[FMA weird het pairing fic]
Well, it's officially halcyonjazz's BIRTHDAY and I admit I'm sorta stuck on what to give her. She's got all the music I could give her, all the anime, etc, so right now, I'm going with Writing Her Whatever She Bloody Well Wants. So, Chira, if you see this? Leave a request wit me for ANYTHING. Like... ANYTHING. If it crosses your fancy, if it's something you've always wanted to see but never asked for? I'll give it a shot, if I can. :)

I still don't feel this lives up to birthdaygiftomg, as I, like, do that ANYWAY, but.

So! The below is sorta like a...prelude to Chirabirthdayfic, because she said she wanted to see this pairing... yeah! :D Hetfic, worksafe, Fullmetal Alchemist. Spoilers for episodes 13 on.



When Sargeant-Major Fury had transferred as part of Mustang's unit back to Central City, he hadn't expected the city to be so different.

Central had always been a military city, but the presence was much more noticable; soldiers training, more guards than he'd ever seen, and the prisoners.

It was the prisoners that really made things hit home.

From their dusky skin, they were almost certainly from the east; he guessed Lior, though his first instinct was Ishbar - but Ishbar was in the past and the rebellion in Lior was now. Similiar to the Ishbar conflict, from what he'd read, but this time it had started with a civil war and the military had stepped in to try to stem it and had only made things worse. It seemed that happened too often - the military was still something of an outsider to too many cities on their furthest borders.

The prisoners under heavy escort were almost all men, but he stopped and stared at a girl in a white shift, barefoot and angry, who fought against her chains and screamed at her guard. Nervous, certain he was doing something wrong, Fury moved closer, tried to make out words.

"-not! I only, I had to stay with the children! Please, I'm in charge of taking care of them, I-"

Oh God. Fury rubbed his forehead, helpless.

The guard turned and gave her a look. "They say you were one of the temple girls."

"No, I-"

The guard laughed, shook his head. "Well, no matter. You'll be out of my hands soon enough and into Mustang's."

Fury blinked, then stepped forward. "Sir, I couldn't help but overhear - I'm in Colonel Mustang's unit. If I can be any help-"

With a quick look up and down, the guard sized him up. "Sargeant-Major. Apparently this girl mentioned something about the Fullmetal Alchemist, who's under the Colonel's supervision, so General Hakuro is letting Colonel Mustang lead the interrogation. I'll hand her into your care, then." His tone clearly said that he had better things to do.

Into his care? Fury's eyes widened, but he nodded quickly, not wanting to make a bad impression. As the guard left, he turned to the girl. "Um...ah, if you'd follow me?"

She followed, tears in her eyes, expression one of helpless anger. Fury swallowed; the silence was too thick, almost painful. "Ah," he said, "...what's your name?"

Her head rose as she looked at him. "...Roze."

Fury smiled at her. "That's a nice name. Ah - don't worry, I'm sure this will all turn out to be some kind of mistake. The Colonel will work things out." While it was true that Mustang was known to do whatever was necessary, never mind the cost, he was sure that someone this pretty and this helpless would be let go. "It's better that you went to him than to anyone else."

"Mm," she said, voice low, eyes downcast again.

They walked on. They were alone now, in the long series of winding corridors that lead to Mustang's quarter. Even with Roze so quiet and tearful, Fury couldn't help from tensing a little - she'd been in the line of dangerous prisoners, of the rabble-rousers, and even in chains she might be dangerous. He swallowed, tried to put the thoughts out of mind, filled the silence. "I'm Fury. Cain Fury."

She stopped walking.

He turned back and saw her staring at him, eyes wide, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Cain?"

Fury rubbed the back of his head. "Um - yeah."

She burst into tears, folded to the ground weeping as if her heart had broken. Alarmed, he sank down beside her, put his hand on her back. "Hey - hey, Roze? What's - look, it'll be okay, really, Mustang will take care of things-"

Her face pressed into his shoulder, wet, and he heard her voice shake as she murmured against him, "Blessed Leto, thank you for this omen-!"

"Huh?" He patted her back uncertainly. "I don't-"

When she turned her face up to his, she was smiling through her tears. "Let's go see Colonel Mustang."

She was arm against him, and soft, and he pulled away quickly, face red as he helped her to her feet. "You're, um, all right with this, then?"

Roze nodded, quickly. "Yes, I - I believe you."

"Believe-?"

"It'll be all right." She nodded again, smiled shakily. "I believe you, Cain."