I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, Hiromu Arakawa does!
Alphonse Elric stepped off of the train onto the platform into the scorching sun, before turning to grin at the people at his side. Edward Elric and Mei Chang grinned back at him. The train station around them was bustling, just as every other one was throughout Amestris.
"This looks much better than I imagined it would," Edward voiced, looking around at the building, before setting his gaze outside the window, towards what was unmistakably the rebuilt Ishval. "The Colonel sure must be working his ass off."
"It's Brigadier General now," Alphonse corrected, watching as an Ishvallan family walked past them, all of whom smiled welcomingly at the sight of them. "But your right, that was a lot of progress to make. The last time I was here was when I was going to Xing, and they were still in the middle of reconstruction then."
"Impressive," agreed Mei, taking in the foreign settings.
Edward and Alphonse were on their way back to Risembool to pay Winry a visit, with Mei deciding to tag along. After all, she had voiced, it had been quite some time since she had been in Amestris, and she confessed to missing the country quite a bit. Without delay, they had all set out on the new railroad that had been built from Xing to Amestris, and elected to stop and see how the General was doing.
"Now, where does the General live again?" Edward asked after a minute of them taking in the rest of the scenery. Mei and Alphonse both shrugged
"How would we know that," Al started, "You were the one to tell him we were coming, right? Why didn't you ask him then?" Edward froze.
"Wait… Me?" Ed started, looking at them in confusion. "But…" Mei and Alphonse both froze.
"Edward…" Mei groaned, closing her eyes in disbelief. "Seriously?"
"I thought that you were supposed to!" Ed exclaimed, pointing at Al, who's eye twitched.
"So your telling me that they have no idea that we are coming?" Al muttered, looking back that the city, which looked larger that they didn't know where they were going. "That's brilliant…" The three reMeined silent for another minute, considering possible choices as for what to be doing next.
"Well… We came here to see them, so we might as well. Besides, we don't need to tell him we are coming. He should be glad that we came all this way to see him as well as the Lieutenant," Ed attempted at reasoning.
"She's a Colonel now," Al sighed. "And that was a lie. This was right on our way."
"But we don't need to tell them that," Ed replied quickly, before smiling and turning back to the doors where people were now watching them curiously. There was a percentage of Amestirans now living in Ishval, but Blonde hair was still a rare thing for them to witness. "Come on, we can ask around for directions. I'm sure that someone has to know who he is, and where to find them."
"… I can't believe we are going along with this," Mei sighed as she and Al watched Ed run towards one of the Station workers.
"Me neither, but it's not like we really have a choice. He's got it mind set on it," Al replied dully, before smiling down at her. "He won't admit it, but he is really excited to see them again. He missed them. We both did." He finished fondly, thinking of old memories. Mei grinned back. Al was always so sentimental, but it only seemed to add to his charm.
"Got it!" Ed cried running back to them. "They said that they should be at the Headquarters here! And I know how to find that too!" He added, before grinning and motioning them to follow him. Mei and Al chuckled before following him out the door.
"What do you mean today is their day off?" Ed groaned, standing at the desk of the receptionist .
"Exactly what I said," the receptionist answered dully. "Is there anything else?"
"Do you have a file of his address?" Ed asked, leaning against the desk.
"Yes, but it's not something that I am generally allowed to give out," she replied coolly. "And you are?"
"Edward Elric," Ed snapped back, clearly not appreciating her lack of help. "And I'm an old friend, so could you please?"
"Wait…. Edward Elric? The Ex state alchemist?" The receptionist asked, clearly stunned.
"That's right," Al said, clearly seeing their opportunity and hoping that his brother didn't ruin it with his short temper. "And I'm his younger brother, Alphonse Elric. We are just trying to visit the Brigadier General today, whom is a friend of ours. We don't have that much time, so if you think you could please…?" He implored, watching as the receptionist stuttered.
"W-Well…. As long as you say that you're close friends… And here for a visit," she mumbled, before pulling a file out and scribbling down the address. "There it is. It's in the large apartment building about a mile from the hospital, if you know where that is."
"Thank you," Alphonse replied, bowing slightly, before dragging Ed away, Mei trailing after them with a huge grin fixed on her face.
"Okay," Ed cheered as soon as they were outside of Headquarters, grabbing the paper and reading it. "Now let's figure out where the hell this is."
"Finally," Mei gasped as a large building drew nearer, which was unmistakably the apartment building. "I thought that we would never find it."
"Damn Colonel…. He must have planned this…" Ed added, as they trudged into the building.
"Brigadier General," Al corrected again, as they began walking up the stairs. "And don't be paranoid, Ed. You were the one who forgot to call!"
"Oh, let it go," Ed snapped as they reached their level. "We there now." Mei and Al both rolled their eyes as they began watching for the correct room number.
"206… 205… 204… 203, Here it is!" Mei exclaimed, pointing at a door as they all stopped in front of it. "Well, let's hope that they are home." She added, before taking the liberty of knocking. They were all silent for a minute, listening for footsteps. And sure enough, there was a fait patter of feet on the other side of the door, before the door creaked open.
A pair of ochre brown eyes blinked in surprise at them.
Riza Hawkeye was standing in the doorway, dressed in the Ishvallan robes that they had seen throughout their search, and with her long blond hair reaching the middle of her back. She didn't seem to have changed one bit in the time since they had last seen her, except for the fact that she didn't have bandages around her neck, in its place was a long, thin scar. She stared at the three people standing at her door in shock, before the silence was broken.
"Well this is a surprise," Hawkeye said, before smiling warmly. "It's great to see you again."
"Great to see you too," Ed and Al replied happily, as Mei smiled. Hawkeye stepped aside to let them inside. They thanked her before taking off their shoes, placing them near the door.
"The Co-Brigadier General is in the kitchen," She said, before motioning for them to follow her. Ed and Al smiled at each other, knowing that Ed wasn't the only one having difficulty adjusting to the new name, despite the time that had passed. They walked through the relatively small living room, as a voice sounded down the hallway.
"Brown-Eyes? Who was that?" The unmistakable voice of Roy Mustang called curiously. Ed smiled mischievously as he heard the nickname, while a smile spread itself across Al's face. They could tell that Mustang and Hawkeye were close, but they never imagined that, least of all coming from Mustang. Now that they thought about it, they were living together. But last time that they were here, it was because of the housing shortage. Now… That most likely was not the case.
They entered into the kitchen, where they were greeted by the sight of Roy Mustang, also dressed in Ishvallan robes, stirring the contents of a soup that was unmistakably Xingese.
Roy raised his eyebrows at the sight of the three as Riza grinned back at him. Slowly, his ears started to turn red as he realized his mistake much too late.
"Brown-Eyes, huh?" Ed asked teasingly, raising one of his eyebrows as a blush spread its way across the pairs' face
"Er…" Seemed to be all he could manage as Ed's grin widened. Slowly, a smile made its way across his face and he began to laugh. "I should have been expecting you. Only you would drop in on my first day off, runt." Roy greeted, as Ed fumed.
"Wait, I'M NOT SHORT-" Ed began, but faded off as he realized no one was listening.
"Nice to see you too, Alphonse. You look much healthier," Roy greeted happily, holding out his hand to shake Al's.
"It's good to see you too, Brigadier General," Al smiled back, shaking his hand firmly. Roy then turned to Mei, before smiling widely.
"Hey! You're the girl from The Promised Day!" He exclaimed, before shaking her hand just as enthusiastically. Mei blinked blankly for a minute, before realization dawned on her.
"Wait, that means you're the lady I saved!" She said, pointing her finger at Riza. Riza nodded while smiling, pointing at the scar on her throat. "I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you at first, you look different from..." Mei trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what she was saying.
"From when I was laying in a pool of blood? I should hope so," Riza chuckled, as Mei joined in.
"Here, you go to the sitting room. I think we have enough space there," Roy said, before turning to a pantry. "I can get some iced tea." Riza nodded, before shepherding everyone back down the hallway and into the original room that they had entered when they first came. Inside the room, there was two stark couches, along with a desk covered in important paperwork, and a picture hung on the wall. Inside the picture, two faces clearly showed through. Once of them, a blond, short haired girl, and the other, a black haired boy where each covering each other in bandages.
"Is this you?" Al asked, the picture catching his eye as he moved closer to inspect it. Riza nodded again.
"And Mustang. We thought that sledding down a mound of rocks in the middle of summer would be a fun idea. Needless to say, the rest goes without speaking." She said, as Ed and Mei joined Al's inspection of the picture. Ed smiled as he saw that they were obviously more concerned about each other's injuries rather than their own. They still had the same habits.
"Oh, be fair. We half succeeded, but it was the jump that didn't work out as well." Roy said, walking inside the room and holding five cups of iced tea. They all laughed as they proceeded to sit down with their tea. Ed, Al and Mei were sitting on one couch, and Roy and Riza on the other.
"How did the rebuilding go?" Ed asked, motioning outside towards the fully occupied streets.
"A lot faster than I initially thought,' Roy confessed, casting a coded glance at Riza. She nodded. "And everyone was a lot more accepting than we would ever deserve."
"Understandably, not all the Ishvallan trusted our Military. And they are justified in every way to have that view, but we were able to pull everything together after a while, and most conflicts between us have dissolved."
"Yeah, we heard one of your first speeches over the radio. It was really good," Al mentioned, as Roy smiled in thanks.
"It was definitely one of my better speeches. We must have spent a week writing that one. Of course, I had a great deal of help from my aide," he replied, as Riza smiled softly.
"So how is Miles these days?" Ed asked, taking a long gulp of his tea.
"Pretty well. He's helping Scar spread the teachings of Ishvalla. He's actually been talking about transferring back to Briggs. Apparently, he missed the cold," Roy replied, before taking a sip of his iced tea.
"He's insane. Who would ever want to go back to freezing every day… And everyone else?" Ed prompted.
"Havoc has a wedding coming up in a month or two, with Rebecca." Riza mentioned, and Roy nodded.
"We're all going to Central for that, you can be expecting an invitation." Roy added. "Breda and Fuery are also in Ishval with us. Falman is up north, but he's going to transfer back with us when we get moved to Central." He counted down. "Grumman's still going strong... Who else are we missing?"
"I think that there is Gracia and Elysia. They are both getting by; Elysia is going to be going to school soon. It makes Gracia a little sad about having the house empty, so she is planning on finding a job somewhere." Riza added, before turning the conversation to the brothers and Mei. "And what about you? How has Xing and Creta been?"
The conversation continued on with catching up, and they both hardly noticed the time passing them by, until Roy suddenly remembered the soup that had been cooking. After rushing into the kitchen, they discovered that it, thankfully, was still good. After that, Riza suggested that they go to the market and get the rest of the food that they needed for dinner, inviting their visitors to stay. They all walked down to the market, laughing as they walked down the crowded streets that inhabited the stalwart countrymen.
Roy and Riza decided to go get the food, and let the rest of them look around the market until they were done. They decided to stick around Roy and Riza, in case they would get lost again. Mei, however, found it much more entertaining to watch the duo do their shopping, and soon Ed and Al had joined in. At first, it was merely humorous conversations of what else to get, with Roy suggesting milk products more than once.
After a while, a small Ishvallan child ran up to Roy and Riza, laughing as her friends lagged behind her. Shyly, she pulled on their robes to get them to bend down to her eye level. They both did so, smiling and saying something that they couldn't quite hear over the drabbling of the crowd. The girl grinned back and held out a blossom from one of the nearby cacti. Roy and Riza's smiles grew bigger as they accepted it, obviously offering words of thanks. The girl nodded coyly again, before running back to her friends, whom waved back.
A look unalloyed gentleness overcame the pair as they waved back, before Roy took the blossom and pushed it behind her ear with an impish grin. Riza gave him an exasperated look, before pointedly turning in their direction. "Let's head back, we have soup still simmering."
"That sounds fine," Mei replied as the group turned back down the street to retrace their steps. Even so, Al couldn't help but notice how Riza and Roy fell right into step with each other, or the subtle way that their hands linked together, something that was very recent.
He was glad. If anyone should enjoy some happiness, he felt that the pair deserved it the most.
Hello Everyone! I decided to write up a Royai one-shot. This is primarily for my cousin, of whom I promised too. I know this is not my best writing; it was just a plot bunny. And I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes, but I seriously have Spring Fever, and don't want to look through for anything. I assume you're smart enough to figure out what I meant. So, leave a review if you really want. Or don't.
Song Obsession: Last Train Home, By: Lostprophets.