Author's Note: This is a short one because it would have made too long a chapter with Chapter 10. Anyone interested in the array that I described... it's my avatar. And, anyone who wants to continue this story is welcome to, just let me know so I can read it. ^_^

Enjoy the last chapter!

Ed opened his eyes and stared up at the wall. It was quite different to all the times he'd woken up, still feeling exhausted, and was staring at the ceiling while trying to escape the restraints. This was different, and he found it quite refreshing. This time, he was well rested and his head was clearer than it had been all week.

He sat up and looked around. There was no window in his room, which made sense. He probably would have tried to jump out of it a day before. That meant that he had been dreaming about standing by the window and talking to his mother, but somehow, that didn't matter.

Today, he knew exactly what he had to do.

Ed got out of bed and walked straight to the door. He pressed the door handle down and found it was locked. Undaunted, Ed clapped his hands together and pressed on the door. He worked it slightly and undid the lock, and then opened the door and stepped out.

Alphonse was sitting there. He had a book with him, which he had obviously been reading when Ed had used alchemy on the door. It was the strangest feeling for Edward. He knew that he was looking at Al, but didn't have a hint of recognition when he looked at the armoured suit.

"Brother?" Al asked warily at the sight of his brother.

"Hey Al," Ed greeted warmly, looking down both corridors. "Only you watching me? Did I really look that bad last night?"

"Uh- well..." Al began, unsure of how honest he should be.

"That's okay, Al," Ed smiled at his younger brother understandingly. "Where is everyone?"

"In the main building," Al replied. "Why?"

"The main building..." Ed mused, looking at his bare foot and automail. "I need to talk to them. You feel like giving me a lift, Al?"

Everyone turned as the door opened. Similar faces of shock appeared once everyone saw who it was.

"Hey everyone," Ed greeted, a huge smile on his face.

"F- Fullmetal?" Hawkeye stuttered, her mouth open slightly.

"Ah, Lieutenant! Just the person I needed to talk to," Ed announced cheerfully, walking up to her. "Do you have a pen I can borrow?"

"A pen?" Hawkeye repeated, her eyebrows rose in suspicion.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything dangerous," he assured her. "I'll give it back in a second."

Reluctantly, Hawkeye passed over a pen.

Ed took it in his right hand and pulled off the lid. He laid his left hand flat and began to draw. He carefully traced the shaped that he remembered his mother had in the dream and soon a shape formed. From the shape came other lines and an array appeared.

It was quite a simple array on face value. There were two circles, one significantly smaller one in the centre of the other. Connecting the two circles were four curves that were of equal distance from each other, the curves pointing in an anticlockwise direction. Were the curves met the outer circle, were straight lines that pointed in the same direction as the curves. Between the curves were two lines that came together at a point, pointing towards the centre. And in the centre of the inner circle was a six-pointed star, formed by two crossing equilateral triangles.

Ed returned the pen to Hawkeye, thanking her, as he examined the array. He was aware of everyone else regarding it as well. He waited patiently for the questions to come.

"What is that, Brother?" Al asked.

"This, Al," Ed spoke like he was introducing a VIP. "This is the array that alchemist used on the raid to transmute the bookcase. I'm going to use to right what he put wrong."

"But Brother!" Al protested.

"Everyone agreed that the dust had nothing to do with this," Hawkeye explained quickly, fighting the panic that was rising up her throat.

"When it came in contact with my lungs, it stopped being dust. It was two-step alchemy; the first step was to become dust so fine I couldn't not breathe it in. The second step was for the dust to transmute into a substance that would affect my ability to recognise my surroundings and the people around me," Ed explained.

"So... what are you going to do, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked from the desk he had managed to usurp from a doctor. "Transmute this substance into dust while it's still inside you?"

"That's the idea," Ed confirmed.

Before anyone else could speak, Ed clapped his hands together and pressed his left hand onto his chest. A bright light erupted from Edward and broke into the room. After a moment, the light faded and Ed lowered his hand.

He looked at each person in the room, and found himself disappointed. He looked back at the array on his hand, a confused frown on his brow. He was certain that he'd redrawn it correctly, and couldn't understand why it hadn't worked.

"That... was meant to work," Ed muttered quietly, angrily.

No one spoke, unsure of what to say. They had been surprised that Ed had had such an idea, and more to the point, even in his altered state, they were surprised that he was wrong. Edward being wrong about alchemy was a rare occurrence.

And then, Ed started coughing. He raised his hand to cover his mouth and felt his knees collapse from beneath him. He heard everyone call to him and utter words of comfort, telling him just to ride it out and that it would be over soon.

Then, Ed felt something solid hit his hand and he stopped coughing. There was nothing else happening, so he straightened up, sitting on his heels. He looked down to examine the object in his hand. It was the right size to snugly fit in the palm of his hand.

"What is that?" Hawkeye asked in an astonished voice, her hand over her mouth.

"That... is all the dust I inhaled," Ed explained proudly, still staring at the object.

The object suddenly burst into flames and was quickly reduced to ash, while Ed's hand remained unharmed. Ed only knew one person who could be that precise.

"Now that's gone, can you recognise us?" asked a familiar voice.

Ed smiled. That was the first time in a week he had been able to recognise anyone's voice. He raised his eyes to look at the person who had spoken and stared at his face. How could he not recognise that face, that face that seemed to have a permanent smug look engraved into the features?

He didn't say anything and turned to his right and found himself looking at a feminine face that was far too close, but he didn't recoil from it. He found it nice to look at Hawkeye's face and be able to know it was her that he was staring at.

He stood up and passed his attention over everyone in the room. His smile grew little by little as he looked over Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman and, finally, his brother, Alphonse. Their faces, everything about them were as familiar to him as if he'd only seen them a day ago, rather than a week ago, when the dust had messed him up. He didn't recognise the doctor, but he was certain that he wasn't meant to.

It was then that he noticed that someone was missing.

"Where's Winry?" Ed asked, turning to Al, Hawkeye and then Mustang.

"There was nothing else for her to do, so she went back to Resembool," Mustang replied emotionlessly.

"Is she alright?" Ed pressed.

"She's fine, Brother," Al assured him.

Ed didn't answer. He knew that he had to talk to Winry about this whole event, and he knew that he had a lot of apologising to do. He wondered if putting himself up for target practise for her wrench would make her feel better.

Then again, maybe she was scared of him now, not that he would blame her. No amount of apologies would ever heal that kind of break in their friendship. She would probably be wondering what he might do if he got upset... and he would find himself wondering the same question, fearing that he might hurt her again.

He lowered his eyes and found himself looking at his automail arm. He'd attacked it with a knife, his leg too. That meant that it could be broken in places. That meant that he had to go back to Resembool to get it checked over and fixed.

That meant he would have to face Winry and Pinako... and who knew what those two had discussed about this incident. He suddenly felt very worried about going to Rockbell Automail; he had no idea what kind of welcome he was going to have. No, he was more than worried; he was utterly terrified.

"Al... we'll have to go to Resembool," Ed managed to say in a strangled voice. "I need Aunt Pinako to look over my automail, make sure that I didn't... damage it too badly. Then, we can carry on looking for the Stone."

"Okay, Brother," Al agreed sympathetically.

Ed looked over to Colonel Mustang. He needed the man's permission to leave as was protocol, which was the most annoying part of being in the military. Usually, he would do whatever he wanted, but he felt that this time he needed it for more than just protocol. He waited patiently for his superior officer to speak.

"You can go as soon as the doctor gives you the all clear," Mustang stated, nodded his permission to Ed.

"Thanks Colonel," Ed smiled appreciatively. He then turned to the doctor and followed the man out.

He and Al were on the train to Resembool that evening.