Um…yeah. I'm not sure about this one. An idea came to me so I decided to write it down. Erm, I'm not entirely sure what to call it; it's sort of a cross with Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Phantasia so I sort of incorporated Amestris into it. I hope that I don't give anything away by saying that. I would really love some feedback, I'm not sure whether to continue or not… I also would like suggestions on how I could improve my writing and I'm not sure if it's a good length or a bad length, any comments are appreciated, good or bad. Hope that anyone who reads it likes it…Have fun!
By the way, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, or the Tales games, or anything for that matter...so let's never make any mention to me owning them ever again...
Tales of Amestris
Chapter One
Colonel Roy Mustang walked around the halls of the school for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day. While he did enjoy the fact that as long as he was stationed here he would not need to be faced with the usual difficulties of a soldier, he was however quite bored with being reduced to a walking stamp. All that seemed to be needed of him now was to sign on the dotted line. Paperwork on its own was troublesome to anyone, but it was especially hazardous for Roy Mustang. His Lieutenant saw to that. Every time he would even think of dozing off, or leaving it to do later his subordinate would fire a "warning shot".
Needless to say, there were quite a few bullet holes in the walls of his office.
That poor office, ever since the military took over this school it has seen nothing but hard times. First its previous owner was mercilessly slaughtered in it in the midst of teaching a lesson, and now all the bullet holes Hawkeye had so graciously given it. He should get it repaired.
As he continued his patrol, thankfully he had finished his paperwork hours ago so he had no need to fear Hawkeye coming up behind him with gun in hand; he spotted something he hadn't expected. A little blond boy was walking through the hall, dragging something that appeared to be three times his own size. Roy recognized the child immediately. It was Ed. Strange seeing him here all alone, usually he didn't let his younger brother Al out of his sight.
"What are you doing, Ed?" he asked, picking up his pace so he was next to the boy. Ed looked startled upon seeing him but quickly regained his composure. Roy always found that strange; even though Ed was a child no more than ten, he acted how an adult should act.
"I'm takin' this to the kitchen, it's ingredients for tonight's supper." huffed Ed, returning to his task of dragging the boxlike object down the hall. It couldn't be that heavy, the way the kid was pulling it, it looked like he would be in the kitchen in no time. But just to be polite Colonel Roy Mustang, headmaster of the Elric's School of Alchemy, decided to "offer his assistance".
"Here, I'll carry it for you." said Mustang, reaching down to pick up the box. An odd expression crossed Ed's face and it looked like he was going to protest for a minute, than what Mustang would say was a sinister smirk appeared on the boy's lips and he stopped before even starting to speak. Roy picked up the box easily and admiration flashed in the boy's golden eyes, at least that was what Roy would have liked to have happened, instead he almost pulled his back out trying to lift it. "Shit that's heavy!" That remark caused Ed to gasp in the midst of his laughing.
"Colonel Mustang said a bad word! In front of me! A kid!" he made some disagreeing noises and made a "no" gesture with his index finger, "What a terrible role model you are!" Roy turned a deep shade of crimson. That was another thing Hawkeye always scolded him for, forgetting that he was in the presence of young children who easily picked up and imitated anything an authority figure did.
"Ah-you won't tell Lt. Hawkeye will you?"
"Depends what's in it for me." said the boy shrugging, a wide grin on his face.
"What would you like?" sighed Mustang, when did children become so conniving?
"How about you give me the key to the library."
"Why would a kid like you want that?" asked Roy, not believing his ears, he thought the kid would just want some candy, or to be able to get out of classes for a while. He knew that Ed and his brother were odd, no one knew their last name, they weren't even very sure on their first names, they knew they were Ed and Al, but if those names were shortened forms of anything no one could be sure. Not only that, but they just appeared one day shortly after the military had taken over, and haven't appeared to have aged a day since then.
"It's a secret! But if you don't give me that key I'll tell Miss Hawkeye on you and let her use you as target practice…"
"Fine! Here, take it, but you can't mention this to anyone, got it?" said Roy quickly as he put the silver key into the boy's open hands. Ed quickly put it deep into the pocket of his shorts.
"Deal. Now, I gotta go, Al is waiting for me." After that was said Ed turned and began pulling the large box with one arm, as if to make fun of Roy. Mustang was just about to ask him how he could make it look so easy when something came up from behind and grabbed him.
'An assassin?!' thought Mustang in a panic. He quickly tensed and tried snapping his fingers. 'Shit! My gloves! Why didn't I put them on today?!' Ever since becoming headmaster he was beginning to forget to do the basic military things that a soldier such as he should do, such as carry a weapon.
"Hey Roy! Wanna see a picture of my daughter?" came the voice of the assassin. That caused Mustang's heart to stop. It was just Maes Hughes. Prying himself free from his friends grasp Roy let out a sigh of immense relief.
"Don't do that Hughes!! I though you were an enemy! What would have happened if I had my gloves on?! Do you want to die?!" shouted Roy, glaring at his best friend.
"I made sure to check if you had your gloves on before doing that. Yeesh, calm down would ya." Said Maes, rubbing the back of his head and putting the picture of his daughter that he had taken out to show his friend away. "What were you doing anyway? You looked kinda distracted."
"I was talking to Ed."
"You sure do spend a lot of time thinking of that kid. If it were anyone besides me, they would call you a pedophile." said Maes, straightening his glasses and looking down the hall at Ed who was now just barely visible.
"I-it's not like that! I'm just curious about him is all! He and his brother showed up out of nowhere five years ago and still look the same as they did that first day. Aren't you even a little curious about them?"
"Well, yeah. Who wouldn't be? But at least I can have some decency about it. What's that he's carrying by the way?"
"Who knows. He said it had something to do with dinner though. But don't even bother trying to help him with it, even I couldn't lift that thing." said Roy, shaking his head in defeat.
"That just makes me more curious. If it's too heavy for a grown man to lift, how the hell is a child pulling it so easily?" asked Hughes, "I'm going to go investigate. That is my job after all." He then flashed Roy a smile and jogged to catch up to Ed who was just about to enter the cafeteria. Roy quickly followed suit. As they caught up to him he looked up and frowned.
"Still following me? And you brought a friend? Backup as you military dogs say?" snorted Ed, still moving. He got to the doors and began to push them open by leaning on one with his right shoulder and pulling the box with his left arm. At least until the two men got in his way and held the doors wide open for him. "Thanks…"
"No problem. But how about you tell us what you got there?" asked Maes, speaking to Ed in the same manor Roy had heard him speaking to other young children.
"I already told Mustang. It's food for supper." said Ed with a snarl.
"Hey, be polite. It's not 'Mustang' to you, it's 'Colonel Mustang', or 'Headmaster Mustang'. Got it? Now apologize." said Maes, putting a strong hand on the boy's shoulder to prevent him from escaping.
"Argh! Sorry Colonel Mustang!" growled Ed through clenched teeth. "I have to get this to Al or else there won't be dinner tonight! So please get out of my way!"
"Alright, go ahead. And make sure you tell your brother that we appreciate all the work that he does around here; we appreciate both of you cooking for us everyday. If we didn't have you two we would all be stuck eating military rations." Replied Hughes, "But perhaps you and your brother should eat more, it seems as though you two haven't grown at all since you came here."
That got Ed to freeze in his tracks. He visibly stiffened and if Roy was in front of him he probably would have seen the boy's eyes go as wide as saucers. An awkward silence fell upon them and then, "I'll tell him." Ed then began to move once more toward the kitchen.
Roy and Maes watched him as he and his cargo disappeared behind the steel counter.
"I hope they don't spit in our food." said Roy, letting his shoulders fall.
"Me too. But even though we didn't get any direct answers, we did get one. He knows they haven't aged."
"Now what should we do? For all we know it could just be some sort of disease that stunts their growth." asked Roy looking to his oldest friend for guidance. Roy wasn't very good at investigating, but he knew that Hughes was.
"I'll look into it, but I've never heard of a disease that altogether stops growth. This is just bizarre." Muttered Maes, "But look at the time, I have to go and get Elysia and get her ready for dinner. See you later Roy, and maybe you should rethink not wearing your gloves. Who knows, next time it could really be an assassin."
"Yeah, I'll remember to put them on from now on. I'll see you at dinner." Said Roy, he gave a slight wave as Hughes left the cafeteria and went toward the dorms.
Now what was he going to do until dinner? He still had an hour. 'Might as well go get my gloves.' He thought and started walking in the direction of his office. He was both glad and a little disappointed that the founder of the school, an Edward Elric, had built the Headmaster's office so far from the rest of the dorms. He liked the fact that his office had a sleeping chamber in it, plus a bathroom that no one else in the school could access, and he also liked that his office was at the very heart of the school, that way he didn't have to worry about walking a mile to get everywhere, everywhere was located close to him. Except the dorms. He had heard many stories from the other military members that were at the school, how they would have parties late at night and some very "interesting" things tended to happen on those nights. That was something he missed ever since he came to this school, partying. Or more in particular, the women.
There weren't really any women here. And because of that Roy Mustang's reputation as a womanizer had been ruined. Well, not really ruined, but he sure hadn't gotten any in a long while.
As he reached the door to his office he sighed, maybe that's why he was sent here, to keep him away from the ladies. He opened the door with his key and walked inside. Turning on the lights he gave the room a quick glance, no gloves in here, just his desk, the bullet holes that showed what a slacker he was, and the hundreds of old books and trinkets left on the shelves from the previous Headmaster. Roy didn't have the heart to take them down. They did belong to the original founder after all, and he wasn't so arrogant to think that he did a better job than the old man who had spent over fifty years of his life teaching and running this school.
He went in to the next room, his private chambers. When he first arrived and was assigned here that was what had shocked him the most. The bedroom was splendid. The bed was a huge four-poster monstrosity. He thought that never in his life would he sleep in a room this luxurious. Covering all the walls were bookshelves that reached the ceiling. Whoever this guy was he most certainly must have loved books. Roy looked around and saw his gloves resting on the small nightstand that was on the right side of his bed, the same place he left them last night.
He picked up the coarse gloves and put them on his hands. Now what should he do before dinner? He began scanning the shelves close to his bed, he loved doing this. He always found something new. He saw something white sticking out from between two large tomes. He pulled it out, and upon turning it over he realized it was a photo.
The photo was of the most beautiful person that Roy had ever seen. The person, a boy, had loose long blond hair that fell to just above the middle of his back. He had long bangs that fell to both sides of his face, and brilliant golden eyes that sparkled from laughter. He had a huge grin on his face and was holding a ring up to the camera. He appeared to be around sixteen years old. Roy was shocked; this was undoubtedly the most wonderful person he had ever seen. Even though this was only a photo, he knew he was in love. He wanted to meet this person, but upon closer examination of the photo Roy realized that it was very old. So old in fact that it was falling apart, but it was odd, if it was really as old as it looked, shouldn't it be black and white? Or not exist at all?
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the ringing of a bell. It was the mealtime bell that Ed and Al had installed all throughout the entire school. He tucked the photo in his pocket and began making his way toward the cafeteria again. Maybe he could show Hughes the picture he found instead of having photos of Elysia shoved in his face all night.
He saw many of the children who lived and learned here at the school on his trip to the cafeteria. Many of them smiled and gave him little salutes as he walked; he smiled and nodded in response. He entered the cafeteria and walked up to the counter.
"Hungry?" came a quiet voice from behind the counter. It was the younger brother Al who was dishing out the food this time. He handed Roy a tray with a plate with two large greenish rectangles side by side. There was also a glass of water on the side. "There you go, enjoy Colonel!"
"Thank you very much Al. I most certainly will enjoy it." Said Roy, he tried to peek in the back to get a glance of Ed, but to no avail. He then made his way toward the table where Hughes was waiting.
"Well, do you want to see a picture of my daughter?" asked Maes, a goofy, evil smile on his face. Roy sat down and began to nibble at his Razlish and drink his water in silence. This was some of the strangest food Roy had ever eaten, he had never even heard of it until he had been assigned here, he was sure that was the case with the rest of the military personnel as well. It tasted alright, but no one was really sure if it was meat or vegetable, or a combination of the two. He had been uncertain about eating it at first, but he had gotten used to it. After finishing eating one of the "loafs" he pulled out the picture of the blond boy he found.
"What do you make of this?" he asked, handing the photo to Hughes.
"Hmm…. Definitely not as cute as Elysia, or my wife. But cute nonetheless, I didn't know you were in to that sort of thing though… The great Roy Mustang, Womanizer, in love with a young boy?"
"I know it sounds bad, but it's not like that. I mean, how can it be? I've never met the guy before. I was wondering how old you would say the photo is."
"Interesting, its condition suggest that's it quite old, but they only recently came out with colored photos, if it was as old as it looks it should at least be in black and white." said Maes, looking over the photo from all angles.
"I thought that too. It's odd isn't it? I found it in the bookshelf in my room, so it has to be from the previous owner of the room."
"Maybe it's him? When he was a teenager perhaps? The man did have blond hair after all." suggested Maes as he gave the photo back to Roy, "But you know what I find odd, the person in the photo really reminds me of Ed, only older."
Roy snapped to attention at that. He knew he recognized something about that figure. He gave the photo a quick look over, yes; it definitely looked like him, no mistake about that. He looked up from the photo and saw Ed only a table away from them. He and his brother were asking about how everyone liked the meal, as usual. "I'll ask him when he gets over here."
"Do you think he will answer?" asked Hughes.
"Only one way to find out." said Roy, taking a deep breath to try to calm himself as Ed approached their table, "Hey, Ed, could you tell me what you think of this picture?"
"It better not be a picture of the Lt. Colonel's daughter, I see enough of her in class." said Ed through clenched teeth, but he reached out and took the photo nevertheless. He stared at it wide eyed for several moments before speaking again, "Where did you get this?" Was Roy mistaken, or did his voice shake as he said that?
"I found it in my room. It's quite odd don't you think? It looks so old, yet it is in color. The person in that photo also bears quite the resemblance to you, don't you think?" asked Roy, speaking not as one would to a child, but to someone of equal status. Ed visibly gulped at that.
"Well, if you found it in your room, maybe it belongs to the Headmaster?" said Ed, handing the photo back to Roy.
"I am the Headmaster." stated Roy calmly.
"Not to me you aren't." with that being said Ed walked away, back to the kitchen without sparing a single glance to anyone as he left. Roy noticed Al give them a strange look, if he didn't know the boy any better he would have called it a glare. Al then left and headed back to the kitchen without stopping at any other table to see what they thought of the meal.
"Great, now I pissed off both those boys." sighed Roy in annoyance.
"Well, we did find out some interesting stuff."
"Yeah, they don't think of me as the Headmaster."
"Well, I'm going to go and do some more research. I know that I've seen that boy somewhere before, and I'm going to find out where. I'll see you tomorrow." With that Maes got up and left the table, taking his tray with him to the counter to give back to Al. Roy waited until Maes had left the room and then gave his tray to Al too, only this time he didn't get any small talk from the brother.
He left the cafeteria and began to make his way outside to the gardens. He needed some cool night air to help him think. He walked over to his favorite chair beneath a cherry tree, it was getting close to winter now and almost all the leaves had fallen off the tree. He looked up the full moon and quickly became lost in thought.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the howl of a wolf. He had heard them before during his stay here, but it always startled him to hear their lonely cries. He got up and stretched, he must have been sitting there for quite awhile, his muscles were sore and his back cracked as he stretched. He wasn't as young as he used to be, he couldn't keep staying up so late.
He began his walk towards his office, quickly going inside the school to escape the cold. As he walked through the dark hallways he spotted something strange about the library. The door was open a crack and a small light was shining inside the room. 'That's odd; don't they lock up after dark?' He peeked inside the room and what he saw next took his breath away.
It was the blond boy in the old picture he found.
