Disclaimer- I don't own FMA.

Chapter 26

Revealed

"..E-Ed?" Kate stuttered, her gold eyes blinking and widening.

"Kate..." The blond haired boy replied slowly, his face seeming to fall in sadness instead of the happiness that Kate was expecting.

Confused by the look she saw in her brother's eyes and wanting to comfort him, Kate took a step forward and eased herself away from the wall. She had only managed to take a few slow steps before Roy was next to her, an arm around her waist and a hand on her upper arm.

"What are you doing," she inquired when she realized that he was refusing to let her get any closer to her brother.

Looking away guiltily, Roy closed his eyes. "You should give them time to explain first."

Kate blinked away from Roy and back to Ed before letting her eyes wander over the suit of armor beside him. Her brows furrowed for a moment before she asked, "What's Dad's old armor doing here?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably and when he was no longer able to keep looking Kate in the eyes, he turned his head to stare at a dark corner of the room. "W-we..."

"It's me, Kay. Al," Al spoke up, his head squeaking as he lifted an armored hand to rub at the helmet that served as his head.

"Al?" Kate repeated in disbelief. "Geez, you got big..."

Al chuckled nervously. "Well, kind of. You see..."

"Would you let go of me, Mustang," Kate snapped at Roy, trying to shake him off of her, but to no avail.

Roy sighed, it seemed she was still quite mad at him and that her habit of calling him Mustang whenever she was particularly angry hadn't changed.

"It's alright, Mustang, let her go. We'll be fine," Ed said, offering up a half smile and a nod.

Finally free of the hands that were holding her, Kate walked away from Roy and approached her brothers. It was hard to read what Al was thinking, he was covered in armor, but it was easy to see that Ed was feeling very guilty.

"What is it that you two are hiding," Kate asked seriously, stopping a few feet from them and letting her arms hang loosely at her sides. "Well," she pressed when the boys only exchanged glances, but didn't answer. "I would think you would both be happy to see the sister who has been gone for three years, but instead Ed looks like he'd rather crawl in a pit of despair and Al is hiding behind Dad' armor. What's going on?"

"Al's not hiding, Kate," Ed replied quietly, his eyes roaming up to meet his sister's gaze. "He...I... It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what, Ed? What happened?" Kate asked, taking a step closer to her brothers and laying a hand on the armor that housed her youngest brother and her other on top of Ed's head, hoping to be reassuring.

Her eyes widened and she sucked in a deep breath, she pulled her hands away from the two boys and stared with wide eyes at the spot she had touched on Al's arm. She didn't know why, but somehow she just knew that the armor was hollow on the inside. It wasn't just because of how cold the armor was or the emptiness that she felt coming from it. She knew that it if she were to remove the helmet that there would be no grinning boy beneath it, there would be nothing but emptiness and a seal that had been drawn in blood on the neck.

She was still staring dazedly at the armor when Ed spoke up, he didn't know what Kate had seen, but he knew it couldn't have been much since she had snatched her hand away almost as soon as she had touched him.

"Kate," Ed said pleading, his right hand reaching up to take hold of one of Kate's hands that she had brought in front of her body as if to protect herself from what ever dreadful image she had seen. It looked almost as if she were fighting an internal battle, her eyes looked so troubled and uncertain while she stared blankly ahead of her.

Sensing something was off with the hand that had taken hers because it felt too heavy and the movements were somewhat mechanical, Kate pulled her hand away and took a step back. Her eyes were blinking from Ed to Al and she was shaking her head slowly from side to side. When Roy appeared behind her and her back bumped into his chest, she froze and leaned into him for support while he tried to soothingly squeeze her arms to assure her everything was fine.

Flexing his right arm in front of him and watching the fingers curl and uncurl, Ed frowned before reaching for the glove that covered the hand. Slowly removing the fabric of the glove from his hand, Ed revealed the gleaming metal and mechanical joints of the automail that was attached to his shoulder. He also removed the glove that covered his other hand so that his flesh hand was also visible.

"My right arm," Ed said to no one in particular. "And my left leg." He tapped on his left leg below the knee with his right hand, a small tinging noise echoed throughout the quiet room. "And Al's body. I lost them all."

A quiet rustling made Kate shift her attention to Al who was reaching up to remove his helmet. When the helmet came away from the rest of the armor to reveal nothing but darkness inside, Kate gasped and would have collapsed onto the floor if it weren't for Roy holding her up.

Leaning forward, Al pointed to a small circle that Kate could only barely make out in the dimness.

"Brother was able to bring my soul back by paying with his right arm and attaching it to the armor. We-"

Kate interrupted before Al could continue. "What did you do," she asked, her voice shaking with suspicion and a trace of anger while her eyes switched between the two boys slowly.

"We tried to bring mom back," Ed answered quietly.

Choking on a strangled sob, Kate slipped out of Roy's arms and sunk down on to the floor. She didn't say anything, she had no words with which to speak anyways, she just stared at the floor in shock.

"We missed her a lot and we wanted to make things easier for you," Al spoke up. "You were working so hard and you always looked so tired..."

"I thought that I had perfected it. The equation necessary to bring a human back to life-"

"How could you be so arrogant?!" Kate snapped, looking up from the floor with angry tears in her eyes. "Human lives aren't toys, they aren't meant to played around with like some game. You thought you had perfected human transmutation? You're a fool."

Lowering his head and staring at the gleaming metal of his right arm, Ed took a shallow breath and released it slowly. "I know that now. I was too confident in my own abilities. I thought that I could do anything. Now I know that's not true, but I will get Al's body back, I promise."

Sitting on the floor and trying not to lose all control over her much too sensitive emotions, Kate shook her head. "You're lying. This can't be real, this has to be just a dream."

"Kate, it's not a dream," Roy spoke softly, leaning down beside her and putting a hand on her back.

Body trembling, Kate shook her head again and squeezed her eyes shut. "No..."

"Kay," Ed said, stepping closer to his sister that was huddle on the floor.

When she wouldn't look up at him, Ed sighed and sat down beside her, flexing his mechanical fingers the entire time. He put his left hand over one of her hands that was lying on the floor to support her and didn't fail to notice the way she stiffened or the how she curled her hand into a fist the longer that he left it over hers.

"Stop it," she yelled, abruptly pulling her hand out from beneath Ed's and holding it close to her chest. "Just stop it," she whispered pleading, tears leaking from her eyes one after another.

"Kate," Roy murmured, pulling her shivering body closer to his and letting a brief smile flicker over his features when Kate buried her head in his shoulder and grabbed onto him before her sobs began to echo through his quiet apartment. "I'm sorry I kept this from you, Kate. I was worried that you, you were so frail and you seemed so lost-"

"It's not your fault," Kate interrupted. "The blame is on them."

"We just wanted to see mom again," Al mumbled guiltily.

"I was so sure that we could bring her back, that we would be able to see her smile again that I never thought about the consequences. I was selfish," Ed said, his eyes landing on the shiny metal of Kate's right leg.

Her sobs subsiding, Kate shook her head and took in a shaky breath. "Selfish doesn't even begin to cover it," she muttered, her confusion, her sadness and her disbelief slowly melting away to be replaced with a burning anger that made her fists clench around the fabric of Roy's shirt while she kept her head firmly buried against his chest.

"I'm sorry, Kate. I never meant for any of this to happen," Ed said, staring at his clenched metal fist.

No longer able to keep quiet, Kate turned on Ed, her eyes hard and red from the tears she had shed. Clenching her jaw, she used Roy for support to stand up and stared down at Ed. "Never meant for any of this to happen? Then you shouldn't have messed with human lives, Ed. You are not a God, you're an alchemist, there is a difference regardless of what some may think! How dare you try to infringe on the lines between man and God!"

Ed hung his head as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders and listened to Kate's voice rise in pitch. When an armor glove rested itself on his shoulder, he glanced at it and up at his younger brother. A heavy pang of guilt caused him to look away again without so much as a word.

"It's not Ed's fault. He tries to take all the blame because he feels responsible for me losing my body, he forgets that we're both to blame. We both decided to try and bring mom back that day and we both paid for our mistake."

"So this is what you've been hiding? This is why you were too cowardly to face your own sister?" Kate asked harshly, eyes switching from Ed to Al before settling on Ed.

Putting a hand on Kate's shoulder, Roy tried to capture Kate's attention in hopes he could calm her down. Her face was growing red and he could feel the heat pouring off of her. Her fever was growing worse and judging by the way her breaths were growing shallower and rougher, he knew that she needed to be resting and not risking seriously damaging her health.

"Why don't you take some time to think and rest, Kate. You're burning up," Roy pointed out.

"You should rest, Kay. You're still adapting to the automail and given what you've been through-"

Her hand flew so fast that the only anyone could register was the loud sound of her palm making contact with Ed's cheek and the look of surprise on his face.

"How would you know what I've been through, Ed?!" Kate shouted, angry tears filling her golden eyes. "How would you know what it's like to be held prisoner by some insane man who thinks you can house his dead wife's soul?" The tears were sliding down her cheeks now, one after another. "I thought I'd never see you again and all I had were my memories. Memories of you two, of mom and dad, Roy...I cherished those memories. In those memories the two of you were my sometimes annoying, but still perfect brothers. I was proud of you two, but now...Now I can't even look at you. You two are not my brothers. My brothers would never have thought they could walk amongst Gods."

"I'm sorry," Ed muttered, his neck bent and his blond hair hiding his face so that no one could see the salty water leak from his eyes.

"Sorry just doesn't cut this time, Ed," Kate replied quietly, looking away from Ed and Al and clenching her jaw while warm tears continued streaming from her eyes.

"But, Kay, we-"

"I'm sorry, Al," Kate spoke up, keeping her head turned away from her brothers and beginning to limp back towards the hall and Roy's bedroom. "I don't want to hear anything else."

"Kay," Al protested, stepping towards his departing sister.

"It's alright, Al," Ed said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Let her go."

"Big brother, we can't leave things like this! I know she's mad at us, we deserve it, but-"

"That's enough, Al," Ed cut in monotonously. "We should go. We have no reason to be here, besides we haven't finished our research yet."

"Ed," Al argued. "I want to stay with, Kay, even if she doesn't want me here, I want to stay. She's our sister-"

"I said that's enough," Ed repeated. "Let's go." Turning away from Roy and Al, Ed walked to the door and opened it, casting a quick warning glance over to his younger brother before stepping past the threshold.

Torn, Al stood where he was, shifting his attention from the door his brother had walked through to the hall that Kate had disappeared down.

"You should go with your brother, Al. Kate needs time to think right now. You have to have some idea of what she likely saw when Ed touched her and even though I only saw the aftermath, I think it's safe to say that anyone would need time to process that."

"Yeah... Please take care of Kay," Al asked sadly before turning to follow after his brother.

Running a hand through his hair, Roy glanced down the hall at his closed bedroom door. With a sigh, he walked to his kitchen and made a quick cup of hot tea that he carried with him down the hall. When he opened the bedroom door he was greeted by darkness. The thick curtains were pulled over the windows, blocking out all but a few tiny slivers of sunlight and all of the lights were off.

His shadow was thrown forward, illuminated by the lights from the living room and he could barely make out Kate's body huddled on his bed. Her knees were drawn into her chest and she was resting her cheek against one of her arms which were both wrapped around her legs. Her eyes were open and staring blankly at the far wall, she ignored his presence in the room and let the tears that were flowing from her eyes continue to fall.

Flipping the switch that would turn the light on, Roy approached Kate and set the tea had made her on the nightstand before sitting beside her and putting a hand on her back.

"How are you feeling," he asked quietly.

Kate didn't answer, she just shook her head and leaned into Roy, shifting her position so that she huddled against him with her knees resting against his legs.

Brushing Kate's hair from her forehead, Roy kissed the top of her head and held her tightly against him.

"I'm sorry," Kate whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

Confused by her apology, Roy leaned back in an attempt to see Kate's face, but she had her head turned into chest so that he could only see the top of her head. Frowning, he gently put his hand under her chin and tilted her face upwards so that he could see into her red rimmed that were still spilling salty tears down her cheeks. "What are you talking about? You have nothing to apologize for, Kate."

Turning her head so that she was no longer forced to look up into Roy's eyes, Kate once again buried her head into his chest. "What I said before...I'm sorry."

"I still don't understand."

Her fingers tightened their grip on Roy's shirt and she took in a shaky breath. "I didn't see much..Just a brief flicker when I touched Winry, but with that was a sense that the boys were being forced into something. She must have felt really strongly about you being there.." Kate trailed off, tightening her grip on Roy and squeezing her eyes shuts.

She felt incredibly guilty for having accused Roy of only looking out for himself and having recruited the boys just to make himself look good. She now understood things better. In the state that the boys where in they would benefit more than Roy by joining the ranks of State Alchemists. They were trying to restore themselves and to do that they needed information. Information wasn't always easy to get without money and access to things that normal people would never be able to see.

"You don't need to apologize, Kate, it was a misunderstanding. That's it," Roy said, brushing her hair from her fevered forehead and gently kissing the warm skin.

Kate jolted in response to the gesture and lifted her head to look into Roy's eyes. She saw no anger there like she had expected, there was only love and what she thought was relief. Reaching up slowly, she put a hand on his cheek and let her fingers glide over his skin.

Capturing her hand in his own, Roy placed a soft kiss on the tops of her fingers before releasing her hand and letting his own fingers skim over Kate's cheek and down her neck. Combing his fingers through her thick hair and then let his fingers rest on her cheek. Leaning down, Roy let his lips brush tentatively brush over Kate's.

Taking a shuddering breath in response to the lustful gesture, Kate closed her eyes, relishing the closeness that she had missed and longed for for so long. Her hand replaced itself on Roy's cheek, stroking the familiarly warm skin while her lips lifted in a happy smile and she sighed contentedly.

After several more chaste, exploratory kisses, Roy let his hand wander to Kate's neck were he gently, but urgently pulled her closer to him, capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. Kate responded by wrapping her arms around Roy and holding him tightly as if she were afraid he'd disappear if she so much as loosened her grasp on him.

When Kate broke the kiss, leaning her head against Roy's forehead, she closed her eyes and took in a long, calming breath.

Caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers, Roy tried to look into her eyes only to see they were closed. "Kate," he questioned quietly.

She shook her head minutely, briefly squeezing her eyes shut tighter then they already were. "It's nothing," she answered in a soft whisper, letting her hands fall from his back and leaning back, away from him.

The shiny drops of water that slipped from beneath her closed eyelids didn't escape Roy's notice. He wiped the salty tears from her cheeks and sighed. It wasn't hard to figure out by the way she was pulling away from his touch that she had seen something in his past that had been hurtful. It also wasn't hard to figure out what she had likely seen, he had been truthful to her when he had said that his relationships hadn't all been respectable ones. "I'm sorry," he said, letting his hand drop away from her cheek in shame.

Shaking her head again, Kate blinked her eyes open, several more tears slipped from her eyes and she wiped them away before they could fall from her chin. "It's okay. You were honest with me from the start and I appreciate that. I just wasn't prepared," her voice was growing thick with emotion and she lowered her when the tears began to fall faster from her eyes. "Everything is so different now... I don't know what I expected, I guess I was holding on so tightly to the past through everything that I never really was able to let go of it. I'm holding on to how things were and I don't want to let go... I don't know how..." She trailed off, her shoulders shaking while she sobbed quietly. "I'm scared, Roy. Everything is so different. So much has changed and I don't know what to do."

Wrapping her up in his arms, Roy pulled Kate into his chest and let her cry while he held her. "It's understandable that you be scared. I'm scared too. I don't want to lose you, Kate, not again." He kissed her forehead before resting his cheek against her head. "It's going to take time for everything to get back to some sort of normalcy and no one expects it to be easy. You have a lot of people who care about you, Kate, none of us want to rush you. You've been through a lot, but we are all here for you no matter what. Your brothers included. They've really missed you, Kate, and they never gave up on you."

Kate's sobbing intensified and she clutched on to Roy as she trembled and let her body tire itself out. Feeling the exhaustion tugging at her and trying to pull her into unconsciousness, Kate looked up at Roy, he seemed sad and ashamed of himself as he stared down at her. "I love you, nothing I see in your past will change that. I just need time." She smiled wanly at him before kissing him sweetly. "Tell Ed and Al the same thing. I just need time to process everything." Her voice faded away and her eyes fluttered closed as sleep claimed her.

Al sat against the wall of the hotel room he shared with his brother. He was watching his older brother as the golden eyed boy stared blankly up at the ceiling form where he laid on the couch. It was easy to see the sadness that hung around him like a cloud, clinging to him relentlessly while he silently thought over the events of the last few hours.

"Hey brother," Al spoke up, quietly, uncertainly.

There was a short pause before Ed replied, his voice empty and lacking any emotion. "What is it, Al?"

"Um.." Al hesitated, not sure what to really say, but knowing he needed to say something because the silence was becoming too overwhelming. "Are we still going to go to Mr Tucker's tomorrow?"

"Sure," Ed answered.

Silence descended upon the two brothers again and Al began to fidget, his armor squeaking in protest occasionally. Sighing, Al decided to speak up again.

"We hurt Kate," he said. "She's been through so much... It must be so hard for her. Everything is so different from when she left. Especially us. Do you think we should try going to see her tomorrow?"

"Why," Ed asked, covering his eyes with his arm. "You heard her. She doesn't to see us."

Al sighed dejectedly. "Yeah, but she's our sister and she shouldn't be all alone right now. She may be mad, but-"

"She's got the bastard Mustang. She's not alone, Al."

"But still," Al protested. "We shouldn't give up on Kate now. We spent all these years waiting for her and now that she's back we should-"

"Just stop it, Al. I'm not in the mood," Ed cut in, rolling over on to his side so that his back was to his brother.

Frowning inwardly, Al sighed, but decided to keep quiet. Ed needed time to come to terms with Kate's reaction, just like Kate needed time to let things settle in. The world that she had left behind when she had disappeared had drastically changed. It had to be scary to realize that everything you knew was completely different, she had to feel extremely lost and alone. Al could understand how she had to have felt pretty well, things were never going to be the same for him, just as things would never be the same for her. Their lives had changed forever and it wasn't easy to move on when you were feeling scared and alone, but at the same time there was nothing else to do but move forward and think positive.

Thinking positively was something he had become quite good at and he had little doubt in his mind that Kate would one day forgive he and Ed. He was more than willingly to wait for that day to come. Now that they knew that Kate was safe and alive after waiting three years, clinging on to their belief that she was alive the entire time, waiting for her to come to terms with the mistakes they had made seemed like nothing.

~A/N~

If no one noticed then great, but I haven't really edited this chapter. I'm updating from a friend's house and am a little distracted by her two year old daughter who's dancing to the Orgy cd that's playing. It's pretting amusing.

Anyway, please review!