A/N – First of all, I would like to say thanks to all the awesome reviewers! You've really been great, all of you. Thankyou!

And I am very proud and happy to state that I'VE GOT A BETA!! Wohooo! Everybody, say hello to faithful reader and reviewer; ikldmrogers! This is the first chapter she's betaed (is that a word), and I want to thank her for taking the time. She's gonna be the beta of this story from now on.

The Devil and the Snake

Apparently 'helping Roy' meant sitting and drawing silly things on his paperwork while he slept. Not that Erica minded so much – after her talk with Havoc, it was nice to sit and think everything through.

Although she did find it very inappropriate that Roy was sleeping on the job. Maybe it was just the insane daughter of a strict military-man rearing her ugly head, but that didn't change the fact that Roy, apparently, was a lazy bastard. She wondered how much he could get away with, by sending his superiors one of those dazzling smiles. But then again, most of the military were men.

The thought of Major Armstrong swooning over Roy made her snicker. Especially because it was very easy to imagine.

Looking down, she realized that she had started drawing the particular scene in her head, and quickly erased it , stealing a glance at Roy to check if he was looking. Luckily he was still snoring away. She almost laughed again when she noticed he was drooling slightly. Shaking her head, she started drawing circles and patterns on the paper instead, her mind wandering far away.

Abraham's office, dark and looming, but mystic and inviting in its own way. Keys hung on the wall, each one having its own form. The shelves were filled with exotic items from exotic places that she could only dream of going to.

She'd started copying Roy's signature (something she was surprisingly good at), when he suddenly awoke with a jolt, his eyes flashing everywhere. Erica quickly covered the paper with her arms, smiling innocently at him.

He looked at her oddly, and she realized that this was the most she'd smiled in a long while – it seemed her talk with Havoc had helped even more than she thought.

"Oh… oh." Roy mumbled, blinking and looking at her. "I must've fallen asleep."

Erica nodded, trying not to smile too much at his frazzled expression.

"You did. You looked tired, so I thought it best not to wake you up." She lied. "But you've only been gone for…" Glancing at the clock, her eyes widened. "… Three hours." Had it really been that long?

Roy's eyes got even wider than hers as he looked at all the paperwork he hadn't completed. Swallowing and mumbling something that sounded very much like 'she's gonna kill me,' he stood up and started rummaging around the desk. Erica discreetly tried slipping her practice paper away, knowing that copying an officer's signature could get her a very hard penalty, even if it was just out of boredom. She could almost hear Abraham's voice, scolding her for it.

Roy suddenly stopped short, his eyes narrowing.

"Hughes should have been here by now." He mumbled, looking at her, and then clearly coming to a decision.

"Is it all right for you to be here alone, while I go search for him?" He asked.

Annoyance seeped into Erica's expression.

"I'm eighteen, Colonel. I think I can handle it." She knew she sounded angry, but she hated being treated as a child.

"Of course. I apologize." Roy said. Erica just nodded, looked down, and started drawing on the other side of the paper.

"I will send one of my men in." Roy said, speaking carefully, as if he was afraid she would explode on him. "To guard your bag, okay?"

Erica nodded again, knowing that he wasn't asking her for permission, merely asking to find out if she was mad about it. But she didn't have the energy to be angry, and she figured his statement was very reasonable – she wanted to protect what was in the bag too, and not even all of the military could be trusted. There were rotten people everywhere.

Roy slipped out the door and Erica was left alone again, with only the ticking off the clock to keep her company. Figuring that it might take a while for the other guy to come, she started flipping through Roy's drawers – one part of her was screaming not to, that this wasn't right and that the door might open anytime, and then she would be in trouble..

But the other part, the part that won out, was the little girl inside of her that had snuck into her father's office once without ever getting caught.

She didn't find anything unexpected; an extra set of gloves, a few numbers accompanied by female names (where the hell did he meet that many??!) and a lot of unfinished paperwork. Some of it had different names signed on them – Heymans Breda, Vato Falman, Riza Hawkeye, Kain Fuery and Jean Havoc.

She stopped short when she saw one signed by the Fuhrer.

Alarm-clocks immediately started going off in her head, and her arms pulled the paper out of the drawer as if having they were acting on their own will.

She stared at it for a long while, and she smiled at the scene that was unfolding in her head – one where a devil and angel appeared on each of her shoulders, and started arguing over the right and wrong of the situation.

In the end, the little red devil was the one to yell the loudest, and she sat the pen against the paper again.

She studied the flow of the writing, the small details and which side it was leaning most against before she started writing, her brow frowned in concentration.

King Bradley

No, not good enough. The letters needed to be closer to each other.

King Bradley

As she kept writing, it felt as if her mind left her body. She imagined pictures of the deep deserts of Ishbal, the cities of Drachma and he jungles of Xing. All places Abraham had told her about, places she had read about and dreamed about.

King Bradley

The door creaked open and she nearly screamed in surprise. The paper fluttered to the floor and she quickly bent down to pick it up. She had to crawl all the way under Roy's desk to reach it.

"Hello? Anyone there?" A light, but boyish voice called out. Erica could see the man's military boots from under the table.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm here." Erica called out, crumbling the paper in her fist while trying to stand up so he could see her. Though her actions only resulted in her banging her head against the desk.

"OW!" She yelled, clutching her head, before letting out a series of swears that would have made Colonel Mustang blush.

"Are you all right?" He asked, poking his head down to her.

Erica nodded, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head, as she studied the man's face.

He was roughly the same age as Roy and Havoc, and the dirty blonde hair and open face somehow reminded her of the latter, although this one seemed more immature in a way. He smiled brightly at her, and if it hadn't been for the headache, she would have smiled back.

"Need some help?" He asked, offering her a hand. She gratefully took it, and got to her legs again.

"I'm Denny Brosh." He introduced himself. "Roy sent me to look after you."

She had to keep herself from scowling and snapping at him that she didn't need a babysitter, but she stopped herself. He was just following orders.

"Erica Jordon." She said, wondering how many times she would have to say her name in one day.

He just nodded, and an awkward silence suddenly settled between them. At least, she found it awkward, though she wasn't so sure about him. He was studying her face rather intently, as if trying to figure something out. She didn't like being scrutinized so closely, and sat down, not knowing what else to do. His eyes never once left her face.

"So… uh… how long have you been working for the Colonel?" She got out, desperate to break the silence. Her fingers had tightened around the paper-ball, and she could feel the jarred edges cutting softly into her palm. She could just imagine the blood coloring the paper pink, although it probably didn't cut deep enough.

"Oh, well I don't work directly under Mu… Colonel Mustang." Denny said, his gaze finally flickering away from her face (had he even blinked?)

"But I worked with him on… uh, a few occasions. He seemed very busy when he asked me to keep you company until he could return."

Erica sat down in Roy's chair, looking closely at Denny.

"Yeah, he was trying to find someone." She said. "So, when did you guys start to work together?"

Denny wrinkled his nose, sitting on the edge of the desk, much too close for her liking.. He looked deep in thought, as if trying to remember a forgotten memory.

"He helped me solve a murder once. Oh, and he also assigned me to watch over some little pipsqueak-scrawl once. Stupid kid kept coming into trouble."

Erica's eyebrows lifted upwards in surprise. Denny didn't act like any Military-man would – while Roy sleeping on the job was some sort of rebellion, it wasn't anything like this. This Denny acted as if he didn't care what he said or who he said it to – it was his opinion and therefore it mattered.

What a jackass.

"Interesting." Erica mumbled, keeping a close eye on him. He had let his eyes wander around the room, but she knew better. He did the same trick Abraham used to do on her if she was invited to one of those meetings or dinner-parties of his. Always keeping an eye on her, knowing what she was doing, even if his back was turned. She could never comprehend how he had done it, but clearly, Denny Brosh was doing the same.

"What's in the big black bag?" He asked, a wide smile on his face as if he'd said something extremely witty and funny. Erica's foot immediately shot out, pushing the bag under the chair she was currently resting in.

"Nothing of your concern." She nearly hissed, suspicions rising inside of her. Why did he want to know?

Maybe it was just her being paranoid, but she could have sworn she saw a flash of anger run through his eyes. And despite being used to suppressing fear, she found herself somewhat scared.

She suddenly remembered her thoughts about monsters. Horror had been the first thing to enter her mind as she saw the military Headquarters. Was it just the situation, the loss of her father and the pressure of handling his unfinished business, or was it some sort of intuition, an old 'danger-instinct' that warned and helped her?

Whatever it was, she'd decided that she didn't like Denny Brosh.

He shrugged, looking away again. "Sorry. Just asking."

She frowned, relaxing a little. Maybe he was just asking. Maybe she was just overreacting. Being curious about something like that was in the human nature. That didn't change the fact that she couldn't tell him, though.

Erica noticed he'd started looking at her papers that where still scattered everywhere over the desk, and she had a sudden impulse to hide them from his gaze. But of course, she just sat still, watching him closely in the meantime.

And that was the only reason why she noticed that he suddenly stiffened, his eyes widening. She let her gaze follow his, and stopped short when she noticed what he was staring at.

"What is that? Abraham? What is that?"

He'd looked down in annoyance, but it had softened a little at the clear question in his daughters eyes. Five-year old Erica had pulled at his sleeve, the other hand pointing at a paper that was sticking halfway out of a drawer. On it was scribbled various sketches, mainly of the same drawing, but in different size and coloring.

"That is an ouroboros." He patiently explained. "Do you see the snake is eating its own tail?" He asked, running a finger along the drawing after pulling the paper out. Erica nodded, completely captivated by it.

"Its recreation dear. The snake is recreating itself by eating itself."

Erica's nose wrinkled in confusion. "But… why is it eating itself… why does it do that? I mean, he's kinda destroying himself, isn't he? And if he stopped eating himself then he wouldn't have to recre… recre…"

"Recreate itself." Abraham helped.

"Exactly! So that's just stupid…"

He smiled slightly. "Yes, it seems to be Erica. But that is the nature of the world."

Erica shrugged, accepting the explanation. She then pointed at the sign inside the snake.

"What about this one? The star? Why is that there?"

She hadn't noticed her father's somewhat worried expression.

"I am actually not sure Erica. I'm not sure…"

She didn't know why the memory had struck. She didn't know why she could remember that snake, the ouroboros down to the smallest detail. But it had been one of the things she had been drawing while bored, and now Denny was staring at it, as if he'd seen a ghost.

He quickly recovered however, picking it up and looking at it closely.

"What is this?" He asked, though something in his voice suggested he already knew. Erica folded her arms over her chest.

"It's an ouroboros." She explained. "It is the sign for recreation."

"Ah. I see." He said, his eyes falling on her over the top of the paper.. She immediately felt very self-conscious.

"Then why is the star there?"

She froze, instinctly getting to her feet. The way he had said it, the smile on his face.

Why had he asked the exact same question she had??

She couldn't as much as open her mouth, before the door was thrown open and a high 'Erica, DUCK!' made her do exactly as asked. She flew under the desk for the second time, watching in amazement as a flicker of black and green disappeared out the window, bullets flying everywhere.

"Erica! Erica, are you all right?" Roy ran over to the desk, as the girl poked her head out from under it.

"I'm fine." She lied. To be honest, she was pretty shaken up, but mostly over the fact that she had been alone with whatever it was. A monster.

And he'd taken her drawing with him, she realized as she looked at the desk. Strange.

"What happened?" She slowly asked. Roy sent her a sharp look. She now noticed he was accompanied by one of the agents she had seen outside the Fuhrer's office, Havoc, and another military-man with brown hair and glasses.

"Who did he say he was?" Roy asked, sounding as if he was interrogating a suspect of murder or something. Erica blinked, confused.

"Uh… what?"

"His name?!"

She slowly realized that, one; Roy wasn't Abraham and hadn't gotten mad at her for sneaking into his office, and two; he wasn't upset with her, simply worried or perhaps a little angry at himself.

"Denny Brosh." She said. Roy and the man with glasses exchanged looks.

"He wasn't." Roy said. "Denny Brosh left for service in Briggs nearly two months ago."

"Risky, taking on a form like that." Glass-man said. "Anyone could have walked in and raised the alarm."

"Yes, but he had a quick way of escaping." Roy noted, glancing at Erica.. "And a hostage."

She felt a little insulted by that.

"You didn't show or tell him anything, did you?" Roy asked. Erica glared.

"I'm not stupid Colonel." She said. "I told him nothing but my name."

Roy just nodded, muttering a 'good' and dismissing Havoc and the other man. Erica noticed that Glass-man was looking closely at her.

"She talks like Jordon, doesn't she?" He asked Roy, breaking out into a huge grin. Erica was confused by his statement, but even more so when he marched up to her, poking out a hand.

"Yo! I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes! I am so pleased to finally meet you Erica, and very sorry that I was busy. It was my wife you see…" He said, shaking her hand as if trying to break it off. Erica stared at him in shock. Behind them, Roy looked as if he was deep in pain from containing his laughter.

"… You see, she's so very busy these days, with little Elysia… Oh! My little Elysia, she's gotten so big – would you like to see some pictures??"

A/N

It should be noted that I DON'T think Armstrong is gay, just because he's very sensitive. But the idea is still funny, I think.

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