I've had this sitting in my folder for a really long time, and thought it was time to publish it ahah , it's not my best work, but after the bad ending of CoS, I wanted a continuation so I made my own :)

***Note: This is meant to be WWII, but clearly it's only a few years after the brothers came to the human world, dont pay attention to historical facts, okay? It'll be so much more enjoyable :) I guess if you want an age, you can say that Ed is about 21 and Al is 20 :) Enjoy! I'll also be adding the next chapter in a few dayss

The smoke cleared and the sun shone through, finally bringing warmth to after the long winter. The battle may be over, but everything was transformed into a barren wasteland, destroyed and tainted with blood. Alphonse Elric dropped his rifle on the ground and stared at his shaking hands.

"How could we do this, Brother?" Alphonse asked, his voice trembling. "How could we fail?"

Edward refused to respond to the pain he heard in his younger brother's voice, he tried to block out what Al said, but how was that possible when his mind was repeating the same thought? They failed to stop the bomb from being set off in this world and they failed to destroy the portal. There wasn't any point for them to have returned to this world, when everything and everyone they love is there. Edward's body shook and a tear escaped his eye. "I don't Al, I don't know."

The only reason Edward returned to this world was to prevent a genocide such as this from ever happening, but they were powerless to stop what they set in motion so many years ago. Many were killed in the last moments of battle, few were left standing around the Elric brothers.

A cry came from behind them and they both turned to see.

"Gracia! Elicia! God, no! Please!" Officer Hughes was lifting large pieces of rubble off of what must have been the bodies of his wife and daughter. Alphonse's lips trembled as he fell to the ground and he sobbed into his knees. The only person who looked more destroyed then Al was Maees Hughes. Edward put hand on the officers shoulder, and restrained himself from crying even more. The Officer was shaking, his hands scraped and bleeding, but he failed to notice.

"They're gone Hughes," The elder brother whispered. How unjust this war was, taking the lives of the innocent who wanted no part in this, leaving a husband and father behind with nothing at all. "They're gone."

Maees shook his head and kept digging. "No! Not my Gracia and little Elicia!" He kept moving the heavy pieces until the rock he removed revealed a woman's' hand clutching a little girls. Gracia and Elicia.

At that point, Officer Hughes fell apart and held the hands of his dead wife and daughter and cried. Edward wiped his face, which was now stained from tears and threw his gun on the ground in frustration. How is this fair? He thought. How is this equivalent exchange?

"If you could go back to your family, would you?" Edward hissed before he could stop himself.

Hughes slowly stopped crying and turned to face Edward. The hollow look on the officers face nearly made the older brothers heart drop. Maees wiped his face and with a fierce determination that was absent a moment ago nodded.

"But Colonel Mustang said he would destroy the portal on his side," Alphonse reminded as we approached the building.

Edward broke down the bolted up door and tossed it to the side. "The Colonel also could have destroyed the portal after I first went through, but he the bastard knew I'd come back. Hopefully, he still has that mentality."

"Mustang? Roy Mustang?" Hughes whispered. It was one of the few things he said after finding his family. The emptiness in his voice tore through the brothers. "Him and his wife died, in the war-" Hughes cut himself off to prevent himself from crying again.

So many died in this war, Noah was one of the first to be killed and last month, news reached us that this worlds Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye died in battle and now Gracia and Elicia are gone as well. Is this what Ishval was like in Amestris? Loss, the physical and inner battles just to survive and the nightmares that follow whenever you close your eyes?

We moved through the twists and turns of the building in silence before Al spoke. "Do you really think we can make it back home, brother?" The longing in his voice mirrored his brothers.

Edward nodded. "We have to Al, we've got people waiting for us to get back home."

We reached the room with the portal-where Alfonse Heindrick was killed and with Envy still frozen in place above. No matter how much damage was inflicted, nothing happened. Edward came to the decision that both of the portals in Liore and Central had to be destroyed and then this portal would eventually close forever. This was their only chance.

"Is that…" Hughes whispered in awe as he stared at the glowing light above him.

The brothers nodded and set up one of the planes, the same kind of plane that Edward used to go through the portal first. Although it's been years since Ed used mechanics like this, his time with Alfons had paid three of them strapped themselves into the seats and turned it on. The entire building had been closed off after Ed and Al returned to this world since no one knew how to remove Envy. Ed and Al returned to the portal often, but nothing could damage the matrix drawn on the ceiling. The countdown began: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two-one.

"You'll be with your wife soon, we promise," Edward whispered to Hughes right before taking off.

There was doubt in the officer's eyes but he nodded regardless, this was his only chance.