Bang-bang-bang.

Ed didn't move.

Bang-bang-bang.

He pulled his comforter up over his shoulder and groaned.

Bang-bang-bang.

"Edward?" called Granny. "Would you mind getting that?"

He pressed himself up onto his elbows.

"Why does it have to be me?" he shouted.

"Because your room is closest to the front door!" Winry yelled.

Bang-bang-bang.

"Ugh," Ed grunted, and flopped face down into his pillow.

"Brother," Al called, more softly than the ladies of the house. "Can't you please see who it is?"

Ed sighed.

He slammed his hands onto his mattress and threw himself out of bed, staggered over to his door, threw it open and leaned heavily on the frame.

"Okay," he said in resignation, "I'll get it."

Bang-bang-bang.

"Yeah, alright, I hear you!" he shouted, and plodded down the corridor to the stairs. "I'm coming, I'm coming! Cool it, will you?"

He thumped down the stairs, making more ruckus than a stampeding elephant, thudded over to the door and yanked it open.

"What do you want?" he demanded, and then suddenly sobered up when he saw who was there.

"Lieutenant Ross?" he said in shock. "I- sorry, I- what're you doing here?"

"Good evening, Edward," said Lieutenant Maria Ross, who seemed strangely sombre considering how friendly she usually was. "Sorry to call on you so late in the evening. I'm afraid you need to come to Central as quickly as possible. Reasons will be explained upon your arrival."

"What?" Ed muttered in shock. "Lieutenant, what's this about? Is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm under strict orders not to tell you anything until we get there," said Lieutenant Ross, still in that odd solemn tone.

Ed sighed. It looked as though he didn't have much of a choice.

"Okay," he said. "If you really need me, I'll... can you let me get dressed first?"

"Of course. Go right ahead."

With a nod of thanks Ed re-entered the house, and found Al poking his head out of his room.

"Brother, what's going on?" he asked. "Who is it?"

"It's Lieutenant Ross," Ed informed him through his open doorway as he pulled on a pair of pants. "She says I've been summoned to Central."

"What?" asked Al. "What for?"

"She's under orders not to tell," said Ed while donning a shirt. "I'm to be kept in the dark until I get there. Load of crap if ever I heard it."

He pulled a hooded sweater on over his shirt and ruffled his little brother's hair once he re-entered the corridor.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll call you when I get there."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

His reassuring smile faded once he had turned away and made his way back to the front door.

"You ready to go?" Lieutenant Ross asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Ed replied. "Though I can't say I'm happy about it."

"Trust me," said the lieutenant, "I'm not either."

The train ride to Central was made in complete, utter, crushing silence. Ed didn't dare say a single word, not even to all the sidelong glances of obvious suspicion that Lieutenant Ross cast in his direction.

What the hell could she possibly be suspecting of him? Did she think he was going to leap up and bite her throat out if she took her eyes off him for more than a minute? Did she think he was pulling faces at her when she wasn't looking? He wanted to, but that was beside the point, and it was beginning to get frustrating.

Though, of course, Ed only began to notice this when they were drawing close to Central, as he had gone back to sleep for a majority of the time and only woke up when the sun was beginning to rise.

He forced himself to look out the window and ignore the looks he was getting from the Lieutenant. He got the feeling that questioning them would only lead to further hostility.

He didn't understand it. He was more than familiar with Lieutenant Ross. He considered her to be a friend, what with how much help and comfort she had offered in the past and her actions on the Promised Day. What the hell could have happened that would make her so cold towards him?

If all of the other soldiers in Central acted this way towards him, Ed was just going to be annoyed.

He watched as the trees became more and more sparse and gave way to large buildings which, while never exactly frightening, did make him feel slightly claustrophobic given his current situation of seemingly being on his way towards arrest.

Because really, what other explanation could there be?

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity sitting being occasionally stared at and looking out the window trying to ignore being occasionally stared at, the train screeched to halt at a platform in Central station. Since it was so early in the morning there was barely anybody there, and it was… somehow places usually full of people were incredibly eerie when they were empty. It felt strange, and Ed got the feeling that he shouldn't be there either (or maybe he just didn't want to be there, which was much more likely).

"Time to go," said Ross.

Ed nodded, and didn't say anything because he knew it would be useless.

Lieutenant Ross wordlessly led him off the near-empty train and off the platform to the exit, and Ed had to try to avoid shivering at the cold autumn air (the fact that it was early morning definitely didn't help). As he shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight, he looked down and saw a car waiting for him and the Lieutenant, with another familiar face standing outside it.

"Sergeant Major Brosh!" he exclaimed (luckily remembering the man's promotion) and jogged down the stairs two at a time. "Do you think maybe you could tell me what the hell I'm supposed to be here for? Lieutenant Ross isn't telling me anything!"

"Just get in the car, Edward," Brosh said sternly, opening a door for him. "It'll all be explained when you get there."

"Oh come on, not you too," Ed moaned. "What the hell is going on with everyone?"

"Edward, please," Lieutenant Ross said as she drew level with him. "We don't like this any more than you do. Now please get in the car."

Ed rolled his eyes and slumped down into the backseat. He guessed that the thump of the door closing behind him would have been more foreboding if he hadn't been increasingly angry at that moment. After all, he'd had to find a replacement for short remarks being his biggest berserk button seeing as he wasn't exactly that short anymore, and had decided that being kept in the dark about things would be an apt replacement.

So he cast his moodiest possible frown in the direction of Ross and Brosh as they got into the car and Brosh drove them away from the station.

"Okay, seriously," he said once around a quarter of a minute of silent driving had passed, "can neither of you tell me anything about why I've been brought to Central? Really? You're not even going to hint at it?"

"No," Brosh said, in a more solid voice than Ed had ever heard from the man.

"We're sorry, Edward," said Lieutenant Ross, "but we have our orders, and our orders are to escort you to Central Command for questioning."

"Questioning?" said Ed. "About what? Oh no, wait: let me guess. You can't tell me. Orders, right?"

Neither Ross nor Brosh responded.

"Look," he continued, "whatever it is you think I did, I didn't do it. I don't know what crime led to me being here, but I can promise I was not the perpetrator."

"But how do we know that?" asked Brosh.

"Denny, shush!" hissed Ross.

Silence returned, and Ed sat seething in a pile of his own growing resentment.

This was getting beyond ridiculous. What matter would be so serious that absolutely nobody would tell him what was going on?

And yet, as they drew closer to the military command centre, Ed found a strange sense of dread growing in his stomach. He didn't know why, but it was like something horrible had happened to somebody close to him. He found himself looking out the back window, wondering how Al, Winry and Granny were doing in Resembool and if they were all okay.

No, it wasn't them. They were more than capable of taking care of themselves, as several years of bruised craniums could testify.

So then, what? What had happened? And why was he wanted for questioning about it?

The car wasn't moving too fast. If he popped the door open and remembered to tuck and roll as he landed, he could get away scot free, blend in with the morning rush hour and make it back to Resembool before the next day.

But what good would that do besides putting some kind of bounty on his head?

He figured he would just have to sit this out. Eventually somebody would have to tell him what was going on, right?

It wasn't long after this thought went through his head that the car was halted outside Central Command, and Ed stepped back out into the cold morning. This time he couldn't avoid shivering.

'The sooner this is over with,' he thought to himself, 'the better.'

The room was windowless. The only thing resembling a window was the mirror set into one of the gunmetal grey walls, but Ed guessed that in one way, it was a window. He'd never known a light to be threatening, but the shaded bulb hanging from the ceiling wasn't exactly reassuring, and neither were the boring table or the two chairs that sat on either side of it.

One of those chairs, the one furthest from him, was occupied by a stern and tired looking middle-aged soldier who was flanked by two others, and Ed had never seen any of them before in his life.

'No denying it,' he thought with a frown. 'I know an interrogation when I see one.'

"Edward Elric?" the man at the desk asked rather unnecessarily.

"Yeah?" Ed replied moodily.

"Take a seat."

Ed considered taking it literally – picking up the chair and walking out of the room for no reason other than to annoy them – but that would just get him into more trouble than he already seemed to be in, so he sat down and tried to ignore the ominous slam of the door behind him.

"So am I finally going to find out what I'm here for?" he demanded.

The soldier before him (a brigadier general, as his stripes displayed) frowned with a distinct lack of amusement.

"Mr Elric," he said, "where were you on the night of November 2nd?"

"Two nights ago?" Ed thought back. "I was at home with my family. Am I some sort of suspect for something?"

"Possibly," the soldier replied. "Can this family of yours verify your whereabouts?"

"There's my younger brother, my friend Winry and her grandmother," Ed explained. "I was with them for the entire night. Plus I live in Resembool and it's a pretty long train ride from there to here, so they would have noticed if I'd left."

"Would it have been possible for you to leave while everybody else was asleep and then return before they had woken up?"

"Considering how we got to sleep at around 10 and woke up at 7:30 and the train ride from Central Station to Resembool can take between ten and eleven hours (and sometimes up to eighteen depending on how many stops there are) I'd say that's a pretty big no."

The way this man was staring at him conveyed to Ed that his story wasn't being believed, like it was difficult to tell. Ed got the feeling that unless some miracle took place, he was going to be here for quite a while.

"Mr Elric," said the soldier, "you served in the military as a State Alchemist for four years, is that correct?"

"Yes," Ed replied, not liking where this was going.

"And during that time, you built up quite the reputation." The brigadier general pulled out a folder labelled ELRIC, E. which was thick-as-a-brick with reports. "You apparently entered this military after threatening Fuhrer King Bradley with a spear."

"I wasn't actually gonna stab him."

"You repeatedly got into altercations with the Flame Alchemist."

"He was an asshole."

"You often threw yourself into danger simply in the name of getting whatever mission you were on over and done with as quickly as possible."

"I was kind of in a hurry to be human again."

"And during those instances of defiance, you often endangered the lives of civilians-"

"Is this going anywhere?!" Ed demanded, holding himself back from slamming his fists on the table. "Yeah, I made mistakes in the past and let myself get into trouble! I was a kid! A kid who was just trying to get himself and his brother back to their original bodies and it didn't seem to be going anywhere! Wouldn't that piss you off too?!"

It was only as he was catching his breath that he realised he'd made a mistake. The stern glare from the soldier's narrow eyes was telling him as much. Was he going to be arrested?

Thankfully, before anything like that could happen, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter," said the brigadier general.

A somewhat younger soldier entered and whispered something into the man's ear. As he was leaning down, Ed got a good look at his stripes: he was a Major. And was that a silver chain hanging out of his uniform?

"What?" said the older soldier.

The newcomer simply nodded.

"Very well," the brigadier general said. "Mr Elric, you are free to go. There has been a change in the situation."

"What situation?" Ed asked angrily. "Will somebody PLEASE tell me what's going on?"

"You are to be escorted to the Central State Hospital," said the soldier. "Major…"

"Blitz," said the newcomer. "Major Wilhelm Blitz."

"Major Blitz will brief you on the events."

"Ugh, finally." Ed got up out of his chair and left the room.

He rather liked this long, empty corridor with lots of windows and light. So much so that he didn't look around when the door closed behind him again.

"So did you do it?" said the voice of Brosh.

"Whatever it was," Ed said exasperatedly, "I can promise you I didn't do it."

"Follow me," said the voice of Major Blitz. "I'll tell you what's going on."

"Two nights ago, a young boy was found in the backstreets of Central City," the major explained as they were driven through the city in question. "He had been shot in his lower left leg, severely assaulted and left for dead. Had he not been found when he was, he would certainly have died from exposure or gangrene. As it is, it's a miracle he's still alive, let alone that his leg doesn't need amputation."

"Young?" Ed said questioningly. "Exactly how young are we talking here?"

"It's hard to tell," Major Blitz explained. "He's refused to properly speak to anybody who tries to interact with him. From what we can tell, he would probably be around a year younger than you are. Perhaps fourteen or fifteen."

Ed felt reassured that this wasn't a third-grader who'd been shot, beaten and left for dead, but at the same time, the mere thought that this would happen to any young person was awful. Heck, the mere thought that this would happen to anyone was awful.

"And why have I been roped into this?" he asked.

"When he was first brought to the hospital, the boy would only say one word," Major Blitz told him. "That word was 'Ed' repeated over and over. However, this has recently changed to such phrases as 'where is Ed' 'I want Ed' and 'just Ed'."

Ed felt like somebody had punched him in the gut. So not only was this a young person, but it was a young person he was on a first name or even nickname basis with.

And there weren't too many people he was that close to.

"You haven't found out what his name is?" he asked.

"No," said Major Blitz. "He hasn't told us yet. We're hoping maybe you could help him open up a little more."

"But how do you know I'm the right Ed?" Ed pointed out. "There could be hundreds of people in Amestris named Edward! Why would it just be me?"

"Because you're the only person named Edward that this boy has been witnessed in the presence of prior to this incident," said the Major. "You must understand that we have to cover all the bases in this. If you're not the right Ed, then we can get looking for another one. There can't be too many people with that name, can there?"

Ed frowned.

This was only getting more and more worrying with every passing sentence.

But as the feelings of dread that somebody he was close to had been seriously wounded closed in, they were suddenly repelled by something completely different as he looked properly at the soldier's face for the first time.

"Do I know you?" he asked. "You're giving me déjà vu. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

"I can confirm, Mr Elric," said Major Blitz, "that you and I have never spoken before."

Before Ed could argue any further, the car pulled up outside the hospital and the doors were opened for them. Ed cursed himself for not bringing something thicker than a hoodie before stepping into the warmth of the building.

"Follow me," Major Blitz said, and led him to the stairs. "I'll take you to where they've put him."

"You think you could tell me how he's doing since he was found?" asked Ed.

"The nurses have been trying to coax him into eating," explained the major, "but he's been curled up under his blankets ever since he woke up. He won't even look at people, let alone speak to them."

Ed followed him up the stairs, but then another thought occurred to him.

"Hang on," he said. "You said I've been 'witnessed in the presence' of this guy, but how would you know that?"

"He has been within Central Command before. As have you. The two of you were together at the time."

The punch in the gut was far stronger this time, and Ed was getting a better and better idea of exactly who it was that was being described to him. He was beginning to dread the moment he finally reached the ward more than ever.

"It was you that found him," he guessed. "Wasn't it?"

Major Blitz didn't reply with anything more than a faint, barely noticeable nod.

They passed many doctors and nurses on their way up to the ward (if it was a ward and not a private room). Many of them stared briefly in Ed's direction before moving their gaze to somewhere else. Ed guessed that they recognised him and were surprised to see him visiting rather than wrapped in bandages and sitting grumpily in a bed.

After several more minutes of climbing they finally reached the top floor. Ed figured that if Fuhrer Grumman stopped by for a visit like his predecessor had, he would probably have to leave by some way other than the window. Or at least bring a good long length of rope with him.

"It's not much further, right?" asked the ex-alchemist, as his legs were beginning to ache from the journey.

"No, it's not far," the soldier replied simply.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before they reached a door, and Major Blitz knocked.

There was no response.

"I'll let you go in and speak to him one on one," he said. "Maybe you can coax a few more words out of him."

Ed took a deep breath and opened the door.

The only sound he could hear was the unsteady, heavy breathing of the bed's occupant, curled up so tightly under their sheet that they were hardly visible.

After a few seconds of Ed trying to work out what to do or say, they spoke.

"Ed…" they said quietly, and there was no mistaking whose voice it was. "I want Ed."

Ed shrugged.

"You got me," he said.

He didn't know exactly what he had triggered, but the boy suddenly sprang up and threw his arms around Ed's neck so fast and with so much force that Ed almost fell over.

"Ed," he muttered, and sounded as though he could sob at any moment. "Thank god…"

Still apprehensive, Ed started raising his hands to return the hug, but the moment one of his fingers made contact with the boy's back he was shoved away, and once he'd caught his balance again, he finally got a good look at the patient.

"What… the… hell…" he whispered to himself.

Aerrow was a mess. His long red hair was loose and scruffier than ever, his eyes were constantly darting everywhere but at Ed's face and he sat on the bed with the sheets pulled over his legs, fidgeting and shifting and obviously terrified out of his mind. This would have been alarming enough were it not for the bandages that covered so, so much of what little of his skin was visible, and even then the skin that was showing was covered in grazes and bruises that were only just beginning to fade.

"Aerrow?" Ed said carefully as he took a step forward. "What's-"

"Stop!" Aerrow closed his eyes and held up a hand, as if his command hadn't been enough. "Stop, don't come too close! Jus-just sit in that chair and don't come any closer!"

Moving slowly, Ed sat down in a chair that had been placed next to the bed.

"I-I'm glad you're here," Aerrow said shakily. "I didn't know if they'd actually be able to find you; I've just been saying your name over and over because I couldn't think of anything else. Or I-I've been trying not to think about… about…"

He slammed his hands over his face and rubbed at his eyes.

"About what?" Ed asked, despite wondering whether or not it was appropriate. "Aerrow, what the hell happened to you? How did you get so beat up? Who did this to you?"

"I don't. Know."

Ed found himself reaching forward, intending to rub the boy's shoulder, but Aerrow held up his hand again in indication for him to stop.

"Aerrow," Ed said, realising he was going to have to choose his words very carefully, "do you think you would be able to tell me what happened?"

Aerrow's eyes shifted again. He seemed to be trying his hardest to focus.

"I don't know," he repeated.

"If getting it out of your head is the issue, then talking about it will probably help," Ed pointed out, trying his utmost to retain a friendly, sympathetic tone. "You don't have anything to be afraid of: I'm here and I'll listen to you. It's okay."

The Sky Knight's breathing was still very heavy, but he seemed to be trying to steady it somewhat.

Ed looked back and only briefly saw Major Blitz as he ducked away from the window in the door. He had been watching. That much was obvious.

"I was trying to find my way to the train station," Aerrow explained, rubbing his upper arms despite the room already being acceptably warm (and one of them being made of metal). "I wanted to come and visit you. I wanted to surprise you. Trouble was, I didn't know the way, so I asked a soldier for directions."

He pulled his knees up to his chin, staring dead ahead.

"He must've been lying because somehow I wound up in the city's back streets and I was totally lost. This place makes Terra Atmosia look like some quaint little hamlet. I stopped for a moment in an alley 'coz I was trying to think what to do and..."

One of his hands wandered down to his leg.

"...and then my leg exploded," he said shakily. "That's what it felt like. I just collapsed; there was no way I'd be able to stay standing up with a wound like that. I could see through my own leg, do you have any idea what that's like?! A-and then something hit me and I blacked out and..."

His body started to tremble.

"...a-and when I came round I heard voices... these men were... they'd pulled my coat off... one of them had a knife and they tore my clothes off a-and used some of the fabric to... th-they shoved it in my mouth and then they had the knife at my throat and said they'd kill me if I screamed a-and..."

His head fell forward until his brow hit his knees.

"...i-it hurt," he choked, tears springing up in his eyes. "I thought losing my arm was bad, but th-this was... i-it just didn't end... a-any time I thought they w-were done it just started again... I felt so useless, all I could do was lie there and take it... o-one of them choked me... another punched me in the face... some of them held me down while others..."

Ed wanted to comfort him - to pull him into a tight, reassuring hug - but right now that would do far more harm than good.

"I-it felt like forever before it finally ended," Aerrow said as he rubbed his eyes. "All I'd wanted while it was happening was to get away, but when it finally stopped I had no idea what I was supposed to do... I-I was cold and bleeding a-and dirty... all I could do was try to hide behind a dumpster... had to convince myself not to climb in... I was so afraid that they might come back and try to finish me off... or they might want more..."

"...and then the Major showed up," said Ed.

"Y-yeah," said Aerrow. "The Dust Storm Alchemist, he called himself. I don't know how he found me, but he brought me here. He saved my life and I don't even know what his name is or what he looks like. I don't really feel like looking at faces right now."

Ed nodded. He understood. If something like that had happened to him, he would have never wanted to look at any person ever again, let alone their face.

"I'm really glad you're here, Edward," Aerrow choked, "and I'm grateful that you'd try to comfort me, but do you think you could leave me alone for a while?"

"Of course," said Ed, and got up from the chair. "I'll be right outside if you need me."

Aerrow laid down on his side and pulled the covers up over his body, resuming the pose he had been in when Ed had first entered and thereby signifying the end of the conversation.

After casting a lingering look of sorrow in his direction, Ed left the room, closing the door as quietly as he could as he departed.

He knew Major Blitz was leaning against the wall next to the door, but didn't bother to look in his direction.

"Looks like you got him out of his shell," he commented.

"I don't think so," said Ed. "Or if I did, he went straight back in again."

He looked back through the window at Aerrow, whose body was trembling like a leaf.

"I don't think I've seen anybody so shaken in my whole life," he commented.

"But do you think he's going to be okay?" asked the Major.

Ed had no idea how he was supposed to answer that question.

"Do you think you could escort me to the Breach?" he asked.

"The Breach?" Major Blitz was confused. "Why do you want to go to Atmos?"

"You were right that I know this guy," Ed explained. "He comes from Atmos and he's pretty prominent there; he's a Sky Knight with his own squadron and everything. Don't you think they should know what's going on? What's happened to him?"

Major Blitz was hesitant in his reply, glancing at the door nearby and tapping his foot while thinking.

"Yes," he eventually decided. "Yes, they should. I'll escort you to the Breach."