lostmoonchild: Hey, everybody! Sorry it's taking so long to update this story but like with my Teen Titans fic, I've run out of ideas but I'm working on them. Thanks for the review, I hope to see more in the future. I don't own FMA or anything else unless I say otherwise.

CHAPTER THREE

A few months later Ross was working in a nearby city trying to keep a crowd from breaking into a military station when somebody shouted his name. "Can't it wait?!" Ross shouted pushing back a civilian. "Kind of busy right now!"

"You don't have until later! You're needed at home now!"

Ross felt somebody grab his shoulder from behind and pull him back before another soldier took his place "Get your ass home now, Ross!" The soldier shouted.

Ross nodded and left the area, getting on the first train he could find to Central. Something was wrong, he could tell. When he got back to Central, he jumped in his car and sped towards the house.

When he got there, he was shocked to see that the entire house had been burnt beyond repair. "GUYS?!" Ross shouted running around trying to find his brothers and sisters.

"Are you Ross?" A paramedic asked.

"Yes! Where's my brothers and sisters?! They were with their nanny while I was away! Where are they? Are they alright?" Ross demanded.

Before the paramedic could answer, Lt. Maria Ross pushed the paramedic away from Ross. "I'm so sorry, Ross." Maria said trying to keep Ross from freaking out.

"What happened? Where's my brothers and sisters?"

"We don't know for sure. Somebody called the fire in and when the firemen arrived the whole house was on fire. By the time they managed to get the fire under control and some guys into the house… oh, Ross, I'm so sorry. There was nothing they could do for most of them. The only one who survived…"

Ross fell to his knees, not hearing anything other than "the only one who survived" in his mind, taunting mercilessly over and over again. "I'm going along." Ross said climbing into the ambulance with whichever brother or sister had survived.

A few hours later Ross was allowed to see the survivor and sat next to his youngest brother, fresh tears rolling down his face. The child had been identified as Sam and from the looks of his burns, if he survived he would be scarred and would be sensitive to light for the rest of his life. But his chances of survival was less than twenty five percent and shrinking.

Ross didn't want to admit that his brothers and sisters were all gone, but part of him clung to the hope that he'd have at least one sibling left to take care of. Losing Rose was hard enough, could he get back up after losing his remaining family? Part of him said that he couldn't but the rest of him said that he'd have to since that's what his family would have wanted.

Silently, Ross took a notebook and wrote eulogies for his siblings, tears rolling down his face as he wrote down each one's little habit that made them all so special and unique. He didn't write one for Sam, he knew that his brother still lived and he felt that if he did, it would simply condemn his youngest brother to a fate he didn't want to accept.

Closing his eyes and putting his hands together, Ross bowed his head and did the one thing he hadn't done since Rose's death. He prayed.

The dark clouds loomed overhead as Ross stood in the cemetery. He stood as tall as he could as could, his eyes never leaving the ten coffins before him. Sam had passed away in his sleep and Ross decided that he'd bury all the kids on the same day to avoid spending a week and a half standing in front of separate coffins watching as his brothers and sisters were lowered to the Earth.

Behind him, he could hear Winry crying for the children that had lost their chance to live. He knew Ed and Al were behind him, both of them fully restored to normal. Al had tears rolling down his face since he had cared deeply for Amy and it hurt to watch another person he cared about being laid to rest.

Beside him, Ross felt Maria's hand on his lower arm and glanced at her. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears and she was trying to keep herself from crying. For the first time, he realized how much the Military had come to care for the children, each of them working their way into their hearts by some act.

His eyes fell on the coffins and for a minute, thought he could hear his siblings all hitting the wooden boxes, screaming at him to let them out. It was a trick of the mind, he knew, but that didn't make his heart stop tearing at the thought he was letting them go. He knew that he wasn't letting them go, not really. He wouldn't let their memories go and when he got another house, he'd put all the rooms back to the way his brothers and sisters had theirs. He'd even put a teddy bear in his room for Sam in honor of the boy's memory.

Tears began falling down Ross's face as he watched the coffins being lowered one by one into the ground. The remaining family he had, he would no longer get to touch or hear their voices. They were gone and he hoped that they were all in Heaven with their parents and loved ones. He hoped that they were all happy where they were and that they'd find a way back to him somehow.

"Come on, Ross. Let's go." Ed murmured silently, putting a hand on the other boy's shoulder.

For a minute, Ross stared at Ed as if he had never seen the boy and nodded a little. He wasn't alone, not really. He'd always carry his family with him until the day he could join them as well.

lostmoonchild: Okay, I was honestly crying while writing this chapter, mainly because I'm still sad for losing one of my best friends and this chapter made me examine my own feelings so I could apply them to Ross's feelings. I don't know if I'll write anymore chapters like this one but I think this story will be good for me (personally) since I don't really like talking about my feelings and would rather write stories where a character is struggling with whatever's happening. Anyway, read and review, flames are accepted.