The Golden Bloodline

by Foxxy Sensei

When Edena Elric was born, it was a bit of an accident. She came into her parents lives much earlier than her mother ever expected to have children, but she was there any they loved her either way. When Edena turned four, her life got a little bit crazier and her father showed her how to fly. When Edena turned five, she got a little brother and her hoard grew a little bit bigger.

5. Questionable Loyalties

Ed closed her eyes and counted to twenty. Maybe when she opened them again this nightmare would be over.

"How in the hell does the entire First Branch burn to the ground?!" Al wailed from beside her. Ed sighed. She guessed there was actually no waking up from this one. "All of Dr. Marcoh's research is gone!" Al took a few steps into the building to get a look around while his armor stayed outside to keep watch out. "Sister, everything in here is ash."

Ed gave her little brother a sad look, truly disappointed herself as well. "We'll figure something out, Al. This isn't the end of the line."

Major Armstrong placed a hand on Ed's shoulder. "Miss Edena is correct, Alphonse! You can't give up now! This is an unfortunate coincidence, but I'm sure something will come up soon."

Ed gave the Major a flat look. "Coincidence? Major, this is more like a conspiracy." She stepped into the building and bent to pick up what looked like a burnt book. It crumbled to ash in her hands. "This library is freshly burned, especially since we heard nothing of this happening before we left East City. What are the chances we meet Dr. Marcoh in a random city on the way to Resembool, learn about his notes on the Philosopher's Stone, and in three days, before we can get back to Central, the library he told us his notes were in, burns to the ground? Yes, we can move on and try to find a new lead on the stone, but it seems like someone doesn't want us to." Ed stood and placed her hand on her chin in a thinking pose. "But who would know we even spoke with Dr. Marcoh about the stone? He wouldn't tell anyone himself. And none of us told anyone our plans besides the Rockbells." She got quiet as a thought popped into her head.

Al seemed to be on her same train of thought. "You think someone was following us." He caught a chill when her sister nodded her confirmation.

Major Armstrong frowned. "Who would follow you both so closely that they would know about your research into the stone in order to stop you?"

Ed narrowed her eyes and turned towards the door of the library where Al's armor now stood on guard. "I don't know, but whoever it was had to have stopped following us after we got to Resembool. And the only people that are near us now are two people who are heading right towards us with a clear purpose. Probably soldiers."

Al stepped up beside his sister to look out the door as well. Major Armstrong was confused and about to ask how she knew any of that, but was then surprised to see two soldiers come running up the steps of the library towards them like the young woman had said.

"Major Armstrong!" The two soldiers stopped and saluted the man. One was a Second Lieutenant, a woman with short, dark brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a beauty mark on her left cheek. The other was a Sergeant, a man with shaggy, dirty blond hair, the color not far from Al's, and green eyes.

"Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh. To what do we owe this pleasure of seeing you both today?" Armstrong asked.

The woman, Lieutenant Ross, spoke up. "You have been ordered to report back to the Command Center, Sir."

Sergeant Brosh was the next to speak. "We'll be taking over supervision of Majors Elric effective immediately."

Ed looked very annoyed at his remark while Al placed a placating hand on his sister's shoulder.

Major Armstrong simply shrugged. "They're all yours then." He turned to give the Elrics bows and he grabbed Ed's hand to give the back of it a kiss. "It has been a wonderful experience traveling with you two. I hope we see each other again soon, Miss Edena, Young Alphonse." Before either of the siblings could make a fuss about the change of hands they just found themselves in, the Major turned and booked it out of the library.

Ed turned a glare towards the two soldiers that were now her and Al's shadows, before sighing and walking out of the library as well. "Let's go. There's nothing here for us."

---

"All hope may not be lost," Lieutenant Ross said as they were all squeezed in the back of a car with Al's armor. "There was a woman who was well acquainted with the materials in the First Branch Library, but the only problem is that she was no longer employed there."

Ed sighed and looked out of the window. "That sounds positively unhelpful."

Al nudged his sister's side. "Stop being grumpy." He then glanced at Sergeant Brosh as he could feel the man staring. It turns out he was staring at the armor. "Is there something wrong?" Al said out of the suit.

Sergeant Brosh blinked. "Oh, yes. I was wondering who you were and why you were in a suit of armor."

Ed and Al laughed. "The armor is me, Sergeant Brosh." Al said as he reached over to grab the helmet off the armor to show the two confused soldiers that it was empty. They both freaked out. "It's something my sister and I came up with a couple of years ago. There's an array inside the armor that binds my energy to it and makes it move as if I was inside of it. It can be like splitting your attention in half sometimes, but it's a very effective tool. Sister and I mostly use it for communication because we aren't always together." The entire time Al was speaking, his voice came out of the empty armor.

"That's quite amazing," the Lieutenant said. "I didn't know you could do something like that with alchemy."

Al nodded. "This is actually quite new. Sister and I spent at least a week figuring out the correct arrays that need to be used. Normally, this feat would be done with a single array that is technically forbidden in alchemy because it is considered human transmutation. I would have been binding my soul to the suit of armor and effectively putting my body into a coma or killing it, actually. But Sister and I are kind of special in Amestrian terms. We use two different energies when it comes to alchemy, and we were able to create a few arrays that stored one of these energies in order to animate the suit without killing myself." He smiled at the two soldiers who looked a bit dizzy listening to the alchemist talk.

"Um… Very interesting. Let's get you both to the woman from the library. Her name is Sheska." Sergeant Brosh said quickly to change the subject.

Ed just smiled at her brother's enthusiasm about alchemy and looked out the window to watch Central City pass them by.

---

"How careless could you be? Living like this is not good for you! What would you have done if no one had stopped by to see you? Die under a pile of books?" Ed was currently busy reprimanding a mousy brunette woman with dark green eyes and glasses. She was also checking her over for any injuries.

The group of soldiers had arrived at Sheska's apartment only to find her front door unlocked and the place crowded with books. Lieutenant Ross had entered the woman's home first, calling out her name, but Ed could feel the woman's distress from down the hall. She led her three companions to the woman and they all were a bit shocked to find her hand sticking out of the side of a large pile of books. They were all quick to dig her out.

Al gave a light chuckle. "Uh oh. Sister is in mother hen mode." He ducked a swat from his sister's hand and smiled at the woman. "Are you okay? I hope you weren't under those books for long."

The woman gave them both grateful smiles. "Thank you so much! I thought I was going to suffocate under there." She bowed to them all.

Ed just sat back on her heels with a huff. "So, are you Sheska?" The woman nodded. "And you used to work at the library?"

Both Ed and Lieutenant Ross watched the woman with a bit of concern as the woman shivered at the word library and went on a rant about how great the place was and how she didn't have a job there anymore because all she ever did was read when she was there.

"I need to find a job soon or I'll never be able to move my poor mother to a better hospital. But no one will hire me because my only skill is reading!" The woman lamented.

Ed just blinked. "That's rough." She just shrugged when Al nudged her for her nonchalance.

"When you were working at the library, did you happen to stumble upon any research by a man named Tim Marcoh?" Al asked, trying to get this meeting back on track.

Sheska informed them that she remembers seeing the handwritten notes tucked onto a shelf where they didn't belong. Then they discovered the woman had a photographic memory and she offered to write out everything from the notes of Dr. Marcoh that she had read. Al had stars in his eyes in excitement while Ed gave the woman an impressed look.

Ed was even more impressed when they came back to the woman's apartment five days later and saw the enormous stacks of handwritten research notes. She wasn't even disappointed when they turned out to be food recipes instead of actual alchemy notes.

"I'm sorry it took me five days, but they're word for word written by Tim Marcoh. '1,000 Easy Recipes'!" She smiled at them.

Sergeant Brosh and Lieutenant Ross looked disappointed. Ed and Al started looking more closely at the notes. "Recipes? As in food? What made you think that any of what you read was important alchemy notes?" The Sergeant asked.

Lieutenant Ross sighed. "What a waste of time."'

Ed frowned and pulled out a small notebook from the inner pocket of her coat while Al still looked at the research notes. "Sheska, you're absolutely sure this is a flawless reproduction of Dr. Marcoh's notes?" She whipped a pen out of that same pocket as well, writing a quick note and a number that had a lot more zeros than she tended to pay, but if this woman was as talented as she thought, then it was very much worth it.

Sheska nodded her head with confidence. "Oh yes! I'm one hundred percent certain!"

Ed gave the mousy woman a soft smile and ripped the note she had written out of her book. "Then thank you very much." She pulled her state alchemist-issued watch out of her pocket and unhooked the ring from her pants, handing it and the note to Lieutenant Ross. "Take this to the state alchemist office and have them withdraw the amount on the note from my annual research fund as payment for Sheska. I think it should be enough." She turned to look at Al and Sergeant Brosh. "Let's get these notes to a library that will have the materials we need."

The three non-alchemists in the room were very confused. Sergeant Brosh spoke up. "How are these recipes what you need?"

Al smiled as he started to stack the notes into three different piles for them to carry. "Alchemy is a very powerful art and can be incredibly dangerous if misused. So alchemists encrypt their research to prevent that. These here are designed to look like recipes to the average person, but they're actually very advanced alchemical notes that only the alchemist who wrote them would understand. But, given enough time and resources, Sister and I will be able to decode Dr. Marcoh's notes. We just have to find the correct cipher." Al handed a stack of notes to Brosh and another to Ed before turning to Sheska with a bow. "Thank you very much, Miss Sheska. You're incredible." The woman blushed and bowed back with a quiet thank you.

Ed and Al chuckled a little when they'd gotten down the hall a bit after leaving Sheska's apartment and they heard the two women screaming about the amount of money Ed had written on the paper.

"You're such a bleeding heart, Sister. You always want to solve everyone's problems." Al whispered to her. "I hadn't even realized you were listening to what she said about needing to move her mother to a better hospital five days ago."

Ed stuck her tongue out at her little brother in a rare display of immaturity. "I don't know what you're talking about, Little Brother."

Al just laughed at her in response.

---

It had been two days already and Ed was ready to throw library books across the room due to Dr. Marcoh's encryption. Nothing seemed to be working on figuring out how to decode it. And it had been hours already today.

She was starting to get hungry and it was making her more frustrated.

Al seemed to be in the same boat as he rested his head on the notes on the table, grumbling to himself.

"Majors Elric, you have a visitor." Sergeant Brosh stated after opening the doorway. Sheska stepped into the room, bowing to the two siblings, and Brosh backed out of the room and closed the door.

Al lifted his head from the table. "Hey Sheska. How are you?"

The mousy woman stepped closer to the table they had all of their notes on and smiled. "I'm doing alright, really. Thanks to that money you gave me, Edena, I was able to get my mother into a better hospital. I really appreciate it."

Ed gave the woman a small smile and waved her hand dismissively. "It was no big deal, really. Just do me a favor and don't get trapped under any more books."

Sheska gave a nervous laugh at that. "Have you had any luck deciphering the notes so far?"

Ed sighed dramatically and Al just slammed his head back on the table in his depression as an answer before he peeked a look at the woman. "Have you found a new job yet?"

Sheska's own depressive look was enough of an answer. But she shook it off and gave them a small smile. "Anyway, you two made me feel better. It was nice to know even a pathetic mess like me could help out sometimes. So thanks for that as well." Sheska bowed to them again.

Ed frowned at the woman's self deprecation, but Al was the one to speak up. "You are not a pathetic mess. I think the dedication you show to reading is a talent all on its own. And besides that, your photographic memory is incredible. You should have more faith in yourself."

Sheska gave the teen a smile. "Thank you, Alphonse." She decided it would be a good time to leave and let the two get back to work, but the door suddenly sprung open on them and a smiling face greeted them in between to saluting soldiers.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes? What are you doing here?" Ed asked, smiling at the dark haired man.

Hughes's green eyes sparkled with mischief from behind his glasses. "Spare me the formalities, Edena. I don't care much for it unless someone of higher rank is around." He came farther into the room, holding a pretty large lunch bag. "My lovely Gracia packed us lunch and Roy told me you had a neat trick of heating up food with your freaky alchemy." He placed the bag down on the table in front of Ed who sighed and grabbed a blank sheet to start drawing a circle.

"Colonel Mustang should learn to keep his pie hole shut." Ed grumbled. Al just chuckled at her. He then noticed Sheska was still in the room along with the Lieutenant and Sergeant who he could hear gossiping about how high up he and Ed must be in the military for them to be so familiar with Hughes.

And then Al realized something. "Mr. Hughes, I remember you saying something about being behind at work because of your case records that burned up in the First Branch."

Hughes groaned and laid his head on the table. "Don't remind me, Alphonse. I'm going to get back to work right after this, I just wanted a little break."

Al chuckled at the man. "No, Mr. Hughes. I wasn't suggesting you were slacking. I was actually going to give you a possible solution to your problem." He gestured toward Sheska. "Our friend Sheska, here, used to work at the First Branch Library and has a photographic memory. She may be able to help."

Sheska blushed at being called out and Hughes looked at her with a questioning look on his face. "Well, I have read all the military's criminal case records, and I do remember them all."

A large smile split Hughe's bearded face. "That's all I need to hear, Lady! You're hired! My office pays well, so don't worry! Lieutenant Ross, escort this woman to my office with a note for my people to get to work on getting her on record as a civilian contractor for the military!"

Sheska looked shocked. "Oh! Y-You're giving me a job?" She bowed to them all. "Thank you so much for the opportunity! I won't let you down!"

Lieutenant Ross smiled at the woman before saluting Hughes. "Of course, Sir!" She ushered a happy Sheska along out of the room.

Hughes watched them go before turning a grateful smile. "You two always know how to solve my problems."

Al grinned and Ed just sat back in her seat after heating up the food. "It's only natural that children would want to give aid to their charismatic and loving father." She gave the man a knowing look with her golden eyes, making him blush. Ed scoffed. "Don't get shy on us now, Hughes. We've called you 'dad' for years now, ever since Al made the mistake of calling Gracia 'mom'." She chuckled as her brother's face lit up in a blush as well. She didn't blame the teen at all for his slip up back then. It would be very hypocritical of her considering she did the same thing with Izumi.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course. It still warms my heart hearing that you two think of us as your parents though. I still get shit for it from Roy, but I'm forever grateful for the both of you coming into our lives." He reached out to give their hands gentle squeezes. "My little darling daughter Elicia has the best older siblings ever."

Ever since the Elric's had gotten into Central, they'd been staying with the Hughes family, which after they'd met the Hughes' all those years ago had become a family of three, instead of a hotel. They didn't exactly have a ton of room to spare, but the two adults always said that having the siblings there was just like having their children back home after a long trip. There would always be room for them, no matter how tight a squeeze.

Sergeant Brosh watched the moment between the three and understood more, now, why he and Lieutenant Ross got to actually go home and get a break from their duties every night before the Elrics hold themselves up in the library. They had been instructed to pick up guard duties on the Majors at a certain time and location due to the assurance of a higher up that they were well protected until then. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes was obviously that higher up.

He couldn't wait to explain it all to Lieutenant Ross! It was a mystery they'd been trying to solve for a while now.

---

Over the course of ten days, Ed and Al worked on decoding Dr. Marcoh's notes. Hughes had come and dragged them out of the room in the library every once in a while to make them go to his house and see Elicia before getting some much needed sleep.

It was late evening on the tenth day when the Lieutenant and Sergeant rushed into the room from their post at the door after hearing a curse from Alphonse and an angered yell from Edena along with what sounded like books being swept onto the floor.

When they entered the room, they saw a mess of papers and books on the floor, Ed fuming and bracing herself with a tight grip on the window sill across the room and Al with his head down and his fingers buried in his hair, looking distressed.

"Hey, just because you both can't crack the code doesn't mean you should trash the room. Maybe you should take a break and start up on it again tomorrow?" Lieutenant Ross offered at the same time as scolding the siblings for their mess.

Al just started shaking his head. "We did do it. We cracked the code."

Sergeant Brosh looked excited. "That's great! Why are you both so upset?"

Ed's grip on the window sill tightened, making the wood give off an audible creak that surprised the two soldiers. "Because it's all bullshit!" She growled out. "The secret ingredient for creating a Philosopher's Stone is humans. Countless human lives need to be sacrificed in order to manufacture even a single stone." She rested her forehead against the cool glass of the window. "Just when I thought we were in the home stretch… I truly am being punished." Her voice was so quiet in the end that only Al who was closer to her heard it and flinched.

Ross and Brosh gasped. "That's terrible! How could the military authorize such research into something so horrible?" The Sergeant asked.

Al scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed, realizing something the same time his sister did. The conspiracy Ed had brought up to Major Armstrong when they found out the First Branch Library had been burnt down.

No one could know that they knew the truth.

"Do us a favor Second Lieutenant, Sergeant, don't speak to anyone what you've learned today." Ed said, lifting her head from the window.

"But, Ma'am!" Sergeant Brosh was cut off by Al standing up from his chair, collecting the books and papers into neat piles on the table.

"Please," Al said. "Just pretend you never heard any of it."

The two soldiers hesitated and looked at each other for a moment before nodding their agreement to keep quiet.

Al put all of the books away before separating their research notes from Dr. Marcoh's. Ed walked over and clapped her hands together, thinking of an array in her head and gathering her own energy from her dragon core before placing her palms down on their decoded notes. The two soldier's watched as the notes slowly caught fire and were reduced to a pile of ash on the table. Ed swept them into a trash bin she had found somewhere at the beginning of them researching.

"We'll keep Dr. Marcoh's notes with us until we can get them stored properly in a safe location." Al told the soldiers.

Ed dusted her hands off. "Now though, I guess we'll have to start all over."

---

Ed and Al planned to stay with the Hughes' for a little less than a week before they would travel off to somewhere else. And unless Colonel Mustang summoned them for a mission, they wouldn't be going back to East City quite yet. They would probably bypass it in order to get Dr. Marcoh's notes to their home in Resembool for safekeeping.

But their luck ran out two days into trying to act normal and keep everything they learned a secret.

Apparently, Hughes mentioned to Major Armstrong that the siblings were acting a bit off, and they both went to question the Second Lieutenant and Sergeant about why Ed and Al had given up on uncoding the research notes.

"I'm so sorry, Majors! It's hard to stay quiet when someone like Major Armstrong starts asking you questions!" Sergeant Brosh held up his hands in defense when Ed glared at the man and his partner.

It was late at night and Hughes had apparently invited Major Armstrong and his two subordinates over to his home after Elicia had been put to bed. They were all located in the Lieutenant Colonel's study as he and Armstrong started to question the Elrics.

"Imagine the military being behind something like that," Major Armstrong said with tears streaming down his face. "The truth is more cruel than we bargained for."

Ed narrowed her eyes at the man's wording, something popping into mind. "The truth…" she murmured.

Al looked at her. "What is it, Sister?"

Ed pulled her braided ponytail from behind her to smooth her hand down the length of it. "Do you remember what Dr. Marcoh said back at the train station when he told us where his notes were?" Al tilted his head to the side. "He said to look closely and maybe we would find the truth hidden within the truth. I had no idea what he was talking about back then, but I just realized that it's the same as when you look at alchemical notes. What you see on the surface is only a portion of the truth."

Everyone else looked confused, but Al's eyes lit up, catching onto his sister's train of thought and making Hughes question, again, if they shared one brain or something.

"There's still more to find out when it comes to the Philosopher's Stone. There has to be!" Al finished for Ed.

Major Armstrong took a minute, but was starting to get it as well. "The conspiracy…" He looked towards Hughes. Do you have a map of Central, Lieutenant Colonel?"

Hughes nodded and moved to grab one and spread it out over his desk. The Major started pointing things out to the Elrics, everyone else listening in.

"There are currently four operational laboratories in Central that have connections to the government, but we can narrow it down even further." He pointed out the third lab on the map. "This is where Marcoh did his work when he was here in Central. It is the most suspect."

Ed frowned and Al shook his head. "No. Sister and I have been to all of the labs in the city and none of them are doing any remarkable research." He looked the map over again, narrowing his eyes when he spotted something. "What about this building? What is it used for?" He pointed at a large building with a red 'x' over it. Ed let out an angry huff when she spotted what Al was looking at as well.

"It was designed to be the fifth's laboratory, but it's not currently in use. The building was deemed structurally unsound so it's been classified off limits." Lieutenant Ross informed him.

"It's there." Ed growled out, making everyone question how she knew. "There's a prison right next door to it. And we all know the main ingredient to creating a Philosopher's Stone."

Hughes cursed. "There are plenty of condemned criminals in prison in order to use for experiments and get away with it because the prisoners would be recorded as executed. They're using prisoners to make the stone." The man took his glasses off to rub his eyes in his frustration. "And prisoners from other jurisdictions could be used as well to add to the number. I wonder if the government is involved."

Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh looked sick to their stomachs. "Why do I have the feeling we're getting involved with something extremely dangerous here?" Ross said.

Al gave her a flat look. "That's why we told you to keep your mouths shut."

Armstrong frowned and started to roll up the map, handing it back to Hughes. "This has the potential of becoming a political nightmare before long. I'll look into what we talked about tonight, but I expect both of you officers to keep quiet about this and you Elrics to behave yourselves and keep your noses out of this." Ed scoffed at the man, but he turned back at her with blazing eyes. "Don't you scoff at me, Miss Edena! I know how much trouble you tend to get into on your missions, and it gets even worse when you and your brother are together on missions! I bet you were both thinking of sneaking into the building and taking a look around, weren't you?"

Ed looked away from the man, stroking her braid, and Al started to play with the hem of his shirt.

Hughes chuckled and waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry, Major. They're here with me. How much trouble can they really get into?"

---

It turns out that Hughes slept like the dead, and Ed and Al were completely capable of getting into trouble even though they were staying in his house. It also helped that they kept Al's armor outside the door of the apartment to save room. It was easier to sneak out without making too much noise.

Their jog to the fifth laboratory building didn't take too much time. They hoped they could sneak in there and check it out and be back at the Hughes's before they woke up in the morning.

They snuck up to the building and noticed a guard at the front door where there were signs posted that said 'Keep Out'.

"A guard posted at an unused building. Very interesting." Ed said as they peeked around the corner of the outer wall to get a better look.

Al nodded his head. "It is very suspicious. Come on. Let's find a way in." The ducked back around the corner to look for a back entrance, but found that the only way in was either through the front or over the wall. They couldn't use alchemy to go through the wall because the guard would see the light from the transmutation.

They used Al's armor to give Ed a boost to the top of the wall where she grabbed the barbed wire at the top of the wall with her metal hand to get it out of the way and create a rope for Al's armor to pull itself up with after it boosted Al himself up into Ed's waiting arms.

On the other side of the wall, they approached the dilapidated looking building and found only one entrance that was out of the way of the front door. A vent grate that Ed was glaring at with a passion. She hated enclosed spaces like that.

Al found a crate to use and reach the grate so he could unscrew it with a pocket knife and look inside. "It looks like we'll both fit with a tight squeeze. My armor will have to stay here though. It would be best anyway to let it be a lookout." He stepped off the crate and ushered for Ed to go in first. Ed turned her glare towards her little brother, who shrugged. "What? You have literal night vision."

Ed rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration as she stepped up on the crate to hoist herself up into the vent. "Why do I do these things to myself?" She grumbled. She listened as Al chuckled as pulled himself up behind her. She could feel her dragon wasn't liking this idea one bit.

They made their way through the vent system, Al having to stretch out a few times and grab his sister's feet so she could pull him along because his shoulders were too broad in places, but they eventually found a big enough exit in order to jumped down into a messy and dark hallway that had seen better days. Ed used her dragon eyes to lead them deeper into the building, checking out rooms here and there.

They really struck gold a few minutes later when they pushed open some double doors and walked into a well lit open room that had the engravings of a transmutation circle with a pillar in the center in the middle of the floor. They got closer to inspect it and Al felt sick to his stomach.

"This is it. This is where they created the Philosopher's Stone." Al murmured and Ed nodded her head, looking at the splattering of blood across certain sections of the array.

Ed and Al suddenly tensed up at the same time. Ed turned her head to glare into the darkness on the other side of the room and Al was focused on something else.

"Sister, someone in a suit of armor is attacking mine outside." Al hissed.

Ed took a step forward closer to her brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We have our own problem to worry about."

Al turned his head to look over his shoulder at what Ed was staring at and turned his whole body quickly to get into a defensive position when another person in a suit of armor, looking kind of like a samurai, stepped out of the shadows and pointed it's sword at them.

"You wouldn't have any problems if you weren't snooping around where you don't belong." The armored man kept getting closer. "I don't know who you both are, but you sure figured out a lot by just looking at a transmutation circle."

Ed gave him a sneer. "We're just good like that. Who exactly are you?"

The armor stopped across the circle from them. "I'm the one in charge of guarding this place from those curious and stupid enough to venture in. You can call me '48'. My orders are to dispose of anyone who wanders in here poking their nose where it doesn't belong. I hope you both don't take it personally."

Al smirked. "Don't worry. We won't. You aren't the first to try and kill us." He reached back to a holder on his wide belt that he wore and grabbed out two short, round bars of steel. His fingers brushed across a transmutation circle on each bar, activating them and turning the steel into sharpened a couple of tactical push knives that were longer than average.

Ed let out a huff and clapped her hands together to transmute her automail hand into her usual clawed fingers. "Just try not to take it personally when we kick your ass, though."

"So you're both alchemists, huh? No matter." The man moved fast and was on them in a couple of seconds, swinging his sword. Ed stepped in front of Al to block it with her metal hand, only a little surprised at the strength behind the swing. "You have a prosthetic hand as well, hmm? Don't worry. My sword cuts through steel as well as flesh."

Ed growled and pushed the sword away just as Al came in with a kick to the armored man's abdomen, moving him back. They both were surprised by the sound the kick made.

"He's empty on the inside." Al grit out. Had someone mimicked his and Ed's circle? No, they would also have to know qi in order to animate an armor like he did. "He's a soul bound to armor." He gasped.

Ed growled as she realized the same thing. "More human transmutation."

The armor let out a huff of amusement. "You're both very perceptive."

Al glared at the armor. "We can tell by the sound you made when I kicked you. We have someone outside who is just like you. Except not at the same time."

The armored samurai hesitated for a moment before straightening up his stance. "Maybe I should introduce myself to the both of you again. '48' was the number I was assigned back when I was on death row. But when I had a human body, I was better known as 'the Slicer'. I was a mass murderer, you see."

Ed glared at the armor. "So you were slated for execution… Tell me something, then. This laboratory, are they using condemned prisoners like you to make Philosopher's Stones here?"

Slicer shrugged. "I can't tell you, that's not my area of expertise. They simply recognized my skill for killing and put my soul into this body to make me their trusting guard dog."

Al spoke up. "Interesting. So you've got a seal on you somewhere to serve as a medium between soul and armor."

It wasn't a question, but Slicer responded like it was. "Yes," he said as he undid one side of a cloth that hung as a mask in front of his armor face that he then lifted up. "I have a blood seal." He revealed a red circle sitting at the back of his armored head. "If you destroy this, then the fight is yours."

Ed cocked a brow. "That's awfully considerate of you to show us exactly where we should be aiming."

Slicer put his face shield back down and retired the cloth mask. "I like to give myself a little bit more of a challenge during a fight."

"Why not just let us go, then? Since you're in such a giving mood." Ed stepped to ease herself in front of her brother. This guy may just be a soul, but she could still feel his intentions and even read his subtle movements. He was about to attack again.

"Nice try, little girl, but what kind of mass murderer lets his prey get away so easily?" He gripped his sword tighter. "Now lets fight."

Ed growled and Al sighed. "I'm not a little girl, you asshole!"

They started attacking each other. Slicer moved with quick steps and wide slices. Ed wasn't as quick, but she was able to get in some sweeps of her claws at the armor in between blocking the sharp blade and doing a little bit of acrobatics and she was incredibly flexible as she dodged. But there was one hit the man made at her arm that had her shoulder acting funny.

Al noticed his sister's slight hesitation and joined in the fight when slicer got a good hit in on her flesh shoulder. He snuck in like a predator from behind while Ed distracted from the front, and he tried to go for the back of the armor head with his knives, but the Slicer noticed at the last second and dodged.

The armor let out a laugh. "This is an excellent fight! It's been a long time since I've had prey worth killing!"

The fight continued on, Ed favoring her right arm even if she was wounded on her left.

"Something's wrong with my arm," she grit out when Al was closer. "It's not working properly. We have to end this quickly."

Al nodded. "There's another suit of armor outside fighting mine. Claims he's someone called 'Barry the Chopper'. He was another soul bound to armor." They dodged more swipes from Slicer's sword. "The idiot thinks it's my soul bound to the armor and is trying to convince me that I was created by you as a puppet to use." Al shook his head.

Ed scoffed. "Not a puppet. Just a really big bodyguard."

Slicer huffed at them. "I feel you're not truly paying attention to me. Makes me feel kind of inadequate that you have time to talk and fight at the same time. And it sounds as if you're speaking about my companion outside. How do you know he's there?" He took a swipe at Al who wasn't really prepared because he let what was happening to his armor get him caught up. Ed moved in with her metal arm to block the hit and cursed when her arm fell limp at her side for a second because of it and she got a slice across her thigh for her troubles.

"Sister!" Al ducked another swipe from the armor before leaping high to kick at the man's chest, knocking him back.

Ed placed a hand over her wound. "I'm fine. Stop getting distracted. Let's finish this!" Al nodded. She clapped her hands and placed each one on the ground, activating two arrays simultaneously and creating two spears out of the ground. She threw one spear with all her strength and Slicer knocked it aside with his sword, but he wasn't expecting her to throw the other right after with the same strength. Anyone would look at her wounded body and think she was almost done, but she was nowhere near it.

He moved to dodge the spear, lining himself right up with a surprise lunge from Al who had taken advantage of his sister's distraction to jump high enough and go for the armor's head again. He succeeded and knocked the head off, grinning as they finally ended it.

Al walked over, about to ask the armored head about the Philosopher's Stone when Ed realized something. The armor itself was still standing. If the seal was on the head then the body should've fallen. It's why she and Al put the circles for his armor on the inner backing of the body. She cursed and went to attack the armor.

"Al, we're not done yet!" She tackled the suit just as it went to stab Al, getting a knock to her ribs with an armored elbow because of it.

Slicer's head laughed. "That's right! I forgot to mention something!"

The body of the armor rolled away from Ed and stood as it started talking itself. "The crimes of the Slicer were actually done by a pair of brothers!" Ed had to get up quickly and jump out of the way of a few of the body's swipes with it's swords, cursing as she was backed into a pillar. "There's no escaping now!"

Al ran as fast as he could to help his sister, but he should have known she had it covered.

Ed was a little dizzy from the blood loss, but just as the sword was coming towards her, she clapped her hands and ducked the blade to take advantage of the armor's over reach and lunge at him with her clawed metal hand, alchemical lightning sparked around them before the armor's middle exploded outward and the body fell into two pieces. Al slid to a stop at his sister's side, helping her up. The armed part of the body started wiggling and shouting profanities at them.

"It's just like what Scar did to my armor." Al murmured and Ed nodded.

"Just popped into my head. Stopping at the deconstruction process is pretty useful." She hobbled over to kick at the armored legs that were separated from the body. "Now would be a good time to mention if there was a third brother." She called out.

The armor head sighed and the arms stopped moving. "No. There are no more tricks up our sleeves. We are defeated. You might as well make your move to destroy our seals."

Al was the one rolling his eyes, surprisingly. "We're not murderers. You may not have human bodies, but you are human souls. We won't destroy your seals and kill you. Besides, we have questions for you!"

There was a moment of quiet before the helmet started laughing, confusing Ed, Al and even his own brother.

"My brother and I have been lying, stealing, cheating and killing together for as long as we can remember and this is the first time we've been treated like real humans, even with these bodies. What irony. I'll give you a gift for your compassion. I'll tell you two who created the Philosopher's Stone and ordered us to guard this pla—"

The helmet was cut off when a growl ripped out of Ed's throat and she pulled Al behind her a bit. There was someone approaching who had the same wrongness in their aura as Fuhrer Bradley. Al was shaking a bit behind her as he felt it as well.

Suddenly, long skinny spears shot out of the darkness and pierced the back of the helmet, effectively killing the man before pulling back into the darkness. The clicking of heeled shoes on a hard floor could be heard as a woman appeared. She had long dark curly hair, purple eyes, a low cut long black dress that hugged her every curve and left little to the imagination, and an Ouroboros tattoo in red that sat between her collarbones and drew attention to her cleavage, showing off just how low cut her dress was.

She smiled with red lips and held up her hand, showing the spears were actually her fingers, sharpened at the tips like Ed did with her automail, but they apparently could grow in length.

"That was close." She said with a sultry voice. "Number 48, you should know not to talk about things that don't concern you."

"Well, well. Would you look at that. It's the little girl, Fullmetal, and her annoying brother. What are they doing here?" Another person slipped from behind the woman, his voice raspy and more masculine. He had long dark hair as well that reminded the Elrics of a palm tree, and he had the same purple eyes as the woman. He wore a skin tight sleeveless black crop top, a pair of tight black shorts that had a short skirt over the top of it, a black headband with a red triangle on it and had a matching tattoo to the woman, but on his right thigh instead.

The woman shook her head and broke the helmet apart with her sharp nails. "Such troublesome siblings. How did you find out about this place?"

The armor called out to his brother, but the palm tree looking guy scooped up the Slicer's sword and started to stab at the armor's seal. "Quit your yelling, you idiot! You were trying to kill an important sacrifice. That would have messed up our whole plan!" He stabbed the seal over and over again until the armor fell limp, the soul in it no longer bound. Once it was over, the palm tree and the woman approached Ed and Al.

Al tried to step in front of his sister to defend her, since she was the wounded one, but he hesitated. He could see a hint of scales creeping up the back of Ed's neck as she was struggling to keep her transformation from happening. Obviously, whoever these two were, they were more dangerous than even the armor they just fought. Al got a thought from his armor at the back of his mind.

"Back up is here, Sister. The Second Lieutenant and Sergeant are outside with my armor." He whispered to her, but Ed ignored him, glaring at the two people in front of them.

"Who in the hell are the both of you? What's this plan you're talking about? And what do you mean by sacrifice?" Ed growled out.

"Oh look here, the runt is looking angry." The palm tree smirked and tried to step closer, but Ed swiped out with her clawed hand, making him bend backwards in a dodge. "Woah there, little girl! No need to get so worked up. You could really hurt somebody with that thing." Palm tree said while holding up placating hands.

Al glared and stepped in front of Ed. "Stop calling her a little girl. If you didn't want to fight then you shouldn't have started one." He held up his knives to defend the both of them and was able to push palm tree back some more. Al heard Ed clap, probably to attack the woman with alchemy, but he got worried when she cursed and he didn't hear any sounds of a transmutation.

"Aw, poor thing has performance issues." The woman said, distracting Al as he looked back to check on his sister and noticed her automail hanging limp at her side. This earned Al a knock to the head by a palm tree that he barely moved with in time to cushion the blow. He stumbled back a few steps. This guy hit almost as hard as Ed when she was angry and didn't control her strength very well.

Al had to bend himself backward in order to duck low under a swipe of the sword palm tree had in his hand still. When he came back up, Al threw one of his blades towards the other's face as a distraction for himself to land a hit with a high roundhouse kick at the side of palm tree's head with a smirk.

The palm tree looking guy yelled out in anger and moved to attack Al more furiously, but he was closer to Ed than he realized and got a left handed uppercut to his kidney from her, making him groan and fall to one knee.

Ed smirked. "I may have one arm to use, but that doesn't mean I'm useless." She then tilted her head to the side, earning a small scar on her forehead from the sharp nails that extended towards her. She sent a side-eyed glare at the long haired woman who had both of her hands up to point extended sharp nails at Ed and the other hand pointed at Al, nails not extended yet.

"I think that's quite enough from all three of you. There's no need to be so rough." She gave Ed a smile. "You are a very valuable sacrifice, so we can't have you dying quite yet, so please calm yourself before you bleed out. And you will remember that we are very generously allowing your brother to live right now. So you might want to shoo with him, little girl, while you still can." She turned her purple gaze to the palm tree. "Get yourself together and stop being brash, Envy. We have a job to do. We can't have them coming back here to have any more adventures, so be sure to blow this place up."

The palm tree, Envy, grumbled as he got to his feet. Red alchemical lightning sparked over his body and he looked good as new, surprising the siblings. "They freaking started it, Lust. Especially this little asshole. Why can't I just kill him?" He narrowed his eyes at Al. The Elrics both tensed up, ready to fight again, but when the woman, Lust, let out a sigh they were both quickly reminded that she could impale them with those freaky fingers any second.

"Because, he's a possible candidate as well. Now stop your whining and blow this place up." She retracted her fingers from the hand pointed at Ed and turned around to walk back into the darkness she and Envy had appeared from earlier.

Envy rolled his eyes. "Of course, your highness." He pulled a small square device with an antenna and a button on it out of somewhere and smiled with sharp teeth at the Elrics "So long, you pains in the asses." He pointed at the wall to the right of them before pressing the button on the device and explosions started to rock the building. "If you go straight that way then you can probably escape before the place finishes crumbling to the ground." And with a quick wave and another explosion, he was disappearing into the darkness as well.

Al moved to Ed. "We need to get out of here, Sister." He moved to pull her arm over her shoulder, but Ed waved him off.

"Go hurry and clear the way. I'm not an invalid. I'll be right behind you." Ed pushed him forward with her left arm. Al hesitated for only a second before running forward and doing what she said. Ed sighed. Her thigh was killing her and all the other cuts and wounds weren't helping. She took a deep breath to, literally, suck it up before she started on a quick hobble after her brother.

Apparently, Al and his armor were working in tandem, because while he was putting up doorways in the walls to work their way out, his armor was meeting him halfway to get in and help them. Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh were right behind the armor, when they finally met in the middle. They looked angry, panicked, and relieved all at once.

"Well, it's good to see you both alive, but the building is coming down, so we need to get out of here." Lieutenant Ross yelled through the sounds of explosions and falling rubble.

Sergeant Brosh saw Ed's sorry state and was quick to manhandle her over his shoulder, much to Ed's protest, and grunt at the surprising weight of her, before they all took off running to get to safety.

Ed wished she could fall asleep on command. Would it be a cowardly move and leave her brother to be lectured on his own? Absolutely. Did she really care at this moment? Not really.

She'd apparently passed out from blood loss on the way to the hospital and when she woke up, her doctor was very adamant about her not performing any alkahestry until her automail was back into perfect working condition. Al had left the room to go call Winry about coming to Central for her services, but he was dragged back into Ed's hospital room not long after by an angry Maes Hughes and Ross and Brosh close behind looking quite smug. Ed had given them a look of her own that wiped the smirks off their faces.

"Of all the stupid things you could have done, this has to be at the top of the list!" Hughes yelled as he stood over the two of them, anger and worry radiating off his aura.

Ed pursed her lips and raised her hand. "Are you sure about that top of the list thing? I did throw a spear at the Fuhrer from my state alchemist exam." Her remark earned her a knock to the head which she nodded at. "I deserve that."

Hughes sighed and rubbed at his temples. "I had to find out you guys snuck out of my own house by these two calling in the middle of the night to say that Edena was admitted into the hospital with a messed up arm and various wounds because you'd been fighting crazy people at the Fifth Laboratory. Do you know how scary that is? To know my kids were so hurt they had to go to a hospital because I didn't do a good enough job watching them?" The anger in his aura melted away into guilt and Ed and Al winced.

"To be fair, Mr. Hughes, we were going to find a way out anyway. You can't blame that on yourself. Sister and I are kind of menaces. Just ask Colonel Mustang." Al tried to placate the man. "A good question is how did you two even know we'd snuck out? We left no clues." Al asked Brosh and Ross.

Sergeant Brosh shrugged. "We went home after the Lieutenant Colonel assured us that you would be fine without guard, but Maria called me a few hours later and said she had a bad feeling, so we came back to check on you both, but noticed Alphonse's armor was missing from in front of the door. We figured you'd either sent it to the lab to investigate or you all went together. So we went to check for ourselves. And good thing we did too."

Hughes nodded in agreement. "A very good thing. You both could have been killed! What in the hell even happened? What did you two even do to make an entire building come down on you?"

"I'm sure they can answer your questions at a more appropriate time, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. It's extremely early in the morning and my patient needs more rest and more fluids." A voice sounded from the door making everyone turn to look. Ed's doctor, a Dr. Sam David, stood there smiling at them politely. He was a tall brown haired man with blue eyes and looked to be only a little older than Hughes himself. He was actually an acquaintance of Ed's from her volunteering in the ER here in Central a few times, and was always assigned to be her doctor whenever she needed one because others found her hard to handle. "How about you all head back home and get some sleep and you can all talk to Miss Elric again in about six to eight hours."

Hughes sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess that is a reasonable request."

Brosh and Ross saluted Hughes. "We will stay here to guard the room, Sir. Please go get more rest, we're sorry for waking you."

The Lieutenant Colonel waved them off. "There's no need for apologies. I would have been more angry if you hadn't called me." He placed a hand on Al's shoulder. "Come on, kiddo. Let's let your sister get some rest. You can leave your armor here with her."

Al wanted to protest, but Hughes wouldn't let him as he dragged the teen up by the scruff of his shirt and walked him out of the room with the other two soldiers.

Dr. David just shook his head and smiled. "You sure like getting yourself into trouble huh, Ed?"

The woman shrugged her good arm and rested back against the pillows as the doctor came over to check over everything she was hooked up to. "Life just isn't exciting if there's not the slightest bit of danger."

Dr. David gave her a look. "I wonder how long that ideal will last past you having children of your own to worry about."

Ed laughed. "I already have children of my own to worry about. And most of them are older than me." She sighed. "I know I do worrisome things at times, but I do them with the thought in mind that what I'm doing will probably help my people in the long run. They're all too important to me to leave dealing with something dangerous that I know about in someone else's hands."

Dr. David was quiet for a moment before he pat Ed's hand. "Let's hope you don't get yourself more seriously hurt or end up dead because you're trying to keep the dangers away on your own instead of asking for help."

He left the room and Ed stared down at her messed up arm. She knew she wasn't invincible. She also knew she couldn't do everything by herself, but that didn't mean she wouldn't do all that she could despite all of that.

This may not have been her chosen line to walk, but it was the one she was on and she'd be damned if she let something happen to those she cared about because she chose to ignore the dangers or hand off problems to those who didn't treat them with the same severity as her.

It would be a cold day in hell before she let any of her hoard be taken from her by whatever new danger this was that they'd discovered.

"You will remember that we are very generously allowing your brother to live right now. So you might want to shoo with him, little girl, while you still can."

Ed let out a low growl that had Al's armor in the corner of the room turning to give her a questioning gaze. "I don't know who those people are, but they will have to be dealt with." She murmured. First the Fuhrer, and now Envy and Lust.

The dragon had quite a few adversaries to deal with now.

---

"These are what the two people in the Laboratory looked like. This one is apparently called Lust and the other is called Envy." Al explained as he held up a quick drawing he did of the two. Ed was a little annoyed because when she had tried to draw them, Al had snatched the papers from her and started to draw them himself, doing a better job.

Major Armstrong placed a hand on his chin. "It's odd that they let you live." He and Hughes were standing around a table of notes at Ed's bedside.

Winry had been by just a couple hours earlier, having taken a very early train to get to Central, and had fixed Ed's arm before being whisked away to Hughes's house to rest by Sergeant Brosh. Afterwards, Ed was given permission by Dr. David to heal her leg and any other scratches, but to leave the wound on her head alone because he didn't want her messing anything up on that front. He knew she was smart and probably knew a lot of things about the human body, but the head was just too complicated to mess around with.

Hughes came in himself with Major Armstrong and Al in tow not long after and everyone was currently discussing the happenings at the Fifth Laboratory.

"And what was all that about sacrifices and the armored souls?" The Major asked.

"And what do these Ouroboros tattoos mean?" Hughes spoke up. "And the transmutation circle… Not to mention Dr. Marcoh claims they were using the Philosopher's Stone in Ishval. Everything that comes up with this case just brings up more questions." He sighed and rubbed his head. "Not much we can do about any evidence though. It's all buried under the pile of rubble that is the lab now."

Ed and Al groaned. All that work getting into that place to find something out just for those weirdos with the tattoos to blow it up.

"I'll run a search to see if I can find out anything about people with Ouroboros tattoos." Hughes said while looking over a sketch of said tattoo.

Armstrong nodded. "That's a good idea. While you're on that, I'll keep looking into the research team that was with Dr. Marcoh in Ishval."

Suddenly, Ed and Al went stiff and there was a knock on the door. The door opened to reveal Fuhrer Bradley and the siblings only eased up a little bit. They never told Hughes or Armstrong about how they knew Lust and Envy were dangerous because they could feel it in their auras. Which means they definitely never told them that Bradley felt the exact same way.

They were all surprised to see the man, but they all saluted him, Ed a little reluctantly. "Fuhrer Bradley! Your Excellency, what are you doing here?" The Major asked.

The man held up a placating hand and smiled. "Calm down, everyone. This is just an informal visit."

Hughes and Armstrong bowed. Hughes spoke up. "Yes, Sir. Can I ask the occasion, Sir?"

The Fuhrer approached the hospital bed to stand in front of Ed, looking down at her from his imposing height with his uncovered green eye. Ed looked back at him, hoping she was able to keep the distaste off her face from him being so close.

"I heard this young woman was injured." He held up a basket in between the two of them. "I thought a nice melon might cheer you up."

Ed blinked in a bit of confusion and reached out to take the basket. "Um… Thank you, Sir."

Fuhrer Bradley dropped his smile and placed his arms behind his back, causing Ed to tense up a bit more. "I understand you've been checking up on some of the senior staff. Is this true, Major Armstrong?"

The Major jerked back in surprise. "Uh, yes, Sir. But how did you—"

Bradley turned to look at the man. "You should know that nothing gets past me, Major." He looked back down at Ed and even turned his gaze towards Al. "Now, my Fullmetal and Swift Alchemists, tell me what you know about the Philosopher's Stone." A scowl formed on his face. "And I hope for both of your sakes you don't know too much."

Ed felt her hackles rise and he was ready to throw the melon back in the man's face, but Al placed a hand on her arm, the Fuhrer zeroing in on the motion before turning his hard gaze back down at Ed. She stared back defiantly with narrowed eyes.

There were a tense few moments of silence before the Fuhrer broke eye contact first, letting out a loud laugh. "I'm only kidding." He placed a hand on Ed's shoulder and squeezed. "There's no reason to be so uptight."

Ed had an internal struggle to stop herself from shrugging the hand off. She could see in the man's aura, barely, and tell that he was quite amused, but also impressed with a hint of nervousness. She tilted her head to the side a bit. Was he nervous about her?

"I know there's been some suspicious activity in the military lately, and I know it's about time for something to be done about it." Bradley said as he dropped his arm from Ed's shoulder to turn and pick up a stack of their notes they had sitting on the bedside table they were using. "This is a list of people assigned to research the Philosopher's Stone," he said as he looked through the documents. "Every person on this list has been reported missing. They all vanished several days before the Fifth Laboratory collapsed. It seems the enemy is always one step ahead of us. Even with my vast network of informants, it seems there's no way for me to determine how deep our ranks have been infiltrated. The most we know about them is that they know a lot about us."

Ed narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but kept her mouth shut.

"In that case, this is far more dangerous than we first thought." Hughes said.

The Fuhrer hummed an affirmative and placed the notes back on the table. "Major Armstrong, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Fullmetal and Swift. You've all shown yourselves to be men, and a woman, of trustworthy character. From this point forward, I'm giving you the direct order to forget this matter and all that it concerns. At this time, suspicion is our only sign of offense and our only form of defense in discretion. Do not trust anyone. Keep this to yourselves at all costs." The man gave a smile. "But when I deem the time is right to confront the enemy, I expect you all to join me in the effort."

Armstrong and Hughes saluted the man with an affirmative "Sir!" While Ed and Al saluted him silently. Ed could feel the deception in the Fuhrer's aura better, but even Al knew that all of what the man just said was a load of shit.

"Has anyone seen Fuhrer Bradley!?" A voice yelled out from the hall.

The Fuhrer saluted them quickly. "Well, that's my cue to leave. Damn bodyguard thinks he's my shadow." He walked over to the window and opened it, stepping onto the ledge. "You see, I snuck away to get a few moments of privacy. You all have a great day." He jumped out of the window, surprising everyone, and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Winry arrived with a cheery hello not too long after when they were all still trying to gather their bearings after the tornado that was Fuhrer Bradley passed through.

She went on about how Ed needed to stop doing crazy things to get herself hurt and asked about when she would be discharged and what they planned on doing now. Hughes and Armstrong were curious as well.

Ed sighed. "I want to head to Dublith to go see our teacher, but Al here is too chicken shit to go and I can't quite leave yet because the doctor wants to make sure nothing else is wrong with me, but he won't be back until tonight. That means I won't be discharged until tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

Al started to tremble. "I'm not scared! It's just that Teacher is… Okay, I'm scared." He sulked and Ed laughed. "But that's only because Teacher is terrifying!" Hughes chuckled and placed a hand on Al's shoulder to pull him close to his side in a hug and stop the teen from sulking.

Winry looked confused. "Where even is Dublith?"

Major Armstrong answered her by pulling a map of Amestris out of his uniform jacket and pointing out the town in the south for the girl. "There it is. Not a very long journey by train."

Winry looked at the map and her eyes lit up as she saw something she liked. "Oh my gosh! Right before you get to Dublith! It's Rush Valley! You guys have to take me!"

Ed and Al were confused. "What's Rush Valley?" The teen asked.

"And why do we have to take you?" Ed grumbled.

Winry gasped in shock that they didn't know what it was. "Rush Valley is the holy land of automail! I have to go! You have to take me! Please, please, please!"

Ed gave her a flat look. "Why do we have to take you? Go there yourself."

"I'm including the travel charges in my service fee." Winry said with an angry stomp of her foot. It amused Ed and reminded her that even though Winry had just turned sixteen not that long ago and was an excellent automail mechanic, she was still a little bit of a child. And even with everything that she had been through and seen over the years, she still acted like one at times. And the realization hurt her a bit too. Al was a year younger than Winry and acted far too mature for his age. He rarely let himself be childish. Ed wished she could have been a better big sister so that he didn't have to throw away his childhood by joining the military.

"We can take her, Sister. It's on the way to Dublith, so why not?" Al asked, drawing Ed out of her thoughts.

Ed sighed. "If you want to take her, Al, then be my guest. You can leave in the morning and I'll meet you in Dublith later since I'll be here for another day, maybe."

Winry grabbed Ed's automail hand. "No, Ed! You have to go too! I want to show off my work to some of the mechanics there and you're my walking, talking canvas!"

Ed rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away. "No. I deal with you enough, as is, as a gearhead. Maybe I'll stop on the way back up if I'm in the mood." She turned her head away so she didn't have to see Winry's sad eyes. Ed would not cave.

"Fine," the blonde teen pouted. "But you better stop on the way back up!" Winry turned and grabbed Al's arm. "Come on, Al! Let's go get tickets at the station!" She dragged the young alchemist out of the room.

Hughes let out a laugh, reminding Ed that he and Major Armstrong were still in the room. "Good job foisting that off onto your brother, Edena."

Ed waved a dismissive hand. "Al likes spending time with Winry since they're closer to the same age and she makes him talk about things other than alchemy. They're damn near brother and sister themselves."

Major Armstrong spoke up. "Or maybe they're more than that?"

"Oh no," Ed said with an amused snort. "Al has grown up surrounded by women as either his friends or caregivers. I'm not sure if he has ever thought of women in a romantic sense at all. Especially not Winry. I haven't really talked to him about it before, though. Have you Hughes? You're the dad here."

Said man made a motion of zipping his lips. "I would never break Alphonse's trust in me by spouting out anything we could have spoken about."

Ed just rolled her eyes at him as well.

---

The next day, Al and Winry came to the hospital early in the morning to say goodbye to Ed. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes had, apparently, escorted them there, but then split off at the hospital entrance, talking about how he had a long day at work ahead of him.

Al was also stealing his armor to take with him as protection from Teacher since Ed wasn't going to be there with him when he showed up at the woman's house.

The two teens felt bad about leaving Ed there alone, but she just waved them off. "You both better go now so you don't miss your train. I refuse to hear your complaining if you do."

Ed spent the rest of her morning and afternoon reading medical texts she had convinced Lieutenant Ross to grab for her from the library. They were all about the brain, nervous system and other neurological texts. When Dr. David came to get her checked out that evening, he wasn't at all surprised by the stack of books and their titles.

"You're going to med school when you get out of the military, right?" The man asked as he checked her vitals one last time. "I don't know why you haven't asked your CO for permission to go to school part time already."

She chuckled. "A lot of people have been asking me that lately." She looked down at the stack of books. "I don't know if being a doctor is what I want to be yet. I enjoy knowledge and I help out at hospitals because of what I know, but not because I have a deep seated need to don that white coat and call myself Doctor."

Dr. David let out a quiet chuckle. "Edena, you don't become a doctor because you need to help people. You become a doctor because you want to help people. And you've already proven that wearing the white coat doesn't make you any more capable of helping someone medically. It's just a means to prove that you've done the work and that you have the knowledge and authority to properly do it." He put his stethoscope across the back of his neck and took the papers from her that she'd finished signing for her release. "Just think about it, okay? You're free to go whenever you're ready." He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze before leaving her alone in the room.

Ed stared at the stack of books for a moment longer before getting up to put on her boots. She already had a lot to think about for now. Her future could wait a little bit longer. At this very moment, though, if she hurried she could return most of these books to the library and surprise Hughes by giving him some company on the way home tonight.

She made it to the library just before they closed and was now headed over to Central Command to go drag her pseudo father home. But as she approached the building that his office was in, she hesitated. There was something very wrong here. She could smell blood.

It was dark, so Ed turned her round, human pupils into reptilian slits in the middle of her golden irises to use her night vision and look around. She spotted the blood she smelled on the ground leading away from the building. She ran inside quickly to figure out what was going on, and found a very frazzled brunette woman at the front desk.

"Hey, I'm Major Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Can you tell me where all this blood came from?" Ed flashed her pocket watch as she approached the desk.

The woman hesitated, but then seemed to realize something. "Fullmetal Alchemist? The Lieutenant Colonel talks about you all the time to Colonel Mustang when he comes down to call him." Dread fell over Ed as the woman wrung her trembling hands. "He told me to forget he was even here, but if you know him… Lieutenant Colonel Hughes came down here, bleeding from his shoulder. He said he needed a private line, but then he just left. I don't know what's going on, but I hope he's not in trouble. Please go and help him, Fullmetal."

Ed didn't even hesitate. She was out the door and following the blood trail as quickly as she could. She picked up on Hughes's aura not too long into her hunt. He was scared and determined, but then something shocked him. And Ed felt it. That horrible aura that the people with the Ouroboros tattoos and Fuhrer Bradley gave off. This one felt more like the palm tree, Envy, though.

But when Ed finally came into view of Envy she was confused. It looked like Second Lieutenant Ross standing there, pointing a gun into an open phone booth. But her dread doubled down and Ed was damn near a blur as she darted across the open public area to the phone booth. Lieutenant Ross had a vicious smile on her face and red sparks started to light across her body as she changed form and looked exactly like Gracia.

"What the hell are you?" She heard Hughes ask just as she reached out with her automail hand and pushed the gun away as it went off. She felt the reverberation go all the way up her arm.

"Damn you, you annoying brat! Why are you always getting in the way of things?" Envy's voice yelled out of Gracia's mouth.

Ed turned for a split second to see Hughes's body slumped over and bleeding from a head wound that he was pressing a weak hand to. One of his eyes was still open though and he looked in shock into Ed's eyes.

"Edena?" He rasped out.

Ed's pupil's slitted and her left hand formed into claws as she stared down at the wounded man. She let out a low growl as she turned her attention back to Envy.

"I'm going to end you, now." Her voice was a harsh whisper.

Envy took a step back and looked at her with a bit of fear and confusion on Gracia's face. "What the hell—" He didn't even get to finish his thought.

Ed clapped her hands together and turned her automail hand into a matching claw and started to attack with a lethal and feral grace. There was no holding back now.

Envy frowned as he just barely dodged her blows and couldn't counter at all. He shifted back into his palm tree looking form and taunted her. "You really are trying to kill me, huh, little girl? All this fuss over one silly, unimportant human. What's up with that?" He bent backwards to dodge a swipe of a dangerous metal claw, but wasn't expecting the flesh one as he threw up a kick at Ed's exposed middle and ended up losing his leg for his efforts. He fell to the ground with a scream as red sparks crackled around the wound to regenerate his leg, but Ed stomped her heeled foot down on the half made limb and broke the forming bone. Envy screamed out in pain.

"Unimportant to you. But you don't understand that he belongs to me. And you just tried to kill him. I don't take kindly to when assholes hurt those that belong to me." She stomped down again, a vicious snarl on her face.

Envy sat up to grab at her leg to try and push her off, but Ed was too strong for the hurting being. So he turned to bargaining. "I get it! He belongs to you! But are you just going to let him bleed out like that? I only injured him. He'll die soon if you don't get him some help." He gave her a slimy smile. "You'll never be able to kill me anyway. Might as well run and save your belongings."

Ed glared down at him before shooting a quick glance back at Hughes. He was still upright, but wasn't looking too good. There was a lot of blood. "You're right." She mumbled, but turned her reptilian eyes back down to Envy and pressed harder with her foot. "I will be sending you to hell one day though. Don't you worry about that. But until then, I can only repay you with a similar wound that you gave Hughes." Envy's eyes widened in fear and he yelled out for her to stop when she raised her clawed automail and brought it down on his head, splattering his blood and brains over the pavement. She could already see the red sparks that signaled regeneration, as baffling and fascinating as that was, as his body hit the ground, but she didn't have time to worry about that. She needed to help Hughes.

She stepped over Envy's body to rush over to the phone booth and she winced at the amount of blood and the sound of Hughes's ragged breathing.

Ed shrugged off her jacket and tore off a piece of her shirt to make a bandage for the man's head. "Hey, Maes. Can you hear me? I'm right here, okay? You're going to be fine, Dad. Just keep breathing. You're okay."

"Fullmetal? Is that you?" Ed was a little startled to hear a voice come out of the phone receiver that was hanging from its cord off the hook. "Fullmetal? Come on, answer me! It's Colonel Mustang. What's going on over there? I have Lieutenant Hawkeye calling for Major Armstrong right now. Can you hear me, Fullmetal?"

Ed frowned. Hughes had come out here to make a private call to Mustang? What was he going to tell the man that had made him a target for these dangerous people?

"I-I hear you, Mustang. I can't grab the phone because I'm trying to keep the Lieutenant Colonel from bleeding to death. I'm going to heal what I can and get him to a hospital. So don't ask me any questions. I don't have time to hold your hand through this." Ed put her hands together and started to gather energy from herself and her surroundings. This was going to be tricky. All she knew about brains and head wounds was about to be put to the test.

There was a reason Dr. David didn't want her healing her own head wound with Alkahestry. Ed had never proved she knew anything about the head and nervous system and how it worked. And until she had been injured herself, she didn't really have a need to know too deeply about the head and brain other than psychological studies. And she knew that one and a half days of study on the subject didn't make her an expert. This whole matter had her hands trembling.

Before she placed her hands on Hughes to perform the transmutation, she took a deep breath in and out to steady herself. "Roy… Can you do me a favor and call Gracia. Tell her to get to the hospital. Please."

There was silence on the line and Ed thought Mustang had hung up for a moment, but then she heard him release a shaky breath into the receiver. "I will, Edena. Just please help Maes and be careful."

A dial tone told Ed that Mustang had actually hung up.

Ed closed her eyes and laid gentle hands on either side of Hughes's head and the phone booth lit up with a golden light.

---

The quiet in the hospital hallway was absolutely suffocating.

Ed had been sitting for hours now on a bench outside of Hughes's room with her head down and her hands buried in her hair. She hadn't felt this much sadness, dread and stress in a long time.

"Edena?" A soft voice had Ed lifting her head to stare up into the worried eyes of Gracia Hughes. "Are you okay? Roy called me and told me to come to the hospital. I only just found a sitter for Elicia and when I got here a nurse led me here to you. What's going on?"

Ed sucked in a sharp breath and turned her red rimmed eyes away from the woman. She had no idea why she was here. She stood up on shaky legs and kept her eyes on the ground.

"G-Gracia, it's Maes. He…" Ed tried to speak, but her voice faded away. She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but couldn't, so she reached back to grab her braided ponytail and tug on it.

Gracia's hands came up and enveloped Ed's to pull them away from her hair. Ed finally made eye contact with the woman. Her green eyes looked sad and resigned.

"What happened to my husband, Edena?" The woman asked softly.

Ed could feel tears forming in her eyes, so she closed them. Unfortunately, this didn't stop the tears from falling. "Dad was attacked." She finally said. "He was attacked at work and he went out to a phone booth to make a call, I don't know why. I… I just barely got there in time to stop the person from hitting him with a fatal shot, but—" Ed was cut off as the door to Hughes's room opened and a hand was placed on her shoulder. Ed opened her eyes and glanced at Dr. David over her shoulder.

"I will explain the rest, Edena. Mrs. Hughes?" Gracia nodded at the man, slowly releasing Ed's hands. Ed could feel the anxiety coming off Gracia in waves. "Follow me, please." He released Ed and waved the older woman into the room, shutting the door so he could speak to the woman in private.

Ed crumbled back into her seat on the bench. She knew exactly what he was going to say. He'd already said as much to her not too long ago.

"There's no way you could have known his brain would swell. You're not a doctor yet, Edena. Partnered with the lack of oxygen to his brain due to blood loss… There was nothing more either of us could do. Even after relieving the pressure and starting him on an IV, I think he just got here too late. All scans show that he is effectively brain dead. The only thing that's keeping his body alive right now is the intubation tube breathing for him. As soon as we turn off that machine, we'll be calling his TOD. Please don't blame yourself for this. You did all you could, but your alkahestry doesn't put missing blood back into the body and it only solves problems that you focus on solving. You're the one who told me that, remember? I'm sorry for your loss."

Ed was waiting for what seemed another hour before a few nurses came down the hall, one giving her a look, and entering the room, leaving the door cracked a bit. There were hushed whispers that Ed didn't even want to decipher. All she could hear was Gracia's quiet and broken sobs and the silencing of the machines not long after. The quiet was suffocating again.

But then Dr. David's voice rang out through the quiet with a time of death and Gracia's sobs got louder.

"Oh Maes," the woman cried out, causing more tears to fall from Ed's eyes.

A few moments later, the door was opened wider and the hospital gurney that held her father figure was wheeled out into the hall by the nurses, a white sheet pulled over his still form. Ed stood and wanted to reach out to him, but her arms felt like lead and the nurses didn't hesitate as they continued to push the gurney down the hall towards what was probably the hospital morgue.

A distraught Gracia was helped out into the hall by Dr. David and the woman threw her arms around Ed's shoulders, sobbing into the young woman's neck. Dr. David let out a soft sigh and placed a gentle hand on Gracia's back.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said before turning to follow after the nurses.

Ed watched him go, finally making her arms lift up and wrap around Gracia's waist to hold the crying woman.

"Why, Edena? Why did this happen to my Maes?" Gracia cried.

Ed just held her tighter, still staring off down the hall.

"I'm so sorry." Was all she could say.

---

The day of the funeral was ironically sunny even though everyone there was so somber. Men in uniform lowered Hughes's casket into the ground just as memorial rounds were fired into the sky for the now Brigadier General.

Ed and Gracia were dressed similarly in a black blazer with a white blouse underneath and Ed had on black dress pants to Gracia's pencil skirt. The younger woman was holding onto Elicia, the small girl gripping Ed's neck, while the woman cried into a handkerchief as they started to cover the casket with dirt.

Elicia watched them cover the casket with concern. "Big Sister, why are they putting all that dirt on Daddy?"

Ed hugged the girl close. "They're burying him, Elicia." She said in a soft voice.

The little girl shook her head. "But if Daddy gets buried then he won't be able to do all of his work." Gracia started crying harder, turning to hide her face into Ed's shoulder. "Daddy says he has a bunch of work that he needs to do! Stop it! Stop putting dirt on him!" At the sound of Elicia's pleas, there was no longer a dry eye at the funeral. Even the Fuhrer, with his slimy aura, had shaking hands as they rested on his sword as he stood at attention.

Ed placed her hand on the back of Elicia's head and tried to calm her down with little shushes. Tears formed in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She had done enough crying. For right now she would just be the pillar the remaining Hughes' needed to get through the rest of this day.

Once the funeral was over, Gracia took Elicia from Ed's arms and let the young woman wander a distance away to stand watch as people approached the widow and daughter to give their condolences. Ed folded her arms over her chest and leaned against a tree not far from the grave site.

The only one that approached Ed was Major Armstrong. He stood vigilant and silent by her side as they both watched over the Hughes'.

A few moments before Ed deemed it time to go rescue Gracia and a sleeping Elicia, the two Majors were approached by Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye. Ed turned her gaze to the ground, not willing to look into those sad navy eyes yet.

"Major Armstrong, Fullmetal." He greeted. Hawkeye just nodded her head in greeting.

"Hello Colonel Mustang." Major Armstrong said in a somber tone. "I assume you want to talk about what happened. Your subordinate here has given a very detailed report and we have a strong lead on potential suspects."

Mustang stared at the quiet Ed for a minute before turning his attention to Armstrong. "And why aren't they being hunted down right now?"

Armstrong sighed. "We're confident we know who committed the crime, but we're unsure of their identities. Major Elric had only met them once before the event and we don't exactly know who they are."

Mustang's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't make any sense, Major. Clarify for me."

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

Mustang's attention turned back to Ed and he glared at her. "Look at me, Fullmetal." Ed refused, so Mustang grabbed her by the chin, making her. Hawkeye's breath hitched and Armstrong looked ready to intervene. "I am ordering you, as your Commanding Officer, to clarify the situation for me. Are you going to disobey a direct order?"

Ed just glared up at him in silence.

Armstrong placed a hand on Mustang's arm to get him to let go of Ed. "That's enough, Colonel. We cannot discuss the matter any further and you should not be putting your hands on Miss Edena."

Mustang lowered his hand, but continued to glare down at Ed. "You said you would heal him. That's what you said on the phone. You said that you would heal him and get him to the hospital. So how did he die, Fullmetal? If you did all that you were supposed to, how did he die?"

Ed jerked back like she had been slapped and the Major glared down at the man.

"That is enough, Roy Mustang." An angry voice said from behind him. They all shifted to look at a sad and angry Gracia who was holding a sleeping Elicia on her hip. Ed moved to take the girl off the woman's hands. Gracia shook her head at Mustang. "Edena did all she could to help Maes. The doctor let me know as much. It was the amount of blood loss and brain swelling that did my husband in. I will not have you make this girl feel any more guilty than she already does for not being able to fully save her father figure's life. You should be ashamed of yourself."

The group was quiet for a moment before Mustang sighed and put up a placating hand. "I apologize. Majors, you are dismissed." He didn't exactly sound like he wanted the conversation to be over yet, though.

Ed quickly left with Gracia, not wanting to stay there long enough for Mustang to get what he wanted.

On the way back to the Hughes's home, Ed decided she should bring up something she'd been thinking about to Gracia.

"I think you two should get out of Central for a while." She blurted out, readjusting the sleeping Elicia so that she had her chin resting on Ed's shoulder. "Central has always given me a terrible feeling just being here, and the person who killed Hughes is still out there and could target you and Elicia next. I think it would be best for you both to leave the city. I have a place you can stay in the countryside. And the people there will take care of you, no question."

Gracia shook her head. "We have friends here, Edena. And memories. We can't just leave our home."

"Please, Gracia. I'm not asking you to leave forever. I'm just asking you to pack a few bags and go there for a month or so until things blow over. Who knows… Maybe you'll end up liking the country life." She gave the woman a weak smile.

Gracia laughed. "Maes and I have lived in the city all of our lives." She looked down. "Well, we were supposed to spend the rest of our lives here together. I don't know if I could do well anywhere else alone without him there to help me through it."

They stopped in front of the door of the Hughes's apartment building and faced each other.

"You won't be alone there, Gracia. I promise." Ed pleaded.

Gracia stared into Ed's golden eyes for a while before letting out a sigh. "You think it would be best?" Ed nodded. "Then I will have to settle some things here first before we go." She said as she entered the building.

A soft and sad smile slipped onto Ed's face. "I'll help you however I can. I will have to get to Dublith soon to make sure our teacher hasn't killed my little brother with training, but I will be with you as long as I can."

---

It didn't take long for Gracia to get things settled and some stuff packed up with Ed's help. Elicia was moping around about leaving home and her daddy not being with them, but she was also a little excited to see wherever they were going.

They were getting on the train headed to Resembool after closing up the Hughes's apartment that Major Armstrong promised to check up on every once in a while.

"The layover I have in Resembool is just enough time to get you to the house and settled before I have to head back to the station to catch the train to Dublith. And I have something very important I want to tell you when we get there. It's a secret that I've kept from you for too long." Ed said as they found their seats. Gracia looked at her with confusion, but nodded her head. "Granny Pinako said that Farmer Williams will be waiting there for us with a horse drawn cart to get to the house quicker."

Elicia gasped from her seat next to Ed. "I've never seen a horse up close before."

Ed chuckled. "Well there are plenty of horses in the countryside. One of my neighbors has a farm that I used to help him on. I bet if you ask nicely he'll let you come see the horses whenever you'd like. They loved to be brushed."

Elicia had stars in her eyes.

By the time they made it to Resembool, the little girl was half asleep and too groggy to really appreciate riding in a cart pulled by a massive horse. Ed was still sure to ask Farmer Williams about letting Elicia visit when she could.

They made it to the Rockbell house where they stopped to introduce Gracia and Elicia to Granny Pinako and Den. Elicia was more awake by now and was happy to pet the dog with the metal leg.

When they finally made it to Ed's childhood home, Ed gave Farmer Williams her thanks and the man gave a kind smile and nodded as he dropped off their luggage and rolled away in his cart.

Ed walked up to the door, as many bags in her arms as she could hold, making Elicia giggle. She smiled down at the little girl. "Can you knock on the door for me, Elicia. I've got someone here making sure the place is nice and comfy for you guys to stay."

Elicia nodded determinedly and knocked loud and firm. The three heard footsteps as they waited for the door to open up, and when it did, Gracia was immediately crying. Elicia looked back at her mom in confusion before turning to look at the man who opened the door. It took her a minute to recognize him because his head was half shaved with a scar just over his eye and his beard was extremely scruffy, but when she looked into those green eyes behind square framed glasses, her eyes got wide in happiness and excitement.

"DADDY!" She screamed as she jumped at the man, wrapping her little arms around his waist as much as she could.

Maes Hughes was dressed in clothes that were a little bit too big for him and he looked a bit paler than normal, but he was definitely alive and healthy. He smiled as he knelt to wrap his daughter in a hug.

"My sweet little Elicia." His voice was soft and a bit raspy with emotion.

Gracia stepped forward past Ed to fall to her knees in front of her husband and wrap her arms around his shoulders. "If you ever make me go through anything like that again, we are getting a divorce."

The man just chuckled and held his girls tight. He looked over at Ed and gave her a smile as he mouthed "Thank you."

Ed's own smile in return was so big it hurt her cheeks.

---

"You did an excellent job, Edena. It still baffles me how you can read a ton of medical books on a subject for a day and a half and understand everything you need to in order to save someone's life in a way you hadn't known before." Dr. David shook his head. "And you told me I wasn't allowed to call you a prodigy."

Ed crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down at the sleeping form of her father figure on the hospital gurney. He had just finished being moved from the ER to a private hospital room after getting scans done.

"Since you think so highly of me, I'm going to have to ruin your mood and ask you to do something unethical." Ed mumbled. The Doctor gave her a skeptical look. "The people who tried to kill the Lieutenant Colonel are extremely dangerous and still very much alive, much to my disappointment. The only reason they would have for killing him is because he must have figured out something they didn't want anyone knowing. If they find out he's alive they'll just try to kill him again."

Dr. David frowned. "He's a Lieutenant Colonel in the military. I'm sure if he asks for protection, he'll get it. Or better yet, if he really needs to he can ask to be put into witness protection."

"Neither of those options is really going to work since the people he needs protection from is the military." Ed said with a sigh.

Realization slowly formed on Dr. David's face. "You're sure about this?" The young woman nodded. "Damn. What exactly is it you want me to do then? Kill the man before the military can?" He joked. But when he was met from silence, he looked up at Ed in surprise. "You want me to kill him!?"

Ed scowled. "Lower your voice, Doctor. Besides, I just want you to pretend he died. And once he's out of sight, we'll ship him off somewhere safe. That's the easy part. The more unethical part of this is fudging records, bribing the coroner and finding a mortician that will put something in the coffin to make it heavy so that—"

"You have thought far too much about this." Dr. David interrupted Ed's thought process.

Ed nodded. "I have. I thought it over the entire time I was bringing him to the hospital. He and his family won't be safe until the people who tried to kill him think that he's dead."

It was quiet for a few moments and then Dr. David groaned. "You're really doing this to me. You're really serious about this." Ed gave the man an apologetic smile. "Fine! I'll get to work on everything. You will have to explain this to my patient when he wakes up, though."

Ed gave a quiet chuckle as the man stepped out of the room.

Ed got a chance to explain everything to Hughes not long after. He'd woken up weak and groggy, but it amused Ed that the first thing he was worried about was the fact that half his head was shaved.

"That's never going to grow back even." He mumbled as he reached up to touch his head.

"How are you feeling?" Ed asked.

Hughes sighed. "I've got a pounding headache, but I'm alive. Thank you, by the way." He said as he held out his hand to take Ed's.

She gave him a sad look. "I'm about to make your headache worse."

Ed explained everything to Hughes and told him about what she thought he should do for his safety and his family's. He was very reluctant, but in the end agreed as well under the condition that he got to explain it all to Gracia.

Dr. David came by not long after to explain his side of things to the two of them. "You're not exactly well enough to be traveling alone, Lieutenant Colonel. But lucky for you, my wife is a nurse here at the hospital and she's been thinking about taking some vacation time to go see her family out in the country."

They both nodded. "And the coroner and mortician?" Ed asked.

Dr. David sighed. "Dr. Knox owes me a favor and I know a mortician that's willing to help us out. The only thing that's left is witnesses to the time of death. And again, lucky for you my wife is a nurse and has two very trustworthy best friends who would corroborate her alibi when it comes time for her to murder me for having her do this."

Ed chuckled. "You sure work fast, Doctor. Thank you."

The only things that were left were to inform Gracia and a performance.

Ed could feel for about half an hour after they had started talking with Hughes. One of those slimy bastards was close and watching. She wouldn't be surprised if it was Envy waiting to swoop in and finish off Hughes while he was down in the hospital. They had to make this count.

She went out into the hall to deter whoever it was from doing whatever it was they were thinking. They obviously had something against killing her, and if it was Envy then he would be cautious about approaching her, period.

Ed thought she did pretty well out in the hallway when Gracia arrived. The woman was genuinely confused about why she was there, but then Dr. David took her into the hospital room. Obviously Gracia was on board because Ed was actually moved by the woman's acting when the nurses entered the room. Even out in the hall as the wheeled Hughes away on the gurney, Ed was a bit overwhelmed by the emotions in Gracia's aura and she found it easier to play along.

It didn't stop her from sending a glare towards the end of the hall opposite to where they were wheeling Hughes away, at a grinning man in a white coat. It was Envy. It took everything in Ed not to make her way down the hall to splatter more of his blood. She turned her gaze back towards Hughes instead.

---

Major Armstrong called Ed into Central Command the next day to get her report on the incident.

She explained how she was released from the hospital and how she went to find Hughes in his office in order to walk him home, but when she got to the building there was a blood trail and a frazzled front desk woman. Ed told him how she ran, following the blood trail in the dim street lights and only arrived in time to see the man from the Fifth Laboratory pointing a gun into a phone booth and she pushed the barrel of the weapon out of the way just as it went off, the bullet grazing Hughes's head badly instead of hitting him in the chest.

Armstrong excused the officer who was in the room with him taking down the report after Ed mentioned the Fifth Lab.

Ed warned Armstrong that Envy was a shapeshifter of some sort and they had fought before he ran off and Ed was able to perform a minor bit of alkahestry on Hughes before getting him to the hospital where he later died.

She was released with tears and condolences from the large man not long after.

---

The funeral was planned by the military with input from Gracia, making it all feel a little bit too real for both of the women. Gracia found herself in little bouts of anxiety and depression that Ed had to pull her out of, all the way up until the day they left for Resembool.

They both felt a lot of guilt about not explaining things fully to Elicia when she asked why her daddy wasn't home yet. It was sad to say that the little girl's genuine reaction at the funeral if what Ed knew sold it. Even for Gracia. The woman couldn't handle her daughter being truly upset and her husband not there to help.

One thing Ed didn't expect through this entire process, was for Mustang to be actually upset with her. She could feel it in his aura even after Gracia told him off and he apologized. He was very upset with Ed about Hughes dying and he was not going to let it go.

But Ed didn't plan all of this just to mess it up by appeasing Roy Mustang. His reactions to the death of his friend would play an important part, as well, of making sure the Fuhrer, Envy and Lust, whatever they were and whoever they worked for, left alone this family that was very important to Ed.

And hopefully, if Envy was smart and had warned them about how angry Ed could get, they would be extremely cautious about trying to hurt someone Ed cared about in the future.

---

"Edena?"

Ed was dragged out of her thoughts by Gracia calling her name and a gentle shake of her shoulder. She looked around and noticed that they had, apparently, all made it into the house and into the living room. Some things were still covered from when Ed had closed up the house, but she was sure the Hughes' could handle turning this place into their new temporary home.

She looked at the little family with a small smile on her face. "Yes?"

Gracia was standing by the loveseat Ed was seated on. She stroked the young woman's hair and gave her a worried look. "You said there was something you wanted to tell us about? Some kind of secret?"

Ed cursed and squeezed her eyes shut as anxiety pooled in her chest.

She wanted to tell them her secret about being a dragon. But she also dreaded the idea. As much as Izumi and Al liked to tell her that her other form was a gift, not a curse, Ed still felt fear at the idea of telling other people about it. People who were important to her. She was afraid they would hate her for it, even though she'd been proved wrong every time. Winry and Granny, Izumi and Sig, and Havoc had all been more fascinated than they were terrified. Well, Havoc had been terrified, but then Ed took him and Al on a flight in the mountains one time and the man couldn't get enough. He actually volunteered to give Ed massages if they would go on flights when they had time off and were able to get somewhere secluded.

But no matter how many people were okay with her being a dragon, Ed was always overthinking and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hopefully the Hughes' loved her enough that they didn't prove her right.

"Do you remember, back when I was attacked by the Ishvalan, how Al told you we were talking about legends before he actually attacked me?" Ed asked Maes.

Maes nodded from the couch opposite of her, holding a sleeping Elicia in his lap, and Gracia slowly sat next to Ed on the loveseat. "I remember the legend had something to do with your golden looks. I never really had time to look into that. Are you finally going to tell me what the legend was? Why is it such a big secret?"

Ed sighed and pulled her braid from behind her to play with it. The Hughes' frowned at this. It was so obviously Ed's way of calming her nerves when she was anxious or upset and she had been doing it a lot lately. "The Ishvalan legend is hundreds of years old. I only knew about it because my father wrote about it in his journals and even told me about the Ishvalan people before he disappeared all those years ago. He and his journals are also the reason Al and I know so much about Xing and alkahestry and other cultures." She tugged at her hair a bit and looked off towards one of the open windows in the room. "But the legend says that, if an Ishvalan were ever to go wandering into the desert and cannot find their way, they are to find the golden ones to guide them home."

Maes frowned. "The golden ones? Like you? But I think we would have heard about people who look like you living out in the desert leading people back home, Edena."

Ed smiled at the man. "But if you're an alchemist you have heard of them. Not the guiding home part, but the golden people of the desert."

The man seemed to jog his mind to see if there was anything Mustang or Armstrong had let him know about alchemy that had to do with golden people. Ed noticed when he came to the realization. His eyes widened and his arms around Elicia tightened. "Xerxes?"

Ed nodded. "The fabled story about the birthplace of alchemy. The Amestrian legend tells of a grand city in the middle of the desert that was destroyed in one day with the only survivor being the Philosopher from the East who traveled to Amestris to teach the city's art of alchemy. But here in Amestris, that's all it is. A legend. You would be hard pressed to find books about Xerxes at all. But despite all of that, the story still tells of the Philosopher who had golden hair, eyes and skin."

Gracia looked at Ed with confusion. "So you're saying you're a descendant of the Philosopher? How would that be possible?"

"Yes, your looks should be entirely diluted by now. If the Philosopher was the only person left from the fall of Xerxes, any of his descendants wouldn't have the exact same coloring as him? Genes aren't that strong considering that legend is centuries old." Maes continued on with his wife's thoughts.

Ed shook her head. "No. I'm not a descendant of the Amestrian philosopher. I'm actually the daughter of a different philosopher." She sat back on the couch and crossed her legs. "In Xing, the story is more of a history item than it is a legend. They truly believe in a man they called the Philosopher from the West. He came to Xing after the fall of Xerxes and taught them alchemy, which they combined with things they already knew to create alkahestry. Some would think that this was the same man who came to Amestris, but only a handful of people know different. The fall of Xerxes actually bore two survivors, not one. And each survivor went separate ways after all of the people in the city were dead. One of those survivors, the Philosopher of the West, is my father."

Maes started shaking his head. "Edena, no. Are you trying to tell me that your father is a four hundred year old undying man?" When Ed kept quiet, Maes narrowed his eyes. "What proof do you have?"

Ed shrugged. "The fact that Granny Pinako has known my father longer than anyone and she says that he's always looked the same no matter how many years passed. The fact that his journals detail his early years in Xerxes and his travels to Xing and other places over the past centuries. The fact that he told me the stories from the day I could understand what he was saying, all the way up until the day he left us. The fact that even though it's been four centuries since the fall of Xerxes, I look like I could have been walking around that city's streets and no one would give me a second look."

Gracia and Maes were silent for a long moment. Maes finally let out a sigh. "There's something more to this. You weren't worried about telling Gracia and I that your father is an extremely old man. What? Are you a direct heir to a long gone throne? Should I start calling you Edena, the Princess of Xerxes?"

Edena rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "If you ever call me that, I'll smack you." She pursed her lips and looked down at the coffee table between them. "There's more to Xerxes than anyone has ever known. The city was around for a long time before its fall and has its own history. History that sounds like legend itself, but actually has a direct line of proof. My father and I are proof of that proof." Ed took a deep calming breath before she continued on with the story. "Please don't interrupt me and please keep an open mind. I'm telling you all this because I love you very much and keeping this secret from you hurts me more than you know. I'm always afraid to tell this secret because for the longest time it seemed like a curse to me, and still kind of does. I'm always waiting on someone I tell it to to stab me in the back—"

Gracia reached out and stroked a thumb over Ed's brow, smoothing out the worry she saw on the young woman's face. "Edena, we will never hurt you intentionally. Whatever you have to tell us, we will hear it with open minds and hearts and try to understand it all. We promise that. You mean far too much to us and have done far too much for us for either of us to judge you harshly for anything you're about to tell us."

Maes nodded in agreement. "Whatever your secret is, Edena, it's safe with us." He gave her a soft smile. "Does it happen to have anything to do with how your father has been alive for so long?"

Ed laughed, startling Elicia into a halfway daze, causing Maes to rock her a bit to keep her from fussing. "You are way too smart for your own good, Dad."

Maes gave her a cynical chuckle. "Tell me about it. It's what almost got me killed." Gracia glared at the man and he raised his hands in surrender before helping Elicia to sit up in his lap since she was fully awake now. "Hey there, sleepyhead. Big sister Edena has a really important secret to tell us. Do you think you can sit quietly and listen to what she has to say?"

Elicia nodded and yawned with a stretch. "I'll be good. I promise." Maes smiled and rubbed his bearded cheek into his daughter's, making her giggle. "Come on, Daddy! We have to pay attention."

Ed and Gracia smiled at the two of them with matching motherly looks on their faces, making Maes chuckle a little. "Okay, okay. We're listening now."

Ed started tugging at her braid again. "Well… This is going to sound extremely far-fetched, but so does the Philosopher's Stone and we found out that it's real too." She sighed. "The people of Xerxes didn't just learn alchemy out of nowhere. The story goes that the people were actually struggling in the desert to survive until they were blessed by gods. These gods saw them struggling and helped the humans, taking them under their wing and bringing them good fortune with their magic. There were three gods in total, a holy trinity. The first was said to bring rain to the desert to help the humans with the heat and the drought. The second was said to create strong foundations out of the mud the rains called and helped the humans to build shelter and farms. The third was said to be the eternal flame of the city. A light for the people whenever it was dark and heat for their homes in the cold night.

"The gods taught the humans their magic in a way that they would be able to perform it. It was later revealed that it wasn't magic at all, but alchemy. The gods watched over the humans for a long time before they decided they wanted to actually be there with them and walk amongst them in the same skin. The gods learned how to shift their bodies in order to do just that."

Elicia raised her hand to ask Ed a question. "Big sister, if they had to change their bodies to look like people, what did they look like before?" Maes rubbed cheeks with Elicia again, proud of his daughter for asking such a good question.

Ed gave the girl a smile. "Have you ever heard of a dragon, Elicia?"

Maes and Gracia frowned in confusion, but Elicia got excited. "Yup! Daddy has told me stories about dragons and princesses before! Most of the other girls back home say that there's supposed to be a guy called a knight who saves the princess in the stories too, but I like the ones Daddy tells better because the princess always saves herself."

Ed let out a chuckle. "As she should. But in those stories your daddy told you, the dragon was always the bad guy. A horrible and terrifying beast with scales and wings that breathed fire and had sharp claws to keep the princesses hostage." Elicia nodded. "But in my story, the dragons were kind and protected and helped the humans. Yes, they had wings, scales and sharp claws. One of them even breathed fire. But they were not horrible or terrifying. They were the gods that the people in the city worshiped. And they loved the humans so much that they changed from their scaly bodies to look just like you and me in order to live amongst the humans in the city. They even fell in love and had children that would later be called the Pure Bloods.

"The story goes that the first born children of the gods could shift their bodies into dragons as well after their fourth birthday, and their first born children and so on. But with every story of peace, there is always something that has to disturb it. There were humans in the city who didn't like that these beasts were worshiped like gods and that they helped rule the city alongside a king who was elected by the people. These people formed a coup that tricked and imprisoned the original dragons in the desert far away from the city, removed the king from power, and started to hunt down and kill off all of the Pure Bloods to keep them from rising against them. Thus beginning a new era in Xerxes."

Elicia looked sad. "So the dragons were all gone?"

Ed shook her head. "No, actually. Not long after the fall of the gods, an orphaned baby was purchased as a slave by an alchemist that was in the inner circle of the new king. The boy was thought to be an ordinary Xerxian child until his master found out that he was actually one of the infamous Pure Bloods after he turned four. The alchemist should have turned the boy over to the king, but instead he kept the boy's secret and kept him as a slave. But when the boy was a little older, he learned alchemy and soon became the apprentice to his master and even joined the inner circle as well. The boy's name was Van Hohenheim."

Maes's eyes widened. "Your father?"

Ed nodded. "My father didn't write much about the life span or expectancy of the Pure Bloods. I don't think he actually knew himself. I think he only really knew about them due to whispers on the street and his master eventually telling him the story when he joined the inner circle. Was him being a Pure Blood the reason he's lived so long? I have no idea. I'd have to ask him in order to find out."

"But Big sister, that means you're a Pure Blood too." Elicia spoke up with excitement in her voice.

Ed could feel the discomfort coming off of Maes and Gracia at their daughter's statement. It made her shrink in on herself. "Elicia—" Gracia started to say something to her daughter, but the little girl was far too excited. She hopped off Maes's lap and ran around the coffee table to pull herself up into Ed's.

"Can you show me, Big sister? Which dragon are you?" Ed could feel tears forming in her eyes. This little girl's unconditional love and trust in her was something she thought she'd never get to feel with anyone other than Al and Winry. "Don't cry, Big sister! Why are you sad?" Elicia said as she reached up to wipe Ed's tears. Ed absolutely melted and hugged Elicia close.

"I'm not sad, Elicia. I'm happy that someone like you would accept the other half of me so easily and happily. Only Big brother Al and Big sister Winry weren't scared of me when I told them about me being a dragon." Ed rubbed the girl's back.

Elicia snorted. "Why would I be scared of my big sister? That makes no sense."

Ed could feel the elder Hughes's discomfort slowly fading into love for both of these girls.

"Well said, Elicia." Maes spoke up. Gracia reached over to give both of her daughters kisses on the cheeks. Elicia giggled and Ed just smiled.

Elicia pulled back and placed her hands on Ed's shoulders. "Are you gonna show us, Big sister? Are you gonna show us your dragon?"

Ed laughed and handed the little girl to her mother. "I guess, I guess. Hold your horses." She bent to kick off her shoes and stood up to start shrugging off her clothes.

Maes looked away. "What on earth are you doing, Ed!?"

Said woman gave him an annoyed look over her shoulder. "I'm not ruining a perfectly good outfit by transforming into a dragon." She walked over to the back door, not at all body shy, showing off the large red and black tattoo of a dragon that traveled from the back of her neck to her lower waist. "Come along now."

The backyard of her childhood home had always been the perfect place to transform for Ed, because it went down hill a little and the ascending hill in the front made it so that the back was perfectly blocked from view. Her mother had once told her that that was the exact reason Hohenheim had picked this spot to build their home.

The Hughes' followed the naked woman out into the yard, Maes still very conflicted about this fact. Gracia smacked the man in the shoulder and told him to stop being ridiculous. Ed just chuckled and closed her eyes as she started the process of transforming, right before their eyes, into a 8 meter long red and gold dragon. Maes and Gracia's jaws dropped as they were still holding a bit of skepticism about the whole story, but Elicia was clapping in excitement already.

When Ed was fully transformed, she twisted her body in a semicircle to lay down and face the small family, keeping her wings folded against her back. Elicia smiled and ran up to Ed to wrap her arms around the reptilian snout that lowered to her height. "You look so cool, Big sister! And so pretty! You're so gold and shiny." Ed huffed and nuzzled the little girl. She sent her a mental image of the two of them hugging in Ed's human form and Elicia gasped. "Is that how you talk, Big sister?" Ed nodded and sent her another image of a lit fireplace. "So you're the fire dragon? So cool!"

Maes and Gracia approached cautiously, but when they got close enough, Gracia was the first to glide a hesitant hand over Ed's scaly snout. "This is amazing, Edena."

Maes nodded in agreement and reached out to touch one of her leathery wings. "It really is. How are you talking to Elicia right now?"

Elicia smiled. "With pictures, Daddy! Big sister shows you pictures in your head to talk to you."

As an example, Ed sent the man and his wife the same images she had sent to Elicia. "Wow." Was all Maes could say. Ed lifted her wing and stretched it out a bit to pull the man close to her side. He fell into her with an oof, making Elicia and Gracia giggle.

Gracia smiled at Ed and leaned forward to give her snout a kiss. "Thank you for trusting us and sharing your secret with us, Edena. It's nothing we could have ever imagined, but we will never judge you for who you are."

Maes nodded. "It also makes sense now too. The night I was attacked and you saved me. It's all a little fuzzy, but I remember your flesh hand was clawed like you do with your automail and you were stronger than I've ever seen you. But was I imagining it, or were you saying something about me belonging to you?"

If a lizard could blush, then Ed would be a bright red all over. She sent Maes an image of her dragon form in a cave hoarding gold. He gave her a confused look, but nodded. She then sent him an image of the gold pieces turning into people. Specific people. Izumi and Sig, Winry and Granny, Al, Havoc, Mustang and the rest of his team, Maes, Gracia and Elicia, and even Major Armstrong.

It took Maes a while to grasp what she was trying to say, but he understood. "You hoard people?" Ed nodded. She showed him an image of her father and then an image of the journals and books in his study. "And your father hoarded books?" She nodded again. "What a fascinating concept."

Ed showed the three of them an image of a train and her clothes. Elicia started to get sad. "Do you really have to go, Big sister?" Ed sighed and nuzzled her head into the tiny girl to try and cheer her up. Gracia gave Ed one last put before going to collect the young woman's clothes for her.

Maes picked Elicia up and hugged her close. "I'm sure Big Sister Edena will be back soon to visit us. We'll be staying in her home for a while because daddy is doing a little bit of hiding right now. There are some bad people out there that Edena is trying to keep us safe from. She can't stay with us all of the time, unfortunately." He turned his attention to said woman, or dragon. "Does Roy know about any of this?" Ed shook her head this time.

"He does not, but I expect you to give that man quite a stern talking to the next time you are able to see him, Maes. When he spoke to Edena at your funeral, he got handsy with her and implied that she had something to do with you not surviving the incident." Gracia spoke up with a stern voice from behind her husband. She held out Ed's clothes for her. "Here you go, Edena. You can change back now."

Ed shifted back, Maes spinning around in time to put his back to her nakedness. She got dressed fully before taking a seat on the ground to rub out the aches in her ports. "You don't need to talk to him, Maes. He's your friend and he was upset. I can't blame him for that."

Gracia huffed. "Well I can, and I don't think his words were necessary. Maes is my husband and I obviously wasn't blaming you for anything. Why should Roy?"

Maes chuckled and gave Gracia a kiss. "Calm down, my love. I'll set him straight the first opportunity I get, I promise." He looked down at Ed. "You okay there, Edena?"

The blonde was working her fingers in a deep tissue massage around her leg, but wincing as she shifted her arm. That part would have to wait until she could get to Izumi and Al. "Yeah. It's just that when I shift I gain my limbs back, but when I change back to human I have metal limbs again and my ports ache like hell. I have to massage them every time or my muscles start cramping really bad. It's why Al and I are working to find the Philosopher's Stone. To stop my pain and get my limbs back. It's also the reason I became a masseuse years ago. Because getting worked over with magic fingers made me want to do the same for other people who may be hurting as well. I really only ended up with a lot of perverts for clients though."

Maes gave her a dark smile. "Give me their names. I'll make sure they never have a perverted thought again."

Ed just laughed at the man.

They all went back in the house and Ed did a quick bit of rearranging of some things and showed them the house more extensively before grabbing her bag and heading to the front door to leave.

"We can never thank you enough, Edena. Our family is in your debt." Maes said as the small family walked her out.

Ed just waved them off. "No. You are my family. You owe me nothing. Just stay safe out here and try not to get into any more trouble. Remember that Farmer Williams and Granny Rockbell are your closest neighbors. Granny will cook you dinner any time in exchange for some work done around the house and Farmer Williams pays well for help on his farm. I'll call you when I can and hopefully you don't have to stay out here for long." She gave each of them hugs. "I love you." She whispered.

The Hughes' smiled at Ed. "We love you too, Edena. You and Al stay safe, yourselves."

Ed nodded and gave them a wave as she started off down the driveway to run to the train station.

When she got settled on the train, she finally let herself relax and breathe.

This past week had been one hell of an emotional roller coaster that she could do without having to deal with for a long while.