Morphed

Chapter Twenty One

"You will?"

"You betcha." Hughes' spontaneous smile was contagious, and Ed found himself smiling too. "And not just me. Al will probably come for sleepovers, too, and Elicia. You won't be alone there, Ed. Not if I have any say in it!"

Edward felt tears form in his eyes, and he closed his eyelids for a moment, willing them away. When he opened his eyes again, all he said was, "Thanks, Maes."

"You're welcome, Ed."

An hour later, he was leaving. The doctors had asked him about a million questions, most of them repeated over and over again, but finally he was out. The first thing they did was go home. As they entered through the apartment door, Edward took everything in. It could well be the last time he was allowed to visit. He took in the ornaments and the colour of the walls, the shape of the rooms and everything else possible.

When Al and Elicia greeted him, wrapping their arms around his waist, he pulled them in, and held them tight. Despite what Hughes said, he was going to miss them sorely. He was going to miss seeing them everyday.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He did his best to put it off, but eventually Maes had to gently nudge Ed to go pack his things. As soon as he did, Ed's mood dropped from sad to downright hostile, and Maes wished he didn't have to make Ed go like that. He went into Ed's room with him to help him gather his things, and he tried to talk to Ed, but the boy seemed to have lost his ability to speak to Maes, so he left it alone. They gathered Edward's things in silence, and Maes could practically feel it suffocating the both of them.

He didn't want Ed to leave. He had done everything in his power to convince the Fuhrer to let him stay here, but even after everything he had done, he had still only won the child a week, and now it was gone. Edward had to live with Roy Mustang from now until...well, until the Fuhrer said otherwise. And while Maes loved Roy had would trust him with his life, he wasn't sure he trusted him with Ed's.

Mustang would never do anything that would put Ed's life in danger, he knew that much. But he wasn't sure if Mustang would be able to handle Ed's mood swings and his fiery temper. Mustang had never been a father, and subconsciously, Maes thought that was a good thing. He didn't think Roy had the temperament for it. Roy had never been one to be patient with children. But, there was nothing he could do about it, so he just had to pray that Roy would leave Ed alone and Ed wouldn't lose his temper.

It took them half an hour, but eventually, they managed to collect all of Ed's stuff. Not that there was a whole lot of it, it was just that most of it was stuff that Al and Elicia had made for Ed, and a few gifts from Gracia and himself. Ed didn't have many clothes, so that took only a few minutes. Once they were done, Ed sat down on his bed, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. Maes watched on as the boys shoulders began to shake. He sat down beside him and wrapped his arm around Ed, pulling him close.

"It'll be alright," he said softly. "I promise."

Ed leaned into the embrace, and Maes smiled down at him sadly. The boy had been through so much in his short life, especially recently. He needed to be here, where he knew he could relax. Where he didn't need to constantly keep up his guard. But he couldn't be. All because the Fuhrer had decided that Maes couldn't be trusted to keep an eye on him. From a political point of view, he could see how that made sense, but still, that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Come on, kiddo, can't put it off forever." He said, gently. Ed nodded and got to his feet, taking a deep breath. The young boy stretched his lips into an attempt at a smile and grabbed his suitcase.