Hi guys! I finished the first part of my project which means I get to post two chapters! 3

For all you shark fans out there (AKA, me), "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" Is premiering tonight on TV, so stay tuned!

DISCLAIMER: FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST ISN'T MINE, CAN I WATCH SHARKNADO NOW?

Chapter 10: Unknown Messages

"Morning!" Iris shouted as she bounced into Edward's hospital room on her new crutches.

"Well look at you, running around this early in the morning!" Hughes said as Iris smiled.

"What you got there?" Iris said grabbing a page of notebook paper from the table in front of Edward. She saw the picture and grimaced. "Not that bastard again."

The picture showed a drawing of the boy Ed and Iris had encountered while they were at the fifth laboratory.

"Yup. The last thing I remember was this guy knocking you out and then kicking me." Edward explained.

"It's odd that he let both of you live" Armstrong said.

"Well there was a woman, too. I stabbed her in the chest, but she must have been wearing armor because it didn't affect her. Both she and the boy said we needed to be alive to 'make their jobs easier'. But what is that job?" Iris questioned.

"We don't know. What about these sacrifices and other armored souls?" Armstrong asked.

"Not to mention the Ouroboros tattoos and the transmutation circles. Dr. Marcoh claimed they were using Philosopher Stones in Ishval." Hughes added.

"Every clue we have to work with seems to lead to its own mystery" Armstrong commented.

"Not much we can do about that, though. Any answers we might have found are under a ton of rubble back at the lab." Hughes said. The group looked disappointed.

"There must be something we could do." Iris said attempting to cheer her companions up.

"What I can do is run a search about anyone with an Ouroboros tattoo" Hughes suggested, picking up a paper.

"While you do that, I'll take a look at the research team that was working with Marcoh in Ishval" Armstrong included, causing a grin to break out on Iris' face.

"There we go! It's slow, but we're getting somewhere!" Iris smiled. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. When the door opened, everyone's jaw dropped in surprised.

"Sorry to interrupt" The Führer said as he stepped into the room holding a basket and some flowers. Hughes and Armstrong both saluted while Edward had his jaw drop and Iris just smiled.

"Führer Bradley, your excellency!" Armstrong exclaimed.

"Calm down gentlemen. This is just an informal visit."

"Yes sir! May I please ask the occasion, sir?" Hughes said tensely, despite the Führer's order.

"This young man and lady" the Führer said referring to Edward and Iris. "You're both injured. I thought these would be appropriate. Flowers for the lady and a nice melon to cheer the young man up" The Führer handed Iris the flowers in his right hand and gave Edward the basket in his other.

"Thank you!" Iris smiled.

"Th-thank you sir!" Edward said, panicked

"I understand that you've been checking up on the senior staff. Is this true Major Armstrong?" the Führer asked bluntly.

"Uh… Yes sir, but uh…How did you know I was uh-" Armstrong spoke nervously.

"You should know nothing gets past me, Major." Führer Bradley said before turning to Edward and Iris. "And now you two, revered Silver and Fullmetal alchemists. Tell me what you know about the Philosopher Stone and I hope for both your sakes that you don't know too much"

Edward looked terrified while Iris began snickering. Suddenly the Führer burst into laughter.

"I'm only kidding! There's no reason for you to be so uptight!" the Führer said as Iris giggled.

"Nice one! I was almost fooled!" Iris turned to the brothers and chuckled. "You two should have seen the looks on your faces! Priceless, right sir?"

"I have to admit, the looks on your faces were pretty funny." The Führer agreed. "I know there's been some suspicious activity within the military lately, and I believe it's necessary for something to be done about it"

Führer Bradley picked up one of the papers lying on the stand next to Edward's bed and examined it, which caused Armstrong to panic.

"Oh, uh that's just, uh-"

"A list of the research team assigned to study the Philosopher Stone. Every person in this document has been reported missing. They all vanished several days before the fifth laboratory collapsed. It seems the enemy is always one step ahead of us. Even with my vast network of informants, I have no way to determine how far our rank have been infiltrated. The most we know about them, is that they know a lot about us." Führer Bradley informed us.

"In that case, this is proving much more dangerous than we imagined." Hughes replied.

"Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Elric brothers, and Silver. You've all proven yourselves to be soldiers of a trustworthy character. From point forward, I'm giving you the direct order to forget this matter and all that it concerns. At this time, suspicion is our strongest line of offense and our only form of defense is discretion. Do not trust anyone. Keep this to yourselves at all costs. However, when I deem the time is right to confront the enemy, I expect you to prepare to join me in the effort" Führer Bradley finished with a smile.

"Sir!" Hughes and Armstrong saluted together.

"Where is he?! Has Führer Bradley been through here?!" a soldier's voice called out from the hallway.

"Gotta go!" Führer Bradley said before mumbling something and opened the window. "You see, I snuck away to get a few minutes of privacy. Well, farewell for now!"

The Führer jumped out the window and casually walked on the roof. Everyone except for Iris gathered around the window, gawking at the sight.

"That's Führer Bradley for you!" Iris laughed as the door opened and Winry entered the room.

"Hey Ed! What the…" Winry said confused at the sight. "What's going on? Did I miss something?"

"Not really… Just a tornado passing by." Ed lied.

"You're a terrible actor, Ed." Iris whispered.

"Oh shut up!" Ed snapped.

"Well I don't think there's anything I can do about that, but I did go and buy the train tickets you asked for." Winry said holding an envelope.

"Thanks. Just in time."

"You sure are a man on the move, aren't you? Your wounds haven't even healed completely." Armstrong informed him.

"Yeah well, two days of sick people and hospital food is enough for me, thanks!"

"Are you going as well, Ms. Kamillia?" Armstrong asked.

"Yep. These two would be lost without me! No way am I leaving them." Iris said.

"Where are you three heading off this time?" Hughes asked, reading the tickets.

"Don't ask me. He never consulted me about any tickets." Iris said glaring at Ed.

"Brother, you said that she knew where we were going!" Al argued. "That wasn't very nice of you"

"Its fine, Alphonse. I'll go anywhere you guys go. Just tell me next time, okay Edward?" Iris smiled.

"Okay. Sorry about that" Ed apologized.

"It's fine. What's the destination on the ticket?" Iris asked.

"Dublith." Hughes answered. "What's in Dublith?"

"Well, with the way things have gone lately, Al and I decided we should go back and visit our old teacher." Edward said patting Al on the back. Alphonse began shaking at the sentence.

"I think I'm too scared brother! There's no way she's not going to kill us!" Alphonse whined as Ed joined in.

"Look, don't you chicken out on me now! I'm scared too, okay?!" Edward cried.

"Poor guys…" Iris said. She had never seen the two so scared before.

"What exactly does this person teach?" Winry asked.

"My guess is combat. I got pretty scared when I learned combat under my previous superior, too" Iris explained.

"It appears you have a rather lengthy journey ahead of you" Armstrong informed.

"How far is Dublith?" Winry asked.

"Well… Let's see. There it is. All the way down here" Al said pointing to the destination on the map.

"Dublith… Dublith… Oh! While we're there, can we see my little sister?" Iris said remembering the little shop her sister lived at. "Grace and her foster parents live there. Can we please?"

"Well brother?" Alphonse asked as he looked at Iris' pleading eyes.

"I don't see why not" Edward responded as Iris' mouth broke out into her wide grin once more.

Suddenly, Winry began shrieking while looking at the map.

"Uh… What… What is it?" Edward asked, confused.

"That! Right there! Right before Dublith! It's the holy land of automail engineering! It's RUSH VALLEY! WE HAVE TO GO! WE HAVE TO GO! WE HAVE TO GO! YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME!" Winry pleaded with stars in her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever! I don't have to take you anywhere!" Edward argued.

"Well somebody has to pay for my travel fares!"

"Then why does it have to be me?!"

"Edward come on! Do this for Winry! She fixed your arm!" Iris coaxed.

"I paid her afterwards!" Ed shot back.

"Oh come on brother! What's the big deal? It's on our way!" Alphonse said.

"Only if you and Iris want to, Al" Edward stated turning his back from Winry.

Winry began spinning before she walked towards the door.

"I've got to call and tell grandma!" Winry said running out the door.

"She'll make you a fine wife someday" Hughes said putting his hand on Ed's shoulder.

"DON'T START THAT AGAIN" Edward warned with gritted teeth.

"I would rather talk about my wife, anyway!" Hughes said laughing.

"Maybe Hughes is on to something. It was really romantic of you to take Winry to Rush Valley!" Iris teased.

"Oh shut up! I wonder when Al will be Mr. Kamillia!" Edward spat.

"WHAT?!" Iris and Al shouted as Iris bonked her fist onto Edward's head. Alphonse sat down in the corner of the room with a dark aura surrounding him while Iris began lecturing Ed.

Sorry Al Edward thought as he rubbed the bump on his head while Iris continued yelling at him.

The Next Day

"Where's Ed?" Iris asked as she and Alphonse looked for Edward and Winry. Iris was still on crutches, so Al was carrying her things. The trio agreed that they would meet Edward and Winry at the station since Iris couldn't move as fast as she wanted to.

"Don't worry. We'll find brother soon, just try not to fall" Al warned. Iris had already tripped several times getting to the station do to her clumsiness and desire to get to the train station as fast as possible.

"Don't remind me…" Iris said rubbing the spot on her cheek that collided with the ground earlier. Suddenly, blue uniforms came into Iris' view. "Over there! That's them!"

"Wait Iris!" Alphonse said chasing the speedy girl.

"Hey! Ed! We're here!" Iris yelled as Edward turned around and ran to Iris.

"What took you so long?" Ed complained.

"A few bumps in the road." Iris said nervously as Al ran up.

"You ready?" Edward asked the pair as they nodded. Edward and Winry helped Iris onto the train as the group sat on their booth and waved to everyone that came to send them off, including Elicia and Ms. Hughes. After a while of silence, Winry spoke up.

"So why is it so suddenly so important that you guys see your teacher?" Winry asked.

"There are a couple of reasons" Ed explained. "For starters, I'm a little tired of getting my ass kicked"

"Like when I beat you in that fight back in Resembool?" Iris smiled.

"Oh shut up!" Edward snapped.

"So Iris was right on the money when she guessed you had a combat teacher. Why don't you just quit fighting?" Winry asked.

"Oh that'd be nice! But sorry, it's not as simple as that okay? This isn't only about our fighting. Our core needs a little work too. Right Al?"

"Exactly" Al agreed. "We feel like seeing our teacher will help us grow and make us stronger on the inside"

"If you guys are so eager to see your teacher, then why were you trembling earlier?" Iris asked. The boys began trembling once again.

"SHE'S SCARY!" Both boys shouted.

"Did she beat you up if you fought over candy?" Iris asked sarcastically.

"Yes." Both boys answered.

"Holy crap, you're serious?! I was only joking!" Iris said shocked.

"As much as it scares us, were going to need all the strength we can get, so we'll have to grin and bear it." Edward sighed, leaning his head against the window.

"What's reason two?" Winry asked.

"To see what she can tell us about the Philosopher Stone." Edward replied.

"That's right. I was wondering when we would begin our search again. Looks like we start once we get to Dublith" Iris responded.

"That's right. We also have to ask her about 'the truth within the truth'. We still haven't gotten any closer to figuring out. There's a chance our teacher knows something about it" Alphonse continued.

"Let's hope she at least gives us the chance to ask her. You should more worried about explaining your appearance to her, Al. considering…Considering… She's gonna kill us when she finds out what happened!" Edward cried.

"It would have been nice to at least have had a girlfriend before I died" Alphonse cried.

"Maybe you should get a new teacher" Winry suggested.

"I don't think that will happen. They're way too loyal!" Iris giggled.

"Well at least you don't have to worry about a girlfriend, Al" Edward said snickering.

"Why is that, brother?"

"What are you talking about? You've got a girlfriend right there!" Edward said pointing to Iris.

Iris slammed her fist onto Ed's head, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Perhaps we should remain silent until tomorrow" Iris said with gritted teeth.

"Yes ma'am" Winry and Al said shivering.

The Next Day

Iris was still thoroughly pissed off at Edward's behavior, despite the fact it was the next day. Iris had passed out some point during the trip, so Edward took this time to enjoy his freedom.

"Man I'm starving. When the next stop?" Edward said keeping his voice down.

"Not for a while brother." Alphonse informed.

"Great." Edward muttered sarcastically.

"I know" Winry said picking up a basket she had with her and handed Ed a slice of apple pie. "Mrs. Hughes helped me make a pie."

Edward grabbed the slice and took a giant bite.

"Mmmmm! Oh man! This is hands down the best apple pie ever!" Edward shouted. Winry grabbed a slice and began gobbling it down as well.

"Isn't it though? Mrs. Hughes is a really excellent cook!" Winry agreed.

"To put it mildly! Not to mention that quiche you made for us is also pretty delicious!" Edward praised.

"Yeah. I actually wrote the quiche down on the list of things I'm going to eat when I have a mouth again!" Alphonse laughed.

"Well, she gave me the recipe. So when you're back to normal, Al, I'll make it for you!" Winry promised.

"Awesome! Thanks!" Alphonse cheered. The trio froze when Iris stirred in her sleep.

"Maybe we should quiet down" Winry suggested.

"Right. I don't want her to be even more pissed off then she was before" Ed sighed.

Iris' Dream

"Iris! Come back! It's dangerous!" Grace yelled. A little 7-year-old Iris continued climbing the large oak tree.

"No way, Grace! What's life without a little adventure?" Iris shouted as her hands reached for a branch. As her little hands grasped the branch, it cracked, causing her to fall towards the ground.

"IRIS!" Grace called out. Suddenly a shadow of an adult reached out and caught Iris before she could touch the ground.

"You okay?" A familiar voice asked.

"I'm fi-"Iris looked at her rescuer and saw spiky black hair and a goofy smile. "Mr. Hughes?"

"Try to be more careful next time, okay?" Hughes said with his signature grin.

Suddenly, Iris was no longer her younger self, as she looked down and saw her current body.

"Could you deliver a message to Gracia and Elicia for me?" Hughes asked with sadness in his eyes.

"Why ask me when you can just tell them yourself?" Iris asked. Hughes looked down before answering.

"I'm asking you because I can't tell them." Hughes looked at Iris.

"Okay. I'll tell them."

"Tell Gracia 'I'm sorry' and tell Elicia 'Daddy loves you'" Hughes said before turning from Iris.

"What's going on Hughes? Why can't you tell Elicia that you love her? You do that regardless!" Iris tried to smile.

"This time I can't." Hughes explained.

"Iris!" A voice called out. A misty version of Myles appeared in front of Iris and Hughes.

"Would you like to introduce me?" Hughes asked.

"There's no introduction needed. That's my little brother, Myles. I haven't seen him in years and the last time we were together, we didn't leave things at the best terms" Iris sighed.

"Do me a favor, Iris" Hughes said. "Go see your brother"

"He probably hates me. I doubt he wants to see me. Heck, he didn't struggle when the military put him in that foster home and separated us. He didn't even flinch."

"What am I going to do with you?" Hughes sighed. "You're his big sister, right? Then he needs you. Just like Grace needs you, he needs you just as much. Don't abandon him just because of a harsh argument."

Iris looked down and saw a younger Grace and Myles at her feet.

"I wonder if my parents would've given me advice like that" Iris smiled.

"I bet they would've." Hughes said as he began walking away "I won't be needing that shout out next time you're in Central"

"What are you talking about Hughes? We'll always visit you! Hughes?" Iris' heart panged as she saw Hughes leaving. "Hughes don't go! The boys and I still need to thank you for everything you've done…" Hughes turned around and saw Iris crying.

"It's okay. You don't need to thank me." Hughes continued walking which only made the pang in Iris' heart grow.

"Hughes! Come back…" Without realizing it, Iris yelled "You still have a bunch work to do!"

"You're right. Looks like I won't be going home early. Take care of Winry and the boys for me, okay?"

"Y-yes sir!" Iris said saluting as tears flowed down her cheeks. "See you next time we go to Central" Iris fell to her knees as the younger versions of Grace and Myles disappeared and were replaced with two adult shadows that embraced her. Iris heard her name being called as the shadows slowly evaporated and she opened her eyes.

"Iris!" Ed's voice yelled as she quickly sat up. Iris gasped as she looked at Edward and Winry.

"Are you okay?" Alphonse asked.

"I'm fine. I just fell asleep. Why are you so worried?" Iris asked.

"Iris, you were crying and shaking in your sleep" Winry told her.

"What?" Iris asked. Her hands went to her eyes, which were wet and swollen.

"What were you dreaming?" Alphonse asked.

"I-I don't know. I remember seeing Hughes… and my little brother." Iris as she turned her head to the window.

Iris' mind went blank when the train pasted another station and she saw Hughes standing on the platform. Hughes… Iris thought as the train moved past the station and she returned to reality.

"IRIS!" Edward yelled as he finally received her attention. "What's with you? If you're still pissed off then just tell me!"

"I'm not mad" Iris said with a blank look on her face. "What were you saying?"

"I was wondering if your brother lives in Dublith" Edward said, shaken by Iris' smile-less face. "That might explain your dream"

"Yes… Yes he does. I haven't seen him in years." Iris said looking down.

"Maybe you can visit him while we're in Dublith." Alphonse suggested.

"You know, I might just do that." Iris smiled. She was done running. She had to do this… For Hughes

Thank you guys so much for reading my chapter! I would say see you next time but I'm posting another chapter an hour from now, so...

Jackie C.A.