A/N: The follow up to Foul Depths. I strongly recommend you read that first. This won't all make sense without it.

Overall warnings for violence, blood, substance abuse/addictions, panic attacks, ptsd, illness, vomiting etc.

The Edge of Darkness

"Deep into that darkness

Peering, long I stood there,

Wondering, fearing, doubting,

Dreaming dreams no mortal

Ever dared to dream before."

-Edgar Allan Poe

Desperation

When Edward missed turning in his report the first time, the Colonel gave him a break. However, he ended up doing that a lot; going easy on Edward when reports were late or incomplete or missing entirely. Ever since Ed's return from personal leave, they hadn't seemed able to adjust back to their routine. The first mission the Colonel sent Edward on had been easy; a dull quality check in a nearby town, but it had taken too long and had exhausted the Fullmetal Alchemist. That report didn't make it onto Mustang's desk for over a week.

"He's probably just tired," Hughes had reassured him when Edward first missed their scheduled meeting time. Roy had nodded in understanding. They were all still tired from the events of the Pace kidnappings. Then weeks went by and Edward was sent on other missions and again the reports lagged.

"He still has a lot on his mind," Hughes commented when Edward called to say he was too sick to meet. Roy rested his elbows on his desk and remained silent. Months went by and the situation didn't change.

"He just needs some time," Hughes stated after the Colonel received a phone call from Al, telling him that his brother wasn't feeling well today and couldn't turn the report in.

"Who are you trying to convince, Hughes?" Roy asked sharply. "It's been over three months. He's had time. That's more time than is usually allowed for any soldier to pull his act together." Roy was glaring at his best friend. The past few months had put a strain on him. Caught between wanting to give Edward the time he needed and frustrated that Fullmetal didn't seem to be bouncing back enough to pull his own weight again.

"Edward isn't just a soldier…" He's a child. The words died on Hughes' lips, but his unspoken thoughts seemed to hang in the air between them. Colonel Mustang knew that Fullmetal was still a child, he knew that better than anyone and he wouldn't appreciate being told that directly.

"Maybe I should have extended his leave," Roy finally said, his posture deflating a bit as he shifted a few unsigned papers around on his desk. Hughes carefully watched his friend's body language. He didn't like the weight that seemed to be bearing down on his shoulders.

"Has he talked about it with you? Everything that happened?" Maes asked cautiously. There had been a detailed report on The Pace Incident. The Pace Kidnappings. The Pace Investigation. The Pace Murders. That's how they refereed to that hellish time of their lives that almost got Edward killed and stretched them all to their limits. Maes hadn't been able to read the full report that came from Colonel Mustang's desk. He had never directly asked Roy about that conversation with Edward. Did Ed disclose the details of the capture and the subsequent torture and fear that he had faced alone? Did he explain how he killed that horrible man without thinking? Hughes hadn't forced himself to ask about it. It seemed like it was too sensitive a subject to push, too fresh a wound to prod at. And maybe Hughes had acted like a coward, waiting for someone to come to him instead of dealing with the issues head on.

"Briefly… right after he got back from leave." Roy leaned away from his desk, further away from Hughes. This wasn't something he wanted to discuss now. "That report was actually turned in in a timelier manner."

"But did he talk to you about how he was… feeling?" Maes leaned forward, trying to keep Roy engaged in their conversation. Roy crossed his arms in front of him and frowned slightly.

"Why don't you ask him, if you're so interested?"

"I tried." Hughes frowned. He had very briefly spoken to Edward months ago, but it hadn't been a very deep conversation and the boy seemed to be avoiding him since then.

"What did he say?"

"He said he was fine."

"Well, then…" Roy uncrossed his arms and shifted the papers around on his desk again.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is lying." Maes stared at Roy resolutely until the man finally made eye contact again.

The Colonel sighed deeply, but his face remained stern. "Fullmetal is a military officer and if he doesn't have that report in tomorrow, he will be forced to take a leave of absence while his status as a State Alchemist is reevaluated."

"You'd really have him kicked out?" Hughes raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"No, but that's what I'm going to tell him. Though it's not far from the truth. If the higher ups take notice of his lack effort and results, he could very well be discharged. Enough is enough, Hughes." Enough of this soft spot or whatever the hell it was that he had developed. He was showing too much kindness and, to some, kindness could often be perceived as weakness. Edward was causing him to appear weak and that could be dangerous in his career.

Hughes sighed. "Well, let me know how that goes."

Edward's report was absolute garbage. As Roy tried to make sense of the hastily written scribbles and shoddy sentence structure he could feel himself becoming angrier and angrier. By the time he finally got through the mess of the report, Roy was ready to toss it into the trash where it belonged. As he peered up past the papers, he could see Edward sitting slouched down on his couch. Looking for all the world like he was about to fall asleep.

"Fullmetal," Roy fought to keep his voice even. Edward didn't respond, he just continued to sit perfectly still. "Fullmetal," Roy tried again, raising his voice slightly. When there was no response again, Roy dropped the pages onto his desk and walked briskly over to his subordinate. He had half a mind to give Edward a really good shake, but there was a small part of his mind (the kind/weak part) that was beginning to feel worried. However, soon Roy could see that Ed wasn't asleep, but staring off into space dully. Something about the boy seemed really off today.

"What is wrong with you?" It wasn't exactly the reprimand he had been aiming for, but Roy was surprised by the sense of dread he felt in his chest. Something was wrong. Edward had physically recovered from The Pace Incident. The scars that were visible had faded quite a bit and his hair had grown in to almost look normal again, though the braid was much shorter than it used to be. Edward should mentally be recovering. And yet…

"Nothing. I'm just sick," Ed responded automatically, his eyes still staring vacantly at the other side of the room.

"No, you've told me that before." Just a few months ago, Edward's claims of illness had worked to cover up a whole slew of dangerous secrets. The sense of déjà vu that came over Mustang felt dangerous and darkly terrifying. "Something is wrong."

"It's nothing. My automail hurts and I'm sick. That's it." Edward waved his right arm in the air, but didn't seem to be able to put much strength behind the action.

"Why does your automail hurt? It was months ago when you had it worked on and the weather isn't bad." Roy narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the way his subordinate was moving.

"It always hurts a little." Ed glanced up at his superior officer, a bit startled to see that Mustang was now in close proximity, studying him carefully.

Roy was leaning, staring hard into Fullmetal's eyes. If he just focused hard enough, maybe he could tell what the lie was and what was the truth… but… wait…

"Your pupils are blown." And it was said with such a dumbstruck tone of disbelief that they both just stared at each other for a moment. Roy felt like his brain hadn't really caught up to what he was seeing. Ed's breathing seemed off, his hand was tremoring… But there was no way this idiot boy could possibly do something that stupid.

"Did you take something?" And Roy felt the words get stuck in his mouth as if they were partially made out of paste. He had no idea what his expression looked like, but he imagined he looked stupidly shocked.

"N-No!" Edward stammered and abruptly moved to stand, but Roy blocked him, pushing him back down on the couch. He wasn't going to let him run away this time.

"What did you take?" Roy felt an anger start to build in him again. Stupid, stupid boy! And underneath that anger a small voice seemed to shout 'hypocrite!' from the corner of his thoughts. Long past academy days flashed briefly through Roy's mind. Days of trying too many things and getting a lecture from Hughes afterwards... Then other days after the war, when Roy wondered if maybe he should try something besides the alcohol. Would the nightmares and the madness get better then? Could he stop seeing their dead faces if he took something stronger? Hughes lectured him then too.

"I didn't take anything!" Ed insisted.

"So help me, Edward. Tell me what you've taken." It made sense now, the late reports, the claims of feeling ill…

"Nothing!"

"I will go to your dorm and I will find it myself if you don't tell me."

"There's nothing there! There's nothing to find!" Ed found himself cornered and he became suddenly more frantic, his eyes widening wildly.

"I'll ask Al, he will help me look. Doesn't matter where you've hidden it."

"There's nothing in the dorm! There's nothing there!" As Edward's fist came up to meet Mustang's jaw, the Colonel realized his mistake. Edward Elric still had a problem with sitting still in chairs and Edward Elric would absolutely lose it, if he felt like he was being confined in any way. Roy reeled backwards, the pain being more than he had time to anticipate. He collided with his coffee table and tumbled backwards over it onto the floor before he could really register what was happening. He immediately tasted blood in his mouth and wondered if Ed had just knocked out one of his teeth.

As Roy quickly stumbled to his feet again, he saw Edward standing with one arm still extended, looking horrified at what had just happened. With as much grace as he could manage, Roy spit his mouthful of blood out on the carpet and picked up the conversation where he had left off.

"Where's it then?" His speech was slightly slurred by blood seeping into his mouth. The inside of his cheek was most likely busted open. But it didn't matter how Edward lashed out. Roy was going to get to the bottom of this, before Ed could run away.

"Nowhere." Ed let his arm fall to his side. "It's gone. I threw it out." There was that glazed expression back on Edward's face, as if he wasn't really there anymore. His mind was…elsewhere.

At that moment, two things happened at once. The door to Mustang's inner office opened to reveal Hawkeye and Edward Elric scrunched up his face and began crying. "I haven't taken anything. I haven't." Ed stated quietly through unexpected tears.

Hawkeye gave Edward a concerned glance, before looking to the Colonel and attempting an air of professionalism. She had heard the shouting and was hoping to delicately intervene, but by the bit of blood trailing down Mustang's chin, it looked as if she hadn't made her entrance soon enough.

"Sir, Lieutenant Hughes keeps calling."

"I will call him back. Give us a moment." Mustang swiped the blood away on his chin and gave a nod to Hawkeye to let her know that he was handling the situation. He didn't miss the fleeting expression of skepticism that briefly crossed her features, before returning to her usual stoic mask.

"Yes, sir." Hawkeye shut the door with one last glimpse at Edward, who was stubbornly wiping tears away on his sleeve. There was a moment of silence as Mustang assessed his jaw and came to the conclusion that he indeed had all his teeth intact. Edward could have hit him a lot harder. He was lucky he didn't get his damn jaw broken.

"Have you seen yourself, Edward? You say you threw it out, but you look high."

"I'm not high, you bastard. I'm going through withdrawal."

Anything Roy was about to argue immediately died on his lips as he swallowed the blood in his mouth. Ed rubbed at his eyelids and pressed his fingertips to his temples. He looked as though he was fighting off the worst headache. He probably was.

"Opiates cause pupils to dilate during withdrawal. They constrict when you use them, you stupid Colonel bastard." There was no venom in Ed's voice, he just sounded exhausted.

"Opium." Roy muttered. Idiot child.

"Morphine," Ed corrected as he stared blankly at the small splatter of Mustang's blood on the carpet.

"How did you even get morphine? You weren't allowed any when you were at the hospital because of your head injury."

Edward seemed to be brought back to his current conversation as he raised an eyebrow and gave the Colonel a disbelieving look.

"I transmuted it."

"What?"

"I transmuted it." Edward sounded like this should have been obvious. "Well, I found the right plants while out on a mission and… made it from that."

Roy had never thought to make his own painkillers. He wasn't sure what the laws were in that area, the substance wasn't actually illegal and Edward wasn't selling it on the streets…

"So I sent you on a mission and you went by a poppy field and decided to pick some flowers…"

"No! I just… I mean I did, but it's not like that. I was just… hurting. It wasn't getting better, so I was taking care of it." Edward had shoved his shaking hand into his pocket and was back to staring at the floor.

"There is a reason they didn't give you morphine at the hospital, Edward." Roy could feel his own anger building up again. He needed to calm down or get away from Fullmetal otherwise he might try to strangle the dumb brat.

"My head is fine though! I was just taking care of it myself. It's not a big deal. But I thought it might be too much, so I stopped."

"You thought it might be too much?" Roy's jaw was really starting to hurt. "Obviously. You wouldn't be experiencing withdrawal otherwise." Roy walked briskly back towards his desk and sat down heavily in his chair. He just needed to put space between himself and his subordinate. He couldn't strangle Ed if there was a desk between them. "How long have you been taking morphine?"

"I don't know… months. I'm taking care of it." Ed grumbled as he started to edge towards the door. Roy held up one hand, signaling him to stay where he was.

"How long since you've taken anything?" For the briefest moment, Roy couldn't believe he was actually having this conversation with Edward. Of all the things he thought might be wrong with Fullmetal, this hadn't been on that list.

"About twelve hours ago." Ed shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.

"Does Alphonse know?" Roy picked up a pen and scribbled 'months' and '12 hours' down on a loose sheet of paper.

"I don't think so…" Ed suddenly looked more uncomfortable.

"You don't think so?" Roy narrowed his eyes, studying Edward carefully.

"He might suspect something… but… he can't know." Ed's eyes trailed away again, back to that damn spot of blood on the floor. He looked like he was far away again. Roy needed him to stay in the present.

"You're going to tell him."

"No." Ed's head snapped back to glare at Roy.

"Fullmetal, this is serious. You could be seen as unfit for military duty. An addiction that is interfering with your duties can get you discharged."

"I am not addicted! I was just in pain and I was desperate for something. It was a mistake. I am dealing with it. I just need a few more days." Ed was breathing too hard now and sweat had formed on his brow. There was a pause, while Mustang studied Edward. Maybe this would turn out fine. Ed looked determined enough. He could get through this, just like he had everything else in his young life.

"Listen, Fullmetal. You will report to me first thing in the morning for the next three days."

"Why?" Ed shifted his gaze around the room, blinking hard as if trying to keep things in focus.

"So I can check on your progress."

"Fine." Edward's full attention snapped back to Roy again and it was almost disconcerting how resolutely he was staring at the Colonel.

There was a long, heavy pause. Mustang's eyes softened slightly, but Ed kept his stubborn glare.

"Edward… you could have talked to one of us. If the Pace investigation was still wearing that much on your mind. You could have talked to me… Hughes would have gladly talked with you. You didn't need to …do… this."

"That has nothing to do with this. I was in pain."

"Yes… I believe you were." Roy raised an eyebrow and waited for Edward to say more. There was more to it. There had to be more. Did Edward really believe there wasn't more to that pain he claimed to be feeling? Ed looked slightly confused, but he offered no further insight into his situation. Roy let out a deep breath.

"You're free to go. Report in tomorrow morning. No excuses."

Edward left with one final glare, but it wasn't as hostile as the others. Once he was alone, Roy put his face in his hands and rubbed at his jaw gently.

He needed to call Hughes back.

It was early the next morning when Maes came by to see Roy in his office. None of the rest of his staff had arrived yet, but Roy had been insistent on meeting with Hughes early. Mustang needed another perspective, and he didn't feel like he could be sharing this information with the rest of the world… though Hawkeye may have heard and guessed a great deal of the situation anyway.

Hughes stayed quiet for a long time after Mustang told him. He was sitting with his elbows resting on the desk as Roy sat across from him, purposefully keeping a distance from his friend.

"Did he hit you?" The question surprised Roy, but he supposed it wasn't difficult to deduce with the way one side of his face appeared bruised and swollen. Roy nodded, but a swell of guilt rose within him. He had been stupid. He had pushed Edward first, forgetting that Ed was still suffering. He was still battling fears and demons that he didn't even understand.

"I pushed him." And there was that bit of shame again. He had lost his temper so quickly, he hadn't been thinking.

"You mean you actually, physically pushed him?"

"It wasn't hard, but he… reacted."

Maes worked his jaw for a moment. Still processing the situation.

"I should have tried harder to talk to him," Hughes finally said. "I should have invited him over to the house. I should have insisted. I should have-"

"Maes, stop." Mustang interrupted the tirade before he could really get going. "Don't do that. He's not your subordinate. He's not your responsibility."

"Stop. You're not helping anything by blaming yourself. We're not helping anything." Maes leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. "I feel too old today. Why do I feel so old lately?"

"It's a byproduct of an abundance of shitty life experiences, Hughes," Roy said, crossing his arms over his chest. Maes let out a mirthless laugh.

"It hasn't all been so bad, Roy. I mean this, this current situation isn't good and I don't know what to tell you to do about it and a few months ago, things were pretty bad, but life…" Hughes sat up in his chair again. "Well, it keeps going anyway."

"Was that an inspiring speech? Should I tell that to Edward when he gets here? I'm sure he will really appreciate it, as he is going through his 32nd hour of withdrawal."

Hughes ignored the sarcasm. "How long is it supposed to take for him to get it out of his system?"

"Depends on how much he was taking, but I've done some research and it will probably be around 72 hours."

"I don't know anything about this. You never got that deep into anything. Usually I just had to make sure you didn't aspirate on your own vomit during the night."

"Sorry for not being young and stupid enough to supply you with the appropriate knowledge."

"He's not stupid." Maes said abruptly. "Ed's not dumb… but he has made a bad decision in this. Roy, if he can pull himself out of it, if he can find the strength to do that, I wouldn't be surprised... But if he can't… If this is harder than he thought it would be... I don't think he should be alone with just Alphonse. Especially when he is so set on not telling Alphonse the whole truth."

"He didn't seem to want my help."

"You didn't always ask for my help, but I never left you alone, Roy. Not when you needed me there." Not on those nights when they were young and Roy was too intoxicated to be safe and not on those nights after the war that were filled with so much darkness it threatened to destroy everything. "I can't have Edward at my home. Not around Elicia,.. I don't know a lot about going through withdrawal, but I know it's not pretty. I can't have her seeing him like that. But you, you could stay with him."

Well, what the hell was Roy supposed to say to that? Roy motioned uselessly with one hand, but no words accompanied the motion. He ended up just gaping like a fish out of water.

"He has Alphonse," Roy finally settled on.

"You really think this is something Alphonse should go through alone? You know he is actually younger than Ed, right?"

Of course Roy knew that! But still… He couldn't do this either. He didn't know how to take care of other people. Protect them and have their back, sure, but taking care of a sick, violent teenager, hurting and desperately wanting to get a fix? No. That did not sound plausible.

"He'll be fine," Roy hoped.

Maes soon went back to his own office to start his work day and the morning passed by as usual. The rest of Mustang's subordinates showed up one after another and they were soon busying themselves with various tasks. As the morning wore on, Roy wondered if he should have given Edward an exact time. That way, he would know exactly how irritated to be with the small alchemist's tardiness.

A few minutes before noon, Colonel Mustang received a call from Alphonse Elric. Edward had left early that morning and not returned, even though he said he would be right back. Al was starting to really worry.

"Alphonse…" Roy didn't know how to do this. "Has your brother been acting strange?"

"Strange?"

"Well, did he seem sick this morning?"

"Yes, but brother has been getting sick a lot lately. I've tried to tell him to go to the hospital, but he won't go." Al sounded frustrated. Roy really couldn't do this.

"Alphonse, I'm going to have Hughes meet you. Stay there. We'll find him."

Alphonse had seemed confused at first, but he was grateful for the help. After a quick call to Maes, Roy departed his office and ordered Havoc to accompany him.

"What's going on?" Jean asked casually as he quickened his pace to match Mustang's.

"Fullmetal has run off. You've found him before when he was missing. Also… he seems fond of you. I'm hoping you can get him to come back quietly."

"Well, sure I'll try. But what happened with the kid now?"

"He's…" Roy didn't know how much information to give. "… been sick," he finished lamely. Havoc nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Maybe he had seen it already. It was obvious now that something had been off with Edward for quite some time. Maybe they had all just been waiting for him to reach out, take the first step and ask for help. They had been wrong. Edward Elric would self-destruct before reaching out to any of them. Roy wondered how he could have failed someone so miserably.

Hours passed and they didn't find Edward. They had started at Central Command, checking the toilets, library and dorms, before they worked their way out into the city. Havoc and Alphonse paired up and were searching some public places that the Elric brothers had been known to visit occasionally. They had all agreed to call and check in with Hawkeye who was waiting back at the office, in case Edward decided to show up there.

Roy and Maes were debating about checking the rougher part of the city, when Roy called back to the office to check in.

"Sir," Hawkeye sounded worried, which was not a good sign. "Edward Elric is here. You need to come back."

"He showed up? Where the hell has he been?" Roy felt relief and anger all at the same time.

"He is not talking. I couldn't get very close to him, but he looked like he has been in a fight."

"Couldn't get close to him?" Roy asked, confused.

"No, Colonel. He is… disorientated."

He wasn't sure if that meant Edward was high or having a panic attack or some combination of the two. Perhaps Hawkeye wasn't sure either.

"We're on our way, Lieutenant."

It took longer than Roy wanted to make their way back to his office. Once they got there, Hawkeye quietly lead them into Roy's inner office. The rest of Roy's staff tried to look busy, but they all knew something was wrong.

Upon entering his private workspace, Roy didn't see anyone and his first thought was that Edward had run off again, but then Hawkeye gestured silently at his desk and Roy realized his chair had been toppled over. Roy, followed closely by Hughes, walked behind his desk and knelt down. Edward was wedged underneath the Colonel's desk, hugging his knees to his chest with his automail arm.

Ed looked like he had been in a scuffle. His hair was a mess and there was dirt on his clothes. Edward also seemed to be sporting a black eye. The boy didn't take notice of the faces peering at him. He just sat perfectly still, hand tremoring slightly, his flesh fingers clasped around…

"Is that your bottle of whisky?" Maes asked glancing at Roy. Mustang frowned. His personal supply of alcohol had been in his desk. He didn't think anybody besides Maes and Hawkeye even knew about it. Mustang had just bought the new bottle and it had been expensive. Hughes slowly reached over and pulled the glass container from Edward's grasp. Ed still didn't respond.

"I don't think he even drank any of it. It's still full." Maes sat the bottle to the side and edged closer towards Ed. At this point, Hawkeye had taken several steps back and was observing the situation from near the door.

"Edward." Roy tried to get his attention. Ed shut his eyes and pressed his face into his knees.

"Edward," Maes tried, inching even closer. "Can you hear me? Did you take something?"

Ed made a low keening sound, but didn't respond.

"We're not mad at you, but we need to know if we need to take you to the hospital."

Edward looked up at this and shook his head slowly. Mustang made a mental note that his pupils were indeed constricted.

"Please don't. I'm fine," Ed rasped. "I only took a little, but it didn't really help and I wanted more, but I knew I shouldn't… everything hurts all the time." Ed hit the back of his head against the wooden slat behind him. The desk shook slightly and Edward furrowed his brow at the jolting movement of his sanctuary.

"Ed… how much did you take? Where did you get it?"

"Some opium den in the city. I transmuted it though. I didn't take it as it was."

"What happened to your face?" Roy asked.

"Got punched by some jerk. He saw my watch and thought it might be worth something. He kicked my automail though. I think he broke his foot."

"Edward… you're buying drugs in the city, you're getting into fights with junkies, you took a bottle of alcohol-"

"I didn't drink any." Ed knocked his head back against the desk harder and shut his eyes tightly.

Hughes reached forward and gently placed a hand on Edward's shoulder. "You were thinking about it. All of this because you were having withdrawal… Do you really think you are fine?"

Ed didn't say anything.

"Are you really fine?" Hughes continued. "You've been lying to Al. Transmuting a substance without anyone's knowledge and taking too much. Does that sound normal to you? Does it sound like something you would do normally?"

Ed sluggishly shook his head.

"Are you fine? Or do you think that you might have a problem?" Hughes sounded so calm. Roy didn't know how he managed it.

"I'm not… it's not like that. I'm just…"

"You're hiding under my desk," Roy supplied. Hughes gave his friend a quick look. That's not helpful, he mentally chided.

"I was… I couldn't…" Edward threw his head back hard. The movement caused the desk to give a great shudder and the sound reverberated throughout the office. Before Maes could react, Edward repeated the action again and again in quick succession. Hughes regained his sense and thrust his hand between Edward's skull and the wooden surface. He wanted to grab Edward and pull him out then, but he didn't know what was going on in Ed's mind. Grabbing him would likely send him into a complete panic attack, but he couldn't allow him to hurt himself anymore. Hughes' hand was struck a few times, but Edward eventually stopped and went still again.

"Breathe Edward. It's all right. Just breathe. You can trust us. We're not angry, but I am a little heartbroken over this right here."

"Heartbroken?" Ed asked, his voice catching in his throat as tears in his eyes threatened to spill over.

"Yeah, you're breaking my heart, boy. I can see you need help. Can you see it?"

"You don't understand," Ed whispered.

"I'm right here. Explain it to me then."

"It never goes away. It's not going away. They said it would get better, but it doesn't." A tear fell down Ed's cheek.

"I know, Ed. I know what that's like. But this isn't the answer. This can't be the answer."

Something seemed to jolt into place in Edward's mind then and he blinked owlishly.

"Something is wrong with me… I've messed up." Tears began falling freely then and Edward looked almost as broken as when they had found him in that hellish shack in the woods all those months ago.

"It's going to be all right. I promise. We'll help you." Maes looked over at Roy again and the Colonel gave a nod. With a sad smile, Hughes extended both of his hands out to Edward and after a moment of brief hesitation, Ed tilted and fell into those arms and allowed himself to be pulled from his hiding place and into an embrace.

"You're all right. You're all right. Just breathe. In through your nose… out through your mouth. It's going to be all right."

Through the pain and the fog and the fear, Edward chose to believe those words.

To be continued…

A/N: I was having trouble figuring out what the characters wanted to do in this. Ed surprised me because he only started cooperating after he got to punch Mustang in the face. Before that, I was having trouble writing him. Sorry for any mistakes! I fixed some of the obvious ones. How do you guys even put up with me? I make so many typos sometimes.

I just wanted to say that yes, I took this story in a whole different direction. This had only been the plan since about the second to last chapter of Foul Depths. I've read some stories about addictions and I have never seen someone have anyone transmute their own drugs. But it makes sense to me. I also thought that I had broken Ed enough that he could fall into this hole.

This took a while to write. I'm not sure how long it will take me to write the next part because I have school again… Hopefully less than two weeks.

Thanks for reading. Leave me a review please. I love reviews.