CONTINUING!

So this is more stuff (no duh Lulu). Read it and scream at the characters' stupidity. . . this is where a lot of the "THAT'S ED YOU MORON!" stuff comes in. Seriously, his disguise isn't THAT good. . . well, except for the tall part. Stilts, people! They work wonders. Especially on midgets.

Ed: WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO MINUSCULE AN ATOM WOULD ENCOMPASS HIM EVEN IF HE GREW TO BE A MILLION TIMES HIS OWN HEIGHT AND WIDTH, YOU PROTON-SIZED PERSON!

Me: WHO ARE YOU CALLING PROTON-SIZED, YOU WORLD FAMOUS DWARF!

Ed: WHO ARE YOU CALLING-

Me: *snaps*

Ed: *disappears*

Me: Good, he's gone.

Heh. . . I'm short, too. DX

OH MY TRUTH I looked up synonyms for midget, and the word "homunculus" was right there! HA! Rich! So the word homunculi means midgets! TAKE THAT, ENVY! YOU'RE A HYPOCRITE! Always calling Ed a midget. . . WELL YOU'RE A HOMUNCULUS, AND THAT MEANS MIDGET!

That was cleansing.

Now, for the Disclaimer: Fuck off, you damn bastards. It's not mine and you know it. Don't sue me!

READ, PEEPS!

Roy's POV

Where the fuck are you, Fullmetal? We've been searching for months now. Do you know how much everyone is worried? We found your clothes. I swear, if you're dead, I will kill you. I'll find a way. You idiot, your brother is going insane with missing you. We all are. Hell, even I miss you and your shortness.

Your teacher visited. Gave us hell for losing you, then just broke down, blood spilling from her mouth. She collapsed into her husbands arms. She was crying, you moron. She sees you as her own son. You and Al are like sons to her. How could you put her through this?

Winry visited yesterday. Saw your teacher, talked to her for a bit, then came storming up here, complaining about why she hadn't had a call from you and your brother in days. We hadn't told her yet. She was coming for maintenance on your automail. When she heard, she seemed to just. . . wilt. She paled, and her eyes widened, and she looked like she couldn't believe it. She didn't believe it, until Al told her it was true. Al can't cry, but he sounded like he was crying. She believed him. Then she started crying.

Fullmetal, what are you doing to us?

When I find you, I am going to burn you to a crisp. Then I'm going to hand you over to everybody else. We will smother you to death, you dolt.

I closed my journal with a sigh. What was this accomplishing? Nothing. Still, everyone had a journal. We wrote down what we wanted to say to Fullmetal in it. It was foolish, it was stupid, it was a waste of time, but the psychiatrist suggested it. She insisted that we needed to let out our frustration on something other than each other.

When I asked her if I was allowed to burn mine to relieve frustration, she said no.

"Dumb psychiatrist," I muttered, shoving my journal into a drawer with a sigh. "Writing in the journal just lets the paperwork pile up."

I stared at my ever growing pile of of torture without feeling the usual vindictive anger towards it. Oh god, Fullmetal disappearing was making me not hate paperwork...

I worked up my anger at Fullmetal, then directed my eyes at the pile of papers. Now I could almost envision it going up in smoke.

I pondered for a moment whether I could actually get away with burning my paperwork today or not, then decided against risking Riza's wrath today. We were all wound up because of Ed's disappearance. No need to raise tensions by being lazy.

I stretched, feeling my muscles tense and my back crack. The whole team was like this now. This... this wasn't good. We were falling apart and we knew it.

But what was I supposed to do?

My team was spread out all over the country, searching for Ed. And for some reason... they kept on going to Briggs. Each and every one of them had gone to Briggs. They filled out the reports, and none of them had found anything there, but they all went. Even when they knew that the others had already gone, they went.

The first was Havoc.

Havoc's POV

Six months. The search had been going on for six months, and there was still no sign of the Boss. But we hadn't even searched a fourth of the country yet!

I didn't know what it was about Briggs that was drawing me. It was cold, it was windy, it was miserable. It was the last place Ed would ever want to be. The last place most sane people would ever want to be, really.

And yet... it drew me, like a magnet. Like something was just waiting for me to find it.

Ed had to be that one thing.

Towns up near Briggs are few and far between. I stopped in at the least frequented towns, searching for a certain blonde boy a few feet shorter than me.

I didn't catch a glimpse of anyone who could possibly be Boss.

In one town, though, there was this fella who just made me think of him. He had long, dark orange hair done in a ponytail. Dark glasses covered his eyes. He was wrapped in heavy furs, and he walked with a limp.

Something in the way his hair moved... something in his gaze... just reminded me of Ed.

But it couldn't be Boss. Ed was a shorty. Besides, this guy had seen me. He spoke to me in gruff but friendly tones. If it really WAS Ed, he would have revealed himself.

Still, when he left, I was almost tempted to follow him.

Shrugging away this odd feeling, I headed back in the direction of the train station. Maybe I'd have more luck down South... away from this infernal cold.

Riza's POV

Nine months. How much longer would Edward evade us?

Something about Briggs made it feel like the perfect place for Edward to be hiding. I knew Havoc had already searched, but I couldn't stop myself. It was the opposite of where he'd like to go. He despised the cold; therefore, if he didn't want to be found, that was where he would hide.

I couldn't fathom why he wouldn't want to be found. All I knew was that I had to find him. The questions would come later. Right now, there were people waiting for him to return to them.

When I stopped in Mallory*, I found that it was a quaint little town, though rather lacking in interesting pastimes.

One man in particular caught my attention. It was his gait, that limp, that made me pause to help him. The hair caught my attention next; the flowing orange tresses a fiery replica of another man's, only done in a ponytail rather than a braid.

And yet I found that he was not the man I sought. He had a deeper voice, a far politer tone, and he was a great deal taller at any rate.

Still... I almost went after him. I almost "accidentally" grabbed his right arm, just to see if I could feel the automail under all those cloaks.

Which was ridiculous, not to mention invasive. It wasn't Edward.

I sighed as I boarded the train to Ingrad**. Maybe I'd have better luck there.

I had to find him. I couldn't let Alphonse suffer like this. He needed his brother back.

We all did.

Izumi's POV

My stupid pupil. My idiotic, moronic student. Always making mistakes. Even now he was messing up.

A year, now. Too long for Ed to be gone, away from his brother. Al was right to think that something was wrong.

I couldn't allow myself to fall apart like that again. Especially in front of dogs of the military. I can't have weaknesses.

But those boys were strong, too strong to not be my weak points.

Briggs. Why Briggs, of all places? Not that I couldn't face the challenge, but really? It was too cold for Ed up here.

And yet I still came. I knew that the Flame moron's subordinates had checked it out, but I had to see for myself.

All these small towns were dull. Nothing to do, nothing to fight. At least when I was in the mountains, there were bears to fight and forts to steal from. Even soldiers to get in my way! These places were nothing but boredom in town form. How did these people survive without trying to suffocate themselves in the snow?

It was also rather hard on my system, this harsh weather. I can fight that, but even I can't live forever.

When we reached Mallory, I knew something was different. There was something in the air. The scent of danger. And it originated from the two who seemed to be scanning the station.

One was a petite, slender, lovely girl with silvery blonde hair and beautiful features that were exotically not Amestrian. Another was a thickset man with a forehead like he loved slamming his face into walls. His features, while decidedly not beautiful, were also unfamiliar to Amestris.

Outsiders.

And they appeared to be watching someone...

There! A man. Tall, dressed quite warmly, with long, smooth orange hair in a ponytail and eyes hidden by dark tinted glasses. He walked with a limp and seemed to speak in a deep, scratchy voice.

Still, he was polite to everyone there, and held several evidently friendly conversations with some locals. At one point, he threw back his head and laughed, a deep, booming laugh that caused everyone around him to laugh as well.

Not like Ed at all.

But...

His glasses. Behind his glasses were his eyes. Only Ed and his father had golden eyes anymore- the result of Xerxian heritage.

"Excuse me?" I asked politely.

He turned to me. When he saw me, there was the slightest bit of hesitation before he replied, "Yes?" His voice, roughly elegant and polite, didn't seem very familiar... but Ed was better at this than most people thought.

"I'm sorry, but I was wondering if you would remove your glasses? You remind me of a friend of mine," I said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" one man said.

"Yeah, Edric, show us your eyes!" a pretty girl said, fluttering her lashes flirtatiously.

"Fine, fine!" 'Edric' said, laughing that deep, rich laugh. "I'll take the glasses off, if you all would quit nagging me about it!"

He reached up with his left hand... and removed his glasses, revealing closed lids.

When he opened his eyes, they were brown. A dark, deep, rich, chocolaty brown.

A couple of women sighed when his eyes were revealed. Evidently this 'Edric' was quite desirable amongst young women in this town.

I did not sigh. I let my disappointment show for a second, then thanked him and turned around.

Was I mistaken, or were those tears in his eyes?

No, it couldn't have been. The glasses were back on and he was conversing comfortably with his fellow townspeople. Just another boring, dull, useless local. Not Ed. Not even slightly like Ed.

Still... 'Edric.' His name was similar.

And there was that urge to follow him as he left...

As he left, I realized that his two stalkers had disappeared. I hadn't even seen them leave.

I narrowed my eyes. Something was up.

I couldn't stick around, though. Sig was waiting for me at home. Al was waiting for me to report my findings. I even had to tell Mustang and his troop about this. There wasn't time to figure this out.

"I'll be back," I muttered. Then I stepped onto the train and waited to be brought back to Dublith.

End of Chapter 2

. . . ? RFF, peeps. I need REVIEWS!

*Mallory: I had this word stuck in my head and used it as a town name. Just go with it.

**Ingrad: . . . I'm not even sure. I just made it up off the top of my head.

I liked this chappie. Fun to write (took a long time, though), interesting to think about, and lots of "THAT'S ED YOU MORON!" as promised. Sorry it's shorter than the last one, though. . . DX I TRIED!

So tell me what you thought? Good? Bad? Anything at all? Anything in particular? I'll only get better with feedback, whether it's all positive or it's constructive criticism. Send 'em in! I can take it!

The word of the day is PROTOTYPE! Hey, a word I know! A good one, too. Look it up if you don't know it, as per usual (is "as per usual" even proper grammar? Well, whatever. Who cares?).

Love ya! lulu