The Gunslinger Alchemist (Fullmetal Alchemist Fanfiction)

Within minutes, Carlyle was sitting by the Town Hall's switchboard. The room he sat in held ten telephones, and four of them were ringing simultaneously. In the background, several of the employees at the Town Hall were purposefully walking back and forth, connecting phone lines and writing down where the call was coming from.

"Just to confirm, all these calls are coming from the military base in West City?" Carlyle asked the secretary that had escorted him and Hotchkiss to the switchboard.

"Yes, sir," the secretary confirmed.

"Among the callers, who has the highest rank?" Carlyle asked with a sigh.

"That would be Major General Fairchild," said one of the Town Hall's employees.

"Better start with him, then." Carlyle said. "Everyone without top-secret security clearance, get out."

Everyone other than Carlyle filtered out of the switchboard room, leaving him alone with several furiously ringing telephones. He sat down at the phone that he knew was connected to General Fairchild's office and picked up the earpiece.

"This is Carlyle," he said quickly.

"Is it true!?" the voice on the other side demanded. Carlyle had never met General Fairchild or heard his voice, but the voice he heard fit the description. Fairchild was a forty-three year old career soldier. He was young as far as major generals went, and Lieutenant General Schneider had put him in charge of the ongoing border war with Creta.

Major General Fairchild could have risen to the top of the hierarchy if not for his absolute lack of desire to engage in military politics. His only desire was to fight and kill the enemies of Amestris. This hard-headed personality and uncritical loyalty helped him rise quickly through the ranks to his current position, but it prevented him from rising any further. As such, Fairchild had languished in his current rank for more than eight years.

"Is it true that Schneider nominated you as the new Western Commander?" General Fairchild asked.

"Yes, sir," Carlyle said unhappily.

"Let's put a moratorium on the word 'sir' until we figure out who's in charge. You'll need to come back to West City while we figure all this out."

"I understand."

"Right," Fairchild paused for a moment. "Captain Heinrich, tell Major General Canberra that I was able to connect to Colonel Carlyle!" He paused once more as he turned back to his phone's receiver. "I should ask, what is your intention now?"

"I don't know, s…" Carlyle had to stop himself from using the word sir. "I don't know, General Fairchild. I am obligated to follow Schneider's orders, but it would be terrible for the country if I ended up as the Western Commander."

"That's too bad, because that just happened. As of ten minutes ago, you're the Commander of the West Area and all ten million people who live there. I can't reverse the decision, since Schneider still outranks me."

"Oh, God. Can't you convince him to reverse his decision?"

"He's not here anymore. After he told me about his decision to resign, he disappeared completely. There were some reports of blue lightning, and a section of wall was clearly rebuilt with alchemy."

"That's for the best. He's one of the most dangerous alchemists in the country. It's good that he just ran and didn't hurt anyone."

"In other circumstances, talking about a superior officer like that could get you in a lot of trouble," Fairchild chided Carlyle. "Considering Schneider's behavior, I'll let it pass. What happened during your phone call, anyway? Did something happen that resulted in his… behavioral shift?"

Carlyle paused for a long moment. He wanted to tell Fairchild the truth, but he could not. "I can't tell you that."

"Ah, I see. He forbade you from telling me."

"Hmm," Carlyle said noncommittally. "If I can't stop Schneider's order making me the Western Commander, then I'll just re…"

"Hold on just a second!" Fairchild said, loudly interrupting Carlyle. "I would highly recommend waiting until you're in West City before you - theoretically - start throwing around words like 'resign' or 'step down.' We've had enough major institutional changes for one day. At least we have a Western Commander right now. If you resign right now, no one would know whether I or Canberra will take your place."

"Who will be the Western Commander after me?"

"I think it should be me; Canberra thinks it should be him."

"Oh, no."

"You see, I have much more experience, but Canberra claims that his position as head of Internal Affairs in West City makes him more suitable as a replacement for Lieutenant General Schneider. If you ask me, we need someone who's willing to pursue a hard line against the Cretans as the Commander of the West Area."

Carlyle had to stop himself from vomiting with anxiety. Was he really being asked to make such an important decision? The decision between Fairchild and Canberra would change the course of Amestrian history for generations, and Carlyle was just a young man with some alchemical knowledge. He was in no way qualified to do such a thing.

"No," Carlyle said with more conviction than he felt. "I'm just a State Alchemist. I'm not going to make this decision. Here's what's going to happen. I'll be in West City in three days. If you and Canberra haven't worked out who will be the next Western Commander by then, I will flip a coin!"

"But…"

Carlyle slammed the receiver down on the phone stand. It was only a few seconds later that he realized the enormity of what he had just done. He had just angrily hung up on a major general. Fairchild could have him killed and not lose any sleep over it.

The pit in Carlyle's stomach grew stronger with every passing second, and he was only able to calm himself by thinking back to his time in Ishval. This was just like the Civil War. If he ended up dead, at least he died for his country. The wrath of Fairchild was no more dangerous than a speeding bullet fired by an angry Ishvalan, and Carlyle had survived plenty of those. As long as he stuck to his convictions and served his country faithfully, he could die without regrets.

Carlyle strode out of the switchboard room, passing Lieutenant Hotchkiss and half a dozen other employees of the Town Hall. Hotchkiss fell in beside him, and Carlyle was grateful to know that at least one person would stick with him.

"If anyone else asks for me, tell them I'm on the next train to West City," Carlyle told the blonde secretary that had escorted them to the switchboard room.

Carlyle was bombarded with questions from the secretary and the employees, but he remained completely silent and walked resolutely to the Town Hall's front entrance. It was only when he had left the Town Hall with Hotchkiss that he finally spoke.

"You might want to jump ship soon, Hotchkiss. I think I just antagonized a general."

"An Amestrian general?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"If it's you, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Carlyle smiled at the Lieutenant's heartening words. As a career soldier, he felt much more confident with another soldier watching his back.