Same, But Different (A Fullmetal Alchemist fan-fic)

Tension Arising

Riza Hawkeye looked out the dirty window of Central. She sighed, thinking of how Ed and El must have been holding up. Those two were so much alike...yet...different in almost every way imaginable. While Edward was rather arrogant in his nature and knowledge, Éclair was brilliant, yet acted like a spoiled know-it-all. 

It had been bugging her for a long time now, why the two were instructed never to meet each other. They seemed to be getting along okay for the most part. As far as she knew, the orders came from above Mustang, which was rather odd since both Halfmetal and Fullmetal reported to Mustang. They were bound to rendezvous at one time or another.

Since her workday was over, she gathered her belongings and left the building rather quickly before Mustang got any more ideas of 'when he was elected further' or any ideas involving his 'tiny mini skirts' project. She was still perplexed at the situation. Mustang himself was the one that made it very clear the two were never supposed to meet...and their avoidance was at all costs. So the answer to why he was completely fine with the two working together now was a mystery. 

It was raining lightly now, which was expected since it was late spring, however the looming dark skies that seemed to linger with the addition of the slush of the melting snow on the ground didn't help the mood nor answer any of the lingering questions that she had. The walk back to her apartment wasn't the most enjoyable, however it wasn't the most bitter thing that she had to deal with today, considering Éclair had made a reappearance and had been just as crazy as ever...even getting Mustang to behave on levels of crazy that she wish she could forget.

Riza unlocked the front door to her apartment to gaze upon the same view that she's had since she was relocated: all the unpacked boxes stacking up taller than the furniture--perhaps she could just replace all the furniture with the boxes at this point. It wasn't long that she'd been here, yet the unpacked boxes were still making her feel enclosed in a fort, like work. 

Hayte had noticed that Riza had arrived back home and came to the door to greet her. He was still full of his puppy dog cuteness, the puppy eyes included. Cute and hyper, yet brave, and protective...just like those kids. The kids she dealt with were the same way. Had anyone seen Éclair dressed not like she was some kind of man with a job, most people would easily mistake her for a rather adorable young girl. She was however very protective on how others saw her, and instead hid any chance of her adorableness with her devotion and piss-poor attitude most of the time. It was a façade that she hid behind, however it seemed to be less of a disguise and more who she was just turning into at this point. Those kids were the first to jump up in battle, just like Hayte was the first to greet the newcomers in the home, yet those kids didn't even regret it at this point--they seemed to want to help anyone including themselves without a second thought.

Did Mustang really mean to keep them separated? Riza's thoughts continued to travel as she began to head to her bedroom to change. Because something did seem a bit off about Mustang that day... 

~ ~ ~ / ~ / ~ ~ ~

Eclair

The next morning seemed to come more abruptly than I recalled it to come, especially since I was awoken due to the burning sensation on my face. It was all because I had forgotten to close the curtains on the dust-coated window. It was obvious neither Trevor nor his father ever came into this room to clean it. I glared out the window, hoping that my irritable glare would get the burning sun to go away, however there was not a cloud in the sky. My growling was rather useless in having a say in the weather. 

And my leg felt rather loose. Great. That just meant today was going to be very hot, sweaty, and most of all uncomfortable in a house full of men.

Gross.

I still didn't have an arm, which made matters quite worse than they needed to be. Now I was hot, sweaty, and irritated. 

Ugh.

I finally threw myself out of my bed to stop the sun from burning my face. I was going to grab a sweater, but since I was already burning I just threw my rather long coat over my tank top. At least that jacket had my notebook in it, could use that as a distraction later. So I took my leave with that and headed out the door to hopefully find food.

As I walked out of the door, I had looked back into my room to see if I had left my pocket watch and dagger there--which I did, both were sitting on the nightstand beside my bed. When I did turn back around, I was unable to see the small child that had decided it was alright to run right into me and not watch where he was walking. Both of us smacked right into each other before falling back on our asses in pain. Edward had smacked right into my chin.

"What the hell?!" We both screamed at each other as we picked ourselves rather irritatingly off the floor.

"Why'd you run into me?!" I inquired, rubbing my chin to try to soothe some of the pain.

"Why'd you run into me?!" Edward yelled back. The two of us began bickering amongst ourselves about whose fault it was...and other tangents. We however couldn't bring our argument to a physical standpoint since neither of us had both of our arms to be able to perform any alchemy.

Besides, it wasn't as fun fighting people without an arm. And it wasn't fair to fight someone at such a disadvantage.

"WHATS YOU FRICKIN' PROBLEM?!?!?!" Trevor stormed out from his workshop, grease stains littering his forehead. He had his welding face mask out over the top of his head, and a small blow torch in hand. 

See normally this should've scared me. But this was Trevor, the best of the workshop we were talking about. He leaves that workshop--cave--for too long and he starts to shrivel up and burn in the sun, or something like that.  

Kidding, kidding. He's not a vampire, just a shop goblin living in his cave.

"Well They ran into me!!!" Edward and I shouted and pointed at each other.  

Our shouting only made Trevor shout even louder. He was enraged because he already has left his cave--I mean shop for too long, "CAN YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?!!! I CAN'T WORK WITH YOU GUYS SHOUTING YOU SHRIMP AND HE-SHE WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE SHOULD DO WITH HIS LIFE!!!" Even Trevor, knowing fully well that I was a girl, still insulted me when he could.

It was fair though, I call him a workshop goblin.   

"What the hell do you mean I don't know what I'm doing?! I know exactly what I'm doing with my life right now and I'm not a he-she! Just because I have a man's job doesn't mean I have to be a man!" 

"I'M NOT A SHRIMP!!!! I'LL RIP OFF YOUR FEET AND THEN SEE WHO'S THE SHRIMP!!!" 

Apparently our short-tempered rage caused our minds to think in sync, because Ed and I clapped the only two hands we had together, my right and his left, before throwing them down on the floor in coordination, making the floor throw Trevor against the wall.

And no, I don't know how we got this level or coordination. We just met. Maybe it's just a style?

Eh, who cares, it looked badass and that's all that mattered.   

Oh, that and now got the shop goblin enraged. Bonus points there.

Or you know, that was the actual original goal.

"I thought I made this clear, NO ALCHEMY ANYWHERE ON MY PROPERTY!!!!" Trevor picked himself up, off the heap on the ground. 

"You don't own this property, your dad does! And last time I checked he's let multiple alchemists even stay in his house. So, HAHA!" I shout with a very weak comeback. My stomach was growling. I needed food. Fighting Trevor was taking too much energy. Food is more important.

So I took my leave and began to walk back downstairs to the main floor to go scavenge the shop for food. I thought I might as well start in the kitchen, usually the place I found the most food.  

Besides, it's not like I was going to go anywhere without an arm anyway. Well, besides the kitchen.