"Nothing lifts me out of a bad mood better than a

hard workout on my treadmill. It never fails.

Exercise is nothing short of a miracle."

-Cher

After a night of restless sleep, Amelia finally managed to get to sleep, and found herself very comfortable in the comforter and the mattress and she was able to really just relax for a while.

And then the doors burst open with someone cheerily calling out, "Good morning, Miss Seymour!"

Oh

Hell

No

She pulled the covers up over her head with a groan, trying to show whoever it was that was there she wasn't interested. The woman didn't seem to bother as Amelia could hear her talking as she walked around the room, "Master Alex has called for you to come down and join him and the rest of the family in the courtyard. I expect you will be joining them very promptly, once we have you all dressed and ready." She said, and she heard the curtains sliding open, "And look at that, beautifully clear skies. It shall be a marvelous day for your training regimen, hm?"

Amelia didn't respond, staying underneath the covers, just willing the woman to go away. "Now, now, no need to act like that." She said, coming over the bed, yanking back the comforter, and Amelia groaned again, pulling the sheets up over her head stubbornly, keeping her eyes closed. The woman sighed, "Really, Miss Seymour. This is hardly becoming of a young lady." She could feel her pulling up the sheets from the corners of the bed, but she held on to the sheets she had as tightly as she could, "You should be greeting each day with a smile, with optimism and the excitement of moving forward in your day!" The woman tugged on the sheet, but Amelia held firm. She was not getting up after just getting to sleep.

She heard the woman sigh, "You have a very tight schedule today, Miss Seymour. You're not leaving me with many choices." She spoke as if she was speaking to a kid throwing a tantrum. Amelia felt the bed shifting slightly, and then a bit more, and before she knew it, the bed was moving. She opened her eyes in time to yelp as she rolled off the mattress and tumbled onto the floor, wrapping herself up as she still clung to the sheets, the pillows falling on top of the nightstand. She sat up, wrapped up like a burrito in her bedsheets as she saw the mattress was actually lifted up and then brought down, and she actually got a good look at the woman who was there to wake her up.

She was a big woman, though not as big as Strongine or Amue, but big more in the sense that she's eaten some good food in her life, and had more than a few muscles from working hard. She had blonde curl sticking up from the rest of her hair that was held back in a bun, and she wasn't too tall, actually kind of small, with tanned skin. She gave her a wide smile. "There, now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"...Did you seriously just lift the mattress to pull me out of bed?" She asked, amazed that the woman was able to lift up a mattress with her in it, by herself no less. It had to be a king-sized bed.

"Yes, and you need to get ready for the day, while I change out the sheets." She came around the bed over to Amelia, picking her up to stand on her feet, still all wrapped up as she called out, "Delila! Diana! Come and ready Miss Seymour! It turns out she's not the morning person we expected!"

Within seconds, a pair of twins were at the door. They looked almost exactly alike in uniform, except one had a beauty mark on her chin, and the other one had it on her upper lip. They both had red hair that was pulled back into a bun and dressed in lacy maid uniforms of black and white, unlike the woman that had forced her out of bed who just wore a blue dress and a white apron. The two of them quickly unwrapped her and looked her over. "Hmm… well, the shower can wait until after the training." said one as she looked her over.

"I agree," said the other, "We should get her dressed for the regimen and worry about clean up afterwards. Not much point in having her get clean only to get dirty right after."

"Agreed." said the first. They both grabbed her sides in the blankets and picked her up, quickly carrying her into the walk-in wardrobe of her room, despite her loud protests to being carried, and even more protests when she suddenly found herself stripped of pajamas while quickly dressed into something new. She swung her arms back and forth, trying to tell them that she could dress herself, but the twin maids wouldn't hear of it, and seemed to completely ignore her as they maneuvered her back and forth in the closet, pushing her to lean back, and forward, lifting up her arms, and her feet, clothes coming off and suddenly covering herself again. And when they finished, they opened the wardrobe doors and smiled brightly at her as they said, "This way, Miss Seymour."

She stepped out, completely redressed in what looked like an old white blouse, a skirt of somewhat… stretchy material, pantyhose, and a pair of cushioned shoes with a wide heel. "Jesus Christ, I look like my great-grandma's portrait." Amelia muttered as she looked down at herself. "What even is all this?"

"Your exercise clothes, Madam." Said Diana, or maybe it was Delilah she wasn't sure, "They used to be Miss Catherine's, but she's since outgrown them." When she said outgrown, she made a gesture to her chest, a half-circle motion that would outline a pair of rather big breasts, which Catherine certainly had.

"Puberty must have just bypassed that girl and left her with the good stuff." Amelia said, looking down at her own body, which by comparison to Catherine's, was hardly anything special, she looked almost dumpy in comparison to a perfect hourglass figure, though she wasn't fat by any means, just a little bit of extra weight here and there, nothing too unhealthy, but she definitely didn't have a flat stomach or enormous breasts like the prettiest sister (in her opinion) of the Armstrong family.

"Come along now, Miss Seymour," Delilah, or Diana, said as she hooked her arm with hers. "You mustn't be late. The Armstrong family prides themselves on punctuality!"

"Among other things." Said the other twin as she copied her sister, the two girls sharing a laugh at their inside joke that Amelia wasn't entirely aware of, sleep still clinging to most of her senses. They started to drag Amelia out, with the young girl having a little trouble keeping up with their surprisingly big footsteps. They were a bit taller than her, it must come from having long legs, she figured.

She was dragged through the manor until she was shuffled outside into a courtyard, where she could see her teacher, as well as all of his siblings and his parents waiting, stretching out their muscles. She was slightly horrified to see that the Major, as well as his potato-bodied father, were both shirtless and dressed only in a pair of short pants that traveled down to their calves. Strongine, Amue, Catherine, and their mother were all dressed like she was in different colored blouses, but essentially the same skirts and shoes. They had their hair pulled up into buns and ponytails.

When the Major noticed Amelia, he smiled brightly, "Ah, good morning, Amelia! Are you ready to begin your training regimen?"

"What fresh hell is this?" She asked through a voice still weighed down by sleep, "You wake me up before the goddamn sun, and expect me to exercise?" She pointed to the sky, which was just starting to glow orange with the oncoming morning light, but the sun had yet to rise into the horizon.

"This is the only time we can exercise as a family, I'm afraid." The Major said apologetically, "My work schedule keeps me rather busy, so this is the only time we can carve out for our training regimen to keep our bodies in top physical condition, while also bonding together as a family!" He waved his arm to his family in a grand gesture, showing her how his father was posing for his mother, and how his sisters were helping Catherine to stretch far enough.

"Okay, but in case you've forgotten, I am not an Armstrong. I am not part of this family." Amelia responded dryly, in no mood for his eccentric behavior this early in the morning, "It is five in the a.m. You can shove your training regimen up your muscled ass for all I care." She turned around to leave, only to have her way blocked by Diana and Delilah, "Move," She commanded them. They didn't move.

"There is more to this training regimen than just exercise and bonding." The Major continued, despite her reluctance to listen, "It should also teach you the necessary discipline you need."

"So this is a punishment." Amelia said dryly, glaring at him over her shoulder.

"In this instance, yes." He said, "I don't like the idea, but I believe it's necessary for you. So, you'll start us off, won't you?" He gestured to the path that lay in front of her, "This road goes all the way around the courtyard, on the whole, it's length reaches a full five kilometers. You're to run two laps around it, and we will be behind you."

"Screw you, I'm not doing this." Amelia snapped.

"If you don't, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to report your insubordination to my superiors, and I have no doubt that will significantly lessen your chances of being able to take the alchemy exam." She looked at him with wide eyes as he kept going, "The military wants those that are willing to better themselves, to make themselves stronger and smarter, for the sake of the state and the people within it. If someone is entirely unwilling to bother… it doesn't help their chances of becoming part of our state's excellent forces."

"Are you blackmailing me?" Amelia asked, turning around to face him completely.

"I prefer to call it 'giving you motivation.'" He replied.

"You sneaky little…" She was too tired to properly insult him like she wanted, she let out a groan, "Fine! But I won't enjoy a second of it!" She went out in front of the family, who were all lined up behind her at some starting line that she couldn't make out over all the limestone and gravel. "So, what, just two laps of jogging?" That didn't seem terrible, at least… She could manage that. When the Major confirmed her question with a nod, she started jogging.

"Stop!" She stopped when he called out to her only a couple seconds after she started.

"What? I'm doing what you wanted." Amelia snapped, confused and aggravated about his command to stop.

"Not in that form, you must get your knees up higher! Like so!" Armstrong demonstrated by showing how she should run as he ran in place, "Kick your knees up to your chest as if you're kneeling down to meet royalty!" The rest of his family did the same demonstration, all of them getting their knees up higher than she had them. She watched them all bouncing up and down in almost perfect sync to demonstrate the 'proper' running form. She saw the Major, and his identical sisters all running together, and she could feel the combined weight of the three of them, as well as their father and mother, all leaving shockwaves that hit her feet as she stood there. It was kind of weird to watch them all do it together.

"Alright, already. I got it." She said, starting to run with her knees up higher like they had demonstrated. She could hear them pounding their feet into the ground behind her as she ran, starting their training regimen. It wasn't long until they caught up with her on the path, and soon started outrunning her. The father and mother were first, apparently they were the fastest among the family, with Strongine and Amue soon following. The Major stayed behind to keep pace on her right side, with Catherine coming up on her left.

"See? Can't you feel the difference?" the Major said encouragingly, "Can't you feel the muscles in your legs clenching harder? Can you feel your body already gaining a better, more perfect form?"

"Screw you, it's too early for this shit." Amelia snapped back.

"Don't worry, the schedule was an adjustment for all of us at first," Catherine said sweetly, "But you'll get used to it in time." She started picking up her pace and Amelia was left behind as Catherine ran ahead of her.

The Major followed his younger sister, saying, "I'll see you at the finish line, Miss Seymour!" in a way that was so damn cheery Amelia found herself hating the Armstrong family a bit more than she did since they all seemed to be insufferable morning people that rubbed their expert fitness in her face.

Whatever, she could handle this. She wasn't great with figuring out the metric system, but she figured ten kilometers couldn't be so bad.

She was wrong. She was so wrong.

Her lungs felt like they were burning with every breath she took, her legs felt like lead. Ten kilometers was not the metric equivalent to ten yards, holy shit.

She was the last of the group to reach the finish line, and when she did, she bent over to rest her hands on her knees, taking in heaving breaths as she tried to come down from all the running she just did. That was like six miles. Six miles! She was not used to running so much. She felt like she was going to collapse. The Armstrong family was already waiting for her, stretching out their arms and legs as she tried to make sure she was able to stand.

"Wonderful! Well done, Miss Seymour!" The Major said, "That was an excellent warm-up run, was it not?"

"Warm-up?!" She would have screamed it out in her shock, but she couldn't really get out more than a high-pitched wheeze at the moment.

"Yes, now we move on to weight training!" He said, gesturing to dumbbells that were being carried out by a bunch of the servants, all of them labeled somewhere between 75 to 100 kg on the sides of them. "This is your first time doing this, so we'll start you off at 50 kilograms to see how well you hold up, and slowly move you up with the rest of us, hmm? Sound good?"

Amelia collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, only letting out a wordless groan in response as she took the time to close her eyes and catch up on the sleep she missed. Over the horizon behind her, the sun rose up a little bit higher, shining some light and giving her a little warmth to get comfortable in a she slept on loose gravel.

In the end, it was decided that the Armstrong family would take it a little easier on Amelia since she couldn't really take their warm-ups, which she was and wasn't thrilled about. She was thrilled since they were going to be starting her off much smaller in the future, but she wasn't thrilled that she had to keep doing it.

And this was alongside her alchemy training, if you could call it that. She was still being educated about the Armstrong genealogy, and they had just recently gotten to the people that were the Major's great-great grandparents. So it was just going through their history and she might get to the actual thing she was supposed to study. She hoped there wasn't going to be a test on this part, because she could do without a failing grade.

She was currently in the middle of that lesson as Armstrong paced the luxuriously carpeted floor of the hall where he was currently in the midst of a passionate re-telling of one of his great-great grandfather's stories about his boyhood. She was barely listening as she boredly stared at the chiseled portrait of said ancestor in the book that the Major had given her. He looked almost just like him, with the exception that he actually had hair… or at least a wig. The guy honestly looked like a buff version of George Washington with hair curled up and white and powdery. She didn't really understand that style at all, but who was she to judge fashion of centuries past? She just wondered where the hell all these weird genes came from that made such massive men like the Major, and his sisters, while also managing to produce someone as pretty as Catherine - and also a few not-so-buff-but-still-attractive male ancestors whose portraits had popped up about three times now. Was there just something in the food they were eating, or some kind of dietary supplement? If there was something to make her as gorgeous as the youngest Armstrong sister, she wanted in.

Amelia's head perked up when she heard some voices outside the mahogany door that kept the room cut off from the rest of the house. She saw one of the maids opening the door, and she saw a familiar face making his way inside.

A scruffy head and beard with some glasses and a big, friendly grin on his face all while dressed in uniform - Lieutenant Colonel Hughes.

"Major! Good to see you!" He cheerfully greeted the much larger man as he came into the room, interrupting the passionate story that he was telling, "How are the lessons going?"

"They are continuing with excellent progress." The major said proudly, while Amelia eyed the paper sack that the Lieutenant Colonel had tucked under his arm as well as a blank file. "We've already covered the early generations of Armstrongs as they came into the glorious country of Amestris." Amelia rolled her eyes at his words, Hughes noticed, but said nothing.

"Well, I hate to interrupt such a stirring lecture, but I would like to have a little talk with Amelia." He said, "After all, I was told to come and inspect everything, Amelia's progress and state of mind and all that, especially after her involvement in the McDougal hunt. Mind taking a break for a few minutes?"

"Not at all, I'm sure Amelia could use a break. As illustrious as the Armstrong family is, I'm sure a moment to relax is in order." He said, giving permission, holding out a chair across Amelia that was originally meant for the Major, but he became so moved by the telling of his family tales that he had to get up and walk around.

Hughes gladly took a seat, and Amelia watched as the Major left them alone, and she let out a small sigh, feeling like she could breathe a bit, but when she saw her alternative, which was the man that first interrogated her, she wasn't sure which one she disliked more.

He pulled out a file and a pen, there were a few blank sheets of paper, which already had some scribbles that she couldn't read upside down. He shuffled a couple papers around, making sure he had everything in order. "So, how are lessons really going?" He asked, seeming to make friendly conversation, though Amelia was sure this was already one of the questions he was prepared to ask her.

"Ask me in a year when I've hung myself." She replied dryly, not in the mood for making it seem like this was just a friendly conversation.

He let out a small chuckle, "Okay, I know the Armstrong family can be a little much-"

"-That's the understatement of the century."

"Er… well, yes, but things can't be so bad, right? It's this or ten years in prison." He said, trying to make it better for her.

"At this point, I think I'd rather take prison." Amelia replied, slumping over the table and putting her head on top of her arms.

"Really? Because that can be arranged if you really want it." He was teasing, but Amelia gave him a sharp glare that made his joking smile fall away, "I can see you're not really in the mood for jokes right now. What seems to be the issue?"

"The issue is that he won't shut up about his stupid family history, and I'm not learning a thing about actual alchemy, whatever the fuck that is!" She snapped, "And he's decided that it's a good idea to wake me up at five in the fucking morning to run ten kilometers, and lift god knows how much weight, as part of a stupid training regimen." She groaned and slumped over the table again, resting her head on her arms, "I'm exhausted."

"So, you haven't actually learned any of Armstrong's alchemy at all?" Hughes seemed surprised - with the Major's massive enthusiasm, he would have thought he would jump into the alchemy teaching right away, but the two of them must have different ideas of how the lessons were supposed to go. When Amelia shook her head to confirm that, he made a note of it. He'd need to bring it up to the Major, but that doesn't mean his superiors needed to know. Not yet, anyway. "Well, other than that… how have you been after your little outing with the Major looking for Isaac McDougal?"

"That freak show?" She lifted her head up again, "It was… well, yeah, it was a freak show. There's no better way to put it."

He smiled a bit at her little joke, "I can agree with you on that. Military alchemists are kind of… superhuman. I never bothered to wrap my head around the stuff myself, not much of a science kind of guy, but when you see them in action, you have to wonder if that was a good idea or not."

"You think it's a bad idea to learn it?" She sat up a little straighter, curious as to what he thought.

"Not necessarily." He replied, "I think I wasn't meant to have control over that kind of power. But those guys? They're well-trained for it, they're ready for whatever the government throws at them, with usually an unbreakable sense of loyalty. And I've seen them in action, and now so have you. And you'll need to figure it out soon."

"I know." She leaned back in her chair, looking over at him. "Is that all you wanted to ask me about?"

"Have you been experiencing any issue since the McDougal incident?" He asked, "Nightmares, paranoia, anything like that."

"Just exasperation at this entire family." She replied dryly, "And it doesn't make me eager to start learning this stuff."

"Fair enough." He wrote down in his file again, "Well, it sounds like Armstrong has a plan going, though I'll talk to him about speeding it up for your sake. Otherwise... " He shrugged and closed the file, "Everything looks to be fine."

"What, that's it?" Amelia asked, looking between him and the shut file, "Just a few questions and you're done?"

"You've already told me plenty." He smiled at her knowingly, and she frowned at his vague answer. He stood up from his seat, "I'm going to speak to the Major and then I'll be on my way." He headed out the door while Amelia was left alone in the room, until he stepped back in, "Oh, and I almost forgot." He held out the paper sack that he had walked in with, "We confiscated a bunch of items from your pockets when you were arrested, we went through them and they've been labeled non-lethal or dangerous, so you can have them back."

She immediately reached for the bag, dumping it out and going for the most important thing she could find - her phone. She let out a sigh, feeling a strange sense of relief having the little device in her hands again, something to connect her back to her sanity. She hit the power button to turn it on… and then she did it again. And again. And again. She let out a groan of frustration when she realized her phone's been going for a solid three days without any charge, of course the battery would be dead. She started looking through the pile for her charger, which she was sure she had tucked into her pocket somewhere before she was arrested...

Hughes watched as she went through her things, focusing on some weird box that they'd found in her pockets, and then looking for something else when it didn't seem to be doing what she wanted. He shrugged and went outside to see the Major, who was standing right by the door. "Well, she's got some fight in her still." He said to him quietly, wanting to make sure Amelia couldn't hear them. "But it does look like she's been affected by the McDougal incident. Nothing to worry about yet, but I'd still keep an eye on her."

"Of course." The Major said, "I've been trying to instill some sense of discipline, it hasn't been working well so far."

"Keep trying. She's still a fugitive of the government, and all her weird stories… I'm not sure we can trust her." Hughes said, crossing his arms as he thought out loud, "We still haven't gotten anything on that friend of hers, the BOLO's turned up nothing so far. I'm not even sure she exists at this point."

"Should I ask about her?"

"No, no. We don't need to raise suspicion with questions like that. The fuhrer wants this girl ready to serve by the end of the year, full-fledged alchemist and all. And if that doesn't work out… we'll need to put her in high security when she fails the test, having knowledge of alchemy in prison is just not a safe combination." He let out a small groan, "This is going to be so much paperwork… I don't want to stay late again and miss out on dinner with my girls."

"I'll do my best to make your job easier in the future, Lieutenant Colonel." The Major replied with a small smile, "Though it doesn't make mine any easier."

"Well, that's what you get for volunteering." Hughes joked with a grin of his own. "Also, you might want to speed up the curriculum, she's complaining that you haven't actually started her on alchemy."

"But I am using the trusted method of alchemic education passed down through-!"

"Nooo!" They heard a shriek from the room and both soldiers burst in to see Amelia standing up, her back to them, holding onto the "box" that she had been given and a cord that was among her belongings.

"What's wrong?" The Major asked, looking around, seeing that nothing was wrong with the room, and everything seemed to be in order other than Amelia herself.

Amelia turned to face them, with a frustrated and distressed expression, "You guys don't have any outlets that work with my plug!" She pouted, holding up the little two-pronged plug to show them. They just stared at it, surprised that she would make such a big deal about something like that.

"Well… You're a smart girl, I'm sure you'll figure something out." Hughes said dismissively, turning around and making his way out, waving goodbye, "See you in a week."

Amelia only continued to pout, looking down at the plug and the cord. For some reason, the outlets here were more like european ones, were one prong had to be turned sideways in order to work. Even then, there wasn't a lot of them, and she wasn't sure that if she somehow managed to turn one prong sideways she would be able to charge her phone… She looked down at them in frustration.

"I'm… sure we can find a way to get this to work." The Major said as he went over to her, reaching for her phone and charger, which she only moved out of his reach with a glare. If she was a cat, she might have hissed at him, too. He pulled his hands away awkwardly, not expecting her to be so possessive. "Ah… in the meantime, back to your lessons! Have a seat." She took her seat, more focused on fiddling with her charging cord than listening to her teacher as he droned on and on.

The author would like to note that she was very tired when she came up with this chapter title. That is all.