It was dark. And quiet.
The small space that had become so familiar, that had always been moving for as long as he could remember, was still. The usual rustles and the accompanying voice were absent, and the warmth that was ever present in his world was gone. Coldness was creeping in, and the stillness was becoming increasingly unsettling.
Jäger opened his golden eyes slowly. The skin around his smooth lids, one of the only places on his reptilian body with small, flexible scales, crackled dryly and the feline almost seemed to wince in discomfort. His feline-reptilian body had become increasingly restricting to the chimera for several days now. He could feel his skin tightening, holding him down, and making his already winter-cold-lethargic body most unwilling to move.
But something was wrong. Cold was encroaching. His chosen nest-mate's voice and warmth was gone. And it was like the before-time. The fear, and then the pain, and then the flash of agony and light. More angry scared noises. Escape from hunters. Cold.
The small feline forced his legs beneath him, his joints protesting to the tight skin that held him back and the cold that froze his blood. Flashes of memories of warm sun beams and bugs buzzing and play-happy-vitality flashed within the chimera's mind with something like longing, but the images were brushed aside as instinct to find his nest-mate-warm-safe-big-cat before hunters could find him.
Jäger shifted in the darkness of his nest and poked his head out, sniffing the air carefully. The cold, always cold air stung at his nose, but it was the only thing he knew in his short life, so he ignored it. Lethargy pulled at his bones as he shuffled out of the warm darkness and looked around. He sniffed again and flicked his tongue out, tasting the air. His eyes gleamed silver, reflecting the light from outside of the dark window as his gaze passed that direction fleetingly.
"Mew…" He cooed, waiting for his nest-mate's usual noises to reassure him, as he had every time in the long cold-air-hide-sleepy winter, but there was only silence. Jäger perked his ears, listening for any signs of life, the scaled triangles swiveling in several directions. His tongue flicked out a few more times, tasting for lingering warmth, but while his nest-mate's scent was everywhere, his warmth was gone.
An inkling of fear tingled up the feline's spine, and he began to furtively skirt the edges of the dark room on stiff limbs, looking for a way out while sniffing and smelling the whole while. Fresh air caught his attention, and he looked up at the open window, the curtains fluttering slightly in the wind. The cold air brushed along Jäger's small body and the chimera shrank back from the source of his discomfort, but even as he cringed back, his tongue caught the scent of his nest-mate, as if that was the last place he had been.
Open air-hunters-fear-cold…overcome. Jäger backed up slowly and crouched down. Then, with as much strength as he could muster, he ran forward, joints creaking and skin pulling, before jumping as high as he could. Unfortunately, he only managed to get his claws over the lip of the opening before falling back to the floor in a painful thump, unable to force his legs to catch himself. The small feline's long reptilian tail swung wildly as he attempted to erect himself once more, paws flailing, and he managed to get to his feet. Jäger looked up at the window, his front paws resting on the wall and his back legs and tail supporting him, but it only got him slightly higher off the ground.
Jäger paced back and forth in agitation, growling softly in his throat, but then he was forced to stop as the cold seeped into his bones. The small creature shivered, but the movement was more like a full body wiggle, unable to accomplish the task properly with his reptilian skin. It didn't help.
"Meew…" the chimera cooed longingly, but no answering noises called back to him.
Jäger's ears swiveled back and he tensed in a split second. There were moving-sounds coming from the door, a soft voice and heavy-clumsy steps of at least two big-cats. The chimera shrank back, unsure if the noise was friend or foe, but a second later he recognized one of the voices as a pack-friend.
Jäger yowled loudly and the big-cat-clumsy-steps stopped outside of the door abruptly. The chimera took this as a good sign and became demanding with his yowls, something the big-cats always seemed to respond to. Usually it just got him a pat on the head or answering coos, sometimes even food, but this time he needed the wall opened and to be released.
There was a sound of knocking on the door and Jäger shuffled forward, his voice becoming louder. A few seconds passed and then the door opened, letting in bright light and warm not-outside air.
The small chimera shrank back as the much larger cat entered the room. He flicked his tongue out again, making sure the female was indeed the same pack-friend, which he only knew by taste and sound, and then jumped out of his hiding place and began to rub on the female's leg, lifting his tail in greeting.
The black-furred big-cat reared back with alarmed sounds, and Jäger fell onto his back, displaying his stomach and rolling on his back to calm her, although the cold was really getting to him. She crouched down a tense second later and rubbed the feline's stomach tentatively. Jäger purred and cooed, making the same noises he made for his nest-mate to reassure her. Her hand felt blissfully warm, so he prodded his triangular head into her palm and was delighted when she rubbed him harder.
She pulled back, much to his displeasure, and he voiced it. Loudly. Her pack mate, the yellow-furred male, held out a hand politely. The small feline tasted his air cautiously before deciding the omega was acceptable and allowing him to take over where the alpha-female left off.
Soon enough, he wiggled again from the cold, desperately seeking warmth, and without further ado, jumped onto the male and cuddled into his chest. He had just enough presence of mind to look around the room with wide eyes and demand that the pack-friends find his nest-mate, before cuddling into the warmth and trying not to fall back into his winter-sleep.
o-0-o
Brosh made a helpless grunt of protest as the small creature–a cat? a lizard?– jumped onto his chest and clung to him with curiously sticky paws. It made demanding churring noises and then cuddled into him, as if trying to crawl into his skin. Brosh shivered, disconcerted, and put his hands around the small animal, the smooth skin cold to the touch. It seemed to find it impossible to keep its eyes open and the man wondered if it was sick.
"What the heck is this thing?" Brosh demanded, looking over at his partner beseechingly. He curled back against himself a bit though, when he caught her expression.
Ross was standing by the open window, having just turned on the lights, with an expression of fury on her fair features. Her hand clenched tightly around the make-shift rope that hung limply out of the window.
"Those boys…" she growled, her hand itching to reach for her gun. Or someone's neck. She glared out at the guards who were supposed to be keeping watch. Apparently they couldn't spot two boys and a clanking suit of armor, even as they had to pass right by them. Someone would be getting a report on their desk. A very angry and unflattering report.
"Ross..?" Brosh said carefully, knowing how the dutiful woman could be when she was angry.
Completely ignoring him, the woman looked around the room with serious eyes, looking for a clue as to when they left. It couldn't have been that long after they had their talk earlier, and that had been several hours ago. Their destination was obvious. They had gone to the Fifth Lab.
And it looked like they expected danger. Ross looked over her shoulder at the small creature clinging to her nervous partner's chest. So that was what Alex carried around with him constantly. She had thought that it was some kind of cat or a rodent or something, only knowing that it was alive, and that the boy sometimes tried to feed it. Now she understood the secretiveness. It was probably not a good idea to broadcast that you had something like that…but they had bigger things to worry about. Alex leaving behind his pet meant that he expected to get into trouble. Which only confirmed her suspicion of where they went.
Dammit! Damn those kids and their charming smiles. They had lied. Right to her face. And then they went gallivanting across the city with a killer on the loose, possibly only to go to a dangerous facility that may or may not be run by corruption in the government. Her face hardened. She was going to need backup.
"Brosh," Ross snapped, making her partner jump.
"Yes ma'am!"
"Get Armstrong on the line. We have some idiot children to retrieve." She turned away from the window with an angry snap of her coat tails and started for the door, but something fluttered out of the corner of her eye.
The stern woman paused, glaring at the piece of paper before snatching it up. She scanned the hastily scrawled note with military precision, and her eyes widened in alarm, her heart leaping into her throat.
"Shit!" She exclaimed, cursing uncharacteristically in her apprehension. Ross dove into the hall at a dead sprint, pushing off the wall in her haste and running down the corridor. Her partner yelled in alarm behind her, but she didn't listen as she grabbed the first guard she could get her hands on.
She spun the surprised low-ranking officer on his heel and barked at him. "Get me Mustang. Now!"
As the frightened man saluted and hastily ran down the hallway, Ross strode into the main library and barked orders at any soldier she saw, gathering them to the front of the building. As the highest ranking officer in the building, they snapped to attention and obeyed, relaying her orders to the rest of the security detail. The incompetent security detail that failed to do their duty. Assured that her orders had been relayed, Ross spun on her heel and walked back to the only secure military line in the building, where she hoped Mustang would be on the line.
Sure enough, as she rounded the corner, the corporal that she had ordered earlier gestured her over and handed her the phone.
Ross' heels clicked together in attention and she pulled her shoulders back, respectful even as she knew the man couldn't actually see her. "Colonel Mustang, sir," she saluted.
"What is it Lieutenant," an annoyed voice growled at her from the other end of the line. Ross's shoulders got impossibly straighter at his tone, realizing that she had woken him from his sleep. This, however, was infinitely more important than rankling a superior officer.
"Sir," she said crisply. "We have a situation. I felt that because you are Edward's superior officer you should be informed." Also, she thought, because of the note now clenched painfully in her hand.
The man on the other end groaned, clearly exasperated. "What has Ed done now," he said resignedly.
"He's gone missing, along with both of his brothers," she said gravely.
There was silence on the other end for a moment, before Mustang's voice became dead serious, now fully awake.
"What do you mean, missing?"
"I think it would be better if we spoke in person, sir," she responded, hoping the man would catch her hint that this was more serious than just Edward and his brothers disappearing.
"…Very well. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Gather your men and wait." He hung up with a sharp click and Maria Ross put her receiver down as well. She gathered herself for a moment before looking over at the officer still standing at attention a respectful distance away.
"Inform Major Armstrong that we are in need of his presence," she told him, already striding to the door. She had some unobservant men to dress down before Mustang got there.
She worried the note between her fingers, hoping beyond hope that it didn't mean what she thought it meant. Because…because…She looked at it once more, stopping in the corridor with a worried frown.
Mustang,
Remember our promise. Take care of them.
Alex
Because it meant that Alex, at the very least, didn't think he would be coming back.
Ah, gotta love Ross. Respectful yet tough, hard yet motherly. Yeah she's pretty cool.
Hey all. Sorry for the short chapter. I've suddenly found myself very busy with my final semester of college, which is the reason why I wanted to finish this book before that happened…unfortunately I didn't get as far as I would have liked. Now I don't even have time for my martial arts classes, much less this story…grumbles. I'm going to get fat…Anyway, I meant for this to be Al's chapter, but I just couldn't write it, so I procrastinated and did the military's chapter first. But it was fun, cuz we got to see Jäger's perspective for the first time.
If you haven't noticed, he's more feline in his thoughts and reptilian in his body. Which is kind of cool to work with. Sorry if the dash language confused you, I was trying to go for urges rather than coherent thoughts, since, you know, he's an animal. The way he thinks is kind of funny though. Did you know that some scientists think cats see us as bigger, clumsy cats? And that they only talk to us because they learn that we respond to it? I read some fun articles on the matter, and I guess that's what inspired me to write this chapter from Jäger's perspective. Like I said before, though, he only has a very minor role in this story. His real character will come out in the next. He's still getting bigger and hibernating and stuff, so he'll be useless till it's warm anyway. Hm…maybe I should write a oneshot about his origin…Would any of you be interested in that?
Next Chapter: Al. No, for real. I mean it this time.