Chapter 34 –

Even though they did stop to grab breakfast for everyone bar Al, they still made it to the office before most of the team had. In fact, they ran into Havoc just as he was about to enter the office and the shocked look on the 2nd Lieutenant's face at Mustang arriving early was something Ed seriously wished Hughes was there to take a photo of because it was hilarious.

"Colonel?" Havoc questioned once he managed to pull himself together. Mark echoed his human with a questioning cluck as he took in the trio of bonded pairs in front of him. Ed's suspicious cough didn't fool anyone and Mustang shot him a glare. It was then that Havoc realised that Ed had band-aids and bandages littering whatever skin Havoc could see. "Scar gave you a proper fight this time, huh, Chief?" Havoc asked and Ed grimaced.

"Well, he wasn't the only one to try," Ed told him. His crypticish answer had Havoc raise an eyebrow but the lieutenant had obviously caught onto the fact that Ed wasn't going to talk about it any further in public.

"Looks like you were patched up by someone," Havoc observed. "Al's handiwork?"

"Well I wasn't gonna go to the hospital with the extremely minor injuries I have," Ed grumbled, throwing a glare Al's way. To anyone else, it would seem like Ed was using the opportunity to make a point or further an argument with his brother who was notorious for fussing over him. To Havoc, however, he knew he was meant to hear what Ed didn't say; he hadn't gone to the hospital and Al hadn't been the one to administer first aid.

"I still think you should've gone for a check-up, Brother. What if Scar had caused internal bleeding?" Al said, continuing the façade.

"Well since I woke up this morning, safe bet is that I don't have internal bleeding so all your fretting is just wasted energy," Ed said, flapping a hand dismissively.

"If you boys could stop blocking the way into the office and finish your arguing inside, that would be wonderful," a new but familiar voice said from inside the office. The four humans and their Animals all looked up and saw Hawkeye and Soren looking at them flatly from the other side of the now open door. Her eyes moved to look at Mustang. "I must say, Colonel, that it's certainly a pleasant surprise to see you at the office so early. Dare I hope that this becomes a habit?" Hawkeye asked as Soren ruffled his feathers and hooted softly at Ed.

"I'm fine," Ed assured him through the bond, giving the owl a smile.

"Let's do as Hawkeye suggested and get ourselves inside. I'm sure the other officers and soldiers would appreciate us not cluttering the corridor," Mustang said. Ed wasn't the only one to notice that he hadn't actually answered Hawkeye's question about making early mornings a habit.

They all filed into the inner office once Hawkeye and Soren stepped aside to let them in. "I hope your injuries are as minor as you claim they are, Edward," Hawkeye said as she shut the door and strode back to her desk.

"They really are. The worst injury I copped was a sprained wrist," Ed told her.

"And the bruising on your neck?" Hawkeye asked, raising a pointed eye at him.

Havoc's attention was immediately on Ed, who was internally cursing Hawkeye's sharp eyes. "Nothing major. It's only bruising. No internal damage," Ed told her, glancing at Havoc as he spoke.

"It certainly hasn't prevented him from being his usual, vocally stubborn self," Mustang piped up, smirking when Ed glared at him.

"Morning! Oh – good morning, Colonel Mustang," Fuery said as he stumbled to a stop upon opening the inner office door and spotting the colonel. He snapped a salute that Mustang waved him out of just as he realised who else was in the room. Kara sung a low, happy tune upon seeing the two brothers and their Animals. "Hey, Elrics. How come you guys are here so early? I didn't realise you were gonna be sent on a mission, Ed," Fuery said as Kara settled on her perch and trilled a hello to everyone else.

"Hey, Fuery," Ed said. "I'm not here to be sent on a mission," he told him. As Ed expected, Fuery frowned in confusion but what Ed didn't expect was both Hawkeye and Havoc to have slightly confused looks as well.

"Fullmetal will explain why he's here later. After the rest of the team have arrived," Mustang said before Ed could say anything.

Hawkeye nodded once, her face clearing of any lasting confusion, though Ed saw it lingering in her eyes. "Very well," Hawkeye said. "I'm sure that in the meantime you'll want to catch up on any paperwork you missed yesterday, sir." Her tone of voice left no room for argument, not that Mustang was inclined to do so.

"I'll be in my office than. Let me know when everyone's here. I need to speak to you all," Mustang instructed. Hawkeye's confused expression flickered over her face but she quickly wiped it away and nodded.

"Of course, sir," she said with a crisp salute that, as he'd done moments ago with Fuery, Mustang waved her out of.

With that and a nod of his own, Mustang and Nala slipped into his private office, closing the door behind them as they did. "Mustang isn't going to tell them what's about to happen, is he? Bradley warned him not to and I don't think Bradley would take it well if Mustang ignored him. He could do something to the team!" Ed asked Nala through their bond.

"I don't think he's planning on it. I think he's just gonna warn them that something will happen," Nala told him. "I certainly can't feel him thinking about telling them everything beforehand," Nala added and Ed breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good," Ed muttered before disconnecting with Nala.

"All good, Chief?" Havoc asked and Ed nodded.

"Yeah, for now," Ed told him. Havoc seemed to accept that answer as he turned back to his desk to finish getting ready to start his day.

Falman and Rachel were the next to enter the main office and offered a good morning to everyone and queried after Ed's health. Once again, Ed found himself reassuring someone that he wasn't about to drop dead. Ayala's snickers in his head at his struggle to not show his embarrassment and annoyance at being asked about didn't help him. Hawkeye informed Falman that Mustang would be speaking to them as soon as Breda reported for the day. Falman raised a brow slightly but no one offered anymore information than that so he left it.

Ed watched as everyone got themselves organised, waiting for Breda, the days paperwork and Mustang to talk to them, and felt guilt and sadness creep in. After today, it was very likely that the only contact he'd have with everyone – except Mustang and perhaps Hawkeye – would be through their Animals. He couldn't help but feel guilty because none of the team knew what was about to happen and even though he did, he couldn't give them any kind of warning so they could prepare themselves; not without risking the Fuhrer's anger.

The moment Breda walked into the office, Dubuffet in tow, Hawkeye nodded to Soren. Obviously, it had been a signal to pass a message along to Nala because both the lioness and her human walked out of the inner office and joined the rest of the team. As military protocol dictated, the whole team – minus, of course, Ed and Al – saluted him upon seeing him. Mustang was quick to dismiss the salutes as he came to a stop next to Hawkeye's desk.

"Good morning, everyone," Mustang greeted and allowed the greetings echoed back to die down before he continued talking. "At some stage this morning, this office will receive new orders that will affect everyone. While these orders will seem out of the blue for most of you, Fullmetal and I were made aware of them last night," Mustang told them. "In the interest of full disclosure, the only reason Fullmetal even knows about them is because he and Nala were sight-linked together because Nala decided that what I was about to do was extremely reckless and she wanted someone else watching just in case." Mustang snorted derisively. "She wasn't wrong," he murmured before drawing his shoulders back slightly and meeting the confused and concerned looks of his team. A couple of them glanced at Ed, who gave them an apologetic look. "I can't tell you what these orders will be, not without going against orders issued to me by Fuhrer Bradley, but I could not let you all be taken completely by surprise," Mustang told them.

"What did you do that Nala deemed so reckless that there needed to be another witness, sir?" Hawkeye asked once she'd managed to absorbed what Mustang said. The rest of the team looked like they still needed a few moments or a bit more clarification.

"I had an impromptu meeting with Fuhrer Bradley about everything," Mustang told them. To Ed and Al's shock, there was a flash of anger in Hawkeye's eyes and the rest of the team looked dumbfounded, like they couldn't believe Mustang would do something like that. Ed could sympathise with that look since he'd felt the same when Nala had contacted him.

"I see," Hawkeye said, voice a little tense and disapproving. "Thank you for warning us as much as you could, sir. We appreciate it," Hawkeye said with a small nod. "Do you know when we should be expecting these orders to be issued or who should be issuing us these orders?" She asked but Mustang shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no, I don't. Other than that we should expect them sometime this morning, sooner rather than later I should think," Mustang told her before he addressed the rest of the team. "Once we've received these orders, Fullmetal and I will explain everything in more detail. Until then, this office will run as it should," Mustang directed.

"Yes, sir," Hawkeye said immediately. Her agreement seemed to jolt everyone else into remembering that they were at work and that they were receiving orders because they all nodded and echoed Hawkeye.

"I'll return to finishing my work," Mustang said. "Nala will let me know when we receive any visitors and I'll rejoin you all back out here. Do not try and get any further details out of Fullmetal or Alphonse. They're under orders not to tell you anything more," he instructed. Once he'd waved them out of their answering salutes and nodded to Hawkeye when she told him she'd bring in the days paperwork if it arrived first, Mustang headed back into his office, closing the door firmly behind him once Nala was through the doorway.

"Sergeant Fuery?" Hawkeye called, getting the aforementioned man's attention. "Would you mind doing a coffee run for us please? I have a feeling today will be a long one," she said dryly.

"Sure thing, Lieutenant Hawkeye," Fuery said, standing up from his desk. He still looked worried and kept glancing at Ed as though he was debating whether disobeying Mustang's order would be worth it but, to Ed's relief, neither he nor Kara decided to try. "What does everyone want?" Fuery asked instead and Ed loosed a silent breath of relief before he gave Fuery his order.

Fuery and the team's daily paperwork had arrived a good half hour before there came a short, sharp knock at the door. An uneasy feeling made its way through the team but Ed perked up slightly as he realised who he could sense on the other side of the door.

"It's Hughes," he quickly told Hawkeye, who nodded in thanks as everyone else relaxed slightly.

"Enter," the lieutenant called, voice clear and professional as always.

"Good morning, everyone," Hughes greeted as he walked inside with Leo on his heels. Both were quick to find Ed, Al and their Animals and Hughes visibly relaxed upon seeing them.

"Morning, Hughes," Ed greeted, giving the lieutenant-colonel a wave from where he sat. Al mimicked his actions.

"Good morning, Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes. Was there something we can help you with today?" Hawkeye asked before Hughes could respond to Ed.

"No, I just wanted to see that Edward, Alphonse, Ayala and Chester were all alive with my own eyes," Hughes told them. "Leo sensed Ed's plans for Scar and I called Roy to make sure he was aware of what Ed was doing. Roy promised he'd make sure Ed swung by last night to explain himself but he never did. Leo and Lilith both promised he was alive and relatively uninjured but I had to make sure with my own eyes," Hughes explained and Ed felt himself gaping slightly at Hughes' complete transparency. Though he wouldn't have gotten in as much trouble as Mustang or the team for showing 'inappropriate attachment' to Ed, Hughes still had to take care with how much care he showed Ed, lest his actions be taken as favouritism or something just as bad.

"Well, I'm alive," Ed offered with a lopsided smile. "I'm sorry I didn't give Leo any messages to pass on but I didn't even spare a moment to think about letting anyone who wasn't with me know what was gonna go down," Ed told him, voice a mixture of apologetic and chagrined.

"It's alright, Ed. I know that giving us a heads up about your plans is something that you normally don't consider but that doesn't stop us from worrying," Hughes told him. "Also, I'm sure I'm not wrong in thinking Roy didn't even bother passing the message on," Hughes said with glare aimed at the closed inner office door.

"You're not wrong," Ed told him, feeling no guilt about doing so.

"You're such a child," Ayala sighed but Ed ignored her.

"I didn't think I was," Hughes told him. "So what's going on here? All of you are acting like you've received some bad news," Hughes said, looking at the team with concern etched on his face.

"You could say –" Havoc was interrupted by Mustang's inner office door opening. The man and lioness had only just exited the room, Mustang with a small stack of papers in his arms, when a knock sounded on the outer office door.

"Enter," Mustang called after a moment's hesitation.

The door swung open to reveal two soldiers Ed didn't recognise and their Animals. The first soldier – a 1st lieutenant according to his uniform's markings – had a small orange and white striped fish 'swimming' around his head while the second soldier – also a 1st lieutenant – had a Doberman dog standing directly next to his human's legs. "Colonel Mustang?" The first soldier asked and Mustang nodded, causing the two soldiers to salute and Mustang waved them out of the gesture. "I'm here with orders for your team from Fuhrer King Bradley," he told him, twitching the arm that Ed just noticed was holding six sealed envelopes.

"Very well," Mustang said, giving the soldier a nod.

The soldiers handed an envelope out to the person whose name was printed neatly on it. Mustang, to Ed and Nala's surprise, was also handed an envelope. A questioning brow from Mustang was raised at the soldiers when neither left the office. "We're under orders to wait until you've all read your orders so that Fuhrer Bradley can be sure you received them, sir," the soldier explained.

"I see," Mustang said simply.

Mustang nodded to the rest of the team, giving silent permission to open their orders and read. He did the same and for a few moments, all you could hear was the rustling as the envelopes were torn open and pages they contained pulled out to be read. Ed didn't even realise he was holding his breath until Ayala reminded him to breathe. Unsurprisingly, Hawkeye was the first to finish reading her new orders and her eyes widened slightly, the only sign of her surprise. One by one, everyone else finished reading through their new orders and not a single one of them managed to keep their shock off their faces completely.

The last one to finish reading was Mustang. Once he'd read the final words on the papers he held in his hands, he looked up and locked eyes with the waiting soldiers. "You can tell Fuhrer Bradley that his orders were received and understood," Mustang told them, voice flat and emotionless.

"Yes, sir," the soldier said immediately. "Fuhrer Bradley also instructed me to tell you that your team has two days to act on his orders," he told Mustang, though his eyes darted to the still-stunned team. The only one who seemed to hear the lieutenant was Hawkeye, who nodded in acknowledgment.

"Understood," was all Mustang said in response. Realising that no one had anything else to say to them, the two soldiers saluted Mustang.

"With your leave, Colonel Mustang," the first soldier said and Mustang nodded, dismissing them on the spot. The soldiers didn't linger and took their leave almost before Mustang had finished nodding.

The click of the door shutting seemed to be the cue Hughes was waiting for as he turned to Mustang immediately after it sounded. "What the hell was that about, Roy?"

"Do you believe Gracia would refuse to have the team and I over for dinner tonight?" Mustang asked, ignoring Hughes' question.

"I don't see any reason why she would but Leo can ask Lilith now if you'd like," Hughes offered, sounding a little ticked at his question going unanswered. Mustang nodded and Hughes tipped his head to Leo.

There were a few awkward moments where no one said anything as Hughes waited for a response. But finally, one came. "Gracia said that so long as you aren't expecting anything elaborate, you're welcome to join us for dinner," Hughes told them.

"We'll see you tonight. 6:00pm?" Mustang asked and Hughes nodded. "Alright. I'll answer everyone's questions at that time. You never know when someone could be eavesdropping, after all." The subtle reminder of the fact that their office was bugged was the only thing that stopped anyone from protesting the wait for answers.

"We'll see you then," Hughes said. His tone left no room for argument and there was a slight undercurrent of threat that hinted at what would befall the flame alchemist if he didn't turn up. "What are your plans for the rest of the day, boys?" Hughes asked and Ed shrugged a shoulder.

"We'll probably head back to the hotel room. I need a proper shower and Chester needs a bath," Ed gave the leopard's filthy coat a look, "and we'll probably catch up on some sleep. I'm waiting for someone to get back to me," Ed tapped the side of his head to indicate what he meant, "and there's some stuff Al, Ayala, Chester and I have to talk about in private," Ed told Hughes, giving Al a look.

"Gracia won't mind if the two of you turn up earlier than these guys," Hughes told them, jerking his head at the team in general.

"We'll keep that in mind," Ed promised. Both Animals and Al nodded in agreement and Hughes looked satisfied that he'd see them later that day.

"I should get back to work." Hughes didn't sound like he particularly wanted to. In fact, Ed could see him eyeing up the papers the team still clutched in their hands, like he was considering making a swipe for them to get some answers. "I'll see you all tonight."

"Have a good day, Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes," Hawkeye said, offering Maes a salute that had the others mimicking, with the exception of Mustang, Ed and Al, though the two boys offered a wave each.

"You too, Lieutenant Hawkeye, everyone else," Hughes said with a dimmed version of his usual smile. After giving Mustang a significant look, Hughes and Leo left the office, shutting the door firmly behind themselves.

"We're being transferred?" Havoc asked the moment they couldn't hear any footsteps anymore. "Why are we going back east?"

"'East'?" Fuery asked, sounding confused. "My orders are to go west," he said, looking around at everyone else.

"I've been ordered to the Southern Command Centre," Breda told them.

"Fort Briggs," was all Falman said to their enquiring looks.

"Lieutenant?" Havoc asked, looking at Hawkeye.

"When I have finished any outstanding tasks for Colonel Mustang, I am to report to Fuhrer Bradley to begin my new assignment as his personal assistant," Hawkeye told them, voice as emotionless as Mustang's had been when he'd spoken to the two soldiers.

"Damn," Havoc muttered around the cigarette he was busy trying to light up. "So, we're being split up and sent as far apart as possible." Havoc dragged in a lungful of the cigarette toxins and exhaled a cloud of acrid smoke. "What about you, Colonel?"

"My orders are to remain here and continue my normal work. I'll be assigned a new team this afternoon, though they won't be ready to fully come under my command until you've all headed to your new postings," Mustang told them. "As I told Hughes, I'll explain more tonight. Until then, this office is still expected to run as it normally does," Mustang told them.

"Yes, sir!" The five chorused at him and the black-haired alchemist gave a slight nod of his head before he turned to Ed, Al and their Animals.

"I assume you'll be taking your leave now?" Mustang asked and Ed nodded.

"Unless you're planning on assigning us a mission, in which case I'll tell you right now that that would be a dick move," Ed said, aiming to bring some levity to the atmosphere, no matter how small.

Mustang rolled his eyes but Ed heard a couple of half-hearted scoffs of amusement and Al's whispered reprimand so he considered it a success. "No, you aren't being assigned any missions right now," Mustang told him. "Head back to your hotel and get yourselves cleaned up before my offices ends up permanently smelling as bad as the four of you," Mustang ordered, a small glint of humour in his eyes.

It was Ed's turn to roll his eyes, even as he moved with his brother and Animals towards the door. "Can't be any worse than the constant stench of your uselessness and burnt papers," Ed quipped back. "See you guys tonight," Ed said with a small wave and smile that he expected showed more of what he felt about the orders than he intended to show.

"See ya, Chief," Havoc called. "Bye, Al and co."

"Bye, guys," Fuery and Breda said in unison while Falman gave a nod.

"Stay out of trouble, boys," Hawkeye instructed and Ed gave her the best cheeky grin he could muster.

"No promises, Miss Riza," Ed told her jovially.

"Ayala and I will do our best to keep him and Chester out of fights for the rest of the day," Al promised, ignoring Ed's scowl and muttering of betrayal.

"We'd appreciate it, Alphonse," Hawkeye said seriously. "Have a good afternoon."

With a final goodbye to everyone, the four Elrics managed to leave the office with only a minor argument breaking out between the brothers as Ed tried to argue about what would necessitate an appropriate reason for him to fight someone. Mustang waited until the door had shut before promising Hawkeye that he would have the paperwork needed done that day on her desk by the end of the working day before he and Nala slipped back into his office.

"What a clusterfuck," Havoc said, leaning back against his chair.

"You're starting to sound like Ed," Breda observed and Havoc grinned.

"That's not really a bad thing," he chuckled before sobering up. "I wonder what happened that caused the Fuhrer to split the team up," Havoc mused.

"We'll find out tonight," Hawkeye interrupted before anyone else could answer. "I know that this has taken all of us by surprise and that you all have questions you'd like answers too but we won't get them right now and speculating about it will accomplish nothing. Colonel Mustang has promised answers tonight so until then, I suggest we go about the day as though nothing has changed as best we can," Hawkeye instructed.

"Yes, Lieutenant," came the four agreeing voices.

With the agreements came the sound of those in the office resuming their work for the day. Hawkeye allowed herself a moment to calm herself down internally so that the rapidly growing emotions wouldn't overcome her. She felt Soren press against her mind, doing the best he could to offer her as support and comfort as he could silently give and she pressed back gratefully. The fear she felt for not only herself but everyone else – especially Mustang who would soon find himself without the support from his team that Hawkeye knew he relied on – prickled uncomfortably under her skin.

Hawkeye drew in a quiet, deep breath and held it for a few moments before exhaling it in a controlled, silent manner in an effort to calm herself without drawing attention to herself. She repeated this action once more before the hot coil of bundled emotions in her gut loosened enough for he to be certain she could continue with her work unimpeded by the shock and resulting emotions. A glance up at her fellow teammates showed that they were working as diligently as they always did, though there was less chatter than Hawkeye was used too. Pressing her own pen to her paperwork, Hawkeye found herself hoping that the low murmuring and whispers would fill the room shortly.

The walk back to their hotel room was uneventful. Several people who were on the street gave Al and Chester confused or judgmental looks as they walked through the streets with muck from the previous day/night's events. Ed felt slightly guilty as he hadn't spared a thought that morning to cleaning Al or Chester up but Chester quickly pointed out that Al had been just as capable at getting them cleaned up but he hadn't so Ed wasn't allowed to feel bad about not thinking of it either.

The lady manning the front desk of the hotel merely glanced at them disapprovingly as they tracked mud and who-knew-what-else through the lobby. Ed quirked his lips apologetically but they didn't stop to talk to her. She didn't look like she was expecting them to as she turned back to the couple who were standing at the counter. Thankfully, the elevator doors opened to reveal it was empty so the four of them wouldn't have to deal with anyone during the ride up.

"What do you wanna do now, Brother?" Al asked once they were in their room.

Ed sighed. "I'll help you get cleaned up first if you want," Ed said. "After that, I'll give Chester a bath before I go for another one. I didn't clean out my automail properly at Knox's," Ed admitted.

"You know Winry will murder you if she ever found that out," Al scolded.

"Well, I didn't know if Knox was one of those people who watches how much water they use or not and I'd rather get on Winry's bad side than Knox's since he's currently in charge of healing two allies," Ed said defensively. "Besides, Winry said that this cold weather set isn't as prone to rust as my usual set so I figured it could handle being dirty for a couple hours longer."

Al made a noise that told Ed that he wanted to argue more but had decided against it. "Okay, Ed," Al finally said. "I can get myself cleaned up so why don't you give Ches a bath?" Al suggested.

"You sure?" Ed asked and Al nodded.

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty good at using our cleaning arrays on myself," Al assured him.

"Alright," Ed relented before looking at Chester. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up," Ed said.

"I really don't think I need one. I can clean myself up just fine," Chester said and Ed raised a brow.

"You really wanna give yourself a tongue bath knowing where you've been and what you're covered in?" Ed asked incredulously. Chester grimaced in disgust and Ed nodded. "That's what I thought," he said. "Nice try but get in the bathroom," Ed instructed, pushing the bathroom door open.

"I dislike you very much right now," Chester grumbled as he walked towards the bathroom as though it held torture equipment.

"You love me and you know it," Ed told him as Al tried to cover his chuckles over his Animal's dramatics up. Chester decided not to bother with a reply as he entered the bathroom.

"See? Much quicker and more pleasant than a tongue bath," Ed said as he finished drying Chester off.

"Yeah, you keep on believing that," Chester grumbled as Ed rubbed the towel vigorously against his hair. Ed rolled his eyes at the sulking leopard as he continued drying him off. Finally, Ed decided he was as dry as he was gonna get without Ed using another towel or an array but the Animals had long since banned both of them doing so unless there was no other choice when they realised the array made the Animals coats poof up comically.

"All done," Ed said, tossing the damp towel into a random corner. "You can go see how Al did with the cleaning arrays," Ed told him, opening the door up so Chester could go do just that.

"Thanks, Ed," Chester said, rubbing affectionately against Ed's leg as he walked past him. The slightly damp patch he left in his wake was purely accidental.

"You're welcome," Ed said before smirking. "Even if you act like a baby when it comes to a bath." Ed shut the door before Chester could completely register what he'd just said.

"Coward," Chester grumbled as Ed stripped out of his jackets. Ed likely would've been offended if he couldn't feel the mirth the leopard's comment was tainted with.

Ed shook his head as he finished getting undressed, unwrapping his wrist, and turning the shower on so it was warm before he got in it. A few seconds later, Ed got in the shower and felt himself almost melt for the second time that day as the hot water worked its magic. Unlike at Knox's, Ed took his time with this shower. He paid extremely close attention to his automail as he scrubbed out the gunk from every crevice. Ed was a little surprised at how little there was still in the metal limbs. The water that pooled momentarily at his feet before it went down the drain was barely brown as he cleaned the limbs. Once the water ran completely clear, Ed quickly shampooed his hair and washed the rest of himself before he turned off the taps and stepped out of the shower.

He pulled on some clean boxers once he'd dried himself off. Grabbing a fresh towel, Ed left the steamy bathroom and joined everyone back in the small lounge room so he could talk as he dried his automail limbs properly. "How'd you go?" He asked Al as he sat down and got to work. He did give his brother's armour a once-over and noted that it was certainly cleaner than before.

"Good," Al told him. "Between Ayala and Chester, I managed to get everything on the outside of my armour clean completely. I'm fairly certain I got anything that managed to get on the inside as well," he said.

"Awesome." Ed flashed him a smile. "Well I haven't heard from Calix since I spoke to him this morning so I'm gonna assume Hohenheim either found something more interesting to occupy himself with or he's as stumped as we are about how Father turned off our alchemy," Ed reported.

"Or he's got a theory and is trying to prove it before he has Calix tell you anything," Al suggested rather pointedly and Ed conceded the point with a slight nod.

"Or that," he agreed. Silence reigned for a couple of moments as Ed worked on his limbs. "How are you handling everything?" Ed asked unexpectedly.

"What do you mean?" Al asked and Ed sighed.

"What happened with Ling, the news about the team, that kind of thing. How are you handling all of that?" Ed elaborated.

"Oh," Al stuttered slightly. "I don't think I've really processed all of what happened yet. I'm half-expecting Ling to pop up with no warning to try and con you into buying him some food," Al admitted and Ed sighed in relief slightly. He could intimately understand that as he felt the exact same way. "Have you spoken to Laika since we left?" Al asked.

Ed shook his head. "No. He's still asleep," Ed told him, not bothering to keep the worry out of his voice. While he didn't know Laika as well as he knew most the other Animals he was bonded too, he couldn't help but remember Lan Fan's comment about having never seen Laika so subdued before.

As if he could sense his older brother's thoughts, Al piped up. "I'm sure he's fine. What happened to Ling was probably just a massive shock in every way for Laika. Like what we went through was for Ayala and Chester. They were unconscious for quite a while after that," Al said. Ed gave him a grateful smile as he continued drying out his arm.

"Yeah, that's true," Ed said. "Hopefully we can get Ling back to himself before too long though. I have a feeling that Laika will suffer more the longer Greed is in control," Ed revealed. Now that he was finished with his limbs, he took up the bandages Knox had used on his wrist and wrapped it back up.

"I hope you're wrong but I think the sooner we get Greed out of Ling, the better," Al said.

"We agree. That kind of impact to and suffocation of the bond can't be good for either Ling or Laika," Ayala told Ed, looking at him from where she was laying on the kitchen floor. Chester was balanced on the back of the couch that Al was sitting on.

Ed stifled a yawn behind his hand, trying to pass it off as just him trying to wipe something away but Al saw the action. "You should get some sleep, Brother. It's been a long 24hours and you need to get some rest before tonight," Al told him.

"I'm fine," Ed grumbled. "You know I can go longer without sleep."

"Yes but you shouldn't," Al said. "You know that you should get the sleep while you can. What if you get assigned a mission tomorrow and don't end up getting any sleep for days?" Al pointed out and Ed rolled his eyes only to yawn mid-way through the action. He glared at the two Animals as their sniggers filled his head.

"I should wait until Calix gets back to me," Ed argued but Al shook his head.

"You know they might not contact you for days if dad's anything like you are when it comes to proving a theory," Al argued back.

Ed scowled at him but couldn't argue back because he knew his brother was right. Fighting back another yawn, Ed sighed and got to his feet. "Fine but someone had better wake me by 5 so we aren't late to the Hughes'," Ed instructed.

"Oh, someone definitely will," Chester promised, a slightly evil tone in his voice.

"Somebody other than Ches better wake me up," Ed told them, causing Chester to pout and Al to laugh.

"I'll wake you," Al promised.

"Alright," Ed said before he gathered up the towels he'd used to dry his automail off with. After tossing them in the bathroom and pulling on a tank top, Ed headed for the bed he and Ayala had claimed as their own.

Once Ed had gotten himself in bed and pulled the covers up around himself, Ayala trotted out of the kitchen and joined him on the bed. As she was making herself comfortable, Alphonse hauled himself up and made his way into the bedroom. He switched off the main light and drew the heavy curtains, letting the room fall as dark as could make it. The only light left on in the hotel room was the one from the bathroom since it was the only one that Al could read by that wouldn't shine into the bedroom and annoy Ed.

"Thanks, little brother," Ed said from where he was snuggled under the sheets.

"Get some sleep, Ed," Al said in response before he headed back into the lounge room as quietly as he could.

Scooping up the book he was currently reading, Al settled himself against the couch Ed had sat himself on to dry off his automail. Chester didn't move from his perch, far too comfortable where he was, but he did reposition himself slightly so he could keep Al better in his sights. From the leopard's position, he could see Al's helmet and shoulders and, if he shifted his head slightly, he could see the lump on the bed that was made up of Ed and Ayala's bodies. Satisfied that nothing would happen in the next few hours to disturb either boy, Chester closed his own eyes and let himself fall into a light sleep.

"Ed, it's time to get up." Ed blinked his eyes open blearily and found himself looking up at Ayala's face. For a few moments – longer than Ed would ever admit – he stared up at her in confusion because the voice that woke him up most definitely didn't belong to Ayala. "Are you up yet?" the voice called again and that was when Ed's brain managed to figure that Al had been calling to him from the kitchen.

"Yeah, gimme a sec," Ed called back, voice rough with lingering sleep.

"Is your brain up and running yet?" Ayala teased, grinning at him as he shifted into a sitting position.

"Shut up," Ed grumbled at her, shoving at her face lightly to push her out of his way so he could get out of bed.

"Rude," she muttered in his head as he headed to the bathroom to relieve himself. He didn't respond in anyway except to poke his tongue out at his wolf.

Once he was finished in the bathroom, Ed walked out to find that Ayala had relocated to the couch Chester was on and a steaming cup of coffee placed on the coffee table. "You are my favourite brother," Ed told Al, who had taken a seat on the unoccupied couch, as he picked up the coffee and took a gulp, ignoring how hot it was.

"I'm your only brother," Al deadpanned as Ed sat next to Ayala and gave Chester a pat.

"What time is it?" Ed asked even as he twisted in his seat to try and find the clock.

"Just after 5, Ed. We have plenty of time," Al assured him.

"Once I've finished my coffee and gotten dressed, we might as well head over to Hughes'," Ed said. "He did say we could turn up early if we wanted too."

"Alright, Brother," Al agreed with a slight nod. "How did you sleep?" Al asked.

"Yeah, alright," Ed told him, taking another sip of coffee. "Probably won't sleep tonight but I was thinking," Ed said before Al could protest, "that we should go to the Second Branch Library and start reading everything we can on alkahestry," Ed suggested.

"Why?" Al asked curiously.

"Because Mei and Scar were able to use their alchemy while we couldn't," Ed reminded him. "While we don't actually know what the hell kind of alchemy Scar is using, we do know that Mei was using alkahestry. If we research it, maybe speak to the little princess when she's awake, we might be able to figure out a way to use it or incorporate it somehow into our alchemy so that Father's trick might not work on us again," Ed explained.

"It's a good idea but I don't think we should let our hopes get too high," Al said. "I have a feeling alkahestry would be difficult for us to learn."

"How so? We are geniuses," Ed said, looking curious and a little insulted.

"Shut up and let him explain," Chester said, flicking his tail to swat Ed lightly on the cheek. Ed swiped his tail away, scowling as he did so but the leopard just grinned as he curled his tail over his hips.

"Because of what Ling told us about alkahestry when we first met him in Rush Valley, remember?" Al said. "He told us that alkahestrists use it primarily for healing. Anything that's used for healing must take months, even years, to learn until you're at the point where you're confident enough to be able to use it on someone. We don't even know when this plan of Father's will happen! It could start tomorrow for all we know," Al pointed out. "All I'm saying is that I know what you're like when you get an idea like this and I don't want you to set all your hopes on this idea when we might not even have the time to talk to Mei," Al said.

"I know, Al, but I still think it might be a good idea and who knows? Maybe alkahestry combined with alchemy may give us a lead or an actual way to achieve our goal," Ed told him.

"I just wanted to make sure," Al said, voice sounding a little smaller than usual. "But I do think it's a good idea. Alkahestry might be able to help us out and it certainly wouldn't be a stupid idea to learn the healing side of it. Not without how often you get injured," Al said.

"I don't get hurt that often!" Ed protested. Three sets of eyes immediately looked at with judgmental disbelief. "I don't get hurt that badly that often," Ed corrected with a sullen look.

"That's better," Ayala said with a small laugh.

"Rude," Ed muttered, draining the last of his coffee. "Right. So I'll go get dressed then we'll head over to the Hughes' then the Second Branch Library and find out everything we can on alkahestry," Ed said, getting to his feet.

"Sounds like a plan," Al said, watching Ed head into the kitchen to rinse out his cup. "It'll be good to have a home-cooked meal with everyone again. Especially since… you know," Al trailed off awkwardly.

"Especially since we don't know when the next time will happen, if it ever does?" Ed finished, striding towards the bedroom, raising a brow at his younger brother.

"Yeah, that," Al agreed, voice saddened.

"It will be nice," Ed agreed, humming slightly. "However, there might be another silver lining to the team being split up like this other than the ones Mustang told us this morning and if I've thought of it, you can bet money that Mustang has," Ed said as he pulled on a clean pair of pants.

"What silver lining have you found that makes our friends being sent as far away as possible not a bad thing?" Al asked disbelievingly.

"I'd like to know that as well," Chester said, looking perplexed at the idea of anything good coming from this situation.

"Well, think about it," Ed said, muffled for the seconds it took for him to slip off his sleep shirt and put a clean top on. "They'll be able to make new contacts there and maybe even get some soldiers ready to fight on our side. Havoc especially," Ed told them, pulling on his black jacket. "The whole team has a rapport in East City and Mustang said we can trust Grumman not to be in on this whole plot so he might be able to give us an entire Command Centre's worth of troops, if we need them," Ed pointed out.

"I suppose so but that's not overly comforting and I don't think the team will think so either," Al told him glumly.

"Probably not but it's the only slightly positive thing I can come up with to make this shitshow seem better," Ed told him, tone a little waspish.

"There's no need to get so defensive, Ed," Al sighed. "I'm not attacking you or anything," Al muttered.

Ed felt his anger bleed out and sighed. "Sorry, Al. I shouldn't have snapped at you," he said, looking down at the floor.

"No, you shouldn't have but we know you didn't mean it," Chester told him.

"Ches is right. You're forgiven," Al told him. "Besides, it's not like we're not used to your temper by now," Al teased, making Ed roll his eyes even as he started to grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Ed grumbled. "If you've finished teasing me, we should start heading to the Hughes' now," Ed said, gesturing to the door.

"Good idea. We can tease you while we walk," Chester said, sounding far happier about that realisation than Ed thought he should've.

"You're awful," Ed told him, causing the leopard to chuckle.

"Be nice, you two, and let's leave," Al said, interrupting anything Chester would've said back.

Calling a temporary truce, Ed and Chester followed Al and Ayala out of the hotel room. Ed swiped the key on his way out, stuffing it in his pocket so that they'd be able to get back inside that night if they needed to before going to the library without resorting to using alchemy to unlock the door since the hotel frowned upon people doing that. The four of them got in the elevator and walked into the lobby once the elevator let them out. An employee they didn't know manned the front desk and watched them as they left, likely so he'd be able to recognise them when they returned to the hotel as guests so he wouldn't stop them to ask questions about why they were there.

They left the hotel and headed along the route that would take them to the Hughes', making their way through the people who were on the street returning home or running errands. Unlike the night they'd headed to Maes' when Ed had gotten back from Central, they didn't run into Nala or Mustang on their way. Whether it was because they were still on base or had decided to make sure they turned up on the agreed upon time rather than earlier like Ed, Al and their Animals were, Ed didn't know. He was a little sad that they didn't run into the pair before shaking his head and reminded himself that he only cared because it meant no Nala.

The walk was completely uneventful. Neither Animal sensed anyone following them – homunculous, Animal or human – and aside from a couple of people who recognised Ed as a State Alchemist and asked for his help in fixing some broken trinkets, the group were left alone. They discussed mainly what their plans were for after dinner and Al managed to talk Ed into leaving Mei alone for a couple of days so she would have a chance to heal before being interrogated by Ed about alkahestry. Ed glanced at Chester, silently seeking confirmation about his suspicions concerning Al's feelings concerning the little Xingese princess but the leopard wouldn't play ball.

The group arrived at the Hughes' residence fifteen minutes before the agreed upon time. They didn't have to announce their presence because the moment they'd shut the front gate they'd stepped through, Elysia came racing from the house. "Big brothers Ed and Al! Ayala! Chester!" She squealed as she threw herself at the closest Elric, who just so happened to be Chester and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Despite the fact that it was generally considered rude to touch someone's Animal without the Animal's permission, Elysia was still young enough to get away with it with only a gentle reprimand. However, both Ayala and Chester had told Ed and Al within a couple of weeks of meeting the Hughes' that they would allow hugs from the youngest Hughes. Once Elysia had finished giving Chester a hug, she moved to Ayala, then Al and finally Ed, who had been the furthest from the front of the house as he'd been the one to shut the gate.

"How have you been, El?" Ed asked as he scooped the little girl up.

"Good. Mummy and daddy took me to some schools yesterday," Elysia told him as they headed up the short front path.

"That sounds like it was fun," Al said and Elysia nodded enthusiastically.

"It was! We went to three different schools to see which one I'll get to go to next year," Elysia said.

"Which one did you like best, El?" Ed asked while Al called out a greeting to Gracia and Lilith.

"I like the second one we visited. That one was East-Central Elementary and it had the best art room!" Elysia told them. "There was so much room for sports and the teachers we met were all really nice."

"That's great, El," Ed said, giving her a grin as they entered the kitchen. "Hey, Miss Gracia," Ed greeted as soon as he spotted her.

"Hello boys, Chester and Ayala," Gracia said, giving them all a smile as she turned to face them. "How have you all been since we last saw you?" She asked as she continued working on the dinner she was cooking.

"Yeah, alright," Ed told her, placing Elysia on the floor. "Got in a couple of scrapes but we're fine," he assured her when she looked up in worry.

"We heard about your fight with Scar," Gracia said, glancing at him as Elysia chattered away to Chester and Ayala. "Lilith and Leo sensed your plan around lunch-time and told us," Gracia revealed just as her fox wandered into the room to see everyone.

"Hey, Lilith," Ed said to the fox. "I was wondering how Mustang figured out what I was up to. I thought I'd blocked all the Animals except for Ayala and Chester so they wouldn't know and warn everyone," Ed said, looking at the fox curiously.

"You accidentally took the block down for a few moments around lunch time. I can't speak for all the Animals you're bonded to but Leo and I could sense what you were doing," Lilith told him.

"Must've been after we spoke to Fu and got a status report," Ayala suggested, remembering when Ed had let his guard down as he'd silently hoped that Scar would get a move on.

"Yeah, I think so too," Ed said as he thought it through. "Do you need any help, Miss Gracia?" Ed asked, moving the conversation over to a new subject.

"If you wouldn't mind," Gracia said, giving him a grateful smile. "I love Maes dearly but sometimes I question how much when he springs something like this on me with only a few hours notice and no time for me to go shopping," Gracia told him with a small sigh but her lips were quirked upwards, a sure sign that she was only joking.

"I'm happy to help out," Ed said. "It is a little bit my fault they're all coming over," he told her, "so I don't mind."

"How's it your fault?" Gracia asked.

"Mummy, is big brother Ed going to help you with dinner?" Elysia asked, accidentally interrupting Gracia and Ed's conversation.

"Yes, he is. Why do you ask?" Gracia answered.

"Can I show big brother Al and Chester my new doll?" She asked, big green eyes widened in a pleading expression that had Gracia chuckling.

"Of course you can, darl," Gracia told her. "I want you both washed up and ready for dinner in no more than 20 minutes, got it?" Elysia nodded, curls bouncing vigorously with how enthusiastic she was.

"I'll make sure we do, Miss Gracia," Al promised before letting Elysia lead him away from the kitchen. A look from Al's glowing eyes had Chester following with a huff only Ed and Al could hear, leaving Ed and Ayala alone in the kitchen with Gracia and Lilith until the fox decided she preferred the armchair Gracia usually occupied in the lounge room.

"Where do you want me?" Ed asked as he removed his gloves and stuffed them into a pocket.

"If you could start with prepping the salad, I'll get started on tenderising the chicken," Gracia said.

"Chicken schnitzel?" Ed asked, recognising the line up of ingredients.

"Yep," Gracia confirmed, pulling out her meat tenderising hammer.

"Awesome," Ed commented as he took up the knife Gracia set out for him.

The kitchen was soon filled with the noise of Ed chopping up whatever salad-stuff Gracia had available while Gracia got to work on the chicken. This continued for a few minutes; them working in tandem while Ayala lay at Ed's feet, keeping herself out of the way but close enough to not miss any potential offerings Ed might slip her. "You didn't answer my question before," Gracia said after a couple of minutes. "How is the team coming over tonight with barely any warning a little bit your fault?" Gracia asked.

Ed sighed. "The fight with Scar wasn't the only one Al, the Animals and I got into yesterday," Ed told her. "I couldn't tell the team about it this morning because the office is bugged. That's not the only reason they're coming over but it is part of the reason they're coming here," Ed said.

"Are you alright?" Gracia asked, looking concerned all over again. "I'm guessing that second fight wasn't because you were trying to apprehend a suspect for a mission," Gracia said a little dryly.

"You'd be right but I am perfectly fine," Ed told her, giving her a smile. "A little bruised and pretty sore but nothing that won't heal in a couple of days."

"Does that include your wrist?" Gracia asked, giving his flesh wrist a significant look.

Ed wasn't overly surprised she'd spotted the bandages peeking out from under his jacket sleeves as he cut the vegetables up for the salad. "Maybe a week until it's healed completely. The doc I saw told me it was a severe sprain," Ed admitted.

"I'm a little surprised those are the worst injuries you've suffered," Gracia said with a small sigh. "I'm glad you are alright though and that they weren't worse." She gave him a smile that Ed returned.

"Me too. Can't do what I need to if I'm laid up in the hospital," Ed told her.

"As long as doing what you need to won't end up with me bringing Elysia to the hospital to visit you," Gracia said, a low warning in her voice.

"I can't promise it won't but I will promise to try my hardest to not to," Ed told her. "I don't like being stuck in hospital, remember?" He said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, we know. I think the whole of Amestris has heard your brother lecture you about leaving against your doctor's medical advice more than once," Gracia teased, causing Ed to huff out some amused laughter.

"She's not wrong," Ayala chimed in. "Also, the team's nearly here, which you would've known yourself if you'd paid any attention to your bond with Nala or the others," Ayala told him a little snippishly, causing Ed to feel a little sheepish as he realised she was right and that he could sense Mark, Nala and the other Animals.

"The team'll be here in a minute," Ed told Gracia, who had been watching him curiously.

She glanced up at the clock. "They'll be right on time," she said. "Can you tell if Leo's with them?" Gracia asked and Ed concentrated for a moment.

"No, he seems to be further behind them," he finally said. "I think he and Nala are walking together," Ed told her.

"I'm sure Roy is enjoying that immensely," Gracia said with an amused tone.

"Oh, most likely," Ed laughed. "I'll be back in a few seconds," Ed told her, placing his knife on the bench.

"Gonna surprise them by opening the door before they knock?" Gracia asked knowingly. Ed's answer was a massive grin. "Go on," Gracia said with a laugh.

Ed didn't hesitate as he headed for the door. A quick check with the Animals who weren't in the house told him that they were just pulling up and that Fuery was currently in the lead to be the first at the door. Kara giggled as she counted down for Ed and on her word, Ed pulled the door open to find Fuery with his fist raised and a shocked look on his face.

"Evening, guys," Ed said nonchalantly as Fuery overcame his shock.

"Hey, Ed. Good timing," Fuery said.

"Not really," Ed told him, grinning at Kara who warbled a happy noise back. Fuery's eye-roll when he'd put two and two together made Ed laugh as he stepped aside to let everyone.

"How are you now, Chief?" Havoc asked as he and Mark brought up the rear. Hawkeye and Soren looked up at Havoc's question.

"Yeah, fine," Ed told him. "Got some sleep and everything."

"Well, that's good. Your throat's not giving you any problems?" Havoc asked, glancing at Ed's neck.

"It doesn't hurt at all," Ed swore. Both Havoc and Hawkeye relaxed slightly. "Where's Hughes and Mustang?" Ed asked once he checked the two men and their Animals definitely weren't with the group.

"They elected to walk from the base," Hawkeye said, a slight scowl on her face and Ed knew that they'd declined Hawkeye's offer to escort them despite what Mustang had done the previous night. "They shouldn't be too much longer," she told him.

"Okay. I'm helping Miss Gracia with dinner at the moment but Al and Elysia are around here somewhere," Ed told them as he headed back into the kitchen.

"Hello, everyone," Gracia greeted, wiping her hands on her apron as she stepped out the kitchen.

Sensing what his human was about to do, Soren left Hawkeye's shoulder and settled on a startled Ed. "Hello, Gracia," Hawkeye greeted, giving the other woman a quick hug. "Sorry about the lack of warning you received," she apologised as she took a step back.

"That's alright, Riza. It didn't cause me any major trouble though Maes will be getting a talking to once more about inviting everyone over on a whim," Gracia told her, giving everyone a gentle smile.

"Still, thanks for having us over tonight," Hawkeye said. "There were some unexpected orders issued from Fuhrer Bradley this morning. Colonel Mustang has promised to explain the circumstances behind these orders," she explained as she straightened so Soren could settle back on her shoulder.

"What orders?" Gracia asked curiously before she realised she'd neglected something. "Oh! Do any of you want a drink?" She asked, looking around to everyone else.

"No, thank you," Falman replied, echoed by the others.

"Alright. You're welcome to go wait in the lounge room if you'd like. Dinner won't be too long," Gracia told the men before turning back to Hawkeye. "What orders?" Gracia repeated.

Hawkeye glanced at the others before answering. "The team, for the most part, are being split up and shipped to our sister cities to work under other officers. Colonel Mustang and Edward will be staying in Central and Edward will remain under the colonel's command but I have been ordered to start in my new position as the Fuhrer's personal secretary the day after tomorrow," Hawkeye informed her, keeping her voice level and emotionless.

Gracia looked stunned. "You've all been ordered away from Central?" Gracia asked, looking at the men who all now had varying degrees of morose expressions on their faces.

"Yes," Havoc confirmed when no one else seemed willing to say the word. "I'm to report to East City."

"Fort Briggs," Falman told Gracia.

"West City," Fuery murmured, barely loud enough to hear and Kara chirped sadly as she pecked his cheek lightly.

"South City for me," Breda grunted.

Gracia looked shaken. "Why on earth would they want to split you guys up?" She asked.

"We don't know but, as I said, Colonel Mustang has promised answers, hence why we are here tonight," Hawkeye said. "Our office is now bugged for both audio and visual and I believe Colonel Mustang decided that your home was the best place for us to give us those answers. After all, it's not unusual for us to gather in your home for dinner and with the Animals and security measures Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes, Colonel Mustang and Edward have put in place, no one and no homunculous could get close enough to eavesdrop," Hawkeye explained.

"That makes sense," Gracia said, humming slightly. "I suppose I can give Maes some slack for the lack of warning," Gracia said, trying her best for a little bit of humour. It succeeded slightly as some of the team gave her a small, amused smile. Gracia inhaled a breath deeply through her nose in an attempt to calm herself. "Well, I'm sure Maes and Roy won't be long and neither will dinner. I just have a couple of things left to do in the kitchen. Make yourselves at home," Gracia said, giving them a smile before turning to go back to the kitchen.

"Do you need help, Miss Gracia?" Ed asked, taking a step forward, ready to follow her if need be.

"No, Ed, I'll be alright," Gracia assured him. "You can stay out here if you'd like."

"Alright," Ed said, pausing in his movements. "But if you want any help," Ed trailed off but the offer was understood.

"I'll let you know," she said, giving him a gentle smile before she disappeared into kitchen. Ed felt something brush against his leg and looked down to see Lilith disappearing into the kitchen after her human.

"Hey, guys." Al's voice sounded from the bottom of the stairway that led to the second story of the house. "Elysia thought she heard voices," he said as he, Chester and Elysia made their way into the lounge room the team had been heading into.

"Hello, Alphonse," Hawkeye greeted. "Hello, Elysia. How have you been?" The sharpshooter gave the young girl a smile as the almost 6-year-old ran to them with a big grin on her face.

"Hi, Miss Riza! I'm good! Mummy and daddy took me to some schools yesterday to see which one would be the best for me," Elysia told her as she gave her a hug.

"That's exciting," Hawkeye said, giving her another smile.

"So you're heading to school soon?" Havoc asked as Elysia made sure she gave everyone a hug.

"Next year," Elysia confirmed with a bright grin. "What did you guys do today? Big brother Al told me that he and Ed visited you this morning but he didn't get a mission," Elysia said, having finished hugging everyone.

"We just went about doing what we normally do today. We did receive some news this morning but your father and uncle want to talk about that with you," Hawkeye told her.

"So, I have to wait?" Elysia pouted, causing a couple of chuckles.

"I'm sure you'll survive, El," Ed teased, poking the girl's shoulder. "'Sides, they shouldn't be too long before they're here anyways," Ed told her.

"Alright," Elysia huffed, relenting to the fact that she'd just have to wait.

"Why don't you tell the team about the schools you visited?" Al suggested and Elysia immediately brightened.

"Okay!" She agreed enthusiastically.

It took another ten minutes for Mustang, Nala, Leo and Hughes to walk in through the door. They did so just as Elysia was finishing up telling the team about the second school – her favourite of the three – and she was the first to her feet when everyone who had normal human hearing registered the sound of the doorknob rattling as someone started turning it. If it hadn't been for the fact that Ed could sense the two Animals standing on the other side of it, he would've stopped the girl on her journey to greet who was at the door.

"Daddy! Uncle Roy!" Elysia squealed as she got to the door and started pulling it open, despite the fact that Maes was already pushing it open.

"There's my beautiful little angel!" Maes grinned as he swept Elysia up into his arms and gave her a hug, leaving Nala, Leo and Mustang to walk around them and close the door. "Were you good for your mum today?"

"Yes!" Elysia told him, nodding to emphasise her answer.

"She was," Gracia confirmed as she stepped out of the kitchen. "The two of you are late," she reprimanded as Elysia squirmed her way out of Hughes' arms so she could say hello to the fox, lioness and second human.

"Sorry, dear," Hughes apologised immediately. "The walk took a little longer than expected."

"What he means to say is that we ran into Sergeant Brosh on our way here and Hughes decided to show him his picture collection," Mustang said, glaring at Hughes as he held Elysia in his arms while he walked past the other man to give Gracia a kiss on the cheek, placing Elysia on the ground next to Nala at the little girl's request. "Thanks for letting us join you for dinner," he said as he stepped away, ignoring Hughes' protests at being thrown under the bus.

"The team told me what happened this morning," Gracia told him and Mustang's face fell slightly.

"Let's have dinner first before we talk about that," Mustang suggested. His eyes flicked to Elysia meaningfully and Gracia nodded, though her lips pursed.

"Dinner's ready," Gracia told them. "Someone who isn't an Elric can help me set things out on the table," she ordered.

"Why do they get a free pass?" Hughes asked as he shrugged his coat off and hung it up, doing the same to Mustang's when the flame alchemist handed it over.

"Al kept Elysia entertained and Ed helped me get dinner ready," Gracia told him.

"Are you sure you don't want us to help?" Al asked as the team filed into the kitchen to do as Gracia had asked.

"You've helped plenty this afternoon. Let the others lend a hand instead," Gracia said, patting his metal arm gently.

Getting a nod from both boys, Gracia headed back into the kitchen to direct everyone after giving Hughes and Mustang strict instructions to wash up. Mustang left to do just that, eager to get into the dining room since he'd not had an appetite for lunch after the meeting that morning. Hughes stuck around though, eyeing Ed – more specifically, eyeing his injuries up – before he asked the same thing Ed had been asked half a dozen times this afternoon already.

"How are you, Ed?"

"I'm fine, Hughes," Ed assured him. He didn't bother hiding the slight irritation he felt but Hughes seemed to realise that the annoyance Ed felt wasn't caused entirely by him.

"Good," Hughes said, ruffling Ed's hair, causing the blonde to growl with annoyance as he swatted at his hand.

"Leave him alone, Hughes. I don't need to hear him complaining for the rest of the night," Mustang drawled as he joined them.

"You're truly hilarious," Ed said flatly as Hughes chuckled before he retreated to the bathroom to clean himself up, as per his wife's orders.

"He thinks he is," Nala said, smirking as Mustang glared at her.

"I think we should go join everyone at the table before the food is all gone," Al suggested before Ed and Mustang could truly start arguing.

"That is a good plan. I'm hungry," Ed said, turning towards the kitchen.

"I don't know why you keep telling us you're hungry since we already know," Ayala commented as the small group headed into the dining room via the kitchen.

"You and Mustang should start a comedic act," Ed told her snippishly. She rolled her eyes as she sat next to him.

"Wouldn't be that great since I could only speak to the Animals in the audience," Ayala mused. Ed swatted her ear, making her huff in annoyance. Their horseplay was interrupted by Hughes joining everyone at the table.

"Help yourselves," Gracia said, gesturing to the numerous plates of salad, chicken schnitzel and the two gravy boats that sat on the table.

Ed was quick to nab three bits of schnitzel – one for him and two for Ayala – before loading his plate with salad and digging in. Alphonse helped himself to two bits of chicken but both went to Chester. The plate in front of him was loaded with a small portion of salad and a smaller piece of chicken but Ed knew that it would either slowly find its way to his plate or to Chester's. Although the team and the adult Hughes' knew the entire truth behind Al, Elysia didn't. It had been decided that they would keep the secret from her until she was old enough to understand why it needed to be kept a secret so Al continued the façade in front of her.

Since Elysia had ordered Mustang to sit next to her, he was being told all about her adventures the day before. Although everyone else had either heard all about it or lived it, no one tried to speak over or interrupt her retelling. Hughes and Gracia added a few things to the story – mainly their thoughts of each school and the faculty – every now and then but the main talker was Elysia. Mustang had listened intently and asked questions where appropriate. When she finished telling them all about the three schools, Mustang had turned to Hughes.

"Have you started running background checks on all the teachers?"

"And the aides, the administration office, groundskeepers. Every single person I met or heard about from the principals and other staff," Hughes told him. There were looks exchanged by everyone else at the table but no one was brave enough to comment on Mustang's or Hughes' extreme overprotectiveness of Elysia.

"Let me know if anyone flags," Mustang said, taking another bite of his dinner.

"Will do," Hughes agreed and that particular conversation came to an end there. Elysia was the only one at the table who hadn't reacted to the conversation with an amused look or slight eye roll.

The table fell silent for a minute while everyone continued eating since no one was really sure what to talk about now. Ed glanced up in time to see Hughes and Gracia exchange a look before Gracia dipped her slightly at Elysia. Hughes nodded near imperceptibly before stopping eye contact with her and locking eyes with Mustang instead. Hughes was the one to indicate to Elysia but added a look to the team for added clarity on what he was silently asking Mustang about. Ed thought he saw a flicker of sadness in Mustang's eye before he nodded once. Once everyone had finished eating, Hughes exhaled lightly before speaking.

"Elysia," the little girl looked up at her father calling her name, "there's a reason your mum and I invited your Uncle Roy and the team here for dinner tonight," Hughes told her. Elysia looked a little confused as she looked around and saw the saddened expressions on everyone's faces. Hawkeye managed to dial hers back quickly, as did Mustang, but not quick enough for Elysia to miss it.

"What's going on?" Elysia asked, her voice small and wobbling slightly as her green eyes flicked from her father to the others.

Hughes sighed slightly. "Something happened today and your uncle's team has been reassigned to other Command Centres."

"So everyone will be moving away?" Elysia asked, looking even more upset.

"No, honey. Your uncle, big brothers and Miss Riza will be staying in Central. Everyone else will be moving to other command posts. Tomorrow will be their last night in Central," Hughes told her. Elysia's eyes immediately watered and her bottom lip trembled as she looked at the four men who would be leaving.

"You're leaving?" She whimpered. "Why are you leaving without Uncle Roy or my big brothers or Miss Riza? You're a team so you shouldn't be going anywhere without them," she cried, tears rolling down her face.

Gracia was the first to move out of her and Hughes, knelt next to the chair Elysia was sitting on and gathered her crying daughter into her arms, shushing her gently as she held her. Hughes had moved a moment after only a moment and knelt next to Gracia so he could try and comfort Elysia as well. Her cries were increasing despite her mother and father's best efforts to get her to settle down.

"The Fuhrer issued orders for them to move to new command posts. Unfortunately, this happens sometimes when the military has too many new recruits who need training under people like your uncle. This means that the team needs to be split up and sent where they can help the military best while your uncle trains the new team." Hughes paused for a moment as Elysia sniffled and looked up at her father. "We can't do anything to stop them from leaving but it's not going to be forever and you will see all of them again before too long," Hughes told her, giving her a gentle smile while trying to keep the worry he felt off his face and out of his voice.

"How long?" Elysia asked, wiping her eyes.

"I don't know, sweetie, but hopefully not for more than a few months," Hughes told her. Elysia's face crumpled slightly.

"That's forever though," she whined, causing a couple of people at the table to chuckle lightly despite the solemn atmosphere in the dining room.

"I'm sure it won't seem that long," Gracia said, stroking her still-wet cheek. "When you see them next, it'll feel like no time has passed at all," she promised her. "Alright, honey?"

Elysia sniffled once more before nodding. "Good girl," Hughes said, ruffling her hair slightly.

"Why don't we go upstairs, Elysia?" Gracia suggested. "Your dad and uncle need to talk to everyone else about grown-up things," she told her, cutting off the whine she knew her daughter was about to let out.

"Can I say goodbye to everyone before they leave?" Elysia asked, eyes flicking between her mother and the four men who she wouldn't see again for an undetermined amount of time.

"Of course you can, sweetie," Gracia told her. "Someone will tell Lilith when everyone's ready to leave so you can say goodnight to them, alright?"

"Alright, mummy," Elysia agreed, still sniffling slightly.

"Good girl. Let's head upstairs now, okay?" Gracia said, straightening from the crouch she'd assumed to comfort her daughter.

They watched Elysia slide from her chair and take the hand her mother had extended to her. Hughes kissed the top of his daughter's head before her mother could finish leading her out of the room. While Elysia and Gracia headed upstairs, Hughes gestured for the other to head into the lounge room. Ed and Al stayed behind when Hughes did to help him clear the table of the dishes everyone had used while the others went into the lounge room to prepare themselves for what Mustang and Ed would be telling them.

When the last of the cutlery and dishes had been placed on the kitchen bench to be washed up when everyone who didn't live in the house had gone home for the night, Hughes turned to the two boys. "Thanks for your help, boys," Hughes said.

"It was no problems, Mr. Hughes," Al assured him, placing the last of the plates down. "Are you sure you don't want us to wash everything up now?"

"No, you two are guests and guests don't work under this roof," Hughes reminded him. "Also, I think everyone's growing impatient and I'm sure Roy would appreciate some back-up," he said with a grin as Ed predictably rolled his eyes.

"Fine but this is the only time I save that bastard from the team," Ed said, pointing a stern finger at Hughes.

Holding his hands up half-heartedly and obviously holding back a laugh, Hughes grinned. "Square deal," Hughes said, unable to keep a chuckle completely out of his voice.

The group of three headed into the living room and the two brothers headed straight for the couch Chester and Ayala had kept for them. The only person who had been brave enough to have them budge up to create room for them had been Hawkeye, who sat on the end of the couch furthest from the entryway into the living room while Ayala and Chester took up the remaining two-thirds of the couch. Mustang, Fuery and Havoc took up the other couch while Mark and Kara rested on their humans and Nala laid at Mustang's feet. Breda was sitting in the armchair Gracia and Lilith ordinarily sat in with Dubuffet resting next to his legs and Leo was curled up on his and Hughes' armchair. Falman and Rachel stood behind the couch that Hawkeye, Ayala and Chester were currently occupying.

"Budge up, you two," Ed ordered as he and Al made their way to their Animals. Chester rolled his eyes as he lightly hopped off the couch to join Al as the suit of armour sat on the ground and lent against the couch while Ed settled himself in the spot Chester had just vacated. Ayala was quick to curl up against Ed's side.

"Now that we're all here," Hawkeye said, gaining everyone's attention, as soon as Hughes sat down, "I believe everyone would appreciate more detailed answers than what we got this morning about why over half our team is being reassigned." Her expression told Mustang he wouldn't be given any leeway in how much they got told. She wanted to know everything and her intense gaze told him as much.

Mustang inhaled a deep, controlled breath before he looked at everyone and started talking. "Late last night, I decided to confront Bradley about everything that was going on." Despite the fact that Mustang had told them all as much that morning, there were still a few sharp gasps. "He confirmed he is indeed a homunculous and that the vast majority of the generals in the military are in on the plan to sacrifice the entire country for their gains. Mainly immortality for them and an immortal army to lead, from what Bradley said. They, of course, don't know he isn't human but I was right in my assumption that Armstrong and Grumman are the only generals we can trust to definitely not be on Bradley's side," Mustang told them. "He wouldn't tell me when this whole plan would be enacted on but he did confirm that Fullmetal and Alphonse were chosen to be sacrifices because of what they did and survived when they were younger." Mustang paused for a moment.

"However, because I revealed that we knew and weren't going to just stand by and let him destroy the entirety of Amestris, Bradley decided I needed to be kept in line somehow. Killing me straight out wouldn't work since plenty of other people knew what I did and Bradley knew as well as I did that killing everyone – bar Fullmetal and Alphonse until after they were needed, of course – would look far too suspicious and draw more attention than they'd want," Mustang told them. "Removing all of you from under my command was the only way Bradley could punish me and holding Lieutenant Hawkeye hostage as his personal secretary was the only way he could ensure I wouldn't move against him. Though he did imply there would be consequences for anyone who did continue plotting against him."

Knowing what they were likely thinking, Mustang continued. "I couldn't tell you all of this before your orders arrived because Bradley ordered me not to and I wasn't sure whether he would personally show up at the office to issue the orders. If you'd been told beforehand and he did turn up, it's possible he could've seen through your act and known I'd told you and I decided it wasn't worth risking what he'd do to you or me if I disobeyed. We don't know the extent of a homunculous' abilities after all and he might be able to tell when someone is lying." Having finished telling them everything he needed too, Mustang fell quiet.

Several seconds later, the silence was broken. "He didn't threaten me? I feel a little left out here," Hughes said. Though his familiar smirk was on his face and his tone was only mock-offended, there was an undercurrent of worry that he couldn't hide completely.

"The threat to you was implied," Mustang said flatly.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Hughes' remark coupled with the 'are you serious' look Leo was giving his human and the deadpan expression on Mustang's face worked to remove some of the tense atmosphere from the room. "He has a talent for that, doesn't he?" Ayala observed and Ed snorted lightly. The noise he made was loud enough for Hawkeye to hear him and make her remember something Mustang had said that morning.

"Sir, how did Edward find out everything before we did if you went alone?" Hawkeye asked, looking back at Mustang.

This time when Mustang sighed, it was one of slight annoyance and it was accompanied by a glare aimed at Nala. "My Animal decided that someone else needed to witness my meeting with the Fuhrer in case he decided to have me killed on the spot so she decided to sight-link with Fullmetal. They stayed linked until near the end of my meeting," Mustang told them.

Hawkeye nodded as though she not only expected nothing less but also approved thoroughly. "I believe Nala was the only one out of the pair of you who was smart enough to recognise the potential danger and took the appropriate action to try and minimise it," she told him bluntly. The strangled noise Ed made as he tried not to laugh out loud once again brought Hawkeye's attention to him. "If you don't mind me asking, Edward, but how did you gain the rest of your injuries? When the Colonel and I left you and Alphonse last night, you hadn't injured your wrist and your throat wasn't bruised," Hawkeye asked, eyes flicking to the injuries she'd just mentioned.

"Well, I don't know if Mustang told you this but Al, Ling, the Animals and I decided to have Gluttony lead us to where his creator lived so we could question him about everything that was going on. Keep in mind that we weren't going to be in any true danger since they needed Al and I alive," Ed reminded them when he saw at least three of the team open their mouths to reprimand him, Al and their Animals for being reckless. Before he could continue though, he was interrupted.

"Who's Gluttony?" Fuery asked, not being able to stop himself.

"Uh, so I assume you all heard that Al, Ayala, Chester and I all went up against Scar yesterday, right?" Ed asked and everyone confirmed they had. "So the point of us doing that was so we could draw one of the homunculi out of hiding since Scar would be trying to kill me and they wouldn't want that. Gluttony was the one who got to us first. Ling took him down and he and Miss Riza got Gluttony out of the area before the MP's could spot him," Ed told them.

"So you and the Xingese are working together now?" Breda asked and Ed grimaced slightly.

"Kind of," he said but didn't give them the chance to question his answer. "After Scar escaped with the help of another Xingese – this time, a princess called Mei – Mustang and Miss Riza turned up and headed for where they were hiding Gluttony. The only detour we made was to pick up a doctor friend of Mustang's because Lan Fan – one of Ling's guards – lost an arm when she and Ling fought Gluttony and Bradley," Ed told them.

"They fought against the Fuhrer and survived?" Falman asked and Ed nodded.

"Yeah. Lan Fan was badly hurt and she ended up cutting her arm off so they could tie it to a stray dog so Bradley would follow the blood trail it made while they used the sewers to escape," Ed told him and everyone who hadn't known about that looked impressed and in awe. "When we got to the hideout, Gluttony was tied up in a spare room. We didn't start interrogating him until Lan Fan had been stabilised by Doctor Knox and taken to his house, just in case Gluttony got loose somehow and tried to kill us," Ed explained.

"Gluttony didn't end up telling us much about what was going on but we did find out he has five brothers and a sister so there are eight homunculi all together, including the one that created the other seven and started all this shit," Ed told them. "Bradley is known as Wrath, by the way," Ed added.

"Gluttony? Wrath? Am I correct in my assumption that all of them are named after the deadly sins?" Hawkeye asked and Ed nodded.

"Except for the one who created them. He's known as Father to them and a massive bastard to me," Ed scowled. "Also, Envy was the one I killed with Hughes and Greed is the one who kidnapped Al and Chester when they were in Dublith when Archer was trying to 'persuade' me to move under his command," Ed told them. He almost missed the way a few of the team's jaws and fists clenched at the mention of the disgraced lieutenant-colonel.

"So you four and Ling decided to have Gluttony lead you to Father's lair. What happened when you got there?" Hughes asked, prompting Ed to return to what he was saying.

"Well, once we got back into Central, Nala asked me to sight-link with her so I'd be a witness to Mustang's possible death," Ed told them. "That lasted until we were almost at the entryway to Father's lair. After Nala and I disconnected the sight link, Gluttony had us stop because he could smell Scar and Mei. He wanted to eat them but I talked him into letting me make them leave by telling him we didn't have the time to waste waiting for him to eat them," Ed said, shivering slightly at the memory of how enthusiastic Gluttony had been at the idea of eating the Ishvalen and Xingese Princess.

"He wanted to eat them?" Fuery asked, his disgust obvious.

"Yeah, that's what he does apparently," Ed told them. "Anyway, I returned this panda thing Al had found to the princess and Scar and I formed a temporary truce. I let slip that Father might be the true reason the Ishvalen Civil War happened so that Scar would hopefully find a way in and become a temporary ally of sorts," Ed explained.

"'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'," Havoc quoted with a smirk. "Smart thinking, Chief."

"Cheers, Havoc," Ed said with a grin. "So once we got down into Father's lair." Ed paused for a moment. "It's guarded by hundreds of bloodthirsty chimeras, just in case you were thinking of trying to get in there," he told Mustang before focusing on the group as a whole once more. "Once in there, we met Father and Lust, who, by the way, is the woman who attacked me and Ches in Laboratory 5 with Envy and who confronted Hughes before he, Leo, Ayala and I went up against Envy," Ed told them. "Father confirmed that he doesn't appreciate Al and I almost dying every other mission so I've decided that we're gonna keep doing that to piss them off."

"Of course you would try and get yourselves killed to spite the homunculi," Hughes commented resignedly.

Ed just grinned at him and ignored his Animal and brother's mumbles of how they most certainly were not going to be doing that. "After that, Ling gatecrashed the party and we started a fight. Unfortunately no one – and by no one I mean that useless fucking bastard, Hohenheim – warned us Father knew how to use alchemy," Ed revealed and that bit of information got the only other State Alchemist in the room's attention.

"There's a homunculous who can use alchemy?" Mustang asked, exchanging a look with Nala.

"Yeah, I don't know how but Father is able to use alchemy. He doesn't have to sketch an array or clap either. It's like he does it by thinking. Not only that," Ed said with a sigh, "he can turn off alchemy." The stunned look on everyone's faces would've been comical if they had been talking about anything else.

"How do you mean?" Hawkeye was the one to break the shocked silence that had overtaken the whole room.

"We don't know how he did it and I shared my memory of the moment he did turn off our alchemy with Calix so he can share it with Hohenheim and maybe come up with a theory," Ed told her. "What he did though was release a wave of red energy and when it hit us, we couldn't use our alchemy anymore. Ayala had me transmute my blade so I wasn't completely weaponless but we couldn't so much as produce an alchemic spark."

"So what happened after that?" Breda asked. "How did you manage to get out of that one, big man?"

"Well, it wasn't easy," Ed admitted. "When Al and I lost the use of our alchemy, we tried taking them down with Ling but we were captured. Father ordered Ling to be killed because he didn't serve any purpose to his plans," Ed could see the disgust on some of their faces but continued, "and he wouldn't listen to us but Lust made a comment about Ling having spirit and Father decided to introduce a liquid stone into Ling's bloodstream. We tried to get out of Gluttony's grip to try and stop Father from doing that but Ling told us to stay away from him. He wanted the stone put in him so he could turn into a homunculous and become immortal."

"He wanted that to happen?" Mustang asked, completely aghast at the idea. Ed didn't blame him.

"Yeah," Ed said. "Father had Greed captured after kidnapping Al and Chester in Dublith and he reduced him down to his stone and reabsorbed it into himself. When he decided to turn Ling into a homunculous, he extruded the stone that had been Greed from himself and put it in Ling. The stone took but Ling's soul was suppressed and Greed was in charge. He didn't recognise any of us; not from Ling's memories or the Greed from Dublith's." Ed's face fell slightly before he shook himself minutely and got back to the report he was giving. "Laika – that's Ling's Animal, by the way – was still alive since Ling technically hasn't been killed yet and Father ordered Greed to kill Laika. Chester distracted Lust since Al and I were still being held by Gluttony and Ayala got Laika out of danger."

"That's when Scar and Mei joined us," Ed continued saying. "We found out from them dropping in that Mei's alkahestry and Scar's particular brand of alchemy weren't affected by whatever Father did to our alchemy. I guess they were different enough to ours to not be targeted by Father's attack." Ed shrugged. "They couldn't have chosen a better time to appear though. Gluttony was ordered to eat them, freeing me and Al and we took on Greed and Lust. Scar and Mei fought against Father and Gluttony but Mei was pretty injured in her fight so Al and Chester got her out. Scar followed them and Gluttony followed him on Father's orders while Laika took over helping Ayala with Lust." Ed went to go on but was interrupted.

"Wait, what happened with Scar, Al? How'd you get away from him? Did your alchemy come back?" Fuery asked before giving Ed an apologetic look. Ed waved it off and motioned for Al to talk.

"Scar helped me," Al told them. "He cleared a path through the chimeras who were blocking me from getting Mei to Doctor Knox since he couldn't take her himself because he was too injured. He owed Mei apparently so he didn't want to let her die. When Gluttony turned up, Scar took him on as well. I don't know how he managed that in the shape he was in but Chester and I didn't stick around to ask."

"He helped you?" Mustang asked, voice dripping with disbelief.

"Wasn't only Al he ended up helping out either," Ed said. "Greed managed to slip past my defenses and capture me, which is how I got the throat bruises. Lust was sent to go and find Gluttony when he didn't return and Greed was ordered to take me to Wrath, no doubt so he could threaten and blackmail me into behaving somehow. Ayala and Laika were forced to follow since Ayala didn't want me hurt and Laika was still trying to save Ling. Once Greed had me outside of Father's hideout, Scar deconstructed the hand wrapped around my throat while Ayala grabbed Laika."

"He saved your life? Scar saved a State Alchemist's life?" Hughes was the one to voice his disbelief this time and Ed nodded.

"He got me through most of the sewer system too before I managed to recover enough to figure out who was actually helping me," Ed told him. "His need for vengeance has now been aimed at the homunculi and I managed to get a truce between Scar, us, you guys, Hughes and his team and Armstrong and his team. Scar won't attack any of us until after the homunculi and their plan have been dealt with," Ed revealed and both Hawkeye and Mustang looked impressed before their passive masks could be put back in place.

"Damn, Chief, you really don't do things by halves, do you?" Havoc snorted, causing Ed to grin.

"He really doesn't," Ayala muttered despite the fact Ed was the only human who could hear her.

"What happened after that, Ed?" Fuery asked and Ed shrugged a shoulder.

"Not much," he said. "Ayala and I headed to Doctor Knox's place so we could meet up with Al and Chester and so I could give Lan Fan and Fu Laika to look after while his human is possessed. Doctor Knox let me and Ayala get cleaned up enough to patch me up. He was finishing up doing that when Mustang and Nala turned up at his door." Ed stopped talking now that he'd caught everyone up and relaxed into the couch a little more. Ayala took this as an invitation to snuggle closer into him.

"Alright, so just so I have this straight," Hughes started saying. "You four decided to use Scar and yourselves as bait to lure a homunculous so you and the Xingese trio could capture it and interrogate it about the plan for the country. You and Hawkeye decided to help them with that by feeding false information to our troops about Scar's location," Hughes was looking at Mustang at this point, "before picking the boys and Ayala up and roping Knox into acting as a one-man hospital for the injured Xingese. The homunculous agreed to lead you four," Hughes' attention was back on Ed, Al and their Animals, "to its creators lair and while they were doing so, you," his attention went back to Mustang, "decided to confront the Fuhrer. Nala decided to sight-link with Ed while you did so just in case he killed you where you stood. Once the sight-link was over, you," Hughes' eyes fell back on Ed, Al and the two Animals lounging on them, "entered Father's lair where you confronted it after you asked Scar to leave the area while also giving him information that meant he might follow. You then found yourselves against three homunculi, including the oldest one, before Ling dropped in and got himself taken over by another homunculous. You all managed to escape thanks to Scar and Ed managed to get the mass murdering Ishvalen to agree to a temporary truce between him and our allies. Did I miss anything?" Hughes asked, looking like he certainly hoped he hadn't.

"You forgot the part where we learned our alchemy can be turned off by that bearded bastard but yeah, you summed it up nicely," Ed told him.

"Can you tell us what Father and Gluttony look like?" Havoc asked. "So we know if we spot them before our Animals sense them. We already know what Lust looks like thanks to Major Armstrong's sketches after the Fifth Laboratory incident," Havoc reasoned and Ed nodded.

"I'll do you one better," Ed said before closing his eyes to better concentrate on the links he had with their Animals, Nala included, as well as Koda, Suna, Michella and Den. Once he had all the links he wanted selected, he sent them a snippet of his memory that showed Father and Gluttony. For Nala, he simply sent her the one of Father since she'd been there when they'd interrogated Gluttony. He disconnected from them all with the exception of the Curtis' and Rockbell's Animals immediately after. He spent a few seconds explaining why he'd just shared the memory with them before letting their links go and focusing back on everyone else. "Good enough?" Ed asked and received no complaints.

"Al says you should tell them that Father looks like Hohenheim so the team doesn't try killing him on sight if they ever see him," Chester told Ed.

"And here I was hoping they would do just that," Ed said, sighing internally at Chester, who just laughed at him.

"You can't use your team as unwitting assassins just because you still don't like your father," Ayala berated and Ed rolled his eyes at her.

"It was a joke," he told her. "Kind of," he added when she gave him a disbelieving look. "So," Ed said this out loud, getting everyone's attention once more, "just so you don't put a bullet in him if you ever came across him, mine and Al's father looks exactly like the homunculous, Father. The only differences I spotted were his clothing, the fact Hohenheim wears glasses and that Hohenheim's colouring is more tanned and his hair is the same colour as mine whereas Father looked more like a washed-out version of Hohenheim." Ed received several nods of acknowledgment from the group.

"Edward, I think we'd all appreciate it if we could ask some questions. Just to get clarification on some things and more details on others. Is that alright?" Hawkeye asked and Ed nodded.

"Yeah, no skin off my nose. Ask away."

Thankfully for Ed and Al, they were only asked questions for a further hour or so. Their main interrogators had been Hawkeye, Mustang and Hughes, to neither of their surprises. Their questions had mainly been around where Father's lair was located, what it looked like, whether they knew of any other entrances to it. Hughes had been more interested in Scar and whatever Ed, Al or their Animals had observed during their fight. Mei had been asked about since she was a firm ally of Scar's but once Ed and Al had admitted they hadn't seen much of her fighting style and that they didn't know much about alkahestry, the questions about her ceased.

Once everyone had finished asking what they needed to, those who didn't live in the house stood to leave only to be stopped by Hughes when he reminded them that they'd promised Elysia she could say goodbye to them. A quick message from Ed to Lilith had her alerting Gracia to the fact that the team wanted to leave. It only took a couple of minutes for Elysia, Gracia and Lilith to join the rest of them in the living room. Elysia had obviously gone for a shower while they'd all been talking because her blonde locks were still damp and she was dressed in her pyjamas.

"Mummy says you're leaving," Elysia said as she came to a stop next to her dad.

"Yes, we are, Elysia," Hawkeye confirmed. "The team need to go home to start sorting out their belongings for the move and to get some sleep before we report for our last day under your uncle's command tomorrow." Elysia's face fell slightly at the reminder that her uncle's friends would be moving away from Central.

"Remember, Elysia. It won't be forever," Hughes reminded her when he saw her expression.

"I know, daddy," Elysia said before she started giving everyone hugs goodbye. When she'd hugged the last person – her uncle – she looked back up at everyone. "Bye-bye, everyone. Don't forget that you won't be away for forever and then you'll be back here again with Uncle Roy," she told them, trying to make them feel better when she noticed that Fuery and Breda hadn't looked happy when Hawkeye had mentioned them leaving.

"You're right, Elysia. We won't be kept away from Central for too long," Havoc said, giving the young girl a smile. Falman, Fuery and Breda all nodded or murmured their agreements, making Elysia beam with pride at the realisation that she'd helped them feel better.

"We do have to leave now though, before it gets too late," Hawkeye said after giving Elysia a small smile. "Thank you for having us over, Gracia. Dinner was delicious, as always."

"You're welcome, Riza," Gracia said with a smile. "Make sure you drop by for a coffee if you have the time when you take on your new duties."

"I will," Hawkeye said, a warm smile on her face as she accepted the offer. She turned to Ed and Al next. "If I don't see you in the office tomorrow, look after yourselves. I don't want to hear any reports about you ending up in the hospital again," she told them sternly and Ed gave her a grin.

"We'll try, Miss Riza, but that depends entirely on the intelligence of the criminal I get sent after," Ed told her. She nodded in acceptance of his words but Ed knew the shine of amusement he saw in her eyes wasn't a figment of his imagination.

By the time everyone left the Hughes' house – the four members of the team who would be moving cities having wrangled promises from Ed and Al to have them come see them off at the train station – another three-quarters of an hour had passed. Hawkeye had left with a curt reminder to Mustang that he'd better turn up on time in the morning to start the day. Mustang had promised her he would and Ed had told Hawkeye that Nala had every intention of making sure her human did as the lieutenant ordered. Mustang had still been scowling at Nala when the two of them headed for Mustang's private car so they could get home, leaving Ed, Al and their Animals alone with the Hughes'.

"It's passed your bedtime, Elysia," Gracia told the little girl. "Say goodnight to everyone."

"But, mummy, I'm not tired!" Elysia whined. Her claims would've been more believable had she not yawned in the middle of her protest.

"Sure you're not," Gracia said. "You still have to go to bed," Gracia told her gently but firmly.

Elysia had obviously sensed her mother would not budge on the matter and turned to her father, likely looking for some help from him but all he did was scoop her up and plant a kiss on her cheek. "Night, princess," Hughes said as he set her back on the ground.

"Night, daddy," Elysia said with a massive, defeated sigh that had Ed doing his utmost to hide his amusement so he didn't encourage Elysia's dramatics. "Night, big brothers. Night, Ayala. Night, Chester," Elysia said as she hugged the four of them in turn.

"Night, Elysia," they chorused back, though Ed and Al had had to pass along Ayala and Chester's wishes.

"I assume the four of you will be leaving shortly so I'll say goodnight to you now. Stay safe on your walk back to the library," Gracia said. She'd offered for the boys and their Animals to stay the night but Ed had turned down her offer since they had plans to go to the Second Branch Library.

"We will. Have a good night, Miss Gracia. Thanks for having us over," Ed said and Gracia gave him a warm smile as she held Elysia's hand so she could lead the girl up the stairs.

"You're always welcome here. All of you," Gracia reminded them. Only when they nodded, telling her they'd heard her, did she lead Elysia up the stairs so she could get her daughter into bed for the night.

"I take it you'll be heading out now?" Hughes asked and was a little surprised when Ed shook his head.

"Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you before we leave," Ed told him. Hughes looked intrigued and gestured for Ed to continue. "I was wondering if you'd be able to give me some pointers about making and using throwing knives, like the ones you use." Ed could feel Al's shock from where his brother stood behind him.

"What brought this on?" Hughes asked, looking as surprised as Al felt. "I've seen you use throwing knives before and your technique is excellent already."

"Well, I noticed when I was fighting Greed after Father cut our alchemy off. My blade, while useful for the most part, isn't as versatile as throwing knives or daggers since I can't detach it from my arm," Ed told him. "I know I'm already good with blades but you're better so I was hoping you could give me a couple of lessons so I can improve. I'm thinking it's probably not a bad idea for me and Al to carry weapons on our person. That fight with Father showed me how much we rely on our alchemy in a fight," Ed told him though he did glance back at Al, trying to gauge his reaction.

"I think that's a good idea, Brother. Our hand-to-hand combat is almost unbeatable but maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing for us to carry other weapons," Al agreed.

"Well, I'm more than honoured that you would ask me for help with this," Hughes said, a wide grin on his face as he latched an arm around Ed's shoulders and squeezed him tight. "I'll be more than happy to give you some pointers. Why don't you come over every afternoon you have free and are in town until your next mission? We should take advantage of any free time you have in Central while we can," Hughes suggested.

"Yeah, I don't have a problem with that," Ed said. "Al?"

"No, I think Mr. Hughes has a good point. Since we don't have any idea when we'll leave next for a mission, we should get as much help as possible," Al said.

"You two?" Ed asked the Animals but both shook their heads. "Thanks, Hughes. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon. Just have Leo let me know a time," Ed said as he started extracting himself from the hold Hughes had on him.

"Will do!" Hughes said cheerfully, tightening his grip on Ed, causing the blonde to snarl slightly. "You better get going before my angel realises you're still here and tries to escape her mother," Hughes said, finally releasing Ed.

"Thanks, Hughes," Ed grumbled as he straightened out his jacket, taking a step further away from the man than strictly necessary, not willing to keep himself within easy reach just in case Hughes tried something like that again. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Mr. Hughes. Thank you for dinner again. We'll see you tomorrow afternoon," Al said with a slight bow before following Ed, Ayala and Chester to the front door while Hughes followed him.

"No problems, boys and Ayala," Hughes said, certainly sounding like it hadn't been any problem having them there and agreeing to make time to help them out. "I'll let you know a time tomorrow. Have a goodnight and keep yourselves safe," Hughes said, leaning slightly in the open door-frame as the four Elrics headed down the stairs into the front yard.

"See you, Hughes," Ed said once more, raising a hand in goodbye. Al mimicked his brother as they made it through the gate and headed down the street. Hughes and Leo watched them walk down the road until they were out of sight before he closed the door and headed upstairs to say goodnight to his daughter.

Meanwhile, Ed, Al, Ayala and Chester continued towards the Second Branch Library. The two Animals were on high alert and neither human was relaxing as they walked. They knew they would be under closer scrutiny after their confrontation with Father and Mustang's confrontation with Wrath. During the day, they'd likely be giving more breathing space since Lust had scolded Gluttony about being seen, leading the four to believe they kept to the shadows as much as possible but at night they wouldn't be given that space. As they walked to the Second Branch Library, Ed knew that the tense, suspicious and slightly paranoid atmosphere that surrounded the four of them would be something they would have to get used to feeling until the homunculi were defeated.

A/N - As promised, chapter 34 for you all! I'm very happy with how well-received chapter 33 seemed to be by those of you who were nice enough to leave me a review on it so thank you to those who did. I hope 34 isn't overly boring for you guys since it really is just an informative chapter but I would love to hear what everyone thinks to it no matter what. To the lovely guest reviewer, thank you for your review! I'm very glad you enjoyed the surprise chapter and that you liked it enough to leave me a review. It was very sweet of you and the other reviewers to do so and you have no idea how happy I am to see those reviews. I'll see you next Sunday with the next chapter!