Despite the few disagreements every so often, Isabella and Edward finally found themselves in a room with a giant transmutation circle drawn around, with bits of dried blood here and there. In the middle of the transmutation circle, there was a tree stump with another circle engraved into it.

Isabella's eyes widened, slightly alarmed at the sight of the dried blood, and felt that this scene looked oddly familiar. "What the hell...?"

Edward frowned and said, gaining a smirk, "I bet this is what they used to make a Philosopher Stone." Isabella blinked, feeling out-of-character-ly-stupid.

That's right. It was part of the show and then...What's supposed to happen next? She wondered, unable to remember everything. Isabella did remember that Edward got stabbed in the side during a certain part of this episode, but that was about it. She didn't remember what happened before or after that.

A voice, one that had the same echo-like way of talking as Alphonse, spoke, "Yes, that's right." The two teens turned their heads in surprise, tensing at the newcomer. "I don't who you are, boy, but you sure figured out a lot just by looking at a transmutation circle." He said, walking into view and revealing a man in a suit of old samurai-style-like armor.

"I'm just good like that," Edward replied with narrowed eyes, before demanding, "Who are you, pal?" Isabella just stood quietly in the background, hands in her jacket pockets, eyeing the newcomer's sword cautiously.

I don't believe I brought my kunais with me, She thought with a deep frown, her eyes becoming half-lidded and making it look like she was bored. I don't know much about alchemy either, other than to clap my hands and BOOM! I transmute. I won't be able to put up much of fight if it comes down to it. She was already cornered and the fight hadn't even begun yet.

Invisible to all of them, an arrow reading "Unreliable Heroine" popped up in the air and pointed at the girl.

The man in armor continued to walk towards them, a sword dangling at his side, and explained, "The one in charge of guarding this place from curious little brats." He gazed at the two with red eyes, glowing from behind his helmet. "Let's just go with in the meantime, that mine name is 48." He stopped, standing half-way across them and a rather good distance away from them. "And believe me, I'm not your "pal"."

Isabella spoke up, eyeing him suspiciously. "I take it that means you're here to "eliminate" us." It was more of a statement than a question.

He looked at her with mild-interest. "Dully observant, girl." Her eyebrow twitched slightly. "My orders are to dispose of anyone who wanders in here, poking their noses where they don't belong. Try not to take it personally, kids."

Edward looked at him, unimpressed as he clapped his hands together. "Alright, I won't." He quickly turned his arm into a blade. He glared at 48. "And you try not to take it too personally when this kid kicks yours ass!" He looked at Isabella out of the corner of his eyes for a second before reverting his gaze back to 48, "Isabel, stay behind me and out of the way."

She opened her mouth to argue, about to say that she wasn't going to be taking orders from a suicidal blonde brat like him, when she realized he was doing the same thing he did during Scar's attack, and quickly shut it. She huffed and pulled her hands out of her pockets, crossing her arms over her chest, "Whatever...Don't die, blondie."

48 spoke, "Hm...You're an alchemist are you?" He suddenly appeared in front of Edward with amazing speed, causing the blonde's eyes to widen considerably. He tensed, shoulders shaking from fear. "Alright then...Let's see what you got." He slashed with his sword so fast, Edward almost didn't have time to block it.

Isabella sat down and crossed her legs, her hands resting in her lap as she watched the fight take place. Hey, if Edward wasn't going to fight, what was the point of her getting involved? Besides, 48 didn't seem too interested in her.

She watched as 48 swung his sword down, aiming at Edward's head, and watched as the blonde raised his right arm up to block it. He grit his teeth and jumped back.

"A prosthetic arm, huh?" 48 noted, before lunging forward and aiming to slash at Edward's stomach. "No matter-" Isabella's eyes widened at this, and quickly began to untie one of her shoes as fast as she could. "-my sword can pierce steel-" She pulled it off and stood quickly, stumbling a little as she reeled her arm back to aim, "-as well as flesh!" She threw her shoe at 48, just as he backed Edward against a pillar and locked blades with him. It bounced harmlessly off of his shoulder and the girl held back a flinch, seeing how pathetically useless that was.

Okay, aim for the head next time... She noted and began to untie the other shoe.

48 turned his head to look at her for a brief moment after the shoe hit him, and Edward took advantage of the distraction to slash across his chest and make the suit of armor jump back. Edward stared at him in surprise, before grinning strangely. "My, my, what's this?" Sweat was beading down his face, a nervous look in his eyes. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're hollow inside!"

48 stood up straight, eyeing Edward through his red eyes. "You're a perceptive one."

"I could tell from the sound," He explained, "I spar against someone like you all the time!"

Isabella watched with a frown, furrowing her eyebrows. She was missing something important-something in the back of her head from one of the memories that had faded and blurred over time.

The suit of armor sounded genuinely surprised, "So, there are people like me, too, out there? That's surprising."

Edward smirked darkly, "Yeah, it makes me sick. To think there's more than one idiot in the world who would come up with the brilliant idea of bonding a disembodied soul to a suit of armor."

"Hmm...Perhaps I should introduce myself again; Forty-Eight is the number I was given when I was assigned Death Row." He explained, "Back when I still had a living body, I was better known as Slicer. I was a mass murderer, you see."

Isabella paused, recognizing that from somewhere. Didn't she read an article once about a pair of brothers who...who murdered people? It hit her-A few months back before she appeared, Hughes had been working on a case on a pair of mass murdering brothers, and it took at least three whole months before they managed to catch the culprits. She was bored one day and found a bunch of old articles to read.

"So you were slated for execution," Edward rationalized. He then said, "Tell me something, then. This laboratory...Are they using condemned prisoners to make Philosopher Stones here?"

"That I can't tell you," Slicer replied. "That isn't my "area". They simply recognized my skills, gave me this body, and me their trusty guard dog."

Isabella couldn't help but comment, "Well, that seems like fun." Her sarcasm was showing again.

He cast her a brief glance and said, "It's going to fun slicing you up once I'm finished with this brat, girl."

Her eyebrow twitched again, "Call me that again and you get a shoe to the face."

"Interesting," Edward commented, "I'm sure they gave you a seal, too; to serve as medium between soul and armor?"

"Yes, I have a bloodseal." He pulled the cloth off of his helmet's "mouth" and lifted up the face plate. There was a bloodseal on the inside of the helmet head. "This is it, here. If you destroy this...the fight's yours." Edward stared at the suit of armor suspiciously.

"That's rather generous of you to show me your weak spot..."

"I like to give myself a little extra challenge during a fight now and then," Was his response. Ed grinned.

"As long as you're in such a giving mood, then how about this; why not just let me and my friend go?" Isabella's eyes widened and she looked at the blonde in surprise. He thought of her as a friend?

I'm hallucinating... She decided, nodding firm in her recent discovery. Deciding to speak up, she added, "Preferably unharmed and in one piece would be good, too."

Slicer placed his mask and cloth back on and over his "mouth" and said in amusement, "Nice try, kids, but what kind of mass murderer lets his prey get away so easily?"

Deciding to take a page out of Elizabeth's book, Isabella suggested with an awkward grin, "The nice kind?"

"Very funny. Now, let's fight."


"Did you hear what I just said?" Hughes asked excitedly, a grin on his older face. He gushed loudly, shaking his bottom back-and-forth as he talked to Roy on the phone, "My darling little Elicia is about to turn three! And, not to mention my beautiful teenage girl, Liz, is going to be fourteen in just a few months! Oh, I'm so excited! Two darling daughters and they're growing!" He gushed, placing a hand against his face as he gained stars in his eyes.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," Mustang replied on the phone annoyed, "do you think this could wait? I'm at work." It was currently night time, and Mustang was a little more than irritated. Hughes laughed.

"Oh, what a coincidence! I'm at work, too!" He started to gush again, the lady at the desk nearby gaining a sour look on her face at Hughes' annoying little habits. "Elicia's the cutest little thing! You should see her!" Hughes pulled out three photos, currently staring at one of Elicia with her arms in the air spread out with a giant smile on her face. Her green eyes were sparkling happily.

"I'm sure she's adorable-" Hughes cut him off, rambling on about his other daughter.

"-she's just about dating age! I can't wait until she gets a boyfriend-but if he even thinks about mistreating her I'll-" Roy cut him off, cursing Hughes mentally and telling himself that Hughes is lucky that he's his best friend, otherwise he'd be getting an earful right now.

"Yes, I'm sure she'll find someone charming. Now stop calling me to gush about either daughter, especially one I sent over for you watch over-not adopt without even telling me first-and on a military line, too!"

Hughes made a face, an angered star flashing in his eyes. "Not just my daughters, Colonel. And what's the matter with having adopted her? She's practically part of the family." He said this with a completely serious face, "We're the only family she has. I'm sorry, but whether you like or not, I'm her father now. I'm never going to replace her birth father, but I can at least be there for her and guide her on the right path. She may not see me as her father, or even her adopted father, but I see her as my daughter and that's something that will never change."

"Hughes..." Roy wasn't sure how to respond to that. Hughes could just imagine the dark-haired man pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed. "Fine, whatever you say."

"And besides," Hughes became cheery again, "I'll gush over my wife, too!" He was looking at all three pictures now. One of Elicia, one of Gracia, and one of Isabella. Hughes had a ridiculous blush on his face that was accompanied by a goofy grin. He knew Roy must be aggravated beyond comprehension by now and decided that his playtime was over. He was still smiling, though, as he said, "I know, I know, it's your turn, now! Go ahead Colonel. I know you're dying to gush over your own..." he lowered his voice as he said, "Scar-faced Ishvalan."

"We've found many bodies on the sight where he vanished," Roy began, pausing before he had spoken. "But all of them have been so decomposed its been difficult to identify them. He hasn't been sighted anywhere in the East. So, at the present, many people here think it's most likely that he's dead."

"If that's the case, then I should be able to lift the bodyguards off of the Elric Brothers and Isabella." Speaking of her, he might just go and pay her a visit later. He hadn't seen her since she left with the left-over steak that Gracia made to give the Elric brothers, despite him telling her how dangerous it was to go out at that time of day by herself. It had still been daylight, but it didn't mean he was any less worried.

But the girl had seemed dead-set on getting the steak to them, saying how that if she didn't bring them food they were just going to starve themselves. And by "they", she means "Edward", seeing as Alphonse is unable to eat. Knowing her, Hughes mused, she had probably lied to them and said that Gracia asked her to bring it over. He still wants to know what had made her so detached and unwilling to get close to people in the first place. He deduced that it involved something about her family being dead, but he wanted to hear it from the teen herself.

He let a small smile cross his face, realizing that he worried too much. He shook his head, and paused to listen as Roy asked,

"Is Major Armstrong still in charge of their instructive detail?"

Hughes smiled again, "He was, but a couple of their men had taken over now."


Somewhere Brosh was crying and Ross was yelling angrily, having been duped by the brothers and tricked. She held a struggling Elizabeth in her grip, who was apologizing profusely for having lied to them. She was begging to be released. Brosh was too worried about Armstrong taking his shirt and yelling at them. Ross was trembling with anger.


Isabella looked on with alarm when the two suddenly ran at each other screaming and hit each other, their weapons giving a loud CLANG! and causing them to back up before attacking each other again. As Edward ducked and dodged, a sudden look of pain formed on his face and Isabella noticed. She had a feeling that she would need to throw her shoe, soon.

Edward removed his gaze from his left shoulder in time to see Slicer slash at his head. He ducked just in time and moved to the left. He jumped in the air and flipped backwards, pressing his left hand against the ground for balance as he landed on his feet. Slicer chased after him, swinging his sword as he ran at a normal pace, and Edward quickly dodged.

Isabella noted the look of nervous determination on his face, like he realized something bad and knew he had to end the fight as fast as possible, and reeled her arm back as she waited for the opportune moment.

"Or else...we're dead!" He exclaimed suddenly, sliding back with his feet after deflecting another attack. He charged towards Slicer only to have his attack deflected and dodged. Edward grunted and let out a small shout as he ducked to avoid getting his head cut off. Edward made to attack again, to no avail, and was sent back a few feet. He ran again, only to have Slicer hit Edward's blade and kick the boy in the stomach. Edward was sent flying and he landed on his back painfully.

Slicer walked towards him and aimed his sword above Edward's stomach, causing the boy's eyes to widen, and lunged. Edward rolled out of the way in time and jumped up, trying to stay alive. Slicer slashed at him again and Edward did another back flip, only to make a pained face when blood suddenly spurted out of his left shoulder. He started to walk backwards when Slicer started to charge at him, only to find him up against a column.

He was cornered. Edward seemed to realize this as he looked to the side, and gratefully took the distraction of another shoe hitting the suit of armor in the head to move out of the way.

Slicer seemed irritated at this and appeared in front of Isabella suddenly, causing the girl to look up in alarm and fear. She saw his sword raise and quickly screamed as she threw herself to the right, tripping over her own feet, and broke out into a run.

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, bad idea-! She screamed in her head, frantically trying to dodge Slicer's attacks. What was she thinking? It wasn't like she had anything to prove and she just had to go and make the murderous suit of armor angry.

"Slow down, girl," Slicer told her tauntingly, causing the girl to accidentally look behind her and trip-slamming onto the ground.

"Isabella!" Edward shouted, before growling and racing towards Slicer, "Hey! Your fight is with me!" Slicer seemed to ignore him as he raised his blade and thrust it downwards, Isabella rolling onto her side in time to avoid getting punctured, but too slow to avoid getting a cut to the forehead. She flinched at the feel of blood running down her face, and quickly pushed herself up. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a small scream as she raised her left arm up to block, his sword clashing against her steel arm.

She was breathing heavily, adrenaline coursing in her veins. Slicer quickly raised his foot and kicked her in the chest, sending her flying backwards and landing roughly on her side. She coughed and pushed herself up quickly, expecting that she would need to run for her life again soon. However, she was then greeted at the sight of Edward and Slicer fighting each other again.

She felt pathetic. She couldn't fight- she didn't know how. Her alchemy was also at the lowest level, despite also being one to see the Gate of Truth and able to do alchemy without a transmutation circle. Edward was getting beat to a pulp and she couldn't even do anything to help except throw shoes at the armored body. From her spot on the floor, she watched Edward dodge and attack and dodge the murderer over and over again, the process forever repeating with the occasional slash on Edward's body.

Slicer commented teasingly as Edward tripped and landed on his butt, "What a cute little monkey."

Edward snapped, a sore spot hit, and demanded, "Who you calling little!?" Slicer laughed and Isabella felt the fear bubble inside her. She could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes as she sat there. She lifted a hand up to her face, brushing away some of the blood.

"It's been too long since I've had prey that was worth hunting," He told him, and the girl noticed how dry her throat felt. Slicer sounded disappointed as he plucked his sword up out of the ground, "But you're tired and wounded now..." She had to think. She had to find a way to help Edward. "You won't last much longer."

Maybe-no...I can't do alchemy. I know I can't so why... She bit her lip, watching fearfully as Slicer continued.

"Right about now, my partner should be finishing off the companion you left outside."

Both teens thought of Alphonse, and they were both worried. However, Edward narrowed his eyes as he clutched his left arm, asking, "Is this companion of yours strong?"

"Yes he is. He isn't as strong as I am, though." Edward burst out into laughter and Isabella felt a relieved smile cross her face.

She spoke, smirking, "In that case I don't think we should worry."

Edward nodded in agreement as he stood, grinning. "Oh, yeah. You see, we've been sparring partners a long time. And I've still never beaten him!"

Slicer held his sword with both hands and pointed it at Edward. "Your brother is that good, is he? Then I'll have to hurry up and defeat you, so I can get around to taking care of him."

Isabella felt herself raising her hands, the fear of dying coming back to haunt her, and was prepared to press them together when Edward suddenly shouted as he turned his head, "Go, Al! Do it now!"

"What!?" It was stupid, incredibly cliche, and unoriginal, but when he turned around to look behind him Isabella clapped her hands together and turned the palm of her automail hand into a blade. Not as long as Edward's, nor probably as useful, but it was better than nothing and all she had to offer.

She and Edward both charged, screaming, and attacked.

This was the only thing she could do. She couldn't fight very well, she barely knew any alchemy, and the only thing she was capable of was solving puzzles.

Well, this puzzle was about to be solved, Isabella Christine Hughes be damned.

She wasn't going to die, Edward wasn't going to die, and neither was her father. No one was going to die if she could help it. That was what she had thought as she screamed, charging towards Slicer with a mad, scared look in her eye as she raised her arm up above her head, prepared to strike.

Edward jumped in the air and knocked Slicer's helmet off, and was left with a rattling arm as she had hit bare metal. She cried out in pain and gripped her arm, now feeling like a complete idiot for doing something so stupid.

I should've just left the fight to Edward, She thought bitterly.

Slicer yelled angrily, "That was dirty!"

"There's no such thing as "dirty" in a fight!" Isabella raised a leg and kicked Slicer's body angrily, knocking it onto the ground.

"All is fair in war, dumbass!" She growled, glaring at it. Something about the armor didn't sit right with her. She was missing something important. Something about Slicer and that armor of his... She tensed and stood up in alarm at the sound of clanging metal, but relaxed when she saw it was just Slicer's head bouncing against the ground. Edward clapped his hand and de-transmuted his blade, reverting it back to his normal hand.

Isabella kept hers, however, as she was still paranoid, and curled her fingers around the blade as if she were holding a kunai.

"What's the matter?" Slicer asked, a bitter tone in his voice as he watched Edward walk over to him. "You still haven't destroyed the bloodseal I so kind pointed out..." Isabella took a few steps away from the armor and towards Edward. "Are you going to or not?" Edward lifted the Helmet up by its plume.

"There's something I need to ask you about." The bad feeling returned, and Isabella's eyes darted nervously around the room.

"The Philosopher's Stone." Slicer clarified, already knowing what Edward was going to ask.

"Yes. Tell me everything you know about it."

"Sorry, can't." Edward sent Slicer a dark look, saying,

"Hey, now. Tell me. I did beat you at your own game." The feeling was stronger now, and Isabella realized what she was missing.

The article said it was a pair of mass murdering brothers. So why was there only one? Her eyes widened in horror, and Edward turned to look at her in confusion.

"That's where you're wrong. I'm not beaten yet." Slicer finished and Isabella reacted out towards Edward out of instinct. The sound of creaking armor hit her ears and before she had even realized what she was doing, her hands found themselves on Edward's arm as she pushed him out of the way, stumbling as she moved to where he was standing previously.

Pain pierced her back and she could feel the liquid bubbling up her throat. She could feel the blade inside of her, indescribable pain flaring through her insides.

Edward's eyes were horrified, and were looking down at a place on her stomach. Slowly, Isabella's gaze traveled down, and right where her liver should be, was a blade dyed crimson.

"M-My bad..." She choked, tears streaming down her face faster than she could hold them back, and hacked up blood as he suit of armor pulled out the blade.

Her legs gave out and she toppled onto the floor, blood staining her clothes and pooling around her on the floor.

"I-Isabella...?" The girl rolled painfully onto her side, coughing and hacking. "Impossible..."

Slicer started to explain, the helmet resting on the ground, "I forgot to mention something about this mass murderer named Slicer..."

"His crimes were really done by a pair of brothers." The suit finished, raising a hand.

She could feel herself becoming dizzy, and decided to rid herself of the blade while she was still conscious. Her hand turned back to normal and she looked around for a spot away from the fighting-and saw a really friendly looking column. She attempted to stand and slowly stumbled over there, collapsing before she was even half-way.

"An independent head and body? That's a dirty trick!" Edward growled, glaring at them. Isabella crawled the rest of the way, creating a trail of blood, and pulled herself up as she sat down, her back resting against the column.

"Now, now," Slicer said, "Were't you the one who said there was no such thing as "dirty" in a fight?"

The younger brother, who is now just going to be called "48", asked curiously, "Are you ready? Round two's about to begin, short stuff."

"Don't call me short!" Edward snapped as the suit of armor charged. He raised his hands together, only to be knocked back as 48 swung his sword rapidly.

"I don't think so; I'm not going to give you time to transmute!" Edward was unable to block when 48 slammed the butt of his sword into Edward's stomach, causing him to cry out and fly back. He slammed against a column. Not good, not good!

Did Edward just... Isabella thoughts were slowing down on her, black dots dancing in her vision, slam into a pillar? Or was it a column? She wasn't that sure anymore. She watched helplessly as 48 charged towards Edward, sword ready to swing. He's going to die...We're both going to die here, after all. She was unable to help. How pathetic was that?

Here it comes...I'm going to die. I'm going to die! An image of Scar flashed through Edward's head, and he clapped his hands together.

"Die!"

Edward pushed himself off the column and ducked, lurching forward and slamming a hand against the younger brother's armor chest-plate. Blue electricity crackled and separated the torso from the lower body. The pieces of armor fell onto the floor, the older brother gasping. Edward fell onto his knees, panting heavily. "You reminded me of someone I don't like...and now I've done exactly what he did."

48 cried out angrily, his arms wriggling about, "How could you little brat!?"

Edward screamed and pressed himself against the column, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "He's wriggling-that's freaky!"

48 stopped moving and relaxed, crying out, "Brother!" Slicer sighed.

"As much as I'd hate to admit, we've lost." Edward's gaze traveled to Isabella's nearly unconscious form for a moment before he looked at the lower half of the younger brother's armor and poked it nervously with his foot.

"So you're not going to tell me you're really three brothers, are you?" 48 waved his arm lazily.

"No, no..." Slicer said as Edward sat up,

"Come on, boy, you won! Hurry up and destroy us!" Edward scoffed and turned his head.

"No. I'm not a murderer."

Isabella could barely see now. She pressed hand roughly against her wound as if it would stop the bleeding-but it was going to be impossible as she was penetrated all the way through.

"With bodies like these, are we really even people?"

"...I consider you people whether you have physical bodies or not. If I didn't, then that would mean I wouldn't even consider my own brother as a person, either." He looked up at the brothers through narrowed eyes. "I know my brother is a human being. That means you guys are human, too...I will not take the life of another person." Speaking of which, he'll need to get up soon and get him and Isabella out of here. She needed medical treatment fast.

"Oh?" Slicer asked and was silent for a few moments, before bursting out laughter. Edward looked at him in confusion.

"Brother?" 48 asked worriedly.

Slicer began, voice highly amused, "My brother and I have been lying, cheating, stealing, and killing together for as long as we can remember! And now that we're in these pseudo-bodies, we're being treated as humans for the first time! Don't you see the irony? For that boy, I'll give you a parting gift. I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you who made the Philosopher's Stone and who ordered us to guard this place." He seemed like he was about to say more, but was cut off when tendrils pierced his helmet and lifted him off the ground.

Edward gasped and Isabella look on with wide, slightly dazed, eyes.

"My, that was a close call." A smooth, deep female voice said. It was almost seductive, but not quite there. A woman with an hourglass figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing bright red lips and pink eyes. "Number 48, you should know better than to talk about things that don't concern you." The tendrils were apparently her fingers, and retracted until the helmet was in the woman's hands. Suddenly a palm tree came from behind the woman and spoke,

"Well, well, would you look at that? What's the Fullmetal Pipsqueak and his midget friend doing here?" The palm tree was revealed to actually be a person, with very green hair.

"Such troublesome children," The woman stated, eyeing them disappointingly. At the sight of the woman's figure, Isabella looked down at herself and felt a small pang of envy, seeing how flat she was compared to the woman in front of her. "How did you find out about this place?" She and Edward then watched in horror as Slicer's helmet was split in half, crashing against the ground.

48 called out in horror, "Brother! Brother! BROTHER!"

The person with the green hair grabbed his sword and slammed in roughly onto his bloodseal. 48's arms trembled in the air, almost like he was paralyzed.

"Quit your pathetic blubbering, you idiot!" The palm tree growled, stabbing 48's seal repeatedly and slowly. "You were trying to kill two of our most important sacrifices! And because of you, one of them is nearly dead already! Do you understand me!? You could've messed up the entire plan!" 48's arms seemed to bend awkwardly, before his entire body went limp. "What would we have done then!? HUH!?" The palm tree pulled out the sword and stepped over the armor, walking towards Edward to give him a look before heading over to Isabella. "Hey, you alive, shortie?"

Isabella could only grunt and let out a quiet, "Don't...call me...that..." The palm tree grinned at that before reaching down and slinging the injured girl over his shoulder. She cried out in pain.

"Hey, let her go!" Edward growled, forcing himself to stand. The woman cast him a bored glance, before smiling.

"Oh, don't worry. We don't plan on hurting her." The palm tree then stood beside the woman, in front of Edward who glared at them.

"Tell me who you people are! What plan are you talking about? What do you mean when you say "Important sacrifices"? What do you plan to do with me and Isabella?"

The palm tree leaned over to where his nose was barely touching Edward's, smirking. "Oh, my. The pipsqueak's raring to go-I think I made it angry." The brunette he had slung over his shoulder made a muffled noise of pain. Edward glared at him darkly.

"Don't call me "pipsqueak" again!"

"Then what would you prefer, eh, pipsqueak?" The man nearly dropped Isabella when he leaned back to dodge Edward's kick. He backed up and dropped the sword, alarmed. "Whoa now, there's no need to fight here! Someone might get hurt, you know? Besides, your friend here needs the hospital-"

Edward clapped his hands and growled, "This is a fight here that you started! So come on-" '

CLANG!

Edward blinked and looked down at his right arm as it gave out on him.

The woman asked dryly, "Technical difficulties?" Edward screamed in horror. His arm broke at the worst possible time! Winry was going to kill him!

The palm tree danced happily towards Edward, declaring, "Lucky me!" He gripped Edward's braid with his free hand and made him lean over, before kneeing him in the chest harshly. Edward was left dangling limp from the man's hold. The palm tree grinned at him, "You're fortunate that your arm's broken. If not for that, you wouldn't be getting off so easily." He released Edward's braid and the blonde fell to the floor.

The woman crossed her arms and said, "Listen to me well, boy, don't you ever forget this. Always remember we allowed you to live." She then commented, "We can't have them poking around this place again; it's too dangerous. It'll have to go...blow it up?"


Alphonse, Elizabeth, and Ross looked on in alarm when a man with green walked out of the exploding building with both Edward and Isabella slung over his shoulders. He was grinning, "There you are! I brought some presents for you!"

"Brother! Isabel!" Alphonse cried out and ran over, Elizabeth and Ross right behind him.

"Isabella! Edward!"

The palm tree set the two injured teens on the grass. He stood and placed his hands on his hips, offering a friendly smile, "The boy's not in danger, but he has lost a lot of the blood. I'd be more worried about the girl if I were you, for she received a dangerous blow to the stomach. You might wanna get them both to a hospital as a soon as you can. Also, you should really keep a better eye on them-stop them from taking all these crazy risks."

The man opened his purple eyes and saw Elizabeth kneeling down next to Isabella worriedly, and Alphonse doing the same with his brother. "They're precious resources." Ross looked up and demanded,

"But who are you?" Their gazes turned when Brosh ran over shouting,

"Lieutenant Ross, we need to go!" Ross demanded,

"Sergeant, help me with them!" Brosh stopped running and looked at the two teens in horror.

"What happened to them!?"

"We'll talk later! And you should go too-" She cut herself off when she realized the man had disappeared. "What? He's gone!" More smoke gathered around when a giant piece of cement came off of the building and collapsed in front of them. They screamed.

Within moments they were running, with Edward on Brosh's back and Isabella in Alphonse's arms. The building was continuing to collapse behind them, and Barry's words echoed in Alphonse's mind as they ran.

"Are you sure you're not a puppet created by your so-called brother?"


"So things here at Central are pretty hectic," Hughes continued as talked to Roy, "The Senior Staff in charge of State Alchemists is shorthanded, thanks to Scar's killing spree."

"Oh?" Roy asked, Hughes almost hearing the interested smirk in Roy's voice.

"Rumor has it that a promotion to Central for one Colonel Roy Mustang isn't far off."

"Central, huh? Not bad at all."

Hughes smiled and warned, "Watch yourself, though. You can't move up the ladder as young as you are without making enemies."

"I've been prepared for that from the start." Roy responded. Hughes grew serious.

"Just a word of warning from someone who knows the game; You need as many hands on your side that you can get now, Colonel. Which means..." Roy waited, wanting to know what Hughes was going to advise him. Hughes whispered quickly, "Get yourself a wife!"


"SERIOUSLY!?" Roy shouted in irritation, slamming the phone down in his Office.


Hughes stood there in confusion, staring at the phone. "I don't get it...He hung up on me just like that."

The female receptionist finally snapped, glaring at him from her desk as she placed her book down, "Lieutenant Colonel! Stop making so many personal phone calls, okay?"

Hughes hit himself lightly in the head with phone, making a guilty face. "Oh...So sorry!" Suddenly the phone on the receptionists desk rang and the woman picked it up with an exasperated sigh.

"Hello?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, I see...Yes...I see...Yes, I'll tell him." Hughes was about to walk away after hanging the phone he was holding up, when the receptionist called out to him. "Lieutenant Colonel, there's a message from the hospital for you."

He looked at her curiously, furrowing his eyebrows together. "Yes, what is it?"

She paused for a moment, before telling him, "Your daughter is in the hospital and they said she might not make it. They said they need your consent to perform surgery on her."

Hughes froze. After a moment he told the receptionist, a dark shadow looming over his face, "Tell the boss I'm turning in early and tell them to save her." She wasn't even able to open her mouth to respond before he had already bolted out of the office.