Because here's the second half! Hurray!

December 1943 – Outside Stargrad, German Occupied Poland – Hydra Factory

It couldn't be. It just couldn't. I thought…

He was gone.

Wasn't he?

As Kimblee finished giving order, he and the surrounding soldiers took off running towards another exit on the factory floor.

I didn't think this through as I ran after them.

It couldn't be the Crimson Alchemist. It couldn't be the Solf J. Kimblee from Amestris.

They must have heard me following them because one of the Hydra guards stayed back, aiming his gun at me. He tried to shoot me but I dodged to the side, swiping my makeshift staff in his direction. I knocked the gun clean out of his hands, sending it flying in the air. He made the mistake of following the gun's trajectory that I easily knocked his head with the pipe.

He crumpled to the ground without a sound.

And I continued running.

I began to recall the last time I saw Kimblee or, what I thought would be what remained of Kimblee. Pride was trying to take over my body but I turned it right back at him. In that mass of screaming… souls? I shuddered at the idea of that many poor souls being trapped within a monster like that. But, among them, I remember seeing Kimblee. He wasn't a mass of darkness like the others.

He still had that god awful white suit.

I guess only he could actually stay sane amongst that chaos and darkness: he did enjoy being a sadistic son of a bitch.

I took down two other guards, whacking one in the stomach with the pipe while the other's face had a rude acquaintance with my right fist.

Pride had done something to Kimblee; had swallowed him?

If he had, Kimblee would definitely NOT be here at the moment. However, that face…

I couldn't forget about it, not when he was the reason I nearly died back in Baschool. That last nightmare was some damn premonition… Remembering that day sent phantom pains to me abdomen and I gripped the spot where the beam had impaled me, trying to get my mind to stop playing tricks on me. I wasn't injured. Nothing was in my abdomen anymore: it was completely healed.

After hitting the fourth guard in the head, I straightened, looking around. Four guards. Where did Kimblee go then? He was with –

Arm around my neck. Hand grasping my left wrist, making me drop the pipe in pain. "My, my, you are a persistent, gör," grumbled Kimblee behind me and I froze for a moment. Even his voice was the same…

I took a deep breath, putting up a front as I rolled my eyes. Especially considering the others called me "Kid" and now he calls me a "brat". He squeezed his arm around my neck tighter and I elbowed him in stomach. He gasped out, cursing, letting go of my left wrist. I went to toss him over my shoulder, to get him away from me when –

"LET HIM GO!"

Steve and Bucky ran down the corridor, their guns poised in our direction. I froze in surprise. What the hell? How did they get here? Was I so focused on Kimblee that I didn't hear them running?

My hesitation seemed to be exactly what Kimblee needed as I felt the cold metal of a barrel of a gun on my temple.

"Meine Herren," began Kimblee and I could hear his smirk on his lips and it sent shivers down my spine. He was still just as crazy. Was it really the same one from Amestris? If he was, why didn't he recognize me yet? "I would drop your weapons or this gör –"

"Enough with the brat calling, asshole," I growled out in German, putting on my tough persona. "Not to mention you called them gentlemen… Hypocrite," I added as an afterthought.

There was a pause from behind me. "You speak German?" wondered Kimblee with a hint of surprise in his voice.

I rolled my eyes. "I am German, depp," I replied, glancing down to my left side, getting an idea. Well, that's what I figured… This just got easier. "And if you're threatening to shoot me, just do it already, Hurensohn."

"ED!" yelled out Steve in desperation and Bucky was staring at us with wide eyes, his gun still aimed at Kimblee.

"You do have quite a foul mouth, gör," remarked Kimblee with a sigh. "Been spending too much time with these vulgar Americans, have you?"

I chuckled. "I'm the vulgar one, arschgesicht." I could feel Kimblee grow annoyed behind me. To be fair, I had called him 'idiot', 'son of a bitch', and an 'assface'. This was my chance to get out of this. "Are we going to continue this fulfilling conversation or are you going to do something? Like shoot?"

"Do you have a death wish, gör?" wondered Kimblee.

I shrugged which got Steve and Bucky in front of me even more worried. "Ed, what are you doing?" stammered Steve, which is actually the first time I've heard him sound like that. Well, I couldn't just tell them.

I had to smile at him just as Kimblee pulled the trigger. I heard the click, saw the shocked faces of Steve and Bucky. Steve even dropped his gun. But there was nothing but silence.

Pure, enjoyable silence; for me of course.

I used Kimblee's surprise and hauled him over my shoulder, slamming him onto the floor. He was still stunned as I dropped on top of him and began punching him.

And punching. And punching.

His face. His chest. His head. Anything I could reach.

I couldn't get that smug face of his out of my head. That smug face that haunted me for months after Baschool. That smug face that reminds me that I could have died that day.

I could have died because I didn't want to kill. I didn't want to kill the fucking bastard that was now in front of me. Even after he threatened Winry and disrespected the soldiers of Briggs. Even after all the horrible things he did in Ishval, being sent to prison because he couldn't stop killing.

"Ed, enough!" Strong arms easily lifted me off Kimblee and held me back as I tried to squirm out of them. "Ed, just calm down!" urged Steve behind me, holding me even tighter.

I tried to take a breath but each one was just as shaky as the previous one. Seeing the man on the ground from further away, it made me realize that he was not Kimblee. It's not the Kimblee that… That one didn't collapse a mine on me. He didn't. The one who did is gone. GONE. He's gone.

"He's gone," I muttered out loud as my breathing was finally calming down. "Not… him."

"Ed, what the hell happened?" wondered Bucky, picking up my fallen pistol. "And did you have a death wish?"

"Don't ever do that again, Ed!" added Steve finally releasing me and turning me around to face him. "What were you thinking?"

I rolled my eyes, massaging my face. "I was thinking that I unloaded the fucking gun," I replied, turning around and taking the weapon from Bucky. "I unloaded it because I was not going to use it and there was no point of giving the enemy a free weapon by leaving it loaded." I holstered the gun, glancing back at Steve. "And I had the situation under control before you barged in like that."

Steve was breathing deeply, his clenched fist shaking as he stared down at me. "Under control? Under control?! You nearly died and you say that you had it under control?!"

"Hey! I didn't nearly die! The pistol was UNLOADED!"

"He had it to your head!"

"It was UNLOADED! Am I speaking English now or not? UNLOADED!"

"That's not the point, Ed! You –"

"Alright, both of you," cut in Bucky, getting between us and pushing each of us back. "We don't have time for this."

Steve took a deep breath, covering his mouth and massaging his jaw. Meanwhile, I was seething, my fists clenching and unclenching at this useless argument we were having.

"Bucky is right but we will be discussing this when we get back to London. Am I clear?" stated Steve tersely. I didn't answer to that because there was nothing to discuss. "Ed?" He still wasn't getting an answer from me. He took another deep breath. "Fine, go with Bucky and make sure the last of the prisoners are heading out the building. Can you at least follow that order?"

With the same glare on my face, I saluted him, gritting out, "Yes, Captain."

He seemed to do everything in his power to not yell at me at that moment, his jaw clenched as he shook his head.

"Let's go, Ed," said Bucky. "We'll radio in, alright, Steve?"

Steve stiffly nodded and Bucky pulled at my left arm before I followed him down the corridor.

"You seriously do not have much in terms of self-preservation, do you?" remarked Bucky as we searched the empty holding area.

"Verpiss dich," I muttered, still annoyed.

"Gesundheit," replied Bucky and I could hear the smile.

I rolled my eyes at his sense of humour at the wrong moments… It wasn't even the right answer to telling him to piss off anyway.

"But, seriously, Ed, what's going on?" wondered Bucky as we entered another holding area, his gun raised and ready. "You did give us quite a scare back there."

"What do you want me to tell you?" I grumbled. "That I won't do it again? Because that isn't a promise I'm about to make any time soon."

"Ed, he had a gun to your head."

"An UNLOADED gun," I corrected for what felt like the 12th time as I peeked into a third holding area. How many did Hydra need? How many soldiers were kept here?!

"You're being very blasé about this."

I turned towards him, confused. "I'm being what?"

"Blasé. Nonchalant." I kept staring at him. "Unconcerned," he tried instead and I nodded. That's what he meant.

"Yes, I was unconcerned that he had a useless weapon pointed at my head," I remarked, shrugging my shoulder. "I wasn't in real danger. It's not my fault you thought I was."

"Ed, it is, actually."

"This conversation isn't going anywhere," I finally snapped, turning towards Bucky. "I'm reckless, Steve pointed that out. But that's how I am. I've seen Steve do things just as stupid, like plan to jump out of a plane or walk to Austria, but none of you are giving him a hard time about it."

"Because he's Captain America," answered Bucky giving me a look. "He has a super soldier serum running through his veins that allows him to survive crazy, idiotic stuff. Believe me, he got an earful back in London about what he's been up to. We just never got around to doing the same to you. You know, because you ALSO jumped out of an airplane."

"Fine," I huffed, throwing my arms into the air. "Do you want me to say I'm a stupid reckless kid who is in over my head and should just stay out of the way so that I don't get hurt, or worse, killed?"

Bucky sighed in frustration, lowering his gun. "Ed, that's not… I…" He massaged his head as if trying to figure out what to say to that. I didn't even know what I should have said. "You are definitely more stubborn than Steve…," he mumbled.

"Yeah, right," I huffed, taking out my radio and switched it to the right frequency. "There aren't any more prisoners in this area," I stated dryly. We had checked all the holding areas as we had talked which, at least, meant I finally followed an order today.

"'Bout time, Kid! Bucky! Monty's just finished setting up the explosives. Get your asses out of there!" called out Dum Dum from the other end.

I rolled my eyes, irritated. "Fine, we're leaving," I replied.

"Hurry up!"

I turned off my radio and Bucky and I ran out of the holding area.

Steve's been up my ass all day, the others don't seem to trust me to do anything by myself, Kimblee decided to re-enter my life without much warning, and now Bucky seems to want to have some stupid heart to heart about my life choices. Is there anything else that could go…?

Fuck.

Bucky and I skidded to a halt in the middle of the factory floor as Kimblee stood in front of us, gun raised and his face…

Fuck… I did that to him…

His face was covered – drenched – in blood, as much from the broken nose to the open gash on his forehead. One of his eyes was so swollen, he couldn't even open it. However, it seemed his good eye was enough for him to be able to effectively point a gun at us.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the brat?" remarked Kimblee, spitting blood onto the floor. "Maybe I should teach you a valuable lesson today."

"Ed," whispered Bucky, "what's he saying?"

I swallowed with difficulty, not liking where this was going. "That I need to be taught a lesson," I replied hesitantly.

"Yes, a lesson," repeated Kimblee in English, cocking his gun and pointing it directly at me. "If you have a chance to kill, take it. Or else you might be the one ending up dead."

My breathing was shaky as memories of that day surfaced. The mine, the chimeras, the metal beam, the blood… So much of MY blood from the wound in MY body.

"ED, MOVE!"

I was tackled just as a gunshot echoed through the factory area and I hit the floor heavily, a weight falling on top of me. Not even a moment later, the weight was off and more gunshots were fired around until…

Quiet. It was just… Quiet.

"Ed!" I looked up, my mind returning to the present as I stared at Bucky. "Ed, what the hell happened? I've never seen you freeze like that!"

I shook my head, trying to get the images of the incident in Baschool out of my mind. "Sorry…," I whispered. I glanced to the side, briefly seeing the body of Kimblee laying on the floor, unmoving.

Bucky… Bucky killed him.

"Ed, seriously, what was that?"

"I'm fine," I replied instead, using the machinery nearby to push myself up.

"I didn't ask if you were fine or not. I'm asking what the hell happened."

"Nothing, Bucky. Just leave it!" I grumbled, heading towards the exit.

"You froze, Ed! FROZE! He could have killed you!"

I threw my hands in the air, yelling out in frustration. "I'm sorry! DAMNIT! I fucked up! I'm just a fucking mess! That's my job it seems! To just made things worse than they are! I. FUCKED. UP! Now can we just go so I don't ruin something else today?!"

And then, of course, the explosions started.

Bucky looked around, eyes wide and I heard him curse which was a first, actually. "Horrible timing," he muttered, grasping my left arm and pulling. "We need to get out of here!"

Just as Bucky and I ran through the doorway to the outside, one explosion just behind us sent us both flying forward. Whilst Bucky slid across ice and snow until he was stopped by a snow pile, I hit a tank.

Heavily. Right shoulder first.

And so much pain followed. Jolts upon jolts of pain kept piercing my shoulder blade and I cried out.

"Ed!"

Arm around my waist and I was pulled back. I managed to find my footing. I think I did.

"Come on, Ed. We need to go."

My left arm was thrown over someone's shoulder, the arm around my waist tightening, and the person – Bucky, glancing to the side, confirmed it was Bucky – nearly hauled me away from the exploding Hydra base.

And we ran. We just kept running as I tried to keep one foot in front of the other, as I tried to ignore the throbbing pain from my right shoulder.

This could not have gone any worse... My automail especially... I know that pain was from my automail. I just hope that it's easily fixed or else I'll have too much explaining to do. Explaining that I don't think will stay quiet either.

If Steve went and mentioned my brother, who knows what else him or the others will blurt out? I don't need the S.S.R. knowing about my automail.

And I definitely don't want them to know that I've been pretending to be male this entire time.

"Alright, Ed. We can stop here."

Bucky slowed us to a stop and let me lean against a nearby tree. I slid to the snow covered ground, not caring how cold it was: my focus was on my automail, on trying to find a position that wouldn't send jolts of pain through my entire body.

Bucky, meanwhile, had pulled out his radio and was trying to get in touch with the others. Trying is the key word... His attempts at getting the right frequency were getting annoying. Maybe setting the frequency to change with the time was not a good idea for some people… I heard Bucky was good with technology but math was another story. Therefore, I reach up and pulled it out of his hands, ignoring the indignant yell from him.

Three seconds later, having checked the time and done the calculations, I handed it back to him just as Jim finished saying, "Do you copy?"

Bucky glanced between the radio and myself for a moment before he radioed back.

"Bucky here. Ed and I made it out of the base. We're about 3 miles northeast of it."

"Are both of you alright?" asked Jim.

"I'm fine but Ed – oof!" Bucky doubled over and I grabbed the radio from him. Maybe I shouldn't have kicked him so hard in the stomach…

"Fine. We're both fine," I managed to say evenly. I think I may have found a good position for my arm. It didn't hurt as much but it made me wonder if the wires were the problem here: they were the ones connected to my nerves.

"What happened to Bucky?" asked Jim, concerned.

"He tripped," I replied, earning a frown from the man who supposedly tripped. He was kneeling in front of me, trying to catch his breath.

"Alright. We'll head in your direction. Wait for us there. If you need to change position, radio in. Roger?"

Why was Jim calling Steve? It's not even his actual last name… What –?

Bucky grabbed the radio from me and replied, "Roger." He lowered the radio, taking one last deep breath. "Why did you hit me in the stomach? Again?" He didn't really give me a chance to respond as he stood, groaning as he did. "Stupid question. Same reason you hit me the first time. You don't want the others to know. But you're hurt, Ed, and –"

"I'm fine," I cut in even though it was a dirty lie. I couldn't explain my injury to Bucky: if I did, I would need to tell him about my limbs. And I was definitely not in a sharing mood, not after what happened with Steve…

Bucky was staring at me, his shoulders sagging. "Why are you so stubborn, Ed?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? You do know your best friend is just as or perhaps even more stubborn than me?"

"I know Steve is stubborn and I know why he is. You –"

I stood suddenly, walking away. "I don't share. And when I finally do, some Scheißkerl decides he can just bring it up in front of everyone."

Bucky ran in front of me, making me stop for all of a second. I changed direction, wanting to just get away from him. "I know all of you hate the idea of leaving me alone for some damned reason but LEAVE ME ALONE!" I yelled out, storming off and – FUCK – changing direction again when Bucky decided to get in front of me again.

"Ed, come on," he sighed, trying again to stop me. "Can you stop for a moment?" Still avoided him. "Ed, listen for a second." Dodge. I'm going in a fucking circle at this point. "Ed –"

He went to grab my arm just as I was changing direction. My attempt at avoiding his outstretched hand resulted in me slipping and falling on my ass, curses flying from my mouth.

I heard Bucky sigh before he knelt in front of me, watching as I held onto my right shoulder tightly. Stupid, fucking automail... "Can we talk now? Or am I going to have to wrestle you to the ground? I wouldn't even feel bad because, according to you, you're not injured."

I glared at him. No matter how sound his reasoning was, he still pissed me off. I held my right shoulder, somewhat finding a position that didn't really hurt as I glared at the snow covered ground, ignoring Bucky.

"Ed, we're just trying to look out for you," murmured Bucky, sitting down in front of me. "We're all weary of you being out there with us, in the midst of danger."

My glare moved to him. "Weary? That just means you don't trust me out there. You don't trust me and you have this weird idea that something bad is going to happen to me so, to keep your conscious clean, all of you will treat me like a child until… what? I snap and decide to leave? Is that what all of you want?"

Bucky sighed, passing a hand through his hair. "I didn't say any of that, Ed."

"You don't need to say it with words, Bucky. All of your actions spoke loud enough on their own. You. Don't. Trust. Me. It's damn clear."

"Hey, we do trust you, Ed. If we didn't, you wouldn't be on this team," snapped Bucky. "What I can't seem to understand is why you stubbornly want to do things alone. We watch your back and worry because, so far, you've had a tendency to run off alone and do things, do dangerous things, alone. And, whether you like it or not, sometimes it seems you actually do need someone there to have your back. That Hydra soldier wasn't going to play nice when he aimed that gun at you and you decided – for reasons I doubt you'll share – to freeze on me. Why? Why put yourself in that dangerous situation, Ed?"

I growled, hating this situation. Bucky did have a point and he echoed so many things that Mustang had said once upon a time to Al and myself. He had been right back then and Bucky was right at the moment.

"Ed, you keep talking about trust but it goes both ways. You need to trust us to have your back, to watch out for you just as we watch out for each other," added Bucky in a softer tone.

I huffed, feeling a sense of guilt begin to creep in.

"Ed?"

Fucking stupid guilt… I swallowed with difficulty, taking a deep breath. "I put myself in dangerous situations because I always did," I finally answered. "I put myself in them so that my brother didn't have to. Hence why I'm in this fucking situation and he's… I don't know." I massaged my face, kicking myself for saying so much but I needed to say it, I needed them to understand. "What I need you guys to get is that I do those things and that, yes, sometimes, shit happens."

"Like with that Hydra soldier," remarked Bucky. "Twice"

I shrugged, "That's another story… But I'm a front line person, who usually has the situation under control, so I just need to know you'll let me do what I need to do. I put myself in danger so others don't have to, because I know I can get out of those situations. And if things actually do fuck up, I know one of you will be there." I breathed deeply, staring intently at the snow. "Like you were."

"Honestly, Kid, that's the most I've heard you talk."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. How did I not hear them coming? I glanced back to where the rest of the group was standing. "How much did you hear?" I grumbled.

Jim held up the radio as he answered, "All of it, Kid."

I turned back towards Bucky, giving him a look. "I thought you didn't know how to use that," I remarked, motioning to the radio still in his hand.

"I never turned it off," he answered with a smirk. "Believe me, everyone needed this."

"Fuck you," I muttered, pushing myself up and, not even half way up, someone gently grabbed my left arm, helping up the rest of the way. I didn't even have to look at the person to know who it was. "Thanks, Steve," I mumbled.

"You're part of the team, Ed," said Steve as we began to walk further away from the Hydra base. "You're the most stubborn part of this team; that I have to admit."

I finally looked up at him. "Really? You want to have this discussion? On who's the most stubborn between the two of us?"

"You, Kid," answered some of the men behind us and I turned around and gave them a look.

I faintly heard Steve and Bucky chuckle next to me and I rolled my eyes. Unbelievable…

"Let's get to the plane," stated Steve, leading the way.

"PLANE?!"

Hopefully you've enjoyed the two chapters back to back! I'll try to be more frequent with the chapter uploads in the future!

Let me know what you think! Reviews are always wonderfully appreciated!