Thicker Than Your Blood (Fullmetal Alchemist Reader Insert)

Chapter 9 ~ The Offer

Ring. . . . . Ring . . . . .

"Hello?" You drearily asked into the receiver of the telephone.

"Hey (Y/n); it's me, Alphonse," came the armored boy's voice. A few seconds after that came another voice –a frustrated-sounding and somewhat muffled voice thanks to being far away from the phone- but a voice nonetheless. "That was Edward saying 'hi'," Alphonse clarified.

"Oh, hi Al, hi Ed." You managed to crack a smile at their comedic greeting. "You sound like you're doing well, Al. Ed seems a little unhappy." You laughed at your joke humorlessly.

"Are you alright? It sounds like something's wrong?"

"Is it that obvious?" You muttered to yourself before answering. "It's my sister. She –uh- had another seizure, an- and isn't doing very well." Your voice broke once, you cleared your throat. "I'm just worried, that's all," You hoped that you were freaking out over nothing. "How's it going in central? I'm guessing Ed saw his boss and is still mad about it," you joked, changing the subject as you leaned against the counter that held the phone.

"Heh heh. Yeah, brother already met up with the Colonel, and is still moping." Alphonse said.

"I'm guessing the meeting didn't go too well then?" You briefly paused to see if you could hear your sister, but no sound was coming from her room. She was probably resting.

"Well. . . It wasn't the best, but, knowing Ed, it could've been worse." You then heard the all-too-familiar sound of Edward protesting in the background.

"He's got quite the reputation, doesn't he?" You asked, Alphonse laughed lightly. "So, what made Ed mad this time? I'm guessing it had to do with either his height or milk?"

"I don't think either of those things was brought up," his soft voice said. "Actually –uh-" you thought you heard the sound of Alphonse's armor as though he was walking around; then you heard his voice, yet you couldn't hear what he said exactly.

'Probably talking to Ed,' you thought as you moved so you were now sitting on the counter-top; both of your feet dangled a few inches from the ground until you pulled one leg up and rested your head against your knee. It'd been a long day.

"Hello?" someone verified you were still on the line. You recognized Edward's voice, he sounded a little irritated.

"Hey, you alright?" you asked him, concerned about the strain in his voice.

"I'm fine," you heard him say.

"Then what's gotten into the two of you? You seem like you're almost paranoid," you said, fluent in sarcasm.

"The colonel suggested that you join the military."

. . .

"HAHAHAHAHA~" you suddenly burst out laughing. You clutched your sides as you continued to laugh. "You've got to be kidding me, -haha- seriously? For all that build up, I would've thought something serious was happening," you said breathlessly. "If the military wants me to enroll, that must mean Amestris is in REALLY bad shape!" By this point your sides hurt and you had to wipe a few tears from your eyes.

You heard laughing from the other end, "Haha, I guess we did make that seem more dramatic, didn't we, Al?"

You briefly paused for a second as you absorbed what they just said. "That was a joke, right? Or was that actually serious military stuff?" you were perplexed as to why they would want you to join, The military couldn't be in that bad of shape that they would need someone like- no, it couldn't be so bad that they need your help. Could it?