I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or any of it's characters and all that jazz. This is my first fan fiction. Reviews very much appreciated :)

Ed sat glumly behind his desk at Central HQ. Paperwork was nowhere near as interesting as working in the field, and the work never seemed to end. As soon as one pile had finished, Hawkeye would throw another pile on his desk. After three monotonous hours, Ed decided to take a break and annoy Jean Havoc by throwing small scraps of paper at his head. However, he quickly stopped after Hawkeye fired a few warning shots behind him. Grudgingly, he continued to sign the ton of reports to be checked before being passed on to Mustang. Ed didn't feel that there was any point in this. Maybe they invented a job just to give me something to do, Ed thought miserably.

Ever since Ed had successfully returned Al to his body and defeated the homunculi, life had become dull. Even though he had only joined the military to bring Al back, he wasn't able to just quit. As Ed had once put it, he had sold his soul to the military and couldn't escape. He thought if he provided no new research he would lose his state alchemist status and be thrown out of the military. However, the new Fuhrer Haruko had decided to let Ed remain a state alchemist as a reward for saving his life on that train years before. So here he was – an 18 year old state alchemist stuck behind a desk doing what Ed considers as Mustang's job.

After what seemed like a lifetime, it finally reached one o'clock. Ed prepared to leave for lunch, when he was stopped by Hawkeye.

"The Colonel wishes to see you," she told him.

"Yeah?" Ed replied, "Well you can tell Colonel Bastard that he can wait till after I've eaten."

"Fullmetal, my office now!" boomed Mustang from behind, causing Ed to jump. This made Mustang smirk. "Hey, you almost reached the height of a normal person there."

"Shut up! I am normal, everyone else is just freakishly tall!" Ed whined, while stomping into Mustang's office. Roy couldn't help but laugh and followed the small blonde alchemist, closing the huge wooden door behind him. Ed threw himself on the leather sofa in the middle of the room while Roy sat behind his desk.

"Please make yourself at home," mumbled Roy sarcastically.

"What'cha want Mustang, 'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry. Anyway, I have a job for you."

"More bloody paperwork?"

"No. Well, not really. You heard about Trinity?"

"You mean those psycho terrorists claiming to be carrying out the will of God and other crazy shit?"

"Yeah. Well they have causing havoc up North, the military are struggling to keep peace. Just yesterday they almost destroyed an entire military base with alchemy."

"Woah!"

"Quite. Well the problem is, the alchemy they are using is something that no one recognises. It seems to be new -"

"Or prehistoric."

"Or that. But this is where you come in Fullmetal. With everything you have encountered and your ability to use alchemy without a circle, I was hoping you could assist us by deciphering these transmutation circles."

"If I agree to help, you better make sure I don't have to touch paperwork for a VERY long time."

Roy sighed. "Fine. So will you help?"

"Yeah sure whatever. Can I see?"

Roy handed Ed photos from the village. As Ed looked at the photos, his eyes widened and his skin went pale. "Holy shit..." he whispered.

"What's wrong?"

"I – I've seen this before. But – that's impossible..."

"Well, what does it mean?"

"I – I don't know..." Ed grew very quiet and stared off into the distance.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Roy seemed confused. "I thought you said you had seen it before?"

"I have seen it, but it doesn't mean I know what it means."

"Well where did you see it?"

"You – you wouldn't believe me."

"Huh? C'mon Elric, have a little faith, I've trusted you when most others wouldn't, like when you told me Fuhrer Bradley was in fact a homunculus? What's going on?"

Ed didn't answer. He looked scared and Roy grew concerned. He got up from behind the desk and moved to sit next to Ed on the couch. "Ed, what is it?"

Ed was surprised that Roy called him by his first name, and he turned to face the man. He saw concern in his superior's eyes and knew he had to say something. "Well, um, this is gonna sound really crazy but... well... I saw it in a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yeah. Well, more a nightmare. I saw these symbols and then a flash of light. There was blood everywhere and I heard terrible screams. I saw bodies... bodies in blue. Military blue. But – it was just a dream. How could it become reality? Dreams aren't real... they can't be..." Ed's voice faded out and he just shook his head, obviously trying to figure out what was going on.

Roy was baffled. "You dreamt about these deaths? When exactly?"

"About a week ago, when I visited Al in Resembool."

"Did you tell anyone about your dream?"

"No, I mean, it's just a dream! I mean if I had known this was going to happen, that it was some sort of premonition I would have said something, honestly! I – I'm sorry I – what the hell is happening?"

"Hey woah calm down Ed, this is probably just a coincidence all right? You've been working hard lately..."

"But the symbols, I have never seen them before –"

"You probably have, you just forgot OK? Don't get yourself worked up about it. It's just a horrible coincidence." Roy smiled in a vague hope of calming Ed.

Ed sighed, "yeah, you're probably right. It just seems like one hell of a coincidence... but yeah that's all it is. I'll start researching these symbols right away."

"Are you sure you're up to it? You can take the rest of the day off and start tomorrow."

"Nah it's fine, I probably just need some fuel..."

"Yes, we all know a hungry Fullmetal is a sloppy worker."

Ed smirked and got up to leave. "Hey, Colonel?"

"Mmm?"

"Could you maybe keep what I said to yourself? You know, um, don't want everyone to think I've gone weird..."

"Don't worry Ed, they already think you're weird." Roy ducked as Ed threw a stapler at him. "Hey, that could have caused a nasty injury!"

"Oh please, it would have barely scratched that massive head of yours. Later Bastard!" Ed ran out of the office and down to the food court.

Roy had to laugh. Ed's temper and disobedience was more amusing than threatening. It's kinda cute, though Roy. Wait, did I just say cute? I have been working too hard. Maybe I can sneak out for some R & R? And with that Roy got up and left the building.