lostmoonchild: Okay, another chapter ready to go so I hope you guys are all enjoying this story. Um, basically same thing as before, I'll be trying to update on Mondays and Thursdays on a good week but I'll definitely be aiming for once a week no matter what since I hate leaving stories left unfinished.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or anything else unless I say otherwise.

Chapter Five

The months seemed to drag on and on with every night being a restless night. Ross slowly began putting the pieces together again in his shattered life, gradually moving on even though part of him still screamed in anger about how he was just ignoring the fact that his siblings' killer or killers were still on the run and were probably laughing at how he hadn't even bothered to find them. He had rebuilt the house and had put the rooms back to the way they had been before the fire and everything he held dear had been torn from him. Only a few pictures had escaped with very little damage so he was grateful for those small miracles and took comfort in the knowledge that he still had a bit of his previous life before everything went to hell in a handbag.

In time he knew that he'd come face to face with the insufferable bastards that had taken everything away from him and then they'd pay. Of course he'd have to make sure to hide all of the evidence that he had even done anything so when the body or bodies were discovered, no one would suspect him of any wrong doing. He could easily claim then that it was an act of God, that they had been punished by the heavens above for their crimes. No one would ever know that he had done anything and that he had been hearing his dead sister talking to him for the past seven months.

"You know, most people regard it as a bad thing when they hear the voice of their dead family members. It just isn't the best sign of a healthy mind. Of course, we both were fucked up in the head, weren't we, brother?" Rose commented one afternoon as he shuffled into the house. He just decided that it was his imagination pretending to be Rose since he listened to her when he was about to lose it. "Remember when we were kids and we fell out of those trees? Mom got so mad because you had that gash and nearly cracked your skull open while I had broken my arm. That sucked big time, you know that? Then we found out that Dad had gone missing and things went down hill pretty damn fast. Mom lost it pretty quick, didn't she?"

Yeah, so what? Things were going down hill rather quickly now so what would it matter if he was losing it this time? It was hard to lose something that you never had since he figured that he had lost his sanity years ago. "Shut up, Rose." Ross muttered as he fixed himself a sandwich.

"Seriously, you should see a doctor about your lack of sleep. It's not good to be only getting about an hour's sleep each night. I mean, that's twenty three hours you're awake and it's taking a toll on your health. Go to a doctor, Ross. Maybe you can get-" "I said, shut up." Ross snarled.

Maybe it was the sound of irritation in his voice or maybe his mind just got tired of pretending to be Rose, he didn't know. All he knew was that the voice had fallen silent. "Shit, Rosie, I'm sorry." Ross mumbled as he went into the living room. "You know how I get when I'm tired and you know that I don't like going to doctors for anything. I'm sorry, will you forgive me?"

He knew that she would be mad at him and would probably keep quiet for a few hours. After a while, she'd be talking to him again. Forgive and forget, although Rose never did forget any wrongs done to her or their family and she didn't forgive very often. She still screamed how Ed as a bastard and how Mustang was a murdering jackass.

It was when she was screaming about those two did Ross choose to tune her out. She just became background noise at work unless there was something going on that had her quiet. When that happened, anything she told him was important and he paid attention. A couple of times he had caught somebody trying to sneak in just to shoot the place up. He wouldn't have thought twice about them before but Rose brought his attention to them and both times the suspect in question had been arrested.

The young man sighed as he laid down on the couch, a sigh leaving his lips. "Ross, somebody's at the window." Rose told him suddenly. "Open your eyes, damn it! There's somebody at the window and they're peeking in at you! If I were alive, you idiot, I'd be beating your ass right now, I hope you realize that!"

He opened one eye slightly, surprised to find that somebody was at the window and that they were peeking in. He got up and hurried to the door but when he got there, nobody was at the window. Running outside, he looked around only to find nobody. If they were hiding, they were doing a pretty good job since his search came up with nothing. "Were we both seeing things, Rosie?" Ross questioned when he had gotten inside, locking the door firmly behind him before locking the windows.

"I'm dead, brother. Remember?"

Yeah, he remembered. Every minute of every single day he remembered that he was without his favorite sister. That he was alone with no family to speak of that was among the living. "You could at least tell me who kill you then and who killed our brothers and sisters." Ross muttered under his breath. "Then I could hunt the bastards down and kill them all slowly. That way, you guys would be able to rest in peace. While you're at it, you could tell me who killed Dad. Then I could make that son of a bitch suffer miserably too."

Rose had no answer for him, choosing instead to keep silent. He guessed that she hadn't gotten over being mad at him, choosing to talk to him only because somebody was watching him and it had bothered her. Even when she was dead, she made absolutely no sense to him

Sighing to himself, the young man went upstairs and to his bedroom, throwing himself onto his bed. Rose or his imagination, he wasn't sure which one it was yet, was right. Being awake for twenty three hours a day was taking a toll on his health so he'd have to do something about the insomnia. He hated doctors but he'd have to suck up his hate for the time being.

As he slowly drifted off to sleep, he could hear an his mother singing softly and knew that it was a memory. He wasn't really hearing her like he did with Rose whenever she chose to talk to him. His mind was just pulling up the things that helped him sleep and his mother's lullabies always helped him sleep at night when everything else failed.

When he awoke, he was surprised to see the sun shining outside. He had managed to sleep the whole night through for the first time since his sister's death? "Congratulations, big brother. You've actually got the brats cheering for you." Rose congratulated him.

Even when he managed to get a whole night's sleep his mind decided to keep Rose's voice. Yeah, he probably snapped and no amount of sleep would make him snap back into the state of mind he had been in as a teenager.

Stretching, the young man went into the bathroom and began getting ready for another wonderful day at the office. Life as a soldier, he decided, really sucked.

lostmoonchild: Yay, another chapter done. Things will be picking up more now and we'll get to find out who exactly did what and why their family's being targeted. Read and review, I'll even be nice an accept flames.