A/N~Just a little super happy about the tiny buzz I got from this story. Bluh. Nevermind me. Read on~

I looked back and forth between the two Mustangs. My mind was moving a mile a minute and it just didn't make any sense. Why in the world would anyone want to impersonate Roy? More importantly, why did they want to impersonate Roy to get to me? I looked at the house in shambles around me: Roy would never trash my house without a good reason. And no one would want to blow half of my house up if they were on an espionage mission. Which meant I wasn't putting two and two together, or it was bigger than that...

I snapped out of me reverie and pushed the Roy behind me off of me. No one was going to do anything with anyone until I got some answers. Plus, I had to buy Winry and Al some time in case things got crazy. Well, crazier.

"Fullmetal!" the Roy behind me cried. "What the hell is wrong with you? I'm trying to help you!"

"Don't listen to him, Ed!" the other Roy pressed against the door frame said. "He's not really me!" He tried to walk forward, but fell to his knees. His shoulder was dripping blood and his gloves were stained red. Seeing him in such pain, I couldn't believe it was the Colonel at all. Then I remembered what I had forgotten.

I started to walk towards the Roy kneeling.

"Fullmetal," the Colonel behind me said warningly. I paid him no mind.

I bent forward and grabbed Roy's hand, grinning. A trace of a smile showed upon his lips. "I knew you weren't as dumb as you looked, Ed-"

I yanked the bloodied glove off of his hand and a look of terror showed up on "Roy's" face. Across his hand and arm, there were symbols and signs embedded and tattooed on his skin. And the skin had a black and lifeless tint to it, radiating darkness. It was exactly what I hadn't wanted: crazier.

"E-Ed, please, just let me expla-"

I wound my hand back to punch the impostor in the face, but in the blink of an eye, he was on his feet, pulling a blade from the inside of his imitation uniform. My eyes widened as he rose to his full height: A six-foot tall figure with the Colonel's face grafted on. As he brought his blade down, I threw my automail arm up in a last ditch effort to defend myself. The elastic smile drawn upon Roy's face didn't fit him at all. It was fit for nothing short of a demon. I braced for impact, and then-

All of a sudden, the figure stood rigid. I took the moment to leap back and I saw why he failed to cut me to ribbons. On the inside of his military uniform, he was glowing orange, the color's saturation deepening at every second, until it was a fiery red that burst forth from his rib cage, sending his uniform into an inferno. The impostor let forth a scream so ungodly and loud, I couldn't help but visibly cringe. He clawed at his uniform until he himself was causing lacerations, cleaving his deathly flesh from his skin. Finally, it crumpled back unto it's knees and looked straight past me, it's eyes glowing with the intensity of a star. I turned around to see what it was glaring at. Roy's brows were knit together as if he had just finished snapping with the might of an earthquake, sweat starting to form on his forehead, though his face remained stony. I couldn't read his expression, but I knew it was really him. The Flame Alchemist could be colder than ice if he wanted to.

"Don't mess with my dogs," was all he had to say before snapping again, sparking the body again with a spasmic flame.

The demonic form slowly dwindled, all clothes gone so it was seen for what it really was: an entity with its entire being marred from alchemy. All of the markings upon it's body were now glowing blood red, which probably could be blood with all the damage Roy had just caused. But one symbol stood out the most: a sign of the ancient Zodiac, Gemini, was flaring with a blinding light on it's right breast. The light seemed almost as if it came from a Philosopher's Stone, but it was gone before I knew it. The demons body then evaporated to ashes, and a disembodied whisper struck my mind.

"Mustang, you have made an enemy of the Army. Though you are a dog of the military, I am a lion of war. I will not rest until your ashes are in the same arrangement as these are now. You will not know when, where, or how, you will just know that it was I. We will meet again."

Then, without any precedence, Winry's cat walked up to the pile of ashes, as if the entire house wasn't in smithereens and this was completely normal. And with a completely, if not comically, normal gesture the cat peed upon the ashes as if it had been waiting all day. Seemingly satisfied with its work, he sashayed away as if he had single-handedly defeated the demon. The impossibly dangerous situation's tension seemed to evaporate off of my shoulders as I cracked a smile. The cat the went on to eat the burned sausage Winry had went about in making. I swear I could have heard the disembodied whisper turn into a furious snarl in the air. With that, the ashes swirled into a tornado and dissipated into thin air, leaving nothing but an air of foreboding and a house in dis-repair.

x-X-x-X-x

After the comical, life-threatening scenario, Roy and I had set about repairing the house as best we could. Winry's breakfast couldn't be salvaged (and all of it that could have been was eaten by the damned cat), so there was nothing to be done about the empty stomach I had. We had went through with repairing the house in silence, using the law of equivalent exchange to fix as much as we could. The stars had just been fading as the demon disappeared, so by the time me and Roy had finished, it was near daybreak. Alphonse (much to my surprise) had heeded my orders and had left the place. Though, of course, not without giving extreme care to leaving a note, saying he was taking Winry to Gran's house. And he only left a broken window from his room. Way to be cool, Alphonse...I thought. Of course, he had to get it from me. Where else could he have got it from?

Sensing no sign of any paranormal activity, I headed downstairs. Mustang was in the kitchen, rifling through the fridge, his black hair sticking in multiple directions. He gathered what he needed for a sandwich and set to work. I just sat at the bottom of the steps and watched him for a moment. The Flame Alchemist seemed to have a normal life, and it was just so...weird. He was an uptight ass, but now that he had just killed some demon, it looked like his stern meter was running on low. As he took a bite of his sandwich, he looked at the wall thoughtfully, as if pondering life. Or maybe he was wondering why he had wheat instead of white bread ("It lasts longer, Ed!" Winry says). You could never tell looking at Colonel.

Suddenly, he snapped and the inside of my jacket felt warm. I yelped in surprise and pulled my pocket watch out immediately. It glowed red like a hot coal and was searing straight through my gloves so fast, I had no choice but to drop it. I looked at Mustang with indignation and pure hatred, but he was still busy eating his sandwich and spacing out. Who was he to act so cool in my house?! And be so calm about it?

Asshole.

"Don't spy on me, Fullmetal," he said absently. "It's rude."

"Hey, this is my flipping house! It's rude to eat other people's shit without asking!" I cried. Who does this guy think he is?

"Well," he said rubbing his jaw in thought. "I was under the premise that saving your life and repairing half of your house was suffice enough to fix a measly sandwich as payment." He finally turned around with a blank look on his face, staring right at me. "Or perhaps you still feel indentured?"

"I...huh..." I looked down at the ground and picked up my pocket watch dejectedly. Thinking about it like that, it made it seem like I was the ass here. Which, given the circumstances and what just happened, I'd probably say I was. I just wasn't gonna admit it to him.

"C'mon, Fullmetal." He gestured with his hand to follow him into the living room, where you could barely tell that the house had been burned and exploded all over less than a day ago. Roy plopped down on the red couch in the living room to face me, where I was to sit straight across from him in the armchair. I followed suit and propped both my automail and regular leg up on top of the coffee table, making myself comfortable.

"So." he started.

"So...what?"

"There's a slight problem."

"And what would that be, Colonel?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You're being hunted." he said bluntly.

I clicked my tongue. "Okay. Straight to the point. Cool."

"You're taking this very well, honestly." He folded his hands together so that they were interlocking, something I noticed that he did whenever he was doing some heavy thinking.

"Well, it's nothing new, so, yeah. It's really whatever at this point..." I started to fidget with a loose strand on the hem of my jacket.

"Any questions?"

I furrowed my brow. "Better question: Can you answer them all?"

He sighed and sat forward, his elbows on his knees and his mouth hidden behind the gloves on his hand, but his eyes had hardened. This was his usual stare, but there was something about it that just made me shiver. He only got like this when someone had pissed him off, or worse when he had bad news. He looked up from the floor to meet my gaze and then held it. Then he spoke.

"Better question: Do you want to hear the answers?"

I gulped. I didn't. But if I had to know, I wanted to get it over with and have time to come to terms with it.

"Not really. But let's just get it over with."

He cracked the smallest of smiles. "You've matured. I'm proud of you."

Mustang stood up and pulled something out of his pocket and handed to me. It was a small, neatly folded piece of parchment. Even before I opened it, I sensed that it was heavy with ink. But I couldn't help but ask.

"What the fuck?"

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, like he had lost all faith in me that he had just gained. "Open it, Fullmetal."

I stared at him curiously and unfolded the paper. It expanded to be as wide as both of my hands and on it, there were multiple symbols. I recognized most of them: there were twelve Zodiac symbols, starting with Aries and ending with Pisces, all in their order of a circle. But there was something weird about the paper. It was definitely alchemy-based, I could tell that much. But moreover, it was an evil type of presence. Old, even. There were several Zodiac symbols that were shining on the paper in different colors, in a holographic sort of way. Sagittarius, The Archer, shone the brightest in a solid sheen of green. Gemini, The Twins, shone the dullest in a bloody red. There were others that shone: Cancer, Taurus, and Leo, but none as bright or dull, and all in different colors. In the center, there was a kind of shady looking symbol that I didn't recognize: It wasn't clearly visible, but I could just make out the shape of a line. It seemed to be moving-no, slithering seemed like a better word-across the middle of the page.

I furrowed my brow and looked at Colonel. He seemed intently studying my expression, as if my interpretation of the note was vital.

"What the hell is this, Roy?" I asked, puzzled.

"That, Fullmetal, is a Zodimap." He took the paper back from my hands and tucked it back into his pocket. "It shows where the location of the strongest influence of the Zodiacs. Coming to get and tell you this, Gemini started to flare. So I hurried here and sure enough, there was a Gemini clone here. I'm surprised that he didn't just knock you unconscious and take you out of here." He walked over to a glass table and picked up a picture of the family before Mom had died. There was Winry, Al, Mom, me, and the person I used to know as my father. We all looked so happy, even though Winry was yelling at me in the picture and I was yelling back. Al had just sat there smiling while my mother had her arm around my father's waste. I never looked at the picture, but looking at it now, I loved it. It seemed to just capture life at the time perfectly: Happy.

"Edward, they need you." Roy spoke.

"Who is they? What the Hell is this Zodimap? Why do they need me? What the hell do I have to do with anything? Huh, Roy?" I was getting angry. At Roy, at life, at everything. Why was it that we couldn't have happiness? People always needed me for things I never wanted, but why me? All me and Al had wanted was to be happy...

And now we were here.

"I don't know. I don't know who 'they' are specifically, but it's got to be someone inside Central. As for the Zodimap, I don't know what it's used for, but I know whoever's in Central losing there mind, it's over this. It has something to do with the Zodiacs, but I can't tell you exactly what. There's too much to explain and not enough time to figure out." He set the picture down and walked over to me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and looked at me, like an older brother would do to his younger one. Which is how I looked at Roy. He was there for the longest, and even with his poor guidance at anything, he was there, no matter what.

"Listen, Edward," I flinched at him saying my real name, which he almost never used. "I don't know. But I'm going to help you. I don't have all the answers right now, but we will get them, and when we do, we will fix all this." He titled my head up at him to stare directly into his eyes. They were usually dark and cold, but they seemed almost warm. "Trust me. You're my dog."

I stared at him for a moment. He was telling the truth. He really believed he could help me. And I believed him too.

"Alright," I said, stretching wide and yawning. "So you want me to pack or what?"

He moved back as if to survey me and then nodded in approval. "Yeah. Pack up. We have to be gone by tonight. If not, I can't guarantee you'll live long enough to find out why they need you. I'll tell you more on the train out of here."

My heart jumped, and then completely dropped. "Wait, why do I have to leave?"

Colonel looked back at me as if I was retarded. "Because there was a murder at Central. The clone wasn't lying about that. And it was of a State Alchemist. That much yields true."

"Well, who was it?" I asked curiously.

Mustang grimaced. "My counterpart: The Freeze Alchemist, Isaac McDougal. And I have a feeling it wasn't an accident, either."

Once again, my mind was racing. So there actually was a State Alchemist that died? Did he know something about the Zodimap and all this other stuff going on? Then I mentally scoffed at myself. He was dead and no amount of anything could bring him back from the dead.

Anything that would work anyways...

I went upstairs to pack most of my important things: My favorite pen, my extra jackets, a book of alchemy notes, and an overcoat. Looking around my room, it was pretty barren. Other than the multiple formulas I had transmuted onto the wall in boredom, there was nothing in here. I had lived here for most of my childhood and this past week since leaving young. There were some childhood memories everywhere: toys, blocks, drawings of me and Al. I couldn't help but tear up. I was leaving again. But would I come back the same? Would I come back at all...?

I pushed the thought aside. There were more important things at hand. First I had to figure out where I would be going. Then I had to figure out how to solve whatever problems there were. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I cost others their lives and I still kept mine...

Drying my eyes, I heaved the suitcase I had downstairs. I looked around for Mustang. Finally I found him back in the kitchen. He was looking down at his military pocket watch, staring fondly. I was about to ask him what it was, but he snapped it shut and looked up at me expectantly.

"Ready?" he asked casually.

I brushed off the moment. There wasn't much to do in the house, so staring at the clock was probably just a pass time for him. "Yeah. Just-". Then I thought about it. I squinted and looked at Mustang. "What about Winry and Al? Will they be coming?"

He brushed stray crumbs off of his jacket and looked toward the door. "Let's go ask them."

x-X-x-X-x

In a dark room, there was no light. It was expansive and wide, one could tell just by standing in it's center. Suddenly, a bright light was cast in the middle, shedding light on two figures in the middle sitting at a table. One had a long mane of gold hair, stringing down into his beard. He wore a white silken robe, covering his entire body. His eyes gleamed amber as he stared into the crystal ball in the middle of the high table. The other figure was slender, with raven-black hair and a beautiful face. She wore similar attire, except in all black that hugged her body. The two stared into the crystal ball, gazing at it with interest. Inside you could see Edward Elric and the Flame alchemist walking towards their destination.

"We should have done this while they were inside..." the raven said softly.

"It wouldn't have worked; this ball would have shattered at the sheer overload of magic that house has placed over it. And I don't suppose you can just find a Celestial Orb in the market," the gold haired one replied plainly.

"Hmph. No need to get snooty with me, Father," she whined innocently. "You're always right, blah blah blah. It was just a suggestion."

Father looked at the golden haired boy who mirrored him so much. All he could think about was how he had no idea what he was getting into.

The raven leaned over Father's shoulder, resting her chin in the crook of his neck as he closed his eyes. "So what's the move now, sweetheart?"

Out of the shadows, a figure appeared. He was clad in all black and looked familiar. His hair was also gold, but it fell in locks upon his shoulders. He looked fairly starved, but not for food any man could produce. It was more of a hunger for power. He was built in a way that was lean, muscled, and flexible all at the same time. And where his eyes were, there were dead looking sockets, drained of color. They were stormy gray with no sclera showing at all, so it was impossible to know where he was looking. He turned towards Father for approval. Father simply nodded then opened his eyes. Both the boy and his eyes were now stark red.

Father looked over at the ravenette in the most menacing way possible. "Simple. Edward," He turned toward the boy who responded to the name. "we must kill them."

With that the boy disappeared back into the darkness, his mission clear.

Okay, I'd appreciate it if you guys left a review or whatever, constructive criticism is advised and wanted! Otherwise, stay tuned~