Fullmetal Alchemist

EUROPA WAR II

Chapter 7

REPORTER BLUES II

Opening Theme: Melissa (Fullmetal Alchemist)

As Irene Ellet was preparing to stir up a hornet's nest, her dead man and his commander were just leaving the base's kitchen while the dead man munched happily on an armful of about 10 apples.

"Man," Vine sighed happily as he snacked on the apples, "I'm glad the cook was willing to let me have the extra apples, cause I don't think I'd have lasted until dinner time."

"Well, you lasted this long," Welkin replied, "I'm sure another hour wouldn't have killed you."

"I'd hold off on that comment if I were you," a man declared as Faldio found them, "based on what I've heard, he's already dead."

"Faldio," Welkin said as his friend approached.

"Who's dead?" Vine asked.

"You are," Faldio replied.

"Oh, that's too bad, I'm sorry to hear that," Vine replied as he opened his mouth to take another bite, but stopped short, "okay, say that again."

"You've heard about the reporter whose on base right now, I'm guessing," Faldio replied.

"Uhh, I remember the woman at the hospital saying something about a reporter," Welkin replied.

"Right, the one who's asking questions about you. What does that have to do with me?"

"Well, apparently, someone told her that a member of Squad 7 who was injured during the Vassel operation died. Guess who," Faldio revealed.

"Ah great. Nothing like a reporter to create a little mischief," Vine sighed.

"You're telling me. You might want to do something about it," Faldio declared.

"Ah, do I have to," Vine sighed in reply, "I really don't want to talk to a reporter."

"Uh oh, that might be the least of our problems," Welkin realized, "Susie's been in pretty bad shape the last few days, feeling guilty about getting you hurt. If the reporter tells her you died because of those injuries…"

"Man, I hate reporters!" Vine shouted angrily.

….

"Alright, I've interviewed the Squad 1 commander and one member of Squad 7, but I need more. I need to find as many members of Squad 7 as I can, so I can make sure I get the whole story," Irene Ellet declared as she looked over the notes she'd gathered so far, "alright, time to get out there and find the rest of the story." It wasn't long before she stumbled upon another two members of Squad 7, the squad's second-in-command, Alicia Melchiott, and her friend, Susie Evans.

"Hey!" Ellet shouted, catching the two girls attention, "I've got some questions for you."

….

Vine, Faldio, and Welkin had separated to try and find Ellet as quickly as possible. Welkin was heading towards the Squad 7 barracks, hoping to find his squad before the reporter did. He would quickly discover that he was too late when his little sister spotted him.

"Welkin!" Isara cried as she ran up to her brother, short of breath as though she'd been running for a while.

"Isara, what's wrong?" Welkin asked.

"It's not true, right? I just heard from Alicia that…" Isara exclaimed in dismay.

"Heard from Alicia?" Welkin replied, "oh no, looks like the rumor's spreading."

"The rumor?" Isara repeated, sounding a bit more relieved, "Alicia said she heard from a reporter that Vine died from his injuries. That's not true, right?"

"No Is, Vine's fine. This is just a huge misunderstanding," Welkin replied, "we need to find the reporter and clear this up, before something bad happens."

"Uhh, we might be a little too late," Isara replied, "when I spoke to Alicia, Susie was with her, and to say that she wasn't looking very good would be an understatement."

"Oh no, she must have heard the rumor as well," Welkin declared.

"That'd be my guess," Isara replied, "she was already torn up because she feels like his injury was her fault. I'm worried about her."

"We've got to set this straight. Come on, let's go find Vine and gather the squad. With a little luck, we can find the reporter as well," Welkin ordered as he and Isara went to find the rest of their squad.

….

"Man, this is a pain in the neck. I spend I don't know how many days basically dead, and the first thing I have to do when I finally wake up is make sure people know I'm not dead? Does everyone have crazy crap like this happen to them on a daily basis, or am I just particularly blessed?" Vine mumbled as he continued his own search.

"Vine!" a familiar voice caused him to stop and he turned to see the two Bielert brothers and Aisha running towards him.

"Sorry kids, no time to chat, I'm in a bit of a hurry," Vine declared.

"You might wanna make time for this," Oscar declared.

"That's right," Emile revealed, "there's some woman from the radio who's telling everyone you're dead."

"Trust me kids, you're not telling me anything I don't know," Vine replied, "I've gotta try to set things straight before it gets out of hand."

"Too late," Oscar revealed, "we just overheard Alicia and Susie talking. Susie's really upset. She says she's going to leave the militia so she can't get anyone else hurt!"

"What!? Ah fudge, and people wonder why I hate reporters!" Vine shouted angrily, "alright, the reporter's gonna have to wait. Where're Alicia and Susie."

"Come on, we'll take you to where we saw 'em," Oscar replied as he and Emile took off to lead Vine.

"Come on, Aisha," Vine ordered as he looked down at the little girl who'd accompanied the Bielerts. He noticed for the first time that she looked like she'd been crying, though she tried to hide it from him by looking down at the ground as soon as he looked down at her.

He suddenly felt slightly guilty, after all, while he didn't regret what had happened, that didn't change the fact that his injury had started this whole mess. Kneeling down so he could hug the youngest member of his squad, he pulled her close and she quickly buried her face in his cloak as her tiny frame began to tremble.

"Hey, it's okay. Everything's gonna be fine. Come on, we need to nip this in the bud before we find ourselves with a real problem on our hands," Vine ordered as he stood up. Aisha nodded and the two quickly followed Oscar and Emile.

….

Meanwhile, Irene Ellet was once again looking over all the notes she'd gathered. She hadn't been able to find out anything personal about either of her two targets, but that wasn't too surprising since the squad was relatively young. However, what she did have was more than adequate to provide her with the story she'd been looking for.

"The dashing and cunning leader, Welkin Gunther, whose unorthodox tactics allowed the military to retake Vassel in record time, and the intelligent and selfless alchemist, Vine, who died in the line of duty protecting both his countrymen and comrades. I've definitely struck gold with this squad," she said to herself as she looked over the story she'd compiled from her interviews with the militiamen, "nothing left to do now but head back home and publish the story for all of Gallia to read."

"Actually, you're not finished quite yet," Faldio Landzatt declared from behind her, startling her.

"What do you mean I'm not finished yet?" she asked in surprise.

"Come with me, and I'll show you," Faldio replied.

….

"Susie, please, calm down," Alicia begged of her friend, who hadn't stopped shaking since they'd spoken to the reporter.

"It's my fault, Alicia," Susie stuttered, "it's all my fault. How am I supposed to live with that?"

"It wasn't your fault, Susie. It wasn't anyone's fault," Alicia tried to comfort her, "remember how many of our friends were killed back in Bruhl? I guess in war, that's just how things go."

"It's not the same," Susie cried out in reply, "he saved my life. If he hadn't then… then I'd be the one who was dead and he wouldn't have gotten hurt. He'd still be alive." Alicia felt powerless as she watched her friend cry.

"But Susie, that wouldn't have been any better," she sighed sadly, though she knew it wouldn't help. Just then, there was a knock on the door and Edy Nelson entered the room.

"We just heard from the commander. He wants the entire squad to gather in the command room," she revealed.

"Welkin? I wonder what he's going to say," Alicia wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Edy replied, "but after what's happened, I doubt it'll be a very happy meeting."

"No, probably not," Alicia replied, "come on Susie, we'd better go."

"Okay," Susie sighed sadly after a moment's pause. Standing up, she quietly followed the other two sevens out of her room.

….

Welkin and Isara stood waiting as the Sevens one by one began to arrive. It quickly became apparent by the heavy, sad atmosphere in the room that most if not all of the Sevens had heard about the rumor. Welkin quickly wished that Vine were in the room right now. Not only was he better with these kinds of situations then Welkin was, but just seeing him alive would have been more than enough to have dispelled the rumor right away.

"I hope Oscar and Emile were able to find him," Isara revealed, "if not, this is going to be a little weird."

"It'll workout alright," Welkin replied, "where's Alicia?" Just as he asked, Alicia walked in, accompanied by Edy and a very depressed looking Susie.

"She looks even worse than she did when I saw her earlier," Isara revealed to Welkin, "Welks, you've gotta say something to her."

"Me? I don't know what to say to her," Welkin declared.

"Just tell her the truth," Isara said in a scolding tone, "tell her Vine's fine and that it was just a misunderstanding."

"Okay, okay," Welkin replied timidly as he began to walk towards Susie and Alicia.

"Welkin!" Alicia exclaimed when she saw him walking towards them, "I don't understand, the doctor said he'd be fine. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, Alicia," Welkin began to protest, "Vine…"

"What do you mean nothing happened!?" Edy shouted angrily, "People don't just go from 'going to be fine' to dead for no reason, dearie."

"That's just it," Welkin tried to interject, "Vine's not…"

"Is this what war is really like? I barely even knew the guy, but still, to just have someone in your squad gone so suddenly," a squad Engineer, Homer Peron, declared.

"That's war kid," Largo declared, "better get used to it now, because I doubt it'll be the last time one of us winds up dead."

"Guys, wait a second, Vine's…" Welkin once again tried to interject.

"Welkin! What're ya callin' a meeting for now!?" an angry voice shouted as Vine burst into the room with Oscar, Emile, and Aisha, "I'm kinda busy trying to get my name taken out of the obituary in case you forgot." Almost instantly, every eye in the room was glued to the alchemist who froze. "Uhh, you look busy, I'll come back later."

"Boss-man, what were you saying just a moment ago?" Largo demanded.

"Uhh, I was trying to say Vine wasn't dead and that it was all just a big misunderstanding, but I think you already figured that out," Welkin replied.

"Wait a second, you were alive this whole time!?" Alicia shouted angrily.

"Uhhh, yes," Vine replied timidly, "and I'd like to stay that way if you don't mind."

"You jerk!" Alicia shouted angrily, "do you have any idea what you've put us all through!?"

"What? Hey, wait, it wasn't my fault!" Vine protested, "that reporter lady's to blame here. I didn't do anything!"

"That's the problem! Why didn't you tell us what was going on!?"

"Ah come on, I only just found out about myself a little while ago. What did you want me to do, use my alchemical telepathy to tell everyone I wasn't dead?"

"I don't know, it's your job to figure out those kinds of things!"

"Really, that's weird, I thought my job was to win battles, save lives, and make the regular army look like a bunch of chumps. Talk about getting demoted."

"He's certainly annoying enough to be the alchemist," Largo declared, "guess it must really be him."

"What do you mean 'guess it must really be him'!?" Vine shouted angrily, "who else was I gonna be!?"

"Don't try and change the subject!" Alicia shouted.

"Change what subject!? Ah come on, you're sad when I'm dead but mad when I'm alive. Yeesh, maybe I was better off dead!"

"Don't say that!?" Susie blurted out suddenly. Vine had been so busy bickering with Alicia, he'd forgotten about the one he'd really been worried about, "please, don't say things like that. Please…"

"Now look what you made me do," Vine whispered to Alicia, earning him a slap on the back of the head, "ow!"

"Say something to her, this is your fault," Alicia hissed quietly.

"Yeesh, why don't you blame me for the war while you're at it," Vine hissed back.

"Well, you are a Dark Hair, and everyone knows the Imps hate Dark Hairs," Rosie spoke up, having heard Vine and Alicia's conversation.

"How'd I know that was coming," Vine hissed in annoyance as he walked over to the trembling Susie, "alright, come on, Suse. I'm fine, really. It'll take more than some Imp Shocktroopers and eight bullets to put me down for the count."

"It doesn't matter," Susie replied sorrowfully, "you wouldn't have even been in this situation if it weren't for me. If I hadn't froze up back in Vassel and gotten into trouble, then…"

"Whoa, okay, time out," Vine interrupted, "you think I got shot just cause I came to save you? I got shot because I didn't get out of the way when someone pointed a gun at me; it's as simple as that. Next time, you can count I'll be getting out of the way when I'm getting shot at, but that has nothing to do with you. What happened in Vassel happened for a lot of reasons, my own carelessness being among the chief of them, but none of those reasons include saving you. Rescuing beautiful damsels in distress is just one of the job perks of being a hero."

"A 'hero' huh? I think someone's getting a little big for his britches," Rosie declared.

"Hey, if I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," Vine replied, "and if I ever ask for it, assume I've been abducted by aliens and replaced with a very poorly made clone," he whispered to Susie, earning a chuckle from the obviously still distraught girl, "hey, I got a laugh. That'd be my first victory today."

"What's wrong, alchemist, not used to having your jokes actually get a laugh," Largo asked teasingly.

"Well, to put it bluntly… no," Vine replied in a depressed tone.

"There you all are," Faldio declared as he entered the room with Ellet, "Vine, I have someone here I think you might want to meet."

"Vine?" Ellet repeated the name fearfully as she stared at the alchemist who stood in front of her, "uh oh."

"So you're the reporter who's been causing all this trouble," Vine declared angrily, "look lady, I'm no stranger to having people try to kill me, but at least have the common decency to attempt to kill me before you start telling everyone I'm dead."

"Uhhhh," the reporter stuttered, "well, so much for my golden story."

Ending Theme: Heart of Sword (Rurouni Kenshin)