Duo was groggy and his vision was blurry as he tried hard to concentrate on the face that was over his. At first he thought all of it had been a bad dream and that he would wake up in his bed naked and next to Heero, but his hopes were vanquished when he saw the boy Edward.

"Are you okay? You could've died doing a stunt like that!" Edward almost seemed to scold him.

"I wouldn't have gone unconscious if someone hadn't shot me!"

"Well… we had to use desperate measures to catch you and you didn't leave us much of a choice."

Duo sat up and noticed that his hair was loose and tangled from sleeping on it. He was also dressed in some light green hospital clothes. It all seemed old-fashioned to Duo, but he wasn't entirely sure how far back he had gone into the past.

"Okay, I'm sorry for all that, but I want to know what year is it?"

Edward looked surprised to be asked and took a moment to stare at him in disbelief.

"Well?" Duo asked getting impatient.

"1913."

"1913! Are you serious?"

Edward laughed at Duo's shocked face, "I'm dead serious. Why?"

"What city is this? What country is this?"

"You're in Central and Amestris. Have you lost your memory or something?"

"No, but how did this happen?" Duo tried to stand up, but felt a wave of pain go through his body.

Edward helped him lay back down gently. He made sure Duo was comfortable and then sat down in a chair next to his bed.

"Why are you still here anyway?" Duo asked as Edward pulled out a book and flipped through some pages.

"I'm the one who's supposed to watch and protect you from any more harm. Oh, and Lieutenant Hawkeye apologizes for shooting you in the leg." He added as he found his thin bookmark.

"So, you really work for the military, kid?" Duo asked as he glanced at the book and took note of all the different diagrams and strange symbols that crowded the page.

"DON'T CALL ME A KID!" Edward stood up and sent his book flying across the room while his chair fell over with a loud bang against the floor.

Edward suddenly grabbed the chair and stood it upright so he could sit down again. He looked ashamed and he refused to meet Duo's eyes.

"I'm really sorry… Everybody always likes to make fun of me because I'm so short and I get really irritated with anyone who insults me about my height."

Duo grinned and put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, a lot of people call me short too. At least where I come from they do…" Duo sighed despairingly, but put on another smile for Edward.

"Do you come from another country?" Edward inquired as he watched Duo braid his hair.

"You could say that. Oh! I never introduced myself, my name is Duo Maxwell." He stuck out his hand and Edward shook it.

An abrupt knock on the door startled both of them. Edward hastily grabbed his book and tossed it onto the chair before opening the door to let in Roy and a blonde woman.

Roy immediately glared at Duo; remembering what the small teen had done to humiliate him in front of the large group of civilians and soldiers.

"This is Lieutenant Hawkeye, and she would like to apologize to you for shooting you in the leg earlier."

The woman named Hawkeye bowed with great courtesy before standing upright once more. "I would like to apologize sir, for shooting your leg and for causing you to be unnecessarily handicapped for the time being."

Duo laughed at her formal apology before saluting her. "Don't even worry about it! I've been through worse before!"

Hawkeye saluted him back with a small smile before leaving the three men to themselves.

"You know that it was a miracle you survived at all." Roy said as he gazed out the window at the light rain that had started.

"Yeah, well I'm good at that kinda stuff." Duo grinned, but stopped as Roy turned to him with anger in his eyes.

"You didn't save yourself. Actually Fullmetal saved you from the fall."

"Who the hell is Fullmetal?"

Duo heard a sigh from behind him and found Edward staring at the floor and looking guilty for some crime he never committed.

"My nickname is Fullmetal or the Fullmetal Alchemist…"

Edward didn't look up for a while, but when he finally gained the courage to see Duo's expression of expected disgust or hatred; he only saw confusion.

"What's an alchemist?"