Chapter 7-

Edward ran across roofs of houses, tops of streetlights and telephone poles, jumping from one to another in a wild effort to put as much distance between him and those humans as possible. He knew he was going too fast for any humans to see him, so he didn't bother staying in the shadows like usual. Mustang didn't know how right he was; Edward wasn't fine like he was. Not stuck halfway like he was.

Don't think about that!

Ed shook his head violently, trying to rid himself of those destructive thoughts. He didn't need them. Instead, he began to think of when he was going to eat next, but his thoughts quickly drifted from that topic. What he really thought about was Alphonse… the boy who acted so nice to everyone, and so naturally and at ease with him personally. Every other human tensed when he entered the vicinity, whether he knew them or not. Mostly this was from instinctive fear- vampires and humans couldn't mix. But Alphonse, the one they called his brother, didn't do anything like that. It intrigued Ed; it was like he was completely fearless. But now, that kid was in trouble.

Ed didn't exactly have memories, but he did get feelings from his past life- drifting feelings that affected his actions. The feeling he got from Alphonse confused him. It was almost like he wanted to… look out for him, or… he didn't want Alphonse to get hurt. Like Ed wanted to… protect him? Nah, that couldn't possibly be right. You can't protect someone if you don't have a soul. But whatever the feeling was, it did make him want to rescue the kid from that weird homunculus. Ed wondered if he should go and get him.

Edward slowed his headlong pace as he reached his destination. The building in front of him was a diminutive, aged hut out in the urban districts of Central. There were no humans around for miles. He entered the empty hut, brushing off some dust from his shoulder where he'd accidently bumped into the wall of the hut. He slid his foot along the floor, searching for one particular spot. Then Edward felt it- a tiny switch, hidden along a crack in the floor. He used his foot to flick it, and watched as part of the floor retracted to reveal a hidden trapdoor covering some stairs. He ignored the stairs and jumped down the hole in the floor, landing effortlessly on his feet some three stories down.

There were guards at the corner of the hallway he was in, the same two that hadn't moved since Edward started living there. They nodded to him as he passed, and the younger of the two smiled at Ed, revealing his fangs. Ed gave him a half-wave of his shoulder and moved on. He knew these halls well, despite the fact that there were thousands of underground tunnels that often went for kilometres at a time.

He passed many other vampires as he travelled- some were young like him, some were hundreds of years old, and there were even some who had been created at the start of time. All of them fell silent as he passed, but he was used to it, and ignored them all. Eventually, with the aid of his vampire speed he reached the room he could call his own. They weren't really one room, but rather four or five connected rooms where one person lived. This particular hallway was a shadowy white, and was mostly empty, since there was only himself and one other occupant. Said occupant opened his door as Edward entered the hallway.

"Hey, Edward! You're back!" the bespectacled man called cheerfully. He didn't really need glasses; they were just an old habit.

"Yeah," muttered Ed, "and before you ask, I didn't see Elysia or Gracia!"

The other vampire, known as Hughes, sighed overdramatically. "Aw, too bad. Did you go see your brother and Roy again?"

"What makes you think I want to talk to you now?" Ed snapped.

"You're still mad? I didn't think you'd hold such a grudge, Ed! Besides, it wasn't my fault," Hughes protested, following Edward into his room.

"Not your fault? So, then you didn't choose to not tell me about my past, or my 'friends', or my 'brother' when I first came here?" Ed fumed. He glared when he realised Hughes had followed him into his room.

"I'm really sorry, Ed. I was forbidden to tell you about your past unless you figured it out yourself, those are the rules!" Hughes actually did look remorseful. Ed sighed, annoyed.

"Whatever," Ed threw himself on his bed. Since they were underground, there was no need for coffins, although some vamps did have them. It was a matter of preference.

"You should go visit my two beautiful girls! And, you should take a picture of them both for me. In fact, take lots of photos!" Hughes fawned happily.

"No!" Ed snapped. "If you want to see them and take photos, go up and see them yourself!"

Hughes abruptly got serious. "Come on, Ed. You're the only one who ever goes up there to the humans. You know you're making the rest of us a bit uneasy because of that, right?"

Ed scoffed. "They'll live. I don't care if they ignore me for the rest of eternity. I'll do what I want to do."

Hughes sighed. "I thought you'd say that. Well, how did it go with your old friends?"

Ed told him, leaving out the bits about him wanting to protect Alphonse.

"What do you mean, you're not going to go rescue your little brother and Breda? The hell you are! Go get them both right now!" Hughes exclaimed, shoving Ed towards the exit. Edward nearly fell off the bed as a result.

"Too late, it's morning." Ed could generally tell what time it was by judging on his want to sleep. If he wanted to sleep, then it was daytime; if not, then it was night.
Hughes raised an eyebrow. "You went out at daytime yesterday, judging by what the others told me."

Ed just rolled over. "Special occasion." He didn't mention overhearing the information about the homunculus placing the bomb to Hughes; Edward had already figured out that it was a trap.

"And this isn't a special occasion?" Hughes was really pushing for Ed to go. Ed wondered exactly how strong the bond between Al and him had been, to elicit this sort of response from Hughes.

"Look," Ed sighed, "If it really means that much to you, I'll go rescue those two." Hughes' face lit up happily, before falling again at Ed's next sentence.

"Tomorrow night, I'll go rescue them. But not now. See, you got what you wanted. So get the hell out of my room!" Ed shoved Hughes out of his room and slammed the door behind him. Ed didn't notice the vexed expression on Hughes face as the older vampire wondered if they would survive for that long.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter was a bit filler-ish, but it's important to the story, I swear. And besides, I gave you all a treat at the end! :D

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT UPDATES! I have good news and bad news. Some people might have already noticed that I update Night Eyes every Wednesday and Sunday. If you noticed, you get cookies! :D The bad news is that, unfortunately, I can't update next Wednesday (the 16th), next Sunday (the 20th) or the Wednesday after that (the 23rd). That's because I need a week to study and then I have exam block, so I can't update on those days. Also, don't be surprised if I can't update on the Sunday (27th) after that. The good news is that after those two weeks I'll be on holidays, and updates will probably double. XD