Another Run of Events
Chapter Seven
Explosion

- mirage –

Chapter Six Recap:


Havoc turned and looked toward the window, their last escape, and grabbed Ed's wrist.

"Careful!" Ed cried, stumbling forward as Havoc ran to the window. "There is glass all up my arm!" Havoc grabbed the base of the window and yanked but it didn't budge.

"The windows stuck!" Havoc cried, trying not to cough in the hovering dust.

Ed was watching the air in the dirt drift closer to the ceiling and fire alarm with panic. "We've got to air this room, we're going to set off all the alarms!" Havoc was yanking on the window before clearing the items from on top of the bookshelf with his arm and using his shoulder. They were way past trying to hide someone had entered. It would now be clear to whoever entered that someone did arrive, and that someone was an alchemist.

"Ed grab that weapon," Havoc said, pointing toward the desk and the butt of whatever was laying there. "I need to pry the window up, he must have done something to lock it down!" Ed grabbed the handle on the desk and pulled out a large twelve inch knife with shock.

"Who the heck brings this to a school?" Ed asked, handing it over. Havoc stabbed the knife into the bottom of the window sill and tried to work it like a carjack. With the glass and dirt beneath his feet he lost traction and slid back into Ed almost immediately. "Careful!" Ed cried. Havoc's weight pressed Ed flush to the desk and the hand Ed jerked back to stabilize himself sparked the next alchemic reaction.


With the sudden flash Havoc and Ed ducked, covering their faces and heads, before watching a hair thin crack split off the top of the desk, travel down across the floor, up the far wall, and directly toward the light. Upon impact the bulb exploded, the fire alarm sounded, and the sprinklers went off.

"Break the window! Break the window!" Ed cried, fisting his hair as the water came pouring down. Havoc grabbed the knife and suddenly the window was going up and the colonel was on the other side lifting it.

"This way!" Roy cried, reaching in. "Ed! Come here!" Ed ran for the window and lifted the sill carefully. The array at the top was still present and Havoc was helping to wedge the bottom with Hawkeye speaking to them over the wire.

"All the alarms have been sounded. Students and teachers are entering the halls and they're sweeping the rooms to check for children."

Ed wasn't willing to wait on the window. "I can fit!" He cried, ducking down and squeezing his head through the slim seven inch space. "I can fit!" Roy reached in and hooked his grip beneath Ed's arms and yanked.

"Havoc, go to the door and open it! Pretend you're sweeping the room!" Hawkeye ordered.

"Go!" Roy ordered. Havoc stepped back from the window, bleeding and dripping with water and ran to the door. He opened it and stepped out into the chaos just as Roy pulled Ed's legs free of the room.

Roy dropped to his knees in the landscaping with Ed panting in his lap. The water was making the blood look worse, staining Ed's shirt and leaking down his arm. "Fullmetal, can you walk?" Roy asked, eyes darting from the shards of glass to the random cuts as Ed caught his breath.

"Are you kidding?" Ed rasped, giving a heavy cough before opening his eyes and wiping his wet bangs from his face. "I can run."

They took off through the landscaping and toward the back side door Ed and Havoc had snuck into last time. This time an idling SUV was waiting and the moment they approached Hawkeye opened the side door for them. They scurried in and Hawkeye slammed the door with Roy climbing into the driver's seat and Ed kneeling on the floor panting.

"Everything freaking blew up! The jar! The light! The desk! The glass!" Ed was going a mile a minute, holding his bleeding flesh arm with his automail. "I told Havoc not to give me the jar! I told him!" Hawkeye was moving quickly as Roy backed them up at an inconspicuous speed and took route to the market. Hawkeye pulled Ed's mission duffle bag from the trunk, the first aid kit from the front, and was ripping things out at the speed of light. "How am I going to hide these cuts!" Ed cried, staring down at his arm.

"Ed, don't panic," Hawkeye said firmly, ripping a bandage package open with her teeth and rapidly patting the backseat she was using as a table with her hand so Ed would know to sit there. "Are you all right?" Ed pulled himself up with his automail and slid into the seat dripping and cradling his flesh arm. "The glass doesn't look deep, I am sure it will be okay."

"The glass isn't deep!" Ed snapped angrily. With the automail he grabbed the fattest piece, a three inch slab stabbing in just above his elbow, and ripped it out. "I've got it all over me!" Ed threw the piece to the floor and grabbed the next piece and did the same. "I only have one flesh arm! This doesn't make life easy!"

"Ed." Hawkeye was trying to intervene but Ed was viciously pulling glass from himself as easily as if he were plucking off blades of grass. "Ed, please stop putting glass where I am sitting."

Hawkeye snatched Ed's hand and stopped him. "I know," she said softly, breaking the momentum they were caught inside. It was dangerous, moving at a velocity of violence, and with one statement, and one movement, she resolved it. "I know." She never said what she knew when she made this comment, but Roy had heard it and felt it before. He pulled into the market and parked in the back before turning around in his chair to look at the first lieutenant. She was sitting before the back passenger side holding first aid supplies and Ed's bleeding wrist with him staring at her. "We'll fix it all." That was all she ever had to say.

Roy got out and opened the back door interrupting the momentary peace. "Let's go."

Fuery came out the back and looked shocked on sight of them. Roy in his business professional attire, Hawkeye with her infiltration head gear, and Ed soaked and bleeding. "What happened?" Fuery choked, holding the back employee entrance open for them.

"Havoc caused an explosion," Ed reported sourly.

Hawkeye gave Ed a scolding glance. "This was an accident. It's no ones fault."

"Fuery, can you get us some medical supplies?" Roy asked, shutting the door behind them and testing that it was locked. The back of the market had a thin rectangular store room of supplies, and this was Fuery's base away from base. "We need some alcohol and bandages."

"Aisle four, got it," Fuery said, leaving quickly.

Ed limped to a pallet of canned peas and sat down holding his arm. Hawkeye followed and sat Ed's open duffle bag at his side. "Ed, you need to change from your wet clothing, and we need to clean your wounds."

Ed looked at his duffle bag with exhaustion before lifting his gaze to Hawkeye with a bit of embarrassment. "I need privacy to do that Hawkeye."

Roy checked his watch, and then his intercom to make sure it was still connected before smiling with Ed's comment. He looked up in time to see Hawkeye's expression relax with a bit of surprise because soldiers did not have many qualms about fixing wounds and how they were fixed. Clothing came off, bandages went on, that was the world of war. Soldiers were not prepubescent boys who were nervous around women. They wanted women, and if that desire could only be fulfilled through a female nurse well, than that was awesome.

Hawkeye set the first aid supplies she was holding at Ed's side, and handed him the bandage she had opened before giving him a smile. Ed wasn't certain what she was doing and was watching her cautiously. The first lieutenant could give orders that had to be followed.

"Sir, I am going to go correct the inside of the car," Hawkeye said, giving a fast solute and heading to the door. She was a graceful woman, and Roy let her leave before walking to Ed and stopping in front of the boy.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Ed gave him an irritated smile. "Let me see your arm." Ed extended it carefully and Roy cupped Ed's elbow and yanked a piece of glass free.

"I…" Ed flinched with the glass being removed. "I am worried about Havoc."

"Havoc will be fine," Roy said confidently. His fingers were pinching a shard to be pulled free when he lifted his gaze to Ed's and gave the boy a smile. "He's a good liar." Ed snorted with a bit of humor before flinching when the glass was taken out. "I was most worried about you." Two of Ed's flesh fingers were sliced. "We heard the explosion." Roy dug a small but powerful magnifying glass from their first aide kit and lowered it to Ed's arm. "They were noticeable." He was hoping there would be nothing sparkling inside Ed's cuts. They didn't really have time to pull out the tweezers and start digging diamonds out of the boy's flesh. "We knew at once things had gone wrong." Satisfied Roy sat the magnifying glass aside and grabbed the cotton balls Hawkeye had brought in. "I am glad you're safe. You're vital for this mission."

"I know," Ed said softly, sounding sorry he was so vital. Vital people were never excused from anything.

Fuery returned and brought ample supplies. He made sure he wasn't needed, and then left to prepare some food for them and to watch the door. The back door could be locked, but the front door should not be.

Roy opened the alcohol with Ed holding his arm out looking tired. "We'll have your wounds hidden. It won't be perfect, but it will be acceptable." He wet four cotton balls, and holding them together, dabbed soggy amounts into Ed's arm.

"Ow," Ed whispered, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. "How acceptable?"

"Just try and keep your arm from the lime light."

Ed gave a heavy sigh and ignored the alcohol which added to the water so dripping from Ed's fingers were fat pink drops. "The entire room was booby trapped Roy."

"I know," Roy said softly.

"I didn't even touch anything with two hands."

"I know." Roy gestured to Ed's chest and Ed unbuttoned his dress shirt and opened it so they could look at the small cuts, one just under and one just on his collar bone. They coated those with alcohol and then Ed was peeling out of his wet shirts and drying off with paper towel Fuery provided. Ed was pressing wads of paper towel to his head to dry his hair with his arm extended for Roy who was placing bandages when Hawkeye opened the back door and leaned in.

"Sir, the phone at your house is ringing," she said.

"Would Havoc call?" Ed asked, but Hawkeye shook her head and began readjusting her radio piece back to her ear.

"Does your ear piece still work, Ed?" she asked into the microphone and Ed nodded when he heard her voice from his equipment. "Good, I'll send word, or come get you," She said, leaving and shutting the door behind her. Seconds later they heard the SUV engine turn over and Ed gave Roy a questioning glance.

"She's taking the car?"

Roy chuckled. "The first lieutenant gets the car when she wants it Fullmetal." Roy smeared alcohol over the slits in Ed's fingers and Ed hissed.

"You know, these injuries suck ass Roy. You don't know what it's like living with one arm. One arm which is now all injured." Ed looked at the bandages on his arm with disdain. Some of them were so close together it made more sense simply to wrap the entire arm.

"The cuts aren't deep. Give them two days. We'll get you a gym note," Roy said, keeping his tone light and humorous.

"Oh goodie." Ed was not impressed, and wiggled his fingers slowly with a deep wince. "This look stupid." Ed stated the obvious well, and Roy laughed as he unraveled enough gauze to wrap Ed's fingers. "I am going to look like a mummy."

"It's temporary."

"Colonel?" Ed's ear piece sounded with Hawkeye's voice, and in the silence they both heard it.

Ed lifted it to his ear. "It's Edward."

"Is the colonel there?" Hawkeye asked, sounding impatient. Ed offered the ear piece and Roy brought it to the side of his own head.

"Hawkeye."

"They're saying the explosion was a bomb, and that someone placed it in the school as a prank," Hawkeye said, reporting quickly.

"Great," Roy said with disgust. Things just kept getting better. "And Havoc?"

"His cover story is that he heard the first explosion and ran for the room and caught the butt of the second. He did a good job, it went nicely." Roy was pleased. "But if Edward doesn't get back to school they're going to know. They're doing head counts to make sure everyone is there and safe. It looks like there was some typical chaos with all classes being released at once, and since Ed was in Havoc's class that's helping to slow things but we can't have him missing."

"Doesn't Havoc have a cushy set up with the nurse?" Roy asked. Ed lifted his gaze from the bandage he was taping over his collar bone as if some form of spine tingling told him things weren't going in the direction he'd prefer.

"I believe so," Hawkeye said.

"Than that will be our card in."


Havoc opened the nurse's office door in one quick stride. "Darleen!" he cheered, and given the events of the afternoon she looked startled with the assault on her office, and further surprised to see Havoc's grinning, and bandaged, face. "Did you see the commotion or what?" Havoc asked happily.

Darleen stood quickly from her desk, a clipboard in hand. "James, I can't believe it." Quickly she skirted her desk. "I heard everything! I hope you're okay!"

Havoc gave a boisterous shrug. "I can take it," Havoc said, giving his arm a quick playful flex before turning around and gesturing for Ed to enter. "You remember my gym buddy, right?"

Darleen looked to Ed and gave him a kind smile. "Hello Edward. I hope you've been feeling better since I last saw you."

Ed gave Darleen a polite smile. "Thanks."

"He was with me," Havoc said, pointing to Ed's cut arm. They had removed all the bandages on the way over and although the naked cuts were clean, Ed looked like someone had gotten to him with a red sharpie marker. "He followed me when I heard the first blast." Darleen looked horrified. "Think you can clean this trooper up some?"

Darleen beckoned Ed in with frantic waves and gestured to her chair. "Oh Edward, I am so sorry. Take a seat sweetheart." Darleen rushed into the back room and Ed plopped down in her chair and tipped his head back to rest. And so began the charade. "I can't believe this!" Darleen returned to Ed's side loading cotton balls with alcohol. Ed opened his mouth to protest before surrendering with a look of defeat and obediently offering his pre-disinfected arm for another round of disinfecting. "Did anyone call his parents yet?" Darleen was dabbing over Ed's cuts at lightening speed.

"I was just about to," Havoc said calmly.

"Oh my gosh," Darleen whispered, trying her best to be gentle but her hand was nearly shaking with the condition of one of their students. "He has cuts all over his arm, Edward really," Darleen said, pausing in her work to lift her gaze to Eds. "We are so sorry this happened." Darleen set her cotton balls aside and gently touched Ed's cheek below his eye. "Ed, does your eye bother you? It looks pink."

"My eye?" Ed asked, lifting a hand to touch it. Darleen stopped it right away.

"No, don't touch that." Quickly she was digging through her supplies and Havoc stepped forward and took a look.

"She's right Ed, your eye looks pink."

Ed again lifted his hand to touch it and Darleen intercepted. "Okay Ed, don't touch your eye. We'll have to have it looked at. I am worried you might have something inside there." Ed groaned. "I am hoping it's just irritated by the dust and not pink eye."

"What's pink eye?" Ed asked, moving to touch his eye once again before catching himself. "Is that really bad?"

"No." Darleen gave her head a dismissive shake. "Don't let yourself worry about that. We're going to call your parents and have you sent home anyway. If you really do have pink eye you'd just need to be out while you're contagious."

"Oh great," Ed said sarcastically, flashing Havoc a dark look. He couldn't do reconnaissance from home. That had been made very clear to him.

"Don't worry about your studies," Darleen said kindly. "I am sure we can have this all taken care of." Ed did not look convinced, and they all looked up when the Nurse's Office door opened and Marianna entered and set her hands on her hips with a dramatic sigh.

"Edward Elric, I've been looking for you," Marianna said, displeasure evident in her gaze and tone.

Ed was startled with her sudden arrival, and with this declaration raised his eyebrows in a look of panic. "I-I am being sent home," Ed said quickly, before pointing to his eye. "I have ink eye."

Marianna gestured Ed leave the office. "This is serious Edward. Pink eye can wait."

"Do you want me to call his parents?" Darleen asked, looking a bit worried Ed was being uprooted so quickly.

Marianna gave a shake of her head and waited for Ed to obey her order. After a tense moment of indecision, in which Ed analyzed all other options for escape and found none, he slid from his chair, shot Havoc a dark eye flare and mouthed "call Roy" before exiting under Marianna's arm. "Don't worry about it," Marianna said, shutting the office door behind her.

Once alone in the half Marianna looked down at Ed's irritable expression and tightened her own. "I suspect you already know what this is about Edward." Ed gave his head a soft shake and Marianna gave a sniff of disgust. She began a quick pace toward her office and Ed followed. "I don't appreciate games, Edward."

"No, ma'am I don't know what this is about," Ed muttered irritably.

"Someone saw you Edward," Marianna said. She paused in her walk and looked down at the short boy. He returned her gaze uneasily but cautiously did not turn to face her. "And I'll tell you there is one thing I don't tolerate in this school," she said, lifting a finger before continuing her pace, "and that's violence."

Ed felt his stomach turn over with this statement. There was plenty of violence running around him. She could have seen anything! The students made it incredibly clear they were not on his side so it's possible someone reported something he'd done. There was plenty of that as well. It was also hard to remember profanity could no longer be vocabulary, and incredibly hard not to shove and hit when other people were touching you, or trying to touch parts of you they thought you couldn't feel and wanted to investigate because curiosity was getting the better of them. At those times Ed knew exactly where he wanted to put their curiosity, and he tried to make that happen in one blow. So now, trying to match the angry principal's speed of walk, Ed felt as doomed as if she'd just said she wouldn't permit automail. One way or another she'd have some form of evidence, she seemed thorough enough to at least do that. There had not been one time he was called or escorted to her office where she didn't have a phone call or note from another teacher. It seemed, like them, she investigated things.

They walked in silence until reaching her office and Marianna opened the door for Ed and watched him enter with the cold eyes of a hunter. She had him, and they both knew it. The office was like an open bear trap and Ed felt as if he was stepping into it just as she closed the door behind them. "I'll give you this opportunity to explain yourself," she said, walking to her desk.

Ed went to the right chair facing the mammoth wooden alter that was twice the size of Roy's and sat. This chair felt like his chair. It was the one he always sat in.

"Can I call my dad?" Ed asked, trying to keep his nervousness from his voice. This was an arena where he had a significant disadvantage.

"No." Marianna snapped, annoyed this was being brought up so soon. "He's already being called Edward." Ed felt a rush of relief. Roy at least seemed capable of playing this woman's head games as if he were one of the heard. "So?" Marianna asked, sitting back in her chair and giving her left hand an absent wave to the side. "Anything to say?" Ed didn't know where to start. She hadn't given him enough to know if he would be explaining or divulging. "Nothing?" Marianna asked, tone becoming incredibly disgusted with the silence. Ed heard this clearly and shifted his weight uncomfortably. Obviously staying quiet was making things worse, but addressing the wrong thing might give her a violation she didn't know she had. "It's amazing you have nothing to say for yourself now," Marianna said, sitting forward and linking her hands. "You don't want to tell me why you felt it necessary to destroy part of this school?"

Ed didn't know how to interpret that question. "What do you mean?" he asked softly. He had learned early on when she asked if he had anything to say for himself that explaining, asking additional questions, or voicing his opinions the way he did at the office, simply worked him into more trouble. The only safe card was pansy ass silence.

Marianna lifted her eyebrows with surprise he's retort with such a brass question. "Why did you put a bomb in the downstairs custodian closet?" she asked, sounding bitterly annoyed she was having to ask this so bluntly.

"What!" Ed cried. This question shot out and slapped him. A bomb in the what! In the where?

"Do not raise your voice to me young man," Marianna snapped, she gave her desk a quick reprimanding slap to punctuate her order and Ed broke out nodding in wobbly agreement.

"But I didn't!"

"Edward!" Marianna snapped, slapping her hand down again.

"No, I didn't! I don't know anything about bombs! I don't know how to make them!" That was a lie if there ever was one. Ed could remember countless things he'd transformed into combustibles, and several he had transformed specifically to combust. While lying to Mustang was sort of like a bullfight in which all he held was the thin and flimsy matador's sword against a bull who had spent a life time charging when so inclined, this fight felt rigged. He wasn't at a disadvantage because he never had an advantage to begin with! He was simply not supposed to have the tools to win.

"Edward, there is a witness who saw you go in there yesterday," Marianna said angrily. "You're the only student who has been in there, and then today you were there again when it was detonated." Ed felt the walls closing in on him. How would he explain that! Marianna lifted a hand and poked her desk with it. "Let me be very clear, this is your chance to explain yourself."

"Ma'am!" Ed yelled, leaning forward in his chair. "I didn't put a bomb anywhere in this school!" Ed tossed his hand wildly to the side in an all encompassing gesture. "I didn't!" Marianna pinched her eyes into thin slits of irritation with Ed's raised tone and excited movement. "I was in gym! I heard the explosion!"

"Other students say you weren't in gym Edward," Marianna replied smoothly.

"Yeah, well…." Ed trailed off feeling trapped. Crap, he hadn't thought she'd had time to investigate this thoroughly! "I…" Ed licked his lips uncertainly. "…was," he said, sounding foolish even to himself. Marianna didn't buy this for a second.

"Faculty is who saw you going into the room Ed." Ed didn't understand how that could be true. The colonel was watching the hall! "And you said you were in gym, but your classmates say you weren't."

"I…don't think anyone saw me going in," Ed said. He had to think of something, just hook onto something and stall for Roy!

Marianna wasn't fooled by this either. "That's not open for discussion," she snapped. "I don't need to discuss what you think someone did or did not see." Marianna lifted a boney finger and Ed looked at it when it pointed at him. "Edward I am very sorry you're having a hard time here, and we have been trying to work with you, but this is really taking things too far. I don't like seeing you in my office." Marianna stood quickly as if suddenly sprouting from her chair, and Ed slid back an inch feeling like a mouse beneath a hawk.

"Well, I don't like being here either," he said miserably.

"I've had quite enough," Marianna said, as if she felt a strong need to put the cards on the table.

"To put things plainly how many times do you think I can just let you be sent here and take no action?"

Ed was shocked, and his jaw dropped open. "You have taken action!" Ed snapped gesturing at the woman with his automail. "You drag me in here all the time and lecture me!"

"And it obviously hasn't done any good. You're still here just as frequently. I still have teachers complaining you start fights during class, use inappropriate language, and inappropriate gestures. I didn't have half of these problems until you appeared." Marianna sighed with exasperation. "Now what should I do with a student like that?"

"These things aren't my fault," Ed said sourly.

"I find that hard to believe Edward."

"I don't care what you believe," Ed snapped. "I don't have to discuss what you do and don't believe with you." He felt nervous the moment he was done speaking because he knew he was being what the colonel called a "wise-ass" but he couldn't help it! In his defense he had to do something and so in response, his mouth was moving on its own because it couldn't wait for him.

Marianna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "If you're saying that every occurrence on the long list you have, was outside of your control you're going to have to make a better argument Edward. I am not tolerating this. This has crossed the line." Marianna left her stance behind her desk and walked to the finely polished bookshelf to her left. It had six shelves with cabinets on the bottom and only one on the side. Starting on the top shelf were a few diplomas and pictures near a plant that Ed thought looked dead. The remaining shelves were filled with books peppered only with occasional decorative pieces. A purple vase, a small statue, an elegant clock. Ed had never seen what was in the bottom cabinets, but he had learned from a particularly memorable visit what was in the cabinet to the right, and he felt icy panic flood him the movement she began to open it.

"No! No way!" Ed cried, sliding to the edge of his seat as if to break into a run. On that certain afternoon after Roy had explained things Marianna explained them again and then went to the cabinet and took out a very thin stick. This was how Ed truly learned what a cane was, and he saw it and felt it for the first time on that day, and decided he was never going to reintroduce himself to it. "I am not freaking in trouble like this!" Ed yelled, gripping the arms of his chair with white knuckles.

"Oh yes," Marianna said, with a short and quick bitter laugh. "Yes you are."

Ed was unaware he began shaking his head when she retrieved the first paddle Ed had ever seen and turned around with it. "No Way Principal Sallsburry!" Ed yelled. "I did not put a bomb there, and I am not being punished for it!"

Marianna shut the cabinet and walked quickly to the side of the Ed's chair with him yelling at her. Ed jumped back and silenced immediately with the close proximity of a weapon he wasn't allowed to counter attack.

"Edward," Marianna said calmly. "You are. You are going to be punished, so understand that right now." Ed choked and struggled to keep the panic from flooding his face. How could this be happening! "Now you'll either cooperate and take the paddling you deserve, or you'll be expelled for two weeks."

"Yes I-" Ed was agreeing to whatever was needed to escape on principle alone. What was happening could not be this, and where the hell was Roy! "Wait! No!" Then, what was really said started sinking in. "I-wait! Expelled!" Frantically Ed tried to decipher what that meant for grade school students. That was worse than suspension right? "Is that suspension?" Ed asked, dreading the answer. What if it was worse? What if it meant permanent removal from the school! Roy would kill him! Hell Roy would flip no matter what if it removed him from his infiltrated position!

Marianna snorted with the childish question. "Yes Ed, that is like suspension. I doubt your grades will hold after two weeks of absence."

"Two weeks of absence!" Ed cried in shock. "But I can't be expelled!" Ed involuntarily began shaking his head. You could not do reconnaissance from home! "I need to be in the school."

"Then you're going to feel the beginning of the repercussions for your actions on your rear," Marianna said, not without a hint of satisfaction. Ed felt his cheeks flood with color. He couldn't believe that sentence was actually just spoken to him. He turned wide eyes full of trepidation toward the paddle in her hand. It looked like a cutting board on a stick. "Even after you're punished a form of suspension might still be necessary but we'll talk about that," Marianna said, before lifting the paddle and pointing to the front of her desk with it. "Now bend yourself over this desk at once."

Ed shot out of his chair and skirted around it gripping the back for protection. "I…" he managed, swallowing the thick feeling in his throat. His face felt like it was burning. This was so much harder than military paperwork or combat. In this fight he felt the barrel of a shotgun aiming right between his eyes when he wasn't even able to carry a knife. "I…I want to talk to Roy."

"What?" Marianna asked, loosing a bit of anger for confusion.

"My dad," Ed said quickly, slowly lifting an open palm toward her for defense. "I want to talk to him."

"Edward, I am counting to three and then you're expelled," Marianna said, with a tone of fed up exasperation.

"Wait," Ed choked. If he couldn't make a loop hole and Roy didn't show, what was the alternative?

Suddenly in the heat of the moment Ed remembered a muggy summer day in which he was sitting outside Roy's office waiting for directions with Hawkeye. It was late, she was the only one still in office waiting for the colonel, and she sat at her desk cleaning her gun. He had asked her about training, and she had given him a piece of advice because, as he'd learned later, she knew Mustang was furious at him and was going to pitch a fit once he met with the man. She said the most relevant piece of information she'd taken from training was actually a simple word of advice. In battle, she said, you're going to take a hit, and you're going to be wounded. Know it now, and know it well, so when you see the blow coming, you remember to let it happen, and know taking it means you'll be there to fight the next.

All at once Ed saw his blow coming in slow motion and he was horrified. Was this it? Was this that moment? "Wait," Ed choked." No! This couldn't be one of those moments!

"One."

"Principal Sallsbury this isn't fair!" Ed cried. It was like watching a massive hammer lift high overhead knowing you were the target. "You don't even know if I did it!" Ed was grasping desperately at any argument he thought would fly. "You're not even certain! How can you punish me if you don't have factual evidence or certainty!" Like the solid and unmistakable sound of a shotgun cocking.

"Two." Marianna felt confident with the testimony of her staff.

"Ma'am please!" Somewhere in the back of Ed's mind he became a bit ill he was slipping towards outright begging, but the majority of him, and specifically select parts, said avoid this at all costs! "I don't feel comfortable with this! I want my dad!"

"You're not going to feel comfortable about this Edward, and you're not supposed to," Marianna said angrily. She swung the paddle up in one smooth familiar movement and slapped it into her palm. "You're being punished and your father is not wheedling you out of it." She gave the paddle two quick slaps to her hand and Ed began to feel dizzy. "Don't test me Ed," she said. She had cat's eyes, two thin slits staring down with animalistic precision like she knew she could pounce before he scurried off, and was powerful enough she didn't even have to. "I will expel you. Make no mistake."

"Ma'am," Ed whined. And here it was. Ed lowered his flesh hand, and swallowed heavily. "Please." The begging. "I am sorry," Ed whispered. His mouth was dry and his tongue felt fat. "I am sorry, not for bombs, I didn't plant bombs, but I am sorry I've been getting in such trouble." Marianna gave her head the slightest dismissive shake but the message was clear. No, they were not discussing this, this topic was unnecessary. "I've been trying!" Ed raised his voice with desperation. "Please let me wait for him! Please let me wait!" Ed looked at the paddle and it seemed gigantic. Originally he had imagined something about the size of a toaster, but this was hands down a dinner sized placemat. A nice ten by fourteen monster!

Marianna was silent just long enough to verify Ed was done pleading before she spoke. "Three." In one swoop the paddle was pointing back toward the desk. "Get to the desk this instant." Ed felt his chest cave forward as if a ball of lead were just tossed at him and his shoulders followed. Briefly, and unbeknown to him, when he was told the surgery to attach his automail leg would include a total of sixteen injections and a hundred and fifty two stitches he had the exact same reaction. It was brief and total suffocation under pressure, and Ed felt all the air leave his lungs until a soft and pathetic sound squeaked out. "Over it Edward," Marianna said, not the slightest bit moved. "I am not going to continue giving my orders twice." Ed glanced to the desk but his feet felt rooted where he stood.

One of the most frustrating and infuriating moments he could remember was in basic training under Mustang in which he was told his hand to hand combat was weak and he was ordered to practice. Although his alchemy was strong Mustang told him he wasn't allowed to use it and threw him into a ring with a soldier twice his age and also with two automail appendages. Trapped on his stomach after being pinned in thirty two seconds the guy wouldn't let him up, and Ed felt the same overwhelming frustration and panic he felt while face down on the floor come to him now. Any moment he was going to have to take this blow and he was trying to cling to any second he could to prolong it.

"Fine," Marianna said, anger climbing to a fast and abrupt declaration. "Then you're expel.." before she could finish the word Ed shot to the desk and assumed the same position she made him use for the cane. He stood flush to the front and bent completely over slamming his fists down on either side of him in surging panic and rage. "Good," Marianna said, stepping back and raising the paddle. "Now stay put." Before things went any further Ed pressed his face to the desk and wrapped his flesh arm over his head.


Chapter seven done! ~ Leave a review please! Let me know what you think : )
Question - I was torn between placing the Recap at the beginning of the chapter. Do you guys like that? Is it silly? I think you'd go back and review if you wanted to, so maybe I shouldn't do it. What do you readers advise?

Now for some bad news, I will be on vacation for the end of September until the beginning of October. I will be over in Europe traveling through a few lovely places, and won't be able to post while I am away. (I know, I am sorry to leave you all with this cliff hanger!) Both Friday 9/28/12 and 10/5/12 I will be observing a Euro blackout. I should also be in Egypt so please keep your fingers crossed regarding all the awful unrest.

Chapter 8 – Empty Lobby will be posted 10/12/12 when I return. Hang in there everyone! How will little Ed make out of this one, and just what will Roy think about it all when he finds out? We're about to pick up speed!