A/N: Urgh. I'm not even going to make excuses this time. Wait, one. SCHOOL STARTED. Geh. Also, me and a friend of mine are writing an original work, and a lot of my time is spent on that because she's a SLAVE DRIVER.

Thank you to Random 1, Dark Cat Food Lover, Breyannia, Black Blood of the Red Rose, In Love, KTfanfic, gundamzbd36, liliDreamer89, DancingShadow82, Lunas13, bloodynessie, Cherlipon, LDK, and Guest for reviewing.

Title: Foundations

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Angst/Adventure

Warnings: AU

Summary: If Edward was one thing, he was fire. But if he wasn't careful, he was going to burn himself out. Or, Edward Elric is a mutant, Mustang disapproves of him almost burning down the office, and the Xavier Institute is wary of military operatives no matter how old they are.

Disclaimer: If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist or the X-Men, would I really be here right now?

It was dark. Ed couldn't see. Everything was gone.

Then it wasn't dark anymore and Ed still couldn't see, because it was all too bright, pure white, and that could only mean-

"Oh, Mr. Al-chem-ist."

Ed stiffened up and he didn't want to turn around, but he did. His eyes fell on the shadowed outline of the Truth, marked out by that mirthful grin.

"What price have you paid for your sins, Mr. Al-chem-ist? Do you really think an arm and a leg will suffice for stepping into my territory and for what you did to your brother? What you always do to those around you?" The Truth chuckled as Ed stepped back, eyes wide and scared. "You're so funny, Mr. Al-chem-ist. What do you think I should take next?"

"What do you think I should take next?"

"What do you think I should take next, Mr. Al-chem-ist?"

Ed sat bolt upright and woke with a gasp, eyes wide and sweat plastering his bangs to his forehead, a dangerous flush spread across his cheeks. It was a moment before his breathing slowed down and the flush faded, Edward registering where he was.

Right. The Institute. He'd gotten there just the day before.

Edward sighed and laid back, catching his breath for a moment, and then rolled out of bed. Time to face the day, Elric.

He smiled bitterly. Just another morning.

Edward dressed quickly and headed for – he checked the time and winced – lunch.

Ed made his way swiftly through the half-occupied halls and got his lunch, locating an empty table to eat at. He sat down and focused on his sandwiches, eating the first absently, finger tapping the table, foot tapping on the floor.

He didn't have class that day, so Ed figured he could get a start on his research. His mind wandered off in that direction as he ate, noting with a wince that the bread grew warm as he gripped it.

He was pulled from his thoughts when someone cleared their throat behind him. He set the sandwich down, not really hungry anyway, and turned to the man expectantly.

The man regarded him for a moment, and then said, "I'm Gambit, cher. Now c'mon. Tha professor wants ta see ya."

Ed shrugged, nodded, and stood up, throwing his food away and following the man out.

"What's he want?" Ed asked Gambit, looking up at him.

Gambit shrugged. "Don' know. Guess you'll have ta find out, hm?"

Ed shrugged again and looked to the front.

They reached the office soon enough and Gambit took off again just about right away, leaving Ed to enter alone.

The Professor was in the same place as before, waiting for Ed, that same, slightly friendly, slightly forbidding expression on his face. Ed wondered how he could pull that off, then decided that Mustang probably could too. He might even suggest it if the bastard caught him in a good mood.

Professor Xavier almost smiled – right, telepath – but the expression cleared away as Ed cocked his head at him expectantly, shifting restlessly, constantly, from foot to foot.

"Edward," Xavier greeted amiably. Ed glanced at him warily, still shifting, putting his hands in his pockets and pulling them out. Something about this was agitating him, and his fire was responding in a way he wasn't comfortable with. "You did quite well on your tests yesterday."

"Yeah," Ed replied cautiously. "Most of them weren't that hard."

"I'd almost think you had help." Xavier's eyes were piercing.

To his credit, Ed didn't hear a hint of pre-made assumptions in his voice or see them in his eyes, but his heart still dropped, fever heat clouding his mind slightly. "No. No help." He raised his chin, gold eyes challenging Xavier to accuse him again.

Xavier chuckled slightly, not put off in the least, fingers tapping as he kept his gaze on Ed, unwavering. "Hm. You're quite a smart boy, Edward. I don't believe there's much we can teach you in the way of science or math, so I suppose you'll have that time to yourself."

Ed shifted, once, right to left, again, left to right. "Can I spend that time in the library?"

Xavier eyed him curiously. "Certainly, if you wish."

Ed brightened slightly, put his hands in his pockets, took them out, and said, "Great! Was that it, Professor?"

Xavier made as if to smile. "Yes, it was. Good day, Edward."

Ed nodded, turned, and darted out. Waiting just outside the door was Scott, and he waved once. Scott nodded curtly back and Ed's face fell, deflating as Scott turned away, not noticing.

Ed headed off to the library and Scott entered Xavier's office, where Xavier tilted his head at him expectantly.

"Yes? Scott, what is it?"

Scott's face was unreadable. "His commanding officer gave him a folder before he left."

The gentle smile fell away, and Xavier's face grew grave. "I see. Do you know what it said?"

Scott shook his head. "No." He paused, weighed his words, and said finally, "It was in code."

Xavier's face sombered further, and he nodded. "I see," he repeated. "Thank you, Scott."

"What are you going to do about it?" Scott asked.

Xavier sighed. "I will give the boy a chance to come forward with it. If he does not…" He trailed off, but Scott understood. Child or not, Xavier would not leave a threat on the school grounds.

Ed was planning to go to the library, he really was, but he spotted the bored-looking boy – just about his age – sitting by himself under the tree and his feet changed course without his permission, approaching him.

The boy started and looked up as he approached. As soon as he realized who he was – with features as distinctive as Ed's, he apparently didn't need the introduction – he tensed, face going uneasy. Ed pretended not to notice and sat down a few feet away, smiling.

"Hey," he greeted, rubbing one hand across his arm restlessly, right heel tapping the ground. "My name's Ed. What's yours?"

He could make friends. He could.

Sort of. Usually he had Al with him at this stage. His smile dimmed slightly and the boy continued to eye him warily.

"Bobby," the boy said finally, when it became clear that Ed wasn't going to go away.

Ed made himself keep smiling, rubbing up and down his automail arm, heating up. How did Al make this look so easy? "Hi, Bobby. Hey, do you mind showing me where the library is?" He'd had Scott point it out to him earlier, but it was a good conversation starter, right?

Bobby pointed. Yep, that was the library. And now he no longer had an excuse to stay here. Ed's heart sank.

"Thanks," Ed told him. Bobby nodded silently and Ed stood up, turned, and left.

Dammit, how did Al make that look so easy?

Ed didn't try that again. Despite what Mustang and Al seemed to think, Ed wasn't actually into self-inflicted pain, and by the end of the day, he was jittery as a drop of water on a hot pan.

He took the phone into the bathroom, ignored John's cursing, and called Winry's house again.

It was Al who picked up this time. "Brother?"

"Hey, Al," Ed greeted, sitting down on the floor and leaning back against the wall, left hand rubbing his knee, bouncing in place slightly, right foot dragging back and forth across the tile. "How's it going in Amestris?"

"Really well," Al replied, cheerful as usual. "I got started on trying to get that civilian visa. Lieutenant Havoc's right, brother, it really is hard. But the Colonel's helping me, so I think I'll be able to do it soon, okay?"

Ed smiled a little, bouncing slowing to a stop, though his hand and foot never faltered. "That's great," he told Al.

"What about you, brother?" Al asked, sounding worried. "Have you made any friends?"

No. "I'm working on it."

"Good." Ed could hear Al's smile; it was something of a comfort, something he'd clung to over the past two years. Even if he couldn't see it, he could always hear it.

They talked back and forth until Ed got bored of listening to John bang on the door, at which point he sighed.

"I have to go, Al. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, brother," Al said softly. "I miss you."

"…I miss you too, Al."

He hung up and sighed, then, reluctantly, stood up and opened the door. John was frowning at him, and Ed forced a smirk and passed him, missing the way John's slight frown followed him out, before John went in and shut the door behind him.

"And extinguish."

Ed gritted his teeth and held his breath, squashing out his flame like a cloth wiping away water. It got a little easier each time, but, conversely, the pressure in the pit of his stomach was building, an ember nestled there as if to stay.

He looked up at Storm, who nodded at him. "Not bad for the end of your first week," the white-haired woman conceded, offering a halfhearted smile. "Extinguishing seems to be getting easier for you."

Ed nodded, shifting left to right. "Yeah, it is." Right to left. "Practice makes perfect, I guess."

"Very true," she agreed, smiling tightly. "Still not ready to tell me what's up with your arm and leg?"

Left to right. Right to left. He shook his head. If he could get through this without ever sharing anything about himself, at this point, he would. And if he got out of here tomorrow, it would be one day too slow.

She let it go and motioned for him to sit down at the table. He did, and almost instantly started tapping the table with one automail finger, resting his cheek on his flesh hand.

Ed was tired – he wasn't sleeping well – but he was restless, completely restless, and he knew exactly why, which didn't exactly help. After this session, he'd cooled off noticeably, which meant he could still handle books safely, but that didn't do anything for the energy surging under his skin.

"You're getting faster at switching between states," she continued, as though she'd never asked the question. "But it almost looks like it hurts to put yourself out. Does it?"

Ed shook his head again. Tap tap. No, it didn't hurt. Tap tap tap. It was uncomfortable, sure – forcing the transition back always was – but it didn't hurt and he'd had worse, anyway. Tap tap. Tap tap.

She nodded, satisfied. "We'll work on partial transitions later. But your problem was control, correct?"

He nodded. Tap tap. "Yeah. I caught fire in the Colonel's office, and I'd been, uh… running hot, for a while before that."

She 'hm'ed. "And you haven't been getting much better at controlling your temperature, in either form." She paused, thinking a moment. "We'll see about that," she said finally, though she couldn't hide her sudden tension. Tap tap tap. "We'll meet again the day after tomorrow."

He nodded in acceptance, tapping his foot against the floor.

He was tired, but he couldn't stop moving. He sighed and shut his eyes for a moment, but opened them again when Storm asked casually,

"You know, I've known all this time that you've been in the military, but I don't think I've ever asked you about it. What's it like?"

Ed tensed, too, golden gaze falling to the floor and mouth twisting into something between a scowl and a frown. Reluctantly, though, he admitted, "Not as bad as you'd think. My CO is pretty…" He gritted his teeth. "Loose… with me. Lets me do my own thing most of the time." He glanced up at her and forced a smirk. Tap tap tap. Pretending he didn't see the look in her eyes. "Don't tell him I said that, though. He'll get a big head if he thinks I like him." Smirked. "Well, a bigger head."

"And what do you do for them?"

He liked Storm, Ed reminded himself. Storm hardly ever let her opinion of his choices get in the way, and he liked her. And she was making an effort. The least he could do was not sabotage it. He wasn't going to survive the time it took to gain control if he didn't have at least one person he got along with. "Whatever Mustang asks me to," he answered finally. "He lets me research most of the time."

Storm forced a smile, feigned interest on her face. He appreciated the effort, Ed reminded himself. "What sorts of things do you research?"

Maybe he didn't.

He chose the answer Mustang had told him to give, which he didn't normally, because if people didn't know what you were looking for, they couldn't help. "Top secret. Not allowed to say."

Wrong answer. Storm's expression closed off – tap tap tap – and she smiled, all fake. "I see. Well, I suppose it's time for you to go, Edward. I'll see you next session."

Ed, expression gone uncomfortable, nodded and hopped up. Shifted left to right, right to left, left to right, and then waved at Storm and left.

Could have gone worse, he supposed.

Could have gone a lot better, too.

Later that day, Kitty was passing by the Professor's office, and she heard the new student's name. Her interest piqued, she paused curiously.

"And Edward has told you nothing?" That was Professor Xavier, voice heavy. Kitty spared a moment to wonder why, but her interest soon passed over to the other person – Storm, Kitty realized.

"No. He's as silent as ever."

Xavier sighed. "I see. How goes his progress?"

It was Storm that sighed this time. She must be in charge of his training, Kitty realized. It made sense – while mutant types were by no means set into firm categories, Storm and Edward Elric were both distinctly forces of nature. Kitty thought wistfully of what that would be like, then decided it would be awful and listened instead.

"Not well, I'm afraid." Kitty frowned. Edward was a little scary, sure – his eyes were strange and intent and kind of creepy, and Kitty was a little scared just because he was apparently in the notoriously violent Amestrian military – but having an out-of-control power was awful for anyone, and for a moment, she felt a pang of sympathy. "He still has problems extinguishing himself, and I've never known him to be at a normal temperature, which could easily become problematic."

"I see." Xavier paused, pensive, and Kitty held her breath. "Well, we'll work on him. And others?"

Kitty sighed and moved on, thinking for a long moment, but then she shook her head and tucked her thoughts away.

"Hey, Al."

"Hi, brother." Al sounded cheerful; that was good. Ed smiled a little, tapped the wall. "How was your day?"

Got avoided. Strange looks from John. The teachers all pretended he didn't exist. He was pretty sure Gambit had shot him a nasty look, which was disappointing but ultimately fine. He just wanted out of this place, really, which was a problem because, despite what Storm said, he knew he wasn't actually making any progress. He was too emotionally out-of-whack, which wasn't changing anytime soon. "Fine." He overruled Al's inevitable protest by asking, "What about yours?"

Successfully distracted – he must be out of practice, Ed thought wistfully – Al beamed through the phone. "Great! I'm helping out around East Command – the office says hi, by the way." He'd moved on from Winry's to stay at East City the day before. He said it would be nice to see the office for more than a few days for once, which made Ed feel a little guilty. "The first step is all done, so I can get started on the paperwork I need for the visa."

"Yeah? That's good." Tap tap tap.

"Yeah!" Al agreed enthusiastically. "Oh, you remember that nice flower shop lady?"

Ed 'mm-hm'ed expectantly.

"Well, I was helping fix things around her shop earlier-"

This went on for some time, and Ed listened contentedly to his brother talking, not talking much himself, just tap-tap-tapping the floor.

Finally, Al stumbled over a mention of East Command, and Ed's attention sharpened.

"Al?"

Al hesitated, and the clank of shifting armor came over the phone. But, finally, almost too quietly to be heard, Al said, "And… it passed, brother."

Ed's heart sank, but he asked anyway. "What passed?"

"The XMI protocol."

For a long, too long, minute, both of them were silent, light gone like a smothered candle.

"…Oh," Ed managed, head dropping, drawing up his knees and resting his chin on them.

Al may not have said it, not out loud, but his hesitation was an open book to Ed. The main reason, no doubt, that it had gone through – at least so soon – was because of him.

Where else can they hide, they must have been asking, if they can even be under our own noses? In our military? Where else can they hide, who else can be a mutant, if our very own People's Alchemist is one?

Ed smiled bitterly – just another thing he'd messed up for other people.

"It's not that bad, brother," Al said after a moment, voice going for encouraging, coming out uncertain, worried. "Mutants need to register with the military, so they have a masterlist now, and mutants in the military wear a special insignia next to their rank. Lieutenant Hawkeye has one, and Major Armstrong, and I think one of the regular soldiers. Frederick, I think. It looks really cool, brother, I think you'll like it."

"Oh," Ed repeated softly. Then, trying to perk up his voice, he said, "Part of the uniform, Al. No way I'm wearing it anyway."

Al was silent, and Ed deflated. Tap tap. Tap tap tap.

He could feel the topic change before Al even started speaking.

"Brother? How are things really going over there?"

"…Fine, Al. I told you."

"Oh."

They both knew Ed was lying, and they both knew Al didn't believe him for a moment. He'd watched Ed pretend he was fine too often for that, and Ed suddenly wondered if that was why Al had sounded so unusually cheerful, even for him. Why he'd been so reluctant to bring up the XMI protocol.

Ed suddenly worried that if something went wrong, Al wouldn't tell him.

"Anyway!" He forced himself to perk up, better than before. "How's Winry? Was she alright when you left?"

It was a poor change of topic, but Al accepted it anyway, bless him. "Winry's good, brother. She mentioned something about a new design for your automail before I left."

"Really?" Ed wondered if he should wince or be pleased. "What's it do?"

"I'm not really sure, but I think she said something about finer movement controls…"

Al talked and Ed listened, oxygen granted to a sputtering fire.

A week and a half in, Edward was again called into Professor Xavier's office, and Xavier looked at him with those same piercing eyes. Ed almost felt that something was a little different from the previous few times – that things had shifted a little to the darker side.

Uneasily, Ed dismissed the thought and focused on the Professor.

"Edward," Xavier greeted. "How are you?"

Just great, Ed thought bitterly. "Fine."

"Are you sure?" Xavier pressed, leaning forward just a little. In response, Ed leaned back, gold eyes looking at the blue ones uneasily. Left to right. Right to left. Left to right. Clench, unclench, tap tap. "Edward, is there anything you want to tell me? Anything at all?"

Things, so many things came to Ed's mind that they fell over each other, jumbling. Everyone seemed to have the wrong idea, he didn't like it here at all, his training was no longer helping at all and he was in fact getting worse.

Ed opened his mouth and all that came out was, "No, nothing."

"I see."

Yeah, Xavier seemed to say that about him a lot. Ed's eyes shifted down. Right to left, left to right, tap tap tap, tap tap tap. He burned, ember in his stomach, heat in his skin. He couldn't even go to the library anymore – the training cooled him down, but never for long, not anymore.

"Very well, Edward. You may go."

Ed barely gave himself time to flash Xavier a forced smile before he virtually fled, and, silently, Xavier promised to himself,

One more chance.

Three days later, two full weeks into Ed's stay, the boy still hadn't come forward, and so, one last time, Xavier called him into the office. Ed looked at him confusedly – with good reason, Xavier admitted.

"Edward." Xavier paused. Weighing his words. "Scott told me that you were given a coded assignment before you left." He paused again. Considering. Hesitant and suspicious. His piercing blue eyes settled on Edward, who was paling rapidly. "What was it?"

One moment. Two, three. Four. Five. Xavier waited.

"What?" Ed managed. It was almost more than he could say, like smoke coughed out of his throat, scraping against it roughly, leaving it raw.

Was that what all of this had been about? All of it? Or even most of it. Ed swallowed, heat roiling, steaming, anger and hurt and betrayal and why was everyone so damned suspicious, he'd just wanted help was all, and this was why he didn't, because it let people-

Was this it? All because of… Just… Just the…

"It was a research assignment!" Ed burst out, breath darting in and out like the air was poison and he couldn't get enough, face flushing deep red. "A research assignment! Is this… is this why…" He shut his eyes, clenched his jaw, and, silently, screamed, anger and hurt and this wasn't fair, it wasn't, what was, what was-

Temper and misery mixed together and boiled over and Ed was burning, gone to flame faster than even he could process, burning a bright orange-tinted white, hot and harsh, flames angry under his clothes, flickering furiously in an unseen wind.

"Mustang asked me to research how mutant powers worked!" Ed spat out, fists clenched, gold eyes on a startled Xavier. "That was it! It was in code because I'm a State Alchemist, and all of my assignments are in code! That was it!"

Ed glared at Xavier, hurt and anger and too-bright gold eyes set in solid flame, and he whirled and flame flicked behind him and he rushed blindly out the door, unable to even look at the Professor anymore.

Out, Ed wanted out. Somewhere he wouldn't burn the world. Somewhere the world wouldn't burn him back. Somewhere, somewhere…

Xavier stared after him, eyes wide, back stiff, and suddenly, far too late, realized that, somewhere along the way, he'd done something very, very wrong.

And he was fairly certain that it had been in the very beginning.

Kitty was walking in the hall when a flame blew past her, and when she turned, startled, all she saw was a flicker of fire and a glimpse of a bright red coat, but that was enough to tell her who it was, and she frowned, worry creasing her forehead.

Bobby was under his tree when he saw a flash and looked up. Fire. He frowned, recognized the bright red coat, and remembered an awkward boy who asked him where the library was.

John flicked his light open, closed, open, and looked up sharply, finding a boy – Edward, for certain – shooting past him, bright with fire and quick with distress, toward the paved, covered play area, where no one was on a nice day like this. He flicked his lighter, open, closed, and then sighed, pocketed it, and pushed off the wall to head after him, scowling to himself.

Yes, this is remarkably similar in many ways to the second chapter. Shuddup. *pout* And no points for whoever guessed Ed's new friends, by the way. This is a little on the short side for this story, I know, but it fit.

Also, several people have asked about Wolverine. THIS TAKES PLACE ABOUT FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST X-MEN MOVIE. Thus, Wolverine has not arrived yet, and is wandering around senselessly... somewhere. Don't worry, he shows up later in the story. Just... MUCH later.

Also, I have finally decided that this takes place in the original anime. I don't know if I've said anything to the contrary - let me know if I have - because I wasn't originally planning to put it there. But. It is now, alright? Please review!