Heeeyyyyy long time no see, everyone! Please enjoy this chapter that's literally almost as long as the first two chapters combined lol I just wanted to make a small note that it's mentioned in this chapter that Roy was recently promoted to a colonel, even though this follows the brotherhood storyline and at this point in canon Roy had already been a colonel for several years. In canon he gets the promotion after bringing Ed into the military, so since that didn't happen in this AU, it takes Roy a bit longer to get the promotion. So yeah, just felt like mentioning that in case anyone noticed...

When Edward first awoke, he had difficulty placing the last dredges of emotions coming from his subconscious. His mind tugged at him, and he knew something had happened last night, something important, something monumental compared to the mundane quaintness of Resembool life.

It wasn't until he heard his mother's muffled voice drifting up from downstairs, followed by a vaguely familiar, deeper voice, that Ed remembered.

Hohenheim.

He was here. And he was leaving again.

Leaving for some grand unknown scheme, according to his mother, but until Ed knew what that was, it felt like nothing more than an excuse from a fickle man.

Ed disentangled himself from his sheets and clambered out of bed as quietly as possible. Al was across the room in his own bed, still dead to the world—damn, his brother really did love to sleep.

Ed shook his head and tiptoed out of their shared room and to the stair's landing.

His mother and Hohenheim stood before the closed front door, talking in hushed tones. She fixed his tie as she seemed to be asking him a slew of questions. Hohenheim would occasionally nod or respond but otherwise stood in reluctant silence.

Finally, suitcase in hand, he turned to open the door, and as the bright dawn light filtered into the hall, Ed was hit with a wave of deja vu. He could barely see his parents as they shared a quick kiss, and then Hohenheim was gone, the light dimming again in his wake.

Ed was left, blinking the spots from his eyes and shaking the old memories of his father's first departure from his mind. When his eyesight cleared, he could see his mother leaning against the door, seemingly lost in thought.

"Wha's goin' on?"

Ed jumped and turned around. "Don't sneak up on me like that, Al!" he hissed

Al chuckled as he rubbed sleepily at his eyes. "I thought I heard the door."

"What are you boys doing up?"

They both turned to find their mother stepping away from the door with a forced smile on her face.

"Was that dad who just left?" Al asked. "I heard the door."

Her eyes glazed over with the distant sadness as her gaze turned down. "Yes, honey. But he'll be back again, he promised he would be and I believe him."

"Yeah, in what, another ten years?" Ed crossed his arms.

Trisha furrowed her brow. "Your father has important work to take care of. I don't entirely understand it, but it's something he needs to do. Try to understand, Edward. He doesn't want to leave us, but he has to."

"Of course he does," Ed muttered as he leaned against the railing, "the bastard."

"Edward, you know I don't like that word," his mother scolded lightly.

Ed kept from rolling his eyes, instead slouching with a prominent pout on his face.

She sighed. "I wanted your father to tell you himself, why he always has to be gone, but he said he wants to keep us safe and away from the dangers of this world. I barely understand it but I know you boys would. I don't…I'm not sure if that would be for the best though."

"What is it, mom?" Al asked, making his way down the stairs.

She shook her head. "I'm sure he wouldn't want me to tell you, especially considering how….complex and…convoluted it is, but…"

Ed followed his brother down the stairs. "But after what happened after he left last time, I think we should know."

"Yeah," Al said, "no more secrets, Mom."

Their mother smiled softly. "That's just what I was thinking. Maybe…maybe if you had known where to go or what your father was doing, we would have been able to prevent what happened. Even so, I want you boys to know. You deserve to. Just in case…anything should happen again."

When neither responded, she turned away. "Come, it'll be easier to explain it in your father's study. After that, I'll fix us all some breakfast, okay?"

Breakfast, to say the least, was quiet. Ed barely had an appetite after the hour's long discussion they had had in Hohenheim's study. To think the room they had researched in for so many years, where they had planned and succeeded in bringing their mother back, had held so many secrets. And that Hohenheim had held even more.

Ed still couldn't wrap his mind around it.

His hands still trembled slightly as he tipped his glass jar upside down and watched all his money spill onto his bedroom floor. Several of the cenz coins rolled away and Ed watched in a daze, unable to stop them from rolling out of reach.

Immortal.

His father was immortal.

And the last remaining survivor of Xerxes to boot.

The desert civilization that had always been regarded as a cautionary tale.

Ed was tempted to say his mother was just delusional in her attempts to redeem her husband, but she had the proof to back up her absurd claims.

The books in a foreign, ancient language he and Al had never been able to understand, suddenly made sense.

Ed felt his stomach lurch. He had used people—souls really, that were several hundred years old, incognizant and coalesced, but people nonetheless—to bring their mother back. They hadn't known back then, just what a stone was made of. It seemed like a stroke of luck to find a stone hidden away in a locked box in the study. But now it seemed like a cruel trick they had fallen for.

Was their mother's life really worth hundreds of bodiless souls? Did he and Al have the right to decide that? They were selfish, selfish and lost and hurting children who didn't know how to take care of themselves, so they ran to the taboo. They took the easy way out. And it had worked. Ed had had his doubts from time to time, but had ultimately been glad they had done it. Now he wasn't so sure.

The way their mother had described the story, Hohenheim had told her years before their births, that there was another man. No, not a man.

A homunculus.

He and Al had looked briefly into homunculi when the idea of resurrecting their mother had first entered their young minds.

A faux human. A monster in human skin—Hohenheim's skin in this case. And what? What was he trying to do? Their mother shook her head and said their father hadn't told her the details, just that he needed to stop him. He had even begged Trisha to leave, flee to Xing or Creta, but she hadn't wanted to leave her home.

Well, Ed couldn't just let this bastard's plans succeed. He had already sacrificed enough to bring his mother back, they couldn't let anything happen to their family now.

"Brother, what are you doing in here?" Al stepped over the threshold of their shared room, staring down at the money spilled on the floor Ed realized he had just been staring at absently. He looked up at his brother; Al's face was still slightly pale, his voice strained and hands shaking like Ed's. He had seemed to take the news about Hohenheim better than Ed, but Ed could still see the knowledge of the philosopher's stone weighing heavily on his little brother.

"I'm going to East City," Ed mumbled, crawling over to grab the runaway cenz. "I'm gonna find that Mustang guy and see if he knows anything. He's in the military, he has to know what's going on, right?"

Al shrugged. "Maybe. He was only a lieutenant colonel though. Mom said this was something affecting the superior officers. Besides, she'd never let you go and get caught up in all of this."

Ed shook his head. "I'm telling Mom I'm spending a few days at Winry's." He glanced up at Alphonse. "Will you cover for me?"

"No."

"What the hell, Al?"

"I'm coming with you, you idiot! What kind of dumb question is that?"

"Oh." Ed watched as his brother stomped into the room with that special brand of Elric determination, took his own glass jar, and dumped its contents beside Ed's.

Silently, they began counting the money they had accumulated from doing alchemy jobs and fixes around town the past few years.

"It's awful, isn't it?" Ed couldn't help but ask after several minutes of silence.

Al blinked and looked up, pausing his counting. He glanced back down sadly, looking so much like his mother when she thought of Hohenheim leaving. "Yeah…Brother? Do you think we made the right choice? About bringing Mom back knowing now what stones are made of?"

Ed caught his brother's gaze. "If not, then by doing this, we'll make it right, any way we can."

"What do you mean he doesn't work here?" Ed had to keep from shouting at the receptionist at the entrance to Eastern Command.

The middle aged woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, young man, but Colonel Mustang was transferred to Central well over a month ago after he received his promotion."

Ed sighed and stepped away from the desk. "Okay. Fine. Thanks." He turned away and Al followed.

"What should we do now?" he asked.

Ed shrugged. "Guess we go to Central." Before Al could respond, Ed asked, "You got any change in your pockets or is it all in your bag?"

Al dug through his trousers and brought out a couple of cenz, which Ed took and deposited into the nearby telephone.

"Rockbell Prosthetic Limb Outfitters!" the cheery voice on the other end greeted.

"Winry, hey."

"Ed? Why are you calling instead of just coming over? Is something wrong?"

"Al and I are in East City."

"East City! Why?"

"Long story, but listen. We need to go to Central, we're going to be longer than we originally planned. We need you to cover for us. Our mom already thinks we're at your house."

Winry's sigh came through the receiver as a burst of angry static. "What are you two idiots doing? You better not be getting into trouble out there."

"We're not! Why would you automatically assume that? Can you cover for us or not?"

Winry sighed again; Ed had that effect on her. "Fine. I'll tell Aunt Trisha you're at my house if she calls, but I won't lie to her if she starts questioning more. You're not roping me any more into whatever you've already got Al roped into."

"He's here by his own choice! Tell her Al!"

"Winry, please help, Brother is holding me hostage."

"Al, shut up!" Ed yelled over his brother's devious giggling. "Winry, he's lying."

"Just call me when you get the chance," Winry replied. "Someone should know what you're up to."

"Right. Yeah. Thanks, you're awesome. See you later."

"Back to the train station?" Al asked as Ed hung up the phone.

"On to Central," he agreed.

Newly promoted Colonel Roy Mustang was hard at work. There was only half an hour left of the work day, and the stack of papers he had managed to procrastinate now taunted him. Sometimes he thought the rest of the military just liked to torment him because there was certainly no need for the amount of signatures these papers supposedly required.

He barely heard the office phone ring before Hawkeye answered it. Her clipped and professional tone was soft white noise filling the otherwise silent and lazy office. "Colonel Roy Mustang's office." She paused. "Civilians? Did they tell you their names?"

Roy glanced up just as Riza caught his gaze, the phone pulled slightly away from her ear in surprise. Now that piqued his interest; not many things could catch the Hawk's Eye off guard.

She put the receiver back to her ear. "Yes, we will receive them. Please send them up."

She immediately stood and walked to the side of Roy's desk. By now the rest of the team, who had been doing all things from actually working to leaning in their chairs and counting the minutes till closing time, were watching their superiors, trying to gauge exactly what this new, interesting occurrence was.

"Sir," Hawkeye leaned down, voice low, "Edward and Alphonse Elric are here to speak to you."

"Elric?" It took him a moment to place the name. "You mean those boys from Resembool?"

To be honest, after their peculiar meeting and the consequential discovery in the town's library, Roy hadn't thought much about the boys in the following years. What was he going to do? He couldn't recruit them for his own gain, he couldn't out them for supposed human transmutation, he didn't have enough evidence, and besides, that information wasn't something he would ever want the senior staff getting their hands on. So the odd case of the Elrics had quickly been swept away, buried under years of paperwork and trying to climb the political ladder. "Did they say why?"

"No, sir, the receptionist didn't—"

A knock at the door caused her to stop, eyes immediately training on the other side of the office. She strode across the room in a few swift strides and opened the door, greeting someone Roy couldn't see behind the ajar door.

Hawkeye stepped away, and there they were. The Elrics, slightly taller and more mature looking, but their eyes were that same peculiar gold, and Roy found himself feeling he had just reverted four years, staring at these two boys shrouded in mystery and alchemic taboo.

"Hey, Boss," Havoc called, chewing at the end of an unlit cigarette, "care to explain why you've got two kids coming into your office?"

"Think back, Colonel," Breda added, "what were you doing, say, fifteen years ago? These kids might be coming to collect some child support."

Havoc turned toward him, the legs of his chair finding the floor with a decisive thump. "If that's so, I win the bet, Breda. Pay up."

"They're not his children," Hawkeye piped up, a resigned look on her face.

"Besides, we don't even look like him," Ed added. Yes, Ed was the older one, if Roy remembered correctly. Older, but smaller. He shouldered his way into Mustang's inner office with Alphonse trailing behind, excusing himself apologetically as he stepped around Hawkeye.

Mustang smirked and sat back in his high-backed leather chair. "Well, I have to say, this is quite an unexpected visit. What brings you boys in?" Beneath his calm, casual baritone lied an undertone of trepidation.

The brothers shared a look before Ed spoke. "Look, Mustang," he glanced back toward the door with a meaningful look and lowered his voice so those in the outer office couldn't eavesdrop, "we need to talk."

Without a change in expression, the colonel's eyes slid to glance behind the boys. He gave a slight nod to Hawkeye, and she went to close the door to the inner office with a firm hand.

"Have a seat, boys." Roy waved a hand toward one of the office couches.

With another quick glance at one another, Ed and Al did as they were told.

"Is this about our last meeting?" Mustang asked. "That was well over four years ago."

"We know that," Ed responded.

Al shook his head. "It's not about that, sir. It's about, well, ah..." He glanced from Ed to Hawkeye, standing sentry at the door, then back to Mustang. "What do you know about the philosopher's stone?"

Roy leaned back in his office chair. Well, that certainly wasn't what he had been expecting. "The philosopher's stone? A stone that's supposed to give its user immense wealth, power, immortality…But it's just a myth." It was just a myth, Roy knew that. But still, it felt wrong and inaccurate to say that to the two boys he knew had succeeded at alchemy's biggest taboo.

"It's not just a myth," Ed said, all but confirming what Roy already knew.

Roy shared a look with Hawkeye, and understood she was thinking the same thing as him. These boys, as harmless as they seemed, were beginning to unnerve Roy. They knew too much for their own good. They were meddling in something that would have catastrophic consequence if left unchecked. "And what proof do you have, Elric? Are you gonna pull a stone right out of your pocket?"

Ed rolled his eyes, and looked to Al for guidance.

Al shifted uncomfortably then looked Roy in the face without hesitation. "We—well, you met our mom, right? She—" Al stopped immediately when Roy held up a gloved hand. He knew what the boy was about to admit. The secret they had discovered years ago, only to have forgotten when it had hit a dead end. Finally, the answer to this unsettling question that was the Elrics. But it would have to wait. The higher ups never trusted Roy, and the colonel felt the same about them. He didn't know what lengths they would go to to listen in on him, but he had the sneaking feeling every time he entered Central Command that he was never alone.

"Hawkeye," he ordered, "bring the car around. I'm clocking out early. Boys, you need to come with us."

Ed wasn't entirely sure how he ended up facing a colonel and lieutenant of the Amestrian military in the back seat of a government issued town car in the capitol city, but what he knew for certain was his mother would decisively not be happy to hear any of this if she ever found out.

Al sat beside him, hands clasped between his knees, looking as overwhelmed as Ed was beginning to feel.

"You boys understand I could have you arrested for this, right?" Mustang certainly wasn't helping them feel all that welcomed either, nor was Hawkeye's silent presence. Mustang's aloof exterior was beginning to irk Ed. He knew the man was interested in what he and Al had to say, but he was putting up a front. "Transmuting your own mother? You two are obviously very smart, so what possessed you to come confess to succeeding at human transmutation to a military officer?"

"Because you're the only person we know who might be able to help us," Al said before Ed could make a snide remark.

"Help you with what exactly?" Mustang tweaked his eyebrow, slightly confused, slightly impressed, and entirely not trying to show that he was humoring two teenage civilians. Although, Ed had to say, he and Al weren't exactly normal civilians.

"It's like we said," Ed sat back and folded his arms, "something weird is going on in this country. Hohen—our dad…he's…he told our mom that we needed to leave. That there's something more going on here, something in the government." He caught Mustang's hard gaze. "You ever heard of homunculi?"

Mustang frowned. "Are you suggesting the government is run by artificial humans?" Ed could practically see him losing what little faith he had in them.

Hawkeye placed a hand on her superior's arm, stopping him from saying more. "Sir, remember those riots in Liore? How the military stepped in so quickly but the bloodshed didn't stop?"

Mustang brought a hand to his chin in thought, eyebrows downturned in deep concentration. "And if the stone is made from human lives like these boys are suggesting…"

"Then we may have stumbled into something bigger than we could have ever imagined."

"All we know is what our mother told us, and she isn't an alchemist. She said our dad told her that a homunculus was pulling the government's strings and planning for something he called 'The Promised Day' and that the higher-ups in the military are involved," Al said. "Our dad knows more but he left. He's doing what he can, but…"

"But we don't have much faith in him."

"Brother, that's not what I was going to say!"

"Look," Ed turned back to the two officers, "we think there are homunculi among the higher-ups, or at the very least, the government knows how to create them, and are using stones to do it. Our dad mentioned something about human transmutation and…sacrifices. Why would the military need to make stones, what are they planning? We just thought you ought to know, it seems like there's some sort of cover-up going on. You two can do more in the military than we can from our farming village."

Mustang and Hawkeye shared a glance, briefly talking with just their eyes. The colonel shook his head with smirk. "This is ridiculous. I wouldn't believe the word of two children if we didn't already have reasons to be wary of the senior staff. Did you really come here expecting us to be able to do something about such preposterous claims?"

"Yes," both brothers said without hesitation.

"We know something is going on," Ed added. "And we're going to do something about it, with or without you."

"Brother is right. We've already been through too much getting our mother back, we want to make sure it doesn't happen a second time. It would just be a lot easier with you on our side."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Hawkeye spoke up.

Al shared a glance with Ed, talking silently with him just as Hawkeye and Mustang had. "Well, first, we gotta see what we're up against," he said.

Ed nodded. "We need answers, and to do that, we gotta find ourselves a homunculus."