I don't own Death Note or Fullmetal Alchemist, no matter how much I wish I did.
Chapter 5
"So, what'll you have, guys?" Hughes asked cheerfully, slapping a wad of currency onto the bar.
Roy and L had been convinced by Hughes to go down to a local bar to celebrate their graduation and promotion. Hughes had gladly volunteered the first round if it meant they'd stick around to celebrate.
Roy smirked. "Whisky, the strong stuff."
L perused the drinks menu slowly, studying each page carefully. He ignored his comrades as he peered at a particular item on the page. "Tea."
Roy spluttered slightly before laughing. "Tea? Too scared for whisky?"
The corner of L's mouth tilted upwards slightly. "No, I merely find that drinking tea improves my deductive skills by 3.5%. While alcohol reduces all mental activity by 65.7%, it's a complete waste of time and merely reduces any possible intelligence you may have, Roy."
Roy clutched his chest and winced. "Ouch, L, how cold hearted. What did I do to deserve such a cruel friend?"
The drinks arrived and they laughed and chatted as the sun went down and the street lamps lit up outside.
Roy swayed slightly in his seat, grinning. "Hey, look over at the bar."
L and Hughes turned their heads to look at the bar, where three women stood. "Woooo, I think I'm in love!" Hughes cried out louder than he meant and the women glanced at him before looking away and laughing.
Roy smirked. "A bet. First one to kiss one of them wins."
"Ha, I'm so winning this! That girl was made for me!" Hughes cheered before standing.
"Well, I-" L began before he was cut off.
"C'mon L, let's do this!" Hughes pulled him to his feet and dragged him to the bar before pushing him. L stumbled and nearly fell before regaining his balance, coming face to face with one of the women.
He glanced around and saw Roy had already captivated the young woman with his looks and silver tongue, Hughes was bellowing with laughter as he spoke with another.
L sighed slightly. "Well, hello miss. . .?"
"Maria. And you, mister?" Maria stared at his military uniform before meeting his eyes."
"L Lawliet, pleasure to meet you."
She giggled. "No, no, the pleasure is mine." Maria straightened and appeared to be deep in thought. "L? Is that a nickname or something?"
L curved his lips upwards slightly. "In a way."
Maria arched an eyebrow. "Ooh, how mysterious." She laughed again.
"As I understand, women tend to be 65% more likely to be attracted to "mysterious" men." L replied with a completely straight face.
Maria gave him an odd look. "Right, uh, so are you local to Central?"
"No."
Maria looked slightly put off. "Er, where are you from then?"
"I'm afraid that's classified." L smiled slightly.
The humour was a bit too late in the conversation, Maria seemed to be contemplating how she would be able to duck out of this awkward conversation.
"So, what rank are you then." She glanced at his uniform again.
"Sergeant. I just graduated from training but I was promoted for my exceptional skill."
"Oh! That's fantastic. Congratulations." Maria seemed to have regained her footing in the conversation. "You must be very ambitious."
L snorted slightly. "If you consider being able to split someone's head open from miles away fantastic, then I am indeed praiseworthy."
"Ah, I don't understand what you mean?" Maria asked, definitely frowning now.
L sighed. "I mean that your admiration for my ability to kill is somewhat misplaced."
Maria's face went red. "It was a compliment. What's your problem, asshole?"
It was L's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I don't know what problem you mean. I was simply making an observation."
"Yeah? Well you can stick your observations up your ass, you jerk!" Maria stormed from the bar angrily and the door slammed behind her.
Roy and Hughes looked over at the commotion. "Was it something I said?" L asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
Hughes' Apartment
Hughes let out a loud yawn as he stood up. He surveyed the bedroom. His eyes reached the warm body that attempted to cling to him, mumbling sleepily.
Hughes grinned to himself. Gracia was beautiful, short, light brown hair and forest green eyes.
She was the one. Hughes was convinced. He was in love.
In love and promoted, what a day. It could only get better from here, Hughes thought contentedly as he sleepily navigated to the door and pulled the door open.
In hindsight, it was a rather naïve assumption.
"Ah, good morning Hughes."
"Gah!" Hughes jumped straight up, slamming his head into the doorframe. "What the heck?" Hughes muttered as he stepped out the door.
He was greeted by the sight of L sitting at his table, coffee in hand, uniform laid neatly on another chair leaving him in the plain shirt, jeans and barefoot like when Hughes had first met him.
"Uhh, L, buddy what are you doing here?" Hughes scratched the back of his head in discomfort.
"Hm? Didn't you offer to let me stay at your apartment?" L asked with a tone that didn't communicate the confusion of his question in the slightest.
"Well yeah but, I meant you could stay for the night before training camp."
L furrowed his brow slightly. "I see." He looked up. "Could I convince you to let me stay?"
Hughes ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Well. I don't know. I-." Hughes sighed. "I guess you can stay."
"I appreciate this, Hughes" L went back to intently sipping his coffee and clutching it close to his chest like it was a lifesaver.
"But, no longer than a month, then you should have enough money by then to rent an apartment."
L considered this. "Very well."
A quiet yawn sounded behind Hughes. "Uh, Maes, who's this?" A dishevelled brunette stepped out from behind Hughes.
"Oh! Gracia, dear! This is L, he was at the bar last night, you remember."
Gracia laughed slightly. "Oh, yes I remember. What did you say to make Maria so angry?"
"Nothing. She was being incredibly irrational. I merely made an observation and she for some reason, was insulted. I've no idea why."
Hughes raised an eyebrow. "You sure? Cause to some, your "observations" might come across as a little rude."
L looked affronted. "Me? Rude? I hadn't thought of that." He peered into his coffee in a moment of self-realisation.
Then the moment was gone.
"She was being irrational, though, like I said, alcohol is detrimental to thought process. She must have been rather tipsy." L seemed to speak only to himself at this point, staring off into the middle distance, chewing on his thumb unconsciously.
"Uh, right." Hughes turned back to Gracia and ushered her into the bedroom again. "Why don't we get dressed? I know this great café down the road we can go to for breakfast.
Gracia, still perplexed by L's contemplative silence only nodded.
Time Skip
A knock at the door. "Come in." Lieutenant General Grumman ordered and Roy Mustang gently eased the door open.
"General." Roy saluted as was customary when greeting someone of higher rank.
Grumman waved him off. "Enough of that, Roy. Sit please." He gestured to the chair and chess set prepared on the table between them.
Roy frowned as he remembered that particular hobby of Grumman. Chess.
He had no idea how L and Hughes had the patience to meticulously plan each move, never giving away their trap until it was sprung. Roy simply didn't have the patience, he was a man of action, he didn't stop and plan his next move, he simply did it.
This obviously showed in chess, where he'd end up losing each piece one by one as he attempted to futilely counter each manoeuvre. Between losing to L and Grumman, Roy was positively sick of chess.
But it would be rude to decline so he reluctantly sat and moved his white pawn forward. Grumman responded in kind.
They played in silence until Grumman spoke up.
"Furher Bradley has asked that I deploy East City forces in Ishval." Grumman said solemnly meeting Roy's eyes through his spectacles.
Roy gasped lightly. "Ishval? The civil war? You want us to deploy?"
Grumman frowned. "I don't. You're rookies, state alchemist or not. It's hardly a war anyway." He straightened. "Ishval is vastly outmatched but continue to fight. Bradley believes that it is necessary to deploy combat-oriented state alchemists to force a surrender."
Roy blanched. "But, we need to be there! This could be the chance I need to get promoted!"
Grumman looked away. "I'm aware of your intentions, Roy. But I'm warning you, it will be dangerous."
"I understand sir. I'll gladly fight for Amestris."
"That's not what I'm talking about. However prepared you think you are, you won't be prepared for what you will find."
"Sir." Roy urged pleadingly.
"If you believe this is the right choice, I'll indulge you. Our deployment will be announced tomorrow. You shall have a week to prepare before we leave for Ishval."
"Yes sir."
Grumman smiled slightly. "Now, tell me how your fellows have been getting along, I understand there was some animosity between officer Lawliet and a member of the military police?"
Roy snorted. "Hardly animosity. It's more of a rivalry, L-"
"Checkmate." Grumman smiled wider as he moved a bishop. "You lost concentration. That will be fatal if you do that on the battlefield." Roy gaped slightly before hanging his head. "Go, Roy, remember what I said."
Roy nodded and rose, the door soon closing after him.
Ishval
For the 50th time that day, L lifted his sleeve to his forehead, brushing away the gathered sweat that had built up in the heat of the desert.
He sighed, morning the lack of sugar he had on him, only a few measly packets he had pinched from Roy's office.
The other soldiers in the convoy truck shared his frustrated irritation, the intense winds of Ishval blew waves of sand into their eyes, sweltering in their heavy uniforms. The canvas roof of the truck fluttered above them.
L felt his skin, paled from years of neglecting the sunlight, boil under the unrelenting sun. He sat in his usual pose, knees curled into his chest. No one could be bothered to give him a strange look.
Roy sat across from L, slouched low in his seat, gingerly rubbing his thumb and forefinger against the material of his new glove, the complex alchemical formula stood proudly on the back of his gloved hands, the formula that Roy used for his Flame alchemy.
L pried almost desperately to find out how it worked, but Roy had turned him down every time, citing that 'it wasn't his to give away'.
Eventually, L would find out. He didn't like when people hid things, as hypocritical as that was from a person who had thousands of aliases.
Hughes was seated on the convoy truck behind them. As endearing and friendly as Hughes was, L found his extreme exuberance began to grate on his nerves eventually. And in this climate, his patience was decidedly short.
Eventually, the truck halted. L found he couldn't tell their current location from where they had been 20 minutes ago, the identical sand slopes so similar he couldn't tell the difference between each one.
L stood with fellow soldiers as they one by one were lead out of the truck and to a nearby headquarters.
At a command the assembled soldiers from East City lined up and stood in formation.
L had to hold himself from fidgeting, his normally barefoot feet felt crushed in his new uniform's boots, but he didn't dare walk barefoot on the sand in this heat.
He could feel sweat once again across his brow, the heavy jacket of the uniform was blisteringly hot, his back ached from suddenly standing so straight.
Hughes and Roy stood either side of him, twitching heavily as they too restrained themselves from fidgeting. Alchemists were called forwards to be designated to quell the surviving resistance. Hughes whispered good luck to Roy as he stepped forwards, uncharacteristically nervous as he tugged at his gloves.
Hughes and L were lead to a growing division of soldiers. They were eventually separated.
"Sergeant Lawliet, front and centre!" A major called as L jogged over and saluted stiffly. "At ease, sergeant. Now, I've read your report and I've decided to place you as part of a unit to wipe out remaining resistance fighters. Follow me."
He led L inside the headquarters. "This is your commanding officer, Major Kimblee, The Crimson Lotus alchemist." He gestured to a man with his black hair in a ponytail, piercing blue eyes meeting L's own dark eyes.
Kimblee looked up and met L's gaze, extended a hand, and smiled.
But L wasn't fooled. Not this time. He'd seen that smile before. It was the smile of a false Shepard, one who led the naïve away from safety, who hid his monstrous inner being behind the guise of a kindly gentleman.
That was the smile he'd seen on Light Yagami's face, the mass serial killer, indeed the one who killed L himself. This smile, now that L had seen beyond it, was reflected now, appearing once on Bradley's face, and again on Kimblee's.
Meanwhile he had extended a hand subconsciously and incredibly slowly raised their connected hands an inch before lowering it and remaining stock still.
Kimblee met L's outwardly passive expression with that same smile.
"-and this is. . . Are you listening to me Sergeant?"
L slowly released Kimblee's hand and turned to the officer.
"No. Could you repeat that?" The officer sighed exasperatedly.
"Ugh. As I was saying, this is Major Armstrong, The Strong Arm alchemist. "And suddenly L had to tilt his head to meet the gaze of the gigantic man.
Major Armstrong held out a gigantic hand that filled L's mind with distressing images of if wrapping around his thin neck.
The man in question was almost entirely bald, besides a single, thick lock of hair hanging in rebellion against the man's otherwise complete baldness on the top of his head. His eyebrows were completely lacking hair but over his lips lay a thick, blonde handlebar moustache that covered his lips.
L hesitantly extended his hand. And in an instant the giant of a man had grabbed him in a bear hug. "It's an honour to meet you, sergeant Lawliet! I am honoured to fight alongside you for the good of our country!" Armstrong announced loudly as he nearly crushed L against his ridiculously large muscles. He spoke with a deep baritone that befit the gigantic muscles that bulged against his uniform as it threatened to rip.
"Uh, Major Armstrong, you're choking him."
"Hm?" Armstrong glanced down and seemed to realise L's predicament. "Oh! My deepest apologies! I had forgotten the strength that lies within this powerful body! Honed through years of Armstrong family training techniques! My friend, you are rather skinny, but fear not for I have the perfect-"
"Yes yes." L cut him off finally regaining his breath. "It's a pleasure to meet you too."
"Anyway, this is Sergeant Hawkeye. She's a sniper like you, so expect to be working together often. That means you two have to get along."
"Riza Hawkeye." She too extended a hand and L took it, studying her short blonde hair, brown eyes, a scoped rifle was slung over her back just as a similar rifle hung over L's. Her voice was crisp and formal, her posture stiff yet poised, all signs pointing to someone dedicated to following the rules.
L shook her hand, wary now after Armstrong's sneak attack but nothing came. "L Lawliet." He introduced himself in response and she nodded slightly.
"Well, now the introductions are over, I think it's time we begin planning our plan of attack." Kimblee's deceptively polite voice made L jump slightly and his hand inch towards his holster pistol.
L cursed internally. One new Light Yagami was bad enough, now he had two to deal with.
And L did not like the glint in Kimblee's eyes when the topic of artillery came up.
Authors note: I finally finished the chapter. Sorry about the longer than usual delay, hopefully the next one will be out sooner.