A/N: Allo! My name is Roshneish. I was instructed to introcuce this here chapter! ^^ I like would like to say hello to all of fanfiction. net! Did I mention that my name is Roshneish? ^^ Hey guys, that was my newly-discovered Indian alter-ego. I told her to introduce the chapter. Yes. So, um, it's chapter 12 and this isn't our favorite, but it needed to happen.
Hey guys! It's Lex! Howzitgoin? Anyway, today, we found two theme songs for Alice and Roy - "Misery" by Maroon 5, and "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna. I don't even like Eminem. . Also, if anyone actually knows how Rashnish/Roshneish, let us know...
OH HAY thanks to - Evalyd Yamazaki (Benji's actually totally awesome. He transmogrifacated into something far awesomer than we intended.), chocolvr69 (I KNOWWWWW. D: We use thespectrum, which is luckily still up...), Charlie (Benji seems to be a popular OC; we actually have plans for him later, so he'll be hanging around, being awesome. :D), and 4shadowedice4 (Alice gets a hug in this chapter, just to appease you! And Melissa says she's glad you like her fluff!). You guys? You're BAMFs.
Disclaimer: We do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. If we did, I'd take the military on a field trip to a farm. And Al would try to fit various animals inside his armor to take home. ^^ Two of which would be my cute little goats, Atticus and Harvey. ^^ *insert Hughes pose here* THEY ARE SO PRECIOUS!
"So can I move the horsey here?" Fuery asked his superior tentatively.
Roy sighed. "No, Fuery. You can not move it there. Knights can only move in an 'L' pattern! And quit calling them horseys!"
Fuery cowered at Roy's outburst. "S-sorry sir."
Roy put his head in his hands as Fuery put himself in Check. "I win because of your stupidity. Alright everyone, go to lunch." When some of his teammates pulled out bagged lunches he said, "Leave. Go outside. Go home. Hell, I don't give a damn where you go, just leave!" They didn't need to be asked twice. "Havoc. What makes you think that you're exempt from that order?"
"You told me to finish this paperwork, Colonel," Jean answered coolly. After seeing the murderous look in Roy's eyes, Jean decided that it was time for him to leave.
Alice cried a little less that day. She tried to go back to the way things were before she met Roy. But, she wasn't feeling up to teaching, so she had to settle for playing piano and petting Staccato all day. She had to admit that it was pretty dull. When she heard a knock on her door, her heart leaped. There was still a part of her that wanted Roy to come see her.
She opened the door slowly, revealing one Jean Havoc in full military attire. She could feel the tears stinging in her eyes. "Wh-What do you want, Mr. Havoc?" Her voice cracked mid-sentence.
"Ouch, Sis. Mr. Havoc?" The man gave her a smirk that belied how worried he was for the woman. Alice shook her head once, shooing the water from her eyes. "Can I come in, Alice?"
Alice stepped aside slowly, swinging the door open, unable to refuse him entry. At the very least, she would give Roy the silent treatment; she didn't know if she could do the same to her "brother".
Staccato, ever the opportunist, took that moment to rub up on Jean's legs; the blonde smiled, picking the feline up. "It seems he likes anyone who isn't a certain colonel." Alice's eyes clouded over, and the air grew even more tense. That was, frankly, the last thing the pianist wanted to talk about, although it was clearly the lieutenant's whole purpose for visiting.
Jean eased himself onto the couch, and Alice sat quietly on the piano bench, as far across the room from Jean as she could get. "To be fair, if you're mad at anyone, you should be pissed at me."
She looked up at him, clearly confused. He continued, "Remember the night that we met you and Ivy?" Alice nodded. How could she forget? "See, the Colonel and I had been bar-hopping. That's sort of our pastime. We try to seduce women, almost making a contest out of it. This may be a surprise to you, Alice, but Roy usually beats your good ol' bro in those bets…"
"Is this supposed to make me feel better, Jean?" Alice sniffed, glaring at the man.
"Heh, I suppose not. What I'm getting at is that us betting over women is nothing new. However, what is new is how the Colonel reacted this time…" Jean continued, "Alice, on the night that we met, Roy had been flirting with several women. And they weren't just any women. These girls were drop-dead, kill you with one look your way, gorgeous. And Colonel Roy Mustang had every last one of them wrapped around his little finger. But we left the bar alone that night and we met up with you and Ivy. The way he was looking at you, I figured that you'd end up being just one of those girls. Mustang's the love 'em and leave 'em type."
Alice looked to the side with a snarky grumble. "Yeah, believe me, I can imagine…"
Jean rolled his eyes once. "Can you just hear me out? I understand that you're mad, but –"
"Of course I'm mad, you idiot!" Alice had risen to her feet, small stature not diminishing the anger that was radiating off of her. "He tricked me! I fell for him, and I fell hard! Ivy and Charlotte finally got to me, and I thought maybe, just maybe he liked me back, okay? I understand that, as a male, you might not be able to understand quite how that happened, but I would have done anything he asked! And then all of a sudden, I found out that he had a bet with you. A bet. That that was the reason why he ever so much as talked to me. And even better yet, you knew about it Jean! I had actually tricked myself into thinking you were a friend or something. Silly me."
With that, Alice collapsed back onto the piano bench, and Staccato, apparently concerned, jumped from Jean's arms to console his owner.
"I'm still a friend, Alice." Jean's words were said quietly, as the female had started crying again. "I'm probably a terrible friend, but I'm still a friend."
When Alice didn't respond, Jean spoke again. "He was really pissed today for some reason, the colonel, I mean. He took it out on all of us; it's obvious whenever Mustang's worked up about something, because we underlings drown in his rage."
Alice snorted, "Well, you deserve it at least…"
Havoc leaned forward in his chair, his face serious. "Alice. I don't need you yelling at me. I'm getting enough of that from your ex-boyfriend. Now if you aren't going to listen to everything I say, at least listen to me for one more minute. To make it short, even though it would be so easy to be with those girls from the bar, he chose you. Even though he could've picked any girl in Central, he chose you."
"Do you think he may have picked me just because I'm so gullible and weak?" she asked bitterly.
"I don't know, Alice." Jean stood and stretched. "But the important thing is that he chose you." He moved to the door and opened it. "Roy Mustang is a lot of things, Alice. But he's not a total jackass."
Alice's eyes softened slightly; still hurt? Yes. Feeling slightly guilty? Also yes. "S-sorry, Jean…" She couldn't help it. No matter her resolve, she couldn't stay mad at Jean. As if sensing the shift in tension, Jean smirked, standing up and looking at the clock briefly. He had already gone fifteen minutes past the allotted time for lunch…
"Well, Sis? Can I have a hug before I go back to work?"Alice hesitated slightly before standing up and gripping the lieutenant tightly. Jean chuckled slightly before hugging the woman, then stepping back. With a wave, Jean Havoc walked out the door, happy to have begun the 'patching up' process.
Alice sank down on the piano bench, and played a happier piece than she had all day.
The lieutenant re-entered the office, where most of his colleagues were hard at work; i.e. Hawkeye was doing paperwork, and everyone else was pretending to appear productive.
"Havoc!" Roy yelled as Jean attempted to sneak in unnoticed. "Is there a reason you're late?" he asked impatiently. Apparently lunch break hadn't lightened the colonel's mood.
"There is a reason, Colonel," Havoc replied with a smirk.
"Well?" when Jean didn't respond, he yelled with authority, "We're waiting for an answer, Havoc."
"Sorry sir, I can't say." Jean figured that the colonel wouldn't want everyone to know about his girl issues. And plus, Jean enjoyed pissing off his superior officer.
"Havoc, if you don't tell me what the hell you were doing, I will burn off your flesh inch by inch until you are screaming in agony."
"Jeez, Colonel…Sadistic much? Anyway, I was off patching things up with your girlfriend." Roy's eyes flickered slightly with hope before returning to their normal stern gaze. "You're welcome, sir."
Roy didn't say anything. He just sat down at his desk and put his chin in his hands. So Havoc actually went out of his way to help someone? Roy wasn't sure of how he felt about seeing Havoc in this newly-discovered light. He decided that Havoc was still Havoc; and therefore he was still annoying as hell.
A never-before-seen look of confusion flashed through the three lowest subordinates; the Flame Alchemist, having trouble with women?
It seemed that Fuery, Falman, and Breda's eyes had wandered to the black-haired man, and with a stern bark, all three got back to work. The anger, however, had faded from his face; and Fuery, to his great joy, didn't have to pretend to care about chess anymore.
Roy Mustang went home after work, but didn't stop by the pianist's house, despite how much he sincerely wanted to. It was still too soon, he figured; and, to be frank, he could hardly blame Alice for being altogether upset with him. The load on his chest had lightened, though, and thanks to Havoc, he knew things were still fixable.
Alice Ackerman still cried that night. Things weren't okay yet; she had confidence that, with the right kind of effort, though, they could be.
Roy went to sleep thinking of her. If the bet had never existed he wouldn't be in this mess. But the real question was: Would he still have gone after her if not for the bet? Roy turned over in his bed and decided that it didn't matter anymore how they came together and fell apart. All he knew was, if something went wrong, he could always blame it on Havoc. Because, to be frank, it was always easiest to blame Havoc.