Hi again! You know when I said that this story "may be AU-ish at times"? Well, that's because I don't plan on following the story line for the show. For example, everyone in East City is now stationed in Central even though Ed is still 15. Certain characters will not die and Scar is going to play a very small if not non-existent role. Just telling you... NOW ON WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER! Oh and expect frequent changes between Roy, Mustang, and colonel.

Disclaimer: Why would someone think that a person on ffn actually owns an anime? I mean seriously! e.e

Hazel and the Elrics walked through the hall, Hazel starting to get whiplash from trying to look at everything at once.

"This place is so big and grand. I feel like a peasant." She said quietly.

"Just wait until you meet the people here. It won't seem as magnificent." Ed told her, thinking of the colonel. Hazel smiled at him. However, that smiled quickly disappeared behind her hand when she covered her nose and started coughing.

"Hey Edward. Who's your new friend?" Came a voice. The three turned around to see Jean Havoc, smoking as usual.

"Oh, hi there second lieutenant." Ed greeted.

"Edward, I didn't know you had a girlfriend." He teased. Ed blushed.

"She's not my girlfriend, we just met yesterday!" He defended, although quite loudly so that he had caught the attention of several other people who either peeked into the hallway or simply turned there attention to the boy. Immediately, whispers filled the area.

"Fullmetal has a girlfriend?"

"Is that her?"

"She's a cute one."

Edward grabbed Hazel's arm and marched in the direction of the colonel's office. He hadn't gone very far when a voice stopped him.

"Oh Edwaaarrrrd! Is it true that you have a girlfriend?" it shouted.

"Oh no." Ed said quietly.

"What?" Hazel asked.

"Run. Just run!" Ed shouted, pushing her ahead of him. It was too late though. Maes Hughes came running up toward them, photo album in hand.

"Edward, is this your girlfriend? She's cute. But what about that Rockbell girl? Oh never mind. What's your name?" He asked, grabbing Hazel's arm and forcing her to face him.

"U-um, Hazel Johnston, sir." She considered shaking his hand, but both seemed full with the rather large photo album, overflowing with pictures of what looked like an adorable little girl.

"Ah, Hazel. What a pretty name. As pretty as Elicia, that's my daughter's name, you know. Here's a picture of her, isn't she just the cutest thing in whole wide world?" He said, shoving a picture in her face. It was the cute little girl, wearing an overly large shirt, a large sunhat that covered her eyes, and black boots that covered almost all of legs. "Yes, she wanted to be just like her mommy and daddy so she put on her mother's shirt and hat and my boots! Isn't that just the most adorable thing in the whole wide world?"

"Ehm, excuse me, lieutenant colonel? We have to go see the colonel, so if you'll excuse us..." Edward piped up, grabbing Hazel and running off before Hughes could continue on. Maes looked at Al, but the suit of armor ran off quickly. The man looked disappointed for a moment but then turned to face Havoc who had been laughing silently behind them the whole time. Hughes got an insane grin on his face and started chasing Havoc, trailing pictures of Elicia all the way.

"Thank goodness we managed to get away." Al said, closing the door to the colonel's office behind him.

"Did Hughes spot you?" Mustang laughed from behind his desk. Hazel felt Edward's hand twitch at his voice.

"Yes, he did." Alphonse answered. Roy chuckled and Hazel felt Ed's hand twitch again.

"Yeah, everyone's been avoiding him since he was spotted coming in holding his whole damn photo album." The colonel laughed. "But on to more important matters. Edward, I think you know why you and your brother are here?" Edward's hand twitched again before he answered.

"Yeah. We took too long." He answered in a monotonous voice. Roy smirked.

"Yes you did. And because of that we had to send someone else out to do your job for you." Roy stated.

"But please sir, you have to understand, we got off on the wrong stop and-" Al started.

"Yes, yes, I know Alphonse. Your brother has told me that already. But I see you picked something up on your little detour." Roy looked at Hazel. She blushed at his handsomeness.

He looked her up and down, pausing for half a second on the hem line of her mid-thigh-length skirt and bandages on her face.

"I approve fullmetal." He announced finally. Ed looked confused.

"Approve of what?" he asked, sounding suspicious.

"Of your new girlfriend! Good to see that you're finally starting to notice girls. She's cute. A bit rough around the edges, though, but I guess that would only work out better with your short temper and all." Roy said, a large grin splitting his face in two. Edward was about to explode but before he could, Hazel stepped in front of him.

"I beg your pardon?" She asked, placing a hand over her chest. "Did you just call me 'rough around the edges'?"

"Why yes, yes I did." Roy answered, resting his chin on his hands.

"And what about me would lead you to that conclusion?" She asked, her arm falling to her side as she glared at the man.

"All of those bandages on your face. You must've gotten into a fight to get that many injuries." He pointed out. Hazel touched one of the bandages and remembered how her father had beaten her last night. He had nearly shot her as well, but Ed had protected her.

"Yeah, you could say that…" She said quietly.

"What's your name anyway?" Roy spoke up after a moment's silence. Hazel looked at him somewhat startled.

"Oh! Hazel Johnston, sir!" She said, saluting the colonel. Roy chuckled. But then a thought crossed his mind.

"Johnston, you say?" He asked. He knew that name. Hazel nodded. "Any relation to Michael Johnston?"

"My... stepfather..." She answered reluctantly. Mustang's eyes flashed with interest.

"I thought so. Your name sounded familiar. Come to think of it, I think I met you once." He said. Hazel gave him a confused look. She had seen so many military people visit her stepfather as she was growing up, she had lost track of them all. Well, Mustang did look vaguely familiar, now that she thought about it...

"Really?" Hazel asked to be polite.

"Ah, yes, I remember now. You were very shy, as I recall. But then after a few minutes, you warmed up to me. I remember, you didn't want me to leave." The colonel said cheerfully. Hazel wracked her brains until she came across the memory. She did remember him, now that she thought about it. It was a few years ago, but he was very nice. And she hadn't wanted him to leave because she didn't want to be alone with her stepfather again. He had punished her severely that night for sticking around longer than he considered necessary.

"Yo, colonel, are you going to give us a mission or not?" Edward spoke up suddenly, turning attention to him. Roy's head snapped to look at the young man.

"Ah yes, Edward. You're so small I couldn't even notice you from behind my desk." He said cheerfully.

"WHAT? WHO'REYOUCALLINGSOTINYTHATHECOULDHITCHARIDEONALADYBUG?" Edward screamed. Roy just chuckled as Al sighed and Hazel rolled her eyes.

"But about your mission." Roy said, still smirking. Edward glared at him. "I need to talk to you two in private." He said, indicating the brothers. "If you would step outside for a moment please Hazel."

The girl blinked.

"Uh, sure." She answered and let herself out. She had just barely closed the door when she pressed her ear to it.

"And no listening through the door either!" Mustang called cheerily, causing Hazel to step a few feet back instantly.

"You can't keep her you know." Roy's face and voice had suddenly become deadly serious.

"What do you mean?" Al asked.

"Hazel can't come with you. She's a civilian and an important one at that. Do you know who her stepfather is?" Roy said. Ed and Al both looked at the ground.

"A sadistic bastard who has a strong appetite for blood." Edward muttered.

"Oh?" Roy asked, suddenly intrigued. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"He had it in for his own daughter!" Ed burst out. Roy looked taken aback.

"It's true! He even hired a hit man to kill her!" Alphonse said. Roy blinked.

"I see. I shall take care of them immediately." He stated.

"But it's only Michael. Mr. Miller, the hit man, he couldn't bring himself to do it, so there's no reason to punish him." Al pleaded.

"Alright then. But that still doesn't mean that Hazel is allowed to stay with you." The colonel said.

"Why not?" Ed asked, looking into Mustang's stern eyes.

"Because like I said, she's a civilian. It would be illegal for her to accompany you on missions, first of all-"

"Well then what about Al? He's allowed to go with me wherever I go." Ed defended.

"Alphonse is your brother and I know I can trust him. He nearly became a state alchemist as well, need I remind you." Mustang pointed out. The Elrics had nothing to say. "Not to mention Hazel's stepfather is a well-known man. While he's not a state alchemist himself, he has – or had as the case may be – friends that are in the higher up ranks. He's an important and wealthy man that others may try to take advantage of by harming his stepdaughter."

"But she has nowhere else to go." Al pointed out. Roy thought about it for a moment.

"Please colonel." Ed asked quietly, looking sternly in the man's eyes. Roy looked back before a smirk appeared on his face. He let out a small chuckle. And another. His shoulders started shaking and for a moment, it looked like he was crying. Suddenly the man burst out laughing hysterically. The brothers sweatdropped.

"Man, you boys just won't give up, will you? Fine, fine. Do whatever you want, we'll arrest Michael and you can take care of Hazel. You know what? Me and a few of the guys and Hawkeye are going out tonight. You two should come and bring Hazel. It'll be fun!"

The brothers were too shocked at the colonel's odd behavior to decline.

MEANWHILE!

Hazel sat in front of the door, her chin resting in her hands. She could hear muffled voices through the door and wished she could hear what they were saying. Surely it had to do with the military, but what? She wanted to know.

In the middle of this sulking, however, some one tripped over her and fell, causing papers to go flying everywhere and a pair of glasses to land on Hazel's face. She blinked a few times.

"I CAN'T SEE!" two voices shouted in unison. One was Hazel's the other was male.

"Who's there?" asked Hazel frantically. She was answered by the man's face bumping into hers.

"Ah, there are my glasses." He said and took them off of Hazel. He put them on and blinked a few times to adjust his eyes. When he saw that there was a young girl staring at him like he was about to attack her and consume her innards, he stood up and bowed.

"I'm so sorry." He apologized, blushing with embarrassment "I didn't see you there." He reached out a hand to help her up.

"Ah, it's okay." Hazel said, taking his hand. Once she was on her feet she took a good look at him. He looked similar to Hughes, but was smaller and lacked a hair antenna. Not to mention he was way cuter.

"Um, my name is sergeant major Cain Fury." The man said. It was then that Hazel realized the man was dressed in army garb.

"Ah! M-my name is Hazel Johnston. And it's a pleasure to have you trip over me." She said, bowing, but mentally smacked herself when she realized how utterly wrong the last sentence sounded.

"Um... well..." Whatever he was going to say was cut off by a woman's voice yelling something about "where that paperwork she had sent Fury to fetch was". "Oh, there's Hawkeye. Well, it was nice meeting you Hazel." He said before gathering the fallen papers and running off. Hazel sighed and watched him run off frantically with a warm smile in her face.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a more than slightly pissed off Edward burst through the colonel's door, mumbling under his breath. Hazel gave him a strange look.

"Come on Hazel, we're going out tonight." The blonde told her before stomping off.