I'm back! I should probably get to updating other stories! But, here you go! There might be a little fatherly crap as a late father's day appreciation. (I THOUGHT I WOULD UPDATE THAT WEEK BUT NOPE)

I forgot to say so these last few times but, I DON'T OWN FMA/FMAB or the lyrics at the top of this story unless stated otherwise.

Also, if you all aren't going to review, then I see no point in writing this. Reviews are the only thing I have when it comes to writing.

When the dark flood came

We wrapped ourselves inside a dirty blanket

"Get away from us," the teen mumbled. "Al," he whispered lovingly to his brother. Al's red eyes were wide in fear, his body shaking in his brother's arm.

A bright blue light flashed and the wet road had turned to ice. The three alchemists turned their heads to see Isaac standing there, a smirk adorning his rough features.

"I'm back."

"Did you miss me?" the man asked. Edward looked over to the man, a glaring with fierce eyes. He wasn't in the mood, not in the least. His brother had been attacked by a strange man, and nearly died from fire again, as if the first time hadn't been enough. His arm had been destroyed (meaning he'd have to see Adrian later) and his brother's leg was broken. Then this guy shows and acts as though he has a right to come marching down the street on the worst possible day and-

"Havoc!" he heard a voice. He'd zoned out again, hadn't he? "Get them in the car!"

It was then that Havoc ran over to the two boys. Edward shied away from the helping hand and held his brother close to him as the two walked into the black military car with their heads low.

"What?! No!" Isaac yelled at the top of his lungs, pressing his engraved hands to the ground, trying to form ice around the car.

Mustang cursed and shot flames at the icicles, "Get them out of here, now!" he yelled. The car then drove off without a second thought.

The young state alchemist allowed Al to sit next to the window with his head lying on shoulder as soon as the elder settled himself in the seat belt. The dirty blonde man got into the driver's seat. Hughes looked at the two boys next to him. When Edward looked up, the teen glared at him. The bespectacled man allowed his gaze to follow on Alphonse. The teen's face was burried into Ed's left shoulder. The Major looked closer at the two brother's and saw the younger was still shaking.

"Ed, he's going to-"

"Shut up," he said furiously, "I know. I'm not an idiot."

"Of course," Hughes sighed and gave a light, almost sad, smile and settled for looking out the window. It was understandable why the boy would be frustrated and paranoid. It'd been what? Two years of being in the military? They were always on the move, always off somewhere and it was better for them. Criminals probably attacked them, tried to kill them or worse. Hughes frowned at the thought and shook them out of his head. Paranoia wasn't rare when the military involved. Heck, there were the citizens and their conspiracies against the government, it was only natural for a fourteen-year-old in the military would do the same.

Especially an Ishvalan.

He prayed to God that no one on the streets had noticed the blood red orbs that so fiercely devoured him whole. One pair seeped hatred of every shade and form of the word while the other held panic and horror of one's precious person being murdered. But, the sooner they got those revealing eyes covered the sooner their secret would be a secret once again. Maes wanted to pretend that it had been one bad nightmare.

Ed wanted to too.

It was less likely they'd be found out, and this was the worst possible way. God knows what happened to those boys during the war.

Havoc was confused.

That's it, he was confused. He felt like things just weren't right. He looked towards the boy's in the back seat. It appeared as though Al had fallen asleep in the back seat and Edward didn't look out the window like he normally did. No, he kept his eyes away from the tinted glass. The albino-haired boy didn't want to risk it.

"You can't enter HQ like that," Hughes said aloud. "Havoc, we need to go to the store."

"Why?"

"Well, they can't exactly walk up the stairs of Eastern Headquarters with blood red eyes, now can they?" he asked with a smirk. He turned towards the eldest brother who was still awake. "You boys don't wear glasses, do you?"

"A little while ago, I did," Edward responded without look up.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I didn't need them anymore," he mumbled, "I only wore them after an accident."

"Care to elaborate?" Hughes asked.

"No, not really," the snow-white haired boy said. He didn't want to recall that incident. He closed his eyes recalling how painful the attack on his eyes were. It hadn't been his fault. He just wanted to be himself. It was an innocent wish, one that didn't come true. But, since then, he'd been getting better at hiding his secret.

The car parked and Havoc got out of the car. Hughes stayed inside and looked around the street. It was mostly empty with a few stray citizens. "Havoc's getting you boys some contacts."

Edward nodded and turned back around watching his brother's breath even out. He smiled softly before pulling him closer to himself to absorb the heat that was radiating off of him.

It had been nothing like Ishval. There wasn't the smell of blood in the air, or burning flesh, but oh God the heat of the fire, Ed could feel it from where Mustang stood and snapped. Ed wondered why he hadn't been reduced to tears as well. The look on Al's face reminded him of his mother's when she watched family friends die by the finger around a simple trigger. They hid under the bed, and Winry in the closet. They had found her and killed her. The state alchemist covered his brother's mouth and eyes with his own hands as a tear slipped from his own pair or rubies. He didn't want Al to his best friend's face, he didn't want him to see those lifeless blue eyes. Ed remembered it so clearly...

Hurrying back into the car, Havoc slammed the door shut and threw two packets to the back seat. "There, put those on," he said before the car sped off from the store.

Lightly shaking Al's body, Ed frowned. Why wasn't he waking up. "Al," he whispered close to his brother's face. The younger furrowed his white eyebrows and turned his head away. Growling lowly, Edward decided to punch his brother's shoulder, jerking Al awake from whatever dream he was having.

The younger glared sleepily at his elder brother and sat up. "What?" he signed.

"Put these in your eyes."

"What?"

Sighing, the state alchemist repeated himself once again. "Put them in your eyes, it'll hide us, for now."

Reluctantly, the younger Ishvalan placed the contacts into his eyes, turning them hazel brown. Edward did the same, turning them a mixture of blue and brown.

"How's your leg? Can you move it?" he asked.

Al tried to move it, wincing at the pain that erupted from his broken leg. "Not too good. It's not healing as fast as usual."

Ed glared at the leg before lowering a hand onto it, small green sparks emanating from it. Alphonse winced at the pain before sighing. "Better."

The car had parked only a few minutes ago and the two adults had seen the strange action. Hughes's emerald eyes grew wide. "What on Earth...?"

"Can you get my brother some crutches, Mr. Hughes? It'll be a little while before his leg completely heals."

The Major nodded and looked towards Havoc who groaned and pulled himself out of the black military car. Hughes got out second and Edward following, wrapping his arm around his brother's waist as he stood on uninjured leg.

"I think you boys should wait out here-"

"Which floor is the office on again? I would like to get my brother upstairs fairly quickly."

The bespectacled soldier sighed and walked the two Ishvalans up the stairs and down the corridor.

The walls were a pastel blue color, similar to the sky and the tiles below looked to be something akin to porcelain. There were few people in the corridor and anyone that decided to stare at the brothers was met with a fierce glare from the green-eyed man.

They reached they reached the room where Fuery and Falman had been waiting. The two soldiers abruptly stood and saluted before rushing over to the brothers. Mass held up a single hand and shook his head. Edward didn't seem to be in the mood to deal with them.

Edward tightened the arm around his brother's waist and proceeded to sit him on the couch, slowly lowering himself so that the thirteen-year-old didn't hurt himself more.

"I wish we could get out of here," the elder mouthed toward his sibling. Signing didn't seem appropriate considering he was missing an entire arm. Anything he gestured at got lost in translation. He could tell that Al was having trouble keeping up.

Alphonse nodded in acknowledgement, his eyes trailing over his broken leg. "It stopped bleeding," he signed calmly. The teen furrowed white eyebrows together, creating creases between them was he looked on. His brother accelerated the healing rate, but it was still fairly slow. It wasn't right.

Ed sat on the carpeted floor beneath him, in front of his younger brother examining the injury as well. The two had unbelievable healing abilities, Edward more so than Alphonse. But, Trisha had always told them to keep it a secret. It wasn't meant to be common knowledge. But, he knew people noticed. He would occasionally fracture a bone and within the next month or so it'd be completely healed, free of any sign that it ever had come in handy when need be.

He noticed the few lacerations and scratches littering the appendage and glared at his brother's leg, hoping that it would heal by the force of the glare alone. If looks could kill, Ed's desired career would be secured. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case.

'Ed's eyes...they look like mom's,' he thought, a smile slowly coming back onto his features.

Yes, Elrics were made of strong bones and brains. Even their mother had been a physician and scientist, a mechanic for trains and the like. The woman was friendly and intelligent, if not overly so. She wanted to build something that could make mankind fly. She wanted to show the world what they had at their disposal. She was so close.

But, then they stole her work.

Alphonse didn't hate Amestrians. He hated their government and their military procedures. Ishval had been under Amestrian rule for the past fifty or so years, but allowed them to keep their government, a government that had its citizens best interests at heart. A community that accepted some things, but not completely against the other.

Amestris had burned their home and their mother and their lifestyle along with it.

A hand waved in front of his face. "Al," his brother said, concerned brown eyes floating over his own. The deaf teen flinched back a bit in surprise, brown eyes wide before sighing.

"Major Hughes," Maes whispered. The family-man leaned in closer to the Lieutenant in response. "What about Boss?"

Hughes began to sweat.

"Ugh, he let them get away again," Lust murmured in a disgruntled tone. "I hope he knows what he's doing. I would hate to have to get my hands dirty."

"Can I eat him?" a fat creature asked. He stuck a finger into his mouth, drool dripping down onto his chin. He was so hungry.

"No, Gluttony. Father says we need The Freezer to get those brothers. We have to get them before they do."

The fat man, now known as Gluttony whined and watched on from the clock tower a few miles away. A pout settled onto his lips, this was no fun. The Elrics had already gotten away. What was the point of the ice alchemist sticking around? Gluttony wondered if he tasted anything like that old, fat preacher man.

"What are you doing here Freezer?" Mustang yelled from across the street. The rain had yet to stop, but that didn't stop him from wanting to give the man a piece of his mind. How dare he do something so...despicable…

How dare he give Mustang more paperwork?!

'Oh, no, he's going down,' the Flame Alchemist thought.

"My fight's not with you, Hero of Ishval," he told him with an icy glare.

The Colonel furrowed his eyebrows until there was a deep crease in them. He could hear Hughes going on about wrinkles already.

'Then what is he-'

"The Elrics," he growled. What was he going to do with them? The military wouldn't go so far as to continue the extermination, would they? Anger suddenly flared inside of Roy. 'I won't let it happen.' "I won't let you kill them!" he exclaimed through clenched teeth, poising his fingers to snap. "If you think you could ever lay a hand on them-don't you think you got enough during the war!"

Isaac laughed aloud. This was rich. This soaking wet idiot honestly thought he wanted the Ishvalans dead! If anything, it was the exact opposite. This was nothing more than a means to stay alive. All he had to do was get it away from them and to the Homunculi and he was home free! As if he actually cared about those brats.

"Ha! You think I want to kill them? Oh, no, Flame Alchemist, I want them alive!"

"What?" Mustang exclaimed, baffled by the man. Then what did he-

The Freezer wasted no time in pressing the array engraved into the palm of his hand to the wet concrete, large blocks of ice tearing their way through the soldiers. Yells and screams erupted from the onslaught. Mustang looked behind him, noticing that Fuery and Hawkeye weren't injured too much.

Roy snapped furiously at the man hiding behind the blocks of ice, his better judgement blinded by rage. Steam clouded their vision, adding to the humidity in the air.

The escaped convict used this to his advantage and formed small needles of ice throughout the air. Hawkeye focusing her amber eyes into the mist, shot at the needles, shattering a few of them like glass as the steam dissipated. The others had managed to hit the Colonel in his shoulder and leg.

Wincing, Mustang took this opportunity to send flames towards the Freezer. The long-haired man flinched back and clutched at the burns he received on his left arm. He then jumped down into the sewers and ran down the opposite way of Scar, curses spewing from his mouth.

He had failed. The brothers were gone, there was no point in him staying when the target was no where in sight.

Roy was going to run after them until he felt a sharp pain in his right leg. He cursed clutching the appendage. Breda, Fuery, and Hawkeye ran up to the superior, concerned looks on their faces.

"Boss!"

"Find them," he muttered angrily. Mustang couldn't believe he allowed to little needles to affect him. Blood slowly dripped down his leg as he tried to walk. He would've fallen had Breda not caught him.

The blonde woman sighed, "Don't worry, Sir, we have soldiers searching for both Scar and Freezer now. you'll get medical attention once we get to headquarters. You're useless here, Sir."

The raven groaned at the use of his least-favorite word. Having the words 'you' and 'useless' in the same sentence brought a pang to his chest. At that moment, he was hoping Freezer would better his aim.

The Sergeant and Second Lieutenant each wrapped an arm around their superior and led him to the car. Hawkeye shouting orders to the soldiers that were getting patched up. She sighed. "At least Major Armstrong wasn't here to make things any worse."

The young woman walked over to the military-issued car, opening the front door and settling herself into the driver seat.

It had been a long day with new discoveries and more than enough unanswered questions. She knew those boys were in trouble, a lot of trouble. A small smile graced her features. They wouldn't be the Elric brothers if they didn't get in trouble.

But, they weren't the Elrics.

Hawkeye frowned at the realization. They were never who she thought they were. When Edward had first walked in, he was a shy young thing, unable to look anyone in the eye. Addressed his superiors as so and caused little trouble. His hair wasn't the usual grey that most Ishvalans had. No, it was a as white as snow, intriguing anyone that happened to be walking near him. Alphonse's had a darker tint, but was unusually white as well. She remembered Ed had once come in with it down, an obvious sleepy look on his face. She couldn't keep her eyes off of the natural curls he had. He looked feminine and as soon Havoc and Breda pointed it out, he blushed furiously.

"You straighten your hair?" she asked.

He blushed even more at the question, to the point it was noticeable on the rich brown skin, "Y-Yeah, I can hardly see when it's like this," he stammered back shyly.

"It looks nice, you should keep your hair like that for a bit."

Edward seemed surprised by the compliment and smiled if only a bit. He kept it that way for the rest of the week, seeing as it had ironically been humid.

He wasn't the same person as before. The look in his eyes held nothing more than hatred. He wasn't shy back then, he had been afraid.

Alphonse however was a different case. The short-haired teen didn't come to the office the first six months or so after his brother's acceptance into the military ranks. The deaf boy was even more cautious than Ed's. His bleeding red eyes never stayed in one place.

Yes, that's what Hawkeye remembered his eyes looking like. His rubies were fearful, bleeding, seething the blood red color. He looked like such a child. He didn't even sign to them at first, his head bowed low and eyes in his lap. Al had been forced to sit outside the inner-office and wait for his brother's debriefing. Saying the air was tense was an understatement.

It was worse now.

The four soldiers had easily found themselves inside the office after getting patched up in the infirmary. Hughes and Havoc looked towards them with widened eyes before a hand wave calmed them down. "I'm fine, just a little roughed up," Mustang said to their unasked questions. His subordinates grunted in response to it.

Hawkeye felt as though she had walked into air filled with water. The Major and Second Lieutenant had been on one side of the room whilst the brothers on the other. This wouldn't go well. The two soldiers under Mustang's arms helped him over to where Hughes had been sitting and set him down, the Flame grunting as he settled himself in. He felt an angry pair of eyes on him.

"I know you're glaring at me, Edward."

It was true, the teen was glaring at him with such ferocity, if he didn't remember who he was, Mustang would've whimpered like a dog. He noticed the boy's eyes were a bluish brown this time around. He couldn't get Alphonse to meet his own onyx orbs. Al's knee bounced ever so slightly and his hand twitched subconsciously. He had reverted back to his nervous old self.

Edward, however had changed into something angrier. No one really thought that was possible. the snow-white haired boy clenched his fists at the man.

"So, you're Ishvalan-"

"Were you going to hurt him?" the eldest brother growled out. The Fullmetal alchemist's eyebrows furrowed until there was a crease deep in his forehead.

'He's such an angry little runt.'

"Were you going to scorch my brother's face off, bastard?" he asked.

"Were you going to die so easily? You survived Ishval after all, Fullmetal."

"Yeah, after you Amestrians sent our house to Hell!" Ed exclaimed.

Roy flinched a bit, but kept his composure. He was sitting in front of two boys who had probably experienced racism to the fullest degree because of the color of their eyes and skin. They watched their own mother be killed so mercilessly by Amestrians.

"He didn't look any different than all the others, did he?!"

Alphonse clutched his brother's flesh arm and used the other to tug at his shirt. He felt the vibrations in the floor and the walls. Panic was slowly rising up his throat as he felt anger radiate off his older brother. If things got out of hand, things could go back to the way they were out on the street earlier that day, perhaps worse.

Ed was not a force to be reckoned with on any day.

"I would never try to do that, none of us would."

"Bullshit!"

"Its true, Fullmetal!" he yelled, causing all eyes to widen. "If I had an intentions of doing so, I would've done it already." Al's eyes widened at the gesture. Mustang's lips moved furiously with a passion the deaf teen had never seen before. "You two could've gotten yourselves killed today, all because you were a reckless idiot!" he reprimanded.

Two sets of brown eyes widened and only one pair continued to glare. "If you had given me two more fucking seconds I would've had Scar finished and done with! Our problems with him would be solved. But, since I have a completely useless bastard for a Colonel, he got away!"

"I'm not useless!"

"Then where are Scar and Freezer?"

The Flame faltered and stuttered. "W-Well, y-you see, they u-uh…" he trailed off.

Edward smirked and Hawkeye smiled. The tense air felt a little clearer, cleaner than before.

"But, you did manage bust your automail, Chief." Havoc pointed out, a smirk adorning his own face.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do without an arm?" Fuery asked in a curious tone.

Ed groaned and sat down next to his brother. It had been a good question. He was practically useless without his automail arm. He had tried multiple times to perform alchemy since they'd been in the office and had failed numerous times.

He stood and handed his brother a pair of crutches. They need to be leaving soon.

"I guess I'll call Russell then."

When the houses came, they ate up everyone like they were fishes

Saying, "Come on, come on, it's the end of the world."

BAM! THERE GOES THE THIRD CHAPTER! There will be might (I emphasize might) be hints of EdLing in this but it'll be so platonic you won't even notice. Ling, Lan Fan, Fu, and (maybe) Mei, will come in later in the story. And yes, I am referring to Russell Tringham.

I need reviews you guys. If you don't review then I won't see a point in continuing this story. Please give feedback and constructive criticism.

Do you like what I did with Trisha? How do you feel about Winry? (I didn't like her all the much the first time I watched FMA but she grew on me a bit. I don't like EdWin. Platonically they are A++++ in my book, but I don't like them as a romantic couple, which is why this isn't EdWIn at all. Same goes for Royai.

Also, if you didn't notice. I lowkey made Ed a transgender boy. Have fun with this.

SONG: I Can Barely Breathe by Manchester Orchestra.

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THANKS!