Worlds Collide

A/N: Amethyst-eyed Koneko, if I answer all of that, it kind of ruins things, but I promise your questions will be answered. And as for Eckhart, isn't wikipedia great? When I was figuring out how I should write this one, I saw all that stuff on there. And though you weren't screaming out, "Dante is Aideen!" You were the first one to pick up on odd behavior, and asked if it was possible Dante could be her. But, I will tell you one thing, if it helps, there was a clue in the research that Ed read of Aideen's. It said that a "vessel" has to be in the transmutation. When Dante "died" in the transmutation that went to the Gate, only 5 people were there, excluding gluttony, Ed, Al, Wrath, Nicholas and Aideen, so that at least is when Dante got there. And as far as Ed and Roy's reaction, that will come in a few chapters. MustangsHavoc, I'm glad you liked the twist of it being Aideen. Kisa, thank you so much.

Chapter 55

Confusion and Scheming

The next day

Jean Havoc stood at the bus depot, holding onto Gracia’s face as tightly as possible.

“You need to go, please, for my sake.” The general kissed her tenderly, then turned to his son. “James, you and your mother both need to take care of one another, not to mention your sister and brother-in-law.”

“But, Dad, I don’t understand why we have to go to the encampments outside of town.”

“Because you are not safe in Central right now, and until they’re sure who is organizing all of this, you can’t go to the other cities.” Jean hugged his boy, ruffling the sandy-colored hair, much as the young adolescent hated it. “Besides, the fuhrer’s seen to it that the encampments have everything you could need.”

“Will Aideen and Nicholas be there?”

“No, as alchemists, they’re old enough to stay behind and help.” Again, he ruffled the boy’s hair. “But all five of the Elric children will be going. Rose and your mother are going to help to take care of them since their parents are staying behind as well.”

“Sasha will be there?” James asked with undisguised enthusiasm.

“Yes, she will.” Jean pressed his lips to the dark blond head of hair and stood to talk to his daughter—even if it wasn’t by blood—and son-in-law. “And there will be doctors there. Good ones.”

Elysia rubbed her very large stomach. “I’m hoping I’ll get to have Michael in Central.”

“Well, Dr. Knox will be at the encampment with you, and he delivered the twins. At least you’re in good hands.” Jean put a hand on the rounded stomach, feeling just the faintest movement from inside from his soon-to-be grandson. “But I’d like to be there when the little guy is born.”

“So would I.” Elysia did her best to hug Jean despite her very rounded stomach. Though they’d had arguments when she’d been a teenager, the relationship between Jean and the young woman and become one of the genuine family.

“And you, Thomas,” he said to Elysia’s husband, a man so similar in appearance to Maes Hughes, it was almost painful to witness, “take care of her.”

“Always.” Thomas shook Jean’s hand just as firmly and seriously as he had when he’d begun dating Elysia and assured the man that he had only the best intentions for the young woman.

********

“So, I am cleared to leave the hospital?” Riza asked Frank, who had been sitting in silence for some time.

“Yes. The question is where are you going to stay until they can get the Gate open again and you can return to your family.” He patted her hand, looking at the woman he’d known for so many years and knew cared about her family dearly. “Kain and I have an extra room, but I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” And yet, despite himself, he couldn’t seem to help making this little dig at her, even at this weak moment. Moments like these, he felt more in touch with his Amestris double, and he loathed it.

“Don’t take that tone with me!” she said, glaring at him. “I have a family that’s at home, guns to their head, and you’re here taking offense to my way of thinking. It may be wrong here, but it was how I was raised, Frank Archer. And though you’ve been here for almost seven years, it was how you were raised too.” Riza closed her eyes and bit her upper lip. “It isn’t that I’m not trying to understand, but Frank you’re trying to give me just over twenty-four hours to accept that you are married to a man, and that Roy is as well. And honestly Frank,” she said, her voice rising. “I’m having trouble accepting that this man is not my own husband with this other man.”

“I know, Riza,” he said, moving to sit beside her on the bed. “That’s why I want you to meet someone.” Frank turned to the door and yelled out. “You can come in now.”

The door clicked open, and Kain stepped through, a warm, if not nervous, expression on his face.

“Hello, Riza,” Kain said, holding out a hand. She took it, and they held clasped hands for a moment, not shaking them, just that instant connection the younger man always had when he met others. He released her hand and sat opposite her in the seat where Frank had been sitting. “I’m Kain.”

Riza looked over at Frank, who nodded to her unasked question of confirmation that this was his Kain.

“I know this is a lot to take in, and that you have to be worried sick about your family, but no one is going to stop working to make sure things can be set right.” He smiled at her kindly, looking over at Frank with the same soft expression for just a moment, before his eyes returned to his dead friend’s double. “I knew the Riza of this world, and I can tell you what you want to know, within reason. She was a relatively private person. I don’t even know if the fuhrer knew her entirely, and they loved one another.

“I know Frank explained to you that those things don’t matter here, and I hope you will keep that in mind to accept our offer of our home to you.” Again, Kain warmly smiled at Frank.

That gentle look didn’t go unnoticed by the other person in the room. “You two really do love one another.”

With a smirk and sarcasm worthy of the leader of Amestris, Kain answered, “That tends to be an important reason people get married.”

********

Raine stood beside Vato, who clung tightly to the sleeping body to their granddaughter—yes, she’d finally given in and accepted the girl as such despite the fact that it still made her feel old.

“What do we do with her?” Raine asked. “The bit—” She purposely cut herself off, afraid that Juliana might hear. “Your ex-wife is too afraid to head to Central with all that’s been happening and certainly won’t stay in one of the encampments. Juliana’s father gave up all rights to her the moment he realized Kathy was pregnant. Neither of us can go, and the poor little thing hasn’t wanted to be too far away from at least one of us since…”

“No,” Vato said, hugging the little red-headed girl on his lap. “She’s going to have to stay here. I don’t think we have much choice.” He kissed the little carrot top. “We’ll have to ask for an exception from your brother.” He sighed. “It isn’t as though we’d be the only ones.”

Raine kissed him at his temple and ran her hand over the red-orange curls. “I’ve got to get back to the hospital. Thankfully I get to stay there with the living and not join the doctors analyzing the dead. Speaking of which, they found Patterson, the one who hurt Breda. He’d hanged himself out of guilt over his actions.”

“Can’t say I consider it a loss.”

“Neither do I.” Raine picked up her white lab coat. “Well, I suppose I’ll be off. Tell the little one I’m just a phone call away if she needs to talk to me while I’m at the hospital.”

“Speaking of the hospital, how is Russell?”

“Hopefully still unconscious. He was getting dangerous.” Fletcher had been forced to order the capture of his own brother and have him sedated. Russell had grown almost violent as the day had passed and no word, not even the discovery of the large man’s body had been received.

“And still no sign of Wrath?”

She shook her head. “None.”

********

Dante sat in the guest room, looking up at Hohenheim. Nicholas up until this point had been dominating the conversation, but the teen had left to get his automail inspected and then got to meet the fuhrer at the hospital. Personally, Dante would have liked to have gone right along with him, for no other reason than to get away from Hohenheim, but she knew it would look suspicious if she avoided Hohenheim’s presence without at least some explanation, and the family insisted she stay at home for her safety, particularly if there were signs of flashbacks or the final breaking “remorse.”

She hoped the brat would come back to question his old man more. That, at least was entertaining. Unfortunately, Ed was involved in the clean-up and recovery efforts, as was Al, who’d ridden on the ambulance to the hospital with Hohenheim after his initial arrival. They’d gotten the basic information that was needed, knowing that the Thules would be making another attempt at the Gate if they heard nothing from their leader. Dante had been pleased to hear this, since it meant that there were still more weapons she could learn and incorporate into Amestris’s current capabilities. She would need to make contact with the remaining members of that society and convince them to follow her, that she had the best interests of the group and their efforts toward reaching Shamballa at heart.

That meant re-opening the Gate somewhat more subtly than before. Not that she hadn’t done that countless times before. Despite Hohenheim’s presence, Dante smiled at herself. It truly was amazing how easy it was to escape from the mansion, and how trusting other children were of her in this form, or at least how trusting they used to be. Aideen Mustang had become something of a frightening figure as of late, but that hardly mattered anymore. This was a bit of an experiment on Dante’s part, but she believed she could now open the Gate without having to use some baby or snot-nosed brat—not that she’d minded using Nicholas the first time she’d contacted the Thules, which had been dismissed as a terrible nightmare brought on by the poisoning.

“You are rather quiet, but smiling,” Hohenheim said. “Something pleasant?”

“Just imagining the moment you leave.” Dante had let that slip and cursed herself for it at first, until she saw that the words had a stinging effect on Hohenheim, who seemed none the wiser that he was not speaking to his granddaughter. She had rather enjoyed making the brat squirm yesterday, and wondered if she should push her luck with her former lover. “Really, it’s a talent of yours I’ve yet to see.”

“Excuse me?” the older man said. Dante met his gaze, thinking how strange it was to see Hohenheim with wrinkles and gray hair.

“Leaving.” She said, looking away from him, focusing her eyes on some unknown point beyond the wall opposite her. “You left Dad and Uncle Al, you left this world, and even before all that, you left Dante and Envy.” In her peripheral vision, she could see the somewhat surprised look on his face, trying to keep her expression as impassive as ever, despite the fact that she knew she’d trod on dangerous territory here. “I’ve spent a good part of my life researching alchemy and everything I could find on it. That bit of information didn’t slip my study.”

Hohenheim’s eyes narrowed.

“It could be worse,” Dante said, attempting damage control. “I could call you that bastard, or the son of a bitch like Dad still does.”

And there it was, a closely guarded but still there look of remorse. Dante knew well enough that Ed had used such fond terms for his father, and knew that by bringing those back up, it would hurt the man. Really, Dante found herself disappointed that this body would only last a few decades, because she truly loved the power—both alchemical and emotional in regards to her family—that Aideen possessed. In any other form, she couldn’t have gotten away with tormenting Hohenheim, not any more than she could have the comments about wanting to talk to her “mother” the night before.

There was also the concern that there would never be another body so powerful. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t, dare she term it, breed, but honestly, the strongest male alchemists were all blood related, and much as Dante sought power, she had no desire to have an extra head or some other birth defect in her new body.

“You seem to drift off into thought often. You may think I’m terrible, but you don’t have any questions for me?”

Feeling that if she didn’t soon ask some question that would be normal for a granddaughter, Dante looked up at Hohenheim. “Tell me about my grandmother.”

It was, after all, a question she had long been curious about, how an ordinary woman, with no alchemic ability whatsoever could manage to attract the affections of one as skilled as Hohenheim. The man started droning on about how beautiful and sweet the other woman was, even daring to compare Tricia Elric to Dante on a few occasions, Dante herself coming out the worse for each comparison. Feeling she would likely have a nasty outburst if she continued to listen to the man’s pleasant recollections of Tricia Elric, Dante began focusing on contacting the other side of the Gate. After all, the massive force of using Wrath’s whole body had broken all wards and dampeners and the Gate could easily be opened from anywhere in Central—lately, she’d had to find places relatively close to the location in the underground city.

She was also going to have to see to Tucker. He was getting anxious for the redstones, the only thing left in preparations for the creation of the homunculus of his daughter.

“Is there anything else you wanted to know?”

“I don’t think so. I’m sure you must be tired from having Nicholas ask you dozens of questions this morning, and Dad will be back soon. Get some rest.” Really, Dante felt she deserved an award for her acting ability.

********

Russell felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on his head, one by one. His eyes opened to a very white room, almost like one in a hospital. He didn’t understand. The very last thing he remembered was threatening a sergeant who was of absolutely no help in trying to find Wrath. Then his brother… Fletcher.

It came back to him, and with a near-feral growl, Russell remembered that his little brother had injected him with something, knocked him out with a tranquilizer.

“Russell? Are you awake?”

“You damned traitor!” Russell yelled, turning as much as he could, finding restraints on his arms, waist and legs. “You little son of a bitch!”

“Yell all you want, but I’m not letting you go until you calm yourself.”

“Calm myself? What the hell good is it doing having me here when I should be looking for Wrath. He could be injured or thinking I’ve abandoned him, and it will be your fault!”

“Russell, you were out of control, functioning on nothing but coffee and worry. You were growing so violent you nearly hurt the sergeant you were arguing at, and I say arguing at because the poor man looked stunned and never said a word as you berated him.”

“But we still haven’t found him yet.”

“Yes, Russell, but there are a lot of people who haven’t been found, and as much as we both would like Wrath to be the sole priority, he isn’t. There are other people who have not been recovered, and the military is working very hard to find them all.”

Despite himself, Russell could feel the tears stinging his eyes. “But it isn’t fair.” And before another word left his mouth, Fletcher was undoing the straps and wrapping his arms around his older brother.

“I know it isn’t.” Without thought, Russell collapsed into the embrace of those twig-like arms and returned it.

“I just don’t want to be the one who has to carry on. I don’t think I can.”

“I know you can, but I really hope you don’t have to.”

********

Ed worked alongside Al to reconstruct some of the buildings that had contained wards which been destroyed, not because Central was really ready to be rebuilt just yet, but beneath these buildings were the wards that would let the brothers know just how bad the damage had been and if they could block the connection to the Gate.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Al?”

“Absolutely.” The taller brother ran a hand through his brown hair before returning to his work. “Someone has to, and I’ve seen worse.” He knelt beside Ed as they laid their hands over a pile of rubble, the older brother grateful that this one, at least didn’t have any signs of human remains in the components the two could detect with their alchemy. “I’m a grown man, Brother—Ed.” Ed smiled at this little correction, his brother’s attempt at showing how mature he was. “I’ve seen much worse. I think you just like to forget that I have.”

Ed nodded. “I still feel strange about leaving the twins with Hohenheim.”

“Father,” Al corrected. “He made a sacrifice for us by drawing Envy into the Gate.”

“I’m not calling him other colorful names. That’s my compromise.”

Al rolled his large brown eyes before they both clapped their hands and laid them on the pile of stone and dust, transforming it back into the dentist’s office it had once been. “Thirteen down,” Al said. “Fifty more to go.”

Ed only barely heard his brother, as his mind was drifting off to the fact that Roy would be visiting this Riza. The faint smile he’d had at his brother’s tiny joke didn’t last long as the damned worry that had been nagging him since her appearance once again showed itself, much to his distaste. What won out? Was it the person who’d loved him longest or the person who’d loved him first? And why the hell was he so damned insecure? This woman wasn’t even the Riza of this world. Besides, he’d married Roy, given birth—he’d like to see another man try it—to two beautiful children, and loved the man more than he’d expected he could, so why the hell was he still so worried about being left or abandoned? What the hell did it matter that their relationship started because of the twins and the pregnancy? That didn’t

Al, always the more sensitive brother, put his arm around Ed’s shoulders as they moved to the next area of destruction, realizing as they sensed human remains that they weren’t going to have it as easy with this pile as they had with the last.

********

Frank pulled Kain into the cover of an archway, the younger man looking up at him.

“Frank, what is it?”

Almost instantly, his husband was grabbing Kain and smashing their lips together. “Just making sure you’re really okay. I’ve only gotten to see you today in the hospital. Though, I’m beginning to realize more and more why having members of the military involved is frowned upon.”

Kain trailed his knuckles against Frank’s cheek, noticing that slight inclination the older man had to lean into his touch. “We really need to get back to work. And you need a shave.”

Frank cupped Kain’s face in his hand. “Could say the same for you.”

“So, Riza seemed more open to the ideas of this world,” Kain said.

“I hope so. If she can’t go back, it’s going to be difficult for her.” Frank’s blue eyes practically twinkled. “You know, I do believe that you made a good impression on her.”

“Well, she seemed shocked that I’d turned you into a softy.”

“You have not, you smug little—mmph!” But before Frank could finish that statement, Kain pulled Frank down into a kiss. “Oh, come on. We have to get back to our troops now that we’ve done our business with Riza.”

********

Nicholas stood in the waiting room with his father. “Nicholas,” his papa said, “maybe you should stay out here. I know Frank and Kain talked to her, but I’m not sure—”

“You’re not sending me away. If she can’t accept that you and Dad are together, then that just proves she’s not Mom, doesn’t it? I mean, if she can’t accept you, then odds are she won’t accept me either, and I know that my mother would have.”

“Nicholas, you’ll be looking at the face of your mother, possibly saying things that are going to be hard to hear.”

“Papa, it isn’t going to change my opinion of Mom. But I’m not going to pass up the chance to see her, hear her, even if what she’s saying isn’t exactly kind any more than I turned down the chance to watch the reel of you two receiving your awards from Ishbal to get to see her, despite the terrible circumstances.” Nicholas grabbed his father’s sleeve, looking just slightly down at the eyes the same color as his own. “And you can’t tell me that it wouldn’t hurt for you to have someone there for support.”

Nicholas found himself falling under skeptical gaze. “At what point did you grow up?”

“Oh, I have my moments,” Nicholas answered with a smile.

Trailing his father closely, nodding to Ross that they would protect one another and that she and the other guards wouldn’t be necessary. The commander agreed that she wouldn’t go in with them, but it was obvious she would be listening at the door.

The two Mustangs walked into the room, finding a pair of coppery eyes following them as they made their way to a set of chairs near the bed where Riza Mustang sat. Nicholas found himself twitching, nervous to keep himself under control at the idea of finally meeting his mother, more or less.

“Hello,” Riza said, extending her hand to Nicholas, and more reluctantly, to his father.

“I’m hoping that Frank and Kain explained things to you,” Nicholas’s papa said, his tone more like that of a fuhrer than a former lover, and honestly, Nicholas was glad. It showed that he was here to speak to her on an official capacity.

“They did, and if it hadn’t been for the photographs you provided, I would have said they were barmy.” The woman looked at Roy. “So the small blond man, he actually carried the twins?”

Both Nicholas and his father nodded.

And, the two began a gradual explanation of events on Riza’s part and discussion over what to do next and how to try to return her to her time, all the while, Nicholas found his knees drawing up to his chest and resting on the chair, allowing him to watch the woman more carefully and listen to the sound of her voice. It was just as he’d imagined. It was stern, but not angry, calm but not emotionless, except when she spoke of her family. Then and only then did it turn impassioned and worried, just as he’d imagined his own mother’s would when talking about or trying to protect him or Aideen.

“I’m going to help my dad with the Gate. I’m old enough now,” Nicholas said. “We’ll try to help your family however we can.”

And as though she was finally paying close attention to him, Riza leaned forward and grabbed hold of Nicholas’s left wrist. “Your hand.”

“Got that when I was thirteen after I was bitten by, well, we’ll say a big lizard.” He stood and sat beside her on the bed so she could look over it better. “Did you notice my Dad has one too, plus a leg? Helped me get through a lot to know he had gone through it all himself.”

It amazed Riza as he flexed and manipulated his automail, explaining that his Dad had gotten his much earlier in life, and had taught him everything about it, how to use alchemy with it, and how to cope. Finally, Nicholas thought, or at least hoped, that she might be coming along, because honestly, there was a good chance she might have to stay here.

********

Roy had sent Nicholas home after talking with Riza. It amazed the father how much his boy was able to calm the woman, to make even her most uncomfortable questions seem like nothing, as he answered them with ease. It had been agreed that she would stay with Frank and Kain, as she was already familiar with Frank and had taken to Kain. Tomorrow, Roy was to bring Ed to meet her. Despite it all, despite her upbringing, it seemed to have been Nicholas’s arm that convinced her more than anything anyone could say to her. When Nicholas had shown her his arm and explained that he’d coped with the horrible reality of having the automail installed largely because Ed had been there, something maternal in her took over.

It was as though she had accepted Ed, not because he was Roy’s husband or that Roy loved him, but because that young man, despite all her prejudices, despite everything that apparently still told her this was wrong, had raised and cared for her two children, or what would have essentially been her two children. Though many would have questioned if that was necesary, Roy knew that having her able to cope would only serve as a benefit. They couldn't have her disrupting thigns more than necessary as they tried to deal with this recent opening of the Gate.

Roy made his way through the darkened house, checking first on Aideen, who seemed to be sound asleep on her bed. He moved then to Nicholas’s room, finding the same thing there. Bypassing his own door, Roy climbed the stairs to the guest room, finding that even Hohenheim seemed to have reached that point of deep and heavy breathing that comes only with relaxing sleep.

Finally, feeling as though he could settle down, himself, Roy made his way to the bedroom he gladly shared with his husband. He opened the door, finding Ed was sitting, reading yet another alchemic text. It didn’t surprise Roy, really. After the opening of the Gate, after it all, Ed had thrown himself into his work, and already shared his guilt with the older man who was just as ashamed that it couldn’t have been stopped and that their daughter had taken another’s life for the first time. They had talked to her, and found her coping frighteningly well, but it was a simple fact that the gnawing sensation in Roy’s gut wouldn’t go away, a sensation that kept screaming that something more was wrong here.

“So, you talked to her, Nicholas said.”

“Yes,” Roy said as he kicked off his shoes. “I talked to her.” There was only a nod from the bed as a fuhrer’s jacket was thrown into a wash pile along with the ridiculous flaps that covered the lower half of Roy’s body. “Are you okay, Ed?”

“I’m fine, Roy. Just trying to find out what else I can do, how we can make contact with the you on the other side and get the Gate closed permanently.”

Roy wasn’t dense. He knew that his husband was also trying to find a way to ensure that Riza could go back through to do it. “Let me know what I can do to help.”

“You’ve got a lot on your plate right now,” Ed said almost faintly. “Al and I are working on it, and Nicholas has offered, too. I’ve decided I’m going to include him more on things like this.”

“And Aideen?”

“She hasn’t shown much interest, but after what happened with the Thules, I’d rather she just be able to find some way that her life can go back to normal and maybe actually accept the fact that she… that she’s killed someone.”

“You know, we’re going to need to have Raine take a look at her as soon as things have settled down. I don’t want any health risks, either from the attack or…” Roy couldn’t complete the thought, the idea that Aideen might have contracted something or possibly suffered another consequence of the unprotected sex with Phillip Armstrong.

Again, there was only a nod from Ed.

Though he was still clothed, Roy climbed into the bed beside his reading husband, kneeling at his side. “Ed, talk to me.”

“I thought I was.” Roy took the book from him, leaving the thing open as he left it spread open, spine cracking a bit as he laid it on the bed. “Don’t. You’ll ruin it like that. It damages the spine.”

“Ed.” Roy grabbed Ed’s chin and turned his face to him. “Talk to me. I know you’ve felt guilty about Aideen, that you’re upset you couldn’t prevent something that obviously we weren’t meant to prevent, and you’re worried about Wrath and Russell, but there’s more than that here, Ed. I know you too well. Now talk.”

“Riza’s here, Roy. And as ashamed as I am to say it, I hate that she is. I worry that she is.” The gold eyes looked at him defiantly. “Is that what you wanted to hear? That I’m afraid that she’ll take everything I have away from me? Because, I’ll tell you, I haven’t felt much like I’m deserving of this life since I’ve failed to protect it so many times this far.”

“You have done everything you could. More than anyone else is capable of. And now, with Hohenheim here to offer insight, perhaps you can put differences aside for once.”

Ed rolled his eyes. “Only for my children would I put up with that son of a bitch.”

“That’s right, Ed, for your kids.” Roy kissed the smaller man lightly. “Our children.”

And with that, Roy moved his hand and started unbuttoning the white dress shirt, grateful that for once, he’d forgotten an undershirt.

“Roy, what do you think you’re doing? Do you honestly think I could be in the mood for—” Roy grabbed hold of Ed’s left hand and put it beneath the shirt, holding it flatly over his heart.

“Yours Ed, for seventeen years now, you’ve had it. Do you think this new Riza could shake it?” Roy moved his left hand to rub over his husband’s ear. “Much as I love our Riza still, even if she had been the one to walk off that vessel it wouldn’t have changed that.”

Ed’s hand still resting over Roy’s heart, they moved together again in a much more firm and passionate kiss.

“And don’t you dare try to put all this on yourself. I’m the fuhrer. If anyone is supposed to make sure that this country and this city are supposed to stay safe, it’s me. Understand?”

There was a slight bow of Ed’s head in acknowledgement followed by a few moments of silence before the younger man grabbed hold of Roy’s left hand and placed it in a corresponding place to where Ed’s still rested on the pale chest. “Yours too.” Then, as they sat there, kneeling opposite one another like this for some time, Ed spoke again. “We’ll get through this, Roy. We have to.”

“Of course we will. Together.” Roy moved away from Ed only long enough to remove his pants before he laid down beside Ed, pulling him into his arms. “We’ll need our rest if we’re going to function at all tomorrow to relieve the night reconstruction crew.”

“Roy?”

“Hmm?”

“Kain, he came over and talked to Hohenheim. Did he think it helped at all?”

“He was able to give Kain a few more of Dante’s habits along with what we already knew.”

“Oh. Good.” Roy pulled Ed against his chest, not letting the smaller man see the fact that he was crying, though he didn’t really know at what, or if it could really be specified to one thing. His daughter had been forced to take a life. A ghost from his past had shown up and was only barely as understanding as the real Riza had been. All evidence pointed to the fact that Wrath was dead. He had failed to protect Central once again. His husband actually thought he’d leave him for that Riza doppelganger. Dante was still out there somewhere and probably still seeking out Aideen.

Roy resigned himself to a tearful sleep as he realized pinpointing the exact source of his tears wouldn't be easy.

********

Shou Tucker watched in awe as once again Dante made her way into the underground tunnels that she, herself, had created. He had long been aware of who she was, but he would never have assumed her to be quite the acrobat that she was, despite being in Aideen Mustang’s body. She showed no signs of the rotting he knew from study were commonplace if the soul was too weak to sustain life any longer. He had to wonder just what, exactly, was keeping this body not only alive but incredibly fit and strong.

“Well, Mr. Tucker,” she said as she stood in front of him, “I suppose you’re waiting on the redstones.”

He watched as she uncurled a closed fist, showing him three of the powerful things. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get more soon, but to guarantee that, I’m going to have to open up the Gate again to send a message through.”

Tucker looked around for any sign of a child or baby, what he knew was her usual technique.

“No need for that any longer,” she said with a smug grin, one that frighteningly reminded him of her host’s elder father. With a move Tucker wasn’t familiar with, hands clasped over her abdomen then her heart, the portal, no larger than a manhole cover opened up in the floor. She pulled out a large metal tube and dropped it through the opening. The movement she’d made before was repeated, and the opening closed.

“Another letter?”

“To the remaining Thules and the other Roy who’s been forcibly opening the Gate for them. I’ve just informed them that their leader has been captured by our evil fuhrer, along with Riza Mustang, and that weapons and possibly additional troops would need to be sent through in two days time when we can plan a ‘coup.’”

“You’re really going to do this, kill the men who raised you?” Tucker was already planning to go to great lengths to ensure his daughter came back to him, so the idea that this woman, in the form of the fuhrer and Elric’s daughter would so easily do away with them, reached what little humanity was left in the man.

“They didn’t raise me. They just ensured I reached an age where I could survive on my own.” Again, she held the red stones where he could see them. “Are you ready to try this, Mr. Tucker, or do I save these stones for a more worthy servant?”