The Pink Triangle

Chapter 2 -- Ich verfehlte Sie soviel!

By the time that Alphonse awoke, it was morning. His head was pounding, and his arm felt like it was almost ripped off. He looked around, and saw that the entire house was trashed. There was red paper all over the floor, and the glass from the windows was broken out. Wait… red paper?! Much of Ed’s manuscripts now lay in a huge puddle of blood which Al hoped to God didn’t belong to Ed or Maes.

“Brother?!” Al cried, remembering with horror what had happened the last time he had woken up feeling like this. But this time, Ed was nowhere to be found. Getting up, he ran out the door of the house and stood on the front porch. Where, only the day before there had been a bustling amount of people out and about by this time of morning, there was not a soul to be seen. In all the houses around, there were broken down windows, broken glass, and a few windows that had drippings of blood where someone had been shot. He even saw a lifeless hand protruding out the doorway of one of the houses.

“GET BACK INSIDE, BOY!” screamed a male voice from inside the house. “You want them to pick you up too?”

“Where is my brother!?” Al screamed back.

“Probably a Jew camp by now, kid,” came Robert’s voice as he walked through the door.

“You!” Al seethed. “You took my brother and my friend away! How dare you show your face here?”

“Because I’m trying to help you get Fullmetal back, Heart of Gold,” he said. Al gasped, noticing an eye patch on the man’s eye which Robert had never worn, nor needed to.

“Brigadier General Mustang?” he cried, and the man smiled. “But how?”

“More Homunculi have been created, and they got someone to open another gate,” Roy said, ushering Al back in and closing the door behind them. “I’ve missed you boys and wanted to come here, so I took the place of the one who opened the gate so that I could. On my way through the gate, I saw almost an exact replica of myself being created, so by now there is probably another Homunculus with my face in our world.”

“Roy…” Al said. “They got Commander Hughes last night too.”

“I know,” he said. Before Al could utter another word, he felt the older man’s arms around him, their lips connected, and his arms involuntarily reached to hold him. “Alphonse, I’ve missed you.”

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear those words from you,” Al whispered. “I always thought you wanted my brother, not me.”

“Your brother and I have never gotten along very well,” he said. “But you, Al, have always been the one that’s been able to calm me down and not try to KILL your brother. I was the one who convinced the new leaders to give you the official title of Heart of Gold Alchemist, because you DO have a heart of gold.”

“Oh, Roy,” Al said, hugging him tight. He wanted to relish in the feeling of being held by this man, but he knew that he needed his help to get Ed and Hughes back. “Now, what do we need to do?”

“Become a dog of the military again,” Roy said bluntly. “With you looking like a supporter of Captain Maersten, you’ll gain a lot of clout from his other supporters.”

“You want me to join the Nazis?” the younger man said.

“If what I’ve seen is correct, you’re already a Nazi supporter,” he said. “With your brother being taken, but you being left alone, it will look like you were the one who set them up to be taken in the first place. With the resources that ‘I’ have, I can get you in contact with them, or at least see what is going on with them. I can’t control what their leader might do to them himself, but I can at least try to get them out of harm’s way, and make sure that they have the proper medical attention.”

“We’ll both be dead if it backfires, but it’s worth the risk,” Al said. Roy handed him an arm band with the Swastika on it, and Al grimaced as he put it on. Having grown a bit since he had come to this world, he was easily able to fit into the uniforms that Maes had been keeping in the house in case he needed a place to crash, and Roy admired the way the blonde looked in it. He had never seen Al in any kind of uniform in Amestris, as most of their time spent together had been while Al was still just a suit of armor.

“You look really good, Al,” Roy said.

“You keep gawking and we’ll never get out of here,” Al said teasingly.

“I’m only stating the truth,” he said.
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“EDWARD!” Maes’ voice rang in Ed’s head as he awoke, sitting up with a start. He immediately lay back down, however, as his head began to throb from the injury that Robert had inflicted on him. His eyes misted with tears when he realized what was happening -- he’d been picked up by the Nazis, some of whom he had called friends. He’d seen it in their faces that they hadn’t wanted to do it, but they’d had no choice. Now, he looked around to the others in the truck, many of them his neighbors who, while he didn’t know much about any of them, he at least recognized.

Next to him sat a young girl, clutching a bundle in a green blanket. It bore the Star of David, which all the Jews were required to wear, Ed soon realized that while she was small in stature, this was no child. She was a mother, she was holding her baby, and she was the one who had inadvertently woken him up by calling his name. Without asking her, he couldn’t tell if she was calling for the father of the baby, or if the baby’s name was Edward.

“Are you okay, Little One?” said one of the women next to him. His eyebrow raised, but he tried his hardest to remain calm.

“My head hurts, but I’ll be fine,” he said. “The question is, are you ladies and kids doing okay?”

“Why would a gentile ask such a question of a Jew?” she said. “I thought that you Nazis hated us.”

“I’m not a true Nazi, Ma’am,” Ed said. “The one I love is a member of that group, but I’m not.” He knew that he had to choose his words carefully, even around these peace-loving people, because he was as much of an abomination to them as he was to the Nazis simply because of his attraction to men, and especially because of his love for the Nazi soldier. “I’m not religious, but I’m certainly disrespectful of others’ beliefs, as I once was.”

“Lord bless you,” she said. “My name is Vendra Rochenheim, and you are?”

“Edward Elrich,” Ed said. Looking at her, he realized how much she looked like Winry. Having never met the Winry of this world, he could only imagine that, with the similarity of name, this must be her. He turned to the woman with the baby, his hand reaching out to her shoulder. “What’s your name, Miss?”

“Lisa Haushen,” she whispered. Before this, Ed hadn’t seen her eyes, those beautiful ambers shining out at him, but he knew for a fact that this was the Riza Hawkeye of this world. He hair was much longer, and her spirit was much more broken than Riza’s would ever be, but this was absolutely her. “I’m Maes Hughes’s sister.” Ed’s eyes widened, realizing that she wasn’t wearing a yellow star. The baby was, but she wasn’t. She wasn‘t a Jew. “Do you know where they took my brother, Edward?”

“I only wish I knew, Lisa,” he said, his heart tightening in his chest. “I got knocked out before they took me, and I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. But… Why did they get you?”

“Guilty by association,” Vendra said. “The Gestapo are notorious for not caring two cow tails for guilt or innocence. They got her because she is the sister of someone who they consider a traitor.” The truck suddenly came to a screeching halt, and yelling was heard outside.

“Stay strong, everyone!” Ed said, jumping out of the truck into the unknown. He knew that he would probably be beaten to the edge of his life, starved, get some horrible disease, or possibly be gassed, but he had to be strong, for himself, for his lover, and for the women and children around him.
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“Verrater, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“I am… no traitor…” Hughes groaned. He was on the verge of being beaten to death, but he was determined to remain strong. He had to make his way back to his lover, no matter what it took. “I am… faithful to the Nazis…”

“How can you claim to be a faithful Nazi when you are a man-lover?!” one of the men screamed, smacking him across the face again.

“I have feelings for another man, yes, but…” His words came quickly, knowing he was going to get another blow, which also came quickly. “But I am still faithful to the Fuehrer! Heil Hitler!”

“Was hat ihn sagte?” said another man from outside the room where these men were interrogating him.

“Heil Hitler!” said the man who was asking most of the questions. Hughes bowed his head in respect as Hitler himself walked into the room. Surely this must be important to him or he wouldn’t have come personally. “He has not said very much, Fuehrer, Sir. Only that he is still faithful to the cause.”

“Is he now?” Hitler said, his perfect German voice resonating through the room as a smile played on his lips. “Then he won’t mind doing me a favor.” He lifted Maes’ chin with his hand and looked him right in the eyes. “I have a young woman here who wears a yellow star. If you are true to our cause, you will take this gun und remove this pestilence from the world for good.” The fear in Maes’ face was obvious as the girl was brought in. While he was a soldier, and had always hated the Jews, he had never been faced with killing one of them in absolute cold blood, and he’d also never had to shoot someone point blank. “Do this for me, und you will be spared.”

“Yes, Sir,” he said reluctantly, reaching up to take the gun from the Fuehrer’s hand. He was quite surprised that this man of such great power was trusting him with a gun, when he knew that Hughes could very easily turn the gun on everyone in the room. However, Hughes realized that the only way that he would ever see Ed again was to do all he could to stay alive. Standing, he looked at the young woman, trying to show an air of toughness and arrogance, but he knew that he was shaking. The girl’s face was bruised and swollen from already being beaten, and he knew that she had probably been raped. Even through all of this, the fear in her eyes was wild and extremely obvious.

“Please…” the girl whimpered, and this sound nearly killed him, and nearly made him lose his resolve.

'Please forgive me,' he said in his mind as he raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The sound of her gasp as the bullets found their places in her chest and head was sickening, and Maes nearly lost the bit of bread and water in his stomach. 'Go with God, child.'

“You surprise me, Commander Hughes,” Hitler said. “I was almost sure that you wouldn’t do it.” The man placed his hand on Hughes’ shoulder, smiling wickedly as he signaled one of the men to grab him again.

“Sir, have I not shown my loyalty to you?!” Hughes said in shock as he was forced back down to his knees. “You said you would spare me!”

“I did, and I will do just that,” he said. “But that does not mean that you will not be sent to the Jew camps with all the other man-lovers, you shitty queer!” Grabbing hold of his hair, Hitler got right up in Hughes’ face and sneered at him. “You were a valuable asset to me, Hughes, until you decided to fuck with one of your own. Get him out of here!” As he was dragged outside to the truck, Maes only hoped that this truck would take him to where Ed was, or that if it didn’t, he would at least one day see him again.

End Chapter 2