All Eras Must End

Chapter 1: Maes Hughes and Alia Farman

Eric sat back in his seat on the train, holding onto the rest so he wouldn't jolt so much from the rocking of the vehicle. Raine was sitting next to him chewing on something or the other as usual, pushing her blonde hair out of her blue eyes. Eric sighed and watched as his breath fogged up the window and the bleakness of the sky and land disappeared into a whiteness, then reappeared again. Eric had never seen snow, snow or sunshine. All he had ever seen was this weather condition that could only be described as perpetually dead.

He saw military men hustling around on the ground further down, and his stomach knotted in fear. What if they were searching for him and Raine? He looked at Raine again and discovered that she had nodded off to sleep, a piece of straw still dangling from her mouth. 'She must look like her grandpa,' Eric thought before leaning back into his seat again. He had managed to get an address book for East City from one of the passengers on the train and flipped throughthe 'M's feverishly.

His finger went down the page and abruptly stopped, his amber eyes sliding over to Raine. "Raine!" he whispered, not wanting to garner any attention from the other passengers. "Raine!" He whispered more urgently. Raine twitched in her sleep and opened one sleepy blue eye. "What, Eric?" she asked. She was the younger of the two, only ten years old while Eric was two years her senior.

"I found him; that man, Joaquin Mustang!" Raine shifted and looked at the book where his finger pointed. "That's a funny name... Joaquin. Jo-a-quin," she said, pronouncing the 'J'. "J is silent, Raine, you say it like... Yo-a-quin."

"Oh, okay. So is there any information on him?" she asked.

Eric read the column next to it. "It says here he's eighteen years old, froma foreign country. He lives with two other people, a nineteen year old named Maes Hughes II, and Maes's wife Alia Farman. This seems odd to me, because the address he's listed under is obviously the Mustang Family Mansion. So wouldn't the other two be living with him, and shouldn't he be a native of Amestris?" Raine shrugged and thought. "I guess so, but we're not in the position to ask questions..."

Eric nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It says here that he holds a very high place in the country of Rivant, which must be where he's from, and he's got family in high places. He's also a First-Born..."

"But that's bad, Eric... if he's First-Born, won't he try to turn us in?"

"We don't have any choice, Raine, we have to go see him. First-Born or not. Now get your bag, we're at East City." Raine picked up her bag obediantly and Eric handed the address book back to the man he had borrowed it from, shouldering his own bag. They departed from the train and stood in the station surrounded by hundreds of people. Raine froze, clutching Eric's hand tightly. "There are so many First-Borns, Eric..." Eric squeezed her hand and took a few steps forward. "It's okay; if we just blend in we won't be stopped."

They walked as quickly as they could from the station, hearts pounding all the way. "Where did the book say Mr.Joaquin lived?" Raine asked Eric, chewing harder at the straw. "It said he lived in a mansion on the outskirts of town; shouldn't be very hard to find."

Maes Hughes II stopped abruptly when he heard that end of the conversation, and he tapped Alia's shoulder gently. She turned and looked him in the eyes, and then back to where his eyes were tilted. Alia shook her head and Maes frowned, going to a phone booth and dialing a number. It rang four times and someone picked up, a voice that was deep and a bit gruff. "Hello?"

"Joaquin, it's Maes."

"What's up, Maes? Did you spot trouble?"

"I'm not exactly sure; there are two kids looking for your mansion."

"Guess on their ages."

"I'd say the girl is somewhere between eight to eleven, the boy could be anywhere from ten to fourteen."

"I don't think that's trouble... if it is, then I'll have no choice but to torch them both."

"You won't act too quickly, Joaquin?"

"I won't, I never do."

"Good, keep yourself safe, Joaquin."

A snort from the other end. "Me? I'm worried more about you and Alia; Alia especially." Maes nodded.

"You like Alia, eh?"

"Hey, if you like her first then I'll back off, Maes. Technically, you two are married."

"It was just a cover to bring her over here, you know that. It would have been too suspicious if you had married her, being the recluse that you are."

"I'm not a recluse, Maes, you know how much I hate being cooped up in here."

"Yes, it's quite a change from being the tactical commander for Rivant's army, isn't it?"

"It is, but I also find this a more worthy cause. You can't say Father wasn't eager to let me help, but Mother won't let him go. James was disappointed as well, Mother didn't let him either."

"Why not your old man?"

"Why? I dunno. The only reason I gotout at all was because Father distracted Mother for the entire night so I could escape. Suits me fine, but Mother's probably furious."

"I'd bet on that. You want to talk to Alia, Joaquin?"

"Sure; you sure about this Maes?"

"I told you, Joaquin, the only attachment I have to Alia is not of the intimate-lover type."

"If you say so, Maes. Alright, I'll talk. Oh, wait, on second thought... I'd better get the guys covered, so just come back will you? If those two are still in sight, escort them over here."

"Will do, Joaquin," Maes said, putting down the phone.

"Joaquin says to escort them down, Alia."

"Alright then, they're still getting lost so let's guide them." She walked up to Eric and put a hand on his shoulder gently. Eric jumped and whirled around, and Raine scampered behind him. "Hey, it's okay! Are you two looking for something?" she asked, trying to comfort them.

Eric stared at her for a moment, but then a shaking hand went to his pocket and retrieved a scrap of paper he had written on. She took it from him and read it. "Oh, you're looking for Joaquin... Maes and I will take you there." She signalled toMaes and he stood next to her, and Eric shot a glance to Raine, who nodded discreetly.

Maes started to walk to the western gate of East City, and Alia followed him. Eric looked at Raine, and Raine nodded again. "This is the best chance we've got, Eric."

Yay, four reviews! I'm not exactly sure what's spurring me to write this fic, but I like it so far. This takes place years after Halfmetal Alchemist, but you don't necessarily have to read that to enjoy this, because I'll fill in any knowledge gaps along the way. In fact, I shouldn't be writing this because thisgives some insight as to what will happen in Halfmetal Guardian, which hasn't even been posted on FFNet yet, so I guess this will contain some Halfmetal Alchemist, Halfmetal Guardian spoilers. This will actually contain a BIG spoiler for Roy and has already revealed a bit about Halfmetal, not much though.

-T A