So… I wasn't quite as creative with this batch of worst-case scenarios, and this marks the end of the game, so no more plz.
Akitafallow:
Scenario #1: Ed finds a girl on the streets holding a Philosopher's Stone. She runs away. Ed follows. Ed gets the Philosopher's Stone. Ed and Al get their bodies back. (This is courtesy of my BEST BUD, Crystone!)
The girl is Winry and Ed beats her up without realizing this and so Winry beats him up in retaliation and their relationship is never the same.
Scenario #2: Ed gets on a train.
Everything that happens in that one episode of Numb3rs I got instead of Uncertainty Principle because iTunes sucks. Meaning the train crashes and junk.
Scenario #3: Al goes into ballet.
He gets mentally scarred by bullies who make fun of his armor-tutu.
Scenario #4: Ed goes into ballet.
He punches out all the bullies who make fun of his tutu and gets kicked out.
Scenario #5: Kimbley sets off a bomb in Liore.
Uh… people die. Duh.
Scenario #6: Ed and Mustang get locked in a room together.
They have hawt buttsechs and Ed gets pregnant.
Scenario #7: A chimera and Ed get locked in a room together.
They have hawt buttsechs and the chimera gets pregnant.
Scenario #8: Ed's teacher calls him short.
Uh… the building asplodes from feeling Ed's angry vibes and they all die.
Scenario #9: Ed rebels against fanfictions.
I commit suicide because of my sadness.
Zaywex:
Ed grows three inches after announcing "42 fish" out loud.
He was right underneath a sharp object when he announced it…
ehxhfdl14
I go to the library, read some books and study for a bit, then borrow some books to read at home. What could go wrong?
You forget to return them and someone sends Alucard after you and bad stuff happens.
Monkey Mist Robo
Scenario #1: I go to Amestris and tackle Ed. (yes, I'm a rabid fangirl.)
ED KILL JOO AND I GET LESS REVIEWS.
Scenario #2: I stab Scar.
SCAR IS SECRETLY HARRY POTTER. YOU KILL SCAR, YOU DESTROY LIFE FOR MUGGLES AS WE KNOW IT.
Scenario #3: I lock Riza in a steel lined closet and dump water on Roy.
Gunfire ricochets in closet, Riza dies, and Roy goes emo cuz he's useless and his love got killed.
Scenario #4: I steal Havocs cigarettes and set them on fire with Roy's gloves. (Which I stole before I dumped water on him.)
Havoc goes emo cuz you stole his drug.
Scenario #5: I beat Breda at chess. (Which I suck at in real life. --)
The world implodes due to an event that should never have taken place.
Scenario #6: I brainwash the Homunculi into being my minions.
The brainwashing has a nasty side effect of making them all want to have hawt buttsechs with Ed.
Scenario #7: I learn alchemy and join the military.
Ed remembers all the homunculi who tried to have hawt buttsechs with him due to your brainwashing and he kills you, which gets him kicked out and Al goes bye-bye because of the rejection effect.
Wow, two pages of semi-crack. And now onto the story.
Two Years Later
Grissom could have sworn he'd heard an explosion in the distance. He looked up from the crime scene he was currently processing, trying to see if he had really heard it or if it was just his mind playing tricks on him. When he saw that nobody else seemed to have heard it, Grissom went back to work.
A few minutes later, Greg approached him, a recognizable look of apprehension on his face. Grissom mentally prepared himself for whatever nonsense Greg was going to spout this time.
"Did you hear something a while ago?" Greg asked.
"Hear something? Like what?"
"Like… an explosion…?"
Grissom blinked. So he hadn't been the only one to hear it. "You heard it too?"
"Yeah, but Nick didn't, and with that guy breaking out of jail, I thought it might be…"
Grissom sighed. "Greg, the only reason we can't find him is because of everything that's been going on in town this month. Haven't you noticed that this is the fifth case we've been on since yesterday morning? And that's just the major ones."
"Yeah, I know it's been busy and all, but I really think he's there." Grissom shook his head at the emphasis Greg put on his final word, but Greg obviously didn't notice it. "I seriously think we need to find Ed."
"How can we?" Grissom asked. "Even if we manage to get to his home 'country,' he said it himself, he travels too much to be easy to track down."
"Yeah, but if we got a message to Lieutenant Hawk-"
"Greg."
Greg blinked. "What?"
"Wasn't there a car parked out there just a moment ago?"
Greg looked down the alley to the main street. "Yeah, the car I drove down here in. That's weird, nobody should have moved it…"
Grissom sighed. "Come on, let's go see what's going on."
When they exited the alley, both CSIs were surprised to see that the street they were on was now an alley. Grissom groaned, but Greg silently clenched his fist in victory. They stood there for another moment before Grissom snapped out of it.
"And so you were right."
"Well, yeah," Greg answered. "Did you really think I was making it up?"
Grissom sighed and turned around. "Well, I believe you now, so it's time to get back to work."
"Wait. We're here now, so shouldn't we try and find Ed? He deserves to know about that guy."
Grissom turned around again. "Do you really think we'll be able to find him?"
Greg was about to answer that question when he was interrupted by the sound of heavy, uneven footsteps. They turned to see a small red blur approaching, and Grissom recognized the face of the boy running down the alley.
"Ed!"
THIS IS WHERE THE OPENING CREDITS WOULD GO IF THIS WERE A REAL EPISODE OF CSI!
Ed had just passed the two when Grissom shouted his name, and he looked back in surprise as he continued to run. His eyes widened in recognition, and all of a sudden he tripped and tumbled into a nearby mound of trash. There was a loud crash and a surprised yelp, and Grissom and Greg slowly approached the now-upside-down teenager.
"You okay?" Grissom asked, holding a hand out to help Ed up.
Ed refused to grab the hand, opting instead to push himself right-side-up and sit on the ground, rubbing his head with his flesh hand. "I'm fine. What are you doing here?" he asked, giving the two CSIs an inquisitive look.
"Well… I'd say it's more by accident that we arrived here, really," Grissom said, glancing at Greg before continuing. "But I'm glad we did. There's something-"
"FULLMETAL!"
Grissom jumped at this shout from a nearby street. Ed cringed and quickly got to his feet. "Can you tell me later? I need to hide."
"Hide…? Just what did you do?" Grissom asked incredulously.
"I didn't do anything!" Ed snapped as he ducked behind a pile of trash cans, completely disappearing from sight. "And I'm not here, okay?"
"Ed-"
"Not here!"
Grissom sighed and leaned against the wall. "Well, Greg, you heard him. He's not here."
Greg didn't seem to hear what Grissom had said, as he was squatting on the ground, staring at something with such interest that Grissom had the urge to see what it was. Just then, however, the two heard a voice from the end of the alley.
"Excuse me," said a dark-haired man between deep breaths. He was wearing a blue uniform, and he looked furious as he walked down the alley toward the two CSIs. "Did you see someone pass by here a moment ago?"
Grissom shrugged. "No, but it sounds like there's a cat behind those trash cans," he said, pointing directly at Ed's hiding place. He wasn't about to let the alchemist get away with whatever he'd done.
The man raised an eyebrow at Grissom before looking at the trash cans. "Is that so?" He pulled a gloved hand out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, his fingers in a snapping position. "I guess I'll just have to see for myself."
Greg looked up just in time to see the man snap his fingers, and he lost his balance as an explosion grew out of nowhere, knocking over the trash cans and causing Ed to yelp in surprise as his cover was literally blown away. The soldier walked purposefully up to Ed, his face a mask of sheer rage, and Grissom had a momentary fear that he was going to witness a very violent murder.
To Grissom's surprise and relief, however, the man simply grabbed Ed by the ear and yanked him to his feet. "Nice try, but you just made it worse for yourself." Then the man turned to face Grissom, still holding Ed by the ear. "Thank you."
"No problem," Grissom replied, shrugging apologetically at Ed. Ed, however, glared at the CSI before pushing away the soldier's hand.
"Hey, Colonel, you're just going to ignore two obviously suspicious people standing in an alley?"
The man looked with confusion at Ed. "What?" He looked over at Greg and Grissom for a moment before his face lit up with understanding. "Okay, Fullmetal, how do you know these two, and what exactly makes them so suspicious?"
"Well," Ed said, glaring at Grissom with a passion that made it obvious that he didn't appreciate being ratted out. "There's no way their entrance into this country was legal. You should check their passports."
The colonel narrowed his eyes as he continued to observe the two CSIs. "And let me guess, you could easily say the same thing about the past two times you've encountered this pipsqueak."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT-"
"Indeed I could," Grissom replied, cutting off Ed's rant.
"I don't suppose you'd be willing to go with me to headquarters," the colonel said. "I can't exactly overlook two people who shouldn't be here."
"Not a problem," Grissom replied. In fact, he was happy. If this was the man who was in charge of Ed, then maybe Ed would be protected without having to know the truth. He wasn't sure how much he wanted Ed to hear that his tormenter was on the loose again.
As they walked down the alley to an old-fashioned car that had seemed to arrive out of nowhere, a blonde soldier with a cigarette in his mouth leaning casually against it, Grissom couldn't help but notice the incredibly smug look on Ed's face. Evidently, the colonel noticed it as well, because after a while he stopped with an irritated sigh.
"Yes, Fullmetal, you were right, and I believe you now, and you can stop looking so damn smug about it."
"What are you talking about? I'm just smiling, Mustang. Nothing smug about it. Although it is nice to see you being proven wrong for once."
Mustang smiled as well. "And it'll be very nice to see you repair my office, and since the average time it takes to construct a room of that size is three days, that's how long you'll be doing it, regardless of when you actually finish."
Grissom had to try hard not to laugh at how quickly Ed's face fell. He had a feeling he'd be getting along very well with Colonel Mustang.
--------------
"A break-out, you say?"
"That's right," Grissom answered. "Several of the inmates had escaped by the time the police were able to lock the area down, and this man was one of them."
There was a frustrated cry from the room next door, which just happened to be Roy's demolished office. Roy ignored it as he looked through the remains of his paperwork. "I've heard reports from Central that there's been at least two cases of a child going missing in the past month. There have also been eyewitness reports of someone matching the description of this man."
"Central?"
Roy nodded. "That's right. A good friend of mine works at the tribunal there." Roy narrowed his eyes. "You know, he may need some help, now that I think about it. If the culprit is the one you're after, then this may be an international case of sorts, and if he's a native of your country, I'm sure it would be best if he was taken back."
Grissom didn't take long to make his decision. The case he'd been working on back in Vegas would easily be solved by the others, and right now, he relished the opportunity to be the one who brought this guy down. "I think you're right about that."
Mustang stood up and knocked on the wall that separated them from his office. "Fullmetal, since you can hear everything I'm saying, come in here."
"I thought I wasn't allowed to leave," Ed shot back.
"You're allowed to go out into the hallway, walk ten feet, and enter the door that leads into this room. Now."
A minute later, Ed was sitting next to Grissom, his arms crossed and his face emotionless. Greg stood behind them, next to a suit of armor that Grissom had seen earlier.
"I have a new mission for you, Fullmetal," Roy began.
"Already? What about your office?"
"This is more important. Besides, I know you can finish my office in less than ten minutes."
Ed scowled. "Fine. What is it?"
"First off, I'm leaving you in charge of these two," Roy began. "Since they've helped you so much I'm sure you don't have a problem with that."
Ed's face remained emotionless. "Fine."
"Second, I'm sending you to Central along with these two. You're going to meet up with Hughes, and you're going to work with him to find this man."
"Hughes?" Ed asked incredulously. "Why him?"
"Because I say so. Oh, and if you try to work on your own, I'll have you court-martialed for disobeying a direct order."
"…Fine." Ed leaned back in his chair and folded his arms again. "Is that all, sir?"
"Not quite. There's still the matter of my office, but we should discuss that matter in private."
Grissom took the cue to leave and stood up. He walked with Greg and the suit of armor to the hallway, closing the door behind him.
"I'm a little concerned," Greg said. "Why exactly is Ed so upset about working with this Hughes guy?"
"It's not that he doesn't like him," the armor said, in a young voice that startled Grissom. It took the CSI a while to remember the conversation he'd had with Ed two years ago.
"Then what is it, Al?" Grissom asked.
"Well… Lieutenant Colonel Hughes has a daughter, and… well, if you meet him, you'll know everything about her within an hour."
"Oh, he's obsessed."
Al nodded. "Yeah. Really obsessed."
"So, how are you doing?" Grissom asked. "It's been a while."
"Ah… I'm fine. How about you?"
"Not bad. I didn't think that Colonel Mustang would be that young."
"Yeah, it's kind of surprising, isn't it? I'm just a little worried…" Al trailed off, looking at the door. Even though he couldn't express emotions through his face, Grissom could tell that Al was feeling a great sense of unease.
"Oh, you're still here, Alphonse?"
Grissom turned around at the sound of the female voice. A blonde woman was standing there, wearing a uniform and holding a file in her hands.
"Um, yeah. Brother's talking to the colonel right now, so…"
The woman raised her eyebrows at the sight of Greg, who had been standing behind Al. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Sanders."
"Um, yeah, hi…" Greg answered. "Lieutenant Hawkeye, right?"
"That's right. Who's this?" she asked, looking curiously at Grissom.
"I'm Gil Grissom." Grissom stuck out his hand.
Riza took it with a polite smile. "It's nice to meet you in person."
"Same here."
Any conversation they would have had was interrupted by an angry shout from the other room. Greg and Grissom looked over at the door in surprise, Alphonse slapped his metal forehead, and Riza let out a resigned sigh.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Grissom heard. That was Ed's voice.
Apparently Roy wasn't feeling the need to be as vocal as his young subordinate, because they couldn't hear what was said next, but then Ed shouted again.
"Does this happen often?" Grissom asked.
"It's impossible to put those two in a room together and not have something like this happen," Riza replied. "I just hope they've worn themselves out," she continued, pointing at the door to Roy's office.
"Wow, that's…" Greg began.
"Yeah, brother tends to resort to using alchemy whenever he gets really upset," Al said.
"And the colonel's no better," Riza added before she and Al simultaneously sighed in defeat. Then the hallway was silent, other than the shouts coming from Roy's temporary office.
"Well, at least my usefulness doesn't run out when someone dumps a bucket of water on my head!" That was Ed.
"You couldn't even get that high up without a ladder!" That was Roy.
"Who are you calling short, useless?!?"
"Don't call me useless!"
"USELESS USELESS USELESS!"
"SHRIMP!"
"WORTHLESS!"
"PIPSQUEAK!"
Riza sighed and muttered, "Excuse me," as she walked over to the door. Grissom noticed her pull out a gun as she opened it and entered the room. He and Al were ready for the gunshot. Greg wasn't.
And thus, Greg screamed like a little girl for the second time in Riza Hawkeye's presence.
-----------------
"Wow, you two were really going at each other's throats," Greg said as he walked with Ed through the streets of East City.
"That bastard said he was taking the repair costs out of my research fund," Ed muttered. "Even though I completely fixed his office and the courtyard."
"The courtyard…?"
"It's not that I need the money," Ed continued, ignoring Greg's worried look. "It's just that I don't like him taunting me like that. It's annoying."
"You know, if I ever blew up the lab, Grissom would just kick me out and that'd be the end of it," Greg remarked.
"But that's probably because you're not a child prodigy," Ed replied. "No, I'd have to really screw up to get kicked out of the military."
Greg couldn't ignore the bitterness in Ed's voice. He was about to comment on it when Ed spoke again.
"Anyway, this is the hotel. I'll get another room for you guys so Al doesn't feel obliged to 'clean up' after me."
"You're paying for it? Are you sure-"
"Equivalent exchange. You helped me, so this really isn't a big deal for me."
"Oh, well… thanks."
Ed grunted in response as he approached the front desk. Greg was fairly surprised to see how respectful the man behind the counter was toward Ed. It was if Ed were a regular guest.
After a minute, Ed turned around and handed Greg a key. "You're across the hall from us, on the fourth floor. What's in the case?"
Greg remembered the CSI kit that he'd been carrying with him since arriving in this world and looked at it as they walked to the stairway. "Oh, it's for gathering evidence."
"Ah. Right. Is that what Grissom had, too?"
"Yeah. Speaking of which, how long do you think it'll take for them to finish?"
Ed shrugged. "Mustang usually makes things quick when he's not trying to torment me. I doubt it'll be more than an hour."
"Okay, sounds good."
---------------
As soon as Mustang had sent Ed out with Greg, Grissom had found himself waiting for Roy to finish talking to Lt. Colonel Hughes on the phone, and he sat out in the hallway with Alphonse. It was strange to think that the suit of armor sitting next to him was really the small boy he'd met nearly six years ago. Al was taller than him now as well, which was probably very awkward for the younger brother, especially when it came to his older brother. Ed barely came up to Al's chest. That had to be awkward.
Once Mustang was done on the phone and let Grissom back into his office, Grissom asked the question he'd had on his mind. "You're letting Ed go looking for someone who wants to kill him?"
"What do you think it would take to convince him to stay away?" Roy asked. "Think about who we're talking about here."
Grissom remained silent. Roy did have a point…
"Fullmetal would try to go after him even if I put him in a high security prison. I figure this way, he's getting what he wants, as well as the protection he needs. I've known Hughes since before Ishbal. He works a desk job, but he's very capable of fighting should the need arise."
Any doubts Grissom had had about Roy were now gone. This man definitely knew what he was doing. Ed was in very good hands.
"Apparently there's been another kidnapping," Roy said, interrupting Grissom's musings. "You and the Elric brothers will take the train to Central tomorrow at nine. Hughes is grateful for any help he can get at this point. He'll meet you at the train station in Central and you can work from there."
"Sounds like a plan," Grissom replied. He was about to leave when something occurred to him. "You know, you're putting a lot of faith into people you barely know anything about."
"I trust my subordinates," Roy stated. "And he trusts you."
As Grissom walked with Al through the city to the hotel, he pondered Mustang's words. The man was young, only a few years older than Greg from the looks of him, but he was a brilliant strategist. It was no wonder he'd become a colonel at that age.
He just hoped that Lt. Col. Hughes was the same kind of man…
--------------------
A knock on Ed's door told him that Grissom and Al had finally arrived, and he got up to open the door, nearly tripping on his suitcase as he did so. Once he had let in Al and Grissom, Ed went back to his seat on his bed, looking expectantly at Grissom.
"We leave tomorrow," Grissom said.
"I figured as much," Ed muttered. "Oh, and Greg found something."
Grissom raised an eyebrow at the younger CSI. "Yeah? What is it?"
Greg pulled out the cloth he'd found in the alley where they'd met Ed and handed it to Grissom. "It matches what our guy was wearing. Judging from how it looks, I'd say it's been there for about three or four weeks."
Grissom looked at the cloth. "So he's been here." He glanced nervously over at Ed, even though he was positive he would have heard if Ed had been found by this guy.
Ed scowled. "Too bad we weren't in town."
Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Ed, do you have a death wish?"
"Pfft. I could easily beat him."
"Like you did last time?"
Ed blushed. "I've gotten stronger since then!"
"He's probably been toughened up by prison life," Grissom retorted.
"I could still beat him."
Grissom sighed and shook his head. Yep, Ed was still stubborn…
"So. What's the plan for tonight?"
Ed pointed to the doorway. "Your room's right across from this one."
Greg got up, walked across the hall, and opened the door to the other room. "But there's only one bed in there," he said as he turned back to the others.
"Eh? I thought there were supposed to be two!"
"Nope, I just see one."
Ed looked up at Al and shrugged. "We can just switch. Al doesn't need a bed anyway."
Al shook his head. "No. Your bed's a mess, so you have to stay here."
Grissom sat down on the unused bed with a sigh. "Okay. I'll stay in here, and Greg gets his own room. Does that work?"
Ed shrugged. "That's fine with me."
"Sure," Greg answered before picking up his CSI kit and walking across the hall. "See you in the morning."
-----------------
Ed was already asleep by the time Grissom was ready to go to bed. Not surprisingly, the teen had sprawled out on his bed, his stomach exposed and his limbs dangling off the side of the bed. Grissom took note of this as he sat down on his own bed.
"Well, I see he hasn't changed much," he remarked to Al, who was trying to cover Ed with a blanket without waking him up.
"I should just leave him and let him freeze," Al muttered crossly. "But then he'd be sick and he wouldn't have learned his lesson."
Grissom chuckled. "I always had a feeling you'd be the responsible one."
"It wouldn't be so bad if he weren't so high maintenance," Al said as he flipped Ed onto his back. "Sometimes I wonder if he's really the older one."
"If I hadn't met you back then, I'd think you were the older one."
Ed twitched in his sleep. Al groaned. "Just don't tell brother that. He'd take it as an attack on his height."
"He seems the type to take anything as an insult to his height," Grissom replied.
Al shook his head sadly. "You have no idea."
Ed shifted in his sleep, rolling over onto his left side, facing Grissom. He looked incredibly peaceful at the moment, a sharp contrast from the last time Grissom had seen him. "Does he still have nightmares?" Grissom asked.
"I think he'll always have dreams about it. If I could sleep, I probably would, too," Al replied. "But it's not as bad as it was."
"That's good. He has enough to deal with anyway."
"Mm. He said he told you what happened."
"He did."
"It's getting late…" Al muttered awkwardly before standing up. "I'm going to talk to someone downstairs…"
"Yeah. See you in the morning."
Once Al had left the room, Grissom walked over to Ed's bed and knelt down beside it. Ed's breathing had quickened slightly, and his face wasn't as peaceful as it had been minutes earlier. It looked as if he were having another nightmare, and Ed confirmed it when he let out a low groan.
"Hey, Ed," Grissom said, seeing if it would wake the alchemist up.
"No…" Ed muttered. Grissom watched as Ed's body began to tense. "Leave me alone…"
Grissom sighed. He didn't want to have to listen to this. He called Ed's name once more, and when he didn't get a response, he grabbed Ed by the shoulder and shook him awake.
Ed looked slightly disoriented when he saw Grissom looking down at him. "Is it time to go already?"
"No. You were snoring."
"Oh." Ed closed his eyes again, obviously too tired to even bother with a normal conversation. "Sorry about that."
A minute later, Grissom was in bed, the lights off in the room and the curtains blocking out the light from the street below. Ed was sound asleep, and soon enough, Grissom was too.
-------------------
As if the sounds of a giant suit of armor walking around the room wasn't enough to wake Grissom up, he also heard Al talking to his brother, in a vain attempt to wake up the sleeping teen. Grissom quickly got up and got dressed before going over to wake Greg up.
The younger CSI was already up when Grissom knocked on the door, and soon after, Ed finally managed to drag himself out of bed. Once the alchemist was dressed, Grissom noted that he was missing the usual outfit. The black leather pants and flashy red jacket were gone for the moment, replaced by a white collared shirt and a less flashy pair of black pants. In this outfit, Grissom mused, the kid almost looked normal.
If he ignored the eyes, the hair, and the lack of height.
"Mustang said I have to report to him before we leave today," Ed stated as he packed up the rest of his belongings. "So we'll go over there before we head to the station. It's on the way."
"Sounds like a plan," Grissom said as they walked down the hallway, heading out of the hotel and going straight toward the gigantic military structure. Grissom noted that everyone there seemed to be very respectful towards Ed, most likely because of his rank. It was strange. Ed probably held more power than Grissom did.
Ed tripped twice on the way to Roy's office. The first time, Grissom had tried not to laugh, but the second time, the CSI began to worry. Was this normal? Of course, the last time Grissom had seen Ed, the kid could barely walk at all, but that was two years ago, and the doctor had said Ed's ankle would heal normally.
While Ed spoke to Roy, Grissom and Greg found themselves talking to Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc, the blonde soldier who had given them a ride to headquarters the day before. The colonel had compiled a list of things that the two foreigners needed to know in order to not look like complete outsiders, and as Grissom looked it over, he found himself gaining still more respect for Mustang.
"So, what's it like to be outranked by a kid?" Greg asked as they waited.
"Eh, you get used to it," Havoc answered. "Besides, it's never really an issue. In the past three years, I've seen Fullmetal pull his rank once, maybe twice. He's never taken advantage of anyone. In fact," Havoc continued. "He's the first State Alchemist to have a good reputation among the people."
"Really?"
Havoc snuffed out his cigarette on a tray on his desk. "He's always been surprising like that. I heard he pointed a spear at the Fuhrer when he was taking the qualification test."
"He tried to kill Hitler?" Greg practically yelped. Grissom and Havoc both stared at the young CSI, and Greg turned red. "Sorry. I heard wrong. I don't know where that came from. Heh heh heh…"
Just then, Al waved to the two CSIs from the doorway, and they took that as their signal to leave. Grissom and Greg said their farewells to Havoc before walking out into the hallway, where Ed and Roy were waiting.
"The train leaves in an hour. That should be enough time to get over there," Roy said.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not stupid enough to miss a train, Colonel Moron," Ed muttered, just before he tripped and landed flat on his face. However, Grissom hadn't seen Ed trip this time. It was as if his left leg had just given out…
"Graceful, Fullmetal," Roy said. "You know what? I've changed my mind. Before you go to Central, you're stopping in Resembool. I'd rather not have you embarrass me in front of the higher-ups."
Ed scowled. "Since when do I care about your reputation?"
"Since I have the power to get you court-martialed."
Ed looked as if he wanted to explode, but he simply gave a curt nod. "Fine. If you want to play dirty then I'll follow your precious orders," the alchemist practically hissed before storming off.
--------------------
"Why does he want you to stop in Resembool?" Greg asked as they sat in the unmoving train.
Ed sighed. "Because I need to see my mechanic."
"Your mechanic…? Oh! Yeah. That makes sense."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Anyway, I'm sure she'll be happy to see you again. I swear, she gets obsessed with the weirdest things…"
"Who is this?" Grissom asked.
"Winry," Ed answered before leaning against the windowsill. "I just hope she doesn't try to kill me over this…"
"I'm sure you'll be fine."