Mustang's Baby

Fire Meets Ice

Mustang looked over the rubble of the world they had just defeated, Ishval. He sighed at the mess before him, shook his head and began to walk away. As he was walking through the crumbled city he heard faint sobbing. After all that someone was still alive? He followed the crying until it got louder. He stepped up to a corner piece of a building. Stepping around it revealed the crying came from a little navy blue haired, ice blue eyed girl, who looked around the age of four…then ten? Mustang blinked at the girl, she was back to looking four again. He scratched his head thinking he must be just tired. But it happened again. The girl's age seemed to change from four to ten and back to four.

Her eyes filled with fear when she finally noticed him staring at her intensely. His eyes widened when he saw her left arm. It had been severely burnt. He had burnt her in the attack. Not only was she severally burnt, her arm was covered in ice from the tips of her fingers to a few inches below her shoulder. Mustang figured she was trying to numb and cool the burn. But how was she doing it? She was way too young to be an alchemist and she didn't even have a transmutation circle anywhere on or near her.

As he stared into her frightened tear filled eyes an indescribably amount of guilt hit him. This girl clearly was not a native of the land. She should not have been there. She should not have been hurt, especially by him. As he stepped closer to her she scooted away from him until her back was pressed against the large piece of rubble she was hiding behind. He kneeled down to be more eye level with her. Tears seem to pour endlessly from her ice blue eyes. He watched patiently as she struggled to keep awake, but clearly the events that had recently happened were taking its toll on her. He waited until she passed out from the pain of her wound to touch her. He caught her head in his hand and gentle laid her down. He then took off his jacket and wrapped it around her, making sure to cover her iced arm. His instincts were screaming at him not let anyone know about her ability. She was not going to be a lab rat. She was not going to be a human weapon like he was…if she was human at all. He then picked her up in his arms and walked off to seek help for her.

…..

The girl opened her eyes to the ceiling of a hospital room. She sat up to find she was alone. She had a bandage wrapped around her left arm and an iv stuck in her right hand. She looked around confused and afraid at her unfamiliar surroundings. Things only got worse when a nurse entered the room. "Good you're awake."

The nurse smiled and walked over to the girl. The girl became frightened and half fell off, half jumped off the bed. In the process of this the iv was pulled out of her hand. "Hey! Hold on! You shouldn't be moving!"

The nurse walked around the bed. The girl backed herself into the corner and screamed. As she screamed she began to glow white and the room became very cold. "Wh-What's going on?!"

The nurse looked around as ice began to cover the room. As the girl continued to scream the white around her gathered in front of her and a large ice shard shot out at the nurse. The nurse screamed and flamed shot around her, melting the ice. The nurse fell on the floor and backed up from the girl. "W-What is she?"

Mustang didn't do or say anything as he watched the nurse jumped to her feet and ran out of the room in attempt to escape. Hawkeye and Havoc were there and they grabbed her. "Hello there, pretty lady."

"Knock it off, Havoc. Nurse, we need to have a word with you," Hawkeye said as she and Havoc led the woman away.

Once the door to the room was closed Mustang turned back to the frightened girl. He got closer to her and kneeled down. "Easy now. No one here is gonna hurt you."

He watched as a flicker of her remembering him flashed through her eyes. "That's right, little one. We met before. I brought you here. We're at the hospital."

Mustang quietly and patiently waited. A few minutes later, the girl showed signs of being tired. She kept taking glances at Mustang then would look else where. Eventually she slowly moved towards him. Once she was close enough, she tried to raise her left arm. Pain shot through her arm. She dropped it back down and cried at the pain. Guilt filled Mustang again.

This girl was left handed. He was told by the doctor that she would regain some of the movement in her left arm and hand, but she would never have full use of it again. He was brought out of his guilt trip when she curled up on his lap. She had her left arm cradled on her stomach as she clutched the front of his jacket with her right hand. He smiled lightly and took this move as a sure sign of trust. He stood up with her in his arms and walked over to the bed. Instead of laying her back in the bed he sat down himself and kept a comforting hold on her.

Hawkeye and Havoc returned a little while later with a new nurse. The girl jumped when the nurse stepped closer to her. Mustang stroked her hair and spoke softly to her. "It's alright, baby. She's not going to hurt you. She just needs to put an iv back in your arm so you can get better. Ok? She's going to help you feel better. Is that alright?"

When she didn't show signs of protest, Mustang took the her right arm and gently held it out for the nurse to do her job. The girl flinched when the nurse stuck the needle back into her arm then glared at the white clad woman. Mustang chuckled. When the nurse left Hawkeye stepped forward. "Colonel, they're sending someone here in a few days to take the girl to an orp…"

"No."

"Colonel?" Hawkeye asked.

"She can't go to an orphanage or a foster family. How would they handle her abilities? I won't allow her to be taking to someone who will not understand her."

"Oh man. Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Havoc asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Don't be stupid! You can't care for a baby on your own!" Hawkeye shouted. "She needs a family! She needs someone who can care for her!"

The girl began to shake and gave a soft whimper. Mustang tightened his arms around the girl. "It's alright, baby. Auntie Hawkeye always yells like that at me. Don't worry. You'll learn to love her."

"Colonel, please," Hawkeye lowered her voice to keep from scaring the girl. "You are an army Colonel. How are you going to care for a child when you already have a ton of responsibilities that you constantly shirk off? Having a child doesn't allow for shirking. It's a huge responsibility. One that shouldn't be taken lightly."

Mustang pulled his eyes off the young girl in his arms and looked at his Lieutenant. Hawkeye was a bit shock at the flood of emotions stirring in his eyes. She could clearly see he was feeling a ton of guilt for hurting her. She also saw that he was determined to protect her and never let anything bad happen to her again. "How will anyone else be able to handle her? She almost killed that nurse a few minutes ago. She doesn't know anyone or anything about this place she's in. Tell me, how can I just let her go from one strange place to another? No. I won't do that. No one mentioned finding anyone else in Ishval with her coloring. She clearly didn't have any family there. And I believe it's safe to assume no one who did live there would even know anything about her. I will…have to protect her. I don't know how to explain it, but I just can't let her go. I can't let her get hurt or reveal to anyone what she can do. I won't let her become an experiment or possibly a human weapon."

The room fell quiet at that moment. Hawkeye and Havoc watched as Mustang looked back down to the girl. He smiled and she cocked her head to the side while giving him a curious look. He raised his hand to her face and tapped her on the nose. "Isn't that right, baby? I'll be your daddy from now on."

The girl blinked when he tapped her nose then she gave a small smile and grabbed onto his finger. Hawkeye sighed at the display of affection Mustang was giving this mysterious girl.

"He's hooked," Havoc shook his head and chuckled. "Well, looks like we've added a baby to the family. So, what are we gonna call you, little one?"

The girl turned her ice blue eyes to the blonde man. She snuggled into Mustang's chest as she stared at Havoc with curious eyes until a small, slightly mischievous, smile formed on her face.

Notes: This most likely won't really go along with the actual story line of FMAB, but it's just a story ^.^ right? It might be kind of choppy and short do to lack of creative flow, but like I said, it's just a story. Enjoy.