This is the final chapter. It may be a while until I post again, as I'm working on a FMA big bang. So when that one is done, no long waits for posts.

Chapter 24

Aftermath

Roy wasn't paying much attention as some of the Eastern Command soldiers hoisted him onto a stretcher. "His body's still in shock," Ed said, sounding strangely distant at the moment. "She tried to break it down multiple times, so be careful with him." Roy wanted to argue that she'd done the same to Ed, that Roy knew this for fact because he'd gotten a strange view into the blond's mind, his memories. Unfortunately, he didn't have the power or strength to vocalize those thoughts or tell Ed that he needed treated as well. The younger man had once again experienced having his automail arm ripped off. Roy knew well enough by now that having that automail torn off like that hurt Ed and did damage to the younger man's nerves.

He could feel a hand now brushing aside his hair as the stretcher moved. He glanced up to see Ed was walking stiffly at his side. Roy knew he didn't deserve that either. Ed looked down at him for a moment and gave Roy a reassuring smile, which made him glance away to once again look for any sign of a dark-haired boy or the muscular alchemist.

"Armstrong'll find him," Ed's voice rasped quietly as they moved through the winding catacomb-like basement. The teen was still covered in blood and looked like he'd been run through the ringer, but he was trying to assure Roy. And his hand continued to rub at either Roy's shoulder or his head, a presence that was likely the only thing keeping Roy sane as he waited and tried to hope.

With some struggling to find his voice, despite the pain that the shouting of earlier had caused his throat. "You're sure that he's not... here somewhere?" Roy hadn't gotten to see much more than that single room where Karen performed her alchemy. Looking around now, at the cages where some of the chimeras still resided, he had to wonder if one of them held his son.

"I won't believe it," Ed said with certainty. "Not until I see it for myself. And you shouldn't either."

"Not that I want to either," he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to will away the thoughts of the worst that could have happened. History seemed to prove that Roy deserved to suffer. Good things didn't tend to happen to him. His eyes scanned the cages, as though trying to find some signs that they might contain a chimera that might contain his son.

"He's not there," Ed said as they ascended the stairs leading from the basement area. "He's not down here. Try just once to have a little hope." It was still dark out, but there were the faintest bits of rising sun. It had taken some time to get them out of that place, taken some time to comb the area before they removed Roy from the secured transmutation area. He hadn't realized until now just how much.

He could see the faintest fingers of light spreading through the sky. It was almost beautiful to finally see daylight.

"Sir?" a woman asked, and Roy nearly told them that this wasn't the time to be asking him for orders. To his surprise, he saw that the soldier was addressing Ed. "Sir, what do we do with the chimeras? I was told you knew how to deal with them."

Ed nodded. "I'll see to that in a few moments."

"What are you going to do?" Roy ventured to ask.

"I'll let you know when I decide."

It would be difficult, Roy knew. After all, Ed had known chimeras who had been more than functioning, and in the same breath, Nina Tucker had been in agonizing pain. From what Roy understood, most of the chimeras Karen created were the latter, rather than the former, or they were little more than blood-thirsty, strong animals, but that wouldn't make giving the execution order any easier

It was a decision Roy should have made to spare his lover. He knew that. Besides, Ed needed medical attention. Why not leave it up to Armstrong?

But Armstrong was investigating the house.

But then, Roy realized that no, the man wasn't.

He was leaving the front door of Karen's home and Roy strained to see if the man was alone

"Daddy!" a voice cried out as Armstrong moved out of the path of the door and Roy watched as the darkheaded mop bounced with each jogging step. Never had the military man thought there had been a more pleasant sight in the world as that of his son in a pair of black and white striped pajamas running down the back lawn with his arms out and happy tears on his face

"Stop!" Roy commanded the men carrying him on the stretcher, finding his strength back. "Stop walking. Let him catch up!"

"Faith is an amazing thing," Ed said. "And so, apparently, is your kid."

The stretcher was lowered to the ground and Roy soon found himself pounced by his son. The boy's iron grip was tight as his arms wrapped around Roy's neck. "You're okay! You're here and you're okay."

"Of course I am," Roy said as he wrapped his arms around Liam's back. "Of course. If I couldn't take care of myself, Ed definitely could." He smiled. "What about you? What did your mother do when she got you back?"

"She was getting me ready to move to Drachma." His eyes scanned the people coming out of the basement area. Roy took the moment to take in the sight of his son, from his straight black hair that hung into his brown eyes to his freckled cheeks and pale skin. There was something frantic in the way that he looked back at the house and at the doorway from which Roy and Ed had come. "Is she going to jail, Dad?"

Roy took a deep breath and tried to prepare himself for how to answer. "Liam… they tried to get her to stop, but in the fighting and everything, Karen was…" He couldn't say that while Karen was torturing him, one of Roy's own people, one whom Liam liked, shot Karen dead. "Your mother died, Liam."

"No," Liam whimpered. "No, no, she can't be. Mom…" He rubbed his eyes, fighting off the tears once more. "No, Dad. Don't let it be true," Liam begged as though his father had the ability to alter the course of events and to change the world. Even Roy found himself wishing it was true.

"I'm sorry," Roy said, letting his son bury his head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Liam."

"Mommy," his son cried into Roy's uniform, only to look up and see the body bags beginning to be hauled out and cry louder. It broke Roy's heart. It was a hurt that he couldn't fix for his son, no matter how much he might try. He couldn't give him back the mother that he loved and he couldn't take away the pain of knowing there was no longer a chance she might at least become the parent she'd once been.

Ed walked away at that, feeling it was better to deal with the chimeras than get involved in this family moment. Though he'd gotten attached to Liam, he knew that the boy needed to be with his father. He'd lost his mother, and sometimes he didn't doubt that had he had his father there with him and Al, they wouldn't have attempted a human transmutation.

"Sir?" the soldier asked who had approached him earlier. "Do you know what we should do with the chimeras?" Ed saw Armstrong approaching, and though Al was within earshot, he didn't bother flagging his brother over for his opinion nor did he bother to send him away so he didn't hear what the inevitable was. He knew that Al would want to spare them all, and that simply wasn't an option.

"Armstrong!" he called out, bringing the tall man over. "Good job, first of all, in getting Liam back here."

"It looks as though his mother was finally proving herself to be one," the man said. "His good condition is due to her treatment." Which proved it had all been some set up to get Roy there.

Ed nodded. "I need your opinion on what to do with the chimeras. Some are capable of speech, but do you think this is something the military can deal with?"

Armstrong thought for a few moments. "I don't know that we can. The last time the military had chimeras, that didn't end well. Admittedly, they were caged up like animals for some time, and they still managed to be more human than some current soldiers for the military. However, I'm just not sure."

"Have we found any with higher intelligence?" Ed asked the soldier.

"Just the tiger," the woman said. "And he isn't saying anything other than how much it hurts and asking for his mother. She didn't seem to be working on many with actual intelligence. Just brute soldiers."

"Then the answer is simple. I'll create a gas. We'll flood the tunnels with it. It will kill them painlessly."

"I can create it, Edward," Armstrong said. "You need to get treated by the medical team."

"Brother…" Al's voice said tentatively from behind. "You can't mean to just kill them."

Ed turned and smiled sadly at Al. "It has taken a long time to realize it, but I know now that Scar did us a favor by putting Nina out of her misery. I could never have done it. The military would have tested her. She'd have been in pain, just like the chimeras down there all are right now."

Al closed his eyes. Ed knew that expression; he'd worn it often enough. Al was trying to deny that what Ed was saying was absolutely correct. And at the same time, he was trying not to see Ed as some kind of monster for plotting the deaths of all of those once-humans in the basement. The fact that Al wasn't putting up more of a fight told Ed that at least a small part of his little brother that knew he was right. That small part would have to win out over the rest so that Al didn't resent Ed later for making this decision.

"If you know of the transmutation, Alex," Ed said, preferring to use the man's first name given the current circumstances, "then I'd be fine with you doing it." He glanced over at Roy and Liam as the older man was still holding and trying to comfort his son.

Despite everything that had been done to the boy, he still loved his mother just because she was his mother. And perhaps, up until this point, she really was the good mother that Roy had suspected she had been and that people in the town still swore she was. It would be difficult for the boy to reconcile that image of the woman his mother had once been with what she'd done to him, that she'd dome something so terrible she'd been killed for it.

At least Ed's memories of his mother were clear. She had been a wonderful woman whose life had been taken because a disease. His memories of her remained intact. He only hoped that Liam never blamed his father. He was certain that would kill them both in the long run.

There were still a few questions left, such as how Karen had found out about the transfer of the tattoo and where things would stand now between himself and Roy. For now, he watched as Armstrong heading back to the basement door and drawing a circle on the ground.

"Brother," Al's voice said quietly, "why don't you go for treatment and to get that blood off of you?"

Seeing his brother's nearly spotless hand reaching out for his own bloody one, Ed managed the faintest smile and took it.

The train ride home was a quiet one, as Roy, Ed and Liam shared a compartment. Despite cramped quarters and a spare bed, the three spent the ride sound asleep. The older men hadn't spoken of those moments underground and what they witnessed as Karen attempted to combine their bodies. Instead, they all three needed the closeness of one another and the reassurance they were all still very much alive.

It would be the only real respite that the three would have for some time. The return to Amestris would present them with higher ups wanting to know more about the late Major Tyler's research and how close Amestris had come to facing off against a Drachman army of chimeras.

Liam would take some time to get back to his usual self, and Ed the cat would take the better part of a year to warm up to Roy, though he obviously liked the other Ed immediately. Smiles would come from the boy more and more as days turned to weeks turned to months.
Roy's team would do them the favor of moving all of the blond's belongings back to the house while the alchemists would become preoccupied by the countless reports to the military. There would be no more secrets about what Shou Tucker had done nor Karen. Nearly everyone in the military agreed that the secrets were what had allowed Karen to get away with performing the transmutations. No one had known what to look for, though all the signs now seemed obvious. There would be some of the higher-ups who would argue that keeping a secret was what prevented more from trying to perform the transmutations, but most would be swayed to see the perspective of those who had seen Karen's chimera army. The era of stamping a generic banned label on certain transmutations would be coming to an end in favor of the same label and an explanation of why.

In Central, Melissa Rosenberg was already in the process of firing one of her nurses for performing an unauthorized check for chicken pox on Liam, when instructions had been clear that Melissa was the only one allowed to see him. The nurse would soon find that her ax to grind against Roy would lead to prison for her with her former employer gladly testifying against her. Riza, so pleased with her lover's protective nature over Roy and Liam would take the final step to move in with the good doctor and get ready for the birth of their son, Kiefer.

Lieutenant Everett would ask to be transferred to Central to work under Ed's command. Though not an alchemist, he would offer an outside perspective on the state alchemy program and eventually learn more about the science than some alchemists.

The whirlwind that was Winry Rockbell would visit and repair Ed's automail and fall absolutely in love with little Liam and plans for a trip to Risembool to visit Al and Winry would be made before she was at the alchemists' home for more than a few hours. Both Ed and Roy would know that if they didn't visit, didn't keep in touch, it would be only upon the risk of death.

But for now…

Roy's eyes opened slowly to look across his son's dark head to the pale eyelashes of his lover. As he was able to focus on the larger picture, he took in the golden-toned skin and soft-yet-masculine features that he loved and could nearly draw from memory.

"You're staring," Ed said, cracking open just one amber eye.

"I love you," Roy blurted out without any sort of preamble.

Ed's other eye opened impossibly large, though Roy wasn't sure why. Ed had to have seen Roy's memories, heard the thoughts as though they were his own. More than once Roy knew in those memories he looked at Ed as his lover, his love.

"You tell me this now with your son asleep between us?" Ed hissed back in a whisper.

"Can't think of a better time." He looked at Ed anxiously.

"You know, I should hold off for a few moths from saying it back like you did to me," Ed said. "Lucky for you I'm not a sadistic bastard like you." Ed moved forward just enough to press his lips to Roy's. "I love you too. Idiot."

"You or me?" Roy responded with a smirk.

Ed rolled his eyes, but refused to answer.

As far as the blond was concerned, the grin that lit up Roy's face made the arguments and putting up with the secrets worth it. He was as much of a fool, loving Roy the way he did, but hell, as long as they were fools together—honest ones—then it didn't matter.

He watched as the exhaustion overtook the older man once again, the grin becoming a dreamy smile, and felt the boy between them sigh quietly, though he was still out. For once not arguing with the general consensus, Ed relinquished himself to sleep.