The truck lurched hard.

Cyrus grabbed onto Florica before she could fall. "What's going on?" he demanded of the driver.

The small slit window to the cab slid open. Havoc's cigarette smoke came through before his words. "Something hit the underside of the truck. We can still roll, so we ain't stopping."

We can fight ya know," Bounty reminded Havoc. "Let me loose on whatever hit us. I can handle-"

"Nope," Fury's voice interrupted. "No heroics today guys. Mustang's orders. We are getting everyone back into the city. Let the General handle this."

Bounty huffed. "Ling's out there having all the fun." He grumbled, but he leaned against the truck wall without further complaint.

"That man was the girl's brother," Lorelei muttered.

Cyrus and Bounty looked up.

"Eh?" Bounty said.

"The Cretan girl Lyda, who brought us back. That Darbus is her brother."

"So he says." Bounty said with a shrug.

"He is," Cyrus agreed. He watched the small window carefully, letting in the only light. "But it doesn't matter. Nothing's what we thought. I don't have any alliance to Lyda, or Darbus, or the Cretan people. They drug this war into my family's front yard. I have no sympathy to anything he said." What Cyrus said was also to convince himself. In truth, he had been thinking of Lyda almost nonstop since he learned the truth of who he was. Darbus said she was being held against her will. She may already be dead. Conflict chipped away at Cyrus' indifferent façade.

"Very true," Bounty huffed.

"I should have handled what I learned better," Roger said.

"It wasn't your fault," Cyrus was quick to tell him. The last thing he needed was either Roger or Trovius blaming themselves for what was happening.

"But still I knew about your connection to the Homunculi before. I should have pieced together what the Cretan's wanted sooner."

The sliding door to the cab opened and Havoc's face was smiling at them with a cigarette in his teeth. "Don't feel bad, the General will handle the Cretans."

"So they want you guys to be weapons?" Florica asked. Cyrus saw the concern on her face as she watched him.

"Both the Cretan's and the Arbus people want Cyrus and his siblings," Roger confirmed. "At all cost they can't find you three."

Bounty gave the comment a snorting laugh. "I'd be funny to see them try."

Cyrus could hear the truck horn blare in Central's streets. They lurched to a stop and the doors flew open. Cyrus jumped out with the group and tried not to shutter when he saw the massive walls surround them from every side. Central Command. It had only been a week since he had been here under much different circumstances. He suppressed the feelings. All that mattered was his family was out of a war zone.

A tremor shook the ground. A few in the large group yelped in alarm.

Fury's face soured after listening in through his radio. "Get everyone inside." He passed on the order to a group of soldiers.

"What was that?" Cyrus demanded.

"It was outside the city. A bomb of some kind," Fury explained. "The General is in rout to the location."

"Any word where Edward is?" Alphonse asked.

"I assume he's with the General." Fury said. The metal doors shut behind them once they were all inside Central Command's main building.

Tanks and vehicles rumbled the ground on their way out of the fortress. The mess hall was where the Gypsies were led. Cyrus and Bounty had climbed to a large window overlooking the room to see outside.

"Eventually, I'll need to indulge my curiosity." Bounty admitted. "You wont rat me out if I sneak out?"

Cyrus looked at him sideways. "We don't know what these Cretans can do. They know more about our Stones then we do. Best not tempt fate."

Bounty snorted. "When did you get to be a voice of reason? You sound like your old man Trovius."

Cyrus noted there would have been a time that statement would have offended him beyond words. Now, he just shrugged. "Better then sounding like you."

"Cyrus?" his name was called up to the window from the floor with concern.

"Lieutenant Ross!" Cyrus gasped. The short haired woman stood with Armstrong. He jumped down in front of them.

"It is good you came back," Armstrong said through his mustache.

"How else were you Military lot going to make it up to him if he didn't?" Bounty said from his perch above them.

Cyrus ignored him and addressed the two. "Tell me what's going on outside."

Ross answered him. "We got a message from the General outside of the city. That man, Darbus, ran off, and Cretan soldiers have come out of the woodwork to capture him. They have also tried and failed to get into Central."

"They know me, and my siblings are all here?" Cyrus guessed through gritted teeth.

"There are not enough of them to pose a threat." Snapped the voice of Olivier. Armstrong's bulky shoulders deflated as her boots clicked in a perfect uniformed pace on the tile floor.

Cyrus fought the urge to shrink as well.

"But they still shouldn't be underestimated." Armstrong pointed out. "The General has things under control."

Olivier rolled her eyes. She looked up at Bounty, who flashed her a fanged smile in response to her glare. "Even so, brother," she addressed Armstrong. "We don't know how much control these Cretans have over the Stones that make up these homunculi's hearts. If they are so bold, then they have one last plot to attempt at least. I still stand by the opinion the three homunculi should return with me and my men to Briggs."

"You think they'll get in?" Cyrus asked.

Olivier turned to him. "They already have. We think we uprooted all the spies here, but everyone already knows how I feel about the lack luster performance of the soldiers here. General Mustang released his hold on you. I disagree with his decision, but it has been made. Just don't be stupid with that newfound freedom by taking on this enemy. We will handle them." She marched away, barking orders at a group of soldiers that stood more ridged then most others in the normal blue uniforms.

"Family reunions must be a bitch," Bounty snickered to Armstrong.

"She is unyielding, but I agree with her," Armstrong said. "The farther you can stay away from these attacking Cretans the better. That Darbus attacked Central in hopes of getting to Cyrus with no plan of escape. He was confident he could get out if he only had one White Stone to work with."

The ground shuttered. Armstrong placed his metal gloves onto his fists and rushed for the door. Ross place a hand on Cyrus' shoulder. "Stay with your family. We'll take care of everything." She said before running after her superior.

Lorelei walked up to him, and Bounty jumped down between them both. "So, what is the plan. Are we staying put, or throwing ourselves into this fight? Answers await, but at a very high cost." She pointed out.

"I'm already planning my best way out of here," Bounty admitted. "Ling's fighting my battle. Even if these Arbus people aren't our allies…I don't know how to put it."

"Lyda's safety is bothering you?" Cyrus ventured. "Its been driving me nuts. Who knows, maybe that was a trick she somehow planted in my head when she brought me back. But now with these people so close, I feel this pull."

"Good to know it wasn't just me," Lorelei sighed. "I thought I was just going crazy."

"Ok, so plans of escape. Front door is to obvious?" Bounty said.

"Worst case scenario, there are the tunnels under Central to escape." Lorelei said with a stiff shrug.

Cyrus felt icy fingers run up his spin. "Father's tunnels." He whispered.

Bounty whistled, "So, you getting your memories back too? Took long enough." he asked her.

Lorelei frowned. "Still dream like, but I remember…Father. He is dead, right?"

Cyrus answered her worried query with a nod.

"I was hoping what I remembered was a bad dream," she said with a sigh. "I'm going to see if they have any booze in the mess hall. Let me know if we come up with a plan." She added.

"Great idea!" Bounty said, his face cheering up instantly when alcohol was brought up. Cyrus followed them and found his family in a cluster at the table in the mess hall. He was relived to see Alphonse was still with them. He found himself counting everyone multiple times, just to make sure.

"Alphonse," Cyrus said as he closed the distance between them.

The blond looked up from handing out hot tea.

"Edward can't use Alchemy anymore, but he's still out there." Cyrus pointed out.

"He'll be fine," Alphonse promised with a grin.

"How do you know?" Cyrus asked.

"Because he's Edward," Alphonse, Fury and Havoc said at the same time, followed by a knowing laugh.

"True," Bounty snickered. "From what I remember of the kid anyway. This is Edward fight-me Elric after all. Kicked my ass a few times."

Cyrus looked to the window once more. His family was safe, but he was still anxious. Even putting aside what he was feeling in regard to Lyda, he didn't feel right sitting behind Central Command's walls doing nothing. The Cretan's were after him, not the people in the city. People could be dying outside. Humans who couldn't regenerate or preform alchemy. Cyrus saw a similar conflict in Lorelei and Bounty, the latter of whom was pacing between windows to watch the troops mobilized. Bounty seemed to be itching for a fight.

"Something wrong?" Alphonse asked.

Cyrus startled. So it was obvious on his face. "Those people outside have answers I've been searching for. I know I can do more, I have the power to."

"That Darbus was unstable." Alphonse said.

Cyrus shook his head. "Not him, his sister. A girl named Lyda. She brought us back just to save her people, I know that now. But there's something else. It's just in the back of my mind, driving me crazy. I have no idea why I feel this ridiculous commitment to her."

"A lot of humans can say the same thing about their estranged parents," he passed off a snicker as a cough. "Just ask my brother about that."

Cyrus rose an eyebrow at the comment, intending to inquire more.

Then he was on the floor, pain exploding from his chest. Light was all encompassing. Alphonse was gone. The mess hall and his family were gone.

But he wasn't alone.