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!
The third chapter is up...what took so long? I am SO sorry for anyone that was waiting, I've been so busy with school and family matters, and I haven't much time to get on the computer...
Last chapter-
…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?"…
Chapter 3- What a Jerk! Both Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye sat across each other at the testing room's table, giving the other the evil eye. Hughes sat between the two looking through an easy Alchemy book. Even though Mustang and Hawkeye had agreed to this, it didn't mean that they were happy about it. But you know what Mustang always says: "A mad Hughes is a scary Hughes."
10 minutes earlier
Before Hughes had even finished speaking, Mustang and Hawkeye had already walked to opposite corners of their small testing room. Hughes gave each side a smile. "Is this the way to treat a new friend and coworker guys?"
"Friend?" spat Roy, giving Hawkeye a dirty glare. "The day I see myself friends with that woman is when pigs fly!"
"I believe that is the only thing I will ever agree with you on." Hawkeye turned and gave Mustang a cold stare. "I can not see myself being on friendly terms with such an ignorant person."
(Roy) "Ignorant? You thing I'm ignorant?"
(Riza) "I believe I just said that."
(Roy) "How am I ignorant?"
(Riza) "You don't think a woman should be in the military, do you?" She sighed. "What a narrow minded person. It really is quite sad."
(Roy, losing temper) "Oh yeah? That's it! I'll show you ignorant! Ignorant THIS!"
Roy lunged, fully intending to shake some sense into this annoying woman. Much to his surprise and embarrassment, Hawkeye saw this coming, gave a small grin, and easily side-stepped his jump, and so, instead of hitting Hawkeye, Roy hit the cold, hard floor.
"Ow!" Roy hurriedly sat up and tried to cover up his throbbing cheek. He glared at Hawkeye then growled to Hughes,
"See what I mean? This woman is dangerous and insane! She practically attacked me! Not that I couldn't take her in a fight of course but….She's a girl, and it wouldn't be right…"
Hawkeye's grin faltered as she heard those words. She looked down at the sitting Mustang and said in a very quiet, dangerous voice,
"Excuse me?"
Mustang, seeing that he finally reached a weak spot, grinned and continued his tirade.
"Believe me Hawkeye, I know women! I've dated enough to realize that most of 'em are weak and unable to make good decisions for themselves! They aren't really that intelligent, and I honestly can't see you firing a gun! You probably don't even know how to use that thi"-
BANG!
There was dead silence in the room. Mustang looked at Hughes, who had his hand on his head, like he was about to faint.
"Hughes? What's wrong? You look like you're going to pass out..." Mustang looked at Hawkeye, who had out her gun and had it pointed it right at Mustang's head. Mustang looked up and saw a small bullet mark right above his head. He gave a weak chuckle and said in a shaky voice,
"Hahaha...well, I can see that you missed your target. I'm still alive."
Hawkeye put the gun back in its hostler and said with venom in her voice,
"I wasn't aiming to harm you. I could have done that ages ago."
Mustang's pride as a guy being insulted more than three times that day was too much for him to bear. He stood up and started to walk towards Hawkeye, not really knowing what he was going to do, but heck! He wasn't just going to sit there and let this woman insult him!
Hawkeye, after securing her gun, started to head for Mustang as well.
Seeing that something big was about to happen unless he did something, Hughes snapped out of his little conscious faint and ran between the two of them, putting a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Alrighty! That was certainly something you don't see everyday! Miss Hawkeye, you have some great marksmanship skills! And uh, Roy, you really have great...alchemy skills!" Hawkeye smirked, glanced at the fuming Mustang and said,
"Does he really have great alchemy skills? The only great thing I've seen about him is that he's a great big baby!"
"That's it! You're going down lady!"
"Would you really attack a helpless girl?"
"You are so not helpless! And I'm not even sure that you ARE a girl!"
"WHAT?"
"You heard me!"
"Mr. Hughes, please step aside while I blow out this man's brains."
"I'll kill you before you can take out your gun!"
"I'd like to see you try."
"Well watch me!"
"SHUT UP!"
Both Mustang and Hawkeye stopped their yelling and stood awestruck at the sudden outburst of the normally quiet (Well, not really quiet, but you know what I mean!) Hughes.
"I'm sick of this arguing! We are getting nowhere! The original idea was to help Roy here prepare for the Alchemy Exams! Hawkeye, I know you don't like Roy, but we really need your help! And Roy, stop acting like such a jerk to Hawkeye! Jeez! So immature! Now who's ready for some alchemy?"
After Hughes's little intervention, all three agreed to the current situation that brings us back to the present. Mustang and Hawkeye sat across from each other as Hughes flipped through an easy Alchemy book.
"Ooo! Look at this!"
Hughes sudden voice caused Mustang and Hawkeye to awaken from their respective trances.
"What is it Hughes?" Mustang muttered, trying hard not to look at the glaring Hawkeye.
"Well, there's a whole chapter on Fire Alchemy, and this transmutation circle looks pretty easy. Why don't you try it?"
"Sure!" Mustang said a little too quickly. He glared at the stoic Hawkeye and said-
"I'm glad that I can finally show off my superior skills! If you will excuse me Hughes and...er...Miss Hawkeye, I need some space to draw the transmutation circle."
Hughes and Hawkeye walked over to a corner and watched as Mustang started scribbling out the design on the floor.
"You know," Hughes turned and looked down at Hawkeye with a sort of apologetic smile, "I know that he seems like a jerk right now, but when you really get to know him you'll"-
"Let me guess." Hawkeye interrupted, giving the drawing Mustang a disdainful stare. "When I really get to know him, I'll find out that he really is a compassionate person, who respects me and that he only acts like a jerk to hide his fragile soul from rejection. Am I right?"
Hughes gave her an incredulous stare before saying in an almost ashamed voice,
"Well...actually...he really is a jerk most of the time..."
Hughes looked pretty surprised after saying this, as if wondering why he was friends with Roy. Hawkeye saw this change in his mood and asked quietly,
"If he is as much a jerk as you say he is, then why are you his friend in the first place?"
Hughes paused and thought hard. Finally he looked over at the crouching Mustang and said in a slow voice,
"Roy is a really hard person to understand. Yeah, he's really mad right now, but that's pretty unusual for him. Usually he can keep his emotions in check, like you. The only people I've seen him lose his temper with is me of course, and the people he considers his equals."
"Equals?" scoffed Hawkeye, trying hard not to chuckle. "That man thinks all women are brainless buffoons!"
Hughes shook his head and gave her a half-smile.
"That's what makes him so hard to understand Riza. I won't say that he's a saint, but you have to really know him before you understand his inner workings. I mean"- he pointed to himself and said in a proud voice-"I've known him since 3rd grade, and he never lost his temper with me until 7th! You've barely known him for an hour and he's already lost it! There must be something about you that he likes, although I'm not really sure he knows what it is yet."
Before the surprised Hawkeye could respond to this comment, Mustang stood up, wiped the chalk from his pants and called over to the pair.
"I'm done. Come over here to watch this master alchemist conjure fire!"
As Hawkeye and Hughes started to walk towards Mustang, Hughes put a hand on Hawkeye's arm, leaned down and whispered in her ear,
"Just think of this. You've seen Roy lose his temper at me, right? If I'm so annoying, why doesn't he find a new best friend?"
Grinning, Hughes and walked towards Mustang, dragging the thinking Hawkeye with him.
"What have you two been whispering about?" Mustang said suspiciously, eying Hughes and Hawkeye with a little apprehension.
"Oh nothing really interesting Roy! Just telling Riza here about your preferences in underwear, taste in women, that time you got arrested, you know, the usual stuff."
Mustang sighed and ignored Hughes's comments. He turned to Hawkeye and said with a smirk,
"Now you'll see what kind of alchemist I am! I'm a bit of a pyro; fire's my kind of thing. Now!"- He crouched down on the floor and prepared to put his hands on the ground-"I shall make FIRE!"
Hawkeye, after giving his circle a quick glance, lifted her head at said to Mustang-
"It's not going to work."
"Well that shows how much you know about alchemy!" Mustang shot back.
He smacked his hands on the ground with a flourish and waited...and waited...and waited...His smirk faded from his face, to be replaced by an angry scowl. Blushing furiously, knowing that this was what Hawkeye had predicted would happen, started reading the instructions again, trying to find his mistake.
"Um...obviously the book made a mistake...I can't see what went wrong..."
Hawkeye stepped forward and crouched down next to Mustang.
"You forgot to draw the mark of fire in the center of the circle."
Mustang looked from his design to the one in the book. "I don't see any mark of fire..." he muttered.
"Then let me show you." Without asking, Hawkeye snatched the chalk from Mustang's hand and started to draw another circle. Mustang and Hughes exchanged confused glances as the woman finished the circle mere minutes later. She stood up and stepped aside to let Mustang through.
"Aren't you going to perform the alchemy too?" Mustang snarled.
"I am not an alchemist." She replied simply.
Mustang walked over to the new circle and crouched down. Imitating Hawkeye's quick glance at the circle, and her expressionless voice he said flatly,
"It's not going to work."
Hawkeye did not rise to the bait, and merely stared at Mustang. A little intimated by her penetrating stare, he quickly went back to the circle. He placed his hands on the circle, and waited for nothing to happen. Amazingly, as soon as his hands were on the circle, flames shot out from the ground and started to burn the concrete."
(Mustang) "It works?"
(Hughes) "It works!"
(Hawkeye) "It works."
Hughes turned to Hawkeye and shook her hand vigorously, all the while saying-
"Absolutely incredible! I can't believe you knew what to do! You should become an alchemist!"
Hawkeye gave Hughes a small smile and said,
"I'm flattered by your compliments, but it's not really a big deal. I'm not alchemist material. After all"- she shot Mustang a look that could kill-"It's just such BASIC alchemy, even a non-alchemist could figure it out! A GIRL non-alchemist none the less!"
Mustang tried to laugh it off, but he couldn't help from saying,
"Yeah you're pretty smart. I bet you can't get a guy because of that!
Looking highly offended, Hawkeye grabbed her bag and stormed out of the room. Mustang was happy to see her go, and said,
"Wow, glad that she's gone eh? What an annoying woman!"
Hughes sighed and gave Mustang a deep frown. Mustang saw the look and said,
"What? What did I do?"
Hughes headed for the door and before he walked out he turned to Mustang and said in a low voice,
"Maybe Hawkeye was right about you Roy. Maybe you are just a jerk."
He gave Mustang a disappointed look and walked out the door, following the direction that Hawkeye had taken. Mustang looked around the room, realizing that he was all alone, and the few friends he had were mad at him! He ran out the room trying to follow the path Hughes and Hawkeye took, thinking,
What happened to training me for the alchemy exams!
---To be Continued---
There you have it! Chapter 3! Once again, I apologize that it took so long. From now on, I'll try my best not to let the periods between the chapters be that long!
Man, Roy Mustang is a loser! I didn't realize it that much when I was writing, but he is really a jerk! I'm hoping to receive more reviews for this chapter. It took forever to get these ideas on paper, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I don't think I have to say this, but stay posted!