Disclaimer in previous chapters. Please see Author's Notes at the end.

- x -

"Traitor."

Dr. Dalyell seemed a bit more flustered than usual, and she gave him a dark look. It was something he really liked about her - she didn't pull her punches. Which meant that she'd tried and failed to stop this, much like Patterson had done before her.

"Don't badger your doctor, Fullmetal, she's stalled this meeting as long as she possibly could." The general didn't look much happier than Dalyell did, and he glanced at his watch as he irritably brushed past her into the room. "If I wasn't absolutely certain she cleaned your medical records on Mustang's order I'd involve her with this. That will be all, doctor."

"If his heart rate increases, I will declare him unfit for the interview," she began, but Ed shook his head.

"It's fine." Hakuro could and would make her life difficult, and considering what she'd done for him already, it wasn't worth it.

Someone needed to be Patterson's champion, after all. The drugs in his IV were liquid gold, and he'd be damned if he ever had to be hospitalized again and subsist on the crap everyone else got.

The doctor's look didn't sweeten. "It isn't," she said firmly. "Threaten me all you like, general, the patient's welfare comes before anything else."

"I have no intention of killing him," Hakuro said blandly, turning to give her an inquiring look. "If he becomes too agitated of course I will come back another time."

Ed briefly toyed with faking hyperventilation, but that would take effort, and his morning therapy had just finished. He was feeling better every day, which was a damn shame, because it meant he could no longer fall asleep on command. Though he could probably fake that, it was a lot less strenuous-

"I will hold you to that."

"Do." The general said it dismissively, and took the chair Alphonse had vacated earlier that morning. He waited until the door closed, reluctantly, and then opened a stuffed folder, fishing a pen out of his inner coat pocket. "You lost the automail before the Cretians exposed you. How long before?"

Trust him to cut right to the chase. "I don't know what you're talking about. And good morning to you too."

Hakuro's bland look hadn't faded. "I'm going to try a new tactic with you, Fullmetal. I'm only going to give you one opportunity to answer me honestly, and then I'm going to ask the same question of someone else. If I have to go to that effort, be sure that I will also complete an investigation of that other person and I will prosecute anything I find, even if it's as trite as an unpaid parking ticket. With that in mind, would you care to rephrase?"

Ed crossed his arms behind his head, hopefully drawing the general's attention to the fact that one of his hands was a deep reddish-gold, and the other was lobster-like and peeling. "Well, general, like I said, I don't know what you're talking about. The fact that it's sunburned as hell should tell you it hasn't seen daylight in a while, and you've seen the automail with your own eyes as recently as earlier this week, so . . . knock yourself out." Literally.

It wasn't like he would bother the Rockbells, not with Pinako-

Ed cut that thought off before it could go anywhere else, giving the general a piercing look. He pursed his lips and made a quick notation on some page Ed couldn't see, and Edward concentrated on looking entirely at ease. He wouldn't dare, but he could hassle Winry, and Pinako, they were both here-

"How did you do it?"

"I dunno. How's that for you?" He half-smirked at the ceiling. "Spent more than half my life trying to find a way to get them back and I end up doing it entirely on accident."

An accident, luck, and the best little brother in the world. Al had said he'd get his arm and leg back, and he had.

"So you did fully intend to perform human transmutation to restore them, at some point?"

Ed gave him a dirty look. "Gee, because that worked so well the first time. We were looking for alternate ways, remember?" He extricated his right arm, watching his hand curl into a fist. "I didn't want anyone to have to die for me to get this back."

All those people . . . their lives only paid to get them across the Gate, but it was the first step in getting back his limbs, if not for them he would never have been able to summon the Gate . . . or maybe that was the one transmutation that would have been possible, exactly the way Al did it. Since it owed him, it might have lent him the energy to use that one array, walk right into the lion's den. He just hadn't figured it out.

"And if I ask Franklin Sorn this question, he'll tell me the same?"

"I don't know what he'll tell you. We sort of lost track of each other for a while. I've turned in my report, by the way. You must've just missed Al."

The general twitched an eyebrow. "I see. In relation to your brother, actually, would you care to tell me what you did to the uranium bomb that caused it to malfunction?"

Ed suppressed a surprised twitch, turning to give the general an incredulous look. "What did you just say?"

Hakuro seemed neither triumphant nor surprised, and that bothered Ed more than the question. He was going to use the court-martial to sniff into the uranium bomb again? "By you, of course, I mean Mustang's supporters. You were in the hospital at the time, but with the most knowledge about the device I would imagine you gave the saboteur the instructions."

So no, he didn't know it had been Al . . . and who would, Al was supposed to be unable to move at all at that point, and Hakuro had walked in on his port installation so he knew for a fact that he'd still been missing the limbs when he first returned . . . what could Hakuro possibly have on Al that would make him threaten? Or that Mustang couldn't make go away? "Again, I don't know what you're talking about. What the hell do you mean, in relation to my brother?"

Hakuro capped his pen. "I'm not surprised he hasn't told you yet, I see everyone's being very protective of your injuries." The general even went as far as to glance at the heart monitor, which showed a telltale increase. "I am inclined to believe it is more his place than mine. I suggest you ask him when he returns."

"Ask him what?" What's the magical thing hanging over you that Hakuro thinks he can use? "Al doesn't know anything about it-"

"I'm sure he'll say the same thing," the general murmured, in a frighteningly sincere tone. "But rest assured that if I should investigate Alphonse's recent record I would find plenty to pursue."

Edward pulled himself into a sitting position, grabbing the bedrails as he leaned closer to the general. "You know he doesn't know anything about the bomb. We barely had time to get out of there alive, let alone screw with it. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the technology was bad? Or the Germans fucked it up before we stole it back, like they trashed my automail?"

Hakuro spread his hands. "Then why are you trying so hard to convince me that asking Alphonse would be a waste of time?" His expression steeled. "We both know that story you dreamt up to explain the attack by the Irvings was poppycock. The amplifier used in those attacks was lethal to alchemists and destroyed, so there was no 'alternative' to a Philosopher's Stone you could have used. You used something else. What did you use, and when?"

Blackmailing him with what he didn't know.

That best little brother in the world was going to get a stern talking to if he was hiding something big enough for Hakuro to use. "I did have an amplifier. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the remnants of Red Stone that were shed by a homunculus that was injured in the city below Central. It's just a guess. I took it in case I didn't get to Sorn in time, so I would have a chance to hold off the army long enough to escape. Sorn wasn't cooperating, he came back to help instead of taking off like I instructed him, and in protecting him we both got hit. When I came to, I had no amplifier and an arm and leg. Sorn was buried elsewhere, so he couldn't have done it."

"And how did this amplifier just happen to come into your possession?"

Ed openly suppressed his irritation. "Never figured that out. Just showed up one morning in a little hand-tied parcel. I'd have thought it came from Pops if I didn't know . . . if I wasn't sure he was dead."

It was clear the general didn't believe him. "And you were saving it for a rainy day."

"Considering the last one I came across was lethal, I wasn't exactly eager to give it a spin. In this case, I felt the risk was justified."

The general frowned deeply. "I really thought better of you, Fullmetal. I can't afford to put you both in the same maximum security facility, the risk is too great. At least if he was free to go he could visit you occasionally."

Ed dropped the act, narrowing his eyes. "That's bullshit. Al hasn't done anything like that. If you're talking about the Thule Invasion, Mustang will have him pardoned before you can get a court to sign the arrest warrant."

"As I said, it's not my place to tell you. However, I do understand that your automail mechanics are currently here in Central. I'm certain you wouldn't mind if I require receipts and records of your last adjustments?"

Edward slammed the bedrails down, swinging his legs off the bed, and the door to his room burst open, enlisted blue filling the doorway. He ignored them. "Send them a letter."

Hakuro lifted a hand casually, stilling his men. "I have just enough time to ask them a few questions before I leave the hospital. It would seem that would be more convenient."

You son of a bitch. "What, now you're going to involve the sick and injured in your witch hunt? You really want that kind of PR?" He bared his teeth, getting to his feet despite a machine beeping in alarm. "I happen to have a friend who would love to sink his teeth into a story like that. Shall I give him the exclusive?"

Hakuro actually gave him a delighted smile. "You are still in there, aren't you, Fullmetal. I suppose Mustang will need to give you a new title, if you somehow manage to keep your certification. And don't doubt for a second he would smother any story that attacked the military, particularly in this political climate." There was a brief scuffle at the hallway door, and the general stepped to the side. "It appears I have upset you, Edward. This interview is over for now." He nodded at the guards, who moved aside to allow an openly infuriated Dr. Dalyell and an unfamiliar monster of an orderly into the room. "I am, after all, a man of my word."

Ed took a few steps forward, absolutely steady on his feet. "Like hell I'll let you-"

But Dr. Dalyell was suddenly between them, and he found himself blocked. "Elric, calm down-"

He barely had the strength to shove her aside, but he did, as gently as he could while still being successful. "They have nothing to do with it-"

While he was able to bypass Dalyell, the orderly might as well have been a walking cylinder of concrete. He wrapped one enormous, beefy arm around his chest as if he meant to body-slam him, and in trying to keep his feet Edward noticed too late the man's other hand. He flinched back but it was already done, whatever it was was stinging into his system. "Dammit, they don't know anything!"

All the strength left him; he wasn't even sure he managed to get all the words actually out of his mouth, if not for that arm he would have cracked his head open on the floor. As if he weighed nothing, the orderly plucked him up and deposited him back in the bed, and despite his best efforts his body instantly melted into the mattress, pouring itself into every dip and fold.

He couldn't pick up his head. He couldn't yell. He couldn't move at all.

He could barely even blink. Breathing was becoming difficult, arduous, and he ignored the doctor, becoming more and more frantic without understanding why. He could hear his heart thudding in his ears, couldn't get a deep enough breath. His body ached from its short wrestling match and at the same time felt frigidly cold, like he'd never warm up again.

Hands on him, he couldn't shake them off, on his face but he refused to open his eyes, he just needed to calm the fuck down, breathe, he couldn't breathe-

Ice shot through his chest like lightning.

- x -

"Let the records show this trial is resuming at twelve hundred hours." The Speaker surveyed Parliament, getting eye contact with all members of the panel before giving a nod to the prosecution. "Please proceed."

Major General Lee Tash stepped forward smartly, coming to stand almost parade rest about fifteen feet from the stand. He gave no summary, jumping right back into his questions. "As he is sitting in this courtroom today, obviously you were able to save the life of citizen Fletcher Tringum. What did you do then?"

Surreptitiously he glanced to his left, unsurprised to see Fletcher also looking at him out of the corner of his eye. His brother had been released just that morning, in light of the fact he would likely have to make a statement either today or tomorrow in the trials. His little brother narrowed his eye slightly in a silent Stop fussing, and Russ couldn't help a quick smile as he glanced back over the balcony. If Sorn knew where they were sitting, he was ignoring them; he was staring at the railing in front of him and speaking in a monotone, as if reading everything from the warmly stained oak instead of relating what he himself had done and seen

Of course, Russell already knew this part, he'd heard it from Fletcher days ago, but it was probable most of the people in the room really had no idea.

"I asked him why Patterson had attacked him. He said he didn't know, and that he'd asked some questions about Arturu. I thought it might have something to do with sensei's plans, so I smuggled him out of the hospital and took him to the hotel. So that Patterson wouldn't know what I'd done, I created a false body through alchemy and made it look like Fletcher Tringum." There was a murmur around the hall, but Sorn continued as if he couldn't hear it. "I knew it wouldn't fool him for very long, but I was hopeful I could catch up with sensei in that time."

"Creating a false body . . . can all alchemists certified at the National level perform such alchemy?"

"I don't know."

Fletcher twitched and Russ gave him a slight nod, scribbling the question down on his square of paper. Things it was likely Tash would ask him, when he was put on the stand as an expert witness.

"Then what happened?"

Sorn took an unanimated breath. "Fletcher rested and recovered, and he and I determined that it would be best if someone watched Patterson. If he was working for sensei he could be dangerous."

"Didn't it occur to either of you to involve the authorities at this time?"

"Like before, I couldn't be sure how many people were involved, and I needed to collect more information before I could be sure alerting the military wouldn't be playing into sensei's hands."

"And Fletcher Tringum agreed?"

"Yes. He thought it would be better to remain hidden temporarily, that it would be easier for him to get information."

"And both of you were aware of how this could be construed?"

Fletcher fidgeted, and Russ carefully didn't look at him.

"I didn't think about it."

Tash rocked back on his heels. "Continue."

"I left Fletcher to watch Patterson and went to the Cretian border. I have studied Amestrian geography and Cretian military tactics, and I determined the best point of entry into the country from Creta. I headed there to confirm there really was an army gathering, afraid that if I alerted West City and a unit was deployed it could be construed as a sign of Amestrian aggression. Since it was just me it took several days to confirm."

"In which time the Full Metal Alchemist Edward Elric was able to track you down."

Sorn didn't even flinch. "Yes."

"What did he do when he caught up to you?"

"He ordered me back to West City to notify them of the army."

"Did you follow his orders?"

Sorn shook his head.

"What did you do instead?"

"I helped him build fortifications, and transmuted my car into a small fleet of machines capable of firing one round of artillery." A stronger murmur that he plowed right over. "I also transmuted machines to create dust, to fool the Cretians into thinking there was a large force approaching behind us."

"What happened?"

"They were forced to wait for reinforcements, but eventually we were overrun. The Cretians concentrated their artillery on our fort and destroyed it faster than we could repair it with alchemy. I lost track of Major Elric for a while. He was on the side that was more badly damaged, but he transmuted a tunnel and a chamber beneath the fort, and we hid there in the hopes that the enemy would think we were killed in the collapse."

"Did you or the major sustain injuries at this time?"

Nothing about the boy changed. Not his demeanor, his tone, his dull green eyes or his carefully brushed hair. "I was fine, and the major seemed fine until we were discovered by an enemy alchemist. He ordered me to surrender and when we were taken for questioning by the Cretians I noticed that his automail was gone."

No murmur of voices - someone losing their automail wasn't a big deal. They didn't really understand from what Franklin had said what really happened, and Tash knew it immediately. "What do you mean when you say it was gone? He no longer had a right arm and left leg?"

An uninterested blink. "The metal was gone, replaced by flesh limbs. They were pale-" He glanced up as his voice was drowned out in an uproar, the first time since he had started to speak that morning, and even from the balcony Russ could see that he wasn't as unfeeling and wooden as he'd seemed.

He looked sick.

The Speaker restored order loudly, and Tash waited a few moments into that excited silence to continue. "Just so the court can be perfectly clear, are you saying that the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric replaced his automail with flesh and blood?"

"Yes."

"In your opinion as a nationally certified alchemist, is that possible?"

"Obviously." For the very first time, the tiniest bit of impatience crept into the teen's voice. "He had been very quiet in the dark while we were hiding, which made me wonder if he was injured, but when I saw what had happened he gave me a look, like he didn't want me to make a big deal out of it. Because it was missing, the Cretians didn't realize who he was at first."

Tash wasn't going to let him gloss over the human transmutation issue so easily. "In your opinion as a State Alchemist, how could he have performed such miraculous alchemy?"

"He had an amplifier." Another roar, but this time Sorn looked like he expected it, and he even looked out briefly at Parliament as he waited for Tash to let him know he could continue. "He used it to construct the fort, and some other long-distance transmutations we used to keep the foot soldiers clear of the field."

"Is it customary for National Alchemists to have such amplifiers with them?"

"It used to be. A certified alchemist's watch used to contain a small amplifier, but that practice died out before I became a certified alchemist. He didn't say where it came from."

The boy had effectively stymied any more questions on it, and Tash was forced to go on. "So the Cretians accepted your surrender?"

"Yes. They kept us in a tent until their general could question us."

"General Terese Enora?"

"Yes."

"Did you give any information to her or other Cretians during this interrogation?"

"No."

"Did Major Elric?"

"He tried."

Even Tash looked surprised. "Please elaborate," he said sharply.

Sorn actually flinched slightly at the tone. "He told them he was the Winding Tree Alchemist, Russell Tringum, and that the Amestrian military was fully aware of the operation and moving to intercept as they spoke."

Several of the people on the balcony glanced their way, and Russell carefully kept staring straight ahead. Damn that guy, two little indiscretions and he wouldn't let it go-

"Did he tell them anything else?"

"Nothing accurate."

"Did the Cretians injure you or Major Elric during the interrogation?"

Sorn became very still. "I was considered too young by Cretian law to be treated as an adult. It was one of the reasons I wanted to gather intelligence on the army myself. I knew I would be detained but not . . . mistreated."

"But Major Elric was not so lucky."

"No." He seemed to be waiting for a cue from Tash, but when he didn't get one, he continued. "The chief interrogator used a combination of water, salt, zinc, and copper to deliver electrical shocks to E- to the major. I think it was done in my presence to encourage me to give them information."

Russell closed his eyes. The chemical burns. No wonder. It was a simple, inefficient way to deliver electrical current, and it explained the nerve and heart damage to the letter. Bastards.

"Did you?"

"No."

"How long did this go on?"

"Until the major became unresponsive."

It was hard to hear what he already knew from Al repeated so emotionlessly, but this was news. Sorn was a kid who had transmuted a perfect doll. He wouldn't have confused the term 'unresponsive' with anything else. It had been bad enough that Ed had gone catatonic again. That wasn't good.

"How long do you believe that duration of time was?"

Sorn shifted. "I don't know. Twenty-seven minutes?"

Trust the Mechanical Alchemist to be unhappy with a guess that was specific to the minute. But that was a terrifically short amount of time, especially for someone like Ed. Must have felt a little like what had happened before, in that other world. Russell relaxed his shoulders as they started to ache with tension. Maybe it was a good thing. Spared him the immediate pain, at any rate. But his heart . . . damn that little shit down there for speaking so cavalierly about what he'd directly caused.

"Once the major was unresponsive, did they treat his injuries?"

"It took another nine minutes before they realized," Sorn clarified. "They cut him down and let him rest until the morning."

"What happened in the interim?"

"They asked me questions."

"Did you answer them?"

"Not truthfully. Their intelligence was good enough that they knew I was lying. They let me rest a few hours, and then they came and got the major."

"Do you know where they took him?"

"To a field."

This kid was way too literal.

"Why did they do that?"

"To execute him."

"Did they?"

"They tried."

"But they didn't succeed?"

"Amestrian soldiers had infiltrated the camp and one of them replaced a soldier on the firing squad. He fired first, grazing the major's skull to make it look fatal."

Parliament was quiet. This wasn't news; it had been read to them before any suspects had been brought before them, from the briefings of the Major Generals Armstrong, Breda, Havoc, Fuery, and a dozen other members of the military.

"And the Cretians believed it?"

"Yes."

"At the time, did you recognize that Amestrian soldier?"

"No."

"Did you know the military was aware of Blane's plot and had sent spies into their ranks?"

"No."

"Did you believe, at the time, that Major Edward Elric had been killed?"

"Yes."

"What did you do?"

Sorn wouldn't look up. "Nothing. I was still in chains and the entire army was there."

Tash seemed satisfied with the answer. "What happened?"

"They put the major on a horse-drawn wagon and sent it towards West City, as their declaration of war. Then the Cretian army was deployed behind it."

"The army you meant to stop."

Sorn dropped his eyes a little further. "Yes."

"Did you regret your decision, at that point, not to notify the Amestrian military of Avram Blane's plan?"

"I don't know."

Russ blinked. That was a surprise. He chanced a glance at the Prime Minister, but as he had for the rest of the proceedings, he was square-jawed and looked vaguely annoyed.

"What do you mean?"

"I . . . I don't know how I felt. I was taken back to the tent and put under guard until the general had secured West City. The soldier that shot the major overpowered my guard and his colleague stole a jeep. They used it to escape."

Tash didn't look happy with that glossing either. "At that time, did you recognize them as Amestrian soldiers?"

"Not until they spoke to one another."

"So when they entered the tent, you assumed they were Cretian soldiers?"

Where the hell was Tash going with this . . .? Sorn also seemed confused. "Yes . . ."

"What did you think when you saw them enter?"

"They entered one at a time. I thought the first one was there to kill me."

"And you were unable to do anything at all?"

Russell stared. That was seriously Tash's angle? That Franklin hadn't attacked any Cretians after he and Ed held them off, so that meant he was in collusion with them? Whether Sorn had figured it out - or even cared, considering probably a full half of what he was saying was a lie - he simply answered. "I was bound in a chair, tied at the ankles and wrists. I couldn't use alchemy."

"So you were bound in a similar fashion to the way Amestris holds suspects who practice alchemy?"

"Yes."

"How did they know you were an alchemist?"

Sorn blinked up at the man, and Tash spread his hands. "You transmuted machines, but they obviously didn't see you doing that or they would have known the tanks were insufficient and moved to overtake your position sooner. You were hiding underground until unearthed, and you say Major Elric ordered you immediately to surrender. Did you tell them you were an alchemist?"

Of course. The Cretians had known who he was because he was one of their informants - assuming he was dumb enough to use his real name. Or they found him out doing their own recon, and just not told him. Either way that information had been left out of the version of events told today, thanks to Patterson's revised confession.

"General Enora recognized Edward Elric, even without the automail, because of his unusual eye color. She had done her research. I assume she recognized me as well. I was working with an alchemist in the middle of nowhere holding up her army. One would have assumed that if I was a civilian, Elric would have made me leave." Then he seemed to think better. "I also had my watch on me."

Tash gave him a piercing look. "Did the general address you by name?"

Sorn hesitated, strangely. "She . . . made up a name for me."

This was apparently news to Tash, as well. "What do you mean?"

"She knew I was the Mechanical Alchemist, but she called me her little councilor."

There was a low, angry-sounding rumble, and Tash pounced. "Why would she call you her little councilor?"

"I advised her that she should back down and try to pass off her invasion as a border patrol, based on Elric's lie that the Amestrian military had been fortifying West in secret, and the Cretians were going to be massacred." Sorn gave a half-hearted shrug. "She thought it was funny."

Obviously nothing Tash could use, so he went on. "Once you were rescued by Amestrian forces, what happened?"

"I was kept in the brig at headquarters in West City until after the battle, and then transferred by train here."

"In that time, did you have any contact with anyone other than Amestrian military personnel?"

"No."

"During that time, did you give the information you had collected to Amestrian military personnel?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"No point."

"Did you know at that time that Avram Blane was in custody?"

"No."

"Did you know at that time what Timothy Patterson's role was?"

"No."

"Didn't you think they were still threats?"

Sorn seemed to recoil a little in his chair. "Yes."

"Then why was there 'no point,' as you say? Why not share that information with the military?"

"I was . . . I thought it was too late. That sensei and Patterson would flee when word spread that West had been waiting."

"But the battle wasn't fought until after you arrived. Why didn't you tell personnel immediately?"

Sorn licked his lips. "I . . . I was preoccupied."

Tash frowned at him. "With what?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know." Tash repeated it flatly.

"That's right."

"I don't believe you."

"I know."

"You know?" A slight chuckle ran through the crowd. "Don't you want me to believe you?"

Sorn kept studying that railing, for so long that Russ was pretty sure he wasn't going to answer, and then he looked up. And for the first time, it was his own words coming out of his mouth. "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. It's done. No one can go back, no one can change anything that happened."

Tash gave him a long, careful look, clearly weighing the risk of pursuing this line of questioning, now that he had an engaged witness, with asking a question he didn't know the answer to. "That seems to bother you."

Franklin looked at him, really looked at him, and then glanced at the panel, his eyes sliding over each face before returning to Tash. "Is there anything else you want to ask me?"

The major general clearly didn't like having control of the interview being stripped so carelessly away. "You claim you were looking for the army to stop it. Yet you didn't bring any tools to do that, though Major Edward Elric did. You defended your position, and thereafter took not one single aggressive measure towards the Cretians. You say you didn't answer their questions, but in all that time, you never once attempted escape, never attempted to help your colleague and professor while he was being tortured to unconsciousness in front of you, never attempted to stop his execution as he was killed before your eyes. You sat like a good little prisoner and were rescued by Amestrian men that hadn't even known you were going to be there. Is that correct?"

Sorn was staring at him, green and a little stricken. But he answered promptly, in that same voice. "Yes."

"You've admitted to this court that you didn't take a single action to stop the attack before it happened. You had countless opportunities to involve the authorities but you knowingly and willfully hid information from them. Can you prove to me that you're not lying? That you weren't an informant for the Cretians? Because I'm sure if I ask them, they'll tell me you are."

"Of course they will. They'll want to discredit those that helped defeat them."

An obviously good point, and Tash glared at the boy. "Major Edward Elric's briefing was disseminated to the panel during break. In it, the major confirmed that he did not overhear you give the enemy information. However, by his own admission, there were many hours the Major was unconscious and would not have overheard the exchange of information. Even now you sit before this panel and say that you don't care if they believe you or not. Is your guilt weighing so heavily on your mind?"

Russ leaned forward slightly, astonished that the panel allowed that spiel, but none of them objected, and Sorn eventually realized he would have to answer. "People died because I made the wrong choices. Your opinion won't change that."

"Their opinion may affect your death."

"That's enough," General Hakuro spoke suddenly, from the panel. "Charges of treason have been dropped by this court. The suspect, if found guilty of remaining charges, will not be facing the death penalty."

"I respectfully put before the panel that the majority of his life spent in prison will be equivalent."

Oddly, the boy seemed to choke slightly, and he covered his face with a hand. His mouth, Russ realized after a moment. The word equivalent.

But what he couldn't figure out was if the kid was stifling a laugh or his cookies.

Sorn eventually shrugged, as if dislodging some irritant from his back, and lowered his hand. Tash gave him sufficient time to speak, but it was pretty clear Franklin wasn't going to open his mouth again. "That is not an answer."

But the boy offered nothing more, and eventually Tash gave up staring at him. "The judges will issue their questions to you at their leisure."

Sorn accepted this, returning his eyes to the railing in front of him, and visibly disengaged from the proceedings again. Many of the people sitting closest to him noticed, leaning across spaces to whisper to one another, and beside him, Fletcher wrapped his arms around his chest.

"I told you he's not a bad kid."

- x -

Author's Notes: THE END.

No, really, didn't I guess that chapter 36 would be the last chapter? How could I possibly be WRONG about that sort of thing?! Honestly . . .

Well, I sort of changed the ending. Actually, Hawkeye sort of changed the ending. Without my permission. In light of that, I suppose I need to settle her and Mustang, see if the Tringums are up to helping Pinako, get back to what Al's going to do to Hakuro for screwing with his brother like that . . . good times! Also, the above scene sort of just happened, and while it's a complete review, for some reason the characters really wanted to spell things out. I hope it wasn't boring - I think I've been putting these things out so slowly it was a nice reminder, but you guys tell me!

Since obviously there will be another chapter or three . . . should never have guessed. Never. As always, without beta. If you spot anything, please let me know!