Disclaimer: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them for a little fun.

Author's Note: INCOMING EDWARD!!!!! Welcome, chibi. gets kicked by an angry Ed Oo;; Right... Welcome, Fullmetal. gets a glare from Ed, who then turns away, snorting disdainfully
There isn't much to say, except that I am pleasantly surprised to have finished it already. Writing from Ed's pov is fun. :D I should do that more often.
The pieces are now officially set, so the real story can start. Yes, you can consider the first three chapters as a prologue, we get all the fun and action after this chapter... I hope. ¬¬ I'm not the best author when it comes down to action scenes, but oh well, I can always try.

Warnings: A lot of spoilers from episode 25... so if you're new in the series and you haven't seen that episode yet, I strongly advise you not to read it yet. It's also Alternate Universe (meaning it's written in a different universe than the original series... you'll see why), and for the rest I wouldn't know yet. Oo;;

Second Life – Chapter Three

The sun shone brightly when the Elric brothers worked themselves out of the crowded train. The oldest – and the smallest of the two – stretched his arms lazily upwards in an attempt to get the blood circulating again in certain parts of his body. The youngest – and tallest – waited patiently until his older brother was ready to move.

"It's good to be back in Central again," Edward commented as his golden eyes scanned swiftly the familiar area. "It's only been a few months, but I feel like we've been away from here for years. If there's any place we can call home next to Rizenbul, it's Central."

"Hn," agreed Alphonse, lifting off Ed's suitcase. "I know what you mean. There are so many people we know here by now and who we haven't seen for a long time… I wonder how everyone is doing."

"Yeah. Sensei is a nice woman, I guess, but she can be a trifle too harsh if you ask me. Oh well. Let's find our way to the headquarters. I want to get the scolding from the Colonel as soon as possible. I bet he has worked out some fine remarks about us sneaking away. Anyway, if we're not going to present ourselves at his office and he hears of our return, he'll send the whole army to drag us to him. I'd rather not undergo that humilitation."

Alphonse said nothing, but would have smiled nervously if it was possible.

"Edward-kun, Alphonse-kun. You are back?" greeted the usual strict First Lieutenant when they entered the huge, white building. "Where have you two been?"

"Oh, just checking a few things," Ed replied off-hand. "I heard Colonel Mustang has been transferred back to Central. How come?"

The face of the beautiful Lieutenant darkened slightly. "I think you'd better ask him that question yourself and let him decide whether it will be of any use to answer that." The two brothers exchanged a startled look. First Lieutenant Hawkeye might be stern, but never mysterious like that. Did something happen while they were gone?

"I'll show you the way to his new office," Hawkeye offered to break the uncomfortable silence that had developed after her statement. Ed nodded – what else could he do? Although he had been around Central long enough to know his way through the building, he had never been before in Mustang's new 'office', basically because the Flame Alchemist got transferred after he and Al were gone on their journey towards South.

"Colonel. Edward-kun and Alphonse-kun are back."

The Flame Alchemist stood with his face towards the window and did not turn around when Hawkeye had spoken. Edward felt a strange oppression between the two, an unspoken agreement that went above normal conversations. Something had definitely happened in Central. And didn't promise much good.

"Show them in." The words were carefully and clearly pronounced, with an artistically slow cadence. It was, Edward thought, a bad sign, since it mostly had to do with Mustang controlling his anger.

Hawkeye stepped aside to let the two brothers in and closed the door softly. Edward decided to try boldness instead of coming up with excuses and stepping around the subject. "I heard they finally got enough of you in the East, Colonel. Have they called you back so they can keep an eye on you. Oh, hello, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. I didn't know you were here as well. … Did I say something wrong?"

Both men had exchanged a questioning look before staring at him in amazement. Alphonse also gazed at him, expressionless as usual, but his voice gave away his astonishment. "Niisan, Hughes-san is not in this room."

"But…" started the confused Alchemist, looking at the presence of Lieutenant Colonel Hughes.

Mustang interrupted him. "Alphonse. Please leave us alone, will you? I'll call you when we're ready. Fullmetal and I need to talk to each other… privately." The reason was obvious, of course. Ed had not informed his direct superior of his actions and had asked others to remain quiet about it as well. Still, there was a tenseness in the Colonel voice that didn't quite fit.

"Uhm… Hai. I'll wait outside." Alphonse bowed slightly and left the room.

The boy and the two men waited silently. Finally, burning with curiosity, Edward demanded, "Alright, what's going on? Lieutenant Hawkeye acted strange when I asked about your transfer to Central, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is here, while I've never seen him here before and according to Al, he's not here at all." The question was incoherent, but that didn't matter. "I don't understand any of it!"

Mustang raised his hand before the small boy could continue. "You say you can see Commodore Hughes?"

"Who can't see him? He's plainly standing in my view." It took a bit longer for Ed to grasp the last two words. His golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you mean, Commodore Hughes? It was still Lieutenant Colonel Hughes when Al and I left, and I doubt anyone can receive two promotions at such short notice." He gazed up at the to older men, suddenly unsure of his own reason. "Right?" he added hesitantly.

The sun had suitably disappeared when they entered the graveyard. Both Mustang and himself had decided the best way to break the news to the young boy was to show him the stone on the graveyard. Alphonse would hear it of either his brother or someone else walking around in Central.

"What's the meaning of this, Colonel?" the golden-haired boy demanded angrily, though Hughes noticed that Edward was only trying to hide his fright behind a mask of annoyance.

Mustang didn't reply, simply pointed at the gravestone that decorated a fresh grave. Apprehensively, Edward approached towards Hughes' final resting place and read what was written on the stone. Blood drained visibly from his face as he slowly became aware of the meaning of the words.

"Nonsense! This can't be true!" The young Alchemist turned around, trembling violently. "This has to be a joke!"

Mustang shook his head. "It's not a joke," he stated matter-of-factly. "Commodore Hughes is truly dead." He glanced up at the shimmering spectre. "You can always ask him, I suppose."

Edward stared at them, first at Mustang then at Hughes, shock written all over his face. "I don't believe this," he declared. "I don't believe any of this. It has to be a joke, it has to be! It can't be true!!!" He turned around and ran away, stumbling now and then over unseen obstacles.

"Edward!!!" Mustang called after him. For as far as Hughes knew, it was the first time his friend called the young boy by his first name. He began to move as well, with the intention to go after the boy, but Hughes held him back.

"Let him alone. He needs some time alone. But he'll come around, I'm sure of it. And if he doesn't, I don't think you'll be the right person to calm him down. You'd better sent Lieutenant Hawkeye, or maybe Gracia." Hughes noticed Mustang glared at him. "It's nothing personal," he hastily assured. "It's more that women have more experience with comforting children." He watched the golden figure disappear. "We sometimes tend to forget they are children as well."

Mustang didn't reply, but turned back to the gravestone. There hung a comfortable silence between the two of them; words were not needed. They both thought of the same thing, but it was Mustang who finally raised the point. "If Fullmetal can see you as well… does this mean he's involved in this case as well, whatever it is?"

Hughes shrugged helplessly. "How should I know? I know just as much about this as you do and I can't look into the future."

"You were doing a pretty good job the last time," his friend commented wryly.

"That wasn't me." The former intelligence officer frowned. "I think we can trust Edward to handle himself when it gets dangerous, like we both can. What concerns me most at the moment, though, is Alicia's safety. Until we know for sure she has no role in this game, she is in danger as well and she won't be able to protect herself. And I don't think we should neglect the thought that she is going to be part of it all as well."

Mustang nodded slowly. "What do you want me to do?"

"Protect her, Roy. Whenever you can, I beg you, protect her."

Deep in silence, the two friends moved solemnly through the darkened streets of Central. Mustang watched how people hurried back home, how children waved goodbye to each other and how one by one the lights were turned one. The sight of it was domestical and strangely calming down. It allowed him to think about the previous events.

So Fullmetal was drawn in this case as well. He could have known it, of course. The eldest of the Elric brothers had a natural gift for meddling into adult's business and attracting problems like a magnet. Maybe it had been a mistake to allow the boy to became a State Alchemist, although Mustang doubted it would have done any good. At least he could keep an eye on them now. It was perhaps scant comfort, but comfort all the same.

And then there was this promise he had made to Hughes. Although he could understand his friend's reasons and it was clear that Hughes himself would be unable to shield his daughter from any harm, he nonetheless didn't like the idea of becoming the champion of a little girl. Children were perhaps alright, but what did he know of them?

A more nagging reason why he didn't like this arrangement was that he would be forced to go to Hughes' house… and face Gracia and Alicia. Yes, he was afraid of them, afraid of what they might think of him. Hughes would support him until the end and had, in a manner of speaking, died for him. It had been all his fault in the first place and the guilt made it impossible to look them straight in the eyes.

Unconsciously, or perhaps deliberately, they had come to the house where the mourning widow and fatherless child lived. Mustang stopped, gazing at the door, at the lights that shone through the windows. Looking at it from his safe spot, it seemed as if nothing had happened, as if everything was still the same. He used to visit them often when he was still in Central. The sight of the house was still the same as so many times before. But no matter how much it looked the same, it was different.

"Did you want to visit Gracia?" Hughes asked quietly. "You can do that, if you want. I can stay outside."

Mustang looked away from the familiar sight and shook his head slightly. "No, I wouldn't know what to say. Besides, she's not expecting me at the moment. I'll come another time."

"You know it's alright to visit her without sending a note. You're always welcome, just like before."

"Perhaps," he replied after a long silence. "Perhaps you're right. But… like I said, I wouldn't know what to say to her."

The door opened and Sciezska stepped outside. Mustang took involuntarily a few steps back, emerging himself with the surrounding darkness. If Gracia saw him, he was forced to walk to her and even worse, to talk to her. He was definitely not yet ready for that.

"Come again soon," the familiar voice said.

"I will, Gracia-san. Bye bye, Alicia-chan."

The door was closed again and Mustang sighed relieved. The worst part was over… or so he thought. Sciezska had seen them – or rather, seen him – and her face set on an angry expression. She moved quickly towards them, nearly running, until she stood right before him.

"How dare you to show your face up here? Haven't you caused enough pain yet? Heh, I see you're frightened to pay a visit to Gracia-san. Why else would you hide in the darkness? Only taking the opportunity to raise in ranks, do you?" The woman was obviously outraged and she stressed her incoherent little speech by waving with her arms in front of his face.

Although quite a few things hurt him deeply, he kept his face neutral. When she finally paused to catch her breath again, he replied coldly, "You don't know what you are talking about. You are clearly greatly upset about Hughes' death, but as I have said before, there is very little I can do."

"You don't even want to consider it," she snapped at him. She began to dug in her bag, pulling out one book after another and pushed them in his hands. "These were the books he had been researching before he died. If you have any honour left, you investigate this in the name of your friend, though I doubt you even know the word honour. Now, excuse me." Disdainfully, she walked away, as if the Colonel's presence offended her.

"Spirited young woman," Mustang muttered, glancing at the pile of books in his arms. "Is there anything in these books I don't know yet?"

"Well, I already told you what I discovered, but it might be very well possible that there's something in it I missed." Hughes sounded slightly surprised and he glanced down at his own body. "You know, having her standing at exactly the same place as where I stand is the most weirdest thing I've ever experienced."

"Can you please be serious?"

"Sorry. But it's true."

"It's disgusting."

Hughes laughed. "Do you want me to carry a couple of books?"

"No, thanks. I wonder if you're even able to carry them and besides, people tend to get nervous when they start to see books floating through the air. Let's go to my house to get rid of those books and then back to the headquarters. I need Fullmetal more or less coherent and he needs to understand the situation we're in."

TBC