Ed discovered several things on the train ride to Central. The first was that being a homunculus was going to take a lot of getting used to. No matter how hard he tried, he kept on seeing other people as different, and after thinking of every possible way out of admitting it and failing, as human. So, he figured that it was about time to start admiting that he wasn't really human anymore, as if his new senses and weird feelings weren't enough before.

Well, the second was that instant regeneration meant instant. When he was flicking through an alchemy book to calm his nerves, which since he had become a homunculus had been everywhere, he managed to get a papercut. The healing was so fast that he wouldn't have even noticed if he hadn't got a tiny smear of blood on the page.

It was another painful reminder that he wasn't normal anymore. Once again, he could hear his brother's voice calling him a monster, and even though he knew he was imagining it, it still hurt. At one point, it all felt so real that he took a second to scan the crowded train for his brother, only to find no suit of armour anywhere. For some reason, it made him feel even lonlier.

Then finally he figured out why his automail ports had been itching and burning. His Philosopher's Stone, as it turned out, was trying to regenerate his arm and leg. For one terrible second, he considered just taking the automail off and letting him finally regain his missing limbs. Then he remembered the promise he made with Al. They'd do it together.

Never had he hated himself more than in that instant. He was already becoming a selfish monster, forgetting his only remaining family. He wondered if Al would accept him, if he ever found out. Probably not. He was a monster, he wasn't human. He couldn't be human.

Al would be better of without him...

Ed stared at the hotel where he knew his brother and Winry were staying, suddenly scared. If he messed up here, they'd know. What if his acting wasn't good enough? What if they found out? No, he could do this. He wasn't human, but he could act like one? For Al. For Winry.

His acting skills were put to the test the second he walked through the doors. Winry must've been lying in wait, because she was suddenly running towards him.

"You idiot!" She yelled, making him flinch back. Did she know? No, she couldn't... Winry didn't even know what the homunculi were. Which meant only one thing...

"W-Winry, I didn't even break my automail!" He said quickly, blaming his stutter on nerves.

"Not that," She hissed, grabbing him by the shoulders and steering him to one of the rooms they were staying in., "I mean this!"

There were several things wrong with that room. Well, more specifically, the people in it.

Al, as much as he possibly could, looked sheepish, despite half of his face and an arm were missing. "HOW THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN THIS BEAT UP?!" Ed yelled, utterly pissed off. What, was it 'let's try to kill the Elric brothers' week?

Then, he turned to the second problem. Ling and his bodyguard, Lan Fan were sitting there, staring at him, wide eyed with a huge platter of food in front of them. Any other time, the sight of Ling pausing with food halfway to his mouth and staring at something with his eyes wide for once would be comical, but his next words rattled Ed far too much.

They came out as a hoarse whisper, but he heard the words perfectly. "What the hell happened to you?" The sheer horror that was hardly contained made Ed's blood run cold. He knew.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ed denied coldly, suprising himself. Then he took a second to collect his thoughts... "Wait, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?" He exploded.

Ling, still in shock merely pointed at the food. "Eating, duh."

Ed spent the next ten seconds kicking them out, ignoring Ling's odd look. If the stupid Prince ruined everything he... wasn't going to finish that thought.

"So," he turned back to Al, eye twitching, still annoyed at the Xingese people, "why are you so beat up?"

Ed's eye was twitching for a whole different reason when his brother replied; "Sorry, brother. I got into a fight with one of those monsters, a homunculus named Lust."

"What if," Al gasped, all of a sudden, "it's rotten?"

Ed had recently explained his theories to Al and Winry, and they had both fallen silent after a while. Both Ed and Winry turned to stare at Al, not exactly sure where he was going with.

Al sighed, seeming to realise that they weren't getting it. "Well, wherever my body is, it's not getting any nutrients or sleep, is it?" He explained. "So what if it's just rotting away, and when I get it back, it falls apart?"

Winry let out a shriek at the mental image this caused, and clung to Ed's arm. "What are we going to do?" She wailed.

Ed closed his eyes, taking time to think about it, concentrating on driving the shadows away. For an instant, just a fleeting instant, it was like nothing had changed. Except nothing was the same. At least nothing about him. He was so different, but they were the same. There was some kind of invisible wall between them. They were human, he wasn't. It made no difference on the outside, but in the inside... They were already worlds apart. He shouldn't be there. They wouldn't want him there if they knew. If they knew...

Was it selfish to want to be there so much that he was lying to them?

"This is just a hypothesis, but, when we tried to transmute mum, we mixed our blood, right?" He spoke slowly, making sure he didn't stutter or do anything to reveal his fear. He was quite proud of his acting skills, which hadn't existed until now, as it sounded like he was just speaking slowly as he mentally checked his theory.

"Um, yeah." Al said, voice betraying his interest.

"Well, then we were taken to the place where we were both 'deconstructed', so maybe somewhere along the way, our spirits crossed." Ed explained, trying to figure out why there was a pit in his stomach as he said this.

"What are you trying to say?" Al asked. Apparently he hadn't made much sense at all.

"I'm saying that even though I'm here and you're somewhere else, there's a possibility that we're still connected somehow," he trailed off, realising where exactly he had been going with this, and not liking it at all, "I mean... for my age I'm pretty... s-short." He whispered at the end. Seriously, when he was turned into a homunculus, couldn't he have at least been made taller? Turned into a... That was it! What if Al had somehow been affected when he had been changed into a monster? What if Al's body had somehow been turned right alongside him, or if the stone somehow blocked whatever help he was giving his brother?

"I think he's gone into shock after calling himself short." Winry commented, poking his face, which jolted him back to reality.

"Hey, I'm not that short!" He argued, though it wasn't quite to the usual standard of his explosions, as he was still horrified from his theory.

"Yes, you are! And if you're really taking care of the both of us, you need to eat enough and get lots of sleep!" Al said, fussing like a mother hen already.

"Jeez Al, I'm not a little kid anymore!" Or human.

"Still, I worry about you, brother!" Al said fondly.

You shouldn't. I'm a monster.