The sky was streaked with an orange glow when she found were cuddled up together by a grave, at the only graveyard in the small town they had grown up in. When she approached, they looked up to her with wide eyes. She pretended not to know them.

"Excuse me, but I can't seem to find where my family lives. Could you help me find it?" she asked politely, the way she would approach a stranger. It had been a long time, but these children were definitely her brothers.

"Valerie? Is that you?" Edward asked as he stood. He was shocked and his stance showed it, but she could also see that he couldn't decide. He hated his father because he left, which he believed led to the death of his mother, and while Valerie had left with him, he didn't know what to think. Was she taken? Did she go intentionally? She had always been the most mature of the three siblings, but then wouldn't she know she needed to stay? Alphonse didn't seem to be having trouble with such a decision.

"Valerie!" He ran to hug his sister, this being the first time, in his memory, he was ever seeing her in person. She wrapped her arms around him, only slightly taller. She had always grown the fastest, and was usually the tallest. She looked to Edward, and, giving in, he ran to her too, and the three embraced for a long time. When the hug was finally broken, the three walked home to Winry and Pinako's as though it wasn't the first time.

She opened her eyes from the brilliant dream and looked up to see the moon, surrounded by darkness, shining down on the land as it rushed by. The seat of the train was uncomfortable, and the few hours of sleep she had gotten were only the beginnings of a nightmare.

"You should get some more sleep," the man on the other side of the booth whispered. She looked at his unfamiliar face, a feeling of familiarity rising in her chest. She nodded, the odd feeling becoming common in her mixed up present. She liked the simple past better. She surrendered herself to it, laying her head against the window and closing her eyes, asleep quickly.

She had been greeted with hugs and smiles, as had her brothers. It seemed they had left home for alchemy training during her absence, and her return was their as well. If she believed in coincidence, she would call it that. Instead, she called it fate. She used what she had learned from Hohenheim to teach the boys a little more after dinner that evening, showing it to Winry as well. However, the advanced theory went over the girl's head, and all she could do was read her mechanics books by herself. After the short lesson, the three walked home. There was somber mood. She hadn't been told yet...

"Where is Mother?" Valerie asked suddenly, stopping both brothers in their walk. She had known something was wrong when she found them at a graveyard, and she knew it was their mother when they went to eat with the Rockbells alone. The sad looks they gave her were all she needed to add the final piece of the puzzle.

"I see." She was crying. Her throat hurt, her nose ran, and tears gathered in her eyes. But the feeling that was supposed to come with the tears didn't come. The horror, the despair, the sadness, the grief. She felt nothing. She continued walking, tears starting to stream down her face as she walked home, ignoring her brothers' consoling words in favor of her own theoretical pursuits. Yet the tears never stopped. She opened the door to their home, not quite sure what had possessed her to keep moving. She nearly collapsed at the door, but she had to continue walking. She climbed the stairs, walked down the hall, and opened the door, finding the white sheets of the bed in the room with the perfectly positioned window her mother had loved. Yet the bed was empty. There was no mother. She went to her mother's dresser, finding the letters her mother and father had sent back and forth. One was left unsent, and with a loud tear, Valerie, aware that her brothers were watching, opened it, reading her mother's intended final words to her father. She memorized it in that one small instant. Paper could be destroyed, but her memory of that moment would never fade.

'I have to tell Hohenheim the next time I see him,' she thought to herself, a silent vow.

She turned, pushed past her brothers, and explored the house more. It had been a long time since she had seen it in person. The kitchen, the halls, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the backyard, the dining area. No mother. It all still had the look, but the loving feeling was gone. She ended up in the same room she had started. The lonely looking room, with the perfect bed, the perfect window, the perfect light. All it needed was the perfect mother. This thought caused the pain to become real. Her heart started to beat faster as she let out a wail, her cries bringing her brothers to her side. They tried to comfort her as best they could, but no matter how hard they tried, she refused to leave that empty yet perfect room. She climbed onto the bed, as though her mother was hiding in the sheets somewhere, but she couldn't seem to find her. She collapsed on that bed, she and her brothers spending the night there, remembering how perfect the room used to be.

A lurch in the train's movement caused her to wake, ready for an attack. She only realized how ready she was when the unfamiliar face before her had to deflect her hands before they reached him. She was breathing heavy, sweat running down her forehead and back. She was ready for anything, but it seemed nothing was ready for her. She felt the peace of the sleeping train wash over her, and she relaxed.

"Sorry," she muttered to her companion, sitting herself back in her seat. "I'm not used to waking up to that face."

"I suppose you wouldn't be," he replied, as though he had been half asleep only moments ago. He looked at her cautiously, then out the window. "You were making noises. It woke me up."

"Sorry. I'll try to stop that." They both knew it wasn't that easy, but both were ready for sleep again, so they both went back to sleep.

It had been a simple thing, to live with her brothers after that evening. When the sun had risen, it was a new day, and she had made a decision. The boys didn't have anyone to take care of them anymore, so she needed to be that woman. Long before either of them woke, she had made that decision, and her short visit of a few days turned into a lifetime, a change that she wanted to alert Hohenheim of. She went to his office to find paper and found it in a state of disarray. Books were strewn everywhere, but she kept herself focused. She found the paper, wrote a long, formal letter describing all that had happened since she arrived, and mailed it, all before her brothers woke. She then began to clean the study. Most of the books were books from her father's research, but a few were over human anatomy.

'Were they studying medical alchemy?' she thought, the other possibility not entering her mind until she saw two words boldly printed across a page. Human transmutation. Then, she understood. However, as much as she wanted to, she wasn't the type of person to race to her brothers and yell at them about how wrong they were. She was the type to plan how to breach the topic and try to understand them. If she couldn't stop them, protect them.

The dream had started to change.

It was dark, there were lights flashing.

This was no dream.

This was a nightmare.

She felt no pain. She felt nothing. Nothing physical. She felt slow, like she was missing something. She saw her brother screaming, but it took her a moment to hear it. She heard him as well as something else. Someone was laughing. Who? Who is that? Oh. It's me. She laughed louder, and he seemed to look at her with horror. As she laughed, she screamed, a strange hybrid sound coming from her lips. Suddenly, she was quiet. The vision around her eyes was turning white.

"I seem to have lost my mind," she muttered as the white light covered her vision.

The next time she opened her eyes was in a hospital five years later. However, something still wasn't right.

It was off.

She was shaken awake this time, the glaring light of the sun meeting her tired eyes. His unfamiliar face stood before her. His hand was on her shoulder, shaking her awake. She shrugged it off and collected her things, consisting of the clothes on her back and a small briefcase containing notes and a spare pair of shoes, before she departed the train, taking her time walking through the station to the doors leading out. The business she had used as an excuse was a lie, and now, as she shuffled through the crowd, she realized how bored a person could be.

'I hope my whole stay in Central isn't like this...'

"Hey, Val?" Neid called from behind her, using an uncommon nickname. "I need to say something." She gave him her full attention. "I think Father is watching me right now, so I'll have to return to him soon. But before I go, I just need to tell you that I didn't kill anyone." With those mysterious words, he quickly kissed her cheek and turned into the crowd, becoming someone else in a flash and lost to her eyes. She was confused, as one would be if the person they had just found out they loved had said something like that to them, but she knew she would never find him in the crowd and turned in the opposite direction, heading down the street to find something to do.

"Hey, you! Stop right there!" An officer of the police ran up to her, presumably the one who called. Well, this was interesting, just not necessarily in the way she wanted.

"Yes, Officer?" She turned to face the man, and saw his face was red and sweaty. As the crowd pushed and churned around her, she struggled to stay put as the officer likely wanted. He put his hands on his knees to catch his breath, and she took a look at him. He had dirty blonde hair hat at least reached his cheek, longer than she had seen on other men, and wore a neat military uniform with enough badges for a Sergeant. "Or should I call you Sergeant?" She pointed at his badges when he looked shocked, and he laughed a hearty laugh. His eyes were green.

"Sgt. Denny Brosh, ma'am," he introduced with a salute. His face was still red and sweaty, but he had caught his breath. "Sorry, but I need to bring you in for interrogation. Something about that explosion in the medical district." As he led her in the direction of the Central Military Base, she kept her eyes looking for a possible escape. She wanted to get her name cleared as soon as possible, but she didn't have the time to waste. However, there was also a way she could turn this situation to her advantage...

There was a knock at the door, and Colonel Roy Mustang rubbed his temples for what seemed the hundredth time that day. He groaned as Sgt. Brosh opened the door. He said a few words to the woman outside bef toe stepping in.

"Sir, I brought you another one," Brosh announced. The Colonel sighed and stood, taking his temporary underling around the arms and clearing his throat as if he was about to give a life-changing speech.

"Listen, Denny. I know you haven't been working for me for long, but I feel like there are some problems we need to work out. Firstly, why do you keep bringing random Xingese women to my office?" The Sergeant blinked, thinking about his response before giving it.

"Well, Sir, my job is to bring in the Xingese woman that escaped from that mental hospital in the case you're working on," he replied innocently. Mustang pinched the bridge of his nose, removing his hand from his subordinate's shoulder and putting it on his hip.

"Denny, how many times do I have to tell you that the woman we're looking for ISN'T XINGESE?!" He had started yelling at the end, and he started moving his hands as he talked, a bad habit of his.

"But Sir! All that we were told was that she had black hair and looked Xingese!"

"There's a picture of her in the break room, Denny!"

"But Sir! The low-ranked officers aren't allowed in the break room! It would give me an unfair advantage if I was the only one on the search who saw the picture! Wait, why am I the only Sergeant on the search?" Mustang groaned and tried to stop himself from yelling at the young man. How Alex dealt with him on a daily basis, he would never understand. After he had thought up an acceptable speech, he sighed and put a hand on Brosh's shoulder, signalling the start of his new life-changing speech.

"Listen, Denny. I know you want to be as fair as possible, but life isn't fair. We're all given different lots in life. You, you're good with faces. If you saw that girl's picture, you could pick her out of a thousand person crowd. Me, I'm not so good with faces. I'd forget Hawkeye's if she didn't shove it in my face everyday. That's how we're different, and that's why we need you, and you specifically, to find the girl that escaped and bring her to me. The other officers have their own important work to do, so go to the break room, look at the picture, and BRING ME THE RIGHT FRICKIN WOMAN!" He shoved Brosh out the door with his last words and noticed that the woman he had brought in was still standing there. In all honesty, he didn't just notice her. He did a double take. She was definitely the prettiest Xingese woman Brosh had brought him. "Hey Brosh," be called out to the young man. He turned, only to see his superior facing the woman. "I can certainly see why this one caught your eye. She's a beauty!" He was staring right at her. Brosh sweat-dropped. Mustang was a notorious flirt, and it looked like he was at it again. Both men braced themselves for the inevitable slap, but it never came. Her cheeks reddened, and she grabbed a strand of her hair to play with.

"Th-thank you. To hear such a handsome man call me beautiful," she trailed off. She was obviously flustered, and her ears began to turn red. "I guess it just made my day!"

Denny Brosh turned back to his duties, straightening his cap and heading for the break room.

"Ishvala... I may not worship you, but please help that girl!"

MWahahahhahahah! Yes, I have returned! Reboooooorn!

So, new chapter here. AND it hasn't been a year!

I really like the end of this one ;)

I don't have anythingspecial to say, so here's Valerie's Observation Guide!

Riza Hawkeye

Alias: Hawk's Eye, The Queen, Elizabeth

Reason for Investigation: Signs of jealousy toward women near Roy Mustang.

Current Rank: Lieutenant

ID: Kept well-hidden

Pro: Good Eyes. Powerful. Threatening atmosphere.

Cons: Loyal to one man. Hateful relationship.

Usefulness: 12-65%

Notes: Do not anger. Would be enjoyable to dispose of. I believe she has caught on to my curiosity and has ordered her underlings to be more vigilant. Future observations may be more difficult to obtain.