-.-.-.-.-. notes -.-.-.-.-.-.-

I do not own FMA, nor do I wish to.

I posted this on my phone, let's see how it turns out.

italics are inside thoughts.

-.-.-.-.-. story -.-.-.-.-.-.-

Mustang had managed to get himself kidnapped and no one was telling Ed what the terms of release were. Which was really strange and a bit annoying. How was she, the only other Alchemist on this team, supposed to save his dumb ass if no one told her the kidnappers' demands? Moments later, she went from annoyed to uneasy when Feury arrived late and was given the demands. Then immediately asked if she had a sister or a female cousin, if there was a female Elric. She was really going to have to find out what those demands were. It took her a few tries, but it wasn't until Hawkeye stepped out for a moment during their planning that Ed was able to trick the guys into leaving the list in her view.

It surprised her. First, it wasn't really a list. Just one item. Second, it was her. Her secret. A female Elric.

What the hell was this? Who were these kidnappers? How did they know of a female Elric? Her brain kicked into high gear. Who would know her as a woman? Who would want her instead of Mustang? Why not just kidnap her to begin with? Though, she was almost always with Al, and Mustang was inclined to walk alone at night. So that brought her back to who would know her secret. It could simultaneously be no one and everyone. If someone had followed her too closely they might have been able to figure it out, which would have to be the case because she knew that neither Al nor Winry would have said anything to anyone. Skip that.

So since it'd be impossible to guess about potential stalkers, she'd focus on why. Why would someone use Mustang to get to her? She was supposed to be the hero of the people, did she offend someone in her travels? Yes, probably. You can't please everyone so that was likely.

Ed copied the contact number and retreated to a corner of the table. She was going to start a list of locations where she hadn't been able to save everyone, where people had died. Then she'd make a list of locations she'd felt exposed and cross reference.

When she was done there were three places. So she went and grabbed her case notes from those missions, looking for lost families, or wronged siblings, jilted lovers. But each mission summary she read had something or somewhere that she had messed up and nothing stood out as a specific problem. It could be any of them.

Maybe Al would know. She grabbed her notes and ran from the room, the others didn't need to hear her discoveries just yet. And if she used the phones in the hallway she could call internally to their dorm room.

It turned out, Al did remember something extra. She read each case to him and he reminded her about the MacHale family that had lost their mother, leaving a father with a family of sons.

Ed didn't tell her brother the full purpose of her call, that these people were after her, just that they probably had Mustang. No need to worry him about her secret being exposed while they'd been on that case. She remembered with his prompting that it had been her birthday before everything had gone to hell and he'd been happily singing happy birthday to her at the cafe during breakfast and he might have used her real name. She'd never spoken up about that last part, it'd been an accident and she wasn't even sure if he'd noticed, so she as hell wasn't going to tell him about it now.

Ed thanked her brother and hung up. She still had no idea why they wanted her, but that was a problem for later. She arrived back in the office and under the suspicious gaze of Hawkeye, gathered her coat from the rack and left. She was two steps out the door before Havoc followed her.

"Chief! Ed! Wait! Hawkeye says you're not allowed to trade yourself."

Ed stopped, her head turned in disbelief. "Do you all know?"

At least he had the common sense to look guilty about it. "Hawkeye told everyone when the demands came in. We can't risk one life for another. You know the General wouldn't allow it."

"It doesn't matter. I've already got my brother back, my missions are done. We need Flame Brain back to 'lead the country into a new world' as everyone keeps saying."

"Ed. No. I can't let you leave."

She snorted, "Well i don't know how you think you can stop me."

"Ed!"

She turned to leave and heard Havoc's footsteps approaching. Ed pushed herself sideways, using the wall to launch upward and back, flipping neatly over his head. He clearly hadn't been expecting her to initiate anything and when Ed's arm wrapped around his neck he barely put up a fight as she blocked his windpipe, intending to knock him out without any injuries. She didn't even wait for him to be fully unconscious and left him carefully laid out and catching his breath on the floor, then took off running out of the building. She had to set up the trade quick before they figured out a way to detain her.

The phone call was easy. She could hear Mustang swearing in the background so obviously he was still alive. They gave their location, time, and terms. 21:00, the old warehouse on Railway ave., and if anyone came with her they'd shoot him. Easy enough, she agreed and rang off. She needed to get ready and head out, deciding on a simple dress and her signature cloak. The dress to look feminine since they were expecting a woman, the cloak so it didn't look strange that she was wearing Mustang's gloves. Hopefully his Highness was conscious for this or her whole plan was going to hell.

She set out at 19:00, hiding the gloves and telling Al she was having an evening out with Riza. Not technically a lie since she was sure that at this very moment Hawkeye was waiting for her to leave the barracks. And though the trade wasn't until 21:00, she needed time to try and lose her followers. She could only see Feury but knew the whole team would be somewhere nearby. They'd catch up with her eventually but if she could get a twenty minute head start then that should be plenty of time to execute the plan.

She lost most of them easily enough. Only one left, but she knew Hawkeye would be the tricky one, so when time was winding down and Ed could still sense her a few buildings back she decided to just run for it.

She took off down the road to the sounds of Riza cursing behind her. Ed was younger though, and by definition she had more energy. For a final measure she made a left turn and scaled the building before Riza could see her. Then doubled back and made the right turn. Still at a speed that Hawkeye wasn't able to keep up with. Even if she'd been spotted.

Ed arrived at the warehouse location with five minutes to spare.

She used a slightly more feminine voice to call out, looking for Mustang, or any of the MacHales.

"Alright. I'm here. You still alive flame brain?"

Mustang yelled back, "Ed?! Fucking hell. Don't you fucking dare-" he was cut short as a thump resounded through the darkness. She ignored him, hoping he hadn't just wrecked her plan with his big mouth.

"Let me see that he's ok and I'll come with you."

There was a pause before Mustang appeared, hog-tied on a wagon, pushed by a child. Ed almost laughed out loud. What a ridiculous sight. At least it looked like he was regaining his wits fast enough to help. They hadn't thumped him too hard.

"As we said on the phone, we've got guns. So before you try to run away with him, be aware we'll shoot you both. We're all very good shots."

Ed put her hands up in surrender. Palms forward. As long as no one was behind her they wouldn't see the circles on the backs of the gloves.

She moved forward a few steps and waited for Mustang to realise whose gloves she had on.

He was not being subtle. "Are those my-?"

She snapped.

Then glared at him over her shoulder and snapped again.

Idiot.

She snapped a third time and finally flames ripped through the building. Darkness turned to light and Ed counted five men, two on a catwalk above her and three standing about twenty paces ahead of her, not including the child. That matched the number of family members that Al had recounted to her earlier. Perfect. Everyone was here. She snapped again for good measure before taking a second set of Mustang's gloves out of her pocket and throwing them at him. Hopefully he could figure out how to escape on his own, she had to seal the building before anyone got away.

*Slap* *cl-

Ed hadn't heard the gunshots, though they must have made some kind of sound. Her head dropped forward and she looked down at herself as blood started blossoming on the side of her dress. That's ok, she didn't need both kidneys. She looked down even farther and saw a new hole through the edge of her right leg. That was ok too, just a graze. A little farther down and she realised as the floor rushed up to greet her that perhaps she'd been falling forward instead of investigating bullet holes. But, two birds one stone. Might as well look while she was down here. Problem though, her vision was fading and pain was taking over her brain. This was going to suck.

She felt herself being rolled onto her back moments later and cursed at whomever was touching her.

"Ed?! You lunatic! I did NOT give you permission to do this."

Sounded like Mustang managed to free himself. Good for him. She lifted a hand and patted his face.

"For fuck sake's Ed. You're losing way too much blood. You're lucky Hawkeye was right behind you."

That would explain the returning gunfire.

"They said to come alone." Her voice was barely a whisper and she felt really tired. "All good now though right Roy? You're free. Like the Phoenix!" Ed smiled at him with her eyes closed. "Fire Phoenix is born again! That means it's your birthday. Happy birthday Roy." Her hand fell from his face as she lost consciousness.

-.-.-.-

The pool of blood surrounding Ed was increasing at a rate Mustang was not comfortable with, coupled with her talking nonsense and slurred speech, this didn't look good. Mustang swore and tied strips of her cloak around her three bullet wounds. The head and leg were easy enough, her side was a different matter. He'd need to keep pressure on it. Fortunately it looked like the bullet had gone clean through.

He scooped her up and exited the building, giving a nod on the way out to Hawkeye and the team to clean up the mess. Hopefully they'd brought two cars, because he was taking this one.

He strapped Ed into the back seat and jumped behind the wheel, Falman had left the keys in the ignition anticipating a fast retreat. Good man. He could have Ed's raise when he fired her for being such a stubborn ass.

The hospital was having a slow night until Mustang showed up, so he didn't feel too bad when most of the staff noticed his dress blues, tattered though they were from his kidnapping, and jumped into action, putting Ed at the top of the queue.

He followed the team of doctors down the hallway. They hadn't yet asked him any questions about her and he didn't want them running back and forth each time they thought of one.

Name: Ed Elric

Age: ?

Blood type: AB+

A doctor raised his eyebrows at that last one. "How do you know her blood type and not her age?"

Mustang glared. Blood types were discovered in 1901 and he'd made every one of his people get tested so he knew who could donate to whom. Since Ed had made a career of bleeding out, Mustang had felt it necessary to force her into it. She didn't get a decision at the time because she was under age and though it'd been a fight he'd dragged her to the hospital and got it. And he was immensely relieved to discover she had one of the most compatible blood types. The entire team could donate to her. Which was good, considering everyone else was shot significantly less often.

"I've recently discovered she's been hiding things from me and her blood type is the only thing i can say i know for sure at this moment."

The doctor seemed to accept this, mostly because he was pretty sure Edward Elric was the FullMetal Alchemist, and the girl in front of him was obviously not an "Edward". Plus he could feel the Flame Alchemist was glaring daggers into his back.

Mustang relaxed only when they got him hooked up to the transfusion machine and Ed's heartbeat stabilized. By then Havoc had arrived and taken over, supplying the last bit required as her colour returned.

Mustang knew he'd given a bit too much but wouldn't let the doctors cut him off until someone else showed up. And now, free of the needle he staggered over to the available second bed and passed out.

Ed would be fine, he would be fine. He could murder her tomorrow for lying to him.

The General had one final thought before passing out, but it was too late to do anything about it. Did anyone call Al?