Fullmetal Alchemist (Sceptre of Flamel) - Inevitable End [2] [RoyEd]

[scriveyner]

Title: Inevitable End [2]
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
AU: Sceptre of Flamel
Characters/Pairing: Roy/Ed, Archangels
Rating: T
Length: 1283
Summary: "Who here will acknowledge Samhiel?"

Edward snarled and leaped forward, his lunge cut abruptly short by the fact that Roy had a solid grip on the the coif he wore around his neck. Raphael put himself between Michael and Edward in a heartbeat, his sword in both hands and the point scant inches from Edward's face.

The other three angels had moved as well, all drawing weapons. Roy was very attuned to the fact that four very lethal bladed instruments were pointed not only at him, but at Edward as well. There were few things in any existence that could hurt an angel; and four of those very weapons were now pointed at them.

Michael hadn't moved from his position. He hadn't even blinked as Edward had cried out, he knew very well that Raphael would cut down Edward before he got close enough to Michael to hurt him. Edward had to have known that, and he hadn't even hesitated.

Roy's fingers burned as he strained to keep Edward in place with his precarious grip. Edward wasn't even looking at Raphael - who could blind him forever with just a simple flick of his sword - those wolf-like eyes were on Michael alone.

Edward relaxed finally, but Roy didn't let him go. Even in the midst of all this drama all he could think about was if this was the last time he touched Edward, he didn't want it to end. "Is this your judgment?" Edward asked.

"It is the judgment of this council," Michael said without hesitation.

Edward closed his eyes, turning away from the Triumvirate and facing Roy. Roy forced himself to smile for Edward, he had to show him that this was okay, that this was meant to happen... but he knew that his smile was crooked, broken. Edward touched a gauntleted hand to Roy's cheek softly, and it came away wet. Roy touched his own face in surprise.

Then, wordlessly, Edward stripped off his gauntlets. The vambraces came first, the heavy metal armor making a loud sound as it struck the stone floor. Then the coif, with the red scarf threaded around it. Edward removed his armor, piece by piece, deliberately dropping each metal part to the floor.

"Enough," Michael said, as Edward dropped the chain mail tunic he wore to the ground. Edward's eyes lingered on Roy's for a moment, before turning his head. "What are you hoping to accomplish by this, Earthborne?"

"If you want an execution," Edward said. "You'll have to perform it yourself." He pulled his own sword out of its sheath and drove it into the stone with such force it stuck there. "I'm done."

Raphael laughed derisively. "You'll fall?" He glanced to Michael. "This is why we don't have more Earthborne angels, their arrogance is appalling."

"Ed," Roy said, his hand closing on Edward's bare arm. "You don't have to do this-"

"Fuck!" Edward shouted. "Of course I have to you, fuck, I just-" He bit his bottom lip. "Dammit, Mustang, I have to. It's hard enough having to face eternity on my own, I can't do it on my own, do you have any fucking idea how hard that is for me to say-" He ran a hand through his loose, tangled blond hair before turning back to Michael, his face stormy.

Gabrielle had turned away; she was conversing in a low tone with an angel that Roy didn't recognize. He didn't know where the stranger had come from or when he'd entered the chamber, but he suddenly felt on display.

Michael had inclined his head in their direction, and Raphael was staring directly at Roy and scowling. He still stood between Edward and Michael but had moved a little off to the side. Roy sensed that it was going to be Raphael who ended up putting him to the sword, and he seemed a little overeager to get the execution done with. However, Roy met Raphael's stare, his face as coldly blank as he could make it. He was so overfull of emotion it was a wonderful thing to just zero it all out, to just fall back to nothing.

"We have a ... complication." Gabrielle looked directly at Edward when she said that, before looking to Michael.

"Who is that?" Roy asked, his voice low and for Edward's ears alone. Edward glanced to the strange angel and shook his head, he didn't recognize him. The angel had the appearance of a wizened old man; hunched with age, the tips of his wings dragging on the floor behind him.

All the angels had their attention on Gabrielle now. "What sort of complication?" Michael asked.

She took a breath, and glanced to Roy. "Samael's name is already in the Book."

The angels around them rustled in agitation. Roy glanced around in confusion, then looked at Edward. Edward had the same look of confusion on his face, this statement was as cryptic to him as it was to Roy.

"That's impossible," Raphael said.

The old angel shuffled forward, bearing a large book before him. He ignored Raphael completed when the warrior angel stepped forward and moved to Michael, opening the tome as Gabrielle spoke. "Samael's tree has been severed."

"What is that book?" Edward demanded.

"It is the Book of Life," Michael said, his fingers to the pages.

"When an angel dies their name returns to the Book," Gabrielle said. "Until a new life is created in their name. Sariel's name, for instance, passed on instantly so his name never registered in the Book."

Roy's mouth was dry. "What does that mean?" He was afraid of the answer, what that answer could mean for all of them.

"Samael did not pass on his name to you," Michael said, as the old man closed the tome slowly. "He died without vesting his powers, retiring his name into the Book."

Everyone was looking at Roy now, like Roy knew what the hell was going on here. "I don't understand," he said. "If he didn't, then how-?" He looked to Edward, and Edward's eyes were widening in realization.

"Do you know how angels are made?" Gabrielle asked Roy.

Roy shook his head dumbly, and the grin that Gabrielle was wearing was a fiercely sad one. "Neither do we," she said. "The Book is filling with names, and no new angels have been birthed for many thousands of years. Coincidentally, that's how long it has been since there stood an Earthborne in our midst."

"Teiazel," Michael addressed the ancient-looking angel. "Who stands before us now, if not Samael?"

The old man shuffled forward, staring intently at Roy. "Samhiel," he said, his voice surprisingly strong for an old man.

Raphael snorted, loudly, but Michael spoke over him. "Who here will acknowledge Samhiel?"

Roy's mouth opened and closed, he really had no idea what was happening. Edward looked like he was going to collapse and Roy caught his arm, supporting him and hoping that his own legs weren't going to go first as the angels around them spoke.

"I acknowledge Samhiel, of the seventh lineage," the archangel Roy knew as Sachiel said with no hesitation, stamping the butt of his spear against the stone floor to mark his words.

"I acknowledge Samhiel, of the seventh lineage," Remiel said, almost stumbling in over Cassiel's words.

Gabrielle said it, too, and Raphael glared by muttered it. Michael's even expression broke, for just a moment and a quick smile dashed across his face. "We acknowledge you, Samhiel of the Seventh Lineage. I fear that you might be the only one to keep our fledgling Earthborne in line. Here's to hoping that your complimenting each other shall prove in our ... best interests."