i haven't had hughes involved in a story for a while! it's not that i forget him, i just... kind a of do. but i think he was needed in this story so, yay for the return of hughes!


Another few months of searching all over Amestris when by for some sort of sign of Edward's whereabouts and they were still not successful. Roy was really starting to doubt himself as an officer. The guilt was taking over him every day and Edward was still out there all alone, not even in his own body. He probably wasn't even in his right mind. Riza was so worried about Roy that she asked Maes to help her figure out a way to keep Roy from obsessing over the issue.


"You know how Roy is, Hawkeye. Ed is one of his and he's very possessive over his things. Not knowing is the worst part about everything."

"I know that but…"

Maes understood that it was hard for Riza to see her superior going past the point of loyalty and into obsession. He was determined and obsessed. He wouldn't rest until Edward's true whereabouts were found or a body was found.

They were just about to cross the street when a hay truck stopped in their path. Maes had pulled Riza back just in time before she had gotten ran over by it by being so lost in thought. Riza was still lost in thought as she looked over at the loose hay that was in the back of the truck when she thought she saw a little face peeking out of the hay. She shook her head and blinked a little and looked back at it. She was definite now. There was a face in the hay and it was staring straight at her.

"Hughes, that hay truck is hauling people underneath that hay!" she yelled, running after the truck when it began to take off.

Maes was right behind her, mostly running after her than the truck as Riza ran after it. As she got slightly closer to it, the face moved to show a head and shoulders and an arm that was reaching out of the back towards her.

It was Edward.

"Edward?! EDWARD!" Riza screamed, racing after the truck and holding out her hands as far as they would go.

Edward didn't yell back at her but she could tell he was trying to reach as much as he could as well. The truck was speeding up as it left the traffic of the city but it didn't stop Riza from chasing it as quickly as she could. At one point it stopped at a stop sign and Riza thought she could make it, that she was almost there, but it took off too quickly and left her choking on the fumes.

Coughing, Riza fell to her knees in horror as she watched the truck zoom away and another large hand grabbed Edward's face, pulling him back into the hay. Maes finally caught up with her, breathing heavily as he leaned on his knees.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"That was Edward… I know it was him. He was in the back of that truck…"

Maes looked at her in worry and picked her up from the street.

"Hawkeye, it was just a hay truck. There was nothing in it. You're delusional. Have you slept any?"

Riza looked at Maes as he stared at her and she shook her head.

"If Roy doesn't sleep then neither can I. I have to protect him."

"No… you don't… Riza, look at me." She did and Maes hugged her tight. "You need rest just like your superior does. I'm taking you home and then I'm going to go and yell at him for being so hard on you."

Riza left with him but looked back at the road leading out of the city. She knew what she saw… she just knew it.


"Roy, you have to let this go. It's been a year and three months. Now that Riza told you about the hay incident, you've got the police force checking out every hay truck that leaves the city and still no one has seen any people –children or otherwise- being smuggled away. You caused your subordinate to get inadequate hours of sleep and she hallucinated seeing Edward in the hay. Do you hear me, Roy? Hallucinated. There's no truth in it. Let it go."

Roy glared angrily at his friend.

"If this were your little Elysia, would you let it go?" he snarled at him.

Maes knew that Roy would use that as a turnaround as soon as the words had left his mouth but he also knew what he was going to say in response to it.

"In my heart, no, I would never let it go. But after all of my fruitless efforts and empty investigations, yes, I would finally give up. You're not getting anywhere, Roy; that's the problem. Granted, when we found Copplestone, we got a good tidbit from him that we hadn't been able to get but so far we have yet to find an active child slavery ring or anything else."

"It's because we need to go undercover in the shady parts of the city. You can't catch an illegal secret if you're the law. If we go undercover-"

"Are you listening to yourself? Go undercover? What the hell will that do? We have no leads on who could send us to where we need to go and even if we did, when Edward's not there, then what? Try to find another? You can't do that, Roy! I just sent Riza home and now I'm going to tell you the same thing: go home. Get some sleep."

"I'm fine."

"You look like you lost a bet in your undercover scheme that isn't going to happen. You look like hell. You started not sleeping well when we finally found Alphonse… Speaking of which… Wait, is that why you don't go home?" Roy didn't say anything as Maes' eyes grew wider. "You… you have Alphonse's armor in your house, don't you?"

Roy was still silent as he laced his fingers in front of him.

Maes slammed his hands on the desk, standing up as his anger reached an all time high that Roy had never seen it.

"You mean to tell me that you brought his body to your house?! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!" he screamed.

Roy was calm and only blinked at his friend.

"Edward should say goodbye."

The answer was so simple and innocent that Maes sat back down in total disbelief. Roy was so calm about it, not seeing how odd it was. Even though it wasn't a real 'body', the armor was a semblance of what was supposed to be one.

"Oh Roy… Roy, Roy, Roy…" he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I'm not crazy." Roy said, knowing that was what Maes was thinking.

Maes quickly looked up and Roy locked eyes with him, wanting him to see that he was perfectly sane.

"The last thing Edward saw was his little brother brutally "murdered" by bandits. They scratched the blood seal away as Edward had to listen to Alphonse's terror filled screams. Do you not think he would like to say goodbye? Say he's sorry? All the things that Fullmetal would usually do? It's no different than a mausoleum or a picture. It's unorthodox and a bit macabre, but Edward would want to see that armor. And if we find out that… that Edward is also dead, would it not be honorable to bury the brothers together? Am I wrong, Hughes?"

Maes took off his glasses and pinched his nose. Roy was right but it was still very wrong.

"I see your point, I really do, but you it's still wrong."

"I don't go there because the next time I see that armor, I want to have an answer for it."

Maes nodded. "You still need to sleep. Come to my house, we have an extra bedroom. If you don't get any sleep then you will only make the investigation harder by messing things up. Please, as your friend, listen to me."

Roy nodded and decided that he would spend the night at Maes' home.


Maes, as usual, was correct and after a couple of nights actually sleeping, Roy was much more focused and alert. As the clouds of sleep lifted away, so did silly theories. Roy still didn't dismiss Riza's testimony of seeing Edward in the back of a hay truck because that is a definitely possibility of smuggling. They probably stopped doing it because of the spectacle that Riza made of it by chasing the truck down.

As Roy pondered some more theories while he tried to go to sleep, he played with Edward's pocket watch in his hand. He was letting it dangle in front of him and swinging it a little, letting it twist and turn and go like a pendulum. He knew that Edward was out there.

"Where are you?" he asked the watch.

Then he frowned at it for a second, grabbing it, and trying to pry it open. Roy had done it before but every time he closed the watch back, the alchemy Edward had used to seal it seemed to come back into play. Roy suspected there was a tiny transmutation circle somewhere to make it do that. He had to have been missing something because the watch was important to Edward. He would have just left that behind without a clue.

But Roy had opened it before and there had been nothing in it but a date because he had the same theory back in the beginning. He finally got the watch open and looked at it carefully, scrutinizing it. The room was silent as he tried to figure out what to do. Silent? he said in his head when he looked at the hands of the watch. They were not moving. He smiled a little and found a way to undo the facing of the watch. When he finally got it open, he pulled the facing off and found a small note in the gears.

With trembling hands he picked the note out and unfolded it.

Yellow skin

Black coins

Red women

Gold features

Copper stone

Brown grains

Roy turned his head at the note but he got up quickly.


Roy shook Hughes awake with a lot of force, making Maes wake up crankily.

"Roy? What are you doing?! You should be asleep!" he hissed.

"I found something. You have to see this."

Maes groaned but grabbed his glasses and got out of bed. He just didn't want Roy to wake up Gracia. As he got to the living room, he yawned and sat next to Roy. Roy put the paper on the table.

"This was behind the facing of Edward's watch."

"You didn't think to do that a year ago?" Maes asked, crossing his arms.

"I had opened it but I was so caught up in finding Edward that I didn't think about Edward."

"What do you mean? You're talking in riddles."

"Fullmetal, even on the verge of an emotional breakdown, could still miraculously do the impossible. Think about it: in the midst of transmuting his mother, he lost his leg and his brother. But, through all the pain and agony, he had the mind to think of putting a blood seal on a suit of armor and pulled his brother's soul back to him. That's not normal. Now, wich that being said, Edward –even in the midst of whatever may have come to him- would have had the soundness of mind to leave us a clue. The clue was in this watch. But why?"

"Because he gave us a blood seal."

Roy hit the paper.

"The blood seal."

Maes picked up the paper and looked over it.

"It has to be a code. Don't alchemists write in code?"

"Exactly! We just have to find out what they mean and he will tell us where he is. Right? Please tell me it's a start, Hughes. Please tell me that if we did a little more digging that we could find him once and for all."

Maes looked at the list. He knew a code when he saw one but the hardest part about codes is cracking them. This one didn't look that complicated.

"Yes, Roy, this definitely could lead us somewhere."


1) was what riza saw a hallucination or real?

2) what do you guys think the note means?

hope it was alright, toodles!