The big TWO-OH! XD

The Lovely Daaaarlings!

Tailendwriter: Thanks! XD

AnonymousGirl18: Thanks, I'm glad you like it! And I used to know a few words my mom's cousin-in-law taught me, but I've forgotten them by now. I only actually know English, Spanish, and Japanese numbers. The rest I either get from people nice enough to give me a list, or from online translators.

Kaijukote: Sigh, some military officers are just morons. Haha, totally. FMA has to have angst. It's the FMA World Rule.
I'd either die of blood loss or laughing if Ed became a God. Scary... o.o"
Yes, we should burn her at the stake!.. Or maybe something a bit more humane. Riley's in store for a lot of angst, ne?
Thanks! And I'm definitely going to be putting more Scar into this.

Want to Be a Lovely Daaaarling? Review! Bwahaha!

There is no ownage relationship between FMA and I.
There is no ownage relationship between Riley(and Co.. Hehe) and you.
There is no ownage relationship between Nicole and I. She belongs to AnimeFanGirl167. X3

Chapter Twenty:
It's Just Not Her Week.

I groaned as I began to wake, feeling nothing short of horrible. In more ways than one. Armstrong had carried us, all passed out at this point, to the hospital last night. I had a blood transfusion along with who knows how many tests. I didn't know about Ed or Al yet. They didn't tell me anything when I asked. Then again, they probably didn't understand my half-asleep, half-passed out garbled nonsense.

Opening my eyes, I began to look around my room. It was empty, of course. I guess Fate was giving me time to brood in peace.

I didn't know why I cared so much about it, but I did. Up till last night, I had been able to help Ed and Al when they needed it. And last night, they needed it more than ever. But I couldn't do anything. "Aren't I useless..?" I muttered under my breath. I felt unneeded.. Unnecessary. In the way.

Oh well. I can't cry over it, now at least. Maybe I could just go back to HQ and get another job from Mustang, continue my post-Elric schedule. After all, I'm kind of just sticking around them.

I sighed as I stood from my bed slowly, and made my way into the hall. I looked around and saw a few patients here and there walking around. I made my way to the desk, where a woman sat. "Ma'am.. Which room is Edward Elric in?" I asked.

She looked up at me and pointed at the room next to mine. "Ma- Lieutenant Colonel.. Maes Hughes ordered it," She said, almost irritated at the mention of Maes.

Smirking, I nodded in thanks and turned to head to Ed's room, when I saw Hannah standing there. "Hey! How did trick-or-treating go?" I asked. Hannah didn't reply. She just glared at me. "..What's wrong?" I asked.

"An officer came to watch over me," She said. I froze. I had sent an officer to watch her, but I specifically picked an officer that knew I was hiding it from Hannah. Didn't I?

"Ed sent someone to watch you? That's grea-" I was interrupted.

Hannah glared at me and shouted, "I know you're in the military!" I sighed, looking downward. "Why didn't you tell me? I actually believed you were a Militia Journalist! You made me look like a fool, Riley! Am I supposed to be some kind of sick puppet for your own amusement or something?"

"Hannah, it isn't like that, I just didn't want you to-"

"To what? Kill you for joining the military after what your parents fought for?" Hannah hissed at me.

I flinched a bit at the mention of my parents. "You would've worried if you knew."

She glared, "Riley, I worry about you already! You're reckless, don't you comprehend that?! What made you think lying to your best friend about it is such a better idea?! How many other people know?" At my pause, she looked angrier. "..Ed knows, doesn't he?"

"...He found out," I replied.

"Of course. And you decided to keep lying to me? Great. Ed knows more about you than I do! Maybe he'll enjoy dealing with you more than I did," She growled as she threw her bag of candy down. "I'm going back home where I can actually be with honest people for Christmas," She said before turning to walk off.

This isn't my week.

I headed back to my room, not in the mood to deal with Ed, Block, and especially Maria Ross. Walking into the room, I saw a familiar brunette sitting in a chair next to my empty bed. I blinked in surprise, "..Nicole?"

Said girl looked up and smiled as she stood, "Hey, you're alive!"

Grinning, I nodded. "Last I checked."

As I sat down on my bed, she sat across from me, "Are you okay? Hughes told me you were stabbed."

I nodded in reply, "I'm fine, it's just a... Scratch." Which was technically the truth. I mean, she did use her nail. So, it classifies as a scratch. A.. Really.. Deep scratch.

She shook her head in confusion and looked around, "So where's Hannah? She used to be glued to your side whenever she wasn't in Dublin."

Pausing, I sighed. Nicole was my cousin. I could trust her with almost anything. So, I told her everything. From when I met Winry; to when I walked into my room to see Nicole sitting there. It was a long story, and an emotional one, but I needed to get it all off my chest. And Nicole was the best person to help.

Once I was done, Nicole was quiet a moment to think over her response. "Well, it's your own fault you're in this mess with Hannah. If you hadn't of lied to her, you wouldn't have screwed up now," She explained.

I sighed and nodded, "This much I knew... I just.. I figured she'd react bad if I told her."

"That's your problem, you know," Nicole started, "You always assume people will do things you don't like, so you take drastic measures to prevent it, only causing more chaos down the road. That's unhealthy."

"Okay, Ms. Therapist, and what about Ed and Maria Ross?" I asked dully.

She rolled her eyes, and smirked slyly at me. It scared me a bit. I ignored it though as I grabbed my water and sipped. "You're just jealous a homewrecker hugged your man," She said.

My sudden reaction was one I assume she didn't like. It all happened within seconds of each other too.

Just as Maes walked in, my eyes widened as I spit my water out. Nicole's brow twitched as she, now wet, glared at me. "That was disgusting," She growled at me.

I blinked, still in shock. How the hell did she come up with that? I wasn't sure if it was the "homewrecker" bit, or the "your man" bit, but both were a surprise from her mouth. I coughed as I sat the cup down. "Are you kidding me?" I asked her.

She sighed as she wiped her face with a towel next to my bed. "No. You're jealous, not self-conscious. You didn't get along with that Winry girl either. You don't like any woman in his life."

"That's not true! Winry doesn't like me. I liked her," I pointed out.

"Because you're a threat to hers and Ed's relationship. Just like you're feeling that Maria is a threat to yours," Nicole explained. I twitched, and she continued, "You don't feel like Ed needs help, you feel like Ed needs you. Your help, your support. And when Maria shows support, it shows you that he just needs help and support, not yours specifically."

I stared dully. "So I have a mother complex?" Maes burst out laughing while Nicole glared at me. Looking over at Maes, I smiled, "Hey! How's it going?"

Maes relaxed and said, "Ed woke up a while ago."

Turning serious, I asked, "Is he okay? How's he doing?"

"The doctor says he's fine," Maes said, "Come with me to see him?"

I nodded and stood from the bed, walking to him. He shut the door behind me and smirked, "Nicole is right, you know."

"Eh?" I mumbled, looking up at him.

He nodded, "You care about Ed. It's not surprising, after all you've been through with them. You're the kind of girl that hates getting shown up, and you feel like you have been."

My brow twitched, "Great, getting told how I feel by an overly-obsessed father."

He shook his head at me as we both went into Ed's room. "Hey Ed!" Maes shouted in his usual cheery voice as he waved.

Ed looked over at us and said, "Hey Hughes.." Upon seeing me, he blinked in a bit of surprise. "Riley. How are you holding up?"

Shrugging, I grinned. "Been better, besides," I paused to rub my bandaged shoulder, "It's technically just a scratch, right?"

He had a faint smirk as he nodded, "Yeah."

Maria Ross stared at me a bit. Almost as if she knew what I had been mulling over. I blinked, looking at her as well. Finally, she smiled, "I'm glad you're okay after that little chase you pulled off with Scar. Yo-"

The air suddenly changed as Ed glared at me, shouting, "Wait a minute! You chased after Scar without me or Al?!"

Maria Ross gained a huge bead of sweat as I blinked, nodding. "Er.. Yes... But don't worry, he didn't hurt me, he just took me to Lab Five with him!" I said, grinning.

"WHAT?!" Heh, he sounded angrier... Thinking of what to say, I looked around the room in a silent panic. Finally, I thought of the perfect diversion.

"Have some milk!" I said as he held up a glass of milk for him.

He slapped it out of my hands, still glaring at me. I paled as he continued, "You were with Scar?! You idiot! He could've killed you!"

"But he didn't," I pointed out matter-of-factly.

"So?! What if he did? We'd have no way of knowing about it..! You shouldn't be around him alone!" Ed yelled firmly.

I glared now, "You controlling jackass! I can be around whoever I want to be around!"

Ed shook his head and shouted, "Not with Scar, Riley! If you hadn't decided to be a baby and leave, we wouldn't have this problem!"

"Me?!" I shouted angrily, pointing at myself. He had crossed the line. I was the baby?! "I'm the one that was being a baby?! I'm so sorry Mr. I've-Had-Enough, for being a baby!" I shouted as I placed my hands on my hips, glaring at Ed.

"You know what I mean! Dammit Riley, you're too reckless!" He shouted at me. I was just about to snap back with something witty, when I remembered what Hannah had said.

"You're reckless, don't you comprehend that?!"

Pausing, I tried to think of something to say, but someone beat me to it. "He isn't that bad, brother. He helped me find you, after all," Al said quietly. I blinked, looking over at him in surprise and concern. What was wrong with Al?

"Brother, it's okay! What am I, after all...?"

Now that I thought about it, Al seemed.. Unsure, of himself. Dammit, if only I knew who said what to him to make him wonder. Was that even the problem? Or was he angry that Ed would actually murder for him? When that thought crossed my mind, I myself became angry with Ed. He was actually going to murder. We could've found a way to save Al(and me). But no. He decided he'd rather kill.

Then I glared at Ed, and reached forward, smacking him. Ed's eyes widened as he was jerked forward. Maes' eyes widened a bit, and I heard Maria Ross gasp as Block muttered, "Again?!"

It was silent a moment. Everyone was trying to process it. Maes cleared his throat and said, "You know what I just realized? I haven't eaten today..."

Block blinked and Maria Ross nodded. "We understand, sir..," She said before dragging Block out of the room.

"What was that for...?!" Ed asked me.

I glared, "How dare you! How dare you think it'd be okay to use those people! Did you really think we'd be okay with you being a murderer? You aren't that kind of person!"

Ed sighed. "... They would've killed Al-"

"We would've found a way!" I shouted angrily, "Just like always! There's always more than one way to do things, Ed, I thought you knew that!"

He glanced up at me and nodded, "..You're right."

"Damn right I am!" I shouted angrily as I choked up. "And, you yelled at me for being with Scar and I yelled at you for being a dumbass, so we're even!" I said, choking up.

His brow twitched, and he nodded, "..Yeah. We're even."

Maes was quiet, a bit confused, until he asked, "Mind telling me what happened?"

Ed and I sighed as I sat down, and Ed told him what happened. Once the story was over, Maes smirked a bit, "Thanks for the information, Ed. I'll take it from here. Now get some rest. Why don't you and your brother just worry about yourselves for a while?" Ed nodded a bit as Maes headed out of the room.

. . .

"Edward! You didn't tell me you were in the hospital for this!" Winry exclaimed as she dropped her toolbox. Her and Armstrong stood there, by Ed's bed.

I blinked, looking to Ed, "You didn't?" I snorted a bit, "What, did you forget or something?"

He glared a bit at me as Winry said, "Seriously Ed, why didn't you tell me?"

Laughing nervously, he said, "Well one thing led to another..."

"It's nothing to laugh about..," Winry said as her voice stumbled a bit.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked, concerned.

I shook my head as I muttered to Armstrong, "Ed's an idiot about women."

"I didn't do the maintenance on your auto-mail the way I should've, and now.. This is my fault," Winry said sadly.

Ed freaked. "No! Don't say that! There's a lot of other things to blame, right Al?"

Al moved a bit and I looked over at him, concerned. "..Right," He said.

"See there? And Al doesn't lie!" Ed said, smiling.

"...," I looked back at Armstrong. "Ed's an idiot about Al too."

"Yeah, but-"

Winry was interrupted when Ed said, "Your maintenance was perfect. It always has been. It's complicated machinery and I'm swinging it all around. It was bound to jam up sometime. I mean honestly, the timing was pretty good. If it had stopped earlier, I'd be a lot worse off. It broke because I was rough with it."

Winry paused and smiled, "You're right! You're reckless is all, clumsy!" She then laughed loudly as Ed twitched. I smirked in amusement.

. . .

I was walking around town, looking for something to get Ed for his birthday. I hated looking for birthday presents. How was I supposed to know what to get him? He wants Al's body back, and I can't get that. And how would I even wrap that if I could get it? Imagine that surprise...

"Happy birthday Ed!" I said I held my arms open to motion to the huge life-sized box in front of him, wrapped in yellow and blue.

"Awesome! Thanks, Riley!" Ed shouted as he pulled on the blue ribbon. It fell off, along with the yellow paper, and the box came tumbling down to show Al, in flesh and all. "Al?!" Ed shouted as I laughed, watching them embrace each other in brotherly care.

I had stopped walking, deadpan. I was unsure of whether I should've laughed at the thought of Ed going "Awesome!", or mourned the loss of my sanity. Shaking my head, I continued to walk, looking for something to get him.

"Riley..?"

Blinking, I stopped once more and turned around to see Winry. Great. My best friend declared her hatred of me, my cousin claimed I'm jealous of a thirty-year old woman who's a lower rank than I, and now I have to be alone with Winry. The "other girl" as Nicole would call her.

"Hey..," I said simply as I stood there.

She sighed and glared at the ground, "Listen... I don't like you, and I still don't trust you, but right now you're the only person I can go to. You know more about what's going on than I do.. I want to know."

I blinked in surprise. Was she seriously asking me to tell her what Ed doesn't want her to know after she decided to keep from me what was in Ed's pocket watch? "..No," I replied calmly as I turned back to keep shopping.

"What? W-Why not?" She asked, running up toward me.

I sighed and looked at her, "If Ed didn't want you to know, I'm not going to let you know."

"That's not fair. They're my family, I should know," Winry said, glaring at me.

I stopped and glared at her as I replied with, "Like I should've known what was in his pocket watch?" Her eyes widened a bit, so I continued, "I honestly don't care about knowing what was in his pocket watch, because he hasn't told me himself. You should have the same attitude. Ed is not the kind of person that likes everyone knowing his business. If I tell you what happened, it'd be the same as if you had told me what was in the pocket watch. An invasion of privacy and trust. I'm trying to be nice about it Winry, so back off. Let him tell you when the time is right. What you know about him is between you and him. No one else."

We stood there, staring at one another. A stare down of sorts. She was examining me, surprised, seeing if I would break; While I was watching her break. I wasn't backing down, and she had to see that. Winry nodded, "...I understand."

I win.

. . .

I was walking down the halls to Ed's room to give him his gift, when I saw through the window of the room Winry was fixing his auto-mail. Al was gone. I stepped back and looked around to see Block. "Hey, where's Al?" I asked curiously.

Block looked over at me and motioned to the roof, "He asked me to wheel him up to the roof. He seemed to want to be alone though."

"Hm," I replied as I walked to the stairs.

"H-Hey! Didn't you hear me? He wanted to be al-"

"I heard!" I said as I went upstairs.

Reaching the roof, I walked out and saw Al sitting against the wall. "..Hey," I said, smiling at him.

I got silence in return.

I sat down beside him as I looked around. "It's really nice up here, isn't it?" When he didn't reply, I sighed a bit and looked over at him, "Al.. Are you okay? I'm really worried about you. What did you mean by 'What am I, after all'? What did that armor you were fighting say to you?"

Al shifted a bit, almost as if he was taken by surprise I realized it was something the armor had said. But still, no reply.

I glared at the ground, racking my brain as I tried to remember what had been said the day before. It pissed me off! I was so much in a daze then, I couldn't remember. I thought back through everything, and then it struck me. Memory implants!

It suddenly all came together. Al's suddenly silence, demeanor, him feeling unsure.. It was clear now. I looked up at Al shocked as I asked in a whisper, "You think... Ed made you?"

His eyes widened as he looked down at me, shocked. I was right.

Before he could say anything, the door opened and Winry and Ed walked in. Or, out. I continued to look at Al with shock as he turned to look at them. "Listen. I'm sorry.. And I'm gonna fix you right now," Ed said.

As Winry dropped a bag of metal parts on the ground in front of us, I slowly stood and backed away. Al thought he wasn't real? That.. He was just a doll with memories? Hearing a clap, I tuned back in to see a blue light. As expected, once it was over, Al was tall and all in one piece again.

"How's that?" Ed asked.

Al raised his hand up a bit and balled it into a fist. "That's how you made me this way when you attached my soul to this armor in the first place, isn't it?" He asked.

Ed smiled, "That's right."

"Along with my memories," Al stated. Ed gasped a bit, wide-eyed, but Al continued, "After all, memories are just information you can reference, like a cabinet of files. As skilled an alchemist as you are, you could've created any memories you wanted me to have."

"Fake memories..?" Ed mumbled out before relaxing, "Don't tell me that's what you're upset about."

"Why shouldn't it be?" Al retorted. "A while back in Resembool, there's something you wanted to tell me, but you couldn't. You said you were afraid of how I'd react. You remember that, don't you?!"

I paused, thinking back to that. I remembered that.. Armstrong heard it too. So... Did that mean Al was right? Did Ed really put memories in an armor?

No. Ed wasn't like that. Was he?

"I can't remember parts of my past because they never happened! My memories and soul are fake! Something you created! Isn't that what you wanted to say?!" Al shouted angrily.

Ed's eyes widened as his pupils got smaller. "No!" Winry shouted, stepping forward. "What Ed wanted to tell you was that-"

"Stop lying to me!" Al shouted as he threw his hand at Winry. She stumbled back in order to miss getting hit. I stood there, silent. I didn't know what to believe. "I know what the truth is. The person named Alphonse Elric never existed at all."

"That makes no sense!" Winry shouted, "You and Ed have always been together. I knew you when you were a boy! My grandma did too! We're you friends Al, you can trust me!"

"Can I? Really? How can I believe anyone when there's no way to prove it! When I'm just a hollow shell. All three of you could be in on it together!" Al growled out.

"So," Ed finally spoke up dully, "You've been sitting on these thoughts all this time. Is there anything else you're hiding, that you wanna say?"

"What about you, my so-called brother? Answer my question! Why won't you say anything? Unless it's true!" Al exclaimed before turning to leave.

Ed grabbed Al's arm, silent. "Let go of me," Al said. When Ed didn't budge, Al added, "What's the point of living this lie?!" He pushed Ed back and turned to leave again.

"You idiot!" Ed shouted as he ran forward and grabbed hold of Al's arm, with both of his.

The two struggled against each other, Al telling Ed to let go, Ed telling Al to stop. I wanted to break them apart, but I couldn't help but feel for Al. Finally, Al pushed Ed back, causing him to fall to the ground. Finally I moved as I ran over to Ed to help him sit up. "Alphonse..," Ed muttered, looking up at Al.

I sighed and looked to Al to see him step away, "Stay back.."

"Hold on," Ed said, but Al ignored it.

"Stay back! Keep away from me!"

"Please Al!" Ed shouted, sitting up more. Al jumped over the railing, and Ed shouted, "Al!"

He stood and ran to the railing to jump over, but Winry grabbed a hold of him. "No!" She shouted as she grabbed him, pulling him back. I growled, and grabbed the railing. "Riley!" Winry shouted as she tried to multi-task, holding both Ed and me.

As I placed my foot on the rail, I looked back and snapped, "You don't get it!" Winry blinked, taken aback as Ed ignored our existence. I glared at Winry a bit more before jumping over the railing. Seeing the ground near, I clapped and grabbed my backpack. It turned into a make-shift parachute as I landed on the ground. I let go of the straps, and the parachute fell to the ground. I took off after Al as my belongings laid behind me.

Be Responsible. Don't Flame and Drive! Rawr.