Disclaimer: That is none of your business. *rolls eyes* Rude…

So…! I wanted to part take in Water-Alyssa's 100 theme challenge for the Kingdom Hearts fandom, but I also was inspired by Bookwrm[some-number-I-don't-know], Griselda Banks, and my inability to sit still without something to occupy myself with at 2:43 AM. So, it somehow transitioned to the FMA fandom. It's *cough, cough* NOT because they can favorite everything I do but never click the review button *cough, cough*, no, not at all. .

ANWAY! This story transitions from Parental!RoyEd (and sometimes Al) to Brotherly!EdAl, and to Maternal!RizaEdAl. Mister Ho might even find himself squeezed into this…mentions of EdWin and Royai.

No yaoi. No yuri. No problem. Got it memorized?

001: Beginnings

This first one's a poem. Oh joy.

The day I met him was an unconventional feat all its own

The sun cowered behind the clouds, and a pale light from them shone

The grass was wet with diamond tears, glimmering across the ground

The sun's cover, a dark veil of clouds, threatened to poor down

I made my way briskly to the front door

Shouting garbled obscenities, without answer, made me pound even more

With a swift kick to the stubborn door, I was granted access inside

The house was void of life, but whoever had lived here sure didn't abide

There was no incriminating evidence in the ground level, per se

The basement, however, was an entirely different story completely

The smell of iron came full swing at my nostrils

Nearly knocking me to the ground, the malodorous hotstiles

Weren't even the worst of it all

The scene in front of me made my skin crawl

Innards and limbs lay in a disheveled pile

Crimson puddles marred the alabaster tile

Bones the color of ash rest in the middle

In placid chalk, written is something short of a riddle

A recipe. A recipe for disaster

I ran up the stairs even faster

"Where are they? I want those boys found!"

I shouted upon stumbling on the compound

We interrogated the neighbors

There wasn't many, so it wasn't really a labor

But finding them was something else entirely

We couldn't, however, be deterred so easily

I barged into the house they rook refuge in like a mad devil

I grabbed him by the collar and brought him to eye level

"What was that? What did you do?" I was shouting

Then I looked at him — really looked at him — and my anger began doubting

His left leg was missing, his right arm, too, his golden eyes were dead

And a thought of regret passed through my head

It had taken his leg and his arm as payment

And here I had come, barreling in from the wet pavement

Only to roughly find a grip on him and shout in his face

A voice sounded from above me, repentance within it lace

It repeated "We're sorry, we're sorry." on the boys' behalf

It took a steep blow at my heart's shafts

Slowly, I lowered the boy back into the wheelchair, and my head swam

I heard the kid was talented, but he's probably better than I am

I sat calmly in a chair, my composure recovered

And listed the possibilities I discovered

Would come to them if he took the test

A test that determines the fate of the best

Still, the boy didn't utter a word

Leaving the grandma to protest as he sat unheard

I half-listened to the lady as I stared at the kid

Then she said something truly heart-breaking about his kindred

His father had walked, his mother had folded

That's he committed the taboo upholded

Only by fools

Who wish to be used as sacrificial tools

All he wanted was to see his mother's smile one last time

"We're sorry. We're sorry." resounded again, falling in line

With the absence of noise caused

By the old woman's pause

I took one last, long look at him, then took my leave

Walking out of the house and into the wet eve

The clouds had begun to fall in unceremonious puddles

I ran to the car and huddled

As the lieutenant spoke up, "I've never seen eyes that dead."

I bit back a chuckle for how she was misled

"That's what you saw? No…there was fire in those eyes."

I had a feeling he'd be back, that the grandma had told lies

And as it turned out, I was right on the money

For I saw in my office, the very next year

Eyes the color of honey

Shining without fear

He passed the test of course and made it through the ranks

I was given a rather generous promotion as thanks

But the real gift, and curse, was my young subordinate's presence

As he would give a report, he was a true storyteller in essence

Yelling and throwing his hands around to signify catches

And when he offended me, my office was turned into an arena for bilateral shouting matches

To anyone on the outside, it looked like was ostracized each other

If this was the case, we could have always impeached one another

He would be sent to serve under another colonel on a whim

And I would be issued another major, one with fully-intact limbs

But when his jabs at my ambitions and my jabs at his height

Are stripped away from the equation, our relationships a very unique sight

He's like an adopted son, and despite me having no relation to his deceased mother

He's also like an obnoxious little brother

That can make any rainy day shine

With his boiling rage and undisguised maligns

With his painfully perusing, yet occasionally concerned gaze

That still had a vacillatingly wary, distrustful glaze

He's a headstrong, determined boy who's offensive towards most

But his angry and confrontational behavior is a half-way hoax

He's a melancholy and lonely child, forced to grow up before push came from above

And that fire I saw in his eyes comes from trying to protect the ones he loves

Slowly, I find myself included in that small group makes of

His younger brother, the fourteen-year-old he's been forces to take care of

His childhood crush that acts as a mechanic for his prosthetic arm and leg

And her grandmother that made the 2nd lieutenant drop into a beg

We're the only ones left alive after what he tried

In that basement for his lovely mother that died

He carries on his shoulders, for both him and his brother, the blame

That heavy burden that forces him into an emotional exile of shame

He thinks so lowly of his own life, the fifteen-year-old's willing

To step into the line of fire to spare his brother a scratch, even if it means his own killing

When he's sick, he'll keep it hidden so as not to worry him

When he throws up blood on my carpet as a side-effect, the last of his kin

Is the only person he cares about, and if he saw it at all

He treats him with the care of a porcelain doll

With no disregard to his own health,

He'll keep him safe, but when he forgets himself

That's where I come in, to play the role

He is for his brother and take his toll

When he forgets to eat, almost starving himself dead

I'm usually the one who makes sure he's fed

When he wakes up, it's almost always heralded by screams

And his brother can never succumb to bliss dreams

So when he deprives himself of sleep to prevent his night-frights

I'll be the one to make sure he's tucked in tight

When he's shot at, but refuses medical leave

I'll make sure he's hooked up to an IV

And when his distrust gets the best of him

I'll be the one he can put faith in

When he's sick and won't admit it

I'll yank it out of him, and make him commit it

To memory

That he may fool him, but he can't fool me

And I'll get him the help that he needs

Even after his fever recedes

I'll shoulder the pain, I'll shoulder it all

I'll treat him with the care of a porcelain doll

And even when he denies any weakness is his

I'll treat him like the fragile creature he is

But don't get me wrong, he's the strongest kid I know

And if someone else besides me and his crush calls him short, they can expect a low blow

He can take care of his brother, and all of our citizens

Even those of other city's denizens

But he couldn't take care of himself for the life of anyone

His excuses are all generic and overdone

"I didn't think it was a big deal" "It's just a scratch" I'm fine"

Yet when I tell him to see a doctor, he'll whine

However, despite this fact and how we critique well

The boy and I are nothing if not equals

We're the dogs of the military, the lowest of the high

But we're in this together, that no one can deny

And when he insists he owes his brother a limb for what he's gone through

I'll "politely" remind him, he doesn't need another, he's already given up two