IMPORTANT! I HAVE GONE BACK AND CHANGED CHANGED WHAT HAPPENS IN IN WHAT CHAPTER! GO BACK AND READ THROUGH AGAIN.

Time is a strange thing, no? The span of the lives of thousands; years of experience, pain, joy, and sorrow can be condensed into books worth a few hours of your time. For example:

Two thousand years ago, Homunculus used the king of Xerxes to make the country into a Philosopher's Stone, and shared his newfound immortality with the slave that had given the blood that gave him life, Van Hoenheim. Sixteen years ago, Van Hoenheim left his wife and children to try and stop Father from repeating Xerxes in Amestris. Fourteen years ago, Trisha Elric fell ill and died, leaving her sons devastated, and determined to bring her back through human transmutation. Thirteen years ago, Edward and Alphonse Elric learned the Law of Providence on Yock Island. Eight years ago, Edward lost his leg and his brother to a transmutation, and sacrificed his arm to bond Alphonse's soul to the armor in the corner. He learned the Truth of everything. He got an automail arm and leg, to carry himself and support his brother, so he could work to get his brother's body back.

Seven years ago, he became the youngest ever dog of the military, so he could do the research needed to achieve his goal. Five years ago, he came to the painful realization that he was only a human being, who couldn't even save a little girl. Four years ago, he discovered the Homunculi, and that he was going to be a human sacrifice. Four years ago, he discovered what that meant. Three years ago, he defeated the leader of the Homunculi. He made up with his father. Most importantly, he pulled his brother out of the Gate, at the cost of his alchemy. The Truth asked if he really could bear to become an ordinary human, to which he replied:

"I've always been a regular human. After all, I couldn't even save a little girl." The Truth grinned, because He/She/It had finally lost.

Two years ago, he resigned from the military, returned to Risembool with his flesh-and-blood-feeling-touching-tasting-weak-but-oh-so-beautifull brother, and made Winry cry from happiness. He built a house for him and his brother with his hands and tools. One year ago, he promised Winry half of his life, in exchange for half of hers. She promised him more than half. He left for the west.

Through the course of the year, he spent time in the capital of Creta, Verità, investigating claims of "magic", specifically, an artifact that could be used to "see the truth." Taking his less than pleasant experiences with the Truth into account, his unease about the item was understandable. When he convinced the officials to let him examine it (he may not have had an automail fist to do any beating with, but he learned to use his words eventually), he discovered that he was the only one who could use it. He also discovered that things in the world were not always as they appeared, and that the artifact was used to see through the illusion, not to see the Truth of Alchemy. Awed by his abilities, the Cretians gave him the Lens of Truth, proclaiming him the man who would continue the legacy of the Heroes of old. Ed brushed it off, a little creeped out, and made his way home.

Right now, he stood on the platform in Risembool, waiting for his brother's train to come in. It was sunny and bright, a perfect summer day. His mind wandered, not for the first time, to the item in his coat pocket. It was the size of a magnifying glass, and had the same general shape as one, but for a few important differences. It was violet, with red spikes protruding from the top, and the handle broadened as it stemmed away from the lens, and rounded at the bottom. The glass itself was the biggest difference. Looking at it from one side, it looked to be a deep blue, but the other side appeared to be a light purple-pink color. Both had a red symbol, like a snake's pupil, in the center. He wondered what it was supposed to look like, but was brought out of his musings by the arrival of a train. He stood up, searching the crowd for his brother.

Alphonse was one of the last off the train, and Ed noted with joy that he had put on more muscle than when last they saw each other; before, he was technically healthy, but not as strong as he was before the transmutation, relatively speaking. Edward caught his brother's eye, and his heart swelled as Al's face lit up, simply happy that his brother could smile again. He responded with an equally large grin, and Al rushed over to meet him with a hug.

"Brother!"

"Hey! So how's Mei doing?" He asked with a sly grin, elbowing his brother. They were walking now, making their way back to their home.

"Brother!" Al blushed and shoved his brother playfully. "It's the first time in a year that we've seen each other, and the first thing you do is tease me?"

"Of course. I'm your big brother aren't I? It's my job." They chatted like that for a little longer, but eventually fell into a comfortable silence that lasted until they got to their house. Deciding to do all the unpacking, laundry, and general tidying after they let Winry know they were back and had dinner, they left the house with just a few things in their pockets to show Winry.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by the familiar sight of Den sleeping by the door and Granny Pinako smoking her pipe, smiling back at them. "I see you boys have finally returned," she said.

"Yeah. We're home." Ed replied. Before anyone could say anything else, a projectile in the form of a wrench hit Ed squarely in the forehead, knocking him over and drawing a bit of blood.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call when you're on your way back?" The owner of the wrench yelled down from the second story. Ed looked back up at the imposing form of his girlfriend with happiness and trepidation. "Welcome back!" was all that she said before ducking back in the house. She seemed a little distant, but Ed shrugged it off. Ed rubbed his head a bit more, got off the ground, and made his way inside with his brother.

"Before we do anything else, Ed. I want to change your automail. I just came up with a new design that should be just as light as the cold weather automail, but more durable. You're lucky you made it home when you did; I'm going back to Rush Valley in a week to get back to my shop." Ed sighed. It was always business before pleasure with her. He removed his pants and boots and sat on the couch with his leg propped up on a stool. Winry removed it with the small jolt of the nerves detaching and ran back upstairs to get his new leg.

All too used to the procedure by now, Ed mentally prepared for the reattaching of his leg, and barely noticed as Winry came back down with the newer model (already adjusted for his slightly taller self- how does she do that?) and started to hook it up. She gave the usual warning before the attachment; Ed gave the usual "ready", and braced himself as fiery waves of pain shot up and down his leg. Electricity danced through his nerves, and he did his best to bear it, though he noticed through the pain that it wasn't as bad as it used to be. He figured it might have something to do with only needing one limb attached.

When that was over, Ed and Al went outside to test it out. Ed may not be an alchemist anymore but he'd be damned if he let himself get weak. He did, after all, still have some people that had grudges for him. He went easy on his brother at first, trying to balance out the necessary change of tactics with his brother's own recovery. It was soon obvious, however, that Ed had no need to hold back any, as Al was as good a fighter as he ever was. All Ed really had to do was avoid using his left leg too much.

After a few hours of sparring, Granny Pinako called everyone to the table for dinner, so Ed and Al got themselves cleaned up. Dinner was an animated affair, with Ed and Al both eager to share what had happened on their journeys. "Okay boys, settle down. One at a time. I didn't think I'd still need to tell you this. You are seventeen and eighteen, after all." Pinako remarked. Winry withheld her comment until such a time that it would be better appreciated.

Al told his story first. "Okay, so I decided to go through the ruins of Xerxes to get to Xing, so I could compare Amestrian Alchemy to Xerxian Alchemy, and then compare the two of them to Alkahestry. I didn't see too much, but it was really creepy at night. After I made it across the desert, I stopped in the border town, where Mei said she'd meet me. It turns out that her clan is from that area, so she introduced me to the rest of her family. We went to the capital of Xing from there."

He went on to describe how he met Ling in the Imperial City, and that he allowed them to stay in his quarters, which turned out to be a decently-sized building just off the rest of the palace. Lan Fan helped him learn to throw kunai with enough accuracy to use Alkahestry at a distance, and Mei began to teach him to read the "veins of the dragon." He spent most of the year learning that, but training went quickly afterwards, and he nearly had the level of skill that Mei possessed.

Edward told his story next, though he didn't have nearly as much to say as Al did. He mostly talked about the legends surrounding the Lens of Truth, but also added in that only he could use it. When Winry asked to see it so she could take it apart and see how it worked, Ed showed it to her, much to her surprise. She was disappointed to discover that it couldn't be taken apart, and Al asked to see it next. He could sense something different about it because of his new abilities, but couldn't tell what.

"It seems like you two boys have been busy." Pinako commented as they cleared the table.

"Yeah," Ed replied. "It wasn't anything like before when the homunculi were trying to use me an Al as a sacrifice, and I worked for the military, but it was a nice change."

"Brother, I think you're the only person in the world who could consider that level of activity to be normal. I'm just glad we don't need to deal with it anymore."

"Yeah, plus I don't have to deal with that bastard colonel anymore."

"Do you mean Mr. Mustang, brother? I hear he got promoted to general. He's the first blind high-ranking officer ever."

"Oh, really? I don't care."

"Why not, Ed? He was your commanding officer, right? You could at least try to have a little more respect for him." Winry just finished clearing the table, and decided to join the conversation. She still seemed a little cold, though. Edward just snorted, failing to hold back his laughter.

"Why should I? He's a pompous womanizing bastard that constantly made fun of me and held that human transmutation over my head in case I ever got out of line."

"At least he's doing something. As far as I know, you're the only one who hasn't done anything significant in the past few years."

"Yeah, says who?"

"Says me!" The argument was getting heated now. Al got an alkahestry array ready for when Winry hit his brother with that wrench of hers so hard that he fell unconscious. "Al is doing his best to get alchemy back to the way it should be, Roy is still trying to cover up what happened three years ago and rebuild the country at the same time, Scar and Mr. Miles are working on easing tension between the Ishvalans and Amestrians, and all you do is go west because you feel like it!" Ed took a breath, ready to begin his side of the argument, but Winry didn't stop there.

"It's been a year, Ed! One year! I understand that before you left, you were busy taking care of Al, tying up a few loose ends, and building the two of you a house. That was fine! Everyone has been working almost non-stop since you've been gone! Mr. Roy and Miss Riza have been working non-stop to find a way to fix his eyes and Mr. Havoc's legs, Fuhrer Grumman has been covering up the Homunculus fiasco and rebuilding, Scar and Mr. Miles have been trying to ease the tension between the Ishvalans and Amestris, and your brother has been trying to put the two kinds of alchemy together to get the purest kind, and what have you been doing? Chasing rumors again; going off in search of something that might not exist, all because you can't do anything else! You're so useless!"

There was a pregnant silence, as Winry drew her wrench, shaking so much that it trembled in her hand. Edward was stunned. She had obviously been holding this in for a long time, and her words made sense. She was right. He didn't have his alchemy anymore. He wasn't Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist and Hero of the People. He was just Ed. A normal person, except for his automail leg, genius mind, and eyes that had seen far too much for his age. He couldn't move on, and Winry hated him for it.

"So that's what you think? Fine, I'll just get my useless ass out of here. At least I can still do that much." He wasn't angry. He was just hurt, and a little sad. For the first time, the implications of giving up everything he was for the person he cared for the most hit him, and hit him hard. He dashed out the door, barely registering that it was dark, and that it had started raining fiercely since he last looked out the window a few hours ago.

Al glanced at Winry, watching her visibly deflate, immediately regretting her words. "I'll go get him," he said. With that, he dashed off into the stormy night with an umbrella. Ed had already made it halfway between Winry's place and his own, and he was fast approaching the cemetery. Al struggled to keep up, but was able to overtake him when Ed slowed to a walk. Ed acknowledged his brother with a nod, but didn't say anything. After listening to nothing but the patter of the rain against the umbrella for a few minutes, Al spoke softly.

"She doesn't really think that, you know."

"Of course she does. I don't know why she wouldn't. In just a year, you've pretty much mastered alkahestry. What have I done? I found a trinket that doesn't do anything useful." He pulled out the Lens of Truth. "I can't do anything anymore... this is worse than when we were kids. I know so much more, but I can do so much less."

"Brother..." anything he was about to say was cut off as his brother collapsed. He tripped over his brother's limp form after being pushed from behind and tumbled down the small hill, landing dazedly at the bottom. He looked up to see a figure hunched over his brother, picking up the Lens of Truth. She stared at it a while as Ed began to stir.

The first thing Ed thought when he woke up was Damn that hurt... what happened? He opened his eyes to be greeted with the sight of a girl (he thought it was a girl, anyway... he could only see her back) holding the gift he got from Verità. "Hey! That's mine!" he shouted. The figure jumped and turned around, trying to hide her steal from Ed. It didn't work. They stared at each other a while (or at least, Ed stared at her).

She was wearing a mask. He could only make out bits at a time, when the lightning flashed. It was shaped like a heart, but it had spikes protruding from it. It was mostly purple, but the eyes of the mask were a haunting poison green, with yellow where the whites should be. The mask's eyes gleamed in the darkness.

While Ed was taking all of this in Al was struggling to get back to his feet in the mud, and the girl was backing away slowly. All of a sudden, she turned and ran back towards Winry's house. Edward quickly gave chase, and Al did his best to keep up, but the two of them were fast. He only barely managed to keep them in sight. Ed's constant stream of curses at the girl helped when he lost them, though.

Eventually, Padora came to a stop near the fence in front of the house. Ed stopped a few feet in front of her, staring again. This time, however, he was confused and gaping at the fact that she was floating cross-legged a few feet off the ground, with her hands in her lap. She would have looked like an oversized child, if not for the floating and the ominous mask.

"You run pretty fast for a midget." Her voice made Ed's die in his throat. It was childish, like her posture, and would have reminded him of Elysia giggling at a joke, if not for the menacing twist that reminded of the Truth instead. Shivers ran up his spine as his thoughts turned briefly to the one who called Him/Her/Itself by many names. "...But you aren't any fun anymore. Tag is getting boring! Let's play pretend."

"I'm not a kid! I don't play games!"

"Oh? I'll have to fix that then..." She started shaking her head left and right, and the mask jiggled around; a sight that was somehow more menacing than it should have been. She giggled again, and soon that insane, childish laughter was all Ed could hear. He couldn't even hear his brother call his name as he sank to his knees, clutching his head in pain.

Darkness. All he could see was darkness. He supposed it was better than the Truth, but it still wasn't a good thing. The darkness felt evil, like it was full of menacing things waiting to get him. He was floating, he discovered, and falling, but not going anywhere. He touched the ground- or at least, he thought it was the ground; he didn't feel any difference except that he was standing and not floating and not falling. When he was upright and not falling, he saw what looked like himself standing all around him, staring at him.

He saw himself from one year ago. Two years ago. Three years ago. Four years ago. All the way up to when he was twelve, and they were all looking at him and smiling. The smiles didn't truly reach their eyes though; they were grinning like mad, and their eyes were full of the same madness. They were giggling and chanting, "let's play, let's play, let's play!"

"No... I don't want to play..." Upon speaking these words, he discovered he had a voice, and it seemed like a spell was broken. He stepped backwards, and all the Edward-but-not-Edwards stepped forward. He didn't know why, but he knew letting them near him was a bad idea. For the first time since Alphonse gave himself up so Edward could have his arm back, Edward was scared. Not just scared, but truly, deeply, terrified. He turned and ran, shielding his face from terrors only his mind could see.

As he did, images flashed in front of him. Meeting Al after they got back from their journeys. Helping Al learn to run again. Helping Al learn to walk again. Al, back in the armor, giving himself up so his brother could stay safe. Envy, killing himself because of his sadness and jealousy. Scar, apologizing to Winry for killing her parents. Learning that Al's armor could reject his soul at any time. Seeing Al's body in the gate, looking so thin. Meeting Ling. Lab 5. The last time he saw Hughes. Winry, hitting him over the head for getting his arm shattered. Scar, shattering his arm. Nina's smiling face. Rose, aiming a gun at him and demanding he tell her how to move on. Roy, holding him by the shirt and lifting him out of his wheelchair, demanding to know what they did. Giving up his arm to save his brother. That thing, wheezing at him. His brother, taken away. His only brother, reluctant to go through with the transmutation that would nearly destroy their lives.

Then, in front of him, his eleven-year-old self giggled cruelly. Edward could not move. He could not speak. He could barely breath. The him-but-not-him walked towards him. Time seemed to freeze. His eleven-year-old self overwhelmed him. The only thing left was darkness and pain.

When Edward regained his senses, he found himself to be much closer to the ground than he should have been. Realizing that he was lying down, he stood up, realizing that he still was far too close to the ground. Looking down, he discovered why. He was short. Not just his body. His hair was short too. And come to think of it... why did he feel both feet? Lifting up his pant leg in wonder, he saw that his leg was back. He gasped in amazement, then gasped again when he realized his voice was much higher than it should have been.

"Do you like it? I think it's better! Now that you're a kid, will you play?" Ed was silent, trying to sort through his emotions. He gave up on it as a useless endeavor, and chose instead to glare at the masked girl. "No? Aw, and I thought we were gonna have a lot of fun! Maybe you just need a reason?" Ed turned to where he thought the girl's attention was, and found that he would have been face-to-face with his brother, if he didn't come up to Alphonse's waist.

"B-brother?"

"Oh, so you two are brothers! Stop distracting my new friend, you big meanie!" Because only one of them was big now, Ed could only assume that she was talking about Al. He was right. She started shaking her head again, and before Edward knew it, his brother was unconscious.

"What did you do to him, you bitch?"

"Aw, you're not very nice... Fine. If you don't want to play with me, I'm going back to Central." Edward was too busy trying to wake up his brother to notice that she had gone. He was also too absorbed in his frantic attempts to wake Alphonse that he didn't notice there was someone else approaching him.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"