"HIIIIYA!" Sora shouted, slicing a monster in two.
"Vak Don!" Came Al's voice as a monster fell, being burnt to a virtual crisp.
"Take that!" rang Inu's voice as a monster got a face full of her mace.
"Ha!" Amaranthus laughed as a monster disintegrated from her alchemy-inducing fingers.
"Gah!" Ed fell backwards, a large monster standing above him menacingly. He tried to clap his hands together and transmute something - anything - from the ground. The monster crushed the stub of a rod that was making its way up and Ed groaned. Amaranthus noticed this and jumped in front of the boy, producing a shield from the alchemy circle on her cheek. She then defeated the monster with one swift motion of her hand followed by alchemical light.
"You okay kid?" She asked, turning to Ed. The boy got up and looked her in the eyes (the height difference made it difficult, however).
"Yeah. Thanks." Ed rubbed his head and smiled at her.
"Someone's been busy while I was gone." Came a familiar voice behind the group. The five made an about face to see Winry, Hikari hiding behind her.
"Eh heh. H-hi Winry." Ed chuckled nervously.
"Don't 'h-hi Winry' me! What were you doing to these poor girls Ed?" Winry said, sword held over the alchemist threateningly.
"Winry! They're just our friends! Honest!" Al pleaded, trying to prevent Winry from whacking his brother.
"Friends, huh?" Winry said disbelievingly. "And stay here you!" She called back to Hikari, who was trying to sneak away. The girl obeyed.
"Yeah, my friends." Inu said, crossing her arms.
"Hiya! Pleased to meet you, the name's Sora." The heavyblade greeted Winry. Winry smiled and said "hi."
"Sora!" Inu seemed shocked.
"Hello! Who are you?" Sora asked Hikari, ignoring Inu.
"Hikari. My name's Hikari." The girl said quietly. Sora spotted the girl's daggers.
"Ah, so you're a twinblade." She pointed out. Hikari nodded.
Not much of a conversation person. Sora thought, sweatdropping.
"Hey! Are you all just going to stand there while I get killed over here?" Called Amaranthus. The others turned to see her surrounded by monsters; not that it was any problem. She put up an alchemical shield to block the monsters in front of her while destroying the monsters behind her with one swift movement of her hand and a burst of alchemical light. She then took down her shield and killed the other monsters in front of her. Winry, Sora, Hikari, Inu, Ed, and Al all stared at her in awe.
"What do you mean get killed? You're the best out of all of us Amaranthus!" Inu told her.
"Yeah, but that's just because I actually fight the monsters instead of getting caught up in conversations." She said monotonously. "Idiots." she added under her breath.
"Come on Al, Ed." Winry whispered, grabbing the boys' wrists and heading away from the other girls. Hikari followed right behind.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Inu asked, chasing after the four.
"Hey! Wait up!" Sora called, running after them.
"Ugh, I thought I was going kick just a little more monster ass." Amaranthus sighed before following everyone else.
MEANWHILE!
"So do you think we'll find anything on that fullmetal kid anytime soon?" Dianva asked her new partner.
"I dunno. Mustang didn't tell us much. But then again, I doubt he knew anything about the boy himself. I suppose it would help to know how long he's been playing The World. You know, to see how much time has passed to let word spread around?" Kiyuu answered.
"Ah." Dianva responded. They walked along in awkward silence for awhile. "So, um, how long have you been working for CCCorp Kiyuu?" She asked, trying to break the silence.
"Too long." the red head laughed.
"And how long might that be?"
"Long enough to have gone on enough pointless missions to last me a lifetime. Also long enough to know who's dating who."
"Really now?" Dianva's head snapped to look in the direction of her partner. "There wouldn't happen to be anything going on between Mr. Mustang and Miss Hawkeye, would there? Because that was the impression I got when-"
"Yeah, there is." Kiyuu chuckled, cutting the younger girl off. "You see, they don't want anyone to know, but the truth is, they're really crazy over each other. Breda, on the other hand, is a loser who couldn't snag a woman if his life depended on it, so he keeps porn under his desk. I caught him looking at it once, he thought he had successfully hidden it from me, but I saw it. You know, I think Farman sometimes sneaks peeks at it too occasionally..."
By now, Dianva had stopped listening. Relationships were interesting. Perverted men looking at porn wasn't.
"- but the really interesting couple around here is Jean Havoc and Cain Fury." Kiyuu went on. Dianva snapped to attention again. "Surely you've seen them around. Havoc's the guy who's always smoking. His cigarettes have screwed up more than a few head-mounted displays. He's got blonde hair with this ridiculous-looking fringe in front. You've seen him, haven't you?"
"Um..." Dianva tried to remember the people she'd seen when she had visited CCCorp and the people she had been formally introduced to just this morning (it was her first day, after all). She did seem to remember a blonde man who was smoking. He had seemed nice enough when he said hello to her that morning. "Yeah, I think I know who he is."
"Heh. And Fury's the short guy with black hair and glasses. You've probably seen him smuggling some kind of new pet into the office." Kiyuu laughed.
"Uh..." Once again, Dianva wracked her brains to remember. She remembered a man with black hair and glasses, but he was rather tall and made her look at all the pictures he had of his daughter. But she remembered another man with black hair and glasses. He seemed rather nervous when Hawkeye had tried to introduce them, and Dianva could've sworn she had seen something wiggling in his coat. "Yeah, I have."
"Thought so. Well, you see, the funny thing is, it's painfully obvious how they feel about each other when they're together. Fury squirms so much you'd think he was a worm, and Havoc can't take his eyes off the boy. It's like everyone knows but them." And Kiyuu was off again. Only this time Dianva was actually interested because it wasn't about porn. After awhile, Kiyuu walked straight into someone.
"Ow!" that someone called.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Kiyuu shouted at the person who turned out to be a boy. He had golden hair pulled into a braid and golden eyes to match. There was a red stripe over the bridge of his nose. He wore a red coat over a long sleeved black shirt and black pants that tucked into black boots. On his hands he wore white gloves.
"You should watch where you're going!" The boy shouted back. Kiyuu noticed the six other people behind him.
"As a member of CCCorp, I demand that you tell me your member address!" She shouted.
"Fullmetal!" the boy shouted back. Kiyuu's and Dianva's eyes widened at the name.
"Well, I guess I can't really do anything now. Come Dianva." Kiyuu said, pushing her way past the boy. Dianva obeyed and followed. "We'll be seeing you, fullmetal." Kiyuu added, making her way through the other members of his party.
"Well, we know who we're looking for now." Dianva said once they were out of earshot of the group.
"Yep." Kiyuu agreed. And for a split second, Dianva could've sworn that her partner's face had become 100 evil.
MEANWHILE!
Havoc and Fury both sneezed at the same time. They were inside a cafe at Mac Anu currently, after an unsuccessful attempt at gathering information on fullmetal.
"Whose bright idea was it to allow users to sneeze in the world?" Havoc asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I-I don't know." Fury stuttered, not looking at the other man. Instead, he focused on his baby grunty which was asleep on the table. It was an adorable creature, really, and he didn't see how Havoc couldn't realize that.
"Fury." Havoc said suddenly, jarring the younger man out of his thoughts.
"U-um, yes sir?" Fury answered nervously.
"Okay, first of all, take that grunty off the table now." Havoc ordered.
"But sir-" Fury started.
"I didn't say get rid of it, I said get it off the table. I don't want it to wake up and spill anything." Fury obeyed. "Second, you don't need to call me sir right now. We're off duty." Havoc continued, smiling at the man.
"Ah, y-yes si- I mean Havoc." Fury stuttered, blushing.
"That's better." Havoc laughed. Fury dared to sneak a peek at him. The man was gorgeous, he really was. But if only he returned the love that Fury felt for him. No man that handsome could ever like another man, especially not a man like Fury, who couldn't even get a woman.
It was then, when Havoc saw Fury looking at him and the younger man darted his eyes back to the grunty, that he decided love hurts. Badly.
Christ ona cracker! I actually updated? Actually, I'm typing this particular story on my mother's old (Windows 95) laptop. So when I finish a chapter, I have to load it onto a floppy disk and transfer it to my real computer. It takes time.
You know what's creepy? When I was typing the whole "Fury moping about unrequited love" part, Toxic by Britney Spears started playing on the radio. Freaky, I know.
Kiyuu was not being a gossip, by the way. I was just using her to clear up all my pairings.