Stifling a yawn behind his hand, Roy sat up groggily, staring out the dirty window of his "bedroom." His back protested the first few weeks of sleeping on the thin, poor excuse of a mattress thrown onto the floor, with no pillow, no blanket, and not a sheet in sight. At first he was a little pissy and hesitant about sleeping on such a mediocre "bed" with so many nameless stains on it. Those he didn't want to think about.

But after last night, even with his nerves twinging with unease, he fell asleep gratefully on the dingy mattress. Winry had even let Kevin treat the bite on his shoulder, even though he had a slight dip in the flesh, where it was bitten out. He saw it as a reminder of what had happened. But as much was expected, since the Gurilyn didn't replace all of the missing cells.

Now, he was rather used to his living conditions, even though he had to practically wear the same clothes every other day. And as for showers he didn't even want to think about that either. The shower barely worked and the water was virtually ice. Usually he would see the guys stick their head under a running pipe outside on a building and just ruffle it up a bit. If you asked Roy, that barely passed as 'bathing'. He wanted to complain, he really did, but everyone else had to tough it out. So now he had to.

Dipping into his bank account to fix at least a few of the showers that the building possessed was beginning to sound like a great idea every time he had to force himself to take one. Be it from the pipes from outside or the clanky shower that sputtered periodically while it was running. Maybe Fullmetal would like him better if he did donate some cash.

'Or grow suspicious of why you're being so nice,' The pessimistic voice in his head hissed. As much as he hated pessimism, it's was that little voice that kept him alive this whole time. And he wasn't about to stray away from it now.

And last night... As much as he would like to forget about it, that was something he just couldn't ignore. His suspicions were receiving red flags from Fullmetal's behavior.

And those eyes.

No. No, he was wrong. The pupils dilating in a rush of adrenaline like that wasn't unusual. And while the growling was a little odd, he had to expect as much from the infamous Fullmetal, leader of the indomitable Brat'ja gang. The kid scared the piss out of a lot of people. And he could remember many times when Fullmetal growled at him. But usually there were words tied into the sound. Not just some...mindless, animalistic growl.

All the same, Roy was scared stiff of the blond. Fighting like that, so fiercely and unrelenting, should be illegal. No one should be that strong, let a lone practically holding the whole country on strings. Even the damn military was scared of the faceless Brat'ja leader. And they had no idea what a immature, little punk-ass kid he was. And how small he was. Roy let a small grin spread across his face at that thought.

None the less, Fullmetal lived up to the rumors of how deadly he could be.

But the poor kid looked lost when he killed that H.A.E.

He expected him to be smug, or arrogant, or something. Not so out of it that Kevin had to make him sit down for a few minutes and calm him down.

"What…" Roy swallowed, took a deep breath, and continued, glancing at Al. "What happens now?"

"He's deciding. He consults with Jeremy every time someone asks to become a gang member. Usually he's the one who ends up killing them," Al said, eyes downcast. "I don't like it, but if we don't keep a firm ground then we'd all be wiped out. I apologize for hurting you, officer. I hope you can forgive me."

He's the one who ends up killing them.

The thought shot through Roy like a bullet. Did Fullmetal not kill? But that seemed impossible. The kid seemed out for blood whenever he looked at someone with dislike. And he looked like he could snap someone's neck without a second thought. Maybe he was just stressed out.

"I...I did that?"

Taking in a deep breath, he stumbled a little, off-balance from standing so quickly and stared through the window, letting his eyes adjust to the light, peering through the smears of dirt and grime. He wanted to get on with this mission and just go home. This place was a trash bin plus one.

Looking around at the buildings he wondered vaguely what they were for once upon a time. They all looked abandoned and desecrated, broken windows and lifeless walls.

Just as he was about to turn away from the window a small pillar of smoke caught his eye, making him do a double take. Was it a fire?

Upon further inspection, Roy saw the smoke unfurling from a small house, not a big brick building. It was down at the far end of the street, nestled between two large buildings. And the smoke was trickling up from a chimney, indicating someone was occupying the house. But who?

Deciding it best that he go ask Kevin about it, he stepped away from the window and opened his door, taken aback when he suddenly heard many voices filtering up from downstairs.

That was odd. If he recalled correctly, ten of the Brats were gone, leaving with them with only five, including Roy. Four people did not sound like a huge convention.

'Are they all back already?' He thought, a little relieved. Now that there were more experienced Brats at Fullmetal's disposal, maybe Roy would be left alone and not thrown in the lion's den. Last night was the last mission he was ever going on for the gang if he could help it.

Creeping down the stairs he cursed lightly when his bare foot was assaulted by a rough edged pebble. Kicking it aside, he ignored the twinging pain in the sole of his foot as he scanned the area of the food room, noticing no one was occupying any of the tables. Or the room for that matter.

Listening to the voices, he exited out of the door and nearly ran into several people.

Grabbing the frame of the door to catch his balance, he stared around the room of the lobby, trying not to gape. A crowd of people nearly filled the room, over thirty of them easily. He faintly remembered Fullmetal talking about getting more people the night before, but so quickly?

An elbow in the ribs caught him off guard, grunting as the air was forced out of one of his lungs, leaving him slightly winded.

"Watch where you're goin', asshole." A feminine voice growled, and Roy was shocked when he met a pair of furious brown eyes. Muttering a quick apology he pressed by, trying to find someone he recognized.

Ed felt like his head was going to split in half with the massive migraine he was being inflicted with by all the noise. And Kevin's jabbering that morning did not help. Covering his face with his automail hand, he tried calming himself. Claustrophobia and panic was starting to settle into his mind and trying to take over, but he wouldn't let it. A big part of him wanted to flee, tell everyone to leave and keep the people that he had, as few as there were. But it was his obligation to do this. He had started this when he was younger, naïve and arrogant, now he had hundreds of people around the country looking up to him. He hated it. They might not all know him, but they knew of him as their leader, someone to make things better, safer. And here he was trying not to attack the closest stranger out of instinct.

Even so, he could not trust a single one of them. Al, Winry, Kevin, and Jeremy were the only ones he completely trusted without hesitation.

Everyone else that lived at the home were just like friends...but he just couldn't bring himself to entrust his life to them. He just couldn't.

Quickly in his head, he recited his fears. Knowing the bases of fears always helped conquer them. Diagnosing the problem was the first step in overcoming that fear. Right?

'Agoraphobia, fear of crowded places. Haphephobia, fear of being touched. Pistanthrophobia, fear of trusting people. Pnigophobia, fear of choking or being smothered.'

Yes. Anyone could name off technical terms but did they ever truly understand them? Did they know the true meaning of a phobia so strong that it was suffocating? And all of his fears stringed off of... abnormal things that had happened in his life. Being forcibly experimented on did not happen to the casual teenager. And waking up with metal pieces attached did not help with anything. But the thought always tormented him. Did he owe those scientists his life? They did, in a sense, save his life. No matter how sick and twisted it was. He was a young kid and had enough hardships to deal with.

'Maybe they should of just let me die.'

A loud shout made him jerk up from his seat, scanning the scattering of people. He walked over to the desk of the receptionist and glared out over the crowd, picking out a dark haired familiar figure being sized up by a rather large man.

"Mustang." The growl cut through his throat as he prowled around the side of the desk and shoved his way through.

"Hey. Look. I didn't mean any harm by it. I just tripped over that girl's foot and-" Roy tried.

"Now you're blaming it on me?" Said girl shrieked, shoving Roy between the shoulder blades from behind so he was rammed against a lanky looking teenager with multiple piercings in their brow.

"You son of a bitch!" Someone yelled.

Ed lashed out, grabbing Roy by the sleeve of his shirt and yarding him out of the way of the small, complaining group. Scowling around the room,

Ed noted that everyone formed small crowds of five or six people, keeping to their own.

He was going to have to change that.

"You are the stupidest bastard I've ever met, you know that?" Ed hissed, bodily knocking Roy behind the wide area of the receptionists' desk,"You could have been killed!"

"How could I have known what was going on? I just was trying to look for Kevin." Roy said, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, looking away sullenly.

"Even he knows better than to waltz right through a crowd of them. You moron! You could have been easily stabbed. And it would have been hours before this place is cleared up that we would have found you. And you would have bled to death if the stab wasn't instantly fatal! And trust me, these aren't some street people, they would have made it fatal. They're the top Brat'ja picked from around the country!" Ed lectured, trying to keep his voice low as he felt his face grow hot with the anger. "They've been in the Brat'ja for years and won't fuck around to kill someone. So don't pull something like that again! Do you understand me?"

Roy looked like a child being scolded as he nodded, still keeping is eyes averted away from Ed's. He looked like he wanted to talk back but he kept his mouth firmly shut, biting back any of his retaliations.

Ed saw the man as one of those types who couldn't stand not getting the last word in an argument, much like Ed himself. But at least he knew how to shut up. Ed was on the verge of smacking someone around. And it was usually the noob that got the brunt of everyone's frustrations. Ed almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

Doing a quick glance over to assure himself the man didn't get injured, but even if Ed couldn't see anything didn't mean he couldn't have been pricked with a poison. All you needed was a sewing needle and a drop of Boatonum and could kill a full grown man within the hour. Kicking the idea aside he looked back up across the receptionist desk, realizing that it was time to get things started before he died of boredom.

Kevin, Jeremy, Al, and as much as he hated it, Winry, were going to pose as new recruits. Each group was going to be divided into groups and his most trusted Brat'ja were going to be a sort of "spy" in each of the groups. Just to keep an eye out for any signs of rebellion against him.

Exhaling, he decided he had better get to work separating the groups.

Searching the room from where he stood, he carefully made sure to appear as irritable and wary as the others in the large group he was in. The striking young man with the metal arm and deadly eyes was evidently the one who called himself "Fullmetal", ordering people with a snappish attitude and telling them where to go stand.

Hopefully he wasn't in this place for too much longer. These people had terrible security. Walking in through the doors with one of the lots of people that entered the building was just too easy. And no one even recognized he wasn't one of these "recruits" everyone spoke of.
When he got back to command's headquarters with Fullmetal's true name, he'd be sure to tell his superior and everyone else that they all feared a child.

Even being quite tall himself, most people weren't too short beside him. An inch or two. But the tip of the blond's head barely reached his chin. And he was so...small. It was quite amusing to watch people scatter as he shouted at them, red faced and brow set in a permanent scowl.

Brushing his brown bangs out of his eyes Pearce Jacobson mustered up a hesitant look as Fullmetal caught sight of him and almost seemed to glare even harder then usual as he snarled at him to go stand in a small group standing near the door.

As Pearce walked over to the group he was assigned he noticed how shifty these people seemed. Glancing over his shoulder he smirked at Fullmetal's back, realizing the blond's plan.

He had specifically placed these people, Pearce included, in this one group because he didn't like the looks of them. Almost like he had a sense of who the real rats were. And Pearce didn't blame the kid. These people looked like they would slit someone's throat just to get a few dollars out of their wallet. Edgy looking eyes with their hands in their pockets, undoubtedly clutching the handle of a knife, ready to attack at first moments' provocation.

They were all checked for guns or poisons at the door, but apparently a knife was allowed.

But Pearce wondered how the blond had picked him out of the crowd also, when he was looking as innocent as the others. Or as innocent as they could be.

He inwardly grinned to himself, wondering just how hard it was going to be finding out that name. And that boy was definitely intelligent enough to stay out of the state's hands this long.

"God. My freaking tooth is killing me." Kevin whined, earning odd glances from the people in his group. Resisting the urge to start a fight with one of them, he plopped down in one of the seats nearby, watching the others carefully, but trying to appear nonchalant. Best way to pick out someone in the group was to make them come to you.

Yawning widely his eyes watered up, the damned heat was rising in the place with so many people in the lobby. As if it weren't hot enough already. It was starting to make him feel drowsy and weak-limbed. He couldn't wait to get outside.

Scanning the group he noted that there were eight people, excluding him. Five guys and three girls. Not that he was complaining. It was nice to have some girls in the place after so long. They were probably a lot nicer than the guys that lived in the hotel with them and Winry. Maybe a lot nicer than Winry, actually.

But then Ed just had to bitch him out that morning, telling him to stay away from people and not be bought in by a girl's kindness. As if one of them would be all nice and sweet and when he least expected it they would kill him. Ed was so damned paranoid. Seriously, a little flirting wasn't going to get him killed.

Another glance at one of the girls in his group had him wondering if Ed was right and maybe they'd just bypass the nice and sweet act and just kill him already.

One girl that caught his eye was sitting the furthest away, but still close enough to be a part of the group. A lanky looking guy, definitely Ishballan with that dark skin and red eye color, was sitting next to her, arms crossed and watching some of the people in the next group. The girl had her arms shoved into her pockets and had a sullen look on her face. But what really stuck out was her scar.

It went across the bridge of her nose and slipped down her cheek to her jawline. What made it stuck out was it's alabaster white color and it was almost as wide as one of his fingers. It was actually pretty cool.

But other than the battle scar, Kevin thought she was a bit good looking with her curly brown hair tied back. Maybe if she'd stop looking like she wanted to kill someone she'd look better.

Shrugging to himself he glanced at some of the other people in his group. Some were eyesores and some just gave him a ugly look and made him turn his head the other way. As much fun as it would be to start some commotion, he thought he'd better listen to Ed's orders since he was a little more irritable today than usual. Poor guy was a mess around crowds and would usually defend himself by sneering and shouting at people, scaring them away.

From what Kevin could see there were going to be four groups. He didn't like that there were so many people in one group, but they could alwaysj just split up to complete the mission. After he did his job.

Ed had explained to him, Winry, Al, and Jeremy, that their jobs were to basically talk shit about Ed. Though in Jeremy's case he was just going to have to listen in on people's conversations, and see if any of them were bad apples. Ed was a little pissy about Winry going. That argument was this morning at the crack of dawn before the recruits even got here, waking Kevin and Al up.

Winry was yelling about how he never let her do anything with her life and Ed's face was beet red and he was screaming how she didn't have to go risk her life to "do something with her life."

Surprisingly, Winry won that battle. Usually when it involves gang work Ed absolutely refused to let her go. Which Kevin didn't really get why he wouldn't let her.

He would never understand Ed.

Hanging back, Roy tried his best to stay out of the way and unnoticed. It was a nice change to watch Fullmetal yell at some other people for once. He didn't know where all these groups were going, but he would imagine that it was most likely a mock mission of some sort and since Fullmetal hadn't put him in a group he decided this was his best excuse to stay behind and maybe go back to sleep. His sleep debt was building up so high that it would probably be impossible to ever make up.

Just as he was about to sneak back up stairs Fullmetal walked back over near the receptionist desk, giving Roy a glare that told him that he'd better not even think about wandering off. When he turned his back to face the groups, Roy could see how uncomfortable the kid was as he started talking to the groups.

"Listen up! 'Cause I'm damn well not repeating myself!" Despite Fullmetal's size he could yell pretty loudly. Roy crossed his arms and watched with a baleful look. 'Damn, I hate this place.'

"I know you guys are more than capable to handle a real mission, but since we don't have any right now, we're going to play a game."

Roy's eyebrows shot up his forehead and several people yelled in protests. 'A game? Is he serious?'

"But it's going to be Chimera's Alley."

Suppressing a grin, Roy almost burst out laughing at some of the paled looks Fullmetal was receiving from the groups. Everyone in the military knew all the chimeras were dead. Fullmetal even confirmed it himself. So he didn't know why it was so scary to go there. How ridiculous to see a few Brat'ja members fear a rumor!

"Anyone who wants to step out now, you'd better do it now. I will not put up with deserters." Even though Roy couldn't see Fullmetal's face he knew the look that was always plastered on the kid's face. A irritable glare or a dead serious scowl.

Not to Roy's surprise, no one stepped from their groups. Everyone standing still and watching Fullmetal closely. Even if they were scared they'd probably be killed or harassed by the other Brat'ja if they left the group. He had a feeling that cowardice was not sympathized with around here. Even though what they called "being a coward" was what Roy called common sense. What a lot of normal people would call common sense. But these weren't normal people.

Heaving a sigh, Fullmetal nodded, "Good. I don't have any quitters. But remember that fear is what keeps you alive. Just don't let it control you. So here's the rules of this game."

Yay, I updated. Edited by me, myself, and I. And I have to say we worked pretty darn hard. Not really. Just went over it and made a few changes here and there. And if this website acts up ONE MORE TIME I'm going to be pissed.

And this programme thing at this college SUCKS! UGH! But guess what? As terrible as this sounds, writing comes first. So screw them. I enjoy writing for FFnet more than sitting in a classroom BAKING. We literally sit there and BAKE. One of my classes in English and Creative Writing is in a stone building! It's an OVEN! And while I don't sunburn I suffer from dehydration... 'cause I suck at keeping myself hydrated!

But yeah. I'm back... Yay?