Authour's note: Here is the next chapter? Sorry it took a while to write but I am also trying to finish up a Sorcerer's skill as well. I won't be able to write for either story much this weekend because I am running the Army Ten Miler on Sunday and we are spending the weekend in the District of Columbia. So this might be it for this week (and maybe next). However, I will try to write as much as possible between now and then!

The Tales and Tails of Elric

CHAPTER 10

That Evening

Hawkeye and Havoc knocked on the large doors of the Colonel's house. The weather had turned for the worse that evening and both of them were completely soaked after taking the short walk from their car to the man's front porch. Jean took a light puff of his water logged cigarette which was still amazingly lit. It hung out of his mouth at an odd angle as he tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the door to open. They were both rather anxious to see how the Colonel was doing. Supposedly the Chief was staying over at his house for some unknown reasons and they both wanted to see how the kid was doing. From the phone calls they both knew that it probably wasn't good, but they wanted to know either way. The office had been questioning why there was a lack of information from the Colonel on the state of their coworker. There were many theories as to what happened but most of them were ludicrous tales about how the Colonel took the terribly ill Chief under his wing to train as his new side kick of justice. That was given by Kain who read too many comics during the short work break. Jean puffed out a cloud of smoke, knowing it was much to Riza's distaste and glanced at his watch. It had been ten whole minutes since they arrived and the door still hasn't opened. Thunder rolled out again through the large open sky and as impossible as it seemed, the rain poured down harder. The two of them carried separate files for the Colonel to look over. He had all of the research on the separate hospitals in central while Riza carried a few more piles of paperwork that the man needed to fill out. Though he was at home the woman said that it wasn't an excuse not to get his work done. Jean wondered why she couldn't just give the man a break, but knew that the Colonel rode a slippery slope of procrastination when it came to paperwork. After a few more minutes standing out in the rain, luckily under the shelter of the mansion's porch, Havoc sighed to himself and leaned against the frame of the door.

"Hawkeye, why don't you go home? I will give the Colonel his papers. It is getting late," he offered politely. Riza tightened her grip slightly on her files, reluctant to hand them over.

"Havoc, I will hand over his papers to him only," she said stiffly. Jean rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly in disbelief. That woman was such a stickler for rules and protocol he wondered how she ever got anything done. He reached out and knocked on the door once more just to be greeted with growing silence.

"Why do you think we are not allowed to call his house? It would have made things so much simpler," he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, trying to keep warm under his thick coat. It was strangely cold outside for the summer, even with the rain. Riza shrugged to herself not wanting to dig into the man's private affairs. Jean wondered how she could be so respectable like that. Wasn't it in human nature to be curious? It was obvious she was dying to figure out what really happened to the Chief but why did she have to be so... patient. He knocked on the door again and sighed as he glanced at the clock.

"Seriously, Hawkeye, you need to go home and feed Hayate. I got this," he muttered.

"You had a date didn't you?" her stiff voice replied. He nodded in defeat. He missed his date. He was supposed to meet a lovely Solaris at 7:00 but it was well past eight now. He just got so caught up in researching the hospitals that he didn't realise the time. Now he was waiting for over twenty minutes trying to deliver their files that it was unlikely the woman would ever go out with him again. He couldn't show up several hours late and expect her to be there. He would just have to call and get chewed out later which he was not looking forward too. She shook her head as if in disbelief, but even she knew it was believable. Jean couldn't seem to ever keep a girlfriend. After a few moments of hesitation, Riza handed over her thick pile of papers to him.

"The ones in the pink tab are mandatory and due by the end of the week. The ones under the blue tab are optional but tell him they are due by tomorrow so that he at least looks at them. The empty green tab is where he needs to put the paper work that he should have finished today so that it can be filed," she told him. Jean carefully took the heavy stack, feeling the pain the Colonel must feel when he sits at his desk, and nodded his head.

"Pink end of week, blue tomorrow, green today, got it," he noted, shifting the heavy weight around, wondering how she could have stand to carrying it for so long. After eyeing him a bit, she gave him a stiff nod and put her military cap back on her head.

"Pray to god that your woman is forgiving," she scolded him lightly before turning down the path into the rain. Jean sighed to himself knowing full well that he was going to be trudging through a pit of apologies when he got back home that evening. He waited for a few more minutes, in which Riza left, and then knocked on the door again. It was a full half hour until the door opened up. Benjamin was standing in the door way, waiting patiently for him to come in. He was soaking wet as if he just got in himself, probably coming through the back door. Havoc smiled at him and tipped his hat slightly.

"I got a few papers for the Colonel and some research for him as well," he said lifting up the large stack of papers with all his might. Benjamin nodded and stepped aside to allow him in.

"I am sad to say that the Master must have... fallen asleep or something of the sort, but I will go fetch him. He and Mr. Elric had a very eventful day as I heard," Benjamin told him. As Havoc stepped into the house the man quickly flicked the cigarette bud out of his mouth before he closed the door, smoothly locking it outside. Jean frowned slightly. He knew that people didn't like his habit all too much, but they could let him have just one. Everyone in the office was trying to get him to stop, but it was his vice, everyone had them. Jean tapped his wet boot out on the welcome mat that was paced inside specifically for that purpose and carefully hung his soaking coat and hat on the stand by the door. Benjamin gave him a towel before running upstairs for the Colonel, or Master as he called him. Jean sighed to himself and looked around the large house from where he stood in the entry way. He grew up on a farm out near eastern command; big mansions weren't really his style. They seemed too flashy and rather gaudy if you asked him. Yet, compared to the Armstrong mansion, he had to admit that this had a bit less of those feature especially with a broken radio lying on the ground forgotten.

Footsteps sounded from upstairs along with a long deep growl and Roy soon was stumbling down the stairs like he was just woken up. He looked absolutely exhausted as he dragged a crumbled pile of papers through the house. He tiredly handed it to him without a greeting, adding them all to the giant stack he was already holding.

"Um sir-"

"Shh," the man said drowsily, shifting his direction towards the kitchen. He stumbled along, disappearing around the corner. Jean waited for a little bit, but the man didn't come back out. He groaned to himself and trudged after the man, careful of where he placed his water logged boots on the clean floors. The Colonel was waiting by the stove where a pot of water was put to boil for a cup of coffee. The man was slumped over the counter as if begging for the water to boil faster. What happened to him?

"Sir-" Jean started but stopped as Mustang turned around to face him. He finally caught a good glimpse of the man and realised that the right side of his face was swollen and pink. He looked like he came across a gang of beaters. He was even more relieved that Riza went home now because if she saw his face there would have been war. "Sir, what happened?" The man groaned to himself and quickly caught the pot of boiling water at its peak and pour out a cup.

"Just a... little mishap," he muttered, dumping his instant coffee into his cup. "What do you have for me, Lieutenant?" Jean stuttered a bit, not knowing whether he should ignore the fact that his commanding officer wasn't thinking much of how painful his face looked. Yet the look in his eye had an all business attitude. Jean shuffled over to the table and placed his pile of papers down near a stack of groceries that Benjamin must have just brought in. The Colonel sat down across from him and took a long drag of his coffee.

"Sir, I have some papers from Riza," he said pulling out the two different tabs and sliding them across the table to him. Roy groaned as he absent mindedly tossed them to the side.

"Pink urgent, Blue unnecessary, she always was a little too on top of things," he heard him mutter under his breath. Jean smirked slightly as he heard this, shoving the Colonel's finished crinkled papers into the green tab folder for later. "Lieutenant, did you have a date tonight?" the man asked curiously as if reading him like a book. Jean felt his face turn a little red. Was it really that obvious? He pulled out his file next, the research on the hospitals. The man saw this and greedily snatched it from his hands before he could even open it. He started to flip through the few amounts of documents that he did manage to pull without extreme orders and signatures.

"Sir, I found out that there are several different hospitals that got a lot to hide, like one of them reuses needles and such which is an extreme health hazard, but I don't think that was what you wanted me to find," Jean said leaning over the table and glancing at his work upside down. The colonel shook his head and kept digging.

"Fullmetal wasn't too particular on describing exactly where the hospital was when he told me about it so I had to research all of them."

"You mean I had to research all of them," Jean muttered to himself. So this was about Fullmetal after all. Where was he? Jean shook his head, he had to get on with his report. He could ask questions later. Maybe Riza was right in patients is a virtue. Roy didn't look especially particular on answering picky questions this evening, just asking them.

"Alright, well, for some strange stuff that isn't needles," Jean continued lightly, reviewing his notes in his head, "There is a military hospital in the south western section that has almost no funding but seems to thrive off of donations from a single party who has a long term patient there with a broken pubic which should have healed back in the Ishvalan war. I have reasons to suspect he just doesn't want to go back into the military. There is one in North central that is now dysfunctional and shut down but a funding is still being placed up by the historian's society to keep it in peak condition. Finally, this is the strangest one that I have found, there is a military hospital with a full functioning Psyc ward but no one has been admitted to it since the early 1800's. I tracked the funding and found out that it is being given grants by the military itself to keep running." Mustang froze as he said this, glancing at the information.

"Jean," he said slowly. Havoc perked up hearing his name and his attention was brought on full alert. He must have struck gold with that research or else the man would have thrown the papers back in his face. "Where is this hospital?"

"Sir... it was the one we went to a few months ago, when we interviewed that Jackson character," Jean noted. A thin and rather deranged smile crept onto the Colonel's lips. With the man's swollen face he looked like a caricature from a haunting special. Jean shivered slightly. He knew that look. That was what the Colonel looked like when he knew he could one up someone, specifically the military. It was one of the reasons why he never played chess with the man. Obviously something was going on in that hospital, why else would the military fund it? But Jean didn't know what was so bad it could have possibly driven the Colonel into growing a face so full of cunning wit, scheming victory, and what even looked to be revenge. Roy quickly gathered up all of his research and stuffed it underneath his arm to look at later. He picked up his coffee and after taking a long, long sip, stood up ready to walk out for the evening.

"Thank you Lieutenant. This is perfect. See if you can find a search warrant for the building, wait, no, scratch that I will figure it out. That will be all. i am sure you know your way out right?" he said quickly, making his way towards the door leaving all of the other files on the kitchen table for anyone to see. Jean got up quickly and chased him down, nearly tipping Benjamin over who was coming in with another bag of soaking wet groceries. He plowed past him with a quick apology and caught the Colonel already turning the corner of the dining room.

"Colonel wait!" Jean ordered knowing full well his rank wouldn't allow him to do so. The man paused, looking at something around the corner of the room before quickly spinning around to look at him. Jean heard some shuffling around the corner but the man was standing perfectly in his way so that he couldn't see. There was a slight awkward pause as both of them stared at each other for a long moment.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" the Colonel said stiffly. Jean paused and studied him a bit. The entire office knew that the man was hiding something, specifically information about the Chief. Jean squinted slightly.

"Sir, why did you want us to research hospitals? Was our lead correct the first time?" Jean asked him. The Colonel let out a steamy breath making his puffed out shoulders droop a little bit.

"Yes we were correct." Jean felt like a javelin went through his chest. He was happy, he was excited that they were correct, they had the right lead and they knew it but that meant...

"We were so close," he muttered. They were so close to finding him yet not one of their rescue missions had allowed them that honour. Mustang found the Chief by himself several months after they thought that their lead was dead. If only they kept digging they would have had him sooner. Jean glanced up at the Colonel. "Sir, where is he?"

"Upstairs sleeping. He had some bad breakfast and got sick. He needs his rest."

"Sir, where is the Chief?" Jean gratingly asked again, trying to see through the instant lies that the man was putting up. Colonel looked slightly taken aback but didn't say anything more. Jean felt his blood heat slightly, his subconscious wanting to give the man a right hook to make his face symmetrical. It wasn't fair that the man was hiding him from everyone. They were all so worried about about the kid. The office was finally rising back out of its depressed dump but the man refused to let them know what happened to the kid. Did he expect them all to just let it go?

"Fuck Colonel!" he cursed to the world, the colonel giving no reaction what so ever, "Where is he? Why won't you tell us anything? We have been waiting for half a year to find the kid and now... Fuck! Now you won't let any of us see him. The only reason we know he is still alive is because he called us this morning! We were so close Colonel! You could at least give us our progress report!"

"Lieutenant stand down!" Mustang barked at him. Jean froze in his rant, almost forgetting his place. He knew he should never have exploded out like that, but he still felt the blood burning his face red. He needed answers. The Colonel's black gaze came down and bore into his blue ones. Jean looked away for a moment slightly over whelmed and ashamed that he just scolded his commanding officer like that. He took a slow breath and straightened himself out.

"Sir, I apologise for my rudeness," he said stiffly. "Those words weren't necessary."

"Lieutenant, they were necessary," the Colonel replied. Jean stared at him a little shocked. The man let out a breath as he continued. "I didn't tell you anything because it was not my choice to decide. It is Fullmetal's information and he believed that his personal state isn't needed to be common knowledge. You should realise this." Jean looked down at the floor slightly ashamed. He should never had challenged the Colonel like that because he also unknowingly challenged the Chief. Whatever happened seemed to still be going on. The chief was probably making a wise decision in keeping his mouth shut. He nodded his head in acceptance but a heavy hand was placed on his shoulder. "I am sorry."

"Yeah," Jean said, not knowing what else to do. He nodded his head as he tried to cool himself down, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. The Colonel kept his word no matter what and he must have given his to Fullmetal. Jean didn't want to get in the way of that. The Chief must have his reasons, even if he didn't like them. Jean took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Are we at least helping with this case? I don't want to leave the Chief alone on this," Jean asked softly. The Colonel smiled lightly at him and gave him a light pat on the shoulder.

"More than you can imagine," he answered, tightening his grip on the pile of files.

...

"I don't want to leave the Chief alone on this."

Edward sat, curled up inside one of the cabinets in the hallway outside of the dining room. Mustang had told him that if he felt up to it he should come down for dinner, and when he woke up after his nice long nap, he was. The fever had completely left him and he felt like he hadn't eaten anything in ages, his stomach hissing at him angrily. There was a bit of shuffling outside and Edward heard the footsteps of the Colonel and Havoc leave towards the kitchen before disappearing. He quickly crawled out of his hiding space and bolted for the staircase as fast as he could. He was stupid for coming downstairs at all. He heard some people talking but immediately thought it to be just Benjamin and Roy in the kitchen, but it wasn't. Roy wasn't there when he woke up, leaving him alone in the room with no knowledge of what was going on. Edward didn't know that some people from the office came over and more importantly, that person was Havoc. He wanted to go up and tackle the man, so relieved to finally meet another familiar face after so much time had passed, but he didn't. Edward was ashamed. Havoc, though not the best at getting women, cared a lot. If he would have seen him, the man might have just doubled over dead with heart break. He heard how close they came to finding him, he didn't want to show him what happened since they were late. Edward jumped up on the landing and quickly shoved him himself in one of the hall closets. He knew that Havoc wasn't going to be coming up the stairs in search for him. Even though he was a prankster, he did respect people and their places, though patients wasn't a virtue for him. But he just wanted to be safe. Their mumbled voices came up through the floors and into the small closet. Edward felt his ears twitch in the dark. He scratched them a bit out of habit as if he were testing that they really were real. They were. He couldn't believe that he was actually hiding from his friends. They should be able to understand, Mustang did. It was a freak tragedy that tore him apart and left him with nothing. But though it was a tragedy for him, it was also a tragedy for them as well. Havoc deserved to know what happened but Edward couldn't bring himself to showing him. He was too weak. He curled back farther into the closet, letting the long hanging coats lay over his head like blankets. Would the same thing happen when Alphonse came back? Suddenly, the door opened and light flooded in. Edward quickly closed his eyes, protecting them from the burning light as he naturally shrunk back farther.

"Sir," Benjamin's voice rang out softly, "I fear that the Colonel's business might take a lot longer than expected, would you care to have your dinner elsewhere? I am afraid to tell you it isn't going to be that delightful this evening." Edward nodded his head in response to another growl in his stomach, receiving a smile from Benjamin. The man held the door open and held his hand out to him but Edward heard the voices flow up from downstairs and he was a little afraid to move. What if Havoc saw him? He knew it was silly since he was all the way downstairs in the kitchen but he still didn't move.

"Do you think that I-I could have it here?" Edward mumbled slightly. The Butler nodded his head softly and gently, letting him know it was alright.

"Would you like me to prop the door open for some more light or-"

"N-No, it's alright," Edward mumbled. Benjamin slowly closed the door and his footsteps fell away, leaving him in the darkness again. Edward smelled it before he saw it. It was sweet and mouthwateringly delicious, dinner. It smelled rather familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, nor did he care. His stomach gurgled again, but he tried to hush it down afraid that someone might hear it. Footsteps came closer and stopped in front of the door. It opened and Benjamin set the plate down near the entrance with a fork, a glass of water, and a napkin. Edward almost froze at what he saw on the plate. A big lump of mush was delicately placed on it. He recognized the smell now as he stared at it. Cat food. Benjamin sighed sadly as he sat down in the door way, staring at the plate, obviously trying to ignore the disgusted face of the short alchemist.

"Yes Sir, I am sorry, but with your predicament we can't serve you anything else until we know that it won't poison you again. I am bound to pick up a couple recipes somewhere but right now this is the best that we have to offer. The master had me pick some up cans when I was shopping. I am sorry that my breakfast upset you so much," Benjamin told him. Edward looked up at him. The man seemed truly upset that his breakfast didn't settle with him that well. Edward frowned slightly and poked the plate of food as his stomach and nose teased him about it. He wanted to eat it because he was so hungry and it smelled so good, but it just tasted so awful. Yet, it was better than feeling like he was going to die after just a tiny bite of eggs. Edward growled to himself in distaste.

"You did say that dinner wasn't all that nice tonight," he mumbled as he slowly dragged the plate closer. Benjamin smiled lightly at him, seeing that he wasn't throwing it in his face. Edward poked it lightly with his finger waiting patiently for the man to leave, but the man didn't move.

"You know, one time when I was fourteen I accidentally got an entire can of taffy stuck on my head, don't ask me how this happened, but in the end I had to cut all of my hair off in order to get it all out. I had long hair like you back then so it was a very drastic change," Benjamin started randomly. He was staring off rather distantly into the great unknown as he reflected over the short funny memory. Edward thought it rather funny to picture the man with long hair, but even more so with candy stuck in it but he stayed quiet not really knowing where he was going with this.

"I tried to cover it up for the longest time but the more I tried the more people noticed. Eventually everyone found out and you wouldn't believe the horrible thing that my friends did," Benjamin said, dramatically waving his arms like it was a big deal. But the story stopped there. Edward waited patiently for the man to continue but he didn't.

"Come on man, you can't tell a story without finishing it!" Edward exclaimed. Benjamin chuckled at him and waved him down. Edward cursed at himself knowing that the man just wanted to get a rise out of him. It worked. The butler took a deep breath as if trying to remember where he was and casually leaned back against the door frame as if he was about to unload the story from his shoulders.

"They cut their hair off."

"What?"

"Yes, every single one of them cut their hair off because they wanted to understand how it felt to have absolutely nothing up there. Strangely enough though, it stopped some of the taunting that my enemies were giving me, but that's not important right now." Edward stared at the man like he was crazy, but Benjamin just gave a goofy grin back and laughed lightly. He tapped Edward's leg lightly, ignoring how he pulled back slightly at the contact. "Sir, what I am trying to say is, maybe your friends might not react exactly how you expected them to." Edward knew that he was talking about Havoc, maybe even his brother and others. For some reason it scared Edward how easily Benjamin could read people and know things. It was like butlers detected gossip and information like a radar, but Edward wasn't too keen on his advice. He couldn't picture Havoc shaving his head, or in this situation, growing a pair of cat ears and a tail.

"And if he does react how I think he will?" Edward asked. Benjamin shrugged slightly as he stood up from the floor, dusting his jacket off.

"Well, then I think it is what he decides to do afterwards that matters," he noted. Edward nodded his head, accepting the answer questionably. He gave a poke to the plate in front of him and the nasty mush jiggled a bit. He shivered slightly. The Colonel knew what happened, but he didn't tell him in excruciating detail. He was practically sent into shock when he found out. Edward shook his head. He couldn't do that to anyone else. Yet, like he heard Havoc say before, his absence was killing them. Edward should have heard how relieved they were to listen to his voice over the phone. At one point Falman actually had to leave the room when he answered his call. Benjamin smiled lightly and put his hand on the door, ready to leave the little crowded closet.

"Sir, would you like me to get you anything else?" he asked. Edward shook his head and thanked him. The man closed the door leaving him in the dark with the nasty dinner. The smell wafted up his nose, reminding him of how many times he was forced to eat it before. It was sad to see a human stoop so low as to eat cat food. His stomach gave a lurch. Well you aren't really human now aren't you?

...

Roy stiffly walked to bed as he finished ushering the Lieutenant out of the door. It had gotten really late in the evening and he was absolutely exhausted. It was strange how one kid and a pile of paperwork could get one so tired. Jean was rather upset that Fullmetal wasn't telling anyone anything about him, but he didn't hold any of it against him. Fullmetal wasn't telling the whole truth about what happened, Roy knew. Something must have happened to him that altered him so much he was trying to hide from reality. The kid hasn't been himself at all and Roy feared that he never will be. It might just be the cat ears and tail that is ruining the boy's self image, but Fullmetal was more introverted, out of place, and quiet than usual. Though he hated to admit, Roy deeply wished for the obnoxious and rude teenager back.

Edward cried that day. No matter how much he tried to cover it up, Roy saw that and it was something that could have scarred a man for life. Fullmetal never cried, it didn't seem in his nature, but Roy let him do it. He patiently waited out the tears, letting the kid hold on to his rather battered sleeve. The boy was broken and Roy didn't know how to fix him. The pieces were scattered everywhere and some of them the kid was still hiding for himself. Roy waited out the storm that the kid was throwing at him unknowingly and quietly hoped that when it was over and when the tears stopped that Fullmetal would have been able to put some of himself back together. He did. Unfortunately, when Edward picked up a few of his broken pieces of composure, he decided to shatter Roy as well.

Thank you. Roy nearly choked when he heard those words come out of the kid's mouth. The boy was thanking him for what he did to him. Did Fullmetal realise that he was the one who put him there in the first place? Did he realise that he wouldn't have been turned into a freak if he had just gone instead? No amount of hospitality that Roy gave the kid could make up for what he did to him. After the kid fell asleep Roy had to excuse himself from the room as if the innocent and naive air the boy was giving off was all too suffocating. He couldn't look at the kid without feeling immense guilt threaten to overtake him because when he looked at the beaten and destroyed image of Fullmetal, he saw himself. It was all too familiar, the nightmares, the fears, the paranoia, it was all he felt like when he went off to Ishval. He still knew what it felt like even today because as he hated to admit to himself, he still got those blood ridden nightmares that were always consumed in his own burning flame. Now, Roy had unknowingly given that burden onto his youngest subordinate.

Roy's head drooped slightly as he tried to force his way down the hallway and to his room. All he wanted to do was sleep. He had a tiring day with little sleep the night before. He wished that he could go to bed and think it all a dream, but he knew that every time he opened his eyes Fullmetal would still be here with his distorted and traumatized body and eyes begging for help that he couldn't give. Roy bit his lip as to withhold an aggravating cry. If only the kid would have let him tell the team or even Havoc about what happened maybe he could get the help he truly deserved. Roy had no clue how to handle the situation but he was quickly running out of blank lies to cover up his terrible mistake. Jean almost walked in on Fullmetal that evening. The kid seemed to not realise that it was Havoc in the house instead of Benjamin and had come down to sit with them at least but instead had to go running in fear as if Jean would turn him back to the labs. Roy felt bad for yelling at Havoc, forcing him to drop the subject of Fullmetal and his where abouts. He wished that he could have just told him that he was a mere five feet away from the boy, but he couldn't. He promised Edward that he wouldn't say anything about it and he kept his word. It seemed to be the only thing Edward trusted on anymore and Roy couldn't tear that away from him even if it might help. Jean left being none the wiser of what truly happened to Edward.

As Roy passed the hallway closet he heard a strange rolling sound coming out of it. He paused slightly. Was it the heater? He pressed his ear to the door curiously. He remembered the strange sound his subordinate was making that morning when he lay basking in the heat of his radiator. The kid was purring. Roy thought it to be absolutely ridiculous but he didn't want to say anything about it to the kid. For once he restrained himself. He slowly opened the door to find a filthy and grungy kid curled up on the floor fast asleep. It was barely recognizable as being Edward as his hair had faded ever so slowly from its golden shine to a dull brown from the lack of care and his white complexion was now covered with filth that he didn't wash off the night before. The kid's foot was still bandaged up tight as his foot was still cut terribly in several places from running without shoes on. Where his clothes were Roy could only guess back at the hospital where he came from. The boy must have been running for hours in the rain the previous day it was amazing that he didn't get sick because of it. Instead he got sick because Roy was too foolish to realise that his subordinate wasn't quite as human as he thought he'd be. Roy quickly shook his head chasing the thought away. Fullmetal was Human inside and out. A rolling purr seemed to hit him in the face as he watched the kid sleep silently in his closet. Fullmetal's face was contorted into a slight frown as if his dreams weren't giving him a break at all. The vibrations coming from his chest seemed to roll out timidly, trying to reassure the kid that everything was alright. Roy knew it wasn't. He slowly reached in and grabbed the kid from underneath the knees and shoulders and picked him up. He winced slightly remembering the last time he tried to pick the kid up, his face still hurting from the contact of the metal fist. But now, Edward was fast asleep and hopefully won't be stirring anytime soon.

Roy slowly pulled the kid out of the closet and with his foot scooted the empty dinner plate outside before closing the door. He could always clean dinner later, maybe in the morning. The dull thrums coming from the kid's chest were slowly hitting his and sent a rather comforting shock through his system as he carried Edward back to his room. Roy looked down at him as he struggled to rearrange his position as to not drop him on accident. Edward was curled up close to him as if subconsciously trying to draw his warmth out of him. The thrums were rolling ever longer now. He looked so helpless like a little toddler lost at the fair. Roy quickly looked away as he elbowed the door open to the boy's room. As soon as it opened Roy wanted to close it. It was strangely cold in there for the summer. He walked deeper and deeper into the room, carrying the boy as gently as he could but he couldn't force himself to put the kid down and walk away. As the cold sank through the thin layers of their clothes Edward curled closer to him, trying to escape the empty room. Roy sighed to himself as he sat himself down on the edge of the bed, the alchemist still laying in his arms. Edward was there, he was right there holding him and yet he seemed so far away. Roy wished everything away if he could have just sent someone else on that mission instead of the boy. The hurricane of guilt was swirling around in his chest and he didn't know what to do with it. Edward was suffering because of him, locking himself away from the world because he now was a science experiment. No human should ever go through that. They were already trying to fix his brother, but now they had to fix him too. Roy unknowingly shattered all hopes of returning them to their normal bodies in the matter of six months. What could one person do as a cat? Edward didn't seem to even look at a transmutation since he found him, let alone talk about one.

The two golden ears on top of his head twitched slightly catching Roy's attention. The fur was a bit matted like the rest of him and they flickered every now and then, rotating ever so slightly. Curiously Roy found himself reaching up and touching one gingerly under his fingers. It was so strange to actually feel that they were real. It was as if the whole situation was being forced into reality by the simple sense of feeling and knowing that this was a part of him now. He wondered how the kid must have thought about waking up with these things on him, both ears and tail. He was probably sent into a panic like he was when he found out. Roy could still feel the shock that ran through his system when he saw those things on his subordinate's head. Suddenly, Roy felt something small, but hard on the base of one of the ears. He slowly lifted the boy up as to not disturb him and peered back at the strange substance. It was like a crumbly red brown substance coating a small patch of fur and hair where the ear connected to his head. It was dried blood. Roy didn't know how he missed it but it seemed like something had ripped at the kid's ear, like something grabbed it and wouldn't let go. Whatever happened in that lab must have hurt the kid not just mentally but physically as well, no wonder the boy didn't want to talk about it at all. It was probably something that he didn't want to relive even in telling someone about it. Roy pursed his lips and slowly let a breath of warm firery breath out. Whoever did this to him was going to pay. To cause a teenager so much pain in his life that already had too little rewards was a sin, and Roy was going to send them straight to the burning flames of hell when he caught them. Edward deserved more than that. He deserved more than life had given him so far.

The boy twitched in his arms and curled up tighter to his core and away from the cool air around them. He sighed to himself as he glanced around the room. The boy didn't seem to like it in here for some reason, and Roy wasn't going to force him to stay there if he didn't want to. It sure was a surprise to find the boy curled up on the floor of his bedroom that morning but now looking back, Edward looked so content in staying there. It was as if it was his personal heaven. If it was a little luxury in the torturing aftermath it was one that Roy wasn't willing to deny the kid. Every an little thing helps, but none could ever repay for what you did to him. Roy quietly stood up, lifting Edward with him and carefully walked out the door, shutting the cold behind him.