Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Departure ❯ More eavesdropping ( Chapter 3 )

Departure III

 

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

Pairings: Eventual Ed/Roy, others mentioned

A/N: Written for shit and giggles and probably OOC. Divergence from episode 13.

 

Ed eventually remembered that rain would adversely affect his health if he continued to let himself get wet. He couldn't really afford that- he would rust, for once thing.

Winry would have his ass on a plate for that. It was about the only uncomplicated thought in his head.

He eventually figured out that going down the stairs would take him someplace dry… It had to share space with everything else he had to worry about.

Edward Elric was a prodigy- when it came to alchemy. He had seen the Truth, could make himself into a living alchemy circle and could recite texts that men older and wiser could barely comprehend.

Human interaction was completely off his radar.

Most of his life had been spent in a simple place- Risembool. War was a foreign legend, crime happened in cities, marriage was arranged often for cows and politics involved pies for votes. Intellectually he had known those things existed, but when he found them in reality it threw him for a loop.

Now he had several messy human things thrown at him, and he had to decide how to react.

The simplest, and the one he was most inclined to follow, was to ignore it. It had nothing to do with his quest for the Philosopher's Stone or getting Al's body back. He was only involved with these people because they were an expedient way towards his goals. Why did that thought bother him then?

“Its simple brother- you know them and you care about them now.”

Ed's mouth fell open and he blinked, realizing that at some point he had… wait, he was still in the halls.

Yet there Al was, standing over him and holding the kitten he'd rescued.

“Al?”

“You were talking to yourself, brother,” Al said, not unkindly. “You were muttering about the people here not mattering and why it bothered you.”

Ed felt his face heat up, and then sighed. “And you just had to come looking for me, huh?”

“No, I came out to get some milk for kitty…”

Ed twitched. “Come on. I need to tell you why I think I've gone insane.”

“Again?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“… and I just don't get it. He's a pain in the ass and he never tells us everything and he always wants to make fun of- of- my skills! Yeah, that's right, my skills! I'm a great alchemist you know! He has no right to treat me like that!” Ed snarled, sitting next to Al as the armor put a small saucer of milk down for the cat. “But- but he was hurt, and I saw that. And that shouldn't matter to me at all and dammit I forgot to ask about Marco but all Mustang would tell Hughes was that he was a deserter but he knew that anyways! Then Hughes was saying that he was straighter than a pencil and then I wondered what the HELL that meant because the thought of Hughes and Mustang is- just freaky! I mean the guy has a wife and kid! Mustang's only dated girls! I never heard he liked guys before! Its creepy, can you imagine him- him- doing that? With Hughes? Or anyone other guy?”

Al wondered why Ed seemed so intent on bringing that last point up. Again. In the last fifteen minutes he had to have mentioned five times.

Wait, now it was six.

“Why does it keep bothering me?” Ed finally snarled, throwing his arms up in the air. “I have no reason to care! Ishbal has nothing to do with us!”

“Maybe its equivalent exchange?”

That got Ed's attention right away.

“Say what? What's so equivalent about it?” Ed screeched wind-milling his arms.

“Well, when we were hurt, Colonel Mustang came to us and helped us try to find a path to follow to get our bodies back. Now you've found out that he's hurt. Maybe you want to help him?”

“Help him? Help that arrogant son-of-a-bitch who likes to piss me off at every turn?”

“He does it just because you're funny when you're mad, brother,” Al said, absently. “Besides, you're always insulting him back.”

“Stop making it sound like we're teasing each other! I hate that bastard's guts!”

“You do not; you thought he was cool when you first saw him roast that terrorist!”

Ed flushed and turned away. “I do not think he's cool.”

“Whatever you say, brother.” At least he wasn't talking about how strange it was for Mustang to want Hughes. Al wondered why his brother was so fixated… maybe it was just his personality. He was more than a bit obsessive, after all.

“Well, what are you going to do now?”

“I…”

“We still need to find out what he knows about Marco.”

“He flips out whenever someone mentions the red stone!”

“And you've said you don't care about the Colonel.”

Ed stopped, leaving his jaw to flap in the wind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

To anyone who would have been watching, Ed was having an argument. However, as it was totally soundless and there was only one person there in the hall, it was readily apparent that the only person Ed was arguing with was, indeed, himself.

It didn't seem that Ed had caught on yet.

His hands waved, emotions flashed across his face as he provided dialogue for both parties and his mouth worked soundlessly as he headed towards Mustang's office.

It was extremely early- so early that most officers were either out training or were still asleep. It was the time of torturing recruits or the perpetually and terminally organized to arrive.

Since Hawkeye wasn't even there yet, Ed had the halls to himself.

Ed was so caught up in his pretend argument with the Colonel (complete with short jokes and insults about dogs and would you please explain about your crush on Hughes?) that he had stepped into the man's office without even realizing the man was not there.

For once he was winning the argument, which was a good sign. He had always wanted to get the excuse to beat his head in, especially about how he knew everything they were doing.

(And he still hadn't quite noticed he was arguing with no one but himself.)

Wait- wasn't it usually brighter in here?

Blinking, Ed realized that… no one was in the office. There were traces of the man- papers on the desk and a half empty coffee cup, making him wonder if Mustang had just stepped out for some reason. Maybe he had to take a piss.

This was when Ed realized he really had no way to explain why he was there. He usually wouldn't care, but… well. He'd already had this talk and if Mustang hadn't there for his part…

Footsteps could be heard outside in the hall- and Ed realized there were two of them.

There was no way in hell he was going to let himself get chewed out in front of someone else- so he dived underneath Mustang's desk.

His thought process was something akin to someone jumping out a burning building from the tenth floor. At least you weren't burning- once you were out the window you could figure something out.

Two sets of military issue boots rang as they entered Mustang's office, and stopped just in front of the desk. Ed chewed the inside of his cheek as he considered alchemizing the floor to get away.

He had forgotten that the rest of Central Command was there- and there were two voices. One was Mustang- not surprising, he was under his desk- and another was a hated voice from three years ago.

“Are you forgetting who holds your leash, Mustang?” the voice sneered, and Ed felt his shoulders hunch.

“No, I haven't,” Mustang answered, tightly. Ed wondered why eavesdropping on Mustang seemed to be his new favorite activity.

Well, it was useful, he guessed. Of course he didn't really like having to use this method but… uh, it was Mustang. All bets were off.

There was a snort and growl from the other man… whom Ed guessed to Brigadier General Basque Gran.

“You forget yourself, Colonel…” There was more than a sneer in this other man's voice. “You are still a dog of the military… You still have to follow orders- mine, as a ranking officer.”

Silence again.

Ed could swear he heard Mustang's teeth grinding.

“We could always transfer away your subordinates… after all, I'm sure I could find more useful places for such talented individuals…”

There was soft rubbing- and Ed guessed that Mustang was twitching his fingers together as he listened to them rasp.

“Or, even more fun. You've really allowed Fullmetal too much slack in the reigns. I hear he's looking for the Philosopher's Stone… I wonder, what he would do if we got him involved in the actual research?”

Ed's heart stopped.

“You've done your best to keep his hands clean these past few years; that's impossible, especially when it comes to the Philosopher's Stone,” Gran went on. “He's so desperate to get his hands on it… don't you think he'd sell his soul?” The sneer in Gran's voice deepened. “The Fullmetal Alchemist, the hero of the people… just as dirty as you.”

“Or lest I forget, you did shoot two of your friends in Ishbal… Traitors, but you've always enjoyed associating with traitors…”

Ed wanted to be away. Anywhere but where he was. Mustang knew something more about the Stone? But he was- trying to…

“Oh, I thought you would like to know, we never were able to prove you helped Marco desert.”

“But we didn't need him anymore. We've proceeded. Don't you want to know what we've been doing?”

“I'd rather not,” Mustang answered, finally breaking in on Gran's tirade. “Then I can at least pretend I'm not aware of the things you do.”

“You killed two innocent doctors and you can still pretend to be righteous? How quaint. I'm merely obeying orders, same as you.”

Ed felt the urge to retch.

“I will never be the same as you,” Mustang stated- and Ed jumped at the sound of metal colliding with flesh and bone. It was followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor.

“No, you won't.” Gran snorted. “You'll always be a spineless coward.”

Gran was chuckling to himself as his heavy steps left the room.

There was a soft groan from the Colonel. “Over my fucking corpse,” he hissed, and Ed heard the soft sound of cloth shifting, and a faint laugh. “Not sure whose going to get me killed first… Ed or you, you sonuvabitch…”

Ed jumped again when his name was mentioned- and this time he knew he'd been heard.

 

 

To be continued.