Chapter Twenty Eight:Bend

Edward wasn't sure what time Alphonse actually got in that evening but he was asleep when he did. As Al closed the door and turned to get into bed, a faint smile spread across his face. He had a feeling he was going to have some problems getting into bed considering Ed was occupying most of it. Al sighed and shook his head as he attempted to push Ed over. He always was a heavy sleeper.

"Brother, move over." There was a grunt in reply and finally after enough shoving, he turned on his side. At least Al had enough room to lay down. As he rested his head on the pillow, he realized how exhausted he was. The day seemed to drag on and while he didn't do much, he couldn't keep his eyes open. He had grown accustomed to long restless nights where he thought too much but that was not the case now as he quickly drifted off.

...

Roy woke up with an odd twinge of pain in his neck. Lifting his head, it took him a minute to acknowledge his surroundings. He was still in Riza's apartment but she wasn't anywhere in sight. Standing up and looking around more, he wondered if he had fallen asleep on her couch. It was hard to remember. Before he could think too long about it, there was the sound of a door opening somewhere. Riza walked out of her room, already dressed with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Oh, you're up." Her tone came out completely uninterested in the fact that he was standing there and even though they weren't at work it even came out a little disrespectful. But despite that, Roy remained confused at what had happened the night before. Riza motioned to the kitchen with her mug. "There's coffee for you, if you want it." She finished the last of her own cup before heading for the sink.

"Riza, wait a second." He caught himself and quickly cleared his throat when she turned back to him. "I mean, could you just tell me what happened last night?" The lieutenant crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame.

"What did you forget already?" He narrowed his eyes at her as though he was thinking about it more.

"Well I'm pretty sure nothing happened cause I would remember something like that."

"Something like what?" She caught him off guard again and he found he wasn't sure how to respond. Of course she knew what he was talking about. They were both adults after all and he had a reputation so why wouldn't that just be the assumption.

"You know..." She didn't say anything and waited for him to continue his thought. He was starting to feel like she was toying with him now. Finally she turned away to head into the kitchen.

"Nothing happened." He couldn't tell if she was disappointed or glad but regardless he sighed in relief. "You said you had too much respect for me. Apparently you're only interested in women you have no respect for." She returned with a cup of coffee for him.

"Wait, did I say that?" She handed him the mug and glanced up to the ceiling as though she was trying to remember the events from the night before.

"Not exactly. More like I told you no."

"What, but why?"

"Because I told you if you really cared about our relationship, you wouldn't sleep with me yet."

"And that's how I ended up sleeping out here?" It was all starting to come together for him now."

"Yup." Now that she resolved the conversation she quickly moved to the door and grabbed her coat. "You shouldn't wait too long to get to the office. I received a call this morning and there's a meeting around nine. Everyones' suppose to be there."

"Who decided to have this meeting?" She glanced back before leaving.

"The Furer, of course."

...

"But why do I have to go?" Ed let out a whine and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm still injured."

"Well how do you think I feel? I'm technically dead," Hughes replied as he leaned back in his chair.

"Seriously, the two of you are the worst. It's my tail on the line here, the least the two of you could do is back me up," Roy answered, "And besides, Ed, you owe me and Maes, well you've put me through enough the past couple of years so this is the least you could do." The two sitting on either side of the table seemed to slouch more as though they both knew he was right.

"Alright, fine," Maes finally said as he pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"Guess if he's going I don't have much of an excuse either then."

"Stop acting like such a martyr on my behalf. I stuck my neck out for you, yah know."

"Yeah, yeah. So much for quitting when I had the chance," Ed muttered under his breath.

"Do you at least know what this whole thing is about," Maes asked.

"No one seems to know that which just makes me more suspicious that it's not going to be something good." With that said, Maes got up and stretched his arms over his head, letting out a yawn.

"Well then it's safe to say we're walking into a trap. At least we're all in agreement about it, right?" His typical humor about the situation was not appreciated by the other two.

...

"If you know it's a trap, then why are you going," Winry's concern was evident in her tone but then she never was good at covering it up.

"Because we'll never get anything resolved if we keep running from the problem. And now I don't have to worry about the homunculi coming after Al." Ed glanced over to his younger brother who also didn't seem very pleased with the idea either. He was pretty sure that Dante was behind this meeting and if she was there he was certain the last homunculus was there too. Alphonse was all too aware of what Envy was capable of but then Edward knew as well.

"Then you won't care if I come along then." The statement was not him asking permission.

"I don't think you're allowed to since you're not part of the military."

"That never stopped me from being involved before though." Alphonse was determined to be defiant.

"Okay, fine. I don't want you coming along this time." Edward narrowed his gaze. Winry wasn't sure how escalated this conversation was going to get. Everyone seemed to be on edge lately, especially the two brothers.

"But I want to know what's going on."

"No, Al. I don't want anything happening to you."

"Why do you just assume somethings' gonna happen to me?"

"Because you can get hurt now." Al leaned back some, not sure what to say. "I've gotta do this on my own. If I find anything out that we can use, I'll let you know, okay." The volume in Ed's voice had died down significantly but Al and Winry both heard him. Al sighed heavily and looked away.

"Fine, whatever." Even though he knew Alphonse wasn't happy about this, Ed was just relieved he agreed to not come. Now that Winry and Alphonse knew what was going on, he didn't have to worry about them. He felt that he could focus more on what he needed to do. Before the conversation could go any farther, there was a knock at the front door. Several quiet minutes went by before the three of them heard Gracia calling down the hallway.

"Edward, you have a visitor!" Ed and Al exchanged suspicious glances before Edward stood up and opened the door. Winry and Al listened carefully as he headed down the hall, then heard a yelp followed by a sudden thud. Moving quickly, they both stuck their heads around the corner to see Ed on the ground. Izumi stood over him, cracking her knuckles and frowning down at him.

"Teacher," Al's voice came out in a weak surprised tone as he moved behind Winry more.

"So let me get this straight, I was told that you were killed by one of those creatures and now you show up alive without telling me?" She reached down and picked him up by the front of his shirt. "What kind of irresponsible child are you to make us all worry like that and not have the decency to all!" By this point, she was shaking him as though she was trying to get him out of his stupor.

"I thought you were concerned about him. That's the only reason I agreed to this trip." Izumi glanced behind her at her husband still holding Edward up. "I was concerned about him but obviously he's not injured bad enough to keep him from using a phone." Rose poked her head around Sig and waved sheepishly at Al.

"Sorry Al, it just slipped."

"What do you mean it slipped? I specifically told you not to tell Teacher that Brother is okay and that it's something she needed to hear from him."

"I know, but she pressured me into telling her why you called. I couldn't help it."

"And apparently he was just too busy to let me know he was okay." Everyone directed their attention to the only person still on the floor. "Do you even have anything to say for yourself?" There was a pathetic sound in response. "That's what I thought."

Author's note: Kind of a filler but I promise the next chapter will be action packed. Would still love some reviews on this though. :)