3. Conflict.

T: I had hoped to finish this fic on this chapter but it seems that I need at least one more chapter to tie the loose ends! Warnings remain the same and I still own nothing that you see here other than the plot bunny.

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"What would you like to discuss next?" He enquires as he leans, ever so slightly, towards her.

Feeling buoyed by this further sign that he is already feeling more 'himself' she responds,

"What it is that you plan to do now, sir."

"Nothing." It is not quite the response she had expected and, caught by surprise, it is a few minutes before she says,

"You can not mean that."

"Yet I do. I have done all that I intended to do in regards to the situation with Edward and the city, as well as Amistrius, is fairing well enough without the control of a Fuehrer."

"Then you mean to leave again?"

"Precisely."

He is either being deliberately obtrusive or stupidly naive, yet, whatever the emotion behind the words and the reasoning, she can not help but be infuriated by both.

That he could show such genuine remorse for leaving the last time the situation spiralled beyond his control and then, all but in the same breath, state the intent to do as such again…

She knows that he shall not listen to reasoning while in this mood, that any gentle guidance she might offer will be rebuked all but the moment the words leave her lips and yet…

The certainty that Havoc's confidence in her 'tough love' had given her has been bleeding away with each instant that she spends in the presence of her commanding officer, with every subtle show of how desperately uncertain he is at the moment… of how much he has changed since the last she had talked to him properly.

At this very moment she wished, more than anything, that Hughes was still alive, that she could leave him to 'make everything better' as he had countless times before. It is a desperate, aimless, want and it places a sense of hopelessness upon her heart that serves to erase the previous atmosphere of content that had existed between the colonel and herself.

Though she feels foolishly cowardly for doing as such she begins to concoct a reasonable excuse for leaving his presence, for stepping away from the matter before she serves to make it all the worse. Such excuses flee from her mind at the sound of someone knocking upon the colonel's door.

"Enter." As the command leaves his lips his posture tightens and, after but an instant, all traces of uncertainty, desperation and loss, have been replaced by the firm confidence she associated always with his 'old self'.

In the instant before the door opens she wonders at the reasoning behind this mask, wonders why, if he is sincere in his desire to leave the military completely, he feels the need to 'be strong' for his men.

Then their 'guest' crosses into the space and the mast, as well as her want to understand its purpose, disappears completely.

Stood with his back pressed tight to the doorway and his hands folded before him as a clear sign of discomfort, is Alphonse Elric.

A gentle, kindly, smile spreading onto his lips the colonel enquires,

"What can I do for you, Alphonse?"

The other looks uncertainly in her direction and, making a guess at the reason for this, she says,

"You may feel free to talk in front of me, Alphonse."

"I am certain that someone has told you that, since his return two days previously, 'niisan has been working on a way to close both gates simultaneously."

"I was told that he has been spending a great deal of time in the library." The colonel responds, "I did not, however, know the purpose behind that research."

"Did the person who gave you this information also tell you of the toll that research has been having on 'niisan? That he has spent his every waking moment making notes and testing theories?"

"They did, indeed, express to me a concern for his welfare."

Without warning Alphonse darts across the room and, ceasing at the collar of the colonel's dress uniform, lifts him bodily from his chair.

"How can you have listened to such words and remained so very calm? How can you claim to love him and then sit idle as he kills himself?"

The colonel gently extricates himself from Alphonse's grip and, his voice oh so calm, he responds,

"It is because I love him that I remain motionless, that I allow him the freedom to live his life as he will without my care harbouring his process any more than it has already."

"You fool." The words are harsh, ugly, things that are made all the worse by he who has spoken them and, seeing well the opportunity presented by their shock value, she says, "Perhaps it is best that you leave, Alphonse," as she pulls him gently from the colonel and steps into the newly created space.

"Not until I've made him see sense." Alphonse retorts before he, very gently, pushes her to one side. "My brother is a reckless individual who charges through life without taking time to think about anything other than the present. Thus for him to have actually stopped to think things through…for him to be so caught up in those thoughts as to be forced to go to such lengths to distract himself from them…" he pauses a moment, then enquires, "Do you see what is it that I am trying to tell you, colonel?"

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T: Next chapter Friday, until then why not review??