Hello, everyone. Man...it's odd that I'm doing a RoyxEd pairing. I'm more of a RoyxHughes fan myself, but I was just in the mood for this, I guess. I really have no idea how far I'll take the story, but I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter One: Depression

"I-I think you've had enough, sir," suggested the young bar tender timidly. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with this broken man who had wandered in here hours earlier. The one with ruffled black hair as if it hadn't seen a comb in days looked up at the bartender with longing, tired eyes.

"I'll tell you when I've had enough," the Colonel said in a slurred voice, then muttered something vaguely. "He never said anything like that to me...you're not my friend. Nobody's my friend anymore." He put a hand over his face and started whimpering and whining. The man was like a small child in this drunken state of depression, but then again, the death of your best friend can do that to you.

"I'm g-going to have to ask you to leave, alright?" He walked around the counter to the bar stool where the drunk was sitting. Placing his hands on the man's shoulders, he started to direct Roy out of the building.

"Don't friggin' TOUCH me!" The Colonel fought to break loose of the bartender's hold, but in vain, for he stumbled a bit and collided into a table, nearly pushing it over. "I can show myself out, thank you very...much." He hiccuped and tried to make his way to the door, tripping over nothing on the way and falling face-first to the ground. He then curled up in a little ball and whined, "Help me, Hughes..."

The bartender eventually managed to get the drunken man out of his bar, who made his was into an alleyway, clinging to the wall for support. He felt the muscles expand and contract in his abdomen, and he vomited violently all over the place. It was a long and dreadful process, and he didn't feel the least bit better when it was finally over. Wiping its remenants from his mouth with his sleeve, Roy staggered and eventually settled on sitting up against the wall, hugging his knees to his chest and burying his face in them. He then started sobbing.

"Damn it all..."

Winry's eyes lit up more and more as she looked around at their surroundings. To her, the automail capital Rush Valley was heaven, simply put.

"Ed...!" She shook her childhood friend's arm with great enthusiasm. "You have to take me to all the wonderful shops while we're here! Okay?" Edward cocked a brow. "We're only here temporarily. Our mission is priority, remember?" Winry glared and hit Ed upside the back of his head. "You are so...so selfish sometimes, Edward!"

"Hey guys..." Alphonse put a hand gingerly on Winry's shoulder. "Let's not fight right now." Winry turned her head away from Ed.

"Hmph! I should have never followed you here." Ed twitched.

"Well that's two of us."

"What did you say!"

Clonk.

Winry's wrench connected with the back of Ed's head, causing him to yelp in pain and grasp his throbbing head with both hands. Winry put her wrench away.

"C'mon, I didn't hit you that hard. Stop being such a baby about it." They were interrupted by a man in uniform who stepped out in front of them.

"Mr...Edward Elric? The Fullmetal Alchemist?" The man inquired.

"That's me." Ed cocked a brow. "And...who are you, exactly?"

"Ah," the man sighed in relief. "I thought I'd never find you. It took me days to track you down. I have here a message for you from Furher Bradley." He handed a rolled up piece of paper tied with a blue ribbon to to blonde. Ed eyed it suspiciously and took it. "Good day, sir." The man bowed his head and left immediately.

"What is it, Ed? I wanna see." She looked over his shoulder, only to receive a glare from the short one, obviously meaning to back off. He looked it over quickly, his eyes darting back and forth across the paper, then groaned.

"You have to be kidding me."

Roy's eyes opened slowly, but quickly shut them again when he found that the powerful rays from the sun shining through an open window were shining directly into them. He loudly moaned, sounding utterly pathetic. What the hell happened...? Ugh, and why the hell did his head feel like it was going to freaking burst?

"Rise and shine, Colonel," said a cheerful and loud voice. Roy quickly moved his hands up to his ears as his head started throbbing relentlessly. "Uuuuggghhhhh...damn..." He opened his eyes again, this time even more slowly, to see a smirking Riza Hawkeye standing beside him, leaning over him with her hands on her hips. "Sleep well, princess?"

"Whuh...what happened? Why am I...here?"

"You don't remember last night? I found you all curled up in an alleyway, out like a light, sleeping in your own vomit. Speaking of which, get the hell off my couch before you stink it up even more and go take a shower." Roy blinked as he looked up at her with helpless eyes, as if the hangover was some kind of unjust punishment for which he had done nothing wrong.

"Okay..." he said slowly, taking his sweet time sitting up carefully, wincing at the throbbing pain in his head.

"Move it, Roy. You are so damn lucky that I had an errand to run last night. If I wasn't there, I don't know what could've happened to you." Roy walked rather dizzily to the bathroom and slowly started to take care of himself.

Much later, Roy emerged from the bathroom, not smelling much better, for his clothes were still stained from his vomit. He found that Riza had breakfast waiting for the two of them on the table; fresh omlettes and sausages and bacon and toast. It all smelled sooo goood...

"Urk..." Roy covered his mouth with his hand and ran back into the bathroom, where he barfed profusely in the toilet. Riza entered the bathroom and stood over the Colonel. "Even the sight of food makes you puke? Just how much did you drink last night?" Roy wiped the vomit from his mouth and looked up at Riza with those helpless eyes. Her glare softened.

"It's because of Hughes, huh?" Roy nodded slowly, then bent back over the toilet and vomited some more. It was strange; he didn't think he had anything left in his stomach to vomit up.

"How are you able to cope with it?" Roy asked when he was done. Riza looked away.

"I'm...not. I'm very depressed as well. But I don't drown my misery in booze. I'm trying to do as he would want us to do; be happy. He wouldn't want us fretting over him." Roy nodded. Riza was right. He knew Hughes the best out of all of them; he wouldn't want so much to go wrong because of him. But...it was difficult. It was a nice idea to move on with life and be happy again, but that was harder that it sounded. Hughes was such a big part of his life, and he had so many regrets about the way he treated him.

After that little situation was taken care of, Riza and Roy sat together on her couch with some tea. Hopefully Roy could keep that down.

"I should probably walk you home now. Um...I really don't know how to break this to you, but you're needed at HQ this afternoon. I got a call from HQ, saying they couldn't reach you, and to give you the message." This remark was followed by a loud groan. Goodie, an assignment. He was so totally up for an assignment.

Roy finished his tea and stood up. "I can make it home on my own. Thank you for all you've done, Riza."

"Take care, Colonel," she called after him as he shut her front door.

Once Roy got home, he changed his clothes, and, because he felt like it, took another long shower. This was followed by a large dosage of asprin.

Roy showed up a bit late to headquarters, which led to being chewed out by one of his bosses. Yay, the headache was back. How nice. The Colonel then took a seat in front of the desk of his boss and crossed his arms.

"What did you need me for, sir?" His boss shuffled through a stack of papers as if he hadn't even heard the man's question, and then looked up.

"You've been assigned to investigate a series of seemingly related murders. This is very serious. Many State Alchemists have been dying at the hands of this murderer- or murderers."

"What makes you think they are related?"

"The details of the murders are quite similar. One- they were all done at night. Two- scorch marks have been found all over the victims' bodies. Three- the officers killed were all specialized in the field of alchemic research- and that field specificly. No fighters. We have no leads on what the murderer or murderers look like, but we believe that with your cunning and experience, you can find this killer and take him down. There will be a promotion awaiting your successful return..." He smiled slyly at the Colonel; he knew his ambitions well. "Of course, you will not go unaided." He looked over at the man standing guard by the door and nodded. "Let him in."

Theman opened the door slowly, and little by little Roy saw the person he'd least like to see at that moment.Theshort blonde walked in slowly, peeking his head through the door first. When he saw a certain familiar face, a vein in his head was near to the point of bursting. He stood there, gaping for a second, before throwing a temper tantrum.

"No way...you want me to work with HIM!" Ed exclaimed rather loudly. Roy stood up quickly.

"Fullmetal? Surely there's someone else, sir." He looked over at his boss with pleading eyes. The shrimp was already beginning to make his head throb again.

"You both have been assigned to this task. End of discussion. You are dismissed." Roy and Ed looked at each other briefly, Ed twitching an eyebrow and Roy clenching his teeth. This was going to be one long assignment.

That's it for chapter one. Reviews are appreciated.