When You Judge
Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Hiromu Arakawa. I'm just borrowing them for a bit of non-profit angst.
The bar was packed that night; a bunch of out of towners, tourists, had arrived with the last train of the day and were stranded for the night. Not that the bartender minded, he could use a little extra business.
The touristswere scattered around the bar in small cozy groups. They kept to themselves mostly; except the drunk. The man had dark hair, handsome features and was doing his level best to make friends with every female in the room. The locals ignored him, the tourists put up with him with a sort of resigned amusement. None of the locals noticed the small bits of alchemy that turned the tourists' drinks into fruit juice as the drunk dropped by their tables.
A few more regulars trickled in. The bartender frowned when a group of localsin the corner started getting loud. He knew they were going to bring trouble down on the whole town one day, if they hadn't already.
"State Alchemists, feh. They're nothing," the group's ringleader declared. He dug a silver pocket watch out of his coat pocket. "They ever stick their noses in our business again and we'll deal with them the same way we did this one."
The drunk accidently bumped into the man hard enough toknock him halfway onto the table.Rather than staggering onwardthe drunk continued leaning against the group's ringleader. The ringleader struggled to push the other man off him and realized that he didn't have the leverage to accomplishhis goal.He turned to shout angerily at the drunk, only the stranger wasn't smiling now and he didn't seem at allinebriatedwhen he pinned the ringleader's hand against the table. The pocket watch fell out of the ringleader's hand, he felt more than saw the stranger raise his free hand.
The rest of the group started backing away. They all looked scared as they stared at the array embossed on the back of the stranger's white glove. One man broke and ran. A bespectacled man who had been sitting near the door showing his tablemates pictures of his daughter caught the runner and put a knife to the man's throat. "You don't want to leave now," the bespectacled man insisted. "We've been waiting all night for you and your friends to arrive."
The other members of the group were having problems of their own in the form of a cold-eyed blond woman with a gun. "I believe the Colonel was about to give you an object lesson," she said. The people backing her up smirked evilly.
The group looked toward the back door. A giant of a man stood there scowling at them.
The bystanders pressed themselves against the wall but were too afraid to even try to leave.
The Colonel held the ringleader pinned at the center of the cleared space. His icy, level voice carried to every part of the room. "You killed a fifteen-year-old boy who only wanted to help people. You left his sixteen-year-old brother to die in a hole in the ground with only his brother's body for company. And you brag about that."
The ringleader flinched at the sound of fingers snapping near his ear. His outstretched arm caught fire. He bucked upwards in an attempt to escape but the Colonel had all the leverage. After a few seconds the ringleader's angry, frightened screams turned to pure agony. The horrific smell of burnt flesh filled the bar, slowly the man quieted as he slipped into shock.
The Colonel released him to curl up on the floor in fetal position. The ringleader cradled his cauterized stump of an arm to his chest, the other members of the group stared at the blackened bones protruding grotesquely from his flesh.
Roy picked Edward's watch out of the ashes and bones left on the table then he turned to address the room. "Trust me, I know why you hate State Alchemist and the Military. But you named Fullmetal the people's hero. You knew he tended to ignore or circumvent orders and regulations to live up to our motto: Alchemist, be thou for the people. But these idiots never looked beyond the watch he carried."
The guilty group cowered on the floor under Hawkeye's watchful gaze. The rest of the townspeople didn't look much better.
"Edward was here to help you," Roy continued, there was an undercurrent of disgust in his voice. "You'll note that the corrupt officials are gone. It took longer without Fullmetal's flare, but it happened. There won't be any reprisals against those of you who stood by and did nothing."
He glared at the guilty parties. "You on the other hand, are under arrest for murder, the attempted murder of a State Alchemist and conspiring against the State. Each of those charges all carry a death penalty."
