Chapter three
Riza looked at Roy and gasped. His shirt was off but that wasn't the part that concerned her. The part that concerned her was the fact that he was so skinny. She could count his ribs. 'What is the meaning of this?' she thought, 'Has Roy become anorexic?'
"Riza? Why are you in my tent when I am not decent?" Roy growled at her.
"Sorry sir I just saw how thin you were and it concerns me," she saluted him. She left the tent and he soon followed her. He looked at her and just sighed. She could tell he was frustrated about everything. "Sir I know you are very tired but I forgot to mention I want to talk with you about the Fuhrer coming tomorrow."
"Oh right that is tomorrow isn't it?" Roy said scratching his head. What would he do if it wasn't for this wonderful lady in front of him? He all of a sudden felt very tired and very dizzy. "I'm going to go to bed now I'll see you in the morning."
"Alright sir. Feel better," Hawkeye called after him. She went to her own room and settled down for the night.
The next day came bright and early with all the officers up. They were all very nervous, especially Roy. This was the day that the Fuhrer was coming to see them and Roy wanted everything to be perfect. Even those evening drills. Hawkeye wouldn't be able to help him with those tonight. He would just rest up a little this morning before the Fuhrer came and should be fine when it came time for morning drills. 'this will be a long day,' Roy thought and sighed.
"Brigadier General Mustang," a voice rang out over the grounds. It was the Fuhrer. 'Did he get an earlier train?' thought Roy, ' Its six in the bloody morning he wasn't supposed to be here until eight.'
"Yes sir," Roy announced himself as he stepped out of the room.
"Nice to see you Mustang."
"Pleasure to have you here , Sir. We were just about to get started on morning drills."
"You been eating right Brigadier General? That coat seems loose."
"Yes sir I had a bad case of the flu for the first week or so wasn't able to keep much down Sir."
"I see. Well glad to see you are feeling a bit better."
Roy then yelled to everyone that it was time for morning drills. Once everyone was gathered in the practice area they began to train with Roy calling out the commands. The Fuhrer looked on and nodded as he saw the soldiers obeying Roy's commands down to the very last pivot. He smiled to himself. Riza saw the Fuhrer smiling and smiled to herself. 'The Fuhrer is smiling, this can only be good for all of us,' she thought as she looked at Roy. Soon thereafter the exercises were done and all of them went into the mess hall for breakfast. The Fuhrer joined Roy at the table near the head of the cafeteria.
"Brigadier General Mustang can I have a word with you?" The Fuhrer asked.
"Yes sir," Mustang responded saluting the Fuhrer and standing up.
"Sit down Mustang. Your subordinates can hear this too."
"Yes sir," Mustang replied sitting back into his seat.
"I like what you are doing here Mustang. Very good. You should be very proud of your soldiers. You have brought great honor on yourself as a Brigadier general."
"Thank you sir."
"Which is why I am letting you stay here longer Mustang. I think you will change these men and they will come out to be very fine soldiers."
"Yes sir."
"Now what are we to do?"
"Now the soldiers have strategy class. I have split the soldiers into two groups being taught by Lieutenant Hawkeye and myself sir. We have found it more effective in the smaller groups seeing as the soldiers get more time to ask questions and understand what is going on."
"Very resourceful Mustang I am proud to see you taking on a great role in these soldiers lives. They shall be surely ready for battle by the time you are through with them."
"Thank-you Sir."
Mustang and the Fuhrer headed off to one of the classrooms and Roy taught while the Fuhrer sat in back. 'This is so annoying,' thought Mustang. The Fuhrer kept raising his hand and asking ludicrous questions like the class was some sort of presentation that had no time limit. After the Fuhrer's umpteenth question Mustang decided it was time to dismiss class and told everyone to go to lunch. The soldiers obeyed and quickly gathered their things and hurried to the mess hall.
"I have to say Mustang your skills are exceptional. You were able to answer even the most obscure questions I asked without a second thought. It seems your soldiers have no trouble doing whatever you say whenever you say it. Tell me how exactly did you manage that?" the Fuhrer asked lifting an eyebrow.
"Well, Sir, it is quite a long story. You see one night during evening drills when I was sick the soldiers started to make fun of me."
"And why is that?"
"You see Sir I had a terrible headache and needed to sit for a moment so I told the soldiers to take a small five minute break while I recovered my bearings, my apologies for making them stop training, but then one of them told me how even Archer could take better care of himself so I torched his hair off."
For a moment all was silent. Roy looked at the Fuhrer wondering whether or not he would be demoted for doing this. Instead he saw a smile creep across his superior's lips. Soon it turned into a laugh which frightened Roy a bit, only because the Fuhrer NEVER laughed.
"Ah Mustang you do know how to get soldiers to obey your every wish don't you? I daresay that your method has worked better than any I have ever seen. Now shall we get some food?"
"Thank you Sir and yes Sir let us go eat."
The rest of the day continued with the Fuhrer watching closely and Mustang answering all of the ridiculous questions he asked. Roy had to consciously remind himself not to roll his eyes at the Fuhrer because that could cost him more than the new position he had. ' I only hope that I don't get sick during evening drills,' he thought getting his 14th full glass of water that day. Evening drills rolled around sooner than Roy would have liked them to. As they walked out to the field he sighed.
"Well here we go," he whispered to Hawkeye.
"You'll be fine Sir. I know you can make it through one practice just so you can show the Fuhrer that he put you in the right position," she whispered back.
Roy called his soldiers to attention. About halfway through the drill he started to feel tired. He needed sleep but knew that this was not the time, day, or place to give up and turn over the ranks to Hawkeye. Instead, Roy kept a serious face and walked around barking orders as usual. Some of his soldiers looked at their watches. It was past the halfway mark and Mustang was still commanding them. They knew that he was carrying on because the Fuhrer was there, otherwise he would have relinquished the position to Hawkeye by now. They continued on with all the drills. 'What is wrong with Mustang?' the Fuhrer wondered when he saw the man about halfway through the drills. Roy was pale and he looked like he was going to pass out. However, before the Fuhrer had a chance to ask what was bothering Roy the man had already dismissed the troops and told them to go to dinner. Roy followed his troops at an uneasy pace and slumped into his seat in the cafeteria.
"Mustang, a word please?" the Fuhrer stated.
"Yes sir. Shall we go to my tent?" Roy asked saluting his officer.
"That would be the perfect place to discuss the matter. But first finish your meal. I am going to take my dinner in my tent tonight."
"Yes sir. When shall I meet you?"
"Meet me at nineteen hundred hours sharp."
"Yes sir."
At precisely nineteen hundred hours Roy sat on his bed in his tent. The Fuhrer arrived a little late but Roy dared not to make a remark only because this was not one of his subordinates. If it had been say Havoc he would have wasted no time badgering him about his late appearance. The Fuhrer sat down in the chair opposite Roy's bed and for what seemed like forever the Fuhrer just stared at Roy.
"Brigadier General. I have no question in my mind that you are able to handle this position. But I want to know what was going on with you during the evening drills? You looked like you were going to pass out," the Fuhrer eyed the junior officer suspiciously waiting for a reply.
"I was just a bit….uh….nervous Sir. I wanted to leave a good last impression on you," Roy feigned his sincerity.
"Well Mustang you sure did that. I'll be leaving after morning drills tomorrow. And by the way you passed your first assessment."
"Thank you Sir," Mustang saluted as he stood up.
The next day as the Fuhrer left Mustang breathed a sigh of relief. 'Glad that is over,' he thought. Roy went over to the mess hall to get something to eat before teaching class. After class the day seemed to go too fast and Roy felt like he was caught in a whirlwind. The same aches and pains came over him only they were about ten times worse now. 'I need sleep.' But it was time for evening drills and Roy was looking forward to his usual routine of giving it over to Hawkeye. 'No no I'm not going to do that again. I did that too many times….I am a strong man and I will make it through the rest of the evening drills if it kills me,' thought Roy as he marched to the practice field.
To everyone's surprise he made past the halfway point again. Roy was doing fine or at least in everyone else's eyes. In his eyes things were going fuzzy. He looked over to Hawkeye. 'Funny I didn't know she had an identical twin sister,' he thought to himself.
"General Mustang?" Hawkeye asked looking concerned. When he didn't respond she asked him again. He just stood there. "Roy!" she screamed as she ran over to catch him as he feel.
A/N: So what Just happened to General Mustang?
BTW sorry this took me so long to post I was really sick and had to get some serious medicine for it…but please R&R I won't know what to do next unless you do
Oh and sorry the fuhrer is a little OOC…..I was kinda unsure what he would do