DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Al Elric, Hawkeye, Mustang & co. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

Italics - thoughts

Ch 5: Send Me On My Way

Damn bastard! Who does he think he is? Ed fumed silently.

"What's going on?" My guardian repeated.

"Where did you and Mustang go after you left Les Belles Heures?" I asked, completely side-stepping the question.

"We––or at least I––headed to the shooting range. I don't know where the colonel went."

I muttered, "Figures."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!"

Ed hugged me tightly. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you from that." He whispered. I hugged him back. "It's OK. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that was going to happen. It's not like I wanted him to kiss me anyways!"

"………Yeah." He kissed me gently.

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat after a minute. We broke apart a split-second later with guilty expressions on both our faces, simultaneously thinking I totally forgot she was there! "Don't worry, if this gets around HQ, it won't be because of me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A couple of days later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, does this mean we get to see you a lot more often now?" Havoc wanted to know, waggling his eyebrows up and down.

I giggled and blushed a bit. "Yeah, I guess so." I was in Central HQ, sitting on top of a desk, lazily swinging my legs back and forth. Ed sat in between me and Lieutenant Havoc.

"Cut it out guys, she's my girlfriend!" Apparently, the Fullmetal Alchemist was extremely possessive.

As Roy's subordinates teased Ed about his remark, Hawkeye entered the room. All in the room saluted and chorused, "Good morning Lieutenant!"

"Morning! Ed, the Colonel wants to talk to you for a minute."

"What, right now?" Hawkeye nodded in confirmation. Ed grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Colonel Bastard", and gave me a quick kiss. "I'll be right back. K?"

"M'kay."

After a while, I wandered out to the hallway to wait for Ed. I then heard a familiar clanking noise approach. "Hey Marina! Where's brother?"

"Hey! Uh, he's in one of these rooms. I think Mustang wanted to talk to him."

"Ah." A semi-awkward pause was brought into existence. "So you guys are together now, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm really happy for you guys! Brother hasn't been interested in girls, so I'm glad he's found you. You're his first girlfriend you know."

"Really? Well, to be perfectly honest with you, he's my first boyfriend." Another semi-awkward pause was created, perhaps the younger sibling of the first.

"Look, Al? I-I know that Ed and I are together, and I know you'd probably feel uncomfortable if we……you know…….showed a bunch of affection when you're around, but I don't want you feeling like you're a third wheel in our relationship. If anything, I feel like a third wheel between you and Ed! I just……..want to resolve this before it becomes an actual problem, savvy?"

The suit of armor nodded. "I understand Marina. Don't worry about it." He gave me a light hug. "Hey, you're kinda like my big sister now!"

My face lit up with delight as I realized this statement to be true, and I hugged him back. We chatted until Ed emerged from the door next to Al.

Colonel Bastard! What was that all about? Ed thought.

"Brother! What'd Mustang talk to you about?"

"Hey Al! Um, he gave us a clue to finding the Philosopher's Stone."

"Really? Where is it? Let's go get it!" They concocted plans, their excitement escalating every second.

"Philosopher's Stone? What's that?" I inquired. Alas, my questions went unanswered.

"Wait a minute……..Marina could come with us!"

"………….What?!" Ed pulled me close to him and gave me a kiss.

"Yes, yes she could."

I kissed my short boyfriend back. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to the countryside to find the Philosopher's Stone."

"Okay, but what is this Philosopher's Stone of which you speak?"

The Elric brothers stared at me for a moment, looked at each other, nodded decisively, and looked back at me. Oh boy.

"Welcome to Alchemy 101!" A whiteboard––complete with markers and an eraser–– materialized out of nowhere. Al drew various diagrams––many of them containing cats––on it, while Ed explained the basics of alchemy to me. "The first thing to learn is the Law of Equivalent Exchange, which states that in order to gain, something of equal value must be lost. The Philosopher's Stone allows an alchemist to bypass this law, meaning that if you had it you can do anything you wanted, including human transmutation."

"And you want this stone……why?"

"We lost our mom, so we attempted human transmutation to bring her back. Following the Law of Equivalent Exchange, Ed's arm and leg were taken, as well as my entire body. That's why Ed has auto-mail and I'm in a suit of armor."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry!"

"It's OK. I was going to tell you all this sooner or later."

"If you say so. If I'm going to assist you guys in your quest for the philosopher's stone, then I'm gonna have to ask Hawkeye for permission. You know how she is."

"Ask me what?" Hawkeye had snuck up on us while I was learning about alchemy

"Erm, if I can travel with Ed and Al. May I?"

The lieutenant sighed. "As long as you don't get yourself killed, yes."

"Yay! Thank you!" I glomped my guardian, who looked a little uncomfortable with the sudden display of affection.

Ed and I walked around the outside of HQ for a bit, Ed explaining the purpose of his quest in more detail. Unbeknownst to us, the entirety of Mustang's subordinates––the colonel included––were watching us out of the window. "Awwww, they make such a cute couple!"

"Fullmetal's really grown up."