Daniel stopped transmuting and turned to face Roy. He clapped his hands in congratulations. "Great job Colonel. I guess you've found this place after all."

"Shut the hell up," Roy growled. "I'm not joking when I said I'll turn you into a pile of ashes."

"Oh, I'm so scared," Daniel said sarcastically. He grinned. "I would be careful what you say to me. I still have your precious Alchemist with me."

Roy looked over in Ed's direction. The boy was lying motionless on the ground. Blood stained the white bandages that wrapped around his body and his eyes were half closed, giving him the impression that he was dead. Roy thought he was dead until he saw the small boy blink and direct his dull gaze to look straight at Roy

Roy turned back to Daniel and narrowed his eyes. "I won't let you lay a hand on him. I'll kill you if you even try."

Daniel pouted. "Why are you always ruining my fun?"

"Your fun?" Roy shouted. It took all of his will power to not burn Daniel right then and there. "Is that all this is? A game? Ed's half dead because of you. You call that a game?"

Daniel stared at Roy with eyed that danced with false playfulness. "Don't you see. He's almost a full chimera. One more step and my mission is complete."

"I don't care about your damn mission!" Roy felt uncontrollable anger telling him what do do, telling him to kill Daniel. But something held him back. He didn't know what, but he knew he would regret it if he did. "Give Ed to me."

Daniel smiled. "Beat me, you get him. Deal?"

"I'm not making a deal with a damn bastard like you!" Roy snapped his fingers and the air beside Daniel's head exploded in a blast of heat and flames hot enough to melt glass. Daniel simply dodged it as easily as you would dodge the swing of a toddler.

"You've go to do better than that if you want to beat me." Daniel raised his arm and the Transmutation Circle on his hand began to glow. "Let me demonstrate my true power." Daniel's ring began to glow blindingly bright and the biggest blast of ice shot out at Roy.

He barley dodged it. He snapped his fingers countless times, creating just as many explosions. Finally, as the fight reached it's climax, Daniel was hit. He stumbled back, a small shattering sound could be heard and Roy's eyes widened when he saw the ring, the Philosopher's Stone, shatter into countless pieces.

Daniel looked just as shocked as he watched the last of the dust of the former stone blow away beyond reach. He turned at Roy and shot one last beam of ice before creating a thick fog and disappearing from the room.

"Edward!" Roy shouted. The fog started to dissipate and Roy saw Ed still lying on the ground. The Colonel ran over to the small boy and knelt down beside him. "Edward."

"C-colonel?" Ed opened his eyes slowly and looked up at Roy. Tears began to form in the corners of his dull golden eyes. Roy held the frail boy closer to him.

"It's okay Ed," He said gently. Ed's bloody had grabbed Roy's shirt and squeezed as tightly as he could with his shaking hands.

"I. Colonel." A tear fell down Ed's pale face. "I was scared." Another tear fell down and hit Roy's coat. Roy felt bad for Ed. He never cried, he always tried to act so brave but whatever happened to him must have been horrible if it made him like this.

"It's okay," he said gently. You're safe."

Ed's head fell against Roy's chest and his eyes closed. Roy thought that he died but saw his chest moving up and down unsteadily and let out the breath he'd been holding. Ed was safe and he was never going to let anything happen to him if there was a chance for Roy to protect him.

***

The next time he woke up he was lying on a soft surface. The pain in his stomach was just a dull throb and his mind was more clear. He decided to open his eyes and saw that he was lying in a small room with hardly any light. He was lying in a bed with a thin blanket pulled up to his shoulders. Ed groaned and moved his hand up to his pounding head.

He noticed that his face felt unusually warm. Ed shut his eyes again and rolled over but the sudden movement caused the dull throb in his stomach became agonizingly painful. Ed's hand subconsciously held the wound in hopes that doing so would dampen the pain.

There was a soft creaking sound and light spilled into the room. Ed snapped his eyes shut as the sudden brightness flooded his vision. Footsteps echoed across the floor and stopped abruptly. Ed stayed as still as he can. He didn't know who was in the room or what they were doing. Ed felt his fear rising and his heart beat loudly in his chest.

"Is this the boy?" A voice asked.

"Yes. He came this evening battered and covered in blood," another voice replied. This voice sounded old.

"Will he live?"

"I suppose so. His condition appears to be stable I don't see why he would die."

"When he wakes up can you give him this?"

"Got it."

Ed heard the sound of shuffling papers and then the room was silent again. Footsteps hit the floor with muffled thumps and the door shut again, the light being replaced with darkness.

Ed listened for a minute before opening his eyes. The silvery wisp of the moonlight shone through a window and illuminated the room slightly. The room was empty except for him and the room was silent except for his soft breathing.

Ed yawned. He felt sleep trying to force it's way to him but he struggled to fight it. He didn't want to sleep, he needed to know who those people were. Before he could think anymore he yawned again and fell into a dreamless sleep.

***

Ed woke up again to pounding pain. His head pounded and his side felt as though it were on fire. He groaned and held his stomach.

"Edward, are you awake?" A familiar voice asked him.

Ed forced his tired eyes open and saw Roy Mustang sitting in a chair beside him. The Colonel looked as though he hadn't slept in days. His hair was messed up and his clothes were dirty. "Colonel, where are we?"

"The hospital," Roy replied simply.

Ed looked around and noticed the white walls and the horrible stench that hung in the air. He sighed. "I hate hospitals."

"You should be lucky there are hospitals. If there weren't you would've been dead." The tone in Roy's voice was dark and it caused a shiver to run down his spine.

Ed was silent. He tried to sit up but his stomach exploded in pain and he swore before falling down into the bed. His winced as his hand held the wound tightly, only causing more pain.

"Are you okay? Where does it hurt?" Roy asked quickly. He sounded quite nervous as he spoke.

Ed removed his hand from his stomach and made an attempt at a smile. "I'm fine. The pain's not too bad." He lied, his stomach hurt like hell.

"Are you sure?" Roy asked.

Ed nodded. "I'm fine. Just tired, that's all."

Roy didn't look like he believed him but he sat back down in his chair and looked at Ed. "Fullmetal, don't lie to me. What exactly did Daniel do to you?"

Ed looked away. He didn't want to remember what happened when he was captured. He wanted to erase it from his mind. But he doubted that he could. Ed looked over at Roy. "He tried to turn me back into a Chimera."

Roy nodded. "Did you eat or drink anything when you were there?"

Ed shook his head. For some reason he didn't feel hungry or thirsty at the moment. He decided to push that thought aside. "Is there anything else you want to ask me?"

Roy nodded. "Why did you let Daniel take you?"

Ed tried to avoid Roy's eyes. "I-I couldn't let him kill Hawkeye. He had a knife at her neck and I." He paused and looked down at the white bed sheets. "I couldn't watched anyone I care about die if there was something I could do to save them."

Roy stared at Ed for a moment before sighing and leaning back in his chair. "Next time don't be so reckless."

"I wasn't reckless," Ed protested.

There was a knock on the door and Ed turned and saw an older man with round glasses standing at the door. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Roy said

The man nodded and walked into the room and over to Ed. "Good to see you awake."

The voice sounded familiar somehow. He tried to remember where he's seen that man before but he couldn't figure out where. The man didn't look familiar, his voice did. The memory of it was tugging at his consciousness trying to escape. "Have we met before?" Well, It was worth a shot to ask.

The man shook his head. "No, I don't think you'd remember."

Then it hit him. "You were here last night weren't you?"

"You're sadly mistaken," The man said with a frown. "Perhaps you were seeing things. You have lost quite a bit of blood."

Ed suspicions were only growing with every word the man said. "How did you know I lost a lot of blood?"

The man hesitated before replying. "I have something for you."

"You changed the subject," Ed muttered half to himself.

"Aha, here it is." The man pulled out a handful of papers out of his pocket and handed them to Ed. "A friend of mine told me to give these to you." The man stood up. "I should be going now. I'll see you soon."

He left before Ed had a chance to ask any more questions. He looked at the stack of papers in his hands. Most of them looked worn out and old, every sheet was covered in writing. Ed looked through them and felt his confusion rising.

This doesn't make any sense. Why did he give me these in the first place? Ed read through each sheet carefully but nothing made sense. It was hard to process much of what was written on the papers. He yawned but kept reading. Soon Roy pulled them out of Ed's hands, much to the blond's annoyance.

"You should be resting, not reading," Roy told him strictly.

"I'm perfectly fine," Ed protested. "I don't need to rest."

Roy let out an impatient huff and looked Ed directly in his eyes. "You were stabbed in the stomach and close to death when I found you. I suggest you rest, your body needs to take it easy for a while."

"Maybe I don't wanna," Ed insisted. He didn't want the Colonel to tell him what to do. He didn't need rest, all he wanted to do was to find out what the notes meant. "Give me the paper now."

Roy shoved the notes into his pocket. "Rest." He stood up. "Maybe after you do that I'll give them to you."

How badly Ed wanted to Transmute the damn Colonel couldn't be put on a simple scale. "You damn bastard. I feel fine."

"Then no notes."

Ed stared at the colonel with hate filled eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Just get some damn rest or I'll get a nurse to force you to do it." Roy smiled coldly. "You like needles?"

Ed's face paled at the word 'needles'. "Fine, I'll rest." Ed gave the Colonel a long hard cold stare before turning away from him and lying in the bed.

Roy smiled slightly and sat back down in the chair. Ed began to feel suddenly tired and before he knew it had drifted off into a restless sleep.

***

Ed woke up groggy and tired. His mind was foggy and he couldn't think straight. He sat up and yawned. He was finally going to get out of there today and he waited impatiently for Roy to hurry up and get him. The door finally creaked open and Roy walked in, along with two men, both appeared to be doctors.

"Oh, you're awake?" Roy asked a bit surprised.

"Who are they?" Ed pointed at the men behind Roy.

"They're doctors, one's an Alchemist."

"Colonel Mustang, can we do what we came here for?" The shorter one, who was still taller than Ed, asked.

"Go ahead."

The man walked forward and began to look closely at Ed. He looked around him for several long minutes before straightening up. "He's fine. I don't see why he won't survive."

"Survive? Why won't I survive?" Ed asked.

"Let me explain." The taller man took a step forward. "I've found a way to reverse the experiments that were done to you. It would be painful but I guarantee that it'll work."

"I'm confused?" Ed looked at Roy and then back at the man. "But I'll do it if I can get this damn tail off me."

"Great, we'll do it whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready now." Ed looked straight at him with a determined look in his golden eyes.

"Okay, I guess we can get started." The young doctor turned to look at Roy and the other doctor. "Could you two please step out into the hall?"

Roy nodded and both him and the doctor left.

Once the door was closed the man tuned to look at Ed. "You ready?"

Ed nodded with a new found determination that had been lost until then. The man pulled on two gloves with a Transmutation embroidered on each palm. He placed his palms together and placed them on the bed a bit away from where Ed was sitting.

A large transmutation glowed a brilliant golden yellow beneath him. Ed was amazed until the pain hit. His head felt like it was being ripped open and shattering into a million pieces. The pain only increased until Ed was sure he was going to die. He fell onto his side, breathing hard. The pain only grew until his vision swam before his eyes.

It was like that for several minutes before he saw the glowing circle beginning to fade but the pain stayed.

"Congratulations, you survived," he announced.

Ed pushed himself up into a sitting position with shaky arms and looked at the man tiredly. "What do you mean?"

"Not everyone survives."

Ed heard someone walk into the room and looked over at the door. Roy and the doctor walked in and immediately the Colonel ran over to him. "Ed, are you hurting? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Ed managed a forced smile. "Just a bit tired, that's all."

"He's fine to go," the doctor informed. "If Colonel Roy Mustang signs a few papers Mr. Elric can leave the hospital."

"Hurry up and sign those papers," Ed ordered. "I wanna get out of here soon."

"If I don't sign them now Ed won't let me live it down." Roy followed the doctor out of the room and the man left as well, leaving Ed alone without anyone to reach him if anything happened.

It was that moment when Ed began to wish that he was still a chimera.