hey so i'm bad at updates on a normal basis...im gonna try to be better at that. my bad. to compensate have a really detailed chapter!

Once Central was no longer in sight and all around him was green farmland Edward dropped his waving hand and sighed, closed the window and slowly sat down. The sounds of the train's wheels on the tracks and roaring wind muffled to a murmur easy to ignore. He unbuttoned his uniform jacket and shirt slightly to be more comfortable and took off his hat, setting it on the table in front of him. Besides the hat, the table had a complimentary blueberry muffin and coffee with a few creamers and a small container of sugar on the side. He sniffed the muffin and confirmed it was fresh and still warm. There was a note that read "thank you for your service!" underneath the cup in pretty blue cursive handwriting. He assumed the waitress wrote it and had brought in the items while he was hanging out the window. He gingerly grabbed the muffin as to not squish it, and took a big bite and leaned back, attempting to soothe his ragged nerves. He tried to play it off to Win and the kids but good fucking god was he scared shitless, he could even feel himself shaking a touch. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the soft music playing overhead. It was too quiet to distinguish the vocals, but the instrumental sounded like an upbeat jazz number, complete with a saxophone. Normally such music would make him happy and bounce his feet, but at the moment it seemed ill placed, and further made the whole situation surreal. Unable to shake the feeling he huffed and sat up, taking another bite. The muffin, at least, was tasty and much appreciated. He thought of what could relax him further and vaguely wanted a bourbon on the rocks, but he decided drowning his sorrows would be the opposite of a good idea and instead reached for the coffee. He spooned two helpings of sugar into the otherwise black coffee and took a sip, letting the warmth relax him a tiny bit. He stopped for a moment and then added another spoonful, Winry wasn't here to control his sugar intake and he always had a sweet tooth. He thought about his situation, and what it means for him. He tried to wrap his head around the thought that he was eventually going to have to kill someone. He swallowed heavily and pinched his nose. He's not ready for that, he'd never be ready for that. But it was his reality, people don't go into a war and come out with their hands clean, it just doesn't happen. He wonders what that'd do to him. How he'd react to murdering someone. In the name of his country or not, it's still murder, just legal and heroic murder. He scoffed bitterly and swirled the spoon in his cup. He thought of Liz and James, whether they'd still think of him as their hero, or would they turn away. He began to feel sick so he quickly switched topics and instead thought of Mustang. He picked up his coffee and watched it swirl. What was he going through right now? Were they torturing him? Was he...dead? He shook his head, he's not allowed to think that way, he's not dead. Mustang can't be killed that easily. It's not rainy season in Drachma. He set the coffee down just in time for someone to say hello and shake him from his thoughts, causing the muffin to hop from his hand. He did a little dance number to retrieve the muffin before it fell, succeeded, and looked annoyed at the offender. It was another man in a uniform and he waved apologetically. He was tanner than Edward, had green eyes, and ashy brown hair sweeping above his right eye, gray hair sneaking in around his temples.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare ya, you just looked nervous and I was seeing if some company would help. I'm scared too ha ha!" He smiled wide and Edward couldn't help but chuckle and offer him the opposing seat. He sat down and stretched his arms up briefly before leaning forward, the smile never leaving his face. "I think I know you, or know of you rather ha. You're Edward Elric right?" Edward nodded through another huge bite, causing the man to snort. "Yep that's what I thought! Nice to meetcha Edward, my name's Chatwin, you can call me Chat if it's easier. I can't believe they even pulled you into this hellhole situation! I mean you saved the entire country and what thanks do ya get? Being shipped off to war! Ridiculous." Chatwin leaned back and scratched at his facial hair, a thin well groomed beard that was a mix of brown, red, and grays. Edward swallowed and nodded rolling his eyes.

"They say it's for the "war effort"." He does finger quotations and Chatwin snickers. "We have over 50 million people in the country and they just had to pick me. It's bullshit! It doesn't matter though, I'm going and I'm going to get Mustang back." He took a sip of his coffee and Chatwin's raised his brows. Edward's shoulders stiffened, waving his other hand around. "What don't believe me? I'm gonna do it and then there'll be a huge party and everyone will be happy and I'll be just fine." Edward put of a classic stubborn expression and Chatwin laughed, putting a hand to his face.

"I've heard that you're a little too confident but...you really think you're coming out of this unscathed?" Edward faltered but quickly nodded, but he noticed. Chatwin leaned back in and the smile finally fell. "No you don't. You're not stupid Edward, even I know that. You know that this war is gonna fuck all of us over don't you? This isn't a one week thing where you waltz in and immediately find the fuhrer. It's gonna take time, and during that time you're going to be fighting for your life." Edward put down his cup and gave him a serious and bleak expression, hunched over his arms on the table. "H-hey don't be like that! If you're anything like the stories we've all heard you're gonna pull through and kick this war's ass. Besides you aren't alone in this, remember? You got the entire army on your side." Edward closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them, sat up and gave one confident "ha" and smiled.

"Yeah, I've got this. It's gonna fucking suck, but i got this." Got this he did indeed as he spilled his coffee all over the table. He yelped and lifted his hat as Chatwin grabbed napkins and quickly patted the table down, laughing the entire time. Edward returned the laughter until he noticed something white sticking out of his hat. He reached in a pulled out a small note and a picture that could fit in his palm. The note he immediately realized was from Winry judging from the handwriting, but it also had small messy signatures from the kids. he chuckles when the one he could only assume to be James' was completely illegible. The note read: "Don't forget what you're fighting for! Come home to us all okay? Both of you!" Edward smiled at the tiny parenthesis that read "That means you too uncle Roy" in Lizzy's handwriting. He gently folds in back up and puts it on a dry spot of the table before looking at the picture. It was a Christmas family photo from just a month shy of a year ago. It had everyone, Winry, Lizzy, James, Alphonse, Mei, Mustang and Hawkeye, even Ling and lanfan. Edward was the one who took the photo but that kind of made it better for him. Everyone is smiling and wearing horrible Christmas sweaters. Liz is tugging on Mustang's sweater and he's giving her the warning glare while still smiling. It was one of his favorite photos but he couldn't find it to pack, now he knew why. He was stuck smiling like a fool at the picture until Chatwin booped his nose.

"Hey so do I get to see what's making you all doe eyed?" Edward narrowed his eyes, still smiling, and stuffed the photo into Chatwin's breast pocket just a little too hard before gently handing him the note. Chatwin grabbed both and rubbed the near his breast pocket, giving Edward the most hurt expression before he looked at the photo. He grinned wide and put a hand to the side of his face. "Awww, how adorable!" He noticed something, dropped the hand and looked to Edward. "Uncle Roy? You're that close to the fuhrer?" Edward shrugged and nodded.

"We did kinda save the entire country together, stopped him from becoming a hatred filled monster, he saved my ass several times I mean it's not like we didn't bond." Chatwin laughed incredulous and handed the photo and note back to Edward. Edward put them in his own breast pocket.

"Yeah I guess that's true. I guess you have a personal reason for finding him then huh." Edward scoffed and crossed his arms.

"You mean the only reason? Yeah. I don't give a quarter of a fuck about the war effort or anything. He's a good leader and a better friend, so of course i'm gonna bail his ass out." Chatwin threw his head back and laughed, clapping a few times.

"I've always heard you were blunt and super vulgar it's great to see some people never change!" He quieted down and grinned brightly at Edward, lifting his hat. "Here's to hoping you never change, no matter what this war throws at you!" Edward rolled his eyes and lifted his own, grinning right back.

"Here's to hoping!"

I don't like begging for reviews but they do help to motivate me to update faster, otherwise it'll take a while to get the motivation going. up to you! You do you my dudes. -AF