Living on Borrowed Time

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Author's note: I hope I didn't butcher Ed's character too badly, I've never written for him before. I'm not crazy about how Mustang came out in this chapter, but his behavior should make sense in the next chapter. 

Chapter 14 – Unwilling Help

"Why are you talking to a tree?" Mustang knew who it was before he turned around. Upon turning around (and looking down) his eyes confirmed his fear. Edward Elric stared up at him with one eyebrow cocked. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I-I'm fine…I was just—thinking out loud." Mustang replied quickly.

"Okay…" Ed said, not completely convinced. Mustang averted his eyes and glanced back up the hill toward Hawkeye's grave, anything to escape Ed's embarrassing gaze.

Ed mistook Mustang's body language, and thought he was thinking about Hawkeye's death. "I'm sorry about what happened to Lieutenant Hawkeye…she was a good person."

Mustang was surprised at Ed's sympathy, but took it sincerely. "Yeah, she is." He replied, his anger at her boiling down to barely a simmer.

Ed noticed Mustang's use of "is", but tried to ignore it. The Colonel had been through a lot, surely he just hadn't quite got over the shock. "I heard you were there when she died." Mustang nodded, his mood plunging from anger to sadness. Despite Hawkeye's spirit barely 3 feet from him, the memories of that morning were still disturbing. He nodded to Ed's statement and Ed continued, "Do you know who killed her? Could it have been Scar?"

"No, she was shot. That's not really Scar's way of doing things. I've got a few leads on her murders, but nothing I can look into until I get a new first lieutenant." Roy replied.

"What about Lieutenant Havoc? Wasn't he promoted?" Ed asked.

"No, it's really important that I get just the right person to help me on this assignment." Mustang replied, giving Ed a small smile. The smile unnerved Ed just a touch. 'I hope he doesn't mean me.' He thought nervously. It wasn't that he didn't want to catch Hawkeye's killers. Hawkeye had been a kind person…even if she had a habit of siding with the Colonel. For the most part, he didn't want to take part in a crazy revenge plan for someone he didn't know that well…besides, if Hawkeye's killers to get to her, what chance did he have?

"You know…I could actually use your help." Mustang said. Ed's eyes widened.

"I don't know about that…you know me and Al are going to head out tomorrow night to look at a lead over in the west—I really can't come with you—" Ed started.

"Who said anything about coming with me? I just want you to look at something for me."

Ed couldn't help but cock an eyebrow, "What exactly is it you want me to do?"

"We'll discuss that later…can you drop by my apartment tonight, say eight-ish?"

Ed was still a little freaked out by the Colonel's bizarre behavior. Not only did his behavior seem out of character for him, but out of character for the Lieutenant's funeral. Ed couldn't help but wonder if the Lieutenant's death had finally made him go completely nuts. Either way, Ed wasn't really sure he wanted to be alone with the Colonel. "I don't know Colonel, I've really got to—"

"I could order you to come." Mustang reminded him. After studying his face for a moment Ed realized that there wasn't really a way out of this. Well if he agreed, he could at least bring Alphonse along in case things got too weird. Reluctantly Ed nodded and said, "I guess I'll see you around 8 then." Ed turned on his heel and made his way up to the grave to gather Al.

"Oh and Ed," Mustang called after him, "Don't bring Alphonse."

Ed's skin crawled. 'That man knows just how to get under my skin.'