MusicalRileyChan: don't be confused! Here, I shall provide you with an ultra quick explanation for part two: Ed and Al E have switched places. Al E is in Germany with Al H, and Ed is in Amestris with Winry. Er, up until now, that is :P

KristalChan: is Ed alive? Hmmmm. Do you believe he can open the gates without sacrificing anything? Does Ed believe he can open the gates without sacrificing anything?

Animefan127: I hope Ed will be there too...

Yuugiamythest: Here is some Roy/Riza just for you. Don't kill me…

ShadedRouge: oh sorry, didn't mean to confuse! Al H and Al E built the rocket, and went up into space, and then the rocket crashed. But before it crashed, it flew into the Gates of Truth, only Al H, not knowing anything about alchemy, figured they were the gates of heaven. Ed is there cause Ed was in the middle of performing a transmutation to open the gates so his brother could return home, and he sent Al H back because (hmmm actually more on exactly why he did that later). Keep reading?

Eleventy-Nine: Thanks so much for recognizing how much thought went into this. It literally consumed me.

All That is Lost

He stared for a moment before knocking. She looked pale, deathly pale and grey, but she was alive and smiling gently down at the bundle in her arms. He rapped his knuckles softly on the door frame, and her large blue eyes swung up to meet his.

"Anything?" she asked softly.

He crossed the room, taking the chair by the window and pulling it towards the bed. "Did you name her, Miss Rockbell?" he asked, equally soft.

She shook her head, looking back down at the baby.

"I heard the delivery was very long," he said hesitantly, wanting to offer his sympathies but not certain how.

"I was drugged through most of it," she answered, not looking up. "So I don't remember how long it was."

He sat, quietly, staring at the tiny form. Her face was red and wrinkly, her eyes were closed into mere slits in that miniature face, and her fingers were curled in on themselves. Winry tugged the little hat down a bit further on the baby's forehead, and traced the soft cheek with her finger. Was this really Fullmetal's child?

"General Mustang," she said, softly, her voice pleading. "Did you find anything?"

He sighed. He could not bring himself to withhold the truth from her. "Intelligence says Edward was spotted by several people in the train station in Central. The ticket master sold him a round trip to East City."

Her jaw dropped. "A round trip?" she echoed.

He nodded. "Contacts in East City say he took the desert-rail as far as it ran, and that he walked from there."

Her reddened eyes grew wide. "He didn't," she breathed.

He rubbed his hand over his face and through his hair. She looked so weak and drained, he wished there was a shred of hope he could give her. The fact that Ed had purchased a round trip ticket would have to be enough, he told himself grimly. "I've had my people and Riza's people searching all over Ishbal, including the abandoned temple where Alphonse found the array." He took a breath. "There was nothing."

"Oh." It came out as a whisper. She glanced back down at the baby, warm against her chest. "Would you like to hold her?" she offered hesitantly.

Roy stiffened. "Babies don't like me," he said in half-protest, but held out his arms anyway and let her place the newborn in them.

"Hold her head," Winry directed him, and he shifted his hand to cradle the back of the soft head, feeling the barely-there traces of baby hair.

He leaned back, holding the baby and thinking suddenly of Riza, and how they had talked often, jokingly, about what their offspring might look like. Roy had always ended these discussions on a serious note, saying he didn't want to have children.

What a fool he had been then.

Riza had met him for lunch, seeming nervous, distracted, so unlike her usual self, but he never could have guessed the reason. He had been floored when she had told him she was pregnant. And everything that was the wrong thing to say, he said. He told her it was her fault, that she should have been more careful, and refused to listen to her logic that they were equally responsible. He also refused to entertain the notion of raising a child together, dismissing it as impossible, he could never be a father, and besides what would become of her career? She had stormed out, and had refused to speak to him, not even just to hear his apology. Work became impossible with his second in command seething with anger at his very presence, and he put in for his accumulated vacation days, figuring he would use the time to sort things out, decide what to do, how to make it up to her and how to deal with having a family. "She's so tiny," he said quietly, afraid even the slightest movement would jar her from her sleep.

"She was three weeks early," Winry told him, "but she's getting bigger, she's already gained six ounces."

Riza would not hear of it. She put in for a transfer back to East City, and was gone. He kept tabs on her, of course, and followed her rising career. All the information he gathered on her did not include the birth of the baby. If it had been a false alarm, he had hurt her too badly to be forgiven. If she had miscarried, she had miscarried alone. And if she had ended it herself, and he shuddered at the thought, then his stupidity had cost him his only child.

The baby in his arms began to stir, and a sleepy cry issued from those tiny lips. She waved her fists in the air, gearing up for a real cry, and Roy looked nervously at Winry. "Do you want her back?" he asked, holding the baby out to her.

She chuckled softly. "Just rock her," she instructed. "She'll quiet down."

Just then the baby erupted in a full on cry, her face becoming redder, and Roy rocked her dutifully back and forth. "Hey," he said softly, "Don't cry, no reason to cry, come on, stop that, you want me to give you back to mommy?" He looked at Winry pleadingly. "I think she wants her mommy," he said pointedly.

She smiled up at him from the bed, taking in the sight of the stern man in the blue uniform and eye patch who had been the terror of Ed and Al's teenage years. That Bastard Colonel, Ed had called him. Brother, don't say that, Al had admonished, he's been very helpful to us.

When Roy looked up he felt his heart clench. In the doorway stood another blue uniform, the very picture of the woman he had fallen in love with, when had it been, actually? Ages ago, he told himself. Long before he had ever admitted it. Riza walked over to him, taking the screaming baby from his arms, and rocked her soothingly back and forth, so much more naturally than Roy's own stiff attempt. The screams became choked little bursts, until the baby became calm again, her little brow uncreasing and her eyes opening.

Your chance is gone, he told himself ruefully. Her chance is gone. She had never been involved with anyone before him, he knew this because he had her thoroughly investigated when he took her on as his subordinate. She presented to him the utmost challenge: to catch the uncatchable. She had been involved with no one since, and he knew this because he had her thoroughly investigated every few months since she left him. If he believed in the sentiment that there was one person out there for everyone, then he believed he had found that person, and lost her, and was destined to be alone as payment for his sins against her.

"Oh, Winry," Riza breathed, her rich brown eyes glowing with maternal affection. She would have made a wonderful mother. Stern, but loving. Caring yet strict. All the things he could never do, she would be there to take over. "She looks just like Alphonse!" she exclaimed.

Both Generals flinched when they saw the pain flash behind the woman's eyes, and Winry held out her arms for the baby. "Really?" she asked, trying to sound normal, pulling her child in close. "I think she looks like me."