Here we go. The next 2 chapters including this one are (obviously, I hope) functioning as one entity just because they are happening at the same time.
Sorry it was a few hours late… it took a little longer than I thought to travel between 2 states last night.
(Nil & Ken… funny thing happened. I was finishing the last 2/3 of this chapter when I got your review thankyouthankyouSoooMuch!IloveYouForThem and saw you asking for more Hawkeye… funny coincidence, ne?
I continue to not own FMA.
Having given up on supervising Ed's behavior, Al instead volunteered to help Fuery carry some boxes of records to various offices and mailrooms. the errand done, Al found himself standing in a hallway that was practically empty. The clock ticking away on the wall indicated that it had barely been 15 minutes since their arrival at HQ. I bet Ed and the Colonel aren't done arguing yet. Al thought with a sigh.
Deciding that there would probably be something more to do back at Mustang's office than stand in a hallway alone, Al turned back the way he came. But right before he could take a single step he stopped, listening to the silence.
"Funny, I thought I heard-"
pop
Somewhere in this building, a gun was being fired. The sound was so muted that Al probably wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't alone in the hallway. His curiosity getting the better of him, Al turned in the general direction the noise had come from. As he slowly walked passed closed doors, two more shots were fired in succession, sounding more like firecrackers for children than a gunshot.
Al came to a door that was made of reinforced steel, unlike the rest of the wooden office doors in the hallway. Pushing the door open with some effort, Al walked into what he assumed was the shooting range. Booths separated by metal walls and all stocked with heavy-duty hearing protection in the form of black headphones. This time the shot was a full bang, echoing inside Al's helm for a moment. Only one person occupied the room, and was so focused on the task at hand that Al's entrance seemed to go unnoticed.
Al stopped near the door, watching Hawkeye take a deep breath and bring her arms up parallel to the ground. Her feet shifted apart, adjusting her stance and relaxing her shoulders. In that stance, Hawkeye appeared to be an unstoppable force to Al; a being with consistent control and unwavering resolve. Even as an alchemist with a body of metal, Al maintained a respectful fear of Hawkeye when she was armed.
"You can come closer if you want,"
Her arms tensed. Another shot cut through the silence, jerking her posture slightly out of alignment.
"It doesn't impair my concentration." The Lieutenant said with something close to a smirk, lowering her gun and finally turning to face Al. "I'm not used to the recoil on this gun anyway."
"Hello, First Lieutenant," Al greeted with a quick bow, which Hawkeye returned.
"Hello, Alphonse. I assume Ed's here for his report?"
"Yes, but you'd assume he was going to a public execution, the way he was going on about it," Al said with a chuckle as Hawkeye ejected the clip from her gun with a smile.
"I suppose that's just his way of expressing himself," The lieutenant said, picking up the evaluation folder from the counter in front of her and reading over certain pages that, Al noted, she had taken her own notes in. Al watched with curiosity as Hawkeye read over the evaluation, occasionally reading out loud under her breath. "What good is an evaluation that sings praises, but doesn't explicitly state areas of improvement? How is that useful?" She muttered to herself, setting the black pistol down with a sigh.
"You're too heard on yourself, Lieutenant," Al said, looking at the paper target, six holes in a tight clump in the center of the silhouette head. "You've got so much talent. Why not have a little satisfaction in that?"
"Because… I'm not good enough," Hawkeye murmured, pulling her silver pistol from its holster and holding it limply. Al turned away from the target and stared at the woman next to him.
"I literally did everything in my power to kill that Homunculus. Everything. And all that I could do amounted to nothing. I was reckless, overly emotional. I… I put myself in danger. And because of that I forced you into a dangerous situation, for my sake Al." Looking out toward the target with distant eyes, Hawkeye said quietly, "The only thing I'm doing is holding up everyone. The Colonel, you and Edward. If all I'm going to be is a burden, then I shouldn't tag along." She set the silver gun down next to the larger black pistol. "How insignificant this must seem from an alchemist's point of view," she laughed coldly.
"Stop it." Al said sharply, cutting Hawkeye off, "Just, just stop." Hawkeye looked at Al, watching his red eyes flicker with emotion "That's not fair, Lieutenant. What about all the lives you've saved? What about all the times you've protected the Colonel?" Al placed his large hand over the revolver and tightened his grip, "Don't tell me that you think all those lives you saved were insignificant, Lieutenant."
A silence fell over the two as Al removed his hand from the gun and backed up so he wasn't right next to Hawkeye anymore. She was slowly filling an empty clip with .22's from a small box, looking intently at the mechanism.
"That reminds me," Hawkeye suddenly said, snapping the clip into the pistol, pointing the barrel and her gaze beyond Al to the metal wall behind them. "I never did thank you, and apologies," Re-holstering both guns and grabbing her jacket from the floor behind her, Hawkeye turned to Al with a half smile. "You risked your life to save mine. I apologies for being a so useless at such a critical time, and I thank you. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't saved me." She bowed deeply, her bangs falling over her eyes.
"I'm glad that I could help," Al said brightly. Hawkeye straightened her posture and seemed to wrestle with her thoughts for a moment. Then, she quickly walked up to Al and cautiously wrapped one arm around his large chest, then the other. After a brief moment of initial shock, Al gently returned the embrace with one large arm encircling her shoulders. Hawkeye tightened her embrace for a second, then let go with a smile laced with maternal caring.
"I can't think of the last time Brother gave me a hug," Al said with a small chuckle.
"Men have a hard time expressing their emotions sometimes," Hawkeye said knowingly, with a joking grin.
"Like the Colonel?" Al asked, watching Hawkeye's smile disappear instantly. "I heard him yelling at you at the hospital." Hawkeye looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't as Al continued, "Does he know what happened, all of what happened?"
"Nothing happened."
"Nothing happened? You didn't care if- no, you wanted to die when you heard he was dead, Lieutenant! That's not nothing." Al's words tumbled out. "He doesn't have the right to say such harsh things,"
"As a superior officer he is entitled to expect a certain level of-
"As a human being, he has no right to scold you like a child. Not when he doesn't know what happened,"
Hawkeye sighed heavily, gingerly working her temples with shaking hands. "In any case, he doesn't know, so-"
"So I'll tell him then." Al said simply. Hawkeye's arms dropped and she stared at Al with horrified shock. "He ought to know what happened. He should know how you feel-"
"How I feel…" Hawkeye finally stopped Al, "isn't the issue now."
"Maybe, just maybe, if things were different. Maybe, if we weren't up against an enemy whose only defining trait is a stubborn resistance to death. Maybe if I hadn't sworn to push him from beneath to his goals no matter what. Maybe, if he hadn't already lost someone he had allowed himself to get close to-"
Al flinched slightly. Hughes… Hawkeye wasn't yelling, but she was very close to letting her emotions get the better of her composure.
"But, don't you want to be happy?"
Hawkeye scoffed bitterly at the question. Al had never seen that kind of expression on her face, but now it didn't seem at all out of place.
"At this point, Alphonse, I'm happy if the Colonel is safe. I used to think that pushing him to the top of the military was near impossible. But now, keeping him in one piece after a single mission seems like a major accomplishment" Pulling her jacket on and fixing her collar slightly, Hawkeye mustered a reassuring grin, "How I feel is going to have to take a second in priority for a while."
Walking towards the door with the evaluation in hand, she turned to Al, "Come on, Ed and the Colonel's tempers must have exhausted themselves by now,"
Not bothering to re-button her jacket, Hawkeye headed for Mustang's office with slow, even strides with Al following.
"I promise to keep this between us, Lieutenant," Al whispered, walking up next to her, "But I'm not going to let you make your suffering any worse. If I think it's too much and you haven't talked to the Colonel, I'll do it for you."
Hawkeye exhaled and frowned slightly, but didn't try to argue the point. He just cares about you. You should feel grateful for that. Besides, I'm not going to let it become too much, right? I know better than that.
Slightly longer than an average chapter. The first chapter more focused on Hawkeye (in this slightly Hawkeye-centric fic, go figure)
Let me know how OOC you thought she got. I can't really tell anymore after all this writing.
Ed and Roy next, rejoice! Reviews, please and thank you! Goodnight!