Don't own Fma. I'll buy you a kitten if you could get it for me.

Also a major thanks to Han-chan who is now my beta reader. She is doing a incredible job and has been very patient with me! I thank her for all of her hard work.

Held

By Gomp

Mustang looked at my clothing with displeasure, my smile only broadened.

"Edward."

"Yes sir?"

He narrowed his eye at me. "You're too complicated."

I shrugged helplessly as I walked into his office. When it came to my fashion sense I always seemed to get my way. Wahahha.

There was another man sitting in Roy's office. I eyed him wearily as sat down on the couch across from him. I had never seen him before. He was actually fairly attractive for a man, appearing to be of a Latino ethnicity. His hair was dark brown and shagged in his eyes, he seemed a few years older than me, but not by much. His eyes carried a sharpness to them, sharpness that gave the impression of wisdom beyond years.

The man held out his hand. I looked at Roy for guidance not sure what to do . Roy nodded, silently telling me to take it.

The man's handshake was firm, it seemed very professional. After a few seconds of shaking I went to pull my hand away, but the man held onto me firmly.

He pulled down my white glove which revealed my metallic hand. His eyes seemed to go distant for a second, but then a smirk formed on his lips. I yanked my hand away from him. I didn't like the look he was giving me.

"So you still have auto-mail." What type of statement was that! Talk about a first impression.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Boys, boys, lets not get off on a bad start." I fixed Roy with a perplexed gaze. This other man was giving me bad vibes.

"Edward, I have assigned Lieutenant Soto," Roy gestured to the man across from me. "as your direct subordinate."

"Huh?" My eyebrows shot up. My direct subordinate?

"Lieutenant Soto heard that you have rejoined the military and has been begging all morning to be assigned to you. So how about it?" Roy's eyes were pleading, and I mean like Puppy-Style pleading.

I looked over at Lieutenant Soto, his face was stern with his posture perfect in his chair. Oh man… how the hell did I get stuck with the weirdo's? But then again, having a slave didn't sound too bad.

"As long as he doesn't get in my way I suppose I don't mind. Just be warned, I'm not a babysitter."

Lieutenant Soto suddenly broke out into a large toothy smile, his whole body relaxed and he began to slouch slightly in the chair. "Thank you Major Elric, I have been a huge fan of yours since my teens."

Great, I had a fan. I looked at the man across from me not really sure what to think. First he was Mr. Stark, now he seemed to be all lazed. Men, they were just too confusing.

"You can call me Enzo. Sorry about the auto-mail comment, I just wasn't expecting to see it."

"Oh?"

The man smiled sheepishly while scratching his head. "When I was a kid I always heard rumors about you being part machine, I just never fully believed it. I was more captured by your age."

I sighed still not totally comfortable with 'Enzo', but there would be more time to contemplate about him later.

I turned to Roy. "Roy, what do you want me to do?"

Roy leaned back into his chair while using his hands as a head rest. "There really isn't much to do. My main job is to review all the reports about Xing and do paper work which you can't help me with. It seems the Parliament thinks I am... incapable of doing any real work."

I flinched slightly at Roy's comment. I knew Roy wasn't fully handicapped, but he was disabled. And I knew exactly how it felt. "So you're telling me there is nothing for me to do? Oh come on, there has to be something." Hell, if I was stuck in the military for a year I would at least like to be productive.

Roy shrugged his shoulders while a loud yawn escaped his lips.

I stared at him in disbelief. "What the hell am I suppose to do for a year?"

Roy looked at me lazily and shot me a playful smirk. "Relax, work will come. Get yourself familiar with the facility again. Make friends with your co-workers."

I rolled my eyes at Roy as I stood up. Great, just great, I woke up early in the morning for nothing. "You're the same crappy Colonel that you've always been."

Roy gave a bark of a laugh as he sat straight in his chair. "It's General now, and you're the same annoying brat that I've been forced to deal with for years."

I ran my fingers through my bangs and smiled from his teasing. "I know."

"Riza has asked me to invite you for dinner tonight, interested?"

"Yea sure." I loved food.

Enzo suddenly stood up causing me to look at him. Ahh! His posture was too perfect. "Major Elric, why don't I familiarize you with the facility again? I wouldn't mind learning more about you."

I lifted an eyebrow at the man, but took him up on his offer.

Enzo turned out to be quite the character. He was intellectual, very good with war history, and had a very dynamic personality. He had been in the military for almost two years and joined for finical stability. Because he was so well with war history, the military was using him for old war tactics. He also seemed to be a genius when it came to mathematics. I tried to talk to him a little about alchemy, but his knowledge seemed very limited in that area. Oh well.

Enzo showed me around military and government buildings. The tour itself was a bore since I already knew almost everything, but the conversations with Enzo were very enlightening. We were walking past one of the military offices when someone caught my eye. It was finally someone of familiarity!

I smirked as I pushed open their office door and walked right up to the desk. She didn't even look up as she spoke. "Look, I'm busy writing a report. Leave me alone."

I tapped the young girl on the head to get her attention.

"I said leave me alo-" She finally looked at me. "EDWARD!"

"Is that how you greet everyone?"

Sheshka blushed slightly as she shuffled her papers. "Everyone has been bugging me today. Sorry, I wasn't expecting to see you. Winry called me this morning and told me the news. How are you taking things?"

I shrugged. How was I taking things? I wasn't even sure myself. "It's just the way things worked out. Once I get this year over with, I can kiss the military goodbye forever."

Sheshka nodded as her eyes glanced to the side of me and stayed frozen there. I was confused at first to what she was looking at, but then realized it was Enzo. "Sheshka, this is Lieutenant Soto."

Enzo held out his hand for her to shake. "You can call me Enzo." Sheshka's cheeks began to turn a cherry red and she grabbed his hand shyly.

…wait a minute.

"My name is Sheshka."

Both of them stared at each other with an intensity that could only be…

No, no, no... impossible. NO WAY!

"Hey Enzo, we better head out." Enzo waved bye to Sheshka as I practically dragged him out of the room.

Yuck, eek, wrong.

There was just no way.

When I finally was far enough away that Sheshka couldn't hear, I fixed Enzo with a threatening stare. "What do you think you're doing?"

Enzo grabbed me by the shoulders and laughed. "I'm not doing anything."

"I saw the look you both were giving each other. I'm not that ignorant."

"Edward, are you jealous? I think your over reacting over nothing."

I wanted to defend myself, but he was right. I really was over reacting over nothing. "I suppose I'm over reacting cause she's my best friend's friend."

Enzo flashed me a toothy smile, his teeth were practically perfect. "You don't need to worry about it, she's not really my type. "

"Oh?" I was tempted to ask him if Sheshka wasn't good enough for him, but held back.

"Yea… not my type."

He looked at me as if he was going to say something else, but then turned away. His actions confused me.

"Enzo, is something wrong?"

Enzo shook his head. "No, it's nothing. Come on, lets finish the tour."

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the Mustang family: Maes Roy Mustang. He was one hell of a cute 'lil sucker.

"Ed, I'm so happy you could come to dinner."

I shoved some of the potato salad in my mouth as I nodded my head at Riza.

Roy took a sip of his drink. "So Edward, how do you like your dorm?"

I used my napkin to wipe my face. "It will do. Riza, this food is amazing."

Riza smiled as she rocked her baby in her arms. I looked in wonder at her motherly actions. She reminded me of my own mother.

"What do you think of Lieutenant Soto? He is leaving quit the impression around the military." Roy fixed me with a questioning gaze.

I took another bite out of the salad before I spoke. "After getting to know him, he seems like a pretty cool guy. For how smart he is, I'm surprised he cared so much to meet me."

Roy smirked, then looked between me and his wife. When he saw that Riza was consumed with the baby, his smirk turned into a smile. He then proceeded to take a scrap of meat from his dish and fed Black Hayate, who was under the table. I shot him a dirty look, he only looked back at me innocently.

Roy composed himself before he spoke again. "Didn't Armstrong once tell you that you were a hero? Once word gets out that your back, you will find more people wanting to meet you."

I groaned at his comment. I wasn't a hero, just Edward Elric.

I finished the rest of my food that was on my plate. Riza defiantly had a gift in the kitchen when compared to Winry. Ok... I didn't say that.

Riza handed the baby to Roy so she could clean up the dishes. I sat there entranced by Roy's fatherly goodness. Roy cooed and rocked the baby back and forth almost better than anyone I had seen do it before. Roy the father figure, who would have known.

When Roy noticed I was looking at him and smirked at me. "Would you like to hold him?"

I bit back a laugh as I shook my head. "I've never held a baby before."

Roy's smirk only broadened as he stood up and walked over to me. He placed his baby gently in my arms.

Holding a child was a totally different experience for me. The baby was so light and soft, so fragile. I smiled as I looked at the bundle of sunshine in my arms; the baby had Roy's dark eyes with Riza's blonde hair. Its nose also seemed to belong to Riza too. Maes grabbed one of my human fingers while giggling at me. Ahh, so freakin' cute.

"He likes you Edward."

I chuckled at Roy's statement, it sounded funny. "Well I suppose that's good, better than him disliking me. You're a lucky man."

Roy reached for his child and I unhappily returned him. A question had been nagging at me. "When does Riza plan to return to the force?"

Roy placed the child on his shoulder while he began to rub comforting cycles around Maes' back. "It is up to her, but I don't believe she plans to return."

I looked at Roy in shock. Riza not return? Maybe it was better that way.

Roy sat back down. Maes eyes were beginning to fall as Roy kept rocking the child. I stared entranced by the whole display. My mind began to wonder towards my little brother. Al... I could remember how our mother used to carry Al, always rocking him. She would sing us sweet songs before she would put us to bed.

"Edward the military ball is in a few days, why don't you go?"

I blinked a few times as I looked up at Roy. He placed a light kiss over his baby's head before he gave me his full attention.

He was right; it was that time of year. I totally forgot about the stupid dance. "I don't think so. You know me, I'm not into that type of stuff."

"Oh? I think it will be fun. You will be able to meet plenty of new people." Roy wiggled his eyebrows. "And there are many pretty girls."

I sneered at him as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Great, sounds like I'll have a grand-ol time."

Roy seemed to get amusement from my comment as he snickered. "I think you will have a good time. Just go for awhile; if things get to bad then you can just leave early. You are in the dorms so it will be easy to escape."

I sighed as I used my metal hand as a chin rest. "Maybe, I don't know, I'm not much of a dancer."

Riza came into the room, her eyes fixed on her child. Roy eyed his wife before he gave the child up. Riza placed a kiss on her husband's head. Eww, gross.

"I'm going to put Maes to sleep, I think its past his bed time."

I pulled out my pocket watch and checked the time. It was pretty late. "I think I should head back. Roy, can you drive me?"

I looked up only to find Roy staring by my pocket watch. I looked at the watch confused. Nope, nuttin' very enticing about it. "What are you gawking at? "

Roy shook his head as he reached for the time piece. I handed it to him, unhooking it from my belt loop. He ran his fingers over the alchemy engraving.

"This is a very old watch."

I shrugged at him not sure what he was getting at. "It was my father's." After Granny had given it to me I began to wear it everywhere. I figured it would be safer to have it on me and know where it was at all times then to have Winry find it on accident.

Roy lifted an eyebrow. "Really?" I nodded. He flipped open the watch and looked at the insides. He finally closed it and handed it back to me.

"I never knew your father was a State Alchemist."

He was what? I blinked at him stupidly. "Can you repeat that?"

"That was the traditional State Alchemist watch before King Bradley came into rule. That's odd though, your father didn't seem that old when I met him. King Bradley had come into rule over thirty years ago; your father looked no older than forty."

My father never once mentioned anything to me about being a State Alchemist.

"Where are the records on past State Alchemists?"

Roy shot me unsure gaze. "Most were burned with 1st branches library, but there are still some records in 2nd branch."

I would have to ask Sheshka about first branch. "Roy, how long have there been State Alchemists?"

Roy's curiosity was defiantly perked. "Why?"

"Just answer the question."

Roy rubbed his chin while he went into thought. "Alchemists themselves have been around for over a thousand years, the first State Alchemist emerged around the 1100."

"Ok, so when did State Alchemist start receiving this type of watch?"

"1500's, Why?"

I stared at the time piece not too sure myself. I had 400 years of history to dig through.

"Edward, is something going on?"

I gave him a reassuring smile. "Naa, my father inherited this watch from my grandfather." Lie, lie, LIE!

Holy smokes my grandfather was alive… over 400 years ago. Heh, kinda weird when you think about it.

"I see."

Roy stood. He still looked at me with uncertainty, he knew I was hiding something and I knew he was a smart man.

"Let's take you home."

I laid on my bed still in a tired daze. The gold watch dangled loosely from my finger tips as I watched it spin in the air. The morning sun kept reflecting off the piece causing strange shapes of light to dance around the room.

My father a State Alchemist, well, I still wasn't totally sure that he was. It was possible he had gotten the watch from a friend or something. But then again, my father was an alchemist.

"I don't get it."

I sighed as I forced myself to get out of the sweet heaven of the bed. I walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My hair stuck out in strange angles so I unbound the messy braid and tried to run my fingers through it only to get my fingers stuck in the knots. Ahhh, evil hair!

I picked up my brush to try and get some of the knots out of my rats nest. During the process a loud knock from my dorm's door grabbed my attention.

"Coming!"

I threw the brush down in the sink while I pulled my hair into a untrained ponytail. I unlocked the door and opened it for the visitor.

"Enzo?"

Enzo stood in the doorway with a black tee-shirt on and a pair of blue shorts. Enzo's eyes scanned my body before he smirked. "Did I wake you?"

I looked down at my sleep wear. I was only wearing boxers and a tang-top. "I was already awake, just about to get dressed. What's up?"

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the gym with me."

I sighed as I thought of his offer. I really wanted to do research on the watch, but I was in desperate need of a work out. "I guess so. Let me get dressed."

Enzo nodded as I closed the door. It took me about 10 minutes to get the bigger knots out of my hair and to secretly change my black jeans into sweats. Tee hee, not illegal unless caught.

Enzo was still waiting for me when I reemerged from my dorm room. The dorm hall was silent,it was still very early in the morning so almost no one was up and at work yet. When we made it to the gym area there were two people running around the track room, but that was it. Enzo unlocked one of the various gym doors and we both walked in.

The room would have been a heaven to a gymnast; it was packed with beams, horses, trampolines… you name it, the room had it.

"I've never been in here before." I walked onto the padded floor. Wow cool, bouncy.

"I'm not surprised, this used to be the basketball court. The room was neglected so the government funded for the room to be transformed into a gymnast room." That explained it. When I used to stay on the military base for more than a few days my brother and I would just use the track room. Basketball... the sport was totally foreign to me.

"I'm impressed."

I walked onto the main floor of the room. Enzo headed towards the bars. I watched as he powdered his hands with chalk and began to play. He did flips and turns between the two bars. His upper arm strength was defiantly impressive considering some of the maneuvers he was doing.

I turned my attention back to myself. I stretched out my arms and legs giving my body more flexibility, and once I felt I was ready I ran and did a flip.

Wahahahaha, I still had it. I landed right on my feet. I then did a back hand spring. Wahoo! Doing gymnastics was fun.

I got lost in myself as I went over the various moves Izumi had taught me as a child. 'You must exercise your body as well as the mind.' She would always say.

My body bent the same way it used to. After almost four years of no work out, it was amazing I could still do half the things I was doing. I suppose my movements were embedded in the mind.

The room was silent when I stopped for some air; sweat covered my body and my BO wasn't very flattering. I looked up to find Enzo sitting on a horse while watching me intently, his stare was almost haunting.

"Is something wrong?"

Enzo shook his head causing his hair to fly around. "No, it's just amazing. You truly are as impressive as I always heard you to be."

"Ha, I highly doubt that."

Enzo jumped from the horse and walked over to me with a bottle of water. I took the water gratefully and gulped down its contents.

"Edward, why do you doubt? I only wish I could see your alchemy."

I laughed at him. "You won't be seeing that anytime soon."

Enzo smirked. "Well, I suppose you're right."

I nodded as I took another sip of water.

My feet pounded loudly as I stomped my way to Roy's office. I grabbed the door knob and tried to open it but the door was locked. Great, just great.

"Roy open up!" I used my metal hand to pound against the door.

"Major Elric, General Mustang isn't in."

I looked back at Roy's secretary. She was sitting at her desk with a humored smile playing across her lips. "He's at a meeting."

I growled as I kicked Roy's door. I had an issue to settle with him. "When is he going to be back?"

The woman opened up Roy's daily planner and skimmed through his schedule. "He's not due back for another hour."

I always had bad timing. "Thanks, I guess."

I headed towards the door to leave, but Roy's secretary's hand shot out and grabbed my arm before I could get away. Her voice was soothing and professional. "What's the problem? Maybe I can help."

I groaned as I turned towards her. "The 2nd branch library claims I have no clearance so I can't enter. I want to know what's going on."

Roy's secretary laughed at me as she shook her head. "Your papers still haven't been fully processed yet. Until it's finalized of your return you wont be able to enter any of the off-limit facility's. Once you're cleared you will receive a photo ID." His secretary pulled out her own ID and handed it to me.

I pulled out my new reading glasses so I could read it. This time the glasses were golden rimmed... oh yea, I'm hot.

The card had her picture on it with her personal information, her name stood out to me.

"Klose Kurt..." I rolled the name around in my mouth. Klose, there was some familiarity to it, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"You don't remember me, do you?"

I lifted an eyebrow. "Huh? I actually know you?"

The girl giggled as she took her ID back. "I'm not surprised, it's been years. I wonder if I dressed up like a boy if it would jog your memory."

A boy. Hmm...

My eyes shot open as realization sunk in. Before I became a State Alchemist I had met Klose Kurt on a fluke. A man named Majihal was rumored to be a famous Alchemist. When I went to meet him I ran into Klose. To make a long story short Majihal was killing innocent people to try and bring back a lost love. I ended up killing Majihal instead. In my eyes that was my very first murder. I was surprised I didn't recognize Klose sooner. "Kurt! Holy crap, have you changed."

Kurt laughed at my reaction. "Is that a bad thing?"

I shook my head. She defiantly looked a lot better as a girl. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I was curious if you were going to be able to figure it out on your own. But then again we were just children when we met. I heard a lot about you after you left, you became quite the hero."

I rolled my eyes. I was getting sick of all the hero talk. "Yea, yea, how did you get involved with the military?"

"My father injured himself three years ago and hasn't been able to work. There wasn't much going for me in the country so I decided to move to Central. This was the best paying job I looked at; I am able to support myself while still send money home to my father."

"I'm sorry to hear about your father, but it's good that things are working out."

Kurt smiled at me. "I still can't believe you're back, everyone said that you were dead. Then one day you popped up, what happened?"

I shook my head at her, I knew it wouldn't be appropriate to tell her my life story. Heck, the only people who had a mild clue of what's happened in my life were my brother and the Rockbells. "It's a long story and I would prefer not to get into it."

Kurt chewed on the eraser of her pencil while giving a look of disappointed. Even though I felt slightly guilty that she was upset, there was nothing I could do about it. No offense to her, but she wasn't close enough to me to know the truth.

"Well I got to make a phone call, I suppose I'll be back in an hour."

Kurt's mood perked slightly. "Hey, I was wondering... would you like to get coffee later? My shift is over at five."

I lifted an eyebrow at her. No one had ever asked me out to coffee before, but boy did I love my coffee. "I suppose so."

A small smile crept onto her lips. "How about you invite Lieutenant Soto too? It seems we will be around each other a lot, might as well get to know one another."

"Sure. Well, I'll see you later Miss. Kurt."

Kurt growled at me. "It's fine if you call me by my first name."

I smirked at her. "Naa, I like Kurt more. Maybe I could call you Kurty instead. Besides, isn't it proper to address adults by their last name's?"

Kurty narrowed her eyes at me. "I would prefer if you were formal with me. Don't you dare call me Kurty either."

I laughed. "Alright, see you later Miss. Kurty."

"How is school going?"

My brother grumbled into the phone. Yup, school was the devil. "Its going well I suppose."

"That's good."

I twirled my fingers around the phone cord. It was strange not being able to see my brothers face. I disliked the idea that we weren't going to see each other for a month.

He spoke in a sad tone. "Winry told me what happened."

I sighed into the phone. "She did, did she?"

"Is this my fault?"

I laughed as I leaned against the phone booth's wall. "Naa, none of this is your fault."

My brother spoke with uncertainty. "Are you sure?"

"Al, none of this is your fault, I promise you. If anything, this is my fault. I should have never gotten involved with the military in the first place."

"I see... Ed, can I tell you a secret?"

Ohh I liked secrets. "Sure."

Al's voice went into a whisper. "Winry is talking about us coming to visit you."

A genuine smile spread across my face. There were times when Winry really knew how to make me happy. "Really? Do you know when?"

"I don't know, she mentioned it earlier today. I'm hoping it's soon."

My world seemed so much brighter and better. "See if you can find out by the next time I call."

Al chuckled into the phone. "Winry is going to be so mad if she finds out I told you. Please don't tell her."

"Ha, why would I? Trust me, I'm not that cruel. I have a mild idea what she would do to you" I rubbed my head in memory.

"Thanks, well I got to go do some chores. Do you want to talk to anyone else?"

I considered talking to either Winry or Granny but I didn't have any real reason to talk to them, might as well save some of my change.

"No thanks. Just tell everyone I'm alive and doing well."

"Ok"

"Bye Al"

"Bye."

I hung up the phone. Oh man, did that conversation just make my day.

I picked at the muffin I had bought, it was a chocolate chip one. Yummy.

"Obviously a war will happen, they have already advanced on our borders. Its only a matter of time when our military makes a advancement on their regiments in the Great Desert." Enzo took a sip of his juice.

This conversation was boring.

Kurty thought before she spoke. "It's strange how they are just waiting out there in the desert. I mean, you would think they would just strike already."

Both Kurty and Enzo looked at me. Kurty spoke first. "Major Elric, what do you think?"

I groaned at the Major act. I suppose Kurty was trying to get back at me for her new nickname.

I shrugged my shoulders as I took a bite out of my tasty muffin. Ohhh, the chocolate morsels melting in my mouth.. how orgasmic!

Once I swallowed my food I replied. "I have no opinion."

Enzo poked me in the shoulder. "I highly doubt that. General Mustang told me you were living in Rizenpool when it got attacked. You have to have some sort of opinion."

I poked him back. "Well, I don't. I am an Alchemist. I'm not really into our country's hostilities."

Kurty stirred her coffee as she looked at me wistfully. "Hmm, well the war will affect you, especially now since your part of the military. You should care more Major Elric." Honestly I did care. Deep down I was terrified of what might happen, but, if I allowed myself to always be scared shitless than I was only going to give myself paranoia.

"If a war breaks out ask me then… I am sure I will give you a better answer."

Kurty sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "Who knows, maybe I will ask you."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'll be counting on it."

"So Edward, how does it feel to be back in the military? I mean, you did have a few years of absence. Does it seem any different?"

I twirled around the end of my braid between my fingers as I thought of Enzo's question. Did it feel any different? "I haven't really seen any familiar faces. The staff seems almost totally new. Is it different, yes. But, I suppose that's to be expected, we're under a new government rule now."

Kurty smirked at me. "Well, meeting new people isn't such a bad thing. It gives you an opportunity to make new relationships."

"Yea, I guess so. But I'm only here for a year. I don't really plan to make any lasting friendships."

Enzo laughed at my reply. I looked at him questioningly. "What's so funny about that?"

Enzo shook his head. "You need to lighten up Edward. It's not a horrible thing to make friends. Yea, you are here for a year, a year is a long time."

I stared into my coffee drink. Was I being uptight? The only people I really ever needed in my life were my brother and the Rockbell's.

"Yea, maybe a year is a long time. But I don't need any more ties or obligations to live up to."

Kurty took another sip of her drink before she spoke. "Major Elric, I think you're thinking to hard into the subject. Just relax and enjoy yourself while you're here."

My father used to say something like that to me when I lived in Germany. He used to complain that I was missing out on life. Maybe I was forgetting to live a little. For years my life was totally devoted to getting Al's and my body's back. After that, it was dedicated to getting home. Now that I had both, maybe I should relax a little more. Enjoy life while I had it. Maybe...

I sighed as I sat up in the chair. I ended up enjoying the rest of the conversation that night.

Authors notes:

Thanks everyone for your patients! Everything is fixed now and working again. Hopefully the next chapter should be done soon. This coming week is going to be my busiest week yet. But! After that it's easy sailing (because I'll be on summer vacation). Ok about future chapters length, this is what I have decided. At the moment I am going to keep the chapters long. Most people seem to like the long chapters but want quicker updates. Here is the deal. If I cant get my chapters out in a reasonable time period during summer then I will shorten my chapters. But I am going to wait till summer before I decide this. Thank you all for your inputs.

Han-Chan is now my beta reader. She seems to be very intellectual with good ideas. I want to thank her for her hard work. Thank you Han-Chan!

Questions you may have...

1. Umm… Rizenpool? Hello!

So your probably wondering why Amestris is not at war with Xing yet. They did advance on Amestris borders after all. Well, the answer is simple. Amestris doesn't want war! They are trying to avoid it cause they know they will lose. I will get more into this later.

2. Clause?

Does anyone know the proper way to spell this name? Every time I go to a different site I see a new way to spell it. I chose this way because fullmetal-alchemist website has it written like this (and the katakana seemed closest to this way). Anyways, if you have a better idea of how to spell her name I will be grateful if you told me.has been changed to Klose!

3. Kurt… Kurtis... Kurty?

Han-chan had placed the names in Japanese proper name word order (making Kurt being commonly used name). Well… seeing Kurt all the time kinda disturbed me. I went to a Shamisen concert that night and came up the thought of changing Kurt to Kurtis. Clause Kurtis sounded better to me. Then I was joking in my head and said Kurtis, I came up with.. KURTY! The name humored me so much I had to put it in.

4. Enzo

If you did not get the impression at all, Enzo is Spanish. Sexy Spanish at that.

5. Where is Havoc and all those guys?

They are all still around, everyone is just busy doing their own thing. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about them.

Aharah Musici- I of course corrected that immediately and emailed you about it. Thanks again! And thanks for the kind remarks at the end.

Katratzi- Thanks for the review! Yea, I think the chimera idea is kinda cool too. Its interesting what some people come up with these days.

Sorceress-fox- Ahh! I need to talk to you sometime. I wish I would have thought about the jacket. A brilliant idea, but I couldn't steal your thoughts. And I am also doing my best not to leave the story at anymore cliffies (might be one or two in the future.. But I'll try to avoid them) Thanks for the review (like always!)

Alpha no Kaze- I was curious if you were still reading. Trust me, I don't mind redundant reviews.. But I am sure they get kinda annoying to write all the time. Thanks for the encouraging words!

zip trip- Your words are what inspired me to keep with the long chapters. Thanks for your insights! It means a lot.

Mena- Because of problems with my ff account I was having problems getting my next chapter out. Sorry it took so long!

Priestess Kurumi inu's sister- Like I said problem is fixed so I wont be needing to move the story. But thanks for responding!