Title: Crossing The Line

Summary: For two years Alphonse has kept a secret, and when Roy is caught in the act, Edward is left to pick up the pieces. Warning: child abuse, dark subject matter.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.

IIIII

Chapter One: Broken Trust

IIIII

The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is one of the most vicious crimes conceivable, a violation of mankind's most basic duty to protect the innocent – James T. Walsh

IIIII

"Don't let him in the house!"

"I'll fucking kill you, Mustang! You bastard, come out here so I can kill you! Fight with someone who can fight back you monster!" screamed Edward at the top of his lungs, not caring if the whole neighborhood heard his heartfelt cries. He could feel tears burning the back of his eyes as he stared at Roy Mustang's house. They were tears of pure fury.

"Edward, calm down," urged Hawkeye sternly.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down!" Edward snapped back.

Two men were currently holding him at bay. One had his arms snaked around Ed's waist and another was using all of his strength to keep Ed's hands apart, so the young alchemist couldn't use his much-relied on alchemy to escape and go into the house.

"Where's Alphonse? Where is my brother, Hawkeye?" the blonde demanded to know, a dangerous tone in his voice.

"He's in the house currently--"

"With Mustang?!"

"The General is in a completely different room and is supervised by armed officials. He's not going to lay another finger on your brother, I assure you."

Edward said gravely, "He's going to regret that he ever did in the first place."

"I know revenge tops the list of your things to do right now but I need you to focus on Alphonse," said Hawkeye. She said, "If you promise to keep yourself under control you can see him. But only if, okay?"

"Why are you protecting that criminal?"

"Because he once meant something to me," she replied softly, a strange tone in her voice, as though she was injured. "I've lost something too today, Ed. I saw something horrible and we both have to deal with it. Now are you going to go on a childish tirade and smash everything you see or are you going to help your brother get through the most difficult time in his life?"

As much as Edward wanted to bash in Mustang's face, as much as he wanted to kill the man, or torture him into madness, he knew he couldn't. Al was vastly more important than any of those urges. So Ed made the difficult decision and stopped struggling, stopped all of his efforts to get free, and in return he was released from the men who restrained him.

"How much did Armstrong tell you?"

"Everything," answered Ed solemnly.

He remembered being taken off of the train by Armstrong, who wasn't quick to tell him what was going on. Ed had been about to go off on another mission to Megeor in the north but Armstrong said he was relieved of his duties for a while. When he asked what could have brought this on the last thing he thought he needed to worry about was Alphonse. After all, his brother was with a certified state alchemist. There's no better protection than that.

He had been dead wrong.

"So what's going on?" Edward had inquired impatiently, not realizing the direness of the situation.

Armstrong, who was usually unflappable, looked seriously disturbed. As a man of the military he had seen and heard horrible things, so to be distressed over something it must be very, very disconcerting.

"It's your brother, Edward," said Armstrong lowly. "There's been . . . something horrible has occurred and--"

"Is he okay?" Horrid things flashed in his mind. No, no, Al can't be hurt. He left him with Mustang who had promised he would take care of his brother. When Armstrong didn't immediately reply Ed pushed forward, "I asked you a question! Is he okay?"

"No, he's not okay," Armstrong replied. " Which is why you need to come with me so you can be there for him. I'll tell you more in the car, this isn't for the public to hear."

So Edward got into the car with the man, eager to find out what had happened to Al. All sorts of things ran through his mind; did someone break into the house and hurt him? Is he . . . dead? Did he have another one of his hospital visits after collapsing from exhaustion? No, if it was only that, Armstrong wouldn't act so seriously.

"So what is it?" Edward demanded to know.

"There's no easy way to tell you this so I'm going to just come out and say it," the man said, his voice intense with emotion. "Today First Lieutenant Hawkeye was going to General Mustang's house to give him some papers he had forgotten to sign. It was Mustang's day off, you see, so he was . . . alone with your brother and . . . Hawkeye didn't get an answer at first when she knocked on the door so she thought something was wrong and let herself in. She . . . she heard moans—" Armstrong gripped the steering wheel tighter in anger "—and decided something was wrong. She went to the guest bedroom and opened the door to see Mustang forcing your brother to perform oral sex on him."

Edward sat there, stunned into silence.

No, it's not possible.

It couldn't be.

"He's in good hands with me," Mustang had always said before Edward left him with him. "All you need to worry about is taking care of yourself."

The whole time, he thought. The whole time that bastard was tricking me into thinking he was helping Al and I by taking him in whenever I had a mission. But all of this time he's been . . . he's been . . .

Edward thought back on all of the times he's left Alphonse with the General. Too many times to count. Was this going on right under his nose the whole time? And why wouldn't Alphonse tell him about it if it was? No, of course he wouldn't tell, he would be too scared. Mustang probably forced him into silence . . . but still . . . it hurt that Al didn't come to him with this. Edward had sworn to protect his brother, no matter what, and he's failed at that so many times now.

How can he ever forgive me? I've gone and screwed up again, He wondered.

With barely contained anger he asked in a shaky voice, "Do you think this has happened more than once?"

"I . . . I suspect so, yes."

"I could have protected him," hissed Edward. "If only he'd come to me."

"Children don't often tell because of the shame associated with it," said Armstrong. "He was probably too scared that you would blame him—"

"There's no reason to blame him! It's Mustang's fault. That bastard . . . I'm going to rip him to shreds. He'll be sorry he even laid eyes on my brother." Edward slammed his fist into the dashboard out of fury. "I can't believe I let this happen!"

"You didn't let anything happen, Edward. This is all Mustang's doing."

"I should have seen something. Signs, warnings, whatever."

"Sometimes there's nothing you can do."

Tears were coming towards the surface but he refused to let them spill over. He would be at Mustang's house any moment and he was going to make that man pay for ever laying a finger on his little brother.

All of his rage, ire, and anger built up in the car. So when they arrived at the house he couldn't take it anymore and started shouting as loud as he could so Mustang could hear his yells.

"Follow me."

Edward obediently followed Hawkeye into the house he'd become all too familiar with the past two years. Edward was nineteen now, and Alphonse twelve, his body having not aged in the gate so he had come back as a ten year old with no memories. Ed had had a hard time convincing the boy that they were brothers, since in Al's mind he was only ten, making Ed eleven, and although he was still short Ed didn't have the face of an eleven year old. It had taken him atleast a couple of days to gain Al's trust again.

Now he's broken that trust. How could he ever look his younger brother in the face now? He's ultimately failed in protecting him against something so vile and disgusting. Surely there were warnings signs. Now that he thought about it . . .

The subtle changes in Al's face and body when Mustang was around, the nightmares that resulted in him waking up screaming, the cringing away from any touch. Edward had chalked the last one up to hypersensitivity and Al had always said the nightmares were about them losing their mother. But there were small enough changes in Al's attitude that if looked at from a different angle, someone could possibly suspect this kind of abuse happening. But Mustang being the perpetrator? That was what did make any sense. Why would he do something so foul? And to Alphonse, someone he supposedly cared for? Roy had been there at every birthday party and family get together, too.

Maybe it was all just to be close to Al, speculatedEdward.

"Hawkeye!"

Ed stopped in his tracks. Hawkeye, seeing this, grabbed his arm and tugged but he rooted to the spot. Apparently, to get to Al's room you had to pass the room Roy was being kept in.

"Tell them that this is all a mistake," said Roy, deadly calm. "Tell them that you know I wouldn't do such a thing."

"I know what I saw," is all she allowed herself to say.

Meanwhile, Edward was boiling. He was shaking with the effort to keep back his fists.

"Fullmetal knows I wouldn't do a thing to hurt Alphonse. Right, Fullmetal?"

"Don't talk to him," ordered Hawkeye severely. Edward wasn't sure which of them she was talking to, him or Roy.

"This is all a big misunderstanding. I'm sure Al is setting the record straight with the police right now."

"If he is it's only because you're a master manipulator! I trusted you, damn it!" shouted Edward, reaching his breaking point.

"Edward—" Hawkeye tried to intervene but it was useless. She couldn't stop them from yelling at eachother, if that is what they truly wanted.

"You give me too much credit. I'm not a manipulator. I—"

"Shutup, right now!" ordered Edward. It took a lot of self-control to keep himself from launching at the man. It's not likely he would get to him through the guards, but he could imagine trying very hard to do so. "I believe Al. And if he says you . . . you touched him, then I believe him, not you, you lying sack of shit!"

A small voice said, "Brother, is that you?"

"Al . . . " Edward thankfully left the scene to the guest bedroom down the hall, where Alphonse sat on the bed, tears in his eyes and falling in little rivulets down his face. His clothes were rumpled as if just put back on in a hurry and his hair was ruffled and out of place. He had a blanket gripped tight around his small shoulders.

At first Ed wasn't sure what to do. Should he run up and hug him? Surely that would make him stiffen and feel uncomfortable. And what should he say? There are no words to make this situation even almost okay. No amount of words would take away the pain, the suffering he must be feeling.

So instead of dramatically running up to his brother he recalled that Al needed a calm, stoic brother. He dropped down in front of Al and looked up at him and said, "Al, tell me the truth. Take your time."

"N-Nothing happ-happened," said Al, choking on his words. He had contracted a habit of stammering when extremely stressed. "Mr. Mustang and I were fine. Miss H-Hawkeye didn't s-see anything."

"You know that's a lie, Al," said Hawkeye. "Your brother asked for the truth. Please, let us help you."

"Mr. Mustang i-is my-my friend! He wouldn't h-hurt me."

Edward took his younger brother's hands into his and squeezed comfortingly. There was an angered edge to his tone, but it wasn't directed towards Al. "Then why are you acting like you have something to hide? You're shaking, you're stuttering. Everything points to 'something happened'. You're not the one that has to be ashamed, Al, it's Mustang who's at fault here. And me. I should have protected you better—"

"Brother, nothing happened. Please. Stop all this. You can go on your mission."

"Whatever Mustang told you were lies," said Edward. "You don't have to protect him."

"Go t-to Megeor, brother!"

"I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth!"

"The tr-truth is th-that nothing ha-happened!"

"Damn it, Al, don't lie to me! I'm your brother. I'm trying to help you. We all are. We're on your side, not his."

Alphonse squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lower lip. A small whimper escaped from his mouth but nothing more. After that he refused to talk. No amount of demands or coddling brought about results.

"What do we do?" asked Edward of Hawkeye not twenty minutes later. The police were still trying to get Al to answer some basic questions. They were in Mustang's kitchen, helping themselves to coffee. "He's obviously not going to cooperate. Mustang's got him brainwashed or something."

"If we can't get him to talk soon the police will have nothing to go on and we'll have to let Mustang go."

"What? You've got to be kidding me! They have a witness!"

"I'm no good if the victim won't talk."

"This is so frustrating!" exclaimed Edward. "Isn't it obvious my brother is traumatized?"

"Like I just said, if Al won't talk, they don't have a case."

"What if I make Mustang admit to it?"

"The likelihood of that happening is next to nothing. He would first have to have a conscience."

"I said make him admit to it," repeated Ed. "Give me five minutes alone with him and he'll be begging to give his story to the police."

"The likelihood of that happening is even less likely than next to nothing."

"You're protecting a child molester, you realize this, right?" angrily demanded Ed.

"I'm no fool, Ed. I know what he is." Hawkeye set down her cup of coffee, gazing into it, seeing her reflection in the small waves. "Atleast, I thought I knew who he was. This new Roy is someone entirely different. The man I knew wouldn't hurt a child. But this one is capable of anything."

"I don't understand how he could do this," whispered Ed. "I thought he cared about Al. I never imagined . . . "

"This isn't your fault," said Hawkeye, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Just like it isn't Al's. You're an innocent bystander in Roy's sick little game."

"That's just it. I'm a bystander. I didn't do anything. He's my little brother. I should have noticed something, I should have done something!"

"Even Al doesn't want to admit what happened. How were you supposed to see something he isn't willing to face himself?" Hawkeye asked.

Edward hasn't an answer for this because there is none. He wished he had all the answers, than things would be a lot more easy on the brothers. It seemed that even when their life was normal things always took a turn for the worst. Was normality too much to ask for? Couldn't they lead an everyday life for once without something life shattering happening? First their mother, then the botched transmutation, then everything that followed, and now this bombshell.

"Atleast we now know that Roy can't be trusted. No more harm will come to Al now."

"Yeah because I won't let it happen. He's not coming within twenty feet of Al now. Al's coming with me on every mission I go on. That way I can protect him."

"As much as you may want to you can't protect him from everything, Ed," sagely said Hawkeye. She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. There was a haunted look in her eyes that reminded Edward that she saw something today that she shouldn't have seen, something that would stay with her forever.

"Are you okay?" asked Ed warily. It felt weird to ask Hawkeye that since she always appeared to be fine.

"I'll be okay, yes. I'm just in shock, I suppose. I've seen a lot of gruesome things, having been in a war, but still none of it compares to what I witnessed today."

"What did Mustang say? When you caught him, I mean?"

"If you can imagine it, he begged me not to tell anyone. Of course it was after he had locked the door. In my haste I kicked it off its hinges but that gave him enough time to talk to Al and convince him not to say anything."

"Why does he have Al wrapped around his finger?" Edward's grip on his coffee cup suddenly tightened. "How does that happen? I would think he would want to report Mustang for what he's done."

"There's a relationship between the abused and the abuser that no one will ever understand," she said.

Edward stood up, a determined look about him. "That's it. I'm going to talk to Al some more."

"Ed, don't push him too hard. He might snap."

"He not only needs to do it for himself, but what if some other kid gets alone with Mustang? What then? It needs to stop now."

"Ed . . . wait a minute," Hawkeye said, stopping him by grabbing ahold of his arm. He didn't fight or shrug it off so she continued, "I have a difficult question to ask. You may not want to hear it, but I'm asking it because it could have happened. Did Roy ever touch you or make inappropriate gestures towards you?"

"Never!" Edward tore his hand away as if stung. "If I had known that Roy was capable of doing that I would have never let Al anywhere near him!"

"Okay. I had to make sure. Because if he did, we could have prosecuted him on that. Then again, it depends on what age you were because there is a limitation on when you can prosecute someone for that crime."

"Well it never happened," grumbled Ed. "And if it had I would have knocked his ass out even if he is a lot older than me."

Edward walked over towards the hall and got the inevitable, "Hey Fullmetal" call from Roy, but Edward wasn't listening this time. It wasn't until he said, "Give Al a message for me, would you? Tell him 'thank you'. He'll understand what it means."

The blonde exploded. "You're a disgusting man, Mustang! How dare you hurt Al and then pretend like you didn't! Tell them the truth! Tell them that you've been having sex with a twelve year old, you sick pervert!"

"I very well can't tell them something that isn't true, now can I, Fullmetal?" replied Roy, keeping his cool. Noting how upset Edward was, the police did a smart move and stood in front of the General.

Edward was doing his damndest to control himself. He was doing surprisingly well, too. For someone who had that strong of an urge to punch someone else in the face he kept in control of his anger and didn't let emotions override his logic. Logic told him to walk away, that this was an unwinnable battle. Mustang would only tease, prod, and poke until he got the results he wanted; which were most likely to drive Ed to the point of hitting him, thus throwing him into jail. Well Ed wasn't going to fall for it.

"Brother? Can I talk to you?"

Edward put on a brave smile. "Of course, Al. You can talk to me about anything." He sent one more hateful glare Roy's way and then followed Al into the main bedroom.

"Brother, I'm done talking to the police. I'm done talking to e-everyone." Al took in a deep breath so he could control his stammering. After taking a moment he continued, "I want to go home now, 'kay?"

"You're just going to let him go? Just like that?" asked Edward of the officers.

One officer shook his head. "If he doesn't report a crime, we have nothing to go on."

"Al you have to—"

"Brother, please, stop it."

With a great effort Edward heaved a sigh and said, "We'll go home but we're going to talk about this later."

Al looked rather defeated, and nodded. He took his brother's hand which is something he only does when he feels immensely insecure.

"Al."

Alphonse looked up to see Mustang being taken out of his handcuffs.

"You're welcome to stop by any time, no matter what your brother or anyone says. Be sure to do that, okay?"

"Don't listen to him," growled Edward, jerking on his brother's hand to make him follow.

"Goodbye Al, Fullmetal."

Al stayed silent.

"I'll drive you home since you don't have your vehicle with you," offered Hawkeye as soon as they walked into the kitchen. Her kind eyes fell on Al, who immediately looked away. She frowned at this but figured that after what he'd been through, and having been found out by her, he wouldn't look at her the same for quite some time.

"Thanks. We would appreciate that."

On the way back home, Al was quiet and withdrawn. He spoke in a small voice but only when spoken to. Edward worried continuously throughout the ride for his brother's well-being. What would happen now that the truth was out? Or, atleast, half-way out? Al refused to talk about it or admit that it happened. Ed knew deep down that this was the truth. That Mustang was a pedophile who had been sexually abusing his brother for one can only guess how long. It was a tough pill to swallow but he had to take it nonetheless. If he denied it it would only make things harder for Al. He had to make his younger brother realize denial was no longer an option here. If they were going to survive this stage in their life they would both have to come to terms with the situation. Not to mention he had to worry about Mustang still walking the streets.

Now if only Edward knew where to start.

IIIII

Was it crappy? Do you hate it, or do you want more? I love, LOVE reviews. They keep me writing!

Also, I should clear this up before I get complaints; yes, it's plausible that Al wouldn't report Mustang for what he's done. As Hawkeye said the relationship between the abused and the abuser is a complicated one, and someone who is abused for over a long period of time CAN grow a demented attachment to their abuser. It makes it easier to deal with the abuse. It's a coping mechanism so things don't seem so bad.

NOW REVIEW, DARN IT.