The First Lieutenant sat behind her desk. Unlike the Colonel's office, there were no papers.
"So Edward, you have met the others. What do you think?" Hawkeye asked Ed, smiling.
"They seem friendly enough," the Private answered, thinking back to earlier. Those men seemed to fear the First Lieutenant.
"Yes, they are very friendly. Though I often have to remind them to do their work. How familiar are you with guns?" The question surprised Ed. He looked pretty taken aback.
"Um, not much, really," he replied. As he said that, Hawkeye set a firearm on the desk.
"Okay. This is a SIG P228. Unloaded, it weighs about 30 ounces, or 1.8 pounds. Our standard issue clips hold 12 nine millimeter. Part of our military training from the Academy, we learn how to safely use this gun. Since you will not be going through the Academy training, I will teach you. Lesson one: gun safety. Never point a gun at a person that you don't plan on shooting. Now, pick up the gun," the Lieutenant instructed. Careful to not point the pistol at himself or the Lieutenant. It was pretty light. The boy looked to his superior.
"Good. Now, set it back down on the desk," Hawkeye told Ed. "Over the next month, I will teach you how to properly and efficiently use this weapon. Tomorrow, instead of coming here, you are to report to the shooting range. For now, you are dismissed. Tell Fuery that he is to show you to the barracks."
Edward left the office and headed towards Fuery.
Meanwhile…
"Al, can you move that bin over here?" Winry asked. The suit of armor known as Al dropped a bin of metal scrap next to the girl's workbench.
"What are you going to do with this stuff Winry?" the armor questioned.
"I'm going to build some automail for one of the Veterans in town. He is paying a good price for my work. It'll be enough money to score us a couple of tickets to Central!" The girl was dancing around with excitement.
"Why would you want to go to Central? There is nothing there for us," the boy replied.
"To bring Edward home," Winry whispered. The armor seemed to wince at this name.
"He isn't coming back Winry. He left us. He became a military dog." Al's voice held an angry tone to it. He knew that his brother wasn't going to come back. He had left them to become a soldier. Ed was as good as dead to Al. And poor Winry. The poor girl still had hope for that kid. But that's only because she wasn't the armor. Al wasn't mad at Ed for putting him in the armor. He was mad because his brother left him shortly after. It broke everyone's hearts.
"He will come back Al! He has to. And I'll be the one to bring him home." Winry's face was streaked with tears. She loved Edward. They were the best of friends, and they were going to get married and lead a happy life! She thought of all her happy memories with Ed as she threw some scrap metal into a pot. She put the put into and oven like appliance as she thought of going to the city to bring him home.
"Go to Central if you want. I'm staying here." Al stalked out of the room.
Later…
BANG!
"Nice shot Private. Now do a thousand more like that and you'll be as good as Fuery," First Lieutenant said. Edward worked on reloading the handgun he was using for practice. He was clumsy at that part, but he could at least hit the target. When Edward was done, he took twelve more shots at the target in front of him. He hit it all twelve times, but his precision was awful.
"Okay kid. Wrap it up. Good work for today. It's been a long day, so go home," Hawkeye said.
"Yes ma'am!" Edward said. He removed the clip from the gun and set it on a counter with the gun. A man on the other side took them and put them away in their proper drawers. Ed bid his superior good evening and started his walk to the barracks. He walked through the streets as the sun went down, and when he got to his destination, it was dark. The boy walked into a room. On the inside, each side of the room had five beds for a total of ten. In the one closest to the door sat Sergeant Major Fuery. He was tinkering with a radio.
"Hey Fuery," Ed said tiredly.
"Hey Elric. Long day?" the Sergeant replied.
"Yeah. Target practice sucks. Where are the others?" Ed questioned.
"They went out to the bar after they got off. I didn't feel like going, so I stayed here."
"Cool. Well, I'm going to shower. Yell if you need me." Ed walked to his bed at the back left of they room and grabbed a blue towel out of his trunk. He proceeded to the door on the right side of the room and entered. This room was as large as the first one, and instead of having ten beds, there were ten faucets. The tiled floor was cold on the kid's feet as he walked to the nearest faucet and turned on the water. He showered in peace and quiet. As he did so, he got the his first real chance to look at his automail. He watched his prosthetic limb moved to clean his body. He was the innards of the machine move and do there job as he flexed the arm. Edward was in awe at how beautiful the arm was. Ed's thoughts were disturbed by loud voices in the other room. The others must be back, he thought.
A/N: Thanks to Theopgamer1002 and Toast for your reviews. I really appreciate the support. Also thank you to the people who followed this fanfic, or added it to their favorites list. It has really motivated me to write this chapter. My time for writing has decreased recently, so the next chapter is predicted to be out on fourteenth of February.
