Yeah, here I am, starting another story. Forgive me, heh, but I just couldn't resist this one. I've never written one like this before. For the most part, I'm always so innocent with my stories that nothing worse happens than that people die at the hands of a criminal that nobody ever gets to really know, heh. That doesn't sound so innocent when worded like that though, hehe. All the same though, it's definitely an indication that I'm moving out of my comfort zone when I won't swear or have sexuality in my fics, but now I'm writing one involving drugs. Go figure.

But before we go on, I just have to get this off my chest. Diviners and shamans have used various herbs for millenia that we now label as "drugs". I don't perceive there being anything morally wrong with gaining some assistance with looking into the Divine, but never, never, never play around with drugs! They are not a toy, and should not be treated as such! Respect the herb, and it will respect you. Disregard it, and your life will be screwed beyond redemption. Don't fool around with it.

There, now that I got that off my chest, I can comfortably continue with the fic. I was going to have the next scene in this chapter, but it got so long and it's so late that I wouldn't be able to do the next chapter justice, so you'll just have to forgive me. Hopefully this scene is interesting enough on its own, but the next chapter should be awesome when I'm wide awake, so stay with me until then, and remember that this scene was written while under the influence of sleep deprivation. Seems sleep is an addiction we all suffer from, heh.

Disclaimer: I'm going to teach this caveman how to say the disclaimer. Now, say, "I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist."

Caveman: Uhhhhhhh...GRAH!!!!

This could take awhile.

"Darn it all, anyway!" said Edward as he angrily wadded up a sheet of newspaper and threw it in the general direction of the wastebasket, where it joined several other similar wads of newspaper scattered around the floor. He then took the remaining newspaper that still lay before him on the dining room table and violently shook it as he opened it to yet another page, almost hoping that his treatment of it would just tear it in half so that he wouldn't have to worry about further demolition later. Didn't the newspaper journalists believe in writing about anything good that was happening? Why did he have to be haunted by this stuff, even in his own home?

"Are you okay, Brother?" came a weak voice from the doorway leading to the dining room. Edward looked up to see Al leaning against the side of the archway. The boy was panting hard, as though just that simple movement had been a lot of effort.

"Al!" said Ed, jumping up from his seat immediately and sprinting across the room to get to his brother. "You should not be walking around! What were you thinking?" He grabbed his little brother rather roughly by his shirt and pulled him towards himself so that he would be taking most of the weight, and then he led Al over to a free chair by the dining table and sat him down at it. After freeing his mind of the scare from Al moving around, Ed returned to his own seat and stared at his brother, who was still panting heavily, even sitting down.

"I'm sorry, Brother," said Al, in between breaths, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You were in here yelling at something, and I just-"

"No, Al," Ed said with a wave of his hand to cut Al off mid-sentence. "Don't apologize for that. I should have kept my temper under control. Just please, don't go wandering around by yourself like that again. You scared me to death!"

"I'm sorry, Bro-"

"Stop apologizing, Al, you're not doing anything wrong!" said Ed, raising his voice just the tiniest bit and then dropping it again, once he caught the surprised look on Al's face. Ed sighed. There really wasn't going to be any easy way out of this, was there? "Look, Al, I just don't want you using up your energy. You know very well that my transmutation wasn't stable, and everything you do causes energy to leak out of your body."

"I know, Brother," said Al, closing his eyes and looking down at the ground.

Ed sighed once again and rolled his eyes. "Al, look...it's just that...well, I worry about you, okay? Conserve your energy until we can find a way to stabilize the transmutation; that's all I ask."

A slight tic formed in the side of Al's mouth that almost looked like a smile, and Al said, "But I get so bored just sitting around."

Ed sat back and looked longingly at the boy. He so badly wanted to solve his problems, wanted to fix them, wanted to make them go away, but there was really nothing he could do at present. Why did he have to be so useless at a time when it meant so much for him to be of some use? "I'm sorry, Al..." Ed said, letting his own eyes drift to the floor. "I'll try to spend more time with you. Would that help?"

"But what about your studies?" Al said, looking up at Ed all of a sudden.

Ed raised his head and returned the look at Al. "I can bring my studies into the room with you. I don't have to study in the den."

Al smiled slightly, only to have it retreat back to a neutral expression. "Um, Brother...w-wouldn't that be too much of a burden on you?"

"Nah," said Ed, throwing his hand to his side as he took on an air of nonchalance, "If anything, it'll give me more exercise from walking up and down the stairs a bit more."

"If you're sure it won't be a bother," said Al, once again turning his gaze to the floor.

"Not at all!" said Ed, raising his voice once again, which caused Al's head to snap to attention, "Now stop thinking you're a burden or I'll show you what a burden is!" Al finally smiled at that, so Ed let out his breath and relaxed his tensed muscles. He was worrying enough about Al as it was, he didn't need a depressed Al on top of that. At least one of them should remain happy.

"Hey, Al, do you want the rest of my toast?" said Ed as he passed a plate with a slice of buttered toast in Al's direction, "I'm not very hungry...don't think I'll eat the rest."

"That's odd," said Al, reaching eagerly for the bread and taking a big bite out of it before saying anything more. "You usually have a ravenous appetite, Brother. Are you sure you're okay?"

Ed smiled and looked at Al again. Who was he to talk about a ravenous appetite when he was scarfing down that toast like he'd never eaten before? There was no way that the boy was going to be satisfied with just one slice of toast. Ed stood up and walked into the adjacent kitchen to find something more for Al to eat once he had finished with his toast.

"I'm fine," Ed called back as he opened and closed cupboard doors, "I've just got a lot on my mind is all. It kind of kills an appetite." He quickly whipped together something that almost resembled a sandwich and brought it in to Al, who devoured it graciously.

As soon as the sandwich was finished, Al took to licking his fingers, as though hoping there was still more sandwich to eat on them. "Well, just don't let yourself starve," he said in between licking fingers, "I don't want to have to worry about you too."

Ed grimaced, but didn't figure that he had to respond to that comment. It was too easy to dodge it this time. "Al, if you're still hungry, we have plenty more food. Just ask."

Al blushed and hung his head again, his hand making its way down to his lap, his fingers completely forgotten. "I don't want to burden you, Brother."

Ed breathed out what sounded more like a roar than a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Geez, Al, how many times do I have to tell you that you arenot a burden?" Without waiting for an answer, he got up and went into the kitchen again and threw another sandwich together for Al.

"Now," said Ed, handing said sandwich to his brother, "If you're hungry after this, just tell me, okay? Your body's having trouble storing energy right now, so it's obviously trying to accommodate by devouring large quantities of food." Ed paused and watched as Al greedily took a big bite out of this new sandwich. "Just don't deprive yourself of what you need, even if you feel guilty, okay?" Al didn't respond verbally since his mouth was full of food, but he nodded his understanding, so Ed sat down and picked up his newspaper again.

He sighed. There was nothing better on this page either. He tore that page out and crumpled it up just before sending it over to its brothers by the wastebasket. Al looked up from his sandwich and darted his eyes between his brother and the wastebasket. "It looks like you're not finding much good news," he said.

"Gol-ly, you must be psychic, Al," Ed said with more than a touch of sarcasm in his voice. Al chuckled slightly and then banged at his chest with his fist. Ed smirked at the boy. There was no way Al could fool him into thinking he was choking when he was really trying to disguise a chuckle, but it was a nice try. For that effort, he might not kill Al for making fun of his choice of the word 'golly'.

"It's all news about the upcoming war, isn't it?" said Al through a mouthful of food. Apparently he had forgotten his table manners for once, but just one breach of etiquette would be okay. Besides, the boy was sick, so...no, he couldn't think like that. He wouldn't think like that. Al was going to get well just like he had every other time in his life. Things would turn out fine...wouldn't they?

He brought his hand up to his brow and began to rub at it to wipe away the images that that previous thought had caused. It was time to come back to the present. He sighed and folded up the newspaper and set it to the side. It had caused enough grief for one day, and that was quite enough. He placed his head in his hands. "War, war, war, that seems to be all anybody in this country ever talks about."

"I know what you mean," said Al, swallowing yet another bite of his sandwich to try and not talk with his mouth full again, "Being trapped up in my room, I don't get much news, and I sometimes wish I did. But when you consider the news I'd be getting, I almost wish I didn't get any."

Ed sighed again and placed his arms down flat on the table and then rested his chin down on top of the backs of his hands. He looked across the table to his brother, who he had to look up at from this position, but he didn't really mind much when his brain was so full of images of other things to worry about. "Yeah," said Ed, finding that speech was a lot harder when you were resting on your chin, but again, he didn't really care. "You would have thought that getting rid of the Fuhrer would be a good thing, but now they're trying to change the governmental system around on us, and it's causing chaos."

Al sighed and rolled his eyes, almost as though in imitation of his brother. "Chaos like war." He reached for his brother's coffee cup and took a sip without asking permission first, though Ed didn't care, as long as Al was doing his best to take care of himself. "What do they hope to accomplish by starting another war, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Ed, "I would have thought power under any other circumstances, but they've already disbanded the State Alchemist program, so I have no idea."

The next thing either of the boys knew, Winry suddenly appeared in the kitchen, carrying a bag loaded with groceries she had picked up from the market. "Hey, Ed, look what I..." she started to say, when her gaze suddenly shifted to the other presence in the room, and she stopped herself short. "Al! What are you doing down here? You're supposed to be upstairs resting!"

"He got bored," said Ed in Al's defense before Al had the chance to say anything himself. "I would be too if I had to stay up in that room all by myself all day."

"All the same," said Winry as she placed her bag of groceries on the table and then placed her free hands on her hips, "Al, you need your rest. Don't go wandering around the house like that!"

"I'm sorry, Winry," said Al, emphasizing his statement with a slight bow of his head. Winry's stance melted and her arms flopped down loosely beside her legs.

"Aw, Al, I can't stay mad at you," she said, "But please use a little common sense. We worry about you because we love you and don't want you to get hurt."

"I know," said Al. He turned his attention away from the girl and eyed the bag of groceries with interest. Ed wondered if Al was still hungry or just in the mood to eat for the sake of eating. All the same, if he wanted to eat, then he would eat, no questions asked. Al reached out his hand and grabbed a piece of paper from the bag of groceries that was sticking up above it. "What's this, Winry?"

"Oh!" she said, and then punctuated it with a bit of a chuckle. "There was a guy standing around handing out flyers for psychic readings. I didn't want to be rude, so I took one."

Ed scoffed and sat back in his chair. He crossed his legs and arms and glared at the paper in Al's hands like it was the most despicable thing on the planet. Those people were just a bunch of charlatans selling false hope to fill their pockets. It was legal theft was what it was.

Al looked up from the paper to his brother and suddenly said, "Hey, Brother, why don't we go to this guy?"

Ed coughed and sat forward in his seat, now fully alert. "Are you serious, Al? That guy's not out to tell you the truth, he's out to get into your pocket!"

Al shrugged and sighed, taking another look at the paper and then back to Ed. "But we've tried everything else. I thought that it wouldn't hurt to see if someone like this had some answers."

"Completely out of the question, Al," said Ed, waving his hand dismissively and then putting his foot up on the table, which tilted his chair back. "First off, that is completely unscientific. There is no way they can get information that we ourselves couldn't get through a little research. Second, even if there was some truth to it, they're hiding it by catering to their customers' desires and saying what they want to hear."

Ed stopped ranting for a moment to gauge his brother's reaction. Hopefully his message was hitting home. Al was staring at him with a blank face, which meant that at least he was listening. Ed sighed and placed his right hand over his brow and extended his left hand out in front of him, as though reaching for something.

"I'm getting a name. It's not quite clear, but it starts with an E. Then you say, 'Wow, my brother's name is Edward!' so I continue. I see a sad expression. You say that I'm sad a lot. So I say that your brother loves you and wants to see you. You get excited at the incredible accuracy and ask if I can talk to your mother. I say yes, she's standing here now, giving me a message. She wants me to tell you she loves you. I then ask you to pay me 200 cens if you want me to continue."

By that time, both Al and Winry were giggling at Ed's nonsense. Ed hadn't even realized that such a show would be so amusing, but at least it drove his point home. You don't go to a so-called psychic to get answers. They couldn't tell you anything you didn't already know.

Soon, the two stopped giggling, and Winry turned to face Edward. "Seriously, Ed, you have tried everything else. Why don't you try that avenue?"

Ed sat bolt upright. "After what I just performed, you still want to go to one of those charlatans?"

Winry shrugged. "I don't think all of them are necessarily charlatans. Some of them really try to help people."

Ed sat back in his chair again and crossed his arms and legs. "Yeah right."

"Come on, Brother," said Al, leaning forward in his seat, still holding tightly to the paper, "I'm really curious about what they'd say. I'm sure we could find someone who was legitimate."

"Al," said Ed, placing his forehead in his hand and rocking his head back and forth in disbelief, "I can't believe you're saying this. There is no. such. thing. as a legitimate psychic! It's unscientific! They're all frauds!"

"Now you're just being closed-minded," said Winry, "Come on, Ed, haven't you tried everything else? So you don't believe in such things. Big deal. Satisfy Al's curiosity. It's the least you can do for him."

Ed removed his hand from his head and slumped down into his seat with a sigh. There was no winning against that woman when she used a guilt trip on him like that. It wasn't fair. At all. He knew very well that she was insinuating that Al might not be around very long, and so he should at least entertain him. Thankfully, Al was too naïve to catch onto that aspect of her speech. He didn't want his little brother knowing that those close to him had placed a ticking clock on his life.

With one final sigh, Ed threw his hand up into the air. "Fine! You win. We'll go see a psychic-thingy if it means so much to you."

Al's face immediately brightened and he excitedly asked Edward, "Really, Brother?"

Ed rubbed his face in annoyance as he said, "Have I ever said anything I didn't mean?"

The answer to that question was debatable, but Al's face just grew brighter, and he practically bounced in his seat at the announcement. "When can we go?"

Ed removed his hand from his face once again and pointed his finger at Al. "Now you hold on a minute. We're not going to just anybody. I may not believe in a legitimate psychic, but we're not going to someone who only wants us for our money. They have to have a reputation for trying to help people or we're not going."

"How do you plan to find that out?" asked Winry.

Ed shrugged. "I have connections. I'll find someone." With that, he stood up and cleared his dishes, and then came back to the table and grabbed Al's shoulder. "We'd better get you back up to your bed. You can't stay down here all day, you know."

"I know, Brother," said Al, looking between Ed and Winry, but still managing to keep a slight smile on his face, "But it felt really good to get down here for a change. It was nice to see something other than those four walls."

Ed half-heartedly returned the smile. "Well, you'll be seeing something more than that from now on. We're going to make sure to spend a lot more time with you so you don't get so bored, right Winry?" He turned to look at the girl to make sure she'd gotten the message. She wore a surprised look on her face for a moment, but then seemed to catch on, and nodded. "Good," he said, turning back to Al, "Now let's get you to bed."

Ed then reached down and grabbed Al's waist and hoisted him up over his shoulder. Al laughed at the unexpected gesture as he hung upside down over his brother's back. "Brother, I can walk."

"No, you can't," said Ed, "If you do, you're going to get a lot more than a lecture from me the next time you try it, understand?"

Al sighed. "Yeeees," he said reluctantly.

"Good," said Ed, and then marched out of the kitchen and up the stairs with the boy. Al was extremely heavy to carry this way, especially with him being almost the same size as him, but he wasn't about to let on to that. Al would feel guilty if he knew. Besides, Al was a lot lighter than normal, since he kept losing weight no matter how much he ate. Hopefully they'd fix that soon, but it did make the boy a lot easier to carry.

Ed entered their room and leaned over so that Al flopped down onto his bed. "Now, stay here like a good little patient, got it?" Ed pointed a finger at Al for emphasis, and Al chuckled back in response.

"How many times do I have to say I understand, Brother?"

"As many times as it takes to ensure that you do," said Ed. He then smiled and turned to leave. "Now, I'm going to go make a few calls about your psychic visit, so no funny stuff, or no psychic visit, got it?"

"I said I got it, Brother!" Al then picked up a nearby pillow and threw it at Ed's retreating form, narrowly missing the boy as he went out the door. Ed couldn't help but laugh at little bit at his little brother's behavior. He was still so light-hearted and strong-willed no matter what was going on around him, whereas he was falling apart. He would have lost all his optimism by then if it hadn't been for Al. He couldn't lose Al, he just couldn't. There had to be a way to save him somehow.

"So how is he doing?" asked Winry as Ed came back into the dining room.

Ed shook his head and walked over to the table. "He's lost a lot of weight, and he's eating more than usual to make up for it."

Winry came over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. She stood there silently for a moment, just sharing her presence with him without words. Finally she said, "I'm so sorry, Edward, I wish there was something I could do." Then she turned and left the room, blinking hard. Ed guessed she was holding back tears until she could get out of the room.

Ed sighed and hung his head. Without Al around, his facade always came falling right down. There was no way he could live without Al. There had to be a way to save him, but they had already exhausted every avenue. Except one. The boy growled under his breath at the thought, but he really was out of options, and even he couldn't deny it.

He pushed himself away from the table and stood up. It was time to make a phone call to a psychic.

I hope you liked that. Again, my apologies for however it sounds from writing it late at night. I won't discover what I should have done differently until I've gotten some sleep, so I hope it's bearable. Please, by all means, ask me any questions I've left unanswered or any areas I've confused you with, as I'm more likely to not explain things well when I'm tired, though point such things out regardless, because it helps me to write better, heh. Anyway, I hope to see you all soon, and I'll write up the next chapter once I get some sleep. Ta Ta For Now! ((Now you know I'm tired if I'm saying THAT.))