Lieutenant General Maes Hughes sat at his desk staring out the window thinking intently. On top of his desk lay open a folder. Inside the folder were the results of Hohenheim Elrics research. His research included attempting to rid a being of evil, a being that was said to be soulless. His results proved to be inconclusive since the test subject disappeared with out a trace and Hohenheim seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.

"Wait you can't just walk in here? Who do you think you are?" He heard his secretary from the other side of the door.

"Get out of my way now!" Hughes stood up quickly knocking his chair over in the process. That voice was undoubtedly… The door swung open to reveal none other than Edward Elric. Hughes smiled slightly to himself. How fortunate.

"Edward Elric. We meet again." He said extending his hand in a shake. Ed accepted and smiled somewhat.

"Hey Major." He greeted. Hughes shook his head slightly and pointed proudly to his lapel.

"Lieutenant General, so what brings about this unexpected visit?" He asked sitting down at his desk again. Ed walked over to the desk and glanced quickly at the papers that were there. Hughes hurriedly swept them back into the folder and placed it in his desk drawer.

"I have a few questions that I was wondering you could answer." Ed said after their gazes met again.

"Well then shoot away and maybe I'll be able to answer them for you." Hughes said sitting back and folding his hands.

"My father did some research a few years back for the military, I was wondering what it entailed." Ed said choosing his words carefully.

"You do know Edward that if your father even did anything for the military I couldn't tell you anything. Here's a thought, why don't you ask you father himself?" Hughes asked smugly.

"My father passed away a couple of years back." Ed replied feeling uneasy.

"Sorry to hear that, my sympathy and apologies. Still I can not release any information to you if there is any." Hughes said not sure whether to believe Ed or not. Hughes office door swung open again as a soldier bolted in saluting quickly.

"Sir the General requests your presence immediately." The officer said. Hughes sighed and nodded.

"Sorry to cut this short Edward but looks like we'll have to cut our visit short." Hughes said standing. Ed nodded.

"I'll see myself out." He said following close behind Hughes.

"Don't worry sister, brother will deliver." Al soothed. Sierra sighed and pulled her large brimmed hat down further over her face.

"I hope so. Alphonse look!" Sierra said pointing to Ed as he exited the headquarters building. He glanced up at them quickly and gave thumbs up sign.

"Well that's our cue. Shall we?" Alphonse asked standing up. Sierra nodded and sucked in her breath.

"Please be careful sister. Just remember Ed will be around if you get into serious trouble." Al said as they walked towards the back of the building.

"Don't worry. I'll deliver." She said running around to the front of the building and took off her hat flinging it in the air.

"Hey you murderous bastards, here I am!" Sierra yelled at the officers whom were guarding the entrance. Sierra hitched her dress up some and ran away quickly.

"That's the prisoner who escaped! Sound the alarms! Don't let her get away!" An officer yelled and ran after her while another blew on a whistle. Al smiled to himself and ran towards the door.

'It's so convenient that they label all the doors. Let's see here Lieutenant General Maes Hughes. That's the guy Ed was talking about.' Al thought to himself. He looked down at the rock that Ed had dropped upon leaving in case the door had been locked. Al walked in quickly and went to the desk. Hurriedly he searched through the drawers trying not to disturb anything. He grabbed the folder and flipped through it quickly.

"This must be it." He said softly to himself closing it and placing it in the briefcase he had brought along with him.

"Halt boy!" An officer said as he entered the room. Alphonse gasped and looked up. Slowly he edged closer to the window.

"I said halt!" He yelled as he drew his gun.

"Sorry but I don't think so." Al replied and jumped out, thankfully it was open. It was however on the second story. Al braced himself for impact praying he wouldn't land on his head. The impact on the grass knocked the wind out of him forcefully and he knew his arm was snapped in half but despite these two things Alphonse got to his feet and ran. His lungs burned as he desperately tried to get oxygen but to no avail. His eye sight began to get dark and he could see stars forming in front of him.

'No! I'm so close to the train station! I have to make it, for sister, for brother, for myself. They'll kill me if I get captured!' He thought frantically as the station loomed into view.

More soldiers alerted others as they chased Sierra down the streets. For the most part Ed took care of some of them but there were so many. He had decided to run ahead and board the train to help Al and Sierra on after it took off. If worse came to worse he would have to jump off and go find them. He hated putting them in danger like that but he had faith in Alphonse to pull it off and hoped Sierra could as well. He went to the back of the train and leaned against the railing as the train began to pull away.

"Come on guys. Where are you? If we stay here we're screwed." He said aloud. Sierra came into view with Alphonse close behind her looking worse for wear.

"Sierra, Al!" Ed yelled extending both his hands out. Sierra looked back to see Alphonse struggling, nearly tripping over his feet. She slowed momentarily and grabbed him by the hand pulling him along behind her. She reached her other hand to Edward as she desperately tried to pick up speed as the train gained momentum.

"E-E-Edward!" Sierra managed to yell out to him. Ed reached as far over the railing as he could nearly touching her fingertips.

"Damn it come on Sierra!" Ed yelled. Sierra shut her eyes tightly ignoring the pain the shot through her body and lunged forward knowing well their chances of getting on the train were slim and the possibility of smashing her face on the rail road tracks was the greatest possibility. Ed gasped as Sierra jumped, looked more like she tripped just enough for him to grab onto her hand. He quickly grabbed Al's arm and pulled them both on board. They gasped for air noisily and laid side by side each other still holding hands.

How was that? I know not enough to satiate the hunger a few of you expressed for hearing about Maes being in this chapter but rest assured it will get better. Until next time……