Worlds Collide

A/N: To my reviewers: Truly Wished, no, he's not and I know a lot of people who can only break like he did once everything has been taken care of. Amethyst-eyed Koneko, I hope you didn't suffer a heart attack because Wrath and Edward kissed. I kind of figured that Edward nad Roy wouldn't get together, especially once I established Riza was around. In any world, I think Roy would lose important body parts if he cheated on her. Yeah, this chapter was full of ups and downs. See, there was a reason for fluff. hikaru_9, Yeah, Dante was going to appear a little later, and I'd leave it vague why things happened to the kids, but it's just better if the reader at least knows who's doing it. I never liked that she was just eaten by Gluttony in the anime, and really, if I'd have killed her off in the last story, I'd have probably blown her up or something. Edward and Wrath just kind of fell into place, and it means I can have fun with the fact that Ed and Edward are both in relationships at the same time. (My mind is trying to come up with something fun for that). Elvish Lady, Glad you liked it. No, I thought Ed should just kind of break down. I am also happy that you, like several others didn't kill me for Edward/Wrath. (You even said you liked it.) kuragari75, of course I couldn't kill off the kids so young. That would be cruel, and it would really mess with my plot.

Also, I have this posted on Live Journal. One of my regular readers, tori-santa, included a pic for the story. It was a family photo, and one part of it sort of influenced this chapter. Her art is here at http://tori-santa.livejournal.com/67206.html#cutid1 I also did a drawing for For Her. For Him, though mine is just line-art, nothing fancy (I'm no artist) It's listed here: http://nomdeplume13.livejournal.com/13554.html.

Okay, I'm going to try to get chapters up as regularly as I did before, but I'm in the middle of tech week for a play, and I don't see my computer as much as I used to.

Chapter 9

Ignorant Calm

Munich

“I do not think you understand,” the British Roy said, who had now turned very formal and had dropped his German. “Intelligence thinks we are getting absolutely nothing from your time with the Thule Society. They want you to pull out.”

Edward walked into the room, quickly grabbing a pad of paper and began writing. Roy looked over at Stephen, then to Wrath, who was trying to hide the pleased expression on his face.

“You want something to benefit the country?” Edward asked. “Give me about an hour. I’ll give you every bit of the rocketry research I’ve done for the Thules.”

Trying to hide the heat that came to his face watching the thin blond scribble on the paper taking authority over the situation, Wrath smiled to himself.

“And what of what this one’s been teaching you?” the captain asked Stephen.

“You don’t get any of that,” Wrath answered. “The Thules are dangerous enough. I don’t want any extra people knowing the stuff they do. It’s dangerous.”

“I am in complete agreeance,” Stephen said. “Even if questioned by the top brass, I wouldn’t divulge a word.” Stephen’s face grew serious. “And you know that I do not like to defy orders any more than you do, so I think you can imagine that what I am witnessing on a daily basis must be horrific.”

This Roy nodded, saying very little else for the hour it took Edward to complete his illustrations and writing.
“There,” he said, handing Roy a stack of papers. “I think my hand is thoroughly cramped, but that is the latest update on what we’re doing. I would give you one of my rockets, but I’ve purposely sabotaged them. As something else comes up, or as more information is available, I will have Stephen pass it along to you. And if your superiors try to pull him out of the society, I think they will be making a huge mistake.”

Roy said very little else, not even exchanging much in the way of pleasantries with his superior officer before finally leaving to return to his home base with the information Edward had provided him.

It was already late, and Roy had not been gone for more than a few minutes when all three men decided it was time for bed. As he entered his bedroom with Edward at his side, Wrath looked over at the blond, searching the man’s face. Edward shut the door behind them, then placed a hand on Wrath’s shoulder.

“Is this the part where you tell me we can’t do this?” Wrath asked.

“No, I think we’ve already been through that.” Edward rolled his eyes. “If I remember right, you ignored me.” Wrath let his hand move up to meet Edward’s on his shoulder. “How old are you?”

With a half smirk, Wrath answered, “Fourteen or fifteen.”

“Let’s say fifteen. I have enough problems with what we just did, including the fact that you are an impressionable teenager. I’d just rather you not be so young.”

“Then, you don’t want to stop?”

“I want time,” Edward said, placing a kiss on Wrath’s cheek. “I need to know that I’m not starting up because I’m still mourning Alfons.” When he pulled away, sharp violet eyes couldn’t help but see tears in the gold.

Wrath placed a hand at the back of Edward’s head, thumb rubbing the blond’s earlobe, fingers rubbing over the short blond hair. “Like you said, I’m an impressionable teenager. I’ve got plenty of time.”

********

Amestris

Four days later

Carrying their children bridal style into the bedroom the twins shared, Ed and Roy entered, making their way to each child's distinctive twin bed, and gingerly laid the still-recovering tots on them. Roy tucked Nicholas under his solid green blankets, Ed laying Aideen on the yellow floral sheets and covering her protectively with them.

He’d really thought he’d lost them.

Ed didn’t know why he felt the way he did, but to him, it was as though the universe was reminding him that the two most important things in his life shouldn’t have been there, that they should have died with their mother when she was shot on the battlefield. There were so many risks those children had over come, many long before they were even born.

Aideen looked up at him, a faint smile on her soft features. “Love you, Daddy,” she said as he kissed her forehead.

“Love you too.” Ed ran his hand through her raven hair that had scattered itself on the yellow pillow.
“Now, get some rest.” Aideen nodded, drawing the covers up under her chin and curling her body into a little ball. Roy and Ed passed one another as they each made their way to the other twin, lightly letting their fingertips touch as they did. Reaching his son, Ed pushed aside the bangs that always seemed to get in Nicholas’s eyes, then ran his hand down his little boy’s arm. “You need your rest, too.”

He leaned down, kissing Nicholas on the cheek, feeling the boy’s arm around his neck, trying to squeeze, but obviously still without the energy to do it. Nicholas wasn’t big on saying he loved someone, but the effort to hug Ed got the message across all the same.

He and Roy left the room, the older man closing the door behind them. Ed looked up at the exhausted face of his husband, wondering to himself if he looked nearly so drained. He certainly knew he felt it.

“I’m going to give Fuery a call. See if he’s found anything.”

Ed nodded, looking down the hallway at Al, who seemed to want something. Instinctively, the older brother went into the bedroom where he’d stayed the first few months at the house, before he and Roy had become a couple. Al had done little to the room, though he’d lived in it for nearly four years now. Smiling to himself, Ed noticed that a few of Aideen’s stuffed animals and dolls had made their way in as well. Not even hers yet, she had made more changes to it than Al had in all of his time calling it his own.

“Well, Al, how’s your head doing?”

“Still sore.”

“Winry still cracking you on the head for transferring your soul to the armor? I mean, you deserved it for that stupid stunt, but still?”

“Um… no…” Al bit his bottom lip. Ed crossed his arms and looked up at his “little” brother, who stood opposite him, running his hand through the long sandy blond hair. “Ed, when Raine had finished with the kids, she noticed Winry hadn’t been feeling very good…”

“Is she okay?” Ed asked, concerned his brother’s fiancée and his childhood friend had somehow been given the same thing as the twins.

Al swallowed. “Um… yeah…”

“But…”

“But, you’regoingtobeanuncle.”

Ed’s already large gold eyes widened further, his mind and body forgetting nearly all exhaustion. “What was that, Al?”

“We only did it twice. Just twice, after we got engaged, and apparently, the second time, something, well, took, and you’re going to be an uncle, and I’m going to be a father, and Auntie Pinako yelled at me over the phone.” Al looked down at Ed, brown eyes resembling Black Hayate’s at the moment. “And Winry keeps smacking me for it, and I’m scared shitless.”

“Al, you just swore,” Ed said, far more surprised by that than the news his brother had just told him. Al looked down at the floor. Ed threw his arms around his younger brother, patting the younger man on his back. “Congratulations, Al.”

“Do you think I’ll do okay?”

“Please, there’s never been a more natural father in the world.” Ed grinned broadly, Al returning it with a nervous, yet blissful smile.

********

Munich

Stephen could see the relief on Wrath’s face every time he looked at the teenager, not to mention an incredibly content expression to accompany it. He supposed it was knowing that the alchemic symbols were ready, that all that was left was for Wrath to activate them—because Stephen apparently lacked all natural talents in alchemy, despite an attention to detail and artistic ability that had allowed him to place the transmutations throughout the main chamber at the society—that the people in his supposed “world” were safe were all contributing to Wrath’s overly pleasant and practically cheerful demeanor.

The older man still felt like he was missing out on something, like his two roommates were keeping something from him. It hadn’t bothered him before when there were half truths told or he was asked to leave the room because it had always been done to keep that Roma, Noa, from detecting his true identity as a spy and inadvertently reveal plans between the two younger men or to tell the society something they shouldn’t ever know about where Wrath came from, a place that Stephen felt was still very much on Earth, though definitely a place where alchemy wasn’t simply made up of myths of Nicholas Flamel, philosopher’s stones and turning metal into gold.

Perhaps if Stephen had been born with any fatherly instincts, he might have been able to use his age to his advantage. After all, he was old enough to be Wrath’s father, nearly so with Edward, and he knew that Hohenheim had managed successfully enough to treat them like his own sons and got two much more open roommates in the process.

But that wasn’t Stephen.

He managed to be kind to the two young men, managed to treat them like friends and consider them that. He just had to count on that being enough. Whatever they were trying to hide would come out sooner or later. This was not an interrogation, most certainly not the kind Stephen had become accustomed to during the Great War. He had learned patience over the time he’d been studying the Thules, and he would simply learn to use that same patience in his real life.

Sitting at his desk in the modest apartment he shared with the two, who were currently out getting groceries, Stephen turned his attention to finding a way to smuggle Wrath back into the society. It would be some time before the scientists had another order of parts of any kind, so the random crate would be seen as suspicious. Wrath was about the same age as a few of the younger members of the group and might have been allowed to join, but he actually had the ability that Stephen lacked, not to mention more knowledge than even that bitch Eckhart had on the so-called science. It couldn’t be risked that the teenager might be used.

The only option left was to put Wrath in with the group Eckhart had very little to do with: the rocket scientists. The teen was strong as hell, shoulders and back broader than Stephen’s own, and he wasn’t even done growing. He could lift and tug more than some of those frail-looking scientists, as well as knowing exactly what he was doing in the process. As though looking up to his older brother, the amethyst-eyed teen had always listened carefully to what Edward taught him about his studies in rocketry and fuel.

It didn’t sit well with the intelligence officer, as he sat rubbing his temples, that the teen would be so close to that crazy woman, but there was no choice. If Wrath’s world had the kind of alchemic weapons he said it did, then Stephen certainly didn’t want to see a potential enemy getting through the gate to retrieve them.

********

Amestris

Roy had just hung up the phone, Fuery couldn’t talk to him at the moment, the rather intuitive man was currently working on a lead that someone had been bragging about poisoning the two small children upstairs. Sitting in the study, wanting to hit something, anything and pretend it was this bastard who was actually boasting about injuring his children, he noticed as Ed entered, an odd combination of expressions on his face. The anger was still lingering, as was the worry, but there was something else.

“Any word?” the blond asked.

“No, but Fuery’s pretty sure he’s on the right track.”

Ed pulled Roy closely with his flesh arm, squeezing him tightly. “Are you prepared for more little children running around this place?” Roy glanced down at Ed, then his stomach. “Not me, you idiot. All those organs are gone. And it isn’t happening again, even if it could… unless you plan on carrying them, Fuhrer Bastard.” Ed actually smiled genuinely for the first time in days. “I mean, we’re going to be uncles.”

“Raine?” Roy asked instinctively, under the seemingly natural assumption that Al was still a virgin.

“No,” Ed said, then with the afterthought, “though I’d love to annoy her as much as she did me with the twins.” His brows met in a small furrow. “Calling me Baby. Hell, she still calls me Baby.”

“Then, Al?” Roy asked, watching as a blond ponytail bobbed as Ed nodded. “He’s still so young.”

“Three years older than I was, Mustang,” Ed said, turning Roy so they were standing face to face and Roy could see the half grin to let him know that Ed was returning to the old name as a playful gesture.

“He just seems so much younger than you were, even at sixteen, Fullmetal.”

The two kissed, nothing more than a quick peck, then they stood, Ed’s arms wrapped around Roy’s waist, Roy’s over the smaller man’s shoulders. Roy knew they needed this, both of them, just a moment to embrace without feeling like they were comforting one another, though truthfully they were. They needed it because in all honesty, things had been crappy at their best the last few days, and at the moment, Roy wondered if Ed felt like he needed Roy’s support just to stand upright at the moment as much as Roy felt he needed Ed’s.

The phone rang in the kitchen. Reluctantly pulling from the blond’s grasp, Roy moved away to answer it.
He heard Fuery’s voice at the other end. “Sir. We have him. He gave a full confession, sir. He continues to brag of how he did it. I’m bringing him to the jail now.”

Roy thanked the lieutenant colonel, then returned to Ed. “Kain thinks he’s found the man who did this.”

“Good,” Ed said, running to the hall for his red coat, pulling it off of the little rack by the door.

“Ed, I need to be there, and one of us has to stay in case the children wake up.”

“Al can—”

“The children want either you or me right now, you know that.”

“But why do you get to go. I want to spit in the bastard’s face, just before I punch him in it.” Ed tightened his metal hand into a fist.

“Ed, I’m going as fuhrer, not as a father who wants to rip the man limb from limb, and I do, Ed. I want to torture him, make him suffer, but I can’t. Besides, we can’t risk you getting yourself locked up when the twins need you so much right now.”

“I refuse to—”

“You need to stay, Brother,” Al said from down the hallway. “Aideen’s already starting to rally, and she’s going to want one of her fathers there with her.”

Ed looked up at Roy quite seriously. “If I hear you didn’t so much as yell at this man, you are sleeping on the couch for the next month.”

Al walked by Ed, grabbing a long black coat, then looked up at Roy. “I’m going with you.”

Roy didn’t argue with the soon-to-be-father, particularly when the fact that his little brother was going along seemed to placate Ed, just a bit.

Together, Roy and his brother-in-law walked out to the car, driving to the jail. The ride was silent, though under normal circumstances, Roy had few problems talking to the teen, and certainly after finding out that Al and Winry were going to be parents, there would have been no difficulty finding a topic. But these weren’t normal circumstances, and honestly, the older man got the feeling that despite his usual passive attitude, the younger Elric’s temper was flaring just as much as the elder.

Arriving at the prison in time to see the man, thin, wiry and looking to be of partial Isballan heritage, being brought into the jail, Roy watched in shock as the tall teen threw open the door, jumped out of the car, and almost immediately began assaulting the prisoner.

No, assaulting was far too kind a word for what Roy was witnessing. Al was kicking the shit out of the bastard, and Roy was fighting a smile while ordering the nearby soldiers to pull the powerful martial artist off of the man.

********

Ed had never been so proud as the moment he’d heard his little brother had attacked the asshole who had hurt his children. It was a moment he knew he shouldn’t have been feeling particularly impressed with his little brother, and one where he should have reminded himself that at the minimum, Al would be spending several nights in jail for his attack. But he couldn’t help it. No downside or reminder of proper behavior worked to squash the feeling of genuine delight at the mental images of Al pounding the man into the dirt.

Already having called Winry, Ed’s first request had been that she not injure his little brother any further for this attack. To Ed’s surprise, Winry seemed insulted that Ed thought she would be angry. Apparently, the only thing his childhood friend was angry about was the fact that Al had already beaten the man up and she hadn’t gotten to take a nice, large wrench to the man’s head.

Though Ed was growing antsy being at home when he wanted to be congratulating and thanking his younger brother as well as taking a few shots at the asshole who’d nearly killed his kids, Al had been right that Aideen had rallied and was now wanting her daddy at her side at all times. Scooping the little girl into his arms, he’d brought her downstairs, making a comfortable spot for her on the leather sofa of the study, getting her a drink and a piece of toast.

Together, they listened to one of her favorite radio shows, and Ed loved that she had the energy to laugh at it, cornball jokes or not. It was good to hear the soft giggles coming from those pink lips between tiny nibbles of the toasted bread. Swallowing thickly, Ed tried not to think of how close he’d come to never hearing that again. He also fought not to show how mad he was at the person who had nearly made him lose her. Aideen was far too perceptive, and he didn’t want her to think he was angry at her.

“Ed,” a man’s voice said from the hall. Ed looked up to see Russell, still a year younger and foot taller than Ed, and Fletcher, who was only fifteen, but showed no signs of catching up to his older brother any time soon in his own height. “Ed, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Aideen raised a crumb-covered hand to wave at the Tringham brothers, Fletcher immediately coming over while Ed patted his daughter on her head before going to talk to Russell. Aideen trusted the gentle younger brother, at least enough when she knew her daddy was in another room.

Going into the library with Russell, who shut the door behind them, Ed looked up at the younger man. “Well…”
“We’re not much closer on how to block the gate, but I know you were concerned about those suits going after your kids.”

“Roy said I was being ridiculous.”

“I don’t think you were,” Russell said, folding his arms across his chest. “I think you may have been right. After meeting Al when he was still in the armor, I studied what you’d done, and I found that when it isn’t done properly, suits of armor will seek out sources of alchemy, either alchemists themselves or a powerful transmutation. Since these kids are yours and the fuhrer’s, I’m guessing they would be pretty powerful. The suits really could have been seeking them out. And, in their concern over what was going on, who knows if they were accidentally luring the armor there.”

The thought crossed Ed’s mind, considering the poisoning, that maybe another alchemist had baited the suits to the building as well, but there was no proof of that. The man who’d poisoned the children said he was acting alone to prove a point, and there was no evidence an alchemist was after the twins.

“I appreciate this,” Ed said, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his brown pants, “but why bring it up now?”

“Since the twins are recovering, it might be time to start thinking about teaching them alchemy, so they can learn to control whatever natural ability they have.”

Ed knew he was right, but considering how much trouble it had caused him so young, he was more than a little reluctant.

********

Later that night, Dante rose from her bed, stretching stiff muscles. Poisoning the twins had been a risk, but a calculated one. It had the two fathers thoroughly distracted, and the Tringham brothers were nowhere near as familiar with the research as the shrimp was. Never would she have expected that someone would have taken credit for the attempt, but it suited her just fine. She could continue to fly under the radar with the assumption in Central that she was long since dead. Also, Al’s momentary lapse into an Ed-like rage had him locked away and out of her hair for a little while.

But she knew she didn’t have long. She had to activate the gate quickly, with as little disturbance as possible. In her hands, she held stacks of paper and books, all the necessary research to make the rift more powerful, able to withstand a block, as it seemed inevitable was going to happen on this side of the gate.

Now it was just a matter of opening the Gate for herself.

********

Munich

It was late when Dietlinde Eckhart was wandering through the main chamber at the society. She was rather pleased to hear that the young head scientist had discovered another interested in rocketry and helping their cause that was not only a bright young teenager, but strong as an ox. They’d already brought him in, and he, like all of the rocket scientists, commented on the designs that covered the walls and ceiling in the main chamber, but obviously had no idea of their intention. All the better for him.

From what she’d found out through her own connections, the teen had been living with the head scientist and Stephen, the society’s most avid researcher, but she was rather pleased to realize that Stephen had kept his word to keep all actions at the society a secret.

Much to her own dismay, she found a rift, small, considerably smaller than the one she’d created, opening up in the floor. Through the rift a stack of bound papers and books was practically thrown into the chamber. They were addressed from someone named Dante, and this person seemingly knew more about alchemy than Dietlinde could ever dream. With a smile, she looked through the books and papers, realizing the work that had gone into this, wishing the rift had remained open long enough to thank the person who’d sent them.

********

Amestris

Roy could feel a gentle nudge against his leg, rallying him from a much-needed sleep. He turned to find Aideen standing at the side of his bed.

“Nichlas had a bad dream. He made noises and woke me up,” she whispered, but waking Ed all the same. “Can I sleep in here with you?”

Roy sat up in bed, gently lifting his daughter under her arms and placing her at the center of the bed, noticing that Ed was already walking out the door. Aideen snuggled up closely to her papa, letting out an almost unconscious sigh of contentment as he protectively put an arm around her. It wasn’t long before Ed returned, Nicholas in his arms.

“He wanted to come in too,” Ed said, laying the boy beside his sister, then climbing into the bed beside him. Roy felt Ed’s left hand lacing his last two fingers with Roy’s as his own arm was shielding their son. Hearing the gentle breathing of the two tiny bodies between them, Roy could hear as Ed’s own grew deeper, gradually lulling himself into a quiet and relaxed slumber.

A/N: Any name ideas from my readers? Since Al shot down Riza and Maes in the last story, he obviously wouldn't name his child after the deceased, and I'm kind of at a loss for what he should call his own child.