YAY REJOICE HAPPY DAY SORTA IF YOU LIKE MY FIC-cough-

Anywayz, what I'm trying to say is here's chappie 9. Maybe one day when I get around to it (a.k.a. never) I may merge chapters 8 and 9 due to hurried shortness of chapter 8.

I disclaim! And when I say disclaim I mean Roy, Hughes, Havoc, and Edo are MINE! (in my dreams)

Oh, and due to certain unsaid person losing certain unsaid personal item of mine -coughnintendoDScough- with unsaid sentimental value -coughgiventomebyhalfbrotherwhoisinthearmyandboughtitinIraqcough- I am angsting. It is also one of the reasons that I took so long to update.

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Oi, guess what? I wrote the first half of this a/n like a month or two ago, and now it's December! My dad's b-day is on Sunday, so give him lotsa presents!

...You will give him presents, won't you? –wields ugly stick of doom-

But I just had a plot bunny attack! And it's not for this story, rather it's a Death Note related bunny! But when it hit me I was like OMFG I have to finish this damn chapter or I never will! I'm just having a hard time trying to remember all that I wrote and bring it together for some of the explaining going on in this chappie, because I am VERY bad at remembering things xx As for the Death Note bunny attack... we'll see. I probably wanna read the rest of it (if it's all released) before I start on this bunny.

But I found my Nintendo DS! It was in my band director's bag that he had hadn't looked in since the Indy trip when I lost it! XD I was sooo relieved that no one had stolen it. I was in a constant state of tension since it went missing. I thought I was gonna have to make my friend that lost it pay for it, and that just... yeah.

New obsession: Bleach.

Anywayz, I WILL WRITE NOW! I named the chapter "explanations,"and although it may not be as explainingful as it seems to me, after taking so damn long to write it all I don't really care o.o

Listening to: Suigintou no Yoru (from the Bleach Beat Collection: Uryuu Ishida.) while writing from the point of the words "little girl." My first chapter written while listening to music. o.o

Chapter 9: Explanations

Havoc sat quietly for a moment, his eyes straying to the others in the room. Roy was watching him, waiting for an answer, yet it was obvious that he already knew what the reply would be. Ed was glaring at his boots with his hands pushed down firmly into his lap, every now and then casting a death glare at Envy. Al was watching his brother, deep in thought. Envy was still curled up in the fetal position, asleep. Hughes was watching Havoc as well, waiting for the response that he knew would come. He looked a bit pale.

"From what I've gathered, no, neither you nor Hughes need to ask that question. Before I answer, I think you need to explain some things to us first."

Roy glanced at Hughes, who returned the look. Realization was beginning to show itself on Ed's face, and Al was squirming uncomfortably in his seat. Hughes sighed and leaned sullenly back in his seat.

"Alright."

The Elrics, Fury, and Havoc all turned to face him. He hesitated, then grimaced. In a flash of light he had returned to Homunculus form. Envy lifted an eyelid to see the transformation. Fury gasped, and Havoc's eyes widened slightly and the corner of his mouth twitched into an almost-grin.

"I never would have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes..."

Hughes grinned wryly, then he recounted all that happened. He explained how Gracia had always been an alchemist, how she had tried to resurrect him and how Alicia had been taken into the Gate, pulling the last strings of Gracia's sanity loose. During his retelling his skin became even whiter, by the time he had gotten to where he had ended up at Roy's house he was hugging his stomach. Roy suddenly realized what was happening and cursed himself for not noticing sooner. He swiftly pulled a small trashcan over and placed an arm around Hughes' shoulders. Havoc half stood up as the man began to vomit.

"H-Hey, what's going on? Is he okay?"

"Don't you remember what Gracia was saying? The transmutation was imperfect. So far it seems this is the only symptom of that. It seems to be happening less frequently though..."

A nurse hurried over to where they sat.

"Excuse me, but may I help?"

"It's fine, he'll be alright in a moment."

The nurse looked doubtful, but after a protective death glare from the Fuhrer she turned her back and scurried back to her duties. Havoc sat back down and watched apprehensively until he stopped retching. He sighed.

"Man, I could really use a cigarette right now..."

Roy rubbed Hughes' back as he always did until the color began to return to his face. After he seemed about normal again, Havoc spoke up.

"Alright. Now that I know what happened, maybe I can explain this without confusing everyone..."

"During the time right after Envy first entered the Gate, he began frantically trying to find the other end, where Hohenheim is. He told us that the black things had been constantly trying to decompose him. He avoided that mostly by hanging his shape every so often, but that only slowed the process. At some point he gave up on trying to find the other side of the gate and instead focused on trying to find a way out. He wasn't having much luck there either."

"Then suddenly the black things recoiled and the Gate opened. On the other side he could the them reaching out and taking a little girl."

Hughes shut his eyes and looked down to the side, his teeth clenched. Roy, his arm now wrapped about Hughes' shoulders, squeezed his arm lightly.

"... Envy took this chance to escape, morphing into the shape of a fly and landing on a nearby wall to find out where he was."

A few minutes passed in silence, Havoc looking as if he wanted to continue, but couldn't form the right words.

"... I guess that's all that needs explaining. After that, he left Gracia's basement and ran until he maxed out his energy and crawled up the next house he came to."

More silence. Havoc coughed and pointed at the bandages wrapped about Roy's head.

"So... what happened to your head?"

Roy tore himself away from studying the floor long enough to look at Havoc.

"Oh... that has to do with Karen..."

Roy explained all that had happened between him and Karen, beginning with the letter he had received. All the while he was frantically trying to decide whether he should be sharing this with all of them rather than dealing with it himself. But no, it would be better for others to know, just in case anything unexpected happened...

Just as he was finishing, a doctor stepped out of one of the rooms and made his way down the hall, stopping in the lobby.

"Excuse me, but the patient Farman is now in a stable condition. You may go see him now if you like. Try not to crowd him too much."

He added the last statement while eyeing their large group before turning back to his duties. Roy stood up, stretched, and began to make his way calmly down the hallway, although he seemed trying his best not to break into a run. The other stood to follow him.

"Um...hey..."

Roy turned around quickly to look at Fury.

"Yes?"

"I... don't mean to be rude, but if it happened once... might you... lose it again like you did after reading your sister's letter? What would we do then?"

Roy stood silently, and Fury was just about to panic for fear that he shouldn't have asked when Roy spoke.

"Idon'tknow, Fury."

FWOO! FINALLY! Say hello to the crappiest crappy crap chapter of my story! It's finally finished! It's not even long T.T

And guess what? Although you probably all already know Now I am no longer allowed to reply to reviews in my chapters, but now I can reply to the reviewers themselves! w00t!

PLZZZ review! Tell me how crappy I am! Come on! Cookies for all! Merry Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa! Chanukah starts on Christmas this year! –squee-