Fic- Sunrise, Sunset
Title -- Sunrise, Sunset
Author-- cornerofmadness
series -- manga/brotherhood
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns them, I can only play with her toys
Rating -- PG-13
Characters/Pairing -- Roy/Riza, Ed/Winry, Al/Mei, scads of Mustang and Elric offspring
Timeline/Spoilers -- set a few decades past the end of the series
Word Count -- 3,750
Summary -- It’s a whole new phase of life
warning offscreen character death referenced.
Author’s Note -- This got bigger than expected. It’s also a companion piece to my picfor1000 story, Your Hand in Mine. You don’t need to read that before this one, but if you’d like to, I’d smile. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta. This was written for fma_fic_contest’s prompt of ‘set in the future’ and won first place! bay115 did the lovely banner.
XXX
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears - Fiddler on the Roof
Roy rubbed his hands after plopping several shopping bags down on the living room table. He grinned. It had been a long time since his house had been this full. Hell, it had been even longer since he and Riza were in a house this small, if the spacious old place could be considered small. Riza was upstairs with Winry and a handful of their daughters, giving the Elrics a tour of the place.
“Hands bothering you, Roy?” Al nodded at his hands and Roy stopped pulling on his fingers. Damn Bradley and his swords.
“I’m fine,” he lied, seeing no belief in the falsehood reflected in gold eyes so he changed the subject. “Want a beer?”
“Sure,” Theo piped up.
His father cuffed him on the back of the head. “No beer for you or your brothers,” Edward said, stabbing a finger at his son.
The boy rolled his golden eyes. “I’m eighteen now, Dad. What were you doing at eighteen?”
“Probably nothing. Your dad’s a prude,” Roy said and Edward huffed out one of his usual obscene rejoiners. “And you better start taking after him. I know you’ve been sniffing around my little girl.”
“She’s the one who flashed me!” Theo protested, blushing.
“Lucky dog,” Hohenheim, Al’s youngest, grumbled. Roy was always surprised at how much the youngest Elric looked like he was a Mustang. Of course, all of Al’s children looked like their late mother. Xingese traits seemed to be strong.
“You might be okay, Hohenheim. You’re like you’re dad,” Roy said.
“I thought you were going to get beer. I’m still waiting to see why you invited us all over and it better not be to see vacation pictures!” Ed said.
Al sighed. “Nothing changes with you two. It is nice getting to see Roy’s new house, now that he’s no longer living in the Fuhrer’s mansion.”
“Yeah, you couldn’t wait a little longer before retiring? Then I could have been dating the Fuhrer’s daughter.” Theo glared.
“You? I’m going to be the one Reanna dates!” Hohenheim slapped his cousin’s leg.
“No one is dating anyone!” Roy and Ed said together. Roy looked at the younger man and sighed. “I’ll get the beer.”
He trudged into the kitchen, trying to remember where the glasses lived. He wasn’t used to where anything was yet in his new home. His old brain reminded him he had put mugs in the ice chest so they’d be frosty. As he got them out, he spotted his twin boys outside with Al’s oldest son, Maes, and Ed’s son, Dominic. He assumed that they were playing with the ball game he’d brought back from Xing mostly to keep himself from getting too soft in his old age. Staring out the window, Roy saw little boys instead of the men they had become. It was unthinkable the twins were nearly the age he had been when he’d gone to war.
Warmth and moisture flooded his eyes at the thought and only sheer will kept him from giving in. So much of his time as Fuhrer had been spent mending fences. Ishbal was restored. Creata and Areugo were on cautiously friendly terms with Amestris and, of course, Xing was one of their strongest, if regrettably distant, allies. Only Drachma continued to harass them. He had done his best to bring peace to his home so his children, so no one’s children, would need know what war was like. He knew that eventually it would come again. That seemed to be the unfortunate nature of man, but he had given it his all. Outside his window were four young men who had never known the horror their parents had grown up with, and that had to be enough for now.
“Roy?”
He turned, hoping his eyes didn’t give him away. “Yes, Alphonse?”
“Let me help you carry the beer,” Al said, peering at Roy intently.
“Thanks. My hands are bothering me today.”
“I knew that.” Al turned that knowing gaze outside. “Ah, lawn bowling. They seem to be enjoying it.”
Roy chuckled. “I don’t think that’s what it’s called, but yes.”
“The kids have been pestering me to go back to Xing. I suppose at this point they’re old enough to go without me. I was younger than they are when I first went.” Al shook his head, pouring a beer into the waiting mug. “How surreal is that?”
“I was thinking something similar. I was barely older than Ryan and Richard when I went to Ishbal. It feels like I was that age only yesterday.” Roy sighed. “Then I look around and all of our children are now somehow adults and I’m an old man.”
“In spite of what my brother says, you’re not that old, Roy.”
“No, but older than I ever thought I would be. It’s like they strap a locomotive engine to your back when you hit twenty-five, and suddenly, you’re sixty and wondering where your life went.” Roy leaned forward, resting his head against the ice chest. “Ah, listen to me being maudlin. Don’t tell Edward. He’ll tease me all night.”
Alphonse slapped Roy’s back. “He’ll do that anyhow.”
“True.”
Alphonse went silent for a moment, putting the mugs on a tray, then said, “I just don’t know if I want to go back to Xing. Ever since Mei was killed, I just haven’t felt like returning.”
Roy scowled. It had been a turbulent time. Ling’s reign had come under fire and cost him two of his children and several siblings including Mei. “Understandable and your kids are old enough to understand, too.”
Alphonse snorted. “Right now, all any of them understand is hormones. We’d better get back in there before Theo and Hohenheim kill each other fighting over Reanna. Ed will be rooting for my son, so you don’t end up a father-in-law to his kid.”
“Please, that wild child is just like her Aunt Chris.” Roy flipped one scarred hand at Alphonse. “Reanna’ll be dating both boys and making them crazy.”
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that.” Alphonse went back into the living room.
“There you are. I thought you brewing it, it took so long. I need it before I kill them.” Edward jerked a thumb at the teenaged boys.
“Threatening our child again?” Winry asked, coming down the stairs with their daughter, Margaret.
Theo and Hohenheim sat up straight, smoothing out their wayward hair, the gold and black refusing to obey, as Reanna swished down the stairs in a miniskirt that Roy had first mistaken as a halter top and nearly had a heart attack when he learned what it was. Zhen, Al’s fourteen year old, joked with Rue, Roy’s eldest, as they came downstairs. The girl looked up to Rue more than she did her actual sister.
Theo and Hohenheim made eyes at Rue, too. Roy didn’t blame them. The twenty year old was glamorous, something he realized when she was ten and suddenly understood why Maes used to point guns at anyone sniffing around his little girl. Only Rue wasn’t little any more and he missed those days when she’d sit on his lap and he’d tell her stories. He didn’t want to think about whose lap she might be sitting on now.
Roy smiled up at his wife, who was still the most glamorous woman in his eyes, but she’d just roll hers at him if he said it. “I uncorked some wine for you ladies - not you Reanna - but there’s beer in the ice chest if you or Winry want it instead, Riza.”
“I’ll get the wine,” Riza said. “And get the boys inside. Winry? Rue? Wine?”
“Sure,” Winry said while Rue shook her head.
Rue sat on the arm of the couch next to her father, brushing her long, walnut brown hair back. “Did you get the pictures out?”
“Edward whined.” Roy pouted.
“Oh, let him.” She got up and picked up the burgeoning packet of photos off the radio. Rue dropped them in Edward’s lap.
“Thanks.” He rolled his eyes then handed the package to Winry as she sat next to him.
“Nice example you set for your kids,” Winry elbowed him, then took one of the smaller packets of photos out before handing the remainder to Al.
“I think they already know he’s an ass, Winry,” Roy said.
“Roy!” Riza shouted from the kitchen.
Maes, Ryan and Richard came in with beer mugs in hand while Riza carried in the wine.
“Roy, do you want to start?” she asked, sitting next to him after handing out the wine glasses.
“Yeah, hurry up and say what it is you want to say, Mustang. Who knew we’d miss all that room in the Fuhrer’s mansion?” Ed said wiggling. “It’s tight in here.”
Winry sighed.
“Since you all had insane amounts of kids? Everyone?” Ryan grinned.
“At least we have the excuse of one of us being slightly unexpected,” his identical twin said.
“Dad cried when he heard it was twins.” Rue laughed.
“I thought he fainted,” Reanna piped up.
“It was neither. Are you four done?” Roy gave his brood the gimlet eye. “Good. A toast then, to family, no matter how strange or adopted it may be.”
“Any family with you in it has to be weird. Here’s to it.” Edward saluted him with the beer mug.
“As you know, as part of my retirement that isn’t taken up with being dean, I’ll be traveling with my long-suffering wife anywhere she wants to go. And thank you all for looking out for the kids while we were gone, not that they really needed it because I know they are adults.” Roy held up a hand before his kids protested. “As fun as it was, I’m glad to be home.”
“Aw, did Dad miss us?” Richard jostled Roy, almost making him lose his beer.
“I’m changing my mind.” Roy took a drink. “But I did miss all of you. Hell, I nearly missed Edward,” he said and Edward flashed him an obscene gesture behind Winry’s head. “Changing my mind on that, too. Think of it this way. It’s going to be harder and harder to get all of us together. You’re all getting to be adults, going your own ways. Hell, your Zach and Evie couldn’t be here, Ed. I’ll miss not having everyone around.” Roy paused, taking a deep breath. So much not for getting maudlin.
“Dad, you’re not sick or something, are you? That’s not why you retired is it?” Reanna’s brown eyes widened.
His children had such morbid imaginations. He didn’t know where they got it from. “I’m not sick. I’m just…”
“Getting old,” Ed offered.
“Bite me. Anyhow, what I was getting to is the idea of having an empty nest. Maybe because I lost my family when I was four, and trust me, even at that age I knew how ill-prepared my aunt was to have me in the household, but it’s hitting me harder than I expected.” Roy frowned. “It occurs to me that maybe the reason we have so many kids is all of us lost at least one, if not both, parents at a young age.”
“And now we know how that is, too,” Maes said and his siblings nodded glumly.
“And we’re all sorry you had to know.” Alphonse reached over and squeezed his son’s hand.
“Yes, and it’s a hole that is hard to fill. For two decades, we’ve had our families restored and now, things are changing. I guess what I’m trying to say is, even as we get older, we don’t necessarily need to grow apart. That we should make time to get together every so often, like this,” Roy said.
“You always were a sap.” Edward waved him off.
“Ed, how many times do I have to say ‘be nice’?” Alphonse asked as Winry slapped a hand across her husband’s chest.
“We can get together without Edward in the future.” Roy glared, but was secretly grateful for the teasing. It helped hold him together because heaven help him if he cried right now. Riza laced her fingers with his, squeezing.
“I think it is very sweet idea, Roy. I’ll bring a gag for my husband,” Winry said.
“And a camera because we’ll want pictures of that.” Dominic laughed.
“I’ll sell you my kids if you’re lonely, bastard,” Edward said.
“Ed!” Al nodded his head to his youngest.
Zhen held up a hand. “Like I haven’t heard worse out of Uncle Ed.”
“That’s mostly the point,” Al muttered.
Riza leaned against Roy, sipping her wine before saying, “One of the things we did want to say was our next big trip will be to the coast, and we’d like you two and Alphonse to come with us, Elicia and Gracia as well, along with whichever of the kids don’t already have something else planned.”
“On vacation with you? I’d-” What Edward would rather do would remain a mystery, buried deep under another elbow thrust from Winry.
“That would great. I’d love that.” Winry smiled.
“We could use Ed for shark bait if he misbehaves,” Alphonse offered.
“See, this is why I like you, Alphonse. And behave yourself, Edward. With your luck one of your kids will end up married to one of mine!” Roy stabbed a finger at him.
“Dad!” was chorused with “What’s?” from several of the younger generation.
“Don’t make me cry.” Edward curled his lip. “That’s your job because you were almost there.”
“Like hell.”
“Maybe we should give them the gifts before you two start.” Riza said in warning.
“You didn’t have to get us anything, Riza,” Winry protested.
“We wanted to. Give the boys theirs first,” Riza told Roy. “They can clear out if they want to.”
“Right.” Roy got up and got the shopping bags. “Everyone got the same thing. Ryan and Richard already have theirs.” He picked handed a bag to each of the Elric boys.
They ripped them open with abandon that suggested they were still seven.
“Wow, these are cool. I always wanted these.” Theo held up a wind and fire wheel and had a knife in the other.
“These are great.” Hohenheim examined his deer horn knife. “Thanks!”
“Funny, I was just thinking I was so glad you boys never had to face a war and I get you all weapons.” Roy sighed.
“Cool weapons!” Theo jumped up. “Do we have to stick around to see what the girls got?”
“Go, run, accidentally stab yourself because we know it’s going to happen,” Winry sighed.
“At least Roy and I got good at Mei’s healing alkahestry.” Al laughed.
“Okay, we’ll see the girls’ stuff later,” Theo said and the room became much roomier in a heart beat.
“Boys never grow up,” Winry sighed.
“Never. Here, we didn’t forget you or Alphonse, Edward, though you probably would have been happier with the dao swords, like Ling had, but I suspected Alphonse brought back plenty of those years ago,” Riza said, getting up to get another of the many bags. “Edward, we thought of you the moment we saw this one.”
Edward opened the box and pulled out a jade dragon. “Oh, cool, yes. I love dragons.”
“We know,” she said then handed a similar box to Alphonse.
He removed a jade Pi Yao, cradling with winged lion-like creature in his hands. “I lost mine. Thank you so much. I could use the luck.”
“Thought you’d like it,” Roy said.
“You really didn’t have to get us anything,” Alphonse said.
“We know. Edward’s called me a fool and old for so long, I think I’ve become the stereotypical sentimental old fool.” Roy smiled.
“It was only a matter of time.” Edward replied, studying the nuances of his dragon.
“Besides, you’re like family,” Roy’s grin widened.
Edward flashed teeth. “Don’t push it.”
“But it’s true, Ed. Think about what would have happened if Roy and Riza hadn’t shown up that day,” Alphonse said. “We probably wouldn’t have this happy future.”
Edward scowled as Winry patted his knee. “I know. I do know that.”
“A mistake,” Riza said. “It was a mistake that brought us to Resembool. Someone wrote in that you boys were thirty or something like that.”
“I never would have tried to recruit kids, but when I saw you boys, saw…what you were capable of, I felt like I had to do something. I’ve been lucky enough to have people looking out for me most of my life. It felt like the right thing to do, to look out for someone else.”
“Couldn’t you have gotten into a lot of trouble, Roy?” Zhen asked.
“Yes and dealing with your Uncle Edward made me doubt my choice. I’d tell my aunt. She’d laugh at me and say ‘sounds like you at that age. Deal with it’.” Roy shrugged. “The saving grace was Edward usually didn’t stick around Eastern Command long.”
“Aw, poor Dad.” Margaret said.
“Poor nothing, Roy’s right.” Alphonse laughed. “Ed lives to make him nuts.”
“It’s a mutual thing, Alphonse,” Riza said, handing smaller boxes to the girls and a slightly larger one to Winry. “These are breakable.”
Winry waited for her daughter and niece to open theirs first. They took glass perfume bottles out of the packages. Zhen had one with dragons in clouds painted on the inside of it and Margaret had one with peacocks.
“These are beautiful!” Margaret cried.
“Thank you.” Zhen popped up to hug Roy and Riza.
“You’re welcome.”
Winry opened hers to reveal a glass wall with a rampant horse painted on the inside. “This is gorgeous. You both have great taste.”
“Don’t tell Mustang that. He’ll get a swelled head,” Edward groaned.
Winry thumped a hand on Edward’s chest then got up to hug the Mustangs. “He teases, but he missed you when you were in Xing.”
“Don’t tell him that either!” Edward wailed.
“No one to fight with, of course he missed me.”
“I pity this alchemy school once you both are working there.” Al shook his head.
“We all do, Al.” Rue laughed. “If you’re done, I’m going to round up my brothers because there is something I wanted to say while everyone is here.”
“Oh?” Roy looked to his child. “Is this something I want to hear?”
“After tonight, I’m not entirely sure, Dad.”
“Will he cry?” Edward snickered.
“What do you think?” Rue shot back, heading into the kitchen and the back door.
“You’re going to cry,” Edward sing-songed.
“What is wrong with you? I am not,” Roy grumbled, not entirely sure of that. A pit opened in his stomach as he contemplated his daughter’s words, threatening to pull him in.
Riza seemed to sense his trepidation or shared it as she tucked back in next to him. He draped an arm around her, pulling her close as Rue came back with the boys.
“Dad, relax, you look like you think I have terrible news,” Rue said.
“I’m fine,” he lied and Rue rolled her eyes, sitting on the arm of the couch next to her mother.
“While you were in Xing something happened, but I wanted to wait until you were home to tell you. When you said you were having this party, I thought it was the perfect time.” Rue reached around her neck, undoing the catch for her silver chain, then pulled the pendant free of where it had been hidden under her shirt. A sparkling ring dangled on the end and Roy stopped breathing. All he could do was watch as his little girl slipped it off the chain and onto her finger.
“Lei asked me to marry him and I said yes.”
Roy blinked. Lei? Wasn’t he the guard for the Xingese ambassador? How the hell did she even meet him? Why hadn’t he?
“That’s wonderful.” Riza pulled Rue down on top of them, hugging her.
Roy could hear the kids squealing and the Elrics congratulating her, but all he could see was her tiny fingers the first time he held her in his arms. How could she be leaving so soon?
“Dad?” Rue’s brown eyes met his.
“I’m so happy for you, baby girl,” he managed to say. “When…how…I mean, why haven’t I ever met him before this?”
“You’ve met him plenty of times when Ren came to your office,” she countered.
Roy thought about the flamboyant prince Ren Chang, one of Emperor Ling’s many sons, and could picture everything about him from his queue to his flashy tastes in clothes and exquisite tastes in food. Lei was a black blur with a demon mask.
“I know Ren.”
“Would you rather I dated him?” Rue shot him a hurt look.
“No, of course not,” Roy said hurriedly. “He is a prince, though.”
“Technically, Lei is, too,” Alphonse offered up. “Only he can’t be counted as one. He’s Ling and Lan Fan’s.”
“And the last time I saw Ren he asked me out,” Ryan said, tapping his chest.
“Hmm, yes I’m not surprised by that, really. You could have had fun.” Roy shrugged and his son stuck his tongue out. “I guess I’m just surprised you never told us you were dating someone.” He frowned. “Someone who could kick my old butt ten ways to evening.”
Rue laughed and leaned over Riza to kiss his cheek. “You were so busy finishing out your time as Fuhrer, getting ready to hand it over to Corinne, that I thought it would be wrong to disturb you.”
Roy got up off the couch and took his daughter’s hand. He pulled her up to him, hugging her. “You can always tell me anything, any time, baby girl.”
“I know, Daddy, but…it just seemed like the wrong time.” Rue rested her head on his shoulder.
“Any idea when you’ll get married?” Winry asked.
“I’m not sure. We’re trying to decide before or after,” Rue replied.
“Before or after what?” Riza asked.
“The baby comes.”
Roy stopped breathing again. He was fairly sure his heart had stopped, too. Riza’s eyes widened then she flung a hand out at him.
“I told you to be careful of what you wished for, Roy!”
“You said stop wishing for grandkids because they’d probably have Edward as a grandfather, too!” he shot back.
Ed’s “Oh hell no!” was nearly drowned out by Theo and Reanna’s “Dad!”
“A baby?” Roy asked Rue, his knees shaking.
She nodded, grinning broadly. He folded her to him, holding a hand out to Riza, pulling her to them. Dammit, he was crying. He would never hear the end of it.
Author-- cornerofmadness
series -- manga/brotherhood
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns them, I can only play with her toys
Rating -- PG-13
Characters/Pairing -- Roy/Riza, Ed/Winry, Al/Mei, scads of Mustang and Elric offspring
Timeline/Spoilers -- set a few decades past the end of the series
Word Count -- 3,750
Summary -- It’s a whole new phase of life
warning offscreen character death referenced.
Author’s Note -- This got bigger than expected. It’s also a companion piece to my picfor1000 story, Your Hand in Mine. You don’t need to read that before this one, but if you’d like to, I’d smile. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta. This was written for fma_fic_contest’s prompt of ‘set in the future’ and won first place! bay115 did the lovely banner.
XXX
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears - Fiddler on the Roof
Roy rubbed his hands after plopping several shopping bags down on the living room table. He grinned. It had been a long time since his house had been this full. Hell, it had been even longer since he and Riza were in a house this small, if the spacious old place could be considered small. Riza was upstairs with Winry and a handful of their daughters, giving the Elrics a tour of the place.
“Hands bothering you, Roy?” Al nodded at his hands and Roy stopped pulling on his fingers. Damn Bradley and his swords.
“I’m fine,” he lied, seeing no belief in the falsehood reflected in gold eyes so he changed the subject. “Want a beer?”
“Sure,” Theo piped up.
His father cuffed him on the back of the head. “No beer for you or your brothers,” Edward said, stabbing a finger at his son.
The boy rolled his golden eyes. “I’m eighteen now, Dad. What were you doing at eighteen?”
“Probably nothing. Your dad’s a prude,” Roy said and Edward huffed out one of his usual obscene rejoiners. “And you better start taking after him. I know you’ve been sniffing around my little girl.”
“She’s the one who flashed me!” Theo protested, blushing.
“Lucky dog,” Hohenheim, Al’s youngest, grumbled. Roy was always surprised at how much the youngest Elric looked like he was a Mustang. Of course, all of Al’s children looked like their late mother. Xingese traits seemed to be strong.
“You might be okay, Hohenheim. You’re like you’re dad,” Roy said.
“I thought you were going to get beer. I’m still waiting to see why you invited us all over and it better not be to see vacation pictures!” Ed said.
Al sighed. “Nothing changes with you two. It is nice getting to see Roy’s new house, now that he’s no longer living in the Fuhrer’s mansion.”
“Yeah, you couldn’t wait a little longer before retiring? Then I could have been dating the Fuhrer’s daughter.” Theo glared.
“You? I’m going to be the one Reanna dates!” Hohenheim slapped his cousin’s leg.
“No one is dating anyone!” Roy and Ed said together. Roy looked at the younger man and sighed. “I’ll get the beer.”
He trudged into the kitchen, trying to remember where the glasses lived. He wasn’t used to where anything was yet in his new home. His old brain reminded him he had put mugs in the ice chest so they’d be frosty. As he got them out, he spotted his twin boys outside with Al’s oldest son, Maes, and Ed’s son, Dominic. He assumed that they were playing with the ball game he’d brought back from Xing mostly to keep himself from getting too soft in his old age. Staring out the window, Roy saw little boys instead of the men they had become. It was unthinkable the twins were nearly the age he had been when he’d gone to war.
Warmth and moisture flooded his eyes at the thought and only sheer will kept him from giving in. So much of his time as Fuhrer had been spent mending fences. Ishbal was restored. Creata and Areugo were on cautiously friendly terms with Amestris and, of course, Xing was one of their strongest, if regrettably distant, allies. Only Drachma continued to harass them. He had done his best to bring peace to his home so his children, so no one’s children, would need know what war was like. He knew that eventually it would come again. That seemed to be the unfortunate nature of man, but he had given it his all. Outside his window were four young men who had never known the horror their parents had grown up with, and that had to be enough for now.
“Roy?”
He turned, hoping his eyes didn’t give him away. “Yes, Alphonse?”
“Let me help you carry the beer,” Al said, peering at Roy intently.
“Thanks. My hands are bothering me today.”
“I knew that.” Al turned that knowing gaze outside. “Ah, lawn bowling. They seem to be enjoying it.”
Roy chuckled. “I don’t think that’s what it’s called, but yes.”
“The kids have been pestering me to go back to Xing. I suppose at this point they’re old enough to go without me. I was younger than they are when I first went.” Al shook his head, pouring a beer into the waiting mug. “How surreal is that?”
“I was thinking something similar. I was barely older than Ryan and Richard when I went to Ishbal. It feels like I was that age only yesterday.” Roy sighed. “Then I look around and all of our children are now somehow adults and I’m an old man.”
“In spite of what my brother says, you’re not that old, Roy.”
“No, but older than I ever thought I would be. It’s like they strap a locomotive engine to your back when you hit twenty-five, and suddenly, you’re sixty and wondering where your life went.” Roy leaned forward, resting his head against the ice chest. “Ah, listen to me being maudlin. Don’t tell Edward. He’ll tease me all night.”
Alphonse slapped Roy’s back. “He’ll do that anyhow.”
“True.”
Alphonse went silent for a moment, putting the mugs on a tray, then said, “I just don’t know if I want to go back to Xing. Ever since Mei was killed, I just haven’t felt like returning.”
Roy scowled. It had been a turbulent time. Ling’s reign had come under fire and cost him two of his children and several siblings including Mei. “Understandable and your kids are old enough to understand, too.”
Alphonse snorted. “Right now, all any of them understand is hormones. We’d better get back in there before Theo and Hohenheim kill each other fighting over Reanna. Ed will be rooting for my son, so you don’t end up a father-in-law to his kid.”
“Please, that wild child is just like her Aunt Chris.” Roy flipped one scarred hand at Alphonse. “Reanna’ll be dating both boys and making them crazy.”
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that.” Alphonse went back into the living room.
“There you are. I thought you brewing it, it took so long. I need it before I kill them.” Edward jerked a thumb at the teenaged boys.
“Threatening our child again?” Winry asked, coming down the stairs with their daughter, Margaret.
Theo and Hohenheim sat up straight, smoothing out their wayward hair, the gold and black refusing to obey, as Reanna swished down the stairs in a miniskirt that Roy had first mistaken as a halter top and nearly had a heart attack when he learned what it was. Zhen, Al’s fourteen year old, joked with Rue, Roy’s eldest, as they came downstairs. The girl looked up to Rue more than she did her actual sister.
Theo and Hohenheim made eyes at Rue, too. Roy didn’t blame them. The twenty year old was glamorous, something he realized when she was ten and suddenly understood why Maes used to point guns at anyone sniffing around his little girl. Only Rue wasn’t little any more and he missed those days when she’d sit on his lap and he’d tell her stories. He didn’t want to think about whose lap she might be sitting on now.
Roy smiled up at his wife, who was still the most glamorous woman in his eyes, but she’d just roll hers at him if he said it. “I uncorked some wine for you ladies - not you Reanna - but there’s beer in the ice chest if you or Winry want it instead, Riza.”
“I’ll get the wine,” Riza said. “And get the boys inside. Winry? Rue? Wine?”
“Sure,” Winry said while Rue shook her head.
Rue sat on the arm of the couch next to her father, brushing her long, walnut brown hair back. “Did you get the pictures out?”
“Edward whined.” Roy pouted.
“Oh, let him.” She got up and picked up the burgeoning packet of photos off the radio. Rue dropped them in Edward’s lap.
“Thanks.” He rolled his eyes then handed the package to Winry as she sat next to him.
“Nice example you set for your kids,” Winry elbowed him, then took one of the smaller packets of photos out before handing the remainder to Al.
“I think they already know he’s an ass, Winry,” Roy said.
“Roy!” Riza shouted from the kitchen.
Maes, Ryan and Richard came in with beer mugs in hand while Riza carried in the wine.
“Roy, do you want to start?” she asked, sitting next to him after handing out the wine glasses.
“Yeah, hurry up and say what it is you want to say, Mustang. Who knew we’d miss all that room in the Fuhrer’s mansion?” Ed said wiggling. “It’s tight in here.”
Winry sighed.
“Since you all had insane amounts of kids? Everyone?” Ryan grinned.
“At least we have the excuse of one of us being slightly unexpected,” his identical twin said.
“Dad cried when he heard it was twins.” Rue laughed.
“I thought he fainted,” Reanna piped up.
“It was neither. Are you four done?” Roy gave his brood the gimlet eye. “Good. A toast then, to family, no matter how strange or adopted it may be.”
“Any family with you in it has to be weird. Here’s to it.” Edward saluted him with the beer mug.
“As you know, as part of my retirement that isn’t taken up with being dean, I’ll be traveling with my long-suffering wife anywhere she wants to go. And thank you all for looking out for the kids while we were gone, not that they really needed it because I know they are adults.” Roy held up a hand before his kids protested. “As fun as it was, I’m glad to be home.”
“Aw, did Dad miss us?” Richard jostled Roy, almost making him lose his beer.
“I’m changing my mind.” Roy took a drink. “But I did miss all of you. Hell, I nearly missed Edward,” he said and Edward flashed him an obscene gesture behind Winry’s head. “Changing my mind on that, too. Think of it this way. It’s going to be harder and harder to get all of us together. You’re all getting to be adults, going your own ways. Hell, your Zach and Evie couldn’t be here, Ed. I’ll miss not having everyone around.” Roy paused, taking a deep breath. So much not for getting maudlin.
“Dad, you’re not sick or something, are you? That’s not why you retired is it?” Reanna’s brown eyes widened.
His children had such morbid imaginations. He didn’t know where they got it from. “I’m not sick. I’m just…”
“Getting old,” Ed offered.
“Bite me. Anyhow, what I was getting to is the idea of having an empty nest. Maybe because I lost my family when I was four, and trust me, even at that age I knew how ill-prepared my aunt was to have me in the household, but it’s hitting me harder than I expected.” Roy frowned. “It occurs to me that maybe the reason we have so many kids is all of us lost at least one, if not both, parents at a young age.”
“And now we know how that is, too,” Maes said and his siblings nodded glumly.
“And we’re all sorry you had to know.” Alphonse reached over and squeezed his son’s hand.
“Yes, and it’s a hole that is hard to fill. For two decades, we’ve had our families restored and now, things are changing. I guess what I’m trying to say is, even as we get older, we don’t necessarily need to grow apart. That we should make time to get together every so often, like this,” Roy said.
“You always were a sap.” Edward waved him off.
“Ed, how many times do I have to say ‘be nice’?” Alphonse asked as Winry slapped a hand across her husband’s chest.
“We can get together without Edward in the future.” Roy glared, but was secretly grateful for the teasing. It helped hold him together because heaven help him if he cried right now. Riza laced her fingers with his, squeezing.
“I think it is very sweet idea, Roy. I’ll bring a gag for my husband,” Winry said.
“And a camera because we’ll want pictures of that.” Dominic laughed.
“I’ll sell you my kids if you’re lonely, bastard,” Edward said.
“Ed!” Al nodded his head to his youngest.
Zhen held up a hand. “Like I haven’t heard worse out of Uncle Ed.”
“That’s mostly the point,” Al muttered.
Riza leaned against Roy, sipping her wine before saying, “One of the things we did want to say was our next big trip will be to the coast, and we’d like you two and Alphonse to come with us, Elicia and Gracia as well, along with whichever of the kids don’t already have something else planned.”
“On vacation with you? I’d-” What Edward would rather do would remain a mystery, buried deep under another elbow thrust from Winry.
“That would great. I’d love that.” Winry smiled.
“We could use Ed for shark bait if he misbehaves,” Alphonse offered.
“See, this is why I like you, Alphonse. And behave yourself, Edward. With your luck one of your kids will end up married to one of mine!” Roy stabbed a finger at him.
“Dad!” was chorused with “What’s?” from several of the younger generation.
“Don’t make me cry.” Edward curled his lip. “That’s your job because you were almost there.”
“Like hell.”
“Maybe we should give them the gifts before you two start.” Riza said in warning.
“You didn’t have to get us anything, Riza,” Winry protested.
“We wanted to. Give the boys theirs first,” Riza told Roy. “They can clear out if they want to.”
“Right.” Roy got up and got the shopping bags. “Everyone got the same thing. Ryan and Richard already have theirs.” He picked handed a bag to each of the Elric boys.
They ripped them open with abandon that suggested they were still seven.
“Wow, these are cool. I always wanted these.” Theo held up a wind and fire wheel and had a knife in the other.
“These are great.” Hohenheim examined his deer horn knife. “Thanks!”
“Funny, I was just thinking I was so glad you boys never had to face a war and I get you all weapons.” Roy sighed.
“Cool weapons!” Theo jumped up. “Do we have to stick around to see what the girls got?”
“Go, run, accidentally stab yourself because we know it’s going to happen,” Winry sighed.
“At least Roy and I got good at Mei’s healing alkahestry.” Al laughed.
“Okay, we’ll see the girls’ stuff later,” Theo said and the room became much roomier in a heart beat.
“Boys never grow up,” Winry sighed.
“Never. Here, we didn’t forget you or Alphonse, Edward, though you probably would have been happier with the dao swords, like Ling had, but I suspected Alphonse brought back plenty of those years ago,” Riza said, getting up to get another of the many bags. “Edward, we thought of you the moment we saw this one.”
Edward opened the box and pulled out a jade dragon. “Oh, cool, yes. I love dragons.”
“We know,” she said then handed a similar box to Alphonse.
He removed a jade Pi Yao, cradling with winged lion-like creature in his hands. “I lost mine. Thank you so much. I could use the luck.”
“Thought you’d like it,” Roy said.
“You really didn’t have to get us anything,” Alphonse said.
“We know. Edward’s called me a fool and old for so long, I think I’ve become the stereotypical sentimental old fool.” Roy smiled.
“It was only a matter of time.” Edward replied, studying the nuances of his dragon.
“Besides, you’re like family,” Roy’s grin widened.
Edward flashed teeth. “Don’t push it.”
“But it’s true, Ed. Think about what would have happened if Roy and Riza hadn’t shown up that day,” Alphonse said. “We probably wouldn’t have this happy future.”
Edward scowled as Winry patted his knee. “I know. I do know that.”
“A mistake,” Riza said. “It was a mistake that brought us to Resembool. Someone wrote in that you boys were thirty or something like that.”
“I never would have tried to recruit kids, but when I saw you boys, saw…what you were capable of, I felt like I had to do something. I’ve been lucky enough to have people looking out for me most of my life. It felt like the right thing to do, to look out for someone else.”
“Couldn’t you have gotten into a lot of trouble, Roy?” Zhen asked.
“Yes and dealing with your Uncle Edward made me doubt my choice. I’d tell my aunt. She’d laugh at me and say ‘sounds like you at that age. Deal with it’.” Roy shrugged. “The saving grace was Edward usually didn’t stick around Eastern Command long.”
“Aw, poor Dad.” Margaret said.
“Poor nothing, Roy’s right.” Alphonse laughed. “Ed lives to make him nuts.”
“It’s a mutual thing, Alphonse,” Riza said, handing smaller boxes to the girls and a slightly larger one to Winry. “These are breakable.”
Winry waited for her daughter and niece to open theirs first. They took glass perfume bottles out of the packages. Zhen had one with dragons in clouds painted on the inside of it and Margaret had one with peacocks.
“These are beautiful!” Margaret cried.
“Thank you.” Zhen popped up to hug Roy and Riza.
“You’re welcome.”
Winry opened hers to reveal a glass wall with a rampant horse painted on the inside. “This is gorgeous. You both have great taste.”
“Don’t tell Mustang that. He’ll get a swelled head,” Edward groaned.
Winry thumped a hand on Edward’s chest then got up to hug the Mustangs. “He teases, but he missed you when you were in Xing.”
“Don’t tell him that either!” Edward wailed.
“No one to fight with, of course he missed me.”
“I pity this alchemy school once you both are working there.” Al shook his head.
“We all do, Al.” Rue laughed. “If you’re done, I’m going to round up my brothers because there is something I wanted to say while everyone is here.”
“Oh?” Roy looked to his child. “Is this something I want to hear?”
“After tonight, I’m not entirely sure, Dad.”
“Will he cry?” Edward snickered.
“What do you think?” Rue shot back, heading into the kitchen and the back door.
“You’re going to cry,” Edward sing-songed.
“What is wrong with you? I am not,” Roy grumbled, not entirely sure of that. A pit opened in his stomach as he contemplated his daughter’s words, threatening to pull him in.
Riza seemed to sense his trepidation or shared it as she tucked back in next to him. He draped an arm around her, pulling her close as Rue came back with the boys.
“Dad, relax, you look like you think I have terrible news,” Rue said.
“I’m fine,” he lied and Rue rolled her eyes, sitting on the arm of the couch next to her mother.
“While you were in Xing something happened, but I wanted to wait until you were home to tell you. When you said you were having this party, I thought it was the perfect time.” Rue reached around her neck, undoing the catch for her silver chain, then pulled the pendant free of where it had been hidden under her shirt. A sparkling ring dangled on the end and Roy stopped breathing. All he could do was watch as his little girl slipped it off the chain and onto her finger.
“Lei asked me to marry him and I said yes.”
Roy blinked. Lei? Wasn’t he the guard for the Xingese ambassador? How the hell did she even meet him? Why hadn’t he?
“That’s wonderful.” Riza pulled Rue down on top of them, hugging her.
Roy could hear the kids squealing and the Elrics congratulating her, but all he could see was her tiny fingers the first time he held her in his arms. How could she be leaving so soon?
“Dad?” Rue’s brown eyes met his.
“I’m so happy for you, baby girl,” he managed to say. “When…how…I mean, why haven’t I ever met him before this?”
“You’ve met him plenty of times when Ren came to your office,” she countered.
Roy thought about the flamboyant prince Ren Chang, one of Emperor Ling’s many sons, and could picture everything about him from his queue to his flashy tastes in clothes and exquisite tastes in food. Lei was a black blur with a demon mask.
“I know Ren.”
“Would you rather I dated him?” Rue shot him a hurt look.
“No, of course not,” Roy said hurriedly. “He is a prince, though.”
“Technically, Lei is, too,” Alphonse offered up. “Only he can’t be counted as one. He’s Ling and Lan Fan’s.”
“And the last time I saw Ren he asked me out,” Ryan said, tapping his chest.
“Hmm, yes I’m not surprised by that, really. You could have had fun.” Roy shrugged and his son stuck his tongue out. “I guess I’m just surprised you never told us you were dating someone.” He frowned. “Someone who could kick my old butt ten ways to evening.”
Rue laughed and leaned over Riza to kiss his cheek. “You were so busy finishing out your time as Fuhrer, getting ready to hand it over to Corinne, that I thought it would be wrong to disturb you.”
Roy got up off the couch and took his daughter’s hand. He pulled her up to him, hugging her. “You can always tell me anything, any time, baby girl.”
“I know, Daddy, but…it just seemed like the wrong time.” Rue rested her head on his shoulder.
“Any idea when you’ll get married?” Winry asked.
“I’m not sure. We’re trying to decide before or after,” Rue replied.
“Before or after what?” Riza asked.
“The baby comes.”
Roy stopped breathing again. He was fairly sure his heart had stopped, too. Riza’s eyes widened then she flung a hand out at him.
“I told you to be careful of what you wished for, Roy!”
“You said stop wishing for grandkids because they’d probably have Edward as a grandfather, too!” he shot back.
Ed’s “Oh hell no!” was nearly drowned out by Theo and Reanna’s “Dad!”
“A baby?” Roy asked Rue, his knees shaking.
She nodded, grinning broadly. He folded her to him, holding a hand out to Riza, pulling her to them. Dammit, he was crying. He would never hear the end of it.