Title: Sowing the Seeds of Love
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Rating: PG-13ish, for a lot of cursing and some innuendo later on.
Summary: It's time for the Fuhrer's birthday! Also, our favorite band of characters get plagued by a love poem...but who wrote it?
I am retarded. So is one of my friends, because she ENCOURAGED ME. So blame her too. Don't even bother trying to figure out where this fits in continuity...apparently, I decided that Roy and Company moved back to Central before Hughes died. And that everyone knew Archer before he ever even like said a word. I am an idiot. Fullmetal Alchemist is property of Aniplex, Square Enix, Funimation, Hiromu Arakawa, Bones, and like 80 bajillion other people before I'd ever get my hands on it. Which...if this is any indication is probably for the better. cough
Also, take this seriously and I swear to God I'll have to kick your ass. I mean it. It's retarded. Poem is a song by Ryan Cabrera. Also, Hughes likes KC and the Sunshine Band. What? It works.
----
It was afternoon when the author put down a pen, pausing only to re-read the finished words. It had taken hours --- wait, scratch that. It had taken days of hard labor, blood, sweat, and tears to finish. It was perfect.
I won't talk, I won't breathe...
I won't move 'til you finally see that you belong with me.
You might think I don't look...
But deep inside of the corner of my mind I'm attached to you.
I'm weak, it's true 'cause I'm afraid to know the answer.
Do you want me too? 'Cause my heart keeps falling faster.
I've waited all my life to cross this line to the only thing that's true.
So I will not hide, it's time to try anything to be with you.
All my life I've waited, this is true.
You don't know what you do every time you walk into the room---
I'm afraid to move.
I'm weak, it's true...I'm just scared to know the ending.
Do you see me too? Do you even know you met me?
I've waited all my life to cross this line to the only thing that's true.
So I will not hide, it's time to try anything to be with you.
All my life I've waited, this is true.
I know when I go I'll be on my way to you---
The way that's true.
I've waited all my life to cross this line to the only thing that's true.
So I will not hide, it's time to try anything to be with you.
All my life I've waited...this is true.
Nodding once more with approval, it was left on the desk as the author left to go to lunch. Perfection indeed...all it needed was to be shared.
Too bad a gust of wind from an opened window totally ruined everything.
----
Winry Rockbell could barely contain her excitement. She bounced like a schoolgirl on the train as it neared the station in Central. She also couldn't help but look down at the letter in her hands for the hundredth time that day.
"Dear Winry---
It's been way too long since you've been to see us here in Central, or Ed and Al for that matter. So here's your chance!
I'm sending you a pass to the celebrations for Fuhrer Bradley's birthday. Please do everything you can to come for it, and of course you're welcome to stay with us during your visit.
We're all looking forward to seeing you again! Take care!
--- Maes Hughes
PS --- I've enclosed some pictures of Elysia so you can see how big she's gotten! Isn't she precious?"
After she had dug through the mountain of photographs featuring the youngest member of the Hughes family (which had promptly answered the question of why such a small envelope had needed so much in postage) she found her passes. She also bought her train ticket, a new dress, and did a huge celebratory dance through her house.
Every year for the Fuhrer's birthday, there was a three-day festival in Central that would lead up to a huge formal banquet and ball on the actual day itself. Bradley apparently loved parties, and this was nothing short of legendary. Anyone who was anyone was in attendance.
And this year, she was going! She couldn't wait to see the look on Ed and Al's faces when she walked in, all dressed up and everything.
She was actually still dancing over it. In fact, she was so excited, she didn't notice the piece of paper floating in through her open window and covering up the letter from Hughes.
----
"I'm really not up for this."
Alphonse Elric looked down at his older brother with a confused expression. "Up for what?"
"This. This whole, 'hey you gotta report in with Colonel Jackass and oh by the way it's the Fuhrer's birthday...where are your dress blues small-fry, you know the custom ones we had made because you're so teeny and small' bullshit." The blond hair was brushed out of Ed's eyes in a very frustrated manner. "I hate dressing up. I might as well get court-martialed or something. It'd be a lot easier to deal with."
Oh that. At times like those, Al wondered what would happen if he were to transmute the cross on Ed's jacket to read "Drama Queen" in glitter. Frightened by the images that resulted, he went back to the matter at hand. "Don't you think you're over-reacting a bit, brother? The Colonel's been very nice to you the last few times you've been to see him. And the birthday celebration last year was actually a lot of fun."
"Fun if you like making polite conversation with people you don't know well. Fun if you like that whole pomp and circumstance while wearing a stuffy wool uniform crap." Edward blanched at the memory. He had been struggling with his collar all evening.
Last year, the promise of an extravagantly fantastic meal had suckered Ed into agreeing to go to the festivities for Bradley's birthday, even going so far as to drag Al along for the ride.
The fact that Mustang had somehow neglected to remind Ed that technically he was a Major in the army and therefore he was technically required to attend in full military dress was pretty messed up in Ed's book. The second he saw the uniform on his bed he nearly learned Flame Alchemy just to get revenge. He hated stuffiness and more to the point, he thought the shade of blue in the uniform made him look sickly. Never mind the fact that he knew the Colonel had been biting back laughter every time he looked in his direction.
The rat bastard.
Al swallowed his laughter as they entered the main hall of Central Headquarters. Ed in that uniform while having the facial expression of a cat caught in the rain...that was pretty funny. Maybe this year he'd have to wear the hat too... Unable to hide the snicker that time, Al quickly coughed when Ed turned on him.
"Um...you're going to be late if we don't go ahead with this, right?"
"Yeah, yeah." There was grumbling along the lines of "wish I were dead" and "stupid no-account Mustang."
Yup. Drama Queen in glitter. Maybe also some sequins. A familiar silhouette at the front desk quickly caught his attention. "Isn't that Winry?"
It certainly was. Or rather, it was her back as she was arguing with the clerk about something.
"I already told you…I have a special pass for this! I'm not supposed to need someone to sign me in! You're supposed to let me straight in to see…"
"Winry?" Ed and Al walked over to her, Al with a smile and Ed confused. "What are you doing here?"
For some reason, she jumped. "Ed? Oh hey Ed! You're not supposed to see me until…" She suddenly blushed and coughed. "I mean, HI! Funny running into you here! Ehehehhehehehe…" Her laughter was a little manic and it caused the brothers to look at each other.
"Right. What are you doing here?" Ed suddenly got a concerned look on his face. "There's nothing wrong with my auto-mail is there?"
"Wrong with your auto-mail? What is that supposed to mean?" The clerk cleared his throat, and Winry quickly remembered where they were. "No I'm here because of…um…it's…" She blushed even deeper this time, her hand on a piece of paper on the edge of the desk. The hell?
"Winry." Ed smiled too innocently for his (or anyone's) own good. He casually slid next to her, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Why are you in Central?"
"Excuse me?" The clerk looked up from his phone. "Miss Rockbell? You can be seen now."
Winry grinned triumphantly. "Thank you." Grabbing her suitcase, she turned to the brothers. "I gotta go…I'll explain everything later!" She then grabbed her suitcase and took off at a dead sprint down the hall. "See you!"
Al shook his head. Ed blinked down at the paper on the edge of the desk. "Winry! Wait! You forgot your…" He looked down at the words on the letter.
I won't move 'til you finally see that you belong with me.
Wait…what?
He looked at it again.
And again.
Now, the Fullmetal Alchemist was often hailed as a hero of the common man, and some would say a legend in his own time. He was a prodigy and a genius when it came to all things involving alchemy.
He was also a complete dumbass when it came to girls.
So at this particular moment, imagine if you will a hamster running on a wheel. Imagine the wheel knocking a ball down a chute, and then imagine the ball striking a match. The match then lights a candle, which then burns a rope that sends a swing over that knocks down a cup and thusly traps a mouse underneath. These were the mechanics behind his analysis of the last five minutes of his life.
And suddenly, Edward Elric came to a realization. Winry's hesitation to tell them about the reason for her sudden arrival, her blushing, this letter…
Winry, the girl who he had made mud-pies with as a child. The girl who he had scared with ooey-gooey worms…the girl who he made a doll for using alchemy and was basically his sister without the blood was in love with him. And there was only one thing he could say to that.
"Oh, shit."
----
"So...who's it gonna be this time? Think it's another one from the secretary pool?"
Thwak!
"Nah. They're all old news, if you catch my drift."
Thwak!
"Well, what about the new girls in the medical units? There're some pretty nurses these days."
"Nah. Most of them are dating the doctors, or are already married."
"What are you two going on about?" Cain Fuery looked up from the report he had been going through at Havoc and Breda.
"Oh, just who the Colonel's gonna take to the party Saturday." Havoc took aim with his dart. So far he was kicking Breda's ass and loving it. Thwak! "He's been through so many girls recently, it's hard to say what he'll do next. Or who, rather." Breda snorted.
First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye rolled her eyes over her book. The men she worked with were all worse than a group of giggling teenage girls. "Don't you two have something more constructive to do? Such as the paperwork in front of you that doesn't involve gossiping about the love life of your C.O.?"
Breda shrugged and looked at Havoc. Havoc thought really hard for a moment.
"Eh. No one's doing any work right now anyways, what with all of the party planning." Havoc scratched his head absently with the tip of a dart. "'Sides, like you're not curious about it either." He took aim once more.
Before she could reply, a knock sounded at the office door. It was then quickly opened by Edward and Alphonse Elric.
CLANG!
The latter promptly getting a dart stuck in the softer part of his armor where his shoulder would have been.
And also where Ed would have been had he had a growth spurt since he turned ten.
Al blinked. "Um..."
"Um,' indeed." Hawkeye looked almost smug as she took a sip of her tea. The other blond lieutenant looked somewhat embarrassed.
Well, as embarrassed as Havoc ever got anyways.
"Oops. Sorry Boss. Sorry Al." He gently pulled the dart out, patting the metal fondly.
"It's okay, Lieutenant. You couldn't have known we were about to come through the door." Edward stood with a piece of paper looking distracted, clearly not having even noticed the dart. "Right brother?"
"Yeah peanut butter sounds good," he mumbled. For some reason there was a slight blush on his face. Hawkeye looked at Al, who did the international hand motion for "Don't look at me."
"Edward? The Colonel is expecting…" Falman randomly throwing his inbox across the room in a panic cut off her words.
They all stared at the Warrant Officer as he continued his miniature breakdown. At least, he continued until he realized that everyone was gawking at him.
He coughed. "Excuse me," he muttered as he bowed and then ran flailing out the door.
Havoc's jaw dropped so far that his cigarette fell to the ground.
"Looks like someone took his crazy pills this morning." Breda shrugged as he realized the young alchemist was rather preoccupied. "Hey Fullmetal? Whatcha got there?"
Ed suddenly started, shoving the letter into a large folder. "Uh nothing. Nothing. Certainly nothing interesting like a love letter or some such. Ha! Hahahahaha!" He put his hand behind his head as he laughed. Again, Hawkeye looked at Al who this time did the sign for "I got nothin'."
Breda blinked. Speaking of crazy… Hawkeye remembered herself and cleared her throat.
"As I was saying, Colonel Mustang's expecting you." She smiled. "How was your expedition back to Xenotime?"
Ed stopped laughing. "Eh, nothing exciting. The town's still cleaning up from before." He shrugged. "I guess it's back to square one like always."
Riza nodded. "Well, I'm sure the Colonel will hear all about it."
The young alchemist got an almost feral grin on his face. "Oh he sure will. He can read all about it too…I'm finally a step ahead for once! I've already written detailed reports in triplicate!" There practically was an audible fanfare as he dropped the over-flowing folder onto Fuery's desk, scaring the poor man out of his concentration.
Riza raised an eyebrow. "How forward-thinking of you, Edward. I'll let the Colonel know that you're ready to speak with him."
----
The key to being a good soldier was always being two steps ahead of your enemy. This was something that Roy Mustang preached and lived…he even believed it to be the secret to his becoming Fuhrer one day.
However, when your enemy was the Central Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle, and it was now Thursday…that was little different.
"What is on earth is a five letter word for female dog," he muttered as he chewed on the end of his pen in annoyance. "I just don't know…it intersects with the first letter in fifteen across, and that answer is 'calliope.' So what on Earth…" A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in." He quickly put some paperwork on top of the crossword.
Lt. Hawkeye opened his door. "Edward Elric is here, sir. He's returned from Xenotime to go over the results of his investigations."
Oh. Right. "Send him in." He set the paperwork aside, grudgingly eyeing the puzzle. He wasn't going to get anything done until it was finished...he just knew it.
"Here I am Colonel. I'm all yours." Ed sat casually on the leather sofa, the overflowing folder in his arms.
"Indeed," Roy raised his eyebrow again. "So…what did you find?"
Edward shrugged. "Clean up's still going on, people aren't getting sick anymore. Pretty normal, and no leads on the Philosopher's stone. Not a whole lot going on there, I'm afraid."
Roy nodded, his eyes straying to his crossword puzzle. Better to usher the kid out quickly so he could get back to it…the answer was so close he could taste it. "Hm. Well, that's fine then."
Gold eyes blinked once, twice at him. "Uh…sir? Don't you want my reports?" His right hand pointed down to the large folder.
"That's not really necessary. You said you found nothing and I believe you. Why waste the paperwork? Don't worry about it." What on Earth could that word be?
Instead of looking thrilled like he expected, Edward instead looked…annoyed? What? Why wouldn't he leave? "Colonel, I insist you take the report."
…Okay… "Edward, I just explained that it's a waste of everyone's..."
"YOU"RE TAKING MY REPORT!" Edward screamed as he slammed the papers down on Mustang's desk, the folder flying open from the force of the blow. His skin was red and blotchy, his eyes wild.
"Uh…" Staring at the new cracks in his desk, Roy put an indulgent smile on his face. "Of course I will, Edward." He very gently slid the folder across his desk. "Is there…anything else?"
Suddenly remembering himself, Edward turned red for a completely different reason…embarrassment. "Um…no sir. Nothing." He started to tiptoe out the door. "I'lljustbegoingthanksbye."
Roy cleared his throat. "Edward." The teenager froze, pausing before he reluctantly turned around.
"Sir?"
"Don't forget about the ball on Saturday. You'll need to have your uniform pressed and boots polished this time."
Sagging in defeat, Edward sighed. "Yes sir." He opened the door and before it shut behind him a tinny voice asking "Brother? Why were you shouting at the Colonel?" was heard.
Thank God. Now he could get back to what was important. He proceeded to move the folder a little to the left and couldn't help but skim the first page.
He then stopped what he was doing and went back to read it more thoroughly. Hm. Well that explained why Fullmetal was so insistent about him taking the reports. Roy read it one final time just to be sure.
That was about when he started to laugh.
----
There were several things in the world that Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Archer hated.
He hated people who slacked off and somehow got promoted without working for it. He hated people who instead of making the system work for them cheated it entirely. He hated the fact that he had yet to be able to secure his place in the history books and that he was only a Lieutenant Colonel. He hated smooth jazz.
"Girl, to be with youuu is my favorite thiiing! I just can't wait until I seee you againnnn!"
Oh yes, and he hated Lieutenant-Colonel Maes Hughes.
Not to say he didn't respect the man…he had a sharp intellect and talent with his knives to match. He was excellent at doing his job, only matched by Archer himself. He had nothing but appreciation for his skills on and off the battlefield.
"I'm gonna put onnnnnnn, my my my my my boogie shoes, and boogie with you da da! Da da da, da da!"
He just…he hated that guy.
"I wanna put on my my my my my boogie shoes, just to boogie with…oh, hey Frankie. How's it going?" Hughes finally stopped the infernal dance number from next to his files. Well, if he stopped singing he might actually make it through this encounter without having to look through a photo album.
For once.
Archer sighed. "It's "Frank," Hughes. 'Archer' preferably."
"Sure, Frankie." Archer twitched involuntarily. "Anyways, what brings you here? Another court-martial?"
"No, I'm actually here because the General has some questions regarding the last report filed regarding Edward Elric's activities with the Crystal Alchemist." Not to mention, I want to know what he's up to.
Hughes blinked. "Oh. I don't have those anymore. You'd have to get them from Colonel Mustang." He then brightened considerably. "Say while you're here, I need to show you the latest pictures of my darling Elysia! She got her Halloween costume last week and…"
No. Oh dear Lord…no. Archer began to back away slowly when Hughes's aide, She-ra or whatever it was, opened the door.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes? Your guest has arrived." A pretty blonde girl closely followed the aide, carrying a suitcase in her right hand. The girl was blushing a little as she grinned at Hughes.
Archer raised both eyebrows. The girl couldn't have possibly been older than fifteen…she certainly wasn't his wife and she was too old to be another child of Hughes's.
"Winry! I was wondering when you'd get here!" He gave the girl a huge hug that almost suffocated her. "It's been far too long! How was the train ride? You had no problems getting here, I hope?"
Too long? Problems? Archer was, understandably, confused. What in the hell?
She grinned. "Not really. But I think my cover's blown…I ran into you-know-who on my way up here. I just kinda blew off explaining what I was doing until later, though."
"Oh good." Hughes grinned back. "I'd hate for all of our sneaking around to be ruined this soon." He then whispered something into her ear. She returned the favor when he was done. He laughed, stopping abruptly when he remembered that Archer was still in the room. "You'll have to excuse me, Frankie. I need to go over some things with my guest."
Still confused, he showed himself to the door. "That's fine, Hughes. I'll just…come back by some other time. I'll go speak to Mustang." He wasn't even acknowledged as he walked out, Hughes too busy talking to Winnie or...whatever.
Sneaking around, hmmm? Returning his expression to normal, he started to go over everything. A young girl escorted into his office secretly, being seen by someone she shouldn't have…it could only mean one thing.
So the army's resident family man is having an affair with a much younger girl. That's certainly interesting. The expression turned into an icy smirk. Very interesting.
So far caught up in his plans, it took Archer twenty minutes to realize he was lost.
