Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, nor do I wish to. I just want to read it and write about it.

FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO DON'T BOTHER TO READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE START OF A CHAPTER, THIS IS SET IN THE MANGAVERSE, WHICH EVENTUALLY TAKES A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT PLOTLINE THAN THE ANIMEVERSE. IN THE MANGAVERSE, Fuhrer Bradley IS WRATH, NOT PRIDE!!!

Fallen Heroes' Creed

Chapter Two

Getting Away with Murder

Alphonse Elric, the Immortal Alchemist, crouched behind a low wall as bullets ripped off chunks of the wall, reducing his cover.

Wait for the reload…NOW! As the Ishbalan at the machine gun stopped his barrage to reload, Al broke from his cover, dashing down the street at the dark-skinned man.

Al dove through the window, knocking the machine gun from its bipod as he tackled the Ishbalan. The two men rolled around on the floor in a frenzy blur of motion. When the Ishbalan drove his knee into Al's gut, the young alchemist coughed and loosened his grip on his foe's shirt.

His opponent dove for the machine gun on the floor, planning to shred Al at point-blank range. He froze when a black boot slammed down onto the machine gun. The Ishbalan arched his head up to stare at a young blonde man in a blue Amestrian military uniform. Their eyes met and the Ishbalan man began to feel fear spread through him as the young man's amber eyes met with his crimson ones.

"I'm sorry." The last the Ishbalan rebel saw was the alchemist's blade that was attached to his automail arm slashing across his vision.

Ed and Al sat around a small campfire outside the town they'd recently cleared of Ishbalans, accompanied by Colonel Roy Mustang. The small campfire, now down to its embers, was silent apart from the occasional crackle of burning wood. The cool desert wind whipped their hair about and stung their eyes as it kicked up dust.

Ed's eyes were beginning to get watery, but for an entirely different reason. He couldn't get that Ishbalan he'd killed earlier that day out of his head. Those red eyes had been so full of fear, but grim determination as well.

Roy noticed his brooding subordinate and said in a dull monotone, "Just put him out of your mind, Fullmetal. You can't survive this place if you constantly look back and feel guilty over the enemies you've killed."

Ed's golden eyes flashed in anger and he glared at his commanding officer, who sat there, fingers steepled in front of his face. Al also turned to face Mustang and said, "But guilt is a natural human emotion. If a soldier doesn't feel guilty about those you've killed, then we're no longer human. If we stop feeling guilty about the people we've killed, then we're no better than Father or the Homunculi."

Roy smiled to himself. Leave it to Al to say what's on everybody's minds… "I'm not saying I don't feel guilty, nor am I suggesting that Fullmetal not feel guilty. But in battle, one must remain completely focused on the situation. If they don't, they'll stand a very high chance of getting killed."

Ed finally spoke up, his eyes swimming with tears. "But I can't do it. You can call me weak, you can call me foolish, naïve…call me whatever you want, but I just can't keep all the people I've killed out of my mind."

"Then leave the military. Go back to Resembool and live in peace with the Rockbells." Roy was now the one glaring at Ed, and neither one was willing to back down.

"If I do, then Bradley will—" Ed stopped abruptly, thinking of Winry. She's a nice, honest girl… Those had been the Fuhrer's words when Ed had said he was going to leave the military, but those words prevented him from resigning. He looked his brother in the eye, then returned his gaze to Mustang. "—If I resign from the military, Bradley will kill Winry. I don't doubt that he wouldn't kill Granny Pinako while he's at it."

Roy felt a sharp spike of compassion and empathy for the boy. He knew that Ed loved Winry, even though Ed wouldn't say it in a million years. He unconsciously recalled a game of chess he'd played with the Fuhrer before the Second Ishbalan War began. I lost my rook, my knight, my bishop, and… He nearly choked as he thought of Breda, Falman, Fuery, and Havoc, and it took all his willpower to keep down his tears as he finished his thought…but my queen was safe…She can't help me, but she's safe.

Ed watched his superior's face. Whatever was on his mind, it was certainly troubling him, and Ed thought it was most likely Hawkeye. He knew that Winry wasn't the only hostage the Fuhrer had. He also had Hawkeye, and Bradley wouldn't hesitate to use the blonde sniper against Mustang.

"Excuse me, am I interrupting anything?" All three heads swiveled to face the source of the noise, and saw a young blonde soldier standing near the edge of the firelight.

The young soldier was roughly 164 centimeters in height, and she had a face that reminded Ed of Winry or Hawkeye. Full lips, fiery green eyes, and well-defined features managed to make her look like a woman, but at the same time a soldier. "Not at all. Is there a problem?"

She shook her head and said, "No. It's just that I was told to report to Colonel Roy Mustang, and I was directed here. Is that you?" She inclined her head to Roy, who nodded. Abruptly, the woman snapped a salute to him, and sounded off. "Sir, Captain Cassandra Rickard reporting for duty, sir!"

Al blinked rapidly, Ed sat there with a stunned look on his face and Mustang looked like he'd been punched in the gut. "Excuse me?"

Cassandra continued to remain in her salute stance, and replied in a calm, level tone, "I was ordered by the Fuhrer through Major General Grumman to report to the Flame Alchemist, Colonel Roy Mustang. How may I be of service, sir?"

Roy smiled inwardly and with a flourish, pointed to the area between Ed and Al. "Firstly, you can relax and take a seat; it's an informal atmosphere. Secondly, did the general want you to tell me anything?"

Ever since Riza had been transferred to be one of the Fuhrer's personal assistants, Grumman had occasionally had information for Roy, courtesy of Riza herself. Cassandra nodded. "He told me to tell you that Lieutenant Hawkeye is safe. Also, he's trying to rally support against the Fuhrer, and he's made some progress with civilians, but not many people in the military, apart from those under Brigadier General Hughes, were willing to stand up against the Fuhrer."

Cassandra sat on the other side of Al as she spoke. When she sat down, Ed could have sworn his little brother blushed a little, though it was hard to tell with the flickering firelight dancing across his face.

"Well, g'night, everybody. I'm going to bed now." With that, Ed disappeared into his tent for the night. But for almost three hours, Ed's mind was too active for him to sleep. He tossed in his bedroll, sleep interrupted by thoughts of golden hair, bright blue eyes, a shining smile, and flying wrenches.

Three State Alchemists and one Amestrian regular might have seemed like an overpowered group for a mere sortie, but Colonel Roy Mustang, Captain Edward Elric, Major Alphonse Elric, and Captain Cassandra Rickard all had special skills that complemented each others' weaknesses.

While certainly distinguished at striking from a distance, Mustang and Cassandra—or 'Cass', as she preferred to be called—were less than stellar at close combat. To balance that, Ed and Al were excellent at hand-to-hand combat, and were extremely fast and agile. Cass had the furthest range, making her effective at dispatching Ishbalans before her comrades even knew there was an enemy.

On top of complementing each others skills, all four of them knew of the Homunculi's infiltration of the military, and were under the surveillance of the Fuhrer. Rather than use two or three spies to keep their eyes on Mustang, Cass, and the Elrics, it was simplest to put them all into the same squad and have one pair of eyes on them.

Ed was slinking down a street with Cass, making sure the cramped yet empty streets were really empty. On the other side of the street, Mustang and Al were mimicking the actions of Ed and Cass.

As they went down the deserted streets, Ed's thoughts drifted to the consequences of what he was doing. He'd never killed someone before his first Ishbalan in the war, but Nina Tucker's death still haunted him to that day. He hadn't actually seen the bodies of the Tucker family, but from Hawkeye making a point for him not to go to the crime scene, it must have been gruesome. He still remembered how the Slicer brothers had died trying to give him information on the Homunculi

He may not have been the one who killed them, but it was partly due to his actions that got them killed in the first place. Suddenly, Roy's bark to find cover snapped Ed out of his reverie, and Ed realized why when a bullet shot out at him, blowing a divot out of the ground in front of his automail foot. He clapped his hands and slammed them onto the ground. There was a bright blue flash of alchemic light, and the ground beneath he and Cass shifted as he transmuted a wall for cover.

Mustang was scanning the area quickly but thoroughly, searching for their attacker. Al was making sure no one would sneak up on him and Roy, as the cover Al created wasn't without flaws. Mustang heard another crack of a rifle as he poked his head up from his cover, and grinned as he ducked back down, sand blasting into his hair as the bullet took a small chunk of the wall off. There.

In one deft movement, his hand came up over the wall and he snapped his fingers. There was a sound similar to an electrical surge, and another second later, the tall clock tower at the center of the town, several blocks east, exploded at its top. The flames engulfed the clock and sent tons of rubble crashing down upon the immediate area.

Roy stood and brushed himself off as he called out, "Is everyone okay?"

"We're good." Ed and Cassandra stood and scanned the area for anymore enemies. When they were certain that the area was secure, all of them relaxed.

"Chalk up another death for the rebellion…" were the only words Ed could manage as he saw the destruction his commanding officer had caused to the clock tower in the center of town.