OwlCookies: 9 more days!

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9's Not Even Close

The frying sizzled cueing Ed's return back into the kitchen to tend to the frying pan once more. His wrist jerked back and forth; up and down; left to right, until it was cooked. Ed turned the stove up and let the ingredients in the pan cool off for a little bit. Then, he returned back to the living room.

"Should you really leave our dinner unattended like that?" Al asked. "It might catch on fire."

"Al, stop worrying. I got it!" Ed assured.

Al could tell that Ed really didn't "got it," but he let it slide, shrugging.

Soon though, as Al had warned, smoke could be smelt throughout the room. Al glared at Ed while the older brother ran into the kitchen to put out the fire.

"What the hell?" Ed shout caught Al's attention.

He ran into the kitchen to not see the stove on fire, but the door opposite to the stove. The kitchen, even though it was smaller than most, did not have a reasonable explanation as to why the door would be on fire. Nothing flammable was within 5 feet of that door. 5 feet wasn't close enough to have anything catch on fire, well, unless it was purposely done.

"Wh-Why is the door on fire?" Al asked as Ed dumped a bucket of water from the sink onto the now receding fire.

Ed grunted after he dumped the last bucket of water onto the door, destroying the raging flame entirely. "I don't know. I swear I turned the stove off. But I bet you a certain soldier did this just for his enjoyment." He grumbled that last sentence.

Al hummed for a second. "No, I don't think he would do that. The lieutenant wouldn't let him."

"He could be some secret agent ninja or something!" Ed teased, posing in a bent position.

Al chuckled. "Nice try, brother, but I doubt that!" He stopped chuckled when he heard a large crash of the burnt door collapsing next to him. "Uhmm…" he mumbled, hesitating to move any single body part.

Behind the debris of the fallen door was the silhouette of a man. The sun's light from the kitchen window shined on the silhouette until the man was revealed. Ed's eyes grew wider and his pupils shrank. His heart skipped a beat.

"Hoenheim?" His surprised and angry glare didn't seem to stir the man standing at the door. Instead, Hoenheim raised his hand in greeting.

"Hey."

"Did you do this?" Ed scowled.

Hoenheim's eyes glanced around until they settled to the door. He pointed at it.

"This? No, that wasn't me."

Ed relaxed a bit but remained tense. "Why are you here?"

"I heard around about a murder killing people around here. Since I heard you two boys lived here, I wanted to drop by and see if you were alright," Hoenheim replied casually, shrugging.

"Dad?" Al asked.

Hoenheim nodded in his direction. "Hey, Al."

This seemed to be an awkward time for all three of them…

"According to Mustang, the killer might be the same one who killed mom," Ed murmured. He had calmed himself down after a few minutes and was now sitting down on a chair, rocking back and forth. A thumb was wedged between his teeth as he chewed on it casually.

Al sat next to him on a different chair, looking at Hoenheim respectfully. "Do you know anything about the killer?"

Hoenheim looked down, a flash in the glasses revealed something if you couldn't tell by the look in his eyes. His eyes seemed to look droppy and tired. He shook his head.

"I've heard bits and rumors. Nothing really. What else did Colonel Mustang tell you?"

Ed almost scowled at him. That bastard of a father wasn't concerned about his wife at all? Yeah, she was dead, but he didn't seem to have a care about her at all! Things like this made Ed despise him more and more.

"No," Ed replied. "I didn't want to get further into what he was telling me. He was pissing me off." Ed looked away, snorting.

Al looked at Ed suspiciously but the suspicion went away when Ed gave him a glare.

x.x.x.x.

"Was that really what happened?" Al asked after Hoenheim left.

Ed shrugged, looking away as if he wanted to avoid the question. "Look, Al," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "It's probably just another false lead."

He knew he was lying. Deep down, Ed knew that he was lying. He was afraid. He was afraid to finally see the one who killed his mother.

The phone rang, jolting Ed away from his gloomy thoughts. Without another word to Al, he went over to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Oh hello Vic!" There was a high pitched chuckle on the other end.

"Uhm… Do I know you?"

"Of course you do, Vic dear. Remember me? You met me after you talk to Travis the other day."

"No… I still don't."

"…Vic…"

A lightbulb blinked on. "Oh wait, yeah, I remember you. Hey, what's up?" Ed tried to not grit his teeth. This was so embarrassing. But then again, for the one on the other end, it must have been worse. "How's your voice? You seem a bit low today?" He smirked, trying to embarrass him.

"Oh yeah, I'm a bit under the weather today. But can you please meet me here in let's say… hmm… about right now?" The person at the other end had a grudging tone but managed to keep up the act.

"Yeah, sure." Ed smirked.

"Who was that?" Al asked once Ed hung up.

Ed' smirk grew wider. "Mrs. Roy Mustang."

Al raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.

x.x.x.x.

"What's with the act, Mustang?" Ed asked, growling as he stormed into Roy's office for the second time that week.

Roy rolled his eyes. "If anyone tapped into that line, and I mean anyone, you're life and probably mine would be in danger." Humor glinted in his eye. "It'd be tragic if I died. I wouldn't be able to become Fuhrer. Not only that, my poor lieutenant would be so devastated-"

"Sir." Riza's warning was enough to shut him up. But he smirked when she blushed.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"It's 9 more days until Christmas," Roy said, motioning to the calendar that was placed on the table in front of Ed.

Ed eyed it. It was December 16th.

"On the strike of midnight, right on December 25th, the murderer plans to kill both you and Al."

"What?" Ed's eyes shot to Al who looked back worriedly.

"According to the reports," Roy explained, tossing Ed a folder labeled Killer Case, "The killer has been killing one victim each since the beginning of December. After each murder, the killer writes a message in the victim's blood. Every time, he writes that he's going to kill you two at the stroke of midnight on Christmas."

Ed went through the documents, reading the little information is even had. "Why?"

Roy shrugged. "There was no explanation. But like I said before, he might be the one who killed your mother. So, until the killer is caught and imprisoned, I got two officers to watch your back."

"WHAT?" Ed jumped up with a fist raised. "We don't need a babysitter!"

"Are you sure about that?" Roy asked, smirking. "People might mistake you for a five year old."

And even outside the building, Ed's scream of rage was heard and the blast's tremble was felt.

"Settle down, Elric, I was only joking." Roy's face returned serious again.

Ed pouted and looked away.

"2nd Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh will be your bodyguards until the killer is caught."

As if on cue, a young blond male with bangs like Ed entered with an also young female with black hair and a mole under her eye entered. They saluted.

"Good evening sirs!" the greeted.

"Ah, and here they are." Mustang grinned. "2nd Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Brosh, meet Edward and Alphonse Elric."

"This little kid is part of the military?" Ross asked.

Ed hissed. "Who are you calling little?" he asked menacingly.

Ross shrank back, arms in front of her. "S-Sorry sir!"

XXXX

OwlCookies: sorry this was posted a little late. I was kinda occupied at school today…