Bonds (Part 3 - Oliver)

"A son is the closest imitation, a father can ever get of himself"

[Present day]

Roy was sleeping on his comfy bed, but he was sweating and grunting while closing his eyes. He was having a bad dream about the incident when he felt loss for the first time. He was dreaming about the puppy he loved, killed by some bullies. Fortunately, he escaped from the nightmare in a few moments. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was just having a bad dream, so he calmed down and looked at the clock which was hanged on the wall in front of him. It was 7 AM in the morning, and he needed to reach his office in the next 2 hours.

Few months had passed since the battle at central command on the Promise Day. After winning the battle and exposing the Generals who were under the influence of Father, they were arrested and put in jail. Because of the vacancy created, Roy was now promoted to a Major General and Grumman became the new Fuehrer of Amestris. Moreover, Roy brought back his team to Central City. Even Havoc was reinstated back to the team when Dr. Marcoh fixed his spines. Roy now had the privileges of a General, that's why he had a big house and some servants. After finishing all his morning chores which were generally brushing, bathing, taking a dump and some exercise, he finished his breakfast and started getting ready for office. He was dressing in front of a big mirror. But, there was also a boy, around the age of 9 to 10, buttoning the shirt he was wearing. He was almost looking like a smaller and cuter version of Roy. Roy was looking at the boy's reflection on the mirror while getting ready, and he was enjoying watching the boy struggling with the array of buttons on the shirt, and for the fact that the boy was not asking for any help. And within a few moments, the boy finished up buttoning his shirt, so Roy spoke to him, now that he was relaxed.

"You never told me, how was your trip to Xing was like?" Roy spoke while dressing up and facing toward the mirror

"It was awesome" The boy replied excitedly

The boy was Roy's son, Oliver. Roy sent him along with her foster mother/aunt, Chris Mustang, to Xing, in order to keep them safe from the incident of promise day. Chris and Oliver spent quite a long time in Xing which made Roy worry a lot, but when he returned safe and happy, he was relieved

"Really?" Roy was surprised, yet in doubt

"Yes. I also learned a different kind of alchemy which they call alkahestry but, I can do only one technique"

Roy was even more surprised to find that Oliver learned alkahestry, which he didn't even know about. So, he got more curious and looked toward his son before asking the question,

"Who taught you that?"

"There was this girl named Mei who was a little older than me. When I told her that I am your son and will be staying in Xing for some time, she became my friend instantly. Later when I asked her to teach me alkahestry, she agreed"

Roy couldn't believe that his son learned alchemy as well as alkahestry just at the age of 9, even though he was not smooth in performing any of them. But, he was proud of him like every father should be of their son. He was smiling while looking toward his son, thinking about Oliver's achievements. Then he asked the question which he couldn't ask to him the day before when Oliver arrived at Central with his granny,

"Are you sure you want to stay with me in Central? Aren't you going to miss your friends and Ms. Anna?"

Anna was a woman who took care of Oliver along with other kids, in her orphanage in a small town of South Area. Roy kept Oliver hidden from the world, all this time to keep him safe from any potential danger which might occur because of his job.

"I told them before leaving that, it will be better for me if I stay with you and learn alchemy, that way I can become a state alchemist even before the age when Edward Elric became one" Oliver replied to his father like an adult

Oliver's answer made Roy slightly worry. He bent down in his uniform and put his hands on his son's little shoulders,

"Son, it's too early to take some burden like that. Enjoy your childhood, you should make some friends rather than studying and practicing alchemy you know" He said while looking into Oliver's eyes with a concerned face

"Don't worry Dad, I will be fine" He assured his father with a smile

After getting ready in some time, the father and son duo got out of their new big house. There was a car waiting for them outside, and a driver was standing beside the car. He opened the door for both of them and drove them straight to the Central Command.

Everything was going as usual in Roy's office. Havoc was watching the ceiling sitting on his chair while resting his healed legs on the desk. Breda and Falman were debating over some stupid thing and Fuery was enjoying their debate. Hawkeye had gone for a meeting with some other Military personnel. That's when the door opened and all team members looked at Mustang entering the office with a 9-10-year-old kid. Mustang greeted, "Hey everyone" and everyone responded individually,

"Good morning Sir," They said in a formal manner

Everyone was looking at the boy walking beside Roy. The environment was silent but still, Roy could sense the questions appearing in all of his subordinate's minds. Roy sat on the sofa and was looking very happy. Then he moved his arm around Oliver's shoulders with pride and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, even though everyone was curiously looking toward Oliver,

"Team, this is Oliver," He said proudly

A name was not enough to answers all the questions in his subordinate's mind, so he continued,

"He is the next in line to the Mustang family and my only son"

Everyone was shocked when they heard Roy's answer. They started looking at Roy and then Oliver, back and forth. They could see that Oliver was, in fact, a spitting image of Roy. The entire team's eyes were widened out of the surprising revelation. They couldn't control their emotions and shouted at the same time,

"WHAT? YOUR SON?" They said with their enlarged eyes directed toward Roy

After sometime when everything calmed down, Havoc was the first one to ask a question,

"Chief" He spoke to get the attention of his superior

"Yes, Jean?" Roy replied with energy because he was excited to finally reveal his son to his team

"Chief, don't get me wrong but, all these years you never let me date a girl properly and now you come to us and say that YOU HAVE A SON?" Havoc let his grudge out for all the times when Roy destroyed his date life

"I think you should thank me for that. Should I remind you whom did you dated once?" Roy replied calmly with a cold gaze and tense face, reminding Havoc of Lust

Havoc was speechless. So, Fuery took the turn and spoke to Oliver with a smile,

"So Oliver, how old are you?"

"Nine" Oliver replied instantly

Meanwhile, Havoc again shot his question at his superior,

"When can we meet your wife, Chief?" Havoc was trying to tease his superior by making faces which was clearly not working, so he stopped

"The thing is…"

Roy was hesitating to speak any more on that matter, and because everyone was looking at him for the answer, he was getting uncomfortable. But then, his son saved him by replying on his behalf

"She left us" He appeared a bit sad while speaking about his mother

Roy decided to stop the conversation on that uncomfortable topic, so he interrupted

"Can you please not ask anything about his mother?" He requested

Everyone adhered to Roy's request and talked on some other topic to make Oliver feel good. After sometime when Oliver was comfortable with his team, Roy asked Fuery,

"Fuery, why don't you take Oliver and show the central command?"

Oliver got excited when he heard his father's idea, his eyes started sparkling with only the thought of meeting other state alchemists. He was looking toward Fuery for an answer,

"Sure Sir," Fuery said

Oliver then went with Fuery but, before they could open the exit door of the office, someone opened it and entered inside. Oliver saw a blonde woman in front of him, whom he instantly recognized

"Ma'am!"

He ran toward Riza and hugged her. Riza was also startled when she saw him. She was unable to comprehend the situation, but she calmed down when she felt his warm hug. She bent down and kissed Oliver on his cheek who was very happy to meet her. Then she looked at him and said,

"When did you come to Central?" She sounded affectionate which was not one of her feature in her team's eyes

The team was shocked to find that Riza already knew Oliver.

"WHAT? SHE KNOWS OLIVER?" The team asked in a loud voice in a synchronized way

"Yesterday" Oliver replied to Riza's question

Riza then stood up properly and looked at Roy with an angry face

"General, at least you could have told me Oli was coming. I could have picked him up from the station" She said more than just that with her enraged eyes which only Roy could understand

"Yes, I should have" He replied with a guilty laugh

Riza talked with Oliver for a while and found out that he was going to live in Central which again made her angry because Roy didn't tell her. While she was talking to Oliver, Roy was avoiding coming anywhere in the proximity of her. After some time, Oliver left with Fuery to get a tour of Central command. Before leaving, when Riza told him that Hayate was in the Central Command, Oliver got more excited and left quickly with Fuery

When Oliver was gone, Havoc shot the question which was bugging him from a while

"It looks like you know Oliver very well" His question was directed to Riza, but he got the reply from Roy instead

"What's the big deal in that? She is my aide and personal assistant if you remember."

Meanwhile, Falman remembered something and displayed his emotion out loud by mistake,

"SHIT"

Everyone's attention was now directed toward Falman which made Falman more uncomfortable and he spoke before anyone could ask any question, especially Roy

"Sorry Chief" He spoke with a guilty smile, exposing his teeth

Roy sensed something fishy when he saw Falman uncomfortable and Breda sweating. He gave them a glaring look and asked,

"Tell me" Roy spoke very calmly, yet his eyes were telling a different story

Falman didn't speak for a few moments, but they were trembling because of Roy's glare. And then, Breda couldn't hold more and had to tell the truth while facing the floor.

"Actually, the thing is…" Breda was hesitating to proceed

"Are you testing my patience?" Roy's voice was like a calm flame which was waiting to burn them

"According to your order, Falman and I went to your house yesterday to fetch the old books for binding" He sounded afraid

"Yes, what about it?" Roy was taking an interest, so Breda had to continue

"We gathered all the old books, there were 6 of them. We then went to the binding shop you told us about, but it was closed, so we decided to go the next day and went to the bar. After we had some drinks, we left for home but…" He paused for a moment

Roy got impatient when Breda stopped speaking, so he yelled,

"BUT WHAT?"

Breda was afraid, so Falman gathered courage and continued the story,

"But, we left your books at the bar. When I remembered that we left your books there, I went there to retrieve them but, they were already gone and, the bar-tender was clueless who took them"

"I see" He replied calmly and then he followed it by a question,

"Was there any book which had a brown cover and 'BH' written over it?" Roy seemed very curious from the way he was looking at Falman and Breda

"Yes" Falman replied with a little hesitation

"Major, please bring me my gloves?" Roy politely asked Riza

Fortunately, Roy had a meeting which was reminded to him by Riza,

"There is no time for that Sir. We have a meeting now"'

She stood up and went toward the door with some documents. Roy had no option but to follow her. But while leaving, he threatened Falman and Breda

"I will see you later, boys"

After Roy was gone, Falman and Breda sat on their chair taking a sigh of relief.