A/N: Wow. I got a review.
Great big thanks to Kara! Enjoy this chapter: more Fullmetalness especially for you.

Chapter 5: Presumption

Al looked down at his hands.

'Strange,' he thought. The same hands as they were ever before, just… darker. Or it could have been an odd shadow, or… or a…

He had no idea. It was too dark in the room to identify the reason. Then he slowly started remembering. Last night… He didn't sleep. He never really slept, sure, but he could meditate – Auntie Pinako taught him that when he had started acting weird. He still had a human mind and a human mind needed rest to not get crazy.

But last night Al had not been meditating… and so he noticed the person that came inside. That person was a bad one, he knew it on the first sight. They were tall and evil and wore a long, long black cape that brushed the ground, wih a hood that obscured their face. They were alone.

Al had risen from the corner of the living room where he usually meditated when he heard some muttering in front of the door – he thought that somebody from Risenbool had gotten lost. It sometimes happened, mostly when the men went home from the inn…

But then there had been a flash of blue light and the lock had clicked and the door had slipped open… and Al had known this person were an Alchemist. At first he had supposed that it was Ed and didn't want to wake them up in the middle of the night, but then… then he had seen that the person were tall…

And anyway, his brother was resting because he had to get well quickly. Al failed to persuade Ed to listen to Colonel Mustang and not go into the battle…

Al never understood why, but he supposed it had something to do with those things Ed never spoke about. There was a lot of them. His depressions. The frustration he was trying to hide from Al whenever they came back home without the Philosopher's Stone. His nightmares. The way he felt about Colonel Mustang… Al was almost sure Ed in truth didn't hate the Colonel…

There was a muffled scream somewhere and Al's head snapped up. A stripe of moonlight was coming inside through the window. He looked out – there was something strange. The moon – that was…

'How long did I sleep?'

Trying to suppress the panic the way he had learnt it from observing Ed, he franatically tried to remember what had happened before he fell asleep…

That person, the one in the black cape… they had stepped in and Al had asked them who they were and… they had given him a long scrutiny and said… "Interesting."

And Al had known the person was a bad one and told them to leave or he would hurt them, but they had only laughed; it was a terrifying sound that echoed inside his armor. Before he could do anything, before he could even move, the person had brought out a thin wooden stick and aimed it at him and said… a word… something about… imperfect? No… imperator- imperial… something like that; Al probably hadn't even heard the end of the word. And then everything had went fluffy and pink and he didn't remember any more…

The door creaked open and a girl went inside… Helen. From the village. But she looked different. She wore a black dress… no, more like… black habit? She had a scary empty look in hed eyes, and it chilled Al.

"Lumos Maxima," said a creepy voice that Al recognised as belonging to that bad person. It made him shiver… The room lit up. Not like when you turn the light on, because there was no lightbulb, it just… did. Without any source, although he thought that the very first, original glow might have come from the door…

Then his eyes adjusted and Al screamed.

o

"Colonel."

Roy looked up from his plate and grimaced. Riza rolled her eyes. They all were eating the same food so she had quite a good idea what he was referring to, but, as a proper soldier, she didn't complain. Riza never complained, and, to tell the truth, sometimes it really aggravated Roy. She should be complaining! The so called 'food' was mud with some things swimming in it that were too hard to chew.

He spit it out and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Nani?" he grumbled. Riza sighed. She was being overly dramatic.

"I addressed you five times in the last minute. You were-"

"Thinking," Roy interposed and scowled at her. So he was a million miles away. And what? He had a lot to think about. Certain brothers, for example. And when he finally managed to convince himself that they were independent, and that he didn't have to worry about them, he still had a battle in front of himself. A battle that he hoped was going to end the war… trouble was the word 'end'. Not 'win'. Who knows what Amestris would turn into in the matter of mere weeks? Who was going to rule? And how were they going to treat the former enemy?

There were no answers to these questions, and, predictably, they brought him back to the previous subject – how were the Elrics going to fare in the new regime? Would Edward be prosecuted, or stood on a pedestal as the national hero, or would they leave him alone, realising that he was just a child?

Roy was thinking in circles, and it brought him nowhere. He wondered whether he would be spending his time better just watching the wind move the sand around. Or observing the life within the camp… which was virtually nonexistent right now.

"Yes, sir," Riza replied almost indifferently. No complaining. Damn the woman.

"So, sir, how did you manage to convince Edward to not come with us?"

'I did not. I am not a kami, and, honestly, no human can convince that boy of anything without using violence.'

"That is classified information," he drawled, gave his plate a first-class glare and snapped. A second later he had a barrel aimed at his temple. But the large scorch mark on the table was due to the unpredictable wind, which was not his fault… was it?

"Colonel-" Riza started with her totally not threatening voice. She grated on Roy's nerves. She was much too used to the way things were working in the office. But this was not the office. This was a camp. Where his subordinates were watching them.

He stood up.

"Put your weapon down, First Lieutenant, or you face court martial."

Riza's jaw dropped and for a while she froze. Then she – belatedly – remembered who they were, and where they were, and that Roy wasn't going to be benevolent here. And sure as Hell he wasn't going to be intimidated by his subordinate.

Her hands fell down and she stared at her boots.

"Sorry, sir…" she whispered.

"What was that, First Lieutenant? I didn't hear you," he said loudly, despite that everybody in the sight was already paying attention to them. Riza paled, but she held herself. She had a spine and Roy knew it, she just had to remember her place.

"Sorry, sir!" she said just as loud as he had spoken and Roy nodded his acceptance of the apology.

"Dismissed."

Riza gulped and saluted. Her hand was quivering.

Roy nodded again and watched her leave; she walked stiffly yet fast, in the direction to her tent. He sat down. She needed to cry it all out; she would be just fine tomorrow, maybe a tad more determined. He knew her.

"Sir?"

He looked up again. Fury, of all people, was standing on the spot Riza had recently abandoned, and saluted. The boy was the personofication of courtesy. He would never get too far, because he was shy and kind and polite, but Roy had a special place in his heart for him. Well, truth to be told, he had a special place for every of his direct subordinates… but sometimes he had the feeling that Fury's calm quiet approach together with his talent and will to solve the problems between them was what kept the 'family' running.

"Yes, Sergeant Major?"

"We are only worried that Major Elric will suddenly turn up when we expect him the least. We didn't want you to disclose classified information. We are sorry."

Roy couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. He hoped nobody noticed.

"There is no reason to apologise, Fury. There won't be any consequences for Hawkeye. She was disrespectful and put to her place."

The boy visibly relaxed; even so that he ceased the salute and only remained in attention.

"Sir."

"Don't worry, Fury. Fullmetal isn't going to turn up."

"Thank you, sir." The boy saluted again and Roy dismissed him.

He rested his elbow against the table and his chin against his palm, and stared into the distance, watching the wind move the sand.

'I'm sorry, Edward. I'm really really sorry. But Miss Rockbell will patch you up… And I'm afraid that not even the best Automail mechanic would be able to help most of us…

Maybe I should go and see Riza and talk to her where there are not subordinates listening. Screw policy… we're going to die.'

o

Al stared down at his hands. They were dark red; red with dried blood.

Further down, somewhere below his hands there was a broken body of a girl… the source of all the blood. Her face was mercifully turned down, but the long blonde hair and the wrench clutched spasmodically in her hand were enough to identify her.

Al knew that this wasn't a nightmare because he didn't dream. Slowly, he looked up at the person standing in front of him, while Helen knelt somewhere in the background. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

The person put down their hood and it made even less sense. They weren't human. The first thing that crossed his mind was Homunculus, but… Homunculi looked like humans. This person didn't; they looked like a snake with a man's skeleton. They had red eyes.

"Mossst interesssting way of achieving immortality… though unsssatisssfactory for me…" they hissed. Al stared. They pulled out the wooden stick again, aimed it at him and smiled. It would be scary, but Al didn't feel anything anymore.

"Avada Kedavra."

o

A/N: My understanding of A.K. is that it severs the soul from the body, so it would work on Al, too, because he's basically a soul attached to a 'different body'. Your opinion is welcome.