A long time ago, he watched families with fascination. He sees their cheerful laughter, warm and loving touches, and the bonds they shared. He sees mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons, spending their days basking in each others' presences. Then he began to wonder; what is it like to have a family? He never had a mother or father, or any brothers or sisters. He knows naught of where his people came from, and he thinks he never will. If he had a 'parent', he never knew them and he supposed they never cared enough to know him. If he had siblings, which he doubted, he was sure he would have already met them.

He's surrounded by people, and yet he is so unbelievably lonely.

Then everything goes to hell, and he is completely and utterly alone.

Now, as he walks the earth with no purpose, he watches families not with fascination, but a deep rooted sense of longing, and the hopeless resignation that he'd never get what he truly desired.

Humans desire immortality, stemming from the fear of death, the fear of what lies after life, the unknown. Perhaps, some part of him can understand why humans want such a cursed existence, but only those with immortality can truly know the pain of such an everlasting existence .

Do they not know that after centuries of living, watching the sun rise and set over and over again, to watch everyone you had ever loved grow old and succumb to the endless turn of time, that the madness eternity offers is worse than the prospect of death?

Humans really were foolish.

He stays in Xing for fifty years, spreading his knowledge before he sets off again, traveling the world to learn more. With all this time, he'd surely have enough to learn everything the world had to offer him. Xing deserved it.

Then, two hundred years after everything was lost, he finally stumbles into the country Amestris with no expectations, and once again does his world flip on its axis and send him staggering.

Oh.

Oh.

(How could he have forgotten?)

0o0

Soon after Edward had barged into his hospital room to declare his intentions of staying in the military, he and his brother were declared sufficiently healthy enough to not warrant additional stay in the hospital and where promptly discharged to make space for additional people who still needed treatment. Apparently, the Elrics (Edward)'s disdain of hospitals and their eagerness to get out as fast as possible was quite famous around the hospital, considering how much of a regular they were. If Mustang did not know any better (and if he was in a better mood), he might have said that Edward's knack at getting himself into trouble was probably what was keeping the hospitals of their country financially afloat.

However, what Edward told him before he left, no doubt to hole himself up in a library somewhere, disturbed him to his core. Bouts of pain? Injuries appearing with no real source? Scars appearing without any wounds? Mustang would have found these things hard to believe, if not for the fact that right in the middle of Edward's explanation, he suddenly hissed in pain. He might not have been able to see, but from Edward's cursing and Hawkeye's startled gasp, followed by some rustling, it was hardly likely to be good.

Later, Hawkeye would solemnly inform him of what had transpired. While Edward had been talking, a wound hidden by his shirt had suddenly seemed to... appear, marring what skin she could see on his shoulder an ugly red as he hissed in pain and tightly gripped his shoulder. Hawkeye had immediately sprung into action as she hurried over to Edward. Peeling the fabric away from the wound, she had been greeted with the sight of a wound that she had recognised extremely well.

It would have been hard not to recognise it, not when your superior office utilised a skill that could inflict such injuries.

It was a burn. Second degree, if Hawkeye's description was accurate which Mustang knew it was.

But it should have been impossible, Hawkeye had told Mustang. How could Edward even have been burned so suddenly, and without no explanation? If he had indeed been burned, his clothes would have some visible damage at the very least. With the way the wound had appeared, however, the only thing that Hawkeye could come up with was that somehow, the wound seared itself into existence through some unexplainable force that man could not understand.

Mustang's best theory involved some complex form of Alkahestry since from what he had been told by Alphonse several months back he understood that it could used in long range transmutations, but even that seemed rather convoluted and very incorrect because there had been no circle anywhere on Edward's person from what Hawkeye had told him. There had also been no thrum of Alchemical Energy that Mustang could feel, which made his theory all the more unlikely. All Alchemists could feel the hum of energy whenever another Alchemist performed a transmutation nearby so if Edward was being attacked, whoever it was behind all this was doing an unfortunately excellent job of covering their tracks.

Fortunate for them, since Mustang would have roasted them.

He gritted his teeth at the memory of Edward's pained grunt, cursing his blindness preventing him from helping his subordinate. As if Edward and Alphonse had not yet suffered enough, the world (Truth) seemed to take great, sadistic joy in throwing more problems at them just after they fixed their bodies, by giving them problems with their bodies.

Suddenly, Mustang wondered if the Truth just really enjoyed the concept of irony and decided somewhere along the line that anyone stupid enough to cross paths with it would get a truck load of it in the form of missing body parts or senses.

Either way, it seemed quite unfair for the Elrics. Where was the Equivalent Exchange in all of this?

Alphonse lost his body. Edward lost a leg, his brother for a few minutes, and an arm. Then, Edward spent the next year (from what he heard from Alphonse) coughing up blood as he rushed through automail rehabilitations before promptly joining the military at the age of twelve. Then after everything, all the injuries, all the plots, the Homunculi, defeating Father, the Elrics finally get their bodies back, but now they have to deal with their bodies suddenly getting injured for no reason whatsoever?

"Colonel Mustang?" A voice cut Mustang from his thoughts, a voice that he recognised.

"Doctor Knox?" He sat up straight, mildly surprised to hear from the older man. He was, after all, quite certain that Knox disliked him. Had he gone to the wrong hospital room? "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were in the hospital. Did you get hurt or something?"

"I lost my eyesight." Mustang said, a hint of bitterness in his voice as he reached up to touch his eyes, eyes that were still there but without the ability to see. Nothing more than dead weight. The shock Knox felt was palpable to him, even across the room. "The toll from the person who had a vision for this country... it's funny. Even if I sacrificed my Gate, I'd be trapped on the other side. And I have nothing to give, so my eyes are trapped on the other side for good."

"Then how are you going to rise up?! Soldiers who lose their eyesight are discharged. There's no way you can-!"

"I'm going to let Grumman become Fuhrer," Mustang said, although the knowledge that he'd have to give up on most of his ambitions was utterly killing him on the inside. "There's still much that I can do even without my eyesight."

There was a pause, a moment of silence as though Knox was contemplating something that was unknown to Mustang before he spoke again. "Hm. You know, I bumped into a rather interesting fellow on the way here?"

"Oh?"

"Do you know a Doctor Marcoh?"

0o0

"Brother, I don't think we'll find anything here." Alphonse sighed as he placed another finished book onto a slowly growing stack that was beginning to threaten their safety with how precariously it was stacked. At this rate, it seemed unlikely that whatever it was that was inflicting those injuries on them was going to kill them before the books did. "I know we've been to Central Library before, but I'm also very sure we went through this section ages ago."

"Yes, but we were looking for ways to get our bodies back. We weren't looking for possible explanations for the way our bodies are acting now." Edward retorted as he placed another book onto the pile that teetered dangerously for a moment before stabilising. He winced as he stretched out his arm, the bandaged burn on his shoulder twinging painfully. "Damn it, what the hell even causes injuries to randomly appear with no source? It doesn't make sense! What did that bastard Truth take?!"

"Are we reliving injuries?" Alphonse asked, as he picked up another book from the shelf, looking at the title as he considered whether or not it had any relevance to their research. What on earth was a history book doing in the middle of the medical section? "Wait, is that even possible?"

"If you can somehow reverse the process of injuries healing, theoretically, it might be possible. Like healing Alkahestry, but reversing that." Edward said, before he sighed and picked out another book, grimacing as he got a cloud of dust to the face. "I'm assuming that the body remembers where the injuries were through scars, but that's the thing. When I was talking to the Colonel, the wound that appeared on my shoulder was a second degree burn. I've never gotten burned there before, unless you count the first degree ones I got during that one certification."

"Could it be random?" Alphonse suggested, although it was a rather half-heartedly. His theory just did not add up.

"That does not make sense. Where's the equivalence in that?" Edward deadpanned, before he started sneezing. "Does no one dust these?!"

"We might be the first in years to touch these." The youngest Elric said rather flatly, staring at the now dust-free book his brother was holding. "I think you blew away most of the dust on these books with your sneeze. If being an Alchemist doesn't work out (unlikely as it is), you'll have an exciting career as a cleaner."

"Shuddup, Al." Edward groaned, rubbing his stuffy nose as he leaned to the side to put the book aside, his sleeve brushing against the dangerously stacked books that wobbled for a moment before gravity won out. Within an instant, forty two medical books and twenty nine medical alchemy texts did what the Homunculus could not and defeated the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother.

"Ouch! Brother!"

"Fu-!"

"Language!"

"I'm obligated to swear here, Al!"

After digging themselves out of the books they got buried under, Edward nursed the growing bump on his forehead as his brother sat on the ground, winded. Apparently, just the simple action of digging himself out from under the books was enough to tire him out. Spending years in the Gate did nothing to help with his stamina too.

"You okay?" Edward asked, concerned as he held his head.

"Just a little... winded." Alphonse chuckled, very much amused in retrospect of the small accident they had. "Maybe a little bruised. Kind of reminded me of that time you knocked all the books off dad's shelf."

"Excuse me, but I'm quite sure it was you that knocked them off! They fell on me!" Edward huffed, although there was no heat behind his words. He did not react to the word 'dad', so that was a plus in Alphonse's mental list.

"No, you did! You bumped into the bookcase!" Alphonse threw back, playing along.

"After you shoved me into it!"

I tripped!"

"Ha! You admitted it! You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

"SHUT UP!" A librarian shouted from somewhere within the depths of the library, the shelves blocking the view to whomever it was that yelled at them.

A surprised Edward and Alphonse immediately quietened down, sharing a look with each other for a long moment before burst into peals laughter, doubling over to the point where both of them had to use the shelves as support, tears forming at the corner of their eyes from the sheer force of their laughter.

"I haven't laughed that hard in ages!" Edward said in-between giggles that made him sound even younger than he already was, clutching his sides that felt like they were about to burst.

"I guess who everything that's been going on, we haven't had much to laugh about, right brother?" Alphonse said as beamed widely, his chest shuddering with occasional bouts of giggles that threatened to escape him as he wiped away the tears beading at the corner of his eye.

"Right, right." Edward coughed, trying to stop laughing although the corner of his mouth would not stop twitching upwards before he sat back against the bookshelf. "Ah, I can't wait to fix whatever bullshit the Truth has thrown at us this time."

"Yep." Alphonse hummed as he absentmindedly played with the hem of his shirt, rubbing the fabric between his thumb and index finger. "At least now we don't have to worry about Winry beating your head with a wrench because you broke her automail since you don't have automail anymore..."

Edward sat up straight as though he had been struck by lightning. "Oh crap! Winry!"

"We didn't call her, did we?" Alphonse wondered, before mischievously adding, "I hope we didn't worry her and granny. We should head back to Resembool soon to visit. Then you can tell Winry how much you l-"

"I DON'T LOVE WINRY! SHE'S JUST A FRIEND!" The older Elric just about shrieked, his faced flushed an embarrassed red that almost matched his coat perfectly as Alphonse laughed, ducking under the book Edward chucked at him. Alphonse, that traitor.

"You said it, not me," Alphonse smiled sweetly, although it was quite clear to anyone who might have seen him that his smile was a lie. "I was going to say that you can tell Winry how much you love her apple pie. I know I'm going to."

"... Al, how could you betray your poor brother like this?" Edward slumped to the ground dramatically with a groan.

"Quite easily, actually." Alphonse said this accompanied by an innocent smile, playing along with his brother's antics. He was extremely used to, having spent the past fifteen years of his life with Edward. Besides, it was really funny.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Edward cut his dramatics short and sat up, rubbing the back of his head (noting that his head no longer hurt from the 'book to the head' incident), almost sheepishly. "Speaking of apple pie, I did promise you that we'd go and get Winry to make you some after you got your body back, right? I guess with everything that's been going on, it slipped our mind. We should get tickets back to Resembool soon."

"Yeah." Just then, as if on cue, a loud growl cut through the air. Edward's head snapped to the side to stare at Alphonse, who blushed, the tips of his ears turning red. He had honestly forgotten that he had to eat now that he was back in his body. Not that he was complaining, of course. He would take having to eat to stay alive rather than endure the cold existence as a suit of armour where he needed nothing to stay alive save keeping his blood seal safe. Being able to eat again, even though most of what he ate the past couple of days was just plain hospital food, was a blessing in itself.

"...Maybe we should take a break to get some food?" Alphonse meekly asked. "Then book tickets back to Resembool?"

"Sure." Edward grinned as he reached out to ruffle his brother's hair.

"Ed!" Alphonse batted the older Elric's hand away with a pout as his brother cackled, only stopping when the librarian shouted again, this time from the end of aisle.

"THIS IS A LIBRARY! IF YOU AREN"T GOING TO BE QUIET, GET OUT! AND THOSE BOOKS HAD BETTER BE IN PERFECT SHAPE OR ELSE!"

"OR ELSE WHAT?!" Edward threw back rather unwisely as Alphonse forehead met the palm of his hand with a resounding smack. Oh dear...

0o0

"...Or else she'll beat you over the head with an encyclopaedia and chase us out, apparently." Alphonse remarked rather forlornly, eyeing the new lump growing on Edward's forehead as he took a sip of the smoothie he ordered at the diner he and his brother had gone to after the librarian had rather unceremoniously kicked them out. Well, kicked Edward out. She was much nicer to Alphonse, was probably since he looked like he might fall over at any moment and because he needed crutches. That was one benefit of having such a weak body, even though the cons overrode the pros. "Brother, you really shouldn't pick fights you can't win."

"Oh, shut up." Edward grumbled into his sandwich, holding a glass of cold water the the bump on his forehead. "You're just happy you didn't get a book thrown at you."

"Yep. And you just don't want to admit that an old lady kicked your butt." Alphonse said shamelessly as he finished off the rest of his chips, sitting back with a satisfied smile. Huh, the diner really did serve some nice chips... A while ago, he and Edward had actually stopped by this diner when Alphonse was still a suit of armour, and their chips had gone onto his list of 'things he wanted to eat when he got his body back'. "That was so good! I can't wait to go through my list of things to eat! I have so much catching up to do!"

Edward's eyes widened just a fraction for a moment as he paused in his eating, before returning to normal, a soft smile creeping onto his face as he watched Alphonse cross out an item in his notebook. "Yeah, I guess you do."

"Hm?" Alphonse looked up at Edward quizzically. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah," The older Elric grinned as he finished off his sandwich and stood up with a stretch. "We should hurry back to Resembool and get some of WInry's apple pie. She said she'd have one ready for us when we get back."

The beaming smile that lit up on Alphonse's was something that Edward had sorely missed from their childhood, before the youngest Elric paused for a moment. "But Ed, shouldn't we look for dad to tell him where we'll be? He did mention seeing us later..."

Instantly, the happiness on Edward's face soured like he had swallowed a lemon, his expression like it usually was whenever the topic of their father came up. So much for maturing, Alphonse thought drily to himself. It would appear that whatever tolerance Edward had shown a couple of nights prior to the current conversation was only due to the haziness that came with a sleep deprived mind. Alphonse was not quite sure if it meant that Edward secretly cared for their father under his tough exterior, or if it meant the only time Edward would accept their father was if he was sleep deprived or concussed. He supposed he could add 'high off painkillers' since they did produce a similar effect...

... He really hoped it was the former.

"That bastard can deal with it," Edward scowled petulantly, arms crossed over his chest as he turned his head to the side and closed his eyes to avoid the puppy eyes he knew Alphonse would try to use on him. They worked as a suit of armour, and Edward really did not want to receive the full brunt of it when Alphonse was a human because he knew he would cave. "He didn't tell us where he was going when he left, so he can expect the same from us."

"But brother," Alphonse protested, "That's mean."

"I don't care." Edward huffed, eyes still screwed shut. If Alphonse noticed that his brother was doing an excellent job at unknowingly mimicking a certain Xingese prince's squinty eyed look, he did not mention it. "As far as I'm concerned, the less I have to see him, the better. At least in Resembool, there's absolutely no chance of me running into him."

0o0

"I think you jinxed yourself, brother." Alphonse lightly said as Edward stared blankly at their father who was sitting at the Rockbell's kitchen table with granny Pinako, a glass of whiskey in one hand while the other hand was lifted up awkwardly in greeting. They had a rather uneventful trip back to Resembool, unlike several other instances where they had to deal with train jackers and terrorists. Really, at some point they would have to learn that jacking a train with the Fullmetal Alchemist on board was an inherently bad idea, but at least this trip was calm save for some kid screaming his head off and throwing a huge tantrum some seats down.

Once they had reached Resembool station, they did suddenly become very much aware of how long a distance they had to walk to reach the Rockbell household, a feat that would prove quite difficult given that Edward could barely walk without limping, and Alphonse was atrophied to the point where walking slowly for even five minutes was enough to tire him out.

At least the slow pace gave them the chance to admire the surroundings that they had grown up seeing to the point of it becoming monotonous.

When they finally, finally, returned to the Rockbell house, Den almost bowled Alphonse over after leaping at him. For a moment, Edward was mildly concerned about Alphonse's well being and whether or not being tackled by a dog would prove counterproductive to his health before he shrugged it off, seeing Alphonse's happy laughter. He also had a chance to relish in the fact that it wasn't him being tackled as dogs usually liked to target him first.

Winry emerged from the house soon after, likely having heard Alphonse's gleeful exclamations and Den's barking, and the moment she saw the two of them whole for the first time since they were children, tears welling up in her blue eyes as she took a running leap towards them, tackling them in a strong hug that knocked them over.

"Welcome home, dummies," She had said in-between her joyful tears.

Edward was in high spirits as he and Alphonse greeted granny Pinako. Winry had already gone in to prepare an apple pie for them and since she had already been in the house beforehand, Edward could not help but feel mildly betrayed that she had not mentioned a certain someone being there already.

That was just not fair.

"Hello Edward, Alphonse." Hohenheim waved his hand rather sheepishly as he set his glass down. "I see that you two have gotten better?"

"Yes, we have." Alphonse said politely, elbowing his brother as Edward mumbled something about feeling much better if he did not have to see Hohenheim's face. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you." There was a long pause, neither Hohenheim or his sons knowing what to say to each other. What could they say? All of their previous interactions had been mostly limited to talking about backstories and the Homunculus's plan to sacrifice everyone in the country. Besides, Hohenheim was bad at social interaction (being a Philosopher's stone made it worse somehow), Edward did not want to talk to him, and Alphonse was really the only one helping.

The silence dragged out for a bit longer before it was broken by the sound of Pinako's pipe hitting the ashtray with a sharp crack as she sighed. "Well, you boys can continue staring at each other. I best get dinner started."

"I'll help," Edward piped up, eager to get away from the situation (and his father), following after Pinako but not before shooting Hohenheim a look and disappearing into the kitchen, leaving Alphonse and Hohenheim alone.

"...I'm not very good at this, am I?" Hohenheim stated rather sadly, drooping slightly.

"It... it could be worse." Alphonse said with a strained smile. He really did wish his brother was on better terms with their father, since things got awkward really fast. "He's not yelling, and he's not vehemently denying that you're our father."

"I think I've gone from being 'a bastard' to 'a bastard who's my father' in his mind." Hohenheim chuckled with a shake of his head. "I do deserve it, though. How are you? You look much better than when I last saw you."

Something warmed in Alphonse to hear some concern from the father he had only recently begun to know, but the warmth he felt was overshadowed by his growing worries that had begun to accumulate since the last time they had spoken to each other in the hospital room. How could he even begin to explain to his father the strange things that had been happening to him and his brother? Then, a thought occured to him. His father had been travelling for such a long time, accumulating vast amounts of knowledge in all his years of living, surely he'd have heard of something, anything, that could help them.

"Actually..." Alphonse began, hesitating as he tried to think of a way to explain the situation to Hohenheim without sounding to absurd (but then again, he highly doubted that anything would really surprise their father), eliciting a raised eyebrow from the older man. "There's something... wrong with our bodies. It happened after the last time we talked. Ed thinks it might have something to do with the Truth."

Instantly, any and all traces of uncertainty and awkwardness vanished from Hohenheim's weary face, sitting up straight as he listened with rapt attention, eyes narrowed and sharp as he asked, "What's wrong?"

Alphonse fidgeted uncomfortably under Hohenheim's worried gaze. "W-well, it's just that-"

From the kitchen, the sound of Edward hissing in pain, followed by the crash of what could have possibly been a plate smashing against the floor after being dropped, interrupted Alphonse. His head immediately snapped towards the kitchen, where Edward was busy cursing up a storm in a strained voice. Alphonse recognised it as the very same one Edward would use whenever he was stuck in the hospital after being severely injured, assuming that he was not either unconscious or loopy from painkillers.

"Brother?!" Alphonse called out, brows scrunching together in concern as he made his way over to the kitchen, conversation forgotten. Hohenheim followed closely behind, he too worried for his eldest son's wellbeing.

From where he stood in the entrance to the kitchen, Alphonse could see his brother hunched over with a hand pressed firmly against his shoulder, gritting his teeth as he waited for the pain to fade away to the dull ache he had grown accustomed to after a burn had seared itself into his skin. Pinako stood next to him, carefully avoiding the shards of ceramic that lay smashed against the floor as she carefully coaxed Edward's hand from his shoulder to assess the problem at hand. Winry stood to the side, apple pie ingredients forgotten as she retrieved a medkit from the cupboard, lips twisted into a frown.

Hohenheim strode past Alphonse, brushing by him as he made a beeline towards Edward before stopping at his side and crouching down to his son's level. "Let me see."

"I don't... need your help, old man- ow!" Edward winced as Pinako finally got his hand away from the wound, the movement sending a sharp spike of pain down his arm. Alphonse, who had been hovering at the side, winced too. His brother usually never showed that he was in pain unless he really could not stand it. His threshold for pain were quite high too, which made this whole ordeal slightly worrying when you compare that Edward had lost an arm, a leg, and had undergone automail surgery, some of the most painful things a human could experience.

"Stop moving around, Ed," Pinako ordered as she unwound the soiled bandages.

The telltale redness of the burn marring Edward's shoulder now spread past the bandage even though Alphonse had seen that it had not before. Where there had been a burn the size of a closed fist, was now a burn the size of a hand.

Alphonse really hoped that it would end soon.

Hohenheim carefully assessed the burn as Pinako finished undressing it, before picturing an Alkahestric circle in his head as he held his hand over the burn with the intent to heal it. Red sparked at his fingertips, shocking Edward who up to this point was taking Pinako's advice of not moving until he flinched backwards in surprise and nearly fell over. It was only by Pinako's surprisingly quick reflexes that Edward did not fall flat on his face.

However, despite all the fuss, nothing changed. There was no seamless knitting of flesh putting itself back in its original state as medical Alkahestry would normally do. Hohenheim's eyebrows shot to his hair line in surprise, something which did not go unnoticed by Alphonse. He did still have to ask his father about it, even though he had been interrupted earlier...

"Alright, there's that." Pinako declared as soon as she had finished treating Edward's injury, making sure the bandage was properly tied before letting him go. "That'll hold, but you better not go off and get into a fight anytime soon, you hear? That'll tear any new tissue you've gotten back."

"Right... Thanks granny." Edward muttered, carefully testing the injury by moving his arm up and down. Some time during Alphonse's musings, the pain had finally subsided to the point where it'd only hurt if Edward moved his arm too much. It wasn't much, but it was an improvement. "But I think I'll be fine."

A thump to the side caught their attention, heads turning to see that Winry had put down the medkit on the kitchen table with a bit more force than necessary, her long bangs shadowing her face.

"Winry?" Edward called out tentatively.

"It's not going to be fine, is it?"

So caught off guard, he and Alphonse could only stare at their friend as she continued on, her back still facing them. "You two... ever since you've come back, you've been worried about something. I can see it, even if you're not saying anything. Even though you've got your bodies back... nothing's changed."

"Winry..." The Elrics stared at their childhood friend, wide eyed.

"Why can't you tell us?" Winry spun around, emotions, so many emotions, swirling in her big, blue eyes. She hated it, she really did. Her stupid, brave friends who tired to keep everything to themselves when they visited, going around with the notion that they can't burden her with their journey. It had always been like that, even when they were younger. "I'll always support the two of you, so tell me what's going on!"

Edward stared at her, before something in his expression softened. He always did have a weakness when it came to Winry. "... Okay."

Winry jerked in surprise, head snapping upwards to meet Edward's eyes, clearly expecting more of a fight from the stubborn Elric she had come to know and love.

"We'll tell you everything."

0o0

When Alphonse turned to him, looked at him with big, pleading, golden eyes, asking for help, he didn't know what to say.

What could he say, without crushing him and Edward? Tell them that they aren't who they think they are, that they aren't even people? To tell them that everything is a complete and utter lie?

Everything is wrong.

He can't do that to them, even if it's their right to know.

How could the Truth do this to them?

How cruel.

But isn't he being cruel too in his own way?

"I'm sorry."

He truly is, but not for the reason they think.

He'll help them through this to the best of his ability, but he can't tell them. He just can't.

The words won't come.

He is so, so sorry.

So, very sorry.

0o0

A/N The last part of this chapter did not want to be written, so I'm afraid the quality might be a bit lower than the rest of the chapter. After this chapter, there will be a time skip to a year later when Amestris is busy trying to build relations with other countries (except Drachma because they are still salty, and I don't see them jumping at the chance for more than a temporary ceasefire), and maybe the Nations will come in if I don't feel like being evil.

I've mostly given up at this point, and letting most of Hetalia's main cast come in. I'm undecided on Russia since Drachma seems like they'd have some connections to them.

I don't know how to write France, help.

I feel like I've overused my 'injure Ed and Al' card a bit too much, and it's just getting irritating at this point.

I can't wait to try writing Team Mustang because I love the interactions I read about in Fanfiction, although I feel like I'm gonna butcher them. Badly.

Hohenheim's not going to appear too much from this point on since I don't think Edward would want him following them around. He's probably going to stay in Resembool and do some more travelling. He's still a main character though, so he isn't going to disappear completely. He'll be back when all the major shit starts going down.

I might post the next chapter late because I'm working on some FMA stuff on Youtube.

Next time on Redux; Amestris builds relations with other countries, newly promoted Brigadier General Mustang and Team (plus Edward and Alphonse, but mostly Ed since he's the one in the military) gets assigned guard duty (thanks Grumman), Ling is entirely too happy to see his best friend again, and the ambassadors all have strange, eccentric people with them.

Huh, are they looking for someone?

Thank you.

- Gwntan12