Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do not own the characters, except the ones that I created.
"What the hell did you bring us here for, Mustang?" The blonde alchemist asked, seriously pissed off.
Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, had ordered the Elric brothers to return to Eastern Command immediately following there departure from Reole. After some persuasion, Al convinced Ed to respect the Colonel's command. Ed would have come without complaint, well maybe not, if the superior officer had actually given him the reason. And now walking down the hallways with the Colonel and Lieutenant Hawkeye, Ed was pissed.
"You'll know, when I know," the Colonel responded without emotion.
The only sounds down the empty hallway were the light clicking of steps and the clank of Al's armor. Ed had never ventured down this part of Eastern Command and wondered what could possibly have been so important that he was called back urgently. They finally approached a set of double doors, much like the ones to the Colonel's office. A man was waiting outside of the door. He had shaggy, dirty blonde hair. Large, mirrored sunglasses covered the man's eyes (A/N: Think aviators). From what the brothers could see, he was a Captain. The officer opened the doors for the group to enter. The office was almost identical to Mustang's, except with more books and a large conference table in the center instead of couches.
"Colonel Stark," the man at the door spoke in a deep voice, "The Elric brothers, Colonel Mustang, and Lieutenant Hawkeye are here."
Colonel Stark was standing in the front of the window with her back to the door. What stood out to the Elric brothers was her white hair.
"Don't they ever let you people retire?" Ed whispered to Roy.
The comment did not escape the woman's hearing. She whirled around, blue eye blazing.
"Who are you calling old? You pea-sized half-wit!"
"Pea-sized!" Ed shrieked and moved to lunge at the lady.
Al held Ed back while the white haired woman stood scowling with her arms crossed. After calming down, the brothers took a minute to examine the woman they were brought to. Her uniform was different from other uniforms. Instead of pants, she wore a military blue A-line skirt that was pleated and reached just below her knees. The skirt appeared to have pockets and a black belt hung diagonally on her hips with a gun holster attached. The military jacket was left open, showing the crisp white button down shirt that was tucked neatly into her skirt. She also wore basic black pumps, in accordance with military standards. As noticed before her hair was completely white, not the usual grey of old age, but an almost unnatural white. Al thought that maybe in bright sunlight, her hair might appear a very light shade of blonde. It reached about a few centimeters above her shoulders and curled loosely. Her eyes were a stunning shade of light blue that seemed sharp enough to pierce through one's soul. Nothing about her, aside from her eyes, seemed intimidating. She was of average height, five feet four inches, seemed about average weight. On top of that she did not look a day above thirty years old. But there was something about her…an air of superiority, maybe?
"Alphonse Elric and Major Edward Elric, this is Colonel Lilah Stark, lead attorney for the Eastern Command Center," Mustang introduced them.
"So you are the Fullmetal Alchemist? I can honestly say this was an interesting first impression," she mused, moving forward to shake his hand.
"Yeah, I guess," Ed mumbled while reciprocating the handshake.
He noticed the crisp white gloves adorning her hands, and were those transmutation circles stitched on the top? Colonel Stark walked back to her desk, heels clicking across the wood floors, and moved her chair to sit. She gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. The four people sat down in the chairs and the Captain, that let them in, took a seat at a desk against one of the walls adjacent to the windows.
"You are probably curious as to why I had you two ordered to return here so unexpectedly?" the Colonel asked, folding her hands on top of the desk.
"Yeah! Mustang called us down here without a respectable reason, just a 'Because I said so' reason. And as you probably know, my brother and I are busy. This trip has taken us out of our way," Ed expressed his annoyance with exaggerated hand gestures.
"Right," Colonel Stark mumbled while opening a file on her desk with a sigh.
"I called you two here to discuss charges of the misuse of alchemy," she said in a flat voice.
"What?" Ed and Al exclaimed.
Even Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye looked alarmed.
"I thought we weren't going to be charged for that?" Ed asked in a panic.
They couldn't be arrested; Ed had to get Al's body back.
"It's been in the system for a while now and I've purposely put it off. But I can't ignore it anymore," she responded while gauging their reactions.
"You don't understand Colonel; I need to get Al's body back. I can't wait around for a trial and serve out a jail sentence," the blonde alchemist was close to hyper ventilating.
Ed didn't even bother to try and cover up Al's situation. He knew that she knew everything by this point. Even though Mustang promised not to tell anyone outside of his team about Al, he was required to write a report.
"You should calm down, some tea might help," the white haired woman said to Ed.
"Calm down! I can't calm down when you bring up news like that!" Ed was panicked and furious by this point.
"Captain Wildes, can you go get some tea?" The Colonel asked the man at the table politely.
He nodded and left the room.
"I mean you should calm down because I'm in charge of the docket. I have complete control over what goes to court at Eastern Command. All I want is to ask you a few questions," Colonel Stark explained.
The Captain came back with a tray of cups and a tea pot. He put it on the desk and poured everyone a cup.
"For starters, who did you attempt to bring back with the Human Transmutation?"
Ed flinched, the tea almost spilled out of the cup. Al lowered his head. The female officer waited patiently for an answer, pen in hand.
"Our…our mother, Trisha Elric," Ed choked out.
"Was the transmutation successful?"
Ed became increasingly more uncomfortable with the line of questioning, "Obviously not, or else we probably wouldn't be having this conversation."
"No, we would still be having this conversation. Human Transmutation is a crime whether it is successful or not," she corrected him, "What happened immediately following the attempted transmutation?"
"We experienced rebound," Ed's hands balled into fists at his sides and turned his head away, "I lost one of my legs and realized that Al had lost his entire body. Then, I sacrificed my arm to retrieve Al's soul and bound it to a suit of armor."
Lilah wrote while he spoke.
"Last question, when preparing or performing the human transmutation, did you have any intentions to endanger Amestris?"
"No, we just wanted to bring our mother back," Al finally spoke up.
The Colonel kept writing quickly in the file while the room remained silent. Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye were growing painfully curious about the fate of the brothers. They knew Colonel Stark's track record in court, military and civilian trials.
"Ok, from what I gathered I have enough evidence to make my decision," she said, the bright blue eyes flashing up to the brothers.
"When should I be expected to appear before Court Martial?" Edward asked in a defeated tone.
"Well unless you plan on calling me old again or break any other rules, I don't see why you should any time soon," the female officer said with a smile. She closed the file gently.
"But I thought…" Al asked, confused.
"Oh! You thought I was gathering evidence for trial. No, I needed reasoning to dismiss the case," the attorney explained.
"But you said human transmutation is a crime, whether it is successful or not," the older brother responded.
"And it is a good thing my father didn't try your case. Even though law is law, I believe that laws should be interpreted based on the situation. After all, what kind of person would I be if I tried two grieving children for wanting to bring their mother back from the dead?" Her blue eyes shined with mild amusement.
"So you brought these two all the way back to Eastern Command for a few questions?" Roy finally spoke.
"Your powers of observation astound me, Colonel," she responded sarcastically and you could hear her eyes rolling in the statement.
"You couldn't have asked them these questions over the phone," Mustang asked in an aggravated tone.
"This is a formal process Colonel Mustang, a phone call would not have been appropriate," her tone became increasingly bitter.
"I'm not an idiot Lilah," Stark flinched at the use of her name but Roy continued, "These two have bigger things to worry about than what's on the docket next year."
"It's Colonel Stark when we are in uniform, Colonel Mustang," Lilah corrected him, icy blue meeting hard onyx.
The tension grew thick in the room after the mini spat.
"I'm sorry for taking you two out of your way," Lilah finally apologized, "I'd like to make it up to you by providing you with a room and meal tonight."
"That isn't necessary," Ed replied, thinking about the Hughes' hospitality at Central.
"I insist. I have a spare bedroom and I don't mean to brag but I'm not a bad cook," Lilah persisted.
"We have friends in Resembool," Ed responded half-heartedly, his resolve dwindling.
"But it's already past three, and it could take you hours to get there. You may as well stay the night and get on the train in the morning," Lilah continued.
Ed looked at Al, who nodded to him.
"Alright we'll stay, thanks," Ed finally gave in with a sigh.
"Excellent, and as predetermined, you all are coming over at seven?" The female Colonel asked the adult's in the room.
"Wait you already had this planned?" The blonde alchemist asked.
A sly smile met her lips, "Yes, I'm not an idiot. I knew you'd be pissed off so I thought I would make it up to you by providing you with a place to sleep and some food. I know Al can't eat but I had a feeling he would be a little less upset than you, Ed."
Ed narrowed his eyes at her meditation while Ad stood silently behind him.
"Do you still want me to take them to your house in the mean time?" Riza asked out of the blue.
"If you wouldn't mind? Oh! Shit…I forgot to clean out the spare room. Would you mind? It's just some boxes with pictures and other things. If you guys would just organize the stuff into the labeled bins then put them in the attic that would be great?"
"Sure," Riza answered turning to the Elric brothers, "Just wait till you see the library."
"Library?" Al asked, perking up a bit.
"Yes, I have an extensive collection of books on various topics," Lilah replied with a shrug.
"Let's go then!" Ed announced and marched towards the door.
Lieutenant Hawkeye and Al followed him out the door.
"Lilah…" Colonel Mustang started.
"Not now, Colonel," Lilah interrupted him as she went back to writing in files.
"We haven't even talked about what happened," Roy tried again, "It's been over a year."
"It doesn't change anything. Now if you don't mind, I have work to do and so do you," her tone was dismissive, leaving no room for argument.
The man sighed and turned to walk towards the door. He stopped and turned his head toward her, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.
"If it's any consolation, I miss you," Roy said in a low voice.
He saw her grip her pen a little tighter. Her hair created a curtain around her face when she lowered it, so he couldn't see the pain flash across her face. Roy then went back to the door and left.
Captain Wildes paused for a moment and tried to pretend that he did not see the single tear drop that hit the blank page in front of her. He tried to ignore the sound of her crumpling up the tear stained paper and throwing it in the waste bin. And most of all, he wanted to forget the small sniffle he heard from his commanding officer as she wiped a second stray tear away. It was then that he realized, that maybe that frozen heart was melting when exposed again to the flame.
So I know what you are thinking, Roy belongs with Riza. Yeah, well that's too cliche for me and I wanted to write a different FMA story. So I made up my own characters and gave them a place in the plot. If you don't like it then don't read it. I'm hoping to have another chapter up soon cause I have big plans for this story. Oh, I have pictures of Lilah and Captain Wildes on my profile. Please Review!