He walked forward on the dirt road toward his destination, gravel crunched underneath. His feet dragged against the ground as he lazily trudged along.
"Sir. You're ruining your boots." His now promoted loyal subordinate, Captain Riza Hawkeye, walked next to him. Her brow furrowed as she squinted against the setting sun.
General Roy Mustang stopped walking and groaned. "I'm so tired." He leaned forward and placed his head against the wall of a building, hands dangling loosely.
Hawkeye put her hand on his should and tugged a bit. "Come one sir. Stop complaining. It isn't that bad."
As the sun set further, the street lights around them lit up, illuminating the dark purple sky with its twinkling stars.
Mustang's eyes drifted to his subordinate's stoic expression. It had softened. In one quick motion, he had turned around, grabbed her wrist, and pinned her against the wall he had just earlier been leaning on.
Hawkeye gasped in surprise at the impact. Her eyes trembled as Mustang's face pressed closer to hers. "S-Sir! What are you doing!" she gasped. His breath on her skin made her feel tingly.
He closed his eyes and sighed, steadily releasing his grip on her. "I'm sorry," he muttered casually, turning around to face to moon so he wouldn't have to face her. Mustang began to walk away.
Hawkeye reached her arm out to him but then put it down. The look of surprise lessened as Mustang stopped walking.
"I can somehow wonder what ever happened with the Elric brothers."
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, sir?"
He turned around to face her with his usual cocky grin. He made a childish sign with his fingers and held it up next to his head."Apparently Fullmetal and Winry decided to get married." Mustang chuckled.
"Oh? Is that so? I'll be sure to congratulate them the next time they visit." Mustang frowned and put down his hand as her stoic expression returned.
But his grin returned as he thought of something mischievous. "When are we going to get married? Elric's much younger than us and we still haven't gotten the chance."
Hawkeye sighed in exasperation and began to walk pass him, flicking his forehead on the way. That caused him to chuckle more. But when he realized that Hawkeye wasn't stopping, he ran after her and put his arm around her neck, grinning cheekily.
"I wasn't joking. You know that, right?"
Her eyes glanced at him slightly then back at the road in front of them. "We would get court marshaled, sir," she simply stated.
Mustang groaned in frustration and ran a hand through his hair, still having an arm around Hawkeye's neck. "Yeah. That's right. I forgot about that."
"Now please sir, get your arm off me."
He huffed stubbornly but let go anyway. "Changing the topic, what are we doing so late at night?"
"You have been assigned to investigate the whereabouts of Thomas and Annabel McCoughlin. I am here because you whined about being lonely," Hawkeye replied. She stopped walking and faced a small house. "We're here sir."
Grunting, Mustang unwillingly stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he attempted to open the door. It was locked. This time, he kicked down the door.
"General!" Hawkeye scolded angrily.
"Yeah, yeah," Mustang sighed. He froze when he turned the lights on.
Inside was just a normal living room with a kitchen on the far end of the room. Whoever lived here must have liked the lively hood of plants for there were many pot plants all over the place. A book shelf occupied the corner next to a couch. Next to the couch was a fairly large house plant with a piano next to it. Everything seemed normal.
"General, what's wrong?" She peered over his shoulder and froze, horrified as well.
"What the hell is this?" Cautiously, he stepped forward. Mustang took about 7 steps then crouched down to check their pulse. "They're long gone. I'm no mortician, but I'd estimate that they've been dead for a few days."
Hawkeye crouched down next to him. "There's no blood or signs of struggle. Could it have been a heart attack? Some natural cause?"
Mustang shrugged. "But we've found them. What now?"
Hawkeye didn't listen. He head was turned in the opposite direction.
"What are you looking at?" Mustang asked curiously.
She pointed to the gap between the couch and the piano. Her finger was pointing precisely at a small hand.
"Hmm?" He looked in the direction she pointed at.
Hawkeye walked over to the hand and moved the couch over slightly so she could see who the hand belonged to. She gasped slightly.
"It's a kid!" Mustang stated with equal shock. He felt her pulse. "She's still alive. That's good."
Hawkeye picked her up and let the little girl sleep in her arms. Her expression softened.
Mustang smirked and put his arm around her neck. "See Hawkeye? If we ever have children, you'd be the perfect mother." He winked.
Her glare was enough for Mustang to back away in fright. "Sir, that's very inappropriate." The sound of her voice made the little girl stir slightly.
Mustang peered down at her. "That's odd," he mumbled. "She doesn't look like her parents. Nothing like them."
That was a true fact. Honestly, if anything, she looked more like Mustang than her parents. Her hair, black, with side bangs clipped back so it would stay behind her ears, and hair, long enough to be bound in a ponytail and to hang at her shoulders. That was, unlike her parents who were both blond.
"We should investigate," he commented. "Not only for the McCoughlin's but also for this kid."
Hawkeye nodded.
Mustang smiled. "The first place the look would be the fridge. That's the first place a family would post something."
They walked to the kitchen and looked for anything useful. Mustang pointed to a small slip of paper tapped to the fridge.
"Sophie is allergic to chocolate. Do not give her chocolate!" he read aloud. "So here name is Sophie McCoughlin."
Hawkeye looked down at the little child in her arms. "She's allergic to chocolate?" she asked with a slight hint of humor in her voice. The humor died out as she read a paper to herself. "Sophie isn't their biological child. That answers the question to why she looks nothing like them."
Mustang untacked the document from the fridge and read through it. "If we're going to get any information, then maybe we should check with their neighbors," he suggested once he finished reading.
She nodded. "Yes sir."
They headed outside and made their way next door to a house that looked fairly similar to the McCoughlin household. Mustang knocked on the door and waited for an answer. A girl, probably 16, opened to door, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Her pajamas, way too big for her, hung loosely around her shoulders.
"Can I help you?" she yawned.
"Sorry for waking you up so late at night, but can you please tell me all you know about the McCoughlin's?" Mustang asked politely.
The girl's eyes wandered to the house next door, to Mustang, to Hawkeye, and too Sophie whom Hawkeye was still carrying. Her eyes lit up. "Sophie!" she exclaimed happily. "Oh yeah, about them. I don't really know much about them expect for what Sophie tells me. Occasionally they drop by and ask me to babysit and I do. But that's about it. Why do you ask?" She seemed suspicious.
"I don't know if you've ever been informed yet, but Thomas and Annabel went missing. Just now we've found that they've died," Mustang replied.
"What!" the girl gasped.
Mustang stood idle as she continued to stare in horror. When she finally calmed down, he dared to make another comment. "What did Sophie tell you?"
"YO! ELLA! COME BACK HERE!" a voice hollered from inside the house.
"Oh, sorry officers, my older brother's babysitting me today since our parents are out. I have to go now, bye!"
She shut the door in their faces causing Sophie to stir in Hawkeye's arms once more. Sophie opened an eye slightly and revealed a chocolate brown eye.
Mustang smirked. "Would you look at that, captain. She has your eyes."
Hawkeye rolled her eyes. "Sir, I've never gotten in bed with you." She glared at him. "And I never will."
"You just wait Hawkeye! When I become Fuhrer! I'll demolish the fraternization law and make all female officers wear tiny miniskirts!" Mustang struck a pose causing Hawkeye to groan in annoyance and walk away. That took him by surprise. "H-Hey! Wait up!"
Hawkeye walked past the McCoughlin house. "It's getting late. I think we should be getting back home now."
"Are you going to take Sophie with you?"
"I suppose I should. I wouldn't want her to starve to death," Hawkeye replied.
Mustang paused for a moment. "Hey… if the fraternization laws never existed, where would we be?"
Hawkeye stopped and looked back at him. "I would still be standing right by your side even when you become Fuhrer."
He grabbed her shoulder just before she began to walk away. "But where would we, you and me, be?"
She stopped. "Who knows? Maybe things would have gone the way you wanted it to be."
Before he could ask what she meant, she walked away.
"The way I wanted it to be?" he mumbled to himself.
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OwlCookies: I like royai :3