Forewarning: This chapter is going to be split into two parts so that you don't have a coronary trying to scroll down twelve pages of text. Part two will be the entire... whatever you want to call it; how Mustang died, I guess.
Disclaimer= I don't own FMA.
"Wake up, Fuery. C'mon, now's not the time to complain about sleep. I told you to go to bed early last night, but no one ever seems to listen to me lately."
Havoc stood over the edge of what he hoped would eventually be his own bed again. He'd let the Sergeant bunk in it, not having the heart to tell the kid to sleep on the couch after all of his nightmares. Instead, Havoc had been spending his nights on the couch staring at his living room ceiling while wondering if Fuery was ever just going to shut the hell up in his sleep. Sure, he didn't mind if Fuery let out a scream or two while the blonde man was still awake. He actually would have the patience to sit on the edge of the bed and hand the shivering man a tissue or pet his head or do whatever else he thought would comfort him. However, Fuery waking up screaming at three in the morning was very unwelcome, thus Havoc had chosen to lock up his firearms in a safe in the kitchen should he happen to get any ideas when the opportunity arose.
"Too early," Fuery complained into the pillow, but reluctantly wriggled out from underneath the blankets. For a moment, the young Sergeant wavered on his feet, and Havoc instinctively held out his arms to catch him, but Fuery managed to shuffle himself into the bathroom where he proceeded to use the toilet without closing the door.
"You could attempt to be civilized, kid." Havoc rolled his eyes and shut the door himself, just before Fuery began stripping himself for a quick shower. Finally, the blonde man had learned to pay the water bill on time.
A knock on the front door caught the blonde man's attention, and he jogged down the steps with an unlit cigarette in his mouth to answer it. "Who is it?" he called, throwing open the door anyway. As long as it wasn't Hawkeye he would be safe.
"Good morning, Lieutenant Havoc. I'm here to drive you two to HQ."
Crap, it was Hawkeye. Havoc nearly inhaled his cigarette down his throat.
"Mornin'," Havoc choked out, stepping back to let the shorter woman enter. Riza Hawkeye promptly did so, and her sharp eyes began searching the room intently. "Fuery's taking a shower, if that's what you're wondering."
"By himself?" Hawkeye questioned, though Havoc caught a hint of contented surprise in her tone. He nodded.
"He hasn't even drowned himself yet," the blonde man declared proudly, and proceeded to light the cigarette in his mouth. Out of habit, Hawkeye removed the cigarette and tossed it out into the snow in front of the door. There were countless times that she had told him not to smoke with Fuery in the house.
"Yet? He hasn't drowned... yet?" Hawkeye asked, and Havoc nearly pissed himself as he noticed her hand twitch in the direction of her pistol.
"I was just kidding! I'm going to go get dressed!" Havoc said in a voice an octave higher than his usual tone before he launched himself up the stairs at a laughable pace. It was then that Hawkeye realized that the blonde smoker was wearing only his boxers.
xxxxx
"Havoc! Over here!"
Breda stood on the steps of HQ next to a pair of youths who looked utterly uncomfortable wearing suits and ties. As Havoc practically dragged Fuery over to the unlikely group, he recognized the youths as Edward and Alphonse. Edward had tied his hair back into a long ponytail that brushed his shoulderblades, but Alphonse had chosen to leave his hair loose. Both of them wore new suits of their own, probably bought with the remaining money Edward had in his military account.
"Well don't you two look... insecure," Havoc said with a grin, turning Fuery towards him so that he could fix the young man's tie. Fuery looked as if he were ready to blow up and pass out at the same time.
"Gracia took us shopping two days ago," Edward said as if he were recalling a recent nightmare. "She wanted to buy everything in sight."
"Gentlemen, it's time to go inside," Hawkeye said firmly after glancing at her pocketwatch as she walked up the front steps.
xxxxx
"The trial of the transmutation of a human being has hereby commenced. Order."
Edward sat down with his brother, swallowing hard and staring down at his clasped hands. He and the others were sitting on a long bench in the middle of a court room that was empty, minus the judge, jury and a few soldiers. A small, scholarly-looking man in a wool suit sat near the judge's pulpit, holding a notepad that he was scribbling in almost maniacally.
"The performer of human transmutation in the case is Edward Elric. Would you please rise and come up to the stand?" The stout, hard-faced old man who stood as the judge was dressed in military uniform. It appeared that the Fuhrer didn't intend to even bother coming to the court case.
Surprising himself, Edward managed to stand up from the bench without shaking and stepped onto the raised platform in front of the pulpit. The judge looked down on him as if he were a child sent to the principal's office. He was just another court case.
"You will recall the entire incident as well as you can, due to the fact that you are the one who activated the transformation. Do not leave out any details," the judge drawled. A scratch of a pen directed Edward's attention over to the little man in the corner with his note back, and he inwardly grimaced.
After clearing his throat, Edward began to speak.
"The transformation itself occurred at 2300 hours and ended successfully at 0200 hours with the exception of one casualty," he said informatively with the slightest of wavers in his voice, "Those who were present were myself, my younger brother Alphonse, our superior Colonel Roy Mustang, now deceased, and a few of his subordinates."
"Name them."
Edward looked over his shoulder for a moment at Havoc, Breda, and Fuery, who were all looking as if they wanted to sink into the floor.
"First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda, Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc, and Master Sergeant Kain Fuery were all present at the time, Sir," Edward continued, trying to mentally drown out the sounds of the scratchy writing coming from the corner.
"Continue. Explain the procedure that was used."
"Procedure?" Edward asked incredulously. The judge narrowed his eyes.
"Did I not enunciate well enough, Major Elric?"
Edward licked his lips and sighed. "No Sir, I understood. During the preparation for the transmutation, we cleared out an area of an empty gun factory situated between Central and the East City. Colonel Mustang promised us..." He hesitated, felt the beginning of a lump in his throat, "...promised us that he would stay in the room during the transmutation, but he did not participate. Sergeant Fuery remained in the room as well because we needed his assistance in drawing the circle... t-transmutation circle, that is, Sir."
"How did you retrieve the Philosopher's stone?" The judge was reading the file that Edward and Alphonse had gotten. It must've been a copy, because Edward was sure that he'd left the file at Gracia's.
"We discovered that my younger brother's armor had been created into a Philosopher's Stone by a rogue Ishbalan by the name of Scar-"
"Armor?" The judge raised a caterpillar-like eyebrow.
Edward forced down the lump and nodded heavily. "Yes Sir, armor. My younger brother and I produced a failed human transmutation in the past, resulting in..." He looked down at his shoes and squeezed his eyes shut. His heart was stuck somewhere between his backbone and stomach, thudding erratically. "It resulted in the loss of my right arm and left leg, while my brother lost his entire body. I... I attached his soul to a body of armor in my father's basement."
"A child of your age?" the judge mused to himself. Edward looked up at the man with the slightest disdain.
"I was about ten, but I'm seventeen now, Sir."
"But you are not yet an adult, Major Elric, and you will speak when spoken to. Do you understand?" A muscle in Edward's temple throbbed angrily.
"Yes, Sir."
"Continue.