Heeeeeeeeeeeeey! I'm still totally clueless about the person who turned Al into a cat... I really should know by now. I actually planned to try drawing him, but then... I got hit hard by the lazy rock. Someone please do something to get me to get that done! D: I think it would help with building the character.

On with the story!

After a quick stop to a restaurant for breakfast, Ed and Al took the usual route to the Headquarters, which is pretty much engraved into their heads at this point. The older brother didn't really like it, because they had stuck around in the same area for what he felt was too long, but they had to stay near Mustang's office to get this issue resolved as soon as possible. Without even thinking about the walking they were doing, he realized he had spaced out once they were right in front of the door, and the journey had felt like a few mere seconds instead of minutes. Upon entering, he immediately noticed the visitor.

"What's Black Hayate doing here?"

"We decided to sneak him in for the day. It's all Fuery's idea."

Hawkeye and the dog stood next to each other, both straight and proper, but one had a tongue hanging out of its mouth. Black Hayate immediately got happy when he saw Alphonse the cat, whom he considered a new play-mate. He ran over and began sniffing the pet, and Al looked up to his brother wondering what he should do. Edward just kinda shrugged, and after a few seconds of pondering, the shrug was returned, and he walked calmly to a different of the room, following the excited dog.

Meanwhile, Ed forced himself to be serious as he marched over to the Colonel's desk with a purpose.

Ed's POV:

I let Al run off with the dog, figuring I could just tell him everything later. However, I needed to know now. I guess I am pretty impatient after all.

"Did you get anything yet?"

I slammed my hands down onto his desk, and got ready to look him right in the eye for when he was to turn his head up. Mustang dropped the pen in his hand and pushed it away along with the paperwork he was pretending to do (I can see right through him) and rested his forearms comfortably on the cleared space before looking up. I immediately noticed the tired expression on him, one of the only ones to ever escape the poker face he usually wore. Wordlessly, he handed to me a piece of paper. The title indicated that it was a list of people who had escaped prison and happen to know some form of alchemy.

"We searched in some other areas, but there was nothing. If it's someone in our records, they're most likely in that list."

"...Thanks." I didn't even try to insult him in any way, knowing that he was definitely not in the mood and frame of mind to return it. The silence was pretty unsettling, so I immediately left it. To let Alphonse have at least a few more minutes, I sat/laid down on one of the couches in the room. It did not take long for Havoc to break the quietness.

"...Did you get a collar for Alphonse?"

"Yeah, but I gave him a new pet name." I instantly could feel a grin creeping onto my face.

"What the heck would that be? As far as I remember, you're not very good at names."

"...Allie." I did not have to look at the faces of the employees to know they were silently laughing.

"Now that's just cruel, Chief!" I glanced over, and saw his trademark cigarette was about to fall out of his mouth.

"I think of it as taking the opportunity. But there's no real harm done, right? If it goes according to plan, he won't have to live with that collar for very long, anyways."

"But it'll be in our memories forever." Breda had spoken what I was secretly thinking. It was just the trigger to get me to laugh.

After a few seconds, I looked over to the Colonel, who looked like he was about to pass out.

"Did he get any sleep in?"

"No, he didn't. He had too much work to do to find some time." Hawkeye was talking evenly, but knowing her well enough, she was probably a little worried.

"Doesn't he usually push a lot of it onto you guys?"

"Yeah, but for some reason he was getting even more than usual, plus he used some hours to get that paper for you."

"Seriously, Havoc? I didn't know he'd be so serious about Al."

It got me thinking. At the same time, it makes sense he did so much, because this person could be a threat to some other people too, but not in the blood seal department, of course. Glancing back at him, I frowned a little. He seemed like a totally different person, and I didn't like it.

"It's so weird seeing him so sleep-deprived. Make sure he gets some, so that the next time I come he's normal again." I realized right after I said that that it could be taken like I CARED for the pain in the butt!

"Ed, your face is as red as your coat!" I heard some laughing coming from some of the team, which got me really pissed off.

"No it's not! And I don't care for that jerk! AL! LET'S GO!"

I ran to grab my brother and dragged him out of the office. Right when I was out of the door, I faintly heard Havoc say "Yes, he does" really smugly and I could feel the steam rise from my head as I continued to stomp out of the building. Alphonse did a few meows of protest, but eventually just gave up.

Al's POV:

I had been trying to explain some things about people to Black Hayate, which became kind of frustrating because he didn't have as advanced of a vocabulary as mine, so I had to keep rewording everything. Suddenly I heard Brother start yelling, and watched as he ran towards me and picked me up rather harshly. I noticed that his face was kinda red, but it seemed to be more out of embarrassment than anger. Then again, part of it would still be out of anger because he would be mad at letting someone figure out how to embarrass him. He continued to carry me out of the Headquarters, and I could tell he was slightly mumbling about something, and half the words were cusses. How'd he get such a potty mouth anyway? I did my best to ignore them as he walked, and eventually he dropped me onto the bed in our room at the inn. He threw his signature coat and the things inside it next to me, and I watched him as he trudged over to some other room with balled up fists.

I sighed as I got myself comfortable, when I noticed there was a paper inside of one of the pockets of his coat. I got up, and figured out how to nudge it out of there and opened it. Reading and studying the list, I tried my best to get some of the potential names inside of my memory. It had taken me a while to realize I recognized one of the names.

Aw, Ed. *sly grin* You know that you care for him, even just a little bit. Was that a cliff-hanger? I think it is... maybe. Do you guys want the person whose name he recognizes to actually help, or it turns out to be a dead end? Knowing how anti-climatic I can be at times, it'll probably be the latter. *muahaha* If you didn't notice, I fixed Chapter 5 to have Al's cat name *chuckle* but that's okay, because if no one did yet, they would have seen it in this one, and probs cracked them up. XD

OOH, and I got an idea for another one-shot. I plan to have it published by the end of today, but I might accidentally get distracted and end up doing it tomorrow... *embarrassed shrug* Ya know, you could just freaking write one random word, like "dinosaur" as your idea and I will seriously write something for it. Come on, people, use the opportunity! I might get something pretty hilarious out of it. :3

HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D K bai!