Author Note: Yay, I updated. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter - I wanted to introduce Roy and where he was before he was reintroduced to Riza and everything, not to mention I wanted there to be Maes - lots and lots of Maes. Gah, you just gotta love Maes. Actually, he was the inspiration for this fanfic - that and the idea of him in the modern world sending thousands of pictures to Roy on his picture phone. XD Poor, poor Roy. I just love to torture the poor guy, don't I? Also, before I forget, I have no idea why the fic is called "Eternity: Velocity or Pause"… It just sounded cool at the time…?

Disclaimer: I still don't own Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist nor Olivia Lufkin's 'Dreamcamp' nor anything else.

Chapter One: 36-22-37

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"It's so easy to get lost in this
Lovely brutal world"

--

October 17, 2389

Roy Mustang woke up with a jolt, his breathing coming in short, shuddering gasps. He sat up, clutching his left side. His breathing slowly slowed to normalcy, as he sat up amongst his tangles of bed sheets. His head ached, but his heart hurt more… Like he'd lost something - someone - very dear to him. But he couldn't quite remember who.

"That dream again, huh?" he said aloud to himself, wiping a thin sheet of sweat from his forehead. He couldn't remember the dream, in fact he never remembered his dreams. This particular one, though, he knew, because each time he woke up in gasps, silently screaming. He'd been having it more often lately. Roy rubbed his forehead trying to remember. He was almost there… He could almost remember. But something was blocking him from getting any further, and the more he tried to find the answer, the farther he got from remembering. His dreams were - like - long forgotten memories, if only he could remember them.

Roy sighed, glancing around his bedroom, which wasn't quite messy nor entirely well managed. His backpack was laying at the bottom of his bed, homework untouched - hopefully he'd be able to finish it all quite quickly in homeroom, as he usually did. His dirty clothes mostly lay in a pile on the floor, though some were strewn about, while his hamper sat right next to it, quite empty. Other than his computer, his bedroom was mostly just books - books about Amestrian politics and government, history (especially books about the Promise Day and the days leading up to it), chemistry books, and other nonsense books, all piled haphazardly upon his bookshelf, the floor, and - for one reason or another - in the drawers of his dresser (empty of clothes, of course).

Rubbing his eyes, Roy sighted his alarm clock and growled acrimoniously. He'd barely even gotten any sleep at all, it was still the seventeenth of October. Laying back down, he stared up at his ceiling, huffing in frustration. It took a while, but before he knew it his eyes were closed and his breathing turned even as he fell into a fitful slumber.

--

"I must go to sleep
So I can scream as loud as I want
Without attention
I must go to sleep
So I can follow the whispers
To my dreams"

--

October 18, 2389

Roy jumped in surprise when the loud and annoying ring tone he'd chosen for Maes's calls rang out. Still more than half asleep, he let his head fall back into his pillow, muttering about how he was going to kill Maes, though not until tomorrow. He didn't have the energy quite yet. Of course, Maes wasn't one to be trifled with, and he persisted in calling him, and after about five minutes of trying to ignore him - what had Roy been thinking? One just simply couldn't ignore Maes Hughes, because his best friend was the most irritating man on the planet - he began to riffle through his bag to find his cell. It took a while, but the dark haired boy finally dug his cell phone from the bottom of his book bag and answered Maes's call.

"What do you want, Maes?" he asked, or rather, growled.

Not at all put out by Roy's attitude - or perhaps spurred on by it - Maes squealed. Girlishly and loudly.

"Gah - The hell is wrong with you Maes? Screaming like a goddamn girl." Roy snapped irritably, as he fell back onto his bed, wondering if it was possible to talk to his best friend and get some sleep at the same time. Probably not, but you couldn't blame a guy for trying - there was nothing like Maes squealing in your ear to make you want to go back to bed.

"There is no raining on my parade, today Roy! I've got the news of the century! Seriously man, you are going to piss your pants when you hear what I've got all to tell you!" Maes crowed. Roy could just see him gesturing wildly as he ranted. "Now open your damn window. I've been out here the past ten minutes - you seriously sleep like a log, dude."

"What?" Roy sitting up again, glancing over to his window, his jaw dropping. There sat Maes, clinging desperately to his ledge. "This is the third story! How in the hell did you-?"

"Details, Roy, details! Now open your window man, before I fall and turn into a bloody pancake on what is supposed to be - like - the happiest day of my life."

Completely and totally wide awake now, Roy stumbled to his window and threw it open, before leaning over to help Maes into his room. Awkwardly, the bespectacled teen crawled through his window, and - for one reason or another - finding the situation hilarious, was giggling up a storm.

"Thanks man. I seriously thought I was going to die out there." Maes said, smiling broadly now that his feet were on firm ground in Roy's bedroom, safe and sound. He placed his right hand in the pocket of his jacket - gingerly? - before patting Roy on the back with his left.

Maes Hughes was Roy Mustang's best friend, and had been ever since their first year of Grundschule. From the moment they'd met, they had known they were meant to be best friends - their eyes had met from across opposite sides of the playground, and it was like they already knew everything about each other. That they'd been waiting forever to meet like this. Bromance at first sight. Of course, for a while after that, both the boys refused to even look at each other, both seriously concerned over their sexual orientation at the tender age of six. Now, eleven years later, Maes was dating his childhood sweetheart, Gracia, whom he loved dearly, and their friendship was very safely platonic - or perhaps better described as brotherly love.

Roy scowled. "You could have come through the door, you dumbass."

"What? And wake up all your sisters, man? That just wouldn't have been gentlemanly of me!" Maes did a good job of looking shocked at the mere idea. He probably just wanted to try coming through the window - make a big entrance. Maes could be a bit of an eccentric at times.

"Vanessa and them wouldn't wake up if the world was ending." Roy grouched.

"So sleeping like a log runs in the family, eh?" Maes asked, waggling his eyes brows.

Staring for a moment at his best friend of eleven years - and seriously considering what the hell he'd been thinking, being friend with this idiot. "Not even gonna ask, man. Not even gonna ask." Roy finally answered, disgusted. He sighed as he flopped out onto his bed, "Now what was oh-so-very-urgent that you had to come flying in here at…" Roy scowled as he glanced over to his alarm clock, "2:32 in the morning?"

Maes grinned happily, flopping himself on his stomach next to Roy on his bed, placing his hand - his left - on his chin, as though ready for some serious gossiping. "Okay, so I guess I should start at the beginning, right?"

"Whatever Maes, just get to the point." Roy grumbled, burying his head into a pillow.

Maes smiled, then started. "So you know how Gracia and Izumi have been totally weird lately - right?" Roy nodded, looking up from his pillow.

Gracia and Izumi, another one of his friends, had started hanging out a lot more lately. Usually Gracia stuck around more by Winry and the more girly girls of their pack of friends, while Izumi stuck mostly to her boyfriend, Sig, Mason, and sometimes Olivier (Despite not really having a strong Connection at their first meeting, the two women seemed to really hit it off). Then both girls insisted on having a double date with Maes and Sig, which should have happened today. Or yesterday, which reminded him just how freaking early it was - dammit he was tired.

"So what happened with that?" Roy asked, only semi-interested now.

"Well, Izumi dropped the bomb, first." He smiled at Roy, signaling he wanted Roy to be curious enough to go and ask him for further details. Roy sighed, and nearly considered not asking and just kicking his friend out - via the way he'd come in - and get himself some shut eye.

"So what was this 'bomb,' huh?" He asked tiredly, letting his head rest again on his pillow. It was much too early for him to be up.

Maes smiled, gleefully. "She's two months pregnant. And Gracia is too." And then he laughed happily. "Seems they met up while reaching for the same pregnancy test at the same while at the pharmacy, so they sorta just supported each other."

Roy looked so fast to his friend he almost got whiplash. He stared at the happily smiling Maes. Trust him to be delighted over news that most boyfriends around the world would feel as though the world had come to an end. There was a long moment of silence, before Roy had to ask.

"So you going to marry her?"

"Already proposed." Maes squawked buoyantly.

Of course.

"Sig did, too. But we totally aren't going to do a double wedding, like the pregnancy. That would be just tacky." Maes informed Roy, as though he might need clarification. "Anyways, the four of us talked for a while after that. We've already decided that Gracia's and mine is going to be a girl and Izumi's is gonna be a boy."

Roy stared long and hard at his best friend. "You… Decided… Like you have a choice in the sex of your baby…"

"What do you mean, a choice? Gracia is definitely carrying a girl. No doubt about it." Maes declared, pushing his square glasses up along the bridge of his nose knowingly. Then, after a dull stare from Roy, he coughed. "Well, err… That's not quite the point, anyways. After we sort of decided we'd name our girl Elysia-"

They'd already named the kid? Damn, Roy sure as hell hoped the baby was a girl, for the kid's sake, cause whatever happened in the future, if the kid was a boy, he'd be sleeping in a princess bedroom regardless.

"-and Izumi said that like, their boy should hook up with my girl, and dammit I was pissed! Like, who the hell do they think they are, trying to marry off my baby girl?! My sweet Elysia! So I punch Sig, cause I couldn't very well hit Izumi… She's a girl, and pregnant no less!"

"The hell is wrong with you, dude? Sig doesn't even work out much and he's like a rock! You'd break your hand, hitting him." Roy gasped in disbelief at his best friend. There seriously had to be something wrong with the guy's head, fighting a hunk of muscle like Sig over his imaginary daughter.

Maes whimpered dramatically, pulling his right hand out of his pocket for the first time since coming in through the window. "Found that out the hard way, man."

While probably not quite broken, Maes's hand was swollen and badly bruised - a bit bloody too, especially his knuckles. Coupled with his pitiful face, it was almost laughable. What kind of jackass would try hitting Sig of all people? Only Alex would stand a chance of even hurting the guy.

"Good grief, Maes." Roy said, sighing. Luckily these sort of situations happened very frequently (Luckily?) with friends like his, the dumbasses they were (though Roy was sort of a dumbass himself), and he had a well stocked first aid kit in his backpack. Leaning over, he took up his schoolbag, which was already open, and pulled out his kit. Fortunately, since the last time he'd used it (three days ago, sadly, in a nasty fight between Olivier and Alex) he'd restocked it with bandages and disinfectant.

As Roy helped Maes bandage his hand, Maes made a further announcement. "That's actually not all there is to tell you man."

Signing, the black haired teen looked up to his best friend. "What is it, Maes?" he asked, resigned to all else his friend could throw at him.

"We've got a transfer student coming in tomorrow." Roy looked up to his friend, an eyebrow raised.

"Pretty strange, transferring in during the middle of the semester. So you think…?"

Maes nodded, his manner suddenly serious, "Definitely. I did some look up on the girl and well… She fit's the bill perfectly." He shifted around, his left hand pulling his notebook out of his pocket. Flicking it open, Maes nodded again, this time a soft smile on his face. "Yeah, and you definitely prepare yourself for a major Connection, man… her entire schedule is, like, identical to yours. Except for gym of course, but boys and girls are always separated…"

Roy, nodded, already deep in thought. The Connection was a strange thing - something he'd shared with all of his deepest and closest friends and family, and even with his doctor. The feeling he'd had with Maes had been a Connection, too. The whole 'the moment their eyes met' thing. Sometimes it was rather disturbing, feeling like you'd trust this person with your life, even before you knew the person, but the Connection was very rarely wrong. And the stronger the Connection was at first meeting, the stronger fate seemed to bring the two together, which was how Edward, who'd said he felt immediately pissed off when meeting Roy's onyx eyes, had somehow ended up a close friend of Roy's.

In addition to all that, Maes, a master investigator - even at his young age, was the one in charge of finding potential candidates for the Connection. Half the time his best friend knew they were getting a new transfer student before even the school knew they were - sometimes even before the transfer student knew - not to mention knew some very disturbingly personal facts.

"Tell me more about her, please." Roy murmured, still contemplating the situation.

Maes smiled, "Well you guys are in the same grade, of course, grade 11. And her birthday is June 11, 2372." Maes paused and watched Roy for a moment. "Same as yours." he added softly. "I looked into that as much I could - she was even born at the same hour and minute as you. I'm sure if it were possible to find, even the seconds would be identical… It's like you two are meant to be together… soul mates… twin flames-" he stopped, as Roy dipped his head in recognition, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought about the new information.

"Hm," Maes said, as he continued. "Up 'til now, she's been living in East City with her parents. Since she's highly skilled in not just academics, but also artillery - she even won The Queen Competition - her parents finally decided it would be best that she come here and live with her grandfather and attend the best school in all of Amestris - Armstrong Secondary. And you are not going to believe who her grandfather is."

Roy made no comment, so Maes continued. "The one and only Chancellor Grumman."

The Xingese boy looked up suddenly blinking in astonishment at his friend. "Chan… Chancellor Grumman, you say?"

Up until Roy turned twelve, he'd always had a deep dislike for governmental officials and their affairs - they never seemed to do anything right and there was always some sort of scandal going on. Roy simply didn't think they were doing a very good job of running the country, that was, at least, until Chancellor Grumman had been elected in to office. Within the five years he'd been in office, Grumman had shaped up the country quite nicely - even the Cold War between Amestris and Drachma, which had been going on since the Promise Days, had ended. To say the least, Roy highly admired the Chancellor and hoped that Grumman would remain in office until Roy himself got old enough to take his place - because he aspired to be Chancellor too.

"No freaking way." Roy said, mouth still agape in shock. "I know just about everything there is about the Chancellor - it has only been mentioned that he has a daughter."

"Yeah, the media doesn't know about her. But I do. Just about everything you need to know about her is in this notebook," Maes said, tapping his notebook with a smile. Roy leaned over and snatched it away, thumbing through it while still bandaging Maes's hand.

The girl had, at least according to the notebook, nearly straight 1's on her last Zeugnis - a near impossible feat, the girl was a genius. The only class she didn't have a 1 in was Religion, and Roy couldn't blame her for having a 2 - it was his worst class too.

Roy read on, finding out more and more tidbits about the transfer student. Blond hair, brown eyes, Blood type AB, Height 5'6", Body measurements…? He looked up to his best friend.

"Body measurements? The hell you doing with these man?"

Maes blanched, "It's not what you think! Seriously! It was just what I saw when she was getting her uniform, I'm not cheating on Gracia!" he stuttered, "Besides, I thought you might like to know them… or something?"

Though Roy hadn't even thought about the possibility of his best friend cheating, it was always fun to tease him, especially since moments like this didn't come often. "I don't know man. I think I might tell Gracia. It simply wouldn't be gentlemanly of me to just let you go 'round knowing the measurements of other woman unpunished, now would it?"

By now Maes was blubbering. "I swear it's nothing like that!!"

Roy almost continued, but Maes was getting near to hysterics. "Chill, dude. I wasn't even planning on telling. But seriously, it wouldn't be chivalrous of me to just let you go without some sort of punishment - so forgive me, but I must protect this girls honor." And with that, Roy tightened the bandages he was wrapping around Maes's hand.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Maes yowled, attempting to pull his hand back, but Roy would let him. Gently, Roy enveloped his best friend's right hand in his and then squeezed. After about a minute, the Xingese teen let his friend go, and instantly Maes cowered away, still sniveling.

Giving Roy puppy dog eyes, sobbed "Damn that hurt man - why would you do that? Coulda killed me… What would you do if my daughter had to grow up with out a father!? It'd be all your fault!"

" I highly doubt you woulda died just from that Maes." Roy commented, dryly.

"But, but… It still hurt. Real bad. I mean… Don't you love me man? Why would you do that?"

Roy watched his best friend begin on a tirade about how Roy should be nice to him and all, cause they loved each other - platonically, of course. After awhile Roy began to feel pissed, mostly because he was actually feeling a little guilty and nothing pissed Roy off more than feeling guilty when he wasn't supposed to. So Roy smacked his best friend in the face with a pillow, causing him to fall, rather ungracefully, from the bed.

"Dude, shut up."

Maes slowly sat up, still shell shocked. "You shoved me off the bed!" he said in disbelief.

"No I didn't. I hit you with a pillow and you fell on your own."

Maes pouted, pulling himself back onto the bed. Sighing, Roy reached over and continued bandaging his friend's hand. Tentatively, Maes let him. "You aren't gonna hurt me again, are you?"

"Nah - it would take too much energy." A long moment of silence, then "So what else about this new transfer student do you know?"

Maes looked up, sighing. "Not much really. She's nice, cool, and smart. Maybe a little jaded. She has a pretty face but she isn't - or wasn't - really interested in relationships, not even in platonic ones. You might have a hard time getting close to her, even with the Connection. But I really can't see her not waming up to you, since a strong Connection is definitely going to happen, given your birthdays and schedules."

Roy grinned, chuckling. "Well she is the Chancellors daughter, but after spending a couple of minutes with this," he gestured to himself, with a suggestive wink "She'll be head over heels."

"Riiiiight." Maes said, chuckling too. "Well you are rather good with the ladies."

"Of course I am - I grew up in a pack of wild woman, and thus a very high regard for them - young or old, blond or black haired, pre-menstrual, menstrual, or post-menstrual! I love and flirt with them all!" he grinned. Maes snickered.

Only half of what he'd said was true - Roy wasn't the big womanizer he made himself out to be - he simply highly respected those of the female sex and found happiness in offering little, flirting comments and compliments that made girls blush in delight - especially the older ladies, whose husbands didn't think necessary to vocalize their appreciation of their wives anymore, being old farts and all.

It was in that fashion that Maes ended up declaring he was going to crash there for the night at 4:00, much to Roy's dismay and annoyance. And in further irritation, Maes refused to sleep anywhere else but on Roy's bed, and Roy refused to sleep anywhere else either, so they ended up squashed in Roy's bed together - which, luckily wasn't too small, but just small enough to be uncomfortable.

Just when Roy was nearly asleep, Maes spoke.

"Do you think I should grow a beard - you know, to look more fatherly?"

Roy groaned, "I dunno. Shut up." He closed his eyes again, rolling onto his side - facing away from Maes - trying to sleep. With a sigh, he found he couldn't, before realizing something. "Hey, Maes?"

"Yeah?" Maes whispered back, laying on his back, left hand curled beneath his head.

"You never told me what her name was - the transfer student. It wasn't in the notebook either."

"Hm? Oh." Maes said, sighing and pausing for dramatic effect, and Roy sighed as he waited.

"Riza Hawkeye."

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"Come back into the world shiny & new
I will meet you there when everything's okay
We'll have a good old time together"

--

Author Note: Sorry, no Riza. There won't be much Riza next chapter too, I'm afraid, though she will be introduced. But seriously, is it just me or did Maes sound really… gay? Like maybe 25% gay? I'm a bit worried about that. Then again, he did sound a little questionable in the manga. xD In other news, I decided to base the school system and pretty much everything else in the Amestris world on Germany. Some, of course, will resemble America, cause that's where I'm from and I don't feel like looking everything up on Germany. Anyways here is a guide for some of the words and stuff you might not know:

Grundschule: Elementary/Primary School. Grades 1-6

Gymnasium: A higher lever secondary school. Roy and the FMA characters attend one.

Zeugnis: Report card

Grading Scale: Highest grade possible is a 1. Lowest is a 6. 1's are really hard to get - most A's in the USA would get a 2.

School Schedule: The first period on Monday is not always the first period of other days - just so you know.

Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you will stick around for the next one - hopefully to be posted in the beginning of April. (Waaah, when the new anime is coming out!!) Hopefully there aren't any mistakes. This is SpidERSpins, over and out!