Well, look who's finally updating again, for real! I'm beyond thrilled you guys liked the last chapter - that one was a LONG time coming and I'm kind of insanely relieved it's here. About time, right?! Jeez. I've known forever when I wanted this to happen, so finally having it out feels amazing. Now! This next chapter is something I'm actually really proud of. I took the concepts explained in the anime (and in more detail in the manga) and extrapolated from there, trying to really expand on what's already there... So I hope it not only makes sense, but maybe sheds more light on what was presented originally as well? We'll see. It's not so much deviating from the source material as it is...expanding on it. So regardless, I hope you enjoy and pretty please let me know what you think!


"So it's Xerxes first? The transmutation circle, the Ishvalans, Mustang's comments about women… Then Hohenheim, right? …Don't look at me like that." Lissa prodded Ed's side with her finger, making him squirm. "I'm even calling him by his surname. But every time I say his name you look like somebody stuffed a lemon into your mouth."

He made that same face and jammed his hands into his pockets. "It's a shit thing to have to tell my little brother. Oh, by the way, our father showed back up and he's as big of an asshole as I thought."

She wound her arm around his, nodding. They were making their way back from the Central City train station, a walk Lissa would hardly ever do on her own this late at night, but she didn't mind it with Ed. Two state alchemists could handle themselves no matter what was thrown at them.

State alchemists. Lissa still didn't quite believe it, though she had the pocket watch hooked to her belt to remind her.

"And you're sure you don't want to start with what happened in Resembool?" she edged. That was a battle she'd lost—trying to convince Ed to talk about Hohenheim before anything else. It led into his renewed conviction about getting Al's body back, which she thought was more important than anything. But the truth was, she figured Ed was just trying to buy himself as much time as possible before he had to admit that the boys' father came back.

After a decade.

And he'd been a royal pain in the ass.

Edward nodded wearily. "Yeah. I'd rather start somewhere more positive, since I have the feeling Al's gonna be pretty pissed I dug that thing up without him."

"Fair," she acknowledged, sighing. "I'll help talk about all of it, too, if you need."

He gave her a soft, grateful smile. "Thanks, Liss. I'd say you don't have to, but…I don't think that'd make a difference, would it?"

She squeezed his arm. "Nope."

"Well… I'll just have to give this whole not doing everything alone idea a try, then." Ed jerked his chin towards the hotel, just a block down now. "I bet Al and Winry have been so bored… It's not like they've had anything to do here while we've been gone."

"Ugh, that means they got a vacation while we did all the hard work," Lissa complained. "Lazy-asses."

They made their way into the hotel, and upstairs to the boys' room, figuring that was the best place to look for everyone. Yet outside the door, Lissa paused, staring at the wood in consternation. "They're here," she muttered, scowling.

Ed raised an eyebrow at her. "Er… Al and Winry? Yeah, we assumed that."

"No, the Xingese," she corrected. "Ling and Lan Fan are around. They feel weird to me, kind of familiar, I dunno. It's been bothering me."

"Well, old man Fu did say you might have Xingese ancestry, right?" Ed pointed out, sounding like he put more stock in it than she did. "Maybe that's why. I mean, they're the first people from Xing you've had a chance to sense, and you've definitely never met them before, so it sounds pretty plausible to me."

She twisted her mouth up unhappily. "I don't buy it. I mean, I don't look Xingese, not even a little." Lissa sighed and waved him off. "Let's just go in."

Ed shrugged, letting her have that one in favor of opening the hotel room door and stepping in. Lissa followed him, pleased he'd let the topic drop. "Hey, guys! We're…back…" She nearly rammed into Ed as he froze just inside the room, the door banging shut behind them.

"Oh, hey!" Al greeted, his tone sugary with fake cheeriness. Beside him, Winry grinned sheepishly and wiggled her fingers at them. "Um…how…how was your trip?"

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Ed shrieked, racing across to frenetically dart around his brother, panicking over Al's state. For the armor…was in ruins. It hadn't been this bad since Scar attacked them! His arm was gone, his damned lower jaw was fucking missing, he was wrapped in all kinds of cloths to hide the damage, but there was no denying it.

Lissa stomped towards him with her arms folded across her chest. "Alphonse Elric, what kind of trouble did you get into?" she demanded of him, while Ed continued to stammer and flail around.

"And what the hell are you doing in here?!" Ed rounded on the room's low coffee table, where Ling and Lan Fan had set themselves up with what looked like the entire room service menu, both happily munching away until he called them out.

Ling stared up at him with a drumstick still in his mouth. "Eating a delicious dinner?"

"GET OUT!"

While Ed hauled the two Xingese up to boot them straight out of the room, Lissa crossed to Al and traced her hand down his chest, feeling so…horrifically sad. "Oh, Al…" His armor clanked as he shifted away from her. "Here, let me…" Lissa couldn't help the deep-set frown she carried as she unhooked the cloth covering the gaps in his armor, getting him to sit down so she could examine him more closely. He sat through it, his gaze averted, just allowing her to check exactly what damage he'd sustained.

"Seriously, how did this happen to you?" Ed asked weakly, once he'd sent Ling and Lan Fan out successfully and crossed back to them.

Al bowed his head. "A lot happened. Did you…hear about Colonel Mustang's plan?"

"To lure out whoever was behind the Fifth Laboratory?" Lissa raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, we were filled in on that. Lieutenant Breda told us some of it. But nobody said you were involved in it, Al."

He shrugged with his one remaining shoulder. "I wasn't supposed to be… But Ling told us about it, and I wanted to help. I didn't want to just…sit here while everybody else was out there fighting. They used—well… They used Barry the Chopper to lure the homunculi out, to force them to come out and face us. The Colonel's team did, I mean. Er…" Al sighed deeply and touched his hand to his head. "I should…start at the beginning."

So he did. He explained all of it—from Mustang's plan to Ling's involvement, Barry the Chopper and his human body being tied in as well, all culminating in an all-out fight with the female homunculus beneath the Third Laboratory. A battle which had ended with the homunculus dead, by Mustang's hand. They had even learned that homunculi were powered by Philosopher's Stones grafted to their own physical being, like a super-powered heart. It sounded like a victory…but for two horrible, glaring facts.

Havoc had been injured, severely. At the moment, he was in the hospital, most likely permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

And after learning more about Barry the Chopper's situation, between his blood seal and his existing physical body… Alphonse had come to the conclusion that his own armor body would someday reject his soul.

At the end, Ed stood with his teeth gritted, visibly trying to remain calm for his brother's sake. "A homunculus and Barry the Chopper," he muttered lowly. "Dammit. And just to throw a cherry on top, you find out your body might reject your soul." He passed his automail hand over his face, seeming so deeply exhausted for a moment. "I'm gonna have to extend what little you have left of your armor to repair all this damage…" He set about the easy part first—fitting Al's arm back in place, which thankfully had been recovered, and ensuring all the spare pieces of metal were attached. Once that was finished, Ed lifted his hands to begin the transmutation—but then paused and grimaced, looking down unhappily at the metal in front of him. "I'm worried about compromising your blood seal here."

Lissa raised her hand, feeling a bit like a child in a classroom. "I…might be able to help," she told him softly.

Winry gave her a curious look. "I thought Ed was the only one who could work on Al's armor."

"I wouldn't dare risk doing the transmutation myself," Lissa hurried to explain, shaking her head. That wasn't what she'd meant at all. "It's not really my area… But… I'm really good at sensing the arrangements of atoms, where any material is supposed to belong. That's how I transmuted the metal for your automail, Ed. So…" She stripped off her gloves and stuck them into her pocket. "If I just focus on the blood seal, and the metal directly beneath it, I can tell you if the transmutation gets too close."

Ed gave her a weary smile. "You think so? Cuz I'd feel a lot better if you can keep an eye on it, Liss."

"Definitely." Lissa tapped Al's shoulder and grinned up at him. "If that's okay with you, Al."

He bobbed his head. "I trust you."

So while Ed worked his transmutation, Lissa just rested her hands on Al's armor, palms flat against the cool metal, focusing hard on the separate particles—the iron and cells and proteins holding Al there, as well as the actual components of the metal the blood seal was bound to. It was harder than she'd thought, picking out where Ed's actual transmutation went, but after a moment she got the hang of it regardless. He was careful, she noted, so careful with his brother… Despite all his worries, he didn't come close to the blood seal at all.

When he was finished, Ed stepped back while Lissa kept checking, trying to feel out the thinner places in Al's armor. She still wondered if it was possible to add metal, if they used only identical components, and attached all the foreign material separate from his blood seal… But that was a task for another time. "You feeling okay, Al?" Lissa asked him.

He nodded, a bit brighter this time. "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks, Lissa."

Winry approached Edward tentatively, looking worried. "Ed? He'll be able to get his body back, right?" she fretted.

Ed turned a fierce look on her. "Yeah, of course he will! I told you I'm gonna get it back." He sighed, visibly weary, and sank onto the sofa heavily. "Al… There's something I've gotta tell you," he began. Lissa watched him steel himself, his eyebrows furrowed—and realized, much too late, that their original plans had changed. There was no way they could talk about Xerxes first, not with the bomb that had been dropped about the armor rejecting Al's soul.

He had to talk about Resembool first.

Lissa crossed to sit beside him, her heart aching in her chest for what he had to admit, what he had to relive. She'd interject when there was space—but it wasn't her job to break it to Al. That wasn't something she could interfere with.

"We dug up the body that you and I transmuted in Resembool," Ed told his brother, carefully keeping his eyes averted, like he couldn't actually meet Al's gaze when he spoke.

Al leapt to his feet in shock. "What?! Why would you do that?" he gasped.

That did make Edward look up at him, turning fierce again, though his shoulders were tense with stress. "Because, Al… I found out that the thing we buried wasn't really our mother."

And now it was all out in the open.

"But…" Al wavered where he stood for a moment, before sitting down heavily on the stool, unable to keep his feet under him any longer. "H-hold on a minute… Then that means…" He gripped at his helmet in distress, overwhelmed by the information.

Ed's face was much too pale when he spoke. "The thing we made… I don't know what, but it was something completely different."

"But if it wasn't, then what happened to me?" Al turned to Ed frantically, believing as always that his brother had all the answers. It was so…innocent. Sometimes it was so easy to forget that Al was only fourteen, but at moments like that, it was impossible not to see it.

Ed gave him a stern look. "That's just it. This has actually convinced me that we can return you to normal."

Winry's eyes widened. "Ed, are you sure?"

"Yeah… But… Before I start explaining how…" He glanced sideways at Lissa, his cheeks going faintly pink, and she wondered what he was thinking about. "Well, uh… Winry… Do, um, uh… Do you remember…when Al and I got in a fight when we were kids about…who'd marry you?"

Lissa felt her stomach knot. That…would make sense, I guess… Ed and Winry… They were childhood friends, after all…

A little insecurity gnawed at her heart. What if…what if they…

Something brushed the outside of her leg, just lightly, and she looked down to see Ed's automail resting against her.

Damn. He saw right through me.

"Huh?" Al looked at Ed in confusion. "The fight we were talking about on the roof of the hospital?"

Ed nodded tightly. "Yeah, that one. Al told me you turned him down, Winry."

Looking thoroughly baffled, and not a bit awkward, Winry nodded her confirmation. "Mmhmm. Turned you both down."

Crossing his arms, Ed wrinkled his nose and amended. "Whatever. The question's for both of you, anyway." He eyed them. "What was your reasoning? I need you both to say it."

Winry and Al looked at each other. "She said…" Al began slowly.

"I just don't like men who are shorter than me," they both replied together.

Ed yelped like he'd been struck. "You can't judge a man for something he can't help!" he whined at them, upset just at the notion of it. Lissa hid a grin behind her hand, amused by his reaction—even she could admit it was funny, being taller than him, but she didn't usually rib him too much. He heard it from too many other sources.

Winry raised her eyebrow. "Uh… I don't really see how this has anything to do with getting Al's body back," she pointed out dryly.

"C'mon, ease up," Lissa admonished gently. "Where were you going with that?"

He sighed and leaned against the back of the sofa. "Well… I had to be sure, just like we talked about. Al had a memory of something I don't recall—and you seem to clearly remember it the same way, Winry. Which means that it happened, without a doubt. So, now that we know you remembered something real, then we also know for a fact that it really is Al bonded in there." The faintest smile touched his lips. "I pulled you out, Al. I actually did it. I know it was only your soul, but that's just it. If I was able to pull that much of you out…then I've got a hunch that your body's still in there, and I can pull it out."

Al stared at him, armor clinking as he shifted. "You think my body's still in the portal, existing separately from my soul," he realized softly. "But…how did…digging that thing up…prove that to you, Ed?"

Lissa snagged the thread, pleased she had somewhere to help. "We talked about this on the way back from Resembool. Here, look at it this way. Alchemists tend to believe a human is made up of three parts. Mind, body, and spirit, or soul. And alchemy has proven the soul can be separated from the body. You're proof of that, Al. So's Barry the Chopper, and Number Forty-Eight from Laboratory Five as well. The body and soul are obvious. The body is the physical being, and the soul is the essentials to fill the body, the stuff that makes a person who they are. Which just leaves the mind."

"And the mind is something alchemists still struggle to quantify," Ed interjected. "But I believe the mind is what acts as a bridge between the soul and the body, allowing them to connect and communicate. It's how we learn and experience things—how a person can be taught information that isn't inherent to being a human like breathing is, for example. The body can perform things the soul has taken in, because the mind bridges the gap and makes the immaterial tangible."

"Memories are part of that transfer of information. The mind is what takes an experience, or a piece of knowledge, and transfers it across to the soul. And vice versa, too. It can retrieve memories too. The same way you two just recalled that memory from when you were little." Lissa watched Winry's face, mostly—her friend was at a disadvantage, not being an alchemist. She didn't want to leave her behind. But Winry was listening with rapt attention, focused, showing no signs of confusion, thankfully. "Now, if I asked you where memories are stored, what would you say?"

Winry shrugged faintly. "The brain. Where all information is stored, right?"

Ed clicked his fingers almost triumphantly. "Exactly. And that's what's weird here, isn't it? You, me, and Lissa—we all have physical brains right here, with all our memories intact. So the question is…where's Al getting his memories from?"

"Couldn't it just be through the blood seal?" Al asked, pointing at himself thoughtfully.

"We did wonder… But that seal isn't meant to do anything but attach the soul to that suit of armor," Lissa explained, with a shake of her head. "It can't store anything or do anything outside its base function—that's not a hypothesis, that's just how alchemy works. A blood seal only attaches souls, and even if that weren't the case, it'd require a separate toll every time you recalled a memory, just to satisfy the Law of Equivalent Exchange."

"You're also storing new memories," Edward added, sounding more exhilarated now, as they came closer to the heart of the matter. "And those have to go somewhere. Which means the connection between the body and the soul, the mind, still exists. The sheer ability to store memories and learn new things, as well as recall old memories with perfect accuracy…means the original location of those memories is still intact."

Al gasped, shifting to lean forward, looking between them both excitedly. "Wait—so you're saying… Because I can remember things from before my soul was attached to the armor, that means my body's still out there?" He jolted with a sudden burst of inspiration. "Oh! Just like Barry's body! His soul was existing separately from his body, but he still knew who he was and had access to all his memories. He said his body and soul were being drawn together somehow, too… Which means the mind is the part doing that, right? Trying to make the body and spirit whole again. I only put together the part about this body rejecting my soul, but… But his experiences prove that preexisting memories require a functional body to remain. Right?"

"Right!" Ed leapt up and rapped his knuckles on Al's armor, his expression fierce. "What did you see in there, Al? Try to think back to when you were inside the portal. When I was there…I thought what I was reaching out to was mom, but now I know it wasn't. So what did you see? Can you remember what happened when the Truth unraveled you?"

Al's eyes dimmed as he focused hard, trying to recall it. Lissa knew it had to be difficult to remember something so awful. "I reached out… And it was me! It was my hand I grabbed!"

Ed grinned fiercely at him. "I knew it! Doesn't look like we're done with the Truth yet, Al. Your body was only taken as a toll—that's what I said, instinctively, one of the first things you heard me say after our transmutation failed. That you were taken. You didn't die—your physical being was just taken as a toll for the transmutation, along with my leg. Your body is still in the portal—which means we can go in there and pull it back out!"

"Brother…" Al's voice shook as he spoke. "After the portal… I remember looking at you from inside that thing. The thing we thought was mom!"

Ed looked for a moment like he might be sick. "You were inside of it? That thing was you?"

Al nodded hesitantly. "I guess so… But my soul didn't bind. It must've rejected me right away. So that means…we didn't harm anyone else's soul after all."

Someone knocked on the door, startling all four out of their conversation.

"Mr. Elric?" Lissa recognized one of the bellhops, speaking through the door. "You have a telephone call from Mrs. Izumi Curtis."

Ed and Lissa shared a quick, sharp look. Izumi. Lissa hadn't expected for her to call back, after she'd hung up on Ed like that in Resembool… But apparently something had prompted her to seek him out—and it had to be important, considering she'd traced them all the way to this hotel. "You should go," she told him softly. "She wouldn't go to all this trouble just to be upset with you."

He nodded, visibly steeling himself, squaring his shoulders. "Yeah. You're right." Ed crossed the room then, pausing just long enough to kiss her forehead gently, and stepped out of the room without another word.

Al stared at the door uncertainly. "I… Lissa, is this about…"

"It is," she confirmed. "It affects you too, you should probably go hear what's going on."

But he didn't move yet. "When brother talked about…digging that thing up, the body he and I transmuted… He didn't say I. He said we." Al looked at her, his posture tense, hands fisted atop his legs. "Did you…help him do that, Lissa? Did you help him dig it up?"

There was no lying, no point in covering her involvement. "I did," Lissa admitted quietly. "He didn't want me to at first—some kind of chivalrous notion about sparing me, I dunno… But I went anyway. I didn't want him to face it alone, you know? He… I know he regretted having to do it without your input, Al, but it was weighing on him so much."

"No, I'm not upset. I understand. I'm just…glad he didn't have to do it alone." Al stood up and made for the door, resolute now. "I'm going to see what Teacher has to say."

With the boys gone, Lissa cast her gaze to Winry, who seemed a bit…shaken. She didn't blame her, that was a lot to take in, even for an alchemist, for someone who had experienced so much… Lissa had the advantage of having seen the house, too, and now seen the remnants of that body—not to mention the brief echo she'd glimpsed. And she'd talked at length with Ed about all of it, on their train ride back from Resembool. This was all new for Winry. "You holding up okay?" she asked the other girl quietly.

"Wha—oh, I'm okay," Winry dismissed quickly. She sat down opposite Lissa, worrying her hands in her lap. "I just… Those boys have been through so much, haven't they? I can't even understand half of it, not really… I mean, on a certain level I can comprehend the facts, you know, but the things they've seen… This…portal, and what Ed calls the Truth… I can't even begin to fathom that."

"You and me both," Lissa sighed. "Ed's told me about it plenty, over time, but… I don't think it's something anyone can really understand without seeing it. But I understand enough. That entity, the Truth, whatever you want to call it… That's the thing that hurt Ed and Al. I've never told them this, you know, but…I don't think that entity plays by Equivalent Exchange. All they've told me just makes me hate it because it seems to take so much and give almost nothing in return."

Winry frowned across at her, leaning forward over her legs and resting her elbows just above her knees. "What do you mean? I thought all alchemy obeyed the Law of Equivalent Exchange."

Lissa slid her gloves out and tugged them onto her hands to keep from yanking threads out of her own clothing. "Well, yes and no. Basic alchemy requires it—you can't bypass physics, you can't alter mass, you can't make something from nothing. I could transmute this table-" She kicked it lightly with the toe of her boot. "-but I'm still limited to the elemental makeup of the wood and lacquer. There are exceptions, though. The Philosopher's Stone is one. You can ignore most of Equivalent Exchange and create whatever you'd like. The thing is… The Truth is only reachable, as far as we know, through attempting human transmutation. Which is impossible, but you can't even learn that until after you try. But when somebody does try it, then a toll is extracted from them, in exchange for the shell they create and the knowledge they're given."

"Knowledge… I think I've heard Ed talk about that before. That's how he does alchemy without drawing a circle, right?" Winry bit her lip thoughtfully. "Okay, so…this…entity, this Truth thing… It takes something from the alchemist in the name of Equivalent Exchange. But you're saying you don't believe that's really what happens?"

She shook her head reluctantly. "I don't believe it. The boys think they got what they deserve, but…you can't tell me two little kids who just wanted their mom back deserved that… And besides… The Truth seems to exert irony when it takes its toll. Ed and Al's teacher, Ms. Izumi, she attempted human transmutation too. She lost her child, Win. And the Truth took parts of her organs, so she can't have children anymore. Ed lost the damn ground underneath his feet and the only family he had left, and Al lost the ability to feel warmth and physical touch from anybody—which seems to directly relate to what they were trying to do. In both cases…I don't see how the physical toll and the suffering taken by the Truth are anywhere near equal to transmutation without an array and a shell that can't even support a soul."

"But that…that's so horrible," Winry breathed, pressing her hands over her mouth. "It sounds like a sick joke, like—a punishment instead of a toll. And you think that's where Al's body is? Oh, no… Oh, that's so awful…" She leaned forward and grabbed Lissa's hands across the table, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why haven't you told them this? Maybe it would help them, maybe they'd approach it a different way…"

"I doubt it," she admitted quietly. "Anyway, it doesn't matter if I tell them now or not. Ed's gonna be determined to get Al's body back, and Al's not going to want his back without Ed getting his too… Nothing's going to stop them. So I'm going to do the next best thing."

Winry frowned at her. "What's that?"

"When they go back to the portal, I'm going with them."

Ed was still on the phone when Lissa went downstairs, Al hovering over him, so she followed her senses and veered a sharp left at the bottom of the staircase, finding Ling and Lan Fan seated just out of sight against the wall. "Eavesdropping?" she asked them dryly, folding her arms.

Ling shrugged at her. "Well, we did get kicked out of the room. Ed hasn't forgiven us for Rush Valley, apparently. Though…" He gave her a curious look. "You don't seem to be so angry."

"A lot has happened since then," she admitted. "I usually hold grudges just as much as he does, but…I'm too wrapped up in everything else to be pissed at you. At least, for the moment. Besides…" Lissa wrinkled her nose. "You did help us out."

He grinned. "See? I'm not all bad." He patted the ground beside him. "Come on, sit. I'm interested to hear about your travels."

Reluctantly, Lissa sat down beside him—leaving a good amount of space between them—and crossed her legs. "You'd know plenty of it, since your own guard was out there at Xerxes waiting on us. Oh, that reminds me… You should probably know that he's completely nuts."

Lan Fan jolted forward, but Ling staved her off with an outstretched arm. "Fu has always been a bit eccentric. But what makes you say that?"

"He thinks I have Xingese ancestry," Lissa snorted. "Honestly, I think we were all a bit sun-dazed. No, I…" She pushed back her own judgments and tried for a little authenticity. "Thank you for helping us out, Ling. I know you're not super fond of Amestrians in general."

He quirked a smile. "Well, I can't say I like the inside of your jail too much."

"Hang on, you were in jail?"

He shrugged it off. "I am an illegal alien, after all."

Lissa eyed him a moment, trying to read his intentions—he played himself up to be so silly and lighthearted, but Ed and Al had told her enough. He was a prince in a possibly fatal game of winning the Xingese emperor's favor, with the fate of his entire clan resting on his head. Even though he was fifteen, the same age as Lissa, Ed, and Winry, he'd been born into a vastly different world. This façade, the persona he liked to present… It was to protect himself, yes, but also to hide whoever Ling Yao was underneath. She didn't trust him. She couldn't trust somebody who had so much buried inside himself. "So you're still seeking immortality, huh?"

He nodded, his expression sharpening just minutely.

"But you have to know by now, we aren't going to help you," Lissa pointed out. "And we're not searching for immortality ourselves—kind of the opposite, really. Why would you stick around with our group instead of looking somewhere else?"

Ling raised an eyebrow. "I still think this is the right path. And, I have to admit… I'm curious to see what those boys will come across."

"They're not here for your amusement," she snapped, crossing her arms. "Ed and Al have been through hell already. If you so much as think about doing something that would make it worse, you can take it up with me. I'm not afraid of you. Or you," Lissa added to Lan Fan, who had begun to glare at her. "They're my family. Try and remember that."

"I assure you, I mean the Elric brothers no harm," Ling told her, unaffected by what could be constituted as a threat. She guessed he'd heard worse. "I'm only attempting to look after my family—my clan." He stuck his hand out to her then, offering a handshake. "Truce?"

Lissa gritted her teeth. Should she? It'd make it easier to work with the Xingese, crazy as they might be… And if they were going to be sticking around for the foreseeable future, then being on slightly better terms might be to her advantage. "Fine," she sighed, and shook his hand. "Truce. Don't make me regret this, please."

He beamed at her. "Never."

She sighed and pushed to her feet, not really wanting to sit there and chat—the boys were finished anyway, both heading towards the stairs to go back to the hotel room. Sleep was starting to sound really damn good. "Well… Goodnight, then."

Ling wiggled his fingers at her. "Goodnight."

Lissa turned and went to follow the boys, only to pause when she noticed Ed standing a few steps above Al, the latter of whom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, frozen, like he was struggling with something.

Ed regarded him worriedly. "Al?"

"This entire time…" Al's voice came out so small and wrought with emotions, it tore right at Lissa's heart. "I've been blaming myself for what happened. I thought it was me. I thought I was the one who killed mom a second time."

"And so did I, Al," Ed admitted quietly.

Al covered his face with his hands, on the verge of sobbing. "Thanks, brother," he choked out. "Thank you. I wasn't the one who killed mom after all!"

So he… They've been blaming themselves, all this time… They thought they killed their own mother… Tears pooled in her eyes and she brushed them away, unwilling to give into her emotions, not here, not now. Still… To hear that the boys blamed themselves for it, had been carrying that weight for so many years… It was awful.

But not anymore, she realized. That's what Al was saying. They don't have to believe that anymore.

Ed frowned at him. "But still… None of this changes the fact that I'm the one who put you in that body. And I don't care what it takes—I'm gonna make you normal agai-"

But Al interrupted him, before he could once again set everything on his own shoulders. "Brother… I was right there with you, and I knew that there were risks," Al told him firmly. "So quit trying to shoulder all of this on your own. I—I can't watch you suffer like this, Ed. Not on your own… I can't just stand back and watch other people get hurt over what I've done." His voice cracked, his fists clenched at his sides, armor rattling as he trembled. "Like what happened to Mr. Hughes!"

That same motivation… The one that had driven them to promise to protect Ed, back in that mining town… The inability to watch him suffer by his own hand… Lissa knew that feeling all too well.

"I felt like it was my fault when I found out he was dead," Al admitted, his voice pained, unsteady. "And I told myself that if it meant other people getting hurt, then I don't even want my body back."

Ed nodded hesitantly.

"Brother… I've met other people who weren't exactly human, but they still managed to live their lives with a purpose. And even in this body… It hasn't stopped other people from treating me like I'm still human. This body could reject me anytime. But it's the same with being human. You never know when you might get sick or die in an accident. So I can still get by like this… I can life a somewhat normal life… And that's how I've managed to keep going. But now…" Alphonse wilted, his shoulders slumped, as he let himself truly feel what he'd been keeping back, the emotions he only rarely showed glimpses of, tucked away behind optimism and his own stubbornness… "I can't take it anymore," he admitted, the first time Lissa had ever heard him admit he'd reached the end of what he could cope with. "Because… I can't… I can't take the nights all by myself! It's too lonely… I can't…"

Slowly, Ed walked back down to him, coming eye level with Al, offering quiet, stoic support.

"I can't do this anymore, brother," Al told him softly. "That's why I have to get back to normal."

Ed nodded firmly, something fierce and determined coming over his face. "Sure. And you're going to." He bumped his automail fist into Al's chest, a familiar, affectionate gesture. "We'll knock that Truth jerk on his ass!" He grabbed Al's wrist, yanked him up the stairs after him, pulling his brother into a run. "And then we're gonna pull your body right outta that place!"

Lissa stood there, one hand pressed over her heart, and watched them both run upstairs and out of sight, lost in their own world.

"Those two…"

She turned to see Lan Fan standing beside her, face hidden beneath her mask as always, that same brush of familiar trickling down her spine at the other girl's proximity. "They're…remarkable," the Xingese girl admitted quietly. "Their ability to spring back from such depths is so rare."

"They're not like anybody else I've ever met," Lissa admitted, nodding.

Lan Fan eyed her. "You love them."

"Of course I do. More than anybody else." It didn't cost her anything to voice—because it was true, and Lissa refused to be ashamed of that. "You know, Lan Fan…" She turned to look her in the eye…but Lan Fan had already vanished. Lissa rolled her eyes. The Xingese really got off on being stealthy, didn't they?

She brushed the strangeness off and returned to hers and the boys' hotel room, walking right into a really bizarre discussion about whether or not Al's body would be rotting away.

"What the hell did I miss?" she asked, staring at the three in bewilderment.

"It's a valid concern!" Al insisted, almost pouting. "Barry's body was all rotted and gross, why wouldn't mine be?"

Lissa sighed and crossed to them, kicking the door shut behind her, and hopped over the back of the sofa to sit beside Ed. "Well, his body was out here, not in the portal. I think realistically you could assume it's being held in some kind of…stasis, or at least suspended animation."

But that didn't comfort him much. "S-so… So when I get it back, I'll have to be a ten-year-old again?!"

"I doubt that," Ed snorted. "I have a hypothesis, actually… I was thinking about the transmutation and trying to retrace our process. You remember how we mixed our blood to create a blueprint for mom's soul?"

Al nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I do."

"Well… Right after that we passed through the portal, where we were both deconstructed. It's a slim chance…but I think it's possible our spirits might have gotten tangled up in the process." Ed folded his arms over his chest, his mouth curled ever so slightly in thought.

"What are you saying?" Al asked him curiously.

"I'm trying to explain that our bodies might be connected somehow, even though I'm here and your body's over there." He waved a hand, as though that explained all of it, still frowning a bit. "See… That might actually explain why I'm so sho… Sho…" He bowed his head and covered his face. "Short."

Winry stared at him in shock. "He admitted it," she breathed.

"He's starting to face reality!" Al gasped.

While Ed pouted, Winry folded her arms and scowled at him. "So, you're saying you think you've been supplying all the nutrients for Al's body too?" she asked skeptically. "That seems a little far-fetched to me."

Edward glowered at her. "Well, what's your explanation?" he demanded.

She eyed him severely. "You don't grow because you refuse to drink your milk."

"Don't start with that again!"

"Well, it's true!"

Lissa sat back towards Al as Winry and Ed began to bicker, not wanting to get involved in that mess yet again. She'd been in one too many arguments about milk to mess with it now—Ed was much too stubborn to cave. Instead, she looked up at Al curiously, seeing his gaze focused up and away from the others. "What do you think about it, Al?" she asked him.

He looked back down at her. "Well…it kinda makes sense, actually. He's always hungry. And…it seems like he sleeps a lot, too, way more than you do. Maybe he's resting for me too."

"That's a thought," she agreed, crossing her legs and resting her elbow on the arm of the sofa. "I'm kind of the control group, aren't I? Because I've done all the same running and fighting as Ed over the last few years, but my eating and sleeping habits are pretty normal. Huh. It'd mean your body is aging at a normal pace, too, so you don't have to worry about coming back as a little kid. And, I mean…" She lowered her voice, keeping her question hidden behind Edward and Winry's argument. "That blood seal…it's Ed's blood, right? Technically it's part of him that's actually tethering your soul here. It might function as a tangible aspect of that connection."

"Huh. I hadn't thought about it like that, but it's possible, isn't it?" Al sighed wearily. "It's hard to figure all this out when there aren't any real resources, y'know? We're just kind of guessing and hoping."

Lissa reached out and patted his knee comfortingly. "We'll get there, okay? I know we will."

He tipped his head, giving her the sense that he was smiling. "Thanks, Lissa." He pointed rather slyly at Ed and Winry. "Should we stop them?"

She leaned back and folded her arms behind her head, just grinning and watching the argument progress. "Nope."

There was no avoiding it—Lissa had to see Mustang. He and Havoc were sharing a room at the hospital, and she desperately wanted to check in on him for sure… And, well… She did want to check on Mustang, though she hated admitting it to herself.

She also hated admitting that she was scared shitless of how he'd act towards her.

"Are you sure you're okay to do this?" Ed asked her softly, his hand brushing against the base of her spine, a subtle gesture of comfort. The night before, they'd sort of unanimously decided to wait to open up to Al, because he'd been in such a vulnerable place and it didn't seem fair to throw something new at him on top of all that. So for now, it was all under the table.

For now.

"Yeah, I don't really have a choice," she admitted. "I need to see how he's doing, anyway… Doesn't matter if he was never my favorite person, he's still one of just a handful of people who bothered to look after me when I came to Central. I owe him that much."

Ed's hand pressed in a little firmer, warm through her shirt, and Lissa had to force herself not to tilt back into his touch. "Okay. Just tell me if you need to bail, though."

But she wouldn't. She couldn't. Because when Al told them the details of that night, on the way to the hospital…she'd learned that Mustang had saved him. The boy she considered to be her little brother. Lissa had no ground to stand on to run away from this.

"Here, this is their room," Fuery told the three brightly, unaware of Lissa's internal torment. He pushed the door open, and they followed him in, her trailing just behind Ed like he could protect her.

Mustang looked up as they all filed in, his gaze dark and unfathomable. "Well, this is a surprise," he observed. "What brings you three here?"

"Paying our dues," Lissa quipped, trying to hide her unease.

To her surprise, he smirked at that comment, eyes alight. "I see. Well, then, by all means." He folded his hands in his lap almost expectantly. "Tell me… Did you enjoy your trip out east? Was it…enlightening for you?"

Enlightening. What an ass.

But Lissa knew what he was doing all the same—finding normalcy, treating her the same as always. Erasing the awkwardness between them. "Oh, very enlightening," she agreed. "About a lot of things."

"I'm glad to hear it."

And that was it—that was all she needed to know she hadn't completely made him hate her. Lissa would find space to apologize later, without such a crowd, but…at least she hadn't been a total screw-up. That was nice to know.

From there, conversation was able to move on, specifically to Riza's uncanny ability with distance and spatial orientation that allowed her to map out a radius for the location of the room where Mustang had taken down that homunculus. Lust, apparently. So Lissa's theory about the Seven Deadly Sins was spot-on—Greed and Lust.

She frowned over Ed's shoulder as they regarded the map Riza had marked on, scanning the radius. That area under the Third Laboratory had to be important…and they needed to find it.

"That's…Central Command," Ed realized, sucking in a sharp breath. "But… This is even more alarming." He pressed the tip of a gloved finger onto the map, indicating a spot the circle very clearly included.

Al gasped softly. "It's the Presidential estate! Right above where we found the homunculi!"

Mustang's eyes narrowed. "Which means there's a very real possibility the Führer is connected to them."

Lissa's heart sank. The things she'd sensed from Bradley… Her suspicions about him…

"But that doesn't make sense," Al murmured. "Why did he kill Greed and his group if he's connected to them?"

"It's strange he killed them anyway. Why would he slaughter them before interrogating them?" Ed wondered aloud. It was the same issue that had perplexed them in Dublith—the Führer's decisive attack against Greed and his chimeras. He'd killed every single one of them, refused to leave any survivors, thereby cutting off an important source of information.

Lissa exchanged a poignant look with the boys. This only served to confirm her suspicions, though she wouldn't dare mention that here.

Mustang frowned deeply. "It's strange, all right," he agreed. "Damn inscrutable." He sighed, seeming a bit weary. "One thing's for sure: the enemy's infiltrated high up the command, so extreme caution is necessary at all times." He flicked a pointed look up to Ed and Lissa. "And Fullmetal, Starlight… Watch yourselves."

Ed glared at him, but Lissa just nodded. She'd take the concern right now.

They left shortly after, all a bit baffled and much too wary to speak of their concerns out in the open—but she could tell the boys had recalled her worries from Dublith. The fact that the radius for that place under the Third Laboratory intersected with the Presidential estate… Damn, she hadn't actually been hoping her theory was correct! The Führer being involved was a whole new level of crazy, not to mention terrifying, if the head of their entire country was involved with these homunculi…

"Well, I think it's obvious what our next step is," Ed sighed as they walked.

Lissa nodded solemnly. There was only one option. "The Third Laboratory. We have to try and find this doorway you guys found, Al."

"Yeah, but how?" Al asked, crossing his arms. "We can't just go walking in, not after what happened."

"Mh… You have a point," Ed admitted wearily. "Shit. We could sneak in after-hours, like we did at the Fifth Laboratory. I don't wanna go too deep, I just wanna see what's left, so it wouldn't be as dangerous. Plus, we have a better sense of what we're dealing with now."

Lissa smirked and prodded his side. "Or we can just go in the front door."

"But…how?" Al stared at her in confusion.

Ed nodded his agreement. "Yeah, Liss. How are we gonna do that?"

She rolled her eyes and reached into her pocket, pulling out her pocket watch as comprehension dawned on his face. "Dummy. We just flash these and we're in. I…hate to say it, though, Al, but it'll be less suspicious if we go in without you."

"No, you're right," he sighed. "I'm too conspicuous."

Ed patted his arm. "Hey, Al, why don't you draw us a map of how you guys got into the secret area of that place, huh? It'll make it easier for me and Liss to figure out where to look."

That brightened Al up, at least. Lissa was glad for it—she hated seeing him down. "Then after that…I have an errand to run," she admitted.

"An errand?" Ed repeated, raising his eyebrow at her. "That's…not mysterious at all."

Lissa waved him off. "I just need to talk to Riza."

"Lieutenant Hawkeye? But we just saw her at the hospital." Al regarded her in confusion. "Why didn't you just talk to her then, Lissa?"

"Because I…needed to talk to her in private, away from everyone else," she explained hesitantly. "Away from Mustang. I know you told me everything that happened down there, but…I need to know her side of it, what she saw out of him. Riza knows him better than anybody and I know she'll be honest with me."

Ed gave her a sharp look. "You're worried you caused him to act out of line, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," she muttered. "I said some awful things."

"You thought he'd done—that, though," he pointed out to her, still unhappy. "I mean, you had every reason to be upset. We both did."

"Yeah, but I got personal. I have to know, Ed."

Mercifully, Al cut in and smothered any further complaints. "I don't think Lieutenant Hawkeye will tell you any different than I did, but I understand. She does know him better. Just be careful, okay? And remember that what the Colonel did… Even if he was harsh, he saved all our lives down there. You can't forget that."

Lissa smiled up at him, taking the reminder to heart. "I'll remember, Al. Thank you."