Colonel,
Did you mean to give me hope? Or were you just using whatever tactics you could as a recruitment technique? I guess it doesn't matter either way. It worked.
You probably already know, but I'm going to take the exam. To be a State Alchemist, I mean. See, you might just want to use me as a tool, but I'm going to use you right back. The military is going to be my ticket out of here, me and Al's. Whatever it costs, as long as I can research, as long as I can find a way…nothing else matters.
Not gonna lie, before you came calling I was feeling pretty low. I mean…you saw it. I don't have to say it. And what I did to Alphonse...it's unforgivable, and I thought it was unfixable. I've been living on a stupid, arrogant hope for so long. Hope that we could do what no one else could, and rewind time. Take our mother back from the grave. And that night hope went out like a candle.
Then you, Mr. Flame Alchemist, show up with a fucking torch.
I don't know why I'm bothering to write this. It's not like I'm going to send it; a hell of a first impression, right, sending your new superior a meandering letter. Guess I just wanted to say something that I won't say in person.
Probably you just want to exploit us. Me, I guess, since I'll be the one with the title. But that's okay, because whether you meant to or not you did give me hope. Al, too, and that's what counts.
So from your new underling…thank you.
Edward Elric
P.S. What the hell am I supposed to call you? Colonel isn't your technical rank, but Lieutenant Colonel is so long and clumsy-sounding. Flame Alchemist…I get the feeling those titles are more for show than for use, huh? Mustang. I'm not one for ranks, anyway.