Arrogant Surrender
Chapter Six
Standing Behind You
- mirage -
Knowing he was one of the people Ed was most concerned with seeing him less than composed he informed the boy he would wait outside. A white lie. He waited inside C hall with Hawkeye and Alphonse because the military did not making carrying out Edward's sentence a spectacle. The wing was used for nothing other than his sentence during his sentence and everyone else was to stay out. "I wish they did this on the first floor so Edward did not have to travel down so far to get out." Hawkeye muttered glancing at her watch before sighing.
"How much trouble do I have to get in before they do this to me?" Alphonse asked looking shaken he too might be subjected to similar means due to the blood connection.
"Only if you put your loyalty and obedience in question do you need to reclaim it Alphonse." He drowned.
"You haven't anything to worry about." Hawkeye reassured, before switching topics. "I put together the new case file you need." Hawkeye informed him staring into C hall as she spoke. "It's three folders, they're not too fat."
"Will you leave them on my desk."
"Havoc's making the remaining photo copies now, but I figured you could bring them home with you so you might not need to return to the office later today, or tomorrow morning." She supplied with a smile. "In case you're not feeling well." He appreciate what she said between her words. She was clever in nature, and she was a good woman.
"You're getting sick sir?" Alphonse asked clueless. "And how can you guys just stand here and talk about work." The boy gave them a dissatisfied frown before stepping aside for the doctor who came and went. "What's the doctor for?"
"To make sure he's alright." He answered turning to his watch as well. This was as good a time as any to duck out of sight so Ed wasn't confronted with him first. "Alphonse you're not seeing him first." He informed startling the boy.
"What!? Why not!"
"Hawkeye you see him first."
"Yes sir."
"Hawkeye!" Alphonse argued. "Sir! I know my brother best, and Hawkeye's not who he'd want to see first. No offense Hawkeye." Alphonse offered giving his arm a poke and he sighed.
"That's why I said Hawkeye goes first."
"You're doing it on purpose!"
He turned and took the boy's arm with his escalating voice. "Yes. Because he will compose himself quickly with someone he doesn't want to see him upset. That's Hawkeye. You think Ed wants her to see him sniveling like a child." He scold and Alphonse was quiet. "If I send you in there he has too much comfort, and myself too much embarrassment. Hawkeye goes first, we will wait here." He ordered giving her a nod and she start past him them and into the hall when they saw a far door open and the doctor came out angry. "Haven't you ever heard of a woman's touch?" Alphonse didn't respond and they watched Hawkeye disappear into the slender doorway.
"Ni-san doesn't like doctors." Alphonse sighed watching the man stalk down the hall. "I apologize sir!" Alphonse called to the man who waived it off with a low curse. "Crap." Alphonse frowned turning back to the hall when there was some noise. It was hard to tell if it was loud yelling, or just banging before Hawkeye appeared exiting the door before stopping. They could see her mouth moving and she was making small hand gestures before waiting. "Wonder what she's saying." Alphonse muttered watching her step aside and let two soldiers pass and exit the hall the other way. "Can I go?"
"No." He frowned watching her work. She was talking softly, before explaining something and then smiling. It was a kind smile, one that took all the paperwork and ringing phones away and made her a woman instead of a soldier. Whatever was happening now he was confident she'd pull herself and Ed through it, and finally she reached into the doorway and pulled him out. Ed was back in his boots and pants, with a uniform dress shirt half done up. With Hawkeye talking she straightened Ed's lapels and began his buttons with him wobbling slightly before grabbing her for balance. "I told him I'd wait outside." He confessed to Alphonse and the boy turned to him. "But I can't."
"You lied?"
"A white lie." Ed had a hand over his eyes, tipping his head up with hard breathing before back down unable to find comfort. Gently Hawkeye pulled some tissues from her pocket and brought them to Ed's face. He moved his hand for her as she wiped his eyes and Ed was speaking loud enough he was just audible for them. From the way the boy's mouth was moving, and the way it was open constantly he could see how upset the boy was. How much anguish he was in and Hawkeye dried his face before handing him some tissues and guiding him along.
"Now can I?" Alphonse asked eagerly and he gave this a moment's thought watching Ed stare down at his feet as he limped before nodding. "Ni-san!" Alphonse tore in and right to Ed who peeked up just enough to see Alphonse and then Ed was growling to the boy. Explaining what happened with hate and anger which had been absent when he spoke to Hawkeye. Alphonse was holding the front of Ed's arm to take some of his weight since he was stumbling along bent over like an old man. Hawkeye sent him a worried but patient glance and he knew everything to be fine then.
Five feet from him Ed finally realized he was there and the boy's eyes widened as much as they could while swollen before Ed grit his teeth. "Liar!"
"A white lie." He explained.
"You could have gone ahead to hold the god damn elevator." Ed snarled standing with them watching the numbers slowly light up as it rose to their floor. Ed's voice had become thick with his nasal congestion and raspy with the strain and use. "They chose C hall to be bastards." The boy cried wiping his eyes.
"I am sure they didn't ni-san."
"I am sure they did." Ed snapped before stumbling back when it opened full of people. The boy ducked behind Alphonse and hid his face as inconspicuously as possible. Hawkeye moved in front as well before entering and holding the elevator door. "I hate the military." Ed growled following Alphonse in as Hawkeye hit level one and the doors closed. "Can-can we just go somewhere where I can get all this off?" Ed asked tugging at his shirt while crying.
"All of it ni-san?" Alphonse was shocked but Ed was instantly nodding.
"Get a grip." He snapped watching Ed hiccup where he stood with pink eyes, and a pink nose, and wet cheeks. "Edward." He growled snapping out a handkerchief and giving it to the boy.
"Skrew you Roy." Ed yanked it from him and began wiping his face. "You walk in, and handle it." Ed impersonate him. "What a load of BULLSHIT!" Ed screamed before whining. "I am dismissed right?"
"Do you feel you can still work?" Hawkeye asked shocked, but Ed froze with her question.
"NO! No I don't!" Ed cried pitching a small fit where he stood and Alphonse grabbed the boy's arm speaking quietly to him. The elevator came to rest, and the doors opened to Havoc and Breda.
"Sir I have your files." Havoc droned before perking up on sight of Ed. "Wow Ed, ouch buddy." Havoc laughed.
"Shove it Havoc." Ed snarled taking an aggressive step forward.
"Havoc, have them bring my car around." He ordered taking the files from the man and giving him cold eyes when Havoc kept gawking.
"Could have had your god damn car ready like you said too, lying bastard." Ed hiccupped wiping his face.
"Ed did they really hit you seventy-five times?" Breda adjust his glasses in shock.
"I don't think now is a good time Breda." Alphonse said.
"Yeah." Ed mumbled.
"I couldn't imagine." Breda just kept going in complete shock like Havoc. "I've never been reprimanded like that before." Breda add and Ed huffed a bit.
"Yeah, well…good for you." Ed offered a bitter smile before wiping his eyes again. No matter what the boy did he honestly didn't stop crying. It was the most alarming and fascinating thing he'd ever seen Edward do. It were as if the boy was living a normal day, only crying his way through it with only remote sniffles, hiccups, and heavy swallowing.
"Sir he gets the rest of the day off now, right?" Breda asked pointing at Ed and the boy growled with the finger.
"I'd be rather cruel to make him work now wouldn't I." He muttered stepping from the elevator and starting down the first floor hall. He handed his files to Hawkeye.
"Oh, I suppose so." Breda muttered following dumbly. Passing through the halls he went to his office to lock the top file drawer and retrieve his keys. Ed retrieved several shouts and whistles while staggering along and the boy managed to hold up an arm and answer a few of them before blowing up in his office.
"What'd they do!? Announce the entire fucking hearing over the damn loud speaker!"
"Well it's not every day a soldier single handedly wastes thousands of military dollars, causes the fall of an entire mission, and ends a blacksmith's life." He muttered lifting papers and checking surfaces for his keys.
"Whatever." Ed grunt wiping his eyes. "I didn't kill the poor shmuck. Maybe his people shouldn't have rebelled."
"Maybe you should have followed orders." He answered rhetorically and Ed let out a strangled sound and stomped where he stood. "Have you seen my keys?" He asked looking up, but Ed stopped with a glare close to death.
Havoc came in sending Ed a long cat-call before offering his solute. "Car is ready." Havoc report dropping his arm before turning to Ed. "So seventy-five times huh? Wow, seventy-five. That's intense. Almost a hundred." Havoc muttered shaking his head.
"Yeah." Ed muttered monotone.
"I can't believe it. I don't know what I would have done if they sentenced me to that. Man, I mean seventy-five."
"Yeah." Ed repeat and he glanced up at the two soldiers. Ed just stood still with his eyes closed crying and Havoc was ignoring the entire thing. He left his desk and moved to his file cabinet and window sill. The keys were MIA.
"You want me to like go to med wing and get some...ointment for you to like...bathe in?" Havoc asked. "You know like, pain relief oint-"
"Yeah" Ed interrupt nodding.
"Yeah? You want like cooling or..." Havoc trailed taking notice of him when he opened his file cabinet drawer and slammed it. "Oh, sir here are your keys." Havoc muttered extending them, but on sight Ed freaked.
"AH! YOU HAD THE-WELL GOD!...GOD DAMNT! GO GET THE OINTMENT THEN!" Ed screamed startling Havoc.
"Havoc go get him some ointment." He yanked his keys away and together they watched Havoc leave.
"God damn idiot." Ed scowled. "Freaking-fucking-empty headed god damn bastard." Ed cried. He laughed.
"Ni-san the car is here." Alphonse announced coming in with a solute. "Can we go now sir? I want ni-san to go home." Alphonse plead and he nod leaving his desk with Ed limping along behind him. "Sir, where exactly are you going now?" Alphonse asked following. "Home?"
"I believe I dismissed only one Elric brother." He spoke ahead and he heard Alphonse stop for a moment but Ed continued. The boy wanted to leave and if it meant leaving Alphonse he was willing this time.
"Oh." Alphonse muttered before continuing.
"You can see him in a few hours." He stepped outside into the sun and Hawkeye was alongside his car with his files.
"We're waiting for Havoc." Ed growled stopping alongside the running car.
"Fine." He sighed turning to Alphonse who looked sad he had to stay and work. He laid a hand on the boy's shoulder and stepped in. "Hawkeye I'll call you tomorrow morning ten of." He called flipping through the first folder briefly before sitting them aside. "Ed, I want to leave."
"Oh! And I don't!" Ed snapped and through his open doorway he watched the boy have a fit with Alphonse standing patiently at his side.
"I hope you feel better Edward." Hawkeye offered kindly, but Ed only gave her a throated noise in response. He could hear Havoc before he could see him, and the man was cracking jokes at Ed until the blonde crawled in and slammed the door yelling at him.
"I hate Jean Havoc, that bastard. I hate him." Ed growled rolling the window up quickly because his windows were tinted. The backseat of this model was limo fashion with both seats facing one another. "I just want to go home." Ed cried now that they were alone and he took the tube of ointment Ed's hands were fumbling with and opened it.
"You're going to feel better now, relax. Take deep breaths." He instruct and Ed nod beginning what he could only assume was supposed to be yoga but sounded more like Ed had been running miles. Gently he unbuttoned the boy's shirt and slid it off his shoulders.
"Hurry, just get it off, get it off." Ed whined shaking out of his clothes and starting on his pants.
"Ed, you're not stripping in this car." He stopped that right away.
"Do you know how many I took!" Ed snapped sliding forward to kneel between seats unable to sit and he silenced on sight of the boy's skin. It was red and puffy. As if Ed had lay down on a grill, fat burning lines drew across his back horizontally. "Roy!" He broke free of his stare.
"Yes, it's alright now." He hushed opening the tube and squirting a generous glob onto his hand. "Stay still now." He brought his hand to Ed's shoulder and the boy hissed and arched the second he touched him.
"Ammm this hurts. It hurts." Ed whined wiggling as he did the boy's upper back. "Rooooy it hurts."
"I heard you the first time." He answered calmly. He used the entire tube on just Ed's back before they reached his house. Then Ed carried his shirt in limping along on his flesh leg instead of the automail. The driver was smart and remained silent with Ed's back in plain view, and he felt Ed growing to his breaking point.
Inside he coax Ed upstairs to his bedroom and pulled back the down comforter on his king sized bed. Ed was stripping as fast as he could, hissing as he peeled his pants off and was still fussing when he climbed in. Ed crawled up and flopped down on his stomach looking like he'd been baked in the sun and then laid out on white sheets. The boy's entire back, ass and leg were red with stripes. He retrieved what medication he had. Ointment for rug burns and began applying as generously as he could while Ed squirmed and swore at him. Once he used all of that he retrieved an aloe lotion and began reapplying. By this time Ed had calmed and lay quieter still flinching and moaning with his touch until he was massaging said places which weren't hurt. "Are you feeling better?" He asked rubbing the boy's feet where he lay clutching a pillow.
"Leave me alone." Ed muttered into it, flinching nervous he'd touch something sensitive when he reached up the boy's legs and rubbed along side where the skin was untouched.
"They certainly humbled you didn't they." He mused rubbing gently. "The great Fullmetal Alchemist, crying in the halls of central headquarters." He thought aloud before looking up when Ed's top half started shaking. "I am sorry." He apologized on sight of the tears. "Ed. I am sorry." He crawled up and ran a hand into the blonde hair. With his other he worked out of his shoes, unbuttoned his dress shirt and laid back in his undershirt and uniform pants. "Come here." He tugged the boy to him. Ed was reluctant to move and it involved prying the pillow out of his fingers before shifting the boy so Ed lay on his chest sniveling. "You're still great."
"I am a pussy." Ed cried.
"No."
"A freaking pony."
"No."
"Yellow mother–"
"Ed." He laid his hand over the boy's mouth. "No one thinks that. You took seventy-five, not twenty-five or ten. Not even Havoc was truly making fun of you." He comfort rubbing Ed's head gently. The boy's hair was still a mess, and Ed's chest jumped every minute with hiccups. "If I were in your place, I think I too...would be the same as you." He offered smiling gently as he wait for the response. He knew this to be a compliment to the boy's behavior because Ed believed he could tackle anything. The boy came to him as an infant and from day one he had stood behind his desk with an ace up his sleeve, and represented everything powerful and wise. "Ed?" He looked down when no response came, but Ed's face was lax with steady breathing. Ed was out cold, clutching his shirt and exhausted. "Well sleep I guess. You need to." He sighed closing his own eyes. "You've been though a lot Fullmetal, and I respect you for it." He spoke quietly letting his thoughts meet his tongue. "After everything that happened at both towns, then with Crisnoph, and even back at headquarters. You owned up and that's important." He ran his hand down the blonde strands, twirling the ends playfully. "Although, you did look like a bit of a pansy-ass crying in my office." He chuckled visualizing Havoc badgering the boy.
"Bastard." Ed whispered and he startled before breaking some hearty laughter. Edward was clever even when half dead and the boy pinched his face into a pout where he lay. There was resolution, and he felt it over everything like Edward's weight blanketing his chest was symbolizing the end. Together they found comfort in each other, and he took comfort in the fact he would call Hawkeye tomorrow at seven sharp, and life would continue as it should and always would.
Well everyone, that was the end. There will be no more-so I hope everyone liked it! Thank you so much for reading, I am honored you dedicated six chapters worth of time of your life to this humble fic.
This won't be my last upload however. Due to popular vote I will post the first chapter of my next story:
Another Run of Events next Friday 2/22/08.
This is a much lighter fic, with more comedy, no yaoi (but adorable parental Roy) and more chapters. I am not posting anything that hard here most of that I am saving for If you're interesting I am posting a smut Elricest one shot there to make up for posting this story there and keeping the yaoi to a minimum. This story: I Bestow. Will be posted next Friday as well but only on AGAIN! And please if you haven't….leave a review!!!
To those of you who have reviewed
Charlien: Thanks so much for your kind words! You are by far the nicest reviewer I think I have ever had.-Thank you-
To the rest: moglin, from the psyche ward, Mizuki hikari, and Wateria 88-Thank you for taking the time to say something. I appreciate everything.