Wahoo Fma! To bad I don't own it.

Read: Here's when we start mixing the manga with anime. To lazy to read the manga? Well, read my profile, I have a link that talks about the neighboring countries of Amestris world and Ling.

Held

By The Gomp

When I came-to I found myself lying on a cold hard marble floor. My head felt like it was going to split in half.

I looked around the area I laid in to take in my surroundings. The room was dark and the air tasted stale. It took me a second to realize I was in the mansion that I'd last fought Dante and the Homunculus in; I was sitting in the center of the alchemy array I had used years ago.

My body felt bruised all over as I sat up. A pulsing pain from my side screamed for my attention, I was still bleeding from my shot wound.

I sat for a second trying to sort everything out in my head, too much happened in a short amount of time. I stared blankly at the marble floor; there was a nice coat of dust that I was sitting on.

"Dad…"

I slammed my fist hard into the ground, causing some of the dust to fly around me. I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell, hell crying like a baby again would be good. But all I could do was just stare blankly. My face felt sticky from previous tears.

"This wasn't supposed to happen this way." My voice rang out in the empty room. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" I slammed my fist repeatedly into the ground; something inside me felt like it was snapping in half, it hurt so much. I finally screamed, it was so loud and pain filled that I couldn't believe it was my own.

I couldn't protect someone again… instead, he protected me.

I forced myself to stand, I could contemplate everything later. A few drops of blood fell from between my fingers, if I didn't get help soon then my fathers sacrifice was going to be in vain.

I forced my eyes to keep focus as I pushed my way through the murky halls; my feet caused loud echo's to resonate throughout the building. After a few minutes of searching, I found the entrance doors; I forced one of the ponderous doors open and walked out into the underground city. My eyes were beginning to lose focus from the blood loss, I had to hurry.

Even though it had been three years since I last walked through that hell hole, I still remembered my way out. I jogged my way through the empty roads and made my way through the dark passage that led to the hoary church that was aboveground. By the time I made it to the church's front doors I could feel my body getting ready to give out, but I wouldn't let it.

I yanked the front doors open to the freedom that was beyond, the sun shined brightly in my eyes.

I walked out of the church and found myself in an alley street, the distant noise of Amestris society sent shivers throughout my body. I was home; I truly was in my own world.

I looked between two buildings to see the street that was ahead, the street looked to be a market of some sort, people were socializing and shopping throughout it.

My movements were slow and forced, but I had to get to the market. I was only inches away when my knees decided to finally give out.

"Help."

My voice sounded like a whisper, it was raspy and even hard for me to understand, I swallowed some saliva to try and clear my throat. I knew I had only one more chance to get help before my body was going to give away; I had to make it good.

I took a deep breath and screamed at the top of my lungs.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!"

The world suddenly went black.

The next few weeks were a total blur. Now and then I would hear random voices, but I couldn't tell if they were from a dream or if they were real. Sometimes I would hear the sound of a steady beeping and other times I thought I heard a women's voice telling me comforting words.

There was this one time that I was pretty sure that I was really beginning to wake up. I heard many voices talking at once, some of them were screaming while others were mumbling incoherently, then someone started yelling for people to move out of their way. Shortly after that my world went back to a peaceful ignorance.

During my unconscious moments memories toyed with my mind. Some nice, some I would rather forget. I think I had a few dreams here and there that had nothing to do with the reality of life, but I couldn't really remember.

Then on one not so particular morning my body seemed to be filled with energy, it was encouraging me to wake up. It was as if my body had been dead for so long and now it was ready to be filled with life again.

I blinked a few times as a light that was too bright for its own good entered its way into my vision. My vision was still pretty blurry so I rubbed my hand over my eyes to encourage their focus.

My fingers had that sleep feeling to them, you know, the one that felt like a thousand needles were pricking at you all at once. I groaned in annoyance and shook my hand to wake it up.

I took a deep breath while trying to figure out where I was. This wasn't my room, I was sure of that. I looked from side to side to see if I could find anything of familiarity, there was nothing. The room was simply white and bore-some. The sound of a steady beep grabbed my attention. I looked to the far right of myself to find a strange contraption; it seemed to be reading my heart. That caused my eyes opened in shock.

"Where the hell am I?"

I sat up in the bed and felt up and down my body, the outfit I was wearing defiantly wasn't the last thing I remembered having on. I groaned in pain as my hand grabbed my right side.

It was then that realization dawned on me. My father, Envy, the gate…

Images of the gate flooded my mind. The gate…this time going through the gate had been different; I had learned many new things. I suppose sacrificing both Envy and my father was a bigger fee than I had ever given before. A smile stretched across my face; this time around the gate had told me something very precious.

It seems that to the people of the other world, the gate was a place they called 'heaven'. In that world I had heard people mention a flash of light before death then they would be sent to the 'gates of heaven', but, what was really happening, was they were actually going to the gate (or the gate of truth as I liked to call it). My father had once told me that the people of the other world were converted into energy when they died, then that energy was used for alchemy by the people of my own world. But see, the energy that's created isn't the people's souls or the people themselves; instead, the energy that's created is from their lives. Their memories and life story's are converted into energy that we then use for alchemy. Wait, I still have more! In compensation for these people to lose their memories, their souls are then reborn into my own world, like a form of reincarnation. If you put everything together, it's the law of conservation taking place.

…yet, my father still had given up himself without knowing that fact.

I brought my hand to my face, it hurt to breathe just thinking about what happened. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be overjoyed that my father would gain life again or sulk from losing him, I was going for the later.

This time I had lost him for real.

A helpless moan came from between my lips. I was so tired of being in these types of situations, they hurt and simply weren't fun to be in.

The door to the room I was in suddenly opened, it caused me to look up in surprise. The woman standing in the doorway gasped when she realized that I was alert. "You finally woke up!"

I looked at her in confusion, well, wasn't she just stating the obvious.

"Hold still sir, I have to get the doctor." Like I had anywhere to go?

The woman rushed out of the room before I could ask her the millions of questions that I had, I stared at the doorway for a second before I leaned back in my bed. I then looked at the empty space of where I once had an arm, my prosthetic was obviously gone, even the outer rim that connected the nerves was missing. Instead, my shoulder was fully bandaged up.

Slight disappointment nagged at me, there was no reason for me to have had my arm and leg returned, but one could hope… right?

It didn't take long for a doctor to enter the room; he was carrying a clip board. He smiled when I looked at him.

"Mr. Elric, you gave us quite a scare, I'm glad that you're finally awake."

I stared at the man not sure what to say. How did he know my name? The doctor's smile only grew when he saw my confusion. "A military officer is here to see you; he's been waiting almost an hour for you to awake."

I swallowed hard, the military had already found out. Did that mean everyone else already knew? If they did, wouldn't that mean they were waiting also? "What about friends or…relatives? Where are they?"

The man lifted an eyebrow. "We were told not to contact any family members. When you were first brought here we had no way to identify you, we called the police to do a background check and amazingly one of the officers recognized you. You're the legendary Fullmetal, are you not? We contacted the military right away; it seems you have been missing in action for quite some time now." Yea and I wanted it to stay that way.

I didn't want to be mad at the man but my voice came out harsh anyways. "How long have I been in the hospital?"

The man just ignored my tone and flipped through his chart. "For almost a week, we drugged you so you wouldn't wake up, your body seemed in desperate need of rest and it needed proper time to heal. At one point you gained a fever, but we were able to contain and vanquish it pretty quickly. You're a lucky young man, if we hadn't gotten you here as quickly as we did, it's highly possible you would have died, you lost a lot of blood."

My left hand grabbed my right side again; I could still feel the dull pain of my gunshot wound. "Send in whoever it is to see me."

The doctor eyed me for a moment; he walked closer to my bed. "Do you mind telling me what happened?"

Before I could say a word a familiar voice grabbed both out attentions. "That information is classified Doctor, please leave." The doctor looked at me once almost as if he had more to say, but without a second glance he followed his orders. The soft sound of the door closing behind him penetrated the silence that fell across the room.

As one could expect, I never thought that the first familiar face I would see would be the same crappy Colonel I had to dealt with for most of my teenage years. My mouth fell open from shock when I got a good look at him, he had an eye patch over his left eye and needed a cane to stand up right, oh boy, oh boy, was this a real treat.

"Well Edward Elric, you're not dead after all."

I didn't really have any words to say, hell, what could you say to that? Instead, I just bid him to come nearer. Mustang limped his way to my bedside, his face remaining neutral. I looked at his uniform like the kid I was and lifted a shaking finger to touch it; the fabric was rough under my finger tips, a smile spread across my lips. I then did something I didn't even plan to do.

I laughed like a freaking psycho would after making his first kill, I laughed so hard that my stomach began to hurt. Mustang's right eye stared at me in shock.

"Are you alright? Do you still have drugs in your system…?"

I could only laugh harder. I didn't know why I was laughing. There was no humor in the situation, maybe I laughed just because it felt so damn good to be alive. Laughing just allowed the pain to go away and reality to sink in, I really was home. Roy…he was so familiar, so alive, it was just unbelievable.

"Edward, please calm down, if you don't, I'll be forced to get a doctor."

I took a few deep breaths to try and get the fit of laughter out of my system, after a few minutes of struggling I seemed finally able to control myself. I looked at Colonel Roy Mustang with a smile on my face. "Doesn't seem like you've changed much, still stern as ever, I presume."

Mustang looked at me with a smirk. "Things have changed. Welcome back, I was told you were dead."

I looked at Mustang curiously, I suppose like a new born child would after seeing his parents for the first time. Roy and I had always had an odd relationship, he was the jerk and I was the brat. What was so weird was that I was sure that the last time we had spoken was going to be the last I would ever see him again, but here we were, both men, seeing each other once more. The world truly was a strange place.

"I thought I was dead too."

Mustang looked at me with a purpose. I ignored that look and stared at the eye patch, it seemed so foreign on his face. He noticed my stare and subconsciously placed his fingers on the black cloth. "I lost it during the night I fought the Fuhrer, Colonel Archer got a few good shots at me." He tapped the side of his leg with his cane to add some emphasis.

Something else caught me totally off guard, I had to blink several times to make sure I was seeing right, there was no way. I pointed at the object that seemed almost offensive being there. " Wha- What's that? Don't tell me your marr-"

"Married?"

I nodded a few times. The military's womanizer… Who the hell would marry him!

Mustang's smile only broadened, his actions seemed to carry a hint of humor. "I'm married and my wife is expecting."

Ok, that did it; I laid back in my bed and began to laugh again. Roy, a daddy? It was simply priceless.

Between my fits of laughter, I was able spurt out the question that nagged at me. "Who would marry you?"

Mustang chuckled at that, at least he wasn't taking offense towards my rude behavior. "Who else? Riza Hawkeye."

My laughter suddenly haltered. "You and First Lieutenant are married and you're having a baby?"

Mustang could only nod as his response.

"Maybe the gate made a mistake, maybe it took me back to the wrong world! This cant be right!"

I, of course, said this all out of humor, but Mustangs face faltered. "You went through a gate?"

I looked at Roy for a moment with stupidity written all over my face, shit.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly seemed to darken. "I don't want to talk about it, especially when it's involving someone from the military." My voice was threatening, but I only spoke the truth.

"There will be no military involvement; this is just between you and me. The higher ups don't even know that you've surfaced, once I got word that they identified you; I put in false rumors so you wouldn't be found. I'm only here as your friend, the only reason I was presented to you as a military official is because it was the only way I could see you and get control of the hospital fee's and such."

I didn't believe him; I never trusted the military and I never fully trusted Roy. And friends, when did Roy and I form a bond of friendship? Last time I checked, Roy was just a Colonel who was trying to control a rebellious teen. "Then why haven't you allowed anyone else to see me or be informed of my presences?"

I wanted to ask why no one had informed my brother, oh God did I want to ask. But I couldn't, I was too scared. If Roy was to tell me that my brother wasn't around anymore than I would have no meaning left in life.

"They all still think your dead."

Well Roy, that just made life all better, how about I give you a nice applause for your lack of brain activity?

"And…."

"I had to make sure it was really you, I needed to speak with you and confirm that you were the real Edward Elric before I informed anyone else. There has been a lot of suffering for your sake, not just with your family, but with others too. I refused to lead anyone on just incase you were an imposer. Now tell me, what happened?"

And, of course, Roy had to ask the one question I didn't want to answer.

I pulled at the blankets that surrounded my body and threw them to the side. I figured so, my make shift prosthetic leg was also missing. I looked at my bandaged stump and groaned, nope, couldn't run away this time.

"Get me the damn doctor; I want to bitch about my prosthetics."

Roy shook his head as he watched me look around the room for something that I could support myself with. His words were spoken evenly, as if everything obviously made sense. "I told the doctor to remove them. That was a cheap imitation of auto-mail you had, you deserve much better."

I gave a frustrated growl, Roy was pissing me off! "Don't tell me what I should have for an arm and leg! Now, get the doctor, I want my prosthetics back and I want to get the hell out of here."

I didn't want to see Roy's face, he wanted answers and I didn't want to talk until I came to terms with everything myself. Besides, Roy wasn't the top pick of people to sap my heart out to. I knew if I stayed there he would force me to speak, the hell with him.

All I wanted was to go home, I wanted to show everyone I was alive. The idea of them thinking I was dead left a foul taste in my mouth. I grabbed the I.V. that was in my arm and yanked it out. I started pulling off the suction cups that connected me to the weird contraption that was beeping behind me. Roy grabbed my shoulders to try and settle me.

"What the hell are these things? Get these things off me!"

Roy tried to stop my hand movements, but my left hand was quick. "Ed, leave them on, they are just part of the heart monitor. Haven't you seen one before? It's been around for two years..."

I looked at the man as if he was crazy. The hospitals in this world were more technologically advanced than the ones in the other; I supposed it shouldn't had been too surprising that they would have invented something like that.

Roy looked at me curiously, he was beginning to catch onto something and I didn't like it.

"Get out."

"Edward, will you calm down? You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

The image of my father danced around my head. I swung my leg over the side of the bed and pushed myself off the mattress hoping that magically I could keep balance. Falling flat on my face proved me wrong, the marble floor was cold to the touch.

"I want out of here!"

Mustang knelt beside me with concern consuming him.

I knew I wasn't thinking right, hell, I really wasn't thinking at all. I was tired and just wanted to go home. I didn't want to answer anything; I wanted nothing to do with the Military. I could only imagine how big of an idiot I looked sprawled on the floor the way I was.

"Edward, please calm down."

A nurse suddenly knocked on the door. "Sir, I was told to check up…oh my. Is he alright? I'll be right back; I'm going to fetch the doctor."

Roy lifted his hand in a gesture to stop the women from leaving. "No, please, he just needs some time alone."

I looked at the nurse with pure frustration. "Get the doctor and tell him to give me my damn leg back."

She looked between me and Roy indecisive. Roy shook his head and motioned her to leave. For some reason she followed, willing to leave me alone with Roy. Damn her, damn her to hell!

Roy grabbed me by the shoulders and flipped me around so I was facing him. I refused to make eye contact.

"You remind me of a little child. I will inform your family of your safety if that will make you feel better."

For some reason it didn't. I slammed my fist into the ground not sure of what to say, my mind was running a mile a minute. "I want to see them…" My voice got groggily. "I want to see them for my-myself."

I covered my face with my left hand so Roy couldn't see the tears threatening to spill. This was just getting annoying, I could never cry when I was a teen, but now that I was an adult I was easily able to cry like a baby.

Roy lifted my body up gently. "You're not at a healthy weight Edward."

I still refused to face him. Roy laid me carefully on the bed and pulled the blankets tightly around me. I turned to the side so I wouldn't have to look at him.

His voice was soft. "I will retrieve your leg, but I refuse to allow you to have it connected again. It's possible for that type of alloy to cause an infection from bacteria. When they found you, your arm was totally scrapped. Would you still like me to retrieve that too?" I nodded my head; I was going to need them.

"Now, do you really want to see your family for yourself or would you rather I inform them of your return?" His kind tone was disturbing me; I took a chance and looked at him. He looked at me as if nothing had happened; he was looking at me still as a man.

I contemplated what he had asked me. "Can you tell them something is up, don't tell them exactly what, but tell them someone is coming so they need to be all together. I want to surprise them…" I gave a weak smile.

When I spoke of family Roy knew I meant the Rockbell's and…. Al, I was still too scared to ask about Al.

Roy smiled at me. It was a genuine smile that I had never seen him use before; he seemed so much older now.

"It would be my pleasure. I will find a good prosthetic leg which you can function with, and I will also get a train ride ready for you. Is there anything else you think you need?"

I thought for a moment to only have my stomach beat me to the punch, it growled for attention. I gave him a guilty smile.

"I'll make sure you get some food too."

I got stuck in the hospital for three more days. They refused to allow me to leave until they were positive that I was physically stable.

I didn't get any more surprise visitors, but Roy checked on me once a day. His visits were short, he was even kind enough to drop off a few books to try and give me something to do. I thought the gesture was kind, but I couldn't read the books without getting a headache because of my eyes, what a let down.

It didn't take me long to discovered that I was at a leading hospital. When they originally found my body they had to transport me to the closest hospital that had proper supplies for surgery. You wanna guess what hospital that was? No guess? Come-on! Well all right, I'll tell you. It was Central's! Yup, good ol' Central… grrr.

This meant I was in the center of military heaven. I didn't want to face another military personnel for a long time, Mustang was enough to handle.

I spent most my time just thinking about what happened with my father. Slowly I was coming to terms with stuff, but that didn't mean I was ready to talk about it, I had a feeling it was going to take awhile for that one.

On the last day of my hospital stay Roy produced a substitute leg prosthetic and a ride to his house.

I looked to my left and watched Roy drive. He defiantly looked older these days. "Why am I going to your house again?"

Roy changed the shifts of the car then gave me a quick glance. "Your train doesn't leave till morning, how many times do I have to tell you this?"

I tapped my pointer finger against my chin. "Yet, you haven't explained to me why I am going to your house…"

"Because I'm not paying for you to have a hotel room." I sighed as I sat back in the car seat. I suppose it would be cool to see Riza, I was curious of what she looked like now. She had always been a fairly attractive adult, I wondered if Roy had driven her sanity away and caused her to age far too quickly.

"What happened to the money I made from the military?" It was a dumb question; I just had to confirm it.

"Your family inherited it. They are also being compensated because you died 'in action'." I loved how I was dead.

A small spark flickered behind my eyes. The only way the government would give compensation was if they had a blood relative to give it to, but for some reason I wouldn't be surprised if Mustang had pulled some strings so Winry and Granny could have been taken care of. I slide in my seat from my depressing thoughts.

"You really haven't been home at all, have you?"

I looked at Roy. I wanted to go 'well duh', but it wasn't his fault for not knowing, he had no clue what had gone on in the past three years, no one did.

I ignored his question. I just slide further down the seat.

"I know what happened."

That caused me to sit straight from surprise. My eyes went wide, but I tried to ignore what he was saying, he knew nothing.

"A heart-rate monitor was introduced two years ago; it was on the news everywhere. The reason for the publicity was because it had a battery backup system, first to be introduced in the world. If you were on earth you would have heard about it, it was a huge step for medical technology."

I blew some of my long bangs out of my face. "Maybe I just never saw one before."

Roy shook his head. "You're not like that, your to observant. You also never returned from the final battle with Dante, no one has seen you since. Many speculations have been made about what happened."

My mouth fell open. "How do you know about Dante?"

Roy pulled the car off to the side of the road. He looked at me intently, but I looked at my hand instead of facing him. What a man I was, fierce in battle, but pussy in an adult conversation.

"You crossed some type of 'gate' and now your back; it's the only possible explanation. This 'gate' must lead to another world because you defiantly weren't hiding around in this one, that's for sure."

My mouth went into a firm line. He already knew most of my story, yet, earlier he tried to get answers from me. I sighed and looked at him. "Your right, now do you want to take me back to the military as a lab rat? Bet you could get a nice penny with my good looks."

Roy smirked. "The military has changed greatly since you left. When you see my wife please don't refer to her as First Lieutenant, she is now Colonel. And I am General."

I began to choke. "H-Holy crap! Even in your condition?" Yup, the comment was rude as hell, but I couldn't help it.

Roy lifted an eyebrow as he started the car again. "The military isn't the same. It has no more power, we handed it over to Parliament. My position is nothing more than a title and hours of paper work."

I rubbed my chin, eww, stubble hair. For some reason I didn't see Parliament in charge as being a bad thing, yet, something didn't seem to fit right. "So you're telling me you still got a high position even though you tried to kill King Bradley?"

"I did kill King Bradley. I used to play chess with a superior of mine, when the government switched to the Parliament he was elected as one of the chairmen."

"So he covered for you? I suppose it does pay to make friends in high places." Roy only shrugged in response.

Silence began to stretch in the car, it wasn't really uncomfortable, but sitting alone with Roy never was something I favored on doing. Roy was the one who broke the silence first.

"Why haven't you asked me about your brother?"

Butterflies began to dance in my stomach; he was bringing up the most sensitive subject to talk about. I looked out the window pretending I didn't hear him.

"Do you want to know about him?"

My palm began to sweat, I wiped it against the hospital pants that the hospital had provided me with. I looked at Roy, my voice came out shaky. "What is there to say about him?"

Roy only smirked. A bit of hope welled up inside me; did that mean what I thought it did?

"What do you want to know?"

I felt like I was in a damn guessing game, I hated it when people danced around a subject. Roy knew exactly what I wanted and was forcing me to say it out loud. Stupid crappy Colo-General, argh.

"Are you saying he's…"

"Yes, he's alive."

I will never be able to put into words of how relieved I felt. I wanted to scream, shout, cry, do a dance on the roof of Mustangs car. There were a million good feelings which were welling up inside me; it was as if I finally felt whole.

Roy seemed confused; I don't think he was able to decrypt the expression on my face. I hadn't noticed, but he had stopped the car and was looking at me oddly. I gave him a smile and he smiled back as if finally understanding.

"Well, that seems to have put you in a better mood."

I could only nod absently. I had so many things I wanted to say to my brother, I had a million stories' to tell and now I had a life time to tell them. Thank you to whatever god or holy divine there was out there, my brother made it out alive! He was alive and I was alive along with him.

"He's not in a suit of armor anymore, right?" Mustang nodded.

Life was good, life was too good. My brother was alive and better yet, he wasn't the suit of armor anymore. It bloody worked, that day when I transmuted him, it actually worked.

"I think I should tell you something else about your brother though-"

I cut Roy off by a quick gesture with my hand.

"Is it anything life threatening?"

Mustang shook his head.

"Then save it, I'll find it out on my own. Thank you so much for everything."

Roy smiled at me as he shrugged his shoulders.

A knock on the window made me jump. I looked out my window to be greeted with Riza waving at us. She motioned for me to roll down the window, so I did.

"Do you boys plan to come in or just sit out here all day? Dinner is waiting for the both of you."

I looked at the house that was in front of the car. I hadn't realized it, but when Roy had pulled over he actually had parked in his drive way. I looked back at Riza and smiled. "I heard the good news, congratulations."

Riza placed her hands on her rather large abdominal. Her hair was undone and was lying on her shoulders; she was wearing a maternity dress that was pink with blue and green flowers. I had never seen her out of uniform before, she looked very different now.

She smiled at me and opened the door. "Well, if you would have come home earlier we would have invited you to the wedding."

I gave a nervous laugh as I got out of the car. "Yea, sorry it took me so long."

Riza looked me up and down while biting a nail "Ed, you have gotten taller."

I wasn't sure if I should have been happy or annoyed by her comment. Why did it have to be the first thing she noticed! "Yup, so I'm not a small bean anymore."

Roy got out of the car and walked next to his wife. Seeing the two together actually seemed right somehow.

Roy's smirk was devilish. "I wouldn't go that far."

In an immature manner I stuck my tongue out at him. I turned my attention back to Riza. "When are you expecting?"

She rubbed her tummy a few times. "I have a month and a few days left. Do you want to touch?" She gestured towards her stomach.

Memories of the last time I touched a pregnant women hit me. "Ehh no, that's ok…"

"Shy Edward? You still scared of females? Oh lil' Edward is still scared of a women's body, what a pansy." The devils fire flared to life.

"Who are you calling LITTLE! And I'm not a pansy!"

Roy only laughed at my outburst. "Still a kid at heart."

I placed my hand on my hip. "Better to be a little kid than an old man beginning to gray."

Mustang ran his fingers through his hair, he tried to look up but his hair was too short to see. Riza shook her head at his stupidity.

"Well come inside boys. Dinner's getting cold."

I was afraid; I forgot how terrifying life could be with Armstrong around. Armstrong only stared at me in pure adoration. He was wearing a dress shirt with blue jeans, his mustache was now gone, shaved away. But his legendary curl was as curly as ever.

I eyed Roy and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "And how many people know of my return?"

Roy whispered back. "You know how annoying he can be. Besides, he was the one that informed me about you. It's not like I could deny something he already knew."

Armstrong had a glow to him that just frightened me. "Oh Edward, you have gotten so handsome." I moved farther away.

Riza came into the room with drinks, she handed each of us our own. "Edward, we're just happy to have you back."

I smiled at everyone, hoping they would leave it at that. It was my lucky day, they did.

Roy took a sip of his drink and turned serious. "I think we should discuss some political matters." Oh boy! Political matters, my favorite.

"Is it appropriate to discuss that type of information with me? I thought I made it clear that I quit being the military's dog years ago."

Roy's expressive face told me that he wanted my attention, I could only look at him with confusion.

"I know you quit, but we are getting in desperate need for some good officers." You would think the man would know better.

I looked around the room. Everyone's expression fell slightly, I had no clue what was going on.

"For the past two years a neighboring country has been slowly advancing in on our borders. When King Bradley was... assassinated we lost many of our allies. Our military has become nothing but a joke, I can guarantee you if this neighboring country decides to attack we will fall without much effort."

I sat for a moment not sure what to think, this conversation was becoming unsettling. "Cant you guys just make peaceful agreements with these guys? This country is rather wealthy when compared to others, just pay them off."

Roy looked at me as if I was joking, but I wasn't, I was dead serious. "It's not that simple and you should know that. Our country is filled with natural resources; if any other country was to get a hold of our resources they would become very powerful. Also, back when King Bradley was still in charge we didn't leave a good impression with them."

"How do you know this country is even serious? To start a war would be dangerous on their part; it would be expensive and demand organization. Last time I checked, all of our surrounding countries were very unstable." Ha, ha, last time I checked was three years ago, but I wasn't going to say that out loud.

Roy stood up and walked to a desk that was hidden in the corner of the room; he opened a drawer and pulled out a map. He brought the map back to his seat and pointed to the country that was east of ours. He didn't say anything, just pointed. I looked back and forth between Mustang and the map, I didn't get it.

"Yea?"

"Do you know what country this is?"

I scratched my head. What was this, geography class? "Xing, its run by an old geezer that has a bunch of kids, each kid represents a separate clan, all the clans make up the country. I use to read about the country for alchemy purposes, they have pretty powerful alchemy techniques, but they only use alchemy for medical reasons. A lot of important alchemy texts came from there."

Roy sighed as he sat back in his chair. "Almost two and a half years ago the king of Xing died, a large war took place between all the clans for the thrown. A young man named Ling representing the Yoa clan somehow stopped all the fighting and convinced everyone to follow him. Alchemy since then has been used beyond medical purposes; we've had two attacks from this country in the last six months which both times alchemy was used. They are making it obvious that they want to begin a war with us. They are now organized and using alchemy as a weapon. What's worse is they now have political relations with Aerugo and Creta."

I shrugged. "We have some pretty powerful alchemists in this country, fight fire with fire."

Roy laughed at me, it seemed like a rather odd moment to laugh, but I suppose if it floated his boat he might as well do it.

"We don't use alchemy anymore."

My mouth fell open and my eyes went wide. Our country held its powerful position mainly because of the alchemists. "What do you mean?"

"The Parliament found out about the fifth laboratory, chimera, events that happened in Riore, and many other corruptions, even rumors about homunculus have surfaced. The Parliament felt alchemist's were abusing their rights and were getting much too powerful. Only state alchemist's can use alchemy and we are only allowed to use alchemy if it's pre-approved, pre-approval means hefty paper work and only in extreme circumstances. They aren't considering Xing's threat as a extreme."

This had to be a joke, stuff like this always seemed to happen when you placed a bunch of old fogy's in a powerful position.

I placed my face in my hand so I could try and concentrate, if alchemy was practically outlawed than that meant they were depending primarily on fire power. "Why are you telling me all of this? I am an alchemist, if alchemy has been outlawed than I serve no purpose, not saying I really want any purpose to serve."

Armstrong cleared his throat informing us he was still present. He looked at me with intense eyes. "The Fullmetal was loved by the people. Our country is losing order; more and more rebellions are taking place against the Parliament. If we could use you as a symbol of hope it would be possible for Amestris to band together and maybe then we can save this country. Edward, you once were the hero of the people, can't you be the hero again?"

None of these people had a clue of what they were talking about; their talk of symbolism and hero's was all mythological stuff. What made it worse was they were saying I was the 'symbol' and the 'hero'. Me, out of all people! Heck, Al and I were only trying to get our bodies back during those days, when we helped people it was usually for the good of our own purpose.

My voice came out flat, but what I said was honest. "Fullmetal died during his last battle. This country isn't going to be saved by a symbol of hope; the only way would be if the Parliament was replaced. But even then, if the Parliament fell Xing would find it a prime opportunity to invade, you guys are simply fucked." I seemed to have a way to use beautiful terminology.

The room went silent; everyone seemed caught in their own thoughts. I reached for my drink and took a big gulp.

Riza broke the silence first. "So, are you saying there is no hope?" I have always found Riza as a bold woman, this was the first time I ever heard weakness creep into her tone.

I sighed. Why these people were interested in my opinion was beyond me. Hell, I hadn't even been in their world for three years, sad that people might actually base their political decisions off my advice.

"The only way I can think of is if the Parliament was modified from within the system, that way Xing wouldn't see a big opportunity for invasion. But to do something that extreme without going unnoticed would be extremely difficult." I stopped for a second to see if anyone had anything to say… Someone? No one? I see… so I continued.

"Look, if the citizens of Amestris aren't agreeing with the Parliament than the only way to change public opinion is to change the source of their problems, once you change the source, everyone will be happy and will fight willingly. It's just too bad none of you have enough political power to influence the system."

I took another sip of my drink while trying to look innocent; I didn't want to piss anyone off.

Roy tapped his finger on the coffee table that was in front of us, he seemed like he was in deep concentration. Armstrong just looked at the floor while Riza played with her glass of juice.

I looked around the room not sure what to do. Politics was never my favorite subject, but I suppose it was better than talking about myself and being asked about the last three years of my life. I began to hum a melody that my father and I would often listen to on the radio.

It took me a second to notice everyone was staring at me.

"Err, what?"

Roy smirked. "I never knew you to be the music loving type."

I shrugged. "Are we done here?"

Mustang sighed while picking up the map to look at it more closely; the map covered his face while he spoke. "Edward, is the Fullmetal really dead?"

I stood up and grabbed the map from the Generals hands.

"Yes, and it was I who killed him."

Authors Notes:

OMG ED KILLED FULLMETAL! That bastard.

Thanks for everyone that has reviewed so far. I hope your enjoying the fanfic. Do you guys think Ed's point of view is jiving with you? I hope so.

Sorceress-Fox: Thanks for the review! Umm, pairing? Tee heh. Well so far you know its Riza and Roy. Sorry Yaoi lovers! I'm writing this fic based on either hints or facts seen in the series/manga (and also what I think might happen with age). I do not see any implications of Yaoi (not saying I don't disagree with the idea, oh am I naughty.
Pairings for Ed? Wahahaha! I'm evil… you will see.

Gozilla: Thanks for the review. An update as you wished.