"Hey, Al," I said, my voice scratchy from talking all night. I was massaging my head, trying to get rid of a fierce headache from all the thinking and conjecture I had been forcing myself to do. Honestly, it wasn't my forte to speculate about so many things. I would rather just hit stuff and leave the research and speculating to smart people. That, at least, was something that had never changed about me. In this life, or the last.

"Yeah," Al said, just as wearily. We were both slumped under the same tree, though the sun had risen an hour ago.

"This whole not sleeping thing? Sucks."

"Tell me about it." Alphonse lifted his arms and let them fall back in a clank of metal. I smirked at his petulant gesture.

"How are we not insane yet?"

"Well…I don't have a brain to release dangerous chemicals when I stay awake too long. Without biological limits, I guess my soul can just handle it."

"Okay, then how come I'm not insane?" I flopped my arms the same way he did, and was rewarded with a small laugh.

"Alex, you are insane. Haven't you figured that out by now?"

"OH," I said in a dramatic imitation of revelation, "that's why all the friends in my head look at me strangely sometimes."

Alphonse giggled, and I joined him, our laughs sounding slightly delirious. We quieted down after a few minutes. I rubbed my aching head again, wincing at another spike of pain.

"Maybe we should take up meditation, like the monks in the mountains…"

Alphonse looked over to me curiously. "What's meditation?"

I dropped my hand and lazily turned to look at him, an expression of slight disbelief on my face. "You don't know what meditation is?"

He shook his head. "No. Is it some form of martial arts?"

"Heh, no, exactly the opposite. Meditation is like…emptying your mind of all distractions, like pain or pleasure or any outside influences. Religious men would do this to release themselves of all worldly attachments. Others who were not so strict would do it to gain peace of mind."

Alphonse looked up through the branches of the tree, the sun leaving spots of light on his faceplate. "Hm. That sounds nice. But I don't really have any physical distractions."

"You have sight."

"Yeah, but I can't actually block out what I see. I don't have eyelids, remember?"

"Don't you think it would be nice to completely stop thinking for a while, though," I said, warming up to the idea.

"Hm. That would be nice…"

"Let's try it," I said excitedly, sitting up. I tried to remember what my master in my past life had attempted to teach me about meditation. He said it was difficult for beginners, and he had been right. I was terrible at it. That was why I had never considered it before. But still…it might be useful now. "Alright. First, imagine yourself in a completely empty space…"

"Okay…" We sat silently for a few moments, as I tried to get rid of all the random images that popped up whenever I closed my eyes. Then Al sighed beside me. "Alex, it's kind of hard to imagine anything when I can't block out what I'm seeing."

I opened my eyes and looked at him, frowning. "You're right. Hm…" I placed my hands over the two spots of red that seemed to serve as his eyes. "Can you still see?"

"Yes…"

"Huh, weird," I said, pulling back, fascinated. "Okay, I'll do it with my eyes open too, so it's fair."

We sat still for a few more minutes, staring into the countryside and trying to block it out at the same time. Ironically, it was easier for me to achieve with my eyes open. I guess my mind was too crowded a place to do it when my vision was blocked. Slowly, what I was seeing began to fade away, becoming just a plain green space.

"I think I've got it…oh, it's gone," Al said, snapping me out of my own zone. I sighed a bit to myself.

"Okay, this is the tricky part. Once you've got your empty space, imagine an object. It could be anything, as long as it's meaningless to you. Now, try to hold that image as long as possible, while blocking out all other thoughts." I personally had never gotten past that part. But here's to trying.

"Okay…"

Both of us took a deep breath–

"Hey, guys, what are you doing?"

"Gah!" I startled baldy and fell back against the tree with a thump. "Winry, what the heck!" She was standing right in front of me, hands on her hips and leaning down .

She stood back up with a chuckle, and I blushed as I realized that Al was laughing as well. Grumbling a bit, I stood and brushed off my coat nonchalantly. "It's nothing. Just trying something out."

"Hm. Well, hate to interrupt, but I'm done with Ed for now." She massaged her shoulder tiredly. "He's awake and lucid if you want to talk, but don't" she poked me fiercely in the chest, "think you've gotten out of this mister. You three owe me an explanation."

"Ehe..heh…" I laughed nervously, holding my hands up in a placating position. She glared at me with tired bloodshot eyes for a few seconds, then yawned widely and stepped back.

"Right, I'm going to take a short nap then get back to work." She walked off, listing to the side, and both Al and I released a sigh of relief.

"What are we going to tell her," I asked nervously.

"I don't know. We can't tell her everything, it could put her in danger."

"Or make her a worried wreck."

"That too."

Both of us stared at her retreating form worriedly. As much as I hated to think of her as the little woman at home, I could suddenly understand how those secret agents felt in the movies about telling their families what they've been up to.

"Come on, we better get to brother before he crawls out of bed to look for us himself."

I nodded and we followed Winry slowly back to the house. "Are you ready for this," I asked.

"Let's do this."

Edward was sitting up this time when we entered the room. He looked a little better than the day before, but not by much. He still looked flushed, and his hair was loose about his shoulders. He snapped his golden eyes to us when we entered the room, and at least they looked as sharp as ever.

"Alex," he said with a frown, sounding marginally less tired.

"Hey," I said with a small smile.

"Are you…okay now?" He tilted his head to the side , examining me head to toe. "Isn't that outfit a bit ostentatious?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, and yes, I do realize that. But seriously, Ed, who wears a red coat with leather pants, hm?"

Edward shrugged , giving me a small smile. He frowned again a second later. "So, I might have been a little delirious at the time, but what was this I heard about you being covered in blood, hm?"

My smile dropped and I shuffled my feet nervously, "Ehe, you heard that?" I felt distinctly like a small child getting caught playing with knives or something under his stern gaze. I looked over to Al pleadingly, but he just nudged me in the side, transferring a bit of encouragement.

"Look, Ed, I have a lot to tell you. You might want to sit down for this."

Ed lifted a brow, gesturing to his already seated position.

"…Right. I might have found out some things when I left you guys. See, I had a little visitor…"

"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Al interrupted me. Edward's eyes flicked between me and Al, a bit confused, before fixing on me expectantly.

"Okay. After I left you guys, my powers seemed to be stronger than ever, and this time they didn't fade. Thing is, I started to experience this weird pain…" As I described my symptoms, Edward's frown deepened considerably.

"Was it because of the red stone we gave you," he interupted after a moment.

"No, no…Well, yeah. But it wasn't just that one time. All of the stones I've been consuming up to this point have kind of been building up within me, causing a black crystal to form…wait, I'll get to that in a minute. You know that woman who's been stalking me? She kind of…found me in Dublith and saved my life."

"What!"

"Her name is Lust," I continued swiftly, sidestepping the explosion. "She told me some things I really think you ought to know. So please, just listen."

Ed snapped his mouth closed with a click and glared. If he could have, I think he would have crossed his arms impatiently. As it was, he began tapping his fingers on his stomach.

I took a deep breath. Okay, here goes. "Lust called herself a homunculus, or a human doll. She said it was the result of alchemists trying to bring back the dead." Ed opened his mouth, his eyes a bit wide, but I held up a hand to stop him. "Yeah, I'm one too. And she outright told me that there are more, and that they were all created by the same person." I started to pace back and forth, looking at the floor with a frown. "That's why she's been interested in me. She said that I'm the only one who wasn't created by 'him' to survive." I spun around to face my older brother, getting worked up. I rested my hands on his bed. "Lust was here, Ed, three years ago. She was the one who turned me into a fully formed homunculus. She said she was watching you create me, hoping that 'another' would be created!"

Al walked up behind me and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, providing me with a blanket of calm. I stood back up and patted his hand affectionately in thanks, feeling my heart slow a bit.

Too bad he couldn't do the same for Edward. He was staring at us with wide eyes. "Are you saying," he said in disbelief, "that we were being played the whole time?" He glared fiercely. "NO. My motivations were pure. She had nothing to do with what happened."

Alphonse shook his head. "We don't think she did. She said she was just observing."

Ed looked down at his sheets and put his hand over his mouth in thought. "How exactly did she change you into a 'fully formed homunculus'?"

"After Pinako buried me, Lust said she found me," I continued. "That was the first time she gave me the red stone." Ed's golden eyes snapped up to me. "She said that the red stone is like food, a sustenance for homunculi. That was why the more I consumed, the less I needed to eat or sleep. It's their power source, at least part of it."

"Hold on. Didn't you say that the red stone was hurting you?"

I nodded. "The red stones that she was giving me, and the red stones that I consumed first at Mugear's lab, then in Central, were different."

"How?"

I clenched my hand over my chest and looked at the floor. "Lust told me that the stones were impure because they weren't created…biologically."

Ed's eyes widened, and his mouth curled in horror. "Are you saying that the stones she was giving you were made inside of pregnant woman?"

Nausea pooled in my gut and I looked away, trying to fight it down. Alphonse, seeing my sick expression, stepped in. "Maybe, but we don't know that for sure. They have to be making a lot of it if they use it for food. Don't you think people would notice if pregnant women suddenly disappeared in mass quantities?"

"Not if it was done without their knowing," Ed said, rubbing his chin and looking inwardly. "Maybe they didn't even need to take them. We don't know the effects of the procedure. If it only caused late miscarriages or still-borns, then all they would have to do was collect the–"

"Stop, enough," I gasped out from behind my hand, tears stinging my eyes. My stomach was roiling in horror just hearing it. To think that something like that was inside of me, fueling me, saving my life–

Ed exchanged a glance with Alphonse, a worried look on his face. He abruptly changed the subject. "So the impure red stones, they were hurting you?"

I nodded, gulping audibly. I stood up straight and took a deep breath. Tonelessly, I said, "The impure stones were building up inside of my chest and crystalizing into some kind of poisonous mass. Lust…removed it for me."

"And by removed, you mean…"

"She shoved her hand into my chest and yanked it out like some kind of sick cannibal," I said harshly. "After that, she gave me some of her pure stones and I healed instantly." I put my hand on one of Edward's bed posts and squeezed my eyes shut in distress. Beneath my hand, the wood creaked loudly and then shattered under my touch, startling me.

My two brothers stared at me in shock. I snatched my hand back. "Sorry, I…" I shook my head helplessly.

Al continued for me when I remained silent. "She told Alex that the red stone was only a substitute for something she called the 'homunculus heart', and that without it…Alex will eventually die."

Silence sat in the room for a while like a heavy blanket while the three of us strayed in our own thoughts. My headache stabbed behind my eyes painfully, and I grimaced.

Eventually, Ed let out a long huff of air. He leaned back against his pillows with a thump. "So let me get this straight. If you don't keep getting the red stone, and we don't manage to find this 'homunculus heart', you're going to die?"

"Yup," I said shortly, avoiding his eyes.

"And there's no other way?"

"I didn't exactly come with a 'how to care for your homunculus' manual, Ed," I said, irritation thick in my voice.

Ed ignored it. "Maybe not, but I bet there's something about it in Central Library. We also need to tell Hughes about our suspicions. See if he can't help us track down any incidents of strange miscarriages or still-births."

"Do you really think we should be bringing this to the attention of the military," Al asked, uncertain.

"I don't think we have a choice. It's not like they are going to let me peruse classified medical records. I don't have that kind of clearance." His focused eyes turned towards me, and his voice became commanding. "Alex, how long do you think you can go without another dose?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea. Several months, maybe even a year. That's how long passed between the first and second doses, and the third…the other stones might have interfered with that one…"

Ed nodded, taking that in. His expression became fierce. "If you see that woman again, will you run like I told you this time?"

"You bet I'm going to run like hell," I said with conviction. Either that or I was going to fight her. I wanted no repeat of last time, and whatever she wanted me for, I wanted nothing to do with it. She might have saved my life three times now, but it was for her own benefit, and that manipulative witch was not going to control me. Next time, I would be ready. Ed and Al continued to make plans, and I began to relax. I listened to their sure voices with relief, feeling the weight of what had happened lift somewhat. They were going to help me figure this out. I didn't have to deal with this alone.

"But brother, what about Marcoh's research?" My attention was grabbed back to the present and my ears perked up in interest.

Ed rubbed his forehead. "We'll just have to split resources. One of us will have to look into this and the other Marcoh's notes. We only have," he counted with his fingers for a second, "eight days of leave left to figure this out if Winry and aunt Pinako can get me fixed and we get back to Central. Actually, I might be able to convince Mustang to put me on the red stone case to give us more time."

"Wait, wait, hold up," I said, waving my hands. "Marcoh's notes? As in Tim Marcoh?"

"Yeah," Ed said distractedly. "We found his house and a clue pointing to his research on the way here." He trailed off and looked out the window, his thoughts obviously elsewhere. My jaw dropped in surprise. Well. I guess I wasn't the only one who had had an eventful five days. I smiled. It looked like our return to Central would be quite eventful.

I leaned back into the wall behind me in exhaustion. One thing was for sure, I needed a strong drink. The boys continued to hash out specifics of their plan, but I was no longer really capable of listening. They were smart, they could figure it out without me. I left through the door and closed it quietly behind me. I shuffled down the hall and paused at a door, peering inside. Winry was busily drilling away at some piece of metal or other, and I could here Pinako banging away upstairs, no doubt doing the same thing. Stepping quietly by, so as not to disturb the hard working woman, I pushed open the front door and stepped outside. The cool clear air brushed against my face, and I inhaled deeply in appreciation. Armstrong was in the yard, chopping firewood with his shirt off. I nodded to him, already used to his ridiculousness, and walked a ways down the road to my favorite tree. I sat down in the shade…and tried to clear my mind…

o-0-o

The second Alex closed the door behind him, Edward fell silent, listening to his boots wander down the hall. The suit of armor fell silent as well, staring after their adopted brother.

"Brother," Al said softly, "I'm worried about Alex."

"You and me both," Ed mumbled. He eyed the shattered bedpost by his foot with a deep frown. "How are we going to keep him from being manipulated by the military? If they find out about his abilities, they might try to take advantage of him as a weapon."

Al tilted his head, considering, and then shook it. "That's always been true, about both of us. I'm more concerned about what Lust wants with him. We may not be able to interfere with her plans if it keeps Alex from dying."

"Don't say that," Ed said, jerking his head to the side sharply. "We will find something to help him in Central. We have to."

"What if we don't?"

Ed opened his mouth to retort, then closed it slowly. "I…I don't know. But we have Marcoh's research. If we can just figure out how to make the philosopher's stone, maybe we can stop all of this before it happens." Ed said it forcefully, but it sounded hollow even to his own ears. It was too optimistic to believe that that would be the case, but despite his bravado for Alex, he was coming up empty. A sudden spike of anger made him grit his teeth. "It's that fucking red stone," he said hotly, "She's been manipulating us with it since the very beginning."

"Not just us," Al said, his calm voice a sharp contrast to his brother's anger. "This has been going on for much longer than we have been involved. Father Cornello, Mugear, Nash Tringham, Marcoh…Whatever this is, we are far from the only players."

Edward sighed deeply and nodded in agreement. "At least now we know the name of one of the main manipulators. Lust, and whoever created her and the other homunculi we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet."

"…We just wanted to get our bodies back…" Al trailed off.

"But it looks like we got involved in something much bigger," Ed finished for him. The two brothers stared into each other's eyes in silence, communicating without saying a word and drawing strength from each other, as they had since the very beginning. They would get through this. They were going to find out what was happening, and they were going come out the other side of it. Whole.

Aaaand I'm fried. Next Chapter: Winry get's an unsatisfying explanation and then...stuff happens in Central...Mustang...blah. I dunno. Can't think. See you guys next time.