Roy's arm hung over the side of the bed, fingers grazing the floor slightly as he scratched his exposed stomach. He was as bad as Ed when it came to decency, some people had told him, but that was okay because he couldn't help it. And it wasn't like his stomach was disgusting to look at. It was nicely toned and very firm; something a Colonel should be fairly proud of.

With a sigh, the Flame Alchemist rolled over onto his back and stretched, his back cracking slightly. The room was fairly warm, especially more towards his right side. As he glanced to the side he realized why. Edward must have transmutated one of the beds into a fireplace, and started it up, making the once semi-cold room nicely heated.

"Morning," came a voice from the doorway. He was half expecting it to be Ed, but the voice was too calm and sweet, almost childish. Footsteps bound into the room, followed by what seemed like two more pairs. He looked down and saw the Rockbell dog following the younger Elric brother. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like always," Roy expressed, sitting up and yawning. "Where is Edward this early?"

Al folded his arms and jerked his head toward the door. "Can't you guess? He woke up at 4:00 this morning and went straight to reading that book downstairs on the table. Also, around 5:30 Armstrong came by and the two have been talking about some serious issues for some time."

"And what time is it now?" Roy questioned, getting up swiftly and straightening out his white shirt.

"7:00 in the morning. The train for Central doesn't leave until ten so we have time." Al explained, patting Den on the head. "Now that you're finally awake Auntie Pinako can start breakfast and you can join Edward and Armstrong in their conversation."

Roy nodded, liking that idea. It was only a matter of minutes before he was at the bottom of the stairs, Al and Den at his heels. Something clanked loudly in the kitchen, causing him to jump slightly. He picked up his pace as he entered the library, the fireplace ablaze as well. However, all notes that had been spread out on the table in there were gone now. "Perhaps they're in the kitchen," he concluded, walking forward toward the open wooden door. He paused, seeing Armstrong in one of the chairs with a tired looking Edward across from him.

It was weird seeing Ed look so lifeless when flipping through his rather successful notes. Armstrong sipped at his cup of tea and picked up one of the other notes. "This is information on Sorrow's case?"

Ed made a very lazy nod as he buried his head in his folded arms on the table. "That's just from the reports and investigations on the information in Dublith," came his muffled and tired voice.

"Edward Elric, how much sleep did you get last night?" Armstrong asked in a worried tone.

That's when Roy decided to make his entrance. "Major Armstrong."

The muscular man turned and brought his right hand up in salute. "Colonel Mustang."

Roy saluted him back before gazing upon Ed's ruffled body. "Lt. Colonel?"

Edward didn't reply. His breathing became deeper and steadier, and his muscles seemed to go limp. Roy smiled warmly, knowing that the Full Metal Alchemist had fallen asleep. Armstrong had noticed it too it seemed and he stood up, walking around to Edward's side of the table and picking him up.

"Just a moment, Colonel. I will take Mr. Elric up to the guest bedroom to sleep, then I will discuss with you the matters that him and I were discussing earlier.

Roy stood aside for Armstrong to get by with Edward's body and he glanced up, only just noticing whom else was in the room. "Ah, Winry. Were you listening in on their conversation?"

Winry's cheeks colored greatly and she spun around, pouring another cup of tea for Roy. "I only came in here to greet the guests. This place is like a private inn for all of you people, you know. I rarely ever get a thanks and I feel more like a maid than a mechanic. And STILL, Ed doesn't drink his milk and—!"

"Now, now, Winry," Roy said, holding up his hands to stop her. "I didn't ask for all that information. So, you weren't eavesdropping, that's all I wanted to know."

The automail mechanic's eyes flared up angrily and she shouted, "Of course I didn't eavesdrop! What kind of person do you think I am? Besides, Edward has been talking so quietly that I wouldn't be able to listen in even if I wanted to!"

"Did he go to bed when I did?" Roy suddenly wondered aloud, sitting down where Edward had been only moments ago.

Winry shook her head, leaning on the counter. "No, because he helped me clean up my room and sort things out a bit. I went to bed at eleven, but I don't think Ed went to bed after that because I could hear the fire crackling even from up here." She sighed and turned away. "I don't like Edward staying in the military. He stays up all night making notes and doing research whenever he's here. Not to mention, if this is his place to 'relax', then what does he do in Central? Stay up all day and night working? I wish that he'd just stop…but now I'm positive he won't since Alphonse has decided to join now as well."

Roy understood Winry's feelings on the matter of Edward's sleeping and work habits. However, he couldn't exactly tell Edward to stop because the Lt. Colonel was one of the strongest State Alchemists in the military. Without him it wouldn't be the same.

"It is their choice. I suggest that you support it as long as you're able, do you hear me?" Roy said sternly, his voice rising slightly.

"Yes, sir." Winry muttered, handing him his tea and stalking out of the room.

Shortly after Winry had left and Roy had curiously flipped through some of the notes, Armstrong returned merrily, sitting back down where he had earlier. He seemed awfully cheery for a guy who had traveled a long distance so early in the morning. His blue eyes were sparkling with glee and Roy didn't know if he was imagining those little pink sparkles around the Major's head or not.

"So," Armstrong said, stretching out his arm to shut the door. "On to business. Edward has been working on this Sorrow case all night it seems and many days before this. Thankfully the news hasn't been passed on over to East City as of yet, but I wouldn't doubt if it's already started to leak in by today."

"Sorrow?" Roy questioned, leaning forward to scan over some of Ed's research.

The Major nodded and pushed forward a drawing that he had done himself. It was of a male, pretty thin around the face, one eye open and the other eye closed with a scar running over it. He had a small goatee, and didn't seem to have any head hair whatsoever. "He's the newest and possibly the most dangerous serial killer we've ever had."

"Who are his targets?"

"It seems, looking at all of the corpses, that none of them seem to be similar in physical appearance. It is a variety of males and females, so it is not another Barry the Chopper case, either. It was Edward's job to try to figure out and find the background of each corpse, yet, he drawn up to a conclusion that none of them followed a similar background of any kind. He checked through them twice. Luckily, Edward thought up of the idea to check up on their talents."

"And?" Roy asked, looking up from the drawing. Armstrong handed him 16 pieces of paper, each providing the picture, name, age, gender, background, location, and talents of each of the victims. It was true; each one seemed to have nothing in common when it came to physical appearance, the gender or background, and under each talent there was a list of different things. However, after looking through each paper, he finally saw the connection. "Alchemy."

Armstrong nodded sadly. "It seems that all alchemists are in extreme danger of Sorrow if he enters the town. Those papers are just from the town Dublith. Imagine what the death toll could be in Central and East City."

Roy ran a hand through his hair, sighing heavily. "Thank you for the information, Major. Has Edward brought this information to the Fuhrer as of yet?"

"He hasn't gotten the chance to. If you were in Central with us you'd be greatly surprised how little you see Mr. Elric throughout the day. He's always in the National library researching like no tomorrow. If he is indeed transferring to East City Headquarters, Colonel, I beg of you to keep and eye on Edward. Make sure he doesn't work too hard."

"I'll make sure of that, Major. And thank you. Will you be staying any longer?"

Armstrong flexed and exclaimed, "I will be joining you on the train to Central!"

Roy chuckled and stood up hastily. "Very well, Major Armstrong. You are free to do what you want until 10:00 when we have to be at the station. I will go check up on Edward now."

The larger officer saluted the Colonel yet again before watching him leave the kitchen and head back up to the bedroom.

The long hallway upstairs was nice and warm thanks to that fire blazing in the guest bedroom. Everything seemed to feel so right as he ventured the corridor, glancing in every room out of habit. Finally he passed through the open door into the 'Military Personnel' and saw Edward, dead asleep, on top of the covers like usual. His leg was bent and his arm fell over his stomach. Roy felt another blush come along.

"Dammit, Roy, pull yourself together," he scolded himself, approaching the sleeping Lt. Colonel. He mentally knew that it was impossible to pull something together once it had been shattered into a million pieces, but he thought it was worth a try.

Edward moaned in his sleep, turning his head away from Roy, revealing the beautiful tan nap of his neck, his white shirt slightly unbuttoned in order to keep cool in the warm room. Roy's jaw dropped and his blush reddened, feeling himself move closer to the bed. He gulped loudly as Ed's soft lips parted, trying to fight off the warm feeling he was getting in his pants.

Roy made a desperate glance to the door, to see if anyone was looking, before hesitantly climbing onto the bed and holding himself over the handsome Fullmetal Alchemist. That tan face was just so gorgeous and soft; he started to wonder what it would taste like. He leaned forward, and kissed the warm cheek, letting out a breath he didn't know that he was holding. Immediately his head ducked down into Edward's hair, loving the way the young military dog smelt. It was a mixture of tea and ashes from sitting by the fireplace so long while doing research.

"Edward…have I ever told you that you're beautiful?" he whispered, pulling back slightly to look at the sleeping angel's face. "I know that there are others jealous of you…myself included." He leaned forward again and kissed the soft nap of Edward's neck.

Suddenly, his head popped up in surprise. He could hear footsteps slowly coming up the stairs. The Flame Alchemist swiftly climbed off Ed without waking him up and walked casually to the window, looking outside as if admiring the scenery.

"Winter is approaching, you know?" came Pinako's voice from the doorway. "I would bet it'll be snowing around when Alphonse takes his test."

Roy ran a finger down the thick glass of the pane, answering calmly, "It wouldn't be much different from around six years ago when Edward took his test."

There came a sigh in reply. "I have never liked the military, in fact, I still despise it, but I only have noticed from Edward's experience that the people in your 'forces' are not as bad as the rest of the military seems. What happened to my son and his wife was not the military's fault. It was a person's fault and I can't control that." There came a long pause before Pinako continued, "Please, take care of Alphonse. Just because Edward has grown up greatly does not mean Alphonse has done the same."

Roy turned around and gave Pinako a reassuring smile. "You have my word."

The short old woman smiled back and left the Colonel to be alone. Roy momentary looked at Edward's seductive sleeping form and frowned. "That was close…I'll see you in two hours when I decide to wake you up."