Chap 1
Idk what to write up here... So yeah... EdxRoyish.... ish.... idk... it's kinda parental right now and i don't know if i want it to change or not so we'll see how it goes. So yeah. Yeah. ... bye, i'm going to drink monster... or rootbeer, or whatever.... whatever is in her fridge... idk... lemme alone it's 1:30 and sara's tired. yes i just refered to myself in third person. Enjoy...
So this is pretty much the first (or one of... we're putting up three tonight apparently) fic for our Fangirls and Co. account. Yay. (probably haven't read our profile so, this is made by tara and sara. Tara is Taranova on here and i'm not saying who i am cuz i barely even used my account xd...) so yeah. fave us... if you like. i'm not forcing you or anything (yes i am)... i'd offer you a cookie or somthing... but all i have are death cookies... i'm sure your not too fond of those. promise next time we'll bake cookies for u... our email is ... okay done with the self advertising.... promise... i kinda haff too though... first fic and all... so yeah.
Roy didn't care anymore. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen to Ed if he were caught, but wondering was not caring. He couldn't bring himself to feel guilty for sending him out to war because that would mean it had been his own fault. Roy just wasn't ready to accept that. If Ed died it couldn't... No, Roy corrected his thought, it couldn't be on his head. Ed had been more than willing to go to Ishball himself, even if Roy hadn't volunteered him for the job he probably would have been called out anyways.
Riza interrupted his thoughts by entering the room, and he pulled himself back to Earth. She carried a thick file, no doubt the work she took over from Ed. Riza didn't do paperwork in files anymore, she had been moved into the Crime Investigations Unit. All their paperwork stayed put. "Colonel," She handed him the file, and he inwardly sighed. More paperwork meant... Well, more work in general.
"What's this Riza?" He looked down at the file, it wasn't as thick it had seemed, on the scrawny side actually. It seemed odd to him that Riza ended up in this office at least twice a week to do odds and ends. Maybe she was missing being in his branch. Riza and Ed were the only ones that had moved away but it felt like a different group with them gone. Almost lonely, but never quiet.
"Have a look yourself, Colonel Mustang. I know it's not much to go off of, we need a bit more, but I thought you might take a special interest in this case. If you wanted, you could join the Investigations Unit on this case." Roy flipped open the manila folder and saw the Initial Report Form lying on the top of the papers. It was a missing persons report, filed two days ago. It was Ed's. Guilt lurked on the edges of his mind but he neglected it, it didn't belong to him, he didn't deserve it. Ed was big enough to make his own decisions now anyways. Knowing the kid, he probably had made a stupid choice, and that made it Ed's fault, not Roy's.
"Why was I not informed of this two days ago? He is in my jurisdiction." Roy said angrily at her, even though he knew in the back of his mind that she didn't deserve his anger. If anything he should thank her for telling him. For offering.
"Sir, may I remind you, he's not in your jurisdiction anymore. We're at war, he's in the field. He was under Bryant's order." She stood rigid and he wished she would cut the formalities, even if she no longer belonged to his group.
"Then why the hell did Bryant let this slip! Does he not care what happens to his subordinates?" He threw the file on his desk.
"We're all doing our best sir. Things happen. Bryant and all of the other generals have a lot on their plates right now. That's why I offered." Hawkeye said.
"Yes. I want to help with this case." Roy said, almost as if he were closing the conversation, dismissing her.
She understood him, "I'll pass it on, sir. Keep the file for now." With that, she left.
"Dammit!" He punched his desk drawer closed. It is my fault. It is. He let the pang of regret sink in. Even though he knew that deep down he wasn't entirely blameless, he held onto that last shred of hope. The last bit of his mind that told him he wasn't responsible. He couldn't be.
He opened the file again, trying to memorize some of the things. Ed was apparently last seen by General Kain, when ordered off to check a small town near Ishball that had lost all contact the day before. Had it not occurred to anybody out there with a gram of common sense that if there was no more communication they should probably send more than a teenage alchemist? Sometimes Roy wondered if anybody even had a working brain but himself.
He yanked the phone off his desk and to his ear, a little too violently, dialing Crime's extension. "Yes, I'm calling to ask about a case I'm helping out on." The woman that answered had a small voice and Roy wondered when the military started hiring teenage girls... Although he did hire a teenage boy, but look where that had gotten him. "Yes, a case about a state alchemist. Edward Elric." The woman passed the phone to somebody with a much manlier voice.
"I'm inquiring about the Fullmetal Alchemist. Why hasn't investigations filled me in on his disappearance?"
"Because there is no investigation. Army personnel are in short supply. We don't have the resources to fund something like that right now." He replied.
"Then how the hell do you plan on ensuring his safety!? We have to send somebody in there. I want it done by tomorrow... What's your name again?" Roy asked.
"Callinan, Second Lieutenant." said Callinan.
"Right, I want somebody to investigate this thoroughly by tomorrow, Lieutenant." Roy said. Not waiting for a reply or more excuses, he hung up.
The colonel went into the workroom. Breda and Fallman were poking fun at Havoc as usual while Fuery was busy doing paperwork. Ross and Bloch weren't technically part of his team, but they were here most of the time. Today they were absent. It was Roy's luck. This was all that was left of Roy's crew and he felt a little stab of disappointment. He didn't realize until now how he missed the good old days. The days that were filled with the entire team, not just a partial one. (Those were also the days that things actually got done.)
"Listen up. Ed's gone missing." At this, everybody in the office quieted down and let Roy continue, "Lieutenant Hawkeye informed me this morning. She invited us to help with the case and since we aren't exactly doing anything..." At this point he pointedly looked at Breda and Havoc.
"Fuery," Roy tossed the file to him. "Have copies made for everybody, including me and give that back to Hawkeye. Everybody else......... " He stopped, racking his brains to find something for them to do. "Read the file."
It was almost five o'clock when the Colonel got out of the office, and nearly nothing had been accomplished. He figured Cullinan better have found somebody to go into the field by now or he was going to get a major ass kicking. He picked up his home phone and called the Crime Investigations Unit's number. It rang a few times but nobody picked up. He hung up and redialed. Hawkeye finally answered. "Hello?"
"Hey, I was calling to see if Second Lieutenant Cullinan had found somebody to go into the town Ed was last ordered to." Roy told her.
"Yes, He spoke to me about it. I thought it would be better for you to go, actually." She had lost the formal tone in her voice, and had more of a familiar one. The one she used when she gave him advice, when she was being nothing more than a friend. No military strings attached.
"Me? Why?"
"I meant your team Roy. If you don't go look for yourself... Well, could you not go? What if they don't find him. You'd always feel regret that you didn't check yourself. It'd be your fault." She said, as if reading his mind. It made him angry, more angry than it should have. He didn't like people to know how he felt.
"It wouldn't be my fault." He said it through gritted teeth and she could see right through him; See that he was saying more for himself than to convince her.
"Roy. It's better to do things yourself. You know it. If you let somebody else do it, you'll always wonder if there was something they missed. I know it's easier for right now to blame it on others, but in the long run it will be easier not too. If you don't blame anybody else then you'll know that you did all you could. That it was truly fate, and of no fault of your own. I really think you should do this. Besides, we're low on military personnel, right now you are the best person for the job. Even if you aren't in Investigations. Your team should go. It'll give you all clo-" She was cut off.
"You say it like he's already dead. Like you know. Besides, who said I'd feel guilty at all. It was his choice to join the military, not mine. He was old enough to know what that meant. He never once asked to leave. He was big enough to make his own decisions. He's the one that doesn't like to be treated like a baby. Who said I even cared that much?" Roy felt like attacking her. It wasn't the thought of attacking somebody that made him feel better. Just the thought of getting things off his chest. It was Riza... He knew she could take it. She always took his shit, and she called him on his shit too. She would always be the one he could rely on in times like this. She always saw through him, no matter how much it annoyed him sometimes.
"Roy, I know you. I know you'd care if his life was in danger." She retorted and he sighed. She'd made up his mind for him. He was going into the field no matter what, and it was time for him to get over it. He'd done some bad things in the field, but now it was time to make up for it. To do something good in the field.
"I'll do it. When am I leaving?" He asked.
"Your whole team can go anytime you want." She paused and he was going to hang up. "Roy, I'm sorry for not telling you yesterday. I was just worried about it, and how it would affect you. I know you don't want to act like it's a big deal. It's okay for you to though."
"Thanks Riza." He put the phone in its cradle, and wondered what he was going to do for the rest of the night.
He considered going to the local bar and getting smashed with a few friends but he didn't feel up for it. Besides, he didn't want a hangover tomorrow, that would have been terrible. He decided to just sleep, there was nothing else for him to do but worry, and that didn't sound like fun, so he made his way up the stairs to his bedroom and passed out. By the time he woke up it was 11:30; too late to do anything but watch TV, so that's what he did. He watched the fuzzy images of Twilight Zone lull him to sleep slowly until he was totally conked out.
I wrote this on half a can of monster (sadly only half, i was sharing lol) and chocolate at 12:06 (according to the clock right now, and i'm only at 1,122 words xd so i'll probly working for a lot longer bleh), I'm aware it sucks ass... be nice to meh, i'm a kit kat katty mack. or somthing. so yeah... i hope u like it... i think it kinda seems a bit sudden and moving too fast. idk you tell me. also i know the name doesn't seem to fit now, but it will later. promise. also it seems a bit short... is it?
tara edited this for me she rocks. i guess. kind of. sort of. yeah she rocks. I less than three you tara! thank you.
lol tara added the 'tara edited this for meh'. *puts hands up and surrenders* srry, i forgot, if it's a federal offense to not remember to give credit where credit is due (actually i think it might b an offense, but not federal x3) then bite me... or do whatever you do for federal offenses... idk... handcuff me... oh that sounded... i'm shutting up.
