Prologue

Ed looked down at the sleeping form of his lover, admiring the softness of the skin and the beauty of the now-shoulder-length black hair. Even now, in this war-torn country, when both of them could've had everything that the Nazi government had to offer, it was hard to believe that both of them had given up everything that everyone around them thought was important, including having children of their own, to be together. But the love these two shared was worth it.

Instead of doing what everyone had expected and marrying Gracia, the owner of the flower shop, police officer and Nazi soldier Maes Hughes had chosen to be by the side of a man who most of the country would have thought was an abomination to God because of his metal arm and leg had he not gone back to the flesh-toned model. It had been five years since Adolf Hitler's initial attempt at overthrowing the government had occurred, and while they had lasted for over a year, the limbs that Winry had built for him had eventually worn out. Shortly after these limbs wore out, there came a day that Ed would never forget.

--

Chapter 1 -- Verraten

"Brother, there's someone here to see you," Al said, knocking on the door of Ed's study. When he wasn't in town or visiting Noa, Ed was always in this room, which had an adjoining door to his bedroom so that he wouldn't disturb anyone when he couldn't sleep and just wanted to do research.

"Who is it, Al?" Ed said, looking up from the engineering book. Looking toward the door, his eyes caught the dazzling green eyes of Commander Hughes, who had just been promoted within Hitler's army. "Commander, hey."

"Good morning, Ed!" Maes said in his normal jovial fashion. "And how are you today?"

"Isn't it a bit too early in the morning to be so loud and boisterous?" Ed groaned, putting a finger in his ear to keep his eardrum from exploding.

"Oh, come on, Ed, it's after ten o'clock!" he said. "Remember, you said needed to talk to me about something, but you said not to show up until ten!"

"You're right," Ed said. "Sorry, Commander. Just please, keep your voice down. I've got a slight hangover from drinking a little too much last night."

"Sorry," Maes said. Al quickly excused himself, realizing that he had better things to do than listen to someone who was a part of something so much bigger than he was. "Finally, we're alone."

"Yeah, we are," Ed said, pouring two glasses of wine and handing one to Maes. "To us, and the hope that the faction will never find out about us."

"Cheers," he said. "Have you told your brother about this?" Ed shook his head before kissing Maes quickly. "If my higher-ups find out about this, we'll probably both be thrown into one of the Jew camps."

"Is the Gestapo really that cruel?" the blonde said. "They would throw a faithful soldier like you out of your home, tear you away from your family and life just for loving someone who is imperfect?"

"Yes," Maes said. "I may have black hair and green eyes instead of blonde hair and blue eyes, but they accept me because I am so faithful."

"You're a hypocrite, Maes," Ed said. "But then, we're all guilty of hypocrisy at some point. I was always told that human transmutation was a sin, and I said that I would never try it, but I did it anyway, and lost not only my arm and leg, but my brother's body for a while."

"I don't care if your arm and leg are mechanical," Maes said, taking the smaller man into his arms for a tight embrace. "Your heart is what makes me so damn attracted to you."

"It's dangerous," he said.

"The entire world is dangerous, Ed," Maes said. "But the road of life is paved with risks. One of the biggest risks right now is doing everything we can to protect ourselves." They looked into each others eyes and Maes smiled at Ed. "But I don't care how much I have to risk to protect you."

"I love you, Maes," Ed said, throwing his arms around Maes' neck, tears in his eyes. Little did they know that on the other side of the wall, a man with very excellent hearing was listening to every word the two men said. Well, it wasn't so much that he had such excellent hearing, but he had planted a bug in Ed's office a few days before, and was now spying on him and his brother. But he'd had no idea until now that the young blonde man had a mechanical arm and leg, or that the two men were lovers. The spy was good friends with Hughes, and had no idea that he could commit such a traitorous act to the Nazi cause. This was definitely grounds for an arrest, as it was against everything that the Nazis fought for and taught.

"Heineman, what are you listening to?" Roberta asked as she walked into the room. This was the spy's wife, a beautiful woman who was just as in favor of what Hitler was doing as Heineman was. Like her husband, she had gorgeous blonde hair and blue eyes, and was practically a poster girl for the Fuehrer's cause. Although she was preaching the same ideals of Nazism as the men were, she seemed to be much more popular among the followers, and so she was being used to recruit the young boys into the Nazi Youth groups.

"I may have just discovered a traitor amongst the ranks, my dear," he said. Handing over the headset to her, he let her follow the conversation, and her eyes widened.

"Him?!" Roberta cried, and Heineman nodded. "He's one of those man-lovers?"

"Shhh," he said. "They are in the next room, and I don't need them to suspect that we know. The Gestapo will have their dealings with them as soon as they find out. Although the pain will be much worse for Mr. Hughes than it will be for young Edward. The boy will probably be sent to a Jew camp, and allowed to suffer to death of the sicknesses of the deranged, while Maes will be brought before the Fuerher himself, where a sentence of torture to death will most likely result."

"It's no less than he deserves," she said.

--

That evening, at dinner, Alphonse remembered the significance of the day, and suddenly understood why, of all days, Ed as unusually melancholy, even with Maes there, which usually made Ed unable to stop smiling.

"It's Mom's birthday today," Ed volunteered when he saw Al's face as he remembered. "She'd be 37 if she was still alive."

"Yeah, I know," Al said. "I wish you could've known our mom, Commander Hughes. You would've liked her."

"If you and your brother are anything to judge by, I have no doubt of it, Al," Maes said, and he raised his glass. "To her memory, and the hope that we never forget what we're fighting for." He raised his glass to his lips, and the boys did the same to their own glasses, Maes looked at his reflection in the glass, into the deep purple wine, and contemplated the decisions he was making. He didn't have time to think for long before the glass suddenly shattered, the wine not having time to fall to the floor before it burned away.

"What the hell?" Ed shouted. He heard a number of men, probably soldiers, storming through the doors of the house, shouting as they made their way up the stairs towards the dining room. "It's them!"

"THEM?!" Al cried. "Why are there soldiers breaking into our home?!" Before anyone could answer, the door burst open, and a man who all three recognized stood before them. Robert Maersten, who looked exactly like Roy Mustang from Ed and Al's world, stood in the doorway, a look of blank anger on his face. "Captain Maersten, what are you doing here?"

"Alphonse Elric, you are to leave," Maersten ordered. "If you leave now, I will say that you were not here, and that you did not know of the crimes being harbored inside your home. If not, I shall have to arrest you too, and believe me the punishments you endure will be severe."

"What is the meaning of this, Sir?" Maes said. "What crimes have been committed here?" He knew what Robert was talking about, but he didn't want to give the answer to Al either.

"Commander Maes Hughes, you and Mr. Elric are under arrest for…" He stopped, signaling one of his men to knock Al out to protect him. When Ed screamed Al's name, he looked over at the young blonde with pity. The poor Alphonse Elric would probably never see his older brother again. "For treason to our Fuehrer, Adolf Hiter, for being homosexuals!" Ed's eyes grew even wider than they had been before, not believing that someone already knew about them. Maes, the strong man that he was, simply stood there, eye to eye with his Captain. "I'm sorry, Commander, but I have my orders."

"Bastard," Maes said. "What proof do you have of this?"

"Maes!" Ed cried. "You would… You would deny that you have feelings for me?"

"Never, Edward," Maes said quietly, and Ed rushed to his side. Maes knew that while Al was unconscious, he would not be harmed, and if Ed knew Robert well enough, he would ensure Al's safety, as long as Al was in the dark to what was going on. Maes held Ed close with one hand, and pulled out his gun with the other.

"Hughes, please," Robert scoffed. "I have all these men backing me up and you think that little pistol will be enough to stop them from taking you? You fire a single shot from that and you will never make it out alive."

"Do whatever you want to me, Captain, but leave Ed out of it, I'm begging you," Maes said, doing his best not to break down.

"Commander, as you well know, my orders are to eradicate all who are impure," he said. "And that includes the Jews, the Gypsies, all traitors, and man-lovers like the two of you are!" He took the rifle from one of the soldiers and butted the end of it against Ed's head before Maes could stop him. "Say goodbye, Commander!" With that, the soldiers dragged the unconscious older blonde out into the cold night air, with Robert holding Maes at gunpoint so he didn't try to follow.

"EDWARD!!" he screamed, tears flooding from his eyes as he watched his lover being taken away.

END CHAPTER 1

--

Chapter 2 -- Ich verfehlte Sie soviel!

By the time that Alphonse awoke, it was morning. His head was pounding, and his arm felt like it was almost ripped off. He looked around, and saw that the entire house was trashed. There was red paper all over the floor, and the glass from the windows was broken out. Wait… red paper?! Much of Ed's manuscripts now lay in a huge puddle of blood which Al hoped to God didn't belong to Ed or Maes.

"Brother?!" Al cried, remembering with horror what had happened the last time he had woken up feeling like this. But this time, Ed was nowhere to be found. Getting up, he ran out the door of the house and stood on the front porch. Where, only the day before there had been a bustling amount of people out and about by this time of morning, there was not a soul to be seen. In all the houses around, there were broken down windows, broken glass, and a few windows that had drippings of blood where someone had been shot. He even saw a lifeless hand protruding out the doorway of one of the houses.

"GET BACK INSIDE, BOY!" screamed a male voice from inside the house. "You want them to pick you up too?"

"Where is my brother!?" Al screamed back.

"Probably a Jew camp by now, kid," came Robert's voice as he walked through the door.

"You!" Al seethed. "You took my brother and my friend away! How dare you show your face here?"

"Because I'm trying to help you get Fullmetal back, Heart of Gold," he said. Al gasped, noticing an eye patch on the man's eye which Robert had never worn, nor needed to.

"Brigadier General Mustang?" he cried, and the man smiled. "But how?"

"More Homunculi have been created, and they got someone to open another gate," Roy said, ushering Al back in and closing the door behind them. "I've missed you boys and wanted to come here, so I took the place of the one who opened the gate so that I could. On my way through the gate, I saw almost an exact replica of myself being created, so by now there is probably another Homunculus with my face in our world."

"Roy…" Al said. "They got Commander Hughes last night too."

"I know," he said. Before Al could utter another word, he felt the older man's arms around him, their lips connected, and his arms involuntarily reached to hold him. "Alphonse, I've missed you."

"You don't know how long I've waited to hear those words from you," Al whispered. "I always thought you wanted my brother, not me."

"Your brother and I have never gotten along very well," he said. "But you, Al, have always been the one that's been able to calm me down and not try to KILL your brother. I was the one who convinced the new leaders to give you the official title of Heart of Gold Alchemist, because you DO have a heart of gold."

"Oh, Roy," Al said, hugging him tight. He wanted to relish in the feeling of being held by this man, but he knew that he needed his help to get Ed and Hughes back. "Now, what do we need to do?"

"Become a dog of the military again," Roy said bluntly. "With you looking like a supporter of Captain Maersten, you'll gain a lot of clout from his other supporters."

"You want me to join the Nazis?" the younger man said.

"If what I've seen is correct, you're already a Nazi supporter," he said. "With your brother being taken, but you being left alone, it will look like you were the one who set them up to be taken in the first place. With the resources that 'I' have, I can get you in contact with them, or at least see what is going on with them. I can't control what their leader might do to them himself, but I can at least try to get them out of harm's way, and make sure that they have the proper medical attention."

"We'll both be dead if it backfires, but it's worth the risk," Al said. Roy handed him an arm band with the Swastika on it, and Al grimaced as he put it on. Having grown a bit since he had come to this world, he was easily able to fit into the uniforms that Maes had been keeping in the house in case he needed a place to crash, and Roy admired the way the blonde looked in it. He had never seen Al in any kind of uniform in Amestris, as most of their time spent together had been while Al was still just a suit of armor.

"You look really good, Al," Roy said.

"You keep gawking and we'll never get out of here," Al said teasingly.

"I'm only stating the truth," he said.

--

"EDWARD!" Maes' voice rang in Ed's head as he awoke, sitting up with a start. He immediately lay back down, however, as his head began to throb from the injury that Robert had inflicted on him. His eyes misted with tears when he realized what was happening -- he'd been picked up by the Nazis, some of whom he had called friends. He'd seen it in their faces that they hadn't wanted to do it, but they'd had no choice. Now, he looked around to the others in the truck, many of them his neighbors who, while he didn't know much about any of them, he at least recognized.

Next to him sat a young girl, clutching a bundle in a green blanket. It bore the Star of David, which all the Jews were required to wear, Ed soon realized that while she was small in stature, this was no child. She was a mother, she was holding her baby, and she was the one who had inadvertently woken him up by calling his name. Without asking her, he couldn't tell if she was calling for the father of the baby, or if the baby's name was Edward.

"Are you okay, Little One?" said one of the women next to him. His eyebrow raised, but he tried his hardest to remain calm.

"My head hurts, but I'll be fine," he said. "The question is, are you ladies and kids doing okay?"

"Why would a gentile ask such a question of a Jew?" she said. "I thought that you Nazis hated us."

"I'm not a true Nazi, Ma'am," Ed said. "The one I love is a member of that group, but I'm not." He knew that he had to choose his words carefully, even around these peace-loving people, because he was as much of an abomination to them as he was to the Nazis simply because of his attraction to men, and especially because of his love for the Nazi soldier. "I'm not religious, but I'm certainly disrespectful of others' beliefs, as I once was."

"Lord bless you," she said. "My name is Vendra Rochenheim, and you are?"

"Edward Elrich," Ed said. Looking at her, he realized how much she looked like Winry. Having never met the Winry of this world, he could only imagine that, with the similarity of name, this must be her. He turned to the woman with the baby, his hand reaching out to her shoulder. "What's your name, Miss?"

"Lisa Haushen," she whispered. Before this, Ed hadn't seen her eyes, those beautiful ambers shining out at him, but he knew for a fact that this was the Riza Hawkeye of this world. He hair was much longer, and her spirit was much more broken than Riza's would ever be, but this was absolutely her. "I'm Maes Hughes's sister." Ed's eyes widened, realizing that she wasn't wearing a yellow star. The baby was, but she wasn't. She wasn't a Jew. "Do you know where they took my brother, Edward?"

"I only wish I knew, Lisa," he said, his heart tightening in his chest. "I got knocked out before they took me, and I don't know if he's alive or dead. But… Why did they get you?"

"Guilty by association," Vendra said. "The Gestapo are notorious for not caring two cow tails for guilt or innocence. They got her because she is the sister of someone who they consider a traitor." The truck suddenly came to a screeching halt, and yelling was heard outside.

"Stay strong, everyone!" Ed said, jumping out of the truck into the unknown. He knew that he would probably be beaten to the edge of his life, starved, get some horrible disease, or possibly be gassed, but he had to be strong, for himself, for his lover, and for the women and children around him.

--

"Verrater, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I am… no traitor…" Hughes groaned. He was on the verge of being beaten to death, but he was determined to remain strong. He had to make his way back to his lover, no matter what it took. "I am… faithful to the Nazis…"

"How can you claim to be a faithful Nazi when you are a man-lover?!" one of the men screamed, smacking him across the face again.

"I have feelings for another man, yes, but…" His words came quickly, knowing he was going to get another blow, which also came quickly. "But I am still faithful to the Fuehrer! Heil Hitler!"

"Was hat ihn sagte?" said another man from outside the room where these men were interrogating him.

"Heil Hitler!" said the man who was asking most of the questions. Hughes bowed his head in respect as Hitler himself walked into the room. Surely this must be important to him or he wouldn't have come personally. "He has not said very much, Fuehrer, Sir. Only that he is still faithful to the cause."

"Is he now?" Hitler said, his perfect German voice resonating through the room as a smile played on his lips. "Then he won't mind doing me a favor." He lifted Maes' chin with his hand and looked him right in the eyes. "I have a young woman here who wears a yellow star. If you are true to our cause, you will take this gun und remove this pestilence from the world for good." The fear in Maes' face was obvious as the girl was brought in. While he was a soldier, and had always hated the Jews, he had never been faced with killing one of them in absolute cold blood, and he'd also never had to shoot someone point blank. "Do this for me, und you will be spared."

"Yes, Sir," he said reluctantly, reaching up to take the gun from the Fuehrer's hand. He was quite surprised that this man of such great power was trusting him with a gun, when he knew that Hughes could very easily turn the gun on everyone in the room. However, Hughes realized that the only way that he would ever see Ed again was to do all he could to stay alive. Standing, he looked at the young woman, trying to show an air of toughness and arrogance, but he knew that he was shaking. The girl's face was bruised and swollen from already being beaten, and he knew that she had probably been raped. Even through all of this, the fear in her eyes was wild and extremely obvious.

"Please…" the girl whimpered, and this sound nearly killed him, and nearly made him lose his resolve.

Please forgive me, he said in his mind as he raised the gun and pulled the trigger. The sound of her gasp as the bullets found their places in her chest and head was sickening, and Maes nearly lost the bit of bread and water in his stomach. Go with God, child.

"You surprise me, Commander Hughes," Hitler said. "I was almost sure that you wouldn't do it." The man placed his hand on Hughes' shoulder, smiling wickedly as he signaled one of the men to grab him again.

"Sir, have I not shown my loyalty to you?!" Hughes said in shock as he was forced back down to his knees. "You said you would spare me!"

"I did, and I will do just that," he said. "But that does not mean that you will not be sent to the Jew camps with all the other man-lovers, you shitty queer!" Grabbing hold of his hair, Hitler got right up in Hughes' face and sneered at him. "You were a valuable asset to me, Hughes, until you decided to fuck with one of your own. Get him out of here!" As he was dragged outside to the truck, Maes only hoped that this truck would take him to where Ed was, or that if it didn't, he would at least one day see him again.

End Chapter 2

--

Chapter 3 -- Who Are They?

Driving through the torrential rain in Frankfurt, Alphonse and Roy sat in silence. It had been an interesting week, with more than fifty meetings and rallies and arrests of Jews, gypsies, and other a-socials. Of course, Roy had to wear a wig to disguise his identity when he knew that Robert was going to be around, and the eye patch never came off unless the two were going to sleep. Al didn't want Roy to have to feel ashamed of himself, and he wanted to see Roy's face, but he also understood Roy's feelings of shame over the wound. But as they drove through the streets, Roy saw something that made him just plain angry.

"Who is that?!" Roy yelled, pointing at a man with slick black hair and an eyeglass over one eye. He was on the verge of jumping out of the car when Al grabbed his arm. "Why is a homunculus here?!"

"That's not Pride, Roy," Al said. "That man is just this world's version of the man that Bradley was supposed to replace. He's harmless as a newborn baby. Not as innocent, I'm afraid, but just as harmless."

"But how?"

"Brother and I asked the same question of ourselves when we saw Scar and Lust shortly after we came back to this world," Al said. He remembered it like it was yesterday. "Noah had been walking along the side of the road, trying to wave down a ride to the next town. We were down the hill from the road, walking with her, when she called down to us and told her that someone had stopped and was willing to help us. As soon as we walked up the hill, we saw them sitting in the front seats, and both of us cringed. Were these the same people who were responsible for all that pain in Amestris?"

"Who did they say they were?" Roy asked.

"They were just Gypsies, just like Noah was," Al said. "Their names were Gerard and Lisle Saucier, and they'd been married for just under a year. Lisle was expecting a baby, but if reports are correct, neither she nor the child made it because only a few weeks after we left them, they were arrested and taken to the Jew Camp in Auschwitz. Gerard is still alive, but her death and life at the camps have made him nearly crazy."

"I hope for all our sakes that Ed and Hughes are not part of the casualties," he said. Looking around to make sure that no one was watching, he placed his hand on Al's leg and gave him an assuring pat. Al looked over at him with a smiling, wishing like hell that he could kiss Roy right there, or that he would reach down a little further and touch the testament to the need that the tall blonde had for the older man.

"They'll be all right," Al said. "I'll get them out of that horrible life, or die trying."

--

Unbeknownst to him, Maes was on his way to where Ed was. After the men had forced him into the truck, and a guard had gotten in, he had finally gotten a chance to talk to his captors without the higher-ups being able to listen in.

"There are windows in here, so I have to act like I'm angry at you, Commander," said the young guard. "Please understand."

"Of course, Corporal," Maes said, keeping his head between his knees as to avoid suspicion. "Hit me if you have to, and I'll understand."

"I'm sure you're surprised to see someone who is still faithful to you, Sir," he said. "But as someone who is a man-lover himself, I am unwilling to do nothing to help you find the man you love."

"You?" he cried, receiving a quick yet soft blow to the face.

"Keep your head down, Verrater!" the guard said. "Yes, I'm am one of you. Faithful as ever to the Nazis, but forced to hide among people who hate what we are. My name is Stephen."

"Pleased to meet you, Stephen," he said. "I would shake your hand, but they might get suspicious."

"Ja," Stephen said with a nod. "We are heading for Auschwitz, which is where most of the man-lovers end up. I hope to God that you are able to be with your lover again. I believe that's where most of the people who were arrested last night were sent, including a woman who I was told was your sister."

"Lisa!?" he cried. "Why did you take her?! She has a small baby, and she has done nothing!"

"Guilty by association, I guess," Stephen said.

"Little Edward will never make it in those horrible conditions," Maes whimpered, tears forming in his eyes. His mind went to Ed Elric, and what his possible reaction to "Little Edward" would've been, and he had to smile through his tears. Ed had always talked about the other side of the gate, and had often recounted with spite the fact that people always made fun of his height.

"The babies are actually taken care of quite well," the young man said. "He may never see his mother again, but the Fuehrer says that given the right training as they grow, little ones will be perfect Hitler Youth. So, if one day the occupation ends, which I sadly doubt, your sister may one day see her son again. The children are given good food, a warm place to sleep, are taught books and politics, and…"

"Brainwashed against their own people," Maes finished the sentence, and Stephen nodded. "Perhaps that will be good for him. I still hold true to the ideals of Nazism, as his mother always has."

"When we arrive, I will do my best to see that she is well taken care of," Stephen said. "Perhaps I can get her assigned to the task of caring for the children."

"You are truly sent from God, my friend," Maes said.