The Elric brothers were staying at the Hughes home, after practically being dragged there by Maes, who was currently sitting up early that morning having a cup of coffee before anyone else had awoke.

Maes had of course heard of them, and of the taboo they committed in trying to bring their mother back to life. But he didn't pry, figuring the boys would have a hard enough time ahead of them already. Something had been growing on his mind lately, he needed to visit the archive room at HQ. Leaving a note on the table, he put on his work uniform and left.

***Central HQ Archive Room***

"Liore, these endless uprisings, Philosophers Stone, human sacrifices, and the outright genocide of the Ishvalan people..." Lieutenant Colonel Hughes muttered to himself as he circled each point on the map. When each point was connected, it became something so horrifying that Hughes couldn't have begun to imagine it in his wildest nightmares.

"This means.....how could this even happen!? Who could've orchestrated something as terrible as this? I've gotta tell the Fuhrer right away!"

The open door to the archive room closed, and the figure of a woman stood between him and the only exit.

"Hello Lieutenant Colonel, its nice to meet you. Well...hello really isn't the word I'm looking for." The woman said in her seductive voice.

Maes saw the Ouroboros tattoo centered above her breasts.

"Cool tattoo." Maes pulled one of his push knives from his sleeve and threw it just as the woman's elongated claws pierced through his shoulder, throwing him against the wall
Lust jerked her claws out from Hughes' shoulder, and aimed for his head, "Enough!" a tall man from the shadows held up his hand and Lust's deadly blades stopped inches from Maes' neck.

A tall black man emerged from the shadows and Lust backed away, retracting her claws. "Captain Fokker? Don't tell me you're involved with this!?"

"Hm? Oh I'm sorry, I'm still incognito aren't I? Hehe, just a sec."

Red light shone everywhere about the room and soon Fokker was gone and before Maes stood a skinny boy with long black hair with a greenish tint to it.

"Father wants us to do things a little differently this time, he's found a new use for the Philosopher's Stone!" Envy held up a vial full of red liquid, he uncorked it and held the struggling and wide eyed Maes down. "This'll only hurt a lot. Hehehehe!" Envy laughed as he poured the solidifying stone into Maes' wound.

Maes Hughes felt an excruciating pain for a little over a minute, and then blacked out.

*****

Hughes rubbed his eyes and yawned, thinking the entire previous occurrence was nothing but a bizarre dream. That was when his vision began to clear and he saw where he was. He was in fact, on the floor of the train at the feet of Alphonse and Edward Elric as they rode through the night toward Winry's house. He began to overhear bits of their conversation, "Its really sad about Lieutenant Colonel Hughes disappearance isn't it Ed?"

"Yeah, I hope they find him safe soon."

Hughes couldn't believe it, how long had he been out?! His family must be worried sick! "First things first," Hughes told himself, "I have to get these two's attention."