Chapter 20

There Really Is No Rest For the Weary

I tried to plan it out. I really did. It wasn't like I could just run in and snag Hughes while the Fuhrer was there, because then he'd figure out that I was also a Homunculus. Also, it'd be best that I covered up, so that Hughes didn't recognize me at first glance.

But there were also a lot of contributing factors to the final decision. I couldn't just save the guy and then let us both carry on with our lives. The Homunculi would be after him, still, and his family would soon be in danger as well. So I had to make him disappear. Xing.

In the original manga, Maria Ross is framed for Hughes murder, and to save her, Mustang's gang send her to Xing, across the desert. (Though I didn't know much about desert travel) I knew enough to be able to get Maes out of the city, at least, and after that I could run to Roy for a bit of help. My target was to get the man to the ruined city.

Most troublesome part was that I knew Xing was in the east, across the large expanse of desert. The continent that Amestris sat in the middle of was very like Earth. To the north, as it got colder, we are met with mountains that block Drachema (the neighbouring country) from invading. To the West (or was it south?) was another country that sounded like Creta, but I wasn't sure and didn't really pay attention. There was another country as well, but it remains unremarkable, named Aerugo.

I thought mostly about the series of events that would lead up to Hughes death. He'd been in the hospital talking to Ed and Al about Homunculi, which inevitably spurred the search for information. Lust would attack him in the records room; he would incapacitate her, but her job was done. Envy would find Hughes once the man left the building, and framing Maria Ross, Envy would shoot Hughes.

If worst comes to worst, I would try my damndest to take the bullet from Hughes. I could heal in seconds. He couldn't. No matter my issues with guns, I had to save Hughes. I needed to make some sort of difference, correct mine and Cody's mistakes.

I thought the most of everything as I jumped across rooftops. I was definitely going to have to get Roy's help later on, because there was no way I knew how to cross a desert, especially if I had a human with me. And the worst part was, I was definitely going to be seen by any and all Homunculi that pass my way, unless I got some sort of disguise—

I paused in my trek to look down and across the street at a small costume shop that appeared to still be closed. I grinned devilishly, and emerged from the shop moments later with a festival mask in the shape of a fox, and a cloak that looked like it just came from a Chinese store. It was a good guess that it was Xingese. (I had grabbed some shoes that matched, too, because I was aware of the information footprints could give to good trackers.)

I made it a few buildings away from the hospital before I realized that it was the wrong day.

Elicia's birthday was on the first day after the 5th Laboratory collapsed. Winry would be in town, and would stay the night at Hughes's place. It was the day after that Hughes would talk with Ed and Al, after the two brothers had their fight.

"Well, if that's so," I muttered to myself, turning around and heading back out east. I still had time to tell Roy what was going on.

As usual, it took me a few hours to get to East city. And, as usual, Roy was in his office. By then, it was about noon, and mostly everyone was either off duty or lunch break, so I popped in through the window with ease.

"Yo, Roy!"

He jumped out of his seat, "Who're you?!"

Oh, right. The mask.

I pulled off the fox mask with a grin, figuring that the disguise worked if the one person who knew me didn't know me.

Roy sighed and relaxed once he saw my face. "Kit," he growled, "what do you want?"

"I desperately need your help in a rescue mission to save a friend's life." I stated it gravely, but with the disbelieving look he gave me, it must have sounded a little more comical than intended. "No, seriously. Someone's gonna die unless we can get them out of the country."

"Who is it?"

"…I—I can't tell you."

"Then no." He turned away, pulling his chair out from his desk again.

"Maes Hughes." I gave in. "He's going to try to figure something out, and the others—,"

"—Others?"

"Yes, Homunculi, they're going to kill him if we don't get him out of the country—or at least Central, by tomorrow evening."

"Homunculi?" He asked in confusion, but the thought was tossed aside as he frowned, brows drawing together in thought—I could practically see the cogs turning. "That's not much time…"

"Lucky for you, then, all you need to do is get in contact with some people," I told him, stepping around the desk to find a seat. "I can get him out of Central. I know how the enemy works, and I know how to avoid them." I'd done it before, when I went bat-shit and ran into Envy and Lust. I could easily do it again. The only difference would be that Envy wouldn't hesitate to shoot me.

"How do you know all this?"

I looked up at Roy, with his hands folded over his desk, hiding most of his face, and I grinned almost evilly. "I told you. I'm a prophet."

He tried not to believe me, but I could see he was a little more suspicious, now.

"Where did you go?"—

Roy took a step back—let the flame breathe—

"—this is a hostage situation— please understand—,"

"This is about…proving a point." BANG.

"You're going to die."—

"—what gets most people killed."

We put our plan into action as soon as possible.

I knew I couldn't just snatch Hughes off the street; he actually had to figure a few things out before I kidnapped him. And I couldn't just prevent him from going to the hospital room or to the records room, because eventually, he'd get there anyways and eventually, he'll piece things together.

No, he had to know what was going on first. Then I could explain to him that he was too dangerous for them to keep him alive.

When the hour came, I moved in, intercepting Hughes as he staggered out of the research room, a hand to his bleeding shoulder. I placed a hand on his other arm, effectively getting his attention.

Every bit of my skin was covered—Roy had outfitted me in a thin black turtleneck, leather gloves, and comfortable pants. I applied my cloak and mask to cover the rest of me, hood up to hide my hair and mask muffling my voice. It was no wonder Hughes tried to get away from me.

"Maes Hughes," I whispered, "if you don't come with me right now, you will die. I'm a contact for Mustang. Please, this way." I tugged his sleeve down a different hallway, and we made it to the other side of the building before exiting the grounds completely, unbothered by the guards. I found the pre-planned entrance to the sewer and ensured we weren't followed before handing Hughes some bandages to wrap up his shoulder with.

"What's going on?!" he demanded the moment he had a chance.

"You saw her—Lust," I clarified. "You know what she is. That's more than enough reason for them to kill you, but because of what you found out in the records room, you're practically their top target." I stood up and helped Maes get back on his feet. "I'm getting you out of Central. The rest of the team is getting you out of the country."

"Where?"

"I can't say. They could be listening."

We continued on our way through the sewers, slower than I'd like, but Maes refused to be carried. It took us an hour—or was it less? I didn't have a watch, and didn't bother asking Hughes—to get to the checkpoint, were a disguised few took charge of Hughes, getting him out of his uniform.

Before I headed back to complete the next part of what I wanted, I turned to the man I'd just saved. "Hughes. Your fates have been changed, don't take it for granted, and stay low. You won't be seeing your family for a long, long time."

I dashed off, back towards the centre of the city, to the telephone booth where Hughes was meant to be shot before I'd intervened. I picked up the receiver and dialled a number.

"Hey, I'm done work, I'll be home soon. Need me to pick up anything from the store?" I asked. Code. Hughes is on his way out of the country. Is there anything else?

"Good work. I don't think we need anything, see you soon," Roy, on the other side of the phone, said. We both hung up.

I turned around and addressed the creature leaning on the wall across the street. "Were you expecting someone else?

"…something like that," he said, and I didn't doubt that he was a little surprised I was talking to him.

Momentarily, I was glad my face was hidden.

"Don't you dare do that again." I nodded—

--did something happen?

--his eyes watching me—if he was alright—

Envy.

"Envy, right?" I asked, approaching at a slow pace and stopping half-way across the road, placed directly under the light of a streetlamp. I could barely make out his form from the slits in my mask.

"Have we met before?"

"No, but I know things."

"What kind of things?" Naturally, he'd be curious.

"Lots. Enough to get me killed."

"Does that mean I should kill you?"

"I'd rather you didn't. Not yet."

"Oh?"

"I've got a few more things to carry out before I move on. Who knows where I'll go once this is all over."

"What exactly is 'this'?"

"…The war. And I don't want to be fighting against you."

That earned a silence. I waited for him to say something.

"Who are you?"

I smiled under my mask. "I'm their prophet."

Envy ended up trying to kill me.

He morphed a sword out of his hand and smashed my mask, but the nick he made in my forehead healed fairly quickly, and that fact alone threw him off balance.

He hissed, swore, and charged at me again. In my defence, I didn't raise a hand against him. I didn't want to fight, and I wanted to prove that point. Moreover, it would be just awesome having Envy as an ally.

It seemed, though, that I was either going to have to choose Mustang or Envy. I couldn't have both as my friends.

In a split-second decision, I was gone, running as far as I could, west, then north, very aware that he was still following me. I knew I could out-run him, and I did. In an hour my trail was clear, and I circled back to head south-east to find Mustang.

I flopped down on the floor near the wall in his office the first chance I got. Roy eyed me warily, and cautiously asked, "How did it go?"

"Not sure," I said. "It's up to the beta group, now, to get him out of the country. He was a little beat up when I found him, but the wound was taken care of quickly."

"And…?"

"I ran into someone I really didn't know how to deal with." I rubbed my forehead where Envy had nicked me, but of course the mark was gone. My mask was, too, and I was going to have to get a new one soon if I were to be doing any more work for Mustang. "My mask broke, too."

"Is this person going to be trouble in the near future?"

"Of course, naturally. I'll see what I can do to take care of it, but I'm not sure if it'll be much."

I turned to look at Roy's face, then, which was bathed in strange shadow, and clips from the animes came back to me. I recognized his 'war face', the hardened built-in mask that was keeping emotion at bay an only addressing what was necessary.

I needed to sort things out. At the moment, I was at an emotional precipice, on one side dangled Envy, by a thread that was wearing thin, and on the other stood Mustang, tall and certain in his path. For me, it was either one or the other, and I had already decided, no matter how sad it made me to leave him behind. But this was a new turn of things, and I had to correct my mistakes, and Cody's.

I stared at Mustang as he returned to his deskwork.

"Where else would you have gone?"

"Good question."

A/N: Holycrap. I'm alive.

So I've got some news for you. I'm moving house, to a completely different area altogether, so although I should have put more effort into getting this chapter together, I can gaurantee it'll be a while before another one comes out. I've got to settle into an entirely new school before exams, and hopefully it won't affect my education at all.

All excuses aside, I'm glad to have picked out this story to work on again, even if all my FMA volumes are packed away. XD

I HIGHLY RECCOMMEND THE SONG Sauglopur BY Sigur Ros.

Please ask questions and point out loopholes and all that. I'm thinking about altering the first few chapters to fit more with storylines, as it's rather hard to keep track of the story as a whole.

Oh yeah, and Mustang doesn't really know that Kit's a Homunculus, she just assumes he knows. That's the fun part. I'm sure they'll have a bit to discuss once Roy remembers to ask her about it.

-HW-