Introduction
"Gus! Gus, where are you boy? Come back, boy! Gus! Gus!"
The small family continued to struggle, pushing through the three foot deep snow, wincing as the blizzard blew sharp, stinging ice into their eyes. "Give it up, Anne," the little girl's father sighed, though had to yell over the screaming wind. "Gus is go -" "NO! He's a champion! He'll come through. Gus! Gus!" The nine year old's determination was rather admirable, and so her parents followed on as she ran ahead, screaming for her beloved Husky to return.
"Gus? Gus! Gus! Mum - I think I've found him!" The girl, Anne, pointed and continued to run, though was going no faster through the thick snow. A dark shape lay up ahead, half covered in snow, and could well be a dog - or maybe just another log. "Gus! Don't worry, boy, we're co ..." She trailed off, and her parents panicked as she vanished, so they hurried up even more, desperate now to get to her.
"Mummy! Mummy! It's a man! I found a man!" Her parents exchanged baffled glances, but rushed to her side nonetheless. And there lay a man, face down in the snow, nearly covered over. "Oh my ... Quick! Richard - pick him up!" The man complied quickly, hoisting the pale other over his shoulder as they set off quickly for home. They had to get this man out of the snow, though there was already a large chance of him not making it.
"D'you think he's dead?" Anne asked, peering at the man that now lay in her bed, covered with five thick blankets and bundles of her cuddly toys. She pushed long brown locks out of her face, giving the man a gently poke. "Where d'you suppose he came from? What's under that eyepatch?" She reached forwards to peel it back, but her mother slapped her hand gently with a mutter of 'That's rude'. Anne's curiosity was itching now, but she left it be.
"His name's Roy Mustang." Her father stated suddenly, wandering into her pink bedroom, scratching his short beard with one hand as he held Roy's wooly jacket in the other. "He's a ... uh corporal. Police guy." He raised his eyebrows at his wife, and their daughter frowned darkly at whatever secret they were keeping from her.
"So ... when's he gonna wake up?" Anne asked slowly, and her mother heaved a sigh. "Hard to say, honey. I think he's in a coma of sorts." "Oh ..."