The light shined with all its strength on the military headquarter of Central City, making all the smooth rock structure to be covered with a blinding white halo.
As always, Colonel Roy Mustang was sitting behind his desk, with a scowled face, while checking some documentation and fixing some bumf.
He was incredibly concentrated on his job, his head completely bent on the papers, when lieutenant Riza Hawkeye opened the door. The crackling caused Mustang to lift his head suddenly.
"Colonel Mustang. Sorry to disturb You, but the Elric brothers are here, as You asked."
"Very Well, make them enter."
Edward Elric, with a bored expression on his face, entered followed by his brother Alphonse, who overtopped him. He let his body fall on the soft green sofa in the middle of the office and then yawned.
"What the hell...why did you make us call so urgently? I hope it's something that worths it...."
"It does, fullmetal. Didn't you tell that the recent lack of job was getting you bored? Well, I have some job for you."
Then the colonel got up and gave to the young alchemist a ream of papers, and Edward began soon to leaf through it. They looked to be all dossiers of civilians, and each of them had their own photos and description. Underneath it there was a full summary of some investigations done and then a menacing bold type writing: "disappeared in mysterious circumstances".
"Disappearing people? Police should be involved in this, not army."
"If you had read more carefully those dossiers, fullmetal, probably you would have noticed that all these vanished people came all from villages of the Eastern Lands."
"Eastern lands, you said?"
"The recently conquered by the army lands, you mean?" Al said.
"Not exactly "conquered"." then Roy sat down again, putting his hands behind the head.
"We received the jurisdiction on these lands since a recent long-lasting situation of anarchy made them uncontrollable and potentially dangerous."
"I heard weird stories about those lands. I have shivers every time i recall them on my mind."
"Oh, come on, Al! Won't you really believe in some stupid ghost stories?"
"Uh, well, not.....uhm, sorry....." Al said, really embarassed and bending down his head ashamed.
If he had his real body, probably he would be in a slight cold sweat.
"Anyway, we think that these disappearances are not casual. We noticed that, in most of the cases, the victim was leaving his home or work place before vanishing, and that the event happened right after midnight or after one o'clock."
"Well, I don't think it's a coindicence, it almost seems there's a coordinated action. I wouldn't be surprised if a group or some criminal organization was behind this."
"We had a similar idea. But our investigation brought us to nowhere and, what's more, people is not happy to collaborate with foreigners, especially with soldiers.And this is where you make your entrance. Edward and Alphonse Elric, I want you to go to Eastern Lands and discover what's going on there. I want a complete report when you'll come back. I give you total carte blanche. You'll be leaving Central City tomorrow morning, if there's no problem. Any questions?"
"No, sir."
"Good. Keep the dossiers with you. You'll need them."
And then the Colonel dismissed the two Elric brothers, who were lead out of the office in the middle of the main corridor. The door behind them was closed with a slam.
"Wow! Great deal! He just called us to solve a minor case in which his unqualified minions failed."
"I wouldn't say so, brother. This thing looks to be serious. According to the papers number, many people have left without a trace."
"Yeah, probably you're right...."
He took the dossier again and gave another look to those people, and those strange photos. The incredible shadows under their eyes, those possesed faces, altogether with the deepest and longest wrinkles Edward had ever seen on the older victims, make those people appear more as plastic masks. A thing which unsettled him a little deep inside his soul.
"Ed? What should we do?"
"What?"
"I mean, what do you think we should do first? Mustang just gave us some informations, but we don't have still a good trail."
"Uhm....I had an half idea about that. Once arrived, we should..."
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