I have been home late the last couple of days. Sorry I didn't update faster.
Disclaimer: I don't own it. Wish I did.
As the days passed, Edward got bored. He couldn't draw transmutation circles, in case they got inspected. He couldn't dress in his normal clothes. Alphonse had lent him some and they had burned his. He was sleeping on a pallet on the floor. Alphonse's cat joined him most times.
Then, one day, Robby turned to him and asked, "Do you know what a rocket is?"
"A rocket?" Edward repeated, trying out the word. "No."
"Well, you're going to learn before the government decides you're useless. C'mere," Robby ordered.
Edward got up and crossed the room. He pulled a chair over to the drawing board and settled in.
It had been a lot easier than Robby had made it seem. Like transmutation without circles and one had to put things together by hand. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy either. He'd been given the task of errand boy until he learned the basics. Then, they said, they would let him try some of it.
Alphonse made all of the models and most of the plans. He wouldn't let either Amestran near them. He had a safe where he kept letters from the capital, guns, and ammunition. He had another devoted to plans and models. This was emptied every time the soldiers came for inspection.
Alphonse always seemed a little nervous when the inspectors came and Edward couldn't figure out why. He couldn't have been hiding anything, could he? Edward couldn't see him in that light.
Edward smiled as the cat rubbed against his ankles. He was learning German slowly. The first thing he had learned was the cat's name, which meant "My Love." He had been billed as an intern in rocket science so that the soldiers wouldn't suspect anything.
He drew a line down the page in front of him to complete the diagram he'd been working on. Then he scrawled some calculations on it and called Robby over.
"Is this right?" he asked.
Robby checked his work and nodded. "You're getting the hang of it. We can't quite send it to the Fuhrer, though. With a bit more work, maybe we can," Robby replied.
Edward smiled. Robby had a way of making him feel good, almost like Roy had, but nicer about it.
There was a knock at the door. Edward knew what that meant.
"Get the door, would you, Edvard?" Alphonse called.
Ed got up and opened the door.
"Hello?" he said.
"I see you can speak now," the tall soldier said.Edward had always been silent before.his eyes widened. This soldier gave him the creeps.
"Come in," he said, saluting.
The soldier strode in, trailing snow. He sat on the couch and looked at Alphonse expectantly.
Alphonse was on his feet in an instant, intent on getting the soldier out as fast as he could. He saluted, then turned to get the plans from the safe. He rolled them all together and shoved them in the soldier's direction.
"That's all ve have," he said.
"You should have more, vit dat boy here as vell," the soldier scolded.
"His vork is not qvite ready for the real thing. He is still learning," Alphonse said.
"Let me see," the soldier demanded.
Alphonse glared at him, as though challenging him to tell him he didn't know what he was talking about, and walked over to the drawing board. He snatched the diagram Ed had just finished up and almost threw it at the soldier. Then he made a point of showing him all of the flaws.
The soldier finally relented and left.
"I am sorry," Alphonse said to Edward. "He vould not have left ottervise. You are getting better, but dese tings must be perfect."
"I understand," Edward said.
Alphonse grabbed a chair and sat down next to Edward at the drawing board. They spent the rest of the day working out the kinks before Alphonse had to go to bed.