I may promise I'll update more frequently but I have a bad habit of being a victim of the old adage "Easier said than done."

Chapter 10: Changes

30 years after my research was stolen, the first attempt at replacing a missing limb with one made of metal took place. It worked only for a short time and it was excruciatingly painful for the test subject, but the point was that it worked. The field of Automail was born.

from the journal of Hohenheim written 1 week and 2 days before his death

"Looks like you're starting to make a dent in it," Havoc whistled.

He was being generous. Gina looked around at all the work left to do and cringed. Much of the debris was too large to move by hand, especially with no other help than the children. There were more of them now after just two days, but only one was older than twelve. Still, they had cleaned the area around the entrance and cleared away some of the broken pews so that it appeared less ruined.

"Maybe," she replied distractedly. "I doubt we would ever be able to restore it."

"Then why are you trying?"

"I'm not sure. It could be the connection to familiar things, or even just feeling useful doing something. Or maybe it's the kids. I haven't decided."

"And you're sure you don't need my help?"

She grinned up at him. "Have you seen the looks they give you whenever you come in here? I get the feeling there'd be twenty more of them if you weren't around at all."

"Am I really that scary?"

"Must be."

"Then I'll just go wait in the car. I had no idea being your guardian would involve so much work."

"Oh, Lieutenant! Have you thought about my idea yet?"

He paused, obviously torn. After a few seconds he finally answered, "I need Mustang's approval."

"There are still refugees in this city, Sir! Even if it was just a little food and supplies, maybe they could keep coming and more might come too."

"It's still his decision, but I'll propose it tonight."

She sighed. "Thank you."

As he left, Gina noticed a small group was busy working to shift a boulder away from the stairway that went up to the remains of the choir loft. A locked door had prevented anyone from going up there so far and she was secretly glad. The last thing she wanted was one of the children falling and possibly getting killed from curiosity.

The boulder had been partially supporting the stairs and as it moved, the girl saw wood bending beneath weight it could no longer hold.

"Get back!" she pulled them away as the steps collapsed.

When the dust settled and the children stopped coughing, one of them by the name of Sara started digging through the rubble.

"I saw something fall down," she claimed. "Ah!"

Sara held a spherical object and Gina came up short with a gasp. It was mostly red with dull metal knobs and what looked like a vault wheel screwed to the top. She recognized it immediately, but knew the children would be even more interested in it if she started screaming and yanked it away.

"Oh, it's just one of those," she shrugged as if 'one of those' wasn't worth defining. "It looks broken. I'll throw it away."

She took it from the now-indifferent Sara and other children started clearing away the broken wood while Gina walked to the side exit. The second she was out of sight she started running toward the front where Havoc was, but after a moment she skidded to a halt.

He was part of the military. If this really was the bomb Ed had taken out of the safe, then the military would be the worst party to give it to. But that thought raised another question: how did the bomb get there?

It was too much of a coincidence that she would be drawn to the one place in the entire city where it had been transported. Or was it even the same? Were there more? She had no way to find out until she met Ed again. If she met Ed again.

Sure that a child would come out any second, Gina shoved the bomb into a hole beneath the steps and rolled a heavy stone in front of it. Making sure that she couldn't see it from any angle, the girl returned inside to tell another story to the children and try to forget about the object outside.

:Q:

Stormclouds darkened the sunset early and Ed found a sheltered place along the path where they could camp. After a brief light show, several trees fused their limbs and roots together, creating a hollow large enough for the three of them to comfortably occupy. Roze slid her fingers along the intertwining branches, seeing that even the leaves had filled in all the cracks.

"So it was a good idea to bring you along," she mused.

"I'll be surprised if we even notice that it rains tonight," he gloated with arms crossed.

"This will kill the trees, won't it?"

Ed paused and looked at the construct as though trying to decide how he could repair the trees without damaging them further in the process. "Well, that is a matter of… Hmm. Yeah, looks like it."

Roze placed her sleeping son inside the shelter as she shook her head with a smile. "If you had lived in the desert as long as I have, you'd be much less inclined to use living things as tools when earth will suffice."

"Earth is harder to move. Trees just bend and hardly any energy is required."

"You never seem to have any trouble."

"Looks can be deceiving," he sighed.

The woman squinted into the distance. "Maybe two days more before we reach Eln. From there we can take the train straight to Central where you can meet with the military."

"I still haven't decided if I should go to Central or Resembool yet. Al could be at either one, or even the island at Dublith…if he made it at all."

He busied himself making a small fire in the entrance of the shelter.

"So..." Ed said after a period of silence. "It looks like you've moved on. Liore seemed much nicer than I remember."

"Well, it was a pile of sand last time you were there," she laughed quietly. "And you? Did you move on?"

"Most of the time it felt like I hadn't. But I think I finally did when I made the choice to go back to that world two months ago. It's ironic that once I accepted it, I ended up right back here."

Darkness fell and Edward's eyes kept drifting to Michel, asleep on her lap. She rocked him, humming softly. The alchemist started to smile at the scene but stopped, turning away guiltily.

"It's time for us to talk, Edward. I see the questions in your eyes and I'm willing to answer them. Are you willing to listen?"

He looked into Roze's face and saw the serene, patient beauty of a mother. Ed bowed his head in apology.

"It's my fault. If I hadn't gone to Liore none of it would have happened! You—they never would have—" He groped for words, but couldn't even bring himself to name the crime against her. "Why does everything I do turn out this way?"

Her hand found his and held it lightly. "If it gives you any comfort, I am glad I have Michel."

"But don't you ever think about…about him? His father?"

Ed wanted to kick himself after such a personal question that was obviously none of his business, but Roze held his hand tighter and spoke. Her voice didn't waver, almost as if she had been expecting this question.

"I used to have nightmares about it incessantly until he was born. It made all the difference having him. If I hadn't gotten pregnant, I doubt I would have been strong enough…" She paused to take a deep breath. "I couldn't speak, Ed. I couldn't tell anyone about my pain. They tried to help and comfort me, but it wasn't enough. Michel…he brought healing to me in a way that nothing else could have. There are two reasons I didn't kill myself afterward and he was one."

"And the other?"

She laughed, a surprising sound after such a serious confession. "You really are a bit slow, aren't you? That's all right. I like you better when you're clueless."

Edward stiffened, suddenly catching her meaning. "Roze, I've told you before that we're just friends."

She leaned against the wall of the shelter, settling back and closing her eyes. Far-off thunder made the earth tremble beneath them. "Edward, I made a promise to Michel when he was born: I would never take a husband."

Roze noticed him visibly relax. She smiled to herself, wondering if she would ever have a chance to tell him the other half of the promise. But even as the thought crossed her mind, an unwelcome memory pushed its way forward and she shuddered, pulling Michel closer.

A heavy, cleansing rain fell that night.

:Q:

It was just past midday when Alphonse Elric stepped onto the crowded train platform and looked around. Central was recovering. He could see many buildings that had been rebuilt and the majority of people who had arrived with him seemed to be returning home.

He wondered if it would be better to see the Lieutenant-Colonel first, but he couldn't get his theory out of his head. If Ed or Gina had been transported too, the likelihood that they were in Central was high. The most probable place for them to be was the underground city.

Al began walking in the direction of the nearest entrance to the secret place. But since the ships that attacked Central had broken through the surface, the city down below would no longer be a secret. Was it possible that there were people studying the ruins and searching for explanations even now?

He hurried along the roads, drawing some attention, but no one hailed him. When he reached the church, Al drew up short. A soldier was sitting in a car just outside!

When he approached, he recognized the soldier as Lieutenant Havoc. The boy wondered how he was able to keep the unlit cigarette in his mouth while snoring so loudly. Curiosity prompted him to slip inside the church and see who he had driven there.

He remembered exiting the underground city from this place two months before and barely making it out before the tunnel collapsed from the explosions both above and beneath. It appeared someone had been clearing the rubble away. He hardly entered the building when he heard a familiar voice nearby. Al stopped and listened carefully as Gina told a story.

"Then what?" a little girl piped up. "Did Samson get his wife back?"

"No. He was so angry at them that he caught three hundred foxes, set fire to their tails and released them into the harvest of his enemies. When they found out, they came back and murdered his wife then went after him. He picked up a donkey's jawbone and became so fierce that he killed a thousand of them."

The children laughed outright at that.

"Years later, he met a woman named Delilah and fell in love. She pestered him again and again to find out how his strength could be bound. Finally after so much nagging, he admitted his hair was the source…"

Al peered around the side of the column and was surprised to see so many children sitting at her feet. There were almost twenty of them.

"…and he begged God to lend him strength one last time. Suddenly he pushed the pillars holding up the house and it came crashing down, killing more enemies than he'd ever killed before in his life. But he died too."

One of the young ones spoke up, "Why did he lose his strength? It was just his hair."

"Ah, but it wasn't just the hair. He was very proud. Samson knew what he was not supposed to do and did it anyway. He touched the rotting lion and shared the honey from it with his family without telling them where it came from. That wasn't just disgusting, but forbidden. Plus, he told Delilah his secret."

"He was just stupid. I wouldn't've told," a boy said loudly. Some of the other boys chuckled.

"Well, someday when you are faced with something like that you'll keep the secret instead. Okay!" She stood up and clapped her hands together. "We can still work on the left wing and move—Al!?"

The girl stared as if seeing him for the first time.

He shrugged almost apologetically. "I finally got here."

A split second later he nearly fell over as she crashed into him. "What happened? Where's your brother?"

Al was too surprised to do anything but hold Gina and look over her shoulder at all the children. Most of them were trying to keep very serious expressions on their faces, but it wasn't working for the most part.

"Why don't you kids call it quits for the day?" he suggested.

They looked to Gina for approval and she nodded, smiling so much that she bit her bottom lip self-consciously.

"Miss Gina, what about the food?"

"If you'll wait by the car for a few minutes I'll make sure Lieutenant Havoc gives it out," she assured them. They filed out, leaving the two elder teenagers behind.

Al rubbed the back of his neck and gave a sheepish smile. "It really wasn't my fault it took so long to get here. I didn't expect there to be so much construction in the countryside. I think every small town in Amestris is connected to the railroad now. It might have been faster to walk."

"I'm just glad you're here! I've been alone for so long, and soldiers aren't exactly the best company. That's why I've been spending so much time here with the children. Oh, and they're also blaming me for blocking their Alchemy, so they make me leave Headquarters every day."

He stepped back, looking her up and down twice before saying, "Obviously this requires more explanation."

"Mustang would probably make more sense. I don't understand it at all. He's been taking care of me for the past week ever since I woke up in his office and... What exactly happened back in Germany?"

Al considered what he knew and finally heaved a sigh. "It would probably be best to wait until we get a chance to talk with Mustang so that I don't have to tell the story more than once."

She agreed and pulled him outside by the arm. Then suddenly Gina put her hands on her hips and stared at the children with disapproval. Two of them had long blades of grass and were tickling Havoc as he dozed. The man would twitch and every time his cigarette came dangerously close to falling out of his mouth, all the kids would hold their breath.

"Stop teasing Lieutenant Havoc!" she banged on the car's hood and the sound jolted him awake.

The boys and girls scampered a short distance off, shrieking playfully. He caught sight of Al and got out of the car so quickly that he hit his head. Still wincing, Havoc managed to salute.

"It's great to see you've returned safely, Alphonse Elric!"

"Uh, I'm not exactly part of the military, Lieutenant Havoc."

"It makes no difference to—wait, you remember me?!"

Al tapped his head with a smile. "Yep. Got my memories back when I was with my brother. But if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Mustang as soon as can be arranged."

"First things first," Gina interjected. "Don't forget to give the kids those rations!"

If I had known Adrian would become so bitter at my departure, I would have taken him with me at the very beginning. Instead I forgot my duties as a father and when he found out I had married Trisha…the cycle of ever-growing hatred finally reached its peak. He truly became Envy, and what little humanity he had left vanished. He transformed into a giant serpent, abandoning even the appearance of a man. A Homunculus trapped here, not even able to associate with others to take away the pain of loneliness. All because of me. I hate myself…

from the journal of Hohenheim written 2 years before his death

Well, I've been trying to branch out and find some interesting music to listen to, so I'd like some suggestions. What kind of music do you like? And if you think a certain band is pretty good then please share it with me.
I like Nightwish and E Nomine!