Morphed

Chapter Twenty Six

This was supposed to be a lot longer, but screw it, it's been almost two months since the last update, so here it is, the bane of my existence. For those skeptics, congratulations, you were right. Confused? Read on, you'll find out. For those who believed...well...sorry. It's all gone to shit. :3

Love you guys. Oh, also, something huge is coming up in the next few chapters, so keep your eyes peeled. :D

~Kala.

Previously:

They were both left broken from this, but Ed wouldn't let it stay that way. They'd fight it, fight the Homunculi, and avenge the man who had meant the world to both of them. They could do this.

Mustang gave him a fierce stare in response and nodded. "Together." He said. For a moment, Ed thought he saw something like fire light up Mustang's eyes. But then, as if he was battling some physical darkness within him, the fire started to flicker again. "But...not tonight."

Ed leaned back and Mustang let go of his wrists and stood, leaving without a word, not commenting once on the broken wall.

No, not tonight. Tonight he could be broken, one last time.

But tomorrow?

Tomorrow, vengeance.

././././.

Blame it on me,
Set your guilt free.
Nothing can hold you back now.

~Lacrymosa (Evanescence)

././././.

As it turned out, tomorrow wasn't the day for vengeance either.

Edward and Mustang had spent the entire day combing the city, but the homunculi were not to be found. They isolated themselves, waited, but nothing came. They searched everywhere they could think of - everywhere but...that place. Edward wasn't ready to go back down there yet, so he didn't tell Mustang about it. If he did, the man's blind rage, a rage that was slowly building until it was near tangible, would drive him to go down there without preparing himself, and then what?

By the end of the day, they'd come up with nothing, and had felt a quiet mix of anger and exhaustion. Once they got home and showered, Roy announced he was going out, and that Ed should stay here. "Where?" Ed had asked.

"Bar." Had been his brief response before he'd walked out the door and left Ed alone.

Ed fell onto the couch, exhausted, and put his head in his hands, massaging his temples. After sitting for a few moments in silence, he ended up grabbing an action novel off of Mustang's shelf and reading it by the lamp. He stayed awake late into the night reading about the adventures of an assassin girl in a glass castle, and when his eyes began to sting he looked up at the clock to discover it was well into the morning. Three forty two a.m. Shit. God he was tired.

Just one more chapter.

Maybe just another.

It was well past four thirty in the morning, and Ed had found a scrap piece of paper to use as a bookmark. He'd just been about to head off to his room to go to bed when Mustang came crashing through the door, completely shitfaced, stumbling over his own feet. He dropped his keys twice and Ed was too stuck in place to help him. He'd heard stories from Breda and Havoc of how Mustang could get when he was drunk, but he'd never actually witnessed it.

It was scary.

One moment he was stumbling over his feet, struggling to lock the door and take off his coat, but the moment his eyes locked with Ed's, his entire demeanor changed.