Title: The Heart of Everything: The Song of the Forge Volume 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Summary: When whispers of a Rebellion sweeps across Amestris and a failed assassination reveals a terrifying plot against the State, Brigadier-General Edward Elric and Colonel Alphonse Elric are dispatched with orders to stop the rebels at all costs. The only problem is that the rebels have traveled twelve years into the past.

Chapter 2

Edward Elric was furious as he stormed into Liuetenant-General Roy Mustang's office, muttering heatedly under his breath about fools and heresy.

"'We don't have time to be chasing heresy, Brigadier-General. Rather than coming up with outlandish ideas, concentrate on dealing with the Rebels in Central…' my ass!" he snarled.

Mustang resisted the urge to sigh as he slid his reading glasses off his nose and set them carefully on his desk. Drachma had cooled his wayward subordinate's temper enough that the blonde almost never vented indiscriminately anymore. Of course, the few times the blonde reverted to his twelve year old mannerisms had been when he was well and truly furious, and it seemed now was one of those times.

"I should have known that it was too much to hope that you would have stopped heaping abuse on my door. What is it this time, Fullmetal?"

"Hakuro's what's wrong!" Edward hissed as he slammed the files onto his superior's desk. "Take a look at these and tell me what you see, and tell me that the Fuhrer isn't simply being a lazy ass when he's telling me that this is a joke!"

Mustang raised an eyebrow and decided to humor the young man. He picked up the file and flipped through it quickly, and his eyebrows moved toward his hairline as he skimmed the contents of the file. He laid it on his desk and looked his subordinate in the eyes.

"Edward, this isn't the time for jokes."

"Dammit, Mustang, just look at the array for a moment! Look at it! This curve here especially!"

Mustang gave a harried sigh as he glanced at the part of the array that Edward was indicating to and at the notes about the breakdown of the array in his hands. He decided to state the obvious, "That's the infinity symbol, Ed."

"Precisely! If we switched a few things, such as lengthening the line here and here, sharpen the curve here and here and here, and add a few elements over here, what do we get?"

"Ed… Now's not the time for alchemical theory. We need to figure out what the rebels were trying to send through the array and where whatever they're sending through is ending up."

"And I'm telling you that this array is telling us everything! There is a human element here," a gloved finger jabbed at one part of the array, "and a time element here," another finger jab, but toward a different part of the array this time, "and this part over here," yet another finger jab, "is the 'before' that we tend to use when we're trying to restore something to its original form, but combined with the other two elements, it rips open the time stream! Mustang, when have I been wrong? The rebels are trying to change time!"

"It's not that I don't believe you, Fullmetal, but do you have any idea how farfetched your idea is?"

Edward leaned forward and said quietly, "Look at your Alchemical Journal, Mustang, don't you notice differences? I've kept a record of everything I've seen and done since I first joined the military in my own Alchemical Journal, and I have memories of things that I know I've never done, that overlap with things recorded in my Journal, there are mission reports in Archives that I know I've never submitted and I know I've never been on any of those missions, and there are records of research that I know I haven't performed. It's been two months since I've started working on that array, three months if you include the discovery of the array up till now. Gate only knows how much damage could be caused by now, and we wouldn't even realize it because it's our past they're changing and our memories are probably changing with it! The paperwork in Archives is also changing to accommodate the changes, and it's only a matter of time before our personal paperwork and our memories stop showing the inconsistencies! And when that happens, then what?"

Mustang sighed and shook his head. "You know I can't let you just hare off the way you did when you were twelve, Fullmetal. I'll tell you the same thing I kept telling myself for the majority of the past ten years; You're not just a Colonel anymore. You're a Brigadier-General, and Brigadier-Generals cannot just rush off to follow a lead that could potentially turn out to be a dead end. Give me concrete proof that this is a good lead, just once piece of irrefutable evidence, and I can justify this as a mission."

"The mission reports in Archives and the personal notes I know you made in your Alchemical Journal. The array, my own word. That's all the proof I can give you, Mustang!"

Mustang sighed. "You've never outright lied to me before," the general said after a while. "Nor have your instincts ever been wrong when it comes to something like this. Fine. Stabilize the array and make it so it's permanent unless the gate is destroyed, and put together a team. I'll find a way to justify your mission, but you do not leave until I say so, understand?"

Edward saluted, the movement crisp and smooth with practice. "Understood sir."

"Very well. Dismissed, Brigadier-General."

The blonde nodded and left the office, closing the door quietly behind him before hurrying down to his own office to begin preparations. Two members of his staff, First Lieutenant Alexandria Clyne and Second Lieutenant Jonathan Hawthorne, who had been waiting for him a little ways down the hall, quickly fell into step behind him.

"Lieutenant Clyne, send word to Colonel Elric. I want to speak with him immediately concerning the array. Lieutenant Hawthorne, begin drawing up plans for a long term covert mission against the rebels and select the most level headed from our unit for the mission, spanning all possible skills and capabilities. Once we get the go ahead from Lieutenant-General Mustang, we'll be moving out. Get this done, as quickly as possible with all possible discretion."

"Yes sir!" Both Lieutenants hurried away to do their duties.

Edward paused and pulled open a door to an unused office, crossed it and stopped at the window and looked outside with cold amber eyes as he watched the rain fall. Whatever his thoughts were, Edward did not voice them out loud, not even to himself. He knew far too well that one of Hakuro's men was following him, listening to every word that left his lips. Only in his or Alphonse or Hughes or Mustang's office could he speak freely, because goodness only knew that their respective staff was hand picked for their loyalty and discretion when it came to the COs that selected them, and the offices were constantly searched for microphones and wiretaps and unwanted watchers and listeners. Edward knew far too well that the Fuhrer was not only incompetent, but also power hungry, and he knew that his reputation and influence frightened the Fuhrer because it was not Hakuro who held his leash.

Edward shook his head as he turned away from the window and crossed the empty office and made his way through the winding halls of Central Headquarters toward his office. Personally, he believed that the sooner Mustang and his allies set their coup into motion, the sooner he could actually start doing something useful rather than running around the country and trying, and failing, to keep the people from revolting. Of course, the time of the coup was up to Mustang's discretion, and all Edward and other officers could do until then was try to keep the damage Hakuro's incompetence caused minimal.

Ends and means after all, and Edward had grown into a good dog. Now if they could just keep Creta from declaring war on Amestris, things would be absolutely perfect. But first, he had an array to redesign.

~*~

A week passed and Edward shook his head as he marched through Central Headquarters toward a conference hall, several files under one arm. The original array had laid out the groundwork for the changes, but one could only wonder how well the redesigned array would work. He'd spent the better part of the week working on the array, sparing time only for the urgent paperwork or the work that was due immediately. This meeting, however, had nothing to do with the array, but rather, an investigation as to the location of the rebel organization that seemed to be based out of Eastern City.

Edward resisted the urge to snort in derision as he entered the conference hall, noting the gathering of Generals, among whom he and Mustang were the youngest.

"You are late, Brigadier General Elric," General Stadt said dryly.

"My apologies," Edward allowed his lips to curve upwards in a small, self-satisfied smile, "There was a break in one of the cases in my office that required my immediate attention."

On the other side of the room, Mustang's eye narrowed and he met Edward's eyes and tilted his head slightly in a silent question. Edward pretended to adjust his hold on the files in his hand, slipping one slightly out of the stack before quickly tucking it back into the pile in reply. Mustang lowered his eyes in a nod of understanding. He'd speak with his subordinate about what he had found later when the meeting was concluded.

~*~

"So, what did you find?"

"We can go right now if you can find me an alchemist for all four elements, or we can make a blood sacrifice to hold the gate open indefinitely."

"Fullmetal," Mustang's voice held a hint of warning.

Edward rolled his eyes and stepped around the desk to lean against it while still facing Mustang. "Bastard. You get more and more uptight the closer you are to your goal, you know that?" he muttered, and said in a more professional tone, "To make a semi-permanent gate, we'll need to draw the array in blood and stabilize it with all four elements. It's not going to be easy. I've looked into it and the array at it's smallest will still take up a quarter of this room. And since you want it to be semi-permanent, it's not exactly something that can be hidden easily."

"You're a prodigy, Edward. Come on, kid, use that head of yours."

Edward scowled. He hated when the Lieutenant General or the Major General spoke to him like when Edward had been twelve, but those had been simpler, happier times, and so Edward tolerated it. After everything they had been through, after everything that they had done, this little piece of heaven that could be found in reenacting scenes from the past was all they had until true peace could be achieved—until the incompetent Hakuro was ousted and a competent Fuhrer was elected.

For Edward, the day that the unrest ended couldn't come quickly enough. Edward was tired of giving the commands to send his people out to die, tired of lying through his teeth to people who looked up to him for just another day of not having to order his soldiers to aim their guns at Amestrian civilians, tired of waking to hearing gentle hearted Alphonse screaming and crying in his sleep as he relived his sins while dressed in Amestrian blue and gold, and most especially, tired of each day in which the unrest continued and the country fell apart because of the military's inaction and the people began to trust him less and less and Edward's unofficial title of the People's Alchemist became more and more of a joke to the common man.

The golden haired Brigadier General swept the papers back into their folder. "Fine. I'll talk with Al and tweak the array some more and we'll get back to you ASAP."

Mustang nodded. "By the end of the week at the very latest, Fullmetal. Don't be late." Then there was a sudden roar and the two generals' heads jerked up to stare that the ceiling as there was a muffled thump.

"Gate above…" Edward breathed. He'd been a soldier long enough to recognize the sound of gunfire, and the sound of a body falling. And if the look on Mustang's face was any indication, the dark haired general recognized the sound as well. "Isn't this office directly under the Fuhrer's?" Edward asked slowly.

"Shit!"

Mustang shoved his chair back violently and checked his arrayed gloves and the two generals were out the door and checking their side arms as they ran down the hall. Seconds later, the sound of running footsteps began to echo through the compound and frantic yelling started.

~*~

There was only chaos. Generals rushed from one meeting to the next, officers went missing and fake documents popped up everywhere. Edward found himself on yet another tour of the country to keep the populous under control, because the Fuhrer had just been assassinated in the heart of military territory and there was rioting in the streets and the rebels were getting more and more active, there were numerous bombings and derailed trains, and the walls of the Military families estates had to be painted and repainted because of graffiti, and the Military Police and Civilian Police and Military Academy cadets and common enlisted soldiers alike were being attacked for no other reason than the fact that they wore a uniform.

It had been the same drill over and over for the past two weeks since Fuhrer Hakuro had been assassinated inside of Central City Military Headquarters. Edward spent most of his time on a train moving from city to city, village to village and town to town, and while his reception was not as warm as when he'd been a teenager, he was the Fullmetal Alchemist, and his hosts were accommodating enough to his needs. He was being bombarded with information at every turn, every face was that of a potential enemy, supplies were scarce; time was scarce, goodness, where did all the time go? Edward waded through paperwork on the train, met with city officials, spoke with military personnel overseeing mining towns, met with contacts, reported back to Mustang over the phone, waded through more paperwork during his infrequent meals, met with personnel in the outposts, dodged assassins, went through yet more paperwork, worked on his array, sifted through the information gathered by his contacts and staff, and attended meetings that tended to end in fearful and belligerent yelling which tended to result in nothing getting done.

As the month drew to a close, the chaos lessened, and wonders of wonders, work was somehow getting done. Likely, it had something to do with the calming influence of more level headed generals, all of whom had collaborated with Mustang about Edward's theories concerning the array, and had come to the conclusion of better safe than sorry. As a result, Edward had been recalled to Central Command for the sole purpose of selecting the staff that he would be taking through the Gate, and to put together a story for the Fuhrer that would not give away the future beyond the fact that Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric had moved up in the military hierarchy while simultaneously justifying sending troops into the past and not giving away any information about the array that was used for the journey. The last thing anyone wanted to deal with was murderous Homunculi with the ability to travel through time wreaking Gate only knew what sort of havoc.

Edward winced at the thought and set down his pen and turned to stare out the window at the scenery as the landscape blurred past.

"Is something wrong, sir?" First Lieutenant Alexandria Clyne's voice broke through his thoughts.

"I was just thinking," Edward said, "The Homunculi were the enemy for the majority of my adolescent years, and even now, almost a decade later, we still consider them the enemy since we're still cleaning up the messes that Bradley left behind, messes that were exacerbated by Hakuro's incompetence. If things go according to plan, we're going to have to collaborate with Pride and Sloth, which means that we will essentially be working with the enemy." He sighed and added in a wry tone, "I should not need to express my opinion on the subject of working with one's enemies."

"No sir," Clyne answered. Her Commanding Officer's loathing of having to work with anyone whom he disliked was as legendary in the military as his childhood fights with the Lieutenant General Mustang.

Edward sighed and pulled out his pocket watch to check the time before slipping it back into his pocket and replacing the cap on his pen. The train lurched as it slowed, and the scenery changed from country landscapes to the urban jungle that was Central City. Edward and his aide took this as the signal to prepare to leave and the pair quickly set to work sweeping papers into the appropriate folders and envelopes before packing them into briefcases and boxes. Once most of the papers were safely packed away, Edward smoothed out the creases on his uniform and adjusted his jacket and leaned back in his seat even as Clyne packed away the pens and letter opener and the smaller, miscellaneous items that had been necessary for finishing up the paperwork.

The train lurched to a stop, and Edward stood up and glanced out the window, watching through cool golden eyes as the platform filled as people jostled to get off or on the train. He calmly adjusts his collar and tilts his chin up and squares his shoulders and gets off the train, his aide following calmly behind him.

~*~

Jean Havoc leaned against the side of the black, military issue car, leisurely smoking a cigarette as he scanned the platform for a hint of gold and a flash of Amestrian blue. There! He watched as a blonde youth disembarked from the private car attached to the end of the train that bore the crest of the Amestrian military. Havoc took a long drag from his cigarette as he considered the cool slant of the eyes, and set of the shoulders and the tilt of the chin. The golden haired youth, no longer a child, and well on his way into manhood, caught an aged matron by the elbow as she stumbled, and helped her steady herself and gave her a warm yet cocksure smile with a cool lift of his brows to let the light into his eyes as she smiled and patted his chest and tottered away. Havoc shook his head as he dropped the cancer stick and ground it out with the heel of his boot as the Brigadier General and his aide made his way through the crowd toward him. Brigadier General Edward Elric was beginning to show a startling resemblance to a particular dark haired General in his younger years, and there was concern that the auric youth would follow in his CO's footsteps and become a notorious womanizer. With his looks, the results of that would be devastating.

Havoc grinned at his superior officer whom he'd watched grow up from a temperamental yet attractive twelve year old Major to the collected and mercurial Brigadier-General that he was now at twenty-six.

"Hey Boss," he called lightly as he opened the driver door, "How was the trip?"

"About as much fun as an aggravated chimera on steroids," was Edward's dry reply. "Did the General get any work done?"

Havoc slipped into the driver's seat as the Brigadier-General slouched in the backseat and his Lieutenant took the front passenger seat. "Some," Havoc chuckled, "Hawkeye's been hair trigger since this mess started."

"And no doubt he's left a good portion of the mess for me to deal with."

"Al's been taking care of the extra work," Havoc admitted.

"What?!" Edward straightened, his eyes flashing, "That damned lazy ass bastard! How dare he make Al do the work he's too lazy to deal with!"

Havoc laughed as the car pulled away from the platform as the Brigadier General continued to rave furiously in the backseat. No matter how similar to a young Roy Mustang that Edward Elric was becoming, he was still Ed Elric whose insubordination and mercurial temper were infamous across the length and breadth of Amestris. He caught from the corner of his eye, the amused and indulgent smile on Ed's Lieutenant's lips. And was that a sparkle of exasperated fondness in Ed's eyes? Havoc chanced a glance into the rearview mirror as Edward lost his steam and slouched in the backseat, looking for all the world as if he were twelve all over again.

"Reminds you of the good old days when we were all young and trying to keep you and Al out of the darker side of the military doesn't it?" Havoc wondered.

"Happier times, Havoc," Edward agreed, turning his head to look out the window at the passing scenery, "Happier times…"

~*~

TBC…