Live for yourself this time around, Little Alchemist
Chapter 004
Author: Black Dragon on the Rocks/Animealam/Alandrem
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Nope, the characters here don't belong to me. I'm not making any money out of this, and it's for my own enjoyment and that of those who read it.
Summary: Truth did not accept Ed's alchemy as payment for his brother, instead It asked for Ed's body and two favors. Ed would be able to do what no male alchemist could, bring forth life. The favors? Save a world were his counterpart died during the Human Transmutation, and live for herself this time around. Ed agreed, he'd do anything for Alphonse, even becoming a girl. Not Mpreg, no slash.
Characters: Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Truth, Jean Havoc, Heyman Breda, Kain Fuery, Vato Falman, Granny Pinako, Winry, King Bradley, Various Homunculi, Alphonse Elric, Van Hohenheim, OCs, Mentions of the Avengers, Maybe some Avengers, Tony Stark almost a given.
Warnings: Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Dimension Travel, Alternate UniverseDe-Aging, Fem!Ed, Violence, Angst, Drama, Gore, Magic, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Alternate Universe, OOCness, Canon typical violence, Mentions of sexual harassment, Roy/Ed very far in the future, World Building, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Explicit Language, Ed swears... a lot, Modern Era, Modern Amestris, Will add tags as I go,
Pairing: Future Fem!Ed/Roy... maybe.
Timeline: Mixed timelines. Starts with Brotherhood - Post Promised Day, then it's mostly Anime 2003 until after Youswell, Some Brotherhood, Starts - Post Ed's 1st human transmutation, Avengers Movie.
Keys:
"Dialog" Normal dialog.
'Thoughts' Thoughts
"Dialog" Conversations on the phone, radio, video.
Author Notes: Thanks for the review/comments as well as the kudos. It makes the muses happy.
As I mentioned, I was not sure whether to mark this as a full crossover or not, and I've decided I won't (in Fanfiction dot Net, but I might add it in AO3 if/when the time comes), mostly because the Avengers will be mentioned, and there might or might not be a few scenes with them but this will always be more about fixing the Promised Day than being in other fandoms.
I haven't planned as far as Promised Day, so I can't guarantee the Avengers making another appearance, as anything I write has a tendency to see the outline, then throw it out the window and go its own way.
There's a bit of action in this chapter, and if you've seen the 2003 anime, you'll recognize the scene. Just a reminder that this is Brotherhood Ed, discovering more of the differences between his original Dimension, and the new one.
Also, if anyone is interested, I have a Spotify Playlist which I use for writing. It's mostly epic type of music which I use to inspire me, specially to plan fight scenes. I'll add the link in the next chapter if any of you want to hear it. One of my favorites is Stallion, by Two Steps from Hell. The name is already quite fitting as Roy's theme, but I believe the music fits him well too. I've not yet decided a theme for Ed, or Hawkeye there are several though.
Words with Notes: 6,736 (W/O Notes: 6,193) (Notes: 543)
Ed had just returned from the dinner cart, and having a surprisingly decent lunch—train food back in his Dimension had not been all that good—and was getting comfortable on his seat when Falman came into the car and casually took a look around, then stared at him for a few seconds, which Ed found rather odd. He frowned wondering why the Warrant Officer was on the train, and wearing civilian clothes. Ed did not think he had ever seen the man without his uniform before.
After what he had lived through since he was nine—and he was including Teacher's way of teaching—Ed had started to develop a warning sense, which intensified on this Dimension because of Hohenheim's 'enhancements'. Something was off, and the feeling started to get more insistent. There was also the bastard's request, knowing the way he operated, Edward was sure Mustang knew something was up, and he was counting on him to be the backup plan. If that was the case this could also be a test, to see if he had what it took to be a State Alchemist.
Unsure of what was going on, and why he was starting to feel paranoid—well, more than was usual for him—Ed got one of his dart guns from the pouch. The dart gun automatically enlarged, and he managed to discretely—he was practically at the end of the carriage, and there really were very few people there—load the cartridges containing the very small darts into his guns, the arm one and the hand gun. Each cartridge carried three hundred rounds of enchanted darts, and each gun could hold up to six, which he could exchange by pressing buttons.
Then Falman came back a second time and stopped before him. The man made an odd comment about him being tiny, and Ed mentally growled at Mustang, but he chose not to erupt at the insult. It was really hard, but Ed managed, too concerned about his warning sense going haywire to pay much attention to other things. Something bad was about to happen, and he did not want to draw unnecessary attention to himself, he just hoped it was not something like the train derailing.
His warning sense was not wrong in acting up, because as soon as Falman made his way to the front of the car again, two guys wearing sunglasses got up from the seats he was passing by. They each had a gun, and pointed it at Falman, who was surprisingly quick and had his own gun out pointed at one of the guys. Unfortunately the other was at his back, and he managed to hit Falman on the head, knocking him unconscious.
"Be quiet everyone, get your hands up!" One of the guys ordered.
Ed stared, this had also not happened the first time around. His trip to Central had actually been quite boring, even if he had been preoccupied about passing the State Alchemist Exam. Falman's presence told him Mustang had something to do with what was happening, or at least he had had enough information to warrant sending at least one of his people on that particular train. Which might actually be the reason he was practically ordered to be on the same train; Ed was now almost certain the bastard wanted to test him, and see if a... girl was able to take on something as... frightening as a hijacked train.
Ha, like that would scare him! Well, he would show the bastard what Edward Elric was made of.
This was not his first hijacking, and neither was it the first time he dealt with either terrorists or thieves, which he supposed those two could be. As he had been thinking, the thugs had Falman trussed up, and started to check the passengers, taking their cell phones, tablets, and even the laptops, but no wallets or jewellery. They clearly wanted no one to send the alarm, and this was not a robbery. This was one of the few times Ed actually accepted being below the average height for his age had its advantages, as he was able to easily hide from the terrorists' sight.
Ed had loaded the Stunning darts to begin with. Then decided a demonstration of his fighting abilities was also in order. He waited until the thugs had almost reached him before he acted. With little warning he jumped off his seat, landing an automail knee to one of the terrorists' face—breaking a few teeth since he was at it—while at the same time a dart went into his companion's shoulder. Both men dropped down like sacks of potatoes which pleased Ed a lot as could still kick ass, and his darts worked just like he expected.
He then shot with another dart the one he knocked out for good measure. It would not do for the thug to regain consciousness and become a danger to the passengers. Satisfied both were out cold, and with his darts they would not be waking until he wanted them to, Ed took some pieces of plastic from his pouch to transmute zip ties to secure the thugs just in case.
There were several kinds of materials inside the pouch to transmute as needed. Things Ed would most likely not be able to obtain easily, or which could damage the integrity of buildings and vehicles if he transmuted them. Mustang had grumbled more than enough about the damage he caused, and the cost of repairs—the Colonel had actually started reducing his monthly State Alchemist grant to pay for the damages—so this time he was not giving the bastard the chance to complain.
Magically, Ed had the option of Conjuring what he needed, but frankly he had not worked enough on the subject—there had been too much to do to be prepared for his time as a State Alchemist, and a member of Mustang's team because he did not have Alphonse with him—and things he could actually Conjure did not last too long anyway. He was not quite sure why that was, but from what little he had researched about the subject, it might be his age, and the fact his magic was still developing. So Ed chose not to take any risks and use real materials for his transmutations.
Transfiguring would work too but Ed rather not show there was another way to go around the equivalent exchange rule just yet, even if he was not sure if an alchemist could use the kind of magic he now had. There was also the option of Summoning what he needed, but then again that could take time if the materials were not readily available close by.
"Hey! Why did you do that, Kid?" One of the passengers asked looking rather fearfully at the thugs.
"Because when their friends come looking for them what are we going to do?" Another passenger asked.
"They might want to take it out on us," a third passenger added, "and we just want to get to Central in one piece."
Ed stared at the men, really? He had just saved them and they were worried about the other thugs? He was going to take care of them, though he doubted they would believe him if he told them, even after he had dealt with two already. Ed sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was the middle car, so one of the men might be right and there were others, because these two had not made any demands, so it would not be farfetched to think their leader was somewhere else on the train.
"Hey! We're talking to you, Kid!" The first man snapped at him.
"And I'm thinking, Asshole!" Ed retorted. "The military probably knew something was going to happen," he told them. "That guy's armed," he pointed towards Falman, "so he's probably MP, or a soldier. Logic dictates he's not the only one on board."
"And you're right, Kid," Vato said as he crawled back into the aisle. "The Boss wanted to make sure you were on board, didn't know why he was asking about a kid, but after what you did to those men, I suspect you're our backup."
"Probably," he said shrugging. "He practically ordered me to be on this train when I called last night." Ed took out one of the knives he carried on his left leg—which got him a few raised eyebrows—and took care of freeing Falman. "What? Haven't you heard of being prepared for what life throws at you?" He snapped at the ogling passengers.
"I'm Warrant Officer Vato Falman, deployed at East Command, who are you?"
"I'm Edward Elric, an alchemist," he introduced himself simply. "Can you tell me what's going on?"
Falman—and Ed was really happy to see him again—explained why he was on the train dressed as a civilian. This actually calmed the passengers who had not been very pleased with what he did. There were indeed military personnel on board, and they would take care of the problem. Ed offered to help, saying he was on his way to Central to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, which made the orders Falman had received earlier to check if the kid was on the train actually make sense.
Had he not seen just how fast Ed took down the terrorists, the Warrant Officer would have questioned his CO's sanity at enlisting a small child's help. But he could see the 'boy' actually knew what he was doing, and had been even better equipped to deal with the terrorists than his team had been. Those stunning darts—as the kid called them—would be dead useful if the Colonel could provide them for their team, but that would be something to discuss later.
They went each on their own to assist the other soldiers and free the train. Ed started walking towards the front of the train instead of going up, which would have taken him to Halcrow's car much faster and without much hassle. Unfortunately at this point he had no backup to take care of the terrorists inside, as he suspected the soldiers patrolling the train had, like Falman, been caught by surprise. So the first order of business would be to free them, and send them to help the Warrant Officer secure the train, Ed could deal with those posted up front.
Not long after leaving the car he had traveled in, Ed came across one terrorist guarding the exit to the next car. The idiot saw an apparently unarmed kid, and still decided to fire his gun. Ed was positively disgusted by the asshole. He would have killed any other child who happened to walk by... and damn! He had just called himself a child, so he was taking that out on the guy.
Thankfully for him, the stupid terrorist was not a good shot, and Ed found out the automail's new alloy made for a good shield—he should probably work on a way to transmute his arm into one... might need to add more material for the transmutation, thankfully weight was no problem—and the runic spells he embroidered on his clothes worked perfectly, so he was unharmed after being shot at. The ricochet bullets took down the first terrorist, and the second guy that came to investigate and also started firing blindly.
"Assholes!" Ed told the terrorist disgusted.
Once again his automail ricocheted one bullet towards the terrorist, the others were stopped by a Protego. The young alchemist knocked them out with a couple of darts, to keep them out of the way, no need for them to wake, and become a threat again. Then he quickly placed some bandages on the assholes' wounds, since he did not want either idiot to die of blood loss, he could have used alkahestry, but did not want to take too much time, so bandages would have to do. Ed secured them for good measure and freed the two soldiers who had been on that car, he sent them after Falman.
He did that for two more cars, where he released six soldiers and captured four more terrorists. The soldiers told him the rest of their team were in the first and second cars, closer to the General and his family. After thinking a bit, Ed decided to go ahead from the outside, and took to the roof. He could easily stick to practically any surface, even while wearing his thick boots and with his automail limbs—although he had to admit it was much easier with thinner soles—so Ed was sure he would have little trouble making his way to the first car.
He made it to the front of the train with little problem, well, not counting the fucking branch that nearly brained him and sent him tumbling down the car's roof. He barely avoided falling off thanks to his stickiness, and some help from Hughes who caught him. He introduced himself as Major Maes Hughes, which was another change, when Ed had met him the first time, the excitable man had already been a Lieutenant Colonel. So he would be promoted sometime in the next three years.
Seeing the man there, years before Ed had met him in his Dimension shocked him enough that he almost lost his grip on the train, thankfully Hughes had a good hold on him, otherwise Ed would have ended his second chance splattered along the train tracks between East City and Central. With a huge effort he managed to barely gather his wits. This was not the time to cry all over the man for getting him killed. At this point in time Hughes was alive, and he would remain so if Ed had anything to do with it.
The two of them made their way to the engine, still going on the outside of the train, and helped liberate the operators. Two shots from his hand held dart gun did the trick, stunning the men holding the engineers at gunpoint. Hughes was clearly impressed, but there was no time for the man to sate his curiosity. It was time to deal with the terrorists keeping the General and his family captive. Hughes calculated there were at least five terrorists, plus their leader, and they needed a way to flush them out of the car without endangering the hostages.
Ed was thoughtful for a few moments, trying to find a way to safely get those men out, at the moment, they were bordering one of the great inner lakes, something he knew had not existed in his Amestris, but which the memories gained from his counterpart told him about. This Amestris' geography differed more than he originally thought from the one he lived in up until a year ago. He wished he could just hose the terrorists out of the car with pressurized water... which was actually a good idea.
His passage through the Gate had given Ed quite a bit more alchemic knowledge, and he had not allowed himself to think about what the toll had been for all of that... he kept pushing it to the back of his mind because it was not that important. Maybe after he passed the State Alchemist exam, and he had secured his place in the military he could see what it was the creepy bastard took as toll for all that knowledge.
Thinking hard, Ed remembered a very nice array to manipulate water. It was Cretan, and not only could it be used to manipulate the liquid, it also transmuted it from air, specially if there were any water bodies close by... like the lake. This would give him an unlimited amount of water to subdue the terrorists, and the only requirement was that it was not activated in a desert—the cretans had another one for that.
Ed knew the Cretan water array was what he needed, but he made his own modifications to it on the fly so he could control it better, and was even able to add enough pressure to the water to push the terrorists out of the car. Without waiting, Ed warned the passengers to stay in their cabins, clapped his hands, visualized the array and just let go the torrent of water that washed four terrorists out of the car. He ran to the platform between cars, and took care of stunning the men.
Hughes took his actions to mean he had carte blanche to act, and made it into the car through a window. He took down one of the remaining terrorists with a throwing knife. Unfortunately the leader acted faster and managed to shoot Hughes. It was not a serious wound, just a graze on the shoulder, but the element of surprise was blown and the Major had no chance to do more than surrender.
With the Leader—a man named Bald—on his own, it was time for Ed to take care of him. This would be the first time since becoming enhanced that Ed would fight against another human. In a way it would be a test of his new strength, as well as the experience he had had before traveling to this Dimension. He chose to drop from the ceiling, automail leg first, before the man killed Hughes.
The blow was a glancing one—but it surprised his opponent—so Ed ended on the floor, a quick back flip, and he was on to Bald, delivering several kicks with his automail leg and using his right arm liberally, before the man had much chance of pressing any advantage. Ed had more strength—thanks to whatever Hohenheim had done to his daughter—than Bald had, and the man was huge compared to him. Oh how he hated that Amestris was full of fucking giants!
He also found the terrorist had automail, but Ed was proud to notice his was the better automail, so it did not take him much of an effort to crush Bald's. This really surprised him since Ed was not sure how strong he really was. Anyway, the fact he crushed Bald's automail like it was made of thin glass actually shocked the man enough for Ed to land a solid kick to the asshole's face with his automail leg.
Bald crashed against a compartment's wall, and fell down unconscious. Wasting no time, Ed secured the idiot, used a dart to knock him out, just to be on the safe side, and delivered him to Hughes all trussed up with zip ties included. The General was very impressed with Ed's work, and his wife fussed over him, but he was unharmed, neither Bald, not his thugs had actually landed a hit.
As a rule he did not like to boost Mustang's ego, but this time he chose to give the credit to the Lieutenant Colonel that he was due. Ed made sure to point out, after telling the General he was going to Central to become a State Alchemist, that he wanted to work with Lieutenant Colonel Mustang because he trusted the man, he was an alchemist, and the one who discovered and recruited him. Halcrow only half heartedly tried to convince him to work under his command after that.
Besides, Ed remembered the kind of reputation that particular General had in his Dimension, and it was not a good one. He treated his troops as disposable tools, he was way too strict, and was infamous for the type of punishments he doled on his people. So there was no way Ed would ever worked under the asshole's command. He would kit the military and try to stop Father from the outside if he ever ended as his subordinate.
With the terrorists taken care of, the rest of the trip went fine, and Ed was moved to the first car to help serve as bodyguard... after he dried the car. He was given a cabin to himself, although Hughes did spend some time talking his ears off—and blinding him with photos—about Mrs Hughes, and the coming baby. Ed solemnly told him he was sure the baby would be a girl, which Maes had not known since Gracia wanted it a surprise, even if he did not.
Ed also made it clear a baby should not be born at five months—after Hughes had mentioned that the baby could be born already for the tenth time. Ed was rather brutal, but someone had to contain that man's exuberance. He told the Lieutenant Colonel that if for some reason a baby was born at five months, the chances of survival were minimal, a rare few did make it, but the poor kids had all kinds of health problems because of that for the rest of their lives. This, of course, horrified Hughes so much, he thankfully began thinking things through.
The thought of losing his precious child, and possibly Gracia during a premature birth got the man to calm down a bit, and Ed thanked Truth for that. He liked Hughes, he really did, but he could be too much at times... and Elisia had not been born yet, Ed mentally cringed. Also being excited to become a parent was all well and good, but Hughes needed to actually start thinking. Ed persuaded the man to do research on pregnancies, as well as child rearing. There was a lot on the Internet after all.
When he finally had some time to himself—meaning Hughes left to do whatever he was supposed to do—the young alchemist did have the time to enjoy the comfort of modern trains. It was a definite improvement over those from his original Dimension. Ed decided he was traveling from then on in first class, and enjoyed a few privileges, like a movie, decent food, and very comfortable seats... his ass was quite pleased with the later.
He napped, chatted with Winry, and took a few photos of the landscapes they passed. Ed also added a few selfies to his social media—he was starting a photo blog of all the places he was going to visit while a State Alchemist—as well as sent them to the Gear Head, so she believed him about being in a private car. The rest of the trip Ed listened to music—a vast improvement over the music of his time—until they reached Central. Technology definitely made traveling less boring.
Once at the train station, Ed waited close to the soldiers who had been on the train due to his role in stopping the kidnapping, standing close by to where Hughes and Falman were. Both of which had already changed from their civilian clothes into their uniforms. Someone had patched Hughes shoulder, and taken a look at Falman's head, but Ed heard they would still be getting checked at the hospital. Shortly before arriving Hughes had asked him to revive the prisoners, because they had no idea how to wake them up.
Mustang was also at the station, and had spoken for a few minutes with the General, before dedicating his attention to the band of terrorists sitting secured on the floor, in front of the train. He was an imposing figure—the bastard had always been—standing tall in the much improved Amestrian military service uniform. No butt cape anymore, thank Truth, because that thing had been hideous.
The Lieutenant Colonel was wearing slacks—blue ones as the uniform's color had not changed—tucked into black polished boots, a light blue shirt peeked under the crisp lines of the military jacket. This time it was a full length jacket, not the waist high ones Ed remembered. His rank insignias and decorations were all visible, and there were more than he remembered the bastard having the last time, as were the darker blue ignition gloves. The young alchemist was surprised they were not white.
Ed liked this version of the military's uniform quite a bit, and damn, but Mustang looked good in it, and it let him see he was surprisingly in a very good shape. The old uniform had really hid too much, it had been so bulky and shapeless. But with the fitted jacket, Ed could see the bastard's shoulders were broader than he remembered.
The bastard also had longer legs than he thought. If he strained a little bit, and Ed did, he could see Mustang had a VERY nice ass... probably as good as Captain America's... and THAT was THE ultimate male butt. Even Winry agreed, and she was a rabid Brad Pitt fan. Anyway, body, looks, that rich baritone, and...
"Fuck me!" Ed muttered in shock.
'Can't, he's no pedophile... that we know,' a naughty little voice in his mind responded.
'Oh no, no no no no! Are you shitting me? No fucking way I've a fucking crush on that lazy, womanizing, bastard!'
'Yes way!' the stupid little voice said. 'Finally she got it! Give the girl a browny!'
'What the heck?' Ed mentally asked confused, because... since when did he have an annoying voice in his head? 'And who the fuck are you?'
'I'm you... the part of you, you usually ignore. By the way, this isn't new, you liked Mustang more than you believed you should back in our Dimension too. You fought him so much because you subconsciously wanted to keep him at bay.'
'No, no no no, this can't be fucking happening!' His mental voice had a slightly hysterical tone in it.
'Well it can, you oblivious idiot... and how low things have fallen when I'm insulting myself,' the voice added quite put out, and disappointed. 'Anyway, GIRL,' it stressed, 'realizing this was long overdue. You've been attracted to the Colonel for years, until you came to LOVE him...'
'No, no, no!' Ed denied. 'I'm NOT in love with the bastard.'
'My, are we hopeless!' the voice sighed. 'You are, thankfully you were never obvious, or we'd have been executed for being 'Freaks,' the voice told her other self. 'Truth knew, It owed you, and when the opportunity came up—meaning when this Reality went to hell—It chose to give you a chance at getting what your heart desired.'
Ed's mental laugh was bitter and hysterical, thankfully he did not do it aloud, or those close by would have thought him insane. 'A chance? A fucking chance? There's NO chance in hell. I'm physically fucking twelve, and he's in his mid twenties! Mustang's never going to look at me as anything other than an obnoxious brat.' Which even he had to admit he had been. 'Besides, his heart is Hawkeye's, and hers is his. The Lieutenant WILL murder me if I even try anything.'
'She won't, my girl. Hawkeye isn't leaving her military career, not even if he does, not that he would anytime soon,' the voice said with conviction. 'She's found her place, and she's likely to find someone else that would allow her to keep her promise of protecting him.
'Besides, while she does love him in this Reality, and he her, it's not romantic love they feel for each other. They're more like siblings, with the Lieutenant taking the role of older sister, even when he's two years older than she is. We both know he can be such a kid at times.' The voice told him knowingly, because that was actually the Lieutenant's usual complaint .
'Huh? How is it you... I... know that?' Ed was mentally frowning.
'We still listen, even if your conscious just doesn't pay any attention to gossip or rumors, and Truth did let us know about a few changes when we went through the Gate, and It considered important for you to know Hawkeye isn't a rival here,' the voice... herself? Informed her. 'Anyway, you can win Hawkeye's approval, and even support by simply being loyal and protective of Mustang, which you already are,' the voice pointed out.
'That's... I'm not... I...' Ed sputtered mentally. 'I'm not protective of the womanizing bastard!'
'You can't lie to me, since I'm you,' the voice pointed out. 'You're protective of those you consider yours. That included Alphonse, who was the most important person in your life back then, and the reason why the bastard sent you to a place he's not around anymore,' the voice chose to explain. 'The bastard wanted us to live for ourselves for once. Anyway, you were also very protective of the Rockbells, Teacher, Sig, the Hughes, the whole team, and Mustang. You even included Armstrong amongst them.'
Ed sighed, because he had to admit to himself that he was indeed the protective type over those he cared about, and... yes, Mustang was included. 'All right, I'll admit it. I'm a protective son of a bitch—"
"Actually you are a protective BITCH," the damned voice interrupted, but Ed chose to ignore it.
"—But I don't think that'll be enough to get Hawkeye's support and approval. Besides, there's still the age difference,' he pointed out.
'There is,' the voice admitted, 'but there's also the fact the age of consent in this Amestris is sixteen, and you'll be mentally twenty-two by then. You can let him know about being from another Reality, in a round about way, you know,' the voice pointed out. 'Perhaps not right now, but in the not too distant future.
'Now going back to gaining Hawkeye's approval, there'll be plenty of chances, specially because you won't be going off all over the country for weeks following false leads. You'll probably end working on escort duty, once you prove yourself useful to Hawkeye; and believe me, that... Danger Sense we now have will be what helps you the most to get her support. Besides, there were a lot of assassination attempts against the Colonel, and you were never told about them. Most of the time he saved himself, but... well, he IS useless when wet.'
Ed mentally snorted because that had been very true in her original Reality. 'Hopefully he did listen to my warning.'
'Oh, he clearly did, just look how much more drool worthy he's now... yummy!' the voice said mischievously, and Ed mentally groaned.
The Colonel Bastard had just singed Bald—the terrorists' leader—and even if she had seen him use flame alchemy before, it was still impressive. Inside her head that annoying little voice had a fucking party going—and Ed knew Truth had something to do with its existence, the stupid bastard. She was knocking off some of the teeth on that fucking grin next time she saw the creep—just because he referred to herself as a she.
Mustang was speaking to the asshole, and that calm deep voice filled her stomach with butterflies... No! Fuck no! No crappy girly butterflies for him, they better be... vultures, yeah, those were good, miniature vultures. Oh shit! She really had it bad, as her cheeks began to pink with a blush.
'Oh hell no! I absolutely refuse to be the blushing, dumbstruck fan girl,' Ed thought and imposing her considerable will, she got it under control.
'But you are, Sweetie Pie!' the voice just had to say.
'Shuddup, bastard!' Ed growled. Once she felt in control of herself, she approached Mustang.
'You realized you called yourself a bastard, right?'
'So? We are,' and fuck, but she was now talking in plural about herself, 'bastards, the sperm donor didn't have the fucking decency to marry Mom,' she thought at the stupid voice, then redirected her attention to the Colonel Bastard.
"You knew about the terrorists when I called you last night, didn't you?" It was more a statement than a question. She crossed her arms, and looked up at him. Damn, but she hated most of Amestris was freakishly tall, even Mustang, who from what she remembered was slightly below average.
"I suspected something might go wrong," Roy admitted slowly as he observed the rather small girl. "Major General Halcrow is a very important man, which makes him a prime target for terrorists, along with his family, but I had nothing concrete."
What he told Miss Elric was not quite a lie, as they had not really known the train would be highjacked until that morning, when they got the terrorists' manifesto... which he did not find out about, until after the terrorist's call. Roy took a moment to assess the annoyed little girl before him. Edward Elric did not look like much, as she did not even reach his shoulder, she actually was a few centimeters shorter. She also had such a strong masculine name for a pretty, if boyish, little girl; Roy really could not fathom what her parents had been thinking when they chose the name.
According to the preliminary reports he had received while the train was still on the way to Central, it was her who efficiently took down most of the terrorists, including the leader. She knocked him unconscious with a kick to the head actually, and from the info they had on the man, Bald was ex-military, he definitely was no weakling. His people and Maes' were rather embarrassed at being shown up like that by a kid half their age and size, they were all highly trained soldiers after all.
"You should've said something," Ed glared up at the bastard.
"We were concerned about leaks," he explained, and got a disbelieving raised eyebrow in return. Roy was not used to someone doubting his words so readily... or at least to his face, with the exception of Hawkeye... and occasionally Maes. Because even those higher ranked than him tended to be more... tactful.
"That's bullshit, and you know it." She pointed a finger at the Lieutenant Colonel to emphasize her point. The swearing got her a few surprised looks from the soldiers present, as well as the captured terrorists, but she was a civilian, so she could get away with it; no need for any disciplinary actions... yet. "No one outside my hometown knew I existed, or at least no one did until I had to step in and help take care of those sorry excuses for terrorists," she waved absently at the tied men sitting on the ground—a few actually cringed, which were those she had personally dealt with—"so my phone IS safe.
"I also doubt the assholes had the resources to even try to hack your personal phone," and there were a couple of sheepish looking terrorists... the 'smarter' ones, she suspected. Their reactions told her they had not even considered the possibility. "If it even occurred to them you own one," Ed pointed out looking disdainfully at the terrorists. Yes, she was still rather arrogant, sue her. The sheepish looking ones winced at her words.
"You have a point," he conceded. Edward Elric was really going to be an asset, she was surprisingly sharp, she was also going to be a rank booster... if he earned her loyalty and trust. Roy could not help wonder how hard that would be. "Anyway, you proved yourself to me, and to Major General Halcrow. He was so impressed, he agreed to sponsor you so you can take the State Alchemist's exam."
"I thought that was why I'm here, for the exam," she pointed this out too. After all, the first time that had been the sole reason she had been in Central. Now... a lot of things were in play, not just childish hopes, and the wish to atone for stupid mistakes. Those she had finally atoned for.
"You are, but you're also a child—"
"I'm not," she grumbled.
"—and while there aren't any laws against children entering the military," Roy went on ignoring her grumbling, "it's still frowned upon by some people. I took the risk, and now you have two sponsors; a General, AND a State Alchemist." He began walking. "Whether you take it, or not, it's still up to you."
Ed glared at him some more, because those mini vultures were fluttering like mad, just because he was looking at her, and she was coming to hate the feeling; stupid hormones! "Of course I'm taking the damned exam! I didn't come all the way to Central on a fucking vacation!"
"Very well, be in my office at Central Headquarters tomorrow at nine, just tell the guards your name, and they'll let you in. We'll discuss you taking the exam then," he instructed the small girl, who looked all boy despite the rather delicate facial features. The clothes had a lot to do with it, but also the attitude. She was brash, loud, and cursed like one of his men would when speaking to their peers.
"All right, I'll be there," she said taking her back pack—it was better than a suitcase, and she had found, in one of Hohenheim's many magical books, how to charm it with the Undetectable Expansion Charm, as well as the Feather-Light one—then made her way out of Central's train station in search of a place to eat and then a hotel.