Aftermath

[moonshadows]

            After the last shot was fired and the dust settled, there was the task of sorting everything out and picking up the pieces. This turned out to be quite a balancing act. We could have told the truth, but who would have believed it? So instead, we told parts of the truth. Or rather, I did. Roy was temporarily demoted back to Colonel and put on sick leave until he healed and it could be determined whether or not he had committed treason. I was temporarily promoted to Colonel to take his place, and wound up dealing with all the reports, and being interrogated about a dozen times as to who was involved with what and what proof we had. We wound up pinning a lot of it on Basque Gran; with him dead, the records of what he was up to with Tucker came to light and it wasn’t hard to connect Archer with all of that. It was pretty obvious that Archer went insane after he came back from the disaster in Lior, so it was simplicity itself to explain Mustang’s “assassination plot” as a heroic and valiant attempt to get Bradley’s wife and son away from the mansion before Archer could get there to assassinate Bradley. There was a tense moment when the court tried to verify this with the South Station, but Archer had pretty well slaughtered anyone who could have said otherwise.

            So the records state that Archer went rampant, tried to destroy South Station, and then tried to assassinate Bradley. It’s fortunate that there were civilian witnesses to the shootout in the street, because both of my military escorts died from his shots. Bradley’s wife was caught in the explosion of one of the cars, and his son had run off in the confusion. I’d wasted precious time dragging his wife to the house of a nice family and having them call for medical teams both for her, and to Bradley’s mansion, and then I told them I was going to try to save Bradley’s son from Archer, and ran off. The two fights Archer had been in had wounded him significantly – Mustang seared him with some of the fire from the burning building and I shot him in the back, and the testimony of the medical team verified that it did appear that Mustang had sustained severe injuries from Archer while trying to protect Bradley’s son – who was pronounced dead on the scene. Bradley’s wife never regained consciousness after Archer’s stolen car crashed into hers, and didn’t live through the night. Bradley’s body was never found; it was presumed to have been destroyed in the fire.

            Ed never came back to report. We skewed what we knew to make it sound like he’d run away because he knew about Archer’s plot on Bradley and didn’t want any part of it. The new government had no problems pardoning him and restoring his rank after hearing that story. If he ever returned, he would be welcomed back. In the absence of a higher authority, the military had formed a panel to take care of things until the new government could be established. The panel moved remarkably fast, and most of what I’ve just outlined took place in the three days following the assassination of King Bradley.

            I was coming back from checking on - and filling in - Mustang when it started. I stopped just outside the door; inside, I could hear Havoc pleading with a very frustrated female voice demanding to see "that Mustang guy that Ed always complained about" and feel not one, but two unique alchemical vibrations. One of them was completely new to me, but the other was Al. I wondered what had happened to Edward. Well, as Mustang's stand-in I'd have to deal with this anyway, but I wasn't in uniform. My civilian clothes were at least conservative enough to be taken seriously, and I'd put my hair back up. I took a moment to straighten the brown jacket over my blouse, and strode in with my usual air of stern disapproval. The woman holding an infant had bicolor hair, brown and a sort of strawberry blonde. This must be the Roze mentioned in Ed's reports. The source of the new vibration had long black hair, a sullen slump, and a crutch held under his left and only arm. His left leg was missing from above the knee. I'd never seen him, but knowing what he was and comparing various things Ed had said with things I knew, it wasn't hard to figure out who he was. I'd read the reports from the South Station incident, and they mentioned him. That left the other boy, and it seemed I was the only one who recognized him as Alphonse Elric.

            "Colonel Hawkeye!" Havoc cried in relief as I closed the door behind me. "There you go, ma'am, Colonel Hawkeye is standing in for Colonel Mustang. She can help you."

            Roze turned to inspect me, and I felt a third, faint alchemical resonance. Al and the boy missing Ed's limbs turned, as well. I gave Al a tiny nod before looking intently at the baby in Roze's arms. Poor kid.

            "Please follow me," I said coolly, and led the way into the office.

            Once everyone was inside, I shut the door. The homunculus had already taken one chair. Al looked uncertainly at Roze, who bounced the baby once and nodded him to the other chair. I pulled Mustang's chair out from behind the desk and offered it to Roze, who took it gratefully. I was used to standing, but I perched on the edge of the desk to make the others more comfortable.

            "Alphonse Elric." I got my first good look at his face as he looked up sharply. It was almost like looking into Ed's face, four years ago. "Congratulations on regaining your body."

            "Uh...ma'am?" Al was clearly confused, and there was no recognition of me.

            "Al," I said a bit more gently, "do you recognize me at all?"

            "No, ma'am. I've never seen you in my life."

            I turned to Roze.

            "He doesn't remember me, either," she said, before I could frame a question. "He doesn't remember anything in the last four years. He couldn't tell me where he lived compared to where we were, so I thought if I took him to someone who knew him, they might be able to help."

            "Ma'am? Do you know my brother?"

            "Yes," I replied crisply, and turned back to Roze. "I can have a message sent to Ed and Al's listed next-of-kin; someone will come within a few days to pick up Al and take him home, but there will be questions about Ed." My gaze flicked over Al and the other boy, who seemed determined to ignore his surroundings.

            "I can tell you some of what happened," Roze started uncertainly, "but I don't know how much of it you'll believe."

            "Al?" He turned to face me again. "Do you want to hear this?"

            Al nodded emphatically. "I don't know what happened to my brother, but I want to learn everything I can."

            "Very well," I told him, and turned to the other boy. "And you?"

            He looked up sullenly.

            "Ed asked me to take him with me," Roze spoke up. "He was there for most of what happened, too. His name is Wrath."

            "Thank you. Roze, correct?"

            She nodded, a little startled.

            "Ed mentioned you in his reports. Officially, nothing you say will be reported because you're not in the military. Unofficially, I know half of what's been going on and would like to know the rest. Who's been behind the homunculi, why they were after Ed, and if there's a chance we'll have to deal with them again. Also, we will need to determine what to do with Wrath." The boy started at that, and I fixed him with a stern look. "You have not committed any crime, but you were involved with the South Station incident and there are some who might want to study or question you. Personally, I'd be happy to let you go elsewhere and vanish. We've had a bit of an uproar regarding chimeras and human transmutation, and I'd prefer not to stir that pot. If you can tell me what you know and what you saw, I'll even provide you with a train ticket to wherever you'd like to go."

            Wrath looked at me with a hint of greed. "I can't go far without a leg."

            "I'll send a message to the auto-mail mechanic that provided Ed's. I don't know if attaching auto-mail to a homunculus is different from attaching it to a human, but I'll let her deal with that." I held his gaze until he nodded, our little bargaining session completed. "Now then, what happened?"

            Wrath and Roze took it in turns to tell the story. Al listened intently, innocence fading from his features as they retold the tale of near-genocide, betrayal, and death. He blanched at Sloth, and her demise, and seemed to bond with Wrath over the loss of their pseudo-mother. Wrath spoke openly of the Gate, having to grope for explanations when Al and Roze failed to understand. He watched me out of the corner of one eye, noting that never once did I fail to follow his narrative. That I never asked for explanations. Roze picked up the thread, adding bits where she could and fleshing out what had happened in the city beneath Central. There was a point of contention as to where Ed had gone and how he got back; Roze said there was a flash of light, while Wrath insisted the Gate had opened. On this point I interrupted, asking Wrath how the gate was triggered. Roze could not confirm that her baby was used as an alchemical catalyst, although she did state that the light seemed to be coming from her son's body. Wrath's eyes and mine met, and we nodded in understanding. Roze had never seen a human transmutation, never been involved with that sort of alchemy. She could not see the Gate. Al's expression went from horrified at his brother's death to grimly satisfied that he was able to restore Ed's body and soul. Wrath scowled and looked away, knowing that the limbs that he'd claimed and lost had been given back to Ed and now were most likely lost forever unless Ed turned up someplace. No one had witnessed what Ed did after being restored; Al's memory was gone, while Roze and Wrath had been making their slow, painful way out. Wrath had felt the Gate opening, however, and insisted that they go back to check - that's how they found Al.

            The telling took several hours. I'd stopped them about halfway through, sent Havoc to bring food and gave him orders to contact the Rockbells. He also found himself playing driver as I took Roze and the boys to a hotel and made sure they had everything they needed. Once the boys were asleep, I took Roze aside for a quiet word of warning.

            "Be aware that your baby may be sensitive to alchemy after all he's gone through," I told her. "And that he might remember some of it when he gets older."

            "It won't harm him, will it?"

            "It won't impair him in any way," I reassured her, side-stepping the issue of what it might feel like to him. "But until he's old enough to talk, you'll want to keep him away from any alchemy being performed in the immediate area. The sensitivity will likely make him cry until he gets used to it."

            It took two days before Winry Rockbell arrived with replacement limbs for Ed, and then she had to be told what little we knew about where Ed was - or was not. Once the auto-mail had been fitted to Wrath, he declared our deal complete and left that minute. He didn't even stop to thank Winry. Al seemed disappointed that Wrath had left so suddenly, but catching up with Winry distracted him. She and Roze hit it off immediately, and with nowhere else to go I gave her a ticket for the same train that Winry and Al would be taking back. It would be an unusual family with all siblings and no parents, but they would support each other and that's what matters.

            A few days later, there was a commotion in Headquarters. A commotion that, from the sound of it getting ever closer, strongly resembled what had happened at South. With a sigh, I put down the paperwork I'd been dealing with and strode down the hall towards the disturbance. A sharp sound, a ripple of reality and a grinding noise followed by the surprised shouts of half of my staff and then gunshots impacting something hard. Oh joy, alchemy. I kicked the glare over into irritated/pissed and slammed the door open.

            Everyone froze. Most eyes turned to me, and the ones holding guns trembled ever so slightly. Part of the floor had been turned into a shield, and through the resonance I could just barely make out the vibration peculiar to someone that had performed - or been the result of - human transmutation.

            "EVERYONE STAND DOWN!"

            Two guns clattered as they hit desks. There was a scattered chorus of "Yes, Colonel Hawkeye" and my staff edged back against the walls, unwilling to get closer to either me or whoever was crouched behind what used to be the floor.

            "Now, who wants to tell me what's going on?"

            Fury shakily got to his feet and saluted. "Colonel Hawkeye, this woman entered by force demanding to know what we had done with 'him', and with her apprentice."

            "I want to know what you military dogs have done with them!" The voice that came from behind the barrier was indeed a woman's.

            "Without names, we cannot give you any information," I countered. "We can hardly tell you what happened to anyone if we don't know who you're talking about."

            "Edward Elric," the voice snapped back, "and the child you dogs took in South because of a mark he had on his foot!"

            "We have done nothing with Fullmetal Elric. He has yet to return to us and report."

            "Lies!"

            "If you doubt my word, you could ask his brother."

            A pause, then the voice uttered in a softer tone, "Alphonse is alive?"

            "And healthy, and back home." I stressed the last word, emphasizing that Al was not here.

            "What about the boy?" The voice was back to being hard and accusing.

            "If you are referring to the boy involved in the South Station incident, the one with mismatched limbs, he is no longer here either."

            "He was here? What have you done with him?!"

            "Fed him. Clothed him. Saw him fitted with auto-mail. He decided to leave at that point, and we haven't seen him since." I kept my voice crisp; we had nothing to hide, and there was no point in getting angry.

            "Auto-mail? What happened to him?"

            "It is my understanding that a woman called Dante and someone named Envy had the mismatched limbs removed. However, I was not there to witness this and have no more information than that."

            Another long pause.

            "I see." The voice was now cool; too proud to be apologetic, but aware of having committed assault on the wrong group. "I'll take my leave then."

            The woman stood up, back to me. Black hair in ropes, similar bone structure, and of course the resonance that I could now make out clearly. Well, that explained her interest in Wrath.

            "If you wouldn't mind restoring the floor on your way out...?" My voice was also cool and detached, and the woman flicked a glance over her shoulder.

            "Of course. Have a pleasant day."

            She did something with her hands that was hidden behind her body, then touched the barrier. It melted back into a floor while I gritted my teeth. She sauntered defiantly out, ignoring the staff who still huddled against the wall, unable to move while I stood imperiously in the doorway. I watched her go, kept watching as she turned a corner. Several times there was that sharp, grinding sound and I could feel her returning the building to its original configuration. At least, that's what I hoped she was doing. When I could no longer feel her, I turned and went back into the office. The rest of the staff went loudly back to whatever they had been doing, and I returned to the paperwork on Mustang's desk.