A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Tell me about your childhood, Ed." Maria said, fiddling with the pen in her hand.

'I thought I was here for speech therapy.' Edward signed, an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes you are, but you have a type of mutism that is generally induced by trauma, so I'd like to hear about your childhood," Maria said as she flipped through some papers. "I understand you don't fully remember some of your earlier years. Alphonse has mentioned that you don't remember anything prior to when you were seven..." She trailed on, "Is that correct?"

Edward merely nodded.

"Alright, well why don't you tell me about some of your earliest memories." Maria prompted. She knew that speech therapy would be near impossible without breaking the wall that Edward had put up to block the memories of the trauma he had endured.

'You won't tell Al anything I tell you, right?' Edward asked. He always asked her not to relay anything he said to Al. He didn't like the thought of his younger brother worrying about him.

"My lips are sealed." Maria said with a warm smile. It had been nearly three weeks since school started and over the course of their meetings Edward had begun to open up to her, though he was still walking on eggshells around Denny. Despite the fact that they were both supposed to be working with Edward, Denny had to be left out due to Edward's anxiety around him.

'Lately I've been suddenly remembering things from when I was little...' Edward trailed off, his eyes gazing off into the distance as if he were remembering something.

"Like what?" Maria asked, suddenly scribbling down some notes.

'Different things.' Edward answered. 'I'm standing at the top of a staircase, I'm in a basement, I'm crying, I'm screaming... They're not good and they usually visit me in my dreams.' Edward paused for a minute. 'I wonder if they really happened or if they're just nightmares.'

This was definitely a good sign. "Can you tell me a little more about these dreams, Edward?" Maria asked as she began to make notes on what Edward had said.

'I'm always in a basement. It's cold and dark and I'm afraid.' Edward answered, and Maria watched as he visibly stiffened. 'There's a man whose voice is soft and creepy. I never see his face, but his glasses are always shining in the light.' He continued as he began to fidget in his seat. 'He hurts me.'

"How does he hurt you?" Maria asked.

'It's always different.' Edward answered, his fidgeting beginning to become more intense. 'He cuts my face with knives, hits me... it's never the same.'

"What else does this man do?" Maria asked

Edward was beginning to get anxious. He could not stop moving and he wasn't sure why. 'He restrains me.'

"With what?" Maria asked. Her eyes left her notepad for a moment before quickly returning to the white lined paper.

'He makes me wear a dog collar.' Edward answered. His anxiety began to run high, and Maria could see that she wasn't going to get much more out of Edward today. Edward's breathing began to get ragged. 'Can we please stop?' he asked.

"Of course." Maria said as she closed her notepad, a warm smile gracing her face. "You did great, Ed."

Edward didn't acknowledge her compliment. 'Can I go back to class?' he asked.

"Why don't you stay here and settle down. There's only a few minutes left anyway." Maria suggested.

'No, I really need to get back to class. I can't miss anything we have-'

"Edward, it'll be fine." Maria said, moving from her desk so that she could stand in front of Edward. Gently, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "You've got yourself all worked up; why don't you take a few minutes to relax and I'll contact your teacher and have someone send the work down."

'But I really-'

"Edward, it'll be fine." Maria said. "You're usually in AP Chemistry now, right?"

A sigh escaped Edward's lips. He had not expected Maria to be this persistent about him staying. 'With Mrs. Curtis, yes.' He answered reluctantly.

Maria nodded as she walked back to her desk and reached for the phone, dialing a few numbers before she held it up to her ear. A few seconds passed before she spoke, "Hi Izumi…" she started, but Edward became bored with the conversation and began to zone her voice out. He focused only on his thoughts. Everything else was locked out of Edward's mind.

Edward began to wonder about the dreams he'd been having, the strange dreams that felt so realistic but yet so very delusive at the same time. But that voice, so soft... It sent chills down Edwards spine. Something about the voice was so very real… Edward couldn't put a face to it, but he just knew he had some sort of connection with the voice. The fact that the voice that echoed in his dreams seemed so real only meant that the dreams were real, and that thought nearly made Edward choke on nothing but air.

"Edward?" Maria's soft voice broke through his thoughts.

Edward looked up to find a concerned Maria looking down on him. She smiled at him, but concern was still visible in her eyes. "Mrs. Curtis has sent someone down to deliver the homework," she said as she walked back to her desk. "They should be here anytime now."

Edward's brows furrowed in confusion, 'Wouldn't it have made more sense for me to go get the work before the end of the day?' He asked, slightly annoyed that Maria didn't find him capable of getting his own schoolwork. God, even if Al wasn't with him he still had someone treating him the same way- like he was a helpless child.

"Mrs. Curtis said that at first, but apparently a student offered to come bring the work down," Maria said as she leaned back into her chair. Her dark chocolate eyes fixed on Edward, carefully watching his body language. She was particularly interested by the fact that Edward's leg was shaking, and had been for the past five minutes. "Are you alright Edward?" She asked, "You seem nervous."

Edward carefully took in a slow gulp of air, 'I'm fine.' He assured her. Mentally he rolled his eyes. He surely did not need another Al around to worry about him, one Al in his life was definitely enough. His golden eyes traveled around the room before setting on the large analog clock that was housed in the far right corner of the wall. There were five minutes left in the class period, and after this class Edward only had his AP Government class before the day was over and he could go home and relax.

'When will this stop being a therapy session and actually start being speech therapy?' Edward suddenly asked, his golden eyes hard with annoyance. He was done spending his time in the small office talking about trivial things like his dreams and memories of his childhood. He wanted to actually learn about speech.

Maria rose an eyebrow in surprise. "Well that depends on a lot of things Edward," she started. "We can't start teaching you how a letter sounds if you can't say it. We have to crack the mystery of why you don't speak before we can start teaching you how to speak." Maria said as she thumbed over the thick manila folder that held all of Edward's information.

Edward took his time carefully processing Maria's words. 'You know, you're the first person to tell me that.' He signed, a thin smile forming on his lips.

"To tell you what?" Maria asked, confused about what Edward was referring to.

'That you'll teach me how to speak and that there is a reason behind why I don't speak that doesn't involve me being defiant.'

Maria took note of what Edward said, that his former speech pathologist didn't realize the true reason behind Edward's muteness and didn't take it as seriously as they should have. She had an entire separate folder full of papers from Edward's speech pathologist in Central that she needed to examine.

"When we meet on Friday maybe we should talk about your previous speech pathologist," Maria suggested, tapping her pen lightly on the desk.

'Don't you have a folder full of information about that idiot?' Edward asked, his smile turning into a deep scowl.

"I do, but that doesn't tell me about him." Maria said, eyeing the thick folder that was full of useless information. "But I'm sure you know that folder only tells me so much, I would like to hear about it from you."

Edward was about to send her a snarky reply, telling her that he didn't feel like talking about the dumb ass that was his former speech pathologist, but just as he went to sign his reply there was a knock on the door. 'Whoever you are, you have saved me from that damn conversation' Edward thought with a sigh of relief.

"Come in!" Maria called. "I guess we'll just have to finish this conversation on Friday, Edward." She commented to the golden-headed teen. Edward just rolled his eyes in a typical Edward fashion.

The door opened to reveal Roy Mustang, to which Edward threw his head back in embarrassment. Of course Roy would be the one to come see Edward when he was anxiety ridden and thoroughly pissed off. Roy didn't seem to notice anything out of sorts and sent the petite teen a smile. "Hello Edward." He said cheerily as he walked into the office, "Here's the work you missed today."

'Thank you.' Edward replied, reaching for the thin stack of papers that Roy held. Roy handed them to his friend. 'You're welcome' he signed as soon as the papers were out of his hand. In three weeks his sign language was still only in the simple stages, but he was getting better. However, he knew he'd never be as fluent in it as Edward and Al were, since they had been signing since they were small children.

Just as Roy was about to say more, the bell rang, it's loud beep echoing in the hallway. As soon as its annoying sound faded, students packed the hallway, racing to get to their last class of the day. Edward began to furiously pack up, ready to leave Maria's office and all the anxiety it caused him at times -especially today. Unzipping his backpack he shoved the papers Roy gave him in it, not caring how crumpled they became. He was just about to fly out the door when Roy's hand caught his arm, "Wait!" The ebony haired teen called.

Edward's head whipped back to face the person who was holding him back, a glare setting into his face. 'What?!' He signed angrily.

"Why don't we walk to class together?" Roy asked, ignoring Edward's scowl. He let his grip on the blond fall, realizing the teen wouldn't rush off.

Edward shrugged his shoulders, 'Sure.' He signed. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he began to step out of the office, not even bidding farewell to Maria.

A wide grin took over Roy's face as he joined the teen in the hallway.

AP Government always seemed to drag on. Every minute felt like an hour, and Edward always had to force himself to say awake. He assumed that the boringness of class wasn't because of the subject matter; Amestris' government wasn't all that boring. He figured it was because it was his last class of the day, and the fact that Mr. Bradley was quite the dull teacher did not help. At least Roy, who was sitting next to him, was keeping him entertained in the final minutes of the class period.

'Your joking!' Edward signed as he chuckled softly.

"No I'm serious," Roy said with a grin. "Every time one of the other teachers is sick or something Mr. Bradley gives them a whole melon."

Edward chuckled at the thought of Mr. Bradley placing a whole melon on another teacher's desk. 'This school is completely different than my old one.' Edward thought as he began to pack up his things. As he threw the thick textbook in his backpack, the final bell rang, signaling the school day was over and Edward was free to go home and do whatever he wanted. Edward zipped his backpack up, throwing it over his shoulder as he got up from the hard plastic seat.

"Hey Edward." Roy called from beside him.

Edward turned to face his friend, a look of curiosity on his face. 'Yes?'

"Why don't we walk out to the parking lot together?" Roy suggested as he got up from his seat, following Edward's actions and swinging his bag over his shoulder.

Edward nodded in response, enjoying the time he was spending with his new friend. The two had become good friends in the past few weeks. They shared their last three classes of the day and often spent the evenings working on their homework together. The two walked out of the classroom together in silence, their focus more on getting out of the busiest hallway in the school than talking.

"So are you going to the homecoming game on Friday?" Roy asked as the two walked out to the parking lot. The afternoon sun was bright and the temperature was cool for the second week of September. Roy began to search for his beloved Mustang, his eyes scanning the crowded parking lot for the shiny black exterior.

Edward shrugged in response. He knew that Al and Winry were going, but he hadn't yet decided if he wanted to go. Sports didn't interest him much. Sure, he loved his martial arts, but anything other than that bored him. He'd much rather spend his time reading or playing his PSP than watching a group of guys chase after a ball and try to get a touchdown.

Roy spotted his car in the second row, parked next to the Elric brothers' silver Mazda. "Did you drive today?" Roy asked, curious about who had won the daily battle over the car.

Edward sent him an arrogant grin, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket and twirling them around his index finger. Roy chuckled, "So I take it that Winry's old Chevy truck is out there somewhere?" he said as his dark sapphire eyes began to scan the lot for the rusty old truck.

Edward nodded before he began to walk towards their cars, motioning for Roy to follow him. Roy nodded, following the blond teen as he requested. "So are you going to the Homecoming dance on Saturday?" Roy questioned, looking both ways before he crossed the busy parking lot.

Edward let out a chuckle before shaking his head. No, he was definitely not going to the dance on Saturday. He had no date and he had no interest in said dance, so why waste his time and money on it? As the two approached their cars he sent Roy a curious glance, 'You?' He signed. Careful not to be too quick or use too many words so that he didn't confuse Roy.

"Nope." Roy answered, unlocking his car and throwing his book bag inside. "No point in it." He added, turning his eyes back to Edward. The blond was leaning against his car with hands dug deep into his pockets and golden eyes gazing into the distance. "You should really think about going to the game on Friday..." He trailed off, resting his arm across the top of the car door.

Edward cocked his head to the side, 'Why?' he asked, thoroughly confused as to why Roy was asking him of his weekend plans and why said 'homecoming' seemed to be so important.

"It's a lot of fun, plus all the guys are going to be there." Roy said, "And after the game is over we always go over to Jean's house for an after party and have popcorn and watch TV, hang out for an hour or two." Roy continued on, trying to convince Ed that he should go. "I'm sure Jean wouldn't care if Al and Winry came."

Edward shrugged his shoulders, still not sure if he really wanted to go to the game or not. The stadium was going to be crowded; he knew the team they were playing was the school's biggest rival and therefore it would be the most popular game of the season. Ed wasn't quite sure if he wanted to get involved with a packed stadium full of rowdy teenagers.

"Well, think about it, ok?" Roy asked, hoping that Edward would change his mind. He really wanted to spend more time with Edward, get closer to the silent teenager and hopefully change their relationship. He wasn't trying to force himself on Edward, he knew that Edward obviously felt something for Roy that wasn't just friendship. The near kiss the two shared right before school started proved that, though they never really talked about that incident.

Edward nodded, unlocking his car and throwing his backpack in the backseat before slamming the door shut. He stole another glance at Roy, who was gazing off in a near trance, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips for some unknown reason. He tapped at the top of Roy's car with his slender fingers to catch to raven-haired man's attention. Roy quickly whipped his head around to face Edward, who in turn chuckled at his reaction. 'Bye.' He slowly signed, his fingers moving in an unusually slow manner.

"Bye Edward, I'll talk to you later." Roy said, watching the petite teen get into his car. The motor started with a soft hum and as Roy got into his own car his gaze lingered on the sleek silver car as it sped out of the student parking lot.

As he drove home, his thoughts remained on Edward and what could be and what he wanted Edward to be to him.

A/N: Shorter than usual but I have a busy week, hope you all enjoyed! If you don't know what Homecoming is it's just a semi-formal dance that occurs in September at most high schools. Nothing really special, it's just a semi-formal dance (aka no tux required for guys haha.)