What do you know, I actually get the next chapter finished a short time after the last one, hehe. I've actually been stuck on this one for quite awhile, though none of you have noticed because I was way ahead of you for quite some time as well. Thank goodness I was, or you'd have all been waiting for me to get over this frump. Well, now you're caught up with me for the moment, but have no fear! I have the entire story outlined, so chances are good that I'll be racing ahead of you all once again!

Disclaimer: You guys all know that I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, so why say it? How about I tell you something you don't know?...Like...my kitty is sitting in my lap and begging for attention. Believe me, that's unusual for this cat, hehe.

Edward had known before he came to Earth that many of the people here would be afraid of him, possibly even hate him, but it hadn't set well in his heart that it was really going to happen. He knew what kind of person he was, and it seemed strange for anyone to fear him, yet here he was in this situation where there was someone afraid of him, and she was living in the same house.

He suspected Al and Winry had feared him when they'd seen what he really was, since they had acted odd at first, but they had calmed down soon enough so he no longer worried, and he had never had the desire to probe their minds. Rose was a different story. She not only feared him, she hated him, and he wasn't sure why. He had probed deep enough into her mind to uncover some interesting things about her, but he hadn't had enough time to gain a thorough understanding of what the matter was with her. He didn't like being hated. He wanted her trust, but he wasn't sure how to get it. They hadn't covered this in his training.

The bed caught him as he threw himself onto it and he bounced a couple times before his weight settled. At least they didn't expect him to share a room with the girl who hated him. Ed glanced around the room where he now found himself. It was messy since they hadn't yet rearranged the furniture, but they had managed to get Edward's bed in there on the opposite side of the room from Al's bed. If the events of the day were anything to go by, then Winry would probably be a more understanding roommate than Al, but they hadn't offered that option. Maybe humans had issues with people of the opposite sex sleeping in the same room, as silly as that sounded.

He looked up at the ceiling. This world was so strange. Even the way they built their houses was vastly different than anything he had experienced before. Everything was closed and guarded under lock and key. The primitive culture of Earth fascinated him, even if it was inconvenient, but it bothered him how many of the things they built centered around fear.

On his planet, they didn't lock their doors...they didn't have doors at all. All they needed was a simple force field to keep the chosen temperature inside and keep the elements and stray animals outside. There was no need to protect themselves from others of their kind, and it saddened him to think that any race would have to. Most races went through a fear stage as they discovered who they were as a people, but his race didn't remember all their own history. They had probably been just like this a long time ago.

Edward sat up and rubbed his eyes. There was no point in moping all day. Somehow he would befriend Rose. He wasn't entirely sure it was possible, but he was going to try. Something had to work. He had seen enough in her mind to have a clue about her likes and dislikes and some of the things she had gone through, and he had to admit her life had not been easy. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to, though that would require gaining her trust first. It was an endless cycle of no progress.

He stood up and brushed himself off. There wasn't any dust on his clothes yet, but his planet had been so dusty that it had become a habit to brush himself off at every opportunity. At least that was one thing Earth had that was better than his home planet: it had a lot more greenery, which kept the dust down. He could learn to love that. These Earth people didn't know how good they had it.

Now seemed to be a good a time to experiment with his art and see which styles humans responded to favorably. He wanted to solve the situation with Rose as soon as possible, but he didn't have any solutions at the moment; he needed to distract himself with something else.

Al hadn't given him any art supplies yet, though that was to be expected, as they hadn't expected Edward to work so soon upon his arrival, but he was sure he could find something to work with on his own. There was so much junk in Al's room that he was sure Al never used he was bound to find something to work with. He dug through several piles of clothes, trinkets, and things he couldn't categorize. He pulled out a square piece of wood from one of the piles.

Humans seemed to like flat art from the little he'd observed, so he'd try to appeal to their tastes as much as he could. There didn't seem to be anything special about this particular piece of wood, so he didn't think Al would mind if he used it for this purpose. He sat down on the bed and placed the board across his lap, then closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

Choosing a good design wasn't as easy as he had thought since he knew the tastes of his own people, but not of humans. He'd always had a preference for creating replicas of mysterious, powerful creatures, but he wasn't sure humans would understand if he did that. If he could think of something that humans could relate to, the task would be a lot easier.

His mind wandered, and he found himself back on the train to Reisenburgh. That had been a very strange experience. It was like running fast, but traveling slow. Was that seriously their fastest method of transportation? It seemed ill-suited to the task of taking people around the world, but who was he to judge? If they wanted to travel slowly, then they were free to travel slowly.

There had been a lady sitting in a seat near his who had a pouch draped over her shoulder. A number of the women he had seen on Earth had them, but men rarely ever did. That was curious, but he he didn't understand Earth people. The lady's pouch had a sparkly design that seemed to represent some sort of green animal, if he was understanding the artist's intention correctly. It looked interesting to him, in any case.

He brought his focus back to the board on his lap and visualized a more realistic version of what he imagined that animal to look like. Energy sprung from within him and rippled down his arms, burning his fingertips. This was the sign he was ready.

He cautiously opened his eyes and guided his fingertips over the surface of the wood, leaving brown marks wherever he touched. It generally took most of a person's lifetime to master this skill, but Edward had mastered it while he was still a child. It took a lot of energy from him, as any art form that relied on the creator's own power did, but he was usually able to channel the energy flow long enough to create one artwork, or at least half of one. Fumes rose off the wood as he continued to mark it with his burning fingertips.

This was good quality wood, so the creation process was much more enjoyable. Again, Earth people had no idea how good they had it. Their plant life was much better than his planet's. It was more evolved perhaps, or better adapted. He wasn't quite sure what was different about it or why, but it certainly did the job better than anything he had back home.

After a while, he stopped and rubbed at his forehead. He wasn't sure if he was done, but he couldn't continue at the moment since he had used up most of his energy. He would look at it in a moment and see if he had created what he had visualized, but the most important thing was to ensure he concentrated on regaining the energy he had spent.

At that moment, Al entered the room. Upon seeing Edward with the board across his lap, he chuckled and a concerned expression crossed his face. "Edward, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Edward pulled his hand away from his forehead and looked at Al. "Why?"

Al pointed at Edward."Your glow is dimmer than normal."

Edward snorted and rolled his eyes. Al needed to learn a few things about his people. Their glow went up and down all the time, and it was perfectly normal. One only had to worry if it got too bright or too dim, but Al would learn soon enough.

"I spent a lot of energy making this," He lifted the piece of wood for Al to see.

Al was speechless, and he came close so he could see better. Had Al never seen burnt wood as an art form? It seemed a rather primitive form of art, though it was one Edward loved, so he thought humans would be able to handle it.

"Wow..." Al said, as he touched the image on the wood, "That's...wow, that's really well done. How did you do that?"

Edward shrugged and propped up his chin with his free hand. "I just channel my energy into the wood, but it takes a lot of energy."

"I'd imagine," said Al, as he ran his fingers over the wood. "How did you get that glowing effect? I've seen wood burnings, but never ones that had a faint glow like this."

Edward shrugged as he shook his head. He didn't have an answer to that. His people transferred some of their glowing ability to their creations sometimes, yet they had no idea how they did it. As far as their technology had come, there were still a few unanswered questions.

Al stood up and took a step backward to get a better look at the picture. He chuckled. "You used an old piece of a desk I had meant to repair but never did. Nice." Edward was nervous that Al might scold him for not asking permission, but he caught Al's reassuring smile and decided Al didn't mind.

"So you know about dragons?"

Edward blinked and sat up straight. "I know about what?"

"Dragons." Al motioned toward the wood burning. "That animal is called a dragon."

Understanding dawned on Edward's face, and he placed the artwork back on his lap so he could look at it with a critical eye. A smile spread across his face, and as he spoke, the pitch of his voice raised in a silly sing-songy tone. "Well, aren't you the cutest little dragon? I bet you're hungry, aren't you? What's that, you want to bite my head off? No, I don't think so. Why not? Because I'm still using it. Oh alright, you can have my head when I'm done with it."

Al covered his mouth with his hand as to suppress his giggles, but it didn't help much. Edward looked up from his one-sided conversation and raised an eyebrow at Al, but said nothing, knowing exactly what Al was reacting to. He shook his head and chuckled. It was so much fun to act stupid and get laughed at for it.

Edward was tired and needed to rest or he would have difficulty regaining his spent energy, so he handed the piece of wood to Al and flopped onto his bed. Al gave an understanding nod and left the room.

This was the first time Edward had ever slept on a human bed. What would it be like to sleep on something so squishy-bouncy? It felt good now that he had decided it had no intentions of eating him, but he couldn't imagine how one could fall asleep on something that moved every time you did. Maybe it was a good thing he was napping so he could discover how to sleep like a human before he shared the space with Al that night.

Edward drifted off to sleep, but he woke up sooner than he intended, tired and groggy. He sat up and rubbed his neck, which was sore from sleeping in an awkward position. Didn't humans realize that sleeping with so much support only caused your muscles to grow soft? Maybe he should get rid of the bed they had given him and make himself a space on the floor. They'd had to steal one of the mattresses from Rose's bed for him, so she might appreciate it being returned. It would make her bed softer anyway.

Edward stood up and stretched his arms over his head, hoping that would help his cramped muscles to stop agonizing over the way he slept on them, but it didn't. This exchange student business was really stressful. It wasn't nearly as simple as he had thought it would be. No wonder the leaders of his home world had been so fussy about his training.

He sat on the bed, unsure what to do next. Al and Winry had accepted him and were allowing him to stay, but Rose was anything but accepting, and that made him feel uncomfortable. He wanted to be on good terms with everyone, and while someone in the household hated him, he felt awkward walking freely around the house.

His stomach rumbled and he rolled his eyes. Traitor. It had to speak up when he wanted to stay put, didn't it? Well, if he had to leave the room to satisfy his stomach, then he might as well pay a visit to an old, er, new friend. He could really use some chocolate, and he was sure that Winry had some more of those chocolate chips hidden in the kitchen.

Edward got up and tiptoed down the stairs, into the kitchen. He couldn't remember exactly where Winry had stored the chocolate chips, but he knew she had pulled everything out of cupboards, so he began opening and closing random cupboard doors as silently as possible so as to not attract attention.

Finally, he spotted a bag that looked suspiciously like the bag of chocolate chips Winry had pulled out before, and he seized it eagerly. The wording on the package said that these were chocolate chips, and even better, this package appeared to have been unopened, which meant more chocolate for him.

Now to find a place to hide while he ate his chocolate in peace. He tiptoed out of the kitchen and cautiously looked around. He knew Rose was upstairs in her bedroom, since he had heard her talking to someone on his way past her door who he guessed to be Winry. Since Al had taken his artwork earlier, he assumed Al had probably left the house. Knowing where all three people were gave him a greater chance of avoiding getting caught.

Edward spied a door on the side of the foyer he hadn't noticed before. Curious, he turned the knob and opened it. Several thick coats hung inside in much the same way Rose's clothes hung in her closet. This was probably another closet of some sort, but it wasn't in anyone's bedroom. That seemed strange. All the same, no one was around, and they probably wouldn't think to look for him here. This was perfect.

He climbed inside the closet and shut the door behind him. It would have seemed dark inside if it hadn't been for his glowing skin illuminating the darkness. Thankfully, it wasn't dark outside of the closet, so anyone walking by wouldn't notice the light creeping out underneath the door. He only needed a few minutes to gobble the whole bag of chocolate chips, and none would be the wiser.

Edward tore open the bag of chocolate chips, and the scent of chocolate wafted its way into his nose. He exhaled a sigh of happiness as his eyes rolled back into his head. He reached a hand into the bag and pulled out a handful of chocolate chips. As soon as his hand touched the morsels, his mouth watered in anticipation of what was to come. He clenched the morsels in his fist and raised them to his mouth, nibbling at them eagerly. This was pure heaven.

He followed with a second handful, and a third, each one more blissful than the one before. When he went home, he would have to teach his people about the wonders of chocolate. There was no way he was going to live on without the stuff.

It wasn't long before he had finished off the entire bag and was shaking the empty bag in the hope that a couple more chips would fall out. But alas, he had eaten the entire bagful, and there were no more chocolate chips to be had. He sighed and closed his eyes. At least he could savor the taste in his mouth.

A few minutes later, Edward squirmed uncomfortably. His stomach was screaming bloody murder, but he didn't understand why. He was exhausted and feeling nauseous, and his aura had reduced in intensity to reflect his current state of health.

"Oooooooh…" he moaned, rubbing at his stomach. Apparently, he had moaned that aloud, because footsteps clacked just outside the closet door, and the knob turned and the door opened to reveal Al standing there, one eyebrow raised and a puzzled expression on his face.

"What's going on here?"

Edward moaned and rolled onto his side. He was going to throw up any moment if he wasn't careful. "I think I ate some tainted chocolate chips."

Al's head inclined forward and his expression became serious. "How many chocolate chips did you eat?"

Edward grabbed the empty bag and held it up for Al to see, hoping Al wouldn't be as vindictive as Winry would be if she discovered he had stolen a bag of chocolate chips. "Just this much."

Al grabbed the empty bag and stared at it, then back at Edward. A look of disbelief had crossed his face, but Edward couldn't fathom why. Finally Al shook his head and said, "You didn't eat this much chocolate."

Edward moaned again. "Uh-huh…"

Al rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No wonder you're sick! Ever heard of a thing called temperance?"

"They never sold temperance on my planet."

Al started to chuckle at that but clamped his mouth shut. Edward didn't know what was so funny, but he guessed he'd said something stupid again. When would that annoying habit stop? For that matter, when would the pain in his stomach stop?

"Um," Al was looking for words to say, "You ate too much chocolate, I'm afraid. Too much of a good thing will make you sick."

Edward's moan turned into a whine. How could there be such a concept as too much of a good thing? If it was good, wasn't it supposed to be always be good? Was it an Earth thing to have things that were both good and bad at the same time? That had been such a cruel trick in getting him to fall in love with chocolate without informing him of the consequences.

He sat up slowly and felt the sickness rush through him as his stomach lurched from its current burden. "Oh, chocolate, why are you such a fickle friend?"

Al chuckled again, but Edward didn't care. The next thing he knew, Al had bent down and taken one of Edward's arms and placed it around his shoulders. Al then used his free hand to grab Edward around the waist and hoist him up to a standing position, much to Edward's dismay as this action caused his stomach to lurch again.

"I'll help you up to our room," said Al, "You'll have to rest until this goes away."

"So it will go away?"

"Of course," said Al, "This sort of thing always goes away sooner or later. You have to be careful about how much chocolate you eat next time so this doesn't happen."

"I don't think I'm going to eat another chocolate chip as long as I live." Edward shook his head.

Al smiled knowingly as he helped the boy up the stairs. "We'll see."

Al helped Edward onto his bed and pulled the covers over him before calmly escorting himself out of the room. Edward was too sick to tell Al about wanting to give the mattress back to Rose, so he decided he'd put up with it for one more session. Hopefully the springiness in the mattress wouldn't aggravate his already sick stomach.

Slowly, the pain decreased, and his eyelids fluttered shut. His body thought it was capable of falling asleep in this situation, but he knew better, as his mind was wide awake. The thought of that made him nervous, so he tried to move his fingers and found that they barely responded to the signals his brain sent to them.

Edward groaned. He was slipping into a sleep paralysis state. It was a condition that ran in his family, so it didn't alarm him, but it was quite annoying. His body had the tendency to fall asleep and not respond to commands to move even though his mind was wide awake. He would have to either wait until his body woke up on its own or until someone figured out what was happening and shook him awake. This was not a fun situation to be in. The overdose of chocolate must have triggered his weakness.

He sighed, feeling like a prisoner in his own body, and his eyelids began to flutter, signaling the arrival of dreams soon. Considering how his body felt, the dreams would probably not be pleasant. He wanted to wake up badly, but his body was no longer responding to him, not even slightly.

And then the dreams started. He found himself back in Rose's room, holding the picture of her boyfriend. He closed his eyes and tried to connect with the man, but this time, instead of failing to connect, he succeeded…and he wished he hadn't. The man was alive, but he didn't like what he saw around the man.

Kain was standing in some sort of cage, attempting to reach his hand through the bars, only to get zapped by a purple electrical flash. Undeterred, he'd try again, and yet again, failing each time. Finally an angry shout came from somewhere off to the side of Edward's view, and a javelin was thrust into the cage, making Kain have to dodge out of the way to avoid getting stabbed.

Edward shuttered involuntarily, but couldn't remember why. The scene before him was disturbing, but there was something very wrong with it that he couldn't place. He recognized something amiss with the picture that lay before him, but it wasn't connecting with his consciousness at the moment.

The dream shifted and he was back on his world. He cried as he explained to the leaders why he had failed in his mission and was met with angry stares and crossed arms. He had failed his people, and he knew they were all going to die at any moment, but he wanted to die knowing his people still loved him. Maybe he didn't deserve their love or respect, since he hadn't done what he had set out to do.

A little girl ran up and grabbed at Edward's arm. He turned his attention away from the men who refused to budge and looked at where she was pointing, the sun. Indeed, it had grown visibly unstable in the sky. So this was it. Any moment now, all of them would be dead. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable to come upon them as he heard a loud boom.

The next thing he knew, he was shaken awake by strong hands, and he opened his eyes to see Al staring back at him, a concerned expression on his face. How had he known he couldn't wake up in this state? He was grateful to Al for doing that, however it was he had known.

Edward's lips twitched as he tried to utter a word of thanks, but Al simply smiled and nodded as though he understood exactly what Edward was trying to say.

"You were having some sort of nightmare," said Al, "We could hear your screams throughout the house." Edward felt embarrassed at hearing that, as he didn't like to appear powerless against anything, but he knew Al had meant no harm in his implication.

"When I came to wake you up, I was surprised to see you weren't moving at all except for your screams," Al continued, "Do you have problems with sleep paralysis?"

Edward's eyes went wide at hearing Al say those words. Did humans have that problem too? Maybe the two species were more alike than he had thought. He sighed. "Y-yeah…sort of…"

Al nodded sympathetically. "I understand. I'll keep that in mind should I ever find you unable to move again."

"Th-Thanks…" Edward said, still unsure whether he was pleased about the situation, but at least Al wasn't looking down on him for having a weakness. He picked Al's hands off of his shoulders and pushed himself up to a sitting position. The sickness had gone down by then, so he no longer felt woozy, but that was the last time he overindulged in chocolate.

"Hey!" said a female voice belonging to the notorious wrench queen, "Has anyone seen what happened to that other bag of chocolate chips? I was going to make a cake later."

Edward covered his mouth as his stomach lurched once again and he fell back onto the bed as his strength gave way. Winry raised an eyebrow at Edward's behavior and she turned to Al. "What's the matter with him?"

Al smirked as he looked at Edward and then back at Winry. "Let's just say he's had enough chocolate for one day."

Edward moaned as the two walked out of the room, Al trying to explain what happened as delicately as possible so as to not upset Winry. "Chocolate," said Edward once again, "You are a fickle friend indeed."

As before, if you have any thoughts on this, by all means, review. If not, no pressure, just enjoy it. It's great getting feedback from my readers so that I know what the readers want since this will be published after I've finished writing it and change it so it's not a fanfic anymore. ((Yes, I keep saying that over and over again, but some people seem to have short term memories, hehe.)) Even if you don't have thoughts on this story, you're welcome to suggest other stories you'd like to see me do. Once I'm done with this one, I'll naturally be moving on to something else ((Probably "The Call of Atlantis")), and will need ideas for what that "something else" should be.

Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and hope to see you all around again soon!