"Brother…your supper is here! Y-you have hardly eaten anything and the doctors say that if you want to recover then you need to eat."

An uneasy smile graced Ed's lips as he sighed, "yea! Guess you are right, gatta get out of this damn place and get your body back…then we never have to come back here again."

Alphonse nodded slowly, concern filling his soul filled eyes. It had only been three days since Ed had awakened and seven days since they had saved him, but since then it had been the act of the gate opening to get the kid to do any normal functions such as talk to anyone, eat, or even laugh. Al had noticed and he knew that if Ed had allowed anyone else to visit then they would too. "Brother…"

Looking up from picking at his food Ed tried to shift his weight uncomfortably to better accommodate his sitting position, "Yea Al?"

"Why won't you let anyone else visit?"

This seemed to somehow catch the boy off guard, his golden eyes practically dulling at the question. "I did let people visit…"

Ed jumped as a gloved hand slammed on the end table of his bed, "you know that is not true brother, I have asked you this before and every time you say the same thing! Please…why? The first and last person to visit this room was Lieutenant Hughes and you yelled at him till he left! What…what is going on? What aren't you telling me?"

Ed could feel his whole being shaking, he underestimated his younger brother's perception sometimes and in a case like this that mistake could lead to devastation, taking a breath Ed waved Alphonse off as he sighed, "fine, fine, I guess I can't hide from everyone forever. They can come and visit!"

"That was not my question, brother."

Ed tensed at the small voice, damn his brother's persistence, "sorry Al…. I've just been tired. I guess seeing that deadbeat with a philosophers stone, fake or not, just made me feel…stupid. We try so hard to find that damn stone or at least the secret to creating one yet there are guys like that, that just somehow have one."

Al pondered on the explanation, meanwhile Ed hoped the excuse would be believable enough, he hadn't really told Al or anyone what all had happened and he knew that his younger brother was curious. After all, it wasn't every day that Ed swallowed his dignity and actually sent out a help signal, Alphonse knew that.

Much to Ed's relief Al sat down on a nearby chair in careful thought, "It was strange that a guy like that had somehow gotten a fake philosophers stone, and what the heck did he want with you? Who is he working for- or is he just crazy?"

Ed sighed, "beats me…whatever he attacked me for he did it swiftly." The blond alchemist swallowed his shaking voice as he tried to make his body stay still, he was shaking so bad. Of course, he freaking knew why the bastard had taken him- or at least half way knew anyways.

"Still…even for a swift attack he must have been skilled beyond belief in some way other than that stone- the only person I have really seen you struggle to fight is Scar."

Suddenly feeling an uneasy feeling in his stomach Ed defended himself, "I…I fought with all I had Alphonse I swear. I didn't mean to let anything bad happen to me."

"Of course not brother, I know that!" Al quickly reassured seeing the strangely uneasy look in his older brother's eyes. Something was still not right- hearing a knock on the door Al quickly snapped his attention towards the exit of the room.

Everyone who was close to the Elric brothers knew that, upon Ed's personal request and his lashing out at Hughes, it was not wise to try to visit the less than recovered alchemist at the moment. The two brothers prepared for anything as the door opened, "I guess I'll just let myself in then!" An angry Winry grumbled.

Ed and Al visibly relaxed, their tense stance's as Winry stomped into the hospital room, "Winry? What are you doing here? I didn't call."

"Hm! Well nice to see you too! And for your information Al called me, although he didn't tell me about you being in the hospital! And you!"

Alphonse flinched back as Winry snapped her head to him, his hands already held up in surrender mode, "you were supposed to meet me at the train station! You are lucky the Hughes's just happened to be close!"

Ed tensed at that, thankfully neither Winry or Alphonse noticed as the two bickered back and forth.

The last time Hughes had visited him had been about a day and a half ago, all it took was a five-minute private conversation and Ed was ready to throw the man out the window. He had told Al it was because the man had a horrible habit of showing off his daughter and wife at terrible moments and that he had just snapped because he had to wake up to that but that hadn't been the case at all. In fact, Hughes had not even showed one picture of his family- he had just asked one question.

"…Right brother?"

Ed snapped his head up from his thoughts, "Huh?"

"Um…your arm, it got dislocated from its port, right?"

Rubbing the back of his neck with his bandaged flesh hand he sighed, "Yea, sorta, it somehow got bent out of the port- sorry about that Winry."

Winry looked at Al in astonishment as the genuine apology hung stale in the air, shaking her head from the strangeness she sighed, "I left most of my equipment at the Hughes's house but I would like to start repairing your arm tonight." Winry babbled as she removed a screwdriver from her purse and made her way to Eds automail arm, as she was closing in to remove the arm from its port Ed softly but quickly jerked his arm away.

"Ed..?"

"Um…if it's all the same can you just come here tomorrow and repair it?"

If Ed's strange behavior hadn't thrown Winry off in the short time she had been there then it certainly did then, "um…sure, but why Ed?"

"I…"

I can't risk not having some kind of protection if and when Sin comes back for me.

"I just had surgery on one of my lungs…it got punctured from the broken ribs I got about a week ago and-"

"Surgery?! Punctured lung?! Just what have you all gotten yourselves into this time?" Winry fumed.

Ed looked down, his trembling hands balling into fists. How much am I going to have to lie about this?

"He was ambushed by a mad man, it was not his fault- well this time anyways."

The three teens looked towards the rooms exit in surprise, sure enough Maes Hughes stood there, emerald eyes glowing with new found determination.

A dressed up Elicia peeked around the tense man as she clinged to her mother's hand, practically dragging the petite woman inside. She danced around the small room as she waved a wand around and twirled her bright pink dress. "Big sister- awh! Hi Alphwonse! Hi Ed!"

Al chuckled at the pronunciation of his name, "Hi Elicia! How are you? I like your dress!"

Elicia smiled as Gracia took that moment to pick her up, the small child's eyes trailed over curiously to Ed who was by now shrinking in his hospital covers. Elicia giggled, "Ed looks like a spider."

The whole room- even Ed- laughed a bit at the child's perception. It was actually not so farfetched as the cords and I.V.s snaked in all different directions from the machines to the bed making half the room seem like a spider.

Gracia took that time to carefully walk over to the injured boy, sweet concern in her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Ed took a moment to think on that, since he hadn't had anyone come to visit he hadn't really put too much thought on anything they would ask- not that this question was all too difficult to answer. "Uh- well breathing is still a little weird but other than that everything feels ok!"

"I'd say so! Jeez! They have you hooked up to morphine- you're not going to be feeling much of anything at this rate." Ed glared bit at Hughes as he flicked the morphine bag hanging just above his head, "Hey! Do you mind?"

"Right!" Hughes spun towards a confused Winry and Alphonse, "So how about you guys go and enjoy the parade? It's going to start soon and I know you two have never seen Centrals Halloween parade!" Hughes offered.

Ed's eyes widened as he realized what Hughes was doing, he had to act fast, "how about you all go enjoy it? Besides, I need some extra rest so I'll just be sleeping anyways."

Hughes smirked at Ed's sly attempt to escape the situation, "No can do Ed! See, you have been placed on watch."

Ed fumed at that, "watch? What does that even mean?"

"Due to your title and the incident that took place a week ago the Fuhrer has decided to put you on watch- which basically means that you always have military personal close by. So! Every year I have to be on guard for the parade- you know since there are soldier personal that are in it and what not. This year I either had the choice of having to keep surveillance on the parade or just helping you write out an incident report and keep watch of this room. So, I decided to stick with you until the next person comes to guard."

"Great…" Ed suddenly did not have the energy to fight any longer as he dropped his head back onto the sterilized pillow stack that was situated behind him. Looking over he saw Winry and Gracia talking cheerfully about the parade as Alphonse helped Elicia twirl for what had to be the twentieth time in her oversized pink dress. Ed couldn't help but let his mouth twitch into that of a smile, nostalgia plaguing his senses.

In small towns like Resembool things such as Halloween were a big deal since it was the only real excitement that ever really happened around the quiet little towns. Winry had always picked just that one day out of the year to completely change into what he and Al would call "princess mode" they would all go to school with costumes at the ready but Winry had always looked the best. Ed and Al had consequently missed the last few years of the Halloween fun as they had been with teacher in that time.

Seeing Elicia twirl had somehow taken Ed back to a time he desperately wanted back, he blinked in unfiltered astonishment as a tear trailed down his face. Ed swiped it away quickly but only after Hughes had glanced over to see the conflicting emotions at work and with that Hughes dug in his oversized coat pocket, "Alright Elicia! Here's your special crown!"

An ear-piercing squeal tore through the room as the small child jumped up and down as Hughes carefully paced the oversized hot pink crown on her head, "perfect!" Mae's eyes watered as his daughter smiled brightly, picking her up and twirling with her he laughed and brought her over to Gracia whom gladly took the now completely dressed in pink child from him. "You all have fun- and bring us back some food if you can!"

As Hughes and Gracia exchanged their affections and "be carful's" Al quietly walked over to Ed, "brother are you sure that-"

"Yes Al, I want you to go and have a good time- you deserve it after being crammed in here for so many days. Besides, I would feel better if Winry, Gracia and Elicia had a trustable escort."

Al nodded in understanding, "that's true- I hear that Central takes Halloween just as seriously as we used to back in Resembool- I miss that." Al chucked at the memories just as Ed had done.

Ed nodded a bit at the statement then narrowed his eyes, "just be careful out there, ok?"

Al sighed, "of course brother, you don't have to worry!"

"I know…there's just going to be a lot of people and-"

"Let's go Al!" Winry happily demanded as she all but dragged the suit of armor away leaving Ed to wonder how in the hell she had gotten strong enough to do that. His eyes widened as Winry unexpectedly snapped her head back at him, "if you rest I'll bring you back some decent food and a souvenir from the parade!"

Ed masked his overall lack of interest with a forced grin and a small wave, "sounds good!" He laughed as the crowd of loud people paraded out of the room- including Hughes.

Hm? Maybe he decided to leave with them- no that's too lucky.

Sure enough his thoughts served him correctly as Hughes appeared in the door way once more as he happily waved everyone out of the hospital. As soon as Ed heard the double doors close to the end of the hospital hall, Hughes dropped his hand and quietly shut the small rooms door once more.

Ed grumbled, here we go…

Not the most eventful chapter- but you have to build up to it! Next chapter should be up super soon, just editing now. Comments/criticism are appreciated!~