Whelp. Here we are. Last chapter in this tale. Feels like it's been a long time coming.

This is going to be the last chapter of a story that I post for a while. Not to say that I'm going away for a long time or anything like that - I'm just going to be taking a bit of a break to recharge my creative side a bit. I know what sort of story is coming next, it's just a matter of writing it. And writing enough of it that I can post it without worrying about you guys catching up with me.

I hope you all enjoyed this strange tale of mine!

Chapter 27 – Catching Up

"So…one thousand years, huh?"

Maria looked up from the journal she'd been writing in and met Liz's gaze. Her expression flickered momentarily to nervousness before settling on a sad expression. "…yeah. Earth isn't the way it was when you left."

Liz lingered in the doorway to her and Alphonse's living room, then shook her head a little before stepping in and sitting down on the couch next to her sister. "It didn't really sink in until I saw that look on your face back there, to be honest. It's weird – it doesn't look like you've aged a day, but…everything else about you has. It feels funny trying to wrap my head around it."

Maria sighed and leaned back against the couch, journal open on her lap. "Yeah, I get that. The shock of time passing without you is something I've unfortunately gotten used to."

"If you're as old as you are, I don't doubt it." Liz looked up at the ceiling. "Alphonse said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah." Maria ran a hand down her face. "Mom and Dad…were killed by the same monsters that probably merged these dimensions together."

Liz stared at Maria with a surprised expression. "Wh-what? How do you—"

"The Dark Arms are a group of aliens who destroyed their own dimension – how, I don't know, but why is easy. They wanted power and control over their dimension, but their attempts just…tore it apart instead."

Liz winced. "Then, they thought merging dimensions together would give them what they wanted?"

"Yeah, and in order to get dimensions they wanted to merge together when they wouldn't, guess what kind of a person they needed."

"…you're joking."

Maria shook her head. "Nope. The summer Stanford dropped into our dimension, and the summer you came here, they came to our street and made off with me. Mom and Dad…that was the last time they saw me alive."

Liz sucked in a breath. "You mean – you were gone long enough for them to die?"

"The Dark Arms murdered them right in front of me." Maria reached into her jacket and pulled out a journal that had an exploding planet design on the front. "And then they slapped mind-control tech on the back of my neck and used me as their weapon of multiversal merging until running into Matthew brought me back to my senses. I had to set off a Continuum Shift in order to make everything go back to normal."

"You – you set off the reset button?" Liz asked in alarm.

"Yeah, and I haven't set it off since." Maria put the journal back under her jacket. "I think that might be at least part of the reason why you weren't able to get in contact with me until recently, or vice versa. A lot of things changed because of that."

"Yeah, no doubt…" Liz trailed off, looking at Maria worriedly. "Has everything been that crazy since then?"

"Well, other than what happened with Sixer, no, nothing's been on a multiversal scale like that since." Maria shook her head. "Cipher was pulling more dimensions into the Nightmare Realm, and he ended up roping the Dark Arms into it right before I got involved. I'm lucky neither succeeded."

"Yeah, if Cipher was…tearing dimensions apart, right? That's basically what it was? It's been years since I thought about that."

"Basically. He was quote-on-quote 'liberating' dimensions by tearing physics and the basic laws of the universe out of the equation. Tore dimensions apart in the process. Sixer had to see that a lot."

Liz winced. "Oh. Yeah, that…that doesn't sound good."

"No, it doesn't. On the bright side, it looks like at least some of the dimensions might have reverted to their original state – we found one a bit ago that was in the middle of dealing with a personal Henchmaniac problem." At seeing Liz's frown, Maria explained, "He made deals to make more minions in each dimension he took in. The dimension we reached had one that was causing trouble, and we helped them get a solution. Joshua was there, too."

"Did he help you with the Cipher problem?"

Maria looked confused for a second, then sighed and shook her head. "No, he…he died about eighty years before the Cipher problem. I ran into a past version of him there."

"Wh…what? But – but he's a Reploid like you are! How could you be still alive when he—"

"We had an accident reaching a new colony planet, he got found and misued to the point that he couldn't be repaired, and…his core overheated before anything could be done." Maria sighed and looked away, frowning. "I wasn't expecting to run into an earlier version of him, I'll be honest with you."

"…yeah, wow. Uh…." Liz looked uncertain. "I'm…kinda glad I got out of it, to be honest. The whole World Jumping thing, I mean. I'm amazed you're able to handle it."

"Sometimes, I'm amazed with myself." Maria ran a hand down her face. "I'm…not going back to our home dimension, when I'm done with figuring out Sixer and his family. Time has moved too far forward to be completely comfortable with it. Earth isn't Earth anymore – it isn't home. And I'm not going to take you there, either – you've made a life for yourself, and I don't want to take you away from that."

Liz looked at her sister with a worried frown as Maria started murmuring a few phrases to herself.

"…you shouldn't have this much on your mind, even with as old as you are," Liz said. "So we don't have anyone alive back at home anymore – so what? We've made new lives in other places. I'm sure you'll be okay in Gravity Falls."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about staying there," Maria replied. "It just…it feels more like home there. And not just because of my love for the location as a result of that cartoon."

Liz smiled a little. "Have you managed to find someone?"

Maria gave Liz an odd look. "What?"

"Have you found someone who you want to spend the rest of your impossibly long life with?"

Maria blinked, then her face started turning a strange color. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"Oh, no reason."

"No, no, there's definitely a reason with you – I never knew you to beat around the bush. Why the hell are you asking me about finding a significant other?"

Liz glanced off in the direction of the front door. "Weeeeeeeell…."

Maria's eyes widened. "What are you – no, no. I'm not intent on taking advantage of him being in that state, and I don't know how he feels towards me in return. I'm not about to manipulate him emotionally like that."

Liz held up her hands as Maria's voice started to become more strained. "Okay, okay, I get it, I promise."

Maria eyed Liz for a moment, then nodded slightly and relaxed again. "Okay. Good." She paused. "I…I should probably see about going home as soon as Sixer's back. I don't want to make things more strange here than they probably already are, and I don't want to make Sixer's family worry. Don't get me wrong, I – I like being able to see you again. I missed you, sis. But I can't stay here forever."

Liz's brow furrowed, but she didn't look mad. "Yeah, I – I get it, but…will we be able to keep in touch after this. Will I be able to see you again?"

"I'll try to visit and keep you in touch when I can," Maria replied. "I think our timelines are going to be more aligned now than they used to, so I hope that isn't going to be a problem." She reached over and rested a hand on Liz's shoulder. "You're my sister, no matter what happens, timeline or dimensional-wise. And I don't want to let that connection drop just because of neglect."

Liz looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. I look forward to hearing from you again."

"Same to you."

Time Break

It took a day or two for Sixer to be considered safe from any possible concussions, and at the same time the rest seemed to do him good.

"Considering his foxy appearance, we had worried he might cause trouble, but he was a model patient," one nurse said in the hospital lobby. "Do you know how he became a chimera, though? He is healthy, that isn't a problem, but…well, this kind of experimentation is illegal in Amestris."

"I am aware of how it occurred, and the problem was taken care of," Maria replied as Liz signed the discharge papers. This wasbeing done on her dime. "The monster isn't going to do anything like this again, I assure you."

"I should hope so. Could you give a name?"

"Let's just say it's involved with the latest cult scare and leave it at that."

The nurse seemed to get the hint that the subject was to be dropped, and looked away from the tired, but dark look on Sixer's face and the grim expression on Maria's.

"Being in a hospital that is almost…archaic, compared to what I've seen, was an interesting experience," Sixer said as they stepped out of the hospital. "I'm not comfortable with how much they were interested in me, however."

"Yeah, apparently half-animal people are from a part of Amestris' recent history that they're not comfortable with," Maria replied. "But at least that's a part of history and not a current problem."

"Ah." Sixer nodded slightly.

"Look up Fullmetal Alchemist when you get back," Liz told them. "It'll fill in the gaps that Maria isn't telling you. Anime or manga, either one should work, but I'd recommend the Brotherhood anime instead of the older one, if you don't want to read the manga. The older anime should fill in the timeline that Alphonse and Edward are from, but it won't explain the whole shadow thing that Edward can do."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that," Maria commented. "What happened to him?"

"Let's just say someone thought to make him a homunculus and turned him into Pride."

Sixer started sharply. "Turned him into a—"

"Look it up!" Liz replied. "They're different here from whatever it is you're thinking. Probably!"

Sixer paused at that, then nodded slightly. "All right. I'll…keep that in mind."

Maria chuckled a little. "I'll help you with that. I don't have Liz's copies of the manga, butI do know where to look." She looked at her physically-older sister. "I'm glad I was able to see you again."

"What, are you going now?" Liz frowned.

"I don't see why not, unless you want me to talk to that Roy guy again before we disappear." Maria shrugged. "We have to get going, remember."

"Yeah, yeah, it's…it's just been a while since I've had to leave in the middle of things like you can." Liz paused, then reached forward and grabbed Maria in a hug. "I'm going to miss you."

Maria paused, then grabbed Liz in return in a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you, too. But we'll keep in touch, like I promised."

Liz laughed and released her sister from the hug. "Yeah. I look forward to hearing when you've gotten your current mission solved, okay?"

"I'll let you know." Maria gave Liz a grin and a nod, then looked at Sixer with a knowing smirk. "Ready to go home?"

"As you are," Sixer replied.

Maria nodded, then raised a hand and snapped her fingers, summoning a portal on the city street. A few people stared in alarm at the sight, but while one or two people stopped, they didn't get closer.

"It was good to meet you," Sixer said to Liz with a nod. "I hope Cipher doesn't cause you any further trouble."

"Same to you," Liz replied.

Sixer blinked, and a small smile crossed his face. He nodded, then turned and disappeared into the portal. Maria gave Liz a hopeful grin and a loose salute, then followed after him.

The forest on the other side felt more like home than it had the previous times Maria had come and gone like this. The large lodge of a Mystery Shack was warm and inviting, and the front door is open.

Sixer's green-eyed brother was lounging on the couch on the porch. He blinked and leaned forward. "There you are. Where've you been?"

"Visiting family," Maria replied cheerily. "Turns out my little sister's still alive in another dimension."

"Really?" Crescent raised an eyebrow. "How'd that work?"

"Differences in the passage of time, apparently," Sixer replied. He stepped up onto the porch, Maria following. "We had another near-run-in with Zealot, as well."

Crescent's expression darkened. "He's on the move again, huh? We gonna do somethin' about him?"

"Hopefully. We need to settle ourselves first, I think." Sixer looked at Maria.

"Probably, yeah. I just hope that solution Jheselbraum mentioned will come soon." Maria's brow furrowed in worry.

"Well, it's the start of summer. Been almost two years since we ended up here." Crescent motioned to the door. "The kids are off plannin' somethin' for Maria's birthday in a couple weeks. I wouldn't recommend goin' in there unless ya wanna stumble in on somethin'."

Maria groaned, but a smile crossed her face all the same. "All right. Guess we'll fill you in on what happened first then."

Crescent blinked, then grinned a little. "All right. So, who's this little sis an' what's she been up to?"

Maria chuckled as Sixer sat down on the couch next to his brother. "Well, her name's Liz, firstly. And she's actually ended up in a dimension where alchemy is their version of science based magic…."

As Maria went into her explanation, Sixer leaned back in the couch as his tails spilled over on either side of him. He watched her move back and forth across the porch, moving her hands animatedly, and he felt something warm settle in his chest.

It was a confusing feeling, and he frowned for a second before shaking his head. He'd ignore it for now.

It was probably just something that told him he was home, and that it was good to be home.

Fun fact, a homunculus in a scientific sense looks really, really weird. It's humanoid, but...well, it would be best if you just looked it up if you wanted to see what most scientists mean when they talk about one. I remember there was a Crash Course video from the Green brothers on YouTube about it...

But that's it! The story is done, but we still have a problem to solve. Whether or not it will be, well...I'll have to get to writing and posting that next story, won't I?