I really really really appreciate Arakawa's attention to detail and side characters. Specifically, I was reading through the Ishvalan Genocide flashback chapters, and would you look at who appears in two separate panels...

Like damn! She really did remember!

Also, this is pretty interesting for my fellow people who are insane over the Devil's Nest Gang because Roa is featured but Bido and Dolcetto are distinctly not, implying that their origins don't involve Ishval.

rough and definitely not comprehensive list of AUs Where Bido Survives And Has Nice Things ive thought of. yes i think about this too much. no i will not stop

bido is not around the meat shop when the soldiers are there and does not go looking for greed in central, stays around the vicinity of the nest and greed somehow still gets his memories back and goes to dublith and they reunite with no stabbing

follows greed to the soupening and tries to rescue him and ends up also being soupened, resulting in his soul becoming part of greeds philosophers stone and popping back up later on

He Just Simply Survives Being Stabbed and hangs out in the sewers and becomes the king of the giant chimeras guarding the place and they pop out of the ground and wreck father when hes about to try absorbing greed during the final fight

He Just Simply Survives Being Stabbed and follows ling to the house where he meets up with ed and darius and heinkel. and ed heals him with greeds philosophers stone and everything is fine and normal though there is emotional turmoil and such

He Just Simply Survives Being Stabbed.....and greed Notices This! he is holding him and screaming and whatever and ling is like hang on stop screaming you absolute moron hes still breathing. and greed is like oh shit. oh fuck. what do we do. and lings like we are going to need to be a little bit smart about this so please shut up and do what i tell you. so he takes him to father and is like.... hey pops i was chasing this chimera for fun and i was a little too rough with it but i dont want it to die can you fix it (technically none of this is a lie). father is kind of suspicious (why is there a HUMAN chimera in the tunnels???) but hes out of the loop enough that he didnt know about greeds gang of furries and is like okay fine whatever i dont want him to rebel again heres your fucked up lizard thing. and bido once being healed just runs away full tilt and greed is like. ......well thanks dad! (shit shit shit) and goes after him and when he catches up to him bidos just in a cranny sobbing and theres Emotional Turmoil! And Such! but they come to an understanding and bust out of the tunnels and eventually meet up with some group of main characters or another

he does Not just simply survive being stabbed BUT his blood going all over greed does some kind of alchemy thing and his soul goes in the philosophers stone and he is just in there now and there is, once again, emotional turmoil and such. this is the one im trying to write right now but probably will not finish

father reforms greed in his normal body instead of putting him in ling so bido recognizes him instantly and the conversation goes differently and greed basically goes maybe i dont remember this guy but he says hes mine so im keeping him and bido gradually convinces him to ditch the rest of the homunculi by Dropping Hints that they Suck while greed slowly gets his memories back

bido gets caught by that random evil guy talking to olivier in the mannequin room and bluffs his way into making him think he works for father and by a mixture of putting pieces together and getting REALLY lucky ends up convincing the guy to set up a meeting with greed in private without telling wrath (because the information is “from higher up than that and is for greeds ears only”). so again the conversation goes differently/with less murder because its under the pretenses of a “meeting with an informant” though bido still tells greed basically the whole truth once theyre alone. and while greeds reeling from all this wrath comes in because he found out after all and greed has to basically choose in that split second whether to let bido get killed or protect him and in doing so betray the homunculi. three guesses what he picks

greed also escapes from the raid on the nest and he and bido go on the run and team up with scars party and they are all friends and they work together :^)

the raid on the nest just does not happen and the whole gang is happy and alive and nothing bad ever happens to them and they are a big furry found family who all love and care for each other so very much

bido go back in time and warn everybody!!!!!!!! and everyone is okay because he did that!!!!! how did he do that? i dont know but people write things like this sometimes so bido can do it too

everything happens as normal but there are many tearful reunions in the afterlife and everyone gets to just hang out and relax and not worry and have SO much alcohol. as much as they want. forever

greed human transmutations bido back to life and it works because neither of them are human. checkmate truth

ghosts are REAL and bido is a GHOST and he HAUNTS GREED (in a nice and not mean way) and greed does not realize this until after getting somehow brought back to life post canon and hes walking around and some person with the ability to see ghosts is like hey you uh. you got a ghost on you there. and they figure out how to communicate and bido is able to tell greed he forgives him and he is happy hes found new friends

bido uses his powers and abilities to destroy king bradley on sight and goes and tells father and the rest of the homunculi to simply stop being evil and they listen to him. then he makes out with greed for 3 hours

actually all of these have to end with greed being in his own body (and bido being in HIS own body if he didnt have one over the course of the au) and then them making out for 3 hours i dont care how. it can happen. make it happen. i want the papers on my desk by six o clock sharp

Lust and Havoc Share A Body AU

Howdy! Me and one of my best friends started this off of a joke and then I fell into the rabbit hole and wound up making it a full fledged AU

The basic summary here is that after Lust’s death, Father puts her into Havoc’s body and they end up stuck together similarly to Greed and Ling. Lust’s characterization is also a mix between brotherhood and 03 (because duh yknow?) Also I have a few joke-y interactions as well that I wanna draw for this AU, but we’ll see! If I have the time I definitely will

I’ll also be splitting the post into parts here to make it easier to navigate through

The Beginning/The How:

Jean Havoc is a stubborn, skilled, strong-willed, soldier who Lust has spent months getting to know under the guise of being “Solaris” and whether she’d ever admit it or not, part of her is actually attached to him by the time she confronts Roy & Jean under Central

At some point, she’s convinced herself that he could be a potential valuable asset and useful to the grand plan in some way

Lust gets Havoc’s body to Father’s base of operations at some point inbetween Roy & Jean’s fight and the fight with Riza, Barry, and Alphonse. 

Admittedly details on this part are a little hazy, since the entrance way to Father’s base is behind Riza and the group, but I’m fairly certain there’s gotta be other like side entrances and stuff like how Bido comes across Greed and such.

And I figured maybe she recruited another homunculi to help her move the body like maybe Pride yknow since Lust is one of the higher ranking homunculi

When Father is brought Havoc’s unconscious, bleeding body, he’s kind of just like “What the fuck is this?” like Lust is a cat who brought him a dead rat as a gift. But Lust has never really given him reason not to trust her, so he figures he might as well wait until she gets back and hear her out on why the hell she brought him the body of a dying human before he inevitably destroys Havoc

Only Lust is killed by Roy and doesn’t come back and now Father just has some idiot soldier in his base of operations

Father recognizes Havoc as one of Roy’s unit, and figures “Well, we have this guy, might as well try and get some use out of him before he dies” and inserts a Philosopher’s Stone made from Lust into Havoc’s wounds

Havoc & Lust Reunite:

Havoc is too stubborn to relinquish control of his body so Lust frankly doesn’t get to just take over, but Havoc’s also too stubborn to die, so Lust still has a chance

Despite this, Havoc expresses to New Lust that he’s willing to let her borrow his body as long as it isn’t forever

He takes it as a chance to talk to her about the whole homunculi thing and also whether or not she was ever actually serious about their relationship. Not to mention he could probably gather some intel for Roy about the homunculi and Hughes’ death and stuff!

The entire conversation, Havoc is calling Lust “Solaris”

Lust is just like “Who the fuck is Solaris? Who the fuck are you? What are you talking about? This is my body now, thanks, please go away”

Ultimately though, Lust knows how unlikely it is she’ll get another chance to come back without Havoc, she’s useful to Father but not necessary. So she reluctantly agrees and agrees to share the body, but she intends to eventually completely take over

Father has Lust go undercover eventually to help prevent Roy’s team from continuing to get in the way of their plans

Lust isn’t too happy about having to pretend to be Havoc and paralyzed but she’s not going to disregard her orders

Havoc makes a good point (much to Lust’s surprise) that he can just front when they have to talk to anyone who knows him and Lust really hates to admit that it’s definitely smarter than having her take his place sometimes

Miscellaneous:

Havoc spends a lot of his time when he’s not in control talking to Lust, or trying to

He never calls he Lust, he completely insists on referring to her as Solaris

And most of his topics is just him going over dumb stories from hanging out with Team Mustang or from growing up or what random trivia he seems to know about things

He does however try talking to her about their dates a lot

Lust hates to admit it when her memories start coming back

She tries not to talk about it like Jean can’t see the memories himself when she gets them, she’d rather pretend she doesn’t remember him or their time together or anything that led to her actively choosing to save his life that night

Jean doesn’t confront her about it really, but he’s going to get answers out of her eventually

He never asks why she saved him, but he thinks he knows. He knows that she’s not as much as a monster as she’s been acting since they merged, he knows that somewhere in her she actually cares and she doesn’t hate humans as much as she says

He makes a lot of jokes as well of course, mostly bad puns or cheesy pickup lines. He claims it’s just his way of keeping himself from dying of boredom, but eventually Lust can’t help it and she laughs and he knows he’s broken through to her, even just a little crack

Havoc has no sense of style and Lust is not about to stand for that, when he’s released from the hospital and they’re living in his hometown, one of the first things she does it make him clean out all of his wardrobe and go buy new clothes

Lust pretends to turn a blind-eye to Havoc passing notes to Team Mustang and helping them

She can’t have failed to stop them if she never noticed

Jean pretends not to notice, but he’s not stupid, he knows damn well that she could stop him and ruin the communications if she wanted

Havoc’s also got a surprisingly tight knit family and Lust really doesn’t know how to handle that obstacle

The closest to a sense of family she’s ever had was Gluttony and maybe Envy, neither of which really prepared her for being involved with a real human family

She draws similarities between Gluttony and the Havoc family dog though, the comparison makes both herself and Jean laugh

Jean chalks that up to another breakthrough

He tries to use the window to get Lust to open up and talk about the other homunculi

Surprisingly she does, though it’s mostly just stories about Gluttony, she wonders idly about how he’s doing and whether he knows she’s back or not

Jean feels bad momentarily for planning to use what Lust told him about the other homunculi against them, but he tells himself that if Lust can be redeemed, then there’s no reason that they need to kill the others either

He doesn’t want to be responsible for killing Lust’s family

Spending so much time with humans, in a human body, and with Jean sharing space in her head, Lust is forced to reevaluate how she views humans

She still thinks they’re foolish and reckless, but she’s begun to admire them. It starts just as admiration for sticking to their principals and willingness to fight to the end if they thought it was worth it (even if she didn’t understand that or agree.)

But as time goes on, she finds it harder to hate them, whereas her entire purpose to being has been to serve Father and help him achieve his master plan, humans don’t have any one singular purpose, they do whatever they want for however they want, and even the ones who are supposed to follow orders, go out of their way not to if circumstances call for it to them

She unintentionally wakes Jean up one night in the middle of the night when she’s having a bit of a crisis when she realizes that helping Father might not be in her best interests

Without thinking she apologizes for waking him (woo more cracks) but he shrugs it off

Jean stays up with her, mostly just listening to her list off all of her thoughts and realizations and whatever else information she deems is relevant

She admits to being conflicted on whether to continue how she’s always gone, helping Father, or to turn around and do “something drastic” that he wouldn’t approve of

Jean’s just like “Listen, do whatever makes you happy, fuck your dad if he has a problem with it, yunno? It’s your life, not his”

Lust doesn’t mention how she’s literally part of Father and in turn doesn’t especially believe in the last bit of Jean’s advice

However the first bit sticks with her, do what makes her happy

A few days after their chat in the middle of the night, Lust tells Jean they need to see Mustang, that specifically she needs to talk to him

Jean’s a little unsure, but he decides to trust her. If he wants to prove to her that humans aren’t all bad and that she’s not all bad, then he needs to trust her

It’s a hassle and a half but eventually they find a chance to meet with Havoc privately, under the guise of making deliveries from his family store

Needless to say, Roy kind of freaks out when he learns that Lust, the homunculus he burned to death with a gash in his side has been living alongside one of his best friends for months

He’s incredibly reluctant to listen to what she says, but complies when Havoc insists he at least try to. It’s not like he has to use the information she gives him after all

Most of what Lust tells him is just the strengths and weaknesses of the other homunculi, which frankly most of that knowledge does little to help him, but it’s good information regardless

She also refuses to go into detail, but she tries to stress to Roy how important it is to stop Father before “the promised day” and how she’s not sure of the details of his plan, but that Roy is an important target and that the entire country is at risk from the plan

Roy takes it all with a grain of salt, but he thanks her for her help anyways, he asks why she’s suddenly “helping” them but she refuses to answer him, dodging the question and claiming that stopping Father helps her just as much as it helps him

Jean thinks he’s being slick and asks Roy to try not to completely up and off the other homunculi, more specifically Gluttony

Roy doesn’t tell him that he has no intention on sparing them if he’s faced against them, he just nods

After everything settles, since Havoc wasn’t in present in the battle itself on the promised day (and because I refuse to kill Lust I’m sorry I just cannot do it I refuse to make an entire AU only to kill her off in the end,) Lust winds up surviving, much to her shock

They go with Alphonse, Zampano, and Jerso to Xing and wherever else they travel to try and find a way to allow Lust to live outside of Havoc and have her own body again finally

For simplicity’s sake, Havoc and Lust finally get a singular name, courtesy of Zampano and Jerso; Larivoc (from Solaris, which is the name Lust was introduced from and has taken to using more than Lust after everything, and Havoc)

Lust admittedly thinks it’s a pointless endeavor, since they’re still 2 different people, but Jean appreciates the effort to give them a name and make it easier on the others

FMA AU Week, Day 7

Late posting of Day 3′s theme “AU where everything is the same but...”

...Dolcetto lives. Inspired by @strawbebehmod ‘s Guard Dog AU. I really didn’t know how to end this, and I think that shows. But I hope y’all enjoy! If liked it or have some critique, lemme know!

Warnings: off-screen deaths, blood mentions...and Greed says “pissant”, which I’m not entirely sure if it could be considered a bad word or not.

The funny thing was, Dolcetto hadn’t even been his real name. He had taken a new name after the transmutation, when he and the others were freed from the labs by Greed. As far as he knew, all of them had. (Some wanted to separate themselves from the lives they’d had before; some had forgotten their old names, anyway.)

Greed was indirectly to blame. He’d brought the rag-tag gaggle of chimeras into the building where they had set up camp before the Devil’s Nest, and while they all stood around uncertainly, he had jumped up to stand on a table.

“Alright, listen, some rules for my new possessions. Yes, you lot, who else is there?” He sighed as some of the group in front of him stopped craning their heads in search of the objects he had been addressing. “I don’t care who you were before or what kind of lives you lived. You’re mine now. This is your home, this is your life. No objections. Second, I don’t know what you eat, so one of you probably needs to make a grocery run.”

A new life. It made sense to pick a new name to with it; there would be no use in dragging something around that would only remind Dolcetto of something that was gone and over with. So when Greed asked his name, he lifted the word “Dolcetto” off of an alcohol bottle sitting on a counter, and didn’t look back.

And now here here was, on his third name. Tony Ramono. It would take some getting used to.

As an unspoken rule, all of them in Greed’s gang had never talked about the labs, except to joke. What else was there for them to do about it? It was laugh, or lose themselves dwelling on something they couldn’t change.

“At least the scientists gave us decent food,” one of them would complain, when it was Martel’s turn to cook dinner again.

Occasionally, there were bottomless promises of going back. They’d give twice what they’d gotten back to those scientists, those alchemists—the entire military, even. Mostly, it was Martel who did this. She never brought the notion up around Greed. They all knew the thought of taking on the government in retribution was ridiculous, a pipe-dream at best; Greed would have tried to pull it off.

Bido had liked to say that, since they’d hit rock bottom years ago, the only place they could go now was up. Right? Dolcetto used to laugh and chime in, “Yeah, nothin’ but good times ahead.”

Lies, all of it. Things could have most certainly become worse for them—and did, which Dolcetto knew all too well.

None of it had been worse than waking up and discovering all his friends had been killed.

The last thing he remembered was the facing off against that armor kid’s brother. It had been more of a challenge than he expected; the runt got a hit on him, and Dolcetto went flying back into the wall. He must have been knocked unconscious. Later, he was pulled awake by the scent of blood assaulting his nose. He bolted up, groaning at the pain the movement sent flooding through his head. The room around him was a wreck, with holes broken through the walls, and it had been abandoned.

When Dolcetto ventured out, following the smell, he found them. Roa. Ulchi. Martel. He might forget the sight, but the smell of their death would haunt him forever.

There were still soldiers up above their hideout. He could hear them—discussing the raid, complaining about having to gather all the dead up and burn the bodies.

Dolcetto wanted to attack them, kill them, desperately wanted to seek revenge for his friends, but he was in no condition for that. He could barely walk without emptying his stomach from the pain in his head and the stench. The gash on his head was still bleeding, adding more blood to what covered the left side of his face.

So he fled. “Like a dog with your tail between your legs,” he almost heard Martel taunt. He abandoned his friends’ bodies and ran and hid like the coward he was.

The East had its perks.

It was sheep country, mainly, and of little interest to the higher machinations of the government and military. It’s quiet hills and villages made for a good place to lay low and stay over-looked.

When Tony Ramono, an immigrant from Aerugo, moved into a small town, there was only a small stir of attention from the people of the town. He was a newcomer, which made him interesting, but there was no suspicion or danger in their gazes.

Dolcetto found work easily enough. It was shearing season, and help was in high demand. He took odd jobs, here and there, and then a position watching one farmer’s flock.

A shepherd. If Greed and the others could have seen him, they would have never let him live that down. While he was in the hills, he imagined all the ribbing they would have given him—Martel very seriously asking if he had sheep dogs in his heritage, Greed grinning and shooting off herding commands to him. They would have been unbearable and irritating, and Dolcetto would have given anything to hear them tease him.

He tried not to think about that. He focused on his job, on his day to day life. And he liked the job well enough, and there were surely worse towns he could have chosen to live in. So Dolcetto kept his head down, did his job, and got by. He wasn’t sure what else he intended to do besides that—getting by, surviving. What was there for him to do? Of course, there was the option of seeking revenge  on the military for the raid at the Devil’s Nest. He could find the ones who killed his friends. He certainly wouldn’t live to enjoy that satisfaction, but it would mean something for his loyalty, to go out in a blaze of vengeance like that.

When he thought about that, Dolcetto was never sure whether he was actually considering that possibility or not.

On the way home one day, making his way through the crowd of the market, his nose caught a whiff of something.  It’s familiar. A scent he knows, but...it’s distorted, somehow. Mingled with the scent of someone else—someone unfamiliar—so that it was almost covered up. Dolcetto must have been crazy, and yet—and yet, it almost reminded him of…

He couldn’t help himself. He veered off hi path, following his nose. It lead him further into the market, down another street, and out the other end of an alleyway. A man in a long dark coat stood with his back to Dolcetto, and it was from him that the scent came.

Dolcetto hesitated. The man certainly didn’t look like him. He was tall, slender, and wore his long hair pulled up in a ponytail.

Cautiously, he took a step towards the stranger.

Before he could take another, the stranger had stiffened and then turned around to face him. His eyes met Dolcetto’s—and narrowed.

Dolcgetto didn’t see the stranger move, only felt the push of a hand against his collar, and the pain of hitting the hard stone wall when he was shoved back into the alley he had just stepped out of. He sucked in a choked gasp.

The stranger’s hand gripped the fabric of his shirt at the neck, and growled at him, “What are you doing here? You think this is funny, Envy? You think you can get to me?”

Dolcetto raised his hands and tugged at the man’s arm, in an attempt to free himself. “Wha—“

“Well, it won’t work!” the man hissed. “I’ll kill you myself. I’ll crush your Stone under my shoe, and then we’ll see how you like that.”

“Not Envy!” Dolcetto gasped out. “I’m not a homunculous!”

He knew about the Homunculi. Greed had explained to all of them about his “siblings” and Father, in case any of them ever would have come looking for trouble.

The hand suddenly released Dolcetto, and the man took a step back. He stared at Dolcetto for a long moment.

Then, he spoke again. “Dolcetto?”

The man knew his name. The man knew Dolcetto’s name, knew about homunculi, wore Greed’s scent…. Dolcetto stared at him, bewildered.

The man shook his head and let out a laugh. “What are you doing here?” he repeated himself from earlier, in a very different tone. A disbelieving smile slipped across his face. “You...you chimeras are a real pesky bunch, you know. I can’t do anything to get rid of you.”

Dolcetto thought, distantly, through the fog of disbelief, that it almost sounded like the man was fighting tears. The man continued to talk, but Dolcetto couldn’t hear what the man was saying. He was caught staring at the strange face wearing a familiar grin.

“Greed?” he asked hoarsely.

Greed laughed again. “Who else, genius?”

A concerned look passed over his face when Dolcetto continued gaping at him. “Hey, you okay?”

“How? You’re not...but...you are? Uhh?”

“Huh?”

“Not dead?” Dolcetto managed.

“Oh. Ha, as if I’d let those pissants keep me down. This is the new and improved Greed!”

His thoughts tumbled in his head, as Dolcetto tried to fight this new reality with his memories of the death in the Devil’s Nest. They’d been dead. He’d smelled the death and blood—but here was Greed, well and alive and in a new body, somehow, but alive nevertheless. Could the others…. No. He’d seen their bodies. (Not Greed’s body, though, Dolcetto realized with a start.)

Greed said something. Still lost in his thoughts, Dolcetto didn’t catch it, and he startled when Greed turned around and started walking away, back to the street.

Dolcetto stared dumbly after him.

Over his shoulder, still walking, Greed called, “You coming?”

Dolcetto trailed after, as Greed lead him through town, to a small hovel of a hotel at the edge of the buildings. It wasn’t the sort of place he would have expected Greed to willingly stay in.

Inside, he was brought to a room with two other people. Even before Greed introduced them as chimeras, Dolcetto knew what they were. They had that animal smell about them.

“So here’s the new member of my group. You’re all chimeras, so you should get along, right?”

Dolcetto folded his arms and eyed the two, who did the same to him. “Dolcetto,” he said, inclining his head a little in introduction.”

“Heinkel.”

“Darius.”

“Great,” Greed said, “we’re all friends. Hey, where’d that kid go?”

Before either Darius or Heinkel could answer, the door to the room swung open. Dolcetto spun around, half reaching for the swords he still expected to find on his back. In the doorway stood a young with bright gold hair, who Dolcetto easily recognized.

“You,” he exclaimed, and then realized that Whashisname Elric (Al? Alfred?) had said the same thing.

“You’re one of those jerks who kidnapped Al!” the kid all but shouted, glaring at him

(So Al wasn’t his name.)

“You mean that armor kid?” Dolcetto asked, glancing at Greed. Greed was no help; he was trying to get past the two chimeras who were blocking the phone, arguing about ordering room service. “What are you even doing here?”

“Me? What are you doing here?

Dolcetto cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair. “I...don’t even know.” He looked back up to find himself under the scrutinizing gaze of Elric’s disconcertingly golden eyes.

“I thought you were...” the kid trailed off.

“Listen, I’ll explain what’s happened to me, if you tell me what in Amestris is going on here,” Dolcetto offered, desperately wanting to understand. He cursed again. “I don’t even know how Greed is still alive.”

The Elric kid let out a short, half-hearted laugh. “Sure. It’s a deal.”

Between discovering Greed was alive, learning that soon the entire country would have their souls sucked from them through a giant alchemic transmutation, and the general way his life had been turned upside down in the last two hours, Dolcetto thought he was handling things well.

“Hey, don’t go passing out! If you fall, I’m not rushing over to catch you.”

“I’m fine,” Dolcetto mumbled. “Just...need a second.”

He lifted himself from where he was bent over, hands on his knees, to peer up at the Elric-Fullmetal-whateverhisname kid. “Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

Elric shrugged. “You should meet Ling, but that’ll have to wait until you’re not gonna faint from shock.”

Dolcetto tried not to be worried about who this “Ling” character might be. He shook his head. “Okay. Whatever.”

He reached for the bottle Greed had ordered after he won the argument for room service, and poured himself a glass. He offered Elric one as well, but the kid shook his head.

“So...you really think this will work? Taking on Father and his cronies?”

Sighing, Elric said, “Look. I know Greed’s just taken it for granted that you’re going to join us…. But, you really don’t have to stick around. This is going to be the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done—and that says something. And…no, I don’t even know if it will work. I don’t know.”

The kid was speaking around it, like he was afraid to say the words out loud, but Dolcetto could hear what he meant clearly. We’re probably all going to die.

He considered for a moment. His eyes wandered around the room, falling on Greed where he still stood arguing with the other two chimeras. “No, I’m in,” he said.

Greed was the only thing he had left. Not quite the same Greed, but it was still him. And as crazy and doomed as their plans for this Promised Day thing might be, if it meant a chance at saving the world and taking down the rotten monsters responsible for everything—everything—then there was no way Dolcetto could walk away.

Sleepless

wrote a drabble of how Kogu got the nickname/name Kogu :”v

tagging @bidobing bc he’s heavily involved and @supergalacticsoldier bc Bo’s in there for a bit

word count; 2,490 words

rating: T

content warning: very brief sexual implication bc Bido, otherwise very tame

He should have been sleeping hours ago, especially at this age, he really should have been sleeping. But it had been barely a week since he'd joined them and sleeping had been a lot more difficult than he had expected, in fact, it was the second night he had gone with little to no sleep and the young boy was growing more and more restless. Even if the others would forcefully place him on curfew, that never meant he'd listen to them. This was such an example for the young Hera, Karu, as he was out of his designated room at such an obscene hour that no one really caught him, most of the others might have been asleep already. Such was the case with Bujin and Zangya, whom both Karu had tried to wake them due to his discomfort, but nothing seemed to work.

Karu certainly didn't want to disturb Bojack, there was little left to be done as he wandered the barren, empty halls of their ship. The darkness, the silence that was occupying most of the ship by now was the only thing that really made the young Hera boy nervous. He wasn't scared of the dark per say, but sleeping on his own was something he hadn't done since he was in his prepubescent years. Jozu, even Kawa, they were always the ones he shared his bed with, because sleeping on his own brought back the cold, distant memories of sleeping, starving in the streets when he was all on his own that felt too close in his memories to be distant. He frowns, it's something he doesn't want to think about at this time, he doesn't need any of them finding him in tears again, especially if he was going to have to prove to them he was a capable soldier.

He thinks he's close to approaching Bido's room by now, even if he was the more irritable one of the group, not including Bojack, Karu didn't care for that fact. He just needed SOMEONE to be awake, he needed someone to let him sleep in their room, he absolutely despised being on his own at this hour. By the time he's actually at Bido's room, there's nothing that can be heard from inside and Karu visibly sighs at this from his disappointment. That wouldn't stop the young man, he'd tried waking both Bujin and Zangya, he would try just the same with Bido. He doesn't hesitate to knock on the other's door as loud as he possibly can without making too much noise to wake up the others, although he doesn't relent with this. Even if Bido was asleep, Karu wouldn't stop until the other was awake, otherwise it would be another night without him sleeping.

However, the moment that Bido decided to open the door after a long moment of silence, Karu made no hesitation to squeeze between the small gap of the open door, running underneath Bido's arm and lunging his smaller body onto his bed. But he paused once he noticed the bed wasn't completely unoccupied, and between the curses underneath Bido's breath, and someone speaking in a language he didn't understand, Karu quickly looked between Bido and the unknown person in the bedsheets with an expression of confusion on his face. Bido also began to speak in that same language, which only made the young Hera boy begin to pout, he often didn't like the others speaking in a different language than the one he knew, he often felt excluded and as if they were speaking ill about him. Though, he freezes once he sees that it had been a woman in the bed, both her and Bido beginning to get dressed and Karu promptly lowers his purple headband over his eyes to give them at least some privacy. A moment of silence passes as Karu can hear the door slam, with what sounds like apologizing in that language he doesn't understand.

"The hell is your problem, huh?" Once he hears his native tongue, he lifts part of his headband up, exposing one of his eyes though his face is still covered, giving him the image of a young child who'd been playing pirate just seconds ago. All Karu sees is Bido giving him the angry stare he'd grown used to seeing the week he had been here, and immediately he can feel his chest begin to sink. Because that's the face he gets before his punishment and technically, Karu hadn't even done anything out of place yet! He scoffs at this, now his face being pulled into an almost pout like frown at the other. 

"I didn't know, alright?" Karu mutters out, promptly leaning back on the other's bed with a sigh.

"If you would have just waited one damn minute- why the hell are you even here?"

"Can't sleep."

Bido gives him an exasperated look, only then does he sigh and make his way towards his own bed, currently occupied by the young boy they had recruited a little over a week ago. This was why he hated the idea of recruiting children, but Bojack was so adamant on getting this one specifically due to his talents. While Bido could respect that decision, this kid was just heinous to deal with whenever he got into one of his whiny moods. Whether it was the adults leaving him out of scenarios that clearly weren't allowed for kids his age, or just ignoring him at times, he had a tendency to whine and Bido absolutely could not stand it. 

"Does that sound like it's my problem? Go bother Bujin." He's trying to be patient with the boy, trying not to raise his voice because if there was one more thing that could ruin his night, it's if he makes this little terrible creature start crying in the early hours of the morning.

He waited for protest from the young Hera boy, but when he heard none, he'd looked over for a moment only to see the boy beginning to curl up in HIS bed, which made Bido even MORE irritated than he wanted to be right now. Another sigh of frustration and he walks over to the bed, yanking the blanket clean off of both the bed and the boy, resulting in a rather angry glare from Karu. Bido doesn't even need to do much, he simply grabs the boy by the collar and drags him out of his bed, giving him a firm shove towards the door.

"Out, you've ruined my night already."

"Bido, please! I told you I can't sleep!"

"Then go be awake elsewhere, I need my own sleep." The older Hera huffs before promptly making himself comfortable in his own bed, closing eyes to avoid the impending look Karu would eventually give him in an attempt to sucker him in to giving him what he wanted.

After a moment of silence, Bido grew more irritated at the fact he hadn't heard his door open and closed, but before he could open his eyes to see whether or not Karu was there, he could hear the sound of someone trying to hide their runny nose. He'd suspected he'd upset the kid, but crying? That wasn't intention, and he let out a deep sigh as he rolled over to the look at the pathetic kid, only to see his suspicions confirmed.

Karu hadn't meant to cry, honestly, he hated crying in front of the others, but he was so damned desperate for sleep at this point, and he physically could not sleep if no one else was in the room. He had only fell asleep the past week he'd been with them because of exhaustion, he didn't want to go through that again. He was beginning to panic because if his performance began to dwindle due to his lack of sleep, who knew how Bojack would react to that and the thought TERRIFIED the young Hera. He shook his head, trying to compose himself. "Please, I won't take up much room.."

"..tch, I'll give you thirty minutes to fall asleep, but after that I'm dragging you back to your room." Hopefully, the damn kid knew better than to go telling the others about this situation, better yet, if he did carry him to his room after this, no one would ever need to know. Bido just didn't want to see the damn kid look so scared out of his mind while he was crying, he might not have known what was going on, but he looked a little too genuinely terrified and it made the older Hera uneasy. The boy looks at him with uncertainty, but the moment Bido ushered him with the wave of his hand, the boy was already beginning to climb onto the bed, though Bido promptly stopped him.

"Sword, off. Ain't gonna have you tearing up my perfect sheets in your sleep."

"No." Karu spoke almost completely casually, as if he just nonchalantly shrugged off a fly buzzing around him. He was already under the sheets at this point, already curling up into the usual ball that he was found in during the rare moments he eventually fell asleep on his own. Bido always found it to be weird that the kid ALWAYS slept with that damn sword, as well as being completely balled up but so long as the kid wasn't whining or crying, he wouldn't say much about the situation. He sighs, closing his eyes before muttering a single word under his breath.

"You say something?"

"Shut up and sleep."

"You called me something, I heard you-"

"Go to sleep before I change my mind."

"Whatever, just don't call me kogu, whatever the hell that means."

"If you don't go to sleep I'm gonna keep calling you that."

Silence.

.

.

.

By the time Bido had woken up, he knew it was just around the morning time. Damn, he was supposed to wake up and take the little brat back to his room, but he supposed it shouldn't be too late for that. He sighed, trying to pull himself up, but found himself being held down, mostly around his neck and shoulders, which resulted in a less than pleased grunt from the Hera man. Once he looked over, he saw that the kid was holding closely to him, as if his own life depended on it. Not that Bido was comfortable with it, it caught him off guard completely and he immediately tried to pry the kid's hands away from him, to no avail. He wasn't sure why this kid was so clingy or why he was only able to sleep with others, but he had a feeling the kid wouldn't be in a position to answer him easily.

Bido sighs again, managing to pull himself out of bed with the kid dragging along closely to him, all things considered. The next thing he was aware of, he was holding the kid close to his chest like a damn infant, while he was still wrapping his arms around him. This was embarrassing, no questions about it, and if Bido wanted to go by to the kid's room unnoticed, he'd have to be fast. Though, he didn't want to wake the kid up either, sleep was something this kid needed and he didn't want him to be even more whiny due to lack of sleep on his part.

"You cause me too much trouble for your own damn good, Kogu." If this was the kid's plan to get him to carry his ass to his room, then Bido was happy to call the kid heinous for possibly the rest of his life. He grumbles even more once exits the room, his hair a mess and only in his pants with the sleeping kid practically clinging to him like he was his own mother. Bido was sure he caught the eye of someone as he continued to walk down the halls discreetly, grunting as he had to adjust the kid's body in his arms.

"Bido, what the hell are you doing?"

If the kid's arms weren't wrapped around him, Bido was certain he would have dropped the kid by accident. He quickly swings himself around, careful to avoid having the kid's head slam against anything in the vicinity. His heart drops at the sight of Bojack staring at him with the look of questionable concern on his face, eyeing both him and Karu, he's sure of it. Bido makes sure to address the other in a low voice, because he doesn't need this kid waking up to see his boss staring at him with a look that he's sure will make him wet his pants, and given he was the one holding this brat, he didn't want that in the slightest.

"Long story, taking Kogu back to his room."

"Kogu?" Bojack inquires with a raised eyebrow, though he doesn't seem to ask anything else. In fact, he does seem to expect an explanation from Bido, which causes him to bite his lip, trying to avoid cursing audibly.

"He was acting like the heinous brat he is earlier, he didn't like me calling him that, so that's his nickname now."

"Right." 

Not much else is said as Bido continues to open the door to the child's quarters, and once he's in there he's already trying to pry the boy off before he even makes it to his small bed. 

Nothing. 

Bido was genuinely surprised that this kid's grip was this strong, but it was also infuriating because now he was practically attached to him and Bido was NOT willing to go through the whole day with this kid sleeping on him. His boss seemed to find the situation in itself entertaining, because without even having to turn around, Bido could hear his laughter.

"Look- the damn kid had trouble sleeping on his own and I felt bad, alright?! Not my fault he's clinging onto me!"

"If it helps the kid get his sleep and not act like a fumbling, tired fool during training, then perhaps I should allow this to continue." Bojack's smile seem to grow when Bido's panic and disbelief began to grow as well, more laughter resulting in Karu groaning and shifting his head to rest on Bido's shoulder in his sleep. Bido exhales in exasperation, looking towards his boss with a genuine look of lost and confusion on his face.

"So long as the kid gets his act together and the both of you are able to perform today, I could care less about what happens."

The taller Hera could only wince as the visage of Bojack begins to leave down the hallway, leaving Bido to helplessly carry the boy in his arms for who knows how long. He supposed, he'd be stuck like this for quite sometime, though unaware that 'sometime' would mean that Kogu would soon become his roommate for years to come.

Guard dog au ficlet

A short fic for my guard dog au where Dolcetto lives and becomes a royal guard to Ling. Dedicating this to @tarantula1999 for the wonderful fan art you made for this au. You are awesome!

Note: gave some of the background chimeras names because dolcetto would know their names. Venni- the guy with claws. Rick–the bandage guy. Donavan-the guy with the pupilless eyes and the scar.

The night was quiet. All was calm and still. It had been for the past few hours. Dolcetto stared up at the moon from the window in boredom. He let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes. This night just felt so peaceful compared to the hecticness of the day before. If he just let his eyes droop, he could fall asleep right here on the spot. He shook his head. He couldn’t let himself do that, however. He had a job to do. He glanced over his shoulder to where the decorated antique crib sat in the center of the room. Two days ago, Lan Fan had given birth to Ling’s first child: a daughter named Min. The nation had rejoiced in response. It took five years for their emperor to marry his “first wife” (little did they know she would likely end up being his only wife unless he was forced to marry again) and over a year and a half later she had given birth to a healthy baby girl. While the nation celebrated the birth of the child, everyone in the palace was less than thrilled. Sure they were excited for the arrival of the princess, but a new addition to the royal family meant a new target for kidnapping, assassination, and so on, especially considering how many enemies Ling had made during his rule. He had pushed for a lot of changes, and although many supported him, there were plenty that hated him. He had remembered at least three occasions when Ling had received death threats, one of them protesting his decision to marry Lan Fan. He would have had to miss the wedding to be on security detail if Mustang hadn’t offered some of his soldiers to supervise the event. But that opened up a whole new can of worms about people thinking Ling was really some figurehead put in place by the Amestrian government…But what can you do? There would always be people after him and his family no matter what he does. And that’s what he was there for. He walked over to the crib to look down at the baby. She was swaddled in fine silk, her mouth slightly open as she slept. He folded his arms over the side of the crib and leaned on it as he stared down at her. He couldn’t help but look at her curiously. To be honest, he never thought he would have anything to do with children, particularly young ones. Even before he became a chimera, the thought never crossed his mind. He didn’t hate them, but he wasn’t particularly fond of them either. And yet here he was, guarding possibly one of the most important infants in all of xing. It was so strange how this girl who could very well one day command entire armies and decide the fate of her nation could be so small and helpless. As she shifted slightly in her blanket as she slept, he smiled at her in amusement. She was so helpless right now that she couldn’t even fight her way out of a blanket. However, he had to admit, she was very cute. For a newborn anyways. Even in the dark he could see she had gotten her mother’s nose and eyebrows. Good thing too. If she had her father’s nose she would have just looked plain weird! He subconsciously reached down and brushed a finger over the soft black fuzz on her head. He had expected her to come out looking as bald as Bido had been, but that wasn’t the case at all. As he continued to absentmindedly stroke her tiny head, she began to stir. He cursed under his breath as her eyes opened slightly and she began to fuss. ‘Crap,’ he thought. She was going to wake up half the palace if he didn’t do something. “Hey!” He said, “Uh…it’s alright! It’s just me…” He carefully lifted her out of the basin in the way the nursemaid had demonstrated. “Come on…” he said as he carefully rocked her, “Don’t cry…you can’t go back to sleep if you keep crying.” The tiny girl continued to whimper as he rocked her awkwardly, but her voice did not raise in volume. ‘Yeah, see? I ain’t so bad,” he told her, “Course, i’m sure you would prefer one of the maids or your parents but…I guess I’ll just have to do for now. Sorry kid.” He had no idea what he was doing but it seemed to be working so he kept doing it. The whole thing was so awkward, but the girl was in fact calming down. He sighed in relief as her eyes slid closed and she fell back asleep. An amused look came to his face while setting her back in the crib as he thought of how the old gang would probably react to seeing him playing nanny like this. Greed would have probably teased him over it a little. So would Ulchi and Venni. Roa would have rolled his eyes at them while Martel would have told them to lay off. She’d probably be happy for him, even though she wasn’t very fond of little ones herself. Rick and Donovan would probably question him about if he really hadn’t had any experience with kids before. And then Bido…well Bido would probably ask if he could hold her for a while! The guy always did like babies. He always wondered if the man hadn’t become a chimera if he would have wanted a family of his own, but never asked. Dolcetto frowned as he leaned against the edge of the crib again. Unfortunately, he’d never get the chance to find out. It had been so long since they all passed away, and yet sometimes it felt like he had lost them yesterday. They were like family to him, and he couldn’t protect anyone of them. Even Greed with his ultimate shield he wasn’t able to keep safe. He sighed but his lips turned up as he continued to think. He supposed that’s why he was here now though. He had a new family of sorts to protect. They took him in and gave him a home, a purpose. They would never replace his family at the Devil’s Nest, but they were still just as precious to him. And he would be damned if he let them slip through his fingers too. With one last look at the sleeping infant, he turned and walked back to his chair next to the window to silently stand, or rather sit, guard. … (Several hours later) The man climbed carefully along the the wall of the building, constantly looking over his shoulder as he slid across the wall. He managed to make it past the guards at the front and had scaled the wall with ease. Now all he had to do was find the girl. Ever since the boy became emperor, the Zhao clan had suffered. They used to be one of the strongest clans, but lost a lot of political power when the idiot implemented his new act that made all the clans have equal standing in government, no matter how much land they had. It was unfair! The Zhao clan had the most land, the most wealth, and was highly populated. They should have the most say. They had suspected it was all because that boy had made an alliance with the Chang clan, but could never confirm it. And then, as if to spit in their faces, the child also made hundreds of new trade agreements with Amestris over the years. The Zhao clan had been the center of trade before, with having three of Xings ports in their lands. Now that he had opened the country up to the west, the port cities had lost some of their prominence. Well, they weren’t going to stand it any longer. The Zhao clan would be returned to its former glory once they kidnapped the emperor’s new daughter. The would hold her for ransom until he changed a few of his decrees. The young man found the window and quickly and quietly slid it open before stepping inside. The Zhao clansmen froze as he noticed the guard posted sitting beside the window but relaxed when he saw his eyes were closed and he was slumped over slightly with his arms crossed. His chest rose and fell rhythmically. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning and tiptoeing over towards the crib. As he did so, Dolcetto’s eyes snapped open, his brow sculpted into a nasty glare. The man stood over the child, sack in hand. He smiled to himself. This had gone perfectly. So long as the child didn’t wake up, it appeared that everything would go according to plan. SHINK There was a flash of metal and the man yelped as he felt a cold blade press against his throat. A hand suddenly clasped over his mouth and the would be kidnapper gave a startled, yet muffled noise. His breathing became faster and his heart started pumping harder as he stood there, frozen in confusion. What was going on? Who had caught him? “Shhhhhh!” The accented voice whispered darkly, “You don’t want to wake her do you?” The kidnapper turned his head slightly to see the guard he thought had been dozing holding him hostage. His visage was cold and grim while his blue eyes seemed to gleam in the moonlight with fury. The man gasped as the guard suddenly pressed the sword against his neck more, causing a trickle of blood to form. “I don’t know what exactly you were planning, but I don’t appreciate you disturbing the princess. If you want to keep your head, step away from the crib,” the Amestrian man ordered grimly. The Zhao clansman was practically shaking but nodded. He backed away from the crib with Dolcetto keeping his blade at his throat. They backed up almost to the window before the dog chimera dropped the sword. The Zhao clansman sighed in relief before taking the opportunity to try and reach for the knife in his pocket. Dolcetto saw his arm move and before the man could do anything, he kneed him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him before decking him in the face, knocking the man out cold. Once he had done so, he used his and the man’s own belts to tie his hands and feet together. Dolcetto smirked down at him as he crouched next to the unconscious form. “Sorry buddy,” he said, “But she and her family are under my protection. And so long as I’m breathing, no one’s gonna get the chance to lay a finger on them.”