Cardinal sin (2) : A laugh in Vain

15 - Happy times

Mustang was really getting sick of morgues. They were miserable, drab and gloomy places with nearly no other soul around—that is if you didn't believe in the ridiculous idea of ghosts. Plus, in the window of three weeks, two visits to a building where they kept dead bodies were already too much.

Corpses... He hated them. They reminded Mustang of all the lives he took as a soldier in the war of Ishval. Their smell was nauseating and always gave him the urge to hurl.

And then there was Fullmetal. That damn brat, stirring up all this trouble. First, he brings in this shard of glass claiming it's a philosopher's stone. Then, he makes them all mourn him by dying.

To be perfectly honest, when he had been convinced that Fullmetal really was dead, Mustang, when he was completely alone, had let a tear or two leave his eye. His wall received quite a beating for he had cursed and mourned the kid that had always been such a nuisance and yet a ray of sunshine in his otherwise dull military life.

Dying... only to come back and act as if none of it happened! How the General had been shocked when Edward walked in shirtless with almost ghostly red eyes.

'Hey, Mustang. I'm going to need my pocketwatch back.'

And then he simply turned to Phil and Frederick, asked them if they wanted to tag along and left with his two friends in tow. Not a single word more. No explanations—nothing!

Mustang was still at a loss for how his resurrection had worked. Not even Alphonse, who'd witnessed the whole event, could begin to explain. Ever since Fullmetal had left, the complicated question had remained. He just couldn't come up with any sort of theory of how such a flawless human transmutation had taken place right in front of Alphonse without him noticing the alchemist responsible.

Also, there was the issue of how it had been done. In all of alchemy's history, no one had ever successfully brought a person back from death's grip. Only senseless monsters were the result of these kinds of attempts. Failure always awaited those who tried their hand at human transmutation.

Until Ed revived.

That brat was so much trouble. Apparently, he had now dragged into Central the body of Rebecca Catalina, a Second-Lieutenant under Grumman.

Not to mention Hawkeye's best friend.

Mustang resolved to send Ed right back to the grave as soon as they met next, which would happen at the hospital right after they finished their business at the morgue.

He and Hawkeye were following a certain doctor Imogen (or rather the lieutenant was and she guided her superior). From what he'd heard, she seemed like a fragile woman. Mustang's sources had told him that she'd witnessed Ed's revival, too. The General knew just how stressful and disturbing that could be; Alphonse was in terrible shape, still recovering from the shock, holed up in his hotel room, not speaking with anyone.

Presently, Imogen was speaking; "That... that living corpse... he brought in the body this morning and asked me to call you at once, General. Lieutenant. Nearly gave me a heart attack for the second time, too."

"How did she die?" asked Hawkeye. Mustang was surprised to hear so calm.

"Impaled with a metal spear through the chest, apparently. That's what he claims, anyway. Ah well, I'm not the one handling her autopsy, so that's that. Oh, hum... Sorry. I shouldn't talk about my job like that. My condolences, lieutenant."

"Don't worry about it," Hawkeye reassured her. "It's fine."

Again, Mustang was shocked to hear her handle this situation so well. He knew she had suffered when the entire emotional blow of Edward's death and revival had taken place. For a dear friend like Rebecca, he'd expected her to lose that composure of hers that rarely ever failed.

Such happy times.

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Happy Thanks Giving everyone. ( I almost wrote merry instead of happy since I'm listening to Christmas music right now) I'm thanking all the people who read this—every single read is encouraging!!

:)

―SmaugIsADragon