Chapter 1
A Warm Welcome
I awoke to the sound of the wind and the feeling of a cool breeze against my face. I opened my eyes from the darkness to find myself in a meadow. A beautiful meadow with flowers and grass. The meadow was about as vast as a football field and surrounded by trees on all sides.
"Where the hell am I and how the hell did I get here? Christ and I had to go to work today!" I cried as I scrambled for my phone, which turned out to be in my pocket. Looking at it however I found that the thing had no signal, "Perfect..." I mumbled as I stood up and started for the forest without any knowledge of which way I was going since the sun was in the middle of the sky.
Walking through the woods however, I found a stream where I took a quick sip and tried getting my location on the phone, only to find that I couldn't get the GPS to work. "Damn, I'm so downloading a freaking compass app when I get back," I said aloud now taking in my location just before I heard yelling in the distance and some gunfire being shot off.
"I'm probably going to regret this later," I thought as I started in the direction of the gunfire.
"GET DOWN!" Cried Havoc as the squad of soldiers he was yelling at dropped just as a spray of bulletfire riddled the ground behind them. "MOVE IT!" he cried again when there was a pause in the firestorm.
"Havoc what's going on!?" demanded a familiar voice. Havoc knew the voice well since being assigned to his unit way back when.
"Colonel Mustang, our men don't have enough support to hold the left flank. We need reinforcements, or we need to retreat and regroup."
"Agreed, the town has been completely evacuated and the defenses have been reinforced. We should be able to hold there long enough for the main force to catch up to us."
"Alright boss, I'll take what men I can and provide cover for the retreat," finished Havoc before he started bellowing out more orders to some soldiers.
I was getting closer to the fighting, an easy conclusion to come to when the noise was loud enough to pop your eardrums, but I couldn't tell where the forest would end. The brush was so dense it made site difficult, even for someone who had grown up and lived on a farm with nothing but a forest behind his house and a bunch of fields in the front and on the sides.
Suddenly a noise came from up ahead and yells and screams were being shouted. I made out the sounds of heavy footsteps as though people were running, when suddenly the brush in front of me blew up and a tall blonde haired man with blue eyes slammed into me. I recovered quickly and tried to roll away, but I got tangled up with him and only ended up causing us both to roll under some brush as more footsteps stopped next to us.
I heard words being spoken, but couldn't make out what was being said, because of the strange accent the man had. The men however seemed to be in a hurry so they ran back the way they had come with the gunfire.
The man suddenly jerked back into the open to grab his rifle, picked it up, and pointed it back in my direction, "Okay out! Now!" he said in a low voice so as not to be heard.
I complied and crawled out from the brush with my hands up. "Whoa their cowboy take it easy. I'm not here to fight or hurt anyone. Frankly I don't even know where I am," I replied as I looked at him before I realized who the man was, "Havoc?" I asked uncertainly.
"Have I met you before?" he asked and understanding dawned on me and I realized my situation.
"No, but this is gonna be tough to explain. What's going on here. Who are you fighting?" I asked as he looked me up and down with a careful eye while slowly lowering his gun slightly.
"Creta. How do you know my name if we've never met?" he asked.
"Well... you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you and there's quite a bit of an explanation to go with it, but I don't think you've got the time to listen to that right now, good news though. I'm not an enemy. Bad news. I doubt I'll be able to help you with your search for the right woman." I stated and was answered with a raised eyebrow and an opening of the mouth as he was about to ask a question before a stray bullet came dangerously close to hitting one of us, causing me to jump.
"Fine, but you're going to have a lot to answer for when we get to the Colonel," as we began to run in the opposite direction of the fight.
I honestly don't have a clue as to how long we had been running for, but when we finally stopped we were both out of breath which made me happy to know that I could keep up with an Amestrian soldier. When I caught my breath well enough I studied the location we were at. We had made it outside of the forest and on top of a hill quite a distance away from a small town. That was the good news.
The bad news was that the town was in the middle of being assaulted on three sides, one of which being the side we currently were on which meant we were now staring at a field of soldiers. Luckily enough for me I had enough sense to drop at the same moment Havoc did.
"Friend's of yours?" I asked with a glance at him and was rewarded with a slight smile that was barely noticeable.
"Don't know the ones trashing my lawn," he replied.
"Must be the new kids on the block. Guess we'll have to teach them a little respect for their neighboors huh?"
"We? Look I don't know if you can even fight."
"Meh, details. Look if we head around that'll take a few hours. If we cut straight through maybe ten minutes, assuming we can just walk right on up to the front door."
"Guess it's around we go then," he said looking as we started to crawl back into the forest.
Walking through the forest around the battlements was pretty smoothe sailing until we hit the first patrol. We ducked down just in time as they walked past us. Huh? There's only two of them. We could probably take them, I thought as I looked at Havoc who had his rifle raised ready to take a shot. I raised my hand over the gun and lowered it gently causing him to look at me questioningly. I replied in turn by looking up at the tree we were under. The tree was covered in branches from top to bottom which was why it was so easy for us to hide. I could easily get to the top without them noticing if Havoc could bring them over.
He seemed to understand what my look meant and he shook his head at me. I nodded once slowly to emphasise that I was certain and then held out my hand. He shook his head furiously believing he knew what I was asking for. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the knife that was sheathed on his belt and took it. He looked at me questioningly as I put the knife in between my pants and my back then put my shirt over top of it so that it couldn't be seen. I then motioned for Havoc to go in the tree. He slowly nodded his head in understandment before quietly climbing up it.
I have to admit, I was pretty impressed that a guy as tall and built as Jean could climb as quietly as he could, until I remembered that he'd grown up in a rural village, much like myself. That meant he hadn't had much else to do out in his hometown except shoot guns and explore the forests. I slowly walked out of the bush where the Patrol had stopped to take a smoke. The two men noticed me walking up and pointed their rifles at me while yelling in their language. Thankfully it didn't sound like anything I'd heard before so I replied in kind with a language I knew just enough of to get by.
"Que?" I asked with a confused look on my face and continued talking in Spanish. One of them must have known English, or Amestrain, because he seemed to realize that I wasn't speaking in the enemy's language and lowered his gun a bit before walking over to me just within arms reach. Perfect.
I struck just then by spinning inside his reach and too close for his gun to be effective and though I couldn't tell it was Havoc's shot I knew he had taken it and removed the other as a threat.
The one next to me however wasn't void of training and tried to step back, only to have his rifle grabbed and pulled up before being kneed in the stomache. The fist fight that insued wasn't as glamorous or drawn out as I had been expecting, because I somehow managed to get the man into a submissive position, thanks to my father's lessons in self defense, while Havoc had worked his way down the tree and to my position.
Looking down at the man I had pinned, Havoc slammed the butt of his rifle into the man's face, knocking him out cold allowing me to finally get up and hand his knife back.
"Now where did you learn how to fight like that?" he asked me as he searched the two men's belongings for extra ammo and food while I grabbed both of their knives and pistols as well as a rifle for myself that seemed familiar in my hands. The design was very similar to an SK design which suited me fine, since my father had one and had taught me how to shoot it.
"My father taught me how to defend myself in hand to hand combat as well as how to shoot a gun," I replied as I checked the magazine, which was full.
"Happen to grow up in a rural part of town?" he asked.
"Straight up farm raised," I replied and he simply smiled before grabbing the pack of cigarettes the two had been sharing and mumble something about them being cheap.
It took us about an hour and a half before we finally made it to the town between the patrols and the long crawl through the fields so we wouldn't be seen. When we made it to the edge of the city we called out to the men stationed on the large machine gun emplacements to let them know we were friendly and coming out of hiding.
"Finally, Lieutenant the Colonel's been asking about you since the regrouping," said one of the soldiers as we walked into the town.
"I'll let him know I'm back," replied Havoc as he walked with the soldier and I in tow, "and take this man somewhere safe for the moment. He's a civilian that was caught in the crossfire."
"Yes, sir!" exclaimed the man before motioning for me to follow him.
"Whoa hold on Havoc. Your just going to have me bunker down until this whole fight just blows over?" I asked.
"Hopefully not if I have anything to say about it. You proved to be one hell of a reliable fighter out there." he replied, "But for now I need you to wait until I can get the Colonel to okay the temperorary conscription before getting you back to that talk we need to have."
With that as my answer I merely frowned and nodded and followed the other soldier who held out his hands for the weapons I had. Yeah I probably wouldn't want a sketchy new civilian holding a gun either, I thought as I handed him the rifle, pistols, and ammo I had. He looked at the knives expectantly when I didn't hand them over.
"I need some form of protection if shit hits the fan," I stated. The statement won me a small smile from the soldier as he started walking to the most stable building in the town.
"Heh, got a good head on your shoulders there boy," said the man and it was then that I started to study my surroundings. Including the soldier that was leading me to safety.
The man was a bit taller than me, but not as tall as Havoc. He was stocky, but not chubby and his helmet was big enough to cover his eyes leaving me with only his strong square jaw and crooked nose to look at when I talked to him face to face. His voice was gravelly and sounded of a veteran's experience.
The time that went by wasn't too long, but seemed to drag on relentlessly thanks to the noise outside from the loud explosions. For the most part I was simply waiting for a mortar shell to find a lucky mark, me, as I waited for Havoc and his CO. Roughly ten minutes went by before Havoc showed back up with Mustang in tow shadowed by, a very beautiful, Riza Hawkeye. "Colonel, this is him," started Havoc as he stood off to the side and motioned towards me.
The Colonel looked from Havoc to me and our eyes met as he walked over holding out his hand to shake. Before he made it to me I took a moment to gauge his height. He wasn't taller or shorter than me, in fact it may have been just the situation, but I could swear he and I were eye to eye level in height. After my brief glance analysis I took the offered hand, squeezed, and shook it while also noting that he'd removed his glove from this hand to shake. His grip wasn't very firm for someone with military experience. Probably because he is an alchemis, I thought to myself. "Havoc tells me you can put up a fight, and that you know a bit more than might be good for you," he said looking at me with a stern and thoughtful face, looking me up and down to get a read.
"I can fight for sure, but I can also read," I replied motioning at the name 'Mustang' on his uniform. Mustang looked from himself to Havoc, double checking himself to see if Havoc was in fact wearing his name on his uniform. He was, to my thankful relief.
"Good to know mister..." he trailed off for me to finish.
"Nash. Avery Nash," I finished for him.
"Nash, well mister Nash I hope you are as good as Havoc seems to think you are. I need another body out here and if your volunteering I'll take what I can get, but I need to keep these fires out and down so it doesn't burn up our supplies and set off any delicate explosives." I was about to ask him why he couldn't do it, being the flame alchemist, but thought back to that comment he made earlier and decided to simply say.
"Really Colonel? I haven't seen any fires since I got here. Maybe something else would be better suited. Your men seem to have that under wraps," I finished not wanting to give too much of what I knew away too early. Mustang merely nodded once and smiled.
"Strong fighter, attentive, and a strong sense of awareness. I already like you," Mustang said smiling before continuing, "Stick with Havoc He'll keep you busy though all of this."
Smiling I watched him go and caught the Hawk's eye and just before she turned to go I gave a brief and barely noticeable wink. She glanced back once as she left for a double take. I turned to Havoc when they left and straightened my back ready to get started and simply do something rather than wait for a lucky hit from my new enemy. "I think he actually likes you," said Havoc.
"Well he did SAY he liked me," I replied.
"You don't have to pretend to be a simpleton around me Avery, I already know you know more than your letting on with Mustang." I simply shrugged in response to the comment and asked waited for him to give me something to go on. "Alright, here we go I'm going to need you to work with Sergeant Decker here. He knows the ropes and will keep you out of trouble and teach you a little," finished Havoc as he walked out of the tent leaving me to stare at the older veteran.
"Something tells me we won't be pulling out rifles and blazing lead down on the Cretans," I said looking at him somewhat blankly.
"Be thankful. This means you won't be on the recieving end of a barrel," he sad as he walked outside with me not far behind.
"Could I at least have a pistol and a clip?" I asked and he looked back with a smile.
"You may have the Lieutenant's trust to help out and the Colonel's okay, but I'm responsible for what you do which means I don't want to be responsible for the bullet you may or may not shoot in my back. I may have said you have a good head on your shoulders kid, but that makes you dangerous just as much as it makes you helpful," he finished as we continued on.
The next eternity was Decker and I running supplies to the front and back. He'd carry the rifles while I carried the ammo keeping me from getting a firearm of my own. I'm still not sure how long we ran back and forth, only that it was probably our eighth trip from the front that my back started to hurt when there was a huge explosion from the right flank and in poured a few dozen Cretan soldiers firing and swinging at the Amestrians.
Decker quickly dropped down behind a barrel pulling me with him and began loading his rifle. I pulled out the knife I had and waited. After a few eternal moments Decker popped his head up and fired off one round. Then a second. Then a third. Then ducked down just as I felt a bullet hit the barrel behind me causing my heart to start pumping and feeling the adrenaline run through me as the world started to slow down.
A soldier came in sight peering over the barrel looking down at Decker while Decker fumbled with his rifle trying to fix something with it. The soldier rose up and pointed the rifle down at Decker. I jumped and pushed the rifle up as the soldier shot. I took the rifle in both my hands and smash the butt of it down on the soldiers face. He released the rifle allowing me to bring it around in a swing and smash it against his head again. I ducked. The world began to move a little faster as I came to grips with what had happened.
Decker smiled and patted me on the shoulder before pulling back on the bolt of his rifle and letting an empty shell fly out, unjamming the rifle. He then looked at me and nodded over the barrel. I nodded back in understandment and we both braced ourselves. He moved his mouth slowly, or maybe it was fast. I don't remember. Everything was moving slowly for me. ONE. TWO. THREE. We both pushed ourselves up at the same time aiming our rifles at the remaining soldiers and laid waste. I shot only three. Decker maybe shot six before we both dropped down again.
Not a minute later, or was it a second, we heard a voice shout, "CLEAR!" and we peeked out over the barrels. It was clear the attack had been routed. Decker jumped up and pulled me up with him. He shouldered his rifle and I did the same. We both ran over to help set up barricades and fortify the breach before another attack could be made.
The next thirty minutes, or hour, went by in a blurr of activity as I helped others fix the breach. After putting the last sandbag up Decker walked up to me and held out his hand with a smile. Believing I know what it was he wanted I unshouldered the rifle and held it out to him. "Nah, keep it. You proved to me your a good kid and I can trust you to watch my back," he said still holding out his hand. I took it, gripping him at the forearm rather than his hand and he returned the grasp in kind without missing a beat and we walked back to the supplies and started to pick up supplies to keep going with our routine when Havoc came by.
"Hold up you two," he said as he approached, "I need you two up over on the right flank to help them there after that last hit." Decker and I nodded in reply and grabbed some extra ammo and supplies before making our way over to the right flank with Havoc.
The next hour or so went by relatively uneventful, well as uneventful as a battlefield can get anyway, as the three of us sat there and made small talk before I heard a loud rumbling sound. Havoc and Decker seemed to hear it too as their heads looked up a little and started looking around when someone shouted. "Hey! It's the 14th armored cavalry!" his shout was followed by shouts from all around as everyone popped their heads up to the sounds of tanks firing and looking we could all see the tanks rolling in on the enemy as the Cretans all picked up and ran faster than I thought possible.
With a sigh of relief I felt two very distinct hands clap on my shoulders and looking from left to right I saw Decker cheering on one side while Havoc was looking at me and smiling. "Congrats on your first battle and first Victory Mr. Nash," He said before letting go and walking away to find the Colonel no doubt.
The next few minutes went by quickly and without incedent as the 14th armored cavalry finished their cleanup and Havoc approached with a smile on his face. "Well it looks like we are headed back to Cetral command. Mr. Nash you ready to head out?" he asked looking at me.
"Now?" I asked a little confused and he replied with a nod, "Sure. I guess. Lets get to it then," I smiled as Havoc and Decker walked with me to the station where Mustang and Hawkeye were waiting.
"Well kid hopefully I'll be seeing you around," Decker said with a smile as he held out an empty shell," I looked at him with confusion.
"You aren't coming with?" I asked and he shook his head while placing the empty shell in my hand.
"I'm not a part of Mustang's crew. I was temporarily stationed under Havoc while he was here until the new officer came in. That there is the shell that jammed my rifle and damn near got me killed when you saved me. Hold on to that and let it remind you to stay light on your feet and to keep your head on straight," he smiled and I took the shell as he turned and walked away while waving. Waving back I got on the train and made for a seat next to Havoc, unsure where else to sit. Events were certainly moving by quicker than I'd thought they would, but I guess that happens when your in a war zone.
As I waited for the train to pull out I felt the adrenaline wear off and every bruise and ache in my body hurt three times more than they had and exhaustion fell over me. I couldn't sleep though, not yet. I needed to figure out what I was going to say when we got to central and how I was going to tel Mustang about what I knew if I was going to tell him anything or lie. Though lying wouldn't do me much good nor would it make me friends, but I couldn't tell him everything. I have knowledge that could save people. Maybe I should tell him everything, but that would change the events that were to come and make what knowledge I have void. No I can't tell him everything, but I can tell him I have knowledge that can help his team and him achieve his goals.
I smiled to myself. I didn't know what exactly I would tell him, but I now had a guide line, an idea of what to say and I could work out the details after a decent sleep. I need sleep so I don't screw it all up from exhaustion. Not a minute after the train started moving I began to feel the darkness sweep over me and I let unconciousness take me while many others on the train did the same.