Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or MASH.

Summary: For the RoyAi 100 Themes, Prompt #001 Military Personnel. A MASH AU set in Ishval. RoyAi

AN: Usually when I do an AU I don't really pick on universe or the other, I use one to create a situation within the FMA universe. For this, I adopted the MASH ranks and positions for most of the characters and left Mustang as a typical guest role on the 'show'. The program was a 'comedy' but really that masked a lot of war commentary targeted at the Vietnam War. Still the lines between shows are rather scrambled in this little AU, as I work off that simple little RoyAi 100 prompt that set me off. It's what the prompt conjured up in my mind and I let it take it's course.

Military Personnel

Chapter 1

Friendly Fire

"Attention all military personnel, incoming wounded. All surgeons please report to the O.R."

Sara Rockbell looked over at the young doctor currently face down in her cot as Fuery's voice crackled over the P.A. "Hawkeye, we have more wounded."

Riza Hawkeye rolled over and looked at the older doctor who gave her an understanding smile. They had already worked a straight 24, thanks to the State Alchemists being in the vicinity. Atrocities of war were a given, but the alchemists managed to take that up a notch. "So much for sleep."

Lt. Colonel Maes Hughes pushed into the tent without bothering to knock and looked at Hawkeye's cot. "Hey, just got off the radio with HQ, we got a priority patient. State Alchemist."

"We don't prioritize by rank." Riza mumbled. "Go through triage like everyone else."

"He's being sent here because MASH 611 is the best." Hughes said and watched the young woman sigh. She was too young to be this bitter, but the war had done this to all of them. Saving lives only to send men back into hell, it was not what any of them expected when going into the medical field.

"Best care anywhere..." she replied.

He gave her a smile as she mumbled the unit's motto. "This one might be of interest to you."

"Doubtful."

"Our newest guest is going to be the Flame Alchemist."

Riza's eyes shot open. So now her father's apprentice would be on her table? She looked at Hughes who knew that this would be her reaction. So she would finally get to meet the man who convinced her father to pass on his knowledge before he left this earth? He would finally be more than just a name. "The Roy Mustang gracing MASH 611 with his presence? I'd roll out the red carpet but I'd hate for him to make himself at home, being so used to staining his boots with the blood of the innocent."

Hughes frowned. Bitter probably was a little mild for Riza's outlook. "Fuhrer's orders Hawkeye, fix him so he can go back to work. Please don't cause problems."

"You better pick a different surgeon. Like Urey. Or Frank. Yes, Frank Archer would love an ass to kiss so he can get his promotion."

"The Fuhrer requested you." Hughes said quietly. "Sorry. Get some rest, I have to keep you fresh as I can so be can go right into the O.R. when he gets here."

"No. We have incoming wounded, I'm going in now." Hawkeye sat up in her cot and rubbed her eyes. "Why the hell does our mighty leader want a medical student working on his prized weapon?"

"You have the steadiest hands." Hughes replied. "He's got an eye injury."

"I think all you real doctors should be insulted." Hawkeye snorted and rolled her hand over her face. "Let's quit and protest that slight."

"Riza." Hughes knelt down next to her. "Your skill has been noted by damned near anyone who has seen you work. It's not gone unnoticed, hence why you were drafted and sent to war before graduating. The Fuhrer demands the best and I agreed it was you."

"I thought you liked me." She said and saw his weary green eyes through his classes. Bloodshot, unfocused and just too worn out to argue with her. "I treat the other wounded first."

"Riza..."

"Fire me, then." She stood up and looked for something semi-clean to change into.

"Fine." He sighed knowing the log books would be scrutinized and he would be asked why he allowed this.

Roy Mustang reached out for the nearest voice, still disillusioned by the bandage wrapped around his eyes. "Excuse me?"

Sara Rockbell went over to the young man and took his outstretched hand. Her voice was soft and comforting, she didn't hold any resentment towards the soldier like Hawkeye did. He actually seemed to be a polite young man. "What can I do for you Major?"

He really couldn't answer that. All he wanted was to be acknowledged since he couldn't see where he was. "Was anyone else injured?"

"From what the medics relayed to our driver,". She knelt next to him and squeezed his hand reassuringly and checked his bandage. "Major Mustang your men were safe thanks to what you did. You should have closed your eyes."

"I need to see to judge how to manipulate the oxygen, that was not an option." He let the events play out in his mind again, how he had forced his eyes to remain open and be battered by burning embers, debris and sand. "That wind storm...it could have turned that town into an inferno. They were just doing routine rounds, checking for casualties, sweeping the town..."

"Major." She squeezed his hand. They had plenty of officers go through here, some were dedicated to their men others only interested in using them like pawns. She hoped Riza would look past his connection to her estranged father and see that he could potentially be one of the good ones. "You saved them."

"So they are unharmed?" Roy tried to ignore the pain. His eyes felt like they were on fire and if he squeezed his eyelids it only made it worse.

"Who do you think got you medical attention?" She watched him take a deep breath. "You'll be in the O.R. soon, Dr. Hawkeye is..."

"Hawkeye?" Roy asked surprised. What a weird coincidence. He was about to tell her why the name struck a chord but then he heard a different feminine voice.

"I'm his daughter." Riza said, hearing that surprise in his voice and knowing he was about to explain himself. "I'm ready for him."

Roy tried to sit up and look in the direction of the voice as he heard a door slam shut. It was a pointless move, he couldn't see anything even if the bandage wasn't wrapped around his head. He felt a hand on his shoulder and realized the nurse was trying to keep him where he was.

"Just relax Major." Sara said softly.

He braced himself as the gurney began to move and he heard the door swing open around him. He heard a few voices, but not what he would expect from a busy field hospital. There was a clink of instruments, groans from wounded soldier, a machine that went 'ping' and a few stern voices of those in charge. He felt the gurney come to a stop and then the bed sheet lifted and he was placed on a more sturdy table. His nose took in the scent of the room and felt a hand on his chest. "Hello?"

Riza frowned. Well at least he was polite. That didn't surprise her, her father would have never accepted anything less. "Major, I'm going to take your bandage off. Keep your eyes closed until I tell you, understand?"

That was her voice again. He tilted his head as her hands began to unwrap the gauze around his eyes. "You're Elizabeth?"

"Not anymore, I go by Riza now." She could have cut the wrap, but each layer would allow his eyes to adjust to the overhead light a little better.

"Your father..."

"My father died when my mother did. That hollow shell of a man who resided in our house with me was only interested in waiting for death and not caring for the living. Hence the reason I left." Riza unwound another layer.

Roy bit his lip. What could he say? Berthold Hawkeye was an emotionally devoid man, he dealt in facts. The fact was that his daughter left and went to live with her grandfather, ergo Elizabeth was no longer part of his life. Words straight from his mouth when he had found a picture of the young girl with her parents in a drawer in his room. The photo was dated, and he remembered calculating her age. She would have been three years his younger. "You're a doctor? Aren't you too young for that?"

"Quick study, apparently I have my father's brain capacity. The army also isn't very picky about who they employ to patch up wounded, I'm still a medical student but the military granted me the title of Captain and Doctor when they drafted me. Besides, you're a little young to be a State Alchemist."

"It's nice to finally meet you."

That caught her off guard. She was hoping he'd be an asshole, but he was proving to be the opposite. Allowing his eyes to be scratched up in order to save his men, not asking for any special treatment in triage and now he was cautiously trying to tread on eggshells and talk about Berthold Hawkeye. However she couldn't bury her hostility just yet. There was a reason he was here. "Yes. I was curious how a student of Master Hawkeye could join the military and use his craft as a weapon of war. I might have left my father's home young, but I doubt he changed his views that much."

Roy wondered how long it would be before she brought that up. "He wasn't happy about it either."

"I've seen your work, it's everything he feared it would be. Flame Alchemy at it's worst, a weapon of the State...destroyer of the innocent."

"I wanted to help people. I wanted to...protect our country." He sighed as the final layer of bandage was removed. "I...didn't expect this."

"Open your eye for me." She instructed, signifying that time for bedside chat was now over.

He had to fight the urge to squeeze his eyelids closed again, but her fingers helped him keep them open. Tears had been streaming down his face non-stop, his body trying to purge the foreign substances by itself. The medic team had tried to flush what they could with saline, but they weren't qualified to do anything with the debris embedded in his cornea. He could only see blurs through the tears, so his first glimpse of Elizabeth Hawkeye was almost angelic. A blond figure with a halo of light from the fixture overhead.

She took the ophthalmic instrument and looked into his eye. "You've got quite a bit embedded in your cornea. If you're lucky then nothing has penetrated deeper than that, however from the field report it seems that you were subject to some high winds and I'm concerned it's going to be worse than it looks. If it's just a scratch, your eye usually heals within 48 hours. However if it is deep then you're going to be running a higher risk of infection once we remove the debris."

"OK." He wasn't going to say how much she reminded him of her father right now. Providing all the information without giving him the answer he so desperately was seeking. She let him close his eye and her fingers moved to his other eye, he obediently forced it open. "Will I lose vision?"

"It's going to depend upon how bad these fragments are embedded. What I am going to do next is place a anesthetic eye drop in here to relieve some of the pain, followed by a fluorescein dye that will allow me to see the cornea abrasions under the lamp. I'll remove the particles, flush the eye and check for anything lodged under your eyelid. You'll have to keep this bandage on for at least 2 days but I'm going to require you to stay here at least a week so I can monitor you. Hope you can reschedule any plans for incinerating the masses until next week."

He gulped. Yes, there was that Hawkeye trait again; punish the student for asking a question too early by burying them in facts then insulting your character to keep you humble. "OK."

"Keep your eyes closed. I'll have a nurse start the anesthesia process." Riza stood and looked down at him, his eye clamped back shut as soon as she told him it was allowed. A little part of her appreciated the irony that her father got a handsome apprentice after she vacated his home. "How did you convince my father to share his secret with you? That couldn't have been an easy task."

Roy's voice caught in his throat. He cleared it and quietly replied, "He asked me to use it to protect his daughter."

The thought of her father suddenly caring about her well being made her anger swell again. "Protect my job security? I hardly see what else you could possibly be doing here in Ishval other than providing more bodies I need to tend to."

"I..." He felt the tears streaming out of his eyes and knew that they weren't because of the eye injury. "Wanted to protect my country."

Riza nodded to the nurse who came over to start the sedative process. "Major Mustang, do you still want to trust your life to my hands? I can get you another doctor."

"Hawkeye, I don't want anyone but you." He jumped as he felt a hand on his chest to signify that the next stage was beginning. He twitched as mask was placed over his face so he could inhale some sedatives.

And the room stood still as his voice seemed to carry perfectly for that simple statement. Her eyes grew wide as those words struck out across the O.R. like a bell ringing in the still of the morning fog. Then she heard Hughes snicker at at table next to her and she shot him a glare. Men said all kinds of things when they were drinking in the inviting tendrils of slumber thanks to the anesthesia mask, especially here. It never escaped ridicule.

"He must like being talked down to and ordered around." Hughes chimed in as he looked over his shoulder at the now unconscious Major.

"He didn't mean it like that." Riza glared at him

"Yeah, I never hear soldiers moan how much they want me." Hughes chirped. "Extended stay for him too, lucky guy."

"Don't you have a patient you should be focusing on?" Riza hated when he teased her, the man acted more like a older brother instead of a superior officer and in times like these it would be nice to be professional.

"I'm just making an observation." He replied and continued to suture his patient.

"You said it yourself, the Fuhrer wanted him repaired and put back to work." She walked over to look at the other doctor as he slid his glasses down his nose to peer at her. "I think the people of Ishval and this hospital staff would appreciate a reprieve from his work."

"I'll nominate you for a humanitarian award." He winked at her.

"Fine. You can take him as your patient."

Hughes mimicked the Major's voice, poorly. "Hawkeye , I don't want anyone but you. Nope, that guy outranks you. Protocol dictates you follow orders."

"Stop trying to marry me to every officer who rolls in here!" She snapped back, knowing where this was going. Everything with Hughes eventually lead to showing pictures of his wonderful family back home or insisting that she find herself a man who respected her.

"Just the ones who politely ask you to probe their orifices." Hughes knotted his stitch and stood up. "Fate put that man on your table."

"The Fuhrer put him on my table."

Hughes chuckled. "You're the one who took every patient but him so you two could spend an evening alone together."

"Nothing to do with knowing he was going to want to talk about my father. Hardly a conversation I want to have with Frank Archer at the next table, probably listening so intently he stitches up his patient with a few surgical instruments inside."

"Frank." Hughes snorted. "I bet he's having a fit right now lamenting the loss of the chance to be the Flame Alchemist private surgeon. To think he could have personally reported to Central the state of their most precious asset and volunteered to travel with him in case he had another medical emergency."

Hawkeye looked over at her patient and stretched. "If you're done, I have a patient."

"Sure!" Hughes said with a nudge. "Just report to me when you're done, OK?"

Riza slid down the wall in the prep room and closed her eyes. The last hour of meticulously picking fragments out of Major Mustang's eyeballs had made her incredibly tense. She was exhausted, just like everyone here, and it too a very high level of concentration to keep her hands stead enough to remove the shrapnel without damaging his eye more than it already was. She had to keep the lights dim, afraid to do damage to his vulnerable eyes, and that caused even more strain. Now her head was pounding.

Sara bent down beside her, having come over to assist once she was done with making her own rounds. "Riza, dear, lets get you to bed."

"I think I'm too tired to sleep." She admitted.

"Do you want to talk?"

Riza looked up at the slightly older doctor and smiled and shook her head. No, talking about that stranger who she just happened to share a common link with was not what was bothering her. "I kept thinking...what if he doesn't get better? Then he can't destroy people anymore."

"Riza." Sara said disapprovingly.

"I did my best in there. He won't lose vision because of something I did, but to hold that power in my hand..." She looked across the room at a calendar, not even sure if it was on the correct month or not. "I think that's the first time I ever thought about something like that. It's always been about doing my job since I was sent here. I put the soldier back together, they leave. With him though, I feel there is a greater obligation."

"Just go to bed." Sara said and pulled her to her feet. "I'll let Hughes know he's out of surgery."