So, first off, I just wanna say thanks to everyone who took the time to review the last part. I'm feeling a lot more confident after the overwhelming positive response, guys, and you've motivated me to consider doing another piece after this one! You all rock. I especially feel that 99 deserves acknowledgement for taking the time to break everything down and tell me how the story was playing out. Thanks.

Well, that's about it for now. I hope you enjoy! Part three is more-or-less complete, so that should be up soon, too. It also has my favourite scene so far, so I'm looking forward to posting it.


"Race ya!"

"H-hey, Brother! Wait!"

Roy could not help but smile to himself as the two brothers raced off up the hill, neither apparently any worse for wear from the long train ride. Walking along behind them, he made his way toward a large, yellow house situated a short distance outside the main town. The last time he had seen that house, it had been almost three years earlier when he had journeyed here searching for the two brothers—who, admittedly, he had thought were a good deal older at the time. A lot had changed since then, but this village...well, it had not. The small town was still quiet, even more so for the late hour, and there was still an overwhelmingly peaceful feeling to the area.

Before the two had made it halfway to the house, a medium sized black-and-white dog came running out to greet them. He recognised it as the Rockbell's, and it seemed that the dog also remembered the brothers, for her tail was wagging frantically as she jumped on Edward, knocking the teen to the ground to lick his face.

"H-hey, cut it out, Den!" The teen's voice drifted down to Roy from the distance, the soft breeze carrying the words, though it also did not hurt that Fullmetal was rather fond of yelling.

As the young colonel continued walking calmly down the path, a young, blonde girl, who was easily taller than Edward, raced out of the house, dashing down the path to greet the brothers with an enthusiastic hug. Well, that was something else he recognised from before. Winry Rockbell was still as spunky as ever.

Watching the reunion between the three kids, Roy allowed himself a secretive smile. It was good to see Ed and Al acting like normal kids, if just for a few minutes. Not that the peace could last, of course. Or rather, it was not that Roy would let it.

"Come now, Fullmetal, are you going to stand there all day coddling up to your mechanic, or are you going to grow a backbone and face up to your automail change?"

It was a flushing Edward who rounded on him, cheeks reddened with what was likely a combination of fury and embarrassment. Ironically, however, he was beaten to the punch by Winry herself.

"Yeah, Ed! C'mon! You have to see what Granny and I did this time! We used pure silver on the plating for heat conductance, though we had to make it thinner than normal to lighten the load and lower the strain on your body."

"...did you say pure silver?" Even from his spot a short way away, Roy could see the blond boy's face blanch. "What is this going to cost me?"

"Hm...between the rush job, the refinement, and the nature of a the metal..." the girl paused to grin evilly, "a fortune. You're going to have to be careful, too, because silver's nowhere near as tough as the iron alloys I usually use."

"...great."

"Hey, I wanted to use beryllium..."

"Wh-what the hell, you machine junky! Are you trying to kill me?" Ed barked in response, eyes wide with horror.

"Hey, it's light and has good thermal conductance! It would have been perfect in not stunting your growth!"

"My growth is not stunted!" Ed denied vehemently. "You're all just freakishly tall! And height's not attractive on a girl, either!" Ed earned a wrench to the head for his observation.

"Now Ed, it's not polite to speak like that to your girlfriend," Roy scolded lightly, already turning to walk into the welcoming home.

"Wh-what? She is not my girlfriend!"

"Oh, and being my boyfriend would be so bad? You're horrible, Ed!" Another wrench to Fullmetal's head followed that statement, drawing a wince out of the colonel. He almost felt bad for the boy.

Almost.

As Winry stormed into the house, Edward huffed and darted after her. Those two never fought long. They got frustrated with one another a lot, from what Roy could tell, but it never lasted. Once the door had slammed behind Fullmetal, Roy glanced at the forgotten Elric with a light chuckle.

"Shall we?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah. I don't want to see Winry kill Brother." Yeah, that was a pretty justifiable fear in Roy's eyes right then. The blonde girl was not easy with that wrench.

Entrance into the homely kitchen met them with an Edward who was thoroughly distracted sniffing around the table. Supper had already been laid out for them, so it seemed that nothing was going to done with the automail then and there. Well, that was fine by him, because they were not due to leave until late the following afternoon, anyway, so they had plenty of time. Besides, it would be good for the boys to be able to visit with their unrelated family for awhile.

Greeting Pinako Rockbell with a polite nod of the head, he asked, "Do you need a hand with anything?" He knew the woman's general distain for military, and so he vowed to be just a little more polite than normal. He was, after all, intruding on her house.

"No, you and the boys take a seat," she told him, hugging Al before moving on to Ed. "You'll be rooming with the boys; either of them can show you where. Feel free to freshen up before dinner."

Thanking her, Roy accepted the offer, leaving the small family to reunite while he set their bags down in the room Al had pointed him to. Washing up, he took his time changing before heading back out to the kitchen, hoping he had given the others time to catch up in peace.

Throughout dinner, the young colonel kept silent for the most part. He could not help feeling slightly out-of-place here—last time he had been he had not been the most welcome guest on the planet, after all—and so he just left the others to catch up, even offering to clean up after they had eaten. Following that, Roy opted to head to bed early, because tomorrow it would be back on the train for a long, long journey north.


Pinako had everyone up early the next morning so that Ed would have time to adjust to the new limbs before they had to leave. With a degree of curiosity, Roy found himself watching the process of the limb removal and reattachment. He had never seen this done before, and it might not be a bad idea to know how it was done. Just in case.

One thing that Roy had to admit to not being ready for was how much the connection clearly hurt his subordinate. Sure, he had heard stories, but the way Ed had tensed up and paled so completely...well, he had seen the blond pretty badly hurt before, but he thought it safe to say that this was the worst of it. The way the colour drained out of his face, leaving Edward panting and sweating as he fought the pain was something Roy was not sure he ever wanted to see again. Because seeing anything get Fullmetal down was just not pleasant.

As Ed lay recovering, Roy looked up with a faint start when he heard Al clanking over to him. Meeting the eyes of the suit of armour, Roy set aside the newspaper he had been reading, picking up his cup of coffee instead.

"Was there something you needed, Alphonse?" he asked calmly, already suspecting the answer.

"Yes...well, actually...Colonel, I was thinking about what you said."

"...and?" Roy prodded gently when the boy did not continue immediately.

"Would you and Ed really be okay? If I stayed here, I mean. I miss Winry and Aunt Pinako." And he did not want to go up north where his armour's joints would be at constant risk of freezing, and the weight of the armour would sink into the snow, making movement hard... Roy could tell, even if the younger Elric left things unsaid.

"Of course, Al. I promise to take care of him in your place."

"Oh, thank you Colonel!" the youngster exclaimed happily, the suit of armour almost seeming to radiate cheer, if that were at all possible for a hunk of metal.

"Wait, what? Al, you're not coming with us?" Glancing over at the door, Roy was a little surprised to see the teenager standing in the door, sending his brother a confused look. He had really recovered quickly. "How come?"

"Well, Brother...I miss being home...a-and I don't really think the Briggs Mountains are a good place for me to go. B-besides, you'll have the colonel there to watch your back, and it's not for all that long! I'll meet you back in Central the day you get back, Brother."

Roy could clearly see the war going on behind Ed's stunning golden eyes, but decided to stay out of it, because this was an issue between the two brothers, and he had no business getting involved.

"Well, I mean...if you're sure, Al. I can't stop you from staying..."

"Oh, thank you Brother!" Really, that boy needed to stop being so grateful sometimes...except then he would not be Alphonse Elric, and that would be worse, wouldn't it? "I promise to be there as soon as you get home!" the boy assured, grabbing his brother in a tight hug.

Gasping a bit, Ed forced out a quick, "Yeah, yeah...now p-put me down...b-before you crush my lungs!"

"Oops! Sorry, Brother..."

Waving off the sheepish apology, Ed gasped for a moment before grinning. "Sparring match?"

Barely a second later, both boys were out the door, leaving Roy to read in peace...at least, with as much peace as could be expected with the two brothers smashing around outside, accompanied by blatant threats from a certain automail mechanic about 'not breaking her beautiful work, you damn freaks!'

"You really have been taking care of them for me."

Dammit, was he never going to be left to read in peace? With a barely suppressed sigh, the Flame Alchemist glanced up, meeting Pinako's eyes before nodding briefly.

"Of course. Whatever opinion you may have of me, I'm not completely heartless," he responded with a light smirk. She was not the only person who cared about those boys, after all, not that he would ever say that in as many words, and especially not to Ed. He would probably be lucky to get off as well as Tucker did were he to.

"I see." Something in her eyes told Roy that there was more to that statement than a simple acknowledgement of his words. No, she was saying that she did see. She saw it in him, and in the brothers. She saw right through him to his unspoken admission. Well, let her; it was not like he was trying to hide it. He just was not saying it, either.

"Just make sure you keep taking care of them."

"Of course."

With those two words, the elderly woman appeared to remember that she had something to do that was not in the kitchen and strode out the door, finally leaving Roy to read in peace...for about thirty seconds.

"Dammit, Winry! Are you trying to charge me out of house and home? This is way too expensive!" Ed fumed as he followed the blonde girl into the house, a small piece of paper clenched in his automail hand. It seemed that that was his bill, and someone was less than impressed. Not that Edward was ever 'impressed' by much.

"Yeah, well, you're the one who needed the rush job for cold-weather automail. Don't whine to me! All I did was the best I could."

"The best you could? For this price I should be wearing diamond-studded titanium!"

"Yeah, because that would help you get taller."

"What the—! I'm not short!"

"Right, Ed. And Den's a cat," replied Winry, a devilish look on her face as she paused to face Ed, not two feet from Roy's chair.

"Is she? I never noticed."

"You know, as much as I enjoy listening to you two bicker like an old married couple, some of us are trying to read," Roy interrupted then, not giving the girl a chance to retort. "So, if you don't mind..."

"Actually, we do mind. If you want to read so badly, go somewhere else," Ed snapped, folding his arms in a clear pout. Somehow, Roy sensed that the kid's argument was not at all about the cost of the automail, because Edward had never been picky about his pennies, so to speak, especially when it came to paying his mechanic. Nope, the kid was aiming this whole thing at Roy himself. "Besides, this whole thing's your fault!" Bingo.

"My fault?" Roy dared to question, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

"You're the one dragging me on this stupid-ass assignment, so you should pay."

"Right, Ed. Because doing your job is stupid," Winry retorted sharply. "As for who pays, I don't care, just so long as I get it."

"Just put it on your budget and stop whining, Fullmetal. You're giving me a headache." Yes, this was going to be one long trip if Ed kept flying off the handle over every little thing...or maybe not so little, he realised as his eyes alighted upon the bill in the teen's hand. That was...expensive automail. Oh well, it also was not his problem.

"Well this wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't getting dragged to the Briggs Mountains, now would it?" Ed hissed, his golden eyes narrowing as he glared at his commanding officer.

"And what problem would that be, Fullmetal? I already told you to put it on your budget. This is an official military inspection, and the military will cover what you need to perform it."

"Yeah, well—"

"Enough, Edward," Roy interrupted with a tired sigh. "You're beginning to sound like a child that has had its candy taken from it."

"Who are you calling so small he could be mistaken for a baby?"

"Settle down, Ed. You're making a scene and there's no reason for it. You're coming on this inspection whether you want to or not, so stop sulking. This would be a good time not to act your age." Honestly, this was getting old. If Edward did not calm down soon...he was coming anyway, and that was that. If Fullmetal was stubborn and good at getting under people's skin, then so was Roy. Also, he had the 'authority' card to play. So hah, Ed. Roy would win in the end; he always did.

"You two should get moving before you miss your train."

Glancing up at the short, older woman standing in the doorway, Roy could not help a slight chuckle to himself. If that was not a 'subtle' order to get the hell out and leave her in peace, Roy did not know what was. Regardless, however, it was actually high time they got moving. They would need an early start if Fullmetal was going to be this stubborn and difficult the whole way to the station.

Much to Roy's immense relief, that did not happen. With the bank note done up and signed, the blond alchemist was willing to grab his bags and head out, Roy and the three kids walking down the station together. Oh, and Den, the dog bounding off ahead of them before whirling and racing back. In short: a typical dog.

The locals were more plentiful than they had been the night before, out and about at the early hour, and Roy found himself forced to stop several times so the boys could stop and talk to old friends. They had time, so he did not really mind. It was sort of interesting to watch Ed's and Al's interactions with these people from their past. The ones that had been left behind completely when the kids had set fire to their house and walked away, meaning never to return, to never turn back, until their task was done. Even now, two years later, they were holding to that course. Seeing these people, though, made Roy wonder, truth be told, how well he even knew the boys.

Perhaps, in some strange way, he thought of himself as the boys' guardian—and it was true, at least for Edward. He was his superior officer, after all, but this feeling went beyond that. Into what, he did not want to say, but, if he was totally honest with himself, it was definitely there—yet he did not know much about their lives before...well, before that day. He remembered a young boy sitting in a wheelchair, and amber eyes looking dead, yet so full of fire at the same time. Yes, it was an oxymoron, but it was also true. All of this told him next to nothing about their lives before that day, though. Now, half-listening as one of the locals made a joke about Ed falling into the river once, because he had been dead-set on being able to run across the guardrail on the bridge, forcing the girl—Millie's—father to save him, it all made him realise how little he really knew about them. He knew their personalities now, and what set Ed off, what made the boy happy, how to cheer Al up—the simple stuff. Yet he knew nothing of them before hell had run over them.

It was a sobering thought.

"Hey, Colonel Lazy-Ass, you coming or shall we bury you there?" Ed's voice grumbled, snapping him out of his thought long enough for him to notice the three kids a good twenty or so paces in front of him.

"Brother!" came Al's tired retort. "Don't speak to the Colonel like that."

"Why not? It's his own damn fault for falling behind. Don't blame me if he gets lost."

With an almost...affectionate smirk, Roy strode off, catching up to them and falling into step with his subordinate.

"I was just giving you a head start, Fullmetal. You know, so I don't have to shorten my strides so you can keep up. What with your chronically short legs and all, I thought you'd be more appreciative."

"Why you—!"

If Roy had had just a tad less dignity, he might have run the rest of the way to the station.