Esmè sat on Edward's bed with Conner and a bowl of water and a towel. Al sat in the corner silently and hadn't said a word but she hadn't either. Nobody would ever want to talk about what happened. It was like a nightmare where you ended up in your parents lap and you cried as you remembered every single detail.

"Where am I?" Edward opened his eyes a bit.

"You-you're awake!" Esmè said her hands froze while they were removing the towel from his head.

"Al!" Suddenly he jerked himself up and looked around.

"He's in the corner. Calm down you'll hurt yourself more." Esmè pushed him down, ignoring the screaming protest of her body.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I-I was just ch-changing the towel." Esmè said.

"But you should be resting. You're hurt." He told her lifting his hand to touch the barely visible bandage on her arm.

"I'm fine." She lied.

He moved his hand on her side and watched as she tried to hold in her wince. "Liar. Why aren't you in bed?"

"I c-couldn't go back to sleep." She sighed. "It w-was too quiet no matter how tired I am I ju-just can't fall asleep. I can't think of anything else but what happened at the facility. S-so I came in here and busied myself with you since you were still sleeping." Esmè explained.

Edward could see the fatigue in her eyes even though she tried to hide it. He moved her hand to her hip as to not hurt her and tug her closer. Esmè blushed at the simple action.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Lay down. We can talk about random things aside from what happened and you'll fall asleep eventually." He told her.

She silently obeyed her blush darkening and wincing here and there and she shifted under the thin sheet next to him.

"What's your favorite color?" He asked.

"Really?" She rolled her eyes at the stupid question. "Teal. Yours?"

"Red, uh your turn."

"Favorite food?"

"Ramen?"

"Gyoza."

The two talked aimlessly for a while, laughing at each other about different things. Esmè did find herself relaxing more and getting tired, Edward noticed this and continued talking. Esmè was wide awake upon hearing the next question.

"What about your family?"

She stayed silent and tensed to the point she was as stiff a brick. She softly pushed her face into his side to hide her tears and he didn't push her to answer. They laid there in silence but Esmè eventually fell to sleep, and Edward followed suit.

Esmè groaned irritated at the voices of the people around her. She hugged the warm object tighter trying to get back to sleep. Laugher echoed from around her and she blushed and she could hear Edward's chuckle which only made her blush more when she realized it was him she was hugging.

"If you're not careful you'll burn a hole through my clothes." Edward said, feeling the heat on her face.

She mumbled something but it was muffled by his shirt. She heard laughter again but this time she ignored it.

"What happened in the fifth laboratory?" Lieutenant Ross.

"Nothing much." Edward said. Esmè tensed against him.

"Really? You were badly hurt!" Lieutenant Ross yelled.

"This is nothing." he moved to sit up and Esmè let him. "But I almost got a hold of the 'truth'. I won't make a mistake like that again…"

A smacking sound echoed through the room and Esmè was on her knees and Edward's cheek was red. She looked absolutely pissed; her eyes were hard as they stared at him. Everybody was silent with shock.

"You almost died! That is not 'nothing much'!" She yelled.

"Then what about you? Do I get to slap you?" He shot back. "You were about to kill those men and you didn't have to, I co—!"

"I c-couldn't let you live with that. It'll kill you every day little by little to know y-you get to live and those innocent people don't." She yelled at him. "I-I couldn't let you live like that." she added softly.

"And you were okay with living like that?" Edward asked.

"I-I'm going to go call Winry, sh-she needs to fix your arm." Her stuttering and lack of blush was evidence that she wasn't comfortable with that topic.

Esmè sighed as she stared at the phone, she had yet to even touch it she had been staring at it for five minutes. She shouldn't have slapped Edward, she shouldn't have snapped at him, she shouldn't have walked out like that. She shouldn't have done a lot of things.

Esmè rubbed her hand over her face before picking up the phone and dialing Winry. She didn't say too much other than why she was calling, she had too much in her little head.

It was about three A.M. now and Esmè was still up. She was thinking. About what? Everything. She had a massive headache and she would love for someone to hit over the head with something and knock her out. She was okay with anything as long as she would be asleep afterwards.

She heard her door open quietly then the clicking of Conner's claws and shuffling of feet. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep. She felt Conner jump up behind her and then the bed dip as someone sat down.

"I know you're awake." Edward whispered.

At first she didn't move but finally with a sigh she rolled over on to her back to see the golden eyed boy. He silently asked for permission to lie down and she simply scooted over with a slight wince. Her stomach and broken ribs didn't agree with the movement.

A heavy uncomfortable silence enveloped them but neither party tried to break it. They laid there watching the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. With another sigh and wince she rolled on to her side to face him.

"Yeah." She started making him look at her. "You can slap me, i-if you wanted to. I shouldn't have snapped at you li-like that, I-I really shouldn't have." She said.

He opened his mouth to say something but she continued. "And no I'm not okay with living with the fact that I-I've killed somebody but I have to be. So yeah, you can slap me to."

Esmè could feel his stare on her but she couldn't bring herself to look at him. They stayed like that for a bit and the silence wasn't as uncomfortable as it was before.

"I don't want to slap you. One; you're a girl, I'm not going to ever actually hit you. Two; you were right. This isn't 'nothing much'. I did almost die and I almost got you and Al killed so it's definitely not 'Nothing much'. I'm sorry." He said looking up at the ceiling again.

She smiled at him and then shifted closer and winced once more at the pain in her upper arm area as she moved her arm over his body in a hug. She felt him move his arm around her shoulders and pull her closer to finish the hug. They didn't move to release one another from the hug.

"You don't have to be okay with that, you know. That's what friends are for. So they can be there when you're not okay." He said. "But we're not going to push you. We'll wait." He added. Esmè simply smiled and hugged him a bit tighter.

"Why is you two can't stay in your own beds?" Lieutenant Ross laughed.

"Why can't you ever let me sleep?" Esmè shot back her voice a bit muffled by Edward's side.

"It's about lunch time you should be up anyway." Edward told her.

Esmè ignored him and kept her face pressed to his side. They all talked and joked about random things for a while, even Al whom they moved into her room so he wouldn't be alone, spoke up a few times. Esmè eventually joined conversations and was completely awake. About an hour or so later Lieutenant Hughes came in and subtly asked for the officers to buy him lunch.

"About the fifth laboratory…" Hughes walked over and sat on a nearby stool. "They have chalked up the incident being all Scar's fault. Of course I'm not satisfied with that answer." Esmè twiddled with the end of her fishtail braid that hung over her shoulder.

"There is a massive number of corpses that are suspected to be Chimeras. Some prisoners who were there claimed they saw Brigadier General Basque Gran, who died in action…What happened?" He finally asked the question they had been waiting for.

"I don't know." The two said in unison.

"I need to know. Tell me what you sa—!" Esmè cut Hughes off.

"I don't know! I don't understand it at all! I-I've been sleepless with countless headaches trying to understand it! If I can't understand it from the front row perspective, I do not think you can from just hearing it!" She almost yelled.

Taken back by her outburst he was silent for a second. This took a large toll on them to the point they were possibly questioning their sanity. Or other people were.

"Homunculus…" Edward finally said. "But they weren't human. They try to make us use the prisoners to make the Philosopher's stone. Esmè… Esmè almost did… so I didn't have too… they were going to kill Al." Edward ran a hand over his face.

Quietly Esmè reached over to the nightstand on her side and retrieved a paper flip tablet with a spine at the top. She opened it and quickly flipped past the first dozen pages and then flipped it around to show the Lieutenant a picture. It was a very realistic drawing of a genderless person with the name Envy labeled next to it. He took the book from her hands and looked at the picture.

"Th-there's more after that page. It's everything I saw that was horrific or odd." Esmè told him. "Guardians with armor bonded souls, an abusive psycho n-named Envy, there were tattoos of Ouroboros on them, even the transmutation circle for the Stone." Esmè explained.

"I remember Marcoh talking about the Philosopher's stone being used in the Eastern Rebellion. Apparently they need me alive to do something for them." Edward said.

"Thank you for telling me." Hughes nodded.

They sat there in silence taking in or remembering what had happened. Esmè put her hand on her head as she felt the start of a headache coming. She was so tired of trying to understand this, she wanted her memory wiped. Esmè then thought of something.

"Lieutenant? Don't you have a daughter?" she asked.

Suddenly he pulled pictures of her out of nowhere and started bragging about the little girl. Surprisingly she didn't mind his weirdness as he boasted about her. She simply smiled and complemented the girl. The two started a sweet friendship.

"Come on! Lemme see!" Edward tried to tug the tablet from Esmè's hands.

"N-no! It's nothing special! St-stop it!" She fought.

"If it's nothing special why not let me see it?" Edward challenged.

"B-because it's bad!" She whined.

"Esmè! Edward!" Winry called from the doorway.

"Winry?" Edward released the book startled by her sudden appearance.

"Ah!" Esmè yelped as she tumbled out of the bed as Edward released the book.

Esmè groaned, the fall jarred the broken ribs in her body painfully. Armstrong carefully lifted her up off the ground and helped her stand.

"Ah, sorry Esmè!" Edward apologized. "Are you alright?"

"You stupid, short—!" Esmè was paused when she heard soft words from Winry. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Esmè asked her politely, as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's my fault. I didn't fix your arm right, that's why you're hospitalized. I'm sorry." Winry looked as if she were about to cry.

"It's not really your fault! A chain of events put us here. Right, Al?" Edward tried. "It stopped moving by chance and plus if it hadn't I may have got us into to more trouble. It broke because I didn't listen to you and I was reckless with it." Edward told her with a sheepish smile.

Suddenly her gloomy state changed into a happy one. She agreed with the boy on his thoughts sheepishly as if she was using his excuse as hers too. After a while of joking and talking Winry left to get the two dinner, refusing all offers by Esmè to help.

"Ed…You left the milk…" Winry said slowly.

"Don't make me drink it…" Edward asked. Esmè just noticed he didn't drink it.

"What are you talking about? Milk is good for you!" She yelled pushing the milk into his face.

"Shut up I hate what I hate!" He pushed it back.

"You don't like m-milk…?" Esmè blinked at him.

"Yeah that why he's still as small as a bean." Winry teased.

"A bean?!" He yelled.

"Right, Al?" Winry asked for his help.

"…Brother you should drink it." He agreed.

"You're lucky. You didn't have to drink this stuff to get big." Edward joked.

"I didn't become like this because I wanted to." Al said softly, indicating that was a nerve.

"Sorry…" Edward said.

"What's wrong you two? Did something happen?" Winry asked yet she recived no answer. The brothers looked away from her.

"Why? Why won't you tell me anything? Not even about your injuries! I'm worried about you guys!" Winry cried.

Again none of them answered. This time she stormed out irritated.

Esmè was quickly making her way back into the hospital building with a large package and two smaller packages all while balancing a bowl of ramen on her head. She found out last night while Edward was sleeping that it was his birthday as well as Colonel Hughes's daughter's. So she got up quiet early—seeing as she wasn't even supposed to be allowed to be released and dressed herself and snuck out to buy Edward and Elisa presents.

"Esmè?"

"Winry?"

Winry had a small box in her hands, obviously for Edward. Esmè offered her a smile and Winry returned it as she grabbed the bowl from her head.. The two girls turned down the hallway and made their way to Esmè's room where Edward had stayed.

"I'm sorry for yesterday…" Esmè started. "We…they just..." She couldn't think of the words to explain how they feel.

"It's okay. I understand." Winry smiled as they stood outside her door now.

Esmè smiled back and carefully pushed the door open with her bum. They set the presents down and Esmè held the Ramen. She opened her mouth but Winry spoke up before she could.

"Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! The more you tell someone congratulations, the happier they'll be." She smiled.

"Happy birthday, Edward. A-al mentioned it last night so I snuck out and got you something as w-well as Elisa." Esmè handed him a small box but it was bigger than the smallest she had. "It's glass, be careful!" She yelped frantically as he was about to shake it.

He opened it and pulled a glass bottle out a bit smaller than a ship bottle. There was blue water and oil in it along with a ship. Edward tilted it to the side and the oil mixed with the blue water making it look like waves in an ocean and the ship bounced along through them.

"I-it's like one of the bottled ship things b-but I thought this one was cooler… I-I wasn't exactly sure about what t-to get you but I thought you might like it. I c-can return it if you don't like and get you something else, j-just let—." Esmè blushed as he stopped her.

"I like it a lot. Thank you Esmè." Edward cut off her rambling.

"Oh, I also got you this…" Esmè gave his the big box.

He opened the box and deadpanned at what was inside. He scowled of the stuffed cow holding the milk jug. He slowly lifted his head up to glare at Esmè who smile innocently at the boy. Before he could do anything to her Winry stepped up trying to hide her smile and handed him her box.

"Here. This is from Glacier." Winry smiled.

"Okay." Edward said.

"She taught me how to bake it so I can make a cake for all of us when you can eat again Al." Winry explained.

"Thank you." Al nodded.

"I remember when Den ate Al's cake and he cried about it." Edward laughed lightly at the memory.

"Yeah." Winry laughed too.

"Did that really happen?" Al asked.

"Ah, you were still young so you probably don't remember it…" Edward tried.

"I think I'll stay outside while your arm is repaired." Al said suddenly.

"I-I'll take you out." Esmè stuttered not enjoying the awkward silence between them all.

She quietly helped Al into the wagon in the corner before rolling him out. Silently the two made their way to the rooftop. Feeling irritated at all the stares they were receiving she glared at everyone she passed daring them to say something.

Finally making it to the roof with no problems she pulled Al out of the wagon and sat him against the wall. Esmè watched him for a bit, hoping he would say what was on his mind but he stayed quiet. She sighed and walked over to the edge of the roof and looked over. She wanted to know what was messing with him.

"Al, I'm sorry I'll fix you up right away." Edward said holding a bag of parts. Winry and Edward put the put the bags down and Edward started putting the pieces together. "Al, I won't give up. Let's return to our normal bodies our way." Edward told his brother.

"You may be able to return to normal, but will I?" Al asked.

"Of course! Don't worry about it." Edward stood.

He clapped his hands together and pressed them to the armor. The girls watched in silence as Al's body reformed brand new. Conner yipped happily and jumped in circles.

"How is it?" Edward asked.

"You affixed my soul like this, right?"

"Yeah."

"As well as my memories…Memories are only data. So a strong alchemist like you would be able to implant fake memories, right?" So that's what had been bothering the boy. "You wanted to ask me something in Rizenbul, but you were afraid. Were you trying to tell me that my soul and memories are something you created?"

"Al, what are you talking about? He wanted to ask you—."Winry tried.

"It's okay! Alphonse Elric never existed to begin with." Al stopped her.

"He's been with you almost forever! Auntie and I too, please believe us, Al!" Winry cried.

"What am I supposed to believe with this empty body of mine?!" He shot back.

"Is that what you wanted to say all this time?" Edward asked, his eyes casted down.

"Answer me?!" Al yelled.

He started to walk away but Edward grabbed his arm to stop him. Al shook his arm from his grasp, he didn't think there was a point in living anymore. Edward latched on to him once again and Al fought to get him off. Al eventually knocked his brother back roughly.

Esmè stepped towards Al but he just turned and jumped over the railing. Edward tried to chase after him but Winry held him back. He yelled his name continuously trying to get him to stop but Al kept going.

"I hate rain…" Esmè said suddenly.

"Why?" Winry asked.

"N-nothing good comes from rain." Esmè looked away.

Esmè, Winry and Edward had been looking for hours for Al but they couldn't find him. They showed a picture that Esmè drew of him but nobody had seen the boy around. Conner couldn't track him down because of the rain, it was almost hopeless. Edward sulked around and his mood was irritating the life out of Esmè and Winry.

The looked around some more but again came up with nothing. How is it so hard to find a suit of armor? Esmè tugged at the sleeves her soaking sweater and wrapped her arms around herself. Winry's umbrella was quite small so she didn't want to crowd the girl. Suddenly something heavy was placed on her shoulders.

"You'll get sick." Edward mumbled.

"Got damn it, Edward!" She yelled suddenly making Winry and Edward jump. "Stop sulking and help us find your baby brother! He feels worthless and as if he's nothing! You wanna know something?" Edward opened his mouth to say something but she continued. "That's a horrid feeling, I know. It's the feeling you get when you wonder why you're here on the damned planet! We need to find him and prove him wrong and right now we are not making any progress with your ass moping around!" She finished her rant.

He sighed and then looked up with determination in his eyes. "No 'thank you'?"

She blinked at him confused and then looked down as Conner tugged at the red cloak that hung around her. Right he gave it to her so she wouldn't be as cold and wet. She blushed brightly, the rain was almost turning into steam when it touched the heat on her face.

"Oh, T-thanks…" she stuttered.

Later they called to see if Al had shown up anywhere but instead they found out that he was going off on his own to save someone. Edward was already running toward the address of where Al was going and the girls not too far behind him.

Panting Esmè made it up a hill before the other two only to see another armored person fighting Al. He was telling him that he didn't exist and he was just fake, that's where he was getting those ideas. now Edward and Winry joined her. They saw a man target a large gun at his back and shot him making him tumble forwards. Seeing the other armor race towards Al; they all ran to intervene.

"What are you doing here?" Al asked worried about his brother who blocked the butcher knife with his blade.

"He's here because he was concerned about you and was looking for you, idiot!" Winry yelled.

Esmè roundhouse kicked the armored guy knocking him flat on his back to reveal three other men who were about to fire at them. The boys made a stone wall and Esmè ducked out of the way. She rolled to the feet of two other men and she bit back an angry groan.

She knocked the feet out from under the one on her left and using the momentum from that she swung her leg up and brought herself up in a handstand. She kicked the one still standing in his chest before doing a split and twisting her body to kick their heads as they sat up. It all happened so fast they didn't know what happened.

Esmè stood up as the armored man ran towards Edward and Al. Scar came to their rescue splitting the armor in half. The top half landing on a man with a weird backpack on. Esmè covered her face as the bag exploded suddenly before running over to the little group that surrounded a boy.

"Hmm…" An old man muttered as she came up. "Eye medicine. Your mother suffered from an eye condition, probably pretending to be able to see as to not worry you guys. It must've been hard on her." Esmè smiled thoughtfully as the older boy started to cry.

Esmè leaned against a dock railing and watched silently as Everybody Al said goodbye to the Ishbal people. She didn't exactly know them and she felt as if she was interfering so she stayed back a bit. The boat sailed off and they all waved before her friends started back across the dock but Esmè stepped out in front of Al halting him.

"Esmè?" Al asked.

Suddenly she slammed her right fist into his chest startling them all. Esmè pulled her hand back and hit again and again. Winry grabbed her hand to stop her one she saw the blood smearing on the armor but the shorter girl pulled her arm free and continued with her actions. Edward yelled for her to stop but she ignored him.

"Esmè stop you're hurting yourself!" Al grabbed her hand. This time she didn't fight it.

"Th-that hurt right? It hurt that I just hit you. Not physically of course but it hurt for me, someone whom you consider a friend, to hit you like that." She asked him.

"Y…yes. It hurt to think that you'd want to actually hurt me, but it hurt more seeing you hurt yourself trying to hurt me." Al said.

"You may be a soul attached to armor but that's the difference between you and a pile of scrap…" She looked up at him. "You have a real soul. It's too full of heart to be forged. That's human."