Chapter Two: An Offer for Consideration

Mustang pressed the cloth that he held covering his nose just a bit harder to his face, hoping to block out the smell. Lingering ozone, blood, chalked lines that he had no comprehension of, a lifeless, humanoid mass twisted upon itself and rapidly decaying at the center of the room, notes, books, and alchemical ingredients were scattered about. The place was a mess. It was hard to believe that children were the cause of it. Even the most knowledgeable alchemist employed by the State wouldn't have been able to do whatever it was that the boys had done and gotten away with merely loosing an arm and a leg. Most would have lost their lives in the rebound that he had witnessed last night.

"Just what in the hell did you boys do?" the lieutenant colonel asked the room in a soft murmur, as he bent down to survey the scattered, loose leaf notes spread across the stone floor of the Elrics' basement. A majority of the notes were caked with blood or ruined by spilled ammonia and various other substances, though a few of the sheets remained intact and fairly untainted. Looking at the scribbles across the page nearest him, he sighed. It was written in code, and from the looks of the other discernible notes amongst the chaos, every last written word that the boys had recorded was in code – a highly sophisticated and complicated code at that. How children could have developed it … well, how had children even caused such a mess to begin with?

Righting himself, he ventured to the byproduct of the boys' failed transmutation, making sure not to step upon any of the chalked lines or to traipse upon anything that looked to be of importance. Kneeling down next to the humanoid mass, Mustang began to examine it, taking his time to look closely at every aspect of the already decomposing body. It was male, or had been male. That much he could tell. Its hair was a deep black. The eyes were of undetectable color, completely blood shot. Though, he'd say they had been blue. If he had to give a height to its twisted form, he'd say that it would have stood maybe an inch taller than him. It was definitely human, or had been human, at the very least. So, as he had suspected upon his initial assessment, the boys had indeed been messing around with a form of human transmutation. What they had been trying to accomplish, however, he wasn't entirely certain.

"Lieutenant Colonel," 2nd Lieutenant Hawkeye's voice broke through his concentration.

Mustang turned from his knelt position beside the body to look over his shoulder to where Hawkeye stood upon the bottom landing of the stairs.

"The old lady, Pinako, and her granddaughter have managed to stabilize the boys. The Elrics are now resting and ought to pull through just fine, all things considered. They'll most likely wake sometime in the afternoon," Hawkeye reported, giving her CO the update that the old woman had given her, despite him not asking for one and only asking to be informed if the boys regained consciousness. Though he would never admit, she knew that the lieutenant colonel had been worried about the brothers.

"Have the woman and girl asked anymore questions about what happened?" Mustang asked.

"No, sir," Hawkeye said. "I believe the knowledge of a failed transmutation was all that the two needed to know, as they've not expressed even the slightest curiosity about it since being informed of the source of the Elrics' current state."

Mustang's lips pulled into a grim line. He had expected as much himself, though he had chosen not to press the matter, as the old woman seemed highly protective of the brothers. Even if they did ask her about her suspicions regarding what the brothers had done, he doubted that the woman would actually tell them anything of consequence.

"Have you found out anything about the brothers?" Mustang asked, standing to his full height and turning to face Hawkeye fully.

"The girl and I talked some, while waiting for her grandmother to finish bandaging the boys." Hawkeye nodded. "She says that the Elrics are orphans. Their father left many years ago and their mother died not long after. Following their mother's death, the boys lived in this house on their own with the old woman and the girl looking out for them the best they could. A few years ago, the brothers left to train in alchemy under a master. They returned six months later. The girl did not know the name of their master, only that the boys came back more skilled in alchemy than ever before."

"Than ever before?" Mustang raised a questioning eyebrow at his subordinate.

"Yes," Hawkeye said, her amber gaze unwavering from her superior. "It seems that the two have been studying and successfully using alchemy from not long after the time that they learned to read at the ages of four and five."

Mustang's his eyes widened ever so slightly at the news, as he attempted to contain his surprise. He had been slowly developing the theory that the two had to be prodigal geniuses to pull off what they had at such a young age, but he had not even contemplated the possibility that the two might have been using alchemy successfully all the way back into their infancy.

Turning back to the twisted, decaying mass beside him, he looked down at it decisively. It might have been human at one point or might have become human, if the boys had been completely successful; however, it was neither alive nor necessarily human anymore. Technically, he ought to report his findings back to Central Command. He ought to hand the Elric brothers over to the State, regardless of their age.

"Sir?" Hawkeye asked, watching her CO closely.

In truth, from the moment that he had come across the boys, he hadn't had even the slightest inclination to follow protocol in this case. He had seen and done a lot in his life. He wasn't prone to trusting others on merit alone. He wasn't prone to giving second chances. These kids, however, they were a blatant, untapped potential and one that he could benefit from with a little effort on his part. Not only that, they really were far too young to be held accountable as adults. He didn't even want to think about what would happen to them, if he did, in fact, hand them over to the State.

Raising his gloved right hand, Mustang brought his thumb against his middle finger in a resound snap. The array on the back on the glove activated, as the ignition cloth provided the necessary spark. In seconds, the condemning evidence of the boys' transgression was reduced from a twisted and mangled body to a heap of ash. As the blaze that he had created died away, he turned back to his subordinate. "We found nothing that suggests anything. For all we know, things went awry when the boys attempted to transmute their homework."

"Yes, sir." Hawkeye bowed her head submissively with a faint, knowing smile playing across her lips.

As Mustang began to gather the notes and books scattered about the room, Hawkeye stepped down from the stairs and set about helping him.

–

He groaned, as consciousness hit him with unforgiving force. He ached. He ached all over. An ever present pain thrummed through his body. He was tired, unbearably tired and weak.

What happened?

With another groan, Ed reluctantly opened his eyes. He blinked several times, letting his golden eyes adjust to the light flooding his vision, as he took in the familiar, wood plank ceiling above him. So he was in his bed in his and Al's room. AL! his mind shouted in a panic, and just like that, memories of his and his brother failed attempt to bring back their mother came rushing back to him. He shut his eyes at once, attempting to block out the truth of what had happened.

"No," he grunted in denial, the word passing roughly through parched lips. With a shaking hand, he felt the binding wrapped around his right shoulder, a shoulder which should have had his other arm and hand attached to it … but didn't. "No!" he gritted out, his denial more fierce than before.

Opening his eyes once more, Ed reluctantly took stock of what remained of his body, after his and his brother's encounter with the Truth. His right arm was indeed gone and, based on the fall of the quilt, a good majority of his left leg was gone as well.

"Al," he sobbed, as his head landed back against the pillow that had been supporting it. If he no longer had his right arm and left leg, that meant that Al no longer had his left arm and right leg. "Al! Alphonse!"

"Brother?" was the quiet response. It was muffled by sleep and pain, but it was Al's blessed voice all the same.

"A-Al." Ed choked on his brother's name, tears stinging his eyes and threatening to spill over, as the reality of what had happened truly begun to sink in.

What have we done? What were we thinking? We should have known. We should have known that there was a reason that human transmutation was forbidden. We dared to step into 'God's domain' and now we're paying the price. An arm and a leg a piece; how is that fair? How is that equivalent exchange?

There was a strangled sob from where Ed knew Al's bed to be. "I'm here, b-brother."

"You … you all right?" Ed asked brokenly, despite knowing his brother couldn't possibly be alright, as he, himself, was not alright, yet unable to bring himself to actually look at the damage.

"I'm alive," Al whispered, but expanded no further.

Ed shut his eyes and nodded. They were alive, the both of them. He supposed that was all that really mattered, if he were to look at things objectively. One of them, or both of them, could have easily died last night. In fact, after returning from the Truth … with all the blood … he'd been certain that they were dead, or would be dead soon. How they were alive, he couldn't even begin to fathom. They certainly hadn't saved themselves.

"W-we shouldn't have d-done it, brother," Al said, tears evident in his voice.

"Yeah, we shouldn't have," Ed agreed.

Silence stretched between the brothers, both lamenting on the failed transmutation and what it had cost them, eventually giving way to the soft breathing of sleep, as both gave in to their individual exhaustion.

When Ed next woke, it was to something wet and cold being pressed against his forehead. Blinking blurredly, he made out the long blond hair and bright blue eyes of his and Al's childhood friend. "Winry?"

"Go back to sleep, Ed," she said softly, her voice wavering with every word. "You need to save your strength. I'll bring up dinner in a bit, okay?"

Ed nodded weakly, not entirely awake, as sleep reclaimed him.

–

"How are they doing?" Pinako asked, as Winry rejoined her in the kitchen. For being of such a small stature, the old woman moved about the house's kitchen with easy, as she worked on preparing dinner for her, her granddaughter, the Elric brothers, and their not quite welcome, yet not entirely unwelcome guests. The two military officers had, after all, saved the brothers' lives.

Winry worried her bottom lip, as she sat down at the dining table and turned to her grandmother. "Al seems alright. He was only a little feverish, but Ed was pretty warm. Ed … h-he woke up briefly, though, so that's good, right?"

Pinako hummed and gave a sharp nod of confirmation, as she continued chopping the bowl of carrots that she and Winry had retrieved earlier from their own home a short distance away. "Did he say anything?"

"Just my name." Winry sighed, as her gaze fell dolefully to the wood grains of the table. "He was pretty out of it."

"Do you think he'll be up for talking after dinner?"

Both Pinako and Winry whipped around at the intrusion of the lieutenant colonel's smooth baritone, their eyes focusing on the man as he casually stepped away from the open doorway leading down to the cellar with 2nd Lieutenant Hawkeye following close behind him. Winry scowled at the dark haired man, while Pinako merely eyed the man and his blond haired subordinate warily. Both looked worse for wear. Deep bags were under their eyes, their hair was mussed with several strands askew, and their military uniforms were rumpled and coated with various source of filth, along with being stained with sweat and dried blood. The two military officers had definitely seen better days.

"That would be up to him," Pinako snapped in response to the lieutenant colonel's inquiry, before narrowing her eyes at the man in warning. "You'll not badger him, you hear me? He's recovering from a serious trauma."

"I would never dream of it, madam," Mustang said, giving a placating smile that looked false and out of place on his worn face. "If he'd rather not talk, I'll do the talking and we'll leave it at that."

"And what exactly do you have to talk to him about?" Pinako asked in an offhanded manner that didn't quite succeed and told of the truth that she knew and her worry over what would happen to the boys because of it. After all, she had no doubts about what the brothers had been attempting to do, no doubts about how the boys had come to be in the condition that they were now in, and no doubts about what the two officers had most likely come to conclude over the course of their all day investigation of the Elrics' cellar. Over the few years of his young life, Pinako had heard Edward mention the forbidden science more than once. After their mother's passing, she had always suspected that he and Alphonse would try to bring Trisha back. She had only needed to see the boys' bodies and be told that they had been injured do to a failed transmutation to know that they had finally gone and done it.

"I merely need to fulfill the duty that I was charged with," Mustang assured and gave the old woman a meaningful look that communicated his own knowledge of the truth of the brothers' actions, as well as communicated the sincerity of his next words. "Once done, my subordinate and I will take our leave and head back to Central. What happens after we leave, regarding the Elrics' future, will be entirely up to the boys. I believe that they've earned the right to forge their own path ahead. Though, perhaps some strong words of advice regarding the alchemy that they choose to practice might not be remiss."

Pinako looked from the lieutenant colonel to his 2nd lieutenant, studying the two. Looking back at the lieutenant colonel and taking in his hard eyes, she could see that she would get no further information out of him and that, whether she tried to stop him or not, he would speak to the brothers, before he and his subordinate departed later that evening. "Very well, you may speak with the boys after dinner. In the mean time, I suggested you get yourselves cleaned up. You're a fright and those boys don't need added stress. I'll not let you in the room looking like that."

–

Sitting propped up against the headboard of his bed with his pillow cushioning his back, Ed scowled and looked over at his brother, Al. They'd just finished eating their dinner, which had consisted of chicken noodle soup and a fresh baked roll, when Granny Pinako had come up to take their trays away, as well as to inform them that in a few minutes a military officer by the name of Lieutenant Colonel Mustang would be in to speak with them.

Just our luck, the night that we commit the unforgivable, the Military is in town.

An audible growl escaped Ed's lips, as he took in Al's dejected form slumped against the headboard of the bed opposite his own. He could see plainly that his brother was worried about what the military officer had to say and was not merely upset about their lost limbs and failure to bring their mother back, though that was most definitely a part of it. Even he was worried about what the officer had to say, though he was doing his best not to show it, as he knew that if he did show any signs of distress, the whole situation would only upset and worry Alphonse more.

"Everything is going to be alright, Al," Ed said, trying to sooth his younger brother as well as himself. "We're going to be fine. Even if he did see the basement, we can always tell him we're working on a chimera or something. He won't know the difference."

"But, brother –" Al began in wide-eyed protest, clearly doubting their ability to pull off such a bold faced lie.

"We are going to be fine," Ed repeated more firmly. At the very least, he would make it so that they were fine. Military or not, he wasn't about to let anyone come between him and his brother or even remotely do them any form of further harm. His brother was all that he had left, and they had more than paid the price for their mistake last night. Besides, if losing an arm and a leg was good enough for the Truth, then it ought to be good enough for the State. He'd lie through his teeth to this military officer, if he had to. But no matter what, he and Al weren't going to pay a single thing more for what they had done, because anything more went far beyond his tolerance of equivalent exchange.

Before Al could counter his brother's assurances or Ed could further his attempt to reassure them both, there was a sharp wrap on the bedroom door. Two pairs of identical golden eyes snapped to the door, trepidation and fear in one set and fierce determination in the other.

"Come in!" Ed called out, while attempting to sit up with strength and not appear so weak. He was not going to let this military officer get the better of them, even if he and Al were now lacking an arm and a leg a piece.

The bedroom door opened quietly and a black haired man stepped into the boys' room with a commanding air. Without taking his dark eyes off of the two bedridden children, he shut the door behind him with a resound snap. Ed blinked, as he took in the stoic face of his opponent, completely disregarding the officer's overall disheveled appearance. The man could have been standing before him in a tutu for all it matter. He wouldn't have noticed, because the second that the man's eyes connected with his own, he knew that the man knew – not only knew that he and Al had been up to no good, but knew that they had touched the forbidden science.

He knows. The bastard knows. But how can he know? He hasn't even spoken to us. All our notes were coded. The circle was completely our own design. The transmutation hadn't even been successful!

"Brother," Al's quivering voice drew Ed's attention.

Upon looking to Al, who was even paler and was shaking far worse than he had all evening, Ed saw his brother pointing to something on the officer's belt. Following Al's finger to the man's uniform, he sucked in a sharp and strangled breath, as a sinking feeling entered his stomach. Looped around the lieutenant colonel's belt with the opposing end disappearing into the man's pant pocket was the silver chain that denoted a State Alchemist.

"Fuck," Ed cursed softly, his eyes glued to the silver chain as his last shred of hope of fast talking him and Al out of trouble went up in smoke.

"My name is Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. I am the Flame Alchemist," the officer said, his impassive gaze sweeping between the boys. "You are Edward and Alphonse Elric, yes?"

"Yes, sir," Al mumbled with his lone hand fisted nervously in the quilt covering his lower body and his eyes trained on his lap. "I'm Al."

"And I'm Ed," Ed said, his voice loud and forceful, demanding Mustang's attention away from his younger brother. As the man's eyes came to rest upon on him once more, Ed bared his teeth. "Whatever it is that you think you know, mister, you don't know a damn thing!"

"Is that so?" Mustang asked, looking faintly amused by Ed's volatile demeanor.

"Yeah, it is," Ed said, giving the lieutenant colonel his best glare.

"Well, then," Mustang said, schooling his features once more into a stoic mask of indifference, "why don't you tell me what exactly it is that I don't know? Because, from the look of things, I'd say you boys tried your hands at human transmutation and, not surprisingly, the transmutation got away from you. Though, I must admit, it remains an impressive feat, in and of itself, seeing as both you and your house have survived the resulting rebound. So, I suppose the real question here isn't what you were doing last night, but rather: what exactly was that thing that you boys were attempting to transmute?"

"Our mom. We were tr–"

"AL!" Ed yelled, switching his glare from the lieutenant colonel to his younger brother. His anger faltered, however, upon seeing Al looking small and more vulnerable than he'd ever seen him with his gold gaze trained remorsefully on Mustang and shame filled tears rolling down his face.

"Your mom, huh?" Mustang asked. His dark eyes and expression softened the slightest bit, showing a bare hint of compassion. "I thought that might have been it. I take it you were trying to bring her back?"

Ed reluctantly gave a stiff nod to the officer, as Al broke out in a wail of tears and sobs mix with stammered apologies and professions of guilt. Ed felt his heart constrict with his own sadness and guilt at the pain in his brother's voice. As he sat helplessly watching Al breakdown in anguish, he wished nothing more than to cross the room and comfort his brother. But, even the slightest of movements nearly crippled him in physical pain, leaving him with no other option than to try to stem his own tears and not add to his brother's distress.

"Hey!" Ed yelled in panic, as the lieutenant colonel swiftly crossed the room over to his little brother. "Hey, put him down!" He pushed against the mattress beneath him with his single hand and attempted to swing his leg over the edge of the bed – attempting to get up despite the pain – as he saw the officer pull back Al's quilt and proceed to pick his brother up. "Get your hands off him! We said we're s–"

"Shh …" Mustang soothed, as he gently cradled the still blubbering Al against his broad chest and, with careful steps as to not jostle the boy, carried him over to Ed's bed. With a single look at Ed and without giving the now unnecessary explanation for his actions, he placed Al in bed with Ed, letting the older brother grab hold and cling to his younger brother, comforting the boy as he had so clearly wanted to do from the moment his brother had started crying.

The lieutenant colonel stepped back from the two, looking distinctly please with himself, as Ed's mere presence seemed to calm Al quite effectively and the elder brother's hush words to the younger brother seemed to calm the younger boy even further. Several minutes passed, as Ed again and again assured Al the best that he could that things were going to be all right and that he wouldn't let Al be taken away from him and that whatever happened they would face it together. As Al's sobs quieted and eventually began to subside, Ed gave Al a shaky smile and ruffled his hair.

"See, we're okay," Ed said, hoping Al really did believe him.

Keeping his one arm wrapped around his younger brother, who had his own single arm still wrapped tightly around him, Ed turned his attention away from Al and back to Mustang. The smile slid off his face, as he gave the lieutenant colonel a suspicious once over, not trusting the man's actions or motivations.

"I'm not a monster." Mustang sighed at the distrust displayed by the boy. While Ed had been comforting Al, he had crossed the room over to the desk by the door and had brought over the simple, straight-backed, wooden chair that had been push in beneath the desk. He now sat beside Ed's bed with his elbows digging into on his knees and his hands clasped before him. A grim look pulled his lips into a hard line, as the younger of the two brothers took to watching him with a wary expression as well.

"What you boys did was incredibly stupid," Mustang stated bluntly, while pointedly raking his eyes over where the boys' missing limbs should have been. "It was an impressive bit of alchemy, yes … even if it wasn't an entirely successful effort. No doubt, it shows great talent and extraordinary ingenuity and knowledge, especially considering how young you both are. However, it is a forbidden science for a reason. Do you know how many alchemist die, when attempting human transmutation, each year?"

Ed shook his head, as Al too shook his head beside him.

"Nearly every single one who dares to attempt it," Mustang said gravely, his eyes holding the startled gazes of the two children before him. "Not only is it morally wrong to use alchemy to mess with human lives, it is practically suicide."

"W-we didn't –" Al started, but fell quiet upon Mustang holding up a hand for silence.

"I don't believe that I need to tell you that nothing will bring your mother back," Mustang said, his dark eyes cutting from one boy to the other.

"No, sir," the brothers said together.

"We made a mistake," Ed said, pinning Mustang with a fierce look. He wasn't going to defend what they had done. Sitting here with Al, the both of them missing an arm and a leg, he knew it had been stupid. They had known that human transmutation was a forbidden science, but they hadn't cared. They had been arrogant, thinking that other alchemists just didn't understand what they so clearly understood and that they were smarter, better than those who had attempted human transmutation before them. He wasn't going to defend their arrogance. He wasn't going to defend their recklessness. He wasn't, however, above pleading for mercy from the State, if it meant saving him and Al from further punishment. They had already suffered enough, and their mistake was not one that they would commit again anytime soon, or ever again.

"Al and I know now that we were stupid … sir," Ed continued, keeping his tone respectful in spite of his distaste for what the man before him represented and could ultimately do to them with the knowledge that he now possessed. "We realized as much as soon as the transmutation rebounded back onto us. We were arrogant in our thinking that we had formulated a way to do the impossible, especially when so many before us had failed. We just wanted Mom back so badly. It was wrong and against the law, we know, but please, sir, we made a mistake and we're already paying the price."

"So you are," Mustang agreed with a short, approving nod.

"You aren't really going to arrest us, are you?" Al asked hesitantly, his hand tightening in its grip on Ed.

"You will find your cellar already cleansed of the remnants of your transgression," Mustang said matter-of-factly, pinning the brothers with a look that suggested they really ought to be thanking him. "Most of your books survived just fine, but a majority of your notes were destroyed. I placed the few surviving sheets on the worktable. They should be easy enough to find. You'll never speak of what you've done to anyone – ever – without my expression permission first. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Ed bit out, not liking the attached stipulation, but grateful nonetheless.

Al nodded his head vigorously in agreement to the terms, looking not at all trouble by not being able to tell people about what they had done.

"Good," Mustang said, sounding distinctly satisfied with the boys' compliance. "Now, there is one more thing we need to discuss, seeing as it's the whole reason that 2nd Lieutenant Hawkeye and I came to find the two of you to begin with. To get to the point, as we are running short on time, you've both been named as potential candidates to join the ranks of the State Alchemists and I've been sent here to recruit you."

"No!" Ed said instantly, leaving no room for argument, yet fear struck his heart. Mustang could very easily force them, so very easily force them to join.

"Really, Edward," Mustang raised an eyebrow at the stubborn boy, "I am offering to do you a huge favor and look the other way regarding what you and your brother have done, yet you're not even going to listen to my sales pitch? That's awfully rude, don't you think?"

Equivalent exchange; alchemy's first principle. Ed eyed Mustang with ever increasing uneasy. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. Just how much is our freedom going to cost us? Just what does this bastard think he'll gain from strong-arming a couple of kids into the Military?

"And if we listen and still say no?" Ed asked, scowling at the lieutenant colonel with renewed strength, refusing to show his fear.

"If you listen and give my offer serious thought and you still say no afterwards, then we part ways and never speak again if that is what you truly want," Mustang assured firmly. "I'm not going to force you to join the Military and become State Alchemists, but I am going to ask that you at least listen to what is being offered to you and take the time to consider what you could gain from the Military, in return for your service to the State of Amestris."

"What would we gain, sir?" Al asked timidly when Ed continued to scowl at Mustang.

"For starts, you'll receive privileges and access to otherwise restricted research materials. You'll receive funding and opportunities to further your own research. Plus, you'll receive the Military rank of major," Mustang explained. "You'll also be provided with a place to stay, as well as food, when you're not out on assignment. The actual pay isn't all that bad either."

"And in return we become dogs of the Military, bound by leash and collar, jumping when you say jump, heading off to war when called." Ed sneered. No way in hell. Not if they could truly walk away from the offer without suffering further consequences for what they had done. "No thanks, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Come now, Edward, you're not seriously telling me that prodigies like you and your brother plan on spending the rest of your lives in this backwater village fixing roofs and broken toys?" Mustang smirked and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest with a smug air. "Surely, after driving yourselves towards your full potential from the time of your infancy, you aren't going to just give up on all that you might be capable of due to a few lost limbs and one failed transmutation? I hear that old woman and Miss Rockbell are some of best automail engineers around. Why not get two legs under you and put them to good use, instead of wallowing around here as glorified repairmen?"

"Alchemists be thou for the people," Ed growled in return. Teacher had warned them enough about the State Alchemists. He wasn't going to be fooled.

"Alchemists are men of science," Mustang countered. "While we may be able to serve the people in an immediately sense by fixing a few broken things here and there, we best serve the people by indulging what we are. Through invention and expanding our knowledge we far better serve the people – not only now, but well into the future as well – than by fixing a few leaky roofs that the people could have fixed for themselves, if they weren't too lazy to climb up a ladder with a hammer and a hand full of nails. Don't get me wrong, the Military does in fact send out its alchemists to the villages every once in a while to serve the people just so," Mustang added in response to the accusatory looks that he was receiving from the brothers. "I'm not saying that I don't believe in helping the people in that way. However, the Military also provides the opportunity for its alchemists to serve the people in a far greater capacity than a few fixed trinkets. With your brains, you could have a huge impact on this country's future."

"And when they call us in to kill our own countrymen, like in Ishval?" Ed challenged, refusal still in his eyes.

Mustang sighed, his own eyes falling shut for a brief moment, before opening to match Ed's fiery gaze. "War is a duty that you'll have to fulfill should the orders once more be sent out. You don't have to like it, but it is part of the package. Still, if you act accordingly – toe the line where it ought to be toed, never overstepping in the wrong place or with notice – you'll be able to do a whole lot more good than you could ever do here, where you would just waste the natural talent that you and your brother so obviously possess." He gestured around the small bedroom. "You can't tell me that you're sitting on a small fortune or that you have access to a vast amount of information that the State doesn't that will allow you to reach the same potential that you could if you did become State Alchemists."

To that, Ed had nothing to say. Their dad had left their mom some money, which she had in turn left to them, but they had already spent part of that money to train with Teacher. By the time he and Al paid for automail limbs, they'd be broke without so much as five cens to their name. And, even though they did have their dad's books and their newly acquired knowledge from the Truth, they didn't know everything and were far from having endless texts and research notes on obscure fields of alchemy at their disposal.

"Just think about it," Mustang said, looking from Ed to Al and back to Ed again, before smoothly rising to his feet. "You don't have to give your answer now. When you've considered it fully, give me a call at Central Command."

With that, Mustang replaced the chair at the desk and promptly exited the room, leaving Ed and Al to stare after him.

"Brother?" Al asked, once the door had shut firmly behind Lieutenant Colonel Mustang.

"We're going to have to think about this," Ed said seriously, deciding that maybe they might actually want to consider the offer before outright turning it down a third and final time. Not to mention, Mustang had already left and would be completely gone from the house and Resembool by nightfall. If they decided they really didn't want to be State Alchemists, they could always just call him at the end of the week. There was no real sense in yelling after the man now, especially when he wasn't entirely sure that he and Al should turn down the offer. Mustang had put an entirely different perspective on what State Alchemists did and could do compared to the opinions of Teacher and Granny Pinako.