HEYO!
So! Finally got this done.
I know you want to get to reading, so I'll just skip my inane rambling that I know you don't want to hear.
But it sucks because I kind of want to ramble.
...I'm gonna ramble...
This chapter just details Edward and Riza's decision to join the military. It's not something you decide in a day you know ^^
So!
I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
"Those two? What about them? Military dogs, both."- Madam Margaret Shields
Central City, Central Area
August 1, 1902
After that first time eating dinner together, Riza and Edward became joined at the hip. Odds were, if you found one the other one was within twenty feet. They were fiercely protective of one another, as anyone who tried to mess with one of them found out. Ever since they had shown up Margaret had used up her supply of nose splints from the amount of noses broken by either Riza or Edward. Now, two years later, both children were thirteen years old and were in their room at the orphanage. There was a field trip to the center of town for a parade today. Edward and Riza were both at their respective hobbies of reading and drawing. Ed was wearing a black tank top and blue denim shorts, and Riza was wearing black pants and a white t-shirt. They were both seated at a table near the door.
"What ya readin' Ed?" Riza took a break from drawing a dog and looked at Edward.
"I'm reading a book on the taboos of alchemy."
Riza cocked her head.
"I thought you stopped using alchemy 'cause of the accident."
"I did."
"Then why you reading about it?"
Edward shrugged.
"Can't I be interested in it? I mean it is pretty interesting that no one has ever succeeded at human transmutation."
Riza shook her head.
"Ed, everyone who has ever tried is dead. How is that interesting?"
Ed scowled.
"It just is. How is drawing a dog interesting?"
Now Riza scowled.
"Drawing is a great hobby. God, you still haven't worked the kinks out of your attitude have you?"
"I told you, I'm just naturally a jerk."
Riza rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, and I'm naturally a tomboy."
"No you're not; when you got here you were such a girly-girl."
Riza face palmed.
"That's the point, you moron…ugh, I give up…" Riza went back to drawing the dog. Ed shrugged and went back to his book. While she was drawing Riza continued talking.
"So have you considered what we're going to do when we get kicked out of here. It's only three more years you know."
Edward sighed.
"No I haven't. There's not much we can really do. All I'm good at is alchemy, and I'm not going to use the thing that killed my family, and most alchemy labs wouldn't hire a sixteen year old anyway."
Riza frowned.
"Ed, three years isn't that long of a time...we need to figure out what we're going to do."
There was silence between the duo for the next few minutes, until Margaret came strolling over.
"Ed, Riza, would you two help me making sure everyone is ready to go to the parade?"
They both nodded, and got off their chairs. Ed dog eared his book, while Riza closed her sketchbook and sat it next to Ed's book.
"You take the bathrooms, and I'll take the bedrooms? Meet up in the common room?" Riza proposed. Ed nodded. They both walked into the hallway before splitting up and heading in different directions.
Edward and Riza stood on the sidewalk behind the rest of the other children. They each had a shorter than normal child on their shoulders allowing them to watch the parade.
"Oh! Look Eddy!" the four year old on Ed's shoulders pointed down the street at an open top car with several uniformed men in it. There were two flags on little poles on top of the wheel wells. One was the Amestrisian national flag, and the other was dark blue with three yellow stars on it. There were six men on either side of the car walking alongside it. The guards glinted in the sunlight from the medals and decorations. Even their shoes shown in the sunlight.
"I like the shiny shoes!"
Ed laughed and poked her in the stomach.
"Those are soldiers, Lisa. The one in the car is called a general. Can you say general?"
The brown haired girl put her finger to her lips.
"Gen-er-ral..." the girl struggled. Edward smiled.
"Good job Lisa. Look he's waving to you. Wave back."
Lisa eagerly waved to the general who was waving to the crowd. Riza walked over with a boy named Charles on his shoulders.
"Ed, I have an idea."
Ed looked at her curiously. Then the idea dawned on him as Riza looked at the staff car full of officers.
"Oh, no! We are not joining the military."
Riza frowned.
"Let's not talk about it here. We'll talk after dinner tonight ok?"
Edward sighed and nodded.
"Ok. Look at that Lisa!"
Riza went back to pointing out things to the younger children, and before long it was over, and the boys and girls were heading back to their home.
Riza was brushing her teeth in the mirror as Ed was getting his clothes out. As she spit and wiped her mouth Ed laid down now that he had his pajamas on. Already having her own nightclothes on Riza laid down as well.
"Are we gonna talk about this Ed?"
Edward groaned.
"I'd hoped you'd forgotten. Ok, yeah, sure. I mean it's an idea..."
Riza started.
"Edward the military needs people really badly, and me and you are pretty smart. We could probably get into the officer's school really fast."
"Yeah, but the majority of people get sent to far off garrisons like Briggs or the Table City. Not to mention that me and you would get separated. We can't let that happen."
Riza sighed.
"Ed it isn't like we wouldn't keep in contact. Soldiers are allowed to write to each other. And if we were lucky we could end up in the same unit."
Edward groaned, knowing she was right.
"Alright, alright The military could be an idea, but let's consider all of our other options first ok?"
Riza rolled her eyes.
"Ok, Ed, ok. Let's get some sleep. Margaret is gonna want us to help out with cleaning up tomorrow."
"Night, Riza."
Riza smiled with her eyes closed.
"Good night, Ed."
December 12, 1903
"Risha, whash tshe plansh?"
Ed was brushing his teeth after breakfast that morning. Riza spit into the basin and looked at her friend.
"The only thing I can come up with is the military Ed."
Edward sighed after he spit and began washing out his toothbrush.
"I don't like the idea Riza. Ms. Margaret said that the war in the East is really starting to get bad."
Riza nodded solemnly.
"But we have to do something. Unless you're going to start using alchemy again you don't have any skills, and I can't exactly start selling my amateurish drawings as art."
Ed gave Riza a bored look.
"No need for the sarcasm. And I'm not using alchemy."
Riza pointed at Ed.
"Exactly. Unless you're going to wait tables at a diner or something, the military is the only choice you have. The same thing for me."
Edward sighed.
"Alright, alright. I get it. But keep in mind that we still have three years before we're eligible to join the military and we're getting kicked out in two. Gonna have to figure something out about that and I mean, hey, something will probably come up before that even happens."
Riza smiled and nodded.
"Yeah."
January 5, 1905
Nothing came up.
As the days went by in the orphanage the prospect of joining the military got bigger and bigger. Then the day finally came when Riza and Edward had to leave. They were standing at the front door with all of their worldly possessions. A sketchpad. A book. And a few shirts and pairs of pants.
Margaret was teary eyed as she stood in front of them.
"It's been a pleasure you two. Stay out of trouble. And come to visit!"
Riza and Edward both smiled.
"Sure thing."
Riza and Ed looked at each other before nodding.
"We'd like you to hold onto our books if you don't mind. We don't have a place for them quite yet. We'll pick them up as soon as we have a place."
Margaret grinned.
"Of course! Come back for them anytime."
The old woman hugged the two teens, and the two teens who were leaving turned to a group of children.
"You guys behave for Miss Margaret. We're not living here anymore, but we can still come back if you do." Edward smiled and cracked his knuckles as Riza rolled her eyes with a smirk. With that the two teens each picked up their dufflebag and walked outside. They looked at each other before nodding and walking away from their home for the last five years. They hadn't told Miss Margaret what they'd done. She wouldn't have approved. There were quite a few Ishvalan children in the orphanage, after all.
The teens didn't speak as they walked down the street and towards a line of people their age. They stood in line next to several cargo trucks and before long a man in a blue uniform with gold trim walked out of the building.
"Everyone on the trucks! Leave your bags where they are! " The teens all climbed into the back of a truck. The teens were packed into the military trucks twenty or thirty to a truck. The tarp was pulled down leaving the boys and girls in complete darkness. The truck started and there was a jolt as the convoy started its journey.
January 8, 1905
Undisclosed Location
It could have been hours, it could have been days. No one in the trucks knew, since the convoy never stopped, and they were in complete darkness. Finally the driver slammed on the breaks, and the tarp was lifted.
"Out of the trucks! Now! Move!" Two men in blue uniforms grabbed teens and jerked them out of the truck and onto the ground. Several stumbled and fell, but were back on their feet and heading towards a gathering in moments. Someone grabbed Edward's ankle and pulled him out of the side and he fell onto his arm.
"On your feet! You don't have time to be sleeping cadet!" a hand dragged him to his feet, and he ran towards the nearest group. As he reached the smattering of thirty or so teens he was able to take in his surroundings. It was night time. Mountains. That much was clear. There were pine trees around and Edward could see his breath. The people around him began shivering. A man stood on the hood of one of the trucks, and blew a whistle. The cadets got quiet.
"Listen up you little shits! There's a camp a day's journey to the north. If you can get there you'll find a bed waiting. If you can't..well...you won't need a bed, you'll be needing a body bag. Good luck!"
As the instructor got back in the cab of the truck the vehicles started and began pulling away.
"Hey! You can't just leave us!" One of the cadets began running after the trucks. He grabbed onto the tail gate of the trailing vehicle, and as he began lifting himself on one of the instructors kicked him in the chest. He fell over onto the ground and began rolling. All of the cadets were quiet as the sound of the engines faded into the distance. Looking up at the sky several cadets began walking in the direction of the north star. Before long, larger clumps began walking after them, and after a few minutes everyone of the hundred some odd teens were walking towards their training base. That was when Edward heard the moan. He turned and saw the cadet that had tried to grab onto the truck. The boy was holding his ankle in pain.
"Aw dammit..." Edward ran his hand over his face and walked over. He leaned down, and saw the kid's ankle beginning to swell.
"Is it broken?"
Edward looked over his shoulder and saw Riza standing there with another girl. The girl had black hair, and onyx black eyes. The boy groaned as Edward put his middle and fore finger on his ankle.
"I think it's just sprained."
Riza groaned.
"Well. We can't leave him..."
Edward looked at the boy's face.
"Hey. Kid what's your name?"
The boy grimaced.
"Jean Havoc."
Edward smirked.
"Well we can't abandon you now. That name is to perfect for a soldier. I'm Edward Elric."
Jean chuckled a little bit. The black haired girl leaned down and began helping Jean to his feet.
"I'm Maria Ross." the girl smiled gently as Edward put Jean's arm over his shoulder.
"Thanks a lot you guys."
Riza smiled.
"What? Did you expect us to leave you here?"
Jean chuckled humorlessly.
"Kind of, yeah."
With that the four teens began walking,or in Jean's case hobbling, to the north.
SO! EDWARD AND RIZA HAVE STARTED THEIR JOURNEY INTO THE ANNALS OF HISTORY!
Basic Training's begun, and we've met Ross and Havoc.
Reviews are appreciated.
This has been Microzombie.