Silence reigned over the empty classroom as the military personnel watched the angry woman leave the room. The door slammed shut behind the ministry witch and Mustang turned his attention to the blond man that had arrived, "Second Lieutenant, what is going on?"
Jean Havoc shifted his cigarette in his mouth and blew out a puff of smoke before answering, "Sir, we received word that one of our alchemists, placed here to work her way into the Dark Lord's inner circled, has been captured. With her alchemic abilities it is imperative that we retrieve her and send her home."
The Colonel nodded and asked, "What do we know about her?"
"Lieutenant Mana Giber, the Water Alchemist. She was sent here about two years ago to infiltrate the Dark Lord's circle. Her target was Darren Giber, one of the Dark Lord's few single Death Eaters. Posing as a muggle with no alchemy or magic she married the man several months ago. We had been receiving steady reports from her until a few days ago," Havoc rattled off the words that had been drilled into his head.
The Colonel cursed violently, "So that explained her disappearance two years ago and why no one would tell me where she went!" Eyes narrowed slightly as he mumbled, "And I thought she had tried to dump me the hard way." There was a crack as a fresh bullet was fired and slammed into the wall a centimeter from the Colonel's ear. The stern female voice of the man's Lieutenant called out, "Concentrate!" Only the small blond boy noticed the normal calm look on her face had been replaced with annoyance and a small flush.
"We have been ordered to retrieve her without being identified. The Furher requested that we work at night if possible," the second Lieutenant continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Mustang smirked and looked at the younger alchemist, "Well you'll be safe, midget. No one will even see you!" Black eyes flashed in amusement as the blond started screaming in anger. A second bullet was fired and landed in the center of a transmutation circle that had been drawn onto the wall behind Full Metal. The alchemist fell silent and inched away from the angry woman slowly.
A strange silence fell across the room, the only noise coming from the hallway as students made their way to their next classes. The door to the room opened and fourth year students began to file into the room only pausing in confusion for a moment when they saw the four blue uniforms instead of one.
Hawkeye was suddenly glad that the four had chosen to speak in their native language at the sight of the students. A low voice in her native tongue, brought the woman's attention back to her commanding officer, "I hope you have been practicing how to combat magic with alchemy, Full Metal. Tomorrow you will teach me all that you know and then our mission will begin."
The blond boy eyed his commander as if he had lost his mind, "I have classes to attend, remember?"
Mustang answered him without a pause, "I will talk to the headmaster. Dismissed." The man's three subordinates saluted and made to move away, but were stopped short when Mustang spoke to the class in front of them in English, "Class, today Edward Elric will be teaching you."
"What?" Ed shouted turning on the man.
The Colonel smirked and turned away, "I have planning to do, Full Metal. Be nice to them." The blond boy had no time to protest before the Colonel disappeared into his office with the gun happy woman and smoking man following him unhappily.
Fuming, the alchemist turned back to the class to see two students just walking in, both of which he recognized immediately. "Alphonse," the alchemist said his voice low and deadly.
The brown haired boy looked up surprised and color drained from his face slightly, "Big.. brother…?"
"You're late, Al, Ginny," Ed said quietly. Golden eyes demanded an explanation and someone to take their frustration out on.
Alphonse looked his older brother over quickly; he knew something was wrong from the way the boy held himself and the way his hands were clenched. "We were taking Orion to Hagrid. I think he's sick," the boy explained cautiously.
Edward raised an eyebrow in question, "Orion?"
Al looked away from his brother quickly and reluctantly answered, "My cat."
Ed exploded. "I told you to take the cat back to where you found it!" he shouted. "You know we can't take care of it when we return home!"
"I couldn't just leave it! And the Colonel said I could keep it!" Al protested.
Ed threw his hands up, his shirt sleeve falling down slightly, exposing a glint of metal to the class for a moment. "The Colonel also said that we could leave it with Havoc when we were on leave!" the blond alchemist answered angrily.
The red door to Mustang's office swung open and the blond Second Lieutenant stepped out with a questioning look written on his face, "What about me? And what's all the screaming about?"
The brown haired boy backed away from the man slightly, "Don't go near Orion! And stop being a jerk, brother!"
A cool voice called out from the depths of the office, "Full Metal, you are supposed to be teaching my class, not screaming at the students."
The blond boy let out a strangled yell and cursed the Colonel in his native language. Angry beyond belief, the boy slapped his hands together and slammed them against the floor. Blue light flashed, temporarily blinding the silent students in the class room and a large brick wall appeared around the Colonel's door.
"Why do you have to be such a jerk, Ed?" Al shouted at his brother.
"Leave me alone, Al!" the blond boy shouted at his brother. The younger Elric ran out of the classroom and with a glare at the class the older brother followed.
Black hair hung loosely around the small girls face as wind blew lightly. She pulled the red cloak around her body tightly trying to keep the warmth from escaping as she knocked lightly on the wooden door in front of her.
A light blossomed inside the house and a gruff looking man pulled the door open. The man's black hair was going every which way, ruffled from his pillow, and his eyes were muddled with sleep. "What do you want? It's past midnight!" he asked roughly. Brown eyes slowly started to focus in on the girl standing meekly on his front steps.
The black haired girl raised her head nervously before softly answering, "I'm sorry, sir. I was looking for Mana or Darren Giber."
"I'm Darren Giber," the man answered gruffly, "Couldn't this have waited until morning?"
The young girl shook her head no before launching herself at the man. Her small arms wrapped around the man's waist tightly. Hot tears soaked through the man's shirt and he stared down at her confused. Uncertain of what to do, Darren gently patted the girl on the back. He was hoping that she would calm down so he could figure out what was going on.
Watery golden eyes stared up at the man after the girl had calmed down and pulled away. A smile broke across the girl's face, "I finally found you Uncle Darren!"
"Uncle?" Darren asked blinking several times. This had to be a dream; he had no brothers or sisters. His wife, she had one brother but he had no children.
"Uncle Roy said he would send you a letter about my arrival," the girl prattled, "but I told him that I would get here first. The train is a lot faster than that silly snail mail!" Pausing she peeked behind the man, "Where's Aunt Mana?"
"She went to stay with a friend for a few weeks," Darren answered after a moment. "Why are you here?" he asked confused. He really did not need this.
Gold eyes fell to the floor and the girl fell silent. The wind seemed to infect her more now. She shivered slightly before looking back up at her Uncle a sad smile on her face, "Mama always said never air dirty laundry in public. Can I come in and tell you?"
Darren nodded mutely and stepped out of the door way. The young girl stepped into his house and the light revealing a light pink dress that fell to her ankles, and a white long sleeved shirt underneath it as well as two white gloves. She came empty handed. The door closed with a thump behind the girl and she jumped slightly.
Pink girl, as Darren, was now calling the girl in his head, followed her Uncle down a short hallway into a small kitchen. Dirty pans were scattered across the counter and the sink was full of murky water. Food was still lying about on the table waiting to be used and half drank glasses of water and various other liquids. Most noticeable, though, was the empty beer bottles.
"Uncle Darren?" the girl asked quietly, "How long has Aunt Mana been gone now?"
The man grunted, but from the frightened look on the girls face he winced and answered, "About a week now." He sank into a chair at the table and looked at his niece closely, "What's your name?"
The girl stood at the edge of the table eyeing it as if it might bite, but she smiled sweetly at her uncle and answered, "Kira."
"And why are you here, Kira?" he asked as kindly as possible.
The girl paused, "I was born fourteen years ago, after my parents met. My Daddy was a soldier in the military in Amestris and Mama was a waitress. Daddy left before Mama knew that she was going to have me and she never heard from him again. She was fine with it, though. She raised me by herself, until just recently." The girl paused her eyes brimming with tears, "Mama got sick and died, but she sent me to find Daddy. I went to Central and asked around, but no one knew. That is until I found Uncle Roy. He was a close friend of Daddy's. He told me that Daddy died years ago in a rebellion. Uncle Roy told me that he would have taken me in but he had 'two brats he had to take care of already'. So he found out where Aunt Mana went and sent me to find her. I don't have any other living family."
Darren nearly fell out of his seat. He couldn't kick the girl out of his house, she was family. It might send people looking for her, too. Brown eyes closed for a moment before the man looked at his niece warily, "You can stay for now, but when your Aunt returns I'll have to discuss this with her."
The young girl jumped on her Uncle and hugged him, "Thank you, Uncle Darren!"
Eyes flashed angrily and triumphantly as the witch burst into what had turned into military headquarters. Umbridge slammed a letter down on the table in front of Colonel Mustang. "Edward is not to go on this mission by order of the Ministry," she informed the man.
The three officers at the table looked up at her curiously. Mustang picked up the letter and read it over quickly. With a frown he tossed it back on the table. "First, your ministry has no right to order what I can and can not do with my Academy student," Mustang answered the usual smirk gone from his face. "And secondly, he's already left. I discussed the issue with Dumbledore and Edward has been excused from his classes until this is over."
"Bring him back," Umbridge ordered sternly.
The black haired Colonel rose from his chair, "I can't."
"Bring him back," the woman repeated no intimidated by the man towering over her.
Mustang glared into the woman's eyes, "Pulling him out now could get him killed. Do you want to have his death on your conscious?"
A/N: And that's that. I made it longer, not terribly long but longer. Hope y'all liked. Review and let me know what you thought. Sorry it took so long to get updated; family is coming home, holidays, you the usual. I'll hopefully fall back into my regular updates soon! Enjoy!
