Equivalent Exchange

Chapter Summary: Roy, Riza, and Hughes talk with Ed only to find he is all caught up with everything; Ed has a plan and he is going begin putting it action...

Dear my wonderful reviewers, thank you & love yah~

Chapter 14: Exposed

~Roy~

Alley behind 'Bob's Rib Shack', 6:09pm

"Ah... We are-"

Turning around the corner was a short, pale young man. His long dark hair hung around his face. His clothes hide almost his entire body, but when he turned the corner he had pulled his hood back. Revealing the unmistakable familiar visage,

"Ed..."

Roy Mustang honestly never knew what he expected. Maybe he expected the boy he saw so long ago lying on the hospital bed? But definitely not this, definitely not someone THIS different...

He knew he would be different and wasn't in the least surprised about the black hair. But it was everything else. He was altogether so different. Even the atmosphere he gave off was different, darker, and it made him think twice if the boy in front of them was really Edward Elric. But Roy knew, without a doubt, this person was- or at least used to be- Ed. Roy knew Ed too well to see that it was him. Maybe it was only a disguise? He is a fugitive; he would want to look like a different person… If he was recognizable, that would be a problem. But this Ed scared Roy, and he didn't know why. And it wasn't that there wasn't some big horrible difference, only a bunch of tiny ones, that made every part of him a tiny bit different, and in the end made him seem like someone else.

The only thing stopping the urge to run was his desire to help Ed. His love for Ed was stronger than his fears and won the battle to keep him from running. He so desperately wanted to find a way to help the young teenager in front of him.

"Why are you here?" Ed asked in a strange voice, it was cold and dark, but Roy could also detect fear in it, 'why would he be scared?'.

"Peter, should we- ?" The man with Ed asked, he never took his gaze off the trio.

"Go inside, they're people I used to know." Ed said calmly looking at the squinty eyed man, 'used to know...' When the squinty eyed man was about to protest, Ed added,

"I'll handle it and don't worry about the door."

"Okay. Lan Fan." The squinty eyed man replied to Ed then turned to the girl. She nodded then proceeded to push the dumpster to the right of Roy's trio. With one push it flew a couple of feet to the side, below it, a metal door was revealed. Roy slapped his forehead, 'it was right beside us and we couldn't find it!'

Once then door was unlocked and opened, it revealed a hole in the concrete. It was dark, but Roy was able to make out what was in the hole; it's a stairwell. The squinty eyed man and his female bodyguard vanished inside the hole a minute later.

Roy looked to up to where Ed was, but he wasn't standing there anymore. He was right in front of Roy now.

Ed was so close to him now that Roy was able to make out the differences in Ed's appearance now. His golden eyes were a little darker, a little larger, a little more luminous, almost in a surreal and memorizing fashion. His skin was whiter and held not a single blemish. His lips were fuller and redder, his muscles were more toned, he was taller-

"You never answered me." His voice a little deeper, harsher, and darker Roy added... But to say it in one simple sentence, Roy would say he was even more beautiful now. And for a guy to say to another guy was weird. But no other word could describe it so perfectly. It was then that Roy's thoughts put something together, a terrible thought, 'His beauty grew in his transformation so that he can easily lure his human prey and feed.'

"Sir?" It was Riza, in that moment Roy realized he was staring at Ed. Almost in a memorizing way; he was looking at him up and down. Roy blinked and stepped back, Ed stood arms crossing his chest completely unfazed by Roy's behaviour. 'What is he waiting for?'

"Ed, we came here to see you." Hughes spoke, Roy almost forgot he was there. 'He was waiting for me to answer him...'

"Why would you do such a stupid thing?!"

"Edward!" Riza yelled, but Ed only frowned, and Roy realized why. Her voice cracked, she was scared. Scared of Ed, that's why he doesn't want us here. He doesn't want us to fear him and he knew we would if we saw what all the transformation had changed.

"How are you doing Ed?" Roy asked in the gentlest voice he could muster. And Roy could tell Edward was surprised at his question, Roy asked such a simple question in such an unsimple circumstance.

"You can't do that, say that, and act like nothing has happened."

"Do you know what's happening?"

"Of course. As long as Al is still part of the military then I'll always keep an eye out for news about it."

"But do you know everything Ed?" Hughes asked, Roy realized he was strangely standing to the side and observing them. 'What is he doing?' Roy was baffled at how apart they had grown. Ed's change didn't just make himself different, but everyone around him too. Now that Roy really thought about it, it wasn't hard to see just how much had changed. The fact that he could no longer understand the thoughts of his best-friend was only a small part of it compared to everything else going on. And Roy hated every single change that had happened. Ed may have been the seed that caused the changes to form, but Roy wasn't going to blame Ed. It wasn't his fault he turned into a monster, maybe he feed and watered the seed himself but in reality he didn't have much of choice in that part. No, it wasn't at all because of Ed, he never what was happening till it had happened. The real question was who. Who's the mysterious planter behind it all? Who bit Ed and why? Roy had no idea, but he knew it wasn't Edward, Ed was only a victim. But did Ed see it like that? 'Probably not' Roy thought.

"Yes, I know it all very well. Al, Winry, the curfew, the bugs, Wrath... Everything."

'Wrath?'

"But you three need to go, sunset is soon, and I can't let this place be found." Ed stated quietly, he looked at the trio, and saw Roy about to protest. Before Roy could even begin, Ed added,

"And by that I mean now. I'm sure you three military workers-" Roy looked at Hughes and frowned- "know about my ice pretty well by now, and I won't hesitant to freeze you all and drag you out."

'Clearly he doesn't see me as his superior anymore...' Riza stepped forwarded, regaining her courage, and Roy noticed, trying hard to keep her voice steady,

"But Ed, we only just found you after a month of searching. And you tell us to leave just like that? You-"

Hughes cut her off, the sky was turning pink now and he knew they could be iced any minute.

"Let's meet again, we can begin forming a plan to end this, get Al out of quarantine, and-" Their time with Ed was up, but he didn't freeze them nor gave them much of a goodbye.

"Don't worry. I have a plan. It'll save you all I promise."

And with that Ed went through the hole in the ground. Not before pulling the dumpster over with amazing strength. The door to the hole closed and a second later the dumpster slide over it. Roy couldn't figure out if Ed was able to do that so easily and swiftly because of practice or because of his new nature of abilities.

'Save us all... What about you Ed?'

~Ed~

Two weeks later...

10th Street, Central, 11:13pm

"Well well well, look at that, if it isn't Edward Elric, aka the #1 most wanted little vampire boy."

'Little… As if these kinds of stupid little words used to bug me.'

Two military men walked down the dark street towards him and his three companions, Ed stepped forward, guarding, Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu…

'These people saved me and they sure as hell don't deserve to pay for this.'

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's our job." The man who spoke earlier said,

"You can freeze us Fullmetal, we know that well, but you should also be able to understand us. You were in the military before, you know that the only way we end these kinds of things is to kill the bad guy. And that's you boy. We-" The other guy said just as Ed felt a movement behind him.

"No! You can't!"

'Ling! What is he doing? Mere humans with guns can't kill me.'

*Bam*

'But they can kill a human…'

"L-ling…" Lan Fan whispered as she stared at said man. He was standing like a brick, not moving, and then, suddenly, all at once…

"LING!" Lan Fan shouted and ran to catch Ling as he tumbled to the ground. Ed smelt it before he saw it pour out. Ling's blood began forming a puddle and his breathing sped up.

Ed's eyes turned red with fury and bloodlust, and as he screamed out his rage, the two military men froze into huge ice blocks. Ed didn't, and couldn't stop, he proceeded to clap his hands and transmute his auto mail arm into a weapon. He slowly walked up to the man who shot Ling. The man's open and frozen eyes seemed to see Ed coming at him before he was cut into two.

"Stop boy! That won't change anything." Ed turned to said voice as he was beginning to storm over to the other man, but the familiar voice stopped him.

In the silence Ed heard his breathing calm and Fu crying with Lan Fan at his side. They stared at their dying master Ed felt a rush come to him. 'This was his fault. He-'

"It's a pity humans are so weak…" Ed's narrow eyes turned the voice even though he already knew the owner.

"Wrath why- wait humans" It took a second for it to click, but once it did Ed took no hesitation and turned to Ling's side. In a flash he was hovering over him, his eyes glowed a deep crimson as he took in the awfully strong scent of the all too familiar blood.

Ed let his fangs elongate and he leaned into Ling's neck, then with his tough he found the sweet spot, the vein his fangs had met with so many times before.

Fu and Lan Fan stared with eyes wide. They didn't know was worse, Ed`s brutal rampage on the military man or that he was now about to feed on a man dying of blood loss.

"I'm sorry." Ed whispered as he bit down. After a few filling gulps he broke the luring thirst that controlled him and was able to pull away. His elongated fangs didn't have to dwell without blood for long as Ed proceeded to bite down on his own wrist.

After slurping some of his own crimson liquid Ed turned to Ling's open mouth, it looked like he was waiting for this…

And just as Envy had with him, Ed swiped down to Ling's lips, kissing him hard as to not let the blood escape. He opened his own mouth slightly to let it down fall into Ling's mouth.

Ed leaned back to wait and watch… But nothing happened. Ed stared down at his unconscious and unmoving friend. Moments passed but still… Nothing. 'Shouldn't he be thrashing about? The transformation is too painful to not… Why-?"

"Why isn't he turning?!" Ed said and looked over at Lan Fan and Fu who both had their eyes dropped. 'What`s happening? What do I not know?!'

Lan Fan ran her arms under her master and stood up, Fu did the same, and they turned around.

"This is goodbye. So long Peter." She whispered to him before moving forward with Fu on her trail. Ed stared down at the dark and bloodied asphalt.

'Why…'

Wrath walks up to Ed, "Not everyone survives the transformation Ed..."

"But it has to, why'd I survive?"

"Because you sinned boy."

Ed's eye's widened but he remained silent. 'Human transmutation…'

"We were looking for you, why'd you hide from us?"

Ed didn't answer again and only closed eyes, he took. 'It's time…'

Bradley was getting annoyed, he gave Ed another look before trying again.

"Why did you expose yourself now?"

"I realized I was wrong to run away. I want to join you and the rest of the vampires. I know your goal and I want to help you."

Wrath smirked.

AN: Sarrrry for my break guys~~~~~ Review and fav for next chapter please!