A/N: Whoo-hoo! I finally have a computer of my own, after over a year and a half, I finally have a computer, Windows-free, wowzers, I love Linux, and this has turned into a really long run-on sentence that I don't know how to end. Anyway, I should be able to update more frequently now that I have this super-sleek, amazingly portable Acer Netbook. I'm about two chapters ahead in my notebook from what's typed, so once a week you should get a new chapter. And I'm getting away from Mustang for a while. He was a freaking pain to write. I don't want to write another Mustang chapter for a LONG time. That was the most miserable writing two weeks ever. I hope it turned out better than I thought it did. Oh! And I know this sounds really bad, but sometimes you just need yaoi, no matter how much of a cannon-freak you are, but I've been looking for an Envy/Al, and so far I've only found 6, three of which weren't very good. Any help?

Normal is Subjective

Chapter 3

Riza Hawkeye was walking the hall of headquarters, carrying a stack of papers that required the colonel's attention. Colonel Mustang had been able to get slightly more done in the last three weeks since the Elric brothers had moved back into their dorm. She had not seen either brother in six weeks, but the colonel had said that after two months, Alphonse had been well enough to go back and live with Edward alone. That was a great relief. She didn't see herself as overly-pessimistic, but she'd had her doubts about the boy's survival.

Riza wouldn't let anyone know, but the sight of the small boy crying, tied to the bed made her hate her country, just for a moment. Someone high up had ordered torturous experiments on a civilian, a child. She had read the orders Dr. Sandra Cullings had been given. Surgeries with no anesthesia, electrical conductivity tests, tests on exposure to heat, cold, wet, dry conditions, even chemical exposure...no person with even a hint of a conscience could do that to a person. Cullings had been right to falsify her report, saying that Alphonse had died before any experiments could be carried out.

It had to be kept quiet, though. The people who had ordered such things were after Colonel Mustang, using his best alchemist's weakness. Only the most trusted could know that Alphonse was alive and...soon to be well. Those boys brought out more maternal instincts than she'd ever thought she'd had.

She rounded the corner, Havoc was just stopping someone from running into the colonel's office. "Hey! Whoa, wait up. We don't allow kids—"

"Oh! Hi, Havoc! Sorry, I didn't see you." Alphonse sounded winded as if he'd been running for a while. "Is Lieutenant Hawkeye in? I have something I'd like to give her."

Riza smiled, the look on Havoc's face not withstanding, as he obviously recognized the voice. She could almost see his mind superimposing an image of the seven-foot steel armor over the young dark-blond haired boy smiling up at him. "Hello, Alphonse," Riza answered.

Havoc looked between the two, "Alphonse Elric?" he whispered, not believing.

Alphonse gave a small laugh as his smile widened, "Hello, lieutenant, how are you today?"

"I'm fine, what are you doing out of bed? Shouldn't you be resting?" The boy was still trying to catch his breath.

"All I ever do is lie in bed. How am I supposed to get better if brother won't let me leave the room? Its not like my body atrophied in the Gate or anything, I just have to get use to using everything again. I feel much better than the last time you saw me."

The last time she saw him, he was struggling to walk farther than the distance from his own bed to his brother's just across the colonel's study. And he was still trying to catch his breath! "You're gasping."

Again, he laughed lightly, "I haven't run in five years. I forgot how hard it was. It was just the length of the hallway...I know I shouldn't have, but...I just wanted to."

Riza smiled, how had their mother said no to that face? She reached over and gently lifted his arms, placing his hands on the back of his head, he winced slightly, but allowed her to. "Breathe in through your nose for five seconds, hold it for five seconds, and exhale through your mouth. Keep your arms above your head. It helps to open your lungs."

Alphonse laughed lightly, his breathing quickly returning to normal. "Wow," he lowered his arms, "Where'd you learn that?"

"Its part of training." Alphonse nodded. "You said you had something for me?"

The boy blushed, "Well, I...do you like flowers?"

Riza smiled and Havoc tried to hide his smile by suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting. "Every woman loves flowers, why?"

"Good!" Alphonse said excitedly. He pulled at the mailman's bag slung over his shoulder that Riza had not noticed before. He took out a small black chalkboard, a leather pouch and fished a piece of chalk out of his pocket. He placed the board on the ground, drew a simple transmutation circle, and emptied the contents of the pouch onto the circle. He then pulled a small broken golden chain from his pocket and placed it on the multicolored powder in the circle.

Havoc leaned in for a closer look, "What's all this?"

Alphonse was checking over his work as he answered, "Silica, iron-barium oxide, iron-sulphide, potassium permanganate, potassium dichromate, and a broken gold chain I found for the red."

Havoc looked at Riza who just shrugged, then back to Alphonse, "So...what's all this?"

Alphonse laughed, "Alchemy is very simple when you aren't really changing the structure of the elements." He touched his fingertips to the array and in a flash of alchemic light, the pile of powder and chain was gone, in its place was a miniature purple glass vase, filled with a dozen green stemmed multicolored roses; three each of ruby-red, reddish-blue, amber and purple. Alphonse picked up the small trinket and handed it to Riza. "I wanted to thank you for helping me out of that place."

Riza studied the flawless glass sculpture. It had amazingly fine detail, each rose had individual petals, even tiny thorns. Edward was not the only genius in the family. "They're beautiful, Alphonse, thank you."

The boy's face lit up with pride, and he laughed.

"Where'd you learn to do that?!" Havoc asked, "All I've ever seen is the military applications of alchemy."

"Oh, brother and I were making little things like this for mother when I was four or five."

"Four or five?!" Havoc exclaimed.

"Ed's were always better than mine."

"I think they're wonderful, Alphonse, thank you again." She looked around just noticing that Edward was nowhere to be found. "Where is Edward?"

"He was in the shower when I left," Al said looking away slightly. Quickly he added, "I have something to give the colonel, too, is he in?"

That was odd, the brothers almost never separated, epically after Alphonse was back to normal, Edward was even more overprotective. "Won't Edward be worried about you?"

Alphonse's smile fell, his face hardening, he almost spat out, "He shouldn't."

Riza and Havoc exchanged worried looks and Riza continued, "Colonel Mustang was on lunch, he should be back any minute."

Roy turned the corner then, and looked at the three standing in front of his offices, he opened his mouth to speak when a screaming voice echoed through the hall, "Colonel! Please, wait!"

The group watched as Edward ran up to Mustang, ignoring everything and grabbed the colonel's jacket. "Al's gone! You have to help me! I left to take a shower and when I got back, he was gone. Please, we have to start a search. If they've found him, they'll kill him! Please!"

"Fullmetal," Roy tried, but the boy didn't listen.

"No! We have to start now. They could have hurt him by now! We—"

Roy roughly grabbed the boy by the shoulders and turned him to face the three. Alphonse was turned away, looking shameful. Ed pulled away from Mustang and rushed to his little brother, scrutinizing every inch of the younger boy. His fear suddenly turned to anger, "You shouldn't be out, Al. Don't do that ever again! I got out of the shower and you were just gone. Mustang told you, we have to be careful. We don't know who gave those orders."

"I know."

"Do you want them to tear you apart, Al?!"

"No!" Al yelled, leaning into his brother's face. "I just wanted to be outside! I wanted to do something by myself! I can take care of myself, Edward! I'm not so pathetic."

Edward took a step back and lowered his head, shamefully. "All you had to do was tell me. I don't want to stop you from living, Alphonse, I just...the doctor said to take it slow. What if you fell or something and no one was around? I just want to be sure that you're all right before..." He looked away, Riza could easily see what the boy wasn't saying. Something was very wrong with the Elric brothers. Alphonse would never leave as Edward had just suggested, would he?

Al looked away from his brother, "I'm sorry, I just...I needed to be away. I needed to do something."

Ed nodded. "I...I'll be in the library, could you meet me there when you're done?"

Alphonse sighed, "Of course."

Ed nodded again and walked away.

Alphonse reached into his bag, pulling out another glass sculpture, this one was clear, in the shape of flickering flames, its edges bright oranges and reds, in the center was the transmutation circle on Roy's gloves. "Thank you, colonel," Alphonse said quietly, handing over the glass. "I hope you like it. I didn't really know what you liked. I worked really hard to get it to look right."

Roy smiled sadly, "Yes, thank you, Alphonse. I think we should talk—"

"I really shouldn't keep Ed waiting. Maybe later." He started slowly in the direction Edward headed.

Riza and Havoc both turned to Roy, "What was that all about?" Havoc asked.

"Something must have happened," Roy answered, "Something very bad. They've been acting like this for a while."

Riza nodded, "Should we talk to them, sir? Perhaps we can help?"

"Edward seems to feel guilty about something. More than what is usual." Mustang thought out loud. "I don't know what could be bothering Alphonse."

"He got angry when we said that Ed would worry," Havoc reasoned, "but why wouldn't Ed worry? You didn't see how wiped out that kid was just running down the hall; the boss should worry."

Roy sighed again, Riza watched as he slowly made his way to his office, cursing under his breath, "And those boys don't have enough to worry about."