I know I'm super super super late and I promised to have it up on Monday but it's just so LONG! Seriously guys, the story not even including the chapter notes, is over 8,500 words. EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED. THAT'S REALLY LONG. But I didn't want to break it down at all so... yeah. I promised Exile Wrath that I would finish it tonight and I did! Cause I don't break pinky promises.

Explanation if Needed: (DO NOT READ BEFORE READING ITALICS. IF CONFUSED AFTER READING ITALICS, READ THIS.)

So there's this group that takes over Amestris's government after a fight with the Central forces. In the fighting all of Team Mustang gets killed except Mustang. This group then goes and takes over Xing, killing Ling and Lan Fan. Al and Mei who were in the same room run from the men who killed Ling and Lan Fan but Al stops to hold them off so Mei can escape and ends up getting shot and dying. Mei runs to Mustang and he, who has had an idea to overthrow the BOB (unimaginative acronym with not meaning), goes to Ed to tell him about Al's death and pitch his idea for this overthrowing. Ed agrees and leaves Winry and his kids. Mustang, Ed, and Mei are the Generals of AGOF, the Agents of Freedom. The press named them. Ed threw a fit when he heard the name and Mustang just laughed.

This story is told from the perspective of Arthur Dong, who was created by me. But he's not an OC. Figure that one out.

Oh, and happy 25th chapter!

On Saturday, the UGN, a radical terrorist group that has been calling for governmental change since the end of Fuhrer Bradely's stay in office, released a public threat to take Fuhrer Grumman out of his seat of power. General Mustang told the public that the threat is being taken seriously and actions are being taken to prevent this action, but the public can't help but wonder if this is true. Everyday citizens disappear off the streets, never to be seen again. The members of UGN never seem to end and have the capability to hide better than a Xingese Imperial Guard.

"Ladies and gentleman, this is a public announcement from Capital Radio. Please do not leave your homes. The well-known group known commonly as UGN is leading a coup against the government. Central forces are being sent out to deal with the problem. Once again, do not venture outside your homes."

"You may be frightened, and I understand that many of you have a right to be. This change in power has taken a great many people unawares. However, I make my promise to you right here and now that you will no longer live in fear. I will lead Amestris into the greatest era ever known!"

Roy Mustang, sitting home alone with only a bottle of whiskey, two broken limbs, and a broken heart, screamed and threw the glass in his hand at the radio, cutting off the raucous applause.

"Al, I think you should take Mei and get out of Xing. The UGN had been making subtle threats about what they're going to do there for weeks. You can have your wedding here in Resembool. Bring Ling and Lan Fan and make sure to disguise them. Disguise Mei too. If they found out that they were traveling here, you'd all be dead before the train took off."

"Brother, I think you're being paranoid."

"No I'm not! These people are not to be trifled with. They're almost as bad as the homunculus, only they're not trying to hide it!"

"Fine, I'll talk to Ling about it. But I'm telling you, the palace guard is the best in Xing. And even if they fail, I don't know anyone who could make it past Lan Fan."

"She is pregnant Al."

"If anything that's just made her fiercer Brother. I think we'll be fine."

"What do you mean they made it past the guards?" Ling thundered. The man in front of him, injured and tired, swayed where he stood.

"They appeared out of nowhere. We couldn't see them coming. I fear they may be… may be…" He fell to the ground and Mei rushed over, drawing a quick circle. Al looked up in fear.

"Brother was right. We have to get you and Lan Fan out of here."

"Okay," he said after a moment of deliberating. "There's an escape route in the private room."

Mei, finished sealing up the guard's wounds, stood up and hurried to help Lan Fan to her feet. The Empresses's pregnancy had caused her to become much less graceful and more unwieldy, leading to trouble standing up without help. She would only accept it from her husband, sister, and Al.

They made their way to the private room attached to the throne room as quickly as they could. Once inside, Ling showed them exactly where the panel in the wall was and explained how it led to the forest the fringed the back of the palace.

Then they heard the pounding on the door of the throne room.

A wordless scream tore from his throat as she fell to the ground, already dead. Almost everyone stopped to stare as the Emperor pulled out a sword and attacked the closest men. Al kicked the man he was fighting in the chest, then grabbed Mei and pushed her towards the panel in the wall. They were almost there when Ling's screaming stopped. Turning around in fear, they caught the side of a man holding a gun and Ling's body toppling to the floor.

They could only run.

They were almost to the river when the men caught up. All they had to do was get across the river and then they would be in the forest where it would be relatively easy to avoid them.

"Go on Mei, I'll hold them off."

"Not a chance. I'm going to stay here and fight with you."

"No! Get out of here!" he yelled and she shook her head again.

"I'm not going to leave you!"

"You're going to. I'll be right behind you, I promise." He took a second to wink at her before clapping his hands together. "I've got a wedding to attend."

"I love you!" she shouted and he smiled, placing his hands to the ground and making two hands grab some of the men coming at them. Mei ran across the river and was about to slip into the forest when she turned around in time to hear the gun go off three times and see her finance crumple to the ground.

"No!" Then the men were crossing the river themselves and she had to run into the thicket of trees, wiping away tears as she did.

"Oh, go search for bodies Emson. We have to make sure no one escaped," the man muttered as he walked along the edge of the palace. "It's a very important job. Yeah, right."

As he turned the corner, he caught sight of gold shimmering near the river. Hardly believing his luck he ran over, only to find a body with the most golden blond hair he had ever seen. He looked at the pool of blood the body was in and snorted.

"There's no way this buddy's making it. Must have only been dead an hour or so, the body's still warm. Definitely dead though. No breathing, no pulse. He's gone. And you're talking to yourself." Shaking his head in self-disgust, he kicked the body into the river. Burning or burying it would take too long.

"That can't be true! You're lying! Stop!"

"I wish I could Ed. Mei Chang came to me today, looking worse than I've ever seen. She was crying and told me about how they killed the Emperor and his wife in front of her. Al… Al died protecting her as they escaped."

"No! No! He can't be… he can't be…"

Mustang stared at his former subordinate with understanding. He couldn't accept it when his team had died fighting. Furey, Breda, Falman, Havoc, and the absolute worst of all that had sent him into a pit so dark he thought he would never emerge, Hawkeye.

"Listen Ed. I had an idea and the Princess agreed to help out to her dying breath. Do you want revenge?"

Ed looked up at him, the look in his eyes so similar to when they had first met, for a moment Mustang was convinced he was still in uniform and about to walk through the door and meet Hawkeye outside.

"Yes."

"I have to help Mustang out. This idea of his— it's not original but it could work. We could bring the UGN down. I have to go. Promise me you'll wait for me." Winry paused for a moment before smiling softly.

"Okay." Ed felt his heart break again. The image flashed in front of his eyes of Winry falling to the floor as Benjamin and Sara watched, aghast. Then sitting at her bedside as she suffered. Them growing angry at the father that was never there.

"No, you have to promise. My mother promised that she'd wait for him to come home and she died waiting. Don't do that Winry. I couldn't stand it if you did."

"Don't worry Ed. Not to disrespect her, but I think I'm made of a pretty strong polymer."

"That's my gear-head."

"You don't have to go see them," she warned as he walked into their rooms.

"Hohenheim never came to say goodbye to me and Al. I'm not doing that to my children at least," Ed told her as he kneelt at Benjamin's bed. The boy blinked at the light coming from the door before focusing on his father's face.

"Daddy?"

"Hey Benny. I'm going to be gone for a while, so I'm going to need you to watch over your mommy for a while okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Okay Daddy. Can I go back to sleep?" Ed chuckled and rubbed his head.

"Go ahead. I love you, okay?"

"Love you too Daddy," he mumbled sleepily. Ed did the same for Sara, only he didn't make the mistake of trying to wake her up. Kissing her gently on the forehead, he stood and made for the door. Winry followed him, holding his suitcase—the same suitcase he had used while searching for the Philosopher's Stone—and as he placed a hand on the door knob he had to turn around and look at her directly in the eye.

"I will be back. I will not be my father." Winry kissed him on the lips and handed him his suitcase.

"I'll be here. Keep us in your heart." Ed smiled and opened the door, letting light flood the hallway. In front of him was the whole world, the world that he had wanted to explore so badly with his brother. Behind him was the world he had created together with the woman he loved.

The door closed with an ominous click.

Arthur Dong really hated his life sometimes. True, he couldn't remember most of it, but he really hated it. Life had not started out well, being the son of a Xingese farmer and an Amestrian run away had immediately put him behind the rest of… everyone. Both Amestrians and the Xingese looked down on him. The fact that his father was a farmer didn't help in terms of status. His mother died when he was four and he didn't even remember any of it expect sitting by her bed side because of a head injury a few years ago that had been causing memory problems ever since.

But no, that wasn't what made him hate his life. What really made him hate his life was the fact that the UGN who had taken complete control of his home country had just murdered his father for having a half Amestrian son, tried to kill him, and then decided that chasing him down wasn't the effort and that they would wait for someone to turn him in. Under the new reign, any and all Amestrians or part Amestrians could be turned in to the authorities for money or for lenience in their own punishments. Since they handed out so many punishment s for minor offences, the business for finding Amestrians was fairly large. Apparently the same was true for the Xingese in Amestris. So it didn't matter which country he was in, he would get caught.

As if the world needed to give him any more reasons to hate his life, he was now surrounded by a group of unfamiliar men and woman who were all pointing guns at him. Yup, life was not very good for him.

"Please don't turn me in," he begged as one of them forced him to his knees. "I have some money, you can have it, just let me go."

"Tell me," one of the men who had his face covered with a hat said. "What is a mutt doing walking around as if he had no problems at all?"

Mutt. He hated being called that. Ever since he was a kid that was all people would ever call him: the mutt. Part Amestrian and part Xingese. It was really quite tiring. The fact that he was a perfect mix with black hair and bright blue eyes didn't help him try to hide it.

"Trying to get out of here," he said, hoping that the answer would convince them to let him go. "My father was just killed and I'm trying to stay alive myself."

"You don't say. What were you planning on doing once you had stayed alive?"

"I don't know. I hadn't planned that far," he answered honestly. The man turned to his companions and whispered to one of them. They shared a brief but rapid conversation in hushed tones that Arthur couldn't follow and the one that had been talking to him turned towards him again.

"Your father, was he killed because of you?" Arthur nodded, tears stinging the corner of his eyes. "Interesting. Well I think we just made plans for you. How would you like to join the Agents of Freedom?"

Arthur stared at the man. AGOF had been formed only a few months after the UGN had taken over Xing, supposedly by some Xingese citizens who were loyal to the Emperor and a handful of Amestrian ex-militaries. In the last two years it had grown to become the only major opposing force to the UGN regime. They were supposedly based in the desert separating the two countries and took anyone who could find them, even searching out some specifically for their ranks.

"Uhh…"

"And since we just told you about us, if you say no we'll have to kill you," he said, with only a trace of sadness.

Arthur Dong really hated his life.

Two weeks later, after more tests than he could count to test his strength, endurance, speed, stealth, intelligence (all of which were surprisingly high. Who would have known working on a farm for 24 years actually helped you join a rebel group?), and most importantly, honesty. It seemed the number one trait they looked for in recruits was "Not a spy."

So he was given a rank, a division, barracks, and orders to show up at a particular time and place to show up. It was supposed to be "Hand-to-hand Introduction", but one of the men who had looked over his orders told him it was actually "Getting Beat Up By Chang". He didn't know who Chang was, but from the way the man was eyeing him like he'd never been seen again, he gathered that Chang was a very scary person.

So it was in this state of fear that he entered the room on Saturday. He was with a group of other men and women, some of who looked as terrified as him and some who just looked like they couldn't wait to get out of there. Most of them had some form of physical injury and looked like they had been through a lot worse than he had.

"Do you know what's he's like?" he asked a man who looked slightly more assured than the rest. "Chang?" The man stared at him and then started laughing slightly.

"Chang's not—"

"Anyone who's not lined up in ten seconds is running through the desert for the rest of the day," a voice rang out threw the muttering and whispers, causing several people to jump. There was a rush as people fought to get into a line in front of a roped off ring.

When everyone was out of the way he glanced at the door to see a short lithe figure. All the heads turned and Chang, it had to be Chang, walked down the row staring at them all. Was the leader of "Get Beat Up By Chang" really so small? Then she walked in front of him and he realized that Chang was a girl. A small girl. She had to be at least a foot shorter than him and a good deal thinner. After inspecting them all, she jumped over the ropes and stared at them all again.

"Welcome to Hand-to-hand. I am General Mei Chang. Yes I'm a General, yes I'm a girl, yes I'm short, and yes I can make your lives miserable. No, I did not do something "bad" to give my recruit duty, I request it. I'm the one who's going to make sure your worth even keeping. If you want some background, find it yourself, let's just say the UGN has put me through a lot of grief and I will fight them until my dying breath. I am going to call you up, beat you, and then you will try again harder tomorrow until I pass you. Some of you have been stuck in this class for a while. Most of you will not be moving on today."

"You," she said without pausing and pointed to the man standing next to Arthur. He must have been at least twice the size of the General, but he still gulped loudly before stepping up in front of her. Someone called out a countdown and at "Go!" the man threw a punch. Chang ducked under his swing and elbowed him in the gut and pulled away just as fast as she had come. She stood there waiting while he caught his breath. When he had regained it, he ran towards her only to land on the ground with her feet on his chest.

"Pathetic. I could have done this when I was eleven," she spat. "You have to be on your toes all the time. It can and probably will save your life. Back in line. You!" she shouted, pointing at Arthur. "Mutt, get up here."

Swallowing himself, Arthur walked up to the small General.

"What's your name?"

"Arthu—" His reply was cut off when her legs swept his legs out from under him and he hit the ground hard.

"Don't stop for pleasantries," she warned. "Get up."

He struggled to his feet and watched carefully. She was trying to read him, he realized and acted accordingly. He faked right and she blocked while he tried to come in on the left. She flipped backwards, successfully avoiding his real blow and landed solidly. Without missing a beat, she sprinted towards him leaning heavily to the right. No one's going to be that obvious, he thought to himself and prepared for an attack on the left. As she moved forward to connect, he caught her hand and deftly twisted it behind her back.

Arthur held her there for a few seconds, hardly believing that he had actually won, when she hooked her foot around the back of his knee and pulled, sending them both towards the ground. Somehow, Chang twisted around and landed on top of him, her knee in his chest and a small ribboned knife against his neck.

"Good job," she said reluctantly after a few moments to show everyone how she had beaten him. He nodded but couldn't shake the feeling that he should have done better. "It isn't very often that someone can actually catch me at all. You said your name was Arthur, right?" He nodded. "Congratulation, you're the first person to ever pass on the first day. Come by here tomorrow after this class. I want to see if you do better under more pressure."

"What's her problem?" Arthur asked the solider sitting next to him later as he scooped out some muck from a tin and fed it to himself. It was a far cry from the meals he used to receive at home, but he managed to keep moving every day so it must have some sort of nutritional value.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well everyone has a problem. She said the UGN put her through a lot of grief. Do you know what that is?"

"You're an observant twit aren't you? I like you. If you must know, Chang's a not so funny story. I don't know the whole thing, I'm pretty sure only the other General's know that, but I'll give you what I know. General Chang used to be a Princess, Princess Mei Chang of the Chang clan. I know you're half Xingese so I won't explain the whole clan thing to you. Anyways, she wasn't your normal 'Fairies and pixie dust' princess, she was something else. I actually met her before this fiasco back right after the last Emperor ascended. She was working with all us normal folks to build roads between the clans. Probably got dirtier than me.

"When UGN took over and captured the capital, they executed her brother the Emperor. Her and him were pretty close, probably the closest there's ever been among the royal siblings. They offed him and his wife, who I hear was like a sister to Chang. Her betrothed was also killed trying to protect her as she escaped."

"She was betrothed? Who would want to marry her?"

"Hey, I said she was different. Before she got all commando and bitter, she used to be a pretty good gal, or so I'm told. Plus, her and her special guy had some history together."

"Do you know who the guy was?"

"Nope. He was Amestrian, I know that. Think he knew Mustang and Elric too. That's probably how Chang ended up with these guys."

"That's all you know?"

"Yup. Are you not going to eat that?" he asked pointing at the rest of the tinned muck. Arthur handed him the tin and he quickly finished the last of it. "There really isn't much to know. If you have to, some of the higher ups might be able to tell you her fiancé's name. I don't really see why it matters so much. Whether you know about her past or not, she's still going to take the opportunity to kill you tomorrow."

"Thanks a lot. What's your name?"

"Mathew Elison. You?"

"Arthur Dong."

It was a week later when Arthur learned the name of Chang's fiancé. His name was Alphonse Elric. They had met in Amestris before the Promised Day and both were involved in the coup against the corrupt higher ranked military leaders. He traveled to Xing as an Ambassador and they had explored the countries east together. They finally got engaged shortly before the UGN became a serious threat and took over. He died trying to hold them off while she ran. She had run to Roy Mustang, who she knew from Amestris, and they worked with Edward Elric, who had been Alphonse's brother, to create AGOF, which had been named by the press.

When he arrived after the class, she had brought him into the makeshift arena and proceeded to beat him black and blue and request that he return the next day so they could do it again. He accepted and showed up the next day for a similar treatment. As the days and weeks went by he managed to beat her a few times. When summer came around and it was so hot above the underground base that your skin almost start peeling off, he was beating her almost half the time. Every day they went at it again, and Arthur came to appreciate the grace and fluidity she possessed.

Sometimes, only sometimes, when they were done he would be able to ask her a question or two. Normally they were simple things like "You really used to be Princess Mei Chang?" or "Where under the sun did you learn to fight like this! I can barely get a hit in!", but he did manage to get her to tell him one thing about the man he loved learning more about.

"Did you love your fiancé?" She stared at him as if she didn't comprehend the question. He was about to apologize and back off when she answered.

"I loved him with all my heart and soul. I always will."

Arthur lashed out and his foot connected with her stomach. Without wasting time, he shifted his weight and pushed her to the ground by way of shoulder. She jumped to her feet, but he quickly enveloped her in an incapacitating bear hug. She struggled for a bit, but when she couldn't escape after ten seconds, she stopped and he dropped her to the ground.

"Sorry," he apologized as she growled.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop apologizing every time you win?"

"Probably a few more times," he replied with a sheepish grin. Chang snorted and dusted off her pants.

"Good job," she said grudgingly. "Just tell—"

"Chang, I need to talk to you!" Arthur turned around to see General Elric storming into the room. He had seen the General around a bit, even exchanged a very short conversation. He interacted with more of the men than Mustang did, but most of the men were too scared of him to become any more than subordinates. Chang put her hands on her hips and glared.

"What do you want Edward?"

"You're supposed to get over to the— Oh. I didn't realize you were with someone. Is this that Arthur kid?"

"Yes sir, Arthur Dong. General Chang and I spar here every other night General. I can leave now if you want," Arthur said, snapping into a salute. It wasn't something he did easily, but he could manage a fair one in the General's presence.

"Yeah, get out of here."

Arthur nodded and jumped out of the arena, hurrying to the door. General Elric did not scare him like he did the other men, but he still made him slightly apprehensive, as if he was just waiting to hold him back when he exploded. He imagined that if the General ever did explode it would be loud and dangerous for those involved.

Arthur was about to close the door behind him when he heard Elric's voice say coldly,

"Don't tell me you're moving on to this Arthur kid." The aforementioned Arthur whipped his head around. Why were they talking about him?

"Moving on to Arthur? What are you talking about?"

"Well he's the only man you've talking to or about other than me and Mustang ever since the UGN took over," Elric said in an odd voice. Arthur didn't have to be in the room to know that General Chang was raising an eyebrow.

"What's the supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, just that Al gave his life to make sure you got out of the palace alive and safe."

Even outside, Arthur could feel the temperature drop ten degrees.

"You think this is about Al?" she asked, dangerously low. "You think—you think— how dare you! How dare you even think that I would or could ever—"

"You have to admit it's not uncommon. Two years is a long time, easy to forget—"

"How dare you!" she screamed. "I think of him every day! I loved him with all my heart and soul! Every fiber of my being was in love with him! I love him more than you!"

"He was my brother!" Elric yelled. "The only person—"

"He was my fiancé!" she screamed back. "He was all I had left after they murdered Ling and Lan Fan right in front of me!"

"He was all I had left too!" General Elric roared back.

"What about Winry and Benjamin and Sara? Oh wait, you walked out on them JUST LIKE YOU FATHER!"

Arthur took a step back. He didn't know much about General Elric's family, but if the gossip he had heard was correct, he had good reason to have as some called it "Daddy issues". A hand was placed on his shoulder and Arthur jumped slightly. Looking up, he saw that the hand belonged to General Mustang who was staring at him sadly.

"Go back to your quarters. This is something you shouldn't get involved in."

"But—but they were talking about me—They—they started fighting," he stammered.

"These day's they'll fight about anything. You were just an available target. Go back to your—"

"BECAUSE HE REMINDS ME OF AL!" Chang's voice ran out from the room. Both men outside jumped. Arthur stared at the door in shock. He reminded her of her dead fiancé? "OKAY!"

"Now it's really time for you to go," Mustang said softly and pushed him on the back. He complied and hurried down the hall to the barracks he shared with the other men. As he laid down on the bed (read mat) staring at the bottom of the bed above him he could help but hear her words ring in his mind.

"Because he reminds me of Al."

"What happened yesterday?" Mathew asked the moment Arthur had rolled out of bed and tugged on a pair of boots. He really loved sleeping but last night had not been very full of it. He had been plagued by dreams of a man who looked similar to General Elric dancing with General Chang. The man had kissed her and then transformed into a monster with dark tentacles extending from its feet. He tried to run but he was kept attacking and stabbing him, but he couldn't die. Suffice to say, he didn't sleep well.

"Seriously, Elric looks like he's about ready to kill you and Chang looks like she's about to kill him. What happened?"

"They started fighting last night after I left. I don't know what about," he lied. If people found out that the two Generals were fighting about him… he didn't want that type of attention.

"Arthur, you're a terrible liar. What were they fighting about?" Mathew said, not even looking up from the tin he was scrapping clean.

"Me," he answered regretfully. "General Elric got mad because he though General Chang was dishonoring his brother's memory by spending so much time with me and she got mad. They started fighting and Chang brought up his father."

"So you're lucky to be alive?"

"I'm feeling pretty lucky. Do you think that luck will continue?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why do you need it?" Mathew asked, licking the top of the tin's lid. The way he ate reminded Arthur of a boy he used to know. It really frustrated him that he couldn't remember the kid's name.

"She didn't cancel our spar because she didn't know I was listening in."

"… do you want me to say some words at your funeral or would you rather her?"

"Thanks for the endorsement."

"You're welcome buddy."

"You might want to leave," Chang warned the moment he walked in the door. "I'm not in a good mood and I might end up doing you a lot more damage than the normal cuts and bruises. I almost broke someone's sternum in the previous class." Arthur winced but continued into the room nonetheless.

"We don't have to spar," he said. "But I do have this period of time in my schedule cleared so I'm not going to be leaving."

Chang nodded her head slightly but didn't make eye contact with him. She was standing with her feet firmly planted and arms crossed with a single long braid down her back. She looked like she could easily take out an entire army. It would surprise Arthur if she would enjoy doing it right now either.

"Do you need someone to talk to?" he asked cautiously. "I'm a great listener."

"No offence Arthur, but of all the people I would like to talk to this about, you're pretty far down the list."

"Is Al on the top?"

Immediately after he said it, he regretted it. Not only did she whip around and look ready to throttle him, but he could see the hurt in deep hurt in her eyes. This was a sensitive issue that he should not have breached.

"Don't. Talk. About. Him," she growled and Arthur took a frightened step back. Almost as soon as she had said it, she sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have growled at you." She sat down on the ground and placed her head in the ground.

"It's okay," he said, sitting down next to her. "I understand that you lost someone very important to you."

"Do you understand Arthur? Really?" Chang asked, staring at him. He had never noticed how large her eyes really were.

"Yeah. I used to know this girl— don't ask me what her name is because I don't remember— and I remember really loving her. I can't remember her face or her name or what she was like, but I remember being really in love. I don't know what happened to her because I kept her a secret from my father and it was shortly after we… split up or whatever it was that I got my head injury."

"Do you remember anything about her?" she questioned, scooting forward. He shook his head sadly.

"It was after I moved to Xing from Amestris, so she was probably Xingese. It really makes me frustrated that I can't remember."

"Sometimes I wish I had your problem," Chang said, putting her head in her hands again. "I can't even sleep most nights. He promised that he'd be right after me when he died. I didn't want to leave him."

"I'm sorry. But I wouldn't say forgetting would be very helpful. You have to have some memories that you share together that are worthwhile. You gave him part of your life, he gave you part of his, and left some of himself with out. Ten for eleven."

General Chang's head shot up so fast he thought she might have gotten whiplash.

"What did you just say?"

"Oh, uh," he stammered, slightly embarrassed. "It's like alchemy, normally you give ten and get ten, but sometimes if you… I don't know, give some of yourself as well you can give eleven. Obviously it wouldn't work for normal transmutations but if you're trying to apply equivalent exchange to the real world…" He flushed when she continued to look at him as if he had grown a second head. "I used to have a friend who was into alchemy and I like to compare it to life in my free time… What?"

"…nothing."

He didn't even know how he caught his name, but he did. Arthur was running an errand for one of the higher ups and was walking by the private conference room that had been left ajar when he heard it. He didn't catch in what context it had been used, but he was sure that he had heard it. Backing up, he stood next to the door only to take a step back when the voices came back louder.

"Why not? Why couldn't he be?"

"Because Al is dead!"

"We don't know that! We never found the body."

"Why wouldn't he have come back?"

"Because he doesn't have his memories! Arthur said he got a head injury a few years ago and has had trouble remember things about his past. All he can remember is sitting at his mother's deathbed, having a close friend who studied alchemy, traveling a lot around Amestris, and being in love with a Xingese girl. Those are some of the biggest parts of Al's life!"

"Why are you so determined to make him Al?"

"Why are you so determined to make sure he's not? Don't you want your brother back?"

"Of course I do! But I know better than anyone the consequences of trying to bring someone back to life when they're dead!"

"You should listen to him Princess," Mustang's voice chimed in. "The idea of having Al back is wonderful, but there are something's that should be left to lie, and the dead are among them."

"If you could have the chance to get Lieutenant Hawkeye back, would you take it?" Chang said sharply. There was a hiss and Arthur knew that this Hawkeye was a sensitive subject.

"Yes."

"If there is a chance that Al is alive and that he's Arthur and doesn't know it, I'm going to figure it out. Just let me try. If it doesn't do anything, I'll leave it alone. I'll stop talking about it and I'll let — I'll let Al rest." Without being in the room, Arthur knew that she was lifting her head proudly, probably with hurt swimming in her eyes. How could the men inside refuse her? He knew he couldn't.

"Fine. What do you need?" Elric growled.

"Some photos. All the photos you have. Did you keep any of them?"

"… Yeah. Wi— she made me take some before we left. I have the photo we took when you were with us in Rushvalley. I think I even have the one of us with Mustang that Hughes was going to use for blackmail."

"Good."

Arthur was waiting for Chang to say something for a week. They sparred every night like they had before but she was acting more on edge as if he was supposed to grow a horn. It was only after a week had passed from the conversation he had overheard that she mentioned anything.

"Arthur, I have a few questions for you," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. He nodded and smiled at her.

"Yeah, sure." She led him across the room to a small table and they sat at opposite sides. "What do you want?"

"Is this the woman you were in love with?" She slid a photograph across the table and he picked it up.

In the photo was a beautiful young woman. She had long black hair that was held up with multiple braids and blue eyes that were so dark they were almost black. Her dress was definitely Xingese, though the buildings behind her were not.

A man who looked only a few years older had his arm around her. He had blond hair and golden eyes that made it all too clearly how happy he was to be with the woman. The wide smiled helped too. The part that shocked him was how similar he was to Arthur. If the man had black hair, blue eyes, added some scars and a broken nose, and lost a few pounds of muscle he would have been identical to Arthur.

The woman was the one he couldn't remember. He was sure of that. When he looked at the picture he got a warm feeling, as if his body remembered things his mind couldn't.

"That's her. Who is she?" Chang looked at him as if searching his face for the truth.

"And you're not just saying that because it's what I want to hear?" He shook his head. She took a deep breath. "That woman, the one in the photograph, her name is Mei Chang. This picture was taken when she was sixteen in Xiongnu with the man she was in love with. His name was Alphonse Elric."

"Wait, that picture is of you and your fiancé?" That couldn't be possible. It couldn't be. When he had overheard their conversation, he had been expecting her to ask him a few questions that he would politely answer then tell her the truth: he was not who she hoped he was. He hadn't been expecting something like this. He couldn't deny that the woman was the one he had vague impressions of once knowing and loving. To find out that she was none other than General Chang…

"We were in Xiongnu for the wedding of a dignitary there. He bought me this necklace," she said, pulling one out from the neck of her shirt. "It cost him more money than he had and the man who was selling it wasn't going to cut the price. Instead, Al fixed some old pieces for him with alchemy. I told him that he didn't have to and I didn't have to have the necklace, but he insisted. He told me that yes I did need the necklace because he promised Ling that he wasn't going to let some strange foreigner get his meat hooks in his sister. Al laughed and said 'Buying you the necklace is a lot easier than subtly trapping them in holes and chemically changing their drinks into alcohol. A ring—'"

"Might be inappropriate," Arthur said, surprising himself.

"How did you know that?"

"Well you weren't married or engaged at that point to it would obviously… not be appropriate," he finished lamely. The way she was looking at him made him feel awkward.

"Arthur, I need to ask you," Chang began, leaning across the table slightly. "Your head injury that's been causing your memory problems—what did it involve?"

"Uh, blunt force to the head. I think I hit it on a rock or something. I had some deep wounds in the chest. Lost a lot of blood— had to wait months before I could run properly again."

"Three shots?"

"Well, three wounds. I still have the scars. They're small but they went deep." And he did. They had freaked him out at first; then his father had explained. He had to have him to a professional to get them taken care of. Arthur had to work extra hard once he had healed to work of the money his bills had cost. "Why does it matter?"

"Because Al was shot three times in the chest. And no one ever retrieved a body."

"I thought it might come to this. Look, General Chang, I know you think I could be your fiancé, but I promise you I'm not. I am Arthur Dong and always have been."

"On your right arm there's a cluster of small scars, correct?" Arthur stared at her strangely, before rolling up his sleeve to prove her right. "Explain them."

"Well I… I don't know."

"I do. They're from needles. When Ed retrieved your body from the Gate, you were too weak to function like a normal person and they hooked you up to 23 different machines. They tried to put the IVs in the same area so they would only do damage to that area, but they underestimated how weak your skin and blood vessels were. They almost collapsed and they spread the needles out. What about the one on right shoulder?"

"How do you know about—"

"It was a knife. There was an assassination attempt on my life and you took the knife for me, saving my life. Your left leg is covered with scars of all different sizes and shape and that leg doesn't work as well as the other. Shrapnel. The doctors were afraid they would have to amputate and you just joked about how cheap automail would be for you and that people would compare you to Ed even more afterwards. Scar on your right pinky finger. We were making dumpling together and you almost chopped your finger off slicing celery. Right hip, up and to the left three inches. You got shot—"

"How do you know all this? I never told any—"

"Because I was there for it all. I provided the alkahestric focal point for you to sacrifice your body to the Gate for Edward's arm. I pulled out the knife and closed the wound. I was fighting against the guards who were holding be back from the explosions as you screamed in pain. I was with you ever day as your leg healed. Those dumplings were the best I'd ever had because I made them with you. When you got shot we were alone in the middle of the road and I had to remove the bullet myself."

He felt like his world was being spun out of control. This couldn't be real. All the scars she mentioned was real and he had wondered where he had gotten them. With ever injury she mentioned, he could feel a phantom pain in the area. There was a woman screaming his name in the back of his head. But it wasn't his name; she was screaming "Al!"

"No, it can't… I can't."

Chang was standing by his side; how had she gotten there so fast?

"Al?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't bother moving it. It almost felt like it was supposed to be there. "Or Arthur… I… Here; if this doesn't jog any memories, I promise I'll leave you alone and I won't try to convince you that you're anyone but Arthur."

He looked up into her eyes and saw that she really meant what he said. He wouldn't be surprised that if he didn't end up being her fiancé she'd be so heartbroken that she wouldn't be able to pester anyone about it again. He didn't want to disappoint her, but lying would not only wrong but it would end him in a sticky situation.

He grabbed the second photograph that she was holding out to him and he grabbed it. The picture depicted a group of people; a blond woman and man who were holding two children, another blond man who could only be Alphonse Elric, a Mei Chang that was only a few years older than the last picture she gave him but still younger than the one in front of him. Two other people were in the picture, but the edges cut them off.

"That'd Ed with his family. I wasn't going to be in the picture but—"

"I insisted that you had to be. I didn't want you to be left out." He could hear her breath catch but he didn't pay it much attention. He was too busy trying to make sense of the muddled images that were coming to his head.

"Ed told me that it was supposed to be a family picture and that was when I first told him how much I loved you. He finally agreed, saying that 'I knew she was going to be joining the family one day anyways.' I wanted to smack him, but I knew he was right. You looked questioningly at me, so I asked if Paninya and Mr. Garfeil could be included as well. Ed just gave me 'the look'," he chuckled.

"How did you..."

"I don't know," he answered looking up at her. "I can't remember… but I can… I didn't know what to do for that picture. I didn't want to put my arm around you so I just stood there. Winry told me that I should have put my hand on your shoulder or something. She was the one who finally convinced me to ask you to marry me. Ling took me aside and had an… interesting talk. It was only when I called her and asked her what to do that I actually bought the ring. She was screaming so loud I wasn't sure whether I was hearing her over the phone or from Rushvalley."

"What was she screaming about?" Chang—Mei— asked scooting the chair on the other side of the table over so she could sit close to him.

"She was calling me and idiot as loud as she possibly could. Told me that if I didn't get down on one knee and ask you within 24 hours, she would never bake me an apple pie again. That was the deciding factor."

"I'm glad to know the deciding factor in my engagement was the absence of apple pie. That makes me feel very good about myself."

"Come on! I would have asked you anyways, Winry just streamlined it." Mei snorted and rolled her eyes before leaning forward.

"It really is you, isn't it?"

"I guess so," he smiled. It felt like something had fallen into place, a missing part of him that was back. He couldn't remember everything—not by a long shot. Everything was foggy and muddled, but it was there.

Mei smiled and hugged him so hard it hurt more than when they were sparring.

"I love you," he told her. In response she unwrapped her arms from around his torso and placed them around his neck, kissing him. Al pulled away first.

"I just remembered something," he said, a look of wonder crossing his face.

"What?"

"Where you're ticklish!"

Mei shrieked as he started tickling her and tried to run. He chased after her for a few moments before overcoming her and wrapping her in his arms from behind. She tried to trip him, and they both fell to the floor. They were both laughing hard when the door opened.

"Gen—Brother?"

Ed stared at the sight in front of him, his eyes going wide.

"What the—who—why—what…"

"Hi Brother," Al said. "Good news; I'm not dead."

"I now pronounce you man and wife."

Al smiled at Mei over the rim of his cup which he quickly dropped as she threw herself at him and they were kissing in front of the entire gathered crowd.

"Geez. Didn't even wait for 'You may now kiss the bride'," Ed commented smartly that Al waved aside.

"Shut up Brother," he told him, kissing Mei again. Ed, shaking his head, joined the crowd of people leaving the room and hurried over to a blond who two children sitting next to her. She wrapped her arms around him and he lifted her up in the air.

"I love you," he told his wife. "I never should have left."

"No, you shouldn't have," Winry agreed. They walked over to the children who were playing with crayons and pieces of paper. While Sara was drawing pictures of cats, Benjamin was making perfect circles and geometric shapes.

"That one's really good. Can you tell me what it does?" Ed asked, squatting by his son. Benny looked up and mumbled the correct answer. Of the children, he was much less willing to accept Ed back into their lives. For once, Ed couldn't help but feel sympathetic for his own father.

"Hey," Al said, coming over. His arm was around Mei's waist and she was cuddling into him as if she never wanted to let go. "You both okay?"

Winry smiled and hugged Al. When she arrived at the desert base, Ed had been the one to greet her. They had shared a very passionate embrace and he led her and the children inside. Everywhere they walked people stared outright but they all ignored them. They arrived at the conference room and Winry walked inside only to find Al, with his hair once again blond and eyes golden. Her eyes instantly filled with tears and she hugged him, calling him an idiot for making them all think he was dead.

"We're fine. Why are you asking about us? You're the one who just got married!"

"Very good observation, Winry," Al said, smiling.

"Oh shut up. So how soon can I expect to be an Aunt!" Al and Mei glanced at each other, blushed, and looked down.

"Probably a while. The UGN hasn't fallen and we're not going to give up just because Al's alive. If anything, this is just going to make us fight harder. We're going to beat them," Mei said, face hardening slightly. Winry looked into her eyes and saw that she meant every word.

"Besides, how can we lose?" Ed said happily, putting his own arm around his wife's waist.

"We have something worth fighting for."

This is random and a little out of place, I know. It's going to be turned into it's own separate story and maybe I'll take this out when that goes up, but for now it's staying here.