Chapter Text
“We specifically asked for an earth alchemist. As far as I know, flame and earth don’t have anything in common,” Major General Rawls uttered in discontent at the man in front of him. The General never liked alchemists, and this specific alchemist gave him every reason to dislike him. If anything, this man would take the second place in his personal list of alchemists he disliked the most – the first being occupied by Kimblee, of course. General sighed and reminded himself not to mistreat every alchemist because of what Kimblee did. Even if this specific alchemist seemed to have been in Ishval, and then got promoted to colonel nonetheless – and oh God – at such a young age. Who knew what he did in Ishval.
The man in front at him didn’t look even remotely bothered (of course he wouldn’t be – he went to Ishval and returned with a promotion when so many others were unable to carry on – like his men after Kimblee went completely off the rails – oh God).
“Well, I am a State Alchemist,” Mustang enunciated the last two words like he pronounced his rank just a minute earlier – with a sense of importance to it. “And I received training in all kinds of basic alchemy. I can assure you that I am the best you can get for this assignment – whatever it is – in the whole Eastern region.”
“Forgive me, Colonel,” Rawls almost spat out the last word. “But I have obtained different information. There is another alchemist in the Eastern command, and, judging from his file, he showed himself quite well-versed in the earth alchemy. In fact, he was the one who was ordered to report to the Southern command, not you.” Rawls liked to be direct with his subordinates. Frankly, he was direct and straightforward about dealing with everything in his life – words, wars, his soldiers, his family. If he could, he’d tell Colonel Mustang everything – that he couldn’t bear having any alchemists in his command – to be fair, after what went down with Kimblee, no one ever questioned him about that; that he knew that there very few – almost zero – tasks which couldn’t be ever completed without an alchemist’s help, and this day, he and his men were unlucky enough to have a task where survival hinged upon help of an alchemist. He didn’t tell either that he went through the list of all state alchemists to specifically find an only combatant earth alchemist who hadn’t been to Ishval. He also didn’t tell Mustang how much he despised the fact that the said alchemist apparently never got the order to appear in the Southern command after the post office in his current city was ordered by some high-ranking military officer to shut down the day when the letter with the order was supposed to come through – and instead, he got this flame alchemist who was – oh God – promoted two ranks after Ishval and hailed as a hero at only 29 years old – for God only knew what he did there.
“Fullmetal Alchemist is on assignment and unavailable right now. And besides,” the man in front of him smirked. “Believe me, you don’t really want Fullmetal doing any job for you. Unless, of course, the job is to destroy a town or two.”
“Leave it to me to decide whether Fullmetal is suitable for this task,” Rawls told sternly. “Yes, I’ve heard about Fullmetal's research, and as far as I know, saving a hospital trapped at the front line is a far more important assignment than researching a book about – what was it – microbiology of plant cells? Let alone researching this book in a town where apparently all post offices had to shut down because of fire safety inspection and all phone operators cannot locate a state alchemist even if it is a matter of life or death.”
The man in front of him smirked again. God, he was so annoying, so smug, so proud and pretentious, that General Rawls was almost happy to give him this assignment. The military will lose absolutely nothing after he is done with this task; the only issue was whether he was fit for the job and whether he was about to lose it like Kimblee did.
“We in the Eastern command take it absolutely seriously to watch after the fire safety in our towns.” Suddenly, the look on the colonel’s face became firm and the smirk disappeared. “I am the only alchemist you have right now, General Rawls, and if there is a hospital trapped at the front line, we should start discussing the assignment as soon as possible, shouldn’t we?”
- /
In fact, however, there wasn’t any hurry to discuss the assignment until the next day. It was raining mercilessly at the border with Aerugo, and the only path to the hospital was currently occupied by the latest evacuation mission. The path will be clear tomorrow, and only then they will have a chance to sneak a little rescue mission uphill to the Fostet hospital.
Roy looked over the maps and assignment files again and couldn’t help but feel emotions tightening in his chest. There were a lot of signs pointing at the nature of this assignment. For one, he was not allowed to take his adjutant with him (not that he was unhappy about it, if anything, he’d be glad to leave Riza as far away from the Southern border as possible). He was also supposed to travel with a convoy, and some signs in the document and General’s words hinted that he will be shot dead if he was ever to leave the assignment before it’s finished. Not that Roy ever would. There were no other ways to save the frontline hospital which was suddenly cut off from the rest of the Amestrian forces because of a blitzkrieg operation by Aerugians.
After the territorial advances by Aerugians in the last few days, the only safe route to the hospital was a narrow mountain path which would only fit two persons at the time. The only hope was that the platoon currently stationed at the hospital will be able to stall off Aerugian advancement long enough to save as many patients as possible. As it was, however, the platoon was severely understaffed for both halting off Aerugians and helping the doctors and nurses to evacuate patients. To make matters worse, there was no option to bring additional forces to the hospital, as any soldiers left at the hospital will be captured by Aerugians when without a doubt, they will seize the hospital. Bringing a state alchemist and a human weapon at that solved many problems and could potentially help the platoon defend the hospital a little longer. This meant that more patients could be saved but anyone left at the hospital when Aerugians finally succeed at capturing it, will be either imprisoned or killed. Most likely, killed. Roy as a colonel had access to the contingency plans for after the task will be over and most of them included awarding the soldiers the Award of Honor and a 4-rank promotion posthumously. This was a suicide mission, and no one was even trying to hide this fact.
“How nice of them,” Roy thought dryly. “If the hell has a contest for who has the most stripes on their uniform, I will appreciate this gesture.”
Roy carefully closed all files about the mission and looked up at the General.
“Why would Aeruginians want this hospital so badly anyway?” Roy knew the answer but said it just to fill the silence in the office.
“Well, they don’t need the hospital itself of course but it is located on a hilltop and there is access to clear water and local farms. All you’d need to station your forces.” Roy liked that the General gave him a direct answer. General Hakuro would laugh about Roy’s stupidity to ask such an obvious question, and General Grumman would tell him off for stalling and not having a strategy for the whole conversation ready in his mind.
Maybe to some extent, this assignment was perfect for Roy. After what he did in Ishval, to have a chance to die protecting his fellow citizens, in a just war, defending hospital patients against an offensive from another country, was the best way to die there could be. Yes, he wanted to change his country and he had enormous plans for the future but if fate gave him this perfect opportunity to protect so many people, he had to take it and make sure that he did everything in his power to see as many people rescued as possible. He would never be able to atone for what he did in Ishval but at least he would be able to put his life to a good use.
Roy also knew that this assignment would leave his own men without protection. Even though the General hated alchemists, he felt uneasy about sending one to death. Roy had to use this opportunity to make sure that everyone under his command was protected.
“I see what the mission is about, General,” Roy said and paused. He wanted his next words to sound as important as they were to him. “Considering the specific… uhm… nature of this mission, I would ask you not to send Fullmetal alchemist there in any circumstances.”
General smiled.
“You in the Eastern command seem to be too fond of this Fullmetal guy. I’ve heard from other generals that it’s impossible to get him on a battlefield and his superior officer declines any missions involving combat. Yet this guy seems perfectly capable of engaging in a fight, as my sources tell. Not even to mention what he left of this mining town in the East,” The general pronounced the next words with contempt. “A democracy, forgive me for this word! If you in the Eastern command wouldn’t cuddle him like he is made of glass, I am sure that he’d bring much more benefits to the frontline soldiers than he does now, destroying towns and making sure miners can self-govern.”
Roy sighed. Everyone knew General’s views on democracy, and of course the General couldn’t let it go that one small town in the East has a sort of self-governance now. He made himself a note not to discuss politics with the General ever again in the future and then the little tight ball of emotions inside his chest grew even tighter at the thought that he didn’t need to make these notes for his future anymore.
“Well, Fullmetal won’t arrive for at least another week. You don’t expect the platoon to hold off the offensive this long, and if Fullmetal finally arrives, you won’t really need him,” Roy smirked. “And, frankly, you’d never want this little brat anywhere near your assignment or you. I know what I’m talking about, he is unbearable. Unless, of course, your next mission requires child soldiers like this one requires alchemists,” Roy finished sternly.
“Child soldier? Colonel, what do you mean by that?” The look on the general’s face changed to a look of slight confusion.
“That he is a child,” Roy shrugged. “He is 15 though he looks like a 12-year-old and behaves like he’s 5.”
“I didn’t realize that,” General said with a look of discomfort on his face. “How could it be possible? I was hearing about his democracy-building exercises for years. How old was he when he joined the military? Do we recruit soldiers from kindergartens now?” General paused. “Of course, I wouldn’t ever send a child on the battlefield, assuming you are telling me the truth, and it’s not just another attempt of the Eastern command to keep their most precious alchemist to themselves,” Roy wanted to interrupt, but the General didn’t stop. “Then it’s decided. You will leave tomorrow, and I sincerely wish you all the luck you can have. You know I don’t like alchemists, but it doesn’t stop me from praying for the life of my fellow soldier,” he finished firmly.
It looked like the meeting was about to end but Roy had another important matter to discuss.
“Sir, if you allow me, I have another request for you. My adjutant will be unhappy about not being allowed to join me on this mission.”
“This is not even a matter of discussion. You are going with my convoy. And God forgives you if you ever try to flee. I ordered them to shoot immediately if they have even a slightest doubt about your intentions.”
“I know, I know – I am not trying to flee, quite the opposite actually. My adjutant proved to have had… uhm… missteps in judgements when it comes to her being unable to fulfil her duty. Can you please ensure that she stays in the Southern Command even after she learns about the nature of this mission?” Roy looked at the General hopefully. There was no way he could allow this assignment to claim both him and Riza. There was even a chance that she could carry on towards their dream once he was not there for her to constantly worry about and chide for his laziness. An alternative for keeping Riza from following him was to honestly ask her to stay (he was sure it wouldn’t work even in the slightest) or ask Maes to come to the Southern command to keep an eye on Riza, and the latter option would probably end up in both Riza and Maes doing something stupid in the name of saving him.
“Why don’t you just order her to stay put? Or do soldiers in the Eastern command enjoy living in the democracy as well?”
“I just wanted to make sure that in case there is any lapse in judgement from her side once the nature of this mission is well-known, she won’t have an opportunity to disobey my direct order, that’s it. I don’t really want my general dealing with losing both me and the second-ranking officer in my team because you’ll have to court-martial her.”
“So what should I do, put her in prison to make sure she doesn’t disobey your order? We don’t cuddle officers like you seem to do with all your subordinates, Colonel”.
“You can do that,” Roy smiled. Oh, Riza will hate him so much for this, she may even not stress out about his death. At least Roy wished that this would happen. “It’s just a request from me, as a soldier to soldier”. Roy wanted to convey how important it was for him to have this request fulfilled but he knew that the General understood and knowing him, he’d do everything in his power to help a soldier he sent to his death.
“I will see what can be done”.
The meeting ended in a few minutes. They discussed a few logistic details and after another assurance from the General that he will pray for Roy (Roy made a mental note not to discuss religion with the general either ever again and then cheerfully noted that he didn’t have to worry anymore), the meeting ended.
Roy took all the maps with him and reminded himself that he had to make a few adjustments to his will before the next day and maybe even tell Riza about his feelings. Or not. This will only make everything more complicated and she’ll probably figure out what the mission is about just from this confession alone. He wanted to do it so badly but for the sake of her own life, he had to behave as if the mission wasn’t anything special. Roy also reminded himself to check out a few of his notes on earth alchemy. This task will hinge on his rusty earth alchemy skills. Not that he was actually bad at it, but he didn’t use it as much as his flame alchemy.
Roy went back to his barracks and darkly thought that this was probably the last chance he was going to get to sleep in such comfortable conditions.
-/
“Oh God, the Eastern command is in disarray. A complete mess. It’s a miracle, Amestris isn’t occupied by Xing now. Probably, the desert between Amestris and Xing is an only thing protecting Amestris from the invasion right now.”
This much was clear to General Rawls after the meeting with Mustang. It seemed like no one at the Eastern command wanted to follow orders. First, even if this Fullmetal alchemist was just a child soldier (General had a hard time believing this anyway and the “Age” line in his file still looked like a well-placed typo to him – probably just a wealthy kid who wanted to get all perks of being a State Alchemist without any pitfalls of having to actually fight for your country), the efforts to avoid Fullmetal following his direct orders were enormous. Then this Roy Mustang colonel showed up without any invitation and absolutely begged him to give him the job. Strangely, he didn’t even try to back off from doing this assignment and didn’t discuss whether there were any alternative solutions available once the nature of the mission became clear. Considering the guy had been to Ishval and survived after doing who knows what there – oh God the only officers who earned a promotion after Ishval were absolute monsters – how could he ever allow him go near his soldiers – General decided to ask Oliver to keep an eye (or better a gun) at him all the time. Then, there was this adjutant who apparently forgave everything in the world once she was asked to stay behind. Colonel went as far as admitting that detaining her may be necessary to just force her to follow orders. And those three were 100% of soldiers from the Eastern command General Rawls had a chance to ever deal with.
“Maybe I will even have to pray for the Eastern command to become less of a mess,” the General thought grimly.
Even if he didn’t like Mustang or all quirky ways in which absolutely everyone in the Eastern command seemed to avoid following orders or the fact that Mustang was an alchemist who went to Ishval – and oh God how did he use flame alchemy there – General couldn’t help but feel uneasiness about sending a soldier to his sure death. A young soldier. Probably with a girlfriend waiting for him back in the East and a bunch of drink buddies who’d go to the pub with him on Fridays. A soldier who seemed to weirdly care about his subordinates.
“Funny how I started considering asking a general to imprison your adjutant a form of care for someone,” the General thought, his feelings even grimmer now.
He couldn’t help but the fact that Mustang seemed to care for at least someone gave him a little thread of hope. Maybe, everything will not be as bad and maybe this guy was not be as bad as Kimblee was – oh God thanks God there won’t be another Kimblee ever thanks God Kimblee got his punishment a long time ago – maybe he was not sending his soldiers a human weapon who would go after his own countrymen once he feels too bored about dealing with the enemy.
The general opened an enormous book in front of him, lit the candles, and started praying for his soldiers.