The sun rose midway, proving it was past eleven o'clock…way past the time the cocky little blond made his way into Spell's office. To which was very surprising to her, he normally wasn't this late… Spell began to worry, she hadn't seen hide or hair of her small subordinate in a few hours and this normally meant he'd forgotten to tell her he had a mission. Or he was causing trouble for her father, Roy Mustang. She sighed, and made her way to her office. Just shaking it off, "That boy is going to be the death of me." She frowned, walking past several snickering soldiers.
"Hey Sparky!" One yelled.
"What do you want." Spell sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Hey chill, Flame." Another smiled, " We just wanted to know if you heard what happened."
"No, what?"
"Some poor dude got canned by Major Armstrong. In public." The smuttiest one responded.
"Really? Poor dude..who was it?" Spell asked, tilting her head.
" Some shorty."
"Shorty?" She snapped to a thought of Ed but quickly shook it off, yet again. "Well who was it?"
"Some snot nosed brat."
"Yeah, uh..Metal?"
"Nah man..it was longer."
"Get to the point." Spell snapped.
"Fullmetal!"
"Yeah. I think it was Fullmetal." Spell's eyes widened.
"F-Fullmetal?" They nodded in confusion. "Where is he?"
"There, getting treated."
They pointed towards medical room 6. Spell quickly ran past them and as fast as she could towards the room. Millions of thoughts began running through her mind as she quickened her pace, "My poor little one..I hope he's alright..Please don't let him be hurt too bad." She frowned rounding the corner and bumping into a tall black haired man, her father. Roy Mustang, who carried a smug look on his face, one of nothing but pure enjoyment.
"Ah, Beth."
"Dad."
"Come to laugh at Fullmetal's backside as well?"
"What? No! That's just cruel." she glared.
"Well, he disrespected me in front the higher ups."
"So what's that suppose to mean?"
"I had to have him punished."
"You let them do it to him?" She pondered.
"Of course, I had no place to tell the higher ups no." The brunette girl gritted her teeth.
"I can't believe you!" She glared, pushing her dad back into the wall, "You let them publicly beat him with a cane? Didn't you care to consult me first? What did they do I or Charm couldn't have done? We could have easily taken care of the problem as well. There wasn't a need to publicly thrash him!" Roy sighed and gave his daughter a push back.
"Stop it."
"Me?"
"Yes you. Your way out of line."
"I'm out of line? You let them beat a child! A 12 year old child!"
Roy glared, " Enough Spell."
"I'll tell you when you've had enough. You've just barely gotten started."
"Stop it before I have to do the same to you."
The girl stood still for a second and looked her dad in the eye, his smirk now gone. "…Your horrible." Spell frowned, letting go of her dad and walking to Medical room 3. She knocked at the door and waited for an answer. "G-go away you b-bastard!" Came a muffled cry. "She sighed and entered anyway, fearing the worst... There, laying on his stomach on the table was her small, little, Fullmetal. Tears streaming off his face and to the floor collecting in several puddles. "Ed.." The blonde turned with a glare, "S-spell?" His face immediately flushed and his already damp eyes grew wetter. The glare on his face turned to a look of embarrassment and fear. He did the best he could to cover his rear, which was streaked with many red, throbbing cane marks. "I-I.." Edward looked down, utterly embarrassed to let his caretaker see him in such a manner. Spell frowned, she wanted to pick up the child and hug him…she wanted to tell him it was ok now..but she knew it wouldn't help the pain. Instead she made her way over to him and stood for what seemed like forever. "…." The young, tear struck alchemist continued to look at the ground, refusing to look at her. After all the last thing he wanted was her to see him crying, to see him so weak…so helpless.
"Edward…" He flinched, her tone sounded cold..and disappointed.. "mm." She walked to the front of him and knelt down. "Ed.." He whined and looked slightly up at her, fearing she too would like a turn with the vile instrument the forced him upon his stomach. Yet instead, she lightly kissed his head and wiped his eyes free from their tears. Ed sniffled and gently pulled his clothing to it's correct spot, wincing as it made contact with raw skin and slowly sat up, "…" Spell tucked his hair behind his ear and sat beside him. She began to rub his back, "I'm sorry I didn't catch this before it happened." Ed frowned, crawled into her lap and clung to her, enjoying the little bit of warmth he was getting. Spell softly hummed and rocked the small boy back and forth. "I'm sorry…I promised I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you again.." Ed looked at her and sniffled, "I-It's ok…I g-get hurt a lot.." Spell frowned, "It's not suppose to be like that…You're a child Edward…you aren't suppose to be treated like you were." The boy gave no response, only a slight whimper as she simply continued her 'mommy' moment.
Spell could feel the shakes and sobs the small boy was letting out. Each one only made her feel worse and worse. Why couldn't she protect him? Why was it so hard to keep him from getting hurt? Why was it that he always got hurt when she left him? Spell sighed and carefully shifted the young alchemist to rest across her lap, receiving a little cry of protest from the small boy. 'No! I don't wanna nother one.." He sniffled, looking up at her with hurt and fear in his eyes. Spell raised her hand in the air, thus resulting in the boy flinching and covering his bottom. "Calm down Ed." She sighed, placing her hand on his back and rubbing . The small blonde tightened his grip and snuggled his face into her, ashamed. Spell could already tell, this was going to take a rather long time just to help him sit down…never less to admit he did deserve the punishment he got to some extent. Not fully, but maybe just a little…and maybe now he'd learn not to smart off to his superiors…but then again who knew…this was Edward they were talking about. She frowned and continued to rub his back, trying her best to ease the pain the small child was in.
