Smile Like You Mean It

by Dailenna

Royai 100 Themes. Anything and everything from childhood, to alchemy, to Ishbal, to the coup, to parenthood. Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, and the faithful comrades with them will stick together through it all.

24. Not There

Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Arakawa Hiromu

Notes: Spoilers here for chapter 26 onwards.

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Twenty-four: Not There

When Roy Mustang found out that the problems with his country's administration were so much more than a corrupt or violent official, his life flashed before his eyes. Going up against a human was one thing, but against a creature created with alchemy? He wouldn't know what to do! Unless he could un-alchemise it, somehow, and how was he supposed to do that?

The thing that terrified him most about an inhuman opponent was that he couldn't predict the sorts of moves it would make – what limitations did it pass by that humans could not, or what limitations did it have that humans did not? Mustang's skin crawled with unease, and he entered the office apprehensively each day, knowing that at some point he might walk in to find that his carefully selected subordinates may just not be there.