Chapter One

To calculate the amount of cenz to use - because it's never said how much it's worth in my currency - I used the Hong Kong dollar amount. The Hong Kong dollar amount for 116.29 is approximately 15 dollars.

Ed walked into the convenient store late at night. He always went to the store late at night, and he was pretty sure his brother knew he was up to no good. Luckily for him, Alphonse was at the Hughes' house babysitting Elysia while Hughes and Gracia were out on a date night.

He walked through the store, eventually finding several items he had been looking for. Edward grabbed an assortment of foods: chocolate bars, gummy worms, donuts, cookies, brownies, muffins, everything he could fit into his hands and carry to the register.

"You having a party or something?" the cashier asked as he rang it up.

"Or something." Edward rolled his eyes. These people did nothing but pry into his personal business. What did it matter if he was having a party or not?

"116.29 cenz," the cashier said when the receipt finished printing.

"Got it." Ed dug into his pocket and pulled out the amount of money and paying for his items. Once he paid, Edward walked outside the store and headed straight to the alley beside the store.

He shoveled the food into his mouth. Ed didn't even care that he made a mess all over himself and all over the place. He was eating the food at an enormous rate and just couldn't stop. It wouldn't end. He was losing control.

Once the food had disappeared into Edward's mouth, it came out just as fast through his purging. Ed used his flesh finger to do the work - he hated cleaning chunks out of his automail. Once it was finished, he threw the trash in a nearby dumpster and headed toward Hughes' house.

"Brother, where have you been?" Alphonse asked when Edward finally returned to the Hughes household.

Ed didn't know why he did what he did, but he had been doing it for years. He knew it wasn't something people normally did, so he had to keep it a secret.

It started when Nina died three years prior. He had vomited at her exploded corpse and immediately felt a sense of relief. It was the first bit of relief that he was granted in a long time.

After that incident, it was something Ed kept up. He found it was better to throw up if he ate everything in sight first. It also made staying fit easier because he wasn't eating more calories than he burned, but that was not his ultimate goal - just a perk.

"I told you I had to pick something up," Ed fibbed, throwing himself onto the bed he was given at the Hughes household. They had been staying with the Hughes' for a week now, and Edward was given a bed years ago when he was thirteen. Al was given one too, but he just used it as a place to sit and read while waiting for Edward to wake.

"What did you pick up?" Al asked. Ed knew his brother was beginning to get suspicious at him leaving during the nights.

"Just some work stuff from Mustang," Edward fibbed once again. He hoped Alphonse wouldn't decide to check out that resource and find out it was a lie. Or even question what Mustang would be giving Edward so late at night.

"...All right, brother," Al said, deciding to give up on the suspicion for the time being. "I already put Elysia down for bed and Mr. Hughes called. He said they should be back in an hour or so."

"I'll be knocked out by then," Ed said. Puking his guts up always made him exhausted.

"All right, brother," Alphonse said with a hollow sigh. "Go to sleep; I'll be right here."

Yep, Ed thought to himself. You'll be right there waiting to catch me in the act.

Edward didn't wake until late the next afternoon. While he loved the relief he found from doing what he did, he hated how it made him sleep forever.

"Are you getting sick, brother?" Alphonse asked from beside the bed. He couldn't help but notice that his brother looked very pale and clammy. Like he might have a fever.

"No," Ed said quickly. He knew why he was like this; he had been all clammy like this before when he would purge. It just meant he needed to eat something and digest it. "I'll get some breakfast and be fine, Al; I promise."

"Breakfast?" Alphonse asked. "More like lunch, brother."

"Oh," Edward said. "Well, I'll get some lunch and be fine. Wanna spar after?"

"Only if you really start to look better after eating," Al answered.

"I'll be fine." Edward walked downstairs to the kitchen, seeing that there was already a sandwich beside a note that said, Edward. Gracia was always doing stuff like this.

After eating, Ed looked in the mirror and thought he looked a little better. He put the dishes in the sink and sought out his younger brother.

"Al!" Ed called. "Hey, Al!"

There was no answer.

"Al?" Edward asked as he walked into his bedroom where he last saw the suit of armor. Alphonse was still sitting on the bed where he left him.

"Don't you wanna spar?" Ed asked.

"You're sick, brother," Alphonse said.

"No I'm not," Ed responded. "I told you I'm not sick."

"You look awful, brother!" Al exclaimed. "You're all pale and sweaty!"

"I'm not pale; I just want to spar!" Edward shouted back.

"What's going on in here?" Hughes asked as he walked in the room.

"Brother won't admit that he's getting sick," Alphonse explained to the man.

"I'm not sick," Ed said, directed more toward Alphonse than Hughes.

"I have a thermometer if you wanna prove it, Ed," Hughes said. "You do look a little pale."

"Get the thermometer; I'll prove it," Edward said with a glare. He was confident he wouldn't set off any alarms by having his temperature taken.

Hughes walked out of the room, retrieving the thermometer from the bathroom cabinet before returning to the brothers' room. He held out the thermometer to the eldest Elric.

"Thank you," Ed said, sticking the wrapped tip under his tongue. Hughes grabbed it from his mouth when the thing was finished, disposing of the wrap that was around the tip while he read the thing.

"Edward, you have a fever," Hughes said. "You're 102. If it gets any higher, we gotta go to the doctor."

"No!" Edward shouted. The last thing he wanted was a doctor in his business.

"Well, until then, we gotta make sure you don't get to that point," Hughes said. "Get out of those ridiculous clothes. A coat and gloves with leather pants are not going to keep you cool."

"Fine, I'll get into some sweats or something," Ed said.

"Boxers, Ed," Hughes instructed. "You gotta wear light clothing if you want this to go down."

"Fine, I'll wear boxers then," Edward said. "Just go."

Hughes walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Ed removed his heavy clothing, wearing a t-shirt and boxers.

"Brother, what's that?" Alphonse asked, motioning to Edward's flesh hand. While it was normally covered with his gloves, this time it wasn't, and brought teeth marks and scabs to the surface.

"Huh?" Ed looked down at his hand before pushing it behind his back to hide it. "Oh, that's nothing. Sometimes my automail pinches at my other hand and it just makes marks."

"I could have sworn that looked like teeth marks..." Al said.

"Probably just a coincidence," Edward said. "I'm gonna sleep. Gotta rest out the fever, right?"

"...Right."

Ed groaned when he awoke. He could see through the window in the bedroom that it was dark outside. He had slept far too long for his liking - all day.

Alphonse noticed that his older brother was awake; immediately going to the side of the bed.

"Are you all right, brother?" Al asked. "Do you need anything? I can get you some water if your throat hurts."

"Why would my throat hurt?" Edward asked, but he did notice that it was aching a bit and his voice sounded a little raspy.

"You kept saying that your throat hurt in your sleep," Alphonse said. "So I thought you might want some water when you woke up."

"How long was I asleep?" Ed asked.

"All of yesterday and today," Alphonse answered. "Mr. Hughes said that it was your fever that kept you asleep. If you didn't wake up by tomorrow morning we were gonna take you to the hospital."

"No hospitals," Ed said.

"I know, brother," Al responded, and if he could, Edward just knew he would be smiling. "So; water?"

"Sure," Edward said. Alphonse left the room, returning with a cup of water. Ed practically chugged it. The youngest Elric then revealed that he had returned with the thermometer as well. "Oh, come on."

"I just want to see if your fever broke," Al said. "You know I can't tell..."

Ed felt guilty at this. He groaned.

"Fine."

Taking the temperature was quick. Once again, Edward didn't get to read his own temperature, having the thing taken by whoever was in the room.

"98.9, brother," Alphonse announced. "You're back to normal!"

"Cool," Ed said. "Does that mean we can spar in the morning?"

"I don't know, brother..." Al trailed off. "Oh, the colonel wants to see you in his office tomorrow. Well, he said as soon as you were better. I think he's got a mission for you."

"Awesome." Edward grinned. "Now I don't wanna go back to sleep."

"You probably should, brother," Alphonse suggested. "You wouldn't want to be tired when the colonel gives you your mission, would you?"

"All right, all right; you have a point," Ed said with a roll of the eyes. "I hate it when you make sense."

"Just call me Jiminy Cricket."

"Harr harr."