Disclaimer: I don't own FMA…

Warnings: Language maybe, yaoi, spoilers for after the movie a bit… sort of… (Al has a human body and is only a year younger than Ed for the purposes of this story)

Summary: After the movie, Ed goes back home to live with Al, Winry and Aunt Pinako. Though he regularly writes letters to the group at Central, he pretty much keeps out of the eye of the military, preferring to stay there with Al and his family. But when tragedy strikes the small town of Risembol, what will Ed do when he is in charge of something that he never thought he would get?

Pairing: AlxWinry, RoyxEd (eventually), RizaxHavoc

In The Light of Darkness

Part 1

Roy sat at his desk in his office, staring out the large window at the clear blue sky. His mind wandered from his paperwork to the thoughts of the young blonde that had graced his office so many years before. The rambunctious attitude and the free spirit that kept him moving toward his goal of recovering his brother's body had finally taken him to his goal nearly four years ago. In truth, he missed seeing the blonde every time he returned from a mission. It was a sight for sore eyes when he showed up after being missing for two years but after all was said and done those two years ago, he again vanished from Roy's sights; this time returning to Risembol to live with his family. Though he used to receive letters from him updating him on his status, he could tell that he was happy to be with his brother. It wasn't until nearly a year ago when the letters stopped, that Roy had gotten worried that something might have happened but when he went to question Riza, she had told him not to worry and that perhaps Ed had just found someone new in his life to spend his time with. With that response from Riza, Roy had let it go, his worrying didn't stop but he never went to Risembol to check up on him. Something in him told him that he would see him again.

Sighing, he turned around to continue to work on his paperwork. Sheet after sheet, signature after signature. Somehow, he thought being a Brigadier General would have more perks than just a crap load of more paperwork involved. It didn't take him, however, to hear the voices outside his office door as they grew louder with some kind of uproar.

"I could have sworn I just saw the boss in the city," Roy heard Havoc say. "It looked exactly like him but he had some kid with him."

Roy raised his head and stared at the closed door for a moment before getting up and moving toward the door to listen. He knew that if he opened it, Riza would give him and earful for not doing his paperwork so instead, he pressed his ear against the door.

"Maybe he settled down, Havoc," this time it was Riza speaking. "He is allowed to do that."

"Yeah, but I didn't think he liked anyone else but Mustang," was Havoc's response.

What is he talking about? Roy's eyebrows rose, completely intrigued with the conversation in his outer office.

"Havoc, that was nearly four years that you got him to confess that to you," Breda spoke now. "The poor kid didn't even have the heart to tell him before he went to fix Al."

"Well that and the fact that he was gone for two years probably didn't help the feelings either," Havoc responded.

Now Roy heard the sound of moving chairs, shuffling paper and footsteps before he jumped back at the knock on the door. Jumping, back he stared at the door for a moment before opening it up to see who was on the other side. When he saw Riza standing on the other side with a stack of papers in her arms, the look on her face was not a happy one.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop on others' conversations, sir," she said as she started to move into his office and dropping the stack on the top of his desk.

"What were you guys talking about?" He asked, trying to calm himself down after being scared like that. "What was that about Ed?"

"It's not something for me to say, sir," she replied, standing in front of his desk when he took his seat. "I suggest that you don't worry yourself over such things until your paperwork is complete. The stack that I just put on your desk we have just received so they don't need to be done until the end of the week but make sure that everything else is done by tonight." She glanced at the clock that hung on his office wall. "Which is only three hours away, so I suggest that you get working."

With that, Roy watched as she turned around and proceeded out of his office, shutting the door behind her. What do they mean by Ed only liking me? I don't understand but I don't get the part where Ed was seen with some kid. Running a hand through his hair, he set his mind back on his work with little success at keeping the blonde from his mind.

When the clock on his wall rang for five o'clock, he was glad to see that he had managed to finish all of his work plus some that was due by the end of the week. Standing, he stretched his arms above his head and reached for his military uniform top to shrug into. As he put his arms into the sleeves, he glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of a blonde that was strikingly familiar to him. Could that really be Ed? Roy stared at the blonde that was making his way down the street with a smaller blonde attached to his back. This is all too confusing for me. Quickly, he through his jacket on and raced out of the office, ignoring Riza's yells of protest when he went by. He was too focused on knowing if the blonde that he had seen was Ed or just something on his mind playing tricks on him. Once on the street, he looked both ways and found that the blonde was headed toward the park. Deciding to stay back a bit until he knew for sure if it was Ed or not, Roy followed from a safe distance. Everyone once in awhile seeing the kid shake with laughter at perhaps something the man had said. The kid couldn't be more than two years old.

Crossing the street, he followed the pair into the park, where he saw the man placed the kid on the ground before sitting on the bench and watching the young girl play in the sand that was there. For a moment he just watched the young girl playing before he cautiously stepped up to the blonde.

"You don't make a very good spy," he heard the blonde say before he turned around to reveal a much more adult looking Ed. There was smile on his face as he turned to look back toward the young girl that was playing.

Still, he was just like Roy remembered with large golden eyes and beautiful blonde hair but now was in a ponytail rather than a braid. His features, though just as nice, were more grown-up.

"Ed…" Roy said, not entirely what to say to him.

"I'm sorry," Ed replied, his voice dropping a bit and the smile gone from his face.

Roy took a seat on the bench beside him, also looking at the young girl that had somehow managed to dump sand all over her head but didn't look as if she minded it at all.

"Marianna." He heard Ed say, answering an unasked question. "She's…" Ed paused, taking a deep breath. "She's Al and Winry's kid."

Nodding for a moment, Roy just continued to watch her. "How are they doing?"

Silence filled the air between the two of them before Roy heard a small sniffle like someone was crying. When he turned to look at Ed, he found that it looked like he was going to cry at any moment. Reaching his hand over, he squeezed Ed's shoulder.

"Ed?"

Shaking his head, he took his off his niece and looked at Roy. "I'm sorry I haven't told you or anyone at the office," Ed began, swallowing hard. "Last year, I had Mari out in the garden outside of Pinako's house, watching the clouds go by in the sky. She had just turned one at the time and Al and Winry were inside cleaning up after the small party they had for her. We were just quiet, paying attention to ourselves. Then…" Another shake of the head. "It went downhill after that. I heard a noise from behind me and when I turned around, the house was in flames. I remember grabbing Mari and moving farther away from the house to keep her safe." Ed turned away, looking back at the young girl who was oblivious to her uncle's sadness. "She was one, Roy, too young to lose her parents. I was screaming so loud for them to come out and wanting so bad to go in and try to get them out but I couldn't leave Mari outside alone. I didn't know what to do, Roy."

Roy wrapped his arm around Ed's shoulders as he started to cry again. So this is why he hadn't written in such a long time, he thought, turning his head to see that the little girl was now looking at them strangely. With a little hop, he saw the girl jump from the sandbox and run up to them, worry written on her face.

"Uncle Eddy!" She yelled, running up to him and hugging his legs. "Uncle Eddy, what's wrong?"

Wiping his eyes on his sleeves as he sat up, he smiled down at the young girl, trying to hide the sadness. "Nothing, sweetheart, it's just that this is a very good friend of mine that I haven't seen in a long time and I was happy to see him."

Roy watched as the young girl looked from Ed to himself and back to Ed. He noted that the young girl's hair was a shade darker than Ed's and she had the deep blue eyes that he remembered Winry having.

"Why don't you introduce yourself," Ed said, seeming like he was trying to remove her attention from him for a moment.

Roy smiled at the little girl as she turned toward him and with sandy hair, picked up the sides of her dress and curtsied to him.

"My name is Marianna Elric," she said, smiling up at him. "What is your name?"

"I am Roy Mustang," he said, standing up and bowing to her. "You are very polite for a young lady."

"Uncle Eddy taught me how to be a polite little girl," she said, beaming praise upon her uncle. "I've tried teaching him how to be a gentleman but it never works."

"Mari!" Ed yelled, faking hurt in his voice and covering his face with his hands.

Roy sat back on the bench and watched as Ed played with his young niece before she moved back to the sandbox and played. He again kept his focus on the little girl, listening to Ed as he was stilling trying to get himself under control. His mind was swirling with questions but he didn't want to bombard him with tons of questions all at once, seeing how he didn't really know what to say to him in entirely. It's been nearly two years since he's talked to him outside of letters and a year since even that. It was nice and nerve-racking at the same time to be this close to Ed without anything to say.

"It's hard taking care of her by myself," Ed said, leaning against the back of the bench. "I never thought that I would ever have to take care of a child like this, let alone by brother's. I've explained to her what happened to her parents as nicely as I could put it for a child to understand. She'll probably end up asking again when she gets older but I kind of hope not. It was hard enough to explain to her once that she'll never see her parents, I don't know if I could do it again to her."

"You explained it to me," Roy said, glancing over at the blonde. "I'm sorry to hear about it now."

"It's okay," he replied, sighing. "I promised them after I knew that they were gone that I would keep Mari safe and help her grow up the right way. I just don't know how I am going to do that exactly."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked, confused.

"While I was living with all of them, I didn't need another job," Ed explained, picking at the fibers of his slacks. "I just helped them out with their automail business by cleaning up and doing minor things. After everything burnt down in the fire, I have no way of reestablishing the place or business and I have no idea how to make automail in the first place. It's been over a year since I've had my maintenance done. The only other way I know how to make money is the military but I can't do that to her. It's hard enough to have three people in life leave her, I don't need to do that to her, too."

"Where have you been staying?"

"Well, we were staying at a friend's house in Risembol but they just had a baby too two months ago and I didn't want to be any more of a burden on them," he stated, sitting up more on the bench. "Now we're staying at the hotel down the road from Gracia's house. She had asked me to stay with her since I have a limited budget but I declined, telling her that I'll be there for her cooking at least. I just don't know what to do. As it looks now, we only have enough money for another month at the hotel then we are out of someplace to stay." Sighing, he leaned against the armrest of the bench and stared out at Mari. "I don't know what to do, Roy. I'm not a father; I'm not someone that can do this."

Roy smiled and turned on the bench to face toward Ed more. "Ed, look at me." When he did so, Roy continued. "You have been taking care of her since your family passed and since then it doesn't seem like anyone has tried to take her from you for bad parenting and she looks healthy to me. Why don't you guys come back to my house with me, we'll eat something and figure out something for you to do for a job."

"No, Roy, I don't want to burden you with anything," Ed said, his face flushing a bit at the thought of being at Roy's house. His feelings from when he was younger never seemed to burn out in the years since their working together. "You probably have someone living their already with you and a family of your own."

"Ed, do you think if I've had a family, that I would be sitting here after work talking to you," Roy asked, quirking an eyebrow as he watched Ed shake his head. "I'm as much the same person I was back when you used to work for me with maybe a few more perks since I was promoted."

He watched as Ed turned to Mari, seeming to contemplate Roy's offer before standing up and going over to the sandbox. Roy wasn't sure what he was doing but when he saw the girl's face light up and look at him, he was a little bit scared. His fears grew more when he saw her bolt from the sandbox and attach herself to one of his legs.

"Uncle Eddy said you can do alchemy too," she squealed, smiling happily. "Can you show me?"

"Um…" Roy looked up at Ed who was now standing a few feet away from him with his arms folded on his chest then back down at the little girl. "I'll make you something really pretty, okay? But that's only if you eat your dinner."

"Awww…" she stuck her lip out at him and looked up at him with the saddest little eyes she could muster, trying her hardest to win him over with her cuteness. "Do I really have to wait that long?"

Again, Roy glanced up at Ed for some kind of advice, the only kid he had to deal with was Elysia and she was too old now to give him the pouty lip and get any reaction but when Ed just shook his head and chuckled he looked back at Mari.

"How about you help me cook and then I'll show you?" He bargained with the girl, hoping that this would work somehow.

"Okay!" She squeaked, happy now before grabbing his hand and trying to pull him off the bench. "Come on, Uncle Eddy and Uncle Roy, let's go!"

Ed just chuckled as he followed the two away from the park and down the street toward the office. He caught up to walk beside Mari on the opposite side of Roy, who seemed a bit scared by the girl's eagerness to hold his hand as they walked. Reaching down, he took a hold of her other hand, receiving an adorable little smile in return. Everything about the young girl reminded him of his brother and Winry, her eyes and hair and the way she pouted like he could remember Winry doing as a child. It was hard to keep smiling when he looked at her; it was still too close to their deaths for him to completely move on and away from them but something about being back in Central helped ease the feelings of guilt and sadness some. He wasn't ready to move on in his mind but his heart was ready to move from the past and remember all the good things that they had. Smiling down at her once more before turning to watch where they were going, he was hoping and wishing that they could truly move on and have a happy life like Al and Winry would want them to have.

TO BE CONTINUED…

AN: Another story started and I haven't finished the other two but this idea just popped into my head while I was at work and decided to roll with it. Hope you like it and please review it!! I want to make sure you people think it's a good idea before I continue!!