Hmmmmmmm… How will I start this chapter? I had a tonne of stuff to tell you, but I forgot it all… *cries*
Well, off the top of my head, here are some OCs for you! I hope they're okay. (Good luck, guys!)
Also *falls into D. Gray-Man and lands on face* happened. That and Durarara. Yup.
And wow you guys! You gave me so many reviews and everything! I'm so happy! Thank you so much! *cries some more*
My dog looks so silly right now… That was random. I really don't remember what I was going to say… OH! YEAH!
I'm not sure how the hierarchy of East HQ works (some sources say Roy is boss and some otherwise) but let's say for this fic Grumman is the top dog in the East because that's easy enough and I believe he was in FMAB.
Let's go! Whoo~!
Over the next couple of days, military duos from all across Amestris started appearing in Eastern Headquarters.
The first to arrive on the front steps of the base was the team from Central, a fifty-something-year-old general and his twenty-something son. If they had any scrap of modesty or common courtesy in their bodies, they neglected to show it. Neither the stocky, grey-haired father nor the ghostly pale son paid any mind to the salutes Grumman, Roy and Edward put forth, skipping right by them and up to the Fuhrer.
"Oh, how lovely to see you, my Fuhrer!" the father, General Reece Rothford, spouted as he was put at ease and shook the Fuhrer's hand.
"Yes, truly marvellous," added the son, Aidan. "Though might I ask why we are holding the event here in the East?"
"That was cold," Edward muttered to Roy from his spot beside the man. "We got totally snubbed."
"I'd noticed," replied the colonel as he followed Grumman up to the huddle of soldiers that was the Rothfords, the Fuhrer and his flank.
"Aha, you see, Lieutenant," the Fuhrer was saying. "This approaching duo is the team from the East."
The Central team glanced back, eyeing Grumman, Roy and Edward.
"General Grumman and this fellow?" Rothford senior inquired, tossing a thumb at Roy.
The colonel blinked, and Grumman let out a chortling laugh. "Wrong duo!" he exclaimed. "Though I can see why you'd think two handsome devils such as us would be related!"
The Fuhrer laughed too, and left the Rothfords looking confused as Edward stood pokerfaced in the background.
They assume Grumman was related to Mustang before me, he thought to himself. My hair might have been dyed black, but how in the world did we pull off Kambei?
"Haha…" Roy sweated a little and hesitantly gave a faint, unconvincing laugh.
The Fuhrer chuckled as he nodded in Edward's direction. "Colonel Mustang here will be taking part with this young man as his son."
"Huh?" the younger Rothford narrowed his eyes at Edward. "They're related? And this shortie's a soldier?"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING 'SHORTIE'—Mmph!"
Edward's ranting was efficiently cut short as Roy reached around behind the teen's head, clamped a gloved hand over his mouth and pulled him to his side.
"This is Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist," the colonel explained as Edward gnawed on his fingers. "I am Colonel Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, General and Second Lieutenant Rothford."
"I've heard of this Fullmetal kid," the older Rothford said. "And you, Mustang. Word in Central is that you two remotely prevented an Aerugonian invasion from the Kambei peace summit by disguising yourself as father and son?"
"That's true," Roy said, removing his hand from Edward's head and slipping off his drooled-on glove. "We are filling the Eastern section's position as there are no blood-relations meeting the requirement in this area."
"The reason we're beginning the meet in the East is to give these two a bit of a leg up," the Fuhrer explained. "They're up against teams who've been together their whole lives, so a home ground advantage seemed a fair way to even the playing field, if only for the first while."
"A fine idea, my Fuhrer," Reece Rothford stated, giving the pair a scathing look up and down. The expressions of both him and his son indicated their negative reaction to finding that the Eastern team was a powerhouse State alchemist duo who had no relation whatsoever. It seemed like enough of an advantage to them already.
Edward scowled at Aidan, who raised one fine, platinum blond eyebrow.
"Now, men," the Fuhrer said, and the two teams plus Grumman turned to face him. "I want a nice, fair competition between not only you, but all the teams."
It was apparent he'd caught the ice in the atmosphere between the two teams.
"Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" the five replied, snapping into salutes.
"Then shake on it, you four, and we'll all head inside for some tea," the man finished, clapping his hands and smiling behind his thick moustache. He, his escorts and General Grumman headed for the base's front doors, leaving the participants behind.
Roy and Edward turned to face the Rothfords, and they each held out their hands.
Roy's counterpart, General Rothford, gave a cold smile and tightened his grip on Roy's hand as he shook. "Good luck, Colonel," he said, though the wish seemed to lack any real conviction.
"Same to you," Roy replied, setting his jaw as his fingers were crushed together by an old man who was much stronger than he looked. Today was a bad day for his fingers.
Meanwhile, it seemed Aidan had tried the same thing, but with a much different outcome.
Edward smirked and let his gaze wander sideways as the lieutenant gaped, squeezing at solid metal.
The next teams arrived at the same time, the two from the West and the North. These two teams were as different as they came.
The northerners were slight and wiry, both with dark hair, dark eyes, dark uniforms, dark glasses and startlingly pale skin. They introduced themselves as Warrant Officer Siger and Staff Sergeant Stephen Meinhardt, older and younger respectively. Neither of them really seemed to care about the situation at hand, simply walking up and offering neat salutes.
"Straight from the northern fortress of Briggs," the Fuhrer announced. "The home of many of the finest trained men in all of Amestris."
Where the Meinhardts were slim, subdued and ferociously obedient, the Westerners were tall, muscular and booming.
The Fergusons stood at least half a metre or so above Roy, possibly seven over Edward, and had thick brown hair. Their uniforms were bursting with muscles, and they had dark tanned skin. The father – Captain Harold Ferguson – sported a bushy beard and a moustache that nearly rivalled Major Armstrong's. Gunnery Sergeant Ravis Ferguson was a touch shorter, and the imposing facial hair was replaced with thick stubble.
"Welcome to East City," said Grumman, staring up at the Fergusons. "I do hope you all enjoy your time here, and wish you luck for the events to follow. Corporal Oxspring here will show you to your accommodations."
Once Roy's hand had been shaken once and crushed once more, and Edward's shaken then possibly a little dented, the teams passed them and headed into the base behind an awestruck corporal. Edward, Roy, Grumman, the Fuhrer and the two men accompanying him had been about to follow when another car pulled up at the bottom of the steps.
The team that stepped out of this one seemed at least half-normal to Roy, but apparently not to Edward.
"H-hey!" The boy stared down the steps at the apparent son from this team, his expression shocked. "That's the soldier from Southern HQ who kept following me and Al around!"
Roy frowned and cocked his head.
The son element of this team seemed younger than most of the others, with honey blond hair and grey-blue eyes. He had his uniform jacket undone, with a grey singlet exposed.
He buttoned it up with an elbow in the ribs from his father, a tall man with greying brown hair and the same eyes as his son.
The two approached with cases in hand, giving their salutes to the men they met on the steps.
"Brigadier General Theodore Schuyler," the father said, dropping his salute in favour of a handshake with Grumman. "And this is my son, Ambrosios Schuyler."
"Amory," the young man corrected as he too shook Grumman's hand. "Major Amory Schuyler."
He cast his blue eyes to the Eastern team.
"You must be the famed 'youngest State alchemist', the Fullmetal Edward Elric," he said. Looking to Roy, he added, "Although I didn't know you had a father in the State."
"He ain't my pops," Edward told Amory as he shook. He watched the newcomer suspiciously. "We're the closest thing in the East to a father-son team."
"I see."
Schuyler shook Roy's hand, giving him a smile. This smile was almost the same as the one General Rothford had graced Roy with, if not icier.
"Colonel Mustang," he said with false lightness. "It's been an age."
"Indeed it has," Roy replied, his brow furrowed as he held Schuyler's gaze. "I was afraid you'd forgotten me."
"Who could forget the man who solved the cases of human marketing and rebellion all along the South-East sector border so quickly?" Schuyler said. He said it in a light tone, but Edward could tell the southern general was angry Roy had taken and solved so many of his cases and issues right from under his nose.
The handshakes broke apart, and Edward noticed a glint of silver at Amory's side. His eyes widened at the sight to two metal objects at the young soldier's left hip.
One was the chain of a silver pocket watch.
Another was the dull gleam of an auto-mail hand.
"A State alchemist…?" Edward muttered aloud unintentionally.
He jumped as Amory shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his watch.
"That's right," he said with a lofty smirk. "Major Amory Schuyler, Spark Alchemist."
"It wouldn't be fair to have just one team with an alchemist on it now, would it?" the Fuhrer asked, whilst Edward gawked at the youngest State alchemist he'd ever met after himself. If Falman's information was correct – which it almost always was – Amory was eighteen.
"H…how long have you studied alchemy?" Edward finally asked when his curiosity got the better of him.
"Since I was ten," Amory replied. "I might have gotten certified with the State sooner than a few months ago had I not lost this to rebels attacking South City."
He drew back his sleeve to show Edward his left arm, of which half his forearm was metal prosthetics.
"And what's your specialty?" Edward continued, eyeing the strange circle carved into the palm of the auto-mail.
Alchemic symbols for copper, steel and water… And Zeus several times. The fire symbol inside water… And the words around the edge translate to 'harness the sky fire for one's one'. I've never seen this layout in a transmutation circle before.
"Well, I got pretty good at basic geological shaping and mineral transformation alchemy when I turned fourteen, but I moved on from there," Amory said. "Believe it or not, I've used my master's studies to further perfect the style known as 'Lightning Alchemy'."
"No way!" Edward exclaimed. Once alchemy was involved, nothing else really mattered to him. "That's said to be one of the hardest to learn and control forms of alchemy there are! Not even the man who was said to have invented it – Herschel Bauer – could perfect it!"
"My mentor," Amory said, raising an eyebrow as the alchemy-freak touched a hand to his chin and began to mutter to himself. "Before he lost his life to rebels."
"It's nearly impossible to figure it out without someone teaching you," the boy mumbled. "And it's ridiculously hard to control, a lot like Flame Alchemy." He glanced at Roy.
"Then you must be the Flame Alchemist," said Amory with a curt nod at Roy. "I've heard a lot about you."
Roy nodded back, eyeing Amory with well-hidden suspicion. "That would be me. It's good to meet you, Major."
"You too." He smiled and fixed the Eastern team with a hard look.
"Let's head inside then," the Fuhrer said, turning on his heel.
As Roy and Edward shared a glance, Amory and his father passed between them.
"We're going to obliterate you," the young man murmured, and his father didn't silence him.
The two Eastern State alchemists followed more slowly, Edward grinding his teeth. He was already beginning to foster intense feelings of dislike towards Amory and his father.
"Well," the teen said. "This is going well. I wonder if there's single team coming that won't hate us?"
Roy sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily. "Can't say you're wrong there, Ed."
The boy blinked at the use of his first name, and put it down to fatigue.
"The only teams left now are the foreigners," the colonel stated. "Maybe we'll have a better chance with them."
There was a night between the arrival of the Amestrian teams and the foreign teams, a night which Edward spent discussing Lightning Alchemy with Alphonse until he inevitably passed out on the bunk bed.
Roy's approach was quite the same, only he had Hawkeye standing over his shoulder until her late shift ended at ten thirty and she told him he was allowed to go home. He'd judged the amount of paperwork he still had left, decided it was doable, and promptly collapsed on his office sofa at two o'clock.
And he would have slept 'til two in the afternoon, had Hawkeye not entered the inner office with the Elrics just behind her at eight sharp.
She glanced over her shoulder at the boys as they entered, only to find Edward had dashed off in search of a black marker.
"Should we leave him there?" she asked. "He did finish all his paperwork."
Alphonse shrugged. "I suppose it couldn't hurt, so long as we wake him in time for meeting with the other teams."
Edward tiptoed back into the room and around the pair, prodding Roy in the cheek with the end of the marker he'd found. He was about to pull the lid off when Roy reached up and caught his hand.
"Do it and I'll toss you into the coffee table," the man mumbled.
Edward, realising the man wasn't joking by the way he adjusted his grip to indicate some kind of judo move, wisely shook Roy off and stepped back.
Scowling, he tucked the marker into his pocket as Roy sat up and rubbed his face. The man turned to look at his desk, which was completely clear of papers.
"So it wasn't a dream," he said, blinking away sleep. "It's finally all done."
"Yes," Hawkeye walked past him and up to the desk, where she placed a steaming mug of coffee that effectively enticed Roy up to it. "Good job, sir."
Roy grabbed the mug and inhaled deeply. "Crappy Mess coffee never smelled so good."
Edward eyed Roy's cup. "If it's bad, then why do you drink it?"
"A kid like you wouldn't understand," Roy replied.
"Tch!" Edward glared. "I understand fine! I drink coffee too, y'know! It's just stupid that you'd drink something that tastes bad!"
Roy shrugged. "Whatever you say, shrimp."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN INVERTEBRATE SO SMALL HE'D DROWN IN HIS OWN MUG?!"
Hawkeye sighed, opening the blinds on the windows. "You two had best start getting along soon."
"Whatever," grumbled Edward.
Roy shrugged and sipped his coffee.
"Knock-knock! I'm comin' in!"
Hughes smacked the door open with little effort and kicked it closed behind himself. "Mornin' all!" he greeted, tossing a photograph into the air.
Roy jumped as something smacked into his desk and saw it was the photograph, pinned down by a push knife stuck in the top right corner.
"A gift for you to say congratulations on finishing your papers," he said. "Here's some more."
He dumped a stack on Roy's desk, the response to which was a raised eyebrow. "These papers are addressed to 'Lieutenant Colonel Hughes'."
"Darn." Hughes sighed and slapped a hand on the sheets. "Was hoping you wouldn't notice."
"Good shot, sir," Hawkeye complimented as Roy tugged the knife out of his desk.
The man scowled. "Naw, I was aiming for the other corner. Now the point of perforation is uncomfortably close to Elysia's pigtail."
Edward sat down on the couch Roy had been sleeping on and his brother stood behind him.
Hawkeye moved on to the next window, winding it open and looking around. "There's a car parking out front," she remarked. "You two should probably get down there."
Roy sighed and bit his lip, reluctantly setting his coffee aside and standing.
Edward followed him out of the room and down the corridor. There was a thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk as Alphonse chased after them, catching up halfway to the front doors after having decided he wanted to meet the foreigners as well.
The first to get out of the car was a man with red hair tied in an intricate fashion, dressed in a green uniform Edward didn't recognise. He had a tattoo on one cheek, though the teen couldn't make out what it was. He reached inside the car and pulled out two cases.
Next out was another green-clad soldier with black hair. Edward's jaw dropped as they climbed the steps. Alphonse gasped and Roy blinked in surprise.
What was most astounding about the son was not the bright blue eyes, the dual braids joined at the back of his head or the pierced ears, but his age.
The kid couldn't be more than twelve.
"Greetings," the father said. "Ulfric Pravda of Avonum, and my son, Felix."
"Greetings!" came the Fuhrer's voice from behind, startling the three Amestrians. He'd appeared quite out of no-where with Grumman and a couple of other men beside him. "It's an honour to have your country join us in this event!"
"It's an honour to be here," Ulfric replied. He looked to his son. "Right, Felix?"
"Yup," the boy answered with a smile. He turned to Edward. "I hope we can get along, big bro…?"
"Edward Elric," the alchemist replied, sticking out a hand and blinking in astonishment. "I-it's nice to meet you."
The boy shook and jumped in surprise. "Your hand is…"
"Uh…" Edward withdrew, taking off his glove. He held up his auto-mail arm and smiled sheepishly. "Heheh."
"Wow! A metal arm! That's neat!" Felix gaped at Edward's arm and the teen grinned.
"It is pretty cool, huh?"
Alphonse broke in. "H-how old are you, Felix?"
"I'm eleven," Felix replied. "What about you, Mr Armour?"
"I'm fourteen," Alphonse said. "And my name isn't 'Mr Armour', it's Alphonse Elric."
"So you're brothers? Then how old are you, Edward?"
"I'm fifteen."
"So you're the big brother?!"
"Yes! I am!"
Ulfric smiled. Upon closer inspection, his tattoo looked to be a word in some language Roy didn't recognise. "Good to see they're getting along," he said. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr…?"
"Colonel Roy Mustang," Roy answered, shaking Ulfric's hand. "Ed here isn't related to me, but we're filling in for the East's lack of teams."
He looked at the three younger people and frowned a little. "Felix seems very young for a soldier," he remarked.
"In Avonum, a minimum two year enlistment is mandatory from the age of ten," the Fuhrer explained.
"We're not a peaceful country," Ulfric said with a shrug and an awkward smile. "It's not ideal, but it's the law."
Once introductions were through, Ulfric and Felix went ahead into the base.
"Ten years old, huh…?" Roy muttered to himself. "That's almost cruel…taking their childhood like that."
A thought struck him. Says the man who scouted an eleven-year-old as a human weapon.
Edward slipped his glove back on and laughed, knocking Alphonse's chest plate. "Mr Armour! Classy!"
Alphonse punched his brother in the shoulder lightly as he continued to snicker.
"Something wrong, Colonel?" Bradley asked as the younger man stared intently at the Elrics.
"N-no, sir," Roy replied with a shake of his head. Quickly changing his train of thought, he continued, "Just wondering what types of events we'll actually be participating in."
"Well, we're going at it whole-heartedly this time, Mustang," the Fuhrer said. "You'll be doing quite possibly everything. From what you'd expect – things like target practise and sparring – to team sports like football and tennis and even karaoke if you feel like it! Marathons to quizzes to rock climbing to swimming! Artistic skill! Survival tactics! Dancing, even! You name it, Colonel, it's been planned!"
Roy blinked, wilting a little at hearing 'swimming' amongst that list. He and Edward had no chance in that event.
The Fuhrer's moustache twitched upwards as he smiled. "Don't get overwhelmed, Mustang!"
Next to arrive was the Kambeian team with another familiar face in the mix.
"Oh, Master Edward! Master Roy! It's so great to see you again, I missed you so much, please take me on a tour of your country!"
Roy and Edward were briefly crushed to death in the embrace of Inuya, a young Kambeian messenger and tour guide who apparently served the armed forces as well as ran errands for the emperor, was a part-time street-performer, and more. Roy had, upon hearing Inuya list his various professions and responsibilities, decided that he was a very busy young man. He had been Roy and Edward's escort when they had stayed in Kambei, showing them around (and providing a very in-depth description of Kambeian heritage sites and history) and helping them get what they needed.
"Inuya…" Roy choked out as Edward's auto-mail shoulder dug into his ribs. "Breathing space…would be nice…"
He broke away almost immediately, tears pricking the corners of his dark eyes. "I'm so sorry, Masters! Please forgive me for my breach in etiquette, I'm just so happy to see you again!"
"It's good to see you too…" Edward returned, rubbing his crushed left arm and smiling weakly. If Inuya were any more like a puppy, he'd have floppy ears and a tail.
"Master Edward," Inuya said, recovering his composure at top speed and raising his eyebrows. "Did your hair colour change?"
"Eeeeehh…" Edward sweated a little. "Yeah… I never really had black hair to begin with. And he ain't my dad."
Roy nodded as another two people walked up the steps.
"You mean you aren't really father and son?! Really?! But you seem so much like it!" Inuya whirled around. "Usa, did you know they're not related?!"
Inuya's younger sister, a shy palace maid named Usagi, nodded and smiled. "Yes. They tried to explain it to you, remember? But you were too excited to listen, like normal."
"AH! I'm sorry!"
"It's alright, Inuya!"
The three kept talking as Roy turned to the third and final Kambeian, who he assumed was Inuya and Usagi's father.
"Greetings," the man said, extending an arm. He had dark brown eyes and long black hair tied in a ponytail, as well as complex traditional Kambeian uniform. "I am General Umaro Kamagawa of Kambei, pleased to make your acquaintance. You may have seen my face whilst you informed our troops of your strategy to protect the city."
"Colonel Roy Mustang," Roy replied, shaking the man's hand and nodding. Part of him thought he should be surprised that the Kamagawa siblings' father was a general, although he was really just too tired and out of surprise to care. "It was an honour to work with you, sir."
"The honour is mine. I hope we can enjoy competing against each other in these events." Umaro bowed his head. "Best of luck to you, Colonel."
"And to you, General."
The three Kambeians were lead into base by Corporal Oxspring, who copped an earful of questions from Inuya ("What is the base made of? When was it built? Does it serve any other purposes? Does it have heritage value? Wow, you aren't a very good escort, sir!").
"C… Colonel!" Edward's exclamation caught the Amestrians before they had time to walk off. The boy was staring down the steps, a look of disbelief on his face for the third time that day. "Look!"
He followed the boy's gaze down to the bottom of the steps, where an older man was being assisted from the car. He had deeply tanned skin and grey hair that provided contrast to each other that made Roy sure he was from a southern country. He wore a purple sash over cream canvas robes, fastened with a gold emblem at his chest.
It wasn't him that had caught Edward's attention, however.
"Don't push yourself, dad," came a familiar voice from the young man helping him. "You've only just recovered."
"Don't worry kiddo, your old man can handle himself!"
Edward's grin was plastered widely across his face as the two walked up the steps.
When waiting patiently failed, he charged down to meet them halfway.
Roy smiled as Edward gave a whooping laugh and exclaimed, "Tyrell!"
The Oratoan prince glanced up, and a smile stretched across his face. "Ed! I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"Me neither!" Edward turned to Tyrell's father and dipped his head respectfully. "You must be Tyrell's old man, sir."
The king broke into a smile himself at Edward's informal formality. "That would be me. And you're Edward Elric? I must thank you for keeping my son out of trouble. And you inadvertently saved my life as well as my country, and for that, I thank you."
"Aw, it was nothing," Edward said sheepishly. "I only helped was all. I just did the grunt work, really – it's him you should be talking to." He pointed a thumb at Roy.
To Tyrell, he added, "As much as I hate to say it."
The prince laughed, and as his father walked on ahead, Edward threw an arm around his shoulder and tousled his white hair roughly. "It's so great to see you again, man!"
"Thanks and all, but get off!" Tyrell jabbed Edward in the side with two fingers and the alchemist fell away. "As you can see, kept my hair white. Ma finally accepted it, and I looked so underground with my Kambeian clothes on. Sweet."
Edward's grin continued as they headed up too. "And I'm back to being blond."
Alphonse joined the trio, and they began catching up with the latest news from their respective countries.
Meanwhile, Roy and the king shook hands, thanks were exchanged and repayments were declined.
"I cannot express my thankfulness to you and young Edward here," the king – Dominico Torfell – said to Roy. "I hope we can get along during this event. You seem like a nice enough pair, I'm most pleased to make your acquaintance."
"And I yours, sir," Roy replied with a dip of his head and a hint of a smile. "And again, I was only doing my job."
The Fuhrer raised his arms. "Then with all the teams gathered, we can get underway! Let the events begin!"
With that said, he and his flank started up the stairs.
"Going against that prince would have been tough, though," Dominico said to Roy more solemnly. "I know. And I thank you for going through whatever you did."
The colonel closed his eyes briefly, pulse racing at the memory.
During the Kambei summit, Roy and Edward had fought against Prince Claudio of the southern country of Aerugo, a man with a desire to take over Kambei, Orato and Amestris as well as a deadly skill in using his silver tongue to pinpoint someone's weakness and push them to a state of terror.
He'd used this skill to take the past horror of Ishbal and use it to force Roy into panic attacks that had left him vulnerable. Despite this, he and Edward had teamed up with Tyrell to eventually overcome the prince and save Kambei, as well as Orato, Amestris and Dominico's life.
When Roy opened his eyes again, he met the king's violet gaze and said, "It wasn't anything Edward and I couldn't handle."
And the Fullmetal Alchemist continued to laugh with his friend and his brother, just happy to be in their company.
Yes
So
Tyrell's back
*throws confetti*
And I hope you like the other OCs! Or dislike them if they're meant to be disliked… Or anything, I don't even know. Each man to his own opinions… Or woman… I suppose… Yes, I hope the OCs all characterised enough, and Amory doesn't come off as an annoying Mary-Sue. Or should that be like, Martin-Steve? Or Steve Martin… I like that guy. I think.
I am so braindead right now. XD
Hope you liked it! I'm gonna go drink tea and watch Captain America!
ZAKURO AWAY! *late birthday shoutout to Spidey19 – You're awesome man!*