AN: Chapter 8! Thanks for all the reviews, and another special thanks to Pink Shimmer for the extra long ones X3 I love those! I'm happy you all like it so far.

Enjoy the 8th chapter!


Chapter 8

That same day, Edward decided to drive over to the Chinese shop where he had bought the watch and ask the owner if he knew anything about it. Roy had decided to stay at home and… lie on the couch. Lazy bastard.

"Good after—Oh, it's you again," the old man said. Edward rolled his eyes.

"Don't be too enthusiastic, old man," the blonde replied. The old man gave him a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head.

"Pardon me, sir," he said. Edward gave him a small shrug. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yup," the blonde said cheerfully. "Remember I bought that watch from—"

"We don't give any refunds," the man interrupted him. Edward raised an eyebrow.

"I don't plan on returning it, old man," he gave him a sly grin. "I actually am quite happy with it, even though the curse you told me was real," he added. The old man gave him a calculating look.

"The curse?"

"Yeah."

"It was real?"

"Yup, but it's not me who is the cursed one," Edward said. The man's eyes didn't show a hint of surprise, which made Edward question the old man. "You already knew about this, didn't you?" He received a short nod.

"Yes, back when my brother was younger, a man named Roy Mustang appeared for two months after he bought the watch. He decided to keep it, but he died two months ago, so I wanted to get rid of it—it was only a reminder." Edward's mouth hung open.

"Then why the hell did you sell it to me for such a high price!" he exclaimed, flailing his arms. He was ready to kill the old bastard—damn him! Said old bastard chuckled.

"Well, it's still a valuable item and even though I don't go for men—" Edward managed to suppress a shudder, since the man looked as if he was as old as Roy was (six-hundred years!), "—I think many men will be happy with Roy's… services. Tell me, how were these past weeks?" Edward fumed.

"I did not sleep with him, nor did I ask him to do anything else for me! Unlike you people, I have morals and I want to help Roy!" he yelled. The old man blinked. Edward was silent for a while, fumbling with a yin-yang necklace. "Do you have any idea how to break the curse?" The old man eyed him for a moment, before sighing.

"I'm sorry, but no, I don't. Even if there is any way to help him, there isn't anybody else who knows about the watch. Well, at least no one who is alive." Edward sighed—he had a feeling this would be the answer, but he wanted to try nonetheless.

"Thanks old man," Edward said. "I suppose you wouldn't know where I could find information regarding these things?" The man gave him a pensive look.

"Well, you could check the library, I guess," he muttered softly. "Most books written about the supernatural have a certain truth in them—I wouldn't be surprised if you'd even find the answer in one of those fairytales young children like to read so much." Edward gave him a hesitant look, before nodding.

"Thanks for your trouble, old man," he replied, waving his hand as he exited the door. He could hear the Chinese man yell 'Stop calling me old man!' and snickered to himself.


Fifteen minutes later, Edward finds himself in the library. Though he didn't think he would find any answers there, he didn't mind giving it a try—he didn't want to go home right now anyway, because he was getting closer and closer to Roy.

What if he didn't find a way to save him?

He shook his head—that was not an option. He had already made a promise, and he would rather die than break it! Now, if he had been anyone else, he would do a Superman-pose: one hand on his side and the other one pointing towards the sky.

… Right.

He walked inside and quickly looked over the entire library—he usually would go to the section where they had all the science books, or biology, but now he would need to search in the fantasy section, or perhaps history. The old man had said something about fairytales, but Edward could hardly believe that something like that was true—his mother had read him stories of witches and enchantments and all that stuff and they somehow always ended with a kiss and a happy ending.

Well, this wasn't a fairytale—this was real life. And Edward was pretty sure that a kiss wasn't the answer.

He strode over to the history section, in search of books about witches. He came across several, oddly enough, but they all talked about how people burned witches to a crisp. And how they usually just guessed who a witch was and who wasn't.

Edward concluded that humans were idiots.

After two hours of not finding anything in the history section, he decided to go to the fantasy one. He didn't have much hints, besides that only Roy was able to break the curse. But that didn't mean that Edward couldn't find a way to break it.

But what if it was something impossible?

Again, he shook his head—he should be optimistic about this. He scanned the books there, until his eyes rested on a small illustrated book of 'Beauty and the Beast'. Edward snorted softly—he remembered watching the Disney version of this fairytale together with Alphonse and they both had adored it.

"What was it about again?" Edward muttered softly to himself. He grabbed the book and sat down in one of the worn-out chairs and started reading. He felt quite stupid, sitting with the children and with a children's book in his hands, but Edward never really cared what others thought of him. As he started reading, he completely lost himself in the story (yes, even when reading Beauty and the Beast, Edward could lose himself!).

"Hey, Edo," a male voice suddenly said. Edward looked up and gasped.

"R—Russell!" he all but yelled. Russell gave him an amused look.

"This is a library Ed, you should be quiet," he said softly. "Then again, you never were much of a silent guy, right?"

"What the hell are you going here!" Edward hissed, choosing to ignore the comments.

"Again, this is a library. Therefore, it's public," he replied, shaking his head. "I saw you sitting here when I came in. Why haven't you called me back, Ed?" Edward gave him an annoyed look.

"Why the hell do you think! Is it common to almost get raped from wherever you came from or something?" Russell gave him a dark look.

"I said I was sorry about that, I didn't plan on doing it. I just thought… I thought you still liked me, that's why and I missed you a lot— I know that's not an excuse, but… I was desperate." Edward's eyes softened slightly. "I really am sorry Ed and I promise it'll never happen again."

"I'm sorry Russ, but we can't be anything more than friends," he told him truthfully. "And I'm not sure I'm even able to trust you… not after what you did." Russell nodded.

"I kind of already figured that," he replied, sitting down on one of the chairs next to Edward. "So, whatcha doing?" He eyed the illustrated book with amusement. It had always been like Russell to change topics whenever things became too serious—Edward didn't really like it, but at this point, he didn't really mind.

It was true that Edward wasn't sure he could ever trust Russell again, but he knew he couldn't stay mad at him forever either. Russell had been his best and only (besides Alphonse) friend all these years and Russell had always been there for him whenever he was depressed, happy or whatever he was feeling. Russell had helped him with his auto-mail, had done research with him even and never asked anything in return for it, not even when it had made Edward famous. Russell wasn't jealous of him, while others probably would be.

Perhaps Edward could trust him again, someday, but Russell would have to earn it. And Edward would give him a chance to.

"Research," the smaller blonde replied.

"With a Beauty and the Beast-book?" Edward blushed.

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Care to tell me what the research is about then?" Edward shrugged.

"You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you," he replied. Russell raised an eyebrow.

"Try me."

"Sorry Russ," he gave him a small grin. "It's a S-E-C-R-E-T," he added, making Russell scowl at him.

"Ok, so at least tell me what you're looking for so I can help," he replied, shrugging. Edward tapped his chin in thought.

"I guess anything about breaking curses would be good," he responded. Russell's other eyebrow shot up.

"Since when do you believe in curses?"

"S-E-C-R-E-T!" He received an annoyed scowl from Russell again, before the latter got up from his chair and went looking for the books. Edward had to admit he had missed it—annoying Russell was fun and researching with him was as well.

He remembered him and Russell always spending their time in the library when they had been in high school and college together—they always studied and researched together. Russell was never too tired to help Edward with his researches and he had been almost as passionate about helping Alphonse as Edward had been. The smaller blonde sometimes couldn't help but wonder what it would've been like, had they not broken up with each other, but always quickly dismissed it.

The past is the past and Edward knew now that he didn't want Russell back—right now, there was only one person he really wanted. And said person needed his help.

After about fifteen minutes, Russell returned with a stack of thick books in his arms and threw them on the table. By that time, Edward had also finished reading 'Beauty and the Beast' and snorted at the sappy ending it had. Honestly, love was always the answer.

"Well, shall we get started?" Russell asked with a grin. Edward gave him an equally wide grin in return and nodded in agreement. "You know, it would be a lot easier for me if you just told me what we're looking for when breaking curses." Edward gave him a shrug.

"I don't think so. I don't even know for sure myself, so we'll just have to explore everything," the sho—I mean, vertically challenged blonde replied. Russell gave him a nod, not entirely convinced, before taking an interesting looking book from the pile. Edward did the same and it wasn't until three hours later they finally gave up.

Edward sighed and rubbed his head, while Russell did the same thing. They had taken a lot of paper and pens and had written down everything that might be worth knowing, but, according to Edward, most of it was just useless.

"Well, I have to go," Edward said, glancing at the pocket watch he held in his hands. "Thanks for helping me Russ, call me sometime. This really… brought back memories, y'know?" Russell smiled at him and nodded.

"I know. Thanks for giving me another chance, Ed," he said. They awkwardly stood at the parkinglot for another minute, before Edward stepped into his car all the while grinning.

"See ya, Russ!"


AN: So yeah, I made Russell nice. I always liked Russell in the anime/manga, so I didn't want him to be evil in the end xD And it's not like Edward immediately forgave him or anything, but nyah o.o. I hope it's kind of believable. I don't think Edward usually holds grudges (with the exception of his father xD). And... no Roy in this chapter O.o... I promise more RoyEd fluffi-goodness in the next one x3

Review, please! n.n