"Aaaand ..." I popped the engine cover back on. "That should work. Emphasis: should."

"And if it doesn't?" Izumi asked.

I grinned, probably with a maniacal glint. "Plan B."

Al frowned. "Which is?"

"Still working on the details. Like what it is. Probably sabotaging half the landmarks. Or the Copper mines. Oh, that sounds like fun. Ever since that land slide ... Too bad the ore's running out. Ah well, that's the cycle of mining!"

"She's insane ..." I heard Roy sigh.

I beamed. "Nope! Just mentally unstable. Or something like that. Now then, on to the Plan."

"What about that 'Great' Salt Lake?" Al asked. "Shouldn't that have enough minerals?"

"It's mostly hydrogen, oxygen, sodium chloride, and ... what was the other- Brine Shrimp! Ah, yes. The shrimp. Tiny little things." I put my fingers together, creating a little space. "Itty-bitty! They don't eat much, just microscopic algae. And no, we're not using that- hold on a minute! That'd work just as well, if not better! Nobody would mind if-" I broke off mid-sentence. That huge mass ... I turned and faced the direction it was coming from. Plan A had worked, at least. But now would my battle plans work out? I swear I could tell my vision was getting fuzzy. Or maybe it was just a trick of the light? There was no way I would be brought down by a scratch like that!

"He's coming, isn't he?" Roy asked.

I tried to suppress the shudder from going down my spine. "Yep!" I said, forcing a smile. "So here's the plan: Attack fast and hard while I stall him and separate his stone."

"And this will work ... how?" Ed asked.

I grinned, Truth-like. "I've got a secret weapon up my sleeve, so to speak." Right Truth?

That is correct, Alchemist. Truth was still with me, after all.

"Oh, so we're supposed to rely on this secret weapon of yours?" Izumi scoffed.

I nodded, the grin vanishing. "Of course. It's the one thing it will never understand, the one thing it fears." I clapped and twisted the metal of my car. "Now then, I do believe it would be a good time to make some weapons, kick his ass, and ..." I trailed off, shaking my head. My vision was getting hazy. I could still see decently, but this wound of mine would have to be closed before too long.

"Your wound's still bleeding." Roy's deep voice sighed. "You're not fighting with that."

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Then be my guest and get yourselves killed. No skin off my back." My voice was harsher than I intended it to be, but I didn't care. "And I'll laugh over your graves after I take him down single-handedly. Then la-ti-da, life goes back to normal, I'll be happy, marry some random guy, have nine kids, and die of a heart attack at age forty." I let the lances fall with a clatter, popping my knuckles.

Ed was standing back slightly, afraid of the attitude I had. Al looked shocked, probably at the harshness of my voice. Roy looked like he was regretting what he said, and Izumi was shocked. "Nine kids? Nine?"

I rolled my eyes with a scoff, clapping my hands. "Well, duh. It's about how many kids a family in Utah has." The roof of my car was now gone, forming a shorter shape in my hands. "Besides, if I did lose one of you, I'd have someone out for my blood."

"Yes, you would. But nothing I say will keep you out, will it?" Roy shook his head.

"Not at all!" I sang, balancing the blade in my hand. I took a swing and sliced the windshield of my car in half. "Huh, not too shabby for my first time making a sword. Hey, Horse. Weapon of choice."

"You already know it."

I rolled my eyes. "Why did I even ask?"

"Because you're insane," Al suggested.

"Exactly!" I beamed. "So grab something to defend yourself with. I'd hate to have another person out to kill me. I try to keep that list as short as possible."

"And how many people are on that list?" Al asked.

"So far?" I paused while I pretended to count on my fingers. "Eh ... about five people. One of who just landed in the Ford side of the lot. And coming closer."

"You're not really going to fight, are you?" Ed asked. "You're looking pale."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I'm going to fight. Who else would be able to send this guy back to nothing?"

"Nobody."

I beamed. "Father! How goes your miserable existance? Finally realizing that you're a horrible thing that should have never existed?"

"What are you talking about?" He approached us, and I pointed my sword at him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Don't you come closer, or I will cut you down where you stand. With or without help." I warned him. "And if you don't mind me asking, where did you get the power to take the souls from this world? Was it using the powers you call 'God', or was it using the remnants of the miserable stone you have?"

He gave me a snort of contempt. "You dare talk to me like that? You're barely able to hold that metal up, let alone stand."

"By destroying your stone and sending you back to nothingness." I huffed. Damn, my vision was getting hazy. Without thinking anything through, I clapped and charged. The alchemists behind me could figure something out, but this guy was going down. Seven billion souls needed to be freed, and it looks like I'm their savior.

Somehow, I managed to plant my palm against his face, and the souls of the Earth were freed at once. I staggered back, the sword clattering to the ground. Well, Truth? Did I help you out? I pressed my hand against the wound, vaguely startled by the amount of sticky liquid.

I'll take it from here, Alchemist. You don't need to worry about facing it.

That was when I lost consciousness.

The first thing I was aware of was the cold air being blown into my nose. I felt like I was coming up in a slushy, or something thick. Not like mud. More like syrup.

My eyes slowly opened, and I realized I was in a dimly lit hospital room. Someone was in the chair by the bed. They were angled so if they were reading something, they could use the light to see. Which happened to be away from me.

I glanced over at the clock and almost groaned. It was two in the morning.

A heavy breath, almost like a snore, reached my ears, and I frowned. Who was it? My mind was drawing a blank on the familiar figure. I sighed and closed my eyes again, hoping sleep would, once again, claim me.

A loud beeping noise startled me, making my head start throbbing once again. I wasn't the only one startled: my visitor snorted and jumped, looking around for the source.

He turned around and our eyes met. I couldn't put a name to the face yet, but I knew he was from Amestris. He said something, but I didn't hear it.

Even though I was laying down, I felt severely light-headed and dizzy. Maybe they hadn't been able to get a blood transfusion? No, the thought itself was ridiculous. It was a hospital for the love of Truth! There's no way they wouldn't be able to do a transfusion. Maybe it was the dizziness getting to my head. Or maybe they had drugged me with something? Painkillers? Oh, I hope they didn't give me anything strong! They always made me feel like I had been hit by a semi truck, turned into pudding, then given poison. Needless to say, I really didn't like it.

The nurse came in, eyes wide with panic. She came straight to me and grabbed something. One of the tubes ... Oh, an IV. It had probably come out.

Once the IV was back in, the annoying beeping stopped.

"I'll go tell the doctor you're awake now, Miss Buckley."

I grunted and took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh. "Hey..."

"Hey yourself. You nearly gave me a heart attack, taking on the Homunculus after Ed gave it a sound beating."

My face scrunched up in confusion. "What ...?"

"You don't remember anything about that? Well, you were acting majorly out of character, even for you." His stern gaze made me uncomfortable. "You said that it would be punished severely as those black hands rose up and took it. When it vanished, you offered to take us back to Amestris. The others accepted your offer, but I refused. You were getting worse by the second."

I nodded slowly. "That was Truth."

His eyes widened and he leaned forward. "You're kidding. You merged with Truth?!"

Just as I opened my mouth to reply, the doctor came in. He was an older man, with coppery-brown hair and a glint in his eyes. "Ah, you're finally awake, Miss Buckley?" He glanced at the papers he had on his clipboard. "Severe head trauma, but you obviously recovered. Anything hurting?" He pulled out a light and shone it in my eye.

I resisted the urge to recoil at the bright light. "Negative. I'm not feeling any pain." I grimaced as he shone the light in my other eye. "On the other hand, when can I leave this place?"

"If nothing else happens, you'll be free to go in the morning." The doctor wrote something down on the clipboard. "By noon."

I smiled. It probably looked like a sleepy, drug-burdened smirk, but at least it was something. "Great ..." I yawned. Once the doctor left, I did my best to resist the urge to go back to sleep. I was more than tired right now. "And yes, I merged with Truth when I first crossed the Gate into Amestris. No, I don't know how it happened ..." I trailed off, allowing my eyes to close. How did I get this tired? Was it the numerous alchemic reactions I had caused? Or was it something else? Just how many did I do, even aided by the Stone? Let's see here ... There was the one allowing passage to America. That was a big one. Then there was the one I used to fix my car. That had been another big one. Making those weapons shouldn't have drained me too much. But if Truth used me to send Father back ... No wonder I passed out.

He said something, but I was too deep in my muddy thoughts that I didn't hear him. The last thought that crossed my mind was if I would be able to get back to Amestris with Roy.

I shivered and pulled my coat against my body. "I hate the cold. Especially snow. Snow means it's too cold to rain. And I'm sure you remember my frozen fingers. Those get worse in the winter. Don't get me started on my toes, either."

He laughed at my grumbling, putting an arm around my shoulders. He pulled me closer and I buried my cheeks in the collar of my coat, trying to hide the blush in them. "You're cute when you grumble, you know?"

I scowled and elbowed him. "Shut up! You know how much I hate being seen like a sick lovebird in public!"

"I didn't know anything about that." He laughed, drawing more attention to us.

And the last thing I needed was attention on me. I was supposed to be dead.

"Snow. Ick." I made a face and finally zipped up my coat. "By the way, what's the date?"

"Shouldn't you know that already?"

"Of course not!"

He sighed, shaking his head. "You're the most insane person I know."

"Is that why you loooove me?" I asked with an evil grin.

"I thought you didn't want attention?" Roy raised an eyebrow.

I growled and punched his arm as the train pulled up. "Shut up!"

"And where are we going?"

I grinned. "Library Square. Home of the-Wait. Not this train. That's the blue line. That one goes to the Airport. We're going to the University, so we need the red line. Didn't you hear me talking about it in that dreary room? Or was I thinking it and expecting you to read my mind?"

"Clearly the latter. And why a train? Don't you have feet that work?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but do you want to spend all day walking down the street in this nasty air? Look, you can't even see the Oquirrhs!"

"The ... Oakers?"

I rolled my eyes and pointed to the West. "Yes, the Oquirrh Mountains, dumbass. This far East, with all the haze and inversion, you can't see them. I'd say we're lucky to even be able to see this much of the valley! It must have snowed in the past couple days or so."

"You have mountains called oakers. Like the tree?"

I laughed. "No, Utahns have this odd way of spelling things. For example: The Oquirrhs are spelled o-q-u-i-r-r-h. There's a city on the other side of said mountains called two-ill-uh. T-o-o-l-e-e. And don't get me started on Hurricane! Some moron decided 'Oh, hurricanes are awesome! Let's name a city after one and have it pronounced weirdly! How about Hurricin?'. It's just a headache."

"Excuse me, miss. You wouldn't happen to be Krystal Buckley, would you?"

I looked up at the person and nearly lost the remaining sanity I had left. "Sorry, never heard of her. Name's Clara Graves." I turned back to Roy as the woman moved away. "That was my stepmom."

"And she's still staring at you like she wants to talk to you." Roy sat down.

I glanced at the ETA of the train and sighed. "Yeah, probably does. Do I care? Not one bit." I sat down next to him with a sigh. "Oh, and this train isn't anything like what you're used to. Cushioned seats, hardly any noise, and a smooth ride. Oh, when we get back to Amestris, you're going to hate train rides. I know I did."

"And where did you get the money to pay for all this?"

I gave him my bet 'really?' look. "I had some money left in my account. So I just withdrew twenty dollars and used it to pay for a couple of tickets."

"In this world."

"Yup."

"With those weird plastic cards?"

"It's not weird when you understand it." I grimaced when my pocket started to vibrate. I had forgotten that Alphonse had given my phone to the hospital. After all, he had been holding onto it for a while. "Ugh, please tell me she isn't holding her phone to her ear."

"How'd you guess?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because mine's going off in my pocket."

He raised an eyebrow. "It's not ringing."

"Because it's set to vibrate, moron. Now then, how would you like to meet my parents? It looks like they're visiting the Salt Lake Valley today. Maybe they were visiting that empty hole in the ground."

He paled slightly. "Meet your parents. Didn't you tell them that I was a fictional character from your books?"

"Oh, they understand that perfectly. But I'm sure they think that I'm running around the streets if they're here for what I think they're here for. Oh, and on a different topic, you took your coat back, didn't you?" I crossed my arms. "Not very gentleman-like."

"You're one to talk. You have to be, by far, the most un-lady-like woman I have ever met."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Ah, no. I am the most futuristic and car-obsessed lady you've ever met. It's not your fault my mom never raised me properly to grow up into a sophisticated woman. Instead I turned into a mechanic by hobby, like my dad and sister, and-"

"And how many sisters do you have?"

I paused. "Do you want stepfamily or not?"

"No stepfamily. Blood relative sisters."

"Two older ones. And before you go off thinking otherwise: They're both married. The one I'm talking about, Jayda, is the mechanic and has two kids. The one I live with, Angelica, has no kids but-"

"You've always been a terrible liar."

I looked up and gave a nervous chuckle. "Oh ... uh ... Hi ... Dad ..." I trailed off, now biting my trembling lip with nerves. Oh, no. My lip wasn't trembling. It was my jaw. "Um ... I'm not dead?"

He pulled me into a rib-crushing hug. At least he still had that in him. I reached out, trying to take a breath. "Dad ... can't ... Breeeeeeeathe ..." I wheezed. Upon hearing that, he promptly let me go.

"Before you think anything else, I want you to meet my ... Uh, how would you describe your relationship with me?" I turned to Roy.

"Some guy that you just started talking to like a boyfriend."

I shot him a glare. "You're not really helping. Dad, this is Roy Mustang. You know, the guy I had a crush on for-"

"Where have you been?! You just go off and fake your death, then we get a call saying that your body's vanished, and you've somehow turned up in a hospital?!"

"And cue the nagging stepmother." I grumbled. "Listen. I don't care what you have to say. I know you mean well, but I can take care of myself. Honestly, how else do you think I managed the rank of Major General, the title of State Alchemist, and the cooking skills of- wait, where did that come from? Nevermind. But I seriously don't want to hear it. Okay, Nora?" I crossed my arms and took a stubborn pose.

She seemed shocked at my outburst. At least she backed away from me.

"Now, onto a different topic. Roy, this is my dad, Nasir. The all-around awesome mechanic with more muscle than he appears to have." I smirked and nodded. "Now then, shall we be on our way back home?"

"At least have dinner with us!" Nora pleaded.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Fine, fine. Then we'll go." I grumbled.

"Your stepmom is a good cook."

I continued to make the circle, ignoring his comment.

"What did she make again?"

Ignoring the questions of someone who was trying too hard to talk to you when you clearly wanted to be left alone was harder than it seemed to me. "Would you just stop talking and let me finish this? Do you want to have a rebound and die here?" I snapped.

He abruptly fell silent.

My ears started to ring with the sudden silence and I sat back on my rear. "Okay, fine. She made White Chili. I've never been too much for spicy, but that was good, I have to admit." I yawned, suddenly realizing something important. "Yikes. I hope time in Amestris hasn't gone by too quickly. What if we return and it's fifty years into the future?"

"Doubtful."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what makes you say that, oh great and knowledgeable one?" I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.

"Because it seems that there's a connection between this world's time frame and the time frame of the other's. Since this world says that my-" I gave him a glare. "Our world's time is the equivalent of this world's so-called 'World War I', you'd think that you'd be the same time with our world, right? But that's not exactly true. Since our world's story ended in this world, the majority of the time you travel between worlds into ours, you're more than likely to be thrown into that time frame of our world that exists in this one."

"So you're saying that we're probably going to repeat some past event, huh?" I asked with a growing grin. "Great. I think I know the perfect time, too."

A/N: Hey, MLA here!

So, this is nearing the end. And I mean the END end. Probably next chapter or two.

And on a different note, I've started typing the story with Clara and co.! Warning: OCs galore (more like a mere four) based off a tiny, itty-bitty FMA group in my college's religion building that used to meet in the morning. Then the semester ended, someone went away for over a year, and it fell apart. v.v

Sorry about the slow update, too! Over a month ... I left you hanging! But fear not, my readers, I have updated! I kinda hit a little bit of writer's block ... and Netflix ... and Work ...

I was going to put something here, but I forgot what it was ... Oh, yeah! Now I remember!

Reviews are welcome! And PMs! And ... something else!