Fullmetal Alchemist:

Return to Chaos

Prologue: After the Invasion

A month had passed since Eckhart's invasion of Central and the assembly of diplomats, which had already been busy still dealing with the aftermath of Roy Mustang's messy coup d'état, were forced into overdrive after the invasion. All hands were on deck cleaning up and repairing the damage caused by the invading forces, including the newly re-appointed Roy Mustang and his group.

Everyone who had been branded as traitors by King Bradley were rebranded as heroes once the assembly's cover story had finally been laid out. The elaborate story claimed that an unnamed state had paid off Bradley to aggravate the neighbouring states and weaken Amestris' armies and its people to make invasion at a later date easier.

His secretary, whose true name was never revealed, was an agent sent by the unnamed state to keep an eye on him and to make sure that nobody discovered what Bradley was doing by using the poor record keeping of the military to her advantage.

Brigadier General Maes Hughes had discovered their plot and was killed by the secretary's co-conspirators before he could warn anyone as a result of his discovery; but those who had been branded as traitors including Roy Mustang and Edward Elric found out about the plot and had worked to stop them, only succeeding at the cost of severe injuries, and young Edward's apparent death, as they fought Bradley and his fellow conspirators.

To ensure believability, the military higher-ups that had worked closely with Bradley were investigated. General Hakuro had been one of the most closely scrutinized, forcing him to quickly take a leave of absence before retiring from the military completely to avoid being persecuted, leaving the military one General short and leading them to promoting Brigadier General Mustang to a full General when he requested a return to Central.

With his return, they were able to hand over the cleanup and repairs of Central and Liore to him so that they could focus on more important issues like the continuing efforts to help the Ishbalans. The assembly had granted the Ishbalans some representative positions, but the Ishbalans refused to take them until they were certain that the acts of good faith the assembly had been doing since their return to power were sincere and not just an attempt to look good in the eyes of the people. The assembly said that it understood that it would take time for the Ishbalans to trust the assembly and left the positions open for future representatives to take while they helped aid the Ishbalans with their reconstruction. Despite the extensive workload ahead of them, the Ishbalans refused the help of alchemists and the assembly agreed to respect their wishes and send only supplies and whatever else they requested that hadn't been constructed with the use of alchemy.

With everything looking well inside of Amestris, the major concern for the assembly came from the neighbouring states. The assembly hoped that the aggression Bradley showed over his long years in power wouldn't cause them to strike out at Amestris while it was weakened…

Roy Mustang smiled as he entered a familiar office that was filled with boxes and organized chaos. It was the same office he had held during his tenure as a Colonel before the events of his coup and his voluntary demotion to a remote northern outpost. Looking back on the voluntary demotion with his renewed attitude made him realize he'd simply been acting like a spoiled child whose favourite toy had been taken away and he'd gone to hide somewhere to pout about it. The thought made him cringe inside, though he didn't let it show to avoid worrying his subordinates.

Jean Havoc grinned as he caught sight of his commanding officer. "Welcome back to Central, General Mustang."

The emphasis he put on Roy's new rank made Roy's smile become an amused smirk as he remembered the day he asked to be returned to Central. It was the day after the invasion and the assembly immediately agreed, even going so far as to return his original team to him as a sign of gratitude for his request, especially when he offered to lead the effort to clean up and repair Central and Liore and take it off the hands of the directors who were being forced from their regular duties to deal with it. He also knew full well that his promotion to a full General was only the result of General Hakuro's hasty retirement, and even sent the ex-General a thank you gift that was promptly returned with a note saying that the ex-General had moved and left no forwarding address.

Kain Fuery, Vato Falman, and Heymans Breda paused in their unpacking to salute their superior with grins similar to Havoc's.

Roy nodded in acknowledgement of their salutes, their hands immediately dropping to their sides after the nod. "It's good to be back, Lieutenant Havoc. I expect all of you to put forth the same effort in your work as you did when you were previously under my command."

"Yes sir!" All four men saluted him again; any traces of their grins gone as they stood at attention in proper military fashion.

A grin and nod from Roy allowed them to drop their serious attitude as Riza Hawkeye appeared in the doorway with a file in her hand.

She held it out to him, causing him to look at it in confusion. "I believe you requested this sir. I've been holding onto it for you ever since they ordered it removed and destroyed."

His confusion vanished immediately as he took the file from her with a nod of gratitude. He glanced over the file quickly to make sure that everything was in it before going over to his safe and locking the mysterious file inside. He ignored the others' confused looks as he knelt and petted Black Hayate who stood at his master's side obediently. The military-trained dog wagged his tail happily even after Roy stood and looked at his men.

"All right, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Leave the unpacking until later and get out there and help the cleaning crews with the streets!"

"Yes sir!" Their salutes were quick before they quickly left to carry out his first real order as their renewed commanding officer with Black Hayate bringing up the rear cheerfully barking as he followed them.

Roy couldn't help but snicker in amusement as he went over to the windows overlooking Central Headquarters' stairs.

When they came into view down the steps, everyone but Riza was running to carry out his orders. She stopped on the stairs and looked up at his window, knowing full well he'd be watching them.

He smiled at her annoyed expression, a clear indication that he'd better go down and join them before she gave him hell. "Indeed… it really is good to be back…" He muttered to himself before turning from the window and leaving his office to join his subordinates.

After the chaos in Central died down, Winry Rockbell had returned to Risembool with a frightened Sciezka in tow. Sciezka knew it would cause her to get in trouble with the army, but she had been so scared by what had happened that she decided that leaving Central and getting into trouble by her employers was preferable to anything that could potentially happen in Central next.

The same month that saw Roy reinstated as a full General saw Winry sighing in exhaustion as she cleaned up her automail workstation. She had just finished making a new model leg for a friend who had lost his due to infection, but she had been forced to work on it overnight to finish it before he had to leave that day to help with Central's cleanup, something she hadn't had to do since she was fifteen. She was surprised to find herself so out of shape from just a single all-nighter, but was brought out of her thoughts by Sciezka as she closed one of the large medical textbooks Winry had lying around in her room.

"What's wrong, Winry?" She asked in concern as she noticed her friend's exhaustion.

Winry shook her head as she put the last of her tools away. "It's nothing. I'm fine; it's just been a while since I pulled an all-nighter like that. I guess you can say I'm out of shape."

Sciezka nodded in understanding as she put the book carefully back where she found it and stared wistfully at the small collection of books Winry had on her shelf, almost all of which were medical reference books or mechanics guides. "I wish you had more books here, Winry. I mean, I love playing with the local children, but that can only last for so long before my heart yearns for a good book."

Winry smiled in amusement at her friend's need for books. "Sorry Sciezka, but you should know by now that we're not really ones to read around here. We're always too busy with orders to take the time needed for reading."

Sciezka was about to answer when Den's muffled barking could be heard outside.

"What now, you silly dog?" Winry asked to herself as she went to her window to check what was going on. She couldn't help but laugh as Sciezka joined her out of curiosity.

"He's just chasing a rabbit. As long as he doesn't damage his leg, he's allowed to chase them. He never catches them anyways." Winry explained before the large black and white dog vanished out of the window's line of sight while chasing a brown blur.

Sciezka's smile vanished as a look of concern replaced it. "Winry, are you sure it's all right for me to still be here? I mean, they must have listed me as AWOL by now, even if I'm just a desk person. They'll probably come looking for me and this will be one of the first places they'll look. I don't want to cause you any trouble."

Winry shook her head at her friend's concern. "Don't worry about it Sciezka, right now they're probably too concerned about getting Central and Liore back on their feet to worry about AWOL personnel. Besides, as you said, you're just a desk worker with the military, you're not actually a soldier despite wearing the uniform. Even if they were to hunt you down, we've hidden fugitives before and got off without any major trouble."

Sciezka looked at her sadly. "Even if what you've said is true, those fugitives you were hiding were the Elric brothers. They were rebranded as heroes, and that's why you got off without any problems from the military. In fact, they actually thanked you for sheltering them! You won't be so lucky this time if they come after me." She said with a defeated tone.

Winry put a hand on Sciezka's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, Roy's back at Central. If you do get in trouble, he'll help you out… especially if I ask him to."

Sciezka smiled weakly at the thought of being bailed out by General Mustang, especially after the horror stories she used to hear about the kinds of favours he asked in return of those indebted to him. She had to admit that quite a few of the stories definitely seemed like exaggerations, but some of them seemed too plausible for her liking.

Winry stared out the window, her comforting smile vanishing as she seemed to drift off in thought. Sciezka knew full well who she was thinking of and blamed herself for openly mentioning the Elric brothers, the topic that usually sent both Rockbell women into deep thought.

Before she could say something to bring Winry out of her thoughts, Pinako Rockbell's voice rang out from the main level. "Girls get yourselves cleaned up and down here now! Dinner's ready and you'd better get it before it gets cold!" The sharpness of the older woman's no-nonsense tone brought Winry back to reality, causing her to jump in surprise before squeaking as she recovered from her thoughts.

"Come on, let's go Sciezka! You know better than to keep Granny waiting!" She said as she grabbed the other woman's wrist and dragged her out of Winry's room, completely ignoring Sciezka's weak protests as she did so.

Like Central was recovering from Roy Mustang's coup d'état before Eckhart's invasion, Liore had still been recovering in the wake of the destruction caused by the creation of the Philosopher's Stone when it too had been invaded by a preliminary assault group, all of whom were determined to be dead on arrival but somehow managed to fight anyways. One thing that had changed with the renewed recovery effort was that another member of the military was placed in charge of the cleanup with some state alchemists at his command.

Major Alex Louis Armstrong had been pulled from that duty as his superiors claimed that his talents could be put to better usage elsewhere. The reality was that they had received far too many complaints about the Major's 'unique style' when it came to making repairs to the city and they finally could no longer ignore them.

Rose Thomas wandered through the ruined city watching the cleanup crew's work, especially the state alchemists, waving in response to their cheerful but tired greetings. She had been helping the cleanup effort by making food for the workers at the food and drink bar where she had first encountered the Elric brothers, but today was her day off. That left her with nothing to do since her son was off playing with his friends and the owner of the bar would yell at her if she tried to work when she was supposed to be resting.

She wandered into the ruined central square where the mysterious soldiers had appeared, attacked, and just as suddenly disappeared once they stopped moving. By the recommendations of both Major Armstrong and General Mustang, this was the only area to be worked on manually. The state alchemists working on repairing the rest of the city were not allowed anywhere near the square, and only those two men and everyone who had been present when the incident happened knew why: they didn't want one of the alchemists accidentally triggering any residual Gate energy, which could possibly allow more of those suits or worse to come through. Despite Edward's assurances that the Gate would be destroyed on his side, Roy and Alex didn't want to take any chances of something happening that could reopen the Gate and leave this world defenceless to assaults from the other world.

Rose looked away from the ruined square toward the food and drink bar. The gaudy golden statue of Major Armstrong gleamed in the sun, temporarily blinding her as she covered her eyes to shield them from the glare. As her eyes began to refocus, she could have sworn she saw the Elric brothers walking towards her. The hope that had been welling up inside of her at the sight quickly became overwhelming disappointment when her eyes regained their full sight and revealed the two men to be construction workers.

"Hey Rose, are you all right?" One of them asked as they noticed her expression.

She put on a falsely cheerful smile as they paused in concern. "I'm fine, sorry about that. The sun got in my eye, that's all."

"Yeah, maybe we should have the alchemists take out that statue sometime when the Major's not in town. It's a pain when the sun hits it the right way, and it's an eyesore twenty-four seven!"

Despite her terrible mood, Rose couldn't help but laugh at their comments. "Just be careful that the Major doesn't hear you say things like that! You might end up in one of his crushing grips!"

They chuckled and waved to her before returning to the rest of their crew.

Her lightened mood quickly vanished once they were gone and she was left alone again. The sadness she felt at the dashed feelings of hope threatened to overwhelm her as she felt tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. She was pulled out of her sorrow when she felt a small hand wrap around her fingers, causing her to look down and see her son looking up at her in concern.

"You okay, mommy?"

Rose smiled sadly down at him. "It's all right, dear. I was just remembering some friends who are no longer with us." She knelt down to be at eye level with him. "So what would you like?" She asked, curious as to why her son had come to find her when he'd been having so much fun.

"Can you come play with us? You always make up good games." She smiled in amusement as she nodded.

"Of course I will. Lead the way, sweetie." She had to remind herself that she couldn't rely on others by remembering Ed's words the first time they met. He had told her that she had to stand on her own and move forwards, and she tried to take those words to heart, especially for the sake of her son. She couldn't allow herself to dwell on the past when the future clung to her hand right at that moment. She laughed as she allowed her son to pull her towards his friends, who had been waiting impatiently nearby.

The other children cheered happily to see Rose was going to join them as they ran ahead to the small playground that had been set up for them to try and keep them from getting hurt in the construction zones.

Deep within the heart of Berlin Germany, three figures slipped through the darkness to avoid being seen. Edward Elric led the way, warily holding a gun but hoping he would never have to use it. Noah, this alternate world's equivalent to Rose, followed up behind with a thick plank of wood that had already seen some use, but she looked unhappy at having to use it. Alphonse Elric brought up the rear with no weapons, but was charged with making sure nobody came up behind them.

"There it is…" Edward whispered as he pointed towards a small unremarkable building.

"Are you certain?" Noah asked uncertainly as she looked at the building.

"Yeah, we are. It may not look like much, but wouldn't you rather put something that dangerous in a place nobody would bother looking than in a place where everyone would be after it?" Alphonse answered while warily looking over his shoulder.

"Nobody's coming, hurry up." Edward growled as he slunk from their hiding spot towards the building. Noah and Alphonse followed at a run to keep from being seen.

Edward worked quickly, picking the padlock that secured the door before waving Noah and Alphonse in once the door swung open.

Alphonse brought out a lantern and lit it to see in the darkness, being extremely careful to avoid aiming the light anywhere that could be seen outside as his elder brother shut the door to avoid attracting attention.

They stared grimly at what they'd been looking for as it stood in the corner of the room, tucked away like something forgotten and unimportant: the uranium bomb from Amestris. It had been confiscated along with the rest of Adolf Hitler and his supporters' belongings. German scientists quickly figured out that it was a bomb, but not even they were aware of how dangerous this particular bomb was. So when they confiscated it, they put it in the heart of a government facility that had been a military base until the previous war. The government had reported their discovery to the British, and a team had been sent to confiscate it with the gratitude of the British government.

However, Edward had caught wind of it from Officer Hughes and decided to take matters into his own hands by ridding both worlds of the bomb once and for all.

Alphonse produced a thick-cloth bag from his pack of supplies and handed it over to Edward, who held the bomb gingerly.

Once the bomb was secured, Edward sighed in relief. "All right, now that we have it, let's get-" An alarm sounded elsewhere in the complex, causing Edward to curse. "It looks like they found our way in. We need to move, come on!"

Knowing it would be no use to try and sneak away, they simply ran in the opposite direction the guards would be headed.

Once they slipped away to the safety of their apartment above Gracia's flower shop, they collapsed in exhaustion. They had decided to return there after a small bout of travelling because it was the safest place for Noah in Germany, for a time at least, but all three knew that time was coming to an end.

Germany's unrest was growing and getting worse, even to the point where they'd almost been robbed a few times. It would only be a matter of time before the dam broke and people like Noah were in serious danger. All of the signs pointing to that risk was what finally forced Edward's hand and made him take up a gun to protect his family and friends, but he'd yet to need it, instead relying on the skills Izumi Curtis had taught him to defend them.

Once they had recovered, they looked at the bag warily as it rested on a table looking rather harmless.

"So what are we going to do with it?" Noah asked worriedly. Alphonse shrugged uncertainly as Edward stared at it thoughtfully.

"With alchemy, destroying it would have been easy. Unfortunately, that one time I used alchemy was a fluke and it hasn't worked since, so reconstructing it into something harmless is out of the question."

Alphonse could only nod in agreement. He hadn't realized how much he'd come to rely on the science of their world until it had been taken from him. However, that didn't make him regret his decision to sneak aboard the airship and follow his brother back to this world. He'd rather have his brother than alchemy, and he was glad for that opportunity when it presented itself.

"I dunno, maybe we'll travel up to the North Sea and dispose of it in the water. I doubt anyone would be able to find it there. Or we can bury it somewhere uninhabited and dangerous and hope nobody's ever crazy enough to live there." Edward growled in annoyance as he threw his hands up in defeat.

"Either way, it's not safe for it to stay here. It looks like we'll be hitting the road again. Gracia and Officer Hughes are going to be worried about us." Alphonse admitted as he put a hand on his frustrated brother's shoulder to calm him down.

Noah nodded in understanding, gripping her skirt in an attempt to contain her excitement. Despite enjoying Gracia's rare kindness, she enjoyed the freedom of travel more and the prospect of travelling with the Elric brothers again made her want to dance with joy.

"Then I guess I'll begin gathering supplies in the morning. When should we leave?"

Edward stood and stretched before picking up the bag. "We should head out in a few days. Getting the supplies we'll need will be hard, and it'll only get worse when we're on the road."

"Don't worry, Noah. I'll help you with the supplies. Brother can stay here and guard it." Alphonse said as he motioned to the bomb, not daring to say the word out loud.

Edward and Noah nodded in agreement as they decided they'd better enjoy what very well may be their last comforts of home for a long time…

Author's Note: No, you are not seeing things. This is a preview only. The story is still in the works. Yes, this story has gotten much, much bigger than the original still published on my account. I just wanted to prove that I was still alive to my readers. Please enjoy this preview! I hope to have the story finished... uhm... whenever. Sorry, I'm not very good at ETAs.