Chapter Text
Roy knew the moment the file touched his hands he should have listened to his gut and pushed back on the case. This case was… interesting to say the least. There was definitely something… what was a word he could use? “Wrong” didn’t sound right. Perplexed? Obscured? Bad? Dumb? Or was it simply that…
This case was going to be the biggest waste of their time?
Yeah.
For now we’ll go with that. But that still wouldn’t explain the bad feeling in his stomach. What could possibly go wrong with–
“Housesitting?” Havoc cuts off his frazzled thoughts. He was holding his usual cigarette in his hand as he looked over the document himself, face full of confusion (and Roy couldn’t blame him). “We’re assigned to housesit for a whole week?”
Roy sighs, chin resting on his closed hands. “Yeah, that’s what it says.”
“This is the dumbest assignment I’ve ever gotten, or heard of.”
“Yeah, what even is this, Boss?” Breda asked, eyes moving away from the source of their ‘problem’.
Another sigh. “To sum it up–” Roy sits up straighter. “The house apparently belonged to an old state alchemist who ended up disappearing over a year ago. Our job will be going to see if any of his research is still there and confiscate it. However–” A small frown plays on his lips. “There’s also been some reports from neighbours that they think someone is going in and out of it. If there is someone squatting there, we have to deal with that too.”
“This is fucking stupid.” Edward chimes in with his usual, annoying sounding, two sense. Everyone present was honestly surprised he didn’t say anything sooner.
Another
damn
sigh. “Fullmetal–”
“Oh, come on, Colonel, you know it’s true. I mean–” The blond snags the paperwork out of the Lieutenant’s hand and briefly reads it over himself. “If we’re just technically staying there just to watch over a house, why the hell are they sending all of us? Or better question, why are they sending us? This is on the edge of Central, towards the West side.”
“I know what you’re saying, but apparently this case has been passed around for a while. Some people, who are authorized too, say immediately no to it, while others actually have stepped foot inside and left after a short period of time–”
“Yeah, because they know it’s a stupid job.”
Roy holds his tongue on that comment, and chooses to continue. “As I was saying– As much as I don’t want to take it, I can’t refuse. It’s an order coming way above me.”
Ed groans, throwing his head back. “Well, that’s fan-fucking-tastic…” He complains while chucking the paper into the air.
Falman grabs it as it floats towards the ground, also reading it over himself. “I understand the mission’s importance, sir, but it really has to be for a whole week?”
Ed’s neck snaps in his direction. “A week?!”
“Well, a week plus two extra days for travel. One for getting there, and another for getting back. I guess it’s nice they decided to send us on the express train which has fewer routes to–”
“Nine whole days?! That’s even worse!”
Havoc frowns with pleading eyes. “Boss, do we really have to go? I just started dating this girl who owns her own boutique.”
Roy felt his eye twitch. “Lieutenant–”
“Yeah! I promised Al that I would we go to Resembol this week for that festival!” Ed cuts in all furious.
“I’ve got my yearly evaluation coming up.” Breda said, pointing to himself.
“I-I think I’ve got one coming up as well.” Fuery replies, with Falman shaking his head too.
Roy felt like his head was going to split as all his subordinates (Sans Hawkeye, Thank God for her) started complaining at once, trying to come up with some “valid” excuse to get out of this (And like hell they’ll get out of this. If he has to go, they’re all going).
The Colonel sighs for the millionth time. “Gentlemen–”
A bullet shot off.
“Enough.” Riza said, gun pointed towards the empty part of the room, eyes training on all of them sternly. “It’s an order and we have to go.”
“I get that–” Breda begins, being the first one to dare to speak. “But you can’t say that you don’t feel the same way.” He watched her face fall subtly.
“I’m not going to lie, but I agree with everything you guys are saying.” And then their faces light up. “However, this is an order. We can’t disobey it.”
Everyone groans.
“Maybe I can break my arm.” Ed mumbles, folding his limbs with a scowl.
“Ditto.” Havoc agrees.
“Nobody’s breaking any bones. Besides, even if you do, I’m still dragging your asses with me.” Roy replies, earning another round of detest.
“When are we heading out, sir?” Falman asked, straightening himself back up.
“Tomorrow. We’ve got the early train.” He narrows his coal eyes towards the youngest. “Don’t be late. Understood?”
“Understood.” They mumbled.
“Good.” He sits back in his chair, carefully picking up one of his pens to resume his work. But the battle to stay here didn’t seem to be over just yet as he caught a glimpse at what one of his Lieutenant’s was doing. “And if any of you magically gets sick tomorrow, I’ll kindly provide you some sleeping medication and you can take a nap on the train.”
Breda embarrassingly looks away after trying to pretend to feel sick, and Roy just smirks and says, “Dismiss.”
They disbanded, and all he could hear as they left for the outer office was,
“This is so fucking stupid.”
“I know it is, but just roll with it, Chief.”
Once the door shuts, Roy lets out one more sigh, setting aside the case file and restarts his search for signing all the documents on his desk. He also didn’t miss the way someone’s sherry eyes were on him.
“Something on your mind, Lieutenant?”
“Nothing to complain about, sir.”
He pauses his movements for a split second. “You’re not liking this idea either?”
A brief pause, very brief. “Not really, sir. It’s… an odd case.”
“It is.”
“What about you? You’re not liking it either, are you?”
He spares a glance at the file. “Not sure. There’s… something about it that doesn’t sit right with me. Yet the strange thing is I’m not sure if it’s a bad feeling yet, but it’s definitely something.”
“Should we be worried, sir?” Well that’s the golden question right there. Should they? I mean they are just looking after a house, how hard could that be?
He shakes his head, continuing to sign. “No. Not yet.”
- °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Later that night, most of his men had already gone home for some rest. Which he should be doing since his train is supposed to be leaving in exactly six hours from now but… you know what they say, “Duty calls”. The case after a while was starting to nag him a bit, and to calm (or accelerate) his nerves he decided to see if there was any other information he could get his hands on. One quick phone call was all he needed for a soldier to come in with the reports.
“Here you go, Colonel. General Rivers’ reports, just like you asked.” Sheska said, with a tired smile as she laid down the hefty binder.
His eyes widened slightly at the object. This had to be the size of a thousand page novel. “What is all this?”
“The reports of the case. Every single one of them.”
“All of these are different people who took up his case?” He asked, mentally counting how many sticky note bookmarks were sticking out from the pages.
“Correct.”
“I thought this case was only a year old?” Which loosely translates to: ‘Why the hell does it look like this after only a year?’
“It is, sir.”
Roy frowns heavily (Well, I guess his nerves aren’t going to calm now). “Thank you, Private.”
She nods. “Feel free to hand it back to me when you’re done, if not, I’ll collect it from your desk in the morning. These reports are strictly to remain on the premise.”
“I understand.” Classified information. Didn’t want that to be accidentally left in the streets.
As soon as she left him alone, Roy didn’t honestly know where to even start. He knew that this case had been passed around but he didn’t know it was this much. And why? Does he even want to dare to find out?
When he started skimming through it though it… didn’t seem that bad. In fact, it was just filled with reports of soldiers getting frustrated and leaving when they couldn’t find anything, or leaving because it was an order, or leaving because of a personal emergency, simple stuff like that; Nothing that screamed “major”. He rolled his eyes, practically smacking himself over the thought of being paranoid over something like this.
Paranoid of what? Being bored? He almost laughed and shut the binder, when the page slipped and caught his eye. That one freaking turn gave the whole situation a 360. Reports now were being highlighted or furiously underlined by a pen, and his coal orbs stuck right to it, nearly taking his own breath away.
-Sleepless night.
-Phone calls of just breathing.
-Sounds of scratching or talking at random parts of the day.
-Seeing things in the corner of their eye.
-Getting touched by something that’s not there.
-The rooms feel like ice when there’s a blazing heatwave.
-Stuff shattering in the middle of the night.
The list goes on and on for– God…
How many pages?! No, he can’t get worried over this. It was century old house after all, there could be so many explanations for all these things like–
Wait a minute. His gaze trails to the next page over, this time it makes the hair on his skin stick up as he finds himself muttering the words out loud with disbelief. “Colonel James Roberts, alongside with three of his subordinates, was supposed to be assigned for the case for a two weeks and only lasted three days when Roberts appeared to be having a Post Traumatic Stress Disordered episode, or in worst terms, a full mental breakdown after claiming to have seen a family member of his.”
What the…? He brought the paper closer, almost like he was trying to see if it would change. “An Uncle, who he claims was abusive, had appeared before him and taunted him day and night while he stayed in the spot room – what the hell is a spot room? – Although none of the other men present ever saw or heard anything, they decided to leave out of concern for their commanding officer. To quote what Roberts says once they got back to base, ‘I’d rather go back to war than step foot in that house again’.”
Roy’s brain nearly short circuited. “What?” He reread again. And again. This couldn’t be real… right?
Right?
Right? No. This can’t be real. Maybe this Roberts guy was coming to that edge and he just happened to have his mental break at the house. Yeah, that’s it. That has to be right. But why didn’t it seem–
“Colonel?”
He actually jerked in his seat, gaze snapping up to the person in front of his desk. “Lieutenant?” He closes the binder. “Sorry, I didn’t even hear you come in. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I finished up the documents, and I’m going home for the night.” Riza replies, getting a nod for him.
“Thank you for telling me.” He slowly stands up, rubbing his eyes. “Get as much rest as you can. I’ll see you at the station.”
Station, yeah right. His consciousness was eating at him. You shouldn’t even go. It tells him.
The blonde woman’s stoic face burned away, worried. “Roy?” He locks his gaze back onto her, not even realizing for a second she was using his first name until she calls it out again (
Shit. Did he really look that spooked?
). “What’s the matter?”
“I…” He couldn’t meet her gaze. “I don’t know. It’s nothing.” He pulls the binder into his arms. “I’m going to return this. Go get some sleep.”
“Roy?” She tries once more, as he walks past her for the door.
“Make sure you pack something warm, I heard it’s getting chilly over there.” He attempts to crack a joke in order to make himself feel better and to bury any lingering questions she may have – which he ignored again when she called him by his name anew, as he slipped through the door, shutting behind him with a click.
Well…
.
.
.
So much for getting some sleep tonight.
- °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
“I don’t wanna go…” Ed complains as he is practically being dragged by his younger brother. “Can’t you make up an excuse for me?”
“Brother, it’s an order. You have to go.” Al said, again , like a broken record .
Ed groans like he was an over dramatic toddler. “But what about the festival? You said you wanted me to go with you.”
“Yeah, I did, but it’s not like this is a once and lifetime thing, they have them every few months. Besides–” He perks up in a way that you know he’s smiling. “Winry and Granny will be there with me, so I won’t be alone.”
“I guess…”
“Quit complaining. This mission will be over before you know it.” Al hears him mumble something incoherent under his breath, and just ignores it; Instead, he decides to wave to everyone when they get closer. “Morning, everyone.”
“Morning.” They all said in their own, tired way.
“Glad to see you made it, Chief.” Havoc said, eyes still half lid and ready to take a nap.
“Yeah, thanks.” Ed grumbles with his arms crossed, and eyes scaling around the group. “Where’s the Colonel Bastard?”
“Good question. We thought he would be the first one here.” Breda said, shrugging.
The blond boy couldn’t help but stare and blink. “Colonel Mustang, the man who insisted we shouldn’t be late, in fact ordered it, is the one who’s late?” He scoffs. “What a fucking surprised.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Riza exhales loudly, clearly frustrated. “I knew I should have picked him up. God knows how long he stayed in the office after I left.”
“Do you think he fell asleep in the office?” Fuery asked, worriedly.
“I hope not, ‘cause if we missed this train, then the higher up who ordered this mission will have all our asses.” Havoc said, as he started lighting a cigarette for his nerves. “I don’t want a repeat of Youswell.”
“What happened in Youswell?” Ed asked, curiously.
“It was just me and Jean here, and we missed our train due to a power outage that knocked our alarm clock out.” Breda begins with a sour expression. “Anyway, when we finally got there a day later we got chewed out in a way I didn’t think was possible.”
“Yeah, I will never wish that on anybody.” Havoc said, taking a depressing puff.
Soon, the sound of footsteps hurriedly rushed over towards them, with a familiar looking face dropping his suitcase with a huff.
“Sorry, I’m late.” Roy replies, the bags under his eyes were almost the color of his hair.
“You make this big deal about being on time, and here you are right on the dot.” Ed says, recrossing his limbs to make a point. “What gives?”
“Everything alright, Colonel?” Riza asked, eyeing him head-to-toe subtly.
“Yes, everything’s fine. I just had a personal issue to sort out.” The alchemist says, keeping a straight face (the truth is… he didn’t get a lot of sleep, too much thinking). “Is everyone packed for the week?” They all replied, ‘yes’, making him nod. “Good.” His gaze then follows to the suit of armor nearby. “Alphonse, thank you for dragging your brother here. I’m sure he was giving you the run around.”
“Oh, you know how he is.” Al said, his voice mimicking a smile. While his brother protested in the background, the sound of the train’s whistle could be heard closeby. “Well, I guess this is it. I hope everything goes well.”
“It’s just house sitting, Al. How bad could it be?” Ed said, with a grin as he gives his sibling a pat on the back while bidding him goodbye. So did everyone else as they snagged their luggage, and passed their tickets to the collector.
They made themselves cozy in one of the back cars that only had one other person inside who was in dreamland. It was still so early in the day that the sky hadn’t even turned orange yet. Soon, they were off on the train that will get them there by the end of the day, thanks to its fewer stops. After about half an hour, and settling in completely is when the chit chatting started.
“So, Boss? Who was this alchemist that was living there?” Havoc asked, leaning back against the leather back board, trying not to get sleepy.
Roy, who had tried not to let his findings cloud his judgment, just replied with the simple facts of, “Stephen Rivers, Rank: General, age 56, and was known as the ‘Surging Alchemist’ . He studied and was trained in controlling electricity of all sorts. A very talented man. At least that’s what I’ve heard.”
Ed scoffs with a cheeky grin. “The Surging Alchemist? That’s what they came up with?” He said, eyebrow raised.
Breda chuckles beside him. “Says the one called ‘Fullmetal’.”
“Hey! It’s badass and makes some fucking sense!”
“So how come he disappeared?” Fuery asked, still confused on that part.
“They’re not sure why.” Roy explains, leaning back himself with his arms tucked under his armpits. “General Rivers sustained a back injury some time in the 90s causing him to be cleared to work from home, and get a check up every week. Just one of those days he wasn’t there. No one really knows what happened to him.”
“Was there any foul play? Evidence?”
“Nope. Reports say they checked the whole house, saying it looks like nothing’s been touched.”
“Interesting.” The Sergeant mumbled while rubbing his chin.
“Okay then, but I still don’t understand why we’re the ones to have to clean it up? I mean, why are people quitting the assignment if you just have to clean? Am I missing something?” Edward asked, which was the question that was on everyone’s mind. Well…
Except for the Colonel. The Flame Alchemist was honestly debating if he should just tell them what he read last night, but feared that might change his men’s thinking about this whole case.
That and make them paranoid like me. And I can’t risk that just yet until I check the house out myself. Is what Roy told himself, hoping his poker face covered his troublesome mind (He honestly hoped his Lieutenant wasn’t reading through it. God knows he doesn’t need her worrying—).
“Maybe it’s haunted.” Havoc suddenly jokes, nearly making his Boss have a heart attack (
Was this man a fucking mind reader now?
).
“Like soldiers are going to run from that.” Ed says back, not amused.
The blond man shrugs. “You don’t know that, Chief.”
“You’re saying you wouldn’t run?” Breda asked, adding fuel to this conversation.
The teenager scoffs again. “I’m saying, as long as it doesn’t interfere with me checking out the whole place for a week, then I wouldn’t. The faster we can inspect this place, the faster we can go home. Right, Bastard?”
Roy blinks out of his trance. “Huh?”
“Am I right? If we find something like we’re supposed to in only a few days in, can we go home earlier?”
“I wouldn’t see why not–”
Ed threw his hands up with a satisfied look. “See? Perfect! Let’s do this quickly.”
“Quickly and efficiently , Fullmetal.” Roy said, with a small glare. “We actually need to find some evidence or we can’t leave until the deadline.” He gets a groan from the boy as a response and tries not to roll his eyes.
“All jokes aside, I’m just glad we can treat this as a stakeout.” Havoc says, grinning a bit. “We can just go at our pace, don’t have to report to anybody until we get back, and we don’t even have to wear our uniforms inside the house.”
“That’s your take away from all this? No uniform?” Breda said, copying his expression.
“What? You know I hate the uniform. Too many layers to wear.”
“At least it’s a house this time. I remember one stakeout where we all slept in a van for four days.” Fuery says, grimacing at the memory.
“Oh, yeah, and all we had to each was a couple cans of veggies and some freeze dry food.” The redhead said, frowning.
“And then we had to share a bucket…” Havoc said, making the adults all shutter.
“That’s… disgusting.” Ed said, making a face.
“That certainly wasn’t the most pleasant mission we ever went on.” Riza said, even she was bothered by this.
“Well, rest assured, team, I promise there’s bathrooms in the house.” Roy said, relieved by that himself. “And I promise no freeze dried stuff either.”
“So take out then?” The youngest asked, amused but someone took it a bit seriously.
“I’m not eating a whole week of takeout again.” Falman said, honestly. “One of us can slip out to the store tomorrow and I can cook us something that should last for a few days.”
Ed’s eyes widened with curiosity. “You like to cook?”
“Oh, Falman’s actually a great cook!” Fuery perked up at his question, and then almost melted with joy at another fresh memory. “I remember he made a stew for one of our cookouts that was delicious.”
Now the kid was practically drooling at the sound of one of his favorite meals. “You can make stew?”
“I thought you didn’t like milk?” Havoc asked, confused.
“I hate it, but I like it in stew.”
“Well that’s interesting.”
“Guess I’m making a stew.” Falman said, smiling with pride.
Then his men continued to chat away like they weren’t about to do one of the most boring missions on the planet. And Roy just listened, eventually forgetting what had been nagging him all night long.
- °•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
They left when it was dark, and now they arrived when it was dark. This nearly eighteen hour day has made their legs cramp and headaches come and go discreetly. After handing over the address to the drivers, two cabs drove the small team through the town and towards the residential area (The soldiers made mental notes of certain things in case they needed to venture out of the house). As soon as the vehicles stopped, they all flushed out rather quickly – exhaustion was pulling them towards the beds that were inside.
Havoc was the first to lock eyes with the building, even stopping his action of grabbing his suitcase out of the trunk to say, “Uh, Colonel, I thought you said it was a house.”
“It is.” Roy replies, counting out the change for the drivers.
“Um, no, this isn’t a fucking a house.”
And on cue everyone looked up to witness the place General Rivers once lived. The house– well— scratch that word— the mansion stretched out in the grassy acre, both in height and width, made out of bricks and quartz that was little worn down for wear. This… wasn’t what they pictured their stay was going to be in.
“I think this is bigger than Major Armstrong’s.” Fuery said, eyes wide like saucers.
“Well I can see why they gave us a week. Because this is going to take us all week.” Breda adds, sounding almost irritated with this turn of event.
“Uh…” Roy looks at his cab driver, bewildered. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“This is the address you gave me, sir.”
“Uh, huh.” Well this was a surprise. He thanks the drivers and hands over the change as everyone finishes grabbing their luggage. Roy digs out the key ring he was handed over and unlocks the gate, then hustled over to the front door to do the same. The place definitely has an old musty and stale smell to it like it hasn’t been properly cleaned since its making.
“Where the hell are we even going to start in this place?” Havoc asked, running a hand through his lemon locks.
“We’ll worry about that tomorrow. Let’s just get settled in.” Roy replies, walking over to the large stairway in front of them that split two ways at the top (He decides to guide his team to the left side of the mansion first) “Try to find a room, but if there isn’t enough let me know and we can figure out who bunks with who.”
He’s sure there’s enough, I mean have you seen this place? He’s not sure a week will be enough after all. His men scattered like ants, opening every door on the floor to see what it was – and you could say the layout was rather strange (he’ll get into details about that later).
Breda laughed when he opened one of the doors and peeked inside. “Ha, dibs on this one! This one has like a roman bath inside here!”
“Ah, what?!” Havoc said, jogging over to see. Sure enough the bedroom was combined with the bathroom, which had a roman style bathtub in its corner. He frowns. “Oh, man. No fair.”
“Ha! Snooze you lose, Jeanie.”
“This one’s mine.” Riza announced a few feet away, Falman being the closest, decided to be nosy.
“It’s a bit smaller than the rest. You fine with that?” He asked, as she nodded.
“It’s got a bed and bathroom, that’s all I need.”
“Hey, this one’s weird.” Ed said next, with a strange look. “It’s got spots all over the wall.”
Roy stopped in his trek of finding a room of his own when he heard those words, the fresh memory came crawling back to him with force.
.
““An Uncle, who he claims was abusive, had appeared before him and taunted him day and night while he stayed in the spot room – what the hell is a spot room? ””
.
“I think you call that polka dot, Major.” Fuery said, trying to sound polite.
“Whatever you call it, it’s ugly. Someone definitely had poor taste in wallpaper.” Ed complains, and turns his gaze to his superior who had entered inside as well. “You can’t tell me you like this, right?”
Roy manages to keep a straight face even as his stomach suddenly was in knots as he looked around. The room didn’t seem abnormal at all. It was definitely larger than the one Hawkeye picked out, but smaller than the masterpiece Breda had stumbled upon, but nothing screamed at him that it was out of the ordinary.
Despite that he couldn’t see anything, the knots in his stomach were telling him otherwise and went into shielding mode. “Well… I’ll admit it is ugly.” He begins as his subordinate makes a noise of agreement.
“Hell yeah, it is.”
“But are you sure you want this room?” He crosses his arms with a smirk. “I’m pretty sure you’re not going to be able to climb into that bed. Looks too tall from here.”
“I–” Ed’s cheeks flush red from embarrassment as he whips his head around to take a look. To be fair the bed
was
pretty high from the ground, and it didn’t look like it had a step stool to help get up (
Not like he needed a step stool to get up, that’s for short people
), so… “Geez, bastard, if you liked the room so much you just take it then.”
“With pleasure, shorty.” Roy quips as the youngest leaves with his suitcase.
“I’M NOT SHORT!”
“Uh, Colonel–” Fuery begins, looking at him with those innocent eyes. “If you want, I can take the room–”
The Colonel’s heart skipped a beat (
why did it skip a beat?
) “N-No, no. Don’t worry about it. I… I can take it. I don’t mind.”
“You sure? ‘Cause I seriously don’t mind.”
“Not at all. I’m actually happy with it. I mean, look at that!” He gestures to the bed. “Fit for a king like myself. Right?”
Fuery chuckles quietly, used to his antics. “If you say so, Boss.”
“Hey, there’s one with a walk-in closet next to mine if you want it.” Falman said, jerking his thumb at the door.
“Uh, I don’t think I’ll need a closet that big, but I’ll take it if nobody else is.”
“Alright, does everyone have a room for the next few nights?” Roy asked, standing just outside his. He looked around to see everyone mutter a ‘yes’ and ‘yeah’ as they stood in the doorways of the rooms they picked out. “Good. Now, wash up and unwind as much as you need. I want everyone awake by eight am and we’ll discuss a plan on how we’re going to scour this place for research. Any questions?” Nothing. Perfect. “Alright. Goodnight, everyone.”
“Goodnight.” They all said, closing their doors in nearly unison. When his door closed he let out a sigh.
Why did I insist on staying in this one? His mind pulls him back to that report, wondering if this was really the so-called “spot room” that man was talking about, the one that Colonel Roberts had claimed that he said…
Roy shook his head.
Get it together, Mustang. That man has severe PTSD. Everyone knows extreme cases can lead to hallucinations. God knows I’ve had a few. I mean can you really blame him? He fought in a war that he wished he didn’t have too. He’s seen things no human should have to see, done things that he should be damned to hell for. He was a soldier that had smeared his hands red.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. “Alrighty.” He stuck his luggage on a chair, and started shedding down to his boxers, his eyelids practically dropping like concrete at the sight of the bed. “I’ll take a shower in the morning.”
He shook the blanket around to loosen it up, a lick of dust hitting his face and causing a small cough from his lips. He frowns and makes a mental note to see if they had a place to wash sheets tomorrow. He pulls the covers around him, telling himself that this was still better than sleeping in a tent in the burning desert, and sleep soon cocoons him.
.
.
.
He was in such a deep sleep that he didn’t even realize that there was something in the vent above…
Watching him.