Yes, I am changing chapter seven, have fun with it! I do not own! To be honest, if I don't start getting more reviews I might just stop the story all together. This chapter is longer than the others, so enjoy!

I do not own.

Chapter 7

Automail recovery took around a year sometimes two. After about six months, Edward had gotten sick and tired of sitting around, by eight he was ready to set the house on fire, and by the time a year (and a half) passed by he was ready throw himself off a bridge. It had been a lonely year.

He was beyond help, he decided. His father had long left for work, something he was grateful for, and his fridge was stocked full of food, but…

"You don't want to get fat, do you?" his ugly father once told him. "You're already undesirable. Who would want you?" he asked in a sing-song tone. He was taunting him, Edward knew, but every time he thought about eating while they were away, it came back up.

"Your mother was thin and beautiful, don't you want that?"

'She was thin and sick,' he thought. Ed slumped down into his wheelchair and closed his eyes. Thinking for him either did too much or not enough, in this case he needed to rest his blonde would call Leslie and Carmen every now and then, out of loneliness and pure boredom. Not many words would be said due to all the business they were getting now.

After Amestris heard that one of General Stevens's sons used Taylor & Sons automail, their business boomed dramatically. People from around the country could come all the way to uneventful East City for automail. They'd made so much profit they set up another shop in Rush Valley.

But, Ed had so much pent up energy and he was so bored. The blonde wanted to burst through their door screaming for attention and affection. He had every right too.

'How dare they not pay attention to me?' Ed thought angrily. He sighed heavily. 'I need to calm down…'

The miniature mansion was ghostly when no one was there. The lights were mostly off and the only thing Ed was allowed to do was watch old episodes of The Brady Brunch. God, he felt like such an old woman.

Things settled down bit by bit. Alphonse was going to school, Heidrich was off at work during the day (along with his father), and Resembool had been knocked off the map-

What?

The blonde turned his wheelchair around and turned up the volume on the TV. His eyebrows furrowed as he focused his eyes on the television in front of him.

It was a map of Amestris, specifically the eastern province. It wasn't what was on the map, but what wasn't.

He drowned put the sounds of some blonde and blue-eyed reporter spouting nonsense and focused on the words at the bottom of the screen.

New industrial area coming to Eastern Province.

The map showed a large red area where the "brand new" city would be built.

Right over Resembool and Ishval.

The two towns had been completely slaughtered by rebellion. Ed could still smell the strong stench of burning flesh and blood. He shivered at the thought. It had been well over 90° that day. It felt like everything was baking.

But, the scene in front of him made him bite his lip and clenched his fists, the metal making a small scratching sound against itself. He felt anger flow into his veins and suddenly he wished he'd never left home.

Alphonse didn't particularly like school. Out was boring and he sometimes had trouble paying attention. He wondered why he even went to school. Ed would just re-teach everything to him after his afternoon snack.

Edward was a genius for a boy that was only ten. Alphonse had a new respect for his brother. It felt like there wasn't anything the bit didn't know. It was to be expected of someone that read nearly half of the books in the city library in two years.

"Welcome home, Al."

The younger smiled and greeted him back, setting his books near the door. He was dressed in an army green t-shirt and a pair of khaki cargoes, his skin tanned and his sightless eyes unfocused.

"How was your day?"

"It was so boring, brother! Nothing's the same without you there with me," he whined. "I mean, I have Winry to keep me company during Ms. Hygen's math class, but-"

Edward didn't hear anything past the name Winry. Al had mentioned her a few times, but only enough for Ed to remember her name. Al rambled on and on, but the only thing her heard was Winry, Winry, Winry and her beautiful voice. Al stopped talking and Ed found himself trying to catch up with what he said.

"Brother? You listening?"

"Yeah," he lied. "What'd you need, Al?"

"I was just asking if you could help me out with integers.

Ed raised an eyebrow, not that alphonse could see it.

"Yeah? I kinda missed everything that happened in math today," he said sheepishly, a hand scratching his hair.

"Yeah, sure. But, you know, Al," he said. "You never seem to know anything in math. Any reason why?" he teased.

The blind boy knew he was blushing from the heat he felt in his face and the snicker from across the room. "W-Well-"

"I wonder if it has anything to do with this Winry girl…"

"N-No, that's not it at all, brother!"

"Mhm," he answered not listening. "Sure it isn't."

"What are we talking about?" a new voice chimed. Both boys looked over in the direction of the sound before a sigh came from Edward.

"Heidrich, don't do that," he said in an irritated tone. He glared at his older brother, the blue-eyed boy grinning all the while.

Heidrich was still a major, a highly honored Major. His work with medicinal alchemy combined with the genius of the Rockbell doctors saved many lives in Ishval despite the dirt on his hands from destroying someone from the inside out.

He'd grown a few inches, four at most, and his hair was set in an undercut style.

"What are you two going on about this time?" he asked heading into the kitchen.

"Nothing-"

"Al has a crush!" they said at the same time.

The blind boy squeaked and Ed smirked, a mischievous glint in his golden eyes.

"Ah, her name's Winifred, right?"

"Winry, Hei," Al groaned.

The blonde whistled and chuckled to himself quietly, his younger brother letting out a groan. Alphonse blushed more before sitting on the couch, a pout and glare settling itself onto his face. "Well, what about you? How was your day, brother?"

"Do you even have to ask? All I did was count how many hours went by," he groaned. "There's not much to do here, and I can't wait to get out of this wheelchair!"

Heidrich laughed at his impatient younger brother,"You'll be out of it, soon enough. In fact, I think Charles said something about it earlier." He set the carrots and potatoes onto the stove. "Yo, Ed!" he called out from the kitchen.

"What?"

"Fix dinner! I'm going out! Watch Al!"

"'Kay!"

With that, Heidrich left the two boys to their devices and went out to meet up with some woman that Ed couldn't remember the name of. She was pretty from what he could gather from the one time they'd met. She wasn't ugly, she was more on the average side, only a little attractive. She had a bad haircut, but Hei liked her anyway.

And just as planned, Ed helped Alphonse with his homework, integers suddenly made a lot more sense when Winry wasn't around to distract him. The blonde chopped up the vegetables on the counter and threw mix in the oven for cornbread. Charles came home not long after dinner was done and Edward looked between his father and brother, his form between the two at the dinner table.

'I'm the median. I'm the only one keeping him from Al.'

"Edward," his deep voice resounded.

The blonde flinched a little, but not enough to be noticed.

Charles was not a happy man by any means. Ever since Ishval fell, the country had a yearly budget, but with the new industrial town that was being built. The only thing left was to actually build it, which by now all of Amestris knew would cost a fortune. At this point, he was constantly switching his personalities, he sometimes feared that he'd do it while he-

"Edward," he said with more force.

He'd already switched.

"Yes, father?" he asked shakily.

Fear rose within the blonde, but he didn't show it. Not unless he was told to. He didn't mean to visibly tense when his father touched his shoulder. Alphonse saw the way he backed away and held his brother's hand. Gold eyes met hazel and Ed smiled. "I'm fine, it just stings sometimes that's all," he whispered to his younger brother.

"You might be able to get rid of the wheelchair soon. Are you excited?"

Edward's eyes lit up with excitement. "Really?"

Charles smiled and nodded before continuing to eat. The door opened and Heidrich sat down at the table with a sigh. His father looked at him expectantly. "Hello," he said in an irritated tone.

"I take that your little meeting didn't go too well."

"We're passing it off to the higher-ups. It'll probably be in your lap by next week."

Charles glared at him, but Heidrich only shrugged. "It's not my fault they're all idiots. The only one that actually understood what I was saying was Mustang."

Ed's head lifted at the mention of the man's name. The blonde hadn't talked to him in a year and hadn't seen him in five months. Roy Mustang came by every now and then, but after he started questioning Ed and Al about their relationship with their father, Charles suddenly didn't want him to talk to them anymore. Both of them had been sorely disappointed; Mustang was a great person to talk about alchemy with.

His father's eyebrows furrowed a little before turning back to what was left on his plate. "Is he trustworthy?"

The two youngest boys at the table went wide-eyed and looked at each other. Did they have a reason to not be trusted?

"I'd like to think so."

There was a silence that went through the room and the youngest Elrics had to pretend they didn't hear anything. It's not as if they knew what was going on. Edward didn't like to get involved in military affairs. Alphonse, however, was a nosy little thing that didn't know how to stay in his lane.

"Is something bad going to happen?" he asked.

Heidrich and Charles looked down at the youngest boy, then at each other. They turned back to him with smiles that Al knew were fake. "No, nothing bad is going to happen. But, I do think it's time for you to go to bed."

"What?" Al whined.

"You heard me. Ed, isn't time for your therapy session?"

The blonde froze before nodding. When Ed had first gotten his automail, Taylor offered to give him physical therapy and Charles immediately declined. Ed, of course, didn't completely understand why until the first session and the one after that.

"Oh, I'd almost forgotten!" Charles said with a smirk. Ed shivered and rolled himself away from the table and into the room. It was routine now. Heidrich took Al upstairs and watched an old cartoon with him until he fell asleep with Al by his side.

Ed pulled himself onto the small platform. He always thought they were supposed to be soft, but it felt like a counter top. Charles always told him to put a pillow or two under him, just below his waist and sometimes in the center of his back. It wasn't any more comfortable than before, if anything it made it worst. His head felt like it had been slammed against concrete.

"Now, spread your legs like this," he said with an encouraging smirk. He bent his son's leg back to his chest.

"I-It hurts," the boy whimpered. It was completely agonizing, but Charles had done worse. He'd force himself into his stepchild who-knows-how-many times, and Ed knew it'd only be a another line for the infinite amount of tally marks.

The golden boy sniffed and sobbed as quietly as he could throughout the ordeal. It was agonizingly slow, a burning itch inside of him. He would moan sometimes, but he held them back the best he could. They always made Charles be a little rougher with him.

His father had put him back into the chair and rolled him into his own room. It was a dark shade of blue, Ed and Trisha's favorite color. The blonde pulled himself onto his bed, wincing at the pain in his backside, tears gathering in his eyes. Edward looked at the nightstand next to his bed. There was phone.

He could call someone. At first, Ed didn't have anything more than a book and a bed. But as the years had gone by, Charles had rewarded him with various gifts, buying his silence. And in the process bought him a phone and trusted him enough not to call the police unless absolutely necessary. He barely got away with talking to Leslie.

Was this necessary?

Before long, Al would be the next victim.

The blonde trembled in his bed before rolling over to the phone.

He picked up the phone and don't hesitate to dial the number he memorized at the age of six. He hoped he'd never have to call the man. He probably wouldn't even remember him let alone pick-

"Hello?"

It had been a woman's voice to answer the phone. She sounded soft and caring, like his own mother. Ed heard a crying baby is the background and the shuffling of feet, the mother attempting to calm the baby in her arms. Ed felt his chest clench again.

"Jalen, I'll be there in a moment! Hoenhiem, someone's on the phone! Peter, stop drawing on the walls, and, Jasmine, if you don't-"

The blonde waited silently for his father to pick up the phone. He hasn't talk to the man in years, and when he did it was from the stray letter that would come across his vision once a year.

"Hoenhiem speaking…"

Edward suddenly lost his voice. He didn't have any resentment towards to the man, not enough to be relevant towards his relationship with him, or lack thereof.

But, he needed someone to blame for his position.

"Hoehiem?" he whispered into the phone. It was more of a question than an answer. The man didn't sound any older than the day he first left. If anything he sounded younger.

'Happier.'

"Hello? Anyone there?" when no reply came, and Ed heard the click of the line going dead.

He wished he was.

I'm alive so. Yeah...but, in the next chapter, Ed will most likely be able to walk around a little bit without the chair. And then well...things happen.

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