The Golden Sun: Chapter Fourteen: Underhandedness

AN: Apparently everyone loved last chapter, which is good, because when Ling shows back up again, its probably going to be that level of gay, so there's that to look forward to.

I have never read so many 'gay mood' comments as there were on the last chapter. Same, bitch.

We're gonna stretch the imagination a bit in regards to Alchemy this chapter, but bear with me. I actually found this chapter really hard to get through.

First Lieutenant Yoki may have bought his way into his position in the military, but Youswell wouldn't be profitable for much longer, he need to pump the last of the worth out of the mine and find a way to move on and up, because what Yoki really wanted was a promotion, just being a captain would increase his pay, his influence.

"Sir!" one of his men saluted respectfully. "This concerns the Halling's inn. It seems that every night disturbing elements gather there and complain about their treatment."

The miners of Youswell had long-since been a thorn in Yoki's side, always so angry with him for increasing the taxes and lowering the pay.

Yoki considered his options. "Burn it to the ground when night falls."

He received a wide grin for the command.

The town of Youswell was very distrustful of the military, that had been rather plain when they'd kicked Ed out of the inn for nothing less than being tied to the Amestrian Military, and while Al could understand not trusting the military, it seemed like these people just really needed the help.

Their tools needed to be mended, their clothes were frayed, they didn't seem to have as much food.

"Sorry kid, but anyone tooting the military's horn isn't welcome here. I can't forgive anyone who would sell their soul to the military for its many special privileges."

"My brother joined the military for me," Al said quietly, carefully, and more importantly, dangerously. Everyone knew about his brother's loud temper, but Al's quietly stewing wrath was just as deadly.

The man in charge of the inn -Mr. Halling- balked slightly at that. "How old are you, kid?"

"Thirteen, Brother's fourteen."

"Bit young to joining up with the military," Mr. Halling replied archly.

"Brother got his certification when he was twelve," Al replied with a shrug of his heavy shoulders. "Look…my brother is here because his commanding officer thought there was something wrong with the paperwork here about income and taxes."

"We've heard that one before," another man snorted. "Last guy was bribed without too much effort."

"My brother's too stubborn to be bribed like that." Al would've rolled his eyes if had them. "The only things he can be bribed with are food and alchemy books, and that usually only works for the Colonel…besides, he's already up for a promotion, he doesn't need a bribe."

That caused there to be some muttering throughout the entire room.

"Look, we don't even really know anything about Youswell," Al was quick to explain. "But if we can help, we will, we just need to know what's going on."

They all deferred to Mr. Halling before deciding. "All right, let your brother in."

Al clanked over to the door, opening it to see Ed sitting on the lowest stair, his thick journal open and Al leaned over his shoulder to see that he was actually just tracing over the outline of the Yao Clan symbol that he'd sketched there on the ride over.

Al thought it was cute. Ed didn't really ever think much about himself, not if he could be expending those efforts to find a way to get Al's body back, but it was nice that Ed got to feel like a normal teenager, even if it was just for a day. A normal, incredibly flustered teenager that didn't know what to do with a Xingese prince flirting very heavily with him.

He couldn't help but wish he could feel things like Ed could, even things like that. The bitter sting of not being able to felt like a dark stain over his soul but Al had to remind himself of the time the Colonel had had him come to his office without Ed.

"Your brother's beating himself up again over you," Colonel Mustang said, his eyes fixing on Al's even though most found them unnerving, "do me a favor and remind him from time to time that running himself ragged trying to find a solution isn't going to get him any closer to it."

"I'll tell him," Al assured him. "I don't think it'll make much of a difference."

Colonel Mustang sighed. "It always makes a difference when it's you, Al."

"Aw," Al said loudly behind Ed, making his brother choke and whirl around, completely red in the face, "thinking about Ling?"

"You-I-no-shut up!" Ed stuttered over his words before actually managing something intelligible, making Al laugh. "How's it going in there?"

Al thought it was a nice diversion, but he'd give it to Ed. "They've agreed to talk with us since we really don't know anything about what's going on here."

"Nice of them." Ed arched an eyebrow, but Al could be very convincing when he wanted to be, and Ed was hungry, so he followed his brother back inside, sitting down at the table he'd been sitting at minutes ago, finally getting to eat the food he'd paid for. "You guys must really not like the military, then."

Kyle, Mr. Halling's son, nodded his head aggressively. "Everyone hates the military. First Lieutenant Yoki controls this place. He's really money crazy. He's the worst."

Ed glanced to Al with a frown. "He's the one we're here to look at."

"Don't know why Central would care," one of the men sneered, "they really love the guy, even when he keeps sending them bribes."

"We're from Eastern Command," Al informed politely, "and Colonel Mustang doesn't take bribes."

"Unless you've got veggies on meat day," Ed pointed out.

"Oh, yeah."

"So, he bribed his way to being a lieutenant?" Ed asked them all seriously, which a few of them found a bit surprising, given he'd been cracking jokes just a few short minutes ago.

"He used to just be a coal mining proprietor but he got greedy for a promotion," Mr. Halling said as he wiped a glass. "This place is his private property now."

"He takes advantage of his rights and lowers our salaries down to crumbs! And on top of that, all of the guys who tried to complain about Yoki and his bribes get smashed up!"

That explained why the cost of food and board was so high. The people of Youswell were probably being bled dry just trying to be kept afloat. The inn was rundown, the entrance into the mine was unstable.

"What if you bought back the mine from him?" Ed asked Mr. Halling curiously and the man snorted loudly.

"You think any of us have that kind of money, kid? Got a couple of gold bars lying around? Because I'm pretty sure that that's all that he'll take."

Al leaned down, not really bothering to lower his voice, uncaring as he turned to his brother. "We could make the gold."

"Yeah, but alchemists are forbidden from turning lead into gold, remember?" Ed shook his head.

"But these people need help!" Al pressed. He knew all about the two taboos; he'd performed them both. "Besides, I can make gold, I've done it before!"

"You've what?" Ed gaped at him. "What the hell, Al? When?"

"Uh…I think I was eight?" Al sounded vaguely sheepish as Ed fell out of his chair in shock. "I figured you would've tried already so why not?"

Everyone in the pub was watching them with rapt attention, not really knowing what was going on.

"I had better things to do than try to make gold, Al! Did it even turn back to lead afterwards?"

"Uh…don't think so?" Al didn't sound too sure. "I put it in the box with all of Hohenheim's things at Granny's house…it was still gold when I went back in the basement last year."

"You can make gold?" Kyle's eyes were blown wide. "Can you make us some?"

"Get real," Ed said with a sigh from the ground, "if Al makes you gold then Yoki'll just take it as taxes." He wasn't wrong, even if it wasn't illegal on top of everything else. Ed glanced out the window; it was getting pretty late. "Hm…I've got an idea."

"Is it illegal and one that Colonel Mustang is going to have to pretend not to know about if he's asked?" Al asked archly.

Ed sniggered. "Probably both."

Al was right about one thing, the town, for sure, needed help, and if he took down a corrupt lieutenant along the way? Icing on the cake. Of course, Ed always compared any lieutenant he ran across to Lieutenant Hawkeye, so, of course they always came up short, but Hawkeye did her job and did her job well.

He didn't think the townspeople were lying, not with the state of the town itself in comparison to the practical mansion that the lieutenant appeared to live in, but he needed more proof.

So, sneaking into Yoki's mansion seemed like a good idea…finding and stealing the deed to the mine however, that was probably just slightly more legal than Al transmuting some gold, which Ed was still trying to wrap his head around.

There were a lot of different ways Ed could go about it, and being underhanded was one of his chief qualities.

Transmuting gold was just one option but, to be perfectly honest, Ed would rather not get Al into trouble. The last thing they needed was anyone looking too closely at the hollow armor with a child's voice. But Ed liked being sneaky.

"Brother, are you sure about this?" Al whispered. "It seems reckless."

Ed grinned wildly. "That's why its so good!"

Al sighed for the millionth time that day, still agreeing to boost his brother over the wall, and a moment later Ed was rolling to his feet on the opposite side, scowling up at the mansion with distaste. Ed made decent money as a State Alchemist and a major in the military, and sure the house they'd just bought in Central was nice -by their standards- it was still pretty modest, and even though Mustang made more as a Colonel, Ed knew he lived in a small townhouse, both of which were nothing compared to the mansion before his eyes.

There was extravagant and then there was extravagant. By this point, Ed had learned the difference between the two. Major Alex Louise Armstrong, the 'Strongarm Alchemist' (Ed, still, to this day, had no idea if that title had been given to him ironically), came from money, a lot of money. Ed only knew that because when Hawkeye had been taking them to the train station once she had pointed out the mansion they'd driven by as belonging to the Armstrong family.

The fact that Yoki's mansion was bigger than the Armstrongs' was probably the biggest red flag in regards to where all the money in the town was going, especially since Yoki was only a First Lieutenant.

Ed looked around carefully, but the easiest way in would have to be the front door, and it wasn't as though he could afford to hire around the clock guards, even if he was worried about the townspeople getting aggressive.

He clapped his hands together before tapping a finger on the lock, to get the cogs to line up with a soft crackle of alchemy.

A few months ago, and Ed would've just made his own door -looking cool as hell, no matter what Al or Mustang said- but Ed had learned the hard way that sometimes subtlety was key. Besides, he didn't want to have to call Mustang and explain to him just why he'd been caught sneaking into a house late into the night; why make your own door when there was one that was perfectly functional right there?

His automail foot always clunked when he moved, it wasn't exactly a problem he could avoid, the only way to keep from being discovered by anyone moving around in the night would be to move slowly and carefully…Ed could totally manage that.

The biggest problem was that he had no idea where the lieutenant would be keeping his paperwork, but it definitely wasn't at the small command post close to the front of town. If a military official was scamming the town they were stationed in, they wouldn't want the documents proving their corruption to just be lying out and about in the command post…no, they'd want that under lock and key.

Ed's arm creaked slightly when he moved and he could feel something jingle within the gears. Winry was going to kill him if something was broken again. Of course, it was probably better just to find out if it was anything minor first. He'd take a patch job in Rush Valley than a trip back to Resembool, even though Winry was literally one of the best.

(She'd been absolutely raving about Rush Valley for as long as she'd been interested in automail, which was a really long time, and every time Ed had to go back to Resembool to get his arm fixed she'd been begging Granny to let her get an apprenticeship there, over in South City)

Besides, Rush Valley was only a few stops away from Central City and that was where Ed was going to have to go to either accept the promotion to lieutenant colonel or refuse it.

Ed grimaced as he checked every door until he came across a locked one.

Bingo.

The last time Ed had been in the same room as the Fuhrer he'd aimed a spear at his throat…obviously he hadn't taken it too seriously, since he still gave Ed the title of State Alchemist and took it in stride…but it was still pretty awkward.

Ed shut the door behind him, flicking on the light, and looking on file after file…okay, this was probably going to take a while.

Ed was a criminal, but who was going to be able to prove it?

The deed to the mine was stuck pretty deep in a pile and it took about an hour for Ed to actually find it. The ink was lead, though, which was a good sign for Ed because he could use alchemy to shift the lettering, which was, of course, highly illegal, and if Mustang actually knew about it, he'd probably press a hand to his face and sigh about Ed putting him in terrible positions. But a clap of alchemy later and Ed was holding proof that First Lieutenant Yoki had sold the mine back to the town of Youswell for the steep price of…free of charge.

His teeth bared into a devilish grin. Oh, he bet the lieutenant would love that. So, Ed took the deed and an entire file of incriminating evidence that the military was quite effectively stealing from the people of Youswell.

He was sure that would get him to clam up without too much effort…now to actually get out of the mansion as quietly as he'd entered.

Those bastards, they'd burned it to the ground, and yet, somehow, John Halling couldn't help but remain unsurprised. He was just glad that he managed to get everyone out of the inn before it was too late. His son Kyle had gotten lucky with only a small burn on his hand, but better a burn than a life.

The miners and everyone else who had been in the inn when the fire started were now holed up in a spare warehouse with each man getting angrier and John couldn't blame them.

"I've had enough!"

"Even if we all die, I'm going to shoot off that Yoki's head with one shot!"

"Boss!" there was a startled yell and John looked up in surprise as one of his men stumbled through the opening, jabbing a finger out the door, eyes wide. "You aren't gonna believe this!"

John's brow furrowed in confusion and they all piled out of the warehouse to stare in the direction he was pointing and then openly gape, because the inn had been burned to the ground, there was no denying that, but there it stood, bold as brass, like no flame had ever touched it.

John couldn't believe it. He knew the miracles of alchemy, he'd briefly studied it as a younger man, but he knew for a fact that he'd never be able to create something on that scale.

The door was wide open and he could easily make out the boys from earlier, the State Alchemist boy and his steel-clad brother sitting within, the first lounging in a casual way, the second sitting politely straight.

"Did you do this?" John asked in awe.

The State Alchemist boy -Ed, the second had called him he remembered- grinned wildly and full of fire as he jerked a thumb at his brother. "Al did, actually, he's better at the details than I am."

The suit of armor ducked its head almost shyly as everyone returned to the inn they had to so violently leave, remarking on its state in awe.

"We've also got the deed to the mine," Ed added, the grin still in place, "but its gonna cost ya."

John remembered what Al had said earlier about the only way to bribe his brother was with food or with a good alchemy book, and he couldn't help but think that was the case here.

"Name your price," he said, settling opposite the brothers.

"Well…the next train out of Youswell isn't coming until tomorrow…" Ed tapped his lips thoughtfully. "Why don't you give us a room and a morning meal and we'll call it even?"

John couldn't help but balk faintly at that. That didn't seem like a fair trade on Ed's part…didn't he want more? But…alchemists be thou for the people. Ed's face was fairly open and it didn't seem like a trick.

So, a grin spread across John's face. "Equivalent exchange, yeah? You got yourself a deal."

Ed grinned as he handed over the deed and John looked it over before letting out a sharp bark of laughter. "Free of charge? How did you manage that?"

Ed's grin broadened. "I don't know what you're talking about, that's the way I found it."

John had never been so impressed by someone's underhandedness before, but somehow he got the feeling that it wasn't something new for Ed.

"You never did tell us your names," John pointed out.

"I'm Edward Elric, that's Alphonse." Ed jerked his thumb at his brother who waved helpfully.

John remembered that name. "The Fullmetal Alchemist…the one being called the People's Alchemist?"

Ed shrugged. "Sometimes." He didn't seem too concerned with his reputation, too busy having to turn down beer from the now incredibly exuberant miners that had practically exploded in their excitement.

"What is the meaning of this?" a sharp voice pierced the air and everyone turned to face Lieutenant Yoki and his goons, his thin mustache twitching in irritation.

"We're just celebrating you losing the mine!" James, one of the burliest of John's men shouted from the back.

Yoki sputtered. "I haven't lost the mine, you ruffians!"

"Ya sure?" Ed asked mildly, pointing at the deed in John's hands. "'Cause it says you gave it to the town free of charge, which I think is pretty generous since you've been stealing from them."

"Who're you?" Yoki demanded full of fire.

Ed took a long swig of his orange juice before reaching down and pulling out the silver pocket watch to indicate his status as a State Alchemist. The blood leeched from Yoki's face and it was thrilling to watch.

"I'm Major Edward Elric," he said, unimpressed, "the Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm going to be delivering a lot of paperwork to my CO about this scam you've got going on here…guess you can say goodbye to your military career."

That caused Yoki to turn red with his rage before shouting to his two men: "Get those papers!"

John thought it was best to sit back and just watch the chaos unfold, because several of the strongest miners surged forward to duke it out with the military men, who were subsequently trashed. He was sidetracked briefly by a picture that looked like it had fallen from one of the boys.

It was of them with an older man in the military uniform, dark hair and eyes, looking nothing like them. He was sitting with an exasperated smile with one boy on either side of his shoulder.

"Your father must be very proud of you," he told them, handing the picture over to Ed and Ed startled faintly but without missing a beat, Al said, "He is," as brightly as he could manage.

At least there was one State Alchemist that hadn't sold his soul to the military. John wondered if Ed knew how much pull he actually had by just saying his name alone.

He doubted it.

"Where you boys from?" he asked, ignoring the screams of pain coming from just outside the inn.

Ed's lips twisted and John got the feeling that he'd gotten that question more than once, given his coloring.

"Resembool," he said flatly, almost defensively.

"They have mining over there?"

"Mostly farming," Al said, "we'd never seen a mine like this one before…I think they've got an abandoned mine in Central, though."

"Must be strange being a couple country boys working in the city," John offered.

Ed shrugged casually. "Could be worse," he said, standing up and yawning, "could've actually been murdered by that assassin when I was twelve."

John balked as the kid walked away without even attempting to explain that. Well, who had ever said that being a State Alchemist was easy? Even for a kid like Ed?

"We could easily just get off at Resembool," Al pointed out. They'd boarded the first train out and practically the entire town of Youswell had come to see them off, shouting goodbyes and ruffling Ed's hair badly enough that he had to re-braid it on the train. (Ed still wasn't a fan of people touching his hair, but they were excited and happy, so he'd give them that)

Ed felt a spike of fear go down his spine at the thought of that, at the thought of Winry wielding her wrench with deadly accuracy.

"I just want to make it to fifteen," Ed grumbled, sinking lower into his seat. "Is that too much to ask?"

"You're too scared of Winry," Al sighed. "You know she doesn't want to kill you."

"That's debatable." Ed grimaced. "Remember when we stole her wrench when we were eight and seven and you threw me under the bus and she nearly killed me?"

"She didn't nearly kill you, Brother, she just knocked you out."

Ed wasn't sure how concerned he should be that Al didn't consider being knocked out at eight by a wrench to be a big deal.

"Resembool Station," echoed overhead and Al looked out on the window to the rolling green grass that he and Ed had once run through when they were younger. If he tried hard enough he could remember the texture of the grass against his bare feet.

Some days he had to wonder…soul alchemy was an unknown…wasn't it possible to manipulate memories? And then he felt so ashamed for considering it when Ed was always so willing to rip himself apart for Al.

"Brother," he said suddenly and Ed hummed, not looking up from his doodling -Ling related, Al was sure-, "Winry just came on the train."

"Sure, Al- wait, what?" Ed jolted in his seat, forcing himself up onto his knees to gape at the girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that has stepped onto the train with her toolbox at her shoulder. "Oh, crap."

AN: I half-hate, half-like the Youswell episode, but it kind of made sense to do, so here we are. Ed's crushing hard on Ling and is on his way to Rush Valley with Al and Winry…hm…who could they run into there? ;)

As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!