Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter 3

Pacing back and forth, Roy checked to see if the black wall would reopen and show the outside world. Currently, the outside Roy lay unconscious, the inside Roy didn't know where. He hoped someone had found the body; he didn't want to end up in the dead body of his other.

Roy tried not to think about if he would still be alive if his outside host died. Instead, he thought about the events that had just passed. These thoughts confused him and left him frustrated. The empty conscious Roy now lived him told him nothing, leaving, literally, in the dark.

He sighed irritably. He needs his Other to awaken. He needed to know the answers! And the other Roy needed to wake up for that to happen.

Idly, Roy thought about the difference between him and his other. He touched the left side of his face, right underneath his eye. The smooth cloth of his eye patch greeted his fingers . The Roy on the outside still had both eyes fully functioning. He was sure that they both sound the same. At the moment, it seems that the outside Roy's demeanor seemed to be more callous and cruel. But Roy couldn't say for sure if that was really what his Other's personality was really like.

Which is why Roy needed the Other to awaken!

He needed to know why he was chasing Edward. He needed to know why he mocked his friend. He needed to know why Edward had so much hate in him. He needed to know everything.

And here he was, stuck in the head of his look alike. He didn't even know if he was really here, in a head. How that was physically possible? Or scientifically for that matter.

Sitting down he continued his thought process. A smooth gooey spot greeted his hand. Looking down, Roy noticed his still open gunshot wound and his cracked hand. Flecking his fingers, he didn't feel anything, and his leg didn't even throb after all of his pacing. How he wasn't dead yet surprised Roy, but he didn't let it bother him. As long as he was alive, he didn't care.

His mind drifted back to his world. A mental image of Riza still pregnant entered his head. He smiled slightly at the image, but also wondered how long it had been since he had seen her. The morning of the attack, Roy kissed his wife goodbye and went to work. But from the attack to ending up in this Roy's head, how long had it been? Roy had no way of knowing.

What if it had been weeks? He would've missed his child's brith. And if he did, how did the procedure go? Could there have been any complications? What gender is his child? What would Riza name it? Who would it look more like? But if it hadn't been born yet, then when will it?

He paused in his thought process and laughed. A mental image of Maes Hughes then came to his mind. He remembered how Hughes was always talking about his wife and child. Always gloating and boasting; and always worrying as well. Roy now understood why Hughes was like that. He realized he was doing the same thing.

Roy thought about his other friends. What are they doing? Did they catch the terrorists that were in charge of the attacks? Could they? Roy knew that the Smiling Man went through a similar process that he did. Did he get placed in another's body as well? And who took over his place as General? Riza was his second in command; she should be the next General. But she was on maternity leave. Would the new Parliament really leave her in command with a child on the way? He doubted that they would.

Roy frowned. Thousands of thoughts flooded in and out of his head, all of them without answers.

Slowly, his thoughts settled down. He gave up trying to think about things he had no way of knowing. He looked back up towards the ebony space and hoped to see the outside world. Sadly, the dark abyss silently watched him. Turning back around, he thought about the possibilities of someone being in his head, just like he was in this one. He had no way of know that either and gave up the thought.

Leaning back, he rested against the black floor and gazed up at the equally black ceiling. He wished he felt tired enough to go to sleep. Roy sat back up with a realization. He had no idea as to how long he had been in this black hole, but it was long enough for him to know that he should be hungry, tired, and have an extreme urge to use the bathroom. But none of these bodily functions appeared. At the moment, he was no different than Alphonse in his suit of armor.

And that led him to another thought. Where was Alphonse?

Sound suddenly echoed into the darkness and Roy jumped in surprise. He quickly hopped to his feet and turned towards the dark wall. Finally, his other was waking up.

"Uhgg…." The noise repeated itself. The orbs remained closed, but beeps and clicks entered his ears. With a moment of concentration, Roy recognized theses clicks as medical sounds .

"Ahh good, he's waking up," An unfamiliar voice spoke in a clear strong voice. Roy knew the man spoke a different language, he could hear the odd accents and the foreign words. However the words registered clearly in his head, allowing him to understand what was being spoken. He suspected that he only understood it because he was in the Other's head.

"Wha….what happened?" Roy heard his familiar tone mumble the words. Slowly the orbs slipped open, slowly at first, showing the small lines of eyelashes. As they adjusted to the light, the eyes opened to their full capacity.

More alert than the man controlling the body, Roy took in every detail of the room. The floor was an off-white tile, which creased at the wall but continued to crawl halfway up the wooden structure. Where the tile stopped, it showed a thick wall that had the same ashen color. The cot he was laying in showed the same color, blending together with everything else in the room. On the wall closet to him, light streamed through the warped glass. The white walls reflected the light, giving the room seem to be an even brighter white.

The doctor stood by a brown wooden door, the only object that showed color in the pasty room. The doctor's coat matched the walls and floor. The coat was neatly buttoned up to the doctor's collar keeping the color of his under shirt a secret, but his pallid pants blended in with his coat making it hard to distinguish between the two. In his mind, Roy thought that if it wasn't for the doctor's dark, ebony hair, the man could stand by that wall for hours and Roy wouldn't know he was there.

Roy stole a quick glimpse outside from the window. From the partial view that he could see, the sky was a light purple mixing with bright pinks and rich crimsons. Small fluffy clouds dotted the sky, reflecting the soft warm colors of the setting sun.

"What happened?" The doctor asked, responding to the question. "You were shot! That's what happened." The Other's head turned from the doctor and looked up at the same off-white ceiling. Roy could here the doctor's footsteps ring against the walls.

"I was shot?" Roy heard the confusion in his outside voice. "I don't….remember that…" Roy could tell that his outside figure furrowed his eyebrows with confusion and worry; the orbs shrunk slightly. In the room outside, the doctor's footsteps stopped. A portion of a white gloved hand blocked half of Roy's view.

"You don't remember? Hmm… You don't have a fever. None of the drugs used in the surgery have side effects. You'll probably –"the doctor started to ramble his doctor-ly knowledge, but was interrupted by his patient.

"Surgery?" Roy noted the worry in his outside voice. "…That means I won't be able to work." The orbs quickly blurred upward and focused on the doctor that stood over him. The view rose slightly as the outside Roy struggled to obtain a sitting position. The doctor gently pushed back down.

"You were shot; of course you're not going to work, at least not here. The higher ups have secured a desk job for you while you are recovering." The doctor folded his arms over his chest and looked out the window. His skin soaked in the disappearing rays, his mouth creased downwards. "I'd say you're lucky. I think everyone needs to get away from this camp. Staying around too long will do things to you."

The outside Roy didn't say anything, but his view drifted down towards the bed. Roy stood in the empty abyss and wondered what they were talking about. The outside Roy's reaction to the comment was exactly how he reacts to things he wasn't proud of. Roy knew something was going on; in the back of his mind he was afraid that Edward was somehow involved.

"How long will I be out?" the Other asked after a moment, obviously trying to change the conversation. He didn't look up from his crisp, white bed sheets and comforter.

"For awhile. It depends on a lot of factors. But I'm guessing a couple months," The doctor replied. Roy looked up from the blankets and towards the pediatrician; he was looking down at Roy with a stern look that said: you're going to be out for a while, and you're going to like it. "Until then, I overheard that you'll be reassigned in Munich with the local law enforcement. You'll oversee the processes and what not."

"Is there any way to make it shorter?" Roy asked, annoyance seeping into his voice. He had no desire to be sitting behind a desk doing paper work all day.

"Of course. There are many options you can take. You can go out right now and use your shoulder as much as you want, as long as you want to deal with the pain and the broken stitches, and blood. But if you don't want to go that route, we can always cut off your arm. You'll be out for a couple of days with that but –"

"I get it!" Roy snapped at the doctor and turned to look up at the window. The light streaming in kept getting less and less, making the room grow darker and darker. "I just want to catch the little runt that did this to me." Malice rolled off of the words as the outside Roy quietly spoke them. Inside his head, Roy stepped forward, hoping to hear more about Ed.

The doctor didn't say anything, but stared down at Roy with a frown burrowing on his face. "What?" Roy asked, confused about the disappointing look.

The doctor looked away, "I'm sorry. My view on what happened is very different than yours." He crossed his arms in an unannounced protest.

"Your view on which part?" Roy asked curiously. Underlying underneath his question was more than curiosity but also wariness.

"Right now, the part where you killed his brother."

Without thinking, Roy stepped forward. Already his insides started to turn numb and he felt the blood rush down from his face and collect somewhere inside of his body. "What?" Roy asked more forcefully and louder than he wanted. He quickly sat up in his bed before the doctor could push him back down. Immeadiatly the world started to turn and he felt nauseas and his right shoulder burst into pain. He winced and clichéd at his arm.

He had stepped forward closer than he wanted to. Once more he took control of his other's body. Roy now looked out of two fully functioning eyes and out towards the doctor who now looked confused, worried and slightly disgusted.

"I'm a doctor, I save people, not destroy them," he replied, misunderstanding Roy's reaction. He glared down at Roy.

Roy immediately stepped backwards and found himself back in his surrounding darkness. He had no intention of taking over the body quite yet. For good measure, he stepped back a few more paces and continued to watch.

"What?" The outside Roy repeated in confusion. He looked up towards the doctor, "What are you talking about?" He looked down at his shoulder he still gripped, back towards his pillows and then back up to the doctor.

The doctor still glared down at Roy, and by how the orbs narrowed, he glared back as well. The doctor shook his head, and turned around and walked towards the door. "Forget about it. You've had a hard day, the medicine must be kicking in. Just lay down and rest." At the doorway, the doctor took one last look at the injured man and then turned off the lights and shut the door.

Roy was silent for a minute and then asked, "What's his problem?" Not waiting for an answer, he lay back down and rested against the stack of pillows. "So what if I killed the kid? I'm sure the Doc has had to put some down too. Doesn't need to get so uppity about it." He yawned and then started to close his eyes, once again, shutting out Roy's only light source.

Roy sat in the darkness, not moving. His eyes searched the endless abyss blankly, as he thought about the news that came from his own mouth. His stomach rolled as he thought sunk in. Alphonse is dead… He remembered the hate in he saw in Edward's eyes, the malice in his voice, all directed at him. And now he knew the reason.

His body grew numb in the darkness.

-WUttOS-

The strewn covers embraced Riza as she lay curled in bed. Sunlight streamed into the room. Rays of warmth encouraged her to get out of bed; however Riza remained cold and unmoving.

Tears dripped down the sides of her cheeks, creating a widening damp circle on her pillow. Taking a deep breath, her breath caught and stuttered before her lungs filled. Black Hayate lay curled under her arm, nudging his master's cheek with his wet nose.

Two days have passed since the disappearance of her husband. To Riza, these days never ended. Normally, she would take any hardship in stride, but this was different. The man she loved and married was now gone from the world without a trace.

The city remained shocked and scared after the terrorist attack. Backup forces came in too late, but managed to round up the remaining rebels still fighting. However the most disturbing sight was seeing the leader, crippled on the floor, clutching his bleeding hand that had been severed off in a clean cut. After getting him cleaned up and calmed down the military immediately questioned him on everything. The first thing asked was if he had anything to do with the happening of Roy Mustang. The man's eyes grew wide. In a shaky voice, he answered that he saw the General disintegrate before his eyes.

Officials assured her that the terrorist lied. However, Riza knew that was a lie. Over the phone, Armstrong comforted her with one hope. He said that in alchemy, 'disintegration' does not always mean being put into insignificant pieces and never be put back together again. Instead, Armstrong said that with the basic principals of alchemy, one must first take something apart before it can be changed. Roy could have gone through that reaction and been placed somewhere else. Mentally, Riza thought that he could be placed somewhere but changed completely or disfigured when put back together. But she appreciated Armstrong's effort. And in truth, she clung desperately to the thought that Roy could still be alive.

A clatter of pots and pans woke Riza from her daze. Ms. Hughes and Elysia had stayed the night to help Riza, and she was grateful for it. The only person who could understand what she was going through would be Gracia. She would know how to keep going in a dreary world.

Sighing, Riza sat up in bed she smiled weakly at Black Hayate who wagged his tail encouragingly. Using the sleeve of her pajama shirt, she wiped away stray tears and dried her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she started to climb out of bed. She slowly made her way downstairs after dressing in suitable clothes. She struggled to stop the stuttering in her breathing, but by the time she made her way downstairs the stutter still remained.

Elysia looked up as she heard Riza enter the cozy kitchen. On the table in front of her lay a series of colored pencils and abstract child drawings. Upon seeing Riza, she smiled widely and rushed out of her chair and greeted Riza with a hug. Unable to resist the innocence of a child, a smile tickled Riza's lips.

She stood back up, wobbling slightly; its been close to nine months but she was still unused to the weight of a child in her belly. She looked up at Gracia who leaned against the counter holding a cup of steaming tea. Her friend smiled encouragingly.

"Good Morning," Gracia said and poured Riza a cup of her own tea. Riza smiled politely and took the cup. She sat at the table and dipped the tea bag in and out of the water, mindlessly. The clink of Gracia's cup signaled that she took a seat beside her.

Black Hayate sat loyally beside Riza and looked up at his master. He whined slightly. Riza looked down and gently placed a hand on his furry head. Her companion wagged his tail back and forth. With her other hand, Riza started to push off the table. Gracia put her hand on top of hers, a signal for Riza to stay where she was.

"Elysia, why don't you take Black Hayate outside and feed him. I'm sure he'd like to play while he's out there," Gracia suggested and looked over at her daughter. Her daughter excitedly agreed and climbed out of her chair. Standing on her tip toes, Elysia grabbed Hayate's food and moved to open the door. With a nod from Riza, the obedient dog followed out the door with Elysia in the lead.

"You should just rest for now. It won't be much longer now until the baby comes," Gracia said. Riza nodded and took a sip of her tea. Riza knew that what Gracia said was true, but also an excuse to get Elysia out of the room, in case either one of them wanted to talk about what happened. Riza looked out into the sunny day and watched as Black Hayate played tag with Elysia.

"There is a letter addressed to you from Winry," Gracia said and pushed an unopened letter towards her. Riza didn't even bother to look at it. She knew it would say one of two things. It would either say that she was deeply sorry about what happened and if she could do anything, let her know; or it would say that she would be coming up to help in any way possible. Either way it would just bring up the topic of being gone from this world. Either way, she would probably end up crying because of it.

The two ladies were silent; Gracia respectfully keeping quite for Riza, and Riza desperately trying to grab a hold of life as it was now. Eventually, Riza looked up from her mug of tea and looked up at Gracia.

"Gracia, I…" She paused unsure of what she really wanted to say, "I don't know what to do." Tears started to slide down her cheek once more, with no end in sight. Gracia moved over a seat and wrapped her arms around her friend in a comforting hug. Riza leaned into it, grateful for the support.

-WUttOS-

Edward slowly ate the vegetable soup in front of him. The glass of milk on the table remained untouched, but the bowl was about to be drained for the third time. Finishing up the last drop, he leaned back from the table and stretched. He placed the spoon down beside a long sharp knife.

He looked at his automail that held the iron spoon. The automail on his right arm remained rusted and chipped, but a good cleaning and oiling will give it some of its original vitality. His other arm on the other hand, was thinner compared to his metal arm. It still held the majority of strength that he had when he was younger, but the malnutrition of the Dauchu concentration camp left him weak. The thing that bothered him the most was the series of numbers tattooed up his forearm.

It had been three days since his escape from the camp. Already he was feeling better and livelier. But yet at the same time depressed, and slightly confused. The man who had helped him, hid him in a small wooden cabin in the middle of the forest. He had come up everyday and gave him a supply of food and drinks. But here he was, free from the horrors of the camp, enjoying an actual dinner, and his brother wasn't able to share it with him. His heart sank and he unconsciously touched his right arm. Once upon a time, he risked his life to save his brother's. Now there was no way for him to even try. But he had come to accept death long before his brother's passing. But the thought of Human Transmutation still lingered in his mind.

But what confused him, was the man that killed his brother: Roy Mustang. Ed remembered back to when Al and he first entered the camp. Mustang was one of the first people he saw; and what he saw didn't please him. He was one of the higher officers in charge, and oversaw most of the work in the camp. He was loud, vulgar, and cruel to the prisoners of the camp; nothing like the military officer of Amestris.

On the first day of their prison camp, they found out about Ed's arm and leg. Intrigued by the idea, they left him alive. Ed would've sworn that he would be one of the first to go, and he wondered why they left him alive. However he soon found out. They were going to run tests on him. They studied his arm and leg, trying to find out how exactly it worked. They didn't dare take it apart out of fear of not being able to put it back together before the tests were completed. The officers and medical officials compared him with the other workers, more specifically his brother, in order to see if work quality improved. Other test required him to sit as they tried wounding his automail with various instruments such as guns and knifes.

It wasn't fun, and Ed didn't enjoy doing it, but as long as it kept him alive he would keep doing it. But all the while, Mustang was there and he seemed to enjoy the tests and watching Ed squirm as he endured painful tests.

And so his hatred for this world's Mustang began to grow. It wasn't like his hatred for his commanding officer, back home in Amestris. It was a friendly hate. He hated being given orders and having to follow the commands Roy issued. And not only that, Roy seemed to use him in order to help him in his own situation. But he still held a high respect for the man, and the hate was nothing but a superficial frustration. But the hatred, he had for this world's Roy Mustang, went deeper than Ed could ever believe.

And then Roy killed his brother.

Ed's hand tightened on his spoon. Realizing this, he released his grip and saw the spoon had molded against the ridges of his metal hand. He stared down at his empty bowl. When he met Roy in the clearing, he was ready to kill him. He wanted to get revenge for what he did to Al.

But then he sounded like the Colonel…

Ed sat and pondered what happened. The malice was there in Roy's voice when he threw the stick. But then he sounded like the Roy he once knew. The voice was still the same, but it was how he said it.

And what's more…He called me Fullmetal. No one has ever called me that here.

He thought back to when he first entered this world. Dante had sent him here. He woke up to find himself in a foreign room, and most surprisingly, with human limbs. But he was in someone else's body. As strange as that sounded, he knew it. The original host of that body spoke to him through his head. What happened to him after that? Ed thought back. He didn't hear from him afterwards. There was no way for me to kill his conscience. I must have blocked him out. But then the zeppelin fell on him, and in a sense he really did kill his other self.

But could that happen to the Colonel? Could he come here and take over another's body like I did? He didn't know if someone else could do it. He was able to, but Hohenheim said he had to find his body through the Gate, and Al just came right on in.

Ed thought more on the subject. The orginal Alphonse died. And there was a Hohenheim before Dad. But Paracelsus lived hundreds of years before this time. But was it because their other selves were dead that they could bring their original bodies from my world?

He frowned down at his soup bowl. He had no way to prove any of his theories. He tapped his metal fingers against the splintered wooden table.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Ed jumped in his chair. He looked over at the door as the person outside knocked again. Cautiously, Ed picked up the knife and went to the door, and slowly opened it. "You alright?" a familiar voice called as he caught a glimpse of Edward's face. Relieved, Ed opened the door in full and motioned to let the man inside.

As the man stepped inside, Ed watched the woods for any other movement. Satisfied he closed the door and greeted the man who saved him from the concentration camp. In his hand, the man held a package; it wasn't like the normal bulk of food that he normally brought. This time it seemed lighter and smooth.

"A new set of clothes," The man said as he saw the curiously look on Ed's face. "You can't stay here any longer. Someone will start catching on. But you look well enough to go through town without suspicious looks."

"All thanks to you," Edward said gratefully and took the package. He looked up at the man. When he first met him, the tall man had a mask hiding his facial features. Without it on, bushy blonde hair tumbled into his blue eyes. A small goatee covered his chin and small dimples appeared when he smiled. Ed had no idea what his name was. The man told Ed right off that he wanted to remain anonymous, he case something happened to happen. But he assured Ed that he had done this more than once, he doubted that he would get caught.

"Don't worry about it. I told you I was happy to help. Now hurry up and put these clothes on, and I'll take you to Munich." The man said as he started for the door.

"Munich?" Ed asked surprised.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" The man turned and asked, worried.

"No. I know people there. That'll probably be the safest spot for me," Ed reassured the man. He waited for the man to leave, and started to change. I probably won't stay there for long. Someone will notice that I'm from a Concentration Camp. I don't want anyone to get in trouble because of that. He thought specifically of the Hughes family. He might not even stay long enough to see them.

Author's Note: Whew got it done! This one took me awhile… Sorry for the wait. Please tell me what you think! Everyone in character? Oh and good news!!! Actually the news could go either way. But they're making a new Fullmetal Alchemist anime! I'm excited because it's Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm nervous because I'm afraid that the new series will ruin it. But still! New FMA!