Summary: A Firefly AU: Captain Roy Mustang and crew take to the skies over Amestris and do what they can to make a living.
AN:A blend of both worlds with rare pairings including: Riza/Jean, Roy/Lust, Winry/ Al. My story, if you disagree then write your own instead of disapproving reviews. There also will be smut, but it's going to be in the A03 version and not this one. I love both series and I love to play with an AU. This story is for Wordslinger who has listened to me vent and rec'd some great fics and pairings. (Including HavocAi)
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or Firefly.
Firefly
Chapter 1
Unification Day
The Captain rubbed his eyes and hopped that when his eyelids opened again that his crew mate would finally, miraculously, have learned to play chess correctly. He let his hand run through his hair and realized it was time for a trim, the messy mop of ebony atop his head was probably making him look younger and less imposing than he wanted to appear. Then again, in this backwoods bar he wasn't exactly looking to be noticed. He opened his eyes and looked across at Rebecca who was once again moving her knight incorrectly. Well, he didn't pay her for her chess expertise.
"Your move." Rebecca Catalina gave her Captain a triumphant grin and leaned back in her chair to the point of almost tipping it.
Roy Mustang wasn't in the mood to argue with the woman about how to play the game anymore, so he just started to play by her rules. So his hand stretched out and a mischievous grin touched his lips.
Riza Hawkeye leaned in and watched him pluck a few pawns off the board thanks to a zig-zag maneuver with his rook. "Interesting move, Captain."
"I live on the edge, Lieutenant." Roy said as his famous smirk grew and he realized his mug was almost empty.
Rebecca righted her chair and glared at him. "Edge of illegal moves."
"We are smugglers." Roy whispered to the woman as her eyebrow twitched. "Why play by any rules?"
"Then you just voided the contract, Captain." Rebecca snorted. "I'm not buying you your next round for cheating."
"Why not?" Roy sat up and straightened his suede coat, then rested his hand on his hip and gave her a winning smile. "I'm your Captain. I just demonstrated my superior tactical prowess and ability to adapt to the ever changing situation. If anything you should be swelling with pride and loyalty right now."
"The only thing swollen is your head." Rebecca replied. "And probably whatever you're hiding in those tight pants of yours."
"I work all my assets." Roy replied.
Riza swirled her finger around the top of her beer mug and glanced over at the crowd gathering at the bar. They were starting to get loud and slap each other on the back and she kept an eye on them in case things got out of hand. Then one man got up on the bar, his mug hoisted up above him spilling suds down his arm. She knew what was coming.
"A toast!" The man on the bar hollered. "To the Alliance's victory over the pathetic Independents six years ago on this glorious Unification Day!"
Riza's eyes shifted from the crowd of cheering drunks to her Captain who's face was now devoid of emotion. His jaw was set and his eye glinted with a spark of his anger. He stood up, loudly pushing his chair out from under him and screech from the wood dragging on the floor caught the attention of a few. "Captain."
"I need another drink." Roy said and picked up his almost empty mug.
Riza watched him as he stood up tall and strode to the bar with a presence about him that made a few men move out of his way before he pushed past them. He was the kind of man you couldn't help but notice in a room, a man that could never hide the fact that he was a leader. Her eyes were drawn away from him as the individual who was on the bar, jumped down and approached her Captain and she uttered a Xingese curse under hear breath as Rebecca sat back and chuckled in amusement.
"Hey buddy, you going to drink to the Alliance? Going to toast that great victory over those damned Independents with us?" The man eyed Roy, took in his appearance and saw the look on his face. He leaned against the bar, and decided to push it a little harder. "Celebrate Unification Day? The day we sent those fucking coward Browncoats running, shitting themselves so they could have brown trousers too?"
Roy ground his teeth and clenched his fist. The bartender refilled his beer and he looked at the foaming ale as the man poked his arm.
"You know, that coat of yours looks a little brown."
Roy could feel Riza's eyes boring into the back of his head with that look of 'Don't do it Captain' that she mastered so well during their years together. So he took a drink and replied. "Didn't realize the fashion police patrolled this far out in the middle of nowhere."
"Couldn't help but notice that you didn't toast." Prodded the patriotic individual.
"I couldn't help but notice you don't have a plethora of brain cells that you can afford to sacrifice to this disgusting brew." Roy raised his mug in preparation of drinking the last of it. Awful or not, he paid for it already. "So why don't you go back to drinking with your buddies instead of trying to engage strangers in conversation?"
"Those Browncoats were nothing but trash. Anyone who fought beside them even worse. The only bad thing about this day was that we stopped killing them, that there are still filthy fucking pieces of brown-coated trash alive."
Roy slammed his mug down and stood up to his full height, still shorter than the bastard beside him but that never mattered. He lowered his voice to a growl and spat, "Say that to my face."
"I said that the worst part about Unification Day was that you disgusting sacks of shit surrendered before we could kill every last one of you." The man leaned over into Mustang's personal space, spittle accompanying his words then grinned and showed off a few missing teeth and a mouth stained brown from tobacco. "Got something to say about it?"
"Nope." Roy gave him an adorable smile and continued. "I just wanted to give my Lieutenant an opportunity to get behind you."
Riza watched the man spin, his face a mixture of drunken surprise and anger as his face met her fist. The man fell back, hit his head on the bar and fell to the ground. Roy put his booted foot on the guys chest and stood there holding his beer mug like he was the conquering hero.
"Thank you Lieutenant." Roy kept his fabulously adorable smile on for her. He watched the people in the bar react, slowly getting up as silence overtook the small saloon. Someone even went over to the record player and turned it off. "Well, looks like everyone else wants to feel that uppercut of yours too."
Riza looked around and watched the entire bar begin to advance on them. There were times she wished she could just leave her Captain to fight his own battles, the ones he started and cultivated like this. Instead she was always by his side. "Rebecca, a little help?"
"I didn't fight in the damned war." Rebecca leaned her chair back and propped her feet up on the table. She raised her mug to her lips. Tactical prowess, my ass. "I don't fight unless I'm getting paid, so best of luck to both of you."
Serenity was a firefly class airship powered by a single steam turbine engine. It was a well traveled ship, seeing use during the Ishval war as part of the Alliance's airborne division as a supply vessel. It was decommissioned following the war as Amestris downsized it's it's older vessels and sold at surplus auction. From there it would be either fly again or be used as scrap, and she sat in a shipyard awaiting her fate. As fate would have it, a pair of war veterans came across her before she could be parted out.
Roy Mustang set his eyes on the outdated vessel and couldn't turn away. Perhaps the former State Alchemist and paroled Lieutenant Colonel of the Independent Army saw a battered warhorse tossed aside that deserved another career. Perhaps he saw a way to find some freedom in the skies over Amestris that he no longer could count on while his boots were on the ground. Perhaps he only saw the price tag. Whatever the reason, that day the vessel was granted an extension of life and rechristened the Serenity and Mustang committed another act of treason by trading his state issued alchemist pocket watch for it.
Today however, that vessel was here to save it's Captain from his own impending doom. As usual, the trouble was started by his mouth and his love of lost causes. So Jean Havoc may have not served in the war, like his Captain, wife and this little flying hunk of scrap he called home, but today he was once again a damned hero. Havoc puffed a fresh cigarette to life as he flew low in order to keep his arrival a surprise. He wasn't surprised in the least to get a distress call from Mustang ten minutes ago, 'Just going for a drink' always ended up with a armed mob and a panicked call to save his ass.
How the hell Mustang survived a war, was beyond him. However he wasn't beyond a few dramatic maneuvers to show off his flying skills or impress the gorgeous Lieutenant who he happened to be married to. Nope. Not above the theatrics at all. He pulled back on the lever that controlled thrust and allowed Serenity to rise up the wall of the cliff and appear right in the nick of time as the typical angry mob tried to push his crew mates off the cliff. He grinned as he saw the mob jump back as they saw the airship. "That's right, flying ace Jean Havoc here to save you from our Captain's inevitable stupidity."
"Havoc, you idiot, the comms are open." Roy's voice crackled out of the speaker.
"I know." Jean said and pushed the button to open the loading dock and lower the ramp.
"We're on board." Riza's voice came over the comms and let him know it was safe to depart and probably best to do so immediately since the locals were now brandishing firearms.
So Havoc waited for the blinking light to flash denoting the hanger doors were closing before dropping back down the cliff side and banking to the left to fly way from the town on the plateau and off to somewhere. He knew Mustang would march up to the bridge soon, barking orders and gesturing wildly. So as he guided Serenity towards nowhere in particular, he allowed himself to zone out and think about the war. It was Unification Day, after all.
Havoc didn't serve in the war, even though he did enroll in the Military Academy and go for two years. When the Eastern rebellion erupted into a full-fledged civil war he left the academy to go home and help with the booming family business. War stimulated the economy, it also caused widespread shortages, rationing and profiteering around Amestris. Havoc's General Store utilized it's strategic location as well as lucrative connections to continuous supply customers with products despite the inflation plaguing the rest of the country. They still had imports from Xing arriving weekly, despite the embargo, and operating a far reaching network to bring goods from remote small towns to market in their modest mercantile. It was why he quit the academy, Jean Havoc had always been obsessed with flying, and it finally payed off. He flew a small cargo plane across the Southern region to buy from farmers, hunter-gatherers and independent miners and returned to the Store with a hull filled to capacity. Often they sold the goods right off the plane, and he would sleep while they unloaded and refueled and would be off again to repeat the process.
Unification Day, signified the end to that. Once the Alliance crushed the rebel forces at Serenity Valley, the war was over. The independent army was paroled and the government went back to business as usual. They downsized their forces, sold surplus weapons and vehicles and once again opened up trade with it's neighbor to the East and lifted rationing. There was no more need for a blockade runner like himself, if anything the end of the war helped destroy their business. People now had everything available to them, including the spoils from the Eastern region who would be punished for the insurrection for decades.
The citizens of Amestris were also rewarded with trade opening up with their neighbor to the South, Aerugo. The turning point of the war had been the alliance between Amestris and Aerugo and the rebel army of Browncoats could never overcome that. Not even with the supply of munitions trickling over the boarder from Xing. The Alliance signified the end to the rebellion and there was still widespread speculation about how that awkward partnership was forged. Much of the Southern region was used to skirmishes and minor battles along the border and had been for generations, so when it was announced that we were all on the same side to quell this rebellion, well there weren't many who believed it was about a common cause. King Bradley had either blackmailed or bribed Prince Claudio into forming the Alliance and everyone would remain uneasy until conflict resumed with the nation to the south.
It was widely known that Aerugo was supplying the rebel forces with weapons and munitions. The country had much to gain from the Amestrian civil war, especially if the East was successful in breaking away from it's own country. Whatever weakened Amestris was top priority for Aerugo, especially a war that put their famed State Alchemist on both sides destroying each other. The alliance put an end to that and cut off supplies to the rebel forces. The war may have started in Ishval, but quickly fueled an uprising against the military state who taxed and controlled the people into compliance. The entire outer region of Eastern Amestris, everything outside of the Eastern Railway line, was resentful of the crushing taxes, lack of military aid and representation. They rose up to fight as soon as the opportunity presented itself. What started as a swift campaign to destroy the Ishvalian people, turned into a seven year long civil war that the East still had not begun to recover from.
Havoc crushed out his cigarette and stared out the window as he flew aimlessly across the barren wasteland of the void east of Cameron. This time, Amestris would just eliminate the citizens it didn't want through negligence. There were no rail lines, military outposts or roads out here. There was only prairie and unfarmable land inhabited by people who had no where else to go. So instead of being the hero who supplied Havoc's General Store, he was the pilot of a ship that wandered from point A to B hoping to happen across a job or two. Some work was legal, most wasn't, but at the end of the day they were all still free because Amestris couldn't own the sky.
They all valued their freedom in this country that was nothing short of a dictatorship. Especially Roy Mustang who was spared execution in hopes that he would eventually return to the State and want his job back. The Flame Alchemist was the pride and joy of the Fuhrer's Alchemist Corps, until he refused to burn his own fellow citizens alive. He quit, changed sides and discarded his blue uniform in favor of a thread bare brown one. Amestris had outlawed alchemy, except for state certified individuals, and they waited for the day Roy Mustang once again snapped his fingers so he could be arrested and once again be state property. His alchemy saved his life, during and after the war, but now he could no longer use it if he wanted to remain free. Roy Mustang who was now marching his way to the bridge, ready to pretend he had the foggiest idea of where the hell they were heading.
"Havoc, where the hell are you taking us?"
"Away from your new friends." Havoc smiled. "They didn't speak sarcasm, did they?"
"Liked your wife's talking with her fists even less." Roy looked at the map and sighed. "Alright, take us to Youswell. I guess we'll refuel."
"With what money?" Havoc asked. "Or are you going to borrow Solaris's room and sell that body of yours for coal?"
"I'll figure out something." Roy said with confidence even though he didn't have the slightest idea how to pay for it. They wouldn't get far without another bay of coal, so it was either park in Youswell and find a job or risk running out of fuel somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Riza followed her Captain to the bridge and stayed after he left to go doctor his wounds. She ran her hand through her husband's blond hair and he tilted his head back for a kiss. She smiled and bent down to give him what he asked for. "Thanks for rescuing us."
"So," Havoc hit the autopilot button and pulled his wife onto his lap. "You had to save Roy's ass again...anything you need me to kiss and make feel better?"
"Comms are on Havoc!" Roy's voice squelched over the speaker.
"I know." Jean grinned.
Riza wrapped her arm around his neck and leaned over to the speaker. "Captain, perhaps once you're done patching yourself up you can take the helm?"
"Oh for shit's sake, Riza. We just got back!" Roy snapped over the comm. "I pay him to be my pilot, not your sex toy."
"I just saved your ass, Captain." Riza said and waited. "I need a little stress relief. Protecting you is stressful."
"God dammit." Roy hissed through the speaker. "Fine. Give me five minutes."
"I love how you order him around." Havoc said and grinned when the speaker crackled back to life.
"Havoc! Comms still open!"
"I know." Jean grinned and put his cigarette back in his mouth.
"Leave them on." Rebecca's voice carried over the airwaves. "When you go to your cabin, that is."
Riza finally flipped the switch to off and grinned at her husband. "To answer your question, yes. I would very much like to kiss a few spots and make them feel much better. My knight in shining armor, coming to rescue me and our fire breathing dragon."
"Don't forget the lewd bar wrench." Havoc snorted. "Every Unification Day."
"It's just how we celebrate." Riza grinned. "So let's go do our own celebrating in private."
"Youswell?" Winry frowned. "That town again?"
Solaris, resident licensed companion, brushed the mechanic's long blond hair with her fingers and gave a soft chuckle. "Beggars can't be choosers."
Roy propped his feet up on the command console and rubbed his neck. "Winry, I'm sorry. Did you need a nicer town to spend all your imaginary money in?"
Winry gave a shrug. She wasn't complaining, she was just hoping for something better than a crappy mining town. Something with real stores and a junkyard that consisted of more than mining supplies. Still, she knew they were running low on coal and Serenity needs came before her own. "Just would be nice to have something between my legs that wasn't battery operated. It's been a while."
Roy's mouth hung open as he looked over at his teenage mechanic, then he recovered with a stutter. "Don't...tell me these things."
Rebecca leaned on her Captain's shoulder and grinned at the blond girl. "But please, feel free to tell me more."
Roy elbowed her and shot her an annoyed look. "No."
"What? Girls can talk about this stuff." Rebecca glared back at him. "You can just not listen if you're uncomfortable with the idea that a lady can take care of her own needs."
"You're not a lady." Roy glared back. "And I never want to hear about your needs."
"Does someone want to hear about my needs?!" Havoc screamed over the speaker from down in his room below deck. "Like how I need you to stop broadcasting your chat over the entire ship while I'm trying to take my wife's clothes off!?"
Roy leaned over to the speaker and grinned. "Oh sorry. Comms were on? My bad."
"Sorry Havoc, you know the Captain...he confuses his turn ons and turn offs." Solaris leaned over and flipped the switch to off and gave Roy a seductive smirk.
"Please." Roy matched her smirk with one of his own. "I know damned well I turn you on."
"She turns me on too." Rebecca pouted and looked longingly at the gorgeous companion and sighed. Oh to find out what a bona fide companion could do to her in the span of an evening. Especially a woman like Lust who just turned her on with the slinky black dress she wore and her perfect cleavage. Winry wasn't teh only one tired of battery operated toys. "But I can't afford her. "
"Captain?" Winry said in her most innocent tone.
"Yes dear." Roy looked over at her and put on his non perverted face for her. Damn, he tried to watch his mouth around the kid. Poor innocent sweet girl with her...not so innocent toys. What kind of ship was this where the girls played with sex toys and he and Havoc played with action figures on the bridge?
"I was serious. I am running low on batteries."
Rebecca chuckled as she went over to Winry and slung an arm around her as Roy made a sour face. "Don't expect him to understand about what kind of stimulation a woman needs, kid."
"Can't win, can you Captain?" Solaris asked and glanced down at his crotch. Roy Mustang's crotch had a gravitation pull that a woman just could resist being drawn to. "Though your choice of those tight pants to hide any indication you're enjoying this conversation could be classified as a victory."
Roy snorted and sat up in his chair, removing his boots from the ship's vital controls. "Win? You're fantasizing about me. The famous companion Lust is pining for me."
"Pining?" Solaris frowned at the mention of her professional name.
"It's your way. Insult me, try to lure me in to your room to prove you wrong." Roy nodded. "Just so you can get out of paying for it."
"I'd be free." Rebecca winked at Solaris. "I'm free right now."
"This isn't helping my battery issue." Winry moaned.
Roy returned his attention to piloting his ship and checked the charts. "We'll be in Youswell in about an hour. I'm going to take on passengers, so take care of your needs so you can focus on what kind of passengers I need you to find. Ones who shut up, pay up and don't cause problems...not ones you can take for a ride."
"Well then, we better go find you some batteries little one." Rebecca mumbled and started to leave the bridge.
"Hey!" Roy turned and pointed an authoritative finger at her. "Don't steal them out of the smoke alarms!"
"Whatever Captain Tight Ass." Rebecca snorted. "They're the wrong kind."
"Then put them back." he growled.
"Don't need the alarms anyhow." Rebecca chuckled as she walked off the bridge. "You're the biggest fire hazard on this boat and your big mouth is better than any alarm."
Winry tried not to smile as she scampered off after her, making sure to close the door to give Solaris and Roy some privacy. She looked back through the window and saw the smile Solaris gave their Captain. She wished those two would just get over their issues and do something about their relationship. She envied Lust's glamorous lifestyle, but she knew the woman longed for something better. That something better being the man grinning at her in there. However, they both valued their independence and unfortunately for Solaris that meant life as a companion. She turned and ran after Rebecca who was probably raiding the pantry for some food.
"Why do I pay her?" Roy asked.
"She's excellent with a gun." Solaris leaned over the control console. "But the fact remains, that I never require you to pay me. Youswell, isn't exactly a great place for clients."
Roy chuckled. "Oh, come now. Yoki is robbing those people blind just to afford an hour with you."
She ran her finger up his cheek and pushed some hair out of his face so she could see his eyes. God how she loved those eyes. "What I was hinting at, was that I'll probably be free while we're docked here."
He swiveled the command chair around and kissed her hand, then tugged on her arm until she relented and sat on his lap. "This is becoming a little too frequent."
"You're the only man who is actually interested in pleasuring me. It's becoming somewhat of an addiction." She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "And how I do love to ride my Mustang hard and put him away wet."
"Now, you're just playing dirty." He said and swallowed hard as she ran her hand over his chest. "We've been through this before, I'm an insanely jealous man with a temper. I don't share well."
"You never treat me like a possession." She whispered huskily, wishing that her occupation wasn't entwined in ever fiber of her being and she could turn off the arousing words and tone to her voice. It however, didn't work that way. "You treat me like a goddess and I am very much in need of your worship right now."
"And what about your clients?" He asked and tried to avoid the smell of her hair, the soft strokes of her skilled hands and the breasts she was practically resting his chin on.
"I only know one trade, Roy." She sighed and toyed with the fabric of his shirt by the collar. He was no stranger to her world, he was the foster son of Madam Christmas who was currently in charge of the Companion Guild. After the war, the government decided that they were missing out on tax money from prostitution and instituted a new law regarding the sex trade that was close to their policy on alchemists: all sex workers were to be registered with the state and guild certified. Anyone not abiding by the rules was doing so illegally and was subject to arrest. The government proclaimed it was to keep the spread of disease down as they lost more soldiers to venereal diseases during the war than bullets. Requiring registration mean also requiring physical exams and enabled girls riddled with disease to be labeled as such. It was supposed to provide a healthier and safer experiences for both client and companion. What it did was make the government a countrywide pimp. Having Christmas as the civilian face of the Guild, made it seem like it was still a independent enterprise, however it was far from it. Anyone who saw her paperwork would know that the government was involved. "I still choose who I take into my bed."
He glanced into her eyes and saw the sadness there. "It's not about choice, dear. It's about a profession that I know and hate. It's about men who don't respect you, who just see your body and how it's going to be theirs for as long as they can afford it. It's about you coming to me and asking to be treated like a human being for little while. It's about...me wanting to burn a man's tongue out for talking down to you, calling you a..."
She silenced him with a kiss. She felt him stiffen , felt his internal battle to not give into his desires. But then he relaxed under her and just kissed her back. She pulled away and gave him smile. "I'd rather you put this tongue of yours to use...showing me instead of telling me."
"Tonight." He finally whispered and ran his hand over her hip and thigh. "After I get us settled in to the docks at Youswell."
"Then it's a date." She whispered and got off his lap, making sure to drag herself over every inch of his body that she could.
"For someone who allegedly likes me, you're rather cruel." He said and looked up at her.
"We both know that's how you like it." She said and pet his hair before sauntering over to the door. "I'll be waiting for you."
Roy shook his head and shifted in the chair uncomfortably. He was going to have to find some less outwardly sexual people to add to his crew.
AN: Check A03 version if you want the Havocai smut.