ne
She stared at the sheet for about a minute, reading it all through."Well…" was all she said.
"That's all you've got to say?" asked General Roy Mustang incredulously.
She looked up at him.
"It's hardly surprising, ever since my previous commanding officer found out that I was, most unfortunately, still alive…" she said, scratching her ear.
That was true, he supposed. Scarlet had worked directly under the Fuhrer at one point, before her untimely demise, that is.
"The last time I was there, the situation hadn't gotten so bad as to require all State Alchemists to report there," she noted, putting the sheet down, on the bedside table.
"I thought so," he said, sitting down at the end of the bed.
"Though sending you up to the front lines, seems a bit suspicious in my opinion," she added.
"They came up with a good reason for that one," muttered the black haired man.
"My previous performance at the Ishbalan War and my wartime expertise, clearly designate me, as the most suitable person to lead the battle. Not to mention that I am the renowned Flame Alchemist…" he said, just as the door opened.
"Alphonse-kun!" exclaimed Scarlet, seeing the brown-haired boy come in. He looked dead tired, and even had circles under his eyes. He had a paper in his hand.
"You've heard?" he asked groggily, "with a war going on, we won't have time to search for Homunculi..." said the boy.
"Rather, if the Homunculi want us dead, they couldn't choose a better time…in the middle of a war…people can disappear and die quite easily, no explanation necessary," sighed the General, "Right now, all I'd rather think about something more pleasant..." said the General, getting a bored expression on his face.
"Like what?" chorused the two teenagers.
"Whether the women in the North are beautiful…" he sighed, just as a pillow and a water jug made contact with his face.
Envy was irritable again, making him unapproachable for some time. Pride was actually quite relieved for Envy's bad mood. That meant that his green-haired brother wouldn't be bugging him about anything, and he could read his books in peace. This guy Shakespeare was quite interesting… Just then, Lust walked into the library. Pride was not unduly concerned, Lust actually knew quite a lot about alchemy, and was a bit of a bookworm herself, and it was not unusual for her to come in to read a few books.
"Pride," said Lust suddenly.
"Hmmm?" answered Pride, not really paying attention to what his older sibling had to say.
"Pride," repeated Lust sternly.
"What?" he said, still reading.
"You're being sent North along with Envy," she said.
"Oh," he said, turning the page.
Lust refused to let her eyebrow twitch in irritation. Sometimes the Fullmetal Midget could seriously drive her insane. His simple disregard for orders when people talked to him was uncannily like the relationship between the shrimp and the Flame General…
"You're leaving. Now." She said with finality.
"That's nice…" he said, still not paying attention to her.
Though their personalities were completely different, there were some quirks that this newest Homunculus retained that were vintage Edward Elric. The habit of nodding off at the most peculiar times, getting absorbed in books, eating a lot, and doing the little things that pissed people off, like being better than they were, even though he was so small...
"Pride…" started Lust threateningly, when she noticed that the blonde Homunculus was gone.
Scarlet packed her bags. This war was going to be trouble. Not only was the risk of dying prominent, she had a sick feeling in her stomach that this war was arranged by the Homunculi. Having worked up North, she knew that the situation there was not that bad, unless something rather unpleasant had happened. Mustang would probably say that she was just seeing Homunculi conspiracies everywhere. She usually countered that by saying that he saw conspiracies all the time, especially within the military. There was a knock at the door.
"Come in," she called, as the door opened slowly.
"Oh…Alphonse-kun! What are you doing here?" she said looking over to the teenager in the doorway. The guy looked even shyer than usual, the way he shuffled his feet, and didn't really look up at her.
"Ummm…" he said, "Would…would it be alright with you, if we…uh…" stuttered Alphonse, not looking at her.
"What?" she asked, stuffing what appeared to be a pistol into her bag. Alphonse had been pretty soft spoken and reserved ever since that encounter with the Homunculus who looked like his older brother, but he was much more so today.
"Do you…Do you want to go get something at the café with me?" he managed to say loudly.
Scarlet looked up at him. She wasn't sure if she heard that properly. Did Alphonse just ask her out? She was surprised. Scarlet had never been in this type of situation before. She had faced some pretty scary life or death situations, but her social life outside of work was practically non-existent. The closest thing she had to a relationship outside of work was to the one book store owner in Central who got books from the distant Eastern country of Xing, she was a regular customer.
"Why not?" she asked, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "beats packing as a past time," she grinned at him.
Alphonse felt tense…This was the first time he had asked any girl out, ever. However, he wasn't sure if Scarlet really saw it as a date or not…Knowing her, she probably didn't. But that didn't really matter, he decided sitting down at a table with her. She was reading over a book of some sort.
"Uhh…Scarlet-san…are you really going to go to the war?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
"Uh-huh," she said turning the page.
"You…You don't have to go…" he said suddenly.
"Wha-?" she said surprised looking up.
"Scarlet-san, you're still recovering from that incident! You can't go!" said Alphonse insistent.
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" she demanded angrily.
"I'm your friend! I care about you!" he shouted back at her, "you're just like Nii-san…" he muttered softly after.
"Tell me Alphonse-kun," she said slowly after a moment's pause, "Was that your brother?" she asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Was the one called Pride your brother?" she said her eyes expressionless.
"…" he looked down at his hands.
"The Homunculi are planning something, your Nii-san must have found out what, so that happened," she said looking straight at him, "No matter how much that thing looked like Edward Elric, that wasn't him."
Alphonse looked at her.
"How do you know so much?" he asked incredulously.
"I paid the price, and worked hard. It helps having a brain too," she added with a tight smile.
"What makes you say that it isn't him?" demanded Alphonse, after a few moments.
She leaned back and put her feet on the table.
"Would your brother have threatened to kill you?"
"No," was the immediate response.
"Would he join forces with the Homunculi?"
"No," said Alphonse, even though he wasn't so sure. If what Scarlet said was true, it meant that he had joined forces with them, even if it was only to save him…
"Would he ever wear such a girly outfit?" she asked.
"No!" exclaimed Alphonse, suddenly remembering what the Homunculus that resembled his brother wore; Ed had already been indignant about wearing a womanly overcoat during the Barry the Chopper Fan investigation, the skirt and tight shirt would have been looked at with veritable disgust.
"Then it wasn't him," she said, "I hope this conversation has made you feel better, Alphonse Elric..." said Scarlet, getting up and leaving. Alphonse just watched her go. He began to wonder: How on earth could she know so much about…everything?
God damn it, this is so boring…" moaned Envy, lying down. Pride felt like kicking him. He had been going on and on for at least a week. A pity he couldn't move other people the way he could move himself. By disassembling and rejecting all atomic bonds of every substance in his body, he could effectively travel over very large distances and then reassemble himself in another place. In short, Pride could teleport.
Sitting down next to Envy's head, Pride was reading a book.
"Envy, would you quiet down? If you keep this up, someone is bound to notice and look up here…" said Pride irritably.
They were traveling with the military convoy in order to keep an eye on the Flame, Soul Binding and Scarlet Alchemists. The Scarlet Alchemist especially. The girl's knowledge was freakishly accurate, and the girl herself was far too dangerous to be let alone. If she found out what they were planning, which Father was pretty sure she would…Their very existence could be put to the test.
Unfortunately, they couldn't travel in the convoy, Edward Elric's face would be easily recognized, if not by the Flame General's direct subordinates, then by the masses who had heard of the Fullmetal Alchemist. And since Envy wasn't able to teleport, the two Homunculi traveled on top of the military convoy. Literally. The two were sitting on top of the train the convoy was taking towards the North. Though why Pride was stuck with Envy, he didn't know.
Personally, he felt especially irritated having been saddled with his green-haired sibling. Not only was Envy whiny, he was excessively demanding and at most times was very annoying. On top of that, Pride had still not forgiven Envy for the sofa incident. The rumors Lust had spread amongst everyone else were most embarrassing. His pride had been hurt, and Pride took that very seriously.
"But it's soooooo boring," whined Envy. Pride felt himself clench his fists in irritation, and maybe, just maybe, a blood vessel to pulse in his forehead…
"Envy…sometimes…I wonder why I don't kill you…"growled Pride.
Envy looked over to him and grinned.
"Because you can't, shrimp…" he smiled.
Envy grinned to see Pride's fist shake. Recently he began to act more and more like Edward Elric, which was a refreshing change in Envy's opinion, although Father seemed slightly concerned about it. The old man was just being a worry wart. Edward Elric was gone for good, and Envy knew it for sure. Pride only acted like the Fullmetal midget when his dignity and pride were at stake, which was almost every time he was in Envy's presence.
It made sense to Envy as well. Edward Elric's greatest sin was his pride. He was a bit full of himself, thinking he could take on the Homunculi, his inability to take a slight to his height…the little shrimp was far too proud for his own good. That's why there was such a similarity between the two…
"I've always hated trains…"growled Scarlet as she twiddled her thumbs. Alphonse looked out the window at the passing countryside.
"Train rides are nice, you can just sit and you don't get seasick or anything," he said looking over towards the blonde girl.
"It's not that…I had a large tendency to almost die every time I stepped on board one…" she muttered, "Hi-jacking, terrorist bombing, gas leak, a strike, and my insides decided to protest the absence of some of the others…" she said, listing them on her fingers.
"Well, at least you won't have to worry about that anymore," said Hawkeye, looking out the window, "Your insides that is…" she said with a smile. Hawkeye had used to baby-sit the girl when she was younger, and she could always manage to see Scarlet as her baby self whenever the girl had a temper tantrum, which recently, had been very often. Scarlet probably resented that bit, but said nothing whenever Hawkeye made references to it.
"It's not going to be pretty when we get there, and will probably look even worse after," mumbled Havok around his cigarette, "I heard that in Ishbal, the fields the State Alchemists went to, no one and nothing was left…" he said, chewing on the end of a sandwich.
"How can you eat and smoke at the same time?" asked Fuery in disgust and awe.
"Shut up, I can eat however the hell I want to!" said Havok defensively.
"I seriously doubt it tastes good, in fact I believe I read a paper once, saying that smoking was…" Falman started to say, when Breda covered his mouth.
"Shhhhhhh…Never say that to Havok! You will regret it immensely!" whispered the orange haired man loudly.
Mustang stared at them with incredulity.
"These people are my subordinates…?" he wondered aloud.
"Get used to it," said Scarlet, taking a long drink from her water bottle, "It's the equal exchange for being a jerk…" she said, screwing the bottle cap back on.
Mustang felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation.
"Are you really my subordinate?" he asked her.
"Essentially, defeat is unacceptable," sighed Mustang, "Technically, we are infinitely more advanced technologically and alchemically than they are, so the higher-ups threatened to have us shot if we lose," he said scratching his head.
"It also doesn't help with all these reports I've been getting," muttered Scarlet, "Somehow or other, the rebels have been armed with weapons that are just as good as ours, in fact they are ours…according to this eyewitness statement," said Scarlet. She looked over towards Mustang.
"How many people up there want you dead?" she asked.
"Quite a few actually…They never really got over my promotion to General," admitted Mustang.
"Oh good. That explains the weapons…" she said flipping through the reports. Suddenly she stopped.
"Well…well this is interesting…" she said scanning the report.
"What?"
"Apparently the Fullmetal Alchemist has been spotted in no-man's land…" she said handing the sheet to the General.
Mustang took it and read it.
"So they followed us…" he growled.
"Seems quite likely," said Scarlet, "Though how they got here without being seen until now is hard to believe…where's Alphonse?" she asked.
"He's with Hawkeye, learning how to fire a gun," said Mustang, "Personally, I would like to see him out of here, but the most I could do was put him in the reserves," he said rubbing his head in frustration.
"It'd be best if we kept this from him," said Scarlet, not looking up at Mustang, "Alphonse still sees Edward when he looks at that thing, despite however much he tries to convince himself differently," she said somberly.
"Yeah…you're probably right about that…" said Mustang.
"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Scarlet indignantly, "I'm always right!"
"Silence Lieutenant!" shouted Mustang.
"That's Lieutenant-Colonel!" she shouted back at him.
Outside the room, Havok covered his ears.
"Man…why do they have to be so loud, so early in the morning?"
"It's the Flame and Scarlet Alchemist, what do you expect them to be? Quiet?" asked Breda.
"What does scarlet have to do with noise?" retorted Havok, "Nothing!"
"Why is she called the Scarlet Alchemist anyway?" asked Fuery rubbing his head. He had just come back from the communications post and had some new reports and orders for the General.
Sergeant-Major Fuery had always been in awe of alchemists, especially the General, but that was more for the Flame Alchemist's ability to steal any man's girlfriend.
"Rumors say that she obtained the qualifications shortly after Edward Elric did, and was immediately put under Basque-Gran" said Falman, coming over.
"Basque-Gran? That means she can do something that he deemed useful to the military…like weapons…"
"State Alchemists are weapons…human weapons" said the girl coming up behind them, "That's what we are used for, although we were originally supposed to help the public, instead we kill them. Which is just the way it is," said the girl, looking at the older men.
"So…what can you do?" asked Havok curiously.
"Do you want to know?" she asked glaring at him.
"Uh…yes…" he said, withering under the girl's fiery blue glare.
"Count yourself lucky I don't use you as a demonstration…" she growled walking away.
"What's gotten into her?" asked Havok, watching the girl leave.
"We're beginning the assault tomorrow morning," announced Mustang to his group. This announcement was greeted with indignant, shocked and outrages exclamations of "WHAT?!?" by everyone, except for Scarlet, to whom this was no surprise.
"This shouldn't come as a surprise to you guys, you're soldiers, we take orders and die where we're told to," said Scarlet moodily, toying with a feather in her hands.
Alphonse looked nervous, too nervous. He was fidgeting and shaking visibly, noted Mustang looking carefully at the boy. Scarlet was right. It would be best to keep Alphonse in the dark about the Homunculi's presence. It probably would scare the living daylights out of the boy. It would also be best if they kept Alphonse Elric out of the battle. The boy's nerves probably wouldn't be able to handle the death and destruction of a battlefield, and he wouldn't be able to accept the fact that he would be responsible for hundreds of deaths. How Scarlet was fine with it was beyond him. The girl had suddenly become exceedingly cold as soon as they had reached the military post.
He was not looking forward to the next morning...
OKay...if you people want to know what happens next, you're going to be in for a disappointment. Due to the extreme lack of feeback, chapter whatever number this is, will be entirely in point form, because this document is taking up WAY too much room on my already poor, overworked computer. Don't blame me, it's because of the lack of reviews/feedback from people I happen to not know, that made me do this...