Perhaps through all the years, most would have forgotten about all the horrible things that had happened in the past. The Ishbalan war, the millions of lives lost between the natives and the military. All alchemists and military personnel that had been present at the time of all that bloodshed, smiled behind the fear of what they had done. If they could not hide it, they were driven insane by it, and either killed themselves or ended up in a mental institution. The constant shield over the military's eyes, what they kept from the public, and even their own new recruits. Every year a new face was added to the line of State Alchemists, and every year a face was lied to about the past battles that were hidden in the darkest archives of Central…
The sky was cloudy, gray and it was obvious it was going to rain. A soft sigh escaped a male figure's lips before they turned away from the window, sitting on the leather chair in front of a desk piled with paper work. Dark blue optics looked up to the door as the man leaned his cheek on his fingers. His hand was bare, which was rare for the Flame Alchemist. He shut his eyes for just a moment before opening them once more, looking down to the paperwork before him. No one else was here. They hadn't bothered him since the beginning of the day, since it was the same day of Maes' death. Everyone knew it hit Roy the hardest; after all Maes had been like a father; he saved his life, and was always there for him.
Of course Mustang would never show this to anyone except one person, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. There were three other people he'd confide in; perhaps not on purpose, but it happened: the Elric brothers, and his dear cousin—they had almost been as close to Maes as he had. He shook his head; he had to stop thinking of the past. Grabbing a nearby pen, he began to work on the mountains of papers before him. He knew the faster he got this done, the quicker he could go home. He was waiting for a report from the Fullmetal before he took what he could home.
Roy was in no mood to joke, be sarcastic or even poke fun at the pipsqueak. It was obvious how much he was hurting, even to someone who didn't know him. However, keeping his word, he remained in duty, and would do anything to hide the fact that he wasn't fit for work. He stood before walking back to the window, seeing the blond-haired boy accompanied by a large suit of armor outside below. He was relieved to see they looked well, and were finally on their way inside to give him the report he was waiting for. He cared for the two though often he would not show it, poking fun at Edward constantly. His one want for them was for the two of them to find a way to restore their bodies. A very small smile crept to Roy's lips before he turned and sat back on his leather chair, continuing to write on the paperwork before him. He knew it would be a little while longer before they showed up, so he just kept working on the annoying papers in front of him…
Smoke filled the air as a train squeaked and screeched and heaved to a stop at Central Station. The crowd milled about on the platform with little notice of the new arrivals, save the crowd of people waiting there excitedly and expectantly for loved ones. Everyone was so occupied with their own business that no one payed any attention to one girl in particular-why should they? Even if they had been curious, perhaps of the symbol adorning the back of her long, vibrant red coat, that curiosity paled in comparison to the shock and awe that would result from one glance at the one meeting her.
The young woman tightened her grip on her suitcase, frozen mid-step as she got off the train. "...Major." She greeted, less than enthusiastically, reluctantly taking a few more steps off the train and closer to her "escort".
"Oh, Elizabeth Leone, it is so good to see you!" Major Armstrong closed the gap between them in two strides-for her it would have taken twice that, at least-and trapped her in a spine-breaking, bone-crushing bear hug. "It has been far too long!"
She winced, dropping her only luggage as he lifted her off the ground. "Yeah, it's...great to see you too, Major Armstrong...! Now...put me down..! Y-You're crushing me...!"
He did not seem to be listening, but all the same he had her back on her feet within a few seconds. "Are you ready to be escorted to Central Headquarters?" The massive man looked down as she grasped the handle of her suitcase once more. "Would you like for me to fetch the rest of your things?"
She shook her head, inadvertently shaking the black hair that shielded her blue eyes out of her face, and smiled her thanks. "No, this is everything." She lifted the case to indicate "this", and he nodded, and then took it from her. She really had no choice but to let him.
"Very well, then! Let's be on our way! The Colonel is waiting." As he walked away to lead her to the vehicle awaiting them, she rolled her eyes as she moved to follow him. "Great...I can't wait..."
The whole trip, Armstrong talked non-stop in an attempt to catch her up on everything that had happened in Central over the past year since she had been there. Elizabeth couldn't get a word in edge-wise-even when he asked her about herself, he would continue talking. So it was almost a relief when they slowed to a stop in front of Central's Military HQ...almost. Still, her sigh was one of relief, and the moment she saw her chance, she shoved the door open and made her escape before the car had even fully stopped. "Well, Major, it was good to see you again!" She called over her shoulder, booking it up the stairs and to the entrance of the large military building.
The guards inside stopped her, but before she could even grasp her pocket watch that served as identification, a familiar voice rang out from behind them.
"It's alright. She's here to see the Colonel."
The men stiffened and turned to salute their higher ranking officer. "Yes, Lieutenant Hawkeye." They spoke in unison. One relaxed as recognition dawned on his face. "Ohh, right. You're Elizabeth, aren't you? You've grown. I almost didn't recognize you."
The raven-haired girl smiled politely and nodded. "Thanks." She moved past them and followed the lovely blonde woman, letting the Lieutenant lead her to Mustang's new office.
Once they were gone, the other soldier leaned toward his friend and whispered, "Who was that kid?"
The first soldier glanced at him and nodded. "Right. You're new. That 'kid' is the Colonel's cousin, the Steel Wing Alchemist."
The second man's jaw dropped. "She's a State Alchemist at her age?"
The first nodded. "She qualified the year after the Fullmetal Alchemist. Same age as him. The second kid to achieve such a high honor."
The newbie let out a low whistle.
Upstairs, Elizabeth was following close behind the Lieutenant. She had been quiet so far, but she couldn't refrain from satisfying her curiosity any longer. "So, Lieutenant Hawkeye. How have things been going here in Central? Anything...different?"
Hawkeye glanced over her shoulder and gave the younger woman a tiny smile. "Well, as you know, Mustang was promoted."
Elizabeth huffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, hence all this 'Colonel' stuff...Has he gotten any less smug about it since the promotion?"
Hawkeye managed to suppress her laugh, and kept up her stoic expression.
"...Anything…else?" Came a hesitant follow-up.
Hawkeye paused, turning to look at the expression on Elizabeth's face. She studied her for a moment, before she continued down the hall. "He's been doing well."
Elizabeth's cheeks darkened a little, and she frowned. "That's not what I asked..."
This time Riza Hawkeye kept her smile to herself. Rather than answer the girl's question, she stopped in front of a large set of doors. "Here we are..." She knocked, then opened one of the doors and stepped inside, saluting. "She's here, sir."
Roy Mustang stopped for a moment, glancing up at her. He nodded his head some before looking back at his papers. "Send her in…"
Outside, Elizabeth sighed, then entered reluctantly, passing Hawkeye as she left. "...Thanks..." She mumbled, always at least somewhat polite to Hawkeye. She admired the woman, after all; looked up to her. When she entered, the young woman did not look enthused. "Hey, Lieutenant-Colonel..." She intentionally used his old title, making a somewhat subtle jab at him.
"Your report..?" He said with a rather blank voice…He didn't look up; he didn't even make eye contact with her. Mustang was out of it, that much was obvious. He didn't want to be here, in fact he just wanted to go home, and maybe drown himself in a few drinks. He knew he would regret it in the morning but that had never stopped the Colonel before.
Elizabeth scowled at her cousin, eying him for a moment before dropping her suitcase beside his couch. She knelt down in front of it to open it, drawing her report from a side pocket. After closing it, she walked across his office and tossed the packet onto his desk. She wanted to make a snarky comment, mad at him for making her come all the way here to deliver her report when she could have just as easily called to fill him in. She had been in the middle of something important. But she bit her tongue, took a deep breath, and then sighed. She knew what day it was, so there was no way she was going to be able to stay mad at him over anything today. As she sighed, she turned to walk back over to the couch, making herself comfortable. She plopped onto the couch and stretched out her legs, letting her shoes 'clunk' onto his coffee table. Her arms stretched out across the back of the couch, and for a moment she let her head fall back.
The blonde groaned as he trudged into the large building in front of him, his heavy boots clunking as he walked, his amber eyes were locked forward, he was not looking forward to hearing Mustang bitch at him for 'failing' yet again. But, nevertheless the blonde kept walking into the building where his 'superior' was lurking and waiting to unleash his sarcastic and annoying tongue on him. Reluctantly, he trudged up the stairs to Roy's office.
The silence in the room was making her feel awkward and uncomfortable, so Elizabeth glanced at her black-haired cousin and cleared her throat. "Roy..." She began. She was interrupted when her rival, Edward Elric, and his brother suddenly barged into the room without knocking. Blue eyes narrowed at the other young State Alchemist.
Ed was about to say something to Mustang, but stopped when he noticed the female. "How the hell did you beat me here?"
At Fullmetal's exclamation, she turned and looked the shorter blond male and gave him a full, cocky grin. "It's good to see you, too, Fullmetal." She was about to make a comment about the possibility it had something to do with his short legs, but it appeared she and her "rival" were on the same wavelength: they both wanted to keep their bickering to a minimum for the time being. So she held her smart-ass comments in for her cousin's sake.
Looking back at his rival, Edward set the report on the Flame's desk before turning away, glaring over to the raven haired female. Then he started to leave; he really wanted to keep yelling at her, but he knew in front of Roy wasn't the place to be right now. Edward left Roy's office and sighed. He felt bad for Roy, he really did, he knew how hard it was with Hughes' death, and it really did hurt him to see the Flame Alchemist so down like that, though he would never admit it.
He started to walk back down the stairs to head back to the hotel where he was staying, but stopped and glanced up the stairs sighing as he did so. Part of him did not want to just leave, but he knew his stupid rival would take care of Mustang, and it would be less awkward with her making sure the Flame didn't do anything stupid.
Once Fullmetal had left the office, Steel Wing turned to look at the mighty Flame Alchemist again. It was difficult for her to see him looking like this. It was painful to see him in such a state, honestly. She had been thinking about poking fun at Edward moments ago, but now all she wanted to do was run to her higher-ranking officer and hug him as tight as she possibly could. But it had been a long time since they had seen one another, and she could not bring herself to do it. He was family, though, so she knew she had to do something.
Roy slowly glanced up and started putting his papers away and into a briefcase. "I apologize for asking you out here, Steel Wing. I'm sure you were rather busy and had your own things to attend to, but I have a job for you and Fullmetal. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. You're dismissed." He said before going back to sticking the papers in the case before sitting down staring at his desktop waiting for his cousin to leave. He didn't want to talk; he didn't want to do anything…
When he spoke of her having other things to do, Elizabeth shook her head. She was about to tell him she did not mind, even if it was sort of a lie, but then he spoke of a job for her here. This time she opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut her mouth and decided against it. The village she had been investigating was not going to go anywhere, and perhaps now was a good time to be in Central.
Now who was he kidding, thinking he could just dismiss her like that? "I'm not leaving." She stated. "Not yet." She gave him a hard look that said she meant it, then stood and walked over to his desk. She placed her right hand on the wooden surface, while her left rested on her hip; she was always cautious, and by now it was just habit. Tilting her head to one side, she stared down at him, waiting for him to look up.
Mustang stopped what he was doing and slowly looked up at her, his dark blue eyes locked onto her. "I assure you, Elizabeth, I'm fine. Please go home." He said before looking away from her finishing putting his paperwork away. But Mustang's cousin shook her head, shaking her raven bangs in front of her eyes. She was going to be stubborn about this one; she was not going to leave him alone, whatever he wanted. "Sorry, Roy, but I'm not buying it. And I'm not going anywhere." She grumbled, and then folded her arms across her chest as she stared at him with fierce determination in her blue eyes.
Momentarily acting as though he had not heard her, Mustang started to walk out of his office. Elizabeth followed him with her eyes as he started to leave, and then actually moved to follow him when she saw him nearing the door. She grabbed her suitcase with her right hand, scooping it up by the handle on her way out.
Roy really wasn't himself, and he knew that. He would be fine by tomorrow, and he knew that as well, he just wished everyone else would leave him alone today and let him go take care of his sorrow in his own way. He knew it wasn't the best way but it was his way…and it worked for him, he would just end up nursing a headache tomorrow which was nothing the Flame couldn't deal with.
He knew that Elizabeth just wanted to stop him from being so depressed, they hadn't seen each other in a while but he still just wanted to be alone right now, and just think about something other than the thoughts plaguing his mind… At his office doors, Roy stopped walking suddenly and looked back at her. She was surprised when he paused, and nearly crashed into him, but she managed to stop herself before they collided.
"If you want…you can stay with me tonight, at least until you find a hotel or something." He said, before continuing on his way out the doors.
Looking up at him she blinked, surprised he was actually inviting her to stay over at his place. She had made arrangements for a hotel in advance, but she would really rather keep an eye on her cousin, at least for tonight. "Yeah...okay, sure." She mumbled with a nod, and then clenched her hand around the handle of her suitcase as she moved to follow him closely.
Roy nodded and started walking down the stairs and outside to one of the cars waiting for him. He opened the door and crawled in, staring out the window with a blank expression on his face. His younger cousin followed close behind. It was raining lightly now, but she ignored the drizzle as she shut the door behind her. She stared out the opposite window for most of the car ride, though she did steal a glance at her elder cousin every now and then with a concerned look on her face.
As the car pulled to a stop in front of his place, Mustang got out and walked up to his front door without a word. Unlocking it, he opened it and sighed some.
Elizabeth grabbed her suitcase as she exited the car quickly to follow him, calling a "Thank you!" to the driver out of habit as they pulled away. It was raining a little harder now, so she hurried after Mustang into his house, then closed and locked the door behind her. She hung up her dripping cloak by the door and took a curious look around-it still looked like Roy lived here.
"You can take the bed tonight…I'll just sleep on the couch." Her cousin mumbled before walking to his desk setting the brief case down starting to work on some of his paperwork in complete silence.
The raven-haired youth nodded when he offered her his bed. She had thought for a second about insisting she take the couch, but quickly thought it over and decided against it. She was not concerned about comfort; she had slept on less comfortable things than a couch before. However, there were certain things she needed to be cautious about.
She wandered about briefly until she found his room, and then dropped her suitcase on the floor beside his bed. She found the bathroom and shook her hair like a dog over the bathtub. Then she wrung out her braid over the sink until her hair was merely damp.
While she was distracted with exploring his apartment, Roy slowly stood and wandered to his fridge before pulling out a can of beer and opened it, before moving to take a drink of it. He knew his cousin wasn't going to let him, but he figured she wouldn't be able to get over here to completely stop him. He didn't even want her here, but he knew if he didn't invite her she would have showed up anyway. He was still a bit wet from the rain outside, and his hair was dripping slowly onto the floor as he brought the can to lips about to take a sip.
Satisfied, she wandered back through the living space until she found Mustang, just as he was lifting the can of beer to his lips to drink. "Ah-" She made a disapproving sound as she quickly closed the gap between them and placed her right hand between the can as his mouth. "No way," She ground out through clenched teeth as she glared at him stubbornly, though there was some concern in her eyes as well; even if she was unaware she was showing it. Only someone who knew her well would even notice. "Go to bed, Roy." She snapped as she took the can from him and whisked it over to the sink, dumping it down the drain without the slightest bit of remorse. "And don't argue with me!" She called over her shoulder. "I know you—'Just one' turns into more, and then whiskey or tequila or some other nasty..." She trailed off, grumbling under her breath.
Her older cousin blinked a few times. "Hey...That wasn't cheap." He mumbled, glaring slightly, as his cousin poured his drink down the drain.
The Colonel's younger cousin shot him a warning glare in return when he complained about her disposing of his drink.
"I'm not going to go to sleep. I'm not tired…I'll just…go do paperwork or something." He mumbled, almost the most words he had said all day. He walked over to his desk and sat down, starting to sign his name, and go over paperwork. He knew he would get tired from doing this; after all it was incredibly boring.
The raven-haired girl shrugged, shaking out the rest of the foul-smelling beverage from its can into the drain of the sink. If he did not want to sleep, she was not going to knock him out and force him. So long as he was not trying to drown his sorrows in drink, he could do just about anything else he wanted. After she had disposed of the can as well, removing all temptation, she walked out of the kitchen and found a perch near his desk. She grabbed a nearby chair and flipped it around, sitting in it backwards. She watched him scrawl his name on the papers over and over, slowly becoming drowsy from the repetitive sound.
After some time had passed, Roy glanced up at his cousin before mumbling. "Thanks…Elizabeth." He said.
When he stopped, she perked up for a moment. She tilted her head to the side questioningly, briefly wondering what he was thanking her for. When she caught on, she smiled softly. "Any time," She murmured in reply.
After signing another stack of papers, Roy stood, before walking to the couch and taking off his jacket, then falling onto it and shutting his eyes. He was pretty tired and depressed, and he just wanted this day to be over. He really wanted to just drink his sorrows away but he realized that apparently wasn't what he really wanted, since he asked his cousin over. He had known she wouldn't let him drink. He sighed some and slowly started to let sleep overtake him.
Seeing that her cousin appeared to be finished for the night, Elizabeth stood, putting the chair back where she had found it. She stretched, grunting softly when her shoulder cracked. It had been a long day on the train, so sitting again for so long and drifting off may not have been her best idea. But Roy was going to bed, and she liked the idea as well, so she could sleep off her exhaustion.
She watched him lying on the couch for a moment, then turned and disappeared. She came back into the room a moment later carrying a blanket, which she spread and threw over him gently. Then she knelt beside him carefully, avoiding allowing her right knee to make contact with the floor, and keeping her left arm at her side. Leaning forward, she pecked him quickly and gently on the cheek. "Goodnight, Roy." Then she quickly stood and disappeared into the room he had given up for her.
Once in her cousin's bedroom, she shut and locked the door. She had been hesitant to lock it, but she would have to lie and blame it on her "feminine shyness" or something. She could not take any risks in allowing her brother-like cousin to find out about her "accident"... Opening her suitcase, she pulled out her sleep clothes and laid them on the bed. Then she took off her shoes, gloves, and jacket, revealing her normally well-hidden limbs of automail. Her entire left arm and most of her right leg were gone, replaced by metallic ones.
She paused to stare at her odd limbs in the bathroom mirror, then shook her head and turned her back to the reflective surface. She finished undressing and changing into her night clothes-a loose pair of pants and shirt-then threw herself onto Mustang's bed. Crawling under the covers, she turned out the light, snuggled into the warmth, and soon fell asleep.