It seems like whenever I write One-Shots...it has Grumman in it. Oh yeah...takes place right before Mustang's transfer to Central.

Don't own 'em, just use 'em.

OneShot – Chess

The two opponents faced each other, their armies waiting for the signal. Back and forth the two went, sacrifice after sacrifice, neither relenting. A few moves more, and one would win. But the man in black knew who would win, as did the man in white. The man in white sent forth his most prized warrior, which scared the man in black. To retaliate, the man in black also sent his most prized warrior, who beat the man in whites. But that was the mistake. Another one of the man in white's forces was there, and was able to beat the man in black's warrior in one turn. Angry, the man in black stepped onto the battlefield himself and defeated the white force. Another mistake of his. Two more turns, and the man in white would win. And both men knew it.

"Checkmate..." Grumman sighed, as he placed his rook in front of the black king.

"Damn it!" Roy swore, retreating back into his seat. Roy studied the chessboard, trying to figure out how he went wrong.

"Roy, how many times have we played this game together?" Grumman asked, reaching to the side and picking up the black queen.

"A lot, considering neither one of us has much to do." Roy leaned forward again, retracing his steps.

"And during our games...how many times have you won?" Grumman studied the black queen.

"None."

Grumman looked over at the young colonel, and shook his head. "I'll give you some advice, Roy."

Roy sat up and nodded. "I always value your advice, sir."

"Do you know why you always loose?"

Roy thought about this question for a while. "...no."

Grumman slammed the black queen down on the chessboard, making the rest of the pieces fall. "Because of her...because of your queen."

Roy laughed. "I don't quite understand you."

"I know you want to use her power to keep you from harm but I should hope you look at the playing field before letting her be your shield. Like this game, she was taken out because you didn't see my rook behind my queen. Because she stepped in and took my queen, she was taken by my rook."

"General?"

"You always wait and use your queen to be your shield. She never leaves your side. You wait until I place you in close danger before using her, and because of that, she get's taken out the next move because another one of my pieces is there. I don't think you study the moves as much as you should."

"So... I need to be more aware?"

"Yes, because you never know what you're opponent will see that you can't."

Roy nodded. "But that's why I have my queen. She normally sees things I can't."

"I'm still talking about the game, not real life."

"I thought we were talking about both..."

"...you think I would casually talk about you using my granddaughter as a shield?"

"No, I knew you were talking about the game then. I meant when you told me I should be more aware. And you're right, I should." Roy picked up the black queen. "But when you told me I never let my queen leave my side and that hinders me. That was about my queen, wasn't it? The real one? She's always with me, when she could do a lot more out there..."

Grumman looked at Roy, who set the black queen down and started to leave.

"But don't worry about that. It's not like our games, you see. I keep her close because I haven't had a need to send her out. My bishops and rooks and knights and pawns can all take care of it by themselves for the time being. I'm not afraid to loose her." Roy looked back at the chessboard and pointed at the black queen. "I am, however, afraid to loose that queen."

"Roy..." Grumman looked at the back of his head. "Would you use her as a shield?"

"Yes." Roy smiled. "You said it yourself, I always use the black queen as my shield."

"No...I meant your real queen..."

"Oh...then...no." Roy looked at Grumman. "She wouldn't stand for it."

Grumman nodded and started to clean up the chessboard as Roy left. But before he got to the door, Roy looked back at Grumman. "General...next time...next time I will win. And I'll be using my queen to do it."

"I look forward to it."

Wooh! This was fun to write~! It actually all started when I was playing chess on the computer today. I had my queen always next to my king, and I moved my rook in front of my king because the opposition had just moved their queen into check. So their queen took my rook and was in check again, so I moved my queen to defeat them...lo and behold, they had their rook RIGHT BEHIND their queen...so my queen got taken over. Of course, my king took out their rook...but it made me sad to loose my queen. And a few turns later I lost. I played more, and each time I FINALLY moved my queen...she was taken the next turn. (life experiences help me write...and this was basically a retelling of my afternoon...)

P.S. I totally watched episode 13 of Fullmetal Alchemist again just so I could watch Roy and Grumman's match, to see if Roy in fact used his queen to checkmate Grumman. After looking at a picture of regular chess pieces, and comparing them to the piece Roy used, it was, in fact, his queen. :D Because the only other plausible piece it could've been was his bishop, but Grumman's bishop was RIGHT next to it, and it was shorter, so...yeah... that's how I know it's his queen.