Kain Fuery

Fuery cuts an unassuming figure among Mustang's officers. He is a young man in his early twenties, slight and soft-spoken, glasses perched on a face that almost always carries a smile. Nothing about his gentle, boyish look hints at a hardened fighter, and that mildness tends to be the first thing people register about him.

Kindness defines him. Early on he rescues a stray puppy caught in the rain rather than leave it behind, taking the trouble to see the animal safely homed. Mustang later admits that this very quality, the care Fuery showed toward those serving under him, is why he wanted the sergeant on his team. Cheerful and steady, Fuery becomes a dependable source of encouragement for both the colonel's circle and the Elric brothers. His technical side runs just as deep. A boyhood spent fiddling with radios grew into a military specialty once his superiors noticed the knack, and much of his daily work involves fixing telephone and radio gear and stringing signal line. Timid though he may look, he is no green recruit.

In the manga and 2009 continuity his role carries real weight, opening with the plan to bait the Homunculi using Barry the Chopper. Once Barry lures the enemy in by absconding with Maria Ross, Fuery works undercover as "Kate," watching Falman's safe house from a hidden apartment and passing word between the disguised Hawkeye and Havoc so either can strike at the first sign of trouble. When Gluttony assaults Hawkeye's sniper tower, he rushes in with Black Hayate to lay down covering fire and hand her spare arms, though bullets prove useless until Mustang arrives. After Bradley dissolves the unit, Fuery is the first handed reassignment papers and is shipped to the southern front, where he strings communication cable under shellfire in the trenches at Fotset. He endures, deserts, and slips back to regroup with Mustang's people in Central. During the coup he performs well in the field, and his command of signals proves decisive when the team seizes the Capital Radio station. He is among the multitude drained by the countrywide transmutation, then restored by Hohenheim's safeguard.

The 2003 telling keeps him lighter, mostly comic relief and backup alongside Havoc, Breda and Falman. A memorable beat has him and Havoc grazed by ricochets near Resembool, and later he is dressed up as Hawkeye, using a bogus athlete's-foot diagnosis as cover, to spring Mustang for the Central coup. He also turns up during the Conqueror of Shamballa events. Fitting Mustang's habit of nicknaming his officers after chess pieces, Fuery is the Pawn.