Mustang slowly gathered the pieces of Edward's pocket watch and held them in his hand. He had grappled with himself for years over keeping Envy imprisoned instead of destroying the homunculus. There were plenty of times he went down and almost reduced the miserable creature to a grease spot. It was usually after seeing Elysia and Erika, Hughes' daughter and granddaughter; the two people who would never know the man that had made their existence possible. But something always stopped him. He never understood it but now he knew. It was selfishness; to keep something around that could be a potential weapon. He knew he could be selfish but he was astonished how powerful it was and how it drove him to ignore common sense.

He knew Edward would be upset; would most likely quit the military... but he never intended for the Fullmetal Alchemist to know about the homunculi that were still in existence. He also didn't intend on the homunculi ever being loose again.

This wasn't the first time the Fullmetal Alchemist threatened to quit. But Mustang knew he more than crossed the line. This was beyond betrayal or treason. All the years of manipulating and using Edward were insignificant compared to what he had done by keeping the homunculi alive. He had no right to ask for anymore from Edward.

He sat down heavily at his desk. Opening a drawer he carefully placed the remnants of Edward's watch in it and closed it quietly. Neither man spoke to each other. They had no right to ease their guilty conscience by trying to console each other they had made their choice thinking it was right at the time. They both knew it wasn't. Trying to satisfy your curiosity didn't give anyone the right to betray someone who had fought for you for so many years at the cost of his happiness... and sanity. Now that Edward had finally gained what he had denied himself for years and fully deserved, they went and destroyed what peace he had with one bad decision. But it wasn't just Edward who would be affected. Not if the homunculi were loose in the world. The people of Amestris and Xing would be the next to feel the repercussions of the actions of two men who had sworn to protect them.

"I shouldn't have said that to him," Lin said breaking the silence.

"There's a lot that shouldn't have been said... or done," Mustang answered sitting back with a sigh, closing his eyes as he rubbed his temples.

It wasn't long after Edward had stormed out that the door opened and old General Grumman poked his head through and whistled. "Looks like you've finally spilled the beans, Mustang. I thought I'd wait a minute for you to catch your breath," the older, white haired, retired General said as he let himself in and closed the door.

"Not now, General," Mustang growled, using the old man's former title out of respect and habit.

"Oh, I believe now is the time," Grumman said with a sarcastic smile. "It looks like the Fuhrer's pet has turned on his master."

"This is hardly helpful," Mustang sighed.

"True, quite true, I apologize. Well, now that you don't have the services of the Fullmetal Alchemist at your disposal, what will you do?"

Mustang sat in silence, deep in thought. "There were quite a few around when Envy was defeated ..." he said a minute later.

"I remember you telling me so," Grumman nodded. "How many altogether?"

"Jerun, Zanpano, Dr. Marcoh, Scar, Yoki, Mei, Winry and Al. That's seven eye witnesses but we all know Al and Winry would have nothing to do with this. They were in the same boat as Ed thinking all the homunculi were destroyed."

"Mei definitely didn't do it," Lin said. "When I told her about Greed being taken, she gave me a good I-told-you-so beating. She never liked the idea of keeping him alive."

"So Mei is out as well as Dr. Marcoh since he was lost during the war."

"It could be Scar," Grumman suggested. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let him go free."

"I doubt it was him," Mustang disagreed. "I don't see any reason for him to. Plus, he's too recognizable; someone would have reported seeing him."

"But he is capable of this," Grumman said. "Perhaps he wanted to destroy them once and for all."

"If he wanted to, he would have done so right then and there," Lin pointed out. "The evidence points to the homunculi being taken not destroyed."

"I can't see why he would," Mustang added with a frown.

"Maybe he's still holding a grudge against Amestris," Grumman suggested.

Mustang shrugged. "If it's a case of holding a grudge then we will have to consider Zanpano, Jerun and maybe even Ed's old buddies. They were experimented on by the old military regime under Bradley. Perhaps there were some ill affects that Dr. Marcoh hadn't foreseen when he helped using the..."

"Using what?" Grumman looked at Mustang curiously through his thick glasses wondering why the Fuhrer stopped suddenly.

"I can't believe I forgot," Mustang breathed.

"Forgot what?" Lin then asked, looking concerned.

Mustang looked back and forth between Lin and Grumman. "Nothing." He wouldn't jeopardize Edward's family any further. So far the only people alive that knew Al had a Philosopher's Stone was himself, Edward and Havoc. He would keep it that way. He didn't want word to somehow leak to the homunculi abductors.

Grumman's heavily lidded eyes narrowed in on Mustang who avoided his stare. He wasn't used to Mustang keeping things from him and it was rather annoying at a time like this. Grumman quickly returned to his wise-old-sage mode before Mustang noticed something was up.

"It's probably best to be safe and consider them all suspects," he then pointed out.

"Yes," Mustang agreed. "I'll have their descriptions relayed over the wire immediately. I'm going to look like a fool putting Scar's description out; especially if it turns out he had nothing to do with this."

"It's the risk you have to take to find who took the homunculi," Grumman assured.

Mustang sighed. "After that, what do we do in the meantime?"

"Wait," Grumman said, sounding like it was the only obvious solution.

"Wait for what?" Lin asked, looking at Grumman suspiciously.

"It's a big country with plenty of places to hide, save your resources and have them ready when the homunculi strike," Grumman explained.

"But the question is where will they strike?" Mustang said standing up to pace.

"Oh, Mustang my boy, haven't I taught you anything?" Grumman tsked, shaking his head, disappointed in his young student. "You must now consider who they will strike."

"That's if they've been recharged, meaning they would both need hosts to help them," Lin jumped in, "and maybe one of those hosts is the alchemist who took them. I'm sure Envy would have no problem sharing the secret of creating Philosopher's Stones to help rejuvenate their powers."

"So we should consider the possibility they may have taken over someone's body," Mustang added. "I'll put out the description of the Ouroboros and where it will likely be seen. I can think of a handful of people the homunculi could strike..."

"You, me," Lin said. "Ed, Al..."

"General Elric and his brother did not keep them imprisoned for all those years," Grumman interrupted.

"I would count Greed out of the revenge business," Lin said. "If his memories haven't been triggered he won't remember anything prior to gaining a new body to move around in."

"So Envy could come for me," Mustang smirked. "Let him, I'll take care of him this time the way I destroyed Lust. But Scar, Zanpano and Jerun would have nothing against Ed and Al. I still can't see them doing anything to harm the two brothers."

"It doesn't hurt to be cautious," Grumman said as he sat down, bones creaking.

"Ed is not going to like a security detail following him wherever he goes," Mustang said with a wry smile. "They would be useless anyways up against homunculi. For now Ed and Al are the best defense for their family. We will just have to track down the homunculi before they strike. But to be sure... Lin, you should stay close to Ed since you can sense the homunculi. If they're in different bodies we won't be able to tell."

"Hopefully he hates me less than you in order to tolerate my presence," Lin said sadly.

Mustang didn't bother to comment as he reached over for the phone and started issuing orders. Lin quietly left in search of Edward.


"... deep down you also left because you didn't want such things to happen to our country ever again. Being in the military was the place for you to make sure of that."

"Remember what we said too, about Nina, that we could save poor girls like her by learning more alchemy. But really, the best way is to keep experiments like that from ever happening."

The words echoed loudly through Edward's already stirred up thoughts. Those were Al's exact words to him when he was only eighteen. It was so long ago when he realized Al was most likely right, no matter how he denied it. But he had become accustomed to the thought and had felt his place was in the military to do exactly as his little brother had pointed out. He felt the rush of hot shame wash over him in light of what he had just heard. He had not been able to do any of it... he felt like a failure.

He rushed through the hallways of headquarters feeling that each way he took grew narrower and more constrictive. He had to get out. But he had to get to Havoc first. He needed to know as well what Mustang had hidden from them. Havoc had been affected by the homunculi and believed them destroyed as well. It wasn't fair to leave him in the dark. But when he barged into the Brigadier General's office he found himself speechless.

His daughter was sitting on Havoc's desk, watching as he showed her how to put a pistol back together again, her thin, golden eyebrows pulled together in concentration, taking the lesson very seriously.

Edward hated bursting upon such a quiet, peaceful setting. Erika had become quite attached to Havoc and he always treated the little girl as his own. Edward knew he shouldn't be there disturbing them, that the lesson should continue without interruption. For a minute he felt like he had just imagined everything that had happened in Mustang's office. But that didn't last long. It was all too painfully true and he couldn't pretend it wasn't.

"Hey, Ed, what's wrong?" Havoc asked worriedly looking up and seeing the dangerous, angry look on Edward's face.

Without answering Havoc, Edward snatched his daughter from the desk and turned to leave. All he wanted to do was get Elysia and Erika as far away from Central as possible; to take them somewhere safe where they couldn't be found. He didn't want to play hero this time by saving the country; he only wanted to protect his wife and daughter.

"Ed, wait!" Havoc called out, shocked by Edward's violent reaction. He stood, hurriedly and followed after the General. As he passed his own secretary, the officer at the desk hung up the phone quickly and tried to stop him.

"Sir, there's a visitor requesting to see you and the Fuhrer's office just called..."

Havoc didn't have time to process what the officer was saying. "Not now," he dismissed as he rushed out of the office after Edward.

Erika was usually a calm, easy going child, able to sense the moods of her parents. So instead of wining or trying to talk in uneven, broken sentences she remained silent and still, clinging tight to her father, her eyes wide with fear, looking like she would cry. But there also seemed to be a knowing look on the two year olds face that understood the last thing her father needed was a crying child, especially when he looked on the verge of tears himself.

Once he was out of the building Edward felt a little more at ease, like he could finally breathe. But it made the hot tears want to spill once he was free of the place he thought he could finally trust; had trusted in over the years. He needed Elysia.

Edward knew she'd be there where he left her, lost in a painting. A walk would help calm him, settle his nerves, get him to think straight and once he found Elysia he would be alright. He headed for the spot he had left her that morning.

As he did so he heard running feet behind him. He ignored them until they slowed up beside him and heard panting.

"You're old, Jean," he added without much enthusiasm.

"And you're just as fast as ever. Why is this familiar? Chasing after you."

"I don't want to talk about it now. I have to see Elysia." He knew he wasn't being fair, not telling Havoc but he couldn't get the words out that were needed for the bad news.

"Where is she?"

"By the fountain."

"Do you want me to take Erika? You're squeezing the life out of her."

"I am not," Edward protested but loosened his grip just in case.

"Ed, please," Havoc pleaded. "Tell me what's wrong. I've never seen you like this before..."

Both men stopped in their tracks. Off the path to their left across from the fountain, was an easel. On the ground next to it was an open box of paints and brushes along with a palette and brush, which looked like they were dropped by someone who was in a rush to leave. Edward knew the easel; he didn't have to check for Elysia's initials he had carved into it when he gave the easel as birthday present.

Instinctively, both men walked around it, to get a clear view of the canvas. When they came face to face it, Edward thought he was going to be sick.

Painted in black, over what Elysia had started painting was the sign of the Ouroboros.