Chapter 10: Reunion

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter is late. It's far later than I had intended it to be. Work is hectic and then I got sick. But I'm back at it! Another chapter will be up this coming weekend. Hopefully sooner if I can manage it. Love you all and please enjoy!~~~

Riza gently stroked the back of Colonel Mustang as he vomited into a pail at his hospital bedside. The poison he was pumped with made him feel like he was dying, or at least wishing he was dead. Once he was finished retching, he lay back on his pillow. Riza took a cool wash cloth and dabbed his sweaty forehead with it, occasionally patting it on his cheeks as well. Riza hadn't left his side. Not even for a second.

What the hell were those damn doctors doing!?

Why didn't her superior have an antidote yet? Why was he still suffering like this? Pain was wracking his body with very second, and he was in constant strain. In that moment, she didn't believe Edward when he claimed that the venom wasn't lethal. The Colonel had never seemed this close to death before. Not even in Ishval. It shook her to her core. And why should she believe Fullmetal anyway? She couldn't trust him when he was pumped full of a Philosopher's Stone like this. Just what more was capable of now?

Riza knelt closer to Roy and put her hands on his arm and shoulder. "Just hang on, sir." She said, fighting to try and sound confident. "They'll be here with the antidote any minute. You just have to hold out a little longer, okay?"

She then felt Roy take her hand and squeeze it tight.

"Hawkeye..." He said weakly, struggling to look her in the eyes. His vision was swimming in blurs. "Listen to me."

Riza nodded quickly. "Anything, sir. What do you need?" He heart was breaking into a million pieces.

Mustang had to pause and take a few deep breaths before he spoke again. Just saying a few words made him as winded as if he had just ran a mile. But Riza was always patient when it came to the Colonel, so she just waited for him to catch his breath and finish his thought.

"I want you to...find Fullmetal...and bring him home...for me." He said slowly and breathlessly.

Riza fell silent for a few beats. She looked away from the Colonel's gaze. She had no idea what to say or do right now. To be honest, she didn't even know if Fullmetal could be saved. The kid was clearly failing every time he fought this other side of himself, and it just seemed to be happening more and more frequently now. Had Greed really have been telling the truth when he said that Edward would be this way forever?

Riza, however, was never one to give up before she even tried. Somehow, she was going to find a way to bring Edward back and get him back to normal, and help the Colonel get healthy again.

Riza looked back to Roy and nodded. "I won't stop until I get him back...I promise." She said, warranting a small, frail smile from Roy.

"And neither will I." A hollow voice echoed from the doorway.

Riza and Roy turned their gaze to the door and there stood Alphonse.

Roy nodded very slightly. "I know." He said, "I believe in you both."

Riza pushed the Colonel's sweat matted hair off of his brow once more and stood up. Before she went to do what Roy needed, she felt herself hesitate for a moment.

"But sir..." She said with uncertainty in her voice. "I can't just leave you here alone when you're ill like this."

Roy winced and swallowed hard, just the small act of speaking taking a great deal of effort on his part. "Lieutenant...there's nothing you can do for me...not until...they find the antidote." As his worded ceased he felt a hard surge of pain throughout his body again. Arching his back, his head hit the pillow hard and he screamed. Given that he tried to hold the scream back, it still was loud enough to concern his team.

"Colonel!" Both Riza and Alphonse yelled in unison at the sudden cry.

Roy was fighting against the pain as best he could, but he felt himself losing. He composed himself long enough to get out his next sentence. "Please...just go." He pleaded. "Go and...bring Fullmetal home safe."

Riza and Alphonse looked at one another with saddened eyes and nodded.

If this was what the Colonel wanted—then so be it.

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"How'd it go?" Greed asked Edward as he sauntered back into their underground lair. The kid definitely seemed to have a spring in his step.

Edward just let out a twisted looking grin. "It went flawlessly of course, what else did you expect? The old man went down like a sack of hammers." he chortled. "It was pretty damn funny." He continued, sitting on top of one of the tables in the room. It was odd, but the kid seemed to be forcing his glee a little too hard.

Truth be told, Edward was still reeling from his talk with the suit of armor on the rooftops a little while prior. The kid had really gotten into his head, even more than Edward realized he had. Thinking of all this made his head hurt again. Too much was happening too fast, he couldn't decipher who he could and couldn't trust anymore. The pain made him wince so he turned away from Greed to steady himself.

"Did he now?" Greed asked, sounding suspicious. "What about you, kid? Are you alright?" He asked, walking closer to Ed, examining him closely.

Edward let out an angry grunt and turned back to Greed. "I'm fine!" He said firmly.

Greed have a condescending smile. "Really? Because I don't think ya are." He stated. "You're looking a little green around the gills, kid. What, did your little talk with the Tin Man on the roof shake things up for you a little bit?"

Edward felt his chest tighten and his eyes grow wide. "What? How do you-" He began but Greed cut him off.

"Oh, come on now, Edward. You didn't think we would be watching you like a hawk?" He said with a shameful voice. "I thought you were a lot smarter than that." He said, tapping the side of his head.

Edward scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I don't exactly see what the problem is here, Greed. I shot the damn Colonel like you told me to."

Greed nodded slowly. "Yes, but you didn't use the fatal stuff. All you did was just make him suffer until someone swoops in and saves him." Greed crossed his arms. "There's still some of the old you left inside, isn't there?" It wasn't really a question. He stated it as more of a fact.

Edward shook his head rapidly in panic from side to side. "No! I hate that fucking Colonel! I want him dead! I want him to die screaming!" He yelled.

Greed gave Edward a scary look, square in the eyes. "Just who are you trying to convince here, Fullmetal? You or me?" He asked.

Edward couldn't contain his rage anymore. He hopped off of the table and transmuted his automail back into a blade. He darted toward the Homonculus and swiped over and over again trying to stab this creature. He wasn't messing around anymore, he went straight for the heart. However, Greed still had his ability to harden his skin like stone, rendering Ed's automail utterly useless.

Greed still stood tall. He didn't even flinch at the kid's strikes. "Enough already, kid. You're just embarrassing yourself."

Edward's head was pounding at this point and his blows were becoming slower and more sloppy. He clenched at his head with his flesh hand, and continued to stab with his right.

Greed let out a long yawn. "Well, this is getting stale." He griped in a bored voice. He twirled his hand around once and this was enough to get Fullmetal pinned to the ground, unable to move once again. "You seem to keep forgetting, I'm not the target, Fullmetal." He said with more anger in his voice now. Pulling chalk from his coat, he started to draw a circle around the boy for the third time.

"Please don't!" Edward cried out in sheer terror. He'd give anything to not have to experience that pain anymore.

Greed was silent as he drew, just letting Fullmetal's pleas fill the open air.

Greed let out an emotionless sigh. "Sorry, little one. But the boss needs his results and you're starting to become a liability."

Edward just tightly closed his eyes and braced himself for the torture he was going to yet again feel. Why was he here? Why was he enduring all of this? Alphonse had saved his life when he started to fall off of that building, not to mention he felt that the kid really cared about him. Edward was finally starting to wake up—really wake up.

Edward loved Alphonse, he loved Hawkeye and Havoc, he even loved that bastard Colonel. He never wanted any of them hurt or dead! In fact, he'd give his life a million times over to save theirs! He had to break out of here! He had to get back to Central! Everyone was waiting for him! He wouldn't fail them again!

But try as he may, he just couldn't get his body unpinned from Greed's alchemy. He fought the urge to throw up when he felt Greed place yet another stone on his chest.

Greed stood from placing the stone on Edward. "Only one more after this one, so let's make sure this one takes, yeah?"

Edward whimpered and closed his eyes. Then he heard the clap, the electricity, and the pain started again. He felt as if he were on fire as the red bolts of power danced around his small body. This time was definitely the worst one of all. He felt the goodness in him melting away, replaced with nothing but anger and malice, this time only increased ten-fold.

Edward's screamed sounded throughout the dark cave, echoing over and over again. It was taking so much longer this time too. Giving him nowhere near as much of a chance to fight it off as he did before. At that exact moment, he wanted his father. He wanted his father to make the pain stop, to take him in his arms and assure him that everything would be okay. That he was safe. He saw all of this so clearly in his mind, and much to even his surprise, the father in these flashes wasn't Hohenheim...it was Roy Mustang.

He wanted Roy to be the one to save him, to be the one to hug him and keep him safe. He wanted his father, his true father.

But Mustang couldn't come to his rescue, because he had poisoned him. He had caused that man more suffering. Again! He didn't deserve to have a father like that! Hohenheim was the dad he deserved.

"I don't..." Edward began in cries, "I don't want to hurt the Colonel! I don't want to kill Mustang!" He screamed. "Please, stop all this, Greed! You're our friend! Remember the alliance we shared together! PLEASE REMEMBER, LING!"

Upon hearing this, Greed brought his hands away from the floor. The transmutation and the electricity screeched to a halt. Edward felt his body release from is strain and coughed as he fought to get breath back in his lungs.

Greed sat back on his heels. He looked completely confused—like he had no idea where he was or what he was doing. His eyes eventually made it to Edward and he looked mortified. He crawled quickly over to the boy with concern lacing his face.

"Fullmetal?" Greed asked, looking the boy over and looking at the stone on his chest. He ripped it off of Edward and shattered it on the hard ground beneath him. "Oh my God, are you okay, kid?"

Edward smiled in relief, although short of breath. "Yes, Greed." He said. "Thanks for saving me team leader." He said, referring to their alliance in the past. They had all agreed that, if they wanted to have Greed in their corner, he had to be the one to lead them.

"Yeah...n-no problem..." He said, is words sounding unsure. "But how did I-" Greed began, only to shout out in pain and grab his head.

Seeing this, Edward shot up and placed a hand on Greed's shoulder. "Greed, what's the matter? You have a headache, don't you?" He asked.

Ed knew it was a stupid question, because Greed was reacting the same way that he would when one of his migraines reared it's ugly head. It was then that everything started to make sense to Edward. Greed was always cocky and selfish, but he had formed a strong enough bond with himself and Ling over the last few years that he wouldn't just turn on everyone on a whim because some money was in it for him. Another thing was that, Greed always had red eyes, but they didn't usually glow like they were since they had met up again.

Glowing exactly like Ed's eyes would.

"Greed," Edward began carefully, "what's the last thing you remember before this moment?"

Greed struggled to remember exactly what the answer to that question was. "Ling and I...we decided to get away from it all. Get away from all the fighting and...live the good life on the seaside. But...somewhere along the way we were...attacked, I think."

Edward nodded along. "Now, do you remember if you were shot by any sort weird bullet?" He asked.

Greed tightly closed his eyes, trying to think. "Y-yes..." He said, another spasm squirming in his head. God, that made it so much harder to focus! "We were...ambushed." Ling's voice suddenly spoke out.

Edward couldn't believe it. "Ling!? Is it really you?"

"Edward..." Ling started in a serious voice. "I don't have a lot of time to speak with you right now but, please, don't blame Greed for all of this. What happened to you, Ed, what Greed did to you...the same thing was done to us too. We weren't acting of our own free will." He explained. "The Philosopher's Stone changed us, just as it changed you."

Edward ran a hand over his face. "Yes, I understand. But do you know if there's any way to reverse it?" Edward wanted so much to delve more into this, but, as Ling had told him, he didn't have a whole lot of time, he could change back to the evil Greed at any given moment.

Ling winced and shook his head in defeat. "I don't...I'm sorry." he said.

Edward fought to make his voice sound more relaxed and in control. "No, it's okay. We can figure this all out."

Ling nodded weakly. "Right." He said. "I have to let Greed come back for now, he can handle all of this better than I, and you two need all the help you can get right now."

Edward knew that Ling was right. Ling was never an extreme fighter, he tended to be more on the relaxed side, whereas Greed was aggressive and got the job done. "Hopefully I get to see you again, Ling. As you." He said.

"If you're you too." Ling replied. And with that, the two bumped fists together playfully. Ling the softly closed his eyes and when they reopened again, they were back to Greed's red ones.

"Goddammit my head!" Greed yelled out.

"Just try and fight it, Greed and stay in control. Stay in control." Edward told him again and again. Right now, Greed was their best hope of getting out of this mess and he had to pull it together like Edward knew he could.

Greed chuckled weakly and slowly stood. "I'm trying my damnedest to fight it, kid." After taking a second to get his bearings, he went on. "So Ling and I were shot with one of those freaking Philosopher bullets too, huh?"

Edward nodded at him sadly. "Who are you working for, Greed? Who did this to us?" He asked. "If you tell me then we can work together to take him down."

Greed remained silent, looking conflicted.

Ed's eyes narrowed. "What it is?"

Greed swallowed hard before he opened his mouth again. These next words were going to be the hardest for him to speak. "My boss...you kinda already know him." he admitted.

"I know him?" Ed repeated, fighting the catch in his throat. What the hell was Greed talking about? The next thing he felt was Greed taking him firmly by the shoulders.

"Kid, listen to me, get the hell out of here." Greed said hastily. Hearing the fear and worry in Greed's voice made Edward very nervous. Not once had he ever heard him sound that way.

"What!?" Edward cried in protest. "No way am I leaving here without you!"

Greed grunted in aggravation. "Please kid, just trust me and go!" He shouted, pushing Edward away from him. "I've been under the stone's influence for a hell of a lot longer than you have. Fighting it will suppress it briefly, but it's just a temporary measure." He admitted. Greed then sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Just let me be the hero for once, okay?"

Ed was at a loss for words. Greed and Ling were two of his closest friends. He didn't want anything to happen to them, despite what that stupid stone made them do. He wasn't ready to throw in the towel on the two of them just yet.

"Greed, I-"

BANG!

Just like that, a gun shot was fired, and the smell of smoke perforated the air.