GM: Wow, guys! This came a bit later than I expected it to. I've been distracted most of the day. (Watching Brotherhood...FML) So, here's the next chapter. I also miscalculated the events by a hair, so there will actually be a few more chapters left, should I decide to drag certain events out. Anyway, yeah, here's the next chapter.

Edward couldn't help his restlessness. He was walking around through the void, hands shoved deep into his pockets. He hated waiting. He was impatient and full of worry. Everything was just a mess right now, and he actually had no idea as to how long he would have to wait.

As he walked though, he could hear a different pair of footsteps coming from somewhere up ahead. He started to walk faster, curiosity now piqued. There was nothing else to do other than explore it, right?

There was a pillar of blue up ahead that Edward could see. As he drew closer, he stopped and sucked in a breath. "Roy!" His heart skipped a beat as he ran towards the man, practically throwing himself at Roy once he was close enough.

"Wha—Edward!" Roy was stunned as both he and Edward crashed to the ground. "You're here?" He asked.

Edward didn't care how uncharacteristic he was acting. All he was feeling was happiness. He wasn't alone here, and Roy was with him. "Yes. How did you get here, Roy?" He asked, moving off of the older man.

"Well, I..." Roy trailed off, frowning. "I was shot." He replied vaguely.

"Shot? By who?" Edward pressed, frown etching itself into his face. Who would shoot Roy? Somebody had to be out of their mind to shoot the Flame Alchemist!

"It was—," Roy stopped, not wanting to explain. What could he say? That Ed shot him? But no...it hadn't been Ed. Edward would have at least hesitated, homunculus or not. "I...didn't get a good look at his face." Roy lied, finally.

Edward didn't look convinced. "Roy, you can tell me." He said. He wanted Roy to trust him. "We've been through tons together; this shouldn't change anything. I want to help."

Roy was still unsure. But, he had to trust the blond. "Well, it was—,"

"Why hello Flame Alchemist!" The disembodied voice was heard loud and clear, "I sure didn't expect you to be back. It seems you were shot by the homunculus of the Fullmetal Alchemist, correct?"

Roy looked away and tensed as he felt Edward's gaze staring at his back. "Uh..yes..." Roy replied, not wanting to look at Ed's face. "That's right." He confirmed.

"Excellent. Not exactly what I had planned, but we can make it work. Anyway, I have to send you back before your body becomes inaccessible. Stick to the last task I gave you, and work with the homunculus to accept you."

"But how will this work in our favor?" Roy asked. How would getting the damned being on his side do any good?

"Well, I plan to restore the Fullmetal Alchemist to his original body. But something of equal value must be obtained. A body for a body. Think about it, Flame Alchemist." The voice crooned.

Roy thought about it. When realization finally hit him, his eyes widened. "You want me to convince the homunculus to be the sacrifice." He spoke, voice barely above a whisper.

"Bingo!" The voice answered cheerily. "Now, go forth and achieve, Flame!"

The gate behind Roy opened up, several small hands coming out to grasp at his soul. Edward's sense slammed back to him as Roy was pulled back.

"Wait!" He yelled. "I have to tell you something, Roy!" The blond rushed forward, but the gates were closing fast.

Whatever it was Edward said next, Roy didn't catch as the gates closed shut before him.

"Clear!" A pair of defibrillators were brought down upon Roy's chest, urging his heart to start again. When the heart monitor started beeping, the crew in the operating room cheered. "Alright, time to get to work, men."

It was a few hours until the good news that Roy was alive and doing well reached Riza's ears. They had been able to save him! However, the wait to actually be able to see him was even longer. So, Riza decided to come back the next morning.

When next morning came, she wasted no time in going to see him.

She entered the hospital room quietly, shutting the door behind her as she went to sit in the chair next to Roy. The man was asleep, lost in whatever dreamland had carried him off. Riza sighed, before reaching over to shake his shoulder. "Sir, are you awake?" She asked.

Roy grunted as his eyes slid open, and he yawned. He looked around the hospital room, before his eyes finally settled on Riza. "Ah, lieutenant." He greeted. Then, everything actually came back to him. "Hey! What happened to central command?" He actually found himself quite desperate to know.

"It's alright, sir. Everything ran smoothly after you were taken to the hospital. We apprehended two of the homunculi, but the Fuhrer has ordered us not to go any further with pursuing the rest of them."

"Lieutenant," Roy spoke, taking her words into account, "was the homunculus that shot me apprehended?" He asked.

Riza's lips tightened into a thin line at the mention of Pride. "Yes sir. We are holding him in a separate cell for interrogation." She replied. She seemed a bit tense, Roy noticed.

"Is something bothering you, lieutenant?" Roy asked, lifting a brow.

Riza frowned. "No sir...it's just that when they were operating you, the doctor said that bullet hadn't even grazed any of your organs. But you were bleeding badly, I was sure that...and you wouldn't have died if you..."

"The gate. The gate said it wasn't my time yet." Roy said, absently.

"Sir?" Riza replied, confused.

"Ah, nothing. Can you bring my uniform to me?" Roy said.

"But sir, you're not even fully recovered." Riza replied, tone blunt.

"I feel well enough." Roy said, eyes just slightly narrowed. Sure, his chest ached, but it was to be expected from a gunshot wound. "I need to ask Pride some questions." He added, a bit darkly. He'd get to the bottom of this. He swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed, before getting to his feet.

"Let's get to Central command."

As soon as the car pulled up to the building, Roy was out and striding towards the entrance. Riza was right behind him, more so to look out for him than anything. The man was so stubborn. Why was he keeping on with the homunculus? It had hurt him, and killed him! Yet, he still wanted to negotiate with it.

Riza didn't understand. With that knowledge in mind though, she knew she couldn't really, truly say that Roy was nuts. He had his reasons, didn't he? That was enough sometime.

"Lieutenant, guard the door." Roy brought Riza from her thoughts when he said this. Roy then opened the door and slipped inside, letting it shut behind him.

"Hello, Pride," Roy spoke with a sneer, "I'd like to ask you a few questions, if I may."

"You!" Pride hissed, head lifting to glare at Roy. "I killed you! You were dead! How the hell are you here?"

Roy kept his distance. The homunculus sounded like Edward...but there was a chilling undertone that held no friendliness in it whatsoever. "What are your plans?" He asked, ignoring the question.

"That's none of your fuckin' business, old man." Pride growled, struggling against the slate of wood that bound his wrists. His feet were restrained as well, keeping him unable to move.

"Oh, but it is," Roy replied evenly, "you see, I work here. In this building. So whatever you plan on doing to it is indeed my business." He added.

Pride just scowled at him. "You're a hardass." He stated bluntly.

Roy lifted a brow. "Jeez, how old are you? Twelve?" He drawled. "Certainly short enough to be."

Those words settled into the homunculus's brain. Whether it was by pure instinct or anger, Roy found himself on his back, knocked to the floor with the small homunculus's hands around his neck. "Take it back!" The blond roared. "I'm not small!"

Despite the position he was in, Roy just smiled sardonically. "Why would I want to do that?" He asked. He could see the homunculus hesitating, trying to understand Roy's actions. Surprisingly, the blond just backed off from him and stared at him almost confusedly.

"Pride, let me offer you a deal," Roy said, getting to his feet and dusting his pants off, "you can either work with us and be my friend, or I can kill you right here and now. I know where your remains are hidden." Of course Roy was bluffing. He wouldn't dare do anything to jeopardize Edward's body. Pride didn't know this, however.

"You bastard..." Pride grunted, getting to his feet as well. "I have people to work with." He said, eyes narrowing. "Why would I join you, anyway? You're the enemy!" He replied. He had people to tell him what was right or wrong, and if they had said that the military was the enemy, then they were the enemy.

"Think for yourself!" Roy said back, glaring at the blond. "Think about it. Don't go by what they've told you. Did we openly attack you? Did your 'family' even provide a reason as to why they wanted to attack us?" Roy was actually pretty damned determined to convince Pride that his views were warped.

"No. We don't need a reason." Pride snarled. "If they feel that the military is a threat, they have a right to take them out."

Roy was quiet. "You don't know, Pride. I'm trying to tell you. Just join us. Even for a few days. I promise you, we're not as bad as we seem." He said.

The homunculus sighed. Wasn't it obvious that his views weren't going to change? "3 days." He finally spoke. "You get three days to change my mind. But let me talk to my brother first." Pride then held his arms out, giving Roy an expectant look.

When Roy did nothing, he scowled. "Well? Get me out of this contraption!" He said loudly.

Roy sighed and went over to the door, grabbing the key hanging right above the door. He then went over to Pride, freeing him from the wooden slate. Pride groaned, rubbing his sore wrists. "Take me to Envy."

Once Pride and Envy were alone together, Pride made very sure that no one outside would hear him. He then turned back to Envy. "I'm going over to their side." He said.

Envy's reaction was immediate with a holler of, "What!" followed by a snarl.

"Shh!" Pride placed a finger to his lips. "Keep it down! I'll act. I'll get close to this Mustang guy, and get information from him. Find the weak points of this building and it's people. I'm under a three day trial, so when it's over, I'll escape and return with whatever information I gather. Then we can put these guys through real hell." It was practically the only option they had. This Mustang guy would be a total idiot and trust him.

Come to think of it, he had no idea why. Why did this guy care? Why did he want him to accept him so badly?

"That's a great idea, Pride." Envy said, a bit shocked. "You're a new homunculus and came up with a plan like that. I'm so proud of you!" Envy smirked, the expression stretching across his entire face.

"You can get out of here, right?" Pride asked, putting his current thoughts to rest.

"Of course. I was waiting to see if you'd be back or not. But you'll be okay." Envy replied. Pride nodded then. "Make a good show, Envy." He told him, before turning and going to the door. He nodded to Envy, who laughed. Envy's form then began changing, morphing into a large monster.(1)

The form was humongous, crushing the ceiling above it. Envy's tongue lashed out, curling around Pride's form. It then took a step forwards, the wall and door in front of him crumbling to bits to reveal the hallway. The guards, Riza, and Roy jumped out of the way as the large tongue threw Pride to the wall.

"Ahhh!" Pride screamed as his back made contact, face screwing up in pain. The feeling was a small price to pay in order to make it seem believable.

"I'll kill you, Pride!" Envy raged, "Don't you dare think that mother will approve of this! Have we taught you nothing?"

Riza seemed to find her bearings, shooting at the monster that was Envy. Envy howled, stumbling back and reverting back to his original form. "How dare you!" He hollered, springing forwards toward the lieutenant. Riza fired several more shots, and Envy played along with it. He staggered back with a howl, before turning and fleeing into the cell chamber and busting through the window. Even with several soldiers chasing after him, Envy was gone before they even got outside.

"Pride! Are you hurt?" Roy was now next to the blond, helping him sit up.

"The bastard attacked me!" Pride grunted, anger lacing his tone. "He fucking attacked me! What the hell did I do?" As Pride started going into a fit of rage, Roy placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Pride. He's gone." Roy was quick to point out the obvious, hoping to distract the young homunculus.

Pride looked at the hand, before slapping it away. "Tch." He stood up, taking a few uneven steps before collapsing against the wall. "That bastard..." He ground out. It was even half-serious. Envy had really hurt him.

"Can't you heal yourself?" Roy asked idly, wrapping his arm around the blond's shoulder's and helping him stand.

"I don't know how. They created me and gave me a short description of what I was supposed to do and how the military was the enemy, then threw me out here to do their bidding." When Pride actually, really thought about it, he was being used. Was he created for the sole purpose of doing the homunculus's bidding? The thought made him sick. No, they were his family, they wouldn't do that! ...Would they?

"Doesn't seem like they were really looking out for you." Roy said.

"Rather ignorant of you to be making assumptions like that." Pride said back, scowling as he did. "So, what now? Envy's beaten me up, I'm stuck with you people, and I'm not even completely sure I want to trust you."

"Well, I do have some paperwork I need to do." Roy replied.

"Sir, with all due respect, I was against the idea of you coming here. I would much rather you go home and rest." Riza said, stoic mask in place.

"...Oh. Well then, I guess you'll come with me to my house." Roy said, shrugging his shoulders. There weren't many places he could put the homunculus, honestly. The housing units were only available to soldiers. He looked over at the blond, brows furrowing.

"What the hell are you lookin' at, Colonel Bastard?" Pride asked, brows slanting.

"What?" Roy blinked owlishly. "What did you just call me?" He asked.

"Jeez, you need to get your ears checked. I said Colonel Bastard, you bastard." Pride didn't seem to get the importance of the title. Instead, he pulled away from Roy. "You're getting too touchy feely. I'll walk on my own, sheesh..." The blond shoved his hands into the leather pants pockets, walking ahead. Roy just stared after the homunculus, eyes wide.

'He acts...a lot like Edward...'

(1) That dragon/lizard form Envy has in Brotherhood...y'know...the one with all of the half-bodies coming from his back.