"So what now?" Havoc said. "We have one kid knocked out, another somewhere we don't know, and you feel like everything's going straight to hell." he pointedly asked Mustang. He looked from one side, to another.
"That seems just about right." Mustang replied. "We just have to wait for her to wake up."
All attention was directed towards the still figure that lay on the couch. It was annoying to see Edward's body laying on the couch, only to know that it wasn't exactly Ed. Unconscious for three hours now, Sandra lay on the couch sleeping soundly after gasping for breath in one.
She had squirmed around for a few minutes before, but she was still under. Mustang was still seated at his chair, forcing himself to control a rising amount of rage. He had nothing else to do but his paper work, but as soon as he finished it, more was sent through. Fuck my life, he had thought.
A knock was heard, and Mustang sharply turned his head towards it, hair streaking through the air like a black scythe. It was a knock, normal to what anyone would hear, but Mustang distinctly knew this knock. It had the air of, well, an uninvited guest.
"Come in." he said. In response a big burly man stepped into the office, barely squeezing through the small space. The same blue military uniform adorned this man, and he had few items pinned on his lapel. He walked on, and stood in front of Mustang, and Mustang instantly discerned that Sandra could be a target.
"Second lieutenant Zede Mar-Mustang?" the burly man asked. Mustang looked up at him with his coal black eyes.
"Marnoff, what are you doing here? You weren't scheduled to come in for at least three days." he said. Marnoff shrugged and grinned, the same stupid smile that landed him into trouble so many years ago.
"I was eager to get here, Mustang." He glanced across the room, staring at everyone in the face, skipping the small frame that lay on the couch. "Seems like a pretty nice group you got here." He made a second round of glances, but he left a longer stare on Alphonse, and rested his gaze on Hawkeye. She eyed him distastefully.
Marnoff smirked with bemusement and switched over to Mustang. "Quite a catch, 'Stang. What did you do? Bribe someone for her?" Mustang opened his mouth to answer, but Riza beat him to it.
"The thing you're mistaken about, Sir, is that he didn't bribe anyone. I'm sure you would have realized that I'm standing here by my own free will." She glanced at the back of Mustang's head. "Otherwise I would've shot him."
Mustang shuddered, slightly, but Marnoff still noticed. He broke into a barking laughter. "I can't believe this!" he cried. "You! Afraid of a woman!?" He placed a giant palm on the desk and continued laughing. A click was heard and three expertly trained shots were place around the width of the hand, sprinkling the air with splinters of wood and dust. Marnoff's hand flew up, and he grasped it.
"You're gonna want to control her, Mustang. She may be rogue." It was now Mustang's turn to smirk.
"She has full reign in keeping people in check, Marnoff." Try not to piss her off, his eyes said. Marnoff prepared himself to say something else in retaliation, and would have said something, had not Sandra's breathing hitched in a way that signaled she was waking up. Marnoff glared at her in surprise, then with a malicious grin as he found a new torture victim.
Sandra's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she tried to regain her bearings. She shook her head and sat up slowly with a groan. She cradled her head in her hands, continuing to shake back and forth, ruffling the golden blonde bangs that belonged to Ed. Mustang coughed into his fist, hoping to get Sandra's attention first.
"Piss off." she said. It was subtle, but it carried the sound of a large threat in between those two words, and Mustang frowned. At least she's still acting like him, he thought. He tried again.
"Fullmetal."
Sandra became ridged, slowly tilting her head sideways to see Mustang from the corner of her sight, also noticing the tallest man she had ever seen in her life. She understood.
"What d'you want, colonel Bastard?" she said condescendingly. Mustang sat there, shocked by the way Sandra had just called him the one thing he only knew one person to say. Marnoff stood, watching the petty small talk unfold right in front of him. Mustang pursed his lip. If she knows something, then maybe...
"If there's one thing I want," he said. "I would like to have your attention, Fullmetal." Mustang tapped on his desk, twice. Mostly everyone's attention was guided towards him and Sandra. They didn't literally glance in their direction, but a trained eye could see that they weren't paying as much attention to their work as they were before. Only Marnoff continued staring down at the two conversationalists.
"Ask for Rachel's attention, Mustang." Mustang could see Havoc frown in confusion in his peripheral vision, but Sandra continued talking. "Besides, after she found out you were talking to that other girl," she tilted her head, a thoughtful look on her face, "Oliver, was it? I dunno, she went crying to her friend Yasmine." She brought her legs up onto the couch and crossed them, making sure to thump the couch twice. She stared deeply into Mustang's shocked eyes, with a smug expression.
"What are you so surprised for? You talk so loud on the phone, the whole country can hear you." The room was silent, Mustang continued staring wide-eyed at Sandra, while she remained non-chalant. Breda looked ready to fall off his chair, gripping his side of the desk with shaking hands, and Havoc had stared directly at his own paper, lost, mouth agape. Marnoff broke the silence.
"I can't believe you let this little kid talk to you like that." he said, chuckling. "You're probably getting soft, 'Stang." He turned to leave, striding towards the doors with with large, bold steps. Everyone trailed his every move.
After Marnoff left the office, everyone released their breaths. Sandra stood up from the couch and began to pace back and forth, fingers laced behind her neck. She looked shaken.
"Don't ever do that again." she said. Mustang couldn't help but hear the small twinge that had accompanied her voice. Was she scared? But she was fine. he thought.
Alphonse, who was standing behind the couch, went around and gripped Sandra forcefully, whirling her around to face him. Her arms fell to her sides, and she stared at Al with wide eyes
"How did you know what to call Mustang?" he demanded. "And how did you know his first name?" Mustang stared at Al questioningly.
"What do you mean?" Mustang questioned Al. He never glanced away from Sandra while answering. "I never told her your first name." Alphonse shook Sandra softly, pressuring for an answer.
"How did you know?" he asked a second time.
Sandra didn't answer. Instead she tore her gaze away from Al and stalked off towards Mustang's desk, while the Colonel gawked at her in silence. Just who the hell was this girl?
Sandra took the two sheets of paper that were on his desk and flipped both over, dragging her own towards her. She also took one of the idle pens that lay quietly next to the papers, and she began to draw a large object on the back of her page.
"Mustang." she said, still doodling. Mustang looked squarely at her, and he watched the golden eyes set in concentration. He thought about the moment when he told her not to prank people when she was upset. He thought about the way he searched her eyes for the same fire he knew Edward always possesed.
Mustang indeed found fire, but it wasn't the same burning passion that Ed had, it was more of a glowing ember, one found in a sweet smelling candle, or a fireplace for example. Mustang tried to understand how he managed to mistaken those two. It was probably when he had pissed her off, three hours ago, the similarity was uncanny.
"Mustang." Sandra repeated, a little more intent.
He focused on her. "What?" he replied. While still scribbling around her own page, she passed Al's page towards him, using her right. "I need you to draw the country." she answered. Mustang was forced to do a double take.
"The country? What?" He couldn't understand why she would ask that type of request. Couldn't she have done it herself?
Sandra sighed in a tired manner and handed Mustang a pen. "Just do it." Mustang hesitantly took the pen, while glancing behind Sandra, where the others merely shrugged, clueless to her request as well.
Mustang studied the blank side of the paper, and began to start his diagram, starting with Amestris. He frowned upon his artwork ability as he continued to draw the states that bordered Amestris, once re-drawing an entire line for Aerego. When he was done, he set the paper down and slid it away from him, towards Sandra, who was still scribbling.
Mustang watched as she quickly formed lines and squiggles around a weird shape she had created. She drew a quick sharp line across an inch of space, and she too, set her pen down. she turned the page upside down, so that Mustang could get a clearer view of what she had drawn. He peered at it, and struggled to contain his laughter.
"Looks like a whale." he commented, mirth well seasoned. Sandra was unperturbed, and she pointed at his own drawing. "Well, yours looks like a dysfunctional tire." she shot back.
"Hey!" Mustang protested. Hawkeye leaned over to see the drawing he failed to protect and nodded her head. "She's right, Sir." Roy looked up at her with stung pride. Traitor, he accused in his mind.
Havoc tilted his head sideways, pondering over the back and forth responses. "How do you get completely different shapes?" he wondered out loud. Sandra turned to face him, leaning on the desk, arms crossed.
"That's what happens when you get two completely different countries." she replied. That did it. Breda succeeded on flipping over his chair with himself on it, and Havoc damn near lost his mind. He stared at Sandra, his mouth hanging open like a fish gasping for air. His mouth then formed words, but no sound came out.
Al began to say something, but then realized the weight of her words. "So, you mean...Brother isn't near us?" he asked softly. Sandra stared at Alphonse with a pained expression. She hung her head and stared at the floor, suddenly interested in it.
"It's a much broader scale than that, Al." she whispered to the floor. Alphonse continued staring at Sandra with a concerned aura. His arms were crossed, and his usual looseness was stiffened. Truth be told, he was afraid of what she was going to say, in fact, everyone was tentative around Sandra's words.
Sandra shifted her position, and raised her left arm to her face, gingerly placing the thumbnail under her upper teeth, a complete picture of worried concentration. If Al wasn't so floored, he would have thought this position was absolutely picture worthy.
Sandra closed her eyes, and ran her hand through her hair, muttering, "This is bullshit." She stared at the floor with a vacant expression, oblivious to those surrounding her. Mustang reached over and tapped her on the back, aiming for the serpent's head on Edward's Flamel. She shot back into attention and glanced behind her, barely looking at Mustang.
"Just how broad are you talking about, Sandra?" he asked. Sandra faced the couch a second time, seemingly at conflict with herself. She separated her hands, side by side. "Let's start with universal."
"Amestris, Amestris, anything else but Amestris." Edward sighed. He had been exploring Sandra's phone for at least three hours by the time on the "cellphone" he was holding. Pointless games, a contact's list, and a small icon that had the name "Google Maps" wasn't helping at all, much less how the damned map couldn't find a simple country. It had to be dysfunctional, right?
He sighed again. Leave it to the Fullmetal Alchemist to scorch his brain and switch bodies with a girl. A girl with a pubescent body that is. Everything was going to go down to hell, if he didn't get his body back, but why hasn't Mustang started a search party for a teenage girl who had coincidentally been electrocuted somewhere around the same time he had?
She's probably taking my place, he thought. Yeah right. As if someone would try to take my role. But why would anyone stay silent about this type of matter? "Agrhh, fuck it." he cursed out loud.
"Watch your tongue, young lady." said a stern voice. Edward whipped his head towards the door of his room, and standing there was Sandra's mother. She walked though the doorway carrying a set of clothing, and a pair of shoes.
"If you want to curse, do it outside, not here, you dope." she said, laying the clothing on the chair across his bed, and the shoes under it. Ed became gravely confused by the mother's display of reprimanding. He was allowed to curse?
"Sorry mom, I just wanted to see how colorful I could make my language." said the young alchemist. He waited, wondering what the woman would say next, would she be mad, or just indifferent? She laughed, light and soft as air. Indifferent it is.
"Hurry and get dressed, Sandra. We have to leave soon." She stepped back and surveyed the room, equally mesmerized by the cream color splashed around.
Ed sat in his bed, watching Sandra's mother as she went from wall to wall, until staring at her "daughter" expectantly.
"Well? You're not just going to sit there, are you?" She quipped.
"Oh, um, sorry. Just let me, uh."
Edward stood up, trying with his might to casually walk towards his clothing, well, the clothing he was supposed to wear.
After mumbling his thanks towards the stranger before him, he walked towards the bathroom, clothes and shoes in hand. Once there, he was faced with a problem.
He would have to change. Like literally remove Sandra's hospital gown, and then replace it with the fresh set her mother had given him.
He quickly locked the door behind him, his cheeks burning redder than his own crimson coat. He slowly walked up to the mirror, watching the teenage figure's face.
Sandra's face gained a more shineful set of eyes now that Ed realized what he had to do, and her cheeks were flaming bright.
She looks cute blushing, Ed thought idle-y. He watched in silent horror as the reflection in the mirror burned with a greater red.
What the hell am I thinking!? I'm in her body! He growled at himself in a low voice and forcefully ruffled his hair, sending stray hairs into little shocked rods. He sighed, stripping himself of the gown with his eyes closed.
Blindly searching for the set of clothing he left on the toilet seat, he grabbed the first thing his fingers came into contact with. He felt a fabric much softer than pants, and released his breathed in an explosive gasp as he realized he was holding a shirt.
"Are you okay, honey?" Sandra's mother asked through the door.
"Never better!" he called back, refraining from cracking his own voice.
He struggled with the shirt in his hands, trying to calculate a way to put it on, without touching her bust, of course. Try as he might, he couldn't find a certain way, not with that jumbled mind of his.
He passed the collar of the shirt over his neck, then followed through with his arms and torso, pulling the remainder of the shirt down with lightening speed. Deed done, he opened his eyes, and peered at the shirt his temporary mother had given him.
It was nice, grey top, with a simple cartoon figure Ed just didn't know about. Mouse, maybe?
He reached over for the pair of pants, feeling that they weren't so problematic as a simple shirt. He slipped those on, noticing the small rips on the knees. He shrugged, it just made Sandra look more badass.
Unlocking the door, Ed threw it wide open and stalked towards the vacant chair to put his shoes on, remnants of his blush still gracing his face. This did not go unnoticed by the mother, who blocked his way from a few feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked. Ed stifled a snort, and casually answered, "Just holding my breath in the bathroom." He leaned over to whisper in her ear.
"Smells like crap." he finished. Leaning back, he side-stepped the woman and made his way towards the chair, sitting in it and quickly slipped Sandra's scarred foot into a sock, which he found inside the shoe.
As he slipped on his shoes, it occurred to him that the woman was trying to leave at a quicker pace. She crossed the room with involuntary movements, constantly checking her watch, then slapping her phone lightly against her hand. Whatever she wanted, she wanted it done, now.
"Are you okay?" Sandra's mother, glanced up sharply and smiled at Edward awkwardly. "Sorry, it's just-" She paused lifting one hand up to her face, and stopped walking.
"I don't... know, if I could handle burying another one of my babies." She choked on the last word and turned away from Ed, breathing deeply.
Ed felt crushed. If he survived switching bodies with Sandra, that didn't mean that she could have as well. He almost died, and that would have been disastrous all on it's own, but what about Sandra? Had she survived? If she did, how the hack was he supposed to know?
Acting on impulse, Ed stalked towards Sandra's mother, whipped her around, and hugged her tightly. "I'm here." he said. Liar. "Don't worry." Liar. "I'm fine." LIES! Ed waited until he felt two arms lace around his back, and the woman's head rested on his shoulder.
"Oh, honey."
"So you mean to tell me, you live in another world, the year is 2015, and we don't exist?" Mustang asked skeptically. Sandra shrugged her shoulders.
"Sounds just about right. Except the fact that you guys," she said pointing to everyone else in the room, "Are in a type of comic that's called Japanese Manga."
Sandra's last sentence was met with silence and few confused stares. She sighed. "It's your world's version of Xing."
Mustang sighed and shook his head. "I'm calling your bluff, this isn't possible." Glances were exchanged, and few others nodded in agreement with him. Some shook there heads and Mustang could've sworn he heard Fuery mumble, "... didn't kill me."
Sandra looked over to Alphonse, who nodded towards her. She sighed again, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm probably going to regret this."
She was met with even more questioning glances while she walked towards a window. Sandra remained silent as she struggled to open the latch due to her new height, and Mustang was heard snickering.
"Looks like you could use a hand." he supplied. Sandra stepped a few paces back, and ran towards the window, jumping at the last second and supporting herself with the ledge. She sat comfortably on top, and casually answered, "Nah, I think I got it."
Free to use both hands, she flicked the latch and opened the window, golden braid flowing freely through the wind that danced into the room. Sandra cleared her throat and cupped her hands around her mouth, trying to make her voice as audible as possible.
"MY NAME IS EDWARD ELRIC, AND I'M A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK! she yelled out. She waited and heard a deep throated laughter resonate from the ground floor, and she smiled in satisfaction.
Closing the window, she turned towards the room, where everyone was staring at her in shocked silence. Contented, she slid off the window ledge and walked towards Mustang, who was completely shell-shocked.
"Are we still leaving room for doubt?" she asked him. "Or do you want me to drink milk as well?"
YYYYYEEEESSSSSSS! UGH, this took me, like soooo, much time, put it is finished! (yeah, just chapter 5, with such a wishy-washy ending) shut up subconscious. I started school on the third, so I will have issues trying to write more for this story, as well as baby sitting my nephew during the night while my sister is at work.
Oh man, I am in tenth grade, so classes are really demanding, but GOOD NEWS! I don't have school on Monday so I will get as much as I can during my three day weekend. I've read fanfictions in this fan-base that deliver chapters on a regular basis, but please don't kill me because of my irregularity.
(IDEK why) For inspirational music to end this chappie/note, I ask you to listen to my most favorite song Battle Scars by Paradise Fears (most preferably acoustic, whatever floats your boat ^-^) and I ask of you to enjoy.
Trust me and believe me when I say I'll get you a new chap soon. Thanks for reading, reveiwing, following and sticking to me though I complain sometimes, bye!