Harry moaned softly as his eyes fluttered open. Shifting he began to wake up, confused as to why his cardboard box was suddenly so soft...unless one of the villagers had managed to find him and taken him while he slept.

He heard a soft yawn next to him, and his eyes widened when he realized he was in somebody's arms. He looked over...and felt a wave of relief wash over him as he saw the pretty woman from the night prior smiling at him. "Hello, sweetie." Rose said gently. "Did you sleep well?"

Nodding shyly he ducked his head, "yes Ma'am," he said softly "thank you."

Rose giggled. "Good." She replied softly. "Sorry you had to share a bed with me. I'll try to get you your own bed as soon as I can."

Blushing, he looked down and away, mumbling softly how it was the best night's sleep he could remember having

Rose smirked playfully. "Oh? Well, if you were that cozy, you can sleep in my bed with me anytime you want, sweetie." She said gently. Smiling hesitantly he nuzzled closer against her, enjoying the warmth she provided, as she began to gently hum a lullaby. Even though he had just woken up, Harry felt his eyes drooping. He found himself falling asleep once more in Rose's arms. Smiling softly at the adorable little boy Rose continued to hum her lullaby, running her fingers through his hair as he snuggled against her. Scooping him up into her arms she rose out of bed and walked to the kitchen to make them breakfast and begin their day. She sighed softly. Perhaps putting him back to sleep so soon after he woke up wasn't the best idea...But he was adorable while he slept, so she was okay with it. As she walked she realized she didn't even know his name. She decided to amuse herself while she cooked by trying to guess what it might be. "Hmm...His hair is so long and messy...I wonder if his name is Harry." She giggled at her little joke and continued with her cooking. After a few more minutes of cooking and guessing, her guesses ranging from Bartholemew to Edward, the little boy began to stir and wake up. He sniffed the air, and caught the scent of the cooking breakfast, which pleasantly surprised him. "Hey there little man," she said with a smile as she turned to him "you hungry?" Harry opened his mouth to decline...but his stomach grumbled, and he blushed. "I'll take that as a yes little man," she said with a giggle "now come over here and tell me how much you want." Harry looked at the sizeable amount of food, eggs and sausages, the young woman made, and hesitated.

"Um...N-Not too much...I...I don't deserve much..." Harry replied softly.

Gaping in shock at what the little boy had just said she frowned and pointed a scolding finger at him "Now listen here young man," she told him "whoever told you that is a liar. You DO deserve this food and more than that you need it to grow big and strong."

Harry flinched slightly. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make you mad...P-Please don't hit me..."

At hearing those words her heart broke as she dropped down to her knees and pulled him into a gentle hug as she stroked his hair "I'm not mad at you my little one," she promised softly "never at you. I'm mad at whoever told you that you don't deserve food. And i promise, i will NEVER hit you."

Harry looked into her eyes and saw the sincerity in them. He was so confused..."Why...?" He asked softly. "Why are you so nice to me...? I don't understand..."

Smiling tenderly at the little boy she kisses his brow, "Because you are a sweet, beautiful, innocent child," she said softly "you deserve to be happy, to be able to run around and play, to make friends, have a family. You DESERVE to be able to live a good life. Clearly someone has tried to take that from you...and that's something i intend to rectify."

Harry let out a soft whimper...Then he threw his arms around Rose and buried his face into her chest as he cried his eyes out. Pulling him close she let him cry out his pain, stroking his hair and singing softly to soothe this poor child's injured soul. Every sob hurt to listen to, but she wouldn't let him know that. He needed her to be strong.

Thirty minutes later, Harry was still crying. Rose was getting worried now. What had caused him to develop so much emotional strain? Slowly the tears began to slow until he looked up at her with watery eyes, "There now," she said with a tender smile as she kissed his brow "no more tears?" Harry smiled tearfully and rested his head on her chest. Finally...He had found the perfect mother figure...

"No more tears..." he promised.

"Good." Rose replied with a smile. "Now let's eat. The food's cold by now with no doubt, so we'll have to warm it up."

"Alright Ms...um..." he trailed off, as he didn't know her name.

"Rose, sweetie." She said gently. "My name is Rose."

"I'm Harry Ms. Rose," he said softly as she ruffled his hair.

Rose's eyes widened, and she giggled with a tilted head. "Well...I was right the first time." Looking at her, he tilted his head in confusion. Rose blushed and scratched the back of her head. "Ah...I was trying to guess your name earlier..." Nodding, his mouth open in an 'oh' fasion before walking over to help heat up breakfast. Ten minutes later, Harry found himself seated at the table across from Rose. He looked down at the plate of food in front of him. At the first bite he froze, his eyes widening. Just as Rose was about to ask him what was wrong he began wolfing down the delicious food. Giggling at Harry's speed eating she began to eat herself, making sure to keep an eye on the adorable child. "Don't eat TOO fast, now, sweetie." She chided gently. "You don't want to give yourself a tummy ache."

"Yes Mo...Ma'am" he answered, having to catch himself from calling her mommy

Rose tilted her head in confusion at the slip of the tongue, but didn't pry.

As they continued he began thinking about what the villagers would do when they stopped seeing him. He hoped they wouldn't get too upset. Weird and scary they may have been, but at least they were nice to him...

"What do you do for a living Ms. Rose?" he asked after a while, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Rose's eyes brightened and she smiled happily. "Well, that's actually quite a story..." And so she told him how her job was to maintain the local church which served as a simple place of prayer for any religion anyone worshiped after they removed the statues of Leto from within it. "But lately people have been trying to bring in statues of 'The Divine Child' and make that the sole religion here." she said as she finished. Harry flinched at the term "divide child". Rose blinked. "Is there something wrong?" She asked in concern.

"T-the people are scary when talking about him..." he lied quickly, not wanting her to act like the rest of the villagers

Rose giggled. "Yes, they do get a little overexcited, don't they?" She replied with a smile. "There was a time when I was like them...But...well, not anymore."

"You worshiped the Divine Child?" he asked in surprise and confusion.

"Oh, no no." Rose replied. "Before the divine child, there was a miracle worker named Father Cornello. He came to our land claiming he could revive our dying crops, and we all foolishly believed him...But he was a fraud."

"A fraud?" he asked confused, a man who could do those things sounded powerful

"It was a lie." Rose explained gently. "He claimed to be using the power of a being he called 'the sun god Leto' but he was actually just using Alchemy enhanced by an item called the Philosopher's stone."

"Alchemy?" Harry asked in confusion.

Rose nodded. "I have two friends who are experts at it...Let me see if I can remember how it works..."

Before she could continue she had a sudden idea, "Harry," she said with a grin "how would you like to recieve a private education from two of the most intelligent people in the world?".

"Who?" he asked in confusion.

"My two friends who are experts," she explianed "they both owe me a few favors and i think they'd love to be able to teach a bright, adorable, little boy like you."

Harry looked down uneasily. "Um...Are...Are they nice...?" He asked softly.

Smiling softly she scooped him up and set him down in her lap. "The youngest one is very nice Harry," she promised him "his name is Alphonse. The older one is nice most of the time but if you insult his height he gets really angry" Harry nodded and mentally told himself to not insult anyone's height. "They saved not only this country but they saved me from myself when i was still a follower of Father Cornello," Rose continued "they're the ones who exposed him for what he was doing, how he wanted to turn the villagers into his own personal army."

Harry looked at her in shock. "That's really bad..." He breathed.

"Yeah," Rose said with a wince "it hit the city pretty hard when he was exposed. I'm just glad this 'divine child' isn't like that from what I've heard. It sounds like he doesn't even want any attention at all, that he'd rather just be left out of the spot light" Harry tensed up at her words. She seemed to understand him entirely...

"W-what makes you say that?" he asked her shakily

"Well...I still haven't seen him yet." Rose admitted.

Deciding it was a good idea to move away from the subject he asked "Do you really think your friends will teach me?"

Rose smiled. "Well of course they will. I see no reason they wouldn't."

Grinning hesitantly he helped Rose begin cleaning up and thought, maybe, just maybe, he could finally be happy here.