...if you're happy and you know it clap your hands...

*read your reviews, clap my hands very much*

I'm not sure if this story can be rated K+ any more...should I change it to T?

Chapter 12

Interruptions

When they finished the food, the colonel led Ed over to the room next to the kitchen. The door actually creaked as he pulled it open.

"Oh, gotta fix this," Mustang said before poking his head in the room like someone who explored new territory. He obviously deemed the place safe, because a moment later he stepped in and motioned for Ed to follow. The room was empty besides an unused bookshelf and a just as unused desk, everything covered in a thick layer of dust.

"This room was supposed to be my study one day. As you can see though, I never had the time to set it up as such and when I came to like my desk in the living room the motivation was gone as well." The colonel shrugged. "Well, comes in handy now. I think once we clean it up and get some more furniture it could be a nice room for you." He looked at Ed for his opinion.

Edward looked around with big eyes. A room for him. Mustang was willing to share his apartment with him. Letting him stay on the couch was something Ed had been able to grasp, but a real room just seemed unbelievable. It meant the colonel wasn't just taking pity on him until he got bored. No, it meant that Mustang felt determined to pull through helping Ed. Too good to be true. He looked at the colonel, eyes still wide, the question whether this was really meant written all over his face. Mustang graced him with one of his rare true smiles.

Ed didn't know what to do or say. This was so...he couldn't describe it because there were so many kinds of good feelings at the same time he couldn't pick out a specific one. But he wanted to say something, to do something to show Mustang the happy chaos inside of him. So he turned towards the colonel, lifted his foot to step over to him, and the phone rang.

Both alchemists jumped. "That better be important!" Mustang growled as he went back into the living room and practically ripped the earpiece from its cradle. "Mustang speaking!" he said in a very icy form of polite.

Ed sighed. The moment was ruined. He shuffled back into the living room too and sat down on the couch. At least the phone call seemed to be important, judging by Mustang's serious face. He watched the colonel jot down some information and promise he'd be there in a few moments. At last, Mustang placed the phone back down and combed his fingers through his hair.

"There has been another murder," he explained with a sigh. "I need to go there and it will take some time until I'm back. You don't have to wait for me though, you can go to sleep and I'll just sneak in quietly when we're done with the crime scene."

Ed nodded his understanding. Mustang nodded back and went to fetch his uniform jacket. Because of Ed thinking he had to leave, the colonel hadn't changed out of his uniform before eating, so his jacket was all he had to grab. He put it on and went over to the door. When Mustang walked past the couch, he extended a hand and ruffled Ed's hair without stopping in his steps.

"We'll start with the room on the weekend," he told the baffled boy, smiling ever so slightly.

Ed sat and stared as the colonel waved once over his shoulder and left the apartment. Slowly, he lifted his left hand and patted his hair, smoothing out his bangs just to check whether they had really been tousled by the colonel. He smiled when he realised that his hair indeed was in disarray. However, his smile changed into a scowl soon enough. The bastard had flattened his antennae!

But then, he hadn't done it to mock Ed, so Edward wouldn't be resentful. He just made the hair stick up again and continued smiling. And when two hours later the colonel tiptoed back into the apartment, he fell asleep with the first nice dream since his brother died.

He woke to Mustang poking him in the shoulder and telling him to get up. Remembering the comment about a bucket full of water, he chose to sit up and show he was awake. They were mostly silent until they reached HQ, apart from the occasional comment or question from the Colonel concerning breakfast. But somehow neither of them really minded walking next to the other in silence because it wasn't tense, but an amicable sort of it.

They all did their work and when Ed was through with his papers he resumed his task of yesterday and filed away whatever the colonel finished.

"Huh, he actually got the colonel to work without complaining!" Breda said, baffled and watched Ed grab the next paper.

"Apocalypse is near," Fuery whispered in fear.

The four male subordinates looked over at Hawkeye who watched as the colonel finished paper after paper just to keep Ed busy with a really funny expression somewhere between surprise and jealousy that even left Falman grinning in amusement. Until Hawkeye glared at them that is.

Sometime after lunch Havoc retreated from the office for his "latrine-break" and Breda and Falman followed to actually go to use the bathroom. When they came back, they all looked rather amused.

"Colonel, you are pure evil," Breda explained when Mustang raised a questioning eyebrow at the man.

"Now, if that was true then the rumour wouldn't have been a lie," the colonel said dryly.

"Okay, you're just partly evil." Breda grinned.

"The bigger part! How dare you abuse your gift like that!" Havoc howled in an exaggerated way.

"What did he do?!" Hawkeye immediately asked, sensing her chance to find out what had happened to one Lieutenant Fregatte. Havoc and Breda just snickered darkly so she looked at Falman.

"Apparently, the colonel walked into the office next door and asked for Lieutenant Fregatte. When the man was pointed out to him, the colonel told him the reason he was there and then proceeded to give him a logical and reasonable lecture about just why those rumours are not true and that there would be a court martial if Fregatte ever dared to tell such lies about a superior officer again, effectively making Fregatte look bad in front of everyone," Falman explained.

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "This seems like pretty mature behaviour, I can't see why you're snickering like idiots."

"Well, it seems like the colonel finished setting things right by telling Fregatte that if what he just said wasn't enough to shut him up, then the colonel would show him just how tired of women he is by stealing every single girlfriend Fregatte will ever have away from him until the day the colonel got married," Falman told. "Afterwards, he apologised to Fregatte's commanding officer for distracting his subordinates and came back here."

Hawkeye blinked. "Is this a joke?"

"Not when it comes from him," Havoc said, dramatically pointing a finger at Mustang, who watched them all with a look of fake innocence on his face.

"From what I heard everyone thinks that Fregatte's got no chance against the colonel when it comes to women." Falman pulled out the bet book that included the bets that were not only office intern, sensing a chance to make money.

"He'll pull it off without a problem; we all have no chance against him!" Havoc whined on.

"Yeah, especially you!" Breda laughed. Havoc slumped, an aura of depression around him.

Hawkeye shook her head and sighed. "You men really are strange creatures." She looked at Mustang. "Just date the girls at least three times before you dump them!" she then demanded.

"Will do," Mustang said with an indifferent shrug.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. It was a soldier from investigations who brought a new file for them.

"Seems like Erlking and Beagle are off the hook. Both of them were still in custody when yesterday's murder took place," Havoc explained once he had overcome his depression and thumped through the new papers.

"That means we're back to nothing," Hawkeye asserted, not very happy.

There was a moment of silence. Ed thoughtfully stared at the papers in Havoc's hand and thought about what he knew about the case. Now all the people on the list were off the hook. He furrowed his brow. They had a list of people who borrowed it during the last five years, but...

He looked at Mustang and said, "Old."

The colonel blinked and scowled slightly. "As much as I appreciate it that you find it in yourself to joke about me again, this was neither creative nor the right moment Fullmetal."

"The book!" Ed clarified indignantly.

"You mean because it's old there should be people who borrowed it before the last five years?"

Ed nodded but Mustang shook his head. "The book has been buried in the military archives before, ever since the guy who put it there no-one was allowed to look at it. It was first taken out of the archives when the military searched for useful alchemy in warfare dur-..." Mustang trailed off and his eyes widened. "I'm an idiot!" He turned to Ed "How did you know about the existence of the book?"

"You...told...me," Ed answered, confused.

"Exactly! We looked for the people who obviously read the book but not for those who recommended it to them and therefore know about its contents too! I know about it because I knew the guy who was asked to research it for arrays useful in mass extermination. What if someone else talked to that alchemist and got more information from him than me?!"

The colonel stopped pacing.

"Fuery!" he barked.

The young soldier jumped and stood at attention. "Yes, sir?!"

"I need a really, really safe phone line."

"Uh the safest I can think of is the one in my apartment," Fuery said.

"Good, let's go." Mustang fished a small black notebook from his briefcase that was commonly known to hold all the phone numbers of the girls he conquered, though his trusted ones knew that it held much more. He turned to walk out of the office, but halted and stuffed the notebook back into the briefcase and fished out something else instead. It was his bunch of keys. He selected one and walked over to Ed, holding it out for the boy to see.

"Working hours are almost ending so it would be useless for me to come back into the office when I'm done with that call. So how about you meet me at the apartment? This is the right key. I'll get some food on the way and be back by the time we usually arrive there, I think."

Edward nodded and took the key like it was something really precious. Even though he would be able to pick it out again easily, he kept it in his hand, not wanting to let it slip back between the others.

"See you later then," Mustang said, then grabbed his briefcase and marched to the door. "I'll update you all on my findings tomorrow, have a nice evening. Sargent Fuery!"

"Coming, sir!"

And the two black haired men left.

Hawkeye drove Edward back to the colonel's place. The boy mumbled a "thanks" and smiled at her before leaving the car and making his way up to Mustang's apartment. He put the key he still held into the lock and turned it. It felt a little strange to walk into Mustang's place without the colonel there. He closed the door behind him and put the keys onto the small table next to it, the one that Mustang always dumped his things on when he pulled off his boots and jacket, and left them there.

Ed got rid of his boots and coat and flicked on the lights in the living room. He looked around, not really sure about what to do now. At last, he did what was always a safe thing to do; he sat on the couch and stared at the bookcase in front of him. When he realised he was subconsciously squinting to read the titles on the books' spine, he decided to have a look at them and stood.

Soon he was walking from bookshelf to bookshelf, reading every title. The colonel owned a few novels that looked rather untouched, probably gifts he didn't dare throw away, and a really amazing collection of alchemy books. One might think that all of these books were related to flame alchemy, but if there were so many about this alchemy branch, then people wouldn't always wonder where the colonel found out about the secrets of this dangerous and difficult technique. So instead there were some standard books, some really rare exemplars, some new additions and some out of print books, all of them featuring other aspects of the alchemical science.

Ed was especially fascinated by one of the standard books. It was one of the oldest and most worn exemplars he had ever seen. Carefully, he pulled the book, which was a classic for beginners of alchemy, from the shelf. He thought that maybe he shouldn't do this, but then the colonel had allowed him to read his books the day before, so why not today?

Once he was about to open it though he halted his curiosity again. Mustang was an exceptional alchemist, so he must have kept it and read so often through this really simple book because it had some personal value for him. Should Ed pry into that? Well, he could argue that the colonel didn't limit which books he was allowed to read, but then the man probably didn't think that this elementary book would be interesting for someone as advanced as Ed.

Staring at the book while trying to decide, the boy realised that it looked like some things had been stuffed between the pages. Now, even a depressed and insecure Edward Elric could only take so much before giving in to curiosity. He opened the book.

Things were scribbled on the pages, additions that helped while learning. Notes were there too but Edward ignored them all because of the last sheet of paper that had been put in the book.

The things written down there were far from the beginner transmutation circles that were stuck between.

Water

No harm, but...

Carbon.

20 kg, his brain added mechanically.

Ammonia :4 l.

Lime: 1.5 kg.

Phosphorus: 800 g.

Salt: 250 g.

Saltpeter: 100 g.

Sulfur: 80 g.

Fluorine: 7.5 g.

Iron: 5 g.

Silicon: 3 g.

The book dropped from his hands but he didn't need it to know that the list went on with the minuscule amounts of 15 other elements. The paper fluttered to the ground as well showing the array on its other side. It was the one for human transmutation. It was roughly sketched, but enough to make him shake. Ed's legs gave out and he dropped next to the book, staring at the circle.

The curved lines seemed to laugh at him, screaming all his failures in his face. However, the array was slightly different from the one he had used; like most alchemists, the one who had drawn it had tried to alter it and make the difference that would finally make it work. He followed the lines with his eyes. What if this one was a success? What if it was the ultimate array, the one that had what Edward's array lacked?

Ed needed to test it, needed to find out whether he could bring Al back. He still possessed one arm and leg he could pay with and he would gladly give them if he just got his brother back. Jumping over to the desk, he rifled through it, searching for chalk and finding some a minute later. It was crazy but he didn't care that he had none of the ingredients on the list; his hazy mind concluded that if they were the key to the transmutation, then it wouldn't have failed on him twice. So he knelt in the relatively wide space between the couch and the front door of the apartment and started drawing the array shakily from the paper that was clutched tightly in his sweaty hand.

He knew he could die and he knew Al would be furious if there was an afterlife for them to meet in, but he didn't care. Al had been able to forgive him for talking him into the first transmutation and putting him in the armour so he surely would forgive Ed for wanting to be with him again too, right? Right? It had to be right! He frantically drew the last line, and then stood, looking everything over, his eyes hastily darting from line to line. It is said that three is a special number, so this third transmutation must be it! It had to be! And if it wasn't then it would at least end his suffering.

So he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, knelt down and held his hands out, bringing them down.

He was grabbed around the middle and yanked backwards roughly enough to press the air from his lungs. Was this how it felt to be pulled in the gate and be torn apart completely like Al had been? He didn't know, but he needed to see if he had failed, so he opened his eyes.

The circle wasn't glowing! Why wasn't it glowing?! Why was he pulled away by these hands if the circle wasn't glowing? This was wrong, something was horribly wrong! He lurched forwards, trying to reach the circle, to activate it again and set things right, but he was pulled back again. He heard a voice but he blocked it out, all that was important now was the circle that wasn't glowing. The air was completely pressed out of him when the grip around him tightened, causing his vision to blur and increase his panic. A thought shot through his light headed mind. What if the circle had been glowing while his eyes were closed, what if he had brought something back and that something was angry now, trying to kill him for daring to open the gate again?! What if the gate had sent some monster after him to properly punish him before he was killed?!

It wasn't logical, it was a stupid, childish fear, but he was in panic, oxygen deprived and desperate. He stared at the circle, and tried to fight even more to get there for it was all that was still clear to him right now. He needed to reach it and try what he could to get to Al and nothing sent by the gate would stop him.

So he clapped his hands, turned and leashed out with his blade.