Chapter 7: The Key to His Memories

As Pride fell; he hit his head on the floor. Dayna rose from her chair to aid him, he seemed fine but she wanted to make sure.

"I am so sorry"
"Pride are you ok?"

Havoc leaned over to see if there was any damage done, when he saw that there was none, he and everyone else was relieved.

"That's a relief that he's not hurt badly. It's a good thing that he's still a little short," he laughed, completely unaware of a pair of golden eyes bearing down at him accompanied by a mouth of gritting shark-like teeth.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ULTRA HYPER MIDGET?!"

Armstrong was holding him back, before he lunged at Havoc for the "short" comment. He snapped out of his rage when he felt a pair of warm arms around him.

"Ed! You've come back! You got your memory back!" cried Dayna.

She let go of him and looked into his eyes, they were still a dim, faded gold colour, but she could see some emotion coming back to life. Ed hugged her back when he noticed the bandage on his right shoulder.

"Why is this here?" he asked as he started to remove the bandage.
"That was my fault, sorry" said Riza, bowing to apologize to Ed.

Ed removed the bandage and saw the bullet wound. He dug into the wound, removed the bullet and watched as the wound healed itself.

"I guess I still have that ability"
"Amazing. I guess that accidental whack I gave him jolted his memory back"
"I guess I should thank you"
"Thank you Colonel"
"Ed? Can you tell us what happened? What happened to you, Al and Roy? Tell us everything"
Ed sat down at the table and advised everyone to do the same.
"You are not going to like the outcome of what happened"

Ed told them about the day that he found Al unconscious on the floor. Riza explained that she remembers Ed talking to her about the incident and him saying that he was sure that there was something wrong with his body.
He told them of how he remembered Al talking to him about firefly grass, thinking about how it was the last brother-to-brother conversation that they had.
He told them of how he visited the Fuhrer and talked to him about Al's body. He said 'the price wasn't enough' and then the Fuhrer reminded him of the agreement that they made- that he would do anything as long as Al was fine.
He was then taken to a place where they would get Al's body back and Envy showed up, waiting for them. The Fuhrer knocked Ed unconscious and didn't remember anything at that point.
He said that when he came to, he was treated to Envy's company. His company included him having the crap being beaten out of him.

"I don't remember a lot of the conversation that we had, but I do remember that whatever I said really made him mad. Nearly broke my ribs; that's when the Fuhrer came in and stopped him. The picked me up and dragged me to their leader or 'Father' as they called him"
"What happened then? Who is this 'Father'?"
"Father. Von Hohenhiem…or at least some bastard that looks like him. He wanted me to sacrifice the lives of the people of Central for the Philosopher's Stone"

Ed was quiet for a few minutes, Riza saw that his hands were shaking and looked as if he was about to cry. She reached forward to lay her hands on Ed's.

"Tell us the rest Ed. Please, you can do it"

Ed looked into her eyes and nodded, he took a deep breath and continued on.

"Envy told me that Al's body was only a temporary container; his soul couldn't stay in there permanently. He brought me back to my father, I still refused to help him, but he said that if I helped him, he'd give Al a body that could hold his soul permanently. I gave in, I had no other choice.

"The preparations were made, courtesy of Envy, the Fuhrer and my father. That's when I saw Al. I didn't want him to see me in the condition that I was in, but I was so weak from the beatings. He wanted to get me out of the hell that we were in, he tried to help me out, but he too, was also weak from his soul rejecting. I led him to a transmutation circle on the ground and told him that I found a way to restore him. He kept screaming at me to not do it, but I didn't want to hear it. He wouldn't let me sacrifice myself for him and I stopped the transmutation, he told me that he was going to get me out of there.

"Then Envy showed up, he told Al that I agreed to help the homunculi in exchange for him to get a new body. Roy showed up, he looked like he was in a fight and barely won. The Fuhrer appeared behind him. Envy got a smile on his face and came towards me, proceeding to kill me. That's…when…"

Ed couldn't talk any more. Tears were streaming down his face and his knuckles were turning white as he clenched them hard. He brought his hands up to his head and buried his face in his hands. Dayna put her arms around him and brought him close to her chest. She didn't want to say anything, so she just stroked his hair.

"Ed? Please continue. I know it's hard for you, but we need to find out what happened…please"
Ed looked up and saw that Dayna was starting to cry. He turned back to face everyone and continued.

"That's when Al threw himself in front of me. Everything seemed to move slowly, even slower as Envy's fist punctured Al's chest. I watched him fall, I could see him dying as I held him. The Fuhrer told Envy to 'end it quick' and that's when he came in for a second attack. Roy threw himself and Envy killed him instantly. Al died shortly after the General fell.
That's when I decided to transmute them, but I was so weak. The power of the reaction was too strong. I didn't care, I wanted them to come back to me. I guess the attempt at the transmutation and the state I was in was what eventually killed me.
That's why I'm in this body, Father must have brought me back as a Homunculus. Given me immortal life and a slave forever. When I awoke, I couldn't remember anything, all I knew was Father telling me that I was to view Envy as my brother and that my name was Pride"

* * *

Silence was all around the room. No one had anything to say. The only sound came from Ed's faint crying and whispering Al and Roy's names over and over again.

Out the window the sun was rising and that's when everyone started to get up to leave. Dayna stood to say that she wasn't coming to work and told Ed that he was going to stay in the house to calm down and relax. Everyone shook their heads in agreement as they left, with sad faces over what they just heard. Hawkeye was the last to leave; she had tears streaming down her face as she walked over to Ed.

"Lt. I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything to save the General"
"It's all right. It's going to take a while before I can stomach this!" she said as she ran for the bathroom. Five minutes later, she emerged and apologized. She went to Ed again and hugged him, and then she left.

"Dayna, I can't stay. I'm probably in enough trouble as it is. I have to get back"
"I want you to stay. I finally have you back"
"No you don't. I'm still a Homunculus, a horrible creature, cursed to live forever"
"Please Ed. I don't care. Just as long as you still love me, that's all that matters"
"Envy will find out, we both know that"
"We're smart, we can find a way to hide this from him"
"I'll stay for a few hours, then I really have to head back and try and pretend that none of this happened. I don't want to think of what'll happen to you if Envy finds out"