Seasons with Orpheus

By: gianduja

Disclaimer: Obviously the characters are not mine. Credit to Hiromu Arakawa and fma.

Summary: After losing his wife to a series of kidnappings and murders, Hughes dedicated his love and time to his young daughter. However once his daughter finds a stranger she dubs as a 'kitten' for their family to adopt, Hughes finds himself feeling odd and unexpected feelings of déjà vu. While trying to solve the mystery of his wife's death, Hughes must figure out when and where he once knew this other man.

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The sun had already set by the time Roy's boss had given up his search for his missing 'Mustang'. By the building where Roy normally waited around stood a man in a lab coat over a worn suit. He shut his eyes tightly, fighting back a headache while fumbling with the door keys. When he finally managed to enter, the exhausted man was roughly greeted with a punch to the gut. Doubling over onto the floor he looked up at his assailant.

"B-boss! Wh-what are you doing here?" he managed to cough out.

"Surprised?" the attacker responded with a malicious smile.

What ensued next was a rough beating for the man and if you dared to stand close enough yelling could be heard through the cracked windows of the dilapidated building. Judging from the sounds of the fray, no one could be bothered enough to look in to either assist or eavesdrop.

The sound of something heavy hitting the wall resounded through the inside of the room. An unshaven and nervous man cowered in the corner beside a broken chair that was thrown at him just a moment ago. The object missed its mark as a warning. However, another chair was lifted and ready to be thrown. This one seemed to promise it would hit him with tremendous force.

"W-wait!! Let me explain!! I thought that releasing him outside to interact with other people would benefit the experiment!!" the man who employed Roy or 'Mustang' was attempting to talk his own boss out of whatever horrors he was planning next. In response the chair hit the floor with a loud thud. He was then hauled onto his feet and punched back to the ground.

"It would have been beneficial to keep him locked up indoors. That is why I brought him to you in the first place. Did you stop to think if others caught wind of our experiments and shared the same ideas? You're a fool, Tucker."

"B-but sir, when I let out Mustang he must have resonated with someone. Even if it was a reckless decision at least something good came out of it! And I've yet to see him generate the same energy that he has since meeting this person. I can't find out who it was. I'm sure that you've already inspected the package I had him send your secretary."

"Indeed I have and was pleasantly surprised at the contents. However I had hoped the person was one of the many clients you have brought in, rather than it being a complete stranger."

Shou Tucker's boss was beginning to feel less irate after smacking him around a bit and more intrigued than anything. He slid out a silver pocket watch from the battered manila envelope delivered to him. It was a simple but heavy pocket watch that bore on the cover an emblem of a horned lion with a fish tail. Simple as it may be, on the inside there was a different story to it. The watch was flipped open and then turned on its side.

There was a hidden panel to the watch that could be accessed with a tiny, almost unnoticeable switch that could be opened with an item as thin as a pin. Once opened there was intricate wiring attached to many finely tuned generators. These encased a thin vial filled with red liquid.

"I managed to find a way to harness the energy Mustang creates inside of his body by using these watches," Tucker held up another one for emphasis. "It was difficult to get him to release his powers at first. It was like he never had them to begin with! The men hired to touch him never made any sparks so to speak… so I was surprised that some random human influenced Mustang this much."

The vial was pulled out of the watch and rubbed between gloved fingers. Tucker watched as his boss pulled off a glove. On the palms of his hands were cyclic symbols that reminded him of Mustang's own. The symbols were not identical in pattern or color, but both held the same massive power and destruction. It was then Tucker realized who he was dealing with. Not a simple energy dealing and management business man, but a weapons dealer.

With one hand uncovered, the man gripped the vial tightly in his fist. Fire burst from his closed hand and his circular design glowed slightly. The reaction was immediate. Tucker shrunk back in fear.

"Ah, I remember this energy signature." The man had a cruel smile on his face. "It reminds me of that lady I slaughtered for fun."

"Oh. Right," Tucker mirrored the same smile on his face. "The one featured in the news a while back, huh? They never found the killer."

"I plan on letting whoever is refueling Mustang live out their useful life until our workhorse is fully charged." The vial was still being clutched in the palm of the man's glowing fist.

"See, it wasn't so bad letting him roam around." Tucker held up the watch again for better emphasis. His boss seemed vaguely impressed. "After all, the only thing he was good for before was having men grope him for a small fee… now there's another reason to keep him around, right? And me too, of course, since I created these devices."

The simpering seemed to go unheard as the man pressed the vial back into watch and slid his glove back on. Tucker tried not to let out a sigh of relief just yet, but was thankful that his boss finally decided to leave him unharmed.

"In the future, if you find it necessary to bring in more clients, have them come here. I would rather not have him going to them. Where is our prized stallion anyway?"

"A-about that, sir…" Tucker swallowed nervously.

"Nevermind... I'm in the mood for a hunt," the man looked thoughtfully at the pocket watch in his hand. "I'll send out one of your hounds first to sniff him out."

To be continued...

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Despite the setbacks and cheesiness I hope it was worth the wait. Chapter 3 was stubborn as ever and had to be rewritten SEVERAL times. Chapter 4 is on its way. I mean it this time!! I give a HUGE thanks to all the people who review and put this story on their alerts!! PLEASE Pardon the cheesy villains (and even cheesier storyline). In fact, it is ALLL SO MACn'CHEESY. Just how I like it! I left out the name of the other villain for now. It's so "thuper sekrit" …hahaha... not really.