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Roy watched carefully as Edward began to wake up slowly, he seemed to be in and out, but soon his golden cat eyes met Roy's onyx stare and he blushed slightly. Alphonse was right there and helped his big brother to sit up, his skin felt a little cold, so he grabbed his clothes and watched him put them back on. Alphonse really did feel like he should have been born first, with the way they acted. It was like he really was the big brother at times, but then again, he could never be as brave as Ed. At least that's how he felt.

Alphonse thought back to the time not all that long ago, when he had doubted his true self. His true body, his true existence. Back when he had met Barry as a suit of armor too. All of those things he'd said, manufactured memories, false hopes, toying with him. A shudder slipped down his back and he sighed. It was all over. Everything they had pursued all of these years, since their mother's tragic death. He often wondered what she would think of them now, a part of the military, having killed people, watched others kill innocent people, all of the times they cried together but never told a soul. He could just see her smiling sympathetically down at them as she shook her head as if to say, 'my foolish little boys.' But there were good things too, like people they had saved, like people they had given hope back too, like the people they had to be there for now, and had sworn to always be there. He could almost feel the breeze in Risembool blowing on him with a warm summer feel. The smell of his mother hanging up laundry, the smiles she gave when they asked about their father, and the fact that he never noticed how fake they were. He wanted to believe she was in Heaven. But he didn't know what to believe anymore. He wanted more to believe that she was always with them, but there was no way of knowing.

He was jerked from his bittersweet thoughts when his brother sighed heavily and glared at the clock, knowing he had fallen asleep like some little child. "What the hell..." he said exasperatedly. "When...how did I fall asleep?" Edward asked in a slightly irritated tone, he sloppily threw his jacket back over his shoulders and was happy to be covered again. He had this crappy feeling that something bad had happened while he was out.

"You were only asleep for a few minutes.." Roy said, even though it wasn't really true, Edward had all in all been asleep for about twenty minutes. But he left that out.

Ed seemed happy that the doctor wasn't around, and he hopped off of the bed but did feel a little dizzy, he nearly fell into Mustang but he caught himself just in time, which he was more than glad about. Noticing his hair was a mess, he re-braided it and stretched his arms high above his head and arched his back. He felt pretty stiff. It was definitely time to get working out again, he could almost feel his muscles going soft. Just then the doctor came back in and smiled a touch seeing that his first patient was awake now and pouting slightly in his direction when he locked eyes. That was okay, it would concern him if the kid didn't act like his normal bratty self. At least towards him.

"Okay, Alphonse, it's your turn." Hophsten said with a kinder smile and held the same clip board as before but the pages on this one had Elric, Alphonse written on them and they hadn't been scribbled on just yet. Al gulped slightly and nodded meekly. He nervously sat up on the bed where his big brother had been. "I...Is it going to hurt?" Al asked, but as soon as he did he gulped down the embarrassment. "I..I mean it's okay, I'm not scared. I'm a lot better with doctors than brother." He corrected and smiled sheepishly, just in time for Edward to belt out, "What's that suppos'd to mean?!"

William continued to smile kindly and shook his head a bit, "Uh, no, actually I need to get your weight and height first."

Alphonse looked surprised and jumped up off the bed and went over to the scales in the hallway with the doctor and after about thirty seconds was back in the room where his brother and Mustang waited. The two had taken seats near the wall where him and Mustang had sat before.

"Okay, now you can sit down. I'll need you to remove your shirt please. Because you don't have a tail you won't need to remove your pants." The doctor stated and waited as Alphonse shed his top garments and piled them near the end of the bed. Soon the process was onward. The doctor checked his eyes, his ears, his nose, his throat, his teeth, he felt his head in a few different areas, he pressed on his back and shoulders, and in a few places along his spine as well. Alphonse hadn't been able to help himself when he laughed and slightly squirmed. It tickled. The doctor felt his legs through his pants, and his ankles, and his feet, which also made Al laugh childishly.

"Well, you seem to be in great condition Al." The doctor said happily. "Now let's listen to your heart. Okay?"

The younger Elric brother nodded and watched as the doctor took his stethoscope over his head and then put the cold medal plate to his bare chest. It was so cold! It made him chill a few times, his pale skin rising in goosebumps all over.

"Deep breath please." Hophsten instructed as he moved the piece around his cool flesh. Al did as he said. "Again."

"Okay." Al said.

"Again." The doctor said once more and moved his stethoscope around and then moved it to his back. "Again please."

Edward started looking concerned as the doctor did too. What was wrong? The whole room was awkwardly silent, as if everyone was holding their breath except for Alphonse. After another two minutes or so Hophsten removed his instrument and hung it around his neck again and made some sort of elaborate notes on the clip board.

"I..Is everything..okay?" Al asked in a shallow voice as he yawned, which most people do when they have to take like twelve deep breathes for a doctor.

Mustang sat forward more and waited for the answer to the question.

"Hey! Come on, tell us whats up..." Edward snapped after the doc took too long to report. Hophsten looked at the group and sighed but then smiled gently.

"I'm not sure, Alphonse sounds as though there may be something out of place. I am going to go have an xray set up for him. It's probably fine, but I need to check it out. So Al, if you would come with me?"

Edward and Roy stood, and began to follow but William just held up his hand. "Unfortunately only Al can be in the xray room. I'll bring him back right after we're finished. Why don't you two go wait back in the lobby?" The doctor said as he lead Alphonse through the door and out of sight. Roy just closed his eyes in thought for a second but then grabbed onto the door handle to leave, "Let's go Fullmetal.." He said. Even though he knew the kid didn't have any 'fullmetal' anymore.

"Mm..." Edward hummed and didn't protest the order. Mustang couldn't not notice the worry in the teen's golden eyes. Without any words spoken, the two alchemists left the main hospital area and left Dr. Hophsten's office as well and headed out to the main lobby for the medical wing of the facility.

Nearly forty minutes later, a door opened and Edward looked up and saw his brother walking out, fully dressed once again. He didn't seem to look down or worried so that brought him up a little. Roy and his charge stood as they watched the two cross the lobby and stop before them. Alphonse didn't say anything, which Ed found to be odd. But he brushed it off.

"So?" Mustang started and looked from Alphonse to the doctor.

Hophsten seemed to fumble around with his words at first, to find the right thing to say, which once again put Ed on egg shells. "Alphonse is okay, right now."

"Right now?" Ed prodded, worry laced through his young voice.

"Yes, well..my, suspicion was right. There does seem to be an abnormality with his heart." Hophsten answered. And in one second, with those words, Edwards entire world fell. His soul shattered at that terrible sentence. An abnormality with his heart? Like what? That demon had promised to give him back to him good as new, so what was wrong? Everything raced through his mind at once, all of the things he feared, all of the things he wished for. Made up visions of Alphonse having a terrible heart condition, him collapsing, him trying to catch his breath, him having a heart attack or heart failure. Why was life like this? Taking things away, giving them back, getting their hopes up, just to rip it all back down again. His stomach sank lower and lower as the seconds passed. Which felt more like years, eons.

Roy noticed that Edward was lost for words so he made words for him.

"What sort of abnormality?"

Hophsten took a breath and looked away for a moment. "Well, we aren't exactly sure. We were hoping maybe you could tell us..." He explained as he handed Roy the folder with Al's xray pictures. Ed glanced at them but the guy was so much taller than him that he would just have to wait his turn to see the images. Alphonse just smiled as if everything was fine, but Ed knew better. He could see the pitch black fear in his baby brothers hazel eyes. As Ed looked around the room and waited to see the pictures, he caught sight of something very familiar. An elderly man with a ratted sort of cloak over him. Instantly his eyes widened as he realized just who that was.

"I'll be right back." Edward said as he dashed away from the group and over to the man. Without any caution or hesitation whatsoever, Ed laid a hand on the old man and spun him around. The man seemed stunned and thrown off balance and began to fall but Edward captured and steadied him on the tile floor. "...well look who it is.." Ed said.

"Wh...Who are you?" The man rasped in a deeply aged voice. He breathed heavily and his hands shook as he grabbed onto Ed's arm for more balance after he was so rudely jerked around.

"Don't play dumb demon. I know who you are. Ruel. I want some answers!" Edward shouted which caught Roy's attention from the other side of the room. "You damn bastard! You messed up my little broth-"

"Excuse me!" A nurse scolded loudly and took hold of the elderly mans arm and removed Ed's hand from his cloak and separated the two. "I am sorry young man but you will not harass our patients!" She lectured and glared. A male nurse tended to the old man while the female nurse practically dragged Edward to the exit.

"Wha!? No you got it all wrong! He's-" Ed began to protest, this girl was strong! But right before she forced him out of the medical area Roy rushed over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Please forgive him, he's gone through some medical treatment today and isn't in his right mind. I will deal with him, thank you for keeping him out of trouble." Mustang said on Ed's behalf and the woman seemed to simply snort and stormed off after releasing the young boy with cat ears. As soon as she was out of sight and the eyes of the room refocused on their previous tasks, Mustang smacked Ed upside the head.

"What do you think you're doing!? Did you just really physically assault an 89 year old man?" Roy said with fury in his voice. Edward growled and yanked his arm away.

"That old man is the demon who did all of this!" The boy retaliated just as harshly. With this Mustang threw a hand to his face as if to wipe away some of the stress. He then sighed heavily and dropped his arms.

"Listen Edward. There was no demon. An alchemist maybe, perhaps a homunculus. But not a demon. They aren't real." Roy said as he took the kitten by the arm and led him to a bench along the wall and forced him to sit down. "Stay here." He commanded, but as soon as he turned his back Ed stood up and stormed after him, but the Colonel spun back around and replaced the boy back in the seat with teal cushions. "No, Stay. That's an order." He said more firmly, Edward glared daggers but closed his eyes and sighed.

"Yes sir." The teen responded and couldn't get the image of the old man out of his head."I know that was him. There's no mistake about it." The Elric boy struggled with his thoughts as he sat there. What was happening? Were they going to be okay? And dammit why did his tail keep twitching? Guess cats really do show agitation by twitching their tails about and keeping their ears flat. He watched as the doctor put the photo's up on a light board and flipped the switch to better see whatever obstruction was harming Alphonse's heart.

"Psst.." A voice came from somewhere unseen. Edward blinked a few times figuring he was hearing things, but then it happened again. "Psst...alchemist..come here." The voice said, and Ed looked around and stood, after a moment or so he caught sight of a man dressed in medical attire just outside the doors of the lobby. And unfortunately, cats can't control their curiousness, so Ed got up and snuck over to the man who was addressing him.

"Who are you?" Ed whispered as he and the man before him stood outside the medical hall entrance. The man was young, he had perfect blonde, wavy hair that framed his face, his skin was tan, his eyes were the bluest he'd ever seen in a person. Wait. The young man just smiled deviously and his eyes flashed a red gloss across them and then returned to the ocean blue they were before.

"Hmhm, that was a pretty risky move little boy. Perhaps you should be more careful when searching for demons?" The man said, and Ed went wide eyed and grabbed the man by the front of his green uniform and slammed him against the wall. A fierce fire in his eyes, the man simply chuckled.

"What are you playing at." Ed interrogated ferociously. "You are Ruel."

"Yes, yes, but I would be careful." Ruel said as he glance to the side at a group of low class militants that were walking down the hall. Ed released him and stood back and the group kept moving. "You really do have a temper don't you." Ruel said adjusting his clothes once more.

"Out with it."

"Hmhm...there is something I forgot to tell you about that contract of ours, the one you couldn't read. That you signed." The demon explained as Ed began to get a little nervous of how long this was taking. He didn't want Mustang to come yelling at him. But once he heard that, he clenched his fists so tight his knuckles turned a yellow-white.

"You lying bastard!" Edward growled but was hushed by Ruel when he raised a silencing finger.

"We do not lie. And I didn't, I just didn't tell you everything. Sorry child but that's how the game works."

"This isn't a game!" Ed was furious by now and continued to forget about his volumes. "Why do you look different?! Ugh, If anything happens to Al because of you I will GO to hell and drag your sorry a-"

"Quiet boy." Ruel suddenly said, a much darker aura emanating from him, it crushed Ed, and nearly made him sick. "You should be careful of how you speak to a demon. I can appear as anything I want. And I could kill any one of those people in there. Including your precious brother. So you be a good little kitty and listen up.."

Edward was struck with fear for the second time today, real fear. All he could do was gulp and breath heavily as the dark energy faded and he was able to move again. It didn't quite kill the nausea though. He looked up at the demon with hesitant but curious eyes.

"Good boy, now then. When a soul contract is made, and something like this happens, you should know this is a very powerful contract, and not just any little boy gets one. So consider yourself lucky. After twenty four hours, the residue of the reconstructed soul is accumulated within the heart. It continues to solidify over an amount of hours."

"W..What are you talking about. Soul residue?"

"It's basically a very highly concentrated soul. That is how the spell is done. That is why your brothers soul could reconnect with his lost body, which you should also know was not easy to find. And you, you also have this but it is not as much as your little brothers." He continued. "After a while the small mass will become a solid, and you should know what it becomes..."

Edward thought hard for several minutes, but noticed Roy striding towards the door through the small window and his stomach sank.

"J..Just tell me!" Ed panicked but Ruel was gone.

"Think about it..." A voice echoed and then faded out.

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