A/N: Sorry for the delay, I was busy watching anime review videos and stuff… And AMV's… And lot of anime… (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni/When They Cry) Yeah. Anyways, here you go, the next chapter. I need some ideas cuz I just ran out of plot bunnies…that's the first time this is happening. I'm still writing but it looks like I'm going to end it soon. Oh well, this is only a side-story so who cares!

FlyingInMySleep: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

deteconan: You are correct!

This chapter is dedicated to elysenjazz, because I just remembered one of her requests on one of my stories a loooong time ago…

ENJOY!

CHAPTER 10

"Alphonse?"

"Yes?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow…on a lead and a mission for the Colonel…"

"But it's too early! You're not completely healed yet!"

"Al…you're not coming with me."

His little brother's soul-lit eyes seemed to shine brighter than before. "What?!" he exploded. "I am definitely coming with you, brother!"

Ed avoided his eyes. "The lead is in Drachma. So we shouldn't get noticed."

Alphonse would be frowning if he could. "But-"

"No buts, Al. What if they find out who we are? Come on, I'll be back in less than a week!"

Alphonse wasn't still completely convinced. "What about the Colonel? Do you still…?"

Edward looked away. "Just a bit. Though he's coming with me so I guess I'll… Well, considering how I told him how I feel about him, I think it's only fair."

Alphonse nodded. "Fine. But this is the only time, brother. I'll go to Resembool. Call me when you get back."

Ed smiled. "Of course. Thank you."

The next day, in the train:

Ed yawned, rubbing his eyes. He entered the wagon after Mustang, waving at his brother. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to me! I promise!" Ed yelled.

"Yeah, of course." Al said sarcastically. "Just come back alive."

Roy sat in the seat facing Ed and crossed his legs. The train began going slowly, picking up speed.

"No one here for you to say goodbye?" Ed asked, raising his eyebrows.

Roy avoided his eyes. "Well, Lieutenant Hawkeye was actually going to be here but I told her it would be okay…"

"You let that opportunity slip?" Ed asked, tsk-tsking. "I wouldn't have expected it from a womanizer like you…."

Roy blushed. "What did you say?! I'm not a womanizer!"

Ed grinned, slightly amused. "Embarassed?"

"No! Anyways, after we reach the border, we're going to go in illegally-"

"What?!"

"-I've made fake passports for us to get in, if they found out who we are, they might use us as hostages to start a war." He said, taking a few document out of his black leather suitcase. He passed them down to Ed, who quickly flipped through the pages.

He scowled. "I'm Tyler Red, and you're Larry Jackers? You could have at least tried to be creative. Seriously, Colonel. Red?"

Mustang arched his eyebrows. "You wear red all the time. That cloak of yours… Now too!"

"I haven't been wearing red for like three weeks or so. You know, since I was at the hospital…"

"You've been wearing it for the last two years, short stuff."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT EVEN THE ANTS WOULD MISTAKE IT AS SOME OTHER SMALLER BUG?!"

Roy sighed, happy that the previous subject had been dropped. Yes, of course, Ed's split-personality had been totally cured, thanks to Hughes who'd found out what had really happened, but still… Edward was still not acting the same with him. But he would change that.

He was going to regain Ed's trust.

(See, now, this up there ^ was actually going to be the ending of the previous chapter. But I didn't have time. Anyways...)

The train stopped and the two got off, carrying their suitcases. Ed began rubbing his shoulder and massaging his neck. "Argh, my neck is sore… I hate these seats." He mumbled. "So, where do we go?"

Roy looked around suspiciously, making sure no one was listening. "We're going to take a car to cross the border. Also," he took out a hat from his suitcase. "Wear this. You might be known around here too."

Ed took the hat, turning it around to take a good look. "It's yours, isn't it? It's ugly."

"Shut up and move." Mustang retorted, walking towards the empty car a few meters away.

"Wow wow wow." Ed said. "We're going to steal it? We're from the military!"

Roy didn't respond till he pushed Ed in the car and began driving. "This place is almost deserted, no one will come to claim it. And lower your voice."

Ed nodded, staring out the window. "How long till we get there?"

"An hour or so. It's cold in Drachma, by the way."

Ed scowled. "You should have told me that yesterday." He said, opening his suitcase. He clapped his hands and began transmuting some of his shirts into wool.

"What language do they speak?"

"Two languages. Drachman language and Amestrian. But their Amestrian has an accent. (A/N: Amestrian with accent = French accent.) So be careful. Don't let it show."

Ed sighed, leaning back in the seat and closing his eyes.

Let's see if this lead will be some help…

Ed was awoken when he was thrown towards the passenger seat as the car stopped. "What's up?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at the driver seat which was empty. "Colonel?" he whispered.

"Yez, ve kome from Amestris, ve hav brought goods for Drachma."

"Very vell, you may pass."

Edward glanced out the window and sat that Roy was speaking with the guard at the entrance. He was holding the passports in his hand and explaining some stuff.

Ed quickly put on the hat that Mustang had given to him and lowered his head. Maybe the Drachmans wouldn't recognize the Colonel but Ed was pretty well-known. How many people were able to perform alchemy without a transmutation circle?

After a while, Roy returned to the car, entered, and didn't speak for the next few kilometers.

"You shouldn't address me as Colonel or Mustang anymore.

Ed grinned. "Okay…Roy."

Roy frowned. "That isn't what I meant. From now on I'm Larry Jackers and you're Tyler Red. And try to speak with a different accent. Don't take off that hat either."

"I got it…"

They got off the car and entered an inn. For some reason, it was Roy who took both their luggage, leaving Ed empty-handed.

What is he trying to do?

Either way, Ed didn't respond or thank him.

Mustang rang the little bell in front of the counter and an old man came running. First the man began speaking in Drachman, but after noticing the confused looks of the two, he switched to Amestrian.

"Welkome to Willard's Place. Your namez?" he asked in a gruff voice.

Roy Mustang dropped the luggage on the floor. "I'm-"

"I'm Tyler Red and he's Larry Jerkface."

"What?" the man asked, not quite catching it.

"What?!" Mustang asked ridiculously.

"Jackers." Ed continued, keeping up a straight poker face. "Larry Jackers."

Then Roy butted in. "He's my nephew." He said.

Ed threw him a dirty look and grabbed his luggage from the floor.

"A room for two?" he asked.

"Yez."

The old man wrote down their names and the date. "Room twenty-for, second door on the left." He concluded. "By the way, your nephew haz nice eyez. Doezn't look very much like you."

Mustang nodded, while Ed walked to the door without making eye contact and entered.

He went straight to the bathroom and took a shower, ignoring Mustang.

When he came out, he was already fully dressed and his golden blond hair was down.

Roy had taken off his suit and combed his hair backwards, wearing a normal shirt and pants.

"Wear black gloves or something. And something other than that red coat."

"Fine." Ed responded, taking his long red coat and transmuting it to black instead. He did the same for his gloves and wore them on. "There."

"And now you look like you're going to a funeral." Roy concluded.

Ed scorned. "Yeah, whatever."

There was a knock on the door. Ed rapidly put on his hat without bothering to braid his hair.

The door opened and a middle-aged man with glasses and short black hair entered.

"Room service?" The man asked twice, once in Drachman, then in Amestrian.

"No, thanks." Roy responded.

The man threw a glance at Ed who was sitting on one of the beds. "Amestrian..?" he asked, looking at the blond hair.

Ed raised his head, revealing his golden colored eyes. "No, my hair iz only died, I'm on vacation vith my uncle." He answered, keeping his cool.

The man stared suspiciously for a moment before nodding. "You can call anytime you vant." He said and left.

"Don't Drachmans have any light hair colors?" Ed mumbled, taking out a book from his suitcase.

"Drachma is in the North-"

"I know that."

"-which means they don't get very much sunlight. Their hair colors are usually very dark. Black and brown is the most common around here." He ran a hand through his own black hair. "Like mine."

"And people don't dye it?"

Mustang shook his head. "It's not that common like in Amestris."

Ed took out a notebook and a pen out of suitcase. "I'm going to the library." He mumbled.

"No."

Edward turned back around and scorned.

"Why?"

"Because we don't know if there is one around here. You might get lost."

Ed nodded sarcastically. "Yeah, sure."

Mustang sighed. "I'll go ask someone. You stay in the inn. And don't take off that round hat."

Edward didn't respond, and Roy went out the room without saying another word.

Oh well, what am I supposed to do now?

He hadn't tied or braided his hair ever since he came out of the shower. And he didn't want to. Maybe he should get a different look. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was around 6 pm. He was beginning to get hungry. There was surely a restaurant at the front lobby. Should he go there? It wasn't like he was going out of the inn.

He decided to wait a few more minutes. The Colonel would be back soon.

Wrong.

He didn't come back for the next ten minutes.

Eventually, Ed gave up on waiting for him and scribbled a note on a piece of paper. Then he left the room and rang the little bell on the front desk.

The old man he met before came running. "Oh, Mr. Red, Hello, iz there something you need?" he asked with a heavy accent.

"Iz there a restorant around 'ere?" Ed said, the best he could.

The old man shook his head, peering into his eyes. "Yez yes, vait a second. I'll go get a man for you, young man."

Ed nodded and began waiting. He looked around as he did so. Why weren't anyone in the lobby? Why was it so quiet and deserted? And why wasn't Mustang back-

An arm wrapped around his neck and a rag was put over his nose and mouth. Ed held his breath and elbowed the man holding him in the gut. He heard the man wheeze behind him, but he didn't let go.

Edward couldn't hold his breath any longer. His vision grew dark as he inhaled the chloroform on the rag and someone caught him before he hit the floor.

He vaguely remembered his round black hat falling off of him and seeing the face of a familiar man with glasses that he encountered earlier that day before his eyes closed.

A/N: Hehee…yes, I'm leaving it there. See now, this chapter was actually going to be like 5 thousand words, but I cut it short. Because I've prepared an ending for this story, and I can't probably write 3 thousand words anymore so I'll just cut it short on wherever I want it to be, like on this chapter. I'm guessing there is only 2 chapters left...I think.

SO I HOPE YOU LIKED IT, EVEN THOUGH THE FRENCH ACCENT AND HAIR DYING THING ON DRACHMANS THING WAS KINDA STUPID. XD

PLEASE REVIEW AND THANKS FOR READING! ;D