Son and father entered the room.
"I'm tired." Grunted the younger slipping off his jacket.
"Tired already? We weren't even out for long" retorted the blonde and hung his jacke tonto the coat stand aswell.
"Al, how are you doing?" Ed asked stroding past his brother.
"I'm doing better. Don't worry." The younger retorted.
"Well." His father reached his palm out for his forhead to touch it. "It's still a little warm. I can not let you go to school already tomorrow, you might need another one or two days of rest."
Edward chuckeled. "As if that was so bad."
"Oh it is!" retorted Al. "I'll miss a lot again. I hate gathering all the things I missed when I was sick." Al stomped his foot.
"That's because you are weird. You should enjoy your time home. Just lazing around. No teachers to tell you what to do. Not nosy classmates." Ed chuckeled and cleaned an apple on his sleeve.
Al just gave him a somewhat weird look and wandered upstairs.
As Hohenheim took a seat he pulled out the piece of paper he had just obtained again. "Well then, let's see the next part of the rhyme."
Edward rolled his eyes. "This is getting annoying. We are just chasing after dead." He retorted taking a bite from his apple.
Hohenheim ignored his son's complaints and opened the paper.
"6 Alchemists living their life, one took his mouth too full, then they were only five."
"Not this leaves a lot of opportunities open." Sighed the elder and dropped his forehead onto his folded arms on the desk.
"They might just give you another hint here or there. You always managed to read between the lines, so you will manage to this time too." Ed retorted throwing what was left of his apple into the dustbin.
"I'll go take a nap, see you later."
"Yeah, do that." Hohenheim retorted putting the piece of paper away. "I'll put you to the others later on. A nap might do me some good too."
Slowly he shuffeled his feet over to the couch and thudded onto it. Just a minute after he fell asleep.
----
Hohenheim woke up to his phone ringing. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he dragged himself to answer the phone. "Damn." He grunted.
Just as he was about to answer it stopped ringing. Hohenheim slighty frustrated that he had gotten up for nothing decided it was time to prepare dinner and went on walking into the kitchen.
Passing through the hall and on to the kitchen he noticed the newspaper lying in front of the entrance door.
Even though he would usually ignore the daily news in which he could just read another family's drama or another political issue, this time he felt as if the newspaper was his only friend. Bending down he grabbed the newspaper. At the sight of the main headline he froze in his current state and remained sitting with his knees bent.
"Mysterious kidnapping – victim not found"
Touching his back in pain a little he got to his feet again holding the newspaper close to his face. "Mysterious they say?"
Hohenheim thumbed through the articles looking for the right page. "There it is." He murmured. Reading through it as fast as he could he suddenly dropped the newspaper back onto the floor and rushed into his office.
"Dr. Simmons, Dr. Simmons." He murmured repeatedly. His fingers brushed over a couple of books. Hysterically he threw one book after the other off his shelf onto the ground. "Where is it, where is it?"
Suddenly his finger rested on a emerald green book. "Hah, there it is."
He fetched the book off the shelf and took seat in his chair. Thumbing through it he suddenly threw the book ontot he table open at page 66. "Dr. Eric Simmons. Founder of the mental hospital. Right the man they needed. If I'm not mistaken-" his finger wandered through a couple of lines down to the end. The book was pretty thick so he skipped a couple of pages until he came across the name Marcher – Markus Marcher. "So it is indeed the same Dr. Simmons. The one who had worked with Marcher. Obviously they had to kill him too in order to cover up anything of their projects." He murmured.
Hastily he reached for the newspaper again. "Ransom has been arranged. Kidnappers say that he was burried somewhere and they have 24 hours to pay the ransom. Recent webcam broadcasts gave information about his whereabouts. It is assumed that he is burried underground in a glass coffin." He read.
"Alright, so you are my next dead Alchemist. Unless I find you in time. But where- where are you?"
----
Hohenheims tepped back out of his office and entered the living room. "Hey Alphonse, where is your brother?"
"He is up in his room." Explained Al laying aside the newspaper.
"Oh?"
"Yes, with a girl." Added the younger.
The tall blonde acted as though he had not heard the last statement and sat down on the couch reaching for the Newspaper once again.
Giving in to his curiousity though he could not help but walk upstairs pretending he had to "Get the laundry."
Quietly he climbed the stairs and walked past the brother's room by chance. Yes, by chance.
Stroding past the room Ed was in with a girl for the 3rd time he decided he needed to get the laundy out of this room too. Though the boys usually brought the clothes that needed washing outside on their own, today he felt like taking this burden off their shoulders.
Knocking and opening within a second he bursted inside the room.
Nothing happened. Noone jerking off the bed, no arranging clothes, no attempts to hide anything. Slightly dissappointed his father sighed. "What are you guys doing?"
"Project work." Cheered the girl.
"Oh, need help?"
"Y-" but the blonde girl interrupted him. "No thanks." She smiled gently at the tall male standing in the door.
"Alright." Retorted the elder and shut the door again. He felt as though Edward seemed slightly afraid of this girl. But what was there to be afraid of? She looked cute, she was pretty, and she was nice. Hohenheim scratched the back of his head. "You are just like me."
----
"So that was your father?" Rose asked twirling a hairstrand between her fingers.
"Yes." Graved the boy.
"He looks just like you."
Edward felt uneasy talking about his dad and found the physics book to be a lot more interesting and hid his face behind it.
"Why are you hiding that handsome face of yours?" she said ina sing-sang voice slowly pushing the book away.
Ed would have liked to keep it there stiffly but the girl would not let him.
The book dropped to the floor. His only shield was gone. She was still twirling her hair. "Just like this woman did with dad, no wonder he was like in trance." Edward told himself.
The girl came closer and closer, why the boy did not move, he wouldn't know. He just sat there, a thousand things roaming through his head, but not that his feet should move.
He felt her breath on his skin as warm lips pressed against his. Edward twitched a little. He was sure, if his dad would see him now, he would look as if all his muscles stiffened, like a snake biting his prey.
Though he had to admit he enjoyed the feeling, but receiving his first kiss, not counting the joked kiss back in his kindergarden days, from a girl he did not even really know. She was pretty, no arguing, but her personality was somewhat dominant. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it.
The boy suddenly pushed her away longing for air. "What's your last name?" he bursted out.
"What! I kissed you and you ask me that?" she retorted rather shocked he did not say anything along the lines of enjoying it.
"Yes yes I enjoyed it, but what is your last name? He said hastily.
"Huber, why?"
Ed's jaw dropped open. She was just like her mother. The woman that seduced his father. He felt better now. Yes indeed he did. He was weak against someone that was realted to a person that seduced his father already. A man that left his family every now and then without much heartache. He felt like a man after all, not a wimp.
"Must run in the family." He thought.
Taking advantage of the situation he kissed her again. He did not know why, but his feeling told him this girl would not come back if he screwed up now. Besides, when do you get to kiss a pretty girl alone in your room again anyways.
Though taking a close look, he reminded him of Winry.
"Was it Winry I imagined to kiss? Am I just kissing this girl so I do actually kiss someone so I will not have to worry as to how to react when I do get to kiss someone else, someone I really want to?"
He pushed her away once again.
"Say, what's the matter?" she inquired a little annoyed.
"Nothing. I just think…we are done with physics for today. I've still got some stuff to do. I'll call you up later."
Pushing her down into the hall he waved good bye once again and slammed the door shut.
Yes, the seducing evil was outside now.
Looking rather amused he strode back into the kitchen. He felt good, yes indeed he did. He did not give in, he stood his man and made things clear. "Wait, I didn't." his head thudded onto the desk.
"Dad, hand me the phone please." The younger lamented.
Puzzled his father reached for the receiver and handed it to the younger.
----
Hohenheim sighed deeply. He was waiting for Roy to pay him a visit again. They had like 10 hours left to find Dr. Simmons." He had wasted most of the time sneeking around his elder son. "How pathetic." He grunted shifting in his seat.