Roy instantly realized that pounding on the door and calling out to Riza would get him nowhere. And using alchemy to open the door would probably be even worse with the state she was in. With a heavy sigh, Roy stopped and leaned against the door in defeat before slowly sinking to the floor. Resting his back heavily against it, he ran his fingers through his dark hair and let loose a shaking breath.

How had she figured it out? How had she figured out that he was willing to give up her in exchange for her?

"Nobility will only get you so far," the Truth quipped as It turned its attention toward Riza, "That was a bit of an overreaction, wouldn't you say?"

Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she narrowed her eyes at the creature and retorted, "Hardly. After what you told me, I wouldn't have reacted in any other way."

"I simply told you the price the Flame Alchemist was willing to pay," the creature noted as It rested its hands on its knees, leaning forward slightly. "He is eager to give up his memories. Although," It said as she scowled at him, "I did mention that it was not enough.

"You see, he has the right idea in giving up the part of himself that has a connection to you: his memories of you, subsequently losing flame alchemy, in the hope that he could bypass me and relearn what was lost. However, what he has failed to realize is that it takes more than forgetting a person to truly rid yourself of every meaning they hold to you.

"If he wants to give up the part of himself that associates itself with you," It said as it pointed at her, "Then he too must give up the eyes that have seen you, the hands which have held you, and," It chuckled darkly, "The heart which beats for you."

She had heard the speech It posed before, but that still didn't make it any easier to hear. Riza understood why, but she didn't understand why.

Why was the price so steep for her soul? Why must he pay so much for what she deemed was worth so little…?

As if It had read her mind, the creature chuckled, "It is because of the value he places on your soul. If he is willing to pay the highest price, then he will.

"However," the It teased, "If you do not want him to pay so dearly, there is another way…"

After Edward had arrived home, he was immediately greeted by a distressed Roy Mustang. After he had brought the man back down from his panicked state, Edward finally persuaded him to tell him what had happened.

Now here he was, standing in front of the door with a key in hand. Sticking it into the lock, he turned it and felt the locking mechanism give, granting him passage to the room. Twisting the knob and opening it slowly, he cautiously stuck his head into the room and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Once they had, he caught of a small form on the floor and next to the bed, leaning against the bedframe.

"Hey," he said softly as he sat down next to Hawkeye, pulling his legs up to his chest in the same fashion she had hers. "Mustang told me what happened. Do you want to talk about it?"

With that she angled her body away from him, turning her head to face the wall. Apparently not…

Still, he wanted to see if he could get to the bottom of this. After hearing about the way she reacted to Mustang, hearing that she outright told him it wouldn't work, perturbed Ed greatly. What did she know that they didn't? It seemed like a fair trade: Mustang's knowledge and memories of her for her soul.

A piece of him for a piece of her.

Edward had argued with Mustang for well over an hour about the seemingly rash decision. But the longer the battle dragged on, the more Edward realized that this may be the only thing that could be given up without losing more. Mustang was relentless in his decision. As much as he hated it, it was the only way.

It would mean that she would be nothing to him just as he had been nothing to her. All of those memories, experiences, and years gone. Just like that.

He found himself wondering if that was what she had reacted to: The notion that Mustang would forget her. Her backlash had been incredibly uncharacteristic though, even with the state of mind she was in. He figured that at the very least she'd understand to some degree.

This was better than the alternative. It was something they could work with.

He needed to know…

"Are you afraid?" He waited, hoped, for a reply. But of course he did not receive one. Instead, she answered by pulling her legs closer to herself, turning her head away from him as she did so. "It's okay to tell me that you are," he said softly.

Again no response.

"Can you tell me why it won't work," he gently pressed.

Nothing.

Sighing defeatedly, Edward looked away and toward the wall in front of him, rambling off different wordings of the same question. Nothing stuck. After falling quiet and allowing the silence to sit for a few minutes, he finally muttered to himself, "I wish Al was here…"

At the mention of his younger brother's name, Hawkeye twitched. Rotating her head around to face him, her saffron eyes searched his expression as if looking for the meaning behind his words. After a few moments of examining him, she seemed to understand, allowing a small smile to spread across her face.

Edward furrowed his brows in confusion. Out of everything he said, Al was what she picked up on? Maybe it was because it was the name of someone she knew? Then again, even Mustang's name did not seem to hold that much meaning to her.

He repeated the sentence again, and then said 'Al' once more.

She responded by raising her brows and ears turning in his direction in an attempt to understand.

For some odd reason, Al had a significant meaning to her in her current state of mind. Alphonse of all people. But that reason, however, was completely lost to him.

His words were mostly meaningless. Every now and then she'd catch one that she could associate with something.

'Afraid?' Ha. Of course she was afraid. She was terrified.

'Work?' No. Not unless she had whatever it wanted. It gave her only one word to work with. But so far he wasn't anywhere near that thought. She had thought about trying to enunciate it and see where that went, but she doubted she could bring about the necessary set of sounds to even attempt it.

The blond man spoke again, rambling about nothing in particular until he uttered a sound that was incredibly new… yet familiar.

She finally turned to look him in the eye. She wanted him to say it again.

Seeing her piqued interest, he spoke until he said it once more: Al.

There it was. Right there. If he knew what it was, then that means she'd come across it; hopefully soon.

Because that was it.

That was her catalyst.

The blond finally managed to convince her to follow him out and into the room with the various chairs. She instantly occupied the chair that was the furthest from 'Roy," who himself was on a larger, two-person furniture piece.

She could feel his eyes on her, observing and watching her. Hoping to avoid his stare entirely, she kept her eyes focused on her lap and began absently picking at her nails. She almost thought that it had been a mistake following the blond out there.

Almost.

But the desire to hear about this thing called 'Al' pushed her to follow and subsequently listen in on their conversation. They wanted her there with them, so in the end they would all gain something….

After listening to them talk for what seemed like hours, she deduced that 'Al' was not a thing; rather, it was a person. It seemed almost too simple a sound to describe someone of such importance, however. He or she certainly seemed to hold significance to the two of them, as she now noticed now how often they uttered his or her 'name'.

Name… It was such an unusual word. It seemed as if everything and everyone she met had one. The blond man should have one. Clearly he is important to. When she tried using it once before, though, he flinched and reacted in a fashion opposite of what she had expected.

Ed…ward.

She had stumbled over the word when she had said it because it was so foreign and she hadn't attempted it before. Maybe she wouldn't try again. Something about his reaction and saddened expression tugged at her heart and made her not want to. Even it had realized that was something that shouldn't be attempted again. It seemed to know what the reaction was stemming from, though it remained hushed about the matter. Maybe it was because that wasn't actually his name…?

He… 'Roy' had a name. Roy. It liked his name a lot. Under normal circumstances it would react in some way, whether by pulling away or pushing to get closer. Now though, it made no attempt to push. Instead, it remained quiet, exuding exhaustion and fatigue. It wouldn't be long before it vanished again for who knows how long…

Did she have a name? Well, she had something she was called but it no longer seemed to her like it was truly a name. It was distant. It was cold. More like data and less like something that fit her. Then again, nothing else worked. He, or Roy, oftentimes used 'Hey' or 'Erm' or sometimes even 'You' to catch her attention. She knew enough to know that none of those were even close.

Sometimes, however, he used one word that made her heart skip and dance and actually made her feel warm. But he used it so rarely that she wasn't even sure it was hers. And when he did use it, it was often when he had become frustrated, hurt, or had some other negative emotion in his words. She wanted nothing more to elicit a response and see if that's what it was. She didn't know if she could stand no longer having a solid identity, because the one she was branded with certainly was not hers.

As the two men continued to talk, she turned her head to her left and noticed a small figurine on the table next to the chair. It was small, holding the shape of a four-legged creature. One of the points on its clear, glistening head was chipped off, meaning it was fragile.*

Looking up to see if they had taken notice of her newfound interest, she saw that they were still focused on each other, completely oblivious to what she was about to do.

Rotating her head back around to look at the small figurine, she slowly reached up and placed her hand on its side. Casually, carefully, she eased it to away from its position until it teetered on the edge of the table. After looking again to make sure they weren't watching, she batted it off the surface and watched as it fell to the floor, shattering into thousands of tiny pieces the instant it made contact.

A beat later, she heard it.

"Riza?"

Looking up, she saw him watching her, his face a mixture of shock and concern. Despite the way he had exclaimed it, however, she still felt that same warmth pooling in her chest. It wasn't there anymore to give any input, but somehow without it she knew.

That had to be it. There was nothing else.

Riza.

That was her name.

"I just don't know," Edward admitted dejectedly as he turned his head to look at Riza for a moment, before focusing back on Roy. "I couldn't get anything out of her. Honestly, the only time shedid pay attention to anything I had to say was when I mentioned Al."

Raising a brow, Roy murmured, "Why's that," as he too stole a peek at her. When he saw that she was purposefully looking anywhere but at him, he reluctantly gave up and turned his attention back to Edward.

Shrugging, the young man mumbled, "Maybe it's because we've been mentioning him a lot, so his name is familiar."

"Maybe," Roy replied slowly, solemnly.

"Regardless," Edward continued, "I think we should go over your proposition when Al gets here. Everything makes sense to me, but she's not telling us anything else. He'll be a good person to check against."

"Right," Roy agreed as he languidly nodded his head. Before he could continue on, however, he was interrupted by a loud crash. Whipping his head around, he saw Riza sitting across from him, her hand slightly raised. Once he had observed the remains of the destroyed dog figurine scattered about the floor, he looked back up at her and absentmindedly muttered, "Riza…?"

At the sound of her name, her eyes lit up.

Realizing instantly what he had done, he inwardly berated himself. Every time he unconsciously used her name, he feared she would react and that would be it. She would push herself over the edge and become lost to them. He was especially on guard after the episode that had occurred hours earlier…

So when he saw her eyes light up and a small smile spread across her face, he immediately tried to backpedal, hoping and praying that there wouldn't be a backlash due to his carelessness. But before he could get any words out in an attempt to divert her attention, he was stopped by the sound of someone pounding on his front door.

As he got up, he glanced toward Riza once more, relieved to see that whatever it was had distracted her as well, causing her to turn her head toward the direction of the door.

Pushing himself out of his seat, he briskly made his way out of the room and toward the door. Even though he had been pounding on the door for nearly half a minute, the person beyond it refused to relent, beating it as if he had just gotten there.

Unlocking it, Roy threw it open and stopped. "…Havoc?" Roy eyed the man curiously. He hadn't been expecting him… at all.

Seemingly oblivious to his commanding officer's bewilderment, the pale-faced and nearly breathless Lieutenant clumsily pushed past him and stepped into the house. The moment he was inside, he began to frantically look about. "Where's the Captain?"

"Havoc-" Just as Roy was about to appeal to the panicked man, Riza rounded the corner, having followed him after he had left the room. When Havoc took an abrupt step toward her, her eyes widened and she hurriedly took a step back and away from him.

Moving forward, Roy gripped Havoc's shoulder and stopped him in his tracks. Stepping around him, he grabbed the Lieutenant's other shoulder and looked him square in the eye. "Havoc," he hissed, trying to snap the man out of his alarm, "What's the matter?"

After having seen Riza, Havoc took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As the blood returned to his face, he finally willed himself to look Roy in the eye. "Sorry, sir," he breathed, "I just… I just had to make it over here before something happened and-"

"What are you talking about," Roy demanded as he felt a sense of alarm rise within him.

Taking another deep breath, the smoker dug into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. As he began to unfold it, he shakily said, "This was distributed to all of the military personnel in Central Command today, sir."

Snatching it from his Lieutenant's grasp, Roy quickly skimmed down the page, trying to find the paragraph that had thrown Havoc into a panicked frenzy.

It said that the inauguration ceremony had been temporarily suspended. That much he knew. It was one of the many topics he and the Fuhrer had discussed when he had met with him. They had both agreed on it, seeing that half of the Council was now imprisoned. It would take time rebuilding the government's infrastructure and doing so under the current Fuhrer would be more widely accepted.

Still, there was more. Skimming down the page, he read that due to a recent "incident" involving a number of higher-ups, any personnel that is discovered circulating rumors or information outside the confides of the military base will be court martialed and imprisoned. Understandable…

However, it was the last paragraph that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and his skin crawl.

In accordance to the reports of one Dr. Arnold Pace, the evidence that was confiscated during the recent raid of the catacombs of Central Command had been examined and reported on extensively. As a result, the evidence no longer holds substantial value the military police. In an attempt to purge all records and proof of the scandal to avoid public knowledge, an executive decision had been reached.

Effective immediately: all evidence, both living and not, has been ordered to be destroyed.

A/N: In terms of the '*,' I couldn't help myself. I double-dipped into my other multi-chaptered story. The little 'figurine' is a small dog. In my other story, it's made of stone, while in this one it is glass. In no way are the stories connected however, and the 'glass dog' really probably won't have any significance to it here. I just figured I would add it in as a sort of 'Easter egg…'