Title: Something Nobody Could Do
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: January 13, 2015
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: "Fullmetal Alchemist" belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, Square ENIX, Studio BONES and various other parties.
Author's Note: Mangaverse. Another short written for the fmagiftexchange on Livejournal. This one was for gaia_lulia, one of whose requests was fics covering what happened to Sheska around the Promised Day and after.

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           The second time Colonel Mustang came by the Investigations Department, Sheska almost asked if there was more she could do to help. But, what could a nobody like her do? Unsure, she stayed silent.

           The third time the Colonel came, she started to do the same. Until Alphonse Elric’s words came back to her.

           “You’re not a nobody. I think being so passionate about something is a talent in itself.”

           It gave her the courage to finally speak.

           “C—Colonel Mustang, is... is there something else I can do to help you find out who killed Mr.—Brigadier General Hughes?” Clasped in front of her, her hands knotted and unknotted nervously. “I know I don’t have many skills, but... he was so kind to me.”

           For a minute, the Colonel’s dark eyes searched her.

           “Hughes had you copying records, didn’t he?”

           She nodded. “Re-recording the criminal files that were stored in the First Branch of the library before it burned. I... I had read them.”

           His eyes sharpened. “You remember everything you read.”

           “Y—Yes, sir.”

           “Then, I have some files I’d like you to read.” He half-turned. “I’ll send a list.”

           And, he did. The lists came to her tucked into her groceries, written on cards hidden inside gift-wrapped books. They came from odd people with odd requests. They came in a thousand ways concerning a thousand topics. She read case files from the oldest to the newest, from lists of evidence to lists of names.

           It was random and nonsensical, but Sheska did it. Reading, after all, was easy. The hard part was remembering to tear herself away to resume her duties.

           She only wondered if she was achieving anything.

           Then, months after the upheaval that had torn Central apart, after the sky had gone dark and the world mad, a troop of soldiers approached her desk flanking a short, gray-haired man she recognized from the papers. 

           General-now-acting-Fuhrer Grumman marched up to her. 

           “Excuse me, Miss,” he said politely. “I hear you’re the one to talk to about some records that were destroyed during the coup.”

           “R—Records?”

           “Yes, it seems some officers hoped to avoid prosecution by destroying evidence of their crimes.” He shook his head. “If we had those records, it would be a great help in identifying the remaining conspirators.”

           “I… I might have read some of those.”

           In fact, she was sure she had.