It had been a couple of months since Monroe was here and he was making do on his promise and the transfer to central had been hard on him. His team no longer talked to him casually, Fury was the only one who talked to him nicely but he was just Fury. Roy was doing paperwork for once while rubbing a new bruise on his side, whenever they were alone Monroe would beat him. Whatever he put in his coffee made him feel weak and, dare he say it, useless. For now he's getting his own coffee by going to work before anyone else so he could be alone to treat his bruises.

Roy was tired and exhausted all time because of Monroe but he couldn't say anything because he'd make something up that'll get his team to quit and he'll do things to the Lieutenant that he didn't want to think about. As Roy wrote the door slammed open to reveal the blonde alchemist and his brother. "Yo! Colonel bastard I'm here to turn in my report!" "Brother! Sorry Colonel. Roy puts down his pen and looks at them calmly. "Ah Fullmetal, Alphonse, good to see you again. How goes the search?"

Edward looks at him surprised but reply's. "It was a dead end as usual." "Sorry to hear that. I'll go through your report and find you another lead Fullmetal." Edward looks at him suspiciously and hands him the report and sits on the couch while Alphonse sits on the other one. "So the lead in valley town was a dead end as well?" "Not really, he used a red stone just as strong as the real one but the real on is stronger, more powerful." Roy nods and says. "I'll look into more leads for you but for now how about you rest for awhile Edward." Edward and Alphonse look at the colonel confused then at themselves, they look back at the colonel and Alphonse asks. "Everything okay Sir?" Roy looks at them and reply's. "Yeah I'm fine. Just haven't been getting enough sleep lately so I'm little tired." "A little? More like allot. You haven't made a crack about my height for an hour! You sure your okay?"

Roy holds back a groan as his bruise starts hurting. "I'm fine, just tired. So I'm not really feeling like doing what I normally do, sorry to disappoint." Edward and Alphonse look at each in worry, something was wrong and they needed to find out. They left the colonels office in silence, Edward actually following the colonels order of resting for awhile. Havoc looks at Edward in surprise and asks. "How'd it go?" "Fine, colonel says he'll let me know when he'll find a new lead but until then to rest for awhile." "And there was no yelling at all? It was pretty quiet in there, we were concerned that he made a crack about your height and you quietly kill him while Al tried to revive him quietly to not get you in trouble." "Nah, the colonel said he was tired. Has there been any paperwork here that could cause him to be tired?"

Havoc puts a hand under his chin and thinks for awhile. "No not really, he's actually been doing his work. That caused a surprise in the work place but you said he's been losing sleep?" "Yeah and colonel Mustang looked like he was in pain, what's that about?" Havoc shrugs and gets back to work. Not really knowing what to say, Edward and Alphonse leave towards the library for some research but couldn't get anything done since they kept thinking about the colonel and how he looked in pain. Alphonse looks up from his reading and asks. "Brother?" "Yeah Al?" "Do you think something happened while we were away?" "What do you mean?" "What I mean it that the colonel didn't get angry with you or said anything about you height and the fact that Lieutenant Havoc said colonel like it was venom." "Now that you mention it, the others seemed to be angry at the colonel except Fury and the colonel being in pain? What has happened during these two months?"

As the Elric brother made their way back to the office, they saw a new guy sitting there next to fury's desk. They look at each other and walk into the office, it seemed like the colonel didn't notice them because he was hunched over holding his side in pain and groaned a little. "Colonel?" Roy looked up in surprise, fixing his composure. "Ah Fullmetal, what're you doing here? I thought you were taking a break." 'Why is he nervous?' Edward thought looking at the colonel. "Uh, I could come back later sir." "No it's fine, I found a new lead for you." "Really? Thank you colonel." "It's no big deal. The lead is in the town of Kaito, only problem is that the train won't be here until tomorrow afternoon." "It's fine colonel, we can just get a hotel." Edward notices the redness in his eyes and asks. "How're you doing? With Hughes I mean." Roy looks at him and gives a sad smile. "I'm doing fine, just tired is all." "Kay. Me and Al are gonna got get a hotel." "Okay. Good luck, both of you." "Okay colonel." "Sure colonel bastard."

Edward thought by calling him that would make him say something about his height but he just looks more sad then before. Before Ed could ask what was wrong, the door opened to reveal the new guy. There was something off about his smile that Edward didn't like. It reminded him of Shou Tucker and the fact that he looked like he was about to hurt someone. He looks at them in surprise and said. "Oh! Sorry I didn't know you were in a meeting sir. Who're these kids?" "Kids!?" "Monroe, this is Edward Elric, the Fullmetal alchemist, and his younger brother Alphonse."

Monroe smiled at this and walks up to them. "Wow! The Fullmetal alchemist in the flesh, now I know where you got that name!" Alphonse and Roy point at Edward, who is very annoyed. Monroe looks at him disappointed and says. "Who it's the short one?" Edward gets angry and says. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A MIRO-SIZE AN THAT CAN ONLY BE SEEN BY A MAGNIFY GLASS!?!" Monroe gets scared by this and backs away in fright. "Jeez! I thought the colonel was joking when he said you got angry easily." Edward glared at him and gritted his teeth asking. "How long have you been here Monroe again? It's been awhile since I've been here." Monroe gulps and says. "T-two months." "Then maybe you should have known not to say anything about my height if you've been here for two months and what happens to the guys that made that crack." Monroe nods and says. "The reason I came here was because I heard that you two might not have a place to stay, so I decided to ask the colonel if you two could stay with me while your here in central after missions."

Before Edward could answer, he saw that the colonel looked worried and more nervous. Maybe this Monroe guy was convincing and he did something to the colonel to make him like this. So Edward grinned as he remembered something that couldn't be argued. "Thanks but no thanks, I already have a place to stay." Roy and Monroe look up in surprise and Monroe asks. "Really? Where?" "The colonel said that if we ever needed a place to stay, we could crash at his place." Edward looked at Roy with a grin and Roy nods. "Yes, I did say that. Your welcome to stay at my house for the time being until your train arrives tomorrow." "Thank you colonel. (Turns towards Monroe) Guess I'll have to pass on that offer, Monroe. For as you can see, I already have a place to stay." Monroe's eyes widened at this but nods anyway. "Right, have a good day Ed." "Fullmetal." "What?" "Call me Fullmetal, not Ed." "Okay, Fullmetal."

Edward didn't miss the way the anger in his voice or the venom. So Ed just looked at the colonel and asks. "So when do we leave?" "Uh, I'm done with my paperwork for the day so we can go now, I just need to grab a few more papers that's all and we can get going." "Good. Because I'm starving!" "I'll get you something when I get those papers. I have to go to the store anyway. I'll meet you at the car."

Ed and Al nod and leave. Edward nor Alphonse missed the anger in Monroe's eyes as they left or they way he looked at the colonel. They shut the door and told the others that they were staying with the colonel, much to everyone's surprise. They knew the colonel offered them a place to stay but Edward just yelled at him and said that he'll think about it. But he actually agreed to stay at the colonels? Something was wrong.

As Edward and Alphonse waited for the colonel in his car, they saw him walking out to the car. Looking more in pain and tired then before, Ed and Al looked at each other and nodded. Ed got out of the car and went to the Colonel, he helped him into the car and they drove to the store then to the colonels house.

Alphonse held the groceries while Edward helped Roy into the house. But as he walked in the hallway, Roy doubled over in pain holding his stomach. Edward nearly fell with him but Roy leaned against the wall for support and coughed, blood splattered on the floor as Roy held his stomach in pain.

Al put the groceries on the counter and picked up the colonel. He took Roy to his room, placing him gently on his bed. Roy groaned in pain as he held his stomach in pain, he rolled to his side still holding his stomach. Edward came into the room with the first aid kit, water and some pain relievers. Ed gave Roy the pain reliever and gave him the water, Ed and Al relaxed as Roys face relaxed and opened in his.

He looked at Ed and Al, he's asks. "What, happened?" His voice was raspy because of the coughing. Edward handed him the water and Roy took a big gulp of it as Ed explained what happened. "You fell and coughed up some blood. What happened colonel? You looked like you were in a beat down." Roy didn't say anything and just rolled away from them and said. "I'm just tired Fullmetal, that's all."

Edward doesn't believe him and says. "Alright, then I guess we'll find out the hard way sir." Roy look at him confused when suddenly his arms and legs are pinned against the bed, he panics when Ed starts unbuttoning his jacket and shirt. He starts moving around and says. "Wait, wait, wait, wait! Stop, stop, stop, stop! Ed please don't look!" "Consider this as revenge for making go to the hospital and getting a shot." "That was completely different and you know it Edward Elric! Stop!"

Ed rips the shirt open and Al gasp in horror along with Ed. Roy's body was littered with bruises and stitches, one was red and had pus around it. It was infected. Al let go of Roy and backed up as Roy sat up and said. "Are you happy now? You saw what was I hiding now just go." Roy doesn't hear them leave and gets annoyed but before he could say anything Ed Asked. "Was it Monroe?" Roy looked at him surprised and asked. "What? Why would you ask that?" "Just answer the question and stop defending him." Roy hesitated and said. "Yes, he did." "I knew it."

Roy looked at him in surprise, he knew? How? "How? The others don't even see it, he's a good actor." "Because he reminds me of Tucker." Roy's eyes widened at that and nodded, he knew of what Tucker did to his daughter all those months ago and got her and him killed by scar. Roy puts a hand on Ed's head and rubs it in a comforting way. Ed doesn't even push him away, just looks at him and says. "We'll help you prove this guy is a menace to the military but what's his plan?" "He wants to take over my job and get rid of all state alchemist but for some reason he thinks I killed someone special to him. It happened in the Ishvalan civil war and I think whoever they were caught in the cross fire but I never heard of anyone called Monroe. I'm still looking into it but so far I'm finding nothing."

Edward and Alphonse look at Roy and Al says. "Don't worry sir, we'll help you with this and get the others to like you again." "Thank you Al, that means allot. You too Ed." "Yeah well, you've done the same for us. So it's only natural for us to help you in return. Now let's fix that wound up." Roy smiles at them and let's Ed fix his wound, he makes them dinner as a thanks.

As they go to bed, Roy worries about tomorrow because he'd have a feeling that Monroe lied to them and made them hate him more. So Roy would have to hope that they believed Ed and Al Before Monroe lied to them.

To be continued