Chapter Twelve

Sacrifices to a Better Future

Southern Forest

Winry stumbled tiredly as she finally saw the train tracks. The train she had been on was still there, which she was not expecting, not after everything else that had happened, but she realized with a start that it had actually only been about forty minutes.

She looked around as she had when she jumped off, but no one noticed her in the chaos as she climbed back onboard. She didn't think she'd be up to walking all the way to the nearest town so she was grateful to find her seat six cars up just as she had left it. She even waived at the friendly waiter.

Once they were secured back in their seats, with her bags carefully stored away again, Winry began to relax. Everything was going to be okay. When they got to the station, she would trade in her ticket for one back to Resembool and in a few days she would head back to Central like they'd agreed unless she received word that they had lost, at which point she would run with the boy and make her Granny go with her next time.

The train was very quiet as everyone was trying to get resettled after all of that. She doubted anyone had noticed she'd ever been gone, which was good because the last thing she needed was to stand out in any way after all of that. None of the children on board were making a sound, including the one in her arms. She looked down at him once again, worried once more about the thing that had happened to him.

Why had there been something else in him like that? Was he really okay? All he seemed to want to do was sleep, but the other kids were the same way…and so were the adults. She just hoped against hope that Yuery would be all right. That his dad was all right. She didn't want to think about it anymore but her brain wouldn't shut up about how she had failed. This was worse than the guilt she had felt over missing a screw in Ed's arm. She was supposed to get him to safety, and instead she got them stuck in the forest just in time for that…something to attack him like that. At least she'd managed to hold onto him when they were all drug…somewhere. That part was almost completely gone now.

She couldn't forget. Wouldn't forget that dark thing that had come out of him because as much as she hated herself for failing to protect him, Ed needed to know it happened. If it meant something bad for the baby, he was going to have to know. If it meant that he wanted nothing more to do with her, that he wanted her far far away from his child after her failure she would take it. She would stay away, because this was worse than forgetting a screw. This was his child. A child she loved so dearly, he might as well be hers and she failed him.

Yuery seemed to sense her tension because he stirred briefly before patting her arm and muttering like she had seen him do a hundred times when his father was upset. The child was very empathetic, and his behavior assured her that at least she had managed to keep the piece of him that was him safe even when they had been ripped away from their bodies. Tiredly she scrounged around in the diaper bag after pulling it down again, and fed him part of a piece of cheese before he settled back down and fell asleep.

A few minutes later, their train began moving slowly forward and the conductor came into the car to announce "We are going five miles up the track to the turn around. We will be returning to East City, with the regularly scheduled stops along the way. Please remain calm, no one knows what happened but everyone seems unharmed. You may reschedule your trip south when you arrive at the station where you boarded without cost. Just visit the ticket seller there. Thank you for your co-operation at this time please remain calm."

He made his way down the aisle and was headed to the next car before anyone could say anything, presumably to give the same speech. Winry rested her head against the hard bench back and closed her eyes. That was one problem solved, she would arrive in Resembool in about four hours and could check on Granny then, and hopefully there would be some news as to what happened in Central by the time she arrived.

Central Command HQ

Father's Chamber

Pride Battle

Ed knew it was a risky move, but something Greeling had said while they were on the road gave him the idea. He removed the stone from Pride, and left what he had been Before. Before Pride, he had been a baby. Not just a baby, a baby who had not yet been born from the look of him. Ed wasn't sure he had done the right thing after all. Would it survive like this? Was it suffering? That seemed so much more important than the first question in a way because his own actions were what was causing the child's pain he would feel terrible.

It was too late to do anything about it now though, because the others needed his help. He promised the baby he would be back for it before carefully folding it into his coat and hiding it safely out of the way from any of the falling dust or chips of rubble that were in the air. He had to help the others before he helped this creature that was hopefully no longer a monster.

Once the former-Pride-turned-baby was secure, Ed made his way out of the chamber with a quick clap of his hands. The sooner this battle was over the better. He still was trying to think of a way to help his dad too because unlike the rest of them Roy was being punished for something he didn't do.

As he reached the surface he noticed how rough the battle was going. They already were surrounding the creature that called itself Father, but they weren't making any progress with him. He rushed into the fight with a quick nod to Hawkeye. He hoped she managed to keep Roy back because Ed did not want to lose another parent.

Central Command HQ

Parade Grounds

Final Battle

Roy was told to not hold back. This terrified him, but he trusted Riza with everything, so he had to trust she would not put his sons in danger, or any innocent parties. It was alarming even to him the power of the fire released without restraint. He felt like it would set the whole world on fire if left unchecked. It didn't work. At least not completely, the monster she had aimed him at was still on the move. There was a large explosion, everyone flew from the sound of it.

Then came the worst scream he had ever heard. The most terrifying sound he could imagine. Not because he had never heard such a sound before but because he had. In Ishbal. In the aftermath of his own actions, he had heard that sound rise from the ash.

At the time, he thought he would never hear a worse cry, the keening of loss. He had always refused to use the sound to hunt the stragglers, he knew others weren't so kind…or maybe it was cowardice. He would never know. But he'd heard the sound before, so he knew it well. It haunted his nightmares since the war. Drove him to drink. Drove his resolve. Never again did he want to hear that sound.

It was a thousand times worse to hear that sound from the throat of his son. The wretched scream of loss and anger that could only mean that Al was gone. Roy couldn't see what was happening. He couldn't see what had happened to his boys. He felt worse than helpless even as he asked Riza what was going on.

She simply confirmed his worse fears when she said " Ed was trapped, impaled, his arm gone. The monster was headed toward him. Al was damaged, too damaged to help, so he… he broke his seal Roy. Ed has his arm back. Al is gone."

Roy felt like being sick. How could this have happened? How could he have failed to protect them? This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Ed and Al were supposed to heal, to find a way to make themselves whole so that they could be happy for the rest of their lives in peace. That was the promise he had made to them.

"Hohenheim. He's over by Al, he's drawing something, I can't see what. Ed's fighting the monster. He just punched it hard enough to knock it several feet back. Everyone is staying away now. Something is happening to Prince Ling. I can't. The monster is doing something to him." Riza said quietly. "I can't get you a clear shot I'm sorry."

Riza wasn't saying anymore, she just gripped his arm tightly and kept them from moving anywhere. He jerked forward a few times, wanting to help, to comfort his child, to find what was left of his other child, but Riza pulled him back again and again. No one else was fighting anymore, he could hear frightened murmurs all around him, heard the prince scream. It was almost as disturbing as Ed's continued cries.

Riza let out a small gasp beside him and there was a loud roar. He again asked what had happened but all she said in return was "We won sir."

He tried to step forward again, this time she allowed, guided him forward over uneven and unfamiliar ground toward the quiet sobs of a young girl. Before they got close enough, he heard the ring of a transmutation activating and Ed screaming no behind him. Ed rushed by him without pausing to say anything and Roy froze. "Did it just get worse?"

"I don't know." Riza said. "Hohenheim activated the array. I don't know."

Ed screamed as he fell to his knees outside his father's array. The moron had taken it upon himself to fix this. This was Ed's mistake, Ed was supposed to figure it out. Al's armor dissolved before his eyes and the girl, Mei sat next to Ed crying. She was hugging that strange cat-bear-thing that was her pet and sobbing into it's fur. He wanted to comfort her, but didn't know how. His brother was gone, he had given himself back to the gate to save Ed. His bastard of a birth father was gone, he's gave himself to the gate to try to get his brother back. Ed wasn't certain that would work. What if it didn't and Al was gone? What if it did and Al blamed him?

He finally reached out to the girl and patted her back. As soon as he made contact she wailed and threw herself into his arms. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. He told me to do it. I didn't want to do it, but he begged me. He told me he would be okay, but he's not and its not and I'm sorry."

"Hey. It's okay. No one can blame you for any of this. It's not your fault, had you refused to help him Al would have found a way to do it anyway." Ed said in a raspy voice, his throat raw from screaming.

Roy and Hawkeye came closer, and Ling dropped down on Mei's other side. Ed looked up at them as Hawkeye helped Roy to kneel next to his remaining son and pull Ed into a hug just as Ling pulled Mei into one. No one said anything as the array continued to glow faintly, occasionally flaring, before with a flare so large everyone had to look away, it went dark leaving Al behind.

A very thin, very naked Al, who was breathing judging by the rise and fall of his chest. Ed moved to lunge toward his brother as Hawkeye stopped him with a hand across his chest. They couldn't afford for Ed to be sent to the hospital too, or worse if the array reactivated. Instead she stepped over the lines herself, taking care not to step on any of the lines.

She wrapped the tiny boy in a long coat and carried him carefully back out of the circle before laying him on the lawn. Ed scrambled over to him, Mei and Ling right behind them. Roy joined them a moment later with Hawkeye's help. Al blinked awake as Roy settled next to Ed. He smiled at them all.

Ed smiled back before hugging his brother tightly. Al's smile was one of the best things he had ever seen. He felt tears run down his own face as he sat back up and help Al sit slowly. "I'm okay. It's okay." Al said, hugging his brother again, before reaching a hand toward Roy. "Are you okay Dad?"

Ed smiled at his brother, and at Roy's expression when he realized it was him Al was reaching for; he leaned in carefully to hug the younger boy and was appalled at his thinness but didn't comment. What was important was that both of his boys were safe. He felt the girl join them in the hug, and after a moment of hesitation, the prince as well. No one was saying anything else at the moment, but they were surrounded by people who were complete shocked at all that had happened, including the boy's appearance.

Hawkeye then calmly took charge and started directing people toward the exits, and informed those who were still hugging on the ground that they were all to go to the hospital as soon as she finished talking Ling nodded before turning to Ed. "I don't know how many uses they have before they're gone, but I have a stone. Use it to help your Dad."

"I can't take that from you Ling, you need it to save your clan. Go save your people." Ed said nothing of what he was actually thought about any of it aside from trying to send Ling away.

Before either boy could say anything else Hawkeye was shooing them toward the cars she had brought around. With a stern expression she ordered them all to stop talking before they were in a secure location away from the press. Ling wasn't going anywhere until he had been looked over. The girls from his party as well.

With so many teens and Roy needing to be guided, it shouldn't have been surprising that they didn't notice Ed's absence until they reached the car. Since it had been quite a trek down the stairs and through the crowd to make it to the car, it had been close to ten minutes since anyone could reliably say they had last seen him. The near panic in Mustang's voice when he learned the boy was missing was enough to break Al down and get him to admit Ed had told him he had to grab something inside and that he would be right back. This didn't completely alleviate their fear but it did lessen it considerably.

Just as Ling and Riza were both arguing over which of the two of them should go in search of the wayward alchemist he appeared beside them with his coat bundled in his arms instead of worn. He shrugged at their confused expressions and climbed into the car next to Al. Roy was guided in after him, then Lan Fan and Ling climbed into the other seat, followed by Mei. Riza shut the door before climbing into the passenger seat. The driver was Heymans Breda much to everyone's relief. He knew how to keep quiet if they needed to talk about anything on the way to the hospital.

"Why aren't you wearing it, it's what you went back for isn't it? Mei asked after a minute gesturing to Ed's coat.

"Yeah well. I like this coat but it got a bit ripped up. I'll fix it later." Ed said as he hugged the coat closer to him.

"What are you hiding in it?" Ling asked in a cheerful voice but serious expression that Ed had come to know well over the winter. It meant that Ling already knew, or at least had a strong idea, of what Ed was hiding but wanted to make him say it.

"I'm not hiding anything." Ed insisted as he hugged the coat closer to his chest, and old familiar stubbornness in his tone that made Roy groan. Now he knew the boy was hiding something. Ed was a terrible liar when it came to his friends.

"Ed…we all know you." Mei said, which caused Roy and Ed both to frown, Roy because he couldn't place the voice and Ed because he barely knew Mei which meant she'd picked up what her brother had.

Al reached for the coat and Ed leaned into Roy to avoid his brother's grasp. Roy instinctively wrapped an arm over the boy's shoulder and hugged him to his side. If Ed didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him there was plenty of time to confront him later. Right now they all just needed to relax and calm down because it had been a trial.

Roy felt a familiar squirm between himself and Ed though it felt weaker than usual. "I didn't know he was close by, can I hold Yu Ed?' Roy asked.

"Winry took him across the border, I'm sorry Dad I'll make sure you get to hold him as soon as he gets back." Ed said.

Roy was confused. If Yuery wasn't here then who was Ed holding…and the others didn't seem to notice that he had been holding…what had he done now? "Ed. Who are you holding there?"

Ed tried to pull away from Roy as everyone else stared at the bundle in his arms, and he knew that it was over. He was going to have to explain and he didn't really know how. So he fell back into an old comment that worked well in the past. " Okay so… I did an impulsive thing." Ed explained as he pulled the bundle even tighter to him so that no one could take it.

Silence fell upon the group before his Dad yelled "WHAT?!"