Chapter 22: Last Days Before School

"What do you think Mama?"

Anya smiled as she twirled around in her new school uniform. She and Papa had gone and picked out the special dress on Saturday, and she was now proudly showing it off to Yor. But Mama was very excited, as she clasped her hands to her cheeks while watching Anya twirl around like a dancer...until she fell over and hit her head.

"Ms. Anya!" Mama shouted, jumping over and picking Anya up so she was right again. Anya herself felt kind of dizzy from the fall, but she shook her head to get her head back to normal. Mama still looked down at her scared, and finally asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Mama," Anya groaned, rubbing where she'd managed to bonk her head, "I just hit my head a bit."

"That's good."

'I hope Anya didn't hit her head too hard,' Mama thought, her eyes watching the small bruise on the little girl's head, 'A concosion, even a light one, can cause massive damage to the brain. It's why if I can-'

'Brain Damage!' Anya thought in horror, the image of a pink organ appearing in her minds eye. Then a large bat appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the pink think, that began to richochet all around her mind. She fell to the ground, and held her head a bit, as the image alone was enough to cause pain in Anya's head. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and began to rub her hands against her head.

"Maaaammmmaaaa," she whined, and soon was scooped up in her mother's arms, who did her best to hold her up. Yor began to walk into the kitchen to the icebox, and pulled out a large chunk, placing it on the spot where Anya had hit her head. It stung a bit at first, but it soon began to hurt a less.

"There," Yor smiled, rubbing the ice in circles around Anya's head, "This should get rid of most of the pain.

'Ice is always good at bringing down swelling,' Mama was now remembering a time when a big guy grabbed her arm and slammed it into her side, 'It can even heal broken ribs after a massive wound.'

'Mama's scary,' Anya once again confirmed to herself. Yor continued to rub the ice on Anya's head, while walking back into the living room.

RINGRING

"Oh, who could that be?" Mama asked herself, looking over at the phone as it shook on the small side stool next to the chair Papa usually sat in. She was about to walk over to pick it up, when she looked at her arms, and recognized that Anya was still in them. She looked around for a moment as the telephone rang again, and then looked at the couch, "Ms. Anya, I'm going to have to set you down for a minute while I get to the phone, okay?"

"Okay Mama," Anya nodded.

Mama sat Anya down on the couch, and then pulling up Anya's hand so it was holding the ice to her forehead. After a second, Anya nodded at Yor in understanding, and Yor smiled back at her. She then turned on her heels, and, nearly jumped for the phone, since it was already on it's sixth ring. It would be rude to just leave the caller waiting.

"Hello," Yor said aloud, "This is Yo-oh, Yuri, it's so great to hear from you!"

'I haven't been able to talk to my little brother in weeks,' Mama thought happily. Anya felt her jaw drop.

'Mama has a brother!?' she thought, before stopping and thinking blankly for a moment, 'Wait, did I know that already?'

While Anya considered whether she actually had heard her mother really think about her brother before, her mother was smiling as she nodded, with the phone in her hand. She let it rest on her shoulder for a minute, as she walked over to Anya, stretching the chord that attached the phone to the receiver as she came back to Anya. She pulled up the ice, and nodded, and Anya could see that the swelling for the bump where she had hit her head was going down from her Mama's point of view.

"I'm glad you took a bit of a vacation," Mama said, responding to her brother telling her about his last couple of weeks and why he hadn't been able to get a call, "You've been working so hard, getting up to be a second lieutenant," Mama was smiling, "You deserved a break for a while. Did you have a good time in West?"

She nodded for a few seconds, her smile maintaining itself as Anya could hear the scrambled sounds of a voice on the other side. Once the voice stopped, she continued.

"That's great to hear. It must have been really exciting to get to go on that hiking trail," she then stopped, and her smile became a straight line across her face, "You did bring enough to eat, correct," the voice spoke up again, "Oh, that's great, glad to hear that."

Mama then picked up the ice chunk, and tossed it through the door into the sink. She had accidently tossed it a bit too hard, as it slammed into the back of the container, and Anya could see a small dent in the back of the bowl from the impact. Mama raised her hand to her face, and covered her mouth in shock for a moment, before looking at it more closely, and sighing.

"At least it's not too noticeable," she said offhandedly, before suddenly jumping as the voice on the other hand spoke up again, "Oh, it's nothing Yuri, I just might have damaged the sink a bit," the voice seemed less frantic, "Yeah, you know, I can be a bit of a klutz at times."

"Oh, how have I been doing?" she repeated the question, "Well you know, I've been great," she stopped, and began to sweat, "Have I been up to anything? Well I-"

'Has he found out about my job as a hitman?' she asked herself, her shoulders shaking and suddenly thinking about herself in her assassin dress and what Anya guessed was her brother in front of her, pointing a finger at her while in the blue soldier clothes, 'If he's found out something like that, then he-'

"Oh," she was caught off, and suddenly some of the fear in Mama's eyes went away, "Oh, yes, I am living in Central now," she nodded smiling, "Of course, I'd love for you to come and meet my husband. I'll have to find a time later this week, maybe Friday?" the voice seemed to accept that, and then a last set of words came from inside the phone, "Okay, I'll let Lloyd know we're having you as a guest this Friday. I can't wait for you to meet him," she looked down at the coach, and blinked, "Oh, and Anya to, of course."

There was another burst of sounds from the other side of the phone, which caused Yor to nod once again, "Yes, he has a daughter. I'm actually with her right now," she smiled, "Well I'm trying. I had a lot of practice with you," she laughed, before nodding one last time, taking a second to twirl her front hair part with her fingers, "Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing you too. Bye!"

She did a small wave as she hung up the phone. She then stood there, completely still for a minute, her hand still on the phone as her mind was completely blank. Anya slowly peaked inside her Mama's mind.

'IFORGOTTOTELLHIMIFORGOTTOTELLHIMIFORGOTTOTELLHIMIFORGOTTOTELLHIM' her mind was just one long burst of sound, that almost threw Anya herself back on the coach. After regaining her bearings, Anya couldn't help but shake her head at her Mama, who she could only now see was shaking from remembering what she had forgotten.

'Mama might be scary,' she sighed, 'But she's kind a dumb too.'

"Man, good thing we found Sheska," Ed nodded as Alphose walked beside him. They had just hired Sheshka, a ex-employee to of the 1st Branch Library with a photographic memory to copy down all the notes he could remember from Dr. Marcoh's notes. Honestly, it was a miracle they'd found her, especially since she'd been stuck under a pile of books that might have eventually crushed the poor woman.

"Yeah, but if she really knows her stuff," Edward said aloud, taking in the breeze as he and Al made their way through the park, "Then we have a real chance of getting our hands on a Philosophers Stone."

"And with that stone," Alphonse added, gripping the gauntlets of his metal body incredibly tightly, "We'll be able to get our old bodies back."

Ed couldn't help but laugh. They were getting close. Really close. And once they found out, he could finally return his brother to the way he should be, and make up for the mistake he made back then. Honestly, he had to say, it was actually happening a lot quicker than he might have thought. While he'd always been feeling like he should have found the answers to the truth by now, he knew that it actually was a massive undertaking, and that the fact he might get his brother back in his body before a full five yeas had passed would have to be classified as a miracle.

'You hear that you blank bastard,' he cackled inwardly, 'Don't think you can look down on me anymore. I've figured out the "Truth",' he then stopped, 'Or at least, I've almost got it figured out. Just need to get that set of notes.'

"Brother?"

"Oh, it's nothing Al," Ed waved his hand, "Come on, let's head across the courtyard and-"

"Edward Elric!" the two brother stopped. And then the looked over their shoulders. Ross and Brosh, the two guards that Major Armstrong had left them with were only half dozen yards behind them. Edward growled to himself.

'I'd thought we'd managed to ditch them,' he cursed to himself, increasing the pace of his gait as he tried to get further away from the two of them, 'Darn busy bodies. Scar hasn't been seen anywhere near Central, and I have my arm back. Why do we need guards now when we aren't in any real danger?'

The two Elric Brothers quickly picked up their pace, zipping along the sidewalk, and taking a turn down the nearest alley. It was unblocked, so the two made their way through it quickly, though from what Ed could hear, he knew that the two junior officers were still right on their heels. He slammed his hands together, and then into the wall to their side, and created a small wall behind them,. This caused Maria Ross to scream as she was suddenly cut off from her charges. Ed smirked at Al, who just shook his head.

"That was really mean, Brother," the armored boy said, continuing to run, though his pace was slowing, "They're just trying to do their jobs."

"And I don't care," They quickly turned onto the next street, and he turned to his left, looking back at Al, "Come on, if we run do-woah!" and before he could charge down that block, Ed suddenly felt himself be picked up by the coat. He looked back, and was about to yell at Alphonse, when he heard a cough.

"Excuse me," Ed looked back, and saw a woman with bright orange hair and sun glasses looking over at the two brothers, with one eyebrow raised over one of the lenses. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, and her dress and coat were fairly in season. She was tapping her foot on the ground, a small bag at her side, "I believe you were about to run into me."

"Ah," Alphonse still holding up his Elder Brother, waved his free hand, "Sorry about that Mam," he said rubbing the back of the helmet that served as his head, "We were just in a rush."

"Hmmm," the woman looked them over for a second, staring intently at the Edward as he hung from Alphonse's grip. She then pointed at Edward, her expression remaining neutral, "Oh, I was wondering where I recognized you from before," she said aloud, "You must be Major Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Oh yeah," Ed smiled, glad for a second that she was certainly pointed at him, and not at Alphonse. The term Fullmetal just seemed to cause people to think it was the guy in the armor, and at times Ed wondered if Fuhrer King Bradley had chosen that title specifically because it would so easily cause people to confuse his younger brother for himself, "That's me. How'd you know?"

"Well for one thing," she said aloud, adjusting her glasses, "You are rather shor-"
"Who are you calling a little maggot you arrogant jerk!" Ed suddenly felt himself have to be grabbed from around his waist by Alphonse's other free hands. He knew he was making a scene, but just couldn't help himself. He only go angrier when he saw that the woman in front of him got a little smirk on her face as she watched him struggle, "What are you smirking about. You shouldn't make fun of people for things they can't control you heartless monster!"

"Oh," she let out a laugh, but even in Ed's induced rage, he could tell there wasn't much mirth in her voice, "I was just laughing at what this country calls it's greatest weapons," she held up her face, and suddenly, Ed could see her pupils even through the tinted lenses of the sunglasses, "Some power Amestris is, when the next big thing is nothing more than a childish brat."

Edward grit his teeth, and not just because he'd been implied to be short again. This woman was really starting to piss him off. He banged on Al's arm, and the giant let him down. He looked over at the exceedingly tall woman, and glared up at her as she bent down to look him straight in the eye. He felt a blood vessel bulge, but he kept his cool.

"Weapon huh," Ed countered, looking over her, "What makes you say that?"

"That's just what you are," the woman stated, "That's what all you alchemists are. That's what all the state alchemists are. You may have the blood of a human being, but in reality that's just the oil keeping a bunch of new tanks running," she adjusted her glasses, allowing Ed to see the glare of her eyes, "You're just one more gun that Fuhrer Bradley has pointed at the world."

"You sure are a ray of sunshine," Ed spat out, making sure to not give an inch, "And yeah, I'm part of the military, but I'd never use alchemy to hurt innocent people."

"Ha," the woman barked, "I'm sure the alchemists said that before they went to Ishval," Ed growled at the implication, "But I can assure you that didn't matter to the women and children who were killed there," her glare became pointed, "But that's just what the military is. They're people who kill to enforce their vision of the world on everyone else. When you sign up to be a soldier, that's ultimately what you are doing. Signing up to be a murderer."

In his mind, the faces of Armstrong and Hughes, both of whom went out of their way to help him and his brother, flashed across his vision. edward gritted his teeth, and gripped his automail hand tightly together.

'This woman's really starting to piss me off,' he thought, not even bothering to look up at her, 'What the hell gives her the right to talk about them like that.'

"Ed," Ed felt Al's hand on his shoulder, "We should be getting a move on-"

"Oh, and what's this," she bit further, this time her eyes directly on Alphonse, "I guess you must be his brother I've heard so much about," she looked him up and down, "I suppose he must be dragging you along so you can smash anyone your brother needs to," Ed could feel Alphonse step back for a second, "Just another attack dog, doing whatever your tells you to do. At least your brother has the guts to actually sign away his soul. You on the other hand will commit the same acts as he does, but resign yourself to simply being his tool," her glare became even harsher, "You might as well just be a third arm of hi-"

"Shut up!" Ed shouted, advancing towards the woman, pulling free of Al's grip. Part of him wanted to slap his hands together and call up his blade from his hand, but another part wanted to punch her, and that seemed easier, "Don't you dare talk about my brother like that."

"Brother," The woman began to advance to, the distance between them disappearing, "You don't treat this thing like your brother," her face was a full on sneer, "If that was your brother, you'd never have brought him along into military missions in the first plac-"

"Halt!" the two stopped, and Ed turned around, and saw Maria Ross standing a few feet behind Alphonse. She was panting, obviously having run around the buildings considering that the previous alleyway had been blocked off by his alchemy. She was clearly angry, but she wasn't looking at Ed or Al, but rather at the woman standing across from her. Ed looked back at the woman, who was if anything even angrier than she had been. The two stared at one another for a second, the entire road becoming quiet.

"Sergeant Ross," the woman's voice was as like a particularly unpleasant belch.

"Administrative Assistant Sherwood," second lieutenant Ross responded. Ed could see the woman's eye twitch, "It has been a while."

"Yes, one year, eighteen months, since you were assigned as the guard of Cresta's embassy?"

"Only eleven months actually," Maria marched her way forward, and before long put herself between Ed and this Sherwood woman, "Of course, you don't pay attention to such things, do you Sylvia?" she then smiled, "Though one would think a secretary would actually care about dates and things like that."

"Oh, not for things like the last time I saw you."

Ed and Al slowly began to back off, the tension overwhelming the street as the two women stared at one another. Maria continued to glare directly into Sylvia's eyes, before smiling, "Well, I suppose information was never your strong suit," she then smiled, "Afterall, if it was, you might have been more helpful in our investigation of Stirrup," she put on her kindest smile, "Good thing you were there, your confession helped up put him away on espionage charges."

Sylvia stopped, and her eyes flared in rage. She opened her mouth to say something before turning on her heels and marching down the street the opposite way from Ed. He blinked for a moment, and then looked at 2nd Lieutenant Ross, who glared at the woman retreating from their view. Finally, when Sylvia turned the corner, the tension dissipated from Maria Ross's shoulders, and she slumped over, only to be caught by Alphonse.

"Thank you," she sighed. Ed was stunned that the panicky woman who had been following them around had been able to project such fierceness, and while this was closer to what he would expect from her, he still quite couldn't put the woman he just saw together with the Lieutenant. After she caught her breath, she added, "Please stop running from us, we're just trying to do our jobs."

"Who was that woman?" Ed asked, looking down the street where Sylvia had just disappeared.

"That woman is Sylvia Sherwood," Maria stated flatly, some ice returning to the back of her voice, "She is officially the assistant administrative attaché to the ambassador from Cresta. Mostly a secretary, like I said," she stopped, then added after thinking it over while looking around to make sure no one was listening in, "Unofficially, she's the head of all Crestan espionage in Amestris."

"Huh?"

"Shhh!" Maria pulled her finger over her mouth, "Only a few people know that," she looked down at the ground, "Hell, I only know it because of bad luck."

"Bad luck?"

"About twelve months ago, during an ambassadorial meeting between the Fuhrer and the representatives of Aerugo, Cresta and Drachma, there was a bombing."

"What!?" Ed felt his shoulder jump, "Someone tried to kill the Fuhrer?" the image of the eye patch wearing man entered his head.

"Yes," Ross nodded, "Didn't get too close though, the bomb went off outside the meeting room, and it didn't manage to get anyone inside of it," she shook her head, "Did kill two military policeman that were guarding the entrance when it went off though," Ed could see something drop in Maria Ross's eyes, "I'd served with both of them for a few months."

"I'm sorry," Ed said.

"Not your fault," Maria's eyes then hardened, "No, really it was that woman's," she groaned, "We found that a Crestan agent by the name of Stirrup had been the one to plant the bomb in the car that was supposed to kill the Fuhrer. It took some digging, but we found him out," she shook her head, "We arrested him, and brought him before the whole of the Crestan staff, and every single one of them declared him to be a rogue terrorist. We didn't have any proof of actual government connections, just rumors, so we arrested and executed that spy and went on our way."

She lifted her right hand to her mouth, and bit her thumb, "I was the guard during the interrogation of the Crestan staff. We had roughed up the spy, and put him in front of Sylvia, and asked her if she recognized him. We told her if she had any information, we might be willing to reduce his sentence. I was actually helping Colonel Hughes on the case, and let me know right before the interview that she was the one who actually ordered the assassination attempt."

"And she just stood there, looked at the man she'd ordered to plant the bomb, and said she'd never seen him before in her life."

Ed looked down. That meant, when the chance had come, Sylvia had allowed one of her spies to be taken into custody and killed as a terrorist, when she might have been able to save his life.

"So," Maria Ross continued, "I don't want you to ever take any shit about being a military dog from that bitch again," the harsh language caused both Ed and Al to flinch, they'd never heard 2nd Lieutenant Ross use language like that, "Anyone who would so callously toss away their comrade like that...doesn't have a place to talk about morality."

...

"Lieutenant Ross," Alphonse spoke up, looking down on the woman who was resting on a stair from one of the apartments on the side of the road, "I'm sorry you lost your friends."

"Yeah," Ed sighed, "It couldn't have been easy keeping your cool when the person responsible was standing right in front of you."

"...," Maria sighed, before smiling, "Thank you both, that means a lot," she forced her way back to her feet, and looked down at her watch, "It looks like we're almost past five. Brosh should have the car ready, so we can go to dinner pretty soon if you two would want."

"Yeah," Ed looked back over his shoulder, wondering where Sylvia Sherwood, if she was a spy, had been going when they had run into her. He looked up, and saw alonside the apartments, a general store, a cigarette shop, and, if he had to guess the most likely location, a seedy bar near an alley way. The bar would likely be a good place to meet people without anyone noticing. He glared at it, and his mind turned to the woman who he'd just met, "Let's get out of here."

"So you forgot to tell your brother you got married?"

Yor nodded, a sweat over her forehead. She'd been nervous all day, since the call had happened only an hour after Lloyd had left for work. After it, she'd kept wondering how she would tell her husband about it, and also how best to plan for what was going to be an unusual confrontation.

"It just...slipped my mind," she finally admitted, her body shaking, "Everything's been so busy, what with moving here, and then my job this weekend," she groaned, "I meant to call him last week, but..."

Lloyd was rubbing his chin, clearly in thought about how to handle this new curve in their relationship. Yor began to groan, rubbing her temples as she looked down sadly at the ground, 'I'd thought I was getting the hang of this. I'm so stupid!'

"I can see how it would be hard to deal with," Lloyd finally said aloud, relieving at least some of the stress in Yor's head, "Still, this might be a problem."

"I can't just tell him I was trying to expand my social circle," Yor groaned, tightening her fists together as she imagined her younger brother's shocked face, "The way he acts, I think he'd panic if I married someone I didn't actually plan to marry," her mind went to the image of her brother in his Amestrian Blues standing over Twilight tied to a chair, "He might go to far with interrogating you if he thought you were taking advantage of me with this relationship."

Her brother was wonderful. A kind and diligent young man. She'd been very proud when he'd been accepted into the military, and relived when she had learned that he'd been sent into intelligence instead of the front lines. The thought of her little brother being shot and killed in some far off trench terrified her, even with all her experience as an assassin, so the thought of him as desk clerk in Central had given her quite a bit of hope. But now that she was in Central, she could imagine her younger brother, in the spirit of defending his elder sister, going too far with his power to interrogate her new husband.

"Hmmm," Lloyd's expression changed, though instead of a frown like she'd been expecting, it was a small smile, "Don't worry, I have an idea," he walked over to a nearby map, and pulled it up, "When Anya goes to school tomorrow, we'll go take a few romantic pictures with a photographer nearby the school," he pointed on the map, "to make the whole relationship seem more realistic."

"Pictures might help," she nodded, "But Lloyd, we're married and sleep in different rooms."

"We'll lock your room and say it's still storage," Lloyd smiled, "My bed is big enough that he'll probably believe we sleep in there together."

'Sleep...together,' Yor thought.

...

'SLEEP TOGETHER!' She screamed in her head, feeling heat rush all over her face. For a second, she could almost see a blush on Lloyd on for what he had said, but he seemed to quickly push it down, 'Don't just say things like that Lloyd! I'm not ready for this. I'm an innocent flower, and I'm not ready to deal with dirty stuff!' She almost felt a need to pull out a needle and stab him.

"He'll be gone by the end of the night, and we can sleep in our own rooms once it's over," Lloyd nodded, and most of Yor's internal freak-out died. Still, she could feel the heat along her cheeks, and she could tell that Lloyd was trying his best to accommodate her. Realizing that, almost made her cheeks heat up more.

'AH!' she internally screamed, 'Stop acting weird body. Stop acting weird! You shouldn't blush because he's saying you don't have to have sex with him!'

"And best of all, we have three full days until he arrives," Lloyd placed a hand on her shoulder, "This will be easy. We just need to keep a clear head about it, and it'll all be fine."

"Are you certain Lloyd?" she asked, finally regaining her voice. She wanted to make sure she hadn't already managed to blow up this "connection". She honestly really like living with Lloyd and Anya. Lloyd was an incredibly polite man who was always sure to offer support in what she had to do, and Anya was an adorable little girl that she couldn't help but love.

"Positive," Lloyd nodded, he then looked at the clock, "Oh, eight fifteen, let me go make sure that Anya is in bed. We have a very busy day tomorrow," he smiled at her, and she smiled back. Honestly, with all that she was worrying about dealing with her brother, meeting the rich families tomorrow suddenly didn't seem like that big of a deal. Most of these people were just rich. They weren't family like Yuri or Lloyd.

...

'Oh no,' Yor's blush heated up again as she watched her husband walk down the hallway towards Anya's room, 'I'm starting to think of him as my family,' she began to shake her hands, 'I think I may have already gotten in too deep.'