I wish this chapter were a bit longer, but I'm reminded of my friend's good advice: "stop when it needs to stop" and "there's no min or max for chapter lengths, you know," that caused me to stop trying to force it to be longer. So there you go. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing everyone!
Chapter 4
Gracia hummed softly as she dusted off her shelves. Elysia was taking a nap on the couch after a tiresome day of play. Tomorrow she was off to her friend's house again to tucker herself out all over again. Gracia didn't mind so much that her little girl was making friends, but it did mean she was alone by herself in the house. Maybe she should get a job. Gracia hummed. The army was actually fairly generous when it came to her husband's passing and she had more than enough to get by for another year yet. Gracia continued her dusting until she came to the photos set up on her shelf. Maes smiled back at her playfully through the lens.
Pictures of her husband and herself, pictures of Maes and Elysia looked up at her and brought a soft smile to her face. Though, it was the image of Maes and Roy that caused her hand to move towards the frozen memories. She lifted the photo gently and stared at the two men. They really did come as a pair. Despite what people believed, Maes had only talked endlessly about Elysia in public. Once they were behind the privacy of their own home the subject was almost always about Roy.
You won't believe what Roy said to me over the phone today. Threatened to use alchemy over the phone, he did. Roy had a meeting with some general today. Do you know any friends we could hook him up with? He needs a wife not those floozies. Roy and Edward were at each others throats today. Roy stole another of Havoc's girlfriends. Hawkeye shot at Roy today. Roy broke down again in his office today. Roy finally took one of Elysia's adorable pictures to put in his wallet.
The phrases were endless and Gracia usually ended up shaking her head and kissing her husband on the cheek. It was almost odd that she was seeing Roy so much now that he was gone. It was like she was trying to replace Roy's stories with the real person. Though, hearing about Roy from Roy was so different it was almost funny. Getting the man to talk was like pulling teeth, but she did like listening. Gracia set the photo back down on the table gently and turned back to her dusting. Thinking about Roy so much was becoming habit. She wondered if Maes was laughing at her getting so clingy and desperate for attention.
It was almost unfair in a way to the other man. She was trying to fill the gap left by Maes with Roy. Gracia stopped her dusting to head back to her couch and her daughter. There really was no other way to put it. She stroked her little girl's hair thoughtfully. Roy wasn't coming over for dinner again until sometime next week and he was bringing Riza with him. That would be good and it gave her plenty of time to think. Gracia was going to need it.
It was almost insane how easily Greed managed to get a hold of a few military uniforms. It did help that drunken corporals were easy to knock out and find their home addresses in their wallets of which gave access to closets, but that didn't matter much. The man straightened out the freshly pressed uniform and looked at himself in the mirror. It was strangely fitting on him; the irony fully noted as Greed smirked in the mirror. His sharp, shark-like teeth glistened and he ran a finger over his slight sideburns and down to his short beard. The rank tags on the shoulder may not have matched his predecessor, but all military uniforms looked identical anyway. All he needed was a pair of glasses and no one would be able to tell the difference.
Greed was thankfully for the twenty-twenty vision.
Stretching his arms over his head and yawning, Greed stepped back from the mirror and ruffled the hair of the soldier tied in the corner next to the mirror, eyes still wide in fear. He would have killed the man when he commandeered the dorm room, but then he'd have to dispose of the body to avoid dealing with the smell. He had already left one body in an alley, too many more and the military would start looking for him as a serial killer. Keeping the soldier tied in a corner was less annoying and it meant he had someone to talk to until he got a hold of Roy. Even if the poor man shivering had no idea what was going on. Greed shrugged into the thick black overcoat as he headed out the door with a whistle.
After four days of careful stalking and watching, Greed was ready to make his first move. He figured it would be best to get on the good side of the little lady first as she would be the receptive to his advances. If he had the little lady, the lovely lady would follow soon enough. And if not, she could easily be restrained. Though she would come later, it's not like Greed was in any rush. And besides, Roy would take a bit more work. Greed originally thought a fight would be fun, but now he was considering a more tactical approach.
Things would be more fun if Roy came on board willingly.
And, that Fullmetal boy was going to be more help than Greed had originally thought. Specifically with his lack of communication with his superior officer. Greed smirked. That boy wasn't looking for a chimera anymore. The past few days he was definitely looking for a homunculus and his conversations with his brother confirmed it. Had the circle created a chimera, there would have been a sighting. Chimera were stupid. Shame Ed never turned around to notice the one staring at him from a distance.
"A uniform now? You disgust me."
"Envy." Greed acknowledged the other homunculus with a shrug and kept strolling causally along the street. Apparently Envy had chosen the form of a street bum today. And to think he called Greed disgusting. "Did you need something?"
Envy transformed into a rather smug looking Edward Elric and walked backwards a few steps in front of Greed. The other man narrowed his eyes, but otherwise kept his cool. "You've been watching the pipsqueak. Want to tell me why?"
"He's looking for me and I want to make sure he stays off track. Keeping tabs and gathering information is what I do, remember?"
Envy smirked and the expression looked disfigured on the older Elric's face. It was unnatural. "It's also what got him killed, if I remember correctly. I think you'd have learned."
"I have. My plans are slightly more informed." Greed changed tactics and smiled. He stopped walking abruptly to match his sudden change in topic. "But I do have a question for you. Have you told your little crew about me yet?"
Envy smirked and pushed a blonde braid over his shoulder. For someone so young, Greed certainly acted like he was completely in control. Dante chalked it up to his full set of accessible memories, which she still wanted to know how he managed to keep. Envy just thought it was a pain in the ass. "I informed the boss, but none of the little peons know."
Greed considered if he should take that as trustworthy information and decided it was probably true. It was in Envy's best interest to keep this to himself, unless there was some other benefit Greed had yet to think of. "Any messages for me then?"
"Keep away from Fullmetal and the Führer." Envy inspected a newly formed dagger at the end of his 'auto-mail' carefully with a nail. He flicked the tip to make a little ring and cocked his head to the side. "Do that and she really doesn't care what you do."
The Führer? The gears in Greed's mind started turning. His big plans for Roy would definitely conflict with that particular subject. He figured out the secretary was a homunculus from his memories, but he never imagined it went all the way up to the Head of State. Greed would have to make plans to work around that. Or lock Roy in a closet until this whole philosopher's stone nonsense was done. That was always an option. "No problem."
"Good." Envy smiled and started to head off in another direction. Fullmetal wasn't the only alchemist he needed to hackle about the red water and the stones. "Catch ya' later."
Greed shoved his hands into the uniform pockets as the fake Ed wandered off. It seems his work was going to be cut out for him in the future. But he'd cross that bridge when he came to it; for now his plans were still a go and he had someone to visit. He got all dressed up so he definitely didn't want to miss his date. Greed smiled as he slicked his hair back; it was a beautiful day.
Roy sighed to himself and signed another paper of what seemed to be an endless stack. The woman had already invited him over again next week for dinner already. If the pattern was forming the way Roy figured, dinner with Gracia was looking to become a weekly thing. At least next week he was going to bring Hawkeye with him as well. He wasn't sure how she knew he was going to ask her to come, but she said yes fast enough to tell Roy she had been expecting it. The colonel was grateful to her in all honesty. Yesterday's dinner was rather, well too cozy for his liking. It felt weird to have dinner alone with his best friend's wife, even if it was sort of nice.
Just about the only thing that made him feel good was how much better she had been looking lately. Gracia was still depressed, but for a few moments Roy could tell she was really smiling as she asked him about his day and his co-workers. Elysia helped with that, too of course; it wasn't all in Roy's visits. It was amazing how mothers held themselves together for their children. Roy smiled softly to himself and rubbed the space between his eyes. While Gracia might be feeling better, hell she even hugged him good-bye last time, Roy still felt tired. He needed to find himself a sweet little something whose name he wouldn't have to remember and just-
Roy shook his head and looked back down at his papers. He needed to get this work done and get home to sleep. A good night's sleep would fix everything better than some night with a floozie that was probably one of Havoc's ex-girlfriends.
"Hey, Colonel. Got a minute?"
"Fullmetal." Roy acknowledged as a blond head popped out from behind his office door. He waved the boy inside with a smile and set the papers aside for the moment. For once Fullmetal neither banged his door down nor yelled or called him an inappropriate name. Roy was more than happy to be friendly for once. "I wasn't expecting you today."
"Yeah, I know." Ed closed the door behind him. He almost shuffled his feet but resisted. Alphonse had been pestering him for days now to take it easy. All they'd found out was the last person who rented the apartment, but the man was alive and well and seemingly had no connection to the lunatic who made the circles. No notes, no other names, no nothing but a bloody room and an alchemic circle. But, Ed being stubborn as usual kept looking for more information non-stop because of the other conclusion they'd figured out.
They were definitely looking for a homunculus. After re-examining the apartment, they finally noticed the handprints in the blood. You can't make a handprint if you were the blood spatter. After separating the blood from the floor, the circle was also much easier to see. In a way, Ed was lucky the man had used paint instead of chalk, but he wasn't lucky in confirming what he had feared. The circle wasn't for a chimera and Ed had nearly lost it in either anger or nausea when he figured out what was on the floor. Though, there was no way he could tell Mustang about the homunculus without telling him about Envy, Greed or the others. And he hoped he never had to, so for now the chimera story had to stick.
"Was there something or are you going to stare at me all day?" Roy laughed a bit and crossed his hands on the desk. Fullmetal was clearly tired and it was obvious in his demeanor. The boy needed a break; maybe Roy should assign him some help for the case or force him to take some time off.
"Al wanted to know what you were doing for dinner." Ed spurted out after coming from his stupor. He hadn't meant to zone out like that in front of Mustang. Damn! "And if you wanted to come over."
"Did he now?" What was it with the dinner invitations? Roy nearly laughed as Ed pouted and tried to look smaller than he already was. If that was even possible. Roy bit his lip to keep from saying that last thought out loud. He was being nice. "What's with the face? Dinner with me wasn't that bad last time was it?"
"No." Ed frowned. He still didn't know why Al wanted to eat dinner with the Colonel in the first place. Its not like they were ever that chummy before. In fact, they'd never invited him over before! Because you said you liked eating dinner with him last time. Al's words echoed in his head and Ed shoved his hands in his pockets. "Al just suggested it. Its not like you have to come."
"Actually, I think that'd be nice. Why don't I make stew again? You liked it well enough last time." The Colonel chuckled. He remembered quite well the evening at home playing cards and watching Fullmetal devour the stew. It was cozy in a good way and felt familiar and safe. Roy almost had felt like a father, as ridiculous as that sounded. "What was that? Close to a month ago? And of course Alphonse will be there, too."
"Yeah, so that was it." Ed nodded and pushed his hand into his pockets. Roy smiling without his smirk was disturbing. And not because it was creepy, but because Ed realized he liked seeing it so much. It was the same smile he'd worn while they fought over cards and dishes at his house. Even a month later, Ed still remembered it. Ed needed to leave the office before his mind got away with him. "So, I'll see you at seven, maybe?"
"Why so late?"
"Because you've got a huge stack of papers on your desk and Hawkeye said you weren't leaving until they were done."
Roy's shoulders slumped as the smirk slowly worked its way on Fullmetal's face. He should have known there were repercussions for getting off of work early for those dinners with Gracia! He was about to complain when he noticed Fullmetal heading for the door. "Leaving already?"
"Well, it's not like you'll get any work done with me here and I've got nothing else." Edward shrugged. The Colonel was just fishing for some way to procrastinate his paperwork. It's not like he actually enjoyed Edward's company. "So I'll see you later."
"Just hold up." Roy stood from the desk and put on his best smile. "If you help me out we can get out of here sooner."
"I'm not forging your signature."
"No, Hawkeye would spot that." Roy laughed and reached for a stack of papers on the corner of the desk that was slightly mismanaged. He pat it with the palm of his hand and pointed at the offending documents with the other. "But you could help me sort these so I could sign them faster."
"I'm busy."
"Doing what?"
"The human transmutation case. I wanted to go back to the-"
"Nonsense." Roy cut the boy off and walked around the desk to grab his shoulders. "You need a break from that damn case. It's an order, sit."
Ed pushed Mustang's hands off his shoulders. "You can't do that!"
"Yes, I can." Roy smirked and sat back behind the desk. "You can use the couch over there. Just put the papers dealing with the same case files together. It's not hard, they just got mixed up after getting dropped in the hall."
"I bet you did it on purpose."
"Hawkeye was the one who dropped them."
"You liar."
"Actually, he's not." Hawkeye peered into the room at the two boys and noticed the stack of papers. Edward had been in the office for over ten minutes and there hadn't been a single shout or yell. Hawkeye deemed that a miracle and had to see for herself that both men were actually alive and breathing. "It's so nice that you're helping him be productive Edward." Roy wasn't the only one who thought the boy needed a break from that dreadful case. "And this saves me the trouble from doing it when I have my own work to catch up on."
Ed stared at the woman and then down at her gun. He wasn't sure if it was guilt or fear that made him grab the stack of papers and head for the couch. Hawkeye smiled at the two and left, shutting the door behind her. That was when Ed deemed it safe to start his grumbling. "Stupid paperwork, stupid Mustang, stupid..."
"Look on the bright side, at least now it'll get done faster." Mustang grinned and chatted happily over the solid stream of muttering coming from his young Major. "And now my 1st Lieutenant is in a good mood."
Ed continued to grumble as he started to look through the folders. How the hell did he put up with this every day? This was just endless pages of bureaucratic bullshit. "You so owe me, bastard."
Mustang smiled and started to sign his pages with a bit more flourish. Misery so loved company.
"Elysia! I'm gonna' count to ten and come find you, okay?" A small little red head grinned at the brown haired girl of similar height. When she got a confirmation nod, the girl turned towards the tree and started to count slowly.
Little Elysia Hughes took this as her cue to sprint off to find the perfect hiding place. Her friend would never find her in the bushes close to the road! With that in mind, Elysia dove headfirst into a large bush next to the iron fence. You could see her clearly through the poles from the roadside, but from the yard she was perfectly covered by the lush leaves. She giggled when her friend finished counting and went off in the wrong direction.
However, Elysia heard footsteps behind her and she turned to look up to see a tall man in a blue uniform. He knelt down in front of her on the other side of the bars and smiled softly. Youthful green eyes widened at the same time that a grin spread on her face. The game of hide and seek was soon forgotten.
"Well hello there, little lady."
