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Blind to the Truth

Chapter 2: Denial

Notes:

Hello everyone who’s read this far! Thanks so much for your comments, I was really happy to see y’all enjoying this especially since I don’t have experience writing for these characters. XD

Sorry for the wait, here’s chapter 2!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It was late afternoon in East City, and Colonel Roy Mustang could feel himself growing more restless by the second. For how important he found his ultimate goal of becoming the Fuhrer of Amestris and how instrumental working through the ranks of the military was to accomplish that goal, he sometimes wished his ambitions didn't require him to go through so much paperwork. On slower days, he'd resort to folding the damned documents into airplanes and passing an hour or two stuck at his desk by throwing them into his trash bin. 

That was, whenever his Lieutenant didn't catch him in the act.

And unfortunately for Roy, Riza had seen him doing just that about an hour ago and advised against it. She reminded the Colonel of his priorities and how he must go through even the most mundane tasks should he wish to make progress. 

While Roy often appreciated the Lieutenant looking out for his wellbeing, he wasn't sure just how much he could agree with her on the importance of paperwork. Hours of sifting through monotonous, drawn-out forms and mindlessly scrawling his signature on each one that required it couldn't be doing any favors for his mental wellbeing. 

He'd even half considered ignoring Riza's advice altogether. At least for today. But it seemed she'd predicted this plan and, for the next hour, proceeded to check in on Roy at random times. It wasn't explicitly clear this was what she was doing; she mostly came in with a question of some sort unrelated to Roy's papers to disguise her reasoning for coming to his desk. These unnecessary questions, of course, did not prevent Roy from inferring her true intentions.

And so here he found himself, twenty minutes from the freedom promised by the end of a workday still drowned in the draining depths of paperwork. 

That was until the perfect chance to get away came waltzing through his office door with an effervescent ear-to-ear grin, a spring in his step, and a cheerful booming greeting that filled the entire room.

"Roy! How you doing today, buddy!?" Maes Hughes. He and Roy made plans when they learned Hughes could get off early by the end of the workweek and catch a train to East City. With Hughes coming all the way from Central to grab a few drinks with his friend tonight to wrap up what had been a long week for the both of them. Usually, Roy would come up to Central, and the two would visit his aunt's bar, but Roy's schedule had been a bit tighter this week. 

Mainly in part because he kept putting off paperwork. 

 But for now, Hughes' arrival was also Roy's ticket out of here, for which he was most grateful. He was pretty sure if he had to sign his name on one more paper that day, he'd just as soon set it on fire.

Roy smiled as his friend traversed the room to his desk and pushed aside his work to stand up and meet him.

"Hughes. Good to see you." He returned the greeting given to him, albeit more formal than his outgoing friend had been. Not that Hughes minded this. Roy had always been less expressive than him.

Then again, it wasn't hard to be. 

"You just about ready to go?" Hughes asked, looking down at the stack of remaining papers he was fully aware Roy had no intention of going through. "I know you had a lot of work this slated for this week."

"Actually, I'm just about finished." Roy lied, eagerly taking the excuse to blow off the rest of his work. He moved away from his desk to grab his coat. "And a good thing too. No doubt I'm lined up for a half hour's worth of gushing about your wife and daughter before the night can even  really  get started." 

"Finally accepted how nice family life sounds, huh?" Hughes remarked with an insinuating glint in his eyes. "Does this mean I should expect you to be looking for a future Mrs. Mustang pretty soon?" Roy gave a hearty chuckle at that.

"Hardly. I simply prefer your rambling over spending any more time here." He answered, pulling his arms through the coat sleeves and joining Hughes at his door so they could depart.

"Eh, I'll get through to ya' one of these days, Roy," Hughes said with a determined smirk and shrug of his shoulders. Roy rolled his eyes fondly, knowing he was in for another one of Hughe's regular speeches about married life and how settling down could do him some good. But as he stated before, listening to his friend lecture him beat sitting around signing papers. "I'm telling you the minute you come to your senses and get yourself a wife; it'll be the greatest joy you've ever-"

"Colonel Mustang." A stern female voice broke into their conversation, and the two men turned to face Riza Hawkeye, who was currently giving her superior a strict look. Hughes had to resist the urge to comment on the Lieutenant's impeccable timing. 

"Lieutenant Hawkeye." Roy returned, not breaking with formalities while he was still technically on the clock. "I'll be heading out with Lieutenant Colonel Hughes for the evening." He considered making up some excuse about important business to discuss but knew Riza would see through this immediately. She more than likely already knew Roy was leaving behind unfinished work to hang out with his friend.

"I see, sir." She replied coolly. "I'll see to it your finished documents are sent out before the night is up. We wouldn't want them sitting on your desk all weekend..." Roy cursed under his breath. He could never pull the wool over Hawkeye.

"Actually, Lieutenant, best leave them," Roy said with a noncommittal wave of his hand, passing her as Hughes stifled his snickering at his friend's predicament. "I'd like to go over a few of the more sensitive documents on Monday before sending them out." Roy knew he was just postponing another inevitably slow workday but preferred this option over staying late and finishing the papers tonight.

It seemed Riza understood this sentiment. 

"Very well, sir. Have a good night." She said with an exasperated yet understanding smile, dropping the subject for now, much to Roy's relief. He appreciated her pushing him toward his goals and being his supporter; he appreciated when she'd let him off easy from time to time even more.

With the rest of his night free, Roy returned Riza's smile thankfully.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You have a good night as well." It was a simple exchange, not one the pair of military officers were unaccustomed to, but a nice one all the same. 

Of course, that simple nice feeling dissipated when Roy realized Hughes would undoubtedly take his and Riza's interaction and run wild with it. He'd encouraged Roy to pursue the Lieutenant before after all. 

"C'mon, Hughes, let's get moving before-" Roy would've said something along the lines of 'before something else interferes with me leaving,' but it would just so happen such an occurrence would cut him off. 

The dreadful ringing of his office phone reached his ears, and Roy's irritation skyrocketed.

"Don't you think you better get that?" Hughes suggested, and Roy suppressed a growl.

"One moment..." He promised, and he was almost sure he meant it. Whoever had the nerve to call him this late in the day better not have much to say. 

Roy practically stomped back into his office and answered the phone.

"What?" He said, rather impatiently. However, the operator didn't seem to take notice of the Colonel's bad mood.

"There's an Alphonse Elric waiting on hold for you, sir." The voice on the other line said, taking Roy by surprise. Alphonse? The younger Elric brother never called. It was always Fullmetal that ever had much of a reason to.

But Roy was aware Alphonse knew how to reach him. In case of an emergency...

"Put him through," Roy instructed as soon as he realized something must've happened. Had Edward gotten hurt somehow? He never really called Roy if he could help it, even when he was injured. But perhaps Alphonse felt Edward's condition was severe enough to warrant it.

That still didn't seem right, but Roy was sure Alphonse would fill him in on the details.

"God, Fullmetal, what'd you get yourself into this time?"

"Colonel Mustang?" Roy heard the armored boy's tinny voice come through the phone. He sounded distressed.

"Alphonse, why are you calling me? Is your brother alright?" Roy questioned, cutting straight to the point. Of all the nights for his youngest subordinate to land himself into trouble...

"I don't know. I haven't seen Brother since this morning." Alphonse replied worriedly. 

"What?" Roy said, not sure he'd heard correctly. He talked to Edward on the phone this morning, and now he was missing? What could've possibly happened in a few hours? "Alphonse, tell me exactly what happened."

"We were at the train station. Brother had just gotten off the phone with you. Then he said he wanted to take a walk and went back into town."

"Why weren't you with him?" Roy asked, his urgency rising. He was surprised to hear Alphonse hadn't been at his brother's side as he typically was. While Roy knew Edward could defend himself, even the most capable fighters were safer when they had someone watching their back.

"Brother said he wanted to be alone," Alphonse said with some small amount of dismay. "But even after the train had already come and left, he still didn't come back. I went into town to look for him. I thought he might just be upset somewhere and wanted to be by himself. But I looked for hours and couldn't find him anywhere." 

Roy could understand why Alphonse had thought Edward just wanted to be alone. The boys had just witnessed a brutal murder, and Edward had never handled such incidents well, not that he should have to at such a young age despite choosing to put himself through the military. Enlisting had only increased the amount of death he'd seen in his fifteen years. But it was always enough to make him panic before closing off.

Roy would be lying if he said he hadn't detected some of that when he spoke with Edward on the phone. It's why he'd thought to give him some more time to turn in his next report. Roy knew what it was like to witness the horrors of stolen life. That couldn't be easy on someone so young...

But even if Edward had shut down as he did in these situations, he wouldn't have stayed away from Alphonse for so long. The brothers relied on each other too much for that. He would've ultimately thought of his younger brother and came back.

So what happened to prevent his return to the train station?

Roy thought about the events as Alphonse had described them. State Alchemist goes missing not too long after busting a serial killer...

Roy had a hunch, and it wasn't good.

"It's possible the killer you and your brother caught wasn't working alone." Roy proposed grimly, hoping that this suspicion was wrong. Because if he was right, it wasn't looking good for Edward. "And if Abernathy wanted revenge-"

"You think he knew someone that could've hurt brother?" 

"I'm not sure, but in any case, this warrants investigation." Roy determined. "I'll be in Hollowstone tomorrow morning. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Roy hoped, perhaps in vain, Edward wasn't in danger but reasoned quickly that his youngest subordinate wouldn't have disappeared if he wasn't. No doubt about it, Edward Elric had gotten himself mixed up into something bad.

And Roy wasn't about to let that happen. If anyone harmed Edward, they were going to pay.

"I hope brother's okay..." Alphonse worried out loud, his voice down and melancholy. Roy sighed...

Me too, Alphonse. 

"We'll find him. Make sure to notify the local MP's. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Roy said instead of what he'd just thought. He and Alphonse exchanged final, solemn goodbyes before he hung up the phone with the weight of the situation resting heavily on his mind and shoulders. 

Hughes could see Roy had become visibly stressed by the end of that call and could understand why. He'd only heard Roy's end of the conversation but gathered most of the needed details from that alone.

It made sense to Hughes that Roy would be anxious to know what had happened to Edward. It was apparent he cared about the kid, even if he wouldn't always admit it.

But within seconds, Hughes could see the flame Colonel's hands clench into fists, and his shoulders hitch up in resolution. A protective fire was burning in his eyes.

Roy was going to find Edward and make sure whoever had messed with the young alchemist suffered.

Hughes had a feeling their plans for the weekend would be postponed indefinitely. He couldn't say he mourned the loss so much when Roy had such an emergency come up. 

After all, Roy would've understood if Hughes were worried about Elicia. And this wasn't too different from that at all.

"I take it you'll be making arrangements for tomorrow?" Hughes said with an understanding grin. Roy released a deep sigh.

"Something's come up," He said as if he didn't know Hughes pieced together the chain of events from what he'd heard of the phone call. "Fullmetal went missing in Hollowstone after bringing in some child killer. If one of my subordinates is in trouble, I have to look into it...."

Roy trailed off. Hughes knew there were unspoken worries for Edward's safety Roy was holding back for the sake of professionalism.

He'd kill himself trying to keep up his stoic facade to the bitter end even if people like Hughes were able to see through the cracks for the genuine, messy, more caring than he'll let on, Roy Mustang. 

...And yet there was another side to Roy Hughes could see in his friend. The one that had rightly earned him the title of 'Flame Alchemist.'

A dangerous spark in his eyes that promised pain for whoever crossed him or anyone he cared about.

Hughes realized how readily Roy would defend the people he valued most. He also recognized that both himself and Riza were among those Roy would kill for.

But so was Edward. 

Which meant if this went unchecked, Roy, blinded by his own emotion and fear for his subordinate, could lead to a costly loss of control. 

He could use someone there to keep him in check. Hughes knew Riza could do this well but figured some extra support wouldn't be doing any harm. Besides, he was worried for young Edward's safety as well. He'd always felt the boy was endangered too much at his age by the military. And look what came of that...

"So, we leave tomorrow?" Hughes offered, hopefully helping ease Roy's nerves by doing so. The Colonel turned around, confusion written across his features.

"We? Hughes, you really don't have-"

"No, it's no trouble." Hughes insisted, joining his friend's side and laying a reassuring hand on his tense shoulder. "It sounds like Ed needs some help, and I'd like to do what I can to help him."

Roy still seemed unsure of Hughes committing to this case.

"But won't Gracia be expecting you tomorrow morni-"

"I'll call her tonight and explain the situation. She'll understand."

There was a silence between the pair of friends for a few moments. Roy was not positive he could pull Hughes into such matters that needn't be personal for him, and Hughes was insistent on being there for Roy and helping Edward in any way he could.

And after thinking about it more, Roy appreciated the help. Having an investigator's eyes on the case would hopefully expedite the search for the missing alchemist.

Hughes always had a way of understanding how important something could be to him.

"Thank you, Maes."

"Don't mention it, Roy. Let's go find your kid."

...Of course, Hughes ruined the moment. Roy was quick to answer Hughes' insinuation with shouting.

"What the hell? Hughes, Fullmetal's not my-! He's my subordinate, and I'm just looking out for my team!"

"We're bringing Hawkeye too, right? We should ask her what she thinks."

"Drop it, Hughes!"

------------------------------------------------

Pain...

The first feeling that came to Edward as he began to slowly drift back into consciousness. 

Just a constant, throbbing pain that started in the back of his head and spread to the rest of it, giving him the most splitting headache he'd ever had the misfortune to experience.

Damn... What happened?

The circumstances that'd landed him here, eyes closed and the anguished aching of his head, were muddled together and clouded in some indecipherable memories he hadn't unlocked yet.

Wake up... Get up... Run...

That was it, wasn't it? He'd been in some form of danger before landing here... But what was it? Was that why his head was hurting now?

As more of Edward's senses were dragged awake with his mind, he sluggishly tried to piece together his current situation. Despite his primal instincts wanting to shoot him full of adrenaline and get him on his feet. The rest of his body simply could not oblige. 

While his eyelids still felt too heavy to open, Edward relied on other means of assessing his surroundings. 

He was lying down on something soft. 

Maybe he'd gotten hurt and was now in the hospital?

No, he would've already smelled the antiseptic and felt the cold draft that always seemed to be running through those places.

Speaking of which, this place was warm. Edward somehow found it wrong to call this place comfortable but still didn't know why.

There was more... He could hear humming. A soft feminine tone that hummed a classic Amestrian lullaby Edward hadn't heard in years... Gentle hands were stroking through his bangs with an almost familiar touch.

In fact, the whole thing seemed rather familiar when he half-remembered some far-off memory from a happier time—the feeling of his mother lulling him to sleep and stroking his head whenever he fell ill.

In his pained, still foggy state of mind, Edward could've sworn he'd been sent back there.

"...Mom-" He could hear himself murmur, still mostly asleep and lost in uncertain thought.

... That wasn't right .

Mom was dead. She had been for almost ten years now. There was no way whatever this was touching him was his mother.

This was  wrong.

And now, all Edward could focus on was trying to force himself to be fully awake and alert because nothing about this situation felt right anymore. Even in his confused state he knew that for sure.

He could hear the voice that'd been humming moments ago give a small, pleased laugh.

Get away...

"It's alright, Will. I'm here." 

Will.

Will was dead too. Edward had felt guilty about it. And then he went to-

... Sarai. She'd knocked him out.

That was just the final piece Edward needed to connect his obscured thoughts and force his eyes wide open. His brain finally got the reason to start him up with adrenaline, making his heartbeat rapidly within mere moments. 

Edward shot up to a sitting position from where he'd been lying, nearly convinced he'd be immediately ready to get himself up and out of danger as fast as possible.

Of course, that plan turned out to be short-lived, as Edward was still injured from having a wine bottle smashed against the back of his head. The consequence for having moved so quickly turned out to be a blinding dose of pain, causing Edward to cry out and move to hold his head in his hand-

...His right arm didn't move. His automail wasn't  there.  Instead of moving, Edward felt the multiple shooting pains of having the command to move end at nerves now not connected to anything. Edward hissed to prevent a small cry. That wouldn't have happened if his arm was correctly removed. It must've been smashed to hell.

And hell was precisely what Winry was going to give him if she saw the damage.

Speaking of damage-

He looked down where his arm would be, only to be disappointed to see he couldn't assess the extent of how badly Sarai had wrecked it. His port and whatever remained was hidden underneath a soft blue nightshirt sleeve, pinned up at his shoulder. He could feel that his trousers were of the same material, and his boots were gone. He also felt his leg was hidden under a thick blanket.

...Since when had he changed?

It was just one startling realization after another, wasn't it?

He felt his right shoulder being touched and jerked away on instinct, turning to face Sarai Kelly. She was sitting in a chair next to the bed, where it appeared Edward was currently sitting. The room was dimly lit, illuminated barely by a lamp on a bedside table next to Sarai. 

Was it night already? Or was it the next day? Just how long had he been out?

The woman seemed confused by Edward's abrupt, panicked behavior and his angered expression. She looked at him bewilderedly.

Something in her eyes seemed off, unhinged in some way.

"Sweetheart, it's okay. It's only me-" She spoke in a way that was meant to be comforting, but it only served to heighten Edward's panic. She reached for him again, and Edward still would not allow her to touch him. He jerked away a second time, and just like before, the sudden movement caused his head to flare up with pain.

Though for how mad he was, Edward couldn't care less.

"Where the hell am I!?" He demanded, furious that Sarai had knocked him out and brought him to some unfamiliar room but also unsure  why  she'd done such a thing. "Where's my brother!?" 

"Brother?" Sarai asked incredulously. She looked at Edward pitifully and reached for him  again.  "Oh, Will, you must've hit your head harder than I thought. Baby, you never had a-"

"Don't touch me!"

Edward had half a mind to slap her hand away. But he'd instinctively tried to do so with his right hand, which he'd almost forgotten was now missing. Edward received another shot of pain from the split nerve endings. He grit his teeth which turned to practically snarling in Sarai's direction when she tried to cup his cheek in her hand.

She flinched back for a moment.

"Will... I understand you're not feeling well, but that is no way to talk to your mother."

... Mother!?

And she'd been calling him Will this whole time. Did she  really  think he was-

"What?"  Edward said in stunned disbelief. He barely had words. How could she be so blinded by her grief to delude herself into thinking Edward was her dead son? 

Doing anything she could think of to bring him back...

Sarai stared at him for a moment more, perhaps waiting for another rage-filled outburst Edward could not process going through with right now. When it didn't come, she gave him a pout, brushing some of Edward's messy, overhanging bangs out of his eyes. Edward was still too shocked from the realization of what was happening to him sinking in.

"I'll get you some water," Sarai said, moving to stand up. "It'll help your head."

Edward's eyes followed Sarai as she moved across the room, his vision adjusting to see mostly through the dimly lit space. From what he could see, he and Sarai were in a standard bedroom. The bed Edward was in at the center of the room with a dresser across from it. There, it appeared, Sarai was pouring some water into a glass from a pitcher.

Edward tore his gaze from observing her and looked more around the room. The door was on his right side of the room. Along with that, the chair Sarai had been sitting in earlier pulled right up next to the bed. A window was on his left.

Edward recalled seeing a window of the same size above the tavern when he came in. He must be in the living quarters above the establishment. At least she hadn't taken him too far.

He could see some moonlight coming into the room, but it wasn't much. The curtains were drawn, preventing any view of the outside world...

Or rather, Edward thought more, preventing the outside world from any view of him.

Upon looking at the two old, wooden nightstands on either side of the bed, Edward came to yet another harrowing realization.

While the stand on his right held up the lamp, the nightstand on his right had a few books stacked upon it. When Edward read the worn titles on the cracked spines, he could recognize the titles of old adventure classics. Along with a small, well-loved stuffed dog with a missing button eye.

The books, the toy, it added up to this being a child's bedroom.

Will's bedroom.

God, this felt all sorts of wrong- Edward could practically feel the chills traveling from up his spine to all across his body. 

He was being called by a dead child's name, brought into their room. The nightclothes he was wearing probably once belonged to Will too.

Speaking of that, he hadn't seen the full extent of the damage Sarai did to his automail yet. 

Sarai didn't look like she'd be too hard to fight off, but thanks to her, Edward still had his head injury and was now missing his prosthetic arm. He'd at least like to know how badly she'd screwed it up.

"You better not have messed up my arm too badly." He said irritably. "Otherwise, my mechanic's gonna give you hell."

He only half-listened to Sarai dismiss what she considered another unusual statement and telling him she couldn't have messed up his arm. He supposedly lost that during Ishval.

God, he couldn't wait to be out of here. This was just too weird.

Edward moved his left hand over to his right shoulder, where his sleeve was pinned up... Or at least he tried.

Right before he could reach there, something held his arm back and resisted the action. Edward looked at his flesh wrist to see a thick rope tightly tied around it, restricting his movement. He continued to tug at it for a few moments, hoping it would come loose or something. It did not.

"Damn it..." Edward mumbled to himself as he looked for where the other end of the rope was tied. The restraint made it so he couldn't reach any further than about two feet from the edge of the bed. He could hear Sarai talking some more and her footsteps coming closer as he continued furiously struggling and trying to find where the rope was tied off.

"Oh sweetheart, you know I'd never want to do something like this..." She calmly explained, much to Edward's annoyance. She acted as if it was entirely casual to knock him out, take his arm and then tie him up in his sleep. "But after last night, I had no choice. I got so worried, and I just couldn't have you running off again."

Edward was trying to keep himself from becoming frantic. No matter how messed up this all felt, he couldn't lose his head. He traced where the rope from his wrist ended and saw it go off the edge of the bed and underneath it. From that, he deduced it must be tied off underneath the bed to the frame. 

He tried to move closer to the edge to inspect it but found himself unexpectedly stopped by another tie on his right ankle he hadn't known about. It must have been tied in the same fashion as his wrist but on the other side of the bed from how it held him back.

Great. Just great.

Upon testing the bond around his flesh ankle, he was disappointed to discover it was just as tight as the one on his wrist. He also found that when he tried to move his automail leg, Edward was met with the same pains that came from cut-off nerves that he'd felt earlier from his shoulder port.

She'd taken his leg too.

Goddamnit, she'd cut down his means for self-defense considerably. He could feel his dread and anxiety rising.

Don't panic, don't-

"Here." Edward could hear Sarai's voice on his right side again and looked up toward her. She was back in her chair, her detached stare trained back on him as she held out a glass of water. "Drink this, Will. It'll help-"

"You want to help me!? Then let me go, you crazy bitch!" Edward shouted in fiery indignation, pulling more at the rope binding his wrist. "Don't you see how sick this is!? I'm not your son!"

"How could you say that!?" Sarai exclaimed, seeming offended by Edward's words. She set down the glass of water on the nightstand hard enough to make the water ripple. "I'm sorry I have to keep you from running off anymore, but I am your  mother-"

"You're  not  my mother!" Edward refuted, stalling in his struggling to shoot her the fiercest glare he could muster. "My mother's dead! And so is your son!"

"No-"

"Listen to me! You're just upset because you lost Will!" Edward was so wrapped up in trying to get through to her. But because of this, he couldn't see the dangerous flicker in her eye that became more apparent the more he shouted. "But kidnapping me and tricking yourself into thinking I'm him won't change the fact that he's dead! I'm sorry! I tried everything I could, but Will is dea-!

"NO!"

Edward hadn't expected to be so roughly grabbed by his shoulders, shaking his entire body and rattling his head injury. He only just recovered from the sudden movement to his head when he looked up to see Sarai's wide green eyes staring furiously into his. Edward felt his heart stop when he saw it, the somehow far-off and demented look to her but still trained and focused on him alone. To look straight into his eyes and not see him for what he was...

She looked absolutely insane.

"No! Listen to me, Will! I refuse to ever let you go again!" With every word, Sarai's grip on Edward's shoulders tightened. He could eventually feel her hands dig in so hard it was enough to bruise. "I know you're upset and not feeling well- But for the love of God, don't say things like that! I can't- I- I won't-  I won't lose you again! Not again, okay!? I won't lose you!"

Edward couldn't move. Aside from her painful grip on his shoulders, he was chilled to the bone by her unstable stare. It was becoming clear to him now just how lost in her grief-induced madness she was. How desperate it made her...

He stopped to think logically for a second. This woman had already knocked him out and injured his head, smashed his automail limbs, and had just violently grabbed and shaken him.

If he continued to push her over the edge, it was unpredictable how far she would lose control and hurt him. And as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't in much of a position to fight her off if that happened...

He also hated to admit just how much the thought of being that helpless scared him.

Edward knew he wasn't down for the count yet, but until he could find a way to escape, he'd have to tread carefully. There was no sense in risking Sarai losing it even further than she already had. 

Fortunately, it seemed, once Edward had stopped fighting her, Sarai's eyes calmed down slightly. They still held the potential to return to the blazing, demented state Edward had seen before, but for now, at least, they were calm.

"Oh..." She looked into Edward's eyes, which he realized were still wide in shock. "Oh Will I- I didn't mean to frighten you- I'm so sorry, baby-"

Edward wished he could've stopped it before Sarai moved in and pulled him into an unwelcome embrace, holding her arms tightly around him. A very brief attempt to pull away only resulted in her holding him tighter. 

Edward had hated how fast Sarai could go from one emotion to another before, and now it was just scaring him.

He felt his insides coil and his face contort in aversion. This entire thing was highly uncomfortable. He already wasn't big on anyone touching him, especially hugs from anyone except occasionally Alphonse or Winry. The only other person he'd ever been okay with hugging him was...

His mother.

...That's it. He hated this. Edward wasn't a stranger to being kidnapped. A couple of times before, he had been by inexperienced criminals who thought they could get something out of taking a state alchemist. But even if he hadn't easily escaped those instances, this was still somehow a thousand times worse.

He had to get out of here.

Edward inwardly cringed when he felt Sarai's hand move to the back of his head and winced when it flared up his injury. She stroked his hair in what Edward supposed was meant to be a comforting gesture. It had the exact opposite effect.

He felt her hand stop once it met his braid. Once it had, Sarai, after what felt like forever, released him from the unwanted physical contact. She withdrew to look at Edward quizzically. He noticed her gaze fixated on his hair.

"W-What-?" 

Before he could ask about her perplexed expression, Sarai once again reached her hand out toward Edward's hair, bringing his braid over his shoulder, still looking at it strangely. Edward himself was pretty confused by her action.

Sarai's hands got to eagerly undoing the braid. 

"Hey, what do you think you're-?" Before Edward could finish his protest, Sarai hurriedly mumbled something.

"You always wear your hair down..." 

Edward rolled his eyes but bit his tongue. Maybe if he were Will, that would be true, but he wasn't-

But he'd already discovered saying anything about that just made her angry. 

Pick your battles, Fullmetal.

God, his inner voice was starting to sound like Mustang-

Once Edward's braid had been completely undone, Sarai moved to adjust the strands to fall loosely over his shoulders. With that accomplished, Sarai smiled again.

Edward knew what she'd done. It was a minor alteration, but she'd wanted him to resemble Will more closely. 

No matter how much Edward felt he'd settled his nerves about his plight, the further Sarai dug herself into this sick charade only served to unsettle him more. 

"Oh, Will," Sarai said endearingly. She cupped Edward's cheek in her hand to better see his face. This time he resisted the urge to jerk away. Getting panicked or angry only brought out an unbalanced, maddened reaction from her.

He didn't want to tip an already unstable person over the edge. He breathed and tried to reason with her calmly.

"Mrs. Kelly-" Edward's reasoning didn't have much of a chance to go anywhere before Sarai interrupted him.

"No, sweetheart, you know that's not right." She said, laughing at it as if Edward's way of addressing her had been a joke. He frowned at that. She moved her hand from his face to take Edward's left hand into hers. Sarai holding it pulled enough at the rope to strain it, the tight loop around his wrist biting into his skin. The fact that Edward had fought and struggled against it earlier had already started to rub the skin raw.

"Geez, Mrs. Kelly, you're hurting me-"

"Will, it's Mom." Sarai corrected, still mainly seeming amused. But she'd squeezed Edward's hand firmly as she said it. "Call me, Mom."

...The blood that had run cold before was starting to boil again. 

There were a lot of things Edward was prepared to do to protect his own safety. But there were perhaps more things he'd be stubborn on despite any threat.

And there was no way in hell Edward would  ever  betray his mother's memory and call anyone else by that title. Especially someone who'd kidnapped him to replace her deceased son.

She'd never scare him that badly.

"I can't do that." Edward persisted, looking at Sarai calmly but gravely, hoping to make her realize the seriousness of what was happening. "It's like I was trying to tell you before I'm not Wil-"

"Stop it!" She seized up for a second time; her grip on Edward's hand turned into practically crushing it, drawing a stifled cry from the alchemist. 

Seriously, not even being calm had worked!? How was Edward supposed to win in this situation!?

He stopped himself from snapping, not wanting to make his precarious situation any worse. Fortunately, Sarai cooled down from this outburst faster than she had from the first one. Perhaps it was because Edward hadn't gone as far this time.

Still, if her grip on his hand was any indication, he'd pushed far enough.

Sarai looked down at her hand and then up at Edward's glaring expression. She sighed disappointingly and released him. 

Edward wished he had his automail hand about now just to hold the other one. He swore he thought Sarai was going to break his flesh hand too.

"You're just tired. That's all it has to be..." Sarai said, more to herself than Edward, trying to justify why her illusion wasn't acting as her son would. She stood up, swaying slightly on her feet like her body was becoming just as unsteady as her mind. "You just need rest. You'll be better in the morning..."

Edward's immediate instincts were to tell her not to leave him here like this. He didn't want to stick around for another second. He had to get through to her.

"Wait, Mrs. Kelly-"

She cut him off with a light kiss on his forehead. Edward's face coiled in disgust, and he ran his hand over where she'd planted it, despite how much that tugged at the restraint on his wrist.

"Goodnight, Will," Sarai said, a sad hint to her tone. She turned off the lamp, leaving the room only to be lit by the few small slivers of moonlight coming in through the drawn curtains. "Don't worry. I'll have you feeling like yourself in no time."

"Like hell, you will," Edward muttered bitterly, unable to hold himself back for that one. He was only able to keep his frustration in check for so long. 

Luckily it seemed Sarai hadn't heard him. And she left the room without another word, closing the door behind her.

As if it wasn't enough that Edward was tied down with his limbs removed. But a few seconds after he heard the door close, he also listened to the clicking of a lock.

Great. Just perfect.

"Damn it!" He swore loudly, at this point not caring who heard him, and he took to trying to loosen the rope around his wrist again. His attempts this time around were more wild and desperate. 

Edward couldn't let this go on. He had to get back to Alphonse and continue their journey. He couldn't allow himself to get any more hurt by some madwoman...

He couldn't let Sarai keep him here to replace Will...

It seemed wrong to betray his own mother's memory. To even unwillingly participate in betraying the memory of Will seemed just as wrong...

------------------------------------------------

It wasn't hard for Roy to get Riza onboard with the plan once he and Hughes caught up to her. She'd barely heard any of the details other than Edward was missing and needed their help before she readily agreed. And so the arrangements were made to travel to Hollowstone as soon as possible.

There all three of them arrived at the train station the following day. Roy yawned and stretched out his arms as he stepped off the train and onto the platform. God, he was tired.

"I told you to sleep on the train," Hughes said chidingly with a slight smile. "You barely slept last night as it is."

Roy shrugged haplessly in response. For some reason, he hadn't been able to sleep either last night or on the train here. His mind had been too restless no matter how many times he tried to tear his thoughts away from the circumstances.

"The Lieutenant Colonel is right, sir." Riza was quick to chime in. Roy wasn't surprised. His wellbeing had always been more of a concern for her rather than Roy himself. 

"What can I say? He never listens to me." Hughes jokingly returned.

"As grateful as I am for both of your concerns, we're not here to discuss how much sleep I get." Roy addressed the two officers, hopefully refocusing them on the task at hand. 

Finding Edward was his priority right now. If he lost sleep over it, so be it.

"Colonel Mustang!" Thankfully Hughes and Riza didn't get another opportunity to scold Roy about his sleeping habits before a familiar hulking suit of armor began making their way toward the trio. 

"Hey, Alphonse!" Hughes said with a smile and a wave. His presence came as a surprise to Alphonse, but it seemed his company was still welcomed.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!" He said as they approached. "I figured Lieutenant Hawkeye would be with Colonel Mustang, but it's nice to see you here too."

Roy couldn't help but smile a little despite the circumstances leading to them meeting up. Alphonse, as always, was polite and pleasant upon seeing them. 

Still, Roy could hear the sense of urgency in Alphonse's tone that he'd had on the phone last night. 

"Hughes is here to help us find your brother," Roy explained.

"Happy to be of service," Hughes commented cheerfully with a slight grin.  

"Thank all of you for helping," Alphonse said gratefully as they walked toward the edge of the train station and away from any civilians still boarding or getting off. Alphonse seemed more downcast now that greetings were over and he'd been brought back to why they were all here. "I just hope we can find brother before anything too bad happens."

"If what you were saying on the train is correct, sir," Riza began calmly, and she looked at Roy. He'd filled in her and Hughes on all of the details on the way here to make up for the incomplete explanations he'd given last night. "And if this Samson Abernathy Edward and Alphonse caught two days ago had an ally on the outside, I suggest we begin our investigation at the MP station. They'll have the criminal in custody, and we may be able to extract information on if Abernathy had any hand in this."

Roy could always count on Hawkeye to be straight to business. And he immensely appreciated it in this case.

"Good plan." He confirmed. "We'll interrogate Abernathy and see what he knows."

It certainly seemed like a solid plan, that was if Hughes hadn't thought of one crucial detail. 

"Hate to put a damper on this, Roy, but I'm not sure we have the proper jurisdiction just to waltz in and interrogate him when the MP's have more than likely already run their own-"

"I doubt the MP's will refuse us once we explain the situation." Roy dismissed quickly, unconcerned with Hughes' point. 

Hughes could infer from this that Roy would probably pull rank on the Military Police and demand they allow him to interrogate Abernathy. Roy was nothing if not stubborn about what he wanted.

"Right," Hughes said with a sigh. He'd expected Roy not to waste time doing whatever it took to find Edward. At least demanding his way into an interrogation session was nothing too far yet. 

So the group began to set off toward the MP's station, led by Alphonse, who'd been there earlier to report Edward's disappearance. One good thing about small towns was how easy it was to get from place to place. So at least it wouldn't be long until, hopefully, Roy could start getting some answers. 

It was how he planned to get those answers Hughes was wary of keeping an eye out for.

"Colonel Mustang..." Alphonse started quietly as they walked. His voice wavered ever so slightly. "Do you think- Maybe- Do you think whoever might be working with Samson Abernathy could've-"

He was hesitant to ask as if the question was almost too horrible to utter. Roy thought he knew what the younger alchemist was concerned about.

"I don't think anyone could've killed him, Alphonse." He reassured, trying to sound more sure of that fact than he felt. "Your brother's a tough kid and a strong alchemist."

"Then why hasn't he come back yet?"

...That was the question, wasn't it? One Roy still couldn't wrap his head around.

"...We're going to figure that out. I promise."

While Roy spoke with Alphonse, another conversation was going on beside them, unbeknownst to the two alchemists. Hughes and Hawkeye had struck up a topic both of them were beginning to notice more as their investigation began to progress.

"Roy sure does care for those kids, huh?" Hughes teased. If Riza found this funny or endearing, she didn't show it. Her stoic expression was not breaking even for a second.

"He looks out for everyone on his team. It's what I've learned to expect from him." 

"I know he does," Hughes replied, realizing he may need to be more clear on the point he was trying to make. "But you see it too, don't you?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"That look in his eyes. The one he gets when he wants to protect someone." Hughes could see Riza's eyebrow raised at that. It seemed she knew what he was talking about now.

And she had seen just the same thing Hughes did. The look in Mustang's eyes showed that Edward was more to him than just a subordinate. Riza would be lying if she said the Colonel didn't feel a sense of responsibility for the Elric Brothers. And it certainly applied here.

"I take it you're worried about that?" She asked curiously.

"Aren't you? I'm just saying we might need to keep an eye on him for now. You know how Roy can get when he cares this much. If he gets close to Abernathy, and he thinks he had something to do with Ed disappearing-"

"You're right," Riza said, Watching Mustang's back with a trained, focused eye. "We wouldn't want to have to put out an unnecessary fire."

Notes:

Shorter chapter, less to cover for this one.

I’m facepalming at myself honestly because ROY YOU’RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE

But it’s fine he’ll figure it out eventually maybe-

Sure not until Ed suffers more that’s for sure. ;)