Hero of the Day Chapter 2, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

Hero of the Day, Chapter Two

AU. Set in present-day America.

Ed is a rioting fuck-up; Al, a good kid; Mustang, a would-be Senator; and Bradley King, the current Senator for Ed's district.

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Rose shifted nervously as she waited for a few of her neighbor's kids outside the neighborhood elementary school. There were a few white mothers waiting there, looking at her and gossiping.

Besides those women, a few teachers were standing outside the school, taking a smoking break. One of the male teachers looked her up and down and she bit her lip, keeping her gaze away from him so as to not encourage him.

"Rose," she heard, and she turned around to see that Scar had arrived. She brightened instantly.

"Scar!" Rose shouted. The dark-skinned woman walked up to him and hugged him, hoping to lose the attention of the white teacher before he got any ideas. The gossip behind her grew in volume, and she released Scar quickly. He acted as though nothing strange had happened; for what she had done was not strange at all.

He knew Rose through the local Muslim community. Scar himself was not Muslim; his family had been, but he had left that life many years ago. He now lived in the small, close-knit Muslim section of a white neighborhood, and one of the responsibilities he had taken upon himself was to watch over the more vulnerable members of his new 'family'.

Scar looked over Rose's shoulder and he caught the eye of the white teacher who had been staring at Rose. One glare, and the teacher put out his cigarette and walked back into the school building.

Rose sighed in relief, and Scar shook his head. "Stay away from white men."

"I know that."

"They don't see people of other races as equals," he continued. Rose had heard his opinions many times before, and though he often sounded pessimistic, there was a lot of truth in the advice he gave to her.

The school bell rang, and five children eventually made their way towards Rose and Scar. One of the white mothers shook her head and said something about people of certain ethnicities 'never knowing when to stop', and Rose flinched but did not look at the woman. Scar ignored her as well, and he grunted, "Come on, let's bring them to their parents already."

Rose nodded. "Come on, kids!" she said cheerfully to the neighborhood kids. "Let's go home!"

The same white mother gave her a disgusted look as she escorted her one white son home.

Rose knew what the white parents thought of her; they saw her everyday after school, bringing a large group of children home with the same skin color as her, and they thought that every child belonged to her. She was only nineteen! How those parents could have thought that she was the childrens' mother, she didn't know.

She gave Scar a sidelong look, and he caught her gaze. Rose quickly looked away; she began to wonder again why Scar insisted on helping her bring the kids home so often. He was not from a strict Muslim background, or so she had come to realize, so she knew that he would not take to arranged marriage and that he may have been after her, despite his protective comments concerning white men. At the same time, he had never approached her in that way or acted affectionately towards her.

It was also well-known that Scar was a sort of representative for their community. Whenever the little Muslim community needed something, Scar would be the one to get it; whether it was help from the police, or attention from the city government, Scar would step up to the challenge.

She had never asked for his help, but she was grateful for it. She giggled as she realized that Scar was her own personal bodyguard, at least Monday through Friday, from three to three-thirty in the afternoon.

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"This is the school that that kid goes to?" Roy Mustang asked his assistant.

Risa glanced at him through the mirror at the head of the car, and briefly wondered why he had chosen to sit in the backseat. Flashy bastard wishes he could rent a limo. "Yes, sir," she answered him.

Roy sat up then and he peered out the tinted window of his BMW. "There he is!" he exclaimed, pointing at an angry-looking teenaged boy with blonde hair held back in a braid.

"Calm down, sir."

He smoothed his hair and straightened his suit. "Do you think I'll make a good impression?" he asked cockily.

"Just don't act like a jackass, sir," she advised him as he stepped out of the car.

Ed unchained his bike from the rack that stood outside the school, and was about to mount it when a man with black hair and black eyes walked up to him. "Edward Elric?" the man asked.

The blonde teenager's mind strayed to the object he was hiding in his pocket as paranoia took over. "How do you know my name?"

The man smiled. "I saw you on TV, and I looked you up." He stepped to the side and motioned to his car. "I would like to talk to you, if you have the time."

Ed's eyebrow went up, and he decided to take control of the situation.

"I AIN'T GOIN' ANYWHERE WITH YOU!"

Risa stared in shock as the short teenager lifted his bike over his head and threw it at Roy. Her boss dodged quickly and cursed, leaving the bike to sail through the air, unhindered, and it crashed into the driver-side backseat window.

She stepped out of the car in time to see the irate young man draw a switch-blade on Roy, and she reached for her gun.

"Holy shit!" Roy said, looking back and forth between his car and the knife. "What the fuck is wrong with you, kid?"

Ed glared at him. "I'm just taking care of myself, old man."

Roy blinked at him. "Old…man?"

Risa drew her gun on Ed. "Drop the knife, boy," she said. It was Ed's turn to be surprised, and he dropped his knife as his little brother left the school grounds. Al ran to his brother's side.

"Miss," Al said, turning to the armed and dangerous Risa, "please, whatever he did, don't shoot him. There are witnesses, and I'm sure that we can make up for whatever he did."

"Al!" Ed shouted, "What makes you think that I did something?"

His little brother pointed to the bike that was sticking out of Roy's car window. "That's yours, right?" he asked.

"…yeah."

Risa lowered her gun. "I'm not going to shoot him. I simply needed to make sure that he didn't stab Roy."

Al's gold eyes found the rumpled politician, and he smiled. "You're Roy Mustang, aren't you?" he asked, forgetting his brother's situation.

Roy straightened his suit and smiled cockily. "Yes, I am. Boy, are you of voting age?"

"Sir, please don't try to capitalize on the situation."

"HEY!" Ed shouted, drawing their attention back to him. "Why did you try to get me in your car? That kind of thing would be HORRIBLE for your campaign, now wouldn't it?" he asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Roy held his hands up defensively. "What are you talking about? It's my campaign that I need you for?"

"Well, then what was all that creepy stuff about you seeing me on TV?"

"Sir, you're an idiot," his assistant said quickly. She sighed.

Roy gave Ed a weird look. "I saw you during the riot. I wanted to ask you to me a part of my campaign. I need to reach…the young people."

Ed glared at him. "Then why do you want me?"

Now in his element, Roy smiled and began to recite the speech he'd been about to give before Ed threw his bike into his car. "I was hoping that someone with as much youthful, passionate spirit as you could work behind the scenes, drawing attention to the causes that are important parts of my platform. You could organize more protests, for one."

"Why would I want to help you?" Ed spat.

Roy's smiled faded. "I can give you a salary, for one. Or…are you a supporter of Bradley King?"

Ed walked straight up to him, and grabbed his tie, pulling him down to eye level. "Don't insult me," he sneered. "That bastard should rot in hell."

"Well," the politician said, "I am seeking to displace him."

The blonde teenager released him roughly then, and he thought about this opportunity for a moment. His brother, thankfully, had fallen silent, and he was free to think about this in his own screwed-up way.

"Fine," he said after a few minutes. "But only if we can get him out of office."

Roy smiled. "Thank you for your support."

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When Al and Ed arrived home, they found Envy in their living room, watching soft-core pornography while their mother busied herself in the kitchen, trying to ignore him and whatever activity he was engaged in.

Ed glared at his older half-brother for a moment before turning off the television. Envy jumped off the couch.

"What was that for, you shrimp?" he shouted at Ed. "That's really rude, you know, turning off the tellie when someone is watching it."

His displeasure was met with a glare, and Ed proceeded to remove the offensive DVD from their family's player and break it in two.

"Brother!" Al said under his breath as Envy stared at him in disbelief.

"Whatever," Ed said. "It's his fault for watching this cra—er, garbage," he amended, remembering that his mother was in the kitchen and that she could hear everything they said.

Al joined his mother in the kitchen, and he poured himself a glass of orange juice before whispering to her, "Hard times, huh?"

She smiled back. "I just can't talk to him."

He shook his head. "Envy's looking for attention, I think."

They heard a large crash originating from the living room, and Al rushed out of the kitchen first to see that Envy had pinned Ed down on top of the living room table.

"What's your problem?" Ed shouted as he tried to get out from under Envy's death grip.

His half-brother grinned down at him. "Just getting payback. That was a rental, you know, and I'm going to have to pay to replace it."

"Boys!" Tricia shouted weakly, not sure if she should try to pull them apart.

"What's all this noise?"

Ed turned his head and found that his father had entered the room, completely unwelcome in his opinion. "Your other son is being a BITCH," Ed said without thinking. He managed to get a knee in between Envy's legs, and his black-haired brother fell to the floor, holding his crotch and glaring at him.

Ed pushed himself off the table in time to see his mother's disappointed look. "It's about dinner time," she said distractedly. As if he had been called for, Al, her good son, joined her again in the kitchen, saying, "I'll help, mother."

Hohenheim looked back and forth between his eldest two sons and sighed. "It can't be helped," he said in exasperation. "You two, come outside with me."

"What for, old man?" Envy asked, glaring at his father from his position on the floor.

In an attempt to be 'the better son', Ed followed his father outside, wondering what was going to happen. His father had punished him physically when he was younger, and he expected the same now. He swallowed nervously as Envy joined him in their backyard.

Once both brothers had joined him, Hohenheim sighed. "You two…" he said.

"He started it!" Envy shouted, pointing at Ed. Ed glared back at him.

"You're breaking your mother's heart, Ed," Hohenheim said.

Ed stared at his father in shock. "How? He's the one that was…doing something rude to mother!"

"And Envy," Hohenheim said, ignoring Ed and turning to his eldest. "Be kinder to Tricia. This isn't our home, so we're guests, and we have to behave as such. Guests should act respectfully towards their hosts."

As much as he wanted to hear his father reprimand Envy, Ed felt his heart sink a little.

They were guests.

Their father made them fight it out after that, away from Tricia's concerned eyes. Al sighed as he heard the fight from the kitchen, and he brought his stereo down from his room to drown out the noise so that his mother would not be able to hear what their father was forcing his brothers to do to each other.

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I don't want Envy to belong here, but pops should! He's my father, for crying out loud! Even if he's always away, he's still my mother's husband, and he's my blood! Envy can die for all I care though, but he should do it somewhere else.

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