Disclaimer - I still own nothing.
A/N - I have made a few changes to this chapter also.
Jean Havoc was sitting at his desk, pretending to do his paper work when he glanced up as Hawkeye received a message. He discretely watched her get up and went into the Colonel's office. He grinned.
"Perfect." Havoc whispered happily to himself as he folded one of the documents into a small triangle. He then looked around for an unsuspecting target. A small chuckle escaped him as he took careful aim.
Breda had been ignoring the quiet conversations that had sprung up as soon as Hawkeye had left the room. Unlike the others, Breda wanted to get done a bit early today. He put one of his reports into the out box, and was reaching for another, when he felt something small and sharp hit the back of his head. He turned around and spotted the little triangle lying innocently on the floor behind him.
"Who threw this?" Breda demanded as he picked the paper up. He glared as everyone gave him identical confused stares. He huffed and turned around to resume his paperwork.
Apparently, someone had a death wish because no sooner than he reached for a report, Breda felt another tiny triangle hit him. He snarled and whipped around with far more speed a man his size should have been capable of. His eyes took on a dangerous gleam when he caught Havoc's hands still in the flicking position.
Havoc gulped at the murderous look his friend was giving him. 'This may not have been the best idea you have ever had, Jean.' He scolded himself.
Thankfully (at least for Havoc) Hawkeye chose that moment to exit the Colonel's office.
"What is the meaning of this Second Lieutenant?" Hawkeye's sharp voice cut through the tension in the room like butter.
Breda laughed nervously and replied, "Oh, nothing Lt. Hawkeye, I had to work some kinks out of my back is all." He did a few twists of his upper body for emphasis.
Hawkeye's glare lingered on the nervous man before her for a moment longer, then traveled down a bit. "What may I ask are those?"
Breda glanced down and almost panicked at the sight of the little triangles sitting on his desk. "What? Oh! You mean these? Well, they are…um…it's uhh…a game! Yeah! It is a new game that I wanted to show Alphonse when he and his brother got back."
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow before commanding, "Well then, I suggest that you put this 'game' away and get back to work."
Breda stuttered a "Yes Sir." before practically attacking the pile of reports on his desk.
Hawkeye then rounded on a smirking Havoc. "What is so amusing Lt. Havoc?" She asked as her finger went to the safety on her gun.
"N-nothing! Absolutely nothing! I am just doing my paperwork like everyone else." Came the instant, fearful reply.
"Good. I also suggest that you skip your lunch break so that you will be done at a reasonable hour. You are to be at the train station at nine o'clock tonight to escort Major Elric and his brother to the dorms."
"Yes Sir." Havoc replied in a subdued tone, not even daring to question as to why Edward would even need an escort.
* * * * Back With the Boys * * * *
Alphonse watched as the various buildings and lights of Central came into view with a sense of relief. After a few moments, he turned toward his sleeping brother, trying to decide weather or not he should wake him. The decision was abruptly taken out of his hands when the brakes were activated on the train, throwing Edward out of his seat. Alphonse caught his brother as Edward let out a startled squeak.
"Brother!" Alphonse exclaimed as Edward tried to figure out exactly why he was in his brother's arms. "Are you alright?"
"Of course I am." Edward said with as much dignity as he could muster as Alphonse gently sat him back down on the seat that he had been so rudely thrown out of. "You'd think that they would warn a guy before stomping on the damn breaks, but nooo. Probably having a laugh at us right now." Edward continued to grumble irritably as he stretched his sore muscles, only to stop and wince at the sharp pain in his chest.
Alphonse only made a small unhappy noise when he saw the flinch, but otherwise remained silent as he took Edward's suitcase from him.
As the train came into the station, the brothers headed for the exit with poorly hidden relief. Neither one of them was overly fond of long train rides.
"Hey Chief! It's about time you guys got here." A thoroughly bored Havoc called as he stood from the bench and made his way over to them.
"Lt. Havoc? Why are you here?" Edward demanded as the older man stopped in front of them.
"Well, the Colonel thought that it would be a good idea that I come and take you to your dorm tonight." Havoc answered with a gentle smile.
"What? Why would he do that?" Edward demanded, a little indignant.
"To tell the truth, I think that it was Hawkeye's idea. I personally would have to agree with her."
Edward huffed a little before grinding out, "We can take care of ourselves, but thanks for the offer." He turned to stalk away.
Havoc sighed deeply and put a hand on the boy's shoulder to stop him. He then knelt down to speak. (He noted with amusement that even on his knees, he was still taller than the little alchemist).
"Edward, listen to me." He stared into the golden eyes until he was sure that he had the boy's full attention. "There are thugs in Central that can get very dangerous, and if there are enough of them, even Alphonse would be hard pressed to fight them all. Also, what if for some reason, you are by yourself? Your ability to use alchemy without a circle is very common knowledge here. All some sick pervert would need to do to make you helpless, is to find a way to pin your hands apart. What would you do then?" Havoc stared hard at the shocked face before him, and gave the small shoulders a firm shake before demanding. "Promise me that you will never go outside at night without an adult with you."
"Fine, whatever." Though his words were indifferent, Edward's voice held a very slight tremor and none of its usual sarcasm.
Havoc seemed satisfied with his answer and led the way to his car.
Edward fell asleep in the five minutes it took to drive to the dorms, despite the fact that he had slept most of the train ride to Central.
When Havoc turned around to bid the boys goodnight, he had to hold back a laugh. 'Who knew that our bad tempered and foul mouthed Fullmetal can look so cute and innocent when he sleeps?' He thought as he carefully got out of the car and walked around to the back passenger side. He slowly opened the door, reached in, and after settling the boy in his arms, he quietly followed Alphonse into the boys' dorm Alphonse turned down the sheets on Edward's bed as Havoc gently layed him down and took his boots off.
"Well, I guess I will see the two of you at HQ in the morning." Havoc whispered as he was led to the door.
The next morning came far too soon for Edward.
"Brother! Come on and wake up! You need to eat some breakfast before you give your report to the Colonel." Alphonse's voice drifted in from the vicinity of the kitchen.
Edward groaned and stuffed his head under his pillow. He was too tired to deal with the stupid Colonel just yet.
"Brother, get that pillow off your head and get up! You're going to be late."
"How does he do that? The bedroom door isn't even open." Edward grumbled. He heaved a deep sigh as he got up and headed toward the kitchen.
"Good morning, Brother." Alphonse chirped, earning an irritated look.
"You are way too cheerful in the mornings, Al." Edward mumbled as he laid his head in his arms on the table.
"Nu - uh, Brother, no falling asleep." Alphonse chided as he gently made Edward sit up. "Here, eat some pancakes." He set a large stack of pancakes in front of his brother.
"Okay, okay. I'm eating, see?" With that, Edward began to shovel the food into his mouth.
Alphonse chuckled at the other's antics, but didn't comment.
By the time that Edward had eaten and showered, he was almost a half hour late giving his report to Mustang.
* * * * Back at HQ * * * *
"Damn it, Fullmetal, would it really be asking too much of you to show up on time once in a while?" Mustang growled at his poor door.
Just as he was about to have Hawkeye call sown to the dorms to see what was taking Edward so long, when said teen burst through his door.
"Well, well. Look who finally decided to come to work today. Tell me Fullmetal, to what do we owe the pleasure of you gracing us with your presence?" Mustang asked with no small amount of sarcasm.
"Stuff it Mustang." Edward said in an unusually subdued voice. "Just read the damn report."
Mustang stared for a moment before deliberately placing a small stack of paperwork on top of Edward's report. "As you can see, Fullmetal, I am quite busy. Why don't you have a seat for a while?"
Edward could hardly believe what that bastard had just done. However, his chest hurt too badly at the moment for any arguing, so he huffed and stomped over and plopped down on the couch. Which he immediately regretted, as his wound gave a sharp twinge in protest at the harsh treatment.
Almost two and a half hours passed before Mustang got to Edward's report. Edward was about to sigh in relief when he saw this, when he heard a condescending tone float over to him.
"Do you honestly call this chicken scratch a report? I am sorry, but you are going to have to rewrite this before I can read this." Mustang took great satisfaction in seeing the disbelief on the boy's face.
Edward could hardly believe what he just heard. It had taken nearly an hour to make that report legible. He was about to argue about the unfairness, but decided just to get it over and done with so that he could leave.
Mustang watched with some surprise as Edward got up without a word and came over and started to slowly rewrite the report.
By the time the report was finished, Edward had to fight to hide the tears of pain that had unwillingly sprung to his eyes for aggravating his wound for so long. 'Maybe Al's right. I think that I should go see the doctor after all.' He thought to himself as he watched Mustang read his report.
As Mustang finished reading, he set the report aside and reached for another and started to lecture his subordinate without looking up. "Well, congratulations, Fullmetal. You managed to completely destroy an entire town in less than eight hours."
"But Colonel, that wasn't my fault! Orochi had the villagers convinced that I -"
"Do not interrupt me Fullmetal." Mustang growled, still not looking at the boy across from him. "Tell me, do you really enjoy pissing people off to the point that you have to fight your way out of every situation you land in?" Mustang was having too much fun with his teasing to notice how his words were affecting the other.
Edward was already emotionally drained from the failed mission, and in enough physical pain to not hear the teasing tone in Mustang's voice. As a result, he took the man's words to heart, and the tears that he had fought so hard a few moments ago finally came spilling down his cheeks. He looked down at his lap, letting his bangs cover his face. Edward sat there in silence for a full ten minutes while the Colonel criticized the entire report. When it was over, he calmly got up and walked out the door without waiting to be dismissed. He just wanted to find his brother and get the hell out of there.
Only when he was finished with the boy's report, did Mustang deem it necessary to look up at Edward. He was quite shocked that Edward was just sitting there with his head down and hair covering his face. He was even more shocked to see the tear tracts on the teen's cheeks as he silently got up and walked out of the room.
"What? What just happened?" Mustang muttered to himself.
* * * * * With the boys * * * * *
Edward found Alphonse talking with Furey. He made sure that nobody was watching before he hastily whipped the tears off his face.
"Come on Al, we're off for the weekend." He led the way out of the building.
"Are you alright Brother? You look like you have been crying." Alphonse asked.
"Do I? Well, I just got something suck in my eye while Colonel Bastard was reading my report."
Alphonse nodded, even though he didn't believe a word of it. "Okay. Now, time to go see that doctor!" He said cheerfully and steered Edward in the right direction.
The receptionist smiled to herself as she saw a familiar suit of armor leading/dragging an equally familiar small figure in a red cloak into the lobby. "Well, Mr. Elric, what happened this time?"
Edward only blushed and looked away, leaving his brother to explain.
Alphonse heaved and exasperated sigh before telling her about the gash on Edward's chest.
"Alright, you two can go ahead and have a seat. The doctor will be out soon."
As promised, the doctor came out only five minutes later and ushered them to a room. He made Edward strip his upper half, and started poking at the red and inflamed wound.
"Ow! Stop that!" Edward shouted then tried to curl up into a ball.
"I am sorry Mr. Elric. Your wound is not quite deep enough to need stitches. But," He gave Edward a stern glare. "It is, however, starting to get infected. I am going to clean it up and send you home with some antibiotics."
Twenty minutes later, the boys were walking back to the dorms. Alphonse had been given the instructions to have Edward take the antibiotics twice a day for two weeks. When the two weeks are up, Edward is supposed to go back for a check-up. When they reached the dorms, Edward immediately found his notes and started going over them, looking for more clues about the Stone.
A/N - Soooo. How was it?