Central was beautiful. Ed noticed it distantly as he scanned the platform, searching for the man, Maes Hughes. The bastard had told him that the lieutenant colonel would have black hair and green eyes. He scanned the crowd of people, groaning to himself at the couple he saw kissing.
"Edward Elric?" A voice called, causing Ed to turn around sharply. Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes was not what he expected. He'd expected a harder-looking man, with a rough face, a bad mood. This man, however, looked as if he was none of those things.
The man smiled when he saw Ed, sighing in relief. "R一I mean, Colonel Mustang told me a lot about you." Ed nodded politely. Hughes glanced down at his suitcase and made the motion to grab it.
"It's fine. I can carry it." If Ed weren't so good at reading people, he'd have missed the small look of confusion that passed over Hughes' features. Hughes laughed nervously. Well, this was already awkward.
The older man turned towards the exit and looked down at a watch, clicking his teeth. "We should probably get going; my wife will wonder why we're late to dinner."
"W-We?" He stammered, hurrying to catch up with the tall man. This wasn't how he'd planned his evening. He'd thought that Hughes would drop him off at a hotel, then he'd get something to eat and go to bed and then go into the office in the morning where Hughes worked.
Hughes shot him an apologetic look. "Roy didn't tell you, huh?" Ed shook his head. "Well, long story short, he wanted you to stay with someone he trusted on your first mission." Hughes chuckled nervously.
Ed stared at him, open-mouthed, as they climbed into the car. T-The audacity of that bastard! What the hell did Mustang want from him? He wanted him to go on this freaking mission alone, but didn't want him to stay in a hotel room alone? Whatever, he wasn't going to interact with Hughes much outside of work anyway. He turned his attention to the passing scenery, too annoyed to enjoy it.
Hughes stared at him occasionally in the mirror for the rest of the ride. Ed caught him twice, but only as he whipped his head back onto the road. It only served to worsen the alchemist's bad mood.
Worst way to start a mission ever.
The Hughes' house was lovely. It looked nice; Ed thought as he looked up at it from the driveway. Hughes took his suitcase before he could even protest. The blond sighed, shoulders slumping. He's tired for no reason, which worsens his mood even further. He didn't want to interact with people he didn't know; he just wanted to sleep. Was that so hard to ask?
It's only seconds between Hughes knocking and the door opening, a smiling brunette appears. "Maes." She smiled, green eyes sparkling in the porch light. Looking a bit further, Ed realized she was pregnant.
"Gracia, this is Edward. The one Roy called me about." He gave her a small smile, extending his hand to her, and she looked shocked that he was doing something his age would never normally do.
"Thank you for the hospitality." He says politely. She stared longer, stunned before she shook his hand. He makes sure he uses his flesh and blood hand.
"Where are my manners? Come in, come in." She shoos the both of them inside. The inside is very neat at first glance, not a speck out of place, and it looked cozy and well-lived in. He guessed it was nice, not anything he'd been used to in a while.
"Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Maes dear, why don't you show Edward where he'll be staying."
"Of course." The two share a look before Hughes walks away, and Ed follows. It's awkwardly quiet; Ed doesn't care, and he has no reason to start a conversation, especially with a friend of Roy Mustang.
The bedroom is small but cozy. The bed sits in the corner closest to the window. Beside it, was a table with a lamp and a vase of flowers. A dresser is across from the bed; it's not very big, but it'll do. Ed's not really planning on using it anyway, not when he's not going to be here for very long.
The alchemist takes the suitcase from Hughes, quickly finding it a place on the dresser. Ed plops onto the edge of the bed. He pulls his knees to his chest. He feels unbearably lonely without his brother here. His eyes staring into the wall across from him don't catch as Hughes moves to sit down beside him.
He catches Hughes looking at him from the corner of his eyes. There's an unreadable expression on the man's face. He's an investigator, of course, probably trying to figure Ed out. He's probably staring at him with that concerned expression because he's worried he won't be able to do his job.
Well, screw that. He can do his job just fine. It's not hard to ignore his loneliness; he's done it for years. Plus, it made it a lot easier knowing Hughes, a man he just met, doesn't care about him. This is probably all just a favor for the colonel.
The thought causes Ed to spiral.
Ed's eyes burn. "Where's the bathroom?" He inquires, refusing to look at Hughes. He can feel himself beginning to fall apart in the makings of a breakdown. He'd never live it down if he cried in front of someone he didn't know.
"It's down the hall, first door on the right," Hughes says. There's something in that man's voice, something Ed hates. But he's too dead set on avoiding a breakdown in front of the man that he can't analyze it, and not that he cares enough to.
"Oh, and tell Miss. Gracia I'm not too hungry. I'll probably eat later."
He doesn't wait for Hughes' response.
Ed spends a good portion of the evening in the bathroom in tears. He hears someone walk past the bathroom twice in three hours. He stuffs himself into the corner, making himself as small as possible. His cheeks are wet with tears, and exhaustion glazes his face. If the blond had any faith in adults, he'd believe that Hughes and Gracia were worried about him.
Mustang had made it clear; this job was for him alone. So he had to freaking suck it up and do it alone. He needed to quit crying over something meaningless. He sniffed hard, wiping a hand over his face and getting rid of the tears.
He stood over the sink and allowed a few more tears to slide down his cheeks before splashing water onto it. He frowns at his bloodshot eyes and groans. Now they'll know something is wrong. He creeps out of the bathroom and down to the kitchen with a shaky sigh.
The light is off when he gets downstairs, which is unusual. It's only Ten o'clock. What's with older people and going to bed so early? He flicks the light on and catches sight of a Tupperware container on the table.
Something about the container brings a small smile to the blond's otherwise pale and exhausted face. He notices a note on the lid before he rips off the container in his rush to eat and ease his hunger.
Hmm. . .that was nice of Gracia. The note is short but sweet, telling him that these are his leftovers and he's free to have as much as he wants. She places a small smiley face at the end of it. For some reason, and Ed's not even sure why he does this, he puts it in his pocket. If she was nice enough to leave leftovers with a nice note, he's going to keep it.
In the end, nothing is left of the warm lasagna and pie that was there at the start. It was amazing. Gracia was an excellent cook. He supposed he should thank her. Well, he could bring it up in the morning. She'll probably refuse, though. What is it with mothers or soon-to-be mothers refusing tokens of appreciation?
He's taken to washing the container up in the sink when he hears a thump from behind him, and he nearly jumps out of his skin. He turns, seeing Gracia's tired eyes looking at him in surprise. "Oh, Edward," She gasps, "It's just you."
He laughs sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, Miss. Gracia, I finally got hungry and decided to eat finally." Gracia chuckled.
"That's quite alright. I just came down to get a glass of water." She quickly pours herself one and makes to head back up the stairs. She turns around and gives Ed a look. "Edward, if you need to talk about anything, I don't mind."
He nods, the lump in his throat making it hard to speak. "Goodnight, Gracia." He whispers.
"Goodnight, Edward."
He sits a while longer at the table. There was something in Gracia's eyes, something warm and soft. Something inviting. Gracia barely knew him but was opening herself up to him. Something warms in his chest. Quickly, he writes a short note before quietly scaling the stairs. There's no reason not to trust the family he's staying with, and he doesn't know if he can.
Despite falling asleep incredibly late that evening, Ed managed to wake up just as Hughes started to get ready for work. He groaned, rolling over, and glanced at the clock. Really? Who gets up at 6:45 when the job starts at 8?
He sighed and turned over. Who would ever want to get up this early when the bedsheets were so warm? His mind dived back into murky drowsiness, where he's floating into unconsciousness. That is until there's a loud knock on the door. For the love of... He groans.
There's a second knock before the door is pushed open. "I'm getting ready to head out to the office in a while. We were going to catch you up on the mission." Hughes waits for a response. With a groan, Ed pushes himself into a sitting position with an energy he doesn't have. He looks at Hughes with irritated, half-lidded eyes. Hughes appraises him with an equally tired but soft expression, and Ed groggily wonders what he did to earn such an expression when the man hasn't even known him for a whole day.
Before he's learned why everyone leaves him eventually (they always do.)
It shouldn't bother him. It doesn't bother him. ( It does).
Ed was downstairs and dressed in his signature outfit no more than ten minutes later, hair braided and all. The smell of bacon met his senses, and like a preprogrammed response, his mouth watered.
Hughes smiles at him and sets down a plate in front of him. Thankfully, Ed felt a little better this morning. Al's absence weighed heavily on his mind, but he felt up to conversing with the man who's allowed him to stay; plus, he can't avoid talking to Hughes forever.
"Thank you." He says. He immediately digs in and can barely tell the difference between Al's cooking and Hughes' cooking. He tried to ignore Hughes' stare while he focused on his plate. The man's expression shifted into something Ed couldn't read. Not that he cared about reading his expression at the moment. The food was too good.
The bacon and eggs were gone all too soon, and Ed realized he was in for a long day of work with a groan. "I can wash the dishes if you wanted to clean off the table." Ed offered.
"Yeah, that'd be great," Hughes said appreciatively. Ed set to work straight away, scrubbing the dishes with soap and water. He found it strange that the silence between the two of them was comfortable, especially after his breakdown last night. Either way, he was glad Hughes didn't ask about last night. It was hard to explain, and the blond didn't want to make himself look like more of a child than he already had.
Slowly, his shoulders relaxed. The heaviness on his chest melted away, if only for a moment. Maybe he'd been overreacting last night. . and losing his limbs, and his brother's body had given him anxiety bad enough that it would cause him to spiral. It would rarely cause a panic attack; Ed had quickly learned the signs and how to prevent it after one night of nightmares many months ago. Winry had found him curled in a small ball in the bathroom, zoned out and chest heaving so hard that she feared he would collapse a lung.
Ever since, he'd been working on ways to prevent his stress levels from getting too high. Whether that was hanging out with Al and researching, hanging out with Al around eastern command. He'd spent every waking moment of the past year with his little brother, which he figures is why he spent last night crying in the bathroom. Honestly, it's pathetic how much he relies on Alphonse.
Maybe it would be a good thing to make friends with the Hughes', but he squashed the thought almost immediately. There's no reason they'd want to be friends with a twelve-year-old brat with a temper compared to a feral, angry cat. He doesn't need them; he doesn't need anyone. Just like the night before, the anxiety and anger returned as well as the deep frown that had been permanently etched on his face since leaving the train station.
He's fine all on his own, and he'll show them. Edward Elric didn't need anyone as long as he had his brother.
Hughes talked a lot. He talked Ed's ear off in the car ride over to command, but Ed wasn't listening. He wondered what his brother was up to, if he was at the library, if he was out looking for stray cats. If he came back from this mission and found his brother taking care of a cat colony. . .well, that wouldn't be too bad. He liked cats. He made a note to call his brother later tonight; Al would want to know how the mission was going.
"RoyーI mean, Colonel Mustang chose you specifically for this mission." Hughes blurted, snapping Ed out of his thoughts. Well, that was out of nowhere. He glanced at the man who eyed him nervously like it would make him grumpy, well, grumpier.
"Yeah, guess he wanted to see what his new dog could do," The blond mumbled. He caught the Lieutenant Colonel's frown out of the corner of his eye before it smoothed into his normal smile.
"Did you get the opportunity to glance at the mission file? It's completely fine if you haven't, we can run you through the situation at the office if you'd like," Hughes offered.
The blond nodded. The case sounded interesting, break-ins and robberies committed with some sort of alchemy, turning deadly when the alchemist was confronted by a shop owner who'd still be in the shop and getting ready to close up for the night. At first, he hadn't seemed to understand why Mustang put him on the case until he saw the body.
The shopkeeper's corpse had been mangled. According to the report, his body had been lying face down in a pool of his own blood. Upon autopsy, the man's body was severely damaged. His throat had been cut ear to ear, fifteen stab wounds around his chest and arms, defensive wounds. The throat wound had been the cause of death, and the coroner had ruled that he had lived at least five minutes before he died from the wound.
The crime left a bitter taste in Ed's mouth and a fire burning in his stomach, especially after learning what had been stolen. Only 1500 cens resided in the safe, not enough to even buy a hotel room for the night.
So yeah, Ed was ready to take down the bastard.
Thankfully for Ed, the rest of the drive was quiet, and Hughes didn't try to start another conversation, but he did catch the man more than once opening his mouth like a fish before closing it. He hadn't thought too much of what central command must've looked like on the journey here, but as they pulled into the parking lot, the building loomed over them, a disconcerting feeling washing over him.
As if able to sense his mood, Hughes turned towards him as they stepped out of the car. "Stick close to me; newcomers tend to get lost pretty quickly if they haven't visited before.
If Ed thought the outside of the building was huge, the inside was even larger. Soldiers swarmed around them, casting them brief glances before returning to their duties. A few soldiers greeted Hughes, saluting him as they passed. Ed was impressed; he wouldn't think a Lieutenant Colonel would have much respect.
After a few minutes of walking, they finally entered the investigations ward, marked by a freshly polished sign by a set of double doors. The blond moved to grasp the handle, but Hughes' hand on his shoulder stopped him. The man had an apologetic look on his face. "I need to warn you before you go in. My team. . .they can be a bit much, but they're good people, they get the job done,"
Ed grinned, they couldn't be any worse than Mustang's team, and the blond told Hughes this. Hughes only grimaced before the expression fell from his face. "Don't say I didn't try to warn you," He chuckled and pulled the door open.
Ed had been wrong before, but he hadn't ever been this wrong before. Hughes' team. . .they were a trainwreck. The first thing Ed noticed was the paper scattered everywhere. The second was the four people running around the room like a chicken with its head cut off.
Hughes made an exasperated sound and pinched his brow. "This is what I get for leaving all of you alone," At their boss' voice, the four people froze; their eyes widened at the mess they had made.
"Boss!" A brown-haired man exclaimed, "We were一the printer malfunctioned and一and we ended up having too many copies, but then we lost pictures of the evidence in the pile andー."
"Lieutenant Wilder," Hughes cut the man off, "Just clean up the damn paper and find the evidence; the rest of you, come and meet our newest member on the case," Hughes looked as if ten years had been added onto his life and it was only eight in the morning.
Immediately, the three other men were at attention in front of Ed, bodies still in their salute. "At ease, no need to salute me," Ed mumbled, avoiding the probing eyes scanning him, judging him.
"Introduce yourselves," There was a sigh in Hughes' voice.
"Ah, right!" A ginger-haired man jumped, "I'm Lieutenant Stephen Lyons; I've been with Lieutenant Colonel Hughes for three years," The man was tall and lanky, with bright green eyes that reminded the blond of a freshly polished emerald.
The man beside him knocked his shoulder against Lyons'. "Nice to meet you, Major Elric; I'm Lieutenant Blaine Draper. I've been with Lieutenant Colonel Hughes for five years," Ed shook his hand. Draper was stocky with blue eyes and a well-kept beard.
Draper nudged the man beside him. He had an air of nervousness and reminded Ed of Fuery. "Lieutenant Rex Murdock at your service, sir. I've been with the Lieutenant Colonel for three weeks," The man gave him a shaky, nervous smile. Murdock was on the shorter side with light brown, curly hair, and he had deep brown eyes and a light beard.
"That dumbass over there is Vale Wilder," Lieutenant Draper motioned over to the man furiously digging through the papers. Ed grinned at the sight of Wilder finally finding the documents he was looking for and hugging them to his chest.
"Well, now that you've met the whole team and Lieutenant Wilder has finally found the evidence, let's get started,"
It took no time at all for Ed to get up to speed. He had already read the files on the train ride over, and there had been no new information or break-ins in the time it took to get to Central. The case didn't seem too complicated, but he could understand the others' frustration; there was no telling where this guy would be robbing next. Though, they did have some ideas. Most of the robberies had occurred at wealthy residences when everyone had been asleep. There had been alchemic marks on the safe's, which indicated that was the method of break-in.
Ed tapped the pen in his hand against his chin. Wouldn't it make sense for the next richest person to be targeted if the rich were being targeted? The four richest people in Central had already been targeted, losing well over two million cens from their safes.
The blond sat back. That had to be it! The young alchemist glanced through his notes one more time before settling back into his chair with a wide grin. "I think I got it," He said.
"Wait, you did? That fast?" Hughes looked astonished, and Ed nodded and handed over the papers.
"Yeah, I went over the locations of these robberies; most of them have been at places with rich individuals with places of business in there as well. My thinking is that his target are those of people with over five million cens and the places of business, like the bank, for instance, was to through the authority off his trail,"
"Makes sense," Hughes hummed, brow pinching, "But why kill that shopkeeper in the last robbery, and why not steal any of that money?"
"There wasn't enough money to steal if my theory is correct. When our thief saw that there wasn't enough money, he grew enraged, and when the shopkeeper found him, he lashed out,"
Hughes was silent while he stared down at the papers before blowing a breath. "Well, Ed, it looks like you're going to be taking down your first criminal tonight," He squeezed the blond's shoulder.
Ed couldn't stop his grin at the praise, and if he saw the proud smile on Hughes' face, he didn't think anything of it.
