The terms of the surrender included a formal ceremony at the Fuhrer's palace in Central City.

Each of the fifty noblemen, in full ceremonial dress, strode across the open room, announced himself, signed the surrender document on the table, then bent down to leave his ceremonial sword and a purse of gold at the feet of Armstrong and Mustang. After each nobleman turned to walk back, two Amestrian sergeants came forward to take the sword and the purse to their respective tables on the sides of the room.

Fuhrer Grumman and the Secretaries of State and Internal Security watched at a safe distance from the balcony above them. Hundreds of on-lookers filled the galleries on the sides, including a group from the office of the commander of East HQ and a group from the Ishvalan Field Office.

The two Amestrian Generals were seated in large, throne-like chairs. Major Miles stood at Armstrong's side once more, and Captain Hawkeye stood next to Mustang. Armstrong sat in stony silence during the ceremony, but as each Cretan nobleman rose again after laying down his sword and purse, Brigadier General Mustang addressed him by name and said "Thank you," almost as if he were accepting not a surrender but an oath of fealty.

Last to approach the generals was King Leksi XXIII in his full ceremonial robes and wearing his full crown, not a circlet. He hadn't been King of Creta for very long, only a couple of years, and now he would rule as the Governor appointed by Amestris.

He set not a purse, but a small chest on the floor, then went to the table with the surrender document. He removed his crown and set it on the table, still wearing his circlet underneath, and signed his name at the very bottom. Then he knelt in front of the two Generals, and laid the Royal Sword of Creta at their feet. He rose and turned to Mustang, waiting for his words, but this time Mustang was silent.

Instead, it was Major General Armstrong who spoke. She nodded at Miles, who brought the crown to her from the table.

"King Leksi the twenty-third," she said, holding out the crown to him, "Rule Creta well for Amestris," she said.

This was totally unexpected. The document he had just signed meant he had given up his kingship. But the Major at her right hand nodded to him, with a slight smile, so he took it. Looking back at the Major, since the Major General's face was still as expressionless as stone, he got another nod, and put it back on.

"I will, Major General Armstrong," he responded, feeling he ought to say something.

Then Miles collected the royal sword, and handed it to the Major General.

"King Leksi the twenty-third," she repeated, now holding out the sword, "Keep the peace at your border with Amestris," she said.

This time, he knew what to do. He took the sword and put it back in its sheath. Then he responded, "I will, Major General Armstrong."

Then, overcome by emotion, he fell to one knee and lowered his head. "Thank you, Generals of Amestris."

There was complete silence in the room as he knelt there. After a moment, he was able to rise and although tears were streaming down his face, he still managed a tall, regal stride back to his barons.

The room, including the galleries of onlookers, exploded in applause.

In the galleries, Rebecca Catalina asked Jean Havoc, "How did you guys pull that off?"

"It was Falman's idea," said Havoc. "He'd been talking to Captain Sverdlova, their Cretan expert at Briggs. The monarchy is a really big deal over there, and the current line has been unbroken for centuries. The hardest part of the whole unconditional surrender thing was going to be the abolishment of the monarchy. But that's exactly why it had to be part of the terms."

"But just because they had to agree to it, didn't mean Amestris had to enforce it," said Falman. "Breda and the Brigadier took it from there. I just told them how to modify the ceremony."

"I didn't do anything," said Breda. "I just pushed the Brigadier at the Fuhrer. The whole thing would have fallen apart if Grumman wasn't on board. And you left out Major Miles. Someone had to convince Major General Armstrong."

Fuhrer Grumman beamed as the Cretan King, newly crowned by an Amestrian General, returned to his nobles. "What do you say to that, Otto?" he asked the Secretary of State. "He agreed to the end of their centuries-old monarchy, we have it on paper. Is that a definite enough victory for you?"

"You've done it again, Northrup," the General answered. "Not just unconditional surrender, but true allies as well. I didn't think it was possible to do both at the same time. I finally have some leverage to use on Aerugo."

"You're looking at your replacement, Otto," Grumman said. "As soon as that boy gets his eyes taken care of, I'm giving him your job."

"Still on about that, old man?" said the Secretary of Internal Security. "I wouldn't plan on an early retirement, Otto."

"It's too late for an early retirement," grumbled the Secretary of State. "Northrup already pulled me out of retirement for this job. Can't we just take him as he is? I want to get back to my flowers and my bees."

Now that Roy was back at East HQ, Lt Col Alex Armstrong was back at his own office in Central, where he had left Captain Fokker in charge.

It was crowded in the Brigadier's staff room. Breda and Havoc and Miles were all there at the moment. They'd be leaving for Gunja sometime in the next few days.

First Lieutenant Catalina brought in the mail for the day. "Promotion sheets," she said, waving them in the air before handing them to the Brigadier.

It was just a formality. If it was addressed to him, they handed it to him, even if he couldn't read it. "Read them out, Captain Hawkeye," he said, smiling as he handed them to her. He'd gotten a lot of capital out of the Cretan campaign, and used it.

"Kain Fuery. Promoted to Warrant Officer."

"Jean Havoc. Promoted to 1st Lieutenant."

Havoc whooped. "I finally caught up to you, Rebecca," he snickered.

"Vato Falman. Promoted to 1st Lieutenant."

"Heymans Breda. Promoted to Captain."

"Riza Hawkeye. Promoted to Major."

She paused, having reached the bottom of the sheet.

"I'm sorry, First Lieutenant Catalina, Warrant Officer Sopwith," Roy apologized. "You're still on the regular schedule, because you weren't involved in Creta."

Miles congratulated the others. They'd have to lift that freeze some day.

"Wait, everybody, there's another page," Hawkeye said, then continued. "George Miles. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel."

Now the others were congratulating him too, but Miles stood there stunned.

"I'm ... still assigned to Briggs, aren't I?" he asked, not quite understanding.

"Yes, but I can change that if you want me to," said Roy, beaming. That had been the hardest promotion to swing.

"No offense, sir, but please don't," he said. "What about the Major General?"

"I hear she's finally made Lieutenant General," said Roy, smirking.

"Is the freeze off, then?" Miles asked.

"Not exactly," answered Breda. "But we got it lifted for the Briggs officers that were involved in Creta. It's progress."

Miles nodded his head and smiled. "Yes, it's progress."

"That's it, folks," said Hawkeye. "If you're not busy, I can find something for you to do."

Everyone scattered. None of them spoke about the one promotion that never went through.

Author's Note:

I couldn't find Grumman's first name anywhere, so I chose "Northrup" because of the Northrup Grumman company.

I couldn't find a first name for Miles, so I just called him George because it's a plain common first name to go with his plain common last name. I was actually hoping to get through the whole story without having to come up with his first name.

No particular reason for the name Otto.