Chapter Text
March was an odd month.
Normally, Roy Mustang didn’t mind March. It was normally cold, sure, with scattered snow showers. But the cold, he could deal with.
It seemed like fate itself was determined to mess with him, however, as a torrential rain swept into the city, even though it was only the middle of March.
The forty degree weather became unbearable in the downpour. And it just kept hammering down. The streets were so flooded it didn’t make sense to drive to work- in fact, some of the streets were closed due to the foot of water making driving dangerous.
Anyone with half a brain in their head was inside, staying out of the storm.
Unfortunately, as a soldier, Roy was not one of those lucky people.
He stomped to work through the ankle-deep water on the sidewalk, umbrella rendered useless by the sheer volume of rain.
When he came into work, everyone in the office was smart not to comment on the fact that he looked like a drowned cat- sopping wet and seething.
If the miserable conditions weren’t enough to add to his ire, Edward Elric was back in town and due to give his report today. And he’d ended up taking down a building. Again.
“Furey- monitor the radios to keep us updated on the traffic situation.” he said simply, the loathing obvious in his voice. “The condition of these streets are repugnant.”.
“Understood, Sir.”.
He ducked into his inner office, and everyone settled into the morning routine.
He was able to shake off some of the rain and ire the morning brought, and he managed to get some work done.
He brought out his first stack of finished paperwork as a bargaining chip, allowing him to get some coffee and help shake off the cold that was in the air.
He paused for a moment, drinking the warm liquid black and leaning on the doorframe of his office.
“Lieutenant- Fullmetal is due to report today, correct?”
“Yes, Sir.”
He took another sip of coffee, steeling his nerves.
“What time is his appointment?”
“He’s due at noon, Sir.”
He took another sip of his coffee. “So we should be seeing him by the end of the day, then.” It wasn’t like Edward ever kept any of his appointments, anyways.
“Brat better have a legible report.” the warmth of his mug was warming his cold hands, and the joyful buzz of caffeine helped him shake off some of the sloth and hate that rain seemed to stir up within him.
If Ed came in with his usual theatrics of shouting and kicking doors, and he had a somewhat coherent expectation of why the building had gone down, then maybe, this wouldn’t be such a wasted day after all.
Noon came and went, and there was still no sign of Edward.
They were all filing back in from lunch at 1pm to see Furey bent over the radios, fiddling with his headset and looking preoccupied.
“Something happen, Sergeant?” Riza asked calmly.
Furey didn’t even hear her, turning a dial to find a better frequency and looking focused.
“Sergeant-” Roy spoke up, but Furey didn’t hear him, only startling and sitting bolt-upright when Roy placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?”
“Huh?” Furey looked startled. “Oh… uh… two kids got swept down a storm drain.”.
In an instant, the room seemed to get ten degrees colder.
“Two kids?” Roy’s question hung in the air.
Havoc had dropped his pack of cigarettes, Breda put down what was left of his sandwich, and Falman stopped writing midway through the line of his report.
“Yeah, two kids.” Furey said, reaching up to press his headset closer to one ear.
“Are they- are they our kids?” Roy tried.
“Hmm… Oh- no, they aren’t. Eight and six years old. One is a girl. They’re not ours. But… they can’t find them. They got sucked into the drain roughly a half hour ago, the fire department is looking everywhere, but they’re just… gone.”
Everyone hesitated, looking at Roy.
The man had shut his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is the fire department there?”.
“Yes. And the MPs, and several civil engineers.” Furey supplied helpfully.
“There isn’t a lot we can do- it sounds like the appropriate authorities are handling it.”.
“Yeah. It’s just- those kids could be anywhere in the sewers. And with the rain like this- they’ll be lucky if they don’t drown.”
“Yeah. They will. Keep tabs on it, Furey- if there’s anything that comes up that’s our specialty, let me know. And even if they don’t- keep us updated.” and he was headed back to his office, feeling a lot less hateful and a lot more useless as he peered out the window at the rain.
Hawkeye palmed open the door of his office, bringing another impossibly tall stack of papers with her.
“Maybe you should tell Edward not to report today, Sir. The weather is like it is. It might be safer for him to stay at the dorms for the time being.”.
“That’s a good idea, Lieutenant.” he admitted absently, staring out the window and watching the raindrops run down the glass as he picked up his phone and dialed the number for the dorms.
He let the phone ring once, twice, three times. It just kept ringing.
He sighed, shaking his head and dropping the phone back into it’s cradle.
“Either he’s already on his way or he’s ignoring me. Regardless, it’s probably fine- Fullmetal isn’t exactly like other kids. He’s older than the other two were, wouldn’t be out playing in the street- and he has alchemy.”.
“Of course. I’ll let you know when he arrives.”.