Sorry it took me so long to update, I had a lot of things going on with family and school, and when I finally thought to get back to writing I had forgotten my password! Please forgive me!

~Tempest

I feel so safe here, in this darkness that cocoons me so tightly, in this everlasting embrace. But this embrace is cold, and it makes me shiver in want of the warm arms of Roy... even though I shouldn't. I shouldn't want to feel his arms around me, I shouldn't crave the happiness his embrace would grant me. I didn't deserve it, so I shouldn't long for it. But those thoughts didn't put my heart to rest like it should, it just made it ache.

Al would tell me that I was being stupid...he would tell me that I should follow my heart, he was always a romantic like that. But I just can't bring myself to go back, it feels wrong, my body feels wrong. What the hell is that about anyway? Why did the gate change me into.. into... a g-girl? The circle was perfect, I know it was! I had spent years studying it, before and after the horrific accident that took Al's entire body and my arm and leg. I know it was perfect because I had picked every element apart, piece by piece to see if there was something I had missed the first time around. Something that could have saved Al, or bring back the large piece of him that had been taken away from him that day. His humanity, no, not his humanity, if anything Al had been the most humane person he had ever met, what he had lost that day was human connection. Though many had thought that Al was a grown man walking around in a suit of armor, he wasn't, he was hollow, and Ed always knew how much that bothered Al, even if he never let on about it. He had seen Al look toward's their friends in envy as they ate the pies that Gracia had always made. Joking that they would be the first thing he ate when he recovered his body back from the gate. But it was easy to see that Al knew the truth, the truth that if they didn't get his body back soon, that the draw of the gate would take him back. Ed had obviously over-estimated the time that he had left with his brother, and it tore at his very being, as he floated in the soothing dark embrace.

"Maes! Why the hell isn't he waking up!" Roy shouted shaking Ed, hoping he would awaken, praying that he would.

"Roy! Stop shaking Ed! You need to calm down, Ed doesn't need you to be panicking! He needs someone to draw him back from the edge that he is on! He needs you Roy, we all heard the conversation from earlier, and considering that ...Al...is no longer with us... you have to be his rock, you have to be his anchor in this shit-storm that always seems to surround the poor kid. You need to be responsible for once in your life!" Even though he had tried to sound calm and use reason with Roy he had only ended up yelling again, Al's death had really shaken everyone up, and he wasn't an exception.

"I'm sorry..I...I-I just don't know what to do! So much has happened today, so much was lost, if I lose Ed..." Roy quieted,"...I don't know what I would do. I would probably lose it, Hughes, I WOULD lose it. Before today, before seeing Ed almost throw his life away, I never really knew how deeply my feelings for this boy ran, but now that I do, I don't think that I will ever be able to let him go." Roy whispered.

"That kind of weight is what Ed needs right now, it will be the only thing to keep him here after everything. He needs to know the full extent of what you feel for him Roy. If you don't tell him, I don't think his mental state will improve at all. God knows the kind of counseling and therapy he will have to go through after this...change... he's gone through. It's hard to tell if he will be mentally stable, so you will need to be stable enough for the both of you. Okay?"

"I understand Maes, thank you. I don't know what I would of done without your insight." Roy weakly smiled towards Hughes, trying to comfort his best friend.

"Don't waste that shit on me Mustang, take care of your little lover here, and then get yourself some rest, you look worn out." Hughes commented leaving the two alone, hoping that Roy would have the guts to tell the blonde the way he truly felt.

The darkness was becoming thinner, and less confining. What's happening? Edward thought to himself. Why do I have to leave, I was safe here, nobody could harm me, or die in my arms or by my hand here.

"...Ed..."

What? Who was that? He was alone here, there shouldn't be any voices, the only one he even wanted to talk to was Al and he knew that that would never happen again.

"..Edward you need to come back..."

NO!

'Edward listen to me!..."

NO! He couldn't, he shouldn't...but he wanted to...

"Please Ed I can't live here without you..."

Awesome cliff hanger huh?

Sorry, but it's 2 am and I need to work in the morning! I should have another one up something later in the week, at least I'll try to! Don't hold me to it if it isn't on time!

~Tempest