Descent

Chapter Fourteen

But he had snapped.

Subconsciously, he had known that the twisted demon within him, the one that wanted Edward's blood, would resurface if he wasn't careful. If he didn't control himself, but as the weeks had slowly passed, and Edward had grown more and more relaxed around him, as he had allowed his guard to lower itself, little thoughts had begun to once more invade his mind. Thoughts that told him how easy it would be, right then and there, to hurt the kid, to punch him, to push him over and spill his worthless blood.

At first he had dismissed the thoughts, thinking that perhaps it was as the old saying went; old habits died hard. But as they had become more frequent, he had realized that it was impossible to keep them at bay forever. It just was not possible to come down from such a high point without craving to go back and experience it once more. Roy had never done drugs, and wondered perhaps if this was similar to an addict being forced through a withdrawal. He imagined the two could be related, but, again, as he had never indulged in the killing sickness that was drugs, he would never know for sure.

And, soon enough, he was back to the way he had been before. Constantly thinking of Edward, of all the ways he could hurt him, all the ways he could spill the blood that flowed within him. He had battled his own mind for days on end, until, finally, one day he had fought with Ed, and that was when he could control himself no longer. As far as he could recall, it had been another heated battle about milk. Roy could not understand how the stupid child hated milk, it was a delicacy as far as he was concerned. He loved it, after all, without milk, drinks like coffee, tea and hot chocolate would be disgusting. As well as the fact that it was nutritionally valuable to a person's health, containing plenty of iron that strengthened the bones. Through all the fighting that Edward seemed to do, back when he was an alchemist, it was a wonder his bones ever survived through his lack of consumption of the vital liquid.

Edward had been shouting at him, shouting about how milk was disgusting an it couldn't possibly have any kind of health benefits, and he had slammed his hands on the table, and the impact had sent his plate flying, until it hit the wall and shattered into a million pieces.

They had both frozen, Edward immediately beginning to mutter that he was sorry and that he would clean it up. Roy had said nothing. Edward went to retrieve the broken glass, and Roy had lost all control. He slowly stood up, and, as Edward had bent down, he had thrust the boys face into the shattered glass, burying that slivers into the skin. Edward had screamed, trying to get away, screaming that Roy had promised, that he had promised to never hurt him again, but Roy had, maliciously, repeated words he remembered Edward saying to him weeks earlier.

"Promises are made to be broken, Edward." He had taunted, further pushing down on the boys head, a firm grip in his hair, as Edward struggled desperately to get his face away from the glass that was tearing his face apart. After what could have been seconds, minutes or hours, Roy let him go, commanding him to pick up the broken shards and to put them in the bin. Trembling, the boy had obeyed, and when he was done, Roy had grabbed him by the hair and practically dragged him up the stairs, into Edward's room, where they were now.

Now, Mustang let go of his grip on Edward, still sitting on top of him. He pulled his gloves out of his pocket, making sure Edward saw them as he slowly slipped them over his fingers. Edward's eyes widened in fear and he struggled desperately to get out from underneath Roy, screaming and shrieking that he had had enough, that he couldn't take the pain anymore, that Roy had promised never to do it again. Roy only laughed, gliding his gloved fingers over Edward's writhing form, trying to decide where would be the best place to burn him. The child shivered at his touch, and Roy laughed again.

He finally settled on Ed's left shoulder, and his fingers sat still there for a few moments. Edward stopped moving, to gaze for a moment into Roy's eyes, just like he used to, trying to find any sign of mercy or regret there. Roy gave him nothing to find, and the child sobbed, closed his eyes, and turned his head away, presumably bracing for the intense pain that was about to come. Roy lifted his fingers and instantly snapped his thumb and middles finger together, creating the spark that instantly latched onto the place on Edward's shoulder that he had marked, searing the flesh, turning it first pink, then red, until Edward could hold back his pained shriek of agony no longer. It burst from his lips, like a bomb, and the sound reverberated through the room as his flesh was burned, and to Mustang the sound was like a symphony of music. He felt that familiar butterfly sensation in his chest, and he he didn't bother to try holding back the manic laugh that escaped his lips.