Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal alchemist.

Warning: Past MPREG.

Prologue

The disappearance was eerie in itself. Hughes had realized this and yet couldn't help but think that he was the one that caused this. Yes, the man was his best friend and he had allowed the man to do him a favor and take on the case that had seemingly turned up dead ends and he hadn't forced him. But that had been alright, Hughes told himself. If somebody could stir things up and find something that they had needed to find out, it would be Roy. His best friend, buddy, and who he considered a brother hadn't come back however and it had been forty eight hours, not even to check in.

They had people investigating now though and the fact that it didn't start until thirty six hours later was irrelevant. He felt like he betrayed his best friend. The man should've stayed far away from the assignment and not help at all. He was complaining about the supposed homunculi sightings anyways and kept saying that they were complete bullshit. Hughes didn't notice any change in him at the time other than he was wired and angry. Like he got into a fight with somebody.

You probably did, Hughes though sourly. You don't think I don't know you've been faithful to someone all these years Roy. You have a five year old daughter and if that doesn't say anything then I would love to know how Kaylee even came about.

Kaylee was a cutie and Hughes would be the first to say it outright. It didn't take much though for anyone else to say it either. She had Roy's baby face as well as his nose, mouth, and hair. She had the shape of his eyes but that was where the other had come in to play. He had never seen a child with such golden amber eyes but the way it was, she was so adorable that it wasn't even funny. All Roy had had to work on it seemed was to get the child to stop swearing but every single time he brought up the subject, the girl would just pout and state, 'but papa you do it.'

Hughes could not help but sigh. Too many things to do and he still wanted to help in the search of his friend. Roy was important to him, hell when the man wasn't complaining about paperwork, he was a great person. He was also intelligent as well. I just hope the problem isn't that you were too intelligent Roy, Hughes thought somberly. You tend to think that you can do more than you're capable of because its expected of you, not because you want to do it and that scares me. Someday I knew that would get you in trouble, because you don't know how to say no.

Sighing, he picked up the phone which had started to ring.

"Hughes's office. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes speaking." He was so tired, he nearly jumped when he realized it was Kaylee on the other end. He almost swore but remembered that they were trying to break her of the habit and swearing himself would undo all the work they had been doing.

"Hi Hughes. My papa didn't come home yet."

He felt his heart quicken. He had unknowingly told her that he would surely not be more than four days with his assignment but had reassured her that he would come in between the mission and be with her. He hadn't come back at all which had spurred the investigation up to new heights. He hated telling the five year old that they lost her papa but it was evident that he wasn't coming home anytime soon. He wished that wasn't the case but as soon as he began, she cut him off in her cute little voice.

"My daddy was mad when I told him cause he said that he told papa not to. Why did he not listen? Daddy said he listens when he tells papa no."

Maes wondered this as well. Often he would ask who fathered the child whenever Roy told him it was definitely not fun 'to have' a child. He hadn't known that Roy even got knocked up let alone the fact that he had had Kaylee himself. He never did seem to stay with women long anyways. That was before the war though and be damned if he was the little player that everyone rumored him to be. He was always visiting someone and he had just confirmed that it was the man that obviously fathered Kaylee now.

"When did your daddy call you Kaylee and why isn't he with you if he's so worried?" Hughes didn't want to push her but this stuff was one thing that not only Hughes questioned but even the higher ups although he doubted Roy told them he spent fifteen hours himself bringing this miracle into the world.

"He is in jail but papa got to where he could talk to me. He called this morning and I told him where papa? He said he didn't know and asked if I saw him. I said no and he said under his breath, 'Damn it this is stupid. I hate him being in the army and he says no one would leave me dry but now here's the truth right before us. Damn straight! I hate the fucking army!' Then he told me to not worry so much and that both he and papa love me so very much."

Hughes could have sworn that his mouth was hanging open due to the shock of hearing all this. Why would her daddy tell her all that? Did he know that she was repeating everything that he told her? Probably not. That's something he probably wouldn't know being in jail but he wondered who that was. Roy sure never even told him that whoever fathered Kaylee was behind bars. He went on constantly about someday hoping he'd get out but something too about hands being tied. It was more apparent however when Kaylee was first born that he couldn't really cope being a single parent at first. Possibly because of the child's enthused crying at all hours of the night and it was all Hughes could do to help him out.

"Your papa isn't hurt as far as I could tell but-"

"You don't know though. My teacher says that it is very unlikely that I have both a papa and a daddy that made me you know. I was told that when she says that that daddy told me to tell her to shut the fuck up and that she didn't know anything. I know it's bad because papa said I shouldn't swear so much but daddy says she's just a dumbass teacher who thinks she knows it all."

Hughes sweat dropped. Never mind that. Whatever they did was never going to help. And whoever this daddy was was impossibly insane as well. Who'd tell a child, albeit their own, that their teacher should be told to shut up and that she didn't know anything just because of that? He shook his head to get a grasp of the weird situation but couldn't help but think on who it may be. Roy, you got knocked up before the ending of the war and he went to jail didn't he? You were vomiting on the train ride back you idiot and this makes me at least a bit more relieved that you hadn't made this child in prison. But Ishbal! Roy, you ought to feel guilty for doing this. Maybe he had or maybe he hadn't but Hughes didn't know. He was behind a desk when the state alchemists had been sent off to the war.

"Hughes you there? I have to go. Samantha is making me have tomato soup tonight and she said I'm not allowed to hide it in her cats' dishes anymore. It's so nasty though that the cats don't even want it."

Hughes chuckled at that trying to hide the bile from coming from his throat. Roy, you did not make a child with one of the insane alchemist did you buddy, he thought. Most of them didn't make it back though and some even went as far as to kill their own men. You couldn't have, could you? And to continue talking to that person even though they are there. It isn't the ice alchemist and it can't be Basque Grand, he thought. Hopefully not anyways. He didn't know who and nobody had even have a single guess of who it could be. He was regretting not sitting Roy down and asking him more forcefully now.

"Don't worry. If papa is somewhere, he'll come back. My papa can do fire alchemy so whenever he is someplace far away from me, that's how he will get away. And if not, my daddy is going to blow them to smithereens cause he said once that he had nothing before and once he met papa, we came to be his everything."

No shit, Hughes thought. If he was threatening to blow up whoever attempted to hurt the man than he had to be a very dangerous person. He decided that Kaylee was needing a push in the right direction anyhow but for her parents to continuously say stuff like this was surreal, almost annoying. He gulped just thinking of what the man would do if anything were to happen, not that he would think so but so far the investigation had been turning up dead ends.

"Why don't you come over sometime and play with Elysia again?" He hoped idly that she would agree. He didn't want something to happen to her as well.

"No, I can't. Daddy calls me every day with his one phone call that had been permitted to him. He said I should stick here until papa returns or if he needs to break out. If the second one happens, then the guys better hope that they could run because my daddy used to be in the army before he was thrown in there and they are going to be scorch marks on the floor."

"Well then have a nice dinner Kaylee and don't forget to brush your teeth before going to bed." He knew it was hopeless to get the girl to listen.

There has been no one in century's worth of daughters that could get between a little girl and the bond she shared with her father even if the man had to have been a psychotic sociopath so he wasn't even going to fight that anymore. Besides, he knew just how much a girl looked up to the man that had a hand in her creation. It was with the same adoration that his three in a half year old gave him whenever he got home.

"I will, I haven't forgotten yet. You worry too much like daddy except he tells me he loves me very much and he will see me again. I saw him a week ago with papa. I think daddy is missing him because papa tells him good night. I miss them, can you make sure Hughes that papa is safe for me?"

Hughes felt his heart break by that admission. Sure he was angry as the next man that Roy supposedly had gotten knocked up back in Ishbal but he could see real angst with the child who only wanted the two parents that she known to come back. It made him even madder that the girl's father had to land himself in prison. No child should ever have to live going to and from a prison just to see the man. But he also could see from her view point as well. She loved them and to her, love knew no boundaries. He was envious of that childlike love and view of the world but it didn't mean that she would completely stay that way for long. He hated the fact that the world worked that way but there was nothing that could prevent his own little girl from losing her innocence in the future herself.

"I'm doing the best I can okay sweetie?" He heard her giggle and a faint smile made its way to his face.

"Daddy calls me sweetness. Just bring papa back though because I want a younger brother."

There was a click and Hughes stared at the phone for a good minute. A brother? Damn Roy said he wasn't even going to think about it again but he doubt that the girl knew. Who would break a little girl's heart by telling her it hurt like hell to push her into the world? And on fifteen hours on top of that. Hell, Gracia wasn't telling their daughter at all, instead letting the girl think what she may until she one day found out and hopefully when she had a child of her own.

"You got it," he whispered to himself.

In the end, he could only do as much as he could.

"There's been no leads in the disappearance of the flame alchemist sir."

King Bradley, otherwise known as Pride nodded. He hated when his best went missing in action. The man was getting on his nerves as well by being difficult but he had been on his best behavior recently. He didn't know what it was about but he was sure that he would have found out had the man didn't suddenly drop off the radar. It was annoying to say the least.

"Let's go to the Central Prison." He was going to get his best alchemist back damn it and if he was dead then so be it but at least he wasn't playing for anyone else, he surmised.

The man nodded and Bradley hid a smirk. He was sure that this would get back to Dante soon and once it had, she would be so upset. He did do well in Ishbal up until the end when he was getting sick all the time but then again, the war had been over and who was he to care that he was made sick due to the war? He didn't as long as his alchemist could function and this one couldn't if they couldn't even find him.

"Why are we here sir-"

"Colonel Archer THAT is none of your business. Brigadier General Grand, we need to visit Mr. Kimblee."

At Archer's shock and Grand's silent nod, he smirked this time. If there were ever an alchemist that could help them, then it was Kimblee. He was of course super destructive in Ishbal but he heard that the man was behaving himself better. Something about guards even allowing him to have visitors that he didn't even blow up. Shocking as that was, he was going to help them recover their lost alchemist despite the differences the two apparently shared.

He was in front of the cell in a manner of minutes and the guard took the ring of keys and opened the cell grumbling under his breath about mass murderers being too popular now a days. He ignored it to favor the man. He looked healthier than he should have and didn't even seem that crazy as he remembered the Crimson Alchemist as being. He frowned before he hid it and saw that the man wasn't really happy himself.

"You got something for me or am I being executed now?"

Bradley rose an eyebrow. That was something new. Who knew the Crimson Alchemist was this sane, he hadn't.

"You certainly haven't lost your mind since about how long ago was it that you came here?" He was curious of this change and saw that the man didn't even seem to need to calculate the years in his head which was so odd.

"Almost six years." Then he grit his teeth. "Don't fuck with me, I don't have time for this bullshit."

"Okay. As you may or may not know, we have a tiny problem on our hands." Bradley watched his expression and was honestly disappointed to see that it hadn't changed. "The Flame Alchemist disappeared recently and we are at our last string. Hopefully you could make a difference right? I'm not stupid as to think it would happen but I need some reassurance and the man it seems has a five year old girl."

The Crimson Alchemist smirked then and it wasn't something that Bradley had expected from the man. Why would a daughter from the Flame Alchemist mean anything to him? Did he plan to harm a hair on the girl's head? He didn't know but made a note to keep it in the back of his mind for future reference.

"If you want my help, I want a full pardon. I want out of this place and not to be thrown back in right after I find him." The promises he gave people for jobs like this.

"It depends on if your successful in finding our missing alchemist," Bradley reminded him. The man didn't seem fazed at all but he did frown.

"Oh I am going to find him, there's no doubt about that. I'm not missing anymore time and this is not going to stop it. No if there is one thing I'm not going to do, it would be to allow anyone that became involved in this come out of it alive."

Bradley hid a grin. You twisted fool, you are involved since everyone knows he disappeared when investigating one of our rebellious homunculi Greed. You can't kill him though so don't even try it. Oh and while you're at it, you minus well reveal any other secrets that you hid in the course of the Ishbalan war because you are too focused for someone that was sent into prison almost six years-wait wasn't the Flame Alchemist's daughter almost six years old as well? Nah, it was a coincidence and even if it weren't the guards would have told him if Flame had visited in the past years.

"Fine, you have yourself a deal. How long can I suspect that you will have this figured out?"

"I have a couple of errands to run first and they take urgency over this matter but not to say that this isn't less important. I just have to run the errand before I begin that."

Bradley nodded. Very peculiar. He wouldn't call him on it yet however because he didn't know what the hell was going on in the man's mind. It was a closed book to him and for the first time in over a century, he was frustrated. He had to know damn it! But he would bide his time. Because in the end, it was he who would win and not some sniveling punk nosed brats and a supposed insane man.