Roy stared back at Edward with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Edward?" He asked again, stepping closer to the boy. "What's wrong with you?" He stepped even closer, putting his hands on Edward's arms, trying gently to pry them away from himself.

"I don't want to remember what happened to me..." He muttered, tightening his grip as he quickly pulled away.

The chimera sat on the floor with his knees to his chest, resting his forehead on his knees as well. He wanted to be alone. He didn't want to be touched. Ed's hair gently followed his movements, showing a small glimpse of the cut/gash that had been made from the collar when he'd been so forcefully pulled in that cage.

Roy sighed softly and looked away.

'What did that bastard do to him? It must have been horrible...' a look of fury flashed across his face as he thought of what could have happened. He stood up and walked out of the room, then returned a minute later with some medicine for Edward.

"Here," Roy said softly, holding it out. "For the cut on your neck."

Ed looked back up, eyes full of confusion from what he'd heard.

"I have a cut on my neck?" He asked curiously. He knew he had welts decorating his back and chest from what looked like a whip, but he knew nothing about any wounds on his neck of all things! "Uh...Where on my neck?" He asked, rubbing at the skin just below the injury in question as a way to find it.

Right...here." He pointed out, gently brushing Edwards neck, indicating where the gash was. "You didn't notice it? It looks really painful. What happened?" He looked at Edward, his dark eyes full of concern.

Edward cringed at the question, chewing nervously on his bottom lip. Well, it was now or never apparently.

"Uh…the same thing that happened to my chest and back?" He replied, it sounding more like a question rather than a statement. But it wasn't his fault that he was simply feeling nervous all of a sudden. His tail puffed up slightly, wrapping around the chimera's lithe body

"Don't lie to me, Edward." Roy glared at him. "That cut looks different from the ones that were on your back. What did that bastard do to you?" He lifted Edward's hair and examined the back of his neck, looking for more gashes.

"I was wearing a collar okay!" He snapped, pulling away slightly with growl. He wasn't in the mood to explain any cuts on his neck from the amount of times he'd been tugged on. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine." Edward stated calmly, shaking his head as he glared. He was so stubborn...

"...I'm sorry, Edward. If you hadn't been on that mission for me, then you wouldn't have..." He was silent for a minute. "It's my fault." He said, mostly to himself. Roy turned to look out the window.

Ears perked up slightly at that. Oh the irony. He'd waited so long to hear those few precious words, and now that he had he couldn't fully enjoy them. How ironic was that situation?

"It's not your fault...It's my own for letting my guard down..." He replied. "What confuses me is that when I let my guard down, Alphonse usually looks over me..." He added with a frown.

Roy sighed softly and closed his eyes. 'Edward didn't deserve whatever that bastard did to him.' he thought to himself. 'I swear he'll pay.'

"S-speaking of Alphonse," Roy said, trying to change the subject, "Where is he?"

Ed cringed, bangs shadowing his eyes as he shook his head silently

"He's...Disappeared. I haven't seen him since I was hit and knocked out. And if I did, I wouldn't know since they kept me so drugged up." He explained, showing the spot on his arm where the needle had been put in. It had been painful at first. Edward sighed, standing up and stretching. "I don't know what they did to him..."

"Aren't you worried about him?" Roy asked him, looking back at Edward for the first time in a while. "He's your brother! What if they did something bad to him? Someone needs to go out and look for him."

"I...Can't. I don't want to know the truth! I don't want to know what happened to him because...I'm responsible for whatever had happened to my brother." He mumbled, shaking his head again.

He wanted to tune things out again. He wanted his memories to stay locked away. Not having to be dealt with. Edward sighed, eyes shining slightly as he looked at the colonel.

Roy took a step closer to Edward, and then hesitated. "Ed, you know that Alphonse won't blame you. You two are all each other have and you need him. And how would it be your fault? I'm the one who sent you on the damn mission!"

"Because I didn't listen to him when he warned me that the alchemist would want to use me as a test subject. I didn't listen to him and it caused trouble." Ed replied, not knowing how odd it was that his younger sibling had known exactly what the rouge alchemist had planned for him.

"Al warned me that I would get into trouble with the person we were hunting if I didn't back off of the case and I got us both hurt!" He exclaimed with a distant, hurt expression. How strange that must have sounded.

"Don't blame yourself. You know Alphonse wouldn't blame you. So stop thinking like that." He sat down heavily on the couch and leaned back.

Roy looked out the window, realizing it was now mid afternoon. "What are you going to do about Alphonse?" Roy asked. "Just leave him wherever he is?"

"Nope! I'm going to wait for one of those scientists to come back to

Central looking for me and then I'm going to let them take me back with them! Hopefully I'll be able to find Al then. Otherwise I'll just be in a little pain...Or maybe more. Maybe they'll cross me with a mouse next time." He said with a small shrug and a smile. He didn't mind sacrificing himself for his younger sibling.

"You can't let them take you back! Just look what they did to you the first time. What makes you think they won't hurt you even more? Or what if they kill you?" Roy said loudly, jumping off the couch to face Edward. "What if you don't come back!"

"Why would they kill me in fear of getting killed? I am the /favorite/ after all. Happens when somebody else thinks you're a /pretty/ teenager. I'm use to it by now though. And I might not come back. That's fine as long as I can find Alphonse." Edward pointed out with a soft smile before he sat down on the floor with a light sigh.

He had a weird craving for bamboo...

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-Kirara