Yay! I updated! And sooner than I had expected, too! Why? Because I was reading tons of other fanfiction.

Oh, and a shoutout to ravenclawfma, jadeblackheart4, shiemichan, The Mirror Above the Sink, and everyone else who reviewed! And thank you TailsGothicAngel, whose review was awesome!

Sorry, but the purple-haired lady isn't in this chapter. She will hopefully be included in the next chapter, but I have no idea what I'm doing, so it's as much a matter of doubt to me as it may be to you.

Anyways, here it is!

Disclaimer: Blahdeeblah, long story short, I don't own either of these stories.

Chapter 10

(Ed POV)

Ed couldn't sleep. He hadn't slept in days, and couldn't go much longer without it. This was not the problem, however. The problem was why he couldn't sleep.

It wasn't anxiety, it wasn't an excess of energy, and it wasn't that he was thinking much. He didn't care about anything at the moment, and was so mind- and body-weary that he couldn't think and could barely move.

The reason that Ed, Hero of the People, Fullmetal Alchemist, couldn't sleep was the dark, grisly desire to kill, maim and torture that was filling his thoughts, as hard as he tried to stop it. Born in the dark, the thing in his head was taking over.

The blonde alchemist lay in the soft, thick darkness, eyes closed. His books were all pushed to the foot of the bed and his bed was warm and incomparably comfortable, especially with Verum curled up on his chest. He hadn't left his bed except to exercise, not since the first evening he'd realized that the thing was taking over.

He may have been going insane, but he wasn't going to get flabby. The correlation between a strong body and a strong mind had been well driven into him by his (cough cough sadistic) teacher, Izumi. Ed had noticed a calmer, brighter change in his thoughts when he exercised.

[Die die die die damn them all]

Ed groaned slightly. His constantly aching head stepped up quite a few notches on the pain scale. It certainly did not help that he desperately needed sleep. Inside of his head, a sharp pain tugged at his cranium and it felt like a shark had got it's mouth around his brain and was now gnawing with rows of serrated teeth.

It was the kind of exhaustion that his bones and muscles screamed at him, and his eyes were burning holes in his head.

If only Ed could sleep…

[Ed...why do you push yourself so far...you know that your home is full of people who hate you for all the people you killed…]

Ed gently relocated Verum, sat up, swung his legs over the edge of his bed, and slowly shuffled into the bathroom as he had done frequently in his many sleepless nights. He splashed water over his face in a useless attempt to clear his clotted head. He looked up absently, and caught sight of himself in the mirror.

His black clothing was wrinkled beyond belief, his hair was tied up messily, and there were shadowy circles under his dull eyes.

"Shit...what the hell am I doing, Al?"

[Stop asking your brother for help, Ed, he's dead and he's not coming back]

"Dammit! Get out of my head!" Ed roared, slamming his fist into the mirror. The cracking and splintering didn't stop at the edge of the mirror. The whole room broke away and Ed was suddenly in a recreation of the room. It looked like it if you saw it straight on, but out of the corner of his eye, Ed saw the tiles and sinks twist and flicker.

"What the…" Ed jumped back as, with a clattering, deathly sound, the seemingly normal mirrors began multiplying and covering all available surfaces.

"What the hell is this?" He growled, punching through a mirror that shattered and fell away to reveal another mirror.

He watched in horror as his reflection began to bleed profusely from its eyes, nose, and mouth. The blood splattered against the mirror and Ed, possessed with a morbid curiosity, reached out to touch the red liquid.

Instead of his fingers coming away dark and sticky, he was pulled into the mirror, into a room identical to the one he had just been in, except for the grinning double of himself, whose blood was still gushing thickly onto the floor, was standing there in person.

"[Hello, Ed!]"

Ed couldn't move. He was paralyzed with horror. His double grinned impossibly wider.

"[Welcome to hell! I've grown quite powerful!]"

Their face split open and they turned inside out, morphing into a large white dog with a horse-like mane of long, dark hair.

Ed's eyes widened, pupils going small.

"N- nina? Nina!" The chimera turned intelligent eyes towards him. "Ed...ward...play? Ed...ward?"

The blonde began to cry as the dog burst apart in a colorful spray of blood.

"Shit...Nina...I'm so...sorry...it's all...all my fault…."

The blood drew back together and twisted itself into the form of the thing that had been the product of Ed's early human transmutation.

"So...son? Edward? Why...why did YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" The thing screeched, reaching it's too-thin arms towards him.

"Stop it!" Ed cried, "Dammit! Dammit, stop!"

"[Why Ed? Why? Why stop when you are so close to breaking?]"

(Harry POV)

He woke up when he heard a crash. The noise came from the bathroom, and had woken up his dorm-mates. Harry rushed into the bathroom, the other boys close behind. Ed was lying on the floor, his left hand bloody and torn, a broken mirror shattered around the blonde, reflecting the lights like so many stars.

"Bloody hell!" A bleary-eyed Ron exclaimed, yawning.

Neville whimpered.

They all stood there, frozen by the sight of the blonde, who began to cry and scream, "Stop it! Dammit! Dammit, stop!"

Then his face contorted horribly and he was grinning, this dreadful, twisted grin, and laughing. "Why Ed? Why? Why stop when you are so close to breaking?"

Ed's once copper-like voice was broken and changed pitch and tone several times as he spoke.

He coughed up blood, and his nose began to bleed heavily. Harry was transfixed, terrified.

Seamus shouted, "Someone get Professor McGonagall!"

Snapped out of his trance, Harry ran out of the bathroom, out of the dorm, out of the common room, and down the corridors to Professor McGonagall's office.

"What is it, Harry?" The professor looked up, and her eyes widened imperceptibly at Harry's dishevelment.

"It's Ed, Professor, he's collapsed in the bathroom and he's screaming and bleeding!" McGonagall dropped her papers and hurried out of the office.

"Harry, I need you to go fetch Poppy - Madam Pomfrey. Be quick about it!"

Harry nodded and dashed away, towards the infirmary.

(McGonagall POV)

She arrived at the Gryffindor tower to find all of the Gryffindors crowded into the common room and a distant screaming.

Pushing her way through the panicked students, she made it to the bathroom and was shocked.

McGonagall had expected blood, yes, but….

The walls were painted a violent, uneven crimson, and the row of mirrors above the blood-smeared sinks were shattered and stained scarlet.

In the midst of the gory scene was Edward Elric.

He was crouched, sobbing, in the corner. McGonagall approached him cautiously, flinching when he let out a blood-curdling scream. The blonde Gryffindor keeled over, clutching his head so hard that his hair was sticky with the gruesome color that was splashed over the entire nightmarish bathroom.

A sinister, chilling laughter echoed hollowly off the walls. "Killkillkillkillkill I need to… kill… rip, tear, I am a dullahan I bring death I need no head this is bothersome…"

He began clawing at his neck, drawing blood.

McGonagall pushed through her horror and ran forward, pulling Edward's hands away from his neck. "Quiesco!" She waved her wand at the boy. Nothing happened.

He simply stared at her, golden eyes windows to his soul as conflicting emotions flitted through them.

"Stop….it…." He begged of someone McGonagall could not see. "Please...sto-"

"What were you trying to do, bitch? No one no one can stop me I am the - well, I am the darkness that stands behind you on a frightful night and the blinding hatred that crushes your insides and the smell of blood hot and heavy and the murderer and weapon and victim. I am all! I cannot be stopped-!"

In a blossom of crimson, he fell unconscious.

McGonagall tentatively flipped the blonde over. He was far heavier than someone of his size should be.

There were shadowy circles under his eyes and blood streaked his face like war paint. Taking a breath, McGonagall looked around and wondered where the blood had come from. Not only that, but she was shaken by the sudden turn in the Gryffindor who'd once gotten top marks in class. He hadn't been to classes for a while, and McGonagall was baffled as to why none of the teachers had not felt the urge to reprimand him. That God-awful Umbridge was too scared of the intelligent boy to do so, but the others...

Storing it away for further ponderance, as well as why the magic hadn't worked, she decided she had to clean up the place.

The wide-eyed woman assessed the scene nauseously. Suppressing the urge to vomit, she spoke in a trembling voice. "T - terego!"

The blood vanished off the walls. Muttering a few more spells, the professor clenched her clammy hands together and looked around the bathroom - once, twice, thrice, again for good measure - to make herself certain that the walls were not bleeding.

A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey arrived. Pale-faced, she listened to McGonagall's short, but unnerving, explanation.

The last thing many of the Gryffindor, who were crowded into the common room, enraptured by the fifth-year boys' vivid descriptions of Ed's episode, saw of said blonde was when he was hurried by on a levitating stretcher, followed by a concerned-looking Madam Pomfrey and a pallid Professor McGonagall.

By the next morning, the faded, washed-out rumors of Ed's impact on the toadish Professor (now High Inquisitor) Umbridge would be replaced by over-the-top stories of his lapse into insanity.

(Hermione POV)

"Fine! Fine! You can see him!" Madam Pomfrey gave in at last. Hermione, Harry and Ron rushed past her into the infirmary, where Ed was sitting by a window. His eyes were turned to the grounds, but it was obvious that he wasn't seeing anything.

Hermione rushed forward, a giant, uneasy smile plastered across her face. "Ed!"

Starting slightly, he turned towards her. He returned her smile with a strained grin. "Hermione." Catching sight of the two boys peering at him from behind the brunette, his smile became even more forced. "Harry….! Ron….!"

"We brought you breakfast!" Harry grinned obliviously.

Ed's expression became warmer. "You're lucky you brought food. Give here."

He reached for the food and wolfed it down. With a satisfied sigh, he relaxed visibly and gave them a hazy smile. "I was really hungry, thanks."

"Never mind! We'd like to ask you some questions, though!" Hermione replied.

"What? Oh, sure…"

Hermione shared a look with Ron and Harry. The food had been laced generously with Veritaserum and a calming potion that they'd found instructions to in some random potions book. It appeared to be working successfully.

"Why….why do you have a metal arm?"

"I lost my real one."

"How?"

His expression darkened.

"An - an accident. I fucked up."

"What accident?" Hermione leaned in, brows furrowed with concerned curiosity.

"Human Transmutation…"

Puzzled, Hermione backtracked.

"Where did you get that arm? I've never seen anything like it."

"Winry made it for me." The golden-haired teen said with a sad smile.

"Who is Winry?" The bushy-haired bookworm asked, having noted his expression.

"Childhood friend and mechanic. She's a gearhead…" His expression grew wistful. "I miss her."

Evidently the addition had helped loosen Ed's tongue considerably. Hermione had heard that when under Veritaserum, those being questioned only gave the answer to the specific question.

"Why can't you go see her?"

"I can't find my way back. So close….so close."

"So close to what? Why can't you find your way back?" Hermione was deeply curious.

"I'm not from this world. I'm so close to finishing the alchemic array that will take me home." Ed said, a triumphant light in his otherwise potion-dulled eyes.

"Alchemy? Wait - another world? How?" Ron and Harry shared a look with Hermione, confusion displayed on their faces.

"Alchemy is a science. Understand, deconstruct, reconstruct, basically. The other world is possible because Truth - well, God - sent me here in...exchange." Ed explained tiredly, yawning.

"Exchange for what?" She asked, unsure of whether or not she wanted to hear the answer.

"My brother's...body."

The trio gasped.

"Y- You brought him back to life?" Harry stuttered, aghast.

"No, his soul was still here. I just got his body back...I hope." Ed adopted a troubled expression.

"You mean, you don't know? If he's back?" Hermione asked keenly.

"No…"

"Oh. Umm….what is Human Transmutation?" At a loss as to what say next, it was time for a change of topics.

"Alchemy….a taboo...for performing alchemy on a person." Ed said sleepily.

"What did you do?"

"We….tried to bring her back to life. Mom…"

Ed began to cry. Hermione looked back at Harry and Ron. Looking uncomfortable, Harry glanced at his watch and his countenance darkened.

"Is it time already?"

Harry nodded, biting his lip. Hermione sighed and shot a glance back at the shaking Ed. "That should be enough...I feel so bad about all this…"

"Yeah, well, let's go." Ron pulled them out of the room.

Hermione cast one last sad look back at the blonde who had silent tears streaming down his face.

"So many questions answered, but…" Hermione spoke dazedly, "I can't get my head around it at all!"

"No kidding," Ron replied, wide-eyed, "he's from a whole other bloody world! And...he tried to bring his mum back from the dead…he's a nutter!"

"Wouldn't you do the same if you thought there was a way?" Harry said quietly.

"Oh! Right, mate. Sorry about that."

"Well, we've got enough to ask him about that he will probably have no choice but to answer our questions should we ask." Hermione reasoned.

"When should we do that?"

"He'll be out until tonight," Harry said slowly, "so maybe tomorrow."

"That sounds bloody good." Ron said, and the trio walked on, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

(Ed POV)

He woke up with dried tears on his cheeks and the tang of salt on his lips. Rubbing his face vigorously, he tried to remember why he had been crying. He last remembered the Golden Trio bringing him food-

Did they drug him? Why?

He had something worse than the Golden Trio to worry about, though.

[Yes yes isn't that right?]

"Yep," smiled Ed wearily, "that voice in my head." His voice was so soft it wasn't audible over the wind that had begun to pick up in the darkness outside.

[It's gonna storm tonight...a perfect night….]

It was like his brain was being crushed instantaneously but at the same time it was as though it was slowly being ground away for millennia; a sharp-and-dull pain.

Letting out a low whistle that gave way into a groan, Ed put his hands to his forehead. He needed something, anything to distract himself.

[Oh come on Ed! Do my entrancing depictions of massacre not please your fancy?]

'It is simply the reverse of the reflection.'

[Fine fine you go ahead and do that...I have work to do...]

Truth, it hurt. "Bastard," growled Ed before the pain lessened considerably and he could turn his focus onto the puzzling hint the painting had dropped.

What the hell did that woman...angel...mean? Ed wished he had Al with him. Having Al with him would have made finding an answer so much easier. The last time he'd faced a riddle like this...he'd…

Damn! How could he have missed that?

Looking around furtively, Ed scanned the moonlit room for any sign of another person. It was irrational; it was obvious that no one was there without checking extensively.

Slipping out of the infirmary, Ed made his way to the kitchens (he'd discovered them his first week of studentship at Hogwarts), he grabbed some food from the ever-eager house elves. Unbelievably stealthy for someone with two metal limbs, he stole out of the entrance hall and into the soft dark of the night.

Standing in front of the Forbidden Forest, golden eyes glowing softly, he smiled at the memory of Al's and his month alone on an island to prove their determination to learn alchemy to Izumi Curtis.

Smirking slightly, he stepped into the cimmerian depths of the thick trees.

His reasoning behind this venture was simple. He was simply mirroring the situation that had helped him find the answer to the 'all is one, one is all' test, except in a far more dangerous place. He was sure he could handle it. It was also to help contain the growing storm clouds that were clawing at his insides. Kind of like a 'journey of self-discovery', Ed mused with his trademark smirk.

He had gotten a few hundred meters into the tangle of overgrown vegetation when he heard a low growl. Tired, but grinning eagerly, he turned to face his new opponent.

[Rend tear rip let me savage their flesh give me a little leeway here!]

Aaaaaand you made it to the end of another chapter! Please review!

If anyone is OOC, please tell me if you think so, and in what way, so I can edit the story and get the characters better.

That's all for now, au revoir!