AN: This is an AU story and even the FMA timeline has been altered and gone off course. I mean, why color between the lines if you can scribble all over the book and the table under it? :)


All Quiet on the Eastern Front

Chapter 2

Truth is Stranger than Fiction


"Truth lives on in the midst of deception." -Friedrich Schiller


April 1913

xxxxxxx

"Colonel?"

Riza groaned and tried to focus on the almost childlike voice hailing her by rank. It sounded almost like someone was talking through a P.A. System, the voice echoed against something metallic. She felt the heat of the desert beneath her and her hand clutched some sand. Damn Mustang, he probably caused a cave in with his magic light show. How the hell was that man a celebrated engineer?

"Colonel! Did it work?"

Riza sat up and rubbed her eyes. That was a distinctly different voice. Who the hell did she have on the team that sounded like a 14 year old? Neither voice was familiar, but her head was still swimming from that reaction Mustang triggered. She felt dizzy and nauseous as she and opened her eyes, shielding them with her hand from the blinding light of the sun. "Did what work?"

"Lieutenant!"

She opened her eyes and put her hand to her head. She had a terrible headache, probably from a concussion or the unrivaled amount of yelling going on around her. That voice, it was Hughes. So much for taking charge of the situation in my absence, Maes. She felt like a schoolteacher when kids came rushing back in from recess. That was going to be something she addressed in her next staff meeting; Maes was going to have to quit being so lax and start acting like a commanding officer if he was going to make it to a higher pay grade to afford all those kids he and Gracia were having. Focus Riza, you're rambling like Roy. Focus. Take charge. "Hughes? Major...report! What happened?"

"Colonel? Wake up dammit!"

It was that kid again! Riza finally focused her eyes and looked at Hughes, the reflection of the afternoon sun catching in his glasses and making it impossible for her to see the amusement in his green eyes. She could feel Mustang beside her and heard him groan. "Major, what happened?"

Hughes raised an eyebrow and looked over at Ed who just slapped Roy to try and get him to wake up. Eh, he would let that slide. He nudged the young alchemist, the only one of that rank in the vicinity. Weird that Hawkeye was being so professional with him, but she had probably just been through quite an ordeal. "Major?"

She eyed Hughes's uniform and his face again as her focus returned, black dots still encroaching on her vision. "Yes, you! So help me God Hughes, I'm in no mood for your insubordination!"

"Colonel Bastard!" Ed slapped Mustang on the head again oblivious to Hawkeye's statement and enthralled with the fact he was able to smack Mustang for some sort of distorted medical reason.

"I'm right here!" Riza snapped and finally turned to the kid who was doing all the yelling. Some blond boy with a red riding hood cape and his gloved hands around Roy's throat. "And don't you dare address me as bastard! It's Colonel Hawkeye and you better get your hands off Dr. Mustang before I get my hands on you!"

Ed's jaw hung open as he looked at the always sane and calm Lieutenant Hawkeye and had nothing to say. He looked to Lt. Colonel Hughes as Mustang started to stir.

"Now you did it, Brother." Al gasped and hunkered down next to Ed in the sand. There was a reason Team Mustang feared Hawkeye and it was because she had the power to verbally skewer like an enraged mother. The reaction was always a mixture of terror and shame and right now was no different as even Hughes leaned back a little.

Riza turned to Roy as he groggily came back to reality. She would wait until later to find out why Hughes let two kids play dress up in the ruins. The young blond with the braid was rude and the one hiding in an antique suit of armor was probably going to die from the heat soon, or just bake in the knight costume. Parenting these two was not her concern at the moment, however checking on Roy's condition was. Roy groaned again and she quickly assessed his state of injury, but something was way off. He wasn't wearing that linen dress shirt she had been clinging to earlier, the one she loved to wear to bed with him when they finally settled down to sleep in his cot. He was wearing some sort of uniform. She glanced back at Hughes who was also in the same blue uniform. "What's going on?"

Roy came to and swatted away the hand around his collar. "Who is this midget?"

Ed backhanded him for the comment and just shrugged at Hughes. "Sorry, I was already in the motion of slapping him when he work up. My bad, my hand slipped. Automail is acting up."

"Roy, did it work?" Hughes asked but he could feel the uneasiness within him tell him this wasn't just shock from a transmutation. Something was genuinely wrong. Roy propped himself up on his elbow and took in the scene, his eyes narrowing at his best friend and giving him that scrutinizing calculating look he knew all too well. The same look Roy would have as he woke up on his couch after a night of drunken carousing and couldn't remember where he was or how it got there. It was that searching gaze, as his eyes scanned for context clues and his brain tried to find a rational reason behind what it was seeing.

Riza waited as Roy's eyes drifted over the Knight and his sage (who were these kids?), Hughes and finally moved to her once he determined there was no danger here. His eyes mimicking the confusion she felt and he reached out for her hand. Silently he asked if she knew what was going on and she returned the look of uncertainty.

"Are you hurt?" Roy's voice was soft and hushed. In everything he did, all his stupid antics, he never wanted harm to come to her. He just wanted her to live a little, embrace the spontaneity in which he lived his live. He wanted to share his discovery with her and he should have considered the consequences of a failed transmutation. He was so cock-sure about it's success, high on the euphoria of solving the mystery and finding the treasure, that he neglected to take basic safety precautions. He needed to keep her safe, always. She was in enough danger in her line of work and he should have never been the one to jeopardize her well-being. Arrogant fool! You could have killed her!

"Not that I know of, but..." She looked at the kids and Hughes who were plain shocked as Roy took her hand. Hughes's reaction of surprise sealed it, something was horribly wrong. "I think these gentlemen owe us an explanation."

Roy cocked an eyebrow, realizing the blue uniform seemed to be present on all of them but the little cosplay boy and his robot knight.

"Explanation!" Ed screeched. "You're holding hands like you just went on your honeymoon instead of left to save the damned world! And you want an explanation? I want someone to explain to be how he made Colonel!"

Hughes had been studying their reactions and didn't like it one bit. "You're Colonel Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist and the lovely lady who you are holding hands with is Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye ...your personal aide."

"Ha!" Roy sat up and slapped Hughes on the leg. "Good one Maes! This makes up for that fake letter I sent from Gracia saying she was leaving you. Really elaborate. Impressive too. The uniforms you had made, the creepy feeling that someone had their hands all over me is clearly you putting this on me. And even hiring a street urchin to...scream like a shrimp out of water for no reason. You missed your calling!"

"Did he just call me a shrimp out of water?!" Ed squelched and heard Al snicker behind him. "That makes no sense!"

Roy grinned at Riza. "But seriously, she's going to have you executed for the rank thing. I mean really, Hughes, that was ballsy I got to give you that. Making me the Colonel...HA!"

Hughes watched him shake sand out of his hair and then glanced at Hawkeye who looked pale. Aw shit. Something went terribly wrong.

"I'll have my Dad find you a job when she fires you." Roy chuckled and looked at the finely embroidered alchemic arrays on the gloves on his hands. "This took some brilliant scheming and planning to pull off. I'm sure he needs a guy like you. God, did you make this gloves too? You sew like my grandma! What a delicate and precise stitch, you have so many talents Hughes!"

"Roy, your parents died when you were five." Hughes watched him stiffen. "You really are a Colonel and the Flame Alchemist."

"Roy." Riza looked over at him, "What did you do?"

"Well I hope to God he destroyed the homunculus remains!" Ed screamed. "Did you!?"

"Those aren't real." Roy scoffed. "Hughes, did you adopt this kid? Where the hell have you been hiding him? A shoebox under your bed?"

"Roy, perhaps you can tell us what just happened?" Hughes handed the man a cup of coffee and sat back down. "Or maybe we can start by briefing you?"


Ed remained quiet as Hughes and Mustang discussed a history that simply did not exist and one that they knew all too well. He didn't want to open his mouth because with every question, it became more evident that this wasn't just some fog that would lift from the overtaxed brain. Mustang and Hawkeye were standing their ground, which should have been comforting, but the ground they were on was a mirage and there seemed to be no getting through to those defiant idiots. the sun was beginning to set and the were no closer to having answers about the success of the mission.

"So, let me get this straight." Roy's voice silenced Hughes as smile crept across his face, broadcasting his disbelief. "I'm an orphan who became a war hero burning people alive with my "flame alchemy". Then, because that apparently wasn't enough for my resume, I decide to take down the government. In the mists of plotting treason we discover that the government is secretly run by some powerful entity that the runt's father let out of a flask a couple hundred years ago."

"Who are you calling a runt!" Ed wished he'd pass out again so he could hit him some more.

"Oh I'm sorry." Roy said drily and made sure to add air quotes to his next statement. "Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Hey!" Al stood up and squeaked. "Dad died trying to fix his mistake! It's because of Hohenheim that we were able to destroy Father!"

"Doesn't make it any less true Al." Ed stood and put his hands in his pockets. Truth sounded horrible, but it didn't make it any less true. "We found out about the plans of the homunculus when we were trying to capture the Freezing Alchemist."

"Oh!" Roy threw up his hands. "I forgot, we have more superhero alchemists too! Should I start taking notes? I'd hate to forget to invite someone to the posse the next time I have to save the world."

"Well at least you're still an asshole." Ed snapped back. "There's a truth nobody can ignore."

"Continue, Edward." Riza said and watched the young blond jump at her command.

"Uh sure." Ed fidgeted and scratched his head. Hawkeye usually barked orders at the Colonel, not him. "His name was Issac McDougal. He found out what was going on in Central because they invited him into the good old boy's club and asked him to help make an immortal army. He found out everything, all their plans. How philosopher's stones are made...everything. Then he escaped and tried to make his way out of the city to do something about it. A national-wide transmutation circle, can you imagine that Mustang? Can you? Those moron Generals thought they were going to get immortality and they were sacrificing their souls so Father could make himself God!"

"So where is this guy?" Roy asked and looked around. "I'd love to talk with him...about getting some ice for a scotch on the rocks."

"He died fighting the homunculus!" Ed screamed. "Didn't you listen when Hughes told you that the cost of destroying these things cost lives? That we need to know if it was a successful mission or not and that you need to snap out of whatever fantasy you're in! You're the Flame Alchemist, Mustang! Not some pilot! You know about combustion to produce fire, not internal combustion engines!"

"With my sandpaper gloves?" Roy held up his hand.

"Try it." Ed said. "You're an alchemist, you understand how it all works. The laws of alchemy, the sequence of comprehension, deconstruction and reconstruction. You manipulate Oxygen, it's how you control your flames."

"It's called a carburetor." Roy said with an scowl. He was tired of playing games with this kid. "The oxygen regulator."

"I don't know how you do it, it's not like alchemists share their secrets. However, as we already discussed, you are an asshole and you take every opportunity to mock me. " Ed snapped at him. Ugh to be able to hit him just one more time. "We staged a fight in Central, an alchemy battle, so that we could distract the high command while we fought and Hughes could get into Central Command and snoop around. Unfortunately you are a competitive asshole and almost barbecued me. I'm sure you keep the newspaper clippings in your diary, just look for the 'Fullmetal Vs. Flame' headline."

"Maes, really?" Roy looked to the man who seemed lost in thought. "You let this little vulgar shit around your darling Elicia?"

"Sure do." Hughes grinned. "Want to see pictures?"

"Mustang! I'm over here!" Ed threw a chunk of firewood at him, outraged at being ignored.

"I know that you're so damned tiny it's hard to see you at times," Roy threw the stick back at him. "But I can still hear your high pitched squealing from a mile away so don't throw shit at me Fullmetal."

Maes cocked an eyebrow. Maybe the adrenaline rush of being angered was helping to push the fog out of his mind. He gave Ed a nod, indicating he wanted the young man to continue his story instead of dancing around in victory pointing out Mustang's slip up. This was a good sign, even if he could feel Riza's eyes trying to stare a hole in his head. "Continue, Ed."

"Anyhow...after the fight..." Ed purposely didn't mention the outcome of the Fullmetal vs. Flame battle, "We had to clean up the parade grounds and I asked you how you did it. How your alchemy worked."

"Actually brother, I asked him." Al said meekly.

"Whatever. The point is you told us just enough to tell us how it's done and not how to do it." Ed grumbled.

"So he burnt off his eyebrows trying." Al chirped.

Ed ground his teeth. "Exothermic reaction. Your gloves are the spark, the oxygen the fuel source. You focus on the oxygen somehow and use it to direct your flames. So, do it. Focus on the campfire. Think about the elements in the atmosphere and what you need to complete the chemical reaction. Look at your gloves, see if the array means anything to you."

"The array means nothing." Roy said and glanced at the simplified transmutation circle. "If you are an alchemist you know that it means nothing without the knowledge behind it. That the creator of an array has the information embedded in his mind, the calculations and equations already worked out in years of research. The array a lock, the mind the key...without the key the array cannot be activated."

"You are the Flame Alchemist." Ed slammed his hands into the ground and made a small earthen wall fire pit to hold the firewood in. He hoped that by seeing the crackle of energy, feeling it's power, would trigger something in Mustang's mind. "You know those secrets even if you don't know what to believe right now."

Riza was mesmerized by the dance of alchemic lightning around the kids hands. The same glow of energy that was present when Roy touched that transmutation circle. "You understand combustion Roy..."

"Like the back of my hand." Roy finished her sentence and looked at the gloves he was wearing. His eyes focused on the array, a familiar design, but he had studied it his entire life and there were only so many designs or runes to work with. Surely he had come across this before. He rubbed his thumb and middle finger together lightly, the course texture of the gloves providing enough friction that it felt like the scraping of a match on a flint. "I'll humor you, however the reason I know about oxygen in the atmosphere is because I am an engineer and an aviator. I designed my airplane engine and I push my plane to it's limits to test the engine and improve it. At a higher altitude the oxygen concentration in the atmosphere is thinner, it affects how the engine can combust fuel and it's possible to choke the engine into stalling."

"Quit stalling and snap your fingers." Ed crossed his arms. "Come on Sparky, don't tell me you're useless now even when there is no water to be found in fifty miles.

Riza watched Roy's face contort into anger, finally teased to the point where he lost his temper and patience with the kid. She didn't blame him, they had bigger concerns than humoring some child and his role play fantasies. His arm swung out, his fingers snapping as his arm extended at the pile of wood and earth in the center of camp. Then she saw it, the glow around his hand, and to her amazement a fireball exploded from his hand and condensed into a line of dancing fire that shot straight past the fire pit and hit the blond boy's red cloak, setting the end of it on fire. She looked back to Roy amazed as the boy screamed about his precious coat and his brother rushed over to snuff out the fire. What she saw on Roy's face was not disbelief, but a smirk of satisfaction.

"You missed!" Ed screamed.

"Did I?" Roy countered and felt some guilty pleasure at setting the boy's stupid red coat on fire. Then he realized that he had set it on fire, that despite his talk, it was second nature to him to just snap and narrow his focus on a target and control the combustion all the way to it's destination. He stared at his hand and the array trying to digest the fact that he just started a fire with his hand and mind.

"So," Maes stretched his legs. "Can we talk about how you disposed of Father and the sins now? Perhaps even how you got back out of the gate once it closed behind you?"

Roy sat down, suddenly overwhelmed by what he just accomplished. He looked up as Riza started talking giving him a chance to make sense of things.

Riza stood and stared down at Maes, doing her best to reinforce her authority. She wasn't about to accept that she was the lowest ranking officer here. Not yet. Not when her soul screamed in agony at all the hard work lost, all the years of focus and study, all the blood on her hands for nothing. "We discovered the relics, Father in his urn and the boxes labeled with the seven deadly sins, in the ruins near Ishval. The rest of the documents we had gathered over the course of the past six months on our expedition to find the philosopher's stone."

"Documents?" Maes asked.

"Ancient alchemy texts which Dr. Mustang used to find the recipe to make a philosopher's stone." Riza replied and watched Maes tap his finger on his pant leg.

"Really?" Al asked. "You found a document on how to make one?"

Roy answered without looking up from the array on his gloves. "It was a fairy tale, some folklore about a 'Philosopher from the East'. There was a message, written in urine, hidden on the back of the document."

Maes leaned closer to his friend, and said low enough the boy's couldn't hear. "So Roy, remember when I showed you that trick back in the academy during my espionage training? How your precious chemistry wasn't all about alchemy, but could also make disappearing ink for the intelligence community. You put your coffee down right next to my cup of piss and when you went back to your desk took the wrong cup..."

Riza watched them as Roy looked up at Maes, face etched with surprise that he knew about that memory...or was a part of it. Roy's words from earlier this day came back to her when they were discussing him peeing on her priceless finds. She was going to summarize their afternoon as quickly as possible to gain Hughes's trust, there was a lot going on here and she wanted more information. "He used the cremated remains of father and the sins to cook up a philosopher's stone."

"Just like we talked about!" Al said excitedly. "That there are more elements to making a human than just the basic minerals and elements in the body. That the reason our human transmutation attempt failed was because we didn't account for the soul!"

"You two did what!?" Roy snapped and looked at them both. The armor, the metal hand...now suddenly making sense. "You idiots!"

"Yeah yeah." Ed waved him off. "We've already done this dance Mustang, so lets skip ahead to the parts we want to hear. You made the philosopher's stone, so you could open the gate of Truth. Right?"

"How do you know this?" Roy asked.

"We theorized that the gate was a portal, that it was a door to a different dimension where Truth resides." Ed sat down. "That the transmutation to open that gate, just like you were talking about your gloves, was a lock and you needed a key. Well you were the key, and you needed the power of a philosopher's stone to turn the lock. It worked on our side, it worked here because of a stone that Dr, Marcoh had that he gave you. "

"I swear I need to start making a list of all these people. Who is Marcoh?" Roy asked.

"Crystal alchemist, but forget about that for now." Ed crept closer.

"Why did you want to open the gate?" Riza finally asked. "Why, when you clearly have so many problems here with the government, did you want to stop what you were doing and open a gate to the unknown?"

"To return Father to where he was from, so that he could be locked away when his energy was used up by the stone. Because we didn't want even a shred of him surviving, he'd find a way to regenerate himself even if it took centuries. The only way to destroy him was to lock him back up from where he came from." Al said. "Since my Dad let him out to begin, he knew the most about Father. He knew him when he was a conniving entity in a flask and learned more about him than the thing wanted him to. So he knew he was from beyond the gate, that it confessed that much because it needed his trust and help to become powerful here. "

"So, you volunteered." Maes said. "To open the gate and destroy him within his own realm and lock the door behind you. Hawkeye went to protect you, in the event that the original transmutation incapacitated you. So somehow, in that realm, you were seduced by that wonderful life you were living."

"However you're an alchemist." Ed said proudly. "And you will always search for Truth. That's what we counted on, we knew there was a risk that something would happen to you. So we believed in your to need to find the truth, that you would search for it even in hell, limbo or heaven; That it's ingrained into your being Mustang."

"Actually," Maes smirked. "I was counting on your love for each other being unstoppable and it looks like I was right. Your kids are going to be so cute!"

"So, even though I was an alternate version of myself, I was destined to find Riza and look for the Truth." Roy asked.

"Yes." Al said. "It worked. You found the knowledge, you used it to create a stone with father and the sins he tried to separate from himself that made him remotely human. Then you used his energy to open the gate back up, leaving him behind."

"It's really just the theory of conservation of energy." Ed said and nudged his brother. "Al figured that one out. That we weren't safe, ever, unless we sent Father back to where he came from. That nothing is created or destroyed, just changes form."

Roy looked over at Riza, everything was making way too much sense. Except for their memories, except that his own mind told him that this insane life was not his. But facts were stacking against him and he was having to stomach some awful truths. "So my family is dead and I'm now stripped of my freedom and bound to the military?"

"We're still alive Roy." She brushed his hair with her fingers. "You're still a brilliant man, you have the secrets locked in your head somewhere of how to send us home."

Roy hung his head and looked up at Riza with the apologetic eyes. "I've taken everything from you too. Everything you worked so hard for."

"You are home." Hughes said softly. "And you still have each other."

"No Maes. Nothing you are going to say is going to convince me that this is where I belong." Mustang stood up and dusted off his stupid pants. "I would never join the military. I hate authority! I hate these pants! What are they? They have flaps?"

Riza took a deep breath and said bitterly. "I'm clearly in no position to climb the ladder again, not when I'm his secretary."

Maes was at a loss. He had no idea what to make of them still clinging to this deception. He thought that revealing the plan, the theories behind it and the facts that it would help them re-acclimate to reality however they were both resisting the intrusion of the light of truth into their fabricated world. Though he didn't want to push too hard right now, it was nice to see them fighting for their own happiness for once. Roy was like he used to be in the academy, a playful idealist not dragged down by the cruelty of war yet. Riza as a Colonel? He didn't have a hard time seeing it really, if she didn't have Roy to watch over she would have invested herself in her career and gone a long way. "You were gone half an hour. Not enough time to life a full life."

"So you think these memories were created?" Riza asked and heard a gasp from the the armored brother of the rude blond child. Apparently he took offense to that.

"Look, it's getting dark and I'm tired of talking." Roy said with an authoritative tone he didn't think he had in him. "So go to bed and we'll talk about this more in the morning. Colonel Hawkeye? Do you have an issue coming to bed with me now that we're both in uniform?"

Riza shook her head. The last thing she wanted to do was let him walk off by himself, afraid he might vanish. "Not at all."

Maes pointed to the tent where they had stayed in the ruins last night. He needed some time to talk with Ed anyhow, he needed to know if this was going to wear off. There had been glimmers of hope, each time Roy insulted Ed, so he wanted to believe they would both return to normal. However, one only need to look at Ed and Al to remember that alchemy had it's price. What if the cost of opening the gate and cheating was that Roy and his biggest supporter lost their way and no longer wanted to fix the country? What if he lost his vision for the future he wanted for Amestris?

"Hey Mustang!" Ed stood up and watched the man turn and look at him waiting for him to speak without firing off an insult. That was weird. "What the hell is a shrimp out of water and why do they make noise?"

"Is that a riddle?" Roy looped his arm around Riza, needing to feel her close to him.

"You said it when we woke you up." Ed replied.

"I meant fish out of water. They hop around like you were doing, flapping and spitting water everywhere." Roy watched the young alchemist grin. "What?"

"I hate to seem sentimental, but you always insult my height. Shrimp, shorty, midget. If you don't know me, why would you do that?" Ed grinned, excited to best Mustang at something, even if it was because he had a concussion or memory lapse from the transmutation.

"Chin up kid. You're young, you'll grow eventually. Puberty just sucks." Roy walked with Riza to the tent and ducked inside.

Ed cocked his head and watched Mustang and Hawkeye's shadows move inside the canvas tent as he lit a lamp. "What the hell was that?"

Maes shrugged and studied them as they walked off together. "Is it a side effect of the transmutation?"

Ed just poked at the fire with a stick and glanced at his brother, silently staring into the flames. He could tell Al was having a panic attack, thanks to what Hawkeye said about fabricated memories, but he couldn't just walk over there and dismiss his fears. Al was going to have to see the theory debunked, he wasn't going to be comforted by the words of his older brother who might just have the power to do something this complicated. If Mustang and Hawkeye could disappear and return convinced they were different people, than what Al believed about his own memories was shaken to his very core. They both were shaken, Ed just didn't realize how much he expected Mustang to be the one they always looked to to be unyielding in the face of catastrophe. How much they looked to him to be a fixed point of guidance and took for granted that he was human just like them. That his successes against the enemy were as much luck as prowess and perhaps he had finally taken on something he couldn't overcome. "It's mentally stressful and draining to perform something of that magnitude, but that doesn't explain Hawkeye."

"She said...her memories might have been created." Al said, brought his knees to his chest and hugged his legs.

"Al, you can't go back to believing what Barry said to you, he's a serial killer!" Ed exclaimed.

Maes reached over and patted the armored knee of the 13 year old trapped in the suit. "Al, you're overlooking something really important. Truth."

"Truth is hard to forget Mr. Hughes." Al said.

"No, truth at it's very core." Hughes looked off into the distance at the tent. "Roy, lost his parents young and probably wondered what would have happened if they didn't die. This could be a repressed memory or fantasy for him."

Al sighed. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that."

Hughes pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and grinned. "You damned alchemists tend to forget that the human mind isn't an equation, it's not going to follow through with your understood chemical reactions every time. It's unpredictable and there is a lot going on in that brain of yours. Trust me, I have some psychological training from being in the intelligence business. You can trick a mind into thinking things and trauma can make suppressed memories surface. "

Ed rested his chin on his hand. "Yeah, and I can see why Hawkeye would dream about being the Colonel and not him."

Al shook his head, "Both of them believe the same thing though. Isn't that weird?"

"Ed, what exactly is ''The Gate"?"

"A vast empty space, with one creepy as hell little dude." Ed frowned. "However I think he was successful. He said he made the philosopher's stone with the homunculus and Father, so if he burned them up opening the gate than they should be trapped there."

Maes cocked his head. "But you've been there...you've seen Al. You've both existed in the same limbo together."

"Yeah." Ed said and stared into the fire. "I guess we just wait then."


Inside the tent papers were strewn everywhere, notes scratched out on the sand and some books stacked on crates. Tell tale signs that Roy had been here. "All the comforts of home without the sanity that comes with it."

"Roy, what happened?" Riza asked quietly.

"I don't have a damned clue." He said and sat down on the cot, eagerly undoing the buttons on the uniform, feeling oppressed by just the fabric alone. "Look, in case this is just a brief moment we have together and we wake up separated in the morning...I need you to know something."

"Me first." She ran her hand over his face and gave him a half-hearted smile. "I love you Roy, but I wasn't going to give up my career for you. I dedicated my life to the military, if only to have some control over my life, and I wasn't about to give it up to go home with you. I like structure and discipline. I need it."

He threw off the jacket and pulled her down to sit on his lap, the cot creaked beneath them and he kissed her. "I know you weren't. It's why I love you, because you're so strong and refuse to compromise. You're dedicated and even if I don't agree with your belief in service to your country above all else...I love you for it. Which is why I had to find Truth and the philosopher's stone. Because a war, a world war, was on the horizon and I was terrified of you being involved in it. In losing you."

"Someone has to fight and defend our freedoms." She put her forehead on his. "I have someone to protect, even if it cost me my life."

"Riza, I love my family. I rarely ever fought with my father on anything...except that when the war came I was enlisting. That someone had to help create a worthwhile airborne fighting force for our country and I was the one who wanted to make that a reality. He said I was needed to help build and create weapons on the home front but I wasn't going to let you go out there without me. Knowing you would be in the trenches...I wanted to be there for you. With you. Fight for you."

"It's not what you believe in." She said. It was silly to be arguing about this now, that world was lost to them and it was a moot point. She rubbed his chest and felt something under his shirt, so she unbuttoned his collar and the burron below it. His breath hitched a little, in response to her actions, and she smiled as she pulled out a pair of dog tags hanging on his neck. Her thumb rolled over his name, stamped in the metal and glanced up at him.

"I believe in you and there is a time when you need to support someone even if it conflicts with your own core beliefs." He kissed her and ignored the necklace for teh moment. There were more important things to get off his chest. "I wanted you to meet my family. Hear Grandma talk about how Mustang men are as bad as the damned wild horses with our name, pinch my cheeks and tell you embarrassing stories as we ate Mom's Xingese cooking. Have you best my father in chess. Maybe...test out how durable my bed was."

"Is this equivalent exchange?" She asked. "We gave up our family and careers in exchange for opening that gate?"

"With the philosopher's stone as our toll...I don't know. We should have physically been harmed like those kids." He kissed her neck and whispered. "I'm an idiot, I should have never involved you in that transmutation. I was so sure of my findings that I never considered the consequences of something going wrong. Stupid. It's why I don't let anyone else test out my engines, I don't want someone else to pay for my mistakes. I'm so sorry, Riza. I was just swept up in the moment and I wanted nothing more than to share it with you."

"Let's go to bed." She brushed his unruly hair from his face and smiled. "I can't believe you're a Colonel."

"Ironic huh?" He fell back on the cot with her in his arms. "I spent so much time running away from responsibility and searching for some damned fairy tale, and I find it...only to find out I'm not just an officer but responsible for the fate of the world."

"I spent a lifetime trying to take control of everything so no one could have control over me like my father did. Unwilling to let it go for the promise of a life with you." She sighed. "Now apparently I dedicated my life to you and gave up on advancement. Ironic."

He chuckled. "Truth has a sense of humor."

She didn't bother to take off her uniform, she felt some comfort in the stiff wool gaberdine and needed more reassurance tonight than most nights. So she put her head down on his chest and welcomed the dreams that came.