Chapter One
That was it. She was not about to let that ass hat get away with this again.
A petite girl with shoulder length black hair and equally dark eyes stalked angrily through the deserted streets of East City. It was pouring outside, and it no one else was out on that dreary day. Soaked to the bone, and now even more livid than before, the young female quickly made her way toward Eastern Headquarters. Accompanying her was a small black dog, which trotted alongside her.
An evil smile made its way to her face as the two made it to their final destination. It was time to make Lieutenant Colonel Mustang's day a whole lot worse.
She flashed her newly acquired state-alchemist pocket watch to the watch guard and the metal gate opened for her. Eastern Headquarters was easy enough to navigate in; there was the reception desk on the first floor, some small offices here and there, the lounging room, and then his office.
The lady at the reception desk was busy talking on the phone when the two entered the building. The girl showed her the pocket watch, and the lady pointed down the hall, motioning them to wait in the lounging room.
The girl crouched down to eye level with her dog. She had no intention of waiting to be spoken with. "Mimi, I'm going to talk with Mustang now. Why don't you go see where Lieutenant Hawkeye is?" She pet the dog's head.
Mimi yipped in agreement, and her tail started wagging furiously, flicking little beads of water in odd directions. On impulse, the girl clapped her hands together put them on the dog's body, which dried its fur immediately. She then did the same for herself, so that her baggy yellow sweater and blue pleated skirt were dry.
"Alright," she stood up, "I'll come pick you up later. And behave." She warned. Feeling like she got her message across, she left Mimi alone.
She walked up the stairs, made a right, and walked straight up to the big door at the end of the hallway, just like she always did when she came back from an assignment. The door was closed, meaning that Mustang was in a meeting already. Not giving a shit, the dark haired girl barged into the room and walked straight up to Lieutenant Colonel Mustang's desk where the aforementioned man sat.
The look on his face was priceless. She put on a fake smile on her face to creep him out even more. "Hello there, sir. I'm back from my mission."
The pale, but dark haired man quickly regained his composure, and glared at the girl. "Margaret," the girl winced at the use of her full name, "I'm clearly in a meeting right now. What in the world makes you think that you can enter without permission?"
The eerie smile quickly washed off her face and in its place was a glare just as heated as the man's before her. "I don't care. Please don't think that you can trick me again. I know how much intel you have on the state of Amestris, and I know for a fact that you would not give me such a easy assignment AGAIN without a reason." She crossed her arms. "I shouldn't be sent on month long trips just to check a town's water supply!"
"Margaret, get out of my office. I can't have someone so small and insignificant bothering me right now." His eyes were dancing, hoping that she would take the bait.
But Margaret was not so daft. "I'm not stupid. Don't think that you can distract me with your short jokes. Besides," she said with a satisfactory smile and a wink, "I think being small adds to my cuteness factor, don't you?"
The Lieutenant Colonel sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. Margaret smirked; she knew that he wouldn't get mad at her. It was silent for a few seconds, and Margaret finally took notice of the golden haired boy that stood behind her. His eyes were drilling holes into hers, and she then realized why. She had called herself short, and he was around the same height as her, essentially calling him small. 'Oops.'
"As you may know, I already have Fullmetal on the lookout for the Philosopher's Stone, and I will not have two state alchemists looking for it; it's a waste of resources." This turned Margaret's attention back to her superior.
"So you sent me on all of those meaningless missions so that I wouldn't want to look for it? All you want to do is get a promotion! You just don't want the top dogs of the military to find out that you're letting your soldiers out on too long of a leash! And you came looking for me to join your ranks, you know!" She took a breath, calming herself down. "I get why you don't want me to, but I think that I could actually help this Fullmetal guy, and you know just as much as I do that I need to find the Philosopher's Stone."
His narrow black eyes glared at her wide ones, but something prevented him from refusing her plea. "Fine," he said, "Go. But if for any reason I need you back here, you will come without question."
"Please let me go! I won't—wait. What? You're letting me do this?" She asked in a slight stupor. She did not think that Mustang would give in that easily.
With a sudden 'whoosh' of opening doors, the room was filled with men, blue military uniforms, and state-alchemist chains. And then the Iron Blood Alchemist walked into the room, in all of his massive, scary glory. Margaret shrunk back slightly. She met this man once, when she took her state alchemy exam, but his presence was ingrained into her memory.
Instinctively, she saluted her higher ranking comrade, all the while wondering why he, and what seemed to be the rest of the state alchemists, were doing all the way in East City. Out of the corner of her eye, Margaret saw Mustang's confused expression, and a shrug from one of the officers against the wall.
'Good, at least I know I'm not the only one here out of the loop,' she thought.
The uneasy look on Mustang's face was easy to read as he said, "This is a surprise visit, Brigadier General."
"From this moment on, this building will be used as a temporary Central Headquarters," the tall man's reply was cold.
Margaret shivered; she hoped that this man was not an example of what she was to become in the future.
"Bwahahahaha!" The Brigadier General, Basque Gran stepped aside to let a man with an eye patch into the room. He was followed by a woman with brown hair. "Lighten up," he laughed, "This is getting blown out of proportion."
Unintentionally, Margaret uttered the word, "Fuhrer," once she realized who this man was.
He was the head honcho of the whole country of Amestris, not to mention the man who was the commanding officer of the military. He was the one who passed her when she took her state alchemy exam not more than 3 months ago.
The Iron Fist Alchemist spoke once again, "From here until further notice, the Fuhrer will oversee everything that goes on here."
The Fuhrer saluted the three original people in the room, who returned the gesture immediately. He then proceeded out of the room followed by the rest of his central crew.
Margaret sighed once they all left the room. "Jeez, you'd think that you'd get some sort of warning." She looked towards the Lieutenant Colonel who was still standing behind his desk, "Eh?"
He glared at her. "I suggest you start treating the man who just let you off your leash with a little more respect, Margaret."
She grinned up at him. Right now she just couldn't possibly hate him. "Yessir!" She paused. "And please stop calling me that."
"Wait a sec!" The blonde haired boy walked angrily to stand next to the girl. "You can't expect her to come with me and Alphonse! She'd only slow us down!"
Margaret turned her head to look at the boy. She was just a little ticked off. "Hey, jerk. I'm standing right here, you know."
He continued to ignore her. "How do you expect us to make any progress if we have to protect a girl?"
Margaret huffed, starting to get offended. Who did this guy think he was anyway?
"You'll be fine, Fullmetal. I'm actually kind of interested to see how things turn out," the Lieutenant Colonel had a thoughtful look on his face, and he started to walk to the door.
"You can't be ser—"
"YOU'RE THE FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST?" Margaret exclaimed, pointing her index finger at the boy directly in front of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw Roy Mustang smirk as he walked out the door.
The boy frowned. "Yes I am. Why, did you think I'd be taller or something?" He clearly was sensitive about his height.
Margaret shook her head. "Nah, I just thought you'd be older." 'And yeah, maybe a liiiittle taller,' she thought to herself.
The boy was silent before making a hasty exit. She watched him leave, wondering what exactly he needed the philosopher's stone for. The girl knew not to pry, but she was curious. And she didn't like how off-put he was by the idea of her joining him. 'He doesn't know me. He just met me! How could he decide if I'm welcome or not…' she replayed their interaction in her mind. 'Oh my god he thinks I'm a complete psycho! I just intruded on his debrief!' She slapped her forehead.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid.'
Realizing that she was all alone in the room, she exited and walked down the stairwell to get to the first floor. With each step, Margaret realized how tired she actually was. The trains she took were not made with luxury seats, but hard wooden benches. And with the long rides that she took, it wasn't exactly easy to get any rest. She didn't care that it was lunch time; all she wanted to do was take a long nap. By the time she made it to the lounge room, her eyes were drooping. She spotted the closest flat surface, and claimed it, sprawling across it. Her thoughts were on the philosopher's stone as she drifted off to sleep.
"Have you guys ever heard of Doctor Marcoh?"
"No, but I suspect that Edward thinks that Lieutenant Colonel Mustang knows more than he says."
Margaret stirred in her sleep.
"Yeah, do you think that's why Ed challenged him?"
Margaret's dark eyes slowly opened. These people were being way to damn loud. "Do you people always talk so loudly when there are people sleeping in your presence?" She moaned.
The people around her froze, not realizing that there was a girl sleeping on the couch in the corner. Slowly sitting up, Maggie rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"This isn't a bedroom, Maggie. You have as much right to sleep in here as we do to talk," a sharp voice reprimanded her.
That voice belonged to Lieutenant Hawkeye, Margaret (who preferred to be addressed as Maggie) realized. "Yeah…sorry," she mumbled, not actually sounding that apologetic.
Maggie saw that Breda, Havoc, Feury, and Falman were in the room as well.
"What you say about someone challenging Mustang?" She asked, her eyes still half closed.
Falman spoke up. "The Fullmetal Alchemist challenged the Flame Alchemist as an assessment for his state alchemist title. It's a mock fight, and the battle is evaluated. Edward asked for this kind of assessment himself. I think he's going to lose to the Flame Alchemist though…" his voice trailed off.
"Eh, you can't underestimate either of them." Maggie explained, "The Lieutenant Colonel is strong, but Fullmetal wouldn't be this famous for nothing, right? Besides, he has to be pretty confident in himself to challenge someone he knows is powerful."
"I think it was also an 'if I win you keep this cat,' situation," Lieutenant Hawkeye said with disinterest. Her eyes were focused on her paperwork in front of her, and one of her hands was subconsciously petting Mimi's head.
"Aw man. I guess I can't ask him to take this puppy then," Feury said with a pout.
Maggie looked over to the young soldier and saw the small black and white dog in his arms. It was really cute, she observed.
The door slammed open to reveal Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, a dazed expression adorned his face. Rapidly, he walked straight up to Feury, who looked surprised.
"Sir?" he asked unsure.
Maggie could have sworn she heard Mustang growl before he took the small dog from his underling's hands. "Dog," he stated.
'Astute observation, dumbass.' Maggie rolled her eyes. "And this would be my time to leave. I'll be staying in the barracks. You better not lose tomorrow, sir. I think that would be quite humiliating, don't you?" She hopped off the table. "Let's go Mimi." And they exited the room.
A loud exclamation of "I LOVE DOGS!" was heard as she walked down the hallway.