"It's been twenty years." said Fuhrer Grumman as the reports flooded in. Fort Briggs was being attacked in the north and Pendelton in the west. War had finally found it's way back to Amestris.


"So this is Liore," said a short, blonde haired boy as he stood staring at the city.

"Hey, brother! Wait up!"

The boy grunted in frustration as he stood and waited for a blonde haired girl with pigtails to catch up. Eventually, she caught up and smiled at him. She was panting lightly, trying to catch her breath.

"Why do you always fall behind Nina? Everywhere we go you always end up either taking forever or you get lost."

Nina looked at him with a small frown.

"Well if you wouldn't be in such a hurry to get everywhere we wouldn't have this problem would we. Why can't we just ever stop and see the sights? We're always on a mission and never get to take a break and have some fun."

She folded her arms and looked away from him. The boy rubbed his temples and started making his way to the center of the town. The roads were filled with small merchant shops selling fruits, meat, clothing, utensils. Anything you needed you could find in Liore's streets. Most of the buildings looked like they were brand new, but there were still some that bared the scars of the fighting that had happened twenty years ago.

"Nina, what's the address on the package again?" he asked as he scanned over different street signs. Nina reached into her bag and pulled out the small box.

"It says 325 Main Street."

The boy nodded and then lead on down another road until they reached a central plaza. People flooded the area buying all sorts of groceries and goods. A fountain in the middle of the plaza seemed to be where all the kids congregated and were playing. But the fountain wasn't the main attraction. There was an enormous building that's towers seemed to pierce the sky. The two of them looked up and smiled.

"So this is the great temple we heard about. Maybe we can stop by and take a look on the way back, Nina."

Nina smiled as they made their way over to a small, outdoor bar.

"Hey mister, can you tell us which way is 325 Main Street?"

"You two looking for Rose? Well, her house is two blocks north of here." The man pointed down a road to their right, "Just head that way and you'll find it eventually."

Nina smiled and thanked the man as her brother began walking away. She groaned as she noticed that she was falling behind again and waved to the man and chased after him.

"So who do you think this Rose is brother?" asked Nina as they approached a door.

"I don't know but we're about to find out."

He knocked on the door three times and took a step back almost bumping Nina off the stairs.

"Hey, watch it!" she protested as she grabbed the railing to brace herself.

"Oh, sorry Nina." he said as he turned to help her.

The door opened up and out walked a woman. She had long, dark brown hair that was dyed in the front. She smiled at the two of them as she stepped towards them.

"Hello, can I help you..."

Nina's brother turned and looked at her. A look of surprise suddenly appeared on her face.

"Ed? Is that you?" Nina watched as she grabbed her brother and wrapped her arms around him. "Ed, it's been so long? Why haven't you and Al come to visit at all?"

Nina and her brother gave her a confused look. Then the girl blinked and looked strangely from Nina to her brother.

"All these years and you still haven't grown at all Ed."

Nina couldn't help but laugh then. Not only did she think that her brother was their father but that she mentioned her brother's height. He almost fainted at that but then quickly started pumping his fist in the air and yelling at her.

"Who you are calling an ant so small that you don't even notice!"

"Well, I can see your temper still hasn't changed at all." she said while giggling.

"I'm sorry miss but you're mistaking my brother for our father." Nina said while giggling herself.

Nina peeked at her brother and saw that he was still yelling about his height. But, the woman seemed to understand then.

"Oh, so Edward Elric is your father then?" she asked Nina.

"Yes, I'm Nina." she said as she smiled politely at the woman.

"And I'm Maes." he said while trying to stick his chest out to look stronger.

"Well nice to meet you two. I'm Rose Thomas. Please come in."

The woman smiled and motioned for the two of them to come into her house. Nina started to walk in but was stopped by Maes.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we can't come in. We're actually just here to deliver a package to you and then we need to be going."

Maes looked at Nina and she quickly grabbed the small box and handed it to Rose. Rose smiled as she accepted the package.

"What's the hurry? I'm sure two young teenagers like you wouldn't be that busy that you couldn't come in and have a nice meal."

Maes' stomach started growling then. They hadn't had a really good home cooked meal since they had left Central. He really wished that they could stay but they had a more important issue that needed to be taken care of.

"I'm sorry Miss Rose, but we really need to be going. One of the State Alchemists put in a request for assistance and we need to get to him right away."

Nina looked at her brother curiously. Maes felt a tingle of regret creep through him. He hadn't told Nina about their real reason for coming here because he knew how big of a crush that she had on this alchemist.

"Oh ok." she said as she smiled at them. "Who is it that you are looking for? Maybe I can help direct you to him."

"That's ok, we know where he is already. But, thank you for your kindness."

Maes waved at Rose and started walking away without saying goodbye. Maybe if they found out what exactly they were needed for and got it done quickly they could come back for that nice meal. He heard Nina apologize for him, say goodbye, and then chase after him. He could also hear what Rose said as she walked back into her home and Maes couldn't help but feel his pride swell up.

"That boy is just like his father."

Maes wanted to be everything that his father was and he had a big reputation to live up to. He heard his sister's footsteps catch up to him and then he felt a swift pain in his right arm.

"Hey! What'd you punch me for?"

"Why didn't you tell me we had another mission here as well?" asked Nina angrily.

Maes kept walking as he nursed his right arm. They were heading back the way they had come. Back towards the temple.

"Because, we were asked to assist Selim Bradley."

TO BE CONTINUED...

(Look for the next part coming soon...)