lostmoonchild: Okay, 1:30 on Friday afternoon and I'm just getting started on this chapter. We started saddle breaking colts last weekend so I'm working around that seeing as I can't think about chapters when dealing with colts since I don't feel like ending up in the hospital due to internal injuries or broken bones although I said that they didn't have to haul me off to a hospital if I broke an arm or a leg since all they had to do was set the bone and wrap it up tight.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or anything else unless I say otherwise.

Chapter Ten

It was remarkable how time treated people when it came to aging. It could be kind to them and allow them to age gracefully or it could be downright cruel and make people look about twenty years older than what they actually were. If it weren't for the fact that Ross was determined to avenge his own death as well as the deaths of his siblings, the brunette would have been upset about the whole never knowing how well time would treat him.

The sickening scent of alcohol hung heavily in the air as the cigarette smoke scattered the light, making the bar appear to have only a couple of lights on instead of five or six. Ed and Ross looked around the bar before noticing a man sitting in a corner, carefully drinking a beer as if afraid that it would vanish if he let it out of his sight or pulled his lips away from it for even a moment. Whatever he saw during his time in the military, it still bothered him deeply enough that he felt that alcohol was the thing that would help him most. "That him?" Ed questioned calmly.

"Yeah, I think so. Looks like his picture before he got discharged except the guy in the picture was more cleanly cut."

"Damn it. I honestly don't think I'd wish this upon anybody."

The two men moved towards the corner table, watching the man carefully. "William Smith?" Ross questioned.

"Bill," answered the man. There was a slur in his voice letting them know that he'd had more than just a couple of beers before they showed up. "Don't like being called William. Call me Bill."

"May we join you? We have a few questions to ask regarding an incident that took place thirty years ago." Ed stated calmly.

Bill looked at the two young men carefully for a moment before sighing. "I knew it'd come back to bite me in the ass. How in the hell did I know that it'd come back to bite me in the ass?" Bill questioned as he watched the two sit down. "Things you do in the military, boys, always come back to bite you in the ass. Don' matter if you do good, it always comes back to bite your asses and it bites you pretty damn hard. Especially if you've done wrong. Alchemists call it equivalent exchange. Us common people call it

"We'll remember that, sir." Ross answered with a small nod. "We're investigating a project of the military's that was ended some time ago. Project Sandman?"

Bill hissed slightly and looked at the two with unfocused eyes. If it weren't for the fact that the man was drunk and this was a serious investigation, Ross would have laughed at his attempt to appear threatening to them. "Don't say that word out loud, damn it." Bill hissed as he looked around warily. "I heard what you two are doing. Digging up the past. Your father was in on it too, boy, and he died cause of it. You're only digging your grave."

"My brothers and sisters are already dead as well as my parents. I ain't got any blood family left to cry over my corpse." Ross informed the man. "Besides, I'm going to die in a few months anyway so digging up the past isn't going to hurt nothing. That pet project turned supposed failure was used on my hide not too long ago and I'm working my ass off to put an end to it before I'm useless."

Bill took another drink of his beer before motioning for a refill. "I wrote down what happened in a report. No need to ask me nothing." Bill informed them.

"What happened wasn't in any report so that makes us think that something happened that you guys didn't want anybody to know about." Ed told the man calmly. "So I suggest telling us what we want to know."

They could see the fear in the man's bloodshot eyes and could easily smell the alcohol seeping from his pores. Ross dug out a picture and set it on the table in front of the man. It had been taken just a month before Rose died. He remembered that day since she couldn't remember who any of them were most of the time and was getting pissed because she couldn't remember anything.

It was the last picture they took together. "Those are my brothers and sisters." Ross told the man. "The girl in the wheelchair was my sister, Rose. She was the first one that died. The younger kids were killed not too long ago in a fire. In the wreckage was a needle that's believed to hold the same thing that killed my sister." Ross watched the man's face carefully, seeing the shock and sorrow in his eyes. "Now I'm sick and dying. The doctors think I have only a few months to live. Every day I suffer from severe muscle spasms and am already experiencing memory loss. The military's giving me an honorable discharge in a little while but I want to do what I can before I'm completely useless."

Okay, it was admittedly cruel to play on someone's emotions but how else were they going to get information? The guy clearly knew something but he wasn't going to tell them what he knew without a little incentive. Ross just hoped that his dead siblings didn't get pissed at him for using their memory to get answers. "I'm sorry, boy, I really am but I can't help you." Billy said before taking a gulp of his refill.

"Yes, you can! Please just tell us what you can. I don't want to die knowing that I could have stopped this and that somebody else is going to be attacked."

The man looked away for a moment before closing his eyes. "Fine," he answered with a sigh. "I'll tell you what happened if that means that I'll be left in peace."

"Thank you." Ed told the man with a grateful look.

"It was thirty years ago. A couple of buddies and me were checking the surrounding area out when we got into some trouble. One buddy, your dad," he looked at Ross, "jumped in and did everything he could to get us out. When we went to make our reports, we were told to take out some of the things we had written. Still got the official reports locked up tight.

"Anyway, time passed and we thought we had gotten out of trouble when we found out that your old man was still investigating and he had uncovered some nasty stuff."

"Like what?" Ross questioned.

"I don't know. By then him and your mother were expecting their first baby except the first baby was the first set of twins. Then sometime during your mother's last pregnancy he had been hunted down and vanished without a trace. I had gotten discharged from the military by then cause of my drinking."

Ross nodded slightly. "Can we see the reports," he questioned. "They might have something important that we need."

Finishing off his beer, the drunken man nodded slightly. "Come on, boys." Bill said with a sigh. "I just hope that you know what you're getting yourselves into."

While they wanted to say that they did, neither man could honestly say that they did. Until this was over and done with, everything they did was simply touch and go.

lostmoonchild: Okay, I worked with the horses and escaped with no injuries so that's a plus for all of you guys. Since I'm in a good mood, I'll accept flames again so read and review and feel free to leave a flame if you want.