Of Fire and Alchemy
Disclaimer: Don't own a thing
Warnings: Later Roy/Ed, Havoc/Fury, Al/Winry, Alternate Universe
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Chapter Three
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Everything was flaming again. It was a sickening mix of red and yellow and orange, the fire licking at everything in sight. Mustang almost shuddered. Was this a remembrance? A memory, perhaps? It was painful. It was shockingly painful. Why was it, when he was dying, the only flashback of his life was the fire? Why? He groaned, shifting to find a break in the fire. It enveloped him, forming a tight sphere around him. Mustang hissed, trying to withdraw from the voracious flames.
But to no avail.
"Hey… you awake yet?"
Mustang heard the voice as a far off summer. It barely penetrated through the flames, hardly reaching his ears. Mustang involuntarily convulsed, trying to find a pathway through the fire to the voice.
"Hey, hey!"
There it was again. Mustang jumped at the voice, desperately trying to find a way out of the flaming sphere. Where was he? How could he get out?
"HEY!"
The last scream shattered the walls around him. Mustang's eyes snapped open and he jumped in his sleep.
Sleep… So he had been sleeping… So the fire he was staring at was… The back of his eyelids.
Mustang groaned, closing his eyes against the harsh summer sun. He squinted a bit at the concerned figure crouched over him. He tried to sit up but his shoulder protested to such an extent he had to lay back down.
"Hey, alright! You're alive!"
The voice, Mustang decided, was far too happy. His shoulder still burned with embers of the fire, and the sun was shining directly into his eyes. Mustang gave a sort of pathetic growl and tried to roll over, but his shoulder prevented him from doing so. The stranger seemed to take a hint, however, and, gently, slid the gargantuan fern leaf Mustang was lying on under a large tree. The cool shade was welcoming and Mustang's vision hazed with fatigue.
However, he turned his attention to the person who rescued him, blearily making out the outline in the sun. He looked normal enough, with his jet black hair and a bit of a beard fringing his square jaw. He was moderately tall, but not too much so. Just the average person. He turned his gaze to Mustang, smiling. He wore thick-rimmed glasses of surprisingly good quality. They magnified his golden yellow eyes and unceremoniously draped themselves over his slightly pointed ears.
The words "Pointed ears" drifted through Mustang's sleep-induced mind, trying to find the latter end of its equation. Mustang's brain, however, wasn't giving it up and the words drifted into oblivion. Just then, the word "Elf" floated across Mustang's mind in the exact same fashion, eventually settling in a dark void. Mustang shot up from his position, gibbering wildly even as his shoulder screamed. The elf glanced at him, alarmed. Mustang pointed towards the elf, still blabbering like a madman. The elf seemed to understand, though, and put up his hands, as if to say "I'm unarmed and innocent."
"I'm not going to hurt you, you know. It would be a wasted effort for me to drag you out of the river and dress that wound if I was going to kill you later anyhow."
Mustang quieted down, considered this, and glanced at the pink-stained bandages wrapped around his shoulder.
"Thanks." He finally said, avoiding the elf's gaze.
"I'm Hughes, by the way. Maes Hughes. Who are you?"
"Mustang. Just… Mustang."
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Ever since Al had learned Roy's name, he had been suspicious.
Now, after seeing the scar, he was almost certain. That man really was Roy Mustang, the famous human alchemist. Al's eyes had widened in shock at first revelation of the scar, but they now returned to normal size, still staring critically at Roy. The man had denied his name. Why? There was no reason for him to. If anything, he should be boasting about his achievement. Usually, only elves were entitled to the use of alchemy. Roy Mustang was a human alchemist. Everything fit: His name, his scar, his appearance, and especially, his eyes.
Al had first almost shuddered when those eyes were studying him. There was something about those eyes… they were somewhat angry, yes, but had a flicker of maybe… angst? Al wondered. It was sort of bitter, too, as if he was constantly recalling a bad memory and inwardly grimacing. Almost like a black sadness, a spirit sadness.
Al brushed the feeling off. Edward may have been right; he analyzed things too much. But he digressed. He was now almost certain that man was Roy Mustang. There was no other way he could have gotten that scar. Mustang seemed to be reading Al's mind, however, and bitterly smiled at him.
"It was a stupid accident," He said. "A rebel leader had tried to fight me off with a sword. He managed to carve out a bit of my shoulder out, but it was worth it to capture him."
Al feigned accepting that but did not drop his suspicion. He said nothing, however, leaving it to his brother to do the talking.
For once, Ed remained silent. He was breathing heavily, gaze still fixated on the spot where the scar should have been. When he did speak, his voice was surprisingly quiet.
"You got the help of an elf, didn't you?" Edward hissed. "You humans couldn't have fixed a wound like that so well. You had help. That's a wound dressed by an elf."
"What the hell are you talking about? The only contact I've had with elves is with you two."
"You're lying!" Ed bellowed, glaring daggers, spears, swords, arrows, and other pointy objects at Roy. Roy only stared back, expressionless.
"Am I?"
His tone took Edward by surprise. The human was too confident for his own good. Ed was sure of it. Roy had the help of an elf. A traitor elf. The rules stipulated that there must be minimal contact between humans and elves; only a traitor would actually help a human. Ed shook with anger and clenched his hands around the metal bars.
For the first time, Roy noticed a glint of… something shiny from under Ed's long sleeves and white gloves. He stared at Ed's right arm, pulling it forward and pushing the sleeve up. Ed gave a howl of anger and quickly drew his arm back. But Roy had seen enough.
"Your arm… I read about it once… it's automail, isn't it?"
Ed didn't answer and was staring at a place behind Roy again. The human took this as a hint and, once again, leapt out of the way. Edward had learned his lesson by now, and the elf clapped his hands to his ears, dodging the other way. Al was left right open. He yelped and threw himself back, wincing again as a mining pick embedded itself into the wall not half a foot away from his neck. Al gulped as Winry, her dress mucky and hair messy from running, stomped in the room and glared at Roy directly in the eyes. The door was unlocked from the outside, a key stuck in the lock's hole.
"You… You!" She growled. "You are so inhumane!"
Roy blinked.
"I can't believe you're keeping elves in your room! I thought you researched them; you should know they can't stand closed in spaces! And in cages, no less!"
Al looked up. Ed stared. Roy was unresponsive, coolly accepting the rant with no hint of expression.
"Princess, you know that these elves were the ones causing trouble in the marketplace. If they were let free, they would surely do it again."
"That's beside the point! You could have at least taken them outside or something. Being locked up in a cage in a room is just…"
Winry trailed off, staring at Ed who was trying to hastily pull down his sleeve.
"Is that… automail?" She asked, abandoning her rant. Ed glared at her but moved his head down and up a fraction of an inch. "Can-Can I see it?" She ventured forth, eyes growing wide at the prospect of examining it up close. Ed could only glare, clutching his right arm possessively and snarling something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "Fuck off." Winry paid no attention. "Please? Please? Pleeeeeaaaaase?" She whined, reaching inside the cage.
Al had an idea. He jumped forward and pulled the sleeve to the shoulder, pushing Edward forth. Ed stumbled into the front of the cage, and would have whipped around to scream at Al if Winry didn't have his arm is such a vise-like grip. Ed growled possessively and pulled back. Winry noticed another glint of metal on his left leg and dropped the arm, catching Ed's foot instead. Ed yelped and fell back, his head hitting the bottom of the cage as Winry gushed over his automail.
"It's so detailed! And strong! Where did you get automail like this? I didn't know elves were such good craftspeople!"
"I can't believe you, Al!" Ed screamed in Elvish. "What the hell did you do that for?!"
"Brother, she may be the person who will set us free. Be nice to her and get on her good side and we may be let out of this cage. She is princess, after all."
"I can't believe you'd just sell your brother out like that! So what if she's a princess? That gives her no right to just come in here and start molesting me!"
"She's not molesting you, brother. You're overreacting again. She's just studying your automail."
"She's cooing! What is she, a bird?!"
"Look, she's happy!"
"SO?!"
Ed, infuriated and slightly blushing, ripped his leg out of Winry's grip. He tried to scramble away, but Winry huffed in indignation and grabbed Edward's leg before he could move far. The elf fell again and Winry pulled Edward forward as far as she could. Ed, surprised by the movement, was easily dragged along the cage floor until his crotch unceremoniously slammed into one of the metal bars. Edward, straddling the bar, gave a small, strangled squeak and went rigid, his eyes crossed. Al winced, but Winry didn't seem to notice.
It took a while, but Edward regained his sense of movement and stumbled back again, leaning against the wall with distrustful eyes. Winry stood and briskly walked over to Roy, snatching the keys away from his belt. Roy frowned and snatched them back.
"Do you actually plan on keeping these guys here forever?" She snapped at him, making another grab for the keys.
"No, but it's my duty to make sure the Amestris is peaceful, and the villages near here aren't going to be very safe with a couple of troublemaking elves running around." Roy responded, pulling the keys away.
A rumble was heard in the distance.
Roy looked out the window in surprise. Was there going to be another thunderstorm? No, there wasn't a single cloud outside. And it couldn't be an earthquake; everything was standing still. Al and Ed's ears twitched, straining to find the source of the strange sound. Winry had frozen, the sound of squealing and shoes pounding on the floor familiar to her.
The rumbling grew louder. Roy slammed the door shut, locking it again. Then he remembered…
"Oh fuck… I didn't take the key out of the outside lock hole…"
The door swung wide open, sending Roy flying backwards again and into a bookshelf this time. Winry momentarily forgot the elves and made a dash for the open window. She managed to fly out of it just in time, hitting the ground running. The group of fashion freaks shrieked in anger, slamming the door shut again and thundering down the hallway.
Roy picked himself up with a groan, rubbing the back of his head where he'd hit it on the bookcase. He frowned as a book from the top fell out and hit the ground with a thud. Roy glared at the cover of it, picking it off the floor.
"Hey! Wait a minute!"
Roy looked up as Edward pointed to the book, a shocked and angry look on his face.
"That… where the hell did you get that book?" Ed shrieked, gesticulating wildly to the common cover. Roy frowned and turned it over in his hands, staring across the cover. The title was something in Elvish, its code complex. This was one of the books that Roy had been trying to translate, possibly even decode, but he had given up after a few months. So he shrugged and replaced the book, barely responding.
"What are you talking about? If I wanted to hear nonsense I'd have just fed you Oran berries. Now stop blabbering; you're almost confusing me."
Roy glared icily but Ed did not back down. On the contrary he seemed to flare a little, but didn't respond otherwise. The golden-eyed elf, snarling, threw himself down beside his brother, almost screeching with anger.
"Did you see that Al? Did you see that?!"
Al was quiet, his face pale. Where had the human gotten that book? What did he want with it?"
"Yes, brother, I saw it… But why would the human have it?"
"How should I know?!"
"Perhaps… there is more to this human than we know, brother."
Ed stopped at Al's tone. He turned and gave a haughty glare at Roy, who was watching them with a look of curiosity, possibly wonder.
"Why would a human need a book on Alchemy?"
"I don't know, brother. I said, there is more to this Roy than we know. Maybe we-"
Al was cut off as the door swung open again and a young boy staggered in. He was clothed in a simple but, at the same time, pretty green tunic, with a thin pair of glasses balanced precariously on his nose. He was balancing a stack of scrolls, and a winged chimera followed him. The chimera was black with a white face and stomach, and white paws as well. It looked like a mix between a dog, and an owl… or was it a swan? It had a pair of cloud-white wings sprouting from between its shoulderblades and flapped around the boy's head happily.
"Hello, Fury." Roy said, lightening the boy's load. Fury unceremoniously dropped the rest of the scrolls on Roy's desk in a messy fashion, wincing as a few dropped and became unfurled.
"Hello, Colonel. These are from Warrant Officer Farman, um… he requests that you look at them as quickly as you can." Fury stuttered, bowing quickly and retreating, the chimera in tow. Roy waited until the young scholar was out of sight and then swept the scrolls off his desk and into a small cabinet. He'd take a look at them later, he decided.
A blue-gold one suddenly caught his eye and he pulled it apart from the other pieces of white parchment. What was this? Roy quickly untied the ribbon, his eyes scanning over the message quickly, then cursed quietly and threw the colored parchment back into the drawer. He paused at the doorway, looking back at Edward and Alphonse. The brothers were staring at him in frank curiosity and he grimaced. Was he really going to trust two elves by themselves?
"I've just been called to military duty… So I guess I have to leave you two in here." He paused, searching for a better solution. "I'm not finished interrogating yet. I'll be back soon but don't try anything, or I'll know about it and make your lives a living hell." He playfully threatened, then walked out of the doorway.
Ed almost grinned. Stupid, naïve human…
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AN: I know there's not much of a plot yet, but it'll get better. I promise. Oh, and just so you know, the sidestory has almost absolutely nothing to do with the real story. It's just there because… well, it's Mustang's history. I should have updated last week… so sorry to all my reviewers. Come back! I love you! Well, anyhow, stay tuned to chapter 4. I'll update ASAP, I promise.
