The majority of the time, they were mind-numbingly boring. I went here, I looked at this, I talked to these people, then I came back, here are my expenses and I expect you to do all the paperwork. Whenever something more interesting was involved, it inevitably just ended up meaning additional forms to file by the end of the day. It wasn't that he resented his job, but it grew tiresome at times.
The only reports he didn't mind as much were Fullmetal's, if only because they were few and far in between, as well as extraordinarily amusing. The boy had no regard for protocol and simply wrote whatever he felt like, down to complaining about the lunch menu at the inn and detailing the items he appropriated from military stock. Since very little actual information was provided, that meant Fullmetal's registered job performance was dependant entirely on how whimsical Roy happened to be feeling when he wrote up the files.
So it was really no wonder that when Havoc presented him with a stack of papers first thing in the morning, before he'd even quite finished his coffee, his first instinct was to set them aside and continue looking out the window. When his subordinate did not accept this course of action and instead remained obstinate before his desk, staring at him, he merely became mildly irritated.
"I'll get to it, Havoc."
"I think you might be interested enough t' look now, sir." It was only then that Roy noticed the cigarette hanging limp from Havoc's mouth, which normally would be nothing to take a second look at, except that it was not lit and he apparently didn't intend to change that any time soon. Something had apparently disturbed the man enough that his habit was taking a back seat.
"Is something the matter, sir?" Hawkeye paused by his desk, a stack of files cradled tightly to her chest, evidently intended for his attention.
"No, I'm just reading these." Roy snatched the reports, motioning Havoc back to his desk with a curt nod. "They might take a while."
She gave him a disapproving glance, but set the folders down without a word. Roy kept one eye on her back until she sat down, noting with some interest that her hair had finally grown long enough to require two hair clips, rather than just the one large one in the middle. Maybe someday she would consider braiding it, instead of the clips? Not that Roy had any sort of preference for long hair, personally, but he certainly didn't complain that she had decided to stop keeping it so short. It was really a quite attractive hairstyle, even more when little strands fell loose and framed her face just so-
"Is there something you need, sir?"
"No, not at all." Roy hastily returned his attention to the papers he held.
At first, they seemed rather ordinary. Civil disturbance reports with no particular details, other than the problems were usually contained within one or two citizens of the area. The locations seemed rather close, but unrest tended to be localized like that. He eyed Havoc, who just nodded, encouraging him to keep reading.
The first three reports were all from small towns around the largely isolated area of Bord'wan. The few after that were about five or six miles away, and the few after that farther. While the citizens involved seemed lone individuals in the first four, the number increased bit by bit, until the last report from a suburb of East City, which detailed a small crowd. Roy skimmed through a few more times, then leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.
"Whaddya think, boss?"
"Get me a map and some thumbtacks," Roy said decisively. "I'm properly intrigued."
"Brother, this is breaking and entering."
Ed waved an irritated hand back at Al, wriggling carefully through the window. "There's no one here, it doesn't matter. Give me a push, will you?"
The push was decidedly less gentle than it could have been, and it was only good reflexes that kept Ed from landing on his head on the floor. He tossed a glare back at the expressionless armor helmet that poked through the broken glass, then dusted himself off. "Thanks, pal. You almost broke my face."
"Is there anything in there?" The hollow voice was hushed, the eerie red glow of Al's eyes the only light in the room.
"Um..." Ed squinted, peering around. "Well, there's the front door... I'll go unlock it, let both you and some light in here."
The lock was nearly impossible to move, and it took all his strength plus bracing himself on the wall to get it to click open. The handle spun once in his hand, then unlatched with a whine.
"This place hasn't been kept up very well, has it..." Al had to duck to pass through the doorframe.
"Yeah, well, we can give the owner some design tips once we find him, huh?" Ed quipped.
Once his brother had joined him inside, enough light filtered through the doorway to illuminate the room a little better. Other than the broken glass from Ed's window entrance, the place seemed untouched; teacups sat on saucers by the entrance to what looked like a kitchen, stained with use, while a few books lay in a pile before a half-full bookcase.
"That's yesterday's newspaper, Brother," Al said quietly, indicating some crumpled newsprint by an armchair. "See the picture on the front, from that article you were reading on the train?"
"Yeah." Ed picked his way gingerly across the floor, avoiding broken glass. "That means whoever lived here was still here yesterday... just like everyone else."
"Do you think it was... that man, from the alley?" Al's voice was a little unsteady.
"Well, whoever that man was, it looked like he jumped from this house," Ed reminded. "The broken window, on the fourth floor."
In the silence that followed, Ed became uncomfortably aware of the stairs, visible through an open door in the back of the room. An open door that, as he noticed with a twinge in his throat, was hanging precariously off the hinges as though it had been torn from the wall.
"...I don't like this, Brother."
"Neither do I." He sighed, then shrugged. "Well, let's go look."
The stairs creaked plentifully under his weight, and practically screamed under Al's. Halfway up the second flight, a board gave way under his feet, and he would have fallen, were it not for Al's swift arm.
"Maybe he jumped because there was less of a chance of breaking every bone in his body," Ed muttered into his brother's breastplate, only half joking. Al tittered nervously and lifted him easily, setting both his feet firmly on a higher step. Once he regained his balance, Ed continued taking the stairs two at a time, but balanced just a bit more on the railing just in case. He didn't bother stopping at the second and third floors- they could go back later if needed, and the fourth floor was really what he was curious about, anyway.
Ed paused at the last landing, waiting for Al to finish picking his way up the stairs. Once the suit of armor reached his side and gave him a steady nod, he pulled the door open, bracing himself for whatever they might find.
It was a large room, wind whistling through the broken window that had proved the owner's final descent. Tables were littered with stray pieces of paper, notes and transmutation circles were scribbled on bare sections of the wall, and there was one large one etched across the wooden floor, barely visible under what looked like scattered flour.
"Brother, that's..."
"Yeah." Ed took a few careful steps into the center of the circle, chest tightening. It was the same circle they'd seen in the Fifth Laboratory in Central. The circle the military had researched to create the Philospher's Stone, from the bodies of human prisoners. Almost exactly, except for one thing. "Al, do you see that glyph, down there?"
"It's reversed, isn't it?" Al studied it closely. "Do you think it was just a mistake...?"
"I dunno." Ed continued staring at the array, turning in a slow circle. "Check out his notes, maybe that'll tell us something."
While Al rustled through papers, Ed knelt down, examining the etched circle closely. He brushed some of the whitish powder away, irritated, then in a moment of inane curiousity, took a whiff of what still remained on his finger. He recoiled instantly, bile rising in his throat.
"Brother, maybe you should look at these, too."
"Well, I've solved half the mystery already," Ed said quietly, wiping his fingers on his coat. "I know where the villagers went."
"What do you mean?"
"See that powder on the floor, all around us?" Ed gestured, noticing for the first time that the majority of it was lying in the etched lines of the array.
"Well, yes, but-"
"It's human bone."