Thanks for the well wishers for my brother and thank you for being patient. Kib's back on board and Mac's been helping loads and I'll be posting more regularly now. Hopefully.

Hope you all had a merry Christmas and a great New Year's.

Carefully picking up the two chipped mugs of hot coffee with one metal hand and sticking an orange manilla folder under his flesh arm, Ed carefully stepped down the hall, heading for Winry's room.

Awkwardly knocking with his flesh hand, his elbow stuck to his side as he tried keeping the manilla folder under his arm, the door creaked open and a blue eye peered accusingly at him.

"Hey, Ed," she whispered, opening the door to let him in and taking one of the mugs from Ed's hand for herself. "What're you doing?"

It was nearly three in the morning and for once, the old hotel was entirely asleep.

"Guess what Russell sent me from the reporting office at Military Headquarters?" Ed replied, shutting the door behind him and taking a scalding sip of hot, grainy coffee.

Winry reached for the folder sticking out from under Ed's arm, but he leaned out of her grasp, shaking his head.

"Let me look!" Winry snapped, trying to keep her voice down. Of course Ed had to be a jerk and make her wait for it. "This isn't about the new recruits, is it?"

Russell Tringham was one of the most important members of the Brat'ja. He worked as an undercover member of the reporting office. If the Amestrian Military was notified of anything interesting, Ed was sent a nice photocopied document of it, sealed in a manilla folder. Russell's younger brother, Fletcher, would deliver it to the hotel, and it would only be placed in Ed's or Al's hands. No one else.

"Of course it is, bet you can't guess whatthough." Ed walked over to Winry's bed and sat down, placing his mug on her nightstand and thumbing the manilla folder open.

Winry quickly sat beside him, barely sipping at her coffee as Ed pulled out the papers.

Reading quickly through the first page, Ed glanced at Winry and shook his head. "I knew that dirty scumbag was a guilty mother."

Leaning in closer, Winry tried reading the paper, but Ed was already reading aloud, "Lt. Pearce Jacobson has sent information pertaining to the infamous Brat'ja gang leader, Fullmetal. An identification had been extracted from one of the gang members as Jacobson was undercover and acted as a recruit. The name, Rodrick Boubar-" Ed snickered, "has been revealed as Fullmetal's true identity. Records and information will be drawn out under the name of Rodrick Boubar immediately."

"Oh! That was one of the names Al was assigned!" Winry laughed at the name, as Ed was taking another drink from his coffee. Lowering her voice she said, "The tall skinny guy with brown hair is Pearce Jacobson. Al told me he was suspicious of that guy. I didn't like him either, especially after he hit on me. He acted like I'd spread my legs for him just because his team won that game."

Ed snorted into his coffee as the papers slipped out of his hands onto the floor, ears burning red. "He what?"

Smiling coyly, Winry shrugged. "You don't have to worry about it, Ed. I'm not a whore."

Face still burning, Ed shook his head. Placing his mug back down, he sighed, "It's not that that I'm worried about. I don't need these bastards hitting on you."

Giving him a look Ed couldn't read, Winry tilted her head and gave another annoyingsmile. Like she knew something he didn't. Well, she usually did know a lot of things he didn't, but she didn't have to parade it in his face. "And why's that, Ed? You're not my keeper. Why care?" Winry prodded.

Ed had that uncertain look on his face, glancing at anything and everything that wasn't Winry. "'Cuz, you're like family. I've got to protect you," he replied, bending down and picking up the papers scattered at his feet before he stood up and stuffed them back into their folder.

Winry deflated. Family? Is he a moron?

Of course he's a moron, Winry. It's Ed, but... he's not that stupid, is he?

Winry wanted to reach out and grab his arm, pull him back down next to her and shake some sense into him. Even Kevin wasn't as stupid as Ed was being. Winry knew more important things were going on, but she couldn't help how much she cared for Ed.

"We're going to have to figure out what to do with this guy... Jacobson. Should I send him packing or get rid of him?" Ed said, interrupting Winry's thoughts.

"What do you mean, 'get rid of him'?" Winry asked, staring into her coffee. The lighting in her room was too dim for her to even see a reflection.

"... Should I kill him?"

Snapping her head back up, she stared at Ed in shock. "Kill him? What are you talkingabout, you don't believe in killing people!"

Pointedly not looking at her, Ed finished the coffee in his mug and rearranged the folder under his arm, still intent on not looking at Winry. "... Maybe I should start."

Feeling concerned, Winry pushed herself off the bed and moved over to Ed, grabbing his free hand. She felt a surge of blood rush to her face when he startled and looked up at her, but she ignored it. "Why are you talking like this, Ed?" she whispered, "You never kill people. Why change that? Why give those people a reason to hate you? Be better than that - "

Jerking away from her, Ed seemed to flare up. "No, Winry. Whenever I'm the betterperson, I'm the one that always gets screwed over! Maybe if we start killing these bastards, they'll stop sending them! Ever think of that? Maybe I should start giving them a reason to be afraid - "

A quick knock at the door quickly silenced Ed. With a shamed look at Winry, he turned his back to her and went to the door, still carrying the folder under his arm and the empty coffee mug in his hand.

Opening the door, Ed revealed a tired-looking Al.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but it's Roy. He's awake."

Before Ed could answer Al, Winry shoved past Ed and Al without a word, out the door and down the hallway towards Roy's bedroom. Ed stared after her, feeling sullen.

"Were you guys fighting again?" Al asked after a moment, trying to break the tension emanating from his brother.

"No. We were discussing what to do with the you-know-what."

Still not convinced, Al sighed through his nose, looking drained. "We'll just give him a good scare and send him off. That usually keeps them from coming back."

Leaning against the door frame, Ed shook his head, closing his eyes. "... I think we should kill him."

"... Kill him?" Al asked, looking slightly alarmed.

"Yeah... I think we should give the military a good warning and send them back a corpse."

Al stared at Ed for a moment, looking like he expected Ed to grin and say, 'I'm just joking.' But no, this time, he wasn't joking. Ed was getting tired, and he just wanted this military - this government that kept infiltrating his base, his sanctuary, his home - to get a good dose of what they were really made of. Not little boys that were scared to hold a gun. Cold-blooded killers. Just like the world saw them. Maybe it was time to start spilling some of theirblood.

Grabbing Ed's shoulders, Al pulled the gang leader into a tight hug, nearly throwing Ed off balance. He'd have hugged Al back but he was still keeping hold of the folder under his arm and holding a coffee mug in the other, so he just stayed stiff and silent in his brother's embrace.

"I think maybe you should go to sleep, Ed. You're too stressed," Al said, pulling away from Ed but still keeping his hands on his shoulders, as though he were afraid Ed would just disappear.

"I can't," Ed said dismissively, feeling the weariness suddenly heavy on his shoulders, but shrugging it off, "I have reports to go through. Some of the Brat'ja have gone missing. I need to put some people on that case - "

"Ed, I'll take care of it. Go to bed. No arguments." Al, now only gripping one of Ed's shoulders, started steering Ed down the hall to the room next door to Winry's. After prying the folder from Ed's hands, and the empty coffee mug, Al managed to get his stubborn brother's shoes off and got him to lay down... after a lot of arguing and threats.

After finally closing the door behind him, Al leaned against the wall, took a shaky breath and sighed. He prayed to God that it was just the stress making Ed talk like that. Because if Ed decided to have that man killed, there would be nothing Al could do to keep his brother from becoming a murderer.

There was a sore stiffness in Roy's side as he laid there, on his poor excuse of a mattress. It made him never want to move, ever again. Just a slight twinge and the pain would rocket up his throat and make him gag, nearly choking on bile. His mouth and tongue felt like they were peeling. Probably were. The acid from the bile probably damaged the top layer of skin covering his mouth. All he could taste was a sour, stale mixture of milk and vinegar.

This was what you got for being a hero.

Glancing around the room, he tried spotting a container, a bottle, anything with water. All he could see was a large, beaten-up white box. Looked like a medical kit.

Lifting his head up a bit, Roy could see a blanket had been carefully placed over his waist and legs. He noticed it was a new blanket and by grabbing the hem of it, he could tell it was stuffed with down feathers. And his bed. It wasn't that poor excuse for a mattress anymore. It had been topped with another mattress and had a dark gray sheet fitted over it. Andthere was a new pillow.

Roy never felt so... gratefulfor bedding before. He could tell by the blanket that someone had gone through some trouble obtaining it.

So... who decided to be nice to Roy and replace his previous shitty bedding?

A tap at the door just as it swung open had Roy twisting over quickly to look, sending more pain up his side as the newly healed skin stretched to accommodate the movement. Roy was expecting it to be a lot of different people, because all the ranked Brat'ja were on this floor, but he had been expecting someone he knew. No one just walked up to this floor and got away with it.

But the guy standing calmly in the doorway definitely was not registered in Roy's brain as any of the upper-ranked Brat'ja, or even any of the others. In fact, he didn't recognise him at all.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but I am looking for the Fullmetal? Have I got the wrong room?" the strange man asked, smiling. The stranger's hair looked like it was tied back, but its length was hidden behind the man's back. From his black hair and slanted eyes, it seemed like he was from Xing, the land to the east.

Jolting upright in his bed, Roy felt something rip in his side but he ignored the pain. Shoving off the bed and standing on his feet, he tried looking intimidating but all he could muster was a scrunched face as his side burned. "Who are you? You're not allowed on this floor!" Roy shouted, praying to some higher life form someone would hear and come to his aid. He sorely wanted to hold and cradle his painful side, but he couldn't. He'd learnt now - no Brat could ever show anyweakness.

Holding up his hands as a sign of peace, the stranger smiled even wider. "Oh no, I mean no harm. I am only here to see the Fullmetal. Please, rest, I go now!"

"You have to leave!" Roy snapped, "How'd you get up here? No one - "

Pointing over his shoulder with a thumb, the stranger replied almost proudly, "I came through the window. For headquarters, this is wide open. Why do people leave the windows unlocked? I do not understand."

Roy wasn't sure of what to do. Should he attack the man? He didn't look too old. He looked to be around Fullmetal's age. But of course, Roy had learned the hard way not to judge someone by their size in a fight when Al had royally kicked his ass on his first day. Still... this guy didn't look toodangerous.

"What do you want the Fullmetal for?" he asked, trying to buy some time to figure out whatto do.

Suddenly the smile slipped off the Xingese man's face. "I've come for audience with the Fullmetal," he stated, dipping his head slightly.

Okay, definitely foreign, Roy thought, a little exasperated. Suddenly it hit him hard. "Wait a minute, who are you again, exactly?"

"My name is not to be spoken within the borders of this country," came the quick reply.

"But if I am to fulfill your request for audience with the Fullmetal, I have to know your name."

The man seemed thwarted this time, not answering as he stared Roy down. But when neither of them broke eye contact, suddenly, the Xingese intruder grinned again. "Fine. I am Ling Yao."

Roy's knees finally gave and his chin smashed into the wooden planks of the floor. His mouth filled with the taste of copper and iron, and he quickly sat back and held his mouth. "Yut... yo-r da prince!" Roy gasped thickly, mouth heavily bleeding.

Ling quickly moved over to him, offering a hand to help him up. "Yes, I am the Prince of Xing," the prince said, taking Roy's free hand and pulling him up.

Spitting out a wad of blood mixed with saliva, Roy wiped his mouth on his wrist as he sat down on the bed again. "But... you're supposed to be in Xing!"

"Oh, you know how young people are. I needed adventure!" Ling laughed, sitting down next to him on the bed, smiling. Oh how creepy that smile got after a while.

Roy leaned down towards the medical kit and flipped open the lid. After grabbing a square of gauze, he sat back up, giving Ling a unimpressed look. "We both know a Prince of Xing just doesn't run off to another country, without escort, without ceremony," he said sternly, "Not even a single line in the News. Amestris would've known for months that a Prince was visiting. Now why don't you tell me the truth?"

Rolling the gauze, Roy dabbed at his tongue a little bit, hoping he hadn't bitten a piece off. While doing so, he tried looking as professional as he could, bleeding at the mouth after hitting his face off the floor, in front of the Prince of Xing himself.

Ling was watching him closely, still with that smile on his lips. "You're very observant, aren't you? Hm. You promised that if I reveal my name, I would get an audience with the Fullmetal."

"I never promised anything. Fullmetal is an arrogant little brat, I doubt I could get him to listen to me without caving my face in first at this time of night. I can't just go get him now. And how do I know you're not an assassin - ?"

"Roy?"

Both of the dark-haired men startled and glanced at the doorway, to find a very angry Winry staring back at them...

"Winry!" Roy jumped up from the bed, nearly tripping again as he rushed over to the blond girl glowering in his doorway..

"Who is that? Is that a new recruit? Upstairs? You know they're not allowed upstairs, Roy!"

"No, no, no, no, Winry. Listen to me, that is Ling Yao," Roy said quickly, trying to keep Winry from shouting. After so many years in the military, Roy still had the need to keep higher officials and royalty from harm... especially the Prince of Xing! If something happened to him in Amestris, there would be in trouble with the Xingese Emperor. There would be war knocking on the door. It would look like a kidnap and murder scene. It would be a disaster.

"Ling Yao?" Winry replied blankly. "I don't really care who he is! What the hell is he doing up here, Roy? You've been given a privilege - "

Breathing through his nose, Roy closed his eyes, trying to gain some sort of calm in his fuzzy head. His body must still be trying to catch up with him. "Ling Yao," he said slowly, pointing over at said man sitting on Roy's bed, "is the Prince of Xing..."

Winry blinked and stared over at Ling, who waved, still grinning. Just from that look, Roy could tell he was dead. He was so, so, so, oh so dead.

"What's the Prince of Xing doing on your bed?" Winry snapped, glaring up at Roy.

"Well you don't have to make it sound like that!" he replied hotly, his face burning. "Look, he just came in here. He wants to talk to Fullmetal. Where is he?"

"This isn't right! You know you're not supposed to have strangers in here! Fullmetal will have a fit!" Winry gave a troubled look over at Ling, dropping her voice. "What if he triessomething?"

Roy opened his mouth to start comforting Winry but suddenly Ling was beside him, holding his hand out to her in a half bow. "I apologize, Miss," the prince said softly. "I will leave now, if my presence upsets you."

Roy was staring at the both of them, almost paralyzed with shock. Wow, smooth, casanova, he thought sarcastically. Do they teach courting at the palace?

Winry glanced at the Xingese Prince's offered hand then back up at Ling, and was that a blush Roy could see?

Oh geez.

Still not taking Ling's hand, Winry nodded with a frown. "Yes. Leave right now. If you wish to join the Brat'ja you first need to join an outside branch and work your way up. You'll get yourself killed by sneaking in like this."

Retracting his proffered hand, Ling put both of his hands in his pockets and gave Winry a rather low bow, triumphant smile never leaving his face. "Of course, I'll leave now."

Winry bumped into Roy as she moved out of Ling's way as he exited it out the room. Giving them one last grin, Ling opened a window in the hallway next to the bedroom door and climbed silently out, and Roy quickly moved to the open window and wrenched it shut, making sure to flip the lock.

Not five seconds had passed before an angry female voice was screaming in his ear.

"Well, then. I should tell Fullmetal about this, but first things first, you'renot supposed to be out of bed! And look! You ripped your stitches! Back in bed, right now, Roy!"

Ed tossed to his side on his bed, unable to sleep. His eyelids felt heavy and his eyes sandy with sleep, but he just couldn't fall asleep. There was a man, intent on killing him or handing him over to the authorities, sleeping in the same building, and he wasn't sure how to handle it.

In the past, they'd always scared the shit out of someone like this and sent them packing. But then again... they had alwayscome back. Not the same people, granted, but the same type of person always came back - that type being the type who wanted Ed shackled up in some laboratory.

Feeling the goose bumps prickle up his skin, he yanked a blanket up over his shoulders, trying to fight off the shivers. Breathing out heavily, Ed stared over at his window, a blank black sky the only view it had to offer. He couldn't ever go back there. Ever. But how was he supposed to protect his family, this whole Brat'ja gang, andkeep himself out of the military's hands?

Suddenly there was a small flash of light in the window and Ed sat up in his bed, hairs on his arms standing on end. He stared intensely out of the window, body tensed and his breath held. "What the f - " he whispered to himself. Was that just a flash of light from outside down below, or...?

Without warning, the window slid up with a loud crack and a figure jumped in. As the figure turned to slide the window back down, Ed jumped up and flung himself without hesitation at the intruder.

Where he should have collided with the intruder's legs, Ed hit the wall with a loud smash and shouted out in pain. Quickly rolling up into a kneeling position, he stared around the dark room. How the hell had that guy dodged his attack? It was impossible to move that fast!

The light bulb in the center of the ceiling suddenly flickered on and Ed grabbed the window sill behind him and pulled himself up, body and ego still aching from the collision with the wall. He glared up at the room, and found his stare met by smiling black eyes.

"I'm hoping I have the right room this time. I am looking for the Fullmetal," a young Xingese man with long black hair said, standing next to the light switch by the door as if nothing had happened.

Ed jumped, jerking his head back as he felt the shock rise inside of him. Half of him wanted to panic and defend himself against any attack, but the other half wanted to snarl and rip this black-haired fuck's head off. Like the fearless leader he was supposed to be.

No. Ed took a deep breath, steadying his shaking automail arm. Show no sign of panic or fear. You're the leader of the most feared gang in Amestris. One guy isn't going to scare you. Even if he did just appear in your bedroom while you slept.

"Yeah? Well, you're looking at him!" Ed growled, putting on his toughest facade, hating the Xingese man's cocky smile. Hating his face. "Keep fucking grinning and I'll knock your mouth into the back of your skull."

Still smiling, the intruder bowed graciously. "My name is Ling Yao, and I've come to ask audience with the Fullmetal of Amestris."

"What if I just kill you?" Ed said flippantly, rubbing his sore shoulder with a mean grin. "No one just bursts through my window and wakes me up, then expects a nice chat."

Tilting his head, Ling grinned even wider, and Ed suddenly got a verybad feeling. "I don't really believe you're a killer... Edward."

'... Edward.' Feeling his throat close up, Ed tried stepping back but his heel hit the wall. How could he know? He could feel the blood drain from his face, leaving a cold tingling feeling as the small white hairs on the back of his neck prickled.

He knew by the sureness in Ling's face that there was no way talking out of this one.

"How do you know my name?" Ed asked calmly. But he wasn't calm. Far from it. His stomach instantly soured as he looked around the room quickly. Was there any means of defense? Any one that could move that fast could definitely be a problem.

"Let's just say I do my homework when studying for something so...important."

Ed could feel the sweat sliding down his back, this was it, they had finally got him.

"But I had one problem. Where was I going to find an H.A.E. that was still functioning, still alive, still human?" Ling asked, strolling over to Ed's bed and sitting down on it.

That fucking grin.

"But that's when I read in a report about a rumor, the slightest little glimmer of a possibility that there may be a H.A.E. hiding in secret. Living a normal life. I know his name, his name is Edward Elric. He is 5'7, blond, gold eyes, naturally tan complexion. Now outfitted with a right arm and side of automail and a left automail leg. Your image is damaged in the file, but the way you reacted to that name. I just knew it was you."

Forgetting his fear, Ed stormed over to the bed, where Ling sat legs pretzeled, and sneered. Bending down and placing his hands on the mattress, Ed leaned towards Ling's face, staring at him, eye to eye. A fierce golden gaze, burning into Ling's.

"And what do you want since you've oh so cleverly found me out? I don't know how you got your hands on government information, but you better start talking, and fast."