A/N: Mornin' here! I've decided to upload this multi-chapter story which has been bothering me for some time now and I hope it's good enough... I am pretty much excited about it, so please give it a chance :D Oh, and I also hope the FmA fandom is still alive, it's been some time since the series had their triumphant final chapter. But good things never die, huh?

Anyway, I wait for your reviews!

Warnings: It is M rated, which means it will have a M rated plot. If you are offended by it, don't flame and keep on searching a story you'd like. It is RoyEd and everything that comes with it.

Disclaimer: I don't quite get why everyone writes a disclaimer when it's obvious the author wouldn't write fanfiction, but nevertheless - I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist, I only own the OCs and the plot.

Now, let's get on with the story.

Chapter 1 – His Only Train

"No, no, no, NO!" the teen screamed under the thick layers of bed sheets. He opened his eyes in fright, his heart hammering inside his chest.

He had woken up from a nightmare. Him, the infamous Fullmetal Alchemist, Major Edward Elric, had had a nightmare and was ashamed to admit that it was not his first one, nor his last, probably.

He always dreamt about the same things, over and over, again and again, almost every other night. How he had lost his brother's body, his leg and his arm. How his sweet sibling, who would not even harm a fly, possibly hated him, despited him for what he had done. He always had to remind himself that none of it was true, that his brother loved him and his soul had returned to its original body, but the grief of his crime had never really left the young alchemist.

Alphonse was once again in one piece, returned to his real body,though the older of the Elric brothers could not boast about the same achivement regarding himself. He had never got his missing leg back in the first place, but his arm... His arm was a different story altogether.

Edward had managed to bring back his brother's body, giving up his alchemical powers as an equivalent toll. However, the former Colonel Mustang, newly promoted to the rank of Brigadier General for his highly-acclaimed heroic deeds, had done what had been believed to be impossible and had retrieved his subordinate's lost skills, almost omitting his very own blindness. With an inhuman effort and not the fairest of equivalent exchanges, Roy Mustang had managed to trade a mere philosopher's stone for both his eyesight and Edward's talent.

Evidently, the young alchemist had had to pay his share of the bargain somehow, and he had done it gladly with his right arm, losing it once again, shortly after he had regained it. Anyway, he had been already used to missing a few limbs - what was a limb but expandable, really. He hadn't been able to take his leg back when he had restored Al's body, so he justified it to himself that he had only reassembled the automail set he had once had.

He kept on asking himself if anyone cared about his ever present handicap, and that for a good reason. Definitely not him, and dear Winry Rockbell must have been more than thankful for the extra work. He was her best customer, after all.

His brother Alphonse, on the other hand, was still beyond enraged by his older brother's stupidity, although he graciously kept it to himself. He wasn't by any means happy with what Edward had done, but he respected his decision. The blond must have had some kind of reason in his dumb head, ruining all the hard work they had put into restoring his original body, or collecting whatever they were able to get.

Though, if Ed were to be honest with himself, he had not exactly had a purpose or an explanation for his recent actions. And he had yet to find one.

All had started with a simple proposal from a certain blind, dark haired alchemist, who had offered his help to restore Edward's greatest talent. Mustang just couldn't accept leaving a person behind, to be honest. The bargain had been simple and efficient – Roy received the red stone from Tim Marcoh and Edward possessed the means to open a portal that could take them to the ultimate knowledge. They would pass together through the portal and with the artefact, they would get what they have lost to the Truth.

The blond had accepted on a whim, awfully aware that the exchange they were proposing was unfair and beyond selfish. His abilities, albeit brilliant and well homed, to be paid with people's souls? Where was the equivalence in that? He had expected he would have to give up something in return, it could not be all that easy. He was still surprised by how easily he had got out with that arrangement. Just a limb that he hadn't gotten anyway for so many years? Quite outrageous, but fine by him. Stupidity had to be taxed by all means, and he had acquitted the price for it without looking back.

Of course, the raven haired alchemist had almost refused to retrieve his eyesight when he had realized that Edward had to lose something, as well. It was somewhat amusing that Mustang had overlooked the most obvious aspect of the bargain.

However, Marcoh's words had rung loudly in his head the whole time. The doctor had been right. Mustang needed his eyes to help the citizens of Amestris and restore them to the security they so terribly lacked. On that subject, Edward had eagerly agreed to aid him in his quest. For that, the young man had asked the grinning Truth to take his right arm. Again.

Surprisingly, the shiny person that had caused him and his brother so many problems had accepted the petty toll. He had even agreed to change Fullmetal's flesh limb with his former automail prosthetic, which had been conveniently captured by the Gate when he had transformed it into living flesh.

All in all, Edward had to conclude it had been a good exchange. Or, at the very least, it had been less costly, as a new prosthetic limb would have been quite expensive, no matter how much he earned.

He remembered that day so well, when they met with the Truth. "Quite a nice fellow, Truth. It must have a sadistic pleasure seeing me again so soon, that he's returned my automail," had been Edward's first words after he had set foot on the ground in his new body. Or former. It was only a matter of perspective and he preferred not to dwindle on semantics.

Such cynicism coming from such a young person.

Mustang, on the other hand, had looked like a little child who had gotten a candy from his mother. He had muttered a silent "Thank you" to the shorter alchemist, who had nodded with an even quieter "You're welcomed". And that was it. After that, they had returned to their normal selves.

Well, almost normal selves.

As for now, Edward was panting hard, resting his head on his pillow. The sheets were twisted around his body, constricting his movements. The small bed felt too big for him, like the mattress was sucking him into it.

As he restled his heart into a normal rhythm, he looked around the room, trying to regain his composure.

After the short visit to the Gate, Ed had recovered his National Alchemist license, and that meant he could sleep in the military dorms or hotels. So there he resided, in a place where, once again, he had nearly choked himself in horror from the vivid nightmares he kept on having.

Apparently, his mind still could not comprehend that his beloved little brother, Alphonse, had returned from the Gate in his original body. He still could not wipe off the memories of that horrible night in which he had lost half of his limbs and the entirety of his brother's body.

Nor could he turn back to sleep.

XXXXX

On the other side of Central City, Roy Mustang stared at his drink like it was the most interesting thing in the whole damned world. Maybe it was, and if not, it was far more interesting than him. Or so his inebriated mind told him at the moment, very keen on putting himself in a corner of shame.

He was troubled and he could not sleep, but that was nothing new to him. He thought of many things, wild things, stupid things, dark things.

One of his recurrent thoughts was that he could not understand why Fullmetal had given his arm up so willingly. At first it had sounded like a perfectly good idea, but then remorse had washed over him and soon after, restlessness.

He just blamed himself senselessly, just as he had blamed himself for Hughes' death, the huge number of victims in the Ishbalan War of Extermination and Havoc's former paralysis, among other countless events.

Roy's mind provided that Havoc had started walking again on his own two feet after being helped by the red stone. He realised that it had been a good deed on his part, so he had to return and revise the endless list of occurrences that had gone wrong in his past, a list he reserved for the rare moments he had to spare on making himself more miserable than he already was.

He churned his brain over and over to find other blames to assume. A random dog's barking, his faraway neighbour's lack of cuisine skills and the fast consumption of soap in his house. Those were the only new things that he had came up with. Rather pathetic, really.

He frowned. What was the world's problem that he enjoyed a long shower after an even longer day at work? For all he knew, nothing could be better than ten showers a day. Perhaps eleven would do the trick. But that definitely was not the point as to why he had first developed and then deepened his insomnia.

Sleep eluded him constantly. It was one of the main reasons why he was alone in his living room, still dressed in the military uniform, toasting with the air and talking with his shadow like a madman. He chuckled humourlessly. With that sort of attitude, he would become insane before having the chance to consider taking over the military.

He rested his head on the backrest and looked up, determined to stop those useless accusations that made him so uneasy.

Lazily, Roy searched the ceiling with his eyes and found a small stain on it. That was a major issue, he mused, and decided to focus on it.

After pondering for an hour about what he ought to do with the spot, he absently started to clean the surface. It might have come from a fly that had committed suicide on his ceiling, who knew? It didn't matter, he wiped it clean.

Mildly pleased with his work, he finished his tenth drink that night, or something close to the number. Probably not that many, actually, he was always so careful not to drink himself into a stupor on a week night.

He looked at the outside world through one of the windows, and realised with surprise that the sun was already timidly rising.

With a tint of a rush, he escalated the stairs to the room he spent a lot of his spare time whenever he was alone at home - the bathroom. Because it had a shower and he needed to get ready for work.

He might have become quite a hygiene freak, but to hell with it, he thought. After seeing such a mess in the Ishbalan war, he had a very good reason to shower so frequently, like he had some kind of plague. After all, he needed to look presentable no matter the weather and his troubled past.

Talking about the weather – that day, he was almost positive that it would rain.

Bloody rain, it made the Flame useless.

XXXXX

A loud hornet echoed from outside the Brigadier General's house, reverberating throughout the walls and corridors. The alchemist stumbled as he descended the stairs and cursed the heavens for the many corners inside his house. He exited his home with a look that spoke of the most bored man's determination and walked to the waiting car, content he didn't have to drive in his current state.

Just like every morning, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye opened the car's door for him with a death-clamoring glare than screamed extra paperwork. Roy wondered why he had to do so much paperwork. There was paperwork to do even for opening the goddamn window, for crying out loud! Papers and more papers, every single day. But papers were safe. They didn't kill anyone, unless they fell over someone and crushed them.

"Good morning, Sir," she intoned plainly, still seated behind the wheel. The male officer muttered a small "Mornin', Lieutenant," and threw himself on the shotgun seat. The dead man's place, he had once heard someone call it.

The name suited him just fine, he reckoned. He carelessly shrugged and closed the car door with a metallic thud.

XXXXX

Three hours had passed since the tired officer had gotten to his office and nothing interesting had occurred, besides mounts of paperwork efficiently being passed onto him by the blond female Lieutenant. It had already been decided by higher forces – he would die of paperwork overdose.

He chuckled hollowly, the sound hurting his ears.

The deafening silence was abruptly interrupted by the trademark affray of the oldest of the Elric brothers, who kicked the door and banged it into the wall. "What do you want this time, you bastard?"

The older man lifted his inky eyes from the utterly idiotic report he was frying his remaining nerves with and sketched his best smile. "Fullmetal, I see you have yet to learn how to enter your commanding officer's office," he retorted, smirking to his lame jest. He returned his eyes nonchalantly to the annoying paper, just to spite the other.

"Whatever! Why did you call me on my day off? I have my brother visiting, but it seems that your half-assed face is far more important!" the blond exploded in frustration, motioning wildly.

'Hooray,' Roy cheered in his mind. Not just his pounding headache, he also needed the Edwardian hurricane bestowed upon him. He sighed. "I don't have the faintest idea why you were called at the headquarters today, Fullmetal," he explained. "It wasn't me that had requested for you, I can certainly assure you."

He lifted his shoulders to emphasize his lack of knowledge on the matter, though without shifting his eyes up to the raging alchemist. He knew how he looked, he did not need to see him to imagine the grimace that he was sporting.

"Like you ever have any idea of what's going on around here! You mean I've come for nothing? Seriously." Exasperatedly, he grunted and stomped his foot on the floor like a brat, his voice devoid of any hope.

The door opened behind him and Riza Hawkeye entered with her usual stern face, adorned with the smallest comforting smile.

"Hello, Edward. I was the one who'd sent for you. Apparently, your registration for a day off was declined by the Personnel Office, since we have a lot of work to do. I am terribly sorry for this and I can promise that tomorrow, you will be completely free to do whatever you want. I managed to obtain a permission for you." She finished her explanation by handing Roy another fresh row of paperwork.

"Tch, why is there so much paperwork?" he snarled.

The woman eyed him and casually replied, "Sir, I believe you are aware that Lieutenant Colonel Granderburg is on an inspection in the West. That means you have to look over his daily reports, along with your own share of them."

She turned her gaze to the younger alchemist, who was lightly tapping the floor with the tip of his boot. "Edward, here are your tasks for the day. Finish them quickly and go home. Again, sorry for the inconvenience. The next time you ask for a permission, I will personally talk to the Personnel staff and redirect your request to our office, so it can be signed irrevocably."

The younger man took the offered yellow dossier and cast a glance at its contents. He was tasked to look over some files from the Archives. Well, he pretty much enjoyed doing it, as he had access to a bunch of new leads for his currently inexistent goal. Perhaps he would find one, who knew? The possibilities were endless.

He shook his head. Edward could think anything about himself not having any aims when, in fact, he had already found a new goal to accomplish. That was to help the ever smirking officer from behind the old mahogany desk to get to the top of the military chain. Though, to be frank, he didn't have the faintest idea why he had decided to remain by his side, when he could have embraced a comfortable life in the countryside, away from the schemes of the military.

One day, he had comically thought that he wanted to wipe off his debt. The debt of some lousy five-hundred-and-twenty cenz that he had borrowed from Roy a few years before and had promised to give them back when he had fulfilled his goal of becoming Amestris' Fuhrer. But he knew it was a load of bollocks. That was not the real reason. If there had been one, to begin with.

Nevertheless, he had chosen this new path. It was his life to do what he pleased with it. He wanted the best for the people of Amestris, so the military was the one who needed to be aided first. The very core of their society.

For his part, old man Grumman, who was the new Fuhrer, had changed most of the administrative personnel and sent his best men to each region of the country. The only military base that had kept its configuration had been the North, where the 'Northern Wall of Briggs', also known as Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong, had remained in her frozen chair.

The newly promoted Brigadier General Roy Mustang had been requested to take care of the Central Region, the heart of the country, so that he could ease his access to the state command when Grumman would eventually retire. The proposal had raised quite an uproar, but no one actually held a word against a presidential decree.

The young commanding officer was troubled by the very same questions as his blond subordinate. Only that Roy's side of the story had started when he had set foot in the newly renovated headquarters.

Along with his old pawns that he used so well, a new pawn had bowed in front of his self-imposed mightiness. Edward Elric. The little walking atomic bomb had joined his side without any complaints, with no gain in mind. Damn him if that was a daily occurrence.

Yes, the effervescent blond had not known what to do with his life, so he had chosen to return to the good old habits of the army. He couldn't just rot in some city without any action at hand. It had seemed that the pale faced Mustang had been his only available train to a life with some thrill in it, and he had taken it once the hand had been offered.

So the two alchemists started rolling together to the unknown that awaited them both.

A/N: TADAAA first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I'll upload soon (I have some of the next chapters almost done). Review please!