Guess what happens in THIS chapter? Right after a couple scenes in the beginning: EXACTLY what happens in the anime. *nods nods* Well, except for minute changes based off Felicity being there and her reactions to stuff. But that's important, so I'm sorry but you'll have to brave this chapter in order to get to the next one. ^-^'

"Dang it," I muttered, pulling my hands away from the formerly active array. "I'll never get this right."

Alphonse had decided to give me another alchemy lesson since there was really nothing else to do that day until the newspaper came. So now we were sitting on the floor in one of the rooms, and he'd gotten some emergency chalk from one of the State Alchemists there so we could draw. He'd also shown me a new Transmutation Circle, one that he said was still very basic and meant for simple compounds like wood and some types of metal. I was currently trying to transmute a tiny bear carving out of the floor, (which Al repaired after every attempt) and had so far succeeded in creating the perfect likeness of a rock.

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it," Al reassured me, fixing the floor once again. "It took me two years to get it right, and Brother and I caught on to it faster than most - although, him more than me."

"Two years?" I groaned, almost slipping into a whine - but not quite. "I'm too impatient for that!"

Al chuckled. "Well, to be fair, I was at least six or seven years younger than you."

Wait, wasn't he four or five when he first tried alchemy? Or did he mean two years later when he perfected some of it? "I'm fourteen." I said, just to be sure he was getting it right.

His armor shook in surprise. Yup. He'd gotten it wrong. Stupid Gate. But, wait...didn't he already know how old I was? Eh...he must've forgotten. "Oh, uh, well, I was four when I first started studying alchemy...um..." he trailed off, realizing what that was implying.

I glared at him for a few moments, then laughed, not wanting to bother with that. "Wow. Okay, fine, your point across, I'm a lot older than you were. That supposed to mean I'm more capable of the skill or more capable of understanding?"

"Oh!" he sort of gasped, glancing over at where I knew Ed was reading a book he'd found in the lobby. I followed his gaze and saw Ed's eyes peaking over the back of the couch, looking annoyed. "Um..." Alphonse looked back at me. "Well, I'd say both, since you get stronger as you grow older, you know?"

"Yeah," I replied vaguely, still looking at Ed. "Hey, what's your problem?" I called over lightly, getting a bit bothered by his staring.

Ed scowled and rolled over to read again. "Nothing. You just...nothing."

I blinked, and then looked to Al for answers. He chuckled quietly. "Brother get's really offended when people call him short. I think it bothers him that you didn't get mad...then."

I shrugged. "Oh well, I guess I'm the better person in that aspect." I just realized that I'd never told them about the Gate making me shorter. Oh well. I didn't really care - or so I tried to convince myself; to be honest I found it kinda cool, even though Al thinking I was ten or eleven annoyed me.

"I resent that!" Ed shouted over from the couch.

"Kay!" I replied, probably annoying him further. Then I grabbed the chalk. "So, should I do this again, or what?"

Later, when my most successful transmutation was that of a cat - and actually did look like a cat, but I wasn't satisfied - Alphonse told me that I should probably go get some lunch, and refused to let me draw anything more until I did. Disappointed, I made my way downstairs and into the dining room, (getting lost for a few minutes and mentally freaking out until I found it) where I got a chicken sandwich, still wishing for pizza, and ate it on my way back; I was finished before I'd gotten there.

All this took about half an hour. Way too long for lunch.

By the time I'd gotten back, Ed had left for lunch too, according to Al, so it was just me and the armor. But then I found that he'd put away the chalk. "You can't focus too hard on this," he explained when I asked why he didn't want to keep going. "If you do, then you'll strain your brain too much and it'll mess with your head. Just look at Brother; he's always studying." he said the last part with a smile in his voice.

I found myself giggling at the sort-of-stab-at-Ed's-expense, not really remembering any time Alphonse made fun of him like that. "Well, okay. I don't wanna end up like Ed." I smiled.

'Short, dislikes milk, has metal limbs...' my brain automatically counted off. 'Shut up,' I told it. 'lots of people dislike milk, The Gate made me short, and it took my limbs.' 'You asked for it.' 'I DIDN'T MEAN TO!' 'Ooh, are you gaining a temper now too?' '...oh crud I'm talking to myself again.'

So, since I really couldn't do ANYTHING anymore, which I don't think Alphonse had thought about, I decided to explore the hotel. I was walking around lost for a while, but didn't find anything really interesting, so when I got back to the room we'd been in (not the one I'd slept in; we were in separate rooms) I just lay down on one of the two beds and zoned out to daydream or something, ignoring Ed, who was pacing for a while but then flopped over on the couch to look at his little notebook. SO. BORED. I sniffled, thinking about Hughes again... 'Shut up, brain.'

And that was when, at some point later in the evening, the door burst open loudly. "BROTHER!" I sat up to see Alphonse at the door; holding a newspaper, and Edward shouting with surprise. I resisted a grin - finally, boredom relief and something to get my mind off...things. Al held up the newspaper, apparently not noticing me. "Here." his voice shook.

"Don't scare me like that," Ed deadpanned. I chuckled, earning a glare.

"The newspaper, Ed," Al replied to his brother. "Read the front page!"

I stood up and walked over as Ed took the paper. "What is it now?" he muttered in a tone that suggested complaint. I stood behind him with Alphonse and read over his shoulder, seeing the expected accusation of Maria Ross for Maes Hughes' murder. Of course I knew she was being framed, but I couldn't let them know that, so I just looked as shocked as I could when Ed suddenly gripped the paper. "What? Second Lieutenant Maria Ross convicted of Brigadier General Hughes' murder?!"

"But that can't be, right, Brother?" Al asked shakenly. "Lieutenant Ross would never do such a thing!"

"She didn't seem like the kind of person when I met her," I murmured, knowing full well she wasn't, and kind of wanting to voice my thoughts a bit.

"She's not!" Ed growled. "We need to get to the bottom of this. Maybe she did, but we need to be sure!" He leapt off the couch and started for the door. "Come on, Al!"

"Can I come?" I asked hastily.

He paused at the door, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

Down in the lobby, Alphonse voiced his thoughts as we headed for the door. "I can't believe this..."

"I don't," I muttered. I figured it was okay to voice suspicions at least; it felt wrong to act like I was trying to convince them of everything that wasn't true.

"Maybe the Colonel or the Major will know something about this," Ed suggested in a dark tone, which in turn suggested that he suspected the Colonel was hiding something, which I knew he never liked.

'Hey, I'm gonna meet Mustang!'

"What about Winry?" Alphonse asked suddenly.

"I'll explain it to her later," Ed replied, facing forward with a determined stare.

We walked out the doors and into the night (evening?), where we started heading across town (city?) towards what I gathered was Central HQ. Ed decided we should take an alleyway that he said was a shortcut, and that's when I remembered that Barry the Chopper was going to be back there. 'Oh well, I guess I'm gonna meet him too.' I realized, hoping he wouldn't end up hurting me.

We turned a corner and stopped suddenly at the sight of a familiar suit of armor, Ling, and... "Lieutenant Ross!" Ed and Al exclaimed at once.

Maria (I might start calling her that now too) looked surprised. "Edward, Alphonse, um," she seemed to struggle at remembering my name. "Felicity, what are you three doing here?"

Before anyone could answer, Al and Barry suddenly pointed at each other in shock. "AAH! You're that guy!"

"And Ling too?!" Alphonse sounded seriously shocked.

Ling chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Haha, hey, guys! What're you up to?"

"I could ask the same of you!" Ed retorted, pointing at him accusingly.

"Quit chattering!" Barry demanded loudly, swinging a knife at Alphonse - which made me back away a lot because I'd been standing right next to him. "We don't have time for this!"

Al did a back-flip to avoid getting his chest plate severed as Edward growled. "Why you-"

"Alright, sweetheart," Barry interrupted, gesturing for Ross. "take that back alley and head straight to the warehouse district. The darkness oughta hide you."

Ed stepped forward urgently. "Wait, hold on! Tell us about Hughes!"

Maria paused, but Barry shouted at her to move. "Get going! If the MP's show up they'll shoot you!"

"Lieutenant Ross!" Ed yelled as she ran away.

"Stay back!" Barry blocked us from her, getting into a battle stance.

"No, wait!" Alphonse shouted, shifting his body so he was in front of me. Great, here was another situation like that, I really wished I could fight. "Lieutenant Ross!"

There was a moment of silence, then Barry shifted his own armor to look at me. "Hmm, you know, I recognize you two boys, but who's the pretty girl with the soft meat?" My eyes widened and I suddenly felt a tiny bit scared of this guy, but then I remembered that he was in the custody of Mustang and Pals, so he wasn't allowed to cut anyone up. ...Right?

Al stepped further in front of me just as there was a gigantic explosion over where I knew Ross was. Ed gasped. "What was that!?"

Barry turned his attention away from us. "Looks like they got her." That of course allowed Ed to run past him and slip down the alley. Al waved me back quickly as he ran at Barry, who was shouting, "Hold it, get back here!"

Al threw a punch at the guy, but he dodged; Al was throwing another miss as the insane soul jumped around toward me, screaming, "Oops, missed me!" He ran past me with Ling trailing behind. "Let's go, foreigner!"

"Uh-okie dokie!" Ling replied in an uncertain tone.

"Wait!" Al shouted, moving forward a few steps. "Ling! What're you doing with a guy like him!?"

Ling turned his head and waved. "I'll have to fill you in later!"

Alphonse glanced around us frustratedly. "Ugggh, what now?"

"How about we follow Ed?" I suggested as though nothing had happened.

Al looked at me as though he just realized I was there. Then he nodded. "Okay, but be careful! Who knows what other random creeps we might find?" he sounded a bit irritable, which surprised me a tiny bit, but that was understandable, considering who had just run off.

When we got to where Ed and the Colonel were, Edward was already running at him, so Alphonse grabbed him from behind. "Brother, don't!" I stayed well back right then, but I noticed Mustang glance at me briefly in surprise. I chose to ignore it, instead gaping at the shockingly realistic-looking burnt mannequin.

"I'm gonna tear you apart!" Ed screamed, sounding like he was on the verge of tears.

"NO! I won't let you!" Alphonse shouted back at him, oblivious to the charred 'body' on the ground.

Ed growled, "This bastard just killed Ross!" Mustang turned away from him.

"What?" Al gasped as the Colonel started walking away. "He did?" That's when he noticed the 'body'. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT, COLONEL?" he shouted, his tone sounding 'tearful', but he couldn't cry so...

Roy stopped, not turning around. "Maria Ross was a fugitive; our orders were 'shoot to kill'." he turned his head. "So I did."

"That's ALL you have to say?!" Al almost screeched.

"About Hughes' death," Roy interrupted the end of his sentence, turning even more to look at them/us/mostlythem. "I apologize for hiding it, but you do not argue against orders. Or ask for explanations. Just follow them. That's what it means to be a soldier!"

"That's stupid." I muttered in English, causing him to glance at me for a brief moment. He didn't say anything though.

"Colonel Mustang!" I looked up from where I was tracing circles in the dirt to see some military guy I couldn't remember the name of walking up to Roy. "You will explain what happened here at once." he commanded authoritatively.

Roy looked at him indirectly as he replied. "The message went out that if she resisted we were permitted to shoot to kill. She resisted, so I killed her."

I felt Alphonse' armor start shaking next to me, and the only thing I could do was act like I thought she was dead and lean into him - mostly because the brick wall behind me was getting painful to lean against, but also in a feeble attempt at comforting him. It really was sad, when I thought about it, that Al couldn't feel anything. I didn't usually think about it much, but if I were to punch him right then he'd only know because of the hollow sound it would create.

I looked up at the two men as that military dude kept talking, noticing with some surprise that Mustang was looking at me curiously. I gave him something of a glare as if to reinforce the idea that I was with the Elrics, and I didn't like what he did; I wouldn't if he'd actually done it. Roy looked at the ground suddenly and replied to the other guy's talking, which I realized I'd missed. "Yeah. He was a good man."

I'll skip the rest of that boring conversation since I wasn't really paying attention to it anyway. But after it was over and the 'body' had been taken away, the Elrics and I were piled into a military car (me only because I was obviously with them, but everyone looked a bit confused about it.) and taken to the same hospital I'd been in before with Winry. I guessed that the only reason no one had decided to drop me off at the hotel or something was because Ed and Al were too upset to say anything, so I kept quiet the whole time.

At the hospital, the 'body' of Maria Ross was taken into a room with a doctor to be analyzed, while the Elrics and I were left outside in the hall with Armstrong and Mustang; I stood about two yards from everyone else, leaning against the wall while the others completely (mostly; Mustang kept glancing over curiously) ignored me.

"I'm truly sorry for not telling you about Brigadier General Hughes' death sooner." Armstrong spoke up, breaking the silenced that had threatened to wear away at my ears forever.

Ed grunted, looking down so I couldn't see his face. "It's my fault."

Armstrong narrowed his eyes in surprise. "Don't be so hard on yourself," he said after a pause. "His murder wasn't your doing, Edward."

Ed sighed and turned his face away from him, letting me see the pain in his eyes. I bit my lip as the double doors down the hall near them was pushed open by a gruff man with black hair and a white outfit, which included a hat-thing for some reason. And he had a stick in his mouth. "Is everyone here then?"

"Dr Knox." Armstrong greeted dully.

Knox nodded in response and grunted, pulling out some clipboards and glancing at me; I was starting to get unnerved by everyone looking at me like that, but I guessed Mustang's reason just then was my weirdness.

Knox flipped to a piece of paper and started talking. "Her body was almost completely destroyed, but judging by what little dental work remained, I was able to conclude that this is indeed Maria Ross." I couldn't remember why he lied about that. 'Maybe he owes Mustang a favor..?' "It's an awful thing you did, turning a beauty like her into a pile of charcoal." the man growled a bit, turning to Mustang with a bitter tone. "You must've held quite a grudge against her, didn't you Colonel?" Roy's eyes slid toward him slightly. "Is the vengeance as sweet as you imagined it?"

I, along with everyone else, looked directly at the man spoken to. He looked annoyingly cool about what he'd done, even though I knew he hadn't actually done it. But why did he have to act that way when he knew Ed and Al thought he'd killed someone? He finally looked away from Dr Knox and closed his eyes, almost as though he were pouting.

Knox scoffed as he turned and walked away. "The famous hero of the Ishbalan war; going this far against a little girl. It makes me sick."

I saw Ed's face turn downwards even more as the Colonel stood to leave, facing my direction. He was stopped though when Armstrong spoke, and he turned his head to listen. "Colonel," Armstrong croaked, obviously distressed. "Please allow me to apologize for one of my own officer's actions. I could never have imagined that Second Lieutenant Ross would commit such a heinous murder." he took a shaky breath, and we all looked up at him, seeing his face contorted in emotional pain. His voice got intense. "She was so straightforward, and earnest; compassionate." he looked a sharp breath. "A truly fine officer."

At the end of his 'apology', Armstrong bowed his head in shame for what he thought his friend had done. (Or I thought he thought that, I wasn't sure if I remembered whether he was in on it yet or not...) Then he slumped down on the bench and put his hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Mustang closed his eyes slightly and turned again, once more looking in my general direction. "Fatigue seems to be getting the best of you, Major." he said quietly, staring at me now. I realized he was an alchemist and probably knew I wasn't normal, but it really bugged me and I had a feeling he was going to try to figure me out now. "Perhaps you should take some leave." he continued. "Back east, where I was. It's a nice place. " he then turned meaningfully to look at the Major. "None of the big city noise, and lots of beautiful women."

I glanced over at Ed and could see that he was obviously thinking something along the lines of: You bastard, how could you even think of something like that after what you did? The thought was confirmed when he kicked over a trashcan as the Colonel was leaving.

"Um, Ed?..." I began impulsively, startled by his nonvocal outburst even though I'd seen it before.

"WHAT?"

"...Nothing." I wasn't sure what'd made me start talking, but everyone forgot about it as we were escorted out and back to the hotel.

Ed, Al, Winry and I were currently hanging out in our shared room - well, I was hanging out, everyone else was moping over what they thought was the death of a sort-of-friend - having just explained to Winry everything that had happened. Naturally, she'd just been crying softly, only now having succeeded in drying in her tears, and I was considering breaking the awful silence when there was a knock at the door.

Ed looked up, mildly surprised, and got up to open the door. "Yeah, who is it? What're you-" I glanced over just as Edward was thrown across the room, groaning as the floor scraped him along the way. He sat up angrily. "MAJOR, what the hell did you do that for?!"

I got up and walked over (nearby, didn't want to get TOO close) with Al and Winry as Armstrong towered over him, speaking in his 'big voice' without shouting. "You listen to me, Edward Elric." Ed suddenly looked very frightened when the big man picked him up by the shirt with one hand, and by his right arm with the other. "Hmm, this is no good, no good at all - your automail seems to be broken!"

"Uh-amokay..." Ed slurred out, his speech affected by his shock.

"Yes, this is a serious situation indeed," Armstrong insisted calmly. I glanced at Al and Winry and saw that the latter was looking highly confused. "We'll have to repair it at once," the man turned and sparkled.(*I think he might have some alchemic...thing to create those. Otherwise, I'm really confused by how he's the only person who has anime-effects.*) "There's no time to waste! Allow me to take you to Resembool for repairs!"

Ed deadpanned. "Uh, Major? What's up?"

"What was that?" Winry exclaimed quietly next to me.

"You're going back home to Resembool?" Alphonse sounded shocked; I couldn't blame him. This had to be one of the weirdest things Armstrong had ever done.

Ed shuffled closer, away from the freaky muscle man. "Uh-I have no idea what he's talking about, Al."

"And you," Armstrong turned to Al, getting all up in his face (still sparkling O_o'). "Alphonse Elric, you would stand out too much, so you remain here in Central."

"Um, okay..." Al whimpered nervously.

Armstrong suddenly grabbed Ed and dragged him away, saying, "Alright! We need to make arrangements for transportation right away! COME ALONG, EDWARD!"

There was a long pause between the three of us as Ed was dragged away, then I whistled. "Wow, something's definitely up with him."

*THE ALCHEMIC ART OF SPARKLING HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS! (couldn't resist)*