Mustang tapped his fingers impatiently against his mahogany desk. He double checked the scheduled time of his meeting with Edward he had written down, and sure enough, it read 11:30 am. He brought his eyes to the clock ticking on the wall, and grew even angrier upon seeing just how late Edward was. 12:06 pm. Mustang was raging. It was usual for Edward to be late, but this was ridiculous.
"Hawkeye," He called. She turned to face him. "Any calls from Fullmetal today?" She shook her head.
"No, sir. We haven't heard anything from him since he left yesterday." Mustang clasped his hands together and took a deep breath. He picked up the phone receiver sitting in the corner of his desk, and angrily punched in the number to Ed and Al's dorm. When he got his hands on him he-
"Hello?" Answered a quiet voice from the other end.
"Alphonse, this is Colonel Mustang. I was wondering if Fullmetal had a valid reason to be 40 minutes late for our meeting this morning." The line was quiet for a few tense seconds.
"... You haven't seen him today?" Asked Alphonse, nervously. A bit of anxiety flared in the pit of the Colonel's stomach.
"No, Alphonse. I haven't seen him since yesterday. Why?" They entered another thick silence.
"I haven't seen him since last night, Colonel. What if something's wrong?" Alphonse stammered anxiously. Mustang's concern began to grow. It wasn't surprising for the kid to avoid him, but nothing kept him away from his brother.
"Alphonse, if he didn't come home last night, why didn't you tell someone?" The colonel could make out quiet clanging of Al's shifting armour.
"Well, I came to pick him up last night from HQ to walk home with him, but he walked out with another soldier and they left in the opposite direction. I just thought that he had plans that I had forgotten or he didn't tell me, I was a bit worried when he didn't come home for the night, but it's not unlike Brother to crash somewhere strange sometimes." Mustang's concern was shifting to confusion. Ed didn't have many 'friends' in the military, aside from his own team and Hughes, and all of them had been still working when Ed left last night.
"Alphonse, did you recognize the soldier he was with?" He questioned. Alphonse hummed through the phone.
"No, come to think of it I've never seen him before. He had dark hair and a mustache, and I don't know anyone like that. Do you, sir?" Mustang pondered for a minute. He didn't know many people with a mustache. Suddenly, a wave of realisation flooded over him.
"Al, did you happen to see the soldiers rank pins?" He asked hopefully. It was quiet for a minute as Al struggled to recall.
"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure he was a lieutenant colonel, they looked just like Mr. Hughes's pins. Why?" Mustang smiled. The other day, Hughes had introduced him to a Lieutenant Colonel James Rogers, who had been in Central for a few days to help him out with a case. He hadn't gotten a bad feeling from him, but Fullmetal had a talent for making enemies.
"Alphonse, I think I know who you're talking about. I'm going to see if I can find any more information on your brother's whereabouts, okay? I'll call you with any news." Al's sigh echoed through his metal suit.
"You don't think he's in trouble, do you Colonel?" Mustang smiled sympathetically.
"I'm sure your brother is just fine, Alphonse. We'll find him, don't worry." Alphonse's quiet noise of concern didn't sound convinced.
"I'll call you later Alphonse. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, Colonel."
Mustang settled the phone receiver down briefly, before picking it back up again and dialing a new number.
"Yo Roy! I was just about to call you I got the cutest little snapshot of my beautiful daughter last night-" He sighed through his nose.
"Not the time, Hughes."
"What's wrong, Roy?" His voice had gone hard and quiet, quite the rarity for the bubbly man.
"Fullmetal has gone missing and he was last seen at around 0800 hours last night alongside your friend Lieutenant Colonel Rogers, heading in the opposite direction of the dorms. I need all of his background information and files."
"Sure thing, Roy. I'll bring them to you myself. See you in a few." Mustang then hung up the phone, swinging out from around his desk and heading into the outer office with a stern look on his face. His team, working quietly, all looked at him upon opening the door. Hawkeye squinted at her superior's solemn expression.
"Sir?" She prodded gently. Mustang held his hands behind his back.
"Fullmetal has gone missing. With the way things are looking, it seems we will be responsible for a search and rescue mission in the near future, at least if my suspicions are correct. I'd like you all to be prepared for that possibility. That is all." He could see fear bubbling in the eyes of his subordinates, covered with a professional mask. A slurry of 'sir!'s and salutes were directed toward him, and he nodded in response. It was then that Lieutenant Colonel Hughes barged into the room, panting with a mess of files in his arms.
"Roy, I found something."