A/N: Hey people! So this is my first Fanfic (Obviously since it's at the bottom of my profile) I'm kinda just experimenting right now so feel free to give me any feedback or criticisms. I'm rating this M for now because of Ed's mouth (someone should really buy him a bar of soap or something) and because I'm planning on making this story kind of violent later on. If you can't stand violence please do yourself a favor and don't read this story. Well, I think I've done enough blabbing. So without further ado, I present The Jealous Alchemist.
"That bastard!" screamed the famous Edward Elric as he stormed out of his superior's office. "Can't an alchemist take a break in this place?"
"It's not that bad brother," said the ever-patient Alphonse, who until that point had been silently trailing his older brother like always. "At least East City is close to Resembool, and after we're done there we can go visit Granny and Winry."
"Yeah, cause the first thing I want to do after a stupid mine inspection is listen to Winry lecture me on taking better care of my automail."
Alphonse sighed. This wasn't the first conversation like this that he'd had with his brother. In fact, every time the two left Colonel Mustang's office it seemed like they had the exact same conversation. "Well you should take a little more care of it." At that, smaller Elric glared up at his younger brother, signaling that the suit of armor should shut up or risk losing an arm.
After that, the two walked in silence towards their dorms. What the older brother didn't get was why he had to go and not one of the other fully capable State Alchemists from Eastern Command. Just because he was the youngest State Alchemist in history, didn't mean he had to inspect every mine in Amestris. Plus, he had better things to do besides run around doing errands for the Colonel Bastard. He and Al had to get their bodies back, and that wasn't going to happen while inspecting a damn mine.
"Uh...Major Elric sir?" The tiny, breathless voice brought Ed out of his thoughts and back to his life, which thoroughly sucked at the moment.
"Yes?" The young turned around and was greeted by a saluting officer with her brown hair pulled back in the standard bun of an Amestrian secretary.
The woman stood there saluting the alchemist for a few seconds before realizing that she had been addressed. "I'm sorry sir this is my first day and I'm still trying to get the hang of things. May I please be pardoned for my lack of attention?"
Edward stared at the woman with an annoyed expression. He really was not in the mood to deal with the formal language of the military. "Yeah sure…" the alchemist trailed off when he noticed the single suitcase that the woman was holding in her left hand.
He immediately knew that it was from that bastard of a Colonel. Just one final jab before sending his subordinate to hell and back. Noting Ed's change of mood, the woman decided to explain. "Colonel Mustang told me to give this to you. He said that he wanted you to catch the very next train to East City and didn't want you to have to waste time packing, sir."
"Yeah, I'm sure he did" Ed grumbled before accepting the suitcase and turning to storm away. "Come on Al. Wouldn't want to miss the train that the Colonel so kindly bought us tickets for."
A tiny "Thank you ma'am," and the clinking of metal on tile told the older boy that his brother was following him. At least Al would always be there for him, Ed thought. With that, the two brothers walked out of Central Command and turned right towards hell.
Colonel Mustang let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and sat back in his chair. He could still hear the young alchemist complaining about his latest assignment to his younger brother. It wasn't like Mustang enjoyed giving these assignments to his youngest subordinate. How could you enjoy being in the same room with a short-tempered destruction factory?
But, no matter how unpleasant these meetings were, they were necessary. In order for the Colonel to move up through the ranks, he had to seem like an obedient little puppy. If that meant sending Ed on a million mine inspections, then he'd happily oblige. Plus, it would keep the little runt out of his hair for a couple days.
Mustang turned in his chair to face the intercom and place his finger on the talk button. "Sarah?" he asked.
"Colonel Mustang, sir." Came surprised voice from the other end. The secretary probably didn't expect the colonel to actually remember her name.
"Would you be so kind as to grab the Fullmetal Alchemist's suitcase from his room and deliver it to him? It would be a pity if he had to miss his train because he was too busy packing."
"Yes sir! Right away." With that Mustang turned back to face the mountain of paperwork that had somehow magically appeared on his desk. With a sigh, he grabbed his pen and silently got to work on the humongous pile.
It seemed like eons before the door of Colonel Mustang's office finally opened, revealing Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. After seeing his friend, Colonel Mustang set his pen down, bracing himself for the inevitable flood of family photos that was sure to follow. After a moment, however, Mustang noticed the serious expression on his friend's face.
"Roy, please tell me that you didn't send Ed to East City yet." Out of all the things that his friend could've said, that was the last thing Roy Mustang expected him to say.
"Yeah, he and Al left earlier today." After another look at the other man, Roy continued. "Why? Maes, what's wrong?"
Hughes walked over to the desk and added something to the significantly smaller stack of paper there. Mustang picked up the paper and realized that it was a newspaper. The colonel gave a wary glance to his friend before looking at the headline.
Threats Made to the Fullmetal Alchemist
Today at precisely 700 hours, fifteen-year-old Lucas McHugh was arrested for allegedly conspiring against the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. After being interrogated by members of the military at Eastern Command, McHugh confessed that he did indeed plan to harm the Fullmetal Alchemist. During the interrogation, McHugh also hinted at the idea of there being more conspirators, but wouldn't elaborate.
While being taken back to his cell, McHugh activated a transmutation circle that he had been drawing on his handcuffs, and was able to escape while killing several officers in the process. His estimated location is East City, but if anyone is to come into contact with Lucas McHugh, they are advised to immediately contact their local military.
"Shit." That was all that the Colonel could manage to say after reading that article. How could he have been so stupid? His subordinate could get hurt, even killed, and all because he didn't read his stupid morning paper today! Sure, Fullmetal was a pain in his ass, and he deserved a punch in the face every once in a while, but the kid definitely didn't deserve to die because the older man neglected to properly research the events of East City before sending him there.
"It's nothing to worry about yet, Roy." Said Hughes. "Edward is smart. He wouldn't let some amateur alchemist do anything to him without a fight. Plus, he has Alphonse with him. I doubt it would be easy to harm Edward with Al around."
That much was true at least. The two brothers were good at getting out of life or death situations unharmed. Plus, it would be pretty hard to capture a 6-foot-tall suit of armor. Even with the rational part of his brain trying to reason with him, Colonel Mustang couldn't help but come up with a long list of 'What ifs.'
Quitting time came soon, and Mustang had yet to get any more work done since Hughes had left his office. Even as he drove home, Roy knew that he wouldn't get any sleep tonight either.