Edward could only hear distant voices at first. It felt as though he were underwater, drowning without a struggle. His head hurt. It hurt a lot, actually, yet he couldn't muster up the strength to rub his temple to rid himself of the throbbing pain. Aside from that, he felt oddly comfortable. He opened his eyes only when the darkness became too irritating, only to be half-blinded into shutting them tightly again. Suddenly, a hand grabbed at his shoulder, jerking him up and down. Someone shouted something very close to his face, but the voice was so muffled, Edward could barely understand it. The hand continuously jerked him to and fro, and soon, another hand joined in, slapping against his face.

What's going on? Edward thought frantically. What the hell's going on?! Am I being mugged?!

Edward tried struggling, and could only muster a slight twitch in his fingers. Okay... so, moving out of the question.

He then tried shouting. For help, to warn, anything. He parted his lips, took a deep breath and used all the strength he had to make any sort of sound. He was granted with a quiet moan. Great, just FUCKING great!

Edward had begun feeling irritated at this point. He began shuffling his whole body, trying to get feeling back into his limbs. Slowly, his fingers began twitching, and the warmth crept back into his chest and knees. He curled his fingers several times, ignoring the violent jerks and abuse of his captors. His head began throbbing more and more, his vision blurry upon opening his eyes. He could make out two dark silhouettes, a white background behind them. They were shouting, still, shouting so loudly, yet he could barely hear them. The one on the left shook his harder, the one on the right seizing their slapping, and beginning to pound their hand against his chest. Edward released another groan from his chest and curled his fingers once again, this time into a fist. With a loud moan, he sleepily swung a first at the duo, and the two immediately leaned back to evade his swing. The one on the right stood up, and whispered something to the one on the left. He shook his head in response, and quickly grabbed at Edward's collar, tugging him up towards him. Edward panicked, groaning and struggling to get away. The silhouette began shouting in his face again, just as Edwards vision began to adjust. His ears began unclogging as well, and Edward braced himself for whatever horror would come to face-

"EDWARD, WAKE YOUR STUPID ASS UP!"

"Uhh?"

Edward blinked several times, Kain's face close to his. The spectacled man was frowning, and his face was red with anger. There was a small throbbing vein in his forehead. Gross. What the hell is he looking at?

"Good. So you're alive." Kain grumbled, releasing his collar, and standing to adjust his glasses as his features relaxed. Noah stood next to him, a concerned look on her face. She had a bandage on the right side of her forehead and a small scab on her left cheek.

"Kain?" Edward mumbled, rubbing his face. "Noah? What the hell happened? What's going on?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Kain snapped. He sounded extremely irritated for some reason.

"What do you mean?" Edward mumbled, looking around. Something clicked in his mind in a split second, and panic flooded his heart. "Wait, Kain, where's Winry?!"

Noah winced, as if she'd been slapped in the face. She looked down, and Kain turned his head towards Edward again, his face scrunching into an angered expression yet again.

"Kain," Edward repeated. "Where the hell is-"

"I thought you said you broke all ties with those motherfuckers." Kain whispered, his voice shaking in anger. Edward was now extremely confused, unable to comprehend what exactly Kain was going on about. Suddenly, Kain's hands were wrapped around his neck, slamming Edward hard against the cold white walls.

"Talk, you asshole! What the hell did you do?!"

"K-Kain!" Edward choked. Noah began tugging at Kain's arms, shouting for him to let go. Kain glared at Edward for a moment longer before releasing him with a shove. He turned his back, pacing to and fro, swearing over and over again. Noah looked as if she was on the brim of tears, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"Kain, he's just as confused as we are." Noah mumbled, choking when her fiancé shot a cold glare at her. "Kain, stop acting childish, we need to figure out what's happened!"

"To hell with that!" Kain spat. "I was considerate. I took Winry in, accepting to hold her here until this fuckwad gets his life together! What do I get in return?! I get attacked in my own fucking house by someone he got into shit with, and now he wants me to do another wild goose chase?! I'm done with that, Elric!" Kain shouted. He was glaring daggers at the blonde, who simply stared back quietly, unable to move a muscle. Finally, Kain stepped towards him, gently pushing Noah out of the way when she stepped between them.

"Listen, Elric," Kain began. "I want nothing to do with this. You'd gotten us all into a lot of trouble before as it is. I'm done being associated with people from your world. Its brought nothing but grief upon me, and the people that I love." He glanced at Noah for a moment before averting his eyes back to Edward. "You keep Noah and I out of this, you hear me?"

And with that, Kain turned away from his long term friend, swiftly making his way into his bedroom and slamming the door shut.

Edward was paralyzed. He didn't know what to do. Noah stood beside him, quietly sobbing. He turned to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She leaned into him, bobbing her head lower to avoid his gaze. Kain was right – he had caused the two of them much trouble. He'd caused everyone trouble. Kain, Noah, Bunny, and even Alphonse. Alphonse. The poor boy must have been so lost as to why his brother was acting in such a strange way. As to why they were constantly fighting. They were once inseparable, and he'd dedicated his life to finding Edward after he'd locked himself away on the other side of the Gate. But ever since he'd found Winry, nothing else had seemed to matter before. He'd treated Alphonse as he'd treated Winry back then; as someone he had expected to always be there, because it was their duty to.

Suddenly, Edward wanted his brother. He wanted him beside him so he could tell him how sorry he is. Edward was already playing out the scenario in his head, and he was certain about the reaction Alphonse would have to all of this. He'd be ecstatic, and he'd happily accept his brother's apology. After all, they were brothers for Pete's sake. It will never be their duty to stay by each other's sides, but it's their duty to want to. Edward would redeem himself. He just needed a little more time.

"Noah," Edward whispered. Noah's head jerked upwards.

"Please, tell me what happened. You don't have to be specific. Give me a general idea."

Noah's lips parted and closed several times, before she sighed and began. Edward listened without a single reaction to anything that came out of the Roma's mouth. He waited patiently for her to finish, and although it had barely taken longer than a whole 3 minutes to explain, Edward's knees had locked as if he'd been standing and listening for a lifetime. Finally, Edward exhaled, nodding and making his way to the doorway. Noah watched in anticipation as Edward slipped on his jacket, fishing into his pockets and rummaging around.

"Noah," He mumbled. "Do you have a pound I can borrow?"

Noah nodded in confusion, disappearing into the kitchen and re-emerging with a small coin in her hand. Edward accepted it graciously.

"Edward?" Noah whispered. Edward turned to her and smiled.

"Sorry for the trouble I caused you, Noah." He said. "I swear, I'll repay you. For every minute of grief you suffered because of me."

Before Noah could respond, Edward was already out the door and halfway down the street. She watched him out of the kitchen window, as he disappeared into the darkness of the night, even the light of the streetlamps unable to show the former alchemist's intentions. Noah shook her head. That man would never cease to amaze her.

The Roma exited the kitchen, slowly making her way to her bedroom. The door remained silent when she pushed it open, revealing Kain seated on the bed, hunched over with his head buried in his hands. Even though he was normally a rather tall and built young man, he looked nothing but small and fragile at that point. Noah closed the door behind her, not bothering to flick on the light switch. The light from the streets had flooded in through the windows, leaving a yellow hue on Kain's pale skin. Noah lowered herself onto the bed next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Kain didn't flinch, even when she leaned in to press her cheek against his shoulder. Her left hand slid across his back, circling around him, while she squeezed his knee with her right one. She could hear faint breaths escaping his lips, but made no move to speak. He should meet her halfway right about now.

"Noah," he whispered. Noah smiled and hummed.

"You know I didn't mean badly by it, right?"

"Of course, Kainan." She purred into his ear. "Of course."

"I don't want to relive that nightmare again."

"I know."

"I don't want us to struggle anymore."

"I know."

"I want to keep you safe."

"I know."

"I want us to get married."

"We already are married, silly man." Noah said gently.

"You know what I mean-"

"Nonsense. The marriage you speak of involves my name on a silly piece of paper. I'll gladly write my name down somewhere for you now if that's what you wish."

Kain snorted, lowering his hands from his face and covering Noah's instead. They were both silent for a short while.

"That idiot will need our help."

Noah hummed. Kain sighed.

A.N: !IMPORTANT. READ.!

Okay, so basically, this was supposed to be an Author's Note chapter, but I don't agree with just dedicating a whole chapter to just a note from an author, so I included another scene in for your guys as well. I have some sad news to share, but don't worry. It could always be worse.

So, as of Sunday, I'll be heading up to Quebec for a one month French immersion program. It'll be taking place from June 30th until August 2nd. It pretty important, since I get a general highschool French credit out of it. In Canada, if you have 4 or more French credits from highschool, you get what we call a bilingual certificate on top of your diploma on graduation day, and it does WONDERS to your resume. So yeah, long story short, I'll be gone for a month. And the problem is, I don't know if I'll be able to update during my time there. Of course, I will try my hardest to do so, and I really hope I'll be able to! But I guess this is just a heads up that, if I don't update for a while, DON'T WORRY! I have no intention of leaving this story! I've got lots planned out for all of you, and I really appreciate you guys sticking with me so far.

THANKS! R&R!