Stirring Winds

Chapter 7

The phone rang six times before someone picked up.

"Roy Mustang's office."

"...Lieutenant Feury? Where's Mustang?"

"Ed? Sorry, I'm the only one in the office right now. I didn't hear the phone initially because I was listening to the radio."

Ed rolled his eyes. Of course he was. "What's going on there? Why are you the only one in the office?"

"Oh! You haven't heard then! Two outbound trains from Central were bombed yesterday, and a couple of men were arrested this afternoon after an attempted bombing on a train to East City."

Ed's eyes widened. "There were more?"

"A cargo train carrying military supplies going North and a passenger train going out West were the ones hit yesterday, and today's attempt was a passenger train as well. The Brigadier General is down at the station questioning the men in custody."

Ed swallowed as his insides twisted. Todd hadn't told them his wasn't the only train that was supposed to be bombed. This went way deeper than they thought.

"Fuery, when Mustang gets back will you have him call me? We have some information that might help."

"You have one of them too."

Ed frowned. "Wh—wait, how did you know?"

"Major Hawkeye called your friend in Rush Valley. Were you able to learn anything from him?"

"Apparently not as much as we thought we had," Ed replied, eyes shifting to the other room where Al still sat talking with Todd. "Listen, just have him call when he gets back to the office, alright? We'll be staying here in Dublith tonight."

"I'll let him know. You take care of yourself, Ed."

"Yeah, you too. Thanks Fuery."

He exhaled as he hung up, dragging a hand through his bangs.

"So things are worse than you thought, huh?"

Ed barely managed to cover his surprise. He hadn't noticed Teacher in the room with him until now. He turned, wry smile on his features as he huffed a sarcastic laugh.

"You heard then."

She was leaning casually against the door frame, rolling a strand of hair between her thumb and forefinger. She threw a glance over her shoulder before looking back at Ed. "That Todd didn't tell us everything?" She shrugged. "I figured as much."

Ed's face hardened as he watched Al reach over and pat the teen on the shoulder. He couldn't hear what Todd said, but the look of utter consternation on his face was all too clear. "Yeah, well I'm sure he knew about the rest of the attacks set to take place yesterday." He was still soaking up that bit of information himself.

Izumi dropped the dread as her eyes widened. "So that's what it was. Did any of them succeed?"

Ed nodded silently. "Cargo train going North and a passenger train out West."

The burning urge to go out there and shake some more answers out of Todd was overwhelming, and before he thought about it, he was moving. Izumi's hand flew out just as he reached the doorway and he stopped and looked at her.

"Teacher-"

"He's just a kid, Ed."

He winced at the intensity of her gaze, but stayed put, waiting for her to go on. He knew that look and he knew that it wouldn't be wise to challenge it. Even if he so wanted to point out that their age difference was only a couple years, and that, by Amestris's standards, he was an adult.

She relaxed her arm, letting it fall to her side. "What's important is that he was supposed to blow up the train and decided not to. He didn't do it and he could have."

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but she went on before he could start.

"It's our choices, Ed, that make us who we are. Some of them are bad," she eyed his arm meaningfully, while she covered her midriff with her hand, "but the important thing is that we learn from our mistakes."

His shoulders slumped a bit as he conceded her point. "So, what you're saying is that I should go easy on him because he didn't do what he was supposed to do."

Izumi crossed her arms and shrugged, looking back into the living room where the two still sat. "He seems to idolize you."

Ed spluttered, but kept his voice down. "What? Idolize—he avoided us like the fucking plague a couple days ago, and then ran to his buddies to help him! Where do you get that he idolizes me, Teacher?"

She raised her eyebrows at him, took a deep breath and said, "Idiot." Then turned and walked back into the other room without another word.

Ed blinked. That was a bit mild of a reaction. Too mild for all that she seemed frustrated with him. She didn't even so much as swat at him. "Teacher!" He started, but she simply looked over her shoulder at him as she made her way over to the sofa to sit beside Todd.

"Just think about what I said, Ed," she told him, inadvertently grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. But that was all she said on the subject before turning to Todd and saying something to him that made him chuckle nervously.


Almost exactly two hours later, the phone rang. Sig ambled over and picked it up. A beat later he was turning to Ed and Al and holding the phone out.

"It's the Brigadier General."

Al shared a look with Ed as he stood, and Todd, mostly relaxed a moment before, had visibly tensed as he watched Ed take the phone. Ed dropped his gaze away from him as his inner focus shifted to the man on the other end of the line.

"Hello R-" he barely caught himself, face reddening as he fumbled around for something else to say. But it was too late. The short pause on the other end of the line would have been enough to tell him that the bastard had heard what he'd been about to say, but of course, it was colonel bastard, colonel shit—even if he was promoted now, he was still the same Mustang—and he couldn't let it go unnoticed.

"I'm surprised Fullmetal." His voice was dripping with amusement. Oh yeah, he must just love this. "But you know, that's still not the proper way to address a commanding officer."

"Shut up, bastard! I was just-" Just what? Just thinking about you since I called earlier? About those things you do to me in dreams that will never ever be mentioned out loud to any one, let alone the bastard himself?

Roy's soft laugh trailed down the line, but he let it go, turning serious rather quickly. "Fuery tells me that you've questioned your suspect."

Ed's eyes moved back to Todd, still watching him and wringing his hands nervously. "Yeah. Apparently things didn't go according to plan. I don't think they were counting on the Fullmetal Alchemist being on the train."

Todd shrunk a little more into the cushions.

"Apparently," Roy replied slowly, as if his thoughts were elsewhere.

"So, how did yours go?" Ed went on, too impatient to find out more about what was going on to analyze Roy's silence. "Fuery said you'd gone to interrogate the suspects from today."

He could hear Roy's huff of aggravation over the phone. "They're ex-military," he said, as if that told him everything. Which, actually, it did. Mostly.

"So you didn't get anything out of them?"

"Not in anything they said anyway. I hadn't recognized the names initially, but I've seen these two before. I remember those men. They were Hakuro's."

It sounded like he wasn't only talking to Ed anymore. Hawkeye's voice echoing softly in the background told him he wasn't. He barely caught her question.

"You think Hakuro is involved in this, Sir?"

Ed's forehead creased as he frowned. If Mustang hadn't even updated his people before calling Ed... He must have hoped that they'd found out more than he'd been able to gain, or figured out something he hadn't. Just how deep did this thing go anyway?

"I'm not sure, Major." Roy's words dragged Ed from his thoughts. "Hakuro hasn't been making a lot of noise about the current regime like he was just after the Promised Day. He's been pretty quiet lately."

Ed's eyes narrowed. "Sounds kind of suspicious, if you ask me," he put in.

"Mm." Roy hummed. He seemed to refocus after that—whether just remembering he was on the phone or not, Ed wasn't sure, but his next words were solely for him.

"Do you still have your suspect in custody Fullmetal?"

He was aware of the whole room, and especially Todd, hanging on his every word as he nodded. (He really should have taken this call in the other room.) "Yeah, he's here."

"Good. You think you and your brother can handle transporting him to Central?"

Ed snorted. "Are you kidding, Mustang? It's only one person, of course we can."

"If you're certain, Fullmetal." There was a pause before he went on. "I want you both on the train to Central along with your suspect tonight."

"Central?" Ed asked. "But what good will that do? Why not East City?"

"Because we are heading to Central a bit earlier than scheduled. Tonight, as well, if we can manage it."

Another thing the office was hearing for the first time along with himself, if Ed had to guess by the noises in the background.

"We don't know how many more of these attacks are planned, or if any are at all. Less people travel by evening train than during the day, and with awareness up about the bombings, now may be our only chance."

And they were all expected to be in Central in a few days anyway. Ed sighed. He wasn't going to get a decent amount of sleep any time in the near future at this rate. But Mustang had a point. Not to mention that Todd's cronies probably weren't too happy finding out he didn't follow through with their plans and would soon be out looking for him. ...If they weren't already. Yeah, it was probably a good idea to get out of there, and soon.

He realized belatedly Mustang was waiting on his reply. "Evening train. Right. We'll be on it tonight, Mustang. With our guy." Todd's face went white as he spoke—though whether in fear of being taken to the higher-ups, or something else, Ed wasn't sure. He'd have to ask him a few things when he got off the phone.

His focus was split as Roy spoke again, half observing Todd, half on the conversation.

"Alright. I'll see you in Central. If not tomorrow, then the morning after at the latest. Go to Madam Christmas's, she has some spare rooms available there."

"Right, we'll be there."

Just as he was about to hang up, Roy's words came down the line once more.

"And Edward? ...Be careful."

His voice was quiet, less commanding and more...endearing? No. Roy Mustang—egotistical, self centered bastard that he is—was worried about him. About them—his mind amended. And moreover, and perhaps most importantly...he'd called him Edward. Again. Second time in a week.

He realized he was still on the phone belatedly. The telltale click that would have signified the end of the call hadn't come, so he assumed Mustang was still waiting for him to reply.

"Don't get yourself killed, Mustang," he told him, equally as quiet, and there was no bite in his words as he continued, "It'll be hell finding someone to take your place."

He could hear the smile in Roy's voice as he replied, "Make sure you and Alphonse get on that train tonight. The last one would be the safest."

"Right, we will," he replied. "Later then."

"See you, Ed."

The click came this time and he remembered as he went to place the phone back in the cradle that he was still standing in the living room being quietly observed by four sets of eyes.

He forcibly pushed all thoughts of Mustang from his mind—which was damn hard to do, especially after the way the bastard had said goodbye. Couldn't he have just said 'bye' like any normal person? Sheesh. Well, at least he'd have something to think about on the train tonight. The train that he wouldn't be sleeping on because of having to keep an eye on Todd.

He turned, caught Al's eye, then Izumi's, and announced, "We won't be staying the night. I'm sure you've probably gathered as much already, but we'll be leaving on the last train to Central this evening."

Izumi nodded and shot a look to her left, nodding at Todd. "And you're taking him too?"

"Mustang wants to talk to him, I think. Plus," Ed turned his attention from her to Todd, whose eyes hadn't left him since Ed had taken the call. "I'm betting that your friends have figured out by now that the train didn't blow up as planned. If I were you, I wouldn't want to be hanging around here any longer than I had to. I don't figure your buddies will be too happy with you."

Todd sighed, looking down at his hands. "No." He swallowed and looked up again, glancing sideways at Al too. "Especially not if they've found John."

"John," Al put in, frowning. "The guy you were on the mission with?"

"Yeah, I left him tied up in the rear car after I dismantled the bomb."

Ed shook his head. For all that this kid was skittish of them, he could sure get things done when he wanted to. He definitely wasn't someone they could overlook, no matter how much he seemed he could be.

Ed strode back across the room, reclaiming the chair he'd abandoned for the phone. He waited until he was seated to look at Todd directly and ask the question that had plagued him throughout his phone call with Mustang. And to talk about what Teacher had talked him out of before. It couldn't wait any longer. This was too important.

"There were three other attempted attacks on Amestrian trains yesterday and today. Two were successful." He took a breath before he went on, holding his anger in check. Teacher had been right about one thing, this guy could have blown them all to hell and didn't, and that did count for something. "Are there any more bombings planned?"

Todd shook his head, unruly brown hair shifting along the sides of his face as he did. "I...no more were planned when we left. Our mission was to hit the four trains on the same day to disable the military before they could catch on to what was happening. Beyond that..." he trailed off, shrugging. "No one ever said what the contingency plan was if the original plan fell through."

"So you don't know if or when they'll try again," Izumi stated, crossing her arms as he shook his head.

Well damn. Ed sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Did they say anything about time of day? Was that important? Mustang figures they wouldn't plan an attack on the evening trains because they don't have as much passengers as the day time trains."

Todd sat up a little straighter as he thought about it, nodding. "Yeah, they definitely wanted us to hit them during the afternoon rush."

"So we should be safe tonight then," Al stated, turning it into a question as he squinted at Todd. "Right?"

He shrugged, shaking his head at the same time. "As far as I know, at least." His anxiety was back with the mention of traveling to Central. Not as bad as Ed had seen it before, but Todd was jiggling his knee and tensing up again, even as he spoke.

Sig cleared his throat, then, softly, but it was still loud enough to catch everyone's attention. "I don't mean to interrupt, but if you boys are planning to take the last train to Central tonight, it leaves in about an hour."

"Honey," Izumi uttered sweetly. "Would you be a dear and call in their tickets for them? We will finish up in here while you do that, and then I'll make up a quick supper for the boys before they go."

Sig nodded and headed out of the room—presumably to use the other phone.

After he'd gone, Izumi issued threats to all of them, making Todd so nervous and tense he was as taught as a bowstring. By this point, Ed thought, he was probably more afraid by the thought of Teacher's wrath than being questioned by Mustang. But then again, Ed was too. He wondered if Todd even knew who Mustang was. He knew the name if not the person at least, Ed had gathered that much. Though there weren't too many in Amestris who hadn't heard of the Flame Alchemist. Ed had garnered as much if not more popularity, whether he'd wanted it or not, in his time spent in the military; enough to know how just far your reputation can reach.

Well, his reputation had saved several civilians who would have been blown to bits if he hadn't been recognized by some guy who looked up to him in that little train compartment a couple days ago.

They ate their dinner in silence. Teacher had reheated yesterday's leftovers for them and Ed had dug in with enthusiasm. Al had eaten with less gusto, but he ate fast, all the same. Todd, on the other hand, ate slowly, almost as if it were his last meal. Sig had joined them shortly after they'd started eating, letting them know that they had tickets waiting for them to pick up at the station.

Sig and Izumi gave them a lift to the station, where they all piled out, received a few more well aimed threats from Teacher, and picked up their tickets from the station master's window just before he closed it down for the evening.

They boarded the train quickly, Ed making sure that Todd remained between him and Al as they searched for a compartment to sit in. He let Al take the lead as he followed along behind, and he and Al sat on either side of the door to their compartment once they'd found their seats.

Todd had agreed, on a threat from Izumi, that he wouldn't put up a fight and would do whatever the brothers told him to do. It was the only reason he wasn't bound up for the train ride to Central. He was visibly nervous now. His eyes hadn't stopped darting this way and that until they'd closed the door to their compartment, and then he was still eying the windows (both the interior and exterior ones). Ed wondered if he was worried that his friends might find him on the train, or if he was worried that they might attempt to bomb this one while they were on it. Or if he was just generally freaking over being taken to Central to be dealt with.

Truth be told, he was a valuable asset to have right now. Ed had finally seen what Teacher had in him—that most of Todd's nervousness around him was more out of being near a person he'd come to idolize. It was still hard to fathom anyone making a big deal out of him, even now with all that he'd been through. Ironic how Pride could kill a person's own pride. But Todd had told them everything he thought he could. He'd kept names and their grand plot of things quiet so far, only telling what he was asked directly about. He was cooperating, but it was obvious he was scared shitless about what would happen to him if his people found out how much information he was divulging to them. Ed hoped that Central and the promise of protecting him would loosen his lips some more. Maybe Roy would be better at this interrogation thing than Ed was. He'd never actually been witness to an interrogation by Roy. It'd be interesting to see, at least.

A half hour into the trip, Al stretched, kicking Ed's foot with intent. "You can take a nap if you want. I can keep watch."

"No, I need to stay awake to help you, just in case anything happens."

They kept their voices low, but he figured Todd could probably hear them anyway. Tossing a glance in his direction, Ed realized that, yeah, he was listening, but he shook his head and sighed as they looked at him.

"I won't try anything, and I'm not going anywhere," he told them. "I made a promise to your teacher, and I know you don't know me very well, but I keep my word."

Ed glanced at Al to see a look of conviction on his face. It fueled him to say what he did next. "You don't always keep your word, Todd. You didn't a couple days ago."

He sucked in a breath and looked at Ed in surprise and horror. "That was different. Look—believe me or not, you can trust me."

Ed's skeptical look was interrupted by Al's shoe bumping his foot again. "See? You should rest a bit, Brother. I know you didn't get much sleep at Winry's."

Ed shook his head, turning away from Todd to address Al. "I'm fine, Al. Really. I can sleep when we get to Central."

Al gave him a knowing look. "If I hadn't have said anything, you'd probably have already been asleep by now."

"I wasn't sleeping! I was thinking," Ed spluttered.

"Whatever you say, Brother," Al said with a little knowing smirk and a roll of his eyes. But then he looked away and the moment was over, and Ed didn't have the inspiration to retaliate.

Realistically though, he couldn't sleep right now. Not right in front of their prisoner. Not when his dreams lately seem to consist of either nightmares about being taken over and controlled by a homunculus, or nights in bed with Roy. He wasn't too fond of either of those becoming known to Todd. Hell, he wasn't too fond of Al knowing about those. Though he was actually pretty certain that Al didn't know about the dreams about his commanding officer. Yet. But he couldn't hide his nightmares about Pride. Al already knew about those all too well.

Before too long though, the hypnotic movements of the train had his eyes inevitably growing heavy. He made the firm decision, to himself at least, that he wasn't going to sleep, he was just going to close his eyes and think for a while.

His thoughts drifted to Roy almost too easily, but once they were there, Ed decided to ponder on it anyway, rather than fight it. He remembered the way Roy had said his name as he hung up. Softly, almost as if he was handling his name with care. Ed had been tempted to reply with Roy's name, but he couldn't do it. No matter his confusing fucked up feelings, Mustang was still his superior officer, and knowing him, he probably wouldn't let Ed live it down if he did. ...Though with the way he was going, he wouldn't be surprised if it slipped out again the next time he saw him. Which was supposed to be tomorrow morning. Fuck. Just fuck. It'd be hell if he let it slip in front of Roy's men.
They were supposed to go to Madam Christmas's once they got in to Central. Ed was assuming Roy would be meeting them there when he arrived as well. Roy hadn't exactly told him that part over the phone.

He hadn't been around Madam Christmas much other than meeting her in passing a few times. He hadn't known then that she was Mustang's mother. She was crazy good at gathering information though, which was how their paths had crossed in the past.

This time wouldn't be for information, rather a place to stay and keep their prisoner from Central's eyes until Mustang could question and decide what to do with their suspect. Ed didn't figure he'd go too hard on him—Mustang was a softie at heart anyway. He was strict and knew how to command his men, but when it came to compassion for others, Mustang had a big heart. ...So long as Todd was actually being genuine with them. And as long as he kept being cooperative once they met up with Mustang. Ed had a feeling they'd been able to get as much information as they had out of Todd, because it was him doing the questioning. Al had told him that when he was alone with Todd, he hadn't answered many of his questions at all. He had with Teacher, but then Teacher could be scary when she wanted something.

She'd made sure to tell Ed before they left to keep her informed with what was going on. If Ed didn't know any better, he'd have thought she sounded like she was offering to lend a hand if it were needed. Her feelings toward the military had softened a bit after the Promised Day, and she had only given Ed a tiny bit of grief over deciding to stay with the military after he'd been rid of Pride. He wasn't surprised exactly, at the idea of her offering to help the military—or Roy, at least—but it was pretty forward of her, even after the Promised Day.

Though realistically, she may have only said that because she wants to know what's going on, and that he and Al are doing okay. Oh yeah, and there was that. She'd found out about Al's decision to become a State Alchemist while they were there too. Ed hadn't heard the most of it, but he was pretty sure it was something akin to the talking to he'd gotten when she found out Ed had signed away his life to the military at the age of twelve. She'd taken Al outside and Ed had seen them sparring out of the window as they talked. Or rather, he'd seen Teacher kicking Al's ass while they talked, but such was the way that Teacher got her points across.

Ed mentally sighed. He couldn't stop his brother signing up for the very same thing he did as a kid, but he comforted himself with the thought that at least he would be under Mustang's watch. And that was a good place to be. With Roy's new fuhrership on the horizon and this terrorist group trying to interrupt it, Ed was going to want to keep a close eye on Al anyway. And, though he hated to admit it, it was probably the safest place to be, a state alchemist under Roy's command. Either that or the most dangerous, but he wouldn't have been able to keep Al away with himself all tangled up in this mess anyway. Might as well be officially in the know and able to help out, rather than just doing it anyway, like Al would have done. But still. Ed didn't like it.

The squeal of the brakes on the train pulled him away from his thoughts and he cracked his eyes open a bit to see where they were. Huh. They were in Central. He'd missed the other little stops along the way. Maybe he had dozed after all.

Al was looking at him with a tired smile when he glanced his way. "Have a good nap, Brother?"

"I didn't sleep," he told him, rather unconvincingly as he did it around a yawn. "Just shut my eyes for a bit."

"Mm hmm," he hummed.

Todd was curled up in the seat next to Al, face pressed against the window as he dozed quietly. Well, at least one of them had gotten some sleep.

"How long has he been out?" Ed asked, nodding at Todd and making sure to keep his voice down. They still had about fifteen minutes before they'd have to get off the train, they weren't even to the station yet. May as well let him sleep a little longer.

Al glanced down the seat at their sleeping prisoner. "He dozed off just after you did. Right after the Rush Valley stop, I think."

Todd stirred as the brakes squalled once more, a bit louder this time as they neared the station, and both Ed and Al watched as he sat up and stretched, casting a worried look their way.

Al smiled a bit to try and calm his nerves. "We made it this far. Just a little farther and we'll be safe."

He nodded and tried for a smile, but it looked more worrisome than positive. There were probably more of his buddies in Central, if Ed had to guess, and that thought was enough to make even him nervous. Madam Christmas's bar wasn't too far from the station, though. They could make it there without being spotted.

He hoped anyway.

Al stood and stretched, yawning, as the train came to a full stop. He caught Ed's eye as he gathered his things together, nodding toward the door to their compartment, through which they could see several passengers already making their way to the exits.

"Should we wait until most of the crowd is off?"

Ed shook his head. Central was the last stop on the route, so everyone left on the train would be getting off here.

"No. It's easier to stay hidden in a crowd." He threw a look out of the compartment window. There were only a few in the corridor now. They had started letting people off. He sighed. "Not that there is much of a crowd to get lost in." He looked over at Todd, and then back at Al. "Probably won't make a difference either way, but I think the chances are higher of anyone paying too close attention to us if there are others around."

Al nodded and threw the strap of his bag over his shoulder. Todd stood, stretching a bit, though not as grandly as Al had—probably those nerves again, Ed suspected—and the three of them walked out of their compartment and headed for the main exit that would let them out onto the platform. They'd gone the same way they'd boarded, with Ed taking up the rear.

The platform was pretty quiet. Not too many people waiting on others and only a few cabs dotted the curb. They made their way to the nearest one and climbed in. Al rattled off the address as they settled in the back seat, Todd in the middle.

The driver nodded and pulled out onto the street. Ed shot a look at Al, eyebrows raised, but Al shook his head. He hadn't seen anything out of place either. Good.

Ed paid the driver as they pulled up in front of Madam Christmas's bar, and they grabbed their things and hurried up to the door. It opened almost immediately and a girl around their age waved them in. They were inside before the driver had even gone out of sight.

"There you are! Roy said you'd be getting in tonight, but he didn't say when," the girl said as they walked in, as if she'd known them all their lives. Which, yeah, Ed had seen her when he'd come around Madam Christmas's before, but he couldn't even remember her name. ...If he had ever known it in the first place.

She looked at Al, then Ed, and then stared at Todd in confusion—who happened to be doing the exact same thing. Apparently he hadn't expected anything like this. Although if Ed had been in his shoes, he probably wouldn't have either. She smiled sweetly and shook her head after a moment. "Oh right! Sorry, you must be..." she drifted off, before smiling even brighter and holding out her hand. "I'm Vanessa."

Todd stared at her hand, then looked at Ed. Ed shrugged and gestured toward Vanessa with his head—if she wanted to introduce herself and shake hands with someone who was a suspected terrorist, more power to her. He gave her a wan smile, taking her hand and shaking it once before letting go.

"What's your name?" she asked when he didn't offer it. "These guys are pretty well known already, and I've seen them around a bit, but I don't know yours."

"Todd," he uttered softly. "I'm Todd."

She smiled again and nodded at him before turning toward Ed and Al. "Nice to meet you Todd, and good to see the both of you again. It's been a while since you've been around Central."

"Vanessa, let them boys get on in here," Madam Christmas called from behind the bar before either of the brothers could respond.

"Any trouble along the way?" she asked as they approached the bar, keeping a steady eye on Todd. "Good," she went on when Al shook his head. "You boys hungry?"

"We ate before we left. Few hours ago now, but we'll be hungry later." Ed replied.

She nodded, pulling a cigarette from under the bar and lighting it. She took a long drag off of it before nodding to Vanessa, who had followed them over. "I'll have Vanessa show you to your room then—I'm assuming you only wanted one?—and you can come down for food when you want it."

Ed had nodded when she eyed him with the question. "Thanks Madam," he told her as she finished. He lingered as Al and Todd moved to follow Vanessa, and Al paused for a moment. "I'll be up in a minute," he told him, and Al smiled tiredly before turning and following the other two up the stairs.

"Any word on Mustang?" he directed at Madam Christmas.

She took another drag on her cigarette and blew it out. "As far as I know they boarded the last train from East City earlier this evening. That's all I've heard."

Ed's chest tightened with worry as his eyes darted to the clock. "But it's already...nearly ten o'clock. The East City train should have arrived by now."

She hummed in agreement. "A lot of times it comes in later than the South City train, but even yours was running a bit late tonight." Likely catching on to Ed's worry, she went on. "I haven't heard any reports on suspicious activity, and Roy's whole team is on that train. They're too good to let anything slip by them, especially at a time like this when they know to be on the look out."

Ed watched as she flipped her ashes into the ash tray. "Are they coming here when they get in?"

"Mustang is—or he was planning to anyway. I think a lot of his team have friends or family to stay with for the night. I'm keeping my rooms open for them just in case."

Ed nodded.

She smiled at him and nodded toward the steps as Vanessa reappeared. "Don't worry kid, I'll let you know as soon as I know anything."