TWICE IN ONE DAY? Idontgiveaflyingfuck... Are you sick?
Actually, yes I am... Yet I love you all enough to sit on my computer for a few hours instead of homework due tomorrow just so I can post this chapter and the alternate beginning to this story...
THAT'S RIGHT! YOU ALL HEARD ME, THERE IS NO WAX IN YOUR EARS! I have made an alternate beginning to this story right here... It is called A Whole Other Beginning. (See what I did there?)
So go ahead and read this chapter... Then read that new story of mine...
TOTAL EPICNESS RIGHT HERE! THE FIGHT TO THE DEATH BETWEEN COLONEL ROY MUSTANG AND SECOND LIEUTENANT KATHRYN ROCKBELL!
Okay... not a fight to the death... but a fight none the less. Will Kat get her license? We shall see!
LUV YOU!
Edward woke up the next day. He looked down at Kathryn and laughed. She had her nose covered with her hands, like a dog. "Kat, come on. You have a big day ahead of you."
She got up and stretched, first leaning forward, then backwards, like a dog.
"You know, I almost forgot that you're part wolf until you did that,"
She smiled and crawled over to him and licked his cheek. "And what about when I do that?"
"It makes me want to ravage you, but if I did that, then we'd be late and you wouldn't pass,"
She laughed and kissed him in the same spot. "Morning," she said. She changed into a regular black tank, her favorite pair of jeans, and her boots. "I'm not going to put on my battle gear until I get there," she said, tucking her outfit into a bag."I'll put it on before I go out,"
They left the house and went to the main building. They gave Kat a the room from before and she got ready.
She finished tucking the pant legs into her boots and zipped them up.
"So you know you need to strike first,"
"Yes Ed," she replied, pulling down the belly tank that she traded out for the tub top.
"And if you don't get a chance start running before he burns you to a crisp,"
"Yes Ed," she said pulling on her jacket and zipping it how it was before.
"And why were you studying that alchemy book the whole ride here? You already know everything you need,"
"That book was a book on everything you need to know about the basics of water based alchemy. He is the Flame Alchemist, Ed. He is useless on rainy days. What will happen if his gloves get wet?" she asked pulling on her blue jacket.
"Oh, you remember he has two gloves?"
"Yes Ed," she sighed. She pulled on her gloves and tied her into her pony tail. "Anything else?"
"Nothing I can think of. Oh wait," he tossed her a piece of chalk. "How fast can you make a transmutation circle for a wall?"
She bent over and made the transmutation circle for a wall blindingly fast. She touched the circle and the wall shot up. Ed kicked it and it still held strong. She clapped and deconstructed it.
"Good. If you lose your arm somehow you will need a wall. I'm going to go tell him about your necklace. Don't worry, I won't tell him why, just to stay away from it,"
He left her alone to herself. She breathed in deeply and clutched the key around her neck. What happens if he breaks the chain? Or worse… the key itself… Ed, you better do a good job of convincing him…
Ed and Al walked back into the room.
"You ready, Kathryn?" Al asked.
"Yeah… Just a bit nervous," she replied.
"Don't be. You're going to kick ass. Then you will be a dog of the military," he snickered.
She punched him hard in the arm.
"Is there something I'm missing?" Alphonse asked suspiciously.
"Al, we'll tell you later. It's something that can't be explained in under a minute," Kat replied.
The door opened and they walked into the arena.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the first fight of the day! In the red corner stands Colonel Roy Mustang!" Hughes shouted. Boos echoed through the crowd just like the last time. "In the blue corner, should she succeed, will be the first ever female state alchemist, Kathryn Rockbell!" Cheers and cat whistled erupted through the crowd.
Ed stiffened noticeably next to Kathryn. She grabbed his upper arm and gave it a squeeze. "You know you're the only guy for me. We are the only ones who can put up with the other's shit,"
"Good luck," he whispered. Then everyone but the two were left in the ring.
"Alchemists, are you ready?" Kathryn and Mustang just glared at each other. "Tough crowd tough crowd. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!" he yelled as he ran away as fast as he could.
Kathryn made the first move by clapping her hands and slamming them to the ground.
"And what was that supposed to do, Second Lieutenant?" Mustang asked her. He shifted his weight and prepared to fire at her when the ground collapsed from under him.
"Just that," she smirked. She clapped and pulled her sword out of the ground. The crowd erupted in cheers.
Mustang managed to pull himself out of the hole. He staggered a bit but managed to regain his footing. She rushed towards Mustang, sword poised to strike. He took aim as she sliced through the air. Then she jumped back quickly.
"Too slow! Are you just so old that you can't move anymore?"
"How can you miss a stationary object!" he asked taking aim again.
She ran forward and took another slice at him. Then she jumped back. "Are you forgetting about your own alchemy Colonel? If I recall," she took another slice, "not only are you useless on rainy days, but you can't manage a spark in shifting air currents," she finished with an upwards swipe. "Plus, if I went full out on you, you might never wake up again. And I don't want to do that quite yet,"
Mustang stopped moving backwards away from her blade. "Useless?"
She stuck her sword in the ground and swung herself around with the handle, kicking him square in the chest and sent him flying backwards. She pulled her sword out of the ground and aimed at him in case he recovered quickly. "An angry soldier fights blind. You of all people should know that. You taught it to me,"
She stuck the blade back into the ground, placed her hands on the handle and rested her head on her hands. "Geeze Colonel Jackass, you sure you were up to this battle? You look so tired," she feigned worry. She pretended to check her nails, seeing as she still had on her gloves. "I guess you're not as young as you used to be. How old are you now, fifty? You sure you shouldn't be in the nursing ho-
Mustang came out of no where and punched her in the face. She went flying away from her sword and landed on her back. He stared at her with wide eyes, not believing he just did that.
Kathryn just started laughing. She stood up and wiped the dirt off her ass. "Now we are getting somewhere! I was waiting for you to lose that cool demeanor. Now we can have some real fun!" She walked away from him about twenty steps before turning around. "Why don't we start this thing over now that you are a little more relaxed?" she asked. She extended her arm and closed her fist twice, telling him to come on. "Gimme your best shot. Don't hold back."
He growled at how much she was enjoying this and snapped.
She was already out of the way. "That's more like it! But come on, you've got to be able to do better than that!"
He snapped again and she dodged it, laughing at him. He started a rapid fire but she easily dodged them.
She thought he was done, so after the last dodge she turned to him and put out her arm. "Is that all you got?" she asked as a fire-ball hit her in the arm, the force knocking her over. "Fuck that's hot! Ed, I may need some burn ointment for my shoulder when I'm done here!" she said as she stood up.
Gasps went through the crowd as she looked down at her arm. Both of the coat sleeves were singed off, leaving her arm totally exposed.
"Aww, now look at what you've done. You ruined my coat," She took off both of the coats and tossed them to the side. "Both of 'em!"
"Was that the wolves too?"
She looked up at Bradley. "Yeah," she slammed her fist into her upper arm and twisted, showing everyone what really happened though they would never figure it out. "An alpha wolf," she muttered. She turned her gaze back to Mustang. "Well it's nice to know that you have some compassion. You had the perfect opportunity to strike, yet you never took it. You really are a softy," she said as she walked up to him. "Why don't we switch to hand-to-hand. Your right hand is cramping and you're not going to use your left,"
"What makes you think I won't?"
"Because you have too much sympathy for the crippled girl you're fighting. You're only going to resort to using that hand if you really needed it,"
"I could burn you right now," he said putting his left hand up between them in a snapping position.
"You could, but you won't."
"What's stopping me from doing it?"
"Nothing but yourself. I'm open for a crisp, but at this close of a range, I would die from severe burns. You don't want that on your conscience so you won't do anything," she walked away and clapped, pulling out two standard issue military swords. "You any good with a sword?" she asked as she tossed one to Mustang.
"I've had my fair share of sparrings," he replied as he lunged.
They fought with the swords for a bit until they ditched them and were throwing full-out punches and kicks at each other.
As she went to give him a left hook, he caught her arm and twisted it behind her back. "Do you give up?"
She tried stepping on his foot, elbowing him in the stomach, she even head-butted him, his grip remained tight. She thought for a moment while he twisted her arm painfully. "Just give up already, you're going to lose," he said.
Her hand began to creep up her arm until it rested on her shoulder.
"Kathryn! Don't do it!" Ed yelled.
"That's what you think. There's no way that I'm giving up yet," she said as she detached her arm from the base and rolled away from him.
In Mustang's confusion, she quickly made a transmutation circle and put up a wall to hide behind.
She breathed for a few seconds before peaking from behind the wall. Flames shot her way as she ducked back behind the wall.
I've got to end this thing quickly. I'm losing energy, missing an arm, and I'm sweating like a pig. Think Kathryn, think.
"That book was a book on everything you need to know about the basics of water based alchemy. He is the Flame Alchemist, Ed. He is useless on rainy days. What will happen if his gloves get wet?"
Water! I'm sweating.
With some of the her blood, she made a transmutation circle on the wall that was slowly falling apart under the force of Mustang's blasts.
"Come on! Your rock will soon be demolished. Why don't you just give up?"
She started drawing another circle in the sand. "Come on. What are the runes?" she muttered. She finished the circle and nodded in satisfaction. "I think that's right..." Then she made a small knife and set it to the side. She took a deep breath and slammed her palm against the wall, causing it to shrink back into the ground.
"So you do give up?" Mustang asked with a smirk.
"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve," she replied. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead and slammed it into the circle
"What was that supposed to do?"
Water swirled from the circle and hydo-pumped into Mustang's face. He was now soaking wet from his hair, to his gloves, to his boots. Kathryn rushed forward with the knife and knocked him over. She stuck the knife into his sleeve, pinning his dominant arm to the ground, and pressed her arm to his neck. "You gotta give those things time. Sorry if I'm choking you, I currently only have one arm," she said as she pressed harder. "Do you give?"
He slammed his hand down three times and Kat pushed herself off of him. They lay sprawled out on the ground breathing heavily.
"Kathryn Rockbell wins!" Hughes called out.
"You win, Major," Mustang breathed with a glance in her direction.
She looked over at him with a smile and laughed. "I guess I am better than Ed," she said with content. She stood up with some difficulty in keeping her footing. She walked over to Mustang and yanked the knife out of his sleeve, then offered her hand. He took it and she pulled him up, barley managing their footing. "Now, what did you do with my arm?"
"I threw it at Ed. I figured he should hold onto it,"
"Thanks," she said as she walked away.
"I want to see you three in my office tomorrow morning. Knowing the Führer, he already had everything ready for you, seeing as how talented you are,"
"I highly doubt that I'm that good. I'm no war hero," she said with a smile over her shoulder then walked away. She looked around the crowd for Alphonse or Edward and didn't either of them. "Now, where's my cute little boyfriend?"
"WHO YOU CALLING LITTLE?"
She laughed at him and headed in his direction. "There you are,"
"Rockbell!"
She turned around to see Major General Hakuro walking to her. "Sir," she said with a salute. Better keep in favor with some military officers.
"This is from the Führer," he said, handing her a manilla envelope. "He said not to open it until you see your platoon leader next. Seeing as Mustang left already, we had to give it to you"
"Thank you ,sir," she said.
He saluted her and she saluted back. Then he walked away.
She ran over to Ed and hopped over the barricades. She was immediately surrounded by the people of the crowd, telling her what a great job she did, how happy they were that she kicked Mustang's ass.
She started to growl when Ed got to her side.
"Okay people! Move along, famous alchemist coming through!" Ed shouted.
No one listened.
Kathryn growled. "Shut up and move out of my fucking way before I pull out my sword and chop off all of your heads!" she shouted.
Everyone ran away and she sighed in relief.
They walked outside and Kat gazed at the envelope with amazement. "Damn. Mustang was right. The Führer knew I was going to pass, so he had everything ready," she said. She looked at Ed. "You must rub off on me,"
"I'm not that reckless," he said looking forward.
"What do you mean?"
"You purposefully took off your arm. That was a real risky move, you could have gotten killed if you didn't get that wall up in time. And taunting him like that?"
"I was giving a good show,"
"It was stupid,"
"But you have to admit, I did good,"
"You were stupid, but yes you did good,"
"Why do you keep calling me stupid?" they stopped at the bottom of the steps.
"Because you are! You don't risk yourself like that just for a damn pocket watch,"
"I'm not doing it for the fucking watch. Ed, I'm doing it for you! And now me too! I don't want-" she stopped and sniffed the air. Then she whined.
"What is it?"
"I smell steak," she whimpered. She shook her head and growled. "I don't want that! I don't want to be distracted by a damn squirrel or the smell of meat, or for you to pet my head at night to calm me down from thunderstorms, which another one will be coming through again tonight," she sighed and sat down on the steps."As much as I enjoy some of those things, I can also smell all the horrible things. I can smell the blood of a living human being, even if it's weeks old and the mess has been cleaned. I can still smell it, and it's so over powering, I can't take it. I just want to be normal again,"
He pulled her back up and into a hug, brushing her hair with his fingers in an effort to soothe her. "You will be normal again. I will make sure of it,"
"Okay…" she stiffened and pulled away. "Fuck,"
"What?"
"That was quite the show back there. Never knew you had it in you. Now, I only saw the beginning. I had to go place my request to fight the Fullmetal Alchemist," Jeremy said coming up behind her.
"You're still going to do that? Are you mad?" she asked, turning herself around in Ed's arms.
"Mad that we didn't get to do anything yesterday," he said as he walked towards them. "Wait, where's your arm?"
"Uhhh… In his hand?" she said pointing to Ed.
"What happened to it?"
"You didn't see that part, did you?"
"Obviously not,"
"Well, Mustang had my arm pinned behind my back so I removed it and put up a wall. Then some other shit happened,but in short, I won and I am a state alchemist. So you should just quit while you're ahead,"
"I'll take my chances. I'll see you tomorrow, Fullmetal pipsqueak," he waved over his shoulder as he walked away.
Kat grabbed his arm and held him in place. "Let him go. If you fight with him now, something bad could happen to you. Save it for tomorrow,"
Then they went home.
While everyone was asleep, Kathryn was sitting at the kitchen table, with the light on, staring at the envelope.
"You should go to sleep," Ed said as he walked into the room.
"I know the secrets that are contained in this folder…" she said with mock seriousness. "I don't wanna wait!" she whined.
"Well think about it," Ed said with a glance at the clock, "in what will now be five hours, we can go see Mustang. That means you get to look at your file. So come to bed, we can go in the morning,"
She sighed. "Alright,"
And they went to bed.