Three months in the god damned hospital. Mustang was finding himself actually missing the office work. At least, Hawkeye was giving him inside reports of Amestris' political situation.
Since the 'mysterious' disappearance of the Fuhrer, the country had been in an uproar. The military higher-ups had been coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories; almost all of them put Mustang as the perpetrator. The more intelligent ones focused around the Fullmetal Alchemist's mysterious disappearance. One colonel had been sent to the Northern front for insinuating the possibility that the Fuhrer was part of a secret organization bent on the destruction of the country for a less than honorable purpose. Mustang had wanted to meet this Colonel, to see how much he knew, but unfortunately he had been hit by a stray bullet and died.
Now he was constantly being ambushed by reporters and military investigators. His reputation for doing anything to get a promotion was not helping him whatsoever. At least, he would be able to get back to work soon and clear up most of this mess.
He stopped in front of the room where Alphonse was recovering. The teenager was firm in his belief that Edward was not dead, despite the fact that they had found the Fullmetal Alchemist's namesake parts amidst the rubble. The boy was now fervently studying for the State Alchemist title. Mustang hoped he wouldn't make it. With the current situation, most of the senior officials were already planning war against the North. Of the two brothers, Alphonse was the gentler one, well considering Ed always had to defend his pride, no one was really surprised. He knocked twice on the door.
"Come in," said Alphonse.
The boy was sitting in bed with a ton of books on the bedside. Mustang noticed that they were all neatly stacked, in order, and alphabetic. He recognized most of these books as ones he had studied himself in his younger days. In Alphonse's hands was a red leather notebook with all its pages intact with careful and deliberate writing on its crisp white pages. Ed was right, Alphonse really was quite suited to housework, the way he kept things organized, how everything was neat and tidy…Almost any woman would be envious of how he kept everything so clean.
"Oh General, nice to see you. You're being released soon, aren't you?" asked Alphonse pleasantly.
Mustang smiled slightly. Alphonse was the politer one, who always remembered everyone's names, rank and wife's name. Alphonse would constantly have to apologize for Edward's rudeness. Mustang surmised that Al, probably didn't know that Ed never called him General, but instead had continued to refer to him as Colonel, although it was Ed who had gotten his previous job.
"Alphonse-kun, you're not seriously going to try to get the qualification are you?" he asked, a little while into their conversation. Alphonse's eyes showed rock solid determination.
"Nii-san isn't dead. I'm going to become a State Alchemist and find him," he said firmly.
Mustang had been hoping he wouldn't have to tell Alphonse why Ed would never come back.
"Alphonse….we died back there…" he said slowly, "Edward is gone…"
Alphonse, firmly shook his head.
"Nii-san is not dead. I know it," he said. Mustang could sense fiery resolution in the boy's voice. It's not that he believes him to be alive…thought Mustang, Alphonse wants Edward to be alive…
"I had a six inch hole straight through my chest; you had your lungs pierced. The doctors found no evidence of any such injuries," fired off Mustang rapidly, "The fact that Edward's body isn't there anymore, supports the theory that he attempted human transmutation on both of us" said the man forcefully.
Alphonse just stared at him.
"Then I'll bring him back," declared the boy, " I know it's possible. Nii-san brought my body and soul back together. I'll bring him back…" said Alphonse fiercely.
"You'll have to sacrifice an awful lot of stuff to do that" declared an unfamiliar voice from the doorway. It was a girl about Ed's age, with pale blonde hair and aquamarine blue eyes. She looked weird, wearing the blue military uniform, with her…unique hairstyle. Her hair was drawn back in a ponytail, with two relatively large red beads along the right side of her head, with two white feathers dangling from those beads.
She glared at them in a very Ed-like manner.
"Yes, I know I look very weird," she growled at them both. "Lieutenant-Colonel Dolan, Scarlet Alchemist," she said, introducing herself.
"Well, then Lieutenant, why are you here?" demanded Mustang.
"Lieutenant-Colonel," muttered the girl irritably, "I asked Hawkeye where you were, and she said you were here," she said, then as an afterthought, added "sir…"
"Your purpose in being here?" asked the General.
"I heard you wished to speak to the Colonel who started the rumor of the ex-Fuhrer could possibly belong to an organization that…" she started to say, when Mustang simply nodded, cutting her off short.
"Well, in short, I am that person," said the girl simply.
"I thought that person was hit by a stray bullet and died," said Alphonse surprised.
The girl looked surprised and irritated at the same time, a remarkable feat, in Mustang's opinion.
"I was hit by a stray bullet, but I didn't die, much to the disappointment of the man who shot me," she said irritably.
"Weren't you sent up to the Northern front?" asked Mustang, growing more and more confused.
"Well…No…I got shot on my way home" she said simply.
Suddenly she got a funny look on her face.
"Excuse me," she said, walking over to the sink in the room and promptly vomited blood.
Both the General and Alphonse stared in utter shock. They had not expected anything of the such happening during their conversation, they hadn't even expected this girl, much less anyone to suddenly pop in.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and smiled apologetically at them.
"Sorry about that…"she said, to the two of them who were staring at her as if she was an alien or something.
"A-are you okay?" asked Alphonse, his voice shaking slightly from shock. She waved her hand dismissively.
"Oh, I'm fine!" she said, "I've lived with this condition for about 3 years now…"she said glancing down at her bloody hand.
Mustang was the first to recover.
"So I take it you know about the Homunculi," he said staring straight into the girl's eyes.
"Of course I do!" she said indignantly, "Why else on Earth would I make allusions to the fact that the Fuhrer was acting on a different set of morals?" she asked, washing her hands.
"How much do you know about them?" asked Alphonse.
She looked up at him, a steely hard look in her eyes.
"Far too much for my own good," she said, looking at both of them.