Hi all,

First posted story. Please be kind. Bit of a slow start but please bear with me.

Firecracker

Chapter 1

Maes Hughes picked up the personnel folder on his desk and looked at the name.

Michaels, Cassandra A.

'Hmm…' he thought. That name was familiar. He'd heard that name before. One of Gracia's friends was a Cassandra Michaels, but they hadn't heard from her in almost two years.

There had been a Cassandra Michaels in Ishbal too. He remembered. She had a reputation that was known throughout the military. Not everyone knew what she looked like and not everyone had met her, but everyone but new recruits knew of her.

Maes had seen and spoken to her only once during Ishbal. A few of his men had made some rather crude comments and she had said something to scare them and then asked Maes to keep his men in check.

The two women couldn't possibly be one in the same, and there was no way that this could be one of the aforementioned women either.

He opened the file and began to read.

Name: Michaels, Cassandra A.

Age: 19

Rank: Major/State Alchemist

Second name: Firecracker

Alchemy: Explosions of a controlled size

Height: 5'10"

Maes whistled. 'She's a tall one,' he thought.

He scanned through her medical history.

Gunshot wound - left shoulder; no movement restrictions, completely healed, full recovery

Slash on right side along ribs caused by barbed wire; no restrictions, full recovery.

Those were the biggest ones other than a few broken bones.

After he finished that, he moved onto her service record.

Time of service so far: 2 years

Final year of Ishbal war –

Used to create distractions

Occasional search and rescue missions

Unintentionally involved in many sorties; saved many lives

Took alchemy exam post joining military - Passed

Refused to accept immediate promotion to Major from Second Lieutenant

'Strange,' thought Hughes.

Instead created deal with the Fuhrer.

It was:

In Alchemy related situations, i.e. combat as an alchemist or other situations, she held rank of Major. In any other non-alchemy related situations whatever it may be, she held the rank of Second Lieutenant. They were not allowed to just hand her promotions, she wanted to earn them. When and if she reached Major or above, it would become her sole rank.

This was the deal agreed upon.

Promotions:

Promoted to First Lieutenant in her third month in Ishbal

Reason: Completed complex mission while evading capture by rebels

Missing for 1 week

Reappeared at the camp she was stationed at

There were fears that she was followed but those fears were unfounded. Somehow, at the same time as returning to camp she led the rebels in the opposite direction. Suffered severe dehydration and malnutrition.

Promoted to Major in tenth month in Ishbal

Reason: Along with then Major Mustang and Second Lieutenant Hawkeye, she rescued a top covert team that included two state alchemists.

Received Commendation

"Wow," Hughes muttered after he finished reading the report "Why do I get the feeling that she's gonna be trouble?"

"Sir," a female voice called.

Hughes looked up at the young woman in his office. She was wearing a blue military uniform (the version with pants) and her epaulettes indicated that she was a Major. She lifted a gloved had and saluted. He assumed that he had seniority of the rank of Major and therefore was still counted as her superior.

Maes saluted back and continued his study of the woman. She wore gloves but they had no circle on them. She had a black shoulder bag slung over her shoulder.

Hughes looked at her face.

She had bright green eyes of the likes he'd seen only once before, though he couldn't remember where. Her hair was a vivid orangey-red.

Her hair sat rather interestingly on her head. The right side was practically flat with three short thin strands falling over her face to create a fringe. The left side sat rather high. The left side was considerably longer than the right. The left side of the fringe fell in front of her face. Part of it curled around and almost reached her right eye. The next part ended just above her left eye and the other three parts framed her flawless face. Her hair was cropped short.

Her hairstyle kind of reminded Maes of Second Lieutenant Maria Ross'. She was a new girl but she was good at what she did.

"I'm Major Cassandra Michaels, the 'Firecracker' alchemist," the woman said.

'Ah, so that's what she looks like. Stupid file didn't have a photo,' Maes thought 'I'll have to fix that.'

"Welcome, Major. No offence intended but, why did they send me an alchemist?" Hughes asked.

"Because, I'm also a decoder and I'm very good at getting the information that I need or want," she replied "Besides, they thought you could use an alchemist around here," she added offhandedly.

"Fair enough, and welcome again," Maes said as he turned and looked out the window behind his desk, gazing at the rainy outside.

"You really have no idea who I am, do you Maes?"

He spun around.

"What do you mean?"

The female Major pulled out her personal Pocket watch and opened it. There was a picture in it.

Hughes walked around his desk and over to the green-eyed Major. When he made it to her, she held out the small silver device to him.

Hughes took the watch from her and looked at the photo. In it were five smiling children at eleven, ten or five.

Maes instantly recognized the photo. He had a copy of it too.

In it was a younger version of himself, Roy Mustang, Jean Havoc, Gracia and a young green-eyed, red-haired girl. The little girl's hair reached the middle of her back.

The girl was about five, Gracia was ten and the three boys were eleven.

"Oh my…," he trailed off and closed the small pocket watch and looked at it.

He recognized it. He, Gracia, Roy and Jean had all pitched in to buy the exact watch he held in his hands for the little girl in the picture. They had given it to her on her eleventh birthday because she kept losing track of time or running late for things.

On the front of the pocket watch were three beautifully, intricately crafted metal flowers.

Maes flipped the watch over and looked at the back. It was there, the inscription was there. It read: 'Hopefully this'll help you keep track of time.'

"It worked, y'know," the young woman said, briefly interrupting Maes' thoughts.

That comment confirmed it. The girl in the photo was the same friend of Gracia's that they hadn't heard from in two years, the same soldier he'd seen once in Ishbal… and the same Major that now stood in front of him.

"OH MY GOD! Cassandra!" Maes yelled.

"The one and only, Maes. Sure took ya long enough to recognize me," she said with a smirk.

Oh yeah, Maes remembered her now. That smirk was unmistakeable. It could rival even Roy Mustang's. If Maes recalled correctly, they'd even had a smirking contest at one stage…

He handed the small silver pocket watch back to Cassandra. She placed it in her jacket's breast pocket.

"It's been so long, Cassie," he started "I insist you come to dinner at my house tonight. Gracia will be thrilled. Oh, and guess what! She's gonna have a baby!"

Cassie laughed as pink hearts floated around Maes' head.

"Y'know, the guys back home got a real shock when they found out that you and Gracia got married. I mean, no one thought you would because you two used to argue all the time."

"Yeah, well, things change."

"Oh, and Maes? I'd be glad to come to dinner tonight. I have absolutely no food at my new apartment."

"Great! I'm sooo glad it was you that got transferred here and not someone else!"

The two old friends chatted amicably for quite a while. Hughes, of course, showed pictures.

Eventually, the rest of Hughes' subordinates entered the office for work that day.

Maes and Cassie had both gotten there quite early.

When the subordinates walked in they were shocked to see another Major. Quickly, and smartly, they saluted her as well as Maes.

Both Majors returned the salute.

"Who's this, sir?" Second Lieutenant Maria Ross asked.

"This," Hughes said "Is Major Cassandra Michaels, the 'Firecracker' alchemist. She was just transferred."

All of Hughes' subordinates gasped.

Firecracker was one of the military's top alchemists. She could make anything explode. Give her any substance or material and she could blow it up, even the noble gases.

It was a known fact that she had to constantly wear gloves unless she was performing alchemy, because the circles that she uses are tattooed onto her palms. If she accidentally clapped without her gloves on and she didn't focus on any particular substance, depending on how far apart she moved her hands before stopping them, she could cause a large nitrogen explosion.

Another known fact, was that she was the only one of her exam group to finish the entire paper, but she didn't have gloves on, clapped without thinking while focusing on her paper and accidentally caused a nitrogen explosion that blew up the last half of her test paper.

The observing group of officers heard the explosion and ran up to see what had occurred. A female General, for safety reasons, gave her gloves to Firecracker to wear so that she didn't blow up anything else after they realised what had happened. The Fuhrer had thought it was hilarious.

It was a well known story among the military, especially State Alchemists.

But, why was she here in Major Hughes' division…?

R&R please! Hope for at least 1 review before I post again. Should be able to add Chapters 2 and 3 tomorrow.