Edward and Alphonse were riding a train from Liore to Central. Ed had just gotten done with another inspection assigned by the General, and so he and his brother were on their way back to turn in the report and receive, yet again, ANOTHER so-called mission. Ed was getting rather annoyed with these 'missions' General Mustang was sending him on lately; he wanted to do some actual work. Instead, he's doing…small, little deeds that any regular police officer could pull off. That pissed him off the most! When he thought he'd be challenged, he never thought it would be with his patience!

"I mean it, Al; I'm getting tired of this!" Ed exclaimed, furious.

"Brother, maybe you should calm down and…" Al began.

"No way! There's no way I'm letting that stubborn-ass General get away with this!"

Al sighed. "But maybe…"

"But nothing, Al. I'm not going to put up with this crap much longer."

"Brother, I think you're overreacting."

"OVERREACTING!?! What the hell do you mean by that Al!?"

"Maybe you have to work your way up to the bigger missions, that's all."

"No way, I've never had to do small stuff like this before; and if you consider some of the other missions small I think you're a bit off there, Alphonse."

"Well maybe there's not much to do around here; it does seem rather peaceful lately."

"Then why doesn't he just give me the time off?" Ed mumbled.

After that, they rode in silence, as they watched the scenes around them whoosh by in a blur.

Ed felt a lot more confident of the things he did ever since his brother's body had been restored. After the ordeal with the other side of the gate, and his and his brother's journey back, he had never wanted anything more than to just relax. But being the Edward everybody knew, he wouldn't be able to. Yeah, he'd be happy to just sit back and live in his hometown with his brother like old times; but that wasn't him anymore. He'd eventually get impatient and restless. So he decided to live it out in Central and continue as a State Alchemist, working under General Roy Mustang once more. The only thing that left him uncomfortable with things was that Alphonse demanded to be a State Alchemist along-side his brother. Edward protested and protested, but that didn't stop his brother's stubborn-ness. It ran in the blood, Ed assumed. Ed eventually backed down and allowed him to enlist, but only if he worked under himself. That promoted Edward to Colonel and Alphonse to Major. And so, the Elric brothers continued going on missions together, not allowing anything to separate them again.

Alphonse looked over at his brother and noticed he had nodded off.

"Brother, you're so lazy sometimes." Al thought to himself, laughing silently.

A tap came to Alphonse's shoulder; he looked over and didn't recognize the military soldier.

"FullMetal and Soul Binding, am I correct?" The soldier asked.

Al nodded. "Yeah, that's us."

The soldier reached into his bag and pulled out a couple papers, inspected them, and handed them to Alphonse.

"I was told to deliver these to you, sir."

"Any idea what they are?" Al asked as he took the papers from the soldier.

"All I know is that it's a message from a higher-ranking officer than FullMetal."

"I see, that'll be all I guess."

"Sir." The soldier saluted and walked off.

Al opened the envelope addressed to himself and read it over:

"Soul Binding Alchemist,

You are one of the few chosen for a new mission.

This mission will be concealed until your arrival.

General Mustang will give you more information

When you report in."

-Fuhrer King Roland

Al stared at it for a couple moments, confused at first. The Fuhrer rarely ever needed State Alchemists of his rank to go on an important mission. He wondered if his brother had gotten a similar letter. He nearly opened it, but he then remembered that he would be breaking one of the codes. He wasn't to open any letter that wasn't addressed to him; and not only that, Ed would kill him if he found out he had peeped at one of his letters. So Al simply set the letter down beside him and woke his slumbering superior.

"Huh-wha?" Ed mumbled as he awoke.

"Brother, you've got a letter." Al said, handing him the envelope.

Ed took it and opened it; and read it of course.

He yawned once he had finished reading it and folded it back up.

"What a waste…"

"What was it about, brother?"

Ed noticed Al was holding an envelope addressed to his self as well.

"What was yours about?"

"Eh…hey I asked you first!"

"Don't talk that way to your superior officer, Alphonse Elric." Ed teased.

"But you…!! Oye. Sorry…sir."

"That's what I thought. Now answer my question."

"Basically that I'm supposed to go on a new mission—but it didn't give much about it."

"Hm. And who sent it?" Ed asked, curious. Normally HE would be the one giving Alphonse missions.

"The new Fuhrer; Fuhrer King Roland."

"Must be big…" Ed commented, scratching his chin.

"Now what was yours about?"

"Basically the same thing…but well, with MY military name."

"Well duh."

Ed poked Al's cheek. "Ah, ah, ah. Watch your tongue."

Al glared at his brother. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

Ed grinned, proud. "Very much so, yes."

"Did you plot to be my superior just because you get to boss me around?"

"No, that's just a bonus!" Ed exclaimed, happily.

"Baka…"

Edward karate chopped his brother on the head—with his left hand. "Watch it."

The train whistle blew, meaning they had arrived in Central. Ed and Al gathered their things and dismounted the train. They had decided to drop off their things first, and then report in to the General. So Ed and Al walked to their apartment complex and up to their apartment; they had then set their suitcases in their rooms and left immediately—against Edward's protests of course. When they had finally arrived at Central Headquarters, they were immediately directed to General Mustang's office. Al knocked on the door and they were admitted inside.

"FullMetal, Soul Binding." Mustang had greeted.

"General." They greeted together—although Ed did in a grumpy way.

"The report?"

Ed handed it to General Mustang and stepped back beside his brother.

Mustang looked it over for a moment. "Good. I'll evaluate this more later, for now…You received those letters, didn't you?"

They nodded.

Mustang rose and stood in front of them.

"Well then we should get going, shouldn't we?"

"Where are we going exactly?" Ed asked.

Mustang smiled. "You'll see."