Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.

Lady Monozuki: Normally, I don't care about reviews. However, last chapter I only got one; which kind of made me feel like I let you guys down with my writing. I tried to make this chapter better to make up for that. Anyway, thank you wishfulliving89 for reviewing!

Chapter Fourteen: Familiarity

Sweat beaded on his forehead. He wanted the pain to end soon. Even though he was quite used to his entire body feeling on fire, that did not mean he liked the sensation. The urge to cry out in some form became more urgent. Though even if he wanted to, no sound would come out. Even in his daze, he could hear the voices around him, filled with panic. He wanted to give up and go to sleep.

When did I become so weak?

The thought echoed in his mind. He knew when his weakness was exposed, but when did this state begin to show? His head started to throb, making thinking a chore. All he wanted to do was sleep, but the others around him were adamant about keeping him awake. A sharp pain ran up from his toe, causing him to cringe. One person took notice of this and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. He glanced and saw a familiar blonde-haired woman. He knew her face, he knew…his mind went blank.

Another jolt of pain and he squeezed on her hand until it passed. Why did he feel so bad? What caused him to be in this state? All he could remember up was that Roy came bursting into his room and said that they still cared for him. The words of the doctor echoed in his mind.

"Everyone try to keep him awake. If he sleeps, there's no telling if he'll wake up again."

Everyone took the doctor's orders to heart. Several people tried to talk to him, in hopes that he would give them all a response. But in all of the noise, he couldn't make out any distinct words. His mind tried to sort through all of the shouting with little success. He held onto the person's hand as a lifeline. Why he trusted her didn't make any sense to him, but he did so.

"You, take his temperature and see if he's running a fever. I'm going to check his wounds and see how many of them are still infected. Also, why did no one give him any medication? My guess is that he is in a whole lot of pain because of that. I want one of you to go get me some morphine. Hook him up to the machines and monitor his brain activities. I want to be sure that his head injury isn't going to be calling problems."

The hand that was holding his slipped away. He heard about half of the words spoken, and didn't like the tone used. Even if he couldn't think straight, he understood urgency when he heard it.

"He's running a hundred and six degree fever."

"Bring some ice; we need to get that under control right away. I'm checking over his legs and feet first. Remove the casts on his right leg. Let's move!"

"Sir, he's starting to settle down."

"Good, let's make sure that he stays in that state for a while."

--

"Havoc," Hawkeye called.

She walked away from the room that they took Ed into to find the smoker in the waiting room. He was talking to Breda and Falman. Their faces looked grim. She hadn't seen them look that way since they learned about Ed's disappearance. She frowned for a moment before replacing her mask.

"Havoc," she repeated, coming closer to their group.

He glanced at her for a brief second before looking away. Even after all of these years, she could tell when someone was withholding information. Before Havoc even spoke, she could see the hesitation in his eyes.

He smiled to try and cover up the information. "What are you here for, Riza? I thought you would stay with Ed."

"I would have but they didn't need another person in that room. We need to try and figure out what caused him to suddenly change like that. Even though he seemed to be struggling with our presence, something set him off far worse than we could ever. I'm going to head back to Headquarters to talk to the Colonel. No doubt he will want an update about the current situation."

She noticed Havoc's smile falter and his eyes darting back toward Falman. The corners of her lips dropped into a frown.

Something is wrong with Roy and they don't want to tell me.

"What has he gotten himself into?" she mumbled.

Havoc blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"You know who I am talking about. What did the Colonel do?"

Her fingers ached to pull her gun and aim it at their skulls but decided against doing so given their current location. If they didn't volunteer information, she would get information one way or another. The three men looked uneasy. Havoc sighed.

"You might as well know. Mustang's missing. He left Headquarters sometime before lunch and never returned."

"Did he mention anything to anyone in the office?"

"No, he didn't mention anything to us."

"That is odd of him to do," she muttered.

"He usually tells you something, but you weren't around in the morning."

"I went off to deliver some important documents to the Investigations Department."

The four of them lapsed into silence. Hawkeye tried to think of where Roy would go. She let out a sigh.

"I'm going back to Headquarters. My bet is that whatever he was working on beforehand will indicate his location."

"What if you don't find anything?" Breda asked.

"Then we're going to be in the exact same situation a few weeks ago when we couldn't find Ed. However, I'm not going to give up because of that."

"Do you think that someone is behind Mustang's disappearance?" Falman asked.

"I would not rule out the possibility. After all, there are many officials who hate him because he kissed ass to get in his current position," Havoc replied.

"Well that was a less than appropriate way of putting the hard work and dedication Colonel Mustang's put into his work," Hawkeye scowled.

The three men exchanged nervous glances. Without saying another word, she stormed off toward Headquarters. The walk from the hospital took longer than she expected, but that gave her time to rationalize everything out. Roy left the office without telling anyone his location. That alone wasn't normal.

To do something like that meant that he received something that contained news that shocked, intrigued, or worried him. I hope that he didn't get himself into trouble this time. I don't even want to entertain the thought of him getting in trouble with the officials.

She sped up her pace. Upon entering the office, she resorted to her composed look. No one else needed to know of the situation at hand until tomorrow morning. If they couldn't find Roy before then, then they would be in trouble. She strode into the Colonel's office. The place needed some tidying, but she ignored the mess to look for anything to give off indication as to where Mustang was. The normal files were there, unsigned and disregarded. Nothing stood out to her as odd out of the numerous files there.

After taking a quick glance at the papers, she moved toward his cabinet. She doubted that anything useful would be in there. Opening the drawers revealed nothing out of the ordinary. A stack of new blue folders caught her attention. She pulled one out and started to read the content. In an instant, she recognized the format of the reports.

General Firmin's been keeping Roy informed through these reports. Why would he keep these in this cabinet?

Nothing out of the ordinary caught her eye at first. Then she looked over the evidence gathered in the time that they stopped investigating. Her brows furrowed upon reading two items that she didn't remember encountering in the room. Deciding to start there, she left his office and headed toward Ed's apartment.

--

"I don't think that they should be permitted to see him," the doctor insisted.

Havoc scowled and wanted to punch the man right then. His patience was holding, but not by much. He curled a hand into a fist and took in a few breaths.

"I understand his condition. However, I believe that they should be allowed to see Ed."

"I don't think that is a wise idea at the moment. We finally got him out of a dangerous situation, and I don't want him to go back there. Mr. Elric needs some time to recover from that last episode. Because of the number of relapses, I'm afraid that the strain on his heart is going to be too much. Once he rests for a few days, then I might reconsider."

Temper Jean, stay in control.

"You don't understand the situation between these two. They only have each other, damn it."

"Which could cause even more strain, I refuse to let him in at this time."

"Can't he just take a peek? I mean, Ed's sleeping right now. I don't see anything wrong with letting him visit his brother."

"I don't care, do not ask again."

Jean walked away without trying again. There wasn't any way to make the doctor understand the situation between the brothers without telling him the full story, which would be a terrible idea. He sighed and made his way back to the waiting room.

"Havoc, what did he say?" a shaky voice asked.

"He's being a pain in the—," he paused and remembered who he was talking to. "He's not letting anyone see Ed at this moment."

"Why? Is brother in that serious of a condition?"

"According to him," Havoc replied. "Every time someone familiar talks to, or around Ed, he goes into shock. If that continues to happen, his heart will give up. The want him to recover for a few days before letting you guys to see him. I can't overrule any decision made by them."

"What will we do in the meantime?" Al whispered.

Havoc wanted to pull out a cigarette and take a long drag. His frustration was getting to him.

"I suggest finding a place to stay. Your apartment is still under lockdown as far as I know. I'm sure that Gracia wouldn't mind a few extra house guests."

"Havoc," a different voice whispered. He cringed at the tone used.

"What Winry?"

She lifted her head. Tears looked like they could fall at any moment. He hated himself for not being able to get them to see Ed.

"Why don't I try?"

"What good will that do, Winry?" Al asked.

"I'm his auto mail mechanic. I should be allowed to see him for maintenance. I'll be right back," she said.

Before he could even protest, the teenager went to confront the annoying doctor. He suppressed a chuckled.

--

Riza frowned when she reached apartment. Right away, she could tell that something happened earlier in the day. Her suspicious were confirmed when she found the door ajar. As a precaution, she drew her gun before entering. The front room looked untouched. She moved to back room. Drying blood caught her eye. She moved toward the spot. The light from the window reflected off of two objects in the room. A smirk spread across her lips.

Whoever shot the bullets didn't bother cleaning up afterward. That meant that they did not care about being caught. She pulled a white handkerchief out of her military jacket to pick one of them up. The first didn't make any impression on her.

An ordinary handgun that can be bought from any weapon dealer.

She picked up the second casing and paled. She recognized the engraving on the shell.

Roy, what the hell did you get yourself into?