Hey guys, I thought I'd update again quickly before I went to catch my flight back to Japan.

So here's the next chapter. We're already up to 10, huh?

Anyway, enjoy and review!

Varishi x

After washing, Ed was ushered into bed by Al. Even though he knew that his younger brother was smart to make him get some rest, Ed was still frustrated that he felt closer than ever and he still couldn't go after Tia Wilson yet. Ed wanted to sleep, but he found it difficult because every time he closed his eyes he still saw that dead little girl's terrified face pushing him underneath that disgusting brown sewage water. Mustang was having the same troubles that Ed was, neither of them were going to get a proper night's sleep, but at least they could rest their bodies as much as possible in the minimum six hours that Al had insisted they take out of that day to sleep.

When six hours was up Al got up from his seat, he had promised his older brother he'd wake him as soon as that time amount of time was up. Al approached Ed's side, but just as he was about to place a large metal hand on his shoulder to wake him he noticed his brother's pained expression. He must have been having some sort of nightmare. Al sighed internally and then gently shook his brother awake. Ed's eyes flew open and he flinched away from his brother instinctively. Al took a step away from Ed, feeling slightly dejected, "Are you okay, Brother? You were dreaming."

Ed's quick, shallow breaths slowed as he stared at his younger brother, he then swung his legs over the side of the bed, not only did he want to hurry up and catch his attackers but he didn't want to dwell on the nightmare he had just endured rather he needed to take his mind off of it. The older Elric rushed into the bathroom to avoid his brother's heavy gaze. As Al watched his brother stumble into the bathroom he sighed, assuming that that meant Ed didn't want to talk about his dream, or anything that he'd been feeling lately since he got out of the hospital. So instead of pursuing the matter, Al decided to go and knock on Mustang's door so that they could all be ready at the same sort of time and leave together to continue their investigation.

As Alphonse walked loudly down the hallway he felt embarrassed that he couldn't be any quieter, after all there could still have been people sleeping although it was just past noon. Al raised his fist sheepishly to knock on Mustang's door but instead of his fist connecting with the wood; it connected with Mustang's head. The Colonel hadn't gotten much sleep and had long since decided to get up, get changed and wait for the boys to be ready. Mustang had heard Alphonse banging and crashing down the hallway and instead of waiting for him to come to the door, the Colonel had opened it before he had the chance to knock. He wasn't, however, expecting Al's fist to land on his head painfully.

"I'm sorry Colonel Mustang!" Al squeaked jumping away from the Colonel nervously. But instead of Mustang getting angry he simply waved it away and started to walk down the stairs just outside of his room telling Al that he would meet the brothers downstairs. Al watched uneasily as the Flame Alchemist slowly made his way down the stairs, his shoulder slightly hunched. Al thought, So the Colonel didn't sleep well either, huh? He's a lot like you isn't he Brother?

Ed had basically thrown his now miraculously clean clothes on and then stampeded out of the door hoping that Mustang was as eager to get started finding Tia as he was. Al must've fixed Ed's clothes through the night whilst he had nothing to do, he couldn't sleep or dream. But, at least, Ed knew that he wasn't being tortured by nightmares by night like he himself was. Ed passed Al in the hallway and started down the stairs just as Mustang had moments earlier, Al almost laughed. As usual his brother was ready to take on the world again after a little rest. What Al didn't know was that Ed was wearing another of his masks; he wanted Al to think he was ready for anything. But in reality, Ed had no idea what to expect from what his path had in store for him.

Once downstairs, the three of them planned where to head first. They were all sat around a small round table, Ed and Mustang had hot meals sitting in front of them but the both of them barely touched it. They were busy studying the files that Mustang had flipped open the moment Ed had arrived. The blonde was pointing to various parts of the file and making suggestions of where to start searching or gathering clues and Mustang took everything into consideration, indicating the pros and cons of each suggestion.

Was Al really the only one who had noticed the change in the two of them? They weren't teasing each other for a start, not only that, but they were both taking everything really seriously. Usually Ed would make a joke here and there to try to keep the mood light for himself and everyone else involved in what he was working on, but now he simply discussed with Alphonse and Mustang as though he was interested in nothing else. It could have been because he was almost killed by the people we were after, but Al thought that it was more likely to be the fact that three people were already dead. Al knew that Ed was making that his own fault somehow.

"Hey Al, are you listening? Stop spacing out." Ed said tapping Al's helmet with an automail finger. The clanking noise that came from the movement echoed throughout Al's armour, the sensation made him uncomfortable. Al shook his head and then refocused on what was going on. It seemed Ed and Mustang had finally agreed on a place to start, and that was with Hughes. Usually state alchemists wrote their own reports, as Ed was painfully aware of. But the final report in Tia Wilson's file had been hand written by Hughes himself and she had been dishonourably discharged from the military and stripped of her state alchemist certification just two days after the report had been filed.

After the car that had been called the moment Mustang had gotten downstairs had arrived, the Colonel requested to be taken back to headquarters as soon as possible. Sinking back into the cushioned seats, Mustang suddenly remembered another thing he had to do at headquarters, "I'm going to call and check in on Lieutenant Hawkeye, if she's any closer to catching Goodman – I mean, Envy – then that could make things move a lot faster. Of course, she doesn't know about Envy yet, so I'll bring her up to date on everything we know so far." Ed nodded firmly in response.

The car came to a halt outside Central headquarters. Usually entering headquarters Ed felt perfectly confident to walk through those doors, but ever since getting out of the hospital Ed felt ill at ease whenever he went near the place. He couldn't help but shiver, something which didn't go unnoticed by Al. Something had definitely changed, and Ed knew it. The blonde could only hope that his unsettled feeling surrounding Central headquarters wasn't linked with this case. But he had the horrible feeling that it did.

Ed ignored his bad feeling and pushed it down where he could cover it with other emotions, instead of worrying about this particular complication further, Ed decided that he would follow the plan and question Hughes first. Mustang moved ahead of the two brothers who followed without question. They headed to where they now knew Mustang was staying and hoped that Hughes would be in the mood to talk.

Mustang knocked on the door and Hughes opened it, instead of letting Elicia and Gracia see who was there, this time he slipped out of the room carefully and leaned in the same place he had the previous day when the three of them had come knocking. Hughes' eyes fell on the file that Mustang now carried in his hand and couldn't fight back the smile because that could only mean that they had an idea of who was responsible for all of this. Mustang opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to do it. So instead Ed took a deep breath and decided that he would take this one.

"We need to ask you about a suspect," Ed said, his face had set in that same steeled expression that Mustang so often adopted. Hughes' smile dropped, he had originally thought that the three of them were there to report to him about a suspect, not to ask him about one. That could only mean that he knew the person that the boys suspected and nothing good could come of that. Ed continued, "Tia Wilson. How did you know her and have you done anything to her that might make her want to harm you?"

The upset expression that suddenly appeared on Hughes' face at the mention of Tia Wilson's name was information enough to tell the Elrics and Mustang that Hughes had definitely known her. Hughes turned his eyes to the floor as his expression darkened before he finally replied, "I knew her alright, and she was my subordinate – a pretty good friend too. For a while anyway."

"What happened on that last mission? It was all too vague in the file," Mustang asked after finally finding his voice again. Hughes looked up as though remembering something horrible and then gave the three of them a weak smile, "It says what happened, it just doesn't say how or why. You were there, right Maes? If we just knew what happened then we could confirm our suspicions and then look for her."

"Yeah, I get it. Let's go next door." Hughes said in a down-heartened voice. Ed and Al followed wordlessly, and Mustang joined them shortly after. The look on Hughes' face was rare, and Mustang hated seeing it. In the next room Al sat next to his older brother on a sofa on one side of the room and then Mustang took the armchair next to Hughes who was now leaning forward with his chin resting on his hands, a troubled expression on his face. Ed opened his mouth as if he were about to ask Hughes to go ahead, but Hughes didn't need the prompt. He told the story of what Tia Wilson was to him, beginning to end.

"Tia was a subordinate of mine as I already said. She was one of the most level-headed and kind people that I knew. But on that last mission, I saw a whole other side to her," Hughes explained, looking as though he was haunted by her memory – forced to relive a painful experience. Al looked away from Hughes' face feeling uneasy looking at such an out of character expression on his face; however Ed and Mustang never averted their gaze once. Hughes took some time to think everything through before speaking again, "There was a hostage situation following several cannon robberies of banks and major corporations across Central."

"There were several different robberies committed by members of the same gang, they'd split into groups and after the robberies each group had taken a group of hostages each," Hughes shook his head unhappily. Mustang suddenly recognised this case, he had heard about it. Was Hughes really involved in that blunder a few years back? He thought about interrupting, but the Elrics still needed the information so he stopped himself and allowed Hughes to continue, "The investigations department was ordered to go in and gather information on the nature of the hostages and to see if there was any way out. We went undercover; being spotted would have been the end of everything."

"Anyway, we went to the ring leader to try and gather information, Tia was on my team. As it turned out, she knew one of the hostages and when she saw her being treated badly… It was like something had taken over her. The Tia I knew wasn't the one I saw at all," Hughes went on, "She leapt out from her position and gave away the rest of our positions too despite me telling her to stay down. But it had already been done and the hostage she knew was killed. Tia lost it and attacked the ring leader, but I managed to grab her before we retreated. But we'd already been seen, so all of the other hostages, all thirty of them, were killed. In the chaos that group managed to get away. Not only had she endangered our lives, but she killed thirty others through her actions."

"I had never taken her seriously before," Hughes whispered, "She'd said that she hated me and she was going to kill me but I never thought she really meant it, I had considered her a friend. But I suppose some bonds are stronger than others, you Elrics are proof of that. The hostage who was killed was Tia's sister."

Mustang wordlessly got up to leave and call Hawkeye; Hughes knew that Mustang was disappointed in him because he had never told the Flame Alchemist that he was involved in that terrible event a few years back. But how could Hughes' possibly tell a man who thought so highly of him about such a failure that he considered to be his entire fault? Ed suddenly understood Tia's motive. Even though he didn't agree at all with what she was planning, there was nothing Ed understood better than the bond between siblings.

Ahhhh finished at last!

Enjoy, and please review because I don't know whether to continue otherwise!

Varishi x