The Cripple

Chapter One

The Inspection

"A health inspection?" Roy asked as he flipped through the file on his desk. It was terribly thin and old as if no one even bothered to update its contents in ages. Most of it was composed of pictures of the buildings he was supposed to inspect, but only the outside he had noticed. Only a couple papers from previous inspections were clipped within the file, but they provided little information aside from the date. The most recent inspection was nearly a decade ago. Though he understood that this facility was in dire need of an inspection, he didn't see why he of all people had to do it.

"I don't even know anything about health regulation. This isn't even in my field," Roy tried to reason but he was just met with the steady gaze of his subordinate who was already prepared to counter any excuse he had.

"It is now, sir. Orders from the General. He wants us to check out the New Heissgart Village. It is due for an inspection and someone needs to do it," Lieutenant Hawkeye stated flatly as she stood at ease on the opposite side of his desk.

"Well that's obvious," he huffed and waved the nearly empty file in the air as if to prove a point. "But why me?"

"Us, sir. Lieutenant Havoc, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, and I are coming as well."

"I could see why Maes is going, he is an investigations specialist, but why us then?" Roy complained. No one, absolutely no one wants to be a health inspector. Roy heard some of the frightening stories of dinners that moved and cat sized sewer rats from Maes, though he bet some of them were exaggerated. Even when put under question, no one in the investigations department would have raised their hand for a weekend health inspection. Riza rolled her eyes in great annoyance with him as he flipped blindly through the files, only glancing over the thin contents.

"This is all because you didn't complete your paperwork for this month. As usual punishment holds, you would have had to go over to Northern Command for a week's worth of training, but General Grumman filed for this instead," she told him. Roy growled to himself and massaged his face in his hands. He knew he should never have procrastinated on his work. He was always good at getting it done, even if it was right before the deadline but now it all just caught up on him and bit him in the ass. Briggs was no joke when it came to training and it was the punishment to any soldier who didn't get their work done or dodged a drill weekend. Being late to anything, even if it was just a simple paper could actually ruin a mission. It was the difference between an affirmative on a strike or an abort. No matter what, Roy always got his paperwork done because he knew the damages it could have, but it was just too much this time around. Even with his double all-nighter it still took another day to finish it all and that was the one day it was due. He missed the deadline for the first time in his career.

Roy looked down at the file on his desk. As a punishment for not filing his paperwork, they just gave him more. Tired and exhausted, he was relieved and actually very grateful that Grumman didn't send him up to Briggs to battle it out with the Ice Queen herself, but he couldn't stand the sight of more paperwork, let alone having to perform a 'health inspection'. But with how tiny the file was and how vague its contents were, it couldn't be that much work, could it? All of the previous reports were all limited to a couple words; In Good Standards. There was probably nothing to report. Little did he know, he couldn't have been more wrong.

….

Roy got out of the car and gazed around at the large green fields that made up the small town of New Heissgart. The only thing this town served as was a small train station between the Central Province and the Eastern Province of Amestris. The town only held a few civilians, mostly small family farmers that left most of the land unused. Because of this, the scenery was beautiful. It was long and covered in pastures between the clumps of trees and forest which were always a wealthy green.

They had travelled through these long fields and forests a few miles out of what could be called a town, to the Heissgart Village. It wasn't a real village since that was located down the hill where the farmers lived and where the train station was located, but that was what it was called. Heissgart Village was an accumulation of different sized intricate brick buildings that would serve as both a hospital and a home for mentally impaired citizens. It was practically a small 'town' in a sense, where the patients could live peacefully and be cared for easily. That at least was what Roy read in the small files. He never knew this place existed. It was so far out, so isolated that he didn't doubt very few people have heard of it.

Their group was current parked on the single dirt road that led in and out of the facility, staring up at what seemed to be the administrations building. It was large and had white steps that lead up from the huge green lawn. As his subordinates and friend studied their location, Roy looked around. He thought it quite odd that on a bright and beautiful summers day, where the wind was softly bristling, and the sun was the perfect temperament, there was no one to be seen roaming outside. It was completely barren. He saw a few nameless faces poking out of the windows to stare at the new arrivals, but they were closed, and the people weren't smiling. It was eerily quiet.

A chill ran up Roy's spine as he tried to shake the dark feeling off his shoulders. It was just a stupid health inspection. That was all. He was sure to find nothing. As they grabbed their satchels of paperwork out of the car, Roy heard his friend grumble under his breath.

"Mustang, I can't believe you got us into this one," he heard Hughes sigh.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Roy huffed without looking at the man, completely catching the man off guard as if he wasn't expecting to be heard.

"Roy, no one, absolutely no one in the Investigations Office wanted to do a health inspection on Heissgart Village. It's just… no one ever finds anything here, but… you feel it don't you?" Roy nodded his head absently, letting his friend know that he understood. There was a feeling in the air which was unable to be placed. It was like the feeling one gets when they know something should be there but isn't and yet can't figure out what the original object was. It was just wrong, and Roy didn't like it. It seemed that everyone could agree on that statement. Hughes shook his head seeming to clear his mind of the odd sensation and took a step so he was in front of their little group.

"Alright, the sooner we are out of here, the better. My wife is cooking dinner tonight and I don't want to miss it," the man said cheerily trying to lighten the mood with more banter about his family. Roy saw Havoc roll his eyes at the man's pride in being a family man. Hughes cleared his throat and started to instruct their group on basic inspections. "Mustang, Havoc, you do a sweep of the outside, Hawkeye and I will go inside to talk to the nurses and staff. Look for anything dangerous like suspicious plants, rusted nails, loose guide rails, something like that. Come find us if you get anything. If we work quick and everything is as it usually is, this shouldn't take more than a couple hours."

With that said, the Lieutenant Colonel and Roy's first Lieutenant left for the main building. Hughes practically dragging Hawkeye all the way because at her pace he might have missed the appetizers his wife was sure to make. Roy reached in and removed a pen from his satchel and started a scan down the east lawn with Havoc right on his tail. He was looking on the ground for any hazardous objects while Havoc was looking at the outside structure of the buildings to make sure there was nothing wrong with them. They only found one loose railing between the first two buildings on a handicap ramp. Other than that, Roy felt like he had just been taking a rather long admiration of the hospital's grass.

"If put to the test they could definitely win best lawn of the year award," Roy joked lightly and Havoc returned it with a light chuckle.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong here except for a few railings, but that's supposed to be expected from an old building. Easy fixes for sure," the Lieutenant noted as they crossed the road towards the other section of the Village which had a small tree cover. These buildings seemed to have changed from Administration to more of the actual facilities. Dormitories, cleaning houses, and some of unknown use were here. "I am starting to agree with Hughes on this, Colonel," he heard Havoc comment as they started to scan around the first building. "This is just… it's too quiet."

They split off on their separate paths as Havoc took the building perimeters and Roy took the greens. The grass was long but not overgrown, making a nice soft matt for anyone to relax on. In a perfect day like it was, the offer seemed almost tempting to Roy. The afternoon was too perfect to be spent on a stupid investigation. The sun was out and a nice breeze shifted through the leaves of the trees causing a soft rustling wave to calm his skin which felt like it wanted to crawl off him. Though peaceful, there was something about the village that made the thought of laying down and relaxing inconceivable.

The Village was so absent of life that Roy would have imagined walking through a cemetery to be livelier. In a city, even barren roads had some sort of sound to it; music escaping open windows, laughter from far off conversations. Heissgart was the absense of everything Roy understood. The sooner he got out of it, the better. However, just as Roy thought of how quickly the investigation could be done, a sudden giggle of laughter shattered the frozen existence that he had summed the Village up to be. It was a child's voice, the first sign of life he had seen all day aside from the people who were one his investigations team. He scanned the lawn and saw that the laughter was coming from a little golden-haired boy, no older than five or six, sitting stark naked on the summer grass. Roy was taken back as to why the boy didn't have any clothes on, but he noticed a small smile on the kid as he seemed to be pulling the soft blades of grass out of the lush lawn. The kid seemed to be genuinely enjoying his stay outside and was completely oblivious to his own indecency.

Roy quietly approached the kid and the closer he got the more he seemed to notice about him, or rather less. The child was young, very young, and though still small, he was far too thin for anyone his age to be. His rib cage was very prominent, and the only explanation Roy could come up with was malnutrition which was impossible if they were in a hospital. He should have been properly fed there. There was no reason for him to be so small. Not only that but Roy noticed that stumps of residual limbs were left on his right shoulder and left thigh where the rest of his limb was amputated. Scars looked puffy though they weren't new signaling poor healing. Roy was a little disturbed at how someone so young could have lost not only one, but two major body parts. He knew that accidents happened, but he never willed himself to believe they could happen to a child.

Roy looked around him for a second wondering how the child got out there in the first place. There was no sign of a nurse or anybody for that matter and any form of physical aid like a crutch or a wheelchair was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't believe that the kid had been left their unattended, or worse, crawled there by himself. He noted that he would have to bring some very important questions up to the staff the next opportunity he got. Roy wasn't a parent by any means. Infact, he couldn't stand children very much and most of them were afraid of him. But, he knew that for the child to be left here like this, so obviously sick with no help at all, something was very wrong indeed.

The boy didn't seem to know that he was there until Roy's shadow casted over him, blocking the sun from hitting his abnormally pale skin. The boy was startled a bit, seeing a sudden onset of darkness, and he turned his head up from his little game to see what had caused it. Two large golden eyes studied him for a second, a look of confusion and curiosity twisted on his face. However, after a split second, a bright smile had replaced it.

"Hello!" the little boy greeted him and suddenly made busy with clearing the grass down beside him. He started to toss a couple sticks aside and rearranged the odd piles of grass he had made. Roy thought it was an odd game he had made up. Seeming to have parted from the conversation nearly as rapidly as it began, Roy decided to try and continue in hopes that the child would too.

"Hello," he said hesitantly though he tried to keep his voice remaining soft. The kid didn't look up at him but continued to carefully balance himself as he reached over with his single arm and cleared one of the farther twigs from the small site. "I am Colonel Mustang, what's your name?"

"Edward!" the kid eagerly introduced himself. He brushed off the grass next to him and quickly pointed towards it. Roy looked at it curiously wondering what he wanted him to do until Edward used his single hand to pat the small area of turf beside him. It was then that Roy realized it wasn't a game, but rather Edward inviting him to sit down. Roy glanced hesitantly at the boy once before awkwardly sitting down next to him at his designated spot on his right side. Edward beamed at him and continued to pull grass out of the lush thick yard and sprinkle it around like it was confetti. The child started to pile some up on Roy's knee without asking as if starting a new construction project. Roy wanted to complain, not liking the grass on his uniform but it was then that he noticed that the small piles of grassed and clovers beside him were actually shaped. They were built up and hollowed out to make something like a bird's nest. Roy also realized that if he had been a little farther to the left he would have crushed the small sculpture that the kid probably spent much time making.

Roy didn't have much experience with kids nor did he really have a typical childhood to call back on for help. But, he assumed that Edward's offer of a seat wasn't anything to be taken lightly and crushing his little pile of grass wouldn't have helped anything. Roy was far too used to accidentally scaring children off simply because he didn't know how to handle himself around them. He was quite relieved to not scare the only sign of life he had witnessed all day. Maybe he could get some answers to the questions he was looking for. Sitting down next to Edward didn't seem to have any effect on him except make his smile bigger. Either he was doing something right or the boy wasn't easily frightened by strangers.

"Are you new?" the kid suddenly asked looking up at him with his wide golden eyes. His brows were furrowed in curiosity like he was trying to place him in his mind. Roy knew that he had never seen the boy before in his life, but Edward lived in such a small community with very few people, seeing a stranger would have been a rare occasion. Seeing someone who didn't work or live there, rarer.

"No, I am not a new patient," Roy replied much to the boy's obvious disappointment. "I am visiting for a day. Just doing a health inspection."

"Oh," the boy mumbled in discontent, an awkward silence filling in their gaping conversation. Edward's tiny fingers curled around the ends of long strands of grass but he didn't pull them out for his project. It seemed either he got bored or deemed his newest little bird nest completed even though it still remained a shapeless mass on Roy's knee.

Thinking it time to continue his mission, Roy pulled out his clipboard and pen that he held for his inspection. The boy watched him with sudden interest as he saw the new objects. There was a little gasp that escaped Edward's lips as he quickly dropped everything and quickly closed the small gap between them. The kid raised himself up on his single knee and leaned over Roy's arm to get a look at the paper he was holding. A little startled by the intrusion, Roy quickly turned the board away and scooted away from the kid to keep the distance they were at previously. Not only did Roy accidentally brush off the grass on his knee but Edward also lost his balance from his sudden motion and fell on his back, a small yelp of surprise escaping his lips.

The tension in the air after that was so thick one could cut it with a knife. Roy felt his heart freeze as he imagined the kid would start crying. His mind started to panic but instead of watering eyes or runny nose, Edward slowly pushed himself back up into a sitting position a downcast look on his face. The golden eyes glanced once to his crushed nest, then to Roy, before they rested back on the grass at his foot. There was no sign of crying, just disappointment from a false hope. Roy let out a breath as he realized chaos was avoided but with how normally Edward reacted to rejection, Roy felt like it was worse. He didn't want to claim it abnormal for a child his age because Roy didn't know too many kids to compare him too, but he felt like there was something missing. The silence was unsuspectingly sad. A wave of guilt built up in Roy's chest as he wrung his fingers around the clipboard in his hand. He knew he had to say something, but he didn't know what. Knowing something was better than nothing, Roy moved back over to the spot that Edward had originally delegated for him though know he felt unworthy of the position. After seeing that Edward didn't run off, though still not knowing if it was because he didn't want to or couldn't with his amputated leg, Roy cleared his throat to get the boys attention. Edward only spared him a small sad pout with his golden eyes which made Roy feel even worse.

"Uh, Edward, you wouldn't mind me asking you a few questions, would you?" Roy asked him awkwardly. The upset look on Edward's face returned to one of slight curiosity and the kid tilted his head as if that might make his question clearer to him. It didn't.

"Why?" Edward frowned at him.

"Because…" Roy dragged out trying to find an explanation, "It's a test! Yes, th-that's why you can't look at the board. I can't let you see the answers." The child's eyebrows raised in sudden surprise and his mouth dropped in a gasp. The rapid change in demeanor was not what Roy was expecting at all but he felt a little better about it than before.

"A-a test? But I didn't study!" the boy panicked as he seemed fooled by Roy's game. Roy laughed lightly and Edward turned slightly red, a slight pout coming over his face from the light embarrassment.

"No, this is a truth test. Just don't lie and you will pass easily," Roy said, hoping that the kid was gullible.

"I can do that!" Edward smiled, confidence brimming in him. It was a dorky smile but added to the golden eyes and hair it seemed to shine like the sun. Roy let out a breath, glad that he had both avoided disaster and gotten on with his conversation. He had a lot of questions he figured he could ask the kid. There were several things wrong with the Heissgart Village, that much was certain, but asking a patient might get to the heart of the situation. It felt more productive than staring at the lawn for a few hours while Hughes conducted the real investigation inside. Not only that, but Edward was sitting out on an open lawn by himself, naked, with no one around to help him. That aroused a million questions Roy had just about the kid alone.

"Alright first question," he said, jotting down a note and letting the boy prepare himself for it. Roy decided to start simple and obvious with a question that was itching his mind since he found the kid in the grass. "Edward, would you mind telling me why you aren't wearing your clothes?"

"Clothes?" the kid asked him in a puzzled voice. Roy was slightly taken aback from the boy's response. He thought it was rather easy to answer. Was it that he didn't know what clothes were? That possibly couldn't be it because the nurses obviously would be wearing them right?

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Roy restated his question a little more firmly than the last. He motioned towards his own attire incase the child still didn't understand. The golden eyes tracked his movement before Edward glanced down at his own bare skin with a frown. There was a long moment of silence and Roy thought that the boy wasn't going to answer him but he was soon corrected.

"I-I don't have any," Edward mumbled.

"Y-you don't have any?" Roy asked as if he didn't hear him right. Edward nodded his head and started to return to pulling grass out of the beautifully kept lawn. This time though, it was in disarray. There was no effort behind it, no nest to be made. It was an attempt to distract himself, hoping to return to the game he was playing before. It seemed that Roy's first question was something that Edward didn't want to talk about. Children his age were probably more focused on their favorite color or animal, not health. But the sudden way that Edward seemed to stop talking made Roy think that it was something else he was not aware of which made his mind drift back to the creepy feeling he had earlier. Edward obviously didn't want to continue the conversation, but Roy did if it meant understanding Heissgart just a little bit better. He nudged the kid a little farther.

"Edward, why don't you have any clothes?" He was met with silence for a short period, but the tension seemed to get even the best of Edward and he cracked first.

"Gone," he replied imagining it to be a more sufficient answer than it was.

"Gone where?" Edward's face scrunched up as he hesitated. An internal debate was fought within the small child's mind whether he should tell the truth or not. Roy quickly reminded him that it was a truth test and that seemed to push Edward's war in his favor.

"The East Ward." That was his final answer.

Roy frowned as he sketched down a couple words on his clipboard. No clothes, that wasn't on the list of things that Hughes had him look out for, but it had to be something. Why couldn't the hospital provide the boy with anything to protect himself with? He could only imagine what it would have been like for the boy in the winter time had he to go an entire year without them. Was it only him with no clothes or were there more kids without any? He looked around as if he would find more people for proof of this but there was no one else outside.

"Edward, why isn't there anyone else out here with you?" The boy seemed to freeze in his place as the question was said. The golden eyes widened as his mouth opened and closed trying to find a valuable answer to tell him, but Roy could tell that he was wracking his brain for anything but the truth.

"I-I'm…. I don't want to fail!" the boy whined suddenly, giving up on a lie that Roy realized he was trying to prepare. Roy pulled back as the kid suddenly burst out in what seemed to be guilt. The boy's eyes were bridged with tears that threatened to fall as if he was ashamed to have attempted a little white lie and too scared to tell the truth.

"What? No… why would I-"

"I'm not supposed to go o-outside. Th-they're going to g-give me my medicine if I am bad," Edward cried. "I'm s-sorry!"

"N-no, no, no," Roy quickly panicked as he tried to figure out how to make the boy calm down. He wasn't expecting such a simple question to produce a violent answer. It only confused him all of the more. Edward seemed damned, like he was waiting to get a scolding for just picking flowers. Roy didn't know how the nurses kept the little kids in line but he knew how foul medicine tasted. Nobody, not even grown adults could withstand the horrible flavor of medicine, no matter what it was. However, what really caught Roy's attention was how the kid thought he was going to get punished for simply going outside. Why did the nurses tell him to stay inside? Roy looked down to where the child was crying, tears streaming down his face. He didn't know how to calm children, but maybe if he talked enough he would get somewhere.

"Uh.. Edward I won't tell the nurses that you were outside. But… to do so I need to know why you aren't allowed outside so I will make sure not to accidentally bring it up," Roy quickly said, hoping that reasoning worked. However, the kid continued to cry and Roy internally started to scold himself for being such a bad adult. He didn't know how to talk to children at all. To spark some ideas he tried to imagine back to when he was little and what Madam Christmas would do to help calm him down. He realized that telling the kid to suck it up and then walking away probably was not the best way to go about things. Instead he decided to try the opposite approach. He hesitantly reached a hand out and patted the child's back awkwardly.

"Uh, quiet down now. Don't cry. I won't tell the nurses," Roy mumbled quietly, hoping that whatever words so happened to spew out of his mouth might just calm the child down. The crying turned into sniffles and Roy glanced down to see the little boy wiping his eyes with his one hand. His face was tear stained and flushed red. Edward hiccupped once and his golden eyes darted back to Roy's hand which was trying to comfort him the best he could. Roy didn't think he was doing too well of a job but it seemed to be working. The kid stared at it for a few minutes before tracing the arm back to its owner, a look of confusion onto his scared face. Seeing Roy, an expression wary hopefulness to them. Roy was a little taken back. It seemed Edward was just as used to being comforted as Roy was doing the comforting. It was an awkward fit, but it seemed to work.

"Promise?" Edward croaked out, his voice still thick from his crying fit before. Roy nodded his head but that didn't seem to be good enough to ease the child's fears.

"I promise," he confirmed. Edward looked around the grounds as if searching for any sign of the nurse, just to make sure that Roy's secret was safe and he wouldn't get a spoonful of medicine while he wasn't looking. He scooted a little closer to Roy and used his left arm to grab a secure hold of Roy's sleeve as if keeping by his side would protect him. After confirming the security of their location, Edward leaned in and motioned Roy down towards him. Hesitantly, Roy obeyed and leaned down a little bit so that he could hear what the boy wanted to tell him.

"They moved us out of the big place until dinner," he whispered. Roy was disturbed by what the child had said. The patients were not only ordered not to come out of their barracks rooms until dinner but moved from the main building and secluded to the lower campus for the duration of the inspection. Something was definitely going on and Roy didn't like it. He fumbled with the one hand that Edward was not holding hostage to quickly scribble down a note on his clipboard. It was sloppy without his dominant hand, but it got the job done. What he was writing down was probably the longest report the Village ever got, and he wasn't even done yet. Why no one else had found these deficiencies, he didn't know but it greatly unsettled him.

Edward seemed to notice him writing on the clipboard and leaned forward once more to look over his shoulder. Roy however pulled the clipboard away once more, not wanting the child to read exactly what he was writing down about the home he was living in. Edward pouted again but luckily it seemed he wasn't going to cry again. The child had accepted his promise, and Roy was glad he at least had his trust. He planned on keeping his promise as long as he could to avoid seeing the boy cry again. It didn't suit him.

"Am I gonna fail?" Edward asked, reminding Roy that this was supposed to be a 'test' and not just his inspection. He had almost forgotten the game he had made up himself.

"No! In fact, you passed!" Roy smiled, his heart lifting as he saw the joy that sprouted in the small child. Edward squealed a little as he hopped up and down on the grass.

"I passed! I passed! I passed!" Edward cheered which only made Roy's smile bigger. He didn't know why but Roy never wanted that smile to leave. The excitement that Edward had seemed to leak right into him and Roy was filled with a sense of pride as he saw Edward succeed in his exam, that was, until Roy reminded himself that he was the one who made it up to begin with to get answers to questions about the inspection. He was supposed to be working, not fooling around with a little child he knew very little about. He caught sight of Havoc coming towards them as he had finished his outward inspection of the buildings. Roy needed to get back to work. With all the new concerns he picked up, he needed to get back and tell Hughes what was going on. This meant he had to cut their small play time short. Even he felt a sense of disappointment at the thought.

"Alright! Thank you for your time, Edward," Roy exclaimed to the little boy as he stood up to excuse himself. He gently pulled his sleeve free from the boy's grip, breaking the bond that linked them. Edward scrambled to try and regain it, but as Roy stood, he was out of his reach.

"W-wait!" the boy cried as Roy was going to turn to leave. There was a tug on Roy's pant leg and he looked down to see that Edward now had a hold of it. He shook it a little to see if the kid would let go but he wouldn't. "Don't go."

"Edward, I have to finish my inspection. I am sorry," Roy sighed as he kneeled and gently peeled Edward's hand off of his pants leg. The kid's eyes widened as his grasp was broken once more and frantically looked around him for something else to keep him there. Roy stood once more to leave but the kid called out once more to him.

"Here!" Edward exclaimed. Roy turned and saw Edward sitting in the grass, holding out the small little bird nest that he had made before. He felt his heart freeze as he stared at the modest offering. The kid was giving him something? He never got anything from a child before. They were all scared of him and he never tried to interact with them before. He always thought it was better to stay away. But now, Edward was trying to give him a small innocent gift and he didn't understand why. He didn't know how to react. His mind wanted to be annoyed that the child was not only holding him up but trying to hand him a pile of dirt. As much as his brain thought of that cruel reaction, Roy felt only an overwhelming sense of gratitude flood through him. He faltered, not knowing whether to bend down and take it like he really wanted to, or to force himself to walk away.

Edward tried lifting it higher than his arm would allow to try and put it in his hand, but he couldn't reach. Roy found him kneeling back down to receive the small gift. The grass nest was placed gently down in his palm and for the first time Roy felt how soft it was. It was thickly padded with intertwined strands of grass and speckled with little clover flowers. Roy looked up at the hopeful expression shimmering in the golden eyes and found his jaw tight without a response. The child's expectation nearly killed him, and he forced himself to strangle out two words.

"Th-thank you," he choked. The smile returned to Edward's face and Roy was absolutely baffled by it. It was nearly as brilliant as the sun and he felt himself almost blinded.

"Hey! Who did you find here?" Havoc's voice rang out disrupting the peace in their exchange. Roy looked up to see the man having finally caught up to him. Havoc was looking only a little confused as to why the child didn't have any clothes on but was more excited to have finally found some form of life in this dead village. Havoc was great with kids and they also loved him. It was the parents that the man seemed to agitate with his smoking problem, but Roy could see no issue in that here.

"Edward!" the child introduced himself once more. That earned a little chuckle from Havoc as he bent down to return the gesture. After formal introductions had been made, Havoc looked back up at Roy with a questioning look. Roy knew what he was confused as to why he was spending time with a child even through everyone in the office knew that he was not a kid person. An overwhelming feeling of self-consciousness overcame him and he wanted to hide the little nest in his hand from Havoc's sight. It would have been pointless though since he knew that the man had already seen it.

"Come on, Colonel we need to finish our inspection. I need to get home tonight," Havoc said, knowing that the sooner they finished their job the sooner they could leave. Roy knew he was right but still found an odd sense of disappointment. He shouldn't be so easily distracted.

"Yeah. You're right," Roy said clearing his throat and trying to recover his professional persona that he had not realized he lost around Edward. He could not continue to command troops without it. He couldn't look soft. "I have found a few things that I need to get to Hughes and-"

"Don't leave me!" Edward complained as he realized that they were getting back to work despite Roy's acceptance of the peace offering. Roy looked back down at his hand where the lump of formed grass was. He had half a mind to drop it with every reason to stay with the kid as their little bond promised. He couldn't though. It was his lump of grass that Edward had given him. He didn't think he would be able to simply let it go. However, he still needed to work.

"I have to continue the inspection, I can't stay here forever, " Roy tried to reason with the kid. His voice was soft but it seemed to still hold all of the impact it would if he screamed it. The kid looked heart broken as he found his new friendship slip away. It looked all but lost until an idea hit him.

"I-I could help!" the little boy suddenly exclaimed, hope in his happy sunshine smile returning to his face. "I could show you my bed, and the bathrooms, and my friends, and-" Edward started listing off things on his fingers. Havoc chuckled lightly at the little boy. Roy looked down at the watch on his wrist. Hughes was still in the main building for another hour. He doubted he would find anything more interesting in the grass than the little kid he found. Roy looked over to the Lieutenant to his take on their options. But he looked rather surprised as he saw that Roy was considering taking the boy's offer.

"Come on Colonel, this was supposed to be in and out. Remember, we are suffering your punishment too-" Havoc complained.

"Read the notes," Roy hissed at him under his breath. He pressed the clipboard into his chest and the man glanced at it curiously. There were only a few sentences, but they seemed to strike the same foul chords in Havoc as they did in Roy. Something was wrong there and Roy wanted to get to the bottom of it. As Havoc read it over, his face turned instantly from annoyed to baffled. He turned pale as he glanced up towards the upper buildings where Hughes and Hawkeye were investigating the staff.

"What?" he muttered as he read the clipboard over once more just to make sure he understood it well enough. "If they moved everyone down here then what is Hughes inspecting?" he whispered, hoping that the boy couldn't hear them. Roy shrugged as he took a slight glance up at the hilltop where the main building sat solemnly and still. That creepy feeling seemed to flood him now and refused to go away. He didn't like it one bit. What was going on here? Roy feared for what they might find on the rest of their investigation if they continued farther. He could stop now if he wanted to, ignore the possible miles of paperwork and stop sticking his head in farther than it belonged. All of the other investigators signed the Village off as being absolutely perfect. Maybe it was and Roy was just psyching himself out, but when he looked at the little golden eyes that stared up at him he knew that wasn't the case. If this really was as bad as he felt, that boy should not be here. No one should.

"I don't know," Roy muttered back at his subordinate, "but I think having an escort is a good way to find out. I don't like this one bit." The man nodded in complete understanding. This was probably bigger than them. Neither of them were official health inspectors, just people working out a stupid punishment Roy earned, but there were somethings that just needed to be solved before Roy could set himself at ease.

"Alright, you want to be a part of our team, Edward?" Havoc asked as he turned back towards the little boy who was waiting impatiently for an answer. Havoc easily slid into the role of a parent, his personality blending far too easily with a child's imagination. Roy wondered if it was because he was still a child himself. A smile spread quickly across Edward's face and he eagerly nodded his head at the offer to join him. He probably didn't know exactly what their investigation was for, but it seemed he was willing to help. Havoc chuckled a little at the kid's excitement.

"You are going to have to be strong, and be a great leader to help us out. Do you think you can do it?"

"Yes! Yes!" Edward chirped, the excitement spilling over into a flurry of giggles.

"In that case, lead the way, little chief," Havoc grinned with open arms.

"Not little!" the 'not' little boy whined at them. Roy hid a small smile behind his hand as the boy puffed out his chest to make himself look bigger as if to make sure he was filling the role that Havoc had described earlier. Havoc flustered to apologize to the kid, saying that he didn't mean to offend him. Roy at least liked to see that no matter the strange feeling he was getting from this place, the little boy seemed to be lightening his mood.

"Follow me!" Edward exclaimed with a smile that seemed too big for his face. The boy started to make his way towards one of the lower dorm buildings, but Roy froze stiff as the smile was wiped off of his own face. Edward was crawling on the ground using his arm and leg to push himself backwards across the ground because the boy was missing half of his limbs. The naked boy struggled across the ground but the determined look on his face showed to Roy that this was completely normal for him. This made Roy realize that Edward really did come outside by himself without any help. No one brought him out here, he came on his own without the aid of anything. This was probably how he got around everywhere, which made Roy very upset. He needed a crutch, a chair, something. He shouldn't be crawling on the ground with limited movement He should be walking around. Hell, he should be running. He wondered if Edward even remembered or knew what that felt like. Even thinking about that made Roy rush over to the boy, the few pitiful steps it had taken him, and stopped him in his place.

"Is this how you always get around?" Roy asked him. He heard the scratching of a pen behind him as Havoc had taken up his clipboard and was already writing more down on the list that Roy only feared would grow bigger the longer the day went.

"I thought the test was over," Edward asked confused. Roy sighed to himself and shook his head as Havoc gave him a wondering look. He didn't know about the little game that they were playing earlier. Roy knew that he would need to ask Edward more questions about the Village and life there, so he decided to continue the 'test' for their own sakes. He might not be able to slide as easily into a playful role like Havoc did, but he knew then that one was needed.

"That was the first part of the test, but now we are going to take a second part. This one is going to be quite longer are you ready for it?" Roy said. The boy thought for a moment but quickly nodded his head. It seemed Edward liked a challenge. "Now, first question, part two, is this really how you always get around?" Roy repeated himself however he knew the answer before he even asked the question. Edward nodded his head, not seeming to understand what was wrong with his answer. It only confirmed Roy's suspicions that Edward seemed to think that this was a normal way of getting around.

After answering his question, Edward started to struggle across the grass again. Roy sighed to himself knowing that he couldn't and wouldn't let him continue this. He looked down at the small lump of grass that he still held in his hand and quickly withdrew his handkerchief from his pocket, wrapped it up gently, and then deposited it in his pocket for safe keeping. Quickly unbuttoning his uniform jacket, he bent down and wrapped it around the boy before picking him up off the ground. Edward let out a little yelp as he seemed rather surprised by the sudden motion. He looked around him hesitantly for a second as if he wasn't used to getting help but when the golden eyes rested on Roy's own black ones, he quickly got comfortable in his arms.

"You point the way," Roy told him. The little boy giggled and waved his hand over towards one of the dormitories. Havoc was hot on his tail with the clipboard in hand. They gave each other wary looks as they approached the brick building. Though the kid was smiling, for some reason neither of them wanted to open the door.