~*~ALPHONSE~*~

"Ed... Ed,,, Edward... No... No, don't... Please... Ed..."

I don't sleep since I'm in the armor and I don't have a body but the sound of a muffled voice from upstairs catches my attention as I look over some of Mr. Tucker's research. I stand up and head toward the Colonel's room. Brother is asleep on the couch, oblivious to the moaning upstairs.

"Edward... Ed... No... Stop... No... No! NO! NO!"

"Brother!" I yell.

"Huh?" he says, sitting up quickly.

"The Colonel..." I say, letting the screams from the Colonel answer for the rest.

Ed looks at the stairwell and then moves toward it to go up the stairs.

As we open the door, we find the Colonel tossing and turning in his bed. Ed goes over to him, turning on the light, and touches him on the arm to wake him.

"Colonel! Hey, Mustang, wake up!"

The Colonel's eyes fly open and he pulls away from Ed with a horrified yell, going to the opposite side of the bed and holding his hands out in front of him.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he screams.

"Okay! Okay..." Ed assures. "I'm sorry..."

"D-don't... don't touch me..." he repeats, looking like he recognizes us now.

We watch him as he breathes heavily, staring at us with wide eyes still.

"We're sorry, Colonel. You were screaming and we were worried..." I say, trying to help him understand.

He nods, seeming to understand the situation, but his eyes are still full of fear. He looks at Brother and seems to visibly relax.

"Will you be alright, Colonel?" He nods and Brother looks at me. "Maybe we should let Hughes take care of you..."

The Colonel grabs his paper and pen and writes on it.

I am not crazy. My mind is fine... I don't need your pity on the subject. he says with furrowed eyebrows to Ed.

"Aw, Colonel, don't get snarky. I'm just trying to help you out without causing more problems."

Well, I don't need to feel like an idiot.

"No one said that you were." I say.

You pretty much did. You all think I'm a freak!

The Colonel's black eyes were brimming with tears and Ed flusters.

"H-Hey! What the hell?! Why are you crying?"

Instead of writing, he just points angrily at his swollen abdomen, which seems bigger than before. Ed nods.

"Oh... We're looking into that, okay?"

I want in. Give me some of the files to look at. he says, wiping his eyes and looking at us seriously.

"You should rest first-"

"No! No..." He swallows from the use of his voice and finishes his sentence on the page. I can't sleep.

I look at Ed and he sighs.

"Are you sure you want to get into these files? They're pretty messed up."

The Colonel's face suddenly turns professional as he begins to write on the paper again.

One of my subordinates has been transformed against his will on my account. I do not take lightly to people messing with my things. I owe it to Fuery, who put his life in my hands, to fix him. My life is not important right now.

Ed sighs again and rubs the back of his neck.

"Gah, why not? If ya feel that guilty about the whole thing..."

"Brother..." I say with a smile I know can't be seen.

~*~EDWARD~*~

We let Mustang have some files to look at as I go back down to collect my lost sleep. He looked really happy to get those files, as if the manila folders were a start to normality. I don't blame him for wanting something normal to happen after everything that he's been through...

"Do you think the Colonel will be alright?" I ask Al as he descends the stairs.

"No... He's really skittish for some reason but I think Mr. Hughes had said something about it when he brought him here..."

"Yeah, I forgot about the whole not touching thing. Hughes said he doesn't like flesh to flesh contact or something." I say, flouncing onto the couch.

"Mm... Brother, he was calling your name." I sit up and look at Al. "Before I woke you up he was screaming for you."

"For me? He doesn't even like me though. Why would he want to yell for me?"

"Maybe you can ask Lieutenant Hawkeye about it. She might know something from when they were captured..."

"Yeah; I think I'll go talk to her tomorrow. I wanted to check on Fuery anyway and make sure that thing were going well."

Al nods and goes back over to the files to look through them. I lay my head back on the couch and fall asleep again.

"I'm going to head over to Hawkeye's and check on Fuery. Al, keep an eye on the Colonel. Colonel, don't overuse my brother."

You're going to see Hawkeye?

"Yeah. I need to ask her some questions and stuff. Plus, I want to take a closer look at Fuery to get a better understanding of his makeup now that he's... mixed..." I say, faltering.

Mustang nods and goes back to looking at some files. I lean in to Al.

"Make sure he eats right, okay?"

"I will..."

I leave the apartment and head to Headquarters, where I'm sure Hawkeye is.

As I enter the floor that houses Mustang's office, I decide to go to the bathroom. I walk in and hear someone moaning. I look around and find Jean on the floor next to the sinks.

"Lieutenant!"

He turns to me and smiles weakly.

"Hey, Chief... I got a little hungry and... I didn't bring anything with me... so..."

I put his arm around my shoulders and take him to Mustang's office. As we walk in, Hawkeye looks up and seeing me with Havoc, she grabs his other arm.

"What happened?" she asks.

"I found him on the floor of the bathroom. He said something about eating."

"Oh. Sit him down and I'll go get him some food."

I nod and set him down at his desk. Havoc moans, leaning on his knees as a loud grumble comes from his stomach.

"Ugh... I feel horrible."

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's what Tucker did to me. I have to eat all the time or I'll die of starvation. He kicked my metabolism into overdrive and so if my stomach starts to growl and I haven't eaten something, I'll start to get malnutritioned and all sorts of good things." he says with a tired and painful smile.

Hawkeye comes back with some donuts and hands them to Havoc.

"This was all I could find."

"Good enough..."

He takes them and almost shoves them in his mouth as Hawkeye looks at me.

"What brings you here, Edward? We have lots of work to do, more since only half of the staff is able to be here."

"I needed to ask you about when you guys were captured... Did... Did the Colonel ever yell for me?"

Hawkeye looks at Havoc and she sighs, motioning me to go to the Colonel's office.

"I suggest you scrounge around for more food, Havoc."

"Aye, aye..." he says with a lazy salute.

Hawkeye closes the door and sits on the couch where I am.

"To answer your question, yes he did call for you."

"But why? I mean, he doesn't like me."

"Edward, you may not realize this but anyone under his direction, even those he says he doesn't like, is his property. Not in a slave-like sense, but he considers everything and everyone associated with him as his and his alone. The Colonel treats everyone with the same snarky and arrogant attitude, even provoking them so he can yell at them. But one thing Roy has that not many here have is genuine confidence in all of his men. Me, Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman... every one of us has his complete and utter trust in all matters and things. And you, Ed, have his trust too.

"That being said. Everyone that he trusts was with him in that lab. The only person he could rely on to come and save us, was you and Al. He called for you because he knew that you would find us. You alone would rescue us and save us from what Tucker has done. He called for you because you were the last hope he had.

"Roy doesn't give up very easily, nor does he put his pride in jeopardy... But those experiments and the things he had to see and go through... He had lost his resolve. He was unable to help us and was vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. After a long time of fighting and doing everything he could to protect us, and feeling that it was all in vain, he lost the will to fight. But he knew that you were out there. He puts a lot of confidence in you, Edward; more than you think he does. He knew you would find him and he held his hope in that."

I never knew that Mustang would have in me such high regard in his brain.

"Why me? Why not Hughes?"

"Hughes can only do so much and he is his friend, so he knew he'd be looking. But his faith in your loyalty, the one that you try to deny you have, helped Roy get through it all. Roy will probably kill me for telling you this, but you and Al are like sons to him. This loyalty is different from what he has in Hughes or me or his other subordinates; his loyalty in in you is like what a father has for his child."

I am taken aback by this. I would have never guess that Mustang -proud, arrogant, pain in the ass, Colonel Bastard- viewed me and Al as family. Sons nonetheless.

"So you see, Ed, that's why it's best if you take care of him as long as you can. He trusts you."

I nod, feeling a little bad now that I wanted to dump him back on Hughes.

Hawkeye stands up and goes to the door.

"I have to get back to work."

"Is there anyway I can see Fuery?"

"Actually, I brought him to the office. He's in the closet where the Colonel usually takes naps."

I nod and find the closet. I open it up and Fuery lifts his head, his tail wagging.

"Ed-waaaard." he drawls.

"Hey... come into the light for me..."

I coax him out and he sits in front of me, his eyes squinted as he tries to look at me.

"Play?" he asks.

"No, not right now. They didn't hurt you did they?"

He shakes his head. "Peeet?"

I pat him on the head and his ears went back with happiness, his tail thumping away.

"Nice..." he said. "Edward nice... Scared..."

I look at him and he looks up into my eyes.

"Scared..."

"I know you are. I'll find a way to get you back. I promised the Colonel and I promise you."

"Trust..." he says, butting his head on my hand. "Trust, Edward."

I smile and pet him again. I will save you from this cursed body. I will defeat the laws of alchemy.

A/N: hey i'm alive! so anyhow, a little bit of a roy pity party but i also needed a little bit of hormonal issues. he is preggy, yknow... with what, who knows...