AN: We don't own FMA or its chars, just our plot and our OC's
Acknowledgements: Credit for our title goes to Scaehime, our friend from FanFiction dot net (often shortened to ffnet or FFN).
Lily: A wild Esmi and Lily and Scae appeared! :D
Esmi/Mizu: It's Esmereilda on ffnet aka Mizuha-chan on Wattpad. ^^ You can call me either Esmi or Mizu if ya want. ^^
Lily: And I go by many names... But most just choose Lily. XD
Esmi: XD I think you go by LilacLily on both sites, right?
Lily: Yup! lilaclily00.
Scae: I'm Scaehime on ffnet, and anonymous, if anything, on Wattpad, since I don't have an account there.
Lily: Anyway, Esmi came to me with an idea to write a fic together! This is what resulted.
Esmi: Yep! I will be handling our Wattpad release and you've got the ffnet release covered right, Lili?
Lily: Yeah! Teamwork! :D
Esmi: YAY 4 Teamwork *pumps air with fist*
Scae: Btw, I'm not one of the authors of this fic, but I'm good friends with them both, and I've agreed to beta read their creation.
Lily: (author12306 is also beta reading. :3) Just so you guys know, this fic is slightly AU. So if something looks weird, that was on purpose. :P All will be explained!... Eventually. :}
Esmi: And now on with the chapter!
4 Years After the Promised Day
"Really? This again?"
"Yes, this again." Mustang acted cool and calm as he sat at his desk with his chin resting on his clasped hands, though he let a smirk through his façade. He was clearly enjoying the Elric's reaction. Not to say he wasn't also internally dreading the whole event; it most likely meant more property damage he'd have to pay for, after all. "Grumman heard about the fight we had a few years back, which he wasn't there to witness. And he knows the State Alchemist recertification deadline is coming up. So-"
"He wants me to amuse him so I can keep my watch. Wow." Ed sighed deeply, rubbing the side of his head with his hand. He was starting to doubt how good of a president the old geezer would be if he spent his time in office doing things like making State Alchemists fight each other. He was always up for a spar, of course, but it wasn't as fun if someone else was telling him he had to do it.
"So do you accept the order or not, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, looking pleased with himself.
"Yeah, you self-righteous jerk, I can't exactly refuse it since it's a direct order from the flippin' Fuhrer." The blond huffed, but then seemed to think of an idea that caused a sly grin to come onto his face. "But, I don't think a rematch would be that bad."
The black-haired general's smirk started to slip in confusion. "Excuse me?"
Apparently, both had forgotten the presence of Lt. Colonel Hawkeye, who remained always standing by Mustang's side, for they subtly jumped in surprise when she spoke up. "I believe Edward means that you would have to be his opponent, sir."
"According to this," Ed began to say in a nonchalant manner, pointing to the copy of his written order in his hand, "I don't have a specified opponent; I just need to fight someone with skills."
"You do have skills, sir."
Mustang gaped at Hawkeye for a second before he caught his bearings and thought up a rebuttal for Fullmetal. "Anyone would be considered 'someone with skills' compared to you, especially if being tall is considered a skill."
"DANG IT, MUSTANG! I'VE GROWN AT LEAST 5 INCHES AND YOU KNOW THAT!"
"Ah, yes, you're right." The older man put a hand over his eyes as if searching. "I can now just barely see the top of your head over the edge of my desk."
"OH YEAH?! Well, I have more usefulness in my automail pinky finger than you do in your whole body when it's raining!"
Mustang's expression darkened at the classic "uselessness" jab, but he retorted just as fast. "I find that hard to believe when you're smaller than a single raindrop."
Ed's easily-provoked temper showed in his red face, but Hawkeye did not give him a chance to make a comeback. "Leave the banter for the battlefield, Edward." She gave a pointed glare to her superior, making him quickly clam up. "You too, General."
"Yes, Lt. Colonel," both males muttered, causing her to softly smile in satisfaction.
"So, uh, do you know when this is supposed to happen?" the blond alchemist asked once he had the nerve to speak up again.
"It is a week from tomorrow, so they can prepare the parade-grounds again for what will inevitably be a... messy fight."
"Perfect. Al will be here to witness me smash your smug face!"
Mustang ignored the insult in favor of focusing on the first part of his sentence. "Has he been in Xing two years already?"
The blond's face softened, clearly happy to know that soon he'd get to see his brother again. "Yeah. His train to Central will arrive on Tuesday. Just watch, he's going to come back with a new wardrobe and accent."
v^_^v
Ed and Winry stood anxiously by the benches, not even bothering to sit down while they waited; they were too jumpy and needed to move around.
Winry's train had just barely made it to Central a few hours earlier, so Ed had helped her take her stuff to his dorm before they rushed back to the station to wait for Al to arrive.
Winry was currently bouncing on the balls of her feet and glancing around everywhere, even though she knew the young man she searched for couldn't possibly be there yet. At a point, her gaze landed on Ed's right arm. He didn't bother wearing gloves that day, so his metal hand glistened in plain sight.
"When's the last time I checked up on your automail?" she inquired while brandishing her favorite wrench, mildly surprising Ed with the sudden starting of a conversation.
"Uh, about three months ago, I think," he calculated after a few seconds of looking down, one hand on his chin.
"Hm. Well, since I'm already here, we should take some time to do another tune-up, then."
"My arm and leg feel fine, but sure," he shrugged back, figuring there was no harm in letting her look at them, especially because this time she wouldn't feel the need to bash his head in for ruining his automail. He was capable of keeping them in one piece!
Except there was going to be a crazy fight with Mustang in a few days...
"Ya know, you can, uh, stay for a bit longer than originally planned... It's no problem at all..."
She lifted up an eyebrow (along with her wrench). "You're right, I could, but-as much as I love Al-I have a business to run back home, and I don't want to be gone for too long. Do you want me to stick around for longer?"
Ed's eyes widened, not wanting to let her in on the fight until it was too late. The last time he mentioned something about possibly ruining his automail, things didn't go very well. "Nonono, it's not me, I was thinking... that Al would want to hang out more! He's been gone for so long, you know, and we're all so close...!"
The blonde was clearly still skeptical, but wasn't in the mood to argue. "Alright then, I'll ask when he gets here." Saying that sentence suddenly triggered back up both their anxiousness, but more excitement was thrown in this time. It'd been two years, after all; who wouldn't be excited?
Approximately 11 minutes and 43 seconds later (of course Ed wasn't counting, what gave that idea?), a whistle accompanied by loud clattering began in the distance. Ed and Winry quickly scurried closer to glimpse the new train and hoped with all their might that Al was on it.
A few minutes after that, the train finally slowed to a stop in front of the benches, and both decided to stand on one of the said benches to make it easier to spot the familiar golden-haired boy. Once the majority of the crowd had cleared out of the train, they found him. Though he looked a little different (in age, shade of skin, and wardrobe), there was no mistaking Alphonse Elric.
"AL!" both blonds shouted excitedly, waving their arms around crazily. They got a few weird looks, but they couldn't care less-especially since it worked in grabbing the younger Elric's attention. They could see his face light up with a grin as he turned in their direction and then fought through the sea of people to reach them. Ed and Winry promptly ignored the fact that Al was holding luggage, proceeding to attack him with a giant hug.
"Brother! Winry!" Once he caught his balance, he dropped his suitcase and returned the embrace even tighter. "I missed you guys!"
"Same here, Al," Winry replied, voice muffled with her face pressed against him.
After a minute they all finally let go, and a realization registered in Ed's brain. "Wait a minute, you're even taller now!" he pouted, having to look up to meet his brother's amused facial expression. "That's so unfair!"
"We already knew I had a bit more growing to do," Al simply said with a shrug, but his face showed he was enjoying his older sibling's antics. By this point, they could hear his voice actually had a bit of an accent, just as they predicted would happen, but neither commented on it.
Ed paused as he thought of something. "How tall is May now? She was so tiny before."
"Oh, she's just a little under Winry's height now," Al replied as he studied Ed and Winry's appearances a little more. "She was really wishing she could come visit Amestris again, but she has too many responsibilities now."
"Jeez, I can't imagine that little rice girl as a leader of a whole clan," Ed grumbled. He spotted Al's suitcase and remembered they actually had things to do. "Oh yeah, we should probably get out of here. I'd rather not continue to be squished by tons of strangers."
The other two in their little trio agreed wholeheartedly and climbed their way out of the train station, lugging a giant suitcase with them, all the way to Ed's military dorm a few blocks away.
Lily: K, just me now, specifically to FFN peeps! 1. You guys are awesome, and I hope you like this story! It'll get really interesting, I promise! 2. I am writing the next chapter for "Visiting Homeland" (which has turned out to be quite a long chap, and will also have who knows how many Alts!), and am not giving up on that! 3. If someone would like to draw a cover pic for us, that would be crazy awesome! I'm considering doing one myself, but it wouldn't be the highest quality of the universe, so~
Thank you for reading this chapter! :3 K bai!