find out the casualty count, and see if we can find any signs of Al, Marta, or Scar as well as our troops,” the colonel said in an official tone. Havoc nodded and left the colonel and major behind.

********

Roy hated seeing Ed like this, sobbing into his uniform. At this point, the colonel didn’t even care that he was giving several confused soldiers a show. Ed’s torn shirt left nothing of the teen’s condition to the imagination, so there was no denying it any longer.

Raine was already ahead of him, aiding the victims of the blast that should have, by all rights, destroyed Roy and his entire family. Armstrong was busy extracting soldiers from beneath debris and military equipment. Havoc was giving orders to and having them obeyed by men below and above him in rank.

Roy merely made his way to a soldier transport vehicle, which would have benches in the rear where Ed could lay as comfortably as possible. Roy only wished he’d been able to just climb inside and place Ed on one of those benches, but the fact was that with all of the working out he’d done, he still couldn’t.

Gingerly as he could, Roy placed Ed on the back bumper, which faced the town.

“You should go to the soldiers,” Ed said, wiping his eyes. “They need you.”

“You need me.” Roy cupped his fiancé’s face in his gloved hands, thumbs wiping away dirt and tears.

“I need to find Al,” Ed said, eyes welling up and spilling over again. “Or at least know for sure that he’s--” Ed choked back tears, only to bury his head on Roy’s coat. “I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to worry about her anymore, I killed her.”

“Killed who?”

“The fuehrer’s secretary. Our homunculus. The monster we’d made. I wanted him to know he didn’t have to worry about her.”

“Ed, the soldiers are checking what’s left of the city. You can still have the chance to let him know…” Roy wrapped his arms around Ed’s shoulders. “After all, we survived.”

“Because of me… and them. It’s the second time it’s happened, like they lend me a little of their natural abilities. I wasn’t with Al like I should have been. If I had been, he’d have been safe, and you wouldn’t have been inside the blast.”

Then, suddenly, Ed’s moment of sorrow faded as he seemed to realize the consequences of his actions.

“Roy,” Ed said, pulling away, “we’re going to have to run before the fuhrer arrives, all of us who’ve been involved in this. But right now, nothing you’re doing here is going to bring Al back, and you need to check on your soldiers.”

Roy looked down at Ed, seeing so many things flash across his face, behind those amber eyes. He kissed Ed quickly, then left him resting at the truck while he made his rounds. He gave orders, answered questions, and helped check the status of the wounded--he knew well enough how to do that with a sister who was a doctor.

Most of the troops affected by the blast were completely lost. Roy realized that was a fact, just as he was acknowledging that the same fate could well have befallen Scar, Marta and even Al, but if a search for the younger brother was necessary to ease Ed’s pain and give him a sense of closure, the teen would get it.

As he walked by mangled bodies, those who’d only been partially caught in the blast, Roy saw his sister kneeling over the form of a screaming man.

“I will try to make you hurt a little less and slow the loss of blood,” Raine said to the twisted and bloody man below her. Roy knew she didn’t expect this man to survive. It was obvious when Roy looked at him, half of his body gone. As she began beneath the blood, the man’ eye--the only one remaining--shot open, piercing blue looking up at Roy.

“Frank--” Roy said, calling the other colonel by his name for the first time in years. How was he surviving this? Part of his skull, left arm and leg, gone.

Roy knelt down as Archer struggled to speak, only managing to point to the vehicle where Ed sat, watching and waiting for some sign of his brother. Looking back down at Archer, Roy only nodded, grabbing hold of the bloody right hand. In his mind, this time, seeing only the man he'd known while at the Academy.

Raine stood, looking as though what she had done had not made the man more lucid and aware of his own state, but still moved on to the next casualty, signaling a medic to try to bandage Archer up. Roy started to join her, but found Archer’s grip on him unwavering. It was by no means so strong that it actually prevented Roy from breaking free, but he decided to stay until the medic reached his former friend.

“Take care of him,” Roy said, breaking Archer’s grip. “Do what you can.” He stood. “I’m so sorry, Frank.”

Roy moved through the soldiers, giving orders, searching for his men and his sister when they caught sight of one of the reconnaissance teams coming from the city. Roy heard as Ed jumped as well as he could from his place on the truck bumper, yelling, “Al!”

From the all-terrain truck in the distance, Roy heard another familiar voice yell back, “Brother?”

The tiny truck reached Ed and in no time, Al was off the back, and running toward the waddling older brother, but no sooner were the two brothers able to make contact, than then rapidly backed away from one another.

Roy signaled to his team that it was time to leave, finding numerous others following suit.

“You all have to stay!” Roy shouted as Breda started up the transport truck.

A major approached him. “If you are going to seek out other troops, we are going to help you.” With added meaning, the major said, “We are making the choice to follow you, Colonel.” These troops were following him because they knew this was the beginning of a revolution, and they were willing to be a part of it.

In what looked like a convoy, Roy’s transport vehicle was in the lead, headed toward Ed and Al.

Hopping off of the back of the vehicle, Roy placed a hand on Ed’s shoulder, then moved to touch Al, a gesture to show he was glad the younger Elric was okay, only to have Ed forcefully grab it back.

“No! Roy!” In a lower voice, he continued. “He survived the creation of the philosopher’s stone because he is the philosopher’s stone. No alchemist should touch him, or it could activate the stone.”

“If the stone is used,” Roy said. “What happens?”

“I could die,” Al answered.

********

Ed knocked on the cab of the truck, receiving one in return, a reply from his brother that he was okay. In return, Breda pounded on the back wall a few dozen times, a sign that he, too wanted some attention.

Ed wiggled a bit on Roy’s lap, knowing it was the only cushioning he could be offered, but much as Ed tried not to complain, he honestly was growing uncomfortable.

That wasn’t helped much when Breda slammed on the brakes. Ed found his back ramming against the cabin, Roy’s arm smashed beneath his neck, and his head making a thud against the metal.

“Son of a bitch!” Ed yelled.

Breda began pounding on the cab wall again and as Ed was about to ask what kind of a wise idea this all was, a woman’s dark head appeared at the back of the vehicle.

“Edward Elric,” she said, “we have a proposition for you.”

“Lust.” Ed’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean we?”

Roy held a hand up, prepared to attack, Armstrong donned his gloves, and the military men pulled out their guns.
“All that arsenal for little old me?” Lust asked. “Or maybe it’s for my friend. If you lift up that canvas, I think you will find him.”

Lifting the green canvas cover, Ed saw Gluttony outside, smiling, holding a burlap bag over his shoulder.

“We have some things that belong to you,” Lust said as Gluttony shook the bag. “We’ll give them back, but we want to make a deal. You will let us join you, but you will not do anything to harm us. If you agree to that, we give you back what you have been missing.”

“Why should I trust you?” Ed asked.

“Because we’ve already taken a risk by going this far,” Lust said. “As far as our master is concerned, we’ve betrayed her. You’re now our only hope at getting a philosopher’s stone.”

“And I’ll eat this is you don’t agree,” Gluttony said, dumping the contents of the bag on the ground.

“Wrath!” Ed said, trying to stand from his place on Roy’s lap.

“Do you know what this boy has?” Lust asked.

“Bring him here,” Ed said.

Gluttony slung the boy’s lifeless body over his shoulder and hopped through the canvas, landing in the space between the seated soldiers. The large arms plunked Wrath onto the floor, while Ed stood and looked at him.

“That arm and that leg, do you recognize them?” Lust asked seeming to still wait for a reaction from the blond alchemist.

“They’re mine,” Ed said. “I already knew.” Ed looked down at the knife jammed in Wrath’s foot. Slowly moving down to the floor beside the boy, he touched the blade, sensing the alchemic power in it. Seeing that it was running through the oroborous, Ed took the risk and pulled it out, Wrath’s eyes shooting open almost instantly.

“Ed?” Wrath asked, then seeing Gluttony, scurried behind Ed’s back.

"You two already know one another?" Lust asked. "You betrayed Dante?"

"You say that like I was ever loyal to her. I was smart enough to join up with him from the start instead of obeying that bitch's orders. And I'm just a kid," Wrath taunted.

“You want to join us?" Ed asked while Lust seemed speechless. "Then I think we’ll be keeping a hold of this,” Ed said, holding the blade in his right hand. Combined with this,” Ed pulled down his shirt, revealing the locket he’d received from Scar, “I think we can consider them insurance.”

“You won’t hurt my Lust,” Gluttony said malevolently.

“Then don’t make me. Unless you want to go up against an alchemist how has enough power to go up against the creation of the philosopher’s stone and survive,” Ed said, doing his best to let his familiar ego shine through. He’d missed getting to act like a hot shot, after all this time of having to admit that other people actually knew more than he did in some areas and even relying on them for support.

“Gluttony, don’t. If he wants to use it as insurance, let him, as long as he helps us.”

“And what do you want?” Roy asked.

“I want to be human, and Gluttony wants me to be happy.” Lust looked at Ed warily, apparently worried about actually coming any closer because of Ed’s possession of the locket. “Do we have a deal?”

“I believe we do,” Ed said.

“Good. Now, if you want to remain safe, I recommend you exit the way the townspeople of Lior did because Pride was on his way, and if I heard right that you killed Sloth, he’s going to be really pissed.”

“You killed Sloth?” Wrath asked.

“Yes,” Ed answered, looking behind him to the violet-eyed boy. “I knew I had to, but almost didn’t because of how much she looked like my mother, until she reached out for them.” He looked down at the round protrusion. “I couldn’t let her hurt them.”

“She used to protect me from Master.”

“You’re angry at me, then, for killing her?”

“I only care about myself,” Wrath said, defiantly. “What do I care if she’s dead?” Ed saw in Wrath’s eyes lingering tears, and as he stood to once again sit on Roy’s lap, with the help of several soldiers standing him to his feet, Ed patted Wrath’s head.

“You don’t want your arm and leg back?” Gluttony asked, looking confused.

“They are his for now.” Ed knocked on the cab wall, signaling Breda to move onward, while Lust positioned herself on the back bumper, staying as far away from the weakening locket as she could.

Wrath remained standing for the rest of the drive to the underground catacombs, but stayed very close to Ed the whole time, even curiously examining the stomach a few times.

As the group began leaving the trucks, entering the catacombs, Raine leaned closer to Ed and her brother.

“Pyro, the first town we visit,” Raine said, “I’m going to need to get a hold of a phone. I need to make a few calls.”

“What for?” Roy asked, confused.

“Do you think the military is the only one with an organization of alchemists? Those of us who don’t want to or couldn’t become state alchemists have our own way, you know.” She added with a smirk, “I think you will recognize a few of them, Baby.”