"Lalaurana has assigned you the rooms 582 and 583." Edward explained. Envy and Cynthia were behind the group, carrying luggage.
Edward opened the door. "I'm sorry if it's cramped. These rooms are intended for two or three people only. Well, I guess you could divide you evenly. Hm… Cynthia, you're good with math. Set them up do they don't kill each other."
"Right."
"Now, um, I have to do something." Edward left the room. "See you later."
Once Edward disappeared down the hall, Cynthia pointed. "Alright. Serena, Rini, and Mina in 582, Raye, Amy and Lita in the other. There is a bunk bed and a single bed, so I suggest Raye and Mina get the single beds. Rini and Amy on the top bunk, Serena and Lita on the bottom. Okay?"
"Why do I have to sleep on the bottom?" Serena complained.
"Because if something happens, you don't want to crush Rini, do you? I'm assuming you're heavier than she is."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"No, I…"
"YOU WERE!"
"No, I wasn't. Listen, just go and unpack your stuff." She shot Envy an angry glare. "I need to speak to Envy alone."
"Ooh, alone?" Envy hopped with excitement. "As in… Privately?"
"Shut up and come on."
Cynthia and Envy left. The girls filed into their rooms. Raye put her bow and arrows next to the door. "It was smart of her to separate Mina and I…" She muttered. "We would have killed each other."
"I was wondering…" Lita looked out a window. "What will happen to Crossroads while we're gone? What if a new enemy appears?"
"If a new enemy appears, it will be here." Amy replied, hooking up her laptop to charge. "All of our star power is here, unless they go after Setsuna, Haruka or Michiru first. And knowing them, they'll take care of it as quick as they can."
"True, true."
Cynthia and Envy walked side by side back down the hall.
"Envy, listen." She began. "I like you… A lot… But it's your personality that I hate. You blackmail Ed like he is unintelligent, inferior…"
"But he IS unintelligent and inferior!"
"NO he's NOT!" She shouted. Some heads looked out doors, but soon receded. Envy jumped.
"Edward is nice, and smart, and just because you know something doesn't mean you can control him! If you actually took the god damn time to get to know him you might like him."
"I see. So you like that two-limbed freak."
"DON'T CALL HIM THAT!"
"It's… Nice of you to try to change my mind about things." Envy looked at the ceiling, a rather insane grin on his face. "But I regret to inform you that Edward is my slave. Whatever I ask, he has to do, or I'll tell the world his two-limbed secret. It all revolves around blackmail, which is my method, my strategy, you might call it. No matter what you try to do, no matter how well thought out or half-assed it is, I hold all the cards."
This is where they stopped outside of Cynthia's room. Envy brushed a strand of palm-tree hair out of his face, lifting his dark eyes to Cynthia. Her emerald eyes dripped bitter tears, unable to hold them inside.
No matter how flexible Envy was, the punch from Cynthia's right hand started to ache before her knuckles even missed his cheekbone. He leaned back as the violent hand swung a fraction from his face. "No need to turn to violence, Cynthia!" he said nervously, knowing that if he was slower or less flexible, Cynthia would brutally kill him.
The punch had been out of pure hatred. Envy was… "You are…" Cynthia began, closing her eyes, pushing out even more tears. "The cruelest, foul person I have ever met! I have known many a mean person in my life, but your evil outranks them by more than a little." Her eyes snapped open. "I want you to just curl up and burn in the fiery depths of Hell."
"Such a compliment from such a lovely woman." Envy smirked. "You're very strong willed and courageous, yet gentle and sweet at the same time. Such a… Strange, you might say, mix of personalities, that would be terrible in someone else. However, you pull it off quite well. And that, my lovely Cynthia, is why I want you."
Cynthia's knuckles cracked. Before Envy knew it, she had darted into her room and slammed the door in his face.
"Such ferocity."
Birds twittered in the morning light, waking Cynthia up. She had toppled onto her bed without so much as showering, falling asleep instantly, dreaming of Envy. Such cruelty, yet…
No. What the Hell was she thinking?
"Wake UP!"
Edward looked over his bunk down at her. "Hello, it's like 6:30, we have to be in class by 7:00, remember?"
"Where were you last night?"
"You'll find out in hand to hand." He winked. "It has to do with the military. It all depends on if you like military men."
"Oh, comfort and joy."
"Class, we have some special guests."
Genma looked at all the familiar faces of his students. He didn't see Cynthia…
"The military personnel of a country called Amestris have come to visit. Colonel Roy Mustang, and Lieutenants Riza Hawkeye and Jean Havoc."
They came out, and there was applause.
"We're just here for a quick visit." Roy began. "You know, to show you what the military life is like. We all have certain abilities. I use something called 'alchemy' to fight, Hawkeye is just amazing with a gun, and… Havoc hasn't died of lung cancer yet."
"I hold that as a good thing, thank you." Havoc muttered.
"So who knows what alchemy is?"
Edward's hand shot up.
"You."
"Alchemy is the science of changing one substance to another. Alchemy has three steps to perform a transmutation. The first step is understanding in which a person understands the molecular composition of an object. The second step is decomposition in which all bonds in the substance are broken through the use of alchemic energy and the final step is reconstruction in which those atoms are reconstructed into something new. Very good alchemists can also change the atom's element into something different, too." He relayed from memory.
Roy pointed at him and looked at Riza. "Amazing."
"Erk…"
Roy turned his head to the door. There stood Cynthia, tired, and late. Her halberd was firmly laid across her shoulders. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mr. Saotome…"
"Be careful, Cynthia." Genma warned. "We have guests. I don't want you swinging that thing around like you did in swordplay."
"Yes, Mr. Saotome." She made a quick bow. "I'm sorry, Mr. Saotome."
"Cynthia, see me after class. Tardiness is not accepted in Lalaurana's school for indiscriminate grappling. Two days detention."
"Mr. Saotome, Mr. Saotome…" Roy began casually. "Don't be too hard on the girl. "It's obvious she is new and needs to learn her way around is all."
Cynthia blushed. Damn, he was hot. And she came too late to learn his name! "Yes, sir…" She bowed and looked at the floor. "I just arrived at Lalaurana's two days ago. I have a bad sense of direction."
Not nearly as bad as Ryouga Hibiki's, Genma thought, chuckling silently.
"Nonsense! You made your way here, didn't you!"
Hawkeye looked at her colonel. He was so… Cheerful. She looked at Cynthia and discovered the answer. Colonel, don't. She's too young to hit on. Riza thought, sighing.
"I guess so…"
"Then you're learning just fine!"
Cynthia bit her lip. "No, sir, I am not."
"Excuse me? Talking back to a military officer?"
Something in Cynthia's head throbbed. "My sense of direction is bad. My battles go nowhere. I cannot control my anger. I have no specific tactic. Edward can kick my ass whenever we spar in hand to hand. I have no patience. I have no sensitivity, and I have no regret. The most sensitive thing I've ever done is take care of a pig, which I soon later had to release. There are many secrets in my family in which I do not understand, and…" She looked at Lalaurana, who was in a corner. Lalaurana nodded, telling her that it was okay to say it… The main secret of the Suhn family, the one Cynthia understood…
"OK, enough."
Everyone turned. Edward had stood up and made his way through the crowd towards Cynthia. It was then Cynthia realized she was crying. Her closed her eyes, letting her tears fall down her cheeks. Edward took her halberd in his right hand, but she wouldn't let go.
"You shouldn't have gotten into it." He said, as he pried one of her fingers from the hilt. "It was uncalled for. You can't control your emotions." The second finger was pried away. "Cynthia Suhn, you are amazing. You should never put yourself down like that." The third one lifted. Cynthia's grip was loosening. Edward took the hilt in his right hand and pulled. It came away with ease, where Edward set it against a wall. Cynthia fell to her knees, sitting back on her feet. She looked up at Ed, who slipped his arms around her and picked her up.
"Mr. Saotome? Can I take Cynthia back to her room?" He asked. His own eyes had begun to tear.
"Yes."
"Thank you." He bowed to Roy, Hawkeye and Havoc. "I'm sorry. My f… Cynthia has been a little… Emotional, lately. Please excuse us."
"It's no problem. Bring her back later, please." Roy waved them away. He looked at his subordinate with a strange eye. "Hawkeye? Are you crying?"
"No, sir! That's absolutely absurd! Please, get on with the demonstration."
Edward stood next to Cynthia's bed, head bent, as if mourning a dead person. Cynthia hugged her pillow, facing the opposite wall, curled up into a tight ball. Her head throbbed painfully, remember a reoccurring dream.
Everything was white. She was in some strange white place. Two giant, golden doors stood before her, opening, as if welcoming her in. However, the golden doors were floating, high in the air. However, she could see light coming from the other side. She would always be on the ground, reaching for it, anxiously trying to grasp it in her hands. She always woke up crying from reasons unknown.
"Edward…"
Her voice startled him. It was small, scared… Barely a whisper.
"What?" He lifted his face. She rolled over.
"Ed… Why do you care so much?"
Edward was taken aback by the question. "What do you mean?"
"You care so much about my happiness. You told me about Envy. You brought me back to my room numerous times. You got me excused from hand to hand due to depression." She closed her eyes briefly. "Why?"
"Because I care about you. You're my friend, and I care about my friends. When you're sad, I am sad."
"That wasn't the question. I asked exactly why you care."
"…Because…" He looked away. "Deep down, I just… I just feel like I need to care for you, you know. Help you out, protect you when you should be the one protecting me."
There was an explosion from downstairs. There were screams, followed by a loud, "CRAP! DID I OVERDO IT?"
Cynthia was filled with a new passion. Something had obviously happened, something bad. She leapt up and ran back to HTH with Edward, not bothering to look for her halberd, because they had left it there.
The hand to hand training hall was no more.
It was completely blackened by fire. Several lay injured, and the other students were backed against a wall. In the one place that was untouched by fire, Roy argued with his subordinates.
"I didn't mean to!"
"SIR, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS WILL COST?"
"Really, Roy! This'll cost more than the Fuhrer's fortune!"
"I'm sorry! I so overdid it, I admit it! The air is different here, there's more chemicals!"
Cynthia picked up her halberd. "Don't give me that crap."
Roy turned to look at her, and suddenly became as chipper as he was before. "Cynthia! You look much better. I'm amazed that one could recover…" He stopped when he found the blade lingering at his throat.
"You… Bastard!" Cynthia raged. "You've just completely destroyed MY hand to hand combat hall! This will cost thousands of dollars to repair! What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I'm, uh, sorry?" Roy replied.
"SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT, BUSTER!"
Cynthia felt the halberd being torn from her grasp. Envy tossed it against a wall. "Cynthia, my lovely Cynthia, there is no need to shout. The military can call in an alchemist to fix the hand to hand combat hall, okay?"
"What are you doing?" Edward hissed.
"I'm keeping her busy!" Envy hissed back. "Talk to them, try to find out what they plan to do about it!"
"Well, um, palm-tree head is right." Roy shrugged. "We can just call in an alchemist to fix it all up. It'll be good as new, so there's no worries, OK?"
"Yeah, um, how long until they fix it?" Edward asked. He cast his gaze to the side, watching Cynthia grapple with Envy to get her halberd back.
"Well, only a matter of h…" Roy looked to the side. "NO! DAMMIT!"
Their small helicopter was still burning. "And thus, we can't go home."
"You and your subordinates can stay here. We have tons of rooms open, and they won't be filled until later in the year." Edward bowed slightly. "We will do anything we can to make your stay comfortable."
"Talk about hospitality," Havoc muttered.
The sailor scouts arrived soon later. "What happened?" Mars asked, stringing her Mars bow.
"I, um, sort of blew up the combat hall." Roy admitted.
"And exactly how do you plan to pay for these damages?" Amy asked.
"If you came earlier, you would have known we're going to call in a alchemist to fix it all." Roy explained for the second time. "So, do you have a phone?"
"I'LL TAKE YOU TO THE OFFICE!" Cynthia ran away from Envy to Roy. So maybe he did blow up the combat hall. He was damn hot. "Sensei Lalaurana has tons of phones and other junk there. Computers, phones, everything."
"How do you know? You've only been here for two days!" Lalaurana exclaimed from the corner.
"I was just in your office last night, remember?"
"Of course."
"I would be honored to have such a lovely woman escort me." Roy smirked. Cynthia blushed and giggled. Roy shot Hawkeye a 'she's not too young to hit on is she?' glance.
Cynthia took his arm and led him out. "So how is military life?" She asked. "It must be so hard, to do all the paperwork and put up with your subordinates!"
I bet she wouldn't do that if I were in the military. Envy and Edward thought.