"Al?" Edward called.
"Al, are you down here?" Milena yelled.
"Brother?" a voice said from the darkness.
The two alchemists trudged into one of the dimly lit rooms and found a tied up suit of armor.
"Al!" Edward exclaimed.
"I'm okay, Ed," Milena told him. "Go on."
Edward released her and rushed forward to his young brother. "Al, are you okay?!"
"I'm fine," Alphonse answered as Edward began to undo his binds.
"What did they want you for?"
"I wish I knew. They never discussed their plans in front of me."
"So you're Alphonse Elric," Milena smiled as she approached them.
Al turned to look at Milena and froze. "Brother…"
"Yeah, I know," Edward said. "I thought the same thing."
Milena knelt down and sat next to the two brothers. "I look like your mom, don't I?"
"How'd you know?" Alphonse asked.
"Well, the fact that Edward called me Mom when he first saw me was kind of the dead giveaway. Your reaction to seeing me was what sealed the deal. Not to mention I can see the way Ed looks at me. She must've meant a lot to you."
"Yeah," Edward said quietly, lost in the memory of their beloved mother. "We could've never asked for a better mom. Al, this is Milena. She's a doctor who took care of me after the fight we had with the Homunculi. It turns out she's also an amazing alchemist!"
"It's nice to meet you," Alphonse said politely.
"And you as well," Milena smiled. "I've heard such great things about you." Milena paused for a moment and looked at the elder sibling. "Edward…earlier, you said that you both attempted human transmutation and that it caused Al to lose his body."
"Yeah."
"What did you mean by that?"
The two boys looked at each other. Then Alphonse lifted up his helmet to reveal that there was no body inside.
Milena's eyes widened. "You bonded his soul to the armor?"
"Yep!" Alphonse answered. "My blood seal is right here!" He pointed to the design made from Edward's blood sitting on the neck of the armor.
"How old were you when you did that?"
"I was 11," Edward told her.
"You were 11, and you performed that kind of alchemy? It's no wonder you're a State Alchemist. That's amazing!"
"Thanks. Can I ask you a question now?"
"Sure."
"You can do alchemy without a Transmutation Circle. But the only way you can do that is if you saw the Gate. Which means you had to have attempted a human transmutation as well."
Milena sighed heavily. "Yes, I did. That accident I told you about? My father was able to save everyone…except one little girl. And knowing that I was the one responsible for her death destroyed me inside. I couldn't live with the guilt. So I attempted to bring her back. Needless to say, it didn't go well. That scar you saw on the back of my neck? My heart got torn out from the back."
"What? Then how are you even alive right now?"
"My father's an amazing doctor. He kept me alive…by giving me my mother's heart. She sacrificed her life so that I would live. That was when I swore never to do alchemy again unless I absolutely had to. Because my mistake cost the life of a little girl and my own mother." Milena fingered the necklace she was wearing. "This belonged to her. I think she did something to it before she died. Ever since I started wearing it, I didn't need to touch objects to perform alchemy on them. I think it's that, and the fact that she's literally a part of me. Every day, I feel her heartbeat inside me, and it's what keeps me going."
"That's incredible," Alphonse remarked. "You don't have to touch objects to use alchemy?"
"Oh, you should see her, Al!" Edward praised. "I've never seen anyone so talented at using alchemy!"
Milena laughed. "You flatter me."
Suddenly, the young woman cried out in pain again and fell over.
"Hey, are you okay?" Edward asked quickly.
"I'll be fine. Like I said, I just need to rest."
"Let Al carry you. You can't possibly walk all the way back to your house."
"No, you don't have to—" She was cut off by another surge of pain. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt."
Alphonse gently lifted her up into his metal arms and the three of them returned to Milena's home.
"Milena!" her father called when he saw them approaching the house. "What happened to her?"
"She used too much alchemy for her body to take," Edward told the older man.
"…She used alchemy again?"
"Yeah. I had no idea she was so amazing at it."
"It's her best skill. I can't believe she did it. I haven't seen her use alchemy in years."
"She did it to save me. Without her, I would be dead."
"You must really mean a lot to her, Edward."
"He does…" Milena said tiredly from Alphonse's arms.
"You must be Alphonse," her father said to the suit of armor. "You can go on back and put her in bed. She's going to need to sleep for a while to recharge after using alchemy again."
Alphonse carried Milena to the bedroom next to the one Edward had been using.
"Are you're sure you're going to be okay?" Edward asked her once she was in bed.
"I'll be fine, I promise," Milena smiled. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Thanks to you. I'm really sorry I accused you of working for the Homunculi. They told me that you had stayed up all night to take care of me."
"Yeah. I knew how much you wanted to go find your brother, so I had to change your bandages and give you medicine throughout the night in order to help you heal faster. Then when I wasn't doing that, I was doing my best to try to find Al for you."
"You were looking for Al all night?"
Edward sighed. He wished he had known that earlier. Then he never would've thought for a moment she was working with the Homunculi.
"It's okay, Ed," Milena said, gently taking his hand as she noticed the guilty expression on his face. "Because of you, I've fully accepted the part of me that can do alchemy. It's painful, but I'm glad because now I'll be able to help even more patients in recovery."
"I guess we helped each other."
"Sometimes the doctor is the one who needs help more than the patient."
Edward smiled. "Well, we should get going. We have a lot to do, don't we, Al?"
"You bet," Alphonse said. "Milena, thank you for helping my brother."
"Of course. I want the both of you to come back and visit sometime soon, okay?"
"We will."
"Promise?"
"Promise," Edward said to her. "Thanks for everything. Now get some rest."
"Good-bye, boys. I hope you find what you're looking for."
"You idiots!"
The Homunculi gathered up against a very angry Homunculus.
"How were we supposed to know we weren't supposed to kill them?" Envy asked.
"I told you we needed five sacrifices! And those sacrifices can only come from people who have performed human transmutation!"
"Well, you didn't tell us that."
"You should have figured it out!"
"So we're supposed to be able to read your mind now?"
"All due respect," Lust interjected, "you didn't make us aware that we needed Fullmetal and his brother to survive. You told us that if anyone appears to interfere with our plans, they must be dealt with accordingly. That's what we did with Fullmetal. We planned on doing the same to his brother once we figured out where his blood seal was."
The blond-haired Homunculus rubbed his hand over his chin. "I suppose you have a point. I'll let you off this time. But no one kills the Fullmetal Alchemist or his brother until the day we have so long awaited. Stay alert, my children, for we will reign victorious."
"Yes, Father," the Homunculi said in unison.
