FMA
From Battlefield
To
Classroom
A/N
Hello, to any reader's and welcome to my semi-coherent ramblings on an Au event that takes place in the 2003 FMA timeline pre-Sloth reveal.
Thank you for reading this fic and if you can fight your way down to the bottom, you have a will of steel. Anyway, on with the show.
Mustang sighed as he leafed through the stack of papers that had been placed on his desk by his aide earlier that day. He had put them off for a while, but deadlines were catching up on him. As he looked through them he sighed, something interesting, anything interesting would be a benefit now he thought to himself, until he got to a piece that was hand written, he read it slowly. With his eyebrows slowly rising all the while.
"Well," He said softly, "I probably shouldn't have said anything…" Mustang then picked up the phone that was on his desk; quickly dialling a number he held it to his ear.
"Hello?" The voice asked on the other end of the line,
"Riza" Mustang said
"Yes, Colonel?" She asked impatiently
"Do, you know where Fullmetal and his brother are at the moment?"
"In a hotel at the south end of Central, why?"
"Could, you get them to my office ASAP?"
"Right away sir." Riza said hanging up.
-0-
"So, Brother, where do you think we should go next?" Alphonse asked his brother
"I'm thinking, we should just travel for a bit, take a break from all this Homunculus stuff. See if there are any specialists in medical alchemy, I heard that another country has another branch of Alchemy for healing " Ed said, he lay back on his bed, and was startled to hear a sharp knock on the door.
"Excuse me sir, but you have a Miss Hawkeye on the phone."
With his eyebrows furrowed he swung himself of the bed, he walked towards the door and took the phone from the man.
"Hello?" Ed said
"Edward, the Colonel needs to speak to you, ASAP." Hawkeye said, Ed groaned and gave a roll of his eyes.
"And what does, he want?" Ed asked
"Be in his office in twenty minutes and you can find out." Riza said hanging up.
"What did Hawkeye want, Brother?" Al asked
"She wants me in Mustang's office in twenty minutes time, you're coming of course" Ed reassured Al when he went to protest
"Ok, shall we head off?" Al asked, with a nod of Ed's head they began to leave, walking out of their room, down the stairs and out of the door into the cool air.
Ed quickly hailed a cab, and told the driver the military headquarters, ignoring the suspicious look, Ed turned to Al.
"What do you think this is about?" He asked
"I don't know but Mustang normally waits till morning." Al responded, Ed nodded tiredly and put his head back.
When they finally got to the headquarters, Ed showed his pocket watch to the gate guard as ID, and walked in.
-0-
Mustang sighed, and turned to Hawkeye to speak, when a sharp rap to the door.
"Come in!" Mustang called, the door swung open revealing a tired looking Edward and as always an impassive Alphonse.
"Hello, Fullmetal."
"What do you want?" Ed said bluntly
"I have a request for you."
"No." Ed said turning to leave, Mustang sighed.
"Fullmetal, if you do what I am going to ask you, I'll owe you a favour." Mustang said slyly, at this Ed turned.
"I'm listening." He said curiously
"In the south of Amestris, is a place known as Mist Town, The Homunculi have been sighted. I want you to go and find out what they're doing. And then put a stop to it." Mustang said, Ed considered for a second before nodding.
"Ok, when am I leaving?" Ed asked
"September, at the beginning of a new school term." Ed's eyes narrowed instantly
"What?" He asked coldly
"Do you not understand Fullmetal, you will be attending the senior school located there as a student."
"Colonel, do I have to remind you, I've not been in a school since before I attempted Human Transmutation." Ed said glaring at him
"You're a bright kid Fullmetal, I'm sure with enough revision you'll be fine.
"And if I refuse?"
"I'll get authorization from the Fuhrer to brand it as an emergency mission, and you'll have no time to make goodbyes" At Mustangs words Ed paused slightly to consider his options
"Fine, when are Al and I leaving?" He conceded
"I'm afraid; Alphonse won't be joining you, for two reasons." Mustang said, as Ed glared at him.
"The first, and I don't care if it annoys you, is that the general population thinks that Alphonse is the Fullmetal Alchemist, and the second, a giant suit of armour is not the slightest bit covert." Mustang said, Ed slumped back, looking at the ceiling.
"But, Colonel, it may be beneficial, for Ed to take, Miss Winry Rockbell; she's in the records as an affiliate of Edward's as his personal mechanic." Hawkeye said, as Mustang gave a grin.
"Good job Fullmetal," He said with a smirk, Edward resumed his glare.
"Ok, Winry then." Ed said.
"Get your things, we'll get you a train to Mist city tomorrow, the school is a boarding school so you won't need accommodation. Also there is a military bank, in the city so you can get money in the town, so you won't need to ask for money whenever you need it. Although it will be the half term break shortly after you start" Mustang instructed Ed, as Ed opened the door to leave, Mustang called one last thing.
"And for the love of all things holy don't let people find your pocket watch.
-0-
As Ed at on the train watching the scenery go whizzing past he lost himself in his thoughts. 'The Homunculi, being spotted at a town, where the only landmark was a school, so either the Homunculi have a base of operations there or they're targeting the children, wow, I need to stop thinking of them as children, when I'm not much older than them myself' Ed sighed, he pulled out his pocket watch and opened it checking the time, it read 13:32, 'five more minutes' Ed thought, and sighed he then sat down and tapped his metal arm against the chair making a clicking noise, when the train pulled up, he stepped out onto the platform, and got the shock of his life, Mustang and Hawkeye stood on the platform, in civilian clothes, Hawkeye with her hair down, and wearing faux glasses, and Mustang wearing a red shirt and slacks.
"Eddie!" Mustang yelled, pulling Ed in for an embrace, "Just, go with it Fullmetal we don't know if any of these people, are Homunculi or their agents. He muttered in Ed's ear so only he could hear
"Hello." Ed said looking slightly traumatised.
"Don't speak to your Father like that." Hawkeye said putting heavy emphasis, on the word father. Ed caught on and with a small sigh he put on a pained smile.
"Ok, Mother." Ed said 'I don't know who would be worse that Bastard or Mustang' Ed thought mentally comparing Hoenheim and Mustang.
"Come on then," Mustang said, "Let's get you to school." as they walked out of the station, they were unaware of a conductor watching them and speaking hurriedly into a radio.
When Mustang glanced round to look for eavesdroppers, he leaned closer to Ed, "Sorry Fullmetal that was as painful for me as it was to you, but the Fuhrer, ordered it." Mustang muttered, Ed nodded and kept walking.
-0-
After ten minutes of awkward silence a large building came into sight, "Well Eddie, We'll see you at half term." Riza said. Ed nodded and slung his rucksack over his right arm and dragged his case with his left. Mustang and Hawkeye then turned and walked back to the station. After he reached the top of the hill on which the school was situated, a wizened man, who looked to be in his late seventies and a pretty young woman with brown hair, that looked the spitting image of his- Mother, his dead mother were standing before him with a calm look on her face, many times had Ed wanted to see his mother's face again.
"Mother?" Ed croaked out
"I'm sorry?" The woman said with a frown.
"Nothing." Ed said shaking his head,
"Hello, young sir, welcome to the King Bradley Academy, Edward Mustang, I presume?"
"Yes…" Ed said a vein twitching in his face.
"Very well, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Albert White, the headmaster of this fine establishment, this is Miss Royce, and she is a member of the boarding staff, she will now take you to your room. He nodded to her, and she beckoned for her to follow her.
"Welcome Mr Mustang, to our fine school, there are a few rules, unless you are supervised by an adult, do not attempt to transmute anything, you may go into town between four and five on weekdays, and any time on Saturday, you may not leave the school grounds on Sunday. Bullying will not be tolerated in any form, and neither will, physical assault or petty name calling. If you wish to read the full list of rules, they are on the notice board." She said, Ed nodded in response
"Though you never very good at following rules were you Edward." The woman muttered.
"Excuse me?" Ed asked
"Nothing, here is your room, breakfast will be served from half seven till ten past eight, make sure you're there. She then turned and stalked off. Ed pushed the door open, and was instantly greeted with a three man room, two, of the Beds full on either side, leaving the middle free. Ed went into his new area, and started unpacking his things into the empty space, a minute later, Ed heard a clatter of footsteps, when suddenly his door burst open, two reveal two tall, teenagers, they walked in.
"Oh you must be the new kid?" One of them asked him, Ed nodded in response not looking at him.
"What's your name?" The other one asked.
"Edward El- Mustang" Ed said catching himself
"Cool, name's Miles, and his name is Terry, nice to meet, you." The first boy said, Ed grunted in reply.
"Hey." Ed said, as they turned to leave
"Yes?" Terry asked
"What time are we expected to be in bed by?" Ed asked stiffly
"Eleven." Terry replied and the boys left, Ed flicked open his pocket watch to check the time ten past two, Ed sighed wondering when Winry would arrive.
-0-
Winry sighed, she had got to the school just under an hour ago, and had since long finished unpacking, so had brought out her note pad and had begun sketching designs of Automail that Ed could benefit from. Though at that point she was not particularly pleased with the young Alchemist, as an army officer had quickly turned up at her house and demanded that she go with him to a boarding school in a small town in the south of Amestris, that she had never heard of to be Ed's personal mechanic, though Winry had no clue on why Ed had been ordered to the school by Ed's Commanding Officer, or why Ed would need a personal mechanic in a school.
"Miss Rockbell?" A young woman said opening the door, "The Headmaster and the Boarding Mistress would like to see you in the Headmaster's study now." She said, Winry nodded and put her notepad down and followed the young woman, down to the Study, who gave a sharp knock on the door, after a second, the door opened and a wrinkled old man with a kindly smile looked at her.
"Good evening, Miss Rockbell I presume?" The Man said. Winry nodded in response.
"My name is Headmaster Albert White, and basically, this little gathering is just for the new students to meet myself and my colleague, Miss Royce, who is the Boarding Mistress." Winry nodded as the man spoke but when she saw 'Miss Royce, her eyes widened slightly, in front of her was the carbon copy of the late Mrs. Elric, her eyes widened at this.
"We're just waiting for Mr Mustang now." The Headmaster said with a warm smile, Winry's eyebrow slowly crept up,
They must want to see him because he's Ed's CO.
"Ah here, we are!" The Headmaster said loudly, as Edward walked slowly into the study, his face looking like he was stepping into enemy territory.
"Ah, hello Mr Mustang." The headmaster said, Ed gave a curt nod and moved toward Winry muttering that he would explain later to the confused looking Winry.
"Well now that you are both here" Miss Royce said "Do you have any questions." At this Ed raised his hand
"Yes?" Miss Royce asked
"What kind of extracurricular activities do you offer?" Ed asked
"We, do a wide range of activities from, supervised alchemy, to martial arts, to Automail crafting. What about you Miss Rockbell, any questions?" Miss Royce asked.
"Yes Miss, when is the next school holiday?"
"Half term begins in three weeks' time." Miss Royce said. Winry nodded.
"Well, if that's everything, why don't you two get familiar. Bed time is at eleven but be in your rooms by half ten." The Headmaster said. Ed and Winry nodded and stepped outside, after a minuet of walking, Winry turned to Ed.
"What was that about?" Winry hissed
"Mustang?" Ed asked
"Yes"
"It's complicated, but let's say this, I'm here to investigate a threat to the nation undercover as Colonel Roy Mustang's son, let's leave it at that for now. Ed said
And Winry blinked.
"Well later Winry, I have to make a call to Father."
A/N
Due to my crippling hatred of OCs any of said character type will feature as little as humanly possible, unfortunately it is very difficult to write a semi-canon compliant high school fic without them. Therefore, if you hate any OCs that are introduced, take comfort in the fact I do too. If you notice any grammatical mistakes feel free to point them out, as grammar never has been my strong suit. If however you notice any timeline discrepancies please ignore them as, I am fairly certain these events could happen at said time, but otherwise I call upon the almighty power of artistic licence.
Also, please review, reviews are like cookies, you can eat them as much as you want and nothing bad ever happens. Ever.