3

She looked at him. He was still holding her hand. That night they had made love for the first time. He had waited patiently for her; they had been together almost two years.

When she asked him to stay with her she had decided not to wait anymore. If she could have a life with Roy Mustang she'll take it. She loved him as much as a broken heart can love.

She looked at his handsome face, his brow furrowed as if he was concentrating. He was snoring so loudly she allowed herself the pleasure of laughing. A small one.

All her life she kept fixing things. Making something for people who lost part of themselves. Making them whole again. Who would fix her? She had given so much of herself to Edward, that when he left, she felt like a big part of her was lost as well. She could not fix her brokenness.

She placed a kiss on his cheek and placed her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She'll try to be happy with him, try to make him happy as well. They had too much sadness in their lives already. Don't they deserve a happy ending to? If the law of Alchemy is one of equivalent trade then what did she gain? Didn't she lose everything? Didn't they take everything from her?

She sighed. No more she told herself. No more regrets. Let me live my life. I may only be half of who I was, maybe even less. But I'll give all of that to you if you'll take it.

Roy wrapped his arm around her, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Morning." She said sticking her tongue out at him. "you snore a lot."

"Don't you find that sexy?" he laughed stretching his back.

"No, its loud." She said sitting up.

"Sorry, did it bother you?" he asked looking at her.

"Nope. I liked it." She laughed getting ready to get out of bed. He grabbed her from behind and dragged her back to the bed.

"Not yet." He smiled. "Stay in my arms a little longer."

"Are you always this cheesy in the morning?" she asked kissing him.

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" he asked tracing circles on her naked back.

"What?" she asked looking at him.

"Move in with me." He said seriously. "I want to wake up to your smile every morning, and sleep with your hands in mine every night."

She stopped. A smile crossed her face. "You know I can't say no to the 'serious face'" she laughed.

He smiled and pulled her in for a long deep kiss. His hands exploring her body once more, relishing what she felt like. Tracing every line, feeling her soft skin. He made love to her then.

Pride watched as Envy killed the boy. Barely fifteen. They had to make sure the military would retaliate, make sure the war would break out. They had decided to the kill the youngest son of the Brigadier General of Boerhaven.

His brother laughed as he strangled the boy. The thrill of stopping someone's heart from beating was Envy's joy. The boy looked at him. His eyes almost lost, as if he had accepted his fate. From his strangled voice he whispered, a final plea.

"Save…me…"

Pride stopped, a memory stirred in his mind. Of another war in a different place and another young boy. Almost 19, the whole world ahead of him. Golden brown hair, almond eyes, a pool of blood, a lifetime washing away with the rain.

"I want to go home…" he sobbed. "I want to see Winry one last time, see mom's grave. I want to go home to Rizenbool." He whispered clutching his brother's shirt. "Shut up!" he screamed his fear seeping into his bones. "Don't talk like that! We've been through worst things than this!" he whispered desperate, pleading. "Don't leave me alone here, please…"

"It's so cold, so so cold. Niisan…save… me.." he whispered, his terror paralyzing him.

And all he could do was watch him die. After everything they've been through, all the sacrifices they made, it was almost funny to see him die in a gutter, in a war neither of them had anything to do with. But he could not find the strength to laugh.

"Perhaps we should've stayed in the gate." He whispered to his dead brother. "Perhaps all of this misery could've been forgotten." He said his tears falling. "I want to go home too…" he sobbed, his blood mixing with his brother's he too was shot after all.

"Al!" he screamed to the pouring rain. "Al!" he screamed, desperation drowning his voice, his heart breaking, his hopes ending.

"How could I lose you one more time?" he breathed. Clutching his lifeless body to him. "I could not protect you. I could not protect any of you." He sobbed thinking of all the people that had suffered because of him, died for him. Still happiness would not be granted to the two brothers forgotten by fate.

He pried Envy's hands from the boy's neck.

"What the fuck are you doing?" his brother yelled hitting him. "I brought you along cause mother wanted you to see. Don't get in the way."

"What have you done to me?" He whispered fury rising in his eyes.

"Eh?" Envy asked hitting him against the face.

"What have you done?" Pride screamed breaking Envy's fingers. His brother just smiled at the pain.

"So you've awakened then?" he laughed, the boy forgotten. The humonculus with confused golden eyes before him was a tastier prey. "He he I didn't think you would."

Envy took hold of his head and started pounding it on the floor, over and over. "You may only be part humonculi but you can still feel pain right?" he laughed beating him savagely.

Pride's eyes widened at the word humonculi, was he one? But it didn't make sense, he was Edward, he was Edward.

He got up and hit Envy across the body. Sending him sprawling across the floor. "heh, you've gotten stronger. Your body is still humonculi after all."

"Stop calling me that!" he screamed hitting him again, his vision blurred by the blood trickling down his face. What is he saying? What the hell is he saying?

"Shut up! Shut up!" he screamed, Envy had stopped his hand.

"What? Don't you remember Pride? Don't you remember what you are?" he laughed trying to tear his arms apart. Pride kicked him hard on the gut, his anger washing over him. He started hitting Envy, throwing him around the room. Envy stopped resisting, he didn't realize how strong Pride actually was, he tried to get up but he would already be there hitting him.

"Heh, don't be an idiot." He said out of breath, moving away from him. "Dante brought you back. You're nothing but a humonculi like me. Did you think you would be something else? Did you think you'd be human?" he laughed as blood started trickling from his mouth.

"Shut up!" Pride yelled.

"Do you want to know the truth brother?" he spat blood. "Do you really want to know what you are?"

"Shut the fuck up monster." Pride transmuted the concreted wall and surrounded Envy with it, trapping him in liquid cement.

"You're gonna pay for this Pride. You idiot!" he screamed before the cement covered his mouth as well. Suddenly Pride's eyes fell upon the gate appearing before him. It started to open.

"What is this?" he breathed. The boy behind him screamed finally finding his voice. Pride watched as the gate closed again and disappeared.

That shouldn't happen. Why would it open?

Suddenly he went down on his knees, memories started flooding into him. He clutched at his head, the images burning themselves into his mind. Of three children running in a field. Of a suit of armor. Of six people dressed in black. Of a different world. Of Al coming back with him. Of Al lying lifeless in his arms as he himself lay dying.

"Stop it, stop it!" he screamed crumpling to the floor. He felt as if he would explode. What was happening? He no longer knew where he was. He didn't know what he was.

He stood up and started running.

Roy looked at the intelligence report his detectives just handed in. A feeling of dread came over him as he looked at the picture in his hand.

"Chief.." his secretary called as a couple of military uniforms barged into his office. In the center of it a beautiful blond woman with brilliant red eyes.

"Brigadier General" Roy stood up saluting her.

"Chief." She spat his title as if it left an ugly taste in her mouth. "Leave us." She ordered the men. When they were all gone she sat in front of his desk, crossing her legs.

"Sit down idiot." She said humor in her eyes.

"Seems I have a lot of visitors from the military nowadays." He smiled at his old lover.

"Yes, things are starting to change." She said serious. "I came here following the Fuhrer's direct order. I am only to speak to you." She said holding out the envelope she had been carrying.

"What is this?" he asked, but he already knew what was inside.

"Two days ago a riot broke out in Boerhaven. According to witnesses a Nationally Certified Alchemist just attacked them. No provocation. He started shooting people with a gun he created form his hand and created explosions from mid air. He also took down entire infrastructures using only his fists."

Roy nodded not even opening the envelope.

"It sounds like the alchemy of three people."

"Me, Former Brigadier General Gran and the current Fuhrer." Roy said.

"Yes, I know of no one that can perform all three." Hawkeye said leaning in to him.

"Late last night another attack was made. This time in the Head of the outpost of Boerhaven. They were too busy calming the people down and providing relief. Two unknown men crept into the Brigadier General's house and attempted to murder his son."

"To force the military's hand?" he asked. Hawkeye nodded.

"The boy said one of them tried to save him. He had imprisoned the taller one in cement but by the time the army came there he had already escaped."

"The boy confirmed the man in that photograph was the one that saved him."

Roy opened the envelope. Taking the picture it contained out.

"This of course was not done by the military but the desired effect has come about. People are starting take arms. Two neighboring towns already took down their military outposts, throwing the personnel out." She said. "You don't seem to be surprised Chief." She comented as he looked at the picture.

"My intelligence report on the student leader by the name of Enjoras has come back as well." He said taking the picture he was looking at and placing it in front of Hawkeye.

One picture was of the riot in Boerhaven, a man with blond hair and golden eyes in military uniform stood in the center of the burning building.

One picture was of the student leader with another figure behind him, covered in a hood but his face clearly seen.

"Full metal"

He didn't know how long he had been running. He had not stopped. He needed to reach her. Needed to make sense of it all.

He entered Central.

Winry was packing her things, that night she would be sleeping in Roy's apartment. She felt sad in a way, sad to leave everything she was behind. But she was happy too. She can't remember the last time she felt this happy. It felt right to her.

Suddenly her front door burst open and she turned around to see who it was. She dropped the box she was carrying, its contents spilling on the floor.

Leaning on her door frame, blood flowing on the side of his face was Edward.

"Is it him?" Hawkeye asked concerned.

"I have no idea." Roy said leaning back in his chair.

"I have the warrant for his arrest." She said handing it to him. "Its shoot to kill."

Roy looked at it. Shaking his head.

"Give me time. I will take him down." He said quietly.

"This order is directly from the Fuhrer." She rebutted.

"Full metal is my responsibility. Please let me take care of it." Roy said looking over to her.

"Please Riza." He asked. She stopped. He rarely called her by her first name. Even when they were still lovers. As if it was an intimacy he was not prepared for.

"You still have a soft spot for him?" she smiled. "I guess even more now."

He frowned. She had never approved of his relationship with Winry. She had always thought it improper and he stopped trying to convince her.

In truth Riza Hawkeye was jealous of the younger girl. She had tamed the beast. She left him cause she could not take the philandering. Even when they tried to give it one more shot he was too broken. She detested his lack of ambition. The man she fell in love with was full of passion for what he believed in, the one that came back from that snowy mountain was empty. She knew then it would never work between them.

It didn't mean she didn't still love him.

But it wasn't for her that he stopped philandering. It wasn't for her that he started smiling again. It wasn't her that finally gave him peace.

"Three days Chief, that is all I can give you." She said standing up.

"Thank you." He said bowing to her. He didn't salute, didn't make any side comment. He bowed in supplication and Riza Hawkeye wanted to grieve. For the man he had become.

For the man he was for her.

"Ed?" she asked taking a step toward him. "Is that you?" she asked fighting the urge to run into his arms.

Oh no. Not now.

"Winry…" he came stumbling towards her.

She caught him in her arms before he fell. "How…" she stopped unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." He whispered sobbing into her arms.

"Ed…" she asked stroking his hair. Questions can be asked later.

"All I remember was Al dying in my arms." Her eyes widened as she heard this. "I was floating in the gate lost to everything. I didn't feel anything. I didn't want anything. I was ready to float into oblivion. But then I thought of you. I just wanted to see you one last time, hear your voice. Just see your face one last time…" he sobbed lost.

He looked up at her, his blood staining her white dress. "I opened the gate. I opened it." He muttered. She didn't understand, her tears falling.

"Al…Al is…" she gasped.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I couldn't save him." He said curling up in her arms, needing her to hold him.

"Is it really you?" she asked looking at his face. Her eyes fell upon the torn sleeve of his shirt. He was wearing a white shirt and a green vest and through the blood, she saw it. On his left shoulder he bore the mark of a humonculus.

Pride saw what she was looking at and tore at his skin wanting to rip the mark out of his body.

"Stop! Stop." She sobbed covering his hand with hers, blood trickling form it was well.

"Ed…Ed…" still she couldn't believe it.

"I'm not sure what I am anymore." He whispered broken.

She wrapped her arms around him. Holding him closer. Cradling his grief. Hers filling her up inside. Al was gone.

"I just wanted to go home." He whispered. She started, the memory of their first night together, of his promise. And she broke down too.

"Winry!" Roy burst into the room. She looked up at him. The man in her hands stopped shaking.

"So it is you." He said looking at Pride. Disbelief washing over him. "How?"

Pride looked at him, then at Winry. He then remembered how they walked across the town square holding hands. She had kissed him then.

"Him?" he cried as if she had betrayed him.

"Ed…" she reasoned. How was she going to explain that she waited. All these years she waited. And he returned on the day she had decided she would no longer love him.

He stood up and walked over to Roy. He shoved the older man against the wall hard. So hard he could feel a small stream of blood trickling on his nape. Pride gave him a look so full of hate, a face he never thought he'd see in the younger boy.

"How dare you!" he screamed at him.

"You left her behind. How dare you presume she'd wait." The older man shocked at the strength Pride had.

"Ed!" she screamed holding on to his arm. Pleading with him to let Roy down.

Pride turned to the old man. For a moment he thought Pride would hit him once more. The anger flashing through his eyes. Then he put him down and just before he turned away his face softened as if pleading with him.

Roy cocked his gun at Pride's head.

"Roy!" Winry screamed.

"I have to take him down. This man caused hundreds of deaths two days ago in Boerhaven. He's a murderer."

"What?" she looked at him. "Ed is this true?" she asked horrified.

"He's not Ed, Winry." Roy called. "The mark on his shoulder…"

Pride looked at the hole he had torn into his flesh. The blood seeping out of it. The dragon still chasing its tail.

"Ed…" she called going over to him. Then Pride ran. Roy shot at him before Winry stayed his hand.

"I have to go after him." Roy reasoned. "Stay here." He ran after Pride.

Winry watched as the two men in her life disappeared. She knew what she had to do then.

She stood in the middle of the old city. She knew he'd come here. She could hear Roy's gun firing at a distance. She saw him running into the chamber. He stopped looking at her.

"I'm not Edward." He said quietly. He wasn't even out of breath.

"Let me decide." She whispered going over to him.

"Winry!" Roy yelled running after Pride. He couldn't breathe. He knew Pride could've killed him anytime. He did not understand why he didn't.

Pride took her in his arms then and began running again taking Winry with him.

"Winry!" Roy yelled. He fell to the floor exhausted, he couldn't run anymore. "Winry!"