Throughout the next week, Ed felt paranoid. In of itself, that was not an unusual state of being for him during a mission. However, he wasn't quite sure if his paranoia was warranted or not.
It had started that first day after he had dragged his belongings into the car that had been left for Mustang and him. He hadn't really bothered to unpack at all, partly because they were only there for about a week and partly because he wasn't entirely sure he trusted the others to not go through his stuff.
After that, he had went off to familiarize himself with the other cars, leaving Mustang to fuss over his own things.
He smiled at Alvon, and the girl seemed to take it as an invitation to walk with him. He didn't particularly mind that, especially since he was likely to interact with the girl a decent amount throughout the next year and he didn't know much about her. After Hughes had mentioned Alvon and Muller as part of the mission, Ed had gone slightly out of his way to see exactly who they were, but he hadn't exactly had the luxury of time. Just because Hughes had stressed that they were good soldiers didn't mean that Ed didn't want to figure out a little more about what he would be dealing with.
It hadn't taken much asking around to figure out that Alvon was a girl that Edward had seen trailing behind Hughes on occasion. She was lanky, thin to an extent that Edward wasn't quite sure was healthy. Her black hair made her paleness all the more apparent, especially when contrasted with the tan most military personnel managed to acquire. The fact that she was wearing it down now simply made it more obvious. She hadn't made much of an impression beyond the few times she had accidentally snuck up on another soldier and scared them half to death. It hadn't happened to anyone in Mustang's office yet, but Ed was waiting for the day.
He had noticed that when it happened, she didn't offer an actual apology, only a smile that could be interpreted as apologetic. He hadn't quite managed to work out if she was just that shy or if she found it just as amusing as Ed did.
They had a nice conversation about how the newest privates seemed absolutely hopeless, a safe default topic whenever officers had no idea what to talk about with one another. Their other conversations didn't go nearly as well. He wouldn't go so far as to say she was totally lacking in personality, but only because no one could possibly be so bland. After conversations on family ("Orphan."), city life ("It's okay."), food ("Necessary.") and different sorts of pets ("I don't like animals.") all failed to last longer than a minute with no attempts at saving the conversation from Alvon, Ed gave up. If Alvon didn't want to make nice, he couldn't exactly force her, and he didn't have the energy to try.
She followed him around quietly, occasionally commenting on subject like the weather and the quality of the wood for the seats, both of which were apparently equally good seeing as she limited her comments to things like, "The weather is nice." Edward wasn't entirely sure what game she was trying to play, but it was irritating him.
"Elric, Alvon," Muller called, slightly too loud for the size of the car as he strode toward them. "Fessler called a meeting in the Meeting Compartment."
"We have a Meeting Compartment?" Alvon muttered, quietly enough that Ed was almost not sure she had said anything at all. Still, her ducked head didn't quite hide the grin spreading across her mouth, although it vanished quite quickly once she glanced at him and noticed he was looking.
Huh.
They both followed Muller, who was wondering aloud about whether or not Walther actually had to come to this meeting, seeing as he outranked Fessler. He didn't seem to care either way, but he managed to talk about it through three cars and never repeat a point. It would have been a lot more impressive if Walther hadn't joined their walk two cars in with no sign that Muller had noticed. Walther himself simply seemed amused by the monologue.
Mustang was standing in the door of the compartment, trying to convince Fessler to move their meeting into the dining area of the car rather than the cramped compartment. He didn't appear to be succeeding due to Fessler's sheer stubbornness and Yoki's willingness to capitulate to a senior officer. Lewis's complete lack of opinion either way didn't particularly help.
Ed ignored his companions' slower steps as he moved to try to help Mustang convince Fessler that they really didn't all need to be so close together in order to work together properly, but Walther moved slightly in front of him, shaking his head in such a small movement that Ed wouldn't have seen it at all if he hadn't been looking up at the man due to the first movement. He could see Alvon watching him out of the corner of his eye, and Muller had fallen silent ahead of them, watching the drama before him with a keener eye than his chatter would indicate he possessed.
Walther stepped forward, allowing his voice to pitch lower in the manner that it did when he was trying to remind people that he was higher ranked than them. "Fighting about such a petty thing is beneath us, gentlemen." What was Walther playing at here? The interruption itself was unnecessary as the matter would resolve itself now that the others were there, and Walther wasn't getting to his point nearly as quickly as he usually did. Ed vaguely noted the immediate salute that Walther's presence garnered from Yoki even if the action was contrary to the stated goal of not giving away their ranks, but he also noted Muller's complete lack of reaction to the man's voice from behind him beyond moving aside to give Walther space to step forward. "There's more room out here for a discussion and it would be best to change areas when discussing sensitive information." Ed wasn't sure Walther meant to imply he distrusted someone enough that he suspected they would bug a military transport or if it was supposed to be general paranoia, but Fessler smiled tightly.
"Of course," he said, moving out of the compartment as Ed stared at the back of Walther's head, trying to will the man into turning around. Walter turned and ignored his gaze as the group scattered around the dining area, taking his own seat instead of looking at Ed. Edward slid into a booth, and Mustang took the other side.
Walther had intervened to ensure Mustang won the argument. Ed had known Walther supported Mustang in a general sense, but it was odd for the man to make a move that could be construed as such if he didn't have something in mind. Given, it was a very small move, but Ed had a feeling that Walther wouldn't leave it at that.
Which once more begged the question of what exactly Walther was playing at.
As soon as everyone seemed relatively settled, with Walther being the only one who refused to sit in a chair and was instead standing at the door, Fessler spoke. "Now, while we've established the baseline of our communication between each other, we need to work on our approach to this community."
Walther didn't so much straighten up as much as he just suddenly seemed taller. It was a trick Edward would have killed for years ago, but he noticed the man was leaning toward the door slightly less and his knees were less bent. The man was dramatic as ever. Either way, the second Fessler looked at him, the rest of their gazes transferred. Fessler looked vaguely irritated, but he allowed Walther's show stealing, and the man was a high enough rank to know that causing trouble with a superior officer, especially over something so small, wouldn't benefit him in any way.
Ed liked Walther, but the man had a tendency of forgetting to watch his own back. It was possibly a bit much to think that Fessler would act against Walther for continually shutting him down, but Ed didn't know enough of the man to discount the possibility. Adding to that whatever Mustang was holding against the man, and it might be best for Ed to keep an eye on the situation. He simply hoped he would be able to see any warning signs, because he had a history of missing those, which often led to buildings exploding in manners that Ed swore were not his fault. There would be no exploding building this time around, but Ed was relatively certain that didn't mean there wouldn't be any explosions.
The meeting itself went smoothly, as they discussed possible areas where data was needed to ascertain whether or not the British Wizarding Community was really a valuable enough ally to keep them. There was also the secondary objective of determining whether a threat to that community had been recently revived, a militant leader known as Lord Voldemort. Lewis hadn't been able to contain her snort upon hearing the name, and Mustang's habitual smirk had appeared in order to cover his amusement.
"There have been claims that the man has managed to resurrect himself. While this is doubtful, another person could be operating under the same moniker in order to attract recruits. As radical ideologies are most likely to be able to attract youths, it is important we keep an eye on the political leanings of the youth population and how they are reacting to this news."
It felt like suddenly everyone in the compartment was staring at Ed. Instead of glancing around at them all, Ed continued to focus his gaze on Walther. He wouldn't dignify them with a reaction. He still noticed Mustang leaning forward with a smirk; Mustang's eyes were on Walther, but Ed was pretty sure the smirk was for him.
"We have previously chosen Elric to monitor them, preferably in their school environment," Walther continued even as his eyes continued to try to bore holes into Ed, as if daring him to disagree. Ed wondered why, if he was previously chosen, he was only being informed now. They couldn't be that concerned about a security leak, could they?
Unless, of course, the security leak would be news of the nature of the mission itself. Sending away some powerful fighters for a year was a risky move and one that Amestris's enemies would take full advantage of if they knew.
That implied that Ed himself wasn't trusted enough in order to receive a full debriefing beforehand. Ed considered this. The Fuhrer wasn't a very big fan of the way he handled things and seemed to dislike him on a personal level, even if the man did recognize his utility. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the man didn't trust him nearly as much as he did someone like Walther.
"Of course. My education is disrupted because my guardian was chosen as a diplomat for this mission, forcing me to come along due to me being a minor in our country," Ed said, the words tripping out of his mouth with little thought. He was going to have to use his age to his advantage and pretend to be a lot more naive than he actually was. That was problematic. He was a terrible actor. His poker face was pretty good at this point, but teenagers didn't interact with people like that.
"And of course his guardian can visit often to ensure his charge is okay," Muller said with a sly grin. Edward shot the man an annoyed glance even as Walther looked considering.
"That would probably be best. It would allow us to communicate any sensitive information that may come up as quickly as necessary. Better an overprotective guardian than military communication with the only member of our party who can pass as a civilian," Walther said, and Muller face lost its grin as he spoke, a speculative look overtaking it.
"Not quite a civilian," Fessler said, indicating a small folder on one of the tables no one had decided to sit at. It was a manila folder and seemed to only have a few pages in it, but it had a gaudy red stamp across it reading 'Classified'. Ed was just far enough away that he couldn't read the label on the folder, and he certainly wasn't going to stand up during a meeting just to do that. "Military but still a child."
"Play up the child aspect, and you have someone that can be regarded as a civilian," Lewis said. She appeared to be the least interested in the proceedings as she slumped against the wall behind her and watched them all with half lidded eyes that seemed to imply she would rather be sleeping than where she was. Ed allowed that he was perhaps reading a bit too much into it.
Fessler gave her a measuring look for a few moments before breaking the odd silence. "Best to have all our terminology straight," he said.
"Of course," Walther said, tilting his head in acquiescence. Fessler seemed unimpressed. "The opinions and loyalties of the civilian population are also important to monitor, as we'll need to understand exactly how likely the population is to support their government's actions. It's useless pursuing an alliance with a country that can't a government that can't control it's population." Walther smiled at the lot of them, eyes lingering on Ed for a few moment too long, as if trying to figure out exactly what he knew.
So, Walther knew what was going on too. Ed wondered exactly how much he had been told and how much he had figured out about the mission. After all, there was no need to justify where they were being placed unless someone asked for clarification or Walther felt there was room for doubt.
"And how exactly do we go about that?" Muller asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We've been assured that certain shopkeepers friendly with the Ministry would be glad to take on an employee or two in order to help balance the costs of this sort of trip. After all, Amestris doesn't have much of a focus on military expenditure." It took everything Ed had not to snort. Everyone who understood even the basics of life in Amestris knew that was false.
… And that was actually slightly worrying. Did magical people really have so little idea of what Amestris was? He knew information about Amestris was likely just as limited in the British Wizarding Community as information about the British Wizarding Community was in Amestris, but to have it so bluntly said was disconcerting.
"What exactly do they know about Amestris?" Ed asked, the question sort of tumbling from his mouth rather than being thought through first. It might have been better to ask Mustang or Walther at a later time rather than in front of everyone else. He wasn't entirely sure how much he could trust anyone else quite yet, so allowing them to know where he was lacking knowledge might not have been the brightest move on his part.
He shrugged internally. Too little, too late.
Walther seemed properly pleased with the question, and Ed suppressed the flare of amusement. The man was still angling to train him up then. He noticed Lewis's eyes open slightly, and Fessler shifted a bit more forward, complementing Muller's shift backward. Alvon tilted her head slightly, hands folded demurely in her lap. Yoki seemed to sit up straighter, if that was even possible. Mustang was the only one who remained unchanged.
So, none of them knew either. That was good. He wasn't automatically cast as the person who had had to ask the implicitly obvious.
"According to their knowledge, Amestris is controlled through Parliament primarily and the Fuhrer secondarily. Our military is weak due to the low likelihood of an attack within the wards, and magic is regarded well. We are a small country but we have faired well in the wars against our neighboring nations due to our size and advantageous geographical location."
"That will fall apart the second they ask anyone who's ever actually been to Amestris," Alvon said, her face generally disbelieving but with a smile still pasted on, as if it were helping her make more sense of the situation.
Walther looked at her, his steady gaze measuring. "No living magical being has ever been under the wards, according to our records. We've scoured the records of Xing and Drachma as well." Ed wondered if looking at their records had been done in a legal fashion.
"Not a single one?" Fessler asked, skepticism clear in his tone.
"The one who has in the past hundred years is quite dead," Walther assured him. "We killed him ourselves."
"Right," Lewis said, looking awake now but still leaning quite casually against the wall. "That's great and all, but who exactly are we putting in the shops?"
"You are one of the obvious choices. After all, subterfuge is one of your specialties, isn't it, Viper Alchemist?" Fessler asked, a touch of venom in his tone. She looked down, and Ed could barely see her murderous expression from his position before she looked back up, bored expression on her face. Ed couldn't be sure if there was history there or if the rumors had simply been wrong about her temper. It certainly didn't seem as though it was that hard to make her angry.
"Of course," she said, sweet as could be, looking at Fessler with an almost gentle expression. He seemed to find this a lot more disconcerting than he probably would have found her original response as he simply gave her a short nod.
Walther waited throughout the exchange, face stony. Ed had found out a long while ago that that was just how his face naturally set. It was sort of amusing watching new recruits scramble around trying to please the man when he was already content. "As it turns out, Lewis is in a shop, as are Muller and Fessler."
Muller accepted the role with the sort of cheer that Ed was slowly becoming accustomed to from the man, looking inordinately pleased about the whole thing. He wondered if Muller would have acted exactly the same had he not been chosen to be in the shops. Fessler seemed to be making an effort to not appear annoyed. It wasn't working particularly well.
"The rest of us are to be inserted into different departments within their," Walther paused, a touch of distaste creeping into his tone as he said, "Ministry of Magic."
"And they've agreed to this," said Lewis in a flat, disbelieving sort of tone.
"Some of the details are still to be negotiated upon arrival," Fessler cut in, voice seeming to be aiming for pleasant and hitting smug. Ed considered that he might be a bit biased in regards to the man due to Mustang's reaction to him, but he discarded the notion. Even if he was, Mustang tended to be a good judge of character.
Walther continued, tone daring anyone to interrupt again, "Their government has been extremely cooperative during this process. We see no reason for there to be any trouble during our dealings with them. During our negotiations, the focus is to get ourselves into four places. We assume that their military is structured outside of their government as no reference has been made to one throughout the course of our correspondence. Nevertheless, we wish to observe their military structure to determine the strength of our possible ally." Ed barely prevented himself from snorting, a puff of air still making it out before he could stop himself.
Walther ignored it, possibly because Lewis hadn't kept herself from snorting. He simply looked at her and she raised an eyebrow, but she made no comment and he continued. "We also wish to look further into their Department of Magical Law Enforcement, particularly the subdepartment of International Magical Cooperation to find out exactly how our possible ally deals with its own allies in a more objective manner than we can with the information currently available."
Wait. They needed objective information? Edward hoped that didn't actually mean their main source of information on the British Wizarding Community was the government of the British Wizarding Community, but he was pretty sure it did. They'd probably have more accurate information on the place if they'd come earlier and just started asking random citizens what they knew about it. It certainly would have been the case if someone was trying to find out anything about Amestris' government.
"We also would like to keep an eye on their command structure, specifically focusing on the Minister and his direct underlings, to truly understand exactly who and what we're dealing with. Lastly, we're curious as to what one of their departments actually is and ensuring that we at least have a rudimentary idea of what goes on in the Department of Mysteries is a secondary objective during the course of our mission. I've been assigned this objective specifically. Alvon was assigned to their military branch. Yoki has been assigned to the Department of International Magical Cooperation, while Mustang has been assigned to evaluate the Minister and his underlings. Any questions?"
It was odd, Ed reflected, that they could make snarky remarks throughout the entirety of their meeting but the instant they were asked a question by a superior officer, they simultaneously barked out, "No, sir."
Walther glanced briefly over them all before saying, "Dismissed. I expect to see everyone back here at 1000 hours tomorrow." He had a particularly dramatic way of exiting the room, all sharp movements with a complete lack of sound, even his footsteps silent on the hardwood floor. It was slightly less impressive when one considered the amount of noise a train made, but Ed had seen it happen in every meeting he had ever seen the man in, which was what had him considering the man had a taste for dramatics, seeing Walther usually walked with heavy footsteps.
("The better to scare the new recruits," he explained one day when he had invited Ed out for drinks after work early on into their acquaintanceship and Ed had wondered if the man was all artifice or if he had been joking. While the first possibility has been discarded, Ed still isn't sure if Walther was joking or not.)
(He was.)
No one moved for a few moments following the man's fast departure. Lewis was the first to go after that, stretching as she stood and then moving out the door, the click of her heels an oddly loud counterpoint to the almost silence of the compartment. Mustang went next, smooth as he ever was, and Ed made to follow him. Instead, Ed paused when he noticed that Alvon had made to follow him in turn. He continued out of the car, and Alvon followed.
"What do you think of the specifics of the assignment?" she asked, and he was relatively sure that that was the longest sentence she had voluntarily offered in a conversation with him. Her heels clicked less loudly than Lewis's had, but he wondered why both of them had decided on heels today. He had heard Winry complain about them enough times. Then again, he was pretty sure Lewis had used her heels as weapons before and Alvon seemed to deeply dislike looking up at people, which may explain why she was spending so much time around him at this point. He supposed heels also made them look less like trained military personnel.
Alvon had been assigned to observe their military, which implied a high level of trust in her and her abilities, certainly much more trust than Ed himself merited from the Fuhrer. He wasn't sure how deep her loyalties were, so he settled for saying something safe. "I think the Fuhrer picked his operatives wisely on this mission, especially for the specific roles we'll each be taking on."
Silence fell for a few moments after that, as if she had expected him to say something more. "I agree. The placements for specific people is really telling about their capabilities though."
Oh. It was to be one of those conversations, where he was supposed to figure out exactly what she meant by what she said. She was looking down, chin tucked, as if to show how utterly polite she was, but her eyes were sharp, and Edward did not have the patience for this sort of conversation very often. "Maybe. The important thing is that the Fuhrer chose the people he deemed to be most suitable for this mission, and he is quite aware of our capabilities. I don't think we should be casting aspersions on his decision." That was diplomatic while still shutting down that topic, right? Where was Mustang when you needed him?
Ed snapped his fingers, as if remembering something, mainly for show. "Sorry to go, but I have to speak to Walther." He gave her a brief smile before turning quickly, his coat swishing behind him.
He was out of the car before she had a chance to say more than, "Goodbye."
He actually did have to talk to Walther, even if it technically wasn't that time sensitive as to leave in the middle of a conversation. He passed by Mustang with a nod at the man, already reading a leather bound book that seemed relatively interesting if the way Mustang startled when Ed opened the car door was any indication of how absorbing it was. He found Walther in the second car from the end and locked the door of the compartment Walther had taken over behind him.
The compartment itself was unsurprisingly still undecorated, but Ed was sure that even if it had made sense to bring nonessentials, Walther still wouldn't have decorated anything. The man himself was doing pushups, having somehow already changed into sweats with his shirt thrown onto his bed.
"Walther," Ed said, annoyance slipping into his tone as the man looked up at him from the ground. He had interrupted the man's exercise routine, and he felt decidedly guilt free about it. The man exercised too much anyway with his daily routine and doing additional exercises whenever anything remotely stressful happened. He wasn't even sweating and it hadn't been too long since the meeting had dispersed, so it wasn't as if he had gotten too far along yet.
Walther rolled over onto his back, lying there for a moment and looking cross before he stood and pulled the shirt on. "Elric."
Straight to the point, Ed said, "Why did you intervene in the argument earlier?"
He could almost feel Walther deciding whether or not to play at ignorance and was pleased when he merited enough respect that the man said, "I'll assume you're referring to the argument between Mustang and Fessler." Ed nodded, crossing his arms. Walther himself sat on his bed, scooting until his back touched the wall and looking unbearably casual. "Mustang's position made sense. I didn't enjoy sitting in a cramped compartment earlier."
"That's bullshit, and you know it," Ed said, and he felt more aggressive about this than he thought he would. He leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice so it didn't carry past the compartment. "You played it so that Mustang would win, and I know you. You wouldn't let yourself give an opinion about anything unless you knew exactly how it would look, even something that small. I don't know if you wanted to support him or if you're warning me that you're going to put more attention on him-"
Walther waved a hand at him, cutting off his burgeoning rant that felt increasingly paranoid as it went on. This was Walther, not the Fuhrer; Walther wasn't trying to kill or discredit him in any manner and the fact that his thoughts had even gone there was a bit surprising to Ed.
"Worried about your boyfriend then?" Walther asked, and it was a wonder that anyone could be intimidated by a man who seemed to revert to the mentality of a child when Ed brought up his superior officer. "Really, Edward, you shouldn't be so obvious about it," he said, and there was something sharp and serious in his tone that made Ed pay more attention. "You've both lost some standing due to the fraternization rumor, and I'm just ensuring that no one decides to discount you or him due to that. You're both intelligent people, more so than some of the others on this mission."
Ed narrowed his eyes, frustration warring with understanding. "Like you said, we're intelligent people. We can figure it out without any of your power plays." Just because he liked Walther didn't mean he liked the politics the man tended to bring with him. He turned and refrained from storming out by sheer force of will, the effort not helped by Walther's sigh. He was not going to look like a child after that conversation, even if he felt a bit like one.
Entering the next car over had him almost running into Muller. He let out a huff of annoyance. It wasn't as if this train was that small that he shouldn't be able to avoid people when he wasn't in a good mood. "Muller," he briskly greeted as he passed him.
"Elric," he said, and then he was walking with him. Ed looked askance at him, wondering how people were getting the impression that he wanted people to walk with him through the train. "Are you excited for the school? It must be weird thinking about being around that many people your age again!"
Truthfully, Edward hadn't considered it that much in the short amount of time since the meeting. A school would have a lot of people his age, but he didn't really consider them his peers in any manner. Perhaps it was arrogant to think, but he was a little different from most his age. While Alphonse did pretty well at behaving as though everything was normal, even he sometimes reminded Ed that Ed's experiences were quite unusual, particularly for someone his age.
What did people his age even do? How much different from them was he really? And how much different were the people in the British Wizarding Community from the people of Amestris?
Thinking about it felt like a headache waiting to happen. "I guess," he said noncommittally. "It will certainly be an experience." Whether it would be a good one was a completely different beast.
"I think you're going to love it. I mean, it's different hearing about magic than seeing it, even if wizards and witches aren't very bright for using it. Theory versus practical knowledge, right?" Muller smiled expectantly at him, all friendly and soft edges.
Ed opened his mouth, at a sort of loss. He hadn't been expecting Muller to be someone with an anti-magic stance, even if it was a relatively common position. The man was just so pleased with everything that being pleased with magic seemed to fit. "Ah," he said, stalling for a bit more time. His own feelings about magic were more muddled than most people's, partially because it was really just alchemy but also because he had used magic once. It really didn't seem like the best idea to tell Muller that he had used magic before though. "I'm interested in the ways they use it and whether it is similar to the way we use alchemy back home."
"Got any theories about it then?"
Ed shrugged. "Not really. I don't know enough about them to say anything about their lifestyles."
Muller laughed, a cruel note in it that made Ed wary. "I don't really think you have to know much about them. I heard they're a lazy sort, using magic as a first resort for everything."
"We'll have to see when we get there," he said diplomatically. It was a bit worrisome that Muller had been assigned this mission when he seemed to have strong anti-magic leanings. He would have to feel out the others' position on the topic and see what the majority thought, but Ed didn't have a good feeling about this. It made sense with his suspicions about the mission and its true objective, but it was still unsettling. If they were aiming for war, he didn't want it to happen any earlier than planned.
Before Muller could start another conversation, Ed smiled at him and said, "Did you bring along any books?" The man had brought a few, with the discussion taking them through the short walk to the car he shared with Mustang.
"I'm going to get started on my own reading. See you around," Edward said before entering his compartment and locking the door. Mustang had his own compartment, and Ed would sneak over there later, but he wasn't going to enter it while Muller was there. Alvon and Muller both seemed really interested in having conversations with him and while that generally wouldn't strike him as odd, the fact that both of the Intelligence agents had sought him out for conversation already didn't feel quite right.
Maybe it was nothing.
Ed would have been willing to let it go and blame it on overly friendly soldiers and an overactive imagination except they continued to find opportunities to speak to him about the specific shops people were being assigned to and information about the Minister of Magic and the books he was reading and whether he had brought along his uniform and what was happening with his brother, and he really just wished they would stop, because it was setting him on edge.
The train itself wasn't so bad, but close proximity to everyone else on it was something to be avoided. Muller and Alvon made him feel paranoid, and while Lewis seemed to like him well enough, the woman was famous enough for her lethality that he couldn't relax in her presence. Yoki annoyed him when they spent too long together, which was unfortunate as the man seemed like he needed help with learning how to behave when dealing with a mission that fell between covert ops and a normal operation, especially seeing as the man was still dressing in his uniform most days, even though he had to have figured out how uncomfortable it was by now. Fessler seemed to be content ignoring him, and Ed was okay with that, especially since his first impression of the man had not improved. He was still a bit annoyed with Walther, but the man was making a point of listening to all suggestions during the meetings he called, even if he somehow still ended up incorporating Mustang's and Ed's suggestions the most.
Ed ended up spending a lot of time lounging about by himself. Even if he was perfectly content to lounge around in Mustang's compartment, he wanted to avoid fueling any rumors more than their normal behavior did. Avoiding Mustang felt just as irritating as spending too long with anyone else on the train, which left Ed a little snappish and therefore had the others avoiding him. It seemed the rumors of his anger were still just as active as ever, even if his subordinates had managed to avoid them somehow.
The week dragged on between meetings, which had somehow become a daily occurrence even though there was very little to actually go over, and they usually devolved into pure speculation about what to expect. It had been decided by their collective imagination that the Minister had to be a powerful wizard of some kind, although his staff might not be as competent, seeing as power could be a motivator for a powerful wizard to enter the government, but the community had suffered losses in their last war, the effects of which possibly might extend until the present. Being physically imposing would be less telling of how effective one was in a fight, which could prove problematic, but a wand was too obvious of a weak point. A priority was placed on finding out if witches and wizards could perform magic without a wand, some of those present glancing at Ed when the topic was brought up.
Any particularly wild speculations were avoided; the instant it become a little too farfetched, one of them would remind the speaker that they were a military operation, not a book club.
Ed was relatively sure that their speculation wouldn't be all that relevant on the ground, but it filled up the time.
Upon disembarking from the train, he felt disoriented. The train was only to bring them just outside the wards and then a car was to bring them to their flight, and even though he knew that technology was different outside the wards, seeing the car was a shock. It was both more clunky than he had expected and more sleek than he was used to. The cars in Amestris were modeled after carriages still and it was more apparent in their construction. The car they were greeted by sat twelve people and seemed a bit excessive. They loaded their luggage, their wooden trunks suddenly seeming a bit odd when compared to the cloth interior.
When turned on, the engine was softer than Ed expected, a detail that distracted him even as he started talking to Mustang and Lewis about the chemical composition of the car. Everything seemed to serve to remind him that he was no longer in Amestris. Their driver, a middle aged woman who smiled and didn't introduce herself but acknowledged each of them by their ranks, wore clothes that seemed odd, the colors different and the fit off from what he expected, and her words were slightly accented as she explained that she lived outside the wards and was given a stipend as long as she helped discretely transport people from inside the wards to wherever they happened to be going. She implied the stipend itself might have been obtained through somewhat criminal means, but it was enough for her, and she didn't question it.
Entering the city was bizarre. The driver didn't care for their glancing around, telling them that they were to present identification and board the appropriate flight, and that she trusted they wouldn't spend too much time gawking and miss it. Their plane would stop in Borispol and then another would take them to London. After that, they were to check into their hotel where a Ministry official would greet them. Seeing as they had already covered this multiple times in the last week aboard the train, no one paid her too much mind. She shoved a wallet and an envelope at Walther when they were exiting her car.
The airport itself was a big building, but Ed couldn't be less intimidated. Central Command was both bigger and more imposing than this building that seemed to be made primarily of glass. If someone decided to attack them here, the glass was unlikely to provide much cover for anyone attempting not to get killed. It was a bit ridiculous.
As he moved through the appropriate lines, he noticed the lack of interest in them, although he was certainly interested in the people around him. The language he heard around him was similar to Amestranian, but he couldn't catch the words and the words he did hear were unfamiliar. Occasionally, he would understand something, but he was definitely grateful that Muller was their official Ukrainian translator because he would have been lost. The man moved their group through the airport with ease, instructing them on when to hand over documents and where exactly they were going.
The machine went off when Ed went through, but a flash of part of his prosthetic and some quick talking on Muller's part smoothed over any difficulties there might have been.
It wasn't until they were seated on the plane, something even more disorienting than the car, that Ed realized that the air around him felt different. Certainly there were different smells, but the very quality of the air seemed to lack something. Now that he was considering it, it had seemed to feel differently ever since they had exited the train, which led Ed to think it had something to do with the wards. He would have shared the observation with Mustang, but the man had been given a window seat on the other side of the aisle.
Take off was slightly unnerving when he didn't really know what to expect and looking out the window was a heady experience, because there was the illustration of the principles he lived his life by. It was in the disappearance of the evidence of human passage and how the distance made everything seem so small. He suddenly felt quite optimistic about this venture. If the people outside the wards could see how everything blended together so well, they couldn't be nearly as uncivilized as their information and assumptions could sometimes paint them as.
His gazing out the window didn't distract him from the fact that Muller and Alvon had sat behind him in the car and were behind him now.
Landing didn't seem to come too long after, although Ed supposed his sense of time could be a bit warped after the week on the train that sometimes had seemed like it would never end. Then, it was through another airport, and it was really astonishing how much glass these people used in their airports. The second take off was much more exciting than the first now that he knew what to expect and he could practically hear Al telling him how much of an adrenaline junkie he could be. The pang of homesickness wasn't a particularly welcome sensation, so he tried to shove it aside, looking through the window once more as the ground dropped away. It was still a bit harder to breathe outside the wards, a constant reminder that it would be a long time until he next saw Al or anyone else had had left behind.
His first step in London was anticlimactic, as he was swept forward by the people so anxious to get off the plane. Walther led the way through the crowds bustling around them, using his bulk to force the crowd to move around him. It perhaps wasn't the most polite way to cut through, but they were able to follow behind him with little trouble. The chatter around them was a mix of languages, although the majority of the people in the airport seemed to be speaking English. Some of the words he caught took a moment to properly understand, being pronounced a little differently than he had expected. Alvon stood next to him as they waited for their luggage, seemingly unconcerned with finding their second contact who was supposed to give them a ride to the Leaky Cauldron.
"It's brighter than I expected it would be," she said as she looked at him.
"The clothing or the weather?" he asked, looking at the carousel of bags. Their trunks would certainly stand out when compared to the other bags.
"Both," she said and then went to lift her trunk. His took a little longer to come around, and Lewis had managed to find their contact in the meantime, looking unimpressed with his sign reading, "Walther and company".
This man was a lot more starstruck than their first contact had been, explaining that he had volunteered to come outside the wards two years ago and he was quite honored to meet them all. He made a point to shake their hands before he led them to his car. It seemed to be the exact same car as the one their last contact had had except a bit more disorganized as their driver moved some papers into his glove compartment before they were able to get in.
Being seated beside Mustang after a week of barely seeing the man was odd to say the least, especially now that he was not being distracted by the car itself, and Ed felt all too aware of how he was sitting, possibly because Lewis was sitting on his other side, and the woman unnerved him. He much preferred the relaxed evenings with Mustang that seemed so much further away than a week ago.
One mildly uncomfortable car ride later, they stood in front of a building that almost seemed to be not there as their ride gave a cheerful goodbye, ignoring the horns of the cars behind him. It was a few moments before he drove away.
The Leaky Cauldron certainly seemed to be there at first glance, but the longer that Ed focused on it, the more he wanted to look away. It wasn't anything he couldn't ignore, but it was irritating. He strode toward the door, and no one was particularly eager to get in the way of the man scowling so fiercely.
The inside was much less irritating than the outside. Entering the building came with the added quality to the air that had been missing, making breathing easier once more. Magic, then, was not particularly subtle. The wards surrounding this place likely kept it hidden much like Amestris was, although perhaps to a lesser extent. Here though, the wards seemed to both allow him forward and want him away. It wasn't enough to be particularly distracting, more like a breeze on his skin that alternated direction by the moment, but it was troubling. Would different wards react differently to him?
Walther entered behind him, not pausing in his walk like Ed had upon entering and walking directly to the counter. "We have reservations," Walther said shortly to the man behind it, and Ed was suddenly struck with how obvious their accents made them.
"The Amestranian delegation?" the man asked, sounding relatively confident about his assumption and smiling when Walther nodded at him. "I'm Tom, the owner of this establishment. I can lead you up to your rooms in a second, just let me-"
"We're fine. Just give us directions to the rooms," Walther said, and it was always gratifying to see someone else be intimidated by Walther.
Tom nodded before drawing out his wand and a quick flick brought four keys to his hands. "Just go up the stairs over there and find the rooms with the correct numbers." He handed the keys to Walther who immediately handed on to Ed, Lewis and Yoki, keeping one for himself. "Breakfast is served until ten," Tom called after them.
The keys were dull, perhaps from the years or perhaps from not being maintained, but the numbers etched into the handles were easy to read despite that. Filing up the stairs seemed to be far more dangerous than flying thousands of miles above the earth, with the way they creaked and seemed to bend under the weight of his metal limbs. He was not looking forward to doing this once more in the morning. He comforted himself with the fact that at least he wouldn't have to do it again with his trunk.
Ed unlocked his door, with Mustang claiming the other bed in the room with not a word exchanged. He simply followed Ed through the door and placed his luggage next to the bed to the right of the door. Ed placed his own things at the foot of his bed as Mustang sat, staring at Ed. "What?"
"We should explore the area a bit before we get comfortable. We won't have the time tomorrow."
"A meeting with a ministry official should not take all day," Ed said doubtfully while he mentally ran through all the high ranked officials he knew that made a visit to their office into an ordeal that went on for hours.
Mustang gave him a particularly unimpressed look. "You're smarter than that," was all he said.
Ed sighed and made his way to the door. Lewis was already in the hall when he opened the door.
"Walther, Alvon and Muller already left," she said shortly. "Muller is trying to arrange a group dinner at 1800. Be downstairs then if you want to attend." She left, her ever present heels clicking on the wooden floor as she went.
"Quite an impressive woman," Mustang said, and Ed hadn't realized Mustang was so close behind him. If he focused, it was almost as if he could feel the man's body heat, which was alarming, seeing as he hadn't noticed Mustang creeping up on him.
"Quite a scary woman," Ed replied as he started walking.
"I feel that's already implied with any woman in our lives." Ed huffed out a short laugh, turning to see Mustang already looking at him, a half smile on his lips.
Getting into the alley wasn't too problematic as Tom was still standing beside the wall that the patrons directed them out to. "Your friend said you would be coming down in a moment," he said with a genial smile as he tapped at the bricks with his wand. The wall melted into itself, creating a door for them both. Tom was slipping into his bar again when Mustang stopped him.
"Do you have anywhere that you think we have to see? It's all a little overwhelming, very different from home," he said, and while Ed heard the faked wistfulness, Tom's smile turned into something more sympathetic.
"Gringotts is your first stop, to change your money in Galleons. You can't miss it. Fortescue's is a nice place to stop by, if you have the time; the man makes the best ice cream in London. Flourish and Blotts is the biggest bookstore in the alley, if you're looking for any reading material. Really, Diagon Alley is mainly for the kids shopping for their school supplies, so there's not much for adults to do unless you wander in Knockturn, and anything there… Well, it's dubious at best."
"Stay out of Knockturn and visit Fortescue's," Mustang repeated, giving the man a small grin as thanks before nodding. "See you this evening then." Tom nodded back and slipped inside, the door closing silently behind him. It was a little unnerving when the building was so old and the floors creaked when stepped on.
"We have enough money for books, right?" Ed asked, facing Mustang and cocking his head.
Mustang looked at him. "I don't think any amount of money is enough for books for you."
Ed rolled his eyes as he turned to survey the alley. "Don't exaggerate," he said, taking in the sights before him. It all screamed magical at him, a sixth sense making it all seem smothering rather than awe inspiring. The trinkets that flew in the air and the exotic ingredients were met with the same amount of displeasure, shouting their presence at him in the way that magic seemed to do.
"I seem to recall someone claiming my couch for days because I had books he couldn't get elsewhere," Mustang teased, taking in the alley himself and seemingly trying to keep himself from sneering. It wasn't working too well.
"That's different," Ed protested as they continued down the alley. "Those were free."
Despite the petty arguments they had as they walked, Ed felt far more relaxed than he had been in the last week. Mustang's teasing was something familiar and comfortable.
Finding Gringotts wasn't particularly difficult when it truly seemed to be the one building in the alley that was impossible to miss. The goblins there were quite adamant that they were goblins and not anything else.
"Doesn't look like any of them are in pain," Ed murmured in Amestranian as they followed one of the goblins to an office to exchange some of their money. "Even if they are assholes."
"Maybe you should have more tact instead of just asking them what they are as your introduction, and they wouldn't be so rude," Mustang murmured back.
"You don't get to take the rude chimeras side, bastard," was the only response he got before Ed walked slightly faster to catch up with the goblin. "How long has your species been around?" he asked, switching to English, ignoring Mustang's exasperated sigh.
"Longer than yours, wizard," the goblin snapped back quickly.
"I think I like goblins," Ed said to Mustang, a wide grin stretching across his face. "They remind of some other prickly bastards I've dealt with."
Neither the goblin nor Mustang were amused. Ed's grin just widened as they shot him identical unimpressed looks.
AN: So, I am so slow at this. Ten months though. Improvement?
Honestly, I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter. Not enough going on besides rumblings of what's coming later, and I feel like you guys deserve more now that you've waited so long for this. I mean, a lot of it is necessary so you don't feel completely blindsided by some of my plans for later, but I need to figure out a more efficient way to do this. I feel like the characters are behaving a bit OOC in this chapter too, but I can't quite pin down the moments that are bothering me.
I'm sort of curious as to how many of you are paying attention to the wards and their effects though, seeing as that's sort of a huge thing with the way I have magic and alchemy working in this universe. I'd like to clarify though that this is a universe in which the homunculi never existed, so anything that their existence made happen did not happen. This has effects like Hughes being alive to Ed having found an alternative way of getting Al's body back. Magic is a subcategory of alchemy in this. Really though, I'm doing this to tell a story, so sometimes the fact of canon or the time period may have to be sacrificed. This story is set in the 90s, like the Harry Potter books, although I don't remember the actual 90s, so you'll possibly have to forgive the occasional anachronism whenever there might be interactions with Muggles or Muggleborn.
I basically started this fic because I read a plot summary and completely misinterpreted it as the Wizarding World and Amestris going to war, and then I wanted to write that. I also haven't seen a fic where magic obeys the rules of alchemy, so I thought about how that would work and hopefully it'll make sense later on when you guys see more of Ed's backstory and his previous dealings with magic.
My apologies to those who thought the train trip would be more of a romantic getaway. The romance is a long time in coming, as in the war will likely be underway before Ed and Roy get their shit together.
Do you guys like the interactions between the characters, particularly between Ed and Mustang? Is anything not making sense?
If you're interested, I can give you a rundown on how magic works in this universe, one that's a little more in depth than the prologue. If enough people ask, I'll just put it in one of my Author's Notes.
As always, this is un-beta'd, so feel free to point out any mistakes I make.
Please review, as that is always appreciated, as are follows and favorites. Thank you for reading!
Ja ne!
~J. DCF
