After about another hour of trudging up more of the never-ending stairs, Al had to stop and rest. His body just wasn't up to all these stairs after fighting and being beaten by the monster. He figured he was either going in circles and didn't know it or he was going to the roof of an extremely large building. Neither of which Al liked the idea of.

"I wish Brother were here…he always came up with the brilliant escapes." As soon as Al realized what he had said, he knew that, once again, he was showing signs of having forgotten something. "That's it! I give up! I'll figure this out then maybe you'll let me go!" He screamed, looking pointedly at the stairs sitting under his boots.

Now then. What was he missing? It seemed to him, that he'd lost a good chunk of his memory. Ed was 22...and he was only 15. But it had made sense when his brother had first reappeared. He was supposed to be that age. Just like Al was supposed to be 15. And he had never questioned it before. But it didn't make sense. None at all. Before Ed had disappeared, Ed had only been a year older than Al. And Ed was 10. Al was 9. How much time had he really missed?!

So how exactly could Al forget--no, lose six years of his life? He couldn't have just forgotten them, he'd be older. When had he been trapped in armor? And what the hell was a blood seal?!

As Al thought of all these questions, he stared down at his own flesh hands. He could remember, slightly, when he didn't have the touch that he felt. He couldn't feel, he couldn't taste…he couldn't remember. Slowly, those flesh hands were replaced my steel gauntlets. Gauntlets that belonged to the armor, that Al had been.

But even if Al had tried to think harder about that, he couldn't. Because Alphonse Elric had passed out.

Roy had been gone for a number of odd hours, along with Maes and Havoc. They had gone in search of any sign of Al and had promised that they would call if there was even a slight hint at his whereabouts. Armstrong and Hawkeye had gone to find food, hoping to calm the bristle that had once been Edward.

Ed was more than a nervous wreck without his little brother. It was hard enough to live those six awful years in Germany without him…but now he finally had him back and the smallest idea that he might have lost him again made Ed go insane.

His hair was braided back like always, but the hair that had escaped had become very upset because of the hands constantly tugging at it. Ed's normally bright amber eyes were even more dulled by having not slept for over a day and his clothes, which still didn't feel right, looked rather like rags.

A knock on the hotel room door made Ed jump with fright, but he quickly brushed it off and went to see who it was. Outside was Roy, so naturally, Ed let him in.

"Did you find out anything?!" Ed somehow managed to not notice that Roy was now back in uniform, when clearly that would get him shot in Lior.

"Huh?" The older man looked confused for a second.

"About Al! My brother? The one you were supposed to be looking for?!" Ed snapped at him. The man shook his head slightly.

"No…there weren't any signs of him. I'm sorry." When Ed turned away from him, quickly brushing away the tears that came, he continued, "But I'm sure we'll find him soon."

"I…I'm just worried. That's all." Ed whispered fiercely before tugging the taller man into a tight hug. It was then that Ed realized the uniform. "What the--?" He pushed back, looking up at a face that was no longer that of Roy Mustang's.

When Al next woke up, he had time to realize only two things before pain rushed to his body and he passed out again. One was that he wasn't on the never-ending stairs. Instead he seemed to be back in the room where the monster had beat him and now he was attached to the wall. The second thing was that he wasn't alone in the room. There was someone else hanging on the opposite wall. But before Al could even try to make out who it was, he was out again.

"Al! No! Wake-up!" Ed screamed at his little brother, but when the younger Elric's body went limp again, Ed just hung his head. He'd been trying to wake his brother up for an hour at the least. Ever since he'd woken up there himself.

No more than three hours ago, Ed had been safe inside the hotel room where Roy had left him, wondering how Al was doing. But then Envy had come in, acting like Roy. How could Ed believe for even a second that that monster had been the man he loved?!

Bam! Ed continued to slam his head back against the wall until he could feel the warm blood run down his neck. He had fallen right into Envy's trap. He had betrayed his lover. He'd promised he wouldn't get hurt….

But before Ed could fight back, Envy had slammed his head against his knee, knocking him out. Al had needed his older brother, needed him more than ever, and Ed was too incompetent to even run away from his captor.

Before Ed could continue to bash his head in, the door to the plain white room opened with a small creak. Ed didn't need to look up to know who it was. But when he did, the homunculus had a disgusting smirk on his face that made Ed more infuriated that he could ever remember being.

"Bashing your pretty head in won't help you now," A soft, sinister chuckled came from him, "Not even your precious Colonel can help you now." On the word Colonel, he changed to look like Roy and Ed nearly threw up.

"Don't use his face, you fucker!!" Ed screamed, straining hard against his chains.

"But Edward…don't you miss me?" Roy/Envy asked in Roy's voice. It was the soft tone that Ed remembered from when they had been in bed together.

"S-shut-up! You're not him!" Ed strained against the chains again, "You're nothing like him. You're a monster!"

"But Ed…" Roy/Envy's hand gently ran over Ed's battered and bruised face, "You can't mean that." Ed wanted to turn away, or to bite the thing's hand…but it was Roy.

No…it looked like Roy. Ed snarled, but stopped when he heard someone else moving. Chains.

"General?" A weak voice from the other side of the room made Roy/Envy turn, "Are you here to save us?"

Al couldn't remember how he'd gotten where he was or why his Brother or the general were there, but he could remember everything else. He could remember losing his mother, trying to bring her back, losing his body…the Gate. Everything. Including the pain. He must have been brought back when Ed was thrown in here. But why was the Colo-no General now, Al corrected himself as he remembered both lives, why was he here?

"Al! You're ok?" Ed asked worriedly, straining to see his brother past Roy/Envy's head. For a second, he had forgotten where he was and who was standing in front of him.

"Yea, I think so. But we are in need of a long talk…after we get out of here." Al eyed the General. From Al's second life, he knew about Lior and it's non-military policies. So why was the General in his uniform? Then he remembered the monster. No, it had been Envy who had beaten him. "What're you doing acting like the General?!"

"I'm so glad you remember me now, mini-pipsqueak." Envy taunted as he changed back to the palm-tree haired form.

"Leave Al alone! Your issue is with me, not him! So leave him the fuck outta it!"

Envy turned back towards Ed, "I bet you haven't told him a thing about Germany." Ed's eyes grew in fear. "He doesn't know about your family there, does he? About how you replaced him."

"What?" Al looked hurt. And it made Ed hurt more.

"Don't! He doesn't need to know about that! It's not important!" Ed stammered out as confidently as he could.

"But I think he does. You loved her, didn't you? And your brother-in-law? Who just happened to be named Alfonse?" Envy taunted him, grinning all the while, "About how you replaced him?"

"NO! I never replaced him!!!" Ed screamed, the tears escaping his eyes before he realized it.

"Yes you did. You replaced him. You forgot about your own brother!"

"NO!" The anguish gushed from Ed's lips in a horrible scream. "I never forgot Al. I love my brother!"

"Al deserves better than you. You forgot him. Replaced him. Hated him. Hated your life."

"No…no…" Ed muttered, tears running freely down his cheeks.

"Yes. You deserve to die."

"Brother!" Al yelled, interrupting Envy's own little torture, "Don't listen to him! I know you would never forget me!"

Ed looked across at his brother, tears still running from surprised eyes, "Al…"

"Don't listen to him, Brother…I remember. I remember everything now."

"Al…"

Roy Mustang looked frantically around the hotel for any trace of Edward. When he and Maes had returned to find Ed's hotel room empty, the door slightly ajar, Roy had bgun to shout orders like the military officer he was trained to be. But in his mind, he was panicking like nothing else. If only he hadn't let Ed come along or maybe if he simply hadn't left him alone!

"Maybe he went looking for Al?" Havoc suggested but with a glare from his commanding officer, he quickly shut his mouth.

Roy knew that Ed wanted to find Al, but he also knew that Ed was smart and wouldn't have run off like that. Especially when Roy had asked him to stay where hwas.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Riza said when the hotel's occupant acorss the hallway had opened his door, "But have you seen anyone in the past hour come to or from this room?" she pointed back towards Ed's room.

"…sure did." He grumbled, obviously having just woken up.

"Who?!" Roy demanded angrily.

"Uh…he looked like you. Only younger," Roy scowled, "He had shorter hair and didn't have the eye patch, but looked almost exactly like you. Got a twin?"

"What was he wearing, if you remember?" Riza asked politely while Roy tried to figure out what the fuck the man was speaking about. He wasn't there an hour ago. He had only come back maybe ten minutes ago.

"Oh…looked like a military uniform. Kinda confused me. I didn't think the military was brave enough to show their faces around here."

"They aren't."

Envy turned and growled at Al, "You're wrong…your brother had a family. A brother. Who he replaced you with."

"I don't care if Brother had five families in wherever!" Ed looked up at his brother with a surprised, but admirable look, "He wouldn't have replaced me! No matter what you say…my brother wouldn't forget me. He wouldn't forget Mom or what happened!"

Envy stalked (no, not walked…he never just walked) to the younger Elric and drove his fist into the small boy's stomach. "I was actually considering to let you live, but not anymore. You shoulda kept your fucking mouth shut!"

Normally Ed would have been worried about his little brother. But for once, he had to hope that his brother could take care of himself for a few minutes because the distraction was great. Before, Ed hadn't had the determination or the will to try and escape. He was too worried about Al and how he had let him down. Now he wanted to make up for it.

Pushing back on the wall with his feet, Ed lifted his hands higher and was just able to make a silent slap. Thankfully, Envy had left the chains slightly loose. "I think," Ed sneered, "You have more important worries." In one fluid motion, Edward had pushed his hands to the wall, causing blue electricity to run through it in a violent alchemic reaction.

Ed hadn't done any alchemy since his return. He'd been so caught up in trying to let his wounds (both physical and mental) heal and then Roy…so Ed hadn't used his alchemy in six years. Needless to say it had been building up. So when Ed finally let it go…

CRACK! BAM! BOOM!

The entire wall fell and created a giant cloud of dust making it hard for everyone to see. But Ed first wanted to make sure Al was okay, "Al?!" Ed shouted, coughing as he inhaled some of the dust in. He could just barely make out the shape that was Al hanging on the wall. But where did Envy go…?

"There are more important things to worry about, pipsqueak!" Envy growled as he came flying down to meet the Fullmetal Alchemist's automail.

After talking for a few minutes, Roy and his team had come up with only one possible situation as to what had happened.

"It had to be someone from my past, who hadn't seen me in at least six years." Roy thought aloud, "But who could that be?"

"Could it be the homunculi?" Armstrong asked. Everyone there could recall exactly who and what the homunculi were and how dangerous they were. Especially Mustang and Maes.

"But where would it have hid for six years?" Riza asked diplomatically.

"Maybe wherever the boss was." Have suggested.

"If it was a homunculus it would have to be the one who attacked me. The shape-shifter. It could easily have turned into Roy, or who he remembered as Roy, and tricked Ed into coming with it."

"Ed would know it wasn't me."

"How?" Riza asked quietly.

"Well for one, he heard me talk about the uniforms and for another, I didn't have an eye patch on. Surely he would have noticed that."

"When he's so caught up in his own worries about Al?"

"Shit." And Roy was off.

Roy was lost. Hopelessly, utterly, lost. He'd only been in Lior two or three times and the desert city was rather…vast. And it didn't help that all the building there looked relatively the same.

"How can I help Ed when I'm lost myself?" The General growled to himself. Of course, he shouldn't have just left everyone back at the hotel…but he was worried. Some thing had stolen the one person that Roy Mustang lived for! He'd been searching for something this important to him his entire life. He had thought it was his country, he had thought it was his team, but no…it was one very short, hot-tempered alchemist. Whom he loved more than life itself and was now missing! This was all his fault!

Roy nearly fell over when a building only a few yards away fro him suddenly acquired a rather large hole and a huge dust cloud. Even from where he was, Roy recognized the blue alchemist streaks and the destruction that screamed "Here's where the Fullmetal Alchemist is!"

"Ed!"

Ed leaned against part of what was left of the wall and spit blood. The fucking bastard had busted his lip and had almost made Ed bite through his tongue. His whole body shook with the effort that it had taken to use alchemy. His body simply wasn't used to it. Coughing again from the dust, Ed peered around, trying to find Envy, "Stop hiding you fucker!"

"Ed?" A nervous voice asked through the hole. That wasn't Roy. It couldn't be. It was Envy…pretending again.

"Don't use his voice!" Ed screamed when he saw Roy, though weather it was from pain or anger, no one could tell. And just as Ed was going to throw himself against the new comer, there were two of Roy. One standing much closer and one farther away. That's when Ed knew that Roy really had shown up at the scene. The closer one, without the eye patch, had to be Envy.

With one fluid movement, and a clap, Ed transformed his arm into a blade and sent it through the fake Roy's stomach. The homunculi looked surprised for a minute before giving Ed a satisfied look.

"I still…got…your…stupid brother." Envy's spit along with blood covered Ed's face. The homunculus' body slowly disappeared as it went to join the others. And with that, Ed finally passed out, landing alone on the cold floor.

Roy had watched Ed fight the homunculus. He had noticed that when Ed had transformed his arm, he had transmuted a small something into the metal. It almost looked like a bone, but he couldn't be sure. And when he saw Ed pass out, he ran to him.

But before Roy could pick him up, Roy saw Al lying not too far away. The younger Elric had a short dagger driven in his chest. Close, but not in to the boy's heart. Yanking the dagger out, Roy bandaged the wound with the boy's torn shirt. Hoping it would keep the boy from losing too much blood. Carefully, he grabbed Al's feet and Ed's feet and slowly dragged them from the wreck and towards the hospital.

Ed woke slowly and when he did, the only thing he could see was white. A very clean, very white ceiling. Where could he be? Was he still trapped underground with Envy? Where was Al? Roy? Hadn't he been there??

Ed sat up, groaning as something in his back popped. Looking around, he noticed that of all the places he did not want to be, he was in the number one.

A hospital.

Thankfully, he could see Al laying down in a bed a few feet away, sleeping peacefully. Then there was Roy, who had apparently fallen asleep in his chair as he watched Ed during the night.

Settling back down, Ed sighed. They were safe for a moment and for that, he was internally glad. He peered at Roy from under his loose hair and studied the man as he slept. The eye patch was still there, still covering Roy's left eye. For a moment, Ed felt the need to look under it. To see what his lover so ardently hid from him. But, he resisted. If Roy had wanted to show Ed, he would have…and maybe one day, they would get there. But today was not that day.

The other eye opened as Ed continued to look at the man he assumed to be sleeping. "Good morning, Ed." His rough voice startled Ed, but he quickly recovered.

"Hey…how long have I been in this bed?"

"About a week…Al might take longer to recover."

Ed was shocked about how long he could sleep while everyone could still have been in trouble, but he quickly changed the shock to worry over his little brother. "What's wrong with him?"

"When the homunculus realized he wasn't going to win, he stabbed Al. He tried to aim for his heart, and we are very lucky that he missed. But now Al has gone through two surgeries and has yet to wake up. Everything seems to be okay physically now…I think he's just too worn out to wake up yet." Roy explained, trying not to make Ed panic.

But the panic still appeared in Ed's eyes. His little brother! When Ed attempted to stand up, Roy didn't bother trying to stop him and simply watched to make sure Ed didn't fall over and hurt himself as he rushed to his brother's side.

Al stirred slightly as Ed ran his flesh hand against his brother's brow. "Al, wake up…it's okay now…we're safe. Please wake up." He whispered in desperation.

After approximately ten minutes of complete silence, right when Ed was about to give up, Al's eyes fluttered open. "Brother?" He croaked.

"AL!" Ed yelped as he glomped his brother with the most fervent of hugs.

"Brother! I can't breath!" Ed quickly let go so Al could breath. "Where are we?"

"In the hospital…"

"Oh…" A few seconds pause before, "OH! I remember! I remember everything! About mom, about traveling, and about Colonel…I mean General Mustang helping us!" He grinned with a feeling of euphoria.

"That's great, Al." Ed cried happily, "But you should really rest…you're in the hospital. We'll talk later, alright?"

"Alright…"

Two weeks later, and many militaristic reports, Ed was back on his way to Roy's house. Al was going back to his dorm, and had invited Ed to join him seeing as how much they had to catch up still…but Ed simply shook his head. And Al, being Al, knew exactly why and understood it.

"We'll still see each other all the time, right?"

"Of course." Al agreed. "I'll come visit you and the General whenever you want. And we've still got a phone line…"

"I heard you have a chance to be transferred to East HQ."

"Ya, but we'll still have the phone. We'll call each other every night."

"Thanks, Al." Ed shuffled his feet a little, "I guess I'll see you then."

"Ya." And they walked away from each other.

Roy was waiting for him back at the house that they now shared. The fact that Roy could say that, made him thrilled. Ed had agreed to live with him…and he'd gone to the library and asked for work. They readily gave it to him seeing as he was the 'Fullmetal Alchemist' and now he'd be reading about himself to little kids.

Roy chuckled softly as he set the food on the table. Just then, he heard the ever so Ed-like entrance of creak, stomp, stomp, slam!.

"Hey! Just in time for dinner?"

"What's for dinner?" Ed peeked into the room. It was now his kitchen as well as Roy's, but he wasn't quite at home yet.

"BBQ. Beans. Potato Salad."

"I haven't had that in awhile."

"So I figured."

After sitting down and serving the food, Ed stared at his plate. "What's wrong, Ed?" Roy was confused. He knew Ed liked bar-b-que plenty because he'd seen him eat it with a gusto. He looked down at the plate as well. There were all the things he'd mentioned plus a piece of bread.

"The beans are infringing."

"What?" Roy snorted, trying to hid his laughter at Ed's scowl.

"The beans are attacking my bread!" He yelped, "None of that!" He growled to the beans as he desperately tried to scoot the beans away from said bread with his fork.

When Roy couldn't hold it in any longer, Ed wondered why the hell his boyfriend (as they were now officially and not so officially) was laughing his ass off.

After dinner, Roy and Ed had cuddled by the fire place before they had made their way up stairs. Finally, after the try over three weeks ago, Roy would be able to have sex with his new lover.

Changing was simply enough, after all…they'd run into the problem already. So Ed was back in his red and black boxers while Roy wore his ever-sparkly blue ones.

"So," Roy started as he climbed elegantly into the bed, "Do you still like my underwear?"

Ed's blush was answer enough, "No! Not in the least…I never liked them and--" He was then cut off as he was pushed back and kissed rather passionately.

"Edward, I love you, but sometimes…it's better to be quiet." Roy smirked a little at the scowl he received, but another kiss quickly pulled the scowl away.

THE END.