"So you're saying," Roy Mustang said, his hands folded in front of his face and not quite hiding the disbelief evident there, "That this girl … is you?"

Edward Elric leaned backwards into the couch, scrubbing both gloved hands over his face and letting out an exasperated groan. "How many times do we have to go over this?"

"Until it makes some kind of sense," Mustang said, not unreasonably.

Edana was seated next to Edward, both her legs and her arms crossed. She was glaring at Mustang with a venom that usually only Edward was capable of. "Look, I don't see what's so hard about all of this."

Alphonse was standing behind the couch, leaning against the wall and very, very glad not to be included in the current conversation. He knew his time would come once they got this through Mustang's head. They still had to explain about the other Edward and Alphonse. That was going to be even more fun, if this was any indication.

Mustang took a deep breath, shaking his head again in disbelief. "It's completely impossible," he said. "I've never heard of anything like it before."

"Clearly, it's not impossible," Edana said dryly. "None of us have ever heard of anything like it, which is why we need all the help we can get." She sat forward. "Al and I want to get home as quickly as possible, and I'm sure the others feel the same."

"'Others?'" Mustang had a sudden disturbing mental image of an entire army of variations of Edward and Alphonse. He shuddered, and decided he didn't want to know just yet.

Edward was scowling at Edana. Once Mustang was certain he wasn't hallucinating a female version of Edward, they had turned on each other and had a shouting match that brought Hawkeye into the room, pistol drawn. After sorting the two of them out (and insuring that if any blood was going to be shed, Hawkeye would be doing it by putting a bullet into somebody), they had finally gotten some questions answered.

Of course, those answers led to many more questions.

Edward glanced back at Roy, then nodded sharply, once. "There's another set of Al and I back home," he said, stopping it at that. Clearly there as more to it, but as much as Mustang wanted to dig deeper and needle Edward just a little more, he could already feel quite the headache starting. He left it at that.

"This entire matter is quite disturbing," Mustang finally said, sitting back in his chair and studying the pair of them. The similarities were disturbing, and the differences few and far between. "What do you plan to do?"

"Research," Edward and Edana said in unison. Their identical expressions and tone of voice disturbed him far greater than any physical similarities. They glanced at each other in surprise, then frowned.

"I don't know if you should be anywhere near the library," Edward said, still frowning.

"I'm as much of a State Alchemist as you are," she snorted at him. "I certainly know my way around Central's library system. Between the two of us, we should be able to turn up any material on the matter."

"I don't know if that's a wise idea," Mustang said thoughtfully. "…I think I know where Edward is coming from on this."

Edana glanced between the two of them, still frowning. "What do you mean?"

"There aren't that many State Alchemists," Edward said. "I think they'd notice if there were two of us in the same place. It looks rather suspicious for me to suddenly develop a twin sister, don't you think?"

"Idiots," Edana said. "Did you really think I intended to parade around Central right next to you? There's more than one branch to the Central library system. We systematically hit each branch. From enough of a distance, they won't question that I'm you, and as long as we're not together we should be able to pull it off."

Mustang nodded. "That could work."

"What do you mean, "could"?" Edana huffed at Mustang. "Of course it'll work."

"You'll have to wear a different top," Mustang said, trying not to look at Edana's chest at that statement. "But you are small-chested enough that no one will think to look clos—"

"'WHO'S SO SMALL-CHESTED THAT THEY GET MISTAKEN FOR A GUY!" Edana bellowed, on her feet in an instant.

Edward, who hadn't been expecting the outburst, toppled slightly to the side. Then he did a bad thing. He snickered.

Edana whirled on him. "What are you laughing at, little man?"

"WHO'S SO SMALL THAT THEY GET LOST IN THE SEAT CUSHIONS!" Edward bellowed, now also on his feet.

Mustang winced, and the door opened smartly. Hawkeye stood there, pistol in hand and a foul expression on her face. "You two are quite loud," she said, cocking her pistol.

Edward and Edana glared at each other for a second then turned their backs to the other, crossing their arms and adopting identical sulking expressions.

If Mustang hadn't been concerned that Hawkeye would shoot either one, the situation would have been quite funny. As it was, it was all he could do to keep a straight face while ordering Hawkeye out of his office.

"Well," he said, coughing once into his hand. "It looks like you have some semblance of a plan. Why don't you get started on your research, and report back to me in the late afternoon? I'm sure someone will find something of value by then."

Edward turned and shot Mustang such a Look. "We'll see, then," he muttered, turning on his heel and stomping towards the door. Edana scowled at Edward's back, but followed him. Alphonse turned and bobbed his head at Mustang. "Thank you, Colonel," he said, before hurriedly following his siblings out.

Mustang sat back in his chair, glancing at the ceiling. He was still asleep, that was the only explanation for it. That decided, he glowered at his paperwork and contemplated setting it on fire. It was only a dream, after all.