A/N: This is it! The confrontation!

What Hurts the Most Chapter Six: The Confrontation

Ed fidgeted for the tenth time in the past minute as he nervously glared at his feet. He was sitting on the couch in the first part of the den with Roy next to him. The older man insisted that Ed calm down before they go so they sat there, waiting for Ed's nerves to still. Roy looked at him and sighed, "It's not going to be that bad."

Roy's words set the blonde off and Ed jumped up, pointing at him, "How do you know!" he howled, "It's going to be terrible! I've never had a good relationship with Al and now he'll find out! What if he spends his life finding spells so he can kill me! What if he doesn't believe me! When I tell him he'll die from the shock, I'm sure of it!" Ed quickly said in one breath, pacing in front of the couch.

"So then don't do anything until he asks."

"Huh?"

Roy sighed and rested his head in his hands, "Just wait for him to ask and maybe if you're lucky he'll never ask."

"And then leave without telling him?" Ed asked, horrified.

Roy rolled his eyes, "Wasn't that the plan in the first place?"

Ed shot a glare at Roy who shrugged at the blonde, "What's the worst that can happen?" The raven haired man asked.

Ed wacked him on the head, "Things always get worse after someone says that!" he growled but Roy could see that the words helped him more than he let on.

"Sure, now are you ready to go?" Roy asked, standing. The blonde closed his eyes for a minute and breathed out deeply.

"Yeah, let's go."

And Ed cast a spell sending the two into Roy's home and forgetting about the previously stressing moment.

…

From Roy's simple two story house they took his car to Ed's house and the blonde's nerves were winding up again. They pulled up to Ed's house and before the blonde could make a move to get out, a hand gripped his arm.

Questioning golden eyes turned to Roy, "He's there," the older man said, seeing a car in the driveway, "Don't worry, everything will be fine." Ed nodded in an attempt to reassure himself and it worked.

Everything will be fine because everything has to be fine. He thought and repeated the mantra in his head as he got out of the car and walked up to the door.

Nothing's wrong, he told himself, smile because nothing's wrong. Through sheer willpower, a smile appeared on the blonde's face.

He opened the door, "Hey Al, I'm back!" he shouted, forcing the corners of his mouth to lift slightly. Roy gave the blonde a worried glance but Ed didn't notice.

Ed walked further to the house and towards the stairs that led to his room, "Brother, Roy, please sit." A cold voice called. Ed turned around to see Al sitting in an armchair in the living room. The two obediently walked up to the couch across from Al, the loveseat, and sat down.

"So, what do you want?" Ed tried to ask nonchalantly but Roy could tell he was nervous by the way his fist clenched into his pants, "I'd like to go take a shower it was a long trip."

"Ed, I saw you disappear right in front of my eyes two days ago." Al started. Ed blinked, two days? How long had he passed out for? "Explain."

"Well… um…" Ed started, biting his lip, he couldn't look Al in the eyes. Roy wanted to help the blonde but couldn't. It was his to tell. His eyes widened when Ed's hand gripped his own, seeking comfort.

"I'm a sorcerer."

Al would have laughed if he hadn't seen Ed disappear or the odd book in his room, "How?"

"It runs through blood." Ed said quietly, knowing what the next question would entail.

"So I'm a sorcerer too? That's awesome!" Al said, his eyes bright with excitement.

"No, not exactly… It runs in my blood, not yours. You're just a regular human." Ed said.

"STOP PROTECTING ME!" Al yelled. Ed's head snapped up, "I don't care what you think but how can you tell me that I'm not one when I'm your brother? By saying that are you saying that we're not related?"

Ed opened his mouth to answer but was cut off, "Oh, so what are you?" Al almost sneered to Roy.

"A dragon and fire elemental," He answered curtly. A hard glare was sent to Al. The dragon was upset at the way the boy was handling things.

"I'm out of here." Al suddenly stated, "I'm going to a friend's house." He walked to the door and grabbed his keys out of the bowl beside it and left the house. Roy could easily hear him drive furiously away.

Roy turned to Ed; the blonde's head was bowed and his hair covered his eyes. His right hand tightly gripped Roy's and his left was clenched. Roy could smell blood and knew that the blonde's fingernails were digging into his hands.

"Ed..."

The blonde's head raised, "It's alright, I'm fine." The blonde insisted as tears rolled down his face.

"If you're fine you wouldn't be crying." Roy stated. Ed opened his mouth to protest but was stopped as Roy pulled the blonde to his chest, "It's alright to cry. You can be weak for a few hours, I won't tell anyone."

Ed sobbed into Roy's chest and the raven haired man ran his hand through the soft blonde hair and murmured to the boy.

"You need him." Roy stated after a while.

Ed shook his head in protest. His crying had died down to sniffles and his eyes were puffy and red, "I don't need him. I've never really had him. But will you please stay here with me?"

Roy chuckled, causing Ed to relax, "After I met you, I never seem to be at my house."

...

The next day Ed came back down the stairs to once again find Al sitting in the armchair with Roy across from him. "Um... why wasn't I invited to the party?" He asked with a slight fake laugh.

Al's face was set into an emotionless mask and Ed almost flinched when silver eyes turned to him, "I came back because I want to know everything. I want to know the truth." His voice was colder than his eyes were and Ed could only wonder what happened to him.

"T-the truth?" Ed asked, his voice slightly shaky.

"Am I your brother?"

Ed went to the couch and sat next to Roy, purposely elbowing him in the ribs for not warning him.

"I-I don't know; I think so." Ed said, unsure of Al's reaction.

"You think so?" Al said, "That's not very reassuring... We can get a blood test."

Ed immediately paled and licked his suddenly dry lips, "I don't think that'll be a good idea. They'll see something different in my blood and insist that I stay there for testing."

Al shrugged, "So it would it work or not?"

Roy slammed his hands on the table in front of him and stood, "How can you say that! Are you really selfish enough to think that as long as the blood test works you don't care about what happens to him?" His usually dark eyes had a reddish-orange color swirling around them.

"He's been keeping secrets from me half my life! I think I deserve more than him!" Al said, his calm voice almost worse than Roy's yelling

"They were his secrets! You don't deserve to know anything because, face it, you're not like us! You can't breathe fire and you can't do spells. You're human!" He spat, "Ed deserves more than you ever will." He growled out.

"Roy..." Ed started but didn't know what to say. No one had ever stuck up for him before and everything Roy said was right but one look at Al's face made Ed rethink all of it.

Al looked as if Roy had slapped him, "I'm human." He whispered and raised his hands in front of his face, "You're right, I don't understand any of these things and I'm human. I'm not like you."

"Al…" Ed whispered, Al seemed broken.

"While you were gone I spent a lot of my time wondering what you were and what I was. It had never occurred to me that I wasn't anything like you but I'd realized that I know nothing about you. I'm sorry, Ed can I get to know you?"

Ed opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by a gurgle and blood spilled out of his mouth. A sudden pain sprung into his chest and he grasped his shirt with one hand as he fell. Roy caught him and carefully placed him on the couch.

"Are you okay?" Roy asked, pressing the back of his hand to Ed's forehead and then checked the blonde's pulse. He turned to Al, "His temperature is high and his heart rate is too fast."

"I-It's starting." Ed said with a gasp.

"What's going on?" Al asked, worried eyes tracing Ed's figure.

"He's transforming." Roy said, lifting Ed into his arms, "He needs to transform into a dragon, it's his secondary form. It was supposed to happen close to the end of the school year but the stress you put on him accelerated it. You can't get to know him now."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Al asked, pain in his eyes.

"I need to take him to my den; he'll be killed if he stays here."

"Take me with you! Please!" Al begged.

Roy shook his head, "It could take as few years as a decade for him to be able to transform back into a human. Or it can take a few hundred. Either way it doesn't matter, he'll be asleep most of the time and you'll be in the way."

Roy closed his eyes and traced the connection that he and Ed had. He went closer to Ed's side and tugged at the magic, somehow casting the spell that'd transport them to Roy's den. At the same time as Al jumped onto the two of them.

"What the-" Roy yelled as the air was knocked out of him.

He found himself lying in partial snow and two bodies were on top of him. His arms instinctively clenched his arms around one of them and got up, letting the other fall to the floor.

He looked down only to see Al lying on the floor of his den.

'Kill the trespasser!' Roy's dragon side insisted and he was about to do so but was reminded of the blonde in his arms. 'Secure potential mate then kill trespasser!'

Shaking his head a little to drown out the little voices he sent a glare down at the boy, "Stay here," he growled out and went further into the den. He went into the room filled with magma and walked all the way to the bottom so that he could see the liquid. He hoped Ed wouldn't kill him for this.

With a little swing he tossed Ed straight into the magma. From the fire a dragon is born.

The magma pulled Ed further into it and the blonde's skin burned away, replaced with black scales. He grew in size and two appendages sprouted from his back, taking the form of wings. His face elongated, changing into a snout and his nails grew into claws as his teeth grew into fangs.

Magma spilled into the dragon's mouth and trailed down into him until it reached his center and became his core.

Roy walked into the magma, transforming into a black dragon, and pulled Ed to one of the less deep ends. Ed was extremely small for a dragon and had to be half of Roy's size. A black scaled eye open and Roy gave a dragon like smirk as he stared into the golden orb.

Ed gave a weak glare to the other dragon yet scooted closer with a sigh. Roy let out a throaty chuckle that reverberated around the room and the new dragon stood on shaky legs. Ed took his time to admire his black scales and sharp claws, while Roy lay next to him his tail under the smaller dragon, supporting his weight.

"It'll take a while to get used to it. Fortunately we have a while." Ed simply nodded, not sure how talking worked in his new body and the pain in his throat, "Ed…"

"?" Ed somehow made it clear that he was wanted to know what Roy was going to say.

"... When you did the spell, Al tackled me and ended up here as well." Roy carefully watched the golden eyed dragon, knowing it wasn't a good idea to get a newly awakened dragon mad. But to tell him later may be a betrayal of trust. Ed's eyes flickered a blood red for a moment and Roy could feel the blonde scales move in what seemed like a shudder.

"...Wha?" Ed choked out, not used to speaking in his new form, "Where is h-he?"

"Farther up in the den, with the human stuff," Roy clarified.

Ed shuddered again before leaning into Roy more. He couldn't find it in him to really be concerned about Al and despite the magma, which went up to his midsection when he was lying down, he felt cold. So very cold... so very tired.

"Ed?" Roy asked as the golden eyed dragon laid his head down on the edge of the rock, he could barely reach it, and sighed out deeply.

"So cold... so tired." The smaller dragon muttered, in unknowingly perfect speech. Ed's dark scales didn't bring any warmth and it only seemed to get colder as time went on. He was tired, too tired to stay awake.

"Ed? Edward!" He could distantly hear Roy's voice but he couldn't see the other. All he could see was darkness.

'Hm... My eyes must be closed...' he distantly thought. Somewhere deep in his mind, he could feel panic but he only wanted sleep.

A/N: I actually updated at a decent time XD. Anyhow if you're wondering, Ed's not going blind. There's just some things wrong with him. I can't tell ya cause it's a secret! =P

Review please!