HAVOC
"Do you think they'll get along?" Havoc asked Fuery as they got into one of the military cars.
Even though Roy had given them permission to go home, they were both going to head back to the hospital to see if Falman and Breda needed help with anything. Those two were much better in investigations than Fuery and him.
"Why do you ask that? I think they'll be okay. I mean, they've already gone through all that once before right? It should be the same thing," Fuery said innocently. Tsk, tsk, tsk, Havoc laughed inwardly.
"That was way back in the past, when none of them knew each other that well. They were both on the same page. Imagine now! The chief is madly in love with her and she's completely oblivious to his feelings, not to forget she barely remembers him." Fuery looked at him with wide eyes. "What?" Havoc asked.
"Do- do- do you really think he loves her?" he stuttered. Thank god I'm the one driving. We'd probably have crashed into a pole by now.
"Fuery, my man, think about it. Why do you think the Fuhrer goes through such lengths for her. He shamelessly utilized his influence and authority to move a bunch of people all over Amestris just to find her and track down these people. He's personally leading the case and cross-examining each and everyone of them. You know how busy he is, but he still finds the time to spend some time with her, even if it's just a midnight walk in silence."
Fuery thought for a while, trying to see it from his point of view. So naive.
"But I think that's perfectly normal for him to react that way. I mean, they've basically been partners for the past ten years. She's his closest aide, so I'd understand he would do anything to help her. I think he'd do the same for us too," Fuery said thoughtfully.
Havoc growled impatiently. "No Fuery! Don't you see it? Why do you think he keeps on refusing marriage offers, even dinner dates with Amestris' most beautiful and influential women? He doesn't even look at them the way other men do and that's because he's already in love with Hawkeye!"
"I- I don't know," Fuery said uncertainly. "If he's in love with her, then why didn't he do anything all this time? Why would he choose to love her now?"
"His love for her didn't just start now. That guy has always been looking at her. He just wasn't allowed to act upon it because of the fraternization law and because he knew Hawkeye wouldn't have accepted it if she knew they would be breaking the law and risking his position. But now that he's finally the Fuhrer, it's a whole different story," Havoc explained.
"Wow," Fuery said airily, "I've never noticed it."
Havoc scowled at him. "That's because you were always too busy with your gadgets!"
"It's not like it was a bad thing! I was preparing them for the team and for our missions!" Fuery retorted.
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't tell anybody about this though. You wouldn't want to spread some rumour and have the chief scorch you to death. I don't think he'd be necessarily angry about the rumour itself, but mostly for the fact that she'd hear about it before he'd even have the chance to confess to her." Havoc chuckled. That would be funny indeed.
Fuery shivered. "I wouldn't want to be punctured with bullet holes either..."
Havoc snickered. "I wonder how long it's going to take him to confess to her." When it comes down to it, he's the biggest coward ever.
He'd always known about Roy's feelings for Hawkeye and this event had only made it clearer. During the day, Roy would go to the office to catch up on all the paperwork and meetings he had missed. He would eat his meals while working on some paper and barely had time to wash his face. Havoc had to drive him home a couple of days ago to take a shower before he went to the hospital just because he was starting to stink too much. In the end, he had only conceded because Havoc had said that his smell and greasy hair might give a bad impression on Riza.
Havoc saw the change in his features and in his eyes the moment Roy would lay his eyes on her. With any other person, the Fuhrer was an imposing figure, with a serious and sometimes intimidating look. However, when it came to her, he was all smiles and gentleness. He always sat in front of her door and waited until she came out in the middle of the night to take a stroll. Out of curiosity, Havoc had one day watched their interaction together in secret. He would always walk a bit behind her on the other side of the wall. He had seen him staring worriedly at her, examining how she walked and if she was still affected by her injuries. No words were ever passed between them on their nightly strolls, but he would always end it with a simple goodnight.
In reality, Havoc was sure that all of them already knew about the fact that Roy definitely had a favorite, Riza Hawkeye. None of them had a problem with it though, because she held a special spot in each of them as well. Being the only female in the group, she had always had a kind of special treatment no matter how small and seemingly insignificant they made it seem. Roy would always find something or someway of making her the special one, which usually always ended up with him keeping her close or having the most vital role in their mission.
The harmony within the team could easily be explained by the lack of jealousy between each member. Roy had always known how to nurture each of their specialty and to allow them to shine in their most skilled areas. Because of that, each of them had their own unique values and knew about the importance of their cooperation and how they complemented each other. All together, their teamwork was infallible.
Roy might've been the mastermind behind every move they made, but Riza was definitely the foundation holding up the team. They had witnessed it first-hand in the first few days after she had disappeared. Order and discipline were rapidly falling apart, making them run around in confusion. She's really the core of the team.
It was strange for him to see her this way. The first time he had seen her at the hospital, he had wanted to give her a big hug, but thankfully he had restrained himself. I would've probably gotten beaten up by her and then she would've hated me. Havoc gave himself a mental pat in the back for that smart decision. He was used to her being in control, so now that she didn't instill any of it on them, he didn't always know how to respond or what to do around her.
She was way more reserved and quiet than he had ever remembered her to be. It pained him to look at her sometimes, because she always seemed to be sad and suffering on the inside. He didn't know what was bothering her and he didn't dare to ask either, but he knew it was taking a toll on her health. She always looked exhausted and she had definitely lost some weight.
But she smiled to me today, Havoc thought happily. He was glad there had finally been something he could do for her. The moment she had went back inside her room, he had rushed to the front desk to make a phone call to the other hospital and ask to investigate on that matter.
"What are you so happy about?" Fuery asked, which made him jump and come out of his thoughts. He hadn't realized it, but he had a wide grin on his face.
"I was just thinking about Hawkeye's smile today," he said dreamily.
"She smiled at you?" Fuery asked, clearly surprised.
"Yeah, she was asking about the old man I told you about who had collapsed a few days ago, remember? Apparently she knows him, so I told her I would look into it for her. I guess she was so happy she smiled," he said proudly.
"Was it really a smile?" Fuery looked at him dubiously.
"Yes Fuery. I saw the corner of her lips go upwards. I know what a smile is!" Havoc replied annoyed.
"Fine fine, I believe you. That must've been nice."
"What was even better was when I told the chief about it." At that, Havoc started laughing. "You should have seen his face! He was green with envy, even though he was trying to keep his face controlled. It was too funny!"
"Don't laugh! That's not nice. You know how hard he tries to get on her good side and to make her talk to him. I wonder if he's going to be alright with her tonight."
"Hmm, we'll have to wait and see tomorrow."
Havoc parked the car and they went inside the military hospital, heading toward the room Victor was being held in. When they arrived in front of the room, Breda and Falman were out in the hallway.
"Hey, how's Hawkeye and the Fuhrer?" Breda asked when he saw them.
"Everything went well. We brought her to the Fuhrer's house and he's there with her right now," Havoc said.
"Was she okay with that? I mean, she's going to be staying with a man alone," Falman asked with concern.
"I guess she was okay with it. She agreed to stay there for the night. The Fuhrer has so many guest rooms and all of her things are there too," Fuery said.
"Don't forget that she's also in the safest place right now. He's going to protect her no matter what. I doubt she'll feel threatened by him. Even if he did grow some balls and decided to make a move, she'd turn him down within a second," Havoc joked lightly.
"Havoc!" Fuery complained.
"Sheesh, calm down Fuery. I was only kidding. The Fuhrer won't try anything. He's not that courageous." Havoc laughed out loud. The others couldn't help but smile at his statement. It was true that the Fuhrer's biggest weakness was her.
"Anyway, back to business. What have we got?" Havoc turned serious.
"He's still really groggy from the anesthesia and the pain-killers. We did confirm his name and relation to Thomas Brandt though. Hawkeye was right, it's his twin brother," Breda explained.
"Do we know if there are any more of them in the group?" Fuery asked.
"No, we didn't get the chance to get to that part yet. He could barely keep his eyes open anymore," Falman said.
"God damn!" Havoc cursed. We should just throw a bucket of cold water on him to keep him awake. "So was this whole thing just to get his revenge? Is that it?"
"From the pieces of information we've gathered, it seems that way. But we still have to question him to get all the answers and to confirm that. We still don't know if Thomas is really dead," Breda said.
"Right. So now we have to wait for him to wake up again?" Havoc asked irritatingly.
"Yeah, seems like it."
If this is his revenge toward the Fuhrer, then he got us good. They couldn't have picked a better target than Riza. Aiming for her to get to Roy was the most effective method to get his attention and to really hurt him. Even though they hadn't been able to kill her, the results were still devastating. In a way, they had taken a part of her away from him and now it wasn't sure whether she could recover some of her memories or not.
"We're gonna keep watch until he wakes up again," Breda said.
"No, no, Fuery and I will take over from here. We got a lot of sleep last night so you two should go get some rest," Havoc replied. "Don't forget to get some food too."
Breda chuckled and said, "you don't have to worry about food."
"Alright. Thanks you guys. Call us immediately when he wakes up," Falman said. Both Breda and Falman left to go back home.
"Do you want me to go get us some food from the cafeteria?" Fuery asked.
"Yeah, that'd be nice." It was around supper time and he was starting to get hungry. For the past few days, his eating schedule had been a little hectic. He was glad he could start to eat at proper times again.
"What would you like?"
"Something simple, like a sandwich maybe. I'll let you decide."
After Fuery had left to go buy the food, Havoc was left alone in front of Victor's room. He went inside quietly and closed the door. He wanted to get a better look at him.
Victor was as pale as a corpse, with little beads of sweat on his forehead. He had bags under his eyes, chapped lips and greasy hair. Asshole. Havoc couldn't believe they had all been tricked for so long. Victor had planned all of this way in advance. He had only been waiting for the perfect time to strike. We even took him out for drinks. Havoc cursed in his head. They had all been fooled. All this time, while they were desperately running around trying to find her, he was in the back laughing at them.
Victor's breathing was a bit laboured. Hawkeye got you good. Too bad you didn't die, because it won't be easy for you from now on. He didn't know what would happen to him exactly, but he knew Roy was going to punish him accordingly.
If it was up to him, Havoc would have already beaten him to death. Unfortunately, he had to restrain himself from doing so since they still needed to gather more information.
"You better wake up soon before I have to force you," he said threateningly.
Sighing angrily, he went back out into the hallway and sat down on a bench. Fuery came back with sandwiches not long after.
"So? How long do you think it'll take until he wakes up again?" Fuery asked while gazing at Victor through the window.
Havoc shrugged. "I don't know, but if he takes too long, I'll wake him up myself. We don't have that much time to waste, sitting here all day watching him."
"We should wait until morning," Fuery suggested.
"Yeah, but no more than that."
They both sat in silence for a while until Havoc remembered something.
"Fuery, I need to make a phone call. I'll be right back!" he said quickly and jogged down the hallway, leaving Fuery confused.
He walked all the way to the front desk and borrowed the phone. He was calling the Amestris General Hospital to get an update on his request about the old man from the morning.
"Amestris General Hospital, how can I help you?" someone said.
"This is Captain Jean Havoc. I called this morning to get some information about an old man that had been brought in a few days ago," Havoc explained.
"Yes, I've been told about you. We've identified the man. His name was John Turner. He has no living relative according to his family register."
"How long was he living in the streets for?" Havoc asked.
"I'm afraid we don't have that information sir. All we know is that he was diagnosed with an aggressive late stage cancer a few months ago and it seemed to have been the cause of his death."
"I see," he said sadly. "What's happened to him?"
"We had kept him in the morgue for a few days in hopes that someone would come for him, but no one did. Since we couldn't wait any long, he was cremated today."
"Do you still have the ashes?" Havoc asked frantically.
"Yes, since it hasn't been that long, but I don't know how long it'll be there before they dispose of it."
"Please keep it! Someone will come for it," Havoc said.
"Alright, I'll call them right away and let them know."
"Please do. Thank you so much." Havoc was relieved he hadn't been too late. I hope that's what Hawkeye wanted. He didn't know what her relationship to the old man was, but he seemed to be someone important to her. I just hope I did the right thing.
A.N.: Short chapter! Sorry guys. I'll be back with the next one soon!