Thank you cj ripper, Crystal Shifter, lightpaws, and supershark1 for taking the time to leave me a review!
Pairings: Edward/Winry and Roy/Riza (later chapters)
Disclaimer: I have no ownership rights to FMA. I'm just
an obsessed fan, who wanted to write a story involving some of the
characters from the anime/manga.
Special thanks to: Hiromu Arakawa, Square-Enix, Bones, Funimation, and Viz, for bringing FMA to life
Chapter 3 - Indimidation
The door of a small, run down room creaked open, letting in a man dressed in rough, street clothes. His dark, mane-like brown hair fell over his eyes, as he turned back to close the door he'd just entered.
"I see you came back empty handed, Damis," called a smooth feminine voice, from the opposite side of the room.
"I had a stray dog for my midnight snack," barked Damis, spinning around and walking toward a wooden dining table, where a pale woman, dressed in a revealing black silk dress, was seated, leisurely reading a newspaper. Damis pulled up a chair, and sat across from the woman, acting noisily as he did so.
The woman tucked a loose strand of her straight, ebony locks behind her ear, and then continued reading her newspaper, not even bothering to look up at Damis.
Rolling his eyes, Damis gave the woman an annoyed look before he spoke.
"Come on Samar. Please don't act like this."
Samar turned a page, and crossed her legs.
"You know damn well as I do that you can function perfectly fine without food for a few days."
"What about Bruno?" Samar questioned. "All he's had to eat for the past week is bones."
Damis shook his head, and looked past Samar to a steel barred cage, in the right corner of the room. Inside of it, a figure stirred. A pair of decaying human hands slowly reached out, from the cages shadows, and gripped the bars, pulling forth a half rotted face, which pressed itself against the cold metal. It moved its film covered eyes to look over at the two.
"He's already dead," Damis dismissed, waving a hand toward the cage. "He doesn't need to eat anyway."
"Half dead," corrected Samar.
"Whatever. My point is we shouldn't be wasting food on him."
Samar chuckled softly.
"What's so funny?"
Samar dropped her newspaper onto the table, and pushed it toward Damis.
"Tell me what that says."
Damis swallowed hard, and then looked down, reading the headline of the page out loud.
"State Alchemist Survives the Vicious Attack of a Wild Ani-"
Before Damis could finish, Samar smacked him upside the head with a force strong enough to send him flying out of his seat. In defense, Damis kicked the air, knocking over his seat, but failing to make contact with anything else.
The sudden commotion sent Bruno into a delirious hollering fit; screaming undecipherable words as he rattled his prison back and forth.
Without hesitation, Damis recovered and was back onto his feet, starring down Samar. Anger manifested, causing his gritted teeth to become fangs, and his arms to flex, as hundreds of tiny hairs began to sprout off of them. Blind rage told him to charge when he realized something was missing.
Glancing downward, Damis saw his tumbled over chair but no table in sight. Damis felt the color in his face disappear as he looked up, seeing Samar holding the table above her; eyes ablaze.
Damis came to the conclusion of what would come next. Instinct told him to run, but Damis knew he couldn't dodge a dinner table that wide. He dropped to the floor, cowering, bracing himself for the oncoming strike.
The hardwood table shattered into bits and pieces as it made contact with Damis's back.
Samar kicked away a large piece of broken wood, resting on Damis's head, and without even giving him time to give her a pleading look, kicked him under the chin, flipping him flat on his back. Damis couldn't help but give a small shout of pain, spitting blood from his busted lip, as thick splinters managed to lodge themselves in his neck and shoulders.
Regaining her seductive composure, Samar walked over Damis and stomped down on his chest with one of her high heeled shoes.
"You'd better get out there and finish that man before the damn military finds out anymore information, or I'll drive you into the ground", Samar said, grinding her heel into Damis's torso.
"He was a kid! How was I supposed to know he was part of the freaking military?" Damis spat, trying to find the strength to raise his hands to Samar's foot.
Samar stepped off of Damis, throwing her head back to laugh aloud.
"You have the worst luck, don't you Damis? First, you piss off your own kind, and now you've got the state against you as well?" Samar recounted, walking over to comfort Bruno. "Looks like you'll be in debt to me for life."
Damis grunted, pushing himself up, into a seating position. He reached back and pulled one of the long splinters out of his shoulder, feeling a small amount of blood gush out from the open wound. After taking a brief look at the splinter, Damis tossed it across the room.
"Bring him here."
"Huh?"
"That state alchemist boy. Bring him to me." Samar grinned, gently stroking Bruno's moldy, hairless scalp.
"This time, don't fail. It's been awhile since I've tasted young blood."
Roy had just finished some light paper work when a knock came on his door.
"Come in."
Riza stepped in, empty handed to Mustang's surprise.
"Any news on Full Metal's status?"
"That's what I've came to tell you sir. He's waiting right outside your office."
Roy blinked, taking awhile to register what his first lieutenant had said to him.
"Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir?"
"You mean to tell me that the same Edward Elric I witnessed get torn to shreds a two nights ago is outside my door right now?"
Riza took a step back, out of the doorway, to look at Edward, who was seated next Alphonse and Winry, in one of the waiting chairs, easily filling out the weekly Sudoku puzzle on the back of the Central newspaper.
Edward sensed someone watching him, and looked to his right, seeing Riza staring at him, wearing her usual straight face. Feeling awkward, Edward gave her a weak smile and a slight wave, and then went back to finishing the puzzle.
"Yes sir, It's him." Riza said, leaning back into the doorway.
"Hmm," Roy responded, still somewhat confused as to how Edward could even be moving around after the chimera attack. "Send him in."
"A werewolf?"
"Yes, and since it bite me, I've changed into one too."
Roy sat still for a moment, resting his head against his hand, giving Edward a blank, unbelieving look.
"Go back to the hospital Edward." Roy said sternly, while shuffling around loose papers on his desk. "They must have forgotten to recheck your mental stability."
"Hell no! The doctor looked me over and said I was free to go. He said I didn't need to stay, since I made such a fast recovery."
"Well then," Roy began, slowly rising up from his cushioned chair, letting his voice grow harsher as he continued. "That doctor should be fired for blatantly disregarding military hospital guidelines, which clearly state that any soldier who has suffered major or life threatening injuries, such as yourself, should be kept under bed rest for a minimum of three days, and under no circumstances should be released without the consent of a higher ranking individual, such as myself. Do I make myself clear, Full Metal?"
Now it was Edward's turn to give Roy an emotionless response. It seemed as if the two would never reach a middle ground on the issue.
Edward's thought process switched gears, and he no longer considered what Roy was commanding him to do was for his own well being. His newborn primal side led him to take this as a challenge.
"Well," mocked Edward, standing up just as Roy had before. "Why don't you go to the library and check out a book on Mythology? It should be a few rows away from the Alchemy section, so it won't be too hard for you to find with that pathetic brain of yours."
"That's it. Get out of my office, you're dismissed!" Roy shouted, right in Edwards face. Roy thought for sure it would snap Edward out of his rebellious state-of-mind, but realized that he'd only added more fuel to the fire, when he looked Edward in the eyes.
Roy froze, petrified with confusion and fear. Something, deep inside of Roy's being, told him he should have dropped the matter before it even started. Edward's aura was different, although he was still physically the same. Even though Roy knew for a fact that he stood quite a few heads taller then Edward; he felt as Edward was now casting a shadow over him.
"I can take care of myself." Edward said gruffly, almost in a growl. Roy could have sworn he heard Edward's voice drop two or three octaves.
"So I guess I shouldn't have helped carry your lifeless body into the hospital then." Roy whispered, before he even knew he said it.
Edward smashed his tightly closed fists on Roy's desk, making the dazed colonel jump back, hitting the only piece of wall behind him that didn't have a window in it. Losing to his nerves, Roy could feel his authority over Edward slip away.
Snickering with satisfaction, Edward turned and left Roy's office, closing the door gently behind him; leaving Mustang shocked and bewildered.
Shacking, Roy opened one of his desk doors and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe some of the sweat that broke out on his face.
Roy made certain that he'd remember to pay a visit to the library before the work day was over.
After Notes-
I apologize, to those of you who were waiting for me to post up this chapter sooner, and thank you for your patience. This chapter was difficult for me to write, especially after adding two more characters to the story line. That probably explains why it's so short. I'd like to hear your opinion on the new characters. I want to avoid adding borderline Mary Sue characters as much as possible. Thank you for reading.
With openness and respect, Heza Ulric