This is a short one-shot that I wrote for Edward Elric and my OC, Crimson in honor of Veterans' day. Fullmetal Alchemist is created and owned by Hiromu Arakawa. Enjoy

Three years.

Three whole goddamn years.

Crimson sat in her kitchen, sipping at her coffee and alternating between glancing at the clock, and the cell phone sitting next to her.

Every second that went by felt like an absolute eternity to her. But still, as they past, the phone did not ring.

She stood up, leaving her coffee abandoned on the table while she paced up and down the entry-way foyer. She covered her eyes as she walked back and forth, oblivious to the stares of her six-year-old daughter.

"Mommy?" She asked softly, looking up at her mother with slightly worried eyes. "Was wrong?"

Crimson stopped her pacing to look down at the little girl.

She was slightly small for her age, a trait she had gotten from both her parents, with short dark hair and bright molten eyes which seemed to have inherited her mom's talent of changing per emotion. She was wearing a pair of cute blue overalls and a light blue shirt with a matching ribbon head band.

Crimson stared at the child, then fell to her knees, sobbing.

Nina-Trisha gasped and ran forward to embrace her crying mother. Crimson fell into the arms of her daughter, holding her tightly and protectively, like the girl was the one who needed the protection. "I-I-I'm s-s-s-so s-sorr-ry, Nin-nina! B-but I-I ju-just mi-sssss you-your fath-ther!"

Nina-Trisha fell silent, rubbing Crimson's back as the woman sobbed. She knew this would comfort the woman, her father had done it for years.

"Don't worry, Mommy," Said Nina-Trisha in a voice that was hesitant and soft, but still wise for a young child like her. "Daddy's gonna be okay. He's always okay!"

This was meant to calm Crimson, but it only made her cry harder.

With a small sigh, Nina-Trisha pulled away from her mother and took her by the hand. "Come on, Mommy. Why don't you take a nap? Daddy always said it helped you calm down when you were little like me," She pulled on Crimson's hand, and she followed along. The silence was only broken by the tears that streamed down her face.

Nina-Trisha lead her to the big room at the end of the hall, that had long walls in varying colors of soft reds and golds. Nina-Trisha crawled up onto the large bed, one that seemed even bigger and emptier than it had before, all those three years ago.

Crimson, like a broken puppet without strings, moved up and beside Nina-Trisha and laid her head on the pillow.

The soft red cloth . . . it still smelt like him. There was nothing else like it in the world. Not even the sweet, lilac-and-rose combination Nina-Trisha's hair had.

Said child tilted her head to the side at her mother's broken look, then laid down beside her. She buried her head into Crimson's chest, and she held on tightly. Like a total stranger would break into her house and steal the only physical connection she had to her husband. Nina-Trisha wiggled around a bit to get into a comfortable position, then looked up at Crimson's dull, gray eyes. It always scared her when those beautiful deep green eyes turned that color, just like how her own turned into a dull straw whenever she was sick or sad.

But of course her mother was sad. Her daddy was her mommy's handsome Prince Charming, and what princess in her right mind would be happy without him?

"Mommy?" Nina-Trisha asked gently, as if speaking bolder would somehow frighten Crimson. "Tell me again how Daddy became your prince,"

She noticed Crimson's lips twitch upwards slightly. "You know that's a long story, baby."

"I know," She brushed away her dark burnt-chocolaty bangs out of her eyes. "But tell me part of it, please!"

Crimson chuckled, and her eyes showed the faint traces of green around the pupils.

"Alright, alright. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who had a best friend. He was caring and gentle, listening always, and a protector. He loved the little girl more than anything in the world, and she loved him back. But one day, the little girl's daddy, The King, fell very ill. He knew though, that when he died, his children would be protected and safe. But instead, the princess's mommy, the queen, met a new man. He wasn't very nice, not nice at all. He was the evil step-father, and ruled over the land with an angry iron fist. He was so mean, that his would sometimes even hit the princess and her brother, the prince. Now, the prince would not stand to be treated like that by a man who was not his daddy, and left the kingdom. When the princess tried to leave as well to get back to her own prince, the evil King stopped her and locked her up forever. The princess was so scared and sad, that she stayed in that horrible prison with only one friend, her faithful lady-in-waiting Vanessa. Vanessa knew that the princess was fading away more and more, the longer she stayed away from her prince, and had to come up with a way to save her from the tower."

Nina-Trisha's eyes had grown wide with wounder, getting into the story. "Then what happened?" She asked breathlessly, no matter how many times she'd heard this story.

Crimson now had a full smile on her face.

"Vanessa somehow managed to free the princess and get her out of the castle, telling her to run away and find her prince. However, when the princess found her prince again, he didn't know who she was. See, the princess used to have a spark of happiness in her eyes. But without it, the prince couldn't recognize her as his princess. While she had been trapped and locked up, her prince had seemed to have forgotten about her and found himself a new princess. The new princess looked nice on the outside, but she was really an evil witch who wanted to kill the prince and take the throne from him. The good princess knew this, and didn't want her friend to get hurt. So she made up a plan with the prince's brother, who was also a knight in shining armor along with being a prince, that they would somehow expose the witch to what she really wanted."

By now, both girls had gotten so lost in the story, that they didn't hear the lock downstairs click and the door open.

"The prince had fallen in love with the witch's disguise, though. And could not be persuaded to listen to the reason of his brother and friend. Now, even the prince's brother could see how the princess was fading away, and no one could stop it. But the prince finnaly saw the witch's true intentions, and snapped out of her spell. He ran with his brother all the way back to her kingdom, where the princess was getting ready to give into her step-father for good. But they saved her from him, and the prince finally got his princess back. And the princess, she stopped fading. She started to glow. She herself could not see the glow, but the prince could. They stayed together through many more adventures, and eventually, the prince and the princess got married and lived happily . . . ever . . . after . . . "

Crimson trailed off, falling into a few more silent tears. Nina-Trisha looked up at her, and gently wipped them away with her tiny hand. "Daddy's gonna' be okay, Mommy. Daddy's always okay," She repeated.

Crimson nodded, holding her daughter closer as more tears came. It's been three years. Not one call. Nothing on the news, no articals in the paper, every connection had been cut. There was no way to know he was even alive any more . . .

Suddenly the bed shifted, and another pair of arms wrapped around Nina-Trisha from behind.

Crimson and Nina-Trisha both cried out, but the arms held them tighter.

"I missed you, too."

Nina-Trisha went ridged, Crimson gasped. "EDWARD!"

"Daddy!"

Edward Elric laid beside them in his military uniform, gold eyes bright with joy as he held his daughter and wife. Crimson threw her arms around him.

"You're home!"