A/N: Hey. Um. This is my first fanfiction. It took me forever and a half to finish it, mainly because of homework. I swear, I'm only thirteen years old and they give me the amount of homework they give to a college student. ERRRG. Anyways, just as a heads up, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters (classic disclaimer). Um, please review and suggestions are welcome. Just please, no flaming.
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Devotion
It was days like this that foreshadowed… Unfortunate events. It was not the ominous clouds that lingered low in the sky, nor the roaring wind. It was the hostile and vicious appearance of the landscape that sent your heart plummeting to the very bottom of your chest. But this day, the sky seemed to swell with anger, and the wind tore through the sky at twice the velocity. This day seemed to foreshadow an event more than just unfortunate.
Rain began to shower down upon the city of Central, assaulting it with an army of water droplets. Roy Mustang peered smugly out of the broad window from beneath a shock of tousled, jet black hair and mumbled his characteristic, "I hate the rain." comment grouchily. He turned on his swivel chair sharply, a little too sharply. He came crashing to the ground and lay in an uncomfortable position on the floor. "Stupid…. Swivel chair…." He mumbled as he shoved it aside as best as one could in a tangled pile.
Havoc let a small laugh escape. "Havin' some technical problems there, chief?" He asked as he bent over to look at Roy's position in all of its awkward glory. Breda and Fuery snickered slightly from their desks. "If only Hughes were here to take a picture of this!" He laughed, his cigarette –once again defying the laws of gravity- staying amazingly perched on his bottom lip.
"I'll burn you to a crisp."
Havoc shut up, not because of Roy's threat, but because he heard a knock at the door. It was most likely the lieutenant. She'd have all of their heads and MORE if she caught them slacking off. Havoc bolted back to his chair and pretended to be completely absorbed in a document concerning a lack of weaponry in the covert unit. Roy wiggled out of his position and crawled back into his chair before the door slid open. But there is only so much a person can do in approximately 4 seconds. All Roy had time to do was launch himself back into his chair. So he sat there, his hair even more disheveled than usual, staring at the opening door as a deer does at oncoming headlights. Frankly, he couldn't look MORE suspicious. Roy could've sworn he'd seen the evil glint of Hawkeye's guns as the door opened further. He wondered if she'd kill him slowly, or finish him off quickly. 'I wonder if hell will be all that bad… ' Roy thought to himself as his Adam's Apple bobbed in fear. The door lurched open violently and smashed against the wall as a booming, all-to-familiar voice filled the air.
"GENTLEMEN! IT IS SUCH A WONDERFUL DAY, NO!? HAHAHA!" The men in the room could not decide whether they were relieved or disappointed that it was the Major. Well, it was better than the alternative.
"O-oh it's only you Major." Fuery squeaked as he crawled out from beneath the table he was taking refuge under.
"We were scared half to death! We thought you were lieutenant Hawkeye."
"Is that so? Why is it such a relief?"
There was a brief silence. "Never mind." Falman coughed as Armstrong stared quizzically in his direction.
"Well, I just popped in to say hi. Keep up the good work, men! In the meantime, I'm going to head down to the mess hall! Salutations!" The group sighed in unison as Armstrong marched off down the hallway, pink sparkles and all.
"He needs a love life." Breda stated as he peered at the clock.
"Thank you for that wonderful visual, 2nd lieutenant." Roy stated, desperately trying to get the image of Armstrong taking a huge, hulk of a woman home after a long night at the club out of his mind. "I don't know about you, but I am DEFINITELY going to get some lunch."
"Same here." Havoc remarked, as he slid his chair out from underneath the table.
"Wow. We don't have to do anything AND we get a lunch break? The lieutenant should stay home more often!" Breda cheered.
"Oh should I?"
There, at the door, stood Lieutenant Hawkeye, staring at them all with those cold, crimson eyes of hers. "I suggest that ALL of you sit BACK down and get some work done. " She remarked icily as she stepped further into the room. The men dashed back to their desks more quickly than they had left them, feverishly reading papers. They deeply believed in the juvenile proverb that was all over Central Headquarters. 'Mess with Hawkeye, and you get shot.' And every one of them thought it would be nice to live a bit longer.
"Colonel." She stated frigidly. That was all she had to do. Say his name in that tone and point her silver pistol at his head. "I highly recommend that you get to work. You won't get any lunch until half of that is gone." Roy craned his neck to the left of his desk. A pained groan escaped his lips as a pile of paperwork the size of the town of Central stared back at him. "No complaining. Or you get a bullet to the head." Roy felt the cold metal of the gun push up against his temple. Roy hated it when the lieutenant was like this. He wished that he could make her smile, for real, just once. He wished that she would quit the tough-guy (or WOMAN as the case may be) act for once. But nonetheless, he responded the same way that he did day, after day…
"OKAY! OKAY! I'M GOING!!!" He snatched the first sheet off of the pile and read through it furiously. Satisfied, Riza took her seat, opened up a thick book and began to read. Roy looked up from his paperwork stealthily and stared at her while she read. She's pretty sexy when she's not pointing a pistol at my head… He had always wondered what she looked like when she wasn't at work, probably not as frightening or cold. She was probably even more beautiful than he had thought her to be under that emotional mask she wore. Or the CLOTHES she wore. He mentally slapped himself. No! Bad colonel! Don't think like that! She's your co-worker , and nothing else. Yeah… Roy sighed and accepted it. She's just my co-worker...
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About two hours had passed. Roy slammed down a large pile of papers triumphantly. "There. All done."
"I'll be the judge of that." Riza pulled out her pistol and held it loosely at her side, just in case. It seemed as if her glare had softened a bit. She began leafing through the papers. "It looks like you decided to actually DO the work this time."
"Can I go now? Mustang half begged, half growled. Mustang had caught the fact that she looked less hostile. This could be your one and only chance, Mustang! Ask her out to dinner sometime or something, anything! A war began to take place in Roy's mind. Half of him wanted to give this a shot, while the other strongly questioned the other's sanity.
The shrill ring of the phone cut through the air, soon catching everyone's attention. Hawkeye lifted it from the receiver. "Hello? Colonel. It's Edward."
Mustang snapped out of his confused daze and extended his hand.
"Gimme the shrimp."
"I HEARD THAT YOU ASSHOLE!"
"So pipsqueak, what's the call about?"
"RRRRRRRR."
"Colonel? It's Alphonse. Umm… We were just calling to tell you we're at Central. We heard that Scar has been sighted there again and we decided to come down and find him. Although, we could still use the help of the military…."
Roy paused. "I'll deploy some men down there now. I'll come down myself shortly."
"Okay, thank you for the help, Colonel."
"WAIT! Al! Don't hang up! I'm not done with that-"
Roy placed the phone back on its receiver. He was in work mode now, and the matter of Riza would have to wait. He smirked briefly. "Hawkeye," He remarked, " I'm going to need some help down there."
"Yes, sir."
"I guess I can forget about lunch now…" Roy grumbled as he pulled on his coat. He was reluctant to going out there in that rainy weather. "Men, you may continue as you were."
"Sir!" They shouted in unison.
"Come on lieutenant. His little game is over."
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They drove through the inky-black puddles that the road was laden with, spraying grimy water onto the dampened sidewalks. They had borrowed a military car in order to reach their destination more quickly. "Lieutenant. Location."
"We are now on 16th and Hoover, sir."
"Keep driving. They should be somewhere around here."
Much to their relief, they soon spotted a giant suit of armor and a red speck standing amongst a group of soldiers. Hawkeye halted the car and they stepped out. Roy immediately paced towards Edward. "Long time no see, shrimp. My, we almost missed you. If it weren't for Alphonse, we wouldn't have noticed the two of you and stopped. After all, a little, squirming, red dot isn't all that noticeable." He chuckled.
"Rrrrrrrr…. WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP SO SMALL THAT HE COULD FLOSS HIS TEETH WITH A HAIR OFF OF A TERMITE YOU BASTARD?!?!"
"So… Where IS Scar, Fullmetal?"
"You tell US." Edward scoffed. "We were about to split up to search for him."
"Good idea. Men! Spread out! Contact either Lieutenant Hawkeye or myself if you spot Scar! MOVE!"
"YES SIR!"
"You boys best split up too." Hawkeye remarked.
"Oh, yeah. We were going to anyways. Shake a leg, Al. I wanna find that bastard and cut 'im up a bit. Call it payback for what he did to my arm. 'Equivalent exchange', right?" Edward grinned mischievously and bolted off down the alleyway
"BROTHER! Ugg… You're so irrational!" Alphonse clunked after him, looking quite foolish. A muffled snicker escaped Hawkeye's lips as she watched them run off.
"Quite the boys, aren't they sir?" She asked in monotone. Roy said nothing.
"We should investigate this way. Come on."
"…Sir."
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The two took off in the opposite direction the Elrics had. Unfortunately, they still ended up in a dark alleyway. A stray cat mewed in an irritated fashion as the two intruded upon its home. It bolted out the way they had came in, it's ruffled tail swishing behind it. Riza had a bad feeling. And she had plenty reason to. It was a dark, gloomy day, they were in a dark alley, and a serial killer was on the loose. Not the best situation to be in. She was oddly comforted that the colonel was beside her. It made her feel warm. Stop thinking such foolish things! She told herself He's just your co-worker, and nothing more… Roy, meanwhile, was feeling nervous as well. He had seen what Scar had done to Ed on their first encounter. Honestly, he did not want to end up with a missing arm when this was over. An unsteady silence hung between them. The sound of hurried footsteps echoed around them as a rifleman scurried into the alleyway.
"Do you have a report?"
"Sir, you have to hurry! It's Sca-" That was all the poor soldier had time to say. Within a matter of seconds he was laying on the cold pavement, dead. Blood slowly leaked out of his eyes and ears and onto the concrete, staining the murky puddles crimson red. Roy raised a glove hand and Hawkeye held her pistol at the ready.
"So. You have decided to come after me again. What a foolish mistake."
"Scar. You may have been able to escape the first time, but I'll make sure a flimsy mistake like that WON'T happen again. After all, you have no chance against my flame."
"Is that so? Let's see!" At that moment Scar lunged for Mustang, just barely missing him.
"It's over now!" Roy held his fingers firmly in snapping position. He rain pelted the
ground around them even harder. Then it struck him. The rain. Damn it.
"Colonel!" Mustang was pulled out of his thoughts as Hawkeye shoved him to the ground. She fired once at Scar.
"What a hideous weapon, let me dispose of it for you!" With what seemed to be inhuman speed, Scar lunged forward and clutched the pistol in her hand. There was a red glow and then the gun shattered to pieces.
"Damn." Riza breathed as she stumbled backward. She reached for her holster, there was only one gun left, her old handgun. She had doubts on whether it still worked or not. She had been thinking to herself for too long.
"HRRRAAAAAAH!" Upon hearing this, Riza flung herself down onto the ground, but it was not enough to escape. "You're slow! You're time is UP." This was it. This is where she was going to die. He was too fast for her; she may as well accept it. But she couldn't. She couldn't leave him all alone. She had vowed to protect him, and she couldn't protect him if she wasn't here. She COULDN'T die here. Not yet. Scar thrust his arm downward madly and debris and dust enveloped the alleyway.
"Lieutenant! LIEUTENANT!" There was no answer. "WHERE ARE YOU?" Roy stubbornly yelled into the dust. Slowly, the haze began to clear. Roy strained his eyes, desperately hoping to see the silhouette of his lieutenant, and the absence of Scar's. He did, indeed spot the lieutenant, but sadly, Scar as well. Scar stood with his hand placed firmly on Hawkeye's forehead, a ready look in his crimson, loathing eyes. Riza's gun was lying on the ground quite a ways away, beyond her reach. There was not much that she could do. "Stop. Why do you insist on killing my lieutenant? Killing her would be of no benefit to you." Roy commanded in the most professional voice he could manage in this situation. It sounded tough enough to him, but Hawkeye could hear it quivering.
Scar said nothing. He merely continued on as if Roy had not said anything. "Your soul has been misguided by that alchemist, but you shall return to your creator and once again be pure." Roy was sure of what he was planning to do next, and he knew that he would have no hesitation in doing it. If he didn't act quickly, his lieutenant would die here.
"NO! STOP!!!!" Roy yelled as he sprinted over to where the two were. He was so close, but unfortunately… He did not make it in time.
"I'm sorry I couldn't prote-" Riza began meekly. There was a fierce red glow as Riza fell to the ground with the classic, repulsive sound all of Scar's victims would screech before their bloody death. But to Roy it was different; it was the saddest sound he believed to ever be uttered on the planet. Scar merely stepped aside as Roy fell to his knees beside his lieutenant.
"Lieutenant! Wake up! Wake up NOW! That's an ORDER!" He demanded her corpse. "This couldn't have happened…" He hissed to himself "It has to be a dream." His voice began to tremble, "You said that you would always be there to protect me… How can you do that now?" His tone changed to one of anger, "HOW?!" Mustang paused. He kneeled closer to her and put his ear to her chest, telling himself there would be a heartbeat, that she was still alive and well. But there wasn't. And for the first time since Hughes' death, a tear streamed down his cheek. He had always liked his lieutenant more than a co-worker should, perhaps even loved her, but now it was too late for them to ever be together. He was convinced that she would never TRULY be 'nothing more than his subordinate', but he loved her. And it was over. His dreams of becoming Fuher were not worth living for if she was not there, right beside him. With his two friends gone, there was nothing for him to live for anymore.
"I guess it all worked out." Scar stepped toward Mustang who had now given into the tears and was sobbing quietly. "I had suspicions that that women meant something to you. Now I know. Either way I had no problem killing her."
"Do what you want. I have no reason to live anymore." Roy mumbled somberly and un-characteristically, his eyes red from the tears he had shed.
"I was hoping that you would say that." He placed his hand upon Roy's head and for the first time, Roy believed there was a God, and heaven. Hopefully, he would be sent there, and she would be waiting there for him, and they could finally be together. Then he would see her smile at him, like he had longed to see for so long… Scar uttered his classic hymn. "By the power of the almighty Ishballa, thou shalt perish." The last Roy remembered seeing was the lifeless face of his lieutenant, illuminated by the red glow. "I'm coming, Ri-" He fell to the floor alongside her, and Scar lifted his bloodied hand.
Edward had been standing at the mouth of the alleyway as the scene took place. A rifleman had alerted him and Alphonse that Scar had been spotted in the alleyway colonel Mustang and lieutenant Hawkeye had entered. With a sharp intake of breath, Edward ran at Scar. "YOU BASTARD!!!!" He screamed as he transmuted his auto mail arm into a shimmering blade.
"Your demise is for a another time Fullmetal Alchemist! " Scar grunted. With amazing swiftness, he leapt upon a trashcan and then onto a low-roofed building and was soon out of sight.
"Brother, don't worry about him."
"Al you idiot! He just murdered the colonel and the lieutenant!"
"Yes, but-"
Edward walked towards Roy's lifeless corpse lying beside Riza's. Havoc and the gang watched forlornly from beside the numerous military cars that crowded the area. The scene immediately brought tears to Ed's eyes. "I was too scared. My own childish fear and stupidity stopped me from saving them." Ed muttered, "The colonel wouldn't have been killed. But he had to go along and give up his life. And for a useless cause." Ed slammed his fist down on the cement, "I don't get it. Why the hell do they always do this? Why? A life does not equal a life; nothing will be gained by his act of suicide. IT'S NOT EQUIVELENT EXCHANGE, DAMNIT!" Ed sobbed, "Its just stupidity. We humans are so damn stupid."
"Brother…"
"Why does it always end this way?" Ed cried as he collapsed completely onto the ground. WHY?" Edward sobbed madly as he was dragged away by two soldiers.
It was days like this that foreshadowed unfortunate events. Some darker than the broken promise of heaven or the irrevocable sentence of hell.
A/N: Annnnnnd…….. That's the end of my incredibly long one-shot! Hope that it wasn't corny or dumb. Make sure to review!