Chapter Text
He was tired, beyond tired even. It was at the point that even if he did lay down in his bed, he was so exhausted that he would not be able to fall asleep. Nina had a lot of energy, constantly moving all over the place, it took everything he had in him to keep up with her. Not to mention that the whole fiasco with getting Nina into the car, and out to the safe house had been a nightmare, especially when she realized Edward wasn’t staying with her.
Honestly, he thought the Chief was going to murder Colonel for forcing him to leave to give a report.
He didn’t expect Nina to be the calmest with him out of all the others. He supposed it was because other than Edward he was the one she saw the most the past week or so. Plus… even though she wasn’t exactly a little girl anymore, he couldn’t see her as anything other than the little girl that would run outside, excited that her ‘Big-Brother Ed’ came back to play with her. He even got out to play with her and Alexander if he had enough time before he had to get back to the office.
Heading to the office when it was already so late into the night, and then taking his paperwork back home with him left him with only an hour or two of shut-eye before next thing he knew his alarm was going off. That definitely did not help. It was tempting to curl back up under his covers, but he left Hawkeye and the Colonel a message saying that he would be picking up Lt. Colonel Hughes and Edward to give them a lift to the station. They never did manage to figure out why Edward was so insistent on getting Nina out of East City, it was somewhat… startling to learn he made plans to sneak her out without them noticing. It was only because Lt. Colonel Hughes noticed at the last second that the rest of them found out, now he planned on leaving with Edward and Nina before heading back to central. If they found out, mainly if Hawkeye found out he never picked them up or was late getting them, Havoc feared she might actually shoot him. The Colonel would probably snort at him, glad that Hawkeyes ire wasn’t on him for once.
Well, he already left Breda a message last night not to go to the safe house to switch shifts.
He'd have to explain that Edward had taken over for him instead, but that could wait until after he dropped them off at the station. He had a feeling thinking back on it now that the others won’t be too happy to find out that he let Edward stay with Nina by himself. They seemed to think that he would run off with her. He could understand why they would think that since it’s what Edward did plan on doing, and Edward had a habit of vanishing without them realizing it until he suddenly reappears but this was different. They weren’t there when he ran into the Tucker household. They didn’t see the way Chief looked… It was as though someone had pulled the world out from under him and left him to drift off into space. It was an expression he had never seen on anybody before, it was why he was so panicked while phoning the Colonel, and why he ignored Hawkeyes orders not to go in until they arrived. Something he had gotten in trouble for but he shrugged and explained that the Chief needed backup. He needed to make sure for himself that letting Edward run in like that wasn’t sending him to his death.
He still wasn’t sure if what he found was better or worse.
What kind of sick bastard would do something like that to their own daughter? Just thinking back on it had Havoc wishing he had accidentally dropped Shou Tucker one, or two, or a dozen times as he dragged him out of the house.
Shaking his head, Havoc forcible loosened his grip on the steering wheel and made sure to stop by the cafe near the hotel Lt. Colonel Hughes was staying at. He could use a hot drink to help calm himself down. He ordered enough food for all of them, getting two coffees and bottled tea for Edward. He would have gotten him a coffee as well but the others made it clear within the first month of Edward joining the team that he was still too young to have coffee as often as the rest of them drank it.
It was somewhat surprising to see that Lt. Colonel Hughes was already awake and waiting for him just inside the lobby of the hotel when he pulled up at the curb. He didn’t even have time to get out to salute before the Lt. Colonel was out the doors and climbing into the passenger seat of the car.
“There’s no one else here so you really don’t have to keep saluting me, you know? Roy doesn’t bother with it unless it’s one of the higher-ups nearby.”
Havoc took one glance at Lt. Colonel Hughes’ grin and internally groaned, he learned a while back that that kind of grin could only mean the man had even more pictures then usual to show. This ride was going to be a long one, hopefully the streets would be empty enough that he could go just a little bit over the speed limit.
Edward wasn’t sure what it was that woke him up.
There was a dull ache settled throughout his entire body and he could vaguely hear someone calling out to him. It was slapping on his cheek that caused him to groan and attempt to move away from whoever it was that decided slapping his face was the best way to get his attention. Moving or attempting to move was definitely out of the question. It wasn’t like he was in agony or anything but it was damn close. It was unnerving, it felt as though his body was one large bruise but at the same time he felt perfectly fine.
It was unnerving.
“-on wake up.”
Grumbling, annoyed that Al was trying to wake him up this early, Edward turned on his side. Well, he tried to turn onto his side but was forced to stop as his body seized up. It was as if every muscle in his body decided to protest any to all movement all at once.
“Shit. Shit, what the hell happened? Chief, can you hear me?”
It took way too much effort just to get his eyes open. Edward squinted, blinking rapidly in an attempt to try and clear his vision… It-It wasn’t Alphonse. It was Havoc kneeling next to him, he could feel Havoc holding onto his shoulders but Edward wasn’t sure who was behind him. He could see the shadow of someone kneeling behind him as well, judging from the side, it couldn’t be Nina.
“Nina,” Edward gasped, “Shit. Havoc where’s-where’s Nina? Is she okay?”
“Nina?” Havoc blinked, reeling back and quickly looking around the room, “I-I don’t see her.”
Edward cursed, ignoring Havoc’s protests as he pushed himself up to his knees, even then he was wobbling slightly as he tried not to let his body sink back down. His eyes scanned the room, panicking as time continued to pass on by without him finding Nina. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, long enough that he couldn’t even support himself any longer, instead whoever was behind him was holding him up by his shoulders. Just as he was about to snap at Havoc to stop trying to get him to lay back down, he heard it.
“Big-Big brother?”
It was just a whisper, but he heard it. He knows he did.
“Shut up!” Edward hissed, pushing at Havoc’s shoulder before raising his voice, “Nina, Nina where are you at? I can’t see you.”
Havoc froze, his head tilted slightly as he strained his hearing.
“In… In the kitchen.”
“Okay, Nina can you do me a favor and come out?” Edward called out, “Uncle Havoc is here too.”
Edward noticed the surprised look on Havoc’s face and mentally snorted at the pleased grin that quickly formed on his face. Edward yelped as he was bodily moved to face the kitchen, it wasn’t until he looked up that he realized just who had been holding onto him this entire time.
“Hughes?”
Hughes raised a brow at him, “Mind giving us an explanation on why we came here and found you on the ground?”
“I-uh,” Edward averted his eyes, “I fell asleep?”
“You fell a-”
Edward felt the air rush out of his lungs as something darted toward him, slamming into his chest.
“What the he-heck?”
Edward shot Havoc a glare before glancing down at his lap and freezing in shock. It was Nina. Only she didn’t… she didn’t look like Alexander, his heart practically burst in his chest as Nina looked up at him with her face. Edward grinned, pushing aside any remaining pain he felt to lift his arms and wrap them around Nina tightly.
His elation faded rapidly as he noticed something twitching on the ground behind her.
Looking closer, he saw that it was… a tail. Gently pushing Nina back so he could get a good look at her, Edward saw what he had looked over before. Nina wasn’t back to herself. She had… she had a tail and… and he could still see tufts of fur on the side of her face, sort of like sideburns… she even still had Alexanders’ ears… She looked human again but she… she wasn’t.
“Big brother!” Nina smiled widely, her tail thumping against the ground, “It worked! It doesn’t hurt anymore!”
Nina leaned up, wrapping her arms around Edwards’ neck instead of his waist. Edward slowly wound his arms around her once again. Hesitant on sharing in her joy. He was glad she wasn’t hurting anymore, really he was, but… it didn’t work. She wasn’t… he didn’t turn her back. Not entirely. He thought that… he thought that if he asked the souls from the stones for help then it would work, he thought it would’ve been enough to turn her back.
Edward flinched, automatically trying to curl his body around Nina when something prodded at his arm before realizing it was just Havoc trying to get his attention.
Smiling sheepishly, apologetically, Edward loosened his hold on Nina and turned his attention on Havoc.
Havoc smiled down at Nina, laughing as she launched herself from Edward to him, “What do you mean it worked? What worked?”
Nina sat back on her butt with her legs folded up next to her, similar to how a dog would sit when waiting for a treat, “Big brother made it stop hurting! He did his a-alchemy and made it stop!”
Edward winced as Havoc and Hughes turned near-identical stares on him.
“Oh?” Hughes spoke softly, “Did big brother fall asleep afterwards?”
“...I don’t know. He laid down but he…” Nina trailed off, her lower lip jutting out.
“Nina?”
“H-He kept on screaming.” Nina whispered, “I-I tried to wake him up but he-he couldn’t hear me.”
Well shit. Edward knew without a doubt that the others would tell the rest of the team about this, and then he’d have to find something to tell them. He couldn’t just tell them the truth, not yet at least.
“Nina. Nina look at me,” Edward waited until Nina’s eyes met his before he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, “I’m okay, I promise. I’m sorry I scared you like that.”
And he was. He couldn’t remember much of what happened, but if he really did start screaming out of nowhere, then he could imagine how scary that must’ve been for her. All he could remember was… was seeing someone. There hadn’t been anyone else at the safe house though… right?
“-ard!”
Edward jerked back, scowling at the fingers Hughes had been snapping in front of his face, “What? Why the hell are you yelling?”
“I wouldn’t have had to yell if you answered me the first four times I called you!” Hughes frowned, the look on his face daring Edward to try and say anything other than the truth, “What happened? Does Havoc need to look you over for any injuries? What did she mean by you made the pain go away? What did you do? You know what? Havoc’s going to check you out anyway, I’m not risking you saying you’re fine if you’re not.”
Wha-?” Edward blinked, “I am fine! I’m just… tired. I used alchemy to try and separate Nina and Alexander… it took more out of me than I thought…”
It took a lot more out of him then he thought it would.
He assumed it would be like when he did human transmutation in the past, was this a side effect of using the souls from the stones? Did this happen when he saved Alphonse? He knows he slept a lot after he miraculously managed to get them back to Granny and Winry’s house, but he assumed that was because of losing his leg. He didn’t even stop to consider if using the souls as payment would have some kind of repercussion on him.
He couldn’t even remember if he had gone through the gate, did Truth take the souls as payment?
There weren’t any noticeable changes, he wasn’t missing any limbs, other than his leg but that was normal, and he felt fine… sore but still fine. If Truth didn’t take anything from him, then he had to have taken the souls, right? The one thing he could still remember clearly was the voices from the souls he used, the way they seemed to echo inside his head. They weren’t actually speaking, it was more like a rush of emotions going through him… but somehow he could still tell what they were saying to him.
They were… grateful to him, in the end.
They had wanted to be used, to be put out of their misery, they wanted him to sacrifice their souls to help Nina.
… and he did. He… he killed them, to save her.