Morphed

Chapter Twenty Three

I'm sorry for the, like, two month wait. o-0

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, all that crap. xD

Super short chapter, because I'm holidaying at my dad's at the moment (yes, I brought my laptop with me this time).

Enjoy.

  ./././.  

So here we are, fighting and trying to hide the scars.
I'll be home tonight, take a breath and softly say goodbye.
The lonely road, the one that I should try to walk alone.
I'll be home tonight, take a breath and softly say goodbye.

~Here We Are (Breaking Benjamin)

  ./././.  

Maes was so sick of this. He had pulled an all nighter to help Mustang's team collect and file all of this information, and they had pulled enough evidence to have General Hakuro taken into custody for questioning. It probably would have been a lot easier with Mustang's help, but he and Hawkeye both agreed not to call him in. He needed to keep an eye out on Ed, and he wouldn't be able to do that if they called him in. So he and the team dealt with the problem on their own.

And now, at nine o'clock in the morning, he was sitting here, in a chair opposite Hakuro, the interrogation going absolutely nowhere. Hakuro was blatantly denying all the evidence against him, and half an hour after he'd been brought in, he didn't seem likely to crack any time soon. Maes was sick of this day already. And it wasn't even lunch time yet.

"Listen here, Lieutenant Colonel, for the twentieth time, I don't know where you got all this 'evidence'," he quoted his fingers, "but I'm telling you right now, I was. Not. There when Major Elric was held captive. I've never been to the place in my life, I wasn't even part of the division that recovered Elric. I had absolutely no part in any of it and you have no right to keep me here." Hakuro insisted, and Maes resisted the urge to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Well, the people we've questioned and the times we've pulled state differently. You were seen, General, entering the scene of the crime, by multiple people, several times. And those times coincide with the dates on the photographs in the files recovered." Maes said, not for the first time. Hakuro opened his mouth to speak again when the door to the interrogation room opened and something...strange...happened.

The Fuhrer, King Bradley himself, walked in.

"So, what seems to be the trouble, Lieutenant Colonel?" He said, and Maes blinked.

"F-fuhrer Bradley!" He exclaimed stupidly, and almost slapped himself immediately after. Quickly he saluted. "May I ask what you're doing here, sir?"

"Oh, I just heard that you had the General in custody, and I wanted to know what was what." Bradley told him. Maes took a breath and began to explain all the evidence himself and Mustang's team had collected and what it all meant. Bradley didn't say a word during his explanation but once he was done, asked to see the files and and the evidence Maes had brought with him.

He spent several minutes reading it all, occasionally frowning, his eyes widening in surprise every once in a while. Maes could feel his heart racing. If the Fuhrer did what he expected him to do and defended the General, then it was all over. Everything they'd pulled together would be worthless, because in the eyes of a judge, if the Fuhrer himself disagreed with the evidence, then they would deem their case worthless and award the General benefit of the doubt.

Once again, the Fuhrer surprised him.

"Well Lieutenant Colonel, I'd say you have enough evidence to prove the General's guilt." He said, turning to face him. For a moment Maes couldn't think of what to say, instead focusing on General Hakuro's expression of mixed rage and shock, before realizing he was standing there like an idiot.