Author's Note: Hello again everyone! Here's chapter 14! I hope you enjoy it! And, I hope the length is satisfying, I feel like it's a tad short, but I'll let you all decide on that. Let me know and leave comments! Thanks!

Warning: Brief violence/terror.

"The homunculus Pride is behind all of this?" Maes asked in pure disbelief.

Al nodded, "I'm just as shocked as you are Hughes. Ed told me he defeated Pride by completely exhausting his philosopher stone, he told me all that remained was the child Selim; nothing more, nothing less."

"So he is or isn't a homunculus still?"

"As far as I could tell, he's human, and no longer a child either; he appears to be more in his mid or late 20's. Besides, if he was still a homunculus, I think he would have captured brother himself; instead of hiring other people to do it."

Hughes grunted his acknowledgment of the younger Elric's logic before speaking again, "did he tell you anything? Anything from his plans for Ed, or the location you were held?"

He watched as Al shook his head in shame, "no, I'm sorry. Pride didn't divulge anything, even when I tried to get information out of him."

"It's alright Al, just being able to finally put a face to our enemy is more than enough. So thank you." he finished, patting Al's shoulder reassuringly. He then smiled at him, and watched as the confusion on the young man's face became more apparent by the second.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"Guess who you get to see soon?"

A spark of hopefulness flashed in Al's light brown eyes before he took his guess, "Winry?"

Maes nodded, still grinning. At least one good thing was happening from this whole mess; two loved ones were going to be reunited.

Al beamed, "when will she be here?"

"Should be here by tomorrow evening."

"Thanks." he smiled gratefully.

"Of course! Now, I'm gonna go visit Roy and fill him in on what you have told me."

"How is the colonel?"

"Frankly, he's lucky to he alive. But give him a few weeks and he should be as good as new."

"Can you tell him something for me?"

Maes waited expectantly for the information he would have to relay to his commanding officer.

"Thank him for risking his life for brother and me once again. I, I mean we, can't ever thank him enough."

"Sure Al, I'll pass it on."

He nodded, and with the final words of the conversation, Hughes headed back to see Mustang. The walk down the hall was no longer daunting or tedious, now that all of the uncertainty for Roy and Alphonse's lives had been cleared up. Upon entering the room, Maes was pleased to see, that even in the short amount of time that he has been absent from Roy's presence, he seemed to have already improved. One thing that he never doubted was his friend's ability to continue to trudge on no matter the circumstances. Hughes couldn't deny that it was an admirable quality, but it did sometimes get the colonel into trouble.

Roy smiled seeing Hughes come back into his room; he didn't like being alone in hospitals on occasion. It seemed like he had already been here for ages, even though it had only been hours. And though Hughes had only been gone for roughly half an hour to ask Alphonse a few questions about his captors, it had also seemed like hours. He didn't like to feel useless or helpless, it wasn't in his nature. So having his friend back in the room, relaxed him a little bit.

"Hey buddy, how ya feeling?" Hughes asked optimistically.

"A little better actually." Mustang answered.

"You look like you do."

"Oddly enough." he chuckled. But it was soon replaced with a more serious tone, "So, what did you learn from Al?"

Roy watched as Maes' face went from chipper to dark, "Well. I found out who has Ed."

"Who?" Roy asked more angrily and desperate than intended.

"Pride."

A mixture of disbelief, shock, and confusion splattered themselves all over Roy's chiseled face, "The homunculus?"

"Afraid so." Hughes said. "But Al doesn't think he retained any of his inhuman abilities. He simply is," he paused, "human. Besides that, Alphonse said Pride is an adult, probably in his 20's."

"How could he be that old already? It hasn't even been a year since the Promise day! He was just a child, he couldn't have grown that fast!"

"But he did Roy. That is without a philosopher stone as far as we know. And, maybe this is an advantage. Maybe his accelerated aging is a weakness."

"What if it isn't?"

"Well even if it isn't, he is still human, which levels the playing field for us. And alchemy may have just become an advantage for us." he said suggested, the serious edge on his voice disappearing.

"Regardless, we need to save Edward. Who knows what Pride has planned for him." Roy said worriedly.

"We don't know where to look Roy..."

"Damn it Hughes! Don't give me that excuse! If I wasn't bedridden I would go out there and find him myself! And the longer you and the rest of the command sit here watching Alphonse and me, the more likely it is that Ed is being harmed, or worse." he ranted angrily.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to make excuses my friend...I know how much he means to you. You're right. We can't just sit here and wait for Ed to show up, even he might not be able to escape."

"Thanks Hughes...I'm sorry for yelling, I just. I can't lose him. I owe him too much to fail him now."

"You love him."

Roy looked at his friend; his face grew hot, and his heart thudded in his chest, "I-I-" he stuttered.

"Calm down Mustang," he kidded, "it's alright. I'm sure you haven't realized it yet, because you've never been in love; you've only had many one night stands with your previous lovers." he smirked.

"Shut-up Hughes." he spluttered embarrassed by the conversation.

"Ah, okay I'll stop making you feel uncomfortable." he laughed; eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"Just find Fullmetal Maes, and get him home safe. For me, for Al, and for everyone else who cares about that troublesome blonde." he said, smirking to himself at his last comment.

"Yes sir!" he saluted the dark haired man jokingly.

"What's this? Saluting me? That's new."

"Felt like the appropriate thing to do at the moment."

"Hughes."

"Hm?"

"Go gather the rest of the command, and bring them here. I would like to talk with everyone."

"Sure thing. Be back soon." he said as he began to depart from the room, "Oh Roy, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Al wanted me to thank you for always risking your life for him and Ed. He said they can't thank you enough."

"Good to know I'm appreciated." he smirked. "Since I assume you're heading back to his room, tell him it's not a problem at all. Those boys are worth saving."

"Will do." he said as he finally left the room.

Alone with his thoughts once more, Roy let out a sigh. All of this new information, was releiving and worrying all at the same time. Knowing who was behind this sick plan was good for strategy, but Roy also knew how ruthless the hominculi could be. And even though Pride was supposedly pure human now, that didn't mean he had lost his cunning and destructive ways.

Suddenly, flashes of his horrifying dream invaded his thoughts. But instead of a weeping Ed over Al's lifeless body, it was a distraught Alphonse sobbing atop of Edward's. Pride stood in the shadows, evily laughing; seemingly proud to have ended the blonde's life. Roy flinched at the thought, and an aching pain filled his chest. He wouldn't let that haunting vision become true; he couldn't. His fists clenched in anger, why did he have to get shot and become so useless? He felt like an idiot got being so careless, not thinking things through like he should have. Instead he had let his feelings get in the way when he should have simply followed Ed's captors to their hiding place. As his rage escalated, the wound in his chest began to cause him sharp pain. He clenched at it, attempting to make the pain subside, but it didn't. He tried to stay calm and still, but the pain was too much. He fumbled around his bedside and managed to click the button that would cause a nurse to come to his aid. Soon, a nurse came bolting in, and saw the obvious pain the colonel was in. She rushed away and came back with pain killers. Roy was thankful for them as the pain slowly began to ebb away.

"Thanks..." he grunted.

"It's my job colonel. Next time, try to keep relaxed, it will help."

He nodded, and the nurse left promptly. But the isolation didn't last long as Hughes and the rest of his command filed into the small room. He noticed Hughes questioning expression, but he shook his head, letting him know everything was fine.

"Hello everyone, I needed to inform you of something."

They all waited patiently for what their superior officer had to say to them.

"I want you all to begin searching for Fullmetal. We now are aware that out enemy is Pride. For whatever reason, he wants Edward. We don't know what he has planned for him, so we need to hurry and find him as soon as possible; time is not on our side. Hughes, Hawkeye. I want you two to take control and organize a plan that will allow you to search the city in the most efficient way possible. Don't miss any inch. I'm counting on you all, we owe Elric alot, it's time we repay him and save his life this time. Let me know if anything is found out, or if the situation changes. Dismissed."

"Yes sir!" his commrades responded and filed out, ready to search for their blonde alchemist.

Feeling more at ease that Edward was now being searched for, Roy decided it best to try and get some rest. He wanted to recover as soon as possible, after all he didn't know when his abilities and skills would be needed to save the man he cared about more than anyone else. He closed his eyes, knowing that Edward was probably putting up a good fight, and taking no crap from Pride or his henchmen.

Ed screamed in pure agony. He was strapped down to an operating table, with a blade being stabbed into his side. The knife dug in deep, and Pride made sure it hurt to the maximum potential as he twisted it full circle between Ed's ribs.

"DAMN YOU BASTARD!" was all Ed could manage to spit out at a breathy pant as he tried to ignore the searing pain in his side and all over the rest of his beaten body.

Pride smirked joyfully, "Oh my dear Edward, we're just getting started."