A very short fic, guys. It's only going to be 4 chapters, possibly 5, but every chapter is 8 pages or more on MS Word. There's a character I introduced, but I've been very careful to keep the Mary-Sue factor WAAAAAY down. So, Read, review, check out my other fan-fictions. Lol.

Edward and Alphonse Elric believe their father abandoned them along with their mother when they were very young. It was a reason to be sad or angry or vengeful anytime they needed it. But they were wrong.

Hohenheim Elric had been a state alchemist. In the beginning, everything was alright. He was given orders, he followed them, and reported the moment they were complete. But eventually those orders became more demanding, more violent, more fatal. Hohenheim was a man of conviction, and began smudging words on his mission reports. He hid the parts that said, "I let him escape; he didn't deserve to die" and "I saw no illegal activities and did not administer punishment."

This did not go unnoticed for very long before Hohenheim knew something was going to happen. So he ran away.

Hohenheim cover his tracks perfectly. He left before any verdict could be reached over his guilt; his family still received a monthly paycheck. A friend of his covered for him in the beginnings of the Ishbal Massacre. His left index finger was "all that was found" of him.

He stayed in the basement of a friend of someone he'd "killed" without ever harming. When her received word of his wife's death six months after it happened, he killed himself in misery over not having been a better husband and father.

The woman he'd saved turned to her daughter as soon as she found out what had happened. "This man saved my life," She said to her, "Without him, you would be an orphan. We owe telling his children the truth of what happened to him."

"We do," She replied, brushing her fingers through slightly tangled black hair. "What are we going to do?"

"I want you to take them his possessions. Take his wedding band and silver watch. Take the book he wrote. Understand?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Don't let anyone know who you are. Don't compromise our situation."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I'm going to cut your hair and bind your chest. You will play the part of a young boy. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Very good. Remember to tell simple lies that will hide your identity. You're not from the city, but the country. Not a girl but a boy. Not a mother but a father. Remember things like that. And please return to me safely, Vanessa."

"Yes, Mother."

"Brother, what did Colonel Mustang want?" Al asked curiously as Ed stormed out of Roy Mustang's office.

"Nhhhhh, Godd-m m-th-r-fu-ing cow," Ed replied under his breath.

"I didn't hear you, Brother," Al said a bit anxiously, taking cues from Ed's mood.

"I said 'that goddamn mother-fucking cow!" Ed shouted, slamming the front door of the expansive building open.

"Brother!" Al admonished, embarrassed. "What happened?" he prodded quietly a moment later.

"I have to do some heavy-duty patrolling on some stupid government building. I'll be working twelve hours a day, just standing out there in the cold and the rain!"

"Brother, it's summer."

"Shut up, Al."

"How long will you be on guard duty?"

"Three months," He replied miserably. "This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me want to quit again! I'm not some obedient military dog..." Ed continued rambling to himself, a few choice words pronounced louder than others.

Al sighed and began thinking.

I guess we always knew what was going to happen. Ed wasn't going to get sent out on stupid missions all the time. It was only a matter of where and when. Things are going to be more serious from now on. We won't have the time to be leisurely and relaxed. I'm going to be the only one able to look for the Philosopher's Stone. I don't want to leave Brother, but I don't want to give up on the Stone either. What am I going to do?

"Al, you alright?" Ed asked, apparently done being angry.

"I was just thinking, what's going to happen with looking for the Philosopher's stone?"

"Well, I'll be busy a lot more, so you'll be free to do research."

"Is that what you want me to do?"

"I guess so. I mean, we can't just drop everything for three months, you know?"

"You're right," Al admitted reluctantly.

"What's your problem then?" Ed probed somewhat harshly.

"You and I never spend time apart, Brother! It's just so..."

"Yeah, I get it, Al. It's okay. But nothing's gunna happen to either of us. We're big kids now, right? Nothing to worry about."

"I guess you're right. I'm being silly again."

"Oi, I said it's okay, so just drop it already."

"Alright, Brother."

"Oh damn," Ed groaned, groping for his alarm clock. He remembered to set his alarm, forgot he had to get to bed early enough to be alert when he reported at 4 A.M.

Ed turned off the alarm and rolled out of bed. He turned on the light and was temporarily blinded by the sudden change. He squinted after a painful moment and eventually opened his eyes normally. He tugged on the uncomfortable uniform he'd been given and wolfed down a banana before quietly leaving the apartment and heading towards the head office building of the department of foreign affairs.

He strode down the empty streets and contemplated the eerie calm. There was no doubt about it; 3:45 A.M. was definitely not his favorite time of day. He approached his destination and was met by none other than Major Armstrong.

"Hello Fullmetal. Feeling energetic this morning, I see," the large man greeted.

"I'll be okay once I get into the routine. What exactly do I have to do here?"

"At exactly 4 A.M. I'm going to hand you this riffle. You will be expected to stay here for five and three fourths of an hour, when a fifteen-minute relief team will come in. Hand your firearm off to an aide. There'll be food in the main hall, eat then. Do whatever you have to just so long as you're back within your fifteen minutes. Then you take back your weapon and present arms for attendance. At the end of your shift, I'll be back and you'll hand your riffle to me."

"Thanks. How do I know I have the same time as the inspector though?"

"Every state alchemist's watch is completely synchronized. They didn't choose a pocket watch out of a hat you know."

"I see," Ed responded softly. He flipped his watch open and watched the second hand pass the '9'.

"Get ready," Armstrong warned, "These soldiers have been here 12 hours, and they're ready to kill if it'll get them out of here faster."

"What am I supposed to be?"

A whistle blew somewhere inside the chain of guards and guns were practically thrown at the second shift. Men and women stampeded away with no dignity or reserve whatsoever. Ed's foot was trampled several times and he nearly got swept backwards by the swarm of people.

"Jesus! Freaking animals!" Ed limped into his position and held the gun on his left side the way he'd seen military people do.

Edward stood erect and managed to stay that way for nearly five hours. After that, he started slouching. No one could have been happier to have fifteen minutes of freedom. It was 9:45 and he was only half way done. He inhaled a bagel sandwich and glass of orange juice before returning outside to his post to be sure he'd be ready when his fifteen minutes were up.

At ten o'clock, Al woke up peacefully. It was an unfamiliar sensation. He had the urge to bang on Ed's door to make sure he was awake before he remembered Ed was on guard duty. He sighed sadly and pondered things he could possibly do for the day. He supposed the first thing he could do was find unread books of alchemy.

There were piles of books in Ed's room. He barreled through them, but it took Al a little longer to read the texts and sufficiently remember them, so he began looking there. He stretched out on Ed's bed and began reading one, feeling somewhat happy to have quiet to concentrate.

At three, Al put a bookmark on his page and started cleaning. Ed would be home in an hour, and Al wanted everything to be perfect.

Vanessa walked uncertainly through the streets of Holbrook. Was she boyish enough? Was she walking too gracefully? Too crassly? What about her posture, her expression? She was utterly terrified when anyone glanced her way. Years of experience still didn't leave her assured of her masculinity.

She didn't have much to worry about; there wasn't much to identify her as a girl. She hadn't had much of a bosom to begin with, but combined with having strips of cotton wrapped around her torso, she was unrecognizable as a girl. Her clothes helped as well.

That day she was wearing loose black pants tied high on her waist, which helped hide her definitely female hips. Her shirt was loose, but not oversized. Vanessa noted with fear or satisfaction that most of the people looking at her were girls. That had to be a good sign as far as her appearance as a male went.

Her thoughts shifted to the bag she was carrying on her right shoulder as she waved at a group of schoolgirls. She'd read the book Hohenheim had written many times. It was about the Philosopher's Stone.

The guy was always talking about that damn thing. Why was it so important to him? He couldn't practice alchemy in case someone would find him. There had to be something...I wonder if Edward and Alphonse know.

There was no question about it. Vanessa was dying to know why the Stone weighed so greatly in Hohenheim's mind. She sighed and trudged onward towards Central. She'd heard from an old woman by name of Pinako and her granddaughter Winrey that the Elric brothers would be there. She hoped they were right. She was sick of traveling to do a favor for her mother.

Ed artfully dodged everyone in the four o'clock crowd. He was only two weeks from being done with his guarding stint, and he regarded it with joy and wariness.

Something the seemed too good to be true probably was, and quitting military service cold turkey seemed like one of them. He yawned broadly as he reflected on that and waited for the inspector to come around so he could relax a bit.

Ed felt something in his body that day. Something was going to happen. He wasn't sure what, but he knew for sure it would. He pondered it slightly, as he had nothing else to do, and knew that whatever was going to happen would, no matter where he was.

"Oh man. This is so stupid!" Vanessa cried after she looked at the train schedule.

There were five stops with the word "Central" in them. She was doomed. She yelled an unintelligible phrase and dropped to the ground. She wasn't going to ever find the Elrics, and she wasn't ever going to find her way back home, even if she could return without having passed on Hohenheim's possessions.

"Hey! Victor!"

Vanessa heard a familiar voice, but many girls did have the same voice. She looked around, but didn't see anyone she could identify.

"Victor! It's me, Winrey!" Winrey beamed down at Vanessa. "In a little trouble? Grandma thought you might but you'd already blown out of town, so she sent me to come help you!"

"I have never been so happy to see anyone as I am to see you right now," Vanessa replied in the deeper male-voice she used in public.

Winery blushed slightly, and Vanessa was a little surprised. She realized she was a good-looking man, but didn't think she could be mistaken for flirting. She was always careful to avoid that.

"So what Central am I going to?" Vanessa asked in her best 'I'm pretending you don't exist' voice.

"Well, we're going to plain Central as our first try." Winrey responded, glancing thoughtfully up and the board of train stations.

"We?" Vanessa asked a bit nervously.

"Yeah, I haven't seen Ed or Al for a long time, so I figured I'd come along too, if it doesn't bother you."

"Oh, well, I'm not much of a people person," Vanessa said. She blanched when Winrey's face fell. "But, you know, everybody has to try something new. I don't mind a traveling companion. Besides, I don't want to get stuck again."

"Really? Great! So let's get our tickets and get out of here!" Winrey was bright and cheerful again, and Vanessa felt a bit hot in her face.

One thing Vanessa couldn't stand to do was hurt someone's feelings. It could have been her upbringing, it could have been her feminine nature, or it could have been something else entirely, but it had gotten her into plenty of bad situations over the past seven years.

"So, Winrey," Vanessa began as they settled down in their seats, "Where are we going to go if the Elrics aren't in Central?"

"They're there. Al wrote me a letter not too long ago; Ed has some kind of military duty keeping him there."

"Thank god!" Vanessa cheered and relaxed in her seat. "You have no idea how long I've been looking for them! I can't believe this crap is finally over!"

"I've meant to ask you about that," Winrey began conversationally, "Why have you been looking for them? Why didn't you just quit and go home?"

"Because...it's complicated," Vanessa sighed, "But long story short, I knew their father, and I have some things to give them from him."

"Their...father?" Winrey blinked in disbelief. "That no good bastard is trying to make peace now! Where was he nine years ago? What about seven? What was he doing when his family needed him?"

"Winrey, don't talk about him like that. I can't tell you all the details; it's a very touchy matter, especially with state alchemists crawling around. I can say this, however: Hohenheim Elric was a good man. He was forced to leave home and he did his best to provide for them. He's not 'trying to make peace,' he died. He heard about his wife's death and killed himself. I'm giving his things to the Elric brothers out of respect and debt of Hohenheim. That's all I can ever tell you about it."

"Was their father an undercover spy?" Winrey asked quietly, leaning foreword in anticipation.

"In a way," Vanessa replied carefully.

"Wow," Winrey breathed, "Wow. I bet Ed wouldn't be so angry if he knew that."

"He's going to know it as soon as I can find him. It just seems like I get somewhere and as soon as I do I find out they left a week earlier! It's been hell!"

"I bet it has, especially for a guy like you."

"What do you mean, a guy like me?"

"Well you're, I mean, you're just kind of..." Winrey blushed madly, "Kind of pretty. That's all."

Vanessa let out a short laugh. "I'm 'pretty,' am I? Well I guess it's lucky for me there aren't many gay rapists, right?"

Winrey laughed with Vanessa for a moment before she sat back in her seat.

"So what were you doing before you started looking for Ed and Al? Are you going to do that again after you find them?"

"Well, my...father and I own a smithy in our village. We make specialty items, like missing pieces of auto-mail, or lost pieces of other machinery. It's good business, alright. And yeah, I think I am going to completely take over once I get back. My Pa is probably having a hard time with just him and his old age to do the work."

"Hey, we kind of do the same thing! I'm an auto-mail specialist, but I can fix anything on Earth!" Winrey grinned gloatingly.

"How much profit does that offer in a small town?" Vanessa asked curiously, forgetting that she was supposed to offer a similar service in a similar setting.

"Enough that I'm considering opening up another shop there in Central!"

"I wonder how business in Central is?" Vanessa pondered.

"Oh Victor! It's amazing! Every storeowner there is rich! There's so many people who need so many goods and services! Do you think you'll make a location there as well?"

"I don't know. Maybe getting away from the sadness at home and moving everything here would be a good idea."

"Hey, We'd better get some sleep. Central is a big city, I don't think we'll just find someone waiting for us at the station since we're unannounced and everything."

"Good idea." Vanessa was silent for a moment, wondering what kind of person Winrey was. "Winrey, can I ask a favor of you?" She finally asked.

"Sure, Victor."

"If I wake you up because I'm in a nightmare, please wake me."

"I will," Winrey promised.