Demigods, Wizards, and Alchemists

Incentives and Instincts

"blah blah"- Speaking Greek (or a dream)

"blah blah"- Speaking Amestrian (The first bit of this chapter is all in Amestrian though, so it's not bolded)

'blah blah'- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

Disclaimer: Seeing as I am neither British, Japanese, or a man; I am neither J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, or Rick Riordan, which means I do not own their respective works. In addition, I do not own the song 'This is War' by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Edward

     Edward Elric was less than pleased, to say the least. In fact, he was the farthest thing from pleased. He was the exact opposite of pleased. He was so far from pleased that he may as well have been on the other side of the world from 'pleased'. To put it simply, he was majorly ticked off.

     "You're sending me back?" Edward cried, slamming his metal fist against the desk in front of him, which resulted in a fist-shaped dent in the wood. "Why?! Why not send someone else?!"

     Colonel Mustang didn't budge from his seat, completely unfazed by Edward's rage-induced fist slamming and yelling. No wonder, considering it was a regular occurrence for him. "Fullmetal," he began calmly, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't damage my furniture any more than necessary. This desk is expensive, you know."

     "It's not like you paid for it," Ed retorted, crossing his arms and glaring at the colonel. "And you didn't answer my question! Why me?"

     "Because, Fullmetal," Colonel Mustang said with a long-suffering sigh, "the headmaster requested for you to be sent, and the Fuhrer decided that it was in Amestris's best interests to at least try to stay on good terms with England." Mustang smirked at the fuming boy in front of him. "To be honest, I'm surprised they wanted you to come back at all – you're not exactly the most pleasant individual, after all."

     "Screw you too, bastard," Ed grumbled before turning back to the subject at hand. "I can't leave again!" He yelled. "I have more important things to do than waste time teaching a bunch of ignorant magic kids about alchemy!"

     Mustang raised an eyebrow. "Haven't you considered the fact that this 'magic' could help you get Al's body back?"

     Ed scoffed, glaring even more intensely at the colonel; if that were possible. "Maybe I would have if I'd had any time to do research, but I was too busy teaching." He spat out the last word as if it had personally offended him.

     "Well, that problem has an easy solution." Mustang laced his fingers together and leaned forward. "Alphonse is permitted to accompany you this year," he stated.

     Edward froze mid-protest, mouth open, and eyed the colonel warily. "What made you change your mind?" He asked cautiously.

     "You mean you can't accept my actions as a show of generosity?" Mustang asked with mock dejection. "I'm offended, Fullmetal."

     "I'm sure," Ed retorted, rolling his eyes. "I don't like being in debt to anyone, least of all you."

     Mustang merely smirked again and slid a folder across the desk. "This has all the information you need. You'll be taking the same train as last year."

     Edward begrudgingly accepted the papers, a scowl fixed upon his face. "This had better be worth it," he hissed before turning on his heel and storming out of the office.