How to Get What You Work For

by PurpleTurtle21

After a friend attempts to perform alchemy from one of her favorite anime shows, Amelia finds herself on military property and about to go to prison for trespassing, until the Fuehrer offers her a chance: She gets a one-year trial period learning under a certified alchemist and if she passes, she gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. Now if she could only find someone to teach her…

28. Arrival in Briggs

27

After talking to MPs (who took a slightly collaborated story on Amelia's attack about being mugged after they got separated so no one would know it was the homunculi) and getting discharged from the hospital, Edward went hunting for a place for them to stay. The best they could find was a little inn that seemed cozy enough, though they didn't have too many rooms, they had a double bedroom and they took it. The rest of the day was spent wandering around North City, mostly window shopping since there didn't seem to be a lot of places that were worth going to that weren't more than a day's trip away from the train station.

It ended up being too cold for them to stay out for too long, so they hurried back to the inn where Amelia and Edward got some warm dinner, took turns on taking some hot showers, and went to bed. Amelia found that after the numbing agent had worn off, her arm was mostly fine, though she did have a little trouble keeping the bandages dry, so Edward helped in putting on a fresh set before she went to bed. Her arm was fine other than the stitches, which would be gone in their own time, she could still move it like before, though she just had to be careful.

Alphonse took up a seat on the couch to read while Edward and Amelia went to bed. Ed transmuted a little partition so Amelia could change into her pajamas in relative privacy. She was facing one of the two windows in the room, but they were on the second floor and it didn't seem likely that there would be peeping toms roaming around. After bidding each other goodnight and turning off the lights, the two slipped into their beds and went to sleep.

Or… tried to, at least. Amelia found it difficult to get comfortable, and just resigned herself to staying still and waiting for sleep to find her. She stayed on her side under the warm blankets, looking out the window and watching the snow as it drifted down to the ground. A lot had happened that day, and a lot more was probably going to happen later on. She had almost died today, and the memory of what happened made it difficult for her to find rest. She kept imagining the worst outcomes, if she hadn't transmuted to attack him, would Envy have really killed her? What would have happened to her, then? She didn't really belong in Amestris, but she couldn't say that dying here would send her home. She still didn't really understand how she came here in the first place, and what little she understood about the gate didn't make it any easier for her to comprehend it.

She watched as a snowflake found its way onto the glass of the window, sticking for a few seconds before the wind pulled it away and it fluttered off into the night. There was so much going on in this country that she really shouldn't be involved in, not to mention the fact that this wasn't even her world. Even in her wildest fantasies, she would never imagine that a country would be run by a corrupt leader that wasn't even human. She felt like the story of the homunculi was roughly equivalent to the conspiracy theories about the Illuminati and lizard people running the governments in secret. It was an insane concept to think about, and it wasn't only true, but she was caught in the middle of it now. They knew about her, they knew that she was a candidate for "sacrifice", and she would be used for the schemes, whatever it was. Edward said they were planning to take over the world, but why? They already ran a massive country that seemed to be highly regarded in terms of military power. Why take over the world? What would they possibly do? Enslave humanity? That didn't really seem like them, but she didn't really know them, so it was hard to say.

The snow started to fall in the window panes, landing in the corners and slowly ice over the glass. She couldn't see it, but the more she stared, the more she noticed the slowly growing groupings of snow and ice in the corners. She could hear the wind picking up outside, the sound just barely shifting the glass in the window before it calmed down and it went back to the silence of snowfall again. She really didn't belong in any of this madness, if she were home, she would probably be taking notes with a tutor, ignoring her mother's plans for some big holiday party… what day was it? Would it be closer to Thanksgiving by now? Christmas? She'd have to check sometime tomorrow. What were her parents even doing now that she was gone? Were they setting up search parties for her? She wouldn't be surprised if her mother had her face plastered over the news stories and airwaves in a desperate attempt to get attention while looking for her missing daughter… the thought made her stomach turn. She didn't want to believe that her parents would behave that way, but it was hard to see them acting like anything else when that kind of behavior was all she ever saw from them.

She had no idea what she was doing here, or how she would even get home. All she knew was that she came through a gate and landed on the other side in Amestris. Kate gave up her body and soul to make a gate for her so that she could come here… but why? Did she know what was on the other side? She did recognize that being that called itself God before it ever spoke to them. She shouldn't have been surprised, but if that was the case, why did she give up her own body and soul instead of making her do it? Katie would have loved to come here, to be in her shoes, learning alchemy from her heroes. So why did she feel it was better to give herself up than to give up Amelia? They weren't all that close, or at least she didn't think so.

She sighed as she started to feel uncomfortable in her bed and she sat up. The movement in the dim light coming through the window caught Alphonse's attention. She picked up a blanket and wrapped it around herself before going over to the couch where Alphonse was, sitting beside him and pulling up her feet to tuck them underneath her so she would stay warm under the blanket, "Is something wrong, Amelia?" The boy asked.

"I can't sleep." She whispered to him, keeping her voice quiet so they wouldn't wake up Edward. "I've got… too many thoughts swirling in my head." She looked up at him, "Would you mind keeping me company for a little while?"

"Sure," Even at a whisper, Alphonse sounded thrilled to be able to do so. Closing his book and putting it down on the coffee table, he shifted, being careful of the sounds his armor made before turning to face Amelia, "What do you want to talk about? We can go over some more alchemical theory if you want."

"No, no…" She shook her head, not particularly interested in talking about equations and chemicals all night, "I want to talk about…" She wanted to talk about a lot of things, and the sheer number of them seemed to crowd around the entrance of her throat, preventing her from saying any of them. She was quiet for a second as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say, and the first thing that came to her mind came rolling out, "I want to talk about the portal."

"Oh… okay," Alphonse's enthusiasm lessened a little at the news of that subject, "What about it?"

"I just keep thinking about… well, a lot of things, but I keep thinking about Katie." She said, "I know that she would want to be here more than anything, and… I'm pretty sure she knew what she was doing, but I have no idea about any of it." She looked up at the suit of armor, "You know more about it than I do, so I figured I'd ask."

"I don't know a lot about it…" Alphonse admitted, "But I guess I can tell you what I do know." Amelia nodded, waiting for him to start, "Let's see… as far as we can tell, portals are kind of individualized, and they're the things that hold all alchemical knowledge, known and unknown. When Brother and I tried to bring back Mom, we both had a chance to witness that knowledge first hand, and some of it we were able to retain." Alphonse looked down at his hands, "I don't remember a lot of it, to be honest. I remember feeling like my head would explode from all that information at one point, and then I… sort of became part of it. I know that human transmutation, in the way we understand it alchemically, is possible in theory, but it's hard to recall exactly how. I mostly just remember what it felt like to have my body deconstructed." Amelia frowned, not wanting to have brought up those memories, "But Brother and I have talked about it some, and we've come up with a few theories about it. Plus, his experience traveling through it does give us a little bit more to work with."

"Like what?" She asked.

"Well, from what we can tell, the Portal is what allows us — any of us — to perform alchemy." Alphonse began, "Everyone has one, but it lays dormant in you until you try to access it, which as far as we can tell only happens with human transmutation. Once you attempt it, it's also seen as an attempt to access the portal itself, and that's what it does. After that, you pay a toll to see what's inside, and you can gain the knowledge in there for alchemy, but…"

"You might not live long enough to use it." Amelia finished.

"Right," Alphonse sighed, putting his hands down in his lap. "But it's different for everyone. When I described the gate that I saw to Brother, he said he saw a different one. Where he saw a tree rooted in alchemical knowledge, I saw a tower that led to the sun." Amelia couldn't really remember what she had seen on the gate made when Katie sacrificed herself. She couldn't think of any significant designs or the like. "So that got us to think that everyone has a different gate, and it looks different based on what you know about alchemy." He looked over at her, "Do you remember anything about the gate you went through?"

"No, not really." Amelia said quietly, "I think… there might have been a circle on it?"

"Do you remember what it looked like?" Alphonse asked.

She shook her head, "I'm sure I'd recognize it if I saw it, but I can't remember it. It was so long ago, and things happened so quickly…" She sighed, "God, it's been months since I came here… I don't even know what's happening at home." She sat back on the cushions, pulling her blanket a little closer around her. "...I just don't understand why I'm the one that's here."

"What do you mean?" Alphonse asked.

"Katie, she knew about this place, she knew about you guys," Amelia explained, "She would have loved to be here, right now, talking to you."

"How would she know about us?" Alphonse asked, "You said there's no alchemy where you come from." Amelia quickly shut her mouth from saying what she was about to say. She couldn't tell them that their lives were entertainment back where she came from, in her world. "And we've never even heard of wherever you're from… what was it called again? Sacameno?"

"Sacramento, and that's just my hometown." She said, "It's in a state called California, which is in a country called The United States because it's a bunch of states all under the same flag."

"Right… I've never heard of it." Alphonse said, and Amelia smiled.

"I know, I know. No one here has."

There was a beat of silence between them.

"That seems kinda odd," Alphonse commented.

"Hm?"

"Well, you have this country and a state and there's no alchemy there at all, but your friend knew about us and she would have wanted to meet us?"

"Oh, well… uh…"

"How would she have known about us? I'm pretty sure you had no idea who we were when we first met."

"I didn't, I had no clue about any of this…"

"So, how would she have known?"

Amelia was quiet, and she was tempted to just say she was tired and go to bed, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep still. She couldn't look at Alphonse's face, or those little white lights in the eyes of his armor that seemed completely fixed on her as they waited for an answer. She was tired, and she couldn't think of a lie, "...You wouldn't believe me."

"You don't know that," Alphonse said gently.

"Al, if I were in your position, the things I would say to you would make me sound like I was crazy."

"Well, there's a lot of you that's kind of crazy." He chuckled.

"Hey!" She reached over and knocked her hand against his metal shoulder, tapping it and hearing the metal ring from it, but obviously, it didn't hurt.

"Shhh! You'll wake Brother." Alphonse said quietly, and Amelia glanced back at Edward, still sound asleep in bed.

"Right, right…" She sighed. And the two were left back at the stalemate they had been before.

"Amelia, you can tell me." Alphonse said, "I promise, I won't think you're crazy."

"I really doubt that, Al."

"I promise, what can I do to prove it?" Amelia tried to think of a way that could guarantee he'd keep his word and keep that judgment away from her.

"I guess… we could pinky swear?" She wasn't really sure about it. She knew people did it as kids to ensure a promise, it was an important bond that signified a shared secret, but she never really had the chance to do it.

"Okay, how do I do that?" Alphonse asked.

"Well, you hold out your hand like this," She demonstrated with her own, and Alphonse mirrored her, "And we lock pinkies like this, and shake hands." She reached for his and did just that, the two of them making their pinky promise, "And if you break a pinky promise, you have to cut off your pinky finger." She said as she pulled away. It wasn't true at all, but she figured it would add something to the weight of the promise she wanted him to make.

"Oh… wow. Okay, I won't break it." Alphonse said, "Now, can you tell me what it is?"

She sighed, "So… where I come from, there's no… there's no Amestris, no Xing, no Aruego or anything like that because… those countries don't exist. Where I come from, alchemy just doesn't work, not just in my country, but through the whole world. If I had to guess, I would say Xing might be something like the country of China where I come from, but that's really only a guess."

Alphonse was quiet, and for a long while, the silence was unbearable for Amelia, especially since there was no emotion on his face to read. He was quiet for a little while longer before he made a gesture with his hand, "Okay, so… how would your friend know about us?"

"Well, that's because…" She really didn't want to say it, "This is the part where you're going to think I'm crazy, but… She would know about you guys because you two are kind of just a… a story. I mean, not just you two guys, I think, but like… your lives are just made up stories. Written up by some lady in Japan who made a buttload of money off of comic books about you guys, and then turning that into a tv series…" She couldn't really look at him as she began to explain it, "It was one of her favorite stories, the Fullmetal Alchemist on this adventure to save the world with his friends, Ed's the main character… She would talk about it all the time, and now I wish I had listened to it more because I would know how to better help you guys, but…" She trailed off, not really sure what else she could say. The silence following her confession of the truth was a heavy one, and it only grew with every second that nothing was said. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"Well…" Alphonse wasn't really sure how to respond, "It's… I don't think you're insane, it's just that it's kind of hard to believe."

"I know," Amelia sighed resignedly.

"I mean, how is Ed the main character of that story?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I think I'd be a pretty good main character," Alphonse said, and Amelia snickered a little bit as he spoke. "What? I mean, I like to think that I'm a gentleman, not some hot-headed guy!"

"You are a gentleman, Al. You're the perfect gentleman." Amelia smiled, feeling at ease as Alphonse made her laugh. "Ed's the main character because… well, losers kind of appeal to my people as an audience. Gives them some room to grow. In Ed's case, a lot of room." The two shared quiet laughter as the lump on Edward's bed shifted slightly, neither of them noticing.

"Yeah, I guess he could use some good growth with such a stunted character." Alphonse joked and the two laughed again, not noticing Edward's body almost vibrating under his blankets.

"Right? And since he's such a loser, he'll have a lot of room to improve on that, not to mention literally grow after drinking a little milk." Amelia continued, giggling.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICRO-SIZED HALF-PINT WHO DIDN'T GROW UP BECAUSE HE DIDN'T DRINK MILK?!" Edward suddenly snapped, the blanket was thrown off of his bed as he couldn't hold back his anger any longer, shocking the other two.

"That's… not what I said…?" Amelia got out, gaping at Edward, "How long have you been awake?"

Edward's angered face immediately stopped as he realized he had been caught, "Um… since you got up?"

"Brother, you've been eavesdropping this whole time?" Alphonse asked.

"I, uh…" He stammered, unsure of how to excuse this behavior, "I was worried, plus you need some company at night, Al…"

"That's a huge invasion of privacy, Ed!"

"No, no, Al. I think it's okay," Amelia said, "I mean, what you're saying is 100% true and Ed shouldn't have done it, but at least I don't have to repeat what I just told you." She looked over at Edward, and he sat back on his bed.

"I… yeah." He sighed, "What you said sounds really crazy and weird." Amelia frowned, "But… you also came to Amestris through a gate, so maybe there's some truth to it." Her eyes widened, he actually believed her?

"You think so?" Alphonse asked.

"Well," Edward got up from the bed, starting to pace as he talked, "The truth is, we don't really know a lot about The Portal of Truth, and what little we do know isn't a lot to go on." He moved around in front of the couch as he spoke, his automail hand acting as a rest for his flesh elbow as he tapped his chin, "But we do know it's possible to travel through it, though location can be a little… tricky, obviously. I used the portal to escape Gluttony's stomach, so I don't see why the portal couldn't also be used to bring someone from one world to another."

"Seriously? Do you think I could use it to get home?" Amelia asked.

"Uh… that's where I'm not really sure." Edward turned to her, "See, we don't really know where you come from. I mean, you know, of course, but we don't. When I was escaping from Gluttony's stomach, it was because I was escaping a pocket dimension that was made by him, after being brought in by him. It was kind of a one-way in and out sort of idea. With you… it's different. We don't really know where your pocket dimension is, or— well, obviously not a pocket dimension, it's a whole dimension. An entirely different life and universe where alchemy doesn't exist and doesn't work at all, a different kind of science that's based on different properties and origins completely separate from alchemy."

"Well, not completely. Alchemy was a science where I come from," Amelia interjected, "But it didn't work, not the way it does here. It ended up laying the groundwork for another science that we call chemistry, which is about studying the elements the world is made of and how combining them can form new elements. The original goal of alchemy was to turn base metals into solid gold, and when they were able to change one powder into another kind of powder by adding a liquid, it seemed like a valid idea." The two brothers stared at her, "What? I took chemistry courses, my teachers told me about how it started."

"Okay… even with this new information, my point still stands." Edward said, "My exit with Gluttony was an in-out kind of thing because there was only one way to get to that dimension. We don't know if there's another way to get to yours."

"It's the only one we know of that's even working right now," Amelia said.

"I agree, but we don't know if the gate will put you back where you came from, or if you'll end up somewhere else entirely. Not to mention the toll you'll have to pay to use it." Amelia grimaced at that part, she had forgotten about the tolls in all the talk about her home. "You said your friend gave up her body and soul so that you could have a gate. You'd have to be ready to pay something equivalent to that, I think, to use it." He crossed his arms, "Even when I was escaping from Gluttony, I couldn't avoid the toll. I ended up getting Envy to use his own Philosopher's Stone as a payment." Amelia glanced over at Alphonse as she realized what Edward just admitted, it was something he had specifically told her not to tell his brother. The silence that followed afterward prompted Edward to look over at her, and she gave a pointed glance to Alphonse, who just seemed to be staring at his brother, "Oh. Right, I didn't tell you…"

Alphonse sighed, "I guess it was just wishful thinking to believe you were able to use the portal without paying a toll."

"You're not mad?" Edward asked.

"No, I'm not mad, but I'm definitely not happy, either." Alphonse answered, "Knowing you used a Philosopher's Stone, knowing what they're made from and still using it. I don't know that I'll be okay with that, Brother." Edward hung his head, his hand coming up and running through his hair, "But… at the same time, the stone was the reason that you were able to come back at all, completely unharmed. So… I can't say that I'm angry with you for trying to come home." Edward relaxed, pressing his lips together in a thin smile. He was glad that he wasn't angry with him, but he knew the ethical implications behind what he did weren't exactly good.

Amelia could understand the brothers' mixed feelings on it, but she didn't need them to wallow in it, "So, what does that mean for me? Does that mean I would have to use a Philosopher's Stone to go home?" She asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure the portal will accept any other kind of payment except the kind that comes from a person." Edward said with a sigh, "So if it's not a Philosopher's Stone, it might just be your legs or your arms… or something more than that, maybe a lot more."

"Maybe everything." Amelia didn't like that idea at all, and the brothers clearly shared her sentiment.

"I'm sure there's another way," Edward said, coming over to her and putting his automail hand on her shoulder, and she jumped.

"Dude! Your hand is freezing!" She said, jumping away from him and moving a little closer to Alphonse, Edward pulled his hand back.

"Oh, sorry. I guess the cold messed with it a little." He said, reaching up with his flesh hand to rub at the port around his shoulder.

"It's fine," Amelia returned to how she was sitting before with a sigh, "But what am I supposed to do now? I mean, I know how you guys feel about Philosopher's Stones, but it sounds like that's the only way I could get home unharmed, or even get Katie and I home together."

"I'm sure it's not the only option." Edward said, "There can be ways around this, so you don't have to use someone else's life." Amelia could understand Edward's principles, and she knew how important they were to him, but truthfully, she didn't really care that much. She would have rather used a Philosopher's Stone to get her home and fix everything, it wasn't like the people in the Stone could be returned to their normal bodies. That process was, as far as they knew, irreversible. So why couldn't she make use of them and get home again? But she knew better than to bring up these feelings around two boys who valued life so highly that they would never consider such a thing. In her silence, Edward saw her stewing in her thoughts, "We'll find another way, I promise. For you, and for your friend."

She looked up at him, nodding, "I know you will." As much as Edward was a pain, and as much as his values bothered her because of the sake of convenience, she admired them. She admired a lot about him, and his dedication to his promises was one of them, "I'm pretty sure you already promised me to help figure out how to get Katie's body and soul back from the gate. We'll just… add this addendum to that promise." Edward grinned.

"Right." The two of them suddenly yawned in that moment following, and they let out a small laugh as it ended, and they looked back at each other.

"I guess we should both go back to bed, we have a train to catch tomorrow," Amelia said, getting up from the couch.

"Yeah, probably," Edward said. The two returned to their two double beds, and Alphonse returned to what he had been doing before, reaching for his book to find where he had left off.

Amelia lay down on her bed, getting comfortable under the blankets and looking out the snow-frosted window again. It felt like these quiet moments were getting rarer and rarer, so much of their lives now were constantly on the move, constantly in flux, constantly moving towards their next goal. Even still, they could find the time to talk to her, to calm her down, to figure things out and know what they could do. They were probably right in that there was another option for them, even if the most obvious and convenient one was present, there might still be a way for everything to work out in the end. After everything that had happened that day, and all the events following, and the events still to come… it was nice to know that those two brothers still tried to have her back. That comfort soothed her, and she could feel sleep quickly encroaching on her, urging her to close her eyes, take deep breaths, and drift off.

"Hey, guys?" She called gently as she closed her eyes.

"Yeah?" Edward called back, his voice already sounding tired.

"Thanks for talking to me."

"No problem, anytime…" Edward murmured back.

With that, the room fell back into silence, and Amelia felt herself easily going into a dreamless sleep that would carry her through the rest of the night.

---

The next morning, they got on the first train to Briggs and rode all the way to an empty station. There weren't many people around, and it was still barely snowing as they made their way around to try and find their way to the fort from the empty station covered in snow. They ended up finding a man who could give them a ride there, a farmer of some kind who lived near the fort and was familiar with it. They hitched a ride in his cart and rode in the back as he took them down the way to Fort Briggs. The ride was mostly quiet, other than Amelia starting a conversation with their driver to fill the silence, finding out that he wasn't a farmer but a breeder of certain livestock that made good fur for coats. They were all shaved down every year, and he would sometimes sell his animals when they got too old to keep a certain shine on their coat. It was an interesting conversation to have with him to pass the time, at least for a little while. It helped distract her from the cold that was making its way into her coat and into her bones. Briggs was much colder than she had been expecting, and she wished she had layered up on clothes more as they continued their trip.

They would occasionally lapse into silence as Amelia tried to think of something else to talk about, though one silence was broken by Ed letting out a loud sneeze.

"Are you catching a cold?" Alphonse asked, considering this had been the fourth or fifth time he had sneezed on their trip.

"Oh, I'm cold alright," Edward said, wiping his nose as he shuddered, "That's Briggs for ya!"

The cart came to a stop as their driver looked back, "Alright, this is where I let you go." He said. The trio looked over at him, and then at the gate nearby. It was the only entrance to a field that was cut off by a fence made of wooden sticks and barbed wire. The gate wasn't really that, as there was nothing to bar entrance, no doors or signs. Just an old archway made of frozen wood that had clearly seen better days. In front of them, they could see a path carved into the snow, just from the drifts having been cleared enough for a way to be seen. "If you follow this mountain road, it'll lead you straight to Fort Briggs."

"Okay, thanks," Edward said, getting his suitcase and getting out, Alphonse and Amelia following suit.

"And you, in the armor," Alphonse looked over at him, pointing at himself to see if the man meant him, "Yes, you. Is that automail?"

Alphonse shook his helmet, "No."

"Oh, okay. Well, then you should be alright." He said, dismissing any concern he might have had as he urged his horse to continue onwards and go on home.

"What was that all about?" Edward asked, curious as to why he had asked such a question at all.

"Beats me." Alphonse shrugged.

"Maybe we should ask him?" Amelia was a little worried, considering Edward actually had automail.

Their breeder friend brought his hand up as he left, not looking back as he waved goodbye and shouted out, "That's military land beyond the fence, so stay on the road if you wanna live!"

The last line confused all three of them. If they wanted to live, they'd stay on the road? But it was military property, they doubted they would be so strict as to kill someone who strayed from the road by a step or two.

"That's… not much better." Amelia commented.

"Yeah…" Edward agreed before turning to look at the road ahead of them. The field was massive and covered in mounds of snow, but their path still lay before them, untrodden and clean as if the land were new under the latest coating of snow. "Well, I guess we don't have anywhere to go now but the mountains. You ready?" He asked, turning to his companions.

"Mm-hmm," Alphonse nodded.

"Yep," Amelia smiled at him. The three of them set off into the snow and continued down the path in front of them. Fort Briggs was nowhere in sight, so it would be a long walk in the cold, but Amelia was a little glad for it. The constant movement would probably help her warm up a little, and in this deep cold that seemed to freeze her nose hairs with every breath, any kind of warmth would be welcome.

As they continued down the path, the weather started to change around them as they went further and further up and down different hills where it was hard to tell if they were made from snow, or from the solid ground with feet of snow built on top of them. The clear, sunny day started to fade into grey clouds, and snow started to make its way down, and the wind started to pick up. In a matter of what only seemed like a few minutes, the group found themselves in the middle of a blizzard with snowflakes that stung in their eyes, and wind that threatened to take away their only means of warmth as it whipped around them.

Eventually, Edward couldn't take it. He stopped in his steps to let out a loud scream in frustration that was lost in the wind around them, though Amelia couldn't help feeling the same way. The two of them had bundled up as best they could, with hoods up and scarves wrapped around them tightly, but it didn't do much to fend off the cold. The snow being whipped up in front of them made them unable to clearly see the path more than a few feet ahead of them, and suddenly it was like they were lost in the massive expanse of white, rather than leaving behind footprints in it.

"I know they say the weather here changes quickly, but this seems a little extreme if you ask me!" Edward said through chattering teeth as they continued to trudge on.

"Tell me about it!" Amelia agreed, her body shuddering with the cold with seemingly every step.

"What do we do now, Brother? We can't even see the road!" Alphonse said.

"Relax, we'll be fine!" Edward replied, "Teacher said she was tossed out here for a whole month during her training, and she survived!"

"No way! She couldn't have lived in this for an entire month!" Alphonse couldn't believe that story.

"Sure, she could. She even killed a bear!" Edward said.

"What?" Amelia couldn't really believe that, either.

"The bears around here are more than 15 feet tall!" Alphonse countered, "There's no way she could've killed one of them!"

A deep thud was heard behind them, and they all froze at the sound, slowly turning around to see a huge silhouette leaning over them. It was massive, and wide, and seemed to stand at 15 feet tall as it glared down at them…!

"Bear!" All three screamed in horror as they saw the creature they had feared most had come to hunt them down.

Edward clapped his hands together, changing his automail to make a blade as Amelia stepped back from the sight of the huge animal. The bear lifted a strangely huge arm, and as it came up higher into the light, it was easier to see that it wasn't an arm at all, but rather a huge piece of metal that looked almost like some kind of chainsaw. The bear brought it down on them, and they all jumped back to avoid the blow, and it was clear their fear had given them an image in their poor visual surroundings that wasn't true.

"That's no bear!" Edward realized it first, seeing their opponent more clearly now. He was a massive man with a dark mohawk on the top of his head, wielding an automail arm model that he had never seen before, but it clearly wasn't one to be messed with.

Before they had a chance to attack him back, he fired from a gun they hadn't seen before, covering Alphonse in a net that pushed him back, "Alphonse!" Amelia rushed over to the suit of armor as he tried to find his way out of those trappings while Edward turned and looked at the man, recognizing the clothes he had on under his black coat that they had mistaken for a bear's pelt. "Hey, wait, hold on a second. Is that a military uniform you're wearing?"

"Ah, well it looks like some pretty mediocre stuff, but you have automail, too, huh?" The man ignored his question, instead choosing to focus on the arm.

"Huh? Mediocre? Just because mine's not tacky, like yours?" Edward snapped back.

"Fool!" The man presented his arm, "Obviously you don't know a good weapon when you see one! This right here is combat automail, model M1913A: The Crocodile!" He pointed it at Edward, "Now, surrender peacefully you miserable Drachman spy, or I'll show you exactly what this baby can do!"

"Spy?! What are you talking about?! I'm not a—" Before Edward could get anything else out, the man lunged to attack him again and Edward rushed out of the way to dodge it, and every other blow that came his way before jumping back far enough to put some more distance in between them.

Amelia continued with trying to help Alphonse out of his netting, "Stop moving around, Al! You're getting it all tangled!" It didn't help that she could hardly see in this weather as she tried to find the weights that were keeping him wrapped up as Alphonse tried to push against it.

"Don't you know what I'm saying, moron?!" Edward shouted at the man over the heavy wind around them. He grunted as he felt his port aching, reaching his flesh hand up to his shoulder as his automail arm shuddered, "What the hell? It shouldn't be hurting…" Something's wrong with my automail! He thought, wondering if something had messed with it when he had been dodging that man's attacks. He didn't have much time to contemplate the how and why as the man rushed him again, his automail outstretched and caught Edward's automail in the middle of it, using that to throw him down into the snow.

"Brother!" Alphonse shouted out, struggling even harder against his bindings.

"Stay still, I almost got it!" Amelia ordered as she fumbled with the weights on the ends of the net's corners.

"You bastard!" Edward glared up at his opponent, his frustration and anger growing all the more as he fought him, "Listen to me for a second!"

"Your resistance is futile!" The man responded, reaching for a string and yanking it to start up the engine on his arm, the blades suddenly moving over Edward's automail wrist, sending sparks flying.

"Huh?! Ah, no wait!" The man lifted up his arm with Edward attached as he squirmed and panicked watching the damage to his automail, "Wait, wait, wait, wait! Stop!"

"Your pathetic automail is easy to destroy!" The man declared.

Edward managed to straighten his automail hand, even in its dangerous bonds, "No, you got it wrong!" He reached up with his flesh hand to clap the two together, "I'll destroy your arm!" He exclaimed as he pressed his hand to the automail that kept him in place just as Amelia managed to get the netting off of his brother. For a long moment, nothing happened with his transmutation, and his enemy gave him a mocking grin.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" He asked.

Edward, panicking, let out a frustrated cry as the man lifted his arm up higher, and Edward clung to it since he didn't want to be held up by the end of his hand, "Aaaah! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!" His pleas were met with indifference from the man, "What's going on?! Why didn't my alchemy work?! This thing's made of iron, isn't it?!"

Alphonse stood up, reaching for his helmet, "Brother!" Edward looked over and saw Alphonse tossing it towards him just in time for him to catch it.

"Thanks, Alphonse!" He shoved the helmet towards the saw, watching as the long tassel that had acted as Alphonse's hair got caught and tangled in it, stopping the saw and bringing it to a halt that released Edward down on the ground.

"Nice!" Amelia complimented the quick-thinking on Al's part.

Edward rushed back towards them and stood ready for the next round, "You okay?" Alphonse asked his brother.

His hand went to his automail shoulder at the mention, "This is bad. I hope I die here, or else Winry's gonna kill me!"

"That wasn't too bad, kid." The man said as he turned to face the three of them again, "Especially with that ordinary automail you have, but it's all over now."

"Huh?" Edward didn't understand until he heard the clicking of a gun hammer. He turned behind him and saw a man dressed in a white uniform pointing a gun at him, and as the weather and wind around them started to die down, the three saw that they had been surrounded by similar men, all armed and pointing their weapons right at them. They all slowly stood up, hands shown to prove they had no weapons on them other than what was seen.

"Who are these guys?" Amelia asked as she looked around them.

"It's the Brigg's Mountain Guard," Alphonse answered.

Edward looked on in exasperation at the nearest gun pointed to him, "This is getting old, I don't want another gun stuck in my face." He muttered.

"Last time you had a gun in your face, it was your own fault," Amelia commented.

"It was not!" Edward snapped, "You weren't even there when it happened, so shut up!"

The man Edward had fought made his way over to them, turning off the engine for his saw so as not to ruin it while it wouldn't be able to move against the tangles of the helmet tassel. As the wind around them died down, they started to see that the sky above them was in fact not that at all. It was a black wall that was covered in frost and snow from having stood in the mountains for years and years.

"Brother," Alphonse called his attention to it.

"A wall…?" Edward looked up at it in confusion, how had he not seen that before?

"Buccaneer!" A sharp voice called out through the cold, "Who are they?"

The man Edward had fought, apparently named Buccaneer, quickly turned and stood at attention in the direction of the voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, General Armstrong! I apologize for the disturbance!" He said quickly.

The trio looked up, following the sound of the voice to see a blonde woman standing near an opening on the wall, glaring down at them with icy blue eyes with another man standing next to her, with dark skin and dark sunglasses.

"Armstrong?" Alphonse repeated the name quietly.

"That's who Major Armstrong wanted us to meet when we made it here?" Edward could hardly believe they had found her.

"So that's Olivier Mira Armstrong…" Amelia said, looking up at the woman. She didn't have the same muscular look that her sisters had, but she actually looked much more like Katherine in size and appearance. Even through her military uniform and coat, she could see a perfect hourglass figure that undoubtedly spoke to those strange good genes that also affected the youngest of the Armstrong sisters, her long blonde hair blowing in the wind, only curled at the ends while the rest stayed straight. Even if she didn't have her sister's height or her sister's powerful physique, there was no denying that even at this distance, she was as imposing as if she was a seven-foot-tall woman with the muscles of a male bodybuilder.

"But… they look different." Alphonse whispered to the other two.

"She's not huge…" Edward agreed.

"I'll ask again, who are you?" General Armstrong demanded in that cold tone of voice that spoke of years of commanding officers.

"I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, my name is Edward Elric." Ed answered her, "Major Armstrong from Central Command sent us here to meet with the general in charge of this post. Now can you call off your guard dogs?"

"Search them!" The general ordered.

Edward looked up at her in disbelief, "But I'm with the military!"

"Sure, but how do I verify that?" The general countered as three men came over to the group, patting down and Edward and Amelia while another tried to do the same to Alphonse, "Anyone can claim to be somebody famous."

"She makes a good point…" Amelia said, feeling the soldier patting down her leg for weapons while the soldier examining Alphonse reached for his collar to pull him down to see what was inside.

"Hey, he's hollow!" He exclaimed.

"Ah, you noticed…" Edward sighed.

Another soldier was going through their suitcases, finding something that caught his attention as he pulled out the letter that was addressed to General Armstrong. "What's this?" He looked it over, feeling over it to make sure there was nothing in it but paper. When he was satisfied, he dashed off to deliver it to his General, making his way up a ladder that brought him to the balcony where the general stood, "General!"

Edward saw what he had as he went over to her, "That's a letter of introduction from Major Alex Louis Armstrong!" He shouted up, hoping that she would see that and stop treating them like criminals. "Just read that, then you'll know you can trust us."

The general looked over the front and back of the letter, looking over the wax seal on the back, "Hmph. It's from Alex, all right." She said, turning the letter back over, reaching for the corner, and tearing off a strip.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Amelia snapped.

"Aren't you even gonna read it?!" Edward couldn't believe what he was seeing as he watched the general tear the letter into pieces.

"A letter of introduction means nothing to me." She replied as she kept ripping it up, "I don't put much stock in anyone else's opinions of a person. I prefer to judge the people I meet with my own eyes." She tossed the remains of paper into the wind, which got blown up higher and higher, revealing how incredibly tall the wall in front of them truly was. It loomed over them for what felt like a hundred or two hundred feet, and none of them had noticed its sheer massive size until now.

"That's amazing…" Edward gawked at it.

"It's massive…!" Amelia was in a similar state, feeling dwarfed in comparison to the huge structure in front of them.

"What is this place?" Edward asked.

"Enter, Fullmetal Alchemist." The General ordered.

"This is incredible! That wall is really, really, really tall!" Edward exclaimed as he looked up at it.

The General turned around with a sharp glare in her blue eyes and a fierce scowl on her face, "Quit gaping like an idiot and start walking before I tear your little body apart limb from limb!" Every word was laced with a deep anger that shocked Edward to his core and frightened him to a place he hadn't felt since the last time he met with his teacher Izumi. "Be warned: I won't coddle you because you're children! This is the mountain fortress, Briggs! Here, only the strong survive! Now get inside before I lose my patience!" She ordered before turning and walking into the fortress.

Edward gulped nervously before he and Amelia started to walk with their camouflaged escorts leading the way, with Alphonse hesitating, looking over at his head in Buccaneer's automail before he continued on with his brother and Amelia.

"She's… not at all like her other sisters." Amelia said as they walked inside of the fortress.

"Is she not?" Edward replied sarcastically.

"No, her sisters aren't like that. They're all talkative, and sociable and…" She trailed off as she noticed Edward's hand reaching for his automail shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"My ports just really hurt for some reason…" Edward said, trying to roll his automail shoulder, and wincing again as he started to limp with every step.

"Uh, maybe we should get it looked at?" Amelia asked.

"It's probably just the cold messing with it." Edward dismissed it.

"Dude, I don't know. Even when it rains, you don't look like that." Amelia said.

"She's right, Brother." Alphonse said as they walked, "I doubt a look at their automail mechanic here could hurt. If that big guy has automail, his mechanic is probably here, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Edward sighed, relenting as they looked up at one of the soldiers, "Hey, you guys have a resident mechanic here for that mohawk guy?"

One soldier looked back at him, "Captain Buccaneer's mechanic?"

"Yeah, I think something's up with my automail arm, do you think he'd be willing to look at it for me?" Edward asked.

The soldier glanced over at his companion, asking a silent question that was met with a silent shrug before he turned back, "Sure, I'll show you to the medical wing where he works."

"Thanks."

The three were led into another corridor, down and up a few staircases that Amelia had a hard time keeping track of until they arrived at a door with a green cross over the top of it. The soldier led them inside, "Hey Neil!" He called out for a man and was instead met with a blonde woman. She seemed relatively young, late 20's or so, with blonde hair held back by a haphazard headband and a pair of wide spectacles over her blue eyes.

"He's gone out for a minute," She said as she wiped her hands clean of something on a white cloth, "You need something?"

The soldier pointed his thumb at Edward, who was still holding onto his shoulder, "I just need a mechanic to look at my automail and see what's making it act up."

"Act up?" The woman repeated, putting down her cloth and coming over to him.

"Yeah, my shoulder and leg just really hurt." He said, "It's more than usual, I mean they ache a little bit when it rains, but…"

"Let me take a look at it, I've got some experience," She said, gesturing that Edward come in, "Go ahead and take off your coat and everything and I'll take a look at your ports if that's alright."

"Sure," Edward said, taking off his red coat, and was about to continue when he gave Amelia a pointed stare. She was standing off to the side with Alphonse as the door closed behind them, the nameless soldier that led them here assumedly returning to his post. She looked at Edward curiously.

"What?"

"Could you… turn around for a minute?"

"Why? Are you getting naked or something?" Amelia asked as she did as he asked anyway, turning around to face the door instead.

"No, I just… don't want you staring." He grumbled as he continued in the process, watching as the blonde doctor left into another room, hearing some water being poured into a bucket as he undressed and took a seat on a stool nearby. Amelia had a habit of staring at his automail whenever it was exposed to her, and it always made him a little insecure about it. It wasn't often that he showed it for a reason, and she only made it worse at times. Once he had finished, he spoke again just as the doctor came back in to take a closer look at his exposed skin around his automail, "Okay, you can turn around now." The doctor moved her fingers around the ice-cold edges of his automail and hummed thoughtfully.

"You said they were hurting?" She asked as she stood up and left to go back to the room she had ventured into before, coming back with a few rags and a bucket of steaming water.

"Yeah, they've been like this for a little while, but it didn't get this bad until we started walking in that blizzard," Edward said, watching as the doctor dipped the rags in the water, wringing them out and putting one over his shoulder, and another over his knee where they connected with his body. They instantly caused some relief and it was apparent. "That feels much better."

"I'm sure it does, your automail is extremely cold." She said, "How did you come up here in these, anyway?"

"We took a train up from North City."

"Really? Most civilians at least try to notify the fort through the command center before making their way up." The doctor replied as she continued to warm up the skin around Edward's ports.

"We're not civilians, I'm a state alchemist," Edward replied.

She paused in her work, looking at him, "Really? Do you have the silver pocket watch?"

"Yeah, right here." He reached down to where his pants had been folded up, pulling off the watch from his belt loop to show it to her. She blinked, glancing at the watch and then back to him, and then shrugging as she left him with the warm rags on his seat. "So, what's the deal? Is there something wrong with my automail?"

"I don't think so. From what I can tell, you've got a pretty open and shut case of exposure." She said with certainty.

"E-Exposure…?" Edward repeated, a little confused.

"Yes, that's right," The doctor confirmed, "You got lucky, you were close to getting frostbite."

"Damn," The word slipped out of Amelia's mouth before she could stop it.

"You need to be careful walking around in a snowstorm." The doctor continued as if she hadn't heard Amelia, "The flesh that's touching your automail will freeze, and you need to oil it, or it will stiffen."

"So, does that Buccaneer guy have a different kind of automail or something?" Edward asked, curious about how he wasn't also in the same situation he was.

The door to the room opened, and the same man Edward had asked about stepped in, "It's no use, Doc," He held up his automail hand with Alphonse's helmet still tangled in it, "I can't get this thing unstuck."

"Hey! My head!"

"Well, you better get it unstuck, it's not yours," Amelia said, and Buccaneer glared at her in response. It was cold and ferocious, and she found herself taking a step back behind Alphonse's armor, "Just saying."

"Pardon me, Captain," A voice said from behind Buccaneer, revealing a man with brown hair held back with a headband. He glanced at his automail, let out a laugh at the sight of it for a few seconds before he stopped and looked up at him, "Alright, come around here, I'll get that untangled for you, sir."

The two left behind a curtain where the mechanic named Neil got to work doing as he promised, leaving Alphonse, Amelia, and Edward alone with the first doctor. She turned back to the others, "Up here, your automail has to be flexible and lightweight. It also needs to be resistant to the cold," she continued answering Edward's question about Buccaneer's automail, "After some trial and error, we found an alloy that works. A combination of duralumin, carbon fiber, nickel, copper, and so on."

Edward let out a groan at the news, "And here I assumed it was just iron! It's no wonder I couldn't do anything with it." The doctor only smiled as he figured out why his attempt to transmute had gone wrong.

From behind the curtain, Buccaneer stepped out with another automail arm, one that had replaced his crocodile one that looked much more like a normal hand than a chainsaw. "Hey Doc, be careful. Are you planning on telling him all our secrets?" He said as he came out.

"Why wouldn't I? He's a state alchemist, he has a right to know, doesn't he?" She replied.

Buccaneer turned his scowling face to Edward, "You're kidding."

Edward brought up his pocket watch with a dry, deadpan expression, "He has the pocket watch." The doctor replied.

Buccaneer's scowl only deepened, and he glared down at Edward as he tried to get a better look at him. Amelia could only imagine what was going through his head, probably wondering how a child like Edward earned a rank that was equivalent to a Major in the Amestrian military.

"Hey, Al?" She whispered to the suit of armor, who turned at the sound of her voice, "Is captain a rank that's above or below a major?"

"I think it's just below it," Alphonse answered, and Amelia couldn't help grinning.

"So, if Edward's certification makes him equivalent to a major, doesn't that mean he's Buccaneer's superior officer?" She could imagine Edward would get a lot of mileage out of that fact… if it wasn't that Buccaneer was so intimidating, he might just go on a power-crazed run telling him to do whatever he wanted, though she somehow doubted the man would ever go along with it.

The doctor left the two military men be as she went to get a cup of coffee from a nearby pot, "If you're going to be in the north for long, you should switch to a different kind of automail." She advised Edward, "Do you have a mechanic?"

Edward, seeing her leaving him alone, and his automail had warmed up to a more comfortable temperature, started to dress again, "Yeah, but she's in Rush Valley." He said as he pulled on his black jacket, and his pants next.

"And she let you come up north without explaining all of this to you first?" The doctor turned to him in surprise as she put down the pot of coffee.

"Not exactly. I didn't tell her I was planning on coming up here." Edward said, and the doctor came over to hand him the cup of coffee she had just poured, which was still steaming hot.

"I recommend you send for her, assuming you'd like to stay alive." She replied.

Edward frowned, but he couldn't deny that she was probably right for his own safety, "Fine." He went to take a sip of his given drink, and the doctor smiled.

"That'll be a hundred cenz!" She said, holding out her hand expectantly, and Edward spat out his mouthful of coffee in surprise. He looked over at the woman in disbelief, and she still held out her hand. He sighed and dug into his pockets to pull out a coin for it, handing it to her. She took it happily and flipped it with one hand before stepping away from him.

"Seriously? It wasn't even that good a cup of coffee." He could hardly believe he got charged for it.

"It's your own fault for letting your guard down," The doctor replied, "This is the north. Get used to it."

Buccaneer, who had been watching the exchange, started to speak, "So, you come up here with mediocre automail, completely ignorant about the north, and you try to bypass the command center." He was calling him out on everything he did wrong.

"Oh, come on!" Edward groaned exasperatedly, "I hike up here, a state alchemist with an official letter of introduction, and this is how I'm treated?! What's wrong with you people?! Do you have no sense of propriety?! That general threatened to tear my arms off!"

Another speak-of-the-devil situation as the door to the medical exam room opened revealing General Armstrong and a dark-skinned man behind her with dark sunglasses.

"Hello Little Red Runt," She greeted Edward.

His frustration quickly turned into despair at the sudden nickname, all of his energy draining out of him in an instant as he looked like he was almost on the verge of tears, "Little red…!" and Amelia had to fight to hold back her laughter. It was so perfect for him! Little Red Runt! She couldn't believe she'd never thought of that one before! It mocked his size — the perfect sore spot for him — and his fashion sense which she'd always called out as gaudy! She'd need to remember that one.

"If you have a problem, now's the time to speak up." The general said.

Before Edward could even answer, Alphonse let out a scream and everyone turned to see that his head was being returned to him by the other mechanic, but with a noted difference before it had been used as a means of stopping Buccaneer's saw. "My hair…!" The tassel that tangled up his saw had been cut off to make the helmet easier to remove and was now little more than a three-inch gathering of hair as opposed to the long length it had before going all the way down past his waist.

Amelia came up to him, putting one hand on the side of his armor, "It's alright, Al. It just looks bad from this spot. It'll probably look better back on your head?" She tried to make it a little easier for him.

He took the helmet and went over to a mirror, putting his helmet back on and looking at his reflection for a moment before sulking over the sink.

"It looks awful." He couldn't help but complain.

Amelia frowned, feeling a little bad for him and she came over to him again, "Here, do you want to see if I can do anything to try and make it look better? I'm sure we can at least comb it out or something…" She said, trying to cheer him up. Alphonse only sighed and lifted his head.

"No… I'd rather not risk losing any more hair than I have already," He said, and he turned to Amelia, "But thank you." She smiled up at him, pat his metal shoulder, and turned back to face General Armstrong.

Now that she was closer to her, she was able to make out her facial features more clearly. She did resemble Catherine a little, but it was only in her stature and figure, her face was entirely different. Where Catherine's eyes were wide and seemingly joyful, the general's were much sharper and colder, and she was vaguely reminded of one of the faces she had seen when looking through the Armstrong Family tree back when her lessons first started. Some uncle or cousin had a similar look to their face… she couldn't recall the name, but it was clear she stood out from the rest of her family. The sisters she had met were all wonderful girls, strong-willed and kind-hearted and that warmth radiated from them in everything they did. Olivier was not warm at all if anything it looked like touching her might freeze your hand off, if she didn't just cut it off outright with the sword that hung at her hip. Looking at the handle of it, she guessed it was probably an Armstrong family heirloom. At least she still took pride in her family's name, despite almost never coming home…

The general took a seat at one of the desks nearby, bringing her sword down with her hand resting on top of it like one might do when resting with a cane or walking stick, propping up one leg over her knee as she got comfortable.

"Well now, from what I hear, you three are close to my brother, Alex." Even her voice seemed cold when she was just making idle small talk, glancing at a framed photo on the desk that showed a picture of one of the mechanic's families. She looked back at the trio, "Is he doing alright?"

"Oh, sure." Amelia piped up, "He's just as energetic as ever."

"Yeah, the big, strong guy we know and love." Edward agreed.

"Alex is doing just great!" Alphonse added.

The news seemed to have the opposite reaction on Olivier, as she only looked incredibly angry to find out that her brother seemed to be doing well. The three of them weren't sure how to respond to such obvious outrage at someone's good health and happy disposition…

She turned to them, her rage seemingly quelled, "No matter. Never mind him. Tell me why you would bypass the command center to meet me." She spoke in a commanding tone of voice, the experienced voice of a leader who was used to being respected and having her orders met. "I want to know it all, including why your armor's empty." Alphonse jumped at the mention of his body, glancing over at Edward and meeting his eyes. That was a well-kept secret for a reason…

"Actually…" Edward looked over at Buccaneer and the two mechanics, "That's something we don't like to talk about."

"There's no reason to worry," The woman doctor shrugged it off, "Folks around here have plenty they want to hide."

"That's… not really reassuring." Amelia said quietly.

"Everybody up north has something that he or she doesn't like to talk about." She continued.

Edward turned back to the general after seeing that the other people in the room wouldn't leave, "But… if this information reaches certain ears, I could be court-martialed."

"Even I have secrets like that!" General Armstrong snapped.

Edward grit his teeth, seeing their outright refusal to accept their own made things difficult. They couldn't tell them everything, they risked putting their entire plan in jeopardy!

Amelia reached out and put her hand on Edward's forearm as she came over to him, "Ed, I think you can probably leave a few things out." She whispered to him, "I doubt these guys are going to take 'no' for an answer. Believe me, that's an Armstrong family trait that all of them share."

"We can't just tell her everything, Winry's a hostage, and so is the major…!" Edward whispered back.

"We can probably do it without mentioning the fuhrer and the homunculi," Amelia continued, "You're going to have to tell her about Al, though."

Al leaned in to add his own piece, "It's okay, Brother. I think Amelia's right."

"What are you whispering about?! Start talking now!" General Armstrong snapped, clearly suspicious and not eager to deal with any runarounds from them.

"Let's just tell her we're trying to get our bodies back," Alphonse suggested.

Edward nodded, and he turned to the general, who was still waiting for the answer to her question. He gave her an explanation that had the partial truth to it, explaining that they had lost their bodies by committing the alchemic taboo of human transmutation. They left out everything regarding the homunculi and their involvement, but they spoke about the philosopher's stone and their reasons behind their reluctance to use it. They didn't mention any military involvement in that, but they did speak about Scar and how there was a girl traveling with him that they felt could give them something to help them gain their bodies back with a new alchemy. They also explained Hughes's murder to her to explain why Amelia was traveling with them and no longer under the tutelage of Major Armstrong. Throughout their explanation, the General had remained silent, letting them speak with her face never changing to show what she was thinking. Alphonse stood stiff, piping up every now and again if Edward asked him for confirmation about one of the events, and Amelia remained as still as she ever did. She had practice at remaining quiet while someone told blatant lies at her mother's parties, so it was easy for her to do it while Edward told her half-truths. She was frankly surprised the General didn't catch on sooner, but she never made a comment about Edward's tense body language, or Alphonse's, while she stood as comfortably as ever.

At the end of it, the General lifted her head from where it had been resting on her knuckles, "Do you have any ways to identify this girl from Xing?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah," Edward patted around his coat before pulling out one of the sketches they had used when they had started looking for May, still having had it on him when they left, "Here. We know she's traveling with this unusual cat, and there's almost nothing like it. It's always with her."

The General looked over the sketch before looking back up at the three of them, her sharp eye looking over each one before she spoke again, "I see… So, you're looking for this girl with the strange cat to see if alkahestry can offer an alternative to return your bodies to normal," She looked over at Amelia, "And you're joining them as an alchemist apprentice to learn more about this new science."

"Yes, ma'am," Amelia replied as the brothers nodded.

She put the sketch down on the nearby desk, "I understand."

Edward's face lit up, "So does that mean you're gonna help us—"

"—I'm not done!" The General snapped with a sharp glare, effectively silencing him, "What I understand is this: You three are a group of reckless wretches who cause trouble with every last thing you do! I don't want people like you in my fort. Honestly, how could the people at Central let these children run around loose? Get out of here right now!" The three of them were quiet following her orders. So much for seeking help? Amelia had expected some of that Armstrong generosity, the ones that led the Major to take her on as a student, and his sisters to include her as a member of their family, even giving them their youngest sister's hand-me-downs, "… At least, that's what I'd like to say, but I'm interested in alkahestry." Her glare softened as she looked up at the trio, "You three, you're acquainted with this girl from Xing? You've met her before?"

"Yeah, we have," Alphonse confirmed.

"She has a skill our country doesn't, right? You can never know too much. Especially here in the north, where we're right next to Drachma." The General continued, "If we use it right, alkahestry could make an excellent weapon." Amelia's eyes widened at her words. What she was suggesting put her so far from the rest of her family, it was a bit of a shellshock. She wanted to use this new science as a weapon, whereas she imagined that Major Armstrong would have respected it for its intended purposes.

"Wait a second!" Alphonse protested, "Alkahestry is specialized for medical purposes! You can't just—!"

"—Be quiet!" The General interrupted him again, "You're nothing but lapdogs living safely within your city walls, but we are the ones who protect you. We few who are brave enough to defend the country's border. My job is far more perilous than yours. I will make use of any knowledge I can get my hands on." She reached for her sheathed sword, bringing the end down onto the floor with a metallic click and standing up from her seat, "Leave the task of finding this alkahestry girl to me. You three will stay here inside the fort." She made her way over to the door to leave them there, stopping just before she opened it, "And Major Miles,"

"Yes, sir," The dark-skinned man she had walked in with stood at attention.

"Put them to work."

"What?!" Edward exclaimed.

The general turned to look over her shoulder, "'A man who does not work has no right to eat.'" She quoted, and that seemed to placate them.

She made a good point.

"Buccaneer, come with me." Wordlessly, the man did so, following the general as she left them behind, satisfied that everything would be set and the three of them would follow her orders.

In the halls, the pair of them marched side-by-side, "Those kids haven't exactly had easy lives, General." Buccaneer said, thinking the three of them were up to the task of their search, even if she had delegated them to stay in the fort.

"I believe they may have witnessed some carnage in their time, but I can tell that on the inside they remain soft and weak." She replied, her brow furrowing, "And what's more, they're still hiding something. Those three have a secret they aren't telling us."

"You think so?" Buccaneer asked.

"The girl was the one that gave it away," Olivier looked up at her subordinate, "That forced neutral expression she made as Fullmetal told us everything was one I've worn far too often myself not to recognize."

---

Major Miles led Edward, Alphonse, and Amelia through the quiet halls of Fort Briggs. The solid walls had no windows, nothing showing the world outside, so Amelia had no idea of where they were in the fort. She imagined they would need some kind of guide going through the fort for a good portion of their time here, seeing as almost everything looked the same.

They had all been silent as they walked behind him, but Edward decided it was time to break it. "So, uh, what kind of work will you have us doing?"

The Major didn't respond.

Edward tried again, "That doctor said people around here had a lot of things to hide, too. So, what are you hiding, Major?"

Again, he didn't respond.

Growing frustrated, Edward griped, "It's no fair for you guys to ask all the questions and never answer any!"

The Major came to a stop in front of them, and so they all did as well. "You really want to know?" He reached up to take off his sunglasses, turning around to face them and showing him the red eyes that had been hiding underneath. All three of them were suddenly on their guard as they recognized the unmistakable features of an Ishvalan. Except, this Ishvalan wasn't like Scar, he wore the military uniform of the country that tried to wipe their people off the face of the earth.

"I-I don't understand," Edward began, "We were told all the soldiers from Ishval were purged before the extermination…"

Amelia's eyes widened a little more. She knew the nation of Ishval had been annexed by Amestris before the civil war, but no one had mentioned Ishvalan soldiers among their ranks. She had never considered it, but she supposed it was possible that there were Ishvalans that would take advantage of the annexation and try to move through the ranks so that they could be part of their new country… or, part of the country that they had just joined. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't really aware of just how long Ishval had been a part of Amestris before the civil war broke out. She had never been given any numbers or details regarding that…

"It's true that Ishvalan blood flows through my veins," Miles' talking brought her out of her thoughts, "But my father and my grandmother were not from that region. They were a different race." He brought his hand up to his temple, pointing out his eyes to them more clearly, "My eyes are Ishvalan, though. My grandfather's blood runs strong." Well, that answered part of Amelia's questions, assuming that the parts of his family that weren't Ishvalan were also Amestrian… though, she could only assume. That would have meant that if it was enough time for two generations of mixed-race Ishvalan and Amestrian children to be born… then it would have been at least 10 years, maybe 20, before the civil war broke out.

Miles turned to face Edward fully, with a hard expression, "Amestrian, it was your people who destroyed the land of my grandfather." Amelia felt her blood run cold at his words, and for a long moment, there was silence. They couldn't really say anything, Amelia, out of ignorance, and the brothers because… he wasn't wrong. The Amestrians had screwed up, and it didn't help that Ishval was likely just part of a long-running game among the homunculi and others since the country was founded.

Edward, however, decided to break that heavy silence between them, taking a slow breath in and out before looking Miles back in the eyes and speaking, "Ishvalan, your people destroyed our countryside, and one of you is responsible for murdering my friend's parents."

"Ed!" Amelia turned to him in shock, eyes wide that he would throw that back at Miles for something he likely had nothing to do with.

"Careful, Brother!" Alphonse said in the same worried and scandalized tone that Amelia had taken on.

Edward didn't look at either of them, staring down Major Miles unflinchingly despite being so much shorter than the grown man. Amelia and Alphonse were mostly just worried about how the man would respond, having a comment like that thrown in his face. Would he hit him? Would he try to fight Edward over it? Would he pull rank and punish him somehow?

Major Miles didn't react at first, but then he smiled, which turned into a laugh, which left the three teenagers a little confused if relieved. "I'm sorry," He said, still smiling, "But that's the first time I've heard anyone give me that kind of an answer."

"What, you were testing me?" Edward asked.

"I know it was rude," His smile fell, "Since the war, Amestrians always view me with a mixture of guilt and pity. To be honest, I'm getting tired of it. But you're different, aren't you?"

"Well Major, an Ishvalan tried to kidnap me, nearly killed me, and then briefly fought alongside me. After all that, my feelings are a bit conflicted." Edward answered him, "Besides, I think people should try to ignore their race and just treat each other as equals."

Major Miles smiled again, putting his sunglasses back on before gesturing for Edward to walk on so he could continue to lead them to their work, Alphonse and Amelia followed behind them.

"Major Miles, were you on active duty during the war of extermination?" Amelia couldn't help but ask, curious as to his point of view now that the conversation had been brought to that topic.

"Yes, I was." He answered as he rounded a corner to an elevator, hitting a button and they all waited for it to arrive, watching as the needle lifted up from 0 to their floor at 25 — which Amelia hadn't realized they were so high up. "I've been under General Armstrong's command since then. The war began right after I was posted here. Many of my relatives, including my grandfather, were killed in the east. I fell outside the military's purge requirements, so I was spared."

"You didn't hold any grudge against the military?" Edward asked.

Miles turned to the two of them, "You don't understand how the world works now, do you?" Amelia frowned at that comment, and Edward did the same.

"I know I'm ignorant about some things," Edward admitted, "If I offended you, I'm sorry."

"An ignorant state alchemist, you say? Huh, interesting," Miles turned his head to look up at the needle as the elevator continued its ascent towards them, a bell dinging once as it arrived, and the doors opened.

"I'm not exactly up to date on everything in Amestris either, my contact outside of the military has been pretty limited, but I would think someone in your situation would have the right to feel angry after what happened," Amelia commented as they made their way inside. Once in, Miles reached for a panel of buttons to lead them to their destination, all of them unlabeled. Amelia noticed the difference between this elevator and the one that was in Central Command, this one seemed more advanced in comparison.

"I did resent the military's actions." Miles began as the elevator started to go back down. "I also had doubts as to why General Armstrong would keep me as her staff officer. The presence of someone with Ishvalan blood could cause discord among the soldiers stationed here. It would have been easier for her to get rid of me. Eventually, I just came right out and asked her. She told me that this was Briggs, that this territory must not fall no matter what happens, that every soldier here had to be strong and flexible so as to move as a cohesive unit under her leadership, and that Briggs didn't have the luxury of discrimination. She then went on to say that because of my heritage I brought different strengths and values than others. That I was able to see this country in a way she couldn't, and she needed my eyes to help her in her leadership since she was born and raised in Amestris. And she ended her speech by telling me to shut up and follow her."

"I guess that fits with her character," Amelia commented, surprised that she held that view, but given who the Armstrongs were and their openness to allow her into their home, she supposed it shouldn't have been. She was raised with their values regarding the lifestyle and honor, and it was clear she wanted to be the best leader possible for her fort.

"Her words made sense, and I knew she was speaking without deception." Miles continued, "I even went so far as to ask her, 'What if the Ishvalan blood within me cannot forgive what the military did to my people?' and do you want to know what the General said to that?" Amelia nodded, "She drew her sword and pointed it at me, telling me she would accept my challenge on behalf of the military, one-on-one. That was it."

"What a scary lady," Edward said, sharing a glance with his younger brother, "Maybe she said that because she had her troops with her?"

"No," Miles's voice changed, growing lower as he seemed to speak out of fear, "That wasn't it at all. The look in her eye… She was very serious, and she would kill me if I agreed to it."

"Jesus…" Amelia shuddered a little as she thought of it. The General was definitely nothing like the rest of her family. Her brother had his own guilt about the people he had killed, but it sounded like she had none at all. There was no issue there in her conscience, not to her. Her family was so empathetic that it was hard to believe that among all those warm, loving people, one of them would be so stone-cold as to straight-up tell one of her own men that she would kill him if he wanted to fight her.

As the elevator came to a stop, they came to a single room with only a door leading out. Stepping out they were met with the bracing cold of the snowy night and Amelia wrapped herself up as they moved out onto the balcony where the general had likely been standing before when they first arrived. As they came out to the section that was more open, they could see the snow had dusted over the ground, and icicles hung all over the ceiling.

"Do you know what the law is here?" Miles asked as they walked together.

"Survival of the fittest?" Edward answered, if unsure.

"That's right. Without power, you'll die. And if you have it, you might survive." Miles said. "That fact always remains the same, 365 days a year. It's a simple life, really. Whether you're a private or a general, race, ethnicity, and gender make no difference."

As he was talking, Edward's boot met the slightly upturned corner of a piece of metal on the floor that had curled in the cold weather, causing him to stumble forward. He grabbed onto the first thing he could, which was Amelia, who yelped as he pulled her down to the ground with him, and the two of them heard a shattering sound when they landed. Amelia had landed on top of Edward, and she looked back to see that, just where they had been walking, a giant icicle had fallen on where they had just been walking and might have killed them if Edward hadn't tripped and taken them out of that spot.

"Survival of the fittest in action," Miles said after a moment, looking down at the two teenagers with Amelia still laying on top of Edward, "Your luck was strong, so you both survived."

"I guess…" Amelia couldn't help but agree that they both got very lucky at that moment. She looked down at Edward, and his eyes met hers at the same time. The two teenagers seemed to realize just how close they were to each other at that moment, with Amelia on top of him. She was inches away from his face, and their bodies were almost completely pressing against each other. They both flushed and they both scrambled to stand up, not really looking the other in the eye. "Um, sorry about that…"

"No, hey, it was my fault for pulling you down…" Edward said.

Miles quirked a brow at their behavior but chose not to comment as he pointed up to the ceiling above them, "These icicles all need to be scraped off. That will be your job for today. When you're finished, one of my men will show you to your quarters." He turned to a door that they hadn't noticed, since it blended in with the rest of the wall, opening it out and pulling out the tools needed to do so. They were metal hooks of a sort, almost looking like scythes, though not quite as curved, and much thicker metal.

Amelia took one with a smile, "Oh, cool." She commented as she looked it over, Edward was in a similar state as he took his. "We use this just to scrape off the icicles? I feel like these could be weapons."

"Most things in the fort can double as a weapon if you're clever enough." Miles replied amusedly before he turned, "I'll leave you to it, Fullmetal Alchemist." And with that, he left them to do the job he had given them.

"Okay, well this doesn't seem so bad. We'll just have to watch where we're knocking them down." Amelia said, surprised that the job they got was so easy.

"Sounds like it," Edward agreed.

She picked up her stick, bringing it over to the icicles hanging above the balcony and reaching to knock down one, which pulled down three more that clattered along the outside of the wall of Briggs. She looked down to see how far they had fallen, as they were quite a few stories up, and a breeze caught her hair. She shivered and stood back away from the balcony to try and warm up before her breath caught at the sight of the landscape before her. The mountains of Briggs framed the snow-covered landscape, the sky had cleared of the blizzard that had been present before and showed a beautiful blue and starry night sky. "Oh, wow…" She couldn't help but be a little awestruck at the sight of it. The air was freezing, but the sight of the view in front of her was incredibly breathtaking. She wasn't used to seeing a sky so clear, as there were so few lights outside of Briggs from any locals. She could easily make out the milky way among the stars, and the moon was shining bright high above them. The land itself seemed to go on forever, making out the hills and the road they walked in on, as well as the trees of a far-off forest that seemed to stretch into the night sky before moving down the wave of a hill into the snow beyond their sight.

Edward came over to her side when he saw how awed she was, and he smiled as he looked out over the view, "Yeah… that's really something." He concurred with her muttered words of amazement. Alphonse came up next to them to join in the viewing, the three of them looking out over the early night sky in their winter environment. It was a land in all of its natural beauty, and it was hard not to be in awe of a world covered in a pure white coat of snow.

Amelia glanced over at Edward, seeing that his cheeks and nose had already turned red from the cold, as her own had likely. He noticed her looking at him and turned to look back questioningly. She smiled, "You know, for all the shit that's gone down, I'm really glad I met you guys." She spoke honestly, "I know that it's been kind of a pain to travel, but you guys are good people," She smiled up at Alphonse, who seemed to smile back, "You've done a lot to help me. And you brought me to a place with a view like this," She looked back at the winter scape, "I've never seen so many stars before…"

"Maybe we should take you back to Resembool once this is all over," Edward commented as he looked up at the sky, "There's no mountains blocking the view there. It's like the sky goes on forever."

Amelia smiled as she pictured the image Edward described, "Yeah, that sounds nice." Even in the cold, in the middle of their given job, there was an unusual serenity in looking out over the landscape before them that made Amelia believe that everything really would be alright in the end with General Armstrong, and the homunculi, and everything else that was crazy in their lives.