this is a little short but i think you'll like it
Grumman frowned at the letter in his hand, reading it again just to double check that he got the meaning.
Acting Fuhrer Grumman,
I regret to inform you that G. G. Valintin has declined to meet with me in regards to discussing the whereabouts of your missing soldier. He has informed me, however, that the attack your soldier was involved in was not something he had authorized. He believes there is a faction within the military that took it upon themselves to stage the capture of your soldier. If he finds anymore information regarding this assumption, I will contact you immediately.
Unfortunately, if he will not meet with me, I cannot investigate into the reasonings behind such an action (if true) or who may have led this alleged coup.
My sincere apologies.
Signed,
Czar Mikhail
Grumman knew that Roy's subordinates were not going to like this news.
The door opened and Riza walked in.
"Your tea."
"Thank you, my dear."
She gave a small nod. "Is… that letter from Drachma?"
He smiled sadly. "Yes, but… the news is not good, I'm afraid."
"Any news is better than no news."
"That's just it, it's not really anything to use. The Czar was informing me that the Grand Generalissimo will not have an audience with him, so that means he can't go any farther and thus I can't go farther. We can't do anything. The only good bit of news is that the Grand Generalissimo believes that a faction within the military planned the attack without his permission. If that's the case, then hopefully he will get wind of more information and we will hear about it soon."
"That's not very convincing." Riza said softly.
Grumman smiled sadly again. "I know… but if we try to force information out of them, we will end ourselves in another war. We just got over one hell of a battle with people that… well, that weren't exactly human. The country is picking itself back up and going back to normal and the military is reforming itself. We had a large number of soldiers resign after the incident with the Homunculus."
"So I've heard rumor."
"Until the military gets itself put back together, invoking the wrath of a country like Drachma, who was using our distracted forces to almost make an entry into Amestris, would be the end of us."
"I agree. Do I have permission to share this news with the others?"
"If you will be discreet. We don't need more than Roy's lot to be enraged anymore over this. I'm sure they will come up with something. I mean, it's not like I can keep a watch on everyone." He said, pouring tea into his cup.
Riza blinked a little as Grumman poured milk in.
"Go on, Riza." He said softly.
She got up and left the room, a ghost of a smile appearing.
"WHAT?!" Havoc yelled, slamming his hands on the table in the café. "Are you serious?!"
"Pipe down, Havoc." Breda growled, pulling his friend back down to his chair. "Stop overreacting."
"Over- how-"
"So, what do we do now?" Fuery asked, looking at his cup of coffee. "I mean, without permission from that Grand Generalissimo guy, we have nothing to go on."
Riza nodded as she sat back.
"True, we can't get any information about what may have happened. But the Colonel would want us to continue helping support the military and get it back on its feet. Grumman mentioned that we lost a lot of men due to the events that happened during the Promised Day. We need to do what we can to get this country back on its feet. Then, when we do find the Colonel, we can have him come back to a stable country and then help him rise to Fuhrer like we planned all along."
"Well how the hell are we going to do that when we can't even get into the stupid country?" Havoc growled.
"The Fuhrer can't oversee everyone all the time; he has so much to keep track of. He's too busy right now trying to regroup the military into a halfway decent militia with the men we have. Trying to keep up with a mission in Drachma could make things difficult for him." Riza said.
"Yeah, maybe we should just focus on getting everything back to normal so that when we do get permission, we will be ready and able." Fuery said.
"I know you're pissed off about this, Jean, but going in there half-assed isn't going to accomplish anything." Breda said as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder.
Havoc sneered and finished the rest of his coffee.
"I'm going out for a smoke." He growled, grabbing his coat.
He walked outside and put his coat on, grabbing the pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket. He lit it up with his lighter and blew out some smoke. He walked to a phone booth that was a little ways off and went into it, leaving the door open.
Edward wiped his forehead and drank some water. Doing hard labor was such a nuisance. He would never wish what happened to Al to happen again but damn did he miss alchemy. He looked around for a second and clapped his hands, putting them on the board but nothing happened. He frowned and picked the board up, walking over to the frame of a building.
"You think you can hide it but I know you miss it." someone said behind him.
He looked behind him as Winry smiled. He made a face.
"What are you talking about?"
"You miss alchemy."
"Well, yeah… It was a big part of my life, so how could I not?"
"Why don't you try to study it again? You're still smart enough to understand it, right?"
"It's not a matter of understanding. I can't get that back. I'll never be able to use alchemy again."
"Oh…"
"It's not that big of a deal, Winry. Al is back and that's all that matters. If I cared just about my ability to use alchemy I wouldn't have sacrificed it for my brother. Besides, I thought I could play god because of the power alchemy gave me. It's kind of a good riddance but… it shows me how much I relied on it."
Winry looked behind him and frowned.
"Apparently way too much."
"I was an alchemist not an architect." Edward growled.
Winry laughed and put her hands on his shoulders.
"Ed, it doesn't matter if you have alchemy or not, you're still Edward Elric to me."
Edward smiled as he leaned in for a kiss.
"Brother!"
He growled and turned as Alphonse looked at the frame of the house with his hands on his hips.
"What's this supposed to be?"
"The frame."
"To what?"
"The house…"
"Are you making a house for ants?" Al kicked the boards and it fell over. "BROTHER!"
"I'M NOT AN ARCHITECT!" he screamed. "You can still use alchemy, so why don't you just clap your hands and make it, damn it?!"
"Because that's cheating." Al said with a wag of his finger. "And besides, you need to learn how to use your hands in a more convenient way."
"Well apparently building a house is not on that list." He said with a cross of his arms.
"Ed? There's a phone call for you." Pinako said from the stairs.
"Good, a distraction." He grumbled.
He walked into the house and took the phone.
"This is Edward."
"Hey, Chief."
"Hey, Havoc."
"So, I have some news."
"It doesn't sound very good."
"It isn't. Hawkeye got word from Grumman that he can't proceed with the investigation because the military guy in Drachma won't let them. Although he did say that the attack wasn't ordered by the Grand Generalissimo and that there is speculation of a separate faction making their own decisions."
"So what now? Do we wait another year?" Edward growled.
"No. Word on the street is that the Fuhrer is very busy and that he just can't… keep up with everyone. He can't oversee everyone all the time. I mean, a few of us might… slip through the cracks."
Edward smirked and leaned on the wall.
"I see. That would be a shame if something happened due to all this confusion."
"Indeed… You like the snow, Fullmetal?"
Edward grinned. "No, but I think I'll learn to deal with it."
in short, if anyone did not catch onto the many hints, grumman pretty much said that he's got a lot of stuff to do but if a couple of soldiers somehow 'coincidentally' went to drachma to check things out themselves, he would never be the wiser.
basically, the game is afoot!
and ed hasn't proposed to winry in this. just thought i'd bring that out. they are dating but that's it. and mei went back to xing for a bit.
