Sorry, guys, for disappearing like that. Whoops. But I'm back now, so it's all good. Thanks so much for all of the reviews. Your feedback and subscriptions mean a lot to me, so keep it coming. Again, I make no claim on FMA, I'm not making a profit, etc, etc.

Just for clarification, Dr. Maria Ross, Dr. Breda, and the Sheska that works with them are our "modern" versions of the characters, not the exact characters that show up in FMA. They're like the Fritz Lang or Alfons Heidrich of their characters—Close, but no cigar. Enjoy the chapter, I promise to return the characters whole and unchanged. Flames are being saved for a barbeque after chapter 5.

Glitch

Chapter 4: Broken

Dr. Ross looked over at Sheska. "These particles are going to have a major effect on any electronics that aren't designed to handle them. Could you tell Dr. Breda to alert the CPSC? They may want to issue a test. This could easily affect a lot of computers."

Sheska nodded. "I'll get right on that, Ma'am."

The cell phone rang in Lana's room until the caller gave up. Cara sighed, allowing her head to fall into her hands. "Warreth, she didn't take her cell phone. Where could she have gone?"

Warreth shook his head. "I don't know, honey. Why are you asking me? I didn't tell her to run away."

"You're being insensitive, Warreth," Cara said quietly, her tears leaking into her voice. "You could at least try to care for your daughter."

Warreth Haneth exploded in anger, his level voice revealing far more than screaming ever would. "I do care for her," he insisted. "I want her to get into the best school, and become the best in her profession! I want her to make six figures and be healthy and wealthy! I want our daughter to live a good life! But she willnot do that by running away! You've made it too easy for her, Cara. She ran away just to spite me. That disrespectful child doesn't deserve care—I've been theperfect father, and how does she thank me? She just up and leaves!"

"Warreth!" Cara cried, tears running down her face. "Lana just… disappeared! She couldn't have left the house, all of the windows are shut and locked and the door didn't chime! But she's not here! I don't know how she got out, but I'm glad she did. You were driving her away, War! All you've ever cared about was money and fame and fortune! You never cared about her happiness. You never cared about anyone but yourself, and now my baby girl is gone and all you can do is blame her for your own ineptitude!"

"If I'm that inept," Warreth said, his voice threatening her, "I'll just leave."

"No, don't leave." Cara said. "You need the house; you need the space and the office. You need to be close to DC. I'll leave."

"Where do you think you can go?" Warreth asked her, a pinch of sadistic anger in his voice.

"I'll move back in with Mom," Cara told him. "Or I'll move in with Jillian. Or maybe one of my friends will rent me a room until I'm on my own again. I don't know. I don't care. It doesn't matter where I go, what matters is that I do go."

"You have twenty-four hours to get out of the house," Warreth said, hurt twisting in his voice.

"I'll only need two."

"Girls! Lunchtime!" Pinako called from inside the small house. Winry and I ran back in, giggling at how my hunger made itself loudly known.

"This smells amazing, Mrs—"

"Call me Auntie," Pinako said.

"Auntie, then. Either way, this smells delicious."

"Well, I expect that you will eat it and tell me if it tastes as good as it smells!" Auntie Pinako said.

"Absolutely!" I grinned, and dug in.

Twenty minutes later, I pushed myself back from the table, completely full on beef stew and homemade bread. Excusing myself, I stood, wandered outside, and lay flat on my back gazing up at the sparsely clouded afternoon sky.
Winry joined me a few minutes later.

"I wonder what my parents are doing now?" I said softly. "Whether they've noticed I've disappeared. Whether my friends know I'm gone. What's happened since I left."

"There's really no way to know," Winry said. "Even Al had to go to great measures to dream across the Gate."

"Do you think I'll ever find my way home?" I asked her, turning over and studying the blades of grass at the tip of my nose.

"I don't know," she said, "But you would have to ask someone who knew more about it than I do. I'm an engineer," she said. "I'm not an Alchemist."

I sighed. "I know, Winry… And I think I'll go to Central. There's probably someone there who can help me, right?"

"I bet General Mustang could help you," she said. "He has reports on all of Ed's research."

"You're going to Central?" a girl said, sitting on Winry's other side.

I rolled back over and sat up. "Who…?"

"Oh! Lana, this is Rose," Winry said. The other girl shifted a bundle to her other arm, and reached over to shake my hand. A small sigh escaped from the bundle.

"Hi, Lana," Rose said. "This is my son, Thomas."

I smiled. "May I hold him?"

"Of course," she said, and passed the warmly bundled little boy over to me. I cradled him in my arms, and smiled down at the sleeping child. "He's absolutely beautiful," I told her.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "So, you're going to Central?"

"I need to find some information," I told her. "I need to find a way home."

"Where's your home?" she asked me.

"Across the Gate," I told her.

She nodded into the distance. "That's where Ed is, too."

"Yeah," I said.

The next morning, at breakfast, I broke the news to Auntie Pinako.

"You're sure about this?" she asked me, looking over the rims of her glasses.

"I have to, Auntie." I said. "There isn't any information here about the Gate. I need to find out how to open it, so I can get home."

"You'd have to know Alchemy to open that Gate," she told me.

"I know," I confessed. "I'll have to find someone to teach me. And then I'll have to find a way to open that gate."

"The only way I've heard of," Winry said, shooting a look at her grandmother, "Was by Human Transmutation."

I nodded. "But I have no reason to try to transmute anyone, so I'd have to find another way."

Winry sighed, setting her teacup down on the table. "I'll go with you."

"What?" the three of us said, in tandem.

"You don't know Amestris, Lana. And you definitely don't know Central. I've got a friend, Sheska, who lives there, and works with the military. And Mrs. Hughes lives there, too—We could visit her. They're still rebuilding after the 'quakes, but I'm sure we could find someone to stay with."

"You be careful, girls," Auntie Pinako said. "I don't want you two getting into trouble with anyone."

Winry nodded, wincing. "I don't want me getting in trouble with anyone, either."

Rose smiled. "I'll help take care of things until I go back to Lior, Winry. You go with Lana and take care of her."

I blushed. "I can take care of myself!" I said indignantly.

"Lana, you're a stranger to this world. No doubt you'd find yourself thrown in jail or something for no apparent reason," Winry said. "I'll keep you out of trouble."

I sighed. "Okay, so Winry and I are leaving for Central… When?"

"The train comes through at noon each day," Winry said. "So we've got two hours, or we leave tomorrow."

"Two hours," I said, standing. "I'll be ready."

She nodded. "I will be, too. Come to my room, I'll see what I have for you to borrow."

Two hours later, we stood on the train platform, armed with suitcases. Winry had my ticket, and we were awaiting the arrival of the train to Central.

"You ready?" She asked me as the clock across the platform ticked away.

"Absolutely," I said. "I'm finding a way home, after all."

The train approached, its noise drowning out my thoughts. It let out a gasp of air as it came to a stop, and its doors opened wide.

"After you," Winry said, and I stepped up.