Chapter 5: Looking Towards the Future

Ed woke up to a hand on his automail shoulder shaking him gently from his state of sleep. With a yawn, he opened his eyes blurredly, leaving dreamland behind and rejoining reality. Upon coming face to face with a dark haired man, who he had only actually met once before and over a year ago at that, he blinked several times in confusion – his still not-quite-awake-yet brain taking its sweet ass time in catching up to the current events dictating his life. As his and Al's fight with the Bald and the rest of the men of the Blue Squad of the Eastern Liberation Front returned to him, he felt his awareness snap back into place and his confusion left him.

"Afternoon, Mustang," he mumbled, while pushing against the bench beneath him to prop himself up on his flesh elbow. Feeling the seat cushion give willingly under his weight, he couldn't help but note that the benches in the first class cabins were so much more comfortable than the ones in coach.

"It's evening, Ed," Mustang corrected and smirked down at the blond boy, as he withdrew his hand from the boy's shoulder and moved back to give Ed room to sit up.

Casting a glance out the cabin window and seeing the roof of what had to be Central Station overhead – the frosted glass paneling burnt gold in hue, instead of white and lit brightly with the afternoon sun, as it ought to have been – Ed frowned. "Did we get delayed somewhere?"

Mustang gave an amused laugh. "No, I ordered for you and Al to be left alone, until after we had the prisoners transferred and the investigations team had swept and cleared the train of all passengers and had gathered all evidence of what had happened."

"We could have gotten up. You didn't have to let us sleep," Ed said, slightly annoyed, and pushed himself to sit up.

"You looked like you could use the rest." Mustang shrugged and turned away from Ed to wake Al, who was still sound asleep on the bench opposite Ed.

With Mustang waking his brother, Ed pulled his hair out of its braid and combed his fingers through the tangled strands.

"Colonel?" Ed heard Al say in the mists of braiding his hair and tying it off once more.

"Good evening, Al," Mustang greeted.

"What time is it?" Al asked groggily, as he sat up, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and scrubbing his hands over his face to rid himself of the remnants of sleep. His hair, which had fallen almost all the way out of its ponytail, fell messily about his face and brushed gently against the tops of his shoulders.

"19:00, give or take a few minutes," Mustang replied and stepped back away from the brothers to give them a moment to gain their bearings.

As Al set about pulling his hair back into its ponytail, Ed stood and stretched, his back arching as he reached up towards the ceiling.

"General Halcrow has demanded a meeting with us," Mustang informed, as he watched the two boys shrug back on their coats and check their satchels. "We've enough time to grab some dinner before the time that I told him that we'd report to him."

"Colonel," Al said, fidgeting nervously. He hoisted his satchel on to his shoulder.

Mustang raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"General Halcrow …" Al hesitated before saying in a worried rush, "Sir, I don't think the general likes us all that much."

Ed nodded his agreement. He had gotten the same impression. The general had seemed less than pleased with them after they had told him that we were headed to Central to meet up with Mustang. It hadn't been long after they had told Halcrow of their purpose in Central that the general had ordered the security detail to put him and Al in a cabin and to watch over them. He still wasn't quite sure whether the security detail had been guarding them against being disturbed or if the detail had been guarding them, as in to prevent them from causing any sort of trouble.

"General Halcrow is not my biggest fan," Mustang admitted, looking unperturbed by the news. "He believes that I've risen through the ranks too quickly for someone of my age and that I'm too ambitious for my own good. If he acted like he liked you after finding out that you are associated with me, we'd have far more to be concerned about." He looked from one brother to the other, his dark eyes turning grave. "As it is, Halcrow would love any excuse to discredit me. I tried to postpone the meeting with him, by extending the investigation here as long as I could, but he has assured me that he'll stay in his office all night, if necessary. If you give him any impression at all that I've coerced you into wanting to take the State Alchemists Certification Exam, or that you don't understand the full scope of what it means to sign up with the Military as a State Alchemist, he'll make sure that you won't be able to take the Exam, not until you're of age at the very least, and will use this to put a black mark on my record."

"Understood," Ed said, meeting Mustang's gaze with seriousness that most twelve year olds would be incapable of projecting.

"You've nothing to worry about, Colonel," Al assured, just as serious as his brother.

"Halcrow won't go easy on you," Mustang warned.

"Let him ask anything he wants," Ed said, determined fire lighting his eyes. "He'll find that Al and I aren't so easily duped."

Mustang studied the two brothers, taking in their straight backs and resolute faces, before seeming to accept their bravado. He gestured for the brothers to follow him and turned on his heal to exit the first class cabin and enter the hall beyond.

–

Despite Ed and Al's conviction, Mustang still felt worried about the meeting with Halcrow. He had spent the whole morning fretting over whether the Eastern Liberation Front would actually attack Halcrow's train or not, he then spent an agonizing hour and twenty-five minutes waiting for the phone call that would tell him that the Elrics had successfully neutralize the Blue Squad, and he had passed the last six hours frantically attempting to figure out how to finish maneuvering Halcrow into compliance. Regrettably, the only way that he could see to do so was to let the meeting with Halcrow commence and hope that Ed and Al didn't say or do something that would give Halcrow the ammunition he needed to turn the tables on him and send the boys packing.

The bigger the payoff, the great the risk, Mustang reminded himself, as he led the boys off of the train and onto the cement platform between tracks four and five, and these boys are most definitely worth the risk. Their skills alone are worth it, let alone the men that they will someday grow to be.

Though the boys didn't know it yet, they both factored into his plans of one day becoming Fuhrer of Amestris. Not only were the brothers knowledgeable alchemists and skilled fighters, they showed the tenacity and morals needed by those supporting his rise to Fuhrership. The choice to support him in becoming Fuhrer would, of course, ultimately be theirs and he would not attempt to force their support if they did not want to give it willingly, but he did like to think that he could eventually obtain the brothers' trust and, with their trust, gain their undying support, as he had with Hughes, Hawkeye, and the rest of his staff.

Mustang knew that the one thing that the two brothers had come to desire above all else was to make a difference for the people of Amestris. Like all men who found themselves unable to remain idle and live a simple life, the brothers were ambitious and readily eager to travel the far reaching expanse of their world, all the while expanding their knowledge of not only alchemy, but of all things in existence. The two brothers were seeking to push themselves towards reaching their potential and both hoped that by doing so they would one day be able to have a positive and widespread impact on the world.

Mustang knew that this was what was in the Elrics' hearts, and he knew that he was partially responsible for placing it there. A year ago, he had aimed his words at rekindling the spark of genius within the boys, desiring to prompt them to at least get up from their beds and live their lives, if not bring them to Central. They had taken a hard blow, and he had seen full grown men who had suffered less slip away into nothingness when left without a purpose. In the moment that he had spoken with the boys with the intent of stirring the embers within them, however, he had miscalculated the will of Edward Elric.

Looking back, Mustang was now certain that Ed would have gotten up on his own and dragged Al up with him. The boy had a drive that could easily develop into obsession and needed to be satiated with a focusing point of some sort. Without a doubt, Ed would have found his own purpose in life given time. Though, he did wonder if Ed wouldn't have ended up coming to Central to become a State Alchemist regardless of if he had said anything about becoming State Alchemists to the boys at all. Despite all of Ed's initial reservations, the boy had adapted to the idea of becoming a State Alchemist rather quickly. In fact, per both Ed and Al's request, he had been sending them information packets regarding military procedure and protocol, as well as a few books on the politics within the military ranks. He really hadn't expected either of the boys to take the rank of major and the actual commitment to the Military that came along with being a State Alchemist all that seriously. He had just assumed that they would simply take advantage of the research opportunities that the Military afforded them, while attempting to distance themselves from their actual obligation to the Military the best that they could, like a lot of State Alchemists did these days.

"Listen, you bastard, you're the one that said that the Military provides its alchemists with the opportunity to serve the people in a far greater capacity than a few fixed trinkets. You are also the one that said that if we act accordingly and toe the line where it needs to be toed, never overstepping in the wrong place or with notice, we could do a whole lot more good as State Alchemists than we could ever do remaining in Resembool," Ed's voice had growled stubbornly in the receiver upon Mustang having asked why the brothers wanted information on military procedure when the rank of major was more of a novelty than an actual rank for most State Alchemist. "Al and I aren't about to do this half-assed and get ourselves chucked out all because we don't know how to work within the system. We've decided to commit to becoming State Alchemists and serving the Military and the State of Amestris in the capacity of State Alchemists, and that is what we will do, damn it! It's equivalent exchange, Mustang, and only by knowing the system can Al and I keep the exchange from becoming unbalanced. Surely, you of all people understand that."

Ed had him pegged. Mustang did understand what Ed had been saying, better than the boy knew. Still, it had surprised him that Ed had thought on his words enough to recognize and understand what he'd been implying when he had mentioned toeing the line without ever overstepping the line in the wrong place or with notice. It was, after all, unbefitting of a military officer to outright tell the person or persons that he was trying to recruit that if they joined the Military, despite not necessarily liking everything that came along with signing on, that they didn't necessarily have to settle and bend the knee to the system, that they could instead learn the system and then utilize their knowledge of the system to step outside of it at times when they felt it necessary or more prudent to do so. It had taken him years, the massacre of Ishval, and Hughes snapping some sense into him after everything was all said and done before he, himself, began to understand that the system could work for him instead of against him and that there could be equivalent exchange between him and the Military, as he worked his way up through the ranks towards his goal of becoming Fuhrer.

Upon ending that phone call with Ed, he had been grateful that the boy understood what had taken him too long to understand and the lingering measure of guilt that he had felt for setting the boys down the path to becoming dogs of the Military had receded somewhat. Over the following months and several phone calls later, his guilt left him entirely, as what had started out as words of coercion with the aim of prompting the boys into joining the ranks of the State Alchemists, so that he might utilize their skills to suit his own agenda, had become words of inspiration and opportunity for the boys. Ed and Al's enthusiasm, combined with how seriously they were both taking the decision to become State Alchemists, caused him to realize that somewhere down the line the two had indeed chosen to become State Alchemists in their own right and his input had very little to do with the strength of their conviction or the future that they envisioned for themselves. With that revelation, he had taken to working double time to ensure that when the Elrics did become State Alchemists, they would both be placed under his command, where he could better protect them and could better assist them should they ever need his help and, in turn, their accomplishments would reflect upon him and become his accomplishments.

With the brothers now in Central and only months away from becoming State Alchemists, he could better focus on gaining the brothers' trust and, with time, getting them to see that their goal and his goal weren't all that different. He wanted to have a positive impact on the State of Amestris just as much as they did. While the two had yet to say how they planned on obtaining their goal, his way was by becoming Fuhrer. Only by standing at the top could he begin to change things for, and right the wrongs committed against, those standing below.

"Roy!" the shout of Maes Hughes, pulled Mustang out of his thoughts.

Looking to his friend, Mustang noted that he had led the Elrics across the station without even noticing that he had done so.

Hughes grinned at Mustang and waved from where he stood near the station entrance with the colonel's two most trusted subordinates, Riza Hawkeye and Jean Havoc.

"So are you going to introduce us or what?" Hughes asked expectantly, as Mustang drew up level with the group of officers and the Elric brothers drew to a stop a step behind him and slightly to his left.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, 1st Lieutenant Hawkeye, 2nd Lieutenant Havoc; Ed and Al Elric." Mustang gestured to Ed and Al, upon stating their names, but left it up to the brothers to match the officers' names with the ranks sported by the three officers before them. He sighed, as Hughes and Havoc made to greet the boys with enthusiasm. They really didn't have time for pleasantries, as their meeting with General Halcrow was in an hour and they needed to get dinner sometime before then.

"We've a car outside, sir," Hawkeye informed, stepping over to her CO, after giving the Elric brothers a polite smile.

"We best get going then." Mustang sighed and turned to the Elrics, who were now being accosted by Hughes's photo collection. "Hughes, let them breath. While I'm sure they think your daughter is adorable, as well as whatever else you claim her to be, they hardly know you or her."

"But, Roy, I was showing them a photo of my beautiful wife. Ah, my Gracia!" Hughes exclaimed lovingly, hugging the photo to his chest, before abruptly turning serious, "They have yet to even see a photo of my darling Elicia. Which reminds me…" he pulled out his stack of photos and began riffling through the stack, looking for one in specific. Upon the entire stack suddenly being stolen away from him, he followed the path of the offending hand and glowered at Mustang.

"You can have them back in the car," Mustang said, as he pocketed the stack of photos. Looking to the brothers, he asked, "Do you like Xing?"

The two boys looked to each other, before turning back to Mustang and shrugging.

"We've never had it," Ed said by way of explanation.

"But brother will eat anything," Al added. "And I don't mind trying something new."

"Xing it is," Mustang said and motioned for the group to move outside to the awaiting car.

–

As Al stepped out into the slowly darkening evening and trailed after the group of military officers leading the way to the car, he stared wide-eyed at the illuminated visage of Central Command. The great, white military facility towered above the city with beams from spotlights reflecting off of its smooth surface, giving the impression of ultimate power and control. The image was daunting. Looking to his brother, who was walking along beside him, he could see that Ed felt the same.

"Equivalent exchange, Al," Ed reminded his younger brother with a murmur under his breath.

Al nodded. While the Military was powerful and they planned to submit themselves willingly to its power, they did not plan on being weak or helpless against the hold that the Military would gain over them once they became State Alchemists. With Mustang as their commanding officer, they would learn how to get the most out of their commitment to not only the Military, but to the people of Amestris as well. They might soon join the ranks of what most referred to as the dogs of the Military, but they weren't about to sell their souls for the title and benefits that came with being State Alchemists. Their relationship with the Military would exist on the basis of equivalent exchange. He and Ed had promised themselves as much.

Upon climbing into the military vehicle parked along the curb a few paces up the street from Central Station, Al settled his satchel between his feet, sitting down next to his brother on one of the two bench seats. Facing Mustang and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, who were seated on the bench seat opposite him and Ed, he gave a nervous smile and secretly hoped that the colonel wouldn't return Hughes's photos until they had reached their destination and would be able to leave the confined space that they were currently trapped within. The lieutenant colonel seemed to be a bit manic about those of his photos … if first impressions were anything to go by.

As if reading Al's very thoughts, the bespectacled man turned to Mustang and held out his hand expectantly.

"So, Mustang," Ed cut in, before Mustang could so much as reach towards his pocket, "where will Al and I be staying?"

"Well," Mustang smirked, taking up the presented distraction and electing not to fulfill Hughes's nonverbal request, "considering how little space you'd take up –"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT YOU COULD HOUSE HIM IN A MATCH BOX WITH ROOM TO SPARE?" Ed yelled, his face going red and his fists clenching on his knees, as he restrained himself from launching across the car and pummeling Mustang in retaliation for the insult.

"I don't know about a match box, Ed, but…"

And they're off, Al thought, as he sighed and turned to look out the window, taking in the shops and people as they passed by. His brother was just so sensitive about his height. Even though he was a year younger than Ed, he and Ed were the same height with him being maybe the slightest bit taller than Ed. He found it amusing, as did Granny and Winry, but Ed didn't think that it was very funny at all. His brother had always been short and had always hated others looking down on him with their 'superior' height. Now that he and Ed were getting older, and even he was beginning to surpass Ed in the height department, Ed had taken to reacting in a choleric manner at even the vaguest suggestion that he was short or that someone considered him to be small.

"Watch it, Mustang. If you're ego gets any larger, you won't be able to get out of the car!"

"I'm not surprised that you intend to use the vents as your method for exiting the vehicle, Ed, but you do realize that cars have doors for a reason, don't you?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SUCH A SMALL SPECK OF DUST THAT HE COULD CRAWL HIS WAY THROUGH THE VENTALATION SYSTEM OF A CAR AND COME OUT THE OTHER END AS IF HE HAD USED ONE OF THE DOORS INSTEAD?"

"So you do intend to use the vents," Mustang said smugly, looking highly amused and much more relaxed than he had been earlier.

Al groaned and returned to staring out the window, as Ed once more rose to the bait and the banter continued. This was even worse than when the two argued over the phone.

The ensuing trade of barbs and sarcastic remarks between his brother and Mustang lasted the remainder of drive to the Xing restaurant, where upon the car pulling over to the curb outside the restaurant, Mustang was finally forced to end his banter with Ed in order for him tell a now scowling and harassed looking Hughes what he wanted the man to order them for dinner.

"Not a very smooth diversion, punk, but not too bad either," Mustang said with a soft laugh, once the car door had slammed shut behind Hughes. As he visibly followed Hughes's movements into the restaurant out of the corner of his eye, he directed a conspiring smile at Ed. "Though," he pulled out Hughes's photos and held them up, "I really should give these back to him. I don't think that he's gone this long without at least one photo of Elicia on him since her birth four months ago."

Looking to the neat stack of photos, Al felt a twinge of guilt for previously hoping that Mustang would continue to withhold the photos from Hughes, as they were obviously very important to the man.

"He must be a great dad," Al said quietly, while examining the top photo, which depicted a baby girl dressed in a pink dress with a lavender bow tied prettily in her soft strands of light brown hair. "He certainly seems devoted at the very least. I suppose that counts for something."

"Don't sound so surprised, Al." Ed growled and looked out the window to his right, purposefully avoiding eye contact with both Al and Mustang. "Just because … Just because the man who provided the necessary biological data required for our births is a piece of shit and couldn't give a damn about us, doesn't mean that all dads are assholes by default."

Al scowled at his brother, but held his peace, as he knew that there would be no changing Ed's opinion of their father. He was plenty aware that as far as Ed was concerned, they were better off without Van Hohenheim in their lives and didn't need the man in the slightest. He couldn't very well disagree with Ed, as he didn't remember their father and couldn't say what the man was like. All he knew was that Hohenheim was an alchemist and that he and Ed looked a lot like him with their gold hair and eyes. Still, despites Ed's resentment and negative opinion of Hohenheim, he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if their father was around, like a real father ought to be.

Upon Hughes returning with the Xing takeout several minutes later, the lieutenant colonel found himself entering a silent car.

Al barely acknowledged the man and Ed sat as still as stone, glaring out the window without really seeing the street beyond.

"I'll take that," Mustang said, as he relieved Hughes of the takeout, "and you take these."

"My lovely Gracia and darling Elicia!" Hughes eagerly snatched back his photos from Mustang and began to fawn over them.

As the car pulled away from the curb, Al noticed that the lieutenant colonel tactfully kept his rambling to Mustang only and allowed him and Ed their silence.

–

Upon reaching Central Command and leading the boys past security at the main doors with Hughes at his side and Hawkeye and Havoc bring up the rear of their group, Mustang was pleased to note that the Elrics no longer showed any visible signs of being upset and had apparently managed to master their emotions regarding their father during the duration of the drive from the Xing restaurant to Central Command. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't impressed. Even with the knowledge that the two weren't exactly children, he had expected the sudden bout of pouting to last longer than it had.

As he had learned from a particular phone conversation that had left him temporarily partially deaf in his right ear, the Elrics' father was a very touchy subject for the two brothers. Had he known at the time that he had placed the call that asking about their father would send Ed off into a full volume rage about 'that family abandoning piece of shit', he might not have placed the call to begin with. The elder of the two Elrics held a serious case of resentment towards the man who was, despite of Ed's fierce refusal to acknowledge the relationship, the boys' father. He had never thought that a child could truly hate their own father the way that Ed seemed to hate his and Al's father.

However, the hearing loss that he had suffered aside, Mustang didn't regret what he had learned from the phone call after having finally gotten Ed to hand over the phone to a much calmer and more reasonable Al. The knowledge that the two were the sons of Van Hohenheim was bitter sweet and logical in the way that it made sense of their genius and made him feel as if he should have suspected as much all along. While Hohenheim's origins were unknown and the man's current movements and whereabouts were nearly impossible to trace, Van Hohenheim was well known throughout the State of Amestris for his extensive alchemical prose by any and all alchemists who were worth their salt. The Military even had a team under Brigadier General Grand dedicated to finding the man, so that the Military might covet Hohenheim's skill and power.

"Never mention your father's name to anyone, not even if you believe your location is secure."

This had become an additional rule to the preexisting rule that he had set about the boys never speaking of their attempt to use human transmutation to resurrect their mother.

While being the one to locate and recruit the sons of Van Hohenheim would bring him much notoriety, he knew that to reveal who the Elrics' father was would be to offer the brothers up on a gold platter to the Top Brass, who would not hesitate to utilize the sons of Van Hohenheim in whatever way they saw fit, all morality aside. It would be the brothers' doom. Not to mention, it would throw his own plans into disarray. If the Brass knew just who exact Ed and Al were, there would be no way for him to get them under his command, and as far as he was concerned, they were far more valuable to him under his command when comparing the long term benefits of keeping the identity of their father a secret verses the short term benefits of the notoriety that outing their true origins would bring him.

"This place is huge." Ed's complaint drew Mustang out of his thoughts on Hohenheim. "How do they expect people not to get lost? With all these intersecting corridors and stairs, it's like a labyrinth."

"You'll get used to it," Mustang assured without glancing back at Ed.

"Sir," Hawkeye said firmly from where she and Havoc were bringing up the back of the group. "They've not yet pass the certification exam to become State Alchemist. You ought not speak or treat them as if they already have. It is presumptuous, sir."

"You're worries are unfounded, Hawkeye," Mustang said in a monotone, as he was really getting tired of having to defend his position regarding the two brothers. He had been doing it all day, ever since Hughes and his team had found out about the boys being on the train. At bring the group to a halt outside the door to his private office less than a minute later, he shot a sly look at the brothers, while unlocking the oak door. "I'm not being presumptuous, now am I, boys?"

Ed snorted, as Al snickered.

"I told you before, bastard, we're not going to further inflate your ego for you no matter how much you beg," Ed said, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest.

"Beside, Colonel," Al said, grinning, "it's not like you actually need us to tell you that we're going to pass. It is a given, after all."

"And who exactly is it that has the overinflated ego?" Mustang asked, pointedly looking from one Elric to the other before entering his office.

"It isn't egotism, if it's the truth," Ed stated in a matter of fact manner and followed Mustang into the office with the rest of their group.

"What makes you so sure you're going to pass?" Havoc asked with interest, as he set the takeout on the coffee table that rested between the two couches in Mustang's private office.

Upon the Elrics looking to him, Mustang gave the two the go head to show off their unique style of alchemy. "They can be trusted to keep this to themselves. Just nothing major, all right? I like my office the way it is."

As Ed and Al nodded and, after taking a moment to discuss what they should do, set about transmuting small, detailed figurines from the surface wood of the coffee table, Mustang settled himself on the corner of the couch nearest him, watching the display with intrigue as well as watching the stunned reactions of his comrades with satisfaction. Though the transmutations were minuscule and not at all very showy, let alone even touched on the brothers' actual skill level, the fact that the two were performing the transmutations with a mere clap of their hands and not one transmutation circle in sight was enough to cause Havoc's jaw to drop and his customary, unlit cigarette to slip from his lips, while the phenomenon caused Hawkeye's eyes to widen rather comically in an expression that was rare to see on her face and Hughes to stare at the figurines, looking completely flabbergasted.

If Mustang had actually had any doubts about the Elrics passing the upcoming State Alchemist Certification Exam, he most definitely didn't have any doubts any longer. It was clear to him that as long as the boys got through the written part and the interview, the practical portion of the exam would make them both shoe-ins to each being granted the title of State Alchemist. Watching the brothers command the flow of alchemy so easily and so uniquely, only served to resolve him even further in his determination to force Halcrow's compliance in regards to boys taking the State Alchemist Certification Exam and being place under his command, as it was only Halcrow standing between the boys and their very promising future.