Chapter Text
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Quote:
“And make the most out of life
Now don't you take it for granted
Life is like a mean machine
It made a mess out of me”
~ “This is How a Heart Breaks” by Rob Thomas
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From: Mustang Learns the Truth
Chapter 13 “Babysitting”
by: Jachien
““So Ed, after all this babysitting, you ever going to have kids?”
Ed narrowed his eyes. “I don’t think so.”
Mustang was a bit surprised, “You mean you wouldn’t want your own darling Elisia?”
Hearing her name, the girl chimed in, possibly even thinking she was defending Ed. “Daddy said Ed can’t have children.” Ed’s face filled with terror, but he wasn’t fast enough to stop the girl. “His ut-er-us was broken when he got his arm back.” She turned to Ed, “It’s ok Ed. You can play with me anytime!”
Mustang’s triumph at figuring out the secret lasted only a millisecond before he was horrified by the reality of the situation.
Time stopped. Elisia, correctly assuming that adults were weird, went back to listening to her show. Uninterested in the events unfolding behind her.
Ed sat frozen. She’d locked her face into an indifferent frown. She refused to look at him. She didn’t want his sympathy, she didn’t want his pity, and she most definitely was not going to run away.
Mustang was gaping at her. No words coming to him. He had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation. Normally you could give hugs and condolences, but this was Ed and only an hour ago he’d been sure she was a boy.
The silence ticked by and though Mustang had recovered enough to stop staring at Ed and closed his mouth, he still had no idea what to say.”
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“Roy left the house deep in thought and it took about three blocks before he realised he had a shadow. He spun, ready to defend himself.
There was Ed. Waiting. Watching.
He dropped his guard. “Ed. I’m so sorry.”
She slugged him, left-handed, directly in the side of the head. Her strongest arm since her right was returned and he dropped like a stone. She put her boot on his throat and leaned in, “I don’t want your pity, so stay the fuck out of my personal life.” She stepped back and glared as he rolled to a sitting position and tried to settle his rattled brain and regain his breath. He still had no desire to fight.
“I’m sorry you don’t trust me enough to tell me the things you should be able to tell your superior officer.”
She snorted at him. “Superior my ass. Useless wet match.” She seemed less mad at least. Though that didn’t stop her from clapping and turning the earth around him into prison bars. “Eat shit jackass.””
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Those were her last words to him before she had been reassigned. There was no forewarning, no notification, and nobody on his team or in his department knew anything about it. One day she was his subordinate, the next, she wasn’t.
They put in inquiries. He briefly wondered if she had gone AWOL again but then dismissed the idea wholly, knowing that the first time she had done so, there was good reason. This time, he knew there wasn’t. All of the inquiries came back the same: the reassignment of one, Evelyn Elric, is a matter of the state.
The name change from Edward to Evelyn set alarms off in his head. If somebody had found out that he was a she and told someone in charge, how much trouble would Ed be in? Should he call her Ev instead of Ed now? Was this why she had been reassigned? Or did she ask for a reassignment because he found out her secret and decided she couldn’t work under him anymore?
Did she think he pitied her? Or worse, did she think he would make fun of her for something she probably had no control over losing?
That last one hurt to think about. Sure, he knew that he’d teased her a lot before he knew she was a woman, but never over something so serious. Did she really have so little faith in him?
That thought hurt too. He’d hoped that after all of these years working for him, she would have more than a little trust in him.
What he really didn’t understand was why he was so hyper-focused on something that had happened almost eight months ago. Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones. It made him restless and even harder for him to focus on his paperwork.
If Maes were in here, he’d say Roy’s ‘Ed-dar’ was going off.
The warning looks that Hawkeye sent him whenever she came to check on his paperwork said that she knew something was bothering him. He also knew the markswoman wouldn’t let him stew over it much longer. But damnit. Why couldn’t anyone else feel the weird tensions in the air?
What if Ed – Ev – Evelyn – whatever was thrown into the prison because they found out she was a woman? She did lie to the government as a whole. And that was punishable by death if the lie was big enough. Was her being a woman instead of a man a big enough lie?
It also made sense to not tell anyone that the Fullmetal Alchemist had been arrested. If that type of news got out, there would be riots in the street.
The Hero of the People in prison?
The people would storm the prison.
He needed to get more information.
Ignoring his paperwork, he reached for his phone to call Hughes but stopped just before lifting the receiver. He growled at it, willing the sudden ringing to stop. Couldn’t the universe see he was busy freaking out? When the annoying rings didn’t stop, he wrenched the handpiece out of its cradle and gritted, “Mustang.”
A childhood command in a voice that only called his direct line in cases of extreme emergency had the room narrowing in on itself and his vision tunneling.
“Royce. Come here.”
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He didn’t give explanations, just told them, “Let’s go,” as he walked out the door.
Hawkeye didn’t question, just grabbed her coat and followed. Falman, and Breda close behind.
Later, he was glad it was close enough to noon that he could pass it off as a team lunch meeting. But for now, he wasn’t thinking about what it might look like. All he cared about was the serious nature of the earlier phone call. Something was going on at the bar, and he needed to see if his aunt and sisters were okay.
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They entered from the back door as quietly and surreptitiously as they could and were greeted by one of Roy’s many sisters.
“Leandra, what?” he began when she practically tackled him in a hug. He pushed her back a bit, taking in her features. She was biting her bottom lip, her blue eyes darting from him to his team. Worried energy came off of her in waves.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded and immediately felt bad when she jumped. She was one of his gentler sisters. Madame Christmas had taken her in after finding her emaciated, bruised, and broken; her parents nowhere to be found. She didn’t handle harsh tones well.
Eyes wide, she nodded and said in a soft voice, “Follow me.”
She flashed a small smile at the others and led them up the back stairwell to the rooms above.
The old wooden walls with their paintings and the rug-lined floor gave him nostalgia. How many times had he and his sisters played hide and seek in these halls, or been sent to their rooms for back-talking Madame Christmas? It brought a small smile to his face despite his worry for them all. Although, seeing Leandra did alleviate some of that worry.
She took them to the last door on the left – what he knew to be his old bedroom. Though everything in the room had been updated over time, it still felt like coming home. This had been his own safe space for almost his entire childhood – even when his parents had been alive. His Aunt Chris had set this space aside just for him when he needed to get away.
However, the two little girls standing in the middle of the room looking up at his aunt and two of his sisters surrounding them had never been a part of this space.
“How’s it goin’, boss?” Havoc’s voice came from off to the side. He sat in a chair on its back two legs up against a wall. The ever-present cigarette in his mouth unlit. He looked haggard and worn. There were bags under his eyes, his hair messed from what looked like pulling his hands through it, and his clothes wrinkled and torn. Furey stood next to him, his arms crossed, looking just as haggard. There was an angry frown on his face as he glared at nothing.
Hearing Havoc’s voice, Hawkeye pushed between Mustang and Falman. “Jean,” she cried rushing to him. He gave a weary smile and put the chair down so he could stand to hug her. Roy ignored the sudden display of affection. They hadn’t seen each other in almost eight months.
Noticing his teammates for the first time, Furey gave a weary smile, “hullo,” he said with a slight wave.
When Roy’s two subordinates had been requested for a mission with the special intelligence squad, he hadn’t thought twice about allowing them to go. Jean had been wanting to do something new for a while. And while it did bother Riza, she also understood that her boyfriend wanted to experience other parts of the military. He had thought it odd that Furey had been requested, but the orders had come from the top, and he, Roy couldn’t deny that the experience would be good for the younger men. Now, however, after seeing them looking so worn out, the general wasn’t sure he had made the right decision.
“When’s mama comin’ back?” A small voice brought them back to the center of the room.
All eyes turned to the two girls. They couldn’t be more than maybe four and seven, and they looked up at him with amber-brown eyes when he moved closer. The older one had black hair just like his and the same haunted look he had seen in the mirror when he had witnessed and been a part of the Ishvalan Civil War. But there was also a fighting spirit there that wasn’t hard to miss as she shielded the younger of the two from the adults around them.
The younger child’s hair was ash blonde, but her features were similar enough to the older child that it was obvious they were siblings.
“What’s going on here?” Roy asked his two subordinates.
Furey sighed.
“Well -,” Havoc began.
“I wan’ mama,” the younger of the two said, though it was muffled in her sister’s shirt.
The older one wrapped an arm around her. It was an awkward position, but the protective gesture wasn’t lost on any of them. These children didn’t feel safe.
Furey pushed away from the wall and went to the girls. They shied away from him but seemed less apprehensive. Kneeling down so he was eye-level with them, he asked them gently, “You guys know she’s not really your mom, right?”
The older child looked close to tears but held his gaze, anger blazing in her eyes. “I don’t believe you! Uncle said she was our new mama! Tell her to come back! She was hurt too!”
Furey pinched the bridge of his nose and looked to the ceiling as if praying to some deity. Havoc sighed, breaking his hold on Riza and went to the whimpering girls as well.
“She’ll be okay,” he said, patting the older girl on the shoulder. “That woman has been in more scraps than any of us and gotten out of far narrower circumstances. She’s not as hurt as you think, Kiddo.”
He shared a look with Furey that was hard to read, but Mustang took to mean, ‘we hope.’
Who exactly was these kids’ mama?
The younger girl cried harder.
Roy looked around at everyone and noted the confusion. It seemed nobody knew what to do, and the extra adults made the girls even more nervous.
Why couldn’t they just call the mother back?
Reading the concern in her nephew’s eyes, Madame Christmas ushered everyone but Havoc, Furey, Hawkeye, and Mustang out, telling Leandra to go and make tea.
She then came and stood next to Roy who turned to Havoc, Furey, and the girls. Jean stood and rubbed his hand through his hair again. “Your uncle should’ve never told you that, kid.”
“Besides,” Furey added, “even she told you she wasn’t your mother. Quite explicitly. And,” he held a hand up to stop whatever the child was going to say, “she also said she would bring you to your father.”
The younger of the two whimpered.
Those words sent a tingling surge up Roy’s spine. Riza stiffened, and he was curious to note that his aunt didn’t even seem phased with the news, which meant that she had already known.
“Jean,” Hawkeye breathed.
“What?” Roy demanded.
Lieutenant Havoc turned a tired smile to them. “Major General Mustang,” he said formally, “let me introduce you to your daughter, Sadie Mustang and her younger sister, Samantha.”
The two girls whimpered.
Furey grumbled something about damn generals and pulling rank.
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There had been many curve balls thrown at Roy in his life but never had he expected to have been told that he was a father. How were they even certain he was the father? And what did Havoc mean by “and her younger sister?”
Actually, he knew what that meant. He just wasn’t processing things fully yet. He couldn’t help himself; he didn’t mean to say it in front of them, but the words were out before he really thought about them, “I don’t have any kids.”
Sadie’s face crumbled, but when Samantha buried her own face back into Sadie’s arm, he watched the older girl as she pulled her shoulders straight and firmed her mouth into a thin line. She said, “Mama promised to bring us to our father. She said Mr. Jean would make sure we knew who he was. Mama doesn’t lie.” Roy was certain that the girl probably would have stomped her foot if her younger sister wasn’t clinging so tightly to her.
She reminded him of Ed – Ev – Evelyn. Ugh! Truth! Whatever!
If her mother didn’t lie, then why did the child not believe the woman when she told them she wasn’t their mother?
I am not getting into semantics with a seven-year-old.
Furey pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes raised to the ceiling.
It was Madame Christmas who answered. “She’s your child, Roy,” she said with the same finality she would use when he was in trouble and sent to his room.
“But how are you certain?” Riza asked for him.
“The corporal tested before bringing them here,” Jean said.
“The corporal?” Roy asked. “The corporal general?”
“That’s the one.” Furey answered sardonically.
Roy had heard rumors about the corporal general position being filled. It was a coveted position. There was only ever one in the whole of the military, and the one holding it had the ear of the Fuhrer as they reported directly to him. There wasn’t a middleman.
The last time it was filled was before the Ishvalan war.
“Mmm. The new Corporal General,” Havoc confirmed. “She’s kind of a badass,” he said.
“More like a pain in the ass,” Furey mumbled.
Roy raised an eyebrow at the men as he took note of the pronoun that was used. The corporal general position had never been held by a woman; he filed that information away for later.
Riza raised an eyebrow and Havoc had the decency to look abashed. He shook his head and laughed a little, “Don’t worry, Babe,” he reassured her, “Nobody can take the place of my badass sniper.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her to him.
Furey gave a small laugh, showing some amusement for the first time. “Oh trust me, the corporal wouldn’t want to take your place anyway. She has her mind set on someone else.”
Roy raised an eyebrow at Furey’s statement and ignoring the twinge of jealousy at the affection – he wanted that for himself, though he refused yet to admit with whom he wanted it – he said through gritted teeth, “Exactly who is the new corporal general and how did she “test” for paternity without the father present?”
The levity was wiped away from Furey’s face, his lips forming a tight line.
“Yeah,” Havoc said with a shrug, “We’re not at liberty to say.”
“You’re not at liberty to tell me who to talk to about a paternity test that involves me?” Roy asked incredulous.
Havoc shrugged nonchalantly. “We had to sign confidentiality papers to go on this mission. One of those papers stated explicitly that we weren’t to divulge the nature of the assignment or any other names of those on the assignment with us, including the corporal general. The order came from the Fuhrer himself. But even if it didn’t, Corporal General is pretty freaking scary.” He shuddered at some memory, and Riza tightened her hold on him.
Roy pushed down the spikes of energy welling up inside of him. It wasn’t his subrodinates’ fault they couldn’t say what was going on, nor was it these girls’ faults for being pulled into this very odd situation.
He turned to his aunt who stated almost fondly, “I didn’t have to sign papers, but I’m not dumb enough to say anything that could bring that hellion back to my doorstep.”
Roy growled. But it was the broken look in Sadie’s eyes, that she so valiantly tried to hide that had him softening to the situation.
“So, what are you going to do Roy-Boy?” his aunt asked already knowing that her nephew’s soft heart would never deny these kids. Just look at what he had done for the Hero of the People and her brother.
He considered his options. He would like to believe that there had been some mistake. Not because he didn’t like kids, he just didn’t picture himself as a father. But there was no denying the older child was his; she looked too much like him. Plus, if they were telling the truth, and these people were those closest to him, then there was also a paternity test to prove his fatherhood. It was the younger of the two he could technically deny. But he knew already, deep down, he wouldn’t.
They were too close. Too protective. It was like looking at Ed and Al all over again the first time he met them.
What is with the universe throwing siblings with strong bonds at me?
As a last-ditch effort he said, “Are you certain the corporal isn’t somehow really their mother? Or at least related to them in some way?”
Havoc laughed so hard he almost fell over. “Oh, trust me, General. If you only knew how hilarious and wrong that is. “I think her eye twitched every time they called her ‘Mama.’ The poor corporal doesn’t even seem to like kids that much.”
“That’s not true!” Sadie yelled, tears shining in her eyes. “Mama sang to us every night and stayed with us when we had,” she stumbled to a stop, then said, “when we couldn’t sleep. And she made sure the bad men didn’t come for us again! And when they did, she got hurt getting us out!”
Roy could see Samantha nodding her head into her sister’s shirt, a wet spot forming where she was undoubtedly failing to stop crying.
And wasn’t it sad that two little girls had to hide their tears from a bunch of adults?
He took note of “the bad men” though. That was something that would need to be investigated later. They were probably out there looking for the girls right now. He really needed to speak with this corporal general.
Havoc stared wide-eyed at the outburst. “She did? Huh. Well, that’s news.” He shrugged at his commanding officer. “I knew about the getting away part, we were a part of that. I didn’t know about the rest of it.”
Roy sighed. “Fine. Home it is then.”
Samantha unburied her wet face from her sister’s shirt. “Do we get to see mama now?” she whispered.
Though some of the tension left her small frame, Sadie was still stiff when she answered, never taking her anger-filled eyes from Roy, “Not yet, Sammi.” When the younger sobbed again, the older of the two hugged her closer. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” she promised, daring him with her eyes to just try to stop them.
He shook his head. She couldn’t be more than seven and already so determined to break rules for someone she loved. This really was Ed all over again, except this time, he was actually, genuinely responsible for these kids.
He needed a drink. He wasn’t ready for this.
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After making sure that his team knew that absolutely no one could know about the girls, Roy dismissed them, told Havoc and Furey to take a week of leave, and sent Hawkeye home with the former. Then he spent the rest of the day with his aunt, Leandra, and his triplet sisters; Vanessa, Victoria, and Veronica.
Leandra, having the sweet nature she did, spent most of her time playing with the girls and trying to distract them from their missing ‘mama.’ For the most part, her games worked, at least with Sadie, but Samantha would randomly start crying and ask Leandra to sing to her.
His sister could do many things. Singing was not one of them, so she would hum a lullaby for them; however, it was quickly evident to everyone present that it was not what they wanted to hear as Samantha started crying harder.
Leandra was bewildered and turned hurt eyes to Roy who was just as lost. It seemed the older of the two at least had a better grasp at calming her sister than the rest of them. She stopped coloring and tugged her younger sister to her, hugging her and whispering. As Roy moved closer to the small group, he heard the girl singing a haunting melody he had only heard once before some years ago. It had stuck with him, not because of the lyrics, though they were profound in their own right, but because of who had been singing them and to whom the song had been sung.
* “'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe” *
At the time, he had thought it odd for Al to call Ed ‘girl,’ but brushed it off as part of the song. It wasn’t like he could ask him without making the situation awkward for all of them.
Still. He wondered where Sadie had heard the song. There was no way Al had been around to sing it for them. And Ed, well, aside from not knowing where she currently was, Roy was sure she didn’t sing any better than Leandra.
After a few more minutes, Sadie’s voice trailed off as her sister’s sobs reduced into sniffles. Roy went over and picked the small girl up and noting the late hour, decided it was time to take them home.
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Going home had been a task in and of itself. Both girls were of the mind that if they left, their mother wouldn’t know where to find them.
Madame Christmas had assured them otherwise, and Roy narrowed his eyes at her. She knew who this supposed mother was and was hiding the information from him. That was okay though. Because when he found out who she was, he was going to light her ass on fire.
He was grateful to Leandra and the triplets for helping him get them home. He wasn’t sure if he could’ve gotten them to do anything without their help. They lightened up a little bit when he started pointing out landmarks on the way, and they became really animated when he showed them where the library was.
He took that under consideration and figured he would give them a better tour of the city tomorrow along with a special trip to the library.
But now, Roy sat at the kitchen table, his face in his hands, thinking about some of the most mundane of things while Leandra got them settled into their room.
It was convenient that his sisters convinced him to get a larger home some months back. It was a good thing that he now had the space for girls plus a couple of extra bedrooms. He wasn’t sure where he would have put them if he were still in his one-bedroom apartment.
Wait.
Now that he really thought about it – did his sisters know he was going to need a larger place to live? Had they somehow been aware that he had a child out there? He lifted his face to look at Vanessa seated across from him watching him avidly. Her hands fidgeted in front of her, and when she saw him looking, her eyes darted to the table. Veronica and Victoria, the other two parts of the triplet group crowded around her, each with one hand on the chair she was sitting in.
He glared at the three mirror images.
“Tell me, “He commanded them.
Veronica scoffed.
“We’re not your soldiers,” Victoria said in that saccharine voice he hated. “You can’t make us tell you anything we don’t want to.”
Roy raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He knew when to be patient. Vanessa couldn’t hide anything from him. He wondered what they had threatened her with to keep her quiet this long. She hesitated for a few moments longer but then raised her eyes and told him about a letter Leandra had received from their prodigal sister, Isabella. The latter had informed that she had come across a woman claiming to have given birth to the fire alchemist’s children. She was using this as a way to get into sensitive places and pass along information to Drachma.
Isabella was skeptical at first, but after seeing the children, and knowing Roy as closely as she did, she had to believe that at least the older one was his. The younger of the two, she wasn’t so sure about, but there was no way she would allow the woman to continue using Roy’s name. So, she took steps to get both girls out.
She was glad that the military showed up when it did as she hadn’t been certain she would’ve been able to put her plan into place without the Corporal General’s help.
“So the corporal was there from the beginning?” Roy broke in.
“I don’t think so,” Veronica answered. “We think the corporal and her people showed up a few weeks later. But don’t really know the timeline.”
“You can always ask the corporal yourself,” Victoria added slyly, “that is, if you ever figure out who she is.”
Of all of his sisters, Victoria was the one that got under his skin the most. She knew that his not knowing who the corporal general was, was a stick in his craw. He glowered at her. “How ‘bout you just tell me who it is, and then I can save some precious time for other, more important matters?”
Vanessa shot a warning look at Victoria. “Sorry Roy,” she said softly. We really can’t tell you because we don’t know who it is either. Only Madame Christmas talked to her before she disappeared – “
“Out the window,” Victoria interrupted with an incredulous laugh.
“What?” He – was not expecting that.
“Yeah,” Veronica added, “I guess she heard us or something, and didn’t want to be seen, so she went through the upstairs window.”
“She, went out the second-story window?” He was just as incredulous as Victoria. The more he heard about the corporal general, the more he questioned Fuhrer Grumman’s choice of people for such a coveted position. Shouldn’t this person wear their rank with pride and confidence and not hide in the shadows? He knew many people who would be glad to tell the world that they had been promoted to such a position.
“Right,” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. At least they knew Isabella was okay. But there were still a lot of questions, and the only person who could answer them – apparently made dramatic exits through windows so they wouldn’t be seen.
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