A/N: The first multi-chaptered story that I've written in a while. I'm not positive where it's going but I can tell you now that it's not a Roy/Ed. If I have anybody paired with Ed, it would be Envy. Or maybe Havok. As it is, the only pairing that I've decided on is Riza/Barry because I love them.
Disclaimer: If I owned FMA than Hughes and Barry would still be alive, Ling would play a bigger role, and that annoying thief created for the anime would have already been ripped to shreds.
Mustang had been coming to this little...Group...(He hated to call it by ti's name because he was loathe to admit to anyone, even the rest of the people here, that he needed to be in therapy) For almost two and a half years now.
Dr. King Bradley had started the group therapy sessions almost three years ago. He had originally only opened it to the soldiers that fought in the Ishbal War, which had been going on for almost two centuries when it ended, but it had recently been opened to the families of those that died in the war as well. Not that much changed.
It had been four months since the change in who Bradley would treat had happened and the group, already seated in their usual spots, was exactly the same as when Mustang first joined it.
Second Liutanent Riza Hawkeye was in her seat, which was next to his own. Her dog, Black Hayate, was laying at her feet. Hawkeye had been one of the most accomplished snipers that the Amestrian Military had ever gotten their hands on. Right before the war ended, exactly eighteen days before the truce was made, the woman had taken a blast of shrapnel to the face. She hadn't been able to see since then.
Beside the Second Lt. was Warrant Officer Jean Havok. The younger man had been bound to a wheel-chair after an enemy invaded his base and stabbed him twice in the torso. His spinal cord had been severed almost completely and it would take years of therapy to walk; if he ever walked again.
Warrant Officer Vato Falman, the oldest of the group, was gifted with an almost pefect memory. He had been inside of a building when Ishvarlin soldiers bombed it. He was now suffering from severe panic attacks most of which were brought on by loud noises.
Second Lt. Heymans Breda was seated as far away from Hawkeye as he could. The man had an irrational fear of the creatures (brought out by the numerous amount of feral dogs that prowled the borders of Ishbal and Amestriss), it had taken almost three sessions to get the man into the room at the same time as Black Hayate.
The last part of the group was Sergent Major Kain Fuery. Fuery was the youngest of the group and, truthfully, his issues hadn't been discovered yet. The man was a seemingly endless source of smiles and was quite content to talk about the rest of the group. To be precise, he shied away from all conversation directed at himself.
So needless to say Mustang was fairly surprised when, half-way through their session, the door to the room swung open. There were two boys, the tallest couldn't have been older than his late teens.
"Ah, I was wondering when you two would arrive. Please, have a seat somewhere." Bradley smiled at the boys and waved them over to the circle.
The taller of the two boys sent a small smile towards Bradley. "I'm really sorry that we're late. We had...trouble...getting out of the house though." He put a hand on the other boys shoulder, Mustang noticed that the grip was tighter than one for comfort, and half-steered him inside and over to a chair.
Bradley waved a hand at the two boys, a pleasent smile on his face. "No, no. It's perfectly fine Alphonse." Bradley glanced around the room, the look on his face one he used whenever he was telling everyone to behave themselves. "Why don't the two of you introduce yourselves real quick?"
"Oh, right!" The taller boy, Alphonse, sent a small smile to the inhabitants of the room. "I'm Alphonse Elric." A pause, Mustang idly noticed that he was frowning at the other boy, before he continued. "This is my brother, Edward."
Frowning, Mustang leaned back in his seat. He, like the rest of the former military personal, wasn't about to welcome these kids in with 'open arms'. Even Breda, the most friendly of all of them, was silent.
Mustang watched Alphonse shift in his seat, clearly uncomfortable, for a few seconds before turning to face Marco. "Alright, what's the deal with the brats?"
"Roy!" Shifting in his seat slightly, Bradley turned and scowled at the former Colonol. "You have no right to be rude like that. No one dema-" He was cut off, mid-scolding, by Edward holding his hand up.
"It's fine. I'm assuming that by 'our deal', you mean why we're here. Right?" Edward's golden eyes slid across the room and landed on Mustang.
He didn't get an answer. Mustang was to busy staring at his eyes. They were piercing, yes, but they didn't have much light in them. It was the sort of eyes that someone who had seen too much death and destruction, the likes of which a child would never have seen.
"Edward and Alphonse are here for the same reasons that you are, Roy." He paused for a moment, a look of thought crossing his face, before motioning to the two boys. "You see, Alphonse is here because their father was a very important man in the military. I'm sure that you've all heard of him. His name was Van Hoenhiem."
Mustang could feel his eyes widen and, much to his distaste, he recognized the fact that he probably looked like everyone else in the room. They were all staring at the two boys, eyes wide and several with their mouths agape, and the two boys were staring right back at them. At least, Edward was. Alphonse was staring at his hands, an awkward air surrounding him.
Eveyone knew about Van Hoenhiem. He was one of the most famous officers to ever join the military. Hoenhiem's work had been the base, not only for the solution that ended the war, but for the strategies that kept most of the troops sent to fight alive. Mustang also knew that he'd died four years ago; the cause of his death had never been released to the public.
As Mustang tore his eyes away from Alphonse, the way that Bradley had worded the statement hit him. Bradley had said that Alphonse, and Alphonse alone, was there because of his relationship to Hoenhiem. He didn't say why Edward was there though. (Not that he really thought either of them should be there. After all, they weren't at a grief counsler or anything) "So why's he here than?"
"Because, Al insisted that I came." Edward scowled at the other boy when he answered, making it clear that he wasn't happy about being there.
Bradley pursed his lips together for a few seconds before letting a smile cross his face again. Mustang recognized the look on his face immideatly; it was the same look that Bradley got on his face when ever they discussed something new. "Actually, Roy, Edward was a Major in the military for..." Bradley paused and tilted his head in the younger boys direction. "Four years wasn't it, Edward?"
Turning from Alphonse, who he had still been glaring at, Edward nodded in Bradley's direction. "Yeah, four years." An almost sardonic smile crossed the younger boys face as he leaned back in his chair, obviously having given up on scowling his brother into letting them leave.
Mustang was about to speak, about to make a snarky comment about the boys age and how he couldn't have been in the military, when Bradley started speaking again. "I've been trying to get them to come and join our little sessions for sometime now," Both boys looked away from the man, "but they've been rather busy with other arrangements."
"I don't mean to interrupt," All eyes snapped to Riza, "but the time is about to end." And, just as she finished speaking, the timer did in fact go off. The blinded woman stood up, Black Hayate's leash on hand, and nodded in Bradley's direction. "If you'll excuse me, I have a bus to catch. Black Hayate, bus station." And the large, black-furred dog faithfully trotted beside her as she walked out the door, not even waiting for Bradley to dismiss them.
Mustang rolled his eyes as Bradley apologized to the two new-comers, both of which merely shrugged them off claiming it was their fault for not coming on time, and stood up himself. "I have to go right away too, Bradley. I'll see you next week." And with that, he walked out of the office.