Author notes: This chapter has now been revised as well. Also I have added a few details and as always all suggestions are always welcomed so that I can always improve as a writer and make this story a better one for all that read it. Thanks for those whom have read, reviewed, or both. Even a pm is welcomed!
It was now close to six o' clock at night, and only a mere forty-five minutes had passed since the Elric brothers had departed from Roy Mustang's office. Their self-proclaimed leader should hopefully arrive within the next fifteen minutes or so. The two brothers both glanced around the small, but busy little club, not really finding what they were looking for at least for the moment. The eldest of the Elric brothers, Edward, was still bewildered about how he and Alphonse were even granted access, especially to a place like this, after all the boys were barely fifteen and sixteen years of age. This was definitely no place for boys of their age from the half-naked strippers, the obvious presence of booze, not to mention he was fairly certain that the was a drug deal going down at the table to their far right.
The club itself seemed pretty busy, its bar was packed and over flowing with customers claiming each available barstool and several standing customers crowding the already crowded mahogany colored bar as well. Each occupant near the bar seemed to be ordering some type of alcoholic beverage or demanding a refill. The poor bartenders scrambled frantically back and forth from one end of the bar to the other, each of them carrying three to four drinks in their hands and the crevices of their elbows as they hurried to complete their seeming less endless orders. Even with the efforts of the three current bartenders, it seemed that this club or at least its bar was slightly understaffed.
The young blonde sighed and strummed his fingers impatiently upon the small square wooden table that he and Al had chosen to wait for the colonel at. He really hated waiting, more especially in a place such as this. Edward crinkled his nose a tad bit as he noticed the odd smell of the place for the first time. It smelled strange, but not completely bad, almost like a mixture of cheap flowery perfume, booze, cigarettes, and oddly enough coffee… huh… that reminded him, did he even remember to turn the coffee pot off this morning? He sighed inwardly, he had no idea if he had or not, he had been so preoccupied trying to avoid the colonel and trying to sneak a ten foot suit of armor out of the base without the rest of the military noticing that he had completely forgotten to make sure he had turned everything off. It was too late to be worrying about this matter now, what's done is done, but still…..his poor coffee pot! Hopefully if he had left it on, nothing bad would happen….like catching their apartment on fire, or worse….burn out his precious coffee pot! That would be just terrible, granted he could probably just transmute the possibly half-melted coffee maker back to a working and unsinged condition, but that wasn't the point! He would rather not have to go through the trouble of transmuting their entire apartment back to normal. It was now five-fifty in the afternoon and they were expecting the colonel to show up here at any moment.
"Brother, I wonder where Colonel Mustang is? I hope he hasn't gotten himself into trouble." Alphonse said as he looked down at his older brother, the hinges of his metal armor squeaking slightly as he bent his arm in order to rest his helmeted head on the backs of his hands. He was doing his best to be patient at least more so than his elder brother and with so much time that has already past he couldn't help to grow just a little bit worried for the flame alchemist.
"I dunno Al, but it better involve him here within in the next five minutes or I'll….."The little blonde responded but was cut off midway through his threat by a slightly older gruffer voice.
"Or you will what, full metal?" the voice that interrupted the young alchemist belonged to no other than the flame alchemist in question and Roy was now standing directly behind Edward with a glare of irritation at his subordinate. Edward let out a gulp of fear as he heard the much agitated voice of the self-proclaimed almighty flame alchemist. "Or I'll kick you in the face!" The blonde spewed out as he returned the same irritable glare back at his superior now that his initial fear at being caught had subsided and his infamous temper returned in all its glory. Roy's eyebrow began to twitch slightly with annoyance as he walked to the empty chair beside Alphonse and took a seat next to him.
"Go ahead and try! I highly doubt you could even reach!" The older man smirked, waiting for the short fused alchemist (no pun intended of course) to react. Edward's reactions always reminded him of those times when one would shake up a soda bottle and then attempt to open said beverage only to have it react violently everywhere. A playful fire grew in the colonel's dark colored eyes and in his mind did a countdown to the unavoidable implosion of Edward. The lighter blonde hairs that were near the nape of his neck began to rise and flare out making him resemble what Roy would envision as one of those odd lizards that could flare out their necks. Steam almost seemed to just seep out from the very pores of the now red faced full metal alchemist as he tried to not give into mighty flame alchemist. No he refused to give him the satisfaction. "You would no doubt probably need at least a stepstool." That was it…..that final comment was all that the younger blonde could handle before he exploded like a volcano.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE NEEDS A STEPLADDER TO PET THE TOP OF A PUPPY'S HEAD?!" Edward yelled in Roy's general direction, his eyes had a fiery look in them and his face had a look to kill upon it. How dare he call him short, he was most definitely not short, everyone else was just freakishly tall. Alphonse sighed as he opened his large chest plate of his armor to take out a tiny green notebook and seemed to be making a tally of sorts with two categories that said Edward and Roy. One he had finished marking the points in their appropriate category he placed the notebook back inside of his chest plate and closed it back up.
"If you are done over exaggerating your 'short comings' then let's get down to business." Roy merely smirked and snickered at Edward's outburst, clearly amused at Edward's anger. Edward's eyebrow twitched in mild irritation at the man's comment, but he managed to keep his temper in check this time. He really hated when people referenced his height was it really so important that everyone he met felt the need to remind him that he was shorter than them…He hated it even more when they had the face of the stupid colonel and said it with that stupid smirk of his. 'Stupid mustang…' he mused to himself as he breathed in and exhaled out slowly to calm his inner rage down.
"Anything suspicious?" The older man asked the two younger boys, changing their current subject of Edward's height to a much more serious one. He could just pick on his subordinate later when such pressing matters were no longer involved.
"Not really." Alphonse was the one to answer since Edward was still practicing his anger management techniques. Edward had suddenly stopped his little exercise and merely stared directly behind them.
"Unless you consider the Fuehrer being here as odd…" The blonde spoke and pointed a finger behind the other two males. Both Alphonse and Roy looked at Edward oddly but nonetheless they turned their heads to look in the direction he had pointed and sure enough there he was, Fuehrer Bradley in the flesh. He was standing near the entrance of the club and appeared to be conversing with one of the many hostesses. The Fuehrer was dressed in a more normal attire than his military clothing. He had on a rather nice dark brown suit with matching shoes and a dark red dress shirt underneath it. He was also donning a new eye patch; this one looked silky and was a nice shade of crimson red, which matched his shirt of course, who knew the fuehrer was such a snazzy dresser. He looked quite handsome in his new attire, too nice for a place like this. His choice of clothing however wasn't what was surprising, but his choice of after work activity was.
"I wonder why the Fuehrer is here, brother?" questioned Alphonse, scratching his metal helmet in curiously and looked at the other two. The sound his fingers made as he scratched metal against metal was a loud and slightly irritating noise similar to nails on a chalkboard. Both of them merely shrugged at Alphonse just as much confused as he was, though Al was quite young when he had lost his human body and was sealed to this suit of armor, he was quite knowledgeable about the world. Something told him that such an important head figure such as Fuehrer Bradley would not entertain himself in a place as this especially if they were trying to portray the image of a well to do man, with a loving wife and son, and trying to show he was the overall perfect role model for this nation. He couldn't imagine that he would want to tarnish this image that he has portrayed of himself to the vast populace of Ametris and knowing all of this the only conclusion that Alphonse could come up with was that he was meeting someone else here, but who? Surely a man of his status could just have sent someone to come here in the Fuehrer's place?
The much older man didn't even so much as bat an eye to suggest that he had even noticed them. He just continued to walk past one of the hostesses as he made his way to a rather luxurious table in the far right corner, must be for the VIPs….
It was only a few minutes after the Fuehrer had sat down at his table that they saw her, Madeline, the supposed dead woman that they had been searching for. She was standing near the bar and in person she was even more beautiful than they had imagined she would be. She had long jet black hair that flowered in long luscious curly tresses around her face, a few falling over to one side. Her eyes were almost like chocolate diamonds with their glimmer and dark chocolate colored irises, not to mention their pairings with long thick lashes that were lightly dabbed with mascara. Her eyelids were covered in a light, but still predominant shade of emerald green and her full pouty lips were shaded with a dark shade of rose red. She was wearing a beautiful, short, but still attractive dress that above the knee and skin tight with a gorgeous jade green color. Patterns of little blue birds and flowers covered the dress in an attractive pattern and the neck was cut low, but not low enough to show off all of her voluptuous cleavage. Dainty light blue heels were worn upon her small and delicate looking feet. She was only slightly tall for a woman close to Mustang's height, but still a few inches taller.
"Colonel…"Edward had grabbed the flame alchemist's sleeve of his jacket as he pointed out the woman at the bar to him.
"It can't be…" Roy whispered in disbelief, shocked as he looked upon the woman, to him she was merely a ghost, an impossible visualization for him to see. Even though this was his own sister's image, her face… her exact face, something about seeing her now was unnerving and this was understandable considering she has been considered dead for the past ten years. Seeing her here now and what seemed to be an alive form was only further proved to him that the homunculus were most likely involved.
"Colonel Mustang, sir, what should we do? Should we confront her? Alphonse asked the older man glancing at the seemingly shocked man and then back to the newly arrived beauty that was now sitting down on one of the small wooden stools. Her legs were crossed in a very lady like fashion as she talked to a very handsome military doctor that appeared to be in his early twenties. He was appeared to be ordering a drink for her from one of the many bartenders, the drink he ordered was of an odd reddish tinted drink. She laughed as she picked up the beverage and smiled at the young man, and he smiled back in return. She took a few sips from her drink as she laughed some more at whatever the young man was saying to her.
"Nothing…just keep an eye on her, see if she tries to leave with anyone." He replied to both of the boys, with his eyes remaining on the woman in question as he watched the young doctor rise from his barstool at the bar and walk away from Madeline, a satisfied smile placed upon his face. The man walked further away from the bar and made his way towards at the table in the far right ad sat directly across from the Fuehrer himself.
"Excuse me, sir?" a soft, but delicate sounding voice broke their concentration and the three men all turned to look at their interrupter that had come to their private table. "Sir, the gentleman at the far table has requested your presence." The voice was coming from a young girl, maybe about twenty-two years old. She appeared to be of Ishbalan descent and one of the waitresses, judging by her clothes and mannerisms. Her head and face were covered by an odd scarf that each of the waitresses wore though it was partially see through, you could still barely see her true face. She was quite pretty with dark hair and eyes and she was holding a large silver dish tray that was holding two glasses of an odd crimson beverage that he was unsure of. She grabbed the two beverages that were upon her tray and placed them directly in front of the two brothers.
"We didn't order these?" Edward said as he looked at Alphonse and then back towards the young waitress. She seemed oddly familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place her face right now, but he was sure he had seen her before.
"It is a gift from the good doctor and Fuehrer Bradley. Don't worry it is only cranberry juice, we don't serve liquor to children…" She said with a reassuring wink and a very sweet, beautiful smile on her face as she bowed to them and began to walk away from their table to leave them to enjoy their drinks.
"I'll be right back, don't do anything foolish." The dark haired man rose from his seat a stern look on his face as he did so. He brushed his uniform off a bit and walked towards the VIP table at the other end. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about being called to sit with the Fuehrer and this mysterious young doctor.
Meanwhile, Edward and Alphonse had continued to sit at their little table debating whether they should partake in this supposed cranberry juice that was brought to them. The elder of the two picked up his drink and sniffed it a little bit. 'It smells like cranberry juice…' he thought to himself as he brought the cup up to his lips and took a decent gulp from it. He sputtered and coughed a little bit as he swallowed the odd tasting juice down. It sure as hell didn't taste like cranberry juice let alone any other kind of fruity beverage he had ever tasted before.
"Are you alright brother?" Alphonse asked his older brother concerned for his well-being and now worried what could have been in that juice. He reached a metal arm out towards the elder in order to lightly pat his back as the boy coughed and sputtered.
"Yea, guess the taste just caught me off guard at first, Al." He wiped his chin with a nearby napkin as his earlier reaction had caused him to spit a little on himself.
Roy had now made his way over to the VIP section and to where the Fuehrer and who he was assuming was the young doctor was sitting." Ah Colonel Mustang, how good of you to join us." The much older man that was the Fuehrer himself smiled at the much younger soldier with a warm but yet unsettling smile on his face. "Please sit down." He said offering the seat across from him with a motion of his large hands.
"It's a pleasant surprise and an honor Fuehrer." Roy responded with a salute and pulled out the chair that had been offered to him and sat down. The three men were now all seated in a triangular fashion each facing one another. For a brief moment there was a momentary silence amount the three men. The Fuehrer was the first to break their silence in order to introduce his guests to one another.
"Colonel, I would like to introduce to you Central's newest Doctor and Lab Researcher that has just been transferred to us." The man smiled as he continued to speak." This is Doctor Haldol." Again he smiled and used his hands to gesture towards the quiet man sitting across from himself and Roy.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet the great Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang." The doctor smiled as did Roy, he already like the newly transferred man, not to mention that it was a bout damn time someone acknowledged his obvious greatness.
"The pleasure is all mine, I hope you find Central to your liking, doctor." Roy returned the greeting to his new colleague and within the few moments that this conversation was taking place he decided to give him a quick glance over. The Doctor was indeed quite young, maybe too young for a doctor, but who was he to argue with the Fuehrer. If he had to guess he would have to say he was maybe in his very early twenties, with long chocolate brown hair that was pulled into a loose pony tail and piercing ocean blue eyes and seemed to be more slanted than most I Amestris, but not enough to have come from Xing…maybe he was from one of the smaller countries to the north near Fort Briggs. He was wearing a long white lab coat that seemed to engulf his extremely lanky built body and he had a thin pair of gold framed glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose that he had to occasionally push back up.
"I am quite sure that my stay in Central will be quite satisfying, Colonel." He replied with a nasally sounding voice, using his right hand to push his glasses back up the bridge of his long beak like nose.
As the Fuehrer and his two guest exchanged pleasantries, the two brothers were involved in a more serious conversation amongst themselves, most of it involved Edward's theories of how they could obtain the Philosopher's Stone, while Alphonse merely just listened to his older brother's ramblings. Despite the odd taste of the beverage Edward had finished drinking the remainder of both his and Al's glasses down the last drop. Even though he had felt fine before they had arrived here, he had begun to feel a tad bit strange. He couldn't explain it, it wasn't that he felt nauseated or sick, he just felt odd, and it seemed to feel incredibly hot all of a sudden. Despite the fact he felt weird, he managed to push the strange feelings aside for now, besides he didn't want to worry Al about it.
"Brother, that's her!" Alphonse spoke to his brother a bit louder than he had intended, but sure enough there she was. The dead woman they had been searching for all this time was now walking away with a random soldier from the bar and into the upstairs bedroom. Edward merely nodded in response to his younger sibling's outburst and proceeded to jump up and made a dash for the stairs to follow. Nothing could prepare him for what was about to take place, nor could he have ever imagined how it would continue to affect his future.
Author's note: thanks for everyone that has been reading this so far, sorry it took me so long to update, but I do hope that you guys are enjoying this fic so far and will continue to enjoy it. I would love suggestions if anyone has any.