XI Breakout

"You're sure that's what you saw?"

Link and Levvier were walking down the halls of the Black Orders Asia branch. They had rounded up all the survivors of the order there and were now hiding from the Amestrian soldiers. Thankfully none of the exorcists had been killed, but most of the finders and scientists hadn't been so lucky when the old headquarters was invaded.

"Yes. Allen Walker seemed to be working together with an Amestrian soldier"

Allen had been missing for a few days, and when Link went looking for him he saw that he was with Ed.

"Then he is a traitor after all, just not the way we thought. He's probably the one who gave our location to them."

"ALLEN DIDN'T DO THAT!"

The two spun around to see that Lenalee had overheard their conversation. She seemed to regret saying that, and quickly covered her mouth.

"Is there something you should be telling us Lenalee?" Levvier asked suspiciously.

Lenalee gulped and wasn't sure what to say, but Kanda answered for her.

"It was Ed"

"Ed?"

Kanda nodded.

"About a year ago Edward Elric joined the Order. He was an alchemist, and could destroy Akuma with his alchemy, but after a while he suddenly left. We saw him in London two days ago in an Amestrian military uniform, and he admitted himself that he ratted us out"

"Was this Edward Elric the person you saw Link?" Levvier asked him.

"I didn't see his face, but he had long blond hair in a pony tail"

"That's him" said Kanda.

"Very well, but it still seems that Walker has betrayed us"

Allen hadn't spoken much since they had a conversation with the Truth. He had basically said the same thing about humans being destructive creatures that threw the world out of balance and should be destroyed, but he had taken it pretty hard. He had expected that, so he gave him some space and time to think about it all. They had gone back to Ed's apartment in Central he got for when he had to be in the area for a few days, and it was pretty quiet.

Allen had gone to the spare bedroom a while ago to be alone, but Ed didn't mind, he needed some time alone too. He really did hate the Truth, but he could see his point. Some humans were greedy or power hungry, and some like Hakuro started wars for no reason messing up the balance of the world, but he always came back to one thing: Where was Equivalent Exchange? Was Dante right after all? Did equivalent exchange, everything he believed in not exist? Then he realized what he was thinking and snapped out of it.

Get a hold of yourself Elric! This is no time to get all depressed and emo! He told himself.

He sighed as he sank back into the couch, and looked over at the phone.

Right, guess I better make that call...

A little while later Allen finally came out of his room. He had all the pieces now, but putting together the puzzle was still difficult. While he walked down the hallway he heard Ed on the phone, but he only caught the last part of the conversation.

"Yeah, anytime tomorrow is good. Just send me a message later when it's done"

Then he hung up, and seemed relieved about something. Then he noticed Allen.

"Oh. You ok?"

"Yeah..."

Ed knew he was probably still taking it pretty hard, after all he was questioning his beliefs now too.

I just have to keep on moving forward. I promised Mana I would.

He was going to stay an exorcist no matter what. Even if all the Akuma he destroyed just went back to the gate to be used as energy, that seemed better than leaving them alone for their souls to suffer. Then of course his thoughts were interrupted by his growling stomach and they both laughed.

"Got any food around here?"

"Not enough for both of us. We should probably just go out"

And so they did. On the way back Allen kept trying to put the pieces together in his head, but he still couldn't quite figure it out. Then he noticed Ed seemed worried about something.

"Something wrong?"

"They know my arm's fixed now, and knowing Hakuro he's probably gonna order me back on the battlefield tomorrow..."

Allen frowned and bit his lip.

"You can stay here and hide if you want-

"No. I wanna make sure everyone else is ok, plus I don't want anyone to think I'm dead or something. Do you think you can sneak me back?"

Ed nodded.

"Shouldn't be to difficult, just try not to die out there."

"You too"

They were silent for a few moments, then got back inside the apartment. That's when Allen decided to just ask him in stead of trying to figure it all out on his own.

"Ed. I've been trying to put all this together, but I just can't quite figure it all out..."

Ed sighed, then tossed his coat on the couch and sat down.

"I've been playing around with this theory in my head. We know that the Noah clan obviously doesn't have good intentions if they happen to win this war that you exorcists are fighting in, but what about the other side? Your 'god' said told us both what he thinks about humans."

"What are you saying?"

"I hate to say this Allen, but I think you're on the wrong side"

Allen's eyes widened. He wanted to say that he was wrong, but then he remembered what General Cross told him before he disappeared: "There is more to this war then it seems" Is this what he meant?

"I'm not saying that the Noah are the good guys here, but the outcomes don't sound very good"

Allen nodded, and knew that Ed did have a point, but he hoped that his theory wasn't true. He would still keep his promise of course, and continue moving on the path he was on.

Right for the humans and left for the Akuma...

A while later they both fell asleep, but Allen woke up in the middle of the night because his left eye was bothering him. It still happened frequently, but he didn't expect it to happen in Amestris.

There are no Akuma around here you stupid eye, can't you let me sleep?

He felt more pain in response, and he sighed. He got out of bed quietly knowing he wasn't going to get back to sleep until it calmed down, and sat by the window so he could look outside.

"Can't sleep?"

Ed had apparently woken up as well and was standing in the door way.

"My eyes bothering me for some reason. I didn't wake you up did I?"

"No, just my nightmares" he said as he sat down next to Allen.

They were both silent for a while as they stared outside, then Ed suddenly spoke up.

"Are you afraid of anything?"

He blinked at his friend's sudden question it shrugged. He was afraid of the 14th taking over him and killing his friends like Cross had told him, but he didn't want to tell him that.

"I don't know" he lied.

"You?" he asked.

"Dying..." Ed said softly as he subconsciously touched the scar on his chest.

It had haunted his sleep nearly every night since Envy had tried to mess with his head and kill him. He didn't wanna die so young, he didn't wanna leave Al and Winry behind. Allen nodded knowing how he felt when Tyki almost killed him.

"Have you ever killed anyone Ed?"

"Only homunculi"

He tried his best only to wound people when he was out on the battlefield, and so far he had been successful. Then he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Well I'm gonna go try and get some more sleep. Hope you're eye feels better soon"

"Night then"

"How can you stand to wear this thing?" Allen asked the next day.

"Hey I hate it too"

Since Ed had to go back to the battlefield he was once again in his military uniform, and since he had to sneak Allen through the gate again he figured it would be the easiest way if he was in uniform too, but it was stiff and thick, not what he was used to at all. He couldn't wait to change back into his black exorcist uniform, it fit better and was much more comfortable. Ed tossed him a knapsack that contained his uniform so he could change later, then they headed out. On the way a few people glared at them, and one even purposely shoved past Allen roughly.

Well that was rude.

He didn't say anything though, he didn't want to get into any kind of trouble.

"Sorry about that Allen. A lot of people don't like the military, especially with all that's going on now"

"It's not your fault"

He actually felt bad for Ed that he had to deal with things like that. They soon arrived at the underground city, and were able to pass through the gate without any problems.

"There's an Amestrian camp about a half a mile north of here so I suggest you stay clear of it. You'll be fine from here on?"

"Yeah. Is that place empty?" he asked seeing an old run down barn near by.

"Should be"

Allen changed in there then gave Ed back his other uniform.

"So I guess this is another goodbye"

"Yeah, and be careful out there"

"You too"

Then they shook hands, and once again went their separate ways.

Al sighed as he sat on the cot in his prison cell. Like Hakuro had promised Ed no harm had come to him, but he was closely guarded, and one guard made it very clear to him from the beginning that if Ed disobeyed any orders, or he tried to escape they had direct orders to shoot him. He stayed put anyway of course, but he was scared.

Some of the other guards were kind to him and told him what was going out there in the world, but when he found out when Amestris was he really worried about Ed and was in constant fear that something would happen to him. He just wish he was allowed to hear from him and know that he was alright, but Hakuro wouldn't allow it. He told himself that if something happened to Ed then he would be released, so he was actually glad he was here to a certain extent.

He was just laying there thinking about Ed and hoping he was ok when an alarm suddenly went off. He heard many guards shouting followed by gunfire, and even the guards by his cell drew their guns and ran to see what all the commotion was. At first he thought it was a prison breakout, but he didn't see any of the other prisoners running around. Then he saw one of the guards literally fly by and hit a wall. He flinched when he heard the crash, and guessed someone had thrown him across the room.

But that meant that it was an intruder, and he thought that maybe Ed had lost it and come to get him. He heard two pairs of footsteps coming towards his cell, and he could tell that one of them had an automail leg. He walked up to the bars of his cell and was ready to give Ed a big long lecture about this that he was probably was not going to listen to, but it wasn't Ed.

"TEACHER?"

Wrath was with her too, and he had mistaken his mismatched automail footsteps for Ed's. His jaw dropped open and he really didn't know what to say. Izumi clapped her hands together and took care of the lock on the cell and opened the door for him.

"Let's go Alphonse"

"But-

He didn't want to escape and have Ed get in trouble for this, after all knowing him he was probably the one who set this up. However the glare he got and the tone she used prevented him from finishing his sentence.

"NOW Alphonse"

"Yes ma'am" he said quickly before he followed them.

"You've got a message FullMetal"

Mustang handed him a piece of paper with a short coded message on it. It only took him a few moments to figure it out, and he smiled when he knew it was Izumi telling him that Al was safe with her now.

"You mind burning it for me?" he asked as he handed it back to him.

"After all the stuff I've burned in this stupid war I'd be glad to burn paper" he said as he took it and snapped his fingers.

They both watched as the ashes were carried away by the wind, then Mustang looked around before sitting down next to Ed and whispering to him.

"I also wanted to talk to you about something you should now kid"

"Don't call me kid I'm nineteen"

A few more months and he would be twenty. He really hoped the war would be over by then and he's live to see that day. Mustang rolled his eyes, and Ed glared at him.

"Anyway. A few days ago Falman found a corpse in the river."

"And?" he asked getting bored already.

"He said he's been dead about seven months-

"Can you just get to the point here?"

Mustang sighed and shook his head at his impatience, then continued.

"It was Hakuro's"

Ed's eyes widened, and he could tell that he was dead serious.

"But that's-

He thought about it for a moment. Seven months was right before the war, which meant that someone else had been pulling the strings all along.

Author's Notes

Ok. Well first things first I finally figured out the time line for this: So when Ed was in the order it was still early on in DGM (Like first season) then when he left and went to Amestris that's when all search for General cross stuff happened. The war started near the end of the anime (after all the ark stuff) and headquarters was invaded right before they moved. I hope that all made sense to you guys, and I am now all caught up with the manga.

In other news this story is coming to a close (about 2-3 more chapters, 4 at the most) but I'm going out of town again for two days, and like I said school starts on the 18th, and I also found out that my cousins are coming back in town for another week. In other words I might be pretty busy for a while, but it shouldn't be more than a week or two for the next chapter. And of course reviews keep my motivation up.