Full Metal Fury

Author Notes: This is the first fiction I've written in a long time so please forgive me beacuse I'm a tad rusty. The style may alter slightly once I fall back into my groove but again, please just bare with me! As well, Edward's character may seem a little off but I was hoping that in his early 20's he would have matured a bit and grown taller :P Well, we'll see.

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Edward Elric stood at the base of the auditorium waving a stack of loose papers in his hands. Out of the twenty five sets of eyes carefully watching his every move, only one of them made him uneasy.

For the hundredth time in the last 2 hours he wondered what unforgivable act he committed that would justify Roy Mustang lounging at the back of his classroom. The Fuher has sauntered in wearing casual clothing at the start of the first bell and seated himself in the back without a word. He had offered Ed a cocky smile as a show of greeting but hadn’t bothered him since.

Well that’s not completely true he thought. The man had been staring at him with such a frightening intensity all afternoon that he had begun to wonder if he were undressing him with his eyes. If not, his gaze alone was enough to make him feel stripped and vulnerable in front of his class. To make matters worse, the more he tried to avoid his gaze he inevitably found that he could not prevent his own from wandering back in that direction.

A feeling of anticipation rose in him only to be quickly squashed as he reminded himself that this ‘man’ was the reason why he was stuck teaching an advanced alchemy prep course for State Alchemists in the East instead of helping his brother track a series of grisly murders in Central. Ed stifled his sigh and tried for a neutral expression.

His voice carried easily though out the classroom as he confirmed that the papers he was carrying were indeed the product of his famous “killer” pop exam.

“Before we begin please put away all your notebooks...The only thing you should have on your desk is a blue or black ink pen.”

Edward paused briefly as his students began to shuffle their belongings back into their bags mumbling about the injustice of it all.

“There is to be absolutely no talking; if you have any questions you can come speak to me directly. You have an hour and a half to complete the 25 written questions but if you finish before the end of the period you may leave once you’ve handed your test face down on my desk.”

Walking up the aisle he slowly counted out the appropriate amount of papers to pass down each row.

“Once you have received your papers you may begin...”

Edward looked up into those haunting brown eyes and felt a shiver go through him. He tried to cover it up by sliding a test onto Roy’s desk with a slight frown.

Roy in turn raised his eyebrow in amusement and glanced down at the paper.

Question #1. Explain the expression "all is one, one is all" and how it refers to the basic three step process of alchemy.

He turned his attention back to Ed with a seemingly innocent look, not failing to notice the sudden defiance radiating in his stance. His lips curling slightly he accepted it without a fuss.

“Thank you...Sensei.”

Ed turned to head back down the stairs and Roy reached out to grasp the cuff of his red jacket. He half turned displaying a mixture of surprise and irritation on his usually carefully guarded features. Taking the hint Roy let his hand fall back and countered with what he hoped was a promising smile.

“Do you have an extra pen, Sensei?”

Muttering some unintelligible remark under his breath Ed stuffed his hand into his jacket pocket and fished out a spare.

“No talking.”