Chapter Six:
It seemed to take forever for their car to finally stop at the police station, but once they actually pulled into the parking lot Edward couldn't help but feel relieved. He liked Garcia; she was really nice and he could tell that she didn't have a mean bone in her body and would never intentionally hurt anyone. However, there was only so much one could take when discussing pop culture, especially if that person had no clue what a superhero or a comic book even was.
Reid and JJ had been giving him sympathetic looks all throughout the drive. They had both been through the same lecture, albeit theirs had been much shorter since they had at least known the more popular characters in passing. If he moved just a little more quickly towards the building than was polite, neither of the agents was going to call him out on it.
His head swimming with information that he wasn't one hundred percent certain would even be remotely relevant to catching Harding, Edward headed into the building just behind the three agents, following them back to the conference room that had been set aside for the BAU's use. He scanned the room as they entered, noticing that Morgan and Prentiss were missing, but Mustang was sitting at one end of the table reading over the case files again and making some notes on some paper that he seemed to have acquired from somewhere.
As the BAU members exchanged greetings and information about what had been accomplished already that day, Edward made his way over to sit down next to Mustang and immediately helped himself to a few sheets of the older alchemist's paper. Ignoring his commander's half-hearted protest, Edward pulled out the marker he had borrowed from the hotel receptionist and quickly drew out an array on one of the blank sheets, passing it over once he had finished drawing it out.
Mustang accepted and studied the sheet intently for a moment, noting that it wasn't an array that he was familiar with. Even with the knowledge that he had acquired from the time he had been forced through his Gate, he couldn't make heads or tails of the purpose of the array and he glanced up to meet Edward's gaze. "Okay, I give up. What's this supposed to do?"
Edward snorted disdainfully, which caused the agents to all look over at the two alchemists. "What does it look like? Come on Mustang. You're supposed to be intelligent."
"Is it an array to make you taller?"
Edward barely held back the urge to punch his superior in the face at the short joke. "Bastard. It's an array I created this morning. Basically, it'll act like an alchemic energy sponge." At Mustang's blank look, he realised he needed to elaborate a little more. "It's designed to be drawn somewhere on our skin, so that when we activate it, it'll absorb the alchemic energy of this dimension at a faster rate than we would on our own. It'll then store that energy in us so that we can use it like normal. Basically, when we finally catch up to Harding and he decides he's not going back to Amestris without a fight, we can use this array to replenish our alchemic energy more quickly, and thus we'll not tire as quickly as he will."
Mustang's jaw was not the only one to almost hit the floor once Edward finished his explanation. The agents were staring at Edward with a variety of shocked and surprised looks on their faces.
"That's what you thought up this morning in the shower?" Reid asked, being the first one to recover.
Edward shrugged nonchalantly. "Uh, yeah. Alchemic prodigy here, remember? This isn't the first array I've created. Anyway, that's not the only thing I've thought up since we got here. I think I've figured out a way to find Harding."
Hotch immediately latched onto that statement. "How?"
If he wasn't so used to the reactions he sometimes garnered once people realised just how skilled he was when it came to alchemy, Edward might have squirmed under the intensity of the stares he was receiving from the agents at the moment. "Well, it's just a theory at the moment. I'd need to test it out on a smaller scale, but I think I can send out waves of alchemic energy that would find his location. I'm not sure how I would receive the information back though, which is partially why I want to do a small scale test first."
"And the other part?" Rossi asked.
Edward shrugged. "If the small scale test rebounds, the backlash probably wouldn't kill me."
"Kill you?" the agents chorused as one.
Garcia's eyes were wide with shock. "Wait, is alchemy dangerous? You could actually die doing it?" Even though she'd just met the teenager, she already looked at him as part of her strange little family. There was something surprisingly endearing about him, despite the tough front he put up.
"Well, yeah, if you attempt a transmutation that's unbalanced or beyond your skill," Edward's tone was nonchalant. "Alchemists generally research and check over their work for months or years before attempting to use a brand-new array, unless they've gone completely insane." There was a faint tightness around his mouth as he spoke, but other than that tiny facial tick, there was nothing that indicated that he had any concerns about testing this array.
"But you said you just came up with this array this morning," JJ reminded him. "That's not months or years of researching and double-checking your work."
"I'm not like ordinary alchemists," Edward replied. "I'm one of, if not the, single-best alchemists in the whole of Amestris. The only alchemists that I've ever met who might be able to match me would be my younger brother Al, our Teacher, and our bastard of a father."
"From how you described it, Fullmetal, it sounds like it could work. But you are right. A small test would be best, on the slim chance that your theory is wrong. But before that happens, what exactly are you exchanging for this?" Mustang's onyx eyes locked onto his subordinate's golden ones.
"It would require huge amounts of energy," Edward admitted. "For the small scale test, I'd probably end up almost as exhausted as I was yesterday. For the large scale one, I'd probably feel like I've been fighting all seven of the homunculi plus their damn Father at the same time. Worst case scenario, I end up sleeping for a couple of days straight."
"Fullmetal," Mustang began, but Edward cut him off before he could say anything more.
"Before you argue with me, Mustang, remember that I know my limits better than anyone. This array won't kill me, assuming there's no rebound."
"I don't know if it's worth you doing something this risky, Major Elric," Hotch interjected. "We have other tools at our disposal to find Harding, and if there's a chance that this could endanger you, I wouldn't ask –"
"I already told you not to call me Major Elric," Ed interrupted him. "I don't care about my title the way Mustang does, and I promise you I know what I am doing." He met Hotch's gaze confidently. "I don't take risks when it comes to alchemy unless I'm relatively certain of the outcome and the benefits outweigh the possible consequences. I learned my lesson a long time ago about attempting the impossible." He absently clutched his automail arm with his left hand.
No one missed the gesture, but they also didn't miss the warning look from Mustang and so no one commented on it.
"It could work," Mustang admitted, drawing the attention of the agents. "When it comes to alchemy, no one is more ingenious than Fullmetal, and he's accomplished things at the age of sixteen that most alchemists couldn't even begin to comprehend, let alone achieve, at twice that age."
Edward snorted a bit at his commander's words. "Of course I have, Mustang. There's a reason that you recruited me when you did – even five years ago you recognised my talent."
Mustang rolled his eyes and glared at his subordinate. "Fine, Fullmetal. We'll do the small scale test, but once we've established that your array works as intended, we are going to have a further discussion about the large scale one."
"Whatever. Hey, by the way, where are Agents Morgan and Prentiss?" Edward asked, glancing around the room as he realised that the other two agents weren't back yet.
"They're chasing a lead. There was a report that came in after we arrived this morning that Harding was spotted down in the East Village area of the city, so they went to check it out and speak to the witness who called the report in."
"Oh, okay. Did they find anything?"
Hotch shook his head regretfully. "No, they called not long before you showed up. They didn't find any signs of Harding, and the witness couldn't offer any more details than she reported when she called in. They're going to grab some dinner for everyone on their way back in."
"Oh thank Truth! I'm starving!" Edward exclaimed.
"You're always hungry," Mustang smirked. "Half of the food budget in Central Command goes to keeping you fed."
"You try carrying around two automail limbs and then going a whole day without any food," Edward shot back. Mustang raised his hands in mock surrender, but the smirk never left his face. Garcia took the opportunity to approach the second alchemist and introduce herself before Ed knocked him out.
"Hi! I'm Penelope Garcia, technical analyst for the FBI." She offered her hand, which Roy grasped immediately.
"Colonel Roy Mustang of the Amestrian military. Pleased to meet you."
"So are you like Ed? You can do alchemy too?"
Mustang nodded. "I'm the Flame Alchemist, because my alchemic specialty is fire. Ed's specialty is making the biggest mess he can -"
"HEY! Damn bastard!"
"What is it that you do for the FBI, Miss Garcia?" Mustang asked, ignoring Edward's outburst and subsequent mutterings. Garcia laughed before repeating what she had told Edward earlier about how she helped out the BAU. Mustang asked several questions to clarify her description, and just as her explanation was coming to a conclusion, Morgan and Prentiss walked into the room carrying several flat, square boxes from which enticing aromas rose.
Edward's eyes immediately focused on the food and his mouth began to water. The two agents placed the boxes on the table and flipped them open to reveal four steaming pizzas. Despite the fact that Edward had never seen anything like it, a brief look at the way the agents used their hands to eat the bready, cheesy, food was enough for him to dive in as eagerly as the others.
Once everyone had food in front of them, they began to eat while discussing Morgan's and Prentiss' most recent lead and Edward's newest arrays. Edward, for the most part, didn't talk if he could help it. He hadn't been kidding when he said he was starving. Truth had snatched him the day before when he'd barely been awake and with only a single cup of coffee in him, and in all the confusion of their dimension hopping, eating had been the last thing on his mind.
Once he was finally sated (one giant pizza later), he took another blank piece of paper and went to work on his tracking array. Although he had the array clearly in his mind, he was still going to draw it out. This would help him find any potential faults in the array beforehand, and, in the event of a rebound, it would lessen any injuries he might sustain. He was focused on his work when Mustang suddenly snatched the paper away from him.
"Oi! Give that back, bastard!" Edward snarled as he lunged for the paper.
"Pay attention and I will," Mustang replied pointedly, one eyebrow arched with amusement as he nodded in Hotch's direction. Confused, Ed turned to face Hotch and realised the agent had been trying to ask him a question.
"Sorry, I get a little too focused sometimes when I'm trying to figure something out. What were you asking?"
Hotch waved his apology off. He knew how it felt to be completely focused on work to the point of blocking everything else out, after all. "I wanted to ask you to explain your tracking idea in more detail."
Edward nodded. "As I said yesterday, alchemy works on the principle of equivalent exchange. In order to activate this array, I'll be exchanging huge amounts of my own energy to create the alchemic waves that I'll be using to search for Harding. Now, I'm not one hundred percent certain what this array will be searching for. It could be focusing on Amestrians, people with large alchemic energy, people who have passed through the Gate, or it could be solely tracking whomever I focus on at the time I activate it."
"You mentioned the possibility that this array could rebound on you though, Edward," JJ ventured. "Isn't it dangerous to activate it without knowing exactly what the array will be looking for?"
"With other arrays, I would say yes, the chance of a rebound would need me to be more specific about what I was hoping to create, since too much could go wrong if I didn't. I've never used this type of array before, so there are a few uncertainties, which is precisely why I am doing a small scale run with it first. But since all I am doing this time is exchanging my alchemic energy, the risk isn't as great. Exhaustion would be the only thing I am really risking. But until I do the test run, I just won't know what I'm looking for. The only thing I know for certain is that it will somehow find him."
"Do you need anything in order to make it work, since Harding is obviously not here at the moment?" Hotch asked.
Edward shook his head and indicated the paper that Mustang had put back down on the table in front of him. "I want to do the test run today so that I have tonight to recover, and all I really need is the array I just drew out and for Mustang to go and hide somewhere."
"Why do you need the Colonel to hide?" Hotch asked, although he suspected he knew the reason why.
"Mustang is Amestrian, has a large amount of alchemic energy, has been through the Gate, and he would be the person I'd be focusing on finding. He fits all the possible criteria, and therefore he's the perfect test subject," Edward replied before he turned to face Mustang. "No time like the present, so fuck off, Mustang. Just make sure you stay in the building."
Mustang rolled his eyes at Edward's bluntness. "We really need to work on your manners and diplomacy when we get back to Central, Fullmetal. I think I'll need to speak to Hawkeye about giving you some lessons in military etiquette." He stood up to leave, but paused halfway to the door and looked to the agents. "Is there anywhere in the building that's off limits?"
"The only places I can think of would be the evidence room and the holding cells. Would you like one of us to go with you? The officers will probably have issues with you wandering around without an escort or a federal badge," Hotch offered, knowing that the local police sometimes used extra conference rooms and storage rooms for case-related matters and preferred that people not working directly on the case to stay out.
Mustang thought it over for a couple of seconds before deciding that it was better to be safe than sorry and nodded in agreement. Prentiss volunteered to go with him and they left together, looking for a good place to hide from Edward's array.
Meanwhile, Edward got to work carefully sketching the array out onto a brand new piece of paper. He needed this array to be perfect in order to minimize the potential risks, especially with onlookers in the room. He could feel the anticipation and nervous tension radiating from the agents, but paid absolutely no attention to it. Once he was satisfied with his sketch, he placed it in front of himself.
"How long has it been since they left?" he asked. He wanted to give Mustang and Prentiss plenty of time to find a good spot before he activated the array.
"They've been gone nearly three minutes now," Reid informed him.
Edward nodded in satisfaction. "That should be plenty of time. I need all of you to move over towards the door," he said firmly as he moved the sketch to the far end of the table and placed it on a clear spot. He waited until the other six agents were grouped together by the door. "I'm going to activate the array now. Do not come near me until I say so. Understand?" His tone left no room for argument. After seeing all six of them nod, Edward closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he focused on Mustang and pressed his hands to the paper, activating the array.
The room lit up with blue alchemic light that blinded the agents before settling to a light, steady glow. They all stared at Edward who was standing completely still with one hand on the array to keep it active. Ed's eyes were open, but instead of shining gold, they were glowing softly with the same alchemic energy as the array was emitting. They all stood there watching Edward for nearly twenty seconds before the teenager suddenly gasped. His eyes snapped shut and he took a couple of hasty steps back from the array, ending the transmutation. He was bent over, hands on his knees, breathing like he'd just finished running a marathon.
Garcia and JJ automatically started to step forward before remembering Edward's warning and managing to stop themselves. The blond alchemist hadn't given them an all clear yet.
Focusing on controlling his breathing the way that Teacher had taught him, it took Edward another thirty seconds before he straightened and faced the others. The looks of genuine concern on their faces surprised him, but he smiled reassuringly as he stepped back over to the table and braced his hands against the top of it.
"I'm okay. I overestimated though. I'm not as tired as I was yesterday, but I could definitely do with a nap. Mustang and Prentiss are up one level and in a small room that had a coffee machine in it. I'm going to assume it was a break room of some kind." Feeling a little light-headed from the expenditure of energy, Edward made an executive decision to sit before he collapsed, while JJ called Prentiss to tell her they could come back to the conference room.
Edward folded his arms on the table in front of himself and rested his forehead on his flesh arm while he waited. He knew the agents had questions, but he didn't want to be asked twice. If he was honest with himself, he needed the small break to recover a bit more and to think over the results of the small experiment. He hadn't expected just how much energy it would take to produce the tracking waves in a confined area like the building and was realising that when he was ready to try the large scale test, it would take exponentially more energy to track Harding from an unknown distance. However, despite the confidence he had portrayed to the agents, secretly he was more than a little surprised that it had worked so flawlessly.
Suddenly, there was a hand on his left shoulder, shaking him gently. He looked up and was startled to see Mustang kneeling next to him so that they were at eye level with each other.
"Fullmetal, are you okay?" The older alchemist's eyes were full of concern, which Edward was mildly surprised to see. He wasn't used to seeing such an obvious expression in the onyx gaze. So many years of mutual disdain had created an equivalent expression that was far more familiar for Edward to see.
"I'm fine, Mustang, just tired. Anyway, was I right? Were you in a room upstairs with a coffee machine in it?" He straightened up, eyes glancing between Mustang and Prentiss.
"Can you be more specific Edward?" Prentiss asked, almost apologetically. "There are two rooms upstairs that have coffee machines in them."
Edward frowned in concentration as he thought back to his results. "There was a fridge and a couch in there too. And someone had left a coffee mug in the sink," he answered, a little uncertainly.
"Yes! That's where we were!" Prentiss exclaimed, causing an immediate response from the other agents who had all harbored a small doubt that the array would work, not having any real idea what alchemy was capable of doing. It didn't seem possible or logical, and yet Edward had just proved the concept.
Mustang gave Ed's shoulder a squeeze, which was as good as a compliment in Ed's opinion, before he stood up and sat in the chair next to Edward. Edward had a tired smile on his face which was slightly concerning to the flame alchemist, considering that the teenager had been getting so little sleep in the last few months. Edward's legendary stubbornness could lead him to take chances and overestimate his own abilities rather than admit to any weakness, especially with a mission to accomplish. He would have to keep an eye on his subordinate and make sure that he took care of himself properly.
As the agents calmed down from their excitement at seeing what Edward had been able to accomplish, Hotch was quick to refocus their attention on the case. He met Edward's gaze levelly. "Can you explain how it works now?" He could see that the blond was tired, but he wanted to know so that they could begin making plans how to integrate it into their plans to apprehend Harding.
Edward nodded. "It used Mustang's alchemic energy to track him. In essence, I sent out a wave of alchemic energy which created a map in my mind that expanded until I located someone with alchemic abilities. I suspect that it's similar to what the alkehestrists of Xing refer to as the Dragon's Pulse – the energy that flows along the ground. I don't know much about alkehestry, to be honest – there isn't much research on it in Amestris, and the last few months haven't given me many opportunities to do any in-depth research anyway. Mustang showed up bright red when the wave reached him, while all of you were simply white. From what I could tell with such a limited sample, each alchemist has their own colour. I could sense my own alchemic energy and from what I saw, I was gold."
"You were able to get a lot of details though, or at least that's what it seemed like, based on how you described the room they were in," Rossi pointed out.
"Yes and no," Edward admitted. "I deduced what I was seeing based on the shape of the objects. What I was seeing wasn't detailed like a photo. It was more like a blueprint, only with spots of white to mark where people were and a red spot when it reacted with Mustang's energy. As soon as I sensed Mustang, I stopped the transmutation. But there was a limitation. I could only see everything that was in the same direction I was facing. The wave was only sent out in the one direction, but it wasn't limited to this building."
"What do you mean?" Morgan asked.
"I had started seeing the building next to this one before I stopped transmuting. What that means is that when I use it to track Harding, I'd need to know what direction he was heading. I could send more waves out to my left and right without stopping the transmutation, however behind me will always be a blind spot unless I can figure out a way to refine the array further."
Hotch nodded as he took in the information. "So how are you feeling now?" He was concerned by the obvious weariness that the teenager was displaying, but he still needed to know roughly how much ground the teen could cover in one go without overdoing it.
Edward shrugged and stifled a yawn. "I'm still tired, but I could've covered a lot more ground before I had to stop." He understood why Hotch had asked but he didn't blame the man. Mustang would've asked for the same reasons had they been back home doing this.
"Good. How much more area do you think you could've covered before you absolutely had to stop?" Hotch knew that it sounded like he cared more about the results than the alchemist's well-being, but he needed the information, both to make sure they got Harding and also that Edward didn't push himself too far.
Edward considered his stamina and the amount of energy the small scale test had required before making some educated guesses based on how this test had left him feeling. "I could probably keep that array active for four minutes before I needed to stop. Five tops," was his eventual answer.
Mustang had bristled slightly at Hotch's questions, even though he knew the man was asking exactly what he himself would have asked had they been back in Amestris and facing this same situation. He didn't understand his reaction; he just knew that he felt an overwhelming need to protect Edward from it. He only half-listened to Fullmetal's responses while he tried to figure his feelings out.
He'd known Edward and Alphonse for five years now and he'd always cared for their safety in a distant sense – the same way he would have cared for any member of his team, from Hawkeye and Havoc down to Fuery. It was part of his duty to them as their commanding officer to make sure that they were safe and properly cared for – that they received medical treatment when they were injured and weren't sent out on missions if they weren't fit for active duty.
There were times when Edward's brashness and lack of manners irritated him beyond all measure, but to counter that, the teenager had proven himself to be not only a gifted alchemist but also brave, generous, and selfless when he needed to. For five years they had grated on each others' nerves and insulted each other, but when the time came they had fought together and saved the entire country of Amestris.
What had started as a brutally honest arrangement between the two of them – Edward would serve under him in exchange for Mustang keeping the secret of the forbidden transmutation the two brothers had performed and leads on ways they could get their bodies back to normal – had transformed into mutual respect and camaraderie, and yet the habits of the past five years still carried over with the insults and banter.
"Hey Mustang, you awake over there?"
The older alchemist shook his thoughts clear and refocused his attention on Edward, who seemed a little miffed, but also slightly concerned. "Sorry, what did you want?"
"I asked you if you felt anything when I activated the array or before Agent Jareau called Agent Prentiss."
"No. I felt nothing. I didn't know you'd found me until Agent Prentiss told me we could go back." Edward breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Good, hopefully that means Harding won't be tipped off when I use the array to find him."
Edward was relieved to learn that Mustang hadn't sensed the tracking transmutation. If an alchemist of Mustang's caliber couldn't sense it, he doubted that Harding would be able to. Turning his attention back to the agents, he spoke confidently. "I'll be able to use the array again tomorrow on a larger scale. However, I suggest that we hold off using me until we have a fresh, confirmed lead on Harding's whereabouts. It makes no sense for me to activate this array somewhere he has likely moved a good distance away from."
"I wouldn't ask you to waste your energy on a sighting that was old or unconfirmed," Hotch replied, his tone a little irked that the teenager had assumed otherwise. Edward simply nodded in response and then yawned abruptly before he could smother it. He glanced down at the sketch of his tracking array, his mind already working on a way to refine it and make it so that he wouldn't have a blind spot, when something occurred to him.
"Dr. Reid, where is that map we were working on yesterday?"
Reid glanced over at the stacks of files and papers on the table and unearthed the map the two of them had been using to begin the geographic profile. He made sure all of the pins were in the same locations as they had been yesterday before placing the map in front of Edward.
Edward studied the pins for a moment and then began slowly removing a few of the different colours. It wouldn't be hard to put them back in if the theory that had suddenly occurred to him didn't pan out. The agents and Mustang watched with interest as Edward began thinning out the multitude of pins that had been put on the map. By the time he was done, only three colours remained – colours that indicated where the victims had lived, where they had gone missing from, and where their bodies had been discovered.
"Mustang, do you see what I see?" Edward asked, turning the map slightly so that Mustang could study it.
Roy looked over the map with a critical eye and then, suddenly, he saw it and cursed. "Damn Harding. Is he doing it deliberately, so you think?"
Edward considered the question for a moment. "I don't think so. He wouldn't have any way to influence where the victims lived, even if it is a surprising coincidence how their homes line up this way. But it's not out of the realm of statistical possibility either."
"What is it?" Hotch asked, coming to stand behind Edward and Mustang as the other agents also gathered around the map. They studied the map, but the pins still seemed to be scattered randomly across the map of Manhattan. There wasn't an obvious pattern that any of them could determine.
"You don't see it?" Edward asked. When the agents shook their heads, Edward took a sheet of paper and quickly drew out what appeared to be a transmutation array, but it didn't look anything like the ones that the agents had previously seen. Edward placed his smaller sketch next to the map. "Do you see it now?"
While Edward's sketch was more detailed, now that it was side by side with the map, the agents finally saw it. There were fewer points on the map, but it was clear that the pattern of the pins lined up almost exactly in the same shape of the array that Edward had just drawn out.
"What does it mean?" Rossi asked. "It must mean something to Harding, based on your reaction."
"It's Harding's boiling array," Edward said. "I got a good look at it when I was helping Mustang come up with an array to counter the traps set at Harding's home. I didn't notice it yesterday because I was so interested in what Dr. Reid was saying about how geographic profiling works."
"So does it help us in anyway?" Morgan asked.
Edward shrugged. "It's hard to know for sure, but I don't think it's deliberate. Circles are a basis of alchemy and alchemists think about them almost instinctively if they have any level of experience. Harding's been an alchemist for long enough that using a circle is second nature to him, and the fact that this is his own personal circle for his alchemic specialty would make it even more instinctive and natural." He stifled another yawn and shook his head slightly, in an effort to stay awake.
"The fact that Harding's victims look like our State Alchemists is one coincidence, but Harding couldn't possibly predict where they live in this world," Mustang added. "He might be choosing the locations where he attacks them and dumps the bodies, but I highly doubt that he's looking at a map and planning those places out with the intention of forming his circle. It wouldn't do anything here even if he completes it. It's impossible to perform alchemy on that scale."
"But if you're right, we might start to find other bodies elsewhere on this circle?" Hotch asked thoughtfully.
"I would imagine so, unless Harding isn't able to find anymore duplicates of Amestrian State Alchemists here in this city," Mustang agreed.
"It gives us another angle to explore," Hotch said. He glanced at his watch and noted that it was only seven in the evening – but the younger alchemist had had an exhausting day. "Edward, Colonel Mustang, Morgan, and JJ. You four go back to the hotel and get some sleep. We'll take shifts until we get a more confirmed lead on Harding's whereabouts. If nothing comes up overnight, then come morning JJ, we'll have you help with briefing the dayshift of the patrol officers and try to have them focus their patrols along the areas that fall on this circle. No arguing," he added the last part when he noticed Morgan opening his mouth to protest his orders.
Morgan shut his mouth and simply nodded, even though he wasn't too happy with the idea. Edward was too tired to argue, and Mustang was just happy that he didn't have to leave Edward's side, especially with the younger alchemist as tired as he was. He didn't completely trust the agents to be able to protect Ed if something happened.
They left the precinct, Edward a little wobbly at first, and hopped in the car. Fortunately, the ride back to the hotel was uneventful, other than Edward desperately trying to stay awake until they reached it. With the car in park, they crossed the parking lot cautiously; wary of another possible ambush, but they made it safely into the building and up to their rooms.
Edward headed straight for his bed, leaving Mustang to lock and secure the door as he shed his boots, socks, and jackets in record time. He was curled up under his blankets and nearly asleep before Mustang had even finished removing his own boots and socks.
"Ed, are you sure you're okay?" Mustang couldn't keep the concern out of his voice at the question.
Edward snapped his eyes back open and locked gazes with the Colonel. He wasn't used to Mustang being this concerned about his well-being. "I'm fine, I just need to sleep. Why are you acting so concerned all of a sudden?"
Mustang barely stopped himself from flinching under the golden gaze. "I've always been concerned about you and your brother Ed. I just couldn't show it back home. People would have considered you one of my weak spots, and they would've got after you to exploit that. As it was, you were always a convenient target for kidnappers. If it wasn't for the fact that Bradley wanted to keep you close, I suspect that you and Al would have been sent to another commander when he split up my team."
Edward was stunned at the admission. He'd never considered that Mustang would've cared about the two of them, and certainly not enough that the older alchemist was actually protecting them that much. Sitting up a little, he searched Mustang's face for any hints of a lie. He found none. "You seriously cared about us that much?"
"I still do. I was always worried when you went on missions and I was worse whenever I heard you'd been injured," Mustang answered, completely honest.
Edward's gaze softened. "Thanks, Colonel. I promise I'm fine. I seriously just need sleep and a decent breakfast in the morning and I'll be one hundred percent again."
Mustang nodded. "Get some sleep, then Ed. I'll talk to one of the agents in the morning about getting you breakfast."
"Make sure it's a lot." Edward shuffled back under the blankets, much to Mustang's amusement.
"Don't worry, I know what you're like," Mustang chuckled as he made himself comfortable in his bed, before turning the light off.
"Thanks. Goodnight, bastard."
"Night, brat."
A/N - So here's chapter 6 all revised for you guys to enjoy! Let me know what you think to it!