The Flame Alchemist
It seemed like a peaceful morning in Central. The sun was pleasantly warm, the almond trees were blossomed, and the sound of birds could be heard even above the cars that were circulating the streets at that time of day.
In Central Headquarters, however, four soldiers were talking in quite the agitated manner.
“Mustang’s surveillance log?” Falman wondered, examining the blue notebook that Havoc had given him only minutes ago. “What’s this about?”
“Beats me,” Havoc answered, shrugging his shoulders. “I got orders from Douglas to keep an eye on the colonel. Something about assisting her on an investigation concerning the colonel’s activities.”
Breda crossed his arms. “It makes sense. The colonel is close to the brass right now, so Douglas wants to make sure he can be trusted not to cause trouble.”
“You don’t think she suspects something, do you?” Fuery asked worriedly.
“No, it sounds more like a typical procedure than anything else,” Falman answered, waving his hand dismissively.
“Either that, or they noticed the colonel’s mysterious outings to see you-know-who,” Breda said.
“I guess. It’s still spying on him, though,” Fuery noted.
“Yeah…” Havoc said, exhaling a puff of smoke. “So… do you guys have any idea how to deal with this?”
Breda, Falman and Fuery exchanged a glance in thought, clearly contemplating matters.
Suddenly, Breda’s features seemed to light up, and a curious smile tugged on his lips.
“I’ve got an idea.”
Sarah was at her house, and she wasn’t along in her living room. She passed a cup of tea to Sieszka; then sat down on the couch across the girl. The woman could tell that Scieszka was nervous for a reason, but she couldn’t understand what kind of reason it could be.
“So,” Sarah said, regarding Scieszka in a curious manner. “You said you wanted to tell me something important. What is it?”
“Um… well,” Scieszka faltered, “It’s about what Lieutenant Colonel… oh, I mean… what Brigadier General Hughes was investigating.”
“I guessed as much,” Sarah noted with a small nod. “Go on.”
“Well… You told me that you tried to find the files concerning Lab 5, Ishbal and Douglas, but they were all gone, right?”
“I’m afraid so,” Sarah said. “Did you manage to make copies of them from memory, at least?”
“Oh, yes, without a problem,” Scieszka replied. “But, as I was making the copies, I decided to make an investigation of my own concerning the name Douglas.”
“Indeed?” Sarah put her cup on the saucser and looked at Scieszka intrigued. “And what did you find?”
Scieszka wrung her fingers nervously for a moment before opening her bag to get out a couple of photos. “Take a look,” she said, giving them to Sarah.
Sarah did. She was mildly surprised to see that they were pictures of two tombstones with the name Juliette Douglas engraved on both of them.
However, it wasn’t that that made her stare at the tombstones in shock.
It was the dates on them.
“That can’t be right,” she said before she could help it. “I thought there was only one Juliette Douglas and she died two years prior the war in Ishbal. But according to this there are two of them – and the one died twenty years before the other.”
Scieszka nodded. “And it appears several times even before that.”
“So the name is used repeatedly to cover up every sort of suspicious activity in the military,” Sarah concluded. She still stared at the photos incredulously, unable to believe the horrifying truth that was now being revealed before her. “Scieszka… do you realise what that means?”
“Yes,” Scieszka said. “And the thought terrifies me.” She flinched involuntarily, looking around her as though the very walls would come crushing down on her.
Sarah understood the girl only too well, for she felt the same way now.
“Scieszka… I want you to listen to me very carefully,” she finally said. “I’ll tell our friends what you told me. But you mustn’t say of this to anyone else. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Scieszka said. She stood up and bowed slightly. “And thank you.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. “For what?”
Scieszka blushed a bit. “For giving me the chance to help in any way I can. I know that Lieut… I mean… Brigadier General Hughes will finally rest now.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Sarah murmured under her breath.
“What?” Scieszka asked, not really catching that last part.
“Nothing!” Sarah replied with quite an innocent smile tugged on her lips. “I said: ‘Count on it.’”
“Oh.” Scieszka opened the door and stepped out. “Well, goodbye for now.”
“Goodbye,” Sarah said. “And drop by Gracia’s sometime.”
“I will.”
And with that, Sarah closed the door. At the next moment, she rested her forehead against the wooden surface, letting out a sigh.
Things couldn’t get any worse.
The sound of hesitant footsteps coming from the other room made her turn around in time to see Maes appear on the doorway.
“So you’ve heard?” she simply asked.
Maes nodded. “We have to tell Roy.”
“I’ll look into it,” Sarah said. “How are you feeling?”
Maes shrugged. “Stronger. But I still feel dizzy if I stand for too long.”
Sarah’s lips tugged to a small teasing smile. “Then don’t stand for too long,” she said, and then got ready to walk out.
She stopped in her tracks when she noticed Maes’s expression of disappointment on the man’s features.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s just…” Maes sighed. “I had promised Roy that I would constantly work under him and help him on the way to the top. But I can’t help feeling that I’m nothing more than a dead weight now, watching from a distance while Roy and everyone else are trying to save this country.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know him as long as you or his subordinates do, but I can tell you this. I doubt Colonel Mustang forgot your promise.” She looked at Maes kindly. “In fact, if you ask me... I think he’s waiting for you. So you’d better catch up fast.”
And with that, Sarah walked out, letting Maes consider her words while she was gone.
When Riza Hawkeye arrived at the office with Hayate following close to her heels, she was certainly surprised to see that Havoc, Breda, Falman and Fuery were already there. Moreover, all four officers seemed focused on writing on a journal, but Riza couldn’t for the life of her understand what it was they were working on.
And their conversation didn’t make much sense either.
“Okay, guys. What have we got?” Breda asked.
“Oh, wait; I’ll start. Saturday 09:46 hours: With papers waiting for his approval and signed by noon, the colonel decided to take a nap instead,” Falman said.
The other three soldiers laughed and nodded their approval.
“My turn now,” Breda declared. “10:26 hours: The colonel attempted to feed Lieutenant Hawkeye’s dog. The dog wasn’t biting.”
Fuery frowned. “I had written something about Hayate.”
“Oh,” Breda said.
“Well, think of something else,” Havoc said. “What else would the colonel be doing?”
The sergeant major straightened his glasses for a moment; then his face seemed to light up as he apparently came up with an idea.
“How about this? At 11:03 hours, he started obsessively cleaning the windows, with still no progress on those papers, with the deadline on fast approach.”
“Good, it works with what I had in mind,” Havoc said with a grin, jotting down everything excitedly. “Then, at 11:47 hours, the colonel began to furiously sign the papers, all the while cursing that he didn’t have time for this.”
“Perfect!” Breda and Falman said, giving Havoc the thumbs-up.
That, Riza supposed, was her cue to walk into Roy Mustang’s office and leave the others to their fooling around.
As Riza expected, the colonel was in his office, but he was far from idle. In fact, he was examining a piece of document quite carefully, a frown of concentration furrowed on his features.
“Sir?” Riza asked.
But Roy raised his hand, thus signifying that she should wait for a while. Riza nodded her acknowledgement and remained at attention, waiting patiently for Roy to finish. She knew that, when the colonel was so interested in a document, it meant the document was very, very important.
Several minutes passed, and silence still reigned in the room. Finally, Roy put the document down and beckoned the woman to come closer.
“Yes, Sir?” Riza asked.
“Take a look at this,” Roy said, his expression now unreadable. “Dr. Knox gave it to me today.”
Riza understood what that implied, of course; so she picked up the file and read it thoroughly.
“It looks like your suspicions were correct,” she said thoughtfully. “A woman by the name of Juliette Douglas did die two years before the war in Ishbal broke out.”
“Yes,” Roy said. “It’s the proof we needed to verify that the Führer’s secretary isn’t who she claims to be.” He smiled. “Once we define our enemies and allies within Central Headquarters, we will be able to lay our trap.”
However, Riza didn’t share his optimism. “I would have agreed with you, Sir, but I’m afraid something’s come up that you’re not aware of yet.”
Roy looked at her in mild surprise, certainly not expecting that. “What is it?”
“Ms Abbot came to find me at my home when I was about to come here. She had some interesting piece of news of her own. It would seem that Scieszka, Brigadier General Hughes’ secretary, has made a discovery of her own.” And with that, Riza said about the multiple times that the name Juliette Douglas cropped up during military history.
At this news, Roy clenched his jaw in dismay. “Damn it,” he murmured. “Hughes got it wrong… The military isn’t in danger; the military itself is dangerous. And whoever is behind this conspiracy, they have been pulling the strings for a long time.”
“The question now is: who can have such power,” Riza noted.
“That we will have to find out while we try to remain alive,” Roy answered grimly.
“So it is official?” Riza asked, understanding what the man meant.
Roy nodded. “We’ll leave for Liore the day after Fullmetal, Alphonse and Sergeant Beregond arrive in Central.”
There weren’t all that many passengers from Dublith on their way to Central on that particular morning. In fact, most of the compartments were empty, offering the few people that were travelling at this time of day a certain sense of privacy.
That was precisely what three alchemists, an automail engineer and a professor wanted.
Winry caught sight of Beregond a couple of seats away from her, so she walked up to him. The man was sitting with his arms crossed, his head slightly bowed and his expression quite thoughtful. Professor Syndow was lying on the seat across from the Gondorian, fast asleep.
Winry regarded Beregond curiously. He just lifted his gaze and smiled.
“He went through a lot,” he said in a low tone; he didn’t want to disturb the professor’s sleep.
Winry nodded her understanding and sat beside the Gondorian. “How are you feeling?” she asked in mild concern.
“Slightly dizzy, but nothing I can’t handle,” Beregond answered truthfully. “I’m actually getting the hang of it.”
Winry couldn’t help it; she laughed a bit. “Next thing you know, you’ll be driving.”
Beregond shook his head. “I doubt it,” he declared. “Faenel is more than enough for me.”
“I suppose,” Winry said. “But it’s hard to have her on the train, isn’t it?”
“She will be fine,” Beregond answered. “There are other horses back there, so she won’t be lonely.”
“Oh.”
“Neither man nor girl spoke for some time, letting the sound of the wheels fill the atmosphere. That is, until Beregond noticed that Winry was holding something in her hands.
It looked like a screwdriver.
“Did Al give you that?” he asked.
Winry held up the screwdriver and nodded. “He said he meant to give it to me for some time now. But how did you know?”
“He saw it in a shop in Rush Valley while we were wandering around” Beregond replied. “I’m surprised it managed to stay in one piece after all that happened, though.”
At that, Winry sighed. “Yeah.” She put the screwdriver in her pocket and then faced Beregond agin. “That’s what I meant to talk to you about actually.”
“Really?” Beregond looked at Winry in surprise, obviously unsure what to make of that statement.
She nodded. “You saw the bandages on Ed, as well as Al’s armour; they both have been beaten in several places,” she said. “And if Dante ever means to send the Homunculi after them… I’m afraid they won’t be able to fight back. Not unless they become stronger.”
“You want them to have a better fighting chance,” Beregond deduced.
“Yes. That’s why I want to ask you a favour.”
It was then that Beregond caught on, for his lips tugged to a knowing half-smile.
“I’m listening,” he said.
When Al found Ed, the suit of armour was surprised to see that his brother was reading his journal and writing something down on another piece of paper.
“Brother? What are you doing?”
Ed sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Do you remember that small excerpt Major Armstrong told us to copy from his book?”
Al nodded. “What about it?”
“Well, the way it is written now, it certainly doesn’t make any sense. But what if it’s written in some sort of code?”
“I’ve thought of that, too,” Al said. “But it must be a very old one; probably based on even older writings.”
“Yeah,” Ed agreed. “It looks like something out of Beregond’s world, to be exact.”
Al cocked his head. “So you think there’s a connection?”
“Maybe,” Ed said with a shrug. “But I don’t think Beregond would be able to help. Everything seems so vague that the excerpt could mean anything.”
“What if you’re reading it out of context?” Al asked thoughtfully. “If you could read the whole book, then you would be able to understand what the excerpt is about.”
Ed frowned as he considered what Al just told him. “I think you’re right. But I can’t just ask the Major to give me the book so I can read it. Not to mention that it would take me at least a whole week to read it, and I wouldn’t remember half of it afterwards.” He froze, because it was then that the thought occurred to him. “Unless…”
“Brother?”
Ed faced Al. “The Major has left with the Führer and Lieutenant Colonel Archer earlier than us, right?”
“Yeah. According to the radio, they left with the midnight train,” Al said. “Why?”
“I’ve just thought of something,” Ed answered and headed towards the first compartment, where he knew there was a telephone.
He certainly didn’t expect to see Beregond stepping out of the particular booth.
“Hey,” Ed said, startled. “What were you doing?”
Beregond smiled. “I just called Syndow’s son about his father. He’ll come in Central to pick up the professor.”
“Oh.” However, it still seemed strange to Ed. “We could put the professor in one of the trains heading for East City. His son doesn’t have to go through all that trouble.”
“Yes, he does,” Beregond said.
Now Ed was downright confused. “Why?”
“Winry’s orders.” And with that, the man headed back to his seat.
Ed finally decided that it was of no use trying to understand what Beregond and Winry were up to. So, he simply shrugged and entered the booth to dial Scieszka’s number.
TBC…
In Central Headquarters, however, four soldiers were talking in quite the agitated manner.
“Mustang’s surveillance log?” Falman wondered, examining the blue notebook that Havoc had given him only minutes ago. “What’s this about?”
“Beats me,” Havoc answered, shrugging his shoulders. “I got orders from Douglas to keep an eye on the colonel. Something about assisting her on an investigation concerning the colonel’s activities.”
Breda crossed his arms. “It makes sense. The colonel is close to the brass right now, so Douglas wants to make sure he can be trusted not to cause trouble.”
“You don’t think she suspects something, do you?” Fuery asked worriedly.
“No, it sounds more like a typical procedure than anything else,” Falman answered, waving his hand dismissively.
“Either that, or they noticed the colonel’s mysterious outings to see you-know-who,” Breda said.
“I guess. It’s still spying on him, though,” Fuery noted.
“Yeah…” Havoc said, exhaling a puff of smoke. “So… do you guys have any idea how to deal with this?”
Breda, Falman and Fuery exchanged a glance in thought, clearly contemplating matters.
Suddenly, Breda’s features seemed to light up, and a curious smile tugged on his lips.
“I’ve got an idea.”
Sarah was at her house, and she wasn’t along in her living room. She passed a cup of tea to Sieszka; then sat down on the couch across the girl. The woman could tell that Scieszka was nervous for a reason, but she couldn’t understand what kind of reason it could be.
“So,” Sarah said, regarding Scieszka in a curious manner. “You said you wanted to tell me something important. What is it?”
“Um… well,” Scieszka faltered, “It’s about what Lieutenant Colonel… oh, I mean… what Brigadier General Hughes was investigating.”
“I guessed as much,” Sarah noted with a small nod. “Go on.”
“Well… You told me that you tried to find the files concerning Lab 5, Ishbal and Douglas, but they were all gone, right?”
“I’m afraid so,” Sarah said. “Did you manage to make copies of them from memory, at least?”
“Oh, yes, without a problem,” Scieszka replied. “But, as I was making the copies, I decided to make an investigation of my own concerning the name Douglas.”
“Indeed?” Sarah put her cup on the saucser and looked at Scieszka intrigued. “And what did you find?”
Scieszka wrung her fingers nervously for a moment before opening her bag to get out a couple of photos. “Take a look,” she said, giving them to Sarah.
Sarah did. She was mildly surprised to see that they were pictures of two tombstones with the name Juliette Douglas engraved on both of them.
However, it wasn’t that that made her stare at the tombstones in shock.
It was the dates on them.
“That can’t be right,” she said before she could help it. “I thought there was only one Juliette Douglas and she died two years prior the war in Ishbal. But according to this there are two of them – and the one died twenty years before the other.”
Scieszka nodded. “And it appears several times even before that.”
“So the name is used repeatedly to cover up every sort of suspicious activity in the military,” Sarah concluded. She still stared at the photos incredulously, unable to believe the horrifying truth that was now being revealed before her. “Scieszka… do you realise what that means?”
“Yes,” Scieszka said. “And the thought terrifies me.” She flinched involuntarily, looking around her as though the very walls would come crushing down on her.
Sarah understood the girl only too well, for she felt the same way now.
“Scieszka… I want you to listen to me very carefully,” she finally said. “I’ll tell our friends what you told me. But you mustn’t say of this to anyone else. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Scieszka said. She stood up and bowed slightly. “And thank you.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. “For what?”
Scieszka blushed a bit. “For giving me the chance to help in any way I can. I know that Lieut… I mean… Brigadier General Hughes will finally rest now.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Sarah murmured under her breath.
“What?” Scieszka asked, not really catching that last part.
“Nothing!” Sarah replied with quite an innocent smile tugged on her lips. “I said: ‘Count on it.’”
“Oh.” Scieszka opened the door and stepped out. “Well, goodbye for now.”
“Goodbye,” Sarah said. “And drop by Gracia’s sometime.”
“I will.”
And with that, Sarah closed the door. At the next moment, she rested her forehead against the wooden surface, letting out a sigh.
Things couldn’t get any worse.
The sound of hesitant footsteps coming from the other room made her turn around in time to see Maes appear on the doorway.
“So you’ve heard?” she simply asked.
Maes nodded. “We have to tell Roy.”
“I’ll look into it,” Sarah said. “How are you feeling?”
Maes shrugged. “Stronger. But I still feel dizzy if I stand for too long.”
Sarah’s lips tugged to a small teasing smile. “Then don’t stand for too long,” she said, and then got ready to walk out.
She stopped in her tracks when she noticed Maes’s expression of disappointment on the man’s features.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s just…” Maes sighed. “I had promised Roy that I would constantly work under him and help him on the way to the top. But I can’t help feeling that I’m nothing more than a dead weight now, watching from a distance while Roy and everyone else are trying to save this country.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know him as long as you or his subordinates do, but I can tell you this. I doubt Colonel Mustang forgot your promise.” She looked at Maes kindly. “In fact, if you ask me... I think he’s waiting for you. So you’d better catch up fast.”
And with that, Sarah walked out, letting Maes consider her words while she was gone.
When Riza Hawkeye arrived at the office with Hayate following close to her heels, she was certainly surprised to see that Havoc, Breda, Falman and Fuery were already there. Moreover, all four officers seemed focused on writing on a journal, but Riza couldn’t for the life of her understand what it was they were working on.
And their conversation didn’t make much sense either.
“Okay, guys. What have we got?” Breda asked.
“Oh, wait; I’ll start. Saturday 09:46 hours: With papers waiting for his approval and signed by noon, the colonel decided to take a nap instead,” Falman said.
The other three soldiers laughed and nodded their approval.
“My turn now,” Breda declared. “10:26 hours: The colonel attempted to feed Lieutenant Hawkeye’s dog. The dog wasn’t biting.”
Fuery frowned. “I had written something about Hayate.”
“Oh,” Breda said.
“Well, think of something else,” Havoc said. “What else would the colonel be doing?”
The sergeant major straightened his glasses for a moment; then his face seemed to light up as he apparently came up with an idea.
“How about this? At 11:03 hours, he started obsessively cleaning the windows, with still no progress on those papers, with the deadline on fast approach.”
“Good, it works with what I had in mind,” Havoc said with a grin, jotting down everything excitedly. “Then, at 11:47 hours, the colonel began to furiously sign the papers, all the while cursing that he didn’t have time for this.”
“Perfect!” Breda and Falman said, giving Havoc the thumbs-up.
That, Riza supposed, was her cue to walk into Roy Mustang’s office and leave the others to their fooling around.
As Riza expected, the colonel was in his office, but he was far from idle. In fact, he was examining a piece of document quite carefully, a frown of concentration furrowed on his features.
“Sir?” Riza asked.
But Roy raised his hand, thus signifying that she should wait for a while. Riza nodded her acknowledgement and remained at attention, waiting patiently for Roy to finish. She knew that, when the colonel was so interested in a document, it meant the document was very, very important.
Several minutes passed, and silence still reigned in the room. Finally, Roy put the document down and beckoned the woman to come closer.
“Yes, Sir?” Riza asked.
“Take a look at this,” Roy said, his expression now unreadable. “Dr. Knox gave it to me today.”
Riza understood what that implied, of course; so she picked up the file and read it thoroughly.
“It looks like your suspicions were correct,” she said thoughtfully. “A woman by the name of Juliette Douglas did die two years before the war in Ishbal broke out.”
“Yes,” Roy said. “It’s the proof we needed to verify that the Führer’s secretary isn’t who she claims to be.” He smiled. “Once we define our enemies and allies within Central Headquarters, we will be able to lay our trap.”
However, Riza didn’t share his optimism. “I would have agreed with you, Sir, but I’m afraid something’s come up that you’re not aware of yet.”
Roy looked at her in mild surprise, certainly not expecting that. “What is it?”
“Ms Abbot came to find me at my home when I was about to come here. She had some interesting piece of news of her own. It would seem that Scieszka, Brigadier General Hughes’ secretary, has made a discovery of her own.” And with that, Riza said about the multiple times that the name Juliette Douglas cropped up during military history.
At this news, Roy clenched his jaw in dismay. “Damn it,” he murmured. “Hughes got it wrong… The military isn’t in danger; the military itself is dangerous. And whoever is behind this conspiracy, they have been pulling the strings for a long time.”
“The question now is: who can have such power,” Riza noted.
“That we will have to find out while we try to remain alive,” Roy answered grimly.
“So it is official?” Riza asked, understanding what the man meant.
Roy nodded. “We’ll leave for Liore the day after Fullmetal, Alphonse and Sergeant Beregond arrive in Central.”
There weren’t all that many passengers from Dublith on their way to Central on that particular morning. In fact, most of the compartments were empty, offering the few people that were travelling at this time of day a certain sense of privacy.
That was precisely what three alchemists, an automail engineer and a professor wanted.
Winry caught sight of Beregond a couple of seats away from her, so she walked up to him. The man was sitting with his arms crossed, his head slightly bowed and his expression quite thoughtful. Professor Syndow was lying on the seat across from the Gondorian, fast asleep.
Winry regarded Beregond curiously. He just lifted his gaze and smiled.
“He went through a lot,” he said in a low tone; he didn’t want to disturb the professor’s sleep.
Winry nodded her understanding and sat beside the Gondorian. “How are you feeling?” she asked in mild concern.
“Slightly dizzy, but nothing I can’t handle,” Beregond answered truthfully. “I’m actually getting the hang of it.”
Winry couldn’t help it; she laughed a bit. “Next thing you know, you’ll be driving.”
Beregond shook his head. “I doubt it,” he declared. “Faenel is more than enough for me.”
“I suppose,” Winry said. “But it’s hard to have her on the train, isn’t it?”
“She will be fine,” Beregond answered. “There are other horses back there, so she won’t be lonely.”
“Oh.”
“Neither man nor girl spoke for some time, letting the sound of the wheels fill the atmosphere. That is, until Beregond noticed that Winry was holding something in her hands.
It looked like a screwdriver.
“Did Al give you that?” he asked.
Winry held up the screwdriver and nodded. “He said he meant to give it to me for some time now. But how did you know?”
“He saw it in a shop in Rush Valley while we were wandering around” Beregond replied. “I’m surprised it managed to stay in one piece after all that happened, though.”
At that, Winry sighed. “Yeah.” She put the screwdriver in her pocket and then faced Beregond agin. “That’s what I meant to talk to you about actually.”
“Really?” Beregond looked at Winry in surprise, obviously unsure what to make of that statement.
She nodded. “You saw the bandages on Ed, as well as Al’s armour; they both have been beaten in several places,” she said. “And if Dante ever means to send the Homunculi after them… I’m afraid they won’t be able to fight back. Not unless they become stronger.”
“You want them to have a better fighting chance,” Beregond deduced.
“Yes. That’s why I want to ask you a favour.”
It was then that Beregond caught on, for his lips tugged to a knowing half-smile.
“I’m listening,” he said.
When Al found Ed, the suit of armour was surprised to see that his brother was reading his journal and writing something down on another piece of paper.
“Brother? What are you doing?”
Ed sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Do you remember that small excerpt Major Armstrong told us to copy from his book?”
Al nodded. “What about it?”
“Well, the way it is written now, it certainly doesn’t make any sense. But what if it’s written in some sort of code?”
“I’ve thought of that, too,” Al said. “But it must be a very old one; probably based on even older writings.”
“Yeah,” Ed agreed. “It looks like something out of Beregond’s world, to be exact.”
Al cocked his head. “So you think there’s a connection?”
“Maybe,” Ed said with a shrug. “But I don’t think Beregond would be able to help. Everything seems so vague that the excerpt could mean anything.”
“What if you’re reading it out of context?” Al asked thoughtfully. “If you could read the whole book, then you would be able to understand what the excerpt is about.”
Ed frowned as he considered what Al just told him. “I think you’re right. But I can’t just ask the Major to give me the book so I can read it. Not to mention that it would take me at least a whole week to read it, and I wouldn’t remember half of it afterwards.” He froze, because it was then that the thought occurred to him. “Unless…”
“Brother?”
Ed faced Al. “The Major has left with the Führer and Lieutenant Colonel Archer earlier than us, right?”
“Yeah. According to the radio, they left with the midnight train,” Al said. “Why?”
“I’ve just thought of something,” Ed answered and headed towards the first compartment, where he knew there was a telephone.
He certainly didn’t expect to see Beregond stepping out of the particular booth.
“Hey,” Ed said, startled. “What were you doing?”
Beregond smiled. “I just called Syndow’s son about his father. He’ll come in Central to pick up the professor.”
“Oh.” However, it still seemed strange to Ed. “We could put the professor in one of the trains heading for East City. His son doesn’t have to go through all that trouble.”
“Yes, he does,” Beregond said.
Now Ed was downright confused. “Why?”
“Winry’s orders.” And with that, the man headed back to his seat.
Ed finally decided that it was of no use trying to understand what Beregond and Winry were up to. So, he simply shrugged and entered the booth to dial Scieszka’s number.
TBC…
Subtitles
- Brother's Debt
- Fullmetal Body, Fullmetal Heart
- A Quiet Day
- In The Night
- Two Men's Faces
- Transfer
- Making Plans
- Shadows Of The Past
- Underworld
- The Price Of Immortality
- Departure
- The Key
- Enemy Revealed
- A Step Back
- A Step Closer To The Truth
- A Race
- Rush Valley
- Responsibility
- Izumi
- Time To Stand Still
- Wild Child
- Encounter
- Riddles In The Dark
- In Search For Answers
- A Teacher's Mistakes
- Complications
- Visits
- The Nature Of A Homunculus
- Dante Of The Deep Forest
- Kidnapped
- Fight At The Devil's Nest
- Innocence Lost
- Blood Spilt
- Recovering
- Bearers Of Ill News
- The Flame Alchemist
- True Colours
- Markings On The Ground
- The Mission
- Heading To Liore
- Change Of Plans
- The Scar
- Holy Mother
- A Mother's Face
- Final Moments