Aureate Bonds

Author's Note: A chapter updating what is going on with those back in 'our world' that Evelyn left behind. Again, I don't necessarily expect reviews on this particular upload but encourage it anyway. I also want to forewarn you once more it will be far shorter than the typical chapters. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.

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Reviews: Thanks to BringOnTheDrunkAlbino's, Dylzan, and KMnorway for favoriting and following the story. Thanks to Ookami Youma and oblivionknight7 for following the story. Thank you, mus0u for favoriting. Thank you to gaara king of the sand, idea. getthe, justaislinn (for chapter 31), BringOnTheDrunkAlbino's, JChrys, Le Confidant, (Guest), and johndoe (for chapters 15 and 26.3) for reviewing. Thank you, MizerE for following both the story and me, the authoress. Thanks also go to justaislinn and mus0u for favoriting me, the authoress.

Idea. getthe, technically yes and no. I did it before as a sort of more notable break and I did it again. The original content picks up again after this 'update' of 'our' world.

Justaislinn, perfection is hardly what I'd call it personally. But I did throw a lot of myself into it.

BringOnTheDrunkAlbino's and JChrys, Firefly is awesome and I've been waiting a long time to put that particular snippet out there. As far as a FMA/Firefly crossover, I even have the mechanics of how alchemy would function in the 'Verse. Let's just say that doing alchemy on a ship in the middle of space is a very bad idea. It'd draw from the engines and leave you stranded. "Out of Gas" anyone? Oh, and I am just as bad as you, JChrys. I'm tinkering with a FMA/Firefly idea and I don't know if it'll ever be published because it's an idea of an idea.

Le Confidant, second mention of the FMA2003/FMAManga cross (JChrys was the first). Could you just imagine two Edwards standing in front of someone like Mustang? Or Olivier? Cities would crumble. Minds would explode. And I'm still working on the Alphonse-centric one-shot. It'll be some time yet because I'm also inventing original content to go along with it and not just rehashing this story from his viewpoint and there's a point I want to get to in posting before slinging it up on the web. That point is very soon, actually, and next chapter but it's still in the future.

Johndoe, I love when mine change, actually. It's eerie when they turn yellow because then you start thinking cats, yeah? Though your eyes turning black is kinda creepy sounding. I'd like to see it, though. And thank you for the compliment. I try to write well but I always feel I'm lacking. After all, I'm using other people's ideas. Out of curiosity, what made you cry?

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Interlude Chapter: Broken Bonds (or Ch XXXI & Two-Thirds)

1: Samantha Dyne

It had been a hard few months since her daughter's disappearance. She'd lost some weight, unfortunately, verging a touch too skinny. Posters had gone up, news spots had been done, and the entire country was looking for her child.

A child they'd never find.

Sam stared blankly at her screen as she ran some stupid calculation for some bullshit zoning thing she was supposed to be doing. She was supposed to be working, honestly, but rarely did she get much in the way of a hard time. The pictures she'd posted on the cubicle walls mocked her in some ways, reminding her of her little girl endlessly. She'd refused to pull them down. Pulling them down meant forgetting. After a moment, she realized she had to get up and stretch, maybe go get some water or something.

"Hey, Sam." The callout surprised her and she looked over her shoulder to see Adam Zapalac looking at her. He was her coworker and she had wound up growing closer to him over the past few months thanks to the trauma of her daughter vanishing. He'd lost his child, too, only to a drunk driver. "You doing okay?" He also came around often to say 'hello'. She gave him a slight smile, one that had finally started to reach her eyes again.

"Yeah. I'm doing okay. Getting ready to get something to drink." She stood and did her stretch, moving towards the opening in her little section of the office. "What's up with you?" He shrugged.

"Just coming to say 'hi'." Sam snagged her cup off the desk and moved on down the walkway with Adam next to her. "Have you heard anything?"

"No. I'm almost of the opinion now 'no news is good news'." He frowned at that as they entered the break room, barely noting the others currently zapping another cup of coffee in the microwave or was digging in the refrigerator for something to eat.

"You sure about that? It means no closure and I hear that's harder than…" He left it hanging.

She shrugged negligently, going to the water cooler to stuff her cup under the spigot. "I'm certain Ed's fine." Samantha had to hope that was true. She ignored the glances her way. She knew she was a hot topic for gossip by now. "I mean, if things were going wrong… I have to hope she'd come home."

The unspoken words of 'if she's able' hung in the air. Taking a pull from her glass, she allowed her eyes to pan over to Adam. Lowering it upon seeing his conflicted expression, she gave him a lopsided smile.

"She's tough." Despite her blasé and almost nonchalant attitude, she couldn't deny that her sleep was often broken by nightmares either on her or Brandon's part. Images of blood-filled landscapes with broken and tumbled structures and endless night, transforming monsters, red-eyed men with destructive touches… The thought of Evelyn dead due to gunshots, alchemy, or God knew what else. She spent every night on her knees praying for her child. It was all that she could do. "Don't you dare think otherwise. I'll see my baby again."

She did not appreciate the pitying look on Adam's face or the similar sad 'poor, poor woman' looks the others in the break room gave her. All it did was make her angry. Here she was, trying to be strong for her baby girl. Here she was, working to keep strong. Here she was, hoping against hope that God would grant this one wish. She just wanted her baby back in her arms, dammit!

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2: Peter Brown

"Hey, man!" Peter grinned as he high-fived Chris. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good, actually." He gave the bespectacled teen a consternated look, obviously conflicted. "Is it bad I think Jim's cool?" Peter shrugged, recalling the strawberry-blonde guy that Tiffany was dating. He'd met him once or twice, mostly because he'd gone to hang out at Chris's house and had seen Tiffany come over. The woman seemed to be doing better, fortunately, and James was cool.

"Hey, so long as he doesn't turn into proper jailbait," offered Peter. "So, you coming over this evening?"

"Yeah," agreed Chris with a grin. "It's a shame Erica's not into games." He'd taken to dating a girl a year older than them and Peter thought her an idiot but Chris liked her so who was he to disagree? Well, to be honest, Peter had tried to date. He had tried to move on with several girls. It had gotten him into a lot of hot water because he'd try to behave as he did towards Evelyn only to recoil and shut himself off and his now-excessively bipolar nature wasn't very well tolerated by a female who expected certain things in a man, especially ones that are romantically inclined like most high school girls and stuffed up with a bunch of ideals from Disney films and crap.

Fairytales rarely worked out in the real world in Peter's eyes.

"Well, it's not my fault she can't take to awesome games," he told his friend. Fortunately for him his mother was tolerant of his attitudes. She kept a watchful eye on him and still heckled him like normal, but she refused to listen to the school telling her to put him on anti-depressants. She was of the stance, and she had vocally advocated this stance no less in the middle of the principal's office loud enough to be heard in the hall, that mediating a child for not conforming to a school systems robot values was wrong. Peter had never been more proud of being Amelia Brown's son than then. He'd been left smiling for the rest of the day and every time after he thought of it, he would grin.

It had helped this proclamation had been made during the height of traffic through the halls between bells and no shortage of students had heard the indignant and loud words. Peter, who had been asked to stand outside probably so Amelia couldn't see him as she was cajoled into doing the anti-depressant medications, had watched as they gave him wide-eyed looks.

Yep, Peter had a cool mom.

Chris sighed in exasperation, rolling his eyes as they halted by a locker and Peter stuffed his books inside. "Yeah, you think Iz could come, too?" Isaiah had been one of the few that had kept to the group, choosing to stay near because he had that kind of personality that Peter figured just wanted to genuinely help. He had also started dating Bethany.

"Sure. I don't think Mom would mind." Thinking about the pale blonde girl, he added, "Maybe we could even ask Beth to come? She'd have fun playing games, too." Chris snorted.

"Yeah, the game of 'suck face'."

"Give her credit," teased Peter. "And I've got a four player. We can all get on and have fun." Chris gave him a deadpan look.

"Seriously? You're gonna make us play Mario Kart or Mario Party? Dude, that's lame."

"You just wanna play some first person shooter."

"Damn straight! At least those are fun!"

"And Mario isn't?" He laughed when Chris made a cross with his fingers at him.

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3: Adriana Costello

The Latina really regretted opening her mouth about how she had been glad her competition for Peter was gone. As the months had passed, she realized more and more how much she really missed Evelyn. She had missed the crazy attitude of confidence that just drew people in like moths to a flame. She had come to miss her bright grin and knowing gaze and the comments that she made that sometimes seemed too old for someone her age to make. She missed how Evelyn was always ready for a fight but just as easy to laugh and joke. The teen had been incredibly smart and, looking back, Adriana felt she should have known something was wrong when Evelyn did such a one eighty in openness and suddenly shut down, barely talking to anyone and growing exponentially moody.

Well, she had known something was wrong but she'd not understood.

Peter didn't talk to her anymore except in the most civil and removed of ways and Adriana regretted the loss of friendship. At least everyone else did, even though it took a while for Bethany to talk to her with the same ease again. On top of everything else, Peter seemed to behave oddly. Not just the depression, which was understandable, but also because of the fact he had turned a bit into a serial dater. It was like he was trying to move on, move past the pain of having lost the person that Adriana later learned he had become wholly committed to. It was like he knew she wasn't going to come back.

And that really confused the Latina. His erratic nature had become even more erratic and his despondency would remain even as he acted like there was nothing wrong. But he behaved as if there was no hope for her coming back. That really worried her. If Peter, one of the most enthusiastic and hopeful people believed Evelyn was not going to come back… Did that mean she was really gone?

"Hey." The word startled her and she looked up from her blank contemplation of her tray, sighting Bethany.

"Hey," she murmured back.

"You're thinking heavy thoughts," mused the blonde, settling down across from her in the noisy cafeteria. "What of?"

"Need you ask?" Bethany frowned and sighed before she shook her head.

"Ed."

"Yep." Silence stretched for a bit before Adriana spoke again, "Do you think there's a chance she will come back?"

Bethany, who had been in the middle of opening the piddling milk carton that had come with her meal, paused. "I don't know." The thoughtful look on her face, obviously considering the situation, piqued Adriana's interest. "She might. Ed's amazing like that."

"How can you be for certain?"

"Because she's…" Beth shook her head and looked at Adriana with pale eyes. "Because Ed's like some fantastic hero. Always doing the impossible. She left, I think, because she had to. Don't you remember how she always said weird things?" She smiled as Adriana nodded. "I remember what she said about Al. About how I was lucky to have a sibling because that person will be my friend for life. How she was jealous of that…" Her eye widened as she paused again. "…right now," she breathed.

"Huh?"

Beth shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing. Anyway, I think there is a chance Ed'll come back… or at least something will happen that will make everything all right again."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Adriana.

Beth grinned knowingly. "I just do. Because, y'see… and you can't tell anyone this… but… Remember that Ferris Wheel?"

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4: Bethany Lowry

Okay, so maybe telling Adriana about the 'true identity' of the 'Purple Repairman' hadn't been the most thought out of ideas. But the look the other teen had given her had been well worth it. The lunch period had ended with Dree demanding all kinds of answers and Beth not having all of them for her. She'd talked to Peter about Evelyn but he'd never been exceptionally forthcoming.

"Hey, sweetie," grinned Isaiah, looping an arm about her shoulder. Her mother wasn't entirely pleased with Bethany's choice of boyfriend but tolerated him because, while Hispanic, he was unfailingly polite. It wasn't that her mother was racist, but she had certain beliefs about Hispanics and for well-founded reasons as far as she was concerned. Bethany knew them all and had taken them into consideration before she had pointed out that even whites and blacks and any other color could be the same way. Her mother had agreed, of course, but still had cautioned her.

"Hey, Iz. What's up?"

"I just got invited to come over to Pete's place," he told her in that accent of his that denoted both his Spanish speaking abilities and that country lilt that had done much of the convincing towards Bethany's mother to let things lie. The elder woman had muttered something about 'Trace Adkins being right' before moving on. "You want to come?"

"Am I invited?" she asked. He nodded.

"Chris is thinking we'll be making out more than playing games but…" He shrugged. "Peter seems to think him wrong."

Beth chuckled. "So, who should we disappoint?"

"Well, considering Peter's got the better gaming systems, I say Chris." She laughed outright, attracting a few glances. Isaiah also laughed a bit, hugging her sort of sideways.

"Let me talk to my mom first, alright? That's the make-or-break, you know." Isaiah, well aware of his girlfriend's mother's worries about him, nodded.

"Makes sense. And don't hide I'll be there, alright? It might stop you from coming but it's better than lying to her, especially if she finds out later." That's what Beth liked about Isaiah. He would rather keep her mother happy to some degree than try to sneak about.

"Of course." Her mother had assented to the meet up, denoting she was going to be picked up at eight-thirty and to enjoy herself. Once they got out of school, Beth and Isaiah rode the bus that Peter and Chris (and Evelyn) normally rode. No one had cars despite having obtained their permits and Chris his license. They chattered and laughed, Beth watching the light in Peter's eyes. He seemed to be okay right now, which Bethany was grateful for, and she wondered about him and Evelyn.

After getting to the Brown residence and they'd played some, Peter said he'd go and get some more snacks and Bethany offered to go with him.

"Hey, Pete?" The dark haired and bespectacled teen glanced at her.

"What?"

"I have to ask…" She dithered for a moment before pushing on. "You knew Ed really well, right?" His jocularity faded a bit and he frowned before muttering an affirmative. "Who was she?" The confusion that appeared in Peter's face made her wince even as he pressed for more information.

"What do you mean?"

Bethany searched for the words before just blurting it out. "She wasn't normal. She wasn't ordinary. She could do things and did things that…" She trailed off. "Peter, why did she call you such a weird name?"

He considered her for a moment before giving her a smile that seemed older than he was. "Now that is a story…"

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5: Amelia Brown

She paused just outside the kitchen door as she listened to Peter tell his friend about Evelyn's truth. She could see the amazed incredulity and realized with a start that the pervading sadness that Peter held in him lessened a touch but knew it was merely muffled. She listened as Bethany did, finding his story a good one because he felt the words. To hear it all again, to hear how her son had once been a man known as Maes Hughes, a military man, and that Evelyn had once been Edward Elric, an alchemist…

All it did was remind her that these two children she'd loved beyond all others were so very strange. And it made her appreciate her son and his girlfriend all over again.

"You can't tell anyone, though," Peter told Bethany, finally sighting his mother. "I mean, I don't even know everything because Ed always said it was okay for me to forget. And I did wind up forgetting a lot."

Bethany stared at him in awe. Amelia didn't even have to see her gaping in order to know it. "Wait… You fell for someone that used to be a guy and you were okay with it?" That caused her to choke on a laugh and made the pale blonde spin to look at her in astonishment.

"Out of everything you could have picked to ask about first," laughed the detective. "Oh, what a mess."

"You knew, too, Ms. Brown?" Amelia nodded.

"Pete told me after Ed disappeared. I'd always known that girl was special, just as I'd known my boy was special. I just didn't know how special." Smiling, she added, "You really can't tell, though. It's bad enough it sounds like some fantasy novel but to tell people it's real makes it hard. Last thing I need is my boy committed to an institution for his odd thinking." She smiled at Peter. He huffed before dragging stuff out of the cabinets. "And don't you mess up my kitchen just because you have friends over."

"Woe to the man who marries you, woman," groused Peter but Amy could hear his amusement. His blue eyes weren't currently darkened by foul emotions and that was good. He was beginning to heal even if it was slow.

"No man is mad enough to marry me. I made sure of it," snorted the heavyset woman, putting hands on hips and smirking. "Or, at least none that I've come across yet." She watched Peter roll his eyes.

"It's so strange, though. To know you knew each other before you were even born…" Beth paused and looked to Peter again. "She had a sibling, didn't she?" Peter, who had snagged some sodas from the fridge, looked at her.

"How you figure that?"

"Something she said to me about Allison."

"Well, she did. His name was Alphonse. She went back to him because he was really messed up and would have died if she didn't. There's other stuff going on in that world, stuff I don't remember, but I know she has a brother and that brother relies on Ed very much."

Amelia watched as Bethany seemed to slot the pieces together. "She told me once that Allison would be the person that would know how to tear me down but wouldn't because she loves me too much. That she would be the one that would fight for me no matter what because she was the only one allowed to mess with me." Connecting gazes with Peter, the blonde caught his grin. Amelia did, too.

"Yup. That's Ed. Always saying weird things."

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6: Brandon Dyne

Brandon smiled when he saw the glint of gold around his wife's neck. She had defended her choice of accessory rather adamantly, especially to the likes of Jessica who had made some snide comment about it once. Brandon recalled vividly the way Sam had told her it was in honor of Evelyn and her sister had stopped saying it was an ugly crucifix. Perhaps he ought to be glad he didn't have such petty people in his family. They had their own issues, but they weren't that petty. He reached out and grasped it gently as she sat the groceries on the cabinet and she paused upon seeing the move. "How was your day?"

"Same old, same old," she said with a half-smile. "You?"

"Alright. Still dealing with the old rigmarole of homicide." Grimacing, Sam detangled her fingers from plastic sack handles. The phone rang sharply, cutting off any potential for continued conversation and he snagged up his mobile and glanced at the screen. It wasn't a number he recognized. Flicking the display, he connected to the caller and pressed it to his ear. "Hello, Brandon Dyne speaking."

"Hello, Mr. Dyne. I'm Wayne Orwell from NBC News and I was hoping to do an interview with you and your wife over-"

"I'm not interested," Brandon cut in. "My wife and I are having a difficult time enough with certain matters and I don't have any desire to compound our issues by playing off of our daughter's disappearance. Please do not call us again." He cut off the apologetic babble and disconnected the call. Scowling at his frowning wife, he was unsurprised to see her looking consternated as well.

"Why must they be vultures?" she sighed.

"Dirty laundry, love. They just want dirty laundry." He sent a hand through his hair once he laid down the phone and then shifted to start sorting through the groceries. "Anything else in the car?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "This is it."

"Well," he said, giving a slight grin as he liberated a few cans to be put into the pantry. "Let's get this put up, yeah?" She smiled.

"Of course."

Brandon had been planning a seduction tonight, honestly. While spontaneity was all very well and good, he knew that spontaneity wasn't there right now. And he did not want his wife to fall into a depression any more than she had. It was his duty to protect her, to make her happy. He failed in that in some ways but he was determined to make up for it. When her back was turned to him as she put some stuff into the fridge, he took his chance to pounce.

"Bran, wha?" she squeaked as he caught her up in his arms.

"Love me?" he asked her as she tilted her head back. She had always fascinated him because she'd been so small in comparison to him. It had always been like holding a doll. A very fiery doll with a personality larger than she was.

"Of course I love you," Sam said in exasperation only to squeak as he pressed a kiss to her temple. The sound dissolved into a giggle as he blew a slight raspberry before kissing her again right there. "Bran!"

"Let me make you feel better," he begged softly, causing her to still and she turned to look up at him, taking a moment to shut the fridge door.

"Oh, sweetheart," she murmured, reaching up to him. He felt a thrill when she did and felt her fingers dance on his cheeks. "You're too good for me."

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Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the update to the 'normal world'.

Please review. I appreciate it.