A/N: You may notice that the first few chapters are undergoing a slight change in wording, etc. I'm slowly rewriting them to make them fit with my current writing style :) No content will be lost, though!

As he slowly come to, Roy Mustang let out a low groan before he cautiously opened his eyes, only to squeeze them shut a beat later with a hiss when he was greeted by a blinding light. Gritting his teeth, he desperately tried to recall what happened and where he was, because it certainly was not the hospital. Trying to, at the very least, move and sit himself up, he discovered that his hands and legs were bound.

This was definitely not the hospital…

Then a small, "Sir," broke through the darkness he had brought upon himself and his eyes immediately flew open again. Swiveling his head to his left, he saw Riza Hawkeye lying on a table next to him; battered, bloody, bruised… and bound just as he was. Her brown eyes flickered back and forth as she examined him, looking for any signs of immediate hurt or distress on his face.

"Lieutenant-"

Suddenly, everything that had happened returned to him all at once.

He had instructed her to get his uniform so that he could leave the hospital. They left and had been driving home when something slammed into Riza's car, sending them hurtling into an embankment. The details after that, however, were fuzzy; filled with fragmented memories of Riza's voice and sharp, shooting pains as he was jostled and jerked around.

"Are you alright, Lieutenant," he uttered, his voice gravelly and rough.

"I'm fine," she murmured back as she slowly nodded her head. "Are you-"

"I'm alright," he replied with a weak smile in assurance. Aside from the concussion he assumed he had sustained from the crash, and the fresh, yet healing, burn to his side, he was… Alright.

When she tried to speak again, she was cut off as a voice pierced the darkness that otherwise surrounded them. Turning his head toward it, Roy narrowed his eyes and scowled as a man in a white jacket emerged from behind them.

Grinning a devilish gold-laced smile, he peered at Roy over the rims of his glasses as he said, "I have to say that I'm surprised to see you here, Mustang. I had expected your purpose to be a different one. But," he added as his gleeful grin stretched from ear to ear, "I can't say I'm disappointed."

"Where are we," Roy snarled as he checked his bindings again, finding that they felt even tighter than before

"Those details are unimportant at this point, Colonel," the man quipped as he waved him off. "Since it really won't make much of a difference knowing." Then he turned his attention toward Riza and stepped over to her, leaning over her as she flinched away. Unfazed by this action he moved closer and grabbed her chin, turning her face toward him.

"Get your hands off her," Roy roared, fighting against the bindings.

Suddenly a dark shadow loomed over him as a commanding, yet soft voice mumbled, "I wouldn't look it I were you, Colonel."

Taking his eyes off Riza for the moment, they snapped up to see a blond, bearded man standing over him. Noticing he had Roy's attention for the moment, the man explained, "The process is excruciatingly painful, and there are few that are able to accept it."

"What process," Roy snarled as his eyes darted between the man and Riza, trying to keep tabs on both of them. She, however, had focused her attention on the coated man who was now in the corner of the room, hunched over something and working feverishly on it.

"You will understand very shortly, Colonel," the man soothed. "But for now, keep your focus on me."

His eyes snapping back up to the man, Roy growled, "So who the hell are you?"

"All in due time," the man assured cryptically. "Everything will become clear soon enough."

"Well I want answers," Roy snapped back as he jerked against the restraints in defiance.

The blond-haired man let out a long and tired sigh. After a few moments of contemplating Roy's request, he relented and said, "If that will give you the final bit of peace you so crave, then I will tell you.

"You see, Colonel Mustang, you and your Lieutenant have become quite the threat to our plan; after all, you managed to kill two of my children in a single night. And given your past and ambitions, simply asking for you to accept our presence and cooperate will not do.

"So instead I've decided to offer you something. Something that will make you cooperate. Should you accept it, you will have more power than you could ever imagine."

"We refuse," Roy bit back. "The Lieutenant and I would never accept anything like that."

"Oh, I wasn't giving you a choice," the bearded man clarified. "You will receive it regardless of what you say, but whether you two accept it or not will be the deciding factor."

Hearing a muffled cry, Roy's head instantly twisted around to see the doctor leaning over Riza, his elbow planted firmly against her sternum and his hand clapped over her mouth, pinning her down to the table. Her wide, panicked eyes found and locked on Roy's, screaming silently in both terror and confusion.

Feeling a burst of adrenaline surge through him, Roy let out a feral yell as he began to twist and turn against his restraints, lifting his core off of the table and slamming it down in a combined fit of desperation and rage.

The doctor, unfazed by Roy's cries, continued as if nothing were amiss, raising his other hand to display a syringe of viscous red liquid. Lowering it, he then steadied his it before he plunged the needle into her neck, eliciting a muffled wail from her as she continued to struggle beneath his firm hold. As he pushed down on the plunger, Roy saw her eyes widen and her pupils dilate as her body began to accept the unidentified concoction into its veins.

A beat later a blood-curdling scream erupted from her, partially muffled by the man's hand as he continued to restrain her. Roy could only watch and continue to cry out and struggle as her body began to convulse and writhe.

"Lieutenant...! LIEUTENANT!" Using every ounce of strength he had, Roy jerked against the shackles that bound his wrists and ankles, cutting deeply into his flesh. But none of that mattered. The blood. The pain. Nothing.

No matter what. He had to break free. He had to save her–

A pair of hands suddenly grabbed Roy's head and twisted it around so that he was staring into the golden eyes of the bearded man once again.

"I told you not to look," he muttered just loud enough to be heard over Riza's muffled cries. "The process is extremely painful. Not everyone survives."

Upon hearing this, Roy frantically tried to jerk his head away from the man's firm grip. Fighting, struggling, he finally managed shift it enough to watch from his peripheral vision as her spasms slowed then stopped, the echoed sounds of her thrashing against the table growing dimmer as they slowly bounced off of the walls of the otherwise empty room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just barely make out Riza's stilled form. Then, he watched as a series of red sparks illuminated her bloodied fingertips, raw and worn to the bone from trying to claw into the stainless steel table.

"Mm, good good," the bespectacled man mumbled as he eyed the sparks that flitted around Riza's fingers. "I think we may have a success over here."

"L-lieutenant," Roy quietly called as the man adjusted his glasses. Riza did not stir, lying eerily still. "Lieutenant," he called again, louder that time.

When she still did not answer, a sense of panic washed over him. Fighting harder against the restraints, he focused in on her and tried to roll and writhe away from the impossibly tight grips on his wrists and ankles, calling her rank louder each time.

He had been so focused on her that he did not immediately register the second shadow that fell over him. The moment her name left his lips was the moment the second needle found his jugular.

Suddenly a burning sensation erupted throughout Roy's entire body, a feeling akin to that of being consumed by his own flames. Biting down on his tongue, he stifled back a scream as his body reacted to the agony, twisting and contorting as it multiplied exponentially with every passing second. All at once it felt as though his bones were being broken, his organs ruptured, and his heart pierced by thousands of blades.

No longer able to hold it back, he bit through his tongue before opening his mouth and letting loose his body's torment. Twisting, jerking, and pulling against the restraints with what remained of his strength, he snapped his head to the side and managed to catch a glimpse of blonde hair and dark eyes through the splotches of red that had begun to dot his vision. Trying to keep his focus on that one significance, he pushed against everything that held him back, his fingers slowly extending toward her.

But when he tried to call her name one last time, the only think to escape his lips was a spurt of blood as his lungs contracted. Trying to catch a breath, he pushed through the pain and willed himself to continue fighting until the very moment his life would cease… because she needed him. That single notion, however, was the last thought that crossed his mind before the darkness gripped him and plunged him into its endless abyss.

"'Sir.'"

Lazily opening his eyes, 'Colonel Roy Mustang' looked up at the blonde-haired Lieutenant that stood before him, her arms crossed over a bundle of files and papers.

"Yes, Lieutenant," he asked, trying his best to hide his smirk.

Seeing his attempt, the corner of her lip twitched upward before she masked her expression once more. "It would seem that the Elric brothers are causing quite a stir downtown, as if they're purposefully seeking attention."

"Is that so," came his reply. "One can only wonder what they're up to."

"Indeed," she responded to his musing. "From what I've heard, Scar has been seen in the area as well."

He sighed. "Well if that's the case," he said as he pushed his chair back and got to his feet, "It's best find we find them before they get themselves killed."

"Yes, sir," she agreed as she set the papers down on his desk.

Glancing over at the solitary soldier that was sitting in the corner of the room tinkering with a radio, Mustang said, "The Lieutenant and I are going to investigate this matter further. Should Lieutenant Breda or Officer Falman report back before then, tell them to get started on organizing and filing the Rodgers papers."

"Yes, sir," the black-haired man replied with a crisp salute. "I'll let them know if they should return."

"Thank you," the Colonel responded as he grabbed his jacket off of his chair and threw it over his shoulders. As he was about to motion for the Lieutenant to follow, however, he caught the Sergeant still staring. When he turned to face him, the timid young man quickly looked back down at his radio and began to mess work on it again. Deciding that it wasn't worth his time, the Colonel motioned for his Lieutenant to follow.

As soon as they stepped into the hallway and closed the door, the blonde-haired soldier murmured, "He might suspect something."

The Colonel nodded. "We'll just have to try and modify our behavior to better fit theirs. We want to maintain these façades for as long as possible."

She hummed in response as they began to head toward the front doors of Central Command. "It shouldn't be too hard," she mused. "I just need to maintain a show of loyalty and complete and utter devotion to you, while you just need to act as arrogant and self-assured as him."

The Colonel let out a low whistle and smirked. "He definitely did not appreciate that comment."

Smiling back, the sniper replied, "Neither did she."

He chuckled slightly at the notion, at the shared bitterness of their hosts. Their other emotions and feelings were an incredible annoyance. But their bitterness, resent, rage: he could work with those.

As they walked out the doors and made their way down the steps of Central Command, he said, "Despite occasional annoyances such as that, our partnership should prove beneficial. After all, it is instinct." When they made it to the bottom of the staircase, he cocked his head toward her. "Keeping that in mind, will you still follow me," he asked as his dark-eyed glance was met by piercing violet eyes.

Her lips curled. "Of course. After all, I'd follow you into hell if you asked me to."