In a forest, Alex was jumping and hopping along from branch to branch, finishing an assassination that Roy had given him.

After he had finished, he wanted to have a little more time in the forest.

Though, as he hopped from branch to branch, he felt a touch on his shoulder.

It was Bradley's hand

Alex felt it immediately and stopped on a branch, looking around for whoever touched his shoulder.

After looking around for a bit and hoping to god he wasn't being stalked by Becky, he shrugged it off and continued on in the forest.

December 29th. 2 Days Left

The day went by uneventfully as aside from trying his best to avoid pampering from Akari in the morning and then trying to avoid Becky's horniness all afternoon, nothing really stood in the day for Alex.

By the time he knew it he was at work with Akari calling him a decent 150 times a day to make sure he was okay and Yae leaving him lunch Akari made for him at HQ.

So yeah.

It was another decently nornal day.

Sun was at a point in the sky where the afternoon was almost over but hadn't set yet.

Alex initially was gonna hang out with someone but the choices were difficult mainly cause he knew so many different people.

Mainly woman.

Honestly, Alex didn't understand how he got to meet so many girls.

According to Akari, he had manly charm but he was 13 so Alex immediately rejected that idea.

Either way, his decision didn't really matter as Akari suddenly appeared next to him.

"Wanna hang out?"

"H-How did you?"

"Tine goddess. I froze time and immediately ran over here. The time freeze went by so fast no one noticed."

"Okay then?"

"Anyways, wanna hang?"

"Well, screw it. We can hang."

"Screw it~."

"DON'T, be making those damn jokes. I avoided Becky all day. So don't start with me."

"Fine fine. I won't."

Akari and Alex walked into a nearby diner and ordered drinks and food.

Though, while eating, Akari noticed Alex wasn't eating a whole lot and was preoccupied with his thoughts.

"Hey Alex. You okay?"

"H-Hm? O-Oh, yeah mom. I'm fine."

"You know you can't lie to me."

"I-I know that! Listen, I've just been thinking about a lot since yesterday."

"Did something happen?"

"Bradley's been missing since the 27th. For the last two days, yesterday and today, he never showed up to HQ or was ever seen at his office. Yesterday we thought he went on an unannounced leave for a bit, but then he didn't show up today. Many people are speculating different things."

"Like death?"

Alex sighed and nodded. "Yeah. The radicalists are already thinking of death. Thankfully most of us haven't and some are even looking out for clues."

"Wait. If Bradley's missing, who's in charge?"

"Uncle Roy's been made temporary Führer by all of us voting at HQ while Bradley is missing."

"And if Bradley was indeed missing forever or dead?"

"Then, we'd had to inform an official of Amestris to come here and make Roy the official next Führer."

"Well, this is a great opportunity for Roy." Akari said jokingly only to receive a fork jab to the hand from her child.

"Ow! That hurt Alex!"

"Don't joke around about this! Everyone's taking this seriously! Even Roy! We'd be a mess if Bradley really was dead or missing forever! Yet here you are cracking jokes!"

"A-Alex calm down. I'm just trying to ease up the situation."

Before he could shout more, Alex internally realized he had snapped and slowly sat down.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just, I know you don't trust him and maybe hate him, but, Bradley's really important to me. He gave me a job so I wouldn't be homeless and lie dead. Yeah I know, assassin isn't ever a good job, but, it was my only opportunity. Most people would've stopped caring there, but, Bradley didn't use me as a free hire. No. He did more. He made me his mentor, his student, his protege. He taught me my craft. All my swordsmanship, agility, and techniques are all learned from Bradley."

"And Alchemy?"

"Bradley didn't use Alchemy. So it was Uncle Roy who helped make me use Flame Alchemy, and General Alchemy was simple thanks to Transmutation Circle. But mostly everything I know, is thanks to Bradley."

Akari took each word of info in and sighed.

She knew deep down, she'd most likley never fully trust Bradley.

He had been a shady man his whole life. Hell, Akari was legitimately shocked when she found out that Bradley had no involvement in the massacre.

But, even with all the distrust, Akari could never really hate Bradley.

If anything, the feeling was mutual.

Akari knew very well that Alex was right.

Bradley did save his life offering him a job all those years ago.

If anything, Akari just wanted one talk with the man, just to thank him for raising her son so damn well.

"Alex."

"Yeah mom?"

"If it's that important to you, I'll stop joking."

"N-No don't. I just overreacted and-."

"No. You didn't overreact. That reaction was understandable. I can tell Bradley the father figure you had desperately needed while I was away."

Alex was shocked at this sudden turn around in Akari's mood as he got up, sat at her side of the booth, and hugged her.

"I just, really miss him. I'm deeply worried."

"I know you are. But don't worry. Remember that bad feeling we had a few days back?"

"Y-Yeah. It's gone away for me."

"It has for me as well. So that most likely means Bradley will be alright."

Alex had a small smile as he separated from the hug.

"I hope your right."

Akari placed a hand over Alex's head and softly patted it.

"Trust me. Akari is always 100% right!"

Alex chuckled as they both finished their food and drinks, and then walked out of the diner.

"You gonna come back home now or walk around some more?"

"I'm gonna walk to clear my head."

"Okay then. When you return I'll already have diner hot and ready for you."

"Thanks mom. See ya soon."

Akari kissed Alex's cheek and walked back to the apartment.

The moment that happened, Alex received a text message as he read it.

Roy: Alex. Come to HQ immediately. We, found something. We have a conclusion.

"A conclusion?"

[Timeskip. Location: Black Ops HQ]

This was odd.

HQ was always brimming with smiles, laughter, and cheers but now, it was a little quiet excluding the usual conversations.

Another odd thing was that a decent amout of members walked up to Alex and just gave him a nice, long hug.

As Alex walked by, he thought they were just being really nice, though, when Alex was outta view, those members gave somber looks and some even cried a little.

As Alex made it to Bradley's office, now Roy's temporarily, he saw his Aunt step out of the room.

"Hey Aunt Riza. Can you explain what's going on? Everyone was a little quieter than usual and were all giving hugs."

Riza had a small smile on her face and kneeled to hug her Nephew.

"Don't mind them Alex. Just focus on whar your Uncle Roy has gotta tell you okay?"

Alex nodded as Riza stopped the hug and walked on, wiping away a tear.

"Dammit Roy. It's beginning to rain inside."

Alex knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Alex slowly opened the door and seeing Roy sitting at the desk, elbows on the desk as both hands were up to his face.

"Alex. I'm glad your here. This is really important."

Alex cautiously sat down.

"So, what's going on?"

"As you know, we've had our search team look for Bradley the last two days."

"Yeah."

"Well, we didn't find anything yesterday, but, today someone had found an amazing find."

"W-What is it!? Is it Bradley!?"

"Well, no not quite. Though, it does belong to him."

Roy turned around and then turned back to reveal Bradley's blue top coat that had been blown off during his fight against Akira.

'O-Oh my god! Mom was right! The 100% Akari guaranteed was true!'

"B-Bradley is alive! Yes! Thank you so much Uncle Roy!"

Right as Alex began to celebrate, Roy smacked him across the cheek shocking Alex.

'I'm sure Akari's gonna be yelling at me about this pretty soon.' Thought Roy.

"W-What was that for?" Asked Alex a little confused.

"Kid. Look closer at the jacket."

"Closer?"

"I'm sorry Alex."

Alex looked closer at the jacket and saw something that made his stomach sink.

Rips, holes, and most of all, two large blood stains and wounds.

"Führer King Bradley, is dead."

Chapter 29: End