Title: Two Wrongs
Chapter 3
Rating: NC-17
The famed General Mustang was truly worn out.
He sat with his back propped up against the stone wall of The Cathedral, opposite the alchemic mystery. His seat was cushioned by a couple of sleeping bags they’d used the night before. They had been at it for close to 36 hours and made very little progress, if any at all.
They should be in bed, but their ambition was holding them hostage.
“It’s freezing in here.”
“I agree.” Roy pulled his jacket more tightly around Ed who sat between his legs, back to Roy’s chest. He nuzzled the blonde’s earlobe, smelling the soap Ed had used at the Alpha station shower earlier.
“What time is it?”
Roy shifted to fish out his pocket watch. “Almost 2 o’clock in the morning.”
Ed groaned. “I have one hell of a headache.”
“Why don’t you get some rest, like Alphonse?” To their left, the youngest alchemist slumbered in a military-issue sleeping roll, only the top of his dark blond hair showing.
“I don’t want to miss anything. Not that you’re smart enough to solve this without me.”
“Of course not,” Roy replied. “You’re the brilliant consultant who agreed to take on this mission. Who am I to steal your thunder?”
“Exactly.” A chilled shiver worked its way up Edward’s spine and he sunk deeper into Roy’s lap to seek more warmth. “Can’t you heat this place up?”
“I could, but let’s clean up the work station and go back to the Base,” he suggested. “We’ll sleep late, get a decent breakfast tomorrow, find an office to spread out our notes when our minds are clearer.”
“Alright,” Ed replied, but remained where he was. Could’ve been the General’s lazy fingertips gently stroking his stomach underneath his shirt. Edward reached out and snagged the edge of the quilt, pulling it over their bodies.
At the addition of the heavy fabric, Roy felt his eyes close. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“We’ve copied the all alchemy on to paper, studied them,” Edward said, voice heavy with exhaustion. “I bet every element is represented on that damn wall, even some ciphers I’ve seen at the Gate. But it still doesn’t tell us shit about its function.”
Roy thought about it, shrugged, continued to caress Ed’s chest. “It is a brainteaser, Fullmetal. It’s meant to be tricky.”
Ed sighed and rested his head back against Roy’s shoulder. “I haven’t been this fucking tired in a long time, like all the energy has been sucked out of me.”
Roy should’ve been sympathetic towards his lover’s complaint, but he was too drained to respond. Instead, he dreamt of circles and lines and symbols, and the purplish-blue radiance of a transmutation array.
He woke gasping, eyes wide open, unsure of his surroundings.
“Mustang. You alright?”
He nodded, trying to catch his breath.
“Did you dream about it too?” Ed asked. “The array?”
“We just woke up,” Alphonse explained. “Brother and I had the same dream.”
Roy rubbed his hands over his face. His eyes burned and a gnawing headache made him feel a little nauseated. “What time is it?”
“Just after three,” Ed said. “We only slept an hour tops.”
Alphonse was already at the wall. “If we could just get rid of the stuff that doesn’t belong there, maybe we could see the intention more clearly.”
Ed climbed to his feet and helped Roy up; for once, not heckling the man about his bad knees and sore back. Walking to join his brother, Ed asked, “Did any of us even try to move the shit out of the way that we don’t want?”
Alphonse opened his mouth and then shut it, then tried again. “Well, no. We’ve been focused on copying the elements to paper, looking for the message.”
“So why can’t we drag the ones we don’t want right out of the picture?”
Roy stood a little taller, instantly intrigued. “You mean drag them off to the side of the wall?”
Ed nodded. “Why not?”
“Give it a shot,” Roy said.
Ed raised his brow in askance of his brother. When Alphonse nodded enthusiastically, Edward lifted his flesh hand to one of the insignificant black marks and placed his palm flat against it. “Here goes.”
Just as Ed suspected, it moved, and kept moving until he pulled it well out of range. However, when he took his hand off the mark, it vanished. “Oh shit. Hope we didn’t need that one.”
“It was a just a fish,” Alphonse said cheerfully. “Did you do anything besides touch it?”
Ed shook his head, reaching for another redundant symbol. “Just willed it to move like we’ve been doing with the others. Try it out on the other corner.”
When Alphonse had the same response, Roy slipped his hands in his pockets and stepped back. “Alright boys, clear it out the obvious ones. Just be careful. If we remove something we need later, this is all for nothing.”
Identical grins answered him and the brothers began to reach for markings and pull them out of the puzzle. Roy retreated to the work table, watching the symbols shift, drop, and change with every subtraction made. He put another pot of water on the portable gas stove to make coffee and donned a glove.
With a snap of his fingers, he changed the oxygen saturation near the gas, and it gladly ignited. What he didn’t expect was the way the Cathedral shuddered. Alchemy pooled in the center of the room and then sparked to life in a crimson streak above them. It spiraled around the room, bouncing off the stone like bottled lightning.
“Stop-stop-stop!” Roy shouted.
Ed pulled his hands away from the puzzle and held them still, as if he had a gun pointed at his head.
Alphonse did the same. He watched the crackling rope shoot down to the floor and break into jagged fingers. They crawled up the walls like electric snakes, snapping loudly with unbridled energy.
When it finally dissipated, they each let out a shaky breath of relief.
“O-kay,” Roy said, heart thudding in his chest. “Apparently there’s a limit as to how much alchemy the Cathedral can handle before it will discharge. Why don’t you two alternate?”
“Yes sir,” Alphonse agreed.
“And how about you just use a match, Mustang?”
Roy cocked an eyebrow at the blond, but dipped his chin in agreement. He was too tense to come up with anything witty in reply.
~*~*~*~*~
Riza trekked through the passages with purpose. After two days in Dynasty Caves, she’d memorized the one path she needed, nothing more, nothing less.
“Ma’am.”
She raised her hand in salute as she stormed up to the soldiers at Alpha Station. “Is the General awake yet?”
“He’s not here, ma’am.”
“What?”
The young sergeant stared straight ahead, spine rigid. “The General did not take leave from the Cathedral last night, ma’am.”
Riza’s features hardened. She turned on her heel and cut the 20-minute walk to the Cathedral in half. “Breda.”
“Ma’am,” he answered instantly, shocked at how fast she came up behind him. His t-shirt was wrinkled and had a gravy stain on it.
“Were you at Alpha Station last night?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Around midnight, the General told me to get some sleep.”
“None of them went back to rest?”
“No.” Breda scratched his head and shrugged. “They’re still inside, doing whatever they’re doing.”
Riza watched from the threshold. “This isn’t normal behavior. Not for the General.”
Breda pondered and then finally nodded. “Maybe you’re right. I thought he’d come back to Base by now, at least to have a drink.”
Riza eyes sharpened. “He’s drinking again?”
Breda raised a shoulder and dropped it. “I think it’s good that the General’s excited about something again.”
“Excitement is fine, but he’s completely forgotten his responsibilities.” She abandoned Breda to briskly make her way towards Roy, but as she got closer, her steps slowed.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Ed said with an overconfident smile on his face. “Only 43 characters left.”
She frowned at him, which effectively sobered him up. Riza opened her mouth to scold him but found her anger quickly fading into curiosity. “I... how?... how’d you do it?”
Alphonse explained it to her, showing her how the symbols moved when they touched them.
“Why don’t you try?” Roy said, moving to stand behind her.
“No. I’m not here to play--”
“Come on,” Roy coaxed. He had that look on his face, the one that made all the women rethink their refusal. Lately, his charms had no effect on her whatsoever, but she found herself effortlessly turned towards the wall, Roy at her back, his fingers gently around her wrist, other hand at her hip. She could feel the heat from his body, his breath on her neck.
He guided Riza’s palm towards his symbol, the triangle that symbolize fire. Without making contact, energy flickered between her hand and the wall. Like a closed circuit, it rushed down her arm, through her body, into Roy and then back out through her.
It was frighteningly powerful. Sexual even. It embarrassed Riza, with the way it made her want to press both hands against the markings to amplify the feeling. She wondered if alchemists felt this every time they activated an array.
“Stop,” she shouted and stepped away. “What are you doing?”
“Its just unfocused energy. It won’t hurt you,” he reassured. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not okay. You should see yourselves,” she continued. “Unshaven, exhausted, dark circles under your eyes. You haven’t slept, you don’t eat. This is not normal.”
Alphonse spoke first. “We were going to go back to the base last night, but we all had this dream and --”
“We had a breakthrough,” Ed interrupted. There was nothing friendly about his tone. “Unless I misunderstood the assignment, we’re doing what was asked of us. Why does it matter when or where we take a piss for that matter?”
“This is what I’m talking about,” Riza said to Roy. “It’s the wall. Alphonse said it before. The energy lures alchemists to it. It even made me want to touch it and I have no alchemic tendencies whatsoever. If it’s not a problem, then come back to the Base and prove me wrong.”
“We have the Alpha Station.”
“Breda said you never made it there last night.”
The General glanced over his shoulder, finding the man wiping his brow nervously. “We came here to solve the puzzle, not take a vacation.”
Riza’s jaw was so tight, her muscles twitched below the surface. “Then tell me this, General.”
That got Roy’s attention. He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side.
“Those symbols, sir,” she said, pointing to the wall, “where’d the other ones go?”
“We pulled them away. They vanished when we separated them from the main group. Why?”
“So you took something away from it,” she stated. “Then tell me, what did the three of you give up in return? Where’s the equivalent exchange?”
She could see every emotion that passed over Roy’s face: the indignation that she’d speak about things she didn’t understand, the pride that she’d challenge him, the unease that maybe she knew enough to be right, and lastly the numbing wave of panic.
“And one last thing, sir. The Fuhrer is livid that you haven’t reported to him since your arrival. He’s not buying my excuses anymore. You may also want to check in with Havoc. He’s called twelve times for you, and with each call, he sounds more uncertain about how he’s handling your workload.”
Riza turned and left the Cathedral, ignoring its pull to stay inside the white stone walls. She’d made a promise to Roy long ago to keep him on the straight and narrow. She wasn’t about to let a fucking puzzle become his undoing, even if it meant ratting him out to the Fuhrer.
Title: Two Wrongs
Chapter 4
Rating: NC-17
To say the Fuhrer was incensed was an understatement.
As soon as Roy left Dynasty Caves and set foot on Base, he knew he was in deep shit. It wasn’t that he’d done anything wrong, per se, it was just that he’d pretty much shirked his responsibilities and acted like a self-absorbed civilian alchemist who had nothing and no one to take care of but himself.
That was so far from Roy’s current life that it shook him up inside. He hadn’t even checked on his staff back in Central. He knew how uneasy Havoc was about the whole thing and he’d pretty much abandoned the anxious man under mounds of paperwork and red tape.
The Fuhrer’s words echoed in his head: “Perhaps you’re less prepared to step into my shoes than I thought.”
Roy poured himself another glass of Wilson’s best scotch. He downed it in four gulps and placed the tumbler upside down on the tablet next to the bottle.
“Does the alchemic puzzle have authority over you, Mustang?”
Roy knew his entire future hung on his ability to answer honestly. Every bone in his body wanted to deny the Cathedral’s persuasion. What if the Fuhrer ordered them to stand down? They’d come so far and there was still so much to discover. He’s mind was already planning on ways to sneak back into the caves just to have another shot at solving the alchemic puzzle, but Riza would’ve shared her concerns with the Fuhrer by now, and it wasn’t like Roy’s behavior of late hadn’t given him away in spades.
So he steeled himself and answered: “There may be some truth to that.”
The Fuhrer took his sweet time responding, enough that Roy’s forehead bloomed with perspiration.
“Tell me about it,” he finally said.
“It could be the exchange of energy in the Cathedral. It seems to have an ability to sustain us,” Roy answered. “We don’t feel hungry, and we are able to remain functional without rest for long periods of time. Maybe it’s the intrigue of working with an ancient mystery... I’m not sure what to make of it yet.”
The Fuhrer posed questions methodically; possibly to steer Roy through the fog in his mind as he answered. By the end of their discussion, Roy felt more objective, more like himself.
Most importantly, the Fuhrer hadn’t shut them down. Instead, he’d given Hawkeye command over the time they spent inside the cave.
That gnawed at his gut with razor-sharp teeth. He reached for the bottle of scotch again but then changed his mind.
“Hawkeye,” Roy said sharply, not doubting for a minute that she was waiting outside the door.
“Sir.”
“You’re aware of the Fuhrer’s new orders?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered humbly.
Roy swallowed his bitterness. He’d known her for half his life, spent years in her family’s home as her father’s apprentice. Roy even knew her intimately at one point. To have her in charge of his actions stung like betrayal. “Then I would suggest you head to Alpha Station and make sure no one enters the Cathedral.”
He might have seen a flash of apology in her eyes, but it quickly faded to protective determination. Riza nodded and turned to leave.
He waited three heartbeats. “Riza?”
“Yes?”
“Post guards at the other entrances,” he commanded. “If Ed and Al feel the same temptation that I do, they’re clever enough to use the maps of the caves to enter the Cathedral any way they can.”
Everything about her suddenly radiated satisfaction. “Yes sir. Please get some rest.”
Roy returned to the desk to call Havoc. While he waited impatiently for the secured connection to go through, he looked at the doorway where Riza had stood her ground.
Apparently, he had said the right things to restore her confidence in him. If Roy was man enough to share his weakness with her, then Riza was forgiving enough to return to their status quo.
Well, almost.
Things were so much easier when she had blind faith in him. He was used to her being cleaved to his side. But now, as if the devastating loss of Maes’ friendship and guidance wasn’t enough, he felt like he was losing Riza too.
Time had a malicious way of changing everything.
“It’s about time you called me, General Bastard,” Havoc shouted. “Do me a favor and discharge me dishonorably, would ya?”
Roy cradled his head in his arm on the desk and began the unpleasant task of digging himself out of yet another very deep hole.
~*~*~*~*~
Ten hours later, a sleep-revived Roy sat across from the Elrics at the nearly empty mess hall.
“Is that your second piece of cake?”
“Third,” Ed said with his mouth full.
“I’m going to get some more roast beef,” Al chirped. “Want anything, sir?”
“No thanks,” Roy said, stealing a forkful of Ed’s desert when the blonde gave up on gorging himself with chocolate.
The blonde watched Roy savor the rich taste, licking the utensil clean with his tongue.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Roy said.
He tried to play it off, but the hint of blush to Ed’s cheeks made Roy chuckle.
“I thought we agreed never to mention that?” Ed grumbled, glancing around, surveying anyone in ear-shot.
“They can’t read my mind, Fullmetal.”
“No, but they can see that look on your face.”
“Yours too,” Roy nearly purred.
He thought Ed might get into a snit, but apparently, the memory of that night – one of the most passionate and fulfilling nights of his life – could still put Ed in the same kind of dreamy stupor as Roy.
“You two aren’t going to leap over the table and get it on, are you?”
Ed screeched indignantly, drawing a real laugh out of Roy. “My discretion hasn’t been compromised, Al. Your brother’s virtue is safe here.”
Al grinned and dodged Ed’s knuckles aiming for his shoulder. “I’m just saying, if you two need some time alone, I got a few things I want to check out in the reference books we brought from home.”
Ed groaned and gathered his tray, turning an even darker shade of pink.
“What’s on your mind?” Roy asked Alphonse, his eyes sliding down Ed’s body as the blonde threw his trash away across the cafeteria.
“Just something I’ve been tossing around.” When Roy remained quiet, Al smiled at him. “Go on, General. I’m sure brother would enjoy some time alone with you. ”
Roy nearly felt his cheeks heat up. “We’ll meet you in the library in a half an hour.”
“Take your time,” Al said, smiling around a healthy serving of roast beef and gravy.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Make yourself useful, Mustang.”
Ed’s teeth pulled at Roy’s earlobe and he ground his hips against the General feverishly. He held onto the back of the chair behind Roy’s shoulders and humped the man through their clothing.
“Slow down,” Roy cajoled, hand skimming up a firm stomach and muscled chest. “You transmuted the door shut, and Alphonse is reading in the library. There’s no need to rush this.”
“Don’t talk about Al right now.” Ed shoved his tongue into Roy’s mouth, effectively silencing the older man.
Roy quickly took control of the kiss, threading his fingers through long blond hair. He tilted their heads and plundered Ed’s hot mouth. Flesh and metal fingers scrambled to undo his belt, fumbling with the buckle.
“What the hell,” Ed growled, turning his head away from Roy to battle with the leather strap. With a firm tug, the belt slid out of the loops and hit the wall behind Ed, landing on the floor like a brained snake.
“Impatient?” Roy chuckled.
Ed ground against him again, hard, and Roy’s his eyes nearly crossed. His cock throbbed and begged Roy to please get serious about this.
“All right,” Roy admitted. “Enough foreplay.”
He lifted Ed and dumped him onto the desk, knocking over the lamp in the process. “Shit.”
“Leave it.” Ed reached out and grabbed Roy’s shirt, pulling him down to try to suck out his tonsils.
Roy wanted nothing more than to slide into Ed’s tight body and fuck him to Xing and back, but they had nothing to use for Ed’s comfort and no time to waste preparing him for penetration. All he could do was repeatedly thrust against Ed, demonstrating his true wishes.
“Oh fuck,” Ed shouted, trying to claw Roy through his clothing. He locked his ankles around Roy’s back and met each thrust eagerly.
Roy got the message. He raised himself off of Edward and removed his shirt off before shoving Ed’s up under his arms. It wouldn’t do them any good to ruin their clothing and give themselves away. Half of the fun was getting away with fooling around in Wilson’s office.
Ed whimpered, it was the only way Roy could’ve described it. He worked fast to free their cocks from their confines.
When Roy fisted them together in his moist palm, Ed’s head hit the desk with a loud ‘thunk’. His eyes closed and he focused all his attention on bucking against Roy’s hand with frantic desperation.
With a flat tongue, Roy licked a wet trail up from Ed’s automail to a collar bone and then over his Adam’s apple. Ed shivered and tried to capture that wicked tongue but Roy teased, licking at the corner of Ed’s mouth before sucking on the oh-so-tender skin under his jaw.
Roy felt the moment Ed surrendered. Golden eyes glossed over in the thick haze of pleasure and tense muscles went lax. It was wholly up to Roy now to get Ed to where he wanted to go. That shift of power was more exhilarating to Roy than any fight Ed could put up to reach orgasm.
“Faster,” Ed begged and Roy complied.
“More,” Ed pleaded and Roy squeezed tighter.
Ed’s breath caught in his throat and he lifted his head, watching the tips of their cocks dart in and out of the narrow fisted channel.
“Roy,” Ed shouted. He bucked up twice and then everything exploded.
Ed’s cock pulsed with pleasure and Roy’s followed, coating the blonde’s chest and stomach with anticipated results. Roy stilled his hand but squeezed tightly, letting their bodies dictate their final thrusts and twitches of pure bliss.
When Roy was quite sure he was finished emptying every ounce of semen in his body, he opened his eyes willed himself to start breathing again. He gently fondled the soft sacs below their semi-rigid flesh, bringing Ed down slowly, maintaining intimacy even after their climax.
Ed hummed in response and slowly opened his eyes, reaching for Roy to share an unhurried, affectionate kiss. When they parted, Ed raised himself onto his elbows. The blonde surveyed the copious amounts of residue on his torso. “Impressive.”
Roy’s chest rumbled with smug amusement. He slid his hands down Ed’s side, pausing to rub the pads of his thumbs over narrow hip bones. “You should transmute yourself clean.”
“Then stop doing that so I can think straight,” Ed replied.
Roy gave him one last kiss, drawing it out long enough to feel himself stir again. “When we’re finished here--”
“Yeah,” Ed interrupted, “we’re gonna hole-up in your house in Central and fuck like rabbits.”
Roy laughed, but nodded. “You read my mind.”
~*~*~*~*~
They found Al in the small library, surrounded by several books and scrolls. He was frowning in concentration, chewing his lower lip.
“What’s up little brother,” Ed asked, sitting on the corner of the table.
Alphonse smiled instantly at the couple. “Feeling... better?”
“Much, thanks.” Roy pulled out a chair and sat, motioning for Ed to try one out instead of the table’s surface.
Ed ignored him. “So what are you studying?”
Al’s face lost most of its cheer. “Well, it’s just... I was thinking about everything.”
Ed cocked an eyebrow. “Spit it out, Al. If you have a theory, it’s worth hearing.”
Al shrugged a shoulder and averted his eyes. He shuffled his resources around long enough that Roy gently placed his hand over the books to quiet the senseless motion. “What is it, Alphonse?”
“I was just thinking,” Al started, obviously reluctant to share his thoughts. “We’ve said the symbols have no purpose right in their current arrangement. They are just pictorial drawings of alchemic symbols, like a hieroglyphic paragraph.”
“It needs the circle, an array to function,” Ed said plainly. “But we don’t know what that function is because there are too many possibilities... unless you’ve figured something out.”
Roy sat back, folding his hands in his lap. “Alphonse?”
He got up and paced along side the table, rubbing the back of his neck. “What if we try to move the symbols, the way we did with the other ones?”
Ed scratched his cheek. “If we pull them away and they disappear like the others, we could ruin the entire thing.”
Al nodded but didn’t look any less eager to try. “What if only the ones we don’t need fade?”
“That’s a risky gamble. And still, we don’t have an array.”
Al deflated a little at Roy’s statement, and then he looked back into the General’s eyes. “There’s more.”
“All right, out with it,” Ed prompted. “You’re making me nervous.”
“You should be,” Al said, hazel eyes large and edgy.
Roy swallowed and leaned forward, staring at the young alchemist. “Explain.”
“The Cathedral...its walls are curved into a perfect circle. What if the Cathedral itself is the array?”
Roy’s skin crawled from head to toe and his stomach dropped into a hallow chasm he knew as fear.
“But an array that big...” Ed finally whispered. “The power it would release...”
“I know,” Alphonse said quickly, chewing on his thumbnail. He’d had far more time to wrestle with his speculation, now he just had to wait for Roy and Ed to catch up. Then they had to figure out what to do about it.
Alphonse was quickly coming to the conclusion that destroying the Cathedral would be the safest thing for human kind.