Years ago when the Isbal war had ended, Hughes paid a visit to Mustang who was wallowing in self-pity and conducting research on human alchemy so as to bring some of the people he killed during the war back to life. Hughes reminded Mustang that this is a forbidden ritual and said that he cannot understand Mustang's anguish since he wasn't at the frontline. However, there wasn't any meaning to do that since it wouldn't lessen his guilt towards those who died. Mustang knew that by using his life as exchange in the ritual would increase the chances of success but he had no guts to kill himself. As such, Mustang decided that the only way to make his life more meaningful and to change the current situation would be to be the President himself. Hearing this, Hughes promised to stay behind Mustang and support him in the pursuing of his goal...The King comes to look for Hughes and asks him about why he is continuing the investigation on the 5th laboratory. Hughes says that he is not happy with the outcome and thinks that there are people who have infiltrated into the millitary to create unrest and obtain Kenja no Ishi. As such, the King allows him to continue with the investigation. Hughes asks to see Marcoh so the King asks his secretary, Juliet Douglas to arrange for this since she's the only one who knows where Marcoh is as the King doesn't know this for fear of divulging it to enemies who may capture him.
Hughes and Armstrong come to visit Ed and Al with the intention of letting them know about the results of the investigation. The brothers say that they are giving up to find out more through the clue of the 5th laboratory as they wish to find other ways to get Kenja no Ishi which might be less dangerous. They intend to visit their alchemy teacher who lives in Dubris so that they can find out more on Kenja no Ishi. Winry suddenly notices from the map that Dubris is very close to Rusbalan which is famous for its autometal technology and insists on going with the brothers since it's on the way. Thus, Ed has no choice but to agree to Winry's request. In actual fact, Hughes has seen through the brothers' intention to avoid involving other innocent people into the danger which they may encounter during the quest for Kenja no Ishi thus they had lied that they were giving up on the 5th laboratory's investigation and searching for other alternatives. Thus, Hughes does not expose their intentions and allows them to do what they wish.
Ed, Al and Winry leave Central by train where Ed reveals that they had lied about visiting their teacher. They do not wish to let their teacher know that they had tried human alchemy and Ed has become a national alchemist. In actual fact, Ed has the intention to look for Scar at a Isbal tribe settlement in the south so that he can find out alternatives to obtain Kenja no Ishi since the tribe didn't use alchemy at all and regarded it as an evil. Although Al tries to speak up for Scar, Ed is still bitter towards him as he knows that Scar killed Nina when she was transformed into a kimera.
In the meantime, Scar is in his tribesmen's camp when his teacher comes to visit him after hearing rumours of his killings of the national alchemists. He tries to talk Scar into giving up his hatred but Scar would not listen at all. At this moment, some gangsters come to create trouble as the Isbal camp and Scar kills some of them, resulting in the rest of the gang running away in fright. His teacher then asks Scar whether his right arm belongs to his elder brother...
Mustang calls Hughes to question why he kept him in the dark about what happened to the Elric brothers but Hughes tries to pretend that nothing major is wrong. Mustang feels that something is not right with Hughes' attitude towards this matter and gets Hawkeye to buy train tickets so that they can return to Central.
Glacier asks her husband why he does not want to let Mustang know about the matter but Hughes says that Mustang has more important things to do than to get involved. Besides, due to the fact that their home phone may be tapped, Hughes does not think that it is right to tell Mustang too much on the phone.
Hughes returns to his office and gets Sheska to bring him the data he requires. He finds something of importance from the data on the Isbal war when Juliet calls him and says that Marcoh has come to Central. She would be bringing him to the hotel to meet Marcoh. Hughes finally sees the link and tells Sheska to leave the office immediately and never to return back here again before he leaves to meet Juliet.
Hughes confronts Juliet with the facts he found out. Apparently, the Isbal war was started because a millitary officer by the name of Juliet Douglas accidentally shot a Isbal kid. However, Juliet Douglas should have died before the start of the war but her identity has never been erased from the millitary records and she has risen up the ranks within the millitary. When Hughes asks who she really is, Lust springs a surprise attack on Hughes and manages to slash Hughes on his arm. Suddenly, Ross appears and fires shots at Juliet who is actually Sloth and Lust before chasing after Hughes.
Hughes is telling Ross that the enemy's aim is not to get Kenja no Ishi when he suddenly notices something wrong. He then goes to a public phone booth to call Mustang but he has already departed for Central with Hawkeye. During his haste to make the call, Hughes' family photo falls out of his pocket. Hughes has seen through the disguise and knows that the Ross before him is an impersonator by Envy. However, when Envy takes on the appearance of Glacier, Hughes is stunned momentarily and this gives Envy the chance to shoot him with a gun...
At Hughes' funeral, Mustang grumbles about Hughes for breaking his promise to be his subordinate and support him to become the President since he got promoted 2 ranks due to his death in the line of duty. He also doesn't understand why Hughes had to lie to him about what happened to the Elric brothers. Hawkeye feels that Mustang becomes irrational when encountering matters related to them and that's probably why Hughes didn't want to jeopardise Mustang's hopes of being the President. While thinking of his best friend, Mustang can no longer contain his tears...
At the same time, Ed and Al are talking how good Hughes is towards them. Suddenly, he seems to see the image of Hughes at one of the train stations and wonders if it is his imagination since he's totally unaware about what has happened in Central...
Ever since the episode when Nina was killed by Scar, this is the second time I've felt so sad when watching this anime and actually cried. That funeral scene was so sad and seeing how affected Mustang was because his best friend died, it really got to me. I wonder how Ed and Al would react when they return to Central and find out about this since it is still unknown when they would go back. I hate to see more people die but I know this is definitely not the end. And I did not expect to see Hughes gone from the series just by the halfway mark. This was a big shock and I don't like it at all. From the title, I never dreamt that Hughes or anyone from the series would die in this episode.
Now, I'm not sure whether to believe that the King is a good or bad guy. Believing so much in Juliet i.e. Sloth just seems too ridiculous and I don't know whether he has a clue about what is going on. I doubt that Marcoh is still alive since Sloth should have been the one who informed Lust to attack Marcoh. Surely he can't be thinking that everything which has happened is a coincidence or has no hidden meaning. I really don't think he's that stupid. Either he's in cahoots with the Homcrest tribe or he's really a moron. Since he has a time bomb beside him, no information can be confidential anymore since the Homcrest have Sloth to inform them of the millitary's move. Surely someone must see through her in order to eliminate the information from being leaked? Since Sheska is the only one who knew that Sloth called Hughes before he went out and was killed, I wonder if anyone would investigate along this line and see through the spy.
Hughes also mentioned that Mustang is coming to Central which could spell more trouble as he gets into more clashes with the enemy. Besides the Homcrest, Greed's gang which also consists of Kimbly, the national alchemist who was a convict have not conducted any concrete activities to show their aim so they are an unknown force to reckon with.
No comments:
Post a Comment