A/N Hello everybody! I have risen from the dead! Lol. Took a very unexpected 2 year break from writing (and reading). My mental health was just rotten, to be completely honest. Due to the lock downs and just general life stuff I ended up losing my creativity and felt like I would never write again. This year I've been focusing on therapy and sorting my shit out and the past couple months I've taken up reading again. It was only a matter of time before I got a plot bunny! :)

So I return to you, not with a Fem!Ed this time, but a RoyEd! *shock* haha. I don't think I've ever written a 'proper' RoyEd fic, but I've read a whooole lot of them. I hope my writing isn't as rusty as it felt :')

Whoever is still here and interested in my writing, I hope you enjoy this one! I'll upload as often as I can :)

Roy sighed, putting his pen down on the desk as he took a moment to rub at his eyes.

He was tired. Yesterday he'd been fully intending on finishing on time for once and having an early night with his bed, but he should've known that those particular plans of his never really went to plan. Not only had he ended up working overtime, Hawkeye bringing another pile of paperwork just as he'd been finishing up, but an hour later, when the sun had dipped and his office became eerily quiet, there had been a knock on the door. A knock, which Roy soon found out, would damn his sleep that night completely.

Fuhrer Grumman had walked in, his movements quiet, almost tentative. Roy had instantly been on high alert. It wasn't everyday that the Fuhrer graced him with his presence in Roy's office. And even more unusual to do so at 7PM. While his relationship with Grumman certainly was more casual than that of a Fuhrer and his General, it still put Roy on edge to see the man in his office at that hour.

And now, the next day, he could hear the building bustling with activity, his team in the outer office mumbling occasionally, pens scraping paper.

Roy stifled a yawn as he glanced at the clock. After the meeting with Grumman he had called Fullmetal, ordering him to be at the office at 10AM sharp. Sharp, for Ed, meant forty minutes late.

He lifted his eyes from the paper in front of him as he heard his office door opening and shutting. Ed strolled in, hands in his pockets, looking bored and tired. Roy quickly surveyed the blond in front of him, taking note of the wrinkled red coat, crumbled black tank top and messy braid. He looked like he'd rolled out of bed, thrown his hair in a braid, not caring he missed half his hair, and walked straight here.

Knowing Ed, that had been exactly what he had done.

"This better be good," Ed said as he walked over to his desk, glaring. "It's way too early for your shit."

Roy smirked, hands clasping to rest his chin on his interlocked fingers. "Good morning to you too, Fullmetal. You are only-" Quick, obvious glance at the clock. "-forty minutes late."

It was 10:40AM. Not early by any means, but Roy usually didn't call the blond in till at least midday.

But Grumman had been concerned, told Roy of reports concerning a so-called new form of alchemy. He had kept it underwraps, only entrusting Roy with the information. And while Roy's alchemic knowledge hesitated to believe the accounts of a 'new alchemy', the General in him knew to be concerned.

It was still too early after the Promised Day. Mere months. Things hadn't fully settled yet across the country. Towns had been rebuilding themselves after the destruction they had undergone, and there had been various accounts of small, unsettled groups. Groups who believed Fuhrer Bradley being overthrown meant the destruction of Amestris, who didn't realise what had been done to save them from certain death. Some people didn't trust Grumman – or Roy. The military in general had a lot to account for. Grumman was worried people were trying to find a way, a power, to attack and overthrow the military.

This mission had to be treated with caution – and secrecy. Any bit of panic had to be properly eased. Roy would oversee this mission himself, but he would be a fool to not bring Edward Elric with him.

Ed sighed, rubbing his face. His golden eyes were indeed tired, his under eyes dark. "I was busy last night, okay?"

Roy smirked, the opportunity too good to miss. "Oh? Finally finding out the wonders of women for yourself, Fullmetal?"

The glare Ed sent him was scathing, a faint blush rising on his cheeks. The thrill of excitement he got from teasing the blond would never get old – it was just too easy…

"I was reading, actually. Lost track of time."

Of course he had. Roy had no doubt Ed was telling the truth.

Settling back in his chair, he gestured for Ed to take a seat on the couch. Ed flopped on it, resting his head on a pillow and propping his feet up on an armrest.

"I have a mission for us."

Ed craned his neck to look at Roy, eyebrow raised.

Roy understood the silent question. After the Promised Day, Roy had allowed Ed to take a breather, make sure Al was okay and getting his strength back – get their bearings. He hadn't given Ed a mission in months. So the fact that he was now, and that he'd said us – included himself – Ed had guessed it probably wasn't just any silly errand.

"The information I am about to disclose to you, Fullmetal, was given to me by the Fuhrer himself. Discretion is of utmost importance - this cannot get out."

At his tone, Ed sat up on his elbows, face tense and golden eyes sharp - waiting.

Roy met that hard gaze unflinchingly. "There have been reports of a so-called new alchemy in the East. The Fuhrer is concerned – and with good reason. Any activity that could be a threat to the military is to be investigated immediately. Me and you, we leave at noon."

Ed blinked, the information sinking in. He rose into a seated position, his legs crossed on the couch, staring at the General as if he'd grown a head. "New alchemy? What the fuck does that mean, there is no such thing."

Roy had anticipated this. "Some reports of this so-called new alchemy have come from alchemists themselves – they termed it as such as they cannot decipher its power. None of them have understood the alchemy."

"Then get better alchemists."

Roy smirked, twirling his pen between his fingers. "And this is where you and I come in."

The first house they had knocked on, a young woman had opened the door, took one look at Roy's uniform, and blanched. Roy put on his most charming smile. "Hello, miss. I am General Mustang and this is my subordinate, Major Elric. Apologies for the disturbance, but we would like to ask you some questions."

Her wide eyes slid from him to Ed, who was basically glaring – his face screaming unapproachable – and she gripped the door harder.

Roy kept his smile as he gave Ed a subtle nudge with his elbow. "Apologies for my grumpy subordinate, he didn't get his beauty sleep last night."

He felt Ed's glare on the side of his head.

The woman blinked at him, her gaze warily going back to Ed. "What has brought about this questioning, officer? I have children, I do not want them to see…"

Roy held up a hand, his face understanding. "Of course, ma'am. We come in regards to some reports of a 'new alchemy'. One of the reports was received from your address."

She let out a breath, looking behind her, presumably at her children. "Yes, m-my husband has been quite concerned. He is an alchemist, I don't understand much about those things."

"Could we speak to your husband, perhaps?"

The woman hesitated, just a second too long, causing Ed to growl his annoyance and rub his eyes. "If he's so concerned he reported it to the military surely he'd want to speak to us?" he snapped.

Roy pursed his lips as the woman shot a fearful look at Ed. "Y-yes, he's sleeping, please give me a moment." With that, she shut the door and Roy listened to her steps ascending the stairs.

He glared at Ed. "Convincing civilians to let us into their home is a delicate process, Fullmetal, you can't be-"

"She's doing what we want, isn't she?" Ed snapped back.

Roy pursed his lips and refrained from retorting as the door opened again, and an older male appeared before them. His expression was grave, his brows drawn into a frown. "Officers, come in."

Roy and Ed stepped in, Ed instantly surveying the home – nosey, Roy thought.

The man led them to the kitchen, where they each took a seat at the table. The young woman and the kids were nowhere to be seen.

"Thank you for taking the time to look into this, officers."

Roy nodded, "Just doing our job, Mr…?"

"Ethan Fulmer," the man said, offering Roy a hand. Roy took it and introduced himself. The man glanced at Ed as if unsure if he should extend the same courtesy, but Ed was leaning back in his chair, arms crossed and golden eyes intently surveying the man in front of them.

Fulmer cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, no doubt unnerved by that steel golden gaze. His focus slid back to Roy. "I have seen this alchemy with my own eyes – it is different, the power. It does not feel like alchemy. In my twenty years of alchemic study I have never seen something like this."

Roy frowned, seeming interested and concerned, but the truth was his sentiments echoed Ed's – there was no such thing as 'new alchemy'. Alchemy couldn't be invented like that, it just existed, was. And anything there was to know lay in the Gate of Truth. A gate both him and Ed had opened.

He cast the memory of the Promised Day aside, not wanting to remember how he'd witnessed the Truth, only to lose his vision in the process.

"And this new alchemy…what does it do? Does it defy the rules of alchemy, perhaps?" Maybe they had a philosopher's stone on their hands, one that had been hidden, missed.

The man in front of them stared at his hands, breathing deeply. "Officers, as fellow alchemists I understand you must have doubts. Any alchemist insisting they have discovered some novel alchemy must be naive, and plainly, a bad alchemist. But believe me when I say this – I do not know what that power is."

Before Roy could speak, he went on. "I found out of its existence a month ago. A couple of teenagers in the village had been messing around in the abandoned clock tower. It's a usual spot for teenagers to gather, drink, mess around – but something happened. There was this flash of white light – not blue. We all saw it, we gathered around the tower. The teenagers came running out, looking petrified. I could feel the power running off them, it was nothing I'd ever felt before, it was like...like they were fused in some way. Like I was seeing two people but they were one. We've had our best alchemists enter the tower, myself included, to try and decipher the array they activated but…" He shook his head. "No one could. The array, it's different, I-" Sighing, he shook his head once more, giving up on attempting to describe what he'd seen.

Roy's mind was whirling. "Perhaps we need to see for ourselves."

Ed strolled into the tower, his face unreadable. Roy wondered if he was coming along to humour him at this point – if he truly believed this was just a fad – or if he was silently observing, open to the idea that this alchemy was different. It wasn't like Ed to be silent like he'd been in that kitchen. Roy had no doubts that he'd been listening, and his brilliant mind was going through his arsenal of arrays, trying to match the unknown power to one.

Fulmer took them up the stairs, to the top floor of the tower. "This is where it happened." He gestured to a slab of stone opposite them – Ed was already studying it. "That's the array they touched."

Roy came to stand beside Ed, watching him study the complicated array. His brows were furrowed, his hand on his chin. And he wasn't saying anything. Ed was taking this seriously – which made Roy nervous. If Ed hadn't taken one look at it and knew the array and its power…

His eyes took in the array for themselves. A weird, wicked design. It wasn't even a geometrical circle, more of an…oval. He had never seen anything like it.

Roy frowned as he identified one, small part of it. "A soul array?" he murmured to Ed. Ed's lips pursed and he nodded. In that moment, he saw those golden eyes narrow, Ed let out a breath, and Roy braced himself – he got it, he must've–

Ed turned to look at Fulmer. The man had been standing by the stairs, almost fearful. "Where are the teenagers?"

Fulmer blinked at Ed's voice. "Uh, they live down the street from here, they're neighbours, childhood friends."

Ed looked at him, and Roy nodded. "Please if you could lead them to us, we have some questions."

A boy and a girl, no older than 17, Roy guessed.

They looked nervous as Roy and Ed strolled into the house, their parents at either side on the couch. Immediately, Roy thought of ways to convince the parents to leave. Questioning teenagers in front of their parents wouldn't lead to the most truthful version of events.

Ed walked in, his stride purposeful. Whatever he had seen in that array had given him questions – questions he was not waiting to ask as he stopped in front of the couple and said, "What has it changed?"

A middle aged woman, sat next to the girl, scoffed, "That's what you're here to tell us!" Ed merely sent her a death glare.

The boy and girl exchanged a glance, but seemed hesitant to speak. As Roy saw one of the dads opening his mouth, he decided to intervene. "Please may I request we speak to the affected parties privately."

The woman glared at him, her grip on her daughter's shoulders tightening. "Whatever you have to say to my daughter you can say it in front of me – us!"

He saw Ed's hands curling into a fist, and tried again. "Please, allow the affected parties some privacy as they describe what they have gone through. Give us a moment."

The woman scoffed, glaring at him. A hand landed on her shoulder, and her husband said, "We'll be in the kitchen, if you distress my daughter there will be hell to pay."

With that, the parents entered a room to the right, and shut the door. Roy didn't care if they eavesdropped – as long as the teenagers felt free enough to tell them every detail of what went down.

He and Ed took a seat on the opposite couch in the living room. Ed leaned forwards, elbows on his knees, and asked again, "What has it changed?"

Roy was silent as he watched the teenagers. If he had been the one to start the questioning he would've asked for their names, got them some water, made them feel comfortable. But Ed was straight to the point. He also seemed sure enough that they knew the answer to his question.

The teenagers exchanged another glance, and the girl said, "We can't be away from each other." At Ed's expectant stare, she fumbled, "W-When we try to walk further away from each other, it…it hurts. There's this pull. This power. It's like we're-"

"Bound to each other." Ed nodded, his eyes staring unseeingly at the floor.

The boy raised his wrist. "We can see it, but no-one else seems to be able to."

Ed stared at the wrist. Roy did too – and saw nothing. Just a normal wrist. "What do you see?" he asked them.

The girl gripped her own wrist. "It's like this golden string. It's wrapped around our wrists, connecting them. But we can't touch it, we can't get it off."

Ed was silent, so Roy decided to take over. "Tell us everything that happened. Leave nothing out. Every detail."

The girl seemed nervous, glancing at the kitchen. Before she could speak, Roy said, "You won't get in trouble. I promise."

She shifted in her seat, but nodded hesitantly at him. "We know we're not allowed in the clock tower, but me and Ron-" She glanced to the boy, "Have always gone there, since we were kids. It was our place – we studied there, chilled out there, we'd touched those walls before, and nothing had happened. So I don't know why the array got triggered. We-" She swallowed.

"Has this array been on the wall the entire time, or is it new?"

The girl opened her mouth, hesitating as she thought. She shook her head. "I don't think it used to be there but…I never really noticed."

"There was this woman," Ron said, one hand coming to wrap protectively over the girl's shoulders. She swallowed in fear as she recalled. "This old woman as the light shone. I-I've seen her before. She's one of those Mediums that comes and goes, travels between villages. As soon as the light stopped, she said…"

The girl gripped her wrist again."She said 'And now you are one, as you are meant to be.'" She shuddered. "We ran."

Him and Ed exchanged a glance. They needed to find this 'Medium'.

"Any other effects?" Ed asked, glancing at their wrists again. "Apart from being physically bound together."

The girl shifted in her seat. She met Ron's eyes as she said, "We have the same dreams. Every night."

Ed frowned at that. Roy's mind was whirling with possibilities. This alchemy didn't seem threatening to the military at first glance. Binding two people together and making them share dreams seemed harmless compared to other types of alchemy. But Roy wondered, if the array had been bigger, wider, covering an entire town perhaps, could it bind big groups of people together?

And who had sketched that array in that tower, and what were their intentions? In Roy's pocket lay a list – a list of people who had reported this alchemy. Multiple accounts from this town, but there were a couple from another town too. Had there been more people bound like this?

Ron looked at them expectantly. "Well? Do you know what the array is? What it's done? How to undo it?"

Roy watched as Ed leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms. The tired grumpiness had vanished, his golden eyes now alert, shrewd. He stared Ron in the eye as he said, "I think your souls are bonded."

A/N Please leave a review and let me know what you think! x