A/N: Wow once again, sorry for the delay. This one took forever, and I once again found myself having to deal with the dumb exposition. XP

By the way, I'm issuing a little contest for all who are reading this right now. I'm going to have a little side character in the next chapter. It's not an OC and they won't be important to the story in any large way, but they're a character none the less. The contest is, whoever comes up with the best character will have that character mentioned in the story. Just so you know, the character has to be an adult of some kind. I don't need any back story, just give me a name, a personality, and a description of their appearance. Second place and third place winners get a cameo. XD So go ahead submit you're ideas in the review box, or if you're shy just send me a private message.

Alrighty then, on with the story!

A dead silence fell over the room, as Wrath's last statement still hung in the air.

Alphonse couldn't move.

That couldn't be true; why had Wrath said that? Edward, dead? That was silly.

"What do you mean dead?" Ross asked hesitantly. "How did he die?"

Wrath didn't answer, but he looked pointedly at Alphonse.

Alphonse immediately felt all eyes in the room drift to him, and he didn't understand why.

"T-That's not true." Alphonse stammered clutching Izumi's arm. "That couldn't happen!"

"He's dead," Wrath said coldly. "and you're confused."

"That's not true!" Alphonse yelled. "Stop saying that!"

"Alphonse!" Alphonse spun around quickly, Izumi's stern voice startling him.

She stared at him for a moment, then gave a long sigh. "You don't remember," she said quietly.

Alphonse furrowed his brow in confusion. "Brother couldn't have died, I saw him yesterday! You saw him too!"

"That was four years ago." Izumi said.

Alphonse's voice caught in his throat, and his mind went blank. "What?"

"It's been four years Alphonse," Izumi restated.

"But how is that possible?" he asked.

Izumi sighed and placed her hand on her forehead. "It's so very complicated." she groaned.

"Tell me!" Alphonse demanded.

"Four years ago you and Edward tried to bring your mother back." Izumi said. "There was an accident, something went wrong. You remember that much don't you?"

Alphonse remembered the strange violet light that had erupted in the center of the room, and the black arms that had reached out and dragged him into a dark void.

"...Yeah..." Alphonse said slowly. "It was a rebound."

Izumi nodded.

Alphonse waited for her to continue but she remained silent.

"What happened?" he asked.

Izumi said nothing.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"To put it simply the both of you failed," she said. "And there were consequences."

The sky had grown dark outside, and the mayhem that had been taking place in Central Headquarters had died down significantly. Over the course of the long conversation, Ross and Brosh has filtered out, and now it was only Alphonse, Izumi and Wrath.

Alphonse was sitting wide eyed, staring out into space. His head was spinning at an uncontrollable rate. Four years of his life had just disappeared. Even more unbelievable were the details of what exactly had taken place over all that time.

"So you're saying brother's dead, because he brought my body back from the gate?" Alphonse whispered.

Wrath nodded, and Alphonse felt bile rise up in his throat. "H-how could this have happened?" he whimpered placing his head in his hands.

"That is the price of committing the taboo Alphonse." Izumi said coldly.

"But all we wanted-"

"It doesn't matter! Did all the training I gave you teach you nothing? You cannot bend the universe to you're liking, and death is no exception," she snapped.

Alphonse winced and looked down. "It doesn't matter now..." he murmured.

The moment the words had left his mouth a large fist come flying into his face.

"Aghh!" he cried losing his balance and falling face first on the ground. "What was that for?" he exclaimed.

"Don't sit there wallowing in self pity! Man up! Have I taught you nothing!" Izumi shouted loudly.

"I-I'm Sorry!" Alphonse sputtered.

"Damn right you are!" Izumi shouted. "Now get your sorry butt off the floor."

Near the back of the room, Wrath raised an eyebrow, obviously a bit confused by his mother's violent pep talk.

Alphonse pulled himself up and looked at teacher. "I'm sorry..." he murmured again. "It's my fault..."

It hit him right then. It was his fault. Everything was his fault. Hadn't he been the one who had doubts about attempting human transmutation? Since the day he was born he'd been told how considerate and responsible he was. Even Edward had admitted it, (though the choice words he had used were scaredy cat.)

When it came to spotting danger, Edward was brash and head strong, so Alphonse was the one who had to unveil any flaws in his brother's outlandish plans.

So why hadn't he? Was it because he had wanted to see their mother again as well? How selfish was he?

He had killed his own brother, simply because he had hoped this outlandish plan would work.

Now there was no one. Just Alphonse.

A small choking noise escaped his lips and he once again buried his face in his palms. He tried to hold back his tears, knowing he didn't have any right to cry right now.

Izumi's dark eyes softened, and she felt a twinge of guilt for acting so harsh. Alphonse did not deserve to be pitied or comforted, and neither did Edward. Their choices were their own and no amount of softening them would do them any good. But the last time she'd seen Alphonse's face, his real face, had been years ago. She realized she was dealing with a child again, not the young man encased in a hard unfeeling suit of armor. So going against her better judgement she relented, and wrapped her arms around him.

"My two idiot pupils." she murmured. "What am I to do with you?"

And then Alphonse couldn't hold it back any longer. He sobbed into Izumi's shoulder, and she rubbed his back soothingly.

A small part of Alphonse's brain realized how strange it felt to cry. He guessed that it was all the pain of those four years pouring out of him. He clutched his teacher's back and continued to wail like a small child. He was so consumed in his sorrow, he didn't notice Wrath hobbling out of the room, with tears of his own streaming down his cheeks.

The room was spinning. Edward felt hot and clammy and everything was too bright. He could hear voices but they were all muffled. A face came into focus and Edward recognized it.

"D-dad?" he tried to call out. There was a spark of fury inside of him, but it was quickly quenched by all the other sensations he was experiencing right now.

"Is that?"

"Couldn't be?

"Professor who is this?"

"Look at his arm."

"His leg too."

All the voices swirled around him and made him feel sick. Where was Alphonse? Alphonse!

Edward bolted upright, gasping for breath. He looked out the window again and found it was dark.

The nightmare had left him feeling queasy and alert, and he doubted he was going to be able to fall asleep again.

"First I collapse in a field, now I'm having nightmares." he muttered to himself as he got out of bed. "I bet I have brain damage."

He crept quietly for through the house, searching for a front door that would give him access to some well needed air. He opened the door and made it out onto the porch. He sighed and breathed deeply. The air was warm and felt wonderful. A small breeze ruffled his awkwardly cropped hair and tickled his cheek.

It was so different from London. He'd lived in the city his entire life and had never experienced such peace as this. Especially as of late. Germans had been relentlessly bombing the city and everyone was in a constant panic.

Thinking of the bombs stirred an uncomfortable feeling in his mind. It was a such a dismal topic to be entertaining in a place like this. He looked up at the sky and noticed how starry it was. There were so many it was unbelievable. It must have been dark enough here in the country that all the lights were on display. He smiled and felt a sweet sense of nostalgia fill him. He used to go star gazing with his mother back when he was younger, she had taught him the constellations. As he was thinking about this topic, something odd struck him. "That's weird..." he said to himself, "Did they always look like that?" Despite his searching he couldn't find any constellations he recognized. He was pondering if this was because of the seasons when the front door swung open.

"What're you doing out here boy?" said a tall man with dark hair. Edward assumed this was the husband Rita had mentioned earlier. He didn't look happy.

"I was just-"

"Trying to escape?" the man cut him off. "Listen, you city folk may think we don't know much about the state of the country, but we know enough about you to tell who you are."

Edward was baffled. "Escape? What are you talking about-"

"Don't play dumb." the man said. "You're wanted by the state Mr. Elric, you betrayed the country."

"What?"

"It seems even dogs of the military can turn rogue," the man snapped.

"The military?" Ed repeated. He'd never been drafted to fight, though that wasn't through lack of trying. He was scrawny and small for his age. He hardly looked old enough to pass for fourteen, much less the full sixteen years he was actually entitled too. "I'm not apart of any military," he said slowly.

"Well that's true." the man sniffed. "Not anymore anyways."

Edward furrowed his brow in confusion. He began to wonder if maybe this man was the one with the brain damage.

"Look sir," he said calmly. "I think you're confused."

"We've already contacted head quarters boy," the man snarled. Edward noticed how nervous he looked, as if he was expecting Edward to flip out a knife and attack him. "So get back in here."

Edward frowned. "Look I've never had any contact with the military in this country, I haven't done anything wrong." Edward hoped that was true. For all he knew he could've assaulted military troops and then blacked out in a field somewhere. He hoped that wasn't the case/

"Please Mr. Elric." the man laughed anxiously. "Everyone in the continent knows who you are the way you flash around that 'Hero of the People' title."

Edward frowned, now he was sure the man was speaking nonsense, and he wondered if maybe he should wake up his wife and ask about it. Just as the thought crossed his mind, she appeared in the doorway.

"Stay where you are!" she said, her voice much icier than Edward remembered. To his bewilderment the women had a shot gun aimed at him. A freaking shot gun! Edward began backing away from the couple. "We're turning you in wether you come quietly or not," she said.

"You people are insane!" Edward exclaimed. He noticed the woman's grip on the gun was shaky, and he assumed she'd never handled such a weapon before. He quickly weighed his odds in his head before turning and making a run for it.

"Bang!" the shot cut through the silence, and Ed felt something whiz by his ear.

"They're actually shooting at me!" he panicked. He blacks out in a field and gets caught by psychotic foreigners. Fate didn't seem to be on his side today. He tripped while running down a hill, and tumbled head first into a sleeping flock of sheep. That, accompanied by the large bang of the shot gun caused all the sheep to jolt awake and scatter in different directions. It was all Edward could do not to get trampled to death. He pulled himself up and continued running.

"Forget it!" he though furiously. "If I ever make it back to London, I'm never coming back to this country."