Alphonse Elric waited patiently for his brother to get back from his meeting. Their dorm room was quiet as he sat by the window, watching the sun setting over Central. It was peaceful and he actually liked the stillness. But it would only last so long as he heard the door open and slam closed rather loudly.
"Brother, you're back." Al turned to see his brother pull off his red jacket and throw it on the back of the couch. "What's wrong? Did you meeting go okay?"

"No, that bastard is keeping information from me. After all the dead ends we've run into, you'd think he could throw me a bone, but no." He flopped down on the couch and rested his arms over his eyes.

"I'm sure he has his reasons. Besides maybe he doesn't know what you think he does."

"Al, he had a solid lead right in the open and refused to let me see it. I'm telling yah, he's hiding something and I'm gonna find out what."
As much as Alphonse wanted to talk him out of it, there was no point. Once he got an idea in his head, there was no convincing him otherwise.

"So what do you want to do about it?" Al's tone was dry as though he had no intentions of arguing however knew it would be best to tag along in order to keep an eye on his older brother.

"Well I know where we can start." Al narrowed his eyes, knowing this was not a good idea.

oOoOo

There was no one else in the library at this hour as the two alchemists wondered through the stacks of military records. Alphonse glanced around unsure of what to look for.

"So what are we researching?" His question fell on deaf ears as Ed climbed up a ladder to get to books that were too far to reach. Finally when he saw what he needed he jumped down, holding a large leather bound book.

Heading over to a table, he flipped through the pages until he found one picture he recognized from earlier that day. Bringing his metal finger down, he pointed at it for Al.

"Winston Ferguson? Whose that?"

"Well he was a State Alchemist but it seemed he didn't last very long. It looks as though he's methods were too questionable."

"Then why are we so interested in him?"

"Because he was dabbling in human transmutation, that's why. Who knows maybe he found a different way to create a Philosopher's Stone."

"But you said Mustang didn't want us to go after this guy, so shouldn't we just leave it alone?"

"I can't back down now, Al. Besides wouldn't it be great to show that Colonel that we can handle this anyway?"

"Brother I don't know about this, won't it get you into trouble?"

"Al, we've gotta find this guy, trust me. This is the break that we've been waiting for." Reluctantly Alphonse nodded back in agreement. "Now let's see what else we can find out about him."

"Yeah like for starters why he is considered so dangerous."

"I overheard some of the Colonel and Lieutenant's conversation and they said something about him having the capability of bringing soldiers back to life."

"What really, no way. How's that possible?"

"Now you see why I was so interested?"

"But right here it says that he was an expert in death and life and how to manipulate the anatomy of the human body. That does seem kind of dangerous."

"I'm sure he's not as good as they claimed. We've been up against some pretty serious enemies before and been fine."

"It says here that the last place he was seen was down south. Veritas city."

"Then I guess that's where we need to head." Edward finished reading any additional information that would be helpful before they placed the book back on the shelf and headed out.

oOoOo

Early the next morning, they caught a train out of Central. Edward laid across the one seat sleeping, while Alphonse watched the scenery go by. Several questions bothered him about this trip. Although he knew that it would be beneficial, he couldn't help but wonder why the Colonel had been so against them handling it. He was also curious about why this former state alchemist's name was not in the records.

His soulful gaze shifted to his older brother. He knew the Colonel was only thinking of their well being. So what was so dangerous? The thought that they were going to be in over their heads bothered him, even to the point that he thought about calling Mustang when they reached the city.

The unsettling feeling continued to nag him as they continued to get closer to the impending danger. Several silent hours went by as he continued to dwell on all the possibilities that lie before them. Finally it was announced that they were about twenty minutes out from their destination. Al leaned forward, shaking his brother awake.

"Hey, Ed. We're almost to Veritas city." Edward let out a yawn and stretched his arms over his head.

"Already, that was fast." He always managed to sleep whenever they went on a train ride.

"Brother, are you sure this is such a good idea?"

"You want to back out now?"

"It's just there's a lot of questions surrounding this situation, I think we're rushing in."

"So you're siding with Mustang? Great, thanks for the encouragement."

"It's not like that," Al vocalized a sigh, knowing this wasn't going to resolve anything, "I just think we're being kind of reckless."

"It's not reckless if I know what I'm doing." Alphonse quietly shook his head. There was no reasoning with Ed when he was this determined about something. Even though when Al had a bad feeling about something, he was usually right about it.

"Fine, we'll jump in like we always do, get into trouble and hopefully be able to get out before it's too late." Edward caught the sarcastic tone but decided to ignore it anyway.

"Glad to hear you're on board." Al wanted to roll his eyes. Their conversation died down and within minutes the train was coming to a screeching halt at the station. Edward led the way to the station's office with Al quietly trailing behind.