"What did you do?" Mustang growled, spotting Edward and Alphonse almost immediately.

Winry stared for a moment, cerulean eyes wide before she sprinted upstairs, obviously no wanting to be around the self confident bastard for any longer than she had to.

Edward didn't blame her, really.

A hand was suddenly fisting in the front of his shirt, and he was being lifted ever so slightly. "What," Roy growled again, voice low. "Did you do, Elric?"

His eyes widened slightly when Ed started to tap Dorset onto his chest.

'Human transmutation. Alphonse didn't want to, so leave him the hell alone.'

Roy's eyes narrowed. "You can't speak?"

'Well no shit, asshole.'

Mustang bristled at that. "I am a state certified alchemist, Elric. Just who do you think you're calling an asshole now, huh?"

Ed blinked. That was simple. 'You.' He tapped, a slight smirk crossing his lips.

He noticed that Roy seemed to back off a bit, seemingly wary of how he was acting.

It was rather amusing.

"You're Edward?" Roy said after a moment.

Ed nodded, smirking still.

Roy set Edward down, letting out a hefty sounding sigh as he grumbled about brattish, insubordinate children.

"Anything else I should know?" He growled.

'Well, you see, I'm near as blind as a bat, I'm missing a kidney, I have automail, and my body, in general, despises me.' Ed tapped, a pleasant smile on his face.

Roy blanched.

--

After nearly an hour of Roy, Ed, and occasionally Al going back in forth in conversation, the man left, shooed from the house by a positively pissed Pinako.

'Well, that went well.' Ed signed, grinning.

Pinako glared. "Upstairs now, mister." And so Edward trudged obediently up the stairs, his automail thunking quietly on the stairs.

--

That night was not a good one for Edward. He woke up from an all to real nightmare of Alec, and had promptly thrown up all over himself which was bad in itself. Add in the attack that seized his small body, and the the coughing fits that came afterwords...well, he was miserable.

He was even more miserable once he had gotten changed and changed the sheets on his bed as he had started coughing again, trying to satisfy the itch in the back of his throat.

He froze when he felt something slick on the palm of his hand directly after a particularly violent cough.

He had looked at his hand, and internally panicked for a moment at the blood he saw there.

Shakily, he didn't hesitate to head to Pinako's room. He knocked, and only had to wait a few moments, in which he couldn't stop himself from coughing more, before she opened the door.

"What is it? You should be in be-" She froze as Edward lifted up his hand, the blood gleaming on it before his small frame was wracked with more coughing, blood trickling from his mouth.

"Get in here, Edward." Her tone was serious, with a hint of worry. Once he had done as told, in several lurching steps, she closed the door behind him and instructed him to sit on the bed and focus on breathing without coughing.

"Tell me what happened." She ordered as she bustled around.

And so he began signing, taking in shallow but prolonged breaths to keep the wretched coughing at bay.

'Had a nightmare. Woke up and threw up. Had an attack after that. Then I started coughing. After a few minutes was when the blood started coming up.' He signed.

"There's too much stress on your body," Pinako grumbled. "Wait here. I'll get you something that will knock you out til at least noon tomorrow. It will help you recuperate and sleep without disturbances."

Ed nodded carefully, not sure of the action would set off another coughing fit.

"Go back to your room. I'll bring you the medication. I'll expect you take one every other night, just so that you get more sleep. You can't fool me, boy. I know you haven't been sleeping well." She said sternly.

Ed almost shrank away from her as he looked away and nodded slightly.

So he returned to his room after taking a bathroom stop to rinse his hand and mouth of blood. Once he had curled up under the fresh sheets, he awaited Pinako's arrival with the medication. He did not have to wait long.

She wordlessly handed him a bottle, and left the room with a warning. "Only one, every other night. If I find out you're taking more than that, I will beat your ass across the country." She said calmly, watching as he dry swallowed one of the pills before leaving the room.

Edward had no doubts about what she said being true as he almost immediately fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

--

He didn't wake until late in the afternoon the next day, his body having had taken the chance it had been given eagerly in order to get some well needed rest.

His body, however, felt as though he had been hit with a train, and his eyelids had been glued together with gunk, which took ages to completely clear out.

Of course, he did, and right after that he shoved his glasses onto his face so he could somewhat properly see.

He dressed, and stumbled down the stairs blearily.

"About time you woke up, Edward. You almost missed dinner." At the mention of food, Edward's stomach growled loudly, although he wasn't all that hungry at the moment.

He let out a breath of annoyance in reply, feeling dead on his feet.

Pinako chuckled at him, while Alphonse and Winry looked at him in concern.

Edward was known for sleeping in, but never as long as he had today. And the fact that Pinako hadn't told either of them to wake him up concerned them as well. Had something happened while they had been sleeping?

The meal continued in relative silence as Edward picked grudgingly at his food, as if it had wronged him in some unforgivable way.

Silly, of course, but it helped Edward feel better. Somehow.

--1016 Words--

Guess who just updated? Me! Enjoy! ~The_Sin_Pride