Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Arakawa Hiromu-sensei, Square Enix and recently, Viz. I earn no profit in this.

Notes: Please do not rely on me for accuracy of the information I mention in this story. Some are real to the best of my knowledge, while others are purely fictional to fit the FMA story.

oOo

Breaking Apart

A philosopher once said that, "The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as to seem not worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it." I wonder if this fucked up situation between Al and I also originated from a simple mix-up of personal philosophy.

Even now, I still don't know.

"You requested for me Captain?" Alphonse asked. He was dressed in the green uniform of their faction and from the quicker than usual breaths, it seemed that he had run all the way here. Although he had adapted remarkably to army lifestyle (much of it due to his desire to please his adoptive father), the 14 year old still stood out with his large blue eyes and puppy fat cheeks. The boy practically shone innocence and trust.

So easily convinced and used.

"Alphonse, my son, I've made me very proud during your last mission. You saved a lot of men with your quick thinking and power," the words came easily to Newstead, who knew exactly which buttons to press when it came to his adopted son.

Al flushed at the praise and thanked him.

"I'm sure you know by now that the men respect you and have faith that you will lead them well in battle. You've earned their respect and faith through hard work and how is the time that you to be properly rewarded for it. How do you feel about becoming a junior lieutenant, son?"

"Wh… what? A lieutenant? Me?"

"The commander has had his eye on you for quite some time now and with the recommendation I sent up last month, you have now officially been promoted to junior lieutenant. Unfortunately, duty comes before pleasure and our current battle status does not allow us the pleasure of giving you the proper ceremony for your new rank."

"I'm a… what am I supposed to do as a junior lieutenant?" Al asked, confused and worried.

"Just continue doing your current mission for now. Your new rank will supposed to help you control the men who already obey you as leader and help establish order. Order will be vital if you are to successfully execute your next mission."

After a few more words with him discussing the progress and planning of the mission, informing him of the details of his rank, his new privileges and having made sure that Al had regained his calm from the surprise, he sent Al off again.

"Junior Lieutenant Newstead," Al murmured to himself as he walked, testing the new rank given to him. It sounded odd. 'Are people going to be calling me that now?' he wondered. At the moment, even though he was a mage and technically outranked the others, they still called him by his first name. Being called so formally by his adopted surname was almost foreign. Although he had been legally 'Alphonse Newstead' for over five years now, but deep down he was still an Elric. With that sudden realization, a sharp twisting pain in his heart replaced whatever appeal the new rank had for Al.

Arriving at his designated dorm room where his bags were all packed to go, Al collapsed on the bed and thought about his brother. He missed him so much. Was he still at the orphanage? No matter how hard he worked to please his father, he was never given permission to visit his brother. The next mission that he was supposed to lead would be his hardest yet and Al wondered how Ed was these days. To be honest with himself, Al really didn't want to do this mission and was shocked at the mere fact that he had accepted in the first place. But the offer of allowing him to visit the orphanage if he pulled it off was far too great for Al to resist. It had been over five years since he had seen brother.

He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him when he remembered Ed's angry face whenever he heard the word "Short" (whether or not it was directed at him didn't matter.) "Without me to stop him, I bet he's been getting into all kinds of fights," he said to the empty room.

"Brother, I'll be visiting you soon. I promise."

oOo

They would have to fight hard to make it work but the surprise attack lead by Hawkeye was perfect. After having Feury check the whereabouts the prisoners were usually kept, they had to confirm that Roy and Ed were both there and not somewhere else with higher security. Taking opportunity of the scheduled guard switch and the few precious moments when the guards' relaxed to exchange polite greetings, Farman was to let out a few gunshots cause a distraction while Havoc and Hawkeye took advantage of the noise to climb over the walls.

The first soldiers to spot them were the first to go down. A bullet each to the head with a silenced gun from Hawkeye had ensured that the uniforms they stole off them were undamaged. Hiding the bodies in a currently unused room, the two continued their path to the prison cells.

An alarm went off and through the overhead speakers the voice of a female rung through the hallways. "Attention all personnel, section E2 of the camp is under attack. Condition Alpha is now implemented. I repeat, condition Alpha is now implemented. Squad C and D, please report to your commanding officers."

The result was instant. The empty hallways were suddenly filled with people and shouting as soldiers emptied from the cafeteria or wherever else they were at. Running to their designated positions, no one was sparing a second glance at two soldiers dressed in their uniform running towards the prison cells.

Havoc hoped that Farman had set off his side of the plan without any complications. A team of two normally, technical officers such as Feury and Farman wouldn't stand a chance against these trained soldiers. But if all went well, those two should have been out of the area already and the men sent to deal with the 'attack' would only find a few very cleverly created and set time bombs and untraceable remote controlled gadgets. Feury may be a hopeless with a gun but when it came to technology… he and Farman could outsmart these muscle-brains anytime.

The two reached the prison cells and after a quick prayer by Havoc for Roy and Ed to be actually in there, he got on his knees to help Hawkeye who was already working on the barrier breaking of the enchanted door.

oOo

Someone was tampering with the wards on the prisoner's cell. The usually stable shimmering lines stretching across his window were twitching and glowing red instead of gold. Newstead got up, cast his red captain's cloak on his back and motioned for his guards to follow him. There was no time to waste trying to call the others who were currently busily occupied by this so conveniently timed attack. He would deal with the intruders himself.

He caught them as they came around the corner of the hallway on their way out. With the two alchemists were two men- no, one man and a woman, he corrected- dressed in their uniform. His gun came up, took aim and before the woman could shout a warning, the blond infiltrator was down.

The alchemists were on them in an instant and fire appeared seemingly out of nowhere, effectively cutting off half of his guards. With the remaining three guards he turned to the blond alchemist. H didn't believe the woman to be a threat and so, turning his back to her, he faced his current opponent while trusting his other men to deal with her. Newstead couldn't help but feel a bit of grudging respect when the boy clapped his hands and turned the top layer of his automail into a glittering sword. With his left arm, he drew the sword from its sheath he charged just as Newstead took aim with his gun.

Roy saw Ed dodge the shot and using his momentum to swing the sword down on the enemy captain. Smiling to himself, he filed a way a little note in his brain that Ed liked to do things the old way. The boy preferred the gallantry of the sword over the efficiency of the gun. He was injured from an earlier session of interrogating and knew to try and keep the weight off his sprained left leg and broken ribs. He cursed his physical state and knew that if he hadn't been slowing them down, they would have long been out of the camp before these bastards got here.

Snap. One guard down.

Snap. Putting out the fire on his clothes should occupy that other guy.

Snap. Roy didn't even bother to check that he'd gotten the man, from the screams of, "ARGH! Help!" he was pretty confident that he did. Leaving the other guards and Newstead for Ed and Hawkeye to take care of, he hurried to check on Havoc.

Havoc was losing too much blood. The wound missed his heart and vital arteries but had punctured his left lung. Unless they got him to a doctor quickly, he was doing to either suffocate on his own blood or die from blood loss. Havoc had been under his direct command for eight years now and Roy wasn't going to lose him like this.

Gunshots burst out behind him and from the, "Ah! Bitch!" that followed, Roy smirked and inwardly laughed at the men for underestimating his First Lieutenant in the first place. Slinging Havoc's arm across his shoulder, Roy practically dragged the man forwards towards the exit. They would need the head start given their injuries.

oOo

The VIP carriage on the Central Express was a desolate affair. The taste of failure was bitter on their tongues as Havoc took up the bench opposite them. No matter now warm the rich colours of the carriage furnishings were or how soft the seats, the atmosphere was chilled by their anxiety. Surprisingly, it was Ed who patched Havoc up with the emergency aid supplies. Given that his fingers seemed to work with dexterity that could only come from practice, Roy felt that perhaps there was more to his past at the orphanage than what he let on.

Ed looked out the window at the landscape passing as a blur before his eyes. He knew that the faster they got to Central, the better chances Havoc had at making it through. He wasn't a medic but he knew that although he tried his best, Havoc was going to need a real doctor. Perhaps several doctors. Yet all the same, having experienced what he just did, a small childish voice was to him.

'I don't want to go. I don't want to become part of a war.'

Al stared out the window, not really looking at anything. Argon sat across him and 24 year old man was clearly not happy with being assigned to serve under a teenager who was a decade younger than him. In the carriage with them were the best men their resistance army had and in the carriage across the hall from them were some of their more special guards. Today none of them wore a uniform. Dressed as plain civilians, they were riding in the two last economy carriages on the Central Express. He had already gone over the details of the plan with the men. They would succeed. Father would be proud. Brother would be happy to see him.

Today, they would arrive and book in on a hotel near Central Headquarters.

Tomorrow, the Fuhrer would die.

oOo

Post note:

Miracles really do happen eh? After one and a half years I'm back on this story… I wonder if any of the old readers are even still in this fandom. I'll be totally honest with you: I had forgotten about this story. It took a recent review to remind me to get my arse back to work on it. (See the effect of reviews? Hint, hint.)

I'm currently on university session break and am trying to get as much of this story written. I've got it all planned out now and it should end at 10 chapters (give or take).

To the old readers who had this story on story alert, please go back and reread chapters 1 and 2. I've revised a lot of stuff.