Chapter Four

Central, Amestris – 1921

Steph awoke in a soft bed in an unfamiliar hotel room. A woman who looked an awful lot like her mother was standing in front of a mirror and combing her hair. She was wearing a military uniform that strongly resembled the uniforms worn in Amestris. Steph rubbed the dizziness from her eyes as she got out of the bed.

"It's about time you woke up, Sweetie," the woman said to her. "I thought you weren't going to wake up in time for the party."

"Party?" asked Steph. "What party? What are you talking about, and where am I?"

The woman immediately stopped brushing her hair and turned towards Steph, worry etched into her face. "Stephanie, are you feeling alright?"

"Who are you?!"

"Stephanie, I'm your mother!" said the woman, scared now.

Then Steph started to piece things together as her memories trickled back to her. She and the others had passed through the gate using the Link to Amestris, but something must have gone wrong since they were all separated from one another. She didn't want to alarm her alternate-dimension mom any further than she already had, so she quickly thought up a lie in her head. "Oh, sorry Mom. I was still dreaming a little. I'm up now."

The woman exhaled and turned back to the mirror as she finished doing her hair. "You gave me quite a scare there, Steph. Now, why don't you go and get dressed so we're not too late."

Steph complied, and she went to the closet and picked out a nice blue outfit. She had no idea what was in store for her today, but she was sincerely hoping that she would be able to find at least one of her friends at the party.

Music blasted through the walls of the Cafeteria in Central Headquarters. It had been two days since the clearing of the Slums and the discovery of Jenna by Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye. The entire military staff was partying like never before. The whole room was flashing all of the colors of the rainbow, and everyone seemed to be on a sugar high. First-Lieutenant Jean Havoc was doing the robot in the center of the dance floor, a cigarette stiff in his mouth. Master Sergeant Cain Feury was surrounded with puppies, he picked a few of them up and snuggled them close to his face while um…waltzing with them…to hip-hop music. Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong was break-dancing on a table, showing off his pecks, with hundreds of glittery pink sparkles surrounding him. Sergeant Ross was near the punch table; she had already gone through two entire punch bowls, and a third one, half-empty, was dangerously close to her. She was chattering on and on with Sergeant Bloch like there was no tomorrow, eyeing the punch-bowl suspiciously as if keeping an eye out for anyone else that wanted to steal a sip of her punch.

Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye walked into the room, pushing Jenna in a wheelchair. The twelve year old couldn't believe her eyes. This room was what paradise must have been like. Rainbows, laughing, loud music, and ridiculous dance moves flooded her senses. She wanted so badly to join them, but her broken legs prevented her from doing so.

A woman with slightly curled shoulder length blonde hair wearing a female military uniform walked through into the area with a fourteen year old girl by her side. This girl was none other than Steph. The woman who walked in with Steph (who closely resembled Steph's Earth mother) scanned the crowd, as if expecting someone to be there. Then she grabbed the nearest microphone and shouted, "It's time for the karaoke dance-party contest! Everybody who wishes to join in must get your butts on stage right now!"

About twelve military personnel (including Alex Louis Armstrong) skipped happily on stage. Breda was the first one to go. His mediocre singing ability and lack of silly dance moves didn't wow the crowd. His performance wasn't impressive.

"You two should do a duet," suggested Jenna. "I think it would be sweet."

"Sweet?!" exclaimed Roy Mustang. "Why must everyone in this damn place accuse us of being a couple?!"

"Come now, Roy, it could be fun," said Riza, a ring of playfulness in her voice that was seldom heard by any living being.

Roy calmed down as he submitted to his subordinate's wishes. The two of them got up on stage and preformed with such charming passion that the room roared with mushy-gushy romantic comments and jests towards them. The whole crowd cheered. They sang so sweetly together, even if they did claim that there was no such relationship between the two. As they got down from the stage, Riza smiled and laughed while Roy grumbled miserably to himself that he would never live this down.

Next up was Cain Feury, who preformed his song with all the dogs in the room. This, of course, had the entire room busting up with laughter. Especially since he was dancing with about five or six dogs, including Black Hayate.

Jean Havoc performed to a bizarre heavy-metal sounding song. It was totally hilarious. He tripped over his own feet twice, and had put on a face like he badly needed to…you know, break something. Most likely his neck. The entire staff busted up laughing.

Then someone unexpected showed up…Maes Hughes. With (dum-dum-dum…) a picture of his beloved daughter, Elysia in his hand.

Roy stammered, "Hughes, I thought you were incapacitated! Pushing up daisies! Dead!" Tears came to his eyes but did not spill over as he remembered Hughes' tragic death and subsequent funeral.

"Hell no, old buddy old pal! That whole Envy incident was just a big elaborate scheme! That was my twin brother and stunt-double, David Hughes. I'm sorry that he died that night, but to make it seem as though it had really been me, I had to stay clear of the production company for the rest of the season. It would have been problematic if the Homunculi found out I was still alive," replied Hughes. That last comment about staying clear of a production company confused the heck out of Mustang, but he figured that it was just another one of Hughes' peculiar and abstract jokes.

Roy turned white. "How come you never told me that you had a twin brother!?" screamed Roy, pointing his finger accusingly at Hughes.

"Because he was such a trouble maker, Mom and Pop had his identity erased from the record books. Smart kid, though. Every time that I was sick, instead of calling in sick, I would send my dear brother in. It just so happened that I was sick the day I supposedly got murdered. Poor guy, my brother wasn't supposed to die that day. And poor Elysia and Gracia, too…to make it convincing I had to make them believe that it was really me, so I had to go into hiding for all these long years."

"What?!" and with that, Roy passed out and had to be rushed to the infirmary. It was so unlike him, but seeing his dead friend suddenly alive and well again was just too much for him to handle.

From the corner of the stage, Steph continued to scan the crowd for one of her friends. Just as Roy Mustang was being carried to the infirmary, Steph saw someone who looked an awful lot like Jenna in a wheelchair being pushed by Riza Hawkeye. Without a second thought, she rushed down from the stage and caught up with the girl in the wheelchair.

"That has to be Jenna!" she thought to herself. "Jenna, it's me, Steph! Don't you recognize me?" she said out loud.

Jenna turned around and started laughing as soon as she saw Steph's familiar face. "Steph? Is that really you? Ha! Boy, am I glad to see you! Have you met up with the others yet?"

Steph thought for a moment. "No, I haven't seen your sister or the genius who brought us here. When I find her I'm gonna strangle her brains out!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! It's nothing to get upset about."

"What do you mean nothing to get upset about? My mom is a General in the military, your legs are both broken, Ally and Kiersten are missing, and we're all stranded in another world with no way home!"

Riza looked at the fourteen year old girl who had begun chattering to Jenna. "Excuse me," she began. "Do you two know each other?"

"Yes, actually. We came to this world together. We're looking for our friends so that we can get back home," said Steph.

"I promised this young lady that I would help her find her friends," said Riza. "Would you like my assistance?"

"Thank you for your offer," said Steph, "but I think there's someone who needs your company far more than we do at the moment." Riza knew that the "someone" Steph was talking about was Roy. "We really need to get going now. Could you point us in the direction of the train station?"

Riza then gave them detailed instructions on how to get to the station. "Here," she added, handing them a pouch of money. "You'll need this, or you won't be able to get any boarding tickets."

"Thank you for everything you've done for us, Miss Hawkeye," said Jenna. With that, Steph grabbed hold of Jenna's wheelchair and began running as fast as she could through the crowds and out the door, with Riza waving goodbye and good luck to the two of them.

After they had exited the building, the dancing and the music resumed, and it could be heard blasting through the walls once more. "You know what?" asked Steph.

"What?" replied Jenna.

"Even though I'm a little scared and a little mad, this might actually turn out to be fun."