"Are you going to go back to Risembool, Al?"
He shook his head slowly, arms crossed across his chest, golden eyes staring at the military headquarters.
"Are you going to stay here?"
The nod was just slight.
"What do you plan to do? I can't get an answer if you just keep nodding or shaking your head, you know." The brunette placed her hands on her hips, tilting her head stubbornly. "I don't like the look on your face, Al, you're creeping me out."
Sheska pouted anxiously, drumming her fingertips on her elbow. "Well, tell me what you're up to. C'mon Al. Please?"
"I want to work for the military. Access to documents I couldn't ordinarily get my hands on, research, even if I just work in bookkeeping, I don't present myself as much of a soldier and would never get a role as one."
Sheska bit her lip. "Picturing you in a military uniform is actually kind of funny, Al."
He turned slightly, "I'm not fooling around."
She paused to take in his stance, and took notice of something that she should've been well aware of from the start. Gold eyes were narrowed, arms crossed defensively across his form—she should have known that he wasn't joking around from the moment they left her apartment. She should've known and somehow felt guilty for not.
"Go speak to Second Lieutenant Ross," Sheska declared quietly.
Al turned, brows furrowed, curious.
"She's been looking for help in the Investigations Division. She doesn't have a lot of leverage, but she has some. Her, and Sergeant Denny Brosch, they work together. They know you, or rather knew you. For a while they worked for Major Armstrong, before he left. I know they wanted help, and since they used to know you, they can point you in the right direction—that is, if they can't get you in themselves."
"I thought that Winry said you worked in Investigations?"
Sheska shook her head slowly. "No," she mumbled. "Lieutenant Col—I mean, Brigadier General Hughes fired me. I guess he was trying to be protective, but even when I went back to work at Central headquarters, I couldn't bear to take up a position he ordered me to leave. I felt like it would…" she paused, biting her lip. "Like dishonoring a man's last wish."
Gold eyes widened, "What?"
Slowly, the brunette folded her hands in front of her, swallowing thickly. "He fired me."
"I got that part," he said slowly. "What do you mean when you say—"
"He was killed by a homunculus named Envy," Sheska blurted suddenly, green eyes wide with nerves, brimming slightly with tears. "He fired me when he was running out of the office, so I wouldn't get tangled up in the information he found out."
For a moment, they were both silent, Sheska wavering slightly as she fought back the tears. "I couldn't go back to Investigations even when they asked me to. I just couldn't."
Alphonse stood quietly, before turning to her, the frown on his face deepening, and he opened his mouth to say something. She was quiet for a moment, a hand going up to silence him, before nudging him forwards, voice wavering as she shifted her gaze to the cobblestones beneath her feet. "Go ask for Lieutenant Ross."
"I'm sorry, Sheska," he murmured as he stalked towards the building, feeling as though he had gone digging through a grave only to find more dead bodies than he had bargained for.
She stared at the ground where Alphonse had previously been standing, before turning to leave, shaking her head. "So am I."
"Alphonse?"
The boy looked up from the file folder he was holding, to see a young woman standing directly in front of him, appearing to be particularly puzzled. Her black hair was cropped short against her face, and her smile widened when he responded to his name.
"I don't believe that's you, Al," she said quietly, taking a seat next to him. "You look so different. But you have the same eyes as your brother, you know."
He sat still, nodding slowly.
For a moment, Second Lieutenant Maria Ross sat nervously beside him, sensing the tension radiate from his form. Finally, she heaved a sigh, gray eyes closing just slightly. "I forgot," she said. "Sheska had warned me that you wouldn't remember me. Second Lieutenant Maria Ross." Finally, she bowed her head to Al in a proper introduction, and he responded.
"Alphonse Elric."
Ross had to laugh at that, though it was tense and even bordered on forced. "I didn't need you to tell me that. I remember you."
The comment stung, but he forced a small smile, nodding. "Sorry. Sheska told me I should come to you if I was hoping to get work here."
She folded her hands in her lap, the small falling just slightly. "Why would you want to work in the military, Al? That sort of life doesn't seem to suit you."
"I need access to documents, to figure out whatever I can to find brother. I need to support myself, because I won't go back to Risembool. I…can't."
Her gaze softened, and she rested a palm on his leg, "I'll see if we can find something for you. The Investigations Division needs a bookkeeper. I don't suppose you have a photographic memory, but you always did present yourself as an intelligent young man. I'm sure I could find something."
"Well?"
Sheska looked up from her work, eyes wide. Green met gold, and she immediately saw the hints of frustration there. She froze, puzzled. "Al…?"
"Investigations won't take me," he declared quietly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "The second I finished getting my application in, Lieutenant Hawkeye, I think it was, came up to me and explained that, if hired, herself and her superior officer wanted me to work with them."
Sheska paused, pen colliding with countertop. "Lieutenant Hawkeye tracked you down? And then asked you to work with…" The girl struggled to process the information.
"I knew her?"
For what felt like the thousandth time that day, Sheska nodded. It was so painfully awkward, she had noticed, seeing the confusion plastered on his face when someone looked at him with a recognizing smile, and all he could do was stare blankly back at them. The confusion didn't suit his features. "You knew her. Your brother worked for Brigadier General Mustang when he was still a Colonel. He was the Flame Alchemist."
Al nodded slowly, looking to the floor. "Did I know everyone there?"
"Most of them, at least somewhat," Sheska replied. "I can't believe you never got told the whole story of the military proceedings, since the information you two found came primarily from military sources, I'm surprised Winry left out all those details."
He shrugged slowly, "maybe they're details she doesn't really know."
It was quiet for a few moments. "I need to give you a crash-course on who you're going to meet in Central who will recognize you or your name," she declared suddenly, slamming both palms on the desk. "I hate to see that look on your face; there are points where I'm just waiting for a question-mark to pop out of your skull."
That said, she began rummaging through her desk, mumbling something incoherently under her breath as she searched. Finally, she took out a small photo album, and placed it atop the papers, pointing to the chair. "Well?"
Slipping into the seat beside her desk, he sat down, focused intently on mastering information that he had previously known.
