Chapter 3-

"Alright, is everyone ready for patrol?" Mustang asked. It was just past 7pm, and it had gotten darker earlier than usual. The whole team had their torches out already.

"Yes sir," they replied enthusiastically. They had been patrolling for months without results, and now they had finally made progress on not only the murders, but also locating Edward. They were in high spirits tonight.

"Sir, did you bring the map folders I gave you?" Hawkeye questioned.

Mustang turned to Havoc. "Did you bring those folders I gave you earlier?"

Havoc turned to Falman. "Hey, did you get the yellow folders on your desk?"

Falman turned to Breda. "I hope you remembered the folders I handed you?"

Breda turned to Fuery. "Did you bring the folders in your bag?"

Fuery went a strange mix of red and deathly white. "No…"

Hawkeye's expression went dangerous, and she pulled her gun. "Get. Them. Now."

Mustang quickly grabbed Al by the shirt and pulled him away. "Okay, I'll get the folders and then we'll head to patrol, have a good night, bye!" And then he was gone, dragging Al along with him. Hawkeye tried hard not to scowl, but judging by her colleague's expressions, it was not working at all.

"Everyone get to work!" she demanded. Everyone fled.

"Sorry, Al. Just this quick detour and then we'll go on patrol. I'll go in, get the folders and be back before you know it." Mustang said. Al nodded as they pulled to a stop and Mustang got out.

A couple of windows were lit up at HQ, indicating soldiers, detectives or secretaries working late to appease their immense workloads. However, there were no lights on at all on the level Mustang's office was on, so he used his torch to travel the hallways and switched the light switch on when he entered his office.

Everything got colder as Mustang entered, and he felt his body freeze in place again in the doorway to his inner office. Mustang's eyes shot to his desk, and he felt a chill travel down his spine and into his stomach at the sight that awaited him.

Fullmetal was sitting on his desk, reading through some files that Mustang didn't even want to know where he'd found. But the teen was blood soaked again, although none of it came from his mouth. Mustang was stunned when he saw the wounds. He counted ten in all, three bullets wounds, two exceptionally deep scratches that looked like they went nearly the whole way through his body, four burns (three so bad his skin looked black) and a stab wound in his side. Mustang swallowed- no one should be able to move with those wounds, in fact by all rights Fullmetal should be unconscious. That he would still be perfectly capable of movement…

That's not human.

"Fullmetal?" Mustang asked slowly.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. Also known as 'Alchemist of the People'. This is my folder," the teen monotoned, looking around at Mustang with the folder still in his hands. "You were my commanding officer, Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. Then you really do know me."

"Of course I know you, Edward," Mustang said, unknowingly repeating his words from last night.

"Tell me," Edward demanded coldly, standing on Mustang's desk. The Colonel winced at Fullmetal's movement.

"First, we should bandage up your wounds. They're pretty bad, Fullmetal," Mustang told him, reaching slowly for his arm. 'Pretty bad' was the understatement of the year- the kid looked like a moving corpse. He also noticed Fullmetal's skin was paper white, unlike his usual tan.

Edward eyed the man suspiciously, especially his outstretched hand. This person wanted to touch him?

No.

Ed suddenly opened his mouth wide, hissing and baring his fangs, soulless golden eyes burning with rage. Mustang actually fell over in shock.

"Sorry, sorry!" Mustang stammered.

"… Brother…" a new voice added. Edward's head snapped over to the new person, scowling dangerously. Al stood there, trying not to do something stupid like scream or faint or anything. But it was hard- everything about his brother screamed predator. A dangerous, injured and generally pissed off predator.

"Who the fuck are you?" Edward fumed, angry that his proposed meal had been interrupted.

"I'm your brother…" Al took a step forward, slowly. Ed suddenly seemed less angry, and more interested.

"I have a brother?" he murmured, thinking out loud. "Then… you know me?"

Al had taken another step forward when Ed wasn't looking. "Yes, I know you. I know more about you than anyone else in the whole world." Edward looked intrigued, and sat back down on the desk, putting him and Al at eye height. "Tell me."

And Al told him. He began with Risembool, their family and Winry, their father leaving and their mother dying, and then moved to the transmutation which failed, their recovery process and unstoppable training with armor and automail, then Ed becoming a State Alchemist and their missions together. Al described Ed himself, and the people they knew- the people they met and helped on their journey, and the promise they made to each other. It was a very extensive list.

While Al talked, he slowly made his way to the first aid kit (helping Mustang up on the way) then back to Ed, and began to bandage his wounds. The teen allowed it, more interested in his past than what he thought to be a couple of mere wounds.

Hours later, Al finished his tale by describing their last transmutation together.

"We found the way get our bodies back, Brother. We were so excited! It involved a different strand of Alchemy, an older version previously lost to society, instead of using a philosopher's stone. We went to an abandoned warehouse to draw the circle because it was absolutely huge, very intricate. I stood in the middle and you activated the circle from the outside, then I blacked out entirely. When I woke, I was human again… sore, exhausted, and… alone. You were gone, Brother… you just disappeared into thin air. That was months ago; I've been trying to find you, and so has Winry. We worked alongside Colonel Mustang and the team, even though we weren't supposed to, but the Colonel let us anyway. And now, we've found you!" Al finished with a smile, breathing hard from his long, seemingly endless tale. All three were sitting down, Al and Mustang in the two chairs facing the desk, and Ed on the desk itself. The teen was silent for a moment, thinking deeply to himself about everything he'd just heard.

"Thank you for telling me… Al," Ed glanced at the teen in the chair, and after a moment, graced him with a small smile. Al's heart soared- he could still make his brother smile! Mustang and Al both thought that Ed's smile would be terrifying with those long, dangerous fangs, but instead it wasn't scary at all. In fact, Ed's smile still lit up the room, like he always used to, making the recipient feel warm and loved. It was an amazing feeling, managing to get a smile from the troubled teen, and Al and Mustang hadn't had that feeling in months. It made Al feel like he was home, after all this time. No one really thought a smile could be that powerful, or that important, but a smile can mean the world, and when it came to the Elric brothers everything was extraordinary.

"Anytime!" Al beamed, tearing up a little and generally being overly happy. Ed raised an eyebrow at the easily excited teen. Mustang chuckled under his breath, disguising it as a cough when the two brothers looked at him.

"Well, Fullmetal," Mustang glanced at the young alchemist (who now looked more like a mummy rather than a corpse), "Now that you know about your past, perhaps you can tell us what happened to you over the past few months?"

"Yeah, Brother. What happened to you?" Al queried.

Ed blinked. "Oh… right. Well, I'm a vampire."

A/N: First off, thanks for taking the time to read Night Eyes! I hope you're all enjoying it. XD Secondly, I have a question for all of you. When I have this story in Word, I have lines going across the page (you know, the ones to represent a different scene or a time difference) but when I upload the document, the lines vanish, and it makes it hard to tell when I'm going from one scene to the next. Can anyone tell me how to keep those lines after I upload the document? Just pm me or answer in a review. Thanks!