Chapter 4: Bringing Back the Past
The next morning, Al came to breakfast looking especially eager. "Now that I'm a State Alchemist, when can I go to Headquarters and get my brother's old reports?"
Mustang had to grin at the boy's determination. "First of all, you are not a State Alchemist yet. As I said last night, the results will not be finalized until later today. Second, it will take some time for me to pull up all of Edward's files. Therefore, I ask that you wait until tomorrow to begin your search."
"Tomorrow?" Al asked, obviously disappointed.
"You waited this long for that information, I'm sure you can handle another twenty-four hours. However, tomorrow I will spend the day with you, and answer any questions you might have." He looked at him carefully, and added, "I have a lot to tell you, Alphonse."
As he said he would, Mustang spent the day tracking down and retrieving all of Ed's reports, as well as anything else relating to him. He had to pull a few strings to obtain some of the more sensitive information, such as that pertaining to the Fifth Laboratory incident, and other stuff was simply buried in the system because it was either obscure or years in the past, and sometimes both. On top of all that, Mustang was battling the worst headache he had in weeks, and even taking extra aspirin seemed to do little to ease the pain.
By the end of the day, however, Mustang was somewhat surprised at all the information he was able to gather. Ed had been in the army for less than four years and had already accumulated more files than most people did in their entire military careers. Of course, Ed usually managed to attract an amazing amount of trouble wherever he went. Mustang looked at the tall stacks of papers and figured it would take Al at least a week to go through all that information.
Before he went home that day, Mustang made sure to pick up the mechanical toy Al made for his practical exam from the State Alchemist Office. He also requested Al's silver pocket watch, granted to those who became State Alchemists. He figured Al would appreciate receiving it tonight, rather than waiting until tomorrow morning.
When Mustang came home, Al was back to sitting on the couch in the living room. He was pouring over what had to be the official results of his exam, as they were delivered to each remaining candidate earlier that day.
"I see you are now officially a State Alchemist, Alphonse," Mustang said, putting down Al's mechanical toy on the coffee table. "You should know that you were the only one who passed this year."
Al's eyes grew wide in amazement. "Really?"
He nodded once before changing the subject. "Normally you would wait until tomorrow to receive this, but I assumed you might want it as soon as possible." He reached into his pocket and took out Al's silver watch, then handed it to the boy. "Congratulations, Alphonse, now you too are a dog of the military."
Al looked over the watch carefully. "Anything to get my brother back," he said without looking up.
While they were eating dinner that night, Mustang noticed Al fidgeting, obviously stalling on something.
"So, um, how did you get that scar?" Al finally asked.
"For right now I will tell you that I was shot in the face, which resulted in a minor stroke. Once you find out more about your past, however, I will tell you what only one other person in the world knows." Mustang watched as Al's eyes widened in surprise, and added, "In a way it does concern you, Alphonse."
The next morning Al rode with Mustang to Headquarters. When they arrived at Mustang's office, he indicated for Al to sit down at one of the desks closest to his own, then started bringing out the vast amounts of information he collected the day before.
"This should get you started," Mustang said handing a file to Al. "This is Edward's State Alchemist profile. When you're done with that, you can start on the individual reports Edward filed on the various assignments you two went on. Those reports are fairly straightforward accounts of what happened on each trip, but I figure it will give you a good idea of what you two did during the years Edward was a State Alchemist. If you need anything clarified, feel free to ask."
Al was already on the second page of Ed's profile when Mustang was done speaking. Which was fine with him, since Al had lots and lots and lots of reading to do. The report files themselves would probably take Al the rest of the week, and probably some of the next week, as well.
Once Mustang put the report files in easy reach of where Al was sitting, he went back to his own business. It wasn't long before he noticed Al put down his reading and dug around for another file, obviously looking for some bit of information to help him piece things together in his mind.
"You know, Alphonse," he finally said during Al's third search. "You can ask me anything you want. It would be easier than digging through all that information." It would also be a great way to avoid his own work, but Mustang didn't mention that part.
"Um, okay." He looked down at his original file and read for a second before continuing. "It says here that my brother bought the mine in Youswell, then gave it back to the town. How did he manage to buy a mine?"
"He managed to acquire the mine at no cost. Somewhere in that stack should be a receipt detailing the sale. As to how he managed to get the mine for free, I figure he bribed the military officials who were in charge into signing away the mine for free."
"Then how did he get the money to bribe the officials?"
Mustang let out a smirk. "Knowing Edward, he probably transmuted enough money for the bribe, then changed it back to its original form when no one was looking."
Al blinked, and then replied, "Yeah, that sounds like something he would do."
That afternoon, someone from the State Alchemist Office came in and handed Mustang a thin file. He took it, skimmed it, and smirked at the contents. The second name was perfect for Al, in the very same ironic way Full Metal was perfect for Edward. He then called the younger brother over to his desk. "This is your title as a State Alchemist," he said as he handed the folder to Al.
"Full Body Alchemist?"
"It's fitting, in its own way. Then again, second names always fit the alchemist; it's just a matter of how it fits. Of course, the fact that you are Full Metal's brother probably had something to do with it."
Al continued reading the file for a moment, and then looked up. "Yes, it does fit. I like this name, and I'm sure my brother will too."
As expected, Al wanted to stay late at the office, in order to read as much as he could of Ed's reports. Mustang knew the boy would sit there all night reading if he let him. Unfortunately, at least for Al, staying at the office all night was more than Mustang was willing to give. He hated the place as much as it was, and besides, staying that long might just bore him enough to work on stuff not due for several days, and that went completely against his motto of 'If it's not due now, why bother with it?'
Finally Mustang got up from his desk and stood next to Al. "It is getting late, so be prepared to leave soon."
Al looked up from his reading. "Can I take some of this home so I can read it there?"
"If I let you do that you would just stay up all night reading. You are very determined, Alphonse, but you must also realize when to take a break."
Al's face fell, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Mustang continued, his voice firm.
"You do realize you have been doing absolutely nothing but reading and studying for the past four months, and now you want to push yourself even harder and have this all read within a few days. That is not only unadvisable, but also most likely impossible." He lowered his voice before continuing. "You can hardly do anything for your brother when you've collapsed from exhaustion."
"All right," Al replied with a little sigh. He closed up the folder he was reading and put it on top of a nearby stack.
"Let's go. You can start again tomorrow morning." He then waited for Al to get up and put on his coat, and then guided him out of the office.
Al continued going through the files and reports for the rest of the week. As he said he would, Mustang kept himself in the office to answer Al's questions as best he could. Of course, that meant he couldn't wander out with some flimsy excuse to avoid work, and he noted that Lieutenant Hawkeye seemed a bit too pleased with that.
After a few days, Al started asking about the Fifth Laboratory reports. Instead of answering those questions, however, Mustang would only say that they would talk about it later. He noticed this only made the boy more curious, but Al would simply frown a little and go back to reading.
A few days later Al looked like he had finished with everything, since instead of reading he seemed to be going back through stuff and checking things. "Have you gone through all the information I gave you?" Mustang asked when it was time to leave.
"Yeah," he replied, putting down the file he was holding.
"Was this any help in recovering your lost memories?"
Al paused before answering. "Yeah, it helped, since now I know what went on during the years my brother was a State Alchemist. But it doesn't seem real, in a way. It's like I'm reading about someone else's life. None of this stuff tells me what I was thinking or feeling at the time, only the basics of what happened."
Mustang frowned, seeing how frustrated and upset Al was. "Finding out the basics of what happened during your lost years is only the first step, Alphonse. Your brother will help you recover your feelings and emotions during that time, since he was always with you." He let Al think about that for a moment, then added, "Let's go home. There are some things I want to tell you that are not in those reports."
That night after dinner, Mustang sat down in the living room with a cup of coffee, and motioned for Al to sit across from him on the couch. After they were settled, he took a sip of coffee and decided to start things off lightly. Lightly compared to everything else, he mused.
"When I first talked to your brother, I made both you and him get on an earlier train going to Central. I'm sure you read a report on what happened on that train ride, how two young alchemists, one short and the other in a suit of armor, stopped the terrorists that were threatening the General. What the report didn't say is that I figured the terrorists were on that train, and I had a feeling they would attack. So, I purposely made you get on that train so that you could stop the terrorists, and show the General just how good your alchemy was. Once he saw your talents, I knew he would allow you two to take the national exam, despite being children."
Al stared at him in shock. "Wait, so you planned all that? How could you-I mean, you made us get on that train, and you put all those people in danger, so that we could take the test?"
Mustang let out a smirk. "You know, that's probably what Edward was thinking when I told him. Think of it this way, Alphonse. You and your brother did an excellent job of stopping the terrorists, so you actually prevented any more injuries. Besides, it really was a convenient way of showing off your talents to those who would allow you to take the exam."
He sipped his coffee as he waited for Al to digest all that. "How much did you read about the Fifth Laboratory incident?" he finally asked.
Al shook his head before answering. "Well, I read that there were secret military experiments going on there, most of them illegal. Some had to do with chimeras, some had to do with bodiless armor, like I used to be, but most importantly they were trying to create the Philosopher's Stone. Then the people involved with the Fifth Laboratory either died or disappeared, like someone was trying to cover it all up."
Mustang nodded. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes gathered all that information together. However, then he started to piece it all together. He figured out who was behind the entire Fifth Laboratory project. Unfortunately, he was killed before he could let anyone know." He felt the old anger and sadness start to rise, but quickly squashed it before continuing. "Do you know what a homunculus is, Alphonse?"
"I read somewhere that they were man-made creatures that looked like humans, except they didn't have a soul. Then in the reports I read, there were several mentions of an assassin group called Homunculus."
"Yes, they were man-made creatures without a soul. The reason the assassin group was called Homunculus was because that's what they were."
"You mean, actual man-made humans?"
Mustang nodded again. "Every time a human transmutation fails, a homunculus is born. That creature has similar characteristics of the original human, but none of their memories, and of course no soul. There were several of them running around, infiltrating the government. They were the ones who murdered Hughes because he got too close. One was even running the country. Their purpose was to force enough despair upon the world, so that eventually someone would create the Philosopher's stone. Edward said that the stone was eventually made, although I do not know the details about that."
"Why would they want to create the Philosopher's stone?"
"Someone was controlling them, but for what reason I don't know. What I do know is that your brother went to confront that person. After that he disappeared."
"What happened to the homunculus?"
"I believe they were all killed." Mustang paused for a second in thought. "No, I know one survived, a child of sorts. The Rockbells equipped him with automail since he was missing an arm and a leg. After that, however, he ran off never to be heard from again. As for the others, I would imagine you and Edward killed them." He paused again. "Except for one. That one I killed myself."
Al looked at him in shock.
"The former leader of our country, Fuehrer Bradley, was a homunculus. He was the one that lead this country into needless, destructive wars, just to force people to create the Philosopher's stone out of despair. Maes Hughes got too close to this truth, so he was killed." His voice grew darker. "Because of that, I had to destroy him. I didn't care what happened to me afterwards. That thing had to be stopped immediately before he could create any more suffering. So on the same night that your brother disappeared, I sneaked into his mansion with the help of Lieutenant Hawkeye, and attacked him once he was alone. He almost killed me, but in the end I wiped his existence from the Earth. That's why all the reports say Bradley ran away or disappeared. When I was through with him, there wasn't even a body left of that monster."
Mustang paused, realizing his fists were tightly clenched. He released them before continuing. "When I left the mansion, I was shot by one of Bradley's minions. That's why I have this scar. If it weren't for the Lieutenant coming and killing him before he pulled the trigger again, I would've been dead." He looked at Al very closely. "You are only the third person to know what actually happened in that mansion on that night. I ask you to take that secret with you to the grave. Do not even talk to your brother about it."
Al, stunned by what he had heard, could only slowly nod his head.
Mustang took another sip of coffee before continuing. "I will tell you one other thing, Alphonse. Your brother and I never got along, and I am partly to blame for that. You and I, however, never really got a chance to know each other very well. Most of my attention was focused on Edward, since he was the one under my command. That didn't leave me much time for you, and you were the quieter one to begin with." He paused. This wasn't supposed to be this hard. Finally he looked at Al and said, "I did not pay enough attention to you, and for that I am sorry."
There was silence as he watched Al react to what he said. First there was some surprise, then confusion, and finally thoughtfulness.
"I don't remember how you treated me, but it couldn't have been too bad," Al finally said. "Ever since I came here you've been helping me get back my lost memories. Now that I know what happened, I feel like I'm closer to finding my brother. I'm thankful for what you've done for me, and even though I don't know the specifics, I'm sure you helped us a lot in the past, too.
Mustang felt himself relax, and found himself smiling at Al. Things were going to be a little bit easier between them from now on.