Chapter Seven

Separate Paths

Mustang-Elric Residence

7:00 am

Mustang was followed constantly now. He knew they must know the baby was gone. They had no idea where, or they would have gone after him. This was good, but at the same time it limited Roy's movements. He couldn't risk anything out in the open, but he learned this game long before he learned how to transmute even the simplest circle.

On his mother's knee he learned to sneak information from one location to another. At her side, he learned to code secrets into innuendo. His entire childhood was spent in the web of the best information network on the continent. Grumman and his mother had worked together for as long as he had been around, probably years before that as well, though he had never asked.

It was through this network a teacher had been arranged for Roy when he showed talent toward alchemy. It was through his mother's charms Master Hawkeye had agreed despite whom the request had come from. It was through his own intellect and cunning that he impressed Master Hawkeye long enough to learn everything he needed to know.

All of this was once again proving useful as he maneuvered a coup under their noses and all they saw was a beaten man. A coup was what he was planning. Remove the monsters ruining his country, threatening his children. Find the one who killed Maes Hughes. Save them all. These were his current goals, and he had no intention of failing.

He noticed after the first time of arranging to be led to a private room, that the men left to watch after him preferred to wait for him outside. No doubt believing, he was simply disgusting, not that he was plotting. He kept up the act, flirting and semi drunk until led into a back room where the girl in question would pass on the information. Since he was warned about Pride he had insisted on the room being pitch black. He had explained why to Madame, who now was arranging for all information exchanges to occur in the dark. She explained to everyone else it was because they were being watched but didn't give any further details.

His mother's sources had confirmed what Major Armstrong had assured him to be true. General Armstrong was not compromised she could be trusted. He began making plans to arrange a meeting with her at her mansion. Grumman was also safe. No other general had been vetted, and Roy loathed to dig to deep and tip his hand. They would be enough. They would have to be enough.

He made his way back out of the bar and stumbled his way home. Occasionally singing loudly or laughing at thin air, to give the impression that he was drunk. He made sure to ignore the guards so completely one would assume he never noticed them. In the weeks since his children went into hiding, he had gotten very good at pretending not to notice being watched.

Once he arrived home, he dropped the act. Frankly he didn't care if Pride knew he was sober. Obviously, the little shit wasn't sharing with the class if he was actually bothering to watch Roy anyway. Roy wandered through the empty room, and briefly wondered where Vanessa had wandered off to, as he let the pets out into the yard and busied himself making a cup of tea.

Fredrick wandered back into the kitchen before Cobalt, which was normal for him, before settling down at Roy's feet as his reluctant roommate made her appearance. Roy smiled at her halfheartedly, and once again wondered if he should just send her home now. Anyone watching would know by now that the baby was gone, and they hadn't followed when the child disappeared so it would be hard to find them, near impossible considering Ed history of going underground.

Hunting Cabin

Midnight

The chimera were both sound asleep, as was Yuery. Greeling was sitting at the table calmly drinking a mug of tea and Ed was laying next to his son on the sleeper couch, hoping he appeared to be asleep. Though Ed had apologized for being so rude their first day and the matter forgotten, everyone's stress levels were still elevated.

The cabin wasn't helping matters, Ed decided. They'd been here for a couple of weeks now, and the place was definitely weird, and possibly falling apart. Things were constantly breaking, or falling over, or the fireplace randomly flaring. It was driving him nuts. This place wasn't safe for his son. The worst part was every time he brought it up to the others Mr. Gorilla (and no he will NOT stop calling him that) says the place is haunted. Lion King (NO he will not stop using THAT) shrugs it off and Greeling (He'll stop using it as soon as it's no longer valid) smirks in a knowing way but says nothing. He wouldn't put it passed Greeling to be causing some of it somehow.

Ed rolled over with a groan and punched up his pillow in an attempt to get comfortable. It wasn't working. They were in that time between winter and spring where it was too hot with the fire but too cold without it. He had banked the fire before he laid down, but the flames were tall and cheery again. Clearly Greeling had stoked the fire. He hadn't heard him go over there, but clearly he had because aside from Yuery crying in his sleep, nothing had stirred in the cabin since they'd gone to bed.

Ed made sure to glare at the idiot as he shoved off the blanket and rolled back to his other side. It was getting annoying being here. They were going to have to move on soon anyway, as they were running low on supplies and the nearest snares were no longer catching anything. Ed refused to widen the radius, that was just asking for someone to follow them back to the cabin. Tomorrow he would talk to the others about it.

"Glaring at me without saying anything is real passive aggressive bullshit kid. I expected better from you, if you have something to say to me, say it." Greeling said in a bored voice.

Ed sighs heavily before deciding to go ahead and let off some steam. He sits up while glaring before carefully climbing out of bed and stomping over to Greeling. "Okay. You want to hear it? Here it is. You are the most annoying travel companion I've ever met, which is saying something since I've met LING. You refuse to help with anything, you encourage my kid to misbehave, and you stoked the damn fire when it is already warm in here!"

"Fair. I try to be annoying so I'm glad it's working. Your little cherub doesn't need encouragement so get that out of your head right now, he's bad all on his own. And I didn't touch the fire."

"Bullshit. No one else was awake."

"I don't lie kid. It was the baby if you're interested." Greeling said still bored sounding as he walked out of the cabin to presumably wander around the woods.

Ed glared again. What did he mean it was the baby? It couldn't have been the baby. One, he was a baby. Two, he was asleep aside from that momentary nightmare thing. Three, how could a baby do anything! It wasn't like he was magic… shit the baby was magic. Or at least he had magic parents, which meant he was probably magic. Why hadn't Ed considered this? He needed to do some research and there wasn't a way to get the books he needed especially now with him being wanted. Not that he could have gotten them anyway with that section being restricted to only a handful of people.

Yuery rolled over and snuffled in his sleep as Ed smiled down at him. Well there was only one solution. If his baby could do magic, then he would simply have to learn to control it. Ed would make sure of it. They couldn't worry about it right now though. Yuery clearly wasn't going to get them killed so for now Ed would ignore it. He sure as hell wasn't letting anyone else in on this one.

Hamilton Inn

1:00am

Al read silently as Winry slept. They had been out of contact with everyone else for the last couple of weeks, and had agreed earlier tonight that they needed to find a way to contact their allies, if for no other reason to find out if there was a plan. Al had been thinking about it all night and finally come up with the answer.

Roy (Dad) was great with codes. He could break almost any code he saw, with the exception of Ed's, but to be fair not even Al could break Ed's completely and Ed was his brother… and Al had been there for everything Ed had written in his 'travel log'. Al would send Roy (Dad) a coded message with a date and time to be next to the phone, and Al would be sure to call exactly at that time. If he knew anything about Ed then, Al would be grateful, but overall he wanted to know what the plan was. They were rapidly running out of time before Promised Day.

Before they left Liore, Al had pulled some of their allies aside to arrange to meet them the day before Promised Day to smuggle Al back into Central and Winry to safety. Winry didn't know this part yet, because Al didn't want to fight with her. She seemed to think they would be meeting up then making a break for it, but Al couldn't tell her the plan yet. Not until it was already underway to keep her deciding to do something reckless and stupid like following him back to Central.

He was sure she was asleep before he slipped out of the room in search of a payphone. He had arranged when and where to meet nearly everyone, except the scariest of all. He usually avoided these calls, pushing them off on his Brother but Ed was gone now so it was up to him. He was going to have to call his teacher.

Sig picked up on the third ring, which was good in that it meant Teacher was having a good day. Still Al almost wished they'd been out of town or something because this was not a conversation he wanted to have. "H-hello Sig. Is Teacher in?'

"Alphonse! Yes of course. You never call, has something happened to your brother?" Sig asked, and Al heard Izumi demanding the phone in the background before he could respond.

"Al? Alphonse? What happened? Where's your brother?" Izumi demanded over the line. He could feel her anger from here.

"I don't know exactly where Brother is right now- BUT HE'S SAFE- We just aren't traveling together at the moment." Al said quickly.

"What have you done now?" Izumi demanded.

"Well. The thing is…we didn't do anything? But there's a big problem and we need to fix it. Is there anyway you could meet up with me? Later this week maybe? Phoneline's aren't real secure right now so I'll find a way to give you a time and place."

"Okay. I'll see you then Al." Izumi said in a slightly softer voice. "And Al?"

"Yes Ma'am?"

"Find your brother."

Al hung up feeling shaken. More so after he realized he was going to disobey a direct order from his teacher, because there was no way he was looking for his brother. Ed and Yuery were safer in hiding.

Armstrong Estate

6:00 pm

Roy had been allowed a glimpse of what had been planned. Apparently Edward had been very busy when he was up North and there was very little he needed to fill in. Grumman had also been in contact with Armstrong and she was well aware that this was Mustang's play. She deferred to him in the matter, and they managed to get along for a grand total of forty five minutes. Which was a good thirty minutes longer than their record.

It of course was a temporary truce, that ended with their meeting. Armstrong threw a barb toward Mustang's ambitions and he in turn threw one at her. He then gave her the flowers, with the message hidden within. He antagonized her once more before walking away as she threw the flowers in the bonfire. No one saw her slip the message under her glove.

From there he made his way to his mother's bar where he finally spotted the guards he had managed to shake an hour ago. They had rightly assumed this is where he would end up, and he wasn't going to disappoint. He changed course quickly before they could see him and climbed the fire escape and climbed into one of the unoccupied rooms before calmly walking back down the stairs, grabbing Ariel along the way in case this time they sent someone inside.

Once he was in the bar again, he pulled Ariel to him and whispered for her to let Madame know that everything was set. A few minutes later, he calmly walked out of the bar and passed his guards, once again pretending not to notice them. They scrambled to keep up as he swayed his way down the street and back home. He loathed to admit it, but this part was kind of fun.

Abandoned Windmill outside Dublith

8:00pm

A neighborhood child had delivered the message just before closing telling Izumi where to find Al, and when to meet him. She had gone about her evening as usual before slipping away to take a walk. Izumi had arrived fifteen minutes early, and spent that time watching the mill to ensure it wasn't a trap.

Al was already inside, but watching in the shadows in case someone had intercepted the message. He had hidden Winry safely near by with instructions to run if he wasn't back by midnight. He could only hope she listened. Teacher came into the mill at exactly eight, silent as a ghost. When no one followed her, and there was no movement behind her, Al allowed himself to step forward into the murky moonlight.

They stared at each other for a moment silently, before Izumi broke first. "Where's your idiot brother, didn't I tell you to find him?"

"You did. I didn't look. We're safer apart right now." Al said softly. "Brother is officially listed as AWOL and I stand out too much for him to hide properly if I'm with him."

"So he finally wised up and realized the military is as bad as I said?" Izumi said with a snort as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What did his precious colonel turn on him?"

"No, Dad wouldn't do that! He's in as much trouble as we are." Al defended, then with a sigh he began digging through his chest in search of the map he had brought with him to explain. "We're in trouble Teacher. The whole country, but especially us and that includes you. I was told, you are on the sacrifice list."

Before she could ask, he had spread the map out on the floor and begun explaining everything they knew, and what they were planning. They were intending to stop Father before he could activate the array, and were gathering forces to help them do this. Izumi listened without interruption before adding in that she had seen Hohenheim recently, that the man had healed her enough that she should be good for a fight.

Al nodded before glancing at his watch, and telling her he had to go. He was reluctant to leave, but couldn't linger. There was still so much to do. Izumi left before him without a backwards glance. He assumed she was still angry they had not only joined the military but were calling a state alchemist dad. She already knew Ed did, but last she heard Al was still holding out.

Still, from what she had witnessed, Mustang seemed to actually care for these children, even if he had done a terrible job watching over them. Thankfully, she had taught them to take care of themselves. She made her way back home to get ready for bed, and tell her husband they would be making a trip to Central.

Cabin

8:00 am

Ed was bored, the other three still weren't letting him do much, despite feeling better. How was he supposed to be ready to fight if he got all flabby? He asked Greeling this a few times, but was ignored. This morning he was frustrated enough that he got up early to take a walk in the woods.

He knew Greeling had seen him leave, and the baby was sound asleep. Ed wasn't going to overdo it, but he needed the exercise and the chance to think. He knew there was something going on with Yuery. He knew it was magic, after his initial denial he knew it was. The question was, was it natural or because of the issue with the extra soul. Was that getting worse somehow? He couldn't tell himself, and he didn't know how to ask for Ling to check without tipping off Greed and the chimeras…though he supposed Greed must already know if Ling knew.

Ed made it out of the clearing and began a light jog around the edge just inside the tree line. He wasn't leaving the area because he wanted to be able to keep the cabin in sight in case of trouble. After a few laps, he did some stretches before transmuting a dummy to spare with. It wasn't as good as a partner, especially his brother, but it was better than nothing.

After about an hour, Greeling appeared at his side. "That's enough kid. You still have healing to do and this isn't helping. If you rip something back open you won't be fit to fight."

"How long have you been watching me?" Ed asked, pausing but not releasing his stance.

"Since you slipped out. Don't worry Darius has the baby."

"While I got you alone," Ed started then glared at the smirk, "Just shut up. No since we're alone. I need a favor from him. I need him to promise to keep an eye on Yuery and let me know if his problem is growing."

"You mean the extra soul? Yeah he's not getting any stronger as far as Ling can tell, but he's not a soul expert. You know more about these things than he does."

"I can't read qi though, so I need to rely on him for his impressions so I know what I'm looking at with this. Would you let him out for a while the chimera's check the traps, see if everything's still okay? Don't tell the others."

"Yeah, hold on." Greeling said even as his stance shifted slightly as Ling surfaced. Ed smiled at his friend, before they headed to the cabin. Ling never knew how long Greed would give him and he wanted to look at the baby, who as it turned out seemed to be exactly the same as he had been last time Ling had checked.