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Double Update!


The many ways they say 'I love you'


Timeline: Up to chapter 4 - Jean Havoc


Charlotte Llewellyn & Leroy Grumman

She knew that he loved her because he had never taken no for an answer when he had asked her to marry him. And when he appeared on her doorsteps thirty minutes after her father's death with the most delicious chocolate cake she had ever seen and eaten, she knew that he would always be there for her. And she let him in and while she cried, he held her close and when she had no more tears left to cry, they ate the cake in comfortable silence before she fell asleep with her head against his chest on the couch.

And as she awoke in the morning, she wanted to maim him for drugging her but when she saw his smile, she just glared at him before her gaze followed his and saw the rainbow on the sky.


Izumi Curtis & Abigail Mustang

"My sister … she is different. We never see it as necessary to talk with her about the way she lives. I bet that she still thinks that the choices she makes are just hers." The black-haired girl paused for a moment. "She never figured out that she is a leader with the way she behaves … and that others will follow her on her way. I mean … I am just nine and … I can see it. She always seems to be … on the edge but then again, she is old enough to decide. I want to be like her when I am an adult. Abby … she can do what she wants because it's her right … and her choices will forever change my life."

"So, your sister is the example you are following?" her teacher asked.

She nodded. "Yes," she said determinate. "I want to be as strong as she is. She always says 'You are strong when you stand up for yourself. You are even stronger when you stand up for others.' And I want to stand up for myself, others and the things I believe in."


Abigail Mustang & Izumi Curtis

Abigail had always adored the nature. She had spent years of her early adulthood sitting on trees and enjoying the sun while reading. And because she loved the nature that much, she had shared this beauty with her younger sister, Izumi. Together, they sat in the grass while they talked about everything. They looked at the blooming flowers and quickly came to the decision that they happened to live in a really wonderful world.

They were very alike in a way but on the other hand, they argued far too much to benefit from that fact. But when it really counted, they always found themselves back to back.


Peter Hamilton & Elaine Hamilton

As he watched her fight, he smiled. She was extremely strong these days. No one could control her as she danced across the yard like a hurricane. Someone who looked close enough could see that she was becoming a fighting machine. She was one of the best he had ever seen. In less than thirty seconds, she managed to disarm the man who usually led the special forces of the Cretan Secret Service. In her own, slightly twisted way, she was breathtaking and charming even when she was fighting. Whoever wanted to fight her had to do it after her own rules … and it was nearly impossible to beat her in her own little game.

He saw how the arrays on her hands started to glow before the so-called Diamond Fist appeared. She specialised in the manipulation of carbon and with the right arrays she could create a thin layer of carbon which had turned into diamond through compression around her hands which made her already strong physical attacks even stronger.

He was proud of her and he knew that it was visible in her face as she turned to look at another opponent. But then again, she was his little sister and she was one of the bets fighters he had ever met. He smiled as he looked at the proctor. "Never count her out before she is absolutely dead," he said. "As long as she can create her Diamond Fist, she isn't going down easily."


Jun Li & Jun Yao

She knew about the responsibility she held in her hands and she knew that it had been basically suicidal to accept it. She knew the council and she knew that they were just waiting for her to make a mistake. But then again, she had never failed before and she didn't see a reason why she should start now. She was a born leader and she had proved her worth on many different occasions … and she had the scars to witness what she had suffered for the good of the country. She wasn't afraid. She had lost her fear a long time ago. She had no reason to be afraid anymore. She had accepted that it was her duty to protect the emperor and she had vowed that she would do everything to keep him from being harmed. The other bodyguards envied her for her high position but she never wasted a single thought on the influence she possessed now. She knew what she was supposed to do and to this day, she had never disappointed anyone – and she wasn't about to start it now just because she protected the most important man of Xing.


Catherina D'Artagan & Peter Hamilton

To Catherina, love was the result of many years of friendship and hard work. She was much younger than him but when her parents told her that she was betrothed now, she didn't bother to protest because she knew her fiancé and Peter Hamilton was a really nice and caring guy. She had known him for many years and they had always been friends. To be married to him wouldn't be that much of a bother, she decided.

And they argued after half a year of betrothal and as he yelled back at her, she knew that there would never be another man for her. There would never be another man like Peter Hamilton. There would never be another man who could make her heart miss a beat and her blood boil in her veins. She would never feel complete with another man at her side. No other man would ever see her as the young woman with the huge dreams – and that was how she wanted to be seen. Peter respected her as an equal. He supported her – no matter how crazy and insane her ideas were. She had always been against arranged marriages but she could live with this decision of her parents. Peter could make her laugh and he could always tell when she felt bad.

And because she loved him, she let go of him and smiled as she said: "Make your dream come true, Peter. It's a wonderful dream … it deserves to come true."


Lei Yao & Jun Li

As a team, they had never to fear anyone. They were too … compatible to fail a mission. Jun Li with her speed and her sharp sense which allowed her to detect anyone's chi at anyplace without any problems and Lei who wasn't as fast as her but who was stronger worked together like they had never done anything else in their lives. They were friends by now, that was obvious to everyone. The prince would always stop for a moment when he saw his father's bodyguard somewhere and he would always speak with her for a moment before they would part ways again. The differences in their social rank were huge but that didn't stop him from being her friend and confident. On missions for the Eye of Xing, they slept back to back and fought side by side. To know her that well gave him, however, problems when he had to stab his sword through her body to fatally wound their enemy. But then again, to them, love had always meant to trust each other blindly and that was meant that she knew that he had never intended to hurt them.


Elaine Hamilton & Peter Hamilton

There it was. The flash of a memory … a faint sound … an echo of her past … she wanted to die. She wished that she could simply vanish into nothingness and free herself of all the pain inside of her. But as much as she wanted to diminish and become one without past and painful memories, she remembered things that forced her to hold on and stay alive.

She remembered her brother and this memory forced her to stay alive. She couldn't die. Not yet, not as long as he needed her. She couldn't remember what happened. She just remembered that there had been a flash of light and … pain. She remembered nothing from before … just a few childhood memories. The doctors had told her that she had been very powerful, one of the best people in her country but she didn't remember why she was that important.

She just remembered her brother's smile and his eyes.


Peter Hamilton & Catherina D'Artagan

When she turned to leave and returned to her waiting brothers, he suddenly felt like an outsider who was standing at the window and watched how the beautiful heir of the most prestigious family of the cretan nobility stood on the stairs on the other side of the room. He longed to stand next to her but he knew that he had deceived himself from the very beginning.

He had told himself into believing that miracles could happen. Now, he had to regret it because with this he had forced himself into pretending that he didn't care at all about her decision while in reality, he loved her. It had been foolish to believe in this modern day fairytale. He should have known that this had been too good to be true. In the end, the reality had woken him up from his daydream. He had planned everything out. He had even thought about the names of their children because he had been so sure that they would work out. Well, their marriage had been arranged but he really loved her. He knew that he had confused his feelings and the truth for far too long – everybody else had known this. He had been too sure, in the end, and so he had tricked himself into believing that she felt the same way. But she hadn't seen it through his eyes.

She hadn't seen the chance to have both: his dream and their love.


Abel Mustang & Abigail Mustang

He loved his younger twin with all her antics. She was nearly driving him insane with her way to see the world as a single night club and life as a single party but as long as she was happy, he would go along with it. She was a little bit strange and her obsession with Air Alchemy didn't let her seem saner but then again, everyone could be sane and look great. Abigail was probably the only one who could make borderline insanity look fashionable.

He didn't share the adoration his son Roy held for Jade, Abigail's firstborn daughter but he could understand it because Jade was Abigail's daughter after all and that fact already made her a good person. Abel and Abigail were two of a kind. They were similar and even after all those years, they stood side by side as they watched their children play together.


Nerissa Hawkeye & Kay Hawkeye Hamilton

The reason why Nerissa hated her sister – or why she thought that she hated Kay – was that the younger twin didn't share the blonde's experiences. Kay didn't know the feeling of breaking down and feeling out of place because while Nerissa felt like she didn't belong to them and like no one could understand her, Kay was the centre of the family. While Nerissa was suffering, Kay was enjoying her life – unaware of her sister's pain. Nerissa had grown to hide her pain and her dream of leaving … of running away. At the age of five, Nerissa had become and antisocial little girl who locked herself in her room and spent her time with painting flowers. Nerissa knew how if felt to be at the bottom of everything. She was a broken little girl, hurt and lost inside. And no one ever tried to help her. She had been forgotten. She stood at the edge of a nervous breakdown as she watched everyone. She wanted to be someone else – someone with an easier life. She was sick of being left out. She buried herself into her work, desperate to find something worth living for … something out of this world full of secrets and faked sympathy. She stood silent and watched while deep inside her heart, she was bleeding.

Nerissa had seen the darkest sides of life at her young age of five. She had been lied to more than once and even though it used to feel like someone was stabbing her in the back, she had stopped to care about it. She used her remaining strength to act like she was happy and everything was great. She wasn't, however, fine. She was far from being fine to tell the truth. While Kay had never seen the side of the weaker person, Nerissa knew all to well how it was to be pushed around by everyone. Kay had always gotten whatever she wanted while Nerissa had had to work for everything she had – besides her own skills.


Nerissa Hawkeye Hamilton & Helena Hawkeye Hamilton

Nerissa hated it whenever Lynn tried to tell her how she had to live her life because who was Lynn to tell the older one what was good and what was wrong? The blonde had always wondered ifLynnwas even listening to her when she tried to make her understand that their whole family was living a lie because this was the price they were paying for their knowledge. But there was still one thing Nerissa was clinging onto because it always got her through the nights full of tears and inner pain: that she would never have to do something she didn't want to do because she was living her life the way she wanted to live it. She would never be like Kay – shining like a diamond and showing the birds how to fly – but whenever everything around her was falling apart, Nerissa kept walking on.

And so, when Nerissa had to leave the manor, she looked at Lynn and sighed. "Take a good look at the things around you," she said calmly. "Nothing here is what it seems to be. When the magic is gone and reality kicks in again, you see that we live in the home of broken hopes and dreams but … be the first to heal them all, Lynn-Lynn."


Charles Mayer & Kay Hawkeye Hamilton

Her broken rib had nearly pierced her lungs and she looked like a ghost. She was lying in her hospital bed with her broken leg and her shattered arm but her smile was still burning bright in the shadowed room. She sat up with her younger sisters' help and looked at her friend Charles who stood in the doorway and looked at the boy with the red lilies and the white roses. "Hey," she said amused while she waved with her unharmed left hand. "I knew that you'd come."

He sighed deeply as he crossed his room and sat down to her feet. "Kay," he stated with a sigh.

"We're gone," Lynn said as she dragged Serena with her. "We will check on Riza and then we're off. See you later, Charles. Martin said that you will train with him today anyway."

"I need to become stronger," the boy said darkly while his eyes stayed trained onto the stark white bandages around Kay's injured body.

"I am sorry," the girl said as she lowered her head. "I was too weak to defend myself. She was right, you know? I am really too weak to live on my own. I am sorry for being weak."

"Never listen to the people who call you weak," he said, "because they have no clue from what you are suffering. And we need you, Kay. We need you because you are there for us whenever we need a rock among a stormy sea. And one day, those who are calling you weak now will see the truth about you. You aren't weak just because you hesitated to deliver the final blow and lost this fight because of this. You are strong because you didn't choose the easiest way out."


Elizabeth Grumman Hawkeye & The Hawkeye-Girls

While her sister-in-law reigned over her family with her iron fist, Riza's mother was the softer and far more collected alternative to Reine Hawkeye.E lizabeth made a point out of being the more human out of the both young women. While Reine enforced her rules with her strength and her cruel skill, the younger woman took care of her daughter and her nieces. In the end, her softness ensured the loyalty of the younger girls. Lynn looked up to Elizabeth and followed her aunt's way and became an alchemist who specialised in Healing Alchemy, Kay openly rebelled against her mother at the age of seven and paid dearly for her misbehaviour and Serena, well, no one ever got to see through her silence because she was hiding her whole being behind a wall of perfect silence and never left her self-chosen exile in favour of a better life. Riza was the sunshine of the family with her friendly demeanour and her huge heart.

Before Elizabeth died, her girls came in her room and she looked at all of them. Kay, the oldest of them stood tall, unable to accept death because she was too proud. Riza seemed to be far more mature in that point and looked just unhappy about what would happen too soon. Lynn who had grown into a stubborn girl that trusted just her own skill looked like she was about to explode out of anger about the lost battle. And Serena, the youngest and probably weakest, looked out of the window with her huge eyes and for a moment, Elizabeth hated herself for leaving those children behind because they needed someone to be at their side.


Roy Mustang & Helena Hawkeye Hamilton

"ROY MUSTANG!"

The strangely shrill yell woke him up one sunny Sunday morning and he smirked before he left his room – just to be nose-to-nose with a formerly silver-haired, now pink-haired girl. "Yeah?" he asked smirking. "What can I do for you, Helena?"

She glared at him with all her power before her finger pierced into his chest. "Look what you did to my hair!" she yelled before she raised her hand to slap him. It was pretty good for him that he had expected this move and was able to dodge because whenLynnslapped, it was very painful.

"Pink looks better on you than purple on me," he replied with a shrug. "I don't see your point."

"My point?" she shrieked. "How can you not see my point? You dyed my hair pink! With hair dye instead of alchemy! I could reverse the effect of my little prank in less than a minute and now I have pink hair because of your childish revenge!"

He instantly felt sober again after his glee had clouded his senses for a moment. "What do you mean, you can't reverse it?" he asked in shock. He hadn't meant to go that far but he had thought that she could reverse this effect just like she had drained the purple from his hair before.

"I just can't!" she hissed. "My mother will kill me! And that's just your fault!"

Kay who passed them sighed deeply. "We dye your hair in the palest shade of blond we can get and cut it. Mother will never hear anything of this. Don't worry, Lynn-Lynn."

Roy and Lynn were both pranksters and usually, they went too far. How they managed to remain friends was a miracle for everyone who had the misfortune of knowing them.


Abigail Mustang & Abel Mustang

Her hand trembled as she sat down on her desk. The door was closed but not locked … never locked. Her breath went steady yet slowly as she picked up the pen her brother hand bought her a long time ago. Abel had always been the better writer but Abigail had never been far behind. She sighed deeply as she took a blank sheet of paper and wrote down the first few words. She was … exited. It was like her body was under the constant flow of electricity and just when the ink dried in front of her, it was like Abigail was possessed. But it was a kindred spirit. It felt like the first scream of the newborn Jade, like the first move of Phil before he had been born … like up after drowning in a terrible nightmare.

Memories flew through her mind and she heard her brother's voice in the wind.

"Love, huh? You always were a romantic girl, Abbs. But it's true, you know? Love often means pain – but it's usually worth it."

She let out the breath she hadn't even known that she had been holding as she reached the bottom of the first page.

"…wouldn't it be great if we could override the laws of equivalent exchange and use, well, magic?"

He had been her older brother and she had loved him more than her own life. When he had died, he had taken a part of her heart and her soul with him. Still, she had recovered like it had to be expected from a true Mustang and she would never lose her footing again. She was too strong now and she would never stumbled through the darkness again while she ran from the light.

She stared at the words on top of the page: An Eternal Love – A Broken Dream
This story is dedicated to my brother, a silent hero who will be missed dearly


Serena Hawkeye Hamilton & Kay Hawkeye Hamilton

Serena glared at her older sister as she watched her go. It was easy with Kay, the eight-year-old decided. Everything about the redhead was one single huge show – and always was everything just about her. Kay was, of course, always right in everything she said because there was no way that the self-proclaimed alchemy genius of the family could be wrong. Serena knew, however, that it wasn't Kay's fault that she was how she was. And sometimes, Kay was right. She usually knew what everyone needed and she never watched how someone suffered. But then again, Kay was someone who preferred tough love about unnecessary kindness which could make people weak. Kay never failed to criticise even her closest friends like that Mustang-boy. But even though Serena knew that Kay had just the best for her in mind, she really wished that the older sister would shut up because with all the nagging, Serena couldn't hear her own thoughts.

Serena knew that her sister didn't mean it but sometimes, she felt down and those days it felt like Kay loved to hate her because the younger blonde looked so much like Nerissa that it had to hurt Kay somehow.

And still, Serena loved her sister because in the end, Kay was a victim of the same terror that had led Nerissa astray.


Helena Hawkeye Hamilton & Serena Hawkeye Hamilton

"You really should sleep more, Rena,"Lynnsaid while she crossed her arms over her chest. This had been Nerissa's trademark posture but the silver-haired girl had been bolt enough to steal her elder sister's 'dynamic posture' to seem more serious. "Honestly, you're killing yourself if you keep that up, my dear sister."

Serena didn't answer. She had fallen asleep over her books and on her forehead was a deep frown that made her look older than she was. She looked a lot like Nerissa these days. Lynn sighed deeply before she half-carried-half-dragged her sister over to her bed and tucked her in. To the silver-haired girl, love meant being there for each other.


Roy Mustang & Kay Hawkeye Hamilton

The red-haired girl was pure madness and still, Roy caught himself starting to like her. Jade would probably roll her eyes and say that he still didn't learn from anything because his wise little cousin was usually a little bit smarter than him in at least one point: she always knew when someone meant trouble with a capital T. But still, Roy found himself more and more interested by the hurricane of red, gold and green. He always wanted to know more about her, the girl who slammed her hand against the coffee machine at five in the morning when she wanted coffee and the damned thing just didn't work and who yelled at him if he was in her way when she ran down the stairs just because she was running late again. It wasn't like he had a crush on the girl because she was meant to be with Charles anyway. Still, she was one of the many reasons why he had trouble to fall asleep lately – a certain brown-eyed blonde was another one. The reason why he was so bothered by Kay was that he knew that he would probably never truly get her because every time he thought that he had her figured out, she went and did something really expected which made it impossible to follow her.

Kay was basically the most messed up person Roy had ever encountered. The more she tried to push someone away, the more she needed the person to be at her side. To get through her very complicate defence mechanism, it was necessary to be extremely careful because even though she meant Trouble, she was also a weak and vulnerable person and to know what she really meant, you had to listen to her words and analyse her often really strange actions – and therefore it was impossible to judge her actions the day afterwards because she tended to change overnight just as much as a certain black-haired girl.

And somehow, it seemed like no one could avoid being tangled up in Kay's elaborate net of absolute loyalty, deep friendship and extreme wisdom.


Jade Mustang & Phil Mustang

He sat in his room, arms wrapped around his legs and the chin on his knees. The aura radiating from him was dark but she stepped right through the darkness, burning brighter than the sun and smiling so bright that her presence was chasing his shadows away. And when she stopped in front of him, she held out her fruit basket which was nearly empty. Just a single, extraordinarily delicious looking orange was still in it. "Take it," she said.

He shook his head. "It's the last one … and it's yours."

"I know … and I still want you to have it. I will go to the store later to get new ones."

"It's raining, Jade."

"As if I would care for a little bit of water," she said and put down the basket before she left.


Jun Yao & Jun Li

There she lay, ill and close to death. He had overridden the protocol as he stepped out of his safe chambers to visit her at her quarters. But then again, he was the emperor and he gave the orders around here. Her black hair had lost its shine and her face was unnaturally pale while her cheeks were flushed. He kneeled down in front of her bed and rested his hand on her forehead before he bowed his head. "Destiny may call you, Jun Li," he said softly, "but you have to be strong for without you, I will never be strong. So … you have to hold on. The others … they shall see when the time is right. I know it. We will show them together what the people of our clan are made of."

She slowly opened an eye. "Master…" she said hoarsely. "I am … sorry…"

He sighed deeply. "Don't be," he said. "Never feel guilty for something you never had the chance to change. And don't die, alright? I would hate that, you now? Because … you are dear to me, you know? Never believe anyone who claims that you are just a tool. You are so much more than that. You are a part of my heart, Jun Li. I will always be there for you, lily. Together, we can change the country … for now and forever."


Berthold Hawkeye & Nerissa Hawkeye

He had wanted her to stay when everyone else had been against her.

He had even ignored his protesting pride and had asked her to stay despite of what had happened. But she hadn't listened to him and she had left before he had had the chance to say the words which would have prevented the family from breaking apart. Maybe, these words could have fixed all the things that had been broken along the years but then again, it was futile to think about it because it was far too late now. She had gone away and studied under a really intelligent alchemist from Creta now. The ill man wondered sometimes if Nerissa still cried herself to sleep at night when she felt lonely of if she had grown out of it … and sometimes, the alchemy master asked himself why things like this had happened to his family – to his niece. It had to be terribly hard for her to bear. Berthold who saw some similarities between himself and his fallen niece sometimes wasn't sure if he could have taken this situation with the same calm and collected demeanour Nerissa had showed when she had been banished from the manor. For Berthold, the whole situation was incredibly hard to judge and therefore, he tried to stay out of it was far as possible because in the end, it was hard for him to believe that Nerissa had really snapped and tried to kill Kay.

But still, it wasn't over yet and that was the reason why he had travelled to the West to visit his oldest niece after his sister's death. He needed another chance to make everything right again. Kay was maybe the strongest fighter Berthold had ever met but Nerissa had the patience her younger sisters lacked. And even though the master alchemist knew that his time was running out and that he wouldn't make it through the winter, he knew that he had to talk to the blond and blue-eyed genius of his messed-up family. He couldn't give up on her yet. He had to bring her back to the light she had lost a long time ago. He remembered her a little bit too well – even ten years after the day she had left. She had always smelled of flowers and hay, a summer girl while she had been born in October. He remembered how it had sounded when she had gotten up in the morning. Maybe it was the weight of all the words that had been left unspoken in all these years which dragged him down now.

Maybe Berthold saw the truth that night even though he never spoke about it. The only thing he ever said about this failed attempt to get Nerissa back was a short comment to Lynn. "The day we all will go down, Helena, will be the day your sister will be lost forever."

Berthold had seen Nerissa and maybe he should have tried harder to stop her because in the end, she was already a fallen angel who crawled in the dust because her wings had stopped to support her while she was flying through the sky.


Lawrence Miles & Nerissa Hawkeye

It was a peaceful night in early September as he held her under the silver moon above them. They sat under a cherry tree and he looked at her. In the moonbeam, she was as pale as the moon above them and her eyes had the same colour as the night sky. It had to be a dream, he thought. And he remembered the cloud he had seen earlier that day. He had watched her for a long time while she had slept next to him. The cloud had been very white and bright that it had been high up in the air … it had been free, a foreign concept for both of them for they were both bound by their duties and the rules of their environment.

"I need to leave soon," he said softly and kissed her temple.

She just nodded. "I know," she said calmly.


Olivier Armstrong & Bendix Llewellyn

Sometimes she wondered if she was a bad person for lying to the whole world. She was eighteen and even though she claimed that she loved no one and although she denied that she felt more than just friendship for a certain golden-haired soldier whom she had known her whole life, she knew that she could never live in a world without him. She loved him – no matter how much it hurt her to see other women flirting with him because she knew that she had sentenced herself to this torture. And because she loved him and because she would hate to lose him, she kept her mask and smiled inwardly whenever he was around.

There were so many battles they had fought side by side and looking at them, she knew that there were a lot of things they would never be … like lovers. But with the relationship they had and all their mutual understanding, they would make it through this war. They had plans for the future and she was carrying the flag of this future with pride and she wouldn't stray from her path. She didn't care if they would have to bend the rules even more than they did in the past or if she was dying inside when he spoke with the beautiful red-haired state alchemist. (The redhead was married after all.) Olivier straightened before she stepped into the ball room even though it felt like entering an arena in some way.

But no matter what, she was still marching on.


Jade Mustang & Roy Mustang

"I don't need you," she said as she was broken and her eyes had lost their usual gleam.

"I don't need you," she said as she sat in her hospital bed with her short black hair because she had cut it in a fit of rage. Rage about her own incompetence – how her brother had guessed.

"I don't need you," she said as her resolve had been shattered and her world was dark.

But no matter what she said to him, he could still hear what she meant.

"I need you now," she meant when she cried over their grandmother's death.

"I need you now," she meant when she was in hospital after her kidnapping.

"I need you now," she meant when they cleaned up the mess their aunt had caused with her desperate attempt on Human Transmutation.


Kay Hawkeye Hamilton & Roy Mustang

Maybe she saw the end coming long before the last tear had fallen down and dropped from her cheek to the floor. Maybe she had heard the end coming long before the conversation had turned to comfortable silence and from there to awkward tension. Maybe she had seen the crack in the formerly so strong alliance long before there had been nothing left to break because everything had been destroyed a long time ago.

Now, she couldn't help but watch how Roy stared into the empty space on the wall while the terrible silence between them grew with every passing day and drove them further apart. And for a moment, she wanted to scream and shatter the deafening silence because it was just not fair that everything had fallen apart and they had never had a chance to stop it because their big chance had slipped right through their fingers. Everything had been said at least twice before and now, there was nothing left to say, nothing at all because nothing still mattered because in the end, they had heard enough lies from the people who had brought this fate over them and Kay refused to lie one more time because no lie would be able to save them.

The irony in the situation didn't go past the red-haired woman as she watched how the sun rose in the east where the desert of blood lay. But in the sudden light of the new day, the hurt from all the broken promises and the shattered dreams slowly begun to fade away as she knew that her decision was made new: she would leave, she would run away because she was maybe no coward but still very tired from talking for days and days and days without a result. She had tried to save them one more time because she had owed them all this much. But now, she would close the last door and step into the future and go onto a new journey because despite all the words they had spoken and all the promises they had made, it had been still Lynn who would be right in the end. And it really hurt Kay to know that her sister never wanted to be right in that question. She never wanted to be the prophet of the coming downfall.

Still, the silver-haired girl had been the one who had said: "In the end, when all what's left happens to be silence, I can't continue to fix us. It will be time to let … us die if this happens…"

Kay turned around and whispered: "Haven't we said it all a long time ago?"


Kay Hawkeye Hamilton & Laila Hawkeye

She wasn't used to losing control about what she was doing. Hell, she wasn't used to having anything out of her control. She had always been the one with the plan, the one who had always stand strong even when the ground beneath her had been crumbling. And yet, here she was. She sat crying in her hospital bed. Her decision had been clear since after the war and hell, she was no one who gave in easily. But then again, she was Nerissa's twin and the blonde had been strong for the longest time as well before she had fallen apart. Kay knew that nothing she could do would ever make up for what she had done but she couldn't kill herself. She wasn't that much of a coward. For a moment, she thought of Laila and wiped away the tears. 'I am sorry,' she thought. She had refused to see the girl because she knew that her resolve would have been shattered afterwards. 'I will never forget you, though. You will always be in my heart from this day until the second I take my last breath. I don't care what they say. I keep my word, always.'


Bendix Llewellyn & Riza Hawkeye

He watched her from afar as she crossed the room, following her superior. Her steps were firm and full of energy but her brown, once so lively eyes were empty. He sighed deeply. It was all too much for her. She was just eighteen and yet she was the best sniper in the army, surpassing his mother, her grandmother with ease. He huffed while he held her sleeping daughter close to his chest while he gently rocked the little girl. The Ishbal War was over for a whole year and yet, Riza was still stuck in this nightmare. He sighed deeply as he watched how defeated she looked. A person who wasn't as observant as him would maybe oversee the purple shadows around her eyes but he saw them and he knew that she didn't sleep enough. His father had offered her to leave the army and to take her place in the society but she had declined.

He stood above the crowd as usual and watched his father talking with the colonel before he huffed softly. "As if Mustang would get it anytime soon," he muttered quietly.

"It's interesting how much you love her," a voice said unusually softly.

He didn't bother to look over his shoulder. "Liv," he stated.

"The one and only," she chuckled. "But you don't deny it."

"Why should I deny that I care for my niece? It's not like I am committed to anyone."

She was silent for a moment.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you with my lack of thoughtfulness." He looked around before he kissed her forehead. "I love you."

He was a kind man and in his heart was room for many people.


Helena Hawkeye Hamilton & Jade Mustang

Lynn had heard the rumours even before it had actually happened and therefore she wondered how her best friend could have gotten into such a terrible situation. The Silver Star Alchemist ran up the hill to the mansion and kicked down the door. She was too angry to wait a second longer. Upon entering, she knew that her best friend had fought back and for half a second, she felt how she relaxed. But then she saw the beaten and bruised body of her best friend's brother on the floor and hurried over to him.

"Damn those bastards!" Phil Mustang cursed as he tried to sit up and leaned against the wall. "No, don't heal me, Lynn. Jade … she's upstairs … I heard shooting … she will need it more than I."

The silver-haired woman hurried upstairs and soon enough she heard Jade's agonising scream. That was more than enough to send the western ice cube over the edge. Lynn specialised in close range fighting and hand-to-hand combat attacks which she often combined with her alchemy. But she also had skills which she could use for a longer range, so she wasn't worried as she kicked down the door to Abigail Mustang's study where Jade lay on the ground while her blood was flooding all over her body.

"Bad intelligence, I gather," Lynn said before she removed the eight bullets in Jade's stomach. "It seems to happen quite often to you, Jade. You need to pay more attention."


Bendix Llewellyn & Olivier Armstrong

He knew that the world would never understand them or the way they felt. No one would ever be able to understand the absolute loyalty they felt for each other. Most people around them refused to trust in the things they couldn't explain hence they didn't trust the bound between the both blond soldiers. Of course, they were different form each other. He was soft and kind-hearted while she could be a little bit cruel at times. But deep inside of them, they weren't different at all. And therefore he carried her in his heart and he would never let go of her.