Disclaimer: This story is for fun and educational purpose only. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use

I don't own FMAB MANGA AND ANIME, The Manga belongs to Its writer Hiromu Arakawa, and the manga rights belong to Square Enix and the publisher Monthly Gangan comics, and the Anime belongs to The Studio Bones and licensed by Aniplex of America (USA), Madman Entertainment (Aus.) and etc. And its English Subtitles providers and the English dubbing company by Funanimation.

A/N: Please read the author note at the end of the story, PLEASE IT'S A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, Just kidding, but still read the author note at the end. Please and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Truth Revealed

Bold- What happens in the episodes

"Episode Title"

Narrative

Regular talking/actions


Episode 30: The Ishvalan War of Extermination

Ling looked at Ed and the dog resting its head on his lap. "Ed, will you pl–"

"No."

"But Ed–" Ling whined.

"Black Hayate, attack." Ed ordered.

Black Hayate stood up and launched himself at Ling. He slammed into Ling's chest, sending the teenager flying onto his back. Ling groaned. "Not nice."

Ed sighed. "And here I thought you were learning that I'm not a nice person."

Luke blinked. "What is it that you want so badly from him that you are willing to get hit and so upset about?"

"Well," Ling started.

"Ling." Ed said warningly.

"Can't say!" Ling said quickly.

"Hmm, you better not say anything." Ed said. "Black Hayate, release!"

Black Hayate barked and ran back over to Ed. He nuzzled his head into Ed's stomach.

"Good boy." Ed said, grinning as he patted the dog's head. "You did good."

Ling pushed himself back up. "I think you are enjoying having that dog listen to your every command too much."

Ed looked up at Ling, an evil glint in his eyes.

Ling held his hands up. "I said nothing."

Mustang pointed at Ed, but looked at Riza. "I thought Black Hayate only obeyed your commands."

Riza shrugged, but smiled softly. "When he is with Edward, he'll listen to his commands since he is a guard dog."

Mustang sighed. NOW, Ed had a guard dog on his side? He didn't need a dog that obeyed his every command!

The opening song began.

"Humph," Ling grumbled. "You may not have sung that time, but I will keep bugging you about it."

Ed rolled his eyes and whispered back, "I only have to last out until we get a new opening song."

"Then I will ask you to sing that one." Ling replied.

"I only have to last until the end." Ed corrected.

"What if our future never ends?" Ling asked.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Then it means we have survived this and have a long life ahead of us when we get out of here."

"So I can bother you your whole life to sing me a song?" Ling asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"You'll be emperor of Xing, and if you're not emperor, I'll have the new Fuhrer extradite you back to Xing so I can be rid of you." Ed retorted.

"On what grounds?" Ling demanded.

"Whatever I can come up with to get you the hell out of my country." Ed snapped back.

A lamp appeared on screen as soft haunting, sad music began.

The chest of a man in a soldier's uniform appeared on screen. The scene slowly moved up to his face to show it was a younger Mustang as another man said, "So you've decided to become a soldier after all?"

Mustang looked up in surprise and a bit of horror. This was the last conversation he had with his master. His hands clenched into tight fists. This was a private moment between him and his master. No one else had the right to see it. And he doubted Hawkeye wanted to see her dad again. She suffered enough in the past. Why couldn't the past just remain closed?

Mustang scoffed and looked down. He was thinking that and yet, they were seeing so much of Ed and Al's past. Their past was so difficult and they had to suffer through seeing it again. Mustang had no right to complain when it was just one difficult moment of his past being seen. But still, that didn't make it any easier.

Ed's brows furrowed. "Colonel?" He said, frowning. "So this is something from your past?"

"Yes, Fullmetal." Mustang replied calmly, not indicating how hard this was for him in his voice.

"Who is speaking then?" Ed asked.

"My master."

Ed blinked. Huh, Mustang had a master? He knew that everyone had to have had a master at some point, but that didn't make it any easier to realize that Mustang, of all people, actually needed a master!

"You don't look that old here." Al said.

A twitch mark appeared on Mustang's head. "Are you saying I look old now, Alphonse?"

Al frantically waved his hands. "I would never say that, sir! I only meant that you look very young and…uh…..naïve here!" Ed snickered at his brother.

"He was only twenty at this time, boys." Riza said quickly to save Al from Mustang. "He hadn't experienced any battles or wars at this point yet."

Ed raised a brow. "So you knew him long before the military?" Riza stared at Ed, frowning.

"If you know his age at this time, you've had to have known him at this time." Ed said with a shrug.

"Yes, we did know each other." Riza admitted softly.

Ed hummed and looked back at the screen. So Riza and Mustang knew each other a long time before they were both soldiers? If they knew each other before that, they must have had time to build trust into each other and be so loyal. It was no surprise that they were so close then.

One of the man's eyes appeared on screen as it narrowed. "That's all the proof I need. You're not ready to learn Flame Alchemy."

"So you didn't create it?" Ed asked surprised.

"I'm flattered you think I am smart enough to come up with Flame alchemy on my own." Mustang replied.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Can't blame me for thinking that. I've never seen it used by anyone else and you never were forthcoming with information about it or where you learned it."

"Because it is a secret." Mustang retorted. "Or, it was a secret."

"Apparently, V.H. doesn't believe that there should be secrets among us." Ed grumbled.

The scene pulled out to show Mustang standing in front of the old man's bed where he was sitting up in it. "But sir, I am." Mustang said.

"It's the only thing left. I mean, haven't I already mastered the fundamentals of alchemy?"

"You didn't master them until you were twenty." Ed said, raising a brow.

"Not everyone is a genius like you and Al." Mustang snapped at him.

Ed shrugged. "I just thought you were smarter than that. Obviously, I had too much faith in you."

Mustang's eye twitched and he raised his hand, rubbing his fingers together.

Oh, how lucky Fullmetal was right now.

Hughes stared at his friend warily. He knew that Mustang and Ed always argued and insulted each other. But maybe those two were taking it a bit far….or they were just really stressed and taking it out on each other…Well, Ed was taking it out on everyone if that was the case.

"I could have told you that, Fullmetal." General Armstrong said.

Ed raised a brow. "Don't like Colonel?"

"No."

"How blunt." Al muttered.

Mustang sighed. He and General Armstrong had always been….well not enemies, but perhaps rivals for the power of Fuhrer was the right way to phrase it.

"Of course you have." The old man said. "And I regret even teaching you that much now that I know who you plan on using it for." He lifted a hand to his mouth as he coughed.

"Your master didn't want you to join the military?" Izumi asked as she crossed her arms.

Mustang shrugged.

Izumi glared at her former students.

Ed looked at her then at Mustang. "Our masters really hate the military. Did you get a rule not to join the military before he started teaching you?"

"He never said it, but I believe it was implied." Mustang replied. "He never liked my choice."

"I can tell by his words." Ed muttered.

"It's not surprising. Around the time of Mustang's training the war was going on for a few years and it was getting the military a bad name. By the time I taught you boys, the military's reputation was horrible and it had very little support." Izumi said, frowning as she leaned into her husband. "Joining the military would only end badly for you."

"Though Chief managed to work it into his favor." Havoc replied.

"That is because of his nature." Al said. "He is just always trying to help.

Even if it is in his own harsh way, everyone still sees the kindness in it and respects him for helping them."

Mustang smiled, though it was a bit sadly. "Fullmetal is probably one of the few State Alchemists that sticks to our motto."

"You and Major Armstrong do a pretty good job of it as well." Edward said, staring at the screen. "But since you two don't travel as much as me, you don't do as much so it is never noticed."

Mustang's sad smile deepened. Would Ed really still be saying that when he saw exactly what Mustang did in the Ishvalan war? Just how horrible he was with the use of his alchemy?

Mustang's face appeared on screen as he said, "But alchemy should be used for the people. Shouldn't it?"

The old man's face appeared on screen as he lowered his hand. "Hmm."

The scene moved to show it from behind the old man as Mustang took a step forward and raised his right hand.

"Master, our country is constantly under threat from all sides."

"And now we realize that it is all a set up." Armstrong said angrily.

"Does that include Drachma?" Ed asked curiously. "Or do they just really, really hate us for no reason at all?"

"I think all the countries hate us." Buccaneer pointed out.

"Xing doesn't!" Ling cheered loudly with a huge grin.

"Xing doesn't interact with Amestris." Ed muttered.

"That's only because of the desert." Ling replied.

Ed rolled his eyes. "And if there wasn't a desert, we would be enemies."

Ling paused for a moment before shrugging. "Probably."

"The military needs alchemists." He lowered his hand. "It's a matter of defending our homes."

Mustang's master's eyes appeared on screen as they narrowed.

"If we don't help–"

"I'm tired of hearing that vile verdict." Mustang's master said.

Mustang appeared on screen as he gasped.

Coughing was heard.

The scene moved to behind Mustang to show his master in front of him, coughing again. Mustang took a step forward, but his master held up his other hand to stop him.

"Is he sick?" Izumi asked worriedly.

Riza's eyes dropped to her lap. He was horribly sick. It was amazing that he didn't die sooner than this. It never showed, but she did love her dad and it hurt her when he died. Her father died and he was no longer there with her. It was the first most difficult moment of her life. After that, came Roy and her decision to give him the secret of her dad's research. Next came her decision to join the military and all the difficulties that came with being a soldier. It seemed like an easy choice when she decided to follow Roy, but it was hard to stick through with her choice and not to run.

"Yes," Mustang said, but he wasn't looking at Izumi. He was looking at Riza with a sad smile. Like Riza, it was hard for him as well. Her father was his master. He trained Mustang for years. Despite his choices in life, Mustang was still close to his master and it was horrible to see him collapse like he did. If only he had gotten more money than he could have gone to a hospital and got treated…then maybe he wouldn't have died.

"I can't stand to see you like this."

The house they were in was shown from outside.

"There's no reason for a man of your stature to suffer in this kind of squalor. If you would simply join the military." Mustang said.

"Yeah, because that would have made everything better." Ed grumbled.

"He would have money to take care of himself." Mustang retorted.

"Do State Alchemists really make that much?" May asked, blinking.

Ross and Sheska stared at her blankly. "You have no idea." They said together.

May stared at the two in confusion.

"Seriously, Chief, how much did you pay Sheska for her help?" Havoc asked.

Ed rolled his eyes. "That is between me and her. And that isn't the issue here!

We are discussing Colonel and his always trying to drag people into the military. Even when he first became a soldier, he was trying to recruit!"

"Shut up, Fullmetal." Mustang snapped. "I was trying to recruit him to get the money he needed for his health. I recruited you to help you."

"And for your own reasons." Ed retorted.

Mustang frowned. Well, he did have his own reasons for recruiting Ed, but he really did also do it because Ed looked so pitiful when they first met and he just hated it. He looked so lost then. It was horrible to see. Kids should not look that. He gave Ed the opportunity to get some points with the higher-ups, but also to save Ed from that hopelessness he was lost in. It would be hard for any adult to see a child who looked like that.

The room reappeared on screen behind Mustang's master with Mustang in front of him.

"You could get grants for your research. You could–"

"I don't need a grant for something I've already completed." Mustang's master interrupted.

"You finished your research?"

"Why was it so shocking?" Hughes asked, raising a brow.

"It is a complex alchemy, Hughes. He's been working on it for years. I thought he would never complete it with how complex it was and how little money he had to research it." Mustang replied with a small shrug.

Mustang's master lifted his face to the ceiling. "I've created the most powerful alchemy."

"It is definitely powerful." Armstrong said, remembering the destruction that Flame Alchemy caused in the war. He didn't work with Mustang in the war, but it was hard to miss his Flame Alchemy when he did use it. It really filled the air and caused destruction all around if he didn't control it properly.

"It would only cause tragedy if I placed it in the wrong hands."

Ed shuddered a bit at that. He has been on missions with Mustang and seeing him use his Flame Alchemy was a bit frightening at times, not that he would ever admit it. He remembered a mission with Mustang. He wasn't sure how it happened, but he remembered finding himself lying on the floor with Mustang standing by him with a cold, focused look in his eyes. It was the first time Ed had ever seen him so focused and angry like that. He just snapped his fingers and set the enemy trying to kill Ed on fire before pulling Ed to his feet and away from the area. That was the first time, and since then, Ed had grown so indifferent to it. He had grown used to it, and just handled the horribleness of it.

If Flame Alchemy was ever in the hands of an enemy, it would be so disastrous for them all. It takes a lot of control to keep it from getting out of control and to keep the size right. If the enemy had it and he was just evil, everything would be destroyed within hours. It was a good thing that Mustang was such a good man. Again, not something Ed would ever admit.

"And now that I've finished it," His eye was zoomed in on from the side.

"I've allowed myself to grow complacent."

Mustang's face was shown from an upward angle as he swallowed.

The scene moved to show the two from above and behind Mustang.

"We alchemists are hungry creatures. We must continue the hunt for knowledge as long as we live."

"Knowledge about everything, isn't it, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked.

Ed shrugged. "I like knowledge, Colonel. I can't stand being idle and not

coming up with new theories and ideas. And you can't say you're any

different!"

"He can't?" Darius asked confused.

Riza smiled a bit. "Colonel and Edward, surprisingly, have had their days

where they just sit in Colonel's office for hours and work together on theories

and discuss alchemy."

"Wait." Hughes said in shock. "No fighting?"

Havoc shook his head. "Nope."

"No yelling?" Miles asked.

"None." Breda said.

"Short jokes?" Avery asked.

"None." Fuery said.

"Insults?" Ross asked.

"They have only ever discussed alchemy on those days." Falman said.

"We are right here." Mustang said annoyed.

"You two have seriously…"

Ed rolled his eyes. "We do respect one another." He snapped. "Moving on."

The soldiers, who weren't from the East, just stared at the two in shock.

"If we forego pursuing the truth, then we allow ourselves to die." Mustang's master said before he was zoomed in on. "Trust me. I've been dead for a long time." His eyes widen and he made a sound of pain. The scene moved to show him from behind as he lurched forward and Mustang took a hurried step forward.

"Master!" Mustang cried as his master coughed harshly.

Mustang stiffened at this next part. He knew what happened. His master was going to die here. It was hard enough going through this once. To see it again would just rip open all his memories and feelings from this time. He didn't want to see him losing his master again.

Ed's hands curled into fists on his lap. Mustang's master just collapsed. His master just collapsed. His master just collapsed. Was he going to die? No, that couldn't be right. He couldn't die here. He didn't give Mustang the secret of Flame Alchemy yet. So that meant that he had to survive, right? He was only ill here. There was no way that Mustang's master died right in front of him.

Mustang's master continued coughing harshly as he fell forward. He fell forward, falling off the side of the bed as the scene moved to the top of a cabinet where a bunch of books were.

Ed swallowed his fear. Watching Mustang's master fall like this reminded him too much of finding his mother collapsed in the kitchen. She was bedridden for the rest of her life afterwards before she died. Like Mustang's master she was coughing horribly like this at times and she had a horrible fever. She was so weak on days that she couldn't even sit up in her bed. All she could do was stare at her sons with pain filled eyes and sweat pouring down her gentle face.

No!

Ed shook his head violently. He couldn't be thinking about that right now. He had to focus on watching the future. That was what was important. They were being shown Mustang's past for a reason, right? He had to focus on this. Maybe he would come to understand his boss a bit more if he did.

There was a thumping sound as he hit the floor.

"Are you alright?" Mustang said as he was shown to be kneeling by his master who was still half on the bed. He put his hands on his master's back. "Master Hawkeye!"

"Hawkeye?" Al asked shocked.

Riza sighed sadly. She knew this was going to come up. It had to since she gave Roy the Flame Alchemy secret. "This is my father, Alphonse."

Ed stared at her, gaping. Hawkeye's father taught Mustang? He looked back and forth between Mustang and Hawkeye. Hell, no wonder the two knew each other before they both joined the military and became close comrades.

Master Hawkeye's face was shown on the ground with blood trailing out of his mouth and covering the floor where his face was. "Look after….my daughter. She's in possession of…my research." Very softly he added, "Look after her."

Master Hawkeye's mouth dropped open, tears straining his face as he died.

Ed swallowed thickly. His master really did die right in front of him? He had no idea of how hard that would be. It was hard for Ed to lose his mother in front of him, but a master was on a different level than a parent. The pain felt in both moments would be so different. Different, but difficult. Ed knew that he felt so scared as a kid when his master collapsed because of her illness. He was afraid he was going to lose her. It must have been hard for Mustang to his master die like that.

And then Mustang got the research from Riza? His master must have really trusted Mustang a lot to give him that information. Though he didn't really understand why he decided to tell Mustang where his research was when he was just saying a minute ago that Mustang wasn't ready for it because he joined the military.

Riza tightened her fists. It was years ago. So many years had past since her father died and yet the pain of losing him was there. She was never going to forget the pain she felt when she lost her father. The pain of losing a loved one never went away. All she could do was move on and try not to think about the pain.

But seeing this past moment was bringing up all the pain of the past and hurt she was feeling when she lost her dad. She had her problems with her dad. They were estranged a bit when he was alive, but he still took such good care of her and made sure she got a very good education. Their relationship was difficult, but he was her dad and she did love him so this all did hurt.

Ed glanced at Riza than at the dog resting on his lap. "Black Hayate," He whispered. "Your master is upset."

Black Hayate lifted his head off of Ed and nodded. He ran over to the Riza and jumped onto her lap. He nuzzled his head in her stomach making Riza smile a bit.

Mustang glanced at Riza, smiling sadly at her. Master Hawkeye dying was a difficult situation for both of them.

The sad music got louder as the title, appeared on screen.

"The Ishvalan War of Extermination"

"We have to learn more about the war?" Edward asked, frowning.

"Are we in a history lesson?" Ling asked.

Ed stared at him, frowning. "History lesson?"

Ling raised a brow. "You know, being taught the history of the country."

"Uh…" Ed glanced at Al then back at Ling. "Nope, don't know."

"You've never been in a history lesson before?" May asked in disbelief.

Ed scratched the back of his head. "Well, Al and I stopped going to school when we were pretty young."

"Is that even allowed?" Ling asked.

Ed shrugged. "We come from Resembool. It's common for kids to stop attending school sometime between ten and thirteen so they can start learning their trade."

"I see." Ling replied. "That is different."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Being a prince, I doubt you would understand the life of those in rural areas."

"That's why we're friends!" Ling said, grinning at Ed. "You can teach me so I can understand it better."

"No."

"Why?" Ling cried.

"I don't want to deal with you anymore than I have to." Ed retorted. "And that wasn't the point of this. The point was about the war!"

"You mean how we are going to learn about it again?" Ling asked.

Ed growled. "I'm done with you." He said before turning back to the screen.

"What did I do this time? Or do you just want to be annoyed with me?" Ling asked, frowning.

"Ling, shut up." Ed growled.

A tree appeared on screen.

"So you're annoyed with me?" Ling asked.

Ed shot him a scowl. "I said to shut up!"

The scene moved to show Riza and Roy standing in a cemetery in front of a grave from a distance.

"What did I do to make you annoyed with me? I don't think anything I did recently is out of the ordinary." Ling said.

Ed growled softly, hands clenching into fists. "Ling, I swear to God, which is pretty amazing for you since I DO NOT BELIEVE, if you don't shut up, I am going to kick your ass to FREAKING HELL AND ENJOY EVERY FREAKING SECOND OF IT! EVERY FREAKING SECOND OF PUNCHING AND KICKING YOU!"

Ling blinked. "Eh…"

Ed's eyes narrowed. "Go ahead, Ling. Say something. I dare you."

Ling opened his mouth but Lan Fan suddenly leaned towards him and whispered, "I don't think that is a wise idea, Young Lord. He seems to have lost it a bit."

"Uh, Ed? Is something wrong?" Hughes asked.

Ed looked at him, frowning. "Of course not. Why would you think there was?"

'Because you were just threatening your friend.' Everyone in the room, except Ed and Ling, thought.

"You've done so much." Riza said. "I don't think I could ever thank you enough."

"It's the least I could do after everything he's taught me." Roy replied.

He reached into his pocket.

The scene zoomed in on the two as Mustang pulled his hand out of his pocket and held out a card to Riza.

"This was back when you had short hair." Rebecca said softly.

"I forgot you had short hair before." Al said.

"Not surprising. We only saw her with short hair once." Ed told him.

"I'm surprised you noticed with how dead you looked at the time." Havoc muttered.

Ed rolled his eyes and turned to Riza. "Why did you grow your hair out?" He asked curiously.

Riza smiled at Ed. "Because I met a little girl in Resembool who had long hair and it looked kind of good so I decided to grow my hair out."

Al chuckled. "That's a pretty simple reason."

Rebecca laughed. "I told her the same thing when I asked."

Ed turned back around, smiling softly. "It seems that you and Winry both influenced each other in some way in that meeting. She pierced her ears because she saw your ears pierced and thought it looked kind of good too."

"Really?" Riza asked surprised.

"Yep, you girls are insane." Ed informed her.

"What's so insane about changing something about our appearance?" Rebecca retorted.

"The fact that you have to see it on another girl and declare you like it and then go and do it as well!" Ed retorted loudly. "You can't just do it without seeing it on someone else!"

"I don't see the problem in that." Ross said.

Ed stared at the girls blankly for a moment before turning away. Girls!

"You should take this." Mustang said as Riza turned her head to look at it. "You can call me in the military if you need to."

Riza turned to him and took the card in both hands.

"You look…" Al said slowly.

"What?" Riza asked sharply.

Al chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was thinking you looked so cute and innocent." He said embarrassed. "You look very young because of it." He paused before he frantically began waving his hands. "Not that you look old. You don't at all. I just meant that you looked very young here! That's all I meant! I swear."

Riza laughed. "It's alright, Alphonse. No need to be so nervous. I'm not the Colonel."

"Hey!" Mustang shouted. "What is that supposed to me, Lieutenant?"

"I was only about seventeen here which is why I look so young." Riza told him, ignoring her boss.

Ed leaned forward, putting his elbows on his legs to lean his head in his hands. "When does that change? When you join the military or during the war?"

Riza swallowed thickly. "It's during the war, Edward."

Ed nodded, mostly to himself. He did ask because he was curious, but also because he wanted to be as prepared as he could for learning about this war. If Riza changed from what she was at seventeen to how she was now, it really must have been a difficult war.

Riza looked at the card.

The scene moved to show the grave in front of them. The grave read

"Berthold Hawkeye. 1860-1905."

"Let me guess." Mustang said. "You also don't approve of me becoming a soldier."

"What did it matter if she approved or not?" Ross asked confused.

"Considering that Colonel trained under her father, they probably met and became close friends." Edward told her. "That tends to happen when you are put in situations like that."

"I think it's just because Roy wants her approval because he has a crush on her." Hughes protested, grinning widely. "And who could blame him? Lieutenant Hawkeye is a very beautiful girl, even back then!"

"Hughes," Mustang growled, glaring at his friend and rubbing his fingers together. "I will fry you when I get my gloves back."

"Sheesh," Hughes said, frowning. "First Ed is making death threats, now you?" He sighed. "I remember when Ed first joined the military. He was so sweet and shy. But then," He glared at Mustang. "IT WAS YOU! You had to go and corrupt him and introduce him to death threats!"

"What?" Ed and Mustang screamed.

"That bastard didn't introduce me to anything!" Ed shouted. "And I wasn't shy at all! Your memory is faulty!"

"I don't know, Chief." Havoc said, grinning. "I remember when I met you in Resembool. You were pretty soft spoken then, and when you came to the office the first few times, you weren't really loud. You were polite and bit unsure of what to do or how to act."

Mustang smirked to himself while Ed glared at Havoc. It wasn't exactly as he planned, but his death threat got the eyes off of him and Riza and onto Ed which was what he wanted. He didn't want eyes on him about any of this, and he doubted Riza did too. This was a private moment for both of them. He hoped that no one asked too many difficulty questions or looked too deeply into this. It was already bad enough that their past was being explored like this.

"Your memory is faulty too." Ed growled.

"Am I?" Havoc asked. "What do you think, Falman? You've got an impressive memory."

Ed's glare moved to Falman.

"He was definitely much sweeter and more innocent than he is now." Falman said.

"Ha! Take that, Chief!" Havoc said, grinning widely.

"Damn it, Falman!" Ed screamed, pulling at his hair.

"Your father told me soldiers are left to die like trash on the side of the road."

"Is that so?" Ed asked surprised, dropping his hands from his hair. "I didn't hear that all from his words."

"It was implied." Mustang said, rolling his eyes. "Though," He frowned at Ed. "That wouldn't be your fate, Hero of the People."

Ed twitched. "Must you mock me?"

"He's not mocking." Hughes pointed out. "It's pretty much true. Anyone who finds the Hero of the People lying on the side of the road would stop to help. Not only because you are a hero, but if they don't know your face, they would help you because you're just a kid."

"Can we forget who I am? We are discussing Colonel and soldiers here!" Ed snapped. "Soldiers would really be left to die?"

"It depends on who comes across them." Havoc said with a shrug. "Some people just couldn't live with themselves if they left a soldier to die just for being a solider. Others would say they got what was coming to them."

"That is horrible." Ed muttered.

Al blinked, staring at his brother. "Would you have been any different if you weren't in the military, Brother? You never supported the military or liked soldiers for helping to ravage Resembool because of their war with Ishval."

Ed shrugged. "Who knows what I might have done if I never joined the military and met soldiers? It's a different path."

The scene moved to show Mustang's face from the side with Riza's next to him with her looking at him out of the corner of her eyes. "That may be, but I know it's the only way to make a difference. And I know I'll never be happy if I don't try to make this country a better place."

"You would regret it forever." Armstrong said mostly to himself as he frowned. He could understand that. He didn't follow the path he wanted to follow in Ishval, and because of that, he had this horrible feeling always residing in his heart. The regret he felt weighed him down a lot.

Riza turned to face Mustang in surprise at his words. Mustang caught her eyes and looked away at the screen, a bit embarrassed. "Man, I must've sounded pretty childish, huh?"

"You sound so idealistic." Ed murmured. "Both of you do."

"That is pretty normal for young people, Ed." Hughes told him.

Ed blinked and then looked at General Armstrong then back at Hughes while pointing at the General. "Even her?"

General Armstrong raised a brow, frowning at Ed.

"I'm sure," Hughes said, twitching a bit. Ed just had to pick her. "She was like that at one point. Even you and Al were, though you seem to have lost it in the past few years. And Ling is like that. And so is May and Lan Fan. It's a young people thing. Everyone was like it at one point."

Riza looked forward again, smiling a bit. "Not at all. There's nothing childish about caring."

"That's right!" Hughes shouted, grinning. "Everyone cares about something after all."

"But, of course, you shouldn't make that care so well-known, especially as a soldier. It can put the people you care for in a dangerous spot." Mustang said.

"Even if you don't make it so well-known, it will still be seen." Hughes retorted, looking between his friend and Riza, which made Mustang's eyes narrow at him.

The scene moved to show the two from a downward angle behind them.

"I'd like to believe you're serious about this." Riza said. "That you really do care. Can I trust you, Roy?"

Riza looked down. If she was being honest with herself, she gave Roy the secret of her dad's research because the burden of carrying that secret was so heavy. She trusted Roy at this point and gave him the research so he would help her carry the burden of the research because she just couldn't do it alone.

"Oh." Ed said softly.

"What?" Mustang asked, frowning.

"Lieutenant trusted you this soon?" Ed asked. "You guys really must have known each other for long if she trusted you this quickly with it."

"What makes you so sure that is what she is talking about?" Mustang retorted.

"Because," Ed sneered, smirking at him. "You said it yourself. My guesses have been really good lately."

Mustang rolled his eyes. "Yes, Fullmetal, this is when I got the research from Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"He had to get it at some point." Hughes said. "But that's not what shocks me here."

"And what is it that shocks you?" Brosh asked.

"She called him Roy!" Hughes half-shouted. "Never, in all the time I've known Lieutenant Hawkeye, have I heard her call him that! It's the apocalypse!"

"I don't get it." Ed said dryly. "I thought you were rooting for Colonel to pluck up the nerve and ask Lieutenant Riza out."

Mustang growled and glared at Ed.

"And now that she is saying his first name, it is apparently wrong! You make no sense at all! Can't you just be satisfied that they did, at one point, use each other's first name? It means that they probably have a slim chance of actually getting married!" Ed continued on, either ignoring or not noticing the glares sent his way from Riza and Mustang.

Mustang raised a shaking fist, wishing to hit his subordinate so much right now. "Fullmetal." He snarled, twitching angrily.

"I know we are all rooting for them to finally get together and save us the suffering of them tiptoeing around each other and those fraternization laws. So don't go yelling about an apocalypse wh–"

"FULLMETAL/EDWARD!" Mustang and Riza screamed at the same time, glaring at the teenager, who just glanced at each of them with a deadpanned look.

"What? Everyone sees it." Ed looked away with a sly look, but still looked at Mustang out of the corner of his eyes. "So either you two are really blind or are denying your love for each other."

"We see it, but you're not supposed to mention it." Havoc said, glancing between the three, shuddering a bit in fear. "Because we value our lives."

"Dealing with Hughes is bad enough, but if you start as well, Fullmetal, you will not live to see the end of this." Mustang snarled.

Ed scoffed. "I'm not scared of you, Colonel! Try your best!"

"Brother, please. We don't want any wars going on in here." Al said worriedly.

"He wants one!" Ed and Mustang screamed, pointing at each other.

"And once again, they are back at each other's throats." Breda said dryly.

"Can they please go back to dealing with each other?" Fuery groaned.

Mustang glared at the back of Ed's head. It was all his fault. His and Hughes's! He didn't love Riza that way! He never…Well, he'll admit, at least to himself, that he did have a crush on her back then. She was just so sweet and beautiful. She still was, but she was also a strong and loyal woman as well. Why wouldn't he l–Damn it! He didn't like her like that! Why couldn't Ed and Hughes just mind their own business?

"With my Father's research?" Riza asked as the sound of water hitting the ground was heard and a shower head appeared on screen.

"What is with all the shower scenes?" Havoc asked, grinning.

Ed snorted. "As long as it's not me this time, I don't care!"

"I think you are getting too much pleasure at embarrassing people, Havoc." Al muttered.

"Well, it all depends on who it is. Now, if it was Lieutenant, yeah." Havoc shuddered at that thought.

Riza's face was shown from the side, head bowed with her hair shielding her face as the water rained down on her.

"I feel like I jinxed us." Havoc groaned.

"It's one thing to see a boy in the shower, but a girl?" Ross asked, frowning.

Mustang growled to himself. How dare the future show his Lieutenant in the shower? Seeing Fullmetal was funny, but there was nothing funny about showing HIS Lieutenant naked in a shower. It was bad enough that part of her past was shown, but to show this as well? Oh, the future was lucky he didn't have his gloves or he would have fried the screen already.

Riza blushed a bit at that. She really didn't want anyone to see her naked. No wonder Ed got so red in the face and angry when he appeared on screen in the shower. Being stared at while in the shower would be so uncomfortable and strange. It would feel too much like peeping with everyone watching.

"If you value your life at all, you will all shut your damn eyes now." Mustang snarled angrily.

Sheska yelped and threw her hands over her eyes.

"Sheska, don't worry. He meant the guys." Ross told her soothingly.

Sheska nodded and peaked out through her fingers nervously.

"Does that include you, Colonel?" Ed asked sarcastically. "Or have you already seen it all?"

Riza's face flushed a deep red color at that. How could Ed? He should know that a shower scene was not fun at all and he was making it worse!

Mustang gaped at his youngest charge, along with some of the other soldiers.

HE DIDN'T VALUE HIS LIFE AT ALL!

Mustang rose to his feet, hands clenched at his sides. "You're dead, Fullmetal."

Ed glanced at him then away. "I should run?"

"You should." Havoc, Hughes, Luke, Breda, Darius, and Heinkel all shouted.

Al sighed as his brother jumped on him to flip himself in the air and behind one of the couches. Why couldn't Ed just keep his mouth shut and not mock someone for once?

Ling glanced at Mustang as he chased after Ed. His friend seemed to like to anger everyone. Did he not know how hazardous that was?

Riza sighed. His bosses were acting like a couple of kids again. Granted, Ed was a kid, but he was usually more mature than this. This only happened because her Colonel was so protective of her. She smiled softly. It was really a bit sweet how he wanted to protect her from being ogled at. He always did care so much about her virtue.

But now onto more serious matters. She was embarrassed but she couldn't let Ed be killed. She didn't have her gun so that would be a bit problematic when stopping them, but she wouldn't be Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye if she couldn't come up with a way to handle a situation without a gun.

Rising to her feet, Riza set a stern expression on her face as she marched to the kitchen.

*Kitchen*

"Now Colonel, I really think–" Ed yelped and ducked away from Mustang who tried to grab him. He ran around the island to put it between the two. "I didn't mean anything by it!"

Mustang glared at Ed across the island. "The hell you didn't! You try to act innocent, but I see, brat! I see! You've got a little devious mind and you know what the hell you meant by that line!"

"I can't help it that you are just too embarrassed to admit that you love her!" Ed retorted.

"Oh?" Mustang's eyes narrowed dangerously. "The same way you are embarrassed to admit your love for your little mechanic?"

Ed snarled and slammed his hands on the counter of the island. "Leave Winry out of this! She has nothing to do with this."

"You are right." Mustang growled. "The problem is you mocking my relationship with–"

"So there is something there!" Ed shouted, pointing at Mustang.

Mustang's eyes narrowed to slits and he gripped the edge of the counter tightly. "Fullmetal." He hissed.

"Uh…" Ed said, staring wide eyed at Mustang. Maybe saying that wasn't such a good idea. "Colonel, I–OI!"

Mustang reached across the counter and grabbed Ed by his shirt and yanked him across the island.

Colonel!" Ed shouted as he was dragged over to the fridge, which Mustang threw open so hard that Ed was amazed the door didn't snap off. "Wait… What are you doing?"

Mustang grabbed a carton of milk out of the fridge.

"No! No! No!" Ed half-shouted in fear as he tried to pull Mustang's hand off his shirt. "I don't want milk!"

"Maybe this will teach you not to make such comments." Mustang told him.

"No!" Ed shouted as he managed to pull Mustang's hand off of his shirt. But the moment he did, he lost the support Mustang's weight had on him that kept him up and he fell to the ground. Ed flew to his feet to run away, but Mustang grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back, which sent both of them to the ground.

Mustang wrapped his legs around Ed's to keep them trapped while one of his arms around Ed's chest to pull him into his chest and keep him there.

"No!" Ed said, pushing the milk carton away. "I'm sorry! I won't say it again."

Mustang stared at the milk carton for a second. 'He really hates milk if he is trying to apologize.'

"Well, too bad, Fullmetal. It is too late for apologies." Mustang said, putting the carton to Ed's lips, though Ed turned his head to the side.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment!" Ed screamed, struggling to break free of Mustang's hold.

"Accept your punishment like a man, Fullmetal!" Mustang retorted, forcing the carton to Ed's open lips.

Riza walked into the kitchen, only to freeze at the scene in front of her. Mustang forcing Ed to drink milk….How were these two her superiors?

"Oh, hello Lieutenant!" Mustang greeted cheerfully while Ed shot her a desperate look. He really hoped she wasn't holding a grudge.

Riza stared at the two for a moment before sighing. "Sir, don't make Edward drink milk if he doesn't like it."

"But Lieutenant, his mouth…" Mustang whined.

"Fine. Edward, if Colonel lets you go, you promise to stop with the comments?" Riza asked, frowning.

Ed nodded frantically.

"And if you start again, Colonel will punish you and I won't stop him that time." Riza said.

Ed made a disgruntled noise, but did nod in agreement.

"Okay, sir, let him go now." Riza ordered, glaring at her superior and just daring him to disobey her.

Mustang grumbled, but obeyed and let go of Ed, who flew to his feet and ran over to the sink where he spit out all of the milk in his mouth. He turned the faucet on and started to rinse out his mouth.

Mustang stared at the carton of milk then at Ed, who now filled the sink up with water and dunked his head in it. Well, this carton was wasted. What should he do with it now?

Riza stared at the two, not daring to leave the kitchen yet since she didn't trust the two to not start fighting the minute she was gone.

Shrugging, Mustang went over to the counter to find a pen or marker. When he found one, he wrote "Ed's punishment" on the carton and put it back in the fridge. No reason to waste the milk completely.

Riza, who saw what he did, just sighed. Those two…

"Come on, you two." Riza said, clapping her hands. "We've wasted enough time."

Ed lifted his head out of the sink, water trailing down his face. "It's the Colonel's fault for being overly-sensitive." He grumbled.

"Says the brat who has to drown himself in a sink for having a bit of milk." Mustang snapped at him.

"Boys!" Riza snapped, glaring at the two. "Enough. Colonel, you're an adult. Act like it. Edward, you're…Edward, just go back to joking around and hitting Ling. At least he is your age. And dry yourself off before people start thinking that Colonel tried to drown you in here."

"Too late for that." Ed said, walking out of the kitchen, running a hand through his wet bangs.

Riza sighed while Mustang just pinched his nose.

"He's a handful." Mustang said.

"You both are." Riza snapped at him before turning around to hide a fond smile.

Ed poked his head back into the room. "Are you two going to kiss and make up?"

Before either of the shocked soldiers could reply, Ed ducked back out of the room, cackling madly.

"You should have let me drown him in milk." Mustang snarled.

*Main Room*

"Brother, you're all wet!" Al said worriedly.

"I know."

"Why do you have to test Colonel? See? He tried to drown you." Al said frantically.

"Uh, I drowned myself in the sink, Al. Colonel didn't do this." Ed told him calmly.

"Then what did he do?" Havoc asked amused.

Ed waved him off. "Not important. But, despite the punishment, it was totally worth it!"

"The fact that you believe that does not surprise me in the least." Brody told him dryly while Ed just grinned at him.

"That was enough time wasted." General Armstrong growled as Mustang and

Riza came back and took their seats next to each other since Hughes moved over for them.

Ed turned to the two, opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and turned around. He pissed Mustang off enough right now.

"Eyes shut." Mustang said angrily before the episode began again.

Riza lifted her head to show her face.

The scene changed to her back to show a burned tattoo there.

"That's an interesting tattoo." Ed said.

"Fullmetal, shut your damn eyes now!" Mustang snarled at him. "Don't you know how to listen?"

"I feel like this conversation happened before." Ed said airily, quite amused by all of this.

Mustang glared at him. "Fullmetal." He snarled.

"Chief! Stop testing him already!" Breda said, not opening his eyes.

"But–"

"I will make you drink a whole carton of milk if you don't shut up, brat. And this time, Lieutenant Hawkeye won't be there to save you." Mustang growled.

Ed's eyes widened in disgust and he made a move of running his fingers across his lips like he was zipping them. He locked them and threw the key away before putting his hands over his eyes.

"That's better." Mustang growled.

Riza's downcast eye was shown as Black Hayate was heard to be barking. Her eye widened and she woke up from her thoughts as her eye moved to the corner of her eye.

Black Hayate appeared on screen, panting.

"Go ahead and open your eyes." Riza said.

"At least it wasn't long." Al said as he lowered his hands from his eyes.

"Anyway," Ed said, opening his eyes. "That tattoo on your back? Is that the Flame Alchemy research?"

Riza smiled sadly. She was really hoping to avoid the fact that she had the research on her back, but it seems that her future had other ideas.

"That's what you saw?" Havoc asked surprised as he had his eyes closed at the time.

Ed nodded. "I know your dad said you had the research, but he seriously put it on your back? Isn't that a bit…I don't know, extreme?"

"He wanted to hide it so no one would find it. No one would think to look on his daughter's back for the secret of Flame Alchemy." Riza told him softly.

Ed swallowed. Hide his research? He could understand that. Some of the alchemy being researched was very powerful and dangerous, but most people just hid it in coded notes, not on someone's body.

"Did you consent to it?" Al asked with a bit of worry. Being forced to carry the research for something so dangerous would be really dangerous for her and if she didn't consent to it, she would be unwillingly put in that spot and it could put a strain on her relationship with her dad.

Riza just frowned, not bothering to reply. Consensual? Was it? She would claim that it was. That when her dad approached her to put it on her back, she agreed to let him. But to be honest, when it was about his research, her dad seemed a bit mad. And when he finished his research and decided to put it on her back, she agreed only because she was scared of the mad glint in his eyes. She didn't dare say no to that. She didn't dare scream or protest at the pain on her back from the tattoo being put on. She just scared about it.

"Al," Ed mumbled so only his brother heard him. "Please don't ask that. We don't know much about her father or their relationship. It's probably not something she wants to think about."

Al stared at his brother for a moment before nodding. He could understand that not our relationships were perfect.

The scene pulled out to show Riza, eyes closed and arms crossed, standing outside her apartment door with Ed lying on the floor and Black Hayate standing on him.

"Every time." Ed groaned, rubbing his head.

"The dogs really seem to love you, Chief." Avery said, grinning widely.

"I don't get why!" Ed shouted.

"Because you're so small and cuddly!" Hughes said cheerfully. "The dogs can't help but want to pounce on you."

Ed twitched, eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Hughes, shut up about that before I decide to hit you."

"You're very violent."

"No, Hayate. Bad dog." Riza said.

Black Hayate whined as he jumped off of Ed.

The scene moved to show Riza leaning over a bit, eyes opened, as Ed sat up, rubbing his head. "Sorry about that." Riza said.

"Hmm," Ed said.

"What?" Mustang asked.

Ed shrugged. "Just realized something."

"And that is?"

"Lieutenant Riza is always very pretty, but she is very stunningly beautiful when out of her uniform and when her hair is down." Ed said.

Riza smiled. "Thank you, Edward."

"At least he can admit it." Hughes said, shooting Mustang a meaningful look.

"Don't worry. It happens all the time." Ed replied.

"Humph, if that was anyone else's dog, you'd be yelling at them." Mustang grumbled.

"If it was yours? Oh, most definitely would I be screaming at you." Ed retorted. "But I don't yell at Lieutenant Riza."

"Why not?" Mustang demanded.

"I respect women more." Ed snapped. 'Because I know how scary they can be.'

"You yell at Winry all the time!" Havoc pointed out.

"And at that Paninya girl." Luke added.

"Let me rephrase." Ed said, rolling his eyes. "I respect older women more."

Ed's face was shown as he lowered his hand. "So I, uh, heard you're working for the Fuhrer."

Riza was shown, standing up straight, giving Ed a small smile. "Yeah."

The outside of the apartment complex was shown.

The scene changed to a hallway, showing Ed and Riza sitting at a table at the end of it in a kitchen.

"Looks like things got pretty serious." Riza said.

Ed chuckled a bit sheepishly. "Just a bit."

"If that is your definition of a bit serious, than I don't want to see what you consider a big serious situation." Riza told him.

"Whether you want to see it or not, we're going to have to see it." Ed replied with a grimace. "Homunculi, Father, and their plan."

A pan filled with water appeared on screen. Inside it were the pieces of Riza's gun soaking to get the blood off of them. In front of it were her hands, holding a white cloth as she dried the pieces of her gun.

"Yeah," Ed said.

"But I didn't use it." The scene pulled out to show Riza from behind with Ed sitting in front of her, hands on his lap.

"I didn't have to." Ed replied

"Liar." Havoc and Luke cried.

"You were just too scared to pull the trigger." Avery added.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Just shut up."

"That reminds me." Hughes said.

"If you're going to say something stupid, I'll save you the time. Shut up now, Hughes." Mustang snapped at him.

Hughes waved him off. "I'm not." He looked at Ed. "I was wondering. Could you pull the trigger if you weren't aiming to kill or if you were using it for something other than shooting someone?"

"Easily." Ed replied. "It's just with killing I can't pull the trigger."

Hughes nodded. "I see. Do you have a gun assigned to you?"

"Of course, he doesn't." Al said confused while Ed just frowned and looked at the ceiling. "He has no use for one." Noticing his brother's frown, Al stared at him. "What's wrong?"

Ed sighed. "Al, I do have a gun. I just don't carry it on me."

"You do?" Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman, Walkers, Karin, Jackson, and Skylak asked shocked.

"You guys work with him in the east. How could you not know?" Brody asked confused.

"It's not surprising they don't know." Riza said, eyes closed as she sighed.

"Only Colonel, myself, and Edward knew about the gun he owns. I only know because I am the one who helped him get it."

Al glared at his brother. "When was this? And why didn't you tell me?"

Ed scratched his cheek with a finger. "I wonder."

"Brother!"

Ed sighed. "It was when I was fourteen, Al. It was just something I was required to do at that point. I signed on for it by the Generals' order, but it was something I was ordered to do. Colonel and Lieutenant Riza disagreed with the order to giving a kid a gun so we agreed that we wouldn't spread the news around. I would get the gun, but I would leave it with Lieutenant Riza. The only time I am to have it on me is if I am at HQ and there is an inspection. Since I haven't been there for an inspection, no one knows I have it…well, they didn't until now."

"But why didn't you tell me?" Al asked hurt.

"Because I didn't think it was important to know since I wouldn't be carrying it on me!" Ed exclaimed. "It wouldn't be the first thing you don't know about what I do at work!"

"There's more?" Al asked.

Ed groaned and put his face in his hands. Al knew about the missions that Ed couldn't tell him about, but he didn't know the rest that happened in HQ.

"Nice one, Fullmetal." Mustang said. "I thought you could keep your mouth shut."

Ed's head snapped to him. "Shut up! I last three years without one slip!"

"What else happened?" Al demanded.

Sighing, Ed looked at his brother. "You know I can't tell you, Al. Military stuff."

Al huffed and looked away from his brother, missing the hurt look in Ed's eyes. It's not like Ed didn't want to tell him. He just couldn't.

"So that gun Lieutenant Hawkeye handed you in the future." Ross asked.

"Was it yours or hers?"

"It was definitely mine, but I handed him that gun because that is the one he owns and is most familiar with." Riza replied.

Ed looked down.

Riza was shown, looking down at her hands as she dried the piece of gun that was in her hands.

"Well, I," Ed said as he was shown to still be looking down. "I couldn't pull the trigger."

Riza's face appeared on screen as she looked up in surprise.

"Why so surprised?" May asked confused. "Are you shocked that he had an instance where he had to use it but couldn't?"

"I'm sure that is part of the reason." Riza replied.

"And the other part?" Hughes asked.

Havoc sighed. "That he hesitated. In the shooting range, Chief never hesitates in pulling the trigger and he never misses. It's what makes him almost as good as Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Riza nodded. "I must be surprised, but I really shouldn't be since Ed has never used a gun in a real-life situation."

"No wonder he is so hesitant about using it! You need to throw him into a situation where he can't use alchemy and has to rely on it." General Armstrong growled.

"I think I would just carry a hidden knife on me or use martial arts if that was the case." Ed said dryly.

Gentle, sad music began as the scene pulled up to show the two and Black Hayate, who was staring up at Ed, from a downward angle.

"It's pathetic, huh?" Ed asked.

"He admits it!" Havoc, Luke, Avery, and Myers shouted.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Idiots."

"At least you can admit that it's sad that you can't pull it." Darius scoffed.

"You can shut up." Ed snapped at him.

"You're not the boss of me." Darius retorted.

"Well, who is? I want to talk to him about you and your buddies being rude people!" Ed snapped.

"And what about you, you rude brat?" Heinkel retorted.

"We all know who my superior is!" Ed shouted, pointing at Mustang without bothering to look at him. "That arrogant jerk!"

"What was that, you brat?" Mustang snapped.

"You heard me, Mustang." Ed shot back.

"Uh, Ed, I think–" Ling started, only to get glared at by Ed.

"Who said you could talk?" Ed snapped at him. "Do you want me to kick your ass to hell?"

Ling raised his hands in defeat.

Ed turned back to continue his argument with Heinkel and Darius, but before he could, he heard Ling say, "I honestly don't think you have any reason to be annoyed at me. In fact, I'm sure of it! You have no reason, Ed!" Ed scoffed.

"You're upset with me, Ed. I don't know what for, but you're hiding your concern about my choice behind your anger." Ling said, frowning.

"I already told you, Ling!" Ed snapped. "I was angry, but I was going to look passed it because of our friendship."

"Then why are you so mad at me right now?" Ling retorted.

Ed paused, staring at Ling for a moment before looking away. "I don't know. I just am."

"No." Ling's eyes narrowed at Ed. "You do know. I told you, Ed. I'm your friend and I see you. You're angry and you just won't tell me."

Ed rolled his eyes. "I told you, Ling. I'm just upset with your choice. It is nothing more than that."

"Sure it isn't, Ed. Does our friendship mean that little to you? I know you won't tell me no matter how much I ask, but how about stop throwing so much anger at me? I don't like having my friends mad at me." Ling snapped at him.

"You never let anything go! I'm not mad or hiding anything behind my anger! I'm just frustrated!" Ed retorted.

"Hey, seriously, guys. It's bad enough when you argue in our language. It's pretty annoying to hear you argue in Xingese." Avery told them annoyed.

"Shut up." Ed and Ling snapped at him before going back to glaring at each other.

"Frustrated?" Ling asked, staring at Ed. "About what? Come on, Ed. You can tell me. Didn't the break last night relax you?"

When Ed just stared at the screen, frowning in annoyance, Ling sighed. "Ed." He said softly, but just got a cold glare in response that said leave-it-alone.

Ling sighed and glanced at Al, who was still a bit annoyed with his brother for keeping the secret about the gun. He glanced at Ed than at Al. He suppressed a groan. He needed Al for this, but with Al annoyed and Ed and him talking in Xingese to keep it private, it was too complicated! What was he going to do? Ed needed someone to talk to and it obviously wasn't going to be him anytime soon. And Al was too annoyed to be of any help.

"If I had just…Well, I was just useless." Ed continued as Riza stared at him.

"What?" Havoc asked shocked.

Ling stared at Ed, frowning. Useless? Useless about what? He did so much in all of his fights that took place. Well, except for the one inside of Gluttony against Envy, but they could excuse that one as a moment of weakness for Ed. And he did get them out of Gluttony so that made up for it.

"You weren't useless at all, Ed. You did as much as you could. That's all anyone could ask of you." Riza told him gently.

Ed frowned. Wasn't useless? He made Winry cry and let her find out the truth about her parents' death. He then sent her to HQ and got her in the sights of the Homunculi, making her bait for him! He froze in his and Ling's fight against Envy and just made everything worse for both of them and almost died there, which would leave his baby brother behind and leave Ling trapped inside of Gluttony to die of starvation or by Envy's hands. He couldn't even land a hand on Father. And then he couldn't shoot Envy and save Ling from falling to Greed. He messed up in everything!

"No one should expect perfection from anyone." Riza added when Ed still looked down.

Riza looked back down at her gun pieces and continued to dry them. "Tell me what happened."

"Will you tell her what is bothering you?"

"Yes," Ed said.

"Really?" Avery asked surprised.

Ed shrugged. "I need to talk to someone about it. Lieutenant Riza seems to be

the best person to talk to about it."

"Why is that?" Hughes asked curiously.

"She doesn't have a biased opinion about it. She understands what I am feeling. And she won't mock me or anything. She'll just listen and give advice where she can." Ed replied.

Ed looked down.

Ed was zoomed in on. "You know Scar? I found out he murdered Winry's parents."

Scar looked down, frowning. It seemed that was going to come up a lot now. No matter how bad he felt about those deaths, which he does admit shouldn't have happened, they were not going to come back. They were the first deaths he caused, and they were something he had to live with.

Riza's hands were shown. They stopped drying her gun.

A hand appeared on screen to be reaching towards a gun with Ed shouting something.

Scar was shown, staring at the gun pointed at him.

Winry's face with tears pouring down it appeared on screen.

"She could've shot him."

Ed bit his lip. Could have and would have. He saw the desperation and anguish in her eyes. He knew that if he wasn't there to stop her, she would have done it. If he didn't jump in front of her, she could have pulled that trigger. Whether the bullet actually hit Scar was another thing, and that didn't matter to Ed. All that matter was the fact that he knew she could have pulled that trigger and that she would have forever regretted it, because like her parents, her hands were for healing and giving life, not killing. It would have ruined her to shoot that gun. He was told that he was reckless for jumping in front of her, but he knew better. He hurt Winry by letting her hear him yell at Scar for killing her parents, but he also saved her from destroying herself. But she should have never been forced into that situation.

Riza's back appeared on screen with Ed in front of her. "But deep down, I knew that would be wrong." Ed said. "And all of a sudden that gun seemed like something evil."

"Wait, you didn't see guns as evil before Winry picked it up to shoot Scar?" Ross asked confused.

"I never liked guns, but my hatred of them grew more when I saw Winry holding one while in that much anguish and wanting revenge for the pain and loss that someone else caused her." Edward said, wringing his fingers together and around each other as a dark look entered his eyes. "Like Scar's master said, it would just cause an endless cycle of revenge. Everything Scar is doing is causing people anger and sorrow, so they know how he feels and it's just a huge cycle of revenge if this continues. Seeing Winry like that, I saw the urge for revenge raging in her and I didn't like it. It didn't belong in her."

"Seeing a gun in the hands of a dear friend after revenge put the thought that guns are just used for killing and revenge in your head." Riza summarized.

Ed nodded.

Havoc stared at Ed, slightly dizzy. "I didn't get that at all."

"It was there, just hard to see." Breda muttered.

"Next thing I knew."

Ed's face appeared on screen, turning upside down. Ed was shown to be sitting on the ground, blocking Winry from Scar while pinning the gun to the ground.

"You were doing a reckless move!" Mustang said.

"I don't regret it." Ed muttered to himself. He could never regret it if it meant protecting Winry. He didn't want her to be so naïve anymore, but he didn't want her to lose her kind nature. He would protect her from losing her kindness by making sure she never had to do anything so horrible to anyone.

Ed appeared on screen, being seen from an upward angle, holding a mug. "I stopped her, but I honestly think she would've shot him if I hadn't been there."

Al's hands tightened into fists. She would have done it? Did his brother really believe Winry capable of pulling that trigger? Taking a life was a very hard thing to do. It was something he and his brother have never been able to do, and yet his brother thought Winry, who has never been in a real fight or knew just how dangerous this world was, would be able to do it?

"She could hardly stop crying once I got the gun away."

Winry was shown, covering half of her face with her hand as tears trailed down her face. She bowed her head, grabbing Ed's red coat in her hands.

Ed's mug appeared on screen. His reflection was seen in his drink. "And it's my fault. I've got no resolve."

"That's a lie if I ever heard one." Al said angrily. "What about all your determination to get my body back?"

"Or your resolve to use the souls in Envy's stone as payment to get us out of Gluttony?" Ling asked.

"And what about my weakness in fighting Envy inside of Gluttony or not being able to shoot Envy when my alchemy was sealed?" Ed retorted angrily.

"You had a few moments of weakness!" Ling argued. "It happens. Even the strongest person is still human, Ed. So he still has his weak moments.

Everybody is vulnerable to something. Just because you made a few mistakes and were weak to some things, it doesn't mean anything. You're still strong and determined. You can fix things."

"I only managed to make things worse."

"It just means that you tried. It is better than doing nothing." Riza said softly. "And it means you can continue to try to fix it and make it right. That is always better than doing nothing."

The scene moved to show Ed from behind on the one side of the screen with Riza in front of him, drying her gun again. "You're just dwelling on this stuff because you made it back alive."

Ed raised a brow at that. "So basically, you're saying that future me wasn't expecting to survive any of that?" He asked. "And now that he did, he is thinking up of all the things he did wrong in the twenty-four hours of fighting and no sleeping?"

"Yes," Riza said.

"It is amazing he did survive all of it." Mustang said, frowning as he leaned back in his seat. "In fact, it's amazing all of you survived all of that."

"Isn't that more because they wouldn't let each other die?" Hughes asked. "Al protected his brother against Scar. Ling saved Lan Fan from being eaten by Gluttony. Lan Fan cut her arm off to get Bradley off their trail to protect her prince from him. Ed carried Ling when he gave up in Gluttony to die of starvation. Ling saved Ed from Envy at one point. Ed saved them both by using Envy's stone to get them out of there. May, unintentionally though it was, set Al and Ed free from being pinned by Envy, allowing them to fight and get Scar to help them. Al protected May. They were always fighting, but in the process, they were doing what they could to protect each other and keep everyone alive!"

Ed twitched, looking slyly at Ling and then at Al. "What can we say?"

"We're just loyal friends." Ling added.

"And siblings." Al said.

"And subordinates." Lan Fan said.

"Plus, I don't think any of us actually like death." May added in.

"You kids are insane." Jerso said, smirking. "Insanely loyal to each other."

"They would make the perfect team." Zampano said, grinning. "Xingese royalty, subordinate, and a couple alchemist brothers. All of them highly skilled in martial arts and intelligent."

"Not really a team I would want to meet." Clarink said.

Ed looked up at her.

Riza was zoomed in on. She lifted a small piece of her gun and looked at it. "You need to stay focused on living. That's how you'll help Winry."

The scene moved to show Ed holding his mug, still looking downcast. He lifted his mug to his lips to drink.

"How else can you protect her?" Riza said.

Ed looked up at her.

The scene pulled out to show the two and Black Hayate.

"I mean after all, you love her, don't you?" Riza asked.

Ed half-shouted, half-gagged himself by grabbing his throat and falling over.

"Uh…Brother?" Al asked worriedly, looking down at his brother in concern.

Ling blinked as he looked at Ed. Well, that wasn't the reaction he was expecting to that.

Ed flew half-way up, to glare with his eyes over the edge of the coffee table.

"Even you, Lieutenant? Even YOU?! I FEEL BETRAYED!" He fell face down back onto the carpet to hide his burning face.

Mustang laughed loudly. "That's what you get, Fullmetal!"

"It's not like you are fooling anyone." Riza said calmly. "It's quite obvious you have feelings for her." Ed groaned into the carpet.

"So stop denying it, Ed!" Hughes added, grinning widely. "I'm surprised there haven't been more people mentioning it to you since you make it so obvious!"

"I hate you all."

Ed was shown from behind. His head whipped to the side as he spit out his coffee in Black Hayate's face.

The scene moved to his face as he looked at Riza, completely red in the face. "No! No! No! No!" He said as both he and Black Hayate shook their heads quickly. He shook his hands quickly. "It's…It's not like that! W-we've just been friends since we were little kids. She's like family to me! I mean, of course I'm going to protect her, you know."

"You're still not fooling anyone." Havoc said slyly.

Ed lifted his head off the ground only to slam it back on it. Why? Why was this always being mentioned and brought up? Couldn't they just forget this?! What was wrong with him caring so much about Winry because they are close friends and she is like family? There was always a hidden implication in everything!

Riza was shown, looking down at her gun again. "What happened with Scar." Her gun was shown as she screwed in a screw. "I'm sorry. This only added to your burdens."

The two were shown at the table from an upward angle.

"At this point, what's it matter?" Ed groaned into the carpet. "The more the merrier! Let's just add a whole lot more crap to my burdens. It makes no difference anymore. Nothing is simple anyway! It's just one new burden after the other at this point!"

"I'm surprised you're not slowly dying of stress if that is how you are living." Ling told him.

Ed lifted his head off the ground to stare him. "I am suffering under burdens and my job, not stress."

"Stress will show up because of all of that at some point." Ling retorted.

"I know." Ed grumbled. "I've dealt with it enough times."

"I'm surprised you're not more stress, considering you a kid in the military." Havoc said.

"It's not like you see him all the time." Al muttered.

Ed was zoomed in on. He looked up at Riza.

The scene pulled out to show the two from behind Ed.

"I've got to ask." Ed said. "Does it ever feel like a burden to you?"

"I've lost the right to look at it that way." Riza replied, not looking up from reassembling her gun. "So I'd be wrong to complain. I'm not proud of it." She was zoomed in on as she closed her eyes. "But I've killed too many to feel sorry from myself."

"Well, I don't fully understand that, but at least you aren't pushing the blame for what you did onto someone else." Ed said.

"Why would they do that?" May asked confused.

"Some people have a hard time accepting what they did, whether it was in war or just a horrible mistake they made. They just can't accept it so they push the blame of it on someone else to convince themselves that they did nothing wrong and won't get in trouble." Ed murmured softly.

"And others can't help but take all the blame and put it on themselves." Mustang added, looking pointedly at Ed and Al.

"Hey! We are not the ones on trial here!" Ed protested.

"There's a trial going on? Since when?" Al asked. "Most people just find Brother immediately guilty. They don't bother with a trial."

Ed shot his brother a look. "Hardy har har, Al."

"Besides," She opened her eyes. "I can't deny that I'm the one who chose this path."

"When did you become a soldier?" Lan Fan asked curiously, looking at Riza. The more she saw of Riza, from her past and her future, the more she liked the older woman. She was a very strong and independent woman. She took no crap from anyone but was still completely loyal to Mustang without a question. She was definitely someone that Lan Fan could look up to, especially since they were a bit alike. Maybe she could be someone to help Lan Fan with some things.

Riza blinked for a moment before smiling at the girl. "Winry asked me the same question when I first met her. And I'll give you the same answer I gave her. Because there's someone I have to protect."

Hughes smiled a bit. It seemed the girls, May, Lan Fan, and Future Winry a bit, really looked up to Hawkeye. The girls were strong in their own ways, but seeing someone like Hawkeye, her burdens and how she stuck through them all would teach these girls to be that much stronger. He didn't know much about Hawkeye's past, but he knew a bit from the war. And it wasn't easy, but she stood tall through it all and followed Mustang loyally without question. Lan Fan and May could learn a lot from her, just from her experiences in the war.

Ed was shown, staring at her with wide, shocked eyes. He swallowed.

"You mean Ishval?"

Riza's shoulders and the bottom half of her face were shown as she continued to work on her gun.

Ed's face was shown close up. "Can I ask you about that? Would it be alright?"

"No wonder this episode is about the war. Edo is asking for a history lesson!" Ling said.

Ed scowled at him. "Again with that name?"

"It still bothers you, so yes." Ling replied.

Black Hayate was shown, looking up at the screen. He whined and tilted his head a bit.

The gun appeared on screen as Riza clicked the mag back in it.

A foot appeared on screen.

The scene pulled up to show Scar from behind as he looked down at Dr. Marcoh, who was sitting on the floor and grimacing.

"It's time to confess." Scar said.

The scene moved to show Dr. Marcoh's face on half the screen from an upward angle so Scar could still be seen looking down on him.

"Tell me your sins."

"Argh, sounds like some religious leader you are confessing to." Ed groaned.

"How would you know what that sounds like?" Breda asked.

Ed stared at him, frowning. "What do you guys think I do on missions? Look at the mission details and just charge in there to arrest without doing any investigating?"

"Basically." Havoc replied.

Rolling his eyes, Ed looked at his brother. "You would be wrong. I do thorough investigate on my missions. And that investigating has included going into churches."

"You make it sound like such a pain." Brody said.

"It is. It's even worse when I have to go into church when it's not even for a mission. I just somehow end up in it!" Ed said, frowning.

"Why did you go to it then?" Havoc asked curiously.

Ed shrugged. "I got injured."

"Shocker." Mustang muttered.

Ed shot him a glare. "There wasn't a hospital nearby and I was bleeding a lot so I collapsed on the steps to the church. The Head Priest found me and helped me into the church and helped me."

"Wait." Hughes said confused. "Where was Al?"

"We got into a fight earlier that day and went our own ways in the town." Ed explained.

Al glanced at his brother. He heard the story of what happened that day. Al was sitting at the only source of water in the town, a river, as he thought about their fight. When Ed didn't show up like he normally did to find him after a fight, he started to get really worried. In the end, he took two days to find his injured brother. The church was the last place he expected to find him.

"And once again, not surprised about you getting into a fight." Mustang said.

Ed rolled his eyes. "I do not always get into fights when Al isn't with me."

"That is hard to believe." Hughes said.

"No faith." Ed grumbled.

"What did you do to my people?" Scar asked angrily.

"You definitely angered him." Zampano said, frowning.

"Scar has always been an angry person so angering him is not hard to do." Ed said.

Barren land with smoke rising in the distance appeared on screen as gentle, mysterious music began.

"Even if I didn't ask Lieutenant Riza, we still would have seen this because of Dr. Marcoh." Ed said.

"Ishval is a harsh and barren country, filled with rocks and sand." Riza's voice said.

"Back and forth. Back and forth." Hughes groaned. "I thought this was supposed to be Dr. Marcoh's side as we just saw him and Scar."

"Make up your mind, future!" Jerso shouted.

"Considering the terrain, it's not surprising it would give birth to such a stringent religion."

Scar frowned at that. It wasn't said in an offensive way, but there was nothing wrong with his religion being strict. It gave him a code to go by while other people were too free and loose in their lifestyle. They needed more strictness in their lives. There were so many problems in this world because humans didn't have enough strictness in their lives.

A group of Ishvalans sitting in a circle in a hut appeared on screen.

Ishvalans in one of their street markets was shown.

"Or that its people would be so earnest and resolute."

Miles smiled a bit to himself. His people took their religion and beliefs very seriously. They were strict in their teachings and by living by it. His paternal grandfather taught his father the religion. And in turn, his father taught him it so he knew his religious teachings well. Despite being a soldier for the country that destroyed Ishval, Miles did follow the religious teachings.

A group of Ishvalans standing on a platform, rallying their people, appeared on screen.

"It's only natural that a faction of the population would protest the country's annexation by Amestris."

"A faction?" Ling asked, frowning. "It seems like most of the country protested it, didn't they?"

"Despite their strict teachings and being so set in their ways, they were actually some Ishvalans who supported the annexation and tried to argue that it was right and best for Ishval." Mustang explained, arms crossed with his hands gripping his upper arms tightly. "Though that support died down when Envy shot that child. There was actually a lot of support for it before Envy messed it up. That killed it all."

"Really?" Ling said interested. He looked at Ed. "I was expecting you to answer."

Ed rolled his eyes, but he did look just as interested as Ling. "Ling, I was a kid when all this happened. I knew very little about it and it's not like there is any concrete information about it that I can look into."

Miles frowned at that information. The truth about Ishval would never be known by the kids of Amestris. They would grow up, oblivious of the horrors that their military caused in Ishval. And if they did learn anything, it would just be biased information that the government allowed the kids to learn. And they would probably make it seem like the Ishvalans were the ones at fault. The only ones who knew the truth would be the soldiers that were in the war and the Ishvalans. And even then, it would all eventually die down and be forgotten. And if it was forgotten, the future generation would learn nothing about the mistakes that the past made and would be doomed to repeat it. That couldn't happen. They had to know the truth so that it could be fixed and so it would never happen again.

Ed turned to Riza. "So is that why you said it was only a faction of the population that protested?"

Riza nodded. "Yes, Edward. Like the Colonel said, the annexation, though while not widely popular with Ishval, was supported. They didn't like, but agreed that Amestris could probably help them as long as we didn't use alchemy in Ishval. That was agreed to because the more alchemy that was used around them, the more that the tension between Ishval and Amestris grew."

A soldier holding a gun appeared on screen, being shown from a distance.

The soldier's face was zoomed in on, eyes bright blue as he looked down.

"Their mistrust was soon justified."

A little Ishvalan girl looked up at him with her bright red eyes and a smile as the gun rose to her face. The smile dropped from her face and she took a small step back.

Miles frowned as he crossed his arms. They had already seen Envy shoot this child. Seeing it once was hard enough. Why did they have to see it again? Seeing Envy shoot that child just got his blood boiling, not that anyone would know that since he kept a tight wrap on his emotions. That one bullet was what started everything. It was what started the destruction of his Ishvalan roots.

The soldier was shown, grinning widely.

The scene pulled out, going to a negative color effect as the soldier shot his gun. The bullet tore through the girl's head, adding the only color to the scene. Bright red blood that splashed out of her head.

Scar's hands clenched into fists as he watched that. That poor girl was used as a means by Envy to start that war. She did not deserve to be shot like that. And there were Ishvalans around who watched that child get shot and they couldn't stop it. They were supposed to protect children, keep them safe from harm and make sure they grew up well. And yet, this is what happened to that child because of the Homunculi. And she was only the first of many.

A group of angry protesting Ishvalans appeared on screen with soldiers standing in front of them with guns.

"That one bullet changed everything."

The scene moved along to show all the angry Ishvalans.

"Their mistrust turned to outrage. And dissidence spread like a contagion."

"I was wondering something." Al said. "Do you guys think something like a war would have still happened in Ishval without Envy shooting that child?

There was a lot of tension between Ishval and Amestris, right?"

"It really depends on how the situation was handled." Hughes replied, frowning as he thought. "If tensions kept rising as they were, a rebellion probably would have happened. And as we saw in Liore, rebellions like that can be pretty violent. If we worked on cutting down tensions and negotiating between the Ishvalans and Amestrians, maybe things could have turned out differently, but it is a difficult thing to judge, Al. We can never know what could have truly happened differently."

"Most of my people would not have started a conflict," Scar said. "They didn't like Amestrians presence, but they tolerated it. The ones that would have caused a problem would have been the protestors."

"And the Amestrians defending themselves against them or pushing them back would just cause anger among your people and cause more problems." Mustang told him.

Scar frowned, but didn't rebuke that statement. It was true. In any situation where that could have happened, tensions would have risen.

The roof of some buildings appeared on screen as an explosion rocked the screen and dark smoke filled up the air.

As the scene changed and it turned dark, only the fire in the background being any light, a group of Ishvalans, some holding pitchforks or guns, were seen walking passed the fire.

"That looks ominous." Ling said.

Ed elbowed him in the side. "Not the time for jokes." He hissed quietly.

"I wasn't joking. It really does look dangerous." Ling whispered back.

"Doesn't mean you have to comment on it." Ed whispered feverishly back.

The scene faded to the background as a map faded onto the screen.

A crackling fire appeared at the bottom of the map where Ishval was. It expanded itself to reach other parts of the country.

"It soon escalated into a civil war. And the fighting lasted seven long years."

A scene of Bradley sitting at the head of a table with his generals around the table appeared on screen. Bradley was signing a piece of paper.

"Until a simple one page document determined the Ishvalans fate."

Bradley slid the paper over to the side of the table where the soldier standing at his shoulder stamped it with the seal.

Scar scowled angrily at Riza's words. It took a single page to send the State Alchemists into his country and ravish it? One page was all it took to decide the fate of his people? A single piece of paper was the decision maker to kill innocent civilians, kids and women, who couldn't fight to defend themselves! The decision they made was horrible enough, but the way Riza said it made it sound like it was a simple decision for them to make. There should be nothing simple about killing.

The Amestrian State Alchemist's crest that was on the paper appeared on screen. The scene slowly pulled out from the crest.

The paper was shown with a black background with fire raging in front of it at the bottom of the screen.

"Executive Order 3066. The official order to initiate the Ishvalan War of

Extermination."

Soldiers appeared on screen, marching towards Ishval. Tense, dramatic music began as the sound of the soldiers' marching feet was heard.

"Is that really the official name of what that war was?" May asked, frowning darkly. "An extermination of the people?"

Mustang rubbed his temple. "Extermination of everything, not just the people. The point of the war was to destroy the country, the people, the culture, the religion. The higher-ups' idea was to destroy the problem completely."

Ed snorted. "Stupid. Obviously some of the Ishvalans were going to run from Ishval to survive when they saw the fight was fruitless when the State Alchemists showed up." He pulled at the carpet in frustration. "And the military may have destroyed their land, killed their people, taken everything from them, but they would not take their faith and religion from them. They would not let themselves be killed of their faith. That would be when they finally lost. As long as they stick to their faith and religion, they are still alive and who they are. Nothing can take that from them."

"You seem to believe strongly in this, despite not being religious." Havoc said.

"It's not just about religion!" Ed shouted angrily. "It can be about anything you believe in that someone tries to take from you or make you lose faith in. And from what I've seen, Ishvalans are very religious and believe strongly, right? Nothing the military did was going to kill them completely."

"As long as enough blood was split to make a crest, I do not believe the Homunculi really care." Miles said darkly, though he was looking at Ed contemplating. What he said did have value in it. Keeping their religion and faith alive would keep the Ishvalans alive and they wouldn't die out. It wasn't just their looks that would distinguish them from Amestrians, but also their beliefs that they stuck strongly too.

The soldiers' feet appeared on screen to be walking down a road in Ishval.

Their faces were shown, completely blank and unblinking.

The scene changed to a row of cannons, firing one after the other.

A cannon was shown from behind with two soldiers, one kneeling and one standing, by it.

A part of Armstrong's face appeared on screen as he stared at the battle.

Armstrong grimaced at his appearance in the war. He was there for a while, so it wasn't a surprise that he was shown. But he just didn't like the reminder. Though he didn't like it, he wasn't going to run from it. He would no longer run from anything. If that war taught him anything, it was to stick to his belief. It was to stand up and fight for what he believed in. No more running.

A hand with a transmutation circle and writing all over it appeared next.

"Giolio Comanche." Ed said.

"Know him?" Ling asked.

"No, we saw Scar kill him, remember? It was the first thing we watched when you arrived." Ed told him. "I noticed his tattoos then."

Kimblee was shown from behind, standing on top of a cliff as he looked over Ishval, which had smoke rising out of it.

"And that is Kimblee, right?" Ed asked.

"Most likely." Mustang said.

"Don't know him for sure?" Ling asked.

Ed shrugged. "Haven't seen much of him. I only recognized Giolio because of the tattoos."

The bottom half of Grand's face and his shoulders were shown from the side as his arm, which was covered in a metal gauntlet and a ring around his wrist, was lifted.

"Basque Grand." Ed said.

"Who?" May asked.

"State Alchemist that Scar killed a few weeks before we came here." Ed replied. "Those gauntlets of his are pretty unique."

Mustang's hand appeared on screen as he was pulling on his ignition glove.

"Fullmetal?"

"Like Major Armstrong, you get no comment from me." Ed growled. "You know who you are."

"And we also knew who the others were." Mustang retorted.

"May, Lan Fan, Fu, and Ling didn't!" Ed said loudly in annoyance. "And…"

"And?" Mustang prompted.

Ed scowled. "Nothing."

The screen showed Mustang's face as he lifted his eyes, which were shadowed with determined anguish, to the screen. A blue spark flashed in front of his face before the scene changed to soldiers that were ducked behind walls, one of them injured, as guns fired out one of the buildings at them. A moment later an explosion rocked the building, sending the whole thing up into flames.

Scar's hands tightened into fists as he watched that. He saw so many explosions caused by the Flame Alchemist during the war. Every explosion he saw Mustang cause just got his blood boiling. He was setting his people on fire with that horrible alchemy. They were being burned to death by him. The smell of burning flesh and fire filled the air of the war because of him. It was a horrible smell, something that Scar never wanted to smell again.

Miles frowned as he watched Mustang blow up a building with his people in it. He couldn't fault Mustang for it. He was doing his job in the war and protecting his comrades. Being a soldier himself, he could understand that killing was necessary in war. He killed soldiers who had family and people he was fighting for as well. He didn't like it, but he could understand the actions.

The scene changed to show Ed staring at Riza.

"It was like hell on Earth." Riza's face was shown. She was looking down, frowning, and her eyes sad and dark as she recalled the war. "The air was tainted with the smell of human decay. And the desert sand soaked up the blood like a sponge."

Ed grimaced as he listened to Riza's words. Riza was the best person for him to ask about the war, because unlike the others, she would not hold back. He always knew that. Hughes would never tell him anything if he ever asked. And Mustang, well, he didn't give a lot of information away ever so there was no way that he would tell him too much about the war if he ever asked. He probably didn't even want to discuss it. Riza probably didn't either, but she would so Ed would understand. Mustang probably didn't want to discuss it because of the horror he went through in using his alchemy for war for the first time.

"You're getting pretty graphic." Hughes said with a frown.

"Edward can handle it, and he'll understand it better if I am." Riza told him.

"That doesn't make it any easier for you." Mustang said quietly so only she and Hughes heard him. "This is hard for you. I know this is very difficult for you."

"It's hard," Riza admitted. "But many things in life are. And by telling Edward, I am educating him of the horror that is war and how it was wrong.

By telling him, the truth of it won't die with those of us who were in it."

Ed's face appeared on screen. He was staring in horror at Riza.

An Ishvalan seen through a scope appeared on screen.

The scene moved to show the Ishvalan from behind as he stood amongst his dead comrades. A partially destroyed building was a small distance from it. From it was a small flash of light that was accompanied by the sound of a gun going off before the Ishvalan was giving a small shout as he went flying back into the ground.

The screen showed Riza, face partially hidden by a tan-white cloak hood. She lowered her gun and stared with dead eyes.

Scar growled to himself. All the anger he felt about this war was coming raging back. It never left. It only got redirected from everything he has seen of their future. But seeing the war again, seeing parts of it he was not there to see before, was bringing his full rage he felt for the soldiers back.

"Most combat is blind. A normal soldier might fire erratically without a clear target in mind."

Riza's face was zoomed in on to show her shadowed eyes.

"But it's different for snipers. Someone is sure to die when we pull the trigger."

Ling tapped a finger on his knee with a frown. "Do you remember every face?"

Riza grimaced and tightened her hands shut. "Every single one. It is impossible to forget them."

Mustang put his hand by his leg on the couch and Riza lowered one of her hands down to it. He closed his hand tightly around hers to tell her that he would stay with her the whole way through. They both knew how difficult it was. The faces never left their minds. They would come back to haunt them at the worst possible time. It was difficult, but they dealt with it for years. They could suffer all the guilt until they could make up for it.

A pile of dead Ishvalans surrounded by blood appeared on screen.

May grimaced at the sight of those bodies. She wasn't a stranger to training or fighting, but she has never seen something so gruesome. Their bodies were just lying everywhere, bleeding out as they died or maybe they died the moment they were shot. It was such a horrible sight.

Al glanced at May as she swallowed thickly. He couldn't blame her for the look of horror on her face or how pale she was. He was just as horrified by what he was seeing and what Riza was saying. War really did look like a horrible thing. It was not something he would ever want to get involved in. Well, hopefully he would never have to. Dealing with the Homunculi seemed hard enough. He had to wonder though. Which would be worse? Fighting against immortal beings or going to war and being forced to kill people in order to survive and follow his orders? Considering he wasn't a soldier, he would never have to deal with that, but his brother was a soldier. What if it happened to him? Al's hands clenched into fists at that thought. He would never be able to handle it if his brother went to war.

The scene slowly moved up to show an Ishvalan walking slowly and slightly hunched.

"Where other soldiers don't always have a direct line of sight on the effects of their actions."

There was the sound of gun firing and the Ishvalans was shot in the back before he fell onto his face.

"Snipers do."

Grand was shown as he walked through a part of Ishval. He was walking towards the screen.

"And of course, the State Alchemists."

"I was wondering something." Ed said, frowning. "I don't know much about Grand. What was he like during the war?"

"He was a great man of honor." Hughes told him as he recalled Grand. They were in the same unit for some time. "He didn't like the war and wanted to end it quickly, and he also did what he could to protect his men. He would charge in as a vanguard in battles, despite his men protesting against him doing it."

"Kind of sounds like something Fullmetal would do." Mustang said, smirking. Ed scoffed. "Like you wouldn't do it to if it meant being able to protect your men?" The smirk Mustang was wearing dropped and he shrugged in reply. He couldn't deny that.

Hughes rolled his eyes at the two, but frowned when he looked back at the screen. He recalled Grand shooting his superior officer when the Supreme Cleric offered himself up to end the fighting. Since Fessler refused to cooperate, Grand shot him in front of a bunch of soldiers, and no one even batted an eye at it. It was something that all the soldiers kept quiet about. Hughes never even told Mustang that small bit of information.

A group of Ishvalans were shown to be hiding behind parts of destroyed buildings, watching and waiting. One of them gasped before the scene changed to show Grand's torso and arms, where his gauntlets were.

The scene quickly moved up to show his face. "Listen here. I am the Iron Blood Alchemist, Basque Grand." He lifted his arms.

The scene moved to show one of his arms lifted high into the air.

"Iron and blood!" Grand's face was shown as he moved his other arm across his chest. "I am both soldier and weapon."

The scene pulled out to show him from the front at a small distance.

Grand moved his arms down to hold them stiffly in front of his chest.

"Now stand down." He suddenly slammed his fists together and bright blue alchemical light sparked around the screen. "I am the only man able to take the lead in this battle."

"…Did he just give a speech in the middle of battleground?" Ling asked.

"Why didn't one of the Ishvalans shoot him in the middle of it?" Ed asked blankly.

"Because it is rude to interrupt someone when they are talking." Ling told him.

"I think anything is allowed in war, Ling." Ed retorted.

Ling shrugged. "If you say so."

He was shown from an upward angle with blue light still flashing around him. He lifted his palm. The scene moved with the hand to show it slamming into part a building that was left. The building was moved along as iron chains shot out it. The chains zoomed passed the building with multiple cannons soon joining them.

The screen moved to show that part of Ishval from the sky as an explosion rocked the screen, black smoke rose into the sky and screaming and groaning was heard.

Mustang's hand appeared on screen as he snapped. Orange-red sparks surrounded his hand before the scene moved to show him from behind.

As more screaming was heard, a building burst into flames and heavy smoke as the screen shook violently from the explosion.

The bottom half of Mustang's face was shown with him frowning and burning ashes flying in front of him.

Ed grimaced. Mustang's eyes were purposely hidden from them there. Why? They already saw the horrible look in Riza's eyes. Mustang's eyes had to be the same as hers so why bother hiding them? They were all suffering greatly in that war. From all the killing. From watching comrades die. From watching all those kids and women be killed by their own hands. The Homunculi said that humans just continued to repeat their mistakes and cause bloodshed, but it was because of them that they were all thrown into these violent wars and rebellions. They manipulated every situation so it happened. It was because of them that so much guilt and pain was created.

Ed grimaced. Mustang's eyes were purposely hidden from them there. Why? They already saw the horrible look in Riza's eyes. Mustang's eyes had to be the same as hers so why bother hiding them? They were all suffering greatly in that war. From all the killing. From watching comrades die. From watching all those kids and women be killed by their own hands. The Homunculi said that humans just continued to repeat their mistakes and cause bloodshed, but it was because of them that they were all thrown into these violent wars and rebellions. They manipulated every situation so it happened. It was because of them that so much guilt and pain was created.

Ishvalans were shown to be running down a street with smoke behind them.

Armstrong's hand appeared on screen as it slammed into the ground, blue light flashing around it.

An Ishvalan was shown coming to a halt in horror as a giant shadow covered his form.

The scene showed the Ishvalans from behind as a giant wall finished forming.

One of the Ishvalans turned around. A woman did the same as him.

The scene moved to show soldiers behind them.

May shut her eyes briefly, hugging Xiao-Mei to her chest. "You trapped them to be slaughtered? How horrible."

Armstrong grimaced and closed his eyes as well. That was one of his acts that he hated most of all during the war. He saw the Ishvalans running and he trapped them in the street for the soldiers to shoot. He ran from the war, but before he ran, he had already caused so many deaths.

The male Ishvalan was shot while the woman stared on in horror. She and another Ishvalan made to run when they were both shot down. Armstrong appeared on screen, kneeling behind the wall he created with a look of horrified anguish on his face as he listened to the gunshots. His face was zoomed in on. With him zoomed in on, it could be seen that he was shaking.

"Why did you become a soldier with your soft nature?" May asked softly.

"I wanted to protect my country and people." Armstrong replied, covering his eyes with his hand. "I knew war was part of being a soldier, and I was prepared for it. What I wasn't prepared for was slaughtering innocent people."

"They were going to die whether you stayed or ran away." General

Armstrong growled. "All running did was save you from dirtying your hands even more while everyone else stuck it out and soaked their hands in the blood of the dead."

Ling's eyes widened at those words. Instead of being in the room now, he instead found himself standing inside of Gluttony's stomach, in all that blood, watching Ed get thrown around like a doll. He just stood there, watching his friend get beat up and there was nothing he could do. He just stayed in the blood, becoming soaked in the sticky liquid as he was so helpless.

"Ling?" Ed hissed, knocking his feet against Ling's leg.

Ling snapped back to reality and stared at Ed.

Ed raised a brow. "You okay?" He whispered.

Ling nodded, looking away as he released a shaky breath. "Fine, just fine, Ed."

Ed just shrugged.

The other side of the wall was shown. The soldiers were by the wall now, still shooting the Ishvalans into the ditch caused by the wall.

"Shot down like dogs." General Armstrong growled as she crossed her arms and stared at the screen with a frown.

"That's a horrible way to put it." Ed muttered.

Mustang closed his eyes. "Perhaps, but it is the truth. We were treating them like animals to be slaughter."

Riza squeezed Mustang's hand. He opened his eyes and looked at her with a faint smile.

An explosion of fire overtook the screen as the scene changed. A few soldiers were shown. Two of them were beating an Ishvalan down with their guns as the woman screamed out in pain.

"What the hell are they doing?" Al asked angrily. "Why are they beating him?"

"As horrible as it, there were some soldiers who were pretty racist, Al." Hughes told him darkly. "They took pleasure in killing Ishvalans. I am not all that shocked that they would beat some of them to death."

Scar growled to himself at that. They actually beat his people to death because they were different? Because they had different skin color and red eyes? Because they had a different religion and didn't like alchemy? Where was the justification in any of that? They were all still human. They had no right!

"If they are racist like that, how did they ever handle working with the Ishvalan soldiers?" Ed asked.

"It wasn't easy for the Ishvalans in the military. They survived it, but it was

never easy for them." Mustang told him as he recalled Heathcliff from the academy. He grimaced sadly at that reminder.

Ling looked at him curiously. He had no idea that Ishvalans were in their

military had one point. "What happened to them all when the war was going on?"

"They were arrested. They were no longer allowed to be part of the military.

Instead of letting them go back to Ishval where they would fight against us, they were locked up." Hughes explained, frowning darkly.

"And after the war?" Ling asked.

Hughes shrugged. "Could still be in jail. Could have been killed. They may have been buried in the system. To be honest, it's not very clear of what become of them."

"Used for a stone?" Ed suggested, glancing at Dr. Marcoh.

Dr. Marcoh sighed. "It is a possibility, Edward, but if they were used for the stone, they weren't in their uniforms so I had no idea that they were soldiers.

Anything could have happened to them."

Miles frowned at that. His brethren who were not as lucky as him were lost, either killed or locked away deep into the system. He stayed with the Amestrian military so he could attempt to change things from within. While Scar looked for revenge, Miles was looking for a way to change what Amestris had done…to make sure something like another genocide never took place again.

A crying child appeared on screen.

The child faded off the screen as a tall building faded over it as the music snapped to an end.

The scene slowly moved down to a military camp where soldiers were standing around in front of tents.

Isaac, who had a dark depressed look, was shown.

Giolio's face appeared on screen sideways since he was being carried on a stretcher. "They took my leg!"

"…He lost his leg in the war?" Ed asked.

"Yes." Hughes replied.

"Eh, how did that happen?" Ed asked.

Hughes shrugged. "I never asked. Unless the person likes giving exciting stories, it's not common for someone to go around bragging about how they lost a limb. You should know that better than anyone."

"It's not like I can tell stories of how I lost my limbs. Not unless I want arrested." Ed mumbled.

"Those savages for the dogs!"

Scar scowled at that. His people were not savages. How dare he call his people savages when the Amestrians were the ones beating his people to death? He was lucky a leg was all that he lost in that war. It could be a lot worse, like it was for his people. Losing a leg was nothing compared to what his people lost in that war. If anyone was the savages, it was those damned State Alchemists.

Hughes's face appeared on half of the screen as he took a drink from his mug as Giolio was carried away on the stretcher behind him.

"Damn them!" Giolio shouted. "Damn them!"

Hughes looked up in surprise.

Mustang's back was shown as he walked through a crowd of soldiers.

Hughes appeared on screen as he stood up.

"Hey Roy!"

Mustang's back was shown again as he continued to walk away.

"It's not nice to ignore your friends, Colonel." Ed said.

"Aren't you the one who silenced Ling because you were annoyed?" Mustang retorted.

Ed twitched. "That was different."

"How is that?" Ling asked.

"Shut up, Ling." Ed said.

Ling blinked. "You're not helping your case."

"That is not the point here." Ed grumbled.

"So what is the point?" Ling asked.

"That Colonel is ignoring his friend!" Ed said.

"I wasn't ignoring him! I just didn't hear him yelling to me." Mustang retorted.

"Roy Mustang!"

Mustang stopped and turned halfway around.

"Well, it's about time." Ed said.

Mustang growled. "Fullmetal, just shut up."

Ling smirked when Ed scowled. "Doesn't feel so great to be told to shut up, does it?"

"Ling, shut up." Ed snapped.

Ling crossed his arms and frowned. "Rude."

The scene changed to show a soldier sitting against a wall, looking downcast.

The scene slowly moved to the side to show Hughes and Mustang in the distance a bit. Hughes was standing beside Mustang as he splashed water onto his face.

"So you got deployed too." Hughes said.

"Did you guys not know each other that well at this point?" Havoc asked.

"We met at the academy and became friends, though we got stationed in different areas, which wasn't all that surprising." Mustang replied. "We didn't stay in contact much because we were both pretty busy."

"Then it must have been fate that you met up again in war." Fu said.

Hughes grinned. "Yes, fate! We were destined to be great friends, Roy!" He swung an arm around his friend's neck, making Mustang twitch in annoyance.

Brody blinked, staring at the two. "Does that remind you of anyone?"

Quite a few eyes moved to Ling and Ed.

Ed growled. "What the hell are you implying?"

Ling swung his around Ed's neck with a grin. "I think it is pretty obvious what is being implied, Edo."

Ed elbowed Ling in the side. Ling hissed and let Ed go.

"As violent as ever," Ling wheezed, rubbing his side.

"I am nothing like Mustang!" Ed said annoyed.

"They meant our friendship." Ling said.

Ed whacked Ling on the head with his book. "You be quiet."

"Brother, you don't have to be so frustrated and annoyed by this." Al tried to placate him. "Just how you picked up some habits from Teacher, you've picked up some habits from Colonel over the years as well."

Ed's eye twitched violently and he threw his book violently at Al. He threw it so hard that it knocked Al's helmet off his head and sent it flying into the air.

"AH! Brother!" Al yelled annoyed, jumping to his feet and trying to catch his helmet before it hit the ground. It slipped from his hands and went flipping through the air until Izumi reached a hand into the air and caught it.

"Here you go, Al." Izumi said, tossing the helmet to Al.

"Thank you, Teacher." Al said, shooting his brother a glare.

"You misspoke, Al." Ed told him innocently, picking up his book.

"Don't try to act innocent with me!" Al shouted. "I know you! You're not innocent!"

Ed blinked and looked at Mustang then back at Al. Weird. That was pretty similar. "….Does everyone think I'm a demon?"

"Yes!" A few soldiers shouted.

"Don't worry, Edo!" Ling said, hugging him. "Even if you are a demon, I'll still be your friend!"

"Oh joy." Ed said sarcastically.

"Well, it's good to see you. Although," Hughes appeared on screen, arms crossed as he looked at Mustang. "You've changed since the last time I saw you."

"And that was when exactly?" Ed asked.

"The academy." Hughes said.

"Huh, you guys didn't see each other since the academy?" Ed asked.

"As we said, we were busy." Hughes replied.

Mustang scoffed. "Despite being a State Alchemist, you still manage to have a lot of time on your hands, don't you, Fullmetal? Always traveling around the country, doing your own things."

Ed rolled his eyes. "It's your fault for not always giving me missions. And you gave me full range to do what I wanted after I completed my missions so I don't wanna hear it, Colonel!"

Mustang's face appeared on screen, dead eyes staring at Hughes as he dried his face. He lowered the towel.

The water tank that Mustang was using was shown. His reflection was seen in the water. "I could say the same, Hughes."

Hughes's face appeared on screen, glasses reflecting the sun so his eyes were hidden.

"You have the eyes of a killer."

"More prominent back then." Ed muttered.

"What do you mean?" Lan Fan asked curiously.

"When I first met Hughes and Colonel and Lieutenant Riza, I would have never guessed that they participated in this war. Their eyes didn't show the eyes of a killer, just the eyes of a soldier that has seen too much horror." Ed explained. "Not surprising. It's not like we always want to look dead and like a killer." Mustang said, frowning. "It just makes everything a lot harder if we just stay focused on it all the time." Ed hummed to himself, thinking about that. Makes it harder? That certainly reminded him of Scar.

Scar was just defending his land and people during the war, but the war was what had him suffering so much. Unlike Mustang, Riza, or Hughes, he didn't get passed it. Neither did they, but they weren't focusing on it all the time like Scar obviously. Scar focused so much on what the soldiers did which was why it was a lot harder for him and he was hunting for revenge, unlike the other Ishvalans who just sat behind in the slums.

Hughes looked surprised for a second before he tilted his head down a bit so his dead eyes could be seen. "Yeah."

The blue sky was shown with dark smoke in it. "Look at this country." Hughes's voice said as the scene slowly moved down. Hughes and Mustang were shown from a distance, walking towards the screen.

"It's not exactly the future we imagined when we were at the academy." "Yeah," Mustang said before his face appeared on screen. His eyes were shut. "I guess that future could never be."

"What future was that?" Avery asked.

Hughes and Mustang shared a look, neither deciding to answer Avery.

"I see you guys aren't very eager to share." Avery grumbled. "I thought there were no secrets here."

"There're a lot of secrets not being shared. We only get to learn the main secrets it seems." Clarink mumbled.

The scene moved to show the two from behind at an upward angle from the bottom of a cliff. Another soldier ran over to the two and saluted as he said,

"Captain." He held a letter out to Hughes. "You have a letter."

"Oh, thank you." Hughes said. The soldier saluted once more before leaving. Hughes looked at the letter before laughing in a happy, crazy way.

"You can still sound like that in the middle of a war?" Havoc said, raising a brow.

"I can't help it! It was a letter from my sweet, sweet Gracia!" Hughes cooed.

"She is such a sweet angel! Oh, you have to see this wonderful pic–"

Mustang grabbed a pillow by him and slammed it into Hughes's face,

efficiently shutting him up. "No one wants to see any pictures. We are trying to watch our past."

Hughes pulled the pillow off his face with a frown. "I was in the war once already. I know what happens, and it's not fun, Roy. You know that. If I want to try to keep my spirits up while seeing this war again, don't stop me."

"I think Fullmetal, Ling, and Al are doing a good job of keeping the air from getting too tense and dark. They don't need your help." Mustang informed him.

"Hey!" Al, Ed, and Ling shouted.

"We didn't do anything!" Al protested.

Mustang raised a disbelieving brow.

"How did I get dragged into your shenanigans?" Al complained to his brother.

"Huh?" Ed said, staring at his brother. "How is this my fault?"

"Because you and Ling always have to fool around and make jokes. And now you've somehow got me dragged into it!" Al exclaimed.

Ed stared at his baby brother.

"What?" Mustang asked shocked. "What's wrong?"

Hughes appeared on screen, cheeks bright pink in excitement as he held the letter between two fingers from each held while Mustang stared at him. "I've still got a beautiful future." He hugged the letter to his chest, hearts fluttering around him as he turned in a circle while Mustang twitched in annoyance. "And her name is Gracia. And she's patiently waiting in Central for the day I can come home." Hughes suddenly deflated and frowned. "All alone." He was suddenly zoomed in on as he gritted his teeth angrily. "How long before some jerk puts the moves on her?"

"You've got amazing mood swings." Havoc said dryly.

"Isn't it just that he is too over-excitable? Like a puppy?" Ed asked.

"Watch it you two. I am still a higher rank than either of you." Hughes warned.

Ed huffed. "Since when do you assert your power?"

"Like you," Hughes said, smirking. "I do use my power when I need too."

"Humph, well, you can't deny that you were a wee bit too excited over that letter." Ed grumbled.

"It was from the love of my life! You would be excited too if you were in a war and got a letter from Winry." Hughes retorted.

Ed twitched. "Back to that, are you?"

"I would say Roy would be ecstatic to get a letter from Lieutenant Hawkeye, but since they are both in the military and would probably go to war together, they would have no need to send letters to each other, unless they wanted to be very sweet and just send little love notes to each other." Hughes added, grinning widely while Mustang glared darkly at him.

"I told you–" Mustang said angrily.

Hughes leaned in closer to Mustang to whisper, "If you're going to keep denying your love for her, you shouldn't be holding her hand." His eyes moved to where both of their hands were still interlocked.

Mustang scowled at his friend and looked back at the screen, but didn't let Riza's hand go.

The scene changed to show Hughes holding the letter to his cheek with his back to Mustang, who just stared at him with a deadpanned look. "No. Gracia would never do that to me." He put the letter to his mouth. "She'd never have an affair like that." Hughes pulled the letter down and stared at it. "But she is all alone."

Mustang turned away and closed his eyes. "Hey Hughes. I've got a little advice for you."

"I don't get it." Ed said.

"Don't get what?" Ling asked.

Ed ignored him and turned to Mustang. "You and Hughes are best friends, right? So why does Hughes call you by your first name and you call him by his last name?"

Mustang stared at him with a frown. "Because."

"Because why?" Ed asked.

"Just because."

"That's not a good explanation!"

"I don't care."

Hughes turned to him.

Mustang's face was shown up close. "It happens in movies and novels all of the time." He looked at Hughes.

"The soldiers who never shut up about their girls back home." He made a gun with his fingers and pointed it Hughes. Hughes was shown to be staring at him with Mustang's finger gun in his face. Mustang jerked his hand up a bit like he fired it.

"They don't make it."

Ed smirked a bit in amusement.

Ling stared at him with a frown. "You would find that amusing."

Ed shrugged and turned to Mustang. "You are a really great friend by telling him that."

"He told him he was going to die!" Brosh exclaimed.

"And underneath it, he was saying to be careful!" Ed retorted.

"Oh, so you can read into my words now?" Mustang asked, raising a brow.

"Where was that skill when we were on that mission a couple years ago?"

Ed looked away with a sly look. "Well, I didn't know you that well then so it was harder to read into it."

"And?" Mustang growled.

"I may have ignored what I was reading in your words." Ed admitted.

"Fullmetal." Mustang growled angrily.

"Hey!" Ed cried, raising his hands. "It was two years ago! I say just forget it!"

"You purposefully put yourself into a dangerous spot." Mustang said angrily.

"Uh…this isn't really the time. We are trying to watch the Ishvalan War." Ed replied.

Mustang's eyes narrowed. "I won't forget this."

"…You say that, but you will." Ed mumbled to himself.

Hughes twitched angrily. "Not funny, Roy."

"See? Even he didn't find it amusing, Ed!" Ling said.

Ed rolled his eyes. "I don't think you found it funny either."

"Course not." Ling cried, hugging Ed's arm. "I could never say such a thing to my friend."

Ed whacked Ling on the head. "Let go, Idiot Prince!"

The letter that Hughes got appeared on screen.

Hughes's eyes were shown as they opened a bit more.

Hughes and Mustang were shown from behind.

"Alright then. I can make it through this day." Hughes said.

Mustang turned his head towards him.

Hughes's face was shown from the side with Mustang's face in the background still turned towards him as gentle sad music began. "This letter is all I need. I can think about tomorrow again." He frowned and looked down. "Even if this damn battlefield might not let me see it."

"That's pretty depressing." Al said.

"It's how we lived in war, never knowing if we were going to survive so see the next day or not." Riza told him softly. "We fought to live, but we were prepared for death as well, even if we didn't want it. That is how war is."

The scene pulled out to show the two from a distance. Mustang turned his face forward once more.

"I can't picture any way out of this war." Mustang said.

Hughes lowered his letter to his side.

"No matter how much military force we throw at it, the desert seems to just suck it up like water."

Ishval was shown, smoke rising out of it.

"All of this destruction, for what purpose?"

"To create a blood crest." Armstrong said darkly.

"All that's left is sand."

Mustang and Hughes were shown from behind.

"True, it seems a little excessive to suppress an uprising." Hughes said.

"Isn't war always excessive?" Ling asked, frowning.

"It is necessary sometimes if the other side refused to negotiate and continues to attack the borders." Hughes said, frowning as well. "But in this case, putting a stop to the uprisings was necessary, but a full scale war was not. It was very extreme. Lot of soldiers thought that, but there was nothing they could do when they were thrown into the battlefield."

"Because they are humans, all they could do was fight." Ed murmured. "A part of them did it because it was their duty to serve their country and fight. But really, they did it because they are human, and humans are selfish beings. They didn't want to die, so they fought back and killed so many to survive and get out of there."

Hughes frowned sadly. Ed read right into his reason, even though his reason for fighting wasn't said.

Footsteps had both of them falling quiet.

The scene moved to show them from the front as they both turned halfway around to see a soldier carrying a gun wrapped up in cloth and wearing a tan hood approaching them. The soldier stopped at the bottom of the cliff. She was zoomed in on as Riza removed her hood.

"Hello Major Mustang." Riza said. "Long time no see." Her face was zoomed in.

"Do you still remember me?"

Mustang's face appeared on screen. 'Damn this war. Even her?'

"You didn't know she had joined the military?" Lan Fan asked.

"I thought you guys would have stayed in contact since you were friends."

"No. It was too hard to do." Mustang admitted. "It was her choice to join the military. I was pretty surprised to see you there though. You couldn't have graduated yet." He added, looking at her.

"I hadn't." Riza told him. "I was in my last year at the academy. Since the east was so understaffed, I was stationed there." "That's a great way to spend your last year." Ed muttered.

"Be glad you never had to go through it." Mustang told him.

Ed weakly raised a hand. "I'm glad." He said, grimacing a bit. Yeah, going through military training really would not be something he would be all that happy to do.

The scene pulled out to show the three from the side.

'She has the eyes of a killer too.' Mustang thought.

"Course she does. All soldiers have that in war." Havoc muttered darkly.

The three appeared on screen to be sitting on crates somewhere in Ishval with other group of soldiers standing around and talking. "Maybe you can answer this, Major." Riza said.

Riza's hands appeared on screen. "Why are we being order to kill citizens when we should be the ones protecting them?" Riza's face appeared on screen. Her eyes were staring at Mustang. "I thought alchemy was meant to be used to help people. So why is it being used to kill them instead?"

"Was alchemy ever used for the people before the war?" Sheska asked.

"Eh, that is a difficult question." Mustang said. "It really depends on who you are asking. Some will say the purpose of State Alchemists was never to use their alchemy for the people, but for the military. While some will say there were good intentions, but being part of the military, those good intentions were corrupted."

"And as we saw from your master, he was one of the people who did not agree with the State Alchemist program at all." Izumi said.

"Did he have a problem with regular soldiers?" Ed asked. "He didn't seem happy you became a soldier."

"He didn't mind soldiers too much as he did understand a military was needed to protect the country. But he didn't like me becoming a soldier because he feared I would probably one day become a State Alchemist and use what he taught me." Mustang said.

"Well, his fear was realized." Hughes said.

Riza gripped Mustang's hand a bit more tightly. She knew he wanted to be a State Alchemist, but he waited until he got Flame Alchemy and mastered it.

Would he have become a State Alchemist and used it in the war if she never gave him the research? Was it because of her that Mustang suffered so much in using his alchemy to kill civilians in the war?

Mustang's face appeared on screen, eyes looking at Riza as he frowned.

The scene pulled out to show the three with another soldier sitting a bit away from them on the side of the screen, though his face wasn't shown. He lowered his mug and said, "Because that's the job we State Alchemists have been given to do."

"What? To follow orders without question?" Ed asked, frowning. "What did you think when you, a State Alchemist, was order to go to war and kill with your alchemy?"

"I was confused and horrified, not understanding the order. I did not see how killing people with my alchemy would be helpful to the people." Armstrong said.

"It didn't affect me much since I was just a researcher State Alchemist." Dr.

Marcoh admitted. "It didn't truly hit me home until those Ishvalans were brought to me and I was ordered to use them to make the stone."

"I see." Ed said, not bothering to question Mustang about what he thought.

He knew Mustang didn't like talking about the war. It was a hard enough time for him. And he just never spoke of it. He didn't want to. He couldn't. In fact, it was amazing he got an answer at all from Dr. Marcoh and Armstrong.

The scene moved to show Kimblee bowing his head with closed eyes. "You ask why we're here killing these people instead of protecting them."

"Of course it's Kimblee talking." Havoc growled.

"Did you know him as well?" Ling asked.

"Not well. I heard his name and what he did. I talked to him like once or twice, and I hated every moment of both conversations." Havoc said.

"It also doesn't help that we don't know if he is going to kill us or not in the middle of the conversation." Breda added.

Ed raised a brow. "What were you guys talking to him for?"

The two soldiers shrugged. "Work."

"Just casual talk when you see each other." Breda said. "Though when it's

him, there's nothing casual about it."

"Because this is a war and that's what soldiers do."

"Soldiers do not just kill." Riza said angrily. She couldn't say it back then because she was still so horrified and confused about what she had gotten herself involved in, but now. Now she was stronger and calmer. "Soldiers protect as well. They protect their land and people. That war was wrong because we were ordered to kill our own people. We went against our duty to protect our people."

His face was zoomed in on as he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Isn't that right?"

The scene moved to between Riza and Hughes so it could be seen that all three of them were looking at Kimblee.

"You think this our job?" Mustang asked. "To cause tragedy?"

Kimblee put a hand to his chin. "Well, that's how it seems. But let's see."

Riza's face appeared on screen.

"Tell me, miss." Kimblee said, surprising her a bit. "You're not very happy to be here, are you? Well, you don't appear to be."

Riza looked down.

"Why would anyone be happy? It's war. Soldiers know there is a chance they will go to war when they join, but they do not want it. They do not want to be in war, especially when they believe that it is wrong." Izumi growled. She may not like the military, but she did understand it. It wasn't the soldiers that were wrong. It was the corruption in the military that gave it a bad name and reputation.

Kimblee's eyes appeared on screen. The background darkened and shadowed his eyes. "But can you honestly tell me, in that split second when you take down an enemy."

Riza's face appeared on screen, darkened from the background as well. She stared in horror at Kimblee.

"You don't allow yourself to feel the slightest twinge of satisfaction and pride in your skills?" Kimblee asked as Riza's horrified eyes were zoomed in on. "Well, Miss. Marksman?"

Mustang growled softly. How dare he say that to Riza? What would he understand about the horror that Riza felt? He wasn't a sniper. He was an insane alchemist who enjoyed all the killing he got to do. How could he tell Riza that she enjoyed what she did? It just made her more horrified at what she was doing.

Riza frowned a bit. The truth was she did feel a bit of pride and satisfaction in skills, and that just increased how horrified she felt. She felt terrible killing all those civilians. But what made the guilt in her all the more worse was that she was proud of her skills. She was proud that she didn't miss. It made everything a lot harder to accept when she knew she was just a bit proud of her skills. She didn't like all the deaths she caused. She never could like that, but pride in her skills was just not something she could get rid of. It meant she would never miss what she was aiming at. Her job counted on her skills. Without her skills as a marksman, she was nothing.

Mustang squeezed her hand to get her to look at him. He was staring at her as if he knew what she was thinking. "It's alright to have so much pride in your skills, Lieutenant. If you didn't have that pride, I wouldn't be able to trust your skills. We are all very prideful about something we have skill in. That pride makes us practice more and more to keep up our skills."

Riza smiled softly, but also a bit sadly, at him. It was so much more than that.

Mustang appeared on screen to be grabbing Kimblee by his jacket. "That's enough, Kimblee."

"Whoa, where is the calm, annoying Colonel?" Ed asked.

Hughes chuckled. He had to wonder how Ed would react if he knew what Roy was like during their days at the academy. "He was young and reckless at one point too, Ed. He just grew up the way he did because of the war and missions he has done."

"And you guys complain about me being hotheaded?" Ed asked, smirking. "At least I am a hotheaded teenager, and not a young adult."

"The difference between you and me is that you had to grow up a lot sooner, but you're still a kid so you're hotheaded while I didn't have that hard life so I didn't learn the harshness of the world until the war." Mustang retorted.

"Wow," Ed said sarcastically. "Colonel admitted something about himself."

A second later a pillow slammed into the back of Ed's head, which smacked Ed's head down a bit. His head snapped up and he turned his head back to Mustang. "Colonel!" He cried.

"It was a pillow. Don't be a baby." Mustang said.

Ed scowled at him.

"I'll tell you what I don't get. Did you people expect something different? You act like you're surprised. Like you didn't choose this."

"We chose the military. What we didn't choose was killing innocent civilians." Mustang said angrily.

"There are just some things in the military that you don't expect when you join. You know what you are signing up for, but you sometimes get orders which do not seem like something a soldier should be doing." Karley said, frowning. And those orders brought dark secrets to the soldiers that they could never share.

Mustang's face appeared on screen. He pulled his head a bit back in surprise.

One of Kimblee's narrowed eyes appeared on screen. "Did you put on that uniform thinking you wouldn't be asked to kill?"

The scene pulled out to show Mustang from behind as he held onto Kimblee's jacket with some soldiers in the background watching the two. As Kimblee stood up, Mustang let go of him.

"The one thing worse than death is to avert your eyes from it."

"How is that worse than death?" May asked confused.

"Because it means you are hiding from what you have done. You can't admit that you are the one who killed. You are hiding from everything you have done." Mustang said. "If you can't accept what you have done, can't accept that you have killed, you will never make it as a soldier. In fact, you probably couldn't live with yourself after the war."

"In a strange sense, it also means you are dishonoring those you have killed. You are in a blood fight. Everyone in it knows there is a chance they will die. Averting your eyes from those you have killed is in a sense, a way to dishonor the fight and them." Riza added. "It is not an easy fight when the goal is to kill so you want to turn away from the people you are killing but that is just a way to anger your enemy. You are killing people from their side and averting your eyes? It's almost as if saying they are not worth it."

"That's pretty dark and depressing." Ed murmured.

"Killing and war are always like that." Riza said sadly.

As Kimblee leaned into Mustang's face, he was zoomed in on. "Look straight at the people you kill. Don't take your eyes off them for a second." Riza's horrified face was shown, eyes shaking. "And don't ever forget them." A part of Ishval with bloody dead Ishvalans lying around and smoke rising out of it was shown. "Because I promise that they won't forget you."

"So was that advice or him just being a jerk and making your state of minds worse?" Ross asked.

"As crazy as it might sound, I think it was a bit of both." Hughes said. "The guy is still an insane psychopath who enjoys killing too much though."

A bell was rung as the group was from shown from the sky at a downward angle.

Oh, too bad. There's the bell." Kimblee said. He was zoomed in on as he turned around and straightened his jacket collar as Mustang stood behind, glaring with his dead eyes. "Time for me to get back to work." He walked away

Miles frowned as his hand curled into a fist. That man was taking too much pleasure in killing his people. Unlike the other soldiers, he didn't look dead or tired from the war. He just looked like a cold blooded murderer. No one should get that much pleasure from killing.

The scene showed Mustang's face from behind as Hughes stood up in the background and said, "I've got to head out too." He turned around and lifted a hand into the air. "See ya later, Roy."

"Hughes." Mustang said, making Hughes stop. "Can you tell me why you fight?"

"Shocking to hear Colonel ask such a question." Ed said.

Mustang looked around for something, found another pillow and threw it at Ed's head.

Ed's head snapped down in surprise, then back up angrily. He shot a glare at

Mustang. "Stop doing that!"

"You need to learn to keep your mouth shut." Mustang retorted. "I was asking a serious question."

"I know it was serious! I just can't believe that there was a point in time that you had to ask such a question!" Ed shouted, holding his head.

Mustang blinked. Did Ed really believe that he has always been like he was now?

The back of Hughes's head was shown. He turned his head to the side to look at his friend.

The scene changed to show Hughes, Mustang, and Riza all from behind from the sky.

"It's simple. I don't wanna die. That's the only reason."

"And there's the selfishness of humans." Ling said.

"That selfishness is also part of the reason that soldiers were able to pull the trigger." Hughes said sadly. "It starts as fear for why we were able to pull the trigger, but then it gets easier and we pull the trigger for the selfishness of preserving our own lives."

The side of Mustang's face appeared on screen.

"Your reasons are always simple." Hughes said.

"Hear, hear!" Al and Ed said.

Ling looked at Ed, raising a brow. "Thought you didn't do that."

Ed shrugged.

Mustang closed his eyes.

Mustang's hand appeared on screen as he pulled his glove on.

A part of Ishval was shown with an explosion of fire happening in the distance that ravaged that part of the country.

The dark smoke with bits of fiery ashes zipping through it appeared on screen. The smoke blew away to show Mustang walking towards the screen with the fire raging behind him.

"Oooh, dramatic." Hughes said. Mustang sighed.

Ed and Hughes. Such an annoying pair. He knew Hughes was trying to keep his spirits up by joking around, but he expected more from Ed. He expected the boy to be more serious since this was about the war. But even he was joking, even if it wasn't a lot. What was he playing at?

'If that's so, what the hell is the reason for this war' Mustang thought as his face was zoomed in on.

"You guys ask that question a lot." Avery said.

"I've been asking the question for years whenever I think about the war." Riza admitted.

Mustang wouldn't say it, but he too was always thinking about the question. It was something that bothered him. He never thought he would get an answer to the question, but everything they were learning was giving him an answer. He was learning the truth, and while it was hard, he was glad to learn it. These truths led to answers of so many unasked questions he had.

"The reason." Dr. Marcoh said. He appeared on screen, head bowed as

Scar stood over him. "There is one. But it's worse than you can imagine."

A lab at nighttime appeared on screen. A gunshot was heard followed by groaning and more gunshots, which led to more crying as sad mysterious music started.

The inside of the lab where the Philosopher's Stone array was appeared on screen. Scientists and soldiers stood around the array, while Ishvalans were tied up and lying in the circles of the array.

Dr. Marcoh stared in horror at the screen. He knew he was telling Scar what he had done, but he never thought that this horrible process would be shown. No one should have to witness this. He couldn't even stand to see it again. It was just too horrible. And he was the one who caused it. He used those Ishvalans to make that dreaded stone.

"What is this?" General Armstrong growled.

"It is the making of the Philosopher's Stone." Dr. Marcoh admitted softly.

A pair of Ishvalans tied together was zoomed in on. The scene slowly moved to the side to show another pair of Ishvalans. Blue alchemical light flashed around them, making them gasp.

Scar growled. The making of the stone? They were making the stone with his people. He already knew that, but now they dare to show it? What was the purpose of showing this? Seeing the war. Seeing those damn State Alchemist and soldiers do all that to his people angered him so much. But to see his people used to make a stone? That vile stone was made with his people's souls. That vile stone was made for an experiment. That vile stone didn't need to be made! And yet it was, and it was his people used for it! If this damn country wanted a stone, why not use its own people for its dreadful experiments? Why did it have to be his people? Those damn Homunculi didn't care for anyone, so why didn't they use the people of Amestris for it?

A sad looking Dr. Marcoh appeared on screen with his scientists behind him, watching in glee.

An Ishvalan was shown, staring in horror at the blue alchemical light as it got brighter.

Another Ishvalan was zoomed in on. He started screaming out in pain.

(A/N: SHITS ABOUT TO DOWN IN 25 SECONDS)

Ed grimaced at that. He knew that the process of making a Philosopher's Stone was a horrible one, but he didn't really know how bad it was. And seeing this, he really didn't want to see anymore. The process of making a stone seemed very horrible and painful. He never really thought about it, but it should have been obvious that the process of making a stone would be painful for them. Their souls were being stolen from their bodies. They were being killed, souls stolen for a stone. He should have realized it. It was the opposite with Al, who lost his body and not his soul, but it was the same thing. He felt Al's body being stolen. He felt that horrible pain. Why wouldn't it hurt to have one's soul stolen instead?

Another pair of Ishvalans was shown, also screaming out in pain with the blue alchemical light zapping around them. Another pair was shown, struggling and trembling violently as they screamed out.

May stifled a gasp and hugged Xiao-Mei closer to her chest. She knew that the stone was made from human lives, but it never really processed into her mind until now. This was the stone being made. She was being shown the stone being made. These humans were being used for the stone. The same stone that she was after. This was the Philosopher's Stone. The way to immorality. This was it. Could she accept such a thing? Could she accept the stone that stole the lives of so many?

Dr. Marcoh's face appeared on screen, staring in horror.

(A/N: 15 SECONDS LEFT)

Scar's hand slammed into the armrest. All he did was stare in horror while his people were sacrificed to make a stone? He knew it was wrong, but he did nothing to stop it. He just let it happen to his people without a word.

An Ishvalan appeared on screen, screaming out. His head rose, eyes turning completely white. The scene pulled out to show the scientists watching the array, which was completely lit up in blue while red steams appeared. The red steams were swirling in the air around the center of the array.

Al's hands curled into fists. The stone that his brother and him have been searching for. This was the stone they spent three years looking for. It was being made right in front of them. They were seeing how a stone was being made and it just depressed Al so much. The stone they spent years searching for was being made using humans. There was no way he or Ed could ever use the stone to fix their bodies. They have wasted three years for a mythical stone that they could never bring themselves to use.

Dr. Marcoh was shown, eyes averted from the process. When the blue light was gone, he looked at the array again.

(A/N: 10 SECONDS LEFT)

"Don't avert them." Ed whispered hoarsely, horrified. "You are the one doing this. If you can't face the horrible deeds you have done, you don't deserve to be a well-known alchemist. Face what you did head on. It won't make the guilt any less, but at least the truth of what you have done will be in your eyes and you won't be able to blame anyone else."

The red light in the center of the array appeared on screen. The red steams that were connected to it continued to swirl around as they slowly entered the red light.

Dr. Marcoh's eye appeared on screen.

The red light was shown to be turning into a Philosopher's Stone. There was a blue spark accompanied with a zapping sound from it as the red steams continued to spin around the oval stone.

Scar yanked Dr. Marcoh up to his face and asked angrily, "You took the lives of my people to create a Philosopher's Stone?"

Scar growled angrily at that.

(A/N: 5 SECONDS LEFT)

The stone appeared on screen with Dr. Marcoh's hands appearing under it as it finished completely with a low whistling sound.

(A/N: Times up, Scar, banjaa sunny deol aur Phaad de uski gaand)

And instead of being upset or horrified at what that stone was made of, he

just accepted it into his hands like that. "You." Scar said angrily.

Ed's head snapped up in surprise.

"You murder my people with your vile alchemy for that stone." Scar shouted angrily. He flew out of his seat and lunged across the room.

"Shit!" Ed cried. He put a hand on the table behind him and flipped over it with Ling jumping backwards over the same table to avoid getting trampled by Scar. Ed landed in Mustang's lap while Ling landed on Hughes. Both soldiers shouted out in pain from the weights landing on them. Though Mustang had it worse since Ed had those two automail limbs and his automail arm slammed into his chest.

Al dived to the side, pushing May out of the way while Lan Fan jumped onto the coffee table with a frown.

Ross grabbed Sheska by the arm and pulled her away as Scar lunged at a shocked Dr. Marcoh. His hands wrapped tightly around Dr. Marcoh's neck.

Dr. Marcoh scrabbled at Scar's hands, eyes staring widening in horror at Scar's furious face. He knew that he was after death, but he didn't expect it now. And Edward told him to live to make up for his mistakes and to try to help. He couldn't do that if he died here.

"Scar!" Mustang screamed, throwing Ed off of his lap and onto the floor.

Ed groaned when his head hit the ground.

Mustang flew to his feet, which made Ed roll onto his side so he wasn't stepped on. Black Hayate jumped off of the couch and nuzzled Ed's cheek.

"How dare you?" Scar shouted.

May stared in horror from where she was in Al's arms. This wasn't Scar. She was watching him. He wanted revenge for what had happened to his people, but she saw beneath his anger. He was really a kind person. This angry person, upset over the death of his people, trying to kill the doctor wasn't right.

"How dare you use MY people to create that stone? My people who have suffered so much because of your damned country?! They did nothing to deserve such a horrible death." Scar screamed.

"That's enough, Scar!" General Armstrong shouted, standing up. "Release Dr. Marcoh now! This was all in the past!"

"Trying to reason with a vengeful, angry man?" Ling muttered, rolling off of Hughes's lap and into a crouch on the floor by Ed.

Ed sat up, rubbing his aching head as he stared in horror at Scar. He knew what Scar was like when he tried to kill him. He knew how angry the man could be, but this was just unrealistic. He looked absolutely manic right now.

"Damn, take alchemy away all you want, V.H., but you can't stop martial artists or vengeful Ishvalans."

(A/N: SCAR- OAI, TOD-DALUNGA, PHOD-DALUNGA, CHEER-DANLUNGA, PHAAD-DALUNGA, MAAR-DALUNGA, PAPA)

Dr. Marcoh gasped and struggle for breath, clawing at Scar's hands.

Armstrong grabbed Scar's hands and forced them off of Dr. Marcoh's neck and pushed him back. When Scar tried to lunge again, he was tackled by Darius and Heinkel. They managed to keep the Ishvalan down for a few seconds, but it seemed being blinded by fury made him that much more dangerous as he managed to threw both soldiers off of him.

"Ed," Ling whispered. "What do we do?"

"Nothing." Ed muttered, clenching his fists shut. "We do nothing."

Ling stared at him in shock as Scar dodged a punch from Armstrong.

"Nothing?" He repeated. "Scar is trying to kill Dr. Marcoh and your solution is to do nothing?"

"I've fought him before. He is very dangerous, but when people are blinded by fury like this, they are even more dangerous. They will do anything to get to the one who angered him." Edward hissed. "And right now, Scar is pissed off at Dr. Marcoh and probably everyone else who was in that war. I could barely handle him in East City and now my automail arm isn't in top condition. I'd just get in the way."

Ling suddenly grabbed Ed's shoulder and yanked him down just as Jerso went flying over their heads and slammed first into Mustang, sending him flying back onto the couch, which caused Jerso to slam into Riza and Hughes as well.

"Dr. Marcoh," Ross said worriedly, sitting beside the doctor, despite the fact that Scar might make it back there.

(A/N: Marcoh ki maa-behen ek karnke rakh di, scar bhaiya ne)

Dr. Marcoh gasped for breath, gripping his neck tightly. He knew that Scar would be furious about what he saw, but he wasn't expecting such a strong reaction from him. He has been mostly calm in this room. Scar was so calm that Dr. Marcoh was starting to forget just how angry of a man he was.

As Scar made another lunge for Dr. Marcoh, Izumi growled and intervened.

She grabbed Scar by his arm and shirt and threw him across the room. He went soaring through the air. He flipped over to land on his feet, but Izumi jumped at him and sent a kick into his chest, which sent him flying into a wall, creating a crater in it.

"That's got to hurt." Ling said with a frown. This was getting a bit out of control.

Scar pushed himself out of the wall and ducked under a punch from Buccaneer, who came out of nowhere.

"Get off." Mustang hiss as he pushed Jerso off. When Jerso hit the ground,

Mustang immediately turned to Riza. "Are you okay?"

Riza rubbed her stomach, breathing a bit heavily. She nodded. "Yes, Colonel. Just a bit bruised from that I believe."

"What? You're not worried about me?" Hughes asked.

Mustang shot him an annoyed look.

(A/N: OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, LOOK OUT)

CRASH!

(A/N: MAMAMIA, OH MY GOD, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, LOOK OUT!,)

SLAM!

(A/N: MAMAMIA, OH MY GOD, HOLY MOLY, IT'S A FREAKING GUAKA-MOLY, SCAR JUST, SCAR JUST ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT TO BUCCENEER ON THE WALL, THIS IS THE GRAND WRESTLEMANIA MOMENT IN THE HISTORYU OF TRUTH REVEALED)

Mustang's head snapped back to Scar to see Buccaneer slammed into a wall and Scar lying on the ground.

"Buccaneer!"

(A/N: HERE'S COMES THE SUPERMAN PUNCH)

Scar jumped back onto his feet, only to jump backwards to avoid a punch from Armstrong.

(A/N: And just missed from a centimeter, but, OH, HOLY MOTHER, SWEET CHIN MUSIC BY IZUMI CURTIS)

Izumi jumped over Armstrong and sent a kick at Scar, But didn't budge him a little bit, then Scar grabs Izumi leg and throwing her side to send Izumi flying. Izumi flipped in the air and landed in a crouch. She went to charge back into the fight when she suddenly coughed violently. Blood spurted out of her mouth, making her wrap an arm around her stomach and put her other hand on her mouth.

"Teacher!" Al cried. He set May down and stood up.

"What's wrong?" May asked worriedly. She ran over to Izumi with Al and kneeled by her. "Miss Izumi?"

Ed growled and slammed his automail hand into the coffee table, putting a hole in it. "ENOUGH!"

(A/N: And here's come the Shanks with Blondie hair, to stop this)

"Chief?" Havoc asked shocked, staring at Ed, who had his head bowed so his bangs hid his face.

Al looked up from where he was kneeling by Izumi. "Brother?" He asked worriedly.

(A/N: Is he gonna fight or gonna use Conqueror haki)

"Enough, just enough." Ed said angrily. He pulled his arm out of the table and stood up. "All of this! Fighting Scar? It's not going to solve anything! He is blinded by fury! He is just going to keep fighting until there is no one left to challenge him!"

"Fullmetal?" Mustang said, frowning.

"Scar!" Ed shouted, glaring at him. "You can be furious at Dr. Marcoh all you want, but you shouldn't let that anger take control of you like this. You're just going to lose yourself in it at this rate!"

Ed glared at Scar and everyone who was fighting with him for a moment before growling. "Just get yourselves cleaned up!" He turned around, stepped on the couch between Hughes and Mustang and jumped over the couch.

(A/N: And again just like last time, The blondie shanks Stop the great war before it happening, and also no one dies in it)

Scar growled, glaring at Ed's back, but before he could act on his anger again, a hand grabbed his arm.

"That's enough, Scar." Miles growled, grabbing hold of Scar's arm.

"Well, that was…" Hughes started, staring at Mustang.

Mustang shook his head and Hughes fell quiet.

Dr. Young flew to her feet, looking around. "Anyone who got involved in

that fight, infirmary now." She looked at Mustang, Hughes, and Riza. "You three too. I want to check that you didn't get more than bruises."

Al picked Izumi up and headed to the infirmary with her.

*Miles & Scar*

Scar glared at Miles and ripped his arm free before walking angrily over to an empty dark corner of the room. He wasn't going to do anything to the kid.

Just hearing him yell at him annoyed him so much right now. He was frustrated and angry about everything.

Miles followed after Scar. "I know you're angry about having old wounds opened up like this."

"You understand nothing." Scar snarled at him.

"You think you are the only one suffering from this? Everyone is horrified.

Those who were in the war are guilty about what they have done, but they are handling it in their own way. You are just letting your anger about it get to you and are attacking people. I thought that you were learning the truth and redirecting your anger, but it seems just seeing the future isn't enough for you." Miles said, frowning.

"It will never be enough." Scar said angrily, turning to glare at Miles. "They killed my people. They destroyed my country. And now they are forcing my people to live in the slums and face racism for being different and having different beliefs."

"You see all Amestrians as being the same." Miles retorted. "Not all of them are racist. Take Fullmetal for a reason."

Scar frowned.

"He noticed my secret on the first day and he never once mentioned it to anyone because he doesn't mind. It doesn't bother him." Miles pulled off his glasses and revealed his blood red eyes as Scar stared in shock. "My red eyed brother, your anger is taking over you. Going after revenge will solve nothing."

"Why?" Scar asked, hands clenching into fists. "How? How can you serve the country that destroyed our land and killed our people?"

"Because I will change the opinion that Amestrians have of us Ishvalans. Like you, I am furious at what happened to our people, but I'm not going to search for revenge. I am going to change things from within. What you are doing will only spread more anger and make Ishvalans less trusted. What I am doing is trying to fix things." Miles told him. He turned around and put his glasses back on. "You should think about it a bit more."

*Ed's Room*

Ed gripped his automail arm in annoyance. He kicked his bedroom door shut behind him with a scowl. He knew that tempers were going to be rising, but he didn't expect Scar to attack like that. Scar had been mostly calm in this place, but no more. Seeing the war opened up horrible memories and feelings for him so it shouldn't be a surprise to him that Scar suddenly lost it. Sighing, Ed let go of his arm and let it hang limply by his side. With all the wrestling he has done with Ling, his arm had survived, but slamming it through a table? That just called for it to break at last. Now, how to handle this?

(A/N: Shanks lost his arm, AGAIN)

A few minutes later Ling walked into the bedroom and just stood in the doorway, staring.

"What are you doing, Ed?" Ling asked, looking around at the room that was torn apart.

Ed poked his head out of the bathroom to look at Ling. "Where's Al?"

"Took your teacher to the infirmary." Ling said, kicking some clothes out of the way. "Why are you tearing our room apart?"

"Looking for something." Ed said before disappearing back into the bathroom.

Ling walked over to the bathroom door and leaned against it as he watched

Ed tear the bathroom apart with one hand while his automail arm hung limply at his side. He sighed. "Break your arm finally?"

"Yeah," Ed grumbled. "Dr. Marcoh?"

"Looks like a bit of damage to his neck. Might just be bruising. I'm not sure." Ling replied.

"Hmm, probably have trouble swallowing and talking for a while." Ed mumbled.

Ling sighed. "Want me to go get something from the infirmary for you? I don't think you're going to find anything in here."

"Fine." Ed grumbled, slamming the cabinet shut.

"So grumpy." Ling teased, ducking out of the bathroom just in time to avoid getting hit by the bottle of soap. "Clean the room up while I get your sling!"

"What are you? My father?" Ed screamed from the bathroom.

*Infirmary*

"Well, you were lucky, Colonel." Dr. Young said. "Just bruising."

Mustang nodded and pulled his shirt and military jacket back on. "Thank you, Dr. Young."

"I'm fine! I'm fine, Al. Stop worrying." Izumi growled.

Mustang smirked a bit as he walked around the curtain and saw Izumi sitting on one of the beds with a worried Al standing over her.

"Oh, hello Colonel." Al said as he looked at him. "Clean bill?"

"Just bruises." Mustang replied. "Hughes and Lieutenant Hawkeye got away with the same."

Al nodded. "That's good. I was worried since it looked like Jerso slammed into you guys pretty hard. Is everyone else okay?"

"It's mostly bruises, but some had a few cracked and fractured bones." Dr.

Young said as she came out from around the curtain. "Though Captain Buccaneer cut his head open a bit. A few stitches and all is good to go."

Al grimaced. "Scar is really dangerous when he is mad."

"That's an understatement." Dr. Young replied.

The door to the infirmary was thrown open and Ling came in. "Are you done with everyone?" He asked.

"Just about." Dr. Young said.

Ling nodded. He had been waiting for most of the patients to be treated since he didn't want to get in anyone's way but Ed was probably getting tired of waiting. "Well, Ed's needs a sling."

Mustang sighed. "What did he do now?"

"Nothing. His automail arm just broke." Ling replied.

"Well, it was only a matter of time." Dr. Young said.

"I guess slamming his hand into the coffee table was a bad idea." Al murmured.

"When is that ever a good idea?" Mustang asked.

Al shrugged.

*Main Room*

Once Ling helped Ed get his arm into a sling, they were back in the main room with everyone else. The destroyed main room that was. The coffee table that was destroyed was pushed against the wall that had craters in it. His black book was resting on it.

Ed went over to the table and grabbed his book off of the coffee table. "Is everything good and we can go on? Or are we still on high alert?" As he said this, he spared a glance at Scar, who was staring at him. He looked away quickly. He should have kept his mouth shut earlier.

"Whenever you're ready." Mustang said.

"Right." Ed muttered, being sure to avoid Scar as he moved back to his seat on the floor in front of the couch that Mustang and Hughes were on. Nothing against Scar. He just didn't want anything to start at the moment.

"Did your arm finally break, Chief?" Havoc asked.

Ed rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

"What happened to this stone?" Scar demanded as Kimblee's back appeared on screen as he stood around raging fires and the complete destruction of Ishval.

"It was given to Major Solf J. Kimblee." Dr. Marcoh grunted out.

"Not at all shocking." Mustang growled.

"Why's that?" May asked a bit hoarsely. She hugged Xiao-Mei closer to her chest as she leaned into Al's metal chest.

"He would take pleasure in using the stone and he would tell no one he had it. No one could know he had it and he would keep it a secret and feel no remorse or horror about that stone." Mustang said.

The side of Kimblee's malicious grinning face was shown.

"He was known as the Crimson Alchemist."

"The Crimson Alchemist?" Ed repeated with a frown. "He was known for causing explosions and they called him Crimson?"

Scar's face appeared on screen, glaring into Dr. Marcoh's. "Did you see what this man looked like? Did he have black hair and cold eyes?"

Scar growled to himself. There were many State Alchemists that he hated for their role in the Ishvalan War, but Kimblee was one of the ones he hated the most. He was the one to kill his family. He was the one that caused his brother to have to sacrifice himself for him. It was because of him that he lost his family. He lost his land and his people were killed, but his family almost escaped. They were so close to escaping until that man showed up.

Dr. Marcoh nodded. "Yes."

Red alchemical light lit up the screen as Scar's brother jumped in front him to protect him from the explosion. Scar's brother's face was zoomed in on. The screen turned white.

"My brother." Scar said.

Scar reappeared on screen. He shoved Dr. Marcoh to the ground.

"Keep talking." Scar growled.

"Everything changed." Dr. Marcoh said. "That single stone changed the battle around."

"What does that mean? Amestris was still losing the war despite having State Alchemists there?" Al asked confused.

"We weren't losing, but we weren't winning." Mustang said slowly. "Despite facing State Alchemists, the Ishvalans were quite determined to fight back.

Then Kimblee suddenly showed up with more power than ever and the battle really was different than what we were used to."

Ishval appeared on screen, explosions being heard in the distance as the scene slowly moved up to show a hand holding a Philosopher's Stone. "Ah, what a beautiful sound." Kimblee said. The screen moved to show Kimblee standing on a building from an upward angle. "It doesn't get any better than that. I can feel it deep in my bones." He lifted his hand to his face to look at the stone. "Like a part me I never noticed before, that sound is an extension of my being." His face was zoomed in on as he continued to stare at the blood red stone. "And this land. This land that's governed by death, I will paint it red with this shard of destruction."

"He really enjoys destruction too much." Al mumbled. "He's a sociopath."

"Coming from you, that is amazing." Ed replied. "But the more I listen to him, the more I think he is a philosopher."

"That's not surprising. He is more than just a sociopath. He's also a bit of philosopher, which just makes him that much more annoying." Mustang said.

He put the stone between his teeth. His cold eyes that shined with darkness for the destruction to come appeared on screen. "I couldn't dream of a more fulfilling job." The scene moved and his hands rapidly clapped as they appeared on screen. Red alchemical light sparked around his hands.

The scene pulled out to show the explosion he caused moving down the building he was standing on to the Ishvalans standing at the bottom of it. Red light sparked around the building and red light filled up the ground as the Ishvalans screamed out. Scar was shown, staring at the ground as it broke and rose.

"Did we really have to see that again?" May asked sadly.

"Of course. The future wants to annoy us by showing the same scene a hundred times from different perspectives." Hughes said, frowning as he crossed his arms.

"I don't think it's to annoy, Hughes." Mustang told him. "It's to help us understand."

"What's to understand?" Hughes cried. "Kimblee is an insane sociopath! Case done!"

"Is that how you handle all investigations?" Ed asked dryly.

Hughes grabbed a pillow and whacked Ed's head with it. "Shut up, kid."

The scene went white.

One of Kimblee's cruel eyes appeared on screen. The scene moved to show Kimblee from behind at a downward angle as he covered his face with his hands. "Such a beautiful sound." He shouted. He spread his arms wide. "Like a symphony!"

"Explosions sound like a symphony?" Havoc scoffed.

"He's insane." Ed said. "Explosions are loud and destructive."

"You're just complaining because you went temporary deaf for a few days

because of the first explosion you got involved in." Havoc said.

"Who wouldn't complain?!" Ed cried, rubbing his ears. "That was annoying

and nerve-racking. I thought my hearing wasn't coming back!"

Mustang grimaced at that. That happened just a few months after Ed joined the military. It was really worrisome for them all. Not only would Ed losing his hearing cause the boy a lot of problems in life, it made Mustang feel guilty. He was the one to send Ed on that mission. He almost destroyed his senses. And if Ed lost his hearing completely, it would have caused a lot of problems within the military and among the citizens. Allowing a kid to become a State Alchemist caused many protests. Ed almost losing his hearing a few months after joining would have caused those protestors extreme joy because they would have had something to go on which is why Mustang and is team kept very quiet about it.

The destroyed land and building caused by him were shown.

"This stone is amazing!"

A mug appeared on screen as it was put down as the music ended.

The scene pulled out to show Riza looking down at the mug with Ed watching her.

"It didn't take long after that. The Ishvalans were slaughtered." Riza said.

A group of Ishvalans holding a white flag appeared on screen with some soldiers crouching behind some rubble looking at them.

The leader of the group was zoomed in on. His eyes were closed as he bowed his head just a bit.

"With no other option, the Ishvalans surrendered. The High Priest of Ishvala, Logue Lowe, offered himself to the Fuhrer on behalf of his people."

"I never heard about that." Ed said with a frown.

"That's because the Fuhrer refused his offer." Hughes told him.

"He had the Ishvalans surrendering and he didn't accept it?" Ed asked in disbelief. "There was so much bloodshed at this point already. Surely the blood crest was done."

"Bradley is a very cold person in war." Mustang growled.

"Of course he is, and it probably has nothing to do with him being a Homunculus. You can't be gentle and nice in war." General Armstrong said.

Bradley appeared on screen, sitting in a chair with his face resting on a fist. Behind him was an Amestrian flag and soldiers stood in a line on either side of him.

"So," Bradley said before the group of Ishvalans was shown to be standing at the other end of the table, tied up. "You're asking me to take your life in place of the remaining tens of thousands of Ishvalans."

"That's correct." Logue replied. "I stand–"

"How arrogant of you." Bradley interrupted. He was shown, staring coldly at the group.

"Do you sincerely believe that your single life is equivalent to the remaining multitude of your followers? Your stature has gone to your head." His face was zoomed in on. "The life of any individual human is only worth one life. That's all. Nothing more and nothing less."

"Uh, I don't like Bradley, but he does have a point." Ed said. "That wasn't a good negotiation tactic on the Ishvalan's side. Though Bradley was also wrong on one point."

"What point is that?" Fuery asked.

"The life of a human is only worth one life." Al said. "It is wrong."

"A human life is equal to nothing. Any life is sacred. It's like," Ed hummed.

"If the choice was between a family member and someone you didn't know, you would obviously save your family member and let the other person die. But that person has family and friends as well so the life for a life thing equals nothing. Each life has value. Maybe not to you, but to other people."

"Think a lot on that or was it something you learned over the years?" Riza asked.

"Something we learned during all our travels and from learning more about Human Transmutation and the Homunculi." Al replied. "It's just all teaching us."

Logue's face was shown from the side with his fellow Ishvalans being shown behind him.

"Your life is not enough to call off the extermination." Bradley said.

"Maybe not, but you could at least negotiate terms, you jerk!" Luke said angrily.

"How can you be so inhuman?" One of the Ishvalans said angrily.

"You will suffer the hammer of God!" Another Ishvalan shouted.

The screen moved to show Bradley from behind on the side of the screen with Ishvalan group and some of the soldiers being seen in front of him.

"God you say?" Bradley asked. "Now this is intriguing." He lowered his hand from his face and held it palm up in front of him. "How much longer do you think your God plans to wait before unleashing his fury?" Bradley's face appeared on screen as dramatic music began. "Just how many thousands of lives must I take before he decides to strike me down?"

Logue and another Ishvalan were shown from behind.

The Ishvalan leaned forward a bit and said, "You're a monster."

Bradley stood up and put his arms behind his back. "Open your eyes. God is nothing more than a constrict created by man to expire fear and promote order." Bradley's stomach appeared on screen. The scene slowly moved to his chest then face. "If you wish to see me struck down for all these atrocities, use your own hands to do so, not God's!"

"And he is only saying that because he knows that none of them can touch him." Darius said.

"Don't they have warrior priests?" Ling asked.

"What's your point?" Jerso asked.

"I think they could injure him. Maybe not kill, but injure sure. If Ed is insisting that Scar will be the demise of Bradley then Scar has extensive training from a master so surely one of the other warrior priests could possibly injure Bradley as well." Ling said. He turned to his friend. "As a matter of curiosity. Why did you choose Scar as your guess of who would defeat Bradley?"

Ed shrugged. "Because he has every reason to want to go after Bradley.

Bradley was the one who ordered the extermination of Ishval."

"You're just filling his revenge." Ling said.

Ed shrugged. "It was just a guess, Ling. We won't know if it is right or not until the end."

A mug of coffee appeared on screen.

Ed's downcast face was shown.

Riza's face was shown. "And that's it."

Weary soldiers appeared on screen as they trekked up a hill. A couple of jeeps were in the background driving up the hill.

"The war soon ended."

A couple of soldiers were shown to be posing for a picture.

"And we were all discharged and returned to our homes."

Another group of soldiers with shown saluting Grand, who was saluting back.

Hughes's frowning face appeared on screen. "Now we know." He said.

"We really are as expendable as garbage to them."

Mustang's face appeared on screen. "Yeah. The power of one man doesn't amount to much."

"I remember this scene!" Ed shouted, pointing at the screen. "Colonel was dreaming about it in an earlier episode!"

"Congratulations, Fullmetal." Mustang said sarcastically. "Your memory is as good as ever."

Ed rolled his eyes. Stupid Colonel.

The scene slowly started to pull out to show the two standing by each other.

"But that doesn't matter."

The scene continued to pull out higher and higher to show Mustang and

Hughes from a downward angle surrounded by soldiers all around.

"With what little strength I have, I'll do whatever it takes to protect the people I love. And in turn, they'll protect the ones they love. It seems like the least we tiny humans can do for each other."

Bradley was shown to be standing at the top of some stairs as he looked down at his soldiers. He turned his head and stared down at them. The top half of his face was zoomed in on, showing his cold eye staring at them.

The scene went dark, music ending with it.

Mustang appeared on screen to be sitting behind his desk. The sound of a door opening was heard and Mustang looked up. It closed and footsteps were heard next as they approached the desk.

A pair of feet was shown as they snapped together.

The back Mustang's head appeared on screen as the scene moved up to show Riza standing in front of Mustang, saluting.

Mustang appeared on screen, hands interlocked in front of his face. "So you decided to take this path after all, even after what you went through in Ishval."

"You were expecting her to leave after it?" Ross asked.

"She wouldn't have been the only one to leave after the war." Mustang replied.

"But if I left after all that killing, everything I would have endured up to that point would have been pointless. I would have to live with the horror of what I had done while living as a civilian if I left. I would have put myself through all of that for no reason. By staying in the military, I could still make a change and make sure something like that never happened again. I can do nothing as a mere civilian." Riza replied.

"Did you think long about it or was that answer already there in your mind?" Hughes asked. "Seeing everything we did in the war solidified my beliefs." Riza said.

Riza appeared on screen. "Yes sir." The scene moved to show the two from a downward angle. "If the world truly operates based on the principle of equivalent exchange, then we soldiers have plenty to give back. If this world is meant to prosper," Half of Mustang's face and one of his hands took up half the screen with his window behind him was on the other half. "Then it is our duty to carry the bodies of the dead across a river of blood to their resting place."

"What is with you two and rivers? River of mud. River of blood. You really need to come up with new metaphors." Ed said.

"That wasn't the point of that at all." Mustang said.

"Yeah, yeah, Lieutenant Riza feels extremely guilty about the war and she wants to give back to the country to make up for it. About the rivers." Ed said.

"Forget the rivers!" Mustang and Riza said.

Mustang closed his eyes. He was shown from behind as he stood up and looked at Riza. "From now on, I'm assigning you to be my assistant. I feel like I can trust you to watch my back."

Riza's face appeared on screen.

Mustang appeared on screen. "Although, I expect you understand what this means. You'll be able to shoot me in the back as well."

The scene moved to show Riza from the side at an upward angle with Mustang still being seen behind his desk.

"If I ever deviate from this path, then I want you to shoot me, and I'm trusting you to do so." Mustang told her.

"That wasn't dark at all." Havoc said sarcastically. "I didn't know that was your role."

"I doubt they would want to publicize that deal between them." Ed said dryly.

"It's a private promise between them."

"A promise to shoot him?" Hughes echoed. "You made the woman who loves you make that promise?!"

"Hughes!" Mustang snapped, glaring at his friend. "Would you drop that already? We don't love each other that way!"

Hughes scoffed. "Just like Ed. Always denying it. You trust her that much to show her your back. She is the only person you will ever leave it wide open to. You leave yourself open for her, and only her."

Mustang's eyes narrowed at him. "You're implying it again."

"And I will keep implying it until you admit your love for her." Hughes hissed quietly at him.

Mustang rolled his eyes.

Riza's face appeared on screen.

"Do you accept my offer?"

Riza closed her eyes. "Of course I do, sir."

"Not at all surprising." Ed said.

The scene moved to show Riza from behind at a distance.

"I'll follow you into hell if you ask me too."

"Not surprising." Havoc said.

The scene went dark and reopened on an empty mug.

The scene changed to show Ed and Riza from a downward angle.

"But even if the Colonel does become Fuhrer, how will that change the fact that this is still a military state?" Ed asked.

"Well, it won't. The first thing we'll have to do is restore power to the parliament. We'll take it back from the military and make it democratic again." Riza said.

"Which will probably take a long time." Mustang said.

"And who says you'll become Fuhrer anyway?" General Armstrong said, glaring at Mustang.

Mustang smirked. "I say I'll become Fuhrer."

"It seems to always be a war for leadership. Doesn't matter what country it is." Ed muttered.

The scene moved to show the back of Riza's head on half the screen and Ed's face on the other half.

"Only after the full extent of the military's corruption has been brought to light can this country move forward."

Ed's eyes widened a bit. "What do you mean?"

Riza's eye was shown. It narrowed a bit. "For example, those who were praised as heroes during the Ishvalan campaign will be brought to trial as war criminals."

"I said earlier that it was good you weren't pushing the blame, but that there, Lieutenant, is really stupid." Ed growled. "You killed a lot in that war. And it is horrible, but that was your order. That is what happens in war. No one likes it, but people die in war."

"It's different here, Fullmetal." Mustang snapped.

"How so?" Ed retorted. "Because you killed civilians?"

"Of course that makes it different. They couldn't fight back. It was genocide."

Mustang retorted. "We killed innocent people when there was no need to. We destroyed so many lives. I'd expect you'd to understand with everything you've seen in the past three years, Fullmetal."

Ed snarled at him. "So you think you should be the ones to judge all those soldiers who killed in the war? You think it's right to take all those who were praised as heroes and now call them war criminals? What the hell gives you that right? All you do–"

"Who the hell are you to lecture me when you've never been to war? You've never killed! You don't understand anything, Fullmetal." Mustang snarled.

"You don't know how hard it is to pull that trigger the first time. Or that it gets easier with each pull of the trigger. You know you're killing innocent people who deserve it, but you don't care. You just want to survive and get out."

"Don't you dare cut me off!" Ed growled, glaring angrily at Mustang. "All you doing is suffering in that guilt. I get that. I get that you will forever feel that guilt. You think I don't get it? I performed human transmutation. I lost my brother's body. I couldn't save Nina. You have no idea of what I've seen in my past three years. You don't know that I-."

Ed paused for a moment, he took a deep breath and let it out, while his eyes were covered under his golden blondie hair and then he looked at mustang.

Mustang felt a chill on his back when he saw Ed's eye's, they were not normal as a moments ago, they were filled with coldness and without mercy, and this kind of look only one type of person can give, and For mustang it was literary impossible to accept for him.

"That I killed someone, 'by accident'"

"What?" Mustang said shocked. "When was–"

"Don't assume you know everything." Ed snapped at him. "It was when I was twelve, shortly after I joined the military. And that is not the point here. You say I don't understand, but I do, Colonel. What you're doing is just running away in the end! You feel guilty about it so you are after a trial to be found guilty and sentenced to death. It's running away into the hands of death!"

"So what?" Mustang snapped angrily. "It's our choice. That war was wrong and should never have happened. We killed too many innocent people to be seen as good people now."

"Your choice! And what about all those other heroes of Ishval? Where's their choice? They were following orders and now you think it's right to declare them criminals? And what do you think happens if you get killed?" Ed snapped. "You think the country will stay the same after your deaths? What if another big shot takes over for you and ruins everything you worked for, huh? Just like I've said to Dr. Marcoh, dying changes nothing! But you know what? Don't listen to me! You're too bloody stubborn to listen."

"Uh…" Hughes looked at Mustang that at Ed.

"Shut up, Hughes." Ed growled, looking back at the screen.

"I think he got his point across well." General Armstrong said.

"I found it more awkward than anything." Buccaneer said, glancing between the two alchemists.

Ed's eye appeared on screen, widening in horror as dramatic music began.

The scene moved to behind Ed "That's right. In a just peaceful world, after all we've done, we'll be seen as mass murders."

"Then every soldier who has been given that order is a criminal in yours eyes." Ed said angrily.

Ed leaned onto the table. "And the Colonel is trying to make sure this happens? Isn't that just like committing suicide?"

Riza closed her eyes.

Ed appeared on screen, staring in horror at her. "But the Homunculi were the ones pulling the strings. They caused the civil war."

Riza was shown. "Even if they were the ones responsible for it, we were the soldiers who carried it out." Riza was shown from behind with Ed still staring at her. "You should never avert your eyes from death. Never forget the people you've killed. Trust me." Riza's eye was shown from the side. "No matter how much time passes, they will never forget the ones who killed them."

"Well, it seems you took Kimblee advice." Havoc said, glancing awkwardly between Mustang and Ed, both of who did not look amused at all. They were both sitting so tensely with scowls. It was amazing fists didn't go flying between the two.

Ed's automail hand appeared on screen, clenching into a fist. "It's not right."

Riza's gentle face was shown. "You don't have time to start worrying about us."

"Shut up!" Ed said angrily, glaring at the two.

"Ed?" Riza asked shocked.

"You don't get it at all." Ed snapped, glaring at Riza.

"Fullmetal," Mustang said angrily. Ed could be mad at him, but he had no right to glare at Riza.

Ed scoffed and looked back at the screen.

Hughes looked between the three with a frown. Of course that was the problem. Ed didn't want to hear about Riza and Mustang preparing to die for what they did in Ishval. He didn't want to lose any more people he cared about. The thought of them becoming war criminals and being killed scared him.

"Your hands are already full. You need to look after your brother, Ed."

Riza said. "And you need to get your bodies back."

Ed was shown.

"You better get to it." Riza said. "You've got plenty of people waiting for that day."

Ed closed his eyes. He opened his eyes and nodded.

The night sky was shown.

"I'll get our bodies back." Ed said as the scene moved down to a house.

"And Al will help me."

The door to the house opened and Al stepped out, saying, "Good night, Dr. Knox. Sorry for the intrusion."

Al's face appeared on screen.

"Excuse me," May said. "Mister Armor."

"Mister Armor?" Al asked amused, though he spared his glaring brother a worried glance.

"Well, you never told me your name in the future." May huffed.

"My mistake." Al said.

Al looked down.

May was shown, staring up at Al with Dr. Knox leaning against a wall in the hallway behind her. "I just wanted to thank you for your help. You saved both of our lives."

Al was shown, leaning over to May. "My name's not Mister Armor. It's Alphonse Elric."

"Your name is Elric?" May asked.

"You remember Edward Elric, don't you?" Al put his hand a short ways above the ground. "The little alchemist you screamed at."

"AL!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Al shouted. "Brother! Stop hitting me with your book! I'm sorry!"

Ed huffed, but his glare didn't lessen.

"Well, I'm actually his younger brother."

May's face was shown as she stared at Al.

"It's kind of a long story, but I lost my body." Al said.

May put a hand to her chin as she imagined a fire breathing Edward.

Ed scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Eh, sorry, Edward." May said unsurely as she stared at the angry Elric.

"Don't even try, May." Al mumbled to the younger girl. "Brother is too frustrated to listen to anything right now."

"So you're his younger brother, huh? You probably look just like him then."

"How rude!" Al cried.

May snapped back to attention as Al was shown, hands on his hips.

"For starters, I'm way taller than my brother is, and I don't have a mean face like his, and I'm a much better fighter too." Al said.

"And I'm the arrogant one?" Ed scoffed, staring at his brother. "Not only am I offended, Al, but that was very arrogant of you."

"It's not arrogant if it's true!" Al retorted, staring at his brother annoyed.

"Nope, still pretty arrogant, Al. And besides, we don't know who is the better looking!" Ed argued. "How arrogant of you about your looks. I never would have thought that would come from you!"

"Eh, Ed, Al, could you two please not argue right now?" Hughes asked.

"Stay out of it." Ed snapped at him. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Well, when I said that stuff to May, it's not like I meant for you to hear it." Al mumbled.

"Oh, perfect!" Ed said sarcastically. "My brother just insults me behind my back while boosting himself. Learn something new every day!"

"That's not what I meant! What does it even matter?"

Ed scoffed angrily.

"And, I don't have temper like he does. I'm a gentleman!" Al said.

"And a bragger." Ed muttered.

"Am not." Al said.

"Are too." Ed snapped, glaring at his brother.

"You're just mad because you know everything, I said is true." Al said angrily.

"Oh, look, there's that arrogance again." Ed retorted.

"Are you going to fight with everyone, Ed?" Ling asked.

"Shut up, Ling. It has nothing to do with you." Ed snapped.

"I was just asking." Ling mumbled.

"Well, don't ask!" Ed screamed.

"You don't have to yell at young lord because you're frustrated." Lan Fan growled.

"Yes, everything is my fault!" Ed screamed. He stood up, jumped over the couch between Hughes and Mustang and stomped away.

"Ed, where are you going?" Hughes yelled.

"Away from here!" Ed screamed.

Hughes stared after Ed with a frown. "How strange." He mumbled.

"Stupid brat is just frustrated." Mustang growled.

Hughes shot his friend a glare. "You're blinded by your annoyance as well, I see."

Mustang shot him a frown. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Hughes gave him an almost pitying look. "I can see now why your relationship with Ed is such a complicated one."

"That's not an answer." Mustang said annoyed.

May's eye was shown, widening. She imagined a charming prince Al and got all dazed and happy. "Oh, Alphonse."

"Eh…" Al said. May really did have the weirdest fantasies.

"Eh," May chuckled a bit nervously. "Sorry, Al."

"Right." Al muttered. "It's alright. I understand that little girls have a lot of fantasies."

Al turned around at the door he was about to exit to stare at May who had sparkles around her.

"I really hope that you get your body back soon." May said.

Al nodded. "Oh, well, thank you."

The ending song started.

Envy appeared on screen, knocking a metal door. "Hope you decent, doc." He said. "Time for your supper."

"Hopefully Scar is no longer in there. That will cause a lot of problems." Dr. Marcoh said hoarsely.

The dark room was shown.

As Envy opened the door, the light from the hallway lit the room up a bit. "Huh, it sure is quiet in here." He said. His malicious grinning face was shown as he walked in with a tray on his hand. "Are you thinking about Ishval and crying yourself to sleep?" He stopped his talking and looked at a wall. His arm was zoomed in on as it widened.

The wall was shown. In blood was the word written.

"VENGEANCE"

"That is definitely Scar's work." Havoc said darkly.

"Since when does Scar write vengeance in blood?" Breda asked.

"When you want to screw with the Homunculi, you do that." Havoc replied.

The scene pulled out to show Dr. Marcoh's body without a head.

"No! Dr. Marcoh." Armstrong said horrified.

"Hmm, strange." Dr. Marcoh said hoarsely, touching his bruised neck. "I don't feel any pain at all."

"Really?" Ross asked, looking at the doctor in horror, but also in curiosity.

"But that is your body there. How could you not feel any pain from this?"

The scene pulled out farther to show Envy staring at the wall.

The scene went dark.

"So, I believe we should stop and take a break before the tension in here suffocates all of us." Hughes said thickly.

*Training Room*

Kei walked into the training room, biting down on his cigarette when he found Ed lying on the sparring mat. He walked over to him and looked down at the boy. "Are you hoping someone will come fight a boy with a broken automail arm and his other hand injured to help you relieve your frustration?"

Ed opened one eye to glare at him. "Go away."

"I can try to fix your arm." Kei offered. Ed opened both eyes and looked up at him with a frown. "Try?"

"It's your friend's work, but I saw her tinkering with it a bit earlier in what we watched and I am an automail mechanic. I might be able to fix it." Kei told him. "And what happens if you're wrong?" Ed asked. "The worst that can happen is I could probably make it worse." Kei said and when Ed just stared at him with narrowed eyes, he laughed. "You trust me that little? You have two options. I can attempt to fix your arm and make it worse, not better, which will just add to your stress levels. Or I can manage to fix it and take one less thing from you to be stressed about. What do you have to lose?"

"My sanity most likely." Ed grumbled.

*Al*

Al stared angrily at a wall. What was up with his brother? He really took it too far with what Future Al was saying. Why did he have to take it so seriously and argue with him about it? Normally it wouldn't have bothered him at all so why was it so annoying to him now? He knew his brother was a bit frustrated and tense from everything that they had seen, but that was no excuse for him to argue with Al about what his future self was saying to May. And it was said to May! Al basically redirected her affections to him, which was completely unintentional. One would think his brother would be happy about that!

*Hughes & Mustang*

"What did you mean earlier?" Mustang asked.

Hughes glanced at him. "Have you calmed down?"

"Do I not look calm?" Mustang retorted. Hughes turned to face his friend fully.

"Not at all. You still look annoyed." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Roy, why do you think Ed got so mad about what Hawkeye said about you guys becoming war criminals? You were only thinking about becoming war criminals and being punished for your crimes. You didn't look at it from Ed's side at all."

"From Fullmetal's?" Mustang scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets, frowning as he thought. All Ed really did was yell at him that their choice was a stupid one and that it would solve nothing if they died for what they did in the war. He was saying to stay and change things and make sure nothing happened to their new country when it came to be. "Damn it, Hughes. Are you seriously telling me he was upset?"

*Training Room*

"Do you even have the tools for such a procedure?" Ed muttered.

Kei grinned and held up the missing screw from Ed's arm.

Ed groaned and covered his eyes with his flesh arm. "Where did you get that?"

"You'd be amazed at what appears in front of you in this place when you need it." Kei replied.

Ed muttered a curse under his breath.

"I'll take that as agreement to me fixing your arm." Kei said, grinning. He reached down and grabbed Ed by his flesh arm and pulled him to his feet.

*Kei's Room*

Ed laid at the end of a bed on his stomach, head pressing into a pillow which he had his flesh arm wrapped around. His automail arm was stretched out onto a stool with Kei sitting on a chair by the bed.

"Your arm is amazingly done." Kei said. "I almost don't want to tinker with it with how amazing and complex it looks."

"You can't fix it then?" Ed asked.

"Didn't say that. It will just be harder and take a while longer than I thought it would." Kei replied, biting on his cigarette as he frowned. "Or I could make it that much worse faster."

"That's it." Ed started to push himself up. "I'm out of here."

Kei pushed Ed back down. "Don't worry so much. Your friend isn't the only competent automail mechanic in the world."

"This is a bad idea." Ed groaned, burying his face back into his pillow.

"You had some quite strong reactions to that argument." Kei told him as he started work on Ed's arm.

Ed groaned into the pillow.

"I know; it's just frustration and stress talking." Kei said.

Ed turned his head on the pillow to look at him with a frown. "That doesn't make anything I said less true."

"Including what you said to your brother?" Kei asked without looking up.

Ed frowned at him. "That…that was just a side effect to my stress. It meant nothing."

"It meant something to your brother." Kei retorted.

Ed scoffed. "How would you know?" He retorted and buried his face back in the pillow.

"We all have our secrets." Kei told him.

Ed rolled his eyes. That had nothing to do with this at all.

"I used to have an older brother as well." Kei said.

Ed turned his head to look at him in surprise. He didn't expect to hear that.

"There was a two year difference between us, but we were still really close. We had a lot of fun building things as kids, but it usually ended badly and we had to go to the hospital." Kei continued, frowning. "When he was old enough, he enlisted in the military while I went off to train to be an automail mechanic because I wanted to continue building things which is why automail became a passion of mine."

"That is interesting, but I don't see what it has to do with anything." Ed replied. "Shh." Kei scolded.

"My brother ended up in the Ishvalan Civil War and because of that, he lost his arm. He was so devastated. He thought his career as a soldier was over until I made him an arm and helped him through rehabilitation so he could go back to working as a soldier. When that happened, it opened my eyes that there were quite a few soldiers losing limbs or having problems with their automail so I enlisted in the military as an automail engineer. I got some basic training, but when I told my brother what I was planning, he got mad. He didn't want me in the military as well. He was scared I might have to go to war some day and get killed."

"Sounds hypocritical of him." Ed muttered.

"Perhaps, but he was a bit of a protective brother. We got into an argument about it one day when I was doing some repair work on his arm. I got really frustrated with him so I was glad I was leaving the next day to head north for my assignment. My brother and I parted on horrible parts, and the next time I saw him, a few weeks later, it was at his funeral." Kei said, frowning darkly as the memory came back to him. "I told you before that I would never want to admit that I made a mistake with the automail I made someone and that a mechanic is bound to make a mistake at some point because it teaches them a lesson."

Ed buried his face in his pillow. He had a feeling he knew where this was going and he didn't want to hear it.

"My brother was on a mission when his automail messed up. It messed up at a bad time and resulted in his death. I made a mistake in his repairs because of my frustrations with him and it cost him his life. We never even got to make up after our last argument." Kei said softly. "I don't think he even realized how much he was hurting me in our fight. He just kept yelling and saying I didn't belong in the military. You were frustrated with Al and saying things you didn't mean. Your brother is a nice person, Ed, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel hurt when his brother screams at him."

Ed buried his face deeper into the pillow, almost suffocating himself. 'I got it." He mumbled quietly. "I got it. I know."

An hour later, Ed was sitting up and cautiously opening and closing his hand a few times. When that worked, he rolled his shoulder and stretched his arm above his head. "Hmm, well, it seems to be working." Ed said.

"Does it feel like it is sticking at all?" Kei asked. "Or stiff?"

"It feels a bit different." Ed said, stretching his arm in front of him. "What did you do?"

"Your friend and I are different people who have had different masters. A few things got shifted because of that, but the design is all the same. This will probably take a bit of getting used to." Kei informed him.

Ed nodded. "But it is fix?"

"Much better than before, but you're going to want to get Winry to look at it.

But it shouldn't break again." Kei told him.

"That's good then. Thanks." Ed said.

"Now, I'm starving." Kei stood up and stretched his arms. "We're probably late for lunch."

Ed gave a weak smile.

"Hey," Ed said, making Kei stop in leaving. "You made a mistake that cost your brother his life. After that, why did you stick with automail?"

"Simple. To make sure another soldier never dies from an automail malfunction." Kei replied.

*Al*

"Al."

Al looked away from the wall to look at his brother who was standing by him suddenly. "Come to yell at me some more?" He said bitterly.

Ed shifted uncomfortably. "Al, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean anything by it.

When I was talking earlier about you being arrogant about boosting yourself, I meant it to be teasing, but it came out angry because I'm frustrated right now. I'm just so frustrated right now. And because of that, you took it the wrong way and it just made me worked up. I'm sorry. It wasn't meant to be like that."

"I know you're frustrated, Brother, but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on me." Al said.

"I know." Ed said, frowning. "I'm sorry, Al. This is all just a lot to take in that

I lost myself in my stress. Can you forgive me?"

"I wasn't mad, just upset and hurt." Al replied, holding up a fist.

Ed grinned and bumped his brother's fist. "I really am sorry, Al."

"You know you have to talk to Colonel and Lieutenant Riza as well, right?" Al asked.

Ed groaned and turned away from his brother. "Why did you have to remind me of that?"

Al chuckled and stared at his brother in confusion. "I thought your arm was broken."

"Kei managed to fix it, though it's a bit stiff." Ed replied as he grabbed his shoulder and rubbed it.

"Better than being broken."

Ed yelped and looked over his shoulder to see Mustang there. "…Colonel." He muttered, looking away with a slight scowl.

"Al, mind if I steal your brother?" Mustang asked.

"Not at all, sir." Al replied.

Ed frowned at his brother, who just shooed him away to talk to Mustang.

Ed shoved his hands in his pockets and followed Mustang with a scowl.

*Mustang's Room*

"Colonel, what did you want?" Ed grumbled.

Mustang turned around and stared at Ed for a moment before sighing and

wrapping his arms around Ed's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Ed."

Ed stared blankly at Mustang's blue jacket.

"I understand now. You don't want to lose any more people you care about." Mustang said.

"It doesn't matter." Ed replied as he pulled away from Mustang. "You're going to do it anyway. Can we just forget that argument?"

"What do you think?" Mustang asked.

Ed growled and walked over to one of the beds and sat on it. "Colonel, it was a war of opinions."

"A war that revealed much." Mustang said. He turned around, facing Ed with a frown. "Why did you never tell me you accidentally about that?"

"About what?" Ed asked

"About killing a person, accidently"

Their was a pin drop silence, for few seconds, ed looked downward while his eyes were covered by his hairs, he didn't raise his head but he answered him

"It's the same, colonel the same reason you don't tell me about the war. The guilt. The horror." Ed muttered.

LiAr

"You killed after you became a soldier. You should have reported it."

Mustang said.

YEaH, yOu ShOuLd HaVe InFoRm AbOuT, He'S YoUr Comrade, IsNt, ElRiC?

Ed sighed. "It doesn't matter."

Mustang sighed. "Going to tell me about it?"

"No." Ed replied. "I don't want to discuss that."

Mustang frowned, but didn't pursue the subject. "So then you want to discuss how much you care about me?"

Ed glared at him. "I don't know what you mean, Bastard!"

"When I made that plan, I never expected to gain so many close allies,

Fullmetal. I never expected a couple of kids to show up and," Mustang paused and scowled a bit.

"And?" Ed prompted.

Mustang sighed. "And for me to end up caring so much for those kids."

Oh HoW CuTe, I FeEl LiKe I'M gOnnA pUkE right NOW.

Ed nodded. "Okay."

Mustang blinked. "Okay what?"

Ed jumped off the bed. "I've had enough of this…THIS! We're good, right? I'm leaving. I want lunch."

"You're really horrible with your positive feelings, aren't you?" Mustang asked.

"Shut up." Ed grumbled as he headed to the door. "Mention this to no one!"

Mustang smirked as he said, "Why would I want to? We're enemies, remember?"

Oh, I wIsH We WeRe, bAsTaRd, It WoUlD Be MarVOLOus SiGHT to See YOUR BLOOD SPLATTER ON THE FLOOR WHILE YOUR ARM LYING 5 FEET AWAY FROM YOUR BODY, YOUR LEG WERE DECAPITATED WHILE THE BLOOD WAS LEAKING FROM YOUR BODY, SUCH A MARVOULOUS SIGHT.

SHUT IT

Oh the great fma replies, he was listening me, huh

I said shut the fuck up, and get lost.

...

...

...

OK FINE, I'LL LEAVE, BUT FOR NOW, BUT ONE DAY YOU WILL RELEASE ME FROM THESE BIND, YOU WILL UNLEASH ME FROM MY PRISONMENT AND THEN ITS GONNA BE THE BIG HALLAUA-FEASTA OF THE BLOOD AND DEATH AROUND THE COUNTRY,

I'LL BE WAITING FOR THAT DAY,

EDWARD ELRIC.

And that day will never come, Never.

Yeah keep thinking that, but you know you will one day

WHY?

ITS SIMPLE.

I'M YOU, YOUR ME, ITS WILL HAPPEN IT WILL HAPPEN

ONE DAY

"ED"

Edward snaps out from his thought from the voice calling his name, it was Ling

"What happen"

"Nothing, its nothing" Edward replied


A/N: Majhal's death. I know it is exclusive to the 2003 anime, but I mentioned it here, I know I know I said I will not add the 2003 scene in this fic but this part was written by fallen so yeah I cant make a change in it.

BUT BECAUSE E OF THIS CHAPTER, I GOT SOME PLANS AND IDEAS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER, IF IT WORKED, THEN THE LEVEL OF THIS FIC MIGHT GET HIGHER THEN MY OWN EXPECTATION, AND I HOPE IT WORKS.

And for the announcement that I talked about,

Well, the old readers might know about the upcoming 3 filler chapter, well I made a little bit change in the plan and the change is well I will skip 2 filler chapter from the 3 chapter and instead of those 2 I will write my own 2 original characters, and it will take some time, but I'll try to complete it as soon as possible.

And also, one more thing, to the old readers did you noticed some changes in this chapter, IF YOU do then please review about those change and tell me how you like it or not.

I hope you guys have a good day,

Please Follow, favorite it and make sure to review the chapters and other chapter of this fic.

See you guys next time.