I own nada. Zip. Zilch.

Yes, I am updating twice in two days. It's sort of an apology for making you wait so long, plus I'm not quite evil enough to leave you with such a cliffie. This won't happen often, tho.


Shit.

Roy was moving before he even completed the thought and he knew Riza was right behind him, racing toward the lake. Ed hadn't been down there long—but he probably had no idea how to swim and with solid steel attached right to his very nerves dragging him down…

They needed to get to him, fast.

Roy opened his eyes as soon as he was underwater, ignoring the sting it caused. Where is Ed? Where the hell is Ed? He's wearing a fucking bright red coat!

Riza spotted him first, a few feet below them. He was struggling against three…things. Half-fish and half-almost human, they were grabbing onto the exposed metal of his leg, pulling it down and Ed with it.

They want his leg, Roy realized and suddenly his mind flew to one time when he was little, fighting a magpie for his mother's silver necklace.

Riza had reach Ed and was trying to pull him up, away from the fish-freaks. Roy quickly reach Ed's other side, kicking upward with all his strength. All three of them were trying to attack the fish-freaks, but the water resistance made their blows weak.

I really hate water, Roy thought as one of the fish-freaks grabbed onto his arm. Their fight had gotten a lot of attention, and more of the fish-things were trying to drag Ed down and pull Roy and Riza off of him. Ed had started to go slack in Roy's grip.

Out of the corner of his eye, Roy saw Riza grab a gun from one of many hidden holsters. She can't shoot them...can she?

But the fish-freaks noticed it too, and they all froze for an instant, staring at it. Riza twisted it slightly, letting it catch the little light that shone through the water. It shone even brighter than Ed's automail.

Then she threw it.

The fish-freaks let out shrieks of fury, abandoning Ed in favor of the gun. Riza was a genius—but they weren't any closer to the surface than before. Ed had gone limp, unconscious, and both Roy and Riza were quickly running out of air.

I hate water, Roy thought blearily as he fought to stay conscious. I fucking hate it…

And then they were on shore, coughing and gasping, and there was air, wonderful air. Professor Dumbledore was walking toward them, wand still out, followed closely by Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey.

"Out of my way!" Madam Pomfrey said quickly, rushing over to where Ed was lying. She pointed her wand at him, muttering a spell, and then water shot out of his mouth. Ed coughed and gasped.

Ed's alive, Roy realized, still gasping for air. Riza lay next to him, spluttering and coughing. He rolled over to face her as McGonagall and Dumbledore conjured blankets and towels, wrapping them both tightly.

"Riza," he whispered, still gasping. For some reason, she had to understand this, now. "You were amazing."

Then he fainted.

oOoOoOoOo

He woke a few minutes later, noticing that he was much warmer than he'd been before.

"Good, you're up," Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled over, carrying a few potions. "I used a drying spell, so you should be much more comfortable, but I'd like to treat those scratches before giving you a Pepperup Potion."

Roy hadn't even realized he was bleeding until the witch pointed it out. Fish-freaks had sharp nails, which they apparently hadn't hesitated to use to try and get him off Ed.

"Ed!" he realized suddenly, sitting upright. "And Ri-Hawkeye!"

"They're fine," Pomfrey assured him. "Professor Hawkeye should wake soon, and Mr. Hawkeye will probably wake this evening. He refused to let me treat him until I sedated him," she explained, seeing Mustang's questioning look. He laughed, sounding more like he was choking due to his still-sore throat.

"Sounds like him."

"Yes, well," Madam Pomfrey sniffed, clearly not as amused by Ed's antics. "Your gloves please, Professor."

"Pardon?" he asked, giving her one of his winning smiles. "My hands weren't hurt, Madam."

"Not this time, no. But I can recognize when old injuries are acting up, Professor. You appear to be rather like your subordinate in that you won't be in here unless you pass out or are forced, so I'm going to take advantage of the fact that you're here now."

Roy hesitated. Not just because he was offended at being compared to Fullmetal, but also because it was a hard to explain injury. He couldn't exactly say "Oh, I was stabbed through the hands by an artificial human who was in charge of Amestris to force me to try to bring someone back to life, which blinded me. Oh, you've never heard of Amestris and you've noticed that I'm no longer blind? Funny story, that…"

"I can at least try to improve dexterity," she said, seeing his hesitation. He sighed, half tempted to tell her that his dexterity was fine, thank you very much. He could snap, and that was all he needed. Sure, it had taken him months to learn to snap again, and he still struggled with handwriting and, on days when they were sore, everyday tasks like eating…

He pulled off his gloves, letting her see the thick scars from where Wrath's swords had stabbed straight through. At least the scar from the transmutation circle he carved into his hand during the fight with Lust had faded completely, though even if it had remained, people would most likely not notice it next to the large fat scars on both sides of his hands now.

Madam Pomfrey ran her fingers over the scars, occasionally muttering a spell.

"How did you get these?"

"Er…work related accident."

She raised an eyebrow at that, but continued examining him for a few more minutes.

"I'm sorry," she said at last. "There's nothing I can do. There's too much scar tissue buildup. The only thing I could do that could potentially help would be to reopen the wounds-"

"Which you aren't going to do." Came a voice from the other bed.

"Ah, Professor Hawkeye!" Madam Pomfrey said, as Riza pulled back the curtain between the two beds, sitting up. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, Madam." She turned to Mustang, who gulped. "Sir."

"Y-yeah, Hawkeye?"

"Why did you jump into the water, sir? I could have gotten Edward while you went for help, sir! There was no need for you to endanger yourself!"

"I wasn't going to let Edward drown! Or you, for that matter! If you didn't notice, it took both of us to keep him from sinking!"

"It took one of us to get the things off of him," retorted Riza, folding her arms. "You could have drowned, sir!"

"So could you!"

"I'm not the one who's useless in water, sir."

"Not that line again…"

"It's true, sir."

They looked at each other from opposite beds, having the silent conversation they had after almost every battle.

You should have kept yourself safe.

I know but I won't. You should have let me handle it.

You know that I won't.

I'll still follow you.

Thank you.

Madam Pomfrey ran her wand over the cuts on Mustang's arms, and a few muttered spells later the scratches were gone.

"Now, Professor Hawkeye, it's your turn." She gave Riza an appraising look. "Your back's been bothering you, hasn't it?"

Riza froze. Roy turned toward her, a stricken look on his face.

"Riza…is it…?"

"No sir," she said firmly. "It's not that scar."

"Regardless of what scar it is, I'd still like to examine it," snapped Madam Pomfrey. Riza looked at her, then looked to where Ed was sleeping, the curtain drawn securely around the bed.

"Promise me," Riza whispered, taking a deep breath. "You'll never talk about this to anyone, and you'll never study alchemy after this."

"Professor, I never intended to—"

"Promise."

"I will never study alchemy." Riza relaxed the slightest bit at the nurse's response. "Professor Mustang, if you would step out?"

"It's all right. He's seen it enough times." She looked up at him with a glare that said You've seen my back and I'm letting you see it again, but leer at my chest and you will get a bullet in your manhood.

Roy turned around as she removed her black turtleneck.

"Merlin…" Madam Pomfrey whispered. "Is that a tattoo?"

"Sort of," Riza replied, her voice taking on the clipped quality Roy knew she always got when she was close to panic.

"These are those circles you use, aren't they? And there's smaller ones scattered across the tattoo."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"Well, the burn scar, I could potentially remove, but I couldn't do anything about the underlying tattoo."

"Then don't remove the burn." Riza replied, her words short and almost angry. "He did something to the skin-I don't know what. But if I get cut there, the skin grows back in the form of the array. Only burning it would remove it, but if you remove the scar, it will be complete again." She pulled her turtleneck back on. "Heal my cuts please, Madam. I'd like to get out of here."

A few moments later, they were walking back to their offices, sans Edward.

"Hawkeye."

"Yes, sir?"

"Your tattoo seemed redder than before."

"It must be your imagination, sir."

oOoOoOoOo

"You have to admit, Hermione, there's gotta be something going on!" Ron said, pumping the air with his fist. "You were there in Divination! Trelawney says he's been marked for doom, he makes fun of it, and the next day he almost drowns in the lake! Professor Hawkeye and Mustang almost get killed saving him!"

"He probably slipped on a rock, Ronald," Hermione replied, absent-mindedly turning a page of her book.

"The day after she makes her prediction?"

"Coincidence."

"Hermione, he nearly died!"

"Then it's very lucky someone got Professor Dumbledore in time."

Harry sighed, listening to Ron and Hermione bicker over divination. He might have joined in, if not for the fact that Ron was making some good points, and he had seen a Grim. If Trelawney really was right…well, Harry supposed, he might as well work on a will.

"Ron, Professor Hawkeye is fine. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to work on homework for his class!"

"Hermione, we've still got a month-"

"Three weeks! And if I get thrown out of this class, I might as well kiss my future goodbye!"

"Hermione, "Ron and Harry said in unison. "It's just a class."

Hermione huffed impatiently and grabbed her notes.

"What I don't understand," she said after a few minutes. "Is what this has to do with alchemy. I mean, death and such, it's all so morbid."

"Maybe he's just trying to lessen the class size," Ron suggested, flopping back in an armchair. "Like, all the spineless guys who can't handle a little death."

"No, no, there's got to be something more," Hermione muttered looking through her notes again. "What would happen if you died?"

"Well," Ron said, taking on an air of extreme concentration. "You'd stop breathing."

"Yes, thank you Ronald."

"Mum'd throw a fit," he continued. "And Fred and George would figure out some way to pull a massive prank on me at my funeral."

"Ron, you'd be dead."

"They'd still do it. Don't underestimate Fred and George."

"Dudley'd probably laugh," Harry muttered, thinking. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon'd be relieved."

"What about You-Know-Who, mate?"

"He'd be happy as well, I suppose." Harry frowned. "It seems like a lot of people'd be happy if I died."

"I'd miss you."

"Thanks, Ron."

"You'd start to smell after a bit as well," Ron continued. "And then you'd look awful and all boney…"

"Ron, that's it!" shrieked Hermione, looking for all the world as if she'd like to kiss Ron right there and then. "That's the answer!"

"Oh…well, yeah…" Ron said, looking as though he didn't have the slightest clue what was going on. Hermione didn't notice.

"We decompose, and become nutrients, so life keeps going on Earth. We're not significant at all. But then without us, life couldn't exist at all. That's it!"

She turned back to them, a huge smile on her face.

"One is all, all is one!"


That last line would sound so much cooler in Japanese...

Again, this long, super-soon chapter is just a huge thank you to all of you guys for sticking with me for the past few chapters, despite sporadic updates and short chapters. You might even get another one before the week is out, due to a break with absolutely nothing for me to do. You guys are AWESOME.

Also, go thank MoonClaimed for giving me a much better idea for why Ed fell in the lake than my original one.

Review?