"Evie!" A voice yelled.

I turned, expecting to see Edward and Alphonse, but instead I was shocked to see Hughes. "Hughes?" I said. "What's up?"

"'What's up'?" He cried. "Haven't you heard the news? Your reassignment spread like wildfire! What happened?"

"Hughes, I don't pay attention to gossip," I sighed. "And besides, I wasn't worthy of the job in the first place, so why bother? Anyways, did you need something?"

"Well, I do need your help," Hughes said.

"Huh? With what?"

"Edward drew this transmutation circle and wants me to look into it. Got any ideas what it could mean?"

He handed me a piece of paper and I looked at it. It was a huge transmutation circle with smaller circles within and all were connected by lines similar to a spiderweb. I handed back to Hughes, shaking my head, "I don't have the slightest clue what this could mean."

"Well, I guess it's time to hit the books," he sighed.

*~*~*~*~*~

"The Liore insurgency?" Hughes asked.

"Yes, where that new religion 'Letoism' or whatever was suckering the people," a fellow soldier in the library explained as Hughes read newspaper clippings. Miss Sheska was at another desk and looked like she was dying, as she still had several more copies of criminal records she had to duplicate. "Sounds like it's finally under control," the soldier continued, sighing.

"Between Ishval and these insurgencies, the eastern is having a rough time of it, huh?" Hughes remarked.

"It's not just the eastern area," the soldier added. "There are uprisings and border skirmishes in the north and west too."

"The bodies are piling up all over, are they?" Hughes said.

"The government might just be overthrown before too long." Hughes suddenly sat up, putting down the article as he left. "Evie, lets go," he said.

"Colonel, where are you going?" The soldier asked.

"I'm running over to the archive room," Hughes explained as I followed him out the door.

*~*~*~*~*~

Hughes had a giant map of the country out, and I was fetching papers on events he had requested. He skimmed through these papers, circling locations on the map. "Liore...uprisings all over...the Philosopher's Stone...ingredients are humans...what we did in Ishval...hey, now, who was it that came up with this?" He muttered to himself. "I have to tell the Führer, quickly."

A shadow looked over us and we turned, seeing Lust once again. She was one of the my kidnappers from a few days ago. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," she smiled. "And a pleasure we meet again, Clockwork. Or, perhaps I should say, 'farewell'."

She backed us up, unleashing her extendable yet sharp fingernails. Hughes eyed the tattoo she had. "Cool tattoo you got there," he said cooly.

"You've learned too much, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," Lust said.

She pulled back, ready to kill us but Hughes quickly pulled out his knife he had and chucked it at her head, dodging last minute so she only stabbed his shoulder. I unsheathed my swords as threw it like a javelin as well, landing the killing blow on her stomach.

We needed to get out of here. I quickly folded up the map Hughes drew on as well as the paper Edward gave to him and tucked it within my jacket. Hughes clenched his teeth as he stumbled, clutching his shoulders. "Easy does it," I said, putting his good arm over my shoulders as I helped him out of the archive room.

"Damn it!" He cussed in pain.

As we reared the entrance of the building, the telephone operator noticed us. "Oh, my, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," she snidely remarked, as he came here often to make phone calls to Colonel Mustang about his wife and daughter. "Here to call and brag about your family some more--" she turned around in her chair and stopped herself when she saw the state we both were in. "Colonel, you're bleeding!" She cried.

"It's nothing!" He snapped. "I need the phone!"

"No, you need to head to the hospital wing at once!" I cut in. "Whatever you discovered can wait-we need to treat that wound and make sure that--"

"The perpetual office..." he muttered, not listening to me as he placed a bloody hand on the telephone, but he stopped himself.

"Hughes?" I asked quietly, looking at him in bewilderment.

Quickly, he lifted his hand and hurried out of the building. "Sorry to have bothered you," he stumbled on.

"Eh? Colonel!" She cried as we exited the building.

*~*~*~*~*~

I turned around as I helped Hughes get to the hospital wing when I saw a familiar shadow flickered. "Shit, she's following us!" I hissed.

"What?" Hughes turned around. "How did she survive that attack?"

"I don't know," I replied. "You-go on to the hospital wing. I'll keep her busy and make my run for it."

Hughes nodded and stumbled off. Lust revealed herself. "Looking for this?" She smirked, holding up the bloodied sword I stabbed her with earlier. She laughed as she threw it up into the air, extending her nails and slicing the sword to bits.

"Ha!" I laughed. "It didn't matter if you did that, as you can see--" I unsheathed my other sword. "I have a second one!"

We exchanged a few slashes but she got the upper hand, as she was quicker. She slashed at me and I blocked them, stepping back with each one so she didn't close up on me. I jabbed at her and she took a few steps back before jumping backwards. I clapped my hands, and placed them on the ground. A spark traveled and a clock appeared underneath her heels, ground exploding. However, this was a smaller one. This was meant to break the surface beneath her and trap her legs underneath so I can run for it. But, I decided to pry first. "What do you want from us?" I cried. "What did Hughes ever do to you guys?"

"Hm, I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe you should ask him yourself, directly."

On cue, a gunshot rang through the air. My pupils dilated, realizing what happened. "HUGHES!!" I screamed, sheathing my sword and dashing over to the source of the noise.

Sprinting, I spotted a body slouching in a telephone booth. Rushing over and holding onto the open door, I recognized it was Hughes. "Hughes!" I screamed, hovering over him. "I'm here!" I noticed blood was seeping out of his side and a small hole was visible. Blood had soaked through his clothing and formed a puddle, seeping out of the booth. "Oh my god, you've been shot!" I covered my mouth in horror.

I crouched down and placed a hand on his hand, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Hughes winced at the pain. "Hughes!" I was crying now. "Stay with me!"

He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at me. "Evie...?" He asked.

I smiled softly through the tears as they dripped down, mixing with the blood. "You'll be fine. Don't worry!"

"Stop crying..." he grunted. "Soldiers don't cry..."

Hughes began to pale from loss of blood. In the pool of blood, I noticed a corner of a photo. I swiped it, seeing it was a blood-soaked photo of Hughes, Mrs. Gracia, and Elicia. I flicked it, getting most of the blood off as I showed him the red photo. "Hughes!" I called. "Look here! Look! Look at this photo of your beautiful wife and daughter. Why don't you tell me all about them right now. Is Elicia still trying to master the tricycle? I heard Winry and you got to try Mrs. Gracia's apple pies. Are they good? Save me one next time!"

"Elicia...Gracia..." he mumbled, reminded of his family.

"That's right!" I smiled through desperate tears. "Tell me--"

"I'm sorry," he sobbed, looking up at the sky, eyes glassy. "I promised I'd be home early. Daddy...loves you all."

His head lulled and he closed his eyes. My eyes widened, tears still falling. "Hey...Hughes...?" I asked, taking my bloody hand off the wound and started to shake him. "Hughes...Hughes...wake up! Please! If this is a joke, it's not funny! Please! Look, I'm actually crying now! You got me! Ha ha! I admit it! So please-wake up!"

I started to anxiously laugh, waiting for Hughes to open his eyes and give me his signature grin and laugh, patting my shoulder at how I fell for his dirty pranks. But, instead, Hughes sat there, stone cold. "You're...you're not dead, right?" I whispered harshly. "You can't...you promised Uncle Roy that you'd be there once he becomes Führer! You promised you'd be one step behind him! You can't just leave him now! He needs you!"

Hughes didn't respond. No...it couldn't be...he can't be dead...I won't accept it! I took both hands off and looked at them. They shook, as if they were having a seizure and were soaked with his blood. My vision began to blur as the realization finally settled I screamed as I sobbed, covering my eyes with my blood hands. "WHY???!!!" I screamed.

Why are the happiest people...are always the first to go?