Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist except Trey.
Nobody understood Trey; not even Colonel Mustang or first Lieutenant Hawkeye. Even through their attempts to make her feel at home were welcomed with a shudder. She didn't accept it, and they gave up trying.
"Hey, pipsqueak, you better not be smoking that!"
Well, almost everyone. There was only one other person that would put up with Trey and gave her orders when no one else dared to.
"Aww, c'mon, chief. It's a blunt, isn't it?"
Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc snatched the cigarette away from Trey's fingers. He tried to look stern as he lectured, "Smoking at a young age is bad for you, do you understand me?" Trey tried not to grin.
"Rather hypocritical of you."
From the dry humor tone, Havoc didn't even need to turn around. He groaned as he pocketed the cigarette.
"Might I also suggest that you should be on task?"
Havoc sat down quickly and busied himself with some imporant looking pencils. In actuality, he was just scribbling nonsense with a broken pen he kept for such situations. As soon as Hawkeye left, Havoc breathed a sigh of relief. He looked Trey in the eye and said, "Now, look what you made me do. You made me get in trouble with the man."
"The man, huh? Can you say that to her face?"
Havoc shook his head fiercely. He whispered, "You gotta' be totally out of your mind to even think about talking back to Hawkeye." He lowered his voice down a notch and said, "If you can manage to grab both her guns anyway, she could still look you down. She's all business, that's what she is." Looking around cautiously, Havoc pulled out the pocketed cigarette and lit it. He leaned back into his chair with his arms folded behind his head as a cushion, smoking pleasantly.
"Havoc!"
Havoc jumped at the voice and buried his head into the column of papers stacked on his desk. Hawkeye as official as ever walked up to Trey and said sternly, "Don't you have anything better to do than mess around with second Lieutenant Havoc?" Trey stood right in front of her without showing any fear.
"Yeah, but I just choose not to do them."
Havoc looked up slowly. He was stunned. So was just about everybody else with hearing distance. Hawkeye was glaring down at her, but Trey seemed to ignore the fact that her superior officer was not a patient woman. Even Mustang looked up from his desk with an amused look in his eyes and a smile on his lips.
"You can't faze me, Lieutenant."
Trey was the one who was talking brave now.
"Oh, really? And why is that?"
Trey grinned. Hawkeye had taken the bait like a hungry fish. Trey clapped her hands together and then sided them. Like lightning, sudden ice stoppers were plugged into the barrels of each gun that Hawkeye was prepared to draw out. Silent chuckles here and there and exchanged grins were being passed about. Before Hawkeye was about to explode, Mustang called out, "Lieutenant, get to work on these papers!" He winked at Trey. Havoc was grinning like a jack-o-lantern. He kept whispering, "That was some crazy trick, kid. Crazy trick."
"Havoc! Get to work!"
Hawkeye was at it again, but Havoc knew all the rules for slipping and sliding during work hours. When the time hit five in the evening, the rest of the military crew was gone. It was only down to four now: Mustang, Hawkeye, Havoc, and Trey. Havoc stood up and grabbed his coat. He grabbed Trey's wrist and said, "C'mon, we're going for a night out on the town." They left through the door. Havoc's unfinished papers still laid in a disorganized fashion on his desk.
"Sir, is that entirely safe?"
Hawkeye asked Mustang. Mustang pointed out, "It's Havoc we're talking about. He knows better."
"Yes, I do."
Havoc's face popped out from the door. His grin was easy now with his signature cigarette hanging loosely from the corner of his mouth. When he spoke, his mouth was a bit muffled but still understandable. He called out, "Lieutenant, I'll bring her back to your place, OK? But if the snow gets too deep, don't wait out." Hawkeye proceeded to say something, but Havoc had disappeared.
"Don't worry about those two. They'll be fine."
Mustang's words weren't very reassuring. Hawkeye said uneasily, "I'd like to follow them, sir, if you don't mind." Mustang crossed his arms against his chest. He said firmly, "I do mind. Havoc won't do anything stupid." Hawkeye sighed, recognizing defeat. She replied, "I know, sir, but it's not him I'm worried about."
"Yo, man, what you staring at?"
The tough, gangly looking boy glared down at the speaker. Trey was all business when it came to confrontations that she knew how to deal with. Havoc's eyes widened, but he stepped out of the way to let Trey handle it. The boy advanced forward with a sick look. He growled, "You better not be talking to me." Trey, too, advanced. They were very close now, their curves being filled in by the others.
"What if I am, huh? What you gonna' do about it?"
They were walking in circles slowly. The guy growled, "Are you challenging me? I'll teach you not to mess with your betters!" He pushed Trey back hard. She didn't fall, but instinctively pushed the guy back. There would've been a fight if it wasn't for the guy's father running up from the block. He was yelling, "Get off my son, you hoodlum!" The father was a rough character, huge and built like a whale.
"Girlie, you better not have been messing with my son!"
The father raised an arm. Did Trey cringe? No. It was just her angry glare that was setting off sparks in the father's brain. Havoc came out from the shadows. As the father's arm came swinging down, Havoc caught it easily. The father was enraged.
"Who the hell do you think you are, buddy?"
Havoc showed off part of his uniform. He announced nonchalantly, "Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc. I just saw what happened. Your son tried to beat up my little sister over here." The cigarette in his mouth was doing little to raise up the father's confidence. The father stepped back while pulling his son roughly behind him. He stammered.
"Officer, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
Havoc growled, losing his cool-guy image, "Yeah? I'll give you ten seconds to get out of my sight or else I'll turn you in. Understand?" The pair just stared at him in disbelief. Havoc then raised his voice, "Did you not hear me? You want me to change my mind?" That did it. They ran as fast as they could, up and out of the block. Trey was beside him and cracking up.
"Trey, that wasn't funny. You could've gotten hurt."
Trey grinned.
"Now, you sound like Hawkeye."
Havoc pretended to look shocked and hurt. He then pitched his voice high and said squeakily, "Trey, I'm going to report you to Colonel Mustang! Move it! Left, right, left, right! No, that's not your left!" Trey laughed a little. Havoc grabbed her in a lock-hold and taunted, "Say uncle." Trey struggled hard, but Havoc was stronger than he appeared to be. Soon after he released her, they walked and had off-topic conversations that resulted in laughter. They were looking at the city with interest, particularly Trey who had never been here before.
"Hey, chief, what's that?"
Trey pointed at a building decorated colorfully. Havoc squinted his eyes and answered, "That's an old arcade. But from the looks of it, winter hit them hard cold." The snow was falling fast now. They drudged their way through a couple inches of slush to a heated cafe.
"So, a girl like yourself, how the hell did you land up here?"
Trey blinked.
"What are you talking about?"
Havoc grandly held out his arms.
"In this loving home we call the military."
Trey leaned back in her chair and rested her head as her feet swayed to the silent music in her mind. Her voice came out small but mysteriously, "By some miracle of misfortune." Havoc nodded his head. A strange answer, but then again, Trey wasn't the average teenager. Havoc hummed lightly, a few bars of a song he had memorized back then. Trey stopped swaying, and hers eyes widened upon hearing the song. An old song passed from generation to generation; the stanzas that tell about the people of Ishbal awaiting the coming of their Lord. Unaware of the silence, Havoc continued to hum as he closed his eyes a little.
"And even though they try to pull me down, I'll stand strong for you, my god..."
Havoc opened his eyes. For a long time, nobody spoke. Then his voice came out trembling.
"How do you know that song?"
Trey slumped down on her chair. She said softly, "My parents used to sing that to me to sleep every night."
"So, you're... an Ishvarite?"
Trey didn't nod, but Havoc knew anyway. He said bitterly remembering the years of death and torture, "That was a terrible war. I enlisted when I was twenty. Thought it'd be a blast and get my folks off my back." He lit a cigarette and inhaled. As he exhaled, he sighed. They talked rather reluctantly about the Ishbal war - Havoc speaking as a soldier forced to fight, and Trey speaking as the terrorized victim.
"It feels like there's nothing left."
Havoc suddenly jumped a little from his seat and moved forward in one quick movement. Trey's head popped back just a little.
"Don't say that. There's still me."
His words sound determined that made Trey believe him. Havoc said, "Living this tortured hell of a life makes me feel like I'm lower than dirt. But that's the beauty of it, Trey. Living in misery is like trying to reach a star." He stared out into the window deeply watching the snowfall.
"Even though you'll never reach it, you still gotta' keep on trying."
He turned back to Trey.
"And I'll never be that far."
He exhaled, letting out a large smoke ring. He watched Trey carefully from the corner of his eye and knew that she was miles away from him. So many miles as though the distance was beyond her, as if she didn't realize her mind was drifting so far.