Can what was be again?
Chapter 1: In which someone is revealed.
Disclaimer: Hiromu Arakawa owns Full Metal Alchemist. I do not and I am writng this purely for mine and your enjoyment and do not get anything out of it.
Colonel Roy Mustang walked into his office, instantly noticing the lack of one certain blond haired alchemist who was supposed to be making an appearance. "So where's the Full Metal pip-squeak? He's supposed to be here," Roy said.
"Not here yet," Second Lieutenant Havoc replied.
"We'll know when he does. Half the building will be in uproar," Second Lieutenant Breda added.
"And in the meantime sir, I suggest that you had better get to work. There's half a ton of paperwork on your desk and more here if you run out of work to do," Hawkeye was sitting behind her desk, glaring at Mustang, brandishing papers at him.
"Darn paperwork. If Full metals caused one scrap of damage, he'll be in trouble," Mustang grumbled before retiring to the inside office.
"So, how much paperwork do you reckon he'll actually get done?" Havoc asked. "Bets been taken now,".
"Not a lot," Fuery stuck in, even though he was preoccupied with trying to fix something that no doubt Mustang had broke.
"I'm not sure. Mustang looked like he actually might be doing some work," Breda added.
At this even Falman raised his eyebrows. "Never going to happen Breda," Havoc said.
"While we're on your subject of your little bet, I think that none of you are right. The Colonel won't be doing any of his paperwork," Hawkeye said. The guys all turned to stare at her. "Full Metal and his brother have arrived,".
"Where?" Fuery asked, putting down the now fixed contraption.
"Out there," Hawkeye said, pointing to the window. Everyone looked out and saw the Elric brothers arguing out in the rain. "On the other hand though, they look so caught up in their arguing that the Colonel might have done one piece of paperwork by the time they're up here,".
"When Full Metal starts to argue, there's no stopping him," Havoc said before taking out a cigarette and lighting it.
"What's this about Full Metal?" Mustang had miraculously appeared again, eager to get out of his paperwork.
"Sir, how much paperwork have you actually done?" Hawkeye asked, getting up and stacking a lot of finished papers on her desk.
"None," Mustang said, slightly scared of what could follow.
"Sir, then I suggest you get back to your desk and do your paperwork as Full metal isn't actually here yet," Hawkeye told him, pulling out her gun and aiming at her superior. "Or do you wish to be shot?"
"No, Lieutenant," Roy said timidly, creeping back to his office to try and do some work, or he would never get to have a good chat with Full Metal.
About half an hour later, after the office had finally settled down, Edward Elric decided to burst in, knocking completed piles of paperwork everywhere.
"Hey Colonel Bastard, where are you?" Ed yelled impatiently. "I don't have all day you know," Hawkeye and the rest of the staff looked up, knowing no work would be done now.
"He's in his office," Hawkeye said, standing up and trying to reconstruct those paperwork piles Ed had knocked over.
"Brother, don't go storming in there," Alphonse said, having heard Edwards yells. "You should apologize to the First Lieutenant as well,".
Hawkeye looked up at the young seven foot boy. "It's fine Al. Now why don't you come in?" Al was still standing outside the office door.
"Yeah Al, come in," Edward yelled at his brother.
Alphonse came clanking in as he usually did, but a little girl who didn't look more than ten came in behind him.
"What's going on here?" Roy Mustang said as he came out his office, having heard Edwards yelling. "Full Metal, I should have known you'd have something to do with it. You better have a reason for all this paperwork you've bombarded me with," Mustang then turned to face Alphonse. "Alphonse, how are. What's that?" Mustang was pointing at the small girl.
"It's a girl sir," Hawkeye told her superior. "They're all around the place,".
The entire office by this point had turned to the girl. Her head was sunken as she looked towards the floor, her hair falling like a curtain across her face. A ragged shirt covered the top half of her body, and she wore a skirt which looked like it hadn't been washed in ages.
"What's she doing here though?" Mustang said, seeing no particular reason for this girl to be in his office.
"Alphonse and I found her on the streets. You know what Alphonse is like, so she just had to come with us. I had to meet you and having nothing else to do with her, we brought her here," Edward said.
"I'm sure we could get someone to take care of her," Alphonse added.
"First off, does she have a name?" Havoc asked, trying to get things moving.
"When we asked her, she said it was Eliza," Alphonse told Mustang and his subordinates. "She didn't tell us anything else though,".
"Eliza,"Roy said, trying out the name. At this, the girl looked up, her grubby blond hair swinging to one side to reveal these pitch black eyes.
Almost everyone crowded round the girl to have a closer look. Even Falman stopped leaning on the wall to get a closer look at Eliza. Edward, however, just watched the lot of them with a bored look on his face, saying what was all the fuss about. "She's just a kid!" He moaned.
When Hawkeye got closer to the girl, she drew back in shock, letting out a small gasp. Fuery heard it, as did Falman and they both looked up momentarily, but soon turned there attention back to Eliza. Roy also noticed and wondered why.
"Hawkeye, in my office, now," Roy ordered, having a hunch that his Lieutenant knew something about the girl.
Hawkeye gave Mustang a slightly strange look, but followed him none the less. Roy then slammed the door behind them, slightly irritated that Full metals Report would have to wait until later. "What was that about?" Breda asked.
"Who knows," Havoc said, lighting up yet another cigarette, while Ed noted that no one had ever worked out what went on between Mustang and Hawkeye.
"Look at her eyes," Fuery then said, looking at Eliza who now had a very scared expression on her face from all the people who had been crowding around her.
Havoc leaned in, being careful to take his cigarette from his mouth so he didn't do anything to the kid. "They're like Mustangs," he commented.
At this, the entire office, especially Falman, turned to stare at the girl. Even Ed got of his perch to have a closer look. Breda looked in amazement. "You're right,".
"What's so special?" Ed said. "Loads of people have dark eyes,". He was right, and there was nothing that significant about the fact that the girl had eyes that were similar to Mustangs, but the subordinated kept on arguing.
"But how many people have those coal black eyes. Look at them. They really are black, not just dark," Fuery argued.
"Brother, Fuery has a point," Alphonse stated. "But, don't you think her hair looks a bit like Hawkeye's?" At this, Breda, Havoc, Falman and Fuery stared at the girl even more, before admitting that Eliza did have hair that was similar to Hawkeye's. They would have to wait until Eliza had been cleaned up though to actually tell.
"Can you guys think of anyone who could help?" Ed asked impatiently. "I mean if we were in Central we could just ship her off to Hughes, though that's probably not the best idea in the world. He'd fuss over her and compare her to Elysia all the time,".
"I know what you mean. Hughes can just be the slightest bit over enthusiastic," Havoc said, before proceeding to chuck his cigarette in the bin.
"Who else is there though that's actually around?" Breda asked.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye would probably be willing to takle care of her, though she's currently closeted up with the Colonel, so we can't ask her. Eliza also ought to be taken care of immediately," Fuery said while looking at the small girl, who was slightly bewildered by all the talk.
"How about General Grumman?" Falman said, speaking of the General who ran East headquarters.
"There's no better option," Havoc said. "Even if he can't look after her, he can probably find someone who can. She'll probably end up back here by the end of the day though,".
The entire office nodded it's heads in agreement to this and decided to send Ed on his way to find the General and deliver the girl.
"Come on Brother," Alphonse said eagerly.
"To General Grumman it is then," Ed stated, grabbing Eliza's hand and following his younger brother. Eliza was yanked out of the office, blond hair flying away. A scared look was on her face as she had literally been pulled of her feet.
The remaining four who had been left in the office just sat or stood there watching the brothers and the younger girl run off. "Are we sure this is the best idea? Grumman might suspect something," Havoc said as he put his feet up on his desk.
"Or worse, he could be like Hughes and fuss all over the girl," Fuery said, imagining for a small moment what that would be like.
"Or even worse than that, Hughes'll actually be called in," Breda said. Havoc and Fuery both knew he spoke the truth, that would be bad indeed.
"Hey you lot, how much are you willing to bet that Eliza's actually related to Hawkeye or Mustang?" Havoc asked.
A/N: This is my first stab at an Full Metal Alchemist fanfiction. Please review with any comments or improvements you may wish to say, or just to tell me you liked it. It would mean a lot to me if you reviewed.