This chapter wrote itself. At the start I said there wouldn't be any pairings and so I've kept this as vague as possible to stick to my word. It also skips to post-series, so spoilers for that.

This is the last chapter, so thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!

"The boy," the king said, gesturing at Edward, "how old is he?"

Mustang paused in his meal at the question. "He's fourteen." They had all been released from the hospital, even Edward, with the promise from the royal family that they could spend another few days recovering in the palace before leaving. They had been invited to brunch that morning in the solar. When they arrived, they found Ed already there, sprawled out on a lounge with his leg propped up and a tray of food next to him. The princess had planted herself next to him upon arriving and hadn't left his side since.

The king and queen exchanged a look and whispered quietly to each other.

"She very taken with him," the king went on, watching across the room as the princess accosted Ed with a fistful of colored pencils. The two could barely understand each other, but it was clear Maribella wanted Ed to color with her. And Ed, laid up with a broken leg and one functional arm, was really in no shape to refuse her. "She wants us to knight him."

Falman choked on his macaroon and Breda started laughing loud enough to get Ed's attention. He scowled at them from across the room, too far away to hear what was being said, before being pulled back to coloring by the princess's forceful insistence.

"That… is quite the honor," Mustang replied, obviously trying to be polite about it, "but I assure you, Fullmetal is hardly ready for-"

"His being an Amestrian would normally bar him, save for some sort of political agreement," the king continued, "Knighting him will put him in a favorable light, lessen the outrage around the match."

Mustang hesitated in reaching for his coffee. "Bar him from-? I'm sorry, Your Grace, I don't follow."

The queen waved a hand towards Ed and Maribella. "My cousin's youngest is his age. She's been scrambling to find a match before she turns sixteen and is presented to the court and publically embarrassed by the lack of suitors." She straightened in her chair. "Raquel is soon to turn fifteen, and will sadly only inherit a small barony in the north. It has made her marriage prospects quite hard to come by."

The Colonel stared. "You want Fullmetal to court a baroness?"

Havoc's fingers went numb and his toast slipped from his fingers. Across the table, Breda was laughing so hard he wasn't even making noise anymore.

"I do apologize if I offended, Colonel Mustang. I know State Alchemists are held in high standing in your country, but I must admit I do not know exactly how it would align with our own gentry."

Hawkeye had her head in her hands; Havoc couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or trying not to laugh. Possibly both. The mental image of Ed trying to navigate the Cretan royal court was both horrifying and hilarious.

And then the image of Ed, perched on a throne with a crown on his head, flashed through Havoc's mind. Ed, with the ability to command as he pleased. Havoc felt the icy tendrils of fear creep down his spine.

"I will be sure to pass on your invitation," Mustang replied, his tone suggesting he would do no such thing. A moment passed and he added, "In Amestris, marriage is held off until both parties are of legal age."

"And how old is that? Sixteen?"

"Twenty-five," Mustang lied smoothly, taking a sip of his coffee.

"That's not- ow!" Falman began, but Havoc slammed his heel down on the man's toes, cutting him off. He was entirely on board with Mustang lying about this.

The queen looked decidedly disappointed at this, but the king nodded once, seemingly resigned. "We shall wait, then. Raquel's family will just have to brave through it."

Across the room, Ed had fallen asleep and Maribella had taken that as an invitation to draw all over his cast. At the moment, her work consisted mostly of colorful scribbles. The rest of the breakfast past uneventfully, thankfully with no more effort from the king and queen to recruit Edward into the Cretan royal family.

"Fullmetal. I forbid you to go to Creta."

Over the line, Ed blew a raspberry to emphasize just how little he cared for Mustang's order. "Last I checked, I don't work for you anymore, Colonel."

Havoc snickered. Mustang was holed up in his office, door closed, supposedly having his "discussion" with Edward in private. But his staff was nothing if not nosy, and so Fuery had diligently tapped the line so they could all cluster around the headset and eavesdrop.

It had all started with one of Al's monthly letters. With all his traveling, Al had problems physically stopping by, so he remedied that with sending out letters. And to no one's surprise, the best way to keep track of Ed was through Al.

General Mustang had taken one look at Al's comment about Ed going to Creta's capitol city, swore colorfully, and stormed into his office. And so now here they were, ignoring the day's workload in favor of what would undoubtedly be a spectacular throwdown.

"They only sent tickets for me," Ed went on, "Had to go buy enough for everyone. The kids are going to love this, though, gonna be totally worth it."

"Your oldest is what, four? None of them are going to remember this."

"So? We can go back. They like me enough to invite me once, I'll probably get invited again."

Havoc could practically hear the General's blood pressure beginning to skyrocket. "You- No. You can't."

Breda leaned forward. "You think he'll tell Ed this is really an invitation to go court that baroness?"

"I doubt it," Falman replied.

"A hundred cens says he lets it slip on accident," Havoc said.

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "I'll take that bet."

A small pile of bills quickly formed on the desk between them.

"Mustang!" Ed snapped over the line, "What is your hang-up with this? I spent months is Creta before and you never said anything!"

"That was different!" Mustang shot back, his voice rising enough to be heard through the door of his office. "You were on the other side of the country!"

"The other side from what?"

"From-!"

Havoc, and the rest of the staff, leaned forward in anticipation. This is it, he's going to spill, Havoc thought gleefully, one eye on the pile of bills. Falman and Hawkeye always won the betting pools- just once he'd like to snatch victory from under their noses.

But Mustang was a master at controlling himself, presenting the face he wanted people to see. He clamped down on his words, determined to keep the truth away from Ed.

Ed took the resulting silence as a challenge and rose to meet it. "What're you gonna do? Stop my train? Close the border?"

"I just might," Mustang snapped, voice tight.

"Then you can haul yourself down here and explain to the kids that they can't go on this trip because Grandpa Matchstick is being a crotchety old man-"

"Fullmetal-!"

"-and his gout is making him cranky and unreasonable."

"I do not have gout." The general almost sounded petulant.

Ed made a noise that might have been a word or a belch. Either way, it spoke volumes of his opinion of Mustang. "Who even told you I was going?"

"Alphonse did. He has the common courtesy to let us know when one of you is about to go gallivanting about the continent."

"Whatever. Meet me at the West City train station if you want an ass kicking." The line went dead.

Mustang slammed the phone down loud enough for them to hear in the outer office. A moment passed before Falman quietly picked up the stack of cens and began to divvy them up between himself and Hawkeye. Havoc tried, and failed, to hide his look of disappointment. If only Ed hadn't hung up- he was sure Mustang had been on the verge of spilling the beans.

Several moments passed before Mustang stomped out of his office. He watched Falman count out the bills with a complete lack of surprise. "Hawkeye," he said, "get me on the phone with West City's command's center."

"No, sir," Hawkeye replied, accepting her winnings from Falman.

"This has the potential to become an international incident, Hawkeye. The king and queen will take this is a deliberate snub from Amestris."

"They'll take it as a snub from you personally, sir, since you told them you'd inform Edward of the marriage arrangement." She pocketed the money.

Mustang's jaw worked angrily. "It was not an arrangement, it was- it was-"He glanced over at the rest of his men, obviously looking for backup. Breda shook his head, once, slowly.

Falman had stashed his own winnings away. "You should tell Edward, sir."

"I'll never hear the end of it from him."

"You'll never hear the end of it if he walks blind into his own engagement party."

Havoc leaded back in his chair, taking solace in his betting loss with the fact that Mustang's day was well on its way to being ruined. "You really should have told them we don't do arranged marriages in Amestris," he said, folding his hands behind his head and feeling a little too smug for the situation. "And that you couldn't tell Ed who to marry anyway."

Mustang ignored him. "We'll be getting hell for this in a couple days." The general's face was dominated by a scowl.

Hawkeye stood with a nod. "I'll be sure to clear your schedule so you'll have time to handle it."

"Thank you, Hawkeye." Mustang didn't sound thankful in the least. He turned sharply on his heel and stalked into his office.

"On the bright side," Fuery said after a long moment of silence. "Ed might be mad enough to come visit!"

Thank you to everyone for the reviews and faves! It means a lot to get feedback on my work. I'm glad you enjoyed this story and hopefully I'll see you all in the future!