*twitchtwitch* Why am I updating so fast? I don't understand… I can't stop writing. Ugh! Its pissing me off!

*sigh* so, because of this freakish updating sickness I have, you guys get another chapter. Geez, if I keep this up I'll have written more in a week than in the three or so months since I started this thing.

Oh, and if you wonder about how I write Ed in this, I picture General Elric and Ed as two different people. (okay, I totally just made my self sound insane…) Kind of like how Ed has his 'Hero of the People' attitude but also has his 'just Ed' one. Like that accept instead of a Hero, his other attitude is an ass that everyone hates… *scratches head awkwardly* Yeah…

I can't remember if I said this in the other chapter, but Ed is 23 in this. Al is 22 but because of the sickness looks like a hell of a lot younger than he really is. What happened in those years will be (probably) explained in later chapters.

And I can't think of any lyrics to go with this chapter. If any of you guys have some, gimme a shout.


It was strange, Ed thought happily as he weaved through the crowd soldiers, without the forever present scowl and the mess-with-me-and-die attitude, no one panicked.

They had been on the train roughly 8 hours. The three men (that being Ed, Roy and Havoc) had spent the time alternating between playing multiple card games, stuffing their face with the food supplied, poking fun at each other and sleeping. It had been the happiest Ed had felt in, well, years.

And then he had realised he'd left the outline for their mission with Johnson… on the other side of the train.

Everyone else on the compartment had volunteered to fetch it for him, even Ross when she had woken up. ('I'm cured!' she had shouted when she awoke, feeling perfectly normal. 'Thank you, Ed, thank you, thank you, thank you!') But Ed had turned down all of their offers; stubbornly saying he had to stop being such a coward and face everyone head on.

Well, that's what he had told them but, really, the real reason he needing to go himself had more to do with his automail then any petty declaration of honour. As it turned out, because of his prolonged hours spent at his desk, some of the joints in his automail had began to weaken, even going as far as being needed to be replaced entirely. And Ed didn't have money to waste on those kinds of preventable things.

Well… a part of it had to do with the fact that he couldn't afford new gears but a part of it had to do with the fact that his best (girl) friend terrified him and would, no doubt, try and hack him to pieces should his automail break.

Not that he'd ever admit that to anyone.

But now that he had left the sanctuary his compartment provided he was actually kind of glad he'd left. He'd shed his mask – he still couldn't believe he hadn't known he was wearing it – and changed his hair from his what had become custom ponytail to his old braid. The familiar weight bouncing against his lower back (although the fact that it almost reached his waist was not familiar in the slightest) was reassuring, along with the curses and swears that managed to slip through his unguarded lips each time someone bumped him. In fact, with a carefree smile, his new hairstyle and his uniform rumpled and unbuttoned like everyone else's, no one flinched. No one panicked. The crowd didn't part like the Red Sea. No one even spared him a second glance

It was nice… oddly comforting.

"Shove it, shrimp," someone hissed into his ear, followed by a sharp elbow to his ribs. In that part of the train the hallways were much smaller, making the crowd seem bigger and the officers ruder. Grunting, Ed shoved the soldier right back and tried to wedge himself in a gap under the guy's arm. "Hey, you little ass," the guy snapped, trying to push past in the other direction. "Have a little respect!"

"A little respect? What a jerk," Ed mumbled angrily under his breath. If only that guy knew who he was… Ed was almost tempted to pull out his General Elric personal and scare this guy to tears. Almost.

He ducked under the man's forearm and edged his way out of hallway. It was times like this he was glad he was so sho-

Thump!

"Owww," he whined, "my head…"

"Oh, gosh," a panicking voice called out, "I'm so sorry! Are you okay, miss?"

Ed let out a pained whimpered as he rubbed his forehead repeatedly; the place the door had collided with throbbing.

"I didn't mean to… I didn't know you were standing there!" The voice paused and, when Ed gave no reply, continued, "Miss?"

"Its okay," Ed choked out through tightly clenched teeth. "I'm fine."

"Oh, thank god," the man sighed in relief. "Like I said, I'm really so-"

When Ed finally looked up, he was met with the sight of deep blue eyes. "Johnson?" he asked, cutting the man off.

Sucking in a deep breath (why did everybody do that when they saw him?), his subordinate stuttered out a surprised, "G-General?"

The two stood there for what felt like hours but must have only been seconds, blinking up at each other; Ed in confusion and Johnson in fear. He had, after all, almost knocked his demon boss unconscious.

"Did you just call me 'miss?'" Ed finally asked.

"I-what, um, no, I mean, yes but I didn't-"

"-know it was me," Ed finished for him. He shot the man a reassuring smile. "Must have been the hair, right?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Hey, Regan!" was heard from within the room Johnson had just exited. "Do you have any more beers left?"

"Err," Johnson looked from his boss to the room behind him, "now isn't a really good time…"

"But I'm thirsty now!"

"No… no, shut up, Bruno, shut up."

"Come on, man," a shaggy, sandy blonde head emerged from the room behind Johnson, a scraggily beard growing on the chin. The man, Bruno, was grinning as he lightly punched Johnson on the arm and said, "Don't make me drink the ration crap. I know you brought your own stuff."

"Beer?" Ed asked. As Johnson's eyes grew wide Ed suddenly understood the reason for his underling's panic.

"Yeah," Bruno beamed. "Regan smuggled some alcohol on b- mmh!"

"I have no idea what he's talking about," Johnson said quickly, his hand clamped tightly around his friends mouth. "Honestly, sir, I think the train's playing tricks on his mind."

"Mmh!" Bruno hummed through Johnson's hand, staring down at Ed with giant, terrified eyes. "Mmmh~!"

"Aha," Ed nodded, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. "I heard train's do that to some people…"

"Of course. I'll just, um, go make him sit down. Dismissed, sir?"

Ed hid a grin and nodded again, "Dismissed, Sergeant."

He waited a moment for his two subordinates to move deeper in the room, not quiet out of hearing range, and called, "Don't get too cared away! If Mustang finds out, I'm not covering for you!" Before racing back down the way he came.

He got hallway down the train before realizing he had completely forgotten to get his paperwork. Swearing, he turned back around and, for the third time that day, tried not to get crushed under the sea of soldiers.

EXTRA- Conversation with Bruno and Johnson after Ed disappears down the train.

Inside the room, Bruno ripped the shorter man's hand of his mouth and hissed, "When the hell did General Psychopath develop a sense of humour?"

"I'd like to know when he developed a soul…"

"And… how come he didn't flip? You know, when I mentioned the beer?"

"I don't know… he didn't flip when I opened the door and almost knocked him out either."

"You what?"

"Or when I mistook him for a girl."

"Wait, what?"

"He didn't even yell. Actually, he," Johnson looked as though he'd just watched a troop of alien mutant ninjas try and take out the Fuhrer, "h-he smiled at me…"

"Regan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this is a omen?"

"Of what? Death?"

"I was thinking more like… the apocalypse."

Gulping down screams of horror, the two practically collapsed back onto the train seats, gaining confused stares from their fellow soldiers.

"Bruno?"

"Yeah?"

"If I suddenly go missing in the middle of the night, will you tell my wife I love her?'

"Only if you tell my girlfriend the same thing."

"But…" Johnson scrunched his nose up as though trying to figure out an alchemical equation, "what if we both go missing?"

They sat in silence, thinking deeply about apocalypses, death, beer and men with long hair.

"Okay," Anderson announced from off to the side, "I think you guys need to slow down a bit on the alcohol."


I agree with Anderson *shakes head* What am I going to do with them?

Anyway, yay! Bruno reappears! Do you guys remember Bruno from the first chapter? No? Well, he was in it and I didn't just make him up on the spot. Him, Johnson and Anderson are all friends ^-^ Although Johnson is still the main character in that little trio.