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…

31. Ghost Town

31

Another day passed with the Elrics and Amelia in their cell, with Edward starting to get some cabin fever from being stuck there for so long. Amelia would often hear him pacing around back and forth, finding places to exercise, or just muttering away as he would write down some alchemical theories and other things to occupy his time in the journal that General Raven gave him. They would still play their story game every now and then to try and kill time as a group, though the worst was when they would sleep and Amelia was sure that Alphonse had to be as still as possible so his body wouldn't make any noise and he was going through it alone. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty and would try to talk to him more once she was awake, though quietly if Edward wasn't up yet.

Their days had been mundane and rather repetitive since they had been put in prison, being sporadically updated on everything that was happening with the homunculus and the tunnel as they were sealing it up, though there weren't too many things to tell them about. Though, they got a rather surprising message one morning just after breakfast from Neil.

"Good morning!" He cheerily greeted them, "How are my favorite prisoners?"

"Hopefully not going to be prisoners anymore?" Edward asked.

"Nope, not yet, sorry." All three groaned at the news that they were still going to stay stuck in their cells.

"Come on, we've been here forever already!" Amelia groaned out, glaring up at Neil with a little pout, "When are you guys gonna let us out?"

"I doubt it will be much longer once you hear the news I have to tell you," Neil said, and they all turned to him, "General Armstrong didn't react well to General Raven telling her about opening up a seat for her in Central, so she decided to take his, and his body is currently being smoothed in the concrete over the hole we're sealing up."

Everyone's eyes went wide at the news.

"She killed him?!" Edward exclaimed.

"General Raven?!" Alphonse nearly shouted.

"No way!" Amelia was shocked to find out she had actually done it. She imagined the General wasn't exactly fond of Raven, but that seemed extreme… still, she didn't seem the type to care about extremes, either.

"Yep, and that was all I was ordered to tell you," Neil said, making his way out of the prison to the door. Edward rushed up to the barred door of his cell.

"Hey, wait a minute! When are you guys gonna let us out of this damn place?!" Edward shouted after him.

"Who knows?" Neil replied, "Take it up with the general." With that, he closed the door behind them and left them alone.

"Damn it…!" Edward growled out.

"Ed, don't start getting mad now, it won't do any good." Amelia tried to calm him down, hearing the way his gloved hands tightly gripped at the bars of his cell.

"We should just rest for now," Alphonse agreed with her.

"I can't just sit around while all of this is going on…!" Edward groaned, "I need to do something!"

Before anyone else could advise him to be calm, the door opened again, and Amelia glanced out to see who it was before shying back into her cell a little more as she saw the stark white suit standing out against the grey concrete of the prison walls. Kimblee smiled at them, taking off his white hat to greet them, "Hi, afternoon. I was hoping that I might have a word with the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Edward's face immediately turned to a disgusted scowl, clearly wanting nothing to do with Kimblee, especially after his last encounter with the man. Kimblee noticed it pretty quickly as he walked up to Edward's cell. "Oh, don't tell me that you have some reason to dislike me, too?" He asked.

"Are you kidding me?!" Edward snapped, "You tried to take my apprentice away from me!"

"Now, now, that's all in the past," Kimblee said, "Besides, you should be grateful. I brought a visitor with me to see you." He turned to the door as it opened again, and a frightfully familiar face came and joined Kimblee at his side, with sparkling, hopeful eyes and a warm smile on her face, Winry Rockbell was clearly glad to see her childhood friends again.

The Elric brothers were obviously not so glad.

"WINRY?!"

"Why did you come here?!" Their cries were shouted at the same time, and Winry's smile instantly fell when she saw that they weren't as happy to see her as she was to see them.

"'Why?' Why do you think?!" She scolded them, "You have to adjust your automail for the north, don't you? And just what are you doing in that cell?"

"We didn't ask you to come here!" Edward barked back at her, and Winry looked visibly hurt from his comments.

"What's with you?" She asked in a softer voice, before going back to her scolding tone, "I was worried about you, idiot! Someone from the military contacted me, so I came—"

"—The military?" Edward was instantly worried now that he knew the military was involved.

Kimblee, seeing the tension, decided to add a little more to it, placing his hands on both of Winry's shoulders, smiling at the Elric brothers and the grimacing Amelia, shuddering at the thought of him grabbing her shoulders like he was doing to Winry.

"Don't be so hard on her, you two." Kimblee said, "The Fuhrer was concerned about you, he wanted to make sure you were taken care of." Winry was innocently unaware of the subtle threat that Kimblee had placed in front of them as they were reminded that the military was keeping a close watch on them, and all the people they cared about.

---

Admittedly, Edward didn't feel all that comfortable during normal upgrades, mostly just because he didn't really enjoy having his automail exposed to the world, or that he couldn't use his arm or leg when the nerves weren't connected. It certainly didn't help that Kimblee was nearby, sipping coffee calmly while Winry continued to work on his limbs. He didn't really want to be so vulnerable in nothing but his undergarments, but it wasn't like he was going to attack in front of a hostage… still, he couldn't get comfortable at all on the table.

"You should have told me you were heading to the north," Winry nagged him as she reached for another tool, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I didn't have a chance, we were in a hurry, okay?" Edward defended.

"Yeah, and when are you guys ever not in a hurry?" Winry replied back, tightening a bolt exactly as she wanted it before putting down what she had been using and reaching for the next tool. "I'm amazed you found someone who can keep up with you and Al, dragging her along wherever you go." She reached for a screw and started to bring it in to Edward's elbow, "Anyway, what did you do to get locked up?"

"It's only a misunderstanding," Kimblee spoke up, giving a smile that showed as kind to Winry, but snake-like to Edward, "Just a lack of communication. I'll have them released within no time at all."

Winry let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks a lot, Mr. Kimblee. These guys are lucky to have you watching out for them." She said, giving Edward a pointed stare when she mentioned him.

Kimblee continued to smile, "It's nothing." He said, standing in front of his two massive guards that were guarding the door to the medical wing which only made his case worse for Edward since this just reeked of suspicious actions. Who the hell even were these guys? Their pins read as first officers, but they didn't read that way at all. Big, burly guys like that? They worked their way through the ranks as hard as they could, they didn't just stop at first officer. And the fact that Winry continued to smile back at him… it only helped to make Edward more uneasy.

He reached up for the opening of the wrench that Winry held in her hand, trying to quietly get her attention. She looked over at him, and he gestured for her to come closer. She looked confused, but complied, leaning down closer to his face to hear him whisper, "Listen, I wouldn't trust Kimblee if I were you." He warned.

"What? Why not?" Winry glanced back towards Kimblee, though not enough to make it obvious they were talking about him, "He seems nice." After all, on the way here, he had recognized her parents' surname and told her about how the thought of her was what kept them going strong through the worst of the Ishval war. She had a hard time coming to terms with their death when it hit her so young, and she held a lot of resentment against them for a long time for "abandoning" her to work in Ishval. She knew a little better now that she had just been angry at their deaths and losing them, not necessarily their actions that saved countless lives in the middle of a horrific war, but it had been comforting to know that they were thinking of her over there, and not just their many patients. He had been so gentle speaking to her about them, and she felt proud to know that he had admired them when the war was going on. So, with that experience, what was it about this kind man that made Edward not trust him? After all, he had been nothing but courteous to them since she had arrived.

"Do you have any idea what that psychopath did in Ishval—" Edward stopped himself, which only confused Winry. But what do I know? He thought I've only got Lieutenant Hawkeye's experience to go by… That was the last time he had seen her, back just before she had been assigned to be the Fuhrer's assistant when he was returning the gun she had loaned him. And she thinks… Edward's eyes widened as his memory decided to focus on a specific moment that made his face flush red. She thinks I…! She thinks I'm in love with Winry! His mind had muddled the moment a little, his memory recalling her asking with a conspiratory wink and a smile like she was teasing him about the long-off crush he'd had since he was little. He glanced over at Winry, only feeling tenser as he was suddenly reminded of that incredibly embarrassing moment where he didn't handle himself like a man at all! And the fact that the girl in question was sitting over him, looking down at him in confusion since he never finished his sentence, it only made it worse. Don't freak out! He urgently thought to himself. Just think about something else! Try to think about something else!

So, he went with the only thing he knew best: alchemy. And what better way to think about the basics of alchemy than the periodic table? So, he started quietly reciting it while trying to ignore Winry's confused and slightly concerned stare, "Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, aluminum, silicon,"

"Uh… Ed?"

He ignored Winry trying to get his attention, "Phosphorus, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc..." He continued to rattle them off to try to get his mind off of the embarrassment he had shared in his memory.

Winry sighed as she looked down at him, "How am I friends with such a weirdo…?" She muttered to herself.

"Huh?" Edward just barely heard her question, "Did you say something?" In a moment where he was trying to distract himself, any distractions in the form of a question were very welcome. Winry jumped a little bit but shook it off as she brought a wrench down to his shoulder.

"No, Ed. I didn't say anything." With a sudden turn, she connected the nerves on his arm and Edward let out a yelp of pain.

"What the hell, Winry? I told you to warn me before you connect the nerves, alright?!" He snapped, clearly upset she hadn't done as he asked considering how painful it was to have all the nerves in his lost shoulder suddenly attach to the metal of his automail.

"Yeah, yeah… Now, let's do your leg." She brushed him off as she went to go and get the new automail she had outfitted for him, and Edward grumbled a little as she got to work. He looked up at his new automail, flexing his hand above him, opening and closing his fingers as he heard the metal quietly click against each other. He let out a small huff and let it relax over his stomach, feeling the difference in weight on his new arm pretty quickly on his chest. It didn't feel quite as dense as his old model, which was a little surprising, but he could do with some lighter automail instead of his old iron-based stuff. He glanced down at Winry as she began the work of taking off his old leg to put it aside with his old arm. His eyes traveled over her long, blonde hair, and over the gentle curves of her face.

When he was first becoming a state alchemist, he would try to practice with alchemy by fixing up her house to help out or trying to make gifts for her that he never ended up giving because they were never good enough for her. He wanted to impress her so much, so he could see that smile on her face and know that he had done what he wanted to make the right image of himself in her mind so that she might eventually feel the same about him. He had always been so nervous to call her, not just for automail maintenance when they were traveling, but also just because he used to feel butterflies in his stomach at hearing her voice, so he would avoid calling her so he wouldn't have to feel that way since it just turned him into a flustered, nervous wreck. And she was undoubtedly beautiful, he thought it when they were kids, and he thought about it now when she was growing into a young woman.

He had never told her his feelings, mostly because he was afraid of her rejecting him. It was something he was never really sure he could handle, but also, he hadn't always been aware of what exactly his feelings were. She was tough as nails and it seemed like she could handle just about anything, resilient and at the same time, she could be gentle with others. He had never once seen her do anything to hurt anyone (except maybe when she threw her wrench at him sometimes, but she only ever did that when he wrecked her hard work. It was a little extreme, in his opinion, but he could understand where she was coming from). They had grown up together, and he had always liked spending time with her, and it wasn't until he left home for the first time that he realized how much he missed her, and how he felt about her. She never really seemed to feel the same way, and while he had always cared about her, he was fairly certain she never saw him as anything more than a brother-like figure.

With everything that was going on, he figured romantic stuff like that could wait a while, though. There was no reason for him to try and pursue it now, on top of everything else that was happening. They found out that homunculi were trying to turn the country into a giant transmutation circle to make a Philosopher's Stone, he was imprisoned with his brother and his apprentice, who he still technically had to teach, even though she was basically guaranteed success with her sacrificial status… What would happen to her if things didn't work out? Would the day they activate the transmutation circle come before or after the alchemy exam? What would they do if they decided to keep her locked up somewhere? Well, he would break her out, there was no reason for her to stay in there, and he has no reason to stay in the military anymore. Screw all of them and their insane plans. He didn't want any part in it, maybe he could get her out of the country, send her off to Xing and have her wait it out until they managed to figure out everything in Amestris. It would be nice to know that she was safe and out of their reach, maybe she could even spend some time learning alkahestry and figuring out a way to get their bodies back while they kicked Father's ass.

He smiled a little to himself at the image of Amelia safe and sound while they beat the shit out of that arrogant bastard called Father. They could definitely do it, once they figured out this thing with May, maybe she could stay with Ling's family or something? Who knows, it was nice to fantasize about, but that doesn't mean any of it would do him much good now, not when he knew what he knew and had to work to find a way to stop it.

The work on his leg didn't take much longer than his arm, and soon he was standing up again, testing out his new arm with a few punches into the air, and testing out his foot by knocking the heel against the floor to make sure he had a good feel for it. He quickly noticed the differences between this new automail and his old one.

"It's so light." he said in awe, "It's not gonna be any weaker than my last arm, will it?" He asked Winry over his shoulder as she started packing up her tools.

"Not really, it's slightly weaker, but I doubt you'll notice." Winry said, "It's pretty heavily reinforced."

Edward kept punching the air and stopped as the curtains for their little private maintenance area opened, and Captain Buccaneer made his way in with a scowl on his face. "Hm? Alright, what are you doing out of your cell?" He demanded.

"I don't know, maybe some people respect the fact that I'm a state alchemist." Edward snarkily answered. Buccaneer's eyes looked over his arm and leg, noticing a difference in the automail quickly.

"Hmph. Finally upgrading for the cold, huh?" He asked.

"Are you upgrading, too?" Edward asked.

Buccaneer grinned as he brought up his automail arm, clawed like a bear of Briggs that shined in the light of the medical wing, "There's nothing left for me to upgrade to!" He proudly bragged.

Edward would have brushed him off, but he was interrupted by the sound of Winry's excited gasp, "It's the M19 Mad Bear lightweight combat model!" She squealed as she rushed over to get a better look at his automail, Buccaneer was a little thrown off as she rushed over to look at his hand, instantly noticing something different from the standard model she had read about, "Whoa, what kind of reinforcement is that on the claws?" She looked up at the captain with a giddy smile, "They're not diamond-tipped, are they?!"

He blinked for a second before he grinned, "Yeah, she's fully modified. It's a specially-crafted model."

She beamed at the news, letting out another excited squeal before looking back to Edward, while Buccaneer just stood there proudly, having a massive boost to his ego having someone like Winry fawning over his mechanical arm. "Edward, do you want me to upgrade you to one of these?" She asked eagerly.

"Not my style." Edward shut it down instantly, knowing if he gave her an inch, she would take a mile and give him the most outrageous arm he could never want because she loved automail so much. She pouted as he turned her down but didn't push it since she knew he would be too stubborn to go forward with her desires.

Buccaneer couldn't help but frown a bit at Edward's response, mostly just because he made the adorable blonde girl pout, "Who's the girl? She's too cute to be hanging around you."

"She's my mechanic," Edward replied in a deadpan tone of voice, not particularly appreciating the insinuation that not only was he not able to be around cute girls, but didn't Amelia count towards a cute girl, too?

Winry turned to the captain, giving him a bright smile in greeting as she was introduced. Buccaneer couldn't help but feel a little jealous. First, he comes in here with that cute girl that looked like a baby bear cub when she tried to scare him yesterday, and now he has this adorable mechanic? And to top all of that off, this kid held a rank above him! He had years and experience and he knew he was a good man with great qualities, but how the hell did this little runt manage to surround himself with cute girls?! It was a little too much for him at the moment, and he brought his clawed automail hand down to smack Edward across the face in his anger. Edward was knocked back, though he just barely managed to stay on his feet.

"What'd you do that for?!" Edward demanded as Buccaneer turned around to leave.

"Because life isn't fair!" Buccaneer snapped back before slamming the door behind him.

Edward scowled as he reached up to wipe at the corner of his mouth since he was pretty sure he was bleeding after a hit like that, "That was messed up."

"Real, live northern automail! That's the first I've seen!" Winry was still too excited over the automail to focus on the fact that Edward had just been hit in the face.

"Oh, yeah?" Neil's voice spoke up from the courtesy curtain that had been put up when he had been performing maintenance on Captain Buccaneer's automail, glad to see another automail enthusiast, "You wanna come check out my work shed, then?"

"Please, please, I'd love to!" Winry excitedly answered.

Edward could hardly believe what she was saying, she just agreed to go into a strange man's work shed! "Hey!" He almost yelled at her to get her attention and try to pull her back to earth.

"What's wrong?" Winry looked back at him, a little confused as to why his voice had been so harsh.

Edward sheepishly looked away as he realized he might have spoken a little too sharply, "Er… nothing." He looked back up at her, "Try to keep on your toes, and don't go off exploring, not on your own." He glanced over at Kimblee, who was still calmly sipping the last from his cup of coffee, "It's not safe here, so be careful, alright?"

Winry was caught a little off-guard knowing that Edward was worried about her, but she appreciated it nonetheless, smiling and nodding, "Okay, I will be." She promised before turning back to Neil and walking into his workshop, "Alright, let's see what you've got!"

Neil grinned, eager to have a chance to show off some of his favorites, "Well, this model is kind of rare." He said, pointing to the one he had on his worktable. He was still working on picking out the little bits of hair from when Alphonse's head got trapped in it.

"Are you serious?! You've got a crocodile?!" Her excitement was Edward's attention until he noticed Kimblee stepping closer to him, and her voice ended up fading into the background as he focused on him.

"I see she's got her parents' enthusiasm." He commented as he watched her quickly taking notes on the changes Neil had made to the original model to outfit it for the cold. Edward glanced back over to Winry, making sure she was at least safe there with Neil when Kimblee stepped into his line of sight, blocking her from view, "Well, then. Your little upgrade's all taken care of and out of the way, so why don't we find a place to sit down?" He spoke with that snake-like smile that Edward was learning to despise more and more as he looked at the man, "I'm eager to discuss our business."

---

Amelia and Alphonse were left in their respective cells as Edward was escorted away to get his automail upgrade. They had been brought up by a pair of rather large soldiers, and two more were standing guard by their cells. They were both rather tall, broad men. One was a bit wider than the other, with dark hair pulled back into cornrow braids, the other had a pair of glasses that blocked out his eyes and light brown hair. It was strange, just having the two of them alone while they knew Edward was out… and it didn't help to have these strange guys peering down at them.

"Excuse me," Alphonse went up to his door, "Can you tell me why you're keeping me in this cell?" There was no reason for him not to join Edward's upgrading and go free, same with Amelia, so he had to wonder why he was taken out while they weren't.

"Because that's where Mr. Kimblee wants you." The soldier with glasses replied.

"We were given specific instructions and orders to only release the Fullmetal Alchemist," The other continued, "You just sit tight and behave yourselves. Your brother will be back soon enough, but until then you're stuck with us." Amelia could see through it pretty easily, and so could Alphonse.

They were being kept separated because Kimblee was playing it safe, and that's part of why Winry had been brought up here, too. Just a reminder that they had some extra collateral on them… Still, it seemed extreme, given how little Father must have actually thought about them. It would be one thing to keep them hostage and remind them, but this was another level. She supposed, given their sacrificial status and their incredible penchant for alchemy, Amelia imagined that they were aware of just how smart they were. Perhaps… the military was intimidated by that?

Still, there's not really much they could do about it now that they were here, and she sighed, hearing Alphonse's armor clank as he moved to sit down away from the door again. "God, this sucks." She couldn't help saying. "I'm so booooored!" She whined as she lay down on her cot again, hearing Alphonse chuckle a little bit as he knew she was just being dramatic for the heck of it.

"We could play the story game to pass the time until Brother gets back." Alphonse offered.

"Sure, but… isn't it Ed's turn?" She asked.

"Yeah, but he's not here. So, who goes after him?"

"Me," She sat up a little, "Okay, let me think…" She got comfortable as she tried to think of a story and smiled as she thought of one that might entertain them, and make a few comments about their situation, "Alright, once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away there were two princes."

"Two princes?"

"Yes, they were brothers." Amelia grinned, "And very intelligent ones, too. In fact, they were so smart that they were declared the geniuses of the kingdom, which was very fitting because when they were very young, they lost their father, the king. And then, not too much longer after that, they lost their mother, so the two ascended to the throne when they were just barely coming out of their adolescent years." She heard Alphonse chuckle knowingly.

"Right, that must have been hard for them."

"Oh, it was." Amelia continued, "But they had lost a lot, so they loved each other very much and never fought with each other…. But then, one day, someone new came to their kingdom. A strange mole man with seven mole children that all lived under the ground. They plotted to overthrow the princes and rule their nation so that they could fight the other nations and take them over."

"Did the princes know about the mole man?" Alphonse asked.

"Not at first, but it became harder to ignore him as people kept finding his mole children coming out at night, running amok and causing havoc. Eventually, they did manage to overthrow the princes through secrecy and deceit, and they found themselves locked away." Amelia continued, "And they were inside those prisons for a long, long time… and they would have been very lonely if it wasn't for the fact that there was a charming lady prisoner who also happened to be locked up with them." Alphonse chuckled a little.

"Oh, was she very charming?"

"Very charming, in fact, you might say she was stunningly gorgeous!" She put on a hammy accent to make Alphonse laugh again, and she smiled as she heard his giggles reverberating through his armor, "She reminded them of how important it is to smile, and the two genius brothers worked together with her to find a way out of the prisons and back into the world above them so they could stop the mole man from his… plans."

"What were his plans?" Alphonse asked.

Amelia paused, "Um… it was… to bring the whole kingdom underground, so they would all become mole people like him." It wasn't much, but it was something, "Anyway, they decided it was best to be patient and wait for the best possible moment to escape, and then it came when one of the mole people came to take away one of the princes to… uh, solve a strange problem for them. So, they could figure out how to get the kingdom underground. That left the other prince and the charming prisoner alone to take advantage of their absence and escape."

"How did they escape?" Alphonse asked.

"They… um…" Amelia frowned as she tried to think of something, "They… uh, they used…" She was trying to come up with a method that might work for the three of them at the moment, but they couldn't use any alchemy, and were clearly under a sharp watch, so…

"You're taking too long," Alphonse said after a few moments of Amelia stumbling over her words.

"Oh, come on! That doesn't count!" She snapped, "Ed's not here, you can't give me a point for that!"

"Sorry, rules are rules," Alphonse said, and there was a little clanking sound that she could guess was the shrugging of his metal shoulders.

"Oh, fuck off." Amelia sighed, and she heard Alphonse chuckling again. "Fine, whatever. I'll take the stupid point."

"Sorry," Amelia smiled.

"Nah, it's okay. Rules are rules and I couldn't think of how they escaped." She said, relaxing a little bit. She didn't think to mention that it was Al's turn now, just enjoying the quiet for a moment as she tried to think of a way to worm out of their situation. None were really coming to her at the moment.

"Hey," Alphonse's gentle voice caught her attention, "Do you remember when you told me and Ed about that story you heard about us?"

"What story?" She asked.

"The one your friend Katie told you." Her eyes widened a little bit as he brought it up, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I thought you didn't like that story." She said, trying to keep the conversation going along the idea it should so their guards wouldn't get suspicious. She wondered why he was bringing it up at all, after all, that she had said and how they never discussed it, she just assumed they were brushing it off and hadn't cared enough to believe her.

"I just didn't like that one part about Brother," Alphonse said, "But I was thinking… that story had a happy ending, didn't it?"

"Uh… yeah, it should have." Amelia said, feeling a little strange talking about it, "I mean, stories are either two things: comedies or tragedies. Tragedies always end in death, and comedies always end with marriage."

"Marriage?"

"Yeah, that's part of what makes it a happy ending." Amelia said, "The main character gets married to the love interest and lives happily ever after."

"Huh…" Alphonse thought for a moment, "So… if I remember the story right that you told us… does that mean, uh, Brother was supposed to get married?"

"I guess." She shrugged, "I mean, for a happy ending and all."

"Who would be the love interest?" Alphonse asked.

"You would know better than me," Amelia replied.

"Hmm…" Alphonse thought for a little bit, "It would probably be Winry."

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, Ed's had a crush on her for years." Amelia's eyes went wide at that news, feeling a sinking feeling in her chest.

"Did he tell you that?" She tried to keep her voice the same even though she felt that feeling growing heavier.

"No, he would never admit it, but he's liked her since we were little kids." Alphonse said, "I could always tell, he's always really concerned about her, and he's always looking at her when he thinks she's not looking at him. Personally, I think they'd make a pretty good couple together."

"Oh," Amelia didn't really like that for some reason… in fact, she kind of hated it, but she supposed it made sense. They had known each other since they were kids, and Winry had been taking care of him and getting him back on his feet with automail, so she must have cared about him, too… She was definitely Edward's love interest; they were meant to be together at the end of the story… but why did that thought bother her so much? Why did she get a heavy feeling in her chest that made her feel like something was weighing her down and threatening to break something? He would be happy with Winry, having a great life supporting each other and going on adventures later on as they grew older with Ed making strides in the alchemical world and she'd probably become some great engineer… At first, she wondered if this feeling was just jealousy of their success, but no, that wasn't it. The image of Ed and Winry, cuddled up together somewhere in some romantic, cheesy scene, happy and embracing each other… But then, her mind placed her face in Winry's place and suddenly that heavy feeling went away.

"...Oh." It clicked, suddenly. The reason why it bothered her so much was because she felt something for Edward. She had feelings for him, she wanted to keep being with him, that was why it bugged her so much to think of him leaving to go and find happiness with Winry. Oh, God, I'm so stupid, she thought, I mean… that's a crazy idea. Ed wouldn't do that, we're just friends. He has a thing for Winry, his perfect person that he probably ends up marrying at the end. Katie talked about how she kept shipping EdWin… I guess that meant Edward and Winry, and not some random guy named Edwin in the books. Jesus, what a time to figure this out! You're so dumb, Amelia, you caught feelings for a guy who would never feel that way because his goddamn soulmate is in this story. It didn't feel like a story to her now that she was living it, but that was the case. The story of the fullmetal alchemist was only that: a story. And she had somehow been pulled into it and now she was along for the ride… and crushing on the main character that would never date someone who wasn't supposed to exist in the story.

"But, anyway, the reason I bring it up is because I, uh, I wanted to know more about that story you heard." Alphonse's voice pulled her out of her epiphany, and she glanced over at the door, seeing the guard looking at her and quirking an eyebrow before she frowned and turned away. This was hardly the time to lament a love that wasn't hers to have.

"Oh, uh… I don't know, Katie knew it much better than I did. I never even bothered to look at it…" She said softly, "Sorry."

"It's alright," Alphonse's voice came through, "But I don't really think you could fake it very well. That story you were telling about the two brothers wasn't all that good." he let out a small laugh, and Amelia forced one out so he wouldn't be able to tell what was going on with her.

"Oh, come on. I bet Ed would have liked it." She shot back, though her own words stung a little bit. "Whatever, it's your turn anyway."

"Right…" Alphonse said, deciding to go back to this game while Amelia dealt with her own swirling feelings on the matter between herself and Edward, "So, once upon a time…"

---

Edward sat stiffly in the room across from Kimblee. The man seemed as calm as anything, and that just unnerved Edward more. There was a heavy silence, but Kimblee didn't seem bothered by it at all, "Well, this is a familiar situation," He commented, breaking the silence, "Your apprentice was also very quiet when I went to talk to her. Hardly said a word to me." Edward glared at him, and Kimblee's snake-like smile grew, "But at least she taught me it was better to just get right down to business with you than beat around the bush with small talk. I came here to give you some work to do."

"You have a job for me?" Edward asked, surprised that's all he was here for.

"That's correct, you are a state alchemist, after all." Kimblee confirmed. Edward didn't feel his nerves easing, his arms crossing over his chest, "And it's a few jobs, actually." Kimblee lifted up his hand to count them out, "Three, all from the Fuhrer." That definitely didn't make him feel more at ease, "First off, he wants you to hunt down Scar. You just find him, and I'll take care of the rest. Secondly, he wants you to locate Dr. Marcoh, who has very likely fled with Scar." Edward's eyes widened.

"Why is Doctor Marcoh with Scar?" He asked, confused as to why the alchemical doctor who led him to the Philosopher's Stone would have anything to do with a wandering murderer like the Ishvalan known as Scar.

"The only thing you need to worry about is finding them," Kimblee replied, shutting down his question before continuing with his list, "And last, but not least, he wants you to carve a crest of blood here."

"A crest of blood…?" Edward repeated the phrase, having never heard of it before. He watched as Kimblee's expression changed from that snakelike sliminess to a predatory grin, and he felt his stomach suddenly rushing up into his ribs as he caught on.

"Just like what I did in Ishval, it's very simple. We kill everyone and soak the land with their blood."

Edward reacted without thinking, slamming his hand on the table in between them, his golden eyes fiercely glaring down at Kimblee as he stood up out of his chair, "I would never take part—!" He stopped, cut off as Kimblee brought his finger to his lips in the universal sign that he should be quiet, giving a pointed glance to the door of their room, which was just outside the automail workshop where Winry was exploring and learning about northern automail. He glanced back at the door, knowing that shouting would just draw Winry's attention and she would find out a lot of things she didn't know… and he didn't want to hurt her again. He gritted his teeth, his fists clenched as he tried to withhold his rage. He could let it out later when he had a better chance to show Kimblee just how pissed he really was without consequences. He reluctantly swallowed down his anger and sat back down in his chair.

"Did you really join the military without being prepared to kill someone?" Kimblee asked in a condescending tone as if he couldn't believe someone would go into the military without that thought present. Hell, it was why he went into the military.

"I was determined not to kill." Edward bit out in response.

Kimblee frowned a little bit, his hand coming to rest under his chin, "Well, how original of you," He sighed, and his smile returned, threading his fingers together as he looked at Ed from over the arch they made, "I suppose you could take just as much from that decision."

"Listen, Kimblee do you have any idea what they're doing? What you're helping them to achieve?" Edward asked, "They're gonna—"

"Your apprentice asked me a similar question." Kimblee interrupted him, "Though, she thought I was buying into their tales of immortality. That's not it. I'm curious to see how the world will change."

"What…?" Edward looked at him incredulously.

A sharp gaze came to Kimblee's eyes as he began to speak again, "Both sides clashing, will against will, life versus life, humans or the homunculi, which one will triumph?" He quirked a theatrical eyebrow at Edward as he continued to speak, while Edward could only remain silent as Kimblee told him his motivations for turning against his own kind, "Which side does the world prefer? The homunculi like to see themselves as the next step in the evolution of humanity, but that's for history to decide. I just plan on helping it make up its mind."

"Have you forgotten that you're a human? How can you take sides with them?" Edward demanded.

Kimblee lifted up his hands, showing the alchemical circles tattooed on his palms with a calm smile, "Because they've given me complete freedom to use my alchemy however I want." Kimblee replied.

"You're insane, Kimblee." Edward was disgusted. He valued alchemy greatly, but the idea of turning his back on humanity just to use it… it was horrible. That was all it took for this man to decide who he would work for? It was demented and egotistical.

"My standards do tend to differ from society's." Kimblee brushed it off with an amused chuckle, "However, if I survive this battle, then the world will have chosen my sanity over yours." He brought his hand over his chest, "I stake my being, the very core of my own existence, this is what I'm willing to bet on the outcome of this battle." Edward frowned, staring up at Kimblee as he still had that sharp, clear look in his eyes as he spoke about his motivations, how he was putting everything into this and he was fully aware of the risks if something should go wrong, and it sounded like the idea excited him.

"Kimblee, you don't make any sense…" Edward couldn't understand how someone was so willing to take those risks, jump in headfirst for the sake of some freedom that was, at best, temporary, and then to lose your life at the end of it, all just to see out his selfish desire to see if the world would prefer his idea of how things should work versus how Edward thought they would work… or really, most people.

"That's surprising," Kimblee replied, sitting back, "I'd always kind of assumed that self-centeredness was a universal trait of all alchemists," He reached into his coat, pulling something out and putting it down on the table, "Well, then, let's see if I can find something that you do selfishly crave. Something you and your brother want more than anything. And if you do what we ask, I'll give it to you." He said, and Edward's eyes widened as he watched Kimblee's hand lift away to reveal a Philosopher's stone. "I'm sure Amelia must have mentioned that I had this with me, and I even offered it to her if she would take on my apprenticeship, but it seems like she has something else in mind." Amelia hadn't mentioned it at all. She had almost outright refused to talk about her time with Kimblee beyond telling Edward about how he had asked her to be his apprentice… he had no idea that he had a Philosopher's Stone with him, and he made a mental note to discuss this with Amelia later. Still, he couldn't accept this, Kimblee had basically offered him the worst method of getting their bodies back to normal, but he didn't know that they knew about its ingredients and were staying away from it… then again, why would the homunculi feel the need to tell him about whether or not they knew? It probably seemed trivial to them, or maybe they just weren't aware of how he didn't want to use it. However, even with all of this in his mind, he could see the beginning of a plan forming.

He hung his head as if he was defeated, given an offer he couldn't refuse (which he absolutely could have), but it would be enough to convince Kimblee of his cooperation, "I need to consult with Al, Amelia, and Winry."

Kimblee's gaze hovered over Edward's face suspiciously, "Why tell Winry?"

"She has no idea she's involved; despite what you're asking of me I refuse to hide the truth from her," Edward replied.

Kimblee was quiet for a moment as he considered his request, "Alright then, but you're not telling her without me there. I don't want you telling her too much." Kimblee conceded.

It would be enough, for now. Edward's mind was rapidly coming up with possible solutions to their ongoing problem. This kind of tight watch wasn't going to be easy to get rid of, but if things worked out the way he thought, then maybe they had a shot of making this go their way for once.

---

Edward returned to the cells, having Amelia moved out of her cell to join Alphonse in the one he used to share with Ed, and Winry joined them. Amelia sat beside Alphonse as Edward stood just inside the prison cell, glancing back at Kimblee who was waiting just outside of it, barely out of view, but everyone knew he was there.

"Winry," Edward began by speaking to her, "You were only brought to Briggs as a hostage."

Everyone turned to Edward, Amelia with wide eyes, and Winry just looking confused. "A what…?" She wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, the blonde turned to look at Edward's brother, "What does he mean, Al?" She looked back to Ed without waiting for his answer, "Are you joking?"

Edward didn't answer her question, "Listen, I've been ordered by the Fuhrer to fulfill my duties as a human weapon." Amelia's eyes widened, "In other words, they're ordering me to commit mass murder."

Winry's eyes went wide and she stood up from where she had been sitting on Ed's old cot, "Why don't you just refuse?!" She asked, and Edward looked away from her solemnly. His expression was pained, it was obvious he didn't want to do this.

"Winry," Amelia's voice called out to the girl, giving her a pointed look that silently told her why Edward had been serious when he said she was brought as a hostage. The girls shared that gaze for a while, with Winry's expression quickly turning from shock and outrage to despair, and helplessness.

"I see… that's why…" She said softly, and she sunk back down into her seat like her legs had given out from under her. She brought one hand up to her mouth, her body trembling as if she was about to start weeping, "No… I'm sorry… they're using me to hold you down…!" Edward looked over at her worriedly, reaching one hand out to try and calm her before things got worse, but Winry leaned forward, bringing up her hands to press against her forehead, "I won't cry." She said firmly, swallowing back her sorrow, "I won't." Amelia couldn't help but feel bad for her, knowing how much she must have cared about the boys and knowing that she was the reason they were about to do something terrible. "I'm just upset at myself for being so naive. I'm sorry… all you were trying to do was get your original bodies back again."

"About that," Edward spoke up, "They actually offered me a Philosopher's Stone as payment." Alphonse and Amelia looked up at him as he mentioned this, and she knew what he was talking about. It was likely the same stone Kimblee had offered to her.

"A stone? But—" Alphonse's protests were interrupted.

"That's right, Kimblee has one."

"We can't, Brother! The ingredients for a stone are—"

"I know, Al!" Edward interrupted him again, and Amelia's eyes widened. She started to catch on to what was happening. Edward knew full well that the stone was basically worthless to them since they wouldn't use it… but Kimblee didn't know that. She steeled her expression, making it look like she was scowling in disapproval silently while Alphonse took a moment to understand what was going on. Edward was planning something, and it would likely involve them all managing to get out of here together.

"Go ahead and do what you want." Alphonse pretended to resign to his brother's wishes.

"I will," Edward replied, and he turned around, the guard released him and Winry from the cell, leaving Alphonse and Amelia behind together. He stepped over to Kimblee, who looked over at him, "It's settled. I'm in, alright? But finding Scar is the first thing I want to do." Amelia's eyes widened at the news that Edward was planning to find Scar.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Kimblee asked.

"Scar is the one who murdered Winry's parents, they deserve vengeance." Winry heard Edward's reasoning, looking over at him as he continued to walk with Kimblee, only looking more worried.

"I see, fine with me." Kimblee said.

"Also, I'll need Al and Amelia with me," Edward continued, "Amelia's opened the portal like me, so she'll be extra combat power, and Al doesn't have a body so he's immune to Scar's bodily destruction."

"Well, that is helpful," Kimblee said, "Although I'm not sure about your apprentice's combative alchemy."

"Trust me, she's tougher than she looks," Edward assured him as they left together.

Winry looked over at Alphonse, who was watching them leave, Amelia standing beside him. "You're okay with this Al?" The mechanic asked.

Alphonse watched the door until it was shut, not answering until he was sure they had some privacy, "The Philosopher's Stone… They can only be made by sacrificing human lives." He said, and Amelia's eyes widened as he revealed this information to Winry, who looked horrified at the news, and then her gaze turned to the door where Edward had left, clearly worried about him. "Don't worry, Brother would never actually use one, and we don't need it. We think we might be able to use Xingese alkahestry to get our bodies back. There's a girl that's been working with Scar, we think that she can teach it to us."

"So, then… is he going after Scar to find this girl?" Winry asked.

Amelia nodded, "Yeah, I think that's his plan. Not like he could spell it out for us." She said, glancing at the door to make sure no one was coming as they talked.

"I see…" Winry let out a relieved sigh, glad to know that Edward wasn't going forward with their commands for mass murder but trying to figure a way around it. Her smile fell as she looked back to the door, a determined expression on her face, "Then I guess I'd better hurry up and come up with a believable excuse."

"Huh?" Alphonse wasn't sure he had heard her correctly, and Amelia looked over at her.

"An excuse for what?" She asked, but then her eyes widened as she could only guess what one thing she would need an excuse for, "You're not seriously thinking of joining in on this? Winry, this isn't exactly something you can just rush into, this is Scar we're talking about!" She hadn't seen the man since the brothers had tried to make themselves bait for the homunculi, but she wasn't keen to see him again. Winry didn't reply as she started to march forward, heading out of the prisons and leaving them behind. "She's not serious, is she?"

"I don't know," Alphonse admitted, "But I know she can be as stubborn as Brother when she wants something…" He paused for a moment, "She might want to talk to him… the last time she saw him, she found out that he was the one that killed her parents."

"Oh, that's great. That's just great." Amelia sighed, leaning against the bar doors, "Shit, how are we supposed to talk to Scar? The guy's nuts!"

"I'm sure we can figure something out," Alphonse reassured her, "We can come up with something while we wait to be let out." Amelia let out a long breath and nodded, the two of them quietly going back and forth as they tried to figure out the best way to get some time to talk with a man who was a known mass-murderer against alchemists.

---

By some miracle, Edward had managed to convince Kimblee to let Amelia join them on their hunt for Scar, and they were making their way out. Edward filled them in a little bit on his plan when they all went into the car, Amelia making herself comfortable in the passenger's seat while Al and Ed sat together in the back. There was a Briggs soldier in the car with them, but thankfully it wasn't one of the super huge, buff guys that Kimblee brought with him.

"I mean, I remember seeing them together, but why do you think they traveled all the way up here?" Amelia asked, her head barely turned so it wouldn't look suspicious to Kimblee as he organized things with Major Miles.

"Who knows? All we know is that he might be here, and that girl is probably with him." Edward said, "We just need to get out of Kimblee's sight and then we can explore and find him without his creepy big guys."

Amelia looked back at the guys in question, who seemed to be lining up in another car, though one of them was right near Kimblee. She shook her head, "They're too quiet. I don't like it." She said, "Like, it was bad enough having Major Armstrong around me all the time, but now we have like 4 seven-foot-tall dudes wandering around all buff and shit. At least the Major made himself likable by being stupidly eccentric." She looked back at Edward, "How do you think we can shake them off?"

"Well, they're big, so I doubt they're that fast." Edward said, "It should be pretty easy to—" He was cut off as the door to the car suddenly opened.

"Make room for one more!" Winry's voice cut through as she tossed her toolbox into Al and Edward's laps before trying to push her way in and push Edward into the middle seat between her and Alphonse, which only proceeded to crush Edward up against his brother's armor in the small space of the car, "Come on, Al, scoot over some!"

"Uh…" Alphonse wasn't sure what to do, mentally panicking as Winry managed to force her way into the car.

"What are you doing Winry?!" Edward demanded as he could barely squirm in between her and his brother, and Alphonse shifted a little bit to try and give him a little more room.

Kimblee came over to the still-open door, "I am sorry Winry, but you need to wait here at the fort." He said, "We're not going for a picnic."

Winry's expression grew worried as she looked away from Kimblee, and Amelia could see the gears quickly turning in her head as she put on that determined expression, "And neither am I," She replied, "I just performed a complicated upgrade on his automail that I've never done before. What if there's a malfunction? It would tarnish the Rockbell name if I'm not there to fix it."

Edward's eyes widened as he realized what she was doing, and he let out a frustrated sigh, "Do you even realize how obsessed with your job you are? You're a workaholic!"

"And proud of it, too!" Winry shot back, "This has been my family's business for four generations!"

Kimblee sighed, bringing one hand up to his white hat, "Very well, you can join us." He relented rather easily at the sight of the still-bickering teenagers in the car, who completely ignored him as he turned away, "I guess I can allow you to."

"Oh, yeah. Totally! Four generations of gearheads!" Edward snapped.

"There's nothing wrong with that!" Winry shot back. The two scowled at each other until Edward glanced over her head to see Kimblee had left, and then he relaxed and backed off.

"Whatever." He shrugged it off and Winry reached to shut the door. Amelia had looked back and watched the entire experience between the two of them. As Edward relaxed and Winry seemed to win the "fight" they had, she noticed how Winry glanced over at Edward, reaching up for some of the loose hair beside her face and briefly tucking it behind her ear, looking away before he looked back at her. Amelia could feel her heart growing a little heavy and she turned around away from them as she sat up in her seat alongside the soldier that was driving them. She didn't know his name, and she didn't talk to him, but she just couldn't really look at Edward and Winry. She glanced up into the rear-view mirror, getting an almost perfect view at how Edward was glancing over at Winry when she wasn't looking. That just made her feel worse. They were checking on each other, looking and making sure they were still there. They really, genuinely seemed like a good fit for each other, and part of her was intensely jealous, but the other part of her knew better than to let her feel that way for too long. Edward wasn't hers to pursue, that was made clear by the story itself.

Soon enough, the orders came to move out to the location where they would begin their search, and they began to make their way down the mountain road with plenty of other cars and soldiers with them to help. Amelia looked out the window, watching the wintery landscape slowly roll by them.

"This could turn out really badly for us," Edward said in a quiet voice, acknowledging that his last-minute plan had a lot of holes in it for finding Scar. It was one thing to get out of Kimblee's surveillance, it was another to find a known mass-murderer and get into a position where they could talk with him before finding the girl he was traveling with.

"Yeah…" Winry said quietly, and Amelia looked ahead of her, trying not to look back in the mirror as Winry leaned ever-so-slightly on Edward and he didn't try to push her away. It was small, subtle gestures like that, it fueled a simmering feeling that was something of a cross between envy, and resignation. She couldn't do anything about their feelings for each other, and she wasn't going to push them away if they ended up together happily in the end, on top of that she was sure that their being together was the point of a happy ending. If she pushed them away from each other out of some petty jealousy, she could compromise that happy ending that would come for Edward and Alphonse. They didn't deserve that kind of attitude, so she could stow it to the side, even if it was incredibly uncomfortable to see them so close.

"I doubt they're going to let Winry search with us," She spoke up after a moment, "Even if you're here because of Ed's automail, you're not going to be allowed to go wherever we go." She was a valuable hostage to use against Edward, they weren't going to just let her out of their sight that easily.

"Brother, maybe…?" Alphonse's voice quietly caught their attention, subtly pointing to his chest, and Edward nodded.

"Yeah, maybe." He glanced over at Winry, who nodded. Amelia could see they were suggesting hiding Winry in Alphonse's armor, similar to how he had hidden May inside his chest cavity. It was easy enough to do, and Amelia couldn't see any reason to dissuade them from it, so she looked at the road ahead of them as they continued.

"Do you know where we're headed?" She asked the soldier, thinking she could chat him up and distract him a little bit while Edward and Alphonse discussed their plans for smuggling Winry.

"Baschool, it's an old mining town not far from here." He answered, "It's basically a ghost town since the mine closed down, so there are plenty of abandoned buildings that would make for good hiding spots."

Amelia let out a small hum, "I guess that explains why so many people are coming with us, we'll need a lot of people to search through a lot of buildings." She glanced back at Edward as they seemed to be figuring out how to hide Winry and get her away from the Briggs soldiers that were following in the car close behind them. Amelia grew a little uneasy, but she could trust the boys to know what they were doing… at least, most of the time.

---

When they arrived at Baschool, they managed to come up with a general escape plan to make use of. Much like when Amelia ditched the boys with "Richard" back in North City, they should be able to make use of something similar in a maze-like town like Baschool. Their plan was to get away from their guards and then make their way back to the car, where Winry would be waiting and they could get her in Al's armor and get her out of there safely. Or, at least, as safe as one could be traveling inside an open suit of constantly moving armor. She stayed in the car while the soldiers gathered out around the different trucks with Edward, Amelia, and Alphonse sitting together as they waited for the command to head out.

It wasn't long that they waited until two large, imposing men started to make their way over to them and came behind them. It made talking between the three of them a little awkward since they were constantly standing behind them, and Amelia was about to question their presence when her attention was pulled away by Major Miles shouting out, "All squads are to contact us here immediately if you spot Scar!" and his order was met with a resounding "Yes, sir!" save for two voices behind them remaining silent.

Edward glanced back at the two large men, one with brown hair and a somewhat impressive set of sideburns that turned into a kind of chinless beard, the other blonde and tall with a pair of glasses and a mustache. Edward met eyes with both of them as they glowered down at the three teenagers, "We've got orders to keep the three of you company." He said, answering their silent questions of why they were there.

Alphonse leaned over to Edward, "You think they're Kimblee's men?" He whispered.

"No doubt about it," Edward whispered back, and Amelia had to agree. Tall and imposing with a penchant for remaining silent? Yeah, definitely Kimblee's men. As Major Miles began to separate the search parties, the three of them stood up to lead one of their own, though officially Edward was the one leading it.

They set off down one way while the other search parties separated to head down different roads. They had a small platoon of soldiers with them, all armed and prepared for the worst for dealing with Scar, and the two huge soldiers that followed Kimblee were right behind them. The other two were sent onto their own search party under Kimblee's orders. They didn't need to worry about them, however. Their biggest concern was finding a way to get the hell away from those two that were following them and ditch the rest of the search party so they could get their own plan in motion to find May.

As they quietly walked in between the abandoned buildings that towered over them, Amelia noticed an open doorway coming up on their left into one of the larger buildings. She glanced over at Edward, meeting his eyes and as she subtly got him to notice it, he just barely nodded so she knew he understood her. He knocked his automail hand against Alphonse's armor, just enough to be a light tap that no one would question because they were all walking so close together. As they came right up to the entrance, they all gasped and looked at the entrance, "Ah! I just saw someone move in there!" Amelia shouted, calling everyone's attention.

"What, really?" One soldier asked, looking into the dark doorway. Without waiting for anyone else, Edward grabbed Amelia's sleeve and the three of them started to run inside.

"He went this way!" Alphonse shouted as they darted into the darker building.

"Hey, hold on!" A soldier shouted out as they ran, the others suddenly trying to keep up with them since they had run off.

"Wait for us!" One of Kimblee's men shouted after them.

They ran down into the halls and Edward grabbed Amelia, yanking her forward as he and Alphonse clapped their hands for a transmutation, bringing them down in time to form a wall just behind them that would lead the other soldiers to a dead end. The last sparks were still clinging to the stone just as the others rounded the corner. The wall was thin enough for them to hear their voices on the other side.

"What the—? Where are they?" The blonde soldier's voice came through.

"They turned down this hall!" Another voice, presumably the bearded one from before talking.

"Damn it, they're trying to lose us." The blonde cursed.

"Damn right," Amelia whispered under her breath, the three of them turning and running down the rest of the hall and climbing up to the top of the building to wait and see if they would run off to the next building or try to wait them out. Thinking they were making an escape, the soldiers all filed out to look for them and left them in the clear to get out without any trouble. They went up to the roof and Edward looked over at how close the buildings were together.

"This should be easy, we can just jump from roof to roof," Edward said confidently.

"Uh, what?" Amelia looked over at him with an incredulous expression, "No, we are not jumping off of this building to the next one."

"It's not even two feet of distance, we should be fine." Edward insisted.

"Maybe you'll be fine, but I'm not about to jump over the edge of a roof!" Amelia insisted back.

"You'll be fine, too." Edward assured her, "I know you will."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do. You've gotten a lot better at trying to kick my ass." Edward retorted, "That means you've got more muscle in those legs than you think." Amelia glanced down at her legs and then back up at Edward, "Come on, it's not that hard." Her reluctance was still clearly showing on her face and he sighed, "Just get a running start, I'll show you." He said, turning and starting to run for the roof's edge.

"Ed, wait!" Amelia called out worriedly, only to watch him easily jump over the space between the two buildings and land safely on the other side. He turned back to her with a wide grin.

"See?" He called out to her, "It's not hard! You've got this!" She still wasn't particularly eager, considering the building was 4 stories high. She didn't know if that was high enough to kill someone, but she was certain it was at least a serious injury if she lost her footing.

"Amelia, you'll be okay," Alphonse promised her, pulling her out of her worried thoughts for a moment, "Just run and jump. You should be fine. The velocity of your speed should make it easier for you to jump farther without too much trouble."

"I guess…" She knew he was probably right, but she was still nervous. Still, Edward was waiting for her on the other side, and she knew her reluctance was just delaying their plans to move forward. She sighed, taking a deep breath as she looked over the distance between the buildings, coming over to the edge of the roof to look down into the alley between them, and the sight of how high up they were only made her more nervous. Edward was watching her and frowned, "What about ice? What if I slip at the last second?"

"I'll be right here to catch you, now come on already!" He said, looking a little fed up, "After everything you've been through, this is what makes you hesitate?"

"I don't like heights, Edward!" She snapped back at him.

"So, don't think about the heights! You won't have to worry about them unless you fall, and I won't let you, so come on!" It was his own brand of I'm-getting-fed-up-with-you-because-you're-not-thinking-you're-as-good-as-I-know-you-are reassurance, and Amelia let out another heavy sigh.

"Okay, okay, just need a damn running start…" She walked back to the middle of the roof, turning around to where Edward was. She was still nervous, and she really hated the idea of parkouring it from roof to roof, but it was probably the fastest way to move between buildings without someone spotting them on their way back to where the cars were… She sighed again, "Fuck it." She took in a deep breath, and sprinted towards the end of the roof, bringing her foot up on the ledge and jumping over with her arms flailing around her sides. She gasped as she landed and almost lost her footing, but Edward grabbed her shoulders.

"Whoa! Okay, not bad." He praised her as he helped her stand up straight, "See? You're fine." He patted her shoulders, smiling at her proudly, and she smiled back. Jesus, did he always look like that when he smiled? She realized it was a little rare to see Edward smiling at her, but when he did, he always seemed to shine with it. It was something that meant a lot more to her now that she knew a bit more of her own feelings, but she tried not to let it show too much.

"Right, thanks for catching me." She said, and he nodded and quickly moved her aside as Alphonse jumped over to join them. They made their way back to the starting point, moving up to the building and managing to avoid the eyes of anyone around them by timing each leap carefully. When they got to the building that was closest to the car where Winry was waiting, Edward volunteered to go down himself and get her, leaving her and Alphonse waiting at the top for him to return with the engineer. They hid from the edge of the roof, though Amelia kept looking down to see if she could watch Winry getting out of the car to join them.

While they were waiting, Alphonse looked over at Amelia as she kept a careful eye out for the few soldiers that were remaining to guard the supplies they had. He had noticed something seemed off about her in the car, and she still seemed the same, but something had changed about her a little bit. At first, he thought it might have had something to do with the progress she had been making, building her endurance against Edward and being able to go multiple rounds with him, even if she lost. She was the weakest fighter between the three of them, but she was by no means weak anymore. Maybe that was affecting her behavior? He thought she had seemed a little sad in the car, but he didn't really understand why she would have been upset to finally be out of prison. Maybe it was because they were still under guard…? It wasn't like this before, when it was just the three of them. Maybe she was jealous of Winry… that could very well be an option, given her and Edward's relationship. It might not have been the best move for him to tell her that Edward had a crush on her for years… he didn't have too much time to question it as Edward and Winry started to make their way back and Amelia stood up.

"Come on, we can meet them halfway down in the stairwell." She said, going over to the door that Edward had gone through, following her down and doing just that, meeting Winry and helping her inside of Alphonse's chest cavity before they started moving on to the rest of the city. Winry wouldn't be able to keep up with them as they searched, so she was content to be smuggled out for the time being until they were able to put her somewhere safe where she could get back home to Resembool. They started to make their way out of there, heading away from the guards and further into the center of the mining ghost town.

"And that's that!" Edward said as they started to run along the roof, glad to see all of their plan's steps were coming together rather nicely, "I'm pretty sure we lost 'em."

"Yep!" Amelia agreed as they ran, jumping over another space in between rooftops and heading further into town, "So, where should we look?"

"This place is an abandoned mining town, you'd be safest hiding somewhere in the middle where people won't come!" Edward said, "I'll bet that's where we'll find Scar and that girl."

They continued to run over the top of the roof and onto the next, heading closer and closer into town until Edward was satisfied they were far enough away from the soldiers and close enough to the middle of the town that they could start searching buildings. They went down into the first one and started walking quietly down the halls as they looked through each one for signs of life or any sign that someone had been here recently. The building was strong and standing easily against the cold, though the same couldn't be said for the broken windows, or for the boards of wood that were hanging around on the floor in different rooms.

The furniture of each room had been taken, and whatever was left was either frozen, broken, or both. A few rooms even had snow in them from someone breaking the glass and letting them slip inside. Amelia couldn't help noticing just how incredibly silent everything was. Even in this building, they could really only hear the sound of their own footsteps as they continued down each hall, carefully poking their heads into each room as they passed on the top floor.

"It's like Chernobyl or something," She couldn't help commenting quietly.

"What?" Edward looked back at her.

"Chernobyl, it's the name of this really famous abandoned town," Amelia said, "Everyone had to evacuate pretty much overnight because of a radiation spill from the local nuclear plant."

"The what?" Edward turned around completely to face her, and she looked back at him blankly.

"What?"

"What's a nuclear plant?" Amelia shrugged as a response.

"I don't really know, but I think it was kind of an energy source like instead of coal powering electricity, it was nuclear power." She shrugged again, "But I don't know the details."

"Okay… Well, if this town is so famous, then why don't people just move back in?"

"You can't live there, no one can." She said, "Not unless you want to get sick with radiation poisoning. The entire town is still too dangerous to live in. Visit, maybe, but not live in. It happened like 30 years ago, the area is still tainted." She looked around the building they were in, "But this place reminds me of it, a massive ghost town that was thriving just before everyone had to get out and leave for the rest of their lives."

"Okay, that's great, but we need to be quiet now." Edward insisted, and Amelia nodded, knowing that talking would just alert anyone nearby that they were here.

What followed after this was a heavy silence that rested over all of them as they wandered through the empty halls of the building. Amelia began to regret bringing it up because it only made her think of the fact that this building was empty and would stay that way… it just made her feel creeped out, thinking that this place was anything like that tragic area of Chernobyl.

As they walked along in the silence, they listened for anything that might be the people they were looking for, and as they moved between the rooms, there wasn't really any sign that someone had been there recently. There wasn't much in place to help someone live there, and what furniture was there had become old and dilapidated to the point of being essentially useless. Amelia started to grow a little worried, just getting those creepy vibes from everything around her, and the fact that they had to search for a known murderer… Well, it was almost like a scary story. She couldn't help being a little on-edge as they wandered from hall to hall to look for signs of life, or just any sign that someone had been there. Every room that had a window was boarded up, with light peeking through from outside, which helped but showed nothing of real value that could help them in their search. They did this for the better part of 2 hours, moving slowly and carefully and quietly through 3 different stories of the old, abandoned offices.

When they reached the bottom floor, they found the doors securely locked and boarded up, and Edward let out a loud sigh. All their investigating in the building had been for nothing, there was no sign that someone had broken in anywhere, everything was as it was when the town was emptied.

"I guess we'll have to look somewhere else," Alphonse said, starting to turn around so they could head back up to the roof since it was clear that they weren't going to go back out the door without getting someone's attention.

"Yeah, I guess," Edward said, following behind his brother, and Amelia following behind them. "You'd think we would have a better shot of looking in this place."

"Well, it is an entire town," Amelia pointed out, "And this is only the first building we've looked at."

"Yeah, I know," Edward said, "But, you know what?"

"What?"

"I was really thinking we'd get lucky. It didn't take that long to find him last time."

"Last time? You mean when you were doing as many alchemy-related good deeds as possible to get his attention and draw him out so that you could draw out the homunculi? Which didn't end well for you, might I add!"

"How did it not end well? We caught the homunculus!"

"And he swallowed you, remember?"

Edward was unable to come up with a response to that, and let out a defeated sigh, "Yeah, yeah, okay. So maybe things were a little different at that time."

"Very different."

"Yeah, whatever!" Edward dismissed it, not wanting to further discuss his mistakes, "We can still find them, and we'll be fine."

"Right…" Amelia wasn't too sure about that, considering it had taken them so long just to search through the different floors of this one building. "Well, I guess we can take our time with it, it's not like we have anywhere we have to be."

---

They did take their time, in about 3 different buildings, and spent the better part of another 3 hours on it. It was getting exhausting and the morning was quickly turning into the afternoon. They had moved onto the roof of their fourth building, taking a moment to breathe before they went inside the next one. All of them were tired from all the near-constant walking and running and venturing around while trying to avoid the military, moving from rooftop to rooftop, with essentially no real signs of Scar or May or anyone else. It was incredibly frustrating.

"This place is…" Edward sucked in a deep breath, "TOO DAMN BIG!" He shouted it at the top of his lungs.

"Ed, shut up!" Amelia rushed over to him to get him to shut his mouth, "Are you trying to get us caught?"

"How have we wasted this much time on this little ground?!" Edward couldn't help but continue to bemoan their situation. "It's taking ages to find Scar and that little girl!"

"We won't be able to find them if you don't shut your mouth and be quiet! Even if we can't see any guys out here, that doesn't mean they can't hear you when you scream like that!" She hissed at him, trying to make him remember their situation. Edward glared at her, and she glared right back for a few solid seconds before she relaxed and her expression softened, "We're all tired and frustrated, okay? I get that you need to let it out, but can you do it in a way that's a bit quieter, so we won't be caught as quickly?"

Edward's expression relaxed a little as he realized she had a point, and then sighed, "Yeah, I know… You just think we'd have better luck than this!" He looked over at Alphonse, who was waiting over by the door for the next building and they started to make their way down. This building was the same as the last three, with boarded-up windows and bereft of furniture, nothing left behind but scraps, dust, garbage, and some signs of people living there, but nothing that promised someone had been here recently.

"Why do you keep talking about luck?" Amelia asked as they wandered the empty halls, "You said that before too, about getting lucky and finding them on the first try."

"I think luck is a factor in getting things done," Edward answered.

"Seriously? I thought you were a scientist." Amelia replied, "What does luck have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything!" Edward shot back, "You think we would have known about Doctor Marcoh if Major Armstrong hadn't recognized him at the train station? Or you would have even become my apprentice?"

"I became your apprentice because I asked, and you said 'yes.' What does that have to do with luck?"

"Well, I think it's pretty lucky considering we had been talking about you just before then." Alphonse brought up, and Amelia looked up at him.

"What, really?" The suit of armor turned to her.

"Sure, just before everything that had happened with Lieutenant Ross, we had been talking about you."

---

"Everything is fine, Alphonse. But you don't really need to check up on me. I can handle myself okay. You guys are in a worse situation than I am, considering your body and your brother's."

"Ha, right…" Alphonse glanced over at the hallway, seeing his brother exiting Winry's room and going back to their own. "Well, I should get going, make sure Brother and Winry eat dinner before the dining hall closes. She's mentioned wanting to see you, so you should stop by sometime soon."

"Okay, I'll think about it. Goodbye Alphonse." Amelia hung up before he had the chance to return the greeting. He had the feeling that she likely wouldn't come to see them while they were here, which was understandable, given her situation. Still, it was rather shocking to hear the story of what happened between her and Mr. Hughes when he died. Gracia had told them everything she knew, including that Amelia had been found trying to perform CPR on her husband when they found him, and how the EMTs managed to figure out she was in shock. When they tried to pull her away from the body, she panicked and started shouting, and so they let her come with them on the way to the hospital until the Major could come and get her. Other than asking if he was okay, she was totally silent, even with his blood on her hands. All of it had made him think about the night he and Edward had tried to bring back their mother, how he awoke in a suit of armor and saw his brother lying before him, clothes covered in blood, missing his arm and leg. He couldn't help but want to reach out to her a little more, especially since he had seen some of that softer side of her as he went back to his room where Edward was.

He saw his brother flipping through the book that Amelia had gotten him, "How's Winry?" He asked.

Edward glanced up at Alphonse, closing the book but still holding onto it, "She's crying… I stayed with her for a little bit until she calmed down. She's going to bed early." He said, and he turned to his younger brother, "When did you get this?"

"Amelia got it for me," Alphonse said as he went to take it from Edward's hands.

"Is it a long read? There's a lot of folded pages." Edward asked.

"No, I've just been reading it a few times," Alphonse said as he went to sit down on the couch, and Edward sat on the one across from him, "It's actually a really great story, there's a character in here who's a lot like me."

"Really?" Edward was a little surprised to see his brother so invested in reading something that wasn't related to alchemy, he couldn't really bother himself with kid's stories anymore, all that talk about magic and stuff when he could perform his own brand of magic with alchemy… he didn't see anything of real interest in it.

"Yeah, the story is about this girl trying to face a demon king, but she has a friend who comes with her that's a statue with a soul tied to it with magic." Alphonse said, flipping through the different pages of the book he had been gifted with, "In the end, he gets his body back to normal, and he's a whole person again."

"Huh," Edward was surprised there was such a similar situation to Alphonse's, but he could easily see why he would relate to that character above any others, "Well, I'm glad you like it. That's probably going to be one of the nicest things she ever does for us." He sighed.

"I don't know, I think she could be a pretty nice person, even if she doesn't show it." Alphonse said, "I only told her in passing that I didn't sleep, back when we were in Resembool. And she remembered that and got me a book to try and make it easier. I think that kind of thoughtfulness says a lot about her."

"I guess," Edward shrugged, "I still think she's kind of a brat, though." He reclined back onto the couch, laying down with his feet on the armrest while his head occupied one of the pillows.

"I don't think so," Alphonse disagreed, "Remember how she said it was because I gave her our old alchemy book?"

"Yeah, I really think you should have asked me about that before you gave it away," Edward replied with a frown.

"It was just taking up space in your suitcase! You hadn't read it in years!"

"Yeah, but it never hurts to brush up on the basics sometimes!"

"So how come you didn't do it?" Edward didn't have a response to that, "That's what I thought… But anyway, if it was just a gift to say thanks, she could have gotten me something simple. Like, maybe just a little card, or one of those little figurines you see in the stores, but she didn't. She got a book because she knew I couldn't sleep at night." He looked down at the gifted book, seemingly very happy at the sight of it, "She remembered that I couldn't sleep, I think that says something about her."

"She remembered one detail from a conversation you had, I don't know that it doesn't make her a brat," Edward commented.

"Just because you can't get along with her doesn't mean she's a bad person." Alphonse chided.

"Whatever," Edward leaned back on the couch and sighed, looking up at the ceiling, the news of Hughes's death still weighing on his mind, and the story they were told from Gracia from what she knew. She had been so grateful that someone had been there, trying to help her husband at his last moments. He couldn't see her doing it, the bratty Amelia who always pointed out his height and got a rise out of him, helping someone else? And Lieutenant Colonel Hughes at that? Had they been close, and he had just never seen it? He was fairly certain she never really interacted with him unless she had to, the same with Major Armstrong…

He thought back to all of his interactions with her, and the most distinct one in his mind was back when he had first encountered Scar. She had led them to what should have been an escape, but their way was blocked pretty quickly. He hadn't paid much attention to her when they were backed into a corner like that, but it was fairly certain that she didn't have much fighting experience at the time, so he had stepped up to the plate to take him on. His mind had been reeling when he lost his arm to Scar's destructive alchemy, trying to think of something, but he had been too afraid to come up with anything that didn't rely on alchemy. He had felt useless without his second arm, he didn't know how he was going to fight back without it, he panicked, and in the end, he admitted defeat and was really willing to let Scar kill him if it meant that Alphonse had the chance to continue living. It was the only thing he could think of at that moment: I don't care what happens to me, but Alphonse has to live.

And that instant before things came to the end, she screamed and ran in with the makeshift short sword he had for himself. She had been terrified, much more than him. She had been reduced to a weepy, red-faced mess with shaky hands and she had to have known as much as he did that there was no way she was going to be able to take this man down. She still came, anyway. She tried to cut him down with his makeshift sword from a last-minute alchemical transmutation in an effort to save his life. He didn't know if it was a fight or flight response or what, but her interfering helped them get enough time for the Colonel and his men to come to get them all to safety. She had played a part in helping them that day, and that was back when he wasn't even really sure who she was. He knew he was the trespasser imprisoned and looking to become an alchemical apprentice that the Major had taken on, and she had seemed really angry and aggressive when they first met during the incident with McDougal… But looking back, she had mostly just been a little concerned, and maybe she didn't really know what alchemy was capable of (but why wouldn't she know that? Everyone knows that). She had questioned why he had been there at all, and she had a good point, most rational people outside of their situation questioned why the military let him join when he was 12 since he was so young.

And in the middle of all of this, they didn't really know Amelia at all. They had a vague idea of who she was, but essentially no one knew where she came from and she was guilty of trespassing… what that must be like? To be stuck in a country you're not familiar with, surrounded by people you don't know, and working in a program with your only hope of getting out being an impossible success. He doubted anyone could learn enough about alchemy to impress the certification board within a year. "Who even is she?" He asked the question out loud, getting Alphonse's attention, "Does anyone know where she comes from?"

"Who?"

"Amelia,"

"Oh… I don't know, we could probably ask the Major?" He wasn't really sure how to answer his brother's question.

"I guess…" Edward sighed, "But what do you think that would be like for her? I mean, stuck with the Major all day, learning alchemy. The Major is a great alchemist, but I doubt her doing the same stuff he does is going to be enough to impress the certification board, I was the only one selected the year I applied. They didn't bother with any other candidates."

"Right, I remember. And you had to convince me out of applying, otherwise, they would have seen my body." Alphonse said. He paused for a moment, his armor shifting as he leaned forward slightly, "And it must be hard for the Major, too. He and Hughes were in the same department… How much work do you think he's doing now that he's gone? He must be so overwhelmed doing that on top of teaching her."

"Yeah… probably," Edward couldn't help but agree. Whenever someone died, or resigned, or was court-martialed suddenly, any work they had was often distributed among the people directly below them in their department, especially the people that worked closest to them since they would be able to better correct any mistakes and know the thought processes behind what they were trying to do. "I guess she must be working like hell to try and make herself better. She has to know that a year of alchemy isn't enough for any normal person to be an alchemist."

"I wouldn't be surprised, the Major must be really busy teaching her, and then doing his job on top of that." Alphonse commented, "Still, it seems like she's handling it well. I just called her, and she said that she was fine."

Ed had to agree, it must not be easy to go through all of that, on top of all that happened with Hughes… however, she seemed to be handling it. He looked over at Alphonse, "You remember what happened with Scar?"

The suit of armor had been flipping to a certain page in his book when he asked, and looked up at him when he asked his question, "Um… yeah, why?"

"Amelia rushed in that day," He said, "And I'm pretty sure she was about to soil herself when she did it, she was so scared."

"I remember," Alphonse said, "I thought maybe she could help, but my focus was mostly on you. I'm glad she stepped in when she did."

"Yeah," Edward commented idly, thinking on it a little bit more, wondering what must have been going through her head for all of that… and she still tried to help. "I guess… you're probably right." Alphonse looked up, "I mean, a good person wouldn't have done all of that for two people she barely knew."

"I think you're right, Brother," Alphonse said, sounding a little happy to hear that he had managed to change his brother's mind about it.

---

Amelia looked over at Edward at the end of Alphonse's tale, and the blonde was pointedly making sure he wasn't looking at her as he went down into a room.

"I think that talk might have put a few things in perspective," Alphonse said to Amelia, "Otherwise, I'm not sure Brother would have said yes when you asked."

"Huh…" She never knew they had thought all of that about her, but it was quite nice to know that they had been so considerate of her and everything that was going on, even in the middle of their own mourning. She looked into the room where Edward was poking around the various bits of leftover furniture and rubble. "I guess we did get a bit lucky." She said to herself as she started to look around the room. Again, some signs of life, but nothing particularly recent that they could tell. "But I don't think we're going to get lucky here." She said, going over to the room's window and looking out over the many different buildings that stood alongside each other in the massive city, "Maybe it would have been better to stick to the search party? It's going to take weeks to search all of these old buildings."

Edward sighed, "It would make things a hell of a lot easier if Scar and that girl just came to us."

Almost as if on cue, they all heard a very distinct, high-pitch voice shouting out, "Alphonse!" and all three teenagers jumped, looking at the entryway they had come in.

"You cannot be serious," Amelia said in disbelief, listening as she could vaguely hear the sound of running footsteps.

"Alphonse!" The voice cried again.

"It can't be…!" Alphonse gasped.

"No way!" Edward could hardly believe it either.

The footsteps quickly approached them until the little Xingese girl was in front of the door where they had come in, "I can't believe it's you!" She leaped up and reached up to the top of Alphonse's chest plate, throwing him off balance and sending him down onto the ground.

"She did come to us…" Edward and Amelia gaped at the sight while May climbed up on Alphonse's body, smiling brightly down at him.

"What in the world are you doing here, Alphonse?" May's focus seemed to be entirely on the suit of armor, asking him a question as if Edward and Amelia just didn't exist.

"May! I didn't think we'd ever find you!" Despite her rather haphazard entrance, Alphonse was just glad that their luck came through and was grateful to see her. Although Amelia immediately noticed how his words, innocent in their intent, had an effect on May, her cheeks turning a little pink as a hopeful smile grew on her face.

"You came this whole way just so you could find me...?" She asked.

Alphonse nodded, "Yeah! I really needed to see you!" If Amestris had an equivalent to Cupid's arrow, Amelia could see it running straight through May's body as her eyes sparkled, gasping happily at the news that Alphonse needed to see her, "Um, could you get off me, please?" She did so, sliding off of his body, holding up her little pet panda cat and gushing to her while Alphonse started to stand up. "I need you to tell me all you can about alkahestry, can you—?"

"He followed me for hundreds of miles…!" She giddily reported to the excited panda, which seemed to be in a similar state of lovestruck joy, "He said he needs me!"

"Jesus Christ." Amelia could hardly believe how this girl was losing her mind over Alphonse and her very obvious crush on him, and Alphonse seemed to be at a loss for words at how she was completely ignoring him to gush about him to her pet.

Edward decided he wasn't having it, "Al isn't the only one," His voice caught May's attention, and she looked over at Edward who rushed over to her, "I need to see you too, little girl!" He tried to appeal to her lovestruck nature by repeating the same phrase Alphonse had that sent her into a tizzy, but she looked more horrified than thrilled, "Tell us everything you know! You're not leaving until we've got what we want!"

"Oh, no! Both brothers have fallen desperately in love with me!" Even with her clear dislike of Edward, she was still living in her own fantasy, "I'm sorry Edward, but you're just not my type!"

"Don't play games with us…!" Edward was gritting his teeth and clearly angry while Amelia and Alphonse watched everything.

"Oh my God, get over yourself! You're like 3 feet tall and 10 years old!" Amelia couldn't help snapping at her, and May looked over at her, looking at her in confusion as she didn't recognize her. But before the young girl could say anything, there was a rather insistent knocking from within Al's armor.

"Let me out, Al!" Winry called from inside.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Alphonse immediately started releasing the shoulder attachments that kept his chest plate in place, letting her climb out, clearly not pleased at having been knocked around inside of his body. With all the searching and fuss, he had completely forgotten that she was inside, and so had Amelia.

"I kept bumping my head…" She said as she came out, reaching for the bump as she moved to stand up.

"Excuse me!" May looked at her angrily, glaring at her in her small body, "Who is this woman, Al?!" Before he could even answer, she turned away and started to dramatically cry, "How could you do this to me? Am I not enough for you, Alphonse…?" To Amelia's shock, she even started sobbing, she wasn't sure if they were crocodile tears or if this girl's world was really crashing down around her because she was taking things out of context and putting them into something different inside her own, romantic world in her head.

"No, no! It's not like that, she's just a friend!" Alphonse, panicking at the sight of tears, tried to defend his actions, but he quickly stopped as he came to the realization that he sounded like he was cheating on her as if she was his girlfriend or something like that.

"How are you the same person we met in Father's underground house?" Amelia could hardly believe what she was seeing, her brief meetings with May made her seem much more collected than this, or at least more focused on other tasks than romance.

"Hey May, you shouldn't go running off like that," A voice called from around the corner, and a man came around the side with a disfigured face and dark hair, gasping at the sight of the group in front of him, "The Elric brothers are here?!"

"Huh?" Alphonse looked up at the man.

"Who's that?" Edward was very certain that, whoever this was, he had no reason to recognize them since he didn't recognize him.

At first, he seemed surprised that they didn't remember, but then he relaxed, "Right, my face. I'm Doctor Marcoh." Amelia's eyes went wide at the name, remembering the man very differently from the person in front of her now. He was the one that set everything in motion for these brothers, so to see him again with a new face was rather shocking.

"What?! Doctor Marcoh?" Alphonse was in a similar state of shock.

"But you look… What happened?" Edward asked.

"It looks painful…" Amelia couldn't help commenting.

"Why don't you tell me what you're doing here first?" Marcoh asked.

Before anyone could answer, from around the corner, yet another person joined their ever-growing group. An older man with dark hair and a mustache, seemingly just taking a peek into the room, but his eyes grew wide as he saw who was there, letting out a startled cry, "The Elric brothers are here?!"

"Huh?" Alphonse looked up at the man, confused.

"And who are you?" Edward asked, fairly certain that he didn't know this man.

"Don't act like you don't know me!" The mustached man snapped, "How could you have forgotten Yoki, the great proprietor of Yousewell!"

"Who?" Amelia had never heard of this man.

"Rather easily," Edward snarkily replied, "Are you sure we've actually met?"

The man, Yoki, gasped in a dramatic fashion, though he did look seriously hurt at the fact that Edward didn't remember him as he clearly remembered Edward, "How cruel…! And after you destroyed my life!"

"Huh?" Edward was only more confused, "I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything like that…"

"I kind of want to hear this story," Amelia said, a little bit of a morbid interest in what this man had to say.

"As well you should! My tale is a tale of woe and hardship that never should have befallen such a kind and compassionate man!" Yoki began dramatically, and Amelia could guess he probably wasn't a kind and compassionate man if he was so willing to tell a story with that kind of flourish, but she decided to listen to it anyway while Edward and Alphonse shifted their focus back to May to try and figure out how to go about learning alkahestry.