Chapter 2.
Yes, I suppose I'll start getting to the plot right about now. I just think it's fun to keep readers on their toes, no?
….
Okay, clearly not.
Despite my infuriating tendancy to have long-winded intros to my stories, you guys still reviewed. Thanks so much for that!
Reviews are the only way I know whether my stuff is worth the time I put into the process
And for those of you who read and didn't review and are thinking "what about that hit couter?"
Well, people can still click on my story and not like it right?
Actually, if you don't like it... then why not review (aka flame... constructively)?
The problem with this project is that I have most of the ideas plotted… But, recently I've been at school for 14 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week. I'm really sorry this is taking a while, but I don't have time to type out the (often lengthy-ish) chapters at this moment.
Exiting the doors that led to the center courtyard of the compound, Roy immediately knew he had stumbled onto something interesting. Officers of varying ranks, but all of them inferior to me, were clustered in small groups on the outer edges of the courtyard. Each one immediately snapped to attention, saluting Mustang and trying to cover varying degrees of apprehension in his presence. Waving it off without a second glance, Roy hid his sense of deep amusement. Having spent plenty of time with the military he knew exactly what was going on. Based on the way they were talking in hushed voices and the fact that they were concealing small handshakes and tallies on improvised scorecards, it was clear that there was betting among today's spectators.
Spectators to what? Roy snaked his way between clusters of soldiers towards the back of the courtyard. Like most of the military, the courtyard was designed for practicality: in short, the massive, well-worn area wasn't exactly designed to be visually pleasing. As Roy came closer to the back of the courtyard, a circle of officers gathered around a roped-off arena came into view.
A table with three officers sat on the far side of the arena, discussing amongst themselves in hushed voices. Different forms and folders sat in neat piles along the table, and a coffee mug (with the State insignia on it, of course…) sat in front of each man. Benches of different officers were arranged in improvised bleachers behind them. Much to Roy's surprise, a good half of the men were sporting bandages, ice packs, and splints on their wrists or ankles.
Walking over to the table with the three older officers, Roy was greeted with an almost-welcoming smile from the Lieutenant General in the middle. Snapping to a quick salute, Roy took a quick look at the battered soldiers in back and was about to ask a question. But the General beat him to it.
"So I take it you came to see your subordinate's evaluation?" He lightly flicked one of the many folders, which he had casually pulled from the stacks of seemingly identical folios. Unable to answer the question without asking one himself, Roy elected to nod along. The General sitting on the left offered a vacant chair with a gesture, removing his feet from his improvised footrest. As Roy took the seat with vacant gratitude, a large shadow cast itself over most of the table.
The source of the shadow was a man that was clearly being molded to fill the space that Basque Gran had left with his death: pissy, built, and intimidating. A colonel like Roy, he was one of the few men at Central Headquarters (and probably in the entire military) that could look Major Armstrong in the eye and scare his sparkles away. Slamming an empty water canteen on the table with an aggravated sigh, he turned to the Lieutenant General, "Who's next?"
"That one, Colonel" Roy followed the General's pointed finger and his sight landed on a familiar salute, "a First Lieutenant."
"First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, reporting for combat evaluation." Her voice was distant, even more than usual. Roy tried to catch the eyes of his Lieutenant without making it obvious (from across the table, behind the three evaluators, and in twilight), but her muted gaze stayed just a few inches above the left shoulder of the General. God, does she really hate these evaluations even more than I do? Before Mustang's thoughts could continue, a wheezy scoff exploded from the large colonel.
"A First Lieutenant, a female First Lieutenant?" Taking one easy step over the rope fence into the ring, the Colonel gave a disgusted glare at Riza. Slowly releasing her salute, she unbuttoned her uniform jacket and shrugged it off onto the floor, which she proceeded to kick outside the arena, her boot leaving a deep scuffmark in the soil. Undoing the holster that she always had lashed around her torso, she hung the leather strap over one of the posts of the rope fence. Cracking her knuckles, she turned to face the mammoth Colonel, looking him up and down briefly.
"I'm sure you both know the rules to this type of evaluation, but we'll give you the shortened gist of it. We simply want a demonstration of your skills, First Lieutenant. Colonel Grimes should provide you with an opponent sufficient enough to accomplish that task." As the Lieutenant General went over the rules, most of the officers that had been staggered around the ring were now packed as close to the rope as possible, listening with great interest to the regulations. Some were even audibly comparing Riza and the evaluating Colonel. "Don't kill each other. We want to be impressed, not mortified."
Grimes let out an amused laugh, and a handful of the officers in the crowd cheered.
"You may begin." The General said over the excited drone of the spectators. And with that, Hawkeye was off. Covering the distance between her and Grimes in two bounding steps, she threw herself into the gut of the large General, her momentum sending the man tumbling onto his back with a loud thud. Landing on her feet in a low crouch, Hawkeye watched Grimes as he struggled to his feet, wheezing to regain his lost breath. As soon as he had propped himself onto his elbows, Riza's boot impacted on his upper chest solidly. The General was kicked into the air, landing on his side with a spluttering grunt.
The crowd exploded in shouts of approval and dismay, the betting results having already been made clear. Wads of cash were already being exchanged amongst the officers, completely disregarding the presence of the higher-ups across the ring.
Slowly walking over to the fallen Colonel, Hawkeye grabbed his wrist and spun him onto his stomach. Grimes immediately began to attempt break away, writhing in pain on the ground. Hawkeye, looking bored with his attempts to free himself, placed her foot solidly on his back, pressing the Colonel's face into the dirt and stretching his arm backwards. It didn't take a doctor to figure that an arm shouldn't bend that way.
"That's enough," The Lieutenant General said, marking down a few more notes on his review. "Most impressive, First Lieutenant. You can let the man go." Hawkeye complied, stepping away from the defeated Colonel and raising a slow salute, cheeks burning a bright red and breathing deeply. "You are dismissed."
Taking that as her cue, Hawkeye left Grimes on the ground. Ducking under the rope fence, she picked up her jacket and walked towards the exit, completely oblivious to Roy's stare.
"She's really something, isn't she?"
"What?" Roy returned to the present, turning to the General as he finished compiling the evaluation notes.
"First Lieutenant Hawkeye. Your subordinate, no?" The General asked, getting an affirming nod from the Lieutenant General at his side when Roy made no comment. Roy's mind began to slowly process the sentence, trying to recover from an overload of unbelievable input. Yes, Roy. That was your by-the-book subordinate laying waste to that tank of a man. How about answering to the nice man talking to you now?
"Truly remarkable. You just don't get young officers of that caliber any more. Hold onto that one as long as you can, Colonel." He turned to the retreating form of the Lieutenant in the dusk sunlight, "She can help you get places." He handed over the manila folder with a fatherly grin.
"T-thank you, sir." Roy saluted quickly before turning to the holster that Hawkeye had left hanging over the post in the fence. She's going to want that. Not that she really needs it…Roy shuddered, and pulled out his silver pocket watch, checking the time. It won't be dark for another half hour or so. I bet if I run I could catch up to her. Grabbing the holster and tucking it under his arm with the evaluation folder, he set off at a light jog, leaving the courtyard behind.
It took Roy less than 10 minutes to catch up to Hawkeye. He rounded a corner and found her stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, head tipped up to catch the evening breeze on her face. The blue military jacket that he was so accustomed to seeing her wear was left unbuttoned, showing the maroon turtleneck t-shirt that seemed like a part of her constant attire. Her face was still flushed and a thin layer of perspiration remained on her forehead, despite the pleasantly cool evening.
"First Lieutenant, you forgot-" As Roy called to her as he approached her, Hawkeye turned to face him, lost her balance and fell into the surprised Mustang's arms. The evaluation and holster fell to the ground by their feet. Feeling his own face flush in the sudden close proximity to his female Lieutenant, Roy caught the faint scent of coffee and frowned quizzically.
"Oh, sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to-" She immediately pushed herself away from Roy's arms, trying to steady herself on shaky legs. Looking like she would collapse again, Roy grabbed her firmly by her arms and peered at her face, bringing his face close to hers. The smell of coffee lingered, barely noticeable but foreign. The First Lieutenant was never seen drinking coffee, only tea. Her bleary eyes pointedly avoided Roy's own.
A thought occurred to Roy: Java Venom… I love that stuff. Good, strong drink. Looking at Hawkeye for a moment another thought clicked into place as she winced at the sudden honking of a car horn that wasn't really loud, and blinked painfully in the headlights that weren't that bright. "You're kidding right?" Roy backed up and looked at his subordinate in shock. "You are so drunk!"
Having recovered from the passing car, Riza looked to Roy and quite simply said, "Right, and I definitely got this miserably smashed for shits'n'giggles," she brushed Roy's hands from her arms with her own sweaty palms, and added, "You're one to talk…Sir!" almost as if mocking him. "Why're you here, anyways?"
"You forgot your holster." He said, retrieving the fallen article along with the evaluation from the ground. Despite being clearly wasted, Riza still managed a skeptical glare as she took the holster from Roy's hands and slung it over her shoulder, not bothering to put it back on. "I… came to deliver your evaluation results?" He offered, trying to offer a reason to satisfy his drunken subordinate. "Aw, hell, Lieutenant, why do I have to justify my actions to you? I'm your superior, and you are the one who showed up to an evaluation heavily intoxicated!"
"Clearly it wasn't too much of an issue, if you're just noticing now… Sir!" She was surprisingly coherent for a drunken person being antagonized on her way home. Roy found himself wondering how he became such a boisterous asshole when he was drunk, but his Lieutenant managed to keep… most of her composure. "If that's all then I'll be taking my leave, Sir." She turned to leave, wobbled slightly, and got her foot caught on a crack in the pavement. Grabbing her shoulders to prevent her from falling again, Roy took a deep breath.
"No, that's not all," He stepped to her left side and ducked under her arm, letting it drape across his shoulders. Wrapping his right arm around her waist and pulling her close, he stood up straight, pulling Hawkeye up with him. "I'm walking you home, Lieutenant."
"I… do not… need an escort, Colonel Mustang!"
"Like hell you don't. That's a direct order from your superior officer." And without waiting for her to respond he began to walk, marching Hawkeye along with him. After a moment of silent rage, he turned to look at her. Riza's face was screwed into an indignant scowl, her cheeks still red. But it was clear that she was appreciating the physical support, whether she wanted it or not; each of her paces were heavy and Roy would feel her lean on his shoulder slightly with each step.
A few blocks passed in silence, Riza's scowl replaced with an embarrassed expression, turned away from Roy. Trying to break the silence, and slightly curious as to how she was feeling, Roy ventured to start a conversation. "I guess we can count this towards all the times you've played 'designated driver' for me and Hughes, right?"
"This isn't your job."
"Oh, and babysitting your drunken superior was a part of the job description when you enlisted?" She let out a hesitant laugh, causing Roy to grin. "So tell me, am I going to have to get you completely wasted if I want to have a casual conversation with you, or even, God forbid, get a laugh out of you now?"
"Casual conversation most definitely wasn't in my job description."
"Drunk and still a stickler for rules. That's my Lieutenant." They stopped at a crosswalk, giving Roy a chance to shift his grip on the evaluation. "So, would you prefer to talk about work? How about this one: why did you get drunk before an evaluation?"
"That is none of you business, sir." She said quietly, looking at the door that they stopped in front of, the entrance to her apartment building. Roy gave her a concerned glance before opening the door and stepping inside with her, deciding to let it go for the moment.
"I've never been so grateful for an elevator in my entire life." Roy sighed, pushing the up button several times. A metallic ding resounded from the elevator, and the doors hissed open. The pair walked into the elevator and both leaned their backs against the wall farthest from the doors. "I really think we ought to talk about this." He tried again, attempting to break through the emotional barriers that he had never seen break. The emotional barriers that had become so unnaturally rigid ever since the evening at the 3rd laboratory.
"Honestly, do you think that I'm in any condition to discuss anything with anybody right now?" Riza sighed, tipping her head back and taking a deep breath. Her hand ran along the floor buttons, counting in her head, until she landed on her floor number and pushed it. After a few silent moments riding up the building, the doors opened to a hallway of off-white walls and brown doors stretching in either direction.
Roy immediately offered his arm, the way he would offer the crook of his elbow for a date he was escorting out of a fancy restaurant. Too out of it to care anymore, Hawkeye took the offered help, linking her arm into his. Taking a left turn and walking down the hall to one of the many identical doors, they finally came to a stop.
Pulling her key ring out of her pocket and extracting roughly a dozen or so keys, Hawkeye mumbled incoherently, but clearly frustrated with the number of keys and the fact that they 'kept moving'. After a minute of waiting, she grabbed one from the rest, triumphantly. "There has to be a better way to keep all these…" She thought out loud, and went with the key for the doorknob with unsteady hands.
"Here," Roy wrapped his hand around her wrist, helping guide the key into the keyhole and twisting until a satisfying 'click' came from the knob.
Pulling the key out and looking at Roy with her head cocked to the side, Hawkeye asked, "So, you coming in?"
Roy blinked, waiting for her to indicate if that was a joke, or for her to pass out, or throw up, or something that would help him figure out how he was supposed to respond, what she wanted to hear from him. Deciding that she clearly was in no position to have any deep, manipulative thoughts behind her actions, he decided to go with his initial response.
"It would make me feel better…"
Hawkeye smiled softly, pushing the door open and waving him in, slowly but gracefully.
Guess that was the ansewer she wanted to hear. Roy thought, taking Hawkeye's arm and ushering her inside.
Okay, so it was delayed, but it was longer than chapter 1…
Not really sure if that makes up for it but it's the best I can do.
I'm doing some college tours, so I won't be back for a few days, and I want reviews when I get back. In return I can have the next chapter up within 7 days.
Please and Thank You