Disclaimer in previous chapters. Please see Author's Notes at the end.

- x -

Six Days Later

"It's not like it's going to make a damn bit of difference."

Edward Elric refused to turn around, glowering, but wasn't able to keep it up for long. The bed was directly in front of him, after all, and one didn't glower at Pinako Rockbell and get away with it. "Help me out here," he added, now speaking directly to the occupant on the bed. "Do you really think what I wear will have any effect on this?" He waved his right arm for emphasis.

Pinako gave her pipe a thoughtful pull, then brought up her knees slightly so she could scoot herself into something more of a sitting position. "Doesn't the uniform include gloves? I would think that would help."

"My teaching clothes do too. See?" He threw the word over his shoulder almost childishly, still refusing to turn. "So thanks, but no thanks."

There was a sigh from the figure in the doorway, and a thoughtful pause. "Cavendish, Burly, and Samsun?"

Ed blinked, then glanced over his shoulder. "What?"

But Pinako had made an approving sound. "With cherry and apricot leaf. You know your tobacco, Lieutenant Colonel . . . ?"

There was an abrupt shuffling of fabric as the soldier hastened to get his own dress uniform hat off. "Havoc, ma'am."

"Ah, yes, I remember now." She tapped the bowl of the pipe on the side of the nightstand. "Please forgive the lapse, Jean Havoc, isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am." He took a few steps into the room, unceremoniously dumping the previously neatly folded uniform in Edward's lap. "Sorry, chief, it's orders."

"I have no military rank, remember?"

The handles of his wheelchair were taken in a firm grip. "Don't recall the general taking the pocketwatch, though."

Edward stifled a growl as his wheelchair started to back out of the room, and he engaged the brake, just to delay the inevitable. If Mustang had given the order that he wear the fucking uniform, there wasn't much getting around it, but if he delayed long enough, he could say it was either get changed or be late, and he was pretty sure the bastard would prefer he was on time in what he was currently wearing, his teaching outfit. Which was perfectly acceptable and he'd never had to wear the damn thing to a military function before so what was the point now.

Hakuro would nail him for human transmutation one way or the other. He'd see right through the gesture, it would be as meaningless to Hakuro as it was to him.

Damn Irving, making him set the precedent. And that reporter for taking a damn picture.

"Edward, don't be difficult."

He put his hand over the brake as Havoc reached over him to disengage it. "I liked you better on the other meds. You were less like a hag."

Her eyes - clearer than they had been in a week, despite the meds - were stern and uncompromising. "I don't care for the opinions of shrimps."

"Dehydrated -" But unlike Armstrong, who had let them go on for several moments before interrupting, Havoc just used Ed's momentary distraction to release the brake. He huffed a sigh and considered getting out, but then Havoc would probably just put him in a headlock and he wasn't sure he could actually get away from the other man without having to resort to alchemy. "Who told you I was in here, anyway?"

"Your brother," Havoc told him, apparently giving Pinako some kind of farewell gesture, because she inclined her head. Ed pouted and waited until the door was beside him before giving her a sour smile.

"Wish me luck."

"Hmph," came the reply, and the pipe was being replaced as the door closed.

Once in the hallway Ed dropped the act, letting Havoc steer him towards his own room. He was a little surprised to see him, actually - if all Mustang wanted was for him to show up at the farce of a court martial in a uniform, any old sergeant would do. He hadn't seen Havoc since that brief almost-memory of a traincar, and he was pretty sure that was the way Havoc wanted it.

"What'd you do to get stuck with these orders?"

The other man sighed. "Had the most time on my hands." A short pause. "Does her doctor know she's smoking in there?"

"Yep."

" . . .w ho's her doctor?"

Ed grinned despite himself. "A crotchety old man who has the hots for her. I doubt he'd let you get away with the same."

Havoc made a choked sound. "Nevermind." They passed by the nurse's station. "How's she doing?"

"I don't know how much you know . . . Patterson came up with the idea. It was in some papers he left," Ed muttered in a low voice. "Surgery took about four hours, but she's in better condition now than she'd have been two weeks after the traditional kind. You saw her move her legs."

"So it was a success?"

Ed nodded. The x-rays after the surgery indicated that the bone fragments had been bonded exactly as they should have been, and the incisions where the steel had been inserted were tiny, each about half an inch long. Al knew more of the nitty gritty details, having a new and exciting facet of alchemy to consider, but from their conversations he'd gathered that the internal bleeding had been far worse than previous tests had indicated, and it took the Tringums quite a while to design and then perform their treatment around it. She'd received her last pint of transfused blood two days ago, and her counts were now holding stable. She still looked frail and chalky, but some of the steel was returning to her eyes, and he was fairly sure if they'd ever let her up to take a bath that the steel would be back in her bun, too.

Her hair being down still bothered him, for some reason. It added age to her that she wouldn't otherwise have, somehow.

"Yeah. She's gonna be fine." Probably walking in two months latest.

"That's good," the lieutenant colonel said, for lack of anything else, and he was silent for the rest of the trip to Ed's room. Once there, he hopped out of the chair, tossed the hated uniform on the bed, and shrugged out of his jacket.

"There's no way I can get out of this?"

The blond was giving his room a once-over, and leaned on the wall beside the door, casually preventing him from running. "Never was fair that you didn't get stuck in uniform back in the day."

Ed grunted in reply, yanking off his shirt as well. Enough time had gone by that his wrist wounds and burns were nigh invisible, just scars now, and the chemical burns on his legs no more than a tiny bit of peeling skin that one might see after a couple weeks of healing sunburn. Nothing to hide, anymore. No reason to be leery of that flesh arm and leg. "Getting back to Al, where is he?"

"Took off down the hall," came the reply, and Ed glanced over his shoulder curiously at the lieutenant colonel, who was looking anywhere but at him and appeared in dire need of a cigarette. "He didn't seem to want a part of talking you into a uniform."

Ed snorted, kicking off his brown leather boots and swapping his pants. The fabric was rougher, shoddily tailored, pressed in funny places, and just generally felt like it belonged on someone else's body. His left leg was still very sensitive, from both the burns and how accustomed to the armor it had been, and he frowned at the trousers before noticing the length. Even with the less than comfortable uniform boots, it was exactly right.

Knowing that he'd grown into an actual standard uniform size was unpleasant. He hadn't been paying very much attention when he'd last had it on; now he had no more viable excuses to ditch the thing. "Yeah, well, I think I let you off pretty easy." Only after it left his mouth did he realize how Havoc would take that.

Dammit. If he couldn't even watch his mouth around Havoc then the court martial was going to be over even sooner than he'd thought.

". . . yeah, I'd say you did."

Ed finished pulling on the uniform jacket, lining it up with that stupid half-skirt half-cape thing, and fished his braid out from beneath the collar. "Even if I don't remember the actual conversation, I'm pretty sure I would have told you it was all right."

He turned to see that Havoc was finally looking at him, now, studying him much like he would have Breda or Hawkeye. Evaluating an equal. Did the uniform really change things that much . . . ?

"You don't remember?"

Ed shook his head, buttoning his wrist cuffs. "No. I think we were on a train, so it must've been coming back. If I didn't say it then I'm sorry, but I don't blame you for anything. You saved my ass." As soon as he had one cuff properly buttoned he held out the hand. "I've been asking for you to come down here all this time to say thanks."

Jean gave him a very odd look indeed, but he leaned off the wall, shaking the outstretched hand firmly. "For a second there I'd've thought you were a grown-up and everything."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Like that'd happen. Way to ruin the moment, though."

Jean returned to his self-imposed sentry duty while Ed worked on the other cuff. "Would you prefer I cried a lot and said I owed you one from before?"

"You owe Al from before. He's the one that fished you out of the fire. And I think if you started crying I'd dangle you out the window and ask you where the real Havoc was."

Jean smiled faintly but didn't say anything, and Ed gave him a curious look before deciding to let it go. Enough with the fucking heart to hearts already.

"Can you do that? Without the automail, I mean?" The lie slipped off his tongue effortlessly. Which meant he was on his toes, at least, if Hakuro decided to drag him into things. Probably why he was wearing his dress uniform. He'd been at the hospital pretty much the first forty-eight hours straight they'd gotten back to this world, it only made sense he might be called as a witness to confirm the arm and leg were absent at that time.

Which would be necessary to prove, since human transmutation might not be illegal wherever the hell he'd come from. In fact, as a blond German in Germany he knew without a doubt he'd have been allowed to get away with murder, so using that murder not only to exterminate Jews, Catholics, gypsies, and the handicapped but to improve the master race would have been seen as something worth promoting him over.

He had a feeling that was a crappy defense, though. Besides, Hakuro had seen the arm port installed with his own eyes. He already knew he had that in the bag.

"Probably not yet, but eventually, yeah. You don't look like you weigh any more'n'Al does."

The older man twitched an eyebrow. "Been dangling him out of a lot of windows lately?"

"He certainly deserves it," Ed muttered, letting his sleeves fall. Also the appropriate length. "Gee, look at that. I won't get an additional court martial for coming to a court martial out of uniform."

"The braid is out of uniform," Jean corrected him, with a hint of sadness and a healthy dash of amusement. Ed stood still as Havoc circled him, inspecting.

"You cut the braid off, we're gonna have issues."

Jean chuckled, then yanked the jacket down hard, almost taking Ed off his feet. It irritated him, much like still having to ride around in the wheelchair irritated him. He was better, but he was still such a weakling compared to what he had been. Training himself up again after so much time laid up - and the fact that he had no more energy now than he'd had a week ago, and less to spare for walking around as if he was fine - was going to be murder. He channeled that irritation into a frown he threw over his shoulder.

Before his head was carefully taken between two hands and straightened. "Do you even know how to salute properly? You never even went to boot camp, did you."

"I know which hand to use. This is a farce, Havoc, it doesn't matter. I'm going to be found guilty of human transmutation - which I did, by the way - and probably get locked away for a long time." Mustang wouldn't allow worse. He was pretty sure.

"You're representing the boss in there, you know," Havoc answered quietly, coming back around to inspect his stripes. As a major, there weren't many, and they were believably straight. "Have a little pride."

Ed let him fuss until he seemed satisfied, and gave him a mock salute. Havoc suddenly grabbed his chest with a hand and staggered back a step. "Whaddaya know. You do know which hand to use." He chuckled as the salute became one-fingered. "Well, Chief, let's get you locked up then."

"Havoc?"

The lieutenant colonel glanced over his shoulder as he pulled open the door.

"Whatever happens in there, if you decide to bail me out, please don't use a gun."

He seemed to think on that a moment as he waited for Ed to take a seat once again in the hated wheelchair, and they took to the halls. Ed nearly forgot about him when he saw a uniform by the nurse's station, waiting for them. It was familiar in a terribly painful way, and he knew his brother had shown him up when he clicked his heels together - perfectly polished boots, too - and gave Havoc a sharp salute.

And received one, just as crisp. "Lieutenant colonel."

"Lieutenant colonel."

Showoffs.

"Stay here, Al." Inviting him was just begging Hakuro to take an interest in going after him as well.

He got one of those smiles that usually meant trouble. "And miss the look on Hakuro's face?"

"The last thing we need is to give that fucker a reason to go after you too. I think one of us in prison is good enough." Only one of them had done anything worth that, even if it had been all those years ago.

Al rubbed the back of his neck as the three made their way towards the elevators. "Yeah, well, about that. I was sorta hoping if we asked nicely we could get on the same cell block."

Ed gave himself a sufficient amount of time to replay the comment in his head, assure himself he'd heard correctly, and infer that this meant Al had done something that might get him sent to prison. Which meant that Hakuro hadn't been bluffing when he'd said that he could dig up a reason to have Al arrested and charged. And Al still expected that Ed was going before the general, so if it wasn't for murdering him, then-

Mustang had pardoned Al for the Thule Invasion. He was absolutely sure of that. Surely Hakuro didn't think he could get them both for human transmutation, though . . . ?

Havoc was wisely silent as the elevator arrived, and Ed was backed in, so he could no longer see his brother's face at all. He heard Al holding his breath, though, when the descent began, and he waited, still silent, as they arrived on the ground floor and Havoc wheeled him out. They didn't stop by the toady receptionist's desk - Dalyell wouldn't accept his discharge yet, it wasn't like this was any more than a quick jaunt to be told he would be getting a week to complete treatment before he was locked far away from any more trips outside.

In fact, he was proud of his restraint as Havoc hesitantly left him parked at the curb to get the car, and he wasn't sure Al had started breathing again until his brother sighed. "You're a little old to start the silent treatment, and you know I'm better at it anyway."

"I didn't want to be overheard." He glanced over his shoulder and up, hating how familiar it was to be staring over his shoulder and up at his brother while waiting on the curb of a hospital for one of Mustang's men to get a car. "What happened?"

Al frowned, looking far too comfortable in that blue uniform. His hair was pinned to the back of his head in a French braid save a few strands that had wiggled free, and his beard was well-trimmed, probably exactly to Amestrian code. He looked far too much like their father, in expression as well.

"I told you that Franklin tried to bring Patterson back, right?"

He gave his brother a short nod.

"Well, after Russ and I stopped him, Hakuro showed up. He ordered me to put Franklin back, so I did. He . . . well, he pissed me off. He knew damn well that he couldn't do it without a Stone and he was going to try it anyway. And die anyway. As soon as he saw the general he retreated back into monosyllabic mode again and once I'd gotten him back into his cell I'd had about enough of it, so I hit him."

Ed waited for him to continue, but Al only frowned more deeply. "Ah. There's something else I neglected to mention. Apparently a couple days prior to doc's suicide Sorn's guards decided to take matters into their own hands. The kid's not too fond of uniforms anymore."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, and Ed found himself mirroring Al's expression. "So they were already worried about causing a mistrial-"

Al nodded unhappily. "Hakuro didn't seem upset that I'd done it, but the three guys before both got a dishonorable discharge and ten years before possible parole. I expect he'll have to give me the same."

"How hard did you hit him?"

"Hard enough that he noticed." Al's voice had become a bit more dry. "Not hard enough to really hurt him, though. He knew the difference. And it was the excuse used to keep Sorn from being interrogated prior to the trial, but . . ."

Ed gave his brother a crooked grin, hating the way his stomach was responding to this news. "Don't take it so hard. I hit him too. Couple of times."

"Combat's not quite the same, nii-san."

Ed shrugged as one of the black Parliament cars approached the curb. "All the same, I understand the sentiment. Besides, he was borderline suicidal, it could be argued you were trying to snap him out of it-"

His brother nodded. "That's the idea. We'll see how far it gets me."

He sounded so somber, but there was no more time to reassure him before Jean had hopped out of the driver's seat and was pulling open the back door. Ed was allowed to transfer himself into the back seat, and Al helped the lieutenant colonel fold the chair and place it in the trunk before they both climbed back in.

"So when are you scheduled?"

"Right after you."

"You won't be able to attend his court-martial, though," Havoc cautioned him from the front, as the car pulled smoothly away. "You'll be held in a waiting area. That was waived in Ed's case because he hasn't been discharged from the hospital yet."

Small blessings. "What's your role in all this?"

"Get you there in uniform, take you back."

"Then stop the car."

Havoc's eyes shifted to him in the rear view mirror.

"If you don't have to take me back in uniform, then we need to go back and get my actual clothes. I'm not keeping this thing on any longer than I have to."

"Nii-san-"

"Photographers," he said simply. "Hawkeye will be ecstatic enough that I'm in one again, but if there's another fucking photograph of it . . ."

It wasn't that funny, wasn't much of a distraction, and Ed settled back in the seat, uneasy and uncomfortable. "I wish you'd told me earlier," he finally said, in a low voice he hoped wouldn't carry to the front seat.

"You'd have just worried, like you're doing now."

That was true. "You wanna run for it?"

Al gave him a sideways look, judging how much of it was meant in jest and how much was serious. "If nothing else, we deserve it for mom."

There wasn't much use arguing with that. Even if it had been his idea, he and Al had circled that issue enough times. "Think you'll get less time than me?"

"If I do, I'll bring apple pie when I come visit."

"Ass."

By that time their voices had grown in volume enough to carry up to the front, and Jean caught Ed's eyes in the mirror again. "You're straight on what's been communicated to the panel, right? You used an amplifier in battle and the armor was gone by the time the Cretians dug you out."

Ed gave a nod. "We're sure there's no record of the armor getting shipped with me? What about the people who moved it?"

"I believe they were told it was created in order to hide your condition temporarily. Since you were unconscious pretty much the whole time you shouldn't know the details anyway."

So it sounded as if Havoc had the same thoughts in regards to his defense - the 'I don't know' approach. It had worked well in the past, but had been used in the past, and Hakuro would be expecting it. The rest of the panel would determine how well received playing dumb would be.

The drive was short - they were pulling past the guardhouse all too quickly and up to the curved pull-around, and Ed opened his door as soon as the car came to a halt.

Neither of the other passengers seemed surprised, and while Al certainly didn't look happy about it, he made no move to open the trunk and free the hated wheelchair. Weakness be damned, he was not going to be wheeled in to his own court martial. Lieutenant Colonel Havoc pulled away as soon as they were both on the curb, and Ed gave his brother a quick grin.

"So, any idea what room?"

Al shook his head, casting a dark look behind them at the military HQ. "No, but my guess would be they're here to escort us. Please don't do anything stupid."

It wasn't that the request was that odd, but it made Ed grin just the same. "Last chance, life on the lam . . ."

Al snorted, and Ed turned to watch an entire troop of MPs hustle down the stairs to them. He'd half expected to be placed under arrest, since it hadn't really happened since Franklin's house, but instead they were both merely asked to provide proof of identification, and twin watches were produced and verified.

"Full Metal Alchemist Edward Elric, please come with me."

Unsurprisingly, once through the doors, Alphonse's six guards split off to the opposite side, and Ed gave his brother a careless wave as he was led toward a series of what he knew to be conference rooms. Obviously one of them was a tad more official, and this point was driven home as he was led to the only pair of double doors in the place, behind which a brewing thunderstorm seemed to be grumbling.

"Awfully loud for a panel of six, wouldn't you say?"

His guard was unimpressed, two of them pulling open the doors and revealing what could only be described as an auditorium. There was indeed a panel of six high-ranking military officers, Hakuro silver and stern in their center, and on both sides of the hall leading towards those officials were rows of seats, elevated behind elegant golden oak risers.

Packed with uniforms.

Havoc had said Al's court martial was right after his. Did he know . . . ?

Ed glanced curiously at the audience as he was led inside, startled to pick out the several of his own students in the crowd. Were all of these witnesses, to be called to contradict or confirm his version of events? Mustang could never have gotten to all of them, there was no way they all knew the story-

And that was probably the point.

At least Al wouldn't get caught in a lie.

Edward was led to stand directly before the panel, and despite himself a little unease crept through his frame. He'd hoped it would be short and to the point, but if there were this many people here to be called, was he going to have to stand here the entire time? More than ever he was glad he'd eschewed the damn wheelchair, but they weren't even going to give him a crappy little table to sit behind?

Well, if it came to it, he could always make one. That probably fell under the 'something stupid' Al had asked him not to do.

"I will have order," the general's voice rang out, effectively silencing everyone. "I call a start to the court martial of the Full Metal Alchemist Edward Elric, to answer to charges of desertion during wartime, failure to obey a direct order, contempt, insubordination, assault on a superior officer, and the performance of human transmutation."

Desertion during wartime . . ?

Ed would have closed his eyes if he hadn't been too busy glaring unconcernedly. Liore. Dammit He'd forgotten about that. It had probably been in the paperwork that lieutenant had given him what seemed a lifetime ago in his office in the Academy, but of course he'd disintegrated it before he'd read it. Come to think of it, the guy had probably mentioned it, it was just so low on the list of things he'd done that he hadn't considered that Amestris had constantly been in a state of war when he'd been a kid.

"Major General Lee Tash will lead the questioning."

Tash - the same guy that had been questioning during Sorn's trial. Ed didn't know him, but still gave him the courtesy of eye contact as he was flashed a completely insincere smile.

"Good afternoon, Major Elric. I trust you are feeling better?"

The court was quiet, quiet enough that he realized it wasn't actually just a rhetorical greeting but like every other question, would require an answer. "Much, thank you for asking, Major General. And you?" He made it syrupy-sweet and could not ignore what sounded like choking in the general direction of one of his students.

If it could be any less sincere, Tash's broadening smile was. "I'm well. So your human transmutation was a complete success?"

Ed refused to be put off, dropping any semblance of parade rest and peeling the glove off his right hand. He made a fist, watching his own fingers play in the sunlight slitting through the blinds on the high, wide windows behind the panel. As expected, there was a brief mumble of voices, and Tash seemed genuinely pleased he'd done it.

As if he had any other choice. "Certainly seems that way. Hasn't fallen off yet, at any rate."

"Are you expecting some sort of rebound from the forbidden alchemy you performed?"

He gave the major general a seemingly innocent look. "Seeing as I don't remember how I got it back, the possibility's certainly there."

"I see. Perhaps we're getting ahead of ourselves. How did you originally lose the arm and leg?"

Ed took a moment to wonder if Mustang really had pardoned him for that, as he'd inferred immediately after his rise to the Prime Minister's office. "I lost them in an attempt to bring my mother back from the dead." It was nothing Hakuro didn't know, nothing the dozens of books written after his and Al's disappearance hadn't already postulated. It still hurt to say.

"Were you successful?"

"No."

"How old were you at the time?"

"Ten years."

"And your brother, did he join you in this attempt?"

Also postulated, quite accurately, actually. "After I talked him into it. We thought we had a better chance if we tried it together."

"Did you know at the time that human transmutation was illegal?"

Ed frowned. "We knew it was considered taboo and there were few writings on it, but our research had already shown it was being actively practiced by the military at the time so we felt illegal was relative."

There was a muffled uproar at his words, and he gave Tash what he hoped was a rather wicked smirk as he held up a hand, demanding order. Edward wasn't the only one who had something to lose by speaking in front of so many military men, and Hakuro should have known better.

"You are referring to the illegal attempts being practiced in secret under Bradley's administration? That were later discovered and stopped by the same administration?"

"Not too secret if a ten year old knew about them, in my opinion, but yeah, those would be the experiments I was referring to." In truth, he hadn't figured that out until he was fourteen, but it wasn't like Hakuro really knew about it and that the military would really be that eager to pull out records to prove him a liar.

"Ten years old. You were quite the overachiever even then." Tash pursued his lips, wandering slowly up and down some imaginary line in front of the panel. "Some might call you a genius."

Ed shrugged, and Tash accepted it as an answer. "You and your brother received a full pardon for that attempt, if my memory serves? Due to your age and extenuating circumstances?"

"That's what I hear."

"But you've never seen the document yourself?"

Where was he going with that . . ? "Nope."

"You seem relatively unconcerned about the event."

Ah. Trying to show that he wasn't sorry for the attempt. "I almost lost my little brother and did lose an arm and a leg. My life was completely changed by that night, and every waking moment thereafter I spent dedicated to getting back what we'd lost. Forgive me for being a little blasé, but over ten years after the fact it's as much a part of my life as my name. I've had a long time to regret it."

"At ten years of age you were able to perform alchemy that fully qualified adults dare not." Ed stared at him, unable to think of anything to say besides agreeing with the statement, and Tash cocked his head to the side. "So I find it odd that a genius such as yourself could claim to have no idea how you suddenly, as if by magic, regained two limbs you'd been, as you said, attempting to get back every day for over a decade."

Ed inclined his head, as if he agreed that was a valid point. "There's a fine line between healing alchemy and human transmutation, Major General, and I suspect that I crossed it when I realized there was a half ton of limestone where the lower half of my body used to be. You'll forgive my not recalling the specifics, since as you can imagine I was not particularly coherent at the time," he spoke over another loud series of mutters. Tash regained order with another wave of his hand, and Ed decided to continue before he could get interrupted again.

"However, I did have an alchemic amplifier, and since I had studied the human body so completely for the attempt to resurrect my mother, I concentrated on healing the damaged organs before the injury killed me. I can only guess that in that half-unconscious state, in order to get to the pertinent information, my mind wandered over the human body's composition in its entirety. When I woke, I had no amplifier and a significant combat disadvantage."

He hadn't really planned on all that, and in hindsight it sounded both fantastic and a little over the top, but damn, it had a nice flourish about it. Hakuro's stern expression hadn't faltered in the slightest, which meant he wasn't buying a word, but that was fine. The desertion during wartime charge carried with it the death penalty, which he was certain Mustang wouldn't let them get away with, particularly not after last week, so if he lied or told the truth he was still going to be in prison for a very long time.

What he could do was protect everyone else. Al, Mustang, and Sorn.

"Your briefing says you have no idea where the amplifier came from, that it was an anonymous gift?"

He inclined his head. "Yes. I was hesitant to use it but the situation was serious enough to warrant the risk."

"What do you mean when you say you woke with a combat disadvantage?"

Ed frowned at Tash. "Automail is significantly stronger than flesh and blood, and I'm far too accustomed to fighting with it. Hand to hand or combat alchemy in that state, with an arm and leg that hadn't ever actually been used, was impossible. It was one of the reasons I told Sorn to surrender when we were discovered under the destroyed fort we'd transmuted."

The major general seemed genuinely surprised. Not that he let it affect his next question. "You mean you didn't surrender to the enemy in order to protect your newly recovered limbs?"

He bared his teeth. "If I thought that way, do you really think I would have stayed silent while they were interrogating me, and these limbs were being damaged along with the rest of me?"

That line of questioning effectively stymied, Tash tried another route. "Your stubbornness is well recorded in your military files, Elric. Your superior officer during the time of your desertion, Colonel Roy Mustang, made it quite clear in numerous reports to his supervisors. He also laid out a series of plans in your evaluations to rid you of that particular quirk in relation to your superiors. He seems to have failed, though, during your third year under his command, when you disobeyed a recall order and traveled on your own to Resembool."

Ed didn't even bother faking remorse. "Colonel Mustang imparted on me the importance of duty as a National Alchemist. Alchemists are for the people. I was aware of a plot within the military, much as I had been aware of the human transmutation experiments going on," because getting that dig in again would tell Tash this was something he needed to tread very carefully around, "to endanger the lives of thousands of Amestrian citizens. Not knowing if I could trust my superior officer, I did disobey his recall order to protect Amestrian citizens."

"How selfless," Tash purred. "What were you protecting them from?"

Too late he realized what he'd walked into, and he almost swore. Shit. Explain this, and he'd have to explain how Philosopher's Stones were made, to a room with at least four alchemists in it. "A plot by an alchemist to kill thousands in order to perpetuate a war that would keep Bradley in office."

But Tash knew - since Hakuro knew - what the real reason was, and he wasn't so quick to let it go. "And how was this alchemist planning on committing murder on such a large scale?"

"By destroying a city, much like Liore was destroyed, and like the city below Central was destroyed. I daresay that was where she got her inspiration."

"She?"

"She went by the name Dante, after an alchemist of lore who supposedly transmuted a Philosopher's Stone four hundred years ago." Somehow, this entire thing was extremely reminiscent of the lies he'd told Hakuro when he and Roy had been laid up, half dead in a hospital room. Only easier, since there were no drugs. Mustang was right. He was good at this.

Almost as good as Al was.

"Why did you feel you could not trust your superior officer?"

"Because at fifteen I knew my superior officer would do anything for a promotion," and this was met with a few chuckles, "and that his superior officers, some of whom are currently sitting on the panel behind you, would have purposefully delayed getting him the resources necessary to combat the threat specifically to see him fail."

This was met with yet another loud, low rumbling, and this time Hakuro called order. Ed met his glare uncompromisingly.

There was more than one way to end this court martial quickly.

"Are you insinuating that the military would have risked the lives of thousands of citizens on credible intel for internal politics?"

"I was fifteen. All I saw of the military was internal politics." He could give Tash an easy way out, and for speed's sake he would. "I also didn't realize disobeying the recall order for that purpose would still be considered desertion. My files should reflect that I never even went to boot camp." And he owed Havoc for reminding him of that. "My knowledge of military protocol at the time was somewhat lacking, as I was more concerned with studying and less with my career in the military."

"As you said, your purpose was to get back what you lost."

Ed gave a short nod. "The same for the court martial I skipped in the same year. I didn't realize that there were consequences outside of being yelled at by my superior officer, and to be frank he yelled at me whether I did a good job or a poor one."

Another titter, but Tash ignored it. "But you do realize there were consequences now."

I'm here, aren't I? "Yes."

"Can you honestly say you didn't realize there would be consequences for your attacks on then-Lieutenant Jean Havoc, then-Sergeant Kain Fuery, then-Major Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist, and your superior officer at the time, Flame Alchemist Roy Mustang?"

He was perfectly okay with getting slapped for attacking them. Fuery and Havoc hadn't deserved it. "I was too afraid of being stopped by the military to care, at that point. The injuries to Fuery and Havoc were caused when Havoc's gun went off accidentally into my automail, shattering the bullet and sending the ricochet back to them."

"But not your attack on two State Alchemists."

He smirked. "To be honest, you should be praising me for holding off two seasoned State Alchemists at that age. The skirmish was brief and I did surrender." Sort of . . .

"Do you feel that excuses you?"

He shook his head mutely.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say in your defense?"

Edward thought about it a moment, keeping Al's 'nothing stupid' clause in mind.

I'd do it all again.

"No."

Unsurprisingly, he was left to remain standing as the panel gathered their folders and filed out into what he could only assume was some sort of deliberation chamber. As soon as they were gone there was a sharp increase in the volume of the mutterings, and he dared to glance around. Morris was to his right, probably the guy instigating most of the laughing and muttering, and he gave him a grin. He narrowed his eyes in return and mouthed 'Did you complete that analysis due last week?' and it was sufficient to wipe the smirk right off that boyish face, though Darr Swolls, also on the right-hand side, actually cracked the faintest smile.

One of the MPs in front of him cleared his throat, and Ed grudgingly fell back into a proper parade rest, cursing the fact that so many people he knew got to see him in a uniform in person.

Oh, shit.

If he and Al both went to prison, who was going to run the Academy? Mustang didn't have time, and the idea that it might be left in Armstrong's hands terrified him. If it failed, it was going to be worse than just a black mark on Mustang's files.

Hopefully Al would get out without so much as a slap on the wrist. It really could be argued he thought he was trying to snap a student out of a suicidal depression.

Deliberation took a long time. He wasn't sure if it was a good sign or bad, but he was starting to lock his knees by the time they returned, and the last thing he wanted to do was pass out before or after the verdict was read.

Tash got right to the point. "Full Metal Alchemist Edward Elric, you have been judged by a panel of your superiors and found guilty of failure to obey a direct order, contempt, insubordination, and assault on a superior officer." He was listening so hard for the word desertion he almost missed the next sentence. "It is the decision of this panel that due to extenuating circumstances, no further punitive measures are required. Edward Elric is reinstated to his former rank of Major, and shall be returned to active duty upon his discharge from medical treatments. This session is adjourned."

Edward blinked at the major general almost stupidly, quite certain that he hadn't heard that correctly, even as the MPs approached him.

"Major, sir . . ."

What . . .? What the hell would have made Hakuro do that? He had him dead to rights. What could anyone have possibly given the general to let him off the hook?

Shit. It wasn't Al, was it?

Almost unwillingly he was led back towards the double doors. He hadn't realized until that moment how utterly sure and accepting he had been of the fact that he was going to be found guilty of human transmutation and imprisoned. How absolutely certain he had been that Hakuro, finally having his evidence, would nail him with it.

And the fact that it hadn't happened unsettled him in a way he couldn't explain.

It was that expression - probably a horrible one - that he was wearing as he passed Alphonse in the hall, and his brother's expectant face was instantly clouded with worry.

"Nii-san-"

But there was no time for pauses, even if he could have formed the words Al had places to go and people to see, and so help him, if Al had traded himself for his freedom he was going to kill his brother.

- x -

Author's Notes: Wow. Long time no see! :cuddles all of you!: Apologies for the delay! Real life, darn real life . . . so! Pinako on the mend, and probably with something left to say on the matter. And one court martial out of the way, one to go, and then . . . well, heck, then I guess the end. Ten chapters later than I expected it . . .

Never guessing on chapter length again. Never.

As always, posted without a beta. If you see anything, let me know! And if you see any continuity errors, I apologize in advance - I think I'm in your shoes now, this story is so complex and I stepped away for so long I might've just screwed something up. But I hope not.