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Games Without Frontiers

Chapter 43: Depends on What You Qualify as Friends

Rating T

Soundtrack: I Have Friends in Holy Places – Panic! At the Disco

The sunlight shone through the stained glass onto the dusty wooden floor, highlighting the differences in shading between the spots where the benches used to be and the well-worn portions of what used to be a small, comforting house of worship.

The altar was still in place, the crucifix still hanging freely above it. A woman, beautiful beyond compare, stared up at the wooden carving and gave the decomposing figure hanging from the cross bars a sardonic smile.

"Such a sacrifice," she said, her voice thick and sweet like clotted cream. "For what? Where was the equivalence in what you did?" She extended one nail carefully, touched the thorny heart carving in the center of the bony chest. A symbol of a faith that died long, long before any of them were ever born. Just as worthless as the cause for which their sacrifices fought.

"He apparently died for our sins," came another voice, smooth and unnaturally neutral and mocking in the extreme.

"For us? I'm touched." She turned to the window on the west wall of the church. Leaning in the windowsill was one of her companions. "So where is our precious little brother?"

"Primping, I'm sure," said the other, bending one long leg to rest it on the sill. Spiky hair falling over one eye, the young stripling passed the time flipping a shiny golden coin. "Call it. Heads or tails?" The mark on their thigh peeked from under the hem of the tiny skirt they wore.

"What am I calling for?" the woman asked.

The young one shrugged. "Should I be the sext little secretary this time? Or the hot assed driver? I like being the driver. They don't even notice the difference between me and the real little mongrel."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Tails. That's how you like it either way." She rubbed at her upper arms, hating the feel of that sad, pitying look on the carving's face. "Tch. Where is he?" she asked impatiently.

"Making sure his both epaulets are on straight."

"At least I care about my appearance," another voice boomed across the room, ricocheting off the walls.

The one in the window flung their thick hair over one shoulder. "Well, that awful husk you must live in has to be hard to maintain." They waved a delicately boned hand in the other man's direction. "Aren't those things in your eyes terribly uncomfortable?"

The man shrugged a broad shoulder. "Light as air. Amazing what they come up with in that laboratory." He even took two fingers and gently tugged the colored lens from his eye, revealing the dark violet color beneath.

The other one snorted. "So much trouble to maintain such a façade. I still want to know why you didn't just let me continue snooping around. I think the Flameboy was actually starting to like the little secretary woman.

The woman closed in on them. "Because you like it too much and you are far better suited for other things. And our Flameboy, as you so delicately call him, is too engrossed in his little bird to pay Miss Celia any mind."

"Hm. Mousy little thing. Don't know what he sees in her."

"Loyalty. Dedication. Love." The woman turned to the broad-shouldered man and ran a hand down the front of his crisp blue uniform jacket. "Desire..."

The man turned to her. "So tell me, Lust. What did you three think you were doing? You were supposed to corral the Fullmetal Bastard. To move him in our direction. You weren't supposed to damage him in any way."

The one in the window answered. "He and his friends got on my nerves." The other two ignored them.

"Not only did you try to kill the Elric boy, but you almost did away with the Seeker." The man shook his head, grimacing. "You know that he would be very angry if the Seeker was harmed."

"Please," Lust said. "He's a lost cause."

"Too obsessed with his precious little family," the one in the window said. They finally leapt down from their perch and joined the others. "You should have seen him. Almost wet himself when I changed into his little daughter to do him in."

"He's an ace in the hole. You are not to harm any of them," the broad-shouldered man snapped. "Not the Seeker, nor the Elric boy, nor anyone attached to them." He looked at the others for acquiescence. He was the representative of their leader, and as such, expected no less than obeisance. "Envy? You understand what I'm saying, right? It is because of your actions that we've had to back off these past two months."

Envy twitched his skirt back into place and shrugged. "I got you. I still don't see why all the subterfuge. Why can't we just take the Seeker and make him find what we want?"

"Because he doesn't work that way, and you know it," Lust said. "He needs to have some of the substance of what he seeks. Some of the real substance. Do you want to let him borrow yours?"

"He asks too many questions," the broad-shouldered man grumbled, pulling at his uniform collar. He hated the damned thing, but it was necessary. "The Fullmetal Bastard has made mention of the three of you, and now that he's seen you, he's poking in places he shouldn't be poking."

"Ooh, that sounds terribly naughty," Envy said. "And he's a married man, too."

Lust rolled her eyes. "So, Pride, has our plan changed?"

Pride shook his head. "No. Wrath has said that everything remains the same. If Edward Elric doesn't find what we want on his own, we lead him. If that doesn't work, we allow the Seeker to find what he wants to find." His lip curled. "Use that little ungifted brat of his to make him give us what we want."

"What about Flameboy and his soon-to-be spawn? Is it what it was hoped to be?" Envy asked.

"It is believed so, but the bitch who carries it is uncommonly tight-lipped." Pride clenched a fist, thinking about his last encounter with that woman. "Stupid little self-important vessel."

"We'll find out soon enough," Lust said soothingly, running a hand down Pride's arm, calming him in exactly the way he wanted. "She's due when?"

"Any day." Pride said. "And when it comes, we won't have to wait very long."

"If it is what we hoped it will be."

Finally, the last person in the room spoke. A whine punctuated his first words, and a strange, sucking sound punctuated his last.

"If it's not, can I eat it? Please?"

Envy chuckled and threw the coin up one more time. "Well? Heads or tails?"

]o[

There was a foot lodged somewhere around her lung area. A tiny, but very obtrusive little foot. Jammed right under the last rib on her right side, heading right toward her lung. Riza took her hand and gave it a little push, hoping to dislodge it so that she could breathe freely.

No luck. Apparently, this child was as stubborn as the father was. She sighed and moved the completed files to the chair beside her desk. Taking a sip from the coffee cup, she opened the last file and pretended that she was thoroughly interested in the printed words on the sheets. What she was more interested in was her feet, which were begging to be released from those sensible shoes. And that interfering little foot.

"Well, would you look at this," she heard the Colonel murmur. She looked up to see him opening a red courier envelope. He read the documents inside with an uncommon interest, then gave a curious half-laugh and looked over at her. "Tell me, Captain. How would you like to spend your last days before your leave assisting me in tracking down a new alchemist with... uncommon potential?"

"Sir?"

"In a little town east of here. Called..." he peered at the paper again. "Geisa." He shook his head. "Never heard of that town. In any case, those on high want us to investigate reports of an alchemist practicing in this town who has an uncommon potential. If reports are true, I'm to offer this person a chance to take the exam."

Memories. "When are we supposed to leave?" Riza asked, beginning to warm to the idea of leaving the stuffy office for a few days.

"Tomorrow, of course." He folded the sheet and tucked it back into the envelope. "Fuery, check on schedules for me. I think I want to leave early this time." The Colonel leaned back and stretched expansively. "I need a few days out of this bedlam we call an office. If I sign one more folder, my hand will fall off."

"We can't have that, now, can we, sir?" Riza said, flipping pages in her folder. She stamped a few, and then flipped it closed and handed it over. "Here's one more. And, no I can't affix your seal."

It was an interesting feeling not to have to get up too often anymore. In the length of time it took for her to shift from her chair, everyone in the room could make it to her desk and back. He tugged the folder from her and looked it over. "These budget allocations are killing me. Can't Edward learn how to conserve expenses? He spends his monthly budget and my monthly budget in one week!"

"The boy has needs," Riza said with a half-smile.

"The boy eats too damned much."

"He's still growing."

"He'll always be growing," Roy grunted, "and he needs to lay off the jewelry purchases. He bought two silver chains this time! I do believe Winry has enough silver to start her own mine. Maybe we should just have Winry invoice us separately."

Riza chuckled. "He does take care of Alphonse as well."

"Well... then I suppose we need to allocate a bit more for him to use. Just so it doesn't look like we're throwing wild parties every week. Someone is bound to start bitching about the amount of money that flows from Eastern." He looked up at the clock. "At last!" He signed the file with a flourish and tossed it back onto her desk. "Free at last!" He grabbed up his overcoat and looked over his shoulder on the way out. "Captain, will you get the car?"

Riza smirked. "I thought I'd given up that duty with my promotion, sir."

"Are you kidding? The rest of these loons would drive me into a wall before they got me home." He held up his hand when the others would protest his claim. "Until you are finally transferred, Captain, you will have that privileged duty of making sure I reach my destinations in one piece."

"I feel so honored," Riza muttered under her breath.

"What was that, Captain?"

"I said it is my honor, sir."

"Thought so."

She watched with amusement as he climbed into the back of the sedan. She got in, adjusted her seat to accommodate her onboard guest and started the car. "How long will we be in this town, sir?"

"Don't know." He grinned and stretched. "I'll flip a coin when we get there. But, I would bring provisions for about two weeks." As she looked the rear view mirror, he explained. "I think it'll take about that long to fish him out."

"You lie. You're giving yourself an extra vacation. As soon as you arrive, the whole town will be dying to tell you where their treasure is."

"Not if I'm not in uniform, they won't."

Riza frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't I mention? Bring plain clothes, Captain Hawkeye. I don't feel like dealing with the insanity that always follows when we arrive in full uniform. Besides, if we're not in uniform, the townsfolk won't be tempted to overcharge us. And I'm sure you're mighty tired of the sensible shoes, no?"

She rolled her eyes. "Stop reading my mind, sir. And I still think you're trying to sneak yourself in a vacation."

"Bite your tongue."

Right then, Riza had a feeling that Roy was in the midst of a plot of some kind. She had the first inkling when she spotted the smirk and the way he looked out of the window, whistling innocently. And when he turned back to her and said, "What," she knew without doubt he was planning something that had very little to do with finding the budding new alchemist in the city of Geisa.

Normally, as soon as the train started moving, Riza would have begun to doze off. This time, however, she had no such inclination. No, her mind was working, trying to figure out what Roy was thinking behind that placid look. She hated that look. It told her better than anything did that the Colonel was up to something, but it was wholly unreadable. It was worse that he actually looked like he was working as they moved along. He had a folder on his lap, which he was perusing very carefully, jotting notes here and there. Then, as she watched, half-amazed, he put the tip of the pen to his mouth and looked thoughtfully out of the window.

"I know this may be a preposterous question," she asked, "but is that... work? Did you actually bring work with you?"

"Hmm?" She'd jolted him out of his thought and he started. "Oh, this? Just some... research. Yes, research."

If she believed that, then she believed that cows jumped over the moon. "Ah." She gave up trying to pry information out of him and stared out of the window on her side of the private car. The countryside was a monotonous blur of trees and sky and it wasn't long before her eyes finally grew heavy.

She woke all at once, stretched out on her seat on her side of the car. She groaned, her body stiff and looked over at where Roy had been sitting. He wasn't there. Then she registered that her head hadn't been laying on the padded leather seat. She looked up and saw Roy smiling down at her. "We're here," he said.

Riza sat up and looked out of the window. Indeed, they were closing in on a small-town train station. "What? I just closed my eyes for a second!"

"Actually, you slept for a while," Roy told her as he stood up and reached into the overhead compartment. He pulled down the small bags they had packed to carry on for the journey just as the train slowed. The conductor called out the name of the station and they prepared to disembark. Riza smoothed down her shirt and re-twined her hair back into its clip.

The station vaguely reminded Riza of Risembool, and she wondered how Edward and Alphonse were doing. They'd decided to pursue the lead of the hidden laboratory in Central, against the wishes of everyone who knew them. Though she hadn't heard it personally, she'd learned that the argument between Edward and Jean was particularly heated and after, the two of them exhausted and drained. Nevertheless, Edward had left anyway, and Jean had returned to Eastern and no one was brave enough to ask Jean what had happened. Riza was grateful that Jean had taken his smoking outside, particularly because he'd tripled his consumption. All Riza could do was offer up a prayer that the two Elric brothers stayed safe and came home in one piece – or in enough pieces for Jean to put them back together.

She was so lost in her thought that it wasn't until they were in the hired taxicab and headed away from the station that she noticed that the buildings of the city proper were receding in the back window rather than getting closer in the front window. She looked out of the window and saw more countryside than she expected to see. She looked over at Roy. "Isn't Geisa that way?"

Roy looked up from that blasted folder again. "Yes, it is. However, arrangements for our lodgings are this way."

"Arrangements?" Riza asked. She hadn't remembered hearing him mentioning arrangements for lodging.

He patted his jacket. "In our orders."

"Can I see those?" Riza asked.

He blinked at her. "Don't you trust me?" he asked, all innocence, and then smiled. "Oh, look we're here."

Sure enough, the car was slowing in front of a tiny house. As soon as the car halted, Roy gave the driver a fare, and jumped out of the car, looking for the entire world like a ten-year-old boy on holiday. Riza leaned against the seat for a moment, counting to ten. She reached four before he turned with wide eyes and helped her from the car, all apologies.

Riza looked at the house in front of her, intrigued. She placed one foot on the front step and heard the creak beneath her feet. She looked closer. The scent of new wood surrounded her as she followed Roy through the front door.

It was furnished, simply so, but it was... incomplete. There was nothing within to indicate that anyone had ever actually occupied the house. Even the houses used for temporary lodgings still had the worn, lived-in look. She ran her hand over the table situated next to the kitchen. This house looked brand-new.

Roy wandered off through the door, whistling and more cheerful than she had seen him in quite some time. She followed him into the kitchen. Here was where Riza received her confirmation that the house was new; none of the appliances looked used, the stove was sparkling and shining as if it had been unwrapped and installed the day before. There was even a fresh pile of wood beside it, stacked neatly. It was a large kitchen, large enough for table to fit in the center. It was here Roy was seated; with the red courier envelope spread out in front him. He was flipping through the papers, and–Riza blinked–humming!

"Roy?"

"Hmm?" he answered without looking up.

"Where exactly are we?"

He looked at her then. "Geisa. I told you–,"

"No. What's with this house?" Riza walked the perimeter of the kitchen running a hand over the appliances as she passed them. "This is a new house. Looks like it was built yesterday. New stove, new sink–," she stomped experimentally on the floor. "New floorboards." She stopped in front of him with her arms crossed. "What's going on, Roy? And don't give me that insipid smile. It doesn't suit you and it isn't working."

By the time she'd finished with her questioning, he was pulling at the collar of his shirt and looking decidedly uncomfortable. He fished out his pocket watch and looked at it. Now Riza knew there was something afoot. Roy never contemplated his pocket watch, much less to look at the time. She moved her hands to her hips and waited for an explanation.

"Is anyone home?"

Riza turned toward the familiar voice. Eyes narrowed, she looked back at Roy, who had an extremely relieved look on his face. He rose from the table, scooped up the papers (with a cautious look in her direction) and sidled past her into the other room.

"You made it!" Roy sounded as if Maes was his savior in shining armor. Riza sighed, knowing an explanation would have to wait, and followed him.

Sure enough, the two of them had their heads bent together; sharing something they obviously didn't want her to know about. Her patience, not a hearty thing these days, was seriously wearing thin. She moved into what was obviously a great room and sat on the new couch, waiting.

"Riza."

She turned toward the two of them with a look that probably would have peeled fresh plaster from the walls. They both winced and looked at each other.

"Riza, don't be angry. Maes is here because we wanted to do some looking into the situation at hand in relative privacy, without prying eyes."

"Is there really an alchemist here?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, there really is," Roy told her, handing the papers to Maes as he crossed behind to seat himself on the couch next to Riza. "We're just using this mission to kill two birds with one stone, as it were."

She gave him a suspicious look. After a moment, and noticing he wasn't wavering, she nodded. "All right. Why couldn't you just tell me that?"

"Didn't want to worry you. Now, don't give me that look! I know you're not an invalid. But, you are close to your time, and even I know that you shouldn't stress a woman this close."

Riza sighed explosively. "Fine." She allowed that he was right and was, as usual, thinking beyond the next step in front of him. She looked over at Maes, who gave her a weak half-smile. "I still think the two of you are up to no good, but I'm too tired to get into this now." She stood. "Tell me where the nearest bedroom is."

]o[

She woke to abnormally dark room. She heard rain slash against the window and looked over at the window. Even from where she was, she could tell it was raining buckets. Lovely. Roy in a strange mood was one thing. Roy in a strange mood and grouchy because of the rain was quite another. She contemplated staying in the room for the rest of the evening. Afternoon? Then her stomach grumbled. She wondered if the geniuses up front managed to have the kitchen stocked with edible food.

They were still muttering to each other over papers strewn across the floor. They looked just like two schoolchildren going over lessons for the night. She shook her head and moved to the kitchen. After an exploratory reconnaissance, she found the bag of coffee and a loaf of fresh bread and cheese. When the water was ready and her cup full, she took it with the plate back to the front room to eavesdrop on their investigations.

Maes was showing Roy a pile of papers. "There were files in that cabinet that went back to when the Fuhrer took power. About six years after that, the first file involving a State Alchemist appears." He pointed to something that Roy looked at closer. "Notice the attending doctor."

Roy read for a moment then looked at Maes, with an amazed look on his face. "Winters? Are you sure about this?"

Riza almost choked on her coffee.

"Are you sure Sheska didn't copy this wrong?" Roy was asking.

Maes shook his head. "Sheska never makes a mistake. She's frightening that way. Although I'm sure she wanted to kill me when I laid this stack on her desk and asked her to copy it without Archer finding out."

"But that was almost thirty years ago!" Roy exclaimed. He looked over at Riza. "Winters doesn't look that old, does she?"

"Winters looks a barely older than I do," Riza told them, savoring the tang of the cheese on her tongue.

"So, how can she be the doctor present at all of these births?"

"That's what has me wondering..."

Thunder boomed, almost shaking the small house, and startling them all. Riza cursed as she spilled coffee in her lap. Cursing softly, she stood and moved back to the bedroom, fully intending to change her clothes into something more comfortable and less stained.

A minute or two after she stepped over the threshold, she realized that all plans were tentative when you were a pregnant woman close to her time.

Lightning illuminated the room, followed by another monstrous crack of thunder. She made it to the window and tried to look out. All she could see were sheets and sheets of water pouring down the pane. Frowning, she sat on the bed and considered her options.