AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys!

SO I know from my own personal reading experiences that when a person's name is said too many times it gets extemely annoying, but for the sake of this story I feel that it needs to be done at least in the begining. Mainly because since Edward was originally a MALE and now is well... not.

So at first Roy, at least to himself, will refer to Edward mostly by name because right now he's not sure what to call him. He will also say either he and correct it to she and vice versa. Later he will ask Edward what he prefers.

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

(Though I wish I could/did.)

Last time:

He was going to blame himself for not keeping a better eye on Edward, hell I blamed myself for not going to talk to Edward sooner. I shouldn't have given him the assignment for that matter. I felt terrible as we rode through Central, Riza not letting off the gas for anything.

Edward didn't wake up even once on the way there.

Chapter 3: More?

We placed Edward in the hospital under a false name since he was so famous we really didn't need unwanted questions or tests. I mean how do you really explain how someone everyone knows is a male is now, well ... not. We also didn't put down an age since Edward always looked younger than he was anyway, the new body didn't help that any.

It's been almost twenty-four hours since we brought Edward here and he, -er she, still hasn't woken up yet. They said that it was most likely due to shock and her mind was trying to protect itself from whatever she didn't want to face yet. Riza stopped in every few hours or so asking how Edward was doing, a couple of times she asked if I was sure I was going to be staying here until Edward woke up. I just simply told her it was my responsibility as his commanding officer.

Couldn't really say I blamed Edward, I wouldn't want to come to terms with such an event right away either.

The girl looked so small laying in the hospital bed, especially when you took Edward's huge personality into account.

I was still trying to wrap my head around the knowledge that the girl in the bed was Edward, and that he was now a she. If it is hard for me to grasp I couldn't imagine being the person it was done to, going through that, and living through it.

I was ripped out of my own thoughts when Edward started violently tossing and turning on the bed and yelling 'No, please don't!' over and over again. I jumped to my feet and made it over to the side of the bed before Edward could tumble to the floor. As soon as my hands wrapped around his wrists to hold Edward still a scream tore from her throat and she began to fight harder. The heart monitor was going crazy and sending alerts to the nurses.

"Edward! You need to calm down!" I struggled to hold the small body in place while a leg swung in my direction. "You're safe now!" Two nurses burst through the door asking what was going on and rushing around.

I leaned over the small person below me and whispered in their ear. "Edward, clam down. I need you to calm down." Edward's head tossed to the side with a small whimper and her or his knee connected with my groin causing me to instantly let go and curl up on the floor.

"Roy." Was softly spoken above me in an unfamiliar female voice before I heard crying.

I tried scooting out of the way as the nurses crowded around even closer to Edward asking if their patient felt alright and what didn't.

Edward though was having none of it. He scurried to the top of the bed, covering as much of her body as possible with the thin hospital blanket, before yelling at all of them to leave. With tears running down his, her, cheeks she made quite the sight. They looked nervously at each other before nodding and heading towards the door.

I managed to get myself into one of the chairs and a nurse stopped next to me. "Let us know if she needs anything."

I nodded and looked over at the scared Edward on the bed, huddled at the top, golden eyes wide in fright, with wet cheeks. It was so odd to see Edward scared, he was always so energetic and ready for anything that came his way. It almost hurt to see him so broken and unlike himself, other than physically I meant.

"Edward?" I asked quietly, standing slowly.

Golden eyes flicked in my direction, staring as though they didn't trust what they were seeing. "Mustang?" That same strange female voice came out of a pair of beautiful lips before teeth bit down on the full bottom one.

"Yeah, I'm right here. We found you."

Shoulders seemed to sink in defeat. "So you're not the only one who knows." The pair of golden eyes left mine to drop to the blanket.

"Only eight of us, you're here in the hospital under Jane Doe, so no unnecessary questions get asked."

Edward only nodded before lowering the blanket enough so that it only covered up to his/her lap. Edward's knees were still brought up to his chest and he wrapped his arms around them. "Does Alphonse know?"

"No, we haven't told him yet. We decided we would let you handle that. He would probably take it better from you anyway." I brought the chair over beside the bed before sitting in it again.

Edward looked at me, "That's good. I think I'll wait a while on that one though since I assume I won't be able to get my body back this time." The voice that passed through those lips sounded so sad I wanted to wrap my arms around her and keep her safe.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' I mentally smacked myself. 'This is Edward! Even though he's now a girl, it's still Edward!'

"Shou is dead. He was shot while we were trying to get you out."

"Thank you." Hatred burned in the depths of the now molten gold eyes. I could only imagine what Edward wanted to do to his tormentor.

"How are you feeling, physically I mean."

Edward scoffed. "Like I'm in a body that's not mine." she shook her head. "I'm sorry it's not your fault it's mine, I should have been paying better attention to my surroundings. Hell I should have told someone where I was going." Tears welled up in the golden eyes in front of me. "I s-shouldn't have-"

I placed my hand on the bed, but not close enough to touch.

"Edward, this is NOT your fault. No matter what could have been different." Edward's eyes closed as though in pain as thick trails of tears dripped down his cheeks.

"What am I going to do?" the muffled words came from behind his knees where his head was now buried. "Everything I knew is gone! Taken away from me!" Her arms wrapped around her legs tightly. "I worked so hard and went through so much to get mine and Al's bodies back, and now mine is gone again! And this time there's nothing I can do to get it back. It's not like I can do alchemy any more. And a philosopher's stone is out of the question."

"I'm stuck like this." he sounded so defeated.

I sighed and sat back. "Well then what do you want to be called?"

Edward's head snapped up and glared at me. "What?"

"Do you want to be a 'Him' or a 'Her'? Cause honestly my mind is going around in circles." Edward's mouth dropped open like he couldn't believe what I had just asked. Honestly though I was trying to get some of his spirit back. He was alive, and to me that was all that mattered. So what if he was now a girl? He was alive. There were so many who weren't.

"Her or Him?" She closed her mouth. "Seriously Mustang? That's what you ask?" Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink in anger. "I get kidnapped, tortured, and turned into, into this! And you ask what gender I want to be called by?!" The once scared, defeated, and sad golden eyes now burned with anger and embarrassment.

"Yep." I gave Edward a sheepish grin. It was good to see something in those eyes besides negative emotions. I knew it wasn't a permanent fix, but maybe soon there would be. I knew that Edward was going to have a few things that were going to need time to get through and reconcile with, but for now it was good to see it.

"Well I guess I can't really go by him, he, boy, man, or male with these things!" Arms angrily gestured towards the ample amount of breast now attached to the once smooth chest. I felt my pants grow tighter and had to look away, even the remindance that it was Edward couldn't change the fact that they were a very nice set of breasts from what I had seen. "They're too big to be bound. And the hips would be hard to hide also." Ah, yes those too. Edward was not helping, and if he were to see how tight my pants were graowing he'd no doubt kill me, alchemy or not.

How to fix this situation? It was so wrong, on so many levels.

"I am not changing my name! No matter what people say! I am Edward Elric damnit!" Hearing that in such a feminine voice made me want to laugh, but I held it back and just smiled instead.

"How are you going to explain..." I gestured to Edward's new body.

Edward seemed to pause for a moment before answering. "Maybe we could tell them that I was a girl the whole time? That I didn't want people to know and got badly injured on the job maybe? And I got found out?"

'I could probably make that angle work.'

"I would have to pull a few strings and change a few things in your file. Maybe we could put it so that you were undercover as a male for the past eight years because during your quest for the stone a boy would be more likely and we just stuck with it as you got older. No one but certain people were allowed to have the information about your true gender. Until that is you were found out on a mission." I suggested, sure it would need some work and time to be the 'truth', but I could get it done.

"I guess then I will have to get used to being called a girl."

"Well, technically you are one." I pointed out and smirked.

"Don't push it Mustang."

"We might have to 'legally' change your name though." I put emphasis on the legal part, since he was going to have to have a new name. "I'll even let you pick it."

"What's wrong with Edward?"

I just looked at her for a minute before she hung her head in defeat.

"Fine. It's not like everything else hasn't changed anyway." I felt kind of bad now that he put it that way. "What about Edythe? That way I can keep the 'Ed' and it won't be as bad."

She had a point, so I nodded that it would work. Besides she was going to need as much of her old life as possible to make her feel more comfortable. And make her transition easier I guess.

"If you want I can get right on the paper work." I made to get up from the chair, and mentally cringed at the stiffness of my body from the past twenty-four hours of being here. "Though we might have to practice getting you used to your new name so it doesn't sound too unfamiliar. I'm sure some people will understand with you having been 'undercover' for eight years, but still."

Edward hastily reached forward and grabbed a hold of my jacket. I looked down at her and she looked scared all over again.

"P-please don't go yet." At that moment it didn't matter that it was Edward or not, she was asking for someone to make her feel safe. She let go of my jacket like it was on fire as though what she had done finally clicked in her head. She sat back and placed her hands in her lap looking at them, "I-I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked that-"

"It's ok Edward, I can stay. Maybe I can call Hawkeye and she can get the process started." Edward looked relieved as she nodded. "I'm just going to step outside into the hall, I'll be right back."

I made my way out into the hall and towards the phone they had built into the wall. It seemed as though Shou changed more than Edward's body, either that or what happened to him was even more traumatic than we thought. Maybe it was both. Maybe he did something while Edward wasn't looking. Cause it seemed like even his hormones were not his own. Hormones.

As soon as the thought popped into my head a blood curdling scream tore through the hallway. I raced back to Edward's room to find her standing up on the bed, the bottom half of the hospital gown stained red and blood running down her legs to meet with the bigger red stain on the bed.

Nurses came in behind me to see what all the noise was about.

"What's happening to me?!" Her face was paler than the once white sheets.

One of the more elderly nurses approached her slowly, "Miss, my name is Mary, maybe I could explain it to you." She reached her hand out to Edward who was still standing on the bed. "Here let me help you down from there so you don't get hurt." If it wasn't for the the seriousness of the situation I would have laughed at the last bit.

Edwa- Edythe took Mary's hand and let the woman help her down off the bed.

Mary motioned for the other two nurses to clean up the bedding and change it while she took Edward into the bathroom to get cleaned up. I stood in the doorway and watched quietly as everyone moved around.

I could hear Mary explaining softly to Edward about periods and how to take care of them, and what to do if she should start cramping. Though with her pain tolerance I personally doubted she'd feel anything, especially after having automail for a good chunk of her life.

I caught a glimpse of her face in the mirror of the bathroom and she looked worried and a little sick as Mary continued. I felt bad for her cause it was just another new thing for her to deal with. Mary then asked her if it would be alright to do the examination that was supposed to have been done hours ago. Edwar-Edythe just nodded.

'Damn I'm really going to have to get used to the new name. Bad enough I have to get used to that figure belonging to Edward.' I thought as the two nurses left the room with the soiled linens. 'Maybe I'll just wait til Hawkeye comes here to tell her about the paperwork.'

They spent a little over half an hour in the bathroom before coming out and Edward made her way to the bed again.

Mary came over to me and asked if I would come talk to her by the door.

"She seems to be a little old to be getting her first period Colonel, do you know why that might be?"

"My guess would be malnutrition?" I said the first thing that came to mind that could cause it to be late.

"Maybe, though she does look healthy. She's fine to go home in the morning if she wishes though I do recomend someone being close to her for a little while with as scared as she was and to help her if she needs it." I nodded, maybe I could get Edward to stay at my house in the guest bedroom. "I will give her some Tylenol incase she needs it later since she told me she wasn't in any pain now."

"Okay." And with that she nodded and left.

I walked back into the room to find Edwar-Edythe sitting on the bed with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"So I need a babysitter now?"

"I think it would be a good idea, in light of what's happened. I don't want you getting too depressed or freaking out if someone can help you." I sat again in the chair propping my legs up on the edge of the bed. "Did you want me to start calling you Edythe now? Or later?"

The glare that came in my direction could have killed, until they saw that I was serious. "I guess now is fine since I'm going to have to get used to it anyway. This is how things are now." She dropped her gaze to the blanket.

"Alright." I was beginning to feel my stomach protesting that it needed food so I stood up. "Do you want something to eat?" She shrugged her shoulders but didn't say anything so I figured something small would do.

I walked out the door and to the reception desk where a bunch of nurses and doctors seemed to be hanging out talking or on the computers or the phones.

"Excuse me," One of the female nurses looked up wondering what I needed. "The girl in room," I leaned back to take a look. "Three-oh-four? She's hungry is there anything she can have? Myself also?"

"Oh yes I'll have a someone bring in a menu for you to choose from."

"Thank you." I turned around and headed back into the room to find Edythe laying on her side facing away from the door. I couldn't help but notice that her shoulders were shaking as she cried.

I felt bad for her.

And there was nothing I could do to help her through it.

Author's note...again

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I hoped you liked the chapter.

Until next time.