Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or TXF. I was thinking about my theory… That one about Arakawa having met Chris Carter… Well, maybe not. There'd be some differences if she had, so I listed some in the end of the chapter. Feel free to add some, too.

I want to say thanks to ssadropout, Rishqva, Hina Kita and Toushirou-chan for reviewing in the last chapter.


Chapter 11

Tens of thousands of books were kept in the library of the Central headquarters. Years of knowledge and history all stored in the endless dusty wooden bookcases.

A young lad with blue eyes and light brown curly hair that made him look even younger was searching for something among some of the oldest books they had there. He was eager to help the soldiers who had just arrived, since being so young and having that kind of job meant he hardly ever got the chance to talk to any important people in the army.

"Here… This book is about religion. I also have some research on foreign symbols used for communication. Would that also interest you, sir?" He asked, feeling happy to be finally useful.

"Yes, we'd like to see it." Colonel Mustang said, opening the book in a random page.

The boy turned around and Roy let out a yawn. That was going to be a long afternoon. Behind him, Riza was taking a look at some other book, while Havoc carried a pile of old books and the others just searched the old bookcases for anything else on religion and symbols. They quit looking for more stuff and followed the librarian. The lad walked fast to the other side of the library and then turned right and entered another aisle. Roy followed him and turned right into the same aisle.

There was the lad, fingering the leather covers of some very shabby books. Just by his side, a dark figure stood. The figure of a tall, heavy-built man, wearing worn-out clothes that resembled some sort of military uniform from another country, covered in dirt. His originally white shirt was all torn and stained with blood. His ear-length dark brown hair was greasy and his eyes, pitch black.

Roy halted immediately and dropped the book he was caring. The figure inclined his head to the side a little and smiled lightly in an eerie way, showing his yellow teeth. It was like he exhaled evil itself. The smell of blood filled the air, making Roy feel sick. What was that man doing there? The librarian noticed the Colonel's expression, then looked behind nervously. He apparently didn't see anyone, even though the bloody man was standing right there. When the lad stepped away from the bookcase to ask what was going on, the figure just vanished into thin air.

"Is there something wrong?" The boy asked.

He heard the words, but it took Roy a few moments to recognize them and understand that he had been asked a question.

"No, nothing." He said, looking around for the figure, still feeling very confused.

The boy mumbled an 'okay' and walked away, like he had met a drunk on the street and wanted to avoid an awkward conversation.

"What happened?" Riza asked and picked up the book Roy had dropped once the librarian was too far to hear them.

"The book slipped."

He was obviously lying.

"You were looking at something." Hawkeye insisted.

"No, I was… thinking." He answered, doing his best to sound calm.

He walked absentmindedly towards the tables and stumbled on a chair, making a lot of noise and drawing everybody else's attention. His subordinates watched worriedly as he muttered some swear words under his breath, sat down and grabbed a book.

"Stop worrying about me and do your damn job." Roy said in a disturbed tone of voice that wasn't typical of him.

Typical or not, he was their boss, so they obeyed. It was late at night when they left the library, tired and empty-handed. The research had been unrewarding. There wasn't a single thing in that library about the symbols from the bed frames, nor the ones in the basement of the old house. The only thing they could assume was that they were something from ancient times, otherwise it would probably be documented somewhere. Roy yawned and kept walking down the corridors towards his office. He couldn't help but notice that even though he wasn't in a hurry, the others were letting him walk ahead of them. He heard Breda's low voice and someone whispering, probably Sergeant Fuery. Fallman said something as well and despite the low voice, his words were easy to understand.

"He can't drive like that."

"Leave it to me, I'll take him home." Roy heard Lieutenant Hawkeye's voice.

The Colonel didn't bother to stop walking or turn around to face his men.

"And why is that you don't want me to drive?" He simply asked.

The others were in mute embarrassment, but Riza wouldn't be easily intimidated.

"You're in no condition to drive, sir." She answered.

"I'm tired, that's all."

"You dozed off about 3 or 4 times in the library."

"Did I?" This time he halted and turned around to face his first Lieutenant, without hiding his surprise.

"We saw you."

"I don't remember." Roy admitted.

That was odd. He couldn't get a wink of sleep at night, but he had fallen asleep in the library?

"Let me drive you, sir." Lt. Hawkeye insisted.

"All right, if that will make you happy, that's fine with me." He finally agreed, although still in a bad mood.

Everyone got their things in the office and left. Roy sat on the brown leather passenger seat of the car, hoping that Riza wouldn't ask any questions about his weird behavior. She was quiet all the way to his building, but when they got there, she parked the car and turned to look in his eyes. Usually, when she gave him a ride home, she would just stop for a moment, without turning off the engine, and wait until he got off.

"Have you been sleeping well, sir?"

"Not really." He knew he wouldn't be able to escape her inquisitive insistence. "I've been feeling nervous lately and that keeps me awake." He continued.

"Why are you nervous?"

"This case, I suppose... I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall."

"That's not like you."

"I don't know, Lieutenant. Maybe I'm getting old…" He said, with a tired laugh.

Although he laughed, he knew there was something deeply wrong. He had seen someone who didn't exist. Maybe hallucinations could be caused by lack of sleep or maybe he was going crazy. There could be some history of mental disease in his family, but he didn't know much about them. Whatever was wrong, he just didn't want to admit it, he wanted to pretend everything was all right and maybe it would be if he ignored it long enough. Whatever he did, Roy just knew he wouldn't be able to stand the look on Lt. Hawkeye's eyes if she thought he was going insane. It would be better to wait than to do something he might regret later.

"I'm here if you need to talk." Riza added.

Roy stared at his own hands. How could he possibly tell her what was going on if even he himself didn't know what that was?

"Don't worry about me. I'm just tired. Well, thanks for the ride, but I have to go. I still want to make some dinner for myself and there's hardly any food in my kitchen."

There wasn't much more she could do, so the Lieutenant just said good night and Roy got off the car. Perhaps he would be better the next day, she thought, turning on the ignition again and leaving. Anyway, she still wasn't convinced that Roy would be all right, so she decided she would give him a call the next morning before he left for work.

"You didn't have to call me…" was the first thing he said when he picked up the phone, early in the morning.

"Did you sleep well?" Riza asked, ignoring his complaint.

"Yes, a little bit." Roy lied.

He hadn't slept at all again. He had spent half the night rolling on his bed and the other half staring at the walls of his living room, as the headache he had made the idea of simply reading a book sound very unpleasant.

"I got ready a little too early today, so if you want I can give you a ride to work." Riza said, trying to sound friendly, but not concerned.

Roy just rubbed his forehead with one hand while he held the phone with the other. That hell of a headache wouldn't go away.

"Yeah, it sounds good… If it's okay with you…" He said, afraid that he might be in no condition to drive and feeling too tired to walk to work.

He hung up, took a quick shower and went to the kitchen to eat something. Soon he heard a knock on the door. The Lieutenant was already there and he hadn't even finished eating. Maybe he could invite her in to have a cup of coffee, even though she probably wouldn't accept it. She was always so damn professional.

Hawkeye really wished he looked better that morning than he sounded on the phone. A few seconds after knocking she heard the door being unlocked and Roy opened it. She was going to say good morning, but before any words could come from her mouth the man saw something in the corridor and yelled.

"Damn it!"

Roy grabbed her arm and pulled the Lieutenant inside, almost making her trip and fall to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Riza asked, turning around to see if someone was in the corridor.

He still held her arm, standing between her and the door and staring nervously at the empty doorway. The dark figure was there. His eyes were all black, his shirt all torn and bloody, his chest wounded so badly you could see part of his ribs, his military boots covered in a mixture of dirt and blood. He was standing by the Lieutenant's side when Roy opened the door and didn't move an inch when he pulled her away from him.

"Hodina priyet tee platit tvoie hurrish." The strange man said slowly, in a whispering voice, before his evil grin faded away as the rest of his body. Again, he had vanished into thin air.

"What's wrong?" Riza asked again, louder this time.

Colonel Mustang finally let go of her arm and the Lieutenant pushed him to the side. She went back to the empty corridor, pointing her gun at nothing. No one was there, so she lowered her gun and turned back to the Colonel. He looked as he had just met the devil itself.

"Why did you pull me like that? I thought there was someone here."

"I…" He started to say, but couldn't come up with anything. He just stared at the doorway, noticing that the smell of blood still lingered.

He couldn't tell her he thought he saw someone standing right next to her, bleeding through some nasty wound and grinning like a maniac. She would think he was completely mad. He knew he was only hallucinating, so he couldn't be mad, could he? Roy tried to think of an exact definition for 'madness', but of course, the word had as wide a definition as possible.

"Sorry, I heard a noise." He finally managed to say. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, I'm all right." She said, even though her arm did hurt a little. "Seriously sir, I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine… I'll just finish my breakfast and we'll go. It will take only a couple of minutes."

"You don't have to rush."

"Coffee?" He offered.

Lieutenant Hawkeye usually wouldn't take it, but maybe if she did sit down to drink some coffee he would calm down and talk.

"I'll get some, don't worry."

"Help yourself." He answered, grabbing the plate and eating while walking from one side of the kitchen to the other, and then again. He was like a wild animal in a zoo pacing back and forth, stressed by its own confinement.

Riza watched him quietly as he finished eating. She had never seen him that nervous before. He disappeared through the door to get his jacket and the rest of his stuff and Riza just sat there, lost in her thoughts.

"How do you think I'd look if I were to wear glasses?" Roy asked from the bedroom.

"What?"

"Never mind."

Roy came back to the kitchen, completely dressed, but still looking very agitated. Riza stood up and walked out of the apartment as he got the keys to close the door. Roy tried to stick the key in the keyhole, but his hand trembled and he just couldn't.

"Colonel…"

"Damn key…" He complained, very irritated, forcing the key against the lock without success.

"Colonel…"

"Got it." He said, turning the key and finally managing to lock the door. "Let's go."

"Wait."

"What?"

Roy felt an urge to look over his shoulders and make sure nobody was behind him, but Riza would certainly notice his paranoia. He just looked in her eyes, trying to calm down and look as normal as he could.

"You can't go like this." The Lieutenant said in honest concern.

Roy looked awful. He was nervous and sweating, although Riza could see by his still wet hair that he had just taken a shower. It was pretty obvious that if he had gotten any sleep, it was far from being enough.

"Please, call in sick today and stay home."

"Lieutenant, I can't. We have a case to solve before someone else gets killed…" He said, suddenly remembering something.

All the victims had died under strange circumstances. Mulder had talked over and over about an inhuman murderer. Roy looked away from the Lieutenant, trying to be rational. He was stressed out by the case, which made him highly susceptible to suggestion. He was hallucinating and that hallucination had taken the form of some creepy ghost because Mulder had suggested the existence of one. Maybe if the agent hadn't said that, his mind would have come up with something completely different to disturb him.

"Sir? …Sir?"

"What?" Colonel Mustang said, trying to shake those thoughts away.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"Sorry, I didn't."

"You're staying home today."

She wasn't just suggesting it, she was actually ordering him to stay home. Her behavior didn't surprise him, though. The Lieutenant was already used to telling him what to do when she thought it was best for him.

"As long as I remember, I outrank you…" He joked.

"I'll go to the headquarters and tell them you have the flu or something."

"The flu sounds good…" He said with a sigh.

She got the keys from his hand and opened the door.

"I'll come to check on you at lunch time. Try to get some rest, okay?"

"Thanks..."

He knew he needed to work, but the thought that he had no other choice but to stay home was relieving. Even though he could just ignore her, he showed no resistance and just did as Riza told him, going back to his bed to try to at least rest with his eyes closed. He was too tired to argue with the only one person that seemed to notice that despite all his efforts to look mentally healthy, something was wrong with him. Deep inside he wanted someone to notice that and maybe tell him was the heck was happening to him. He just couldn't pluck up the courage to tell his always so loyal Lieutenant that his goals, the goals that she also fought for, could be unreachable. How could he lead the country if he had some sort of mental disease?


All right, so... talking about my theory... I concluded that Arakawa probably hasn't met Chris Carter, so I now present you some evidence of that:

If Arakawa had met Chris Carter…

- Cancerman would be behind father.

- Bradley could only be killed by sticking a metal needle to the back of his neck.

- Everyone that fought Bradley would be infected by that crazy virus that causes polycitemia.

- Edward and Alphonse's experience transmutating their mother would be some false memory implanted in their minds to hide the fact that they were actually abducted by a spaceship.

- Breda, Fallman and Fuery would actually fit perfectly as the anime version of the Lone gunmen. Of course they'd have to be completely paranoid, too.

- Instead of almost being eaten by Gluttony, we'd have Riza fighting that cancer-eater? "You have what I need…" *People watching at home: "Oooooh, crap…"*

- Maybe we'd have some romantic scene with Roy and Riza? That'd be nice. But before you go all crazy thinking about that possibility, remember the bee? Yeap, I still hate that bee.

What about you, what do you think? Has Arakawa met Chris Carter or not? If you have any theories about it, you can write your evidence in a review and I can publish it next chapter. So thanks for reading, and let me know your opinion about the topic. And never mind my BS, I'm probably just too happy today because I quit that hell I used to call a job.