AN: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of these wonderful characters. I have taken some liberties with the Fullmetal universe so that the story would work. Reviews are always appreciated. Thank you for reading.
Chapter One
All the sounds of morning were accompanied by the bright rays of the sun. Major Maes Hughes stretched and sat up, letting the covers fall back to the bed. He leaned over and kissed his wife on the head before getting up and taking a quick shower. When he was finished, Gracia was up and had a cup of coffee waiting in the kitchen.
"Good morning, honey." She said kissing him as he sat down. Elicia was in her high chair and waiting for food.
"And how is daddy's perfect little girl, today?" He said smothering his daughter with kisses. She giggled with delight. As he gathered his things for work and headed for the door, Gracia came to kiss him goodbye.
"Have a good day at work, honey." She said with a smile.
"Oh, I think today will be a very interesting day, my dear." He kissed her again and headed out the door.
Meanwhile, eight people were not having such a pleasant morning. They all awoke to the blinding sun, with their heads pounding and absolutely no memory of the night before.
Colonel Roy Mustang blinked several times. There was a bad taste in his mouth and his head was killing him. He looked at the clock, and it was just about time to get ready for work. He sat up, trying to recall ever going to bed, when he noticed he was completely devoid of clothing. Though he didn't enjoy sleeping with clothes on, he would usually wear boxers.
He looked to his floor, but there was nothing there. Where had his clothes gone? He wondered. Then he put his hand on the covers and tried standing. He felt something scratchy under his fingers and he lifted his hand to see a black lace bra on top of his covers.
His head swiveled quickly, but there was no other trace of a woman's presence . It appeared that he had fallen asleep alone, but where did he get a bra? Feeling completely confused he tried to recall the night before, but he couldn't remember anything after arriving at the bar with his team to celebrate catching that serial killer. Groaning he got up.
"Wait a minute." He said quietly. He looked at the room around him sternly. "This is not my house." He said aloud. He recognized the room as the dorms at Central Headquarters. Then, trying to reflect on how he had arrived there with no clothing, he grabbed a robe that was laying on the edge of the bed and headed for the supply room in the building. He grabbed the first uniform he saw, slipped it on and made his way home.
Once there he quickly showered and dressed, in the proper clothes. Mustang tried not to think about what had happened. He decided he would get to the bottom of things at work; someone had to know what happened. Putting the bra in his pocket, he headed for the office.
Kain Fury groaned. Everything was sore. Especially his wrists. Why were they hurting so much? He wondered hazily. When he tried to move them to get a better view, he couldn't. He struggled to move his arms but they wouldn't budge more than an inch. He looked up to see his wrists handcuffed to the headboard.
"What the hell?" He asked out loud. He looked around the unfamiliar room. "Where am I?" He kept asking the empty room. His glasses were still on his face and he was still dressed, but somehow he had gotten handcuffed to the bed. Twisting his body, he tried to assess his situation. It was an old bed with a brass headboard. Looking closely he noticed that one of the bolts holding it together was missing. Getting an idea he grabbed two of the bars closest to his hands and shook.
To his relief the headboard came free. Then to his distress, he realized he was still attached to it. "Oh, man." He groaned.
Now that he could move his arms a bit, he tried to feel in his pockets for the keys. It was difficult, but he was small and managed to reach. No luck. When he tried to recall how he had gotten in the situation he couldn't remember. He remembered going out the previous night. There had been some drinking…then everything went black.
Fumbling to get out of bed without hands, he made his way toward the door, dragging the headboard with him. Finally just picking it up and draping it over his shoulder, he continued downstairs. When he recognized the bar he felt relieved. He must have gotten a room upstairs. He froze. Why would he get a room just to handcuff himself to a bed? A slow smile spread across his face. It had to be a girl.
On his way out he was stopped by the bartender. "Excuse me, but where do you think you're going with that?"
Fury slumped over to the desk, "Well, sir, I happen to be stuck to it. I'm not trying to steal it or anything, and I will bring it back as soon as I find the keys."
The bartender eyed him suspiciously, "No, you have to pay for it."
Sighing, Fury tried to find his wallet. "Um…I seem to have misplaced my wallet as well. Hehe…" Fury paled and the bartender was not amused.
"Get out of here and don't let me catch you stealing stuff again! This is going on your tab!" He screamed as Fury darted from the room, and after a bit of a struggle with the door, he was outside
He walked quickly back to his room at Central Headquarters. Once there he scrambled through his room to find a spare set of keys. Negative.
After he gave up looking he did his best to wash up without the full use of his hands. Groaning he threw his headboard over his shoulder and headed for the office.
Alex Louis Armstrong turned over in his bed. He yawned and started stretching and winced. Confused, he looked down at torso, which was covered in cuts and bruises. Looking at the cuts and bruises on his body, he noticed a problem with his eye, which felt puffy. However, he had no memory of getting in a fight.
He sat up and tried to remember. He had been invited to go for drinks with Mustang and his team, and that was all he remembered.
"Hmm…" He mused. "This is most curious." He said getting ready and heading to headquarters. On the way he stopped short. Getting out of his car, he walked up to a poster on the side of a building. It was an advertisement for a new club that was opening down the street. His own face stared back. His image was flexing for the camera despite his ragged appearance and swollen eye. And he was in a dress. Ripping the picture from the wall and running back into his car Armstrong hurried into headquarters and went straight to Mustang's office for some answers.
Heymans Breda sat up from his position on the floor. Surrounded by tables and chairs, he started to panic. He wasn't in his room, that was for sure. Standing up, he began to remember the room. It was the bar he had went to the night before.
It must have been a hectic night, he assumed. He had no memory, but figured he must have passed out behind the tables and was forgotten. Shrugging he walked back to his room and got ready for work.
Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye woke to the yelps of Black Hayate. Wiping her eyes, she got up to lay his food out. When she removed the covers, however, she sprung back into bed. Somehow, she had fallen asleep without her clothes. Not even underwear. Grabbing something from her drawer, she proceeded to feed her dog. Her head was pounding, but she still gave him his commands before he could eat. Once he was happily fed, she looked around her room.
Something wasn't right. She looked at the two pairs of uniforms lying on the floor. She picked up one of the jackets and recognized the size as her own. She held up the other. Not hers. It was much too big.
She looked at the label, but the ID had been rubbed off with wear and tear, and was impossible to make out. She began to distress as she took in the scene. This did not look right at all. She remembered going to a bar with the guys, and having a drink or two, but nothing that should have erased all her memories of the night before.
Looking at the time, she reasoned that she would figure it out later. Washing up quickly, she grabbed fresh clothes and headed for work.
Jean Havoc opened his eyes. He could feel that the air around him was cold, but he was pleasantly warm under his covers. Smiling, he tried to sit up.
Dropping the covers back down, he froze in place. A brunette was lying next to him. Her back was to him, but he could see that she was naked. Lifting the edge of his covers he couldn't see any sign of his clothes either. He smirked. Alright, he thought.
Reaching over carefully to try and see her face, he noticed glasses on his night stand. Hm, I don't wear glasses, he thought. Still, they were familiar. Looking down at the girl next to him, he recognized her face instantly.
"Sheska—" He slapped a hand over his own mouth. Laying back down he grinned. So he had hooked up with Sheska. He remembered her joining them on their way to the bar and that was it, but he must have done something right.
Feeling completely full of himself, Havoc turned to get out of bed on the other side, when he noticed another body in the bed. Unable to move, his mind spun in circles.
Vato Falman was laying on his other side.
"WHAT THE F—"
Mustang knew he was running late, but his brain was having trouble processing the world at a normal speed. He was looking forward to seeing Lieutenant Hawkeye waiting for him with his coffee. Opening his office door, he noticed the dead faces on his subordinates.
Havoc and Falman were sulking in separate corners, mumbling unintelligibly. Fury was lying on his desk, his head hidden in a makeshift tent of folders and a large headboard resting against the side of his chair. Breda was leaning back in his chair absently and Armstrong and Sheska were pacing in front of his desk. The only one who seemed alert was Hawkeye who stepped forward and handed him a cup of coffee.
He looked at her like she was an angel, "Thank you." He nearly cried and he sipped the warm liquid gratefully.
"Rough night, sir?" She asked.
"Tell me about it." Everyone said together.
Mustang sat at his desk. "So, I take it I'm not the only one with no memory of last night?"
Everyone nodded.
"The last thing we remember before waking up this morning is arriving at the bar. And this." Fury kept his head in his tent and held up his wrist. Mustang drew the shades and everyone sighed happily.
"Fury, why are you handcuffed to a headboard?" He asked sternly.
"Because I woke up like this and they won't give me the keys." Fury said, casting a glare at the other people in the room. They laughed.
"You should have seen him trying to open the door." Breda cackled. "And I have to admit I was impressed that he was able to successfully stack those folders by himself."
"Someone get him out of there." Mustang said agitated. "And why are you two sulking?" He roared at Havoc and Falman, their whimpering grating on his final nerve.
"They woke up in the same bed." Hawkeye explained casually.
Mustang put a hand to his forehead and tried to think. It was no use, he couldn't remember a thing. When the shuffling and creaking of brass on wood finally ended Mustang turned to his team. "Alright, men." Mustang stood behind his desk importantly, "I want a report from everyone. It is to include any memories you can salvage of last night and how you awoke this morning."
"Sir, are we going to be doing any of our actual work?" Fury asked. "We do have paperwork piling up again."
Mustang continued to look at them in a business-like manner, "I think we have found something much important for the time being, Fury. Our paperwork will just have to wait."
"You mean you're paperwork that you just make us do…" Fury added under his breath.
"What was that?" Mustang snapped.
"N…nothing." Fury said quickly.
"Now. Let's go. I want everyone's report. Falman."
"Yes, Colonel?"
"Take notes."
Falman groaned and pulled out a notebook and pen.
"Just wondering, sir. Why are we putting off our work to do this? Won't we get into some kind of trouble?" Everyone knew that Mustang hated paperwork and went to great lengths to get out of actually doing it. This included: taking naps, washing various parts of his office meticulously, and pawning off some of the work on his subordinates. They couldn't help but wonder about this newest attempt to put his actual work aside.
Mustang turned and looked toward his window, his hands clasped behind his back, "We are going to investigate this fully because we have no idea what happened the previous night. Any one of us could have slipped state secrets to a potential enemy. This is a potentially dangerous situation and it is our job to fill in the blanks of our escapades for the good of the state." In other words, 'this affected me and therefore, I cannot let it go. I have been embarrassed and I want to make sure I didn't make even more of a fool of myself.' Mustang turned around. "Now, if it takes us all day we are going to get to the bottom of this. It is our duty."
