I don't own FMA, but I will sell you my shoe for it! Really, my shoe is quite nice. I swear! Please…please! Come on!

Read! I suggest you read manga 40-41 to help refresh your memory. We will be talking about many things that came from those manga's.

Held

By Gomp

I suppose you could say the moment was supposed to be awe-inspiring. My hair flipping from side to side, the sun setting with a purplish pinkish horizon, the only sound that penetrated the silence of the desert-like lands was the engine of the military jeep. The world simply being breath-taking…

Yea, right, inspiring. Take away the fact my hair was getting all in my face and even though it was evening the heat was still almost unbearable.

"Major Elric, a few more minutes till we get there."

"Thanks." I wasn't sure if the man heard what I said over the roaring engine of the vehicle, but oh well, what could you do about it?

I had spent the night, and most of the day, on the train. Since any tracks that led to Ishbal's territory were shut off, a military vehicle had to come and pick me up to take me the rest of the way.

Oh right, you might be wondering what the hell was going on. Well, let me fill you in.

Let's get one thing straight, well, it better be straight, I wasn't going to war. See, what happened was Roy had received an emergency call from Maria Ross. Yup, good ol' Ross. He told me that the reception was bad and so it was hard to understand, but he got the gist of what was going on. Ross and her unit had been assigned to do routing work, so pretty much they were traveling across the Great Desert to find useful routs for potential fighting grounds or routs to Xing, a rather dangerous job. Anyways, I suppose Ross had found something she felt was worthy of Roy's attention. And what made everything even more intriguing and mysterious was… it somehow related to me. Yup, not a very comforting thought, if I do say so myself.

Roy himself couldn't leave Central's Headquarters and since it somehow had some type of relation to me, Roy had felt I was the best candidate for the job. And even though Roy didn't say it out loud, I had the sneaking suspicion he felt it was best to get me off base for awhile. Heh, I wonder why.

The jeep suddenly hit a bump in the road, causing me to jump in surprise. I looked through the front window of the car, looking at the buildings that were beginning to come into focus. The town we were heading to seemed dead, fully deserted.

Roy had told me I was to meet Ross in a town called Solace. Solace actually was rather close to the borderline of Amestris, so I wasn't going into the depths of Ishbal. Ishbal itself had become Amestris' military center for the war, soldiers occupied most of the deserted villages, preparing to head into the Great Desert for battle, which made Ross' request that she wanted to meet in Solace rather odd. She was asking me to go to a deserted town where no other military personnel would be found. Also, instead of informing her superior officer of what was going on she seemed to have only informed Roy. It was as if she was hiding something… like she had a secret. Oh boy, did I love secrets.

The jeep entered the abandoned town, buildings seeming hollow without the liveliness of residence to occupy them. Ishbal's villages were a sight to see. They held an ethnic taste to them, pillars, stones, mud, rock… everything was built with tasteful design and done with true hard labor. Hay was used as beds, light was only produced by candles, blankets were hand woven…

The dullness in the color of everything made Ishbal seem alive somehow. It was strange.

The jeep came to a sudden stop. The driver, a young blonde haired soldier, pulled out the keys from the transmission and turned his head towards me. "We're here."

The moment he said that I noticed that the building we had stopped at suddenly had soldiers filing out of it. There weren't many of the soldiers, maybe a dozen at most, but when First Lieutenant Ross came out they all saluted her. Great, Ross's lil' puppet show.

I opened the door and stepped out of the jeep, fixing my hair along the way. I limped around the jeep and waited for Ross to approach me, I gave her a small smirk as she did so.

"Well, Major Elric, I had told you that we would meet again." Her thin hand was held out in front of her. I took the cue and shook it.

"First Lieutenant, you were never one to disappoint."

She smiled at me with one of her brilliant smiles.

I took a moment to take a good look at Ross. Her eyes were shaded by dark sunglasses, her pale skin seemed out of place with the heat of the desert-like atmosphere, her long hair pulled tightly in a high ponytail with a few strands flaring about with the wind, her uniform slightly baggy on her form. I was curious if she had been getting much sleep, eating properly. Her complexion didn't seem right.

"Well, I hope you had a safe trip here and was treated properly." She eyed the young soldier who had driven me.

"The trip was fine, but I am curious to what this is all about." Ok, I was a little bit more than just curious.

"Aa, I could never expect less from you." She winked at me, turning on her heels. "I suppose we should get directly to the point, follow me." She looked around at the line of soldiers. "Stay outside and guard." I watched the line of soldiers salute their First Lieutenant, following her orders.

Ross led me into an age-worn building. The building seemed fair sized, but very bare. Looking inside the only furniture there was was a wooden kitchen table and some seats. There were a couple of doors down a hall, which I presumed lead to other rooms. The moment I stepped through the front door and shut it behind me, Ross turned and looked at me.

"You came alone?" She removed her sunglasses, revealing the dark heavy circles under her eyes.

I lifted an eyebrow. "Yes, what's going on?"

Ross sighed, her shoulders falling forward. "Lots."

The youthful woman had an expression that was too old for her age. Some of her hair had fallen in her eyes; I gently brushed the strands away in a friendly manner. "Are you alright? You're not looking too good." She looked like absolute crap to put it frankly.

Her lips upturned with some amusement, but the expression didn't reach her eyes. "Rumor has it you almost shot General Mustang. And judging by your limp, I suppose I heard right about the 5th lab."

I groaned. "Don't try to change the subject, seriously, what's going on?" Besides, I wasn't really in the mood to talk about friendly ol' Roy.

Ross straightened her form more in an attempt to compose herself, she was worrying me.

"As I'm sure that you're previously aware, my unit and I have been doing routing work." Considering Ross was constantly moving around on unfamiliar territory, a territory the Xing people knew very well, and had to bare the heated desert, it most likely was the explanation to why Ross looked like crap.

Ross continued. "We recently were assigned to investigate farther north in the Great Desert, it is territory which the Xing people seem not to occupy, uncharted land. We were to see if we could find a clear rout to the Xing's fatherland. Edward… we found something."

I was more becoming more intrigued. Finding something in uncharted land sounded almost exhilarating in some strange way. I sounded a little too excited. "What did you find?"

"Ruins of an ancient city."

Ruins of an ancient city? Hmm, I don't know what I had been expecting, but surprisingly I was slightly disappointed. I mean, ancient cities were more for archeologists, not military folk. Then again, the Great Desert was unclaimed territory… no one was supposed to have ever lived there…

"How old do you consider ancient?"

Ross shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I don't know how old it is, I'm not a certified anthropologist or historian. Edward, there was something about this city."

Ross pulled me more into the room. I followed her until we stopped in the center of the bare area; she looked around as if trying to make sure no one was listening. "Edward, I lost one of my men. We found this building, it resembled like a sanctuary almost."

I placed my hands on Ross's shoulders. "What do you mean you lost one of your men?" Roy had not mentioned anything about death. Ross was heading towards something, something I didn't think I was going to like.

Ross continued, ignoring my question. "This sanctuary, Ed, it was the only building really left standing. It seems like it is being rebuilt."

My mouth fell open slightly. It was being rebuilt, in an ancient city that was mostly in ruins? That didn't sound right.

"Didn't you say the Xing people didn't seem to occupy the territory?"

"They don't, that's just it. We went inside the building to do some investigating. On two of the walls there were these shapes caved into the structure, on another one of the walls it seemed a third one was in the process of being carved in. I can't truly confirm this since I'm not an alchemist, but these shapes almost resembled alchemy arrays. Well, at least they reminded me of them."

As one could expect I was defiantly taken back.

"How is that possible…?"

"I don't kn-"

Someone's sneeze suddenly cut off Ross's sentence. Automatically my head shot towards the location of the sound. The sneezer wasn't either of us and it came from someone who was inside the building

…Ross's unit had been ordered to stay outside. What the hell?

They sneezed again, then coughed. Don't tell me someone had gotten a cold in the type of heat we were in, that would be totally ironic and sucky for them. I was tempted to excuse whoever was sneezing away, I mean, you know, just to be polite. But before the words could even leave, I heard something that left me speechless and confused.

What I heard were words that I couldn't understand. The reason I couldn't understand them was because they were in a totally different language, the same language I had heard that night when I had fought that chimera in Rizenpool, shit.

I glared at Ross, my tone suddenly rising. "What the hell is going on, who is that?"

I didn't even bother for her answer; I followed the sounds of the foreign tongue, being lead to one of the wooden doors. I pushed the door open, my eyes suddenly widening.

"What…what is this?" I felt Ross's hand on my metal shoulder; I turned over and looked at her, my eyes narrowing. "Who is she?"

In the room sat a girl, her eyes had shot up to meet mine the moment I opened the door. There was no doubt about it, she was a Xingen, her slanted eyes were what mostly gave it away. Some of her bangs covered part of her face; her long black hair was placed in various braids. She looked in her teens, youth still apparent. Her clothing was white, but had some smudge marks from dirt, the fabric seemed of silk, the designs and patterns on the cloth practically memorizing. Her hands were tied behind her, feet tied at the ankles. She sat in the center of the dark room, a small window allowing the remaining of the evening light to seep in. Her eyes… they were simply piercing.

"We don't know who she is; we found her snooping around the sanctuary before we entered."

The girl looked between the two of us. She began to mumble under her breath in her foreign words, she spoke of nothing that I understood.

What Ross said next surprised me. "She saved us."

I turned and looked at Ross curiously. "How?"

Ross was about to reply, when the girl spoke something, but this time it was different. She said something I understood. Holy shit, she spoke English! "Leave me go." Her words were weak, she sounded tired. I had a feeling she meant 'let' me go, but no one was perfect.

Ross and I both gaped at the girl in front of us.

"…she has never spoken English before."

I took a step in the room, ready to ask the girl to speak again, when 'holy crap what the hell was that!' popped out of no where. I almost fell over from a near heart attack, the thing had surprised me half to death! It was some type of…creature, and it was growling as it stood by the girl, a chain around its neck. It looked like it was trying to defend the young woman.

"What is that thing?"

It was…black…white… and very pointy teeth. I had never seen anything like it! It wasn't a bird, wasn't a cat… maybe it was…

I had no clue what to do to calm the suddenly irritated beast, so I did the only thing I could think to do. A method I had learned long ago.

"Come here puppy, who's a good boy?" Ok, so it always worked for Winry with Den.

"Edward, I don't think it's a dog."

The thing kept growling, my sweet talking wasn't working. The dog thing wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. I looked back at Ross. "Then what is it?"

"I don't know, we found it with the girl. I suppose whatever the thing is; the girl is its master."

I looked back at the creature once more. I had to admit, the dog thing was kind of cute looking. I had a feeling if I was ever to show it to Al he would want one.

I was cautious with the next few steps I took, trying to act calm and not frighten the girl and the dog thing. The snarls of the beast kept increasing the more I inched closer, but I was just so curious, I couldn't help myself.

I stopped about a foot away from the animals reach; the girl watched my every movement, seeming as curious as I was. "Do you speak English?"

The girl's eyes went distant for a moment, as if in concentration. It took her awhile to answer, but she finally replied. "Some."

I licked my lips, excitement building up inside me. "What is your name?"

"No."

Wait… no? She couldn't say no! I took another step closer, trying to make my movements slow and careful. "My name is Edward Elric." I gestured behind me. "Ross and I are not here to hurt you."

I took another step closer. Yes, if I acted calm and polite then maybe I could have a conversation with the girl. I had so many questions to ask her, so much I wanted to know. Who was she, where was she from, did she know much about the war? Hell, it was as if Ross had struck gold in finding her. Practically no one from Amestris spoke the Xing language, especially since the countries had been on bad terms with each other for a good while. Amestris' language was a rather hard language to learn from what I heard, if this girl knew English then that meant she must had been well educated. Being well educated usually meant that the person was well rounded…well rounded equaled someone who most likely would know information about the war.

Anyways, I took a step closer…

…and automatically regretted it.

I squeaked in surprise when the animal's jaws wrapped themselves around my auto-mail leg, the sound of teeth roughly grabbing steel came alive in the room.

"Xiao Mei!"

The animal's claws tried to scrape into my auto-mail vainly, I could tell the animal wanted to tear me apart. Too bad it grabbed the wrong leg to do so.

A hand grabbed me by the arm, the creature's claws and jaws being torn away from my metal limb as I was quickly dragged out of the room with the door being shut firmly behind. Well, wasn't that an adventure and a half?

I stared wide-eyed at the closed door. "…it bit me." I looked down at my pants, looking at the torn cloth. The thing had tried to bite me!

"It bit a few other officers also, but I think once it gets familiar with you it calms down more."

I turned around and looked at Ross. "She called it Xiao Mei; do you think that's its name?"

"I've heard her call it that a few times; I think we can safely presume that it is. But more importantly, she spoke English. She had never spoken English before."

"Well, how have you been treating her? Having her locked in a room is probably scaring the girl half to death. She probably never felt comfortable enough to speak English to anyone before."

Ross sighed. "There is a reason we have her locked up. We are not sure if she's a threat or not yet."

I groaned. Ross had said before that the girl had saved her and now she was saying the girl might be a threat, it wasn't making sense. Ross had never finished her story and there were too many gaps in the story that I wasn't able to catch up with everything.

"Ross, tell me what happened after you found this 'sanctuary'."

Ross ran a hand through her hair, an exhausted expression on her face. "We found that girl snooping around the sanctuary so we captured her. My men and I had gone into the building to do some more investigating when we were attacked. That is how I lost one of my men, the attacker killed him. The reason I'm not sure if we can trust the girl is because she was the one who saved us from the attacker, but she used alchemy to do so."

Attack, save, alchemy… I simply hoped my jaw didn't hit the floor. So the girl was from Xing, could speak English, and now could use alchemy… ahh! What the heck was all of this? Next Ross was going to say she could pull a white rabbit out of her hat!

"Who attacked you guys?"

"It's the whole reason I brought you here."

I blinked in confusion a few times. The whole reason she brought me here…wha?

Ross began to walk forward; she passed two wooden doors and stopped at the one that was at the very end of the hall. She looked at me, waiting for me to follow.

"Wait, you have the aggressor here?"

If Ross had followed military procedures then the 'attacker' should have been taken to her superior officer and they would have persecuted them the way they saw fit. Why would Ross drag someone who was potentially dangerous all the way through the Great Desert and Ishbal? I swallowed loudly as I walked towards Ross. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what was behind closed-door number two. But I was going to find out anyways, just peachy.

"Be quiet and try not to make too much noise. We have him sedated, but it seems the drugs don't give the full desired affect with this one. He is easily awakened."

My heart began to pump faster. I wasn't sure if I was scared or excited.

Ross was gentle as she pushed the door open. I blinked a few times, trying to look into the room, but this room had no windows, no source of light. I was just going to have to wait for my eyes to adjust.

I took a step in, a poor attempt to get my eyes to work better. It seemed who ever sat in the room had their hair over their face, their body was chained…

…my eyes widened at what I noticed. I lifted my auto-mail hand, looking at the well-structured fingers, the metallic material. I looked back at the body that was chained up on the floor.

The person's head lifted up, his hair parting. He looked directly at me.

My next words came out in a sudden gasp. "It can't be."

…it just couldn't.

"What are you doing? He's just a child! "

"But he could have come here, with us as his target!"

….

"Master, I just remembered! I have a feeling I saw him there. Then he's not human, he's something else…"

….

"In exchange for my mothers body I gave my leg and in exchange for Al's fading soul I gave my arm. That was the Law of Conservation! Where did you get this wound? It's the wound when I got bitten by a fox. This is my arm!"

….

"Why are mine different from yours and Al's?"

"These aren't my real arm and leg."

"Then what happened to your real ones? Where are they?"

….

"But…there's something I want to ask you… If you stole my arm and leg and implanted them on yourself… would you become a human like that? Even if someone wears auto-mail or becomes a suit of armor, does it matter? They'd still be human. But, what about you?"

"Shut up!"

….

"It's your fault. Because of you guys, Mommy-"

"Stop it!"

"Mommy… Mommy… Mommy died! And she was your own mother!"

….

"Hurry up and go. I'm sorry to ask you this, but please take him with you…"

….

His laugh was manic, rather unsettling. But his voice was still groggily, the drugs taking its toll on him. "Edward, I knew you would come."

His auto-mail had been removed; all that was left of his right arm and left leg were the empty sockets and connecter pallets. He was older now, his looks were more mature, he looked like a young adult.

I took a step back, shit.

"…Wrath…"

"I'm glad you haven't forgotten me." More laughter rang out into the small room, sending nasty shivers up and down my spine.

"How could I ever forget?"

"The missing limbs were the same, auto-mail showed much relation, and after we had him captured he kept saying your name."

It was a dark night, truly one of the darkest I had ever seen. I sat by the window just gazing out into the endless flat lands, trying to take in and understand the day's events.

Wrath, it was bloody Wrath.

"You said he attacked you, do you think it was in self-defense?"

Ross' chair creaked which caused me to look at her. Her uniform was rolled at the sleeves, her hair out of its ponytail. I followed down the length of her hair, stopping as it reached her shoulders. I eyed the badge which was on Ross' shoulder. It was strange now seeing two stars on the badge which signified her First Lieutenant rank.

"I don't think so. He attacked us out of no where, it was as if he was defending the place."

That was the answer I had feared, he was trying to defend the 'sanctuary'. Because if that was the case then things were just getting more confusing, more serious, more complicated.

"Why would he be all the way in the Great Desert to defend some type of sanctuary being rebuilt?" It was a damn good question. Wrath had disappeared for years and suddenly he's found in a building far in the depths of the Great Desert. What happened in the missing years between? Ross had told me that after they had captured him they had disconnected his auto-mail to impair him; he was quite the wild child to say the least.

"May I have drink?"

I looked past Ross to the young girl who sat at one of the wooden chairs. Various officers were walking past her, paying no mind. I had forced Ross to let her out of the room, she seemed harmless. If she was to use alchemy I could easily over power her.

The girl looked at the various officers with an annoyed expression. "May I have drink?" Everyone still ignored her request, just going along with his or her own business.

Man, do I hate the military life.

I got up from my chair, moving towards the kitchen in search of a cup. I couldn't find any, but I spotted a canteen in one of the chairs. Ehh, it was the own person's fault whoever left it there. I grabbed the bottle and walked back to the girl.

"Drink up."

The girl looked at me unsure, but after a few moments of me standing there with the bottle in my hands, she gave into her thirst. Wow could the chick freakin' chug!

The little dog thing lay at the girl's feet. It was silent this time, but I was well aware that its eyes were following my every move. I had to admit, the dog thing really weirded me out. After we allowed the girl out of the room I had asked her what specifically Xiao Mei was, she didn't answer.

As luck may have it, my wondering eyes spotted a notebook on the kitchen table. I eyed the notebook; a pencil had been pushed up its spiral binding. Hmm…

I snatched the notebook off the table; glad none of the soldiers took notice, and brought it back to my seat. Ross looked at me curiously as I pulled out the pencil and shoved the notebook and pencil into her hands.

"You said you saw alchemy arrays, I want you to draw them the best you can."

I felt it was a simple request, I mean, nothing too difficult. But Ross's eyes widened, almost as if she couldn't believe I would ask such a thing. "Edward, I know nothing about alchemy."

I sighed. "Just draw what you saw. Trust me, no strings attached."

Ross stared at the blank paper for a few minutes; I suppose trying to remember what she had seen.

The pencil suddenly began to scratch against the white paper; Ross began to etch out the shapes. She stayed silent for the time she drew. I personally sat patiently waiting, fiddling with my braid to help pass some time.

"Do you want me to draw both alchemy arrays? They were quite similar. I'll just draw one and explain the differences."

"Do what you want."

The eraser was then used and back to drawing. It took Ross about a good fifteen minutes to recall, draw, erase, draw, and finish. Once she was done she handed me the notebook. I searched for my reading glasses, finding them in my back pocket, and slipped them on.

My mouth fell slightly when I saw the finished product… I had never in my life seen anything like it. Never ever.

It was an alchemy array all right.

Shit.

The alchemy array wasn't as difficult as I had expected. There was an upside-down octagon. At every connecting point of the octagon there were five suns. Two circles surrounded the octagon, the circles also running through the points of the suns. Outside the alchemy array Ross had written 'Foreign language surrounds array which I could not decrypt.' Then, in the center of the array, sat something very familiar. It was a double-headed dragon. If I looked at just one of the dragons I saw the resemblance, it reminded me of the same dragon which had been on my State Alchemist watch.

The paper fell from my hands.

It couldn't be, could it? I mean, they didn't look exactly the same. Maybe I wasn't remembering my watch correctly, ha yea; it had been awhile since I last saw a State Alchemist watch. There was just no way, I mean, it couldn't be possible. Right?

How the hell could this be!

"Edward, are you alright?" Ross's voice was gentle.

I couldn't find the words to answer. Hell, maybe I was just thinking to deeply; maybe it was just pure coincidence that the watch King Bradley had issued matched a dragon found in an alchemy array drawn in a building that was found in some lost city and being guarded by Wrath. Ha, yea, coincidence.

"Edward, does this mean you understand the array?"

I looked at Ross, first confused by her question then understanding what she was asking. "No, I don't understand it at all. I had never seen anything like it in my entire life, but I am positive it's an alchemist's array. It's just alchemy arrays usually only consist of geometric shapes, not actual images of anything."

Ross frowned slightly. "I see, the other array had trees around it instead of suns, everything else was the same. The third one which was just being started had just the octagon drawn."

I simply didn't understand, I just didn't. Ok, so there were two arrays, and a third was on the way. What was the significance of a dragon, sun, and trees? I saw no tie.

Then a voice piped in, ruining my train of thought. I glared at the girl who spoke.

"Rentanjutsu."

The Xing girl stared at the floor. I followed her eyes; they landed on the fallen notebook.

"What did you say?"

"Retanjutsu! Alche-"

"Alchemy?"

Wait a second, the girl lived in Xing that was much closer to the lost city… hell, she was at the lost city when they found her! I picked up the notebook, hope and prayers flaring throughout me. I limped over to the girl, ignoring her dog things sudden growls.

"You can use alchemy, Ross told me. What is this? Do you understand this?" I pointed vigorously to the image on the paper. "Do you understand!"

The girl licked her lips. "Lung-mei."

…

……

Ok, maybe she wouldn't be as much help as I had hoped for. Ah shit, I was going to get no where! I didn't understand the Xingen language and as far as I could tell the girls English sucked. Great, just great. My one hope and I couldn't even understand her.

"Maybe I should just call it a night before I give myself an ulcer." I began to turn, ready to just collapse somewhere and silently complain to myself about everything that stunk in the world when the girl's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed my left arm.

"Lung-mei."

I looked down at her tiredly. "I don't know what Lung-mei is."

"Lung-mei, the dragon's pulse." Her English was clearer, much clearer then it had been before.

Well, maybe she might be of some help. I blinked a few times, looking at the girl. "The dragon's pulse?"

"It flows through the earth, the power of the world."

Well, I was on a roll. "What about the suns, do you understand those? And the trees?"

The girl's eyes went distant for a moment. She folded her arms over her chest, thinking deeply to herself. "…I don't know."

I knelt down in front of the girl. The dog thing didn't appreciate the movement, but didn't bite me either. "Why were you at the ancient city?"

The girl went silent for a few seconds, simply staring at me. I tried to make sure I was looking sincere.

"My father's son was given a permanent promise."

My eyes crossed for a moment, what the hell was she talking about?

The girl's eyes suddenly narrowed, almost dangerously. "I will destroy him."

…didn't sound like a very friendly family.

I sighed at the girl's cruel tone. Obviously something was going on with her… father's son? I suppose half brother then, something I probably wouldn't understand. And if you wanted me to be honest, I didn't really care about a family feud. All I cared about was the alchemy array.

I pointed towards the sun again, my fingers outlining the image. "So do you know anything about this image, anything at all?"

The girl sighed; she grabbed the notebook from my hands and stared at the work. "Legends, myths… Lung-mei I know. Sun means fire, tree means wood, all five will equal one, but it's just legend."

Sun means fire and tree means wood? All five will equal one? There were five suns, so did that mean it equaled one?

"Can you tell me this legend?"

The girl's eyes almost popped out of her head. "Too much!"

"Too much for me to ask for or too much English?"

"Too hard to explain. Wood, fire, earth, metal, water. Five will equal one. It is from a dead religion, Toa."

What the hell was Toa? Five will equal one, Lung-mei, religion, water, fire, earth, wood, metal? What the hell did this all have to do with alchemy!

I was curious if my head was going to fall off.

"I don't get it."

The girl's annoyed expression was rather frightening.

I had been given an extra blanket. I used my red jacket and the suitcase Roy had given me as my pillow. The beating sun seeped in through the tiny window, the heat of the morning atmosphere already getting unbearable.

Ehh, I had slept in much worse, really, I had.

I rolled to my side, trying to get more comfortable, too bad auto-mail wasn't made for such a thing. My eyes were half lidded, I was in the stage that I really wasn't awake, but I could still think fairly clearly.

There was one question that heavily poked at me. What was I going to do with Wrath?

Wrath had left Izumi during the days I was stuck in Germany. No one really spoke about his leaving; no one brought the lost child up, minus my drunken night with Izumi.

Last time I had personally saw Wrath was during my final battle with Dante. Wrath had had my limbs torn off him by the gate, then he was left to die.

Would it be smart just to leave Wrath with Ross? It would be hassle free…

An exasperated sigh seeped out from my lips.

I needed to get my ass out of bed. There were so many questions I still had for the Xingen girl. I couldn't get anything else from the girl the past night. She claimed she was tired and just wanted to sleep. So, trying not to get on her bad side, I allowed her to go free.

But today was a new day, time for interrogation! Wahahahaha.

I yanked the blankets away from my body and sat up. I looked around the room searching for my pants.

The random loud whinny of a horse suddenly grabbed my attention. It was coming from outside. Hmm, I didn't know anyone had ridden in on horses. I thought Ross's unit had all come in on vehicles, weird.

I found my black boots, but still couldn't find my pants. I looked from side to side, nope, nowhere.

"First Lieutenant!"

I grumbled at the loud noises coming from outside. The room I had stayed in was near the front of the house, so I got to hear the outside life all morning. I was discovering that Ross's unit was filled with a bunch of loud-mouthed men, fun for her.

Where the hell were my pants? I pulled up the blankets that I had been laying on. No, they weren't there either. Hmm…

Wait a minute, oh yea!

I forgot, right before I went to bed I had decided to add more to my 'pillow'. I grabbed my red jacket, my pants fell right out of the rolled up ball. They fell right to the floor getting covered in dirt, nice.

"Hurry up, get out here!"

My God! People needed to shut up when others were trying to sleep. It was still early as hell; the only reason I was awake was because of the intense heat. I was positive other soldiers of Ross' unit were still asleep.

I started to pull my pants on. I got my human leg in, just had to get my auto-mail one. Because of the broken knee joint I literally had to pick my metal limb up and place it in. I got my jeans around my waste and zipped up when I heard a gun shot.

Huh?

My eyes flew open, startling me fully awake. I did hear correctly, right? Another shot just confirmed it.

My head quickly turned towards the small window of the room, peering out to the outside world. Well, I was right. Ross's unit hadn't come in on horses, but the lot of Xingen men did. And they were lining up in front of the building we were stayed in.

Holy-mofo-omg-what did I miss!

I swallowed hard as another gunshot rang out and one of the Xingen men fell from his horse, blood pouring out from his head.

My boots were on my feet in an instant. I didn't even bother to do anything else before I was out the bedroom door. I ran right into the living room area. The front door was already wide open which gave me a good view of what was going on outside. Amestris soldiers were standing in front of the house, their guns aimed. The Xing army stood across from them.

How did Xingen's even get to Ishbal, especially this far down west? No, no, I was supposed to be safe from war. I was too far out.

The Xingen were at least three times the size of Ross's unit. Hell, I would say even four or five times more! There were just way too many to count. They sat on their horses, swords high in the air, ready to fight.

No war. I didn't want to be part of this crap!

Ross by chance turned around, she saw me standing in the center of the room. "Edward, get out of here!"

I was tempted to laugh and ask her where I was supposed to go. But instead, I stood there, staring blankly at her.

Damn it, how, why, what!

I was sick of fighting, sick of laws, sick of life. I still had work to do at headquarters, now I had some stupid sanctuary to investigate, and on top of all of that, I still had Wrath to take care of! I did not need a group of Xingen men coming out of nowhere to try and attack us.

Fuck no.

Ok, first, there are times in my life I don't really think clearly and just do random things. Hey, it's what makes me, me.

A giant group of Xingen men… a dozen of Ross' soldiers to back me up. Were the odds really against me? I knew they were against Ross' unit alone, but against me? I mean, come on, I was the Fullmetal Alchemist, right?

Some questions are better left unanswered.

I looked Ross in the eyes. My words were quick. "This does not get passed down to Parliament."

I ignored the protest from my leg, ignored the sudden screams from Ross. I had made a quick decision, there was no turning back.

The image of Roy mysteriously popped into my head.

"And I knew you would have never killed her."

"You told me to kill her, directly you told me to follow your orders!"

"But you still never shot, you still saved the day."

My clap rang out as I ran right through the door, right past Ross, right through Ross' unit who were prepared to shoot, right into the center of all the commotion.

Ok, so I really was going crazy.

But hell, sometimes going crazy wasn't a bad thing.

I slid into the sandy ground, dirt flying all around me. My hands smacked onto the desert floor, the electricity of alchemy overflowed me. Calculations swarmed through my head, formulas, composition…

Suddenly the dust of the sandy floor flew forward, smashing into the men who were on their horses. The sand covered them; most men fell to the ground.

"Ross!"

I didn't need to say anymore, Ross read my mind. In an instant her soldiers ran forward, their guns aimed, already beginning to shoot.

I was never one into guns, well, unless absolutely necessary. Alchemy was my style.

The fallen Xingen were instantly on their feet. Their garbs were quite impressive, actually rather expensive looking. All the men wore what looked like silk, jewels dangling everywhere, gold strings making entwining patterns all over their getups; all their outfits were simply elaborate. Hell, if I didn't know any better I would say it was the royal army.

I was on my feet in an instant, ready to fight. I knew my damaged leg would be a handicap, but I would suffer with it.

A man suddenly came at me, his sword being held high in the air. I didn't even bother with him. I clapped my hands again and thrust them towards the ground. The earth surrounded the man, creating a cocoon around him.

Another man tried to hit me from the side, but I saw him early enough. I was sick of playing kids fights, I wanted a real one.

I did an aerial cartwheel that was a cartwheel with no hands; I didn't want to aggravate my shoulder anymore than I had to. Luckily, I landed solidly on my feet. I side kicked the man with my real foot. Before he had the chance to fall to the ground I grabbed the sword he had out from his grasp, I threw the blade to the side. I kicked him again as he fell onto his knees. One punch with my auto-mail hand and the man was out. He wasn't dead, but I knew he was going to wake up with one nasty headache.

I saw the next man's shadow in the dirt in front of me. I dove towards the side to avoid his blade from slicing right through me. A loud thunk sound was made when the man's blade smacked dirt. My good leg swift kicked him causing him to fall over, my auto-mail leg instantly landed right between the man's legs, crushing his special area. I had never heard anyone cry like that before, ouch, not pretty.

I did a one handed back handspring when I saw another man quickly rushing towards me. I was still rather pleased when I landed solidly on the ground, my auto-mail leg was cooperating with me much more than I could ever ask for.

This man was quick with his blade. He swung it wildly, trying to nick me. My auto-mail arm was strong enough to take all the hits though; I blocked his hits when he struck to the left and then to the right. The man lifted the sword high above his head and I saw an open spot. I punched him right in the gut with my real hand, and then punched him in the chin with my auto-mail one, the clatter of teeth sounded out. I punched the man once more across the cheekbone before he fell towards the ground, most likely passed out.

Hey, I was doing pretty well.

Gunfire danced around me. I didn't know which side was winning or losing. Guns usually did overpower swords, but manpower could also over power the number of bullets. But really, at that moment I just didn't care, all I was aware of was the men who were coming right at me.

Three men now stood in front of me. The one in the center was almost as big as Armstrong, almost.

"Quit while you're ahead, kid."

I looked at the man stupidly. I had no bloody clue what he had said.

I did a back flip so I was far enough away from the men. In mid-air I had enough time to clap my hands together. As I landed on the ground, I went to my knees and thrust my hands forward. The dust that encircled them stunned all three men. I took the chance and ran forward and punched the man on the far left in the face. He was too distracted by the dust to even see what hit him.

One down, two more to go.

The big baboon man tried to grab me, but the sand that was around him constricted him from moving much. I went right past him and punched the man who was to his right. The man was out instantly since I used my auto-mail hand.

Yup, I wanted to save the big one for last.

I stared at him for a moment. I had defeated Armstrong once before with Al, this man was going to be a piece of cake. Preferably, chocolate cake with vanilla icing, just as long as it wasn't made by Winry.

I leaped forward, ready to tackle him…

His hand instantly broke through the sand, grabbing me around the throat.

Shit.

Armstrong and this man might have had the same stature, but there was something about this man that Armstrong lacked. Brute strength. Sure, Armstrong was strong, but he was more of an Alchemist then a wrestler.

I simply couldn't breathe. My hands grabbed onto the other man's, but it was no use. His hold was too tight, too strong. I was surprised he didn't break my neck. I was well aware he had the power to do so… no, I think he was trying to make me suffer.

I began to see stars as the lack of oxygen was taking its affect. My mouth moved in desperation to try and capture air or anything really, but nothing was going down my throat. I tried to kick the man, but he held me too far away from his form to do so. I was about to clap my hands and use alchemy, but he saw the movement and used his other hand to hold my wrists.

Just… couldn't…breath.

"…A..l…"

The earth beneath us suddenly shuddered. Was it an earthquake? No, earthquakes were rare around these parts. What the hell?

The bigger man lost his balance as the ground beneath him began to split apart. His hold on me suddenly loosened, allowing me to breath. I was dropped carelessly to the ground; the world was vibrating dangerously around me. The shudders did nothing to help me as I tried to wheeze air back into my system. Coughs consumed my form, my hands were lightly wrapped around my throat to try and help oxygen just to get in.

The sounds of screams filled the air as I felt the earth shift then fully break apart. A big gaping hole extended out towards the side of me. I had no control of my body as it began to roll towards the cliff that was created.

I saw spots as my lower body began to fall down the blackness, but before I was full over the edge, two strong, but very thin, hands grabbed onto my shoulders, digging into my wound.

A shrill scream tore its way from my throat as I felt the pain. Heck, was my shoulder ever going to get a break? At the rate I was going it was never going to heal!

In one big pull, I was yanked from the edge and fell right into someone's arms. I looked up…

It was Ross.

I blinked a few times, trying to take in everything around me. The earth was split in two right by our feet, Amestris' soldiers on one side and Xingen's on the other.

My words were hoarse. "What…what is this?"

Call me crazy, but I did find it a little peculiar that a big gapping hole suddenly came out of nowhere and now stretched across the desert-like lands.

My eyes followed along the crack in the earth, leading me directly towards the front door of the building we had been occupying. An alchemy array had been drawn onto the ground; the alchemist removed their hands from the ground and stood straight.

The young Xingen woman and her dog thing stood there. She smirked as she saw me looking at her. Her braided hair blew slightly with the morning wind; she pushed a few stands back, her eyes never leaving my own.

What happened next just made the world tilt slightly, tilt from utter confusion.

The Xingen soldiers all bowed when they saw the Xingen girl.

Now, that just seemed a little odd. Ha, ok, very odd.

As if she was someone special or whatever, the young woman took a few steps from the building like a queen would, each step carrying a light bounce. She walked along the Xingen side. She spoke to the Xingen warriors, her words were all foreign; every single Xingen man seemed to listen to her intently.

My mouth fell open, this wasn't right. I knew for a fact females were usually suppressed in Xingen culture, it was mentioned a few times in their alchemy books. That was why originally I found it so shocking that the girl knew alchemy. Females in Xing weren't supposed to know alchemy...

Who was she?

The girl turned and looked at me, those slanted eyes sparkling slightly.

"I must go now Edward Elric."

My voice was still hoarse as I spoke. "Wait, you can't!" I still had questions.

"I told you what you wanted! I told you everything, you now let me go. Equal trade, right? I don't want more fighting."

All the Xingen warriors stood. They began to collect their horses, the dead Xingen stayed on the ground, the injured were helped by others. Xingen's were known for their medical alchemy, I watched with my own two eyes as some men were healed instantly.

"I saved your life, you, in exchange, stop Ling!"

I blinked a few times. Had she really saved my life? By golly, she really had. But still…

"I'm not done yet!" I stood up, suddenly being pumped with energy. I stood dangerously close to the cliff.

I could hear Ross behind me. "Edward, be careful."

I ignored Ross and kept focus on the girl. The girl couldn't leave, just not yet!

The said girl was helped to a horse; she climbed up and sat down on the saddle. Her dog thing was placed behind her. Her eyes never left mine, those piercing black eyes staring straight at me.

The other Xingen soldiers jumped onto their own horses, straddling the animals.

"Dragon is the pulsing power, five elements creating the unity of one is the answer."

I just didn't understand.

"It's Mei-chan."

She pulled on her horse's rains. As they road away I heard her say one last thing.

"My name is Mei-chan!"

Ross' unit had suffered no losses, but one man did have his arm cut off and three others got cut up pretty badly.

I threw my red jacket into the silver suitcase.

"You really think she is?"

The locks of the suitcase clicked telling me it was closed. "Ling Yoa is the empire of Xing. She said for me to 'stop Ling'. That family is huge; it's very possible that she's one of the daughters of the late deceased king. Also, if you think about it, she was wearing attire fit for the higher class. She was also extremely well educated for a Xing woman, and also she had a whole squad of men coming all the way to Solace just to save her ass… I do think that's enough to support my theory."

Ross sat on the floor of the room. Her unit was busy packing and loading, it was the last private moment she and I were going to have.

"If only I would have known, maybe we could have used her to stop this war."

I sighed, taking a seat on the sandy ground myself. "I don't know much about Xing, only stuff I have read in alchemy texts, I do know though that the recently deceased king had a 'lover' from every clan that made up the Xing people. Taking that into consideration, his direct descendents might even reach the hundreds. I highly doubt Mei-chan would have deterred any type of war-ending negotiations. Ling most likely barely knows this half sister of his, so it wouldn't matter. Besides, we're the ones who pushed war, not Xing itself."

"They encouraged it."

I wanted to argue that, but I knew I couldn't. They did encourage it. From chilling in the Great Desert to attacking Rizenpool they had done nothing but nudged us to start a war.

I sighed, I knew what I was about to say next was going to surprise Ross. Heck, it surprised me that I would ever decide on such a thing, but I had my reasons.

"Ross, once you get your men patched up I need you to go back to these ruins you found." I took a deep breath, what I was about to say next was actually hard. "Take dynamite with you guys, just blow up that sanctuary." I was asking her to destroy precious alchemy arrays, but it was necessary.

"Wha-what?"

"I'm not joking. Blow the building up; make it nothing more than desert dust. I know I'm not directly above so I can't force you to do it, but I beg you." If Wrath had been guarding the building then I had a feeling the building would cause me nothing but trouble. It was simply better to destroy it then to wait and see what happens.

Ross seemed unsure by the request, but she nodded anyways. "Once I do my check in I'll take some men and we will do it. Are you sure about this?"

For some reason I felt like I had never been so sure in my life, I nodded for a response.

My hand wrapped around the handle of the silver suitcase. I picked it up, forcing myself to stand. Ross followed suit. I didn't speak to her as I turned on my heels, leaving the room. She simply followed me out of the room and followed me down the hall I walked down; she stopped at the door I had stopped at. She didn't ask any questions as I pushed the wooden door open.

The drugged up boy lay on the floor, he seemed asleep, at least I hoped he was. The air held a stench to it, for some reason I had the feeling I didn't want to ask what the mystifying aroma was.

"Wrath, he's coming with me."

I had actually expected Ross to question me, but she did nothing. She simply stayed silent as she stood next to me and looked at the chained up boy on the floor. Well, at least she wouldn't put up a fight.

We stood like that for a few moments, both of us just looking forward, hearing the soldiers outside making themselves busy. Ross finally cleared her throat causing me to look over at her.

"Edward, I left something out about the sanctuary."

I lifted an eyebrow. "What didn't you tell me?"

Ross didn't look at me, her eyes remained on Wrath. "There was a balcony being built that stretched around the room, near the ceiling."

I turned my body towards Ross, but she still refused to even give me a glance. She folded her arms over her chest, an almost darkened look on her face.

"You might not believe what I'm about to tell you, none of the other soldiers will. I had questioned them about it, but they all claimed they never saw whoever it was I saw."

She finally looked at me.

"I thought I saw someone in the shadows on the balcony. Edward, they looked directly at me… their eyes seemed dead."

Let me explain some things!

No people, pretty much everything I said in this chap did not spontaneously pop out of my butt! Now, I am taking a lot of true facts from Chinese history/religion and mixing it with the manga. Let me explain:

Rentanjutsu- Alchemy

Ling-mei- this was in chapter 48 of the manga. Mei-chan talks about it when healing scar. The pulse of the dragon pulses through the earth.

Lost city/sanctuary- Manga baby. Ok, remember in the manga when Ross was taken over to Xing to be put in hiding? Well, Ed met up with her in a place called Khshayarsha (Xerxes). That, my friends, is my lost city. Also, if you remember to that timing in the manga (40-41) Edward ran off and was looking at a strange alchemy array that was broken so he couldn't really decrypt. That is the sanctuary place I am talking about!

Toasim/Five elements- Now, I won't be speaking about this stuff right now, but I assure you these things actually exist. If you are someone who knows anything about Chinese mythology or the history of Alchemy you should have an idea of what I am talking about. If not, then everything will be explained with due time.

Is the sanctuary from the manga really connected to the five elements?

Argh, I am hoping its not. I kind of made this part up considering the sanctuary had five suns and sun can be seen as fire. So, hopefully this fic will not be a spoiler for the future of the manga.

Han-chan Omake! Ok, maybe not really an Omake…more like Han-Gomp special chat.

Guest20827> Welcome Readers! Welcome to the first ever behind the scenes omake!

Han-chan> So Gomp how is the stress level on your end only hours from deadline?

Gomp> Lol, are you recording this?

Han-chan> this IS the omake

Gomp> XD!

Han-chan> 'is lazy and uncreative'

Gomp> I think this is very creative, anywaysssss; my stress level is rising, got so much to dooo

Gomp> so, did u like the chap? Or u think it was not so great

Han-chan> well considering I had to redo the damn thing because word is a fudger bitch...my opinion is not reliable

Gomp> lol understandable

Han-chan> What word did I BAN you from using last week?

Gomp> Oh no, did I use which again in the fic? Man, I thought I was good this time

Han-chan> exclusively, not ONCE did you use 'that'

Han-chan> ohh and only one ... He, the majority was ...he

Han-chan> so congrats!

Gomp> lol Im getting better, slowly I think

Han-chan> yes, soon you won't need me TT

Gomp> naa, ill still use u and abuse u

Han-chan> lol, yesss, you and word. Between you two there will be no end

Han-chan> Oh! A shout out to Geraniums and some other person 'goes to look at reviews'

Gomp> yea, got a lot of reviews from people about the omakes!

Han-chan> oohh more this time?

Gomp> yea, we got a couple

Han-chan> well we are going to give individual shout outs

Han-chan> I love them they make me glow

Gomp> lol

Han-chan> And Tami a shout out to you too for being the first to notice the omake!

Han-chan> lady elithraniel, supposedly I know you...

Han-chan> I HAVE A STALKER! YAY!

Gomp> XD!

Gomp> u excited about japan?

Han-chan> Yes I am, I guess we will use this time to announce the news?

Gomp> yesh we will

Han-chan> Well I will be gone for a month in Japan, Soooo

Han-chan> HELD IS OFFICALLY ON A 1 MONTH HIATUS

Gomp> the horror!

Han-chan> Now during your 1 month leave you need to work on pluralizing Aremetris it is aremetris' not aremetris; you just keep on forgetting the apostrophe. And for the plural of ross it is ross' not ross's

Gomp> Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, hold on I'm making notes of this

Han-chan> ok

Han-chan ok

Gomp> ok

Gomp> u didn't know Gomp was part of my last name?

Han-chan> ers, no no offense but that is a freakishly odd but seriously cool name

Gomp> Lol that's weird, almost everyone calls me by my last name instead of Kathy. Its weird not having people know that.

Han-chan> Any of you whom know irc won't be able to tell but Gomp is an op atm. She could kick my ass off this channel if she knew the syntax for the command...which I won't tell her

Gomp> ...that's not nice

Han-chan> that's how I have fun on weekends kicking people off mah channel

Gomp> XD, that's so mean!

Han-chan> Keeee, most have auto rejoin scripts

Gomp> I need to learn more about irc

Han-chan> yes you do

Han-chan> soo... do you want to give hints and wicked tidbits to the readers?

Gomp> about Held's future?

Han-chan> yes

Gomp> ...no XD

Han-chan> spoil sport

Gomp…thing…

No Winry and Al love again? WTF! Part Two!

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"Al, are you ok?"

Al turned to Winry; his eyes were partially sunken into his skull. "It-it wasn't meatloaf."

Winry sat by Al's bed, trying to comfort the poor lad. "No dear, it wasn't. It was ice cream."

"I don't think I can go on with this life anymore." He began to cough violently, his head sank more into the pillow, his breathing was weakening.

Winry just held his hand; she wasn't sure how to handle this. "Well, at least it tasted good, you said so yourself."

"But that was when I thought it was still meatloaf."

What was she to do? Winry sniffed a few times, confused by what was going on. "Al, you will make it through, don't give up! I'll make you meatloaf for real!"

And then he died.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Important Announcement!

This fic is taking a small break. Han-chan is going to Japan for a month and Gomp has some other obligations she must attend to. I apologize that you all must wait for the next chapter, but I assure you this fic is not dead! Trust me; I am not ditching this baby since I got this far with it. How long will Gomp be gone for? Well, the plan is for a month, but, I can't really confirm that. It is very possible that it will actually be less than a month; we will all have to wait and see. I can just assure you that it won't be more than a month.

Authors Note:

First off: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAN-CHAN!

Ok, I have been told and have previously presumed that I am losing some edge with this fic (it's becoming boring). Part of the reason I am taking a break from Held is because I want to collect some more originality for this fic. I know this fic is very long and has a crap load of information to take in, but when I committed myself to this fic, I committed myself to the reality of it. There will be dry spells with this fic and there will be fun parts with it. I promise you on my break I will be working on canceling out these dry spells and having this fic a constant thrill ride. Well, at least I hope I can achieve that. I will be finishing my editing of the previous chapters and also on my break I am doing a collaboration fic with Saturn Stars (I am excited about this one XD). Anyways, I truly must thank everyone who has kept committed to this fic. Your support has kept me going and it will help continue this fic. Please, keep tuned in to the future of Held.

And, my comments on this chapter! Ok, big plot advancer. We now have Wrath in the picture, a lost city, Chinese mythology, and some hidden figure in the shadows at the sanctuary. Oh my, what could this all lead to? XD! I had fun writing this chapter!

Big thanks to my beta Han-chan and to my critic Egypt. Thanks you guys!

Han-chan's note: NOTE TO READERS: IT IS MY FAULT THIS CHAPTER IS SO DAMN LATE! GOMEN NASAI! TT damn word

Questions you may have…

1. Who is Mei-chan and Xaoi-mei?

If you don't know this then please read the manga! Mei-chan is the little girl who fantasizes about meeting Edward and is also trying to find the philosopher stone. Xaoi-mei is her kick ass panda that she carries around.

2. Xaoi-mei, why is he so small?

I am well aware that Xiao Mei is a panda. And panda's by his age would be much larger, well at least larger than a dog. Well, my theory…. Xiao Mei was a runt of the litter. And that ends that.

3. Mei-chan's English sucks! Why?

The original version of this chapter I had Mei-chan barely able to say anything! Well, I reconsidered and made her English just slightly suck. I know in the manga she spoke English rather well, but I figure this is my story and it doesn't follow everything, so yea, I made her English suck.

4. Are you making half this stuff up about Toa, five elements, and so on?

I answered this already, but no, I am not. Most of this stuff I learned in college. I won't go into grave detail about this information until later in the fic, so hold on to your panties.

5. Who were the Xing guys that came for Mei-chan?

Err, the royal army XD!

MarshmellowDragon- It was just Ed who went to Ishbal. Of course Ed didn't go to fight XD I wasn't that mean. Yea, I didn't want to leave Klaus or Ed on bad terms, so she apologized. Even though Klaus is a lil' weird she can be a nice person. Well, thanks for the review! Enjoy America!

Kwala- Hey, I'm glad you replied to my email! I sent you another one. The reason Riza was so kind to Ed was really, you can't judge someone unless you know the full truth. She wasn't pleased with Ed, but Riza knows better than to jump to conclusions (unlike Ed). Havoc I always took the guy as laid back. Don't forget both Havoc and Riza have known Ed most of his teen years, they have both known the tension between Ed and Roy. Now, if Ed actually would have shot Roy that would have been a different story all together. You commented on how you couldn't believe Ed would raise a gun to Roy. Ok, my theory is if you look at Ed the kid has been pushed around for how long. I would think he would be sick and tired and just waiting to snap. Ed was just lost in the moment, upset, and wasn't thinking straight. You can do dumb things when in a mental state like that. Lol, I'll fix your name for you. Thanks for the review and I hope we can get to know each other more!

Rogue-Amnesti- Wahaha! Yea they let Ed go; Ed just had to do Roy's dirty work once more. A lot of people seemed to laugh at the Roy/Ed fight scene. I had a lot of fun writing it, next time I should have them fight in the mud topless. Ok, maybe I won't do that. Anyways, thanks for the review!

Sorceress-Fox- Long time since I last heard from you! Al should be back in the story soon. Thanks for the review!

MusicalRileyChan- You said glomp XD! I love that word! I'm happy you enjoyed the chapter; it was a fun one to write. Thanks for the review!

Katratzi-Ed's a lucky lil' man when it comes to getting away with Alchemy. Ed and Roy are good friends, just filled with a lot of misunderstandings. You gotta really talk things out with people if you want to understand more, in my opinion. I'm happy you found the last chap exciting; hopefully this one was just as fun for you. Well, thanks for the review!

Geraniums- Ack, I hate laundry. I'm one of those girls that can't do anything around the house. Like, I mess up cooking, mess up laundry, heck, I even mess up cleaning. I don't know how my family puts up with me XD! Well, I'm glad you liked the chap! Thanks for the review.

Tami- Archery practice! That's awesome. As a kid I used to do a lot of shooting and some archery. My dad was really into all that stuff, we used to have a shooting rang in our basement and such. Really, you think I update fast? When I was still in college I used to update like once every few days. Just with work and stuff I have been slowing down to about every 10 days. Lol, I'm so happy you seem to be really liking my fic. I really do enjoy the fact that others like my fic; it's a pretty cool feeling when I get positive responses about my chapters. Heck, reviews help me stay true to the fic. Well, thank you so much for your wonderful review! I always enjoy reading what you have to say!

Lady Elithraniel- You know Han-chan! XD! Iheart my beta, she's such an awesome person. Too bad she's going to Japan for a month; I really hope she has a fantastic time. Yea, I had to put Ishbal in here at some point. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you or anything; Ishbal was more like a meeting place then an actual plot twist. Well, thanks for your review!

No one's friend- I actually am very much into political story's even though I hate politics in real life (strange, I know). Your comment on the Ed and Roy scene with the two staring at each other, I am pretty positive if my beta would have read that she would have made an omake about it. But, I don't believe she got the final draft of that chap. I re-wrote a lot of it before I posted it. I know Ed and Roy do sound Yoai sometimes (which I am not against fic's like that either) but it's not that way at all. I'll explain why later in the fic. Well thanks so much for the review!