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…

29. A Break in Defense

29

As much as they had loved the stargazing they had at the beginning of their work, they obviously couldn't do that forever and went back to taking down the large icicles one after another from the halls of the fort's ceiling. Amelia and Edward brought up their ice picks up to reach the bigger ones with relative ease. Though, they were both struggling in comparison to Alphonse. Height played a very big factor in just how many icicles you managed to knock off, and Edward and Amelia were able to get a few of them, but there were those they couldn't reach. With Alphonse being in a 7-foot-tall suit of armor, he was able to get the ones they couldn't quite easily. It was simultaneously frustrating, and a little shameful for the two shorter ones since Alphonse ended up doing most of the work that they were supposed to be doing together.

Amelia reached up for one icicle off the edge of the balcony, and Edward was doing the same nearby, "Damn, I can't reach…!" He muttered as he stretched to try and get some of the smaller ones hanging to the edge.

"This is not work that should be done by us. Do you think they have longer ice picks we can use?" Amelia asked, wondering who they would even begin to ask for something like that.

While she was looking around, she saw someone heading towards them, seeing his gaze focused on Edward and Alphonse, "Huh? Is that really you?" He called out, getting their attention.

Edward gasped, recognizing him right away, "Officer Falman!"

"The Elric brothers! It really is you!" The man started to rush over to them, though not enough to worry about slipping. He was an older man with greying, dark hair and a face that spoke to just enough years of being dedicated to a specific cause, and very serious about it. He reminded Amelia vaguely of a stereotypical office worker, someone who was boring in his normal life, but tried to make up for it by being the best at his job, which basically turned his job into his life; without it, he would be nothing and he didn't want to acknowledge that. Still, he wasn't old enough to have dedicated his entire life to it, maybe in his early 30's. Or maybe he was younger than that and his seriousness just made him look older. He smiled at the three of them, glad to see faces he recognized, "What are you doing here?"

"Us? What about you?" Edward asked, "I thought you were at the Northern Command Center."

"Ha, ha, yeah," Falman moved one hand up to the back of his head as he smiled, "I was for a while, but then Northern Command bumped me up here." He brought his hand down, and they could see a single star on the shoulder of his cold-weather uniform.

"They promoted you!" Alphonse praised him, and the man's chest puffed up with a little more pride.

"Yeah," He confirmed, "I'm a Second Lieutenant now."

"Hey, that's great! Congratulations!" Edward's smile suddenly fell as a question was quickly brought up in his mind, "But why are you knocking down icicles?"

"If they have you doing menial work like this, then that means…" They've taken you off the career track was the unspoken phrase that Alphonse couldn't finish. Falman visibly winced and Amelia decided she would speak up before they made this man face the reality of how little his promotion that he worked for actually mattered in this new headquarters.

"Hey, who is this guy?"

"Huh? Oh, I guess you were never formally introduced." Edward said, "This is Warrant Off— I mean, Second Lieutenant Falman. He used to be one of Mustang's men. You met him that day after we had that battle with Scar, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," She remembered that brief meeting she'd had following the loss of Edward's automail arm where she had learned about the Ishval Extermination war, he had been there. "Sorry, I didn't mean to seem rude, but…"

"No, it's alright. I didn't recognize you without Major Armstrong hovering nearby, either." He brushed it off with a joke, and Amelia smiled as he held out his hand for her to shake, "But it's good to officially make your acquaintance, Miss Seymour."

"Just call me Amelia," She said as she reached out and shook his hand before pulling away.

"It's nice to see a friendly face around here," Edward said, "We just got through meeting with the general."

"Oh? I'm sorry, that must have been unpleasant. I heard she's a real ice queen."

"You can say that again," Edward crossed his arms over his chest, "First she tore up the letter of introduction I got from Major Armstrong — her own brother — and then she threatens to tear off my limbs!"

"She also called you Little Red Runt." Amelia added, an amused smile growing on her face as she saw how Edward immediately deflated at the nickname, "Which is something I'm totally going to use now, by the way."

"I'll drill you to hell and back if you do!" Edward threatened her.

"That sounds like the General…" Falman sighed, "But even with her strict nature, you have to admire her dedication."

"Her dedication?" Alphonse asked.

"Yes, she's been at this post for close to ten years now." Falman said, "She's actually done a great deal while she's been here, it's how she got promoted to Major General so quickly."

"Wait, ten years? How old is she?" Amelia asked, "I mean, I know the Major's probably in his late 30's or something, but how old does that make the General? She didn't look like she was anywhere near her 40's…"

"Major Armstrong? He's only just turned 30."

"WHAT?!" The three teenagers all shouted at once at this revelation, making Falman jump.

"I thought he had to be at least 35!" Amelia exclaimed.

"I thought he was 40-something!" Edward exclaimed.

"I-I know it seems odd, but the Major is much younger than he looks," Falman said quickly, trying to get his nerves back after shocking the three of them. "But, um, no one really knows how old the Major General is. You'd probably be better off asking the Major for the age difference."

"So… She could be 31? At least at the youngest, she's 31… Which means she was stationed here when she was 21 so…" She did a little math in her head to try and calculate her age and when she had been promoted to Major General. She might have been a lower rank upon arriving at the fort, and just got promoted and worked her way up, but how much could a person advance in 10 years? Probably a lot, she might have been the same rank as the man in front of her when she arrived before being appointed its commanding officer. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really know the exact age of anyone in the Armstrong family, she only had guesses. She looked up at Falman, "When is Major Armstrong's birthday, anyway?"

"It's sometime in November, I don't remember the exact day," Falman said with an apologetic shrug, "But I do know he's 30 now."

"Huh, I probably should have asked him when I was his apprentice." She decided to let the subject drop, but at least now she knew the ages of him, Strongine, and Amue.

"But what are you three doing out here?" Falman asked, "Did they put you on icicle patrol?"

"There's a patrol?" Alphonse asked.

"We were just told to do this job until one of Major Miles' men came to relieve us and take us to our quarters," Edward said.

"Oh, I report to him. He might have meant me." Falman said, "I was just about to go on patrol of my area, looks like you guys have already done a good bit of the hall." He said, looking behind them where there were very few icicles from where the three of them had knocked them down. "From this doorway on is my sector, why don't I help you get the last bit of these icicles here, and then I'll lead you to your quarters? We have them put aside for visitors to the fort."

"Sure, thanks." Edward agreed, and the four of them went to scrape off the last of the icicles on the ceiling of the hall.

"So, does the fort get many visitors?" Amelia asked curiously.

"Not often, mostly just the occasional officer visiting for some reason or other," Falman answered as he moved his scraper over one large icicle, hearing it clatter onto the metal floor below them before moving onto the next. "Civilians are basically no-shows up here unless they're desperate for supplies or help, or so I've been told."

Amelia let out an acknowledging hum at that information, and they finished their work quickly before Falman took their extended icepicks and put them away before starting to lead them down the halls, "Your quarters won't have their own private restroom, so you'll have to use the lavatories with everyone else." Falman mentioned.

"Will they be close to the room?" Amelia asked.

"Oh, sure. They're just around the corner." Falman answered as he led them down a set of stairs, and then turned, "And the room is where we store the spare blankets, so you should be plenty warm in there tonight."

"That's a relief, being in the cold for too long definitely isn't good for me…" Edward said with a small sigh, his hand going to his automail shoulder, rolling it as he tried to get more comfortable.

"Are your ports bothering you again, Brother?" Alphonse asked concernedly.

"It doesn't hurt, it's just annoying." Edward replied quickly, "I'll be fine, I just need to stay indoors for a while."

"The last thing we need is for you to get frostbite." Amelia said as they followed Falman around two more corners, "You could lose your whole shoulder, not to mention all that black, dead skin on your chest."

"Thank you for painting such a wonderful picture, Amelia." Edward drawled out with a sarcastic bite, "Like we don't have enough to worry about…" He looked over at Falman as he took them through an intersected hallway, and around the corner just after it, "Hey, so what else are we supposed to do while we're here? The General said she'd handle our search, but I don't want to just sit and wait for that to happen."

"Well, I'm not really sure." Falman replied, "I can check with my commanding officer and see about giving you some more work to do, but otherwise General Armstrong is pretty good about keeping to her word. The soldiers in this area are actually much more efficient than the ones I've seen in Central Command, I'm sure they'll find what you're looking for pretty quickly." He rounded a corner and they followed, stopping as they came to a door. "We're here."

He opened the door and revealed a room that was… pretty bare. There were four cots, and a closet door clearly marked "supplies" but not much else.

"I guess it's not exactly a hotel, is it?" Amelia asked as she stepped inside, looking to see their belongings had already been brought in as they had been piled up beside the door. She reached for her suitcase, which was under Edward's, yanking it up and pulling it over to a cot to set down.

"Sorry, that's Fort Briggs for you." Falman said with an apologetic shrug, "If you want anything to eat, the mess hall's just straight down the hall from here." He pointed in the direction they had been walking before they stopped, "It's the third door on your left. I'll let you guys settle in and get back to work, we can catch up afterward."

"Sounds good," Edward said, grinning up at him.

"We're glad we got to see you again, Second Lieutenant Falman." Alphonse greeted, and the man smiled as he used his new title instead of his old one from when they had known him before. The three shared a salute before he left to continue his work on the balcony.

Edward went for his suitcase, going over to the cot across from Amelia's and claiming it, "It's still kind of chilly in here." He commented.

"Yeah, but he said there were blankets in here…" Amelia left her suitcase where it was and went over to the door, opening it and revealing dozens of sets of blankets and pillows. She took two, bringing one over to Edward, and keeping one for herself, "There, now we have an extra pillow, and an extra blanket to keep us warm." She went over to her cot, noticing something pretty quickly about the blanket she had, "Wait… is this fleece? It's so soft!" She rubbed her hands over it with a gleeful smile.

"I guess it is." Edward said as he felt it, "That's good, we'll be plenty warm with these." He unfolded it and spread it over his bed, Amelia doing the same with her own cot, and taking the second pillow and putting it on top of the one she would sleep with that night. "You hungry? Because I'm starving."

"Totally, I haven't had anything to eat since the train!" Amelia said, "What did Falman say it was? Third door on the right…?"

"On the left." Edward corrected her, "You'll need to remember that. Forts like this have a lot of twists and turns, so it's really easy to get lost. You need to remember your steps exactly."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be fine." Amelia brushed it off as they went to the cafeteria to get a good meal in their stomachs.

"I'm serious. If you get lost, I'm not coming to get you." Edward insisted.

"Oh, please. If I get lost, you're the last person I would call on for help." Amelia snarkily replied back, the two bickering all the way to the cafeteria with Alphonse sighing behind them.

---

Dinner wasn't exactly spectacular, the food was mostly to fill one's stomach, less about flavor. When Amelia commented on how bland it was one of the soldiers nearby overheard and told her this was how it always was. No real reason why. Once their food was finished and they had nothing else, they returned to their room. After walking through a blizzard while delayed an entire day on their trip and their search for May and everything else that had happened that day, Amelia and Edward were eager to get to sleep.

The cots weren't exactly the comfort of the hotel beds they had stayed in the previous night, but they could look past it as they covered up in their warm blankets and went to sleep. Alphonse kept himself occupied by spending some time exploring the fort while they were asleep, which was fine with Edward. Amelia slept dreamlessly for a few hours until she felt her bladder demanding her to wake up and empty it.

She sighed as she was forced awake, getting up and finding her way out of the room in her pajamas. They were a matching set of a shirt and pants that had once been Amue's (she knew by the tag on the back that read her name) and they weren't much for the cold of the room outside of her cot with her fleece blankets, but she could deal with it. In her sleepy haze, she traveled out of the room without bothering to wake Edward to go and look for the lavatories. She rounded the corner near their door, following along the wall until she came to a door. She opened it to reveal a cleaning supply closet and closed it. She went across the hall to another door, which led to some kind of storage room. She sighed and went around another corner, trying another few doors until she finally got to the bathroom to relieve herself.

She came out and looked down the hallway, slightly confused as she tried to remember which way she had come before going to the right. She continued down the hall, turning around one corner and finding the door she was certain was her room, only to see another storage room filled with boxes. She frowned and closed it, concluding she must have gone the wrong way and should have gone left when she went right. She turned around and went back to where she was sure the lavatories were, but the hall was bereft of doors… okay, maybe it was the next corner down?

She continued as she walked down various hallways, looking into various doors and reading different signs near them to try and find the one she was looking for until she realized she had no idea what signified the door that meant the guest quarters were she and Edward were staying. She let out a long sigh as she realized she was hopelessly lost. She could feel panic bubbling up inside her throat, urging her to freak out, run around, beg for help, but she quickly collected herself to prevent that from happening. She took a deep breath, she knew what to do. Just because she was lost didn't mean she was hopelessly lost. Obviously, she was still on the same floor she started on, so their room must be somewhere around here. She just had to keep looking, avoid any stairs or elevators, and she would find it. She wandered around hallways, trying different doors to peek inside and see what was there. She came across a few supply closets, lots of storage rooms, and a couple of rooms that were sets of quarters for the soldiers, but obviously not the guest quarters where she was staying. She continued to aimlessly try doors, moving over the cold metal floor of the fort as she tried to find where she was staying. There had to be some kind of map nearby on the walls, surely the fort would allow that, even in their "only the strong survive" mantras…

She continued to look through different doors and around different corners, only getting more lost as she continued her journey. In her mind, she was fairly certain she was much farther than when she started, and not any closer to finding the guest quarters. She started wandering, trying doors, but also keeping an eye out for someone who could help lead her back to where she was supposed to be. Technically, she wasn't supposed to be alone and unsupervised, so surely a soldier would take up that helm and direct her back to where her alchemy teacher was so she wouldn't have to do that anymore.

She started to wonder just who would be up at this time of night. Maybe soldiers on the night shift? NightguardNight guard? Or… maybe early morning guard? What time was it? She felt so disoriented, it would have been funny if it were anyone else, but it was her, so she was mostly just worried and on the edge of panicking as she continued to walk around the halls. She came across sets of stairs a few times and walked right past them. There was no need for her to go anywhere near them, she just needed to stay on this floor, she didn't need to go looking anywhere else. Someone had to be on this floor somewhere, either being relieved to go to their quarters, or come retrieve something… if they even cleaned at night. She continued her trek through various doors that were anything but what she needed them to be, finding more lavatories, more quarters, more storage, more brooms, everything but her actual room!

Finally, she started to hear the sound of footsteps and she rushed over on her socked feet, thinking she could ask a soldier to direct her back to the guest quarters and get this over with. She rushed around a corner, an expectant smile on her face that quickly vanished as she recognized whose boots had been clicking along the metallic floor.

"What are you doing out of your quarters?" General Armstrong asked as she looked at the girl who had skidded to a halt in front of her, dressed in pajamas and socks.

"General! I, um…" She put her hands behind her back as a sheepish look came over her, "I'm a little lost."

"Clearly. By now, you should be asleep." The General stepped forward as Amelia stepped back, "You never answered my question."

"Question? Oh, right, why am I out…" She wilted under General Armstrong's icy stare, "I had to use the lavatories."

"You can't find them?"

"I did… But then I couldn't find my way back."

The General's plump lips curled into a disapproving scowl, which just made Amelia feel worse, "Come with me." She brightened up and followed behind the General as she started to walk through the halls.

"Thank you, General. I'm sorry, I think I just got really disoriented because I'm still tired." She said quickly. The General didn't reply, and Amelia couldn't help but feel a little more nervous as she followed her in tense silence for a few moments, the only sound she could hear was her socked feet hitting the metal floor, and the General's boots clicking against it. "Your fort really is incredible," She figured a compliment would be a good way to break the silence, "It's no wonder it's so highly regarded." Still, the general stayed in total silence as she continued to lead her down the halls, and Amelia only grew anxious in the silence. She wasn't used to this. She wasn't sure what to make of someone stone-walling her like this, she was used to people giving some kind of response back, either some lengthy speech, or clipped responses, or even just being told to shut up, all of that she was totally fine with, but total silence? It was unnerving.

As they continued down the various hallways and Amelia tried to make mental notes of everywhere they were going, she looked up at her, "You know, you and Katherine share a lot of features, it's easy to see the Armstrong family resemblance." That made the general stop in her tracks, and Amelia stopped, too. She looked up at the woman's back, standing stiff as she waited for her to say something as she watched her turn her head to look down one hallway, and then turn down the opposite one.

"This way." Was all she said, and Amelia followed her. She was incredibly uncomfortable in this silence, but it was clear that more prodding and poking wasn't going to change their situation, so she remained silent as she followed the General down different halls until they reached a set of stairs that the General started to walk up.

"Um, wait a minute, why are we taking the stairs?" Amelia asked, hesitating to follow her, "I thought my quarters were on this floor."

"We're not going to your quarters." The general replied, glaring down at her from her place on the stairs, "Now come with me."

"But…" She just wanted to get back to her room with the boys and go to sleep. General Armstrong wasn't about to have any of that.

"Now!" She ordered, and Amelia stood at attention, immediately going to follow her up the stairs to the next floor. She continued to follow behind as they went through different hallways.

"Um… if we're not going to the guest quarters you gave us, then where are we going?" She asked, a little worried that the general was aware of the agreement that she was to remain supervised at all times, or risk imprisonment. She wouldn't put it past her to keep such a strict hold on the rules that her walking around the fort would be a reason to put her behind bars…

"We're going to my quarters." She replied, and Amelia felt some relief at knowing it wasn't a prison, but still…

"Why?"

"Do you always ask questions to the orders you're given?"

"Well… no, not if it makes sense." Amelia replied, "But normally people don't 'order' me to do stuff."

"Then you would make a terrible soldier." Olivier replied, making Amelia frown, "A soldier does as he is told, no matter if it makes sense or not."

"Are you serious? Why would you do something if it didn't make sense?"

"Because that is a soldier's job."

"But that's so stupid!" The words blurted out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop them, and the general turned to face her with that icy glare that made her freeze in her tracks. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant, I—"

"—Be quiet!" General Armstrong ordered, and Amelia immediately shut her mouth as the older woman stepped forward with that glare still present on her face, "This is the reality that all soldiers face. You are nothing more than a tool for the sake of your country, and you will make use of yourself as that tool, be quiet, and obey. You are training to become such a soldier, and you will learn this now if you will learn it at all. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir! I-I mean Ma'am!" Amelia immediately spluttered out.

"Good." The general turned around and Amelia continued to follow her around a corner to reach a door that was marked 'General's Quarters' and went inside as General Armstrong opened it for both of them. The room didn't seem particularly… individual. If anything, it looked almost exactly like the guest quarters, except that there was a dresser and desk present instead of a completely empty room with a bed, and a single painting on the wall of a summer's day at a park. The desk was kept immaculate, the surface clean save for a single fountain pen and some kind of neatly-stacked group of folders. In fact, every part of the room was immaculate, all cleaned and near perfection.

The General turned to her, "Sit down." She gestured to the chair by the desk, and she did, turning it so she could face General Armstrong. She watched as the woman seemed not to pay her any mind for a few moments, taking off her gloves and her uniformed jacket, "You mentioned Katherine, you've met her?"

"Oh… uh, yeah." Amelia nodded, "When I was Major Armstrong's apprentice, I stayed at the Armstrong estate, so I met her and your other sisters."

The General let out a small hum as she went over to her dresser, opening up a drawer and Amelia watched with wide eyes as she pulled out a glass and a bottle of some kind of whiskey. She poured herself a glass before depositing it back in the drawer, "And, how are they? My sisters." She asked.

"They're… well, last I heard." Amelia said, unsure of what to make of this as she watched the General start sipping from her glass. She had never really seen anyone in the Armstrong family drink, outside of Phillip with a glass of red wine, but no one else ever really seemed to touch the stuff. "Katherine's still continuing her piano lessons with Strongine, and Amue's still very happy with her books. Oh, and Strongine has a suitor that she's seeing, with marriage being the end goal. She's really happy about it."

For the first time since she'd ever seen it, the corner of the general's lips turned up in what could almost be a smile, "Good, I'm sure she's enjoying her time." She took another sip of her whiskey and the almost-smile disappeared. There was silence again, and Amelia couldn't help but feel a little nervous once more.

"You know, it's strange how little they talked about you at the estate," Amelia commented, "I didn't even know you were one of the Armstrongs until I had been living there for about four months and Amue brought you up in passing." She looked up at the general, whose gaze was focused on her whiskey for the moment, "Are you…? I mean, I know that I'm prying, but… Are you on good terms with your family?"

"What business is that of yours?" Olivier snapped.

"It's not!" Amelia quickly replied, bringing her hands up defensively, "But… it just seems odd that they never talk about you. I mean, your family is full of very kind, supportive people. I don't really understand how you're not… more involved with all of that. Or they're not more involved with you."

The General looked up at her, "And what about your family?"

"My family?"

"Yes, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, ma'am. I'm an only child."

"And your parents, would you say you're on good terms with them?"

Amelia frowned, not answering right away, and Olivier's eyes narrowed, "No, I wouldn't say that we are."

"Most children without siblings get along well with their parents, it seems strange that you wouldn't."

"Yeah, well most parents are actually good at it." Amelia snapped back, crossing her arms as she sat back in the general's seat.

"And you presume that my parents are "good" at being parents?" Olivier asked, and Amelia looked back up at the general.

"Well… they seemed to be when I met them," She said, "I mean, your dad's a little full of himself, and I never really talked to your mom, but everyone in your family seemed to be well-adjusted for the most part."

"Is that what you believe?" Olivier asked, and Amelia looked up at her in confusion. "You know very little about the Armstrong family." She went back to the drawer from before, taking out the whiskey bottle and topping off what remained in her glass, "I was the eldest child, given the curse of being born a girl rather than the son my father was hoping for. Even still, he gave me the name he wanted to give to his son, which was after his great grandfather Olivier Martin Armstrong." She pulled out a second glass, pouring some whiskey into it before depositing the bottle back into the drawer, "I was taught the family alchemy and brought up as the heir until my mother gave birth to what was supposed to be my two younger twin sisters, and they turned into triplets with the son my father had been desperately hoping for." She walked over to the desk, placing the second cup in Amelia's hands. "Suddenly, my place as the heir was lost and I was to be second in line, all because I was born a woman."

Amelia held the glass and looked up at the Major, timidly asking, "Is that why you hate your brother? It's not his fault that happened to you…"

"I'm well aware of that. I do not blame Alex for being born, I blame my father for pushing me aside despite the fact that I am clearly better suited to the position of heir." She sipped from her glass again, "The reason I hate Alex is because he's a miserable coward."

"What?" Amelia could hardly believe what she was hearing, "What are you talking about? Major Armstrong isn't a coward."

"He abandoned his post in Ishval and was sent home because he couldn't fulfill his duties as a soldier." Amelia scowled as she heard that.

"Now, hold on a minute." She put down the drink that Olivier had given her, "Ishval was a long time ago, your brother was really young when that happened! And he didn't abandon his post, he was dismissed!"

"It's the same thing."

"It's not!" Amelia stood up from her seat, "The Major was traumatized by what happened to him in Ishval! And since I only just found out he's 30, that means Ishval had to happen when he was 20, maybe younger! Of course, seeing bloodshed in a genocidal war would traumatize someone! He couldn't function under those conditions! He's only human!"

"He is a soldier!" Olivier's voice boomed over her own, "It is not his job to see the blood around him and quake in his boots like a child."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw the shit he did!"

"And what would you know of what Alex saw in war? Were you present to see the trauma that took place?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Did he ever tell you what he saw?"

"No, but—"

"Then how would you know there was trauma at all? How could you possibly think to say anything about what happened and how it affected him?"

"How can you?! You're saying all this shit about him, but you were never there!"

"Yes, I was!" Amelia was stunned into silence, "You think I rose through the ranks just during my time in Briggs? Do you believe I earned my place as General while here? I was in Ishval, I was called to arms just like all the other Central soldiers! I fought the Ishvalans, I took no prisoners, and I followed orders!" She took a step forward with every sentence, and Amelia stepped back into her seat, "I became a Major General and worked my way through the ranks until I came here to Briggs! I saw the same things he did, did the same things he did, and there was no trauma. I was a soldier, I did as I was told, I didn't cower and lose myself like he did!" At the end of her tirade, Amelia was leaning back in the chair as Olivier loomed over her, "That is why I hate Alex. He is a dishonorable man who was dishonorably dismissed." She stood back up and took a swig of her whiskey before looking back down at her.

There was a long silence where Amelia wasn't really sure what to say in the face of this information, knowing how she felt and knowing how the Major felt. She still remembered that night she snuck into his room to find that map, and how painful his expression had been when he caught her arm and begged for forgiveness. She frowned and looked back at the General.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you're right." She said in a soft voice, "Your brother did his job as a soldier, and he was hurt for it. He doesn't deserve any hatred, he deserves compassion and support."

"That's just another way to say you pity him."

"It's not." She spoke firmly, "Your brother is one of the strongest, most courageous, most compassionate, kind, and gentle people I've ever met, despite the fact that he's a soldier. He knows his kindness isn't the best option as a soldier, but he doesn't care, and he chooses to be kind anyway. He's not cold and shut off like you are, he's open and caring, and genuine. He's a good person, and he doesn't deserve your bullshit excuses to hate him." Olivier glared at her, but this time Amelia glared back. She wouldn't back down from this, the Major didn't deserve this attitude he got from his own family, and Olivier might see herself in the right for it, but she refused to believe that.

"This kind of talk would be considered insubordination," Olivier said, "You're speaking back to a superior officer."

"So what? I'm telling the truth."

There was a long pause as Olivier took a long look at the young woman in front of her. She could easily see her reflection in the young girl, that defiant glare that resonated through her body, the assurance in everything she said. She let out a small hum and drank the last of her glass before going to put it up on the dresser while Amelia remained seated.

"You remind me of someone I knew once," She said to her, going back to the glass that Amelia had left untouched, picking it up, "I haven't thought about her in a long time." She placed the still half-full glass on the dresser and turned back to Amelia. "But they're good memories."

She wasn't really sure how to respond to that, "You're… welcome?"

Olivier looked back at her, "The reason I brought you here was because I wanted to see what information you were hiding from me." Amelia's eyes widened, "But it seems now that you won't cooperate with me. Usually, I could have you placed into a much longer interrogation, but seeing as you're not within my custody, I can't exactly do that without Fullmetal's permission, and I doubt he would allow it since he's hiding something from me, too." She walked over to the door, opening it, "Go back down the stairs and move straight down the hall. Your quarters will be on your right at the corner before a dead end."

"Uh… thank you, General." Amelia cautiously stood up and looked down the hall, seeing the stairs they had come up. She turned around to bid the woman goodbye, but she shut the door in her face before she ever had the chance to open her mouth. She stood outside of her quarters for a moment, trying to compile her feelings on everything that just happened, but the most pressing thing was that the General knew they hadn't told her everything. She blamed Edward and Alphonse for being too obviously tense when they had told the story, but she couldn't do anything about it now. Her being suspicious of what they were hiding would only make matters worse for them in their time here, so hopefully, they could just avoid her until they found May.

She let out a long sigh, turning and making her way down the stairs, going straight down the hall just as the general had told her. She came to a dead-end hallway, and she went to the next corner on the right, finding a door marked 'Guest Quarters' just above it. She hadn't noticed that before. She opened the door, seeing the dark room with Edward still lying on his cot and snoring quietly. She closed the door behind her and went to her own, sitting on the edge as she tried to think about what all they could do now that the general knew what was happening. Or, at least, knew something was happening. Something that they were keeping from her for good reason, but she didn't know that.

She let out a long sigh and laid back on her cot, staring up at the dark ceiling as she pulled up her blankets. For now, she knew there wasn't anything that could be done other than to wait and hope she doesn't bring it up. She could wake up Edward now and tell him, but it would only worry him. She could tell him in the morning when their sleep would be able to help them more. How would they go about this? How could they? They could avoid General Armstrong for a while, but eventually, she would end up talking to them again about finding May at the very least. Would she try to separate them again and interrogate them like she had with her? Though, she imagined a real interrogation with General Armstrong would be much less comfortable than sitting in her desk chair with a glass of whiskey while she asked questions. She was fairly certain if the General could get away with torturing the answers out of her, she probably would have (Wait, was torture allowed as a form of interrogation in Amestris? It's not like they have the Geneva Convention here… she'll ask Edward about it tomorrow).

She didn't really want to think about it, she just wanted to go back to sleep!

---

She eventually did go back to sleep, though with more worrying and fretting about what they're going to do about General Armstrong and her suspicions. She didn't sleep as well as she could have in that situation, and she was woken up when Alphonse returned to the room. She sat up and he noticed right away, "Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No, you're good." She said, "I didn't sleep well, I'm pretty sure any kind of bed check would have woken me up."

"Oh… are you okay? Is it too cold?" He asked quietly as he moved as carefully as he could through the room so he wouldn't be too loud, though she could already see Edward stirring. As much as Alphonse tried to be considerate, his body couldn't really avoid making noise.

"I got lost last night," Amelia said, "And the general found me." Edward sat up in bed and looked over at her, clearly having heard what she said, "She knows we're hiding something. I don't know how she knows, but she knows we're not telling her the full story." Edward frowned at the news, "She made sure to tell me as much last night."

Ed let out a long sigh as he heard this, his flesh hand running through his loose hair. "Okay, this isn't the worst thing. She has no proof that we're hiding anything, so she can't pursue it too hard."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, she's already looking for May, so that's already occupying her time on top of running this fort." Edward said, "Did you tell her anything that might make her think she was right?"

She shook her head, "No, we just… we talked about her family. Which, by the way, I suspect she has a lot of daddy issues." She paused, "Not too unlike yourself, actually." Edward scowled at her, and she continued to look straight at him, "You have issues, you can't deny that with your super-sensitive temper." Edward grumbled, but he decided to let it go.

"Well, whatever, with her so busy, it gives us a chance to do something important," Edward stood up, stretching out his limbs from his sleep on the cot.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Alphonse agreed.

"Wait, what are we doing?" Amelia was confused.

Edward looked over at her, "Training you, obviously. We need to brush up on your combat skills."

"What?! Are you serious?" She held up her recently injured arm, "The doctor said I wasn't supposed to exercise with this arm, Ed." She also just really, really, really didn't want to fight Edward again.

"Well, let's check the stitches and see how much you've healed." He said as he came over, and Amelia frowned.

"It's been two days, Ed. There's no way the skin has healed over my stitches." She said as she started to undo the bandages to prove it to him, opening up her arm to show that her stitches were still very much present in her forearm.

"Well, then we won't use that arm." Edward said, and Amelia frowned, "Don't look at me like that, I can make it fair. I'll only use one arm, too." He promised, putting his automail arm behind his back with a grin.

"Seriously? The last thing I want to do right now is spar with you." She said as she started rifling through her bag for some fresh bandages to replace her old ones.

"I think we should make use of the time that we have," Edward said, "Especially considering what happened back in North City." Amelia paused as she remembered it. She had been so afraid in that moment when she realized it was Envy, her fighting wasn't exactly great. She had panicked and ended up using alchemy instead of fighting back like Edward had taught her. "We need to move you past that point where your fight or flight instincts take over and get you more comfortable with hand-to-hand combat."

She sighed as she started to wrap her arm up with gauze, "Okay, fine. I can agree with that… But can we just make sure it's not outside somewhere? It's fucking freezing."

"Yeah, that's not gonna be a problem. We'll eat breakfast, and then we'll work on fighting." Edward said, and he watched as Amelia wrapped the gauze around her arm, "You're using too much."

"Well, I'm not exactly familiar with how much gauze is appropriate since I don't usually get hurt that bad." Amelia bitterly got out, and she was a little surprised when Edward's hands reached out to take the gauze from her, starting to wrap up the rest of her arm in a way that was a little less wasteful.

"I would rather prefer you're not familiar with it." He said as he finished covering her arm and sealing it off. He looked up at her, his hand on her wrist with a grin, "So, we'll just fight and make it so that you can dodge and hit better, and you'll get hurt less."

"I somehow doubt that, but okay," Amelia said, taking her wrist back and the pair of them decided to get ready for the day.

---

"Ugh!" Amelia was knocked back and her feet skid on the floor for a second before she fell back. She sighed as she looked up at the fluorescent lights with a furrowed brow, and she stayed there for a little bit.

"Amelia, come on." Edward came over to her, leaning over where she lay on the padded floor.

After breakfast, they ran into Falman again and asked if there was a place they could practice fighting, and he brought them to a place where the Briggs soldiers would practice their own martial arts with each other. He gave them a rather detailed explanation about their history with martial arts and their development with their own unique form, but most of it had been long forgotten by the time as Amelia and Edward had started fighting each other. Now, she was laying back on the padded floor, her eyes narrowing at Edward, who narrowed his right back as he held out his hand.

"This is really getting annoying." She said as she took his hand and let him help her back up. She stood up with a sigh, already a little out of breath as she took a second to rest with her hands on her knees.

"You need to stop being so afraid of getting hurt," Edward said as he walked over a little way from her. She lifted her head up and glared at him again.

"Oh, gee, because no one would have the self-preservation to avoid pain naturally, so I guess that's a behavior I need to unlearn." She was feeling particularly salty after being knocked down four consecutive times. Edward gave her a dry look in response, and she stood up, "I'm sorry, but I just don't get how me wanting to avoid pain is a bad thing."

"You're afraid of hurting yourself when you try to hurt me." Edward said, "You can't be afraid of bruised knuckles when you punch someone, or a sore hand if you chop them on one side. That kind of hesitation is something that can really hurt you."

"Jesus Christ…" She sighed, standing up, reaching to fix her ponytail back again before looking up at Edward with a determined glare. She knew he was probably right, and she didn't want to admit it, but she could at least try to get over this fear she had. She put her injured hand behind her, and Edward did the same with his automail hand, "Alright, fuck it, let's go." She charged him, coming at him with her uninjured hand, his flesh one blocking her hit, and so she came at him with her feet, trying to knock him off balance, but he was able to move around her. She threw a punch to his face, only for him to dodge, move his shoulder under her chest to move her up and flipped her over onto the padded floor again. She let out a breath before she pushed herself up and charged him again, grappling with him with her one good arm and he fought back. The two moved around as Amelia kept trying to get a good grip on him to where she could get some leverage on him and put him at a disadvantage for once, but he always seemed to know where she was going and move so that she couldn't get a grip. At one point, she stepped in the right way for Edward to hook his foot behind her heel and knocked her off balance, forcing her to the ground.

"Fuck!" She grunted as she landed, panting for breath as she could already feel her body growing hotter and her muscles tensing and twitching from all the work she had done. She didn't get up, and Edward walked over to her. When he offered his hand, she didn't take it, "I need a minute."

"Another one?" Edward asked with a smug grin that just irked Amelia, and he knew it.

"You wipe that smile off your face," She ordered, pointing at him.

"Make me," Edward challenged, offering his hand again. She took it with her injured hand, her other one coming up swinging and knocking him back.

"Ha!" Her small, sucker punch victory was short-lived as Edward quickly tackled her, grabbing her around her waist, hefting her over his shoulder while she squealed, and he dropped her back onto the padding again. "Oh, for fuck's sake!" Edward let out a laugh at her frustration as she pushed herself to sit up on the padded floor, "Can we break? Like ten minutes? Seriously."

"Yeah, you've earned a break," Edward replied and Amelia pushed herself to stand. She checked over her arm, seeing that there was no sign of the stitches breaking or any blood, so there was that relief as she went over to where Alphonse had been spectating, which happened to be next to a water fountain she greedily drank from for a moment before lifting her head back up and looking back at Edward to see him smiling at her with his arms crossed in a way she wasn't used to.

"What?"

"You're getting better," Edward said, still smiling, "You're actually making some impressive progress, despite your injury. Before it would only take me a second to get you down on the floor, now you're holding your own for longer."

"Yeah, for like 4 seconds," Amelia said with a wry chuckle.

"But that's really good! Seriously, I'm really proud of your work on this." Her eyes widened a little bit as he said that, feeling something inside of her reacting at his words about how proud he was of her. She felt her heart flutter a little bit, and she quickly tried to dismiss those feelings, "I don't know where this new energy came from, but I like it."

"I'm pretty sure it came from the pure desire to spite you." Amelia joked as she let Edward take a drink before making her way back over to Alphonse. She took a small towel to wipe away the sweat that was on her forehead, letting out a sigh.

"You really are getting better," Alphonse commented, and she smiled at him, "Brother's not wrong about your progress, you're doing really well."

"Thanks, Al," She took a seat on a bench, "It doesn't really feel like progress when the best I can do is sucker-punching, though."

"It's better than nothing," Alphonse replied.

"Yeah, but… isn't it kind of a dirty move?" Amelia looked up at the armor.

"As Brother likes to say all the time, 'There's no such thing as 'dirty' in a fight.' When you're fighting, you're fighting for something important and victory means you get to live in most of our cases. Dirty doesn't matter when it means you can win." Alphonse paused before he added, "Although, I think it's different when you're paid to fight someone for a show. There are more rules there."

Amelia chuckled and sat back with her hands on the edge of the bench. She looked up at the lights above them again, letting out a small sigh, "I guess I am kind of scared of getting hurt." She admitted to Alphonse as Edward came over to rejoin them, "I'm not exactly used to living a life where my life is at risk constantly because of crazy monsters that want to rule the world, or whatever. I guess, in comparison to what you guys do all the time, I've been pretty sheltered."

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," Edward said as he came over to sit beside Amelia, "Just because you come from a background where you didn't have to learn how to fight doesn't mean you can't now. Besides, I don't really think it's your previous life at home that makes you not want to get hurt," Amelia looked over at him, curious to hear the rest of his theory, "I think you just don't like hurting people because you're nice and soft at your core."

"Psh! You wish." Amelia scoffed, playfully pushing his shoulder, and he pushed her back with a grin. "I'm not nice, that's just not what fits me."

"Sure, it does! You've always been kind of nice if a little rough around the edges." Alphonse said.

"No, I don't think so," Amelia replied, her smile falling a little bit as she thought about the times where she wasn't so nice, long before she met them. She stood up, letting out a long breath as she stretched her shoulders a little bit. "Okay, I think I've had enough of a break," She said, turning to Edward and changing the subject before they had a chance to dive further into what she meant, "Let's go again. I want to get better at this."

"Oh. Okay," Edward got up and followed her out onto the mat again, going back into their practice brawl.

---

After a lot of fighting and plenty of bruises in different places, Amelia felt like she had actually made some progress, though she ended up breaking some of her stitches, which required a visit to the medical wing to get them corrected and bandaged properly. They ended up going back to the doctor who had helped with Edward's exposure, who had just barely finished numbing Amelia's arm before going back to fix the work that had been undone.

"If you knew you weren't supposed to exercise with this arm, why did you?" She asked as she started to sew things back in place.

"Practice got a little out of hand, I wasn't supposed to use this arm, but… I really wanted to win." Amelia admitted, and the doctor sighed as she finished her work.

"You really should be more careful. If these continue to break, your skin won't heal properly, and I definitely don't think you need to get an infection." She said as she stood up, handing her the gauze, "Alright, I've done the hard part, I'm sure you can do the rest. Just try to keep it clean and still over the next few days."

"Yes, Doctor," Amelia said as she took the little gauze tape as she walked out with the Elric brothers.

"That was kind of a dirty move, grabbing me from behind like that," Edward said as they left as Amelia started to unwrap the gauze.

"Alphonse says that you like to say there's no such thing as dirty in a fight. We were fighting. Shit got dirty." She said as she tried to make the tape stick to one part of her numb forearm, but it was difficult to feel when it was sticking, and she kept pulling it off without meaning to.

"And bloody! Maybe you should take it a little easier." Alphonse added worriedly as he watched her struggle with her gauze. "Maybe we should keep your arm in a sling next time."

"Then Ed's going to have to do that, too," Amelia said as she continued to fumble with the tape.

"I will, but… here, let me do that." He said, reaching for the gauze and she held out her arm, "I'll use a sling, but we need to work on that whole thing you have about not hitting hard enough. I get it if you're afraid of hurting yourself, but you're going to get hurt no matter what, so I think some bruised knuckles are better than a broken jaw."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Amelia sighed as he continued to wrap up her arm. "I just… don't really like it. I've never really hit someone before or been hit."

"Well, maybe that's part of it." Edward said as he kept going, "You don't really want to hurt people at your core," He grinned teasingly without looking at her, "Because you're so nice and sweet inside."

"Shut up, I am not." Amelia snapped at him.

"Sure, you are," Edward replied as he finished up his work.

"No. I'm not." Her firm tone caught their attention and Amelia frowned as she withdrew her injured arm. "I… I'm not like you guys. I mean, you fight bad guys and you save the good guys and you do all this stuff because you want to believe people are good, and I get that. I used to be that too, but I'm not this nice person like you all say." She looked up at the brothers, who were looking back at her, "You know Katie? The girl who helped me open the portal?" They nodded, "Well, I wasn't exactly nice to her. She would bug me all the time about things I didn't care about, and I would ignore her, and she would know that I was ignoring her. I would belittle her and everything she liked because I didn't understand it, I was better than her… or at least, I acted like I was. I don't know why she kept hanging around me when I kept tearing her down like that. I didn't see anything good in her, just some… clingy, annoying girl that wouldn't shut up when I told her to. I would insult her, demean her, I would be terrible to her."

There was a pause for a moment before it was broken by Alphonse, "But if you were really so awful to her, why would she open the portal for you?"

"That's the part I don't understand! I was horrible to her, why would she sacrifice herself like that?! There should have been no reason for her to do that at all!"

"Well… she could have seen that part of you, even when you thought she didn't." Edward thought out loud.

"But that part isn't there."

"You keep saying that,"

"Because it's true!"

"Maybe it was when you met her, but not anymore." Edward shot back, "Why do you think she would keep sticking with you when you were terrible to her? What about when you were friends? You were together when she transmuted."

"Yeah, because she was over at my house and decided to transmute in my garage."

"So why was she there?"

"I don't know! I think she invited herself over and I just didn't care enough to correct her." She reflected over her past with Katie, "I mean… that's what a lot of what we did was. She would talk about junk and I wouldn't listen until the last minute and she would tell me what I had just agreed to."

"Would you have let her do that if you hated her? Or if you were as awful as you keep saying you were?"

"I…" Amelia wasn't sure how to answer, "I was raised to be civil and… I don't know."

"Amelia," Edward put his hands on her shoulders to get her attention focused on him, "It sounds like she was your friend, and she saw herself as your friend. Even if you say that you were this terrible person, it sounds like you were lonely, and maybe she was too. Maybe she just wore down a little bit of that rough edge you have and stayed your friend."

Amelia wasn't sure how to react at first, and she looked down at her feet as she tried to think over her relationship with Katie. It had just started during her first days in piano class, and they had just small talk if she remembered right… but it felt like so long ago now, she couldn't really remember anything. "I… I guess? I guess she just wore me down after a while and… I just let her talk and stuff, even though I wasn't listening." She looked up at Edward, "But I wasn't lonely."

"Whatever, you get my point." Edward pulled his hands off of her, "Even if you say she wasn't your friend and you weren't nice, it's obvious she saw things differently and that's why she did what she did." Amelia still looked down at her feet but raised her head up at Edward.

"I guess you're right, but it just doesn't feel that way…" Her hand moved over her newly bandaged arm.

"Well, feelings and facts don't always mix, so that's your problem," Edward said.

"Brother, you could try to be a little more sensitive." Alphonse chided.

"What? It's not my fault she feels bad for something stupid!" Amelia chuckled a little at the bickering brothers.

"It's okay Alphonse, I think I get his point." The two of them looked over at her, "I'll… get over it. I don't want to think that I was the person I was when I met Katie, and maybe I still am, but all you can ever really do is move forward, so I'll just try to move into being a better person?" She cringed a little towards the end of her sentence, "That came out really corny…"

"Hey, it works for me. As long as you're not so down anymore." Edward replied, and Amelia smiled, the three of them walking down the hall and further into the fort when a familiar face turned a corner and almost bumped into them.

"Oh, Edward!" Falman jumped a little when he saw them, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"We didn't see you either." Edward said, "Sorry about that."

"Are you going back on icicle patrol?" Alphonse asked.

"No, I was actually about to go and get some lunch at the mess hall," Falman said, "Have you eaten?"

"No, not yet, but I could definitely use some lunch now that you mention it." Edward said, and he turned to Amelia, "What about you?"

"Sure, splitting my stitches really worked up an appetite." Amelia agreed, looking up at Falman, "Would you mind leading the way? We're not really sure where the mess hall is on this floor…"

"Oh, it's on the next floor up, actually," He said as he started to lead them towards the stairs, "It can take a little while to figure out how everything works here when you first arrive. If you like, I could give you guys a tour after we eat?"

"That's not—"

"That would be great!" Amelia interrupted Edward, who frowned at her, "What? I'm not going to end up in the General's quarters again just because I couldn't find the bathroom."

Lieutenant Falman looked visibly distressed at that news, "Wait, what?"

"Okay, fine, but I think it would be good for you to just be mindful of where you're going." Edward continued as if he didn't hear Falman.

"A tour would help with being mindful, that way I have a basic idea of where everything is instead of haplessly searching for a map."

"Alright, alright, you made your point." Edward relented.

"Um…" Falman looked between the two teenagers, "You accidentally went into the General's quarters when you were looking for the bathroom?"

"No, the General found me after I got lost looking for the guest quarters after going to the bathroom," Amelia said, "She talked with me for a bit and then she kicked me out."

"And you lived?"

Amelia grimaced as she realized just how bad the General's reputation was as they went into the mess hall with the Lieutenant.

---

After a somewhat filling lunch, the four of them proceeded with the tour, making notes of the floors where they could find the things that would be of the greatest importance to them while they were here: The floor with their quarters, the medical wing, the general's office, the training room (most of which they already knew where to find more or less), as well as exits out of the fort back into Amestris since they had no intention of going over the border to Drachma, though Falman intended to start the tour with something interesting beyond all of those things.

He led them to an elevator and they went down, down, down for what seemed like ages until they reached a massive room filled that had a myriad of things being constructed on different tables and platforms, but the biggest, and most notable, were the rather large metal tanks that were being pieced together by engineers.

"This is the development sector," Falman introduced it as they walked in, overlooking the development floor that was constructing everything a couple of stories below them.

"Wow, this is kind of cool," Amelia said as she looked over all of it from their high standpoint.

"What's it for?" Edward asked.

"It was General Armstrong's idea. This department researches the country's latest technologies and develops them into weapons." Falman answered as he led them along a catwalk balcony above everything.

"Does that include combat automail?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, now come on. Follow me," Falman led them further down to a set of stairs on the other side of the room, and opening the door they were greeted with a sudden rush of hot air as they were brought into a room filled with massive piping all along the walls and floors, all of them could hear a strange humming reverberating through the walls and echoing through the air around them. "This is the lowest level of Fort Briggs."

"It's so warm down here! Not like it was up above" Edward commented, already feeling like he was sweating underneath his coat as they walked down the stairs to the floor.

"No kidding," Amelia agreed, "So what happens on the lowest level?"

"All the fort's most important functions, its lifelines, come through here." Falman answered, "Even if the fort's attacked, this area will remain safe."

The three of them were gawking over the massive size of the pipes twice the size of cars like teenagers were wont to do in situations like this, and none of them noticed a particularly beefy engineer making his way in and pushing between Edward and Alphonse as they stood just outside the front of the entrance.

"Hey, kid, move out of the way! Not a great place to stand!" He said as he pushed by them and kept walking, toolkit and pipeline in hand.

"Oh, sorry!" Edward called back.

"Hey, Bobby!" Another engineer called out to the beefy one, "It's this pipe, over here!"

They watched as Bobby went over to the pipe in question, pressing his ear on the side. He spoke a little too quietly for them to really hear what he was talking about, but soon he pressed his ear to the ground beside the pipe, and they could feel rumbling underneath their feet. It only grew stronger until the ground under the engineers began to crack open, forcing something to come up and destroy one of their pipes, making them all run for cover as a rather massive, muscular man began to pull himself out from under the ground. He was huge, easily 8 or 9 feet tall, with a wide jaw that was slacked to one side, greasy black hair that hung in strands around his large head, and two massive chains hanging from his wrists on his long, gorilla-like arms, but the most important thing about him was the back of his right shoulder — it bore the symbol of the ouroboros.

"A homunculus…!" Edward instantly recognized what he was, though they had no idea who he was. He stood up in front of them, seeming to stare directly at Edward, Alphonse, and Amelia. Edward stepped forward in front of his brother and Amelia, fearing that this homunculus had been sent there because they had somehow found out that they had all come to the fort to try and find a way to fight them.

He stared down the homunculus, ready for a long monologue about the futility of humanity like Envy might give, or the announcement that he might be hungry and want to eat all of them like Gluttony, or even just a declaration of war against them for daring to go against their wishes, he expected this beast of a homunculus to say something and he would stare him down until he spoke.

The stare down finally ended after a few intense seconds when the homunculus's head dropped and let out a sound that was very clearly snoring. He fell asleep while standing up…!

"Is he seriously asleep?!" Amelia could hardly believe what they were seeing since it was so… out of character in comparison to the other homunculi they had met. He hadn't said a word, just stood there and intimidated the hell out of them, though it seemed it was likely unintentional, and he just decided to fall asleep and stare off into space in what happened to be their general direction.

The homunculus lifted his head up as he heard Amelia's voice, now actually looking at the three of them, "What's this…?" He slowly asked in a voice that was heavy and a little slurred, speaking to how tired he might have been. Amelia's first thought about this homunculus was that he might be called Sloth if they were all named after sins.

"Uh… I'm guessing that creepy guy back in Central who you call "Father" told you about us." Edward began.

"But…! You see…! We're just trying to find a way to get our bodies back, that's all!" Alphonse quickly defended.

The homunculus tilted his head to one side, "Why should I care about you…?" No one was really sure how to answer that, and the three of them remained silent. With no response, the homunculus began talking to himself, uncaring that the three teenagers were intensely watching his every move, or that he was surrounded by Briggs soldiers and engineers that were all armed with various weapons of their own making, or literal weapons, ready to strike, "'Go dig a hole' how annoying…" He started to take slow steps away from the hole he had made to come in to go to another part of the fort, each step thudding loudly against the ground, "Really… what a pain…"

"What is he talking about?" Amelia asked, wondering what was going on.

"Does he really not know…?" Edward was confused about the whole thing as well.

"No, I don't think he's heard about us from Father or Fuhrer Bradley," Alphonse concluded as they watched the huge homunculus take yet another slow step in a seemingly aimless direction.

A shot rang out, and Edward jumped with a loud yelp as he looked down at his feet to see the hole a bullet had made when someone had fired a gun at him and just barely missed. He looked up to see Captain Buccaneer pointing a pistol at them, "Ah-ha! So, it turns out that you really are a Drachman spy!"

"No, we're not!" The trio yelled at him.

"I saw you talking to the intruder like you knew who he was!" Captain Buccaneer accused them again.

"No, we weren't!" Edward snarled out, getting tired of their seemingly endless accusations and mistrust of their identity.

"Your lies won't fool me!" Buccaneer declared as the homunculus seemingly found what he was walking towards, picking up a huge piece of unattached pipe muttering "In the way…" before he grabbed it with his massive hands to throw it.

"I'm not lying! We've never even met that guy!" Edward didn't notice it, but Alphonse looked back in time to see the huge piece of pipe coming flying towards them, and he pushed Amelia and Edward forward to run so they wouldn't get crushed by it as it hit the ground hard, cracking the pavement underneath before falling down flat with a resounding bang!

That act was enough to get their attention away from Edward, Alphonse, and Amelia being potential spies to focus on what was clearly the bigger issue. The homunculus faced the other engineers that were near a service elevator, all of them slowly backing away as the homunculus started walking towards them, still muttering to himself, "What is this place…? This place is big…" As he grew closer to the elevator, the engineers fled, "Ugh… can I stop digging now that I'm here…?"

Buccaneer brought in soldiers, armed with rifles, commanding them to get ready to defend their fort, "Fire!" he ordered, and the rounds rang out, all deflecting off of his skin and the homunculus continued to walk as if nothing was wrong at all. "The guns aren't affecting him at all!"

The homunculus got on the elevator, his hand unintentionally knocking one of the levers that operated it, pushing it up towards the next floor above. "Where am I…?" He kept muttering to himself as he rode it up.

"This is bad, that thing's going up to Development." Buccaneer waved his hand, keeping his eye on the homunculus, "Get him! Go!" he ordered, and his men rushed off to do just that to try and beat the homunculus there. Orders rang out from different soldiers to contact Development and make them ready for what was coming, and to cover the hole in case there were others. Chaos starting to break out as everyone scrambled to find a way to stop him from doing any damage.

"Come on, let's see if we can help!" Edward said, not one to just stand around and watch.

Amelia and Alphonse followed him up the stairs where they could see the engineers had barricaded the elevator entrance as the homunculus arrived. They were armed with heavy tools as weapons, but not any guns or anything. As the homunculus stepped forward, they readied themselves to attack with all they had, but were forced to stop as the General shouted out, "Don't move!"

The three looked up to see General Armstrong armed with a bazooka that fired off and directly hit the homunculus. The other engineers scattered as the flames roared around the homunculus's huge body. She hefted the huge weapon on her shoulder with practiced ease before turning to a nearby soldier and ordering, "Put it out." She watched him run off and she could see the smoke clearing from her shot, and the homunculus still stood as if nothing had happened at all. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the beast, "I know that I hit it." So how could he still be standing and marching forward?

"It's no use!" Buccaneer rushed up the stairs to his commanding officer to warn her not to waste any more ammunition on it, "Firearms won't work against him!"

"What?!" Armstrong turned to Major Miles, "Withdraw all non-combatants immediately!" She tossed the now-empty bazooka to a soldier who managed to just barely catch it, "And shut off the alarm! It won't help anything if the Drachmans figure out that we're in trouble."

"General! We have tanks!" One soldier called out as he readied the vehicle for use.

"Have the trials been completed?" Armstrong asked as she approached it.

"We don't need to worry about trials, these are the development team's pride and joy!" The man replied with a confident grin.

"Remove the fuses from the shells," Armstrong ordered.

"Sir!" As the soldier went inside to do as she asked, she jumped up to the opening to make sure she saw everything as it happened, the tank turning and moving closer to the homunculus, two more tanks lining up alongside hers as the turrets turned to aim directly for him.

"Ready to go! The first round's locked and loaded." The soldier told the General.

"Fire!" She didn't hesitate to give the order, watching as the shell was fired off and hit directly against the homunculus's face, knocking him backward.

"Yeah! Dead on!" While the soldiers inside the tank were celebrating their hit, the General was more cautious than that, carefully watching the homunculus to see if that had been enough. He took a step back, leaning, but pushed himself to stand upright, with a rather large, gaping opening on the side of his face from where he had been hit, exposed muscle twitching in the open air.

Red sparks flew around his mouth as the skin quickly began to repair itself, and he was back to normal in a matter of seconds, "Ouch…" He began to step towards the tanks, each heavy footstep ringing out in the development center, "Pain is a pain… Pain is annoying… Ugh…"

General Armstrong looked back at the others in the tank she shared, who were all left a little dumbstruck that he had survived that shot, "Don't just sit there, load the next round!" They quickly did so, as did the other two tanks with their own shots, "Fire!"

The next shot landed right in the homunculus's stomach, pushing him back a bit, but again it wasn't enough to knock him down. He reached for the shell, pulling it out and tossing it away, having it land on the balcony above him and right on the railing, the weight of it causing the railing to bend underneath it. The tanks all began to fire fuse-less rounds at the homunculus, all of them hitting him, and bouncing off of him after a moment as his body consistently healed itself. Amelia was a little shocked to see it, especially considering she was sure if another homunculus had taken shots like that, there would be a lot more open wounds, but he just stood there, unmoved and expressionless. He was clearly a lot stronger than the other homunculi they had faced.

"Ouch… right back… to work…" He spoke in his slow voice as he continued to walk and talk as the tanks fired on him, "Dig a hole…" He went over to the remaining barricade from the engineers, throwing it aside with his massive arms and sending everything flying. The debris was headed straight for a group of soldiers trying to flee from it, but it was clear they weren't going to make it in time. Edward rushed forward, clapping his hands and transmuting the ground to create a wall thick enough to block the worst of it from hitting them, effectively saving the soldiers from being maimed by boxes, barrels, and lockers at the last possible second because of his quick thinking.

They all let out a sigh of relief at knowing no one got hurt, and the soldiers around them all noticed them taking action to prevent their comrades from getting hurt. The General and Captain Buccaneer noticed it as well.

Amelia turned to the General, seeing her looking directly at them and she started to head over to her, the Elric brothers following behind her, "Stop what you're doing, it won't work! Try whatever you want, but that thing won't die!"

"He won't?" The General turned to face her more completely as the two brothers came up beside her.

"Just what are you saying? How does a kid like you know something like that, huh?" Captain Buccaneer stepped closer to the trio. Amelia wilted a little under his intense glare.

"That's… I…" She hadn't really thought about how to explain her knowledge, but she knew homunculi didn't go down easy, not by any human methods.

The General narrowed her eyes at the sight of Amelia, who had been raring to fight her last night over her beliefs on her brother, but now she couldn't put together an excuse in time to explain why she knew about this intruder inside her fort. She slammed her sheathed sword down onto the metal of the tank, getting their attention, "Drop the act! You will answer all of my questions clearly and completely!" She spoke in that commanding tone she had mastered as a general that made all three stand stiff, "First off: how do you know about that thing? Are you a Drachman spy?"

"We're not!" Edward barked out insistently.

She pointed her sword towards the homunculus, "Is that thing a spy?"

"I really doubt it…!" Edward answered.

"Does that thing know you?"

"Err, no, apparently not."

"What is that thing?"

Edward grit his teeth as he knew where this led, "...I can't answer."

"Who does that thing work for?"

"I can't answer that!"

The General narrowed her eyes as she looked at Edward, "Why can't you answer me?"

Edward gritted his teeth again, knowing the fact that he was refusing to answer her questions was tantamount to insubordination, and could easily get him court-martialed. "I can't answer." Telling her the truth, there and then, would have put everyone at risk. Not just everyone in the fort, but everyone else that was being held as hostages.

The General stared at him for a second, seeing the pained expression on his face as he knew exactly what he was doing when he said all of this, and he still refused to answer. He was putting everything on the line by denying her, and he continued anyway. Looking to Amelia, she was in a similar state, but clearly feared the consequences of him refusing to answer. All three of them knew the answers to all of her questions, and no one was speaking up because something was preventing them, something that was more powerful than her position, her fort, her heritage, even the threat of losing everything they had in the military. In a way, it was almost admirable, "This is my last question: Are you on our side or are you in league with that thing?"

"I'm not with him, I don't want to see anyone here get hurt!" Edward answered quickly.

For the moment, his cooperation in taking it down would be enough, "Then tell me what that thing's made of."

"His body structure and compositional elements are probably the same as a human's," Edward said.

"The same as a human's, huh…?" The General only took a moment to think before turning to her Captain, "Buccaneer, bring me some tank fuel, now. We're going to douse it."

"Yes, sir!" Was his quick response.

"It won't work, General!" Edward snapped, "Set him on fire, but he still won't die!"

"I understand, I learned from our last attack that we can't kill it." General Armstrong replied, "The best that we can hope for is to stop or delay it. So, we'll have to hit it with something even stronger than fire!" For the first time since they had seen her, the General's lips curled up into an almost excited grin as she looked over at the homunculus, "Now you get to see the Briggs way, kid."

"Uh… the Briggs way?" Edward couldn't help but be a little nervous. After all, this was the first smile they had ever seen on the woman, or the closest thing to it, anyway. Of course, he would be a little concerned that the icy queen of Fort Briggs would be excited to try something that would take out this powerful homunculus, considering her rather fearsome reputation.

"That's right!" Buccaneer had an uncomfortably wide grin on his face as he put his hand on Edward's head, forcing him to turn and look directly at him, "Come, Alchemist. Give me a hand." He reached down and picked Edward up to tuck him under his arm, giving him a yelp from Edward.

"Brother!" Alphonse reached out for him, but Captain Buccaneer turned to face him, prevent him from grabbing his brother out of his arm.

"You too, Tin Man." He ordered, and Alphonse went stiff.

"Wait a second! We can't just—" Amelia was cut off as the captain pointed a gun at her face.

"You are forced to help us under duress. How does that excuse work for ya?" He asked in that gleeful smile that creeped her out and she nodded. He took a step forward to see Falman just nearby, who had watched the whole exchange without saying anything, "Who's this?"

"He's an old friend of ours!" Edward quickly spoke up, hoping that would help make it so they wouldn't be under duress for this process.

"Ah, then he'll help, too." Falman's jaw dropped as he was told to help them. They were brought over to where the tank fuel was dispensed, given a funnel, and told to pour it into containers that were lined on the wall. They all worked quickly, and cleanly, since spilling something meant the chance of getting shot, though Amelia doubted they would actually try to shoot them since they did want to help, she didn't want to take the risk.

Once they all had two full containers of tank fuel, they went up the stairs to head to their next destination, "Buccaneer! Head for Gate 8!" Miles called out to them as they headed out.

"Sir!" He acknowledged the order and they continued up as General Armstrong made her way back into the tank to get the homunculus in where they wanted him.

"Let's move! Drive it into the elevator!" She ordered, and her tank drove forward quickly, charging directly at the homunculus and while they didn't knock him down, they were able to push him back quite a way before they were just outside the elevator and he managed to stop them. That was all Amelia saw with the distant command of, "Move it! Push us!" Before they had to hurry and make their way up the stairs.

After a few flights, they got to the entrance of the elevator just outside of Gate 8, "Alright, the two smallest ones get up into the rafters," Buccaneer ordered, clearly meaning Edward and Amelia, "And you two, wait in this room until I can get that thing vulnerable for us. You douse him on my command, got it?" They all nodded, and Edward easily made his way up into the rafters above the hall. Amelia had a little bit of trouble, grunting and pulling her way up as much as she could, but it wasn't fast enough, "Move it! He'll be here any second!"

"I'm trying…!" Amelia grunted out as her legs swung back and forth, desperate for something to help push her up. Edward came over, grabbing her hands and pulling her up to join him. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Edward said, the two of them unscrewing the caps on their tanks of fuel and waiting. Soon enough, the elevator opened, and they were silent as they watched the homunculus make his way out into the hall.

"Where am I…?" He asked into the air. He didn't get an answer as Buccaneer rushed up to the huge monster of a man, grabbing his arm and flipping him over, just underneath where Amelia and Edward were waiting for him.

"Alright, do it now!" He ordered, and they didn't hesitate before dumping all of the fuel they had on the homunculus, with Alphonse and Lieutenant Falman rushing in with their own tanks and dousing him with it. He was completely soaked in the fuel, and the homunculus just sat up slowly, looking down at his soaked fingers and arms as he examined the substance he was now covered in, "Nice!"

Amelia and Edward jumped down from the rafters, a safe distance away from the homunculus to regroup with the others.

"Okay, what next?" Alphonse asked, looking over at the captain.

"Yeah, how are you planning to get this big guy through the gate exactly?" Edward asked, and his question was soon answered as the bell for the elevator rang again and the doors opened to reveal a tank turret pointed directly ahead. Amelia, Edward, and Alphonse all jumped back in shock at the sight of an armed tank taking up the entirety of the space inside the elevator, General Armstrong still sitting on top with an icy glare at the homunculus.

"Move it, you little runt!" She ordered as the tank's wheels suddenly began to spin, the metal treads on metal flooring creating sparks as it quickly drove forward to the homunculus and firing off another round at him, pushing him through the doors of the gate and out onto the balcony of the fort outside. He looked down at the shell that was stuck in his stomach, pulling it out as if it were an annoying thumbtack that had accidentally gotten stuck. "Hey, one more!"

"We're out of ammo!" The soldier inside the tank said.

"Well, in that case," Falman pulled out his gun, firing off two shots just above the homunculus to bring down two massive icicles onto his head.

"Hey, ow…" The homunculus drawled out as he dealt with the pain but still wasn't knocked back.

Edward, Alphonse, and Amelia all rushed together towards him, the three of them landing a kick on his body, enough to knock him over the side of the balcony railing and onto the ground 8 stories below them.

"Nice!" Edward grinned as he looked down at where the homunculus landed in the snow, a blizzard just barely making the view impossible to see as it whirled around them.

"So, what happens now?" Amelia asked, wondering if this would be enough to stop the homunculus from doing any more damage.

"Nothing," Captain Buccaneer answered her, "That fuel is specially formulated for the cold. It'll vaporize almost instantly, and as it evaporates, it will sap his body heat. This blizzard will help, too. It'll freeze him, right down to his brain." They all looked over the railing to see the homunculus failing to stand for the first time, seeing his body becoming covered in snow and frost below them.

"It's… so… cold…" His voice carried on the wind towards them, "Body… won't… move… Ugh… what… a… pain…" He fell over onto his side, and the General came over to see that the homunculus had been successfully stopped and frozen in the snow below them.

"You can sleep there until spring, monster." The General said as she looked down at his body, watching it slowly become covered in snow. They all had a quiet moment of victory, glad to know that it was all finally over for them and perhaps they could get some peace again. "Alright, Buccaneer, now take these three away."

"Sir!"

"Huh?!" The three teenagers were left in shock as they heard the news, Buccaneer turned around, grabbing Amelia by the arm since she was the closest one, bringing out a rope and forcing her hands together before tying them up, and then doing the same with Edward and Alphonse.

"What the hell is this?!" Amelia demanded as the Captain grabbed her by her bound wrists with one hand, and Edward's with the other, while Falman had no choice but to escort Alphonse away with them.

"Hey, wait, hold on a second! We helped you! Why are you doing this?!" Edward demanded as they were dragged away into the elevator.

"You were forced to, that was just the excuse you needed to fight, right?" The General coolly replied, "Besides which, I'm not letting you go anywhere until you explain exactly what that thing was and what it wanted."

"Are you serious?!" Amelia squirmed and fought back against Buccaneer as best she could, but she was no match for the man easily twice her size and 50 times the experience dealing with people like her.

There went their plans to train and grow stronger while they waited for May to be found…