Title: Fullmetal Alchemist: Amestris at War
Summary: After the Promised Day Al and Ed are drafted into the army as normal civilians, and they have to fight against Creta.
Rating: T for blood and language
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, or really the main storyline
Part 1, Chapter 2
Everyone in the Rockbell's house sat down at the table for a moment of stunned silence. They couldn't believe that both Alphonse and now and Edward were going to have to fight in the war. Edward was thinking about what he would do if he saw Alphonse in the army, but he didn't want to worry Al any more than he had already been worried. With that thought in mind, Edward decided that he was going to change his name and appearance, so that Al wouldn't know that it was him.
"You're going to cut your hair?" asked May disbelievingly, "I didn't think that that would be possible."
"Yeah, I will. I'm also planning on getting something for my eyes to change their color." Ed replied, "Is that okay with you, Winry?" Winry was very upset by the news, and didn't say anything. She just nodded her head in a yes motion, and kept on staring at the table.
"Alrighty then. I'd better get my hair cut as soon as possible." Ed said, surprisingly cheerfully even with the news. "Will you cut it for me, or do I have to go see a barber?"
"No, you're fine. I'll cut it." Said Winry, still upset by the news. Then my left the room to go lay down for a little while because she didn't have as much strength as usual because she's pregnant.
After Edward was finished with his haircut, he went into town to see if they had anything for his eyes. As it turns out, after he went into the glasses shop, they had these great new things called eye lenses that you could put into your eye instead of glasses and they could change your eye color. When Edward got back the difference was almost creepy to May and Winry. He had blue eyes, and extremely short hair. You could say that he was a different person.
Ed then got the rest of his stuff together to leave for the military capital, which was now in East City seeing that Central had been evacuated, and there he would be signed to a platoon. While he was upstairs, May and Winry started to talk about what was going to happen in the next few months/years. May's baby was due in just less than a month now, so most likely Alphonse would not be able to be there for the birthing.
"I know, May, but you need to be strong. He'll be home when he can, and then he'll get to see his child."
"Okay, but I still worry about both of them now, and that they won't be able to make it back."
"Same here, but just believe that they will, and they will. Let's just stop worrying about it now" and so they did. When Ed came back downstairs they started making a simple dinner of rice and mutton.
After Winry finished cooking, they began to eat solemnly knowing that it was Ed's last night here in Resembool before he had to go off to war tomorrow. Nobody said much of anything important, and soon they all went up to bed.
That morning everyone said their goodbyes as Edward headed off to the train station. Once on the train he thought about what he was going to do if he did in fact see Alphonse. He was going to have to give Alphonse a fake name, so that he wouldn't suspect anything. Also he'd have to have a fake background story to fool anyone who saw past the name and disguise. After many minutes of thinking he finally decided on the name Wilhelm Thornborough, and he was born in Dublith. After growing up there he moved to New Optain to find a job to help support his parents. He finally did find a job as a carpenter. He had a girlfriend there named Jacqueline, and he was actually about to propose to her before he got drafted. That was his story, and he was going to stick to it.
Once the train finally reached East City he got off, and there was a whole area specifically for new recruits. After he walked over they asked him to sign in, and he did under the name Wilhelm Thornborough. Then the lady at the sign in desk asked him to follow her back to the temporary army headquarters. Once there he was assigned to Colonel Holt's brigade, and he was under Sergeant Schmidt's command in the brigade.
In the headquarters he was told to go down to the nearby reserve army barracks, and there he would find Sergeant Schmidt. As Edward was walking down to the barracks he noticed that there were very few men here, probably only one corps or so left in reserve. The rest were already on the battlefield. Sergeant Schmidt was surprisingly not very difficult to find. He was actually near the entrance to the barracks.
"Sergeant, Sir, I am a new recruit reporting for duty."
"Oh, is that so, well then you better go off to the room where the other new recruits are. They'll tell you what's going on."
"Yes, sir" and then Edward left his sergeant's line of sight to go find the room with the other new recruits. Down a series of twisting passages and halls he finally found them. Most were just sitting there nervously, but others were reading and playing cards. After staring for a few seconds, Edward realized that everyone except for him had packs of stuff lying next to them, so he asked about it.
"Hey, where did you guys get all that stuff?" Most of the soldiers just chuckled, but one came up to him, and actually proceeded to talk to him.
"I can't believe the sarge didn't tell you. He's usually a pretty nice guy, but I'll show you. Come on just follow me."
"Ok", and so they went headed towards the armory, where all of the equipment could be found. As they walked down the hallways the two men made small talk about everyday things, but when they finally got there Ed was in awe of how many weapons were in there. There were nearly thousands of rifles lining the walls, with pistols underneath them. There were also submachine guns in the very back.
"Here is where you will get all of your supplies needed for traveling and such." The man pointed to a table full of supplies while he said this. Edward then grabbed the supplies that he thought he would need, a flashlight, bowl, spoon, water container, and some other things. Then he picked up a small backpack and stuffed it all in there.
On the way back Ed asked why none of the new guys had received uniforms yet.
"Probably because we all just recently got here."
"Oh, well, are all of you guys under Sergeant Schmidt?"
"No, just me, you, and one other guy in there."
"Oh, are all of us under Colonel Holt, then?"
"Yes, we are." After that comment the rest of the walk was made in silence. When they got back, Edward placed his stuff down next to one of the few empty bunks left, and just sat there in silence.
Suddenly, a man entered the dorm, and shouted, "Uniforms are here." And then he promptly left. The other new guys scrambled to get the uniforms, and since they were all privates they all looked exactly the same. After everyone had their uniforms on, Colonel Holt came into the room and informed them that they were all moving out to South City early tomorrow morning to reinforce the troops already there.
_Early tomorrow morning _
All of the men under Colonel Holt's command boarded the train in the same car. There were so many men, that all of them would have to stand. The whole train ride was in almost complete silence. No one said a word, all thinking of the upcoming battle. Edward was not nearly as scared as some of the people around him. They were shaking in fear or nervousness. The sounds of battle started to get louder and louder as the train approached South City. You could hear the mortar shells exploding, and some of them were sounding dangerously close to the train, but none of them hit. The train finally pulled into a stop a few miles outside of South City.
Immediately all of the men went to their respective sergeants, or other commanders. Under Schmidt's command there were about ten men total, and three of them had just arrived in the past week, including Edward. They all started to march towards South City. During the march a few mortars from the Cretans had struck some of the men, effectively killing a few of them, but because they were arriving from behind the Amestrian's line, there were no major losses.
Once they got closer to the city Schmidt started yelling out to his men, "Our job is to reinforce the troops trying to flank the Cretans. I want us to arrive there with no casualties. Now, Thornborough, you take point." Ed saluted, and then started to lead the men to the Southern flank.
There was not a majority of mortar shells hitting this far behind the lines, but once they started to get closer the mortars got dangerously close to hitting the men. None were injured except for a temporary loss of hearing. Once they arrived all of the men took out their rifles, and hurried up to where some men already were.
Edward saw the Cretan soldiers in front of him, and immediately started firing at them. He had no idea whether he hit one or not. Then Schmidt called out, "We are needed more northward. Follow me men." Schmidt's troops, and a few other sergeants and there troops started to walk northward, occasionally firing at the Cretan troops. Schmidt went farther up than the other troops, until he saw a fountain that was no longer running. There were a few other men in the fountain, and Schmidt decided that they would be joining those men.
Once inside the fountain, Edward looked back the way that he had come, and to his horror the Cretan troops surrounding the troops. They immediately raised their hands in surrender, but it didn't change anything, and the Cretans killed all of them. Edward and a few others took up position, and started firing at the Cretans, but their fire power would not amount to much against the large Cretan force coming at them from two sides now.
"Don't give up men. We can hold them back." Edward heard a voice that sounded familiar, but was not his sergeant's shout. The few men with submachine guns fired even faster now as the Cretans approached.
Edward was still thinking about the voice when he saw a grenade land inside the fountain, and he shouted out in fear. Then it explode, and everything went black for Ed.