Now since its my birthday AND THERES A BUNCH OF SILENT READERS! Why don't you all review today? Pwease *blink blink*

Ch.3 Harsh

Roy threw his long black over coat onto the desk as he sat down, "You're late Colonel." Riza stated from her desk, not bothering to look up from her paper work.

"Spare me today lieutenant, there was a bad car wreck outside my house and they just got traffic through 5 minutes ago." Roy muttered collapsing into his soft leather swivel chair.

"It's a 15 and ½ minute drive from here to your house Colonel." Riza replied raising an eyebrow. Surely her superior wasn't trying to lie to her.

"That's my point lieutenant."

Riza sat back in her chair, not slacking her posture in the least, "Was everybody ok?"

"In that mangled mess, probably not." Roy stated entwining his fingers.

Riza was short a reply, but was saved by a knock at the door.

A few seconds later Major Alex Louis Armstrong walked in, shutting the door softly behind him.

"Did you get the files I requested?" Roy asked sitting up and resting his arms on his desk.

"Yes Sir." Armstrong replied laying them on the Colonels desk, "If I may sir, that's not the only thing I found at the library."

"Oh and what would that be?" Roy asked opening the manila file.

"The Elric brothers."

"Really what were they looking up?" Roy asked already knowing the answer.

"I didn't look at their books sir, I was more concerned with Edward's well-being. As I was leaving the desk I heard Miss Julia's distressed voice. It appears Edward passed out and fell from the book ladder." He explained.

By this time all of the dogs in the room had their attention on Armstrong, Roy himself had closed the folder and was staring at the Major, "Lieutenant, send someone to find the Elrics'. I'd like to have a talk with them about something while they're in town. God knows they won't be here long." Roy ordered.

"Yes sir." Riza replied standing and striding over to Havoc, "Havoc."

"Sir!" he saluted her already knowing his orders were to bring find and bring the Elrics.

"Thank you for informing me. You're free to go." Roy said opening the file back and picking up the papers in it.

Armstrong saluted, letting himself out.

Roy stared at the file before him. If Ed was ok, then he would send him out to investigate it. If not, then well, he'd deal with that situation later.

Ed walked into the cafeteria, a slight throb every now and then made itself known in the back of his head though it was no longer pounding his skull in.

Once he'd gotten a tray consisting of a bread roll, small water bottle, and a form of unidentifiable meat, he sat down and pulled his leather backed note book from his coat and opened it to one of the many tabbed pages.

"Brother please eat." Al said somewhat pleadingly.

Ed picked up his bread roll, not moving his eyes from the journal but raised the roll to his lips, making no move to take a bite.

"Brother." Al droned taking the book from him.

"Al!" Ed whined, "I was reading that!"

"You need to eat your food first!" Al held the book above his head.

"Al!" Ed reached for his book on his tippie toes.

"Eat your food Ed!"

Ed stood in his chair, stretching his arms out to grab the book.

Al stood up, gaining several more feet on his brother despite the chair's added height.

"Al gimmie my book back!" Ed huffed.

"Not until you eat!"

"I thought I was the older brother here!"

"Apparently not!"

"Al!"

"Ed!"

Ed flopped down in his seat, "Fine." He muttered picking up the roll and taking a big sarcastic bite.

"Hey Chief, visit the library lately?" a voice mused behind him.

Ed turned around, already identifying the voice as Havoc's, "Oh great. What do you need?"

"That's no way to treat a friend!" Havoc said looking somewhat offended even though he knew the young boy well enough to ignore the bad attitude.

"Sorry about my brother today Lieutenant, he's in a bad mood." Al said laying his brother's notebook to the side.

Ed frowned, taking a smaller bite of his roll," So what do you want?" he asked again.

"The Colonel wants to see you immediately." Havoc replied relaying his superiors request to the recipients.

Ed scoffed, "Well tell him I said-"

"I don't think he's in the mood today Chief. It would be better to drop the comments for now."

Edward eyed the second lieutenant for a moment, his eyes seemed serious but friendly.

Ed stood with a sigh, "Fine."

"Wait Brother! You need to eat!" Al stood up from his seat.

"Al I can eat later its not imp-"

"Its important." Al cut his brother off.

"Listen Al it won't talk long, why don't you feed the stuff to a stray cat or something?" Ed asked grabbing his book from the table and dropping it into his coat pocket

Before Al could respond Ed was walking away, Havoc trailing behind him after giving Al a short shrug and walking away.

Havoc followed behind Ed, his arms raised behind him to support his head, "So why did you fall from the ladder Ed?" he asked, a hit of sarcasm barely noticeable in his voice.

Ed stopped walking and turned to face him, "Its none of your business."

Normally Havoc wouldn't have thought anything else about a smart remark, but there was something about the way the teen had said it that made him think a little more of it.

Ed didn't bother knocking when they finally reached his superiors office, he stepped aside and Havoc breezed past him, opening the door and entering leaving Ed to shut it.

Ed stood in front of his Colonels desk, arms folded and agitated expression in place.

"Fullmetal, please take a seat." Roy gestured to one of his sofas.

Ed sat down, crossing his legs and propping his elbow up on the arm rest, "What do you want this time?"

Roy stared at his subordinate, "Got any new leads on the philosophers stone?" he asked.

Ed glared back at his superior, "If I wanted a lecture I would've called Armstrong. What is it that you want from me?"

Roy paused for a moment before chucking the heavy file onto the coffee table in front of Ed.

Edward picked up the file and opened it, immediately becoming engrossed with its contents, "This is-!"

"Shou Tucker." Roy finished for him.

Ed looked up from the file, a new look of hatred burning because of the folder's contents, "What is this about Colonel?" he asked.

"The Chimera's Shou Tucker made aren't a complete loss, I want you to research them and tell me what you find out." Roy stated blankly.

Ed closed the file sharply, stood up and walked to his superior's desk and dropped the file, "Find somebody else." He turned to leave.

"Fullmetal." Roy said coldly, chin in his hands, "If you don't accept this file, you won't have any more accidents in the library because you won't have a certification to. You'll be 6 feet under somewhere after being executed for committing taboo."

Edward scowled, jaw clenched, "You're the sorriest bastard I've ever met. If you want me dead maybe you should just do it yourself." He spat snatching the file and marched out, letting the door slam behind him.

"Colonel." Riza said, "Don't you think that was a bit harsh sir?" She asked.

Roy sat with his chin cupped hands, "I did it for a reason Hawkeye."

"Sir?" she asked furrowing her brows.

"The file I requested was Scars, I got a report this morning that he was sighted near here. Since nobody knew Fullmetal was here nobody sent him a notice, it's better if he's busy with something to keep him angry and on his toes."

Riza stood from her desk, "I'll go get your paperwork sir."

...

I know this one was a bit OOC but Roy really was just looking out for Ed. Please review, they mean bunches to me : ) besides if you all start reviewing chapters will get longer : )

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