I hated to leave, I really did. But it had to be done. As soon as I have something figured out I'll come get Al. But I don't want him sleeping in parks as I do. Which reminds me, the mornings are getting colder and colder, and it's only been a few days. I curl back into a ball and as I do, I hear footsteps. Probably some sort of passerby, however the poking and prodding on my head tells me otherwise. I lift my head up to see who it is, if it's the police I'm in some serious trouble. However, I come to face coal black eyes, midnight black hair that's a bit messy and a strong and bold face. The boy didn't look like he was that old, so he was probably either my age or a bit older.

"Say, are you going to just sit there and freeze? I'm pretty sure your folks are worried about you. 'Sides, why're you out here of all places, people could spot that coat of yours a mile away." I really didn't like this boy in the slightest. He acted like the kind of people that I just hate.

"Fuck off already. Just lemme alone." So with that, I curled my head back into my ball. I heard something drop and footsteps walking away. When I was sure that he was gone, I lifted my head and looked around on the ground and found a plastic bag with something in it. I pulled the bag up and looked inside. It was a sandwich that was bought from a store and there were two bottles of water in it. I poked my head out of the cylinder that I was laying in and saw that the boy was nowhere to be found. So I opened one bottle of water and had that gone within a few minutes, the sandwich didn't even last that long. When I saw the price however, I wished I had never even looked upon it. I didn't even have that much in my pocket. A seven dollar sandwich. Oh hell, I'm in so much trouble. What if he didn't mean for me to eat it and when he came back later he looked for it, found out I ate it and called the police! Crap! Looking in my pocket, I found that I had five dollars. Okay, so somehow I have to get two more. So I ran up and down the streets looking for change that people dropped that would maybe add up to two dollars. It was nearing sundown and I had only found a dollar. I still needed a dollar more! I started pulling at my hair as I sat back down on the outside of the cylinder. I couldn't believe I was so stupid. Suddenly I found another person's hands tugging on the hands that were pulling on my hair.

"Your hair is too amazing to be pulling on it like a dog does a chew toy." I flinched back really fast I kept thinking that it was him. However I saw the same coal black eyes and midnight black hair from this morning. I frantically pulled out the five and few cents I had and slid near him enough that I could put the six dollars in front of him. As soon as I did, I slid back to a safe distance that would be difficult to get me. I may have been in the wrong, but I didn't want to die yet. He looked at it quizzically, not quite sure of it's purpose.

"I'll get your other two dollars tomorrow. I don't have it all right now." It was like he had been hit with a meteor, he finally got what it's purpose was.

"You do realize that you didn't have to pay me back right? I have enough money to afford these kinds of things. And you look like you could seriously use some food. So how about you let me get you something?" Either he was being kind or sympathetic. Or it was a trap, just like that time. I shook my head.

"Nope. I know what you're up to. I'm not going to fall for it either." I moved back even further.

"Oh? And what am I up to exactly?" He raised an eyebrow at me while giving a cocky attitude.

"You play Mr. Nice Guy and then you either kidnap me to use for various things, or you end up killing me." I wasn't dealing with it right now. Nope.

"Well, if you want to consider me asking you to dinner as me kidnapping you, then go ahead. But I'm going to tell you, I hate, despise, and would love to kill people who would do that to anyone. So ya." He kinda looked over to the side as he said 'so ya', but he looked me dead in the eye as he said everything else. So either he's amazing at lying or he's telling the truth.

"Depends on where you're talking, because I really do not trust you. Hell, I don't trust anyone really. But that is besides the point." As he pondered it over in his head, I looked at his choice of clothing. It was a uniform from a private school I passed a few times today looking for money. He was a rich kid. While he was lost in space thinking, I took the chance to bolt. I ran away as far I could. After a while I found a good size tree and I climbed up it and sat against the trunk while sitting on a pretty thick branch. That boy from earlier was at the base of the tree and was yelling up to me.

"Hey! Why'd you run off? You should get down from there, it'll be dark soon and getting down from a tree in the dark is dangerous!" I shook my head even if he couldn't see me. So after about five minutes or so, he finally left and went the opposite way I had ran. Before I knew it, it was morning. I hadn't slept at all, he was right about one thing, being in a tree at night it very dangerous and if you fall asleep, you'll be lucky to wake up in the morning. So I climbed down, nearly missed my footing a few times due to lack of sleep and saw that I had ran to a big tree in the center of the academy I passed by yesterday. I saw a young women with blonde hair and a blue uniform walking up to the door. I ran up to her yelling to hold up a second. I finally caught up to her and asked her a few questions.

"Do you know who I would talk to about enrolling here?" The young lady somewhat laughed.

"Yes I do. You're speaking with her right now. Please come inside." As soon as we walked in the doors, I saw just how amazing it really was. there were no cracked walls, it had spiral stair cases, carpeted floors, gold spiraling staircases. Windows that were huge and some were stained glass. Others were just plain see through windows. There was a crystal chandelier that was hanging from the center that lighted the room up in a soft glow of light. Lining the sides of the staircases were lamp like lights. The whole place was just amazing.

"You act as though you've never been in a place such as this. Have you not?" I heard the lady ask.

"Umm, can we talk about this somewhere else please?" I had taken into notice that there were a few students there already and they were all looking at me weirdly. I noticed however, that some of them were wearing uniforms and others were wearing regular clothing. So as we walked to who knows where, I took in more of the sight. It was so much like the front entrance it was scary. Finally we stopped in front of a door that read: Ms. Riza Hawkeye. As she entered without knocking first I assumed she was . She sat down in a chair behind a desk and motioned for me to sit in a chair in front of her. As I did, I noticed how comfortable chairs could really be.

"So you are interested in our school. Care to explain what sparked your interest?" Honestly, nothing really did, ya the rich stuff was amazing, but that's not why.

"Honestly, sure the flashy stuff like in the entrance way was really amazing, but that isn't why. I want to go here because I want to be in school and I heard you guys have very good education. It's like that." Ms. Hawkeye seemed a bit surprised that it was because I wanted to come here over an education. I think.

"Is that so. And how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen. Turning seventeen in a few months." She seemed to think it over a bit.

"How about your name?"

"I'm Edward Elric." She, I now noticed, was writing these things down.

"Have you ever been held back a year?" I shook my head. Nope, if anything I had honors in all of my classes.

"I see, are you new to the area?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"Do you have a job?" Crap.

"I'm in the process of looking for one." She nodded again before speaking.

"Okay Mr. Elric. I'll tell you a bit about our school and it's customs for it. We are a very proud school who take in only the best of the best. See, here, like most schools, you have a fee usually to pay. However, we give you one month to prove a few things. A deal we have here is that the higher your grade, the cheaper it is to be here. So say you have an F over all, you'll have to pay all 23,000 to be here. However, if you have an A overall, and have A's in all your classes, you don't have to pay anything. We also have several classes to choose from for whatever suits you. We also have uniforms as I'm sure you noticed, but you only have to wear them on days that are needed for uniforms, like a field trip, picture day, school spirit day, you get the picture. So then, from just that, do you still want to join our school?" She gave a cocky smile as though she expected me to say 'Oh no! This is most certainly not the school for me!" However, my response was.

"Oh no! This is most certainly the school for me!" She looked at me like she had saw something unsightly. However then she smiled a very sweet smile.

"Well then, Mr. Elric, we look forward to having you at our school. You can get your uniform now, or you can get it after school. You don't need to wear it today." I simply nodded my head.

"Thanks, I'll get it after school." Ms. Hawkeye smiled again and motioned for me to follow her. So I did. After walking what felt like forever, she led me to this classroom and knocked on the door. After a minute, the door opened and a man who looked like he was in his middle twenties answered and raised an eyebrow.

"Ms. Hawkeye? And to what do I owe this lovely visit?" They both clearly didn't like each other, however they kind of acted like they were the best of friends. I watched as 's eye twitched and she forced a smile on her face as she introduced me.

"Yes, Mr. Marcoh, this would be a new student of yours. His name is Edward Elric. He just transferred here today and I wanted to get him situated as fast as possible. I was thinking perhaps you would be kind enough to lend me a student of yours who will take good enough care of Mr. Elric here and to show him around our school." Mr. Marcoh was a bit of a big man on the short side. He was definitely nearing old age, and he had a haircut with his black hair shaved underneath and a bit on the long side was the top half of his hair with points coming out on each side. He was wearing a white button up top with a red tie and black pants like my own but more on the professional side. He glared at me and then, if even possible, his glare got even more threatening.

"Mind to explain why a slob like his self is here? Because this is a great school, and I won't let his indecency tear down our name." Ms. Hawkeye just smiled and looked from me to Mr. Marcoh.

"You know what, you're right Mr. Marcoh. I do where slobish like clothes because this is all I happen to have, so I'll leave now before I cause you anymore problems. I'm sorry for any inconvenience I've caused." I turned on my heels to walk away and I got about five feet before someone grabbed onto my hood. I froze for a second, then I spazzed because I kept thinking, 'Oh my god, he's back and this time he really will kill me.' Then my captor pulled me back to them and wrapped their arms under my arms to pick me up off the ground. I calmed a bit because I didn't want to somehow fall and nearly die. I turned my head to see that it was the boy from the park and it seemed like he was everywhere, including when I actually slept.

"Mr. Elric, this is Mr. Roy Mustang. He will be your guide today around the school and will hopefully be your friend. Okay Mustang, you may go show him around now, I have business to attend to with Mr. Marcoh here." Mustang looked a lot more happy then should have been necessary after Ms. Hawkeye told him so.

"Okay, I'll take the most of the best care of him possible Mam'." And with that Mustang let me down and still had a hold on to one of my arms. Actually, he had a hold onto my real arm, so that's a good thing….I think. We walked around and around, him pointing out various things, the Library, the cafeteria, the different classrooms, the teachers lounge, the counseling office, bathrooms, etc. The final thing he showed me was what turned both of our worlds into an uproar. We were in a clearing of sorts on the school premises, but we were a ways away from the school, so I couldn't call for help if I needed it. We came to a tree that had a bench made of concrete under it. It had the schools name imprinted on it, Academy of Philosophy. We sat down and I wanted to fall asleep already, going a half a night without sleep, then having to look for change the next day, then not sleeping the next night at all for fear of falling out of the damned tree, then having to walk around the entire day at your new school certainly takes a toll on you. As we sat there, I was starting to get on edge a little bit because I wasn't used to silence. Just as I was about to say something, Mustang turned to face me and asked me a question.

"Hey, Ed, how come you always run from me? I want to be your friend, hell, I want to help you, but you keep running from me and I can't help you. Please Ed, tell me what's going on." I don't know why, and I may never know why, but I told him almost everything. From the time mine and Al's mom died and our dad leaving us, and then my accident that caused me to lose two limbs, about Winry and Granny, about my brother and how I had to leave him, about living from apartment to apartment, about the various fights I've been in, about the various schools and neighborhoods, everything except about him, and what he did to me. By the time I had finished, it was getting to be pretty late, not late late, just probably around five or so.

"Ed, I had no idea that a person could go through a bunch of things like that. You have literally seen what Hell looks like. I am so sorry Ed." Mustang suddenly wrapped both arms around me pulling me to his chest and held on tight. I felt something drip onto my head and felt it snake it's way down my head and face, Mustang was crying. He was crying, for me. But why? He had done nothing wrong. I cautiously wrapped my small arms around him and just rested there for who knows how long. Then his voice wrapped the air in a thick fog.

"Aww, look at that. Little Edward has found a new playmate for me. How cute you two will look in my games." I froze, I couldn't have dreamed this could I? I know I didn't fall asleep, but how the hell is he here? I felt Mustang hold on even tighter and then stand up.

"Who are you and what are you doing on the school grounds? And what do you want with Edward?" Mustang was seriously mad, I could tell in the way he had a slight growl to his voice.

"Well there are various things you could call me. You can call me Ed's playmate, you could call me Ed's special person, or you can call me Ed's rapist since that's what everyone insists that I am. Now Eddie, come along with me and we shall continue our fun and no one will have to get hurt again." I froze even more if even possible. I raised my head a bit to the man of my nightmares.

"No one will be hurt again? Promise?" He just smirked a bit.

"But of course, as long as you do as I say and not put up a fuss, I promise you, no one will be hurt in this. I swear." I didn't want anyone getting hurt again like those kids did, so I guess this is the only way to do it. I took a step forward, but Mustang grabbed my arm in a way of trying to stop me.

"Ed, no you can't go back to whatever he did. Please Ed, I refuse to let you go." I used my automail arm to punch him in the stomach. Mustang, kind of hunched over before falling, I kneeled down next to him and looked him in the eyes.

"Mustang, you don't get it do you? If I don't go and do as he says people who're innocent will be hurt. I can't allow that to happen again when I can prevent it, okay? Thanks for showing me around the school and listening to my stupid problems when you didn't need to." Roy raised a shaky hand to my face, with his pain stricken face, you could have thought that he was dying, but he was fighting to stay conscious. I've done this enough to know the difference.

"Ed…." With that he passed out. I put my coat over him so he'd at least stay somewhat warm and walked over to the man whom I hated more than my life, and that was saying something.

"Alright Eddie, let's go." He grabbed onto me and pulled and pushed me along to his car. Goodbye Roy Mustang.