Chapter 6 – Settling In

The first thing Edeline did when she arrived back in Central that morning was to head to the nearest payphone.

She called Alphonse first, letting her brother know that yes, she had arrived safely, yes, she didn't forget her meals while she was studying, and no, she most certainly did not blow the train up. The next person she called was their teacher, Izumi-Sensei. Ed would never admit to anyone that she was trembling with fear in that little payphone as she told Sensei that she had, once again, re-enlisted into the military. Sensei had exploded at her, cursing her and calling her names, until she realized ten minutes later that the pot roast was burning and so she hung up – but not without warning Ed not to forget to visit her so she could give her the proper thrashing she deserved.

The last person that she called that morning was Ling.

Despite the fact that he and Edeline had broken up and everyone else around them seemed to think that they hated each other, they were actually still very close friends. He was surprised when she told him that she had gone back to the military but he wished her well and told her that he would try to visit her as soon as he could.

They said their goodbyes and then afterwards, Ed hung up and hauled herself over to the military dorms near HQ to drop off her luggage and get settled into her new room. To her surprise, with her new rank, she was allocated a slightly larger living space than three years ago when she and Al used to share a room, although the thought did depress Ed a little bit when she realized that she didn't need all that extra space since Al wasn't with her anyway.

After she finished setting her things up, she took a quick shower and changed into more comfortable clothing. Afterwards, she tied her blonde hair up into a messy bun at the top of her head and took off, heading across the dorms into a nearby grocery store to purchase two small pints of non-dairy vanilla ice cream.

She felt the lingering stares of the other soldiers, mostly male, following her as she crossed the military compound towards the memorial cemetery. Despite her irritation, Ed forced herself to ignore most of them, knowing that it wouldn't do well for her to have a disciplinary case already when it was only her first day back.

When she got to the cemetery, it didn't take long for her to find the grave that she was looking for. As she plopped down on the soft grass in front of it and stared quietly at the familiar name engraved on the tombstone, Edeline found herself reeling back, as always, by that familiar, throbbing ache in her chest.

Brigadier General Maes Hughes

1885 – 1914

"Long time no see, old man." Edeline forced out a cheerful smile, swallowing the painful lump that had formed in her throat. "Yeah, I know you probably didn't expect to see me in Central again so soon but hey, what can I say? I guess I just couldn't stay away." She paused to set down one of the two pints of ice cream in front of her before she opened the other one and leaned back, settling herself into a cross-legged position on the grass.

"Anyway, I lost our bet. I made Lieutenant Colonel before I reached your age. Just like you said I would. So I brought you your favorite flavor even though I still think it's absolute shit." She rolled her eyes as she brought a spoonful of the vanilla ice cream to her lips.

When she was met with nothing but silence, however, the smile on Ed's face faded and she sighed softly.

"It's not fair that you're not here."

She lay back down until her back was pressed flat against the grass and frowned, staring up at the cloudy sky above her in contemplative silence.

"I could really use your words of wisdom right about now."

Edeline didn't speak for a long time after that, content with just staring blankly into nothing for a good few minutes before she closed her eyes and smiled sadly, bringing another spoonful of the vanilla ice cream to her lips.

Flashback

Even though Edeline was only 15 years old, every sane personin the Amestris Military knew that the Fullmetal Alchemist was a demonic force to be reckoned with when she was in the middle of her temper tantrums.

Unfortunately, the Flame Alchemist, Colonel Roy Mustang, was most definitely not a sane person by any standard, and being Fullmetal's Commanding Officer, Mustang often took it upon himself remind her every now and then that being the youngest ever State Alchemist and an indispensable member of Mustang's team does not equate to having the license to do whatever the hell she wanted.

"There were hundreds of civilians out in the city that day, Fullmetal! Do you have any idea at all the risk and danger that you put all those innocent people through just because you couldn't control your temper?!"

Mustang's angry voice was reverberating so loudly against the walls of his office that it was impossible for Hawkeye and the rest of his team outside not to hear him. He didn't seem to care, however, and slammed his fist noisily against his table, glaring heatedly at the blonde teenager seated in front of him.

"There's only so much of your mess that I can clean up, Ed! What if someone had gotten hurt?! Or killed?! What if you had gotten yourself killed, Edeline?! What then?!" Roy shouted furiously, his right hand shaking and clenched into a tight fist.

"Scar was right there, you realize! I had him cornered before your useless self decided to show up—"

"HE COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?! LET HIM PRANCE OFF ALONG HIS MERRY WAY UNTIL THE NEXT TIME HE KILLS OFF ANOTHER ONE OF OUR FUCKING ALCHEMISTS?!" Ed screamed back.

"Ed." Mustang closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths in a visible effort to calm himself down. "I am telling you this because I am your Commanding Officer, and because I'm your friend. You are a fifteen-year-old girl. You're not indestructible. Believe it or not when I say that Scar would have killed both you and Al that day—"

"I can handle myself just fine, you useless bastard! Is that all you called me back here for?! I don't have time for your shit! I was following a lead! I won't get my brother's body back wasting my time here talking to you—"

"You endangered the lives of innocent civilians, and you put yourself and your brother at risk and you think there won't be repercussions?!" Roy shouted again, giving her an incredulous glare. "This is the military, Edeline! It means you're supposed to be following orders! And your orders were certainly not to go after Scar that day—"

"I fucking told you—!"

"You're irresponsible, you're stubborn, you're immature, and worst of all, you're selfish! You have absolutely no understanding of the consequences of your actions or how many people are inconvenienced by your recklessness! Do you even know how many Generals I had hounding me all damn week about how they want me to have you court martialed for what happened?! Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to convince them to let you go?! They're blaming me for your insubordination! They think I'm being too easy on you!"

"I don't give a fuck what those assholes think of me! They don't control me and neither do you, Mustang!" Ed seethed, slamming her automail fist down against his table.

"I can't keep covering for you forever! Sooner or later, you will have to learn to follow orders and just goddamn trust me! Otherwise, why the hell are you even a part of my team?! Why are you even here?!"

Ed recognized the severe disappointment in Mustang's voice for what it was and finally fell silent, her humiliated glare fixed on the floor by her feet. When she still refused to say anything despite the expectant glare he was giving her, he let out a heavy, exasperated sigh and rubbed a hand wearily over his face.

"You're suspended from all field work until further notice."

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"You're grounded." Roy said flatly.

"YOU CAN'T GROUND ME! NOT WHEN I'M SO FUCKING CLOSE TO FINDING A PHILOSOPHER'S STONE!"

"I'm sorry, did I stutter? Then let me say it again." Mustang grabbed a folder and began doing his paperwork, ignoring the blonde girl hissing in front of him. "You, Fullmetal Alchemist, are hereby suspended from all fieldwork until further notice. You are not to go out of this compound without my clearance or without another officer of my team escorting you. Have I made myself clear on that?"

"YOU STUPID, USELESS BASTARD! I FUCKING HATE YOUR GUTS!"

Ed didn't bother waiting for his reaction as she stood up and stormed out of the room, shoving past a bewildered Hawkeye, who was on her way into Mustang's office. Judging from the way Havoc and Breda hastily turned back to their paperwork when she walked past them, Ed was willing to bet that the rest of the team had been listening in on their conversation as well but she couldn't find it in herself to care as she stomped towards the door.

"FULLMETAL, DON'T YOU DARE TURN YOUR BACK ON YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER! COME BACK HERE! I'M NOT FINISHED TALKING TO YOU JUST YET—"

Ed didn't hear the rest of his Mustang's furious shouts, nor did she bother looking back at the rest of the team's shocked reactions behind her as she sneered and made sure to slam the doors as hard as she could.

In the days that followed after Ed's disastrous shouting match with Mustang, Ed and Al decided to make the most out of their time by holing themselves up in the library and reading up about the philosopher's stone as much as they could. Truth be told, however, during most of those days in the library, after weeks of hitting so many dead-ends and roadblocks in their research, Ed had managed to dig herself into a pretty foul mood.

At the time, Ed had felt so helpless, and useless, and pathetic because she was seriously beginning to doubt if she could ever truly recover Al's body and she felt guilty because Al deserved so much better than her stupid empty promises. It was her fault that her little brother had lost his body and currently had his soul bound to a suit of armor, and while she assured him over and over again that she would set things right, there was only so much willpower that Ed could force herself to have without her ever seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Fortunately, Winry was visiting them that week and so when she had asked them to go shopping with her for some new automail parts, Al had agreed to go with her while Ed had bluntly reminded them that she wasn't allowed out of the compound without Mustang's permission. Though to be honest, Ed was actually thankful that they had left her alone as it gave her the opportunity to drown herself in her depressing thoughts.

Unfortunately, she hadn't realized just how exhausted she actually was because within an hour after Winry and Al had left the library, Ed had already fallen asleep on her chair, a thick, leatherbound alchemy book covering her face.

That was the position that Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes claimed to have found her in, and when she woke up a few hours later, it was to the sight of Maes giving her an amused look from where he sat in Al's vacated chair.

When she glared at him, as though daring him to say anything, Maes just gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I heard you and your idiot CO had a big fight the other day." He mused.

"Who the fuck told you that?" Ed growled at him.

"No, what I meant was, I literally heard you. All the way from my office." Maes quipped wryly.

She snorted at his words and turned her face away, folding her arms on the table and stifling her yawn in them.

"Go away ."

"I don't think I've ever seen Roy quite so worked up before." Maes commented with a smirk, chuckling to himself. "That's why you're stuck here, aren't you? He won't let you out of the compound?"

Ed closed her eyes again and let out a long, muffled groan.

"What the hell do you want, old man?"

"It helps to talk about it to someone else, you know." Maes said innocently as he leaned down and poked insistently at her blonde head. "How about it? I promise I won't even take his side. You can curse at him and call him as many names as you want, I won't stop you." When Ed looked up at that and gave him an incredulous, sleepy glare, he grinned.

"Hell, I might even join in. I have a few creative names for him, myself." He quipped, finally earning a reluctant smile from Ed as she rolled her eyes at him and straightened back up in her seat, brushing her hair away from her face.

When she saw the expectant look that lingered on Maes' face, Ed let out another exhausted sigh.

"I don't know if I should be wasting time when I should be reading up on—"

"You know." Maes interrupted as he pushed his glasses up his nose and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against his seat. "It doesn't matter if you're a genius or what-not. If you keep reading and studying like this without taking any breaks, your brain will become so saturated that you won't get anything done." He told her pointedly.

"Yeah right." Ed resisted another urge to snort at that and instead rolled her eyes at him in disbelief. "My awesome brain always get shit done."

"Come on. Let's take a break." Maes urged again, his eyes lighting up with good humor as he gave her a teasing grin. "We can go out for some ice cream. There's this really nice place just walking distance from here." He told her.

"Ice cream?! Isn't that dairy?!" Ed gave him an indignant glare. "Are you trying to get me to drink milk?!"

"They have the non-dairy type of ice cream." Maes rolled his eyes at her reaction.

"I don't know if I should, Lieutenant Colonel." Ed hesitated, reaching into her pocket and opening her silver watch to glance at the time. "It's still office hours and the Colonel did order me not to leave the compound without his permission or without any member of the team escorting me."

"It'll be fine, don't worry about it. I'll take care of Roy, I promise." Maes grinned, waving her concern away as he stood and hoisted Ed up from her seat. "Besides, you're with me anyway so technically, you're not going against his orders."

"But—"

"Don't worry so much, Ed! Come on, come on! Ice cream!" He chirped giddily as he placed two heavy hands on her shoulders and led her excitedly out of the library. "Elicia just loves that place, it has all kinds of ice cream flavors!"

"Ice cream, really?" Ed arched an annoyed eyebrow but she was unable to break free from Maes' hold as he continued to shove her out of the building towards the entrance. "What do you think I am, Lieutenant Colonel, a kid?" She asked.

Maes paused just as he was reaching for the doorknob and turned around, giving her a good-humored smile.

"Well…yeah."

"Ugh, fine then." Ed growled at that, grumbling as she followed him out of the building, pulling her red jacket tighter around her small frame when she was immediately hit with a blast of the cold breeze. "But you're paying."

He soon led them down the street towards a small, brightly colored ice cream shop that was several blocks away from the Central HQ compound. When they entered the shop and Ed reluctantly trudged over to one of the booths at the very back with a scowl on her face, Maes waved cheerfully to the shop attendant and followed in after her.

After they finished choosing the specific flavor they wanted, Maes called the attendant again and he placed their orders. While waiting, Ed rested her chin glumly on her hand and inspected the shop with bored, half-closed golden eyes.

"This shop looks like it's for little kids, Lieutenant Colonel." She complained, scowling irritably at him.

"It is, it is! I take Elicia here all the time!" Maes chirped as he reached into the back of his pants and pulled out his wallet. "Look, look! I even took several pictures of her sitting on that stool right over there, isn't she adorable?!"

In spite of herself, Ed was unable to hide a smile as she stared at the picture Maes was holding up in his hand.

It was a picture of Elicia on what Ed guessed was probably her birthday, if the hat and brightly colored balloons the little girl was holding was any indication. Maes stood smiling brightly behind her, hugging her tiny form against him, and beside them, Maes' beautiful wife Gracia was watching the two with a fond, exasperated smile on her face.

They were a lovely family, and despite how Mustang always complained about how Maes did nothing better than to show them all endless pictures of Gracia and Elicia, everyone found it adorable how Maes was such a devoted husband and loving father.

"She's beautiful." Ed said softly, a small smile on her face as she handed the picture back to him.

As Maes grinned back at her and tucked the picture away, the strange, bitter thought lingering in her head suddenly spilled forth from Ed's mouth before she could realize what it even meant.

"If only Al and I had a father like you growing up, we probably wouldn't have become as messed up as we did."

Maes stilled at that, his expression suddenly frozen in a look of shock at the raw, bitter honesty that was in Ed's statement. When he looked at her again, Ed was surprised to see that his eyes had softened and he gave her a small smile.

Reaching across the booth, Maes chuckled, laid a hand on her blonde head, and gave her hair an affectionate ruffle.

"Don't sell yourselves short, Ed—"

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING SHORT—"

More than used to Ed's violent reactions at this point, the Lieutenant Colonel went on as though he hadn't heard her.

"—you're both good kids, you know. You're a great sister to Alphonse, he obviously cares very much about you. And you're both talented, brilliant alchemists." He teased gently, pausing only when the shop attendant finally came back with their ice cream. After the attendant set the ice cream in front of them and left, Maes handed her a small spoon.

"I have no doubt that you'll both be going places. Hell, if you decided to stay in the military, I'm even willing to bet that you'll reach the rank of Colonel before Roy did." He commented as he took a spoonful of his vanilla ice cream.

"Yeah, right." Ed chuckled at that but reluctantly began digging into her own chocolate sundae. "Wasn't that bastard promoted to Colonel when he was only 26? That's a bit of a hard act to follow, Lieutenant Colonel. I don't even plan on staying that long in the military anyway, you know. Only until we find a philosopher's stone and Al gets his body back."

"Then how about my rank now?" Maes pointed out, giving her a mischievous grin. "I'll bet you another orderof vanilla ice cream that you'll reach my current rank of Lieutenant Colonel long before you're even my age." He challenged.

Ed snorted at his words and rolled her eyes, amused at his tenacity. "I'll take that bet."

When Maes smiled at her again and happily began eating into his dessert, Ed's gaze wandered idly over his shoulder to glance at the shop's other customers. She felt a stab of annoyance when she saw a young teenage boy, about her age, who was sitting in the booth behind them. Every now and then, the boy would look up from his ice cream and stare intently at Ed in interest, only to blush darkly and hastily look away when she looked up and caught his gaze.

Maes noticed Ed's annoyance and he followed her gaze, smirking when he saw the teenage boy staring at Ed again and laughing loudly to himself when he saw the way it obviously made Ed very uncomfortable.

"It's not funny! That annoying shit-head behind you won't stop staring at me!" She hissed angrily at him.

"They're just boys, Ed. Nothing the Fullmetal Alchemist can't handle."

"They're dumb, and stupid, and useless! I want nothing to do with them." Ed gritted through her clenched teeth.

"You know, most girls your age would be more interested in getting a boyfriend than a philosopher's stone." Maes teased, looking amused. "Relax, he probably just thinks you're pretty and that's why he's staring. Boys do that."

"It's disgusting and annoying! I don't want a boyfriend, he'd be nothing but a useless, empty distraction! I can't afford to waste my time on such things right now, I have to get Al's body back." Ed pointed out, scowling at her ice cream.

"Useless, huh? Why don't you talk to me again after you've had your first boyfriend, alright kid? We'll see if you still think boys are useless." Maes mused as he leaned back against his seat again and took another bite of his ice cream.

Ed was about to say something else in retaliation when she decided against it and instead, opted to just take another bite of her ice cream and grumble to herself in silence. Maes looked amused at her reaction and he looked as though he was going to comment when the shop attendant suddenly called their attention from the front of the room.

"Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes?" He called out loud.

"That's me." Maes answered as he raised his hand, drawing the man's attention to him.

The man held up the telephone receiver he held in his hand.

"You have an urgent phone call, Sir."

"Urgent my ass. That's probably Roy." Maes snorted to himself as he glanced over his shoulder and gave Ed a knowing look. "I'll be right back, let me just go and see what your CO wants."

"I told you the bastard would get mad." Ed groaned as she slumped in her seat.

She waited for a few minutes as Maes talked to the Colonel over the phone. Fortunately, the shop was so small and Maes' voice was so loud that Ed was able to hear snippets of what the Lieutenant Colonel was saying.

"Hey man. Yeah she's with me. What do you mean why? I just took her out for ice cream! I'll bring her right back."

"…well, you're more than welcome to join us if you want." Maes paused at that and turned to glance at Ed again, smirking at the way she was shaking her head frantically at him and waving her hands in panic.

"It's no problem, we can wait for you. Yeah, it's that same ice cream parlor that Elicia likes. Alright, will do. See you soon." He hung up.

When he walked back over to their table, Ed had her arms crossed and was glaring furiously at him in betrayal.

"Oh come on, don't give me that look." Maes cajoled as he reached over and gave her hair another affectionate ruffle. "That idiot is just worried about you, you know. I know he means well, he's been my best friend for years. You are the youngest member of his team and he sees you as his responsibility. I mean, he recruited you after all." He pointed out.

"He still treats me like I'm a 12-year-old kid! It's fucking getting on my nerves. He should know that I don't need a goddamn parent! I haven't needed one in years!" Ed snapped at him, her golden eyes flashing dangerously.

"Don't be like that! You and Al should think of me and Roy as like…your work parents or something!" Maes ignored the incredulous stare that Ed gave him and grinned, shoving his glasses up his nose. "I can be the dad, of course, since I'm obviously the cool, fun one. So I guess that would make Roy the…nagging, overbearing mom?" He kidded.

"Th—that's—"

Ed was unable to prevent her choked-up, horrified laughter at the ridiculous image his words created in her head.

Fortunately, before Maes could say anything else to make her keel over completely with laughter, they were interrupted when the doors to the shop swung open again and a tall, scowling Colonel Roy Mustang strode into the parlor. His gaze swept briefly around the parlor in search of them, but when his dark eyes landed on Ed, his gaze narrowed and he made his way over towards them, opting to slide into the seat beside her and across from Maes – much to her annoyance.

"So this is where you two have been procrastinating all afternoon." Mustang muttered irritably.

"Says the bastard who procastinates all day long in his own office!" Ed growled back at him.

"Shut up, Fullmetal. I'm still mad at you." Mustang glared at her, his left eye twitching dangerously.

"I'm mad at you, you stupid, pea-brained asshole!"

"Colonel!" Maes interrupted them sharply when he saw the way his best friend's eyes went ablaze and the way Mustang looked as though he was just about ready to incinerate the sneering blonde teenager sitting beside him.

"Help me out. I was just trying to convince Ed here that she should try to live like a normal teenage girl for a change and maybe try finding a boyfriend. It should help relieve some of her stress from studying alchemy all the time." He commented, obviously trying to divert their attention to another topic of conversation.

"Don't go putting such stupid ideas in her head, idiot." Roy suddenly snapped at him, causing Maes to jump slightly at the sharpness of his voice and stare at him in surprise. The Colonel's obsidian eyes had suddenly gone hard and they were flashing dangerously as they settled on his best friend's genuinely confused expression.

"Fullmetal is way too young to be dating. And besides, she's too busy and she doesn't need that kind of distraction."

"Like I need you to tell me that, you useless ass." Ed muttered darkly under her breath so that Roy wouldn't hear.

Belatedly sensing, somehow, that he may have inadvertently upset his friend, Maes tried to diffuse the sudden tension between them. He gave Roy an awkward smile and sheepishly offered him the spoon in his hand.

"Vanilla?"

Roy made a face at the suggestion and scowled at him, waving his hand away.

"I hate vanilla."

"Heeey, don't be mean!"

As the two officers fell into their usual, easy banter after that and began to discuss the details of some obscure mission that Ed had no particular interest in, she hesitated and scowled down at the chocolate sundae in front of her. Fortunately, neither Maes nor Roy seemed to notice Edeline's distraction and when she looked up at them again a few minutes later, she surprised them both when she grumbled crankily but reached out to offer Roy her spoon.

"Chocolate?"

Ed didn't have to look up to know that Roy was taken back by her gesture – especially given the fact that she had pretty much been ignoring – or cursing – his very existence since their very public argument a few days ago – but to her relief, he didn't comment on it. Instead, when Ed reluctantly lifted her golden eyes up to his, she was surprised to see that Roy's expression had softened, and there was an affectionate warmth in his eyes as he took the spoon from her hand.

"I do love chocolate." He grinned playfully back at her, causing Ed to glare poisonously at him and hastily turn her face away so that he couldn't see the embarrassed blush that was beginning to stain her pale cheeks.

"Creepy bastard and his creepy ass smile." Ed mumbled irritably to herself, rolling her eyes as Mustang gave her another smile and shoved a particularly large scoop of her chocolate ice cream happily into his mouth.

Maes was glancing back and forth between them, a small, knowing smile beginning to form on his lips.

"Hey! I didn't say you could eat all of it, Colonel Bastard!"

End Flashback

"Oh yeah. That reminds me." Ed brought another spoonful of vanilla ice cream to her lips and glanced up at the sky, scowling to herself. "I guess you were right about boyfriends too, you know-it-all shit." She grumbled bitterly.

"They weren't as useless as I originally thought they were. Well, maybe not entirely."

Ed sighed as she remembered her first, albeit failed, two-year relationship with Ling.

"He wasn't bad for a first boyfriend, if I do say so myself. He's a prince of Xing – well technically, I guess he's the Emperor now but anyway, we dated for more than two years." Ed continued, beginning to lose herself in her thoughts.

"He was a pretty great guy, though a bit of a hyperactive git. And he was always so annoyingly happy for no reason, that idiot. He did make me laugh a lot though, so I guess I kinda liked him. Anyway, we got together after the whole Promised Day fiasco, so he didn't really count as a distraction anymore. Besides, we've been through so much shit together already that we kinda just grew close. I even stayed with him for awhile in Xing."

She paused at that, her smile beginning to fade slowly until nothing but a pained expression lingered on her face.

"It didn't work out though."

The more Edeline tried to think about Ling, the more she realized that all of her wounds hadn't quite finished healing just yet. Ling had been her first love, and the day before he was supposed to head back to Xing to claim the throne as his, he had kissed her and they ended up taking each other's virginity. They were both young and in love, and everything had been such a whirlwind of so many different emotions that Ed had never experienced before, ranging from sickeningly sweet puppy love, sometimes lust, sometimes anger, and sometimes even heartbreak and before Ed could even analyze what had happened, it was over.

Suddenly reeling from the heavy onslaught of emotions that were beginning to cloud her thoughts and make her chest ache painfully, Ed shook her head furiously and decided to change the topic of the conversation.

"I just wanted to drop by to let you know that I'll be in Central for the next couple of months. Like I said, I've just been made Lieutenant Colonel. I don't know exactly know why but Lieutenant General Armstrong asked me to re-enlist."

As she imagined the response that Maes would have most likely have given her, Ed rolled her eyes and smirked. "I know, I know I said I wouldn't pursue a career in the military but this is different. This has something to do with your idiot best friend and protecting his ass so I had to come back. He doesn't know about it though, so let's keep it between us."

As she scooped the last bit of the ice cream into her mouth, Ed suddenly froze.

Ah shit.

Belatedly realizing that she may have lost track of the time when she had gotten caught up in all of her musings, she winced and glanced nervously on the small watch around her wrist. She had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was reading her watch correctly but it finally sank in that she was nearly an hour late to her qualification exam, Ed cursed loudly and jumped to her feet.

"HOLY FUCKING HELL!"

Lieutenant Faiga Welsh was sitting behind a large desk at the very front of the examination room that morning. She stared curiously at the large, group of examinees who were all scattered along the desks in front of her.

She had been assigned to proctor the State Alchemist Qualification exam that year, and quite frankly, being a non-alchemist herself, she found the entire experience to be quite intriguing. They had an interestingly diverse batch taking the exam that month and, from what Faiga could see, they spanned a wide range of ages, from perhaps twenty all the way to maybe about fifty. Most of them, as far as she could tell, came from Central while some others, judging from their attires, must have hailed from slightly farther towns and had only come to Central that afternoon to take the exam.

The Amestris Military held the State Alchemist Qualification Exam every quarter, with almost thirty participants taking the test each time and only about three to five of them actually managing to pass and get accepted into the program. Fortyhopefuls were taking the exam that afternoon but only three would be accepted, depending on their score ranking.

From where she sat behind her table observing them, Faiga noticed that none of the examinees seemed to have moved from their stiff sitting positions for the past hour but given how difficult the exam was rumored to be and the added pressure of having to get a high-ranking score, she really couldn't blame them. In fact, it was only when the doors at the back of the room had suddenly burst open that everyone, including Faiga, looked up, gaping in shock at the sight of a young blonde woman, perhaps in her late teens, cursing loudly and rushing in panic towards the front of the room.

"Shit, shit, shit! I am so sorry, Lieutenant! I forgot what time it was, I didn't realize—"

"May I help you?" Faiga interrupted as she leaned forward and gave her a stern, disapproving glare.

"I sure hope so." The blonde grumbled, staring blankly at her for a couple of seconds before her golden eyes took a quick scan across the room. "This is the room for the qualification exam right?" She asked, wincing and lowering her voice to a soft whisper when one of the examinees sitting in front glared at her and shushed her in admonishment.

Faiga arched an eyebrow at her sheepish smile, unimpressed by her lack of professionalism.

"Yes, this is the qualification exam but I'm afraid you are an hour late." She chastised, shaking her head in disapproval. "At this rate, you might not be able to finish the exam on time. I suggest you just come in during the next batch—"

"No, no, I can't do that! Lieutenant General Armstrong will murder me in my sleep, I tell you!" The blonde girl protested, waving her hands around frantically. "Please just let me take the exam, I promise to finish before the 3 hour time limit is up, you won't have to extend for me!"

"Lieutenant General Armstrong? Then that means—" Faiga blinked at her in confusion for a couple of seconds before realization finally kicked in and she stared, slack-jawed, at the fidgeting young blonde in front of her. "—y—you wouldn't happen to be the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edeline Elric, now would you, Ma'am?" She stammered nervously.

"You've heard of me, huh?" The blonde girl gave her another sheepish smile and raised a hand to scratch at the back of her head. "Hey, listen. Do you think maybe we can keep this between us? Please don't tell the Lieutenant General that I was late for my exam—"

"P—please have a seat, Ma'am! I'm so sorry for not recognizing you before!" Faiga suddenly rushed out in horror, blushing to the very roots of her hair as she scrambled to hand over the examination booklet and questionnaire.

"Great, thanks!" Elric gave her a wide, relieved grin as she took the questionnaire and booklet from her.

"Would you happen to have a pencil I could borrow?"

Faiga opened her mouth to answer but before she managed to say anything, one of the examinees sitting in the front of the room – a young, friendly-faced man with brown hair and bright blue eyes – cleared his throat to call their attention.

When Elric turned around to glance curiously at him, he gave her a friendly smlle and offered her a pencil.

"Thanks!"

Faiga could only watch as the blonde grinned at the man and gave him a sassy wink before she quickly sauntered over to the very back of the room, situating herself in one of the empty chairs by the corner.

As Faiga watched the young alchemist in avid fascination, she didn't fail to notice how Elric didn't start answering the exam right away. Instead, she stuck the pencil between her lips and raised both arms, tying her long blonde hair up into a knot onto the top of her head. After she was satisfied that her hair was being kept adequately away from her face, Elric stuck the pencil behind her ear, leaned back against her chair and began reading through the exam questionnaire.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Faiga continued to watch the blonde Fullmetal Alchemist, wondering dazedly to herself how in the world Elric expected to finish the exam in the short time she had left when she wasn't even answering yet. Instead, it looked as though the young blonde was intent on reading the entire questionnaire first. Finally, after what seemed like a good fifteen minutes, Elric grabbed her pencil again, bent down to the desk and rapidly began filling up her exam booklet with mind-numbingly fast, bullet-like speed.

It took awhile for Faige to realize she was gaping, her jaw hanging open, as she watched the Fullmetal Alchemist writing and flipping through her exam booklet faster than everybody else in the room.

The unblinking, laser-like focus on the young blonde's face was almost inhuman, and Faiga seriously doubted that she had ever seen anything like it before. The way her pencil scraped along her booklet was fast and continuous, pausing only when she was forced to flip to the next page because she had run out of space.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of Faiga just watching her, the young blonde finally slammed her booklet shut, slid the questionnaire into its pages and stood up, making her way back to the front of the room. When she walked up to Faiga and handed her back the booklet with a self-satisfied grin, Faiga just stared blankly at her.

"It's a 3-hour exam, Ma'am." She managed to choke out.

When Elric just blinked at her and gave her a confused look, Faiga decided to clarify.

"You still have 30 minutes left." She told her.

"Oh, yeah. I know." The confusion on the blonde's face cleared and she flashed Faiga an embarrased smile.

"Sorry about that. I would have passed it in sooner but I had to go over the test questions and my answers at least twice. I didn't want to submit it right away, that'd be stupid and reckless. Might have missed a number of something." She mused ruefully, causing Faiga's left eye to twitch at her words in stunned disbelief.

She seriously finished a 3-hour long examination in less than half the time?

"Anyway, thanks for the consideration, Lieutenant. I'll be going now. Oh yeah, before I forget." She turned around and walked up to the brown-haired examinee again, smiling at him and placing his pencil back on his desk.

"Y—you're done?" The brown-haired examinee croaked out as he looked up and blinked stupidly at her.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me borrow your pencil."

She smirked at the disbelieving expression on his face before she strode through the doors, leaving Faiga, as well as all the other occupants in the examination room, gaping and staring after her back in stunned dismay.

When Edeline strode into Brigadier General Roy Mustang's office that afternoon, she was immediately met with a chorus of warm greetings as the team all looked up from their desks and gave her wide, welcoming smiles.

As usual, Breda and Jean were the first ones to react, followed closely by Fuery as he smiled shyly and waved at her from the back of the room. Falman was on the phone but when he recognized Ed, he grinned and waved at her, setting the receiver back down. Unfortunately, Ed didn't see Hawkeye at her desk but before she could ask where she was, she was immediately bombarded with an onslaught of greetings and questions.

"Hey Boss! Is it really you?!"

"Great to see you, Ed!"

"Wow, Boss! You're lookin' pretty good!"

"You grew taller!"

"WHY YOU—"

Ed's left eye twitched at Breda's comment and on instinct, before she could even stop herself, her face grew red with anger and she lashed out at him with her claws out.

"I WAS ALWAYS TALL BEFORE, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"That's her, alright." Havoc teased as he put his cigarette out and stood up, walking over to join the throng of people who had gathered around her. "So how was the qualifying exam this morning, boss?" He asked.

"Oh you know, same old shit." Ed answered, grinning as she leaned against one of the tables behind her and crossed one ankle over the other.

"I was a little late actually. I thought I was going to miss it." She admitted, cringing.

"They didn't tell you what time it was going to start?" Falman asked.

"Oh no, they did. I just…forgot." Ed answered, scratching sheepishly at her neck.

Falman blinked and gave her an incredulous look at that, a disapproving frown on his face while Fuery, Breda and Havoc just grinned knowingly at her.

"What brings you here, Boss?" Fuery asked curiously.

"I just finished fitting my new uniform, actually." Ed answered, making a face. "Apparently, I have to wear a fucking military uniform like some kind of…normal person now." She huffed, scowling and folding her arms across her bust.

As she did this, Ed noticed the way Breda's eyes had inadvertently flicked down to her breasts for what felt like a split second before they immediately flicked back up again, flushing in embarrassment. Even Falman, who was probably the most gentlemanly of Mustang's team, seemed to have trouble keeping his eyes on her face. On the other hand, after having already spent some time with her and Al in Resembool, Havoc didn't even bother trying to be discreet in his own staring as his eyes automatically dropped down and lingered longer than necessary on the spot above the scooped hem of Ed's collar.

Ed rolled her eyes at Havoc's pervertedness, smirking mischievously as she straightened and began to walk towards his desk. When he noticed that she was approaching him, however, he stiffened but Ed didn't relent as she purposely bent down and leaned over, resting her elbows on his desk in such a way that it gave him a perfect view of her breasts.

When Havoc began sputtering incoherently, Ed grinned and peered teasingly at him through lowered eyelashes.

"Seriously, Havoc?" Ed smirked and leaned in closer so that her hot breath tickled his ear.

"You need to stop staring and get yourself laid." She purred, instantly causing him to blush as he hastily pulled away from her and groaned, rubbing a furious hand over his ear.

"Don't remind me, Ed." He grumbled, reaching for another stick of cigarette and popping the end into his mouth before giving her a long-suffering glare.

"And can you stop…doing stuff like that? It's distracting as hell." He complained.

Ed snickered at his obvious discomfort and finally pulled away, an obnoxious smile on her face.

"You're the shit-head who won't stop staring, pervert." She retorted.

"So the rumors are true then, boss?" Fuery asked again, drawing Ed's attention back to his earnest face.

"Rumors?" She echoed.

"About you reporting to the Ice Queen now." Breda gave her a horrified look and shivered for emphasis.

"I was in an elevator with her once." Fuery added, a traumatized look on his face. "It was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Olivier Armstrong is just…scary." He whispered.

"Aw, she's not so bad." Ed chuckled, though instead of answering their questions, she gave them an apologetic smile instead and decided to change the subject.

"Anyway, I can't stay long. I don't want to keep you guys from work, either. Is the bastard in?"

"The General is just talking to Lieutenant Colonel Armstrong right now, Ed."

At the new voice that had spoken, Ed whirled around and grinned when she saw Hawkeye walking back into the room.

"Major Hawkeye!"

They smiled at each other as Ed strode over to her, giving the older blonde woman a brief, warm hug.

Hawkeye was still smiling as they pulled apart but before Ed could say anything, she gestured towards Mustang's closed office doors. "I'd let you in but the General said never to disturb him when he's talking to someone."

With that, Hawkeye paused and turned to give a smirking Ed an amused, knowing look.

"So do you want to go in anyway?" She asked.

Ed answered her with a wide, mischievous grin and winked.

"Fuck yeah, I do!"

Hawkeye laughed at the enthusiasm in Ed's voice and obliged, beckoning her over to stand in front of the entrance to the General's office. Ed watched as Hawkeye raised a hand and knocked lightly against the closed doors.

"Sir?"

"100 cenz says the Chief stares." Havoc whispered loudly to a smirking Breda beside him.

"You're on." Breda retorted.

After a few seconds, they soon heard Mustang's irritated growl from the other side of the door.

"What is now, Hawkeye?"

"Ed is here to see you."

Notes: Gomen-nasai! I know you're all probably disappointed since you were expecting to finally get your Roy x Ed reunion / interaction in this chapter. I do hope the cute little flashback we had back there with Maes, Roy and Ed made up for it a little bit though. I love Maes so much, why did he have to die?! D:

Don't fret! Our two lovers will finally meet up again in the next chapter so please stay tuned! And depending on how everything goes, we might even get to meet the rest of Olivier's new team! :D