Mustang sat at the bar with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, desperate for even a brief escape from reality. The atmosphere of the tavern he was currently at was unpleasant and dank and it reeked of alcohol. There weren't many people in the place, and most of them were either passed out drunk on the floor or sitting quietly at the bar like him. It was pretty quiet, as well. Aside from the occasional shout from a group of men playing poker somewhere in the back, and the soft sound of the radio playing in the background. None of this bothered the Colonel, however. He was too distracted by his own internal torment to pay any mind to his surroundings.

It had been a full year since Ed disappeared from the hospital. A full year since Mustang failed to protect his subordinate, his fellow state alchemist, his son. A full year since Mustang made the biggest mistake of his career; one that would likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

Every lead him and his men found brought them to a dead end. They hadn't turned up even the slightest bit of evidence, and Roy hadn't handled the stress very well lately. His hair was a mess, and his eyes had dark circles under them. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately. Since he hadn't shown up to work for the past couple of days, he was wearing his civilian clothes which consisted of a white button up shirt and blue jeans.

Roy took another sip from his beverage, not even tasting it in the process, as he reflected over the events of the past year. Al was released from the hospital several months ago. It had taken him a long time to recuperate after getting his body back, but now he seemed to be completely healed. Ever since his release, the younger Elric had been searching frivolously for his older brother, disappearing for months at a time and returning with nothing to show for it every time. He'd gone as far north as Fort Briggs, as far south as the border Amestris shared with Aerugo, and even across the vast desert area to Xing.

The last time Roy saw Al, he was still extremely determined. His hope was still bright and burning regardless of how hopeless the situation seemed or how many people told him to just give up on his search. No matter what, the boy was confident that Ed was still alive, and would one day be recovered. Roy on the other hand, although he still held on to the fleeting hope that Ed was still out there somewhere, his resolve had begun to deteriorate over the last year. Nevertheless, he refused to give up. The Fuhrer had ended the search several months after Ed first disappeared, officially pronouncing him MIA, but Mustang couldn't heed his orders. No, he'd die before he'd let men stop searching. They had continued to investigate Ed's disappearance for the past year, and they wouldn't stop now.

The bartender noticed Roy's empty glass of whiskey, noting that he seemed lost in thought. After a moment, the man approached him, asking if he'd like a refill. Roy took a moment to respond, but declined his offer. "No thank you. Actually, I should probably be on my way. I have work in the morning, and it's already past twelve."

Ah, what the heck. I might as well try to come in tomorrow, Roy thought. I can't just stay home forever. I'd lose my position if I did that, and I've worked too hard to just throw everything away now. Besides, if I lost my job, it would be that much harder to keep searching for Ed.

Mustang nodded to the bartender, grabbed his coat and hat, and headed out the door.

The moment he stepped outside, a breeze of cool air hit him. Rain pelted down on him hard as he headed toward his car. It was a rainy and dreary night in Central, not unlike the days leading up to Ed's first disappearance. Cars sped by him as Mustang watched the sky gradually grow darker, the foul smell of car exhaust in the air. The dark night was lit up only by the occasional lamppost; the moon just a thin sliver in the sky.

Mustang paused with his hand on the handle of his car door. He wasn't drunk off his ass or anything, but he was a bit too tipsy to drive. Sighing in exasperation, the colonel headed back into the tavern to ask if he could use their phone.

XxXxXxXxX

Riza was just about to leave for the night, gathering up the paperwork she had finished filling out and setting them in a neat stack atop her desk. She thought she might pay the Colonel a visit in the morning. The paperwork had been piling up in his absence, and his job could be in jeopardy if any of the higher-ups noticed his unexcused absence. Riza was also worried about him. Perhaps, a worry that extended beyond what an officer would normally feel for her superior.

Just as she was about to head out the door, the phone on her desk rang. Speak of the devil, she thought.

"First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye speaking," she said as she picked up the phone.

"Riza, I'm glad you're still at work. Could you give me a ride?" came a voice from the other end. Sure enough, it was Roy, just as Riza had suspected.

"Yes, sir," she replied. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Wait, I don't recall giving you the location," Roy pointed out, his tone slightly confused.

"There's no need, I know where you are," she informed him before hanging up the phone. After all, this wasn't the first time he'd gotten drunk and called her to drive him home, and she doubted it would be the last. That man can be such a moron sometimes, she mused. Grabbing her greatcoat and locking her office door behind her, Riza headed out.

XxXxXxXxX

Roy sat in his car to keep out of the rain and wait for his ride to arrive. Ten minutes after his call, Riza pulled into the closest parking space she could manage, about five spaces away from Roy. Punctual as always, he thought with an amused smirk.

Stepping out of his car and into the harsh downpour once again, Roy saw his first lieutenant walking toward him with an umbrella in her hand. The umbrella was red, such a bright contrast to the female officer's blue military uniform and the dreary, rainy night. Much like the lampposts scattered about here and there, she looked like a speck of light shining in an otherwise dark and uninviting world.

Once she reached him, Roy stepped under the offered umbrella and walked with her to her car.

"I'll take Havoc with me to pick up your car in the morning, sir," she promised as they walked.

"Thanks Riza, I appreciate it."

She looked up at him with guarded worry in her eyes. She could tell he wasn't doing well. Not that he'd looked much different last time she'd seen him. However, she still hadn't managed to come up with a way to ease his mind. The only way to do that, she realized, would be to find Ed, but that could possibly be a lost cause. After a full year of searching, it would be a miracle if he was even still alive, and even if he was, there's no telling what he's been through since he first disappeared.

Climbing into the drivers seat with Roy in the passenger seat, Riza headed for her commanding officer's house. The drive was long and silent, both passengers weary of speaking. When Roy's house finally came into view, Riza let out a sigh of relief.

She walked with him to his door, once again shielding him from the rain with her umbrella. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, preparing to say goodbye to Riza and go to bed, but he just stood there. Riza saw the reluctance in his eyes, but instead of saying anything, she too stood there in silence.

He needed someone. Roy had been shutting himself off from the world for the longest time since Ed's disappearance. He just didn't know how to deal with all his failures, all his screw ups, all his unforgivable actions. Not just the ones that lead to him losing Ed, but all the failures that made up his career. Specifically, Ishval came to mind. He just kept wishing that he could do something that would fix his past mistakes, something to allow him to make up for it all, but no matter how hard he tried to think of something, he always came up blank. That's why he was giving up. What a worthless human being he was.

"Riza…" Roy began, "would you mind coming in for a little bit?" I don't want to be alone, he added silently.

"Riza's eyes softened. "Of course, Roy."

She followed Roy inside and into the living room, sitting down on the couch beside him. It wasn't the first time she'd been to his house, and it wasn't exactly unusual for her to console him when he was feeling especially down or distressed. He would always be there for her, as well. Whenever she accidentally let her mask slip, allowing him to see her true feelings. Most of the time, however, she tried to be strong. Not just for him, but for herself as well. Showing weakness was never something she was very comfortable with.

Roy leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, holding his face in both hands. "Riza…" he began.

"Yes, Roy?"

"What should I do next?"

Riza looked down at her lap, her expression unsure. "I can't answer that question for you."

The colonel was silent for a moment before sitting back with a sigh. "I feel like I'm lost, Riza. I don't know what to do next. Everyone tells me I should just give up, but…"

"I know, Roy. There's no way you could ever give up on finding him, no matter how long it's been," the lieutenant stated almost robotically, as if she'd had this conversation with him a million times already. Most of which, Roy couldn't remember. He'd probably either blocked them out or forgotten them due to him often being drunk during their little heart-to-hearts. Yet, even to him, the conversation sounded a bit repetitive.

"And what about you?"

"Huh?" the blonde asked, suddenly jolted from her thoughts.

"Do you think I should give up?" The man looked at her with weary, tired eyes. He seemed intent on an answer, but at the same time, reluctant for one.

Riza returned his gaze and gently shook her head. "No, of course not. I-" Her voice caught a little in her throat. She took another breath. "I want to find Ed just as much as you do, and after all, there's still a chance he's out there somewhere."

"Yeah…" Roy trailed off. Although he agreed with her, there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.

"But," she began. Roy looked up as she continued. "Although I don't want you to stop looking for Ed, I do want you to stop blaming yourself for what happened to him. You've been under so much stress lately, you've been drinking a lot more than usual, and you haven't come into work for days. Just look at you, you're a mess! Blaming yourself for what happened isn't going to get Ed back. You need to keep a level head about this and stop wallowing in self pity."

Roy opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. He frowned and looked straight ahead, not wanting to meet his first lieutenant's gaze. How could he not blame himself for it? It was all his fault.

Riza realized that she wasn't getting through to him, and sighed in exasperation. She had tried countless times to make him realize that blaming himself wasn't going to solve anything, but nothing she tried seemed to work on the man.

"Roy…" She trailed off, "I hate to say this, but…" She looked at him, extremely reluctant to continue her thought, but knowing it was too late to back down now. "There is still the possibility that we may never find Ed. I don't want to believe it either, but if that were to happen, or we were to discover his body, you would have to find a way to move on eventually. You can't just stay like this forever, Roy. People we care deeply about never truly leave us, I understand that. Ed was as important to me as he was to you-"

"No." Roy didn't like the way she kept referring to Ed in past tense, as if he was already dead. No. She didn't know that for sure. Even Riza, as superhuman as she sometimes appeared, didn't have all the answers.

She looked up at his sudden interruption, her own words caught in her throat in surprise. He didn't elaborate. Instead, he continued to stare straight ahead, not giving any further reaction to her words. His voice sounded tired and worn when he'd spoken. Riza relented, deciding not to push the matter any further, for now at least. It was now past 1:00 AM. It had been a long night, and enough was enough.

Riza turned her head away from Roy, looking straight ahead, just like the man himself was doing. He seemed deep in thought. They sat like that, in somber, yet comfortable silence, for what seemed like hours, although it could have been just around ten minutes. She felt as if she was desperately trying to see what he was seeing, but it was just beyond her vision.

XxXxXxXxX

Riza blinked her eyes open a few times, trying to remember where she was. She wasn't at her house, and she couldn't even recall going to bed. She could feel something warm and heavy pressed up against her shoulder. Looking up, she realized it was the Colonel. Her face instantly turned bright red. She had fallen asleep leaning against her superior officer in his house, on his couch.

Still sleepy, and thrown completely off guard, the lieutenant jumped up from her spot on the couch. Roy slumped a little from the sudden absence of his support, the movement causing him to stir. He readjusted his position, yawned, and attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes. While he was still waking up, Riza did her best to compose herself.

He stared at her for a moment in confusion, then it clicked. Riza was still in his house, and it was morning. They had fallen asleep together on the couch. He noticed the slight blush still evident on his first lieutenant's cheeks, causing him to blush slightly as well.

The two of them stayed like that for a while, staring at each other in awkward silence. Riza looked like she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. It was an interesting look for her, she was normally very composed. The thought that he could make her lose her composer like that amused him, causing a bit of a smile to play on his lips.

After a few more long, awkward moments, Riza cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for spending the night, sir, I must have accidentally fallen asleep. It won't happen again," she promised.

"That's just fine, it was my fault for asking you to drive me home so late at night." Although, I wouldn't mind that much if it happened again, he added silently.

Just then, the phone began to ring. "I'll get it, sir," she stated, heading for the kitchen where the phone was located. He heard the muffled sound of her answering with a classic "hello" in the other room. While she was doing that, Roy slouched back against the couch, holding his throbbing head in one hand. He had a hangover from last night, although he failed to pay much mind to it until now with the surprise of finding his first lieutenant in his house when he woke up. Now, however, his head was killing him. He'd had worse hangovers before, but he was still in significant pain.

"You found him?!" came a surprised shout from the kitchen, followed by mumbling as Riza lowered her voice again. Roy froze the moment he heard it. She couldn't mean… no, Roy, stop that. Roy chastised himself for getting his hopes up. It's already been a full year. As if after all this time, on just an average day like today, he could be-

"Roy!"

"Ah!" Roy nearly fell off his seat at the harshness of her tone. He didn't even hear the blonde women re-enter the living room, he was too lost in his own thoughts.

"Get off your ass, we need to go right now!" Roy flinched at the urgency in her voice.

"Before we do anything, tell me what's going on. What's so important that it requires immediate action?"

"Ed." That's all she needed to say. Roy was off his ass in a split second, his hangover completely forgotten. He was already halfway out the door before Riza could even register his absence.

"What are you waiting for, lieutenant? Let's go!" Riza quickly recovered and followed him hastily out the door. There was no need for either of them to change, as both of them were still wearing the close they had on last night. For Riza, her uniform, and for Roy, his civilian clothes. Knowing where they were headed, however, Riza made sure to grab his uniform on her way out. He would probably be needing it later as proof of his rank.

Realizing that the only car parked in the driveway was Riza's, Roy hopped into the passenger seat and Riza took the wheel. In an instant, they were off. Riza made Roy change in the car, slipping his uniform on over his clothes. While he was busy doing that, the lieutenant decided to explain to her superior officer what was happening.

"Earlier, in your kitchen, that was Falman on the phone. He told me that him and the rest of the team are pretty sure they've found the kidnapper's hideout. It's been right under our noses this whole time, literally. They suspect the hideout to be directly under Central."

"It's been right here all along?!" Roy asked, infuriated. "How could we have never realized it until now?! And how is that even possible?"

"It appears to be a network of underground tunnels that are, in some areas, connected to the sewers," Riza replied, sounding just as shaken up. "That's how they figured it out, they found a suspicious opening down in the sewers and decided to investigate. Once they realized they had something, they retreated before they had gone very deep. Before they retreated, however, they managed to discover several more accessible openings. That's when Falman made the phone call. They're now waiting on your orders, sir."

"Wait, what were they doing in the sewers in the first place?" Roy asked.

"You told your men to search everywhere, Colonel, and we take our jobs very seriously." She replied briskly, sounding as if she was trying to explain something to him that should be common knowledge. His face held an expression of bewilderment mixed with pride at his men's detection.

The drive ended up taking them to the warehouse district. Not very many people were ever seen around there, considering the fact that the warehouses were no longer in use. Most were old and broken down, filled with unwanted junk. Pulling to the side of the district in a hurried stop, Hawkeye jumped out of the drivers seat and rushed off in the direction of the warehouses with the Colonel following close behind.

"Falman told me where they're waiting, they should be near warehouse number thirteen," the lieutenant informed him.

"Thirteen huh?" Mustang laughed darkly. "I'm not liking our odds so far."

"Please, sir, stop being so superstitious," Hawkeye scolded, rolling her eyes.

"Never mind that, let's just hurry."

Hawkeye nodded, her expression turning deadly serious.

Once they arrived at warehouse number 13, the found the rest of the team waiting for them, just as expected.

"Boss! Good thing you're here, check this out," Havoc said, pointing to a blunt, corroded opening in the side of the warehouse. Inside, there was a hole that led underground. "The hole isn't that deep, Fuery was able to just jump down when he went to investigate it earlier. It's also pretty wide, wide enough for Breda to fit."

"Hey!" Breda shouted in an offended tone. Havoc only snickered in reply.

Mustang ignored their antics as he approached the hole and peered inside. It was pitch black, he couldn't see a thing. Without another word, he jumped in, leaving his subordinates to follow once they realized that their leader was already on the move.

Mustang had been expecting the interior of the tunnel to be a messy, poorly dug hole in the ground. Much to his surprise, it turned out to be quite well constructed. There was a short stretch of thin tunnel made of uneven dirt, requiring a bit of crawling on their hands and knees. Once the tunnel opened up to another section, however, the walls and floors appeared to be constructed out of concrete, and lamps lit with fire lined the walls. The lamps were spread out pretty far, so it still felt like walking through a pitch black tunnel, just with the occasional burst of light. The light in the spaces in between the lamps were dim at best.

Continuing down the long corridor, every single one of his men was tense, both because of the possibility of finding Ed, and the unknown threat. Their hands gripped their weapons as tightly as they could, some of them hardly even daring to breath. It was so quiet in the long, dark hallway. The only sound was the dulled thump of the soldiers' boots against the concrete as they hurried forward in silence.

Mustang had his right hand stuffed in his pocket, tightly gripping his ignition gloves in his sweat-soaked palm, his other hand gripping his gun, his finger already resting on the trigger. The colonel was prepared for the worst possible outcome, but inside, he was hoping this would be easier than he was expecting it to be. One thing he knew for certain: today was the day he was getting Ed back. What his men had uncovered was huge, so Ed had to be here, right? There was no doubt about it, it was extremely likely Ed was here somewhere. There were only two problems: one, how were they going to find the kid? This network of tunnels was huge and confusing, and they were in unknown enemy territory. And two, even if they find Ed, will he still be alive?

Roy had to keep those thoughts from his mind. He couldn't have his resolve clouded with doubt at a time like this. Not now, not when Ed's life was hanging in the balance.

Seeing as though the six of them hadn't run into any trouble so far, it would seem that luck was on their side. It was possible that the kidnaper, or kidnappers, were out at the moment. Then again, this whole thing could be a trap. This could either be their only chance or their worst mistake yet.

Finally reaching the end of the seemingly endless corridor, the team rounded a few corners, went through a few doorways, and kept moving until they reached another long hallway. At the end of the hallway, although it was almost too dark to make out, Mustang could see a large door-shaped opening that led to a dark room. He motioned silently for his men to follow as he approached the ominous room.

Roy tensed. Something in the air just didn't feel right.

He made it to the opening and pressed his back up against the the wall to the side, clutching his firearm against his chest. His men followed his example, some standing by his side, others on the other side of the door. Riza stuck to him like glue.

For a while, the officers stayed frozen where they were. There could be an enemy waiting for them inside, or Ed could be in there, or the room could simply be empty, it was too dark to tell.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Finally, the colonel made up his mind. It was now or never, they had come too far to get all choked up now. They were so close.

Roy gave his men a silent signal, and on three, the soldiers ran into the room, weapons loaded and ready, everyone waiting in apprehension for an enemy to strike. To their surprise, no one attacked them. It was pitch black in the room, so Mustang couldn't see a thing. After several long moments of tense silence, the colonel concluded that there wasn't a threat.

That's when he heard it. A low moaning sound. It was so weak, it almost escaped the man's ears. But no, he knew he heard something.

Roy decided that he'd done enough wandering around in the darkness. Pulling on his ignition gloves, the colonel snapped his fingers, lighting a small fire on the tip of his pointer finger.

That's when he saw him.

Roy clasped his free hand over his mouth to keep himself from screaming out in horror at the scene that lay before him.

Maybe Ed would be better off dead.