Logic of a Child 2: The Eyes of Young Men
Chapter 2: Paybacks
IMBSA: Well, it seems that this story is getting very positive reviews! I'm happy! Yay::dances like a monkey. some of the fuzzies follow her example; others just hang onto her for dear life:
Disclaimer: "I wasn't sleeping; I was testing the keyboard for drool-resistance."
IMBSA: Here's the next chapter!
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Riza had returned after her lunch, fully expecting her taisa to be slacking off and in general being his usual self. The 1st Lieutenant was not prepared for what awaited her within the office. She opened the Colonel's door—and felt her jaw drop.
It wasn't every day she entered the room to be greeted by flying paper planes—airplanes that were fashioned from the stacks of paperwork placed on her and the Colonel's desks. More paper littered the floor. The actual tile and rug were barely visible with all the sheets strewn around the room. Her eyes widened in shock and her fists found their way to her skirted hips (she was wearing her dress uniform since her regular one was in the cleaners).
"Oh, no! This cannot be happening!" She felt she needed to pinch herself to be sure what she saw was reality. She put her hands to her face and quickly exited, but quietly closed the door. There were only two people she knew of that would be able to tell her what exactly had transpired. And where she found one, she would find the other.
She hurriedly walked down the corridor. Catching a glimpse of a red cloak-like jacket and a tall metallic helmeted head, Riza quickly ran to the Elric brothers, who were on their way to assist Winry to the train station.
"Major Elric!" She shouted. The young major's shoulders sunk and then he turned around, irritatedly at first, but then he snapped to a salute.
"1st Lieutenant Hawkeye!" Ed greeted, startled by her formal manner of speech.
"Come with me please. You too, Alphonse." Her manner was stately and urgent, as if ready to break some HQ shattering news. They followed her lead.
"Did Mustang want to see me? Is there some problem, ma'am?" Ed interrogated, almost having to catch his breath to keep a steady pace with the Lieutenant.
"I'm in need of an explanation," she said, still walking briskly towards the office and carrying the air of total professionalism.
"Explanation? What do I need to explain, Lieutenant?" Ed asked getting the feeling something was not right. A haunting thought occurred to him for a moment, but he dared not disclose any part of his speculation.
"Were you conducting some type of experiment earlier, Major?" Hawkeye asked, rather business-like. He imagined this is how most of the soldiers felt working under her direct supervision. Al had the sudden urge to run the other way.
"Well…I sort of—actually Al and I—," Ed found himself floundering for something to say.
"There were reports of bright, green flashes of light some people saw nearby. Have you any idea what might have caused those flashes?" Riza pressed on. Although she had a strong gut feeling about the cause, she thought she would have Ed give his explanation.
"Bright green flashes? No, I don't know anything about the bright green flashes that occurred just north of the courtyard," Ed wanted to desperately retract the words that just left his mouth. Riza's professionalism quickly jumped out the window and was nowhere to be seen. Her fingers flew up and pinched his ear, pulling him by said appendage into the Colonel's office and quietly closing the door, after Alphonse. The younger Elric brother stood idly by, saying nothing, feeling lucky he had no fleshy part to be grasped by the highly upset 1st Lt. Hawkeye.
"Could you please explain this?" she asked, almost swinging him into a desk by his ear. His yellow eyes grew wide with anxiety at the incredible sight before him.
"Oh—Is that—that Mustang?" He asked in shock. Hawkeye nodded with a sigh, arms folded in front of her. Alphonse held his metal head in apprehension.
"Yes, Big Brother…It sure looks like him," Alphonse stated woefully.
"COOL! I'm taller than him!" Ed pointed and smirked gleefully and began to laugh and cheer pumping his fist to his side. He looked at Al, who commenced facing down. Riza was not happy. Her brown eyes were heated with anger as she grabbed one his ears yet again. His comment was also punished by a blow to the head from a folder lying on a nearby filing cabinet.
"Major Edward Elric, you have got some explaining to do! I highly suggest you do it NOW!" Lt. Hawkeye lost the sweetness she reserved for the two of them. But somehow he had no time to explain.
"OOOh! Look! I wanna play!" One child cried out leading the way for two others to join him. Then they glanced at Alphonse. Their attention was solely on the armored shape that stood before them. Al's red glowing eyes didn't even seem to faze them.
Three of the four male youngsters saw the large metal figure standing by the door and became intrigued by it. They immediately jumped to Alphonse and began over-running him, climbing on his limbs like a set of monkey bars in a playground. The curious threesome began lifting up his cloth looking inside, to Alphonse's panic-stricken state. He didn't want to say anything, but he was feeling quite invaded as he stood in even more shock, not knowing what to do.
"Wow! Listen!...Hello--o! Hello--o! My name's is Roy…Rrroooyyyy!" The slim boy with dark spiky hair and even darker eyes kept calling into Al's suit, fascinated by the echo that resulted in his voice. Another boy, a blond one, quickly pulled his thumb out of his mouth to inspect the inside of the suit with him. A fourth boy, shorter and chubby in stature, sporting glasses finally joined the others in his sleepy state, looking in awe at Al. A slender ebony haired boy, also wearing glasses (though they had square-rimmed) had quickly climbed Al's back and began opening up the top of his helmet, waving at the other children below, who were experimenting with the echo. "It's empty inside guys! Let's get in!" the same boy with the echoing voice suggested. All at once every youngster in the room had scrambled their way into Al's suit, shutting the cloth like a curtain. "Let's make this our club house!" He stated.
"YEAH!" they all yelled.
Alphonse, feeling very uncomfortable having tenants in his suit, faced the Lieutenant and his brother, all three still at a loss for what to do. They couldn't help but listen to the conversation that took place echoing inside Alphonse's metal suit.
"I'll be the leader."
"No Maes! It was my idea!"
"So what Roy, you ALWAYS have to be the leader!"
"Yeah, that's right! I always have to be the leader!"
"Na-uh!"
"Ya-huh!"
"Na-uh!"
"Okay…let's vote. You, who do you want to be your leader, me or Maes?" There was no audible answer. "Get your thumb out of your mouth!... Who do you want to be your leader, me or four eyes?"
"Hey! I don't got four eyes!"
"Yes, you do! A leader can't be all blind and stuff, so I think I should be the leader!"
"He didn't say anything yet, Roy…and stop teasing me. I'm not blind!"
"Then how come you said you can't see anything without your glasses, huh?"
There was a pause.
"See? I'm the leader…"
"Okay, Roy…You can be the leader, because I'm the Fuhrer!"
"Club houses don't have Fuhrers, Maes that's just stupid!"
"So…that means I rule over ALL the clubhouses in Amestris!... Including yours!"
"It's scary in here," said a voice that had not made itself known yet.
"Don't be scared…It's fun!" A little hand opened up the cloth a bit more to permit more light inside. "Is that better? Hey, you…Get your thumb out of your mouth, is that better?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay…so since I'm the leader we have to make rules…"
"But I have to see the rules first."
"No, you don't!"
"Yes, I do 'cause I'm the Fuhrer, remember?"
"So…"
"Don't push me, Roy"
"I can push you in my clubhouse if I want!"
"Stop shoving me!"
"Go ahead Fuhrer Maes, whatchu gonna do about it, huh?"
"This!" Maes had obviously shoved the boy harder than ever before, if one noticed that Alphonse was swaying from side to side due to the force with which the boys heaved at each other. It was more than enough, however, to send Alphonse—with the children inside—crashing to the ground.
A few moments passed as the stunned boys tried to salvage their senses. A knock suddenly sounded at the door. "Shit! Edward, help the boys out." Riza muttered as she went to answer it. Opening the door to a crack, she cautiously stared out at their visitor. It was Breda. "Yes?"
Breda saluted. "I heard a crash and came to investigate, ma'am." He told her. "What're you two doing in there...ma'am?" He asked, trying to scan the room.
"Uh—er—"
"Have you seen Havoc? I need to give him some paperwork."
"Oh, um, he's um….You know, I don't know. That's a good question."
Breda raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure, ma'am?"
"Yes."
"Hm." Breda didn't look too convinced.
"Hey, who is that guy?" A voice asked from below their line of vision. They looked down and saw the mini-Roy mimicking Riza's position at the door. Breda's eyes widened significantly.
"Don't tell me that's…the Colonel?"
Riza sighed and opened the door to allow the 2nd Lieutenant in while pulling Roy back by his collar. Breda's eyes almost popped out of his face when he saw the two other boys standing almost to attention by the fallen Alphonse.
"No." Breda said. "Not again!" As far as he was concerned, two young girls had wreaked hell with the office. What were three boys going to do? He couldn't begin to imagine. "So, there's three of them this time, ma'am?" He began helping Hawkeye pick up the reports that were scattered all over the floor.
"Three?" Riza repeated puzzledly. She looked around. "There's a fourth one around here somewhere…." She was still automatically gathering what she could of the completed papers.
"Yes, ma'am. He's in my thigh!" Alphonse answered. They all looked at him. He had pulled his chest piece off and, lo and behold, stuck in his thigh, fast asleep, was Fury. Ed looked surprised. He hadn't noticed the boy, most likely because he was so quiet. Er, well, unconscious.
"Major, you were supposed to get them all out!" Riza hissed as she came over, placing some of the papers into a separate pile on her desk as she did so.
"It's not my fault he's so damn silent!" Ed answered as he braced his foot against the armor and tried to pull Fury out. There was no help for it. The boy would not budge, no matter how much Ed gently tugged on him or even pulled insistently at him. Fury would not wake up, nor did he slip free of Alphonse.
The other boys were chasing each other in an obvious continuation of their heated discussion that started in the armor. That was except for little Jean who was fine just watching the chase scene between Roy and Maes and finding solace in the company of his thumb.
"Maes is a four-eyed Fuhrer! The first four eyed Fuhrer Amestris has ever seen!" Roy taunted announcing this like a circus ring master and laughing wildly. "Four-eyed Fuhrer! Four-eyed Fuhrer!" Roy teased with Maes running closely behind him.
"You better take that back, Roy Mustang!" He jumped and tackled Roy, who was taken by quite surprise at Maes' ability to catch him so quickly. Hawkeye was beside herself as she witnessed the boys' rough and tumble melee.
"Stop it!... Maes Hughes, get off of the Col-off of Roy, this instant!" She commanded. Maes victoriously smirked at Roy whose tousled hair seemed to stand more on end than before as he sat himself up, glaring at Maes. Riza suddenly made an important realization.
Both of them were armed with very dangerous weaponry.
"Maes, come here please," the boy shyly approached her, breathing heavily from the scuffle, and stood still while she removed the silver weaponry he carried. "Sir…I mean-Roy," she could barely say his first name, she noticed. Riza motioned with her fingers beckoning him. With Roy's approach, Maes instinctively moved out of the way, running towards the large metal figure that still housed a sleeping Fury.
Roy also stood still while she removed his holster. He was looking up at her with those dark button-like eyes and said, "You're pretty. What's your name?"
"I'm Miss Riza." He mouthed her name as if to commit it to memory and nodded.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked.
"Yes, you're Roy, right?" Again he nodded and he ran off to join Maes. Riza felt herself blush slightly, before mentally berating herself. Yes, that was Colonel Roy Mustang telling me that I was pretty….But a six year old Roy Mustang, still innocent and unassuming. Definitely NOT the one she was used to reminding about completing his paperwork, nor the one with the sordid reputation with the ladies. She continued the disarming of the boys with Jean Havoc still sucking his thumb and blinking wide eyed at Alphonse as he sat on the floor.
"C'mon, get outta there!" Ed was pulling at the still slumbering Cain Fury. Cain's chubby form was caught inside Al's thigh. Ed dropped to his knees heaving in deep breaths, exhausted from all the pulling.
"Let me try something, Big Brother," Alphonse suggested and began banging his metal foot on the floor, as if to loosen up the sleeping child. Ed held his ears closed with his palms, as did the other three little boys.
The boys stared wide eyed, awestruck at the moving, speaking metal armor.
"Hey! Our clubhouse talks!" Roy shouted excitedly.
"And it moves!" Maes remarked imitating the stepping motions of Al.
"It's a robot," Jean said, thoughtfully nodding, removing his thumb momentarily to speak.
"Al, are you crazy? You're gonna give poor Fury a concussion and knock him out.…If you haven't already….Sure is hard to tell!" Ed responded still trying to determine whether or not Al's method helped. Riza hurried over after hearing the commotion,
"We don't need to be making all this noise, gentlemen…Oh-!" Riza reminded cautiously, trying to determine whether to toss away the papers on the floor or set them aside. Ed continued to try to extract Fury from Al's hollow thigh.
"Something wrong Lieutenant?" Ed asked seeing Riza stand there obviously uncomfortable with the breechcloth. "Eh-don't worry. There's literally nothing to see!"
"Big brother, that's mean," a very hurt Alphonse Elric reproached.
"Sorry, Al…I didn't intend for it to sound that way," he apologized.
"Lemme' try…" Breda approached. He placed a stack he had been gathering in the file cabinet to give Ed a hand. This time, instead of just pulling on Fury's shoulders, the Lieutenant worked each arm free individually and was able to lift Fury out of Al's thigh. Fury was slumbering peacefully with his head resting on Breda's shoulder, "Atta' boy…." Breda said aloud and walked to the couch and carefully placed Fury on it. He removed the boy's glasses and set them on the coffee table. The three boys were now sitting inside Al's chest plate pretending it was a ship, rocking it back and forth.
"Get the sails up, sailors!" Roy commanded wearing a triangular hat he had folded from one of the sheets on the floor. He was pointing at an imaginary mast.
"Aye-aye, Capt'n!" Maes saluted and pretended to be pulling on the ropes to lift the sail. Havoc had one thumb in his mouth and was working an invisible oar with the other hand.
Maes, with a paper tube held up to his glasses, also fashioned from one of the sheets, was looking through it pensively. "Land Ho, Captain Roy!" He announced, pointing at the couch where Fury rested. "Captain! The land seems to have resting natives!"
"Faster sailor…!" Roy instructed Havoc who began rowing as quickly as he could with one hand. He was rowing so fast, it looked like he could take off any minute.
The boys decided to disembark their ship on one side of the couch at the same time. The force with which they jumped on the island/couch consequently sent Fury flying up and then down towards the floor by the coffee table.
"Uh-oh!" Their captain gasped, waiting with bated breath for a huge cry of pain, as they watched the smallest of their group land on the floor.
Fury's closed eyes suddenly squashed together tightly. He began a small, yet audible wail for about five seconds. Then, strangely, it was over. Fury's eyes ceased their tightness and tears and he continued to sleep as though he had not been disturbed.
Riza, seeing that the boys were now engaged in a small crowd around Fury, decided to investigate while Ed replaced Al's chest plate and Breda continued to read and peruse though the reports, to also determine which ones could be salvaged.
"What happened?" Riza asked when she had come up to the group, shifting her attention between the boys and determining which reports to redo.
"Fury fell off the cou—" Jean's voice was quickly cut off. When Riza raised her eyes, she witnessed Roy shove Jean's thumb into his mouth. She placed the papers down and this time chose to give the boys her full attention.
"What happened, Roy?" Riza asked, walking slowly up to him and crouching before him, "Could you tell me what happened, please?" she asked. Roy scratched his neck for a second and then squeezed his chin; she could tell he was thinking of the safest way he could to explain without getting his troupe into trouble, yet not lying in the process.
"We were playing and then he hit the floor," Roy explained, his dark eyes looking furtively from side to side. Riza picked up a still sleeping Cain who was now drooling on the rug. She placed him on the couch again. The resilient child opened his eyes, smiled when he saw her, and then went back to sleep. He had no bumps or bruises from the fall.
"Maes, how did he fall from the couch?" Riza continued her line of questioning with another subject.
"Uhm….Is he gonna be okay?" Maes asked, hazel eyes staring up at her through square rims, glowing with concern.
"Yes, he'll be fine, Maes," Riza reassured him.
"Oh--good …Well, we were playing and then he fell," Maes repeated the same explanation as Roy gave her.
"How did Cain fall, Maes?" Riza repeated slowly to him.
Maes scratched his dark hair and bit his lip. His hazel eyes suddenly shifted to Roy and then back at Riza. He then raised his shoulders to his ears and let them down in a dubious shrug. A cover up. Riza thought to herself. She stood up and huffed a heavy sigh.
"Okay then…I want you boys to help pick up all the paper on the floor, you got it?"
"But we just got our ship to some land!" Roy tried to explain.
"Well, your boat has to go back to Al…That belongs to him. And these papers belong on this desk and on that one. Start now," she said rather firmly.
Slowly the six year olds began shuffling the papers up from the floor. As they did, Riza noticed that Roy was saying something under his breath, slightly rebellious look on his face.
"Excuse me, did you say something to me, young man?" Riza asked pointedly.
"No…" He replied sullenly. But she kept hearing some whispering out from Roy's direction. She watched and this time she caught him mumbling again. Her brown eyes searched his face, but this young boy seared his eyes back at her.
"What was that?" Riza asked. There was no denying it now. Roy did say something and she was sure it was nothing flattering.
"I said you're not my mom!" Roy defiantly answered, little fist balled up.
Breda decided to intervene. "You're right; she's not your mom and I'm not your dad. That means your real mommy and daddy can't hear you if you scream, can they?" Breda replied scathingly with the most menacing face he could muster.
Little Roy's eyes grew large with this realization and then he commenced picking up the papers without a word. Little Jean approached Riza with a small stack he had been gathering up. He pulled at her skirt and handed them to her.
"Thanks Jean," she said smiling and then noticed all the papers he handled had been softened in the right margin by some unidentified wetness. Ew….She thought. Maybe that's why I didn't assign them to this immediately…. She sighed, watching as Maes rolled a piece of paper up and rap Roy over the head with it (Breda was the one who scolded him this time). This has to be over soon She knew that she would go insane if it wasn't.
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IMBSA: Poor Fury. Oh well! R&R!
R.W. Grimm: Yuppers, we did. Hey, do you know how often that FMA manga site you gave me updates? I finished all the manga there and am patiently waiting for the new chapter. I know I depends on the frequency of the releases in Japan, but about how long is that?
Momo Shinobi: Er…yeah, that's it.
crazyanimefreak15: Ed's just too funny in his normal state to take away that source of humor. Besides, we pretty much know how he would act as a child because 1) he's still a youth and 2) his childhood is a big part of the series anyway. You're welcome!
Winry the Alchemist: Yes, she is, sorry. No, as you can see he doesn't try to smoke. He just has what's called an "oral fixation". (Jeez, that sounded so wrong.) The transmutation part was funny. I liked it too.
DarkHeartKeyBlade: :huggles Chibi Roy. he wrinkles his nose and tries to pull away: And he's mine, all mine! Allrighty then, ma'am. Put up the new chapter soon!
IceWitch101: It would be just Ed's luck, ya know? Did you check my profile? That's the correct e-mail address, so I don't see why I shouldn't be getting it. Oh well. I don't need a cookie, really. I like word cookies just the same.
C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only: Sounds good. Now are you going to start it or me?
ooOAnimeChildOoo: Yay! Glad you thought so!
Tsunamimbw: You know that's gonna come up somewhere. Chibi goodness always seems to revitalize me!
The Celestial Tiger: They really are, aren't they? And that's the whole part of the story.
not royai: Not to seem bitchy or anything, but this is slight royai. Hints of it abound if you look closely. If you've read the first story in the "Logic of a Child" series, you'll see the allusions that made me put this under royai. And when we say royai, we don't mean that it's blatant.
Alias Adrianna: I'm glad you like your fuzzy. :glances furtively at Roommate: Wow. :takes champagne bottle: I just like toasting using warm fuzzies, but champagne is just as good. :furtively looks around. quickly uncorks bottle and begins chugging:
Pichu172B: :twitches slightly: And here I was saying that Fury would be too much cuteness to handle. Now he's one of four chibis. What is the world coming to?
Tsunade-chan: Gitcher own! He's my plushie. :huggles Maes plushie and chibi Maes: Mwahahahaha. Well, be sure, Riza will not be alone in this endeavor.
The Feral Alchemist: You e-mailed me. So ha.
To I'm not Weird, I'm Gifted, Sangi, SoulOmenspride, xeledhwenx, Maylin-chan, Aquabubble, ……., WaitingWishing, The Stone Wolf Alchemist, Apparition7, Safferon, Camille, TheBlondeWriter, thanks for your reviews and continued readership.