Hohenhime set down his pen and put his head down on his desk. Everything here was a mess, and up until this point his connections had been taking care of him, but the research they wanted him to do was absurd. The walls were caving in around the regime they had built up, and what they wanted from him most was a way out. He found that he didn't particularly care what the rest of the world thought of their ideas, but they were angry with him anyway. He hadn't been able to make contact with the gate at all for weeks now. The war was drawing to a close, and they believed he was switching back to the winning side and hiding whatever he'd discovered from them.

With a sigh he closed the book in front of him and gathered what he could from his desk. Tonight would be the night. They'd already divided Germany in two – it wouldn't be long before his former associates began to consolidate their debts, himself included. He'd decided he'd flee back to London. If he was careful, they wouldn't suspect him. His research in Germany had been covert enough that they wouldn't detain him for information. Everyone knew now that it would only be a few days before the Americans finished off the war. That would be the time, he assumed. Hopefully Al would be ready. He only wished that perhaps there would be a way to get through to Al and warn him that the time was coming. One last time, he drew the array out on the floor. If worse came to worse, he could perhaps escape through the gate to some other period in history and avoid the trouble entirely. Perhaps…

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Al had graciously received Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong when he arrived at the house in Rizembool, but even with the extra help the research was going slow. He was forced to work only in concepts not because he still couldn't get near the gate, but because Rose had taken every precaution to keep her baby away from him. Al was barely allowed to look at the child anymore, let alone touch it. The way she watched him hurt, but he wasn't desperate enough to bring up the topic of his brother to Rose as a bargaining tool. He respected her motherly instincts, even if they were an extreme inconvenience to his research. Armstrong at one point suggested using some sort of animal for the experiments, but Al refused. They knew that it would work with the child, and being pragmatic, Al had refused to drag more innocent lives into his mess. It was a kind of impasse, and Al had almost considered sneaking the child away once or twice while Rose slept, though he promised himself he'd never follow through no matter how desperate he became.

Winry, noticing Al's frustration, had even offered herself as a guinea pig. Al had refused her though, saying her mind was far too focused on the mechanical to get close enough to the gate. Rather than take it as an insult however, Winry simply smiled and went back to her work. Secretly she was flattered. As Al planned further into the future on what he'd have to do to get Ed back without going through the gate, he'd asked her to find a way to create a machine they could control from one side to use to communicate with the people on the other side without going through themselves. She'd happily obliged, and soon had an array of different remotely controlled mechanical vehicles that she steered around the room to amuse Rose's child.

Help finally came unexpectedly in the form of a sloppily-clad dark-haired boy. After Al had trained to the limit of her expertise, Izumi had dedicated herself to finding the closest thing she had to a son: the homunculus Wrath. After weeks of searching she'd finally found him living like a vagrant off of scraps stolen from a nearby farm. It hadn't been clear why he'd disappeared after Winry was kind enough to fit him with Ed's automail, but Izumi wasn't going to let him escape her care again. She'd thought that she'd lost him, and even if he wasn't entirely human, she was willing to take him in as her son anyway. Izumi took him back to Dublith, determined to make things right again. The first thing she did was purge the red stone from him. She sealed it in a vial that she then kept around her neck, a reminder of her sin. It took a while for him to adjust, but soon Wrath was behaving as a normal kid would under Izumi's care, and she couldn't help but be proud of him. Somehow he was able to overcome losing the entire group that had been his only family and watching the one he saw as his mother killed in front of him. Izumi took pride in the fact that, even if he was a sin, under her care he could be an innocent one.

And thus Izumi ended up at the Rockbell's house with her little Moofy in tow to show him off. Winry tuned up and adjusted his automail, then showed him how to work the controls for the little vehicles that almost constantly zipped across their living room floor. He entertained Rose's baby while Al discussed things with his sensei in his study.

"I haven't been able to make contact with the gate at all since I lost Havoc. I barely know what to do anymore; there aren't many more leads to follow. I know more about what I'm going to do after I get the gate open than I do about how I'm going to get there. Which I suppose works… except I have absolutely no way of getting there at all anymore."

Izumi considered this for a moment, fingering the vial around her neck out of habit.

"What do you need to get to the gate?"

"In general, someone or something that is naturally close to the gate. Last time it was Rose's baby, because Dante had drawn an array onto it to break the bond between the mind and body in order to send people through the gate. But now Rose won't let me near the child, and I don't want to drag anyone innocent into this." Al shrugged helplessly. "I just don't know what to do."

Izumi paused and looked down at the vial resting between her fingers. She knew that there was still some part of the equivalent trade that she hadn't fulfilled. Regaining her son was something she considered priceless. He might be the missing piece, and though she didn't like to admit it, he was far from anyone "innocent," and there was little doubt that he was still close to the gate. Going back there was one of his biggest fears, he had nightmares about it, but perhaps facing it would do him good. It wouldn't be the first time Izumi had scared irrational fears out of someone close to her. She sighed as she considered her choices, finding little alternative. She hoped, and deep down knew, that Wrath would endure it for her, because she was a mother that wouldn't abandon him again.

"I actually think we might be able to help."

Al noted the pained expression on Izumi's face as she said this. He'd been watching the different emotions on her face as she thought through her response, and knew immediately that she was going to suggest Wrath. The poor boy had been through so much already.

"Are you sure you really want to let us use him?"

This time Izumi didn't sigh. Instead she straightened up in her seat and stated with firm resolve: "Yes. It has to be done, and if he doesn't understand that now, he will later. I think I can deal with him being angry with me for a while."

"We're going to have to do this more than once."

"I know."

Al smiled a small smile at his sensei. She never ceased to amaze him; what he felt for her wasn't so much love as it was immense respect. She was so many things his mother hadn't been, allowing him to respect her and also keep his distance. Izumi was outgoing, strong, and resolute, whereas his mother had been quiet and soft. The same strength was there, for how else could Trisha have waited so long for Hohenhime to return? But it was these differences that kept Al from ever thinking of Izumi as a mother figure.

"Thank you." Al stood and gave Izumi a hug. It was an unusual gesture towards the imposing woman, but she didn't protest. Armstrong stood behind them watching the entire conversation, tears silently running down his cheeks. Izumi glared and him, then she and Al left the study and returned to the living room. Wrath was still happily playing with the cars in the living room, but ran to his mother when she stepped into the room. He looked up her and when he noticed the look in her eyes he backed away.

"What is it?"

"I need you to do mommy a favour, okay Moofy?"

He looked up at her with a wary innocent smile and nodded. Izumi gathered Wrath into another hug and lifted him off the floor, carrying him into the study. Al followed, and shut the door again behind him. Izumi put Wrath down in the centre of the room and knelt down to talk to him again.

"Do you remember where you came from?" An innocent smile as Wrath pointed to Izumi. Izumi smiled back, but pressed on. "Where did you come from after that?"

A look of horror crossed his face.

"The gate…" he whispered.

"Do you remember the way back there?"

Despite Izumi's soothing tone, Wrath's eyes widened in shock.

"No! I don't want to go back!"

"Shh, shh. It's okay. You only need to take your big brother Al there. I promise you won't have to go inside. I'll hold your hand the entire time." For the first time Al had seen, a look of distrust crossed Wrath's face as he looked at Izumi, but the boy nodded anyway, sniffling a little and holding back tears. Izumi kissed his cheek and ruffled his already messy black hair. "That's my little Moofy. Thank you."

Al smiled sadly at the two of them and set to work on the transmutation circle he'd need to get in touch with his father again. He hoped that Hohenhime had made some progress where he hadn't in terms of connecting to the third world through the gate. Al decided that drawing the array on Wrath himself would be awkward, and settled on a larger version of the circle on the floor, similar to the one Hohenhime and his group had been using last time. As he dusted the chalk off of his hands he noticed that Wrath still held one of the small remote controls for the cars in the living room. That would be useful, he reminded himself, and went out to fetch one. He relegated the duty of its control to Armstrong, who would stand outside the circle and make sure nothing went wrong. Al didn't want to take the chance that Hawkeye would have to cover up the disappearance of another one of her staff members. Armstrong would also prove if the little mechanical car would work from one side of the gate to the other. They would still need something bigger to retrieve Ed and the others, but it was a start. Izumi and Wrath stepped into the middle of the circle and Al clapped his hands and touched the chalk outline. It glowed with a light shade of blue, and a strange wind kicked up from the lines of the circle. Wrath screamed, and suddenly the three were kicked into a white empty room. The gate was there again, and the tiny faces and hands seemed to call out to Wrath. Izumi held him tightly, and Al thanked him again before he strode towards the gate. He hoped that Armstrong was still able to see what was going on outside of the circle like Hohenhime's companions had been. The little car that followed at his heels encouraged him, and he commanded the children of the gate aside. Remarkably they obeyed, seeming to disappear to guard another entrance elsewhere. Al closed his eyes and reached inside, searching for any sign of Hohenhime. He found him again in a rather turbulent area, far from where he'd been before. He grabbed a hold of the area and motioned for the car to drive through. It ran towards Hohenhime's feet at the outside of the circle, but stopped dead at the outermost line. Armstrong backed it up and made a second run, but it stopped dead again. It didn't work outside of the circle. Hohenhime smiled down at Al as he stood in the door, and stepped forward to speak to him again. This time he was careful not to step into the circle itself until he absolutely had to. Being thrown too far through history was never comfortable.

"Father!" Al exclaimed. "Have you found out anything new about my brother?"

"Alphonse, it's taken you a long time to get back here." Hohenhime smiled, relieved, then suddenly his expression turned more serious. "I'm surprised you were able to contact me here. This is a very volatile period in this world's history. If you are lined up with this now, then the third world must also be close. Listen, in a few days your time there is going to be a very, very large increase in power. That will be what you need to get through to the third world. I'm afraid you'll find your brother there as well now. There was a bit of an accident in his research. I can only hope he's still okay, but I fear this has something to do with him. I haven't got much time, so please be off. Do what you can, and don't worry about me here. I was wondering what the power here was building up for, but I can feel it now from the gate. I'm afraid of what this might do, so you have to do your best to stop it. Tear a hole in the gate if you have to. The draw on the power would do the same anyway. I don't know what it is, but make sure it doesn't happen."

The power currents made the image of Hohenhime fade in and out, and as he reached the end of his warning Al finally lost his hold on that particular part of history and fell back out of the gate. The eyes reappeared, staring out at him as if expecting a payment, reaching again towards Wrath. He turned to Izumi.

"Let's go back."

Izumi gave Wrath a nudge, and he unburied his face from her chest for a moment, suddenly landing them back in the study. Al sighed and sat down in the middle of the circle with his face in his hands.

"Brother, what have you done?"

Armstrong waited a moment respectfully before interrupting.

"Alphonse, what about the car? It got left behind."

Al shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. We'll have Winry build a bigger one."

"It won't cause problems there?"

"It doesn't work there without a link to our world."

"Yes… but…"

"Don't worry about it." Al stood up and walked back over to his desk. He sat down and started writing, and soon Izumi excused herself from the room.