Maes Hughes stirred. He sat up, wondering what had woken him. "Huh," he murmured softly. He pulled on his glasses and gazed around the campsite. His elegant Gracia lay beside him, graceful as ever. Elysia, cute, little thing that she was, slept in a small tent beside theirs. "Oh, well. Whatever it was must not have been important." Still, he fingered one of his throwing knives. When he deemed the area fully safe, he reclined again.

"Maes?" his wife mumbled.

He rolled over to face her. "Yes, dear?"

"Why are you awake? You're not worrying again, are you?"

He smiled, heart leaping. His wife was every bit as intuitive as she was lovely! "Yes, but it's nothing. Now, let's get some sleep."

Gracia nuzzled his nose. "All right, my sweet."

Roy's dark eyes held pain and confusion in them. He stared at the golden eyes of the person who had awoken him. "W—what is it?" he slurred.

"Colonel, we've been over this several times."

Roy cocked his head slowly and blinked. "We have?"

"Yes. What is your name?"

Roy seemed to realize that he could not get out of this. "Roy Mustang, Colonel. My serial number is 16745298." He coughed.

As his brother tested Roy, Al reflected. This was the sixth time Ed had woken the colonel up. Each time, the man had retained no memory of the previous times. This fact spooked Alphonse to an extent. One funny thing was that Roy alternated between telling the same pun and asking for Hawkeye. Despite this, Al could see his brother was lagging. Ed had almost fallen asleep during the retelling of why Roy was out in the rain. "Brother, let me finish. You go to bed. I can tell you're tired."

As Al had expected, Ed snapped back, "No!"

"Will you at least let me ask the last question?"

Ed pondered this and then nodded. "Fine, Al," he yawned.

Alphonse turned to see that Roy had drifted to sleep. "We'll just continue it the next hour. Do you want to sleep until it's time to wake him up again?"

Ed stretched. "I guess so." He sat down in a chair by the bed. "Colonel Nincompoop owes me big for this."

"Aren't you going to sleep in the spare bed?"

Ed shook his head. "No, I don't want you to be alone."

"But I'm—"

Ed glared at him. "Can it, Al." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened one eye. "Sorry."

"You're okay, brother. I know you get more irritable on rainy days. You must be in pain."

Ed grimaced and rubbed his leg port. "Yeah. Well, good night."

"Good night, brother!"

Al never woke Ed to check on the colonel. His brother should not stay awake any longer. He continued to periodically assess Roy's concussion. During the night, the man's stomach was emptied of its contents at least twice. Al mopped the colonel's sweaty face in hopes of cooling him down. Shortly after 2 in the morning, Roy fell into a (mostly) peaceful sleep. His fever was still there but did not seem as controlling as before. Al was loathe to wake him, knowing that the man needed his rest. Al stared at his brother. Ed looked to be in an uncomfortable position. Surely Brother would want to sleep better. Al picked him up gently. Well, he wanted to stay with me . . . Al placed him on the other side of the bed. Hughes had purchased a bed so big and soft that Alphonse could have lain down on there and still not touched Roy.

At 8:05, Alphonse left to clean the living room. He had to make the house presentable to the Hugheses. He straightened the furniture, folded Roy's clothes, cleaned off the boots, and made sure the room was dusted. He walked back into the room and sat down. He ignored Roy's nonsensical mumblings and looked at Ed. Since the two brothers had figured out that Ed was taking nourishment into his body for both of them, he had tried to ensure Ed got the even more sleep and food. Al laid a damp handkerchief on Roy's head again. He just had to act like the older brother sometimes.

Noting the pouring rain, Hughes unlocked the door to his house. Gracia had remembered that Elysia had been invited to a birthday party that morning. They would come back to the house later. As he walked in, he noticed with relief that the furniture was still intact. He grinned and hollered, "Honey, I'm home!" just to see what reaction he'd get. Alphonse entered from the master bedroom.

"Uh. . . Hi, Mr. Hughes!" He seemed nervous. Al proceeded to tell him everything that had occurred in the Hughes' family absence. He ended it with "And Colonel Mustang's fever broke an hour ago."

Hughes was somewhat taken aback. "Really? Well, Roy always has had a bit of a sensitivity toward rain. He gets sick in it easily." He followed Al to the bedroom. What he saw there made him smile. Edward was curled up in the bed with his head on Roy's blanket-covered shoulder. Roy's head, in return, had fallen onto Ed's own. Both breathed deeply, fast asleep. A tawny tabby cat Alphonse had saved within the last hour was curled up between them, purring softly. "If that doesn't beat all. . . Let's let them sleep, Al. I'll tell you all about my camping trip! Did you know both of my dearhearts caught fish? Gracia couldn't stand to catch more than one and let me do the rest." He led Alphonse away. He had enjoyed himself immensely. Still, he exaggerated his motions and words to distract the younger Elric. Roy was always a grump after a bout in the rain. He needed to sleep as much as possible.

Roy felt like he was floating. He had been in this state of nothingness forever and yet for only seconds. Sometimes, pain would wash over him or a soggy chilliness would come and leave him completely exhausted. Once or twice, he felt as though he were being burned by his own flames. He could not help but cry out and hope they would be extinguished. During those times, the guilt from Ishval would stab him. Every so often, Maes, Elysia, or Riza would appear. He called to them, yet they never answered. He vaguely wondered where Gracia was in all this. This dream, if it was one, eventually faded into another dream. This one was peaceful and gentle. He was in a field near Riza's house, training as Berthold Hawkeye's apprentice. He caught glances of a shy girl with short blonde hair and grinned. Riza sure was a sight to behold!

He awoke suddenly. He was in a familiar room. Maes? Did I visit him and fall asleep on his couch while we were talking? He frowned. He did not remember that. A soft sound drew his attention to beside him. Snores? Edward Elric lazed on the bed beside him, mouth gaping. His head was on Roy's shoulder. Fullmetal? Was Fullmetal visiting the Hugheses last night, too? That's odd. Roy regarded the events with a detached sort of wrongness. His mind tried to figure out what, exactly, was wrong. He blinked slowly. A small cat climbed up on his chest and began to knead him. "Ouch!" Roy jerked and swatted the cat away.

The movement woke Edward. "What did you do that for?" he growled semi-coherently. "I was trying to. . . Oh." Ed blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know! What are you doing here?" Roy was beyond confused.

Ed seemed to consider that. "I'm not sure." He stood and walked to the door. His memories hit him. "Don't wander around in the rain again. By the way, you snore." With that, he left the room.

Roy sat there, trying to comprehend everything. What do I last remember? I was walking home. . . in the rain. . . When Roy walked into the living room nursing an inexplicable headache, he saw Maes sitting on the couch. Ed was nowhere to be seen. "Maes, what happened? Did I get sick from the rain? Did you take care of me?"

"Me? No. I was camping with my girls. The Elrics took care of you." Maes held back a laugh at Roy's expression. It was half-confused and half-disbelief.

Roy managed to get out the word "What?"

"Sit down and I'll tell you all about it."

Roy could not believe his ears. The next time he saw Ed and Al, he watched them for any odd behavior. While he could not detect any, he decided he had to thank them. Thanking them outright was not his style. He preferred to work in the background when it came to things like that. The next mission he gave them was at least a day's ride by train so Ed would get rest. He made sure it involved a man who knew someone that knew someone that had heard of a Philosopher's Stone once. This way, the mission should not have so many risks. And if Ed looked a lot more feisty when he gave his report, Roy just laughed and made a quip about how short on time Ed was running. During Ed's rant, Roy caught Alphonse's eyes and winked.