Emotions.

Mutilation.

Bullets.

Bloodshed.

Screaming.

Death.

Five subjects and five words that would forever be on Teresa's mind. They were like leeches on the soul, never letting her forget that horrendous day. Four years old when it happened, and to think something that took place that long ago would already be forgotten. The problem lay hidden within herself, yet she didn't realize it. And it would be some time before she could even get the slightest idea about it. Her path had been chosen and was going to be fulfilled, if it killed her or cost her another limb. She dedicated each day passing to her family.

She glanced down at both her hands. Her right one was gloved in a thick, leather material. There was brass on the knuckles of her glove. She looked at her left hand. The flesh was fair-toned and soft. The lines of her palm and on her fingers seemed all the same. Some told her that her future was sealed by those 'markings' on her palm. She believed in neither. She balled her hands into fists. Clenched them tightly, wanting to crush them. They shook ferociously because of it.

A warm hand was placed on her bare shoulder.

She turned around to look at him. She expected to see Edward, or Alphonse. But instead, her eyes were set on Mustang, whom nodded at her with his dark eyes. He had no expression whatsoever on his face. And all silence was shattered, even though they did not say a word to each other. Both of them strolled slowly toward the entrance of Central headquarters, their eyes fixed on seperate things and their minds thinking differently. Mustang held the door open as Teresa strode in, whom glanced at him solemnly through the corner of her eyes. And Mustang made it clear that he did, in fact, feel sorry for Teresa. But he could do nothing about it. He led her to his office, where, when they entered, he closed the door behind them. No sound emitted from the room.

When Teresa had finished with Mustang and retreated back into her hotel room, she found that both brothers were still sound asleep. She placed her boots next to her bag and opened the window. She positioned herself to where she could sit on the window and overlook Central. Tears openly poured from her smoke-colored eyes like a faucet. She leaned against the frame of the window and put her hand to her mouth to weaken the sound of her cries. She seemed so broken, so incredibly miserable that she could barely think. It was as though she was never about to stop sobbing anytime soon. She had no control over her emotions at the time. She turned herself around to leave, when Ed stopped her. He appeared as though he had just woken up, though he was fully dressed. Teresa turned away. "I'm sorry," she said, tears still streaming down her face. "I'm sorry for being a burden, and for waking you up. I was about to leave. Please tell Alphonse--" Ed stepped toward her. He had a strong sympathy in his eyes. "You won't have to tell him anything," Ed said softly. "Because you're not leaving us." He put his arms around her. It didn't take her long to do the same.

She coiled her arms tighter around Ed, clutching his shirt through her pain. Her face was buried in his chest. Ed felt her tremble through his arms. He would give anything to make her feel happy again, to drain away her sorrow or even take her place in her sadness. But he knew that all he could do right now was let her cry. And all the while Al was watching them, more specifically Teresa, whom was so intensely pained at the moment that she didn't dare say a thing. He couldn't understand why she had suddenly broken down this way, only that she had more than one reason for it. Al felt an undying sympathy as his brother did for Teresa, wishing he could substitute her pain with anything else. Teresa's lips parted. "It-It's just that...I miss them, Ed..." she said, her voice cracking. "I miss them so much, and every day I think about how I've failed them." A familiar twinge stabbed at both Ed and Al's heart.

She pulled away from Ed. "That's why I had my house excavated." Ed and Al were shocked. "Y-You what?" Ed asked, unsure if he heard correctly. Teresa looked shamefully at the floor and nodded. "I had my house in Resembool crushed, then removed. It was a stupid thing to do, I know...but much like you burning down your house, I didn't want to remember anything about mine." Teresa shook her head, more tears dripping off her face. "But I was wrong about that...instead of forgetting about it, the memories still haunt me..." She wrapped her fingers around the necklace and yanked it off in a single tug. She turned toward the window. "I can't forget that day. It was the worst day of all..." She stretched her arm out the window, so where the necklace was dangling from her fist.

"...and it scarred me for life." She opened her hand, and watched with a raw hatred as the necklace began falling to the ground below. She did not seem remorseful about letting go of her most treasured possession. She winced, then turned herself to get off the window. "If you don't want to get a lecture from Mustang about how being late to a meeting 'demonstrates an act of laziness', then we should head to their Central headquarters now." Teresa picked up her bag and went to the door. "I'll wait for you in the hotel lobby." Ed nodded, watching her as she disappeared behind the door.

"Do you think she's scared, brother?" Al asked, sitting up. Ed shrugged, still observing the door. "I can't honestly say," Ed responded, putting his clothes in the small suitcase. "Terrie always had a gritty way of expressing her fear. But I think she's bottled up her emotions to where she can't contain them anymore." Ed nodded toward the door. Al stood, thought for a moment, and followed him out of the hotel room.

Both Teresa and Alphonse sat on a patch of green grass, waiting for Edward to come out of his meeting with Mustang. The two adolescents stared blankly out into the open space, which actually seemed to be very isolated due to the buildings of Central. Teresa hugged her knees and watched a squirrel scamper up a tree. She turned to Al instinctively; he turned away quickly, then his metallic cheeks colored. Teresa giggled. "Thanks for waiting out here with me," Teresa said, attempting to make him feel more comfortable. "That was really sweet of you." Al turned back to her, then nodded after a few moments. "I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay," Al responded casually. "You never know who could be lurking. And..." He stopped there, kind of disappointing Teresa. She turned to stare down at the grass. Teresa opened her right hand, then squeezed it shut again. She winced, and Al noticed that. If Al had flesh hands, he would reach for hers. But he didn't, so he restrained them from doing so.

"Al..." Teresa mumbled, a bit embarrassed. He turned to her. "Yeah?" She hesitated. "When we were little kids, and you gave me that really big bear..." Al emitted a laugh. "Which one? I gave you tons." Teresa smiled. "Why did you give them to me?" Al cried out softly. He was shocked. Never before had he thought she would ask that. He had no prepared answer that wouldn't come out like a desperate love song. He waited a moment before answering. "B-Because you were my best friend," Al responded, carefully thinking about his words after that. "Y-You were the only one I could talk to. You were the only one I wanted to talk to. I-I...I..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. He was too flustered and shy to say it to Teresa. "Yes?" Al hesitated. "I-I loved you, Terrie." Both Al and Teresa's cheeks colored. Teresa's smile lengthened into a childish grin. She leaned against her forearms. Al lifted his hand. "I wanted to write my feelings for you in the sky, so the whole world can see," Al told her, his as his heart-that-wasn't-there began to pound. "I wanted you to...to...umm...I wanted you to be my sweetheart."

Teresa turned to look at him. She pushed a few tufts of yellow-blonde locks from her face, then thought carefully at what she was going to do. "You used alchemy, didn't you?" she asked with a loving smile. He nodded. "You're too sweet, Al." Before he could say anything else, though, Teresa had lifted herself to her knees and put her arms around him. She planted a kiss on his metallic cheek, not even wincing at the coldness of the metal on her lips. What surprised Al is that he could feel it. He instantly colored comically and put one hand on hers. She smiled, putting her head against his. "To tell you the truth," she said in a childish voice, "I thought of you as dreamy when we were kids." She giggled. She took her arms from around him and stood up. He did, as well. Both of them turned to the large building behind them. "Ed's been in there for a while," she said. "Do you think we should go get him?" A brilliant flash of white light made her scream and turn to Al.

When the light cleared, Al was holding a chocolate-colored teddy bear in his hands.