Battle Cry

Chapter 10

"For a kingdom any oath may be broken."

-Henry VI

Ed stood in the hallway at home again, feeling the unavoidable pull from the study. The floorboards were sticky with blood, the air was thick with the smell of decay and the silence was broken by the guttural sounds of agony coming from inside the room. Ed could feel the tears streaking down his face, scared that the nightmare had once again changed and that Mustang would be there in that room.

Pale. Bloody. Malformed. Another victim of his alchemy.

"Ed."

He walked forward, just as he always did, towards the warm glow. He was drawn to it. It wasn't enlightenment or illumination to chase off the evil in the darkness, it was truth. The cruel truth he had known, the unfair and vicious truth that could twist his limbs off and destroy his world. The glow was from alchemy and it was far from his salvation, it had been his own damnation.

He finally arrived and stepped into the study. His bare feet transitioned from tacky blood to the ooze of that soldier's boiling flesh. He felt the fat between his toes and how it pulled from the skin as he stepped closer to the transmutation circle. Darkness hid the occupants from him, but he could hear the moans. The chalk outline was there glowing and swirling with power; the source of this light, the showcase of his mistakes. The circle he had draw with his own hands.

Hands materialized out of the shadows of that glow, the small black hands that reached out from the gate when he passed though it. They entwined him and locked on, he felt trapped and was helpless against their hold. He tried to shut his eyes, not wanting to see the truth any more, but they held his eyelids open. Another hand rose from the smoke and he knew it well; it was that creature that was supposed to be Mom. He wondered if she could see him, see what a disappointment he was. See how he let her down and ruined everyone's life.

"Edward."

The harshest truth to swallow was not that life wasn't fair, but that he was a failure. Was that what he had been running from this entire time? Was that why he burned down their house? Was that why he was planning to run from this war? He was trapped now, so far away from everything that made him feel safe, and all he could see was how wrong he had been. Truth, what he as an alchemist sought out more than anything, was right before his eyes and he could no longer look away.

The creature's hand reached out for his arm and tugged. He could smell the components of the smoke, that sickening smell of sweat, charred human and acrid stench of the darkest smoke that came from utter destruction...

"Fullmetal!"

Ed's eyes shot open and his breath was rapid and heart racing. He was wide awake immediately and he quickly turned to look at Mustang who still was right next to him on the table. There was only one person who would call him that and he almost started crying out of happiness because that asshole was the person who did. "Colonel?"

Ed sounded sacred, desperate. Roy tried to move but felt the pain and a weight on his chest. He glanced down at his shirtless torso and Ed's arm on it, the arm wrapped in a bandage with a splint made of wood board and baling twine. The twine was woven between his fingers and his hand wrapped flat against it. Someone was making sure he wouldn't move it. What the hell was going on? "Are you hurt? What happened to your arm?"

Ed was speechless. Was he seriously asking about his condition when he was the one that almost died? He realized that the person pulling on his sleeve in the dream was Mustang, as he tried to wake him from his nightmare. The smell of the smoke, was the lingering smells of battle in his hair. The voice...had been his. He took a deep breath and held it, he had to get himself under control.

"Did you break your arm?" Roy asked. His voice came out raspy, his mouth was so dry. Why the hell wasn't he answering?

"Yes..." Ed said and wondered how he knew about what he did to his automail, then it occurred to him that Mustang was asking about the arm on his chest. "No! Not that one. I...gave blood."

Roy's eyes searched the room, he swallowed and his mouth felt like cotton. He just woke up, Ed had been twitching beside him and sounded like he was in danger, it must have just been another one of his nightmares. It was still enough to shock him awake and be ready to fight. The adrenaline ebbed and the pain came rushing over him like a tidal wave. He laid still to get his bearings first before making another move. "Where are we?"

"Farmhouse north of Vertigris. We had to find somewhere we could get you fixed up." Ed couldn't believe he was really awake. He forgot about his nightmare and stared at Mustang as he swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. He was breathing, shallow breaths because of the pain in his ribs. But he was breathing. "You're alive."

Roy mulled that over. Ed said it with relief, joy. He looked at Ed's arm again, then the tray of supplies left on the table beside them. The patch on his arm. The kid's arm braced so he couldn't move it. Fogginess from sleep and pain left as he realized that the kid had once again sacrificed too much. "What did you do?"

Ed was surprised at how angry he sounded. Then Mustang's eyes fixed on him and he was too tired to fight. He just wanted to be happy he was alive and now he knew he was just going to have to brace for the storm. The Colonel was pissed and it was going to get worse once he knew the true scope of what happened. "I fixed your rib with some of my automail and you lost a lot of blood and my type was the only one you could have...and..."

"A field blood transfusion..." He gave blood. Shit. "Who was stupid enough to agree to that?"

"You were going to die." Ed felt overwhelmed as he said it, tears started to well up in his eyes. "I told you, I'm not going to kill anyone. That includes you."

He was ready to yell at him like he had done to Hawkeye after the battle with Lust. Berate him for being so foolish, for giving up, but he could hear how emotional he was. How desperate he was. " I know what I signed up for, I know the consequences of my actions and I take full responsibility for them. Don't you risk your life for something so foolish again."

"You would have died!" Ed repeated. "You saved my life and I gave you life in return. It's equivalent exchange!"

"Didn't you learn anything when you tried bring someone back from the dead last time?" Roy spat and tried to move and his ribs screamed in protest while the bullet wounds throbbed a pulsating heat and pain to remind him that they were still there.

Ed felt wounded and struggled to bounce back. "Yeah, I learned the consequences of my actions and to take full responsibility for them. To wear them, to drag it around with me for life and have them haunt me in the darkness. I'm not letting someone else die, not when I can help them. That's what life is about, it's about making choices to be human and not walk around an empty vessel. I'd do it all over again if I had to. So fuck you, you're not dying today."

"Life, which you have so much more to live. God Ed, you're just a kid...you made mistakes but you...were just a kid." Roy groaned. Why was it so hard to protect people? "Someone should have been there to stop you, you didn't know what consequences meant. You were just a kid and nobody was there for you. Someone should have stopped you. Someone should have stopped you this time."

"Shut up, bastard." Ed let his head roll away. He could hear in Mustang's voice and his repetitive babble how exhausted he was. The brief argument had already drained him. "I was in charge. So I disabled both my arms, deserted with your team, gave you half my blood and if you don't get better I'm marching this command back to Amestris to dump you in a hospital and go fight Kimblee beside the Ishvalian refugees."

"Holy shit you've outdone yourself." Roy whispered.

"That was the only option." Ed said dryly. "You left me in charge."

Roy tried to move but was already short of breath. He didn't even know where to start to make sense of any of that. He needed Breda to report the current situation. "Where is everyone?"

"I...don't know." Ed said and looked around. It was dark outside, night had fallen. It was probably why they couldn't hear the artillery anymore, the battle had come to a close for the day. "Probably getting the truck ready to move us. Breda is nervous about staying here this long."

"We go back." Roy said and stopped trying to move. He was in pain every way he twisted and Ed's arm worried him. He wasn't going to chance moving it, he had seen field transfusions during the war and he knew the sight of an artery dumping liquid life onto the floor. "Do you think I gave you that lecture on duty so you could just leave the first opportunity you were given? It was about us, soldiers, about this profession we have chosen. We understand the risks, we accept them. We are not greater than any of it."

Ed was annoyed that all Mustang saw was his desire to run away from his mistakes. Dammit he did what was necessary to protect everyone and it wasn't cowardice! "That's not what happened."

"Then report, Major." Roy looked at the kid and wished he had never brought him into this. All he wanted was to protect this little shit from himself and now...he was in the middle of this and already sacrificing for him. That...was the last thing he wanted. However he just gave blood, and use of two arms and alchemy to save his life. He hoped they lived through this so he could pin a damned medal on the kid for what he did. "Tell me everything."

"In the car, you were suffocating. A broken rib, punctured your chest cavity. I used a piece of automail to fix it. Kimblee blew up our car and gave us an ultimatum: Leave or die. I couldn't fight him. I just removed a functional piece my arm so I couldn't fight him and he was going to beat me to a transmutation."

"I left you in charge for five minutes..."

"Shut up." Ed said. He watched a smile form on Mustang's face. For a brief second, it felt like how things used to be. They enjoyed the silence for a moment as a calm fell over them both, enjoying that pause in this hell to pine for how simple things used to be in the past.

"It was the right thing to do. He would have killed you." Roy gave him a much needed compliment. He needed the reassurance. The truth was that Ed's quick thinking had saved his life and those of everyone else in that car, but to tell him he was a hero for what he did would send the wrong message now. He needed him to focus on acting as part of the army, not against it.

"I don't know what his motivations are. He's either not worried about being held accountable because he's never been properly punished for Ishval or...what? What could he possibly gain from this?" Ed asked. Kimblee was unknown components, he had no idea what the man was made of. It was why his mind couldn't get wrapped around him, he was material he wasn't used to dealing with.

"You're an experiment." Roy replied. "He's curious to see how far he can push you. He's still an alchemist, he's inciting a chemical reaction. Will you yield and conform, or will you react and how violently? You're right, he fears no retribution. He is the chess piece that can move anywhere on the board, there are no rules that he plays by. He wants to see what your moves are."

"Great." Ed stared at the ceiling again and knew he should call for the rest of the team, but he wanted just a few more minutes alone with the Colonel to figure out what needed to be done. He needed to get himself together, he had opponents lining up for a fight and he was in pieces. Literally and figuratively.

"We have to get back to camp, Ed. You want to best him at this game, you just walk back into that tent and do your job. Anything else will be a dereliction of duty." Roy didn't know how to get through to him that this was the only option. This. Not trekking across an unknown country with two disabled alchemists in search of an Ishvalian community they didn't have any intel on. That, however, was very much a Fullmetal plan. "We are at war, Ed. This isn't Amestris, this is Aerugo. This is enemy territory. You don't speak or read their language, you don't have any power here. That watch will only get you shot. We belong with the main force and we will reunite with them, understand?"

Ed knew he couldn't do that. Returning to camp meant being put back on the chain. A chain around Mustang's neck to choke what life remained from him. A chain around his own, tethering him to rules and regulations. Heading North was not much better but it gave him the advantage. Kimblee was right, Mustang would crawl out of bed and kill himself trying to get back to work and save this team. He was trying to do it now and the only reason he was not on the floor was because a fragile arm was on his chest. He could hear how parched he was and knew he needed to remain hydrated. "There is a canteen there, you need to drink. It's our water, Falman said we should stay away from using local water."

Mustang watched Ed prepare to get up and worried that the movement would compromised his arm. "Where are you going?"

"To get the others." Ed said and looked at Mustang as a hand wrapped around the wood board attached to his arm.

"It can wait." Roy said and pulled the board back where it had been laying. He reached up with his other arm and grunted through the pain of the bullet wounds to grab the canteen. He propped himself up enough to get a drink without choking. He was a mess and nobody needed to tell him he was completely useless right now. "They'll be here when they have something to report. You need to recover. You've done enough. Get rest while you can, the return back to the army will be a dangerous road."

Ed took the canteen when it was offered to him and Mustang settled back down on the table to close his eyes and recover from the exhaustion of the conversation. He took a sip and put the cap back on, their water supply was low and he didn't need it as much as Mustang did. He set the canteen down close to him so he could reach it without a lot of effort. Then checked the Colonel's bandages to make sure he didn't cause any bleeding to start again and finally put his head back down to rest. He felt more at ease, less anxious. Their efforts weren't for nothing, Mustang was alive.

Ed didn't return to the nightmare after dosed off again. He woke when he heard the team coming into the kitchen, trying to be quiet on a squeaky old floor, and he was surprised when he smelled cigarette smoke. It was a nice departure from how he woke up earlier and he slowly opened his eyes. He looked around to determine who smelled like Havoc, it was Catalina who was beside the table again checking on her patients. "Colonel, they're here."

Rebecca was checking Mustang's vitals. "Was he awake?"

"Yeah..." Ed looked over at the Colonel who was most definitely not conscious. Now he wasn't sure if that had been a dream or not. "You didn't hear him?"

"I was taking a smoke break outside while the guys got the truck ready." Rebecca replied. A much needed smoke break. No wonder Jean went through so many cartons, Mustang was a stressful man to work for. "I left the window open so I could hear you if you called. I might have dosed off for a little while though."

Ed took a deep breath. Well, to add to the mounting problems he was possibly hallucinating. He looked up to see if the canteen was where he remembered putting it. It was, but that didn't prove much. "Is he OK?"

"Still alive, but unresponsive." She said and put her hand to the man's forehead to see if he was feverish. Their only thermometer available was a animal one and that was rectal use only. Surgery was one thing, rolling the man over and shoving a cattle thermometer up his ass was another. It's not like they had anything to counteract a fever anyhow, there was a bottle of Penicillin in the fridge but that was not universal like the tetanus shot had been. She just opted to let that temperature wait for a real medical professional, her relationship with Mustang was tense enough as it was. "At this point, I've done everything I can do."

Ed nodded and twitched as she touched his arm to check on it. He looked down at the black horsehair stitches and knew he too was vulnerable to infection. This whole team was vulnerable, they would protect their useless alchemists and that made him and Mustang a liability. Their guns would be little use against Kimblee or Scar, and they were limited on ammunition and supplies. They had to move and it was his move to make. "What's happened while I was out?"

Breda sat down and unraveled the roll of butcher paper they discovered in the pantry. "Falman has drawn us a map of the territory from memory. This is a replica of the the most recent one the engineer corps provided to the Colonel prior to the battle. The map we had was simply of Vertigris and we are beyond the borders of what that map entailed."

Ed glanced over to Falman and said, "Great work."

Breda smiled, the kid was getting used to filling in for Mustang. They didn't need a teenager to encourage them to do their job, but it gave them hope that this war hadn't destroyed this kid they all had grown to love as one of their own. To see Ed like he was when they arrived, quiet and reserved, made them feel like the war had already taken him from them. "Fuery drove out to try to get radio contact and scout the area. We're out of range. The army has pushed South, to pursue the enemy. Opening radio contact will, unfortunately, be broadcast to anyone listening so he couldn't hail for help."

Anyone listening. Like Kimblee or Scar. Or countless mercenaries. Their biggest enemies were no longer wearing the red of Auergo. Breda knew it didn't have to be said and there was no reason to bother the rest of the team with this. It was for the commanding officer and his second in command. Breda held up the map for him so he didn't have to move. Locations were marked on the map of the farmhouse and the estimation of movement for the main army.

"We don't know if the roads west of Vertigris are still in our hands. We plan on moving at night, that way there are less local eyes on our movements and hopefully they mistake us for their own forces." Breda continued. "As we go, we will have to assess the situation. Our best guess is that the army is here, based off of maintaining a contact with reserve forces, supply lines and defensive positions we have taken. That is still approximately a hundred miles from our current position, at best. We moved out in advance of the infantry, then after the battle pushed north of town approximately twenty miles. The army was moving in the opposite direction at that time."

Ed cleared his throat. "Kimblee is now free to encourage the General to continue moving South. He wants denser populated areas to wreak havoc on. They won't be back. "

"That's our conclusion too." Breda replied. He could see Ed's eyes dart across the map, taking it all in. "They probably sent out special forces to look for us, but leaving the car the way we did...they more than likely think we're dead or captured."

Well done Kimblee, everything was a calculated move. That made the decision even easier, considering Kimblee was already steps ahead of them. It was a chess game to him, and he was waiting for Ed's play. Ed understood they couldn't just walk away from the army, that didn't need to be reiterated to him. They were all professional soldiers, they all had a war to fight. However going South, deeper into enemy territory, was more of a gamble than heading North to take their chances at the border.

Ed rolled his head over to look at Mustang. It wasn't what he wanted, he knew that. Whether it was a figment of his imagination or that conversation actually took place, Mustang made it clear that duty was to be held above all else. However he wasn't Mustang, he was Edward Elric and this was his forte; Traveling through unknown countryside, ignoring the military when it called him to return and acting as an independent force of his own. Was it treason? Without a doubt, but he was loyal to his country not it's figurehead. He was loyal to this asshole who wanted to rise to the top, Mustang was their King and not some homunculus manipulating them from afar. Bradley couldn't pull strings if the lines were cut. "We head North. Ishvalians will know how to get across the border without detection, they fled Amestris that way. We have to get the Colonel home, that is his best chance at survival. I'll negotiate safe passage."

It was a bold statement, one nobody in the room bought even though it was said with the utmost confidence. Catalina couldn't let it slide. "How are you going to do that Ed?"

"They're in danger. Kimblee is here to finish what he started and he will find a way to put them in his path." Ed looked back at the team and they looked surprised. Except for Breda, he gave him an encouraging nod. This was a decisive move on his part, the real moment he took charge of this team and started acting like a soldier. He wasn't one of them and never would be, but that didn't mean he wasn't capable. "They need a hero and thankfully they have one of their own who wants to eliminate all State Alchemist from this earth. If Scar isn't there already, he will be. I'll make sure of it."

There was silence as they debated on the ethics of this move. They all wanted to save Mustang and the border between Aerugo and Amestris was probably closer than the army at this point. Vertigris had been a target because of it's proximity to their country, seizing it would have given them another foothold to support the army's drive South. Catalina just wasn't sure counting on a former enemy was the right move. Then there was Scar, who most definitely was an enemy they didn't want to invite into this already complicated situtation. They were screwed no mater which way they turned. "What do we know about the Ishvalians here?"

"The refugees were the Ishvalians who refused to take up arms. They left either when Amestris annexed Ishval, when the war began or soon after. Auergo would send munitions across the border and bring back families that wanted to escape. " Falman said. "There is a possibility we can find a healer among them."

"For the Flame Alchemist?" Catalina said skeptically.

"Our other option is to try to cross the border where there will be significant military activity and heighten security." Breda said. "Although we might be able to make contact with our own forces, our best course of action to cease all communications and try to stay under the radar. Aerugian citizens will be quick to act on our presence, Ishvalians less so. Even in this country they are pariahs."

Ed wondered how the hell Breda could still be just a 2nd Lieutenant. He could feel the indecision though and said authoritatively, "Mustang needs medical attention, we can't waste any more time. We're lucky nobody has found us yet. We leave as soon as possible."

Then he saw it, that look they all gave Mustang when he walked up and made them all feel like he was totally in control. It was actually encouraging and gave him the strength to sit up. "Lieutenant Catalina, can you get the board off my arm and pass me my uniform?"