Hello everybody! I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long, and with so little explanation too, however, I am back! And I have a chapter on each one of my stories to help get those of you going through exams to brave it out!

I'm sorry to say this, but the movie got abandoned, so no links :( I haven't updated in so long because of a mixture of reasons, but the largest one is definitely that I am now in college a year early, and I have my work cut out for me keeping up with everything! As well as that I have had the most massive writer's block on every one of my stories, and completely lost my muse. I just couldn't bring myself to work on any of them. I am very sorry to have left you all so in the dark, and to have not updated for so long, but finally I have managed to produce something :)

I know they aren't the best reasons, but they are big to me, and I hope you can all forgive me for my long absence. Updates on stories from now on will be infrequent, as I have a busy summer lined up, and when I am in college it takes up pretty much all of my time, but I will be updating, and I'll do my best to whenever I have the time :)

Ed trembled as he felt someone put their hand on his arm, and another person brush his bangs out of his face. He looked up, forgetting about having met the nice people earlier, and then remembered when he saw Riza and Mustang's faces peering worriedly down at him. He could hear them speaking soft, soothing words, but it only just registered in the back of his mind. He shouldn't be in a bed, he shouldn't be in a bed, he shouldn't be in a bed! Ed's fear of his father compelled him to do his best to launch himself off the bed as well as he could with only one arm, in an attempt to get away from what he wasn't supposed to be on. He only managed to get a violent twitch that was quickly followed by a searing wave of pain. His face contorted, but he quickly tried to make himself emotionless, knowing that if his father was here, he would only be angered more by his son's expressions.

Something niggled at the edge of Ed's mind, and, as he looked around, he realized that there was no point in trying to hide his pain - as far as he knew at least - because he had left his father and his old life of abuse behind. Even if he had to live on the streets, he was sure that he would manage to get by, he was sure that it would be better than living with his dad. He was sure... wasn't he? He looked once again at the two nice people that he was already beginning to trust -Ed was mentally beating himself up for this, he knew that if he began to trust people even a little bit, then he would only get hurt because of it - but he just couldn't help but trust them. He didn't know what it was, and if he was perfectly truthful about it, he was more than a little scared.

Ed forced himself to relax again as Riza came and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, he felt his eyes well up with unshed tears, he didn't want to leave these people, but to his mind, he only knew what his father had told him. That no-one would ever want or love a deformed creature like him. It was a thought that, if he was alone, would cause him to cry for hours on end until he had no tears left to shed. He looked up at Riza in shock as he took his hand and gently began to help him out of the bed, he looked down at his arm and leg, and was surprised to see them in real casts, keeping them straight and limiting his use of the injured limbs even more. He didn't mind though, it stopped them from hurting as much. He allowed himself to be lowered from the bed, and into a sitting position in a wheelchair.

Ed stared at Riza, confusion in his eyes as she began to wheel him gently out of the door and down the hall, heading to an unknown destination. "Sweetie..." She began, looking Ed in the eyes. "Roy and I have been talking and... since you have nowhere else to go, if it is ok with you, we will take care you for the time being." Ed's eyes widened, his fathers definition of 'look after' was not a pleasant one, and brought back painful memories along with a cold and unforgiving wave of fear. His ears flattened themselves against his head and his tail curled itself around his leg protectively. "Take...care?" he squeaked fearfully, quickly clapping his left hand over his mouth as he did so, ignoring the pain that the simple action had brought. He had spoken without permission!

Ed's ears flattened themselves even further against his head and his tail tensed in raw fear. He began to shake, and looked up at Riza fearfully. She merely smiled kindly at him and continued pushing him down the hall. Ed averted his gaze, confused. Why didn't she punish him for anything? Ever since he had left his father he had been doing things that were bad... so why wasn't he being punished? Why was she being so... nice?

He sighed quietly, knowing that thoughts like these would get him nowhere, and began to wonder where he was going. But those thoughts only led him back to when Riza had said that she and Roy would 'take care of him'. He shuddered a little, but as he did so a memory tweaked at the edge of his conscience.

He let the memory play.

Ed was ill. He had a fever that was making his temperature unbearable and he was throwing up every five minutes or so, or at least, he would have been if there had been anything left in his stomach. But now he was just dry-heaving. His mother patted his back comfortingly as he retched. 'Don't worry sweetie' she said in a soothing tone. 'I'll take care of you.'

Ed brought himself out of the memory and back to the thoughts that he had been puzzling over. Maybe it wasn't all a facade to fool him into trusting them. Maybe they genuinely were kind people... like his mother had been. Maybe they meant take care of the way that his mother did, not his father. Maybe... maybe he was finally having a streak of good luck.

And, as scared as he was that he was wrong, Ed couldn't help but revel in the knowledge that his luck might finally be turning. He fell asleep with a smile on his face as Riza wheeled him to the car.