A/N Sorry it took so long! I was working on some fics for forum contests, and I got a little sidetracked. -_-'
Plus, I realized a little problem with my plot for this story. I wanted to make it Edwin, and I still will, of course, but I wanted to do it without making all of the characters OOC. But as I looked back at the FMA series, I realized that the only time Ed is ever romantic is when Winry is in trouble. –headdesk–
In short, expect to see some action coming up, and with it, Edwin. XD
"Alright, alright, get back to work; we still have a lot to do," General Mustang ordered after ten minutes had passed and everyone was still treating Ed like he was some sort of ghost. And who knew? Winry thought. Maybe he was.
The officers reluctantly followed his order, scraping their chairs back across the floor and picking up the pens they had dropped. "Colonel Hawkeye, please get me that report we filed a few days ago about the disappearances in the East," Mustang requested. Winry was a little surprised; so Hawkeye had been promoted. Then again, it had been two years, and she was a wonderful soldier and a great shot, so it was no great shock that she was now a Colonel. Had anyone else been promoted?
The Colonel nodded, leaving the room to look for said file. "So Lt. Hawkeye's a Colonel now, huh?" Ed asked after she had left, not able to hide the note of sadness in his voice.
"That's right," Mustang answered. "Al, did you say you had that report?"
"Oh, yes," Al said, surprised at being addressed so suddenly. He walked up to Mustang's desk and handed him a packet of sheets, the topmost one filled with neat scrawls and equations.
"Thank you, Alphonse," Mustang said, riffling through the papers, but Winry could tell he wasn't overly excited about having something else to look at.
"Full Metal, are you going to remain in the army?" Mustang asked suddenly. The question took everyone in the room by surprise, and even the scribbling of pens on paper stopped as everybody waited to hear Ed's answer. Winry glanced at him, but couldn't tell what he was thinking at all.
"I'm not sure," Ed finally answered after a long, agonizing pause. "I don't know what I'm going to do yet. When I got here, I just wanted to see everyone again, but that was as far ahead as I planned."
"We still need to get your arm and leg back, Ed," Al stubbornly reminded him. "We promised we wouldn't stop until we both got our bodies back, and I'm the only one–"
"The file you wanted, sir," Colonel Hawkeye said, suddenly interrupting Al as she reentered the office. Al seemed to remember where he was and stopped talking, but looked straight at Ed to remind him of his point.
"Al, we don't need to be risking our lives for that," Ed whispered so softly that Winry wasn't even sure she had heard it. "As long as you have your body back, I'm fine with this."
Al looked like he was about to argue, but Mustang turned to them after holding a quick, whispered conversation with Colonel Hawkeye. "Full Metal, would you accept a military mission?" he asked calmly, his hands folded over the file Hawkeye had just given him.
Winry stared at him in disbelief. Ed had just gotten back! Why would Mustang ask him to go out and do some mission when he had hardly seen his former subordinate for only fifteen minutes? Glancing at the Elric brothers, she noticed with a sort of satisfied feeling that they had the same surprised looks on their faces.
"Why…" Ed started to say, but then trailed off as Mustang held up his hand for silence.
"This is an important mission, one that I can only give to someone who isn't well-known and to someone that I can completely trust," Mustang explained.
"Are you saying I'm not well-known?" Ed asked indignantly.
"I'm saying I need someone who can lay low, and as a teenager, it should be easy enough for you to do that," Mustang replied. He paused and seemed to consider something before he added, "Many people think the Full Metal Alchemist is dead."
Ed blinked, not seeming to register Mustang's last statement. Then he sighed and said, "So you need to find someone who's powerful enough to do this job, but not distinguished among the populations so that they won't be recognized instantly. You also said you needed someone you could completely trust, which means this mission might involve a betrayal in the army, right? Sounds complicated, if you ask me."
"It seems you've gotten sharper while you were gone," Mustang observed shrewdly. "Yes, it involves all of those things. However, I can't go into more detail until I have your answer."
Ed let out a bored sigh, and even before he spoke his answer out loud, Winry had a sinking feeling in her chest as she realized that she knew what was going to happen. "Yeah, fine, I'll do it; I'm still the Full Metal Alchemist, even if everyone does think I'm not around anymore," Ed told Mustang. "Now will you explain what it is I have to do?"
Mustang nodded, not to Ed, but to Colonel Hawkeye. She left the office once more without a word, and Mustang turned back to Ed, Al, and Winry as if nothing had happened. "Alphonse, I'd like to request that you also go on this mission with your brother," Mustang said, turning his gaze to the younger Elric, who nodded immediately. "Good; there will be one more person joining you two."
"Who is it?" Ed asked curiously.
"General, she's here," Hawkeye reported, walking back into the office with a young girl in an officers' uniform striding behind her. It took Winry a moment to push back her distress at losing both Ed and Al so quickly, and another minute or so to recognize the girl that had come in with Hawkeye.
It was Lt. Colonel Rina Glass that Al had pointed out earlier. Her shoulder length dark red hair and bright green eyes shone in the glaring light of the office, but her expression was as unreadable as Mustang's when she entered the office. "Lt. Colonel," Mustang greeted.
"General Mustang," Lt. Colonel Glass returned with a salute. "You had something you needed me for?"
"Yes," Mustang answered. "I'd like you to go on a mission with the Elric brothers."
"Elric brothers?" Lt. Colonel Glass echoed, looking at where Ed, Al, and Winry were standing. Her eyes went wide when she saw Ed, and she saluted him as well, then Al, and looked uncertainly at Winry.
"This is Winry Rockbell, Ed's mechanic," Mustang introduced. "Winry, this Lt. Colonel Rina Glass."
"Pleased to meet you, Lt. Colonel Glass," Winry greeted politely.
"The pleasure's all mine," Lt. Colonel Glass replied. Grinning, she added, "You can call me Rina."
"Hey, Colonel, no offense to the Lt. Colonel, but didn't you say that you needed people you could completely trust for this mission?" Ed asked Mustang, still calling him Colonel despite his new rank.
"Full Metal, I'm a General now, and you should address me as such," Mustang told him. "As for the Lt. Colonel, she's been working under me for a long time and she has handled many important matters for me. She can be trusted for this."
"Thank you, General," Rina said, turning back to Mustang.
"Now for the details of the mission," Mustang said, and looked back through the file for a minute before continuing. "Lately, several important people have gone missing in the East, and there's only one connection between them: they were all famous military officers with the rank of Major or higher. Some were retired, some on break, but most were still active and on duty at the time."
"Wait, didn't you say that this could involve a betrayal in the military?" Ed asked. "It sounds like this could be the work of someone who doesn't approve of the military."
"I don't think that's the case," Mustang replied. "If it was someone who didn't like the military, they wouldn't just aim for officers with the rank of Major or higher; they'd go after anyone in the army. Also, they would probably kill them right on the spot and let the world know they were dead instead of taking the trouble to make them disappear."
"What do you think is going on then?" Ed asked. Winry was surprised to see him look and sound so serious; Ed was hardly ever serious about anything.
"I think someone in the military is trying to gather their own army, led by the best officers he or she can get," Mustang answered, narrowing his eyes. "Which could eventually lead to a coup d'etat, something we need to avoid at all costs. Thus, I'm sending the three of you to the East to try and find out and stop whoever is doing this."
Winry watched as Ed, Al, and Rina nodded. All of them were prepared to go to the battlefield, prepared to risk their life if necessary for the sake of the mission entrusted to them. And suddenly, Winry didn't want to see them go, not knowing if she'd ever see them again. She didn't know what she would do if she had to go through the pain of losing Ed again, and this time, Al could disappear right along with him.
"General Mustang, please let me go with them!" Winry suddenly blurted out. Everyone turned to stare at her, wondering what she was thinking, most likely. But she didn't care; she wanted to be with Ed no matter what people thought of her.
"Why would you want to go, Winry?" Mustang asked, unable to keep the surprise from his voice.
"I…I want to see how well my new automail functions," Winry quickly said. Well, it wasn't entirely a lie, she told herself. She really did want to see the results of her past two years' hard work. "No one's ever used it before, and if something is wrong, I'll need to fix it as soon as possible so it doesn't hinder anyone."
"Winry, that's kind of you to offer, but it's going to be dangerous out there," Ed told her. "Besides, your automail always works just fine, and we already tested it earlier. No problems, right?"
Winry couldn't believe it; Ed, the person she was trying to stay with, was telling her not to come. Why? Didn't he see how much she cared about him? She would do anything to stay by his side, even if it meant getting herself involved in this possible coup d'etat.
"I think it's a good idea," Mustang agreed suddenly. "We can't take the risk of having something happen that endangers the entire plan. However, be careful and don't get yourself involved in the fights, if possible."
"Understood, sir," Winry replied, resisting the urge to throw a salute to the General. Ed looked like he was about to argue, as well as Al, but Mustang went right into giving instructions, leaving no room for argument.
"All of you are just going to act like normal kids in the area," Mustang explained. "I'll ask Colonel Hawkeye to arrange for a place for the four of you to stay later. I want you to research the disappearances more thoroughly and keep an eye on the people who are suspected to go missing next. However, no one, not even those in the military, must know what you are doing or who you are. This is a top secret mission."
Mustang glanced at Winry, and she nodded in understanding; she wouldn't tell anyone about this, especially not Granny Pinako. "You are to keep a written journal of each day; write down everything, even if it doesn't appear significant at the moment, because it might later," Mustang continued. "I don't want you to get involved in anything that would make your name or face familiar, and you'll also be given fake names and IDs.
"If you find anything of importance, two of you come back to Central immediately to report it. Whatever you do, don't use the phone to contact me; it could easily be tapped. The other two will continue their work carefully until further developments have been made."
"Hold on, Colonel," Ed objected. If Mustang felt annoyed by Ed's continuous use of his old title, he didn't show it. "You make it sound as if Winry is involved in the mission with us."
"If she's going to go, then I would like to ask that she helps out as much as she can," Mustang replied. "She doesn't have to do anything if she doesn't choose to."
"I'll try my best," Winry promised.
Ed still looked disgruntled, but he didn't say anything more. "If that's the case, then that's all for now," Mustang said dismissively. "Come back tomorrow and we'll have everything ready for you, including the tickets for the train that departs tomorrow evening."
"We're leaving that soon?" Al asked.
"It's a matter that can't be left alone any longer," Mustang replied. "I was planning on asking you, Alphonse, to take care of this mission when you got here. I just didn't expect you to bring Ed and Winry along with you." He turned to speak to all four of them. "Rest and enjoy yourselves tonight, but when you get to the East tomorrow…Be careful."
A/N So…somehow I ended up throwing some random OC in there last chapter and hinting at Al liking that character. Therefore, I decided to involve that OC in the plot to make it more exciting. Hope you enjoyed it, and please review! ^.^