"Are you sure about this, Brother?"

Glancing away from studying his reflection in the vanity mirror in the room he shared with his brother, Edward gave his brother a small smile. "I'm sure, Al. Besides, it's too late to back out now, right?"

Alphonse shifted on the bed, giving his brother a concerned look, then sighed and forced a smile. "Right." An uncertain pause. "You'll come back, right?"

The sounds of gunshots. Perfect, in time, like hammers banging on gavels, calling in the verdict.

That was it.

It was over.

A few steps and Edward was over to the bed, crouching down in front of his brother, slipping his arms around his shoulders. "Of course I will," he whispered, burying his face against Alphonse's neck.

Alphonse clung tightly to Edward, eyes flicking up to the green and white flag that had sat folded on the dresser and not moved from that spot for the last three weeks.

"Sergeant, will you make sure Lieutenant Havoc takes care of this for me?" Roy said, holding a folder of completed forms out for Fuery without looking up from his paperwork.

"Yessir." Fuery took the folder, and Roy could feel him watching the older man. A questioning and impatient frown put a stop to that, and Fuery saluted before slinking away, casting one last look at Roy over his shoulder. Roy went back to work, reading over forms and signing what was necessary, marking what he had to deal with through other channels later, and scrapping some all together.

Nothing had changed.

The stack of undone work on his desk had dwindled down to nothing, and it was barely past noon. The only sound in the office was the sounds of papers being shuffled, Havoc striking a match, Fuery filling his coffee mug, and the constant ticking of that damnable clock.

Nothing had changed. Roy kept telling himself that.

Voices out in the outer office interrupted the quiet noise of work, but Roy ignored it, let Havoc get it. That was Havoc's job now, now that Riza was no longer there.

Now that she's dead.

Nothing had changed. If he told himself that often enough, it'd be true.

"Hey, Boss?"

Scowling with irritation, Roy only barely glanced up at his second lieutenant, pen not missing a beat as it scribbled out his signature on yet another form. "What is it, Lieutenant Havoc?" He couldn't say just 'Lieutenant', that was her name in the office. He had to specify now.

"The new transfer is here."

Wonderful. Another reminder that even though nothing had changed, nothing was the same. "Send him in."

Footsteps that Roy ignored, buying a few more precious moments where he didn't have to acknowledge this newest reality that had been dropped on his lap, that invaded his office and changed his life. (He'd just gotten her back, back into his command, where he could see her every day like he used to, back before.)

Silence stretched out in the office and the new officer didn't say anything, didn't give his name or any indication that he was actually there once the footsteps had stopped. Roy finally lifted his head.

Blond hair pulled back in a neat braid that framed a face Roy was intimately familiar with, lips that were as familiar as Riza's set into a grim and serious expression.

Gold eyes.

Blue uniform.

"Major Elric reporting for duty, sir," Edward said quietly, hand still up in a salute.

Roy's heart refused to beat for a full minute.

"What are you doing here, Edward?" he asked quietly once he'd found his voice.

For a second, Edward's glance flicked back towards the open door, then settled back on Roy. "Taking care of my family, just like I always have," he answered, then as an afterthought, "sir."

It was only years of experience that kept his expression neutral, controlled, only crumpling once Edward had shut the door and stepped around the desk to crouch beside him. His arms rested on his desk as he pillowed his face against them, reigning his breathing back under control. "Edward, go home."

"Forget it, Mustang," the younger man answered, propping on elbow up on the desk.

Roy lifted his head to glare at him. "I won't bury another one," he hissed angrily, gloves crackling as his hands tightened into fists.

For a moment, Edward didn't have an answer to that, then slowly got to his feet. "Someone will always be buried," he said quietly, looking down at his new commanding officer. "And someone will always be born. It's everything in between that makes the difference. She'd kill me if I let anything happen to you. And besides, I doubt there's anywhere safer for me to be than here, is there?"

No, no there really wasn't. Roy would be damned if he let anything happen to Edward. Grimacing, he sat up, running a hand over his face tiredly. "I should-"

"Whatever it is, you can do it tonight," Edward interrupted with a smirk. "Right now, we're on duty." He glanced at the small stack of paperwork. "At least my first day oughta be easy. Looks like you've been keeping up on your work."

Roy barely gave the paperwork a half-hearted glance as he laughed humorlessly. "She always was fighting me on that."

The smile on Edward's face was entirely too smug. "Good thing that I can push you around better than she could, isn't it?"

That earned the younger alchemist a tired look before Roy sighed and looked down at the desk. "So I guess this means she's really gone."

There was no answer to that, at least not right away, as Edward stepped back around to in front of the desk. "She is," he finally said, voice still hushed. "All we can do is keep moving forward."

Roy lifted his head, looking at his subordinate, and slowly, he smiled. "Welcome aboard, Major Elric. I trust you'll do your job faithfully."

Edward saluted, unable to hide the smile on his face. "Yessir."