~*~ROY~*~

I wake up and find black fur in my face. I'm not quite sure where I am until I remember the blood and notice the sterile white walls of Central Hospital. I look at my wrists and see the gauze wrapped around them along with medical cotton, a little blood stain from where the cuts were. That was a pretty idiotic idea… I think to myself as I unwrap my hands from around the animal in my bed and try to sit up a little. I move and try to push myself up by the rails but gasp as a pain goes through my stomach. I put my hand over the dome and feel a series of kicks or something come through.

I maneuver myself and finally get into a comfortable position and look at both of my hands. These hands have killed people of country, snapped flames of alchemy, fought hand to hand combat but right here in front of me, they have never looked so foreign. For all the things my hands have done to others, these hands have never turned on me. There is nothing on them at the moment, clean and sterilized, but I know that they had blood on them. I still see it…

Another series of flutters passes under my stomach and I jump at the sudden movement, putting my hands over the disgusting dome of flesh. You made me do this to myself. I think to it. Surprisingly, I feel a tiny nudge come up against my palm and it just stays there, as if it were trying to comfort me from within. It's almost as if what's inside me can feel… Suddenly I feel protective of it, that I'd do anything to keep it safe. I don't know exactly what it is that is in me –human or chimera- feeling that teeny tiny 'apology' makes my instincts kick in. Protect thine young. my mind orders.

The animal beside me sits up and looks up at me and all I need to see are the glasses to identify the creature.

"Fuery." I say quietly.

"Colonel…" he says softly, his tail wagging. "Colonel okay now?" he asks with a small turn of his head.

With just that small turn, I can see my lowliest and yet more dedicated subordinates in those canine eyes. I lift my hand up and touch the top of his head, scratching in between his ears.

"I'm fine now. Thank you, Sergeant."

He stops panting and looks straight at me, his eyes locking with mine when I see it. There is a small spark of humanity that rips through his eyes and I can see him… my handpicked subordinate.

"Col-onel?" he says but this time his voice does not reflect the hollow, haunted tone of a human-chimera hybrid but of a man.

As soon as the word leaves his mouth, just as fast as it came, the luster of humanity is gone and Fuery is gone, leaving nothing behind but a mutated, cruel product of alchemy.

Just like me…

A knock on my door makes me look up as it opens slowly. Hawkeye peeks in and then opens up the door all the way.

"Morning Colonel." I nod to her and she looks at Fuery. "I should probably take Fuery home now."

"Food?" Fuery asks.

"Yes, you'll get some breakfast with Black Hayate."

Fuery stood up, shaking his fur back into place, and then skuttles down the side of the bed. He trots to Riza and then looks back at me, lolling his tongue at me.

"Colonel better."

Riza smiles and leaves, leaving me alone again. A hard cramp rips through me and I hiss in pain, feeling my skin tingle with expansion. I look down and watch how when I breathe out my stomach gets larger. It does it about three time, not even really growing an inch, but it's still getting larger all the same. I look almost like I am in my third trimester rather than only being in my first in all technicality.

The door opens and Hughes walks in tentatively and smiles. He turns the seat that is next to me around and leans on the back of the chair.

"How ya doing?" he asks.

"Could be better."

He gives a nod. "Listen, we need to talk."

"Are you breaking up with me?" I ask with a serious expression.

Maes grins but then clears his throat.

"You're going to be living with Gracia and I from now on until we get that thing about of you."

"Just call it 'it', not a 'thing'." I say with a frown.

"Roy, that's what it is, a thing . It has no identity yet." I just shrug. "Anyhow, you have to stay with us now."

"What happened to staying with Edward?"

Hughes makes a face and looks away.

"I made a mistake by making them the caretakers of you. You're not even family and yet I threw a man in your condition onto a young boy who is doing everything to fix one wrong in his life… It was a selfish thing to do."

"You?"

"The boy is a genius; he can do anything! But I failed to realize that even though he was brilliant and can do pretty much anything, he can't just bring the old Roy back. He wouldn't be able to bring back the young man I grew up with that had high ambitions of becoming Fuhrer. I knew it and… and I wanted him to bring back my friend but all I caused was heartache and more pain. So, I'm going to do what I should have done as soon as you needed someone to be with you and take care of my best friend."

I nod, understanding but not at the same time. Being with Ed was fun because he let me be. But being alone ended with you right back here in hospital. my mind says to me as I look back at the red marks on my wrists.

"The doctor said that you would be alright to take home now. I'll get your clothes."

"Um…"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to need bigger pants… um… I can't buckle them anymore."

Hughes nods and leaves the room.

~*~JEAN~*~

I fluff Heymans' pillow as he stares into oblivion. He responds the most to me even though he doesn't respond very much at all. The doctor thinks that he should be able to come out of the trauma once he gets the thoughts in his head situated but from the looks of it, I don't think he'll ever get out of it.

I finish plumping the pillows and stand back.

"There ya go buddy; nice and fluffy for you." I say, cigarette in my mouth.

He stares at nothing over my shoulder and I sigh.

"Damn it, Breda. Why does it have to be this way? I mean, I understand that you saw some pretty weird stuff but… I miss you, bro. You're the closest thing to family that I have and seeing you this way just… I just hate it. I wish you'd get out of this."

There is no response (which I didn't really expect) and I start to walk out of the room when my stomach begins to grumble. I instantly grab some peanuts from the bowl that is on the corner of my dresser and chomp on them as I head to the kitchen. I learned the hard way with the episode at headquarters and in my own home that if my stomach growls, it's best to put something, anything in my mouth to eat just to tie me over until I could make a better meal. Thus, I have a bowl of peanuts on every piece of furniture that can hold one on the way to the kitchen.

I make my way to the kitchen and start to get things to make a sandwich. It's between breakfast and lunch and even though I know I won't get fat with how much I eat, I still have a fear that what happened to Hawkeye might happen to me and so I try to regulate the way I eat.

I flop the bread onto the counter and begin to spread mustard over it.

"What are you making?" I hear a soft voice say.

I look up slowly and find Breda leaning on the counter in front of me. Happiness floods my body as I smile big and am about to answer him when I realize that he is only in my imagination. The image is fading, like a ghost, and when I blink, he is gone. I frown at the cruel trick my brain played on me and continue to make my sandwich. I pour myself some milk and sit at the table by myself.

It doesn't take long for me to finish my sandwich so I put the plate in the sink and run the water over it.

"I'll wash them later." I say to no one in particular as I look around for a moment.

There is nothing for me to do really so I decide to take a shower. I'm a little leery about going out unless I go to work because I don't want to get caught in a hunger attack and not be able to eat anything and die. I turn on the shower and wash, including my hair, and dry off. I have the towel wrapped around my waist as I walk out of the bathroom to my room where I grab the carton of cigarettes that is on the chest of drawers. I grab the lighter that is next to it and flip it open, lighting the cigarette and flipping it closed.

"Smoking is bad for you." I hear a voice say.

"I know." I say automatically, having heard it all before.

I suck in a long drag and blow out smoke rings when I realize that I have responded to someone talking. I don't say anything for a moment and I turn ever so slowly to the bed where Heymans is looking straight at me with a crooked smile. I blink at him but nothing changes as his smile deepens.

"He-Heymans?"

"You think I could have one of those? I had one hell of a time."

some development on a couple of people we don't hear from too much. so roy actually likes the thing in him? and is breda truly out of his coma-like state? sorry that it's so short, i promise more plot development instead of character development next time ToT