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.

6. Alleyway Blues

There was a part of Ed that loved and hated coming to Dublith.

It was a great place and was a good transition for her and Al when they left the countryside in that when they finally got to East City the streets weren't too overwhelming for two hick children. It's also where her mother figure lived.

The part that she hated about Dublith is that said mother figure was always ready to knock her block off if she ever caught Ed off guard. Which means that when she stepped off the train into the small station, Ed was immediately tense and on edge. She kept her qi senses on high alert and stretched the field as far as it would go.

This is how Ed also knew there wasn't something quite right in the city this time around. There was something abnormal about some of the people here and the scents were a bit off. Since when were there cows walking around the city instead of already dead in a butcher's shop? And was that a snake and a lizard she was getting hints of? What in the hell was going on here?

She gripped her bag tight as she walked through the alleyways towards the Curtis home. When she finally made it to their front fence, she had to bend backwards out of the way of a flying sandal that came straight for her head.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG TO GET HERE?! DID YOU TAKE THE SCENIC ROUTE OR SOMETHING?!" Ed let out a laugh when Izumi came flying at her next before Ed could even get through the gate.

"Mooom! This is no way to greet your loving child!" Ed said, amused and a bit terrified at the same time as she dodged around hits and even threw some of her own, using her new fighting technique to slow the more aggressive woman down.

Izumi could feel her limbs getting heavier the longer she fought Ed. She decided to end the fight by surprising the girl with a tug on her braid that flew into Izumi's reach and an uppercut to the chest in retaliation. Ed fell to her knees, coughing to get her breath back.

"Do something about your hair, you brat. And you're too slow if you're going to fight like that. Go inside and get changed while I find some weights for you. Your brother is already in there whining about the beating he just got just a moment ago. His armor is getting put to work by Sig." Izumi turned to walk into the house.

Ed groaned and pulled herself to her feet. "Yes, ma'am. But I have to talk to Al before you put me through my paces. It's very important."

The two women walked into the house and Al gave an unenthusiastic hello from the couch in the living room. Izumi rolled her eyes at the boy and went to go into a spare room to look for the weights she was talking to Ed about. Ed chuckled and went to put her bag in her and Al's shared room before coming back to sit down on her brother's feet, making him growl and kick at her to get her to move. "Jeez, what crawled up your ass?" She said as she moved over to sit on another couch.

Al glared at her from his laying down position. "You just got here. I've been tortured for almost a week now. What took you so long anyway? You didn't even call once. And when I tried to call the Hughes', no one answered. I wanted to tell you all about how I got my watch stolen by a girl with two automail legs in Rush Valley. Winry is basically in love with her, by the way. And she got an apprenticeship with a famous automail mechanic because we helped his daughter-in-law deliver her baby."

Ed blinked. "That all sounds… Exciting." She shook her head. "We'll talk about it later. Sit up, we have something serious to talk about."

Al was immediately up and looking at his sister with a concerned look. "What is it, Sister?"

Ed sighed and explained everything that had happened with the Hughes' from the time she had been released from the hospital to when she was getting on the train to head to Dublith. Al was shocked, angry, and a little bit relieved. Izumi had even come in at some point during the story to sit with the two of them and listen. She took Ed's hand and gave it a squeeze to give her some comfort.

"That's all insane, Sister. I'm glad Mr. Hughes is okay though. And that Mrs. Gracia and Elicia get to be with him." Al ran his hands through his hair. "Are you sure slightly revealing yourself for Envy was the right thing to do though?"

Ed rubbed at her eyes and sat back against the couch. "Either Envy will go and tell whoever else is in their gang that there's more to me than meets the eye and they end up more cautious around me and the people I associate with, or they'll continue to underestimate me and find out the hard way that that is a bad decision."

Izumi let go of Ed's hand and spoke up. "What if you're the one who is underestimating them?"

"Then I will use this time that I currently have to get stronger. Envy was genuinely scared of me while I was fighting him. Especially when I showed him what kind of force I could use when I took his leg off. Why be scared if you're confident that you're infallible?" Ed said with a scowl on her face.

Al grinned. "Because they're not," he said.

Izumi scoffed at the two of them. "Well then, get your definitely fallible asses up and let's get to work on getting rid of your bad habits you've seemed to have developed in your time away from here."

Ed and Al gulped. Was it too late to back out, actually?

---

It had been about a week and a half of what Al liked to call torture and Ed was reluctant to call training.

Izumi finally gave them a day to relax, but it wasn't really relaxing. It was more like she wasn't going to put them through hell while she put them to work today. They always had chores to do if they were going to be staying with the Curtis'.

Al was away with Sig doing some deliveries while his armor was out sweeping the street. Ed, on the other hand, had just gotten done cleaning most of the house from top to bottom and finally got a chance to sneak away and whine to her automail mechanic about her limbs.

"I'm serious, Win! Is there any way at all that we can take some of the weight off of my automail? Izumi has me wearing weights all the time to improve my speed and I have to drag myself to bed every night. If this workout plan bears any fruit, then when I finally get these weights off I'll have some increased speed, but I was thinking that taking even more weight off my body would be even better." She twirled the phone cord between her fingers as she talked.

Winry sighed into the phone. "And because your arm and leg are made of steel they add a lot of weight. So the best thing to do to increase your speed would be to change your automail." There were some clinking sounds over the line for a few minutes before the mechanic spoke up again. "I don't know Ed, the best I could do for you is to change the steel alloy to something different, but it would decrease the strength of the limbs. The only other way would cost you a pretty penny."

Ed bit her lip and thought about it for a moment. "How many pretty pennies?"

"A lot. I would be outfitting you with Northern automail that is made from a steel-carbon alloy. It's really expensive because of the carbon and how much work it takes to make the limbs. It's a slight bit weaker than your regular automail, but it's not enough for you to actually tell the difference. I'd have to upgrade your ports a little bit and—"

Ed chuckled and cut the gearhead off. "It's okay, Winry. You don't have to explain it to me. I trust you to know what you're doing. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to afford it." She let out a sigh. "I'll even come to Rush Valley to show off my current automail and tell everyone there who made it if you can get these limbs done for me?"

Ed had to pull the phone away from her ear and the squeal Winry let out. "I'll have it done in two weeks!" She hung up the phone and Ed chuckled.

Suddenly, Alphonse ran into the house, panicking.

"Sister! Someone kidnapped my armor!" He yelled.

Ed gave him a flat look. "Alphonse Elric, how in the hell does someone kidnap a more than two meter tall suit of armor that has combat skills?"

Al scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, I wasn't exactly paying attention and my armor got a weird note about someone 'knowing it's secret', so it went to confront the people and they ended up being good at combat themselves. They knocked the helmet off and some lady got inside the suit to hold it in place long enough for a really strong guy to come and tie it up. The leader of the group claims that they're chimeras created by the military." Al informed her, getting serious near the end.

Ed narrowed her eyes. "Chimeras?" She thought back to Nina and growled. "What kind of game are they trying to play?" But the anger on Ed's face morphed into realization. "I remember now, when I got off the train, I kept getting this strange feeling like there were animals running around the city. I caught the distinct whiff of a cow and a snake. Could these people really be chimeras?" She pursed her lips and looked down at herself. "I should go get changed." She was wearing black exercise pants and a red sports bra. She didn't feel as intimidating as she wanted to be to confront some people who were willing to kidnap a suit of armor. Not like Al, anyway, who had a bit of blood splattered on his long sleeve grey shirt and dark brown cargo pants from working at the butchers shop.

"Just throw on your coat and shoes and we can head out. We probably shouldn't waste too much time." Al told her, grabbing for his two new steel bars he outfitted with arrays to turn them into tactical push knives like he had back in the Fifth Lab.

Ed sighed and followed her brother's advice, grabbing her coat and slipping into her shoes. As they walked out of the door, she reached up to let her braided ponytail down from the bun it was spiraled into on the back of her head. Izumi made a good point about her hair being an easy target in combat. So she fixed the problem. With a smirk, Ed felt down the braid to make sure her new weapon she fabricated was still in place. Little sharp pointed metal spikes could be felt in the braid. If anyone grabbed it they would get a nice little surprise of a spike in their palms. They were all attached with a thin metal garrote down the center of the braid with a nicely sharpened little blade at the end of it, hidden in her hairs at the end of her braided ponytail.

Her braid was now a very dangerous whip that satisfied her inner chaos demon. Izumi had also been very proud of the idea if the evil grin on her face when she found out meant anything.

Al led the way to a kind of decrepit looking bar in an alleyway named 'The Devil's Nest'. "It's in there. They think it's me with my soul transmuted into the armor. I've been having it play along so far." He got quiet for a moment, eyes kind of glazed and Ed spread out her senses. Al snapped to attention with a gasp at the same time Ed tensed up and let out a growl.

"He's a homunculus!" Al yelled at the same time Ed said, "There's another one here!"

Ed's head whipped around to look at her brother. "Are you serious? A homunculus? An artificially created human?"

Al nodded. "That's what their leader said he was. He says his name is Greed. And he has an Ouroboros tattoo, Sister. This could be why we get such an awful feeling from their auras. Because they're not actually human. He wants to know how to bond a soul to a suit of armor for some reason."

"That begs the questions, who created them and for what reason?" Ed asked with a growl. She turned her head to send a glare over her shoulder into a dark nook in the alleyway at a short hooded man. "Yo, Lizard guy! You gonna hide there all day or come out and take us to your leader?"

Said man jumped in surprise in his hiding spot and apparently decided he was better off attacking. He pounced out of the darkness with sharpened claws on his fingers and ended up with Al's boot to his head as the teen swung his leg around to counter. The lizard man was now laid on the ground with a lump forming on his head, and instantly knocked out.

"That wasn't very nice." Ed mumbled as she bent to pick him up and throw him over her shoulder. "I guess we can introduce ourselves then."

Al pushed his way into the bar and headed towards a hallway that led to some back rooms. He stopped in front of a closed wooden door where he could sense his armor. He gave Ed a look and nodded towards the door as if making an offering. Ed shook her head and bowed to him a bit, giving him the honors. Al grinned and turned towards the door as he lifted his leg and snapped it out into a kick against the wood, causing it to fly open.

Everyone in the room jumped in surprise and Al stepped into the room while Ed stayed hidden behind the wall.

"Hello! You have someone that belongs to me." Al said with a kind smile on his face. He looked towards the short raven haired man with purple eyes and a Ouroboros tattoo on his right hand. He was wearing leather pants and a brown sleeveless muscle shirt with a sleeveless leather vest over top that had white fur around the neckline. He also had leather bands around his wrists and Al had to let out a sigh. This was no good at all. "You're the homunculus, Greed?"

The man stood up straight and stepped away from Al's armor that was sitting up against the wall with its arms and legs chained. He gave Al a sharp tooth smile. "Yeah. Who are you? How do you know who I am?"

"Brother! You've come to rescue me!" Al's armor called out, still playing the role of bound soul.

Al smiled at the armor. "Well, duh. Of course I'd come to rescue you. And I know who you are because you've been talking pretty loud and I've been outside the door for a few minutes now." Al lied. "How about you give me back my brother and we'll let you go easy."

Greed chuckled. "Counter offer: I'll give you back your brother when you teach me the alchemy on how to transmute a soul. Classic equivalent exchange."

"Why don't you just ask your friends with the Ouroboros tattoos from the Fifth Lab about it? They had a couple of armor-binded souls with them." Al asked with narrowed eyes.

Greed actually looked surprised. "Oh yeah? You don't say… Well, it's kind of a long story, but we don't talk much anymore. So I'm asking you, instead, how to transmute a soul into armor." Yea walked over and pat the armor's shoulder. "This guy here has the perfect body. He doesn't have to eat or sleep and he never dies. That sounds absolutely amazing."

Ed groaned and stepped into the room behind Al, throwing the unconscious lizard man off her shoulder and onto the ground. "Wow, Al. This guy sure sounds like an idiot—" Ed got quiet as she stepped out from behind her brother to get a look at Greed. Her stomach suddenly had butterflies in it as she gave the man an up and down look. "Alphonse, were you really going to let me stand outside the door the whole time while this man was standing in here looking like this?"

Al and his armor groaned. Al reached up to rub his eyes. "Remember that he's a homunculus, Sister."

Ed snorted and looked Greed up and down again. "That doesn't mean he's not fun to look at. A man after my own heart with those leather pants on." She placed a hand on her hip and cocked a golden brow at the man. "Why on earth would you want to turn yourself into a suit of armor when you're walking around looking like that?"

Al rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in frustration. "I knew it! I knew as soon as I saw him that you were going to start acting like this, Miss I-don't-have-a-crush-on-Roy-Mustang-because-he's-an-asshole."

Ed turned to her brother with an offended look on her face and placed her hand to her chest. "Well I never."

The group of chimeras in the room looked at the siblings with exasperated confusion. Greed let out a laugh. "Who's the dame? She's got good taste." He gave her an up and down look and it sent a shiver down Ed's spine.

Ed smirked and approached the man with a sway of her hips. "Edena Elric, the sister. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but you are allegedly a homunculus and I haven't had the best of interactions with your type." She gave him a sweet smile. "I will ask you nicely, though." She tilted her head up to look into his purple eyes when she was close enough. "Do you mind handing over the armored boy? He's kind of important to us."

Greed gave his own reciprocating smirk. "I'd love to." He said as he reached up to tuck a piece of her golden hair behind her ear. "As soon as one of you tells me what I want to know. And maybe we can get to know each other a little more while we're at it."

Ed let out a little laugh. "See, I'd love to tell you. I really would. But I won't." She narrowed her eyes when a shorter man with spiky brown hair and smelled like a dog put the sharp side of a sword up to her throat.

"Will you tell us now?" He asked with a growl.

Ed's flirtatious expression turned into one of extreme displeasure as she turned her head to look at the man holding the sword. "Did you just growl at me, dog?" Her pupils turned into reptilian slits and her frown turned into a sharp tooth snarl. "I'd have thought your animal instincts would have told you better." She reached up and grabbed the blade with her automail hand.

Greed jumped back away from her, a bit intimidated and confused by the attitude change and the change in her eyes. "Roa, get the armored kid out of here. We'll just dissect him later." A large man with long grey hair, and a beard, wearing a green military type uniform, and smelled like cow, nodded to Greed and ran over to scoop up Al's armor before running out a back door of the room.

"Sister?" Al called out, hesitating before he went after them. He was concerned about Ed.

The young woman waved him off with her flesh hand. "Go after them. It's just instincts. I'll handle things here." Al nodded and ran off. Ed was about to snap the dog man's sword with her automail, but he pulled it back just in time and tried to attack Ed. She jumped up high over the swing of his sword and snapped her flesh leg out, catching the man in the face with the bottom of her boot. When she landed, she clapped her hands together and turned her automail fingers into claws. "Let's get this done so I can get back to training. I've been working on getting faster and you guys are cutting into my time."

Greed stepped in front of the downed dog man and smirked at Ed. "Dolcetto, go after the others. I'll handle this dame. Even if it is no fun fighting a woman." The dog man, Dolcetto, rubbed at his face and picked up his sword as he pulled himself off the ground and took off out the back door. Greed grinned down at Ed. "Now that we're alone, maybe we can talk this out. There's no need to fight."

Ed rolled her eyes. "Talk about what? You've already told me what you wanted and I've already told you that I'm not telling you anything. The only thing left to do now is to take you down so I can go home."

Greed sighed. "I really thought we had a connection there for a second. I mean we're obviously each other's types. I've got a thing for rare beauties like you and you obviously have a thing for handsome guys in leather." He grinned and Ed watched with narrowed eyes as the skin on his hands darkened and his fingers formed into claws like her automail. The darkness crept up to his forearms. "But I guess you leave me no choice!" He lunged at Ed with his claws and they started a very close combat match with a quick pace.

Ed was all twists and flowing movements with quick strikes that had quite a bit of power behind them, while Greed was mostly defense with his hardened hands and sweeping swipes with his claws. They were, so far, evenly matched and it irritated Ed to no end. She started using alchemy to create stone spikes to keep him at a distance. When that didn't work because of his freaky hardened skin that even her steel claw couldn't get through, she decided to gain the higher ground and created some stone steps out of the floor to jump on and come at him from the air. She smirked as she pushed off the last step and flew at him like a bullet. Her thighs went around his neck and her body spun around him in the air. She gripped his head with a clawed hand and twisting it around with her, and making a satisfying snapping sound as they both went down, Greed's head facing the wrong direction.

Ed had to bend backwards into a back handspring off his body in order to dodge a swipe of his claws as red sparks crackled around his head that twisted back to the front.

"You really aren't messing around. That move would have killed a normal person." Greed said while rubbing his neck.

"But you aren't exactly a normal person, huh?" Ed snarked.

Greed grinned and stood back to his feet. "Apart from my ultimate shield and advanced healing, I still have a human body." The darkened skin on his arms started to move higher up his body. "And you won't be pulling that move again. There's more to my shield than you thought."

Ed watched with wide eyes as his shield covered the rest of his exposed skin, even his head, giving him an almost demonic look with sharp fangs protruding up from his bottom lip, red line markings, and his head now bald from the shield. Even the sclera of his eyes were now all black where they were once white. He got into an attack position, claws ready.

Ed pursed her lips. "Not your best look."

He growled as he threw himself at her to start their fight again.

Ed was a bit pressed this time around to dodge Greed's hits because when she tried to hit him she only ended up damaging her automail. And she for sure wasn't going to have Winry trying to kill her again before she got her new set. She needed to figure out how to get past this ultimate shield.

Suddenly, Ed remembered something Greed had said, but her moment of inattentiveness ended up getting her caught.

Greed wrapped his clawed hand around her throat and lifted her up to slam her into the wall. She winced. "You're a slippery one, aren't you? But I finally got you." Greed said as he squeezed tighter.

"At least take a girl to dinner first." Ed said through gritted teeth. What was up with me wanting to choke her? She was going to form a complex if it kept happening.

Greed let out a laugh. "I like you, you know. How about you just tell me what I want to know and I can let you walk away from this." He relaxed his grip on her throat only slightly.

Ed smirked. "You really know how to treat a girl, Greed. I give. I'll tell you what you need to know." He tilted his demonic looking head to the side to indicate that he was listening. Ed clapped her hands together. "Your ultimate shield isn't infallible." She placed her hands on his arm and blue alchemical sparks danced around his dark skin before she swiped her clawed automail across his forearm and sliced right through the limb, taking it off and making her fall to the floor in a crouch.

Greed cursed and took a few steps back as his arm regenerated and his shield slipped back into place. "That sure was interesting." He mumbled as he looked down at his arm.

Ed grinned. "You shouldn't have told me your body was human. Anyone who is smart enough knows that, depending on how the molecules are arranged, carbon can be extremely hard. And considering the human body is a third carbon, it's obvious that's what your shield is made of. An easy problem to get around if you have alchemy." Greed narrowed his eyes at her. "So, are you ready to start again?" Her grin turned into an evil smirk. "You're okay if I get a little bit of help, right?"

The door to the room they were fighting burst open and an angry Izumi Curtis stepped through wearing a long black sleeveless dress and open toed pink sandals.

"YOU AND YOUR BROTHER STILL HAVE CHORES TO DO!" The dark haired woman yelled at Ed, who immediately rolled her eyes. "Thank you for your hospitality." She said to Greed. "She needed the exercise." Ed gasped, affronted.

Greed looked at Izumi, annoyed. "Who the hell are you, Lady? I was trying to have fun with Edena, here."

Ed gave him a flat look. "See, when you started choking me a few minutes ago, there was no safe word. That's not fun."

Greed laughed. "You're a damn hoot, I swear!" Before the homunculus could make another move, Izumi darted across the room and was in front of him in less than two seconds, her hand covering his entire face. Alchemy sparked and she delivered a high kick to the left side of his face, sending him flying into the wall and exposing half of his head as his shield was destroyed. "Damn!" He said as he healed with red sparks. "What's up with all of these powerful women I'm meeting today? I can't tell if I'm lucky or cursed."

Ed grinned and stepped up beside her mother figure, pointing at herself. "Lucky." She then pointed at Izumi. "Cursed."

Said woman cracked her knuckles. "You dare lay your dirty hands on my daughter's throat?" She scowled down at the man. "This housewife is gonna make you pay!"

All Greed could do was gulp. "A housewife and her hot daughter, what a team. It's too bad I don't feel like fighting anymore, so I think I'm just gonna hightail it out of here." He pointed over his shoulder as he shifted out of his ultimate shield form.

Izumi let out an annoyed huff. "You're just going to run away? You coward!" But before she could go after him, Izumi was choking up a river of blood. Ed cursed and wrapped her arm around the woman.

"I thought you said this was getting better! You need to let me treat you!" Ed yelled at the woman as she held her up.

Izumi grumbled. "I'm perfectly fine. I just need some rest."

Ed was about to tell her off again, but stopped when she felt a bunch of auras closing in. She narrowed her eyes and spread out her senses. She frowned. "Major Armstrong is here?"

Izumi frowned when a couple of men in military uniforms ran up to the door and pointed guns at them.

"What in the hell is the military doing here?"

---

Al was extremely annoyed. He'd been chasing after the man named Roa when he suddenly threw his armor into a passageway to the sewers and turned to fight Al himself. Al transmuted his steel bars into knives and went to defend himself, but the dog man, Dolcetto, with the sword tried to sneak attack him from behind. Now he was dealing with two alleged chimeras and who knows how his sister was handling the homunculus.

"I really don't have all day for this. Teacher is going to kill us for not doing our chores." Al grit out as he glared at the two men.

Dolcetto looked confused. "Um, kid, I think you should be worried about what's going on right here rather than your supposed teacher." He waved his sword at Al for emphasis.

Al grinned. "You've obviously never met my teacher." He lunged forward around the sword and swiped at the man's wrist to make him drop it, but Roa knocked Dolcetto out of the way just in time. "Tsk. Teacher and Sister will kick my ass later if I don't handle this without getting myself hurt."

"Maybe I can be of assistance, Swift Alchemist!" A loud voice rang out down the hall.

Al turned and looked behind him in surprise. "Major Armstrong!? What are you doing here?"

The muscled blond man struck a pose. He was completely shirtless for some reason and had metal gauntlets on his hands that had transmutation circles carved into them and short spikes over the muscles. "I'm here on a mission with the Fuhrer, young Alphonse. Please step aside and I shall handle these two. You can go after your armor!"

Dolcetto growled. "No way we're letting either of you get away!" He took a step forward and started to attack Al again while Roa moved to attack Armstrong.

Roa and Armstrong seemed to be evenly matched so Al wasn't too worried about them, but Dolcetto was pretty quick with his sword. Al would have to put distance between them so he could use alchemy to his advantage. He crossed his knives and used them to catch a downward swing of Dolcetto's sword and guide it towards the ground, throwing the dog man off center as he wasn't expecting his sword to go down after Al caught it. Al used the moment he gained to run at and up the wall and move into a spinning jump to kick Dolcetto in his chest with his boot, sending him down the hall a bit.

"What is up with you and your sister and those stupid kicks!?" The man yelled in irritation as he tried to stand up.

Al grinned, taking a quick few seconds to carve two arrays into the wall with his knives. "It's genetic." He activated one array that flooded the hall with about a half a meter of water, pulling it from pipes in the walls and the sewer below. He hovered his hand over the second array.

Dolcetto laughed, slowly getting to his feet. "Was that supposed to drown me or something?"

"Nope. Major! Jump!" Al yelled out, jumping up to pull his feet out of the water before activating the array. Armstrong only just barely followed the orders from the young man before alchemical sparks moved over the water and froze it solid. They both landed on the thick sheet of ice while their opponents were now frozen in place.

"Very nice work, Swift!" Major Armstrong called out. Al gave him a big smile and a thumbs up.

But before their celebrations could go any further, Roa huffed and pulled off his jacket from this stuck position and threw it to the side before he started to transform, his muscles getting bigger and black horns bursting out of his forehead. Al and the Major were surprised by the transformation, especially after it was over and the man bent to punch clean through the ice at his feet, escaping his hold.

"Majors!" Someone yelled as a group of soldiers rounded a corner and started shooting into the hall. Major Armstrong had to dive for Al and cover him with his body on the ice floor.

Dolcetto cursed and threw his sword at a pipe on the wall, causing steam to rush from it and cloud the hall. The sounds of Roa stomping over and freeing the dog man from his spot in the ice could barely be heard over the gunshots as they escaped with just a few wounds.

"Cease fire!" Al yelled out when he felt the chimera's auras go down into the sewers, but the soldiers were still firing. But the men only stopped when the steam cleared a bit and they realized only Major Armstrong and Al were still in the hall.

Major Armstrong stood and helped Al up with a gauntlet covered hand. "Are you okay, Swift?"

Al nodded. "Yes, I'm fine thanks to you, Major."

The Major nodded and turned towards the soldier that approached them, a scowl on his face. "Major Elric here yelled for you all to cease fire, yet you did not. You also fired down the hall with barely a warning and almost hit us both. This is quite unacceptable."

One of the soldiers, a first Lieutenant, spoke up. "Our orders were to kill any chimera on sight. We gave you warning, Majors. And we had to be sure the chimeras were either no longer standing or no longer in the hall." Al gave the man a scowl of his own.

"I understand you have orders, but I don't believe Major Elric here would just yell for a cease without reason. I also pity you all once the Fullmetal Alchemist finds out you almost shot her younger brother." Major Armstrong said with a shrug, making Al chuckle under his breath and the soldiers in the hall start to sweat with panic.

Ed may be known to the public as the people's alchemist, but in the military, her exam that brought her into the state alchemist program was never quite forgotten. She also had a habit, over the years, for using the gyms in Commands when she had free time and picking random soldiers to spar with. It had gotten to the point that when the word went out that she was in a Command building that it meant for a soldier to stay away from the gym lest the floor get wiped with their faces. Not even Armstrong was that feared when it came to sparring in the gym.

Al sighed, decided the fun was over. "We should head into the sewers. There are still chimeras down there and my armor is down there as well." He bent to carve a heating circle into the ice and activated it after a moment of pulling the energy from around him. The ice melted and started to drain away from the hall, making it easier for them to move around.

They found the entryway to the sewers and all filed down, Al leading the way with Major Armstrong right behind him, but Al hesitated a bit when they were a few minutes into their walk.

"Fuhrer Bradley is here himself?" Al asked, shocked. "He's down here fighting a couple of chimeras and that Greed guy not too far ahead of us."

The soldiers took off down the sewers, pushing Al out of the way, much to his frustration. He and Major Armstrong followed close behind them. Before they could reach the fighting, Al stumbled in his steps with a sharp headache, making the Major look back at him in concern. Especially since Al was now quite pale.

"There was a chimera woman hiding in my armor. She tried to attack the Fuhrer with it. He killed her and got her blood on the seal and it rebounded on me." Al explained as he continued to walk forward with Major Armstrong keeping a helping hand on his arm.

---

Ed was beyond frustrated. She was currently being led by a group of soldiers down to the sewers where her little brother and his armor was. And apparently the Fuhrer. He wanted to speak to the two of them.

"Sister." Al called out to Ed when they finally spotted each other as she got closer. Ed frowned. There was blood everywhere and Al was looking pained and quite pale. She glanced around him to his armor that he was kneeling in front of. The front plate was off and there was blood all inside of it. A trail of it went off to the side where Ed spotted a body covered in a white sheet. She looked back at Al, head tilted in question. "It's one of the chimeras that was a part of Greed's gang. She was hiding inside of my armor and tried to kill the Fuhrer, but he killed her inside of it instead."

Ed sighed in understanding and knelt onto one knee to run her fingers through Al's hair before pulling him close into a hug. "How are you feeling?"

"All right, considering. I'm going to have to clean the armor out before it can move on its own again." He mumbled into her shoulder.

"Fullmetal and Swift," Ed and Al stood slowly at the sound of the Fuhrer saying their names. They turned to face the man as he came walking down the corridor dressed in a military combat outfit rather than his robes that he wore normally as the Fuhrer. "I have a few questions for the two of you before I can allow you to leave." They both nodded in understanding. "Have either of you ever had any previous dealings with a man who referred to himself as Greed."

"No, Sir." Al stated. "We only just met the man today and that was because his people stole my armor."

The Fuhrer got closer to them. "Did you happen to trade any manner of information with him?"

"Of course not." Ed said, raising her chin to stare the man directly in the eye. "The military was never even mentioned." She added.

The Fuhrer's upbeat tone that he normally used while talking was suddenly gone. "That isn't my concern. Let me be more specific." All the men in the corridor, besides Major Armstrong, pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the siblings. Al looked at them in confusion and grabbed his sister by the back of the jacket to keep her grounded as he could feel her hackles rising next to him. Ed's stare was unwavering. "If you arranged a deal or shared knowledge with him, then I'll execute the both of you right now."

The silence was loud.

"I'll ask you again. Did you share any knowledge that might affect the military?" Fuhrer Bradley asked after a few moments.

Ed stood a bit straighter. "No." She said, a bit of bite in her voice. "Can we go now?"

The Fuhrer seemed to be trying to look into her soul with his one glaring green eye. "I am curious about your steel arm and leg. If what you say about losing it during the Eastern Rebellion is true. How exactly could one so young end up anywhere near a battlefield?"

Ed narrowed her eyes at the man. First he threatens to kill them and now he's implying that she's a liar. Granted she is lying about her limbs, but why would the Fuhrer ever question it?

But then, in a quick switch that was sure to give anyone whiplash, Fuhrer Bradley was smiling. "Still as spunky as ever, Fullmetal. Be sure to take care of your little brother now and don't lose his suit anymore." Bradley said with a wave as he turned to walk away back down the corridor, taking his soldiers with him.

Al sighed in relief, but Ed just glared at him until he was gone.

---

Ed sat in the back doorway to the Curtis's shop as Al finished up cleaning the blood off of his armor. Major Armstrong stood watch from across the alley. Ed had changed out of her dirty workout clothes from earlier that now had blood on them because she insisted on carrying Al's armor for him, leaving Major Armstrong to trail behind them with a downtrodden demeanor from not being able to assist.

"I'm ready to sleep for a month." Ed grumbled as she spiraled her freshly braided hair into a bun on the back of her head.

Al dunked his cleaning cloth into a bucket of water before finishing up the cleaning on his armor. "That's called a coma, Sister."

Ed leaned back to prop herself up with her elbows. "Same thing."

"I'm sorry you both got caught up in all of this. I had no idea we'd find you there." Major Armstrong said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It was a complete chance, Major. We were only in there because Greed and his people stole my armor. None of that is your fault. There's no need to be sorry." Al reassured the man with a kind smile.

Ed sighed and pushed herself up from the step to walk over and lean against the alley wall next to the Major. "Speaking of Greed, there's something we forgot to mention. He had an Ouroboros tattoo, but claimed he no longer had communication with the other two from the Fifth Lab." She said in a hush tone, eyes on Al's armor while Armstrong tensed up and stared down at her. "If my understanding is correct, it is to be believed the meaning behind the tattoo, as Greed implied, is that they're homunculi."

Major Armstrong turned pale. "Are you certain? How can that be true?"

"Greed seemed pretty adamant about the fact, but I have no clue how it's even possible. I also don't care about how it's possible. All I care about is you being careful and watching your back. If I find out you carelessly got yourself injured by one of those guys, I will heal you myself just to beat your ass." She closed her eyes and leaned her shoulder against his. "I refuse to go to another funeral any time soon, Alex."

Major Armstrong was quiet for a moment before patting her head. "Of course, Miss Edena. You both try to do the same and take care of each other." The Major nodded to Al. "Good night to the both of you. Be safe." He said as he turned to walk away.

Al sighed and walked over to the bulk of his armor to start recharging the arrays. "I don't understand any of this, Sister. It feels like we're playing a very dangerous game with no clues on what the rules are so we're being forced to tiptoe around the board. Why did the Fuhrer have all of those people massacred? Didn't he say that he was trying to figure out the unrest in the ranks of the military. Why not question them first if he thought they had anything to do with it?"

Ed glared up at the sky. It was overcast. "Because that man is a liar. Whatever is going on here goes so deep and is so dangerous and he's got something to do with it. I don't know how it's possible, but I know it in my gut. He's a homunculus too. He gives off the same feeling as the other three. But it just doesn't make sense because I'm positive I've seen pictures of Bradley looking younger, but a homunculus is an artificially created human. How do you make one that gets older?" She sighed and lifted her hand up to rub her eyes. "This is all too much for us to have to handle. Why can't we just take everyone we love and run away from this situation?"

Al chuckled. "Because that's not who we are, Sister. We're going to keep tiptoeing until we have an opportunity to sprint, damn the rules." He smiled as his armor came back to life.

Ed rolled her eyes. "Stop being so philosophical. It gets on my nerves." But she knew her little brother was right. There was no way they were leaving this one alone. She looked over at him and frowned. "We have to be careful, Al. We watch each other's backs until this is all over." The teen glanced at her over his shoulder and nodded with a determined look in his eye. Ed smirked. "Good. Also, guess what I just realized." Al's determined look turned into a questioning one. Ed held up her arms in a flex and did a few jumps. "Not only did I go toe to toe with a hot undying man with a carbon shield harder than my steel arm and get out of it with only just a few dents in the frame… I did it with these stupid weights on!" She punched in the air, showing off the black bands around her wrists that matched the ones around her ankles. "I am speed!"

Al let out a loud laugh at his sister and continued on with charging the armor's arrays with his qi. She always knew how to make him laugh in even the worst of situations.

---

A few days before Ed was due to head to Rush Valley, Al said goodbye to her and the Curtis' to head back home to Resembool. Apparently, the Hughes were having a little bit of trouble with the country life. Or more like Maes didn't know how to be a farm hand to save his life, so Al was heading out there to spend time with the family and show Maes the ropes in exchange for some lessons on fighting with their chosen weapon. Gracia had also requested that Ed pick up some more of their family stuff from their apartment in Central, so Ed was going to head to Rush Valley to recruit Winry's help as well as get her new limbs.

Ed arrived in Rush Valley and was immediately annoyed. There was automail and gearheads everywhere. If they all acted like Winry, she may end up blowing a gasket.

Al's armor laughed from beside her as it departed the train with her suitcase. "Come on, Sister. You promised Winry you would show off."

Ed groaned and shrugged off her red coat, exposing her black sleeveless button up shirt that stopped at her waist and exposed some high waisted black leather shorts that stopped about mid thigh. It was a bit less than what she normally wore in public, but not anything that made her feel uncomfortable. But it definitely showed off her arm and leg for the gearhead onlookers to see and before she could even hit the street, she was approached by many of them. Al chuckled by her side as she grit her teeth and bore the onslaught of questions and touches.

They eventually made it to a shop owned by a man named Garfiel where Winry told them she was working.

"Ed!" The younger blonde screamed as she threw herself at her big sister and client. "You made it! And you're showing off my work! Come meet Mr. Garfiel!" Ed was dragged into the shop and sat in a chair where a tall effeminate looking man with dark hair introduced himself and looked over Winry's automail. She sat for a long time being measured and and prodded before Winry stood back and smiled. "Looks like you've grown even more since the last time Granny and I redid your automail. I'm going to have to make a few tweaks to the set I've gotten ready for you. It shouldn't take more than two hours max. You should head out and look around the town. There's a lot to do and some good places to eat. I know you're always hungry."

Ed looked out the shop front with disdain. She had to go back out there? What fresh torture is this?

"How is Paninya?" Al's armor asked out of the blue.

Winry blushed and looked away to try and hide it, but Ed caught it and a smirk formed on her face. "Oh, yes! Al was telling me about how you were in love with some girl with two automail legs. Please, do tell me more."

"Paninya is fine." Winry said with a glare at Ed. "She's actually doing honest work like fixing roofs and odd jobs around the town. And…" Winry's blush got darker. "She asked me out and we had our first date the other day. I really like her, so don't go ruining it, Ed!"

Ed chuckled and held up her hands in surrender. "No need to get hostile! I'm glad you found someone you like. Just make sure she treats you right or I'll make sure she needs automail arms as well." There was a dark look in her golden eyes that had Winry and Al's armor shaking.

Winry gave Ed a soft smile. "Don't worry, Edena. I know how to take care of myself. And Paninya and I really like each other." Ed nodded her approval.

Al piped up again. "Don't worry, Winry. If Ed tries to embarrass you at all, just remind her that she flirted with a—" Ed jumped up and kicked the helmet off the armor.

"Shut it, you tin can!" She growled at him.

Winry rolled her eyes at the siblings' antics. "Get out of here so I can work. And remember to tell everyone who did your automail!" The teen said as she pushed Ed and Al out of the shop.

Ed actually did wander around the town with Al following her around. She was mostly unbothered by the people since most of them had stopped her on the way to Garfiel's shop, but she did get a few people glancing her way still. Al claimed the automail was only half the reason she was being stared at and Ed rolled her eyes. He was probably right. She was showing off more skin than normal.

She stopped by a place that served fresh squeezed juice and sipped it as they walked along the streets. Al was more interested in the scrap metals that some of the shops had. He'd gotten pretty good at carving circles into them in order to create weapons. Ed highly encouraged this behavior, debating with him over the best alloys for certain weapons.

"I'm starting to get hungry, Al. I'm going to go find a place, but you can keep looking around." When there was only silence as a reaction to her statement, Ed looked over and realized that the armored giant was no longer next to her, but across the street sitting at the beginning of an alleyway. She groaned. "Al! Don't tell me you found another stray cat." She approached him and went to peek over his shoulder, but before she could, Al lifted up an unconscious long dark haired man by the back of a yellow and white coat.

"Not quite. He was just laying here in the alley." Al said.

Ed was surprised by her brother's find, but immediately went into nurse mode. She had the man out of her brother's grip and laid him out flat to check him over. She checked his pulse, his eyes, his breathing and looked him up and down for any obvious bruises or wounds.

"I don't see anything wrong with him. He might just be tired or in need of water because of the heat. He seems a little bit dehydrated." Ed murmured. "I'll try to wake him up and get him to drink something. Do you mind fetching some water?" Al nodded and stood to run and grab some while Ed did everything she could to wake the man up.

He didn't look like he was from Amestris if the way he dressed was any indication. He was dressed in white pants that were a bit poofy and made for moving easily, a yellow coat that stopped at his waist and had white flame designs around the sleeves and bottom hems, there was no shirt under it, but he did had a thick black belt that traveled from his shoulder to his waist, but held nothing that she could see. There were also white bandages around his wrists and waist that hid no wounds, but the bandages around his waist held a short, but wide sheath with the handle of some sort of sword sticking out of the end. And on his feet were black flat bottomed shoes that looked kind of like slippers and curled up where the toes were. Definitely from some foreign country.

Ed clapped her hands and concentrated on an array that cooled the air around them, just in case the heat of the southern town was too much for the man. She also placed her cooler metal hand against his neck while tapping his cheek with the other. "Hey," Ed said with a soft voice. "You've got to wake up or I'm going to let my brother pour water all over your face." Ed watched with a smile as the man blinked awake slowly and looked up at her with the same navy blue eyes that she'd on Mustang's face, only darker. So he was from Xing.

The man groaned and closed his eyes as he reached up to rub his stomach just as it let out a very loud growl. "Hungry." He whined.

Ed sighed and rolled her eyes. "At least you're awake."

Al had returned with water just as Ed was helping the man stand. He thanked the armored teen and gulped down the water quickly. Now the three of them were seated at a restaurant that served hearty Amestrian comfort food. Ed and Al watched with fascination as the man put back even more food than Ed could, and she was a dragon.

"Whoo! That hit the spot. You guys are life savers. Thanks a lot! Your treat, right?" The man said with a big smile on his face.

Ed narrowed her eyes and Al's armor just stared at all of the empty plates. "When did we say we were paying?"

The man laughed and waved a dismissive hand. "Let's not quibble over something so small." Ed had to hold back a full body twitch. "Who knew I would find such great hospitality so far away from home?" He said as he wiped away a single tear. A waitress came to take the dishes away.

Al tilted his head to the side. "Far from home?"

Ed propped her head up with her arm that she leaned on the table. "He's from Xing."

The armor sat up straighter. "Really? From across the desert? That's pretty cool. Sister and I always wanted to visit there. What brings you to Amestris?"

"Wow, good eye realizing I'm from Xing. And yes, it's the country from across the desert. That was a very grueling journey." He said as he wiped his brow.

"Why even take that route?" Ed asked as she cocked a brow at him.

"I wanted to visit the ruins of Xerxes. That route goes by them." He said simply, a smile still in place. Ed went back to her narrowed eyed stare at the man. "Anyway, I was headed here to do some alkahestry research. I believe it's what you here, in this country, call alchemy."

Al shook his head. "Not necessarily. They're close, but not exactly the same."

Ed nodded. "And you won't find much on alkahestry here. You were better off staying in Xing if you wanted that information. Alkahestry focuses more on a medical approach while here in Amestris, when we use alchemy it's more for combat and takes a militaristic approach."

The man tilted his head to the side in a curious manner. "Do you two happen to be alchemists?"

Al's armor nodded. "Oh, yes. We're state alchemists actually. My older sister here is Edena Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and I'm Alphonse Elric, the Swift Alchemist."

"I'm Ling Yao. It's a pleasure to meet the both of you." The man said as he held out his hand to shake. Al took, always good with manners, while Ed just kept staring at the man with suspicion.

"What can you tell us about alkahestry, Ling?" Al said while elbowing his sister in the ribs, getting her to turn her glare to him.

Ling shrugged. "Oh, nothing really. I'm not actually an alkahestrist. You probably know more than I do."

Ed snorted. "Then why even come all the way here to research it if you can't even perform it?"

"Well see, I'm looking for something. It's possible you two have heard of it before." Ling finally dropped his smile and opened his eyes fully to look at the siblings. "The Philosopher's Stone." Ed sat back in her seat and Al's armor tensed up. "I'm very eager to find it. Do you know anything about it?"

Ed stood, Al's armor following after her. "No. We can't help you." She turned to walk away.

Ling smirked and snapped his fingers. "You wouldn't be lying to me now, would you?"

Very suddenly, two new people dressed head to toe in black with black, white and red decorated masks joined them. One held a throwing knife to Ed's throat while another slipped a short sword into a hole in Al's armor. Ed was instantly annoyed. She barely realized they were there. They were really good at hiding their qi.

"Why the interest in the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed asked, her back to the man still.

"I want to achieve immortality." He said, smirk still in place. "So, out with it. What do you know?" He asked as he stood up.

Ed rolled her eyes. "Immortality? What a load of nonsense"

"Not to me, it isn't." Ling said, not falling for her dismissal.

"Either way, I can't say I care too much for your way of asking. It's extremely rude." She reached up and slipped her automail hand in between the blade and her throat, pushing it away. "And I have an appointment to keep, so I don't exactly have time for your bullshit."

Al's armor grabbed the blade of the sword and pulled it out of the grip of the shorter, older man standing next to him. "I've got to say, I'm impressed Sister. I've seen you want to fight with soldiers for even looking at you funny."

Ed turned to glare at her brother. "I'm not having Winry throwing wrenches at me because I'm late getting my automail changed. Because then I'd have to retaliate and we'll never get any work done."

Al chuckled. "You're right. I'm also impressed you haven't tried flirting with this guy yet." He said as he pointed at Ling. "He is exactly your type."

Ed growled and did another flying kick at the armor's helmet. "Will you shut up! I do not flirt with every dark haired stranger we meet!"

The armor grumbled as it had to duck under her kick. "You flirted with the last one."

Ed landed and stomped over to the restaurant door to go pay. "The last one wore leather!"

The three foreigners stood still and blinked in surprise at being ignored. After a moment, Ling placed his hand on his chin in contemplation. "I'm her type, huh?" Al watched as the taller person in black glared at Ling through the eye holes on their mask.

When Ed came back out of the building she was holding a white pastry box and had a smile on her face. "Come along little brother. I got dessert. Your favorite, too."

The armor's head whipped around to look at her. "You're cruel. I'll just ask Gracia to make me some and I'm sure it'll be even better." Ed huffed in amusement and started on towards Garfiel's shop. She was sure, if he could, that Al would have stuck his tongue out at her just now.

But then Ed was glaring over her shoulder and the Xingese entourage that was now following them. "Get lost. I told you we don't have time for you." She growled and handed the pastry box to the armor and reached back to let her hair down from its bun.

Al raised his free hand in a placating manner. "Please keep calm, Sister."

Ling just kept smiling at her with his eyes closed. "Don't worry. We'll just stick with you until you do have time." Ed could feel her temper rising.

"Young Lord, I do believe you should be careful with this one. Something about her qi screams danger. And the other one's qi feels like a bunch of buzzing bees." The shorter, older man in black with a half mask and a very large grey mustache, whispered to Ling. The taller person dressed in black nodded in agreement.

Ling fell behind a bit and waved a dismissive hand at them. "I have a good feeling about these two. We'll be cautious, but we're not leaving them alone completely."

Al let out a sigh as he heard their entire conversation. This would either end in disaster or slightly okay.

---

Ling drank tea with Mr. Garfiel at a small table in the shop while Al sat and worried about his sister. He could feel her muted pain from the closed off room she and Winry were in.

"Don't worry about Miss Edena, Alphonse. By the sounds of it, she's doing fine. Winry is doing a much needed change to the ports on her arm and leg. It's a little painful, but not too bad." Mr. Garfiel tried to reassure the teen.

Al just nodded. Ling leaned forward in his chair with a smile. "How about a distraction, Alphonse? I can tell you more about myself?"

"I'm not sure I need to know much more about you if my sister comes out here and sees you sitting there. She's already annoyed with you enough from our earlier introductions, she'll be grumpier when she comes out of that room. You and your two people in black might want to make yourselves scarce before she does." He tilted his head up. "And the roof is not scarce."

Ling showed surprise on his closed eyed face. "You can sense them up there?"

"Yes, we can read the dragon's pulse, as your people call it." Al said, sitting a bit straighter in his chair.

"Amazing. I've never met someone outside of Xing who could read qi. How did you learn?" Ling asked. "Did someone from Xing teach you?" Al just shook his head, another sigh escaping him. Ling smiled. "A man of mystery, I see. That's okay. Maybe if I share more about myself, you'll be willing to share more, yourself. The people with me are actually my vassals. "The man is called Fu and the other is a girl called Lan Fan. Their family has served mine for generations."

Al tilted his head to the side. "You just mooched food off of me and my sister, but you can somehow afford two personal attendants?"

Ling shrugged. "I am the Emperor's son after all."

It was quiet for a moment before Al let out a loud snort of amusement and chuckled. "You're a prince? Really?"

"Not quite the reaction I was expecting, but I guess I can't fault you for it. The Emperor has a lot of children after all." Al tilted his head in curiosity again. "The way it works is that Xing is broken down into fifty clans with the Emperor reigning over all of them. The daughter of each clan's chief becomes one of the Emperor's wives and bears his children. The current Emperor has nineteen daughters and twenty-four sons. I come in at number twelve."

Al gasped. "Forty-three children? Wow. That must make the issue of succession tricky."

Ling nodded. "That's very true, actually. It's the problem Xing is facing currently. The Emperor's health is starting to deteriorate and each clan is trying everything they can to curry favor. I'm no exception."

"So you want to make your chances of becoming Emperor higher by discovering the secrets to immortality." Al murmured.

"Exactly!" Ling said with a smile. "So now that you've heard that, what can you tell me about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"I'm sorry, Ling. There's nothing I can tell you. The stone isn't some tool to be used for political gain." Al said softly. He knew his sister wouldn't have been as nice about it, but Al was definitely the gentler soul.

"If you ask about it again, I'll shove my fist right down your—" Ed's voice was cut off with a slap to the back of her head. The three in the room looked over to see Ed leaning against the doorframe of the room she was just in and Winry right behind her with an annoyed look on her face.

"You and your damn alchemy and alkahestry. You'd think you'd give yourself a break to rest after all of that, but here you are picking fights already because you can heal yourself faster." Winry scolded. Ed just glared at her.

Ling smiled and slithered his way over to Ed, wrapping her in a tight hug to rock her back and forth. "Oh Edena. It's okay that you both don't want to tell me anything right now. I'll just have to stay with you both until you do."

"You can't stay with us at all if you're dead." Ed growled, reaching up to grab Ling's throat, but he chuckled and danced away from her. She clapped her hands and turned her, now darker from the carbon, automail hand into claws and took a swipe at the Xingese idiot who just kept evading her.

Al and Winry stood next to each other as they watched.

"Ed sure has a strange way of flirting." Winry mumbled to the armored teen.

Al nodded. "I've been talking about it with Gracia. Ed actually knows how to flirt regularly, but we think it's only with people she finds a little attractive physically. But when it actually comes to people who she finds attractive in more ways than one, she acts like this. We think it's to either scare the person away or see if they're strong enough to handle the real her. So far she's only done it with Sergeant Fuery, and he's terrified of Sister in a respectful way, that ex boyfriend of hers, Wes, and we all know how that turned out, Colonel Mustang, she's only recently started being nicer to him, and now this guy."

Winry sighed. "Well, at least he's handling it well." She watched the two dance around each other before the girl in black, Lan Fan, jumped through the open window to try and fend off the angry Ed for Ling. Winry turned her attention to Al. "Speaking of Gracia, how are they doing? Ed called to explain the situation to me briefly, but I got the gist of it. That's a lot for their family to have to go through."

"I'm with them right now, actually. Dad and I just got back from a hunting trip. They're doing alright, considering. That's actually part of the reason we came to see you, actually. Gracia needs some things from their house and she wanted Ed to pack it up and send it to them, but Ed can get busy sometimes so she wanted to know if you could come along to Central to help and return to Resembool with the stuff." Al said, glancing away from Winry briefly when someone cried out in pain.

Lan Fan was currently face down on the ground with her mask knocked off and her hand was bleeding from trying to grab Ed's braid. Ed had her metal foot on the girl's back, holding her down, and she had a laughing Ling gripped by the calf with her real arm and hanging upside down.

"You're really strong, Edena. How about you and your brother come work for me instead of being in the—" Ling let out a grunt as Ed let go of his leg and dropped him on his head and back.

"Oops." She said in a sarcastic tone. "Guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was."

Winry and Al laughed. "Of course I'll head to Central with you guys. Anything for Gracia and Elicia. I just have to go find and tell Paninya." She pulled over her work gloves and put them aside before running off to go find her girlfriend.

Ed looked up from a circle she was drawing on the floor as she moved over to Lan Fan's bleeding hand. "That's good. The last time I talked to Jean he said that the team was being transferred to Central, so I'll probably be checking in on them in Command for a little while." She activated the array and watched as the small bleeding holes closed up. "Lesson learned?" She asked the girl. "How old are you anyway, acting as a bodyguard for this buffoon?"

Lan Fan glared up at Ed. "Master Ling is not a buffoon. I am sixteen and the Lord is four years my senior, but as long as I can perform my duties well, age does not matter."

Ed grinned and got in the girl's face. "Oh I get it. You're in love with the idiot prince and want to protect him."

"I am not in love with him!" Lan Fan whisper-yelled as her face got a little red. Ed just cocked a brow at her. "I'm not! We grew up together. He is like an honored older brother to me."

Ed sat back with a huff. "So you say." She stood, looking at Winry and Al. "I'll go buy train tickets for us to head out tomorrow some time."

Al sighed. "No, Sister. You just got done getting new automail. Maybe you should find a place to rest. I'll go get us the train tickets." He glanced outside. "Sun's still out. I bet the roof is pretty warm."

Ed narrowed her eyes at her brother. She knew he was trying to exploit her reptilian tendencies to sunbathe. He didn't have to patronize her though.

Ling jumped up from his seated position on the floor. "Yay! We're going to Central!"

"If he gets on the train with us, I'm sitting in a different car." Ed grumbled as she wandered outside to go find a nice roof to nap on.

---

Ling ended up on the train with them due to Al thinking it would be funny to buy him a ticket as well. Ed was not amused. She refused to talk to anyone the entire ride and spent the time with her face buried in a medical text. It was a very tough task considering Ling made it his mission to annoy her from his seat beside her by complaining about how hungry he was until Al was forced to get up and go to the food car before his sister strangled the Xingese prince.

When they got to Central, Ed was the first off the train, not even bothering to grab her luggage because she knew Al would get it for her and she needed some space and fresh air. She pulled a few keys on a ring out of her pocket and handed them to Winry when the girl stepped off the train.

"You should go ahead and go to the Hughes's apartment and get started. Al and I will go to Command and see if the Colonel and the team have anything they need from us. We can go shopping for dinner afterwards." Ed looked back at the teen and Al's armor. "Does that sound okay?" They both nodded. "Good. Let's get going."

"Wait!" The trio stopped in the tracks when they heard Fu's voice call out. They looked up at him and Lan Fan on the top of the train. "Where is the young Lord?"

Winry and Al looked around in confusion while Ed just looked annoyed. Winry shrugged. "He got off with us. He must have run off somewhere. Ed would know best." Everyone looked towards the golden haired woman.

Ed rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh as she expanded her range. The slimy feeling of being in Central City overwhelmed her for a moment before she could actually focus. "He just left my range heading north. He's pretty fast for someone so annoying." She mumbled.

Lan Fan looked worried. "I hope he doesn't collapse somewhere again."

"Well it's not something we need to be concerned about. Let's go." Ed said to Winry and Al as she started to walk away.

"Coming!" The both called to her, following behind.

---

Ed and Al made it to the office building at Command and were lucky enough to run into Lieutenant Hawkeye hanging out around the bathrooms.

"First Lieutenant! How are you today?" Al's armor called out as they approached the blonde woman.

Lieutenant Hawkeye glanced their way and gave them a small smile as she straightened up from her lean against the wall. "Hey there, Elrics. It's been a while since I've seen the both of you together." She looked at Al's armor. "Or, not quite."

"Thanks for waiting— Oh. Fullmetal and Swift. What are you two doing here?" Colonel Mustang asked as he came around the corner to rejoin Hawkeye and saw the siblings there with her as well. "Swift, where's the real you?"

Al gave a polite wave to the Colonel while Ed looked the man over with her scrutinizing golden eyes. "Hey there, Colonel. I'm back East helping out a friend, but Sister talked to Havoc while we were in Dublith and found out the team got transferred to Central. I sent my armor along with Ed to see if there was anything you may need from us." Al's armor sagged a bit. "I also wanted to give my condolences about Lieutenant Colonel Hughes." Al knew the man was still alive, but to the Colonel his best friend was dead in his mind so he was probably hurting.

Hawkeye and Mustang tensed up and the Colonel shot a cold look at Ed before focusing on Al. "Thank you, Alphonse. I'm sorry for your loss as well. I know he was like a father to you."

Al nodded. "Thank you, Colonel."

It was quiet for a moment before the Colonel turned his back to them. "Well, it's good to see you, but we don't have time to show you to the office. I've got a council meeting to get to. You can get either Lieutenant Breda or Havoc to show you some other time." He started to walk away, but Ed reached out to grab his coat sleeve. He gave her a hard look over his shoulder.

The look in Ed's eye said that she didn't care for his nonsense. "You look like you need to get some rest, Colonel. If I can see that, then these vultures surely can. Take care of yourself before I have to step in to beat them off your back." She let go of his sleeve.

The Colonel let out a huff. "Of course, Fullmetal." He turned back to walk off down the hall with Hawkeye in tow.

"He's taking this very hard, Sister. We'll have to let him know soon before he does something we'll all regret. Or gets himself hurt in the process." Al murmured as he and Ed turned to leave the building as well.

Ed let out a frustrated sigh. "I know. It's been hard not letting him know, but if the homunculus are watching then an attitude change from him would put them on red alert more than they probably already are. We'll tell him soon. Just not right now." She reached up to rub her eyes. "I'm going to try and hunt down Jean later. Let's get to the Hughes's home so that we can go shopping with Winry."

They turned the corner to the hall they came from and Ed smiled at a familiar face.

"Majors! I wasn't expecting to find the both of you here." Lieutenant Ross said in surprise at the sight of them. She hurried to salute the two siblings.

They waved her off. "There's no need for that, Lieutenant. You know you can just call us Ed and Al or Fullmetal and Swift if that makes you feel any better." Al's armor said, amusement in his voice.

Lieutenant Ross smiled at them. "Of course. My apologies. What brings you both back to Central?" She looked a little down. "I didn't think you'd want to be back here so soon considering what happened."

Ed stepped up and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "We can't sit still in sadness. We have to keep moving forward or find out our whole lives passed us by with nothing to show for it. Trust me, I learned that lesson very early in life."

"You are far too wise for your age, Edena." The Lieutenant said with a soft chuckle. "I will try to always keep your advice in mind though. But you never answered my question."

"Oh." Ed blinked and stepped back. "Sorry. We're here in Central because our CO and his team just got transferred here from Eastern Command. We came to check in, but he and his First Lieutenant are on their way to a council meeting so we'll have to do that another time. We're actually heading out now, so we'll catch up with you and Sergeant Brosh later, okay?"

Lieutenant Ross nodded and waved goodbye to the siblings as they moved to leave the building.

Later that night, after Ed cooked an early dinner for her and Winry, she called the number Jean had left her the last time they spoke and made plans to meet up at a pub closer to Central Command. She kept on her usual outfit or leather pants, button up shirt, white gloves, red coat and heeled black boots.

She said goodbye to Winry and Al and hurried out of the apartment to go and find the pub. It wasn't hard considering it was a hotspot for military personnel after work hours. She just had to look for a bunch of idiots wearing half their uniforms. Jean was apparently the exception, decked out in civilian clothes sitting at an outside table when she arrived.

"Hey there, handsome. It's been a long time since I've seen you." Ed said with a smirk as she approached the blond man.

Jean's blue eyes flicked up to her and he smiled around the cigarette in his mouth. "Hey, Edena. How are you?" He stood to give her a hug and Ed raised on her toes to give the smoker a quick peck on the cheek and steal his cigarette at the same time. He squawked in protest.

"I told you to stop smoking these." Ed said as she plucked him in the forehead before sitting and crushing the lit cigarette under her boot. "Have you ordered anything?"

Jean sat with a grumble, propping his head up with his hand. "I ordered some appetizers and a couple of beers even though I'm sure you've probably already eaten." He reached out to play with the gloved left hand she rested on the table. "How was your trip to the South?"

Ed sighed and sat back in her seat. "Pretty damn eventful after I last spoke with you." She explained in a hushed voice what happened with Greed and the Fuhrer down in Dublith, only pausing in her story when their drinks and food came out.

"Damn." Havoc said while picking at a baked pretzel on his plate. "You and Al went through a lot of shit in the past couple of months. And yet you're back here in Central looking for more work." He knocked feet with her under the table. "How about you ask the Colonel to give you a real break so you can sneak back home and spend some time in the mountains?" He tilted his head to the side and cocked a brow.

"I'm fine, Jean." Ed said with amusement in her voice. "I can't let anything set me back too long. How about you tell me about how you've been transitioning to the new city, country boy."

Jean smiled and told her all about how finding an apartment to rent in such a short time was pretty tough and how Mustang had them working double time to get the office set up quicker than normal. "He's a slave driver, I tell you." He pouted. "But one good thing has come from this move. I met this really hot woman named Solaris. And we're totally dating now. She's so kind and she's been helping me with the transition. I think I'm in love, Ed." He clutched his hands together over his chest and had a dreamy look in his eye.

Ed snorted. "You're in love, alright. Just not with who you're thinking." Jean's dreamy look turned into a glare as he stared down the blonde woman. "When are you just going to admit that you keep finding dates with other people to distract you from the real situation you've got going on in the big heart of yours."

Jean picked off a piece of his pretzel and threw it at Ed's head. She was quick to move and catch it between her teeth with a smirk. "Look here, lizard braid, I thought we agreed to never speak of this again?"

"Correction: hungover you said something along the lines of 'Let's never talk about last night ever again.' And frustrated me just glared you into submission before making you drink half a gallon of water and take some pain pills. There was no agreement on my part." Ed cocked a brow at him. "It was pretty shitty, that stunt you pulled, Jean. You're lucky you're my best friend and I'm not a weaker minded woman."

"I'm sorry, okay!? How many times do I have to tell you that?" Jean rested his head on the table and moped.

Ed glared down at him. "You took advantage of the fact that I was sad and frustrated about my breakup and tried to sleep with me after I'd gotten a little tipsy and you were full blown drunk. You moaned Riza's name when you kissed me. And when I socked you in the face, you cried the rest of the night away in my bed whining about how Hawkeye would never fall for a guy like you because she had Mustang and then you started to whine even more about how pretty you thought Mustang was. I've had to deal with, for years, Al thinking I have a crush on that man just because I'm so awkward around him."

Jean looked like he wanted to hide himself under the table. "Shut up already! I get it! I can never apologize enough!" He sighed as Ed shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. "But you have to understand that that's an unattainable dream for me."

"You love them. Just tell them." Ed said with a shrug.

"It's not that simple, Edena. Relationships in the military are frowned upon. Why do you think Riza and Roy aren't actually dating? Not to mention the fact that they're underling and superior. And I'm below both of them in rank. If anyone ever found out about a relationship between the three of us, we'd be court martialed for sure." Jean said as he buried his hands in his messy bangs.

Ed reached out and rested her hand on the man's arm. "You can't just keep living your life going on meaningless dates because you're afraid to tell the people you love how you feel about them. Do you honestly think Mustang and Hawkeye don't have something going on outside of work?" She tapped her nose. "I can tell you by the fact that she smells like his soap quite often that they either shop at the store or they're staying together occasionally. So if they're not afraid to have a relationship despite work, then you shouldn't be afraid to insert yourself into it as well." Ed said smugly, letting go of his arm to lean back in her chair with a smug look on her face.

Jean gave her a deadpan look. "You have far too much straight forward energy for someone who doesn't even think of themself as 'that attractive'." Ed's smug look turned into a scowl. "You just don't understand, Ed. If I just told them how I felt then they'll either reject me or accept me. And either way it's going to be awkward as hell for a while. People don't just enter polyamorous relationships without any forethought."

Ed let out a groan. "Why can't you all just sit down outside of work and have an adult conversation about it? If they say no then you'll be sad because you actually do love them, but then you'll know that this meaningless dating is no longer meaningless. And if they say yes, then you talk out your feelings and conditions like adults and you're happy because you end up with the people you love. It's that simple."

"How can you be so young and so old at the same time?" Jean said with a laugh. "It's not that simple, Ed. But I do hope that you find someone who thinks exactly like you when it comes to love. Obviously the first guy didn't work out, but I hope the next one is all you could ever want and need in a lifelong partner." They both let out long suffering sighs. "Wanna get really drunk tonight and go dancing?" Jean offered.

"Absolutely not." Ed said. "Tomorrow is a work day and I will not be responsible for hungover Jean." They both laughed.

"You're right. Let me walk you back to wherever you're staying and I can get to bed early like a real adult." He stood and went inside to pay.

Ed held onto Jean's arm as she led him down the street towards the Hughes's apartment building. They talked and laughed together about nonsense and had a very good time catching up with each other. She told him about how Al said her dragon self had gotten bigger and how she couldn't wait to show him and she talked about how much Al was growing up and how it made her sad and happy at the same time. Jean just smiled down at her the whole time as he listened.

This was the real Edena Elric. The happy woman who was too smart and too wise for her own good. The woman who was brave and strong and felt so deeply for those around her. It made him sad that she put on an indifferent mask to block people out because of things that happened in her past. He wished they could all see the real her. He's had the Mustang ask him multiple times how he could possibly be friends with a brash and indifferent woman like Ed, but the Colonel never got to see this side of her even though he was one of the people she's cared for for a long time now.

They stopped in front of the building and Ed let out a happy sigh. "It's alway great hanging out with you, Jean."

"Likewise, little lizard." He said, giving her a quick hug.

Ed rolled her eyes and tightened her hold on the man before he could escape, causing him to blink in surprise, but continue on with the hug. He smiled after a few seconds and hid his face in her shoulder.

"Please be careful, Jean." She whispered. "Whatever is going on here is more dangerous than we could have ever imagined and if anything happens to you or Al…" Ed grit her teeth.

Jean let out a chuckle and pulled her closer. "It's okay, Edena. Everything is going to be okay. I'll be fine. Worry about yourself, okay?" When they finally pulled away from each other, Jean was surprised to see tears in her golden eyes. "Hey," he said softly, a worried look on his face.

Ed just shook her head and gave him a light punch in the arm. "I'm gonna hold you to that, okay?" She reached up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Jean. Get home safe. And think about what I said earlier." She turned to walk up the stairs of the building.

Jean smiled at her. "Yeah, yeah. Goodnight, Edena."

---

The next day, Ed and Al caught up with Second Lieutenant Breda and got shown around the military building from before and taken to the team's new office. It looked like the one back in Eastern Command, but a slight bit bigger. They were sure the Colonel loved that.

The Colonel and Hawkeye had nothing for them to do since the office was already set up and there were no new missions coming in quite yet for the alchemists. So they ended up leaving the building pretty early and grabbing lunch togo for Ed and Winry.

"Are things going okay in Resembool?" Ed asked Al's armor on their way back home.

The teen let out a little chuckle. "Dad and I went on a hunting trip in the mountains and he was good at it, obviously, but skinning and cleaning the meat makes him queasy. Something about reminding him of the war. But he is doing better at farmhand stuff. And I'm getting much better with my knife skills. Dad's pretty scary with them, actually." Al's cheerful tone turned somber. "He also explained to me in detail what he found out that got him attacked. We'll have to wait until we're in private to discuss it."

Ed nodded and they hurried back to the apartment. The rest of the day was spent discussing gruesome details before Al's armor decided to wander off and Ed was left alone to her thoughts in Maes's study.

"A country wide transmutation circle…" The dragon part of her was roaring out in warning. She wanted to take those she loved and run for the hills, but she knew she would never be able to do that successfully. Most of those she loved were just as hard headed as she is and would never leave the people of this country to deal with whatever it is this group of homunculi were up to. And she knew she could never ask them to leave it alone. Just take Maes for example.

She would just have to figure out how to protect them all before anything bad further happened.

Ed left the room to go finish packing the stuff that Gracia wanted in Resembool to make the siblings' childhood home feel more like home for the Hughes'. But it wasn't too much longer that they were interrupted by Al's armor bursting back into the apartment.

"Sister! You need to see this!" Al shouted.

"That wasn't too much wandering you did there, Al. What is it that I have to see?" Ed asked, stepping out of the master bedroom.

Al shoved a newspaper in her face. "Look! Read the front page!"

Ed sighed and opened up the paper to read. Her hackles rose as she actually comprehended what she was looking at. "Second Lieutenant Maria Ross convicted of Brigadier General Hughes's murder. Are they fucking serious? How could they come to this idiotic conclusion?! I literally gave a report to Major Armstrong!"

"They're obviously trying to frame Lieutenant Ross for the crime, but I don't understand why. She had nothing to do with it." Al murmured.

Ed let out a growl. "That damn Envy. He looked exactly like Lieutenant Ross when I showed up at the scene and then changed himself to look like Gracia. When he escaped he might have changed back into Ross." Ed moved to pull on her shoes and coat. "We have to go talk to the Colonel or Major Armstrong."

Al nodded. "Hopefully they can do something about this." He held the door open for his sister. "Winry! We'll be back soon!" The armor called out as they left.

They made it out onto the street and Ed looked around. "Come on. We'll take the alleyways as shortcuts. It's pretty late so hopefully one of them is still in the office." They made a run through the dark alleys to get to Central Command.

But then Ed stopped, head tilting to the side.

"Sister?" Al's armor asked.

Ed narrowed her eyes. "It's strange. I feel Ling close by. And Lieutenant Ross… And a moving void? Whatever it is gives off no qi. Just like those armored souls back at the Fifth Lab."

Al gasped. "That armored guy who got away! He called himself Barry the Chopper. He was a serial killer. What's he doing with Ling and the Lieutenant? What's the Lieutenant doing out of jail?"

"Only one way to find out." Ed led him down a cut in the alley that took them directly to the one the trio were currently running up. "Hold it right there!" The three skid to a halt.

"Ed? Al? What are you two doing here?" Lieutenant Ross yelled out.

Ed kept her eye on the armor binded soul. It was shorter than Al's armor and had more of a barbarian feel to it with a skull helmet that had long white hair coming out of the back and winterized animal skin and fur toga covering its metal body. "We could ask you the same question, Lieutenant. We saw the paper and came to talk to our CO or Major Armstrong about getting this discrepancy fixed. But here you are out on the street with a man who calls himself a serial killer. And Ling? What in the hell is going on?"

Ling gave them a nervous smile. "No clue. I'm just along for the ride."

The armored Barry let out a frustrated groan. "We don't have all day for this. Run down that alleyway behind us and run straight to the warehouse district, girlie! The darkness ought to hide you!" He yelled out as he leapt forward to attack Ed and Al. Ross did exactly as he said.

"Lieutenant Ross! Wait!" Al yelled out, jumping back from a swing of one of the very large swords armored Barry carried with him.

Ed glared. "What utter bullshit." She grit out as she had to jump and bend to dodge the knives as well. "I'm really tired of you." She jumped into a front flip over the armor and landed behind him, kicking him in the back. "You're wasting my time!" But before she could take off down the alleyway after Lieutenant Ross, there was a very large flaming explosion in the distance.

"Looks like they got her! Let's get out of here, foreigner!" Armored Barry said as he picked himself up off the ground and made a run back down the alley where they had come from, Ling following after him.

Ed ignored them and took off towards the explosion while Al yelled for Ling to come back. When she arrived at the light at the end of the tunnel of alleys, she skidded to a stop and had to backpedal and cover her nose with her shit at the smell. Her stomach turned over at the intense charred stench that wafted down the alley.

At the opening of the alleyway was an extremely burned body on the ground and the dark silhouette of a man in a trench coat covered military uniform standing over it. Ed's heart rate skyrocketed when the man looked up at her.

"Hey Fullmetal." Colonel Mustang said as he readjusted his ignition glove on his hand.

"What in the hell happened here?" Ed asked breathlessly.

The Colonel looked at Ed with disdain. "Maria Ross was a fugitive and the order went out to shoot to kill. So I did."

Ed looked at the man in horror. "Are you an absolute fucking idiot?" She looked down at the corpse at his feet. "Lieutenant Ross didn't kill Hughes. I was on my way to Central Command to talk to you and Major Armstrong about it." Ed clenched her jaw and stepped around the body to grab the man by his collar and show him the absolute fury she was feeling. "Did you forget that I was there the night he was attacked? Don't you think I would have pointed out Ross if I thought she had anything to do with this? Do you realize you just killed an innocent woman because of your grief!?"

Looking into his dark eyes, Ed realized that this man held no remorse for his actions. She tightened her grip on his collar. "You are fucking pathetic. And if Hughes could see you right now he would think the same thing."

Ed let out a pained grunt when a gloved fist connected with her cheekbone and sent her to the ground next to the charred body.

"Hughes would be able to see me, period, if you had done what you said you were going to do and saved his life!" Mustang yelled at her as he fixed his collar.

Ed felt a fire burn in her chest and she stood up, ready to attack this man, but Al's armor got there first and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from lunging at the Colonel.

"Be calm, Sister. I've got you." He whispered to her, but Ed could tell his voice was full of anger as well. Al had apparently caught the tail end of what just happened.

"I let you get away with your actions the first time because I knew you were grieving." Ed said to Mustang after taking a few deep breaths. But then her golden eyes glared up at her superior with true hatred in her eyes. "But if you ever put your hands on me again, Colonel, I will see to it that you no longer have hands." She shrugged out of her brother's hold.

Mustang huffed and brushed off all she just said. "Orders are orders. You do not argue against them or ask for explanations. You just follow them. That's what it means to be a soldier. If you can't handle that, then you are obviously in the wrong profession."

Ed sneered at him. "What an obedient dog you are then."

---

Ed, Al, Major Armstrong, and Colonel Mustang all gathered in a hall of the hospital with some MPs as they waited for the coroner, Doctor Knox, to come out and give his report. Ed stood against the wall with her closed and arms folded over her chest while all of the others stood. Except for Mustang. He took a seat on the only bench in the hall.

The only reason Ed and Al were there is because Mustang ordered them to follow along so that he could keep an eye on them. He claimed that Ed couldn't be trusted to not do something drastic. The only reason she really stood there still was because of Major Armstrong who had joined them in the hall due to Lieutenant Ross being one of his underlings. He was currently standing close to Ed as if seeking comfort from the heat she gave off.

When Doctor Knox stepped out of his office and into the hall, Ed opened her eyes to get a good look at the man who had helped her out before. He was an older gentleman that wore glasses and had a beard, scraggly mustache and had slate grey eyes that immediately bore into Edena's as if he knew exactly who she was. She, of course, gave no sign that she knew who he was.

He looked down at his report, a permanent frown on his face. "Her body was almost completely destroyed, but due to what little dental work remained I was able to conclude that this was indeed Maria Ross." He turned his grey eyes to Mustang. "It's an awful thing you did. Turning a beauty like her into a pile of charcoal. You must have held quite the grudge against her, Colonel. Is the vengeance as sweet as you imagined it?"

Mustang glared up at the man before turning his head away. Major Armstrong just looked sadder.

Knox scoffed. "The famous hero in the Ishvalan War going this far against a little girl. It makes me sick." He turned and walked off down the hall away from them.

After the MPs left, Ed stood from her lean and started off down the hall towards the exit herself. "I'm leaving. It's obvious I'm no longer needed here."

"Fullmetal," Colonel Mustang called out softly, anger no longer in his tone. Ed paused in her stride. "You might want to put some ice on that bruise so it doesn't get too bad."

Ed turned to give the man a glare over her shoulder. "Colonel Mustang, with all due respect, kindly fuck off."

Major Armstrong turned to Mustang. "Colonel Mustang, I'd just like to say that if my officer had anything to do with the Hughes matter then I sincerely apologize for her actions. I would have never imagined that Second Lieutenant Ross could have committed such a heinous act. She was so straight forward, earnest and compassionate. A truly fine officer."

Mustang stood and looked at the man. "It seems fatigue is getting the best of you, Major. Perhaps you should take some leave." The large man looked taken aback. "Back east where I was. It was a nice place. None of the big city noise and lots of beautiful women."

Ed clenched her fist and rolled her eyes at the man's words before storming off, Al running to catch up to her.

---

Night had just fallen the next day by the time Ed, Winry and Al got done packing up and closing up the Hughes's apartment.

"Do you just want to go to Central Command and wait at the office while we're gone? I really don't think there's a reason for the back and forth with the armor. Plus, the team might need you for something." Ed asked Al's armor as she and Winry finished packing the last of the boxes for Gracia.

The armor nodded. "That might be a good idea. Will you and Winry be able to handle the boxes on your own?"

Ed smiled and waved the armor off. "It's only six boxes." Her face fell flat. "And Major Armstrong is here, so we can use him as muscle." Winry and Al were surprised and confused. Ed stood and went to open the door before the giant of a man could knock. He was dressed in his civilian clothes and looked ready for travel.

The bald man was surprised, but pulled himself together to start on a routine act that he'd obviously been planning right up until he got to the door. But Ed's annoyed look and raised hand stopped him in his tracks.

"Uh… Miss Edena?" He implored cautiously, wondering whatever he could have done to annoy the blonde.

"Major Armstrong." Ed stepped back and allowed the man into the apartment, closing the door behind him. "There's no need for theatrics here. Tell us what you're here for."

Armstrong started to sweat. Ed had never taken up this cold, no nonsense attitude with him before. It worried him quite a bit. "Yes, well… I have orders to collect you, Miss Edena, and head to Resembool to rendezvous with a trusted man there immediately. Young Alphonse's armor was to stay here."

Ed continued to give the man a flat look. "Very well. Grab some boxes." She motioned towards the stack of six large boxes sitting on the living room floor.

"Oh! Yes, ma'am! Of course!" Major Armstrong's eyes sparkled with happiness because he was being put to work. He grabbed the of the boxes easily while Ed put her shoes on and put a coat on before grabbing two of the boxes herself.

She turned to look at Winry. "You can handle your luggage and the last box, right?"

Winry nodded. "Of course. Should I come with you both now?"

Ed shook her head. "No need. Get some rest and use the tickets we already bought to come tomorrow. I'm sure whatever these orders are that the Major was given, there doesn't need to be a civilian in the mix up."

Major Armstrong nodded. "Absolutely Miss Edena. Miss Winry should stay here and continue her plans as normal."

"Inform Farmer Williams to meet us with a cart, if you don't mind, Al." Ed called out to the armor on the way out of the door. "I'll call you right before the train leaves if I get a chance."

They made it to the station in record time because the Major had a car waiting for them outside. The giant man wandered off to buy a couple of tickets while Ed stood by the boxes at a payphone. She was only just barely able to inform Al and Winry that they were about to board just as the train pulled into the station.

Ed napped with her back to the window and her legs across the Major's lap since they were confined to a single bench with getting tickets so last minute.

There were a few stops and some delays along the way so the train didn't get to Resembool until very early in the morning. They unloaded the boxes from the train and Ed apologized profusely to the annoyed Farmer Williams who'd been waiting there for them for an hour and a half now.

It was only after Ed was waving the man off with the boxes were she and Major Armstrong approached by someone.

"Good morning, Major, Fullmetal." The red headed portly man, Second Lieutenant Breda. "Glad you both made it alright.

Ed folded her arms over her chest and cocked a brow at the man. "I guess you're who we're rendezvousing with. What exactly are we doing now?"

Breda sighed. "You're always so chipper when you see Havoc. I've never been mean or done anything to you, why can't I get a happy hello as well?"'

"Lieutenant Breda, you get the attitude you deserve because I have caught you staring at my ass more times than the Colonel has been caught sleeping on the job by Lieutenant Hawkeye." Ed said with a flat look on her face. "I don't necessarily care, but at least learn to be subtle about it."

Major Armstrong glared down at the red head. "Lieutenant Breda, how inappropriate."

Said man blushed as red as his hair. "S-sorry, Fullmetal." He then grumbled under his breath, "It is a nice ass though." Ed started to look more annoyed by the second. "Right! Well, we need to head more east, to the desert."

Both Ed and Armstrong perked up with interest.

They walked until they reached the border of Amestris to meet a man named Mr. Han. He had four horses with him and a few beige long coats with hoods. "About time you all made it. Here," he said as he handed out coats. "Put these on."

Ed shrugged off her red coat and traded it for a beige one. She'd never been this close to the Eastern border before. Looking out over the desert sands lit a fire in her blood and got her heart beating fiercely. She was anxious and somehow happy at the same time. The feeling she was giving off spooked the horse she was standing next to. She had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself and then the horse.

They mounted their horses and started along across the desert with Mr. Han leading the way. Armstrong and Breda obviously weren't liking the desert heat, but Ed was in her element. She wished she could feel the sun on her skin… On her scales. She was sure it would be the best feeling.

Breda held out for two hours before asking how much longer it would take for them to get to where they were going.

"We've almost made it. Look." The man pointed out towards the north. "You can see the ruins ahead."

Ed tapped her horse's side to get it to move in a trot ahead to the front of the group. When she saw what the man was pointing out her eyes started to water.

"Xerxes?" She gasped out breathlessly.

Mr. Han nodded. "Yes. Those are the ruins of Xerxes. There's water there for you all to drink and cool off with." He chose to ignore the amount of emotion in Ed's voice.

The woman wanted to make her horse gallop ahead, but she knew that would be cruel to the animal. She would have to wait to get there with the rest of her travel group. She had to wait to step foot in her ancestral home. The city where her father was born and raised.

When they made it to the outskirts of the ruins, there was a fountain full of water in a courtyard that was basically rubble. They stopped to let the horses drink and Ed stripped off her coat with trembling hands to expose her dark automail and dip it into the water. It sizzled and steamed when it submerged. She did the same with her leg, stripping out of her leather pants in order to dip it to her thigh. She didn't mind the searing heat, considering what type of dragon she was, but it was a little bit uncomfortable on her human skin.

"Who's idea was it to bring the girl?" The voice of Ling's vassal, Fu, rang out behind Ed as she sat on the fountain.

Breda startled as the man seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Well it was more like he was staring at Ed's ass again and got scared when the old Xingese man walked up next to him. "Um, they were direct orders." He answered the man.

Ed got out of the water and slipped her pants and coat back on. "Hello, Fu. What a surprise it is to see you without your annoying prince." She said to the older man.

Fu looked at her and noticed her hands trembling. He chose not to say anything. He just turned to lead them deeper into the ruins. "Come along."

The group followed after him and Ed felt elation and sadness with every step. What she would give to have been here before the city's fall. She had to constantly wipe tears from her eyes, too filled with emotion. It was a little odd though. Ed felt like it was more of her dragon feeling these emotions than the human half of her. She could also feel a burning need to head north of the city. Something out there was calling to her.

"So this is the fabled city of Xerxes that was claimed to have been destroyed in a single night." Major Armstrong murmured.

Fu turned to look at him with confusion on his face. "Fable?"

Armstrong, Fu and Breda went on to talk about the Eastern and Western Sage and how they brought alchemy to Amestris and alkahestry to Xing. But Ed just tuned them out. She knew the stories.

No, Ed was too focused on the roaring in her ears that she couldn't tell if it was her own blood rushing through her veins and screaming in her ears, or if it was something far away.

Something in her heart told her that it was both.

Ed stopped for a second to stare at a mural that was missing half of its design, but she could see part of what it was. A transmutation circle. She narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. Ed knew exactly what kind of transmutation circle it was as well. She just didn't want it to be true.

"What are you gawking at?" Fu yelled at her from up ahead with the others. "Come on!" Ed sighed and ran to catch up, settling back into her place next to Armstrong.

As they got further into the ruins, Ed let a small smirk slip onto her face as she felt a presence not too far away that she'd been hoping to feel again.

"Edena? Major?" Both Ed and Armstrong glanced over to a mound of rubble to where a female voice called out their names. Armstrong's eyes widened with elation and excitement as he stripped off his coat, vest and shirt to run off towards the woman.

"Lieutenant Ross!" The Major chased Maria Ross around in circles with tears in his eyes as he tried to get a hold of her in order to wrap her in a hug. "Thank the heavens! My heart has been congested with grief."

Lieutenant Breda stepped up next to Ed as she watched the two with a smile on her face.

"There weren't many places we could hide a dead girl in Amestris considering she's still alive." Breda explained to her.

Ed had to hold back a snort. She hid her dead person in plain sight. Ed just let out a hum of affirmation at the man in response.

Breda gave her a skeptical look. "You don't seem very surprised by this." Ed gave him her own 'no shit' look in return. "You knew?!"

Ed rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I didn't notice at first because the smell of the burnt body threw me off, but when I got ahold of myself, I realized." She smirked. "Tell Havoc to run away a little faster with his package next time, yeah? I know I've told the Colonel before that I can literally sense people."

"The Colonel said you were infuriated with him!" Breda shouted, still confused about everything that happened.

"Was I not supposed to be? I thought that was what he wanted considering he orchestrated this whole ordeal instead of just talking the Lieutenant's way out of this mess. I mean I get it though, why he did things this way." Ed asked with a cocked brow.

Breda slumped a little bit. "So you were just acting mad at him?"

Ed let out a loud laugh. "Oh no, I'm definitely mad at him. Almost everything about him makes me angry." Breda gave her a flat look in response.

Major Armstrong finally captured Lieutenant Ross in a hug, but had to let her go soon after because apparently the group had much to discuss.

"So what are you doing here, Fu?" Ed asked as they all sat in a circle in a cleared courtyard.

"After Madam Ross was prematurely freed from jail, the Young Lord made a deal with Barry the Chopper. My orders were to personally escort the young lady to the east to take refuge." Fu explained.

"So we all agreed to rendezvous here in one big effort to aid in the Lieutenant's escape. The Colonel was worried it wouldn't be believable unless you were there to see Lieutenant Ross "die" yourself, Fullmetal." Breda said. Ed narrowed her eyes at the man. "He also said something about how he didn't want a hot tempered little girl endangering the operation, so he sent you out here."

Ed folded her arms over her chest. "I plan to end his pathetic existence when I return to Central. Be sure to say your goodbyes."

Major Armstrong cut into the conversation. "You said operation. Is there a phase beyond liberating Lieutenant Ross?"

Breda gave the man a smirk. "Indeed there is. He's got a plan to reel in the puppeteer. The one behind the conspiracy." Ed gave the man a panicked look. "You remember Barry from the Fifth Lab? He went on quite the rampage. They're bound to send someone to reclaim him."

Ed growled. "That idiot. He's going to get himself into trouble and wind up hurt or dead if he isn't careful."

"Pretty worried about someone you claimed you were going to get rid of yourself." Breda teased.

Lieutenant Ross pouted from her seat. "But I have nothing to do with this, yet here I am stuck in the middle and framed by homunculi."

Breda sighed. "We've collected a fair bit of intelligence. We just need a little bit more and some time to piece it all together and we'll have the General's killer and have you cleared of all charges."

---

They parted ways not long after the sun started to set, Lieutenant Ross asking Armstrong and Breda to deliver a message to Colonel Mustang about her thanks for all he's done for her. They all saluted each other while Ed stood off to the side of the ruins, looking out to the north. Ross actually startled her when the woman appeared next to her to wrap her in a hug and tell her goodbye.

"Be careful and good luck wherever you go." Ed told the older woman as she hugged her back.

Breda and Armstrong gave Ed a little while to look around the ruins as they got things ready to camp out for the night before they were to head back to Amestris. Ed wandered back to the mural of the transmutation circle on the wall.

"It's just like the circle from the Fifth Lab with some extra details." Ed murmured to herself. "The sun and the two headed dragon… I get the reference as the dragon being the perfect being, but why even mention a dragon at all if they were trying to get rid of that part of their history? Is it purely an alchemical reference or is there something more to it?" She rubbed at her temples. "And what is that damn noise I keep hearing?"

Ed suddenly let herself lean to the side as she heard running footsteps behind her and the downward swing of some sort of weapon. She twisted around with a growl and sent a set of pinpoint hits up the arm of the dark skinned man who just tried to attack her.

He gasped as his arm fell limp for a few seconds and gave Ed the opportunity to sweep his feet from under him and push him to the ground with a hand on the back of his head. She pulled one of his arms behind his back and put pressure on her spine with her knee by kneeling on him to keep him from getting up.

"I knew your people were here the entire time and did nothing about it, yet you cannot show the same courtesy and leave me be until I am ready to leave? I thought the Ishvalan to be a peaceful people?" She grit out, glancing up to glare at the group of dark skinned, white hair and red eyed men who came out of the nooks and crannies of the ruins to surround her.

A single man dressed in a white coat and had a nasty burn scar over his left eye stepped up to speak. "Excuse me, young woman. We're going to have to take you hostage until your military returns our holy lands to us."

Ed scoffed. "The military won't return anything. Not over a single woman."

"It was the death of a single child that triggered the entire Ishvalan Civil War in the first place. So you shouldn't doubt your significance in the eyes of history."

"So you'd be willing to start another and possibly end up with more of your people dead?" Ed bared her teeth. "That sounds completely idiotic."

"That's enough of your shameful behavior." An old raspy voice sounded through the crowd. Ed looked over to see an old Ishvalan woman with an eye patch and purple robes coming through the group of men with a teenage boy assisting her.

"Madam Shan." The scarred man greeted.

"Look at you fools. Are you trying to dishonor the name of Ishvala?" The group flinched. "Not even to mention that this woman is a Golden One."

They all gasped and looked at Ed again. "Impossible!" The scarred man yelled. "That story is just a legend."

Ed glared at the man. "That story is as much a legend as the city of Xerxes that you stand in today." She looked sadly at the ruins in front of her. "I wish I could have been here to see this place before it became ruins. I wish I could walk these streets and look around to see golden people who looked just like me." Ed released the arm of the man she still had a grip on and shifted off of his back. "But it's a long time too late for that."

The man got to his knees and rubbed at his arm, looking at Ed with wide eyes.

"Thank you for letting him go." The teenager with Madam Shan said.

Ed stood and looked at the old woman with curious eyes. "You stood up for me before you even realized I was of Xerxian blood. Why? I thought your people hated Amestrians?" She approached the woman at the same time that the group of men closed in on her to get a better look at her eyes and hair.

"Despite the atrocities that Amestris has committed, I know not all Amestrians are bad." Madam Shan answered.

Ed noticed some scars on the child. He saw her looking. "Madam Shan and I were injured during the civil war. We were saved by two Amestrian doctors." The boy sighed. "To be honest, I do hate you. But those two doctors saved me and you deserve the same treatment."

Ed frowned. "Two Amestrian doctors? Did they happen to go by the name Rockbell?"

The two Ishvalans looked surprised. "Are you saying you're a friend of Doctor Rockbell?" The teen asked.

"Yeah." Ed said with a sad smile. "They were like an aunt and uncle to me."

"They saved the lives of countless Ishvalans all through the entire war." The teen said in excitement, a smile on his face.

Madam Shan was also smiling. "They didn't want to abandon their post no matter how much the fighting escalated."

Ed clenched her fists at her side and her smile dropped. "And how did they die?"

Madam Shan was hesitant to answer, but must have decided the truth was best. "They were murdered in cold blood by the hand of an Ishvalan they had saved." Ed folded her arms across her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm so sorry, child. There was nothing we could do to stop him."

Ed grit her teeth and turned her face to the sun. "Can you tell me who did it?" She asked quietly.

"His face was wrapped in scars, but he was an Ishvalan monk and his right arm was tattooed." The older woman answered. Ed felt her stomach turn at the description. It felt too damn familiar. "If you should have the chance, could you deliver a message to the resting place of the Rockbell for us?" Madam Shan continued on. "Could you give them our thanks and our apologies?"

Ed brought her head back down to look at the ruins with sad eyes again. "Of course." She turned to walk away, but the teenaged boy reached out to take her hand and stop her.

"We also thank you for letting us use your ancestral home as our own." He said to her quickly.

A sigh escaped Ed's lips. "If you ever go traveling in the desert and find yourselves lost, the Golden Ones will always be there to help you back home, my Red Eyed Wanderers." She murmured to the group. "Consider this your home until you can have yours once again."

The boy let go of her hand and Ed continued her way out, the group of Ishvalan men parting for her easily.

---

When they returned back to the border and stepped out of the sands the next morning, Ed felt infinitely tired. She felt like her spirit and mind had been run ragged and all she wanted was a few nights rest.

She accompanied Armstrong and Breda to the train station and saw them off, giving Armstrong a hug and giving Breda a smirk and reminding him to tell Mustang that she had him pegged from the jump.

"Stop staring at my ass, Lieutenant!" She called out as she left the station as their train finally arrived. She chuckled at the sound of a slap and whines from Breda about how hard the Major hit him.

Ed walked along the dirt path to her childhood home with her red coat resting on her shoulders and her arms folded against her chest. She let out a sigh as she wished she could have gotten Farmer Williams to pick her up with how she was feeling at the moment.

She knew she was getting close to home because she was now passing by the cemetery for Resembool. She glanced up, thinking she could go pay her mom a visit before she passed out on the Hughes' and Al. Ed looked up and blinked the fog out of her eyes, she frowned as she saw a man standing there in the graveyard. A man who, when she felt out to see if she could recognize his qi, had the same aura as the homunculi they'd been dealing with. She tensed up and cursed her luck, thinking she would have to fight right now after her journey in the desert, but then she noticed more details about the man. He was tall and wearing civilian clothes unlike the homunculi who wore their strange black skin tight outfits. He had long golden blond hair pulled up into a ponytail and there was quite the beard on his face if his side profile said anything.

Ed held back a sob when the man turned to look over his shoulder, obviously sensing someone staring at him. Through his glasses, Ed could see sad golden eyes clear as day. They stared at her like they were staring straight into her soul.

"Hohenheim?" She whispered his name, wondering and maybe hoping that this was all a dream.