AN: OMFG I FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER.

I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG EVERY ONE! ;v; I didn't mean to take this long, but I never thought this would be such a hard chapter to write. Never mind that I don't own the episode myself but I couldn't find the motivation to do it. Arggghhhhhh.

Everyone thank my dear friend Lime. She got me the dialogue and I was able to finish the chapter. :3 EVERYONE THANK HER.

Thank you to all the new fans! I hope you can continue to read despite the long absence! This isn't an amazing chapter either, so I hope you aren't too disappointed. ;3;

Now the musical excerpt:

"anata ni furisosogu mono ga/tatoe ame darou ga sadame darou ga/yurusu koto nado dekiru wake nai/kono te de kanarazu mamoru/soba ni oiteite"

-"What falls upon you,/Whether it be rain or destiny/I certainly can't allow it/I'll protect you by these hands/Come to me."

-Yami ni Furu Ame (Rain Falling in the Darkness) by Shiina Ringo, from her album Shoso Strip (Lawsuit Winning Strip), translated by Brian Stewart and Takako Sakuma at centrigrade-j . com.

-

Two pairs of tired feet trudged through the Risembool mud. The rain was coming down hard, making an already dark night even darker. Roy and Maes could barely see where they were going; Risembool didn't exactly have that many street lights. All they could rely on was the lantern in Maes hand, which thankfully was designed so water had a hard time getting in.

Their train had arrived in the town late. The two of them decided they wanted to go to the inn and go to sleep before doing anything else. The Elric brothers and Roy's 'apology' could wait till tomorrow when it was light out.

"Where is the inn anyways?" Roy remarked squinting down the road. The rain was making a light tapping noise on his and Maes' rain coats.

"What do you say we climb that hill? We might be able to see it from there." Hughes suggested, pointing in the direction of the hill.

So they climbed the hill, the wet ground causing them to lose their footing a couple of times. The climb wasn't pleasant, what with the constant rain in their faces, their tired bodies, the steepness and the mud their feet were in. But Roy wasn't thinking about any of that.

"Maes, I really don't like this rain."

"Since when have you ever liked rain?"

"No, I mean I'm getting a bad feeling. It reeks of pathetic fallacy."

"Huh?"

Finally they made it to the top of the hill. Roy stood still for a moment.

"Something foul is in the air, Maes. Something bad is going to happen tonight."

Maes looked at him in bewilderment, and was about to tell him he was paranoid, when destiny struck.

The dark night was suddenly lit up by an ignition of bright purple light. Maes shut his eyes at the sudden brightness, but Roy only shielded his. White was intwined with purple and the light appeared to all be from one source; a house not too far from their hill. Roy looked closely; it looked like the light was reaching the heavens, and perhaps that was what it was trying to do. To find someone up there…

What was that? Had Roy just heard an echo of a scream?

The light eventually died down, and Roy started rubbing his now sore eyes. Maes had his wide open again.

"What the hell was that!?" Maes wasted no time shouting to his partner.

Roy was quiet for a moment, taking his hands away from his eyes and blinking a few times to adjust them to the darkness again. Finally he answered Maes: "…An alchemic reaction."

"You're kidding me!? Of that size?!"

"Yes, it's very possible for them to get that big. It depends on what you're trying to do. It also depends on the skill of the alchemist. However, most reactions like that are usually because of something going wrong…"

The two looked at each other, their brain waves on the same thought. Without even needing to check with the other if that's what they should do, they both ran down the hill, in direction of the house.

-:-

Maes inspected the front of the house carefully. The door was wide open.

"Do you think anyone else is still inside?" he asked.

"We won't know until we look. Someone could be seriously hurt in there." Roy told him, walking up to the door.

"Wait a minute Roy." Maes halted him. "Come back here for a second."

Roy walked back and waited for Maes to explain. Maes had the letter that brought them here out. He was examining a mailbox.

"This is…their house." He said.

Roy took back the letter and, trying as hard as he could, confirmed the address on it to the one on the mailbox Maes was shining the lantern on.

"Come on. We have to make sure those boys didn't try anything stupid in there." He told Maes, pushing the letter underneath his coat and in a safe pocket.

Both entered the house together. Their necks craned in opposite directions as they walked, observing the house carefully. That's when Maes stepped in something.

At first he thought he just stepped in a puddle – it sounded like fluid- but then he remembered he wasn't outside anymore. Holding out his lantern and looking down at the spot, he retracted his foot out of a small pool of red liquid.

He paled to the state of alabaster. "Blood…" he muttered. He held his lantern out more to observe the flooring ahead of him. "Lots of it…"

Roy was looking at the pools, also paling, worry etching his brow. In the only way he was willing to show his worry and fear for the two boys that supposedly lived here, he went for Maes' free hand, and laced it with his. Maes clutched it for him. He knew that in situations like this being a soldier had taught you to stay calm and collected, but sometimes it was too difficult to appear 100 percent unaffected. And that's when you needed a hand to hold.

"Let's find them quick." Was all Roy muttered.

The two followed the trail until they found a room with the lights on and the door only slightly open, as if it had been opened with hurried forced and swung back closed once the person was out. Roy pushed it lightly, but with enough force to make it wide open.

Eyes widened. Maes even gagged.

Blood was gathered on the floor in large amounts. A large transmutation circle was drawn out on it and was almost completely covered in a giant smear of blood and other fluids that Roy didn't even want to speculate on. From that circle there was another smear, as if something had crawled or dragged its self out of the circle. There were even bloody prints on the walls near the trial suggesting that. Closer to where they were, was another trail, one that definitely looked like dragging. Things had fallen over in one spot; books had been blown away in others. A haze filled the room, and a strong and rotten smell lingered in the air. It smelt like blood, iron and most of all, death. It was vile.

But it appeared no one was left behind.

"What the hell happened here?" Maes managed to spit out, the smell being too strong for him. Both were holding their hands over their noses.

Roy was too blown away to answer. This transmutation circle, all this blood…what had happened here? What did those boys create?!

Then he came to a realization. The circle looked oddly familiar and he finally figured out why.

"Human transmutation…"

"What?"

"This circle…Maes, it's like the ones I was elaborating on when I was considering human transmutation…"

They took a few steps into the room, Roy's eyes focusing entirely on that circle. He bent down in front of it. There was no mistake; these lines, while different from his circle, were similar enough. This was human transmutation.

Maes wouldn't go any closer to the circle. His stomach was churning and he wanted out of there. It took a large portion of his willpower to stay at Roy's side. He'd never had this sort of feeling before; of absolute dread and fear. It was unnatural.

Then he heard something.

He whipped around so quickly that even Roy turned to see what was wrong. Maes shone his lantern in that direction as fast as he could.

He saw something move.

It was gone, but he had seen it.

"Roy, there's something in here…" he muttered hoarsely.

Roy stayed in his spot quietly.

"Roy. We have to get out of here."

Roy wordlessly stood and they both left. Roy had a feeling about what the moving thing was and didn't want to be there any longer to find out if he was right.

When they left they noticed the trail of blood on the ground, not yet washed away by the rain. Earlier they hadn't been looking for blood and thus overlooked it, but now they could make out the puddles of water polluted by red.

With just one look to each other once again, they were off, following the trail.

"Roy?"

"Yes?"

"Was that really…?"

"'Yes. Yes, it was, Maes."

Hughes' mind was whirling. That was what Roy had been trying to attempt that night, only a few years ago? Was that how the room Roy had been living in would've looked had he not been there?

He felt sicker than before.

"I am…however….blown away…"

Maes stared at his lover's back.

"Such a transmutation for two young boys…And if they survived…"

"Roy!"

In an instant, an emotional Maes grabbed the other's wrist and pulled him back to stare him right in his citrine eyes.

"How can you talk that way!" he shouted, anger in his words.

"What way?"

"You know exactly what I mean! As if this is some amazing feat for alchemy!"

"It is."

"Roy!"

"Come on. The rain will wash the blood away if we linger too long." Roy said as he pulled his wrist out of Maes' grasp and started walking again.

Maes stared at his back for a few more moments, before walking after him.

-:-

The trail eventually led to another house. Roy and Maes stared in silence at the name on the sign at the front.

"Ironic, don't you think." Hughes commented on the Rockbell name appearing now. He stared at Roy waiting for what he would do next.

For a moment Roy just stared, then begun to walk to the door.

But Maes felt the grip on his hand tighten before he moved.

The closer they got, the more they heard from inside. He stood at the door momentarily just listening to the panic inside, not quite sure what to do.

Then Roy released Hughes' hand and opened the door.

"Roy!"

"So that was it. The light of human transmutation….I thought so. I've never seen such a furious reaction before."

The pairs of eyes in the house turned to the two of them standing in the doorway. These included a short, older woman, a young blonde girl and a huge person (there….was someone inside right?) in a suit of armor, the hands and lower torso smeared in blood. There was also a blond boy on the bed semi-conscious. Hughes moaned quietly at Roy's boldness, and then followed him cautiously into the home. He bowed to the woman and girl briefly, but the woman merely stared coldly at him.

"I've never seen such a furious reaction in a transmutation before." Roy continued.

He noticed the glares and could feel Maes' disapproving eyes on his back, so he pulled out the state pocket watch attached to his waist line, holding it up for observation.

"Pardon us."

"State Alchemists?" the suit of armor asked.

Both males were blown away by the armor's young voice. They had heard it outside, but had no idea it belonged to such a huge person…if that was a person at all. Roy covered up his shock well, but Maes wasn't as good as he was.

"Uhm…" Maes began quietly. "Only he's the state alchemist…"

"What business does the military have here?" the older woman demanded. "As you can see, these boys have been seriously injured."

Roy reached in his pocket and pulled out the letter. "This letter came our way."

"That's the one that Nii-san sent to dad's acquaintances!" the armor exclaimed in realization.

Maes was taken aback. Dad? So then…inside that suit is one of the Elric brothers?

It looked as if Roy had already figured that out however.

"We have been searching for your father, Hohenheim, for a long time."

"We still don't know where their father is." the woman piped up once more. "There are hurt people here. Go away."

"Roy…." Maes whispered pulling on Roy's sleeve. "Maybe we should just…"

But Roy ignored him. He was on a mission now. He walked towards the bed and stared down at the boy in it; Edward Elric.

"If they have performed human transmutation, and were able to escape with their lives, then I am more interested in them than their father….they could make fine State Alchemists." he said.

That was it; even Maes had had enough of this.

"This boy hasn't done anything. Go away, we have things to do here."

At the same time the old lady had spoke, Hughes stepped forward and grabbed his lover's sleeve once again, prompting Mustang to look at him. He could tell by those eyes what was on Maes' mind.

We're going. Now.

Shaking his clothing out of Maes' grasp, Roy made his way back to the door, the other in tow.

"I am State Alchemist Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang." he introduced, then hitched a thumb back at Maes. "And this is Major Maes Hughes, my partner."

"Come pay us a visit in Central."

His onyx eyes drifted over briefly to the blonde little girl who was identical to the one the doctors had in the picture with them when he killed them, and then he left. Maes lingered just a moment longer.

"Good luck kid." he muttered solemnly, before bowing his head, and following Roy.

Once the door closed, Maes gave Roy the large whap on the head the other had been expecting since he opened his fat mouth.

-:-

Inside, Edward Elric's gold eyes opened slightly, a new determination entering his mindset…

-:-

"What the hell was going on in that head of yours?! I knew you were going to do something like that, I just knew it Roy!"

"Then why didn't you try to stop me?"

"Like hell I could you stubborn little ass." Maes moaned giving the stubborn little ass's ass an equally small kick.

"But really Roy…" Maes began seriously. "What were you thinking? That woman was ready to kill us and for you to suggest such a thing to those poor kids…"

"At least I gave them an option. There's really not much either of them can do right now." Roy told him as he rubbed his kicked behind.

"Uh…they could always just give up alchemy and live relatively peaceful lives?" Maes said.

"And waste such talent?"

But one look at the glare Maes was giving him and Roy moved on.

"Who knows, if they join the state, that one will probably be able to get his brother's body back."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Tell me Maes, which of those people did YOU think were the Elric brothers?"

"Well uh…the one on the bed and the one in the armor."

"There was no one in that armor."

"What?"

"That armor WAS the brother. But there was no one inside."

"How on Earth do you know that Roy!?"

Roy paused. How didhe know that?

"Because I just do. Anyways, there's no guarantee they'll find what they need in the military, but it's better than just doing nothing and being cripples for the rest of their lives, don't you agree?"

"I suppose so…But I still can't believe that the armor didn't have anyone in it…."

"I'll prove it to you when they come to Central. Anyways, come on Maes. Let's find the inn."

"Roy…….how do you know for sure they'll come to Central?" Maes asked him.

"Because I just-"

But Roy paused again. Once more the thought came to his head: How DO I know that?

He stopped completely, and didn't even move when Maes passed him. Maes turned back to him, concerned.

"What's going on Roy?"

But Roy was lost in his thoughts. He was searching his memories desperately.

The Elric brothers come to Central and-….and they-

State Alchemists. Do they become State Alchemists? They have to….don't they?

The brother…how is it that he's a suit of armor? How did that happen?

He tried to remember anything.

There was a state alchemist killer…WHAT WAS HIS NAME!?

He suddenly, before Maes' eyes, fell to his knees, his forehead in his palm. Maes' concern shot sky high.

"Roy!" he exclaimed rushing to his side. "What's wrong?!"

But Roy could not hear him. He realized something:

His memories of the other world were vanishing.

The only thing still vivid in her memory was Maes' death.

What the hell is happening to me!?