Fic: The Phoney War, Chapter Twelve of Twelve

[bob_fish]

Title: The Phoney War, Chapter Twelve: The Signal Flare
Setting: Fullmetal Alchemist, mangaverse, post-series, slight ending AU.
Characters: Roy/Ed, Havoc/Rebecca, Riza/Miles, Al, Winry, ensemble.
Rating/content: NC-17 overall, this chapter R for violence and gore at about canon levels. Also, character death.
Word count: 12410 this chapter,

Comments

[havocmangawip]

Jean and Becky fist-bumping, praying, and smoking together is adorable and so my head canon.

[bob_fish]

\o/

[orion117]

Armstrong’s moustache wobbled. He looked dangerously close to an outburst of sincerity.

I love that sentence. Wonderful description of Armstrong.

Man, oh man, what a ride! This is my second read-through. I loved Hayate appearing with Miles, and Ed just letting him in without thinking. Hayate could be the Rin Tin Tin of Amestris. Movies could be made about his part in the coup!

[bob_fish]

My betas and I really chewed over what would happen to Hayate, where Riza would leave him before the coup, before realising that in canon she actually takes him along for the Promised Day coup. And of course he's fine! So yes, totally impressive survival work, for a small dog!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. \o/

WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[tierfal]

She raised her fist and he bumped it.
I am so more-than-okay-try-amazing with Team Fist Bump being a thing.

God damn it Hakuro I am going to slit your throat myself don't make me come in there you swine

“Mercury! It’s coming through the floor! Five men down! Request assistance! repeat, assistance!”
OH HOLY FUCKING SHIT
BOB WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME
*gnawing on fingernails*

The little dog turned in a circle, but then obeyed his orders and sat at Miles’ feet.
Nnnhhhnnnnnnnnnn ;________;

“Sorry, Boss, I’ve got you, can you talk, where’re you hit?”
(a) I think my heart stopped
(b) now I'm having Breda/Ed!bromance wibbles

His slowness was worrying.
*weak sobbing around the breath I'm holding*

I'm going to take a moment to point out that standing against Roy Mustang in battle requires a very, very special, very, very brave kind of soldier. A+ there, Hakruo, you miserable piece of SHIT. :D

Roy took a fractional moment to wonder where the hell Armstrong’s shirt had gone. I just snorked (elegantly, of course) trying not to laugh

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[bob_fish]

Thank you so so much for these lovely comments again. They really do make my fannish day - and after a last chapter that has inspired more WHOAH ... D: than YAY \o/, I really appreciate the cheerleading. *hugs on you in hopefully non-creepy manner*

- I am going to call them all Team Fist Bump now. I'm picturing that epic whole-cast fistbump in my head (in which, in my silly shipper way, I totally enjoy that Roy is giving Ed a really sweet grin while their fists are almost touching).
- dire straits is a good time for bromance of all flavours!
- A+ there, Hakruo, you miserable piece of SHIT. Yes, for all his shittiness and occasional not-getting-it stupidity, the guy has some brass balls: taking on Roy, countering scary alchemy with scarier alchemy. It can be a surprisingly deadly combination = second-rate mind + brass balls. I could nerd out like Roy and talk about how in a destabilised country, a dude like Hakuro can sometimes beat a better opponent to the top, although whether he can hang onto that power is a very different matter

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[tierfal]

1. I would like to add a little more YAY \o/ because I am all kinds of YAY about this chapter. idk, I… well, I'm a huge sucker for happy endings; personally I almost never write anything else, and I actually resent fanfic authors who make rocks fall at the end. But that's not what this is; this is a story about immense personal and political risk and a very dangerous, high-stakes game, and it's very authentically canonical-feeling, and one of the huge points of FMA is that there are things worth dying for, and… well anyway I knew this whole sequence was going to go like this, because that's how Final Battles work, and much as my heart was in my throat and of course I was rooting for the easy victory, I couldn't wait to see what would go wrong and what horrible shit would ensue. XD

2. I am probably too affectionate on the internet; there is no such thing as a creepy internet hug!! :DDDDD I've probably offered to elope with at least half of my F-list; I'm pretty much this gif incarnate:

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[bob_fish]

1. I feel like endings which aren't happy can be challenging to make satisfying! So I'm really glad to hear that both the set-up got you on board for shit to go down and that you enjoyed the actual shit going down. Also, the things you say about the scale of it and the risks and the high stakes and that they go in knowing that not everyone might make it out is ... well, exactly 100% what I was going for, so it is so utterly delightful to me that you not only described it like that but felt like it work and really dug it. <3 <3 <3

2. Haha I love that gif!

I'm so glad you're looking forward to more!