A/N: This story is set sometime in the early morning of Chapter 23. Pierce was trying to stay awake, but he was really exhausted, and he ended up asleep again. This is what happened after that.

This fic is a thank-you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing A Recurring Nightmare with Popcorn. Embarrassingly enough, RNwP is much longer than my longest original story, though, to be fair, this fic has a lot of dialogue. Still, I'm glad you've all hung in with me for this long, and I continue to appreciate your reviews!

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far: Cupcake Alchemist, Karakenhribar, , nerf_battles, AprilJoy, kakita101, skywiseskychan, stephanie, kalirush, Hylian Medli, Upsilon Forty-Two, Tigrette of Fire, KEdakumi, hinatahime666, Georgie, Orpheus Is Taken, Cosmic Shame, Radon65, el loco uno, TheSpiritAlchemist, River-of-Death, Ducky, serenity's hope, Shadowess 88, Kayla 44, iEspeon, oceanlover4evr, Alexandria Paige, REBD, HatchetChu, auPHE, akanemie, annie2013, Asterna, Wraithrage Ragnarok, NotLifeKing666, Akira, MineralRabbit, anon, EekiCrazyMoon, S.N. Rainsworth, FireSenshi2, Dennisthepinkgoldfish, Madame Whats-Her-Name, Maya Sushi, Celestia's Paladin, granasaber master, Kyleigh, Sydney the Sydster, and . You guys have inspired me, found plot holes so I could fix them, and generally made my life a little happier with your awesome reviews. You're all great.

Special thanks to miladyRanger, who has not only beta-read both this oneshot and large sections of RNwP, but has also supplied me, at various points, with snack food, plot suggestions and fic recommendations. I can also thank TheGreenGleam and KessaBlayne for helping me work through some plot issues, and KuroNekoShoujo for being an awesome friend and listening to me rant about shows she doesn't watch. Hideout Writer also gets a special thank-you for occasionally letting me run plot scenarios past him.

Dream

When one good dream finally broke through the haze of nightmares that had overtaken Pierce's sleep, it was only natural for Pierce to be a little suspicious.

He was sitting on a hill, covered in green grass, under a blue sky scattered with clouds. Beside him was a man with spiky black hair and green eyes framed by square, thick-framed glasses, wearing a loose dress shirt and black pants.

The man turned toward Pierce and smiled. "Yo," he said.

"Hi," Pierce returned.

The two sat in silence for a few moments, as a slight breeze ruffled the grass.

"You're not gonna, you know, turn into anything freaky, right?" Pierce asked cautiously, looking at the man.

"You've sure been having a time of it tonight, huh?" the man asked. "Don't worry, I'm staying the way I am. I just wanted to talk to you."

"To me?" Pierce asked. "How come?"

"You've been seeing more of my friends than I have!" the man exclaimed. "I want to know how they're doing. For starters, has Roy lit anything on fire by accident yet?"

"Roy?" Pierce asked. "You know Mustang?"

"We've been friends for years," the man explained. "I know Ed and Riza, too, but not as well. So, how are they?"

"Mustang's stressed out, but okay," Pierce said. "No accidental fires yet. Same for the Lieutenant Colonel, as far as I can tell. Ed, on the other hand…"

The man looked concerned. "What happened?"

"He got hurt pretty badly," Pierce said. "It was this guy who calls himself Envy."

The man's expression darkened, and he muttered something under his breath.

"He's holding up well, though," Pierce added quickly. "His artificial leg broke, so he turned a stool into a wooden leg, then walked a couple of miles on it and fought with it."

"That sounds like Ed, all right," the man said, the smile returning to his face. "He just doesn't give up. But I bet Roy was worried to death and trying his best not to show it."

"Got it in one," Pierce said.

The man rolled his eyes. "I am so tired of his stoic act. He'll never get a wife that way!"

"You think he wants one?" Pierce asked.

"'Course he does," the man said confidently. "He saw how happy me and my Gracia were. If that didn't make him want a wife…"

"So, you're married?"

The man grinned. "Yep! I'm the proud husband of my darling wife Gracia, and we have the most adorable daughter. Her name's Elysia; geez, I wish I had my pictures…"

"Why didn't you bring them, then?" Pierce asked.

"You wouldn't be able to see them anyway," the man said, a bit sadly. "You can't dream about people or things you've never seen in real life. Heck, you probably wouldn't be able to dream about me if you hadn't caught a glimpse of the photo of me and him that Mustang has."

"I don't remember that…" Pierce said slowly.

"Of course you don't," the man replied. "You were half asleep at the time; it probably didn't even register consciously. But the image got into your subconscious, and that's all I really needed!"

Pierce wasn't quite following, but this was a dream, so it wasn't like that particularly mattered.

"So, seriously, what's been going on?" the man asked. "I've tried to wander into Ed and Roy's dreams, but there's been too much fire and blood for me to get in."

"Fire and blood?"

"Those two will deny any similarities between them until they're both blue in the face, but the truth is that they're alike right down to their nightmares," the man said. "The circumstances are different, but in the end, their dreams boil down to the same things."

The man paused, and smiled sadly. "When I could, I tried to cheer them up. But right now, I can't do that. So I'm counting on you to do it for me, okay?"

Pierce nodded.

"So, come on, fill me in," the man prompted. "What's been going on?"

To his own surprise, Pierce found himself recounting the story of his interactions with the Amestrians, from their first day at the 4077th.

When he described his initial reaction to Ed's age, he found himself being clapped on the back. "I try not to question Roy, 'cause I know he's doing his best, but I had to wonder about letting Ed into the army. I hope you gave him a little trouble over it."

Pierce nodded.

"Good man!" the man exclaimed. "What happened next?"

The man frowned at hearing about Ed's nightmare, smiled at the image of Mustang rubbing Ed's back, and laughed out loud at Pierce's imitation of Mustang's reaction to the still.

"Seems like you've been having fun, huh?" the man asked.

Then, Pierce started describing more recent events, starting with the arrival of the patient who'd 'broken Amestrian law' and culminating with Pierce's trip to the Gate.

By the end of it, the man was shaking his head. "You're in way over your head."

"Yeah," Pierce agreed.

"What are you gonna do about it?" the man asked.

"I can try to be careful, but there's no guarantee that it will actually work," Pierce mused. "I might as well try and help while I'm in a position to."

The man clapped him on the back again. "That's just what I wanted to hear!" he exclaimed.

Pierce smiled. "Good."

"Want some advice?" the man asked.

"Sure," Pierce said.

"First off, Roy and Ed are getting along better than they ever have. Encourage that. It's a good thing, I'm sure of it. Also, keep that Radar kid outta this. Ed's started thinking of him as a little brother. If he gets hurt, Ed won't hold back against whoever's responsible, no matter how dangerous it is."

"Okay," Pierce said.

"Keep forcing Roy to relax," the man added. "It's good for him. Make sure Ed doesn't spend all of his free time reading, and don't believe him if he says he's fine. He probably isn't. Actually, the same thing goes for Roy. If you do get Roy drunk, make sure he doesn't have his gloves, and that Hawkeye's nowhere nearby. And don't try to get Ed drunk. He's actually kind of a prude about underage drinking."

"Anything else?"

"Be careful," the man said. "This is dangerous stuff you've gotten yourself mixed up in. Take it seriously and watch your back."

"Right," Pierce said. "Thanks…um…what should I call you?"

"My name's Maes," the man said, and then Pierce opened his eyes.

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A/N: I considered describing the morning after this dream, but it felt most complete like this. If you disagree…well, I guess, in that case, miladyRanger was right. Oh well.

Maes's explanation of why he's in Pierce's dream is courtesy real-life psychological theory. Some psychologists think that dreams are our mind's way of processing all of the sensory input we receive during the day, and so, you would need to have seen something in real life, even if it was only in a picture, in order to see it in a dream. I tend to believe in that theory. So, if Maes wanted to visit Pierce's dream, an image of him had to already be present in Pierce's mind. (Never mind that the dead appearing in dreams and dispensing advice is not part of psychological theory at all.) Psychologists are also pretty sure we don't dream in color. I have ignored that particular factoid for the sake of artistic license more times than I can count, and I'll probably continue to do so. And now, you can claim to yourself that reading this fic wasn't an utter waste of time, because you learned something—unless you already knew all of this, in which case, I've got nothing.

Thanks again for sticking with me! If RNwP lasts long enough, I'll do another one of these at 300 reviews…