All of them covered their ears at the horrid screech. "There. Now you aren't squabbling like four-year-olds!"
All of them looked guiltily up at Cat. Glaring, she put the chalk-board away. Behind her stood Dark and Lyn. Cat turned her head to look at Hohenheim, and suddenly her eyes narrowed and a low snarl escaped her lips. "Surprised to see you here."
"Yes, it is a surprise to see my favorite bar-tender and her friends here. I imagine you, too, are one of the Rainbow Alchemists?" Hohenheim said wearily, pushing his glasses up.
"So, this guy is you two's dad? Not surprised you hate him, Ed, I do too!" Cat growled.
"What's going on here?" he asked, confused. "You two know each other?"
"You could say that. I used to hang around her place and trade information with them. But then they were almost discovered when I was leaving the place, and Cat blames me." the man sighed.
"Great, so you all know each other now."
Everyone turned to see Katsumn, her daughter, and Daisy, Strawberry and Terios. "Good, now you can help set up." the empress said, she and her daughter dropping the tent materials they had. "Since he's in no condition to move, we have to set his tent up around him. Tomorrow you need to brief your military commanders, Edward, so make sure you know them."
"Well, you, Nmutua, Scar, and my team and Al. A few of the Chimera-men and a few Briggs-men." he said uncertainly. "That sounds like enough to take the city. I mean…"
"Don't you worry about it."
Everyone looked at Cathrine and Scar. "We've already arranged for that in case you shouldn't have." Scar said.
"There's Katsumn, Al, Cat, Dark, Lyn, Nmutua, Ling Yao from Xing, Major Miles from the Briggs-men, Lucifer from the Chimera-men, and Scar and I are dividing up the Ishvalans. That's ten groups, each with almost five-hundred warriors. Plenty enough to over-come the Central forces and over-come the real challenge."
"Real challenge?" they all asked.
"Yes, she's right. The leader of the Homunculi is beneath Central Command." Hohenheim nodded.
"What?" he gasped.
"I guess I should tell you the truth…" his father sighed.
After a while, the story was finished. They were all quiet. "I believe you."
They all looked at the foreign rulers. The Kasumis were looking solemn. "It happened once to one of our own. You've seen the wide variety of colors on us. Long ago there was an Amestrian that lived with us. No one really remembers his name. But he was like that, but he finally found peace. They say…" Katsumn started.
"They say he died with a smile on his face." Nmutua finished almost silently.
"Something here says this guy was more than just a guy you knew." Karina said suspiciously.
"I guess… We should stop hiding it… That man was Hayabusa Kasumi… Nmutua's father…" Katsumn said through gritted teeth. "My half sister and her father are the ones who introduced me to him… And then later, we found out they were evil… We managed to drive them out of the land along with the rest of the Shiniganes, their tribe."
"Hai, so you remember me!"
Everyone spun to face this new voice.