Chapter Thirty-Six: Trains and Card Games
"You put up a good fight child," the old man declared, "but the fight is over. You are beaten…and now your dear Colonel will burn the symbol into your neck allowing me complete control."
"I'm sorry, Colonel," Kat whispered, awaiting her fate. "I guess I no longer have the right to be called your Lieutenant."
There was no reply as the sound of snapping fingers resounded through the air.
Kat braced herself for the scorching pain…. But it didn't come.
"You idiot," a voice muttered above her. Looking up she saw that Roy Mustang was standing there with a hand on the back of his neck. "I told you to kill me." At this he turned and back handed the old man…sending him flying. "If you wanted to get yourself killed do it when you won't be letting the enemy get away."
"Colonel… you're back," Kat said with a relieved smile.
"That's impossible!" the old man squealed as he scrambled up from the ground. "As long as the symbol is seared into your flesh there is no way you should have any self control."
"That may be…. Unless I burn it off myself," Roy said removing his hand from the back of his neck and Kat saw that the skin there was completely charre. He snapped his fingers once more so that flames were encircling the man. "You made two very deadly mistakes old man," Roy said dangerously. "The first was attempting to make me your puppet. The second was harming one of my most valued subordinates."
"Colonel, don't," Kat said, picking herself up from the ground, despite the terrible stinging her arms were forced to endure. "Please… don't kill him. If you do, that wouldn't make it any better."
"You're right…besides…I've got a better idea," Roy muttered darkly.
Suddenly the flames encircling the old man disappeared as they were quenched with water. "If you wish to bring me in…then you'll have to defeat all of them! Come my minions, rise for your master!"
Suddenly, almost out of nowhere many alchemists slowly walked into the area lining up behind the Puppet Master Alchemist. They all bore the same glazed expression that Roy had only minutes before.
"Terrific," Kat remarked. "So much for keeping things covert."
"So, Lieutenant, think you are up to helping me take these guys?" Roy asked her.
"You don't even need to ask," Kat said with a smile.
"Great, then you distract him for me," Roy told her holding his fingers in prept position.
"You got it," Kat said before pulling an Elly and charging forward. It wasn't without difficulty; she had several people to go through, all who were exceptionally skilled in alchemy. But none of them could ever compare to Roy, Elly, or even Armstrong. When she temporarily incapacitated the majority of the alchemists with her ice, she went straight for the Puppetmaster himself.
She didn't get very far, however, as the Puppetmaster turned toward her, dodged her attack and managed to touch her arm as she passed. Then she turned and fired a shard of ice at him which he dodged. After the ice passed him, she attacked again and he raised his hand with a triumphant smile and she froze in place. "You shouldn't have gotten so close," he taunted.
"And you shouldn't turn your back on one of your opponents," Roy said and with a snap a flame burst alive on the back of the Puppetmaster's neck.
The man shrieked as his hands flew to his neck. "YOU FOOL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE????"
Even though Kat was now free to move, she still stood frozen in place as she watched the man literally falling apart before her eyes. As soon as his body turned to dust, all the alchemists they had been fighting collapsed to the ground as well.
"Colonel, what did you?" Kat asked trying to keep her shock from showing as she approached the pile of remains.
"While I was under his control, I noticed he also had a symbol on his neck," Roy explained glancing around at the grounded alchemists to see if any were still acting abnormally. "It was merely a guess but I figured it had some sort of significance."
"Look at this," Kat said sifting through what was left of the late alchemist and pulling out a dust covered book before flipping through it. "He carried his research notes on his person."
"No surprises there," Roy said approaching her. "Many alchemists do that, in order to keep them protected." He took one of her arms and she drew in a quick breath of pain, not having been prepared for it.
He stopped and pulled up her sleeves to get a look at her arms. "Let's get you back to the spring to get these taken care of," he muttered softly.
"Right.... but first let's take care of the people here," she suggested, trying not t act embarrassed.
He paused before nodding in agreement.
It was late in the afternoon when the rain that had been coming down lightly all day suddenly picked up turning into a full downpour. "This is ridiculous," Elly muttered staring out the window in dismay.
"It can't be all that bad," Havoc murmured. "I mean you could be caught outside in it."
"Yeah I know," Elly sighed. She had gone to Havoc's house around 2 in the afternoon because he said he wanted to show her something, and now this storm hit and she ended up being stuck inside his place without anyway to leave. "Man…this is just like the time it rained," she thought dismally to herself. "Though I guess the last time I didn't really even enjoy his company until the end."
"I really do need to get going," she continued looking out the window.
"But how are you going to get anywhere when it's practically flooding out there?" Havoc asked glancing out the window as well.
"I'll call a cab or something," Elly answered easily.
"I doubt there are any running during this thing," Havoc told her honestly. "As bad as it is, the roads are probably too slick, not to mention the near zero visibility."
"When you put it that way I guess I really have to stick around huh," Elly muttered.
"Sorry about this…" Havoc murmured. "I honestly didn't think it was going to be this bad."
"It's fine. I don't mind," Elly told him. Well, she did, but not for reasons he would think. True, she started feeling a lot more at ease whenever she was around Havoc. In fact, being in his presence almost gave her a sense of peace. However, it was that ease that set her on edge. Because it wasn't the first time she had felt it before. "I don't suppose you have anything we could do to pass the time, do you?" She asked him, trying not to think too much.
"Well, I have a deck of cards," Havoc said with a small shrug.
"I don't know that many card games," Elly admitted in slight embarrassment.
"Perfect, I can teach you," Havoc said with a grin before going to get a deck for them to play with.
Elly watched him leave and shook her head after realizing where he eyes had drifted to. She turned and continued to stare out the window to try to get her mind off of him.
When he returned though, she looked back at him to try to be polite but only ended up needing to mentally shake herself.
"Hmm…so what should we start with?" Havoc asked as he started shuffling the deck.
"How should I know?" Elly murmured.
"Ah, right…. Well then we can start with 21," Havoc said with an apologetic smile and he laid down two cards, one face down and one facing up, in front of Elly and then himself. "Okay, so the object of this game is to get as close to 21 as you can without going over. This is done by adding together the point value of each card you get. Follow me so far?"
"Yeah," Elly murmured looking at the cards. "Sounds simple enough."
"Okay…so the basic point values are the cards that have numbers on them…those are their value," Havoc explained. "The face cards and the ace all have a value of ten."
"Okay…so basically it ranges from 2-10 right?" Elly asked making sure she completely understood.
"Yep…so are you ready to try a practice game?" Havoc asked setting the deck down. Elly nodded and the game began.
It wasn't too hard a game to grasp and pretty soon she was able to guess whether or not taking another one was a good idea. She usually stopped when she got to 18 or 19, any lower than that and she took the risk for another card…just in case Havoc got another good one. She went over a few times but for the most part she did fairly well. After about half an hour of playing 21 Elly decided she had had enough and the game ended.
"Man it's still coming down out there," she murmured. "And it's getting late…"
"Well you could always stay here again," Havoc suggested. "I mean only if it doesn't let up until it's really late."
"Um…okay," Elly agreed. "But if it does, then I should probably find a way home." Havoc nodded in agreement as he started to pass out the cards again. "Oh…you don't happen to have anything to drink do you?"
"I've got some milk," Havoc suggested.
"That'll work," Elly shrugged.
Havoc nodded and got up to get her a glass. "Oh, just because I'm not in the room doesn't mean you can glance at my cards," he shot back into the room as Elly nonchalantly reached for his hand.
"Dagnabit," Elly thought.
It was only a couple minutes before Havoc was back to the living room where Elly was waiting. "Here's your drink," He handed her the glass of milk before sitting down and taking a swig out of his own glass of golden colored liquid aka scotch. "Bottom's up."
Elly shook her head having not been used to drinking with someone like that, then she too took a drink from her own glass. "Um…hey Havoc…what's wrong with this milk…it tastes funny," Elly murmured.
"Oh…it was just in the fridge for a little longer than it should have been. That's the last of the gallon that was in there," Havoc answered with a smile.
"Oh… okay, just making sure you weren't trying to poison me," Elly joked.
"Oh come on, I would never do something so underhanded," Havoc said indignantly. "What kind of guy do you take me for?"
"I wasn't taking you for anything really," Elly stated as she took another drink. "I was just making a joke. I know you and the others wouldn't really do something like that. You'd be too scared of what Kat would do if you did."
"Let's just get the game started," Havoc sighed with a shake of his head.
A few hours later after clearing things up at the hot spring, Kat and Roy had borded the train back to Central. The timing couldn't havebeen better as a storm had suddenly moved in out of no where; though they were still getting the full affects as the train track was out of the way and thus much rougher than the main railways of the country than ran between headquarters. Kat and Roy managed to get a compartment to themselves so they could go over some of the things they had discovered in the inn the old man had kept stored away. And also so that Kat could give Roy his share of first aid.
"Hold still, I'm almost done," Kat told Roy as she carefully tended to the burn on his neck. The train jostled a bit causing more pressure than was necessary.
"Ow! Watch what you're doing," Roy barked.
"Oh, quit your whining," Kat said, ignoring his complaints.
"You're one to talk," Roy grumbled. "You cried twice as much when I bandaged up your arms."
"I did not," Kat insisted as she made Roy yelp again. "I was impersonating you singing in the shower."
"You have never heard me in the shower," Roy shot back. "I do not sing."
"Well, thank goodness for that then. I've heard your ode to canines," Kat replied nattily.
"One of these days Lieutenant, I'm going to…" Roy began but another jostle from the train caused Kat to land into him, their bodies snug against each other.
"Eh… they really should get this track refurnished," Kat said with a small laugh as she quickly retreated to her own seat.
Roy smiled as she backed away and moved to sit closer to her. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "So…did you mean it when you said you'd stay?" he asked her calmly.
Kat did her best to keep her emotions in check, though she still couldn't help but relish the warmth of him being so close to her. "Yes," she said with a soft smile. "I realized there really isn't any greater torture than not being able to work under you, surprising as that may be."
"Well of course…who wouldn't want to work under the great Flame Alchemist?" Roy chuckled. "At any rate…I am glad you decided that. It'd feel somewhat strange if you stopped working under me."
"I know what you mean," Kat said staring down, rubbing her bandaged arms gingerly. Roy noticed this and Kat felt his body tense a little. "It's not your fault, sir," Kat assured him. "And it certainly isn't the worst you've ever done to me." Catching his expression out of the corner of her eye, she added, "That was a joke."
"I apologize for letting my guard down and allowing him to control my actions," Roy muttered as he released her shoulders. "But as my Lieutenant you should have taken the most logical action to ensure the success of the mission."
"Killing you would not have been logical," Kat told him firmly. "Pardon me, but that was the stupidest thing I've ever heard uttered from your lips. And trust me, I have a long list."
"Your brother would beg to differ," Roy chuckled.
"Out of curiosity, when did you managed to burn that symbol off of your neck?" Kat asked him curiously.
"Obviously, when you weren't paying attention," he replied nonchalantly. Though truth be told, it had happened the very same moment he had scorched Kat's arms. "If Hughes ever found out.... he would murder me and mount my head on his office wall."
"Well, I'm glad," Kat stated. "For a moment, I thought I might have been too late."
"Well, you were too late to do anything to help," Roy told her. "I was just too strong for his control."
"Of course, Colonel," Kat said not in the mood for heavy duty bickering. She bent down and pulled out a worn book from her bag; the old man's diary. It had explained everything from before the time of his escape to the day before he confronted Kat with Roy. "It's still hard to believe he was truly dead all that time, and that he was merely using his own alchemy to seal his soul inside his decaying body."
"Well, after taking a glance at his research notes, it's painfully obvious that this man was absolutely insane," Roy replied.
"Still.... the amount of control he had over his alchemy, it was almost perfect," Kat murmured. "If the same thing could be applied to medical alchemy...."
"NO! I know you like to see what you can do with your alchemy, but there is a line that should never be crossed. Edward and Alphonse crossed that line and look what became of them," Roy stated firmly.
Kat was taken aback by Roy being so unprecedentedly adamant. "Alright, I apologize for mentioning it," she said with a hint of bitterness as she put the book away.
"I applaud you for trying to take your alchemy to the next level...but from what I've seen, delving into something like that could make you lose your humanity," Roy ammended.
"I understand, Colonel," Kat said with an incline of her head.
"Good," he said, sounding a little more relived. "Also, make sure when we get back that you take care of your arms."
"Give me some credit," Kat said removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes. "I'm not a child anymore if you haven't noticed."
Roy gently reached over, and with two fingers, turned her face towards him by lightly stroking her jaw. "You can't blame me for worrying…now can you? Not after I was the one who injured you," he said in a low and gentle voice.
"But if I hadn't been so inattentive, that would not have happened in the first place," Kat said, her words spilling out of her mouth in a whispered rush, her face becoming more heated by the minute.
"I was careless enough to let it happen," Roy told her. "But thankfully I had you to help me come to my senses."
"What happened to you just being too strong for his control?" Kat asked with a deadpan look, the romance taking a sudden reprieve.
"I was strong enough to keep my senses," Roy clarified. "It was your voice that helped me completely pull through."
As he spoke, his thumb bursh over her chin, passing just under her lower lip, and Kat was finding that keeping her senses in check was becoming a chore. "Just doing what you pay me to do, sir."
"I think it's time you did something I don't pay you to do," Roy whispered, his warm breath engulfing her entire face. "That is, if you desire it."
Kat almost let out a gasp as her heart gave an excited jolt. "Is this… condonable, sir?" she managed to expel.
"Until we return to Eastern…we're just Kathleen Hughes and Roy Mustang," Roy murmured.
For the first time that she could remember, Kat was at a complete loss for words. She was surprised she couldn't hear her own heart hammering against her ribcage.
"If you don't answer," Roy said with a smile. "I might have to take your silence for a 'yes'."
It was with those words that Roy showed how kind he could be. He had given her a way to say that she wanted it without saying that she did. Normally this would have been the time that Kat would have made an acerbic remark, but instead, she remained completely hushed.
The train was completely silent where they were as no one else was present. Slowly, painstakingly slowly, the two closed the gap between each others' faces. Kat's heartbeat increased as they became close enough to touch noses.
For the next few hours they played different card games where Elly discovered her favorite one…slap jack. It became her favorite partly because if she didn't move fast enough…or if she moved just fast enough either she'd slap his hand, or he'd slap hers. Either way, it made her heart leap every time…not that she'd admit it to him. When they finally stopped, it was about 10 o'clock and Elly was starting to feel her eyelids get heavy.
"You want to call it a night?" Havoc asked her.
"Well… are there any other games you know of?" Elly inquired.
"Well, there's Spoons," Havoc told her. "Though it's more fun when you have a group."
"How do you play?"
"We pass around cards waiting to get either a set or a run and once you have that, you have to sneak the spoon out of the middle without getting caught," Havoc explained. "It's Kat's favorite game. I guess you could say she's the one who made it popular around Eastern."
"I could understand that," Elly said with a laugh. "She is pretty sneaky. Has anyone beaten her?"
"Where do you think she gets all her extra money?"
"Oh, I thought she got that from her drinking contests."
"Well, that too but, she much prefers a game of cards."
"Heh, I don't blame her for that. What the heck? Let's give it a try," Elly said with a grin.
Havoc nodded his consent before going and grabbing a spoon.
Elly waited for a few minutes until he returned with the spoon. Then after a quick explanation of what a Run and a Set were, the game began. The first couple rounds, Havoc was able to sneak the spoon out and hold onto it for a minute or two before Elly even realized it was gone.
Then when the fourth round came, it was Elly's turn to try her luck at sneaking it away. She slowly moved her hand forward until just before it touched the spoon before quickly wrapping her fingers around it and pulling back. Her hand didn't get very far as Havoc had noticed and grabbed a hold of her wrist before she could fully take it away.
"Nice try," he chuckled. "But you'll have to be quicker than that."
"Let go Havoc," Elly said narrowing her eyes. "I snagged it fair and square…the win is mine."
"Not unless you can keep it from me," Havoc taunted.
The two pulled back and forth, Havoc having the advantage of physical strength was able to hold onto it easily, but Elly refused to let go. Elly tried getting to her feet to gain some leverage, but just as she was rising Havoc gave a particularly hard pull and Elly lost her footing and fell forward right on top of his lap.
Elly felt her face burn hot as her body rubbed roughly against Havoc, sharing his body heat. The scent of his cologne was prominent in her nose and it made her feel lightheaded because it was such a calming and pleasing aroma. He looked down at her looking rather surprised as he had not seen this outcome anymore than she had. She made the mistake of looking up at him, and once she did, she could not look away. Both of their hands were still locked around the spoon, that is, until Elly felt Havoc's hand shift so that instead of gripping the small eating utensil, he was gently gripping her hand.
"You win," he whispered softly with a light smile.
Elly's face turned red so that her hair and eyes blended in with her face. This only intensified when she found Havoc's face suddenly really close to hers. Seconds later she felt the same jolting sensation she had before when their lips had brushed, only this time it didn't stop there. Their lips brushed each other making Elly's head spin, before they pulled back in hesitation, then Havoc closed the remaining gap.
As the two alchemists of bipolar practices drew nearer to one another, nothing could be heard except for the rattling of the train car. Kat knew that she probably shouldn't, but she was curious, oh so very curious. Never before would she have ever imagined herself in a time and place such as this, and most certainly not with this man. Funny how life worked like that.
Roy on the other hand wanted to know what it was like to share such a thing with a person he actually held feelings for, and if there was anything to Hughes' pestering for him to take his sister as a wife. He was sure that this one kiss was all he'd need to know if that endeavor would be what he really wanted to do once his goal was reached.
Suddenly the train gave a hard joggle and SMACK!
Kat sat back clutching her forehead and Roy did the same as the train they were on suddenly slowed down and the lights began to flicker.
"ATTENTION PASSENGERS, WE ARE EXPERIENCING SOME TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES DUE TO THE STORM. PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND SEATED AND WE WILL CONTINUE SHORTLY."
"I knew your skull was thick, but to be that much so…" Kat mumbled.
"Says one of the most hard-headed women I know," Roy grumbled back.
Then suddenly they both started laughing. "That was pretty sad," Kat said with a shake of her head, replacing her glasses. "It seems like even the powers that be have it in for us."
"Well, I've never let that stop me before," Roy told her.
"Meaning?" Kat asked him.
"Meaning that when I want something…or someone," Roy replied. "Nothing and no one stops me from obtaining just that."
"Big words," Kat said, unable to help but smile.
"You'll just have to wait and see…won't you," Roy chuckled as he leaned back in his seat.
"I'll support you in whatever you decide, Colonel," Kat replied with a smile.
"Good," Roy murmured. Just then the train started back up and the trip back to Central continued. "When we reach Central…you are to act like nothing happened, Kathleen. I don't want your brother to believe his hair brained scheme actually worked."
"I dunno, Colonel," Kat said good-humoredly. "I might forget."
"Do you really want the entire military to know that you're emotional and that you have a thing for the Flame Alchemist?" Roy asked her skeptically.
"Whoever said I had a thing for you?" Kat said becoming flushed.
"I think that kiss said it all," Roy said smirking.
"Um, sir, it didn't happen," Kat stated flatly.
"Even so, I could tell by the look in your eyes, you wanted it," Roy stated confidently. "You wanted to know what it was like to play with fire."
"No one knows how to put off a good mood like you, sir," Kat said ignoring his nudges.
"Wait," Roy told her.
Kat stared at him curiously. "Usually I'm the one with vague statements," she thought. "Pardon?" she asked out loud.
"It's impossible now, with everything that's going on," Roy said sincerely. "But a time of peace will come eventually, and I will be president. So until then…. Just wait."
Kat smiled, understanding what he meant. "Understood, sir," she murmured softly resting her head against his shoulder.
He smiled down at her and pulled his arm around her and gave her a kiss on top of her head. "That was to give us a bit of luck for the future," Roy murmured as he stroked her side and arm being careful not to touch her burns.
The next morning..........
"Thank goodness! I was so worried!" Hughes said hugging his sister tightly attracting many stares from passersby. Hughes had been waiting for their arrival at the station. "When you guys didn't show when you were supposed to I was almost tempted to send a search party."
Kat winced slightly from the pain in her arms. "I assure you, brother, we had our reasons for being late."
"Oh…did you have more fun at the hot spring than intended?" Hughes asked with a hand on his chin.
"No Hughes," Roy replied coldly. "The train just had some technical difficulties on the way back."
"Yes…it broke under the weight of his ego," Kat laughed.
"No…your icy aura froze it to the tracks," Roy shot back.
"It doesn't look like anything has changed at all," Hughes thought sadly. "At least on the surface…but their comments to each other are a lot more light hearted than previously shown."
"By the way," Hughes noted with a grin. "I've been promoted to Lt. Colonel."
"That's wonderful, bro," Kat replied with one of her rare, genuinely excited smiles. "Congratulations, you deserve it. At this rate, you're going to surpass the Colonel."
"Oh no, he's bound to get promoted soon enough. And I will once again be two levels below him...maybe even three," Hughes answered with laugh.
"So I take it the business in Central is almost done?" Kat asked him.
"Yes… were you still planning on staying with me?" he asked her seriously.
"No," Kat said with a smile. "I realized that Eastern wouldn't be able to do a thing without me."
"Alright then… I'm off early today so unless you need to get back to work are you coming home with me?" Hughes asked with a pitiful look on his face.
"Is that alright with you, Colonel?" Kat asked him.
"Do what you want," Roy said offhandedly. "I have a report to file."
"You're always so busy Roy," Hughes scolded lightly. "Oh well…I'll just sit here and see if I can't find a good man to take care of sister. I'm sure there are plenty here who would love to try."
"I've already said I'm heading back Hughes," Roy muttered. "That should be enough to understand that no matter what you say I'm still heading back."
"Of course…I was just trying to see if I could goad you into staying," Hughes laughed. "Well have fun…just steer clear of Elly for a bit…she's been in an odd mood since this morning."
"Oh, that can't be good," Kat said knowingly.
Roy left the brother and sister alone and headed back to Central headquarters where Hawkeye was dutifully waiting for him in his office. "You're late, sir," she stated.
"Something came up," Roy told her in a tone that said he wasn't going to explain further.
"Were you at least able to enjoy yourself somewhat on your trip?" Hawkeye asked conversationally.
"I had no rest at all," Roy muttered slumping in his chair. "With Ice Cold there is never any rest to be had."
"I'm sorry to hear that sir," Hawkeye said genuinely apologetic, though she couldn't help but smile as he seemed in a much livlier mood than when he left.
CM: Awwwwwwwww! Hooray! All's well and good. But wait... so then why is Elly in a weird mood? Hmm.... suspicious. Stay tuned to discover the reasons behind the mysterious conundrum. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ^_^
"Ah...that was a nightmare," one of the men grumbled as the formaly controled alchemists pushed themselves off the ground.
"Hey, you're the Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang....the Hero of the Ishbal War."
"Yes, yes I am," Roy stated in his deep macho poser voice.
"Oh, good grief," Kat said rubbing her head.
"Ah, you wouldn't happen to be the Ice Cold Alchemist would you?" another asked Kat. "The only female to ever become a state alchemist?"
"No... you must have me mistaken for someone else," Kat told him with a smile.
"Yes, this is the Ice Cold Alchemist," Roy cut in. "Be glad, you've just been saved by the two most famous alchemists in the military."
Most of the people their stared in awe while a few were actually coming up and thanking both with the most ardent praise. "At this point, the Colonel won't need to take the train home," Kat thought as she watched his head grow by the second. "He can just float back to Central with all the hot air he's building up."
"Well thanks again for setting us free from that mad man. I think we'd all better get home...our families are probably worried sick about us," one of the men said with a sigh.
"Mine probably already thinks I'm dead...I've been gone for almost two years already," another one piped up.
"Those poor people," Kat said aloud as she watched them leave.
"I know, can you imagine the state of Eastern if I had gone missing for that long?" Roy said gravely.
"Yes, no work would get done because people would be unable to stop celebrating," Kat said smartly before turning on her heels and walking off.
As she did, Roy's swollen head deflated considerably. "Yes, and we would never get snow again if you were gone," Roy thought irritably before following her.