"I'll be back before you know it," the young woman said to the Colonel standing in front of her. Her short, black hair framed her face elegantly. "I just have some unfinished business at home to take care of."
"Make sure to come back soon, Lieutenant, I have an assignment for you when you get back," he said. She inclined her head, bangs sending a shadow over her eyes.
"Thank you sir," the girl turned and walked out of the office.
The train took an unexpected jerk, pulling her from her dream. That meeting had been almost a year ago, yet she thought about it every day. "I just can't go back," she muttered to herself. Her hair was now long, but she tied it back with a silk flowered ribbon. 'When I get to Central, I'll sneak into an inn, make sure no recognizes me, then head out for Eastern tomorrow,' she thought.
A few hours later, the train pulled to a halt at Central station. She stood up and stretched, pulling her navy blue bag from the seat across from her. She pulled out dark sunglasses and slipped them over her eyes. As casually as she could act, she walked off the train and down the street.
"Hey stop will ya!" she turned to see a blond boy running after a man in black. He, the blond, looked like he was getting tired. Sighing, she put a hand into the pocket of her black coat and pulled out four playing cards, fanned out. With her free hand, she touched the back of her black finger-less glove where a transmutation circle was drawn. With a soft glow, the playing cards turned to daggers. Looking up at the guy in black, she threw the daggers at him. They caught the mans clothes and pinned him to the wall of the building he was passing.
"I always have to save the day," she said walking over to him. The blond caught up with her, trying to catch his breath.
"Hey…thanks…" he managed to get out between breaths. She waved her hand around impatiently. Walking over to the man pinned to the tree, she clapped her hands on his temples, causing him to fall unconscious. "Too easy," she said to herself pulling the daggers out of the wall and transmuting them back into cards. The blond guy watched her slightly opened mouthed. She looked at him, about to make some kind of smart remark, when she noticed his state alchemist pocketwatch hanging out of his pocket. Without another word, she turned and sped away. 'I knew I recognized that squirt. It's that Edward Elric. Best to just get out of here.' She thought, pumping her legs.
Unluckily for her, Ed thought that had been a bit suspicious. Plus he had to say thanks. Leaving Al to watch the prisoner, he ran after her. She ran faster when she saw him following. Being to busy watching him, She didn't see the curb. She fell and hit her head on the pavement, shaking it off; she got up and kept running. She took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end right as Ed caught up with her.
"Hey! What are you running for?" he said panting. When he looked up, Ed found himself looking up the barrel of her pistol. She held it pointed at him, but he noticed that she was trembling, especially her legs. Right as he noticed this, She collapsed onto her knees still holding the gun level. A second later, Ed noticed another thing, her face was all scratched up now.
"Look kid," she said. Ed twitched slightly. "Just leave me alone, I know you wanna say thanks but it was noth..." She fell to the ground, unconscious, from a small concussion and the pain from her ankle. The gun fell from her hand, as Ed ran to her.
She woke up, head pounding, in a hospital bed. She sat up holding her head and looked around. Glancing out the open window, she was met with a familiar sight. She jumped out of bed and ran to the window. "Oh crap! I gotta get out of here!" she said looking down on Central headquarters. She grabbed her bag from the bedside table and pulled out a knee length denim skirt and a navy blue top. She had just pulled her shirt on when someone knocked on the door. She picked up her jacket, put on her sunglasses, and went to answer the door.
"You shouldn't be up just yet," Ed said, standing in front of her. She didn't say anything but, shoved past him, starting to run down the hall. It was a short-lived effort however, because a man in a military uniform stopped her. He had grabbed her wrist before she ran into him. She looked up at him. 'Crap again!' she thought before wrenching her wrist away and dashing down the hall. Ed made a move to run after her, but Mustang stopped him.
"She won't get far on that ankle," he said watching She. Not three seconds after he said it, her ankle gave in and she stumbled onto the floor. She leaned against the wall, holding her ankle.
"Damn it all," she said, eyes screwed up in pain. Ed walked over to her and held out his hand to help her up. She glared at him and pushed it away, leaning against the wall to stand her up. He looked at her, surprised, and said "I was just trying to help."
"Oh trust me you helped me enough by bringing me here," She said coldly making her way back to her room. Mustang and the Elrics followed her in. She crawled into the lumpy hospital bed, turning to stare out the window. "How long must I stay here?" she asked quietly.
"Unfortunately Miss, you might be here for awhile," Mustang said standing by the door. She pulled out a metal box wrapped in velvet from her bag and held it in her lap. "And why is that?" she asked gently unwrapping the box. The Colonel just smirked and left the room, leaving her and the Elrics there. "Hmmph, whatever. Oh, I never introduced myself," she said looking over at Edward. 'Which name to use…' she thought. "Mandy, just Mandy."
"Ok, hi Mandy I'm Edwar…" 'Mandy' stopped him by saying, "Yeah, yeah. Edward Elric the Fullmetal Alchemist and his younger brother Alphonse. I know." She pulled out a piece of plastic and a small coin from her pocket. She pulled out a playing card with a transmutation circle on the back. Ed and Al looked curiously over at her and came closer to the bed. She laid out her coat and set the card on the inside of the chest. Setting the plastic and the coin on the card she touched the circle. In a small flash of light a zipper appeared in the inside of her coat. She unzipped the pocket and pulled out a small silver key, making sure they didn't see what else was in the pocket. She transmuted the zipper back into it's original form and put her coat aside.
"Um…question," Ed said looking confused, "What are you doing?"
"Yeah, I'd kinda like to know that too." Said Al. She just smiled and unlocked the box. Everything inside was separately wrapped in velvet. 'Good thing I wrapped everything up or they might've saw my old uniform.' She thought.
"Well I noticed that you guys confiscated my gun. It was because I pulled it on a State official wasn't it?" Ed nodded as she started to unwrap the thing on the top. "I thought so. Oh well, it doesn't matter." She pulled up her skirt alittle (only a little so don't get any ideas!) and strapped on a holster, hiding her leg from view. She sat up and started unwrapping something else. "That was really nice of you to, you know bring me to get medical attention but, I was fine."
"You were unconscious from a concussion!" Ed raised his voice abit, "What do you mean you were fine?"
"I would've woken up eventually. Edward, you did the worst possible thing by bringing me here!" She yelled at him pulling a pistol out of the velvet. She slipped it into the holster on her leg and looked up at him. Standing up, after locking the box up again, she shoved past him again limping. 'Mandy' grabbed her bag and walked towards the door. Ed stood in front of the door, arms stretched out, blocking her path.
"You can't leave yet," he said looking serious, "I have orders from the Colonel."
She tried hard not to pull her gun. "Look shorty," she said through clenched teeth. "Move or I'll shoot you."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT IF HE WAS A CRUMB EVEN A MOUSE WOULDN'T PICK IT UP?" Ed yelled in her face. She calmly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the spittle off her face. She backed up and took off her sunglasses wiping them off.
"I didn't. What are you looking at?" she asked watching him a bit creeped out. Ed was staring at her eyes.
"Your eyes. They're blue with violet specks," he said. Ed shook his head and looked over her shoulder to Al. "Hey Al. Kindly escort Mandy back to her bed."
Al came up behind her and grabbed her arms. He carried her over to her bed and set her down.
"Damn it, I would shoot you if you weren't empty," she said to Al, then looked over at Ed, who was standing there with his jaw halfway to the ground. She realized her mistake. "Did I just say that out loud?"
"How did you know that?" Al asked. She put her sunglasses back on and didn't answer. Everyone stood there in silence for a few seconds before lying down on the bed.
"Go away. All this excitement has tuckered me out." She faced the window. The Elrics left and sat down beside the door.