Mine, Once

Full Summary: 3 years after Edeline Elric resigned from Mustang's team, she finds herself re-drafted as a State Alchemist under the command of Lieutenant-General Olivier Armstrong, with the task to investigate and research a series of alchemy-related murders within the Military. The assignment itself would have been simple enough, if not for the fact that the military was still filled with annoying perverts, psychotic alchemists, and a stupid former Colonel who seemed to be harboring a childish grudge against her for siding with his rival General. Sometimes, Ed really missed just dealing with the Homunculi.

Pairings: Roy/Edeline; Ling/Edeline (past); Roy/Riza(past); Jean/Riza; Al/Mei

Rating: T (for now)

Warnings: Fem Edward Elric, Post Brotherhood, Semi-AU (Gender Changes); massive spoilers; mature content later; slow burn; mutual pining.

Chapter 1 – Kiss Goodbye

"Here are more requests for supplies and requisitions, Colonel."

Weary, onyx eyes blinked open slowly, revealing the view of Riza Hawkeye as she stared down at him, a look of concern marring her features. With a sigh, Roy Mustang sat up in his seat and reached for the stack of paperwork in Riza's hands, tucking them under the remaining large piles of paperwork which had already been piling up on his desk all month.

Observing his exhausted expression, Riza's expression faltered uncharacteristically and she gave him a small smile.

"Sir, just to remind you, you need not wear yourself out. If you would allow it, Havoc and I could assist—"

"That's alright, Lieutenant." Roy cut her off gently, looking up and giving her a tired but grateful smile.

"It's understandable that the military is in dire need of supplies right now, given what's happened." He leaned back against his chair again, raising a hand to massage the bridge of his nose. "Three months since the Promised Day and our men are still recovering. We've barely even finished rebuilding headquarters. I miss our old office." He whined, scowling at their small makeshift office and glancing sullenly out the window at the new, albeit still incomplete, headquarters building.

"Your office would have probably been finished a lot faster if you hadn't made so many requests about its architecture and interior designs." Riza pointed out flatly, an irritated expression on her face.

At her words, Roy only scowled further and he gave her a slightly affronted glare. "Of course I had to interfere, Lieutenant! Can you imagine – a future Fuhrer holding office in such a dingy, unkempt room?" He shook his head before grumbling and reluctantly turning back to the stack of papers in front of him. "Anyway, was there anything else you needed?"

"Yes, Sir." Riza paused and glanced swiftly behind her, finally drawing Roy's attention to the small blonde who was standing outside the doors to his office. "Ed's here, she says she wants to have a word in private." She told him.

"Send her in—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a quick flash of red and gold zoomed past him and a few seconds later, Roy found himself staring into the wide, cocky smirk of none other than Edeline Elric, their youngest State Alchemist, his insubordinate subordinate and, more importantly, the newly branded heroine of Amestris.

Great. This is just what I needed this morning.

He greeted Edeline Elric with a pointed glare as the headstrong blonde reluctantly walked into the room, her boots heavy as they trudged along the floor. Shaking his head, Roy caught Riza's eye and gave her a nod, signaling for her to leave and waiting until she had exited the room, closing the door behind her. Ed scoffed loudly at his glare and plopped down noisily onto the seat across his desk, deliberately leaning back and lifting her feet to place them obnoxiously on his table.

Smothering a groan of annoyance, Roy leaned back against his chair and studied the young blonde before him.

"Fullmetal."

Before he could stop himself, Roy's gaze lingered longer on her slender right arm – her newly acquired flesh arm. Lifting his gaze, he allowed it to travel to the long, blonde braid that hung past her right shoulder, following the bright golden trail all the way up to the fringe that covered her face. As usual, her mouth was tugged upwards into a haughty smirk as she stared expectantly at him, failing to notice the way Roy's eyes glazed over slightly as he lingered on her pink mouth.

He wouldn't even bother denying it.

He had known from the very first time he met her that Edeline Elric, even at 12 years old, would undoubtedly grow up to be a very attractive woman. He had pushed the thought away at the time, horrified that he was acting like a perverted old man staring at his very young, very minor subordinate. But then, puberty had struck, beginning to gift Edeline with all of the beautiful goddamn luscious curves that the female anatomy had to offer and all too soon, Roy had again found himself having to deal with very inappropriate thoughts about his beautiful, highly volatile,16-year-old subordinate.

He had been her Commanding Officer for four years now, and they had kept an unconventional, somewhat parental relationship with each other since then. Despite her blatant jibes at his rank and her deliberate refusal to respect any proper form of superior-subordinate decorum during their meetings, Roy knew that Edeline respected him. He also knew that Edeline had grown up without her father, and because of that, she had considered Roy somewhat like a father-figure in her life, especially after Maes had died.

He didn't mind that really, and it suited their relationship perfectly.

And he played his part as both her Commanding Officer and father-figure as well as he could, guiding her and mentoring her whenever she hit dead-ends in her research or military assignments. Though he had to admit, he was a bit harder and stricter with her than he was with the other members of his team, often pushing her to her limits to the point of exhaustion, but that was only because Roy could see just how much she was capable of and so he expected a lot more from her.

He was proud to say that she had exceeded his expectations with flying colors. No longer was she the foul-mouthed, bad-tempered, disrespectful little kid that he remembered and it had caught him completely off guard.

When she had stood before him in the underground of that research facility, shouting furiously at Roy to keep himself together when he had wanted nothing more than to burn the remaining part of Envy's existence into charred crisp, he realized exactly how much his youngest subordinate and mentee had truly changed over the years.

She was still occasionally foul-mouthed and bad-tempered and definitely disrespectful – especially towards him – he supposed, but as Roy glanced at her now and studied her features carefully, he grudgingly admitted to himself how unusually proud he was of her. Edeline had already accomplished so much in her life for being only 16-years-old.

And to be completely honest, as 15 years her senior, it made Roy feel a little bit inadequate.

Sure, he was the youngest soldier ever to have achieved the rank of Colonel (when he was only 26 years old) but then again, Edeline had become a State Alchemist when she was 12 years old. If she decided to pursue a serious career in the military like Roy did, who knows what else she could accomplish by the time she reached his age?

"What's up, Colonel Bastard?"

Roy's eyes twitched in annoyance as she broke him out of her thoughts, bringing his attention back to face. He glared at her deliberate insubordination, but he wasn't sure if it was because of that asinine nickname she had taken to calling him ever since she had joined the military or the way her thick black boots were smudging his pristine desk with dirt and mud.

"Fullmetal." Roy gritted his teeth as he shoved her feet off his desk. "I know it takes a lot of effort for you to exercise any semblance of manners but please keep your disgusting boots off my desk before I incinerate your remaining leg off." He growled.

"Heh, like you would really hurt an innocent civilian. A child, no less." She retorted, the smug grin never leaving her face.

"You're not a normal civilian, Elric. And you are most certainly not a child." Roy drawled back flatly, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, I am. I can't do alchemy anymore, remember?" Ed smirked back teasingly at him and reached into the pocket of her red jacket, pulling out a familiar silver watch.

"Unfortunately, I'm not here to pick a fight – though you know how much I'd love to." She paused to give him a saucy wink, causing Roy to sigh in exasperation again and clench his hands to prevent himself from snapping and incinerating the eyebrows off her pretty face. She seemed to pick up on his annoyance and her grin widened.

"Anyway, I just came by to give this back to you." She began, failing to notice the way Roy's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Al's fully recovered by now so the hospital will be releasing him today. I'm going back with him to Resembool tomorrow."

"To Resembool?" Roy's frown deepened and he could have sworn that the vein in his head was throbbing so much that Edeline had to have noticed it. "Fullmetal, I don't recall you submitting any official requests for a leave of absence—"

"That's because I'm not taking a leave of absence." The rest of Roy's protests were cut off when Ed placed her silver alchemist watch on his desk, followed by a single sheet of paper. "As of today, I'm officially tendering my resignation as a State Alchemist. Here's my watch, and my resignation letter. Signed and acknowledged by the new Fuhrer himself."

Stunned into silence, Roy stared at her for a long moment, unable to comprehend her words. Slowly, he took the paper from her and read it over and over again. Once he had verified that it was, in fact, a resignation letter, effectively immediately, his heart stopped.

Slowly, he raised his eyes to hers again, and before he could stop himself, the hurt, betrayal and anger he felt began to seep slowly into his face.

His fingers shook as they began crumpling the letter in his hand and onyx met gold for a long couple of seconds before Roy finally voiced the question lingering in his head.

"…You're leaving?"

Edeline purposely avoided meeting Mustang's unnerving stare, unable to stand seeing the look of slight hurt and disappointment in his dark eyes.

She supposed he did have a right to react this way. It may have been unfair of her to tender her resignation to the Fuhrer before approaching her Commanding Officer first but she just couldn't do it.

If she had approached Mustang first, Edeline just knew that she wouldn't be able to go through with it.

The bastard that he was, she was sure that he would have found some manipulative way to try and make her stay on his team anyway – never mind the fact that she was no longer qualified to remain as a State Alchemist in the military.

It didn't help that he was looking at her with that hurt, kicked puppy look of his. Ed knew that Mustang wasn't aware that he had such an expression, and she wouldn't have even noticed it much herself had Hawkeye not told her about it and warned her not to let the expression sway her whenever he wanted to get out of something – usually paperwork.

This time though, Ed kept feeling this nagging, guilty feeling in her chest that the hurt she saw in Mustang's eyes was nothing but genuine and the fact that it didn't seem like he was even aware that he was showing how hurt he was by her resignation bothered her even more. He seemed genuinely distressed that she was leaving, and that surprised her.

After the Promised Day, the bastard must have known that this day was going to come, sooner or later.

It had already been three months now since that blasted Homunculus had destroyed headquarters and about nearly half of Central itself and still, Ed hasn't gotten used to the fact yet that, technically, she couldn't do alchemy anymore. More than anything, it meant that she was no longer of any use to Mustang's team so there was really no reason to stay. She had still tried to transmute of course – several times, to be honest – but like Truth had said, her gate was gone and she no longer had any alchemic energy left in her body.

It was a small price to pay, she was certain, for Al being able to get his body back, and Ed would have paid it again a thousand times over just to make sure her little brother was okay.

Of course, that didn't mean that the loss of her gate didn't still hurt.

She was an alchemist by heart and by blood. Alchemy was in her very soul, and just the thought of living her life without it was absolutely devastating.

Fortunately, Ling had given her a few names of renowned alchemists in Xing from whom she could continue to learn from, and so Ed had agreed to stay in Xing for awhile after she helped Al settle back in Resembool. After all, if she could still continue researching about alchemy and learning as much as she could without actual transmutation, then she'd take whatever opportunities she could get.

"May I ask why?"

Mustang's quiet, disappointed voice suddenly broke her thoughts, causing Ed to look back up to meet his eyes in annoyance.

"What do you mean, why? I'm no longer an alchemist, shit-head! I hardly think I can still stay on as a State Alchemist when I can't even do any alchemy." Ed reminded him with a sullen, irritated look, leaning back again and crossing her arms impatiently over her chest. "Besides, my contract with you is over isn't it? If you recall, we did agree before that I would join the military for as long as I needed to research how to get back my brother's body." She reminded him in a petulant voice.

"Yes, that was the arrangement." Mustang agreed, gritting his teeth. From where she sat, Ed noticed how Mustang was obviously trying very hard to keep his temper under control at her blatantly foul mouth. "But I just thought that, given everything we've been through, and after the Promised Day, you would—"

Mustang cut himself midsentence and seemed to hesitate, sighing in frustration as he leaned back against his seat and glared at her in frustration.

As he did this, Edeline took that opportunity to do what she liked doing since she had turned fifteen and discovered she had hormones.

She stared at him.

Everyone knew that Colonel Roy Mustang was handsome.

She knew that even before she joined the military but thankfully, since she had only been 12 at the time, she wasn't affected by his looks as much as the rest of the female population. It was a very different story four years later, given all the fucking hormones that adolescence deemed fit to blast into her. Now, Edeline had to consciously stop herself from staring at him all the damn time, especially whenever he was decked out in his full military attire and was staring impassively at her the way he was from across his desk.

That man's gaze did serious things to heat her system up inside in ways she had yet to understand, and she didn't like it.

For a few minutes, Edeline stared back at him and met his eyes, suddenly calling to mind the painful memory of that time when she had been staring at those empty, blind gray eyes of his only a few weeks ago. When Mustang had admitted to her – rather guiltily, she might add – that he had taken up Dr. Marcoh's offer to use the remaining philosopher's stone to help him regain his eyesight, Edeline couldn't really find it in herself to be angry with him.

He had, after all, been forced through the gate without any fault of his own.

Unlike the rest of the sacrifices that Homunculus had chosen for the Promised Day, Mustang had been the only one who wasn't actually guilty of performing human transmutation. It was never equivalent exchange in his case, and she couldn't blame him for that. And as she gazed into Mustang's eyes now, she had never been more thankful for Dr. Marcoh's efforts.

"—I just thought that you'd still want to continue working with us." Mustang began uncertainly, still looking at her resignation letter in his hand as though it was the vilest thing he had ever seen in his life. "I mean, I know you and I have never really seen eye to eye—" His lips twitched slightly when Edeline had scoffed, not bothering to hide her agreement.

"—but I do think of you as an integral asset of my team and it would be a shame to let you go like that, Edeline." If he noticed the way Ed looked taken back by his use of her first name, he said nothing. "Are you sure this is what you want? You really want to leave?"

Edeline paused at that, finally letting the smirk on her face slip away until she was just staring back uncertainly at him, unsure of what to say. When Mustang didn't seem to be letting up and was obviously waiting for her final answer, she let out a sigh of defeat and began to nod slowly, trying not to notice how much she hated the crestfallen look on his handsome face.

"I'm sorry, Sir."

The words stung more than they should have, and for the life of him, Roy couldn't understand why exactly he was feeling so angry.

This was Edeline Elric after all, the Fullmetal Alchemist.

He knew from the very beginning that the only reason he had managed to convince her to join the military in the first place was because she wanted to regain her brother's body back – nothing more. Now that she's already gone ahead and accomplished that seemingly impossible feat, along with the fact that she and Alphonse had just saved the entire Amestris from genocide, she deserved nothing less than to quit the military and live the rest of her life peacefully in Resembool.

He really should be happy that she'd finally be able to do that.

He really should be happy for her.

So why the hell does it feel like she ripped my guts right out of my chest?

"Very well, then." Roy was careful to keep his expression blank as he forced himself to glance at her resignation letter again, lifting his pen and finally affixing his signature on the bottom of her resignation letter in acknowledgment. "If this is what you want, then I won't stop you from leaving. You're…welcome back here anytime you want to come back, Fullmetal. I promise that."

When he lifted his gaze again to glance at her, he noticed that she was staring at him carefully, the haughty smirk on her face faltering and in its place was a small, sad smile.

"Thank you, Colonel."

They continued to stare at each other for a few more minutes, suddenly very much aware that they had no idea how to end the conversation when they still had so much to say to each other, knowing that they wouldn't be seeing other again for a very long time. When the silence became too unbearable for her, Edeline cleared her throat loudly and sat back up.

"So I uh…" Edeline paused, drawing his attention back to the awkward expression on her face. "…I guess, uhm…this is…goodbye then." She laughed nervously and Roy watched as her bottom lip made its may between her teeth.

Instead of answering, he leaned against his seat again and gave the young blonde another long, impassive stare.

He wanted to ask her why she was doing this - why she felt the need to leave when Roy had already made it clear that he wanted her to stay.

He wanted to ask why she thought Roy wouldn't be bothered by what she was doing now.

There were so many questions flitting through his head at that moment but he refused to let any of them slip from his mouth.

"I suppose it is." Roy could barely choke the words out, his throat suddenly too dry to speak.

"Right." Edeline managed to force out an awkward laugh before she brushed her long blonde braid over her shoulder and jumped to her feet, her thick boots making a loud thumping sound that echoed against the walls of his office. "I 'spose I should get going then. Al's waiting for me back at the hospital. Ling and Mei are dropping this afternoon to say goodbye."

"Please give them my regards." Roy answered her automatically, his shock over her resignation not allowing him to pay any attention to what she was saying. He stood up as well and began walking her to the door. Just as she finished slipping her red jacket back on, however, Edeline surprised him when she suddenly stilled, her hand resting on the doorknob.

"…Hey, Colonel?"

Roy stilled at the uncharacteristically shaky tone of her voice.

"Yes, Fullmetal?"

She didn't answer right away, and when he saw the strange, panicked look on her face, Roy was almost certain that she was going to bolt out his office but then, another split second later, he found himself with an armful of a very warm Edeline Elric as she suddenly launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and using the leverage to simultaneously pull him down and yank herself up so that she could press her lips firmly against his in a heated kiss.

What-?

It was as though time stood still for those few agonizing seconds and he was positively certain that his his brain was going haywire as Edeline's hands wrapped tightly around his neck and frantically pulled him closer, drawing him deeper into the kiss as Roy stiffened and blinked rapidly, struggling to regain his senses. Before he realized what he was doing, his hands began to wrap around her waist out of their own accord and he bent further down to reach her height, his lips intertwining cautiously with hers.

And then, Roy broke.

Truth be damned.

He realized he was already kissing her back softly, savoring the sweet taste of her lips and not at all minding the fact that Edeline had obviously not had that much experience in kissing before – which, to his mind, made the moment all the more endearing, especially when he noticed the way she was trying to copy the movement of his lips against hers. When he bent down to kiss her deeper, however, and she let out a soft moan of surprise, Roy's eyes finally snapped open in shocked realization and – just as fast as it had happened – the moment was over and he was pulling sharply away from her as though she had caught on fire.

"No, Edeline! Wha—what are you—we can't do this!" He blurted out as he hurriedly backed away from her, his entire face burning in horror when he suddenly remembered that Riza was waiting for him just outside his office. Truth help him if she had seen him kissing Edeline a few seconds ago. Roy was positively certain that she would lodge a bullet in his crotch.

Caught up in his panic, he ignored the guilty expression on Edeline's face and situated himself behind his desk, using it as a barrier between them to prevent her from kissing him again.

"What was…Th—that was—Fullmetal, what were you—!"

"Oh relax, Bastard." Edeline scoffed in amusement, rolling her eyes at his melodramatics. "I was just trying it out. I figured I might as well do it now since technically, I'm not your subordinate anymore. Probably won't get the chance to again."

Roy was still hyperventilating as he stared at her, his cheeks flushed almost as red as Edeline's jacket.

"How long have you— "

"How long have I wanted to kiss you?" She finished the question for him, inadvertently causing Roy to flush again as he was hit by another inappropriate wave of want – as though the very words leaving her sinful mouth had the same effect as her kissing him again. "For awhile now, I suppose. Ever since you saw me when I went to visit Lt. Colonel Hughes' grave that day." She answered with a half-shrug before crossing her arms over her chest, a contemplative look on her face.

"I could stop blaming myself for his death. You helped me realize that it wasn't my fault. That is was neither of our faults, really. I guess I was attracted to you ever since." She admitted, ducking her head sheepishly before looking up again and giving him a small, embarrassed smile.

Roy ran a shaky hand through his disheveled black hair and stared back at her in dismay.

"I—I was…I don't know what to say—"

"Hey, it freaked me the fuck out too, you know. Liking you." Ed added cheekily, folding her arms behind her head and lifting her chin as she stared up at the ceiling in thought. "I mean, you're like what, a hundred years older than I am? That's gross—"

"Fifteenyears older, Ed."

"Same diff." She shrugged, smirking at the irritated look on his face. "You're ancient. I think you're old enough to be my father."

Roy's eye twitched at her words and he glared at her, giving her a sarcastic sneer.

"Gee, thanks. You sure know how to flatter a man."

She grinned at that but went on as though she hadn't heard him. "And at some point, you were even like my guardian or something. You gotta admit that's kind of messed up. It's like a Freudian nightmare." She remarked and Roy's left eye twitched again as he sighed in annoyance.

"Ed—" He growled.

"Sheesh relax, bastard. I just said I was attracted to you didn't I? I'm trying to give you a compliment here." She quipped.

In spite of himself, Roy couldn't helping stifling a laugh, his mouth twitching upwards into a smile at her deliberate callousness.

"You're a sassy little brat, you know that?" He mused out loud, rewarding her with a fond smile.

Ed rolled her eyes and winked back at him, laughing when she saw the incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah, yeah I know. But I'm also the sassy little brat who just kissed you."

Roy's warm grin faded slowly at her words and he began to back away from her, shaking his head and giving her a sad smile. "The lieutenant and I…After the Promised Day, we agreed to give things a chance. It's still new – well, we're still new but I…I care about Riza and I don't want to do anything that might hurt her or ruin what we have right now—"

"I know."

He paused at the earnest tone of her voice and looked up again, noting that the playful expression on Ed's face had finally sobered and she smiled weakly at him, her golden eyes soft as she studied the lingering uncertainty on his face.

"I wasn't really looking for anything when I kissed you, Colonel." She shook her head again and laughed quietly, giving him a sincere smile this time when she saw the way Roy's shoulders relaxed at her words. "And I do think that you and Lt. Hawkeye look good together. I'm really happy that the two of you are finally trying things out." She told him.

Roy said nothing at that, frowning slightly as he studied the rapidly flittering emotions on Edeline's face.

"Like I said, it was a spur of the moment thing. I figured that…Since I was leaving tomorrow, I might as well do this now. I'll probably never get the chance to kiss you again." She chuckled and rewarded him with another one of her cheeky smiles.

Then don't leave.

Roy heard the unspoken thought echoing inside his head as he watched her turning around again and heading towards the door. Before he realized what he was doing, he had already stepped around his desk and his feet were hurriedly making their way across the room towards her again, but for what exactly, he wasn't sure.

"Fullmetal—"

She halted her steps again, but this time, the words had rushed out of his mouth even before Edeline had turned back around to face him .

"—I'm…sorry."

He winced at the way the two words sounded so lame and desperate to his ears but, to his relief, Edeline understood what he wanted to say perfectly and she smiled at him again. "It's really alright, Colonel. You don't have to apologize for anything."

Smirking, she turned around again to face him and leaned up, standing on her tiptoes so that she could place a light, lingering peck on his cheek. When Roy blinked and stared at her in question, she spoke softly into his ear. "Despite all the stupid shit that's happened between us, all those shitty missions you sent me on, and all those times I know we pissed each other off, I just want you to know that…well—" She paused and bit her lip in embarrassment, a hint of red beginning to stain her pale cheeks.

"—I think you're an amazing person. I know that you'll make a great leader one day. But until then...I'll be rooting for you."

Her words struck something inside him, causing Roy's eyes to warm as he stared at her. He wanted to say more to prevent her from leaving – he wanted to walk up to her and order her to stay but his feet remained rooted to the floor.

He did none of those things however but instead, he stood exactly where he was and watched as she began walking away.

Just as she exited the room and was about to close the doors shut, Roy somehow managed to find his voice.

"Edeline."

She paused and lifted her gaze back to stare at him, her blonde fringe hanging over her eyes and shielding her expression from his view. Roy swallowed again and he could only stare back at her in agonized silence for those last few moments before he finally lifted his hand, raising it above his eyebrow to give her a formal salute of farewell.

"Take care of yourself."

Ed's golden eyes gleamed warmly at the gesture and she grinned back at him, raising her hand and mirroring his salute.

"See you around, Colonel Bastard."

She shot him one last, quirky smirk and wink before she swept out of his office, closing the door behind her and leaving Roy staring after the wooden frame in silence, wondering to god why there was such a dull, painful ache in his chest.

Notes: So...what do you think? Hate it? Love it?

Do you think I should continue? To be honest, I have been just *obsessed* with FMA these past few weeks and this story has just been clamouring to written. And after seeing some fics about them (especially xIcyChanx's works), I just fell in love with this pairing! I'm actually writing the chapters out as I go and I have a few already done but I want to gauge everyone's reception first before I post the rest. So please let me know what you think! I need all the ideas I can get! :D

(FYI - My HP fics are currently on hiatus at the moment. At least until I regain my muse. For some reason, that little bitch has been gone for the past few months. So if you've seen her, please send her back to me. T_T)