Babylon Pairings: Eventual Roy/Ed. Summary: AU. Two years after retrieving his brother's body from the Gate of Truth Edward Elric is still paying the price. Will his debt ever be repaid, or will it finally cost him everything? Rating: M Overall - Mostly for language and occasional dark themes. Status: Work In Progress Length: Epic Warnings: Spoilers for the anime. Babylon: Lit: 1 )The city of Babylon 2) A place of captivity or exile 3) Derived from the Greek "Bab-Ilani: The Gate of the Gods. Babylon Chapter Twenty-Seven: Babylon Roy blinked awake, instincts screaming in alarm as a dull, hollow roar pressed down on his ears. Instinctively he reached out for Ed, following some ingrained need to pull him close and make sure he was safe, but the bed was empty, rippled with dancing shadows as the curtains swayed and the windows rattled. 'Ed? No answer, and Roy swore as something in the bathroom fell into the sink with a crash. The sparse furniture juddered as if possessed, and the light swung overhead like a pendulum. The noise worked its way through his skin, making his ribs shudder as his fingers knotted in the sheets, hanging on as he tried to understand what was happening. Earthquake, it had to be, although he had never experienced one as strong as this, and never in Central. Near the mountains tremors were a weekly event, but this city was on stable ground. The sudden buck and writhe of the earth beneath its foundations could very well reduce the entire region to nothing but rubble, and Roy winced as the stonework around him groaned as if in pain. Eventually the noise began to die away, receding to leave shocked silence in its wake. Voices called out, confused and uncertain. Outside the windows, the floodlights blanked out the soft glow of the street lamps as they flashed into dazzling life. There were running footsteps as sentries scurried around, trying to assess any damage and understand what had just happened. Roy struggled from the bed, glancing at the walls and feeling a jolt of relief that there were no obvious cracks. Wrapping the sheet around his waist, he opened the bathroom door, his frown taking on a worried edge when Ed was nowhere to be found. Where the hell was he? Glancing back out into the room, he saw a scrap of paper, and there was no mistaking the stumbling, awkward handwriting. Snatching it from the table he read through the brief missive, and the sheer lack of information made Roy feel sick to the stomach. Ed had promised he would not go and find Carmine alone, but it had not exactly been an iron-strong oath. He had not even put it into words ? just nodded his head while his eyes were heavy with something like guilt. A clammy realisation insinuated itself into Roy's mind. The earthquake was not natural. It was either a result of the loss of the gate, or Ed had done something to start it. Perhaps he had set out with no intention of finding Carmine, but she could always have tracked him down. Was he out there somewhere in the rain, fighting her and the thing within him all at once? With another hissed curse he looked around, dithering as he tried to think of the best course of action. He had to find Ed, but he could hardly chase him down dressed only in a bed sheet. Quickly, he turned back to the bathroom, letting the fabric fall to the floor and stripping off the bandage around his waist before flicking on the taps and standing under the cold spray of the shower. He only stayed there for a few seconds, long enough to wash away the scent of sex and anxious sweat before he stepped out again, barely bothering to dry himself off as he grabbed spare underwear from the drawer beside the bed and struggled into his trousers. Reaching for his jacket, he shrugged it on, doing up the buttons to hide the fact he didn't have a shirt. He would find one when he had a moment. For now there were more important things to do. He had to find Ed. Grabbing his gloves he slipped them on, feeling the basic comfort of the cloth against his skin. Without them he felt naked, somehow, as if the title ?Flame Alchemist? was bonded to the fabric. More than anything right now he needed to feel as if he had some power over this situation; even if it was nothing more than a shallow lie, it did wonders for his confidence. ?Roy? felt helpless, but ?Brigadier-General Mustang? did not know the meaning of the word. Someone knocked on the door, a frantic, rapid beat that made him look up sharply as Hughes' words echoed through the wood. 'Roy, are you in there?' Maes' voice was rough with sleep and edged with stress, and the rhythm repeated itself, louder this time. 'Roy?' 'Here,' he called back, striding over to the door and pulling it open. 'I need to get to the library. Ed's wandered off, and I think that earthquake was something to do with him.' 'You can't,' Hughes said, too anxious to be anything but blunt. 'All soldiers and alchemists are confined to base while plans for emergency procedures are put together. Hakuro's orders.' 'What? That's ? that's not how this works.? He scowled as he tried to absorb the new information. ?Management of emergencies are left to the discretion of commanding officers. We help where we're needed. That?s the way it has always been. Who's putting the plans together?' Roy saw the expression on Maes' face and shook his head in disbelief. 'Hakuro?' 'He's the Fuhrer,' Hughes said, adding quietly, 'What he says goes, even if he is inept. An order is an order, Roy.' 'I need to find Ed. I don't give a shit what Hakuro says.' Maes' hand snatched at his sleeve, pulling him up short with a little shake. 'Roy, emergency statutes have already been implemented. You know what that means.' Hughes' lips were pulled into a straight, flat line, and his eyes were deadly serious behind his glasses. 'It means no trial for anyone who disobeys. If you walk out of here then it'll end with both you and Ed against a wall in front of a firing squad, and no one will be able to defend you.' Roy prised his friend?s fingers loose, gritting his teeth in frustration as he tried to think. Hughes was right, and Hakuro would not even hesitate to shoot anyone who could be considered a dissonant. Roy was powerless, and even his rank of Brigadier-General would not protect him, let alone Ed. He had to stop and think; there was a way around this, there had to be. 'General Stadt will already be on his way,' he said, speaking with care as Hughes raised an eyebrow. 'It will take him a while yet, but when he arrives I need you to request an urgent meeting on my behalf.' Maes looked at him, green eyes sharp as he tried to follow Roy's train of thought. 'Stadt's in direct command of you, isn't he? Strict on military rules, likes things done by the book?' 'Exactly. What Hakuro's doing is not in any book the military has ever read. Stadt will hate it. I can use that to give us the freedom of movement we're going to need.' 'What about Ed?' Roy closed his eyes and swallowed tight. 'I'll wait one hour. If he's not back by then I?ll ? I'll think of something.' He smiled weakly at Hughes' expression of pained pity, trying to ignore his own desperate need to leave now and find Ed. 'Get everyone together in the office. We need to be prepared.' 'For what?' 'The end of this mess, whichever way it goes.' Hughes nodded in understanding, his face pale and anxious as he strode off to complete Roy?s requests. If anyone could get things done competently and quickly, it was Maes, and Roy trusted him to make sure that Stadt would find the time for a meeting. More often than not, his superior officers were more like annoyances than allies, but some generals had their uses. The office was a haven of calm, but even within its walls there were signs of disarray. Papers had been dislodged from the desks, and someone?s mug had fallen from the shelf and smashed into jagged pieces on the floor. The cupboard doors had been shaken open to hang as wide as a bird's spread wings, while the filing cabinets showed drab glimpses of plain brown folders within their drawers. With a sigh, he walked over to one of the bigger cupboards and grabbed a uniform shirt that was folded neatly in its confines. It did not take long to put it on and, although it was still stiff with starch, it was better than the chafe of his jacket against his bare skin. Hastily, he grabbed a black pen and filled in a scuff on his left boot. There was no time for a full inspection now, but any obvious uniform infractions would only turn General Stadt cold and distant. Roy needed the man to see things from his point of view, not get caught up with fastidious demands for perfection. The outer office door jerked open as Breda, Havoc, Falman and Fuery staggered in, followed at a more sedate pace by Hughes. They were all wearing the jittery expressions of men torn abruptly from sleep, but they stood to attention as they waited for Roy?s instructions. He skimmed his eyes along the line, checking each of them over with his usual care as he considered his options. ?Breda, I need you to check over the existing plans for emergency procedures. See if any clause was included that would allow us to overrule general orders from the Fuhrer. Falman, try and get this office cleared up. Fuery, I need you to call down to the communications base and check that they don?t need your help with repairs. If they?re all right then help Breda. Havoc -? He hesitated, noticing the stiff way the lieutenant was moving his arm and the deep shadows under his eyes. ?Are you fit for duty?? Jean nodded, rolling his shoulder experimentally before giving a shrug. ?The paramedics said my arm wasn?t that bad, but it hurts like a bitch, sir.? ?Can you st...
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