Finally finished chapter one of my sequel to Phone Call!

How are you feeling about it?

Let me know in your reviews!


"Would it be okay if I lend you a hand, Fullmetal?"

That voice.

That voice which echoed within the walls of the large white room, teaming with mindless bodies that were forever hungry.

Edward fought, he killed, he maimed alongside his comrades, former enemies and friends.

The situation was becoming desperate. Nobody could transmute fast enough to keep the throngs of naked soldiers from coming through the massive, stone doors, and they did not stop, even when halved by the weapons the truly living raised against them. They came seemingly endlessly from the doors, screaming in pain and hunger.

Amidst the howling of pained souls from within the one-eyed creatures, along with the grunts and calls of those that fought alongside him, Edward heard, loud and clear, the voice of one he cried for many times in his sleep and in his darkest moments.

It was a deep, rich voice that echoed not only within the walls of the corridors and room, but clearly within the ear canals of a one Edward Elric.

He paused in his fighting, a dangerous thing to do for anyone, and turned to face the man in the doorway leading to the tunnels.

"Musty!"

"It would appear that you have some more new friends." Mustang turned his gaze to the others within the large room and alighted upon one, much less than favorable person. "Scar…?"

He seemed to speak shortly with the lieutenant and sweat-dropped at a response she made.

That was when Scar, being the observant brother of a martyr, always having an eye out for state alchemists (old habits die hard!), turned around in his fighting to shout at the colonel, who seemed perfectly content in his passive behavior, just standing in the doorway like nobody in the room was in immediate danger.

"Save the chit-chat for later. Fight!"

"Don't you order me around!" Of course, Mustang was quick to take offense at that.

If Edward wasn't so relieved and elated to see him, he would have sweat-dropped, automail-face-palmed, and spat back some response that was sure to send him to the barracks.

There was, however, a bigger surprise at hand when Riza raised her gun and responded the acknowledgement of the command.

"We just need to beat these white guys, right?"

Mustang whipped his head around to stare at her incredulously, his mouth twisting to find the right words.

Edward, however, was quick to finally find his words and shouted to her.

"That won't work, lieutenant! You can't beat these guys using bullets!"

"Not again! It's all we've been dealing with!" She muttered darkly, obviously not pleased.

Ed wasn't the only person that knew it was because her trusted guns were useless in this battle and not because of the situation. She had no qualms about having the wonderful opportunity to use moving creatures as animate target practice.

Mustang again spoke to her quietly, too quietly to be heard in the cacophonous chaos that was the battle.

Edward turned his attention back to the pale creatures and fought off those that came at him. There was a snap and swirls of fire danced about the room, circling the good guys and burning the creatures. He stared aghast at the flames as they burned the bodies before him to bipedal pillars of ash that dissipated as the flames died down.

It was the first time he had seen the Flame Alchemist use his namesake seriously, and it was beautiful, and more than extremely disturbing that such a normally composed man could yield such power with such amazing skill.

Ed shivered in what could closely resemble fear, but not quite, and more than a little bit of an excitement that he didn't quite understand, but definitely felt. Nevertheless, he was proud to have been gifted to see such a thing.

"They are the enemy, Fullmetal." Mustang obviously had misread the sudden shiver that had gone through the young blond male at the sight of the spectacle.

Ed knew they were and had even killed many of them. That is, until they stood back up and charged with even more fervor.

Mustang had arrived late and had not seen that, thinking that Edward still would not kill. Regardless, it was a voice he was desperate to hear from a man he was desperate to see, so he turned and he ran straight into the man, knocking him to the ground, not caring who saw.

He felt Mustang's body shake slightly as he chuckled, wrapping his arms around the teen, who clutched onto the older man's shirt, gritting his teeth as he refused to be reduced to tears.

"You're the devil," Edward finally managed as he crushed his face into Mustang's shirt, becoming light-headed in the scent of him and the bizarreness of it all.

He felt Mustang's chest shake as he laughed lightly.

"Does that make you my minion, Fullmetal?"

Edward felt his face heat up at the sound of the older man's voice being so close and he peered up at him, trying to hide his blush with the fabric of the colonel's jacket.

"Hell if I'd ever work for you under such circumstances, Musty."

They sat, ignoring the sounds coming from the ceiling and the quiet chatter of the others.

"Hey," Roy said, tapping Edward on the back to get his attention. Of course he knew he had a hundred percent of the teen's attention already, but still…

Edward hummed in acknowledgement. He felt warm breath on his hair near his ear as Mustang whispered to him.

"I love you, Brat!"

Ed couldn't contain his smile as he slid his hands up around the colonel's neck and squeezed.

"I fucking love you, too, Bastard!"

They barely missed the chuckling of the others in the room and then their shouts as the ceiling caved in and two figures fell from the wreckage.

The both of them started in their reverie but did not let go of each other.

"Envy!" Edward whispered as he noticed the scrawny homunculus that resembled a palm tree pick itself up from the ground and dust itself off.

Envy watched as May, who had also fallen from the ceiling, ran to Scar, who yelled at her for not going home to her own country, and then turned his eyes to the others in the room, stopping at the colonel and Edward. He squinted with disgust.

"Che! This is why you humans turn my stomach." Envy said with obvious distaste. He then proceeded to name all of those that were present and feign indecision at who he should take down first.

"You're Envy, are you? The homunculus who can change his shape, as I recall…" Mustang asked.

Edward had a feeling he knew where this was going and couldn't help but be filled with unease. He looked up at Mustang, who still held him, but no longer seemed to even notice his presence.

"Eh, so you know? Pleased to meet you, Colonel Mustang!" Envy then proceeded to taunt the others in the room and attempting to trick them into attacking one another, not failing to be surprised at their mutual cooperation.

Mustang, however, only had one thing on his mind, and he wasn't going to let it go.

"Who was it that killed Maes Hughes?"

Edward was surprised. His eyes widened and he shook his head slightly while peering up at the colonel.

NO no no no no…

"Answer me homunculus!"

Ed could feel the heat of frustration coming off of Musty's skin beneath his arms, which were still around the man's neck.

Envy seemed to think about that for a second, watching the colonel closely.

"It was Maria Ross, the one you burned to death."

"No, it wasn't her."

The homunculus smiled.

"Huh? Then you burned an innocent girl alive! Nice work! You're awful!" He waved his arms about him excitedly, laughing between words and hugging himself like he was receiving the best orgasm of his life.

"How did you break it to her family? Did you cry when you apologized? Or did you keep quiet because you were too afraid of them getting mad at you?"

I find out only yesterday that this guy is practically my nephew and I still can't think any better of him! What a sick fuck!

"Would you quit working your mouth, you idiot!" Mustang shouted, beginning to stand, but not making Ed let go, but forcing his to his feet as well.

Envy seemed to take offense at that and he growled in their direction.

"I have become sick and tired of asking you homunculi this question. Now tell me the truth right now, you idiot! Who was it that killed Hughes?"

There was a moment of silence where everybody was looking at the homunculus. He seemed to be pondering something, then made a gesture like 'oh what the hell...' then he laughed, giggled and then broke out hysterically…

"Congratulations, Colonel Mustang," he said as he raised his hands between them in a gesture of pending combat.

"You've finally arrived at your answer."

If he was expecting the colonel to seethe with rage at that, he was utterly surprised when the man instead cocked his head to the side and insulted him.

"I doubt a moron like you would be able to take Hughes."

Again, Envy took insult at that.

"Moron? A moron is what you call someone like Hughes for falling for a trick like this!" the scrawny creature shouted as red, ethereal light shot from his being and he began to transform, taking on the form of none other than Gracia Hughes.

No!

Edward was no longer listening as Envy cackled on in his description of how things went, trying too hard to calm Mustang. He could feel the man shaking as he yelled, "That settles it, then. You're the one who killed Hughes. All I need to know is that fact!"

Edward was roughly shoved away and numbly fell to his knees as Mustang stalked forward.

Everything was a blur, the things that the two standing said to each other muffled as though the rage that came off the colonel's body was making the air thick like jelly. His mouth was open and moving, but Ed could hear none of it. Mustang brought his hand to his face, tugging at his glove, and continued forward.

Edward shook his head furiously and tried to move toward the man on his hands and knees, but was stopped by Zanpano, who held him back and lifted him to his feet. It was quiet, but it didn't change the sounds rushing in all at once; Mustang's footsteps coming to a halt, the shifting of the people, Zanpano's hands sliding across the fabric of Ed's red coat. It was all so loud and so foreign.

"Scar, Fullmetal, let me take this one. He's my quarry."

Ed couldn't leave him, he wasn't about to, and then Toady said, "A-all right then, we'll leave this to you and go on ahead."

Ed was about to yell when he was lifted by Zanpano and carried after the rest of them.

Envy extended an arm, literally. It turned green and large and blocked them from the door. "Who says you are allowed to leave? I have to pay you back in full for what you did to me up north—"

There was a snap and envy was blown into the corner of the massive door, his mouth erupting in steam from where his tongue once was.

"Are you sure you can afford to talk to anyone else while you are facing me? I would say that nimble tongue of yours has gotten nice and greasy. It burns so well, doesn't it, Envy?"

Leaving was the last thing Edward wanted to do. He wasn't about to leave Musty alone to lose his sanity.

"Are you sure the two of you..?"

"Go on! We can manage," Hawkeye shouted and lifted her gun.

The others moved out without complaint or argument.

Edward was taken from there, not allowed to protest. He heard other words as he was carried from there, onward into the halls beyond the massive stone doors.


I wasn't planning to continue the story but Phone Call seems like the most popular on my traffic stats lately, so I decided to indulge the masses.

I'm feeling quite accomplished, getting this done, even though it has been a while since I updated.

Please check out my other stories if you haven't, review them, favorate and follow them!

I love you, my Cheshires!

Alice out!