a/n: ho man, hit a bit of writers block with this one for a while there, but managed to lure my muse back with the promise of shiny objects and loud music. And so, I bring you the next chapter, as well as the next arc! -pats muse on head- good job, freak.

'anything like this' be the thoughts of whomevers perspective's being used.

written in both Ed and Alucard's perspective. Because I felt like it -shrug-

Summary: In the wake of the Bradley fiasco, a new threat emerges

Chapter 8: Set the Roses Ablaze

Last time:

"What're you doing here?" Ed had, quite wrongly, assumed that if he ever saw the man again it would be quite a bit further into the future.

Alucard held out his hands, one side of his upper lip lifting to reveal an overly large canine. "Curiosity, of course."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Ed's POV)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Curiosity." Ed eyed the creature before him, wary of the ambiguous response.

The Nosferatu made a humming noise in his chest, tilting his head just slightly. Ed would have bet an entire paycheck that he did it just so the lenses covering his eyes glinted.

"You know curiosity killed the cat, right?" He deadpanned the over-used statement, partially hoping his stupid answer would steer the conversation into a more clear-cut direction. He was sadly mistaken.

"Hm, yes. However, the cat has nine lives, making that point pointless."

Ed sighed, not really in the mood to play word games or talk in circles about something so inane. "What do you want Alucard?"

He watched as the vampire opened his mouth to respond, only to close it without saying a thing. The eerie smile that had been on his lips slid away, his expression becoming unreadable in the insubstantial light. "I wish to speak with you."

"About what?"

"Leaving."

Ed frowned, confused. "Uh, well, if you want to leave Central just get on a train and-"

"No. I'm quite aware of how trains work. That's not what I meant."

He crossed his arms, his weariness becoming annoyance. "Then what, exactly, do you mean?"

The Nosferatu looked away from him, the new angle allowing Ed to see the frown marring his features. "Has the thought never crossed your mind?"

"What thought?" The round-about way of talking was seriously starting to get to him.

"The one pertaining to the how, where, when and why of my existence."

He stared dumbstruck. 'the how, where, when and why? What is he…' and then the thought struck him. 'Riiiight, I get it. I asked him what and who he was, but not anything else…But what does that have to do with him leaving?'He spoke the thought out loud, bringing the other's gaze back to him.

"Everything." Alucard smirked, seeing that Ed was not, in fact, going to go along with him. "I know you must be curious, human. Come, ask me! I promise I'll answer."

Ed rubbed a hand over his face, sighing over dramatically before giving in, tone mock-serious. "Fine." He took a moment to collect his thoughts and form actual sentences. "How did you come to be here? Where did you come from? Why are you here? When are you going to go away?"

Alucard laughed at the last question, before settling himself more comfortably against the wall. "You're not even remotely curious as to the place I came from?" He cocked his head, waiting.

The truth was that although Ed was curious, and had thought about it some, he'd had bigger issues on his mind. "Look, it's been a long day. Why don't you come back next week. Maybe then I'll feel like playing 20 questions."

"No." The No Life King pushed himself away from the wall, taking a step forward to stand in Ed's personal space.

Ed had to tilt his head back to look up into the taller man's face, hiding his discomfort at the proximity. Again the peculiar feeling of nakedness washed over him, sending goose bumps racing along his skin.

Alucard's head tilted, lenses sliding down just enough for Ed to get a glimpse of his odd eyes. "We do this tonight." His tone brooked no argument.

Ed sighed. "Fine, whatever. Lets go inside at least." He turned away from the Nosferatu, eyes scrunching up as he attempted to stifle a yawn. "'m exhausted."

"Ed!"

He opened one of his eyes, giving the man addressing him a look. "Havoc? What're you doing out here? I thought Knox was going to play doctor and make sure that you didn't somehow loose your spleen."

Havoc waved the statement off. "He ran out of things to check. Anyway, Roy wants to talk to you, so I volunteered to find you; gotta get these puppies back in shape!" He patted his thigh for emphasis. "I had a feeling I'd find you out here. Although word to the wise," He leaned forward, putting a hand next to his mouth in a secretive fashion. "When you talk to yourself in public, try to be a little more discreet eh? People'll get the wrong idea."

"What do you mean, talking to myself? I was talking to…" He'd turned as he'd spoken, only to find that Alucard had disappeared into the night.

Havoc patted Ed on the shoulder. "Don't worry kid, I won't tell anyone."

He looked up into the grinning face of his friend, irritation grating at his insides. 'Great, thanks to that...whatever the hell he is, Havoc thinks I'm some wacko who talks to himself.' "Right. Come on, lets go before colonel bastard gets his panties in a bunch and sends out the retrieval team."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Alucard's POV)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alucard moved in and out of the shadows, startling more than a few people on his way. He could have gone completely unnoticed, but where was the fun in that? He cast a devilish grin at the nurse he'd appeared next to, before phasing into the hallway wall opposite them.

The room he came out in was empty, and he took that moment to get his bearings. 'Hm, let's see…' With the help of his third eye, he managed to locate the younger Elric, currently asleep in his room on the third floor. He shifted his focus to the elder brother, taking note of the various people he was currently holed up with. He vaguely remembered seeing the dark haired man and the woman out on the battlefield.

He weighed his options. He could go and lie in wait in the sleeping kid's room, but there was no guarantee that Ed would return in good time, if at all that night. His patience was already being tested as it was, and he was loathe to wait around any longer than he had to. Which brought him to his other option: crashing the room party. He'd be lying if he said that he didn't like making an entrance and scaring the piss out of people.

With a smirk, he made his decision, allowing himself to come apart and be one with the shadows.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. The report was quite clear."

Alucard watched from the corner of the room as Ed ran a hand over his face. He had yet to materialize, choosing instead to linger amongst the shadows and wait for the perfect moment to make his appearance. From what he could gather, something troubling had come to their attention, although as of that moment he wasn't sure what.

"Maybe…maybe they've just been delayed….I don't know if you've ever been up there, but the way the weather is, they could've just been caught in a snow storm…"

"I'm afraid not Edward."

"But you said yourself that they just haven't heard from the train right? They don't have any proof that it's been attacked!"

The dark haired man (Mustang, he'd gathered) shook his head. "No. However, both Olivier and I have reason to believe it has. The past few weeks Fuery has been picking up transmissions that alone might not mean anything, but when looked at together paints a very disturbing picture."

"What do you mean? What's going on?"

"We have reason to believe that in the wake of this whole Bradley fiasco, a new terrorist group has emerged."

"You're kidding right?"

"No Fullmetal, I'm afraid I'm not."

"But if it was a terrorist group, wouldn't they have been flaunting their activities?"

Mustang laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Haven't you learned anything? Only fools show their cards before the game begins."

The room lapsed into silence, allowing the No Life King time to process the new information. Bits and pieces of the puzzle where missing, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what they were talking about. He'd run across more than a few interesting things in his time away from Central, that was for sure.

"If you're right, that means the fighting isn't over is it?"

"I'm afraid not. Which is why I need to know, can I count on you?"

Ed was silent, his gaze fixed firmly on his shoes.

"I know you've been thinking of quitting the military now that you've gotten your brother back-"

Ed looked back up at Mustang, who continued once their eyes met. "I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't think my fears were valid."

By the look on Ed's face, Alucard knew he was going to agree despite himself. He wasn't sure which option would be best for him, if the kid agreed, or decided to let someone else deal with it. The problem was, it was piquing his interest. After all, the things he'd seen…Fuck, as soon as I decide I want to leave, all the mildly interesting things come together to create one big ball of oh-so-wonderful chaos. And of course, it affects the one person I need…'

Resigning himself to the fact that the universe just wasn't on his side, Alucard willed himself to take form, announcing himself as he did. "I think, human, your fears are well placed." He watched with great amusement as everyone visibly jumped, looking around for the source of his voice. Throwing on what he knew to be an unnerving smile, he stepped from the shadows. To their eyes, it looked as if he'd materialized out of nowhere, which was what he'd been aiming for.

"Oh?" wariness was rolling off Mustang like fog. "And you know this because?"

He tilted his head down just enough to survey the man over his glasses. "I have my reasons…" he watched as the dark eyes managed to become even darker.

"That's not a very good answer. I suggest you make yourself plain before I escort you out of here personally."

He laughed at the barely veiled threat. "How fantastic! Not five minutes here and already I'm being given death threats!" He curbed his laughter, instead fixing a devilish look on the man. "Perhaps I'll refrain from saying anything, what then? How will you do it? Shoot me? Stab me? Lob off my head? Throw me from the window? Impale me, drown me, set the mob on me and burn me on a spit?"

Mustang looked momentarily horrified, before regaining his composure and replying coolly: "I will do none of those things."

"Oh? What a pity."

Mustang frowned. "By the way, I don't think I got your name."

"I didn't give it, Mustang." He continued to smirk, even as the man frowned, unnerved.

"Well, it's only fair that if you know mine I should be allowed to know yours…"

Alucard just continued to grin at him, having no intention of introducing himself.

"His name's Alucard, apparently."

He glanced over at Ed, who was clearly annoyed.

"I see. Well, Alucard, I'll ask you one last time, how do you know for sure I'm right?"

"I don't."

"But you said-"

"That I think your fears are well placed. If you find bear shit in the woods, you assume that there must, then, be bears whether you see one or not."

Mustang nodded slowly. He said something else, but Alucard wasn't listening. Something else had caught his attention.

He opened his third eye, fixing it on the peculiar sensation that had crawled into the back of his mind. After a bit of flitting about, he was able to pinpoint the source. What he saw was far from good. It made his spirits soar.

"Have you heard a word I've said? Alucard?"

He refocused on the man in front of him, his lips peeling back into a feral grin of their own free will. "I think you'll have your own proof soon enough."

Mustang's eyes went wide. "What do you mean, 'my own pro-"

The rest of his sentence was lost amidst the sound of an ear shattering explosion, the shock waves rattling the ground beneath their feet and sending dust cascading down from the ceiling. Before anyone other than Alucard could process what'd happened, they were plunged into darkness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Ed's POV)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ed picked himself painfully off the floor, not entirely sure as to when he'd gotten there. His ears were ringing, and he was pretty sure he'd landed on his arm the way it was stinging. Flexing it, he squinted into the sudden darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

"Is everyone alright?" Mustangs voice made it's way around the noises in his ears to his brain.

A chorus of voices answered, Ed's one of them. "If by alright you mean partially deaf and for the moment unable to see shit, then yes, I'm just fucking peachy Mustang."

"Glad to hear it." The sound of a clap just barely registered, and before he knew it Ed found himself blinking in the sudden light, dim as it was. Mustang had set fire to a vase of flowers sitting on one of the bedside tables. Before the fire could extinguish itself, Roy clapped again, transmuting the vase into a makeshift lantern.

"What the hell, doesn't this place have a back up generator?" Havoc spoke around the cigarette he was currently lighting now that the rules had been thrown out the window.

"Yes, but I get the feeling that whoever did this thought of that."

A soft chuckle drew everyone's attention back to the Nosferatu, who was standing just outside of the ring of light. A shiver ran up Ed's spine. All that could be seen of Alucard were his eyes, glowing hellishly in the gloom. Ed wondered vaguely if it was a reflection of the firelight, or something else entirely.

"You knew this was going to happen." Mustang's voice was deadly in a way that Ed had only ever heard a few times.

A grin appeared below his eyes, fangs glinting sinisterly. "Now now human, save your discipline for the creatures currently flooding your precious hospital."

"What?" The word barely made it past Roy's clenched teeth. Ed was almost sure he could hear them cracking under the strain.

"You heard me. From what I can tell, there's at least….twenty of them, if not more. I can only see where I know to look."

"Alucard…" Ed felt the lamp-like eyes fix on him. "Did you have anything to do with this?" He tried to keep his tone as neutral as possible, but he had a feeling that his emotions would be interpreted regardless.

"No." His tone was curt, almost deadpan, but he'd be damned if he didn't hear a bit of annoyance there.

Ed nodded, knowing full well the creature could see him before turning his attention back to Mustang. "I think for now we should take him at his word."

Mustang gave him a dark look, before nodding slowly. "Fine. Breda, Falman, work on evacuating the building. Hawkeye and I will go out and eradicate the enemies that have found their way into the building. Fuery and Havoc, go down and get an alert out, if they haven't noticed the situation already. Ed, I want you outside. Find whoever it is that did this, and don't let them get away if they haven't fled already. I want them alive, Fullmetal. Bound, gagged and chained if you have to, but make sure they get the pleasure of witnessing first hand the lovely accommodations over at Central Prison."

"What, you think I'm going to kill them?"

"Use your head, Edward. Men who start things they can't finish have a tendency to try to take the easy way out."

Ed blinked. "Oh. Right."

"Alright, you have your orders, now go. Just be wary, we don't know what we're up against."

A chorus of "Yes sir!" and the room became far creepier as all but Ed, Mustang, and Hawkeye left. And Alucard, Ed had managed to forget the man was there, as entrenched in shadows as he was.

"And what of me?"

Ed frowned, realizing that he, not Mustang, was the one being addressed. "What?"

"What will you have me do? Shall I tear them limb from limb, and use their heads to decorate the lawn as a warning? Should I paint the walls with their blood, and soak the carpets with their misery? Just say the word and I'll slaughter them, those dogs that would oppose you! Your enemies will fall before me, and they will know fear as they never have before!"

Even after the words had gone, their shadows still hung about Ed, holding him motionless and mute. The pure and simple glee that infused itself into every syllable made his stomach churn. Finally he managed to wrench his eyes from the demonic glow of Alucard's irises, looking instead to Roy and Riza.

Both were staring where they knew Alucard stood, but only Riza looked as horrified as he felt. Roy, on the other hand, was stony, his jaw set and his expression blank. Only his eyes betrayed his emotions. "I believe he's talking to you, Fullmetal."

Ed blinked, not having realized that Mustang had been watching him from the corner of his eye. Slowly he turned back towards the glittering eyes and Cheshire grin. He knew damn well he couldn't say yes to something like that, but if Alucard really wanted to help…."No. If you want, come with me. But you heard Mustang, we aren't killing anyone."

The grin shifted until it was barely visible. "As you wish."

Next chapter: TERRORISM. No really. A bit Passé you say? Weeeeeeeell, too bad. It's barely in the 1900's here, terrorism isn't the cult cliche' it is in the here and now. So...TERRORISM.(thank you robot chicken for gifting me with this annoying skit to mimic until the end of time. The people around me thank you.) btw, the only relation between the chapter title and the chapter? Mustang setting his bedside decorations alight. Were they roses? Doubtful.

deadpan riot