Aghhh! Curse you, computer! You notice that the story jumps from one scene to another without showing that it's gonna? Well, I put little symbols to separate the scenes, but for some reason, they did show up. And I can't go back and edit now. My apollogies.

Chapter Two: Asprin

Shaky fingers ran slowly through thick black hair on a head riddled with migrane. The Colonel was very busy finishing up last-minute paperwork before the departure tomorrow. He and his new "partner" were to leave by train to the next town first thing in the morning. Roy had taken a big overdose of asprin for his god damn hangover, and still seemingly no effect.

And what made it worse was what wasn't happening. He had found it nothing but a nuisance when Hughes would call him up daily, maybe even hourly sometimes, to ramble on about his family. But it wasn't happening today. Nor would it ever happen again. The feeling was strange...it was like when you get the hiccups, and you spend so much time trying to cure them, and you finally do, but then you feel like you're going to hiccup any minute, and you have a sort of longing for the former sensation you were used to.

Hughes was gone.

I was so hard for Roy to get that thought through his head; he had no idea why. He just had that feeling that Hughes was going to show up suddenly as if nothing had ever happened. It came as such a shock to him when he had first found out about the incident, it was like it wasn't real, like he was going to wake up any minute from this stupid nightmare. But after a few days, it slowly started to sink in. As much as he hated to admit it, Hughes was the best friend he had ever had. Their brotherly bond made it so easy for Roy to take him for granted. He cursed himself for it, but there was nothing that could be done. What was gone was gone.

Roy, head throbbing even harder than before (if that was possible), reached toward the front of his desk, groping for the bottle of asprin, his tired eyes still fixed upon the paperwork before him. He took two pills from the bottle, slid it lazily back to its original location and tossed them into his mouth and swallowed hard.

He found himself nodding off constantly. For some unknown reason, he had been so tired lately, as if he hadn't been getting any sleep at all. He had tried to remedy this by going to bed as early as he could and trying to sleep in as late as he could without being late for work, but he was still so drowsy. And this had been happening ever since Hughes died. Perhaps emotional stress? Hell if he knew.

"Hmm..." His mind jumped around to random memories he had shared with Hughes. He let his eyelids droop a bit as he strolled down memory lane. Paperwork? What paperwork...

A knock at the door.

"Huh? What?" Roy sat straight up, realizing he had fallen asleep. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes angrily and tried to somewhat compose himself before mumbling hoarsely, "Come in."

"You wanted to see me, Colonel?" said Edward grudgingly after he opened the door and let himself in.

"Yes, it's about tomorrow. Have a seat." Ed did as he was told, his glaring eyes on Roy the whole time. Roy massaged his left temple with two fingers and scribbled something else down on the paper he was working on before looking up at the 15 year old.

"Did you get your train ticket?"

"Yes."

"And are you prepared for the journey?"

"Pretty much. But Alphonse is still busy packing his things."

"Your brother isn't coming." Ed twitched.

"Say what?" Roy cocked a brow.

"You heard me. He can't tag along with you for this one. It'll be dangerous to have too many people with us, as the murder is targeting State Alchemists specifically. We have to do our best to attract as little attention to ourselves as we possibly can. And your brother doesn't exactly...blend in."

"But Al's smart. He'd be useful. You said this would be a tough case."

"Didn't you just hear me? We can't risk it. Besides, don't you have confidence in your own abilities?" Ed stood up.

"That's not what I'm worried about! I just don't want to be stuck traveling alone with you!" he shouted rather loudly, causing the hung-over Roy to cringe.

"That remark was rather unprofessional, Fullmetal. You may hate me, but please keep it to yourself. Here, we are co-workers, nothing more." He paused. "And...please don't shout again," he groaned. Ed looked rather confused about the request, but shrugged it off.

"This is so gonna suck," Ed mumbled to himself. Roy wondered to himself why the Furher ever let a kid into the military. Ed then looked up at Roy, with an expression as if that previous episode had never occured.

"Hey Colonel, have you seen Hughes around lately? Is he sick?" Roy froze where he was, realizing that Ed hadn't been here when it happened. He wouldn't mind at all bursting the kid's bubble, but just saying it period made him sick to his stomach. Well, more than he already was.

"...sure." Ed shot Roy a puzzled look.

"What do you mean, 'sure'?" He narrowed his eyes. "Is there something you're hiding from me?"

"Just shut up and go home. Get some rest for tomorrow," Roy said quickly as he shooed the blonde out the door with a wave of his hand. Ed moved slowly, eyeing the Colonel suspiciously. He then sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to get any information out of him, and left.

And Roy continued his tedious paperwork.

The stressed out Colonel didn't get home until late that night, and he still had to pack his things, which sucked, because sleep was what he needed most right now. He dug out two rather small suitcases from an over-stuffed closet and lay them out on his bed. He then went back to the closet and started grabbing random items of clothing, throwing them on top of the suitcases rather lazily. He wasn't up to picking out his outfits.

The packing seemed drag on forever, but this was only because of Roy's worsening symptoms. He hoped this wasn't the consequence of the overdose of asprin. Finally, after sitting on and almost having to jump on the suitcases to get them to closed, Roy sprawled out on his bed, not even bothering to cover himself, and fell asleep instantly.

He had that dream again. The one where he was back in the middle of the Ishbal Massacre, one of his most painful memories. People were being slaughtered everywhere, and Roy felt sick to his stomach having to witness it all. As a less experienced, low-rank officer, his dream self struggled through it all, those traumatic events. He awoke to find himself drenched with sweat and clutching to a pillow for dear life.

These dreams had been occurring much to often now; at first, he had them right after the incident, and then they started happening less frequently, then not much at all. But recently, they'd been returning, worse than ever. Could this...mean something?

The Colonel, near to the point of crying, glanced over at the clock, which read 3:30. Damn. He was going to be so tired the next day. However, the symptoms of the hangover had fortunately relented at last, and he was thankful for that.

He lay his head onto the pillow he hadn't soaked with his prespiration, and closed his eyes. But sleep didn't come so easily. Not so much because of the nightmare, but because of his curiosity about the investigation he was assigned to. Such heavy thoughts...he cursed over and over about not being able to relax and fall alseep.

What was it going to be like, being partners with Fullmetal? He'd never actually worked with him before, just acted his boss. Which he somewhat enjoyed; he got to yell at the shrimp. Perhaps he's be of some good use in this mission. How else could he have gotten into the military at such a young age, if not for his skill and natural talent? Wait. Was he complimenting the runt? He shook his head and turned over on his side. Sleep took him in time, and he didn't wake up for the rest of the night.

Well, yeah. That was sort of a slow-moving chapter. So far, this has only been Roy getting all angsty over Hughes. You'll see more of Ed, I promise! Hee, REVIEWS ARE APPREICATED. Come on, people.