lostmoonchild: Here's chapter ten! Stupid question: how many ppl saw Ed and Rose getting together then were shocked when Ed proposed to Winry instead? Unfortunately I can't bring myself to bring our favorite Full Metal any agony but in about three chapters or so, the story is coming to an end. Anyway, I don't own FMA or any of the songs unless I say otherwise. Everybody else is mine.

CHAPTER TEN

A couple days later Armstrong showed up and when Rose saw him, she automatically tried to pull one of her escapes but Ed grabbed the back of her shirt causing her to stop and gag from the lack of air. "Edward Elric! What are you doing to the girl?" Armstrong asked.

"Keeping her from running off." Ed answered simply. "She's that colonel's daughter. The one who went missing a few years back?"

Rose stomped on Ed's foot and glared at Armstrong with strong loathing. "Nice to see you again, Rose. Last time I saw you, you were such a little girl." Armstrong said with a smile.

"Fuck off." Rose snapped looking around and spotting her brothers and sisters. "You lot get in the house. Tell brother."

"Siblings?" Armstrong questioned.

"Answer that, Elric, and die the most painful death imaginable." Rose snapped glaring at Ed before turning her attention to Armstrong. "What do you want?"

Armstrong sighed and said, "You have your father's spirit, Rose, I'll admit it."

Rose frowned and said attempting to get at Armstrong, "How dare you talk about my father! The military murdered him and you have the nerve to speak about him! Damn you!"

Ed held Rose back and shot a hopeless look at Al. "What's going on here?" Ross asked looking confused.

"And there's Ross! You've certainly grown too. Still look like your father."

"STOP TALKING ABOUT MY FATHER!" Rose screamed still trying to get at Armstrong.

"Ross! Help me out here!" Ed shouted.

Ross grabbed his sister and pulled her eyes from Armstrong. "But your sister has your mother's temper." Armstrong commented.

"MURDERER!" Rose screamed. "STOP TALKING ABOUT MY PARENTS! YOU MURDERED THEM! THE MILITARY MURDERED THEM AND IS TRYING TO PRETEND THEY DIDN'T BUT I KNOW THE TRUTH AND I'M TELLING!"

Armstrong sighed at the teenage girl's outburst and said, "If you're so willing to tell, then what was your father working on?"

"THE TRUTH!"

Ross sighed and pulled his sister away from the group. "She doesn't know and neither do I." Ross said pushing his sister towards the house. "So leave her alone."

Rose glared at Ed and frowned. "Tell him about anybody, Edward, and you can kiss your ass goodbye cause Mustang isn't the only idiot who knows how to work fire alchemy."

Ed watched as Rose and Ross went into the house before turning his attention to Armstrong. "Sorry about her, she's still unhappy with the military." Ed muttered.

"She's stuck on that idea. I guess losing her parents within six months of each other had an effect on her."

"Sir?"

Armstrong looked at the house and said, "Her father and Mustang were good friends, so when she learned that Colonel Mustang had taken over as Colonel, she got the idea that the military was responsible for her father's death."

"And her mother?"

"Wasted away from grief. She loved her husband and couldn't stand being without him."

"Damn."

"it's a shame to be honest. Both Ross and Rose were going to be working for the military but after their parents died, both turned their back on the idea. Said that they couldn't bring themselves to work for the people who had brought forth their parents' deaths."

Ed stared at the house for a few minutes completely surprised. He had always known that Rose and Ross both hated the Military and learned from experience that both hated Mustang, but he never knew the full story behind their anger. Ever since they had met the twin teenagers and their younger siblings, Ed and Al had always assumed Rose was holding onto a grudge and Ross was trying desperately to convince his sister to let the grudge go but that honestly wasn't the case. Rose was grieving even after all this years and probably had forgiven the Military but wasn't willing to forgive herself. So every word she said about the Military and every action she did to somebody from the Military, she was saying about herself and probably pleading somebody to hear her. But she was so far gone in her grief, that nobody was able to hear her desperate cries.

After a few minutes Ed shook his head a little, realizing that not everything Rose had said and done was directed at herself. She was lashing out at the Military, trying to get them to see what had happened to the family and that they needed to be helped but also to be left alone. "Figuring out my sister, are you?" Ross's voice asked suddenly.

Ed jumped and looked at the tall boy, seeing sorrow in his gray eyes. "I think so." Ed answered, noticing that Armstrong had left. Probably to see if he could find a place for the night that didn't involve being around the twins and their siblings.

Ross nodded a little and said, "I don't hold any grudges against the Military or against Mustang. I get angry at them sometimes, because I know that they're more than capable of helping my family but they don't."

"They can't do everything to make the pain go away."

"Maybe not, but they can help ease the pain. Every time we see somebody in the Military uniform, it tears a huge scab off of our hurt and makes us remember how much we hurt in the first place."

"But you all don't act as bad as Rose."

"Because Rose doesn't want to let go of her pain. She'll only be happy when she sees our parents standing in front of us again and telling us that it'd be alright. But everybody who knows how death works, knows that won't be the case."

Ed nodded slightly and looked at the teenage boy. "And you? When will you be happy?" Ed questioned.

"When my sister is happy."

"Think that's ever gonna happen?"

"Someday."

"I hate to ask, but how much does your sister know about the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed questioned.

"Enough to satisfy curiosity. She's not stupid enough to make one, not with the main ingredients required to create one."

"Human life."

Ross nodded and said, "None of us are killers, Edward, you and your brother know that better than anybody else. My sister's threats of sending people back to the Military in coffins, nothing more than words."

"She's not innocent."

"I know that. I knew that since before we were born. Finally admitted it when she promised mom that she'd be strong… for us."

Ed nodded in understanding and said, "You want to join the Military though, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"But you don't know what your sister would say."

"I know what she'll say in front of the kids. What she'll say when the kids aren't around is what I'm more afraid of."

"You're scared of your own sister?"

"You see what I deal with every day. The girl looks like me so when she's pissed at me, its like I'm pissed off at myself… except I'll be seeing a female version of me."

Ed nodded again and admitted silently that it wasn't a wonder why in the world Ross was afraid of his sister. The girl had a temper that rivaled his own and could scare the hell out of anybody who pissed her off just by one little glare. "C'mon, lets go see if we can find Captain Spazz." Ed commented with a grin.

"He still does that sparkly spazz thing? Oh my fucking God." Ross said unable to keep from laughing.

If Ed had to choose who he'd rather hang out with, he'd choose Ross any old day.

lostmoonchild: Oh yeah, thanks for the reviews and I would absolutely love it if you all left a review of what you all think so far about the story. Good, bad, or some random thing, I don't mind. Ja ne for now, I'm gonna vanish.