Chapter Fifteen - Alchemist Assessment

Nick had been a member of the State Military for a little over a year now and he was no closer to reaching his goal than he'd been the day he'd joined. And even though he was no closer to reaching his ultimate goal, a lot had happened in the course of a year and Nick had made at least one new friend. He and Kaori had gotten past their initial dislike of one another and had become friends. Kaori kept telling him that he should get out of the military and go home. And while Nick realized that since no one knew about the homunculus then it obviously wasn't causing any trouble and yet he knew that he couldn't allow it to live. Nick was determined to see this thing through to the end.

"I don't care how long I have to be on the end of the military's leash," Nick muttered, his fist clenched. "I will undo the damage I've done."

Nick was standing in front of the military headquarters in Central, contemplating what his next move would be, when he was approached by Colonel Havoc.

"Hey chief, what's up?"

"Not a thing," Nick said.

"Hmm," Havoc said thoughtfully. "Well, I just came by to tell you that your assessment will be tomorrow."

"Assessment?" Nick said, confused.

Havoc nodded. "All State Alchemists are subject to an assessment once a year. And you have to get a good assessment in order to keep your certification as a State Alchemist."

"Oh, that's just great," Nick whined. "So what exactly do I have to do for this assessment?"

"You'll find out tomorrow," Havoc said, inwardly enjoying the look of great discomfort on Nick's face. There was something about tormenting the kid that he simply couldn't resist. "Until then, don't worry about it."

And with that, Havoc walked away.

"Don't worry about it he says," Nick muttered under his breath, pulling his silver watch from his pocket and absentmindedly playing with it. "I have to do good in order to keep my certification and I have to have my certification in order to reach my goal. This really sucks."

That night Nick found himself completely unable to fall asleep. Every time he managed to doze off, he pictured himself doing horrible on the assessment and then he was wide-awake again. And the process of going to sleep, having a nightmare, and then waking up again was beginning to seriously annoy the young boy.

"I'm going to do horrible and get kicked out of the military," Nick mumbled, sitting up in bed and tossing his blankets aside in frustration. "Then I'll have to go home to Resembool and endure the taunts from my dad."

Giving up all hope of getting a good night's sleep, Nick got out of bed and got dressed. Then he slipped out of his room and downstairs. Feeling his way through the dark house, the boy made his way over to the front door and, once there, he pulled on his boots and left the house.

"Maybe a walk will clear my head," Nick said hopefully.

Nick spent the next several hours walking through Central, trying to get his mind off his coming assessment however all he accomplished was making himself miserable. The walk did nothing to get Nick's mind off his assessment, quite the contrary; it actually gave him more time to dwell on it.

The boy went back to the Hughes' house around dawn and when he opened the door, he came face to face with General Hughes.

"Where have you been?" Hughes asked, a questioning expression in his eyes.

"I needed some fresh air," Nick told him. "So I went for a walk."

Hughes stared at the boy. "And exactly how long was this walk? You look terrible."

"Thanks a lot," Nick said, once again marveling at the General's bluntness.

Hughes smiled at the boy, a knowing look in his eyes. "You could probably still get a few hours of sleep before your assessment if you went to bed now."

Nick shook his head. "There'd be no point. Even if I wanted to sleep there's no way I'd be able to so I may as well stay up."

"Have it your way," Hughes said, shrugging his shoulders. "We'll leave for Central HQ in a few hours so don't wander off to far. The Fuhrer gave me strict orders to make sure you didn't skip out on your assessment."

Nick nodded and walked upstairs. He entered the room that had been his home for the past year and sat down on the edge of the bed. Gripping his head in his hands the young boy allowed his thoughts to wander. "This is just great. I wish I could just get this over with before the waiting drives me crazy."

A few hours later Nick and Hughes left for Central HQ and when they arrived, they went immediately to the Fuhrer's office. Not even bothering to knock, Hughes entered the office, followed a few steps back by Nick.

"I brought the kid," Hughes called out as he and Nick stepped through the door of Mustang's office. Once inside he immediately noticed someone sitting in the chair in front of the Fuhrer's desk. Someone he hadn't seen in years. "Why hello Edward. I didn't expect to see you here." He turned to the Fuhrer. "Did you know he was coming?"

The Fuhrer shook his head. "No. He just showed up here this morning, without warning. However, he has solved a problem for me. Up until this morning I had no idea how to test the kid's abilities but when Ed arrived I decided that we could have a battle assessment."

"You mean Ed versus the kid?" Hughes asked in surprise.

The Fuhrer nodded.

"Oh, that's cold." Hughes gave the boy a sympathetic look.

Nick stood in front of the door, listening in horror to the conversation between Hughes and the Fuhrer. He didn't like where this conversation was going and yet he could not find the words to protest.

"Let us head to the parade grounds," the Fuhrer said, standing up and walking in the direction of the door. "The assessment shall be given there."

Ed and Hughes both nodded and followed the Fuhrer toward the door.

"This is cruel," Nick muttered as he turned to follow the rest of the group out of the office.

The Fuhrer, Hughes and Ed walked out the door, down the hall and out into the bright sunshine followed a short distance behind by Nick, who had the distinct look of a condemned man on his way to the gallows. Once outside, at the parade grounds, Nick saw that a crowd had gathered which only served to make his feeling of dread intensify. He gazed around in awe, thinking that the whole military must have turned out for the battle assessment.

The Fuhrer took a seat on a raised platform, joined by Hughes and Havoc, while Ed and Nick took their places out on the parade ground. Father and son squared off against each other.

"Dad," Nick said, staring into his father's eyes. Eyes that were so like his own. "This isn't cool. You know there's still time for you to back out. You don't have to do this."

"Thanks for the offer," Ed said with an evil grin. "But it's been awhile since we've went at it and I think it'll be fun."

"Fun?!" Nick exclaimed incredulously. "How can you think being beaten to a pulp by your own son in front of the entire military is fun?"

Ed just smiled.

In the stands, Hughes turned to face Havoc. "The kid really doesn't have a clue, does he?"

"No," Havoc said, his eyes remaining focused on the battlefield. "But I think Ed's about to give him a few."

Hughes turned so that he was once again facing the parade ground. "I think that's an understatement."

Lieutenant Colonel Breda walked over and stood beside Ed and Nick. "Welcome to the State Alchemist battle assessment. This should be an interesting diversion. We have the current Fullmetal Alchemist, Nick Elric, facing off against. . ."

Sensing that Breda was about to say something stupid, Ed shot him a dirty look.

The look from Ed halted Breda in mid sentence and he quickly altered his introduction. "Facing off against Edward Elric."

Hughes turned to the Fuhrer. "Now Mustang, haven't you guys told him that Ed had that title before he did?"

The Fuhrer shook his head.

"That's not good. The kid's not gonna be happy when he finds out."

"Alchemists get set. Ready and fight."

And as soon as those words escaped his mouth, Breda turned tail and ran away from the parade ground as fast as his feet would carry him. He had memories of how Ed's fights were and he had no desire to be in the middle of one. He knew that in order to be truly safe he needed to be several yards away, safely hidden behind something. But since he wanted to watch the fight, he decided to settle for a spot in the stands, where the damage would be minimal.

Nick watched as Breda ran away, completely confused. "Huh?"

"What are you waiting for kid?" Ed said, clasping his hands together and placing them to the ground. Blue sparks shot up from the ground and a spear rose out of the dirt.

"How did you do that?!" Nick exclaimed, staring at the spear that his dad now held in his hand.

"You should worry more about countering." As he spoke, Ed ran toward his son.

Nick clasped his hands together and his auto-mail arm turned into a blade. "You want some, come and get some."

"As you wish," Ed said.

As Father and son battled, Nick quickly gained the upper hand. He managed to keep his father constantly on the defensive by a series of unrelenting attacks that forced his father to dodge or block and thus gave him no opportunity to retaliate.

Ed dodged blow after blow from his son, inwardly marveling at how much stronger the boy had become since the two of them had last had a sparring match.

Nick smirked. "So dad, have you had enough yet? Ready to surrender? I won't hurt you if you admit defeat."

Ed looked at the boy, an evil glint appearing in his eyes. "I hope you've thoroughly enjoyed your little rebellion kid, 'cause it's over now."

And with that, Ed took charge of the battle.

Ed and Nick stood, each holding a weapon to the other's throat, when they heard the sound of applause. They both looked around to see the Fuhrer standing up, clapping his hands. "Nice work Nicholas. It seems you'll be able to keep your State Alchemist certification for at least another year. And Edward, you did very well also. It seems you're not as weak as I thought you'd be after all these years of inactivity."

"That's it." Ed dropped his staff and pointed a finger at the Fuhrer. "You're next."

"Dad!" Nick exclaimed, all thoughts on finishing the battle vanishing. "You can't threaten the Fuhrer like that. And if you're going to, at least refrain from doing it in front of the entire military."

Ed glanced around at the assembly of military personnel and smirked. "They don't want any either."

"Now come on dad," Nick said, gazing from his dad to the military members. "Okay, so you've proven you're not a weakling but now you're just pushing your luck."

"I don't think so," Ed said, his voice filled with confidence.

The Fuhrer took off his uniform jacket, threw it down over his chair and stepped down from the platform where he'd watched the fight between Nick and Ed. He walked toward Ed, pulling on a pair of gloves as he went, and then came to a stop a few feet away from Ed.

Ed grinned. "Let's do it."

Nick stared in open-mouthed horror as his dad squared off against the Fuhrer. "You've gotta be kidding me!! He's really gonna fight the Fuhrer." He turned and ran over to the spot where his mom stood with Hawkeye. "Why are you just standing there?! Don't you think you should stop him?"

Winry shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

Stunned, Nick turned to Hawkeye. "Aren't YOU gonna stop him?"

"No, it'll be good for them."

Winry turned to Hawkeye and nodded her head in agreement. "You're right. They need to let off some steam."

Nick suddenly developed a nervous tick. The corner of his eye began to twitch uncontrollably as he stared from his mom and Hawkeye to his dad and the Fuhrer. "Everyone's gone insane."

Havoc and Hughes stood on the platform staring down at the Fuhrer and Ed.

"So," Hughes said. "How long has it been since either of them used alchemy in a fight?"

"I don't know." Havoc thought about the question. "A while."

"So who do you think's gonna win?"

"No idea sir," Havoc said. "But it should be interesting."

Hughes nodded. "Of that I have no doubt."

As they watched the battle that was raging in front of them, both Havoc and Hughes marveled at the fact that although neither man had used their alchemy in battle for several years they were both still as good, if not better, than they had been before.

Col. Havoc shook his head in dismay. "Well that renews my fear of the Fuhrer. Just when I was starting to get over it too."

Gen. Hughes smiled at the comment but didn't reply. He knew that Havoc had made the comment jokingly. He was not now nor had he ever been afraid of Mustang. In fact the two men were actually good friends but that didn't mean that Havoc didn't have a healthy respect for his superior.

Mustang and Ed fought for a while, each using moves that no one in the military had ever seen, and then they abruptly stopped. Neither of the men had an advantage over the other, it was almost as if they'd sent each of a telepathic message and agreed to stop. The two men stood staring at one another for a few brief moments and then Mustang smiled. "You've gotten better over the years Ed."

Ed returned the smile. "I would never have guessed it but so have you."

Breda stood up. "Way to go Fullmetal! I can't believe you held your own against the Fuhrer."

Nick stared at the military men, as Breda's words sank in. "Fullmetal? Then that means. . .my dad's the original Fullmetal Alchemist?" Tick marks suddenly appeared on the boy's forehead. "My dad's the Fullmetal Alchemist and no one told me! I'll kill them all!"

Mustang walked over to the spot where Nick stood, looking as though he were about to have a nervous breakdown. "Alright kid. Since this is all your fault, you get to clean up the mess."

Nick's jaw dropped. He stared at the demolished parade grounds and then whirled on the Fuhrer. "My fault? How can you say it's my fault? You and my dad are the ones who did most of the damage!"

Mustang glared at the boy. "You have your orders Fullmetal."

Nick debated protesting further but decided he should leave well enough alone. They were, after all, still alive and apparently not going to prison. He decided that having to clean up the mess was a relatively small price to pay.

"Equivalent exchange," he muttered to himself bitterly as he turned and began to walk toward the torn up battlefield. "Dad was wrong. This isn't punishment. This is hell."

As Nick began the task of cleaning up the gigantic mess made by the two battles, mainly the one between his dad and the Fuhrer, the military personnel that had been watching the fights went back inside.

Mustang, Hughes, Breda and Havoc all stood in a third floor window and watched the kid work.

"Don't you think that was kind of harsh?" Hughes asked Mustang.

"Not really," Mustang replied in a bored voice.

Ed was standing with his back to the window, a thoughtful expression on his face. "So tell me Mustang. Why did you give Nicholas my old title?"

"It suits him," Mustang replied, his gaze never leaving the young boy that he and Ed were discussing. "I never agreed with Fuhrer Bradley's decision to call you the Fullmetal Alchemist. After witnessing your practical skills exam, I thought for sure you'd end up with the title of the Floral Alchemist or something along those lines."

"You're evil," Ed said, his eyes narrowed.

"Edward," Mustang said, surprise evident in his voice. "You're upset that I gave Nicholas your old title, aren't you?" An evil glint appeared in Mustang's eye. "You're jealous."

Ed shook his head. "It's nothing like that. I gave up the military and that title of my own volition and I feel no jealousy toward Nick. I was just curious why you gave him that particular title, that's all."

And with that Ed began to walk toward the door.

The other four men turned as Ed began to walk toward the door.

"Hey Ed," Hughes called out. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go and have a word with my son," Ed replied, looking over his shoulder and sending a piercing glare in Breda's direction. "Since someone, mentioning no names, said something he really shouldn't have."

Breda slumped over, in an attempt to become invisible and hopefully avoid Ed's fury.

"Come on Ed," Mustang said, trying to draw Ed's attention away from his subordinate. "He would have found out sooner or later anyway. There's no way you could have kept something like that a secret forever. I'm amazed you managed to hide it this long, since you were something of a legend in the military."

"You shut up!" Ed snapped, glaring at Mustang. "This is all YOUR fault in the first place."

Mustang smirked. "You shouldn't talk like that Edward. I am the Fuhrer after all."

"I don't give a damn who you are," Ed said opening the door. "You will eventually pay for this. I swear."

And with that, Ed walked out.

Hughes turned to Mustang. "Well that went better than I expected."

Mustang said nothing.

Ed walked out to the battlefield, where Nick was using alchemy to clean up the mess. Ed clapped his hands together and transmuted a large pile of debris back into a smooth walkway.

Nick ceased his reconstruction of the parade grounds and turned to face his father. There was a glint of accusation in his golden eyes as he stared at Ed. He had come to learn of so many things that his father should have told him but didn't during his short stint in the military, yet this was by far the worst. "How come you never told me your were in the military? Or that you were the original Fullmetal Alchemist? Not even when you found out that Mustang gave me that title."

"I left that life behind a long time ago," Ed replied, staring off into the distance.

"You still should have told me," Nick said stubbornly.

"I know," Ed said, surprising his son. "There are a lot of things I should have told you however I foolishly chose not to because I didn't want you to repeat my mistakes. And in the end, and only after it was too late, I realized that had I been willing to talk about my past I could have helped secure your future. A future free of the pain and suffering I had to endure."

Nick stared at his dad, surprised. He hadn't expected Ed to actually agree with him and he found himself unable to hide the stunned look on his face.

"Come on Nicholas," Ed said. "This will go a lot faster if we both do it."

Nick nodded.

Cleaning up the destruction caused by the two fights took far less time once Nick got help from his dad and the two alchemists soon had the parade grounds returned to their original form.

Having seen that the work was nearing completion, Mustang, Hughes, and Havoc left their lofty perch and they met Nick and Ed halfway across the lawn.

"Alright Fullmetal, you're dismissed. And I guess you've earned a break so you can take the next couple of days off."

Nick groaned; that seemed such a small reward for the hell that he'd just endured but at this point, he'd take what he could get. "Thanks," he said grudgingly.

"Nicholas," Ed said, capturing his son's attention. "You should go and find your mother. I'm sure she'd like to see you."

"Okay," Nick said. "Any clue where she is?"

It was Col. Havoc, not Ed, who answered the boy's question. "She and Riza were out in the courtyard last time I saw them."

Nick nodded. "Thanks colonel." And with that the boy dashed off.

Mustang yawned widely and pulled the uniform jacket that he'd been carrying back on. "Well that was fun and all but I guess I should get back to work."

Ed's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing that statement from the Fuhrer. "You work? Since when? I thought that's why you became Fuhrer so that you'd have peons to do all the work for you?"

Mustang smirked. "Hey it's not as easy as you make it sound."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Pitiful."

Mustang shook his head and walked off.

"Guess I should follow his example," Col. Havoc said, without much enthusiasm. "Or I'll be up for a demotion soon."

Ed grinned as Col. Havoc walked off in the direction Mustang had gone, leaving him and General Hughes alone. He turned to Hughes. "So Maes, are you gonna use work as an excuse to ditch me too?"

Hughes shook his head. "Hell no. I don't even feel like pretending to work. That would require entirely too much effort."

"I see," Ed said, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Well since we're alone there's something I've been wanting to ask you since I saw you in Mustang's office this morning."

Hughes gazed at Ed, a knowing look in his eyes. "It's about my 'death' isn't it?"

Ed nodded.

"Faking my own death wasn't something that I wanted to do," Hughes said in a serious tone. "Since I knew that in order to pull it off I wouldn't be able to tell anyone that I was alive, not even Gracia." At that point in the conversation Hughes shuddered. "On a side note Edward, I wouldn't advice hiding something like that from your wife. Ever. It's not a pretty picture when they find out."

Ed nodded. He could imagine. And he had a feeling that in his case it would be about ten times worse than it was for Hughes since Gracia was mild mannered, especially compared to Winry.

"But I'm getting off topic here. When I found out what was going on in the military and exactly how deeply the enemy had infiltrated, I knew that my family would be in danger if anyone found out the full extent of what I knew. Then my fears were realized when I was shot by that bastard Envy and left for dead. It was then that I knew what I had to do. I had to protect my family at any cost and there was no way to do that if I was alive. On top of that Roy wasn't getting anywhere with his investigation and I knew that he needed some, er motivation. And what better motivation than the death of his best friend. So I used the situation to my advantage and since I had several useful contacts in the military chain of command I was able to pull off faking my own death. And no one, not even the homunculus in charge of the entire State Military, was any the wiser."

Ed shook his head, slightly amazed by Hughes' cunning. "You always were the brains of the operation. So tell me, how exactly did Mustang become the Fuhrer? I mean, wouldn't you have been a better candidate for that position?"

"Possibly," Hughes said, slightly flattered by Ed's statement. "But I never had any aspirations for the top position. It involves too many decisions that I don't want, or am not willing, to make. Second in command suits me far better."

"I see your point Maes," Ed said with a chuckle. "You get nearly unrivaled power without the high level of accountability."

"Exactly," Hughes said with a smile. "So naturally, when the widespread corruption of the newly established Parliament was uncovered I urged Roy to once again chase after his old dream. And after much persuasion and more than a few arguments, Roy listened to me. And it paid off for him."

Ed smiled. "You always did say you'd push him to the top."

Hughes nodded. "I kept my word."

"Incidentally Maes, how long did it take Gracia to forgive you for allowing her to believe that you were dead?" Ed asked, a wicked smile on his face.

"Instead of answering your question Ed let me ask you one: Has Winry completely forgiven you for going back to the world on the other side of the Gate once you found your way home?"

Ed grimaced as flashbacks flooded, unbidden, into his mind. "Point taken."

Hughes smiled at the look on Ed's face then he abruptly pulled something from the pocket of his uniform jacket and thrust it into Ed's face. "Look at how beautiful my Elicia's grown to be!"

Ed smiled as he stared at the picture of Hughes' daughter. He had been wondering when the proud papa would pull out the pictures and frankly he was surprised that it hadn't came sooner in the conversation.

"So do you have any pictures of your kids Edward?" Hughes said, stowing the photo back in his pocket. "I know Nick isn't your only one."

Smiling slightly, Ed pulled his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a small photograph. He handed the photo to Hughes, who stared down at it.

"Twin girls huh?" Hughes said, gazing at the photo of three children. "I've only heard Nick talk about one sister."

Ed sighed and a single tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about the daughter that he'd lost. "The one on the left, Harmony, was killed in an accident when she was four. Nick was ten and he blames himself for the accident, since the girls were with him when it happened."

"Oh Edward I'm so sorry," Hughes said, placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I can't even imagine what it must be like to lose a child. I'm sorry I brought it up."

Ed shook his head. "It's okay Hughes. I think about Harmony often. Those we love are never truly gone and should never be forgotten."

Hughes gave Ed a kind smile. He had always admired the younger man's strength and times like this served to illustrate just how strong Ed truly was, being able to carry on after enduring so much heart ache in a relatively short life.