Chapter 36

The Philosopher from the West

"Rizenbul station!" Announced the conductor as the train slowed.

As the Fullmetal and Strong Arm Alchemist made their way to the door, a strangely-dressed boy with what seemed to be a small cat on his left shoulder weaved in-between them and the others getting off before hopping off the train, a curious look on his face before he spotted a sandwich-seller and approached him with a groaning stomach.

"Oh hello, Edwina," the conductor greeted with a smile. "Visiting again?"

"No, I was kidnapped by him," the blonde jabbed a thump at the man slightly behind her.

"I…see. And Alphonsa?"

"Had to leave her behind, as I got kidnapped."

"Well…just try to have a nice time."

The two headed off, Armstrong taking the lead.

"Can you tell me what's going on yet?" Edwina asked the older alchemist, now completely fed up. "You're kind of freaking me out."

"Just a little furth— ah, there he is." Armstrong smiled.

With a travelling bag at his side, a bag of food shopping in one arm and, and his coat slung over one arm, Heymans Breda stood on side of the country path leading from the station. Like the Major, he was also not in uniform, inside wearing a white shirt with the top button undone, an amber waistcoat, matching trousers and brown, leather sandals with socks.

"Good day, Major Armstrong, Edwina," He greeted the man and teenager while saluting.

Her frustration changing to confusion, Edwina asked. "Why is he here?"

Breda did not reply as he fell into step ahead of the other two. "So…are you tagging along to see my automail get repaired?"

"Nah, doesn't interest me. Besides, we don't have time for that." The Second Lieutenant led them to a house the blonde did not recognise. As the puzzled but curious young woman entered the house along with the men, a man, Xingese in appearance, with a goatee and wearing a long robe, skullcap and sunglasses, raised a hand in greeting.

"Hello there," he said.

"This is Mr. Han. He's an immigration officer," Breda explained to the teenager. "Mr. Han, this is Edwina Elric."

"Nice to meet you. Fu-san has told me all about you, Miss Elric," Mr. Han said, standing up to shake the girl's hand.

"Fu…as in the bodyguard of Ling?" the blonde teenager asked as they shook.

"Yes," the man replied with a nod, before turned to the other two military members. "Now, about our plan to leave the country…"

"'Leave the country?'" the Fullmetal Alchemist echoed. "But I haven't got a passport."

"Duh. Passports would leave a paper trail, wouldn't they?" Breda replied with a roll of his eyes.

"You mean we're smug—" Armstrong clamped his hand over her mouthing, causing to become a muffled "Mm-ing" as the three men glared daggers at her. The girl reached up and grabbed the man's wrist tightly, and he withdrew it.

"Bastards…" the teenager hissed before slamming her fist onto the table they stood at. "Whatever you're up to, it better be worth it!" She felt a devious smirk tug at her lips as the men nodded. "So, where are we off too?"

The men smiled as well. "To the east!"

"Why? Why would you let them go alive after what they learned and what that Colonel did to Lust?!" Envy shouted at Bradley as he stood before Father's throne. "The ones Gluttony and were fighting got close to finding here as well! The only reason we couldn't kill them was because Pride told us not to!"

"Lust…L-Lust...my best friend…" Gluttony snuffled

"I know!" Envy snapped at him. "You've been crying for the last fifteen minutes!" He looked back at the Führer. "The Colonel and her lackey are in the hospital, right? Go kill them! It isn't too late yet! We can't let them get away with making a fool of us!"

Gluttony just continued to weep, no longer listening to the conversation.

"Wrath…" Father spoke for the first time since his 'children' had returned, his hand still covering his eyes. "Why did you let the Flame Alchemist get away?"

"She is still of some use," the eye-patched man replied.

Envy's mouth fell open slightly and Gluttony's attention was caught as Father rose from his seat, the three tubes inserted in his back unplugging as he did so. His face was a frown as he walked gracefully over to Wrath, stopping right in front of him.

"In what way will he be useful?" the golden-haired man asked, his voice laced with the slightest fury.

"She is very protective of her friends and comrades. While it is her greatest strength, it is also her greatest weakness." The dark-haired male looked directing into the eyes of his creator as he finished, "I will have her open the gate."

A moment's silence followed, the other two homunculi wondering what Father would do. The man's mouth spread into an approving smile.

"I'll leave this to you," he told his 'son' before turned and walking towards his chair.

"Yes, sir," Bradley replied with a bow.

"Wrath will be in charge of the Flame Alchemist from now on," Father said as he settled down again.

Envy growled in annoyance before whipping its head around to look at his youngest 'brother'. "You can't be serious about this! Just kill that bitch already!"

"I have a different plan. Leave everything to me."

"Alphonsa, wait for me!"

The girl paused on the hospital steps and looked behind her to see the bespectacled Sergeant Major running towards her.

"Hello, Sergeant Major," Alphonsa greeted. "It's feels like such a long time since I last so you, how are you?"

"I'm fine apart from being worried about the Colonel and Second Lieutenant. I take it your visiting as well?"

"Yeah," the girl replied with a mental nod as they fell into step and opened the double doors to the building.

The short man looked her up and down. "Though I wonder if someone should visit you. You look badly hurt yourself."

Alphonsa glanced over the bandages around her neck and now-limp left arm, then took into note the doctors, nurses and patients who stared at her as they passed them in the corridor, before responding, "So it's really that noticeable? So embarrassing…"

"No, no," Fuery assured her. "Those are wounds of honour. The First Lieutenant told me you got them while protecting him when he was disarmed by his opponent. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I see…" Alphonsa said. The First Lieutenant should not be so ashamed of his emotions…

They headed up another flight of stairs and just as Fuery was about to say something else as they reached Mustang and Havoc's room, a yell of "You idiot!" had them jumping in surprize.

"That sounded like the Colonel," Alphonsa observed. The two of them simply stood outside the door, listening in.

"You lost the will to fight because you believed what you were told by an enemy?!" Mustang continued in a slightly lower voice, her fists clenched in the blanket. "First Lieutenant Hawkeye, I thought you'd be the last person to act like that!"

"I'm very sorry, Ma'am," the blonde man replied shamefully, his head bowed and his eyes closed, unable to look at his superior.

"Don't let yourself be confused," the dark-haired women went on, her voice now normal but still severe. "Never stop thinking! Never give up, even if things are bad, you go don't go down without a fight! Loss is hard to deal with, yes, but if you are a soldier, if you are my aide, you must remain firm. Even if I really were dead, I would have expected you to keep going."

"Yes, Ma'am," the sharpshooter replied.

There was a pause as the woman fully took in the man's expression. Even with his eyes closed, she could see the pain and sorrow at his failing her. "I will continue entrusting you to watch my back."

The man looked up, his eyes opening in some surprize, before his closed them again and nodded.

"You've got a check to talk, Colonel," Havoc spoke for the first time since he had woken. "Who's the commander who walked blindly onto the battlefield?"

"Shut up!" the woman snapped at his her hair whipping out as she snapped her head around to glare at him. A sharp pain shot through her along with a bout of nausea and she groaned.

"Don't yell so much," Havoc warned. "I'd think you'd know it would make your condition worse. Not to mention it's making my wounds sting."

"Is that how you talk to the person saved your life?!" the woman continued in an annoyed tone once the wave had passed.

"I'm grateful for that, of course, but I wish you'd fried me with more care. These marks will drive girls away from me."

"Oh, boo hoo! I did yours to rare! I had to do myself medium! How's that's? I'm worse off!"

"I'm not talking about doneness!"

"Some girls like scars, so quit whining!"

"And som— oooowww!"

Simultaneously, Mustang curled up in spasms while Havoc, unable to do so, squirmed as similar pains moved through them. Once it had passed, the woman spoke again. "Why am I sharing a room with a man, anyway?"

"Yeah, I should be in a private room with a beautiful nurse all to myself," Havoc declared.

"Please bear with it," Hawkeye told them with slight reassurance and his arms folded. "The enemy could very well sneak into here and finish you off in your sleep. It's easier to keep the two of you safe if you are in the same room."

"You do have a point," Mustang replied with an air of feeling defeated as she settled back into bed. "Why haven't they taken this perfect opportunity to kill us? It's not like death is uncommon in a hospital…"

Havoc shrugged.

Thinking this was a good time as any, Alphonsa and Fuery quietly opened the door.

"Excuse us for interrupting," the bespectacled man began, saluting respectfully as they stepped through and closed the door behind them.

"We've come to see how you're doing," the armour girl finished,

"Alphonsa!" Hawkeye yelped as he spotted the bandages, his fear clearer than ever. "You shouldn't be walking around like that! Don't you realise someone could be after you as well?"

"It's ok," the younger Elric replied, waving her hand in that dismissive but reassuring way of hers. "I have someone who can sense homunculi accompanying me."

Perched effortlessly atop the hospital flag pole, Lan Fan was observing.

"'Sense homunculi?' Mustang repeated with a baffled expression."

"How so?" the blonde asked, his face both confused and curious.

"I don't quite understand it either. He told me it's something to do with something called 'qi', a form of energy flowing though all living things…"

Fuery noticed dark circles under the First Lieutenant's eyes. "First Lieutenant, you might want to take some rest. I could fill in for you for a bit."

"I'm fine," the man replied, before his expression returned to its usual sternness. "This is my job. I'm fine." For a moment, his expression softened as he added, "Besides, you're not well skilled at fighting. But I know what you are good at, so did you get that thing I asked you for?"

"Yeah, here," the younger male reached into his jacket and drew out a rolled-up piece of paper.

"What is it?" the Flame Alchemist asked, sitting up again while the equality curious Alphonsa drew closer.

For a moment, the blonde ignored them both. "Thank you," he told Fuery. "And if you really want to do some guard work, can you watch the door?"

"Yes, Sir!" the dark-haired man said with a smile, before heading out and closing the door behind him, taking up position next to it.

Hawkeye turned back to his superior and friends, moving around so they could see the paper as he opened it. It was a map. "This is only a rough estimate, but I measured my stride and counted my steps from since I descended under the third laboratory." He trailed his index finger along a line drawn in drawn in red ink as he continued. "With this information, Fuery was able to calculate the distance from the underground entrance to the doors under the lab. We couldn't tell the exact distance since the corridors weren't straight," he pointed a red ink circle near the centre of the map. "So I drew a circle with the lab at the centre."

"That's brilliant, First Lieutenant!" the Colonel praised, looking up from her examination for a moment to smile at him. Havoc could only lie there, confused.

"Thank you very much, Ma'am," the man replied, a little surprised.

"Colonel, look!" Alphonsa said suddenly, pointing at dark building on right side of the paper, near the edge of the circle. "That's the second laboratory."

"That's interesting, but here's something more," Mustang said, rubbing her chin again. She was also looking at the right side, but at the upper edge of the circle. Alphonsa, and Hawkeye followed her gaze. "The outer edge of Central Headquarters is inside this circle too, and so is the Führer's office, though only barely. It could be possible…"

"But, the Führer lead a group of troops to wipe out a homunculus called Greed and his gang in Dublith. The Major fought alongside him too," Alphonsa explained. "Although I don't understand why he had to completely eradicate them…" another image of Martel, the one she could have saved, could have turned away from crime, fleeted through her mind again.

"Oh, so that was what the Major meant by he had to fight in the south…as for the Führer, he could have eliminated them all as he thought they were a threat to the military's nucleus…" The dark-haired woman paused in rubbing her chin looked over at the Second Lieutenant. "The Führer's the one who called for an ambulance for us, right?"

"That's what I heard," he replied.

The woman folded her arms again. "Can we consider him an ally?"

Feeling this part of the conversation was not for her, Alphonsa spoke. "I think I'll go now. Good luck with things. Colonel, Second Lieutenant, I hope you have a quick recovery.

"Thank you for coming, Alphonsa," Hawkeye told her with a small, short smile.

As she opened the door, Fuery stumbled back from the door, trying to hide his guilt.

Alphonsa smirked mentally as she closed the door behind her. "You were listening in again, weren't you?"

"…Yeah," the short man replied while looking at the floor.

The smirk changed to gentle smile. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. I'm just as guilty, after all. I'll see you another time." She left, still going over the things she had heard. As soon as she was gone, Sergeant Major pressed his ear back against the door."

"…We must be up against a syndicate that is powerful enough to endanger the Military. Hughes was right, as I feared." the Colonel was continuing. "Even if the Führer is not involved with those creatures, I'm sure some of the higher-ups are. However, as we can guess, it's not going to be easy to defeat them. When I sent Barry to the prison, I though the best we could hope for would be a lead on those that are corrupting the Military, but we caught something much bigger than expected."

"It seems a bit too big for me," the sharpshooter proposed. "The only way I can think we can win is if we caught them off guard…"

"But it's worth it, isn't it?" the Flame Alchemist asked rhetorically and with a small laugh. "Besides, you guys want me to become Führer just as much as Hughes did, so I'll be continuing to having work hard."

"I'll do whatever you say, as always," the blonde replied, saluting and smiling back as hope and determination returned. He looked sideways at the Second Lieutenant."

"Yeah, about this…you'll have count me out." The other officers looked around at him, the female scowling, the man confused. Havoc just looked disappointed in himself. "I can't feel my legs. I'm out of the game. I'm sorry."

His superior's expression instantly softened.

"I think I understand now why Nee-san has a grudge with the Colonel," the amour girl was saying as she and the young solider stepped outside. "She takes in all the irritating or awful things and still claims her goals are her top priority. But when it comes to protecting those close to her, she completely forgets about herself. She's very much like Nee-san. People sometimes resent people that are most like them."

"Well then, I guess that's why you two tend to bicker," Fuery replied. "You might be far different in personality, but you'll protect each other and your friends at any cost," His eyes moved over the bandages again, as he held open the hospital gate like he had the door. "Has anyone told you you're very mature for your age?" Inside her head, the girl bowed her head. "If I were mature, I wouldn't be willing to commit a taboo to bring back our real bodies…if I was mature, I would have accepted that we could bring back mother, but still know that she loved us and we loved her…"

"God…it's so bloody hot…" Edwina huffed as sweat poured from her brow and down her red face. The tan-coloured cloaks they all wore to keep the Great Desert sand off them was not helping.

"Oh, come now, Edwina, you are tougher than that," the male alchemist said in a way he hoped was reassuring. "If the horses can cope, than a strong-willed young lady like you can."

"Have you forgotten about the metal limbs, one of which you broke?!" the blonde snapped in response.

"Ah, I see. Pardon me."

"Mr. Han, how long do we have to do go?" Breda asked.

"Not that long," he replied. "We crossed the border a while ago, so we're more than halfway there." Taking pity on his travelling companions, he reached into his saddle bag to take out three bottles of water, which were passed back. Edwina guzzled hers empty on a few gulps. Once they were relatively rehydrated, the man took out a telescope. "I think you'll like this place, Edwina." The telescope was passed to her.

"That's the centre of the Xerxes ruins," the female alchemist observed once she had the tool focused. "That used to be the urban district of a once gloriously kingdom, but is now nothing more than a stop-off for the caravans travelling between the East and West. A shame, really." The once-magnificent buildings, arches and pillars had been made of sandstone, the streets once stone-paved and smooth, all now slowly disengaging.

Asthey approached the teenager's growing curiosity was replaced.

"There you are," Fu greeted Mr. Han as he crouched frog-like upon a rock. The heat did not seem to be affecting him at all.

The bodyguard's eyes moved over the other two men before settling on the young woman. "Why is that rude girl here?"

"I give that right back, you old geezer!" Edwina shouted, her face even redder, as if it were possible. "I've got a ton of questions like 'why are YOU here?', 'why did I have to dragged out into the middle of no-where?', but most importantly, 'IS THERE ANY MORE WATER?'"

"That is not for me to answer," the old man replied calmly.

Once the girl had half-downed another bottle of water (the horses having their fill from a troth), she felt calm and cool again.

"So, why are we here? All I know about this place is from "The Tale of the Philosopher of Xerxes'."

"Hm?" Fu said curiously, feeling the title was familiar.

"Yeah, it's a legend about a philosopher who gave our country alchemy. '…and Xerxes perished in that single night. Its single survivor, a man with no true name, drifted to Amestris, and to keep his culture alive, taught alchemy to its people.'" The blonde teenager recounted from the book she had read.

"Strange. We have a similar legend regarding Rentanjutsu. It's called 'The Tale of the Sage from the West'. Three Xingese travellers found a man stranded in the desert, and brought him to our country, where they gave him food and water and nursed him to health using Rentanjutsu. In gratitude, he offered to help them develop their 'alchemy' more. He merged his techniques with our traditional, medicine-based arts, and in the space of only few tens of years, it became the elixir-making Rentanjutsu of today."

"Could it be the same person?"

The soldiers and Mr. Han where now listening into the conversation.

"Possibly," Fu went on. "There is even a story about an Imperial family, who, believing it granted immortality, kept drinking mercury and died out in three generations."

"So, this is where the sage came from?" Armstrong asked.

"That's what the tale tells," the man replied.

Edwina's eyes widened for a moment (the two soldiers equally as surprised) as she realised both knowing what could possibly be the source of alchemy and why Ling wanted to see the ruins. She looked around at the place they were standing in, a temple, judging from the patterned pillars, the remains of a curved roof and it's once many windows.

"How could a civilisation of this scale vanish in a single night…?" the Strong-Arm Alchemist wondered, having not had the tine to properly admire the place on his last visit.

"Maybe it is just a legend…" the Second Lieutenant said, in awe regardless.

Another surprise hit the Fullmetal Alchemist when she looked at the ceiling properly. Upon it was a pentagon, each corned marked with a sun with a face, and in the centre was a dragon, the same one that adorned the flags and State Alchemist watches of Amestris. It was not myth, she was sure of that.

"What are doing?" the girl jumped and turned around to see Fu standing right behind her, his arms folded, before he re-joined the soldiers and fellow Xingese male. "This way."

"Oh…ok." She hurried over to and joined them they entered what had presumably been the temper's main worship room, judging by the half-dust statues and altar.

"We're going deep inside this place, girl, so be careful," Fu warned her as they enter another room down a flight of stars from the main one. "It's bad enough I left one woman on her own in such a conspicuous place."

"'Woman'?" the blonde repeated. "Oh, and that reminds me, don't you feel bad about leaving Ling? I didn't know bodyguard could do that, especially ones like you,"

"I don't like it, no, but I trust the boy to do his duty and follow the Young Mistress's orders as always."

"So, you do have soft side?" Edwina asked tauntingly.

"Be quiet!" the man retorted.

They reached another set of doors, and once they, like the other one, were heaved open, they stepped through into another large room. Just like most of buildings, this one was so ruined the sunlight shone clearly down, with only small patches of merciful shade.

"Edwina?!"

As the alchemist followed the familiar voice and say that she was not hallucinating, another memory of words played in her mind 'There's a nice place in the eastern region where I go on breaks. It's nice and quiet, and has plenty of good people to meet…'. "Damn that Colonel."

Maria Ross just smiled as she stood from the bench after getting over the initial shock.

"I was so worried about you, Second Lieutenant!" Armstrong bellowed, crying again as he ran to embrace the woman, but she dodged and the man's arms closed on air.

"I don't another hug, Sir," she said warningly, standing in a defensive pose.

"You can't hide someone who's supposed to be dead in their country," the somewhat plump soldier answered the girl's unspoken question as she and Fu watched the woman dodge her superior's attempts to wrap his arms around her. "This seemed like the safest option as so few come here."

"I take it by this, she didn't kill the Brigadier General?" Edwina asked, her lips wanting to form a relieved smile.

The man beside gave her gave a laugh. "Ask her yourself."

"So, the Colonel did this?"

"Think about it. It was obviously suspicious."

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't really thinking at the time…"

"That's understandable."

For a while more, the two simply watched as Ross was now running to get away from the muscular Major.

"Rizenbul Station!" the conductor called again. Among the people returning home from trips and the city people coming for holidays, a man with golden-blonde hair in a ponytail, two thin curtains falling over his face, and a nearly trimmed beard and sideburns, stepped off the train. He was well-dressed, his return being a great occasion for him, in a white shirt, black tie, black waistcoat with shiny buttons, dark grey dress trousers, a russet-coloured coat and shiny black shoes.

"I'm back," he greeted the conductor with a gentle smile.

"Welcome home," the man replied. Then both surprise and confusion hit him and double-took the man as he approached the ticket window and handed in the stamped-as-proof piece of paper. "I'm back. Good to see you again." He greeted the bespectacled, late-middle-age woman, who smiled back at his own one. Then she also double-took in disbelief as he walked away.

They're both still working here, after these years. How nice. I hope everything else hasn't changed too much, the man thought to himself, obvious to

The male worker trotted up to the window. "Am I just tired or was that really…?"

"Yes, I'm certain it was," the female employee replied. "I thought, as he'd been gone so long, something had happened…"

The man headed down the familiar path, again admiring the workmanship of the short stone wall that marked one side of it, and glanced into the river to watch the fish as he crossed the bridge. As he approached his destination, however, it was his turn to be surprised and confused. All that greeted him at the end was a dead tree, piles of ash and the remaining piles of rotting wood and singed brick-pieces. For a moment, he stood there, staring in shock, before turning around and hurrying back down the path, and up the right-hand one instead.

In her house, with her work done, no-one to look after and evening closing in, Pinako was once again flipping through the photo albums, this one being the oldest she had out of the four. With a slight smile, she gazed over an image of a new-born Winter being held by his both nervous and tearfully happy father while his mother watched. Right next to that was another new-born image, this being Alphonsa in her mother's arms, her now older sister poking her face curiously as she was introduced. Downwards, she moved onto to a picture of the sisters and her grandson, the boy and younger girl smiling, while the older one scowling at the camera, as Trisha had to practically shove her into it, it having been such a nice day, to Winter with a shocked expression as he pulled a puppy out of a present box while his parents watched, amused by his face. Pinako just had to get that expression on camera. She wondered if the boy still felt guilty over what happened to the dog's leg. As her eyes moved to an image of Alphonsa, dressed smartly for her first day of school, she again began to miss taking physical memories of everyday life. Den, who had been dozing a moment before, pulled her from her thoughts as she stood up, looking towards the door.

"A visitor, Girl?" She said, listening and hearing the footsteps on the stairs. The visitor knocked. Den lowered her head, growling, her black-and-white fur bristling. The older Rockbell sighed.

"Again with this, girl? Calm down" she scolded her as she placed her hand on the doorknob. Why would that Colonel come here anyway? However, as she opened the door, her jaw almost fell in disbelief. She had to be imaging this. Perhaps her picture-gazing had caused her to fall asleep without notice and relive the memories, as she gazed up at golden eyes shielded by thin-frame glasses, the loose, two different-length hair-strands falling in front of them and the strong but kind face.

"Pinako," the golden-haired man, said, his expression still confused. "My house is gone."

"Hohenheim?! How can you just…" the old woman could not finish the sentence, thought more because Den ran beside her protectively, growling and baring her teeth warningly up at her older owner's old friend.

"Sorry for scaring you," the bespectacled male responded, speaking to them both as he reached out to pat the dog on the head. Den snapped, trying bite as deep as possible into his flesh, but Hohenheim yanked his hand back.

"I've never been popular with animals," the man commented with a slightly amused expression as Pinako pulled the canine back. Hohenheim's gazed moved to the open album on the dining table while Pinako calmed the still on-edge mutt.

"May I see how things have been since I left?" he asked his friend.

Pinako closed the door and debated for a few moments inside her inside her head. "…Sure."

The two of them sat at the table as the man browsed from the page that was open, Den now calm and laying back down, though he had chosen to lie between the two humans, her eyes fixed on the male with her ears pricked.

"It doesn't seem like anything has changed," the man commented as he returned to the beginning of the album.

Pinako just watched waited. She would explain later.

Upon opening the first page of the album, the father's eyes were immediately drawn to one of the oldest pictures Pinako owned (taken in the September of 1866), of herself in her prime, wavy red-pink hair pulled into a ponytail, her mechanic's jumpsuit flecked with oil as she and Hohenheim shared a bottle of scotch in her trainer's office after a hard day's graft.

"You haven't change at all," Pinako commented as she too looked the image. "You never do."

The blonde's face fell as the atmosphere changed. "Neither have you."

Author's Note: I never noticed Mei's little cameo until I re-read the corresponding manga chapter for an idea of how to write this chapter, so I just had to put Mao into in here.

I feel the need to apologize again for the wait, so sorry. Apart from this, there is not much else I can think of to say this time.

I hope you enjoyed it, as always :).

Thank you ^_^.