Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, faved, or alerted! I'm so glad to see my work appreciated. *bows*

I'm not sure if I lived up to expectations on this chapter; I wasn't really sure how to do an Ed-breakdown. Or if my OC would be well-recieved. I haven't even decided if I'm going to name her Alexandria or Jophiel. She's part English, part German.

Please tell me what you think. Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to do this for the first two chapters:

Fullmetal Aclhemist does not belong to me.

Roy grabbed hold of the door frame, anchoring himself to reality. Hearing Ed's voice after all these years, umuddled by memory and right in front of him… looking into those molten gold pools… he half expected an alarm to jerk him awake any second now. But Ed was too real, too solid for this to be another dream. He dug his fingers into the wood to keep him from shaking.

"Colonel? Hey, Mustang, what is it? Are you okay?" That was Ed, sounding far too concerned. His radiant smile was fading fast, worry and a hint of fear taking its place. He had to stop that expression from taking hold on Ed's face.

He cleared his throat and straightened up, dropping his arm to his side. "I'm fine, Fullmetal, no need to sound so distraught. I'm simply astounded that it's been five years, and yet your maturity doesn't seem to have grown an inch." He let the old smirk settle onto his lips.

"Hey, who are you callin' short?" Ed demanded. "I'll have you know I grew three inches!"

Mustang frowned. Something was off. Normally, Ed would have exploded even at a vague insult like that. His response then had sounded more tired than enraged. "Whatever," he said absently, flapping his hand in Ed's direction and glancing around the room. "Besides, it's not Colonel anymore, Fullmetal. I was promoted, to Major General."

"Eh? An idiot like you was promoted to Major General? No way!" Ed said, though a slight smile danced around the corners of his mouth.

"Ed, you shouldn't talk to the Major General like that," Al said, more out of habit than anything else. He was thoroughly ignored by everyone in the room.

"Well, you were gone for a long time," Roy said quietly, his trademark smirk slipping off his face.

Ed's lips curled downwards, and he looked away, his eyes tightly shut. Roy's chest constricted at the young man's expression of anguish. "Brother? What's wrong?" Al asked, laying a hand gently on his brother's shoulder.

Ed flinched at the contact, then relaxed, letting the warmth of another human being soothe him. He glanced up through his bangs at Mustang, who looked at him with the deepest of concern. It was strange how black eyes could seem so warm. He looked down at his hands, fisted in the sheets.

"I'm alright, Al. It's nothing." He looked over – over, not up! – to his little brother and gave him a small smile. "I'm just – I mean, it's really good to be back, y'know?" To his embarrassment, he felt tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. "It's been so long, I guess it just seems – too good to be true!" His voice was shaking badly, and he was suppressing a sob.

Roy smiled sadly. He closed the door and crouched next to the bed. "It's okay to let go, Ed," he said softly. "Sometimes you just need a good cry to get it all out of your system. Anyone else who had gone through whatever it is you went through would have broken into pieces by now."

"We all love you, Ed. And that isn't going to change anytime soon," Winry said, leaning towards him on the bed.

"You need to understand that we aren't going to leave you to handle everything on your own," Pinako scolded him. "Start letting us bear some of your burden.

"You're home now, big brother," Al said, rubbing Ed's back in large, comfortable circles.

Ed finally let go and broke down into sobs, burying his face into Al's chest as the others sat there, giving him strength by their presence alone. He was so lucky to have people who would wait for him for so long, and then welcome him back with open arms. His sobs racked his frame, and he tried to keep them relatively quiet, but he couldn't help it. Eventually he let himself wail as much as he needed.

The space around her was an infinite white void. In front of her was a great pair of bronze doors, inscribed with symbols and pictures she had no hope of understanding. Alchemy was not her science.

"But it will become your science,"a strange, echoing voice said. She turned abruptly, surprised that she hadn't sensed anyone watching her. Her fingers twitched to see nothing but a white silhouette, outlined by some sort of black mist.

"What are you?" sheasked.She remembered the lightning striking them, Ed's arms around her waist (practically the only time they'd ever touched), and a wave of energy so powerful she'd felt like she was being torn apart, and then… nothing. She had no idea where this vast place was. Was this the result of alchemy? Had her theory worked?

"Yes. You have created a pathway for yourself. But there is a price for meddling in a world not your own. There is always a price." A wide, repulsive smile appeared in the empty silhouette, and she felt the urge to scream. Something grabbed her from behind, and another, and another… She was being dragged through the huge doors. She twisted around to see where she was being taken, and saw streams of pure knowledge running past her, imprinting themselves into her brain. They were being pulled, along with her, to a bright core, an infinite source of knowledge. She wanted it so badly, wanted to reach out and grab it. She was so close…

Then she was abruptly back in the white void. She clawed at the closed doors, needing to get back to the bright core. "Please!" she shouted. "Please, let me back in there! I need to know… I need to see…!"

"I'm afraid not,"the strange voice told her, amusement in its cold tone. "You see, you haven't paid the right price for that."

She turned to it, wide-eyed with desperation for a second look. "What?" she asked it, her mind unable to fully comprehend what it was saying.

"Look," it said, that awful grin on its face. It raised an empty arm to point at her. As she watched, the tip of the arm filled. She felt a terrible sense of loss, as if something was being torn from her, and looked down at her arm. It was vanishing as she watched, and she screamed.

Pain. That was the first thing she recognized, before she even knew she was awake. Terrible pain and loss. She couldn't even tell where it was coming from at the moment. The second thing she knew was light, making the space under her eyelids a beautiful, rich red. It was a different light than she was used to, somehow more real, more there, just more.

Suddenly her head felt stuffed. A thousand circles danced through her mind, equations and runes and oh so much more. She felt overwhelmed, caught up in her own mind. Slowly, the flow receeded, and she became herself again, a singular, individual entity. Of course, that meant a return of the pain as well. It seemed to be coming from her right arm.

Then she remembered the white space and the awful grinning silhouette. So that had been real. It had felt real, and she clearly remembered the horror of it, but it seemed farther away now.

She watched the amoebas behind her eyes for a few moments, until she became more aware of the world around her. Sobbing, gradually slowing down, was coming from somewhere close. She tried to open her eyes, but they seemed too heavy. She stayed silent, too tired to move anything, while it calmed down and stopped. She vaguely recognized it, but she had never heard it so intense. It was a little embarrassing to listen to. Like her, Edward had always been in the habit of keeping his emotions closely guarded. She'd never overheard him break down like this.

She noticed breathing from several other people when the sobbing calmed down. This was even more unusual, but she supposed that Edward would be more open in front of people Edward had known from before. She wondered who the other people were. She had heard some about them from Edward, and seen the drawings he made, but she wanted to meet them. She wanted to know the people that were so precious to him.

The atmosphere in the room seemed slightly awkward, as if no one knew quite what to say. This continued for a minute, until a loud growling sound issued from the group of people. This was quickly followed by snickering from two people. She would have grinned as well, if she wasn't so tired.

"It astonishes me, how you can be hungry at any time, no matter what the situation," a very amused older male voice said. She grinned as she imagined the blush on Edward's face, part embarrassment, part frustration. And maybe even part amusement.

"Aw, shut up, I have no control over stuff like that! And it's not my fault! An IV doesn't do much for a guy's stomach, you know!" She'd never had the opportunity to see – figuratively speaking of course – Edward so open before. In this place, with these people, he was like the golden light that spilled over her face. The sound of laughter from the four other people, with Edward joining in a moment later, was contagious, and she let out a little huff of amusement in spite of herself.

In a flash the older man stopped laughing. She assumed he was looking at her now, from the swish of fabric caused by rapid movement. That one had good senses. The others stopped laughing more slowly.

She felt a large body crouch next to her. "Can you open your eyes?" he asked. His voice was almost gentle. It was kind of nice, for once. Her eyes flickered open and closed quickly. They were watering from the light, but as she blinked them away, the shape of a handsome man's face swam into view above her. His eyes were black, but they also seemed warm and inviting.

"Hi," she said, her voice dry from misuse.

"Welcome to Central," the man said.

Please R&R!