That Would Be Enough (Chapter Seven)
Title: That Would Be Enough
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing: Ed/Winry, Ed/Roy
Warnings: Emotional Cheating, Ed is an idiot
Summary: Ed made choices. He made mistakes. They all had to live with them. Ed proposes to Winry on the train platform, but was it the right choice and for the right reasons? With a serial killer on the loose and Ed the next target, he had no choice but to look for the truth in his own heart.
When breakfast was over Ed did his best to keep talking so his brother didn’t have time to ask why he’d spent the night with Mustang.
It was just a stop gag. He knew that. Eventually Al would ask and Ed had no idea what he would say. How could he explain the lie he’d been telling himself for the past 7 years? He couldn’t explain to Al the truth he’d admitted and how much he’d needed to be near Mustang after the painful revelation. He hadn’t known himself when he’d gone over last night. Of course, it was just like Mustang to understand.
But it wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with his brother, especially after their rather frank discussion the day before. Al had called him all kinds of a fool and Ed couldn't disagree. He'd lectured him about Winry and what Ed was doing to their marriage. He'd lectured him about his feelings for Mustang as well. It wasn't like Ed thought his brother was stupid or misunderstood things, but he'd thought he'd hidden his feelings for Mustang better than that. Which earned him another bout of yelling where Al reminded him that they'd practically been bound at the hip since they were babies and it had only gotten worse when Al was a suit of armor. He knew just how to read Ed and he'd gotten pretty good at reading the General over the years as well.
Instead of letting his brother have something new to yell about, no matter how much Ed deserved it, he waited until Al started to clean up the breakfast dishes before he told his brother he was going to call Winry.
Al scowled but Ed ignored him and made his way to the hall. He dialed the number and was put through to the house right away. Winry tended more to late nights in the workshop than early mornings so unless she had a special client she'd still be in the house.
Someone picked up the other end of the line and Ed only had to wait a moment before he heard his wife's voice.
"Rockbell-Elric Residence," she said.
"Hey Winry."
"Ed? What's wrong? "
"Nothing’s wrong. Why would something be wrong?"
"You never call me in the morning. So what happened?"
Ed sighed. "Nothing. I just didn't want you to worry about me."
"Ed, where are you?"
"I'm in Central. Al and I just had breakfast at Mustang’s and we’re getting ready to head in to the office."
"Am I likely to hear something to worry about on the radio today?" she asked with a sigh.
He was an ass for making her worry. He was a bigger ass for calling her from Mustang's phone but he needed to make sure she didn't hear about the trouble in East City. If she heard about trouble, she always assumed it was him. "I ran into a little trouble in East City. I'm a little bruised but nothing bad. I didn't even need to go to the hospital."
"Did Al take a look at you?"
"What? No. I said I'm fine," he said, his hand coming up to rub against his chest plate.
"Ugh, you're the worst at getting help. Put Al on the phone so I can get him to look at you. "
"Winry, I'm fine. Really,” he paused. “Mustang took care of it last night." He sighed softly and hoped she didn't hear.
This was ridiculous. He was in Mustang’s house, calling from his phone, after a night when Ed would have made a lie of his wedding vows if Mustang weren't the man he was. He wasn't fine. He didn't know what he was going to do but this had been going on for 7 years now and he couldn’t keep doing it. Last night showed just how messed up he was.
"At least I'll know to thank him next time I talk to him."
It made him feel even worse, the reminder that Winry and Mustang were on close terms. That it was their relationship that let him go back and forth without losing either of them.
"When I finish this investigation I'm going to come home for a while," he reassured her.
"Ed, now I'm really starting to get worried. You were just home. I thought you were going to go crazy being here for three weeks."
"I just want to spend some time with my wife. What's wrong with that? Maybe we could take a short trip somewhere?" He suggested.
"Ed!" she shouted so loud on the phone that he had to pull the receiver away from his ear. He heard a scuffle on the other end and it took a second to realize something was going wrong.
"Winry?"
“I’m afraid your wife is preoccupied, Ed. I should introduce myself. I'm Shaun Tanner, the Merciful Alchemist. "
“What the hell are you doing with Winry?”
“She’s safe, for now. Do you know what I’m doing, Fullmetal Alchemist?” he asked. “The work I’m doing?”
“You think I want to die. I hate to tell you, but you’re wrong.”
The man on the other end laughed. “I have no doubt you believe that right now. However, I’ve been watching you for a long time.”
“Then you know that Winry has nothing to do with whatever you want. Just leave her alone.”
“What I do with her fully depends on you, Fullmetal.”
“What do you mean?”
“It depends on how fast you can get to Resembool and if you come alone.” Ed was already calculating when the next train would leave. He had just enough time to get the next one if he left now.
“I’ll see you soon, Ed Elric. We’ll be waiting for you in Resembool. Your wife is anxious for your return.”
The phone line died on the other end and Ed hung up the phone. If he ran, he could make it in time. If he told Al, his brother would try to stop him or he’d tag along. He couldn’t have that. Ed was willing to take a lot of risks with his own life, but not with Winry’s.
He didn’t look back. He didn’t say anything to his brother. He just ran.
Ed made the train with bare moments to spare and he rushed in to find a seat. Thankfully, he’d already been ready to leave for work when he’d gone to make the phone call to Winry. He wasn’t sure the hunt for his boots wouldn’t have cost him his ticket today.
Al probably heard him slam out the door and it wouldn’t take him long to figure out something had happened to Winry. Al would call Mustang at the office and then they’d all follow. He just had to get there before that happened to make sure Winry was protected before all Hell broke loose. He deserved whatever the Merciful Bastard wanted to give him, but Winry didn’t deserve any of it.
It was all he could think about on the train ride. Winry didn’t deserve any of this. He didn’t even know how much she knew. Was she aware of just how far from his vows Ed had fallen? Had she always been aware that his heart had been torn? Or had she believed everything he told her, trusting him to speak if something was wrong?
He didn’t want to believe it. There were too many nights, too many comments about Mustang and his travels, too many times when she could have called him out on his ambiguous answers. She wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t careless. Winry had chosen to ignore what she saw and Ed had always been too much of a coward to find out why.
Ed shifted in his seat and pressed his thumb to his chest plate and took a deep breath. Ed knew what he feared. It was the same fear that had driven him to propose in the first place. The same fear that made him say ‘I do’ when the person he loved the most wasn’t the one standing next to him. And even if he’d never admitted it, even to himself, before, he had to now. Winry was in danger because of his fucked up life and she deserved the truth at least. Ed was in love with Roy, in ways he had never loved her. That didn’t mean he didn’t love Winry, or that the affection between them wasn’t real, but he had never felt real passion with her. And they both knew it.
Just the memory of Roy’s hands in his hair from that morning brought his heart racing in ways no love making with Winry ever had. He didn’t blame her, or himself really. He loved whom he loved. What he blamed himself for was letting her think that she was the one that kept him grounded and driven.
Now, he just had to keep her safe. He would take her on the trip he was speaking to her of, and he would tell her everything. Everything he felt. Everything he wanted. And maybe she would hate him. Or maybe she would still want to make things work. And if she did, he would do his best to make her happy. He’d leave the military. He’d leave Central. And he’d leave Mustang.
With only their letters to keep him going, as they so often had in the past.
Ed’s thoughts turned back to his immediate problem as the train slowed in front of the Resembool station. He didn’t know how he’d find Merciful, but he had no doubt the other man had thought that through already.
When he stepped off the train he watched the crowd. He was thankful that there was no one he knew at the station today. Who knew what sort of trouble that might cause.
As he began to walk around the platform, he noticed two men standing between buildings. They were lounging there, easy enough in their surroundings, but one was swinging a chain necklace with a simple ring that dangled from it. When Ed made eye contact the guy held it still for Ed to see.
He knew it. Winry wore the ring on a chain when she was working in her shop. It was a simple ring, nothing fancy like she deserved, but she’d said it suited her best that way. Ed had transmuted it from an old piece of Al’s armor and a broken piece of his automail. Her wedding ring, with the word ALWAYS engraved on the underside as a promise that he would always return to her, no matter where the road took him or how long he was gone.
When the guy motioned with his head, Ed followed without trying to leave a trace. He had to get his wife back. Even if it took his life, he would see her safe.
“I can’t believe he’d do something so stupid!”
Roy took a deep breath as the car sped towards the train station. They wouldn’t make it before the train but hopefully any clues Ed could find a way to leave behind would remain unmolested if they got there quickly.
“Alphonse, if he was worried about Winry-” Breda tried to placate the man.
“He’s not stupid! He has to know we’d follow.”
“Yes,” Roy agreed. He’d been thinking about it the entire trip. Why had Ed run out without waiting for the team? There was only one thing he could accept. “I believe Ed actually spoke with the Merciful Alchemist.”
“What?”
“If he believed that Winry was in danger, Ed would have rushed off but not before letting us know what had happened. I think Merciful told him to come alone. Ed knew that Al would find out he’d left within minutes and he knew that Al was calling Winry. Ed was counting on us to follow.”
“How can you be so sure?” Havoc asked from the driver’s seat.
“Because if Ed didn’t want to be followed, he wouldn’t have braided his hair on the way. Even without his old red jacket, the braid and his eyes make him very recognizable as the Fullmetal Alchemist, especially in Central where he’s well known at the depot. He didn’t try to disguise himself and went out of the way to make himself identifiable.”
“General?” Hawkeye asked from the other side of Al. It was a tight fit in the car, but Fuery and Falman were following with the two soldiers Ed had knocked out to keep them from following him.
“We’ll have to play it by ear. I’ll go to the counter and see if Ed was seen getting off the train. Everyone else, pair up and see if you can find anything. Start with the train he was on and move out from there.”
There was little else to say and other than Alphonse occasionally breaking the silence with his grumblings about his brother, the ride went smoothly.
When they arrived, Breda took Alphonse off and Hawkeye and Havoc began their search. Roy took a moment to send the others off. Fuery and Falman each took on of the Armstrong’s men with them while Roy made his way to the counter.
He was almost there when something caught his attention at the back corner of the building. He nearly cursed at the face that smirked at him, but then he saw that the man had something dangling in his right hand. It was just a trinket really, a serpent taming the flames, that had reminded Roy of Ed, but it meant something to them both. Ed had transmuted it into the shoulder plate of his automail. Ed was the only one who would have known what it meant. He was the only one who would have been able to remove the delicate twist of flame and serpent without damaging it.
Roy knew then this was how they’d taken Ed as well. Because there was no way Roy was going to endanger Winry or Ed by bringing attention to what was happening. Not when he knew the man with the charm in his hand.
He followed when the man went around the corner, aware enough that the orders he’d given his men meant they’d take a few minutes before realizing that he’d disappeared.
“If we don’t speed this along, my colleagues will be looking for me,” he said as he turned the corner of the building to glare at General Ackerman and the two henchmen with him.
“He said you’d come if I showed you this. I thought he was lying but apparently you’re as pathetic as I always thought.”
“If you’ve hurt Fullmetal or his wife-”
“No need to worry, General. Tanner is waiting for you to finish this,” Ackerman said as he began to walk. “Your gloves?” he held his hand out and Roy pulled them off without hesitation. He had made a point to keep his ability to transmute without a circle as quiet as he could after the Promised Day. It might be paying off today.
A new train pulled up to the station and Roy was grateful it would take his people a few more minutes to realize he was gone. It also gave him the chance he needed.
The two men with Ackerman walked at Roy’s side, who was a step behind Ackerman. When the train’s whistle sounded, Roy put his hands behind his back and snapped. It was quick, a pull of flame from the engines and a quick scorch of the ground behind them. It wasn’t much, not even enough to make the men he was with smell the burning of grass over the stink of the train’s engines, but his team would find it.
He was able to snap a total of six times before they reached a car on the side of the road leading away from the train station. When he reached the car Ackerman smiled. “I would ask you to continue to cooperate, but you have a habit of turning circumstances to your advantage.” He nodded to one of the men and Roy turned just in time to get hit with something metal. He fell to the ground and the world blacked out.
Roy woke to the ache of muscles that he knew too well. This wasn’t the first time he’s been taken by an enemy, nor was it the first time he’d woken chained to the ceiling by his arms. Without his gloves, he’d been helpless the first time. This time, Roy could still do alchemy but not before he knew what was happening. He had faith that Hawkeye would find his marks and that Alphonse would keep on the hunt far after anyone else would quit. Not that Roy’s team would quit either, but there was a fierceness to the younger Elric that few had seen.
He groaned as he found his footing and opened his eyes. He felt pain stab through his shoulders and chest. There were aches in places that hanging from the ceiling shouldn’t leave and he figured he’d been on the receiving end of a beating before he’d been tied up. He tasted blood in his mouth and that was never a good sign.
“Mustang?”
He looked up and found himself in a large room. It could have been a small warehouse office or maybe a basement somewhere. His vision wasn’t entirely clear which meant he might have a concussion. Somewhere behind him, he could hear the faint flicker of flames. Stupid. In the center of the room, Ed knelt in the middle of a circle, bound. Winry was on the opposite side of Roy, tied to a chair.
“Ed? Winry?”
“I’m fine, Bastard.”
Winry hadn’t answered and Roy looked but couldn’t see anything wrong with her. “Winry? Are you okay?”
She looked up at him then, her blue eyes filled with tears. She was such a sweet woman, so warm and caring and Roy was filled with absolute hate for Ackerman and whoever else was a part of this.
“It’s going to be okay, Winry,” he tried to reassure her.
“What happened to you, Mustang?” Ed asked. “I gave them the charm so you’d come peacefully! Why didn’t you just go with them?”
“I did, Ed,” he answered. “They knocked me out when we got to the car but I didn’t fight them.”
“What the hell!”
“I’m afraid my colleague was rather excitable about General Mustang’s inclusion here today,” a man said as he stepped out of a dark doorway.
“You said he wouldn’t be harmed!”
Another figure stepped out from behind him and Roy had to hold himself still. He wanted nothing more than to snap his fingers and destroy the man, but he couldn’t. Not yet. He knew there were other people involved and he couldn’t protect Ed or Winry like this. He needed to give his team more time to find them.
“I made no such promise,” Ackerman said as Ed saw him for the first time.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Perhaps you should listen more, like your General. But then again, you are his dog, aren’t you?” Ackerman looked over at Roy and smirked. “Is he all bark, or does he bite?”
“Let him go and find out,” Roy suggested.
“Ah, so you don’t deny he is your dog. I wonder what sort of treats you give him for good behavior?”
“Your metaphors were lame the first time you spoke them, Ackerman,” Roy said, trying to get the man’s attention on him. He didn’t like the way he spoke about Ed and he was worried what he would do while Ed was tied up and unable to defend himself.
“Ackerman, leave it,” the other man said.
Ackerman backed off, but he smirked as he walked back towards Winry. “I warned you, didn’t I? A woman like you has no place between a dog and his Master.”
Winry didn’t say anything and Roy was worried about her, but he didn’t have time because the other man walked closer to Ed.
“Which is it, Fullmetal?” Tanner asked. “I’ve watched you for years. You were the only one to get away. I had helped so many people by then. Of course, you and Mustang caught me in East City, but there was so much to do still and I had friends who were able to help me. Chasing after you, it’s been so very interesting. I’ve been listening to your phone conversations with your beautiful wife.”
He looked up at Roy and he didn’t want to hear what the man had to say, but he had no way to stop this yet. “Do you know how many times she’s asked him to write her? How many times he’s lied to her and promised to try?”
The Merciful Alchemist looked at Winry and walked over until he stood right in front of her. “Have you ever wondered? Ever worried about where your husband spends the nights he isn’t with you?”
“Never,” the words were quiet but the steel was there beneath them and Roy felt a hint of relief at that. “You can make whatever innuendos you want, but … Mustang would never-“
“She is such a smart woman,” he said with a shake of his head. “Of course, Mustang would never. I have another question though. Is the Fullmetal Alchemist happy with you, Winry?”
“What?”
“Your husband wants to die. I’ve watched him for years and it’s come to me that this, right here, is the reason; this love triangle that he can’t seem to free himself from.”
“I do not want to die!” Ed yelled.
“The circle doesn’t lie.”
“What are you talking about?” Winry demanded.
“It’s simple, my dear. A few years ago I created an array that would tell me when someone that crossed it wanted to die. Poor, unstable individuals, that needed help to keep them from being a danger to others.”
“Like your father,” Roy put the motivation together finally. Tanner’s father had killed his family before killing himself.
“That isn’t Ed,” Winry demanded.
“I came to Resembool to speak with you, because I wanted to understand. After years of trying to catch him, I found that I needed to understand why he wanted to die when he fought so hard to live. It was a conundrum. So I came to your workshop and you were such a dear. There was doubt in your eyes though, when I asked about your husband and his past. Even if I hadn’t found this letter, I would have questioned the stability of your marriage.”
“What letter?” she asked, confused.
“Leave Winry out of this, asshole! If you want to know something about me, you ask me!”
The man ignored Ed as he smiled at Winry. “Of course, the letter wasn’t written to you. It was, in fact, left in the trash, never to be sent, but when my men went to find Ed Elric in East City and he had already left his room, they searched it and found this gem for me.”
Roy had no idea what was in the letter but the way Ed’s head had suddenly hung said he knew exactly what this was. Roy didn’t want to hear it either. Certainly not if it was a letter written to him that night.
“Let Winry go, Ackerman!” Roy yelled at the other man. He knew better. He knew there was no hope that anyone would be freed but he needed to stop Tanner.
“Oh, I want to hear the rest of this, Mustang,” he said with a grin. “Tanner here wants to understand which one of you is breaking the Fullmetal Alchemist. I’ve found a rather perverse desire to learn the truth myself now. When nothing else seemed to faze him, this is what breaks him?” he laughed.
Tanner glared at the other man and Ackerman held his hands up, as in surrender, and backed up against the wall.
“I’m afraid the letter, my dear Winry,” Tanner said softly, “was written to General Mustang. I’m afraid, in this very letter, your husband explains exactly why you have to die.”
Roy was ready to snap but there was a gun pointed at Ed and Ackerman was watching Roy, waiting for him so that he could pull the trigger. Whatever Tanner wanted, Ackerman wanted them dead and he was waiting for an excuse.
“I swear Tanner, if you hurt her-” Ed growled.
“The way you have? What did you say here?” He pulled the letter up and twisted it to the back of the page. Even from the distance Roy could see Ed’s handwriting. The pages had been wadded up and wrinkled but he knew that handwriting.
Tanner began to read. “I wish I had been brave enough, on the train platform, to look close enough at my own heart to realize what I was throwing away. I can never regret the life I have with Winry because it has been a good life, but I won’t lie and say that every night I lay with her, I am not filled with guilt because I would rather be with you. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t move back to Central because I feared the longer I stayed with her, the more I feared she would figure out my darkest secret. She does not deserve that betrayal.”
“Stop it,” Ed pleaded. “Just stop. You sick fuck. Just kill me already then. You think I want to die, then put me out of my fucking misery and leave Winry alone.”
“I need you to understand something, Fullmetal. I chased you for years to help you. I chased you and then I got to know you. I got to see who you were and I realized that maybe… just maybe … I didn’t have to kill you. Maybe, I could save you! Maybe, there was more than one way to use the array!”
“What are you talking about?” Ackerman said as he looked over at Tanner.
Ackerman was clearly not part of this change of heart and Roy braced himself for whatever happened because this might be the chance he needed.
“I can save you! You couldn’t make the choice before and I understand that. You’ve accepted it now though and it’s time. Make the choice.” He pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Winry. Ackerman’s gun was raised to point at Roy then. As much as Roy would have taken the chance on his own life, he couldn’t take a risk with Winry and Ed.
“Which one do you love, Edward Elric?”
“Don’t do this.”
“Which one?”
“I can’t do this,” Ed said, a pleading note in his voice.
“Ed, it’s alright,” Roy said. “Tell him how much you love your wife and you can get free of this.”
Ed’s head dropped to the ground and Roy knew he understood exactly what he was saying. He would never blame Ed for protecting Winry. Hell, he wanted him too. No matter what the outcome, Ed could move on then.
“Tell me the truth, Ed,” Tanner demanded.
“I love them both,” Ed said softly. “I can’t choose.”
The paper crinkled again and Tanner sighed. “Perhaps they need to hear it all, Ed Elric. But I tried to live up to my name.”
“Don’t!”
“As I said before, my men found this in a hotel in East City. It was right after I visited you in Resembool,” Merciful said to Winry. “General Mustang had just returned from his journeys in Xing.”
“Please, don’t do this,” Ed begged.
It broke something in Mustang to hear Ed sound so desperate. He almost snapped his fingers to light the damn letter on fire, but he couldn’t waste the element of surprise like that. No matter how much it was killing him.
“It’s rather moving,” Tanner said, then he turned to read the letter.
“Dear Roy,
I don’t expect you’ll ever see this letter. I never planned on writing you tonight, especially since I’ll see you in a few days but I find there are things that are easier to do on paper with you. Our friendship hasn’t always been an easy one. Forgive me for being honest but tonight I feel the need to be. Even if it’s just between me and the ink.
I feel as if the last 5 years I have lived between one inked page to the next. Life comes and goes outside of it, but it’s when I’m reading your words that I feel whole again. Is it shameless to admit that I’ve read your letters so often that I have them memorized? Or that when I think of home, I lie to myself and say it is Central, when what I know is true is that it’s you?
I never wanted to write a confession but I don’t have a choice. My head won’t stop circling around the phone call we just had, and though we just hung up, I want to call you again. I want to admit the truth and stop running from it.
And I have run. I have been running for 8 years, since that day on the train platform. Or perhaps from that night, in the very hotel I’m staying in tonight, where I brought you back to take care of your wounds from the same alchemist we are looking for now. What would my life have been like, if I had been braver then?
It was the first time in my memory when you looked at me and I thought, perhaps, you could see me the way I saw you; not as a fellow soldier or a general and his subordinate. Not as a friend, but as someone who could understand the long nights and the dark days, who could battle them by my side and not just sit and wait them out.
It has been so long since I have had a night’s sleep without the torment of nightmares. 6 years, since Al and I lived in your house for a month and I fell asleep every night - for the first time since my mother died - and knew that there was someone protecting me.
I don’t know how I managed to screw my life up so completely and yet be so grateful for what I have. I love Winry. She is a beautiful woman and the most patient wife a man could ask for. She loves me, in spite of all my faults, and gives me more than she should. Her time, her devotion, and her love are things I don’t deserve. Because I am not in love with her. I was too young to understand the difference when I proposed and too scared to admit it when we married.
But I have long ago stopped lying to myself about how I feel, and tonight, I finally stopped running from the other truth I refused to admit.
Because I love you, Bastard. I love you and I am very much IN love with you. I have been for years. You are so much more than you see in yourself. You are handsome and charismatic, which you already know, but you are a true gentleman. You see beauty in nature where I only see the ingredients to my next transmutation. You notice what makes people happy and what turns their worlds upside down. You are a friend when I need one, an understanding hand on my shoulder when I can’t let out what I’m feeling, and the man who protects me when I feel I must protect everyone else.
The truth that I refused to let myself see, that I could not believe, was that you love me in equal measure. Not in spite of my faults, but because of them. I know the depth of your love because you loved me 8 years ago when you walked away on the train platform with almost a kiss, and turned to watch me propose to my wife. You loved me when you spoke at my wedding and wished, with all sincerity, for our happiness. You loved me when I showed up at your doorstep 2 years later with my brother and demanded you let us stay. You loved me when I came back to work for you and used work as an excuse to avoid my wife. You loved me when you sent me back to her, helped me be a better husband to her, and became a friend to her when she needed one.
I could never deserve the years of love and devotion you have given me. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. At least, tonight, I can begin with my heart, and admit that all this time, you loved me.
I wish I had been brave enough, on the train platform, to look carefully at my own heart to realize what I was throwing away. I can never regret the life I have with Winry because it has been a good life, but I won’t lie and say that every night I lay with her, I am not filled with guilt because I would rather be with you. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t move back to Central because I feared the longer I stayed with her, the more likely she would figure out my darkest secret. She does not deserve that betrayal. And neither do you.
I love you more than my heart can bear. I suppose it is a testament to those feelings that I can understand Hughes better now; when he spoke of Gracia, and showed pictures of her and Elysia to the world. I keep your letters so dear that I find the same joy, the same pride in them.
Your words paint pictures and they have always spoken of love to me, even when I was too blind to see the meaning behind the art. You were always good at things like that. I’m just an alchemist and there was never an array I could draw that was as complicated nor as beautiful as who you are.
I love you.
And I am yours, always,
Ed”
Silence filled the room and Roy wanted to scream but there was no way to break the quiet. It was Ed who managed, in the end.
“Roy. Please.”
He closed his eyes because he knew what Ed wanted of him. Ed knew what he was capable of. Ed was asking him to rip his heart out, to protect Winry when it would mean that Ed himself was likely to be killed in the crossfire.
“Of course,” he said softly.
“I am so sorry, Winry,” Tanner said. “But it’s obvious that while Ed certainly loves his childhood friend, he needs General Mustang. I’m afraid you have to die, so that they can live.”
“Tanner that was never the agreement.”
Ackerman took his eyes off of Ed and Mustang tensed.
“When you contacted me after killed the criminals who went free from our justice system, I didn’t care that you were killing them. A way to say thank you for helping you find a good orphanage, you said. And when you got caught, I helped you escape because you were still useful to me. I even helped you the second time because you were going to kill the alchemist and that was what I really wanted. Killing his pet dog was supposed to destroy Mustang! Even when you wanted to collect your little triangle here, I was okay with it, so long as Mustang died in the end. But now you want him freed?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? Ackerman, I can save him. He doesn’t have to be like the others!”
“You just don’t get it, do you? I’m going to be the next Fuhrer of Amestris. Grumman is too old to keep the job for long and the government is ripe for the taking. The only thing standing in my way is Mustang. You were supposed to destroy his life so that he’d give up, without me having to dirty my hands. Now here we are, and they’ve seen me, and you want to let them go? This is why I fucking hate alchemists! Not one of you is stable! You act like you’re gods and expect the rest of us to live on your hand outs! If I’d known you were an alchemist when I found you all those years ago, I’d have left you to die with your family,” he scoffed. “I will do what I have to so I can become the next Fuhrer! Not some crazed alchemist!”
Tanner glared at Ackerman as the other man raised his gun at Roy. When the shot echoed off the walls, he stared in surprise. Ackerman dropped to the floor with a bullet through his brain.
Tanner looked at Winry and Mustang could see her hold her head up high, even though tears streaked her face. Tanner frowned. “I’m afraid it’s your turn now.”
There was gunfire outside of the room and when Tanner turned his head, Roy used the moment to clap his hands and free them from their bonds. As he fell, he snapped and the bonds that had held Ed disappeared in flame. He landed hard, but when he looked up a wall had formed between Winry and Tanner and Ed was already at her side.
“Why don’t you understand?” Tanner focused on Roy and yelled. Roy stumbled to his feet to face the man. “I know you love him! Why won’t you let me fix this?”
“Love isn’t letting someone hurt the person you love for your own gain. Love means you rip your own damn heart out if they need you to. And I won’t let you threaten him ever again!”
Tanner realized his mistake too late though, and even as he brought his gun up towards Roy, he snapped his fingers and the man burned. The fire was hot and fierce and the screams died almost before they could start.
He heard Hawkeye’s voice and the team burst into the room.
“Sir?” she was looking at the shadows and checking for danger but she was asking about the burning corpse in the middle of the room.
“We’re clear,” he said just as he heard Ed call out, “Winry!”
He turned in time to see the angry flash of blue eyes just before she smacked him across the face, “How could you!” she yelled. She hit his chest with her fist and he caught her just as her knees gave out. His body was in no condition to hold her up, so he staggered back and dropped with her, pressed against the wall behind him, as she sobbed into his chest. He closed his eyes because there was nothing he could do. Nothing would ever make any of this go away.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he held her close. “Winry, I’m so sorry.”
He repeated the words and just held on, ignoring the tears on his own cheeks. “Roy,” she whispered so softly against his chest, “I’m so sorry.”
Movement made him look up, but while the team was cleaning up around them, Ed stood just out of reach, beaten and bloodied, and looking far more lost than Roy had ever seen him. Roy just closed his eyes against the image, and continued his litany for Winry as he stroked her hair and both gave and took comfort from the only person who could possibly understand.