Alphonse's excitement had been over a street performance of a trio of Xingese contortionists and their monkeys. It was definitely interesting and Gracia enjoyed watching, especially as Al expressed his excitement. Initially she had struggled to think of the giant metal armor with a little eleven year old boy, but it didn't take long to be taken in by the boy's sweet manner.
When the performance finished, Al clapped loudly and Gracia watched him with a smile on her face. She hoped that if she had a little boy next, he would be something like Alphonse Elric.
"Let's see if we can find-"
Gracia's sentence was cut off by the sound of gunshots. The crowd exploded, a few people screaming and everyone starting to panic. Gracia looked to her charge and immediately grabbed the hand of the giant metal armor.
"We need to find Maes," she said, the panic from the crowd contagious.
"Don't worry Mrs. Hughes, I'm going to keep you safe. My brother is the best fighter I know and he'll keep Mr. Hughes safe as well."
"But, what if he's hurt, and I need-"
"Trust me, Mrs. Hughes."
Gracia had no idea how the little boy was managing to be so calm. A thought suddenly struck her.
"Elicia!" she cried, terror overcoming her.
A person in the crowd ran into Gracia and she would have fallen if Al hadn't grabbed her and held her steady. In the next moment, he picked her up in his arms and then began moving through the crowd back to where they'd parked the car.
It was rough going, the crowds of people now full out panicking.
Alphonse however kept pushing forward.
When they got close to the car, the sound of gunshots was much louder and Alphonse slowed down. He set Gracia down.
"Mrs. Hughes, I think a shooter may be over there, can you stay here while I go check?"
"But, Alphonse, you could get hurt!" Gracia refused, genuinely worried about the little boy.
"Don't worry about me, Mrs. Hughes, I'll be fine," he reassured.
She didn't know he was empty.
Jogging ahead, Alphonse was unsurprised to see a shooter standing in the middle of the street. There were a few bodies, but it looked like most everyone had escaped safely. Hiding behind a booth, and started to draw an alchemy circle. Hopefully though he could settle this peacefully.
"Excuse me?! Mr. Shooter!?" Alphonse called.
The shooter turned in his direction. They didn't respond, but they started to walk over.
Alphonse eyed his alchemy circle, though the man didn't seem like he was inclined to solve this without violence. Still, unlike Ed, Al preferred to at least try. He stood up, hands raised.
"Hi," he waved, "Mr. Shooter, I was wondering, would you be willing to stop shooting?"
"Get Down!" the man shouted.
He was dressed in civilian clothes and held a military rifle.
"I-I really think we could figure this all out without violence, don't you?"
"Get Down! Or I'll shoot!"
The man raised the rifle and Alphonse realized that maybe he'd been a bit hasty in thinking this was going to be solved easily.
Something went flying at the man and hit him square in the head. Alphonse realized it was a baby bottle.
"Alphonse! Run!"
Alphonse looked over to see Gracia, another baby bottle in hand and ready to use it as the man, who'd dropped his rifle, started to get up. Al took that time to press his hands against the alchemy circle. It glowed, and the ground shot up, a cage surrounding the man.
Gracia lowered the baby bottle and came running over.
"Alphonse! What do you think you were doing young man! You could've been shot!"
Gracia was absolutely furious and Alphonse awkwardly tried to think of a way to explain. He didn't have to, as Gracia, with tears in her eyes, pulled him into a hug.
"Never do that again," she said.
Alphonse secretly felt pleased, happy that though he really couldn't be hurt, someone was worried about him.
They kept going, leaving the shooter behind, and headed towards the car.
Roy didn't love Riza's idea, mainly because it involved him hunkering down in the alley while she went out and tried to take out the shooters while also regrouping. She claimed that his was the more important task, that of keeping Elicia safe, and of course she claimed that he needed to be kept safe as well.
He didn't agree, but he didn't argue, merely watched her disappear into the crowd, gun once again in hand and hidden in her sleeve.
Elicia meanwhile had decided to take a nap, and while Roy was glad the baby wasn't crying, it left him alone and in a situation where he felt like he couldn't help. It grew worse as he thought about his men in danger, especially Edward. The kid was so young and often just threw himself at whatever trouble he could find.
After thirty minutes of waiting without much changing, except that the crowd outside had thinned, Roy headed out. He moved in the direction of where Riza had said the main shooters were. If she'd been hurt, or worse, that was the most likely area.
As Roy walked, the sound of gunshots caught his attention. He continued his approach, but much more carefully. Cars had been parked to act as barricades along one side, and on the other were the scattered remains of stalls and booths along with one car which Riza was currently hunkered down behind.
Roy could see that one shooter had been taken down, the man's body laying in the street. However there were still three others. Jogging over to an overturned cart, Roy took cover.
"Hawkeye!"
Riza looked over, her eyes widening as she took in Roy there. With her diverted attention, two of the shooters decided to charge. Roy stepped out, snapping his fingers. The men exploded into flames and Roy looked on smugly as the men fell down, completely out of commission.
There was a little giggle and Roy looked down in surprise. Little Elicia was clapping her hands and giggling. Roy followed her gaze and saw that it was on the remnants of fire. He'd forgotten she was there, but it seemed she liked fire as much as Roy did.
Something hit Roy in the head and Hawkeye was shouting angrily. The next moment he was being grabbed and drawn behind the cover of a car.
"You idiot!" Riza hissed, glaring at him.
Roy meanwhile didn't understand why she was mad, he'd saved her hadn't he?
"I just saved you!" he argued.
"I had it, and you unnecessarily put Elicia at risk."
"But she's fine."
"Do you think Lt. Col. Hughes would agree with that?" Riza asked cooly.
Roy went pale, as much of a goof as Hughes seemed to be, the man was anything if not the most vengeful, protective, and underhanded man he'd ever met. If even a hair was out of place… Roy didn't want to think of what might happen.
The last shooter came running out and Hawkeye took him out with one shot.
"I suggest we head back to the car, Colonel, before you decide to do something else."
Roy shrunk under Riza's frigid look.
"She's not very nice, is she? Big old meanie," Roy muttered, talking to Elicia.
The little baby gurgled happily in return.
"If you think I can't hear you Colonel, you are very wrong."
Roy chuckled sheepishly, trying to pretend like he hadn't done anything. As they walked back, Roy kept setting little things on fire in Elicia's line of sight. With each act of arson the little girl giggled and cooed. Hawkeye pretended to ignore it for the most part, only once shooting Roy a sideways glance.
When they got back to the car, Gracia, Alphonse, and Maes were there.
As soon as Gracia saw Roy with Elicia happily strapped to him, she pounced on him, stealing Elicia away. She brought her daughter over to her injured husband.
Police were already swarming the area and they were treating them all like civilians. Checking in with Maes, Roy was grateful to hear that it was a very minor wound.
What got him, was that he still hadn't seen Fullmetal.
He wasn't able to think about it as the rest of his team walked up, all looking like they'd gone through a battle.
"Where were you all?" Roy asked, glowering at the rest of his team.
Fuery, Breda and Falman all grinned.
"We took out another one of the shooters on East street, we did it without guns, it was actually pretty amazing, there was a clown, an armless Ishvalan and some dynamite. We-"
"And where were you?!" Roy said, glaring accusingly at Havoc and cutting off Breda's story.
"I, uh, took a nap."
Havoc had the decency to look sheepish. Roy's mouth dropped open in disbelief. Hawkeye stepped in before he could continue.
"We can be grateful that none of us were severely injured."
Everyone glanced over at the injured Lt. Col. and all silently agreed.
Maes was currently sitting with Gracia and Elicia, his injury slight.
Roy just didn't have the energy to be mad at his subordinates. He, as Hawkeye suggested, was just grateful no one was hurt. Except, where was Fullmetal?
He got the answer to his question as he noticed the mop of blonde hair through the window of the car. The boy's head was hung low and he was staring at his lap. Roy went over to the car, he was about to get in when he remembered the blasted baby carrier still strapped to him. He wrenched it off, tossing it on the pavement with a venomous glare, before opening the car door and climbing into the back seat.
Edward looked up, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Colonel?" his voice was quiet and subdued.
"Fullmetal," Roy returned.
They sat in the quiet for a little while.
"I'm glad you're-"
"I didn't mean for him to get shot!"
Roy froze, not expecting that to have come out of the boy's mouth. He didn't know exactly what had happened.
"Maes has gotten worse, besides, I'm sure he did something stupid and deserved it."
Edward's anguished eyes met his and Roy felt a little uncomfortable.
"He got hurt saving me."
Roy gave a nod. That sounded like something Maes would do.
"I-I, what if I'd come back to Gracia, had to tell her he'd died, saving me?"
Roy frowned, he didn't like that train of thought. The boy already blamed himself enough for many different things, this wasn't one he needed.
"Whatever the circumstances, Edward, Maes made a decision and he is the one responsible for how it affects him. And remember, he's alive."
Roy awkwardly patted Edward's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way. Ed looked slightly less guilty.
"Let's get the hell out of here, I'm tired and I don't want to be around when Maes realizes where I took Elicia."
A moment later Maes' voice could be heard shouting Roy's name.