The team all sat together. The funeral was supposed to go along as if nothing had happened because they couldn't just go out and say "Oh, yeah, you know how Fullmetal was dead? Yeah, he's not dead anymore." and they couldn't go arousing public panic over a missing body, that wasn't really missing.

"Sir," Hawkeye's voice cut through the awkward silence. "It's time."

There was a collective sigh.

"We can't leave Edward alone," Came Alphonse's quiet voice.

"He's right, Boss," Havoc muttered. "I'll stay. If anyone asks, tell them I was to sick to my stomach to come out there."

"I can stay. I only just got him back. I don't want to leave him," Alphonse offered.

"You can't, Al. Your absence would bring up a lot of questions that we don't have the answers to yet. Havoc should be the one to stay," Roy said. He really wanted to tell Alphonse that he could stay and Roy would stay too, but he couldn't. They couldn't.

"But..." Alphonse started, trailing off because he knew the Colonel right. "...Fine."

Alphonse stood up strait and gathered his bearings. "Let's go."


So many people were there, gathering around a false grave. Alphonse just wanted to shout and say "he isn't dead! He came back!" but that would certainly end horribly.

It hurt Alphonse, not in a physical sense, but in the sense that his soul ached to tell those grieving around him that it was okay. That Edward was alive. That he was no longer dead. Alphonse looked over the people who gathered. Lots of them were officers of the military but a large portion of them were civilians. Probably people they had helped but didn't even remember.

There weren't many people from Edward and Alphonse's travels, but that was to be expected after a huge attack on Central Command. And heavy security.

Alphonse wished he could call the Rockbells, but they were already on their way so it was too late to inform them of the good news.

The ceremony inched on in a depressing numb way. Falman and Breda had arrived with the flowers that Roy had ordered them to get. An arrangement of pearly white roses speckled with red and a few rare black roses. Roy smiled at the men as he took the flowers from them. He handed them a tiny slip of paper with three ordinary words that together made things so much better.

_Fullmetal is alive._

Though, the note wasn't cryptic. It was confusing. Edward couldn't be alive. They had seen his body. Blood soaked and still. Void of any indications of life. Naught but stale in life.

The funeral didn't move along fast enough for anyone. Everyone was getting anxious. Everyone who knew the truth.


Hughes quietly walked over to his grieving friend. He felt so sick. He had returned from an investigation over incorrectly manufactured weapons, or something like that, this morning. But while on that investigation the phone lines went down. It was because of a pretty intense storm that also cut out the radios. All in all, they had no way of getting news about the attack or the death toll. Hughes had arrived at the train station, only to meet his beautiful wife dressed in a black dress with little Elicia sobbing in her arms.

"Maes, something horrible happened..."

He remembered being scared that Roy had died when she told him about the attack, but then it turned out to be Edward. Hughes had felt an initial shock, but then it molded into anger and grief. Why would anyone do that to a kid? He wanted so badly to get the man who'd done this and to shoot him. He had wished so badly they he could have been there. That he could have stopped this from happening. It was too late for that, and there was no way to turn back time or bring back the dead.

"Roy," He whispered, placing his hands on his friend's shoulder as he came up. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better."

"We all have," Hughes muttered from behind his friend.

"Maes, come to my office after the funeral." Hughes watched his friend's back as he breathed.

"I'll be there." Roy nodded.

Hughes looked around at those who gathered to pay their respects. He noticed two things right away. First: Havoc wasn't among them and second: neither were the Rockbells. Hughes was confused. The Rockbells surely had been informed about Edward. They should have had enough time to get to Central. Why weren't they there? Then it dawned on him that the attack to Central command of all places would put everything on hold. Everything was probably being inspected with careful scrutiny.

Hughes took his hands off of Roy's shoulders and moved to Alphonse.

"Hey, Alphonse," He said quietly to the armoured boy. Alphonse lifted his downcast helmet.

"Mister Hughes," Alphonse said as his eyes met with Maes's face.

"Yeah, I just got back from an investigation. I'm really sorry. I know that that probably isn't very encouraging, but I'm really sorry all the same."

"Thank you, sir," Alphonse replied.

"If you need anything, Alphonse, and I mean anything, please, come to Gracia and me. We want to be of help any way we can possibly be."

"Thanks."


Alphonse felt so awkward as he tried to talk to Hughes. If he could just tell Mister Hughes then and there that Edward wasn't dead, everything would be better.

Alphonse wrung his gauntlets together as he thought about Edward. He was really worried. If Edward was going to be sick, dangerously sick, Alphonse wanted to be there to comfort him.

Alphonse kept telling himself that he just had to wait a little longer. A little longer, and he could go back to Edward.

Just a little longer.


"Sir, target number two is at the funeral. Should I take the initiative and take him out?" A sniper asked into his radio as he adjusted his gun to a more convenient position. He waited for the reply.

The voice that came through the radio as a scratching, monotone, and static filled, "Proceed and fire."


Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the reviews!

-UNAU/IME