As soon as Ed awoke, he knew that something was wrong. He got up, disentangling himself from his still-sleeping Fighter, and searched the apartment. No Ritsuka. No Soubi. No sign that either of them had been back. Crap. This is bad. He went back into the bedroom and started shaking Roy awake.

"Roy. Roy! Damn it, Colonel, wake up!" Roy rolled over sleepily. He shifted himself to get a look at the clock. It was now midmorning. He supposed Edward was upset because he'd slept through his orders to read from dawn till dusk. Ah well. It wasn't the first time he'd slept through orders. It wasn't the first time he'd had to work despite a hangover, either. He sighed.

"Okay, okay, I'm up already. Can I at least take a leak before hitting the books?" He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, shuffled into the bathroom and was halfway through doing his business before it hit him that something must be up. Ed hadn't answered him. There had been no goddamn it, Colonel, why do you always have so many excuses, no how the hell did you attain such a high rank in the military when you are clearly unable to follow simple orders, no how are we ever going to get out of here and rescue Al if you can't even drag your lazy ass out of bed in the morning, nothing.

"Edward?"

"What, you need me to order you to take a piss? You know something, Mustang? I'm getting just a little bit tired of this. The quicker we get the fuck out of here, the better. Figure it out yourself," Ed yelled from the other room.

Ah, that's more like it. Maybe I was just imagining things… Roy walked back into the room to find Ed pacing back and forth in front of the window, glancing out fretfully, then turning back. Every other step clanked heavily on the wooden floor. He swung his metal arm around in its socket a few times, punching the air methodically in time with his pacing. No, there's definitely something wrong.

"Ed? Is… everything okay?" Ed stopped his pacing and turned. Roy was waiting for the inevitable, no goddamnit everything is clearly NOT okay, but it never came. Instead, troubled golden eyes met his.

"We've got to help him, Roy. Ritsuka, I mean."

"What? What's wrong with him? Other than the obvious, I mean."

Ed's eyes narrowed. "And what would that be? The obvious."

Uh oh. Roy recognized that particular tone of voice all too well. It came around so often that he had even given it a nickname in his head: "Edward's Hammer of Justice". Once he got started on that track, there was no stopping him. Clearly, some time last night, Ritsuka had been added to the list of people Ed felt he must fight to protect.

Roy paused. "I just meant that he seemed… troubled. That's all."

"Well, he is. And that idiot pretty-boy Soubi is totally useless. He's never going to intervene. It's got to be us."

"You found something out last night."

Ed ran his human hand through his hair, smoothing his fingers over his braid. "Yeah. All those bandages? They're not from fighting. It's his…" Ed's voice dropped so that it was barely perceptible. "…his mother."

"His mother abuses him."

Ed nodded, turning away. The idea was still so repulsive to him, it made him sick thinking about it. He swallowed. His tongue was thick in his mouth. He felt Roy's hand on his shoulder, and he started to swat it away, but he found that his need for support exceeded his desire to assert his independence at the moment. His feelings from last night were still raw and they pressed against him like dark wings, demanding purchase.

Roy was stroking his back gently and Ed suddenly felt tremendously grateful for his Colonel, a rare sentiment. Sure, Roy could be a pain in the ass, but he would never… If Ed were ever in Ritsuka's place - an idea that was inconceivable to him - but if he were, he knew for a fact that Roy would never, ever make excuses like Soubi. Ever. This world would go down in flames before he would allow something like that to continue. Roy had never abandoned him, not even when he and Al had been on the run from the military, and Ed had never forgotten that.

Ed leaned back, allowing Roy to wrap his arms around him from behind. He closed his eyes. Roy was rocking him gently side to side, and though he was loathe to admit it, the movement felt oddly comforting. "Edward. It's alright."

Ed twisted in his arms. "No! It's not. It can't be. It wont be, unless we do something about it."

"I didn't mean that what's happening is okay. I meant that it's okay for you to feel what you're feeling."

Ed snorted. "Oh brother. We're starting to sound like them. This is bad, Roy. I don't want to be like… I don't want you to be like…" he paused. Suddenly, Roy felt his Sacrifice's arms wrapping tightly around his waist. "Please don't let us be like them. I need you to beyou right now."

Surprised, Roy placed his hand on Edward's head and stroked his hair thoughtfully. Ed sniffed. After a moment, Roy pulled back. Taking Ed's shoulders in his hands, he got down on one knee in front of him so that they were eye to eye. "All right, Fullmetal, if that's what you want, are you willing to listen to me? Right now? Will you agree not to order me into silence?"

Flames of anger rose in Ed's amber-colored eyes, but he took a breath and managed to calm himself. Clenching and unclenching his fists, he nodded. Roy continued. "If we are going to be of any help to Ritsuka or to Alphonse, we are going to need to work together a little better than we have been." The flames returned as Ed immediately started to object, but Roy stopped him with a finger to his lips. "You promised. Hear me out first." Ed rolled his eyes, but agreed nevertheless.

"This situation with Ritsuka… it's a very delicate one, to put it mildly. And we have almost no information about the boy, his family, or even how that kind of thing works in this world. It would be exceedingly rash - just listen to me, Edward - " Roy tightened his grip on Ed's shoulders as he started to protest. "It would be exceedingly rash to go charging into this with fire and sword. I know how much the situation angers you, and I know you feel like you have to do something immediately to stop it. But you could seriously, seriously hurt him if you act too quickly. You could make it worse than it already is. Ed, for all we know, we could be transported out of this world tomorrow. It was a fluke that we arrived here, and with another random accident, we could just as easily depart. You of all people ought to know what kind of thing can happen when you show up, tear down the walls, and then take off. I'm not saying that to shame you - " Ed's cheeks had colored and he had developed a sudden interest in his toes. "I know what happened at Liore was not entirely the fault of yourself and Alphonse. I'm just saying that occasionally, it's better to wait, gather information, and then make your move. If you have learned anything from me as a soldier, I hope it's that foresight can be a useful tool."

Roy stood. He turned away from Ed, his hands laced together behind his back. "I know that you are angry with me. I know that you're using this Fighter-Sacrifice clusterfuck to get back at me for all those times I made you do things you didn't want to do as your superior officer. You may not think I get it, but I do. Believe me, if I had the opportunity to order around some of my old superiors like puppy dogs, you bet I'd take advantage of that situation. I also know that you blame me for separating you from Al again, and you probably blame me for dragging you into the military when you were 12."

He sighed and turned to face Edward once more. "You know, I didn't even know, at the time."

"Didn't know what?" Ed asked, looking up.

"That you were only 11. When I came to Rizembul to recruit you. The papers from Central said 'Edward Elric, 31 years old'."

"Fucking Central. Don't they ever get anything right?" Ed rolled his eyes again, but this time he was grinning.

"If I thought it would help, I'd apologize," Roy sighed. "I made the best choices I could with the information I was given at the time."

"It's… all right. I mean…" Ed paused, scratching behind one cat-ear. "If I hadn't… If you hadn't come along, just then, things might have… turned out a lot worse for me. And for Al." He smiled darkly. "Too bad you couldn't have come the day before, though, eh?"

"We almost did. Hawkeye and I. The train was delayed."

"Are you serious?"

"Completely. I remember being irritated about it. Made me miss a date with a really good looking girl."

"Well… lucky for her," Ed giggled.

"Hey!" Roy automatically moved his fingers into snapping position.

"You're not even wearing your gloves, dumbass."

"That can change quickly," Roy answered, once again wrapping his arms around his Sacrifice.

"Whatever." Resting his head against Roy's chest, Ed realized he was actually feeling much better. Maybe he ought to let Roy have a say more often? Nah…

"Do you think…" Roy began. "Do you think I'd have actually been able to stop you? Back then."

"Probably not. We'd have just waited for you to leave, and then did it anyway. We were pretty determined. Or I was, anyway. You know Al, he always had more… foresight. But he always listened to me. Maybe if he hadn't, maybe if I'd listened to him a bit more…"

Roy pulled him closer. "Ed, we've all made choices we regret. For some of us, the pain and guilt over those choices will always be there in one form or another. Nevertheless, it doesn't help to continue to pour salt on your own wounds. You were 11 years old, you'd lost your mother, your father was nowhere to be found, and you were in possession of an extremely formidable and perilous gift that you had only just begun to understand. It's a wonder you didn't destroy the entire village of Rizembul."

"Like Liore."

"I knew I shouldn't have brought that up."

"Forget it. It's… all right." Ed took Roy's hands in his. "I'm… glad we had this talk. I'll… try to be a better Sacrifice. It's just been… a little stressful, what with all this happening at once…"

"It's okay," Roy answered, gently squeezing Edward's mismatched hands. "I understand."

Their reverie was broken by a knock at the door. "Why are they knocking? Do you think Ritsuka lost his key?" Ed separated himself from Roy and ran to the door.

As Roy came up behind him, he saw that the person standing in the doorway was neither Ritsuka nor Soubi, but someone neither he nor Ed knew. The stranger was tall, with a mop of flyaway blonde hair. He was dressed in a pink button-down shirt, untucked, with black jeans. Oddly, he was sucking on a little round lollipop. He didn't take the pop out of his mouth before introducing himself, either, which Roy found extremely rude.

"Hi. Um… I know this is a bit awkward, but, I'm Kaido Kio. I'm a friend of Soubi's. He sent me down here to get you guys." The words spilled out of his mouth all at once, as if he were going downhill very quickly.

"What the hell happened?" Ed demanded. Roy's hand was back on his shoulder.

"It's Ritsuka… he's in the hospital. They think he tried to kill himself."