"Why hasn't she woken up yet," Roy asked in desperation as he looked down at Riza, whose head was rested in his lap.

It had been nearly two hours since the "incident" and she had yet to stir.

"Do you think…" He couldn't even bring himself to ask the question.

From the edge of the bed, Edward shook his head and muttered, "I don't know," as he picked up her hand. Raising the tweezers he held once again, he began to gently grasp and pull more shards of glass from her knuckles. "I just don't know…"

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Roy finally managed to say, "That was stupid of me… Leaving that mirror there…"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Edward flinch and stop before focusing his cold gaze on the General. "Don't say that," he growled. "Did you honestly think she'd react in such a way? I saw her walk past it plenty of times without so much as a second glance.

"Something about tonight was different… Something changed."

"Do you think it could have been the photographs," Roy asked dejectedly.

"…It could have been," Edward admitted. "There was one in particular that she kept to herself, though. Did you happen to see it?"

"Yeah," Roy murmured as he shifted slightly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the crumpled up picture. Holding it out, Edward set down the tweezers and took it.

After studying it for a minute, without looking up from the photograph, Edward muttered, "It's dated the day before you left Ishval." Looking up from it reluctantly, he passed it back to Roy, who took it and tucked it back into his pocket. "…Did something happen?"

For a moment, Roy was thrown off by the question. The picture itself was unassuming; simply a moment in time caught just after Roy shook hands with one of the Ishvalan priests he had worked closely with over the years. Also in it was Riza, a small smile on her face with her hand on his shoulder.

The very thought of that day made his stomach churn restlessly.

Everything about that day had been perfect; it was when everything had begun to fall into place…

He could feel Edward's eyes on him, but he kept his mouth shut, allowing his eyes to once again scan down to Riza.

For the longest time they said nothing until Edward finally grumbled in defeat. Setting her hand down on the bed, he pushed his chair away as he stood. Picking up the empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide that was next to him, he showed it to Roy. "I'll be right back," he muttered. "Gotta get some more of this and some bandages."

Nodding in dismissal, Roy waited for the former alchemist to leave before he gathered her in his arms and lifted her onto his lap. Closing his eyes, he rested his chin atop her head and sighed deeply, willing himself to not fear the worst.

It had only been two hours… Surely she would wake up soon. And when she did, there would be a hint of recognition in her eyes. She'd see him and at least know him well enough…

Still, a deep-seated fear had planted itself in his gut, making his stomach churn with uncertainty.

If she didn't wake up… or if she didn't recognize him now that would be the end. Everything that was her would be gone forever…

"Well, that was bold of you, wasn't it?"

Riza said nothing, instead wrapping her arms around herself as she trembled. Despite no longer being in her body, she could still feel a slight pressure enveloping her; not enough to cause any discomfort, but enough to know that her body was hurting.

Frowning slightly, the Truth said, "You nearly severed the connection of your spirit to your body. Had you pushed yourself further, it would have been over with."

Narrowing her mahogany eyes at It, she finally asked, "Then why didn't you allow that to happen?"

After considering her question, It answered, "It is best not to question my motives, oh Daughter of Flame Alchemy. Rather, you should be thanking me for your continued existence."

While she had hated and loathed the man that called himself "Dr. Beller," Riza quickly discovered that her feelings of animosity for this creature were on an entirely different level.

It didn't take much to realize that It was toying with them; watching them as if they were performers in only the second of five acts in a stage production.

Whatever the reason, all she knew was that It was waiting for something…

With a soft groan, Roy groggily opened his eyes and blinked a few times as the ceiling above him slowly came into focus. Struck with the sudden remembrance of what had happened the night before, he bolted upright and frantically looked around, finding that Riza and Edward were nowhere to be seen.

Half stumbling, half jogging out of the room and down the hallway, he was instantly struck by the lingering, staled smell of food. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, he made a beeline into the kitchen and stopped.

Seated across from each other were Edward and Riza. The latter had her glare fixed on the floor, her arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen; while the former was sitting with his chin resting on his fists, eyes glued to the alchemy book in front of him. Only Edward bothered to look up when Roy had made his entrance.

"Hey," the blond young man muttered tiredly. Pulling one of his hands out from under his chin, he pointed to a pot on the stove and said, "There's still some left over if you want it. You might need to heat it up though… It's probably cold."

"I'm alright. Thanks," Roy replied absently as his eyes wandered down to the full plate of food that was in front of Riza.

As Roy moved to sit down with them, Edward mumbled, "She said something to me."

Caught by surprise mid-sit, Roy fell back into his chair and immediately turned his head to look at Riza, whose eyes were still fixed on the floor. After watching her for a few moments, he realized that she wasn't about to attempt to move. Rotating his head back to Edward for an explanation, he waited.

With a heavy sigh, Edward finally spoke. "She said 'no.'"

"'No,'" Roy echoed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her flinch. Turning his head slightly to keep tabs on her as well, he continued to watch Edward fully. "No to what?"

"Well, I made breakfast a little over three hours ago. Hell, she even helped me," he said as he folded his arms across his chest. "Whenever there was something I was looking for, she knew exactly where it was. Once it was done I made up two plates… And this is where we've been ever since."

"I don't understand where she told you 'no' about anything," Roy stated confusedly.

"It was after we sat here for about twenty minutes or so and I heard her stomach growl. When I looked up, I realized that she hadn't even touched her food.

"So I asked if she was hungry and that's when she said it," Edward added with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Surprised by the young man's crude tone, Roy turned his attention to Riza, who still kept her eyes fixed on the ground. "Don't you think that should be celebrated, Edward? She understood you. This is our chance to-"

"Except it isn't," Edward replied harshly. "It was like she was bouncing back and forth between understanding and not. When I asked it again, she looked at me like she didn't know me.

"To me that doesn't look like progress at all. It just looks like she's putting additional strain on her spirit after what happened last night. And if that's the case, there's no telling when it might snap-"

"Edward," Roy muttered as he attempted to calm the young man, noticing that his tone had begun to make Riza anxious.

"-If she's refusing to eat, then that's a whole other issue," Edward continued, disregarding Roy's attempt to stop him completely.

"Edward," Roy raised his voice as Riza put her hand on the back of her chair and slid it away from the table.

His eyes growing wider and his voice becoming more desperate sounding, Edward continued on with his rhetoric. "Because how could we possibly do the transmutation if she starves herself first-"

"Ed-" Roy snapped; though he himself was cut off when Riza yelped as she leapt up from the table, accidentally knocking the plate of food onto the floor and shattering it completely.

Without thinking about it, Roy reached out and grasped her wrist in an attempt to stop her from going.

Whirling around, she jerked her wrist from his grasp. Lashing out at him, she forced him to stumble backwards. Catching himself on the kitchen counter, he managed to catch her expression before she stormed out.

Her ears were pressed firmly against her head; saffron-colored eyes shining more than usual. Her lips were drawn back, fully exposing her teeth and twisting her face into an expression he could only describe as resent and rage.

And just like that she was gone, disappearing out of the kitchen in a matter of seconds.

After processing what had just happened, Roy whirled around to face Edward, whose face was now buried in his hands. Trying, but ultimately failing at keeping his voice controlled, Roy growled, "Do you want to tell me what the hell that was about?"

Edward did not speak, keeping his face pressed firmly against his palms.

"Well," Roy snarled as he took a step toward the former alchemist.

Inhaling sharply, Edward finally muttered, "I'm a fucking idiot…" Dragging his fingers down his face, he let them drop limply to the table as he stared at the chair that Riza had occupied just a moment ago. "Here I am preaching to you about remaining calm and optimistic, only to turn around and do exactly what I told you not to."

Feeling his anger begin to subside, Roy took another step toward Edward and folded his arms across his chest. "I want to know why," he pressed.

Sighing heavily, Edward kept his eyes focused straight ahead as he said, "I guess it's because I feel useless…" Ignoring Roy's stare of disbelief, he continued slowly as he looked down at his own two hands. "Here I am with the knowledge on how to perform human transmutation, and yet I can't even do anything about it…"

"That's what I'm here for," Roy commented as he watched the young man's face seemingly age by ten years, the lines of stress on his face becoming longer and more pronounced.

Shaking his head languidly, Edward mumbled, "Yeah, but you don't know how to do it. I can draw you the circle but you need to know what you're doing before you jump in." Clenching his fists, he wearily said, "I wanted to wait for Al, but if he isn't going to be here then I'll show you everything. It's just that…" He trailed off.

"Just that what," Roy asked as he pulled out his chair and sat back down in it.

Without looking at the man, he said, "It's just that… I'm afraid."

"Afraid," Roy echoed back quietly. "And you don't think that I'm afraid?"

Edward shook his head again. "No… I know you are. I'm afraid because I don't want to lose someone else that I care about." Finally looking Roy in the eyes, he said, "You remember that little girl, Nina?" When Roy nodded in reply, he continued. "…There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her, even if it's for a fraction of a second." Tearing his eyes away from the General and craning his neck back to look up at the ceiling, he murmured, "Whenever I think about her, I think about how I couldn't use my alchemy to save her. And now… When I do know how to save someone I can't."

"You told me that I shouldn't be burdening everything on myself," Roy noted sourly.

"And I'm not," Edward added as he continued to stare off blankly. "I just thought that if I did have my alchemy, I'd be able to take on some of the burden of the transmutation."

"You shouldn't put such expectations on yourself, Edward. You know damn well that I'm more than willing to take on what might be asked of me when the time comes."

Slowly training his gaze back toward the General, Edward wistfully responded. "But I feel like I have to. I honestly don't know what would have to be given up, and if you do it alone, there's no telling what you would lose.

"I know that you'd be willing to give up anything, Mustang. Even your own life," Edward muttered. "So I'm just afraid that we'd lose both of you…"

Raising his brows, Roy eyed the man intently, taking in and noting the pain that was written across his face. Finally he reached out and clapped his hand on Edward's shoulder, squeezing it in a sign of comfort. "You have to realize that you might not though," he said softly as Edward allowed himself to look the General fully in the face. "Like you said, we haven't figured out the price yet. And I know that we have to work fast, but I'm confident that we can do this.

"We're in this together until we make things right."

Nodding slowly, Edward allowed himself to smile slightly. After taking a moment, he pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. Looking Roy in the eye, he said, "Let's go and see if we can talk to her. Maybe she'll say something again… Or we can try to see if she understands."

Nodding in agreement, Roy gestured for Edward to lead the way. After the young blond walked past him, he followed him to the one place they would expect to find her: the living area.

This time, however, she had decided to not perch herself on her favorite chair; instead opting to sit on the couch that was the furthest from them. Eyeing them warily, she wrapped her arms around herself and narrowed her eyes.

Edward cautiously moved forward and sat down on the armchair closest to the couch, taking care to make his movements slow and careful.

Just as he was about to move and sit down near her, Roy heard the doorbell ring. Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, he reluctantly pulled himself away and made his way to the front door. When he opened it, he was confronted with one face he had been expecting, but four additional ones he had not.

They had insisted on coming in.

At first Roy was extremely resistant, only wanting to take the medications from Dr. Knox and then have them go about their merry way.

Except they'd never accept that.

After all, he handpicked his men for their stubbornness. So finally, reluctantly, he granted them passage.

So now here they were, standing awkwardly at the threshold between the main entrance and the living area, getting stared down by a pair of narrowed yellow eyes.

His men had all been informed of everything up until that point, but it was still a shock to them to see their Captain this way. To see her go from who she once was to what she has become. The awkwardness that resulted from this hung in the air around them, thickening to the point of almost being palpable.

No longer able to stand the deafening silence, Roy tried to usher them back toward the door, only to have Sergeant Fuery break away and make his way toward her.

Sitting himself on the opposite end of the couch she had seated herself on, he watched her intently as she pulled her legs up on the couch and sat up on the balls of her feet, pushing herself as far away from him as possible.

When Roy made a move to approach the young man, Fuery looked back up at him with pleading eyes and begged, "Please stop, sir. I-I just have something to say." When Roy paused, the young Sergeant clasped his hands together and looked down at his lap and began to speak quietly. "Captain… I know you probably won't understand me, but I wanted to let you know that… I'm sorry."

Surprised by the unforeseen apology, Roy and the rest of his team looked on as the Sergeant continued softly. "If it wasn't for me, you and Lieutenant Havoc wouldn't have been hurt. If I had just answered you more… just been stronger, they never would have taken you. The General probably would have gotten there in time and you'd be safe." Taking a deep, shaking breath, he added faintly, "Or if I had just died… you two wouldn't have fought for me…"

"Now hold on just a minute," Havoc growled as he took a step toward the Sergeant. "Don't think for one minute that you'd be better off-" He stopped, however, when Riza finally looked in Fuery's direction and pressed her hands against her left side.

Her face twisting in anguish, she looked Fuery in the eye and murmured, "It… hu-urts…"

As soon as her words had processed in his mind and had sunk in, Roy took a step toward them, but was stopped when Fuery raised his hand to halt the man.

Without tearing his eyes away from their Captain, Fuery slowly reached down and lifted his shirt just enough to show his left side. Running from his left flank to his stomach was a hideous, raised scar. When her eyes had examined it, the young Sergeant tugged his shirt back in place and shook his head gently. "No… It doesn't hurt anymore. They helped fix me up-"

Roy was about to interrupt their odd exchange when Havoc stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. When he turned toward the blond Lieutenant, Roy saw that he was watching them in awe, his mouth slightly ajar. Perplexed by this, he muttered, "Lieutenant Havoc, what is this about?"

His eyes never leaving the pair, Havoc uttered, "That's the last thing he said to us before he lost consciousness that day, sir…"

Roy quickly rotated his head toward the pair in disbelief as Fuery continued, "-And… I know that they're going to fix you too. Because," he looked down shyly, "General Mustang and Edward are the best there are and I know they will."

Riza's eyes widened slightly as she slowly turned her gaze from Fuery to the group of men standing just feet away from them. As she looked from one to the other, her eyes stopped on Havoc, zeroing in on his neck.

Seeing this, the First Lieutenant reached up and rubbed his neck absently. With a slight smile, he said, "And you know me… It takes more than a bully like that to kick me off the playground."

Something about that comment, whether it was his lighthearted words or his tone, caused her tail to thump against the couch a couple of times. Almost instantly after the fact, however, it stopped as she clasped her hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.

Rushing over to her and plopping down on the floor in front of the couch, Havoc said, "Hey now! Don't be embarrassed because you finally laughed at one of my jokes."*

Shaking his head as he sat down cross-legged next to Havoc, Breda leaned over and put an arm around the Lieutenant. "I hate to break it to you, Havoc, but I'm pretty sure she was laughing at you, not with you. That line of yours fell flat."

Shrugging his comrade's arm off his shoulder, Havoc shot the man a glare before turning back to Riza, placing a hand over his heart. "You were laughing with me, right Captain?"

Vato Falman finally stepped forward and sat on the ground in front of Fuery and dutifully noted, "Members of the genus and species Canis lupus will oftentimes display a wide range of emotions based on the angle and speed at which they move their tails. So she could have been showing laughter, happiness, disgust-"

"Don't make this complicated, Falman," Havoc shot jokingly toward the Lieutenant.

Seeing a ridiculous and pointless argument begin to unfold in front of him, Roy agitatedly took a step forward to stop it before it started when something caused him to pause and reconsider.

He had expected the appearance and actions of the men to either stress Riza out or force her to draw more from her memories than she could afford to, resulting in the head-splitting pain that seemed to accompany those episodes. But what he didn't expect was for her to relax. And while she didn't entirely, her demeanor changed enough to suggest that, at least at that moment, she was at ease as she watched them playfully bicker back and forth.

He quietly observed her as her head and ears turned in an effort to keep up with the men, her eyes gleaming with a hint of amusement. As they continued on, she pulled her focus away from them and held Roy's gaze, her lack of worry or stress slowly melting away his uncertainty.

Despite the fact that they had "accompanied" Dr. Knox purely for "security purposes," Roy found that he could not be upset with his crew for what they had done. Had he known that they would come in and chase away the dark and dreary cloud that hung over the residence, Roy would have considered having them stop by days ago…

The men and Dr. Knox left shortly after that, taking their laughter and chatter elsewhere and leaving the house strangely silent and calm.

After examining the stitches on Roy's face, Dr. Knox determined that he did in fact have the beginnings of an infection, reassuring him that the course of antibiotics he brought would work. And when that was set and done, they were faced with the challenge of getting Riza to offer her hand to them so that the doctor could decide if she needed sutures or not.

With a little help from the men, they finally coaxed her to present her hand to Knox. Upon examining it briefly, he determined that she would not need any; the wounds caused by the glass were not too deep. Although, he had added, if she showed any signs of discomfort that seemed to stem from it, it was entirely possible that some glass could still be embedded in her hand.

Now that they were gone, he and Edward were tasked with trying to see if they could get her to say anything to them, keeping in mind that if she showed any signs of pain they would stop. And for the time being, it seemed as if she was able to look at Roy without bringing on one of those episodes. Though her concentration was not completely with him, becoming broken every time a distant roll of thunder reached their ears, signaling to them that a storm was approaching.

Hearing the phone ring from across the house, Roy was about to get up when Edward beat him to it. With a slight wave, he muttered that he would get it, promptly disappearing a few moments later.

Turning back to Riza, Roy continued to talk to her, saying anything that came to mind. Not enough to trigger any critical memories, but enough to see if any of the words brought about interest in her. He had only talked to her for a few minutes when Edward rushed back into the room, his eyes a shining brighter than before.

Nearly out of breath, Edward excitedly stated, "That was Al. He said that he and May found a guide to lead them through the Dashan range in Xing."

Roy couldn't help but continue to stare confusedly at the young man. He was, unfortunately, still unfamiliar with the geography of Xing. He didn't understand what that meant entirely.

Seeing Roy's perplexed expression, he elaborated, "Meaning that instead of five weeks, they can be here in less than two."