Ed knew she had too much energy, the familiar buzzing of her skin had started about an hour ago and now she needed an outlet. Usually she burned it off in a good sparring match with her brother but recently Alphonse had moved back to Resembool to start a life with Winry. She'd been invited to move in with them of course, but somehow it just seemed weird. They could finally start their lives and she knew she'd be the tag-a-long. So she'd declined and there had been hugs and tears as she waved them off at Central Station.

Now she was close to regretting it. There was nothing to do in this stupid dorm room. The boxes were packed for pickup to go to her new apartment tomorrow, mostly books and some furniture that Alphonse had insisted she buy before he left. So aside from her own suitcase that barely had a change of clothes, she was packed. Nothing else to do here.

She wondered how the train ride had been and then cut that line of thought off, thinking about her brother and Winry made her lonely. Should she call Riza to hang out? She was probably sleeping. Maybe there was there a gym nearby that wasn't military that she could … probably destroy. God what the hell was she supposed to do with this energy?

Maybe she could go for a walk, let her mind and legs wander. And bonus, if she stayed up for 24 hours then for sure she'd sleep tomorrow night. It was basically fool proof.

With that argument, and only a tiny amount of inexplicable unease, Ed headed out with her trademark red coat over her shoulders. It was late, but at least this way no one would fuck with her.

Ten minutes later and that notion was thrown in the garbage. "Hey pipsqueak, what are you doing up passed your bed time?"

This mf shit head colonol she swore to god was the last person she wanted to deal with.

Maybe…

Actually, she did really want to talk with someone. Anyone. Even if it was just shitty banter from a superior officer. This could work- Wait, full stop. Shut up brain. This wasn't a good idea. Despite him still thinking that she was a seventeen year old boy, this was Roy Mustang, 100% the master of accosting lonely women. It was probably safer to find a gang of thugs. Time to get away from here.

"Go away jackass, I'm a full grown adult. I don't have 'bedtimes'."

Well shit, should have thought that one through. His response was predictable, "Your paper work says you're seventeen."

She could have shut her mouth after 'jackass' but no, can't stop Ed from talking once she's started. Ed berated herself and then went with it. "Yeah well, the paperwork is a lie. I'm 21."

There was silence for a moment before she decided to see if escape was possible. Roy stopped her.

"You're not 21. You haven't hit puberty. Look at you, look at how small you are."

"I AM NOT SMALL you useless-"

"Then why would you lie on your paperwork to say you're younger?"

Ed hesitated. This had definitely been one of the worst ideas she'd ever had. The walk, deciding she could live alone, engaging Mustang in conversation. Any of them, all bad ideas. He wasn't even being snarky or condescending, he was just simply questioning. Which usually meant she was about to get into some trouble.

Now it really was time to get the fuck out of here. "Forget it." She uncharacteristically waved him off and moved away. "I'm not telling you anything."

She had to jump back as Mustang's arm swept out to grab her coat. Close one.

!-

Mustang knew Ed enjoyed combat, probably because he was good at it, so after that first fight in the courtyard, which if anyone asked had just been for show anyway, Roy had figured out a better way to beat FullMetal at his own game. Which was to approach slowly and calmly so there was nothing to fight against, then grab him. Mustang was 99% sure he was stronger than Ed. He just had to get a hold of him.

Roy carefully walked forward. Nonchalant and relaxed as he eased his way toward Ed in his fighting stance. The plan was working, Ed backed up as he approached, clearly unnerved by Roy's casualness. Step for step until FullMetal was backed up against a wall. He could see the moment Ed noticed he'd been trapped. His back hit the brick and full panic washed over his face. Mustang moved in for the kill before Ed remembered he could transmute the wall out of the way and grabbed FullMetal's left hand, pulling it high enough above his head that his feet no longer touched the pavement. Hah! Success! Roy was in shape, he'd just turned 32, and despite FullMetal's insistence that he was ancient, he was very much able to lift a twenty-one year old off the ground. Especially since this twenty-one year old was especially small.

He ignored Ed's protests, "Tell me, how exactly does someone get to be twenty one years old and not hit puberty?"

Ed just snarled at him, "Fuck off Mustang."

But Roy's mind was flying through multiple possibilities. Crossing each one off as they went by. Genetics? No, Al was large. The gate? Again, Al went too. Not to say that the gate couldn't have done something, but it didn't feel right. He shook Ed, which caused another round of swearing, "Just tell me FullMetal."

"Eat shit."

It looked like Ed was in a spectacularly bad mood tonight. Maybe the kid-not a kid, needed a fight. Roy got like that sometimes, energy to burn. Tonight wasn't it. Tonight he wanted to tear something apart piece by piece and watch it burn. He shook Ed again just to piss him off and he watched as the newly returned weak right arm slashed out and tried to swipe at Roy's face. Missed, sucker.

Something caught Roy's eye. A bandage wrapped around Ed's chest. Which was strange because he didn't seem injured.

"Any particular reason you're not shrieking at me about reopening your wound?"

Now Ed looked confused, confused enough to stop swearing. "What are you talking about? Senile already Mustang?"

Roy used his free hand to lift Ed's shirt and watched as panic flooded his face again. This, this had something to do with the age difference.

But what the fuck did a wrapped chest have to do with a twenty one year old pre-adolescent… boy.

Roy looked again, lower than the bandage, hips. Hips that were marginally wider than he'd noticed before. Visible only now that Ed was dangling in the air and his stomach was pulled in.

A woman?

He looked at Ed's face again, trying to see the truth in her? eyes. Except she was looking at something else, something behind him. And now she looked absolutely terrified. He felt annoyed, he wasn't going to fall for that-

"Good evening Edaline."

Shit. not a trick.

"I see you're getting yourself in trouble again? Or maybe you did this on purpose since you like powerful men so much. Good choice though, can't get much stronger than the Flame Alchemist i suppose." Roy was close enough that he could feel Ed's fear as well as see it. The stranger continued, "I'm stronger now though, let me show you what i can do."

Mustang hadn't turned around which meant this man recognised him from the back of his head and he couldn't even recognise the voice. All he had to go on was Ed's expression that clearly indicated that this was an enemy, her terror had been hidden and she was gearing up for a fight, which meant that he was definitely facing the wrong way. At least he was almost fully blocking Ed with his body.

Ed met his eyes, their previous argument was completely forgotten and in its place, brutal sincerity, "Mustang. You need to run."

Run?! Yeah right. "Ed i'm not letting you-"

He hadn't been paying enough attention. Ed reached up with her not-as-weak-as-he'd-thought right arm and grabbed his hand that was holding her up. With the new leverage she swung her legs up and planted her feet at his waist and stretched. It bent him at a ninety degree angle just as something flew over his head. Attack dodged. Unfortunately holding both their weights at this angle was impossible and he fell almost on top of her. Ed used his confusion to roll sideways. *clap* *slap* a wall went up in front of him and Ed ran. Not 'away' like she'd just told him to do, but around the wall and directly at her attacker. He scrambled for his gloves. He should have put them on as soon as he'd seen FullMetal. There were almost zero instances where FullMetal plus midnight didn't equal 'deathmatch'.

It took him a moment to regain his bearings and then he poked his head around the wall to evaluate the situation and finally get a good look at the enemy. He felt his blood run cold. The street was a mess of spikes and fists, they were both doing clap alchemy and Ed was stumbling around like she was drunk. He couldn't tell if it was due to blood loss or a hit to the head. Either could be true because there was blood everywhere and her opponent was huge, Armstrong level huge, and seemed to be faster than Ed.

Shit. Ok. No time to think. Mustang snapped his fingers and flames roared toward the enemy.

They didn't reach him. The man clapped and turned, putting his hands out, palms toward the flames. Mustang watched as the fire died and spikes of ice flew out of the ground at him, he ducked back behind the wall.

Double shit.

He'd have to coordinate attacks with Ed, if Ed had any more attack left in her, and do it without communicating. And he'd just reminded this guy of his presence.

He checked on Ed, her automail leg was stuck in the ground and he watched her clap and transmute it into a spike, which freed her but significantly hindered her mobility. She was not in a state to coordinate attacks.

And what the hell was he doing? Watching a show? Ed was scrambling backward away from her attacker and he was just watching.

Ed was going to die in front of him and he was useless.

Completely Useless.

She'd known. She'd told him to run.

Ed had called him useless and meant it.

There it was, the door to his anger and the reason he'd been drawn to flames in the first place. No one was allowed to take his people away from him.

*snap* Flames surrounded the three of them, not just a circle of fire, a wall of fire. Forty feet high and hot enough to melt the stones under it.

Ed shouted a warning at him. It didn't matter, he wasn't going to do what she was thinking anyway. After all, he didn't control the fire, he controlled the air. The food source. Moving oxygen around until it was so condensed that a spark could ignite it.

He was ready when the enemy tried to clap.

By moving oxygen to the circle of flames around them there was an abundance of carbon dioxide at the center. Enough to condense into a liquid by someone that knew the rules. Rules like the ones he'd burned out of existence off the back of his first lieutenant.

The man screamed as he clapped and the carbon dioxide condensed and then turned into dry ice around his hands. Not just burning them from the cold, freezing them solid.

Fire and ice, how fitting.

He had been so focused on what he was doing he only noticed Ed's thrown rock a second before it shattered the frozen limbs. The man's screams intensified as he looked at his frozen stumps. It was especially gruesome and Mustang was jarred out of his anger by the shock that Ed had done that.

His flames died instantly and he could hear the tail end of her mumbling to herself, "-never touch me again."

He hoped to fucking hell she was only talking about this fight and he stared as she turned to face him, the look on her face told him the truth.

Mustang's flames came back with a snap, this time centered on the man that couldn't defend himself. It wasn't the first time he'd burned evidence.

He waited until there was nothing but ashes left of him before checking on Ed. She looked like she'd spent the last hour in a cement mixer on high, and it had only been fifteen minutes. At least her human limbs were intact.

"I thought you wanted everyone to face fair trial."

He avoided her eyes and found himself fussing over small scrapes and bruises. "I wouldn't have been able to hand-cuff him anyway."

Ed snorted.

"Can i bring you to the hospital?"

"Yeah, let's do that. Probably sooner rather than later."

The comment was redundant seeing the amount of blood on the ground. He scooped her up. "Damn, i was going to get ice cream on the way."

"You're fucked up, you know that?"

"I think you've mentioned it, yes."

"Could you call Al for me?"

"Sure thing Ed."

Her head fell against his chest and he hefted her up higher, "No sleeping FullMetal. I think you might have a concussion. Plus you should probably tell me who you are."

She grumbled, "God i fucking hate you."

Mustang, you need to run. "Mmhmm, liar. Start talking."