The Ties that Bind

A series of related one-shots that range from Roy finding Ed and Al in Resembool and far, far beyond. Not chronological. EdWin, AlMei, Royai Parental!RoyEdAl Parental!RizaEdAl

Checking In

Older Brother 12, Younger Brother 10

Roy liked to check in on the boys at Tucker's place to make sure they weren't making a nuisance of themselves. The first day, he expected them to be hard at work in the library studying everything they could get their hands on in preparation for their written exam in two months. He absolutely did not expect to find Ed face down in the snow beneath an enormous, slobbery dog while Al and Tucker's daughter Nina laughed themselves into hysterics.

"Well then," Roy said from his vantage point at the front gate, "I see you two are studying hard."

Al and Nina stopped laughing immediately, both their heads snapping up to stare at him watching them with his arms and legs crossed, one shoulder propped against the perimeter wall. He smirked at Al, who somehow—Roy would swear—managed to blush despite his body being made of solid steel.

"Oh…um…h-hello Lieutenant Colonel." Al pressed his pointer fingers together sheepishly. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Just checking up on you all." Roy pushed away from the wall with a speculative frown and bladed a hand over his eyes as if to shield them from the blinding sun. "Speaking of…where's your 'big' brother, Alphonse?"

"W-O R U CLLNG SMLL NOUGH TO WLTZ WTH A SNWFLK, U JRK?!"

"What was that, Edward?" Roy cupped a hand to his ear and leaned closer to where Nina's dog Alexander still had the young boy pinned to the snow. "I can't hear you down there. Maybe you could speak up a little."

"GAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The second time Roy checked in was only a day later. He had to make sure they weren't bothering Tucker, after all, and remind them to study if they weren't. He didn't pay to bring them out to Central just for them to goof around with a little girl and her dog.

They were in the library this time, as they should be, studiously surrounded by stacks and stacks of books. Alphonse and Nina were seated beneath one of the high, paned windows, Nina in Al's lap, while Alphonse read to her from Fundamentals of Alchemy. Roy stifled an ironic laugh. That book was designed for teaching children the basics, but even so, Nina was undoubtedly still too young to understand.

Also, considering she was humming brightly as she alternately stamped her bare feet on the carpet and scribbled on the thick pad of art paper in her lap, Roy seriously doubted she was paying attention. It took a minute for him to realize Nina probably just wanted to hear the sound of Al's voice, not caring what he was actually saying, and Al, who wanted to brush up on his alchemic foundation, obliged.

Roy stamped down the fond smile that tried to form, forcing it into an annoyed frown instead. What reason would he have to feel fond?

Shaking his head, Roy cast around for Edward before his eyes landed on a familiar red coat stretched across a low pile of books and pinned down on all sides by four enormous tomes. The boy himself was on his stomach beneath the makeshift canopy with a book sprawled open before him. One hand was propped beneath his chin—the automail hand, which couldn't in anyway be comfortable—while his left hand tapped out a slow, steady rhythm against the page of a notebook with the eraser side of his pencil. It was all so…

Domestic, Roy told himself firmly. The word you want is domestic.

He definitely did not, in any way, consider the picture before him to be adorable. Absolutely not.

Deciding the boys were on the right track, Roy slowly withdrew from the library, closing the door soundlessly behind him.

It was a day or two (two and a half, but who's counting?) before Roy was free enough to check in again. He knocked politely as always and smiled kindly at Tucker who opened the front door with an almost subservient hunch about his shoulder.

"Ah, hello again, Lt. Colonel Mustang," Tucker said, almost frowning. "It's been a few days since you last looked in, I almost thought you weren't coming anymore."

"My apologies, Mr. Tucker. Things have been a bit hectic at work lately due to that deranged serial killer running loose. But I wanted to make sure to check-in today since it's the weekend." Reaching into the inner left pocket of his uniform jacket, Roy produced a sealed white envelope with Tucker's alchemic title scrawled across the front in perfectly uniform script. "I brought this coming week's stipend early since I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to check-in again."

"Oh! Well, thank you, Colonel." Tucker offered Roy a tired smile as he accepted the envelope. "I apologize for the necessity. Only a few months ago, I would have been able to support them without a problem, but I'm afraid Brigadier General Grand cut my funding again. He…wasn't pleased with the results of my last update."

"I see…" Roy released the envelope and tucked his hands into his trouser pockets. "Isn't your second-year certification coming up soon?"

"Ah, yes." There was a flash of light across Tucker's glasses as he ducked his head, giving his face an ominous cast. "It should be right after Edward and Alphonse finish their exam."

"I see," Roy said again. "Well, I wish you luck then."

"Oh my." Tucker chuckled self-consciously and rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "That's very gracious of you. To receive luck from an alchemist as accomplished as yourself—Oh! But where are my manners? Please, Colonel, do come in. We were just about to have dinner."

"I wouldn't want to intrude—"

"Nonsense! You're always welcome here. And I'm sure those boys will be happy to see you. They've had quite a few alchemy questions recently, but I'm afraid, with my assessment coming up, I haven't had much time to work with them."

Roy perked up at that, his bow furrowing just a bit. Part of the arrangement he'd made to have the boys staying at Tucker's included alchemic lessons along with room and board. He didn't want to think Tucker was scamming him out of a weekly stipend without fully contributing his half of the bargain, but—

"Oh no!" Tucker said, raising both hand in a placating way. "Please don't misunderstand. I certainly answer whatever questions they have, but some of the theory they discuss…well…" Tucker lowered his hands, embarrassment coloring his face as he looked away. "I'm ashamed to say that at least some of it is…beyond my current abilities."

Oh, well, that was fine then. Roy would never, ever admit it, but just going by the level of skill and intricacy involved in the human transmutation circle the boys had created the previous year, Roy wouldn't be surprised if they surpassed him in at least a few theoretical areas. Nodding, Roy strode into the enormous entryway—why did Tucker need such a large house anyway? It was only him and Nina. Even adding in the need for a lab and a library, that still only accounted for less than half of the current wasted space.

"I'm assuming the boys are in the library?"

"Yes, of course," Tucker said, almost simpering as he came up beside Mustang while wringing his hands. "Well, unless they've decided to take another break. They usually do twice a day just before meals."

That was good, Roy decided. As important as it was for the boys to study and practice their alchemy as much as possible, it wouldn't do anyone any good if they burned themselves out.

"Why can't you just admit you're wrong?!"

Roy almost started at the sudden shout, and Tucker definitely did. That had sounded like Alphonse, but considering how close the boys always acted, each one treating the other like they could disappear at any second (not that Roy could blame them), Roy hadn't ever considered that the boys might do something so mundane or…childish as get into a fight over who was right or wrong.

"Who's wrong?" Edward fired back, his voice pitched higher than usual in his obvious frustration. "Meülneve's theory of abbreviated matrix—!"

"Oh please, brother!" Alphonse may not be able to actually roll his eyes anymore, but that certainly didn't stop the emotions from leaking into his voice for all and sundry to hear. "That study is over fifteen years old! And Asimark's counter from two years ago clearly lays out the flaws in Meülneve's system!"

"Oh yeah? Well Borovich supports Meülneve—"

"And both Gostem and Roisster proved that Borovich's study was faulty due to research bias!"

"It wasn't disproved! They put a caveat on Borovich's work, but they never said it was wrong!"

Roy frowned at the library's large double doors, trying to work out what the brothers were fighting over with only a few context clues. He knew that Meülneve was responsible for pioneering a field of study surrounding universal matrixes, specifically alchemic circles that invoked an entire elemental field rather than affecting a specific reaction, such as Armstrong's stone molding technique. If proven correct, Meülneve's work would make alchemy practically a layman's skill as anyone who could draw a basic elemental circle could initiate a reaction.

Unfortunately, all the research currently available on the topic was extremely limited. Unless the person using the circle had an intimate knowledge of the element at hand, the reactions were often to volatile and unpredictable to control. There were a few people within the military that Roy knew had come close to utilizing circles that were almost at their elemental base—that lunatic Kimblee was a prime example, though his alchemy was practically designed to be uncontrollable—but none of them had actually managed the true base-level alchemy Meülneve theorized was possible.

"Oh dear." Tucker wrung his hands more tightly, his jaw tense with nerves and…anger? "This is one of those instances I was telling you about, Colonel. I'm just not as up to date on general alchemic theory as I'd like to be what with my research being more specialized to the bio-alchemic field."

Clearly the boys' fight had an agitating effect on Tucker—the man looked torn between exasperation and outright rage—and that was something Roy couldn't abide. He needed them to stay on Tucker's good side so he wouldn't have to worry about finding them someplace else to board until their exams were complete. He certainly knew other alchemists in the area, but none of them were parents and most, like Roy, lived alone with the demons they had brought back from Ishval. He didn't want to worry about the boys' guardian somehow taking advantage of them on top of his concern that they wouldn't have enough time to advance their studies enough in two months that they could pass a written exam so difficult it took most applicants over five tries just to finish it.

"Well what about Roisster's paper on alchemic fusion, huh?" Ed launched back. "You gonna tell me that was a flawless theory?"

A memory flashed through Roy's mind. Didn't Roisster's theory of alchemic fusion have something to do with using one's soul as a bargaining chip to circumvent equivalent exchange?

His expression darkening, Roy threw open the library doors with a violent crack. "All right, that's enough. Or did you two not realize we could hear you arguing all the way down the hall?"

Roy crossed his arms and glared at the two boys who had practically been growling in each other's faces only half a second before. Now they were staring at Roy with a mixture of shock and terror. "Did you think about the inconvenience your arguing would cause Mr. Tucker? Or how scared Nina would be if she heard you going at each other like that?"

Ed's eyes widened and, had his body not been made of iron, Roy was certain Al's would have too.

"Alphonse." Roy cut a glare at the boy who instantly straightened with a stammered 'yes, sir'. "If you had taken the time to look deeper into the application of Meülneve's theory within the military, you would know that not all of his foundational ideas were discredited. In fact, there are several matrixes currently in use that utilize the abbreviation theory."

Edward shot his brother a triumphant grin only to wilt when Roy turned his scowl on the much shorter brother.

"And Edward, how did you learn about Roisster's fusion theory? That research is supposed to be restricted not because it doesn't work, but because it's dangerous and forbidden and borders on taboo."

Ed withered a bit beneath Roy's heated glare but somehow managed to remain defiant as he shifted his feet and gripped his too long sleeves with both hands.

"What do you think I was saying to Al, huh? I know it won't work. I was just trying to prove that Roisster's not some great authority on matrix theory—"

Roy scoffed and drew himself up to his full height. He gazed down on the boy with a superior smirk. "Not an authority? Just because he was shut down on soul theory doesn't mean he hasn't made significant contributions to the field at large. In particular, Roisster and Esimov did a joint research project with Lab 2 right here in Central only six months ago that proved amplification was possible. It wasn't a rousing success, but the results were significant enough to earn Roisster an honorary certification despite his age and research-based over practical methods."

Ed's eyes were so wide now, Roy was amazed they didn't fall out of his head. When he spoke again, his voice was a hopeful, raspy whisper. "Amplification?"

Roy's imperious mien melted to something almost fond as he smiled between both boys, his lips twitching with the need to grin. "Yes, Edward, amplification."

The ramifications of what such research might mean for Ed and Al and their current predicament resonated between the trio to create an atmosphere so thick, it was almost miasmic.

Tucker let out a soft, attention grabbing cough that had Roy reaching for an ignition glove before he realized who it was behind him. Heart thudding in his chest, Roy forced his usual nonchalance to settle over his expression before he turned toward the Sewing-Live Alchemist with an eyebrow quirked in question.

"I'm afraid we need to cut this discussion short," Tucker said, his eyes hidden behind the violent gleam of light falling across his glasses. "It's getting rather late and Nina needs her dinner."

"Of course." Roy turned to the boys once again, his eyebrow still quirked. "If you'd like, we can pick this up again tomorrow. I have a meeting right after lunch, but other than that, I'm free for the rest of the afternoon. Come to my office and we'll discuss what theories you boys are having trouble with and see if we can't come to a solution."

Defiance didn't even seem to cross the boys' minds as they stared up at him with awe and, in Ed's case at least, glee. "Yes, sir!"

That Roy spent the rest of the night and all the next morning reading up on every past and current theory of matrix manipulation had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to be sure he could coach the boys properly. He just didn't want to look ignorant in front of a pair of pre-teens; geniuses though they may be.

The rest of the boys' stay at the Tucker Estate was more of the same. Roy would check-in every few days to get a feel of where Ed and Al were at in their studies, then go home to get as caught up as he could manage with all of his other work piling up before calling the boys into his office for a discussion on deep theory. Soon enough, Edward and Alphonse were enough of a regular fixture in Roy's office that Riza actually penciled them into his weekly planner as his standing appointments for Tuesday and Friday afternoons.

His men were shocked, at first, to see their stoic leader spending so much time with a pair of orphaned children, but the brothers, even Ed, were so innately likable that it wasn't long before everyone in Roy's office was happily acquainted with the pair. Roy approved of this only because it would be important for everyone to get along if—when—Edward, and maybe Alphonse, passed the exam and became official State Alchemists under Roy's personal command.

Then, at the end of the two-month wait, came the promised day: March 20th. The second quarterly alchemic exam for 1911. Ed had just turned twelve and damn if he didn't look every miniscule minute of his very short life. Sitting in the observation deck, watching Ed and Al scribble answers as frantically as they could, Roy felt a sudden pinch in his gut as he realized for the first time just exactly what he'd done by bringing those boys to Central.

And exactly what it would mean if they passed.

Of course, Roy wasn't an idiot; not by half. He'd known Edward would come to Central to become a State Alchemist, what other options did he have? And Roy also knew that word was already spreading throughout the Eastern region about a brilliant alchemist with unheard of abilities. It's what drew him to Resembool in the first place. That Edward Elric, age 31, was actually Edward Elric, age 10, wouldn't stop any of the higher ups from exploiting him at the first opportunity.

Roy had been annoyed by the false information—who wouldn't be?—but he'd figured it wouldn't hurt to at least meet the kids who were supposed to be little geniuses.

He never expected to find what he did.

And he never thought he'd feel relieved to be the one to find it.

After their performance with Human Transmutation, there was no way Ed and Al wouldn't find themselves pinging off someone's radar. They were already well enough known throughout the East that any number of military recruiting agents would be pounding down their doors in the next few years whether Roy decided to leave them alone or not.

But if Roy got to the boys first…

If he could convince them to enlist later…

If everyone knew that the Elrics were under his recruitment roster…

It would take longer than Roy initially hoped to get that extra star on his shoulder since waiting for Ed and Al to join would hardly have the same effect as them actually joining, but Roy was a patient man. And he could always find some other leg-up in the meantime.

So, with that in mind, he'd sown the seeds of hope and watered them with his parting words: "When you're all healed up, come find me in East City."

How was he supposed to know Ed would push himself to the brink so he could show up on Roy's East City doorstep barely a year later? Surgery that extensive done on a body so young? Roy had expected it would take Ed at least three years to fully recover and by that time he would be almost fourteen. With the excuse of two or three months of preparation time, that would still make the boys the youngest successful applicants ever, but it was at least a manageable age.

Roy should have known from their first meeting that Edward wasn't the type to conform to someone else's expectations.

"Sir?" Riza said, leaning over his shoulder as he stared broodily down at the boys still scribbling away at their tests. "General Hakuro is expecting you at Central Headquarters in an hour."

"Of course, Lieutenant." Roy stood and straightened his uniform jacket with a sharp tug. He shot the boys one last look, torn between hoping they would pass and hoping they would fail. At least one of them would, right? They were both brilliant, but they were also young. Alphonse especially. He, at least, wouldn't make it on his first try.

Right?

"If you'd like, sir, I can have their results brought to you during lunch."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Roy said as he breezed passed her and out of the gallery. "I'll be looking forward to seeing their progress."

Three hours later, Roy had his answers. Staring down at the exam scores sitting proudly atop his desk, Roy scowled. He'd resigned himself to Ed passing, but Alphonse too? The kid was too gentle, too real, too trusting. The military would chew him up and spit him back out as a broken, crumpled mass of iron and soul.

Ed, at least, had the temperament and personality to withstand the pressure that would land squarely on his tiny shoulders. He wasn't the type to back down, whatever the challenge, and if people gave him crap, he'd wad it up and throw it right back in their faces. Roy still didn't like the idea of Edward in the military, not yet anyway, but Alphonse?

No way in all the seven hells was that happening.

Al wasn't happy when Roy told him to drop out—why would he be?—but fortunately, Edward was smart enough to see the reason that Al—and wasn't he supposed to be the more rational and mature one?—couldn't continue on. He convinced Al to step back, that they didn't both have to sign their lives away. Al pushed back at first, but he ultimately capitulated and dropped out of the exam leaving Edward alone to face the interview panel for his transmutation demonstration.

And of course, Ed being Ed, he just had to go and pull a damn spear on the damn Fuhrer. Five guns were trained on the kid's head in seconds, and if Fuhrer Bradly hadn't held up a hand to stop them, all five gunmen would have been nothing but piles of ash on the floor.

It hadn't even been a conscious act for Roy to press his fingers together beneath his folded arms as he stood in the gallery, overlooking the exam. He was relieved to see Ed wasn't so stupid as to actually attack the Fuhrer, though scolding the man for his carelessness was almost as bad, but beneath the relief was a bubbling, smoldering sense of terror because Roy had absolutely no doubt he would have snapped his fingers without a second's hesitation. He would have reduced the Fuhrer himself to a charred corpse in an instant.

And he wouldn't have regretted it in the least.

These kids are dangerous, Roy realized as he left the galley after Edward was dismissed. He'd only really known them for two months but already he was willing to commit high treason for them?

The memory of terrified red eyes in the soft, round face of a child no older than Ed flashed through Roy's mind. The brown, white, and reds shifted to peach and gold and back again making Roy stumble to a halt in an abandoned hallway. He pressed a hand flat against the wall to steady himself and tried to ease the churning in his gut, slow the pounding in his chest, cool the fire in his blood.

Was he really trying to make up for the sins he committed in Ishval through Ed and Al?

If so, pulling them into the military at barely twelve was a sorry ass way of doing it.

The next day, Ed had his certification and shiny new pocket watch in hand. With nothing left to keep him in Central, Roy prepared to ship back to Eastern Command, where he'd already been absent for too long, and instructed Ed and Al to be ready to leave the following week. He'd be leaving behind an unsolved serial killer case, but that was technically Hughes' case anyway. Roy had only been asked to help out because he had the time on his hands.

And of course, Ed being Ed, just had to go and get himself mixed up with the whole mess. Not even a full day after passing the exam, Roy was called to the scene of yet another murder victim, and who else would show up with Hughes but the newest State Alchemist?

"What is he doing here, Hughes?" Roy hissed, holding his friend back from entering the alley with the rest of the investigations team.

"Sorry, Roy. He was with me when I got the call and insisted on coming along. What was I supposed to do?"

"Tell him no, you moron! He's twelve!"

"And he outranks me, or did you forget?" Hughes shot Roy a frown, his glasses glinting. "We might both technically be majors, but Ed is a State Alchemist and that puts him above me on the food chain. If he tells me he's coming along, that's not a suggestion, Roy. It's an order."

Roy clenched his teeth, his hands fisted so tightly his nails dug into his palms. "Damn it."

Hughes patted Roy's shoulder in what was probably meant to be a comforting way. Instead, Roy felt like he was being humored. Or maybe chided.

"Fix your face, Roy. He can't see you like this."

In the chaos of trying to remove the dead woman's child from the scene of the incident, the body was uncovered, and Roy didn't have to guess what was going through Ed's mind as the twisted, bloody corpse came into view. Roy had been there, after all, not even an hour after the transmutation took place. He'd seen the room, the circle, the blood.

The thing.

Thank Truth he hadn't let Riza follow him into the study. Despite everything they'd witnessed in Ishval, none of it could compare to what Roy had found inside that room.

He'd wanted to burn it, all of it, so no one else would ever know what the two boys had tried, but he couldn't bring himself to be so disrespectful. Instead, after giving Ed his spirit lifting speech, Roy had allowed himself to be dragged off and scolded by Pinako Rockbell. After the woman finished twisting his ear (both literally and figuratively) Roy offered his help in disposing of the thing the boys had made. It wasn't an apology, but it was the closest thing Roy could manage.

They buried the body together in the Elric brother's garden in an almost companionable silence. At the very least, the two seemed to understand each other a bit more in that moment. Then Roy went back inside to remove the circle and blood as best he could, and that was it. He and Riza left without a backward glance.

Roy should have expected it when Ed fainted at the sight of the dead woman, but he didn't. For some reason, he'd thought Ed was stronger than that. But why would he be? The kid was twelve.

"Oh, Lt. Colonel Mustang," Tucker said as he opened the front door of his mansion. He looked surprised. "Can I help you with something?"

Roy's eyebrow twitched, but he suppressed his reflexive scowl with a casual shrug. "Just checking in. I wanted to make sure Edward made it back all right."

"Oh yes, he's just fine." Tucker pushed up his glasses with an almost smug expression. "I've been keeping an eye on him."

Roy tensed. Something about the way Tucker said that…The words themselves were innocent enough, but it felt like something completely different. Something sinister.

The exam is over, Roy decided. There's no reason for the boys to stay here another night.

A few carefully planted seeds of information got word back to Brigadier General Basque Grand that Ed and Al had been snooping where they shouldn't be regarding Tucker's research, and as expected, the boisterous 'shoot first ask questions never' Iron-Blood Alchemist ordered the boys out of the house right then and there. Roy had expected the boys to head to the nearest hotel or even to ask Hughes to stay with him. He did not expect to step into his office following a late lunch to find Ed and Al sprawled across his couch and floor looking through the few alchemy texts he kept in his office.

Fortunately, they weren't anything dangerous.

"What's got you boys coming over today?" Roy checked the calendar just in case, but it was only Thursday. His brow furrowed at the pair. "What did you do?"

"Colonel!" Alphonse exclaimed. He sounded both hurt and amused. "Why would you assume it's something we did?"

Roy quirked an eyebrow. "Is it?"

He knew it wasn't—it was something he'd done, after all—but they certainly didn't need to know that.

"No!" Both brothers said at once. Edward scowled up at him, still sprawled across the floor.

"Some big military guy with a creepy mustache showed up and said we were snooping where we didn't belong. He told us we couldn't stay with Mr. Tucker anymore, so we left."

"And…what? You're planning to stay here?"

Ed scoffed. "Don't be dense, Colonel Idiot—"

"Brother!"

"—we came here cause we didn't know where else to go. Or did you forget we're not from around here?"

"All right, all right." Roy offered the boys a dramatic shrug and a deep, drawn out sigh. "I suppose it can't be helped. Since you're both clearly too little to do it yourselves—"

"Who are you calling a kid so small you'd need a magnifying glass to see him?!"

"—I guess I can get you a room at the hotel I'm staying in."

"Really, Colonel?" Alphonse said, and the level of surprise and delight did strange things to Roy's stomach. Did the kid honestly think he'd leave them to manage for themselves out on the streets? In Central, of all places? While a serial killer was on the loose?

"But of course." Roy flicked his bangs out of his face and smirked. "It's the least I can do for those beneath me."

"Who are you calling a microscopic bug, you smug bastard?!"

Holding back a snicker, Roy reached down with both hands and ruffled the boys' hair. Well, he ruffled Ed's hair. Even sitting on the couch, it was easier for Roy to pat Al on one large shoulder.

"Come you two. Let's get you settled in for the night."

It wasn't until late the next day—too late the next day—that Roy learned the brothers had gone back to the Tucker Mansion to fulfill their promise to play with Nina. The results of that encounter were horrific. Ed was traumatized—not unexpectedly—when he woke up the morning after Tucker's monstrous transmutation and learned both Nina and her father had been killed, blown up, while locked inside their mansion as Tucker awaited transportation to Central Prison.

He hated himself, standing inside that house with that poor girl's remains splattered across the walls, as he stood there with a black face and dead eyes telling Ed to get over it, be grateful, move on with his life. But he said it anyway because Ed needed to hear it. He needed to really, truly understand what he'd gotten himself into because until that moment, he hadn't. He thought he knew, thought he'd seen and done the most horrific things that could be seen or done in this world (and until Shao Tucker, Mustang hadn't thought that assessment was very far off), but when all was said and done, Edward and Alphonse were still clean. Still innocent. Still perfect. And Roy wouldn't let the Military break them of that.

He'd do it himself first.

It was the worst possible thing Roy could do, but that's how you break someone. You push on their weaknesses until they collapse.

Havoc didn't want to take Ed to Tucker's house to catalogue his monsters, but Roy was a coward and made him. Just because he had to break the Elric boys, did that also mean he had to be there? To see it?

Turns out, he saw it anyway.

When Ed turned in his watch, Roy was actually glad. It hadn't taken anywhere near as much to break the kid as he'd thought, and this way, it would be obvious to any higher-up wanting to take advantage of the brothers that twelve was too young to be of any use. In three, four, maybe five years' time, Roy could reach out again, see where the boys were in their lives and alchemy, and give Ed the option to sign up again.

It certainly didn't hurt that Roy was already slated for promotion. And with the process in motion, it couldn't be stopped even if Ed did resign.

But then of course, of course, of course Ed had to go and get himself tangled up in Hughes' murder investigation by getting abducted by the murderer.

The sheer terror Roy felt, the helplessness, the self-hatred, the desperation. He hadn't felt that way since Ishval. And then the kid had the nerve, the audacity, to march back into Roy's office first thing the next morning and request to be reinstated as a State Alchemist on one condition.

That was fine. Roy had some conditions of his own.

"What about Youswell, sir?" Riza laid the manila folder on Roy's desk amidst the scattered collection of its rejected companions. "It's in the east, only abut half-a-day's journey by train, and there are no connections to be made. The town is said to be quaint and quiet with very little crime outside of misdemeanors committed by unruly minors. The mines are well kept, and the town's inn is said to be small but comfortable. Considering how few visitors they receive, the boys should have no trouble securing lodging for themselves."

"Youswell, huh?" Roy took the file and looked through it. The lieutenant in charge of the military outpost looked like a weasel, but Roy doubted he had anything to throw at the kid that Fullmetal couldn't line up and bat back. It was, admittedly, a bit further away than Roy was comfortable with for the kid's very first mission, but his team was packing up to head back east by the end of the week anyway. Besides, he could always have Breda trail the kids to make sure nothing went wrong.

Roy nodded. "That should work just fine. Where are the boys now?"

"I checked in on them this morning. They're out shopping with their friend Winry."

Roy stifled a grimace. He didn't want to interrupt, but he couldn't afford to be soft on Ed. If it came out that Lt. Col. Mustang had a soft spot for a pair of unruly brats, it would paint all sorts of targets on the kids' backs.

"Send an escort to locate him and bring him here for a briefing. I want him on the next train to Youswell."

"Yes, sir."

"And Lieutenant?"

Riza paused at the door and turned. "Sir?"

"Make sure he knows the field alchemist check-in policy."

Riza's brow furrowed. "We don't have a check-in policy for field agents, sir."

Roy quirked an eyebrow, and Riza's expression softened with realization. "Yes, of course. Understood, sir."

Left alone, Roy released a slow, deep breath and turned to the window with his fingers laced beneath his chin. It was a hard road he'd chosen, dealing with those two boys, but as long as he was careful, meticulous, deliberate, it would all work out in the end. Roy would keep moving up, and that would allow the boys to keep moving forward.

It wasn't much, but for right now, it was enough.

And in the meantime, Roy would keep checking in.

Just in case.

Kaliea: So as you have probably guessed, I use a combination of both Anime, the Manga, and my own personal Head-Cannon (that coat Alphonse was wearing at the end of Brotherhood was totally, totally Roy's!) to create my FMA stories. Plot-wise, it's all Brotherhood/Manga, but there are some aspects of the story that I just loved from the first series, like how much better we get to know Hughes and how much closer to him the boys are, over the second one. I also thought it was strange that Shou Tucker was supposedly the 'go-to' guy for bio-alchemy and yet not even six months after his death we find out that human/chimera hybrids are as common as breathing. That being said, it makes more sense to me that Nina died when Ed and Al were younger, so that's the route I've chosen to take. I'm not yet sure how I'll reconcile this with their first run-in with Scar, but then, I don't necessarily have to. I'm sure something could happen off-screen that's suitably awful enough for Ed and Al to sulk about it in the rain.

On another note, while I will be adding to this collection on occasion, please be aware that my one shot FMA stories also fall into this combination universe I'm creating. The reason being, I'm currently in the middle of planning a massively ambitious multi-chapter fic that will largely rely on fleshing out the relationships displayed in Brotherhood. I want them to be realistic but also telling with lots of 'found family' interaction. I don't know when or how often I'll update this collection, so I apologize in advance, but I do know I'm not going to upload Beyond the Gate until after I've finished my current project, The Ordinary Life of Saiki Kusuo. That should give me plenty of time for plotting and to build a chapter reserve so I can update more regularly.

Special thanks goes out to all those who have supported my stories thus far. I've grown a lot as a writer through FF. net, and I couldn't do it without my readers. I won't ask for reviews to keep going, but I'll certainly take, and gladly, whatever support you're willing to offer. Fanfiction is fun for me, it's an escape from my everyday life and something I need to do to keep my skills sharp and versatile without getting bogged down by my personal projects.

So for all of you who have continued with me on this long, crazy adventure I've found myself on these last seventeen years: Thank You. It's been a blast. And I hope to share with you many more years to come.

Best,

Kaliea