Izumi turned and stared at the woman waiting patiently. "Excuse me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I heard you right."

Trisha merely smiled. "No, you did. I wanted to thank you for looking out for my boys in the future... Or past. I'm glad that they were able to rely on you and Pinako."

Izumi blinked, fighting off memories of gently bandaging the various cuts and scrapes the boys had picked up over training, remembering the warmth she felt when they studied, the small smile when they both beamed at praise.

Then she smiled softly. "So they told you, huh? It was a pleasure to look after them, they were certainly a handful."

Izumi remembered holding them both close, cold and metal, as they apologised again and again and again. Their voices had been so broken.

Trisha managed a laugh. "I'm sure they were."

Izumi thought of the time that Al had been kidnapped by Greed. How she had stormed into the Devil's Nest, blood boiling.

She nodded, watching Trisha out of the corner of her eye, wondering how much she had been told- and in what detail, then turned away as her child began to cry.

If she felt the Truth frowning at how wrong everything was, she ignored it. After all, this was life now, and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

"Hey, brother, can you check my circle?" Al asked Ed cheerfully.

Ed shrugged. "Sure, Al, but I, uh, don't know a lot about medical alchemy..." He trailed off, for a moment becoming lost in memories.

It was cold... Everything was cold. Every breath burned his lungs, and even the agony exploding in his side had a frosty bite to it. Then he remembered the feeling of transmuting souls, and that numbed the pain. Then he clapped his hands, and his world burned. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt and please, please, let it be over soon...

It felt like he was dying.

Meanwhile, Al frowned. Ed had that distant look on his face that meant he was remembering the future.

"Brother?" Al asked catiously, not quite sure how to help, only knowing that he wanted to, needed to do something. Because if his brother was hurting, then he was hurting too, because they were brothers and they shared, and he'd help, because that was what they'd always done.

Ed snapped back to reality, and laughed nervously, hands subconciously cradling his side. "Sorry, Al, medical alchemy, or alkahesty, or whatever Kabuto's style is called, but whatever it is, it really isn't my thing, but I'll help if I can."

"Okay, thanks." Al chirped. Then he paused. "So, was there no one to treat your wounds after you got into fights in the future then?"

It hurt... His soul... Was this how the souls in the Stone felt? He couldn't imagine an existance more painful...

"Nope, but the hospitals loved me!" Ed laughed. Al frowned.

"Good thing that I'm learning medical alchemy then." He huffed. "Someone has to stop you from getting killed."

Ed merely laughed, swallowing down the bitter memories. It was such an Al thing to say. Some things never changed.

"Hi Winry!" Ed called cheerfully. Ever since his conversation with Al, his younger brother had practically dived into a pile of books on medical alchemy, and one of the copies of Kabuto's notes that Ed had made.

Ed was so proud of his younger brother, and for Winry for adapting so well. Which brought him to the conversation at hand.

In the future, or past, whenever he needed his automail fixing, he had often brought Winry some earrings to stop her from getting too mad. And he always noticed that she would put them on immediately, though he was never quite sure what to say about it.

Without looking her in the eye, he thrust a small metal necklace into her hands. He had learnt, with the help of Al, that when giving Winry earrings, or anything, plain was better. Since his taste in anything was actually that bad, although he didn't think so.

"Please, just change the car back! We're begging you!" Ed mentally smirked at the thought of the chimeras, and wondered how they were doing. Hopefully they'd get out of the military soon... or...

Winry stared at the necklace in her hands. It was plain, which was how she preferred her jewelry anyway, and circular in shape. What made it valuable was the cirlce painstakingly carved into it. It was an exact copy of the circle she had been sketching out for months, improving and redesigning until it was just right. And now she had it in an entirely practical way, that no one would question, not even her parents.

Pretty and practical. She flung herself at Ed, and hugged him close. "Thank you." She whispered.

He laughed. "Never thought you'd say that about alchemy, Gearhead."

She merely laughed. "Well, I can be both." She decided, and Ed grinned.

"The future can be anything, remember."

Winry nodded. "We can be anything. We just have to make it happen."

Hohenheim groaned, staring at the circles in front of him. Medical alchemy wasn't his 'thing' either. It was complicated, and not something he'd ever needed to look into, as his stone had helped him whenever he'd needed it.

"Please, Dad." Alphonse whined, golden eyes glinting with mischeif. "I don't quite understand the circle."

It was, to some degree, painful. In the future, Al had grown to be more mature, had come to be known as the quiter, more sane Elric. Both of his boys had been forced to grow up too soon, one had sold his soul to the military, and the other died far, far too soon. Too soon to have eyes like that.

So, Alphonse behaving exatcly like the child he was, had stopped being once Trisha had died, was a blessing.

"Well, Alphonse, this is actually a very difficult circle." Hohenheim concluded. "I may need to, ah, research a bit before I can explain it.

He ignored the voices of the stone laughing at him. Him, the alchemy expert, being stumped by his son. The son who knew exactly what he was doing and was finding it hillarious.

"Well, I think I understand it now... Want me to explain it to you, dad?" Al chirped innocently. Hohenheim grinned. He was so proud of both his sons! They were becomming closer and closer to surpassing him in alchemy every day.

"Sure, Al. Go ahead."

"Roy, guess what?" Hughes was practically glowing as he shoved a handful of photographs into his friend's face.

Instead of getting annoyed, as another Roy in another time might have, the Flame Alchemist merely smiled softly as he flicked through them. He stared at the smiling faces. After the memories of both people in the photographs wearing black and crying, seeing them smile again was like the sun after a storm. Seeing them smile like they'd never lost a father and a husband, seeing them smile because he was still whole and alive and breathing, was worth the world.

Having Hughes shove pictures in his face, however, was woth everything, because he finally had his best friend back, and it was like he had never been lowered into a grave, like there had never been a phone booth drenched in his blood, like it had never rained.

Two homunculi slowly approached Reesembool. They hadn't taken the train- that would have been too noticable if their Father's suspicions had been proven correct. Instead they approached by the hills, circling like sharks, like predators out for blood.

The town was sleepy, it was early in the morning, and everything was quiet. It was peaceful and unsuspecting and innocent. It was the perfect time for an ambush.

Apparently, someone else thought so too. They were waiting for the two homunculi.

"Well," One of the creatures sent by Father sneered. "Isn't this a blast from the past."

"Isn't it just." Greed's smile was full of fangs, and his eyes were cold, cold and confident. Behind him, his possessions, his friends, fanned out, ready to follow, to fight, to live. Because he wouldn't let any of them die. Not again. Never again.

In a wide, sweeping gesture, he pointed to the chimeras behind him- both the ones from Dublith and the ones that they had met in the North, in the future, and he smirked. "Some old friends would like some revenge."