AN: Song: New Divide- Linkin Park

Roy couldn't tell him the truth. Not after he'd seen the bewildered look in the usually defiant eyes. Ed had confessed to something that for him must have been groundbreaking. In Ed's conviction, asking for help was unthinkable. Roy suspected it was partly his pride, but mostly it was Ed's paralyzing fear of hurting someone; even if indirectly, the blonde always managed to find a way to blame himself.

Unfortunately for Ed, he had more friends and people that cared than he would be comfortable with. And that was just it. Roy went over the whole ordeal in his head again. He had just bartered away his soul and though his lung was punctured and he was slathered in bandages and sharply smelling ointments, though he was barely awake and weak as shit, he knew if he had the chance, he'd do it all over again.

So when Ed confessed, when he looked at him like that…the words came naturally. "You did it, Ed."

They stopped for a second, Roy's breath frozen, looking right into Ed's eyes and willing him to believe the lie.

It worked, because Ed fell into a chair and breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't remember shit though. The last time, well, I remembered everything and now I don't. Its like the film cut the moment I touched that design."

"Maybe it was stress?" Roy rasped out, his chest was beginning to hurt but he was unwilling to press the button that would inject him with morphine. Ed was rarely talkative, and this chat was so unlike him that Roy couldn't let himself end it. It was almost a given that when he woke up next Ed would be himself again, whatever feelings of guilt Ed had, Roy hoped his admitting Ed had saved his brother and himself would put them at ease. But ease meant a much less approachable Ed, and this was…nice.

Ed had his head on his hand and was looking at Roy sideways. "maybe… I did some research while you were out, fire alchemy is pretty damn powerful, bet you don't know some stuff I found out."

Roy's spine shot frozen waves of panic. "Why were you researching my alchemy?" He heaved his head up to glare at the blonde and groaned at the sledgehammer pain that shot through his head. He began to cough and that set off his chest. "Fuck." He moaned as he fell back down into his pillows. Ed was at his side in an instant, looking up and down his body as if he could grab the problem and beat it. "You ok? Ill call the doc-"

"don't," Roy gasped out, "Im fine."

Ed still looked at him with disbelief, but sat tentatively in the chair at his side. His eyes travelled along the length of Roy's arm and back, Roy's bruised skin tingled under the stare and he licked his dry lips.

Ed took his hand in his and began to run small, assuring circles over the palm and Roy didn't have the strength to squeeze him in thanks. His mind flitted to the stone he knew was in his coat pocket. It was hanging in the corner of the room, looking innocent enough. He thought fleetingly that he could get out of this predicament in a flash, and then thought better of it. There was no point healing himself to have his soul sucked out for some freak. He'd use it as a last resort, and he knew very well it wasn't going to be himself he'd be using it on.

"Hey Mustang," Ed's quiet voice brought him out of his thoughts. "You freaked out when I told you I was looking into your alchemy, why?"

Roy scoured his brain for a quick response. "I didn't freak out, Fullmetal, I was simply surprised and as a result, the open hole in my chest decided to let me know not to… besides," he locked eyes with Ed. "Why would you want to anyway?"

Ed shrugged, turning his attention once again to Roy's palm. "I just felt compelled to, as if somehow, I could help you by knowing you better. Like, as soon as I saw you, I knew that was what I was going to have to do. It's been pulling at me all this time, like there's something that I'm supposed to know." He looked at Roy, whose eyes were intently searching for a more detailed answer. "Hey Mustang?"

"Hmm?" Roy didn't have the strength to answer him anymore, it was leaking out of him.

"If you remember anything, anything at all, will you let me know?"

Roy could only nod, closing his eyes and letting his breathe escape out of him in a small trickle. He felt liquid shot into his arm and creaked an eye open to look at the blonde. He was smiling faintly. "Ok, that's all I needed to know."

xXx

Ed made sure Roy was fast asleep when he got up to leave. He turned once in the door to survey the room. His eyes fell to the pile of books he'd been working on and a chilling thought crossed his mind. By all accounts, Ed should have set up camp in Al's room. Al was the main reason from their expedition and as a result of Ed's incompetence, now lay comatose. Granted, Ed decided, peeking at his watch. Only for another 7 minutes, but still, the point was that he'd left his brother on his own while he took care of Mustang. The only thought that made him feel better was that while Mustang was awake some of the time, Al was not and was not going to be until the doctor decided it was safe. There, excuse all set.

He slipped in quietly behind Hawkeye, who turned to him and smiled gently, pushing him up to the from of the small group of nurses gathered around the doctor and she in turn, disappeared. Ed was sure she was going to peek in to see on Mustang and Ed felt more assured knowing there was someone watching the bastard.

The doctor looked up as he squeezed in beside him and nodded as he took out the first needle and inserted another. Ed watched with bated breath for any signs of stirring. The doctor watched as well, monitoring the screen connected to his brother and keeping a hand on the machine just in case of any sudden emergency.

Nothing happened. Al slipped from the drug induced sleep into his own without so much as an eye movement. The doctor announced that the procedure was successful, that Al was now on his own, and besides the still much needed fluid vitamins and nutrients, Al would be in overall fine condition when he would awake.

"So that's it?" Ed grumbled. "He won't wake up now? I thought you were going to wake him up."

"What I said, Mr. Elric, was that I'd bring him into his own terms, waking him from a drug induced coma, not sleep. That, your brother will do when he is good and ready, and as far as I'm concerned, the more sleep he gets before he has to put up with your attitude and hardheadedness, the better." The spectacles the doctor wore flashed dangerously at a glaring Ed.

"Keep in mind Major, I can get you out of here by force, so behave… and clean up that tower of piza you've erected in the Generals room." He added as a haughty afterthought before sweeping out of the room.

"See Al? They treat me like a child still." He smiled at his brothers passive, calm face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Sleep tight little bro." he whispered and quietly went out.

Hawkeye was just where he expected her, in Roy's room. She took herself to one of the chairs and hauling it beside the small desk in the room, had her feet up on that, reading from one of Ed's books.

"Hey." Ed greeted quietly as he stepped in and around her, sitting beside her himself. "Enjoying yourself?"

She looked at him and smiled lightly, "I remember this book from my Father's study."

Ed was positively thrilled. "You know something about these? Brilliant, I didn't know you did alchemy too."

She shook her head. "I don't. My father was a fire alchemist, but he went out of his way to destroy anything on the actual art of manipulating fire."

Ed looked over to the pile of books in the corner. "I don't think he did a very good job of it though, did he? All these are on fire alchemy."

The woman laughed quietly and closed the book she was holding. "Have you found even one complete alchemical circle with which you might start to actually learn it though? There's theory and then there's practice. As far as I'm concerned, Mustang is the last fire alchemist."

Ed's eyes widened at that. "you're kidding right? I mean, I knew that it was rare and shit, but I'm sure there has to be someone else out there…"

She looked at him with full conviction. "There isn't."

Ed grew serious. "Why not?"

She scratched her head and looked away, towards the dimming sunshine that wa starveling towards the end of the day. The city outside was awash with crimson light, small birds zipping past their windows, thin shrieks reaching their ears faintly. Ed suddenly felt very tired and old.

"Well, Fire is the hardest element to control, so there's that. But I suppose the other reason is that my father went out of his way to destroy all evidence he could get his hands on that could have someone learning how to become one."

"So how is Mustang one?"

"My Father passed it down to him and him alone. And erased all the details of the alchemical designs that would be needed to create more."

"So what's on his gloves then?"

She smiled and looked at Ed then. "Its actually quite smart. You can control your alchemy without signs right? Well, It's a bit like that with Roy. The signs on the gloves are merely spark igniters. You can light a fire without being able to manipulate it's form, that's basic alchemy. But what Roy can do is manipulate that spark to his desire. Its like imagining an alchemical design in your head and bringing it into life. Its very hard, but my Father made it clear that if he could not accomplish in in that form, he would not train him. Roy promised, and for the next 3 years put his all into doing just that."

Ed was thoughtful for a moment. The new information raced through his head and he was beginning to grasp just how extraordinary Roy was. He had never given him more credit for his alchemical skills that to any of the other State alchemists, didn't even bother looking at his gloves to check them out. But this was fascinating.

"So he can do what I and Al can do?"

"With one design, yes."

"But that's weird, if he can do it with one, what's stopping him from doing them all?

Hawkeye shrugged. "perhaps it is something personal, but I think it's just that he wasn't born a genius and didn't have the pleasure of meeting the gate."

Ed felt goosebumps at just the mention of the gate. "I can't remember anything that happened after we set off that array. I don't know about Al, but Mustang can't remember anything either. I'm just left with this fantastical urge to research fire alchemy! I can't get the need for it outta my head!" he sat with his head between his hands. "this is fucked up." He sighed finally and threw a glance at Hawkeye, who was watching him intently.

"Fire alchemy is exceptionally powerful, and people look to power altogether too many times for the wrong reasons. Fire feeds on oxygen Ed, right? As long as oxygen is given, fire can burn, it can expand. Roy could kill off the entire country at a snap of his finger. Can you understand that, Its boundless, the power he has and when you have power that is boundless, you have to have a solid mind and tons of self restraint. Most people don't, Roy is one of few people I know that can control himself under any circumstance. My Father trusted him and so do I." She smiled at Ed and squeezed his hand. "Do you understand Ed? It's best to leave it alone."

Ed nodded, but in reality his mind was wheeling with ideas, theories, and possibilities. "Roy is in constant danger isn't he then, who wouldn't want that kind of freedom?"

"My father managed to rather, erm, deplete… the number of people who knew the full extent of the possibility of the fire alchemist. I'm quite sure there are not many people that know about this. But Ed, what we said here can't be repeated anywhere."

Ed nodded. He understood. But his worry seemed to only increase. The tension in the pit of his stomach increased, his pulse quickened. He felt like he was going to be hit by a panic attack.

He was thrown into blackness, into freezing water and a black so tangled he couldn't move and then, just as if he'd have slammed into a marble floor, he was stable and lying in front of something… Something standing high and very close to him and he rather felt than saw it… The outline, the very sketch of the gate… hidden in the immense blackness, a quiet scream. It started as a whisper against his skin and build in power, finally pounding into his ears and it was a while before he realized it was his own screams.

He was thrown back into consciousness like a fish out of water, gasping for air and drained in sweat. He sat up in the hospital bed and looked around like a wild animal, scared, furious and hurting all over. Hawkeye was standing over him, accompanied by about three nurses and a pissed off looking doctor. He looked beside him and there in the bed beside his lay Roy, his eyes wide with fear and uncertainty.

Ed fell back into his pillows, whimpering at his hurting ribs. "The gate…" he rasped out. "Its trying to tell me something."

AN: OKAYYYYYYYy hows that for an update! :P Love you all!