"Alphonse, have you seen the captain anywhere?" The boy in question turned, smiling brightly when he saw Cain Feury (holding about 20 thick files) who had addressed him. He had just stepped out of the hospital ward for the day, and he gently pulled shut the door behind him. Alphonse was in a truly good mood, for today his brother had seemed more cheerful than ever, and this meant that for once in the past three days, Alphonse had actually escaped the ward unharmed.
Alphonse truly had no clue what had put his brother in such high spirits, the question had been skilfully dodged every time he'd asked, so he'd just put it down to the fact that Edward's wound was healing abnormally fast and that he would be up and moving again soon. Gracia had in fact said that he could be discharged in all but a few hours. Turning his attention fully to Cain, with a bright smile, Alphonse fell into step next to the man.
"The captain? No, I'm afraid he hasn't been in the ward at all today. Truth be told, I was just going up to the bridge to see if I could visit him and have a moment of his time." Alphonse shrugged. "Maybe we could look together?"
"I've just been up to the bridge." Cain admitted. "They said exactly the same thing you did about him not being there all day, and then sent me down here." He looked mildly panicked. "I've searched about half the ship and haven't seen hide nor hair of him. If he's in the Main Hall you just look for the black spot, but even that's failed me." He sighed and shook his head. "Even Lisa doesn't know where he is, and Jean and Maes are proving harder to find than the captain."
Alphonse's smile immediately faded. "Have you tried paging him? Or searching in the places you've looked? If you stay in one spot, he's bound to show up eventually." They were heading up to the bridge, so they took flight to pass through the trees of the main hall, rather than go all the way around. "All this running around and searching, you may have missed him in transit."
Cain nodded. "I've tried paging him, and I was just about to come ask Edward if he'd seen the man. Usually if nobody else knows where the captain is, Edward does. It's uncanny." Cain shook his head with a smile. "I suppose it's to do with the fact that neither of those two are out of each other's sight for long these days. I find it hard to believe that they were constantly at dogger heads with each other when Edward first came on board."
They landed on a branch about halfway across the main hall to rest their wings for a moment. Alphonse blinked at Cain and then smiled. Leaning back against the tree branch, he folded his arms across his chest and his wings along his back. "And here I thought that most people hadn't noticed that!" He laughed brightly. "I'm of the opinion that only Brother hasn't noticed just how close he and the captain are getting." He shook his head. "But then, Brother seems a bit slow on the uptake with these things."
Cain nodded and shifted slightly along the branch, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet ever so slightly. He shuffled the files he was holding into what Al assumed was a more comfortable position and nodded. "It truly is hard to believe. I always thought that Lisa would be the one that the captain..." The intercom flared into life, nearly scaring the two young men off the tree branch.
Lisa's voice rolled over the artificial indoor forest, scaring half of its bird inhabitants into flight. "Unidentified vessel approaching. The Captain, First Mate and Royal Family are requested on the bridge. This ship is believed dangerous, so all who are not summoned are advised to take care. Repeat, Captain and the others requested, get your selves up here right now. Everyone else, take care."
Alphonse straightened up quickly, immediately preparing to make a mad dash to the other side of the hall. "The captain has been summoned." He said, looking at Cain, "So if you want to see him, why don't you come up to the bridge with me?"
"But isn't it dangerous?" Asked Cain.
"Not really." Alphonse found himself replying, "The Tenshi can deal with single ships easily. This should be over after they give the person in the ship a chance for surrender or identification. Also, the captain will be on the bridge and you can prevent him from running away after the threat is neutralized. Two birds, one stone as Brother would say."
Cain seemed a bit put off by the idea, however. "No, it's alright. I'll just leave these on the desk in his office." He smiled weakly and apologetically at Alphonse and took off. Alphonse smiled; knowing that it wasn't cowardice, but it was knowing when to stay out of the way that made Cain make the decision. He shook his head and took to the air, speeding in the direction of the bridge, as fast as his wings could carry him.
"Identify yourself or flash the colour of surrender this instant or you shall be fired upon." Lisa said into the radio communications just as Alphonse entered the bridge. The young prince took a quick scope of the situation; the ship was a human transport vessel, which was equipped accordingly, with strong defensive weapons on either flank. "You will receive no further warnings. Identify yourself." Lisa was bluffing, she couldn't fire without permission from a superior officer, but she was doing it well, Alphonse believed that she would issue the order, officer or not.
There was a deathly silence on the bridge as Al walked forward and took a seat next to the captain's chair. All eyes were focused on the screen, except for those of the few angels scanning communication channels and watching location devices. The ship on the monitor continued to approach the Tenshi at an agonising pace. No communication was forthcoming from the ship.
Lisa frowned severely. "Repeat." She said, "You will receive no further warnings. Identify yourself!" She sighed when once again she received no reply, taking the headphones off and looking out across the bridge. The gunners looked at her expectantly, not knowing what they were allowed to do under her command. Alphonse gulped; the tension was so thick, the air could be cut with a knife. "Where is the captain?" Lisa asked.
"He hasn't arrived yet, 'mam." Answered one of the gunners, looking at her in a confused way. He seemed uncertain.
"We can't wait for him." Lisa said regretfully. "Fire two warning shots across the vessel's nose. Don't fire to destroy, because that would be me overstepping my bounds." She sighed and the gunman nodded, knowing that his aim meant the difference between Lisa being praised as quick thinking, or her getting court martialled for her rash actions. Two silent explosions were seen on the screen. They were to the port side of the advancing ship, doing next to no damage because of the high defences transport ships had. Alphonse watched the monitor.
"Miss Hawkeye," he asked, "What has happened so far?"
Lisa sighed. "Half an hour ago, an unidentified ship appeared on our navigation. It has failed to respond to any of our calls for identification and is heading towards us at what seems to be docking speed. It has not yet fired upon us, but as we are unsure of its intention we can't be forgiving on our next shot. The captain isn't here to give that order though."
Alphonse nodded, noting how unusual the captain was behaving by not appearing on the bridge when there was a threat. Lisa put the headphones back on at that moment, and addressed the ship once more. "The next shot will puncture your defences. We ask again, Identify yourself!"
"That shot already punctured them!" An indignant voice came back over the radio. "And it nearly blew out one of my engines!" A communications window opened on the screen and a rather shell shocked looking Jean Havoc peered back at them all. He was a mess, his blond and brown hair soaked in sweat, his face white and clammy. "Not to mention my navigation interface is a mess! These human ships aren't built to endure a blast from the Tenshi of all things!"
The bridge just stared, open mouthed.
"Lieutenant!" Alphonse cried after a moment. This had the effect of kick-starting the bridge back into action. The bustle of activity started up again. "Ceasefire!" He shouted at the bridge, needlessly.
Hawkeye's frown deepened as she regarded the man on the screen, doing her best to ignore his somewhat sheepish look. Alphonse, however, was paying great attention to his mannerisms, he was slightly green and rubbing his hands together, his eyes darting left and right constantly as if he was nervous or worried. "Well?" Havoc asked after a moment of waiting, "Are you going to invite me in?" It was an attempt to break the tension, and it didn't really work.
Alphonse looked at him a moment longer before saying, "What are you waiting for, let him dock!" The bridge personnel didn't move, catching Alphonse by surprise.
"Sir," one finally ventured, "That's an order only the captain or the prince reagent can give. You are neither of these, so military protocol states we can't obey you. We do apologise."
Alphonse was about to emit some words worthy of his brother, when Havoc interrupted the mumbling on the bridge with, "Unfortunately, the captain is on Earth, having ordered me to run and relay what he believes may be his final orders. He was in very perilous conditions on Earth all of about three hours ago."
The bridge was so silent one could hear a pin drop.
Alphonse made a split decision to attempt one of his brother's more effective tactics than letting out a long string of vulgar words. "Well?" He demanded of the young woman who had questioned his orders before. He used his best impatient tone.
"Initiating docking procedures, Sir!" The woman said, returning to her monitor and typing as fast as her fingers could move.
Hawkeye, however, was not impressed. "And why did you even think it was acceptable to leave the captain in perilous conditions on the enemy planet, Havoc?" She asked, "And, why to the trees above did it take you half an hour to reply to our communications? If the captain was here, you would be dead."
"If the captain was here I wouldn't be flying a human ship instead of the one we took to Earth, would I? Ours had been ransacked by the time I managed to get out of the complex and up to it. Then, it took forever for me to find a frequency which was compatible for both ships. The Tenshi is too stubborn when it comes to relaying foreign vessel's messages." He shook his head. "As for why I left the captain, I'll answer that question when I'm on the ship. In private. Right now, like I said, I'm under strict orders to give out the Captain's orders and deliver a message to the prince reagent."
The words chilled the bridge, for everyone knew as soon as Havoc said 'perilous conditions' that there was every chance the captain could be dead, and now was a time for haste. Especially if Havoc had called Edward by his official title, and not by the slang 'boss' that the man constantly used.
Alphonse shuddered and wondered what dark tidings Havoc would bring.
"Brother, Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc is here to request an audience." Alphonse said quietly. Edward looked up to watch him step into the hospital ward looking highly distressed and more than a little frightened. The avians that filtered in behind him all were showing the same level of fear and distress in different ways, most of them having been trained to not openly show such emotions, but still letting some of it slip through their masks. Edward immediately sat up, alert and awake. He gestured for the group to come closer, looking at Havoc's dishevelled appearance and immediately offering for him to take the chair by the bed. Gracia approached the bed as well, curiosity drawing her forward as much as concern.
Edward frowned. "How can I help you, Havoc?" He would have asked 'what's up?' but looking at the expressions of his colleagues, he doubted the statement would go down well. The man sat gratefully, his hands constantly fidgeting in his lap, his plain wings flicking slightly behind him. Edward recognised them both for what they were, nervous habits.
After a minute of contemplation, the avian began speaking. "It's about the captain." He said, with the air of prophesizing a doomsday. Edward fought to keep his eyebrow from reaching his hairline in impatience. This was obviously both important and hard to talk about or he would have been told the whole story already, probably by Al. The man on the seat sighed. "Perhaps I should explain a bit more. See, this morning, I was minding my own business and doing some repairs down in the hangar bay when I hear the captain and Hughes arguing rather loudly. They're approaching and I can't really hear what they're talking about, but it sounds important, something about the prisoners and your name was mentioned quite a bit, Boss. They were talking about Earth and that got the alarm bells ringing. I knew then and there that I wanted nothing to do with it. But me being me, I was curious so I yelled out to ask them what was wrong." He paused for a moment, and the fiddling of his hands increased. "Neither of them had realised I was there. They both jumped when they heard me."
"Can you get to the point, please Havoc?" Edward asked, sighing and not liking where the story was headed.
"Don't blame me!" The man said defensively, "I was told to tell you what happened! Anyway. They've got two of the Earth prisoners with them, the black haired ones so I assume they're going on a prisoner exchange. It's only when I've agreed to tag along and am on the ship that they bothered to tell me that they didn't have permission. Hughes says, "Roy's about to..."
"Wait." Gracia interrupted, "Where is my husband and why isn't he reporting this with you?" She looked more worried than Edward thought it was possible to look, her face as white as a sheet, goose bumps along her arms. "And why isn't the captain here?"
Havoc looked from her to Edward to the other members of the crew uncomfortably. Edward gestured that he should answer, seeing as he had been wondering that himself. Havoc stalled a moment longer before finally giving in to the inevitable. "They... They are..." He shifted in his seat, eyes downcast and face melancholy. "'Mam, First Mate Maes Hughes... well he..." He tried to look determined as he spoke, forcing the words out. "Maes is dead, 'mam. He fell in battle." Silence fell.
"Excuse me." Gracia said very quietly, trembling all over. She placed a fist over her mouth and her wings came around her almost defensively as she slowly made her way towards the door of the medical wing with precise, well timed steps. She opened the door, stepped out, closing it behind her. They heard her muffled and distraught wail a moment later. Hawkeye quickly stood and followed her.
Edward's stomach was clenching and unclenching, and he felt his body trembling with part disbelief, part resignation and mostly sadness. He was afraid to ask, but finally said, "And Roy?" He felt on the verge of panic.
Havoc's wings drooped and his face took on the lilt of despair that Edward had been dreading. Edward felt slow anger beginning to burn just below the surface of his skin. Two more people he had loved and cared about him had been snatched away from him by the Earthen government. The tingling under his skin was almost burning with its ferocity, his wings flexing almost uncontrollably on either side of him.
Alphonse wasn't watching him; instead, he was looking in the direction Gracia had gone in, completely missing the interchange between Havoc and Edward. He looked back when Edward let out a loud "FUCK!" though, and a loud crackle split the air just after it. Edward glared at both him and havoc, an annoying blue haze flicking past his vision every now and then. The ground started to tremble. "What happened?" He demanded ferociously, looking at Havoc. "Why didn't you try and stop it from happening? WHY, if Hughes died, would you leave Mustang there by himself?"
Havoc looked even more frightened now than when he came in. He was pressed back as far as possible in his seat, cowering away from Edward and making the young man in the hospital bed feel highly satisfied. Edward's fury hadn't abated yet, and he watched with disinterest as a blue crackle of electricity shot up from his skin, coming a hair's breadth away from touching the man in the chair. "I was ordered out of there to warn you!" Havoc admitted. "I don't know if Mustang is alive or dead, but he told me that if it should be the first that you can't come to rescue him. I was lucky to make it out alive! I doubt that Mustang preformed the same feat."
That was not what Edward wanted to hear, and he chose to make his displeasure known in the form of a low, animalistic snarl.
"Brother! Calm down!" Alphonse cried, on the verge of panic. He reached out to touch Edward's arm, only to have Edward's explosive anger suddenly directed at him. Edward batted the arm away quickly. "One of our best men is dead and our captain is missing in action and you expect me to calm down?" He yelled, pinning his younger brother where he stood with a glare. "I want to know why this happened! I want to know just what the fuck they were doing on Earth in the first place! I want to know why they were putting themselves in danger like that! I want to know just what the fuck was so important to him that he couldn't even tell me about it or ask my opinion!" Edward's anger was spent now, replaced with a hollow, empty feeling in his gut, He choked back the tears that were threatening to spill over. "Why did he leave? Why did he go? Everyone I care about..." He couldn't say any more. If he tried, he would start crying and not be able to stop. He pressed his prosthetic fist against his eyes to cool them.
"Brother..." He heard Alphonse say in an unsure voice a moment before he was wrapped up in a bone crushing hug by his younger sibling. That was the one thing that would push him over the edge. Edward Elric broke down and sobbed in his younger brother's shirt, being gently rocked as he did so.
As the tears stopped flowing, Edward became filled with a new, seemingly unstoppable energy. He felt a new drive within him to do something about the current circumstances. "We have to move while we're still able to." He said with a gleam in his eyes. Alphonse was still white from the horrible news they had heard, and he was hiccoughing slightly, having started silently crying a few moments after Edward. Hawkeye was still outside tending to a still weeping Gracia and trying to offer as much solace as she could to the new widow. "We have one man down; we have to do our best not to make that two." He gave a weak, watery grin. "We have to rescue Mustang before the humans get to him more than they already have."
Havoc shook his head. "Mustang ordered me to give you the message to not rescue him, Boss. He said that it was a mistake, and would be exactly what the humans are after." The man sighed. "To go against the captain's orders would be suicide." He paled and his eyes glazed as if remembering the exact horror that had happened down on the planet.
Edward pretended like he hadn't heard. "We need to strike out in a way that they're not expecting." He said, "We need to focus our efforts on their weaknesses while defending ourselves from their strengths, one of which is them having the trump card of Mustang's life. We need to get me a new leg." He sighed and then shook his head. "The bad part is even if I can convince Winry to make me one, it would take too much time for me to get used to it. It took me a month to learn how to use my arm again. I suppose I can ask for one of Auntie Pinnako's spares and try my best." Calculations were running through his head faster than he knew what to do with them. The barest fringes of a plan were forming at the edge of his consciousness even as yet again, Havoc tried to dissuade him.
"Boss, they're expecting us." He said. "Didn't you hear me?"
Edward shook his head ferociously. "You're wrong, Havoc. They know me, or, they think they do. They don't expect me to come for mustang because they know I have no attachment to the man whatsoever." There was a pause in which both Alphonse and Havoc looked at him incredulously, identical looks of disbelief on their faces. "Or that's what I'd like to say." Edward admitted sheepishly. "The truth is, you're right. They are expecting us, an army to storm the compound in a rage, or to try one of the battle tactics we've used on Mars in the past. They would wipe us out in one easy blow if we tried that."
"Which means we're going to do what Mustang told us?" Havoc asked hopefully, looking terrified at the prospect of returning to what he left.
"Hell no!" Edward said with a triumphant grin. He flapped his wings and threw the bed sheets off him. Alphonse and Havoc jumped, startled. He stood on his one leg, using his wings for balance and looked at them, a gleam in his golden eyes. "Though we will have to put grieving for our former comrades on hold, while there is a chance that one still lives we have to do everything we can to get him back. This is what a good commander should do." Speech finished, he tried to take a determined step forward, completely forgetting about his disability. Luckily, Alphonse was ready for it, standing in just the right spot to catch him.
"Brother!" Al warned, but Edward just beamed at him, no trace of sheepishness in his features.
"Take me to the prison quarters, little brother," He said, "I've got a girl to see about a leg."
.
A/n: Hold your breath, folks. There's another chapter being typed up as we speak and should be finished in one or two days.
I went to Adelaide to visit my folks and had a sudden writing bug. I filled up two whole exercise books full of drafts for chapters, and something original that I'm working on that I shouldn't be writing right now seeing as Uni starts again tomorrow.
-Rattles the tin and just looks on with the puppy-dog eyes-