Whumptober 2020 Day 17: I Did Not See That Coming—Blackmail/Dirty Secret/Wrongfully Accused
Word Count: 816
Author: Katie/Ally (aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl)
Rating: T
Characters: Sheska
Summary: Someone is out to get Sheska—even if the have to falsify or inflame charges to do it.
Notes: Loosely based off of an rp that canisfuria and I started a while back

Arrested

Sheska bit her lip as she sat in the bare room, trying not to panic. She was only doing a so-so job at that. How could this have happened? How could she have been arrested to be court martialed!? She never did anything worth court martialing! She barely did anything that broke regulations!

Well… except for reading things she technically wasn't authorized to.

And letting Colonel Mustang into that records room that one time.

And technically that Aerugonian coffee was against regulations….

But it still shouldn't have been enough to get her court martialed! She had no idea how this had happened to her. Sheska was just glad that she hadn't been alone when the MP had come for her. He had been rude and demanding, and she had been shocked and terrified. Kain had been with her—they had just finished having lunch in the mess hall—and he had done his best to reassure her. When the MP had taken her anyway, he had promised to get her help.

She just hoped that it came soon.

If she was asked, Sheska was not afraid to admit that she was terrified. She had read many, many casefiles on what happened in these kinds of situations. She knew that court martials seldom ended well. Even knowing she was falsely accused didn't help her feel better. Maria Ross had been falsely accused as well, and they had railroaded her to the point that Colonel Mustang had stepped in and faked her death.

Sheska was pretty sure that wouldn't work a second time.

She worried her lip between her teeth and shifted in the hard chair she was sitting in. The room was barren, with nothing more than two other chairs and a table in it. There was one light, and a door, but no windows or anything else. Nothing for her to keep herself occupied or to mark the passage of time. She knew it was probably on purpose, but it didn't help her feel any better. So, she just sat there and fidgeted, unsure of how long she was in there before the door finally opened and she jumped at it.

A man walked in, a major, and he looked at her. "Private Sheska?"

"Y-yes, sir!" she said.

He nodded and closed the door behind him. "We have some questions for you."

"Um… sure?" she said, just now noticing another man who had come in, who had a pad and some paper. Perhaps he was going to write down what was said and done? She wasn't sure.

"Let's start with the basics," he said. "Your name is Sheska Nadzieja Brzęczyszczykiewicz?"

She was surprised that he didn't trip over her last name, but she nodded. "Y-yes, sir."

"And you are a private?"

"Yes sir."

"You are stationed in records?"

"Yes sir."

"And you were hired by the late Brigadier General Maes Hughes, correct?"

"Y-yes, sir."

The man nodded, and then moved to the chair across the table from Sheska.

"Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, I have questions for you."

Sheska didn't know how long the questioning went on for, but it felt like she had answered a million questions, many of them over and over again in different forms, before he finally finished. It was everything from what kind of files she had read, to who she had associated with, to where she was on certain days. She answered them as best and as honestly as she could, but she had the uncomfortable feeling that all they were doing was stacking something up against her. Finally, though, it ended.

"Alright. Thank you for your time Private Sheska," he said as he stood up.

"Oh, um… does that mean I can go now?" She certainly hoped that was what it meant.

"Go?" he said, sounding incredulous. "You admitted to reading records without authorization, of reproducing sensitive work and then selling it back to a state official, of allowing unauthorized personal access to a record's room, and then of lying to a superior officer, among other things. No, you're being put under arrest."

"What?!" she looked at him with wide eyes as he opened the door, admitting more MPs in. They came, one of them putting handcuffs on her. "W-wait! Don't I have some rights here?"

"We'll see," was all he said as he left the room, leaving Sheska in there with several MPs.

She began to panic as the MPs started to lead her out, and the had to half-push her along even as she was babbling out to them about just how scared she was. She had no idea what was going on or what to do, but she did catch a glimpse of Kain, Major Armstrong, and Colonel Mustang as she was escorted out of the building and to a waiting car.

She could only hope that they could help her.