Four –

Ed's world was dark. He liked it that way before Jeannette died. Jeannette had been a wonderful, beautiful woman with long flowing red hair and beautiful green eyes that were expressive in all the ways she wanted them to be so you could get lost in them so easily it just didn't make sense—but only if she wanted you to.

Jeannette had been a wonderful woman that had taught and trained Ed how to work under Christmas for three months and Mustang had been nonethewiser. Even though he was their number one client, he didn't know that his own subordinate had worked for her! He was truly oblivious to some of the more important things!

Jeannette was his baby girl's mother. He'd never slept with the woman before since right after he'd finished his training, she'd moved to East City Slums (right after Mustang and his crew were transferred to Central too) and become a... he wanted to say "Woman of the Night" but even that was too vague for the truth. In the end, one of her "customers" (he hated the thought that she sold herself for sex just to put bread on her table) had gotten her pregnant. He didn't know who the bastard was, but if he did, he had sworn that he would go right up there and sock him in the jaw for not taking responsibility for his child after Jeannette was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

But then he had found out that he was her baby's God Father and gladly took in Kathryn. At the time, she was only three months old. He didn't care that they weren't related by blood; she was his daughter and he was her father.

After he got his daughter, he liked a light world. The moment he first held his baby girl, everything had changed. He'd cried and sworn to himself that he would never let her be hurt. No, that wouldn't do; he couldn't let her be hurt. And she was a strong girl, but that made everything that much harder.

But now his world was dark again. He had to face people that he loved (he used the term loosely with a few of them Hawkeye) and cared for as a teen and now wasn't supposed to know. Every time he saw them, he wanted to hug them and tell them how much he missed them (except Mustang, of course, because that would give him more room to gloat) and what had happened in Germany.

He couldn't. And it made him want to cry. He insisted that Edward Elric wasn't alive (because, damn it all, he fucking wasn't alive!) so why didn't his mind want to agree to that? Why did his body insist on torturing him with tears?

There was a slight squeak and he forced himself to blink, taking in a deep breath as he propped himself up on his left elbow, looking over his shoulder at his door, where a thin trail of light from the hallway was filtering in around a little girl who looked frightened. "Daddy?" Her voice shook dangerously, like she had been crying earlier but didn't want him to know.

"Yeah, baby girl?"

"Can I sleep with you?" She sniffled lightly and he watched her hand come up and wipe at her face, even if it was obscured by the darkness. "I had a bad dream."

His heart warmed as he thought about his little girl and how he was the first person she sought out when she was scared and suddenly, his problem with the people of his past didn't seem so bad. "Of course, love," he muttered, rolling over. "You can turn on the light if you want to."

She shook her head and just left the door open (with the hallway light on) climbing up onto the other side of his bed and snuggling close to him under his blanket to stay warm. He let his right arm come out over the top of her head comfortably with his left hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles into her skin. There were a few moments as she wiggled up and finally rested her head against his metal arm.

"Honey, that's not a very comfortable place to rest your head," he murmured, quietly, trying to tell her that it was hard and it could make her head hurt in the morning and if she wanted to lay on his arm, then he would roll over so she could be on his comfortable arm.

She refused and her arm came up, resting on the metal in front of her face. "I don't care."

"But I do. I don't want my arm to make you wake up with a lump on your head or your neck hurting."

"But it's your arm."

"I know, that's why-"

"No, daddy, it's your arm." She explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I know it makes you sad sometimes, but it's your arm. Just like that's your leg and that's your nose,"—she giggled softly and poked the tip of his nose—"So your arm won't hurt me. I like your arm. It's pretty."

He smiled and leaned forward, pressing his lips to her forehead for the longest time.

"Daddy, why you crying? Are you hurt somewhere?"

"No, honey," he muttered quietly, pulling her close "No, I'm not hurt anywhere, love. Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me, Daddy? I didn't do anything."

"You did the most wonderful thing in the world, honey."

"What daddy?"

"You helped me remember why I'm here."

"Huh?"

"You helped me understand myself."

"I don't get it…."

"It's something you'll get when you're older."

"Daddy!"

"It is, I promise."

"Ok." She yawned and leaned close, tucking her forehead against his chest. He let out a small sob and finally understood why it was his father had cried in the only family picture they had of him, Al, Hoenheim and his mom.

And he didn't blame him for a moment of it as he calmed his breathing and shut his eyes, relishing in the beat of his daughter's heart against his body before he drifted off.

He smiled, sitting back on the bench and watching as Kathryn chased the birds away from the jungle gym and jumped out, grabbing hold of the monkey bars and swinging to the next one. Halfway through, she let go and dropped on her bum. He opened his mouth to call out to her, but she was already climbing to her feet in the sand and dusting her light blue jeans off, turning to him and smiling, holding up her unscathed hands. He smiled back, letting his posture relax as she got back up and went straight back to the monkey bars, making it halfway before falling again. She repeated it two more times, falling at the same spot each time before she looked over and saw someone, waving her hand excitedly.

He followed her line of sight and watched as Elysia waved back and ran as fast as she could down the hill, bulldozing her into a large hug, making Kathy squeal in delight, hugging back.

Someone moved over and sat beside him, but he didn't have to look to see who it was. He already knew. Maes worked weekends now; all Generals did—it didn't matter that he'd been put into a coma by the gunshot to his lung for him to get that rank they wouldn't demote him no matter how much he asked.

"You know, for looking everything of you, she acts everything of Maes."

Gracia giggled at him. "She looks more like Maes, Echo."

"You're blind."

There was a pause and he smiled watching Kathryn brave the monkey bars one last time and make it all the way across. There was an expression on her face and she pumped her fist once before stopping and making it look like it was ordinary and mundane. "For not being her birth father, she sure is your daughter."

Ed's smiled widened as he watched her clap as Elysia made it without having to stretch her arms as hard as Kathy had or really having any difficulties at all.

"I haven't seen you smile like that since you were twelve."

His smile dropped and he furrowed his brow, looking at her with a tilted head. "When you got your State Watch," she explained. "You were so ecstatic and since then, you've been closed off, not letting anyone see your emotions. What changed?"

He smiled warmly at the memory of last night and turned to watch as Kathy clapped her hands together and held them to the ground. Elysia threw her arms in the air, yelling something like "Brother! Your Alchemy!" before Kathy did it again. Elysia quickly clapped her hands and pressed them to the sand, but when nothing happened then, they looked at each other with fearful eyes and turned, starting to run from an invisible threat.

"Kathy said something to me last night that made me realize that I'd spent all my time moping around, trying to understand something that couldn't be understood."

"What's that?"

"Love."

There was a silence before Gracia looked at him, curiously. "How…? Can you explain that to me, please?"

He smiled wider and shook his head.

"How come?"

"You can't explain the inexplicable," he told her. "It just doesn't work that way. You don't bother trying, either, because that just wouldn't make any sense."

"What kind of love?"

"Paternal, family, self and something else I can't explain. I don't want to explain it, though, and I'll be happy to tell you that I don't particularly care to know what it is."

Gracia watched him for a moment before smiling down at him. "I think I understand."

"Ah, at least that's one of us." He chuckled.

Maes raked his hands through his hair, letting out a desperately needed sigh of air as his shoulders slumped. He just needed a breather for a few moments. His little girl had grown up so fast and although he hadn't been seen in almost a decade, she had never grown out of calling him "Big Brother Ed". He knew because just last night as they sat at the dinner table as she explained a story of what she did that day with her friend Kathryn that she played "Big Brother Ed and I got to be Daddy and get him lots of information!".

It was a normal game for children Elysia's age to play called Full Metal Alchemist and pretend to be him but Kathryn was a little young and she seemed to know more about the young boy (no, he would be, what now, twenty-five? Young man; they grow up so fast) than even he or Elysia or Gracia knew. It was like the girl knew him personally, but she couldn't; she was five at most and the last time he had been spotted was six years ago at the EAR but he'd been there for ten minutes at most and he had been fighting.

That just made this all that much more complicated as it meant that Ed could be alive somewhere; anywhere. He had been thought MIA, then KIA after a few months with no word from him and after two years there he goes and returns. Making things difficult again. Why did he insist on making simple things complicated? There were some questions never to be known to their answers….

"Maes," he blinked at the almost-familiar deep tenor voice and turned at his name. A man with shorter than short blond hair and bangs to frame his face smiled shyly at him, his eyes carefully cut off behind glasses. There was a forced glimmer to his eyes to make him look happy that he was sure anyone without his trained eye would see as happy, but he recognized the glimmer from Roy. He used to have that before he tried to off himself in Ishval… wow; that was almost fifteen years ago. Time sure does fly, doesn't it?

"Yes?"

He came up and sat beside him, giving him a guilty smile. "You don't know me, but I know you." He explained. Maes let him go on without further prompting. "I'm a colleague of your wife, Gracia. Echo Thompson. She speaks fondly of both you and your daughter Elysia."

So this was the young man that Gracia spoke of so often. Echo Thompson was a common name in their house nowadays and had been for a few good years now. He seemed to hear 'Echo' as a character to hide 'Edward' by his actions in day-to-day life, but there were significant differences—for one thing, Edward wouldn't have the patience to teach to any age group, for another Edward was a dead man.

He realized the silence was because of him as Echo ordered one drink and got back something bronze-ish on the rocks. "Ah, my wife speaks often of you, so I don't know how much you know about me but I know quite a bit about you."

His eyes glinted over with something that not even his trained eye could catch what emotion was there. "Oh, trust me; I probably know a lot more about you two. Anyway, you're worrying her."

Maes felt his eyebrows rise of their own accord. The young man was about the age Ed would be, but if he was a Professor then it definitely couldn't be Edward. Edward was independent in his thoughts and actions and teaching people had to do with dependency and not to mention that he had met Kathryn the day before when Elysia was coming out of school. Echo and Edward were so far different from what he heard and what he's seen so far that it almost hurt to think about them as the same person. "Care to explain?"

"Ah," he smiled again, but it was fake still—he kind of wanted to see what his real smile looked like. There was a pause as they both took a drink of their drinks, his bourbon stinging his throat for a second at the sudden swig. "She called me earlier and asked me if I knew where you might be since you were supposed to get off hours ago or something." The blond man beside him shrugged. "She's really worried about you, but I figured you might be here. I've seen you here a couple times."

"You come here regularly? Well then, I apologize for us not being able to meet in person sooner."

Echo shook his head and gestured over to a corner near the employees' only door. "I'm usually over there. Single man and all."

Maes clapped his hand on his shoulder with a smirk. "You'll get there eventually, my friend."

Echo turned and smirked. "Gracia thinks I should date one of her friends, but I don't do blind dates. Mind asking for me who it is she wants me to date?"

The brunette couldn't help but smirk and chuckle, shaking his head. "That's my Gracia for you. She's always looking out for people close to her."

"Don't I know it?" Echo muttered quietly. "She's a wonderful woman, you know. You're lucky to have her."

"Luckiest Man on Earth."

"Then why are you worrying her like this?"

Ah, guilt trip. Fuck, he fell for it. "I don't know," he rested his hand on his forehead, taking off his glasses for a moment. "I just… I need a breather."

"Everyone needs to breathe, Maes." The other man pointed out. "Let me guess, anxiety attack?"

"How can you tell?"

"Gracia and I have gotten close since I moved here." He explained. "I've always been good at reading people. I can tell in the way she smiles that she's tired of something. Anything come to mind?"

"I don't know if you want an old man like me to moan to you my problems."

"Bah, don't worry about it." Echo smiled at him, shutting his eyes this time so that it almost seemed as if it was real, but Maes knew. Oh, he knew. "I've got nothing better to do; you guys stole my daughter away for a sleep over. I'd be happy to listen to you."

"You sure?"

"I'd rather help someone in person than do it by grading papers any day. If you want, you could write it down and I could read it over like that. Possibly fail you though, so I wouldn't recommend it."

Maes couldn't help but laugh at the mirth in the man's voice as he spoke. "Alright, alright, fine. I feel like my job is keeping me from my family. I work atrocious hours and weekends. My little girl is so big that she's starting to look at boys and I didn't realize it."

Echo cut him off there, smiling gently. "You feel like you're not there for her and are watching from the sidelines as she grows up."

He nodded mutely, blinking away the tears from his eyes before lifting his hand under them, wiping at the corners.

"Sometimes, that's the best we can do for them." Echo continued, but his eyes were distant, remembering some time or place else as he spoke. "In this world and this time, we have to let them grow and make mistakes. It's not like we sit them down and tell them what they can or can't do, 'cus' they'll still do it anyway. Pay attention to the next time she needs a hug or gets hurt or gets scared or something—she comes to you, doesn't she?"

There was a silence and Maes felt his heart warming as he smiled. "Yeah; you're right. She does. My baby girl still needs me…."

"You're her father, she'll always need you." Echo chuckled, looking at him with warm eyes. "It's whether or not you think you should help that matters. There will be times where there won't be anything you can do but to sit there and hold her."

Maes smiled again. "Thanks Echo. I needed to be told that."

"Don't thank me. It's something my little girl reminded me of not too long ago. Go to your house, hug your wife, tell her you're sorry for worrying her and go hold your daughter before she's dating behind your back."

"She better not date behind me back. She's not allowed to date until she's twenty!"

Echo laughed and shook his head. "Do me a favor though, alright?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Don't look for truths. They always lead to lies."

"If you aren't aware of this yet, my job is to look for the truth in lies."

"Perhaps a career change is in order then. You did say you want to spend more time with your family."

"Is there a particular reason why I should stop doing my job?"

"I can't go on," he side-glanced at him. "I'm afraid someone asked me to keep it secret and if I were to tell… let's just say it's a matter of national security."

"Is there a reason why Fuhrer Grumman would trust a secret within you even though you're civilian?"

Echo just turned and smirked a toothy grin. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that, sir. I apologize."

"Don't," Maes waved his hand at him. "I understand completely. I think I'm going to go home and do what you said now."

"Have a nice night, Maes."

"Thanks for listening, Echo."

"Anytime." As he climbed off the barstool and turned to leave, not nearly drunk enough to be tipsy, he heard the man behind him turn to someone and ask "When do you suppose Gracia's going to tell him she's pregnant?"

"That's her choice, Echo." The bartender chuckled.

He turned around and turned back to Echo. "Gracia's pregnant?"

"I said no such thing." There was a glint to his eyes and a pull to his mouth from what he could see in the man's slim profile.

His wife is pregnant. Yes! He rushed home.

Echo settled down in his living room that night with a groan, letting the small couch cushion his weight for a moment before he heard the phone go off. He groaned sadly and stood up, slouching over to it and holding it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Edward my boy!"

"You are fucking lucky to be the Fuhrer. Otherwise, I would have hung up on you, old man."

"Yes, I am honored to have this position. I thought Mustang would take it for sure and yet he didn't."

"Spare me the details. What do you need?"

"Get out of your house."

"Excuse me?"

"Get out. People will be coming for you soon."

He narrowed his eyes, looking at the wall in front of him. "How soon is soon?"

"They should be there within the hour."

"Why?"

"They believe you've been spreading rumors that the Military was corrupted under Bradley."

"You know as well as I that it was. Fuck this, give me a straight answer. It's too late at night to dissect your words."

"Beagle's shown up."

He squared his shoulders. "Sir, I'm afraid you have the wrong number. No one by Edward lives here. Have a nice night." He listened to the chuckle on the other end before hanging up the phone and moving into the back room, changing into a black shirt and leather pants, hooking on his pocket watch to his brown belt before opening up the window and slipping out.

There was pounding on the door across the way. Roy groaned and wiped a hand over his face. Fucking hell, why was there someone pounding on a door like that?

He rubbed his hand against his eyes and looked at the clock. It was fucking 11:42 at night, what the hell?

He unlocked his door and peeked out to see what was going on. Three men in Military uniforms were pounding—fucking pounding—on Echo's door and yet no answer would come to them.

"What's going on here?" He asked, when they finally paused.

One of the people in the back turned around to look at him. "General, sir. I didn't realize you lived here."

"Fury, what's going on here? It's midnight; why are you pounding on Echo's door?"

He looked at the other two, neither of which Roy recognized, and slipped away from them, coming towards his apartment door. "I'm not really sure, actually." He muttered quietly once he was far away enough. "I was called in by General Pakoto and he ordered the Ice Shard Alchemist, Iron Knuckle Alchemist and I all here to retrieve someone named Echo Thompson."

General Pakoto was one of Maes' vast number of subordinates. If Pakoto was ordering something to be done, then Maes would know and more oft than not, Roy would to. Maes would have told him since the man knew where he lived and all even if it was TP—Maes would have told him some coats were coming at the least. Not to mention that Ice Shard and Iron Knuckle both sounded vaguely familiar as that they were instated as State Alchemists not too long ago but just long enough for him not to care. "Did he tell you under what terms?"

Kain shook his head. "He said that he was wanted for questioning under a Top Priority case, but he wouldn't go on any farther. I didn't get any time to question his actions since he already knew where this man lived and all—plus he's Maes' General…."

"Did he mention anything that sounded weird? Anything at all?"

"Ah… he mentioned his dog under his breath."

He narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean 'his dog'?"

"Well, he cursed his beagle."

He sighed for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Echo won't be there."

"Do you know where he might be?"

There was a silence before Roy met his subordinate's eye and told him, "Fuhrer Grumman wouldn't appreciate it if I told you."

Kain nodded once. "Have a nice night, sir."

"If it helps any, I think that he said something about going to that café Fritz place down a few blocks around 11:30. You must have just missed him."

"Thank you, sir," Kain's face lifted in a smirk for a second before he saluted. Roy returned it before Kain was turning around to talk to the other two as he shut his door and rubbed his eyes, going to go get dressed.

This was not turning out to be a good night.