A/N: Now that my 'family business' is over with, I can finally get back to doing what I love! Writing! Sorry for the wait: For the rest of the summer, expect a chapter within every two weeks (approx. every ten days). Thanks for your encouraging (and sometimes scary!) reviews, they mean the world to me! :D
THIS IS 2,457 WORDS, NOT INCLUDING THIS SENTENCE. OMFG!
"Bye bye, Havoc. And don't take it personally; you just know too much."
And suddenly, a large boulder came crashing down on Havoc's frame, an obvious red tint to the grey sidewalk creeping across the pavement.
How could you.
Although it was only Hawkeye's second day since returning to the military, she was rudely woken at the unkind hour of 3 am, to the obnoxious shrill of an emergency telephone call.
Her heart did a small leap in her chest, and she flung herself out of bed, bed sheets scattering among the floor as she darted to the phone and picked it up between her sleepy fingers.
"Hello?" She slurred in a quick fashion, half expecting to hear the deep, mellow voice of her ex-superior officer.
Instead, she heard the collected alto of the receptionist, informing her that there was a crime scene to report to at once on 12th Avenue.
She hastily threw on her uniform - forced to acknowledge the small crinkle in it, which, under less of a time constraint, she would have ironed out immediately before even considering leaving her apartment - and bolted from her room to speed walk through the eerie building, silent besides the light snoring.
She arrived to her post on 12th Avenue with record time, light beads of sweat present on her brow as she saluted the officers, who she'd once been a superior to.
(They all had to do a double take before remembering that she'd resigned.)
(They all basked in the glory of finally surpassing her.)
(She could shoot them.)
Hawkeye finally dropped her salute, sourly, once the other officers quit pacing around her pettily, pridefully seeking more of her submission to their authority. She finally could approach the scene, seeing the investigations unit covering a corpse with a lengthy sheet, quietly taking notes and discussing the cause of death, which to Riza was blatantly obvious: The huge boulder sitting to the carcass' left.
"Excuse me," She started, and immediately the two officers were trying to pry a salute out of her, each sending her a look for her lack of badges on her shoulder. She reluctantly saluted, before continuing, trying to dismiss the obvious pleasure the two felt from seeing her respect.
"Continue," One demanded, as she asked the taller of the two if they were aware of the bolder beside them.
"Hawkeye," the shorter rudely addressed her, mock disappointment carrying through his voice, "We know that you used to be a Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel Roy Mustang, but now you are a Private: You no longer can assume the position of questioning, you must respect us, as we are both Sergeants. Treat us as such."
Riza had to bite her tongue as she saluted them, knowing well that while she had been strict, she was never disrespectful to those in the ranks below her; it was something she picked up from the Colonel, due to his charismatic desire to protect those below him.
...It was partially the reason she'd decided to protect him.
"Hey-" She unintentionally heard a whisper behind her, seeing another two Privates, a woman and a man this time, whispering to one another. She tried to focus on her job, while scanning the street for Havoc or Breda, or any of her old team mates, but could not help feeling her stomach drop when she heard her name.
"-isn't that Lieutenant Colonel Riza Hawkeye...? You know, the one who was on Colonel Roy Mustang's team?"
The other Private glanced over, Hawkeye was bristling at this point.
"Wow, it is. Wanna know what's sad? She only joined the Military because she wanted to protect him. That's what I heard."
"Oh man." It was everything Hawkeye could do to avoid shouting at them for their disrespect, and when she turned on her heel to see that they, unlike her, had a badge, she realized that even THEY out ranked her as Special Privates.
"So she, like, failed? That's totally sad. I heard she and him were war heros, too."
"Yeah. And the team's dropping like flies, as it is. She really shouldn't have quit."
What the Hell's that supposed to mean?
"Yeah. The Elric brothers both lost their mind, the Colonel's dead, and now Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc's been crushed, too."
Hawkeye felt her stomach lurch.
"I know. Luckily for her, she didn't have to come before the medical unit pushed the boulder off of the guy and covered up the body. What a way to go, you know?"
And that was it. She was upon the scene, before the body as she tore the blanket from the sticky ground, the investigations team hollering profanities at her and yanking at her uniform to drag her away as she resisted whole-heartedly, already broken from the death of her beloved Superior and the loss of two precious children, retching at the vile stench that blurred her vision once the towel was flung somewhere behind her as her eyes laid on the twisted form of her old teammate.
It was disgusting. The limbs of Jean Havoc were twisted in repulsive ways while the blood crept around his body, his uniform completely unrecognizable from the deep crimson stain that soaked it. Even his badges.
But, his face- It was easily distinguishable as Jean Havoc. His trademark dirty blond locks and his square jaw... All so him. His mouth was positioned tightly in what looked like a scream that never quite made it past his parched lips.
So, it took everything inside of Hawkeye to stand up without vomiting, stating that she was excusing herself.
She ended up in Edward's cell, sitting sullen on the bench right outside the thick bars with an indistinguishable frown on her face. He held the same features, as he actually stared back at her.
"If you killed Jean too, I swear you're gonna be shot." She found herself saying, not because she was accusing him or because she thought he was listening, but because she really wanted to fill up this silence that always seemed present when she sat in his cell.
He was still blank, and she noted that another tray was set beside him, still full.
"I literally spoke to him yesterday. And now, he's just..."
Edward still looked blankly at her, and she didn't even care if he was registering anything she was saying.
"But this is the military. Nobody is on anybody's side, there is life and death and I can't expect people to be immune to it just because they're close to me."
But why am I losing everyone around me?
When a guard suddenly entered the room, Riza couldn't help but jump a bit when she turned to face him; the door opened and shut with an ear-splitting creak, and the man stood beside her, raising a thick eyebrow at her presence as she just shook her head.
"You know, ma'am, that you can't be in here without a guard around." He thundered, a deep voice that matched his plump belly and round cheeks.
"I apologize. I wasn't thinking straight, thank you for being here."
He grunted, about to resume his post before sending her another look.
"Just tell me if he starts giving you trouble." He offered, "I don't want to see him having another episode, the way he did the other day."
Riza turned a bit, genuinely interested in what he meant by 'episode'.
"Did he speak...?" She inquired, the man chuckling and scratching his head as if the question was a joke of some kind.
"Oh, he spoke alright. He said a little too much, if you ask me."
"What do you mean, he hasn't spoken anything comprehensible since the Colonel died!" To Hawkeye, this was news: She wanted nothing more than to hear the young man tell her that no, he didn't kill the Colonel, and that yes, he was still sane.
"He was more screaming than talking, miss. It was obscene, you should've seen the dude that visited."
The man paced over to her and sat on the bench, his thick hands resting on his knees as he stared Edward down, condemning. In comparison to the officer, Edward looked spindly and weak: It appeared to Riza that Edward really hadn't eaten substantially in a while. She was bewildered, given his (ordinarily) huge appetite.
"Yeah." The man stated, exhaling as though he were exhausted. "This kid's a handful. He thinks it's a joke that he killed his superior. We had to shoot him in the arm to knock him out."
Riza winced for a moment, the thought of anyone hurting the boy she cared so much about distressing her already throbbing heart, sore from all this month's torment.
"What exactly did he say?" She mustered, her curiosity greater than her desire to just be alone to beat something and relieve her frustration.
"Ah, lets see... He said that he wasn't guilty about killing Roy Mustang, then called him a 'fucker', and started bein' all sinister and babbling about how he was so happy he killed the poor dude. It really pissed me off. I kinda liked that guy, even though most people really despised him."
She smiled at that last part, well aware of how many personnel battled with Roy for his position, resenting him for being considered a 'hero'. But still, she felt concerned for Edward's mental health, now informed of what monstrosities he'd been pledging recently.
"He's...happy about a man's death...?" She trailed off, disbelieving of the account.
That doesn't sound anything like Edward.
"Well, I guess so. I had to put him in his place. Anyway, I'll be outside."
Hawkeye sat in confused silence, a heavy heart keeping her in place past breakfast time while she thought of Havoc; walking home, being crushed.
She hoped her twisted imagination made the crime out to be much more despicable then it was.
(Probably not.)
Eventually, though, Breda came looking for her.
She felt him sit beside her, gently, and thought that she'd sit up a bit to give him strength: Yes, she felt forlorn at Havoc's demise, but she knew Breda must feel the same way. She decided it would be best to suck it up for him.
"Hey." He muttered, sighing to himself as he rubbed his neck. She didn't feel the need to respond, so she simply continued to observe Edward as he sat completely stagnant, except for his eyes, which followed the fly's motion around his grubby food.
"Well this is depressing." Breda said at last. Yes Breda, Riza thought bitterly, it is depressing that Havoc's been murdered.
"I'm aware." She mocked, putting her head in her hands. She would have thought it humorous that Breda was so blunt, so outright in speaking every thought running through his mind, but she realized that this trait was something he shared in common with Jean.
So she remained silent.
"I'm sorry, Hawkeye."
"Why? You didn't kill him," She asked sarcastically, turning toward him, "...right?"
He laughed darkly, amused that she had the heart to make sure he didn't kill his good friend: After all, it probably wouldn't surprise her too much given that Edward was the accused killer of Mustang.
"Look. I know that none of us really want to talk about this case right now, Hawkeye, but I have some more information."
She decided to sit up, again, to glance at his expression. She recognized the dark circles beneath his eyes, empathetically feeling the restlessness.
"I'm listening, Breda." She mumbled sternly enough for him to heed her command.
"I received a call from that immigrant."
"The Emperor, ne?" She commented, correcting him.
"We all know 'the immigrant' and 'the Emperor' are the same dude, Hawkeye. Anyway," He said with an out-of-place twinkle, "he told me about this Newspaper article..."
"Yes, Breda, Foreigner is Killed Outside Emperor's Temple, correct?"
"Oh, so he told you too?" He asked, feeling a bit betrayed now that he knew the groundbreaking information was not shared with solely him.
"Yeah. I know. It's fishy."
They were silent for a minute, Riza's bland response hanging in the air, before Breda spoke up again.
"Look Hawkeye, I really didn't want to say this," He gestured toward Edward's still frame, "in front of him. But...Ling raised a concern. I'm worried that it might disturb... er, Fullmetal."
She cocked an eyebrow at him, suddenly feeling eyes burning into her turned head and Breda noticeably sweat-dropped.
She slowly looked toward the ex-alchemist, who's golden orbs now stared back at her with deep anguish.
...With ferocity.
"Do you want to..."
He was just watching them.
"Yeah." Breda said before grabbing her by the sleeve and dragging her outside the cell.
"Hawkeye," He fumbled breathlessly, his eyes livid, "Ling Yao believes that Edward is the 'small teen' mentioned in the article."
"I know-! I know, Breda, he matches the 'golden hair, small, approximately 16-years-old' description perfectly, but it doesn't make sense because he's-"
Her breath hitched when she heard a door inside the jail screech open deafeningly, Breda's face going pale as they heard footfalls echoing within the cell.
"- right in there..."
Muahahaha! A/N: I'm telling you, it's not what you think it is (so far). Everyone has guessed REALLY well in reviews! But, only one person has come super close to what's going on (and has not guessed it EXACTLY, but is pretty close!).
Please leave a review! I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts and blackmail! ;)
Thanks for sticking with me all this time. I will update much sooner now that I'm home (I swear). Thanks for the continuous support, it means the world (even when you find a cat in your bed, angryperson;)! :'D
Funny story, before I wrote this chap I was looking for my notes on this story- each chap is planned, BTW- and almost DIED because I thought I lost them! And I almost forgot my own plot! HA! (it was terrifying) But anyway, I found them and read it and was like OHHHH OKAY YEAH TOTALLY REMEMBER THAT...not o.o HAPPY SUMMER GUYS!