A/N: Well it's finally up. Work in Progress but hey I have more free time to focus on it. Well enjoy. This is one of my favorite chapters ever written, by the way.

Synopsis: Manga verse. Spoilers if you aren't current with the manga. Starts somewhere after chapter 63. After the Fuhrer uses Winry as a threat to the Elrics before they leave to the North. And after Ling is Greed and before Ed called Winry to see if she was okay. Ed's automail was broken in pieces and the Colonel decided to have Winry come up to fix it secretly. They met at Denny's place and then they went with her down to Rush Valley with the excuse of doing more research. Ed is conflicted b/c he hasn't told Winry anything.

Disclaimer: Not now and not ever will I own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Loose screws

Chapter 1

He stretched as far as he could into the office chair, taking in his surroundings. A stack of papers piled high threatened to fall and scatter onto the mahogany desk. Next to those two picture frames, one of the late Brigadeer General and the Flame Alchemist and the other of a smiling little girl and her mother. He let his eyes linger there before he turned in the chair taking in the royal blue rug spotted where someone had carelessly spilled black ink. He brought his head up to watch the door waiting for something dramatic to happen and was disappointed, and not for the first time that day.

Taking out his silver watch Edward Elric glanced at the time. "Bastard's late."

With nothing of interest to look at he turned to his other senses. Something was making his nose itch, and it took him a second to recognize the source.

He took a breath and exhaled heavily taking a whiff of tobacco and he couldn't help but wonder if the Colonel had recently decided to take up smoking. He shook his head at the idea. It was ridiculous; the guy could blow himself up the moment he struck a match, what with ignition cloth being his main weapon. He picked up a pen on the desk and started unconsciously tapping it against the wood.

Unless of course, he smoked when he wasn't wearing gloves. That didn't make any sense either; it would be pretty stupid of the man to lower his defenses in favor of a cigarette.

He let out a little laugh. At a time like this he was contemplating the bastard's smoking habits or lack there of.

He turned in the chair as he heard the door open. The lights flickered and dimmed making the room glow a reddish color, making Edward wonder exactly how hard he had hit his head. No you got hit, the little voice in his head corrected. Hard.

"Full Metal. I suggest you pay attention," The Colonel was waving something in front of his face, and as Edward let himself come back to earth as he realized it was a stack of papers. More importantly, it was a flaming stack of papers.

"These," Mustang waved the smoldering stack in front of him. "are records of your stay in Eastern City. I also took the liberty of adding to the pile…all the receipts and bills for your upcoming your stay in Rush Valley. Everything is paid and accounted for and as far as everyone knows I sent you North."

"Rush Valley?" What the hell was Mustang playing at. He still hadn't forgiven the man for the last twenty four hours. He had come back to Central to find Brosh on his way to pick up a certain blonde mechanic. A certain blonde mechanic who had her life on the line and was not supposed to be anywhere near Central in the first place.

"Yes." Despite the urgency of the situation Mustang sure was taking his sweet time. He waved the charred papers like a fan and let the ashes fall into a nearby waste basket. "I assume you are dying to know why I am sending you there," picking up the pen that Ed was still unknowingly tapping out of the alchemists hands. "But before that I want you to explain to me what the hell you were doing in Eastern City without my knowledge."

Edward rolled his eyes. He let himself slouch further into the chair and glared at the mahogany finished desk. Not this game. He hated this game.

His eyes landed on the box of cigarettes on the desk. "Since when did you start smoking?"

He turned the chair around to look up at the Flame Alchemist. He wasn't going to give in so easily.

Mustang narrowed his eyes. "Havoc asked me to pick them up for him." He reached over and picked up the half empty box of cigarettes and tossed them on the desk. His voice was solemn. Winry wasn't the Fuhrer's only hostage.

Edward was surprised. He had expected some sort of smart ass remark like how he should obey his superior officer. He figured Mustang was about to ask for him to do something he didn't like. He was keeping his usually smart alec comments to a minimum. Interesting.

Mustang stayed standing, looking down at him as if he was some parent scolding a misbehaved child. Then as if he realized what he was doing and didn't want to cause him offense he cleared his throat and crossed the room.

Edward wasn't fooled. They were slowly going through the motions, an officer reporting to his superior. He had had grown used to their warped little game of chess. Mustang would ask him a question in exchange for an answer to his own. He would listen to his case, probably ask him if he wanted coffee and then he would drop the bomb on his head and before he could recover…checkmate.

"Answer the question." Mustang's voice was clear, even from across the room.

"Apparently someone saw Scar in East City." He fumbled with his watch chain, "It wasn't him."

Mustang was silent urging Edward to continue. "Some idiot ended up shooting an Ishbalan. Caused some sort of uprising."

Well that was one way to put it. Truth be told the incident had caused quite a stir in neighboring cities as well, if negotiations didn't go well Amestris was looking at an all out war. That was why they were sitting so cozy in this office right now. The Fuhrer had been called away to East City, apparently to help with so called "negotiations."

"I'm aware of that."

Ed figured he didn't need to say anything else. Mustang knew quite well. There was no doubt in both the alchemists' minds that the homunculus was intent on starting a war.

"Would you care for a cup of coffee? Scieska made it and it's not half bad." He said the sound of trickling liquid filled the corner as he poured himself a cup.

Edward clenched his fists. Bastard.

"Why did you bring Winry here?"

The girl had arrived just a few hours before, accompanied by Denny Brosh. She had taken one look at Ed, at his broken automail. No questions were asked, but as expected he became very well acquainted with the wrench he had bought her four years prior. Edward rubbed his head in remembrance of the feeling of cold metal.

"Your arm?" Mustang was not giving him a break. He had figured Al had filled Mustang in on all the details when he had had his turn in the office. Apparently that had not been the case.

"Greed," Edward grit his teeth at the memory. "On the way back from East City, didn't do that much damage." He conveniently left out the part where Ling, the current Greed, had run away after damaging his arm; gloating about not being able to fight someone who was handicapped.

"Why did you bring her here?" he repeated sounding dangerous.

Mustang crossed the room and sat down behind his desk, setting the cup the safest distance from the precarious pile of papers. He folded his fingers in front of his face and stared at Ed a bit before speaking. "The same reason you chose not to tell her anything."

Edward sighed at the rest of the unfinished sentence. To protect her.

Not even less than five hours ago he had almost jumped on the man upon realizing his plan to tell the blonde about her situation and send her to another country. Had he not arrived there that day she would have been halfway to Creata right now.

However, be it by luck or not he had managed to get to the Colonel and convince him to change his mind before she had arrived in Central. Winry was now with Alphonse sitting safely in Denny's apartment. Angry (at Ed for all but trashing her most recent masterpiece)and clueless (at the whole situation) but otherwise safe.

"You really think that's the best choice, Full Metal?" Mustang eyes narrowed as he lay his chin on his folded hands watching the younger alchemist.

Ed's face duplicated the Colonel's serious look. Ah, so the questions weren't over yet. Mustang was taking his sweet time. "It's the safer choice. The less she knows the better."

"Safest, but not the smartest. Nor the fairest," he added as an afterthought.

Ed felt his chest clench at his words. He knew he was right Winry was pretty confused as it was. After forcing her to come to Central on such short notice, causing her to turn around now without any explanation would only baffle her more.

"Enough of that. Why the hell are you sending us to Rush Valley?" he all but growled.

"Ah yes," The older alchemist fished around in the top drawer and pulled out an envelope and what looked like a page ripped out of a notebook. He handed them to Edward. "I have a mission for you."

Boom, went the bomb.

"What now, Mustang?" Edward grumbled. He suddenly felt incredibly tired. It had been a long day.

He ignored Ed's enthusiasm. "The paper is for the receptionist at the Five Star hotel The Lotus in Rush Valley, you'll like it. Give the letter to Winry when you get the chance. It's not from me," he said when Ed looked at him suspiciously. "It's from Hawkeye and it has nothing to do with the hostage situation."

Ed took both the paper and the envelope folded them and put them into his coat pocket.

"Anything else?"

A smirk spread over the Colonel's face and Ed suddenly wished he hadn't asked. "As a matter of fact, yes."

Ed raised an eyebrow.

The Colonel seemed to contemplate his next words then he looked him straight in the eyes. "I want you to look into anything you can uncover on the Philosopher's stone while you're there."

An imaginary king toppled over in Ed's mind. Checkmate.

"What?!" he let his eyebrows rise to his forehead. Mustang brought himself up from the Mahogany desk and walked to the window. Their meeting was over.

"Major Armstrong is waiting for you at the door. You don't want to miss your train Full Metal."

Edward tried to erase the exasperated and confused look off his face as a familiar figure of a giant appeared at the door. "Edward Elric it is an honor to accompany you on this glorious night."

"Evening, Major Armstrong." Edward forced a smile at the Major and let himself be led down the hall.

The envelope in his pocket felt heavy as it shifted against the cloth. As they walked into the breezy street he felt the night wind his face, but he didn't relax. Not for the first time he found himself wondering just what the Flame Bastard was up to.


A/N: This story was written a few months ago. Shame I couldn't get it up until now. Chapter 2 will be up shortly, I just have to look over it and remind myself of what exactly is going on since I haven't looked at this in a while. I planned it to be about twenty chapters, it could be more or less depending on if I acomplish what I want to by then.

Hope you enjoyed it so far...