Housework

*Sigh* I lied, and I do apologize for it. I didn't think I would be able to complete a chapter, but I did and am working hard on the next one. So, no more guessing as to when chapters will be finished, they'll just show up. On a side note, I have discovered that wikipedia has a HUGE section on FMA, so, there shouldn't be too many more errors. If you see some, point them out, I'll fix them right away. For some reason, Roy's day is lasting ages, but it seems to be working alright, so no big deal. Thanks for reviewing, I'll keep on it.

Secondary Crimes

The Flame Alchemist watched for a few minutes, admiring his new charges and considering how lucky he was to have received two well behaved young men in his charge. After a bit, he decided to do some more work, they had places to go that evening that did not include the office. An hour passed before he was interrupted.

A soft knock dragged him from his signing daze and he called for whoever it was to enter. The young man, an enlisted blond, stood uncertainly in the doorway. He snapped off a quick salute and held it until Roy woke enough to acknowledge it.

“Colonel Mustang, sir. There is a problem with one of the training fields, sir.”

'Uh huh, and? Why was this man bothering him with things like that? And how did he get past Hawkeye anyways?' He just looked a the man before him, who appeared to be awaiting an answer of some kind. “Drill Sergeant Rose is in the East field and Carter is in the North. They can help you with your problem, I'm sure.” He turned his attention back to the pile on his desk, considering the matter done. A clearing throat proved him wrong.

“It's, ah, a problem with the equipment, sir. In the West field.” A faint red tinge was climbing his cheeks. He swallowed nervously.

'In the West field? Isn't that where... Oh damn.' Roy bounded to the window, pressing his nose to the glass. He could just hear faint booms and watched in horror as little puffs of smoke rose above the field. All he could see through the haze were two forts but he had a pretty good idea of what was happening. “Lieutenant! With me!” He stormed out the door and down the stairs, striding across the compound. The noise got louder as they neared the field and once they got to the edge, they could see two forts, guarded by two little figures.

The boys were standing to the side, directing their “armies” of clay figures to attack each other. Al was winning, his forces using strategy to overwhelm Ed's more numerous agents. Laughter and shrieks of outrage followed each coup. Roy considered them for a moment. 'This isn't so bad, we'll just put the equipment back the way it was. They do need to learn to be more quiet though.' He cringed as one last yell echoed when Ed's fort was captured.

Suddenly, Al was running to towards them, looking over his shoulder. “That's cheating! No attacking after you lose!” He turned to face forward and came to a stumbling halt. “Colonel!” A crack sounded behind him and Roy could see a clay cannonball headed for them.

“Duck!” Al hit the ground, his arms over his head, leaving Ed staring horrified at Roy. Three gunshots drowned out the snap. The ball exploded from the impact of one bullet at the same time as it burst into flame and disintegrated. Roy couldn't see this, as a wall had sprung up between him and it, catching two of Riza's bullets. The wall fell softly and the two officers could now see Edward kneeling, shaking, on the ground. Al was still on his stomach but was covered by an arch to protect him. He crawled out and ran back to his brother, lifting him carefully to check for injury. He was waved off and the two walked slowly over and knelt in front of Roy, heads down, shoulders arched to take the coming punishment.

The dark haired man just looked at them. He wasn't sure what to think, true, they had been noisy and destroying government property, and they attacked him, however indirectly, but Edward had protected him as much as Al, and that said something. However. The fact remained that they were sent out here to behave themselves and had interrupted his day, again. Punishment was a must, and he had the perfect idea as to what it should be.

“Well?” Let them say it first.

“We're so sorry sir! We were just running the course, and Brother got tired, so we took a break, but it was boring and we decided to make forts, then it seemed like a great idea to have armies to go with them and Brother tried to take over mine, so I tried to get his and” Al stopped when Roy's hand went to his forehead. “We're really really sorry sir. Are you ok?”

“Yes, Al, I'm fine. Why didn't you come back when you got bored?”

“We wanted to stay outside, it's been a long time since we were able to just be outside together. And you didn't seem to want us in the office. I know we're kinda loud, we tried not to be. We'll put it all back, just like it was before.”

“Yes, you will. Using alchemy to play with government property is not allowed, understand?” Nods from both. “Also, as you have now disrupted my day, again, even after you were told to behave and be more quiet, punishment is in order. Do you agree?” Nods. “Then, you will run.”

Both head came up abruptly. “Run, sir?” A note of almost fear had crept into Al's voice.

Roy allowed a self-satisfied smirk to cross his lips. “Yes, run. On that course, you will run until I tell you to stop. You may begin now.” His grin widened at the look in Ed's eyes. The two stood and slowly walked to the course, kicking up red dust with their feet. They looked pitifully over their shoulders at him, begging him to reconsider this, but he just waved them on. “Lieutenant, please return to the office and have my work sent out here. I need to keep an eye on these two.”

“Sir, I don't think that is best. Forgive the insubordination sir, but you really should return to the office.” Riza was not looking forward to spending her day outside in the sun, and she couldn't leave her Colonel by himself.

“Just have it sent out, and a table please. Oh, and have Havoc bring out lunch in an hour. They should be pretty tired by then.” This was possibly the best idea Roy had had in a long time; he wasn't stuck in his office and he could keep a close eye on these two at the same time. “Speed it up you two, I know you can go faster.” This was great.

Forty five minutes later, Roy was happily working on signing the bundles of paper that had arrived with his desk and two chairs. He was not as happy that Hawkeye had decided to join him, she didn't let him watch his boys for more than a few seconds at a time, but she was being fairly lenient because he was working, so he didn't mind too much. Every once in a while, Edward would stumble, but he kept moving. Al moved smoothly at a fast pace, lapping his brother repeatedly. He was unconcerned, they would stop if they had to, before any damage was done.

Hawkeye was less blasé about the whole thing. “Sir? I'm not sure this is the best way to deal with their energy. Perhaps a rest would be in order?”

“Hmm? Why? They're alright, he'll stop if he has to. And it's not like Al will get tired, he can just go until Edward has had enough, then they can rest.”

“I'm not so sure, sir. He is looking pretty worn already. You didn't say he could stop, he might not.” Roy had told his office everything, so they would know what to expect and what not to do if he wasn't around.

'Maybe...' “Naw, he'll stop. He's fine.” Even as he said the words, Edward hit the ground, hard. Roy stood partially, but Ed was already on his knees, pushing himself to his feet. Al stopped to lift him and brush him off. “Al, leave him. Keep going.”

Al looked over at him, then at his brother. He squared his shoulders, “No, sir, I can't do that.” Ed's knees gave out and he slid to the ground again, fighting to get back up. “Brother!”

Roy stood completely, opening his mouth to call them to him, but a harsh sound stopped him. “Go.” He stared, that couldn't be...”Get going Al. I'm fine.” Roy had heard him before of course, but whispers, indistinct conversations with Al, overheard through doors. This was the first time he had really clearly heard Edward's voice. 'What the hell happened to it?'

“Come here you two.” Al tried to help Edward to his feet, but his legs wouldn't hold him anymore. He finally swung his older brother into his arms and carried him to the table, setting him in Roy's chair when motioned to it. Roy stood over them. “Why didn't you stop?”

“You said not until you told us to.” Al was answering again, Edward turning his face away. “You said we had to keep moving.” There was an accusation there, of not caring, of abusing the fragile trust.

Roy stood, his lieutenant behind him, staring at these boys, who would run themselves into the ground because he said not to stop. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to decide the best possible answer to this. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. A subtle jab in the back told him he was out of time to think. “Alphonse, Edward. Just because I say don't stop, doesn't mean you can NEVER stop, it means go as long as you can, as far as you can, do your best, then you can stop. You can always come and say that you need a rest. I don't want you hurting yourselves and I won't force you into something that might harm you. I need you to tell me your limits.” Hopefully that would do it.

“You didn't just want to run us down? For being loud and wrecking things?”

Swallow. “No, I wanted to use up some of that energy so you won't be loud or wreck things tonight. Understand?” A small nod from Al, Edward still had his face turned away. “Edward? Are you alright? Do you want to talk to me?” A tiny nod and a shake were his answers. Sigh. “Well, lunch will be here soon, why don't you two rest a bit, then we can fix the equipment.”

“Oh, we can do that now.” Al stood and lifted his brother, carrying him to the middle of the training field. Ed looked around a bit, assessing what had to be done, then clapped and pressed his hands to the ground. It bucked, rolling away from the pair, returning to it's flat original shape, the equipment they had used in their 'war' returning to it's position and form. In a matter of seconds, it was finished, and Roy was left staring. To do that much, with one transmutation and that tired! The only thing he could think of was, 'He needs to be trained properly to control this.'

When they returned to the table, Al set Edward on the ground and sat beside him. Roy stared for another minute, then, “Al, why don't you tell me about the arrays you use? I don't think I'm familiar with them.” There, that should keep them focused on something.

“Oh, no sir, we design our own arrays. Doesn't everyone?” Al looked expectantly at him.

“Uh, no, Al, they don't. Most people use common arrays to do a series of steps. Like mine. The arrays on my gloves only change the concentration of oxygen in the air. They don't produce flame per se. My gloves produce sparks and I can use those to light things. Can you produce flames?”

“I don't know, I've never tried. Maybe Brother can, he's much better than I am. Brother, try.” Al began drawing an array in the dirt, erasing and adding lines quickly. Roy dragged his gaze away from him and focused on Edward. He was thinking, his brow furrowed lightly while he considered variations.

Finally, a light clap and a ball of flame hovered between his palms before rising steadily and extinguishing itself. “What did you use? Oxygen and? The heat from your hands? Nitrogen?” Edward was shaking his head quickly; he shrugged when Roy stopped guessing, obviously he didn't know either. Al was finishing his drawing and looked up for permission. Roy nodded to him and watched as the array was powered. A little puff of smoke rose, but no flames.

“Huh. Too much water, need more oxygen I think.” He redrew it quickly, making a little change to the symbols. A shot of power and a clean flame grew in the middle of the circle. “Just had to balance it out.” He sounded very pleased with himself.

“Who taught you to do that?” He was going to meet this teacher, whoever it was. They would be invaluable to the military, even only as an instructor.

“I don't know, we've always been able to do it. Mom used to say Father was a great alchemist as well. She was always happy when we did alchemy for her, said it reminded her of him. I never met him, he left right after I was born. We used to read his books a lot. That's were we learned about...” His voice trailed off and he looked down. 'Human Transmutation' Roy finished in his head.

“What was your father's name?” Maybe there would be a record and some information in the library.

“Hohenheim Elric. He used to be a State Alchemist. Do you think there might be records of him?” Eagerness perked up the thin voice. A chance to find out about their father, if they could find him, maybe he could help them.

“I have no idea. Why don't you look at the end of the week?” 'Have Fuery get those records, they can't see what their father was doing. Maybe Havoc would be a better, no, Fuery, Sczieska has a thing for him. Hohenheim has been missing for thirty years, how could he have had children this young?' Roy felt guilty for lying, but he'd tell them, later, when they were older. 'Their potential is unlimited as alchemists, they must be trained to use it properly. I won't let them end up like their father.'