Worlds Collide

A/N:KakashiSanzo5790, I know, it was a bit of a surprise this chapter, but like I said, trust me, there's a reason for all of this. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, yup, Aideen definitely flipped this chapter, and Fletcher really needed to stand his ground with Roy because our favorite fuhrer wouldn't take his daughter dating anyone who didn't have a spine.

Chapter 51

Morning After

When Ed and Roy had arrived home, they found the twins curled together on Aideen’s bed. It had started as yelling, Aideen saying nothing, just nodding all the while save for an apology and saying she’d roamed following the incident with Fletcher. Nothing more. When Ed looked at her, she looked just as he had felt after their fight: broken. There was a strong part of him that wondered if that look could possibly have come from just the rejection of her former teacher.

Because there was so little to her story, it had made Roy angry, and the yelling grew to a louder decibel. Finally, Ed just put a hand on his husband’s arm and told his daughter they’d talk in the morning, while she curled up into her brother’s arms again.

Now, they stood in the bedroom they shared, Ed running his left hand over what had once been his red coat.

“Ed, how could you just accept that? She didn’t give us any answer. She disappeared for several hours. If something happened to her—”

“She’d told Nicholas nothing had. Maybe she’s in shock, maybe she’s still upset about our fight…”

“Ed?” Roy said, his voice bringing Ed back.

“Huh?” He shook his head. “Oh. Sorry about that.” He untied his hair, shaking out the now-loosened blond strands. “Mind just drifted.”

Ed began pulling off his shirt, and he no sooner had it off than he found two strong arms around him. “So, tell me why, after everything, you remade the coat to fit her?”

“Because it’s hers now, not mine. I’m just going to wait a while to give it back.”

Ed could feel his husband patting his hair, almost as though he was petting Charcoal. “And how are you managing? We never did get to talk after your fight.”

At first, all the younger man could do was sigh and allow himself to be led to the bed, where he sat beside his husband, who still had his arms tightly around his shoulders.

“She told me she hated me, and honestly, that stung worse than having my own daughter yell ‘fuck you.’”

“You know she didn’t mean that.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t see the way she looked at me. She was so angry. I suppose she feels like I was hiding something from her. And really, I was, all of the adults were.”

“And then tonight, when she’d gone missing, you thought that would be your last conversation with her.”

He couldn’t speak, only nod at his husband’s unerringly accurate account of Ed’s emotions that night.

“You can’t let this make you go soft on her.”

“I’m not!” Ed snapped back. “It wasn’t that, Roy. It was the look on her face. Did you really look at it when we were talking to her? She didn’t look like our Aideen anymore. It wasn’t the fire and the passion that I’ve started to miss from her personality or even that cold, distant way she’s had the last year. It was empty. Roy, I don’t know what we’re going to do, but apparently, what we’ve been doing simply isn’t working. I have a terrible feeling we’re going to lose her to whatever it is that’s eating away at her.”

“We’re not going to lose her,” Roy said, determinedly. “Neither you nor I will let that happen.”

********

Nicholas woke up, at least he though he was awake, still in his sister’s bed, but he felt certain he still had to be sleeping because he heard almost pleasant humming coming from the bathroom. He didn’t recognize the tune, but it sounded old and chipper. He recognized the sound of his sister’s voice as the person creating the tune, melodic and smooth—completely unlike his own—and he felt very confused. He looked around the room, trying to determine whether or not he was still dreaming or he’d been imagining things, imaging the look on his sister’s face when he’d found her home last night.

He looked to the corner, finding a few stray ashes that had once been her clothes, though why it possessed her to burn her favorite shirt, pants, and even boots, he’d never quite know. Personally, he thought she was in the middle of mental break-down, especially if she was cheery this morning. Being nosy, he started snooping around, looking through some of the things in her desk drawer, finding arrays he recognized, ones he didn’t, or at least didn’t without some study. He found books on meditation, making him wonder just how obsessed his sister was with plant and medical alchemy if she was studying “ways to clear the mind and fend off negative energy.” He was already aware of his sister’s issues in those fields, but honestly, he’d always considered Aideen doing something great with her alchemy.

Problem was, when he saw her sometimes, he wondered just what kind of great it would be, good or bad.

When he saw how unstable she’d become at times, he had to admit that he was angry that she got the attention. It all seemed to stem from, or at least start at, the loss of his arm. If that was true, then why the hell was she the one acting as though she’d had one of her limbs sawed off?

Flexing the automail arm in front of himself, Nicholas looked down at the piece of metal that had replaced flesh and blood. Sure, he missed his real arm, but he had to admit the advantages in battle, not to mention the fact that this only solidified himself as a member of his family. Aideen now was the only member of the four of them that didn’t have some sort of automail in her body. And really, the only time the three men in the family complained about theirs was when it would get stuck or busted somehow.

Nicholas grinned to himself, remembering after a particularly dramatic roll of his eyes when his papa’s eye had gotten stuck rolled upwards in his head. For the first time in years, the patch had returned until he could take the time to get to an ocular automail mechanic.

Most importantly, though, was that his automail could feel. Unlike his dad, he’d never known a time when it could only detect pressure. Nicholas traced a finger over the small alchemic array at the inside of his elbow joint. If for nothing else, he loved his Uncle Al for this innovation.

The bathroom door opened, Nicholas watching intently as it did.

“Did you finally decide to get up?” Aideen asked. “And are you enjoying what you’re seeing in my desk?”

“Is there something you’re trying to hide here?” he asked, jet-colored eyes narrowing.

“Not at all, though, I can only imagine what I’d find if I did the same in your room. Perhaps some dirty magazines and some lotion of some sort?” He heard her tsk-ing at him. “You look as though you are getting angry again. You really should control your temper, you know.”

“Do you want to share what the hell happened last night?”

“I told our fathers everything that any of you need to know, and now, I’m going to find them and apologize for the mess I caused yesterday. It really was uncalled for.”

All Nicholas could do was glare.

********

“Morning,” Russell said, looking down at Wrath, whose body was still aching from the previous night’s activities.

“Morning you kinky bastard,” Wrath said with a grin. “How long have you been awake?”

“Little while.”

“Well, you’ll have to excuse me because I have to use the facilities.” Wrath climbed out of the bed, grunting as he did. “You could have been a little less rough last night. I feel like a giant bruise.” He looked down at his body. He looked a bit like it, too, between the lovebites that ran from his neck to his knees and the genuine bruises from a night of harsh lovemaking and a bit of a fight for the night’s dominance on the part of the two men.

After Wrath had relieved himself and returned into the bedroom, he saw Russell still laying on the bed, quite nude, yet looking more contemplative than his usually overly horny state.

“There a reason you look lost in thought?” Wrath asked as he climbed back into the bed beside the older blond as carefully as he could because the bruises outside were nothing compared to the soreness coming from his behind at the moment.

“I was just thinking about everything that went on last night.”

“You mean Aideen being lost like that?”

“Well, that, and my brother. I mean, maybe I should have just let him figure things out on his own. She’s young, and unintentionally, she could really hurt him. Especially as—I don’t want to call it this, but I don’t know what else to define it as—unstable as she’s been lately. I might like to tease Fletcher, but I don’t want him hurt.”

Wrath put an arm around Russell. “I think him getting hurt by her is the least of his worries if he keeps mouthing off to the fuhrer like he did last night.”

“What do you mean?” Russell asked, looking very confused.

“I mean that when Roy got mad last night that your brother kissed Aideen, Fletcher pointed out the age difference between Roy and Ed, and the fact that Ed was the same age, though Roy was older.”

Russell sucked air through his teeth creating a sort of hissing sound. “That was very dumb.”

“Maybe, but the fuhrer respected it. It proved your brother has a backbone.” Wrath smiled over at his boyfriend, glad to see some sign of humanity in the usually quirky man. The concern for his brother was genuine, and in moments like these, far more than any other time in their relationship together, Wrath saw a glimmer of why Russell had once been mistaken for Edward Elric.

He ran a hand down Russell’s cheek, finally rubbing over stubble around the man’s mouth. “Did you miss something while you were shaving?”

“I thought I’d grow a goatee.” Wrath looked down at the blond. “What? Don’t like the idea?”

“We’ll see.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m just surprised you’re asking permission.”

“Hey, I think you’re a keeper,” Russell said, leaning against Wrath’s shoulder and pushing his body more tightly to the larger man’s side. “I wouldn’t want to mess that up by growing facial hair.”

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Wrath flipped Russell on top of his body. “But you’re my idiot.”

“All yours and only yours.”

“Damned right.”

********

When Kain snuck up behind Frank, he hadn’t expected the man to react as he did. Admittedly, sneaking up on the former spy had its risks, as an accidental knee to his stomach had proven a year ago, but it wasn’t the violent reaction that was such a surprise but what came out of his mouth.

“Lord love a duck!” At that simple phrase, any intimidation Frank Archer might have managed following Kain startling him was gone as the bespectacled man found himself doubled over in laughter, eyes tearing up.

“It isn’t funny!” Frank yelled.

“Oh… trust me…” Kain managed between laughs. “It’s hysterical. A duck!”

Really, Kain had thought he’d heard all of the phrases from the older man’s world, but he had been very, very wrong. He’d already heard him define something very unusual as being “as rare as rocking horse shit,” define Kain’s penis as a “tadger,” which Frank swore was affectionate, not to mention words like “tallywhacker,” “percy,” and any number of pink items which were interchangeable with the proper name for that organ. Words like bloody and ruddy were common enough that Kain had occasionally slipped and used them, himself.

Yet, this was the first time that in a moment of non-violent surprise, the chief of military investigations had ever requested that a deity bestow affection on a feathered fowl. And when Kain thought of it in that way, an almost Falman or Sheska-like way, it only made him laugh harder.

“Oh, bugger off,” Frank said, as he stormed out of their livingroom and into the bedroom, slamming the door in Kain’s face.

“Don’t be mad, Frank,” Kain said. “It was just funny. It was so…” Kain searched for the right word, because ones like un-macho and girly would almost definitely ensure there’d be no sharing that bedroom later that night. “So, not like you.”

“It’s a saying my mother used to use.”

“I didn’t mean to laugh, Frank,” Kain said, trying to withhold any mirth from his voice. “I thought I’d heard them all by now, and that one was new to me.”

“Again, I say, bugger off!”

Kain shook his head, trying to remind himself that despite their most common roles in the bedroom, he was usually the one pulling the more effeminate moments in their relationship. Hearing his husband pout in the next room, Kain could think of another word that would certainly mean his denial of sex for a week: Diva.

“Frank, come on out…” closing his eyes to a squint, Kain struggled to remember one of those obscene phrases that Frank occasionally left out. Just one that might act as a peace—or piece, depending on how you looked at it—offering. “Come out and maybe I’ll take a shot at… smoking the pink oboe.”

From within the bedroom, there was loud laughter, and the doorknob turned. “It’s smoke the pink cigar or play the pink oboe, not both.” He grabbed Kain’s face in his hands and kissed him. “You are a ridiculous little man, do you know that?” He kissed him again. “But I appreciate your attempt.”

********

Roy heard the gentle rapping on the door, waking him from his sleep. He realized he’d slept in most of his uniform through the night, laying atop the comforter, Ed still in his pants and undershirt, their arms wrapped tightly around one another.

“Papa, Dad, can I come in?” Aideen asked.

“Ed,” Roy whispered in the smaller man’s ear. “Ed, time to wake up. Aideen’s outside the door.”

Roy watched as two still-young-looking amber eyes opened, looking just a bit cloudy from recent sleep. Ed grunted, slowly releasing his hold on Roy, as Roy did the same.

“Come in, Aideen,” Roy said, his voice stern despite having just woke up.

His daughter slowly entered the room, looking at the two men on the bed, something flashing across her eyes so fast that Roy didn’t quite catch it. Then almost immediately, she became apologetic and could hardly manage to look either of the two men in the eyes. Behind her, from the doorway, Roy could see Nicholas glowering at her.

“It was stupid of me, I know.” She said, hands folded in front of her. “I got angry because you know how much I want to learn about alchemy. I just kept thinking about what I would do if something happened to Nicholas. I know I’d do the same thing you did, Dad.”

Again, Nicholas looked at her angrily, rolling his eyes.

“The point is that you should never have to do those things,” Ed said. “And even if you felt you had to, there’s no guarantee that you would manage to survive saving him.”

“And that certainly doesn’t explain running off last night,” Roy added, looking severely at his daughter.

“I was angry, and there’s no excuse for it. I went to see Fletcher because I thought he would understand, but instead, I made a fool out of myself. I roamed the streets for a while, then came home.”

“And why were you so upset last night?” Ed asked, apparently the look in their daughter’s eyes the night before still nagging at him.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that I like Fletcher, and I think I might have ruined whatever might have happened. I also felt very bad that I’d said those things to you, Dad. I didn’t mean them. And I will apologize to everyone who searched for me, if I have to, in order to make things right for running off last night.”

“You understand you’re still going to be grounded for a very long time?” Roy asked.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less for the way in which I behaved.”

“I accept the apology, Aideen, but you have to learn that sometimes I keep information from you for your own safety.”

Aideen nodded.

“I just wish that things could be more like this,” Ed said. “That you could behave more like this.”

“It certainly makes it easier,” Roy said. “We don’t like to fight with you all the time, Aideen. Why can’t you try to be more level-headed and calm like you are now?”

“I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make sure I am like this more often.”

“You can go back to your room now. When we have breakfast ready, we’ll call you back downstairs,” Roy said, rising from the bed, grateful that he didn’t have anything drawing him to work that day.

Again, a nod, then she turned and left, Nicholas muttering behind her. “You’re one hell of an actress.”

********

Munich

“Frau Eckhart,” one of the woman’s most trusted members said to her. “Our people have located them in London.”

“Ah, very well done.”

“Do you want to have me order their capture?”

“Not just yet. A woman and two teenagers will be easy enough to catch. I’d rather have them still in shock, have him still in shock to see them here when they unwillingly help us with our plans. Let’s give the remaining members of his brood a few more weeks of ignorant bliss before we rip it out from beneath them.”