Last Train to Aerugo

by caidanu

Ed should have known that agreeing to help Roy out one last time was a bad idea. But despite his better judgment, he needed an escape from life for while. So he boarded the last train out of Amestris to Aerugo only to wake up and find himself blindfolded and tied to a chair with the bastard tied up right along with him.

The Last Train to Aerugo

A/N: Repost. Written for the 2014 FMA Big Bang

When Ed opened his eyes he couldn't see. Or more specifically, it seemed like the room didn't have any light in it. It took him a few seconds of waking up before he realized the room wasn't dark, but he had something covering his eyes.

Thick cotton cloth rubbed across his nose and the sides of his face. The scratchy material had been tied tightly around his head. It smelled like sweat and body odor. And mold. Grunting, he tried to move away from it on reflex even though a part of him knew the material would only move along with him.

He noticed a numb tingling sensation had settled in his legs and arms, and his entire body ached. Ed pulled forward to stand up but couldn't move much at all. Panic began to swell in him when his body only jerked a bit and stayed in place. His arms had been tied behind his back along with his legs bound to the bottom of the chair. That explained why they felt so numb.

There seemed to be some sort of barrier behind him. It would help if he could see. At least then, he'd know what he was up against. The hard surface behind him felt like the back of a chair, which made sense considering the position of his body.

He growled and tried to move the chair, unsuccessfully. Ed didn't like the feeling of helplessness and confinement the crept up inside of him. He always had trouble when he lost control of a situation. Thrashing back and forth, he tested the restraints. It unnerved him having his hands and feet tied down. His calves felt like they were glued to the legs of the chair.

His breaths came out in short gasps, and he could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate. Ed suddenly stopped himself, realizing he couldn't afford to let his anxiety overtake him. So, he sat there and tried to think of something, anything to channel his anger and fear.

This was all Mustang's fault. If that bastard hadn't gotten him involved in the latest scandal, he'd probably be on the road, doing interesting things with Al. Not tied up and blindfolded.

Ed could begrudgingly accept some of the blame too. He never should have agreed to go to Aerugo with Roy, no matter how exciting the adventure seemed nor all the pretty words about helping out Amestrians with a diplomatic mission. He had specifically left the military for this reason. Some asshole always lurked around every corner, waiting for the opportunity to attack. But he had agreed and got on the last train out, hoping to catch a break from life itself and maybe get a little research done on the side.

The last thing he remembered was having some red wine while they were on the train and feeling drowsy. It obviously had been dosed with something that would knock him out, but to what end? Ed couldn't think of anyone who currently wanted to hurt him. Since he stopped working for the military, he and Al had almost completely fallen into obscurity to anyone who didn't already know them.

Sure they got around and met new people, but neither of them stayed in one place for too long unless they were visiting friends, and even then, it was a short list of people whose company he could stand to be around for longer than a couple of days. Ed wasn't a people person, and Al had spent too much of his past in a suit of armor. His brother had the attention span of a gnat anymore from wanting to experience so many different things at once.

Al, now that was the person he wanted to have around at a time like this. While Ed could wriggle his way out of most situations, there were some instances where using alchemy proved a far more efficient option. This would be one of those times even if he couldn't move his arms. It would still come in handy.

Ed growled even though he wanted to scream. He didn't know if he was alone in the room or if whoever captured him stood watch. "Fuck. Fuck this. Fuck this. There's gotta be a way. Think, dammit, think," he whispered harshly to himself.

"You're awake," Mustang's voice drifted up from behind him.

"Of course I'm awake," Ed's head snapped up in surprise. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he craned it in the direction of Mustang's voice. He hadn't realized Roy was in the room with him, but now at least he'd have help. "Didn't you feel me moving around? You could have said something sooner."

"I can't see so I didn't know who was moving the chair," Roy replied, keeping his tone down to a whisper. "I've been trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Our captors didn't need to know how long I've been awake."

"Oh, really?" Ed sucked in a few more deep breaths to calm himself. He really didn't know if he could deal with the methodical slow pace Mustang could move in sometimes. "They could be watching now."

"You already gave us up when you started talking to yourself." Roy kept his voice calm and collected, causing Ed to grind his teeth together and ball his fingers up until they dug into the palms of his hands. "And considering there hasn't been any other noise than that nor has anything happened to you, I think we're alone here. Wherever here is?"

"What the hell is going on?" Ed turned his head to look at Roy even though he couldn't see anything. "Why am I tied up and blindfolded?"

"I don't know." Roy sounded close like he was right behind him. "I'm in the same predicament."

That at least gave Ed an idea of where they were placed. Most likely tied to two chairs, back to back. "This is your fault. I hope you realize that." No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop himself from snarling at Roy. The entire situation sucked, and he needed a target to vent on. "Dammit, why did I let you talk me into this?"

"This is not my fault, Ed," Roy growled in response. "Believe me, if I had known, I never would have asked you to come. I didn't think we'd get kidnapped. It's not like I wanted for us to get taken and tied up. It's not like I planned on this happening. I didn't put up a big sign that said, kidnap us, please."

"Well, we did. And I'm sure it's because of you. There's no reason for someone to want anything from me." Ed wiggled his legs and found that he had little room to grip the floor with his feet. If he could scoot down a little then maybe he could move it. "I need to get out of here."

"We both do." Roy's head rubbed off Ed's, and their cheeks almost touched. The only thing stopping it was the angle of their bodies preventing too much movement.

"Yeah, whatever." Ed leaned his head back and accidentally bumped it into Roy's. Ignoring the slight twinge of pain, he let his chin drop forward to keep some distance between them. "You don't seem to be trying to hard to escape."

"And how would you know what I've been trying or not trying to do? You've been passed out for awhile, and," Roy twisted his arms a little to test if there was any give in the rope. "It's not like we can see what's going on."

Ed snorted and ignored Roy's comment because he knew Mustang had a point. The binds were done up tight, which didn't give him much room to maneuver. The blindfold he might be able to get off if he had leverage. Ed leaned his head back and bumped into Roy again. When Roy let out a quiet grunt, he realized that maybe he had his leverage after all. In order to get out, he needed friction, and he could use Mustang for that.

"I'm going to try something. Hold still." Ed closed his eyes even though he couldn't see anything anyway and focused. If there was enough pull on the blindfold, it would move even if it took some of his hair with it. "No matter what happens, don't move, okay."

"What do you have in mind?" Roy curiously asked.

"You'll see." Ed swallowed and prepared himself for the onslaught of complaining that would surly ensue. "Are you ready? Like I said, don't move no matter what. I don't care if it hurts, stay still."

"That sounds very comforting when you put it that way. Yes, I know. Don't move no matter what. Or else." Roy laughed a little at that thought. "Or else you'll glare at me through your blindfold." When Ed didn't comment on his remark, he continued. "Still waiting to find out what you're going to do. Hopefully, it'll happen before I'm old and gray."

"Oh, fuck you," Ed spat out.

"No thank you. Don't you think you're a little young for me?" Roy retorted.

"Sorry, I actually have a plan to get us out. Oh, wait, no I'm not. Now hold still," Ed muttered and leaned back to test how much room he had to work with.

Roy would probably chew him out afterwards, but if he could at least get his blindfold off then maybe he could figure out something else. So he went for it and pressed his head tightly against Roy's and began working the blindfold upwards.

It felt like it took forever at first before it finally began to give way. When the first crack of light came into his line of vision, Ed vigorously rubbed some more. He ignored a few undignified yelps from Roy. It didn't feel so great on him either, and in a bit, if it worked, he would return the favor. A particularly harsh push upwards made Mustang jerk a little before he caught himself and stopped all movement.

"Hey, watch what you're doing," Roy let out a bark of surprise. "That's my hair you're yanking on."

"Quit complaining. Do you wanna be here forever? It's the only way," Ed forcefully rubbed some more, "to get this damn thing off."

Finally, the blindfold lay half over his eyes. Shaking his head, he managed to move it entirely off his left eye, though it fell over his right, completely covering it again. Ed maneuvered his head and shook it vigorously until the blindfold fell off onto the floor.

Sighing, he leaned his head back against Roy's, ignoring the throbbing in his head from the violent movements he made. "Fuck, what a pain in the ass." All the moving around made him feel overheated, and his breath came out in short, deep intervals until finally it slowed down. "Alright, I'm going to have you do the same thing I did." Ed turned and could see a patch of black hair out of the corner of his eye. "Don't stop no matter what until you pull it loose enough to get out of your eyes."

"Are you sure because I think you may have ripped out some of my hair, and you have a lot more to lose than I do." Roy jerked the chairs a little when he shook his head in an attempt to diffuse some of the pain in his scalp. "I swear if I'm missing chunks in it, you're paying to have it fixed."

"Like you can't afford a barber. I'd rather you pull out hair and for us to figure out where the fuck we're at than keep them all and do nothing." Ed pushed back on his chair. "Come on. Do it."

"You're really bossy," Roy said in a snappy tone. "Alright, if you insist, but I don't want to hear any complaints later on about how it's not only my fault we're kidnapped, but I'm also to blame for your lackluster hair style."

"Screw you," Ed bit out. "My hair style isn't lackluster."

"You keep making those insinuations, Edward. Something you want to share with me? And it soon will be if I do this." Roy waited for a smartass remark from Ed but got none in return. He pushed down the strange sense of disappointment he felt and leaned his head back against Ed's. "You ready?"

"I was born ready, bastard." Ed closed his eyes and readied himself. "What was it that you said earlier about hoping it's done before you're old and gray? Should take your own—"

Ed yelped and then ground his teeth together. The jerk didn't even let him finish his sentence before reefing on his hair. Roy didn't stop and kept pushing up and down. Ed could feel the back of Mustang's blindfold move, and he was certain that some of his hair had gone with it. There were strands that felt like they were still stuck, and he hoped that none of it had knotted into Roy's blindfold, or else he really would lose chunks of it when they pulled apart.

Something gave and loosened. Ed could feel the knot of the blindfold slip open, and then all movement stopped. When Roy pulled his head away, some of his hair did go along with it. Fortunately, it only felt like thin strands were pulled out instead of chunks.

"Fuck, damn that fucking hurts." Ed wanted to rub the back of his head and tried, fruitlessly, to move his arms. After a moment, he gave up and let out a heavy sigh. "Thanks for waiting until I was ready, you jerk."

"You're welcome." Roy's voice held a smug note to it. Ed had no doubt some of it was probably pay back. "I figured you'd appreciate the courtesy."

"Oh, you're so funny. Hilarious in fact. I can hardly contain myself from how witty you are." Ed moved his shoulders upwards, hoping to show his displeasure. It felt awfully weak to him. Not having full use of his arms sucked, and he wanted to change that situation soon. "Whatever. Tell me what you see around you. We gotta figure out where we're at and what we're dealing with."

"It looks like we're in a room," Roy said matter-of-factly. "Of course, it's just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure it's an accurate one."

Ed turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Roy's ear. "What is with you? You're an awfully big smartass right now."

"Maybe," Roy turned his head as well and accidentally bumped into the side of Ed's, "it's because you're not asking anything of me. You're only telling me what to do like I've never been in situations somewhat similar to this before. After we look around and figure out the obvious, what do you plan on doing, Ed? If you can tell me your plan, and make it a good one, I'll do what you want."

"Wow, if I had known this was a pissing contest to see who should be in charge, I would have made sure to bring my big boy pants and boots with me," Ed ground out. "Too bad I left them in my other suitcase."

"It's not about that. But it would help if you'd ask nicely instead of shooting off demands." Roy closed his eyes, took a few deeps breaths, and counted to ten in his mind. "Okay. Let's… not fight. That won't help matters at all."

"Fine," Ed groused. Mustang had a point. He was acting extra hostile, and it probably wasn't helping matters. "So may I ask what you see, pretty please?"

Roy looked around his part of the room, unimpressed with what he saw. "There's a wall. And some boxes. Two of them. Not much else." He sighed before continuing. "There's a window too, though it's boarded up. There's a light overhead and some dirt on the floor."

"Okay, okay. I get it." Ed tried his best to keep from snapping and only half succeeded. "Your side of the room sucks ass and has nothing useful on it."

"Pretty much." Roy's head brushed against Ed's again when he turned it. "What's on your end?"

"Not much, though…" Ed glanced to his right and spotted something that could be useful. "I think if we can move the chair over to that jagged metal piece near the piping I might be able to cut the rope." He turned his head and attempted to look at Roy.

"How will we move the chairs without toppling them over?" Roy asked, curious about what Ed had planned but also concerned if they tried to move then their situation would only get worse. "If we fall, then we might end up in an even worse position than we are now."

"We could try hobbling over in the chairs. And I disagree. It doesn't get much worse than this. At least if we do this, we'll be trying to escape rather than wait for whoever brought us here to come back." Ed couldn't do it. His frustration and impatience had reached the level of boiling over if he spent any more time than necessary tied to the chair. If they waited without keeping busy, he would end up freaking out. "Would you rather we sit here until they kill us?"

"I didn't say that, but we don't know what's going on out there. For all we know, Hawkeye could be on her way to get us out," Roy explained in the calmest voice he could muster.

"Right, for all we know, which we don't, and that's the whole problem." Ed began to calculate in his head how many movements they'd have to make in order to reach the metal piece. "I'm sure Hawkeye and the others are looking for us, but they could have been captured too. They could be doing the exact same thing we are. Trying to escape. Maybe if we get out of here, we can look for them or find them, but first we need out of this room. And before we can do that, we have to cut the rope and get out of these chairs."

Roy was silent for a moment before he sighed, and it sounded very defeated to Ed. "Alright. Let's do it then. We should… we're going to have to coordinate our movements so we don't topple over. If that happens, then this will be for nothing. And we'll be stuck in here until our captors come back and then who knows what they'll do."

"Agreed." Ed readied himself by digging his left leg into the floor hard as he could. "We'll move on the count of three. One move for each time we count. We'll move, then we'll stop, make sure we're steady, count, then move again."

"Okay. When do you want to start?" Roy wanted to get out of here too and saw no reason to discourage Ed. It would either work or it wouldn't, and if it didn't, the situation wouldn't change all that much. But if it did, then at least they might be able to get out.

"Now. On the count of three. We'll do it that way." Ed tilted his body forward and braced his feet against the floor. "Ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready." Roy's chair squeaked a little almost like it knew what they were about to try and took issue with it.

"Okay then. One, two," Ed focused all his energy so that he could make the chair move the way he wanted it to. "And three."

The first movement almost toppled them. Roy's trajectory felt a little off. Ed thought he had been clear enough. He moved forward and Mustang moved backwards. Instead, it felt like they were pulling in the opposite direction. Ed had barely managed to keep his chair from falling sideways.

"Don't move! For shit's sake stop," Ed bellowed. Once more push and that would be it for any chance of escape. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know," Roy yelled back. His shoulders hunched up, and he forced them to relax again. "I don't think I moved it backwards like I should have."

"You don't think?" Ed replied, sarcastically. "Whatever gave you that enlightening idea?"

"I'm doing the best that I can." Roy turned his head so quickly to the side that this time it connected rather hard with Ed's. He took a moment to collect himself and ignore the throbbing pain. "It's not easy moving this thing backwards when I can't move my hands and my feet will only go so far."

"Alright." Ed blew out a shaky breath, unwilling to admit that Roy's head was probably one of the hardest things he had ever felt against his skull. "Alright. Let's try it again only you count and start the move. Maybe it'll be easier if you push back and then I go forward as soon as I feel your chair move. Let me know when you're ready, and I'll follow."

Roy readied himself again and moved his legs in the appropriate position. "Okay, I'm ready to go."

After Roy counted, Ed felt the back of his chair tip so he moved forward to compensate for it. This time it worked, although the chair felt slightly unsteady, it went forward without threatening to turn over on them. Roy then counted and moved his chair again. Ed kept following his lead until they were almost there. Now they only had to work their chairs to the side, and he could start working on the rope.

"Don't move again," Ed hastily said before Roy did indeed move his chair again. "If you do, we'll pass it up. We need to move to my right, your left."

"We'll need to move at the same time and carefully." Roy tried to see where Ed wanted to go but couldn't quite turn his head to the right angle.

"Right. We can do it, though. If we focus and take it slow, it'll work out." Ed calmed his mind once more and felt the familiar comfort when it slipped into sharp focus. "It's got to or else we're going to be stuck."

It reminded Ed of slowly whittling down a piece of wood. They both moved slow, timing each one with a soft count. A part of him didn't know whether to be happy they weren't disturbed while doing it or annoyed that their kidnappers seemed to have forgotten about them. How long would it be before anyone came by to see if they needed food or water? Or to relieve themselves? Once he felt the piping bump his shoulder, they stopped. Ed assessed their position and frowned.

"Can you help me turn it, about 45 degrees?" Ed needed to come at it from an angle. It would make it so he'd be squished up against the pipes, but he could deal with it if it meant cutting the binds.

"Is that going to give you enough room?" Roy softly asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He was finally able to see the jagged metal but also noticed how dull it looked. Not wanting to discourage Ed, he said nothing about his doubts on cutting through the rope.

"It'll be fine." Ed would make it work regardless of comfort. "I've been in tighter squeezes before. And it's the only way I'll be able to get the rope against it."

They slowly turned the chairs so that Ed pressed harshly against the pipes. The new position didn't give him much room to move, but it would be enough. He moved his upper body up and down, making sure he pressed the rope as hard as he could against the jagged edge.

It felt like it took forever at first, but then Ed finally felt some of the rope give way so he sped up his movements. "I think it's working."

"Are you sure? That thing looks too dull to cut through anything," Roy finally pointed out his concern while he craned his head to see how far Ed had gotten. Unfortunately, the angle made him unable to watch anything important.

"I know, but oddly enough, it is working." Ed watched another part of the rope fall away and grinned. "Yeah, we're about halfway through it."

"Hurry then. We can't have much longer before someone comes by." Roy's voice took on a commanding tone, which he hoped would annoy Ed enough to motivate him.

"I'm hurrying as fast as I can go." Ed felt irritation rise up in him. Where did Mustang get off taking that tone with him? "You can't rush this shit when the thing is this dull."

Finally there was a snap, and Ed felt the pressure around his hands lessen. His wrists stung from how tightly the rope had been tied, and now that the blood started flowing back in them, it felt like little pins were stabbing his hands. He ignored the pain and wiggled them until the remains of the rope fell off.

Ed waited for his arms and hands to feel better. When they didn't, he banged them against his sides. Once the ache lessened, he was able to untie his legs. At least he didn't have to worry about his automail falling asleep. Ed lightly pounded his fist against his right leg until he felt the prickly sensation ebb. Now he felt he'd be able to move without feeling like he would stumble if he got up from the chair.

He stood and stretched waiting until the weird tingly feeling in his arms and right leg started to completely go away. Then he made sure to work as quickly as he could to free Roy, who had been patiently waiting for Ed to release him. The ropes gave him little trouble and soon came off. "There you go."

"I can't believe you managed to saw through the rope with that thing." Roy rubbed the area around his wrists that had rope burn on them. After seeing how Ed did, he decided to keep seated and move his limbs around until the blood worked its way back into his arms and legs. "I wonder how long we've been in here." He reached in his pocket, which made his hand shake a little, and pulled out his watch. "Damn."

"What?" Ed tried to get a glimpse of what time it was, but Roy snapped it closed before he could see. "Hey, why'd you do that for?"

Roy's eyes narrowed for a moment and then sighed. "We've been in here for almost a day."

"And still no sign of anyone else?" Ed scowled; the thought of them being gone for that long unsettled him. "How do you figure? I mean, it's not like we know for sure. Maybe it hasn't been that long."

"The last time I checked my watch last night, it read a quarter till eight in the evening. It's now seven thirty at night so almost a day has passed." Roy opened his watch again and held it up so Ed could see he was telling the truth.

"I guess we'll have to move fast then." Ed batted the watch away, not wanting the reminder to linger in front of him. "I'm surprised no one has come back in yet."

"They could have." Roy slowly stood—testing out the stability of his legs first—and rolled his shoulders, letting them pop once. "I wasn't awake much before you were. But I would imagine that they'll probably come soon and check in on us."

Ed tried the door and was not surprised that it had been locked. "Looks like we'll have to wait for them to come back then. That's going to be our only way out unless you have something to pick a lock with."

"I could try melting the door knob," Roy suggested. It had worked for him before even if it did come with risks. "Though, that'll either get us out of here or make a bigger mess of it. If it doesn't fall off then we'll have to break the door down."

"Then we wait, and when the bastards come in, we'll ambush them and get the hell out of here." Ed moved away from the door and against the wall. "If too much time passes, I can break the door with my automail. I'd rather not use it, though."

"Alright, we'll wait and see if anyone comes in to check on us." Roy positioned himself on the other side of the door.

Ed crept along the wall so that he'd be somewhat hidden if anyone opened the door. After waiting for what felt like forever, he glanced over at Roy, noticing the concerned look on his face.

Mustang also looked tired. Ed didn't know what they had been dosed with, but now that they were out of their bindings and the adrenaline had started to wear off, his body felt stiff and his eyes heavy. If they had to wait too long, he didn't know if he'd be able to hold onto his energy and strength to keep himself awake.

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When Ed first heard a noise from the other side of the door, he only then realized that he had started to doze off and now sat on the floor, slumped against the wall. Glancing up, Roy was watching him carefully. Ed slowly stood back up, tried to shake off his sleepiness, and glanced at the door. He lifted two of his fingers up and made the signal. Roy nodded in return so he quietly stood up and braced himself for a fight.

The first man that walked through went down easy enough. Ed had managed to get the drop on him without the guy even realizing what was happening. The second man proved a little more difficult. By the time Ed had went to take him out, the man moved too fast and came down hard on his left leg with a Billy club.

His leg twisted and bent. A piece of automail pinched and dug into the lower part of his thigh. He yelled out and punched the guy in the face, though the force wasn't as strong as he wanted it. Ed could hear Roy yell, but he couldn't make out any of the words. His left leg twisted again, at an odd angle, and he fell to the floor.

There was a sickening crack to his left, and when Ed twisted his waist around, he saw Roy pick the man up and throw him against the wall. He turned himself over so that he was on his back and struggled to get up on his own only to have his leg lock up into a charley horse. Ed flopped back down on his hands, his breath coming out in short, quick gasps.

Roy bent down over Ed held out his hand. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Ed winced but took Roy's hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. He put all his weight on his right leg so that he didn't fall again. "I'll be fine."

"You don't look fine. Let me take a look at it before we go." Roy pushed Ed up against the wall. "Take off your pants. Or pull them down at least."

Ed shot him a surprised look before it seemed to sink in why he needed to pull down his pants. Once he did, Roy knelt down so that he could get a better look at where the automail attached to flesh.

"Do you even know what you're looking for?" Ed didn't want to seem ungrateful but an automail injury was not the same as a regular one.

"I'm looking to make sure that your leg will move the way it's supposed to." Roy carefully placed his right hand behind Ed's knee and began to move his leg around. "Should I be worried about something else?"

"Fuck that hurts." Ed felt some of the tension ease out but not nearly enough so that he would be able to walk comfortably. He hated it when his leg locked up. It always took him some time to be able to work out the kinks. "I don't know. Not really. I mean, it's hard to explain. So long as nothing is jammed in there or damaging the automail, it should be fine."

But when Ed pushed off from the wall, he almost fell forward again. If Roy hadn't been there to catch him, he would have fallen on the hard concrete floor. Once had been enough for him.

"It looks like you'll need a little time." Roy steadied Ed out, lowered him to the floor, and then took a step back. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Maybe make sure those guys aren't going to wake up and attack us again." Ed sat up straight and began massaging around the scar tissue. "And close the door. This'll take awhile."

Ed watched Roy gather the two men and tie them to pipes near the metal bar he had used to cut the rope. Fortunately, they wouldn't be able to move and reach it. When the door closed, Mustang came over to him and dropped down into a hunched position.

"Here, let me help." Roy reached out and gently touched Ed's thigh. "It's really tense."

Ed watched Mustang's fingers lightly dig into his flesh and start to work out the knots. "You don't have to—"

"It's fine. I'm actually quite good at this." Roy didn't allow himself to be deterred and moved his hands around Ed's thigh to feel out how bad the knots were. If Ed had trouble walking, then it would only cause trouble for them later. "And it'll be easier for me to do it. I have a much better angle than you do."

The unspoken part about Ed being in too much pain to do much had tactfully been left out. His fingers gracefully moved with firm pressure and pressed into Ed's thigh. While he worked out the tension, Roy laughed under his breath.

"What's so funny?" Ed frowned, unable to see any humor in their situation.

"This." Roy smiled and looked up at Ed while he kneaded his fingers deeper into the tensed muscles. "This whole situation. You and I. All that's happened in the past ten minutes. I never have trouble with these things normally, not like this, and the one time you actually agree to come along with me, we get kidnapped, and then tied up to top it off. They probably don't even want you either."

"Why was I taken along?" Ed had to wonder since the rest of Roy's team was nowhere in sight. "Why not the others?"

"They could have been, but probably not. I'm guessing you got pulled along for the ride because we were in the same car together at the time I was taken, and we both drank the same wine." Roy smiled again and tilted his head down. His fingers continued to massage Ed's thigh while they talked. "Maybe they thought it best to take us both. I am truly sorry you were dragged into this."

"Eh, it's fine. Not like you told them to do it. They should have separated us, though." Ed never really seen Mustang smile that much. Not a real, genuine smile, but the few rare times he had, it always amazed him how different it made Roy look. It really softened his face. It was those moments when Ed thought that maybe he had caught the glimpse of what lie underneath the carefully constructed mask Roy often wore as his game face. "Dealing with one of us is bad enough let alone both of us together."

"Very true." Roy couldn't disagree with that. Even through the bickering they still worked well together.

"Fuck, you are good at that." Ed closed his eyes and leaned back on his hands. He felt the muscles in his thigh relax with each press of Roy's fingers. In fact, it felt too good. If this went on for too long, he'd fall asleep. He lightly hit Roy's arm with his hand. "I think that's good. I'm gonna try to stand up."

"Let me finish, first. There are still some tight spots." Roy took his time until he felt an adequate job had been done. Then he stood up and held out his hand. "Okay, up you go."

Ed took Roy's hand. Once he felt steady, he pulled his pants back up, zipping them up and redoing the button. "Thanks." He tested out his leg, and while the pain wasn't completely gone, it felt better and showed no signs of locking up. "I'm definitely good to go now."

Roy crept back to the door and slowly opened it, making sure to leave his hands with enough room in case he needed to clap. He hated not having his gloves handy since it cut out a few seconds worth of time and saved him a step, but he would have to make due. He was the alchemist in their little group so he needed to make sure he looked out for Ed the best he could.

And that was something he intended to keep to himself. Ed would have a fit if he felt Roy was taking the lead for that reason. Once he felt satisfied that no one else was around, he motioned to Ed with his hand so he knew to follow.

They made their way down the dim hallway. When they heard footsteps drawing nearer from around the corner, Roy pulled Ed into the room closest to them. The room only had a small lamp on in it. Ed locked the door in case they needed more time to hide out. While Mustang had his alchemy to use for a weapon, he didn't want to resort to that unless they had no other choice. He had seen first hand the damage Roy could do with his flames.

This room was about half the size as the one they were in. Crates and luggage littered the floor. It struck Ed odd that their kidnappers had a room stuffed full of suitcases. Some of them looked very old and worn. He had to wonder if all were new additions or if this had been going on for a long time. But why would they kidnap people and store their luggage?

Before he could think more on that, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Ed walked over to investigate. Partially hidden behind another suitcase, was his own. He bent down and looked at the tag on the one in front of his luggage and noticed it said, Property of Major General Mustang.

"Hey, here's our stuff." Ed pulled his suitcase out from the corner it had been jammed into and flopped it onto the floor. "We should go through and take what we need."

Roy looked around for his luggage but didn't see it. It was just as well. He hadn't taken anything with him except for a few extra uniforms. "I don't think mine is in here."

"Sure it is. It's right here." He pushed the suitcase towards Roy. "Do you have an extra set of gloves in there because that might be useful?" Ed pulled out his compass and put it in his pants pocket. That definitely might help them out if they got lost. "Dunno about you, but I have some stuff I need to get out of here. Hopefully, they didn't take it."

"I do, and you're right. I should get them." Roy opened up his luggage and quickly found his extra set of alchemy gloves. After he put them on, he noticed Ed was frantically digging through his own suitcase. "Is there something in particular you're looking for? Maybe I can help you look for it."

"Yeah, it'd be nice if I could bring my journal since I have notes that probably shouldn't be read by alchemists that aren't supporting you. And I also need," Ed pushed his hand further inside the suitcase and moved some clothing around before he found what he wanted. "Ah, here it is. Good." He sat down and wiped the case off. "Winry made me an emergency kit for my leg in case I needed to do basic maintenance and couldn't get back to Resembool right away."

"That does sound helpful and important." Roy looked over the small leather bound case in Ed's hand. "Your leg twisted oddly back there so we may need it later on."

"I think it's fine, but sometimes it's hard to tell." Ed put the case into his pocket. Once he found his journal, he closed up his suitcase. "There have been times when I've hurt it and didn't feel it until hours later. That's the problem with automail. Sometimes a twist will seem fine but then it ends up pinching skin or something else inside and before you know it, there's swelling, odd coloration, and pain. Occasionally a nasty smell. The worst of it though is the blinding, searing pain."

Roy didn't even pretend to know how Ed felt. He never had to deal with a permanent handicap. Even when he was blind, Doctor Marcoh had helped him recover too quickly for him to fully understand what Ed had lived through for most of his life. So he kept picking through the pile of luggage in the room, hoping to make the awkwardness go away.

"Hey, since you got your military coat on, can you put my journal in the inside pocket for me?" Ed held out his journal.

Roy took it and nodded. "Sure," he said, sliding it into the inside of his coat. "I'm going to look through some of other luggage and see if there's anything we can use."

"Don't you feel weird taking other people's stuff?" Ed leveled his gaze on Roy. "I mean, who knows if they'll want it back someday."

"I only want to look for things like food and water, Ed." Roy scooted forward and pulled out some packs near them. "I understand what you're saying, but we also have to think realistically about this. There's no guarantee we'll get out of here right away so we'll need to be prepared for that."

When Ed said nothing more on the matter, Roy went to work and dug through whatever was close by. After setting some things aside that he thought would be useful, he leaned back and sighed. They really needed to get moving, preferably soon.

Ed picked up a thin pipe that was sitting partially hidden before a few pieces of luggage and stuck it in his bag. Then he poked Roy's knee to get his attention. "We should go unless you want to keep looking through your stuff."

"No. I got what I needed so there's no point in prolonging our time in this room." Roy looked down at what he had so far. He had found some ration bars and a water canteen. Grabbing the shoulder packs next to him, he tossed what he found into them, handing one of the packs to Ed, who immediately tore open a bar and ate it. Roy decided he would wait a bit before eating. So he stood up and grabbed the bag. "If they haven't figured out that we've escaped, they will soon. It'd do us a lot of good to gain a head start."

"Let's go then." Ed finished eating and drank a small amount of water from the canteen. He tugged on Roy's coat to help himself up and put the pack given to him across his shoulder.

When they left the room, the hallway was empty. Both of them slipped out and crept towards the opposite direction from where they came. Roy stopped at the corner and carefully looked around it. He turned and tugged on Ed's shirt and nodded. They stealthily slipped around the corner and down the end of that hallway.

Ed turned to look back when he heard voices coming at them from near where they were just at. "Shit, I think we're going to run into someone."

Right after he said out, four men, dressed in black and green uniforms came into view. All their faces were covered except for their eyes. One of them yelled in a language Ed didn't recognize and raised his gun. Roy snapped his fingers and lit up the entire area behind them. He pushed Ed behind him and moved backwards until they could turn around and made a break for it.

All Ed could hear behind him was the sound of snapping and screaming. The heat on his back pushed him forward. He tried to block it out the best he could, knowing that if he slowed down that would be it for them. A few gunshots ricocheted off the walls around them, one narrowly missing his arm. Roy grabbed his arm and pulled him to the left down onto another hallway.

While Ed could still hear some yelling back where they had came, he didn't see anyone come around the corner. He put his hands on his knees and gave himself a moment to catch his breath and figure out what to do. Glancing over at Roy, he scowled.

"Try not to kill anyone, will you." Ed yelled, narrowing his eyes at Roy. "These assholes are probably following orders and nothing else."

"It doesn't matter, Ed," Roy retorted, moving along side him. "If they try to harm us, I'm not going to worry about whether or not I only charred them a little or a lot, especially when any hesitation in this small of an area can get us both killed."

"That's a hellava way to describe it." Ed looked at Roy, and his face hardened. He wouldn't back down. He remembered all to well how deadly Roy could be. It had been years but he had never forgotten. "They are people regardless of what they did."

"It's the only way to look at it, unfortunately. I can't allow them to get too close to us," Roy countered. He knew how Ed felt about it, but he also knew he might not be able to avoid it. "Getting us out safely comes first. I'm sure Winry will appreciate the sentiment."

"Winry and I aren't even together anymore," Ed blurted out and then closed his mouth so hard that he almost bit his tongue. "Shit. Forget I said that."

Roy swallowed and stopped, unsure of what to say to that. He recently seen them both at his promotional dinner, and they seemed happy enough. It didn't really feel like his business to prod. "Still, I can't see how she'd be disappointed."

"Whatever. I don't want to talk about it." Ed brushed past Roy and took the lead. "Let's keep moving."

Silence followed, and a part of Roy wanted to ask, to push for something if for no other reason than to keep the trapped, empty feeling inside him away because now he was curious when he needed to be focused.

Though, he clearly remembered the first time he had seen Ed at one of his functions a year ago. Before it had been so easy to look at him as a child. That moment, when Ed had walked through the door with Winry in tow, dressed in a black suit and tie, Roy had first noticed him in a way that he had never before. It had been the first time he had seen Ed dressed in formal wear.

Then it would have been highly inappropriate to act on those feelings so he quietly kept his thoughts to himself and only allowed himself to appreciate Ed on an aesthetic level since then. And now, it still felt wrong to say anything. What could he say that wouldn't be pushing boundaries? Instead, he decided to keep Ed close while they were trapped down here and started walking.

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After they had left the room and started walking, the hallway had been quiet enough, but Roy still kept watch and listened closely for any signs of guards nearby. He noticed that the hallways had an unusual amount of twists and turns. After taking so many, it made him feel paranoid that they would either get lost on end up going in circles. At least nothing looked familiar so far. That gave Roy a certain amount of comfort.

When they reached the end of the long hallway, Roy leaned against the wall and looked around the corner. Another short hallway only this time, a single guard stood watch. He motioned for Ed to stop and backed up a little until they were far enough away that he felt any whispering wouldn't be heard.

"There's someone over there." Roy took Ed aside and leaned forward so he could quietly whisper in his ear.

"How many? Only one?" Ed pulled away a little but made sure to keep his voice lowered.

"Yes, only one guard. If we're careful, we can probably take him out with little trouble." Roy glanced back to where they had come. "Take a look and see what you think."

"I think you could sneak up on him." Ed moved forward until he got to the end and glanced around the corner before pulling back again. Roy was directly behind him and they almost bumped heads. "There's only one of them so that won't be too bad. Or I can do it, but I'm not too stealthy with my automail. He'll probably hear my leg clanking on the floor before I get there."

"No, it's fine." Roy moved in front of Ed and took on a protective stance. "I got this one. Stay here."

"Sure, but if it doesn't work, I'm coming to help you out." Ed knew Mustang could handle one man on his own, but others might come before Roy could come up with an offensive.

"It's a deal. But no sooner." Roy glanced back around the wall again to see where the best angle to sneak up on the guard was located. "I don't want you rushing in prematurely."

"Right." Ed shoved him forward. "So go to it then."

Stealth had always been something he could do easily. Roy never had a time in his life where walking quietly had been a problem. Even when he was little, he would sometimes accidentally sneak up on Aunt Chris and startle her so badly that she would jumped a few inches off the ground. She used to affectionately complain and then swat him away to play whenever he would do that. But he never forgot how easy it had always been for him.

Keeping along the side of the wall, he moved closer and closer until he was right behind the man. Roy's fist came down on the back of the man's neck, hard. He could hear Ed scuffling around behind him. Then silence. Fortunately, the guy had been alone and had dropped easily.

Bending down, Roy checked him over. Still alive, which would satisfy Ed. He honestly, in that moment, didn't care. Maybe once they found their way out, showered, and were safe, he could care again. But with each minute that passed by, he could feel the monster inside of him crawling to the surface.

Peeling back the cloth that covered the man's face, he looked down. What he saw surprised him so much that he let the cloth fall back to where it was. "We have a problem, Ed." He leaned forward with his hands on his knees and took slow, deep breaths. "Come take a look at this."

Ed walked over to where the man Roy had knocked out lay crumpled on the floor. "What's the problem?"

"He's not Aerugonian." Roy pulled back the cloth that covered the man's face again so that Ed could see.

"You're right. Looks like he's from Drachma." Ed took in the man's features, and remembered seeing pictures of soldiers from Drachma when he stayed at Briggs. "What do you think it means?"

Roy rubbed his hand over the side of his face and across his eyes. "It means we can be anywhere. It means that we have no idea who captured us or what they may want." He had never thought they'd be up north and near the border. Or perhaps they had been taken over it. "When you were up in the tunnels under Briggs, did it feel warm or cold?"

"The bottom floor, where their engines ran, was warm, but underneath, in the tunnels, it felt way colder than this." Ed got down on his haunches and touched the floor. It felt warm, too warm for them to be up north. "I don't think we're in Drachma."

"Okay, so we could be in Aerugo or we could still be in Amestris." It was possible the man was working for someone else who wanted him out of the way. Amestrian politics were often a nasty business. Roy had always known this since he decided to climb to the top.

"Or we could be in Creta." Ed shrugged and stood back up. "That place is a political landmine. Hard to say when you have enemies at almost every border. Makes more sense than being in Aerugo since they're sort of our allies now, although there's always gonna be dissidents lurking around everywhere. At least we know we're not in Xing or any other place past it."

"Definitely. More time would have passed if that were the case," Roy pointed out. "And I can't see Emperor Yao allowing something like this to happen."

"We should go through his bag and see if there's any food in there." Ed picked up a water canteen that lay next to the guard and stuck it in his bag.

Roy opened up the bag next to the fallen man and did indeed find some ration bars. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to sustain them and give them energy. "This is all he has. Twelve in total. We can split them up between us. Along with the ones I put in my bag earlier, we should have more than enough until we escape."

Ed took his share and stuffed it into his bag. "These things are gross. No flavor to them."

"I'm sure if you file a complaint with our captors, they'll line up to listen and correct the issue," Roy dryly replied.

"Ha ha, very funny." Stretching out his leg, Ed popped his joint and winced. "So what now?"

"We keep moving." Roy slung his bag over his shoulder. "We're bound to find a way out eventually. Once we do, it'll be easy to tell where we're at."

"Alright. We keep going then." Ed knelt back down on the floor next to Roy. "Maybe we should look him over once more and see if this guy has anything else useful on him like some kind of weapon."

"Agreed. Anything we find that's useful, we need to take." Roy rummaged through the other pack and found a small first aide kit. It also had a small lantern that looked empty. He pulled out a few useless scraps of paper and a tobacco pipe and then handed the pack to Ed. "Here, put these into your bag."

"I was just thinking." Ed grabbed the stuff and shoved it into his pack. "It feels like we're not getting anywhere with this. The longer we go in this direction, the less people we see. Is that weird?"

"I was thinking the same thing. On second thought, it may be a good idea to turn back." Roy finished frisking the man and pulled out an old worn map. Pleased with his find, he folded it up and put it into his pocket. "Now that I think more on it, I'm not sure pushing forward is the best thing to do."

"Are you nuts?" Ed called out a little louder than he intended. He lowered his voice and looked around to make sure he hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. "If we go back, they'll probably capture us. It's not like they won't know we've already come through and won't be waiting for us. It's too late to turn around now. We need to keep moving forward. There's gotta be a way out of here. We only need to find it. And we haven't been walking for that long. Just forget I said anything about it, alright."

"Fine, we keep going in the same direction." Roy had already turned around and started walking back the way they came. But he stopped and gave Ed a terse look. "We definitely need to get moving regardless of which way we go."

"I'm ready." Ed pulled on Roy's arm and started moving away from where they had come. "We can rest and figure things out when we know we won't be running into any more guards."

"Let's go then." Roy allowed Ed to lead them forward. "But we should consider that moving away from people could be a bad sign."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Ed kept moving forward, hoping that it would work out in their favor. While he understood Roy's point, he also felt it better to stay away from anyone. It would cut down in the mortality rate. "Just keep walking. We'll find a way out. I know we will."

Roy frowned at Ed's bossiness. He could argue the point, but in the end, he felt too wound up to fight. If they both started now, it was unlikely they would finish anytime soon, which would waste minutes, maybe more than that. Ed didn't look like he could afford to stay in here longer than needed. Roy knew he would eventually need to see a doctor or at least Winry to check out his leg. There had been a few times when it still looked like it caused him pain.

He honestly had no idea what else to do. At best, any suggestion he made would be met with only mild disapproval, but most likely Ed would fight him on it. Sighing, Roy relented, adjusted Ed's hold on him so he took on the bulk of their weight, and pushed forward once more.

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Roy frowned at the way Ed still favored his leg but said nothing. Right now they couldn't afford to dawdle too much, but he decided he would watch Ed closely and make sure there wasn't a hidden injury in the automail. Even with the small first aide kit he had, he didn't think it would be enough to handle something on that scale. So he kept his attention sharply focused while they moved along the dimmed tunnels.

But when Ed swayed again and almost stumbled, he stopped. It didn't take long for him to change his mind considering Ed could barely keep up with him. After they walked down a couple more hallways and turned a few corners, he almost had a permanent limp.

"Hey, Ed." When Ed turned around to look at him, Roy stopped and tried to figure out how to word it. "I think… I want to look at your leg."

"Why?" Ed looked at Roy suspiciously. The familiar irritation bubbled up inside of him that always accompanied him when people made a big deal about his automail. "I'm doing alright. It's fine."

"You've been dragging your leg for the past half hour." Roy placed his right hand on Ed's shoulder to stop him. "Clearly, we need to stop."

"I've only been half dragging it because it's sore." Ed brushed Mustang's hand off but didn't start moving again. Obviously, Roy didn't plan to let this go. "It's nothing to worry about."

Roy took in a deep breath and held it in for a few seconds before releasing it. "You have got to be the most stubborn person I have ever met."

"Holy shit, do you ever stop worrying?" Ed's voice cracked. When Roy didn't budge, he rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "Fine then. Why don't we wait until we get out of this area?" Ed suggested, not wanting them to get caught while in a compromising position. "Seems like a better idea than doing it here."

"Agreed." Relief washed over Roy that this wouldn't be a battle with Ed. "But when we find a place that seems private enough, can I count on your cooperation?"

"Yep," Ed nodded his head in acquiescence.

Roy took the lead this time, keeping his pace normal so that Ed wouldn't get too far behind. He took out his watch too see the time. They had been missing so far for about thirty one hours. His team had to be going crazy looking for them. He could only hope they hadn't been captured too. Right now, he couldn't allow those thoughts to cloud his judgment. If it had only been him taken, then he probably would have waited and tried to negotiate his way out, but Ed had been pulled in for the ride too so he had that to consider.

The hallway became narrower the further they went. Roy put his hand on Ed's shoulder when they hadn't run into anyone, and he felt they had gone far enough. Regardless of whether or not this part was guarded or not, Ed couldn't keep going like this.

"I think this is a good place to stop and rest." Roy dropped the bag he carried to the floor.

Ed turned to look at him and shrugged. "Alright. You want to look at my leg now, huh."

"I do." Roy sat down, his hands resting on his knees, and looked up at Ed. "Let me know when you're ready. I'm going to go check around and make sure we're alone."

He didn't really think they had anything to worry about. They hadn't seen anyone else for awhile now. At least they had been able to get some food and water earlier and had managed to take a few small breaks to eat and drink. The guards definitely had useful items on them as well. But he needed some space. While Ed so far hadn't been too hard to handle, there were a few times when Roy could have reached out and strangled him. So he walked off to check the opposite end where Ed was at.

The area had an eerie silence to it that Roy didn't like. But he pushed on and kept looking around. Once he decided that they were indeed alone in the tunnel, he walked back over to Ed, who only stood there and stared out into nothing.

"Are you ready?" Roy asked.

Ed turned his head, eased his bag off his shoulder, his attention focusing once more, and he glared at Roy. "I still think this is a waste of time. I'll be okay."

"You're in pain," Roy calmly pointed out. "There's no sense in having you go on with it if there's something I can do for you."

"What exactly do you think you can do?" Ed knew he probably slowed them down, but without Al or Winry around, he didn't think there was much they could do about it. And he would never be able to get in the right position to poke around with his leg himself.

"I don't know," Roy replied, frustration becoming clear in his voice. "Just let me look at it, please."

Ed gave Roy a thoughtful look. The bastard was smart enough so maybe it could work. "Alright. If you really want to take a look, go ahead. Though, I don't think we can fix it. Winry could but she's not here."

"Either way, it won't hurt to try." Roy sighed and rested his hands on his hips.

"Pfft, whatever. Okay, hold on. I'll be ready in a second." Ed undid his pants and pulled them down. After folding them, he set them down on the ground and then sat down on them. "Jeez, never had to take my pants off so many times before in one day."

"How does it feel?" Roy knelt down to get a closer look. He didn't like what he saw. "It's redder than it was before." He scooted forward until he was mere inches away from Ed's automail. "Has anything felt like it's gotten worse?"

"Not really. I don't know. Maybe? Feels like something isn't lined up right. Like there's automail poking where it shouldn't be poking." Ed straightened his left leg out and bent it at the knee to make it easier on Roy.

"Well, it's digging into your skin here." Roy pointed to area near the back of Ed's thigh. "I think that's probably what's causing it. Any suggestions on how to fix it?"

"Other than taking it partially off and putting it back on, no." Ed glanced up at Roy, almost hoping it wouldn't come to that but knowing it would.

"How complicated would that be?" Roy moved his fingers along the outer edge of Ed's automail, impressed with the craftsmanship. Anything less probably would have given out by now.

"If Winry finds out, she'll kill us." Ed wanted to make sure he threw that one out there because Winry was going to be furious if they partially disconnected his automail. It was one thing to have Al do it; she had showed him how to work the new structure. Having Mustang do it was another story. "But, I've watched her do it enough it times to know that it's pretty straightforward. You have to make sure it's all lined up correctly and that everything is connected properly before pushing it back in. It wouldn't be possible without any tools, but since I grabbed that leather case, you should be able to do it."

"Have you ever done anything like that before?" Roy pulled away and sat back on his heals, his hands again resting on his knees.

"Once." Ed folded his arms across his knees and leaned his head on them. "Other than that, I've never had it pulled out without disconnecting everything and taking it all the way off. The only other time the automail has come off is if it's completely destroyed or damaged really bad."

"Let's try it unless you think it's going to make it worse." At this point, Roy didn't feel they had anything to lose if it could possibly improve Ed's condition.

"I can't promise you that it won't, but if we're really careful we can probably do it without any permanent damage done." Ed cautiously looked up at Roy. "Don't hold it against me if something happens because of the pain."

"Do what you need to do." Roy wasn't going to expect anything else from Ed other than the basics. "When I fought Lust, I almost passed out and there were some tears."

"Really?" Ed hadn't expected Mustang to be so generous about it. Since he had been in the military, he thought he'd be expected to tough it out even though nothing he had done as a State Alchemist hurt that much unless it involved his automail.

"I burned my wound to stop the bleeding. Of course there were some tears," Roy easily admitted. "It's normal. There's no shame in it, Ed. It doesn't mean you'll break down and cry. And if you do, that will be okay too. I'll be more worried if you don't react at all."

"Fine, then do it, and no comments." Ed looked away and stewed for a bit. "I don't care if this or that is acceptable. If any of it happens, it didn't actually happen, okay?"

"Of course." Roy understood what Ed wanted and that his pride was on the line. "Nothing of that sort will happen I'm sure. Now, what do I have to do?"

"This part will be tricky," Ed began his explanation. "Winry made it so that I could have Al pop it off and pull it out a little without extensive tools. She thought it'd be useful after I got a piece of twig stuck in it for a week. By the time she looked it over it had been a mess in there." He reached into his bag and pulled out the tool kit. Opening it up, he pulled out a small Flathead screwdriver. "You'll need this, though."

Roy took it. "Where do I use this?"

"Here, let me show you." Ed leaned up and turned his leg so that it lay as sideways as he could get it. "There's a part on the opposite side just like this one." He moved his finger along the cool metal to make sure Roy knew where exactly he meant. "This small part, right here, once you loosen it, you'll hear a popping sound when you do. You should then notice a slight depression inside where the pieces come up.

"Push in on them at the same time, and you'll be able to pull it out. Don't pull to hard. It'll still be connected to me. If you pull it too hard, well, I don't think I need to tell you that will end up badly."

"So I loosen this part here," Roy pointed to the relatively small screw in Ed's automail. "And do the same on the other side, push in on both parts on the inside, and it'll come partially off?"

"Yep, that's pretty much it. Oh, and after you unscrew those parts, the side right here will lift up a little. That's what makes the popping noise. That'll mean you did it right, and that will allow you access to the inside part." Ed moved his fingers along his automail, pointing out where Roy wanted to look. "Like I said, Al did it once before and it's not so bad. Nowhere near as painful as having it taken completely off and reconnected, but it still hurts like a bitch, probably because no matter how gentle you are with it, it still pulls a little on where it connects to my nerves. It feels like getting a harsh shock throughout my entire body."

Roy nodded and then went to work. Both screws loosened easily enough, and he noticed they were the kind that didn't come completely out. Smart move on Winry's part since their size would make it easy for them to get lost.

Once he finished the second screw, Roy heard the popping sound Ed mentioned and two slim pieces of automail opened up. "Okay, what's next? I look inside and press in?"

"Yes. The two pieces that opened up, if you look in there, you should see the two parts you need to press in at the same time. Do that and it will release on its own." Ed watched Roy carefully to make sure everything went alright. From the angle he was looking at, it made it hard to tell, but from what he could see, Roy was following all his instructions correctly.

It took him a couple seconds to figure out exactly what Ed was talking about, but then he felt it. On each side, he found the two depressions that moved under the pressure of his fingers. Roy pushed in and felt the automail release.

"Now gently pull it away from the port," Ed continued to coach. "It helps to do it as slow as possible so you can feel when stops."

So he took it slow like Ed had instructed, and sure enough, Roy was able to feel when it stopped. If he pulled on it any further, it would probably tear where it connected to the nerves. When it came out, he immediately noticed that it had been at an odd angle, which explained why it had been digging into Ed's skin.

So he realigned it the best he could and hoped that he got it right. Seeing the mechanics involved gave him a whole new respect for Winry and what she did. He glanced at Ed who nodded. Roy pushed in until he heard the click. Pushing the sides back in, he quickly tightened the screws back in place.

After Roy completely reconnected Ed's leg something seemed off other than the hissing sound from Ed and the string of curses that followed. While the automail no longer dug into the skin, there was an opening that wasn't there before, and it looked sore. Quickly tearing a part of his coat sleeve off, he made a wrapping for it.

"Here, this should help keep it in place." Roy finished wrapping Ed's leg up and tied it so it wouldn't come off easily. "Did something happen? There was an odd gap after I finished."

Ed shook his head and then let a strained breath. He tried to talk and gasped a few times before he could push any words out. "I… I have no idea. It doesn't feel quite right but the pressure isn't there anymore. I won't really be able to tell until the pain is gone."

"I can wait." Roy settled back into a sitting position opposite of Ed. "Take you time."

"Good because I'm going to need a minute or two." Ed winced and tried to push the pain down the best he could. Thick strands of hair hung down over his face and matted against his jaw from the sweat.

No matter how much he wanted to ask, Roy refused to let the words "are you okay" pass his lips. He had given Ed his word that he wouldn't comment on it no matter what happened. Considering Ed only sat there, teeth and fists clenched, breathing heavily, he assumed it was a good sign. At least he hadn't needed to reconnect the nerves. That would have been much worse and something he wouldn't have been able to do properly. Still Roy felt surprised it had caused that much pain. Nothing about it had looked like it tore into or pulled anything out.

So he sat and waited. Roy felt there wasn't much else he could do. They couldn't stay here for long, but for now they seemed safe enough and if someone did happen by, he would take care of it quickly and efficiently.

"Hey, can you do me a favor?" Ed hesitantly asked, unsure if what he was about to ask would be okay.

"Sure. What do you need?" Roy figured it was the least he could do for Ed after causing him so much pain.

"This'll sound weird, and I hate to ask you, but can you gently, help me lift my leg off my pants so I can put them back on?" Ed felt uncomfortable, and a little cold, sitting on the ground in his boxers.

Roy didn't say anymore and helped Ed get his pants out from underneath him. After watching him struggle for a few minutes, Roy looked at Ed and took the pants. Carefully, he pulled it over the automail leg and up past it. Ed did the rest and shimmied back into them until they reached his hips.

Standing up, he pulled Ed along with him. It took a bit of maneuvering, but soon the pants were back on so Roy set Ed gently down on the ground again. "Let me know when you're ready to go."

"I gotta take a leak first." Ed yawned and stretched his arms out.

Roy gave him a dry look. "Thank you for sharing."

Ed grinned and patted Roy on his lower back. "Sure, no problem." When he went to stand his leg buckled. Roy caught him and held him steady. "I think I might need your help."

"I kind of got that." Roy hoisted Ed up into a firmer standing position. "Come on. I don't think you'll ever forgive me if I let you pee your pants."

"Nice. Glad you're thinking about my well being," Ed quipped back. "Not sure if I wouldn't forgive you, but you'd really have to work for it."

Once they got settled with Ed resting his hands against the wall, Roy looked the other way. He heard the sound of Ed's zipper pulling down and waited.

"No peeking either. You've already had me take off my pants twice for you, don't want you to get any perverted ideas," Ed said, pretending to be annoyed.

"I don't recall you complaining about taking your pants off," Roy coolly remarked, unable to resist the temptation of messing with Ed. "Are you always that easy?"

"Nah, not always. Only if the situation is right." When Ed finished, he tucked himself back in and redid up his pants. "Alright, let's go."

They carefully made their way further down the tunnel. So far his leg held up fine even though he still had a small limp to his walk. Relief washed over him. He hated the idea of being a burden for Roy. Maybe they would catch a break soon and find a way out before it became a problem again. When nothing but dark walls came into view, Ed sighed, hoping that their luck would soon turn for the better.

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After awhile, Ed noticed that the lights along the walls were becoming scarce. The odd thing about the hallways they had gone through was that for one, they never seemed to end like normal. Ed had never been in a building that such a maze-like quality to it and it unnerved him. The second thing he noticed was that some point, the hallways had stopped looking like hallways and more like an underground tunnel even though it hadn't felt like they changed the level they were on.

That led him to the conclusion they had taken a wrong turn somewhere and that the tunnels probably were attached directly to the building. Roy had also been unusually quiet. The air quality seemed thinner and there were less and less lights the further in they went. He stopped, and Roy soon followed, raising an eyebrow in question.

"I don't even get how we ended up all the way down here." Ed glanced around the tunnel. It looked strangely familiar to him, but he couldn't place why. "Must've taken a wrong turn somewhere. That last guard must've been it. Now the walls are more dirt than anything else."

"That map could be old." Roy pushed his dirty bangs away from his eyes. His fingers had a sheen of sweat and dirt on them. He could only imagine how terrible he must look. Ed looked just as bad. It would be interesting to see the expressions directed towards them if they were rescued. "Or we could have read it wrong. Let's rest for awhile."

"Well we need to keep going that's for sure." Ed started walking again, ignoring how stiff he leg became again and the grating pain in it. The sooner they got out of here, the faster he could have Winry take a look at it. "Don't wanna rest and waste more time."

"It's getting darker the further we go." Roy stopped and looked around. The area had started to change not too soon after he reconnected Ed's leg. It had begun to take on the appearance of a tunnel rather than a building yet there had been no indications when that happened. "We should make a torch since there are no lights up ahead."

"Fine with me, but don't you think that'll draw attention to us?" While Ed certainly didn't want to end up in the dark, he also didn't want to end up being followed.

"I think we've passed the part where there are people lurking about." Roy felt disappointed that there wasn't much for them to work with. The area they were had nothing he could use to make a torch. "This doesn't even look like we're in the same place as before."

"Lurking about? Who says that?" Ed laughed a little. Sometimes Roy's word choice was outstanding in its own weird little way.

"Obviously, I do," Roy glanced over at Ed out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, I've noticed, but honestly, it's not the first time I've seen structures built right out of tunnels. It's been a long time, but back when I was still with the military, Father and his goons had places like this." Ed looked around at their surroundings and went back to his original opinion on their situation. "I think that's what's happening. Somehow we've managed to go the wrong way or maybe the right way. I dunno yet."

"I wonder if it will lead to a way out," Roy quietly commented. "Or if we're just wasting our time."

"I guess we'll find out. So, you gonna make a torch or what?" Ed stopped walking and turned to look at Roy. "What're you going to use to make it?"

"Whatever we have handy," Roy simply answered. "There's got to be something we can use."

"Well, awhile back I saw a small thingy, like maybe a storage room or something. Though, that was… a long ways back. Haven't seen another one since, so maybe we should start there and see what we can find." Ed thought more on the storage room and realized that more time had passed than he originally thought. That was way too far back for them to go there. "Oh, I know!" He snapped his fingers, his eyes growing wider with what looked to be excitement. "You think you could just snap your fingers and light up the hallway and then we can run for it and then you can do it again?"

"That sounds like a terrible idea, Ed." Roy shot Ed a disappointed glare. "I do think, I can use that pipe you put in your pack and tear off some of my uniform for it. It's flame resistant so it'll take some time to get it lit, but it also won't burn as quickly."

"Fine. Whatever works, I'm good with. Don't want to get your panties in a twist about it." Ed dropped his bag to the ground and rummaged through it and pulled out the pipe. "You sure you want to ruin your uniform for this? I don't mind parting with some of my clothes."

"I may have to take you up on that offer later on, but for now, yes, I'm fine with it." Roy shrugged off his military coat. He ripped at the sleeve he had left until if came off. "It's only cloth. I can order another one once we get out of here."

"Suit yourself." Ed watched Roy wrap the torn cloth around the pipe and then tie it securely at the ends. "How long do you think that'll last?"

"I have no idea." Roy raised his left hand and snapped his fingers. It didn't take as long to light as he expected and soon the torch provided them with enough light to see ahead. "Come on. Let's go."

Roy handed the torch to Ed, who kept it out in front of him. Soon, they reached a wall dead ahead. The only options were to head right or left. Roy tried to think back on all the twists and turns they took, but nothing came to mind. Glancing over at Ed, he noticed a small compass in his hand.

"Which way?" Roy wanted to make sure they had a clear direction before they got too far.

"I think," Ed pulled out the compass from his pocket. "Fuck, I don't know. If we are in Aerugo, we should head north right? But we might be somewhere else."

"That makes sense, and right now it's the only thing we have to go on." Roy looked down the dark tunnel and frowned. Even though they technically were heading the right way, something felt off. He sighed and shook off the feeling of paranoia.

"Then we should go left. It's not straight north, more northeast, but yeah, that'll get us sort in the right direction." Ed pocketed the compass again and squinted his eyes in thought. "Yeah, we definitely need to go left."

"I'll let you lead then," Roy said, following Ed into the dark.

While the torch provided some light, overall he couldn't see much more than a couple feet in each direction. Fortunately, he doubted anyone would be coming along. But still, he kept his fingers poised and ready to protect himself and Ed from any possible altercation. He could only hope that soon it would lead to place where his line of vision wasn't so obscured.

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Leaning against the wall of the tunnel, Roy finished eating his ration bar. After they took their last turn, they had been walking straight for over and hour. Ed looked a little pale but otherwise seemed okay for now. He could only hope the situation didn't change so they had pushed on. When both their stomachs started making noises without stop, he had decided they needed a break.

"We're gonna die out here. We're gonna die out here." Ed let out a huge yawn while he sang, making his voice crack and stumble in a few parts. He crumbled up the wrapper to his ration bar and tossed it in his bag. "Without any beer or little skirts or fancy shirts."

Roy laughed and pushed his matted bangs out of his face. "That's got to be the most off-tune, depressing song I've ever heard."

"Really?" Ed asked with a look of surprise on his face. There were plenty of moments in his life where he had heard a song more depressing than that. "Must be your city life because, damn, there're some depressing songs they sing out in the country. Someone's always complainin in them, mostly about lost love or their dog dying or how their crops dried up and shriveled from no rain."

"We won't die." Roy's expression became serious. "I don't care if I have to carry you back, we'll make it."

"You can't carry me all the way back. That's too much." Ed leaned forward, his right hand planted firmly on the ground. "That'll slow you down, and I weigh more than I look like I would. My leg adds a lot of weight to me."

"I could and I will if I have to." Roy's main issue with carrying Ed was that it would make it more difficult for him to use alchemy if he needed to protect them. He didn't care about how heavy Ed would be. "I've carried a lot heavier men than you before for long periods of time."

"You were right earlier. I guess we should have started back sooner." Ed quickly changed the subject and hugged his knees. He didn't even want to consider that possibility yet. "Sorry I've been a jerk."

"It's fine. You've also kept me entertained," Roy readily admitted. Having Ed around had been infuriating and fun, sometimes all at once. "I can't think of a better person to get kidnapped with."

"Pfft, I can think of plenty of better people. I mean, fuck, if you were with Hawkeye or someone else, you would probably be out of here by now." Ed had a feeling that if Riza had been here instead of him, Mustang would be out of here and on his way back to Central City by now. She had an uncanny ability to get out of scrapes quickly and efficiently.

"We don't know that," Roy argued, unwilling to allow Ed to feel like he hadn't been useful. There was nothing worse than feeling useless in his opinion. "If I had been with someone else, I might still be tied to the chair back there."

"You would have got tired of it and got out somehow." Ed shrugged. It may have been easier without the two of them tied back to back in the chairs. The range of movement would have definitely been better. "I know you would have. I only gave you a push to do it sooner."

"Maybe that push was at the right time," Roy countered. "Either way, there's no sense in worrying about what might have happened. We're here, together, so we need to make the best of it."

"I s'pose you're right." Ed slowly pushed himself up until he was on his knees. "I think we should start heading back now. The sooner the better."

"I think it's too late to head back, Ed. And you look really tired. If you want, you can take a nap. I can keep watch and wake you up after an hour," Roy suggested, resting his hand on Ed's shoulder. "It won't do us any good to start walking if you're not up for it."

"You worry too much. You're like," Ed leaned back and threw his arms out as wide as they would go, "This big worrier of people. Shit, I guess that's what makes you good for the job, though. You want to take care of everyone."

Roy smiled softly. That was probably the biggest half-assed compliment Ed had ever given him. It was endearing in its own strange way. "Someday, hopefully soon, we'll get to test that theory out."

"First, we need to get you out of here." Ed voice had finality to it. If anyone needed to escape, it had to be Mustang. There were too many people depending on him for a better future. "And then, we need to make sure whatever asshole has it out for you is taken out of the equation. Then we'll see how you do."

"I'll be expecting my money back when that happens." Roy lip's tilted up into a half smirk, half smile. "So you need to get out of here too."

"Figures you would bring that up," Ed groused half-heartedly. "Don't forget, I plan to borrow more money from you until you make Amestris a democracy."

"I remember your threat," Roy nudged Ed with his elbow and then cleared his throat. "I mean… I remember our deal well enough."

"Sure you did. It's not much of a threat if that was already your plan." Ed chuckled. "C'mon. We'll go for awhile, and then I promise to rest again."

"Are you sure?" Roy quietly asked.

"Wouldn't have said it if I wasn't." Ed stood up and brushed off his pants. "You can even pick when after a bit, and I won't even argue with you about it."

Roy stretched and stood. "That's a hell of a promise to make. You sure you want me to take your word on it?"

"Doesn't matter." Ed shrugged and then grinned sassily. "So long as we don't walk a few feet and you try to tell me I gotta stop, I'll keep it."

"Does everything with you come with conditions?" Roy laughed in amusement.

"Why not? I know how crafty you are. You'll take what I said then somehow magically change it to suit your needs." Ed started walking even though he did feel exhausted. "I need some way to even the odds in my favor."

"Is that so?" Roy made sure to stick close by in case Ed's leg gave out. He could tell by the slow pace they were moving at that Ed was either extremely tired or in a lot of pain. Probably both. The last time he checked his watch, they had been gone for thirty six hours. Sleep would probably do them both some good.

"Yep. Now you're getting it." Ed laughed and it came out a hair away from sounding slightly hysterical. "And if you don't, I'll just sing more depressing shit to you."

"I can't wait." When Ed titled to the right, Roy automatically grabbed his arm and righted him again. "Got to keep some form of entertainment around down here."

"Right, can't have either of us getting bored." Ed felt a sinking feeling in his chest each time he looked forward and saw nothing but darkness in front of them. So far their torch was holding up. Roy had changed it out once already, but he couldn't help but wonder for how long. Eventually Mustang would run out of material to use for it.

Roy had enough to worry about, though. Ed knew he was slowing them down. The last thing either of them needed was too much negativity so he said nothing. Ed sighed and just kept walking with Roy still holding onto his arm even though he felt like screaming at his own inability to do more.

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The hallway was so dark that he couldn't see much other than what the make-shift torch allowed. Even then, they were risking a lot by lighting it. It made them targets, and while not using it was an option, Ed didn't like the constant feeling of being on edge while they tried to find their way out. Even though Roy insisted they were most likely alone down here, they didn't know that for sure.

To make matters worse, the torch would give out soon. In retrospect, it now seemed foolish that neither of them had thought to try and find a light source to bring with them while they had the chance.

Roy had packed a small lantern, but without oil, it didn't do them much good. They should have looked for fuel so they could use while they still had the chance. Now, there was no one in sight, and Ed doubted there would be.

"We should make another torch." Ed turned the torch in his hands around in a circle. "I think this one is about to go."

"When we rest next, we'll make one." Roy glanced over his shoulder while his back lay flat against the wall. This place had more turns and twists than he wanted to think about. He looked around the corner and then moved with Ed following close behind. "Until then, we'll have to make due with what we have."

"Or until it runs out and we can't see where we're going." Ed honestly didn't know why Mustang insisted on leading when he had the torch no matter what the reasons given were. "That'll be a lot fun to walk around here in the dark."

"Right because constantly stopping and dicking around is so much better of an idea," Roy tartly replied. He then sighed and held up his hand. "I'm sorry, that was… uncalled for. I know you're injured."

"Eh, don't worry about it." Ed stopped and laughed. "And I don't think I've ever really heard you swear like that before. At least not that word. Not before here. It's amusing in its own messed up way."

"You can chose to take it as a compliment or not, but it's hard to keep it civil when you act like you're about to tear into anyone around you." Sometimes Ed surprised Roy with the things he found funny. "I'm trying my best to keep us unnoticed so that we don't have to deal anyone even though I doubt there's anyone to fight. You're not really in a shape for it, and I only have one weapon on me."

"I guess I could be a little nicer since you're only trying to be helpful." Ed knew they both were at the end of their patience and needed to figure out a way to lighten the mood. "If that's what you really want."

"It's not about what I want, Ed," Roy explained, trying to find the right words to get how he felt across to Ed without starting another argument. "It's about us working together to get out of here without killing each other first."

"Fair enough," Ed conceded. "Though, I have to admit, bickering is at least keeping me awake and alert. We could always keep it from getting out of hand."

"How so?" Roy stopped walking and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, I don't know." Ed lightly punched Roy's shoulder with his right hand. "I could say something to you and you can say something equally sassy back, which shouldn't be too hard since you're extra sassy today already, and maybe we'll both get a laugh out of it. It'll keep us from getting bored."

"I'm not bored," Roy interjected. He started walking back down the tunnel, anxious to see where it would lead them. And hoping it wasn't to another tunnel. "I don't see how you can feel bored after getting kidnapped and attacked."

"I'm an Elric. It's not really hard to get bored," Ed said indifferently. "Al and I used to get into trouble all the time when we were kids. We had weeks, sometimes months of constant adrenaline rushes from the missions you sent me on. This right here isn't much different only I can't just do alchemy and help you get outta here faster."

"I'm almost surprised you haven't slowed down yet." Roy remembered those days of having endless energy. There were many times when he wished he could have it back. "Only I'm not."

"That's because you're too old to remember what it's like to be young and free." Ed teased in an effort to keep the mood positive. "It's a shame too. I bet you were a handful when you were my age."

"Nowhere near as much as you. I already had goals in mind by then. And you could learn a lot from this old man," Roy asserted before realizing he had only succeeded in calling himself old. Still, he had to admit that there were benefits to aging. "Like patience and the art of conversation."

"Already know how to talk to people," Ed said in defense to his lack of social graces. "Not my fault it's all about propriety and convention. Life would be a lot easier if people just came right out and said what they meant."

"Easier isn't always better." One of the most important things Roy had learned in life was that often things that came easy were also never as satisfying. "There's something to be said about conversation that has more than one meaning. It's like figuring out a big puzzle and once you do, well, that's the fun part."

"There. See. That wasn't so bad, was it?" Ed flashed Roy a sassy grin. "I knew you had it in you."

"No, it wasn't so bad." Roy returned the smile.

"We keep going like that, and we'll be able to confuse other people into thinking we're really fighting." Ed nudged Roy's arm with his elbow. In doing so, he accidentally stumbled a bit and bumped into Roy's side. "Might be fun."

"It would definitely be interesting." Roy helped to steady Ed out so that they could keep going.

"Especially if I have to go to one of your functions again," Ed slyly replied. He could feel his leg wanting to give out but said nothing about it. They couldn't afford to stop anymore than necessary. "Need something to break up the monotony."

"Are they really that bad?" Roy often wondered why Ed came, but so far he had managed to make it every time unless he was out of the country.

"You're not that bad, especially when you get that bored, suffering look on your face when someone you don't like comes up and talks to you. Most people don't notice, but I do. The schmoozing I could do without, but it's the set up in itself." Ed honestly didn't mind going, but the thing that bothered him the most were all the people who pretended to be nice and care when they secretly wanted to watch Roy fail. He hated that more than anything. "I get they want to honor and reward you for a promotion or whatever other fantastic thing you're doing, but it doesn't fit you, you know."

"I can't say I do." Roy frowned. He couldn't tell if Ed was insulting him or giving him an unusual compliment. "I think I do well at those functions."

"Oh you do. But, dunno. You ever look around and wonder why half those people are there? Why it's not only your team and your friends instead of people who don't really care but feel they have to show up?" Ed knew that politics wasn't his thing and that he'd never quite get it. All the sneaking around and two-faced behavior drove him up the wall.

"Sometimes, but I also know the importance of having some of those other people there," Roy elucidated while he kept an eye on how Ed walked. "It's a delicate balance, Ed. I can't just say, you can't come because I don't feel you like me enough."

"I know that," Ed replied with a shrug. "Still, I think a quiet dinner affair seems more like you."

"Perhaps it is, but it's not really about what I prefer but what needs done." Roy took Ed by the arm and led him along, careful not to hold on too hard. "Why did you come the last time? I was surprised to see you there. It definitely isn't something you'd enjoy."

"Because, I am one of your friends and supporters. At least I'd like to think so." Ed chose not to say anything about how touchy-feely Roy was being. He figured it most likely had to do with his injury. "I may not like it, but that doesn't mean I won't come and see what's going on."

"To see what's going on?" Roy raised and eyebrow to that. "You mean snoop around and make sure I'm not slacking from my promises."

"Maybe," Ed half-admitted. "Despite the teasing, I really don't think you're a slacker. Not too many people could do what you do and stay sane through it all."

Roy stopped and then let go of Ed. "We should break and get some sleep if we can."

Ed un-slung the bag from his shoulder and set it down. "Sounds good to me. I could use a break. 's cold, though."

"Maybe we can make a small fire," Roy suggested. "Let's try to find what we can from around here. Any kind of debris that looks like it can burn. We should also check out bags and see if there's anything in them we don't need that will burn."

They walked up and down the tunnel to gather what little debris they could find for a fire. Ed pulled out some paper from his bag, along with all the ration bar wrappers, and handed them to him. Roy had found a small cove in the wall and put the paper in it. A snap of his fingers was all it took to get a small fire started. It wouldn't stay lit for more ten, fifteen minutes if they were lucky. He could cut up his coat, but he wanted to save that for the torch.

"It won't last long, but hopefully, it'll be enough to warm us up before it goes out." Roy hunched down and leaned forward on the heels of his feet.

"It's better than nothing." Ed scooted closer and warmed his hands up.

"Are you alright?" Roy looked at him with a worried expression on his face. Now that he got a better look at Ed this close up, he realized his coloring was off. "You look really pale."

"We were gonna get married. Winry and me. Had it all planned out too." Ed leaned back on his hands, ignoring Roy's question. "I feel like I've let her down and maybe I should have tried harder to be around more."

Opening up his pack, Ed took out a ration bar and started to eat. It seemed like a good idea so Roy did the same. It had been awhile since either of them had taken the time to do so. They sat in silence and ate, occasionally sipping from their canteens. Ed's energy seemed to be slowing down and couple times he started to nod off while trying to eat.

Roy kept watch of Ed to make sure he didn't pass out. Maybe it was too quiet. He cleared his throat and hoped some conversation would help. "What happened between you and Miss Rockbell if I may ask?"

"I don't know. I mean, I do because I was there, but I thought I was doing everything right, and that she was okay with me being gone for long periods of time. That's how it's always been. And she was okay with it for awhile. It's just that…. I travel, check in with her sometimes, and come back for maintenance." Ed poked at the ground with his finger. "But Al told me that I didn't check in enough. That, you know, if you wanna be in a relationship, you gotta be around more or talk to the person more. That I couldn't just leave for months and then call.

"Winry seemed to agree with that because even though she was happy I was doing my thing, at some point it changed, and she wanted me to stop going away for months at a time and be around more." Ed hugged his knees and rested his chin on them. "Or she said, that I could still travel but that I wasn't around enough, you know. That checking in or visiting every couple of months wasn't working. She was ready to have kids and settle down with me and her shop. I guess not hearing from me for months at a time began to get hard for her."

"Maybe you can still do that." Roy folded his hands together and looked at Ed.

"Nah, I don't think so. We split up not too soon after that thing of yours we went to. It's been about a year. So much time has passed. And she doesn't think it's not going to work out. At least not right now. I'm not really ready for kids because I don't want to settle into one place yet, and I can't have them and not be around for them. I'd be doing the same thing my dad did only without any real good reason for it like he had." Ed looked down the tunnel and into the darkness ahead of them. "It's complicated.

"It doesn't help that we argue and fight more than anything else when I do come home. We've always done that, disagreed, but lately, it's been noticeably worse. It's not the usual fun kind of arguing. There's something else there, you know. Something deeper. And I'm definitely not ready to stop seeing the world and what it has to offer. There's so much left to do, and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface."

"It sounds like you need someone who can accept that." Roy eyes carefully took in Ed's facial expressions. He honestly had no real advice to give for something like this. "Someone whose needs can match your own."

Ed laughed at the similarities. Apparently he was the only one who felt differently. "Funny, that's exactly the same thing she said. Still, I can't help but feel like I've failed her in some way and should give up my dream. I mean, it can't be that bad, right? Settling down and having kids. But Winry said that I would only end up regretting it at some point and that would make things worse. I don't know what to do about it."

Roy poked at the fire with a small piece of metal he found in Ed's bag, disappointed that it has already burned down considerably. "I don't think there's anything you can do about it. If you're really invested in winning her back, then you'll have to give up on something you love, and even then it won't guarantee that things will work out. You could try if that's what you really want and what she wants. There's no sense in pursuing someone who's not interested in working things out."

"What would you do?" Ed felt if anyone knew how to deal with something like this, it would probably be Roy. After all, he seemed to be in good favor with most of the women he knew.

"I'm probably not the best person to ask, Ed." While a part of him felt flattered that Ed would seek his advice, Roy also knew he really didn't have anything useful to say to it. If any man could figure out how to avoid a breakup, then they would have patented the information and sold it already.

"What do you mean? You're good with women, right?" Ed threw a dirty look in Roy's direction. "I've heard tons of stories about it so some of them should be true."

"I'm also still single without any marriage prospects in sight," Roy simply pointed out. "And you really shouldn't rely on rumors. Remember back when you were still a State Alchemist and there were times when I told you that I had business to attend to? I wasn't lying even though you always thought I was blowing off my duties for dates. I was actually meeting with one of my informants."

"So you're not the lady killer everyone makes you out to be?" Ed had his doubts that Roy had any trouble getting a date. He could admit Mustang was easy on the eyes and had what most women wanted in a man.

"I wouldn't go that far." Now it was Roy's turn to give Ed a dirty look. "I've had my far share of dates over the years, but yes, my reputation is intentionally inflated to suit my needs."

"Have you ever regretted not settling down?" Ed curiously asked.

"Sometimes," Roy began, resting his arms across his knees. "I'm not going to say it's easy passing up opportunities because it's not, but I also don't have the luxury to settle down when I can only give that person so much of me." He pulled his legs closer to his chest. "There are also trust issues. Given my goals and my position, I have to be careful about who I date and who I can be in a serious relationship with. And if I were to throw a child into the mix, it wouldn't be good. I'd never be around for them, and they could be used as leverage against me."

"And there hasn't been anyone that you could at least be with or try something like that with? Some who was okay with all that?" Ed found it hard to believe that Roy hadn't met anyone other than Riza. A relationship between them wasn't possible so it made sense that they would both move on and explore other options at some point. Even with the strongest of people, loneliness would eventually get to them until they sought out the comfort of another.

"No one that's not one of my subordinates," Roy answered carefully. "In order for that to work, I'd have to lose an important member of my team. I also work late. Sometimes I don't get home until early in the morning. Then I sleep for a few hours, get up, and do it all over again. I don't know too many people who can deal with that long term."

"Sounds like we have similar problems. Kind of. I don't have to worry about someone trying to date me for money or status, but yeah we both don't have time we're willing to give that would satisfy most people" Ed moved his right foot closer to the dwindling fire. It would, unfortunately, go out soon. "It's too bad we both don't like men. We could date each other. I'm gone a lot so I wouldn't mind you being at work late, and we can trust each other. It's not like I'd sell any of your secrets to the highest bidder."

"Right." Roy cleared his throat again and gave Ed a strange look. He could not in all good conscience touch that one no matter how much a part of him wanted to. "Well we should rest. I'll take the first shift. You can sleep for a few hours."

Ed had a thoughtful frown on his face. "Yeah, that was a weird thought. Sorry. Didn't mean anything by it. Must be because I'm not feeling well."

Roy chose not to comment, lest he make the situation even more awkward. "You should rest. We need to be up and moving as soon as we can."

"Alright, I'm going to sleep. Sheesh." Ed yawned and shivered while he huddle up on the ground. "You just want to shut me up because I said something weird. I know it."

"Here, you can use this." Roy stood up and undid his outer skirt. He laid it over Ed's body, followed soon by what was left of his coat. "It's not much, but it'll be better than nothing."

"Thanks, bastard." Ed mumbled under his breath. "You're pretty nice when you want to be."

"I'm always nice," Roy replied as he watched the fire burn down. "You just never see it."

Ed mumbled something back that sounded a lot like, "I do notice," but Roy couldn't be sure. Right after he heard Ed's breathing even out, signaling that he had fallen asleep.

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When he snapped his fingers and relit the torch, it was the first light he had seen for awhile. After he had put the torch out, Roy had sat in the dark for what he assumed was hours. A few times, much to his dismay, he had caught himself dozing off only to jerk awake when he realized.

He checked the time and frowned. Closing his watch, Roy sighed. He wanted to let Ed sleep longer, but he had already allowed him to sleep a lot longer than intended, taking up both their shifts. He would easily get by. There were quite a few times during the Ishval war when he regularly stayed up for over seventy two hours. He could make it so long as Ed got the rest he needed.

"Ed, it's time to wake up." Roy set the torch against the wall, leaned down, and gently shook Ed awake.

Ed grumbled and sat up slowly, stretching his arms over his head. Roy's coat slid down onto his waist. "Can't I get another half hour?"

"No. I'm sorry, but we've already lost five hours." Roy gently knelt down in front of Ed and checked him over.

He didn't like what he saw. Instead of looking better, Ed looked worse. His face was pallid, and his hair matted to his face from sweating. Ed pulled Roy's coat closer. His body looked smaller than it was. He huddled it together and shivered.

Roy reached up and felt Ed's forehead. "Oh, Edward, you're burning up."

"I'm tired." Ed blearily looked up at him. "And cold. Damn, is it just me or is it freezing down here?"

He didn't have the heart to tell Ed it wasn't all that cold. In fact, Roy felt fine without his coat on, but he suspected Ed was having chills from the fever. If he could get Ed past it and awake then they would be able to move on.

"Here, let me help you out." Roy put his arms around Ed's shoulders and pulled him closer. He figured the warmth from his own body would be better than nothing.

Ed bulked at first and tried to pull back before giving up and leaning into him and sighing. "Sorry I'm not feeling well."

"There's no need to apologize. It's not your fault." Roy rested his chin on Ed's shoulder and looked out into the darkness they had left behind.

"In a way it sort of is." Ed rubbed his face into Roy's chest. "I should have been more careful when that guy came through the door. I know better than to give someone an opening like that. I should've listened to you when you first said we should turn back."

"I was there, Ed. You didn't give that guy an opening." Roy ran his hands across Ed's back in order to get some more warmth into him. "It wasn't something you could have controlled."

"Do you think there's a way out of here?" Ed pulled back and rubbed some sweat off his face with the back of his hand. "It feels like we've been stuck down here forever. I think we're lost." He looked around before glancing up at Roy. "At least it doesn't feel like we're going around in circles."

"These tunnels could go on for miles. It's hard to say how much longer it will take until we're able to get out." Roy leaned back on his hands. "At least we have a compass. At some point, I think we'll reach an end and be able to get out."

"Are you sure? Because, seriously, we don't even know where we're at right now." Ed rubbed the side of his face again, smearing dirt across it.

"No we don't know where we're at, but still, as you said, we're not going in circles so it's got to stop at some point." Roy had thought that Ed understood their situation better but apparently not. He hoped it was more due to tiredness than delirium. "We need to reach the surface."

"You think we'll be able to make it up to the top even if we find a way?" Ed looked at Roy and tried to focus his vision properly. He turned his head up and pointed to the ceiling. "It's a long way to go, isn't it? All the way up there."

A worried expression crossed Roy's face. "Ed, there's something wrong with you. I think I should check your wrapping and make sure it's okay."

"Nah. Don't worry about it." Ed simply tired to shrug it off but failed. "My leg does still hurt, but it's probably fine."

"I don't think it's a good idea to let it go any more than we have." Roy persisted because Ed looked bad. Worse than he initially thought. And his speech was slurred.

"How many times do you wanna poke at it? Once was enough, dammit." Ed's voice wavered but still rose to a hostile level. "My leg isn't some weird sideshow where I'm just gonna keep pulling down my pants so you can gawk at it."

"I didn't say I wanted to gawk at it. You know better." Roy narrowed his eyes at Ed while he tried to keep calm. It wouldn't help if both of them were pissed off.

Ed flopped harshly down onto the ground and then cried out when his automail hit against it. Roy winced at the sound it made. He gently broached the subject again. "Ed, I think we need to do something about your leg."

"Like what?" Ed laughed in an almost hysterical way. "It's not like we know where we are or how to get any kind of medicine." He then slumped down, defeated. "We could take it off again but that would slow us down."

"If I did take it off again, would it mess things up?" Roy asked quietly. "Maybe that's what we need to do. Take it off, let you rest for awhile, and then put it back on." He scooted closer to Ed, watching him carefully. "I was able to do it the last time, but maybe I messed something up when I reconnected it."

"Winry is definitely going to kill us." Ed pushed himself up into a sitting position. "And honestly, I think it would only make it worse if we mess with it anymore. If it ends up worse then I'm not going anywhere. Hey, how much food and water do we have left?"

"Not a ton, but if we stick to our rations, we can stretch it out for a few more days." Roy doubled checked his pack. They had enough. He'd even give Ed some of his rations if he had to. "We should focus on your leg right now instead of worrying about other things."

"We really can't afford a set back." Ed glared at him but it came across more weary than angry. "I think I can make it as is. And supplies are important to us. Just as important I think."

"That's not acceptable. We need to at least try something." Roy sighed and moved his hair from his face. He really needed to figure out a way to calm Ed down. "And we always have the option of turning around and heading back. We could gather more supplies and find another route."

Ed shook his head. He didn't like that idea. There was no way with how they had gone. They would not only lose precious time, but his injury wasn't getting any better. "I think it's too late to turn back now. Should've done that awhile ago if we were gonna. I won't make it back at this point."

"Okay. We won't do that then." Roy gently moved his hand forward to rest on Ed's knee. If Ed wasn't up to going back, then they would keep moving forward. "Let me grab that first aide kit, and I'll see what I can do for you."

Ed pushed Roy's hand out of the way. "Leave it. We don't have anything clean to work with here."

"I only want to look at it, and maybe clean up around it. That's all." Roy wouldn't push the issue of messing with Ed's leg again, because he honestly wasn't sure if it would only make it worse, but still, he felt that he should at least clean around it. "I promise I won't try to disconnect it again."

"Look, I don't think I have the energy for this right now." Ed closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "The thought of taking my pants off again and fucking around… it's too much, alright."

Roy reached into his pack and pulled out a ration bar and the first aide kit. He handed the food to Ed. "Here, why don't you eat this. I can help with the rest."

Ed reluctantly took the food and gave Roy a thoughtful look. "Won't that be weird, though? To take my pants off. I mean, it sort of makes me feel like a child, you know."

"It would be different if you weren't sick, but since you are, no, it's not weird." Roy patiently waited for Ed to give the okay. He then smiled and tried to lighten the mood. "And it's not like we'll get out of here and tell everyone we know that I took off your pants."

"True, though they'd probably find it funny." Ed cracked his neck and wiggled around before letting out a heavy sigh. "Alright, well, the least I can do is unbutton and get them part of the way down for you."

Ed let the ration bar dropped onto his lap. He undid his pants and maneuvered himself upwards a little so he could slide his pants down. When they got past his hips, Roy grabbed the hem of them and gently tugged downwards. Ed grabbed the food again and lifted himself up a bit to make it easier.

Roy pulled the pants the rest of the way off. Immediately, he noticed the wrapping had an odd discoloration on parts of it. Mainly, the part near the gap. "Okay, I'm going to take the wrapping off now."

"Sure, whatever," Ed said through a mouthful of food. "Just don't jerk it around suddenly. If you need to move my leg, warn me first."

"I can tell you right now, I'm going to need to move it a little. That gap is at an angle so, be prepared." Roy slowly undid the wrapping until it was loose enough to peel back.

Ed rolled his eyes and turned away. "Check out it already since you're so determined to do it.

Roy shot him a glare and turned his attention back to the task at hand. He couldn't stop the slight gasp he made from escaping when he looked at it. The skin around the port looked slightly swollen and had a grotesques yellowish pink color. Then he moved in closer and realized that the yellowish color was puss and not skin.

"There is some discoloration and gunk in it." Roy glanced up and caught a slight look of desperation and embarrassment in Ed's eyes before it quickly went away.

"Still don't get what you plan to do about it. Obviously, it got crap in there and is infected. Dunno why you're so surprised about it. It's not like you can't smell it a mile away." Ed finished the ration bar and set the wrapper down. "So, when do you plan to eat and get some sleep?"

"I'll eat after I'm done with this. I'm going to clean it up for you, okay." Roy gently tilted Ed's leg so that he could get a better look. Besides the rank smell coming from it, there was only a little puss inside. The outside had looked far worse.

"So you're not gonna sleep then?" Ed winced when his leg was moved again. "How bad is it really?"

"Before you said that it felt like something was digging in, do you think it's possible it could have actually cut into you?" Roy opened the first aide kit and took out two packages of antiseptic wipes. He noticed that underneath them was a smaller package of pills.

"Yeah, it's possible. Hard to say, though. Sometimes I think my pain tolerance makes it difficult to tell how badly injured I am." Ed's leg jerked when he felt the first sting of the wipe moving across it.

"Maybe if I clean it up, it will help until we get out of here." Roy finished up as quickly as possible while making sure he didn't get too far into the automail. He had learned during the war that cleaning open wounds with disinfectant could make it worse.

Once he got all the discoloration and ooze off, he tossed the wipes away from them. Roy then began to unbutton his shirt. Ed watched him curiously while he slid it off his shoulders and set it on the ground.

Pulling his t-shirt shirt over his head, he began tearing it up. "Even though it's not the cleanest, it's better than my other shirt." He redid the wrapping around Ed's leg and tied it tightly. "Okay, let's get your pants back on."

Ed only nodded his head, but before Roy grabbed the pants, he took out another antiseptic packet and cleaned off his hands. Then he grabbed the small packet of pills, relieved that it had 'fever and pain reducer' written across the front. It wouldn't be much, but at this point, he'd take what he could get.

"Here, take this." He handed Ed the pills and one of the canteens. "It should help with the fever at least."

Ed popped the pills into his mouth and drank some water. "Thanks." He shivered a little so Roy began pulling his legs back through his pants. "I think I can get it the rest of the way. Starting to wake up more."

Roy relented and dropped his hands to his side but kept close in case he was needed. Ed struggled but did eventually pull his pants over his hips and got them zipped up and buttoned. They looked a bit cockeyed to Roy, but he figured that once Ed stood up, he could fix them.

"Take your time. It won't hurt for us to wait a while longer before moving." Roy pulled his button up shirt back on and redid the buttons.

"Okay, thanks." Ed got a thoughtful look on his face. "I really mean that too. Thanks for all the help. You've done more for me than I ever expected."

"It's no problem." Roy stood and stretched. His back was killing him from sitting down for so long. He looked down and brushed his dirty pants off and then sighed, giving up the fruitless attempt to look somewhat put together.

Ed wrinkled his nose. "Damn, I need a shower, bad."

"You and me both." Roy spread out his legs and did more stretches.

"I have to admit, I've never seen you so… unkempt before." Ed grinned at his own word choice.

Roy returned the smile. "Unkempt, huh? You've been hanging around me too long, Ed. If you're not careful you might start using words like perchance and mayhap. Or, even better, concupiscence."

"Don't make me laugh. It hurts." Ed chuckled and then coughed until his sides hurt. "And what the hell does that last one mean anyway?"

"When you figure it out, let me know." Roy almost felt his face heat up from that slip but was able to play it off as a joke.

"Hey, use it in a sentence. Maybe I can figure it out." Ed leaned on one hand and bent his right knee, pulling himself up.

Roy cleared his throat, figuring out whether or not to say no. If he did, Ed would probably harp on it more until they got out of here. "Okay." He took a deep breath and looked directly at Ed. "I have a strong concupiscence for you."

Ed looked upwards and mumbled to himself. When that got him nowhere, he leveled a stare at Roy. "Well, that didn't help. That could mean so many different things. I can't even tell with that general of a context."

"I guess you'll have to wait until we get out of here and you can look it up." Roy grabbed his coat, putting it on, then picked up his pack and pulled it back over his shoulder. He definitely didn't plan on telling Ed what it meant. He had purposely kept his voice normal so he didn't give anything away.

"We should get going then." Ed followed suit, though he still moved slower than Roy liked. "That way when we get out, I can look it up and finally figure out what nonsense you're speaking."

Roy grunted and picked up the torch. He was really glad he wouldn't be around when Ed put two and two together. He could only imagine the tongue lashing he would get. Either that or Ed would realize how serious he was when he said it.

He glanced back over his shoulder and looked at Ed, who only stood there, looking slightly confused. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ed slowly moved forward and stumbled again. Roy quickly moved forward and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Maybe we should wait." When Ed shook his head, Roy reached out and grabbed his arm to steady him. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I think that sitting around will only make me tired. At least if I'm moving then my body won't have time to realize how exhausted it is." Ed allowed Roy to lead him along. He looked back once more to make sure they hadn't left anything behind. When he spotted the outer skirt to Roy's uniform he stopped. "Hey, we should get that, don't you think?"

"Leave it. I still have my jacket you can use." While it could come in handy, Roy also realized if they did need it again for Ed to sleep that could very well mean there was no hope in them ever getting out. Or at least not both of them. And that wasn't an acceptable option to him.

Instead of taking his suggestion, Ed ducked out from Roy's arm and hobbled back to get it. Picking it up, he tossed it over his shoulder and caught up with Roy. "We may need the material for the torch or who knows what."

Roy nodded and handed Ed the torch. He readjusted them so that he could help Ed out. Looking over, he noticed he was being carefully watched. Even though he looked better, Ed still looked like he had a fever so Roy reached over, brushed his bangs aside, and felt his forehead.

Ed looked up at him, eyes trying to focus. Roy's first thought was how fragile Ed looked with his hair matted against his face and his eyes hazy from pain and exhaustion. A part of him hated himself for that. It felt insulting to even consider it. There was nothing fragile about Ed, and he knew it, but Roy had never seen him so sick and downtrodden before.

His hand moved down from Ed's forehead to cup his chin. Roy gently pulled him closer and arranged his hair so that it no longer hung in his face. Roy felt his heart beat faster. He knew what that feeling was, and he realized then how screwed he truly felt right now. How had he managed to put himself into such a position? Would he really have been able to stop himself?

Closing his eyes, Roy leaned his forehead against Ed's. He was touching too much but couldn't stop himself from slipping his hand downwards until it touched Ed's shoulder. Pulling back, his eyes opened and darted around, taking in everything about Ed that he could as he tried to make sure they were ready to push forward and that he hadn't missed anything important.

"Don't look at me like that." Ed's mouth turned downwards in disappointment.

"Like what?" Roy asked, his voice thick with something he recognized but refused to acknowledge.

"Like you feel sorry for me. Don't you go soft on me and start worrying more than you already have." Ed jabbed Roy's side with his finger. "You can save that bullshit for after, when we get out."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—" Roy began.

"It's fine, just don't do it, okay." Ed turned his head away. "Come on. We should get going."

Roy swallowed and thought about saying something more but decided against it. Instead, he put his right hand tightly around Ed's waist and started pressing forward.

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They had finally reached a dead end and had been forced to turn back. At first Roy hated the idea, knowing that Ed couldn't make it all the way back, but now he felt grateful for it. They were getting no where before. And it allowed him to discover something they had both missed before. Hunching down a little, he stared into what could possibly be their way out and grinned.

"Ed, come over here." Roy tugged on Ed's shirt sleeve to stop him from walking past it.

"What?" Ed turned to look in the direction Roy pointed to. When he didn't see anything, he moved in next to Roy. "Did you find something new?"

"I don't know how we missed this the first time coming through, but yeah, I think I found a way out." Roy pointed to a small dent in the wall.

Only upon closer inspection, Ed realized it actually led to somewhere else. Though, the passage looked too narrow for them to walk side-by-side. Still, he felt a certain amount of relief wash over him at the idea of getting out of the tunnels.

"This could be a new way. Do you want to try it?" Roy nudged Ed's arm with his own.

"Hell yeah. Anything new at this point is better than retracing our steps and going back." Ed moved in closer so he could see it better. "I'm ready to get out of here."

"At any rate, it can't hurt to see where it leads." Roy slowly slid into the narrow opening. They would have to go single file, but at least it was big enough that they could fit through.

"How long have we been missing?" Ed asked from behind him. "Feels like it's been forever."

"From the time we fell asleep on the train, we've been gone almost two days. About forty four hours total." The passage wasn't terribly long, and Roy could see some light ahead of him so he moved faster.

"I miss food. Like real food, you know. Not this crap we've been eating," Ed kept talking but kept his voice low. "Not that I'm ungrateful for it, but yeah, it's getting old."

"I agree, but the most important thing is that it's kept us alive," Roy calmly pointed out. "If we didn't have any food or water, it would have made escaping very difficult."

"You're awfully positive about all this." Ed looked over Roy's shoulder and noticed that soon the narrow passageway would end. What lie on the other side for him, he couldn't tell.

"Not really. But I have been in situations where I needed to escape, and my life was on the line, along with the lives of my men." Roy almost slipped when he walked across a break in the ground but righted himself. He reached behind him and grabbed Ed by the shoulder so that he didn't have the same problem. "If nothing else, war taught me how to survive with bare minimum. It'll get better. We only have to wait out the storm first."

"If we go this way and find nothing, I don't think waiting it out will help." Ed let Roy keep him steady and made sure to carefully maneuver himself over the uneven ground so that he didn't twist his leg. "I'm not trying to be negative. It's something we need to consider, though."

"I already have." Roy stopped and felt Ed bump into his back. "But there's light this way so I'm guessing there will be other people, which means there should be a way out."

"And? That's it?" Ed looked over Roy's shoulder and noticed that they were only a few feet from wherever the tunnel led to. "Have you come up with something we can work with?"

"As I said before, maybe we need to go up," Roy explained. "Doing what we're doing, isn't working. And if there are people, then there's probably a way up or at least a way out. They have to be able to get in and out of here for supplies."

Roy stopped when they got to the end. "Let me see if it's clear."

"Yeah, sure." Ed kept back while Roy peeked around the corner. Before he could say anything or stop Mustang, he heard a snap and then saw the flames.

People shouted and gun shots fired off close by. Ed watched Roy clap and bring up a large wall on both sides. He startled when Roy grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the opening. Turning his body to his left, he tried to see what just happened even though concrete covered both sides. Everything was happening too fast, and he hated that he couldn't keep up with it.

"What the hell are you doing, firing off like that?" Ed's voice snapped while he tried to push his body forward to keep up with Roy's pulling.

"I only scattered them, nothing more." Roy gave a particularly harsh tug towards a room straight across. Ed's leg twisted and he fell to his knees. Roy paused, turned around, and hoisted Ed up onto his back. "Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on."

Trying the doorknob once, he let out a sound of relief that it opened for them. Once they made it safely inside the room on the other side, Roy locked it and then gently set Ed down onto the floor. The room was small and only had two chairs and a table in it. Papers were scattered over it, and a half-full cup of coffee sat next to them. Whoever that coffee belonged to surely would be back soon, though Roy doubted they would have much luck with both sides of the hallway blocked.

Either way, they needed to keep moving forward so he searched the room for anything that could be useful. Unfortunately, the room didn't look like it had another way out. Roy sighed and walked past the table. Then something interesting at the far end of the room caught his attention.

Ed sat on the floor and thought about how Roy had managed to bring up two walls. Technically it shouldn't have surprised him. He knew Mustang had been through the gate, but Ed couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't used alchemy like that to get them out sooner. His thoughts weren't clear enough to really think on it so he tucked those thoughts back in his mind, held onto his left leg, and watched Roy move around the room. "Find anything interesting? Real food or maybe a way out?"

"There's a ladder that appears to lead out of here." Roy pointed to the back of the room. It went fairly high up, but he knew they could climb it. "We should try that."

Ed stood up and slowly walked over. When he tilted his head up at the ladder, he took a step back. "I don't think… I don't think I'm going to make it all the way up that thing."

"You can do it." Roy turned around and then back to the ladder. "I'll go first in case there's anyone up there. Or if you'd prefer, I can carry you on my back."

"You're not carrying me all the way up." Ed stepped back again. "There's no way. You're as exhausted as I am. You got to be. You should go and get out of here. Come back for me. I'll hide somewhere."

"I'm not leaving you behind, and I'm nowhere near as exhausted as you are. I'm not carrying an injury," Roy sharply replied. "If you don't want me to carry you then you're going to have to climb. Either way, we leave together."

"Fine, I'll try it, but if I fall, keep going," Ed snapped back at Roy. They stood there and stared each other down until he looked away. "Just go. I'll be right behind you." He waited until Roy started up the ladder before following.

"And no deal." Roy looked down at him. "If you fall then I'll carry you up. We're getting out of here together."

"Whatever. Just keep moving while I still have some drive left in me to do this." Ed climbed higher, refusing to look back. The vertigo he felt moving upwards made him sick in the stomach.

Finally Roy reached the top, stopped for a moment, and then pulled himself through. Ed could feel his legs start to slip, but he managed to get to the top. Then he realized why Roy had stopped and the problem they faced.

The ladder led into an air duct. Roy helped him through when they reached the top, but he barely had room to do more than sit up. They would have to crawl for who knew how long. Ed's leg practically screamed in protest to that thought, but he said nothing.

Roy looked him over once before turning back around. They crawled along the air duct. Ed tried to be quiet, but every time he moved forward, his automail clanked against the metal. Soon they reached the end, and Ed could hear voices below them. A lot of voices. More than enough and it made him want to turn back.

"We can't go this way," Ed whispered and sat up. "It sounds like there're a lot of them down there."

"There was only one way to go. If we go back, we'll only end up in that room again." Roy scooted around so that they faced each other. "I'd be willing to turn around except back there, in the hallway, there weren't many guards. The more there are, the better the chances we're heading the right way."

"Going down there sounds like a death sentence for someone." Ed stretched out his legs until they bumped into Roy's. "I can't help you out like I normally could right now. Hell, I'm lucky I can move forward most times without seeing double."

"I can cover both of us." Roy looked back up at the grate, his mind already running through possible plans.

"This is stupid. We should go back and see if there's another way." Ed shivered and wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.

The thought of that suggestion made Roy's stomach turn. He turned back to the grate and tested it out. It lifted easily enough so he pushed up on his knees and poked his head through. Even though he could hear voices, there was no one in sight. They needed to hurry before they lost their slight advantage. So he crawled out and turned back to Ed.

"Come on." Roy frowned. Ed didn't look good at all. So he held out his hand for Ed to take and tried to make his voice as reassuring as possible. "We need to get out of here before they find us."

"If we leave, we'll be out in the open where they can definitely see us." Ed took his hand but didn't make any more attempts to move.

"If we stay here, we'll be trapped." Roy pulled on Ed, trying to get him up. "Now, come on." When Ed didn't move he tugged harder. "Hurry up."

Roy yanked Ed up by the arm and pulled him out of the air duct. From what he could see now that they were out, the area they were in looked more like a cove than anything else. To his left it opened up, most likely to a room or another hallway. He gave Ed a moment to rest then he stood them both up.

He nodded his head and pointed to the left. Roy hadn't heard any voices coming from that direction so that was their best chance of an escape route. He kept a hold of Ed's arm and moved them along the wall until they reached the corner. Peeking around it, Roy looked to make sure there were no guards. If so, then he would have to disable them. There was no way they were turning back.

If they went back down into the tunnels, Ed would probably die there. Too much time had already passed, and the last they checked their food and water supplies, both had been dismally low. Ed looked worse by the minute. While Roy was certain he could make it the trip back, there was no way Ed could, and he did not leave anyone behind.

What he saw around the corner felt disheartening. There were so many people around. He had expected for them to run into a few guards here and there and it wasn't like they hadn't heard quite a few people talking, but still. This presented a huge problem for them. Ed had been right to hesitate. Luckily, the part they come out of was partially hidden from view. It would be tricky. None of the guards were looking in their direction, but when Ed walked, he made a distinct sound.

One of the guards started to turn his head towards them, and Roy pulled back quickly. A few more words were muttered, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Footsteps moved down the hall towards them. Ed came up behind and him and tried to push around to get a better look at what was going on.

When Roy stopped him, Ed opened his mouth to protest. "Hey, what the—" he hissed.

"Shh." Roy pushed Ed against the wall and covered him so that he was out of sight.

"Don't shush me. Let me see what's going on." Ed squirmed and tried to get out of Mustang's hold when soft lips covered his.

Ed felt Roy's left hand move down his back and stop gently on his butt. There was a soft squeeze before it left and settled on his hip. Roy's other hand threaded through his hair and lightly tugged on his haphazard ponytail in order to tilt his head back. He felt Mustang's warm tongue flicker across the seam of his lips, and his body started to react. Ed felt his face heat up in embarrassment, and he opened his mouth to say something.

Roy's tongue gently slipped in and caressed his own. A shiver broke through him, and his he could feel his nipples harden from the shock of the cold counteracted by the heat of their bodies. Somewhere in the back of his mind a small voice of reason told him to back away before it got too weird for the both of them, yet Ed couldn't make himself move. Instead, his hands only gripped Roy's shirt tighter.

Footsteps passed by them. Roy felt Ed stiffen under him, squirm some more, before finally settling down again. The warmth from their bodies settled between, and Roy moved his left hand upwards until it rested on Ed's waist while the right slid down and found its way to the back of his neck. He pulled their bodies closer and deepened the kiss, but kept it somewhat chaste. Or at least he tried to the best he could.

The heat from Roy pressed up against made him shiver again. The pressure from their lips touching sent a jolt down through him that he wasn't prepared to think about on a more intimate level. And when they finally broke apart, it startled him. He hadn't expected the sudden loss of warmth against him. They watched each other tentatively for a moment, neither saying anything. Then Ed strained forward and looked over Roy's shoulder. The hallway lay empty.

"Come on. We should go." Ed looked away, unable to ask why even though a part of him wanted to.

"Let's head in the opposite direction that they were going." Roy pushed Ed's bangs out of his face. "The sooner we get out of here, the faster we can get some hot food and a warm bed to sleep in."

"Okay, I'll go first, you watch the back end." Ed started down the hall. It twisted around an empty corner and began to open up into a larger area.

Roy followed and soon they were in a large empty storage unit. The first important thing he noticed was a phone sitting on top of the wooden desk on the far left. "We need to get over there and use that to call for help."

"Do you think we can do it without getting caught?" Ed noticed that storage area was empty, though he didn't trust his line of sight. "There may be someone left here."

"We could barricade the area around it." Roy moved his hand around to show Ed what he meant. "I can put a wall up around us. That should work."

"Let's do it then." Ed put all his energy into moving quickly across the room until he reached the desk. Roy moved in right next to him and soon had a barrier surrounding them. Again Ed was struck with the pressing thought of why Roy hadn't done that down in the tunnels.

Moving over to the desk, Ed picked up the phone. And nothing happened. "Shit, the line is dead." He slammed the phone back down and hit the table with his fist. "We're not going to get any help this way."

Roy looked at the phone then the cord. He followed it with his eyes and noticed that the end looked like it was unhinged a bit. Walking over the wall, he picked it up and examined it. "It's only pulled partially out of the wall, though it looks frayed. I'll push it in then you try again."

Ed waited until Roy did just that and tried again. This time he heard a dial tone before it cut out only to come back. "It keeps cutting out. Here, dial a number and see what happens."

"Alright." Roy took the phone out of Ed's hand and dialed the number to Central Headquarters. It rang a few times before a women's voice came over the line and asked how to direct his call. "This is Major General Roy Mustang. I need a message sent to Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye."

Leaning back against the wall, Ed slid down while he watched Roy's face turn an interesting shade of red before grunting out something that sounded an awful like, "fine, I'll give it to you," but Ed's eyes kept closing so he couldn't be sure.

Roy sighed while he pulled up his code from memory. "Tarte, mono, Goldwin, six, five, nine."

"One moment, please." Was all Roy heard before the line went dead.

"Shit," he cursed softly. Roy hung up the phone and tried again.

Unfortunately, he couldn't get a dial tone this time and could only hope whoever he spoke to would have the sense to tell Hawkeye he tried to call. Maybe from there, they would be able to get a trace on the line.

"Ed," he turned around and then stopped short. Ed lay against the wall, passed out. Roy hurried over, knelt down, and shook him. "Hey, come on, wake up. We need to get out of here."

Finally Ed's eyes cracked open a little. "Is help on its way?"

"I don't… know." Roy sighed, frustrated that he didn't have a better answer. "The call got cut off before I could send a message."

Ed sat forward and rubbed his head. "What're we gonna do then? Where're we gonna go?"

Roy looked up at the ceiling, noticing a small window. "I think if we can climb up, we can get out. Maybe not here, but we're not underground anymore."

"No, not gonna work. I can't do another climb." Ed tried to stand only to fall back down on his butt. "I think that maybe I'll sit here for awhile. You go on ahead."

"That's not an option." Roy stooped down and pulled Ed up. "Do you think you can hold onto my back?" When Ed didn't say anything, Roy shook him harder. "Hey, don't give up on me, now. You're not allowed to. I won't accept it. Pull yourself together, Fullmetal."

"That's not my name, you bastard." Ed's eyes lit up as he yelled and tried to push Roy away only to succeed in stumbling backwards. "Fine, holy shit, stop shaking me. You're gonna make me puke. Give me a fucking second."

"That's more like it. You can do this, Ed. I know you can. I just need you to do a little more. Give a little more." Roy helped to steady him out and then looked back up to the window. "We're almost there. We both leave together or we both stay and wait."

"You should just make a thing to reach that window up there if you're in a hurry to leave." Ed followed Roy's line of sight. "You know, clap you hands together or something and push us up. You should at least be able to manage that unless you're an amateur. Not like it's overly complicated."

Roy frowned, looking from the window back to Ed again. He hadn't even thought of that, but Ed was right. It would be simple enough to do since the area was open enough. If anything went wrong they would at least bust through the ceiling and end up outside. "Alright then. That's what we'll do."

"Okay, where do you want me?" Ed asked.

"Come again?" Roy looked over his shoulder at Ed, who only stood in the same spot.

"Where do you want me to stand?" Ed clarified. "Here, there, wherever. Not sure what part of the floor you plan to bring up."

"Stand over here with me." Roy closed his eyes and thought about what he would do. The array came to him so clearly in his mind. Opening his eyes back up, he reached his hand out to Ed. "Come on. I'll show you what to do."

Once he had Ed in position right in front of him, Roy closed his eyes again and focused. He had used this technique defensively many times over the years but never quite like this after that incident in East City. He had been lucky no one had gotten hurt that he never bothered to try it out again. However, Roy had seen Ed use it before back when he could still do alchemy, and they were so close to escaping that he couldn't afford to doubt himself.

Clapping his hands, they were suddenly propelled upwards. Roy quickly put his arms around Ed's waist to keep him from falling. In a matter of seconds the window drew closer to them.

At first Roy thought he overextended and that they were going to smash through the ceiling before it came to halt. Ed looked suspiciously unfazed. Roy didn't know if it was because Ed had been through something similar before or if his injury had made him too lethargic to care.

"Stay here." Roy patted Ed on the shoulder and moved up the lip until he reached the window. It didn't have any locks or hinges on it.

Lifting his leg, he gave it a swift kick while shielding his face with his arms. The glass gave way under the pressure of his foot. He quickly removed the rest of the broken glass the best he could. He turned to Ed, who hadn't moved an inch. "Come on, let's go."

"Huh?" Ed looked up and his eyes sharply focused. A grin split across his face. "Shit, you actually did it."

Roy smiled at the renewed burst of energy on Ed's face. "I did. Let's get out of here."

When they climbed out into the open, fresh air washed over them, and for the first time since they were captured Roy sighed in relief. They still didn't know where they were, but they had an idea of where to start, and his team should know by now that they were alive. Hopefully. If they didn't, then heads would roll when he got back to Central.

Turning around, he clapped his hands and sealed the area they came from to make sure they weren't followed. Roy then rested his hand on Ed's shoulder to make sure he was okay.

"Wait here. I'm going to see what's over that hill." Roy pointed to their right. "I'll be able to see more from there."

"Yeah sure." Ed sat down and watched Roy trot off ahead and wondered how long much longer it would be before they found anyone that could help them.

From what he could see, they had ended up in a relatively secluded area. Maybe the people below didn't realize they had gotten out already or didn't care. Hell, he didn't even know if those people were the same ones who captured them. There were many things he didn't know right now nor did he care. If someone came along and found him, Ed was pretty sure he wouldn't even put up a fight.

They made it out. The sun warmed his skin, and it was enough to almost make him forget the way his leg throbbed. It could be a week or month before they got home so long as he had a warm bed and some real food to eat tonight. Roy came back down from the hill, and Ed smiled at the look of excitement in his face.

"Hey, bastard, see anything useful down there?" Ed asked when Roy finally stopped in front of him.

"Yeah, there's a town down there. I think if we go now, we can make it before dark." Roy sat down next to Ed and folded his arms across his knees. "I also think we're still in Amestris."

Ed looked up at Roy sharply. "Why do you say that?"

"Because, the town, I'm sure I've been through it before when we were in South City for a few months. I can't be sure since we only passed through and it was nighttime. But it looks familiar."

"Still, that's," Ed paused unsure of how he felt. "That's awesome, I guess. I mean, shit, if we're still in Amestris then who the hell kidnapped us and why?"

"I have no idea, but that is cause for concern." Roy looked out towards the hill. "We also don't know if anyone down there is trying to follow us. Or if the town will be friendly."

"That's a risk we'll have to take." Ed stood up and made a move to start walking only to have Roy's hand on his shoulder stop him. When he looked over, Roy had a curious expression on his face. "Something wrong?"

"I want to take you out to dinner." Roy brushed his hair out of his eyes while never breaking eye contact with Ed.

"You mean like, I don't know, as friends going out and having a chat?" Ed's first thought went back to Roy kissing him, and he found himself turning it over in his head again at what it had meant.

"No, I mean, take you out to dinner as in a date." Roy carefully watched Ed's expression for any kind of sign that he was interested. When he didn't get any, he turned away. "Would you be okay with that?"

Ed stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I don't know. I guess there's only one way to find out. What're you going to feed me? And where would we go?" A thoughtful look came over his face. "Hey, this date won't mess things up for you, will it? You could always have me come over to your place and cook for me. Or we could not do it."

"I think after all that's happened over the years, my competitors would have a hard time ruining my reputation without taking themselves along with me." Roy had files, many, many files along with loose papers and evidence that he would not hesitate to use if needed. Besides he could think of a few Generals that were seeing men on the side. While it wasn't common, most officials in the military looked the other way so long as it wasn't paraded around in public. "But, we could do it at my apartment if you'd like. I can cook."

"Oh, really?" Ed laughed until it hurt, which considering his condition, didn't take long. "Ha! That I got to see. Never would have pegged you as a cook. What else can you do that I don't know about?"

"Let me take you out, and I'll show you." Roy smiled again, and Ed's stomach did that weird flip-flop thing he didn't quite get.

"That sounded dirty." Ed shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and hobbled along. "Was that supposed to sound dirty and suggestive? Fuck, I can't really tell anymore between a joke and when you're being serious."

"Would it be a bad thing if I was serious?" Roy curiously asked. "You still haven't said anything about our kiss."

"The kiss was gross." Ed glanced at Roy before focusing back on the ground in front of them. "No offense but we haven't brushed our teeth in what, almost two days? No matter how you slice it, it's not gonna taste pleasant."

"How charming," Roy dryly replied. "I meant, you haven't said anything about whether you have a problem with it."

"If I had a problem with it," Ed paused and kicked a rock. "I would've knocked your teeth out already." He stopped and shrugged. "No offense, but I don't let just anyone make a move on me. It's annoying as hell."

"There are other people I have to compete with?" Roy raised an eyebrow at that.

"No, didn't mean it like that." Ed poked Roy's side. "You know what I meant, bastard."

"I don't know, sometimes it's hard to tell how you feel about something or what you mean." Roy smiled and then stopped. He turned to Ed, "So, dinner at my place then?"

"Sounds good. But I'm not easy so you'll have to keep your hands to yourself until I figure out what the fuck this is because hell if I know. Don't think I forgot about you coppin' a feel back there." His lips titled up into a smirk when he noticed the slight red dusting across Roy's face. "It's weird, though. Last I checked you were Mustang and I was Ed and now, I dunno." A gust of wind blew Ed's hair from his face. "I don't want this to become a rebound thing, you know. Let's keep it casual and see what happens. After I go back to Resembool and have Winry fix my leg."

"Alright. It's a deal, but I'm going to require the same from you." Roy's smile grew until it looked a little too smug. "That way we'll be on even ground."

"Sure, whatever." Ed started walking again. Ahead he could see the top of the hill. It seemed so close yet so far. "Two alchemists having dinner. That should be interesting."

"Equivalent exchange does have its benefits." Roy steps quickened so that he was next to Ed and stopped him from going further. He sat down and pulled Ed with him. It wouldn't hurt to rest with the way Ed was moving. "How long do you think it'll take you get maintenance done on your leg?"

"Who knows?" Ed shrugged and leaned back on his elbows. "I'll probably have to see a doctor too for the weird coloring and delirium. But don't worry, I'll just tell them General Bastard needs my immediate attention and to hurry up."

For a second he thought Ed was serious and couldn't stop the look of surprise on his face. Then Roy laughed and leaned back on his hands. "You go ahead and tell them that. I'm sure they'll know exactly which General you're talking about, and besides, I'm not a full General yet."

"Hey, there's only one General Bastard that I know of. And that's a hellava lot easier to say than Major General Bastard. Talk about a mouthful." Ed closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He had almost forgotten how gratifying fresh air felt against this skin. "But hey," he turned to look the other for a moment before looking back at Roy. "When I go back to Resembool, I don't know what's gonna happen or how long I'll be there. I think I still need to talk to Winry about some things."

"If you change you mind about dinner, that's fine." Roy smiled, though to Ed there was a hint of disappointment in it. "But if you don't, call me."

"Okay. I can do that." Ed rested his chin on his knees. "Gimme your number before I go back so I can call you."

"I'll make sure you have it before you leave for Resembool." Roy stood up and held out his hand. "We should get going so we can reach that town. Hopefully, they'll have phone service so I can get in touch with someone about our location in case they didn't trace the call I made."

Ed opened his eyes and took Roy's hand, allowing himself to be pulled up again. They slowly walked up over the hill and stood there for a moment. "We need to figure out where we're at."

"At least we know we're in Amestris." Roy stood there and put his hands on his hips while Ed sat back down on the ground next to him.

"Sure, but I've never been here before." Ed looked around. Really looked for the first time since they got out of that damned compound. "Or, at least none of this looks familiar. I guess maybe I could've passed through that town years ago."

"Here," Roy held out his hand. "Let's get go and see what happens."

"Alright, but if anyone tries anything funny, I'm done running." Ed eased himself back up and patted Roy on the back. "You'll have to take care of it. I'll sit and watch. Might be fun." Ed took Roy's hand and they started down the hill together.

"Fair enough." Roy laughed but stopped when Ed stumbled. "Here, hold onto my back."

This time, Ed didn't argue or complain. He allowed himself to be pulled up until his hands were wrapped across Roy's neck. "Hey can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Roy tightened his hold on Ed's arms so that he wouldn't fall.

"Back in the tunnels, why didn't you just break a hole through the top of it?" Ed asked, ignoring the constant jostle of their bodies, which irked him at first until he blocked it out and forced his thoughts to a hot meal and warm bed. "And you could've just used it to get the door open too, right?"

Roy sighed while he kept walking. "When I was stationed in East City after the Promised Day, one of the first things I did was to help rebuild Ishval. We were working underground, stabilizing one of the older buildings. I tried to make an opening in the top and the entire thing came down on us," he explained. "Fortunately, no one died, and I was able to put up a barricade around us, but that had been enough for me not to try something like that again while I was there. I haven't had much success with using alchemy in that way other than creating walls or barriers."

"And now?" Ed leaned his head down on Roy's shoulder. "It's something you could easily learn and practice in a safe environment."

"I really haven't had the time to think about it nor have I had any use for it," Roy replied, making sure each step downward was as gentle as possible.

"I could teach you." Ed yawned and burrowed his head deeper into the crook of Roy's neck. "It wouldn't be too hard to do."

"I'd love that." Roy patted Ed's arm before holding onto it again.

Ed suddenly grew quiet as the town drew closer. He closed his eyes. He felt Roy's hands tighten their hold on him. He smile and let himself relax. For the first time since they had been kidnapped, he felt himself slip into a peaceful sleep.