Evening everyone…I just got home from both my karate and Japan club meeting, so that's why this is a little later than normal. It's still on Thursday like I promised though!

Truthfully, I have NO idea what happened with the past few chapters. They do seem kind of rushed, and I can't blame it all on trying to get really close to the anime, and I take full blame for it. I think (more like hope), you guys will like this and the rest of the chapters. There's only a small part from the anime in the beginning, and then from then on out it's all from my head (however weird that may be!)…

I want to comment on Umi Mikazuki's review about why I didn't write about Edward in London. Well, if you read above and some of my reviews for the last few chapters, you'll know why. That and I thought it would be WAY too much information to process all at once for someone who may have not seen the end of the series yet. Do the spoilers burn?

Either way, I hope it's better from here on out.

I know I can trust on you guys to let me know!

Chapter Thirty-Four

The normal white surroundings of the area around the looming gate was now a pale yellow. Edward stood before the gate, though this time it was without fear. An image of his brother's armor flashed in front of him, slightly confusing him, "Al?" The image disappeared, and moments later Envy faded into his view. The homunculus whirled around, looking at his surroundings, "What the…!" He turned to Edward and demanded to know where he was.

"The gate…" Edward said calmly. For some reason, everything seemed to be calm to him. Even with a dangerous homunculus in front of him; the feelings never changed. Envy glared at him, and then quickly whirled around to see the looming gate behind him. The eye that was carved into the two doors seemed to stare into his soulless body, unnerving him. He turned his head slightly back to Edward, "Where does it lead?"

"I believe it's a place called London," Edward replied, " A place where our father is…" The information caused the homunculus to turn his whole body back towards Edward in anger, "Father! Do you mean Hohenheim of Light?" Edward nodded his head in approval. "He's still alive!" demanded Envy. Smiling slightly to himself, he turned back around and walked up the steps to the closed gate. Putting his fingers in the grooves of the door, he struggled and attempted to open the doors by force.

"You really shouldn't," warned Edward, "Do you know what will happen?"

"I will go to Hohenheim!" Envy yelled as he continued to pry open the doors. They finally began to move, which motivated him even more to pull harder. "I will kill him!" He said as he finally had the doors open at arms length. The blackness seemed to stretch forever, but moments later, the dozens of eyes opened and stared at the intruder. "Take me to Hohenheim!" yelled the homunculus to the eyes. He didn't even flinch when dozens of tentacles shot out and wrapped around his body, pulling him into the darkness. He laughed to himself as golden light began to surround the tentacles, but was distracted when he noticed the blackness began to take forms of tiny babies all over his skin. They clawed and bit at his skin, attempting to rip it from him.

"Get out of my way!" he screamed to the black forms, "I'm going!" He quickly transformed into a form of Edward, throwing all of the forms off of him. "I'm going to where Hohenheim is!" He could see a white light far away, bobbing and weaving throughout the golden light that now surrounded him. He melted into his true form, "To where my FATHER is!" Seeing he wasn't getting anywhere fast, Envy transformed into a giant serpent dragon and began to fly towards the white light. Edward saw the dragon form shrink more and more as the doors slowly closed shut in front of him.

Edward stood there motionless as he watched the doors close. Tears flowed down his cheek, though his face did not convey any expression of sadness. Moments passed by as a single name was uttered, "Al…" as the gate disappeared from his view.

"Edward, are you alive?" a familiar voice echoed through his head.

Edward slowly opened his eyes and saw Winry leaning over him as his vision came into focus. He saw a big bruise forming on the side of her face where she was obviously struck hard by someone, and her dress was covered in blood. He sat up quickly as he thought she was seriously injured, but stopped as his head began to spin from the sudden movement. She leaned over and gently pressed him back down to the floor, "Don't worry about me," she said, "I'm fine. I just look worse than I feel at the moment…"

Winry reached forward with her right hand and cupped the side of his face. Using her thumb she wiped away a trail of tears that had fallen from his eyes. Edward felt the wetness from the tears and lifted his right hand to rub his own face, "Why am I crying?" A strange feeling brushed his face as he wiped the tears away; one that he had not felt in many years. He lifted his hand in front of him to find it wasn't automail anymore, but his own original hand. Confused, he slowly sat up this time, and waited a moment for the dizziness to pass, then looked around at his surroundings. Winry and he were in the same opera house as before. The floor was still bare, but now, sitting next to the girl, was a chair that seemed to have been alchemically altered into a makeshift crib. Edward could hear the small breathing of a baby sleeping soundly inside the crib. He held his hand in front of his face, almost disbelieving what he was seeing, and felt his left leg to find that, it too, was his original leg.

Confused, Edward continued to look around the room. Finally, his gaze stopped on the girl sitting next to him. She seemed happy that he was alive, but there was sadness behind her eyes. He looked down to see that her automail hand peeked out from underneath the sleeve of the dress she wore. "Winry," he said as he placed his hand on hers, "what happened?"

Her face lifted up slightly, and Edward could see more of the sadness she tried to hide, "Al performed a transmutation on you. On your dead body…" tears leapt to her eyes at the memory of his body lying here, sitting in a pool of blood. She could see Edward's face react to the information, as he tried to grasp the situation, "He used the Philosopher's Stone to affix my soul to my body…Then," he said with urgency in his voice, "what happened to Al!"

He watched her as her face fell again in remembrance, confirming his suspicion. "He disappeared?" Edward couldn't believe it, as he jumped to his feet and began to yell out for his brother. He couldn't be gone! He just couldn't! Not after all they had been through!

Edward's yelling quickly woke up the baby, as Winry rushed to the crib's side and tried to comfort him; the tears still streamed down her face. She held the child within her arms and sunk down to her knees on the ground. "I'm sorry, Edward…I'm..so sorry" she wept as the child continued crying in her arms. The teenager turned around to see the girl he loved hunched over on the floor. Tears fell from her face and landed on the floor below her. Edward slowly walked over to where the she sat, and kneeled in front of her. The baby slowly began to quiet down after a moment, and Edward gently took him from her arms and placed the baby back in the crib. Coming back to face Winry, he sank to his knees and gently took the girl in his arms. All that had happened within the last hour or so had been too much for her, and she was on the verge of breaking down. With her head rested underneath his chin, she clutched onto him for dear life. Even if he hadn't seen her in a long time, the sound of her sobs still broke his heart. Part of him wanted to stay here and be with her, but he knew he had to do something to help his brother.

"Winry," Edward said after the girl began to settle down. She lifted her head and looked upward to Edward; her eyes still clouded with tears. Being mindful of her injured cheek, Edward gently wiped away the tears from her eyes and smiled slightly at her. "You don't know how happy I am right now to see you," he said causing her to smile in return, "but you know what I have to do."

Winry lowered her eyes and nodded sadly, "You're going to try and bring Al back, aren't you?" She looked up to see the determination set in his face. "I have come to expect no less from you." She began to push herself off of the ground, and he quickly helped her to stand up.

"Winry," his voice caught her attention, "I want you to get out of here. It's not going to be safe for you to be anywhere near here when I do this…"

The girl nodded her head in understanding. "I guess you will also need to take him with you too," Edward said, pointing to where what remained of Wrath lay. Winry stared at the child with no arms and legs, then turned back to Edward.

"What about you? What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know, that's why I'd rather you be far away when I do this. Most likely I will destroy this place," Edward said as they both looked around the giant room. "But this way no one ever seeks the Philosopher's Stone again…"

Silence surrounded the two, as each was lost in their own thoughts. "But you'll come back when you're finished, right?" came a small voice from the girl. She was not ready to lose him again, "You have a good pair of legs now…" she tried to say jokingly.

Edward turned around and faced her, "I had a good pair of limbs before, too." Winry raised her eyes to see happiness adorning Edward's face. His expression made her feel a little better. A thought crossed his mind moments later as Edward dug into his shirt and pulled the two necklaces he wore around his neck to make them visible. Winry smiled when she saw the both of them together, "Where did you find it?"

"It survived the crimson light in Lior, and Colonel Mustang gave it to me. That's when we all had thought you were…that you had…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. She didn't know anything about the light he spoke of, but felt the sadness in his voice as he spoke. For whatever reason, she realized he thought she had died. Winry couldn't even imagine the torture he could have gone through; not knowing if she was alive or dead. She shook her head to rid it of those thoughts. She felt something touching her neck, and opened her eyes to see Edward clasping the necklace closed around her neck.

"So does this mean you'll come back?" Winry asked quietly, a small sad smile adorning her face. She was surprised when he pulled her into a warm embrace, but quickly wrapped her arms around the man she loved. They sat there in each other's arms for what seemed like an eternity, each holding onto the other like a lifeline.

"Only if it means you will be here to come back to…" he finally whispered into her ear, his voice quivering slightly with emotion. Winry pulled back slightly, and pressed her forehead against his. Edward lifted his hands to cup her beautiful face and found himself entranced by her beauty. He knew at that moment that there would be no other woman that would ever capture his heart the way she did.

Winry smiled slightly at his comment and relished the feeling of his hands on her face, "Whatever happens, know that I'll be here," she said as she covered his hand with hers, "Even if I have to stand on the edge of the earth forever, I'll be here waiting for you…" Tears of joy ran down both teenagers' faces as they closed the distance to share a small and tender kiss.

"It's time that I go, you need to help Al…" Winry finally moments later said as she reluctantly pulled back from their embrace. She would give anything to stay here with him forever, but still didn't want to come between him and his brother. Edward nodded in sadness as she left his embrace, but remembered what she had written in her diary; she didn't want to come between him and Al when it came to getting their bodies back. It pained him to let her go again, but knew it was for the better.

Winry slowly walked away towards the makeshift crib and gently lifted the slumbering baby into her arms. She turned and watched as Edward turned another chair nearby into a wheeled cart, and lifted Wrath onto it. The child homunculus did not protest; he just wanted to get out of here, but couldn't in the state he was currently in. Edward wheeled him to the front of the giant hallway and waited for Winry to join him, "Do you think you'll be able to manage? I mean, with the baby and all?"

Winry nodded slightly and flashed a small smile, "You forget who you're talking to. I think I'll be able to manage…" she joked.

Edward lifted his hand and cupped the uninjured side of her face, "I love you, Winry. I think I always have…" Winry balanced the child in her arms and lifted her hand to cover his.

"I love you too, Edward," she said, as the two embraced for what could be the last time. She finally pulled away from him and looked lovingly into his eyes, "I have to go now…" she said before quickly giving him one last kiss.

"I know," Edward whispered, "So do I…"

Edward stood silently in the middle of the gigantic transmutation circle that now adorned the floor of the opera house. Shirtless, he had drawn many circles on his bare torso, forearms and forehead. His voice began to echo in the large room, as Edward spoke quietly to himself.

"If what my father said was true, right now, Al's body and soul are…inside of that gate…" he said, lowering his head, slightly. "There's no equivalent trade for a life. No matter how hard I try, it might be in vain. But," he said, lifting his chin up, "You won't disappear, Al…I'll bring you back…"

Once again silence fell upon him as he lifted his arms up slightly in the air, "Please wait for me, Winry…" he said before clapping his hands together. Slowly he placed them on his own body, activating the transmutation circle below him. Both the circle below and the ones on his skin glowed a bright blue hue as energy flowed around the teenager.

I will come back for you…