Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

Bold- What happens in the episodes

"Episode Title"

Narrative

Regular talking/actions

Episode 10: Separate Destinations

Soldiers were shown to be running across a battlefield, firing their guns as they ran.

"Well, this is a strange beginning." Havoc said.

"The power of one man doesn't amount to much." Mustang's voice said.

"Oh, great, the beginning has to do with Mustang." Ed grumbled.

Mustang smirked. "It's much better than beginning with a rude, uncharming brat like you."

Ed just scoffed at him.

Ishvalan civilians were shown to be firing back at the soldiers. Soldiers were hit and fell to the ground dead. Ishvalans were shown to be fighting fiercely, then the soldiers were shown, getting shot more and more. There was a snap of fingers and an explosion occurred, taking out all the Ishvalans.

Mustang was shown to be walking through the smoke. "But however little strength I'm capable of, I'll do everything humanly possible to protect the people I love." His glove covered hand was shown to clench into a tight fist.

"Is burning people alive actually considered humane?" Edward asked distastefully. "Because honestly, that sounds like a very horrible way to die. You are set on fire and slowly die as your skin is burned away. An instantaneous death seems more humane then that."

Mustang sighed. "With my Flame Alchemy, I can kill a person within seconds so they do not suffer much. On the other hand, I can also drag their death out if I desire too."

"Certainly not someone I would want to meet in a dark alley." Al said.

Ed smirked. "Unless, of course, it was raining."

The younger brother sighed. "Brother, you don't need to keep pointing out how useless Colonel is in the rain."

Mustang fell into a dejected state while mumbling "useless" to himself. Hughes wasn't being much help either. He just patted Mustang on the shoulder, trying to be sympathetically, while also trying to hide his own laughter.

Soldiers were shown to be standing in straight lines with two on horses walking away.

"And in turn, they'll protect the ones they love." Mustang continued. He was shown to be standing next to Hughes. "It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for each other."

"Sounds like a pyramid scheme." Hughes replied. He pushed his glasses up as he continued to look at Mustang from the corner of his eyes. "There's just one thing. If you hope to eventually protect everyone," He pointed towards something that Mustang turned to look at. "Then you'll have to figure out a way to stand at the top of the pyramid." Bradley was shown to be standing at the top of some stairs as he looked down at his soldiers.

"I can only imagine how good it must feel to be up there, Hughes." Mustang said as he and Hughes were shown to be staring at Bradley. "Although, I'll never be able to find out without all the support I can get. There's no doubt about that."

Havoc snorted. "What obvious intentions."

"I thought you were known to be more subtle than that." Ed muttered.

Mustang bristled as he glared at the two. "Hughes is a friend. I didn't really need to be subtle."

"Then why not just ask directly?" Al asked innocently.

"Roy is just a complicated person." Hughes laughed.

Ed rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that is the reason." He muttered sarcastically.

Hughes pushed his friend's shoulder. "You're not very subtle you know." He looked at his friend and smirked. "You've got my support, but you could have just asked me."

"Hughes's agrees!" Havoc and Ed shouted together, causing said man to laugh some more.

"It ought to be fun to watch though, and maybe your ideal naiveness may actually do some good."

Bradley stared down at Mustang, who stared right back.

"Colonel…." Mustang was shown to be sitting in his office with his eyes shut. "Colonel!" Riza tried again.

Mustang opened his eyes.

"There is an open bunk in the barracks if you need a nap." Riza said.

"Sleeping at the office?" General Armstrong scoffed.

"I've been working long hours lately." Mustang defended.

"The fact that you are actually doing work is astounding." General Armstrong said.

Mustang sighed. "I am not as lazy as everyone thinks."

Mustang sat up straight and put a hand to his face. "I'm fine. I still need to organize and pack up all of my paperwork before we transfer to Central." Sighing, he leaned back in his chair. "I haven't had much time for sleep."

General Armstrong scowled. So that useless man already got the transfer orders to Central. That meant she would have to move faster to get to Central as well. She couldn't let him get too far ahead of her and start to gain more points in his favor.

"It looked like you were in the middle of a pretty vivid dream there." Riza said.

Mustang gave a short chuckle as he moved his hand to the other side of his face so he could look at Hawkeye. "Not really." He said as a suspicious tone entered the background. "It was just an old memory."

"Separate Destinations"

"What? No opening song?" Havoc asked. "That's so strange."

The opening song began.

"It is structured very strangely this time." Al commented.

"It's trying to trick us." Havoc growled.

Brody rolled his eyes, quite amused. "It is just our future. Why would our future try to trick us?"

The blonde smoker shrugged. "Why would we be shown our future in such a weird, dramatic way? This whole thing is strange."

"Touché." Brody snorted.

Ed appeared on the screen, holding a picture of a somewhat bad and somewhat good drawing of Envy. "Well, the last thing I remember is this guy kicking me."

"Hmm, perhaps I should give you lessons in drawing." Armstrong suggested.

Ed twitched. "No thanks!" He said forcefully. "And it isn't that bad of a drawing!"

Armstrong rubbed his chin. "But it could be so much better! A few lessons would be all that it takes."

"NO!" Ed shouted. There was no way he was going to get stuck with Armstrong any longer then he needed be. He could only handle so much of having a man's chest rubbed on him….Oh, the images! Now he had to go scrub his brain…

"I think that is one schooling that would leave Chief scarred for life." Havoc chuckled to his friends.

Breda smirked. "And we don't need Chief any more scarred then he already is."

"Scarred?" Ed echoed with a dangerous edge to his voice. "Who is scarred? Do I seem like traumatized brat to you?!"

"Well," Havoc started, but was cut off when Ed threw his brother's helmet at him.

"HEY!" Al shouted. "Brother! I need that."

"SCORE!" Ed shouted cheerfully, ignoring his brother in favor of looking at the dizzy blond lieutenant who had blood trailing down his face.

Izumi scoffed. "How weak. He should have been able to dodge that."

Groaning, Havoc tossed the helmet back to Al. "Does no one care that I just got hit in the face with a helmet?"

Mustang shrugged. "You kind of had it coming."

Sighing, Dr. Young got out the first aid kit and worked on treating the lieutenant's bleeding nose.

Hughes, Al, and Armstrong were shown to be surrounding Ed's bed. "It's odd that he let you live." Armstrong said. "What about this sacrifice and other armored souls?"

The table in front of Ed was shown so the papers filled with notes and arrays could be seen.

"Not to mention the Ouroboros tattoos and the transmutation circle."

Hughes added. "And Dr. Marcoh claims that they were using the Philosopher's Stones in Ishval."

"Do you think we are going to get new information this episode?" Darius asked.

Jerso shrugged. "We better. It's been a while since we have learned anything new."

Armstrong looked at Hughes. "Every clue we have to work with seems to lead to its own mystery."

"Not much we can do about that though." Hughes said. "Any answer we might have found are under tons of rubble back at the lab."

A dejected air filled the room.

"Nothing is ever simple." Ed muttered.

"And isn't that usually your fault?" Heinkel asked.

Ed twitched. "It is not always my fault! Can we not just blame the monsters for this one?"

"I agree." Dr. Marcoh said with a tired sigh. "This has all happened because of those monsters. If they never existed, this would not have happened."

"Thank you!" Edward breathed, glad someone seemed to be on his side for once.

Heinkel shrugged. "It's still more fun to blame the kid."

Ed twitched. Damn these soldiers.

Denny was shown to have his ear against the door.

"Are you still eavesdropping?" Armstrong asked dangerously.

Denny cried.

"And I thought it was supposed to be kids who had no self-control." Edward muttered.

"They are talking about some seriously crazy stuff in there." Denny said.

Maria plugged her ears. "You heard the old cliché about how curiosity killed the cat, right? Well, it's true." Denny stared at her blankly.

"Pardon me, Lieutenant."

Denny looked shocked.

"I'm looking for Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"How many visitors do you need from the military?" Maria asked. "And it seems to be someone high up again."

"I hope it's not a stuffy General. Those guys are so annoying." Edward muttered.

"How can you know, Brother? You barely have any interaction with them." Al pointed out.

Ed shrugged. "Well, that General we met at Colonel's office was pretty annoying and didn't seem to care for much but his power. He was really loud too."

It took a lot of self-control to keep Havoc from laughing. "Chief, you slammed a door open on his face. I would be screaming too if you kicked a door open on me like that."

"That was his fault! Who the hell stands that close to a door when it could be opened at any moment?" Edward retorted.

"What happened to him anyway?" Al asked curiously.

Mustang sighed and covered his face. "He got a concussion from the event, and luckily, didn't realize it was a subordinate from my squad that hit him with a door."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Luke asked. "Wouldn't only Chief be in trouble?"

"We were in the middle of an inspection." Riza explained.

"Oh." Luke muttered. Lucky indeed. "But didn't he find out later when he asked who it was that hit him?"

"We rescheduled the inspection because of it, then had Chief there for the second try of the inspection. When it was realized he didn't recognize Chief, we sent him on a wild goose chase to find out who it was who hit him with a door." Breda explained, grinning to himself. "To this day, he hasn't found anyone to post the blame on for that one."

"Didn't stop Colonel from lecturing me." Edward muttered.

"I couldn't let you get off scot-free for that." Mustang retorted.

Maria pulled her fingers from her ears. "Sure, this is his–" She stopped when she looked up and looked shocked.

Inside the room, Hughes was looking at a drawing of the Ouroboros tattoo.

"Well, at least that drawing is done really well." Armstrong said.

Ed growled.

"Well, it is more like an array so it's no wonder." Al told the Major.

"Are you saying that I can only draw arrays well, Alphonse?" Ed asked with a twitch.

"Yes." Al said without hesitation.

"You are very mean." Ed muttered.

"I'll run a search and see if I can find some inquires on anyone with an Ouroboros tattoo." Hughes said.

"Very good." Armstrong said as he picked up some papers to look at. "And while you do that, I'll continue looking into the research team that was working with Dr. Marcoh in Ishval."

A knock came from the door, causing the two soldiers to look at it.

The door opened and a soldier walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt." The soldier was shown to be the Fuhrer.

"Why the hell is the Fuhrer visiting you?" Havoc shouted.

"What is with you and high ranking officers?" Denny shouted.

"Uh, well," Ed blinked, then paused before he sighed and shrugged. "I got nothing."

All four occupants stared in shock at the Fuhrer. Hughes and Armstrong snapped salutes at the man. "Fuhrer Bradley!"

Armstrong said. "Your Excellency."

Bradley held up a hand. "Calm down, gentlemen." He said with a smile. "This is just an informal visit."

Bradley walked forward to stop in front of Ed, while Al and Hughes were slightly bowed. "Yes sir, but may I please ask the occasion, sir?" Hughes had his eye opened a crack to look at the Fuhrer.

"This young man." Bradley said, looking at Ed. "I heard you're injured." He held up a basket with a melon in it. "I thought a nice melon would cheer you up.

Ed took the basket from him. "I guess." He said in shock before he shouted, "Thank you, sir."

"When does the Fuhrer visit someone in the hospital?" Edward asked.

"Never." Hughes said with a frown. "Which is why this is a bit suspicious."

"It's no wonder." Ed muttered. "I can't take such a shocking and confusing visit, especially when I'm injured."

"I understand you've been checking up on some of the senior staff, is this true, Major Armstrong?" Bradley asked.

"You weren't careful enough if he already caught you." General Armstrong growled.

Armstrong winced at the glare his sister sent him.

Armstrong looked surprised as a tensed beat entered the scene. "Um, yes, sir, but, uh, how did you know I was…"

"You should know that nothing gets passed me, Major." Bradley said before looking back at Ed. "And now you, my revered Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Revered?" Ed asked.

"That's not the point, Fullmetal. Do you not hear the music in the background? It does not sound like happy, safe music, now does it?" Myers asked.

"So we are basing everything about how something is going to turn out on the music now?" Al asked.

"Sounds like a good plan." Luke said amused.

"Tell me what you know about the Philosopher's Stone."

"In that situation, what would be the best choice?" Edward asked.

"What do you mean, Brother?" Al asked

Ed shrugged. "It's a difficult situation. He is my boss, the Fuhrer! But I barely know the guy and never worked with him directly. I can't trust a guy I have never had any personal or work time with. But then again, he is also the leader of the country, and I should trust and believe in him, right? So what the hell is the best course of action?"

"That does sound very complicated." Walkers groaned. "I'm glad I have never found myself in that situation."

"That doesn't help me!" Ed shouted. "This is why I hate the government and the military and the whole politics thing!"

"Which is why you spend so much time doing things the rash way instead." Falman commented.

Ed nodded. "Yes. At least someone gets it!"

Falman sighed. He did not get it one bit. He was just making an observation.

Ed appeared on the screen, staring at his boss.

"And I hope for your sake that you don't know too much." Bradley continued

Hughes and Armstrong were shown standing behind Bradley before Ed and Al were shown.

Bradley was seen again, and after a few seconds, he started laughing, surprising the four. "I'm only kidding." He said, putting a hand to Ed's shoulder. "There's no reason for you to be so uptight."

"Not funny!" Ed cried, clutching his shirt where his heart was.

"Hey, at least now you don't have to tell him anything." Darius said cheerfully.

"Brother, doesn't it seem like Fuhrer Bradley knows something?" Al asked.

Ed blinked. "What do you mean, Al?"

Al shrugged. "Well, he said he hopes you don't know too much for your sake. It just seems like a strange thing to say if he doesn't know anything."

Hughes's eyes narrowed. "That does seem strange." So that meant there was something more to this strange visit.

"Huh?" Ed said, looking absolutely shocked.

Bradley removed his hand from Ed's shoulder. "I know that there's been some suspicious activity within the military lately. And I believe it's necessary that something be done about it." He picked a paper off the table.

"Oh, uh, that's…" Armstrong said.

"A list of the researchers assigned to study the Philosopher's Stone." Bradley said, not taking his eyes off the list. "Every person listed in this document has been reported missing. They all vanished several days before the fifth laboratory collapsed. It seems the enemy is always one step ahead of us. Even with my vast network of informants, I have no way to determine how far our ranks have been infiltrated. The most we know about them is that they know a lot about us."

"Isn't it strange that the Fuhrer isn't here?" Luke suddenly asked. "He seems to know what is going on so why wouldn't he be here with us to see the truth?"

General Armstrong frowned. That was a very good question. Maybe he had nothing to do with saving this country, even if he did know what was going on. If that was so, then he was a horrible leader. It was his duty to protect this country. He should at least have a part in saving it.

"I'm fine with that. It would be so much more awkward if he was here." Edward said.

"That doesn't cease the suspicions of why he isn't here." Mustang pointed out, frowning just like General Armstrong. To be honest, he was wondering that for a while now. If the country was in danger, then the Fuhrer should be helping to save it. Now there were hundreds of theories running through his mind as to why the Fuhrer wasn't here with them. Some of them seemed to be plain ridiculous while others seemed plausible, but he just couldn't figure which one of them was right.

"We won't figure anything out by just thinking about it. We need more information so we should continue on." Riza pointed out.

"Right."

"In that case, this is proving much more dangerous then we imagined." Hughes said.

Bradley put the papers back down. "Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Elric brothers, you've all proven yourself to be me of a trustworthy character. From this point forward, I'm giving you the direct order to forget this matter and all that it concerns."

Ed and Al were seen to be staring at him.

"At this time, suspicion is our strongest line of offense."

Hughes and Armstrong were shown.

"Your only form of defense is discretion." Bradley was shown. "Do not trust anyone. Keep this to yourselves at all cost. However, when I deem the time is right to confront the enemy, I expect you to be prepared to join me in the effort."

Hughes and Armstrong saluted. "Sir." They both said.

"Where is he?" A voice yelled. "Has Fuhrer Bradley been through here?"

Bradley saluted quickly. "Got to go." He walked away from the four. "Damn bodyguards chasing my shadow."

"He doesn't seem to like his guards." Ed commented.

"You're one to talk." Maria and Denny shouted at him.

Chuckling nervously, Ed ducked his head down.

Hughes, Armstrong, and Ed turned to watch Bradley open a window and start to climb out of it. "You see, I snuck away to get a few minutes of privacy."

"He's climbing out of a window." Buccaneer said, grinning. "How indecent of the Fuhrer."

"I think there is something wrong with this State." Edward said blankly.

"You didn't get that from the monsters working in the shadows or the Philosopher's Stone being made from human life?" Dr. Marcoh asked.

Ed shrugged. "Okay, let me restate that. There is something wrong with the adults in the military, and it is not comforting. I've yet to meet one normal soldier."

"What about me?" Riza asked.

The boy eyed her carefully. "You're a good soldier, but you're a bit too trigger happy. I decided that soldiers just aren't meant to be normal."

Havoc shrugged. "Well, it makes life more interesting."

"My life is interesting enough without adding crazy soldiers to it." Edward replied.

"Ah, good point."

Bradley held a hand up. "Well, farewell for now." He put his other foot on the window ledge and jumped out of the window. He stood up straight and began to walk away while the four occupants of the room looked out of the window, still in shock.

Winry opened the room door. "Hey Ed." She paused when Ed, Armstrong, and Al looked at her blankly while Hughes continued to stare out the opened window. "What the…? What's going on? Did I miss something?"

"Not really. Just a tornado passing by." Edward replied blankly.

Winry closed the room door. "Well, I don't think there is anything I can do about that, but I did go and buy the train tickets you asked for." She held up a brown envelope.

"Thanks. Just in time." Ed replied.

Armstrong looked down at Ed. "You sure are a man on the move, aren't you?" He said as Ed turned to look at him. "Your wounds haven't even healed completely."

Ed looked away from the Major. "Yeah, well two days of sick people and hospital food is enough for me. Thanks."

"You are leaving after two days?" Izumi growled.

"It's not like I was too seriously injured!" Ed protested.

"No, you just got sliced up with a sword. Why would that warrant you to actually stay in a hospital and recuperate?" Mustang asked sarcastically. "You need to start caring more about your health."

"I do care, but I just don't have the time to be resting around so much." Edward snapped.

Hughes moved to stand next to Winry. He leaned down next to her to see the tickets. "Where are you heading off to this time? What's in Dublith?"

"What?!" Ed and Al shouted.

Izumi laughed. "Well, you two had to visit me at some point if I am getting dragged to this place with you."

"We're going to die." Edward said blankly.

"You survived running into her in here, so I'm sure you'll be fine in the future." Brody pointed out.

Ed stared at him blankly. "There are witnesses in here." He said with Al nodding agreement.

Izumi rolled her eyes. What dramatic boys they were. She wouldn't hurt them too badly.

Smiling, Ed patted Al on the back. "Well, with the way things have gone lately, Al and I decided we should go back and visit our old teacher." As he said this, Al started shaking.

"I think I'm too scared, Brother." Al said. The brothers grabbed each other's hands and both had sweat pouring down them. "There's no way she's not going to kill us."

"Look. Don't you chicken out on me now. I'm scared too, okay?" Ed replied.

Quite a few soldiers chuckle, while the others shot nervous glares at Izumi.

They already knew they didn't want to get on her bad side.

General Armstrong smirked. "This is a visit I can't wait to see."

"Sadist." Ed hissed.

Winry sweat dropped. "What exactly does this person teach?"

Armstrong put a hand to his chin. "It appears you have a rather lengthy journey ahead of you."

"How far is Dublith?" Winry asked.

A map of Amestris was shown. "Well, let's see." Al said before he pointed to a spot on the map. "There it is. All the way down here."

Winry stared at the map for a moment before her eyes lit up and she screamed, shocking the four males.

"W-What is it?" Ed asked.

Winry pointed at a spot on the map. "That! Right there! Right before Dublith!" She said before going into her weird happy state with Ed and Al staring at her blankly. "It's the holy land of automail engineering. It's Rush Valley!" She turned to Ed and excitedly asked, "We have to go! We have to go! You have to take me!"

"Yeah, whatever." Ed said with an angry twitch. "I don't have to take you anywhere."

"Now, now, Ed." Hughes said.

"No." Ed growled. "She wants me to pay her damn fee. She should go use that damn money I pay her with to go. I am not a bank."

"Well, somebody has to pay for my travel fare." Winry said angrily.

"I pay her all the time and so do her other customers! How can she not have money for a stupid ticket?" Edward shouted.

"What's so wrong about going to Rush Valley? It is on the way." Maria pointed out.

"I get enough automail freakiness from Winry, and now you want me to go to Rush Valley, a home of automail?" Edward scoffed. "It won't end well."

"I think Brother just likes arguing with Winry." Al said.

Ed snorted.

"Why does it have to be me?" Ed asked angrily.

"Come on, Brother. What's the big deal? It's on the way." Al said.

Ed turned away and crossed his arms. "Only if you want to, Al."

While Winry squealed and spun in a circle, Armstrong just stared on with a deadpanned stare. "Hooray!" She screamed before running to the room door. "I've got to call and tell grandma."

As she left, Ed and Al stared blankly at the door.

"Great, more of wasting my time." Edward grumbled.

"You love Winry so much, but you still complained like this." Hughes said.

"I don't love her!" Ed shouted. "And besides, not only do I now have to buy her a damn ticket, but the moment we get to that blasted place, she is going to see all of this automail junk she wants and will try to get me to buy it for her because apparently all the money I give her only goes to automail pieces and tools. Oh, wait, I have to buy that crap with my own money at times to."

"But you would have to do that when you guys get married." Hughes pointed out.

Ed screamed in frustration. "I'm not getting married to her, Hughes. Drop it!"

Hughes put a hand on Ed's shoulder. "She'll make you a fine wife someday."

"Didn't I just tell you to shut up?!" Ed shouted.

"But that was future me!" Hughes protested.

Ed glared at him. "Anything you do, you know you'll do it. Future or not." Hughes blinked. He wasn't sure if that made sense or not. "Don't start that again!" Edward said angrily. Laughing, Hughes put a hand to the back of his head. "I would rather talk about my wife anyway." Ed deflated.

Hughes was shown in different clothes. "It's time for bye-bye. Daddy's got to go to work now."

Winry, Elicia, and Gracia appeared on the screen to be seen standing in the doorway of the Hughes's apartment. "Daddy, come home early today, okay?" Elicia asked sweetly.

"Hmm, well, I can try. But Daddy has a bunch of important work that needs to be done." Hughes said. He squeezed his daughter's cheeks. "But I promise I'll do it as fast as possible."

Elicia laughed. "That tickles, Daddy."

Smiling, Gracia looked down at her kneeling husband. "Alright. Don't you be late now."

Hughes stood up and looked at Winry. "Well, Ms. Rockbell, I probably won't see you again before your train leaves, but it's been fun. Oh, and tell the boys I said good-bye."

"Thanks Mr. Hughes." Winry said before a happy tone entered the background and the girl gave a bow. "I really appreciate your hospitality."

"You just make sure to come back to visit us anytime you're in Central, okay?" Hughes said. "Our home is your home too."

"That goes for you boys as well." Hughes told the brothers.

Ed shrugged. "Whatever, Hughes."

Al sighed. "Brother. Thank you, Hughes."

Hughes smiled. "Til then, take care of yourself. Bye hun." He began to walk away from the three girls.

"Right." Winry said.

"Work hard, Daddy." Elicia shouted to his back as she waved. "Bye-bye."

Hughes held a hand up in farewell. "You be safe out there." Gracia called.

Ed shuddered. "I really hate those words."

"So insensitive. It likes you don't know what it means to have someone caring for you." Mustang scoffed.

"To me, those words are just ominous. Anything like that, just feels like it is giving off a bad signal for something to happen." Edward snapped with a scowl.

"I didn't think you were a superstitious type of person." Zampano commented.

Ed rolled his eyes. "I'm not. I have a thing about farewells. I don't like them because of things like this. They scare me."

"Scare you?" Riza asked confused.

Edward shrugged. "Hughes just made quite a few promises. In my mind I can't help but think, his family is telling him to be safe out there and to come home early. A farewell like that makes me think that something is going to happen. They are supposed to be pleasant, but nothing feels safe about them. When you make a promise in a farewell, it's just scary because you know there is always a chance you might not come back. It's the life of a soldier, I guess."

"Well, I say good-bye to my family like that often and I'm still alive so you shouldn't worry so much about farewells, Ed." Hughes said calmly.

The boy just shrugged again. It was different for each person.

A train was shown as it whistled. Ed, Al, and Winry were shown inside it as the latter waved at someone out the window. It was shown to be Maria, Denny, Armstrong, Gracia, and Elicia as the train pulled out of the station.

The train was shown on a bridge as the sun was setting.

"So why is it suddenly so important you guys see your teacher?" Winry asked.

"There are a couple of reasons." Edward replied. The passengers of the train were shown. "For starters, I'm a little tired of getting my ass kicked."

"Wait. Is this some kind of combat teacher?" Winry asked as the three teens were shown. "Why don't you just quit fighting?"

"How naïve." General Armstrong scoffed. "The world is not so simple that we can all simply stop fighting, especially soldiers and State Alchemists."

"To be fair, she hasn't left Resembool once. This is her time. She doesn't know the real world works." Edward retorted in his friend's defense.

"That is dangerous." Mustang said. "Kids who grow up in the city see the real world and how much trouble there is. Kids who grow up in the country don't have that advantage and do not understand the pain of the world."

"She should though. She lost her parents to the war." Al said.

Ed sighed. "But she still doesn't understand. Maybe this trip will help her."

"This coming from the guy who was so against going to Rush Valley." Jerso snorted.

Ed glared at him. "It is a dangerous place. I just know it."

Mustang rolled his eyes. What an over-dramatic boy…or boys he thought as he glanced at Al. They both seemed to have a thing for theatrics.

Edward looked at her with a glare. "Oh, that'd be nice. But sorry, it's not as simple as that." He closed his eyes. "This isn't only about our fighting. Our core needs a little work too." He opened his eyes to look at Al. "Right, Al?"

Al nodded. "Exactly. We feel like seeing our teacher will help us grow and make us stronger on the inside."

Ed looked out the window. "Yeah. We're going to need as much strength as we can get."

Winry smirked as she looked at Al then Ed. "What's reason two?"

"To see what she can tell us about the Philosopher's Stone." Edward replied.

As Al spoke again, the train passengers were shown once more. "And to ask about the truth within the truth."

"Mostly, I believe I'll be scolding you two and beating you up." Izumi said. "And I don't know much about the stone. It has never interested me."

Ed twitched. "Well, we can see if you heard anything at least."

"We haven't gotten any closer to figuring it out. There's a chance our teacher knows something about it." Al finished.

"Let's hope she at least gives us a chance to ask her." Edward said. "You should be more worried about explaining your appearance to her, Al." His speech faltered as the happy tone also began to falter to an end. "Considering…considering…" The boys fell into a miserable state. "She's gonna to kill us when she finds out what happened."

"It would have been nice to at least have had a girlfriend before I died." Al said.

Denny couldn't help but grin at that statement. At least one of the brothers wasn't embarrassed at that idea.

"Maybe you guys should get a new teacher." Winry suggested.

"Argh, can't do that." Ed muttered. "No one is as good as Teacher."

"I'm not your teacher anymore." Izumi pointed out.

"You can expel us all you want, but we will still consider the fact that you were our teacher at one point." Al said.

Ed nodded. "And we respect you too much to even think about getting a replacement for you."

Izumi felt her heart warm up at that. Her boys were really sweet at times.

Central Command was shown at nighttime.

"Riots in Liore?" Hughes's voice said.

The office Hughes was in was shown. He was reading a paper with his subordinate next to him speaking, "Yes, it's apparently in response to that sham religion that was preying on the town's people. They finally realized they were being suckered."

As the paper Hughes was looking was seen up close, he said, "Yeah, Ishval and Liore. The east has been a real hunt bed, huh?"

Sheska was shown to be passed out at her desk.

"I'm afraid it's not just the east. There have been reports of uprisings in the north and west as well."

"Sounds like a blood bath all around." Ed scoffed. "It's like the State values violence over peaceful negotiations."

Hughes frowned darkly. Each time Ed opened his mouth with something insightful or wise to say, he kept adding more and more thoughts to run around in Hughes's mind. There were too many blood baths happening around for his liking. Way too many for normal. Did it mean something?

Hughes's eyes were seen to still be focused on the paper. "The bodies are piling up all over. The government's going to have a hard time keeping control at this rate." Suddenly Hughes's eyes narrowed and he stood up as he put the paper down. He started walking out of the office when another tone entered the background, except this time it was suspicious and dangerous.

His subordinate turned to watch him go. "Colonel Hughes, is something wrong?"

Hughes opened the door. "I'll be in the archive room." He said before closing the door behind him.

"You're acting stranger then usual, Hughes." Mustang commented with a frown. "It looks like you realized something."

Hughes shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if I did, but at the moment, I'm not sure what it is. I don't have the resources I need to figure it out." Even though he said that, his thoughts were still spinning around and a map of the country was forming in his mind.

His two subordinates stared at the closed door then at each other.

A pen was shown to be circling a city. "Liore." Hughes said. The dark room was scanned over. "These endless uprisings…The Philosopher's Stone…human sacrifices." Hughes appeared on the screen. "And the outright genocide of the Ishvalan people." He picked up the map. "And this means, how could this even happen? And who could have orchestrated something as terrible as this?"

"Hughes knows what is going on!" Ed said, but he didn't sound excited. He sounded nervous.

"What's wrong with you?" Hughes asked.

"You went to the archive alone after I told you about those strange people in the lab. They came out of nowhere!" Ed shouted. "You don't go alone! You're a soldier! You should know better then to go alone when you are dealing with something dangerous."

"If what Fullmetal is saying is that you are in grave danger, then let's hope your future safe gets out of there quickly." Miles said with a frown. That ominous feeling that Ed had earlier…Miles really hoped nothing happened.

Footsteps echoed around as a shadow moved along the wall where Hughes was.

"I have to tell the Fuhrer right away." Hughes said as the door to the room was closed.

"Oh, shit." Ed groaned. "Someone's there. You need to pay more attention to your surroundings, Hughes! Or take a partner! Don't you soldiers get a partner for a reason?" He couldn't believe this! At this rate, someone was going to hurt!

Hughes looked up in shock. Lust was shown to be standing by the door.

"That bitch!" Ed and Mustang shouted.

Dr. Marcoh sighed sadly. "There is no escape now."

"No. There is always a way!" Ed growled. "There is only no way when you don't try!"

"Even if he does escape here, they will hunt him down to stop the spread of this news. Not only that, his family will be in grave danger. These monsters do not stop ever." Dr. Marcoh explained

Hughes clenched his fists. His family? Oh, hell no. He would not let those monsters anyway near his family. He would do whatever it takes to keep them safe.

"Hello Lieutenant Colonel." Lust greeted. "It's nice to meet you. Well, actually, hello isn't really the word I'm looking for." She lifted her claws.

Hughes backed away slowly while Lust moved slowly forward.

Hughes's eyes narrowed in on her chest where the tattoo was. "Cool tattoo you got there."

"Those are your last words? Wouldn't you rather scream?" Lust asked as Hughes continued to back up. Her nails suddenly extended rapidly. At the same time that she thrust them forward, Hughes pulled a throwing knife from his back and threw it at her.

Sheska gripped the edges of her skirt fearfully while biting her bottom lip to keep from screaming. She was always scared watching Ed and Al fight, but they were martial artists and alchemists. They were trained to be evasive and to protect themselves. But Hughes was a soldier. His specialty wasn't martial arts or the evasive skills that the Elric brothers had. She really, really hoped that he was trained well enough and kept up on his training. If he didn't, he was going to die here.

Hughes lurched forward suddenly in pain. A painful groan escaped from him.

"This certainly hurts a lot." He muttered out.

"Where all do you hurt?" Mustang asked worriedly.

"Just my shoulder. I should have been able to dodge mostly since it is just my shoulder." Hughes commented

The doors of the room were shown from the hallway before Hughes opened one and stumbled out of the room. He fell to the ground where he grabbed his bleeding shoulder.

"At least it is only your shoulder." Havoc said with a sigh of relief.

"Did you kill the freaky lady?" Edward asked, hoping that it was true. Then Hughes would be safe and all would be good…Hopefully.

He rolled onto his stomach before pushing himself up to his knees. Once he was back on his feet, he stumbled a bit before leaning on the wall, leaving a trail of blood behind on the ground and the wall. "Damn it." He muttered.

Inside the room, Lust was shown with a knife in her forehead. She reached up and pulled the knife from her head.

"What the hell?" Edward shouted. No way. This could not be possible. That should have killed the bitch. "There is no way she can still be alive after that."

"I fear these monsters are more dangerous than you realize." Dr. Marcoh said darkly. "Sadly, their core is a Philosopher's Stone."

A dark look passed over Ed's eyes. Monsters and Philosopher's Stones. Just great! This could not be any worse.

"What does it mean that their core is a Philosopher's Stone? They can use alchemy?" Brody asked darkly.

Ed growled softly. "I don't know about the alchemy, but it means they each have a special power as you've seen. But I don't think that has anything to do with stone. Since their core is the Philosopher's Stone, it means they can't die. Any injury, whether it kills them or not, matters not. They'll just keep on coming back."

"So basically, we are all screwed." Avery said darkly. How could anyone create such monsters? What was this person hoping to accomplish by doing

this to them all?

"There is one positive side. They are not human, no matter how much they look it and are designed like humans, and as such, they cannot use alchemy." Dr. Marcoh said.

"That hardly makes up for the fact that we cannot kill them." Luke muttered. "If we can't rid them of this world, how do we win? How do we stop this madness?"

Ed, eyes narrowed, glanced at his brother then at Dr. Marcoh. "Human souls are not infinite." He muttered, confusing some people while others began to realize just what he meant. "Each stone has a limited amount of human lives inside of it. The stone is powered by them so all we have to do is make them use up the stone they possess. Eventually, there will be no souls left for them to use."

Havoc snorted. "That is easier said then done. How many times do we have to kill them? How do we get close enough to kill them without dying ourselves? These monsters are strong."

"Strong, but not invincible." Izumi growled. She cracked her knuckles. "And they will be sent to the fiery depths of hell where they belong."

Lust's eyes looked at the door. "'Damn it?' That's exactly how I feel."

The blond secretary was shown at her desk as Hughes stumbled into the area to use a phone. "Oh my, you're back again already." She said as she looked over her shoulder at him. "Who gets to hear about your daughter this time–" She suddenly gasped and looked at him fully. "Lieutenant Colonel, you're bleeding!"

"It's nothing." Hughes gasped. "I need a private line."

He stopped at one of the phones and picked it up. "I have to tell him." He looked at the phone while the secretary watched him in worry. After a moment, Hughes put the phone back down, leaving blood on it. "Sorry. Forget I was here." He said as he walked away. The secretary watched him go, but also shouted, "But, sir!"

"Why did you leave?" Al asked confused.

Groaning, Hughes glanced at the boy. "The military is not the most private place. It will stop outsiders from tracing calls and eavesdropping on them, but it won't stop them from doing the same thing to its soldiers. They want to make sure none of their information is being leaked."

"How distrustful." Edward muttered distastefully, but without his usual fire. Lust was still alive and was going to be coming for Hughes. He wasn't safe yet and he was injured and moving more slowly. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but Edward was really, really scared at the moment. If it was him, he would be fine. He was a little spitfire and knew he could take care of himself, but Hughes had different training them him.

A phone booth in the park was shown.

"Good evening. Eastern Command." A woman's voice said.

"I need you to connect me to Colonel Mustang right away." Hughes demanded.

"I'm sorry I'm not allowed to connect from an outside line." The woman said.

"Che, annoying." Edward growled. "I really hate those people when you call from an outside line. Especially when it is an emergency!"

"You are speaking to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, and this is a matter of life and death." Hughes said angrily.

"Can I have your code please?" The woman asked.

"What?" Hughes shouted.

"That is why it is so annoying." Ed growled.

"Deal with it often, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, though without his usual energy as well. Hughes was in so much danger right now. He knew that. Hughes knew. All of them knew that. There were probably some who thought Hughes might die trying to get this information out. That thought crossed Mustang's mind, but he was desperately hoping that it wouldn't come to be.

"When I call you like that, it is an emergency, but I also don't have the time to give her a code." Ed growled. "Usually, I am keeping an eye on someone for a mission. Sometimes, I know I need backup, but I have to go without because I don't have time to call and give a code to some lady to get through to you because my target is on the move."

"There is a flaw with the system, but we can't have civilians calling the line." Mustang said tiredly.

"Are you trying to waste time?" He said as he pulled a book out from his pocket. A paper fell from it. "It's Uncle, Sugar, Oliver, then Eight, Zero, Zero!" The paper that fell from the book was shown to be a picture of Hughes, his wife, and his daughter.

"Your code was verified. Please hold while I connect you." The woman said.

"The music in the background is very eerie. I do not like this." Miles said darkly.

"It just means the danger hasn't passed yet, but we don't need the music to know that." Heinkel said darkly.

Footsteps sounded before a foot stopped next to the picture.

"Will you hurry? It's an emergency." Hughes shouted before the sound of a gun clicking met his ears. He glanced up, sweating pouring down his face. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Maria pointing a gun at him.

"What the hell?" Maria said fearfully. This could not be happening. She would never point a gun at her superior, especially someone like Hughes.

Quite a few people stared at her in anger or shock, but others kept their eyes locked on the screen or on others. This was getting so much more real. The information was shocking. The monsters they were meeting were unbelievable. And now they might be betrayed by one of their own?

"She wouldn't." Ed whispered to himself so only Al could hear him. "This isn't her. It can't be."

Silently, Al agreed with him. From what he knew of Maria Ross, he did not see her as a traitor. She was loyal and caring. Pointing a gun at a friend's back was not in her.

"I need to ask you to put down the receiver." Maria said. "Please sir." Hughes turned halfway around to get a better view of her. "Go on. Just hang it up."

"You look just like..." A dark smile crossed over Hughes's face. "But you're not."

"It's not me?" Maria said. She wanted to feel relief that she wasn't the one pointing a gun at Hughes, but she couldn't. It just meant that Hughes was in even more danger.

"Who the hell are you, lady?"

"I'm Second Lieutenant Ross, sir. You've lost too much blood." Maria said.

"Drop the act already." Hughes retorted. "You're not Second Lieutenant Ross. She has a mole under her left eye."

"It is good your observational skills are so good, but that isn't going to help you now." Myers said with a dark frown.

An evil smile appeared on Maria's face. "You're observant. I can't believe I forgot." Her hand passed over her face. There was a spark after she tapped her face and the mole appeared on her face. "There. How do I look now?

Hughes gasped. He put his hand on top of the phone box. "This is not happening. Please tell me I'm hallucinating or something."

The picture of Hughes's family was shown. "You really are a smart man, Lieutenant Colonel. But did you ever think that would be the cause of your death?"

Mustang growled quietly to himself. For this person's sake, he….she…it….whatever…had better not kill his best friend. He could not promise he would restrain himself if anything at all happened to Hughes.

"Come on. Have a heart, will you?" Hughes said as his hand was shown on the screen. "I've got a wife and daughter waiting for me." His hand jerked a bit and a knife came flying into his hand. "So the last thing I'm going to do is die on them." He turned around to throw his knife, but froze before he did.

Instead of Maria Ross, Hughes came face-to-face with his wife

"It's not real!" Ed and Mustang shouted together.

"Don't fall for it." Ed added with a pleading undertone that only those who really knew him could detect. There was no longer a doubt in his mind. This was that bastard shape shifter, Envy, and he was screwing with Hughes's mind.

An evil grin appeared on Gracia's face. "You look surprised." "What the hell are you?" Hughes asked in shock and fear. The streetlamp was shown before a shot rang out.

"No!" Mustang whispered hoarsely. Oh, he really hoped that it wasn't Hughes that got shot. Please, please, let it have been another soldier that was there and saw what was happening.

A phone was shown to be ringing. Mustang picked it up.

"There's a Lieutenant Colonel Hughes on hold for you. He claims it's urgent." The lady on the line said.

Mustang stood up straight. "Of course he does. Put him through." There was a click on the line. "Look, Hughes, I don't have time for daughter stories." When there was no reply, Mustang opened his eyes. "Hey, Hughes?"

The phone booth was shown to be covered in blood with the phone hanging down.

A scream erupted from Hughes, who clutched at his chest.

Edward stared in horror at his friend, who slid off the couch to his knees in pain. Tears clouded Hughes's vision, but he didn't let them fall down his face. He got shot and was most likely dying, but this pain was nothing compared to the pain that his death would cause his family and friends. The thought that he was hurting them by dying was more painful then any other feeling of pain he could receive.

"Hughes." Mustang practically flew off the couch to crouch next to his friend. His hands grabbed his shoulders, but made no effort to pull his friend back into a more comfortable position. Even though he did this, Mustang was in absolute shock. His best friend was getting killed to get information to help the boys. He was trying to save this country, and was losing his life for it. That was the life of a soldier, but he never expected it to happen to his best friend who was in the information department.

General Armstrong glared at the blood that was shown on the screen. Losing loyal comrades would always hurt. It was never easy for comrades to get killed, especially if one was close friends to them. All soldiers knew what it felt like, except maybe….she glanced at the horror stricken Edward. He didn't know what it was like to lose comrades in the thick of danger, and he knew those boys would take this hard.

Armstrong felt tears sliding down his face. He covered his face with his big hand. It could never stand to see such pointless deaths, especially when it was a child or a dear friend. It just hurt so much.

Izumi briefly closed her eyes before opening them again. It was a tragic death. Despite her harsh demeanor, she had really liked the cheerful man. He seemed like a great and loyal friend. For him to die, it would be very difficult, and it wasn't something he deserved. She did not know him as well as her ex-students or the man's military friends, but she knew that much.

The soldiers had different reactions. Some had silent tears sliding down their faces. Other were still in shock, absolute shock. One of their own got killed in his research to help this country. Others realized the horror of this and knew it was true, but they didn't show it on the outside. On the inside though, their hearts were clenching in pain and they were grieving. Losing a comrade was never easy for any of them.

Harsh, shaky breathing filled the air.

"Hughes, you okay?" Mustang asked as a hand was shown to be desperately reaching for the phone. Another hand entered the screen and took the phone first. "Hughes." The hand hung up on the phone.

Envy stepped back from the phone.

"That bastard!" Mustang snarled angrily. "We should have known from the start that it was this bastard."

"Especially since he was playing mind games." Dr. Marcoh said darkly.

Mustang's eyes narrowed angrily. This damn monster wanted to kill his friend? Well, then he knew for certain that he was going to slowly fry that thing to death and enjoy every damn moment of it.

Hearing his friend's harsh breathing, Mustang looked back at Hughes and wiped the angry look away. His friend would never approve of it, but he was going to get his revenge. And he knew for certain that Hughes was not going to die after they were finished here. He would make sure of it. He would personally hunt down all of those monsters and kill them before they could ever kill anyone he cared about.

Envy looked down at Hughes, who was on the ground with blood pooling around him. "You humans don't make any sense to me." He said. "You throw away your lives for nothing." Hughes's blood trailed down to his picture to cover it with the blood.

"Humans are emotional beings. We do not just care for ourselves, but our friends, family, and country. To us, we are not throwing away our lives for nothing. What we do, we do for other people. As long as we make a difference, we do not believe that our lives were wasted when we die." Edward said in a detached voice.

Mustang glanced at the boy, but did not say a word. What could he possibly say? The boy looked absolutely shocked and miserable. He wanted to talk to him, but Mustang did not feel he could. Even he was in a state of shock. He couldn't say denial because he was a fully trained soldier. Denial was not in his system. Neither was being able to comfort a fifteen and a fourteen year old who were both scared and shocked at this outcome. They saw their mother die of sickness, but have they ever seen a friend get killed? The answer was most likely no. A friend was murdered and they probably were still trying to process it.

The music got louder in the background before Hughes was zoomed in on. "Gracia….I'm so sorry…Elicia." With Hughes zoomed in on, it was shown that he was shot very close to his heart. "Remember Daddy loves you. I'm sorry." His head dropped down to his shoulder.

Al wanted to cry, but at the same time he didn't want to. This was the future. They wouldn't….couldn't allow to this to happen. And for once, Al was glad he couldn't feel anything. He knew he was feeling upset and angry at Envy, but he didn't actually feel the emotions coursing through his body, and for that he was glad. From what he remembered from when he had a body to feel anger…sadness….it hurt so much. Those emotions just swirled around inside of you, clutching at your heart and making it so very hard to breathe.

Sheska had no problem crying. Tears poured down her face as she tried to steady her breathing, but she just couldn't. She didn't know Hughes long, but he was always kind and warm to her. He was a great friend and boss, and now here he was dying. His poor family…It would be difficult for them as it was difficult for her. She didn't have many friends because she loved to read so much, and now she was making them. But now Hughes was getting killed because of the corrupt darkness that was raging around this country. It just wasn't right, and it just made it more difficult to accept a friend's death.

The train was shown.

Hughes gasped as the pain slowly ebbed away. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as bad as before and was slowly disappearing to just an ache. But that ache had nothing against the pain in his heart. It may be selfish, but he didn't want to die. He didn't want to have to say good-bye to his family and friends. He loved them too much. They were the most important thing to him. He didn't want to cause them that pain.

"Oh, man, this is hands down the best apple pie ever." Edward said.

"Isn't it, though?" Winry asked. "Mrs. Hughes is a really excellent cook."

Edward clenched his eyes shut. He knew. He knew that the three of them in the future knew nothing about Hughes getting killed at this point, but it still hurt so much to just hear them casually talking and hanging out like nothing was wrong.

"If you put it mildly." Edward replied. "Not to mention that quiche she made for us is also pretty delicious."

Al was looking down at a book he had in his hand. "I actually wrote the quiche down on the list of things I'm going to eat when I have a mouth again."

"Well, she gave me the recipe so when you're back to normal, Al, I'll make it for you." Winry replied.

Al brightened up. "Awesome. Thanks!"

Winry chuckled. "I had such a good time staying with them. They're both really great people."

"Yeah, but Hughes is obnoxious." Edward said. "He doesn't know when to shut up and he spoils his daughter rotten." He put the rest of his pie in his mouth.

"He did come by your hospital room a lot to talk to you." Al pointed out.

"Every damn day." Edward said. He swallowed his pie and turned to look out the window with a smile. "He always made it a point to come and keep me company, and it didn't matter when. He'd even blow off work."

A smile graced Hughes's lip. It was hard for him to die, but he was glad to hear the happiness in Ed's voice. The boy really did like him. It was nice to know that he did care.

"We should figure out a way to thank him the next time we're there." Al said.

Ed stiffened. The future him would never be able to repair Hughes for all he has done because he lead him right to his death. It was all his fault. All his fault that Hughes got killed. If he had never told Hughes about what was going, he wouldn't have gotten involved and could still be alive this very moment. It was all his fault!

"Yeah, we should." Edward replied.

Ed bit his lip. He would not cry. He would not. This was all his fault. He caused Hughes to get killed. He had no right to cry, not when it was his entire fault.

Soldiers dressed in black were shown to be carrying a coffin as sad music entered the background.

"Do we really have to see this?" Al asked sadly. It was hard enough to see Hughes getting killed, but to see his funeral would just make it more difficult. He hated funerals. They were so sad and heartbreaking. He clearly remembered his mother's funeral. That was hard enough, but now he had to see Elicia, a little three year old who did not understand death yet.

There were shown to be in a cemetery.

A group of people dressed in black were shown before the soldiers fired their guns into the air. All the soldiers not firing guns were shown to be standing with their heads bowed in respect.

Gracia had her eyes closed with a handkerchief held to her mouth and nose while Elicia clutched her hand and winced as each gun went off.

Mustang was shown with his head bowed before Hughes's coffin was shown in the ground with dirt being thrown on top of it.

Elicia moved closer to her mom. "Mommy, why are they putting all that dirt on Daddy?"

Izumi closed her eyes. That poor girl. She had no idea. It was hard for a child to see his or her parent die and be gone forever. It was even harder for a parent to bury her child. Her hand touched her stomach briefly. Yes, death was never easy for anyone. It was something that hurt so much. All those emotions whirling inside of her hurt a lot. It was a part of life, and not something she wanted to think about. For now, she thought people should live their lives to the fullest. But even so, the death of this world should still be acknowledged, but not by children. Children should not have to see such things, especially at such a young age.

Hughes's grave was seen with more dirt being thrown in it.

"They're burying him, dear." Gracia replied.

"But if Daddy gets buried, then he won't be able to do all his work." Elicia said.

Gracia was shown with tears trailing down her face. She put her handkerchief back against her mouth. "Elicia." She pulled her daughter up to her chest and cried against her small shoulder.

Elicia reached out towards her dad's grave. "Daddy said he has a bunch of work he needs to do." Armstrong was seen covering his own tear streaked face at the little girl's voice. "No. Stop it!"

Silent tears poured down Hughes's face at his daughter's desperate cry. He really didn't want to see his funeral because he knew how much it would hurt him to see his friends and family crying over him. He hated to cause anyone pain. To see his beautiful wife cry…..to see his precious daughter not

understanding what was going on and wanting him back…..it all made his heart clench so tightly that it felt like he was going to have problems

breathing soon.

He's seen this happen to other families, but he never really thought about it happening to him. Oh, he knew of the possibility, but he never thought about him dying because he knew it would be painful to think about. He never wanted to leave his family like this.

Armstrong's shoulders shook as he silently cried. He hated having to see children at funerals burying their parents. It was always so difficult for them, and so very cruel to those kids. Kids should be able to grow up with their parents watching over them, not burying them.

Bradley appeared on the screen. His hands shook from where they were placed on the hilt of the sword. "Stop putting dirt on him!" Elicia shouted as Mustang lowered his head a bit more. "Daddy!" The little girl finally began crying.

Hughes's grave was shown later that day to be completed with a white flower wreath on top of it. "Promoted to Brigadier General, just for dying in the line of duty." Mustang said as he was shown to be standing in front of the grave. "You were supposed to be helping me work my way up through the ranks. You got it all backwards. You damn crazy fool."

Hughes chuckled, but it wasn't a happy chuckle. His death must be hurting his dear friend so much. He wouldn't show it. Roy would never show his emotions, but Hughes knew just how much his death was hurting Roy. He was crying on the inside.

"Colonel…"

Mustang looked over his shoulder at Riza, who was approaching him. "Alchemists as a whole. We really are horrible creatures, aren't we?" He said as he looked back at the grave. "There's a side of me that is desperately trying to crack the theories of human transmutation right now. I think I understand what drove those boys when they tried to bring back their mother."

Ed clenched his fists tightly. So they finally had common ground, did they? Mustang finally understood them, but right now, Edward was wishing he didn't. He was wishing that Mustang never had to know what they drove them if it meant Hughes didn't have to die. It just wasn't fair! Nothing about this was fair!

"Are you alright, Colonel?" Riza asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mustang replied as he put his hat back on. "Except, it's a terrible day for rain."

"What do you mean? It's not raining." Riza said confused. When she looked back at Mustang, she saw tears flowing down his face.

Mustang looked at the sky. "Yes, it is."

Even though he was so very upset at the moment, Hughes couldn't help but have a tiny smirk. It seems he finally got his friend to cry. It was a horrible way to get him to cry though.

"Ah, so it is." Riza replied. "Why don't we head back? It's getting chilly out here."

Footsteps were shown to be walking across the ground. "He said he'd be in the archive room, then he just left." One of Hughes's subordinates told Mustang. When they stopped in front of the archive, the man removed the rope in front of it. "But he had this look like he realized something terrible."

The doors to the room were opened to show the floor was covered in papers.

"So he must have been attacked in here." Mustang said.

"Looks like it." A trail of blood was shown. "He left a trail of blood that runs all the way down the hall." The man pointed down the hall. "Apparently he was heading straight to the phone room."

They were shown to be in the phone room, talking to the secretary. "He was hurt and he said he needed to call someone." She said as she dabbed her eyes. "But then he just walked out instead. He didn't even dial a number."

Mustang was seen walking towards the phone booth that Hughes died in. 'He obviously picked up on something big. He was going to call from the office.' The soldier standing next to the phone booth turned to salute Mustang. 'But something occurred to him and he used an outside line.' Mustang opened the door to the phone booth and looked at the blood covering it. 'The code that he gave the operator was only supposed to be used for military emergencies. So what was it? What the hell was he trying to tell me?'

Riza and Armstrong were shown to be approaching the booth.

"Colonel." Riza said. She motioned to Armstrong. "I've found Major Armstrong as you asked me too."

"Can't very well miss him with how big he is." Jerso snorted, earning quite a few amused looks like he wanted. Though some of them were strained, it was still better than the somber mood that entered the room.

Armstrong saluted.

The three were shown to be standing in a more private part of the park. "We have a strong lead on some potential suspects on the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Hughes."

"Then why aren't you hunting them down right now?" Mustang demanded.

"We are currently confident we know who committed the crime, but we're unsure of their identities." Armstrong replied.

Mustang glanced at the ground. "That doesn't make sense, Major. Clarify for me."

"I'm afraid I cannot." Armstrong said.

"I'm telling you to explain as your commanding officer. You're disobeying a direct order, Major." Mustang retorted.

Armstrong looked back at him. "I cannot tell you."

"Fair enough." Mustang said, surprising Riza. "I apologize for my tone. You're dismissed."

Armstrong saluted. "Sir." He turned to leave. After a few steps, he paused. "Actually, sir, there is another matter I neglected to mention." Mustang and Riza turned to look at him. "The Elric brothers were recently here. They only departed a couple of days ago."

"They were here in Central?" Mustang asked.

"Yes sir. For a number of days." Armstrong replied.

"And did they manage to find whatever they were looking for?" Mustang asked, looking in the opposite direction.

Armstrong held a hand up in a manner of a half-shrug. "No, sir. That would be rather difficult as they a pursuing a legend."

Mustang looked back at Armstrong with a smirk. "Is that so? Well, thanks for your help."

"What the hell was the point of that?" Edward asked confused.

"Basically a code." Mustang explained. "When we are ordered not to mention something but we need to get the message across, we ask the right questions to get cryptic answers to decipher. That way we don't disobey orders, but still get the information to the right parties."

"Hn, sounds like a pain." Ed muttered.

Armstrong walked away while Riza turned to Mustang. "So I guess he wasn't as helpful to us as we had hope."

Mustang crossed his arms. "But not a waste of our time. He was more helpful then he meant to be."

"Or I was as helpful as I meant to be." Armstrong murmured. He knew he could trust Colonel Mustang and that he was a close friend to Hughes. He didn't have a doubt in his mind that he wouldn't try to pass the information onto Mustang, especially since the man was Ed's commanding officer.

"He said they had a strong lead. Singular tense on a few suspects, multiple suspects. Which leads me to believe that they suspect a group is responsible. And his obstinate refusal to talk, even though I ordered him to, can only mean there's got to be an officer above me that ordered him to keep quiet. Most likely someone of senior ranking. The last clue was that he happened to mention the Elric brothers. They were researching the Philosopher's Stone."

Riza gasped and put a hand to her chin. "I hate to say it but it sounds like there might be some kind of conspiracy going on here. But how does it all tie together?"

"That's the big question." Mustang said. "But Hughes, I say he deserves answers. Once I'm transferred to Central, I'm going to start shaking things up until I find one."

"Sounds fun." Ed murmured.

"You always think it is fun to shake things up and make a mess." Havoc scoffed.

Ed's eyes narrowed. "But this time, it will be to find the truth."

"It doesn't sound like you to mix your public and private concerns." Riza said.

Mustang ran a hand through his hair and walked forward as he said,

"There's no difference between the two. I will become the Fuhrer of this country, and I will take vengeance for Hughes. I will do these things because I have to do them." He took his hand out of his hair and looked back over his shoulder at her. "I'm going after the senior staff. Are you with me, Lieutenant?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Riza asked.

Hughes's grave was shown before the three teenagers were shown with Winry and Edward laughing though it couldn't be heard since the music had taken over the scene. Ed looked at Al, said something then started laughing again before Mustang and Riza were shown to be walking away.

Before the scene went dark, Mustang's narrowed eyes were shown up close.

With the ending of the episode, it was silent for a few minutes before Izumi stood up. "I do believe we should head to bed. We will need a lot of rest for this as it seems everything is going to get much, much more difficult from here on."

Some soldiers nodded while others silently moved to friends and went to a room for the night. Ed glanced at Hughes, then at Al. The brothers, as silently as they could, went to their own room. That was how it was for everyone until only Roy and Hughes were left in the room.

After a few minutes of silence, Hughes spoke up. "I really wish you would get those thoughts out of your head."

Mustang blinked. "Thoughts?"

Hughes laughed harshly and glared at his friend. "Don't try to play stupid with me. We know each other too well."

"I won't let this go unpunished." Mustang hissed. "You're my friend and you were killed in cold blood. I will make that bastard pay."

Hughes sighed. "Revenge brings nothing back pain. An avenger is never satisfied. They only lose themselves on a path of darkness for something they feel is right. I don't want you to lose yourself."

"I won't lose myself. I will kill Envy and that will be that." Mustang growled. "I can't let these monsters stay in this country any longer. They need to be disposed of."

Hughes shook his head tiredly. "I agree, but I don't want you to be the one to kill Envy, especially if you have lost yourself in your rage over my death. It won't make anything better."

*Ed and Al's room*

Al looked at his brother, who was sitting on his bed dressed in loose black shorts and a white t-shirt. "Brother?" He asked quietly.

"Hughes wasn't supposed to die." Ed said.

"He's not dead yet. This is just the future. We can still save him." Al said optimistically.

Ed glanced up at him then back at the bedroom door. "His family will be torn up over his death." He murmured, clenching his eyes shut tightly. "And it's all my fault! He should never have gotten involved with us. If he hadn't, he wouldn't get killed trying to help us!"

The younger brother was silent. How was he supposed to be reply to that? He knew his brother always took on the weight of everything that happened. He constantly felt guilty for things that weren't his fault. It was just how Edward was. And at this rate, he was probably going to keep it all to himself like he did when he thought Al hated him. Al wanted to help lift the guilt from his brother, but at the same time, he knew it wasn't his job this time. As Ed's brother there was only one thing he could do.

"Brother, go talk to Hughes." Al demanded.

Ed's eyes snapped to his brother in shock. "W-what?" He hissed

"Please, Brother. It will help you." Al said.

Ed shook his head. "I can't. I can't face–"

"Can't face what?" Al demanded. "His nonexistent hatred?" Ed stared at his brother in shock, but Al didn't give him the chance to say anything. "You thought I hated you all these years, but you were wrong. Now you are scared that Hughes is blaming you for his death. Well, I won't let you feel that so you either go talk to Hughes of your own will or I will ask him to come in here to talk to you."

Still in shock, all Ed could do for a moment was stare at his little brother. It was so shocking to see him demanding like this. It didn't happen very often, but he knew the threat was real. Al really would go get Hughes if he didn't move, but he was so scared. Hughes was a close friend and now he dies in the future! He dies gathering Intel for him. How was it not his fault? He deserved this painful guilt running through his heart.

Al sighed. "Brother, you have three seconds to get out there! One."

Ed glared at his brother, but shot off his bed and was by the door before Al said two. He would not give Al the chance to take his will away like this.

*Main Room*

"No matter what you say, you can't stop my future self." Mustang retorted, hands clenching angrily.

"You are so stubborn." Hughes grumbled.

Mustang rolled his eyes before looking over Hughes's shoulder and squinting his eyes. The only light on was the one by them so it was hard to see who was standing in the darkness. Even so, those gold eyes really do seem to glow in the darkness. Sighing, Mustang stood up. He may not be able to comfort the kid, but Hughes could do it really well. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hughes." He said quietly before slipping away to a bedroom.

Hughes watched him go and only when he heard the bedroom door close did he speak, "You can come out of the darkness."

Uneven footsteps approached the couch and sat about a foot away from Hughes. "Hughes." Edward said.

Smiling softly, the man ruffled Ed's golden hair briefly. "Did my death scare you that badly?" He asked with a sad undertone.

"You weren't supposed to die!" Ed shouted in a whisper.

"No one is supposed to be killed." Hughes replied softly. "But it happens. We are soldiers. We know our chance of dying is likely."

"In a war, but in Central?" Ed snorted. His gold eyes looked at Hughes before dropping down to his lap where his automail hand was clenching his flesh hand tightly. "I'm sorry."

Hughes blinked, quite confused about his death. Yeah, his death was horrible. No one wanted to die, but it's not like Ed was the one to shoot him. "Sorry for what?" He asked softly, but he felt that he knew the answer. From what he has seen so far, the boy had a tendency–

"For getting you killed."

–to feel guilty for things that weren't his fault.

The soldier sighed and rubbed his still aching chest. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was." Ed retorted angrily. "If I didn't tell you anything….I shouldn't tell anyone anything. I just get them in trouble!"

"Then you would be in trouble without backup." Hughes reprimanded. "I'm a soldier, Ed. This is my job. To gather Intel to help you out. You can't do it all by yourself."

Ed shook frowned. "The moment I tell an adult what is going on to get help, he gets killed!"

"There is a risk with every job in the military." Hughes replied. "I didn't want to die, but I do not blame you, Edward. None of this was your fault. You are a very dear friend to me, and I make it a point to help my friends whenever they need it. I could never blame you. We all have a choice to make. You gave me the information that you knew, but Major Armstrong and I were the ones to choose to act on it. We could have let it go, but you are a friend and this country is in danger. It is our job to protect it and help each other. It is what friends do for each other."

Golden eyes clenched shut tightly to keep the tears filling up in them shut. He would not cry. Too many tears were being spilled today. "I never wanted you dead." He said hoarsely with his face turned to the ceiling, but he didn't see it as his were still shut. "I found you annoying at times, Hughes, but I never hated it. I never hated your actions. I liked that I could always find a place at your house when I was in Central, even if I didn't take you up on the offer. It was comforting to just know it was there."

Hughes watched the boy silently as he waited for him to finish. He would not interrupt while he was talking. He knew if he did, Ed would stop and he would never continue on with what he was going to say.

"You were the first person to make it feel like I had a father again. Colonel….he's not like you. He cares, I know he does, but he and you are different people. He is more like an overbearing older brother that likes to aggravate me, but still watches over me closely. You are the one who is always so warm and welcomes me with wide arms. It is just nice to know that there are people waiting for me. I don't want you dead, Hughes." Edward whispered, not opening his eyes for he knew if he did, the tears would come sliding out.

Edward paused and licked his lips. This was so embarrassing. He hated to talk like this. It wasn't who he was, but he didn't feel like he could stop. "You guys are my family now. Al is my only blood relative left, but I feel as if Mustang….Riza…the team….you….Gracia…Elicia…I want to think of you as my new family. I have so much fun hanging with them all when we are off duty. And now you…you've been killed because of my problems."

Eyes shining with sadness, Hughes shifted closer to the boy and pulled him into his chest. He felt the boy stiffen, but didn't give him a chance to pull away because he put his hand firmly on Ed's head to keep it on his chest. "We all think the same of you and Al. You may be a strong alchemist, but you are still a kid so I know Mustang and his team always felt the need to watch over you when you were younger."

Ed sat limply on the couch. His head was still against Hughes's chest, but his eyes stayed shut. It wasn't fair. Why was it that Hughes had to die? He had a surrogate family now, but they were still drying…it wasn't fair!

"Hughes." Edward said softly. "I don't care if it will affect things, but when we get out of here, I won't let you die a second time."

Hughes chuckled. "To be honest, I would love that, Edward. I don't want to leave my dear family like this."

Ed snorted. "Always about the family with you."

Chuckling, Hughes buried his face in Ed's soft hair. If he couldn't get to his wife and daughter right now, then he would take one of his surrogate sons. Right now, he just needed some of his family by his side. Ed wasn't the only one in need of comfort. Hughes was a mess inside. He didn't want to die, nor did he want his best friend chasing at Envy with his mind full of rage and revenge. It would hurt so much to see all that rage in Roy.

When Ed felt to first warm drop hit his cheek, he had thought it was him crying until he felt the chest he was leaning on shaking. Another drop hit his cheek and slid down his face to his neck.

Ed opened his mouth to say something, but chose not to and instead closed it again. He didn't know what to say, but he also guessed that Hughes didn't want words. It was difficult to see your death coming and leaving all the loved ones behind. Right now, silence was the best option. That, and the comfort that Hughes needed.

Hughes felt Ed shift in his sit and started to let the boy go until he felt one of the boy's arms move around to his back. Smiling sadly, Hughes tightened his hold on Ed. He was glad that Ed chose to stay. The boy was strong, but also kind. He understood the pain that Elicia would be going through at having to see her dad buried. And because he understood that pain, he understood how much it hurt for Hughes to see his daughter and wife so upset. The pain of losing a loved one…..

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A/N: THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE CH OF THIS FIC.

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