Pills and Buttons

Pellets

Mustang knocked lightly on the door, hearing a soft squeak as it inched open. The barrel of a gun poked out at him. "W-who are you?" The voice was rusted and scratchy, dying of thirst. It was obviously female otherwise, perhaps sweet and higher when she had been at home with her family.

"Colonel Roy Mustang." He flashed his pocket watch and the glove on his hand. "Who are you?" The gun lowered and the door opened wider. The woman had long red hair, reaching for her knees. It was tangled, like it hadn't seen a brush in years. Her eyes were a flared emerald green and her face was thin. She gave him a glare before holstering her weapon.

"The Crescent Alchemist. Call me Cress." She flashed her watch in return, looking a bit smug. "Unfortunately, if you try my file you will not be able to come up with my name so I'll tell you. It's Luna." The Colonel rose his eyebrows, a bit shocked by how composed this girl seemed. She couldn't be any older than Ed himself. He chances the guess of 17.

"You were in that basement with Ed?" He leaned in the doorway, not feeling very safe or welcomed.

"Yes, I was. I suffered through hearing the poor kid scream and starve. I wasn't the one who caged him, if that's what you're wondering. It was my father, Shou Meyer." She stashed the holster and gun away under her mattress, taking a stiff seat in one of the chairs. Luna signed, leaning back. "Think you could get me a hairbrush? And maybe a shower? No one around here will."

"I'll see what I can do." Mustang left her a page to write out her statement, leaving with Hawkeye on his tail. There was one nurse there, one with a missing arm and pinned up brown hair. Her brown sugar eyes turned and looked at them with soft energy.

"Can I help you?" She was polite, taking in who was standing before her.

"Supply a hairbrush and time to shower to room 241A. She needs it." He slipped her some money, just to make sure it got done before allowing Hawkeye to leading him back to the car.

"A hairbrush?" Riza questioned as the strode to the car, a bit wet with rain.

"The girl has a rat's nest of red hair down to her knees. She needs it, trust me." He snorts in amusement, climbing into the driver's seat and starting the engine. "Still live above me?"

"Two floors, sir. It's not directly above you." Riza dared a smile, brushing her thumb over the buttons on her jacket. The rain had stopped when they were inside so the sky was bathed in a navy blue from the approaching night. Street lights started to flicker to life, illuminating Riza's face in a pale white. Roy turned several corners, a comfortable silence between himself and the Lieutenant. Their apartment building came into view a few moments later, the bright yellows of an incoming car blinding them. Roy swerved to the side, just avoiding a hit to the front bumper. A bullet went through the back glass, cracking the front glass and making it hard to see. Mustang parked haphazardly, Riza getting out with her gun poised to shoot. The driver of the second vehicle seemed to have fled so Roy pulled into a space by the sidewalk and got out as well. He carried Riza's coat, his gloves shoved into his front pocket. The fingers hung out limply, bouncing with each of his steps.

"I'll start a claims report, and put the gun away he's not here." Riza was slow but did follow the order, turning to Mustang. "Get some sleep. I'll see you in a few days. You have tomorrow off, remember?" His smirk is forced as he tells her goodnight and jogs across the street into the building. His black boots slap the concrete floor, echoing loudly as he moved to open the door to the front of the building. He threw it open, removing his jacket and forced his gloves into the pocket of his pants. Roy pulled out his keys, heading up three flights of stairs to his apartment door. Something was taped to the doorknob, still in the air. Mustang tugged on one glove and held his gun in the other. His feet inched closer til he could see the picture and finally saw it.

He noticed first that this was from that basement, a vague description of the place in the Major's report. Edward was attached to many tubes and machines, the number made Roy's head spin. There was a flash of red hair in the background, hands shackled together and working. That was Luna. She had been forced to work for her father, who Mustang remember was a decorated doctor at a hospital in Central. He worked the morgue during the graveyard shift with his wife and the ER in the morning. He practically lived there.

Roy tore the image off his doorknob, shoving the key roughly into the slot and heading inside. He tossed his jacket on the first chair he saw, which was one of the pair beside the couch. He headed into his small kitchen, starting up a pot of coffee and sitting on the counter. He held a pen from his pocket and reached into one of the drawers below him for some paper. Claim first, worrying later. Roy sat there for a few minutes, listening to the sound of coffee brewing and smelling it in the air. He rolled his shoulders, hunched over and began to write.