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scriveynerTitle: Dying Lnad
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
AU: Reverse'verse
Characters/Pairing: Ed/Rian
Rating: T
Length: 779
Summary: The Colonel hadn't been at home OR work today.
Rian Martin stomped through the short brown grass, kicking up mud as he went. It was soggy out – the sun had been out earlier, there were still little piles of brackish snow that had been too large to melt during the day left in corners and hidden in shadow, but mostly the ground had turned into a soggy mush. They had moved into that between-time, when winter hadn’t quite let go of the death-grip it had on the country but spring had started to bring out the big guns.
The Colonel hadn’t been at home OR work today; Captain Hawkeye had been the only one in residence and she was actually packing up to head out to the shooting range. Rian had wandered in to be a bit of a butt, he had finally worked out what had been bothering him about a transmutation circle that just had not been cooperating and it wasn’t the change in the binding circles that the Colonel had sleepily suggested a few days prior. It wasn’t often (more like never) that he got to one-up the Colonel so he needed to do so as quickly as possible.
“Where is he?” Rian stood in the doorway as Captain Hawkeye pulled on her coat, buttoning it brusquely. He knew that the Captain knew exactly who he meant, the disappointment in his voice was hard to quickly mask.
Her answer had not satisfied him either; usually Captain Hawkeye was straight to the point about these things. Her answer was oddly evasive, so Rian decided to just go bother the Colonel at home. He was no stranger to the man’s residence, he had been there before delivering papers in off-hours, or worse on pick-up duty in the morning when the Colonel REALLY didn’t want to go to work.
He wasn’t there either. If he was gone away on a mission, Hawkeye would have said something – at least Rian liked to think that she would have told him. So he had no answers, and a strange little nugget of worry had nestled its way into his gut, sinking the bright ball of pride that had been floating around his rib cage all morning long.
The last place to check was the library, but Rian really did not think that he would find the Colonel in residence there. He had more problems being kicked out of the library than any person that Rian knew of five times over; he had probably broken every rule on record and at least a few of the more recent additions to the regulations had to have been effected in order to deal with the colonel through all his years.
Fortunately, the military branch of the library didn’t keep to standard hours. Research happened at all hours of the day and night, and a skeleton staff was on hand after banking hours. Rian nodded to the sole librarian manning the desk, who barely looked up to see him flash his watch as he walked by.
The research rooms where almost all dark, except for the one at the very far end of the hallway. The room wasn’t listed as reserved, but there was a big x through the name slot. Rian nudged the door open and peered in.
Edward was sprawled out on the couch facing the door, dead asleep. A book was held open on his chest, probably the only reason he hadn’t lost it to the floor was because it was his automail hand laying atop it. Rian shook his head in amusement and quietly opened the door, checking his feet as he entered.
It didn’t take long to pick up the mess that the colonel had made of the research room. Rian stacked the books neatly on the table, took Edward’s greatcoat from the back of the door and used it to cover him. Rian kept Edward’s place in the book he was sleeping with, but then sat down on the floor with his back to the couch, holding the book open to the page and skimming down the paragraphs on the page, idly curious about what Edward had been researching.
It took four paragraphs before Rian realized his familiarity with the work. He had read through this book several times in the course of his own research, it was a highly advanced work, one of the few dedicated exclusively to air alchemy.
Edward was reading up on his specialty.
Rian closed his eyes and smiled.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
AU: Reverse'verse
Characters/Pairing: Ed/Rian
Rating: T
Length: 779
Summary: The Colonel hadn't been at home OR work today.
Rian Martin stomped through the short brown grass, kicking up mud as he went. It was soggy out – the sun had been out earlier, there were still little piles of brackish snow that had been too large to melt during the day left in corners and hidden in shadow, but mostly the ground had turned into a soggy mush. They had moved into that between-time, when winter hadn’t quite let go of the death-grip it had on the country but spring had started to bring out the big guns.
The Colonel hadn’t been at home OR work today; Captain Hawkeye had been the only one in residence and she was actually packing up to head out to the shooting range. Rian had wandered in to be a bit of a butt, he had finally worked out what had been bothering him about a transmutation circle that just had not been cooperating and it wasn’t the change in the binding circles that the Colonel had sleepily suggested a few days prior. It wasn’t often (more like never) that he got to one-up the Colonel so he needed to do so as quickly as possible.
“Where is he?” Rian stood in the doorway as Captain Hawkeye pulled on her coat, buttoning it brusquely. He knew that the Captain knew exactly who he meant, the disappointment in his voice was hard to quickly mask.
Her answer had not satisfied him either; usually Captain Hawkeye was straight to the point about these things. Her answer was oddly evasive, so Rian decided to just go bother the Colonel at home. He was no stranger to the man’s residence, he had been there before delivering papers in off-hours, or worse on pick-up duty in the morning when the Colonel REALLY didn’t want to go to work.
He wasn’t there either. If he was gone away on a mission, Hawkeye would have said something – at least Rian liked to think that she would have told him. So he had no answers, and a strange little nugget of worry had nestled its way into his gut, sinking the bright ball of pride that had been floating around his rib cage all morning long.
The last place to check was the library, but Rian really did not think that he would find the Colonel in residence there. He had more problems being kicked out of the library than any person that Rian knew of five times over; he had probably broken every rule on record and at least a few of the more recent additions to the regulations had to have been effected in order to deal with the colonel through all his years.
Fortunately, the military branch of the library didn’t keep to standard hours. Research happened at all hours of the day and night, and a skeleton staff was on hand after banking hours. Rian nodded to the sole librarian manning the desk, who barely looked up to see him flash his watch as he walked by.
The research rooms where almost all dark, except for the one at the very far end of the hallway. The room wasn’t listed as reserved, but there was a big x through the name slot. Rian nudged the door open and peered in.
Edward was sprawled out on the couch facing the door, dead asleep. A book was held open on his chest, probably the only reason he hadn’t lost it to the floor was because it was his automail hand laying atop it. Rian shook his head in amusement and quietly opened the door, checking his feet as he entered.
It didn’t take long to pick up the mess that the colonel had made of the research room. Rian stacked the books neatly on the table, took Edward’s greatcoat from the back of the door and used it to cover him. Rian kept Edward’s place in the book he was sleeping with, but then sat down on the floor with his back to the couch, holding the book open to the page and skimming down the paragraphs on the page, idly curious about what Edward had been researching.
It took four paragraphs before Rian realized his familiarity with the work. He had read through this book several times in the course of his own research, it was a highly advanced work, one of the few dedicated exclusively to air alchemy.
Edward was reading up on his specialty.
Rian closed his eyes and smiled.
