Worlds Collide

A/N: Fullmetal Neko, I fixed the problems with the last chapter. Glad you liked it anyway, and didn't kill me for the cliffy. dancingpixies, it was messed up. Kuragari75, here's the update. Truly Wished, it was a cheap shot Roy took, but one that he knew would work. And unfortunately the little ones are always going to be an easy target with their dad as fuhrer. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, see what happens when you ask for action? Just kidding, but yeah, Dante's on their side of the gate, which is why I wanted to give them a little fluff every so often, because hell isn't over for them yet. I know you weren't ripping up on the Munich part, just wanted more of your Roy/Ed, and that's okay.

Chapter 8

Comfort

Munich

It had taken next to no time at all for Stephen to manage to get word to Hohenheim of their problem, and much to Wrath’s surprise, the response came knocking at the main door of their apartment. Opening the door, he found himself faced with Roy Mustang, or at least this world’s version of him.

“I need to speak to Stephen, is he in?” This Roy asked in German. “Tell him Roy Mustang is here.”

“Sure.” Thank goodness, after all this time in Germany, he’d learned more than a functional bit of German. “Please, have a seat. We have some beer, if you’d like some.”

“No, thank you.”

It was awkward for Wrath to have to be so formal with this man. He knew it wasn’t the Roy Mustang of Amestris, not that he’d been all that close to him, but this man looked identical to the Roy he’d known, if not a tiny bit older looking and a little less lean, particularly around his midsection. Admittedly, his eyes also had a slight difference; obviously a man who’d seen his share of death, this Roy somehow lacked the harsh edge of someone who’d witnessed--hell, caused--it on the scale the Roy of Amestris did.

“I’ll go get Stephen.” Wrath started to leave when he saw Edward leaving the bedroom they shared. The blond looked over at the man on the sofa. “Edward, this is Roy Mustang.”

Edward raised a blond eyebrow. Wrath knowingly looked at him, nodding, then watched as Edward made his way onto the chair opposite the black-haired man. It was nice to see him actually moving about the apartment, looking less like a shell of his former self since the news a few nights ago that Alfons had passed away. The rocket scientist had been discovered by some Officer Hughes, who had been checking on Edward’s cousin to bring him meals from the woman who owned a shop on the street below his apartment.

For the first day, Edward hadn’t really left his bed, aside from going to work. He hadn’t eaten, hadn’t really functioned at all.

The teenager knocked on Stephen’s door. The older blond stuck his head out, as Wrath gestured to the man on the sofa. Stephen walked into the room, Roy immediately jumping up and saluting the man.

“Okay,” Wrath said. “He’s here. Do you have the information from Hohenheim?”

“I cannot disclose that to you.” Roy looked to his superior officer.

“Roy,” Stephen said, “I give you clearance to give the information to them.” A set of blue eyes rolled in the older blond’s head. “I’d forgotten how much of a stickler you were for the rules.”

From beneath his coat, Roy pulled out several folded papers, handing them to Edward.

“He isn’t the one who knows this stuff,” Stephen said. Surprise apparent on the dark-haired man’s face, Roy watched as Edward handed over the papers to the teen. Wrath looked over the sheets, barely noticing that Roy was sitting in silence.

“Edward, Ulysses, would you mind going into the other room? Roy apparently has something to say to me and won’t do it until we at least of the semblance of being alone.”

Wrath and Edward went into their bedrooms, Wrath immediately lighting a candle next to his tiny bed to look over the documents Hohenheim had sent him. It was rather reassuring that he had at least been on the right track and that everything he was reading made perfect sense. He glanced up at the door, where Edward was nosily listening to every word said outside. Wrath smiled, glad to see his friend acting a bit more like his usual self, despite the lingering grief.

“Edward,” Wrath hissed.

“What?” he said with a smile. “You said that I was married to that man in the other world. What’s wrong with listening in?”

The teenager didn’t know why that thought bristled him as much as it did.

********

Amestris

Numb.

That was the only word for it. Roy felt numb. He’d gone through the necessary movements, said and done what needed to be, but all the while, he felt… nothing. He wasn’t allowed back with his children and was forced to sit in the waiting room on plain gray chairs in a white-walled space. He sat in a shirt and pants that Havoc had grabbed from his house on the way over, Al and Raine coming to the hospital so quickly, they hadn’t been told that both Roy and Ed’s clothes were soiled, if not ruined from the twins sudden and violent illness. Roy knew that either he or Ed had asked Havoc to get them. It was probably Ed, but Roy didn’t remember.

He vaguely remembered having Fuery investigate everything about the dining hall and to question everyone there. Roy didn’t know much about medicine, but there was a feeling, a parental intuition, he supposed, that told him his children hadn’t gotten sick from a normal bug or virus. This came on within an hour of starting the meal, when they had both looked and acted perfectly healthy.

For now, all he could do was trust that Fuery, as head of military intelligence, could find out what happened and trust his sister in the nearby room working on the twins.

He didn’t trust easily.

Roy looked around the room, Havoc standing from his place beside Gracia, where he’d sat for the last hour, one hand occasionally rubbing her distended belly protectively. Al was pacing, unable to keep that tall, lanky body of his still for more than a few minutes, unless it was to offer some comfort to Winry and Roy or to attempt some kind of comfort to his brother.

Ed astounded Roy, not to mention frightened him a bit with his calm demeanor and immediate move to take control of the situation.

“Jean,” Ed said, “I need you to talk to the reporters outside. They’re going to want a statement of some kind. Al, did you and Raine get any further on the research?”

“Huh?” the taller Elric said. “Oh, yeah, a little.”

“Tell them that progress has been gradual on the research to prevent the attack from a week ago, but that it is still coming along. Tell them that we do not yet know the cause of the twins sudden illness, but it is being investigated by Lieutenant Colonel Cain Fuery and his team in military intelligence. At the moment, neither the fuhrer or I are showing any symptoms as our children presented, and there have been no reports that anyone else who attended the dinner have either. I have already received a phone call from Russell and Fletcher Tringham, but call them talented alchemists. I don’t want anyone hearing that I’m turning over the research to two people younger than me. Tell them that two talented alchemists already familiar with some of the work will pick up on the research while the family deals with this crisis, and that the two alchemists are already on their way to Central.”

Ed began running down a mental list, moving his finger as though to check off the imaginary inventory. “Give statement to press. Get Russel and Fletcher, call all of Roy’s team,” Ed mumbled to himself.

Roy couldn’t watch his husband’s calm any longer, and lowered his head so that he was looking at the floor. So he sat, in that hunched, puddle of a state, eyes—yes, even the fake one which was out of its covering—watering, but never actually crying.

“Roy!” Ed said, some time later, as though it wasn’t the first time he’d said it. Perhaps, considering how hollow and incoherent as Roy was feeling, it hadn’t been. His black eyes looking up at the blond. “Dr. Knox, Roy.”

Roy stood from his seat where he’d collapsed earlier, walking mindlessly beside Ed, standing in front of the older doctor. “Well, Doc?” Ed said. Roy had tried to ask, but somehow, his mouth had gone dry and the words caught in his throat.

“First of all, it looks like Aideen will make a full recovery and will be in a room shortly, so you can see her.”

“Nicholas?” Roy choked out his son’s name.

“Your sister is still working on him. If he makes it through the night, we know we’re out of the woods with him.”

“What was it?” Ed asked, looking stoically calm.

“Rat poison, more specifically, arsenic.”

Roy felt his legs wanting to buckle beneath him. Was being fuhrer worth this? Worth risking his own children for?

“How?” Roy managed, his normal articulateness gone, dwindled down to speaking a few syllables at a time.

“It was a very small amount, probably in something early on in the meal, the soup, or their drink. It could easily have been from a rodent tracking it across the dishes, and your food taster would probably have missed it in such a small amount.”

“You keep calling it small,” Ed said, “couldn’t have been that damned small if both our children are this sick.”

“It was enough that it could have cause serious damage to their liver and other organs, but not enough to kill either of them instantly.” A nurse poked her head through a set of swinging doors, nodding. “Come on, you can see Aideen now.”

Slowly, Roy trudged through the hallway, willing his legs to hold him upright and move him forward. The doctor went to a double-occupancy room, Roy at first seeing the empty bed still awaiting Nicholas, the other with his daughter already there, tubes and wires coming from her tiny arms and from under her shirt. The little girl’s breathing slow and steady, the monitors keeping track of her stable heartbeat.

Finally, the numbness wore off, and Roy felt himself cry.

********

Munich

Edward listened in on the conversation between the two older men. This Roy guy was explaining to Stephen that the British government was trying to find some sign that the entire investigation into the Thule Society was beneficial. Stephen tried to convey to the younger man that it truly was important, without going into detail about the specifics of the group’s activities.

Sighing, Edward sat on his bed opposite Wrath’s, looking at the eager anticipation with which the teen read over the documents. At what point the blond had started to notice each of Wrath’s little moves, tiny gestures, he didn’t know, but like it or not, the dark-haired young man had started to fill up Edward’s thoughts, in a way he’d been taught was very wrong.

Yet, somehow, the teen he'd known over these last few years had become a source of solace as he continued to grieve for his cousin. Despite the fact that his friend had gone by the name Wrath, and still seemed to at least in his head, it no longer seemed to be the brunette's dominant emotion any longer. He actually seemed quite gentle.

For a minute or two, Edward watched the violet eyes, which had begun to seem less wide as they had in his younger years as the face surrounding them matured, as they scanned over paper after paper, a satisfied smile growing on the pale face.

“I can actually do this. I think I can do this.” Wrath looked up from the paper and saw Edward looking at him. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just nice seeing you this excited about something. You’ve been blaming yourself pretty badly since the gate opened.”

Edward could hear Stephen’s voice rising, something very uncommon for the usually calm older man. “Well, should we go out and do something?” Edward listened to that other man’s voice, still low and calm and formal. “Are you sure I married this guy in your world?”

Wrath didn’t answer immediately. “Well, you were going to when I left.”

“Was he like that?” Edward stood again and went to the door, trying to imagine himself with someone considerably older, male, and so stuck on rules and obedience. Edward was no rebel, but honestly, he couldn’t see himself with that man outside.

“He was a lot like that.” Wrath stood and leaned against the door, listening in as closely as Edward was.

“I suppose he’s handsome in his own way, but I think your Ed must have been very different from me.”

“Why? Aside from the fact that you’re not going to be with another man?” Wrath said, head so close to Edward’s that the blond could feel the teen’s breath against his face.

“I don’t like older men.”

With that, Edward took the risk and did what he’d wanted to do for nearly a year now. He kissed his friend.

********

Amestris

Roy tried to hold back tears as he sat beside Aideen, letting her little hand wrap unconsciously around his thumb, his fingers rubbing over the top of her hand. He and Ed were taking turns with the twins, Nicholas still very much asleep, though Raine had assured the fathers that nearly all the poison was now out of the children’s systems. There was still a risk with Nicholas, but both parents agreed that by morning, they could breathe a sigh of relief.

“Papa,” a tiny voice said, somewhat scratchily.

Roy’s dark eyes looked up to find a set of brown and gold looking back, though they had lost their luster. “Aideen, sweetie, you’re awake.”

“Uh-huh. Is Daddy here?”

Momentarily her daddy left their son’s side of the room, Roy could feel Ed’s hand on his shoulder. “I’m here, Aideen.”

“My belly still hurts,” she said, her voice so small, it was like something alien. “I hurt everywhere.”

Roy pushed aside the dark hair from her forehead. If he could have taken it away, could have taken on her pain for her, he would have. But no, whoever had attacked had purposely gone after his children, targeted the two most defenseless members of his family.

Aideen was usually so strong when she hurt herself, but now, sick and suffering, she whimpered and held tightly to Roy’s hand. Even as he tenderly ran his hand through her hair, in an attempt to soothe her, his thoughts kept turning to finding the person who’d done this and personally ripping them limb from limb.

As the night wore on, Ed maintained his calm demeanor, even into the early hours of the morning when Nicholas woke enough to say how much he hurt and that he was thirsty. While Roy sat beside the little blond, looking over at his once-again-sleeping daughter, Ed left the room. He was gone so long that finally, Roy had pulled away from the dark-eyed boy and gone out into the hall to track his husband down.

Outside, he found a puddle of water, Ed slumped on the floor against the wall, as though he’d slid down, empty glass tipped over in his hand. He was sobbing uncontrollably and didn’t seem capable of stopping. Roy crouched beside him, careful to avoid the puddle, his hand tucking back some loose strands of hair.

“Ed, they’re okay. They’ll be fine.”

“I know… I just… I couldn’t…” Ed wiped his face on his sleeve. “not until I knew… until they were okay… or weren’t.”

“So you’ve been out here crying in silence? Ed,” Roy said, wrapping his arms around the younger man, letting him cry into his chest.

A shadow was cast over them both as Al blocked one of the few sources of light in the dimmed hallway. “Brother, is it Nicholas? Has something gotten worse?”

“No, Al,” Roy said, “he’s just finally able to let it all out.” Roy took the glass of water from Ed’s hand, and lifted it up to the younger brother. “Can you get Nicholas a glass of water, just a small one. He’s thirsty.”

“Of course.” Al took the glass. “I’m glad everything’s okay.” As he walked away, Roy saw Al unknowingly mimic his brother, wiping his right shirtsleeve across his eyes.

********

Munich

Wrath didn’t know how to react. He’d never been kissed before and hadn’t been expecting it at that moment, but Edward’s lips felt good, really good against his own, and as the older, though just a bit shorter man tried to pull away, apparently thinking he’d done something wrong, Wrath wrapped a strong arm around the blond’s waist, his other hand at the short hair near the man’s neck.

He’d seen Ed kiss Roy before, and he remembered something about tongues making the kiss better, or at least making the Ed he’d known moan, so when he felt Edward’s tracing over the crease of his mouth, he opened widely, hoping the older boy knew what he was doing. He felt Edward’s tongue moving slowly at first around every inch of Wrath’s mouth, making the teen grateful his teeth were normal and flat. He wouldn’t have wanted the man to injure himself doing such a simple—not to mention wonderful—act. Finally, having nearly passed out from failing to breathe, Wrath looked up at his friend, noticing how swollen those thin but soft pink lips had become. After regaining his ability to draw air, Wrath placed his head on the smaller man’s shoulder.

“That was…” Wrath inhaled. He tried to think of an answer, and all he could do was half moan, half hum against Edward’s boney shoulder. He felt Edward’s fingers wrapping themselves in his hair, which had begun to grow rather long.

“We shouldn’t have.”

“Why? Because some supposed god said it was wrong? Because your laughable religious leaders disagree with it?”

“Ulysses, we’re not in your world. It isn’t so easy here.”

Wrath this time captured Edward’s lips with his own. “I don’t care about easy,” he said, breaking their kiss. “I just…” He kissed Edward’s neck. “I want…” He kissed again. He had always been a child that longed for affection, and now that he had it in front of him, he’d be damned if Edward was about to let some stupid social constraints hold either of them back. Part of Wrath didn't even care that the recent death of someone so close to Edward might have brought this on, as a new way to find comfort. He just knew that to him, it felt right like nothing had for a very long time.

However, they were both brought back to reality as Stephen’s voice on the other side of the door grew exceptionally louder in an attempt to convey the dangers of the Thule Society to the Roy of this world, one who was missing out on something Wrath wasn't about to share.