4. "Alphonse still hasn't regained his memories?" Roy wondered sadly, jingling his keys in the lock.

"Didn't you know?"

Roy swung the door open and tiredly flicked on the hall lights, "I assumed that he would regain them. Eventually."

Ed sighed and shrugged his coat off, tossing it into the corner without much ceremony. Roy raised an eyebrow when Ed didn't take off his boots but stalked off down the hall anyways, "Apparently everyone else did too."

"It's been seven years," Roy followed the boy down the hall and directed him into the living room, "There has been a general assumption that his amnesia was brought on by trauma. The Rockbells and Miss Roze have never offered any evidence otherwise. In most cases like that, memories will return after a set amount of time, often triggered by- Edward, please don't put your boots on my coffee table."

"Sorry." Ed chirped, but didn't move his feet. Roy sighed and lingered in the archway, his coat still on, staring at Edward in the half light. The boy- well, a young man now Roy supposed- was sprawled out across his couch, feet propped up on the table, arms stretched over the back of the couch. His chest heaved heavy with a miserable sigh. The body language was the same though the eyes were older. So, so much older, "But you should have known better, Mustang. You're an alchemist. Even without me around to explain exactly what did happen to him, you should have realized that Al's memories probably would never come back."

"What happened to him?"

Ed just leaned his head back and stared at the black ceiling. Then Roy noticed something, "Fullmetal, may I ask why you are making yourself so comfortable in my home?"

Edward rolled his head on his shoulders and looked at Roy plantively, "Do you have a personal library?"

Roy blinked. It wasn't a very big one but, "Yes." most grounded state alchemists did.

Ed nodded, wearing a shallow grin, "Good. I can't exactly walk into Central's afterall. I'm dead."

He couldn't be suggesting- Roy inhaled deeply and fisted his fingers in his pockets. He would have laughed, except that Edward was being serious, "Fullmetal, you can't just-"

"Listen, Mustang, I told Al that I'd get his memories back and in order to do that, I need your help. I don't break promises to my little brother. As far as most people are concerned I've been dead for seven years and just between you and me, I'd like to keep it that way." a serious look and Edward's eyes always caught the light at exactly the right angle. Roy couldn't understand why, but it made his breath catch in his throat.

"I have a... well, there is no spare bedroom..."

"I'll take the couch."

Roy nodded curtly, then remembered that he was still wearing his jacket. He turned awkwardly in the doorframe as Ed muttered a 'thanks, Colonel' and fell backwards into the cushions. It reminded Roy of the past. it reminded him too much of the past, and the memories sent a shiver up his spine.