A Situation at Hand

Soft rays of golden light spilled into the small, homely room, illuminating the furniture with brilliance. A young, blond-haired teenager slept in a beam of the light, peacefully, as if there was no worry in the world. In the opposite room was his brother, cleaning up the dishes left over from their previous meal. Looking into the other room, he glanced at his brother's sleeping face. Alphonse sighed slightly and continued his work.

The silence and peacefulness was soon interrupted by a loud ring of the telephone.

"GAH!" Alphonse jumped and dropped the plates he was holding at the sound. He shakily picked up the phone and answered. "H-hello?"

A familiar voice was on the other end. "Hello, Alphonse." It was Colonel Mustang from Central Headquarters. "It's Roy. Is Fullmetal there?"

Alphonse laughed slightly. "Yes," he replied, "but he's asleep. Hold on, I'll wake him."

Suddenly, Edward's eyes snapped open and he spun around on the couch to face Al. "TELL HIM I'M NOT HERE!" Edward yelled as he thrust the lightweight blanket back over himself.

Al leaned over to look through the doorway so he could make eye contact with Ed. "But, Brother, it's the Colonel, you gotta talk to him." Edward began to mumble under his breath as if to say something he didn't want his brother to hear. "I'm also pretty sure he can hear you, Brother." Al stated. There was no doubt that Roy was listening to this entire conversation. "Just please come and take the phone!"

"Fine." Edward slowly got up off the couch and dragged himself toward the phone. "Hello?" he grunted.

Edward and the Colonel began to talk. Alphonse tried to interpret the conversation, but he had no luck doing so.

"WHY WOULD I DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Ed roared, apparently irritated with the Colonel. Al leapt back.

What can they possibly be talking about? he asked himself.

"Remind me again why I have to do this?" Ed asked, continuing the conversation as Al was still trying to figure out what was going on. "ERRRRRRRR FINE!" Edward yelled as he slammed down the phone in frustration.

"What happened?" Al asked curiously.

"Colonel Jackass wants us to go to a meeting at a local restaurant," Ed mumbled, making his way back to the couch.

"Really?" Al exclaimed. "When?"

"Tonight," Ed moaned as he turned on his side.

"Okay, then we better get ready, Brother!"

"Yeah, whatever," Edward mumbled, obviously trying to get back to sleep.

"Seriously, Brother, we gotta get ready!"

Edward pulled the blanket over his head and faintly started coughing, though it was totally obvious that he was faking. "Oh no, I'm sick," he pretended. "I guess I'll have to miss the meeting, oh what a shame."

"Brother," Al sighed, "now you're just being a coward."

"Fine, I'll go," Ed grumbled as he cursed up the stairs. Al just sighed and soon followed to get dressed himself.

Al came down the stairs wearing his standard black jacket and black pants. He called to his brother as he put his red coat on. "You ready yet?"

"No," Edward shouted from his room.

"Hurry up!"

A good fifteen minutes went by before Alphonse got a little frustrated. "Brother, get down here!"

Edward sulked down the stairs wearing his usual brown pants, brown vest, white blouse, and brown coat.

"You can't avoid things like this," Al said, looking concerned.

"Watch me." Edward began to turn around and dash back up the stairs when Al grabbed his coat collar and dragged him out the door.

"So where are we going?" Al asked, still dragging Ed along.

"Stonebridge," Ed grunted. "It's not too far from here."

"Stonebridge? I know where that is," Al reassured. He continued to walk along, dragging Edward by his side.

"I HAVE LEGS YOU KNOW!" Ed burst out. He wasn't exactly crazy about the idea of being dragged along the sidewalk.

"But I want to make sure you don't run away." Al was almost certain the Ed would run for it once he let go.

"I wont, Al, just trust me."

Alphonse knew he couldn't do this forever, so he sighed and let go of his brother's coat. The second Ed was free, he darted in the other direction, hoping to avoid seeing the colonel's smug face.

"BROTHER!" Al quickly clapped his hands and transmuted a cage around Edward to stop him in his tracks. He ran over and grabbed Ed's coat while he was still caught.

"AL!" Edward yelled as his brother de-transmuted the cage.

"Now I know I can trust you." Al stated sarcastically as he, once again, started dragging Ed down the sidewalk.

"LET ME GO, AL!" Ed struggled.

"NO!" Al responded. "You'll just run off again!"

Alphonse continued to drag his older brother down the street. Eventually, he turned a corner, and Stonebridge came into view.

"See?" Al turned to look at Ed. "We're already here."

Al dragged Ed inside the roomy restaurant. Scanning the room, he spotted Roy and Riza at a booth nearby. He made his way over, dragging Edward along and sitting him in the seat next to him.

"So, why am I here again?" Ed asked while raising an eyebrow.

"So you can discuss a certain matter with me," Roy said as he folded his hands on the table.

Ed sighed and slouched in his seat. "What do you consider important?"

"What's going on?" Al asked, apparently confused.

Roy turned to Al and looked at him sternly.

"Something has come up."