Learning to Fly

Disclaimer- I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them for a bit to use in my story. Don't sue me!

All right! The second chapter is finally up! Sorry it took so long, I've been really busy with school, and many other things…

-In case you missed the summary, this story takes place years before Fullmetal Alchemist begins. There's no Ed, Al or Winry. It's just my version of how our favorite military characters got to where they are today.

(When the font goes like this, a character is thinking.)

Chapter 2- Never Insult a Hawk!

Roy Mustang awoke bright and early the next day, eager to start his training. He looked over at his roommate's bed, finding it undisturbed. It looked like Hughes hadn't come home last night. Roy smiled to himself and thought- I guess he's having a fun time at Gracia's. He glanced at his alarm clock and realized that he woke up about an hour before it was supposed to ring. He thought about going back to sleep, but what's the point if you're going to wake up a mere 60 minutes later? He was a morning sort of person anyway. Roy stretched, changed into his clothes, picked up his books and headed for the library, hoping to learn something impressive before Hughes met him there.

25 minutes later

Roy stepped into the Central Library and paused to look around, still amazed at the vast collection of books here on alchemy and perfecting your technique. Roy settled himself down into a little testing room. These were located at the back of the library. Their purpose was simple- if someone read about an alchemy technique and wanted to try it out for themselves, they could go into a testing room and experiment it there, so no damage would come to the rest of the building. The testing rooms were bare, just concrete floors and walls. This was to insure that the alchemists could use whatever materials they needed, and not destroy anything else of value. Roy set up his things and walked to the front desk. In order for Roy to perform alchemy here in the testing room, he had to let a librarian know that he was using the room. He walked to the desk and waited for a librarian to come. As he stood there, a woman carrying a large book walked over and placed the book on the desk. She came up to about Roy's chin in height, and had her long, blonde hair pulled back in a bun. Her light brown eyes were focused on some thought in her mind, which made her seem a little vulnerable. She was wearing a long skirt that hid her legs, but Mustang could tell that she had a dynamite body. Whoa! He thought, not disguising the fact that he was looking her over. This is one hot librarian! The woman, who had come out of her thoughts, noticed Roy's stares, lost the vulnerable ness, gave him a cold look and said in a surprisingly hard voice,

"Can I help you?"

Roy quickly put on his best "Mustang Charm", smiled, and said in what he hoped was a smooth voice-,

"You'll have to forgive me for staring ma'am, but you look so out of place here in the library! No one here but tough soldiers and alchemists! You have got to be the librarian here! Am I right?"

The woman's cold stare turned icy as she looked him straight in the eye and said in an expressionless voice,

"I'm afraid that you are mistaken. I am not a librarian here. I'm training to be one of those so-called "tough" soldiers that you see milling around here. I'm waiting for the real librarian to come so I can return this book. If you don't mind, could you not stare at me like I'm a piece of meat on sale?"

Roy was extremely surprised that this small woman was in training to become a solider of the military, but he quickly regained his cool and replied suavely,

"Whoa! I'm sorry that I thought you were the librarian, but hey! Who could blame me? Who would think that pretty things like you would want to join the rough n' tough military?" He really meant this as a compliment, because the woman was very pretty, in a serious sort of way, but she wasn't buying his usually foolproof pick-up lines. Her frown became deeper and she started to walk away. Without realizing it, Roy did something that he regretted almost as soon as he said the words.

"You really should respect me lady! I'm a powerful alchemist you know!"

The woman, at this remark, stopped, turned around, walked back over to Roy, slipped her right hand behind her back and said in a calm, yet slightly shaking voice,

"I don't care whether you're an alchemist or the Fuhrer. It's guys like you that I just can't stand. How can you talk to a person like that, a person you don't even know? Do you think that you're better than me? I have to put up with people like you every single day, and I'll probably have to for the rest of my career! Don't try to talk about things you don't understand!"

Roy, not intending to insult her like that, and clearly not expecting this type of reaction, backed off immediately and tried to apologize,

"Uh…well, you know I didn't mean it like that, I mean…I'm not saying that you're incapable or anything…well, um…I'm sorry."

The woman, looking as shocked at her little outburst as Roy, took her hand from behind her back and placed it on her face, immediately regaining her blank expression said-

"I'm sorry for what I said just now; I'm sure you didn't mean it like that. If you're an alchemist like you say, that means we will probably see each other a lot. Even though I don't really like you that much, we might as well try to be civil to each other. My name is Riza Hawkeye."

Roy waited and looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to ask him his name. She didn't. Before he could introduce himself, and try to make amends for his actions, Riza had already turned around as an elderly woman finally came to the front desk. She smiled at both of them, completely unaware of the argument that happened seconds before at her desk.

"Hello dears. Can I help you?"

"Yes you can." Riza cut in front of Roy and pushed her thick book closer to the woman. "I'd like to return this book please."

The librarian's eye's widened in amazement. "But my goodness deary, you only checked that book out yesterday! You're finished with it already?"

"Yes. I found the book quite enjoyable, and it greatly expanded my knowledge on the subject. Do you have any more like these?"

As the librarian and Riza chatted, Roy glanced over the blonde's head to examine the book. The title read- The State Military's Guide to Firearms. Firearms? Wait a sec. Does that mean this girl has GUNS? Roy remembered that Riza had put her right hand behind her back during their argument. Knowing that he could get a slap in the face for what he was about to do, Roy threw caution to the wind and leaned over to examine her lower back. Above a lovely behind, wrapped around her purse strap was a small holster, which held a silver handgun. Roy felt cold all over, and started sweating profusely. This woman's dangerous! I could have been blasted!

Riza finished her little talk with the librarian and turned towards Roy. She was aware of his eyes as they darted to her, then her gun, then her again. She gave the smallest shadow of a smile and said,

"I told you I was in training to become a soldier. What did you expect me to be using? Flowers? No, only a little handgun. But I'm sure that with your superior alchemy skills, you sensed I had a gun the entire time of our conversation! Isn't that right, Mr. Super Powerful Alchemist Man?"

Without waiting for an answer, Riza turned and walked away, heading towards the Weapons section of the library. This time Roy made no effort to stop her. In a moment she was gone, lost behind the stacks of books. Roy sighed and felt extremely relieved, glad that the psycho woman was gone, happy that he would never have to see or deal with her ever again. ( )

After telling the librarian his plans, Roy slowly walked back towards the testing room. As he passed shelves of books specializing in wind alchemy he glanced at his watch. Oh shoot! Hughes would be meeting with him in a few minutes! He had been arguing with that Riza Hawkeye woman for almost half an hour! He started running towards his room thinking, Jeez! I've gotta get back there! I didn't even learn how to burn stuff like Hughes stupid Gracia pictures! He ran faster, hoping that Hughes wouldn't beat him there. He quickly turned the last corner and ran right smack into the shoulder of his friend, almost knocking him out. (Roy, that is. He's such a wimp sometimes…)

"Hiya Roy!" Hughes said happily, holding the dazed Mustang by his shoulders. "You know, we really should have talked more on where we were going to meet! I mean this place is HUGE! I was starting to think that I'd never find you man! Come on; let's head into your testing room!" Hughes dragged the still confused Roy into the small room. Roy finally snapped out of his little coma, and managed to mutter to Hughes,

"Hughes, if this library really is so huge, how did you manage to find me so quickly? I mean,"- he opened the door and looked around at the vast piles of books, then came back inside. – "you'd really have to know your way around here."

Hughes stopped straightening up Roy's pile of books and scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

"Wow, you can see right through me! Well, I got a little help. You'll be happy to hear about this! Some hot chick told me where the testing rooms are! (Not as hot as Gracia though! giggle) She really seems to really know what she was talking about especially about guns and stuff, so I invited her along to try and help train you!" Hughes leaned towards Roy and said with a coy smile- "I think you'll like her a lot Roy. I mean she just seems different then other women! Your kind of gal, right Roy?"

Roy rubbed the new lump on his head, not even paying attention to what his friend was saying

There was a sudden knocking sound at their testing room door. Hughes and Roy both stopped and stared at the doorknob. "Come in!" Hughes said cheerfully, walking forward to open the door, ignoring Roy's lump wound completely. Hughes stepped out and talked to the shadowy figure outside the glass doorframe. Roy heard their conversation from where he was sitting-

"I'm really glad that you decided to help us Miss! I mean my friend really has almost no alchemy skills whatsoever!"

"It's really no trouble at all Mr. Hughes, I'm just glad to be of assistance for someone trying to pass that Exam."

Well, Roy thought nastily, whoever she is, she sure sounds nicer than that Hawkeye devil! Roy glanced up as the woman started to walk in. He had seen an attractive brunette give him a shy smile when he first came into the library. Maybe this was her! He put on a hopeful smile on his face to greet the nice lady that was so kindly going to help him. The smile slipped right off just as the woman suddenly stepped through the doorway. Both stared at each other in shock, unable to speak…then all three started to talk at once-

(Riza) You!

(Roy) YOU!

(Hughes) "Now who wants to see my new pictures of Gracia in her pretty dress? You know you want to! Oops! I mean YOU?"

Roy Mustang started flipping furiously through the nearest book, looking for the easiest way to set this woman on fire, while Riza Hawkeye quickly loaded her gun and wondered if one of her small bullets was enough to kill this annoying man. Hughes glanced at the two of them and said in a bright cheery voice-

"Alrighty then! Now who's ready for some training?"

---To Be Continued---

Well there you have it everyone, Chapter 2! Sorry about the crummy ending, but I was running out of ideas and brainpower. I know (and hope!) that you recognized Hawkeye when I first introduced her, and I know you probably got as tired as me, reading "woman" and "the woman" over and over again but thanks for bearing with it! I had originally intended for more with the whole meeting and fight between Mustang and Hawkeye, but I couldn't seem to put my ideas on paper. I'll fine-tune this chapter later anyway. All right! I'm setting up a criteria now! Now that the second chapter is up, I'm expecting at least 3 reviews people! Until I get those reviews, I won't work on chapter 3. I'd like to hope that more than 3 people have read my story…Show some courage and leave a review! Stay posted!