To Thine Own Self Be True
Chapter 20 - Ode To The Office Mouse
The next day, when Hawkeye walked from her new dorm room, she came across Mustang sitting in the hallway. Hayate looked at them strangely.
"Sir?"
Hawkeye asked as she locked her door and pocketed the key.
"Just waiting for you lieutenant. Before we go to the office and unpack, we need to go on a short mission to the library where Hughes was working at."
Hawkeye nodded her head as they began their exiting. They walked down the streets, looking at all the buildings and shops as they passed. This was a semi-new area to them and they needed to get used to it. Once at the library, Hayate's leash was tied outside and the two then walked inside. It was a dark place, not many lights and had lots of books. The walked around a bit before they heard someone.
"Hello?"
The lady called out.
"I'm Colonel Mustang, I called this morning."
"Yes, please come on...over. Just around the corner with the cookbooks at the end of the main hall with the history books next to the science books."
Hawkeye and Mustang looked at each other for a moment then followed the directions. At first they got lost in a sea of fallen fictional books, but finally found the small office. Once around the corner, they saw a small girl in military skirt uniform. She had short messy brown hair and round glasses. She looked mousy in a way. She was sitting behind a large desk that was cluttered with cover-less books. She seamed to be looking at something as Mustang approached the desk. Hawkeye stayed in the doorway of the small room, watching the place with a close eye.
"You're Sheska?"
"Oh... yes. Sorry...sir."
Sheska fumbled with the object and stood up, saluting Mustang. She seamed nervous about being caught. Mustang shrugged it off, that was, until she walked out from around the desk and something glass fell on the floor and broke. He looked at it for a moment then relised it was a picture frame. Sheska cursed quietly to herself and bent over to pick it up. Mustang's hand reached for the frame before she could get it. She blushed as he flipped it over and looked at it. It was Hughes and his family smiling on the beach. Mustang looked at it long and hard, almost like he was memorizing every detail. He removed it from the broken frame and placed the frame in the empty trash can next to the desk.
"Sorry...sir. It's just sad and I miss working with him."
Sheska saluted again. Mustang could tell she wasn't really military and she was nervous.
"It's okay... If you don't mind, I'm gonna take this and have one of my subordinates return it to his family... Hawkeye..."
Mustang turned around.
"Yes sir...?"
"See to it Mrs. Hughes receives this photo..."
"Yes sir."
Mustang began to hand the photo to Hawkeye when Sheska found her bravery.
"Sir, why don't you deliver it. Your his best friend..."
Hawkeye's eyes widened at the girls stupidity to talk to Mustang like that. She began to open her mouth to interject but Mustang beat her to it.
"It's better that I don't see them for a while. It's too painful for them to see military personnel..."
"Or is it just that you can't bring yourself to face them because your not searching for Lieutenant Colonel .. I mean Brigadier General Hughes' killer?"
Sheska was no longer shy. She was out spoken and quiet frankly... rude to the colonel. Mustang stared down at the photo. The smiling faces were like little sharp knifes stabbing him in the heart. He took a silent deep breath and carefully placed the photo in his pocket. Silence filled the area as Hawkeye went back to her post at the doorway. After about three minutes, Sheska spoke again.
"Here are the books he was reading before her... well here."
She practically threw them at Mustang. Mustang flipped through them, reading each page carefully. Back at the office, Hawkeye and Mustang had returned. Havoc and Breda and Fuery were unpacking. The room was larger in Central then in Eastern. Mustang had a large glass desk in the center of the back of the room. The whole back wall was a large window. There were two large bookshelves full of military books. For the subordinates, they all had a desk the size of Mustang's old one. Breda, Havoc and Fuery had wooden desks that were to the left of the room Their were desks facing the middle of the room. Hawkeye had a metal desk, and she was located on the right side of the room, facing the other subordinates desks. Against the window between Hawkeye and Mustang's desk was a large soft sofa. Hawkeye figured that would serve as Mustang's 'permanent' desk. As they found their unmarked boxes and walked to their desks, Juliet Douglas walked in with a small smile.
"Colonel, the Fuhrer would like to speak with you."
Her calm voice and personality made Hawkeye want to puke. After Mustang left, the subordinates began unpacking again. Havoc was working on Mustang's desk. He pulled out paperwork and placed them in neat stacks on the desk edge. He then began to work with the drawer contents. After filling the top two drawers with scrap paper and two alchemy books, he came across an unopened bottle of scotch, a framed photo of the colonel and Hughes, and a used romance novel. He lifted the three objects and held them up for all to see.
"I think I've just learned more about my Colonel just by unpacking his desk then I EVER wanted to know in all these years of working under him."
Breda and Fuery laughed. After finishing with his desk, Havoc tossed the box away.
"Excuse me, I have mail here for the Colonel Roy Mustang."
A small nerd girl in the doorway held up a stack of mail for mustang. Hawkeye approached her and attempted to retrieve the mail. In Eastern, Hawkeye got the mail. It was never delivered to the office.
"I'll take it for him."
"I needs to be delivered to him, directly."
The girl's voice was sounded like her nose was plugged up. It had almost a squeak to it. Her two front teeth were way to big and she had a major case of freckles. Her long black hair didn't help much either since it was a mess. Coke bottle glasses enlarged her green eyes and she kept pushing them up for they kept falling down. Hawkeye just stared at this person like she was an alien. The fact she kept sniffling didn't help matters either.
" Excuse me... Ms..."
Hawkeye looked at the name tag on the girl's military skirt uniform.
"Ms... Nelson... But I'm his First Lieutenant, I handle his mail."
The girl sniffed and fixed her glasses. Hawkeye remained cool even though the men behind her were freaking out. Hayate barked from his spot on the sofa and Nelson jumped almost into Hawkeye's arms. Nelson made a funny face as she thought about it, but in the end, handed the mail to Hawkeye and left. Hawkeye handled the mail like it was poisons, by holding the corners of the two envelops and one memo.
"Does she bite?"
Havoc asked after the girl left.
"With those teeth, I bet she does."
Breda said crawling out from under his desk.
"Oh, cram it!"
Hawkeye said as she placed the mail on Mustang's desk between the frame and the book.
"Havoc, put this 'in' his desk!"
Hawkeye picked up the bottle and handed it to Havoc who smiled and placed it in the drawer.
"What, I thought we could have a welcoming party today."
He lit up his cigarette and moved over to his desk where he began to unpack. As Hawkeye placed down the mail, she noticed the memo. She read it quickly, then picked it up.
"Hawkeye?"
Fuery asked and Hawkeye read the memo again.
"That's the colonels. Only he can touch the 'golden mail of wonder'."
Havoc said, imitating Nelson with a smile. Hawkeye shot him a glance.
"This memo says that the Fuhrer has already replaced Hughes..."
"With who?"
The men surrounded Hawkeye and read over her shoulders.
"With Lieutenant Frank... Archer!...?"
A/N - Hello... Is anyone out there... (hears an echo as milk-like tears fall down her cheeks) I feel so abandoned and alone... I'm creative... and a little off on the plot... but it's not so bad you have to ignore me... where are all my fans?... I'm lonely... (turns to see Meromi. Looks in the mirror behind the pink dog and sees the shadow of Little Slugger)... SHIT...
Please review. No FLAMES (Thats Roy's job only). Please look in my profile oo0AnimeChild0oo for all my other stories. And again, thanks for reading.
"Write a wise saying and your name will live forever"
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