Today was a good day… or at least one of the best days of Roy Mustang's life.
Why? You may ask.
You'll learn soon enough… in fact if you know anything about the goals of said person, you probably have figured it out by now.
"Sir, your induction ceremony starts in an hour… you might want to be there on time." Riza declared to the single occupant of the apartment she had just stepped into.
"I KNOW!!!" Roy shouted, nearly pirouetting out of a doorway and encasing the first lieutenant in a bear hug, "I'm going to be Fuehrer in an hour!!!"
"Um… sir. Now that you're almost Fuehrer, mind maturing a couple decades? Right now even Emma and Eileen are more mature than you." Riza said, trying to remove her superior (and soon everyone's superior) from her. They were in uniform for god's sake!
"Fine, don't be happy for me. You'll regret it when I promote everyone but you." Roy said, skipping out the door and into the car awaiting on the side of the road. Riza followed suit, getting in the driver's seat. "Drive, underling!" he declared loudly with a smile, forcing Riza to roll her eyes.
"With all due respect sir, I was always your underling." She pointed out, taking a right onto the main road leading to Central Headquarters.
"And yet you always seem to win all the fights. Now tell me, why are we going to HQ an hour before my speech. Are you trying to make me nervous?" Roy said in an extravagant show of mock panic – or maybe not considering he's about to give a speech in front of the entire population of Amestris.
"Mabel is there with Emma and Eileen. They're meeting us before there are too many possible observers around. And there's probably going to be a lot of politicians trying to talk to you… might as well give them a fighting chance." She said, "And I think Black Hayate is coming too, they said something about walking him."
"So I get to become Fuehrer and see my babies on the same day. It can't get any better!"
"Sir, they are not babies anymore."
"But I'm more than twelve times their age, if I don't say babies I feel ancient! A man has to keep himself feeling young."
"I'm eleven times their age and I don't baby them. And it's usually females that start worrying about their age first." Riza said as she turned into the parking complex attached to Central Headquarters.
"Why does she always win?" muttered Roy under his breath. Suddenly his glum look brightened and he said, "As soon-to-be-appointed Fuehrer I order you to admit defeat, First-Lieutenant Hawkeye!"
"Sir, we're here. Try not to make the council members regret electing you." She said as she stepped out the vehicle and walked off (admittedly it looked more like a military march, but that was expected) towards the front steps where everyone would be meeting.
She had barely made it out of the parking complex when she was hit by a wall of black and white fur, quickly followed by a tiny navy-clad body barely hanging on to the leash.
Used to this behavior, Riza withstood the assault and caught the girl, swiftly slipping her hand through the handle of the leash in the process.
"Hiya mamma!" said the child, engulfing Riza in a hug that looked more like a vice.
"Eileen, remember I am Hawkeye when I'm in uniform." Riza admonished before turning to the dog. "Hayate, heal." She ordered. The dog complied instantaneously, knowing that 'Scary women mean business.'
"There are my cuteness-es!" Declared Roy dramatically as he stepped out of the parking complex, lifting the second, yet identical, child off the ground. Mabel followed behind, her old age not complying to the constant sprinting necessary to keep up with the energetic twins.
Mabel smiled when she came to a stop, admiring the picture before her. It looked like the perfect family; the girls had Roy's black hair and pale skin, a trait betraying their Xingese background. Yet they did not have the usual slanted eyes, instead having big, bright maroon eyes identical to Riza's. They wore matching navy dresses, blending in with the army uniforms both their parents wore.
Even the parents seemed perfect, Riza, the stern mother, rolling her eyes at the antics of her not quite legal husband. Roy, the father who could never raise anything – expect maybe a cactus – on his own, exclaiming over the increased 'cute-osity levels' of his daughters since the last time he saw them.
It was sad really, that a family as beautiful as this one had to hide in the shadows. That stupid fraternization law made it so they could hardly ever be all together, much less enjoy the simple pleasures of raising a child, even if Riza's version of raising a child involved a lot of strict military conduct. Just the fact that they were married, even if it was done illegally, could sacrifice their jobs.
That's where Mabel came in, as Riza's aide and as the unofficial babysitter of two kids that did not exist in the eyes of the law. She would take care of them during the day, and whenever military duty could not be escaped.
"Girls, we have to go mingle with the politicians now, no matter how little fun that will be. Go back to Mabel for now." Riza said, cutting Roy's explanation of exactly what made his daughters the cutest things in the world short. "I'll see you two later tonight." She continued, squatting as to be eye-to-eye. "Go now!"
"Yes m'am!" the twins said automatically, saluting as per military standards before running off to Mabel and walking hand in hand towards a random stand set up in the square.
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"We are here to appoint Amestris' new Fuehrer. It has been four years since this country last had a Fuehrer, albeit a homunculus that wanted to destroy us all. Without further ado, we proudly present King President Fuehrer Roy Mustang." Recited a wrinkled old man in a monotonous tone that made the entire assembly yawn collectively.
Roy promptly stepped up to the podium, but not before wondering if politicians were picked on their ability to make just about anyone fall asleep, after all, he had just spent the past half hour shaking hands and trying to stifle his yawns. Well, now there was nothing else to do than try to make this go by as fast as possible so he could go on to do more entertaining things anytime this century.
Somewhere in his endlessly long and grueling speech, he felt a tug on his pant leg. Looking down out of pure boredom he saw little Eileen tugging on his pants, as if hell-bent on tearing them off, and muttering about wanting to tell the people something. Quickly musing about thanking whoever invented belts, he bent down and picked the child up.
"Apparently we have a future politician that would like to you something." He said as Eileen stood on the lower edge of the podium and smiled brightly.
"Hiya peoples! I jus' wanna say that you have to be nice to Mustang, okay? 'Cause I know that he's gonna be nice to yous. It's equ-equ-euqivalent exchange, right daddy?" Eileen blurted out, grinning like mad and waving at the crowd.
For a moment a complete silence echoed across the crowd, several mouths agape (to the delight of flies worldwide). Eileen, realizing her mistake a little too late, slapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide with realization in an almost comical manner. But then again, it was not a funny subject at all.
Then Black Hayate ran out to Roy, Emma riding on his back, waving and giggling. Riza had probably dropped the leash when Eileen had spoken, letting the dog free. The dog threw his front paws onto the balustrade, making Emma tip dangerously over his head and towards a vertical drop of a good five meters.
Realizing almost too late what would happen to the feeble body of an infant after that kind of plunge, Roy shook himself out of his shock and his hand dove over the railing and grabbed onto the navy blue material of his daughter's dress, all the while holding the other twin on his hip.
A cry of "Someone get a hold of this dog!!!" coming from a richly dressed man lying flat on the floor with Black Hayate standing over him, was the catalyst for the thundering roar of hundreds of whispered conversations as the crowd woke from it's surprise.
"I messeded up, didn't I?" asked Eileen, saying it as more of a statement than a question.
"Yep." Was all Roy said as he walked back towards the crowd of politicians, council members and military men (and a couple women). His speech was long forgotten as the masses had a new juicy tidbit to talk and spread rumors about for the next couple weeks.
Should I continue? Review to tell me!!