Author's Notes: Thank you for all the favourites and story/author alerts, I'm glad so many people are interested in what's to happen next. I do feel the need to mention that I'd much rather hear from you guys, such as what you think or what your predictions are. It keeps me motivated and on track :)

So anyway, here's my replies to those who took the time to comment (thank you!):

Pixie101: I think I'd love to meet Envy and Lust, but I won't risk angering them! I don't think I'm ready to die just yet ^^

Ougui: Yes he does! I'm glad you noticed that :P It was like a subtle hint that there was much more RoyEd to come~

Mashfan4life: Ed loves books and I agree that it's quite an awesome hobby. Thanks for the compliment on the action scenes! I don't often write them, so I'm really happy that you found them well done :D

Animemad10: Thank you and I gladly accept this review! XD It's very nice of you and yes, I will definitely continue this story :)

0-Yumenoyuki-0: Happy to know it's more intriguing! The first version had a faster pace and I sometimes felt like it lacked detail. Hence, I rewrote it XD Thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it :)

Sana Hima Mae: Thank you for the compliment! That was very nice of you :D And wait no longer, for the next chapter is out! (right below lol)

Unbetaed Version

Chapter 3:

While patience was a trait Roy had learned to master, for the most part, after years in the military, it didn't seem like Ed shared much of that discipline.

It wasn't obvious, but the small twitches in his eyebrows or the slight tap of his right foot were clear indicators of his impatience. It was nothing major and Roy certainly didn't mind. In fact, he found it amusing.

What he didn't find as humorous, however, was that the train, or rather the people operating it, seemed to have decided to be late. And not by a few minutes, as was usual for small towns like New Optain. Glancing up at the clock hanging upon the station wall, Roy noted that the vehicle should have arrived two hours ago.

Of course, he had called Hughes to inform him of the news of the delay in their plans. It wasn't ideal, for it would leave him exposed to danger for a longer period of time, but the only transportation to Central was by train. Hughes considered sending a car over, but it would take more time than necessary, so they decided to wait one more hour before taking that option as a last choice scenario.

It had been quite early when they'd arrived at the station, but with time, a few citizens had begun pilling up on the platform, some frustrated at the wait and others having fallen asleep on one of the numerous benches due to the early hour. Roy scanned the area and concluded that most were either businessmen or families out for a trip to the city. He still kept an eye out for suspicious movements, but he doubted that whoever was after him would attack in such a crowded place.

A shift beside him caught his attention and he glanced down at Ed, who now had his arms folded across his chest, but whose expression was more alert than before. Just as he was about to ask, the blond stood up and grabbed his bag. The sound of a whistle soon filled the place as the ground shook harder with each passing second. A few seconds later, the train became visible not too far away and was quickly approaching where they stood.

The people around the platform began to gather their belongings while others rubbed the sleep out of their eyes. It was not long before the train came to a stop before the crowd as attendants opened the doors to let the citizens in.

Roy grabbed his suitcase and stepped up to an attendant, Ed following closely behind him. The stranger took one look at Mustang's uniform before his eyes zeroed in on his military badge, which had a wide yellow stripe centered between two narrow lines that showed his rank as a Brigadier General. Quickly offering to take Roy's baggage, the attendant showed them to a private room down the hall before bowing and taking his leave.

Ed quirked an eyebrow at the whole scene, but said nothing and instead took the first chance he got to take over the luxurious bed by the wall. Setting his bag down by his side, the blond sighed into the covers and snuggled his face into a nicely fluffed pillow.

"Enjoying yourself?" Roy smirked and Ed lift his head off the bed to childishly stick his tongue out at him. "I see you like my bed," the General added, just to tease the blond some more.

"S'not bad," Ed mumbled back before his amber-tinted eyes found Roy's own, "a lot better than train benches." He then shrugged his coat off and kicked his boots onto the floor below.

Roy gave him a small understanding smile before pulling his coat off while grabbing Ed's and hanging them up on a nearby coat hanger. He then took his boots off and neatly placed them against the wall. Walking over to the bed, he moved Ed's bag to the bedside table and sat down next to him. The blond rolled over to face him and Roy let a small smile stretch the corner of his lips.

"M'not moving, if that's what you want," Ed told him and spread his arms out across the bed, just to prove his point. He eyed the other man with a challenging gleam in his eyes, clearly amused and slightly hyper with the lack of sleep.

Roy smirked at the blond before lying down, disregarding Ed's indignant squawk, "Hey!", and stole a pillow from the smaller man's side of the bed. "That's all right," he said in a mocking tone. "You barely take up any space."

Edward gawked at him for a second before puffing his cheeks and frowning at the man. Roy watched, amused, as the blond tried to think up a good comeback, but kept on falling short at the last minute. Finally, Ed gave up and turned around to face the wall, grumbling something under his breath.

The General let a small chuckle escape his lips at his new found companion. It could have been the lack of sleep talking, but he had never felt so relaxed with someone he'd just met before. Shaking his head, he looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He never had a problem physically sharing moments of passion with complete strangers in random bars, but he never really felt comfortable with them. Once his desires satisfied, it was the end of the road for whomever it concerned and he simply left it at that.

With Ed, however, he felt truly relaxed and, despite their brief acquaintance, he was comfortable enough around him to exchange silly banter, something he rarely did with anyone except with his close friends. And what more, maybe this was all for the best, Roy thought with a slight smile. After all, he was fairly certain that Ed might be just what he was searching for. It was not every day that one met such a talented alchemist.

From his left side, Roy could feel a slight dipping in the bed as Ed shifted into a more comfortable position. He watched on as the blond pulled the blankets up to his chin and snuggled into them. A few minutes passed and before long, the rise and fall of Ed's chest lessened as his breathing stabilized. Roy waited a few more seconds to make sure the blond was asleep.

Carefully shifting his weight to the side of the bed, Roy stood up and strode to the deep crimson curtains of the room. Pulling them close, he walked back to bed and pulled the blankets up to his chest before resting his head against the soft pillow.

o-O-o-O-o-O-o

Ed shuffled around, slightly groaning as he felt his mind wake and lose the sweet haziness he'd previously enjoyed. His body snuggled deeper into the warn cocoon wrapped around his lean frame and he tried, in vain, to fall back asleep.

Still as stubborn as ever, the blond refused to get up and instead pulled the blankets to his side, tightening his hold on the soft material. Just as he attempted to lull himself back to sleep, his back brushed against a hard yet warm surface and his eyes snapped open at the touch. Quickly heaving himself off the soft mattress, he turned his head towards what his dreamy state imagined as a hot furnace and stared down at Mustang's sleeping face.

Ed's first reaction was to squash the panic rising within his chest and after a few moments of deep breaths, he connected his gold eyes once again on the dark figure beside him. Memories from a few hours ago came back to him in a rush of colorful images; his fight against the assassins, the long wait for the train, their playful conversations. He then looked down at himself and noted that he'd slept with his hair still braided, but that he still wore his pyjamas from the night before. 'No wonder it felt comfortable,' he thought wearily, still not quite awake despite the little surprise.

Looking up at the well decorated room he was currently occupying, he noted the darkness of the area and the slight shake of the curtains covering the only window. From the crack between the fabrics, a small amount of light streamed through the opening and illuminated the room just enough for Ed to make out the shapes and color of each object.

The train still kept its course towards Central and the constant vibrations caused by its movement reminded Ed of where he was headed. Without it, he might have really thought that he was in a stranger's house and in a way, the slight shaking actually calmed him.

Bringing his hands up to rub the sleep out of his tired eyes, Ed slowly sat up and pulled the covers off his legs before dumping them on the body next to him. Mustang slightly groaned at the extra weight, but otherwise seemed to have not noticed the change.

Glancing down at Roy's peaceful-looking face, Ed wondered if the man was really asleep. Smiling mischievously, he searched him for any signs, hoping to spot a small twitch or maybe a pool of drool on the side of his lips. Ed chuckled at his own imaginings, but was disappointed when he found that the man looked just as proper and pristine in his sleep as when he was awake. 'Who looks so perfect in their sleep anyway?' Ed thought and almost frowned in frustrated until his eyes landed on the man's dark ebony hair that had been ruffled by the pillow he lay on. Roaming his gaze across the soft-looking strands, he noted the disorderly pattern in which they lay on the bed, promising the raven-haired man a very nice bed head.

Smirking at his new finding, Ed brought his hands up to his own golden locks and felt the urge to preen his appearance, mostly to greaten the contrast when Roy finally decided to wake up. Nodding to himself, the blond slowly lift himself up and carefully crawled over the sleeping man as quietly as he could. When his feet finally touched the ground, he quickly glanced back down at Roy, who seemed to have slept through the whole ordeal.

Without a second to waste, Ed tiptoed his way to the private washroom connected to the room. Finally making his way to it, he closed the small door behind him before opening the lights. As the brightness flooded the small space, Ed squinted to see through the sudden light before suddenly feeling a sharp blade touch the back of his neck, the slight pressure seeping blood as a fresh drop fell to the floor.

o-O-o-O-o-O-o

Roy cracked an eye open as he felt Ed shift and climb out of bed. Hearing the sound of feet softly paddling away towards the other end of the room, he carefully turned to face the blond, watching him make his way to the washroom. The door was soon dragged open and closed as light flooded through the small crack beneath the door.

If he looked carefully, Roy could make out the shadows of Ed's feet fade as the blond walked further away from the door, but he decided to stop watching from there on. After all, it was of no interest if he couldn't actually see the other man's striking features.

Turning his head towards the ceiling, Roy stared up at the ornate lamp hanging on the low wall of the train. He slowly blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the dimness of the room and pulled the blankets up to his chin, now that he had more access to them. In the back of his mind, he wondered how Ed managed to take up most of the covers despite being a head shorter than Roy himself. It was not that the blond was deficient in height in any way, but the bed was fairly large and so were the blankets. It really should have been sufficient for at least three men, but Ed had, probably unconsciously, pulled it all his way in the space of a few hours.

Roy still remembered the feeling of a slight tug on the covers that had first roused him from his light sleep. His first instinct was to lift his gloved hands up, ready to snap. He then looked sideways to the sleeping blond next to him and almost laughed at the way Ed had wrapped himself between the layers of fabric. Without much thought, Roy relented what was left of the covers and draped it around the blond, just to complete the picture. He peered down at the young alchemist and noted the reduced distance between them, most probably due to Ed's rolling around and quest for more warmth.

Closing his eyes again, Roy relaxed against the soft mattress and lay his head down on the feather pillow he'd taken from the pile on Ed's side. The one he'd grabbed earlier that day was not high enough for Roy's neck and he figured that the blond wouldn't miss one pillow. Frankly, he was sure Ed didn't even need the five on his side of the bed.

Smirking at the thought of Ed noticing the change, Roy wasn't prepared when he heard the deafening sound of a gun firing very close to where he lay. Jolting out of bed, he quickly ran over to the washroom, where the sound originated, and pressed his back against the wall closest to its door. Holding the knob in one hand, he raised the other, his fingers ready to snap at any time. Taking a deep breath, he willed his racing heart to calm as fear rushed through his veins, fear of losing something he felt could be precious.

Without another second to waste, Roy slammed the door open and entered the room, only to be blinded by a wave of electric blue light streaming from inside. Bringing his left arm up to block his eyes from the brightness, he quickly assessed the situation and spotted Ed, who was standing near the sink with a silver blade protruding from his right arm. The air suddenly felt heavy against his skin as white dust gathered around the room, but Roy ignored it and searched the room for the intruder.

The light slowly died down and he noticed a masked man struggling to free himself from large metal bindings that were still too blurry from the flying dust to clearly identify. Bringing his gloved hand up in the man's direction, Roy snapped his fingers and dislodged the man's gun from his free hand, the weapon having been pointed at Ed just a few seconds before.

Walking forward towards the masked intruder, Roy kicked the gun away and finally took a good look at the large hand-shaped straps that trapped the man to the wall above the toilet seat. Quirking an eyebrow at the intricate details in the sculpted limbs, Roy turned his gaze towards Ed, who had followed right behind him to where the assassin-to-be struggled.

"You transmuted that?" asked Roy, somewhat impressed by the detail in Ed's work.

The blond looked up at him and grinned. "What can I say?" he knocked on the metal sculpture, ignoring the angry growls emitted from the trapped stranger. "It's art," he finally said, nodding in approval to his own work.

Roy couldn't help but chuckle at the blond's smug expression. "Must be worth quite a lot," he played along, his dark eyes sparking with mirth. "Well, minus that," he pointed at the masked man as if he were a smudge on a new shirt, "it would ruin the effect, you see."

Ed nodded, his gaze kept comically serious. "I agree," he declared with authority, hitting the hired assassin across the head and ignoring the man's cry of pain. "It's too noisy and should be disposed of," he continued and the intruder paled at the statement.

Roy smiled, his expression nearing on mischievous, "I suggest we torture it before that."

Ed's bright gold eyes almost twinkled at the idea.

"Brilliant."

o-O-o-O-o-O-o

A gentle knock sounded against the door as a soft voice interrupted the activity inside the busy room, "is everything all right, sir?"

Roy glanced down at Ed who paused before nodding back. It seemed that the attendants had finally built up the courage to interrogate them on the matter.

Deliberately taking his time, Roy strode to the door and cracked it open slightly, but not enough to see the inside of the room.

"Yes, everything is fine," he told the other man, a pleasant smile on his lips.

The attendant peered up at the General, clearly intimidated but not very convinced. Trying to stall for time to hopefully get an answer out of the other man, he added a quiet "are you sure?", but quickly gave up at the resulting Mustang® glare. Bowing his head in haste, the man scrambled away in fear as Roy watched him leave before closing the door.

"Is this good enough?" asked Ed curiously as Roy turned his gaze towards the blond and his second work of…arguably "art". Peering down at the piece, his eyes took in the second metal contraption Ed had built that day: it was similar in design to the first one, where the victim was trapped under bands of metal, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of large metallic hands, the now unconscious assassin was stuck under layers of horse statues, each one bent around the intruder's limbs. It was very detailed and frankly quite impressive, but Roy couldn't help frowning at the horses, especially the one with flames carved around its tail with little horse tailored gloves on its hooves.

"You like it?" added Ed, having a hard time restraining his laughter at the sour expression on Roy's face. The allusion did not go unnoticed, it seemed.

Shaking his head at the blond's silly tribute to his last name, Roy decided to play along and crossed his arms. "Unfortunately," he began, pausing to clear his throat. "I believe this one was a waste of talent."

Ed stopped attempted to stifle his chuckles and cocked his head to the side innocently, "so you admit that I'm a genius?"

"I'm calling your work crap."

"That's alright," the blond finally laughed. "You still think it's brilliant!"

Roy lift his hand up to rub his temples as he watched Ed crack up, laughing so hard he had to hold onto the wall to keep balance. It really wasn't his day today, it seemed. First the train was late and now another assassination attempt, though maybe they were related, who knew? Roy was too tired to mull it through, but he kept his mind open to the possibility.

Beside him, Ed was now on the floor, clutching his stomach as he pound the ground with his fist in laughter. A metallic gleam caught Roy's eyes every time Ed waved his right arm and he finally took note of the small metallic blade connected to the alchemist's arm that he had noticed earlier. Following the weapon with his gaze, the General made a visual sweep of the blond before his eyes stopped at a spot of red right beneath the blond's jaw.

Attempting to take a closer look, Roy kneeled next to the guffawing alchemist and not too gently grabbed his right arm. Ed paused, slightly out of breath, and looked up at Roy curiously. He didn't pull his arm away, but instead watched him with rapt interest, his gold eyes wide with questions.

Bringing Ed's hand up to his knee, Roy took a quick glance at the blade before eyeing the small wound marring the blond's neck. It wasn't too big, but blood was still pooling around the open slit that already began to swell. "I'll get the kit," he said and stood up to walk towards the washroom.

He felt Ed's gaze on his back as he retrieved the first aid kit from the broken counter next to the destroyed sink. He lift his eyes and surveyed the mess they'd left in the room, but only shrugged before making his way back. It was nothing a little damage control couldn't fix. Hughes would have a field day taking care of it once they got back.

o-O-o-O-o-O-o

Ed watched Roy kneel back down again and open the white box the man called a "first aid kit". Before taking anything out, the General calmly pulled off his ignition gloves and replaced them by a pair of thin disposable gloves that he found at the bottom of the kit.

"Very professional," Ed whistled and grinned when Roy quirked an eyebrow at him. He'd been confused, at first, as to why Roy had looked so concerned before, but it didn't take long for him to catch on. He didn't really feel it anymore, but Ed was sure that the wound on his neck probably wasn't very pretty.

As he watched Roy take out a small bottle of disinfectant and a pile of gauze pads, Ed let his gaze wander across the room and pause at the unconscious man on the floor. The assassin was still out cold, wrapped and imprisoned by Ed's little horse-filled creation. They hadn't even gotten to torturing him that he had fainted on them, much to the blond's disappointment. While he knew that Roy was only joking, he was sure the man would have allowed him a kick or two and maybe a nice punch to the gut. After all, the guy had tried to kill him. It was only fair.

Nonetheless, they had decided to simply tie the intruder down in plain sight instead of leaving him in the washroom, in case one of his companions came to rescue him. The room was no longer safe and they needed to stay together and alert. At least, until they arrive at Central.

Ed was pulled out of his thoughts as a sharp stinging sensation plundered his neck. "Be gentle!" he growled, hissing at the pain.

Roy smirked at him before dabbing at his wound a few more times. "I'm returning the favor," he said simply and pointed at his own cheek that Ed had not too gently taken care of a few hours before. It had been before they'd arrived at the train station. Roy had a small slash across his right cheek from the previous fight and Ed had offered to help. Stopping at a public washroom, he'd grabbed some paper and wet it before scrubbing Roy's face, ignoring the man's hisses. Hence, it was now time for payback. Ed sighed at the injustice.

Finally done with his painful cleaning, Roy grabbed a gauze pad and the surgical tape. Fixing the whole onto the tanned skin of Ed's neck, he stopped the blond from standing up and snagged the black marker out from the kit. Ed's eyes widened at the sight and, before he could react, Roy had already drawn something he couldn't see on his bandages and across his neck. Slapping him across the back with a satisfied smile, Roy stood and pretended to dust away imaginary dust from his sleeves.

"Just so you know," Roy began, his smile turning more mischievous with each passing second, "the mirror's broken."

A/N: What do you think Roy wrote across Ed's neck? And yes, it was a permanent marker :) Here's a hint: it's only one word and it's something Ed's probably struggled with all childhood long. I'll dedicate the next chapter to all those who guess it right. Good luck! :)