Bang

The sounded bounded off the buildings of Central and Colonel Roy Mustang began to run.

Where was it coming from?

Passing street after street soon the buildings morphinto shapes from beating down rain, from thunder that cracked overhead, from lighting that lit up the city.

Bang, another gunshot rang out to the frigid air. It was close, he was getting closer. A body, blond hair tainted with red was spread on the slick ground flashed from a shadowy alleyway. Roy stopped.

Blood, there was so much blood that was tangled together with the small fifteen-year-old boy. The victim was Edward Elric, a subordinate of Roy's.

Taking out his gun the shooter could be here, watching, waiting. Maybe this was a trap?

But there were no footsteps, it was dark and the shooter would have to be at blank range. Roy lowered the gun, ran over to Edward and knelt down looking for a pulse. One was found, it was faint and getting weaker.

Why Roy thought, but a female voice came from the entrance of the alleyway cut the thought short.

"Sir-"

"Find a phone, call an ambulance now!" Roy snapped to the female who was known as First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, another subordinate of Roy's.

He listened to the splashing of footsteps fade into the distance while keeping a finger on Ed's neck. The feeling of slow beats brought a level of comfort.

"Please, stay with us." Roy pleaded low enough that the rain masked the words.

Roy jolted from the nightmare, sweat cleaned itself to his black hair. A quick glanced at the clock hanging on the cream colour wall read 6:15 A.M. The small waiting room with mix matched bright colour chairs were crammed against the walls were empty.

White cheeks painted faint red at the thought of staying in the hospital the whole night. Roy wondered if there was news on Edward's condition. But the question that wrecked havoc on Roy's tired mind was, who and why shot Edward?

Both boys, Edward and his younger brother Alphonse had enemies, but could one really be that desperate for revenge hoping killing one could bring back their lives that were ruled by lies and deception. No, anyone who met the boys would know that there was no bring back what was dead.

"Roy Mustang."

Roy turned to see a nurse beside the chair.

The standardized, nursing dress hung just above the knees. Sarah was written on the golden name tag that was pinned above her heart. Short blond hair curved around a rounded jaw line, high cheekbones were covered in a dusty red making her blue eyes that were tainted with dullness stand out a bit more. Roy stumbled out of the chair.

"How's Edward?" The sentence came out fast turning into something barely understandable.

"Edward's condition is stable, though the next couple of days are crucial. If the gunshot wounds, one to the chest and the other to the right leg, was to reopen there's a greater possibility that he might die. Besides those, there're two puncture wounds on the neck and we are unable to find what caused them."

"Can I go see him?"

"Edward needs his rest, it would be for the best to leave him alone." The nurses said, then turned around and walked out of the room.

Roy sat down. Edward was fine.

A strip of light from the windows that covered most of the far wall illumined the white tiled floor. Roy's eyes bounced off the floor over to the window but got pulled to the wooden side table, more specifically the newspaper that was dated two days ago, September 10/ 1914 lay on top a stack of magazines.

The headline read, "Murderer struck again, is anyone truly safe?" Following paragraphs of the latest victim stating, who they were, how they died, which was the greatest mystery to the military and anyone working the case, two holes on the neck and drained of blood.

Roy stared wide eyes at the paper. There's no way. But Roy couldn't deny the facts. He sprung out of the chair and trying not to look suspicious, calmly walked out of the waiting room. Following the arrows leading to the phone station. His fingers spun the wheel, diluting a phone number. A click came and then ringing, once, twist and on the third, someone picked up.

"Yo!"

"Hughes, what are you doing in my office?"

"Oh, hey, right now we're going over what was found at the crime scene," Hughes said in a somewhat cheerful voice.

"And did you find anything?" Roy said, hoping that something could contradict the theory.

"Just some diluted blood and shell casing that was it. How's Edward?"

"He's ... Fine, but there –" Roy swallowed; his throat was dry. The theory that was swirling around would sound ridiculous to anyone working the case. The murderer was notorious for not leaving any evidence, so leaving a witness was wishful thinking."Fullmetal might have survived an attack from the murderer."

The line went silent, maybe for a moment or maybe longer, Roy couldn't tell. Then, Hughes came back on.

"Everyone wants this case to be closed and to think that the murderer had left a witness-"

"I know, it sounds ridiculous, but one of the nurses said they had found two holes on Fullmetal's neck. Maybe we had missed something, a clue that could point to the killer changing their MO. I am heading to headquarters help out."

"No," There was a hint of amusement laced within Hughes's voice. "Stay there, when the kid wakes up, someone should be there." And then as if persuading Roy more Hughes added. "Once Edward wakes up we will be able to get to the bottom of what really happened and if your theory is correct." Hughes paused and said in a low whisper. " Edward could be in danger."

Puzzled by the sudden change in tone, but quickly came to a conclusion. "Is Alphonse there?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, he came in this morning frantic saying that Edward might be missing. Edward never met up with him at the library yesterday and never made it to the hotel last night. I persuaded him to say here, I had no choice we had to know everything that happened leading up to the incident. Right now Fury is asking Al questions. Right now we know that Edward would go out for nightly walks, it started about five days before the shooting, but that's it." Hughes paused and then added. "Roy, please stay with him."

"Fine," Roy said, then hung the phone on the hooks.

Lingering at the phone station with a half smile. Hughes knew him way too well, maybe it was that they had been friends for a long time or maybe it was that both saw each other at their worse. Hughes knew that deep down Roy wanted to say here, knew that if Roy came back to headquarters, he would be twirling a pen and staring out the window, thinking or jumping every time a phone rang. Roy turned around and walked towards the waiting room.

A small smile appeared as Sarah walked down the many halls. Stopping in front of a door with 308 printed in the middle she opened the door. A sleeping boy lied on the bed, long blond hair was spread on the white pillow like liquid honey. Sarah walked to the boy while pulling out a needle and a bottle from her pocket.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this," Sarah whispered to Edward.