Alphonse Elric: As I wrote this, I realised Winry and Pinako have the same reaction as Izumi and Sig. Just a reminder, without knowing what we know, or what Ed saw of a possible future, Edward's reaction of running away and deserting Al is immensely out of character and Alphonse himself has changed since he was ten years old. Al has basically the trauma of everyone in his family abandoning him, with the added horror of seeing his mom die, seeing a monster version of her, and seeing his brother lose limbs and undergo surgery. Unlike in canon, Ed's experiences are by far worse and Al was completely helpless to help him.

I figured I should explain a bit why everyone is tip-toeing around Al whose full arch is explored in the latter half of this story.

Chapter 13 - Black Hayate

"Wow, I didn't think State Alchemists could actually be useful," someone said as Ling followed Ed from a low-income housing that had been about to be condemned for not passing building regulations.

Ling had been accompanying Ed around the city for lack of anything else do. So far, living with his brother hadn't been as bad as he thought it would be and he was accepted into the military circles far easier than could have ever predicted.

"Colonel Roy Mustang, who knew he cared?" another person said.

When they were further away, Ling asked, "That doesn't bother you at all."

"It's literally what I signed up for," Ed answered.

"What about them?" Ling asked as they passed the small tent city on the edge of the city. "Why not help them?"

Them being Ishvalan refugees.

Ed looked, his face falling. He sighed, "I would love to but they hate alchemy. I won't disrespect their beliefs. Maybe someday I will be able to help, but, for now, all I can hope is that some of the resources I'm freeing up might be redirected their way."

Ling felt the true regret and sadness in Ed's chi as he glanced at the people cooking around fire pits. Ling decided he would return later on his own and see what help he could offer.

The Xing had no conflict with Ishval after all.

oOo

"AL!" Winry yelled as she ran at him.

He engulfed her in a hug. She was still taller than him, but not by much. Which was fine, considering he had only just turned fifteen.

"How are you, Winry?" he asked, pulling back with a grin.

She smiled back, and Al noticed that she seemed… lighter, he supposed than she had looked since Ed had left.

"I'm wonderful," she said, grabbing hold of his hand and leading him inside. "Come on, you're in time for supper." She waved over his head to Hohenheim who was following at a more sedate pace.

"Hey Granny," Al greeted.

Granny froze for a moment, before recovering, "Hello, Al."

Al was about to sit down when he caught sight of the board. He was drawn to the shapes, the outlines of small children and a tall figure with dark hair.

Al stopped breathing when he got closer and saw someone he hadn't seen in over five years.

"Brother was here?" Al asked, staring at the smiling face of his brother who had aged without him.

The one that caught his attention the most was a family portrait. Ed was grinning, holding a girl with braided hair in his arms, a woman holding a younger girl, and a dark haired man with glasses hugging them all.

"Yeah, he came home to get his ports changed nearly six months ago," Winry said gently. "He lives in Central now. That's his adoptive family, Maes Hughes, Gracia Hughes, Nina, in his arms, and Elicia Hughes."

Al's heart twisted, had he been so easily replaced?

"Are you okay?" Winry asked, touching his arm.

Al shook himself and said as Dad walked in, "I never thought Ed would ever let anyone take care of him."

"He didn't have much of a choice," Granny said. "His limbs weren't ready to be walked on when he left. He likely hurt himself badly enough to be hospitalised."

Al's heart hurt at that. He had tried to follow Ed, but he didn't know what time he left or what train he had gotten on that night. He had hopped a train without buying a ticket and could have gone in any direction and gotten off at any stop along the way.

No reports of a kid with automail limbs had found their way back to them.

"We have a letter for you," Granny said. "We would have sent it to you but you never gave us a return address."

Al spun on her, tearing himself away from the pictures of a brother who had left and his new happy family who were all strangers to Al.

Granny was already holding the letter out to him.

Al fought not to snatch it from her hands.

It wasn't anywhere near as large a letter as he would have liked.

Dad walked behind him to look at the photographs as well, however, he didn't look at all upset. No, in fact, his eyes were soft with happiness and relief.

Al tore open the letter.

Dear Al,

I don't know what to say in a letter and I know there is nothing I can say to make up for anything I've done.

But I hope you're okay. I hope that bastard has been keeping you safe and lived up to being the parent he wasn't before.

I'm not sure if this is what you want to hear, but I got really lucky. My adoptive father, Maes Hughes literally picked me up off the street. Gracia, Maes's wife, is no replacement for Mom, it is more like having a big sister at times. I babysat Nina Tucker, and she sort of got adopted by us as well, unofficially, but she's here more often than not. She is Elicia's best friend. They are the best little sisters anyone could ask for.

Maes has given me unfettered access to alchemy research here at Central, I hope Hohenheim has at least done the same for you.

I can't ask you to forgive me, I'll never forgive myself for endangering you, but I need you to know that not a day goes by that I don't miss you.

I've enclosed my address if you want to kick my ass in person or ream me out in a letter, or if you never want to see or talk to me again (which I really hope isn't the case no matter how angry you are at me). But whatever you want, that choice is yours now. I can only apologise again for being such a coward to not reach out to you sooner.

I love you, Little Brother.

The letter was signed, Edward Elric-Hughes.

Al didn't know what to think. Didn't know what to feel.

"Al?"

He didn't move, he couldn't have even if he had wanted to.

"Al," Winry said again, putting an arm around his shoulders.

He only knew he was crying when teardrops landed on the letter, smearing his brother's handwriting.

Dad gently took the letter from him when his hand started to shake.

Winry wrapped him in a tight embrace.

Al sucked in a sharp breath, and then he was hugging her back.

"I'm so sorry," Winry whispered in his ear.

He choked on a sob, "He left. And he chose to stay away."

Winry didn't say anything, just held him tighter.

Al had thought that if he just knew, if he could only learn where his brother was, he would be content.

But something bitter and cold twisted in his chest, and he found that he wasn't as happy as he should have been.

Not as happy as he wanted to be to see that after all these years of worry and missing his big brother, that he had been happy all along.

Without Al in his life.

oOo

Ling was sitting cross legged on Ed's desk watching the office chaos with amusement.

"Come on, Fullmetal, you're the only sane one," Fuery pleaded.

"I told you, we already have two dogs and both Persephone and Alexander are too big for him. The little guy would get run over.

"I told you that I loved dogs," Roy said.

"I'm not taking care of it," Ling said.

Riza smiled down at the dog, "I'll take him. Black Hayate."

Roy hid a smile

No one but Ed and Fuery realized that Riza adopting the dog meant Roy and Ling would be getting the dog too.

Therefore, Ling was less than thrilled when Black Hayate walked to the wall and lifted a leg.

Riza pulled her gun and fired three shots into the wall around the poor puppy.

Fuery in Xingese asked, "How do you live with them?"

"I don't question the people who feed me," Ling answered, grateful whenever he got to speak his own language.

Ed snorted.

Ling did a double take, staring down at his golden friend, "Wait, can you understand Xingese?"

Ed smirked but responded in Amestrian, "I can read and understand it but I haven't tried speaking it yet."

Ling grinned, "Guess I'll have to give you lessons then."

"You just want to follow me around the city."

Ling shrugged, "I have nothing better to do."

Roy tapped his desk, "That might actually be worth doing for the whole team. Coded Xingese would be a bitch for others to keep up with."

Riza nodded, "If Edward can already read it, that means five out of seven of us know enough to get by."

"Wait," Breda asked Roy. "Five? You mean, including your punk brother?"

"I'm not joining the military," Ling said. "I'm purely here for the entertainment value."

"You're a trained martial artist with practical experience and a semi-politician," Edward said. "You'd be good at it."

Ling scoffed, "And you think I'd be good at taking orders? No, I'm no one's grunt and I'm not starting at the bottom."

"So Falman, you know Xingese?" Havoc interrupted.

"I'm told my accent is atrocious but I can read it just fine. I took it as an elective in the academy," Falman answered.

"I didn't realize you knew it too, Lieutenant," Havoc said to Riza.

She shrugged, "The Colonel used to use it more when he was younger. Hughes and Ross know some too."

"So the Colonel, his kid brother, the Lieutenant, Fuery, Falman, Boss, Boss's dad, and one of the other intelligence agents all know a language that has practically no use because it's a country we have no direct contact with?"

"Central has the greatest concentration of Xingese immigrants," Fuery said. "My parents knew the Colonel's."

Riza added, "The Colonel and I have been friends since before we joined the military. Hughes's reason for learning it is the same as mine. Ross learned it as an elective as well."

"Ross's great-grandmother was Xingese," Falman added. "And my grandmother on my dad's side was Xingese."

Edward sniggered, "Years from now people are going to think this was a Xingese conspiracy."

"I'm literally a Xing Prince, so yeah, that's exactly what they are going to think," Ling said with a grin.

Breda asked, "So this means Havoc and I have to learn a complex language completely unrelated to our own and has basically no other purpose outside of work?"

"Brosh too," Riza agreed.

Breda groaned, "We have other work to do."

"Right now we are somewhat limited," Roy said. "I think we've pissed off the Fuhrer."

"Given how much your name has been crossing the airwaves, Colonel, I think you will be due for a promotion soon," Fuery said with a smile. "Whether the brass wants to or not."

"How are you even doing that?" Havoc asked Ed.

Ed shrugged, "I curse Mustang's name wherever I go. I pretend like I don't want to be there and give any of the local officers' attitudes. It makes them think without Mustang I wouldn't be there at all."

"Truly amazing how you can make even being insubordinate politically beneficial," Roy said.

Ling laughed, "Being a teenager has a lot of problems, but there are some benefits."

Ed grinned, "It will be fun to see what people do when they stop underestimating me."

"Fun is not the word I would use," Riza said dryly.

oOo

"You didn't tell them?" Granny asked.

"Did you?" she countered as they watched Al and Hohenheim's retreating backs disappear over the hill.

Granny took a long pull on her pipe before saying, "No, that's Ed's bridge to burn."

Winry fidgeted, "I hope they can make amends. I read the letter, Ed didn't mention he joined the military."

There was a long silence. Al had become more open about his disgust for the military over the years.

Granny let out another puff of snakes, before saying, "Al can forgive a great many things. He can forgive Ed for leaving, can forgive him for any mistake he has or will ever make. But I don't know that he can forgive him for finding happiness with another family."

Winry hugged herself, "I'm glad he found happiness with or without us."

Granny nodded, "Perhaps, but you never needed him like Alphonse needed him."

oOo

Alex Armstrong had asked Riza Hawkeye to speak with him. He was holding her grocery bag filled with dog supplies and she was walking her new puppy.

The puppy was adorable.

"Was there a reason you wanted to speak with me?" she asked.

Alex sighed as they passed beneath the streetlights. "Yes. I'm worried about Major Hughes. He's attracting too much attention."

"Good attention," Riza said.

"Not with Scar still on the loose. We haven't gotten any closer to catching him."

"Scar hasn't targeted anyone during the day," Riza argued, pausing for a second as they walked out onto the bridge over the river. The wind blew and she kept walking.

Did she hear something?

Alex didn't look around as he kept talking but he remained on high alert. "But he might if Edward keeps making such a spectacle out of himself."

She nodded, "I know."

Her dog growled.

Riza Hawkeye dropped the leash, and more swiftly than Alex could react to, foot swept him by kicking behind his knee. At the same time, she pulled two pistols and shot where Alex's head had been.

A man who was dressed in yellow and had a scar across his face was jerked back as the bullets entered his body. He jerked but was athletic enough to jump backwards.

Riza jumped to her feet and fired into the splash as Scar fell off the bridge.

"I think you got him," Alex said.

She shook her head and ran to the other side of the bridge, "We need to call for a search."

"You shot him."

"He was fast, I missed the vital organs, but if we don't give him time to get medical help, we might be able to run him down."

Alex was sceptical, but by the time the morning came, nobody had been discovered.

Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes had a more positive take on their failure to find anything but Scar's clothing; "Either he's dead, or he's naked, in which case it should be easy enough to find him."

oOo

AN: So I have six chapters left to write, and it's a rather tight plot at this point ;D but my thoughts are kind of spinning for more ideas. If anyone wants to discuss FMA with me my discord is AppoApples#6199

Otherwise, feedback on this early chapter? I only have six chapters left so Friday will still get an update. Much love to everyone who has reviewed!