The Phoenix and His Demons

Okay, so here you go, yet another chapter. Now that I have some time, it\'s time to answer some questions. First of all, this will not be just a romance fic. I have never been one to write just romance or smut, so I hate to disappoint anyone that was just looking for that. Mind you, now that I\'ve said this, someone will probably beg me with Mokuba eyes and dingbat me will give in, but...we\'ll get to that when/if it happens. This story does have a plot and it will be introduced in this chapter. I can\'t even begin to wonder how long this story is going to be, but I hope everyone who has enjoyed it so far will continue to do so.

I rather figured it was WWI but, since this is an AU, I\'m making it WWII because it suits the content of the story better, though I appreciate you letting me know.

Those of you looking for a bit more romance, you wish has been answered in this chapter. Since I have a feeling that this is going to be a long story, I\'m not going to force two characters into anything too quickly, it doesn\'t seem natural. Yeah I know, seven chapters isn\'t exactly quick but hell, that was just the introduction and getting everyone back together, now the real story begins.

Enjoy ladies and gents and as always I love to hear from you.

(added 9-16)
So one mistake in eight chapters, that\'s not too bad and I daresay it had to be because I was writing at work. I\'m a substitute teacher and the kids definitely drive me \'mental\'

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Mission


\"I still protest it wasn\'t a date, damn it\" Edward was pouting. No, pouting was an understatement, he was sulking.

\"Yeah, whatever. Just quit stalling and spill it already.\" If Ed thought he could get Al to relent, the older blonde was terribly mistaken.

\"All right,\" he finally gave in with a sigh. Since this would take a bit of time, he got comfortable on the bed, leaning against the wall and facing his brother. \"Well, it started with my report. The same story I told you and that I don\'t plan on ever repeating if I can help it. After he read it, he was upset and I was just pissy about him being a jerk the previous day. After that, I holed up in here relaxing and reading up on what I\'ve missed over the last six years, which really wasn\'t very interesting. They thought I was having some sort of emotional moment or something so Hawkeye threatened to shoot him if he didn\'t come apologize. I swear I never thought they\'d still be treating me like a kid; it\'s annoying. So he cam, I laughed and told him I was well past being an emotional wreck, and if he had any sense he\'d do the same. We went round and round on that for a while and when he was leaving he offered to take me to dinner to apologize for being an ass.\"

\"That\'s really informative Ed, but get to the good part already.\"

\"You know, you\'ve gotten really demanding.\" That was followed by more sulking and defeated grumbles before he continued. \"All right, dinner. He took me to this fancy restaurant; don\'t remember the name. I\'m pretty sure it was just to make sure I was \'less likely\' to cause a scene if he started being a jerk.\"

**********

Edward gave a low whistle as they walked into the restaurant. They had crystal chandeliers, candles on the tables and there was someone at the door who greeted hem and took their coats. \"Good evening, General. Your usual table, sir?\"

\"That will do nicely.\" And once again there was that smirk that drove Fullmetal nuts.

\"Very good. This way sirs.\" Ed kept his mouth shut as they were led through a maze of tables finally arriving at one in the back corner. The table had a nice view out the window it was next to; you could see the city lights like a thousand stars come to earth. All along the way people stopped their conversations or paused in their meals when they passed. The younger alchemist decided it had to be the uniforms. He wasn\'t unused to stares, but they still annoyed him. Mustang seemed to be enjoying them, the smug bastard.

Once they were seated, Mustang ordered a bottle of wine, something Ed knew very little about except they often tasted sweet or bitter, and the pair settled in while glancing over the menus. \"I guess it would be stating the obvious to mention you must come here often. They know your name and you even have your own table.\"

\"Well, I do admit I used to frequent this place quite a bit before I was transferred to Eastern Command and have been known to visit on occasion since I\'ve been transferred back.\"

\"Yeah and probably always with some eye candy hanging off your arm, I\'ll bet. No wonder Havoc was always bitching about you getting all the women. I doubt he could afford a place like this on a regular basis.\"

\"Indeed, but you said you wanted to waste my moment so here we are.\" There was something in the way he said that that worried the young alchemist. It wasn\'t bad, but it was worrisome. He suddenly felt very much like prey.

\"I\'m not sure how, but I know you\'re going to find a way to make me regret this.\" Mustang just smirked; that was \'not\' a good sign. Thankfully the waiter arrived to pour the wine and take their orders. Mustang ordered something that sounded like pasta with lobster or crab, some kind of seafood, but fancy food wasn\'t his forte, and so he couldn\'t be sure. He went with something simple; a steak, steamed vegetables and there was something else as a side he didn\'t recognize the name of. Once their orders were taken, they were left alone with a bit of an awkward silence before the General finally spoke up.

\"I know you obviously plan on picking up where you left off with causing chaos, blowing things up and generally being a pain in the ass,\" perhaps that wasn\'t the best way to start the conversation as it had golden eyes glaring at him. \"But have you given anything thought to anything else? A life that doesn\'t involve the military?\"

He\'d taken a few sips of his wine; already certain that he\'d need it to keep calm. \"Yes and no. I know eventually I would probably want to settle down and maybe have a family but that\'s eventually and probably something I\'ll have to develop the desire for later. It\'s just not my priority; I\'m not really sure what is. Not like you can say much about that though. I can\'t recall the number of times I heard Maes harassing you about finding a wife and obviously you still haven\'t listened. It just isn\'t that big a deal to me. Al\'s the one I can see with the pretty wife and lots of kids who I get to be the horrible uncle to and spoil them rotten with candy and stuff I\'m not supposed to teach them.\"

The dark haired man chuckled, shaking his head. Edward was going to run the risk of becoming a permanent bachelor if he wasn\'t careful. \"I see. Sounds awfully familiar.\"

\"I know, much to my chagrin.\"

That earned him another smirk accompanied by a laugh. Mustang was also nursing his wine, occasionally glancing at the blonde. For two people that had known each other for a decade, they certainly were having a hard time holding a conversation that didn\'t involved work or the random insults and shouting that were second nature. \"Explain something to me, Edward. How did you do it?\"

The blonde paused in mid sip, a bit of a confused look graced his features. Mustang almost never used his first name. \"How did I do what?\"

\"Learn to forgive yourself and put the past behind you.\"

\"Well,\" great, a question he wasn\'t sure how to answer without inviting ridicule. \"It took a lot of tears and warm arms before I forgave myself. It wasn\'t love, wasn\'t quite just lust either, it was just nice to have a constant reminder that in a world where I was all alone by that time, some one still wanted and desired me. They didn\'t judge or condemn me, just accepted me with flaws and all. But that was only part of it.\"

\"Amusing. It\'s hard to think of you not being oblivious or naive to such things.\" That earned him another glare.

\"Hey! I learn through experience just like everyone else and that happens to be an equivalent exchange I rather enjoy, thank you very much!\" He donned a smug \'so there\' expression while Mustang gave a slight cough to cover the fact he\'d almost choked on his wine. He wasn\'t sure if he would ever get used to hearing such things from Fullmetal.

\"I see. So what\'s the rest of it?\"

\"Well the moving on part came when I found out my lover had been spying on me the whole time and turning information into those murdering bastards that just helped them kill people much more quickly. Suffice to say you know I don\'t take being used well and that...turned out messily. So after I near killed a few people I decided \'fuck this\' and tripled my efforts getting home and here I am. It hurts too much to think about it and my pride doesn\'t like me admitting I was fooled so the more I thought about it, the better it seemed to just put it behind me. Lesson learned, hand slapped and I\'ll be damned if I let it happen again. But it also means I\'m not going to run away and hide either. I\'m not coward, but then...we\'ve been over all this already tonight.\"

\"Edward, sometimes you\'re too smart for your own good.\"

Before the younger officer could respond, their orders arrived and other than the occasional comment about the food or service, they were mostly quiet. Dessert was another adventure when the ultra rich cheesecake arrived. It would be no wonder why he was so hyper later.

After dessert, they both finished off their glasses of wine and sat quietly for a moment in reflection, before the waiter brought the check. \"Well Edward, I certainly hope you enjoyed yourself being as expensive as you are.\"

Instead of ranting he just laughed, \"Well actually, Roy, I did. Seems you can be a decent human and not just a jackass. When you want to be.\"

\"And you can be fairly pleasant company when you\'re not disobeying orders or throwing some loud, childish tantrum.\"

\"Yeah, but you know damn well your day would be so much more boring if I didn\'t.\"

\"And you wouldn\'t have anyone to keep you on your toes if I didn\'t. It sounds a bit immature, but I suppose we should both admit we enjoy annoying the hell out of each other.\"

\"And it won\'t likely change any time soon. I think I like that. So we agree to keep disagreeing, right?\"

\"Right.\" He paid for the meal then stood, motioning for him to follow. They collected their coats and walked side-by-side back towards the dorms. About two blocks away, Mustang paused. \"And this is where we part company. Get some rest. I expect you to be in the office on time tomorrow.\"

\"Of course, sir. Good night.\" He started to walk away, but was stopped by a tug on his sleeve that pulled him around to face the dark haired General. He\'d opened his mouth to question him, but found soft lips pressed against his instead. It wasn\'t like he hadn\'t been kissed before but there was something about these particular lips kissing him that sent his mind reeling. They were so soft and while brief, so tender that he wasn\'t sure it was the bastard kissing him or not. When he recovered from his shock, the General was a good distance down the street with his back to the blonde, yet he could still smell his cologne. \"Ah shit.\" Now he knew what the price for dinner had been and he\'d have to walk back with a thousand questions running through his mind. Why the hell did he do that? What was going to happen now because of it? Was anything going to happen because of it? Did he even like it? Would he want him to do it again? Thankfully, he received a bit of a reprieve from the haunting questions when he returned to the dorms to find Al, though nothing lasts forever.

**********

\"...and so that\'s what happened. Are you satisfied now?\" He\'d asked with a bit more annoyance in his voice than was necessary. He hadn\'t needed to ask the question though; Al\'s continued snickering and giggling should\'ve been answer enough.

\"See, I \'told\' you it was a date.\" Edward picked up a pillow and smacked his brother-turned-hyena with it before hiding in his bed. That only served to make him laugh more and it got Al a threatening glare.

\"So help me, if you mention this to anyone...I\'ll...I\'ll...Well, I don\'t know what I\'ll do but it won\'t be nice.\"

\"All right, brother. Good night.\" The singsong quality of that wasn\'t very reassuring, but he\'d have to accept it.

\"G\'night Al.\" He didn\'t bother changing from his uniform; he\'d just use alchemy in the morning to unripe it.

The next morning was oddly routine. They both got up, albeit a bit tired, and readied to go to the office. It seemed as if Ed had never been gone, they were that comfortable with each other. The only difference was this time it was Al who had to give his report, not Ed. The were more greetings, jokes and general chit-chat when they arrived, but to Ed\'s relief nothing about last night was mentioned. He reassured them he was fine and hadn\'t been upset at all. That seemed to relax everyone a bit and it got Roy off the chopping block. Soon enough they were called in.

\"Sit down you two, we have a lot to discuss.\" Neither of them liked the sound of that. Al took a seat in one of the hard chairs in front of the desk while Edward sprawled on the couch.

\"Al, we\'ll start with your report.\"

\"Yes, sir.\" He rose only long enough to hand the neatly prepared document over before returning to his seat. \"It was the same as all the others, I\'m afraid. Three bodies, two men and a woman this time, all in their early twenties. They were mutilated as before, the same strange markings inscribed into their skin. I made drawings of them. They do have slight differences between all of them, but I still haven\'t found anything remotely close in all my research.\"

Mustang had raised his hand to silence Fullmetal\'s questions until Al was finished. \"That\'s unfortunate, though now that Fullmetal\'s back he can perhaps give this case a new insight.\" He turned to face the older brother and leaned back in his chair. \"Lately there have been a rash of strange murders in different parts of the country. Three in Lior, Youswell and East City. Usually yes, this would be the domain of the police but in each city there\'s always three bodies with markings on them we haven\'t figured out yet. They seem to be transmutation circles and yet no one has ever seen their like before. Also, when reproduced, they do not function for alchemical purposes. Or at least none we\'ve been able to discern.\"

\"Are there any common connections with the victims in their lives?\"

\"Afraid not. It doesn\'t even seem to be a gender preference. All they have in common is their relative ages and the way they died.\"

\"What about the time or places they were killed? Are there any patterns to that? Any set number of days between murders? Or some sort of constant phenomena?\"

\"It\'s possible, but if there is a pattern we haven\'t been able to find the connection yet. There is also very little evidence left at the scene and where the bodies were dumped is not where they were killed. We\'ve been unable to find that information either.\"

\"Boy, you just had to come up with something big for a welcome home, didn\'t you?\"

\"But of course, Fullmetal. This is very serious though, serious enough I\'m assigning my best men, so don\'t disappoint me. Al, make sure your brother is familiarized with the case and investigation so far as soon as possible. I don\'t want to give this maniac a chance to kill someone else in another city.\" He fished out a stack of case files and placed them on his desk. \"Any questions?\"

\"Not yet, but I\'m sure I\'ll think of some once I\'ve talked to Al and read through all this crap.\"

\"Good, then you two are dismissed.\" They rose, Edward grabbing the files from the desk as they exited.

\"So much for fun and games, eh Al?\" He tried to give a weak smile but this was no laughing matter. The brothers once more took up semi residence in the library and got to work.