I am once again posting up a preview for chapter 3. I 'm so sorry, I've been really working on it hard but school work is really blowing a hole in my schedule. When I am finally finished with the complete chapter I will delete these two previews so please hold on any reviews until the real chapter is up. Thank you for your patience!!!

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Gunslinger Alchemist: A Crossover Fanfiction

"The boy has a mechanical body, but he is still an adolescent child…"

Chapter 3: A Second Chance to Live, to Laugh

Edward sat up straight in his arm chair with his fists resting on lap, smoothing out the wrinkles on his pants. Mustang, his handler, was at his desk wearily sorting through paper after blank paper. It took at least twenty minutes, sometimes more, every morning to wait for the Colonel to go through and finish attending to last minute proposals and documents waiting for his signature, since he procrastinated to the point of no return.

One day the whole desk was so covered in books and papers that Edward and Lt. Col. Hughes had to pitch in to hold up the stacks so they wouldn't collapse on either them or the Colonel as he tried desperately to complete them. It took the entire day to sort out everything out, leaving Mustang with a scolding and Edward and Hughes with sore backs.

"Are you almost done yet?" the thirteen-year-old asked in monotone, drumming his prosthetic gloved fingers on the arm of the chair. He sighed loudly, trying to sound bored.

"In a minute Fullmetal, I'm almost done!" Mustang bellowed.

Edward narrowed his eyes at the Colonel and clenched his fist at the mention of his second name. The cruel irony always found a way to piss him off. "That's what you said ten minutes ago," he said.

"You could learn to be a little more patient," growled Mustang who was getting pretty annoyed by the constant complaints.

"Yeah, I probably could," the boy answered sarcastically and yawned. It was only seven o' clock in the morning of another seemingly beautiful autumn day in August. Edward stared out the window at the sun as it slowly receded from the clouds.

When Edward was younger the view of the outside world was forbidden. There had used to be black curtains nailed on every window showing the outdoors, although they had been recently taken down so long as Edward wouldn't go near them with his Military uniform.

Tracing a small circle on the arm of the chair with his right pointer finger he reminisced the day he stepped outside by himself for the first time, after being in the darkness of the hospital walls for so long when he had gained full control of the prosthetics…

As Mustang swung open the double doors leading outside, the young eleven-year-old felt the tug of anxiety on his small frame. His automail, hidden under flesh-colored coverings to avoid civilian suspicions, creaked as if understood his fear of what might lie ahead. A blinding light came pouring in into the hallway, namely the sun, something Edward hadn't seen for almost half a year. He had to shield his eyes from the brightness of the sun, Mustang behind him securely gripping his shoulders to balance his footing.

Oddly, at the moment, Edward felt a strange yet soothing warmth fill inside of him. A grin beginning to spread on his face, he ran out the doors and down the stone steps as fast as he possibly could. Stopping abruptly on the sidewalk he gawked at the surrounding buildings and the people and cars passing by. He spun around playfully, trying to soak it all in, his now shoulder-length hair hitting his facing. Turning back towards the hospital, he flashed a toothy grin at Mustang who exchanged it with a small smile.

Looking up into the sun even though it hurt his eyes, Edward knew he wanted to get to know this warmth once again after spending so long in darkness. Stretching his arms toward the light overhead as high as he could while standing on tip-toe, the boy reached out to the sun, wanting nothing more than to obtain the secrets of happiness from those heavens above…

Thinking back on his later actions, Edward frankly felt a bit embarrassed. Had he really been that childish and gullible only two years ago? Now that he was older, he knew full well of his place at the Society; he was only their pawn, a tool to be taken out and used at their command without his consent. He also discovered "unintentionally" of his repressed memory long ago during his automail rehab when he listened in on a conversation between Mustang and Hughes. That night was the first time he cried himself to sleep.

It had finally made perfect sense after all those nights dreaming frequently of seeing himself as a young child, playing with others his age, usually a blonde-haired boy and girl. It always took place in a country setting near in a small house on a hill, maybe his own. There was also a recurring sweet faced brown-haired woman, perhaps his mother? Edward had never told anyone his flashback dreams, not even Mustang, afraid of risking even the potential of having it all taken away again from under his nose.

Crossing his legs nonchalantly and leaning his cheek against the back of his left hand, Edward filled in his traced circle with transmutation runes and tapped it lightly. A few blue sparks arose from the chair which shaped a small section of the fabric into a small solid violet colored dove.

He vaguely remembered transmuting these alchemical trinkets such as small birds like this one when he was little. He would always run off after he finished one and show it off proudly to the brown-haired woman. And she would always smile delightfully and tell him how special he was to create such wonderful things which always put a cocky grin on his face. As a matter of fact, sometimes the other blonde-haired boy joined him in his practices of alchemy.

Mustang looked up from his papers, alerted by the light of the alchemy. "Hey! Put my chair back the way it was!!" he yelled pointing an accusing finger at his student.

"Humph." Edward clapped his hands and with his right hand tapped the dove reverting it back into the chair. "Hurry up, will ya?"

-5 minutes later…-

"Aha! Finally done!" Mustang yelled, triumphantly slamming his open palms on the now organized desktop.

"It's about time, you slacker," Edward scoffed rudely.

"You know, I've been working my ass off all night just so you could go unaccompanied

for the field check for the shooting tomorrow!! YOU BETTER THANK ME!!" Mustang yelled out harshly.

Edward looked speechless for the first time in his short life, his eyes growing wide. "I'm going by myself for the first time? It's about time I got the privilege," he said.

"Technically it's just a stake out for tomorrow's mission, but yeah, pretty much." Mustang said.

"All right! Now I can get rid of you and those annoying mentors from following me around like stalkers everywhere I go!" Edward smiled as he cradled his arms behind his head.

"Don't get too cocky, Ed; this is just a field check." The Colonel glanced up at his pupil and slyly smirked. "You will be able to do this, right? This is the first time you'll be completely on your own. No one will come to save if you get in trouble."

"Heh, you think that's gonna really scare me?" the boy laughed, unfazed by his superior's taunts. He confidently crossed his arms and his own infamous smirk crossed his lips. "Hell yeah, I can take care of myself!"

Mustang, for a slight moment, looked surprised but quickly went back to his normal posture and faced the many papers on his desk. "Then let's get started, shall we?" He noisily tapped a stack on the desk and turned his gaze toward the small print. "This conditioning is frightening."

…

Brushing off the white specks of dust from his shirt, Edward stared back at his reflection from the full length mirror in his bedroom. He had changed his clothes and was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, outlined thinly in white, with tight black pants and boots. He adjusted his white gloves and turned around in the attempt to get a look at his backside.

This was one of the outfits he wore when he was "outside", others being various shirts and pants, but for some unknown reason this was his favorite. Edward furiously fumbled with the collar, forcing it to stick up, and fixed his ponytail, pulling back some loose hairs.

His hair had grown quite long those past few years. Touching the mirror lightly with the very tips of his fingers, the boy wondered softly to himself, "Would this look like the Edward Elric I saw in my dreams at my age?" He backed away from reflection the moved his arms to his sides. "No, most likely not."

A sudden soft knocking was then heard at the door, causing Edward to jump. Regaining his serious façade he called out toward the door over his shoulder, "Come in!"

Mustang opened the door and stepped inside the room carrying his black coat and a traveling truck in his hand.

The room was small yet comfortable with a double bed against the left wall and a full-sized armoire with a mirror in the middle. There was also a wooden desk and chair against the right wall where Edward studied or read in his spare time. There were no windows at all. Surprisingly, it was very tidy and well kept which would be extremely unusual for a normal teenager. Then again Ed wasn't a noraml teen.

"You changed already?" Mustang asked leaning down to look his student up and down with a critical eye as Edward turned to face him. "Don't tell me that you're wering that again. Too much black is bad for your image," he teased.

"Shove it," Edward scowled harshly and shot the Colonel an evil glare before turning back to the mirror.

"Just make sure your gloves are secure."

"Yeah, yeah," Edward tugged at his right glove. "I'm not allowed to show off my automail to anyone except my targets. I get it already! You say that before every mission; you're like a broken record."

"Learn some respect for your superiors, why don't you?!" Mustang fumed.

"Sure, I'll keep that in the back of my mind," Edward said sarcastistically, rolling his eyes.

Now it was Mustang's turn to glare angrily at his student, clenching his teeth and trying hard not to raise his fist. After calming down a bit, he took ahold of the trunk in his hand and thrust it into Edward's open arms, knocking the boy offguard.

The thirteen-year-old muttered curses as he set the trunk on the grey-colored carpet and opened it with a look of an unwanted surprise. He turned his head to stare directly at Mustang. "The MP28.II?" Edward asked with a disapproving frown. He shut the trunk with a slam. "How dangerous is going out in public?" he said in an unfriendly tone and a scowl.

"Just in case; in an emergancy," Mustang explained in a sullen expression. Straightning out the coat in his arms, he put it on without a word.

Edward switched his glance back to the case in front of him, shutting it and picking it up with his right hand. "It's not like the children in Central kill people for a living…"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Edward said in defense, a little too quickly for Mustang's liking. He lifted the trunk up and down several times. "Hiding it in a trunk this time around? Heh, how cliché."

The Colonel folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Take it or leave it squirt."

"DON'T SAY SQUIRT!!!"

"Geez…"

…

Mustang parked the car a little past Dale Street and turned toward the backseat where Edward sat with the trunk on his lap. "Meet me right here in this exact spot in exactly three hours time," the Colonel instructed sternly. "I'll be circling around the city until then."

"The target, a political scumbag called Alan Cherkin, who has been secretly embezzling money from the government, will be checking into the Franklin Hotel room 217 second floor. He always goes there before parliamentary sittings to go over documents with his aide, Alexander John. We will reserve the rest of the floor under an assumed name so no one will come up during the mission. Me and a few other men will be in the lobby to make sure that he'll be there. Tomorrow, you will go unseen up to the second floor and eliminate anyone in the perimeter of the room and go back down the way you came. Today you will be observing the back entrance for your escape."

"Yeah, yeah," Edward responded in a bored tone. The boy opened the car's side door and stepped out, the trunk's handle still held securely in his hand.

"Here," Mustang took out his wallet and handed the boy two one thousand sen bills. "There's some money for lunch, or a souvenir or something. Have fun."

Edward looked over at the bills before stuffing them in his pants pocket. He glanced up at his handler, who had facing back to the road behind, getting ready to turn the car around. It was an uncommon occasion to be sight seeing in Central, but the Colonel being kind was an even greater rarity.

The boy nodded solemnly and saluted, catching Mustang's eye just before the car sped away leaving Edward on the sidewalk the concealed machine gun in his small hand. "Yes, sir."