Aerrow stared at the piece of paper he held.
He must have read over it a thousand times by now, and his addled mind was still trying to make sense of it.
How did this letter get here? Who had picked it up?
And more importantly, how had the Dust Storm Alchemist gotten hold of it?
Someone knocked on the door, but he didn't try to hide the letter as a familiar figure entered his room.
"Oh, you found it," said Major Blitz - definitely concerned, but hardly relieved. "I was wondering where that went. I meant to-"
"How the hell did you get hold of this?" Aerrow demanded.
The soldier was hesitant to reply, and for good reason. He was probably quaking in his boots.
"I found it," he said. "If you could just let me-"
"Don't. Lie. To me."
For the first time since they'd met, Aerrow looked deliberately in the Major's direction, though still keeping his eyes off his face and fixed firmly on the floor.
"How did you get this?" he asked, the low volume of his voice doing nothing to mask his fury. "Do you know what happened to my father?"
He swung his legs out of the bed and got up, still wavering slightly as he tried not to stand on his left leg.
"Did you kill my father?" he asked, stepping closer.
"It's not like that," the Dust Storm Alchemist said desperately. "It's-"
Quicker than should have been possible for somebody of his physique, Aerrow snatched the major's sidearm out of his belt and aimed it at his face, still keeping his head bowed.
"Did you kill my father?" he repeated, his voice terrifyingly calm.
Major Blitz didn't reply.
He opened the door and ran out of the room, and Aerrow didn't take long to follow. He kept the gun pointed at the soldier's retreating form as he once again turned in the direction of the roof. With his mind in a blaze of fury, he barely even noticed how his leg was hurting anymore, and his gaze was focused for the first time in days as he rounded the corner and saw the Major once again taking the path to the roof.
"What the-" An exclamation came from behind the Sky Knight as he walked down the hallway, still holding the gun. "Aerrow, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
He turned and aimed the weapon in the face of the blond who was chasing him.
"Don't try to stop me, Edward," he said, noting that the first face he'd seen in days was that of his 'friend' gaping in fear and shock.
"Aerrow," said Ed, hands raised in surrender, "you're confused, just try to calm down-"
"No," Aerrow said flatly. "That man knows something about what happened to my father, and I know you've been friendly with him. Stay away from me. I'm going to get answers out of him and if you try to follow me, I'll put a bullet right between your eyes. Got it?"
Ed didn't move in the slightest.
Satisfied, Aerrow turned and continued in the direction Major Blitz had taken.
Ed watched the Sky Knight's retreating form, feeling about as helpless as it's possible for a person to get.
Dammit! What the hell did he think he was doing?! Normally the ex-alchemist would be overjoyed to see his friend up and about, never mind so rigidly confident, but this was the last thing he wanted to see.
This wasn't Aerrow.
How had he even come to that conclusion? When did-
The journal.
He'd been reading it obsessively these past few days. Could that have been it? Had something in the journal convinced him to chase down the Dust Storm Alchemist?
He ran as fast as he could to his friend's room and once he was in there, he snatched up the badgered book and flicked through it, trying desperately to find some kind of clue.
And then he reached the end, and saw the photograph that was taped there.
Looking at the faces of the people depicted, lightbulbs flashed inside his mind and pieces of a puzzle slid neatly into place.
"Oh. My. God," he muttered as he stared at the picture in shock. "I am an IDIOT!"
He threw it down and ran back out of the room.
Major Blitz caught himself on the railing and stared down at the pavement far below, trying to catch what little breath he could garner.
He never had quite adjusted to this thick city air.
So now the boy he had rescued, protected and tried his utmost to help recover was hunting him down with his own sidearm, intent on killing him if he didn't get information about his father. The Major knew that look he'd had in his eyes. There would be no stopping him.
If only he hadn't found that damned letter...
"You wanna jump?"
The Dust Storm Alchemist didn't look round.
"Because if you do," Aerrow said solidly, "you're taking me with you."
"You don't want to do that," Major Blitz said. "You still have your whole life ahead of you-"
"Don't give me that bullshit," Aerrow snapped. "All I want is information about my father. I know you know about him. How else would you have got this letter?"
He took a step closer.
"I'll ask you one more time," he said. "Did. You. Kill. My. Father?"
Major Blitz didn't reply.
"You did, didn't you?" asked Aerrow. "You killed him!"
"Yes," said the Major. "Yes, okay? I did it. I killed your father. And if you want to kill me, I won't stop you."
Aerrow's steel fingers curled into a fist.
"You..." he muttered. "...you bastard... Face me."
The Major didn't move.
"Face me!" Aerrow commanded. "Now! I want to see the look on your face when you die, you murderer!"
Still the soldier remained still.
"Fine," said Aerrow, and he took careful aim.
His finger curled inward, tightening on the trigger and-
"GET A GRIP, FLYBOY!"
Aerrow froze, finger still resting on the gun's trigger as his first Amestrian friend walked into view.
"Ed," he said. "This man is a murderer. He's just admitted that he killed my father!"
"Actually, Aerrow," said Ed, standing next to the state alchemist, "it's quite a bit more complex than that."
He glared at the soldier.
Slowly, still hesitant, the Dust Storm Alchemist turned to look at the Sky Knight.
And for the first time since they'd met, Aerrow saw his face.
His deep red hair.
His eyes of unidentifiable colour.
His lips that curled into a gentle smile.
"He's right, you know," he said. "It is pretty damn complicated."
Aerrow almost dropped the gun in shock. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened in horror, and he started shivering again.
"You..." he gasped. "You're..."
"Yes," said Lightning Strike. "I am."
He stepped closer, and when Aerrow made as if to jump back in fright, he raised his hands, indicating that he meant no harm.
"It's alright," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you, I would never hurt you, Aerrow."
He took hold of the gun.
"What I said the other night was completely true," he said as he peeled the teen's fingers away from the firearm. "I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to do after I lost you. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that someday, somehow, I would be able to see you again. To get you back. To tell you how..."
He took the gun away from Aerrow's hand and replaced it in his holster, and took the boy's face in both hands so he couldn't look away.
"...how I never meant to leave you," he continued. "How I had expected go straight back home to you after that battle and spend the rest of my life with you. How I wanted to teach you how to ride a skimmer and fight and fly the Condor. I never wanted to leave you and your mother on your own."
He wiped a tear away from Aerrow's eye with his thumb.
"I've been told about what you've accomplished," he said. "How you turned yourself into a Sky Knight and formed your own squadron. How you've saved the Atmos over and over again, taught yourself how to fight and fly and do insane stunts and even found yourself a trustworthy co-pilot."
His smile grew wider.
"And I'm amazed that you had the strength to walk all the way up here by yourself," he said. "Don't you even think for a minute that you're useless or nobody cares about you or that you should kill yourself because I am so, so proud of you. About as proud as it's possible for a father to be."
By now there were tears in his eyes as well, and Aerrow still hadn't stopped gaping.
"You're... you're my dad," he said weakly.
"That's right," said the Major. "Did you miss me?"
"N-no," said Aerrow. "I-I don't remember you. I was four years old when you left but I don't remember you at all. I'm sorry. Th-that photo in the back of your journal... there was nothing familiar about it. I don't remember you, I'm sorry!"
"It's alright," Lightning Strike said, and he pulled his son into a tight hug. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, I promise. You don't have anything to apologise for. It's alright. It's okay."
Slowly, Aerrow raised his arms to return the embrace, and found himself tightening his arms around his father's body.
His father.
He had a father.
"Dad..." he choked.
He couldn't hold back anymore. He started sobbing, tears pouring down his face in heavier and heavier streams, until after a few minutes he was practically screaming, his cries falling out into the cold air of the sunset.
He felt the gentle hand of the Major stroking his hair and shushing him. It was calming. Felt like something he had missed, something he had desperately needed.
"Carry on, my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more..."
Aerrow tried to catch his breath.
"Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond disillusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high..."
So this was where this lullaby had come from. It had been his father's.
No wonder it brought him so much comfort.
"Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think, I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say..."
Aerrow tried to join in.
"Carry on, my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you..."
He only got so far before he was sobbing too hard to continue.
"It's okay," said the Major once he was done singing. "It's okay to cry. I've got you. And I promise I am never going to leave you again. Never."
Aerrow took a deep breath and tried to stop crying.
"Let's get you back inside," said Lightning Strike. "It's cold out here. I don't want you getting sick."
He looked over at the blond who had observed all of this in silence.
"Thank you," he said, and then he started ushering his son to the door.
Ed heaved a heavy sigh.
"Damn," he swore. "This whole week has just been a mess."
"Hey, Dad? I-I can call you Dad, right?"
"Of course. I'd be a little disappointed if you didn't."
Aerrow leaned into the large man's muscular body, hoping it would help him walk, but at the same time trying not to inconvenience him.
"How did..." he said hesitantly. "How did you survive the battle? I heard that the Dark Ace-"
"He's actually adopted that name?" asked Lightning Strike, and sounded like he could burst out laughing. "Jubilee suggested that as a joke. Then again, he never did seem all that clever."
Aerrow almost smiled as well. It was strangely refreshing to hear somebody else mocking his sworn nemesis.
When they reached his room, his father opened the door and helped him to the bed.
"It was years ago, so it's a bit fuzzy now," said Lightning Strike after Aerrow had sat down. "I remember... I was falling to the Wastelands. I'd just been cut down, my glider was annihilated. I still have a burn scar on my back. I was falling and... and then I saw this light, this blinding white glow rushing up towards me, I think I saw an eye, this big, grey..."
"The Eye of Truth," Aerrow muttered.
"If that's what it's called," Lightning Strike said. "And then the next thing I knew, I was in... it looked like a sewer, and there was this huge round... person saying he was going to eat me. I barely even stopped to think, I just kicked him in the face and ran for it, and then a whole load of monsters started dropping down out of the ceiling trying to kill me. I'm still not sure how I made it out of there alive. I'm just glad I did."
He rubbed his head, which was probably aching rather a lot by now.
"Didn't take me long to figure out I wasn't in Atmos anymore," he continued as he opened the journal at the back. "The air was thick, everything felt heavy and all I had were the clothes I was wearing and this photo."
He held up the picture for Aerrow to see, and the Sky Knight reached up and gently touched it with his steel fingers.
"That was taken on your fourth birthday," explained his father. "Your hair had only turned red a couple of years before. You were a little blond before then, and you were so adorable."
He lowered the journal.
"The moment I worked out where I was, I started making plans to get home," he said. "I found out about this alchemy stuff, figured it could come in handy and started teaching myself how to do it. Took ages to get it all sorted; there's so much existential stuff, it's ridiculous. I looked into earth and air on the side while researching human transmutation and everything relating to it, and before I knew it ten years had passed and I was getting rather good. I'd travelled a lot, going around and learning about Amestris, and I know you'll probably hate me when I say that the only way I survived was by stealing."
"Stealing?!"
"I didn't have any money and couldn't find anywhere that might hire me, so it was the only means I had of getting food and money. And one day I reached this village where I heard about some miracle doctor who could heal anybody, and figured he might have some source of power besides his own alchemy, so... so I broke into his house while he was out one day and stole a small red crystal that looked like a rod."
"A Philosopher's Stone?"
"I guess so. And with that stone, I started... transmuting people. I designed a transmutation circle and started trying to send people into Atmos, if only to know if it was possible. It wasn't until I transmuted a State Alchemist that I realised I had got as selfish as the Cyclonians, and I decided to quit."
"Wait a minute," said the voice of Ed, who it turned out had been listening at the door. "That was you? You sent me to Atmos?!"
Lightning Strike nodded.
"Yeah, that was me," he said. "I didn't expect you to return. I thought maybe I could enlist with the State, make a bit of cash, get a roof over my head... and then I saw you come back. I'll admit I stalked you a bit, and I heard you talking about Atmos. I realised my transmutation had worked. And I thought..."
He looked up at Aerrow, who was still patiently listening.
"If I'd managed to send a person to Atmos, what if I could bring someone to Amestris?"
"So you were the one who brought my squad and I here!" Aerrow exclaimed in shock.
"Guilty as charged," said Lightning Strike. "I wanted to bring my squadmates here, but it didn't seem to work, so I just thought 'fuck it' and went to Central to enlist."
He smiled.
"That's where I saw you, Aerrow," he said. "In Central Command, just after I'd got my licence. I watched the whole thing when Cyclonia came in out of nowhere and I've been sticking around Central ever since."
"You've been here this whole time," Aerrow muttered.
Lightning Strike nodded solemnly.
"I never ever wanted to abandon you," he said.
"I'm sorry," said Aerrow, "but even with all that, I still don't remember you. The first thing I remember is making friends with Finn, and I was four years old by then."
"Finn?" Lightning Strike raised an eyebrow and smiled. "You know, you still haven't told me anything about your squadron. So there's a Finn now, is there?"
"And Piper," said Ed. "And there's Junko, who's a Wallop. And Stork, who's a Merb. And Aerrow's co-pilot's called Radarr, but I don't even know what he is. I don't think anyone does."
"You put together your own squadron," Lightning Strike said, mostly to himself, and ruffled his son's hair. "You really are just like me. Don't get upset. I'm sure you'll get your memories back someday."
Aerrow took the hand from his head and held it, and looked into his father's eyes. In the fading light of the sun, they shined brownish-green.
"Are you tired?" asked the man.
Aerrow nodded slowly.
"We'll leave you to get some rest," said Lightning Strike as he got up. "Don't worry, I'll be right outside if you need me."
The young Sky Knight watched him leave, taking Ed with him, but not until the blond had given Aerrow a warming smile.
Alone once again, he lay down on the bed and pulled the covers up over his shoulders.
And as he closed his eyes, for perhaps the first time in a whole week, he smiled.
"So you're the boy I sent to Atmos," Lightning Strike said after he closed the door.
"Looks like it," said Ed. "It's weird; I feel like I should be angry at you, but I'm really not."
"Then maybe you could explain to me why my son has an automail arm?"
Ed laughed nervously, while the soldier glared at him angrily.
"Funny story..." the ex-alchemist started.
The room was lit by sunlight when Aerrow woke up. It was warm. He felt safe.
He sat up and looked out the window.
It was a new day.
When he looked round, there was a walking cane leaning against his bedside cabinet with a note taped to it. He took it off and read it:
Easier than a crutch
Ed
He smiled again. His friends were so thoughtful.
Using the cane for support, which was far easier than just trying not to step on his left leg, he hobbled to the door and stepped out of the room.
He found Ed asleep in a nearby chair, slumped back and snoring with his mouth wide open, and the Dust Storm Alchemist looking far more peaceful in the chair next to him. The chair's arm had a familiar red coat, now clean and fresh, draped over one arm.
He prodded the blond's shoulder.
"Ed," he whispered.
Ed awoke as the two halves of his snores collided, and looked up blearily at the Sky Knight.
"Hey," he said. "So you found it."
"Yeah, thanks," said Aerrow, looking down at the cane. "Though I thought I had at least another fifty years before I needed one of these."
"Well, that's part of why life sucks so much," Ed said, and he stood up and stretched. "You never know what it's gonna throw at you, so-"
"I've come to a decision," said Aerrow, and picked up the coat.
Ed raised an eyebrow, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.
"Really?" he said. "And what decision is that?"
Aerrow gulped.
"I'm going home," he said. "I'm going back to Atmos. Back to my squad."
Ed spent several seconds thinking this over.
"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked.
"I'll never know if I don't try," he said with a shrug. "I've decided I want to see my squad again. It would be unfair and selfish to just avoid them, right?"
Slowly, Ed nodded.
"I would say not to, but I don't exactly have the right," he said. "You want some help getting to the Breach?"
"Thanks," said Aerrow, and then he looked to his father. "Should I..."
"Let him sleep," said Ed. "You've probably worn him out. I'll let him know where you went after you've gone home."
They started walking down the hallway, with Ed helping Aerrow keep his balance on the cane.
"I can probably get this fixed once I get back to the Condor," Aerrow said as he hobbled. "Piper's still got that Nil crystal, but I'm not sure how much charge it has left."
"Probably enough to heal your leg, at least," said Ed, "which should give you time to focus on other things."
"Yeah," Aerrow said with a nod, "like letting people know where I've been for the past week and building up the muscle I've lost and-"
"Studying?"
Aerrow looked up in surprise.
"You mean for alchemy?" he asked. "I kinda thought I couldn't do that anymore. Not since I almost killed myself trying to seal the universe."
"There's only one way to tell," Ed stated, "and that's if you give it some practise. Of course, you'll probably need somebody to steer you in the right direction. A tutor of sorts. Someone who knows plenty about alchemy and is willing to share it."
He eyed Aerrow with a sly smile.
"Are you... are you offering?" asked the Sky Knight.
Ed shrugged.
"Do you want me to be?" he asked.
Aerrow didn't know how to reply.
"It would take a while," Ed said. "Luckily you already seem to know plenty, so it won't take as long as it could. Al and I already knew quite a lot about alchemy when we met our teacher and it took us around six months to properly become ready for human transmutation. Considering your strength and intelligence, I'd say around... five months, give or take a week, provided you held up. And I'd need to stay with you during that time, just so you know. I can't keep flitting back and forth between worlds."
"So you actually want to come back onto the Condor, is that it?"
"Provided you don't make me sleep in the storage closet again."
Aerrow laughed a little.
"That must have been a bit uncomfortable, right?" he asked.
Ed stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"It's nothing," he said. "Just that it feels like forever since I saw you smiling. I've missed it."
Aerrow smiled again.
"To tell the truth," he said, "I have too."
The rest of the journey to the Breach was walked in silence, with Ed still helping Aerrow when he had trouble. It was still rather early in the morning, so there weren't too many people out and about, but there were enough for them to gather more than a few stares as they found their way to Central Command and did their best to ignore all of the unwanted attention.
Once they finally reached the crack between their worlds, Aerrow froze.
"What's the matter?" asked Ed. "Don't you want to go home anymore?"
"I... I'm not sure," said Aerrow. "I mean, yes. Yes of course, I want to go home, but... what if they don't accept me? What if I'm not able to face them or-"
"Listen up, Flyboy," said Ed. "I'm about to give you some words I really needed to hear once, when I was in a similar situation to yours right now."
Aerrow forced himself to look into those burning golden eyes.
"I can't tell you what you're supposed to do," said the ex-alchemist. "You have to figure that out for yourself. Stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You've got two good legs, so use them. You're strong enough - I know you're strong enough - to make your own path."
He turned and started to walk away.
"I'll give you two days to decide," he said. "Then I'll come back for your answer. And don't know about you, but I can't wait to see you standing on your own two feet."
Aerrow watched as he walked away, but it wasn't long before he looked back to the Breach in all its throbbing glory.
It would probably be colder on the other side, considering the lower gravity and thinner air. With that in mind, he donned his coat and pulled it tight around his thin body.
He took a deep breath and stepped in.
The lighter, cleaner, fresher air was like a rush of new life right in his face and he revelled in its chill. He could have stood there for hours just taking breath after deep breath of that cold, thin air, but he knew he had something far more important to take care of.
He walked out into the streets and it didn't take him long to reach Atmosia's main square, with that tall tree he'd come to recognise so well. He still remembered how he had raced his team to it on the day they had failed to enlist as a proper squadron.
Wow, that seemed like forever ago now.
He was planning to walk over to it, maybe sit under it for a while before trying to find his squad, before he saw them.
His whole team.
Finn, Piper, Junko, Stork and Radarr were walking across the square, presumably heading for the Condor that was parked atop a hill some distance away. He heard Finn say something: he was too far away to hear what it was, but apparently it was rather humorous as the rest of the group burst out laughing.
Aerrow wanted to call to them. He wanted to scream and shout and make himself heard so that they would come over to him, but at the same time, he didn't want to attract too much attention. Who knew what kind of chaos he could unintentionally cause?
But just as he was about to turn and return to the Breach, he saw Piper look round.
And she caught sight of him and froze.
Aerrow couldn't imagine how ridiculous he looked. Standing in the middle of the square, still wearing nothing but a coat and hospital pyjamas and leaning on a cane like he was an old man. And still the surprise on her face gave him hope.
"Aerrow?" he heard her say.
At the sound of her voice, the rest of the group stopped and looked round, and they all bore the same expression of shock. Aerrow heard Finn mutter a quiet curse, and Junko hid his gape behind his mouth.
Their leader wasn't sure whether or not he was supposed to move.
Piper took a small step towards him, moving slowly. It was clear she didn't want to frighten him.
As he too moved a little closer, Aerrow felt heat rising to his face again. A lump in his throat was growing more and more painful with every passing second, and his vision blurred as his eyes filled with water.
She was looking right at him.
And he could see in her eyes. She didn't want to turn him away or kick him out.
She was relieved.
Unable to bear the separation for one more second, Aerrow tossed the cane aside and stumbled forward, and Piper ran and caught him in a tight, warming hug.
He couldn't believe his stupidity for avoiding his friends.
Aerrow swore, at that moment, that he would never abandon them again.