I do not own FMA.

Unanswered Questions (The Cursed Truth: Part 4)

Central City, 1914

Bo.

We were overpowering Barry the Chopper, when I recognized the sound of explosives detonating from the laboratory. Number 66 was the least of our worries, and he escaped.

"No, brother!" cried loudly Alphonse, his eyes turned to the lab.

I pushed him away, before some debris fell over him. I stared at the building overwhelmed with anxiety. Where was Ed? Where was my brother? What in the world happened? Did Nathan not say that his plan would not fail?"

I was about to do something when, from the smoke, came out two walking figures. Was it that guy with Ed like in the episode? No, it was not. It was my brother. He was injured. Ed was also injured. At least they were alive. I ran to them and awkwardly hugged both at the same time.

"How's Ed, Bo?" Nate asked.

I checked. "Unconscious, but he's breathing."

He was pleased. I did not ask why, but it was suspicious.

"Lieutenant Ross, go to the hospital with Elric," he ordered.

"But, sir, what about you?" she asked.

"I have a few things to look at, before that. He needs immediate treatment, so go now," he said in harsher tone.

She respected his wishes. Edward was in a critical state. His wound to the side was horrible. I scanned my brother. He had multiple stab wounds in various not so dangerous places.

"You better get check," I said.

"I will." He gazed at Al. "You may go with Ed, if you wish. I have to gather as much as evidence possible."

"We did not come here in vain, so I'll help," Al replied.

I guess that, even if part of his plan flopped, it was not a complete loss. He could still get a few things. It made me happy that we had a bit of luck on our side.

"Bo, no time for day dreaming, can you find a way to clear things up a little." Nate sighed. "We need to get in that building, before it completely collapses. I give us ten to fifteen minutes max."

I nodded and, using alchemy and good punch, I reduced a pile of debris to crumbles. We tossed the crumbles to the side. There was a door right behind it, but also a dead soldier. To be crushed…what a painful way to die.

We entered, and ran across the usable hallways. According to Nate, the room was in the heart of the building and on the first floor. Fifteen minutes to get in, to get Intel and to get out, that was a mission level insanity. The Laboratory was huge. Just like things were not enough, the room's entrance in front of us had to be sealed off.

"I was fighting those two people and I had Ed to protect, how I was supposed to deal with all of this?" he argued.

I rolled my eyes. Now, I had to break a wall in a complex that was slowly collapsing. It was just hilarious. I punched the ground and a cannon rose from the ground.

"What do you think you're doing, Bailey?"

"Well, brother, I'm not as strong as Major Armstrong or Brigadier General Basque Grand, so I doubt my fist will be able to break this alchemic wall of yours. We don't have any dynamite either, so I have to result on the technique that was passed down to me by Grand to destroy this wall," I enlightened. "I wonder what will be the repercussions."

"I don't want to die here," charming Al said.

"No one will," Nate reassured. "Go for it Bo."

I fired, and the wall fell at my mercy. We entered the room, and I inspected the damages.

"This place was the epicenter. The responsible crooks erased all clues," I concluded. "They used good old dynamite with no gasoline, which explain why there is no fire."

"If they really want to hide something from us, they would have burnt down the place as well. Unless they thought that we would not come back," Nate said, while he dusted off an area with his hand. "It's a transmutation circle alright."

"It's amazing how much you guys can tell just by looking the scene." Alphonse thought loudly, impressed.

I chuckled, and Nate possibly smirked.

"The North's specialty is defense. The East's is attack. The South's is quickness. As for the West, where we are from, the specialty is investigation and stealth," Nathan explained. "We deal with terrorists every day there, so we have to do our best to locate a cell and disband it or neutralize it before they cause a lot of casualties."

While inspecting the area, something struck me. I double chucked more profoundly, and felt uneasy.

"Nate, you said you fought two people, correct?" I questioned.

"I…injured one…" he replied.

"That injured person was not killed by any chance?" I persisted.

He gnashed his teeth angrily. "It was in self-defense okay."

"That's unsettling…" The boys stared at me. "The body's not here. The explosions would have only scattered the parts around."

"The walking palm-tree must have brought that woman with her. Shit, I was hoping the coroner could perform an autopsy her," Nathan kicked a rock. "Oh well, we learned enough. Let's head out."

Nathan.

For the past week, the midget went from being in coma to being able to sit with a little assistant. To make sure he did not try sneak on us, I volunteered to remain by his side along with the officers. It was not that I did not trust them, but I needed to be there when they were going to knock some sense into this pitiful fool. Besides, I was a bit more reliable than them since I did not need much sleep.

Let's just say that Ed was the grumpiest little exasperating useless shit when he was bedridden. He constantly whined. He would throw fits over anything from a little breeze to air to the hotness of the food. It was porridge; obviously it was going to be hot. If Lieutenant Ross or a nurse was not there to feed it to him, I would throw the bowl in his shitty face. What saved me from beating him up was that he would be asleep most of the time.

I also had a few bandages there and there. Unlike him, I had to endure the pain as they disinfected my wounds. That little shithead, I wanted to murder him.

As he sat down, the little shit was back to his normal self again. In my corner, my arms crossed, I controlled myself not to unleash my anger on him.

"What happened to the Fifth Laboratory?" he asked. This was more important than knowing his condition.

"Somebody blew up the building and there's nothing there but rubble," Ross answered.

"DAMMIT! YOU MEAN THEY WIPED OUT EVERYTHING!" he ranted, before wincing in pain.

I inaudibly cursed him, because he was the cause behind it.

"This isn't fair…" he muttered. "Do you know how close I was from learning the truth? This is no time for to be lying in the hospital."

I cringed at his word, breathing loudly.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, sir, we do apologize for this."

Lieutenant Ross bitch slapped him. My heart was a little content. I walked to him, and held him by the collar of his patient gown.

"You imbecile, do you realize the consequences of your actions?" I murderously stared at him. "Because of your unbearable stupidity, we weren't able to recover much information."

"You only escaped with your life thanks to the Lieutenant Colonel," Ross added. "You could have died right there."

He turned his eyes towards me and noticed my bandaged hand that held his collar.

"You don't have to do everything on your own, you know?" Ross pursued. "You can lean on other people. Like us…not all adults are the enemy…"

"You preach trust like some big time religion, so you should be the first to trust others," I reproached. "A guy once said that he have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. I think it is true."

I let go on him, and returned to my initial place in the corner.

"What's my punishment for slapping you in the face, sir?" asked Ross.

I chuckled. "Don't worry, Second Lieutenant, even if he tries punish you, I'll overrule it, because he needed a beating."

"I saw it coming anyways," Ed said. "I didn't become a State Alchemist for people to kiss up on me. You can speak to me causally."

"Really?" They were both totally relieved.

"How about you, sir?" I think Brosch asked.

I flipped my hair. "Don't even think about it for a second, officers. I maybe didn't become Lieutenant Colonel so people would kiss up to me, but we are soldiers, so it is formality."

They were frightened by me. I would be lying if I said I did not like it.

"Officers, I have to talk to Goldie for a moment in private," I told them.

Alone, I took a chair and sat down by Edward's side.

"What is it?" he enquired.

"Al, Bo and I went back to the site, and we saw the transmutation circle," I answered. "Even if it was partially destroyed, Bo could tell that there were traces of blood. She estimated that a stone or many stones were created recently."

"Father Cornello's stone was a fake," Ed stated.

"Yes, but it doesn't mean that other people don't have the real deal in their possession."

He understood where I was getting at. I had a feeling that he would not use the stone if he found one, but he would ask the holder a few questions.

That was all I had to tell Edward. There was more like Number 66, but it did not concern him.

I stood up.

"Wait, Nathan, before you leave." He intriguingly met my eyes.

"What?"

He was still looking at me. "In the laboratory, you performed so kind of alchemy."

"You were still hanging in there?" That was not good.

"It's still foggy, but I remember being dragged away like in East City," he narrated.

I sat back down. "What else did you see?"

I guess my actions destabilized him a bit.

"…nothing else…I just remember being swigged left right…so, you used your top-secret alchemy," he easily deducted.

"Edward, you are to talk to no one about it. It's in your best interest to forget about it."

I exited the room. It was too dangerous.

Ed.

The moron went on the defensive, when I questioned him. My growing curiosity and suspicion needed to be quenched. I was not known to be a prodigy for no reasons. Something was telling me that I missed an important key to the puzzle when I blacked out. Damn, why did I have to black out at that moment?

"Alchemy related to Bio-Alchemy. It can control a person. Nathan said he bloodied his hands, which means that he may had to kill people. Did he kill Bo's 'second' father? There are many ways to murder someone. But, alchemy is not some kind of magic. He must have some array. Also, how did he even manage to swing me around? What's the cost?" I mumbled. "Nerve related? Blood related? Fiber related? The whole body related?"

It was better if I did not think about for too much for now. The fact was that he saved me. I had many leads to squeeze a detail or two from Bo anyways.

I needed to contact Winry, because my arm needed some fixing. Just thinking about calling Winry made me shiver. She was going to be so angry. I could already hear her voice in my head.

Because I could not walk on my own, Sergeant Brosch pushed me on a wheelchair to the public phone. I really did not feel like calling. I did feel like being lectured.

She was the one who answered. "Hey Winry…"

"Hey Ed. Since when did you even bothered to contact us," she replied.

"Can you make an exception and come to Central?" I asked.

I totally astonished when I did not hear some yelling from across the line. She agreed very casually. The phone call ended…on a happy note. I hung up very confused.

"Aw, was that your girlfriend?" Sergeant Brosch asked.

"MY GIRlFRIEND!?" I should have not yelled. My wound opened up.

He laughed helping me on my chair and explaining to me how I should not be ashamed about it. The thing was that I did not see Winry that way.

"YOU DAMN LITTLE BASTARD!" I heard suddenly in the hallway. Next thing I knew I was punched in the face. It hurt ten times more than Lieutenant Ross's slap.

Only one girl would do this.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!?" I yelled at Bo, re-opening my wound in the process.

"You deserve it for totally sucker punching us by crawling out to be Fifth Laboratory," she replied.

"You're crazy," I cussed, massaging my cheek.

Bo snickered as she embraced me. "I was worried. Glad you're fine."

"I can't believe it. That's how you how you show your worry?"

Her only reply was a gentle smile. She walked away. Girls were specimens that were too hard to decipher.

"So, is she your girlfriend?" Brosch asked out of the blue.

"I DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND DAMMIT!"