Author's Note: Many parts.... just keep checking. ;) This is a much longer war than the Drachman Border Dispute or the Xing War.

September 5th, 1951

The house was unusually quiet when Alphonse got home that evening. "Where is everyone?" he asked Elicia when he found her in the kitchen making dinner. Neither of the children were in evidence.

"Still out," Elicia chuckled as she checked the chicken roasting in the oven. "I'm sure Will and Alyse will be home soon, but they both have a lot of school activities now, and those do take up time."

"You would know better than I," Al nodded. That was something he had never actually experienced. Elicia's more traditional upbringing meant she knew more about what was normal in their children's lives some days than he did; especially when it came to Alyse. Will's life meant a lot more sense to Al. His daughter's new-found social experiences were an entirely different matter! It was only one week into her first year as a high school student, and Al was already fretting about the rest of it. "I never had any idea just how many things there were for kids to do outside of well... real work I guess." He knew some of what he and Ed had missed out on, but there seemed to be even more to do now than when they were kids. Or perhaps Resembool had just never felt the need to incorporate all of those things into their schooling. Privately, Al had few complaints at this point about 'missing out' on a traditional education.

"You'll catch on quick," Elicia smiled and went back to tossing the salad. "Would you set the table please?"

"Of course," Al replied and went to get the plates.

As Elicia had predicted, as soon as the table was set and food coming out of the oven, the front door opened and Alyse and Will came into the room. "We're home!" Alyse was all smiles as she set her shoulder bag down by the couch before joining them at the table.

"Well that took a while," Al commented casually.

"Tell me about it," Will groaned as he dropped into his chair. "Little miss butterfly here couldn't be bothered to leave on time."

"I had a meeting," Alyse sniffed as she sat down and placed her napkin properly in her lap.

"More like three," Will countered.

"What were these for?" Elicia asked with interest as she served them all and then sat down to eat herself.

"Social Committee, Volleyball Team, and Class Officers," Alyse beamed at that last one. "We had class elections this week. I'm Vice President!"

"That's wonderful," Elicia beamed. "So I guess you'll be really busy this year."

"Congratulations," Al smiled, though he felt a little stunned. In the first week Alyse had tried out for the school's volleyball team and -unsurprisingly given how Al had seen her play on their family vacation over the summer - made it easily. She had also joined the school's social committee, which planned dances and other events and also the fundraisers for the students to do all those interesting things. Then there were the philosophy club and the cooking club. Al had to wonder when his daughter was going to study. But then, she had always been an A student, so he was sure she would manage.

"Thanks, and yes," Alyse nodded. "We have so many things to get done before the fall dance and our first volleyball game is in two weeks."

As she rattled off the details, with Elicia listening, Al tuned out some of the general chatter and focused on food and his son. "So how was your day?" he asked.

"Long," Will replied, "But not bad. This year we aren't going to be reading any more Drachman literature, so I figure it's already an improvement. Classes don't look any harder than last year really. The only boring part was waiting for Alyse to get done because I promised Mom." He looked irritated, but at least he had kept his promise. Al knew that as much as Will loved his sister, they were two very different people; even more so as they got older and their interests - other than alchemy - diverged considerably. Even with alchemy they had very different focuses.

"Well I appreciate it," Al replied with a smile.

Will chuckled. "Yeah. With me around the guys don't stare as openly."

"So when you go off to college I'll just have to lock Alyse up in a tower somewhere, right?" Al joked.

"Might be safest. Fewer broken hearted boys in Central that way," Will commented facetiously. They continued talking while the girls gabbed on, the topic shifting quickly to alchemy on Al and Will's part.

It was only later, as Alyse went to get up from the table and help clear, that Al realized what his daughter was actually wearing: it was a cute ensemble perhaps - or so Al surmised given Alyse was known for having great taste - with a dark-rose colored three-quarter length knit top worn open over a cream shirt and a lighter rose colored skirt. What bothered Al though, was the length of the skirt! "You wore that to school?" he blurted out, too surprised to hold his tongue.

Alyse paused, turned, and shrugged. "Yes, I did." She looked puzzled.

"Who the heck let you out the door in that thing?" Al wasn't used to losing his calm, but the idea of every teenage boy in the school seeing that much of his daughter's legs was more than a little nerve-wracking.

"I did," Elicia said, unexpectedly calm. "Relax, Alphonse."

Will had one hand over his mouth and was obviously trying very hard not to laugh at the stunned expression Al was sure he had on his face. "Oh," was all Al could think of to say to that.

"You're so silly," Alyse giggled and went back to clearing.

Al didn't say anything else about it while they cleaned up after dinner and then the kids vanished to their rooms to do their homework. As soon as the living room was empty except for himself and Elicia though, he brought it up again. "I can't believe you let her wear something that short to school."

Elicia looked up at him with amusement. "You didn't mind when Winry wore them like that, or when I did."

"It's not the same thing," Al tried to argue, but he knew he was going to lose this one. As soon as Elicia made her point, he could visualize what she meant. Winry had worn the same style of skirt for years. Of course it hadn't bothered Al. He had never given much thought to what Winry wore other than that it looked nice on her. On Elicia, well, he had always rather liked the style. That was why it bothered him to see his daughter in it, he supposed. Al knew only too well what kind of attention his daughter was likely getting.

Elicia kissed his cheek. "You're starting to sound worse than Mom's stories," she teased him. "It's cute, but you should lighten up a little. Alyse is a smart girl. Do you really think that, no matter how popular she is, she's going to be outsmarted by some teenage boy?"

"It's not outsmarted I'm worried about," Al grumbled. "She seems to enjoy the attention."

"As any smart, beautiful girl should," Elicia replied. "That doesn't mean she's going to do something foolish, not even if she does fall for a boy." She smiled coyly up at Al. "Or do you really think she's that different from me?"

"You were never like this," Al pointed out, feeling on surer ground with that argument at least.

Elicia chuckled. "That you know of. Don't you remember all those young officers from HQ who were after me?"

Oh yes. Al remembered them quite well all right. Even before he had realized his feelings for Elicia, he had disliked watching them flock to her. "All right, I see your point. I'll try and be less uptight and let her do things her way."

"That's one of the reasons I love you," Elicia kissed him again. "You're so reasonable. You'll see. Everything will settle down in a couple of weeks and all of this will seem normal."

September 6th, 1951

The next morning was anything but settled and normal. When Al came downstairs for breakfast he was startled to find Alyse had completely taken over the kitchen. There looked like there were enough supplies to bake for half the Amestrian army. "What's going on?" he asked, confused.

"You really weren't paying attention last night were you?" Elicia asked with a chuckle as she set breakfast on the table. It was simple fare this morning; toast and jam and sausages. Al grabbed a piece of toast off the plate.

"Our first fundraiser of the year is a bake sale," Alyse turned around, grinning broadly. "So a bunch of the social committee and the cooking club are all coming over to have a work day!"

"How many are you expecting?" Al looked at the bags of flour and sugar and piles of fresh fruit. "And what are you making?"

"Oh a dozen of the girls or so," Alyse shrugged, never taking her eyes from the piles in the kitchen as she clearly took stock to make sure she had everything. "We're making apple pies, cherry tarts, lemon tarts, and sugar, chocolate chip, and peanut butter cookies." She ticked them off on her fingers as she went down the list.

A dozen teenage girls were going to take over his house for an entire Saturday to make loads of desserts. Suddenly Al's home felt like a rather dangerous place to be! "Sounds busy," was all he said in comment as momentary panic set in.

"That's why I'll be at the library," Will commented as he scooted through the living room, grabbing toast and a sausage off the table and not stopping as he hit the front door. "And then I'm going to catch a movie this afternoon with some friends. See you later!" The door shut behind him.

Elicia was smiling. Alyse glanced over at her father with a speculative look. "What about you, Daddy?"

Al almost choked on his toast. "I've got plans," he replied vaguely. Fortunately Alyse didn't ask for elaboration because the doorbell rang.

"That must be Jeanette," Alyse ducked out of the kitchen and headed for the door herself.

"Excuse me," Al swallowed the bite in his mouth and headed for the phone. He needed some excuse to get out of the house for the day. He picked up the receiver and dialed his best chance of escape.

Thirty minutes later, Edward and Alphonse met up at the park about half way between their houses, dressed for their usual Saturday sparring sessions. Ed gave Al a curious look as they started out for a warm-up run. "Not that I mind moving up the schedule," he commented with a chuckle as they matched pace, "But you sounded like you were in a real hurry when you called. What's up? Elicia try and make you spend the whole day folding laundry?" he teased.

"Much worse," Al snorted and shook his head. Matching pace with Ed wasn't difficult. Alphonse's longer legs made it easy to keep up with Ed's faster pace, at least if it didn't turn into a full out race. At that point, it was one of the physical competitions between the two of them that Ed would win most of the time. He had always been a natural runner, and over the years he had done more of it now than Al had. "I wouldn't have minded the laundry. No, Alyse invited about a dozen girls over for an all day baking marathon for some fundraiser for school."

"Sounds more like heaven than an excuse to vacate," Ed laughed. "I know if there were that many people making sweets in my kitchen I'd be trying to steal any bite I could get!"

"You're scrawny enough to get away with it," Al retorted, grinning down at his brother. "And you're not trying to drop five pounds."

"That's not the same five pounds you dragged home from Xing?" Ed glanced over at him incredulously as they rounded a corner. Despite the fact that Ed had probably gorged worse than anyone else on that trip he – and Ethan, naturally – had been the only two to come out relatively undamaged from months of Xing hospitality.

"No, I'm pretty sure they trade out every couple of weeks," Al grumbled. "And actually that was ten." He had managed to lose half of it.

Ed tsked and shook his head. "I thought I was supposed to be the big brother?" He couldn't help teasing.

"Well if you'd do your part!" Al retorted with a laugh as he shoved Ed with his elbow without ever breaking stride.

"You can't say I haven't tried!" Ed shoved him back.

They never stopped running, but eventually the shoving match had to stop. Al sighed then and laid it all out for him, from his worries about the male attention Alyse was getting and her packed schedule on top of the stresses they had all been dealing with the last few months. He also mentioned Elicia's comments about how he was like her father and thought he was over-reacting. "Summer was better," Al admitted when he finished the explanation nearly a mile into the run. "But I panicked a little this morning when I found out about the baking-fest. Sticking around seemed like a bad idea. Alyse always wants my opinion."

Ed was shaking his head in amusement. "No wonder you're having issues. You really need to learn to say no to pretty girls with green eyes."

"Mom had green eyes," Al retorted, feeling a little defensive. Elicia and Alyse both did too.

"And I argued with Mom all the time too, remember?" Ed chuckled, though his expression softened. "No, you need to stand up to Alyse sometimes even if it hurts her feelings a little."

"What about you and Sara?" Al asked pointedly.

Almost immediately Ed's brow creased slightly. "She's a grown woman now. I try and stay out of her business." He didn't say anything else, but he didn't have to. Al knew that as much as Ed liked the Major his daughter was dating in general, Ed obviously disliked how quickly their relationship had turned intimate as soon as they actually became a couple.

"I guess that does make a difference," Al agreed. He was pretty sure Sara knew how Ed felt anyway. He let the subject drop.

They ran for a while longer in companionable silence, or just chit-chatting about nothing of importance. When they finished the five mile loop and came back to the park they spent a while sparring hard until they were both a winded. Al pointedly ignored the inevitable audience of Saturday morning dog-walkers and families out with children, or other folks of varying ages out for a little exercise. He and Ed had gotten used to it, and Al had to admit it was probably a good show!

When they were both tired they dropped down on the grass under the trees. "It was definitely easier to beat you when I never got tired," Al chuckled as he leaned his back up against the tree and stretched his legs out in front of him, one knee bent.

"Well it was hell on me trying to beat you," Ed laughed, sprawled out on his back, his hands under his head as he looked up at the bottoms of the leaves above their heads. This time of year the leaves were still green, but one or two was hinting at yellow, and the breeze that cooled them had a brisk bite that heralded the oncoming autumn. "I'm going to miss this weather too. Takes me longer to warm up in the mornings when it gets cold out."

"You still ache around your auto-mail ports?" Al asked curiously. Of course, Ed had ached where his auto-mail attached ever since they were boys, but with the lighter auto-mail and improvements in metals and care, Al did wonder sometimes if Ed had just stopped complaining about it, or if the situation had actually improved.

Ed nodded, smirking wryly. "That and my real joints are stiffer in the mornings when it's cold out too, especially my knee." He stretched his right leg out and Al heard a couple of very distinct pops under Ed's pants.

"My neck does that," Al nodded, grinning and stretching his arms above his head, "Though it doesn't always pop that easily. Elicia will work on it for me, thank goodness." His wife had the hands of an angel when it came to working knots out of just about any muscle or the kinks from any joint, but it irritated Al a little how much more often those things occurred.

Ed seemed to pick up on his irritation. "Does she tease you about the gray hairs too?" he smirked.

Al resisted the urge to stick his tongue out immaturely at his brother. He had not done that in years. There were just a few grays amidst the darkest-honey color of his hair. "She thinks they're distinguished. If I actually looked my age, I'm afraid people would think she was my daughter too instead of my wife."

"That's what you get for robbing the cradle," Ed laughed.

"You encouraged me," Al stuck out his foot and nudged Ed in the ribs.

"Of course I did," Ed nodded matter-of-factly. "As your wise older brother, it was my duty to make sure you didn't miss out on a chance at a gorgeous girl who wouldn't mind sleeping with my homely little brother."

"Because you always were the expert on girls, right?" Al rolled his eyes. "Older brother, indeed. If you hadn't married Winry I'm sure I would have never managed to find a girl willing to date my sour-faced, short-tempered shrimp of an older brother. Especially not now; you just admitted you're practically falling apart after all." Al could tease back as good as he got and, his body being younger than Ed's by a few years, as they aged he could tease Ed about the differences, though there were still surprisingly few. They were both too active and healthy, despite past hardships, to age badly.

"Better a shrimp and a crab than a sea cow," Ed sniggered, apparently preferring to respond with wit than violence. That was something Al appreciated about the more mature Edward. The other the two of them got, the more Ed seemed content to use weapons other than his temper. And yes, his temper definitely counted as a weapon in many situations.

"Well that's mean," Al sniffed, though he wasn't really insulted by the joke. Neither of them meant the insults they hurled at each other. It was just good brotherly fun.

"And the S word isn't?" Ed chuckled, referring to shrimp.

"At least we've both actually seen a shrimp to make the accurate comparison," Al smirked. Really, he wasn't that much bigger than Ed. Not in height or sheer mass, though his build was broader, more like their father's, though they had both gotten a lot of Mom in them Al figured. People had stopped commenting years ago that Ed had the look of their father, even though he didn't have anywhere near the height. Ed had never liked those comparisons and seemed to avoid anything that might make him look like him any more than his general facial structure and hair type. That was probably a good thing in general though since Ed looked a lot younger than their Dad ever had in Al's memory. Ed would probably look odd to him with facial hair anyway. "What time is it anyway?"

Ed pulled his watch out of his pocket. "Almost noon," he replied. "I should get home. I promised Ethan we'd work on some chemical equations after lunch."

"Sounds riveting," Al chuckled as he stood up. "I should probably get home too, though I will probably hide upstairs and work on research until the gaggle of teenage girls is out of the house."

"To save your sanity?" Ed asked with a knowing grin.

Al laughed as he turned to head for home. "More like to avoid testing my will power!"

Edward was feeling good when he got home. A good workout and time spent with Alphonse was always a great way to spend any time. He hoped his brother would sort things out at home, though Ed privately found the situation more amusing than anything else. No one was likely to get hurt, no matter the outcome. "Hey, Winry, I'm back," he called out as he came in. He noticed the door to her home workshop was open, but when he peeked in, Winry wasn't there. Ed turned, and spotted her curled up on the couch, napping. Well now that was interesting. Winry rarely took naps and given she was still wearing her cover-alls Ed suspected this one wasn't exactly scheduled. He tried to cross the room quietly, but she came awake almost at once, blinking at him then sitting up blearily. "You're home," she commented. "That was quick."

"Not really," Ed smiled as he sat down next to her. "Al and I got in quite a work out this morning. I was sure I was going to be late for lunch."

Winry glanced up at the clock and her eyes widened. "I'm sorry. I just sat down for a minute. Or at least, that was the plan," she shrugged and smiled. "Oops."

"Naps have a way of happening when you least expect them," Ed teased her, kissing her on the cheek. "You've been working hard lately. It's easy to get tired out."

"I guess," Winry looked concerned for a moment then seemed to shrug it off. "That was a really good two hour nap," she said finally. She looked a little stiff.

"So, where's Ethan?" Ed asked as he reached over and started massaging Winry's shoulders. As he had suspected, they seemed a little tense. He wasn't the only one who needed to remember to take it easy from time to time. His son had started back into school full-time this week as well, determined to carry out his plan to go to University for the other elements of his medical education that he needed.

"At the hospital," Winry replied. "He said that since he had finished his homework he wanted to get back to doing something more challenging and enjoyable." She chuckled softly. Ethan had been required to cut back on his volunteer training hours with Doctor Gray to go back to school, but still insisted on fitting in as much time as he could with that, and with Ed at his alchemy lessons and putting in a few hours a week at the auto-mail shop too. Just thinking about it all made Ed tired.

"So we're alone then," Ed murmured softly into her ear, drawing up close beside her. He wasn't that tired. "What do you say we move this somewhere a little more…private?" he asked hopefully.

"No thanks." Winry's reply was much curter than Ed expected.

"You sure?" He slid his hands from her shoulders and down to her waist.

Winry's hands jammed his into the couch faster than he remembered she could move. It wasn't a violent or painful gesture, but it was forceful and abrupt. "I'm not in the mood, Edward. Maybe later, okay?"

"Okay." Ed pulled his hands away as she let them up. "Sorry I asked."

Winry sighed. "Sorry. I guess I'm just still a little tired. Maybe I should take breaks more often," she offered a small smile that softened the impact of her refusal. It wasn't as if she never said no after all. Usually she just wasn't as uptight about it.

"You should," Ed agreed, sitting back and giving her space. He knew better than to push unless he was in the mood to start a fight. "Tell you what, I'll make lunch. Why don't you relax and read a book, or take a nice long hot bath or something?" She enjoyed doing both.

A warmer smile came to Winry's face. "I like that idea." She stood up and stretched. "Thanks, Ed." She bent down long enough to kiss him briefly then headed upstairs.

Good move, Ed complimented himself. He was starved after a morning of exercise, but Winry was obviously more tired than he was. Letting her relax seemed to have made her day. His stomach growled audibly, and he tried to figure out what he could make that wouldn't take hours to prepare.

September 7th, 1951

Edward was dreaming. He knew it from the start because he was sitting in the living room of his childhood home, and everything looked bigger, the way it had when he had been about five years old. Across the table from him sat an equivalently younger Alphonse, and between them was a plate of hot, steaming sweet rolls slathered in sugar icing; one of Edward's favorite breakfasts that his mother used to make. Both of them already had rolls on their own plates and were eating happily.

Mom was there too, smiling from where she sat at the end of the table. "Not too many now, Edward," she chuckled, scolding gently. "You don't want to get a stomach ache like last time."

"I won't, Mom," Edward scoffed as he happily chowed down on another roll.

There was a ringing sound.

"That's the tea. Who wants some?" Mom stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"I do," Edward mumbled around a mouthful of roll.

"Brother," Alphonse gave him a scolding look. "Yes, please, Mom!"

"Kiss up," Edward smirked at Alphonse.

The ringing sound came again. That was odd. Why did the tea kettle sound more like a telephone?

Ed opened his eyes. Downstairs, the phone was ringing. He glanced at the clock and groaned. Who was calling at eight in the morning on a Sunday? It was the weekend damn it! Winry was still sleeping peacefully beside him, so Ed crawled out of bed and padded on downstairs. "This had better be good," he commented into the phone instead of his usual greeting.

"I wish it was, Edward." It was Breda. He did not sound amused though. Actually he sounded tense and tired. "We're having an emergency meeting of the Assembly in an hour to discuss the situation in Aerugo. I need the upper brass in attendance. Call Alphonse for me, all right?"

"Yes, Sir," Ed replied, coming fully alert almost at once. Aerugo? "I'll be there."

"Good. And Ed," Breda said, "This is formal."

"Understood." Ed heard Breda hang up first without further ado. That meant full uniform. Aerugo? What could the entire Assembly plus the upper brass possibly have to discuss in regards to their southernmost neighbor that dragged everyone out of bed on a weekend? Sure things had been tense down there recently, but Aerugo had always been an internal hotbed with tensions bubbling under the surface. From time to time they'd have internal issues, but those were always quickly squashed, and ever since the cessation of hostilities that Bradley had started between the two nations, things had been peaceful on the border.

Ed picked the phone up again and quickly dialed Al's house. His brother was already awake, and seemed just as confused as Ed did, but said he'd be there. Then Ed went upstairs. He had showered last night, so that wouldn't be necessary this morning. He did take the time for a quick shave and then brushed out and braided his hair. Then he pulled on his uniform. He was sitting down on the bed to pull on his boots when Winry rolled over and looked up at him.

"What's going on?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with one hand.

"The Assembly's declaring a six day work week," Ed replied with a smirk. He leaned over and kissed her lightly. "Breda called. There's an Assembly meeting he wants me at."

"Well that's inconsiderate," Winry yawned, her hand going to cover her mouth instead. "I guess it has to be important though."

"Something about Aerugo," Ed shrugged as he stood up and made sure everything was on straight. "I'm sure it's no big deal," he added with a reassuring smile. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

Really, Ed wasn't nearly that confident. As he drove over to Central Headquarters he wondered what was really going on. There was no way a meeting like this would be called over something minor. There had been rumors coming through intelligence of a possible revolt attempt in Aerugo. Not that it was anything new. Those kinds of rumors were actually pretty common, and often the next report involved the people involved being caught and tried by the Aerugean government. Was it possible one of those attempts had actually been made? He supposed he would find out soon enough.

The Assembly room was mostly full already when Ed arrived. He spotted Alphonse already there sitting at one of the long wooden desk-tables in the tiered room. What surprised Ed was who he was sitting with. What was Roy Mustang doing here, and in uniform too? "So, what's the situation?" Ed asked as he dropped down into the seat next to Al.

"We don't know yet," Al shook his head. "The meeting's supposed to start in a few minutes though."

"Must be something if it's got you out here," Ed looked at Roy.

Mustang shrugged. "Breda dragged me out of bed for this too. Said he specifically wanted me here, but I don't know anything more than you do apparently."

Ed opened his mouth to ask Roy and Al's opinion on his attempted coup theory when Breda took his seat and the meeting came to order. If Ed had been expecting a direct pronouncement of the situation though, he would have been sorely disappointed. He was used to how the Assembly worked though, having had to give reports in here plenty of times.

It began with a long summary of all of the intelligence coming out of Aerugo for the past six months, and Intelligence's assessments of that information. There were a lot of statistics and facts and dates and very little conjecture. All in all a very boring report, typical of what Ed had expected. What came after though was anything but.

When the Intelligence officer stopped speaking and sat down, Breda took over. "Last night," he spoke in his booming voice. Really the man almost didn't need a microphone to be heard throughout the large space. "We received a direct call from just our side of the Aerugean border from men we have already confirmed through intelligence to be who they claim to be. The seven of them are the surviving members of the Aerugean government which was, we have been informed, successfully overthrown in a coup d'etat just four days ago." The room went silent for a moment, then broke out in a flurry of shocked whispers. Breda's next words silenced them again. "They are seeking asylum from the new government in our country, and asking our aide in restoring the previous regime."

"You can't be serious!" Assemblyman Reo – an older, balding man with graying fringe and a stout frame – glowered down at Breda. "They let corruption run rampant in their own government."

"They wouldn't be the first government accused of that, Reos," Breda replied pointedly. "And I never said we promised them anything, but we did have trade agreements with them and technically we are still legally bound by those."

"Will the new government stand by those agreements?" Another Assemblyman asked; this one much younger and whose name Ed couldn't remember at the moment.

"That remains to be seen," Breda replied. "We need to open diplomatic negotiations with the new government at once, at least to feel them out and find out what their intentions are before we make a decision to do anything. Or nothing," he added the last coldly. There was no reason, at the moment, for Amestris to get involved without knowing the full situation.

"What about the old government?" someone else asked.

"They are being brought here by train as we speak," Breda answered. "They should be here in a week and wish to address the Assembly in person. I see no reason to deny that request, and it should be very helpful in getting a more detailed look at the situation than even our intelligence can manage. By then, we should also have more detailed intelligence out of Aerugo, and an idea of whether or not we can work with the new government, and what their intentions are."

"I thought we already had a diplomatic envoy in Bueáire?" Someone else asked. Bueáire was the capitol city of Aerugo, well inside its borders to the South and West.

"We have not heard from our embassy," Breda replied, "Though the reasons for that remain unclear. It seems there is very little communication coming out of Bueáire at this time. However, the exiles coming our direction claim that there was violence involved in the coup, and that a large number of their cabinet members were executed."

Ed didn't like the sound of any of this and, judging by Al and Roy's faces, neither did they. The military officers scattered through out the room all shared similar expressions. There was a good chance that this might not remain the realm of politics for very long, but everyone hoped to avoid military action.

The meeting ended soon after that. There was a vote as to the course of action, but it was fairly unanimous. No one wanted a war, so they would reestablish communications with the new government in Aerugo and see what could be salvaged of the situation, and if there was any way to keep things peaceful and find out the truth of the matter before the government-in-exile arrived in Central.

"I don't like this," Roy commented under his breath as the three of them left the meeting. The halls were empty as almost everyone else headed home to their families and their weekend plans. The meeting had lasted for nearly three hours all told and it was noon.

"I don't think anyone does," Al replied with a shrug.

Roy shook his head. "I mean I don't like the feel of it. Think about it, a successful coup in Aerugo after all this time? What does that imply about its nature?"

Ed caught on to what he thought Roy meant. "The people were supporting it."

"At least a large contingent of them," Roy nodded; his expression dour. "If this is what the majority of their people want-"

"Than anything we do in opposition to the new government is going to aggravate the situation," Al finished Roy's thought with a sigh.

"Even granting temporarily asylum to their former government officials," Roy scowled. "We can be pretty sure that with only four days to consolidate control, things are still very insecure down there. If it was violent, and there's no real reason to assume otherwise given past instability, than we should be concerned about anything setting them off."

"They wouldn't be foolish enough to declare war on us would they?" Ed asked. He didn't like that idea at all, but they definitely could not discount the possibility. There were just too many unknowns to do any real planning, and he found that frustrating.

"We can't discount that possibility," Roy . "At least now we know why Breda waned me here." He smirked sadly. "I probably know more about pulling off a coup under a government's nose than anyone else in Amestris." He did not sound proud of that fact.

Ed couldn't argue with him. If things had gone down as badly as they had been anticipating when they had gone after Bradley and the homunculi, Roy and his entire office – including Edward and Alphonse – could just as easily have been branded traitors, imprisoned, and left to rot if they weren't executed for crimes against the state. Though since Ed had vanished to the other side of the gate and Al had changed back to a boy with no memory of the events, the two of them would have gotten out of that. "Breda will want your opinions on all this then for sure."

Roy nodded. "We were planning to have dinner at their place tonight before all this happened anyway. Somehow I don't think barbecue sauce recipes will be top on the list for tonight's discussion."

They went their separate ways in the parking lot. Ed and Al watched as Roy walked on alone towards his car.

"I guess it's true," Ed sighed. "There really is no such thing as full military retirement while you're still alive."

September 8th-14th, 1951

The next week was a strange one around Headquarters. Ed could feel the tensions mounting as word of the coup in Aerugo became common knowledge in Central and the news spread throughout Amestris. While few people knew about the exiles coming to Central, a lot of people were nervous. Too many of them remembered less settled days. There was a lot of talk in the hallways and offices, and even in the Mess about the situation, but there was very little actual news.

At least, there was very little that was currently public news. Ed and Al made a point of dropping in every afternoon for talks with Breda just to keep abreast of the situation. There was one meeting at the beginning of the week with Breda and all the Generals to discuss the meeting on Sunday and what the possible coming scenarios might be if this turned hostile. Other than that, they kept busy with the usual duties, working like nothing had changed. Though Ed couldn't help but step things up a little in the regular and alchemical combat classes with the State Alchemists. Perhaps it was preemptive, and unnecessary, but it made him feel a little more confident.

"Are you trying to kill us?" Marcus Kane asked after a particularly grueling afternoon session on Wednesday. He was joking, but from the questioning look in his eyes, Ed knew the Colonel wondered, and probably had better guesses than a lot of the people Ed had overheard lately.

"Quite the opposite," Ed replied with a shrug, purposefully keeping it vague. He met Kane's eyes though, and he knew the man understood. If it came to it, Ed just wanted to make sure everyone was ready to stay alive.

The news that did come in from intelligence, and sometimes open channels as people left Aerugo, was worrisome. The new government had replied with surprising ease and friendliness to calls in from Central, which managed to go through without any trouble at all. Indeed, the new government consisted of a handful of businessmen in various areas who were promising change and economic growth to the relatively poor population that made up most of Aerugo. They sounded interested in talking with Amestris about making some new alliances and economic deals, but it was notable that they said little about the previously existing agreements. They also refused to talk about the previous regime, though they assured Breda's diplomatic corps that their embassy was intact, and none of the people inside it had been harmed, though they were being detained for their own safety while the inevitable malcontents were dealt with in the city.

The little intelligence coming from their own men said that things were not nearly as peaceful, or as minimally dissenting, as they appeared. The army of Aerugo was on the move to deal with malcontents and riots, not just in the capitol, but into other cities as well. All within Aerugo borders, but that movement hardly said peaceful new future.
The day the exiles arrived in Central, the government in Bueáire made their declaration. They had no intention whatsoever of honoring the deals made by their previous government with Amestris, or any other nation. They were tired of stronger nations fleecing their people with what they considered unfair trade agreements.

With no further warning, the border was closed and armed soldiers were posted. While Amestris had been doing its best to negotiate and find a peaceful solution, Aerugo had not just mobilized troops to deal with uprisings; they had posted a good chunk of their army on their borders so that no one could get in or out.

Really, no one would have cared if Aerugo wanted to seal itself off and go it alone except for one major problem. Aerugo had always relied heavily on tourism to fuel its economy, and that meant there were still thousands of Amestrians, Cretans, and other people trapped behind those blockades!