"Munchkins, breakfast is ready!"
Julliana Hong called her little minions as she placed down the last plate for the youngest Elric on the dining table. There was a thud— two, to be specific— that echoed in the house which caused the scientist to shake her head in exasperation. Two kids with blond hair— both having different shades from each other— stumbled into the kitchen, almost tripping over each other before taking a seat.
Ana rolled her eyes and messed up their still messy hair— they still had bedheads. "Don't be too late for school, got it?" She reminded them as she herself sat down. The brats started eating and ignored her words. This prompted her to scold them but stopped herself. Instead, Ana sighed in fondness. "Remember what I told you guys last night?" Edward paused a bit before resumed on scarfing down his breakfast while Alphonse glanced at her with a pout.
"Do you really have to? I don't want big sis to be gone for so long."
"I don't want to either, other munchkin," she said after downing a glass of water. "It might take me a few weeks before I get back. After school—" Edward cut her off. "— head to Granny Pinako's, we know. Sheesh, you've been saying that again and again and again, big sis." Ana flicked Edward's forehead with a smile. "I'm only worried about you two. Now that you're finished being rude—" the scientist gave the eldest Elric a stern look, making him smile in sheepish.
"— go and get ready. I promised Winry that I'll walk you guys."
Both Elrics did not waste more time as they scarfed down their breakfast and headed away to take a shower. Ana herself picked up the dishes and washed them while humming a random tune. It had been two years since her aunt passed away and the first few months were rather hard on all of them. Ana didn't know how to comfort her favorite kids because no ome had comfor the scientist when she had lost someone.
She had a lot of trial and errors in the beginning but she managed with Granny Pinako's help. It took her a while to get Edward out of his shell though since he was just as stubborn as a bull. Alphonse hadn't made her work on him since the youngest Elric had been understanding of everything. She wiped her hands on a clean rag and pushed in the chairs in the table.
The boys' mother had left quite a few savings and it had lasted for almost two and a half years since Ana knew how to handle money. Right now, they were in the middle of a crisis. Like she said, it lasted for almost two and a half years and soon enough, they wouldn't have anything to spend. The scientist had decided that like what she had done back on that island, she would sell a few handcrafted items in Central— at the same store she had been last time.
The owner liked her work a lot and he had told her that he would be happy to buy more from her if she ever needed money. It was a nice offer and Ana was glad she didn't turn it down back then. She only hoped that the owner— Simon— didn't forget about her. The crafts she sold were simple puzzles, one that intrigued the chimera man while he had been on his deathbed. The scientist deduced that if a man like her, a scientist, found them intriguing, then maybe the people of this world would, too.
"We're done!"
The scientist smiled as she pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning for a while, the three of them heading out while she locked the door. "Hey, big sis?"
"Yes, munchkin?" She asked Edward while pulling out a book from her satchel. "Why do you always wear that labcoat anyway?" Ana didn't react but inwardly, she winced. The question took her off guard, that's all. "... it's a reminder of my home."
Edward and Alphonse looked at each other in surprise. This was the first time she ever mentioned something like that. "What's it like?" Alphonse asked after a few moments of silence. The nostalgic smile on her face was soft and gentle, her eyes unfocused as she relived a few memories of her past. "You know, like you two, I had a brother once." They promptly ignored her usage of past tense. "We were always getting in trouble because he likes playing pranks on people... a lot. On average, I think we get scolded seven times a day?"
The three of the chuckled at that. "He was... he was my only friend. I wasn't social. I was that one weird kid in our age group so no one wanted to do anything with me." Alphonse gasped at that, aghast that they would think that. "But my brother? My brother was popular. That's why people just tolerated me or sucked up to me to get close to him. It was really annoying but he always had my back. When they get too much, he was there to chase them away. When they get too physical, he was there to beat them up."
She snorted at that memory. "I couldn't take it so I asked the school if I could graduate then and there." At this, Ana gave her little minions a toothy grin. "Your big sister is a genius in her own right, you know?" The Elrics laughed a little lightheartedly at that. "They were skeptical at first but gave me a chance. I graduated way ahead of my peers. My brother was so happy, actually. So happy that he used his savings to buy me a labcoat with a really good quality. This labcoat is all I have left of him when he passed away."
"He sounds like an awesome brother!" Alphonse exclaimed. Ana smiled and agreed. "Yeah, he was."
Edward had this concentrated look on his face just as they reach the Rockbell house. As Winry joined them and had began walking to their school, Edward finally decided. "I swear," everyone looked at him in confusion. He had been silent for a while, after all. "I'll be like your brother, big sis. I'll be a great brother to Al!" Ana blinked in surprise before bursting into laughter, followed by Winry and Alphonse. Edward gave them a wide eyed look before blushing in embarrassment. "W-Why are you guys laughing?! Al, you should be on my side!"
But they just kept laughing.
oooOooo
Ana had left for Central after dropping off the kids and getting her luggage back home. She was going to miss her trio of minions.
oooOooo
The scientist stretched her arms as soon as she got off the train. The seats stayed the same: hard and uncomfortable. Ana wondered if this country would ever changed those goddamn seats. "Cause fuck it, this country isn't earning any good points with me." She grumbled under her breath as she left the train station. Instead of calling a taxi like a normal person would, the scientist walked to her destination. It was... three hours away but compared to that ride on the train?
Yeah, she'd prefer to move her body after that.
The cobble stone sidewalk remained the same from what she remembered two years ago and the officers patrolling around were, admittedly, a lot less from what she expected. A yawn escaped her lips, the monotone life here in Central making her sleepy. As if nothing exciting ever happened—
— a loud crash came from the intersection in front of her—
— and she stood corrected. "What now?" Ana grumbled under her breath as the smoke from the crash subsided. It revealed a man in torn clothes and bloodied fists who seemed to be crouching over a... dead body. "So fan-fucking-tastic my first day here in Central is turning out to be." Despite the danger ahead, Ana kept going on ahead with her destination in mind. It should be just around that street and she would see that familiar antique shop went to two years ago.
Scream came from the populace and started running opposite where she was aheading. A few bumped on her shoulder and didn't bother apologizing as they ran away like the idiots they were. A sigh left her. She really missed her little minions right about now. Something flew right in front of her and crashed into the cafe on her left. That made her stop and glanced at the source of it. It was that same man from a few seconds ago and he was staring at her.
"M-Miss, run away!" The one who crash landed into the cafe warned her but the situation started irritating her. Central was the last place she wanted to be in and a growing hatred for this place bloomed because of this stupid situation she found herself in. Instead of running away like what the soldier told her, she faced the stupid man who started all this ruckus. Her irritated eyes met his. "Why don't you go and find a damn playground to play in with the military, bastard. You're disturbing the people here."
Ana was sure that the crash landing guy was glaring at her because of her idiocy but that was not the point. The scientist wanted a peaceful trip; a simple go here, do what needs to be done and scurry away back home to her loveable little brats.
Without getting a reply from him, the man charged at her and the soldier behind her started screaming at her to get away and far from here. Honsetly, she thought to herself incredulously. How can they not capture this guy? One look and Ana knew that he was the type to-get-angry-and-charge-in kind of guy. From what she had seen from that brief action earlier, this guy had been touching that corpse's face when the dust subsided.
The corpse, now, was bloody as fuck.
Probably used alchemy to burst the blood vessels in one's body. Increased kinetic energy perhaps? The circulation? Production? Were her thoughts and she realized that the bastard's hand was just a few inches away, she crouched down, swings her leg in an arc horizontally; successfully forcing him down to kiss the ground. Ana moved quickly as if she was back on that island escaping with her food for that day from a pride of lions.
The scientist reached for both of his arms and gripped them tightly. She forced the man on his stomach by putting a foot down on his back as she removed the scarf around her neck. It served as an effective makeshift handcuff as she tied the man's wrist together with her scarf. The extra cloth she wrapped around his hands and covered them completely so that he wouldn't be able to use alchemy at all and kill someone even if he managed to escape.
Finished with apprehending whoever the fuck this guy was, Ana looked at the officer who had been screaming at her to flee. He looked like the dead with how pale he was. His sharp black eyes widened in shock as if he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. The same could be said with the rest of the reinforcement that just arrived. The scientist approached the crash landing soldier and pulled him out of the debris he was in. "Seriously, how have you not caught him yet? Are you new to your job or something?"
The soldier blinked rapidly before nodding. "J-Just a little over a year." Ana sighed in response. "I've got to run, be more careful, why don't you?" The scientist walked away without a care in the world and rounded off the street. She left the witnesses speechless before the crash landing soldier snapped out of it and tried to chase after her. However, when he rounded the corner, she was no where to be seen
"What the..?"
But in actuality?
The shop Ana had been looking for was just two houses down when she turned at that corner. The scientist entered the antique shop with a smile. "Mister Simon? It's me, Hong. I brought back a few things you might be interested in." An aged man emerged from the backroom and brightened up at the sight of her. "Ah, Miss Hong! It's such a delight to see you!" Said scientist chuckled a little.
She approached the counter and placed the wood-carved (via alchemy) puzzles she had made. Simon grabbed them with a thoughtful look, eyeing each item with interest. "And in case you can't solve it— or, well, have difficulty solving it— I wrote an instruction manual and how you should go about into solving it." The last thing she placed down on the counter was a handwritten pamphlet of each puzzle she had brought.
Simon's eyes glistened before snatching her hand and shaking it. "I'll have them, Miss Hong!" The scientist beamed at him and as she waited for his payment, she looked around the shop with a lot more attention than she had before. It seemed as if Simon managed to collect a lot more stuff in just two years. She walked around, making sure not to topple anything over or worse, actually break something.
The scent of aged wood wafted through her senses; she kind of actually liked the scent more than she expected. "Miss Hong, here it is!" Ana went back to the counter, an envelope laid atop near the register. "Thank you for providing them. You'll be here longer, won't you? Compared to last time, I mean." Ana simply smiled and nodded. "Yes, I may be here for a few weeks, actually."
"Mhm, what for? Staying in Central with no official business. I thought you're out there traveling wherever?" Simon ended it with a question, curious about why she would be staying in the capital a lot longer than he thought. "I, uh," the scientist stuttered at the beginning. "Well, I'm looking after two kids, actually, cause of some circumstances. I can't really go and travel in my situation right now."
Simon blinked in surprise. He didn't dare assume that those kid were hers because while he was curious, he respected his customer's private life enough not to ask about it. "Make sure not to stress yourself. Kids can be a handful, after all!" He himself looked after three kids with his wife, his eldest out and about serving in the best club in the capital. Ana half-smiled at his words, a bit touched by his concern.
"I'll try not to be then, Mister Simon. Anyways," she said and picked up the envelope, shoving it in her bag. "I'll stop by every three days to answer any of your concern about those puzzles. I best be going then." She said her farewells and left the shop. The money she earned would last for about four months, give or take a few days. It was still more than she thought she would be getting.
The moment she stepped out, however, someone bumped into her for the umpteenth time today. This time that someone apologized compared to those bumbling idiots earlier. "I'm—" he paused, Ana looking up in curiosity before blinking in surprise.
"It's you!"
"Oh, it's just you."
In front of Ana stood the crash landing soldier and in the half hour she had been gone, he had cleaned up quite nicely and his injures were tended to. "For earlier, miss—" Ana stopped him right there by placing a finger on his lips, startling the soldier rather badly. She wasn't about to take whatever shits the military would be saying. "Hold up right there." Ana said with a glare.
"Whatever it was you were going to say, save it. I'm not interested in whatever the fuck it is." The soldier blinked, stunned by her words, as Ana went on her merry way. She'd done what she needed to do today and she should be looking for a motel she could spend the rest of her weeks in. "W-Wait a sec!" Ana groaned in frustration as she turned around to face him.
"What now?"
"Um, well, my superior wants to thank you."
Ana gave him a blank stare. "And like I said, I don't fucking care." The soldier guffawed at her bluntness. Before the scientist could cross the street— the military was really trying to get on her nerves— a car parked near her and out came a soldier with an... eyepatch? Was he blind in that eye from an injury? "Führer, sir!" The scientist basically froze where she stood.
Did he just say... Führer?!
"At ease, Mustang."
For once in her life, Julliana Hong became speechless. When she got here in Central, she planned on following what she had in plan for her stay here. To meet the ruler of this country? Well, that could be checked out of her bucket list. "I heard from my men that you were the one responsible for Bane's capture." Ana gulped but made sure not to show how nervous she was. "I would love to know your name."
Ana wasn't at all well versed in politics but she damn well knew that this man— the Führer— had some sort of agenda for actually meeting her in person. She would have understood if it was the one who was handling that case but it wasn't. This was the man who ruled this military-based country. "Julliana Hong, at your service, Führer." The scientist muttered under her breath. "But I best be going. I have—"
The Führer suddenly patted her on the back as if they were some kind of childhood friends who hadn't seen each other years. "Of course, of course! I'll have Mustang here escort you back then!" Said soldier blinked befre spluttering gibberish due to surprise. "I have somewhere to be. I'll see you in due time, Miss Hong." The ominous feeling she got from those words of his unnerved her.
"Miss—"
"No need," she cut him off in abrupt. "I can handle myself. I'm sure you have more pressing matters to do, officer." As she started walking away and trying to get a good grasp of what just happened to her in the first few hours in Central, Ana cursed under her breath. Just what on earth did she just stumble into? The pitter patter of footsteps behind her made her grumble a string of curses but prompted to ignore... Mustang, was it?
Ana proceeded to walk around, looking for the cheapest hotel. She didn't have extra to spend on such things, after all. "Miss Hong? If you're looking for a place to stay, I know a few motels around this part." The scientist turned around with a raised eyebrow, the soldier maintaining an impeccable poker face. "The cheapest," she paused. "If you would be kind enough to guide me there, Sir Mustang."
She could act like a lady when she wanted to, you know? The ravenet nodded, a bit pleased at his accomplishment. He still hadn't forgotten what happened about over half an hour ago, after all. Even if he had been a flirt when he entered the military, Roy Mustang knew that the woman in front of him wasn't one to be trifled with; especially when a civilian-looking woman like her single-handedly apprehended an alchemist.
He wondered where she learned how to fight though. Roy himself wasn't a good hand-to-hand combatant so the woman— Miss Hong— earned his respect. Not a lotof people could say that they were proficient in that art, after all. Adequate, maybe. About ten minutes, Roy had stopped in front of a fairly moderate-looking motel where Miss Hong could spend and stay however long she wanted. The woman turned around to face him, a grateful smile graced her lips.
"Thank you, Sir Mustang."
Maybe she wasn't so bad—
"Now, scram. I don't want anything to do with you people."
— and he stood corrected.
"You could be a little polite, you know?" Roy guffawed when the woman sneered at him. Just what was with her?! "Keyword: could and I don't want to, if that's what you're hoping for." The nerve of this woman... no, Roy wasn't angry or irritated. In fact, her attitude intrigued him. Her response caused him to laugh a little, Miss Hong blinking a bit startled by his reaction.
As she walked towards the door, Roy asked, "How long will you be staying?" She paused, as if calcuting the time she'll be spending in Central before smiling at him a bit too innocent. "As long as I please, Sir Mustang."
Roy stifled the laughter in his throat, coughing a little to get it out instead. He watched as the woman entered the building, leaving him there with a thoughtful look. She was... interesting as he had thought earlier. When he first saw her, Roy thought that she was going to die in the hands of Bane who had been a bane to the military, get it? No? Anyway, the moment Bane charged at her, Roy thought she was finished.
He thought that she froze in fear, unable to move in the face of danger but she caught Bane faster than any one of them who had been trying to get him. It shocked him— and everyone else, really— how a woman of her stature could do that. Roy wasn't being sexist or anything, he knew a woman, too, who could be as dangerous. No, it was because Miss Hong looked entirely civilian, with that white blouse and dark blue shin-length skirt.
Added to that, she carried a luggage with her.
Roy Mustang had to hand it to her; she worked more efficiently than most of his coworkers in the military.
oooOooo
Ana gaped in disbelief.
Roy smirked in triumph.
"What are you doing here?" The scientist asked in wonder. Across from her, the soldier smiled in a natural way as he waved a hand in greeting. "Good morning to you, too, Miss Hong." A flash pf irritation gleamed in Ana's eye of which Roy noticed, making smile a tad bid wider than it was already. "I heard from a little birdie you'd be heading to a certain antique shop."
The woman blinked before scowling response. Her eyebrow furrowed together in her frustration. "I knew I shouldn't have said I'll be dropping by." The soldier grinned even wider at that. "Oh, so you are heading there! Let me accompany you then, Miss Hong." Said scientist blinked a little before gawking at him with an unbelieving stare.
"You... You didn't—" Ana groaned and stomped away from him, heading for the antique shop of Mister Simon. Behind her, Roy followed after the woman and chuckled a little at her frusrated expression. She peeked a little behind her, seeing that smug look on his pretty boy face. An incoherent string of curses escaped her lips. Ana entered the antique shop with a scowl, surprising Simon inside.
"You seem to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, Miss Hong." Simon commented before seeing a young man enter right after his favorite customer. "Oh?"
"Don't." Simon chuckled in amusement. "I won't, I won't. I just want to ask about this—"
Roy stopped near the door and watched as they got into a heated discussion about some wooden contraption Simon brought on top of the counter. From what he heard, it was some sort of puzzle that Miss Hong brought. That earned them a raised eyebrow from the soldier. Roy listened in, aa bit surprised how well Miss Hong knew the ins and outs of that puzzle as if she were the one who made it.
The next few days, Roy had gone ahead and bothered Ana every single time he was on break. The two formed some sort of friendship but Ana insisted that they were just acquaintances. Roy rolled his eyes at that and stubbornly declared that they were friends. This time, it was the scientist who would roll her eyes with a tad bit of fondness for the flirt.
It came to an end when on the last day Ana was supposed to be in Central still, the Führer yet again made an appearance when she and Roy were out at a café eating breakfast. Everyone in the establishment froze in surprise whereas Roy saluted like he was supposed to. Beside him, Ana scowled in her seat. "Führer, what a surprise." The scientist faked a smile, catching Roy's eyes.
He himself didn't know why the Führer was here but Ana seemed to have an idea. King Bradley mirrored Ana's smile and chuckled a bit. "I wouldn't say it's such a surprise, Miss Hong."
"I suppose not."
"I came here for you."
Roy tensed up. What did he want with his friend? The scientist perked up a little, not at all surprised and looked as if she expected this. "And what for, Führer?"
"Join the military." It wasn't an offer. It wasn't a choice. It was a goddamn order from Führer King Bradley himself. Shock jolted Roy out of his stupor, wanting to say something but Ana held him back. "Your expertise is needed to win this war." The soldier blinked a little and wondered what this expertise of hers is. From the weeks he'd known her, Roy simply labeled her as his friend. He didn't ask unnecessary questions.
"Führer, I think you're mistaken. I'm just a woman taking care of two little kids whose mother passed away due to an illness. I'm nothing more than that. I know a few moves, yes, but beyond that? I'm just a simple... caretaker, if you will." Ana answered with a stony face, not willing to bend and admit defeat against the ruler of this country.
A sly smile curved on Bradley's lips, making Ana raise her guard up yet again. "The war's getting close to Resembool I hear. It's only a matter of a few months before it becomes a collateral damage." Ana gritted her teeth, he was obviously agitating her into agreeing. Roy didn't really know what he should do because any action against the Führer would be an insubordination.
"You have until the end of the day, Miss Hong. Enjoy your meal."
oooOooo
A/N
Soooo, how was it?