Author's note: I revised this chapter and will be revising the rest of the current chapters, thanks for the suggestion by a reviewer, I will be making the chapters a bit easier to read, I do apologize and thank you for being patient and I promise to update very soon.
Disclaimer: btw I do not own Full Metal Alchemist though I wish I did….
Women….some beautiful, some homely, most however just seemed to blend in to one another all the same. Different races, different heights, even different personalities, but in here they were all essentially the same. They had one goal in here nothing more….nothing less…to entertain the horny men of the military, all of whom were just looking for a little fun from their daily routines and State duties. Well all except for the youngest of the state alchemist, Edward Elric, whom couldn't be less interested in the needs of man, if it didn't involve alchemy or any leads on the Philosopher's Stone, he just didn't care.
The young alchemist was less than thrilled when his commanding officer called and had him sent on an assignment to investigate a missing person's report in Central's famous red light district, home to the sleazy and crooked of the vast city. The red light district was where one would go to party or gamble, two things of which Edward held no interest or desire to participate in.
"Stupid Mustang….."Edward mused as he glanced around the seedy strip club for any signs of the woman described to him or his commanding officer. Even if his superior had peaked his interest a tad bit with the details he provided with the mission, he still didn't like the idea of going to this side of Central, it was like a blaring remind of just how vile human kind can be. Maybe it was because he was too young to understand what people found to be so enticing about thieving Harlots and rigged machines, but then again he probably never would. He wasn't your average teenage boy that was for sure. He was much more interested in Alchemic books than he was in a woman's body or losing his life's savings to a machine that may or may not pay out big.
He and Al had been ready to set out on another expedition in their quest for the Philosopher's Stone, when they received word from Lieutenant Hawkeye that Colonel Mustang wanted to see them in his office, the young alchemist was just irritated, but his heart sank a little as well. At this rate they would never find the Philosopher's Stone.
FLASHBACK
"Fullmetal, I see you finally got my message….I've been paging you over the intercom all morning." The elder Alchemist frowned at the younger with a look of mild agitation as he strummed his fingers upon his desk. His paperwork was stacked dangerously high around him and his impatient strumming was causing them to flap up and down and a few were starting to lean to one side a bit. With any luck that mountain of paper work would collapse and render the older man unconscious…one could dream right?
"I didn't hear you." The younger blonde stated with a glare. Truth be told he did hear his superior's message, he just chose to ignore him. He and Al were almost to freedom when Hawkeye found them sneaking out the backdoor of the headquarters like a pair of bandits in the night….
"But Niisan didn't you say we going to igno…..mmmph.." Before his younger brother could finish his sentence, Edward clamped a hand over the suit of armors mouth. Why must his younger brother be so honest…it was times like these that he wished Alphonse was less of a model young man.
"What was that?!" Roy's eye brow twitched a bit, but he put his anger to the side. "Doesn't matter anymore, now that you are finally here, I have an assignment for you. Several high ranking officers have recently come up missing, the only lead we have managed to come up with is that they had all been last seen in the Red Light District, more specifically, they had all gone into The Porcelain Doll on Heismer Street. There have been…" before he could finish his sentence the short blonde haired boy cut him off.
"Not interested." Edward said a bored expression on his face; he was getting tired of all these non-related missions. Besides with the current lull in military activity, he was more than sure that they had plenty of other soldiers that were more than capable of handling a few missing person's reports.
"Unless you have forgotten I am your commanding officer, Edward, regardless, I do have other intentions other than sending you on what you consider an irrelevant assignment." Roy narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the younger boy, reaching across his desk to grab a folder containing several documents. "I think this might peak your interest more if you let me finish." Clearing his throat, he opened the manila folder and laid the documents out in front of him. "This here is an eyewitness report from one of our soldiers that was on RNR at the Porcelain Doll the same night that Officer Misele disappeared. The soldier reported seeing Misele leave with an odd woman, and claimed she was the same one he had seen leaving a few nights prior with Officer Duceli, another officer that has gone missing as well."
"Odd how?" Ed glanced up at Roy and then to Al and then down at the document in front of the older man. All of a sudden his demeanor perked up a bit more interested in what the other had to say now.
"The woman he described doesn't exist anymore; in fact I almost ignored his claim until he showed me a photo he had taken that night…This woman in the photograph has been dead for several years… "his voice trailed off at the end with a hint of sadness with it. His eyes narrowed and he looked at the two young boys with a somewhat sad expression. A short silence followed.
"Do you think it's one of them, Brother?" Al looked at his older brother curiously and Edward raised an eyebrow in response. It sounded odd that was for sure and portraying a dead woman to ensnare unsuspecting military personnel definitely sounded like something they would do, but what would be their motive. What did they possibly have to gain from abducting military officers?
"I'm not sure, Al, but I have a feeling that we might want to look into it at least." He stood up from his seat and looked towards Roy both cringing as Al did the same his armored body scraping across the metal chair with a sound similar to nails on a chalkboard. "We'll go." When the colonel first mentioned the mission he had thought Scar was behind the murders, but he then remembered that the State Alchemist hating Ishbalin had long since fled Central and was last heard to be near Liore before his trail went cold. To hear that it was a woman involved as a suspect even further cleared the man's name. A woman thought dead, enticing and leading the state's elite to their untimely deaths, this just screams homunculus handiwork.
Roy nodded in response to the boy a bit of relief washing over him. "I'll will meet you at the Porcelain Doll in about an hour; don't do anything until I get there." He watched as the two boys nodded and left out through his office door.
END FLASHBACK
Twenty minutes had passed since the boys had left his office. He had since then returned to his desk seated and focusing on his endless paperwork that had continued to pile around him in dangerously high stacks a few leaning slightly. He sighed and reached a gloved hand down to open the middle drawer in his desk. His face was graced by a small, but sad smile as he picked up a half torn photograph from the bottom of the drawer blowing a bit of dust off that lightly covered it.
In the photograph was a much younger Roy mustang, in fact the photo had been taken the day he had been accepted into the state alchemists. His dark hair was slightly longer than it is now, his face fresh and young, dressed in his formal military uniform. He was quite handsome dressed in the dark grey formal uniform all the badges and fancy designs of gold upon it. To his right stood a beautiful woman about his height with dark hazel eyes and luscious long black curls that framed her soft, elegant face. 'Madeline….' He whispered to himself, a great sadness washing over him as he looked at the woman in the photograph. She was almost the same height as him and in the photo she was resting her head slightly on his shoulders, a beautiful smile displayed across her face. In the lower right corner of the picture there were barely readable words, having been faded over the years that said "Together we will make the world a better place! Your loving sister, Madeline."
Memories… so many memories hit him hard as he read those words...He struggled to fight back tears, biting his lip slightly as he placed the photograph back in the safe sanction of his drawer. Memories of his sister flooded his mind, not just a sister, a wonderful soldier, a mother, a friend, a loving wife, and a rebel….an all too intelligent and knowing rebel that found out things that she never have known….a martyr for a damned nation.
Madeline had always dreamed of one day becoming the Fuehrer, to create a better Amestris, no war, only peace…Her views of a warless nation, her ambitions…stole her life, taking the only sibling he had from his, and not just a sister, but his closest friend. Madeline had not died a hero however, no you would not find her listed anywhere on the great stone memorial to the Ishbal war, nor would you find her in any of the thousands of books that honored heroes, martyrs and just soldiers in general, to all of Amestris and the rest of this godforsaken world, Madeline had never existed. Hall of her records, photos (save the one he hid), everything was just gone, erased from existence….Her old house mysteriously burned to the ground, her husband and three year old daughter burnt to ashes along with it. Even her friends and family all gone, either strangely moved away or tragically died in some horrid accident. Everyone gone…..everyone except Roy Mustang, all because of a foolish mistake, an accident….All thanks to a foolish young nurse made several years ago.
No one knew his true relation to Madeline and for that simple knowledge, he had been spared. Roy Mustang….his name… that name had saved his life…Mustang was not his true name… thanks to the nurse that misheard his last name, he was allowed to live after the death of his sister. That young, foolish nurse wrote the wrong name on his birth record…unknowingly granting him right to continue living after all these years. He wasn't erase…and no one knew of this little secret except for him, not even Riza knew, even though she was his most trusted friend other than Hughes, he had never and will never tell her or anyone else for that matter. But how…how could they know…how they could portray her so perfectly…much less knew she ever existed…
He doubted anyone save him could remember her face, even the fuehrer probably had forgotten the way she looked by now, despite the fact she had worked directly under him serving as not only his personal body guard, but as his most trusted advisor as well. Then again, since when did the homunculus play by their rules…for all he knew they could have had some hand in her death or even worse, they could pull secrets and knowledge from the gate itself….It didn't really matter, what did matter was that they did and are doing now. His sister's image…her memory was being tarnished for their own sick game, he will stop them no matter what the cost. Roy stood from his desk and left his little office to meet Edward and Al at the Porcelain Doll.