FIC: Parapsychology: Paradigm of Wrath (Chapter x05)
Title: Parapsychology: Paradigm of Wrath
Author: ShadowSpirit
Email: HPFerret@aol.com
Feedback: Much appreciated, though this chapter is a bit short.
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing(s): Roy x Ed / Ed x Roy
Chapter: x05
Summary: POST-SERIES (ep. 51); “When you turn around, do you always know who will be behind you? Do you trust your mind to give you the right answer? When you turn around, did you ever expect that you would see me again?” Who's going to tell you? Who's going to save you? History won't -- history can't -- repeat itself. Not like... Not like Ed knew it... But how can history be avoided, when memories don't exist?
WIP: Incomplete
Word Count: 2632
Disclaimer: Not mine. -.- *too lazy to say much more* ...
Ho-hum. I really need to update this at that community... well, point out that it's been updated anyway. Whoops?
So I break and mend Ed a lot. In my opinion, I don't really have him out-of-character -- at least not for this story. He's always been temperamental; now he's just temperamental with a big case of easily-shaken. And stuff. Yeah, talk about a broken train of thought... *sigh*
Currently what's bothering me: The homunculi and the changing of their bodies; I'm having serious issues writing it where I want to. Mrrow...
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Parapsychology
Paradigm of Wrath
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Chapter x05
Mistake n.-
An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness.
Loyal adj.-
Faithful to a person, ideal, custom, cause, or duty.
“When you turn around, do you always know who will be behind you? Do you trust your mind to give you the right answer? When you turn around, did you ever expect that you would see me again?”
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He always had trouble finding someone he needed at the Central Headquarters. At least Eastern always seemed to be a bit easier, but maybe he had been used to it more. Edward supposed when Mustang moved higher up the ranks, Central had become his -- and everyone he took with him -- new home, in a matter of speaking.
He let out a frustrated sigh. “Where is he…”
“Edward Elric!”
Ed looked back down the hall. Maria Ross caught up with him, staring oddly. “Is there something you needed?”
“Ahh…” he sighed, holding out his arms, “I’ve been trying to find where Falman disappeared to.”
“Falman?” She blinked, surprised. “He’s been gone for the last two weeks with Armstrong and Brosh.” She watched Edward’s face drain of color and reached a hand out to him. “Are you ill? Did you need him for something?”
“But… I just saw him…” Ed started to stumble down the hall. “…Recently…”
“I assure you he has been gone. Are you sure you’re -- Edward!” she called after him when he started to run, almost desperately. “Edward!” What could have been wrong with him?
“How could I have been so stupid?” He made his way passed Hawkeye without even acknowledging her. She tried to stop him, tell him that Roy would like to see him now that he’s back, but he kept on moving. She let him go, knowing he would eventually run into the Major General anyway. His hands pushed against a wall, keeping him standing, pushing him along. “Right in the hands… Right in the hands…” he was about to collapse, hysterical. “The enemy… Oh nice job, Edward, way to go! Great job at protecting the kid! I’m such an idiot!”
Hawkeye’s prediction had been right. At the turn of a corner, his body met with another’s. He continued to spout what was becoming gibberish, tried to get by, but was held back. “LET ME GO! This isn’t a good time!”
“Edward!” the voice snapped, hands fumbling to keep the blonde steady, finally resorting in wrapping arms around the boy as the only way to hold him down.
“Let me… Let me…” Ed was shaking. He tried to relax himself.
“Breathe, Edward… It’s only me.”
Ed drew in slow breaths before burying his head into the casual dress shirt of Roy Mustang. His mind reeled and he was reminded of the last time he thought Roy was back though, and he began to struggle, automail forcing itself against Roy’s chest to try and separate from him. “Get the fuck away from me, Envy!” Ed growled, swiping a kick down against Roy’s legs.
“Envy?” the flame alchemist stared, caught off guard. “Edward, what’s wrong?”
Why did everyone keep asking what was wrong with him? He was fine! Perfectly fine, one-hundred percent normal! Except for Winry being dead and homunculi sprouting up all around him, and Envy -- definitely Envy -- trying to trick him every chance he had. “You aren’t Roy,” Edward spat, bringing automail palm to flesh. Roy saw the blue spark up around the joined hands with a clap and caught the other’s wrists before he could touch anything else.
“Stop this, Edward!”
“You won’t get me this time; not again!”
Roy let loose one of Ed’s wrist to draw back his hand. “I’m not him!” he tried to break through the boy’s belief just with that, but knew it was hopeless. He hated to have to prove himself, fingers twisting against each other’s material to send out a small spark of flame passed Ed’s face that sizzled against the air and popped. Ed froze and stopped struggling, almost going limp. Roy wrapped his arms around the alchemist again and held him tightly against his chest. “I’m not him,” he repeated more quickly. “Talk to me, Ed.”
“Winry died, Envy’s back, I think Envy has Wrath now and the homunculus Al created --”
“Al created --?”
“A homunculus. Tried to perform a transmutation on Winry. I fucking gave Wrath to Envy… So… stupid…” he held onto Roy tightly. “Envy found me as you. ‘Back early’ and then you really are back early… Thought it was… him again…”
“And the bedroom?”
“I don’t know,” came Ed’s muffled voice. “Wrath said something about the gate, then the seal being there. I don’t know what’s going on… I don’t… want to fight…”
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He wasn’t one to be heavily emotional; in fact, many of the emotions he did have had been stripped away piece by piece from every fragment of his journey. He wasn’t that boy anymore, the one that cried out in pain and wanted to wet his pants after him and his brother committed a taboo. He grew up -- assuming there was a childhood to really grow up from.
Ed tried and tried to repair the wall in the guestroom. He was more relieved when after an hours time he fixed half of it, but his alchemy was failing him on the rest. He sputtered about stubbornness before escaping down the stairs and laying down on the couch. He was told by most of the people he knew at headquarters to get some rest. They made it sound easy. He tried to tell them that, but Roy dragged him from the building.
He only wanted to say how pointless the idea was. How could he rest when it felt like he was being hunted, stalked down like a slab of meat? Envy wasn’t stupid. Envy was computing all his moves; the only thing Ed had a weapon against him was when he got too envious and wouldn’t think straight. There was always that possibility.
“Edward, have some tea or something. Calm your senses.”
“There’s nothing left to calm,” Ed murmured. He stared up at the ceiling, half to ignore the other. He almost had his void to hide into again, but it always seemed to burst right before completion. How frustrating, Ed thought.
He heard Roy sit down across from him, quietly, without a word. Edward hated that about people; always drawing out the silence as a way to make someone talk because they couldn’t stand the quiet and would break under it. Ed wouldn’t let his bridge fall first; Roy could break his own.
And Roy acted quickly to destroy. “Do you remember the first time I told you I had to go away for a few days?”
Ed yawned. “Yeah. That morning. Thanks a lot.”
Roy cringed. “No, that wasn’t it…”
“Eh? Hey, I’m not old and crippled! I have a good memory, thank you!” he shook an automail fist at the other, then stared at its structure and lowered it. “Well, maybe a bit crippled.”
“You obviously don’t have a memory after you’re drunk.” Just talk to him. Right. Hawkeye could have some really stupid ideas… once in a blue moon, anyway. More often than not she knew what she was doing -- especially more than he did.
“I don’t get drunk. Alcohol has this really nasty taste to it.”
“You were drunk the night I was trying to tell you.”
“I was not!”
“Do you remember that night?”
“…No.”
“You were drunk.”
“Fine! Maybe I was,” he crossed his arms in annoyance. “So what.”
So what? So he kissed Roy and now said person has no idea what to do about it. He couldn’t just drop the matter. But confrontation wasn’t so simple, and Ed hated it. Roy rested back. He was going to get his head bitten off for sure; one way or another.
“Edward…” Roy ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t just keep holding off like this; it shouldn’t even be as hard as he was finding it. “Tell me…would there be any other reason then you being heavily drunk…” he could feel the other’s gaze growing confused. Roy tried not to look as he finished the question, “for you to kiss me?”
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The arrays had been small, sketched in dust, or dug into wood -- everywhere -- as best they could. Envy stared at them with disgust, catching the boy working on another one, a book spread open by his feet that must have been taken from the bookshelf Lust had tried to fix. “You can’t use alchemy,” Envy spat, “so why are you even bothering with all this?” He kicked out at one of the arrays made in the dust and swept it away with ease. He smirked, slightly triumphant.
Wrath continued to work on his current array, brows turned in with focus. He didn’t like being held up like some animal. He was going to get out of this mess, even if it wasn’t really his fault he was in it. His so-called “imaginary” friend kept in silence all the while ever since the whole instance with Wrath completely losing it over that stone. He just didn’t understand it, was all Wrath could think.
Envy was scraping out with hands and feet at the arrays. He finally growled and seized the book off the floor, finally gaining Wrath’s immediate attention. He stared at the cover reading Alchemy for Beginners and then threw it behind him at a wall. Wrath jumped, just a bit. “Get it through your screwed up head, kid! You’re just like the rest of us were! Now you’re just a useless little speck of life, a homunculus who can’t use alchemy, let alone do much else!”
“Shut up!” Wrath snapped. His automail rested over his array and he raised his other arm, flesh changing sickly and reaching out to strike Envy. The older homunculus brushed it away and moved his foot to hold it down onto the ground. Wrath glared.
“Fine, go on wasting your life away. No matter how much you study alchemy, you don’t have the limbs to make it work anymore! Dante got rid of all that junk; maybe if you hadn’t misbehaved, you’d still have it!”
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Edward had stood up quickly, perhaps a bit too fast as the rest of his red coat flapped down loudly around him. He wasn’t looking at Roy, but the Flame Alchemist had no way of knowing because he wasn’t looking at Edward either.
“I need to go find Wrath,” Edward muttered evenly. He moved for the door and Roy didn’t try to stop him. It was only when the sound of it opening was the silence disturbed by Roy’s nearly quiet voice.
“Is it that hard for you to give me a straight answer?”
Roy heard the door close and he sighed. Edward rested his back against the closed door, listening to his own breaths. Now he understood more than ever -- a drunken alchemist, a drunken anyone -- was never a good thing. He hated the idea of alcohol so much even more, give him a glass of milk any day over it. Then maybe he wouldn’t do stupid things like kiss the one who put a comfortable roof over his head.
He really did need to go find Wrath, but he couldn’t get his back to leave the coldness of the door. It wasn’t fair, his mind kept chiding. It wasn’t like he even knew where to start looking for Wrath; he had no leads, no trails of destruction to follow. His fingers tapped on the door, nervously. How was he going to pull out of this one?
Casual, trained. Think like that lazy cat that Roy could so easily be himself sometimes. And let the situation rest. He had been drunk, after all. That’s all it had to be, even if it was blatantly not the case in Ed’s mind. He sighed, fingers rolling over the door. He didn’t need to be kicked out of the house. He couldn’t impose of Gracia, or even Hawkeye again. That dog licking his feet as a wakeup call wasn’t exactly pleasant.
He shut his mind up from its mantra of It wasn’t fair and opened the door again, slipped into the house with his foot closing it shut behind him, and proceeded back to the living room. Roy hadn’t moved, seeming lost in his thoughts. He didn’t even glance up at Edward’s returned presence.
“It was…” Ed started, the words fell short and his expression twisted with distress. He pushed it away, masked his face -- something he hadn’t found himself doing since he’d been staying there -- by the time Roy glanced at him. He couldn’t get himself kicked out, he carefully reminded himself. “I was just drunk. Eh… sorry about that.”
Roy nodded and looked away, then Edward almost wanted to take back his words when he managed to catch the flicker of disappointment crossing the other’s features. But he snapped his mouth closed and turned so his side was to Roy and he looked forward. “I’m not really sure how to start looking for him. I’m not really sure how to find Envy either, now that I think about it…”
“Hm…” Roy regarded the moment, but it seemed to be all Edward could extract from him.
“You think I could get some people from headquarters to help me?”
“The thing about dogs,” Roy began, watching the wall as if vines would break through and hug its smooth, white surface. “The thing I like about dogs,” he amended, “is that they’re loyal. You can trust them to be loyal. Dog of the military; not exactly a coined phrase just for horror details. It was always a bit of a reassurance. Trust dogs to be there for you, trust them to be completely honest without any fear of hurting someone. That’s how it should be, anyway,” Roy sighed. He turned his gaze towards Edward then. “You, Edward Elric, are no dog. Not anymore.” He stood and brushed by the other.
Ed had a distinct feeling that he had made a grave mistake.
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