Chapter 56: Waving goodbye

It was Monday morning and the Central Headquarter became witness of a really strange scene. There was the Fuhrer's son, Lieutenant General Llewellyn, who walked up the stairs. He was escorted – like most of the time – by General Armstrong who didn't look happy at all – but everyone was used to her constant annoyance by now. But today, it seemed like she had a reason. The blond man next to her was walking with crutches and much to the dismay of many women, his face was hurt.

"No comment," he huffed as he entered the big conference room where all the other generals sat on their places. Olivier helped him to sit down before she sat down next to him.

Major General Roy Mustang, the happy married husband of Riza Hawkeye, raised an eyebrow at the two blondes before he looked at his best friend, Brigadier General Maes Hughes, who seemed also amused by the strange display of (sisterly) affection Olivier showed right now.

The First Lady glared at her son who hadn't told her that he had had an accident yet and cleared her throat before she got up to check if everyone was there. As soon as she had finished, she sat down for a fracture of a second, before she got back to her feet. "Before I can forget to inform the council of this development," she said calmly. "Brigadier General Jadelina Mustang will leave us for one year to travel to Aerugo in order to improve the relationship between our countries. She filed in for such a long leave three years ago, so the permission is not some kind of favouritism from my side." She waited for protest and as nothing came, she continued. "During her absence, Brigadier General Phil Mustang will take care of all her duties. For those who don't know it: Jade is responsible for the organisation of the rebuild of Ishbal, the Eastern Library and some other institutions."

"We wish her nothing but the best for her journey," Leroy added.

"The year will be over in a flash, so enjoy yourself," Maes grinned before he got up. "I and some of your fellow soldiers wondered what to give you as a goodbye-present and we decided that you will need a camera to capture all the great moments of your journey. I believe that I speak for the whole audience when I say that we wish you a good journey and we hope that you will return before we start the next negotiations with Drachma and … hey! I just noticed that you will miss Elicia's fourth birthday!"

Jade who had blushed immensely over the past few minutes laughed as she looked at him and shook her head in complete disbelief as she started to speak once again. "I will send her a present," she said.

"Jade," Roy started to speak and his smile was full of faked innocence. "I already told you what we as your family expect from you: come home safely. Your mother would murder me if you wouldn't come back in one piece."

She rolled her eyes. "Could you please stop to jinx me, Roy?" she complained.

"Sorry, Breeze Soul," he muttered. "But still … come home."

Olivier nodded. "Yes, Jade," she agreed. "Come back. These meetings wouldn't be the same without you … hey … consider it as an order to come back one day!"

While she still barely tolerated Roy Mustang, Olivier had started to like Jade Mustang. The younger woman appeared to be a dedicated, smart woman with a strong feeling of responsibility towards her subordinates and friends. She was far from being a perfect soldier but who cared?

The other generals followed the example of Jade's friends and soon enough, Brigadier General Miles got up. Olivier hadn't noticed that he was present too. She had been too focused on Bendix who had had some trouble with his crutches while coming in. And now, it hit her with all the force she had been able to dodge before. Her hands became fists and trembled.

"As representing member of the rebuilding campaign in Ishbal, I wish Brigadier General Mustang a successful trip," the former major said calmly.

Bendix watched Olivier and handed her a glass of water before he tapped the table twice. The code was clear: spill it. She suppressed a sigh as she put the glass on the table before she got up – seemingly to shake Jade's hand but in reality, she just intended to hit the glass with her elbow as she sat down again. She watched how the water ran over the smooth surface of the table before it wetted hers and Bendix' jacket. She sighed deeply. "Sometimes I am really clumsy," she stated.

"Father, are we allowed to leave in order to get dry again?" Bendix asked while he fought back a smirk.

"Of course," Leroy said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "And when you are gone, could you please get me a cup of coffee? I mean, a real cup of coffee … from the new coffee shop at the corner … I hate this terrible stuff they are giving me here."

"No problem, Uncle Leroy," Olivier said before she helped Bendix to get back up. "Come on; let's get the coffee on our way back. We have a meeting with two dry jackets…"

"Don't you have dry jackets in your offices?" Charlotte asked with a little frown on her forehead.

"We brought them to the dry cleaner's before we went home last week," her son replied. "But it's no big deal, honestly. I will wish Jade a good journey now and I will be at the train station in an hour either way, so it really doesn't matter." He looked at Breeze Soul. "I wish you a good and save trip to Aerugo," he said. "Tell Claudio that Liv and I will beat him up shouldn't he be nice to you."

"You are walking on crutches," Phil smirked.

"Many elder ladies proved that crutches are the new baseball bats," the blond man huffed before he limped out of the room.

"Well, he has a point there," Roy said, remembering his first encounter with Mrs Robinson.

"Hmh…" Charlotte nodded. "All the evaluations about violence are probably wrong – nobody ever asked after militant older women with crutches. I am pretty sure that they are the true violent criminals in our country. Please, someone has to remind me that I order someone to make an evaluation about these acts of violence…"

Laila's lower lip trembled and her eyes shone with unshed tears. She stood on the platform and looked at Cai who carried his suitcase. "I don't want you to leave," she said. "I want you to stay."

"Really – you need to stay!" Victoria agreed. "We need your help for our mission!"

"Which mission, Vicky?" Riza asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"…with our mission to become the best and greatest friends in the whole world!" Nick lied smoothly before he looked pleadingly at his adoptive mother. "Please, Riza, he can share a room with me. I don't want to be left alone with two girls!"

"I need to go," the Xingese prince said but it was obvious that he wasn't happy about it either, "but I will write you many, many letters – and you can come to visit me in the summer! I could show you Xing! I am sure that you would totally love it, all of you!"

Laila looked down before her hands flew up to her hair. She took out the white ribbon made of silk that she had used to fix her ponytail in the morning and handed it over to him. "That's for you," she said.

He took it and put it carefully into his chest pocket. "I will honour it till the day I see you again, my golden princess," he said with a little bow. "I will write you as soon as I am back, I promise."

"Some kind of knight in shining armour you are," Nick said. "You are honestly leaving your princess behind? You are a shame for all the knights in shining armours who are still out there!"

"It's not like I had a choice," Cai muttered. "I promise that I will return one day soon, really!"

"Hey! Wait until we said goodbye too!" Olivier's voice called out and the people on the platform turned to see her fighting her way through the crowd while Bendix limped as fast as possible behind her. He had a hard time to avoid the puppies which were both white as snow.

Riza looked at her wristwatch. "Shouldn't you be in a meeting?" she asked.

"We decided that we weren't needed any longer," Olivier said.

The younger blonde sighed deeply. "How was it?" she inquired.

Bendix and Olivier exchanged a gaze before they started to laugh.

"…refreshing," the Ice Queen said before she picked up the dogs. "We said goodbye to Jade, so we won't miss anything important, I guess." She looked down at the children. "Thank you, Cai," she said before she bent down to look into his eyes. "Should you ever need help, don't hesitate to call me."

"Will do," the little prince grinned. "Hey – you and Mr Bendix could visit us too! You could come with Laila, Vicky and Nick. It would be so cool to see you both again. You are so nice … taking care of us…"

It was the second Laila decided that she loved him. He was so smart and he had brilliant ideas to ensure a positive outcome for THE MISSION. She smiled innocently at the two blondes. "Oh, please come with us," she said. "Aunty Olivier, Cai said that there are many people in Xing who would like to start business with people in Amestris … and Uncle Ben, you wouldn't let me go all alone, would you?"

"…hey, that looks like Ling is leaving today too," Edward's (annoying) voice said as he appeared along with Alphonse, Jerso and Zampano. "…where is the major general?" the former state alchemist.

"Probably still in the meeting we left before it was over," Olivier said dryly.

"You left a meeting early?" Edward asked. "Aren't you the perfect little soldier, madam?"

"Sssh…" she rolled her eyes. "I didn't go to work for a whole month, so don't believe that I am a perfect little soldier. That title used to be Kay's … and even she was far from perfect…"

"She was better than we will ever be," Bendix rolled his eyes. "Well, Cai, don't forget us when you are in Xing again. We won't forget you either … and we will probably come to haunt you in the summer."

While everyone else was joking around, Ling was serious for the first time since he had become emperor. He stood aside the others and listened to Jun Li's calm voice.

"…I wished I had information about this," she muttered while she looked at Cai, "but really, I know nothing about it. And the Secret Service … honestly, I heard that they are already out of their depths with the usual crimes. You need something better than them…" She looked around before she looked straight into his eyes. "I would really love to help you," she said slowly, "but I am not allowed to talk about this. If I was allowed to, I would tell you that the Eye of Xing has headquarters in Jingbei. They should be able to help you with this little problem but I am not allowed to tell you that they have a spy in the ImperialPalace who happens to be a maid called Mei Cho. I am also not allowed to tell you that it would help you to tell them that the Lily sends you." She raised her voice again. "Like I said – I would love to help you but I am not allowed to…"

He smirked. "Mei Cho, huh?" he whispered before he sighed deeply. "Well, Jun Li," he said with a louder voice, "it's too bad that even you can't help me."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, my emperor, I will always live a life in shame," she said dryly.

Jade closed her suitcase. "Very well," she said.

Her brother looked up from his book. "So … this is goodbye?"

She nodded. For the first time in a very long time, she found herself unable to speak.

"I'll miss you terribly," he said and his voice was strangely hoarse.

"Don't worry – I will be back in a year."

"I'll still miss you, sister mine."

She rolled her eyes.

He got up and grabbed a black box from a nearby table. "A little present for you," he said.

She sighed as she opened it. "It's not necessary," she protested as she looked at the jewellery: a beautiful golden necklace with two emerald hearts, two pairs of golden earrings, one of them with little emeralds and a golden bracelet.

"I bought it some years ago," her brother said.

"It's beautiful," she said as she hugged him tightly.

"Nothing but the best for the princess of the Mustang-clan," Phil said while his fingers combed her hair. She had shortened it a good deal. It barely touched her chin and gave her an elfish appearance. She wore an emerald ribbon to hold it back and looked years younger than usually.

"Charming bastard," she said with a little huff.

"You know how much you love me."

"Yeah…" she said. "We need to go. I would miss my train if we don't leave now."

She had gotten out of her uniform the moment she had come home and now she wore a pair of black boots, jeans, a black shirt and an emerald blazer.

"It's time to emancipate a little bit from each other," Phil sighed.

"Probably," she said as she took her coat. "Let's go."

Ling watched his bored brother as they sat in the train that would bring them back to Xing. "You already miss her, right?" he sighed.

"Of course," Cai muttered.

"She and the twins will come to the palace in the summer," Lan Fan said calmly.

"You and Victoria went along too…" Ling said thoughtfully.

"She is cool … but not as awesome as Laila."

"You like her, don't you?" Ling asked.

"Laila is amazing and smart. Vicky is calm and collected. Nick is courageous and open for new ideas." Cai looked at his brother. "We are a good team."

"A team with a mission," Lan Fan frowned.

"Yeah," her brother-in-law nodded.

"What kind of mission?" she inquired.

"We … uhm … I vowed to keep the silence."

"Maybe we could help," Lan Fan stated.

"…we want to get Miss Olivier and Mr Bendix together," the boy said shyly.

"Such a plan is slightly suicidal," Ling muttered.

"I know but they deserve happiness as much as everyone else. And we are little innocent children…"

"Innocent?" Lan Fan chuckled in unusual amusement. "No, Cai, do not lie about these things. You are cunning. Laila is insanely intelligent and adorable. Nick is at least as cunning as you and Victoria has a mind, cold as ice and sharp as a sword – even sharper than Laila's. No one of you can claim to be innocent."

"But we are cute."

"I can't deny that fact."

"And Laila can really come this summer? And Vicky and Nick too? We would be so awesome."

"Ask Riza and Roy – we would be happy to welcome them in our palace," his brother said.

"I'll write them an invitation when we get home…"

"I'll write Riza too," Lan Fan said before she looked at the passing landscape in front of the window. "And we'll invite the Golden Duo too."

"Hell, yes!" Ling laughed. "Being emperor is so boring, I need some entertainment!"

"You are on the best way to get killed before you have an heir," Cai sighed. "Really, Ling, as much as I can understand that you aren't interested in your duties as an emperor – you need to do them."

"There will be an heir, in seven months," Ling said smugly before he kissed Lan Fan's cheek. "A really wonderful little baby … as beautiful as its mother…"

On the platform at the train station, Roy hugged his cousin. "And you really want to leave, Jade?" he asked while he nearly suffocated her. "You can't do that to me! You are leaving me alone with Phil!"

"He is under orders to be a nice little boy," Jade smirked and freed herself from his arms before she put one feet on the board. "And Roy ?" she chuckled. "Try to make me an aunt before I return, yes?"

He pouted at her. "Anything else I should do?" he asked. "I have to make sure that Phil gets all his paperwork done. I have to write you a letter every week you are gone. I need to inform you of all the events you could consider as interesting. And if all of this weren't enough, I also need to make you an aunt? Can't you please delegate this job to Phil?"

"Hey, leave me out of this," Breeze Heart protested. "You are the one with the shiny ring on his finger, so it is like you were born for this job. And honestly, how could you ever disappoint her?"

"Jade – I just adopted three kids," Flame said. "And now you expect me to get Riza pregnant? She would kill me for missing so much work!"

Olivier who stood nearby chuckled. "My godmother could raise three children and become the most successful female soldier in history," she said. "And Riza is Charlotte's granddaughter after all … and like I said before: I want you to name your first child after me…"