Wrecking Havoc
Chapter 2: Eastern Command
Jean parked his motorcycle in the lot in front of Eastern Command and swooped a giggling Luna off of the motorcycle seat, unbuckling the strap from under her chin and removing it from her little head. The static from the helmet caused her little puff of blonde in what should have been the place of bangs to stand on end more than it usually did. Jean smoothed it down a little bit and put her down on the ground, where she immediately took off at a run for the doors.
She banged on them and leaped for the door handle, swiped, missed, and tried again until Jean caught up to her and opened them himself, which earned another 'Why are you so big?' question from Luna. He tousled her hair fondly and let her inside, bypassed the secretary at the desk and headed straight for Roy's office. He knocked first on the door, remembering what he had run into last time he had come in without knocking. Roy and Riza had been making out in the office last time...
There was a gruff 'Come in' and he let himself in, surprised to see Roy carrying around a very sulky looking five year old with a cast on his leg. "Daaaaddy... I don't wanna be carried..." the boy moaned, trying to scratch at Roy so he would let him go. Roy kept a firm grip on him and somehow manuevered next to his desk to sign another paper. "Either I carry you or I put you in a wheel chair. You remember what happened the last time I put you in a wheelchair, don't you?" Roy Junior glowered at him, then rather pointedly at an infant in Riza's arms. "It's all her fault, Lyra pushed me down the steps!"
Roy hmmed skeptically, signed another paper and flicked into the finished tray. Then he looked to the door. "Morning Jean, looks like you finally decided to show up, eh?" Luna ran up to Roy and pulled on his uniform leg. "But Daddy's been here every single day, hasn't he? Hasn't he? Daddy comes every day!"
Roy rose an eyebrow at Jean. "Well where have you been Havoc? Still drowning your sorrows? I know it's been hard for you, but you have to let it go, you know? You can't hang around the bars all the time. It's been five years and you still haven't gotten over it."
Jean was angry and he balled his fists until his nails were scraping at his palms. "If Riza... If Riza left you, you wouldn't be able to get over it so easily either!" he hissed, and Roy looked sympathetic. "I know... I wouldn't. But I would have stopped trying to get drunk every day for years by now. You have to move on, Havoc." Luna ran back to Jean and stood on her toes to grab his wrist in her hands. She tried to unball his fists, looking unhappy. "Daddy... stop it... stop being mad." Jean looked down at her and his face softened; he slowly unballed his fists and took Luna's hand gently in his. "Come on Luna. We should... I should probably get to work."
He trudged out of the office and shut the door quietly, and Roy tutted and sat down at his desk. He looked preoccupied and Riza crossed over to him, shifting the baby to one arm and running her hand through his hair gently. "Jean does have a right to mourn, Roy..."
Roy grumbled and sat Junior down on a chair carefully, letting Riza continue to stroke his hair. "Yes... I know, but five years...?" She sighed and cocked her head at him, causing her hair to fall a bit over one shoulder. The baby shrieked gleefully and pulled at the long blonde strands hanging in front and all over her. "Would you mourn if I was gone?" she asked, and Roy's fingers weaved together and he rested his chin on them. "Of course...of course I would... I don't think I could imagine living without you anymore, or how I would raise these 'little angels' on my own. I'd miss you... I'd miss you so much..." Junior gagged at him and Roy gave him a quick smack in the back of his head. "Behave," he warned, "Or that chair's going backwards out the window." Junior blanched at him, pouted, and crossed his little arms over his chest, looking exactly like his father who was likewise pouting but for a different reason.
"Would you miss me, Riza? I don't think anyone here would miss me... except for you." Junior glowered at him again and Riza laughed softly, thinking of how much they looked alike, then tickled the baby in her arms. Roy chuckled and tickled little Lyra as well, beforepulling at Junior's hair. "C'mon kiddo, you've got a whole life to live. Don't waste it pouting."
"But you're mean! You're the meanest daddy ever!" Junior muttered at him, pulling his face away from Roy's. Roy looked hurt. "I am not!"
"You are too! I don't even want to be named after you!" Roy frowned, obviously debating with himself inwardly. "I don't care how much you hate me, because I can't hate you. Hate me all you want, go ahead, but there's no son I'd rather have." Roy ruffled Junior's hair for a second before getting up and announcing that he was going out to stretch, and that he'd be back later. Riza frowned at her five year old. "You made Daddy sad. Are you happy now?" Junior frowned and sniffed discreetly, hoping that his mother had not noticed. She had, but said nothing. "No... but Daddy is mean sometimes... and he never has time to play with me! And the first thing he does when he is home, is play with Lyra and it's not fair!" he grumbled. Riza sighed and sat next to him, holding the baby near him.
"Look at her, Roy."
"No!" he said, turning his face away. The baby reached and touched his face, giggling happily.
"Look at her!"
Roy Junior turned reluctantly and looked at his baby sister dully. "What now?"
"Just look at her." She put the baby on Roy's lap and watched as the baby sat happily for a few minutes before becoming fidgetyand finally bursting into tears. Roy cocked his head, confused, and looked at his mother for instructions.
"See? She's too little to do anything by herself. Right now, she needs Mommy and Daddy more than you do. You're bigger, so you don't need us too much.The baby needs Daddy's attention more than you do right now."
Roy Junior nodded slowly. "So Daddy's not ignoring me because he hates me?" he asked and Riza shook her head. "Of course not."
Jean sighed at the huge stack of paperwork on his desk and sat down in his swivel chair, lifting Luna onto his lap. "Look at all this paper Luna... it's bigger than Edward..." She twisted to look at him and then at the stack. "Who's Edward? And why was he so short?" Jean laughed again and decided that some things just could not be explained to children. "We don't know where Ed is anymore Luna... he disappeared... a while ago. Couldn'tve been more than a year ago."
"Oh," Luna said, taking a pencil in her hand and a blank sheet of paper. Jean watched her poise the pencil over the paper, trying to determine what to write. "Write your name, Luna," Jean suggested. Luna nodded and scrawled carefully on the sheet of paper in large letters. "L-U-N-A... H-A-V-O-C. Right?" she asked. "It's a bit... it's good Luna. Now can you write my name?" She looked at the paper and scribbled something else. "Daddy!" She had written the word 'DADDY' in even larger letter on the bottom edge of the page, with a little smiley face with bushy bangs and a cigarette to boot.
He shook his head and took the pencil from her. "No no, my name's not daddy... that's just what you call me. My name is Jean. J-E-A-N H-A-V-O-C." He wrote it quickly on the sheet and Luna scrutinized it. "It's preeety... I wanna write like that..."
"That's actuallysloppy Luna. If you want a good signature, go ask Miss Riza."
"What's Mommy's name? Can you spell it?" Jean hesitated, then put the pencil down on the paper and spelled it as neatly as he could. " 'K-E-I-R-A'. Mommy's name is... Keira?" Jean nodded sadly and put the pencil down, picking up a pen instead to sign his name on documents. "Yes Luna, Mommy's name... is Keira." She picked up the piece of paper and hugged it to herself, jumping down from Jean's lap.
"Mommy's name is Keira!" She ran off to ask Riza for a picture frame and left Jean to sign papers; another day at Eastern Command.
You know, I wish all my stories got the popularity of Heir to the Flame and Halfmetal Alchemist. Then I'd be very happy, but not all of my fics get equal popularity. I've only had 3 reviews for chapter one of Wrecking Havoc T.T
Well, one can't hope for the best (10 reviews per chapter) for everything. I was actually very surprised when Wrecking Havoc got it's first review on the day it was published on FFNet. You can imagine my face when I saw that Heir to the Flame got around 12 reviews in a week; I fell over dead. And this is my ghost writing this fic.
As of right now, Havoc's dangerous mission might roll around a bit later, but I just want to stick with Jean and Luna together for as much as humanly possible right now.
-T A