With the lives they've lived, Maes was fairly used to terrible situations. He was even used to talking them out with Roy, usually at a loud bar, or on the phone at three in the morning. It's been awhile since he was so horrified, speechless and stunned, though, so sue him. He walked up to the cabinet in the corner, ignored Roy's alarmed "Hey!" as he quickly found his secret booze stash behind a few smaller books, and returned to the table with an opened bottle.

What should they do with him, indeed. Now that Roy made him aware of Edwards… issue, the one-sided conversation he'd overheard was making a disturbing amount of sense. A condition, caused by the early trauma… Maes has had the misfortune of working with people who were never quite the same after Ishval. Let's just say, there was a good reason they made mental fitness evaluations mandatory for all officers a few years ago. Come to think of it…

"If what you're saying is true, then Roy, how the hell did he pass his first mental eval?"

Oh no. That was Roy's guilty face.

"I see. He didn't. Did he even have one?"

"…No. I have some connections amongst those who evaluated us after the war. Since he is still a minor, after some… persuasion, they allowed me to report on his performance and personal qualities instead."

"And let me guess: you lie your ass off on those reports."

"Let's just say, I exercise my ability to accentuate the positives and praise my subordinates."

Maes heaved a big sigh. Overstepping his authority and trampling all over military regulations to help his team. Well, everyone has their little quirks. Speaking of.

"Are you sure this is wise, though? The boy does need help. Even overlooking the biggest issue here, you can't just keep throwing him into one dangerous situation after another and expect him to be fine. He's just a child, Roy, and children might be a bit more flexible with trauma, but if you don't take care of this sometime soon, one day I'll be too much. What's to say his little bro won't tell him to come see him in the next world?"

"God, Maes… Don't you think I'm aware of that? I know this is a big risk. He's already acting strange, has been since I brought him in, in fact. It's like he's looking for something important, but he won't tell me what, or let me help. Even his mission reports, if you can call them that, are so full of holes you can use them as a percolator. But with all this, as far as I'm aware, he's never actually harmed anyone, Maes. Wherever I send him, whatever his secret mission is, he doesn't allow it to stop him from helping. You know what they call him out in the country? The alchemist of the people. You don't get that kind of reputation by acting selfish or crazy."

Maes has known Roy for years, and the things he didn't say rang in his ears just as loudly as those he did. 'I can't let him go, because I need him. As much as I wish I could put him first, his successes are my successes, so he's helping me climb the ladder.' Also, 'Even if I did let him go, all it will do is take him away from me, and then I'll be even more unable to help. While he's one of mine, at least I can protect him.'

Maes could understand both motivations, he also didn't have a single doubt that the protectiveness would overcome anything else in a heartbeat, so there was no harm in cutting Roy some slack.

"Well, what are you going to do now? You must have some ideas, I know you, you wouldn't have started this conversation if you hadn't."

"Right now, I think what Edward needs the most is a break. He also needs to be safely away from East City while we hunt down Scar. Out of all widely known state alchemists, he is the most vulnerable. That has always been true, but now it's especially important. So I'm going to send him away for a while."

"What do you have in mind? Also, he can't travel alone right now, Roy, so he'll need an escort."

"Exactly. There's been some small-time trouble in the southeast, just inside Ishvalan borders. As you probably know, the new railroad is supposed to be built by the country's perimeter, to connect all the border transit points and enable us to send troops to any point of the border, at any time. I recently received a report that the workers had run into an ongoing problem and have need of an alchemist to resolve it. It shouldn't be a hard for Edward. There's little to no danger of a fight breaking out in the region, right now there's nothing but desert and rubble there for many kilometers. But you are right, Edward can't go alone. I can't go with him, nor do I have another state alchemist under my jurisdiction. But you do."

"You mean Alex Armstrong? Didn't they tell you on the phone that he's injured?"

As far as Maes understood from listening in on that conversation, Armstrong had found Scar only a few minutes after he abandoned the fight with Edward. The major had fought him to the best of his ability, but the bastard destroyed his left ear and fled when the police caught up with them. A tough customer, indeed.

"He was, but the damage was only cosmetic, his hearing is undamaged and he didn't lose much blood. He didn't even take medical leave, so he's considered fit for duty. Hopefully, this easy job will allow him some time to recover as well."

Maes thought it over for a moment, but the pleading look Roy was giving him was enough to sway him. It usually was. Damn that man. Maes could only do one thing to avenge his pride. He pulled out his latest batch of Alicia's pictures.