Roy Mustang's sister

Chapter 8

I groaned and smacked my head against the table, copying the pose of my companions. "Why does this encryption have to be so damn hard to figure out?" Edward moaned, Alphonse whimpered, his helmet piercing a piece of paper. "Brother? Maybe we should ask Dr. Marco about this directly." Ed sat up, "No way! That would be admitting defeat!" I sighed and looked at him from my position, "So this is a contest between you two now?" I asked tiredly.

Before Ed could answer, we heard a small voice ask, "Excuse me?" We looked up to the doorway, Shesca was there. "Shesca?" Ed asked in surprise.

She smiled at Edward and I once Brosh left, "Thanks to the money you and Reyna gave me, Edward, I was able to move my mother to a better hospital." She bowed, "I really appreciate it." Ed waved his hand dismissively, "Na, it was no big deal." I nodded in agreement, she looked up and smiled kindly at us, "Have you had any luck deciphering it so far?" Just like that, our black cloud of misery was back. I smashed my head against the table again and Ed scowled.

Alphonse looked up at her and asked, "Have you found another job yet?" Now the black cloud moved over her, but she looked up again, "Anyway, thank you three for helping me. It was nice to know that even a pathetic mess like me can help out sometimes." She bowed again, "So thanks for that as well." Alphonse was the first to speak, "You're not a pathetic mess," She gasped in surprise as he continued, "I think that the kind of dedication you show in reading is a talent all on its own." She looked at him in surprise, "And besides that your memory is incredible! You should have more faith in yourself!" I was surprised by the conviction in his words.

Shesca smiled at him, "Thank you Al!" She said cheerfully. Before we could say anything else, the door smashed open and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes stepped through the door. We looked at him in surprise, "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes." Edward said in surprise, "Major Armstrong told me you three were here." Hughes said seriously, then he slammed his hand on the desk, making all of us jump, "What gives Ed? I told you to give me a shout the next time you made it to Central!" He said cheerfully. How could he do that?! I had wondered that most my life, he was bi-polar or something!

Ed grabbed his head and stuttered, "Oh uh, something urgent came up, sorry." Hughes stood up, "It's just swell, I understand." He turned to me, "So, you're an Alchemist now huh? You should've told me! Well done Reyna! I'm proud of you! And now you're running with Fullmetal?" He laughed and continued his conversation with Ed, his praise rang in my ears.

Hughes wasn't like Roy, he actually paid attention to my accomplishments, Roy didn't. I had hoped my fight with Roy wouldn't damage my relationship with Hughes, and it looks like it didn't.

After he and Ed got small talk out of the way Hughes sighed and said, "We've had a lot of cases to deal with lately, we're still working on getting the Tucker/Chimera situation settled." I had heard about that, Ed had told me his previous adventures yesterday to pass the time. That poor girl...

Hughes stopped midsentence, "Sorry, I guess that brings up some unpleasant memories huh?" Ed was looking down in guilt, Hughes pulled up a chair, "Anyway, as if things weren't bad enough already, the first branch had to burn down in the middle of all of this." I exchanged a look with Ed, Shesca, "It's been a problem then?" Ed asked, Hughes waved his hand, "A big one! All our records were stored and stacked in that location! Trying to work without them hasn't been a picnic, let me tell ya." A light bulb when off on all of our heads and we exchanged a look, Hughes noticed and asked, "What?" We all looked at Shesca, she gasped as she caught on.

Ed stood up, "Hey Lieutenant Colonel! I think I've got exactly the person you guys are looking for!" Shesca looked away thoughtfully, "Well I have read the Military's case records, I think I still remember them all." Hughes stood up in determination, "That's all I needed to hear Lady, You're hired! My office pays well so don't worry!" Shesca gasped in surprise, "You're saying you want me?" She turned to us with a big smile on her face, "Thanks so much! I'll have faith! Just like you told me to! Thank you!" Hughes grabbed her shirt and started to drag her out of the room, "Come on now! Right to work!" He said cheerfully as he dragged her out.

Ed smirked with a pen in his mouth, "She may not be thanking us for long." Alphonse and I snickered, "Hughes is a slave driver!" I agreed. Then the black cloud came back and Edward muttered, "How did you put it Al? That Dedication is a talent all its own? Very smooth little brother, very smooth." Alphonse leaned on his hand, "Well, it's something I was think when I see a certain someone I know." The pen flew through the air and Edward caught it, "In that case a certain someone should get back to work, or you're going to have to come up with another motivational phrase!" His mood was infectious and we all got back to work even harder than before.

Several times Ed would scare Al and I by jumping up and screaming in frustration, Ed and I both fell asleep several times while Al kept going and after days of rewriting everything into the proper form we had books piling higher than Al was tall stacked on the table. After 10 days we finally saw what we were looking for, and it horrified me.

Edward flipped the table over in his rage and screamed, "To hell with it!" Our work was scattered everywhere when we sat on the floor, Maria and Denny peaked in cautiously, probably expecting to see us throw knives at them or something.

Denny walked in and cried, "What did you guys do to this place?!" Maria nodded and added, "Don't get angry 'cause you can't crack it, throwing things won't help!" "We did crack it." Alphonse muttered quietly, they gasped, I nodded, "We cracked the code and decrypted the notes." I spat, Denny smiled at us, "Really you did? But's that a good thing isn't it?" Ed slammed his fist into the ground, "There's nothing good about this Dammit! This is the devil's research, it should have been destroyed." I agreed with him, why would anyone do this?! "Dr. Marco was right, it's evil." He said while grabbing his head.

Denny cautiously asked, "What's so evil about it?" I locked my jaw and spoke, "The main ingredient for a Philosophers stone, is human life." They both gasped, I felt sick. "To make even a single stone you have to make multiple human sacrifices." I continued, my voice raw. Denny looked horrified, "How could the military authorize research into something so horrible?!" He cried in shock, Maria gagged, "I can't believe it! How awful!"

Ed quietly said, "Do us a favor, don't speak to anyone about this." Denny kneeled down to our level, "But Sir!" He cried, "Please." I begged him, "Just pretend you never heard any of it." They both gasped again in surprise. But promised us they wouldn't. Who would be this insane to even try to make this?

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