Well, its finally here. The next chapter. Hopefully this story continues to get updated at this pace, but I doubt it...well, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, because I'm not a genius. And I don't own Heaven Forbid, because The Fray does.

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Chapter Two: Reactions

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I wish I could truthfully say that my reaction was calm and that I thought through this startling piece of news logically. Wish.

What really transpired was me gaping in horror, and then proceeding to throw the accursed hand mirror. Hard. Very hard against the wall in front of me.

I couldn't seem to move from my current position, too overcome with shock. Even when the broken mirror fragments rained down on us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Colonel duck his head under his arm, and I absentmindedly noticed the sharp pain of hundreds of glass shards cutting my face. But the pain seemed distant, as if it was numbed down somehow.

As I sat there dumbly, I ran through what I had learned. Apparently I was in Edward's body, but I don't think it was that we had merged, but more that I had taken his place. More importantly, he had given his body to me.

Going through that, I then replayed what I could remember: Edward and I on our journey, Edward getting a lead (or at least that's what he told me), and finally my brother leading me to the building I woke up in. He had not said where we were going, or what he was planning, and I had not pried.

I trusted him, or I had trusted him. Of course, I had had no clue as to the fact that what he was planning was this stupid, this horrible. Had he realized how betrayed I felt right now? Had he stopped to think at all, even tried to look ahead to the future?

No, of course not.

He was a genius, and yet he never seemed to think before he acted. He cared nothing for himself, and wouldn't think twice about sacrificing himself for me. He wouldn't, and didn't care.

But I did. I had never blamed him, and of course I never liked being in that armor, but at least he was with me every step of the way.

When facing villains, demented alchemists, even the monstrous homunculi, he was always with me. We were always together.

But now he was gone. I was in his body, and though I tried and hoped and maybe even deliriously imagined it, I could not feel his soul. It was most likely across the gate, gone forever: the price to give me a body like I had wanted.

But I didn't want this. I wanted my brother, not his body. Was he so stupid that he had failed to see that? Apparently he was.

As if from were miles away, Mustang's distant-sounding voice reached my ears, quiet and pleading. He waved a gloved hand in front of my face, and I snapped out of my bewildered daze.

The first thing I noticed was that there were trickles of blood running down my cheeks, and shards of broken glass covering the room like a blanket of hazardous snow.

"Wha…," Oh, god, even my voice was his. "What happened?"

Mustang paused for a moment, possibly unsure of how to answer, but by then I had already remembered. Oh yeah, I broke the mirror. A faint voice told me that was supposed to be seven years of bad luck, but I was never superstitious before, and even if it was true I didn't care. How could seven years bad luck possibly get worst than this? Right now, I would take bad luck for the rest of my life if it at least gave me my brother back.

"You were a little shocked." What? It took me a moment to realize he had just now answered my previous question. His answer was correct, somewhat, but it made me mad. Actually, I was already leaning so far from everything that I learned that about anything he could have told me would have sent me off the edge.

And so, I snapped.

"A little? A LITTLE?" My left hand was clutched into a fist so tight I could fell blood. He waited patiently for me to continue, and that only made me angrier.

"I wake up to find I'm in my BROTHER'S BODY, AND YOU THINK I'M A LITTLE SHOCKED?" He raised his eyebrows as I continued to rant and rave and scream and kick, and then finally, turn and punch him hard in the face with my bloody left hand. I don't think he was expecting that, and I don't think I was either. I stared in shock as he fell backwards off the chair and onto his back on the floor. For a moment I wished I had been able to punch him with Brother's automail, and then I calmed down long enough to realize none of this was his fault.

I wanted to rip Edward's head off, not his.

He pulled himself up on the chair, one hand over his right eye, a slight grimace on his face. "Colonel! I'm so, so sorry! I didn't mean it, I just needed to vent! You're right, I am just shocked and I-"

He waved his hand dismissively, and snorted. He was laughing? After I just punched him in the face? And here I though I was the one going crazy.

He couldn't hold it in any longer, and laughed loudly, shoulders shaking, body bent forward, as I stared in surprise. "I fine………Alphonse," he said between laughs, and we both noticed the trouble he had saying my name. "You just surprised me is all."

Carefully, he took his hand away, and glanced down at a mirror fragment on the floor, muttering something along the lines of, "ouch, that's going to leave a bruise." I winced. Great, now I felt bad.

"I'm sorry. I just really wish my brother was here right now…." I muttered and he looked at me sympathetically, which I promptly ignored. "So I could rip his head off for worrying me so much." I heard Mustang chuckle, but it wasn't as carefree this time. It was strained and forced; looking at his face I could see he was just as scared and confused as I was.

Well, maybe that wasn't true. I was pretty damn terrified.

I didn't know what to do, how this had happened, or what I could do to reverse it.

After all I was smart, but no child prodigy.

God, I wished Brother was here.

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There you all go, thanks for all the reveiws. That's how I got this chapter out so fast, you guys are awesome! Yeah!

Anyway, Alphonse sure flipped out...and HA he punched Roy. I laughed while writing that. Anyway, some reviews were under the impression that Alphonse and Edward merged, so I hope I cleared it up that no, they didn't. Edward GAVE Alphonse his body. Until next time!

REVIEWS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND!!