Blind fury overtook Edward and without even pausing to think, he dropped to the ground, placed his finger to the dirt and found that the Seal of Solomon still flowed freely from his fingers as if it was water from a tap, even two years since he'd last used it. He was on the last triangle, anticipating the crackle of alchemic response and the pull of the flow of power when he heard the click of a safety on a gun. He looked up and saw the small pistol that was trained on him.

"Don't make me shoot, Edward." Hughes said with honest regret in his voice, "I like you too much to waste the bullet." Edward glared at the man for a moment, his fingers still on the seal, before he swiped through it with disgust, leaving it useless to him. He bared his teeth and kept his hand on the ground, though now it was to keep him balanced on his one leg and arm. "Thank you." Hughes said, sounding genuinely relieved.

Edward glared at him a moment longer, before looking away in disgust and trying his hardest to stand. The safety latch was re-clicked on the gun, and Hughes offered his hand, but Edward ignored it, struggling to his foot as best he could. "Don't thank me." He said, "I didn't stop for you. I'd gladly kill you both, but I know when the odds are against me."

Hughes openly laughed; reaching out to help balance him, even thought Edward tried to push him away. He slung Edward's remaining arm over his shoulder and finally looked over at Mustang as if asking permission. The other man just looked a bit bemused. "I suppose that means I've found something faster than your alchemy?" Hughes asked.

"My alchemy?" Edward snorted. "Don't make me laugh. Normal alchemy, yes. Mine, no."

Mustang's brain had finally caught up with the conversation, it seemed. He looked very disgusted when he finally had full realisation of what was actually going on. "What in blazes?" He demanded, looking between Hughes and Edward with a sour look on his face, "Hughes, why are you helping a heathen who just tried to kill you with black magic?"

Hughes actually shrugged at Mustang, smiling brightly. "He wouldn't have killed us, it's against the code."

"Beside the point." Edward piped in with a vindictive smirk.

Hughes sighed and lightly slapped him over the head. "I've dealt with Fullmetal before." He said, sending a placating smile at Mustang. Edward glared at him, and tried his best to elbow him with his one arm which was still slung about the man's shoulders. Edward settled for glaring, which had absolutely no effect, and imagining brutal ways in which to kill Hughes and dispose of the body. While this made him feel better, he highly doubted that a pack of ravenous killer whales would be in a lake this far inland. "The trick," Hughes said, "Is to stack the odds against him. Edward won't fight a loosing battle." He looked knowingly at Mustang; Edward followed his gaze and found that the man had that look on his face, the one which said he was storing information. Edward bit the inside of his mouth, and fought back the wave of nostalgia threatening to overcome him, reminding himself that this man and the man he knew were entirely different and that he hated them both.

"Well." Said Hughes, finally, "Let's get this change in ownership dealt with." Edward glared at Hughes who insisted on helping him make his way up into the police station, Mustang slightly ahead of them both. He looked down, and noticed for the first time, Hughes' other hand, which had been making signs at him the whole time. Yo, Ed! He read, the symbols quickly flicking through, and changing when Edward made a startled sound.

The symbols were something Edward and his younger brother had invented years ago, to be able to talk and have no one else listen in. Edward had taught them to very few people, though Hughes was on the list. Edward didn't really think the man would ever use them again after what had happened. Mustang looked back, and immediately the hand went back to Edward's chest, acting as a 'support'. With an impatient huff, the man ahead turned away once more and went through the doors into the police station. Edward and Hughes continued the awkward three legged hop they had going as they approached the station themselves. Edward returned his focus to the hand. It's been a while. He read.

Edward had to hide his surprise, tensing slightly as he looked at the hand, and pausing in his step just enough that they nearly toppled over. Regaining his sense, he whispered just loud enough for Hughes to hear him, "Ally?"

Hughes' nod was a small one, one Edward felt rather than saw. The man began to help him up the stairs, one by agonising one, but this time, Edward let him. Edward Elric didn't fight. If someone from the trailer behind them had looked over at that point in time, they would have seen that the scowling, angry boy did have a truly beautiful smile.

But of course, no one was looking, so Edward's reputation stayed in tact for another day.

It was a staring contest. That was the only way to describe it, Edward's defiant glare had locked onto Mustang's superior one and neither of them was going to look away without a fight. They were seated on a bench in the small station, Hughes currently in another room, organising some finalising papers for Mustang's signature. They had been looking at each other for the whole time, and now, the battle of wills was so fierce that to give up would mean a huge dash to one's pride.

Edward was making sure that that dash would be Mustang's, not his own. Mustang folded his hands and put his two index fingers to his pursed lips, before pulling his hands away. All the while he did this, he held Edward's stare with that stupid superior look. His hands tapped twice on his knees and Edward had to catch himself before his attention was diverted. The bastard was cheating! "There is something I cannot figure out." The man said, trying to break Edward's concentration, "Why would someone like you, obviously smart and strong willed, and with your whole life ahead of you, condemn yourself by using alchemy and witchcraft?" He shook his head, but held his stare, "no matter how I think about it, it just doesn't make sense to me."

Edward frowned, and knew his gaze turned from glare to slightly regarding, then back to a glare. "Let me tell you a story." He said. Mustang raised his eyebrows at the statement, but didn't look away, instead, indicated his interest with a flick of his hand. "It happened in a small village to the far east. On the very border of this country, in fact.

'There was a woman in that small village, a tall, slender woman with the most beautiful brown hair and eyes that always smiled when they looked at you. She was not married, nor was she engaged but this did not affect her reputation as a loving and kind person, who could give her heart to even the smallest cause. Everyone in her village knew her, most loved her and her quiet, yet determined, ways. She only had one flaw in the eyes of the people, that she had loved an alchemist.

'This woman had two bastard sons to him, which most of the village passed away as him raping her because she was too fair for any other conclusion, too God-loving to break His commandments. The sons took after the father, the first one looking almost like his clone, the second one having a touch of the mother's soft features and gentle eyes. She offered them up to her God at an early age, and brought them up in the Lord's tradition. She loved them with all her heart, and they in turn loved her with all of theirs.

'Now, the boys were as different as siblings could be, the eldest was brilliant but lazy, and would often skip church and Sunday school to find a creek to play in, or a hill to lie on. The younger, was hardworking and honest, even if he didn't have as much intelligence as the elder, he was smart in his own way, kind and gentle and with an underlying ability to preform well in anything he put his mind to. Both bright children, they had to be, to be sired by an alchemist."

Edward paused at this point to see if the man was still listening. Mustang nodded after a moment for him to continue. Without noticing, Edward had looked away from the man, and now he found no reason to keep up the staring contest that they had going. He frowned and after a moment continued speaking. "The elder child was about five when on one day he went with his mother to their weekly confession. His mother was in the confessional booth, he standing just outside it, and trying to listen in while his younger brother regarded him as doing wrong and was scolding him with his eyes from where he sat in the pew. The elder paid no heed, instead, listening in to what his mother was saying. He therefore heard her ask, 'Father, will I go to heaven?'

'The priest, the boy heard to reply, sounded surprised as he said, 'Have you lived an honest and good life, my child? Without lying, without hating and following the ten commandments and all of His will and ways?' There was a tone in his voice that indicated the priest didn't think he needed to ask, as if the answer that yes, the woman would go to heaven was as clear as day.

'The woman, of course, instantly replied, 'Of course, Father! I live each day by His will and His word!' Her conviction as she said it, you must understand, was so great, that the boy was surprised to hear his mother talking such. He actually jumped as if he had been caught pulling the legs off the frogs he found at the pond."

Mustang frowned. "I fail to see what this has to do with anything."

"I haven't finished yet." Snapped Edward angrily. The man across from him fell silent again. "Good." Edward said and continued. "'Then of course you will go to Heaven, child. You have been blessed in His eyes.' The priest replied to the boy's mother and from that point on, the confession played out as normal. No more questions were asked.

'Not even a month later, Mustang, was that woman tied at stake in the centre square of the small village. Her crime? Loving a man who had long since left the village, the alchemist father of her two bastard sons. Her sons were forced to watch as she was taken to the pinnacle of that large pile of timber and as one after another, the men of the village raped her for her sin of lust while the rest of the crowd jeered. Surely, they thought they were being ironic, but were they being anything but hypocrites? When the last man had had his way with the woman, fire was set to the logs.

'The bastard sons were the forced to watch, the younger crying and failing to understand why his mother was dying, The elder being physically restrained as he tried to get to his mother to free her. The man holding the elder crippled his right arm and left leg, to prevent him from even dragging himself up that woodpile to where his mother was.

'The woman on the pyre, however, smiled at her sons for all she was beaten, bleeding and being burnt alive. She looked at the eldest son, and told him words that would stay with him the rest of his life, 'Fear not for me, child, for the priest has said I shall join the angels in heaven. Rejoice, for I will be in paradise soon, waiting for my sons and love to join me when their time comes.' After she was dead, only a blackened corpse remaining on the pyre did the townspeople release their jeers and proclamations that she would burn in hell for her sins."

Edward fell silent and regarded the impact that his tale had had on the man across from him. There was pain on the man's features. "It doesn't answer my question." Mustang finally said, "About why you became an alchemist."

"Revenge." Answered Edward simply. "Against the hypocritical religion that killed my mother."

The man across from him said nothing, but he looked very pale.

"Alright, the documents have been passed and not Edward Elric is the property of one Lord Mustang." Hughes said after calling the two men into his office. Mustang was still ghostly pale from Edward's attempt at storytelling, and Edward was thoroughly enjoying the man's discomfort, smirking widely and almost boastfully. "However, before I finalise the papers, I'd like a word with Edward." Edward's smirk immediately faded, as both men looked at Mustang. The man with them shrugged and stepped out of the office, much to Edward's dismay.

The young man braced himself.

Hughes turned to look at Edward, his face as fierce as a topical storm. "What. Are. You. Doing?" He demanded, pointing accusingly at Edward, his eyes glittering angrily behind his square-rimmed glasses. "You're not supposed to be anywhere near him, and here you are, telling him things like that!"

"You heard?" Edward asked, not in the least guilty.

"Of course I heard. The walls in here are thinner than a paper screen from the east." Hughes sighed. "You have to be careful Edward. Bradley will find out about your slave transfer. If he finds out you've been telling these stories to Mustang, this time, nothing will save you from the headsman's block. You got lucky last time, Edward. Lucky you had a good sponsor. This time, that won't happen."

Edward grinned. "All the more reason for him to find out." He said. "Bradley won't kill me until I become a real problem, and at the moment I'm anything but. I want Bradley to watch me every step of the way as I destroy the little fuck-puppet he created out of the leader of the resistance."

"Just what are you planning, Edward Elric?" Demanded Hughes, still in the same stormy tones. Edward just smirked at him. "I'm asking you a question." Hughes snapped. "What are you planning, showing up like this, two years after the Flamel society? You haven't done anything since it fell, and we all thought you were dead because of it. Mustang isn't Mustang anymore and you're behaving in a way that Flame wouldn't want."

"Don't talk to me about that asswipe!" Edward screamed. "He's the one that put me where I am! And I've had two years to seethe over that fact, Hughes." He glared at the man, anger inside him threatening to boil over. "Two years of no longer having my automail because I was 'too dangerous' with it. Two years of gathering eggs and shovelling shit, both metaphorical and real. And two years of wondering, scheming and planning just what I was going to do when I got out of that hellhole." Edward frowned heavily. "So don't talk to me about Flame. As far as I'm concerned, Flame can go hang for all I care."

Hughes didn't know what to say for a moment, it was obvious. He paused and finally said, "What happened, Edward, you're too cynical now. You're not who I remember."

"Of course." Edward snapped. "I've lost my freedom. Now it's time for me to win it back.

Hughes sighed sadly and held his hand out to support Edward out of the station. "Edward, as much as I like you, I don't have to tell you where my loyalty ultimately lies. You know that it's not with you, but also, I want you to remember that it's not truly with the government. If you try anything to hurt Roy..."

"Don't worry, Hughes. By the time I actually do anything seriously damaging to him, it will be too late for anyone to stop me. Even you." He looked at the man. "I've figured out that Bradley took his memory, Hughes. I need to know how. I know why."

"Be careful, Ed. Bradley will do worse to you if you get caught." Hughes said.

Edward fought back a bitter laugh. "I won't get caught." They reached Mustang at that point.

The man looked at them and frowned. "Edward, you will join me in my carriage on the way to my estate. You will enlighten me with another one of your tales to pass the time."

Edward smiled ferociously. "As you wish, my lord." He said.

.
A/n: Right. There's something I'm going to say before I get yelled at that will probably take you by surprise.

I am actually a catholic. Not an orthodox one I'll admit, in fact, I don't agree with much of the teachings beyond "Love one another as you love the lord" and "Treat your neighbour as yourself" but I do respect my religion and I do believe in God.

What I don't agree with is the way that people who don't share the Christian belief were treated in the middle ages, which is when this story is set. If you look back through the Christian tradition in this period we see a great many travesties, The Salem Witch Hunts, the Knights of Templar, the corruption of the bishops and priests, it wasn't a pretty era for Christianity.

Sp I'm just noting here that I am not against the catholic religion as it is now, this is against the way that religion was set up in the middle ages. Which is when the story is set.

Anyway. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Leave a little review?