Yay, someone actually gave me pity! Well, sorta… Okies, so we have a little bit of fluff in this chapter, and it's my first time really writing fluff, so let me know how I did, okay?

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"Where am I?"

A flame seemed to snake its way around the room, slowly creeping up on him.

"Is this a dream?"

It stopped in front of him. He stared at it in fear.

"What is this?"

It came close. He tried to get away, but it wrapped itself around his chest, the two ends meeting over his tattoo.

"Go away."

He tried to push the flames off of him, but they only grew.

"Stop."

They covered his entire left side. He could feel a strange sensation where they came in contact with his body.

"Get off of me!"

He tried to move, but he couldn't. Something was holding him down.

"You're saying he's been changed into something different from a human?"

Ed opened his eyes. He knew it was Roy and Olivier speaking in the background, but he couldn't see them. There was a damp cloth on his forehead, presumably to lessen the fever.

"That's what he said," Roy replied. "Although we haven't been able to confirm exactly what they did to him."

"It seems fairly obvious to me. He inherited certain… traits from his father and that man simply brought them to the surface. All that kid needs to do is figure out just what he can do."

"You make it sound so easy."

"I never said it would be easy, especially for someone like him. He's too soft."

After a moment, Roy excused himself and left the room. Ed heard footsteps and tried to reach up to the cloth in order to move it away from his eyes. Instead, he felt a hand on his wrist, and he allowed it to place his arm at his side again. A moment later, the hand pushed the cloth up so that Ed could use his eyes. The first thing he saw was the frowning face of Olivier Armstrong.

"Mustang seems clueless about your little change. Care to explain?"

"I… don't really know how."

"Then how about you tell me what's going on in your body right now?"

"It… feels like it's burning."

"Your side?"

"Yeah. It's taking away all of my energy, too."

"Then shut up and get to sleep. We'll talk more about this when you can actually think clearly."

Olivier covered Ed's eyes with the cloth again and stormed off. At least, that's what it sounded like to Ed. It also sounded like she slammed the door when she in fact closed it gently, which was a rare thing for her to do.

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After a day or so, Ed was moved into one of the dorm rooms that the regular soldiers used. It took him a while to get to the point where he could actually stand on his own, so there were many days he spent alone with very little in the way of entertainment.

Most of his time was spent reading a newspaper Roy had given him. There was an article about the two of them, how they had deserted the military and they were a threat to the country. Ed found that ironic. If they were a threat, then what did that make Father's little group?

Towards the end of his recovery, there was a knock on the door. Ed sat up and told whomever it was to come in. He was slightly surprised to see Riza and Winry.

Ed was grateful he had a sweatshirt on. The tattoo had somehow spread to his arm, and he couldn't wear short-sleeved shirts without letting it show.

"Hey," Ed said. "I thought you were going into hiding."

"We are," Riza replied. "I have some friends in Drachma. They've agreed to get Winry and her grandmother up there and take care of them until it's safe to come back here."

Ed looked at Winry. "When are you going?"

"Tomorrow." Winry glanced nervously at Ed's left side. "How's…"

"It's fine."

Riza looked at the two and left the room without a word, but not before flashing Ed a knowing look. Ed blushed slightly and turned back to Winry. "So… you nervous?"

"Yeah. I'm just glad we could take Den with us. I couldn't leave him here."

Ed smiled as he stood up. "Yeah. He is a part of the family, after all."

Winry was quiet for a minute. Then she took Ed in her arms and held him as tightly as she could. "Are you still a part of it, Ed?"

Ed stood in shock for a minute before he returned the hug. "I am. I could never think of you without feeling happy. Winry, I…"

"I know, Ed. I love you too." She held him even tighter. "Please, don't die."

"I won't."

"And don't let what they did to you bother you. I don't care if you're not a normal human. I wouldn't care if you ended up like that Havoc guy. He's still the same person, and so are you."

Ed paused and pulled himself away. "Wait, how do you know all this?"

"Riza told me most of it, and Mustang told me everything else. Ed, I'm afraid. I'm scared for you, and for Al, and for everyone here. But no matter what, promise me you'll save Al."

"I will. I'll get him back, I swear."

Winry pulled Ed back into a hug and looked into his eyes. "Aw, I can't look down on you anymore."

"Hey."

"I'm just teasing, Ed. Here," she moved even closer to him. "I want to give you something."

Ed wasn't surprised at what came next, although it left him in a daze. He stood in his daze and watched as Winry left the room. He only snapped out of it when Riza came back in.

"Winry seems pretty happy," she said, looking at the door.

"Uh… yeah…"

"You told her, didn't you?"

"No."

Riza looked at Ed in surprise. Ed smiled. "I didn't need to."

Riza smiled. "I see."

"So wait, are you staying here?"

"Yes, there's more I can do down here, and I don't have to worry quite so much about being used as a hostage up here."

Ed nodded. "Yeah, that's the only reason I'm okay with being here. If Al were in danger of being killed, I would have given myself up, but I'm sure he can get out, especially since they won't want to kill him."

"He'll be fine. After all, he's your brother." Riza headed for the door, but she turned around before she opened it. "Oh, the Major General wants you to report to her office as soon as you can. She said it's important."

"Ah, yes. I'll do that now. Thanks."

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There was a tentative knock on the door. "Come in," Olivier said without looking up from her map. She only looked up when Ed was standing in front of her.

"I have a job for you. A while after you left the first time, General Raven sent that thing back into the tunnel. I want you to lead a small group through the tunnel, find 'Sloth' and stop him. We can't afford to let that circle be completed, and I have a feeling it's getting close. War is coming, Fullmetal. We've wasted too much time on the surface. If we don't act now, we won't have another chance."

Ed nodded. "All right."

"You can use that passageway you created the first time you came here. Your group will be waiting for you there. Dismissed."

Ed made his way to the entryway he had made and saw a small group of people standing around it. He was grateful that he recognized the majority of them. Major Miles saluted and gestured for Ed to go down first.

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They walked quietly through the immense tunnel, not knowing exactly what awaited them. After a while, Ed paused. He could feel something strange, and it took him a while to realize just what he was feeling.

"We're close."

Miles studied Ed carefully. "How do you know that?"

Ed shrugged. "I just do. Don't know why. We should be able to hear him in a few minutes."

Ed's prediction proved to be correct, and they listened intently as they continued walking through the dark tunnel. The only sounds they heard were that of digging and Sloth complaining about digging being 'tiresome.' Finally, they got close enough to see him, and the giant homunculus turned around to see where the light was coming from.

"Eh… bright… so… tiresome…"

Sloth turned back and continued working. Miles began to pull out a weapon, but Ed stopped him. "Wait. I think I might know how to stop him."

Everyone watched as Ed walked up so that he was just behind Sloth. "Hey, Sloth?"

Sloth stopped working and looked at Ed. "Who are you?"

"I'm… a good friend."

"Friend?"

"I have a message from Father. He says you can take a break for a while."

"Digging is… tiresome."

"It is, isn't it?" Ed smiled. "Come on, there's a nice place where you can sleep nearby."

Sloth looked at the military people behind Ed. "They're… here."

"You don't trust me?" Ed asked. He unzipped his sweatshirt casually and pulled it off. The edge of the tattoo was barely visible underneath his sleeve. "Don't worry. Like I said, I'm a friend. I'm almost the same as you."

"Same… your ouroboros?"

"I don't have one of those, but I have something similar. Want to see it?"

"Yes."

Ed pulled his shirt up just enough to reveal the black mark to the homunculus. After looking at it, Sloth seemed to trust Ed more. "Sleep…"

Ed turned around and began walking. "Come on. There's a place over here."

As they arrived at the nice little 'bed' Ed had prepared for Sloth, Ed heard a thud. Sloth had fallen asleep, on the 'bed,' no less, and Ed grinned.

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"Wow, you handled that rather easily," Miles said as they walked through the fortress.

"Yeah, I guess so," Ed replied. "It's weird, but I just felt like I knew him from meeting him somewhere." He paused. "Not from that one time, but from before… And I could almost feel his presence." Ed discreetly put a hand on his side. Maybe it has something to do with this, he thought. He decided to talk about it with Roy. Even if the Colonel couldn't say anything, it was worth talking about. Besides, Ed wasn't in the mood to be lectured about keeping secrets again.

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"So you think that feeling you had came from what they did to you?" Roy asked incredulously. They were sitting in Ed's room, and Ed was telling Roy about his new theory.

"Yeah, that's right," Ed replied. "I know it seems weird, but-"

"It would explain a lot," Roy interrupted. "Such as your nervousness in Central. The reports did say that someone came to my apartment that morning to arrest me."

"You think it was Envy?"

"That would be my best guess. Only thing is, I don't know how it's even possible. I mean, sure, Ran Fan and the others from Xing could feel the homunculi's presence, but I'm positive it's different from that."

"It could be that this is your 'power.' The homunculi each have a unique… gift, right? If you've become closer to being like them, then wouldn't it make sense for you to have something just as…" Roy trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense, but…"

"What?"

Ed shook his head. "I don't know. I just don't want to be like this."

"I know you don't, but I think we can use this to our advantage."

Ed leaned back against the wall. "Yeah, but I still don't want to be like this."

Roy stood up. "Well, maybe you can find a way to fix it after we get through all this."

Ed watched silently as Roy walked to the door. As he opened the door, Ed noticed that the Colonel seemed slightly more cheerful than usual. He grinned.

"Having a good time with Hawkeye?" he asked, the grin still on his face. Roy whipped around to face him, his face red.

"What's that supposed to mean, Fullmetal?"

"You heard me. You've been pretty distracted lately, especially when she's around."

"I'm just happy that she isn't in such a dangerous situation. Aren't you happy that Winry will be safe from now on?"

"Yeah, but I don't stop and stare at her every time she walks by."

"You know, I heard about what you two were doing this morning. Hawkeye said you had lipstick on your face."

"Winry doesn't wear lipstick!" Ed snapped.

Roy laughed. "Oh, so I was right? I was just kidding, but from how you reacted…"

Ed blushed slightly. "Yeah, well at least I managed to admit it, unlike you."

"What are you implying?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"What, you think I have feelings for her? I'll have you know, Fullmetal, I've known her for years."

"That's how it is with me and Winry."

"But there's a bigger age difference."

"How much of an age difference do you think there was between my parents?"

"Wha- that's different!"

"How so?"

Roy was very red at this moment. Ed was enjoying seeing him squirm. After a moment, Roy turned around and wrenched the door open. "I don't see why I'm talking to you about this," he said as he slammed the door shut behind him. Ed was shaking with mirth.

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A week passed. Winry and Pinako had headed north with a Drachman citizen, and Roy had admitted to Ed that he indeed had feelings for Riza. Ed wanted to tease Roy, but he didn't out of respect for Riza. They continued working toward their goal of preventing an attack on Briggs.

Ed woke up with a start in the middle of the night. It had been seven days since he had last seen Winry, and he had been interested to realize that he had indeed been counting the moments. Eh, it's probably just a phase, he had thought, and it was true. Right now he had absolutely no thoughts about Winry. He was filled with a sense of unease.

Roy, who shared the room with him, woke up and looked sleepily over at Ed. "What are you doing?" he managed to ask through the yawns.

"That feeling's back again," Ed replied. "Someone's coming."

Roy instantly was as awake as Ed at that point. "Do you know who?"

"It feels like Envy, but I don't know for sure."

"Envy? What's he doing here?"

Ed thought hard about the question for a while. "I don't know, but he's probably after me."

Roy got out of bed and pulled some normal clothes on. "We have to tell the others about this."

Ed got up as well. "Right."

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"Envy, you say?"

"That's right."

Olivier thought hard about Ed's story for a moment. "This is troublesome. It's good that your little friend left already." She stood up and pointed at Ed and Roy. "I want you two to find this Envy and bring him here."

"Why?" Ed asked before he could stop himself.

"Because he'll be coming here anyway, and I'd rather have him under our control."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "That's…"

"I didn't say to use force. Just 'accidentally' cross paths with him and lead him here. We'll do the rest."

"Okay…"

"What are you waiting for? Go now."

Ed and Roy promptly left the office and headed out to the road that led to civilization. Roy stifled a yawn as they walked.

"Ya know, I'm not really liking this idea of taking orders from her."

"Get used to it, Colonel. I've had to do it a lot."

"But I outrank you."

"And she outranks you, so deal with it."

"You seem a little irritated, Fullmetal."

Ed shook his head. "No, not irritated, just worried. I have a really bad feeling about this."

"It'll be fine. All we need to do is get Envy up to the base."

"Yeah, but… I dunno, something just seems wrong."

They walked in silence for a while. Then Ed stopped dead in his tracks. "He's close."

Ed squinted into the dark to see if he could see Envy, and indeed, there was a palm tree-shaped shadow approaching them. Ed waited until he could see Envy clearly before stopping.

"Well, well, look what I found," Envy purred. "Two little runaways. What are you doing all the way out here, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"

"Why, you…" Ed ran toward Envy, his hands curled into fists. As he got close, he jumped into the air, catching Envy off guard, and kicked with all his might. Envy flew at least thirty feet back, which startled Ed. He hadn't thought he was that strong.

He and Roy were about to run away and lead Envy to the fort, but before they could, Envy recovered with record time. He tackled Roy with so much force that Roy was knocked out. Ed ran to help his superior, but before he could make it, he felt something hit his chest. Envy grinned as he lowered his throwing hand.

Ed fell forward and hit the ground with a thud. He tried to get up, but there was something pushing him down. "I found you, little brother," Envy whispered into Ed's ear before bringing a fist into Ed's skull.

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The first thing Ed noticed was the searing pain. When he opened his eyes, his head hurt, so he kept them closed. He tried to move his body, but his hands were restrained. One of his legs had been chained to something.

He moaned, and his lungs felt as if they were on fire. He tried to take a deep breath to calm down, but that hurt his lungs more than moaning. His chest was bare, and he could feel a layer of cloth separating his back from the cold stone beneath him. He opened his eyes again, and saw a face. He scowled, which caused even more pain.

"Envy." Ed regretted speaking, because his lungs burned even more with the two-syllable name.

"Hey there, little brother."

"Why the hell-" Ed stopped again. The pain was too much.

"It's because even though you're the son of one of Father's creations, Father created this part of you," Envy replied, tracing the tattoo with his finger. "But you know what? I still see you as inferior." Envy gave Ed a kick in the ribs, which caused the alchemist to cringe in pain. Ed wanted to curl up into a ball, but he couldn't.

Envy leaned in close to Ed's face. "So, how's your little girlfriend doing? Does she like it in Drachma?"

Ed glared at Envy. "You…"

"Really, it's too bad we don't have time to track her down. I'd like to see just how much it would hurt you to see her die."

Ed felt a small amount of relief, followed by rage that he tried to take out on Envy. Envy watched him for a while, amused by his weak attempts. "Give it up, pipsqueak. You're just going to make your life more difficult."

"Shut up."

Envy stuck a foot on Ed's chest. "Don't tell me what to do." He pressed down slightly and Ed grimaced. He shivered involuntarily. Then it hit him. He was freezing. He looked past Envy to see snow falling outside. They were in a cave.

Envy saw Ed's gaze and looked out as well. He sighed. "Well, there goes any hope I had of getting you out of here tonight. I guess we'll just have to wait." He turned to Ed. "There's a few trees outside. If I got wood, would you be able to dry it off and make a fire?"

"Not if I can't move."

"Don't worry, pipsqueak. I'll let you go long enough for that."

Ed watched as Envy walked out into the storm. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his energy on the homunculus. He'd practiced some on Sloth back at Briggs, and he was slowly becoming aware of what he could do.

Envy didn't go far, and he came back within a few minutes with a small bundle of wood. He dropped it on the ground beside Ed and untied the alchemist's arms.

"You know that trying anything would be stupid, don't you?"

Ed nodded. He was exhausted. He looked down at his chest and cringed as he saw the black on his body. Envy laughed.

"That's a part of you now, brother. It'll never go away. You should get used to it."

"Stop calling me that," Ed muttered as he used alchemy to make the wood usable for a fire.

"No. I like to see that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The look of absolute horror. It's funny."

Ed tried to go through everything he had learned during his one-month stay on Yock Island. Then he remembered the information he needed and began making the fire. As he worked, he kept his eyes down. "What's so funny about it?"

"You're a moron. Here you have a wonderful gift, and you're treating it like garbage."

"I never wanted it."

"But you have it, so you might as well like it."

"I don't care. I hate you."

The fire was burning at this point in time, and Ed lay back down, his back to Envy. After a while, he heard laughter.

"What's so damn funny?" Ed snapped.

Envy kneeled down and pushed Ed onto his back. "Oh, you have no idea." Envy pinned Ed's right arm down with his knee and put a hand on Ed's chest, right over the tattoo. "You're one of us now. It wouldn't be right to hate one of your family members, would it?"

Ed's hand moved before he could stop it. It hit Envy square in the face, and the homunculus fell back, staring with a small amount of surprise at Ed. "What the hell was that for?"

"If I'm a part of your so-called family, then why are you treating me like shit?" Ed shouted.

Envy grinned evilly and moved closer to Ed. Before Ed could understand what had happened, Envy had him on his stomach, both hands twisted painfully behind his back, and a hand on his head. Ed tried to pull his head away, but Envy simply pulled at the golden hair until Ed let out a small cry of pain. "You're right. And now that I think of it, you're more like a pet than anything else. A little dog that needs to be punished for not obeying his masters."

"Then what do you want from me?" Ed cried out, biting his lip to keep from screaming in pain.

"I want you to behave. We're letting you live, so you're being ungrateful by forcing us to come after you."

"Let me go!"

Ed's demand was met with a punch in the face. "Shut up!" Envy leaned over Ed so that his mouth was right next to Ed's ear. "You're ours now."

Ed tried to struggle, but the strain was too much for his weak body to handle. "Let me go…"

"No. Not until you behave." Envy casually glanced outside. "Maybe this storm's a good thing. It'll give me time to break you."

Envy flipped Ed onto his back with ease and stood up. Ed felt a foot go into his stomach. He coughed up some blood and let his head fall back on the cold stone floor. He heard the sound of bone losing to stone, and the pain from the impact overwhelmed him, causing him to cry out as he lost consciousness.

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Miles paused as he trekked down the snowy road he knew so well. He looked around, blinked, and looked around. He continued walking, dismissing what he'd heard as a trick of the wind. After all, the wind had given off human-like sounds before. Screams were no different.

However, he changed his mind when he saw the half-buried body in the distance. He moved forward quickly, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings in case of a trap. There was none.

He carefully brushed the snow off of the unconscious Flame Alchemist and checked the Colonel's vital signs. Roy was still alive.

Miles gently shook Roy until the black-haired man opened his eyes. Roy looked around for a moment, looking genuinely confused, before he noticed Miles.

"What happened?"

Roy moved to a sitting position and began rubbing his head. "Envy was surprisingly fast. I doubt Fullmetal managed to beat him."

"You didn't see what happened?"

Roy shook his head. "No. I was knocked out."

"I can see that. Well, come on. There's no way lying out in the snow can be good for you."

Roy gratefully accepted Miles's hand and walked slowly back to Briggs with the Major supporting him.

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"So you don't know where they are."

"No."

"And you let him beat you."

"…Yes."

"So now Fullmetal's back in the enemy's clutches. Nice going, Flame Alchemist."

Roy cringed at the insult Olivier had given him. Ever since he had arrived, there had been some tension between the two, resulting from their desires for the same thing. If the situation had been different, Roy would have tried to dish out a good comeback, but he was too exhausted to do so. Besides, she was right. He could have saved Ed, but he hadn't. He was a failure.

"I don't want you messing up the plans again, Mustang."

Roy cringed inwardly at this. He knew what it was implying.

"That's why you're going to find Fullmetal and bring him back here."

…Or so he thought. He was surprised at this. The cold leader of the north was giving him a second chance. Him. The man who stood in her way of getting to the top of the country. He wanted very much to rub it in Ed's face at that moment.

But of course Ed wasn't there. Roy saluted. "I will bring him back."

"You'd better. That kid may be an idiot but he has abilities we need in order to win. If you don't get him back, then don't come back here at all."

"I won't."

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Yeah, I believe in EdWin and Royai, because both are hinted at strongly in the manga coughchapter58cough

Yeah… I guess it's only EdWin that's hinted at in that one scene, but it's all there… I think…