"Woooooaaah! Look at the size of this place, Brother! Aren't you grateful we came out here now?"
The two brothers, the Colonel and his Lieutenant had finally made it to the Xing palace, after two days of traveling an endless sea of sand that made up the Eastern Desert, much to the dismay of using a short cut through Ishbal. Mustang and Riza weren't welcomed there to begin with, after being soldiers in the civil war on Ishbal, and the Four Musketeers had to narrowly escape the broken village without getting gunned down. And although Alphonse was excited to set foot on unfamiliar territory, knowing he had friends in this place, Edward was not enjoying himself so far.
"No," the alchemist grunted, taking off his left leather boot and dumping out sand onto the paved road as they stepped out of the vehicle, "I've got pounds of sand in my shoes after someone forgot to fill up the car before we left!" He shot a menacing glare to Roy, who simply ignored him and turned his attention to the palace that towered over the Yao clan village. It stood tall and proud, glittering with scarlet shingles and gold decor that drew attention to the eyes of people when sunlight made its beauty sparkle.
"Is this where we're staying?" Al asked, his voice sounding awe-struck by the sheer size of the royal complex as he handed Mustang his luggage.
"I'm afraid so," the Flame Alchemist blinked and fixed his coat with a free hand, locking up the car as everyone grabbed their things and began heading to the front of the palace, where the man they had planned to see was standing, his two nimble-spirited guards, Lan Fan and Fu, posted on top of two pillars at the gate of the palace, watching the four closely.
They never let him out of their sight, do they? Ed gazed up at the two, before focusing on the ponytailed teen with a small glare.
"Ed, Al, Colonel!" Ling called out to them, waving to them as he hopped off the steps of the palace, waiting as the group crossed the empty courtyard and met with him at the bottom stair, Mustang the first to greet him with a firm handshake.
"Good to see you again, Ling." Roy nodded, before personally introducing Riza to the prince, "This is my lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye." He gently clasped his hand on the woman's shoulder, pushing her forward.
"It's a pleasure to be in your company, your Highness." She dipped her head respectfully, causing the heir to bark a small laugh.
"Please, Lieutenant," he chuckled, motioning her to straighten up, "you can call me by my first name, Ling."
"...Of course, Hi-Ling." Hawkeye nodded in understanding, before watching as the Fullmetal Alchemist weaseled his way between the two high-ranked soldiers to get a better look at the Yao emperor.
"I remember you. You gonna call me a runt again, Ling?" He growled, bristling like a cat at his hairline, causing the dark-haired Xingese to raise an eyebrow as he stared down at the blonde.
"...Depends. Are you going to call me an idiot, runt?" The prince purposely spat the last word, watching in amusement as the younger Elric had to hold back the angered midget and his flailing limbs. Ling turned to the Colonel, seeing the expression vastly different from his, as if he were about to catch both the brothers on fire for their rude behavior in front of royalty.
"My Lord." A feminine voice cut through the angered screaming from Fullmetal, a tone whisked through the breeze, but strong like the energy it carried through the air; Lan Fan leaped off her post and nimbly stepped to her master's side, dodging the alchemist's metal fist and catching his left one, before twisting it in a dangerous angle, drawing a pained shriek from Ed and a worried cry from Al.
"Right," Ling nodded, "where are my manners? Please, all of you, come inside. You've had a long journey to get here, so I believe all of you need some rest and time to get settled." With his words, Lan Fan let go of Edward's human arm and followed beside him, joined by her grandfather, Fu, as they headed into the palace, the small group following behind with Alphonse carrying his older brother to make sure he didn't slug a good one into the prince's back.
This is gonna be a long two weeks, Ed sighed, hanging limply in his brother's plated arms.
"Brother, look at our room! We've never stayed anywhere even close to looking this nice!" Alphonse chirped excitedly as he set down their luggage bags and Ed on to the bed of their shared room, his empty helmet glancing around the abode. While the two brothers shared one room, Mustang and Hawkeye had separate rooms placed right next to each other for convenience, to prevent any unnecessary "acts of the night", which was unlikely to happen anyways between the two trusted partners, but the royal family liked to take precautions. Besides, they would only be staying for two nights before driving back to Amestris, leaving the pair of misfits to handle Ling, or Greed, by themselves.
"Sure is nice, huh?" Ed agreed and flopped onto the bed lazily, not bothering to start unpacking; he was too exhausted from the long drive across the empty desert. He just wanted to nap the weeks away and go back home to Winry and Pinako. "Makes you wanna stay here for-"
Mrrow.
"..."
"..."
The Fullmetal Alchemist sat up slowly, gazing over to the tin-can of a brother as he quickly turned his back to him, trying to hide something.
"Al, if you brought a cat all the way from Ishbal, I'm gonna-"
"I-I don't have a cat, I swear!"
"Then what are you hiding?!" Alphonse turned back around to face his brother, defeated by his own lie, revealing a tiny kitten perched delicately on the crest of his chest plate.
"I couldn't leave him there all by himself! He was hungry and cold..." Al spoke with a gentle tone, softly petting the petite cat's fur with a single finger. Ed could've sworn he felt a vein pop out of his forehead at the two.
"You idiot!" The alchemist jumped off the bed, reaching up hopelessly to grab the cat from his much taller brother, who inevitably turned away from his reach, "We can't keep a cat! Go put him back where you found him!"
"But, Brother!"
"Don't make me get out the can-opener!"
"You actually packed that thing?!"
"Hand him over, and you'll find out!"
"No, Ed-!"
A rapping of knuckles on their door ceased the brotherly quarrel, and, while Ed was distracted, Al quickly tucked the cat back into his armor.
"Fullmetal," Mustang's familiar voice rang through the iron and cedar wood door, "it's me. Can I come in?" His voice was oddly low, giving suspicion to the two brothers as the older alchemist in the room approached the door, leaning his automail shoulder on the doorframe.
"I dunno," Ed chimed childishly, "what's the password?"
"Damnit, Fullmetal," Roy sighed heavily, rattling the locked doorknob, "this is no time for games! Let me in!"
"Fine, fine." The blonde exhaled in defeat as Al silently scolded him for keeping the colonel locked out, and turned the deadbolt, opening the door for the older man to step in.
"I need you to spy on Ling for me." The raven-haired Flame Alchemist immediately assigned without even stepping past the threshold, earning a confused grimace from the Fullmetal Alchemist.
"Already?" Edward blinked in surprise, "Why? Aren't we still settling in? ...And what about his guards he always has beside him?"
"Try to avoid them as best you can." Roy glanced over the short blonde's head to see the walking-talking suit of armor playing with a small cat on the red-velvet floor, "You're gonna need to be extra stealthy for this, so leave your brother."
"...What do you need me to do?"
"Just spy on him. Try not to get too physical, and stay out of sight. Can you do that?"
"Of course I can!" The young alchemist boasted quietly, almost sounding offended.
"Good." Mustang nodded and adjusted his white-pressed gloves, in which Ed noticed that he had transmutation circles printed on them; he was wearing his ignition gloves. "I trust you won't get us all killed."