He is alive. He is alive, and he will keep on living. He isn't going to die. That should be a good thing, right? People want to live, and he thinks he did too. Life is a beautiful thing, is it not? Full of wonders to see, things to experience, and all sorts of things. So many people to meet, so many things that the world has to offer to him. He's alive, and that is all that matters.

Right?

Is it strange, though, that he wished he never survived?

He collapsed in the desert, so weak and exhausted, his strength sapped by both the sun bearing down on him and the shock of having his very essence stolen and then returned in an alternate form, one that he wished he had never felt, never touched. Souls are, after all, sacred things that should never be touched by anyone or anything other than than the true owner. After all, strip a human down to their very core, and it's the only thing that is truly theirs in the world.

He feels dirty, despicable, and monstrous all at once.

For a long time, his people were but a small presence in his mind, him intrinsically linked to each and every last Xerxsian who stood under his flag. He felt their thoughts, emotions, and he was them. They were him, and he was them.

Now... all he heard were the tortured cries and screams of those souls who were once his people.

Al he felt was fear fear fear someone please help me! It hurts!

He wakes up, much later, and he's told that Xingese merchants picked him up and saved him from the desert. He's in Xing, and for a moment, he thinks of the person he met in ages long past, back when he still stood by the King.

All of it is gone now, and so is Xerxes. He is not Xerxes anymore. How can he be Xerxes if there is no Xerxes? He's a dead man walking at this point, a man who by all reason should have perished along with the land he was once one with.

There is nothing left of Xerxes, nothing, but the knowledge that he gained.

With no other purpose, he does the only thing he can.

He shares his knowledge.

(It's the least he can do. Maybe if he shares his knowledge, no one else will have to suffer at the hands of the Homunculus.)

(They won't be tricked like he was.)

0o0

'Oh, Edward?" As Edward slowly made his way down the hospital hallway, he paused when he heard a familiar voice. After several days of being in the hospital, as well a physical therapy for his atrophied limbs, he was slowly learning to stop relying on his crutches. Besides, he hated having to use crutches for long periods of time, so it was really only natural that he'd try and rush through physical therapy. However, he did try to slow down for his brother's sake. Since Alphonse's entire body had atrophied inside of the Gate, his progress was much slower as he tired easily. So, as a sort of encouragement, Edward made sure to always accompany his brother during the sessions.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Edward turned around and spotted the usually stern woman, before lifting a hand in greeting. "Wait, if you're here, doesn't that mean...?"

"Fullmetal, is that you?" Behind the lieutenant, stood Mustang, eyes blank and unseeing as they had been when Edward had last seen him. In one of his hands, he held a cane that looked like it was way past its warranty date, assuming that canes had warranty dates. Most likely, it was a hospital issued one.

"... I knew it." Edward groaned, head in his hands.

Later, once the 'pleasantries' were over and done with, they found themselves in Mustang's hospital room. Apparently, when Hawkeye had spotted Edward, she and the Colonel had just been returning from the hospital's rooftop because it seemed rather unhealthy to do nothing but lie in bed all day.

"So, how are you?" Edward wanted to regret it the moment those words left his throat, seeing the look on Mustang's face.

"Why, Fullmetal, I'd almost think you cared." Mustang said with a smirk, arms crossed over his chest. However, the fact that he was not directly facing Edward and seemed to be looking over the younger male's shoulder mostly ruined the effect he was going for.

"Oh, shut up." Edward retorted, only a tiny bit of heat behind his words. "I don't care about you. Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Earlier in the hallway, Mustang had told him that he wanted to speak to him about something important. However, no matter how hard he tried to come up with ideas, Edward was unable to come up with any particular topics that would be considered 'important' by Mustang. After all, everything 'important' over the past year was over. The Homunculi were gone, the country was not about to be sacrificed for a Philosopher's Stone, and nothing was about to explode. Yet.

"Yes, about that," The smirk left Mustang's face. "I've heard you and your brother have gotten your bodies back, correct?"

"Yes?"

"First of all, allow me to extend my congratulations to you and your brother." Edward was genuinely surprised by the Colonel telling this to his face, and suddenly felt quite embarrassed for some odd reason. It was rare fro the Colonel to actually genuinely congratulate him for anything. Usually, he'd just tease him with... short jokes. It was like every time Mustang saw him, he'd be hit by an irresistible urge to point out Edward's height or lack of thereof. Even if they were in rather concerning situations. Such as that one time where they had, for some inconceivable reason, been on a mission together and nearly fell off a cliff. It was purely luck they hadn't fallen, since Edward's automail arm had gotten caught on some vines, and Mustang's pocket watch had caught on the automail leg. Then, while still upside down, Mustang had still continued to tease him.

The only real bright side to that awful situation was that Mustang had a word quota to follow if he did not want to pass out from the lack of oxygen going to his head.

"Oh, uh, thanks?"

Any and all good will Edward had towards the older man vanished with the return of Mustang's smirk which always seemed to irk Edward no matter what. "After all, it's surprising that you could reach such a high goal."

"Who are you calling so small that he can't even reach the lowest of goals?!" The blond Alchemist seethed, as Mustang chuckled, amusement clear in his expression as Hawkeye only sighed from where she stood, all too familiar with the banter between Edward and Mustang.

"You really haven't changed at all, Fullmetal." Mustang smiled, before he continued on, actually serious now. "Back to business, and contrary to what you must be thinking right now, I do have something important to ask you."

"Yeah? What?" Edward huffed, still throughly miffed about the crack at his height. He had grown taller! During his time in Briggs, Winry had outfitted him with winter automail which were significantly lighter than his usual prosthetics which probably was the reason he shot up during the last few months. The last time he checked, he was even taller than Winry now, something which he was extremely pleased about.

"Now that you and your brother have gotten your bodies back, what will you do now?" Mustang asked, for once managing to focus his unseeing gaze on Edward. Despite the fact that he was still blind and there was no way that Mustang was actually looking at him, it still felt as though his commanding officer's gaze was piercing through his soul. "Will you be quitting the military? After all, you did only join to look for a way to get your bodies back."

"I..." Edward was at a loss for words. What was he going to do now? He had intended on leaving the military behind after he and Alphonse had gotten their bodies back, so why did he not immediately say that he was quitting? Did he not want to quit?

Oh, Teacher was going to kill him for not immediately quitting the military.

"I don't know..." He mumbled, conflicted. On one hand, there were plenty of risks to be had as a State Alchemist. Edward had made plenty of enemies who wanted nothing more than to see him dead after he foiled their plans, resulting in the numerous attempts on his life, some nearly even succeeding if he wanted to be honest with himself. He didn't want Alphonse to have to deal with that, now that Alphonse wasn't as invulnerable as he had been as a suit of armour.

On the other hand... there was still the matter of the toll. Neither he nor Alphonse knew what the Truth took. They might still need the funds for research, should there be an ugly turn to the worse.

What should he do?

(In another world, he'd have quit because, after all, what good was an Alchemist without Alchemy? He knew his toll, and would be troubled no more.)

"Take your time, Edward." Hawkeye said kindly. "Think about what you want to do from here onwards, now that you and your brother have accomplished your goal. Talk to Alphonse."

"I'll... think about it." Edward said slowly as he walked over to the door.

"Fullmetal." Mustang managed to look directly at Edward, hesitating for a moment as though he was unsure of his next words before he carefully spoke. "Whatever it is you choose, I'm glad you were my subordinate. Even if you are a brat sometimes"

Edward's eyes widened a fraction before they returned to their normal size moments later, a soft smile creeping on his face.

"... Thanks, Colonel."

"You're still a shrimp, though."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING-?!"

0o0

It began with an itch. An itch that never seemed to go away as the sensation climbed to his shoulder blades from the middle of his back. In a way, it sort of reminded him of the time he had fallen into a nettle bush as a child and gotten stuck. He had cried a lot back then as Edward ran screaming for their mother to get him out, one of the more painful experiences of their childhood if he did not count Teacher's training. Trisha Elric, bless her soul, had spent the next half an hour carefully untangling him from the bush before she was finally able to extract her youngest son from the nasty plant and carried him home to treat the rashes that sprung up from the stings.

Alphonse thought nothing of it when it first started. He could even remember the exact moment it happened. He had been listening to the radio spew out a report about a serious skirmish at the border that separated Amestris and Creta, the tide of the battle falling out of Amestris' favour because their troops were exhausted from 'the incident that nearly wiped Amestris out', and how planted explosives were doing significant damage. Then, he felt it. A sharp sting in the middle of his back.

Instantly, he had shot up, his hand had flown to his back with a sharp smack, and initially believed he had been bitten by an insect of some kind. He hoped it wasn't a bedbug. Those were nasty critters. He and Edward once had a schoolmate who came to school covered in rashes from bedbug bites, and it did not look pleasant in the slightest. The sensation was sharp, but Alphonse thought that after going nearly half a decade without his body, the pain receptors in his body were very sensitive. It made sense, since everything felt so much more amplified than before he lost his body.

When Alphonse pulled his hand away, he was relieved to see his hand clean of any ex-critters. It was already tiring enough to sit up, and did not want to have to get out of bed unless it was absolutely necessary.

It must have been pulled muscle or something, Alphonse thought to himself as he lay back down, the radio droning on. For another moment, everything was calm. Then, it happened again. Another painful sting. Only, this one did not fade away. It spread, a prickling sensation that felt like he was being stabbed with tiny needles all over his back. And it hurt.

Alphonse had no idea what was going on, and after a few moments of frantic movement, he just curled up on the bed and hoped that whatever it was that was happening, it would soon pass.

"Al? AL!" Suddenly, Edward's hands were gripping his shoulders, his voice overlapping the drone of the radio. "What's wrong?! Damn it, Al, talk to me! Breathe!"

"B-brother..." Alphonse whimpered, hands reaching out for his brother as he had always done when he was scared. After their mother had passed away, he had always looked to his brother for comfort. "It hurts...!"

Edward cursed, loudly, most of the words he spat out were of the variety that Alphonse would have scolded him for, but the youngest Elric was hardly in any condition to chide his brother for his foul language.

"Shit! Where's the doctor-?!"

Then, just as quickly as it had started, most of the pain vanished into nothingness, leaving only a dull ache behind. Alphonse gasped, sucking in a breath of oxygen that he had deprived himself of after he had forgotten to breathe, before he burst into a coughing fit when he choked on air.

"Al?!" Edward's hand rubbed comforting circles into his back, a familiar action to Alphonse that the older Elric had repeated multiple times during their childhood whenever he thought his little brother needed comforting. Even as a suit of armour, even though Alphonse couldn't feel it, Edward occasionally gave him a comforting pat on the back. It was a nice gesture, and one that was thoroughly appreciated. "Are you alright?!"

Alphonse coughed, taking a few moments to recover before weakly nodding his head. "Yeah... I think it passed. I'm okay."

No, he was not. What on earth had even happened? It definitely was not a pulled muscle, despite his initial beliefs. A while back, he and Edward had been researching topics surrounding the human biology in an effort to see if they could recreate a human body and attach his soul to it before they scrapped the idea and labeled it as being too risky. During that time, Alphonse had found some medical notes with a whole chapter detailing human muscles and all possible injuries that could occur. After learning what he did, it seemed impossible that the several minutes of pain he had experienced was even remotely related.

"Bullshit," Edward huffed, eyes disbelieving as he instantly saw through Alphonse's act. Alphonse was nit very surprised. Years of trying to read a suit of armour made reading human body language quite easy. "I wouldn't call you 'okay', not after... whatever that was! Where'd it hurt? Let me see."

"My back." Alphonse tried to indicate the area as best as he could as he turned around, wincing as the movement made his back twinge. "Near the shoulders."

Carefully, Edward pulled the thin fabric of the hospital clothing down to see if there was anything wrong. Alphonse had fully expected Edward to declare that there was nothing to see, or even that he had been stung by some nasty insect with equally nasty poison. What he did not expect however, was for Edward to suddenly freeze up, body tensing in a way that Alphonse had only ever seen when his older brother had been so shocked by something.

Alphonse was almost afraid to ask.

"...What?" He heard Edward whisper, horrified.

"What? What is it?" Finally, Alphonse could take his ignorance no more, twisting his head around to see what was wrong. However, there was only so much a head could turn, so he could not see anything.

"Please tell me you violently fell off the bed. How the hell did your back get so messed up?! That was not there earlier!"

"What is it?!"

"Wait here!" Edward rushed off, leaving Alphonse gaping in shock, but the oldest Elric returned a few moments later with a mirror shard that he most likely got from breaking it off a mirror. If Alphonse had not been so confused and concerned, he might have teased his brother about having an additional seven years of bad luck tacked onto their infamous 'Elric luck'.

"This!" Edward exclaimed as he held up the mirror, letting his brother see exactly what he was talking about.

0o0

Edward had sighed with relief, nearly slumping over onto Alphonse hospital bed as soon as he realised that his brother was well. At least, well enough that he was not seriously injured. However, seeing Alphonse writhing in pain... it nearly made Edward's heart stop. The sheer panic he felt at the sight was only slightly below the instance where Alphonse had exchanged his soul for Edward's arm. Then again, nothing could really top watching one's sibling sacrifice themselves for whatever reason.

If Alphonse did not look like he might fall over at the slightest hint of a breeze, Edward honestly might have given him a friendly punch for terrifying him.

Then, when he asked to see Alphonse's back...

He did not know what he was expecting; insect bites? A sudden outbreak of rash? Nothing? All possible answers, although Edward would have much preferred the third option. If there was nothing to see, it did narrow down the options to what possibly ailed his brother.

Then again, not seeing anything also broadened the scope of possible ailments, and Edward honestly did not think that the book he read awhile ago named 'All possible ailments a human could have 101' actually detailed every last one, never mind the fact that it was as thick as his head, cowlick included, and not counting the borderline absurd number of credit pages. And dedications. So many dedications.

Regardless of the sheer number of pages that were not even about medical ailments, Edward could safely say that it and all the medical books he had ever read in his sixteen years of life had never mentioned anything about Alphonse's situation.

On Alphonse's upper back, just barely reaching his shoulder blades, were bruises. Smatterings of dark red, blues, and purples as though someone had been clumsy enough to spill copious amounts of ink onto his brother.

It looked like someone had taken a metal bat to his little brother's back and beat him until he was black and blue, which, given their current circumstances, was impossible. He highly doubted anyone could sneak in with a weapon without anyone noticing, and their hospital room did not have anything that could be used as such. Unless the IV pole was counted, but it most certainly hadn't been removed from it's corner where it had been pushed to after Alphonse got off the IV drip.

Besides, Alphonse would have told him.

Then, Edward ran off to find a mirror, and since they were fairly near the bathroom it was an obvious choice to get the mirror from there.

He just hoped that any bad luck he gained would be canceled out after he fixed it later.

When he returned, he held the mirror up. As expected, Alphonse froze up when he saw his back, who would not, seeing such a violent injury from some unknown source, when something caught Edward's eye.

Like water washing away stains, the deep blues and red seemed to fade away before Edward and Alphonse's bewildered eyes as they watched slack jawed, the slight splotches of yellow that still marred the youngest Elric's skin being the only sign that there was ever an injury.

For a moment, there was silence, silence the seemed to draw itself out for too long before Edward broke it with his mouth shutting itself with a click.

Then...

"WHAT THE F-?!"

Whatever rude obscenities Edward had been about to unleash on an unsuspecting world was drowned out by the sound of the radio cheerfully broadcasting the success of the Amestrian soldiers, and the retreat of the Cretans. Fortunately.

0o0

He probably should have told his sons (or just Alphonse because Edward was not at the stage where he would be willing to discuss things civilly if it was not important business) where he was going, lest they (Edward) think he ran off and abandoned them again. However, he wanted to see Trisha one more time before he'd be able to fully move on.

True, it was a depressing thought to think his sons would so easily think the worst of him, but he honestly did not expect any less. After all, he had not been a very good father to them. Between he and his lovely Trisha, Trisha was easily the better parent of the two of them. She was everything a mother should be. Kind, gentle, understanding, patient, and with such a big heart that Hohenheim could not help but feel pathetic in comparison to her.

She... she was everything to him. He had never truly loved anyone before in his life before her, and he did not think there would be anyone else ever again. It killed him to leave her and his sons, but... it seemed like it killed Trisha too.

Of all the regrets in the world, if there was one he could right, it would be her.

He had come home, ten years later, eager to see his wife and children again, apologise for making her wait, to his children for leaving so suddenly without a word to them, for not writing to them, for any hardships his leave caused.

When he disembarked at Resembool's train station, he expected to return to Trisha, to his two boys, to a home.

He never expected to return to a burnt out, empty shell of what was once a home, ghostly phantoms of memories still dancing around the scorched remains of his home. The swing he had made before he left lay on the ground, on of the ropes snapped and burnt.

He never expected to find out his wife had been dead for over a decade while he had travelled the country to foil the Dwarf's despicable plan. Ten years. Ten years since his angel's departure from this vast earth, and only now was he discovering it.

An illness that swept through Resembool, Pinako, his dear friend, had told him solemnly. No one had realised, until it had been far too late for Trisha.

It hurt, it really did.

If Hohenheim had been in less control of his emotions, he might have broke down in his grief.

Pinako had been nice enough to point him in the direction of his beloved's grave, and he barely had it in him to mumble a 'thank you' as his legs carried him past his old friend to Trisha.

Trisha Elric

1878 - 1904

The words engraved onto her tombstone seemed like they were mocking him. Both her birth and death date. They only served as a reminder of how he was not, and would never be human. He was a monster.

Then came a second shock. If there had been a third, he might not have survived it.

Edward, his eldest son, stood a distance away with a look of utter shock and fury that actually caught him off guard. That was not what shocked him, however. What shocked him, was how fast his son had grown up.

His only memories of his sons, had been of them as toddlers, small, tiny, absolutely precious children. And here Edward was, standing before him as a teenager.

He had grown up, and Hohenheim had missed it all.

Alphonse had most likely grown up too, if Edward had.

He just could never win, could he?

At least, he managed to save his sons.

"Hello, Trisha..." Hohenheim stood before his wife's grave once again, before he fell to his knees with a soft smile. "I'm home."

He smiled slightly, as he tried to ignore the emotions that bubbled up in his chest as he spoke. "Edward finally called me his father, would you believe it?"

He chuckled, "You were right. They did grow up strong. I left to save them, but in the end, they saved themselves."

Hohenheim stood up, gently laying a hand on the smooth tombstone. "Thank you for everything, Trisha. For loving this sad, old man. For raising the boys. For letting me feel grateful for the life I have. This time, I'll try to be a good father to them."

"Thank you."

(As he turned around to leave... he wondered if he heard Trisha's voice on the wind)

(Was it okay for him to cry now?)

0o0

There was never a dull moment with the Elrics around. It was a saying that had circulated around Eastern Headquarters some years ago, when Edward had first joined the military. Of course, Edward was already bound to draw attention, given his unusual circumstances of being the youngest Alchemist to ever pass the State Alchemist exam, so it would naturally never be dull with him around.

However, what really caused the saying to be circulated around the East was Edward's spitfire personality and tendency to find trouble that quickly gained him notoriety.

Half an hour after Edward left, Mustang suddenly found himself reminded of the latter reason when he heard the door slam open, followed by his youngest subordinate's breathless voice.

"I think... I'll need to hold onto the pocket watch for a while longer. Al and I... We've got a problem."

Yes, Mustang could feel the headache rolling in like a storm.

Never a dull day, indeed.

0o0

A/N First things first, I need some ideas on which Hetalia characters to bring in. I've thought about it, but I can't decide. Please help me. Also, I might bring in a couple of OCs to represent countries like Xing because Xing is not a real country, and therefore is not in Hetalia.

Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to say that we just have one more chapter to go through until we get to the other Nations. So it's essentially just preparation stuff until a time skip. And then we get to the Hetalia part of this crossover. I do know that I won't be bringing in Drachma because they are still salty about the Briggs incident a year later.

I really want to write cute parental Roy, but I don't know how to do that. I'm very sad.

Also, as per Hetalia head canon from somewhere, whenever there's a bunch of fighting going on, wounds open up when skirmishes/war happens. And since Amestris does a lot of that... Oh ho, ho, ho... At least they have a reason to stay in the military, since they have no idea what's going on.

Next time on Redux, Edward's still in the military researching with Alphonse, Colonel Mustang gets his eyesight back, and Hohenheim is understandably alarmed when he finds out what's going on with his sons but tries to support them (and doesn't tell them anything. Thanks Hohenheim). Not in this order.

Thank you.

- Gwntan12