Fic - Tangled Web ch 13
Title - Tangled Web
Author- cornerofmadness
Disclaimer - not mine. All rights belong to Ms Arakawa
Rating Pg-13
genre action/adventure
Characters/Pairing Roy/Riza, Ed/Win, Al/OC
Timeline/Spoilers future fic and contains spoilers right up to the very end
Word Count 45,437
Warningviolence but no more than the manga,
Summary Father and Bradley were defeated but not everyone has gone quietly into that good night. Someone thinks Ed and Al were responsible for the death of General Raven and is out for revenge.
Chapter Thirteen
Roy stood up, hearing his sister finally stirring. His fingers brushed hers as her eyes opened. “Hello there. We've been worried about you.”
“Where am I?” Snow raised a hand to her head. “My head hurts. I don't remember getting that drunk.” Her lips thinned. “How did I get here?”
“You were caught in one of the Storm Alchemist's attacks.” Roy frowned. “Lightning tagged you.”
Her dark eyes blinked slowly as her brows crept toward each other. “I was hit by lightning?”
“Pretty much. The doctor said you'd be all right, but you'll probably have to stay here for a few days. Nothing got majorly hurt,” Roy said. “Except for the guy who did this.” He flashed an evil grin. “He hurt you.”
“And you took your revenge.”
“Mostly Armstrong did it for me, and the Elrics were the ones who caught him, but yes. Couldn't let him get away with hurting my baby sister.” Roy leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Besides, he ruined my night of debauchery in a swanky hotel suite.”
She snorted. “You and your penis, brother. Honestly. How many decisions has it made for you?”
Roy laughed. “Many. A couple of us spent the night here with you.”
“Couple?” Weakly, she looked around the room and spotted Alphonse asleep in the corner, sprawled on a padded yet still uncomfortable hospital chair. “He was here all night?”
“He was. He's apparently dead to the world, too.” Roy went over and nudged Al gently.
Al's hand flapped at him. “G'way Ed. Sleeping.”
“Wake up, Alphonse.” Roy nudged him again and got swatted. “There's a pretty girl here waiting on you.”
Al smiled in his sleep. “Riza...”
Roy socked his shoulder.
“Ow.” Al's gold eyes flew open. “That was that for?”
“Quit fantasizing about my woman.” Roy glowered.
Al rubbed his eyes. “What?”
“That's what you get for teasing him, brother,” Snowdrop scolded. “But it does make you wonder.”
“Don't have to wonder. He's not allowed to be with Riza alone anymore.”
“Snow, you're awake.” Al nearly tripped over himself getting up. He came over to the bed, trying to smooth down his hair. “How do you feel?”
“Confused. My head hurts. Roy said lightning hit me.” She shook her head. “I don't remember.”
“You did, well the current ran through the ground and you were closest to it,” Al said.
“What's the last thing you remember, sister?”
“Being under the blanket with Al,” Snow said and Al's ears pinked up. “Talking in the hotel garden,” she added quickly.
“We were attacked but he's in custody now.” He touched her hand.
“Roy told me so. Lightning? You'd think I'd remember something that spectacular.” Snowdrop tugged on the blanket. “Nothing got burnt or hurt? I...I can't move my legs. Roy, I can't feel them.” She flipped the blanket back. Her legs were a mottled blue against the dingy white of the hospital sheets.
Roy covered her back up. “It's all right, Snow. It's keraunoparalysis, from the lightning. I didn't know what that meant either but the doctor said the lightning causes your blood vessels to constrict and messes up the electricity of the nerves, only he said it far more convoluted than that. It'll pass without doing permanent damage.”
“But your legs might be weak and tingly for a few days,” Al added.
Snow put her hands over her eyes for a moment then let them fall. “I'll have to borrow your cane, Al.”
“I'll make sure Ed hasn’t transmuted the handle into anything weird again.” He smiled.
Snow sighed, sinking deeper into the bed. “I can't believe you two stayed all night.”
“It's all right. We didn't want you to wake up alone and scared,” Al said.
“Thank you,” Snow managed a smile, “but now you two should go get some real sleep. I'm going to be fine, right?”
“Doctor said so,” Roy agreed.
“We can stay longer,” Al said.
No, please, get a few hours of real sleep. I know Roy won't. He'll go to work and you probably will, too. You know what happens next. The doctor and nurses will come in and poke and prod me then I’ll probably fall back asleep myself. I want to right now.”
“Fair enough. We'll go tell the nurse and once the doctor checks you out again and says we should go home, we will,” Roy said.
“Good.”
Al gave her hand a squeeze before following Roy out. Roy stopped at the nurses' station and told them his sister was awake. He and Al tucked themselves away in a sitting room while they waited.
“What did I say about Riza?” Al asked finally.
“Enough to get you banned from being alone with her,” Roy replied to see if he could get a rise out of him. Al was so much harder to tease than his brother.
“I did not.”
“What do you know? You were asleep and fantasizing. How long have you had a crush on Riza?”
Roy meant it as a joke, but Al rubbed his chin, thinking. “Since almost the beginning.”
Roy's eyebrows rose. How had he missed it? Well, Al hadn't any facial features or giveaway runaway parts further south back in those days. “Definitely banned. She doesn't need to know she can trade me in on a younger, calmer alchemist.” He smirked.
Al laughed. “I would probably bore her. I think she must be like Winry and enjoys a challenge.”
“She definitely has that in me. So, you were talking to Snow last night?”
Shaking his head, Al slithered down a bit on the seat. “It needed doing. I guess I’m still sorting through all of this. I wanted her to know I didn't hate her. I don't know what comes next, sir. I'm not sure I could go back with her, but I can't even say that for certain.”
“Love is a complicated thing, Alphonse. It seems to me this is something you’d like to talk about with your father. He surely has a bit of experience.”
Al snorted. “Roy, my father is centuries old. He has more experiences than we can imagine.”
Roy's eyes lit up as a storm cloud of lewd thoughts spun up in his brain. “Good point. Thank you, Alphonse. I'll have to talk to him myself. He surely has ideas I've not tried yet. Hell, he could probably write a book.”
“Doubtless.” Al sat bolt upright. “Do not suggest that. Dad will do it and Ed will die of mortification.”
Roy rubbed his hands together. “That's just another reason to suggest it.”
Al shoved him. “Ugh, you're as bad as brother.”
“I'll take that as a compliment.”
“I'm not sure it was.”
Roy laughed then got up, seeing the doctor in the doorway. When he said Snow should make a full recovery quickly, the two alchemists went back to her room to say goodbye but she was already asleep again. They returned home to do the same.
XXX
“Why can't we just go home?” Ed asked.
“Because we came to go to the Ice Festival and we haven’t gone yet,” Winry said, scooting closer to the roaring fire in Roy's fireplace. Al and Snow already had dibs on the couch closest to the fireplace. “Besides, Mr. Breda and the others still want to have that private party for Mr. Mustang and Riza. We're expected to be there.”
“But I don't want to roam around the ice festival again. We tried that. I froze my bits off and we got shot at. Not to mention we dodged lightning,” Ed groaned, tossing himself over the arm of a chair.
“Not all of us dodged,” Snowdrop said ruefully.
“Ed’s just lucky he was farthest away from the strike. With that metal leg, he might not have been as lucky as you, Snow, and then his bits would have had more to worry about than just being frozen.” Al shot his brother a look.
“Hey!”
“That would've given me a chance to try out my new penile automail implant!” Winry grinned and Roy nearly choked on his whiskey. He clamped a hand over his mouth, his eyes bugging and his face reddening.
Al howled. “You nearly made him shoot whiskey out his nose, Winry.”
Roy swallowed hard, Riza rubbing his back. “It went up there. Damn that burns.”
“I can not believe you said that, Winry.” Snow’s face was a red as her sweater.
“You can’t? Winry! We don’t want to know,” Ed glared.
“Oh, my sisters might be interested in that,” Snowdrop said.
“Especially if it’s, ah, operational as a stand alone,” Riza said. “I know several women who’d pay you for that.”
“Really, Riza,” Roy rasped, coughing a bit. He pursed his lips. “You know, it could have all sorts of fun applications. Put us down for one.”
Snowdrop made a sound of disgust. “My brother is such a pervert.”
“Mine is a prude. Put them together we’d get a normal human being,” Al replied.
“Oh, you’re all so very funny. If I say yes to staying, will everyone stop picking on me?” Ed crossed his arms.
“Pretty much,” Winry assured him.
“Edward, just relax and stay. If you feel like you’ve overstayed your welcome with Gracia, which I highly doubt, this place has dozen bedrooms or some such. I lose count.” Roy shrugged. “Take Winry out to the festival all day. Have fun with no one shooting at you or throwing lightning bolts, which really would have been very effective against you if Storm had resisted grandstanding.”
“What did happen to him, sir?” Winry asked.
“He’ll be imprisoned, Miss Raven as well, probably somewhere nasty like in a prison in Briggs or maybe out in the desert. I don’t really know. Hopefully, it’s the last we’ll see of them.” Roy replied.
“Good,” Ed said. “It’s bad enough dealing with people hating me for things I’ve actually done, let alone things I didn’t do.” He stretched then sighed. “All right, we’ll stay a few more days and go to the Ice Festival, okay, Winry?”
“Perfectly okay.”
“I’ll take Snow around. With her legs still recovering, we’ll be slower than you two, besides you deserve time alone,” Al said.
“Thanks, Al,” Winry said. “You two can join us for dinner if you want.”
“If you don’t think it’ll be awkward,” Snow replied. “I know I really messed up.”
“All things considered, it wouldn’t hurt to be friendly,” Winry replied and Snow smiled.
“Thanks.”
“But I’m not staying here,” Ed said. “I’ve heard the rumor of how noisy you are, bastard.”
“Me?” Roy lay a hand on his chest. “How do you know it’s not her?” He pointed up at Riza who was still standing behind him. She swatted him on the head.
“Still your fault,” Ed shrugged.
“Al’s right. You’re a prude,” Roy replied.
“Speaking of which, what do you think the chances are I can stay here with my Dad or at the hotel with your sisters? They’d probably ensure I worked out and stay fit.” Al grinned.
“And your brother is a pervert to go with mine, Ed.” Snow pinched Alphonse’s side.
“I’ve noticed,” Ed sniffed.
“Before this degenerates any further, maybe we should have a toast,” Riza said.
“Good idea. I’ll open a bottle of wine.”
Roy went to fetch a couple bottles of wine while Riza got the glasses, a corkscrew and a decanter. Roy poured it into the decanter to breath then divvied up the wine. He raised his glass. “To surviving and excelling against our enemies.”
“To your future wedding,” Winry added.
“To having our makeshift family all together,” Riza said.
“To second chances,” Snow lifted her glass.
“To new friends, meeting them and coming to know them better,” Al said.
Ed finished the toast with a smile. “To peace.”
Author- cornerofmadness
Disclaimer - not mine. All rights belong to Ms Arakawa
Rating Pg-13
genre action/adventure
Characters/Pairing Roy/Riza, Ed/Win, Al/OC
Timeline/Spoilers future fic and contains spoilers right up to the very end
Word Count 45,437
Warningviolence but no more than the manga,
Summary Father and Bradley were defeated but not everyone has gone quietly into that good night. Someone thinks Ed and Al were responsible for the death of General Raven and is out for revenge.
Chapter Thirteen
Roy stood up, hearing his sister finally stirring. His fingers brushed hers as her eyes opened. “Hello there. We've been worried about you.”
“Where am I?” Snow raised a hand to her head. “My head hurts. I don't remember getting that drunk.” Her lips thinned. “How did I get here?”
“You were caught in one of the Storm Alchemist's attacks.” Roy frowned. “Lightning tagged you.”
Her dark eyes blinked slowly as her brows crept toward each other. “I was hit by lightning?”
“Pretty much. The doctor said you'd be all right, but you'll probably have to stay here for a few days. Nothing got majorly hurt,” Roy said. “Except for the guy who did this.” He flashed an evil grin. “He hurt you.”
“And you took your revenge.”
“Mostly Armstrong did it for me, and the Elrics were the ones who caught him, but yes. Couldn't let him get away with hurting my baby sister.” Roy leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Besides, he ruined my night of debauchery in a swanky hotel suite.”
She snorted. “You and your penis, brother. Honestly. How many decisions has it made for you?”
Roy laughed. “Many. A couple of us spent the night here with you.”
“Couple?” Weakly, she looked around the room and spotted Alphonse asleep in the corner, sprawled on a padded yet still uncomfortable hospital chair. “He was here all night?”
“He was. He's apparently dead to the world, too.” Roy went over and nudged Al gently.
Al's hand flapped at him. “G'way Ed. Sleeping.”
“Wake up, Alphonse.” Roy nudged him again and got swatted. “There's a pretty girl here waiting on you.”
Al smiled in his sleep. “Riza...”
Roy socked his shoulder.
“Ow.” Al's gold eyes flew open. “That was that for?”
“Quit fantasizing about my woman.” Roy glowered.
Al rubbed his eyes. “What?”
“That's what you get for teasing him, brother,” Snowdrop scolded. “But it does make you wonder.”
“Don't have to wonder. He's not allowed to be with Riza alone anymore.”
“Snow, you're awake.” Al nearly tripped over himself getting up. He came over to the bed, trying to smooth down his hair. “How do you feel?”
“Confused. My head hurts. Roy said lightning hit me.” She shook her head. “I don't remember.”
“You did, well the current ran through the ground and you were closest to it,” Al said.
“What's the last thing you remember, sister?”
“Being under the blanket with Al,” Snow said and Al's ears pinked up. “Talking in the hotel garden,” she added quickly.
“We were attacked but he's in custody now.” He touched her hand.
“Roy told me so. Lightning? You'd think I'd remember something that spectacular.” Snowdrop tugged on the blanket. “Nothing got burnt or hurt? I...I can't move my legs. Roy, I can't feel them.” She flipped the blanket back. Her legs were a mottled blue against the dingy white of the hospital sheets.
Roy covered her back up. “It's all right, Snow. It's keraunoparalysis, from the lightning. I didn't know what that meant either but the doctor said the lightning causes your blood vessels to constrict and messes up the electricity of the nerves, only he said it far more convoluted than that. It'll pass without doing permanent damage.”
“But your legs might be weak and tingly for a few days,” Al added.
Snow put her hands over her eyes for a moment then let them fall. “I'll have to borrow your cane, Al.”
“I'll make sure Ed hasn’t transmuted the handle into anything weird again.” He smiled.
Snow sighed, sinking deeper into the bed. “I can't believe you two stayed all night.”
“It's all right. We didn't want you to wake up alone and scared,” Al said.
“Thank you,” Snow managed a smile, “but now you two should go get some real sleep. I'm going to be fine, right?”
“Doctor said so,” Roy agreed.
“We can stay longer,” Al said.
No, please, get a few hours of real sleep. I know Roy won't. He'll go to work and you probably will, too. You know what happens next. The doctor and nurses will come in and poke and prod me then I’ll probably fall back asleep myself. I want to right now.”
“Fair enough. We'll go tell the nurse and once the doctor checks you out again and says we should go home, we will,” Roy said.
“Good.”
Al gave her hand a squeeze before following Roy out. Roy stopped at the nurses' station and told them his sister was awake. He and Al tucked themselves away in a sitting room while they waited.
“What did I say about Riza?” Al asked finally.
“Enough to get you banned from being alone with her,” Roy replied to see if he could get a rise out of him. Al was so much harder to tease than his brother.
“I did not.”
“What do you know? You were asleep and fantasizing. How long have you had a crush on Riza?”
Roy meant it as a joke, but Al rubbed his chin, thinking. “Since almost the beginning.”
Roy's eyebrows rose. How had he missed it? Well, Al hadn't any facial features or giveaway runaway parts further south back in those days. “Definitely banned. She doesn't need to know she can trade me in on a younger, calmer alchemist.” He smirked.
Al laughed. “I would probably bore her. I think she must be like Winry and enjoys a challenge.”
“She definitely has that in me. So, you were talking to Snow last night?”
Shaking his head, Al slithered down a bit on the seat. “It needed doing. I guess I’m still sorting through all of this. I wanted her to know I didn't hate her. I don't know what comes next, sir. I'm not sure I could go back with her, but I can't even say that for certain.”
“Love is a complicated thing, Alphonse. It seems to me this is something you’d like to talk about with your father. He surely has a bit of experience.”
Al snorted. “Roy, my father is centuries old. He has more experiences than we can imagine.”
Roy's eyes lit up as a storm cloud of lewd thoughts spun up in his brain. “Good point. Thank you, Alphonse. I'll have to talk to him myself. He surely has ideas I've not tried yet. Hell, he could probably write a book.”
“Doubtless.” Al sat bolt upright. “Do not suggest that. Dad will do it and Ed will die of mortification.”
Roy rubbed his hands together. “That's just another reason to suggest it.”
Al shoved him. “Ugh, you're as bad as brother.”
“I'll take that as a compliment.”
“I'm not sure it was.”
Roy laughed then got up, seeing the doctor in the doorway. When he said Snow should make a full recovery quickly, the two alchemists went back to her room to say goodbye but she was already asleep again. They returned home to do the same.
XXX
“Why can't we just go home?” Ed asked.
“Because we came to go to the Ice Festival and we haven’t gone yet,” Winry said, scooting closer to the roaring fire in Roy's fireplace. Al and Snow already had dibs on the couch closest to the fireplace. “Besides, Mr. Breda and the others still want to have that private party for Mr. Mustang and Riza. We're expected to be there.”
“But I don't want to roam around the ice festival again. We tried that. I froze my bits off and we got shot at. Not to mention we dodged lightning,” Ed groaned, tossing himself over the arm of a chair.
“Not all of us dodged,” Snowdrop said ruefully.
“Ed’s just lucky he was farthest away from the strike. With that metal leg, he might not have been as lucky as you, Snow, and then his bits would have had more to worry about than just being frozen.” Al shot his brother a look.
“Hey!”
“That would've given me a chance to try out my new penile automail implant!” Winry grinned and Roy nearly choked on his whiskey. He clamped a hand over his mouth, his eyes bugging and his face reddening.
Al howled. “You nearly made him shoot whiskey out his nose, Winry.”
Roy swallowed hard, Riza rubbing his back. “It went up there. Damn that burns.”
“I can not believe you said that, Winry.” Snow’s face was a red as her sweater.
“You can’t? Winry! We don’t want to know,” Ed glared.
“Oh, my sisters might be interested in that,” Snowdrop said.
“Especially if it’s, ah, operational as a stand alone,” Riza said. “I know several women who’d pay you for that.”
“Really, Riza,” Roy rasped, coughing a bit. He pursed his lips. “You know, it could have all sorts of fun applications. Put us down for one.”
Snowdrop made a sound of disgust. “My brother is such a pervert.”
“Mine is a prude. Put them together we’d get a normal human being,” Al replied.
“Oh, you’re all so very funny. If I say yes to staying, will everyone stop picking on me?” Ed crossed his arms.
“Pretty much,” Winry assured him.
“Edward, just relax and stay. If you feel like you’ve overstayed your welcome with Gracia, which I highly doubt, this place has dozen bedrooms or some such. I lose count.” Roy shrugged. “Take Winry out to the festival all day. Have fun with no one shooting at you or throwing lightning bolts, which really would have been very effective against you if Storm had resisted grandstanding.”
“What did happen to him, sir?” Winry asked.
“He’ll be imprisoned, Miss Raven as well, probably somewhere nasty like in a prison in Briggs or maybe out in the desert. I don’t really know. Hopefully, it’s the last we’ll see of them.” Roy replied.
“Good,” Ed said. “It’s bad enough dealing with people hating me for things I’ve actually done, let alone things I didn’t do.” He stretched then sighed. “All right, we’ll stay a few more days and go to the Ice Festival, okay, Winry?”
“Perfectly okay.”
“I’ll take Snow around. With her legs still recovering, we’ll be slower than you two, besides you deserve time alone,” Al said.
“Thanks, Al,” Winry said. “You two can join us for dinner if you want.”
“If you don’t think it’ll be awkward,” Snow replied. “I know I really messed up.”
“All things considered, it wouldn’t hurt to be friendly,” Winry replied and Snow smiled.
“Thanks.”
“But I’m not staying here,” Ed said. “I’ve heard the rumor of how noisy you are, bastard.”
“Me?” Roy lay a hand on his chest. “How do you know it’s not her?” He pointed up at Riza who was still standing behind him. She swatted him on the head.
“Still your fault,” Ed shrugged.
“Al’s right. You’re a prude,” Roy replied.
“Speaking of which, what do you think the chances are I can stay here with my Dad or at the hotel with your sisters? They’d probably ensure I worked out and stay fit.” Al grinned.
“And your brother is a pervert to go with mine, Ed.” Snow pinched Alphonse’s side.
“I’ve noticed,” Ed sniffed.
“Before this degenerates any further, maybe we should have a toast,” Riza said.
“Good idea. I’ll open a bottle of wine.”
Roy went to fetch a couple bottles of wine while Riza got the glasses, a corkscrew and a decanter. Roy poured it into the decanter to breath then divvied up the wine. He raised his glass. “To surviving and excelling against our enemies.”
“To your future wedding,” Winry added.
“To having our makeshift family all together,” Riza said.
“To second chances,” Snow lifted her glass.
“To new friends, meeting them and coming to know them better,” Al said.
Ed finished the toast with a smile. “To peace.”