Rubble trouble

Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size and shape. This word is closely connected in derivation with „rubbish", which was formerly also applied to what we now call "rubble".

'I can't believe this.' It was Edwards voice that suddenly disrupted the absolute darkness around them. Nobody answered.

'Hey, are you there, Al?' he asked suspiciously.

Still silence.

'Al?'

Nothing.

'Oh I see. Now you're upset. Fine. Let's play that game. But I'm warning you, I'm good at I'm-not-talking-to-you.'

Since there still wasn't any response, Edward sat down with crossed legs and sulked. It was probably not very efficient to sulk demonstratively in absolute darkness but he did it anyway- just in case.

Lucy who was sitting somewhere unknowen to Edward and the maybe absent, maybe upset Alphonse, pulled out a box of very wet matches. After trying to enkindle one for several minutes and beheading half of them in the process a sound of utter frustration escaped her mouth.

Edward turned his head into the direction of the sounds. 'What the hell are you doing?' he asked. 'I thought we were not talking.' replied Lucy scowling at the place where she suspected her hand- and the unfortunate matches- to be.

'No, we are talking, Al and I are obviously not talking. So what are you doing?'

'I'm trying to get some light in here. Unfortunately because a certain someone had to destroy all the waterpipes everything is wet.'

The certain someone shrugged for a response which Lucy obviously could not see.

'I am wet, too.' She added.

'So...?'

'I hate being wet!'

Ed grimassed. That's why he hated taking people along on missions. They were always complaining.

'And I'm cold and hungry!'

See? Al never complained about being wet or cold or hungry. Well...he didn't get cold or hungry. And he probably didn't mind being wet. But Edward himself also never complained about being cold or hungry. Or wet. Ok, he did complain sometimes. Most times. But his own complaining didn't annoy him half as much as did hers.

'I hate being cold and hungry.'

'You know, I think it would be better if we weren't talking either.'

Al, who was there but still upset at his brother bit his imaginary tongue so that his usual 'Brother...' didn't slip out.

Several minutes passed.

Then: 'Hey, Fullmetal?'

What kind of adress was that? It sounded like the Colonel talking in person.

'What is it now?'

'I was wondering...you're like the prodigy and stuff...how come you can't just make a hole into the wall and let us out of here?'

Was this really a question? If it was it was a rather stupid one.

'There is a whole building above us. If I accidentaly make a hole in a carrying wall everything will come down.'

'Are you sure it didn't already? Cause it sure seems like it.'

'Look, if you want to make holes do it yourself. Walls should be your speciality, Miss Clever Soil Alchemist.'

'I can't see anything.'

'So?'

'If I can't see anything I can't pick the right disc.'

'What's a disc?' As far as Ed knew you didn't need music to perform alchemy.

'It's a device I use so that I don't have to draw a transmutation circle everytime. I always carry them with me but since we just arrived I wasn't able to do an analysis of the ground around us and didn't put them into their holding places. A circle for calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium won't make a hole into a concrete wall.'

Ed was slightly interested. Those discs were a system he hadn't seen in use yet. 'How many of them do you have?'

'Ten basic discs for working on soils with different concentrations of the basic earth components and additional parts that I can add to specify the components.'

'May I see one?'

'Suit yourself, although I don't think you'll be able to make out anything in here.' Lucy crawled over to the direction where she supposed Edward to be. An 'Ouch!' confirmed his position when she accidentaly stepped on his foot. She pulled out a sac and opened it. 'I'm warning you, I have no idea which disc I'm pulling out. Be carefull with it.' If she accidentaly pulled the disc for wet ground or something similar and he was careless with it he could accidentaly transmute a part of his body. Not a very pleasant experience- and she could tell. She carefully put it into his palm that she had discovered by feeling around in the dark.

The object that was put into Ed's hand was a heavy, round object of maybe five centimeters diameter. When he ran his fingers over it's surface he realised that it was rather a grid with a strange, irregular pattern than what you would call a disc. Some parts could even be turned on an axis.

'Did you make it yourself?' he asked. As far as he could judge from feeling it was amazing handywork.

'I developed the system but I had someone else do the manufacture.' She answered. 'Could I please have it back now? You can inspect it all you want once we're out of here.'

'Well, this sure is a usefull thing if you can't remember your transmutation circles...' Ed teased and dropped it onto her open palm. He was lucky he guessed right where her palm was.

'I can remember my transmutation circles just fine!'

'Really?'

'Yeah. Want me to prove it on you?!'

'Bring it on!' Edward jumped to his feet. Somewhere infront of him, so he supposed, Lucy did the same thing.

'Brother, stop it.' Al started to fear that if he didn't say anything those two would actually start trying out alchemy on each other. Not very desirable under any circumstances but especially bad when you're locked in on a tight space, somewhere under a building without any light. God knows what could happen.

'Why are you taking her side? She started it!' Ed was indignant. They knew the girl for like ten hours but his brother, who by the way knew him since his birth, was telling him off.

'Well I do have to do something to kill time!' Lucy answered defiant.

'But you don't need to kill time by doing unreasonable stuff' the younger Elric tried to reason. Ed nodded satisfied. Exactly. She was the one who should be told off. 'Besides, I think somebody will get us out of here soon.' Al said in a confident tone. 'They know we're down here and no matter how angry they were at the military they won't let us rott here.'

Everyone mused about what the younger Elric had just said.

'You know...' Lucy slowly said.

'...they did seem like they'd like to see us dead. They attacked us five minutes after we arrived in town.' Edward remarked.

'Yeah...they looked like they were the definition of 'furious mob' and about to do some very destructive stuff with some very destructive weapons' Lucy finished.

'Well...maybe they would let us rott here' Al agreed. 'But I think they will try to excavate their archive.'

Eds face brightened up. His brother was right. This was the city archive after all. If there were any sane people in this town they'd digg it up. And even though it had seemed quite the oppisite it would be impossible to keep a town running without even one sane person.

As if to confirm his train of thought they heared rolling stones and voices.

'I think it's over here!'

'I need a bigger shovel!'

More stones rolled and the voices grew louder.

'I think I just broke through...get me a light!'

There was a pause and then a thin ray of light cut the darkness around the alchimist trio.

'Is anybody here?' A voice shouted.

'Yeah! Yeah, we're over here!' For the first time in what seemed like hours Alphonse saw the muddy face of his brother in the now dimm room. He was obviously relieved.

'Stay where you are, we're breaking through.'

More stones rolled and soon the light grew brighter. Something round popped out of a hole in the rubble. It was covered in dust and hair but it was most definitely a face.

The dusty hairball smiled. 'Whew. I suggest we get you out of there now. It doesn't seem too comfortable.'

You bet Edward thought as he stood up.

'I really am sorry you got involved in that stuff.' A blanket was given to each of them. 'The People's Brigade assumed you were part of the exercise and attacked relentlessly. They didn't expect you to use alchemy I guess.' Ed pulled his blanket over his shoulders.

'The People's Brigade?' Alphonse asked curiously.

'It's a little initiative we created. Since military presence is low in this town we train a unit of civilians in combat so that they can protect themselves.'

Lucy raised an eyebrow. 'Isn't that like against the rules?'

'Well, yeah it is. But you see, rules are there to be bent, right? I'm glad you didn't die though. I'd have a hard time explaining to headquarters why their reinfocements were killed by armed civilians. It causes me a headache to only think about the paperwork.'

The dusty hairball, who had been whiping his face madly with a wet towel looked up and revealed himself to be a tall, admittedly still dusty but handsome man in his early thirties with brown hair and bright blue eyes. At the sight of his face Edward gasped.

'I mean, you know. They always have this stuff you need to write, the death certificates, the damage report, the letters to your families and so on. Not to talk about the insurance-guys who come with their whole own stack of paper.' The young man shook his head. 'I don't get why people even deal with paperwork...when I am Fuhrer I'll abolish all of it.'

'Well, Sir, you'll still have to file a damage report since you are not Fuhrer just yet. And you might never get the chance to be because if you don't sign the damage report from one week ago right along with the new one I will be forced to cut you a little.'

Edward and Alphonse stared. A redhaired woman had appeared in the doorway, with a stack of papers. 'You wouldn't do that, would you Leutenant?' The young man laughed. SIIRRRR. CHONK. The young man turned pale as a knife struck the wall just next to his right ear. A single streak of hair fell to the ground. 'Why don't you just try it out, Major?' An evil glint appeared in the woman's eyes.

'Al...am I dreaming?' Ed asked somewhat insecure.

'No, I believe you are awake.' Al answered.

'Are you sure? Because I am seeing a brunette Mustang.'

'I am as well.' Alphonse said.

'What are you guys talking about?' The brunette Mustang looked at them with interest. They looked back. Even Lucy couldn't deny that appart from hair- and eye-colour the man before them looked frighingly like the Flame-Alchemist.

'Maybe we are having a mass-hallucination after being stuck in that dark place for hours.' She proposed.

'If I were hallucinating I wouldn't hallucinate a brunette Mustang of all things.' Edward said. Desperate.

'Hm...Leutenant Hedgehog, are you sure the short guy doesn't have a concussion? He's talking about brunette horses.'

Suddenly it didn't matter wether the brunette man was a hallucination, a dream or the toothfairy, the hated words brought life back to Edward.

'WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE COULDN'T RIDE A PONY?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL HE WOULD BE CRUSHED BY A HORSES TAIL LIKE A GADFLY?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY HE...!!' Ed was stopped when Al clapped a hand over his mouth and pulled him out of the surprised brunette Mustang's face ('I...didn't go that far...'). The younger Elric mumbled something apologetic while the rest recovered from the shock.

'I believe he was not talking about horses, Major Morgan.' the redhead stated dryly.

'He's not? But just now he was saying...' The prior hairball frowned.

'Colonel Mustang is our commanding officer back at headquarters.' Alphonse said a little embarrassed. 'And you happen to look and beha...well, there are certain similarities.'

The expression of the young man brightened up. 'I see. Well, I assure you, my name is not Mustang and you are not hallucinating. I'm Major Basil Morgan, in charge of this base. This is...' he pointed at the woman '...my second in command, Leutenant Yzobel Hedgehog.'

Edward, who had calmed down eyeballed them. Yzobel Hedgehog was, although very different from Hawkeye by looks still very much like her in attitude. Although she wore her hair in a short bob, was slim and almost as tall as the Major while Hawkeye was rather petite and had long blonde hair, he could see the same determination in the eyes of both women and in their voices while talking to their respective superior officer he could hear the same deep commitment.

Al gave him a slight punch to the ribbs. A reminder to introduce themselves.

'I am Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. This is my brother, Alphonse Elric.' he pointed at Al. Morgan shook their hands.

'Oh and this is...' Ed remembered but Lucy disrupted him.

'I'm Lucy Meier, the Soil Alchemist.' She also shook hands with the major.

'And now...could you please tell us why we are here?' Asked the elder Elric once the introductions were all over. Major Morgan made a thoughtfull face. 'I think it is better if you all get cleaned up and changed first. It's a somewhat long story. I'll ask some of my subordinates to guide you to the dormitory and then we can discuss the matter over a dinner.'

To be honest, Edward, didn't think the proposal sounded all that bad. Even if it had been unnerving, Lucy had been right about being cold, wet and hungry. They agreed to meet the Major in one hour in the dinnerhall and followed a young officer who was smoking a cigarette- luckily his hair wasn't two coloured or Ed might just have lost his sanity.

When he walked out the door he turned around once more. Yes, Basil Morgan and his Leutenant were really like mirror images of the Flame Alchemist and Riza. It was not only the Major's face. It was also the movements, the speech-pattern. The same ambitions. And the same look in their eyes. It was the look Colonel Mustang got when he was really troubled by something- those rare moments when Ed instantly knew he had to shut up and listen to whatever the bastard said in silence- and when Hawkeye had pulled too many all-nighters in a row. If those two were really anything like their counterparts in Central City- and his guts told him so- then whatever they were going to tell them later was a lot of trouble.

Once in the room he was supposed to share with Al during their mission in Eichendorff he sat down on the bed and sighed. 'So...what do you think?' he asked slowly.

Al turned his metal head. 'They are very much alike.'

Ed nodded. 'And something is majorly wrong with this town. I have never heard of something like a People's Brigade supported by the local military base. Everybody in the military knows that armed civilians are a ticking bomb. If they had time to found a vigilante group why not just call for reinforcements sooner?' He pulled off his boots and grimmassed when a gush of water swapped on the floor.

'I agree. It doesn't make much sense.' said Al, watching his brother as he fought with his wet coat.

'It also seems strange to me that the Colonel sent us away so hurriedly. It's like he didn't want anybody to know about this. Do you think the Colonel and the Major know each other?'

'They might, but I don't think so. Morgan didn't know the Colonel's name, right?'

'He could have pretended not to...' Ed finally had gotten his coat off and startet changing his shirt and trousers.

'Why should he? If they know each other well enough to plot something the military is not supposed to know about wouldn't it make much more sense to let us in on it since they want us to help? And if they do plot something why should the Colonel send Lucy Meier with us, a person neither he nor us know the least bit?'

Ed pulled his shirt over his head and said something muffeled.

'Brother, I can't understand you this way...' Al said slightly amused.

'I said, there's something off about that girl, too. When we were buried I felt that something was wrong.'

Al thought for a while. 'You know, there are some pretty harsh rumors flying around about her...' he said. He was not sure wether he should really tell his brother. The way he knew him, he'd do something rash and stupid again.

'What kind of rumors?' Ed asked cuiously.

'Just stuff...well, there are probably a lot of rumors flying around about everybody.'

'What kind of stuff?' Ed interrogated. Once something had enkindled his interest he wouldn't give up until he solved the problem. This was one of the reasons that made him one of the best alchemists out there.

'Well...like she cheated to get through the exams...or that she actually can't do any alchemy at all by herself...or that she uses her female attributes shamelessly...also that you've got to be carefull what you tell her otherwise you might regret it...it's all pretty vague. Nothing substantial.' Al answered carefully. Ed grimassed. 'Well, they said I cheated at the exams as well and that I am in love with Winry...that doesn't make it necessarily true.'

Al decided not to tell his brother that him being in love with Winry was not a rumor but an established fact that he just didn't realize yet and that not telling the examiners at the interview that they had attempted human transmutation could be considered cheating. Edward sighed. 'However, I am one thing, that girl is another. There's something that just doesn't feel right about her. No matter what the rumors are, I think she's dangerous. We should be carefull when dealing with her.'

On that Alphonse agreed completely with his brother. There was actually one more disturbing rumor he hadn't told his brother yet...he didn't think it was necessary because he couldn't picture Lucy doing such a thing but still...they had been decieved by completely other people.

'Anyway' Ed pulled his boots back on and put on a disgusted face when he was reminded that they were still wet 'About the situation in this town we'll learn soon enough and about Lucy Meier certainly in time. We'll just have to keep our guard up.'

Al nodded. His brother was right. There was nothing among those rumors that made them a matter of urgency.

Lucy changed her wet clothes as fast as possible. She still had some stuff to do before she could consider herself fully prepared for whatever the Colon- sorry, Major- had to tell them. She grabbed a belt with several hooks on it and fastened it around her waist. Then she took up the sac she had her discs stored in and went out the door. When she passed by the hallway in direction of the stairs she heard the hollow voice of Alphonse Elric. '...some pretty harsh rumors flying around about her'

Lucy stopped. 'What kind of rumors?' This time it was Edward who spoke. The girl gulped. How was that possible? She had been but an hour at central. How could there already be rumors? And how could Alphonse Elric, who had left headquarters half an hour after making her acquaintance have heard of them?

She listened deeper into the conversation and turned pale when she realized just how accurate they were. Hearing some of them out of the mouth of another person made her feel strange. When she had heared enough she left her post by the door. Deep in thought she went downstairs and outside. After a while she kneeled down on the ground and took a handfull of stones off the road. Then she pulled off one of her gloves. It was time to do some preparations.

Sorry. I honestly thought I had uploaded this chapter already.

And just in case: No, according to the rumor, Lucy is not a homunculus, she's not some incredibly powerfull magician and she has not had an incredibly tragic past that supasses the tragic pasts of the Elrics, Hawkeye and Mustang all together. It's just a tiny bit tragic- because honestly, have you seen one character in the FMA-Universe that does not have issues? I have not. Anyway, the rumor doesn't concern her past full of tears and pain ;P. It's just a particularily nasty rumor. And rumors are not always true anyway. However, this is an OC story and Lucy is supposed to be the main character. That just how OC storys are. I'm warning you again, if you don't like it, you shouldn't read this story.