A/N: Buh buh buh new series! This is my first shot at a gender-bender and a fem!Ed, so please rate and review! Thanks all!

(Set after chapter 105 of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, by Hiromu Arakawa ©)

A quick overview for those of you enjoy Fullmetal Alchemist as much as I do, but have only watched that anime or are not full way through the manga .

Al and Ed return to central Amestris after learning of the homunculus's plot to turn all of Amestris into a single philosopher's stone, and so move into central to find the center of Amestris, and the "Father" of all humonculus—the original. They reach the center, overcoming a conflict between Colonel Mustand and Envy meanwhile, and find Hoheheim already engaged with the "Father". During all of this, above the "Father's" lair, all of central is in turmoil as the infantry from the Northern Military base "Briggs" arrives to support its commander Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong, and together the Major General and Major Armstrong defeat the homunculus Sloth. The entirety of Central's Military is usurped by a rogue group consisting mainly of Briggs and defecting central soldiers, and they manage to contain and incarcerate the corrupt military leaders. Fuhrer King Bradley follows them, and engages with Scar, whilst the Xingese immigrant May helps in the defeat of "Father" as much as possible. Mustang is meanwhile forced to pay the gates passage fee to become eligible as a "sacrifice" and loses his eyesight as recompense for seeing the truth. He is then dumped into the middle of the fight between "Father" and Pride. The Father renders all of the alchemy in Amestris unusable and continues to delay the combatants. The moment the solar eclipse is fully underway; Father reveals the center of Amestris and of his circle as being his lair, and uses Pride to bring all of the sacrifices into place to trigger the circle. All of Amestris is instantly removed from their bodies and turned into a philosopher's stone which he uses to open the gate and capture the truth, or God, inside of his body. He shows his true power and attempts to kill them, but is resisted by Hohenheim aided by the rest of the sacrifices. Above them, Scar finishes off Bradley, and just as the rest below are about to be obliterated by a miniature sun, he moves to an inscribed transmutation circle and uses his new-found power of reconstruction (left arm) to trigger the counter circle and restore alchemy to the country. Hohenheim reveals to Father that many years ago he hid some of the souls of his philosopher's stone inside in preparation for this day, and releases them, freeing the souls from Father and returning them to their bodies. Edward and the rest of the sacrifices them move to kill Father, and as such, chapter 105 ends.

Though the manga has ended here, in my story I'm going to assume they won, but that the defeat of father and using the philosopher's stone had its repercussions ;)

Also, if you'd like to read the manga, it can be read at:

onemanga[dot]com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/

mangafox[dot]com/manga/fullmetal_alchemist/

mangavolume[dot]com/serie-archive/mangas-fullmetal-alchemist/

to name just a few ;)

Disclaimer: I do not in any way shape or form own Fullmetal Alchemist! I may only wish so!

Ed walked slowly down the main streets of central, so deep in thought he was oblivious to all of the whispers and odd looks he was attracting. Every once in a while he would stop and hear a whispered, "What does they think they're doing! Dressing up like the people's alchemist and parading through central—if you asked me they should be punished for an act like that!" or something similar. Whenever she caught a glimpse of what these people were thinking, he would just smile to himself and continue walking. In fact, he didn't care at all what they thought, because soon this person they were whispering about wouldn't exist at all.

None of the "survivors" of the Father's attempt to trap God could quite believe what had happened that night, but all had adjusted to the new facets of their life. Father's defeat could not have been called "smooth" or "efficient", but it was effective in permanently removing the original Humonculus from Amestris, if not the world.

Has it really only been a week? Edward thought, What with all that has happened, it felt like an eternity. He really didn't want to give up, and for me, it almost has been. Smiling to himself.

Ed, Izumi, Hohenheim, and Al,had all stood before the Father's demolished throne. Ed took a step forward from the rest. Speaking his words loudly and clearly, brandishing his automail fist.

"You've gotten away with too much, you freak. Alchemy is revived! The counter-attack begins!"

And with that they all charged toward his, earthen fists and spikes seeking to bury themselves, all figures darting forward to attempt to land blows. Izumi was first to do anything, a swinging kick landing a glancing blow on his left side. He pivoted on his right foot and swung his arm forward, trying to catch her with his fist. Izumi ducked it easily and landed two punches in the center of his chest before darting to the left to land another on his temple. Except it never landed. From the left side of his head erupted an iron spike, piercing her hand and driving her back. Father lunged forward again, swinging a fist in an uppercut motion and catching Izumi in the stomach, launching her back into a struggling Mustang. Hohenheim seized the opportunity, and clapped his hands to the ground causing spikes and fists to emerge from the ground surrounding Father. Vaulting the spikes with ease he turned again to Al's armored fist coming to intercept his gut mid flight. Catching the fist, he clapped and arm to it and it compliantly fell off, leaving a wide hole in Al's side. His armed darted quickly inside Al's armor, seeking the blood circle he knew he would find within. A smart pain erupted from the back of his head as he felt a small throwing knife buried in the back of his head, and similar pains acknowledged themselves as he felt four others bury themselves in his legs and arms. Red sparks consumed the majority of his back, forming a five pointed star inscribed within a pentagon and binding him in place as May moved to slice at his neck with a remaining knife. His twisted his neck sharply to the right, breaking the proportions of the circle and freeing himself, then darting forward and heaving Al into the airborne girl. The two collapsed on the ground in a jumbled heap, as Hohenhiem again tried to intercept the humonculus with a volley of fists and spikes, once again only to find them destroyed and dodged. He ran forward towards Hohenheim, dodging varies constructs and quickly closing the gap. He was a mere foot from the man when a spike emerged immediately in front of him, causing him to take a step back into a spontaneously generated wall. He clapped and placed his hands to the wall, hearing a cry from Hohenheim as a box of pure and untransmutable carbon erupted from the other side, encasing him.

"Time's up asshole!" Edward yelled as he sprinted in from the left, placing hands on the ground and bringing his left leg up into the center of Father's jaw, launching him into the air above the walls. The moment his hands met the ground, a pillar erupted, and Edward used the momentum to launch himself up and off of the ground, his automail transforming into a short blade as he moved his hand along it. He drove the short blade halfway through the flying humonculus's chest. Dark eyes grew humorous as he moved his hands down to encompass the blade buried in his chest.

"Not quite." Red sparks moved down from the Father's forehead and into Edward's chest as he tried to break free, eyes widening in shock. As soon as the sparks had come, they were gone, and so was Ed's arm. He stared and the marred lump of skin were his automail had been seconds ago, now only the bare stump so reminiscent of all those years back. His limp body fell towards the ground, barely caught by the now restored Al.

Izumi moved in for another attack, clapping her hands together and forming a long spearheaded pole. She again moved to engage the humonculus, arms flashing as the pole moved from one pose to the next. All watched in wonder as he was hit by blow after blow, long gashes appearing across his body. With one deft movement she separated his head from his shoulders.

Advancing towards the rolling member, Izumi clapped and shortened the pole-arm into a broadsword, preparing to remove the red stone from his head.

"Last words, 'Father?'' She sneered at him, as she drew the sword up to rest on her shoulder. "I never thought it would come down to this… But then who thought you'd turn Amestris into a philosopher's stone?"

"I've found there are a lot of things you humans do not consider." Father murmured even as she felt strong arms tighten around her. In horror, she stood there as the rolling head began to generate a neck, and then a chest and arms, until it was a complete replica of the body restraining her. "I didn't want to resort to this, it's rather draining you know." He stated in a 'matter-of-fact' voice. But since it's already done…" The headless body drew back away from her so that it was only restraining her with a single arm. The other began to sharpen and lengthen into a long spike from the elbow up. It turned black as the carbon condensed and compacted at the surface, a power reminiscent of Greed. The spike drove towards her back, even as a metal blade sliced through the arm restraining Izumi. Almost simultaneously, a metal spike emerged from the center of the dopple-ganger's chest, and then another flash as Ed returned his leg to normal. Al, wielding Ed's still transformed arm, separated the upper half of his body from the lower half, before turning towards the real humonculus. He clapped and ran forward, Ed's arm lengthening as he did.

Oh man, Ed's gonna destroy me for ruining his arm, and then Winry's going to murder Ed for hurting her handiwork. Al thought, while he cleaved the man's arm from his shoulder, and swinging again as is began to regenerate. Izumi again darted in, and stabbed her fingers into the back of his skull, in an attempt to find the stone. Trying to buy her time, at stuck Edward's arm through the man's neck, and then withdrew to make several more frenzied stabs at its chest. The moment her fingers brushed it, red sparks left the hole in her head, sealing her hand in as they disappeared. He turned and punched through Al's breastplate, trying to find the blood seal he knew he'd find inside.

"Get away from Al, bastard!" Ed yelled as he brought his leg down heavily on Father's arm, tearing through it at the joint. Father turned and gave him a tired look, grabbed Ed's leg, and then brought his leg around to kick them both away from him, ripping Ed's automail leg from the scarred stump. He turned back to Izumi, smirking as he held her in place and received a gratifying 'pop' from her now dislocated shoulder.

She gritted her teeth against the pain, and brought her other hand around in an attempt to cleave the head again. He deftly caught her hand, and sharpened his other into a blade, cleanly slicing through the hand buried in the back of her head. As she let out a cry and stumbled back, clutching at her stump, he absorbed the hand into him, and then turned and kicked her hard in the stomach, rewarded again with a satisfying *crunch.*

Broken back and severed hand, Izumi lie 40 feet from the main events, attempting to stop the bleeding before she blacked out.

"Teacher!" Al yelled, and charged madly towards the man, swinging his fists in an attempt to harm the humonculus. The man dodged all of his punches easily, and darted around Al, plunging his fist into the armor's lower back, disregarding the dull 'thunk' from inside.

"Is it here..?" He muttered, as Al's arms spun around to grab the man. "Boy, you don't realize how easy you're making this, do you?" He mocked, as he ripped Al's arm's from their sockets. "You human's just never learn." He said, as he ripped Al's breastplate off.

"On the contrary, Sir Asshole, humans have an almost limitless ability to evolve." Ed retorted, as he sprung from Al's open chest, driving his dismembered arm clean through the middle of the Father's forehead. Both teenagers watched with wonder as a pure and round crimson stone popped from the back of the Father's head.

"This… I… won't… No…!" Father shouted, even as his body turned to dust and fell among the weary and battle worn comrades.

Ed toppled from his lofty perch in Al's chest, and tried to crawl towards the fallen stone. "We did it Al, here it is… But do we want to use it?"

"You can use it… But if you want to restore yourself, you will have to reconcile all of the thousands of souls encased inside of it." Hohenheim said, as he walked from a hole in the box he had been trapped in. "Though I think I can speed up the process, considerably." He smiled. Hohenheim moved to sit next to Ed, and then propped him up against his own side. With a look of pure concentration on his face, he lowered his gaze to the crimson stone, and reached a hand towards it. "Help me just once more comrades…" He whispered as his fingers brushed the stone. A handful of souls rushed from his chest into the stone, leaving it shaking for a few moments. "There were already a few of my agents at work," He commented, "I poured a few into him the moment before he revealed his new form. I don't think he knew they were still there." Abruptly the stone glowed a deeper crimson than ever before, and then exploded.

Ed's eyes grew to the size of melons before he found his voice. "What the fuck did you do you goddam horseshit! That was the only philosophers stone we'll ever see, and you just blew it up you fucking fuck! How in hell was that supposed to go over well?"

Edward was turned to his father as he spoke, so he didn't see the light emanating from the spot where the stone had previously been. He followed his father's gaze toward the stone, and the light suddenly became blinding and overwhelmed them all.

When he came to, Ed saw only whiteness. Am I dead? He wondered, and then made an attempt to stand up, whereupon it became painfully obvious that his automail was gone. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He muttered as he turned himself around with his left arm. A humongous black gate with a grinning silhouette stood before him. He tried to scoot away from the figure, but never seemed to get any further from the demoic entity or the ominous portal. The gate did not open. The figure did not move or respond. "Well? Are you going to take your passage fee, or am I stuck here?" Again no response, until a startling thought struck him. "Am I dead? Answer me goddam it!"

The moments those words left his mouth, Al, Izumi, Hohenheim, Winry, Colonel Mustang, and Lieutenant Hawkeye were all deposited in front of him. Now the figure spoke.

"Each of you have been here before, with the exception of two." He addressed Hawkeye and Winry specifically, speaking in an even monotone. "The two of you are here because you share exceptionally strong bonds with several of those here. Winry." He again turned towards Winry, who looked startled to have her name spoken to her, and very disoriented. "Both Edward and Alphonse considered you when they opened the gate. I have decided that because of this, you are intertwined enough to be here. You, Riza, are the only person Roy has ever considered opening the gate for." Stepping away from the group, the demonic smile appeared inside silhouette's head. "Now you will be judged by those of the philosopher's stone. Good luck." He laughed.

The large black gate opened, and black arms reached out to grab the Colonel, drawing him inside, and a single other arm reached out, and took Riza in with it.

Inside of the gate, Roy opened his eyes to see a stadium, full of some ten thousands of people. Wait. "I can see them! I can see!" Roy yelled to the crowd, who stood and began to clap. A desk appeared in front of him, along with a chair at his back. He recognized the furniture. He grabbed the back of the chair and drew it out. This is the Fuhrer's desk! He thought confusedly as he look back up to the crowd of people.

One voice rang out among them, just barely loud enough for him to hear. "Will you accept the throne of Amestris, Colonel Mustang? If this is what you want, then sit, and tell us why you deserve to return to the land of the living, and why you should retain your sight."

Roy looked at the seat for a long time. Am I ready for this? Will I be a good leader? Do I have enough experience?

Questions barraged him, drilling deep into the topics he had always been unwilling to address. Then he realized that he wasn't the one thinking them, the crow of the stadium had been yelling these questions to him. "Will you know what to do? Will the men of the military respect you? Will your staff… Will your friends move with you?" Roy stopped. He glared at the seat for making him answer a question like that. He opened his mouth to respond, ready to voice his answers to the crowd. "I am re-"

Ed stared at the gate Mustang had disappeared through. "Why was he taken? What's happening?" Edward questioned, as he directed the majority of his talk towards Hohenheim.

"To be honest I'm not sure Edward, the gate works in mysterious ways, I don't even know what is happening."

"Shit, what's going to happen to the rest of us-"

Ed was cut off as the portal opened, and a slightly dazed looking Riza Hawkeye was spewed from its depths.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye! What happened back there?" Edward questioned, looking to her to also answer the unasked question of the Colonel's welfare.

"As I understand, I'm not supposed to tell you Edward, but I think Roy's going be fine." She replied with a small smile.

"I am ready." Roy stated to his audience, as he seated himself in the high backed wooden chair. Immediately, a small flash appeared in the audience, and the questions all at once halted. "I believe that our military is in dire need of a reconstruction and weeding, and I also believe that I am the one best suited for the job, if not only the one most readily available to do it."

He continued to tell the audience of his plans to reshape Amestris, and how he would reduce poverty and other such attributes in the country. He continued for what felt like hours, until one member of the audience raised his hand, motioning for him to stop.

"That is all, Colonel. We have listened to your case and found you worthy of the gifts we have bestowed upon you, and wish you all luck in leading the nation of Amestris."

Mustang raised his hand, silencing the speaker. "No, before you heal me, I wish you to heal my subordinate. 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc has served faithfully under me for many years, and was hurt helping to protect me… I could not go back with a good conscience, even though it's not something I consider often, knowing that I put my well-being ahead of my subordinate's… Ahead of my friend's."

"Your request will be… noted."

The gate opened behind him, and he tumbled through, vision going pure white once more.

Roy returned from the portal, and after answering many questions asked by all members of the group (from which they learned very little, as he only told them that he could now see), Izumi was suddenly drawn through the gate. It was a long wait, with Al and Ed knowing that one of them would be the next to confront whatever was on the other side of the gate, and Winry apprehensive for wondering what would be done with her. Several hours later she was abruptly spit back into their presence, a solemn face and lighter gate, only telling them that she was reconciled, and that her organs had been restored. Even though she had returned, the black arms of the gate had not, and all were waiting for the moment they all knew was fast approaching. But it did not come. Suddenly the silhouette stepped forward and addressed them.

"The philosopher's stone may only be able to treat one more of you… Between the three of you, you have to choose one to go, or mutually decide not to enter the gate. Make it quick." Without another second to waste, Ed used his one leg to kick Al towards the gate, a metallic thud resonating in the air.

Ed swore under his breath as he held his aching foot, Al worriedly checking to see if his brother was alright. "Al, stop worrying about me and get over to that gate!"

"But Brother, we agreed that we'd both get our bodies back together! I can't go without you!"

"It said may all, may, now we can only go one at a time, so get over there!" Ed tried to kick all over towards the gate again, but lost his balance and fell on his face. With everyone else stifling laughs, Hohenheim stepped forward.

"I won't lie to you Alphonse, I want my body back as much as either of you, but you should be the one to go. At least as a father, I can still see my sons happy."

"Ya Al, what the asshole said. You're going to go first."

Al shook his head, "I'm not going in without you Brother, no matter what you say." Al said adamantly.

"Then he won't say anything…" Hohenheim said quietly as the gates began to materialize. He leaned forward and smoothly punch Al in the breastplate, knocking him back towards the gate. Without question, the small black arms swallowed him into it, and within seconds the gate too was gone.

Al looked around. He was in a pure white and empty space, with no one and nothing around him. "Brother? Master? Winry? Hello!" He shouted out, not hearing an echo or anything else indicating any type of material around him, much less a wall. He sat down and waited, sure that eventually something would come. Al was not disappointed, as in a few minutes he saw a small figure in the distance. The features were so far undistinguishable, but the figure did not seem to be too tall or well defined. As he approached Al could make out long blonde and unkempt hair that fell to about the shoulders in a ragged mess, sticking up and arcing back over a pale and somber face, and then cascading down around a scrawny chest and small shoulders. Alphonse was amazed that the teenager—That he obviously was, for his broadening shoulders and little stubble on his face—Was standing, let alone walking; the skin over his ribs was stretched so taught it looked as though you could poke a finger through it. And then it hit him, that he had seen this same boy hours earlier in front of the gate, and forsaken him for the sake of his friends back in Amestris. Al sunk to his knees again, arms outstretched towards he boy, motioning to bring him into an embrace.

"I promised I'd come back." Al murmured, drawing the small fragile boy in to look him over. Looking about 15 and standing a little taller than Ed, Al's body looked as though it had only had enough food to
survive in it's possession, and then had decided to go without. The boy looked him in the eye sockets, a they remained in that position for several minutes. Slowly and hesitantly, the boy raised his arms to be on either side of Al's helmet, and raised it off of the chasis of the armor. The boy gazed at the seal for a moment, before he stretched out his hand toward the bloodseal, lightly brushing it with tips of his fingers.

"I would be proud to be your container, noble soul." the boy said, as he pressed the tips of his finger to the top of the seal, and dragged them through it, leaving deep furrows. The seal exploded in a flood of alchemical light, blocking out his vision, and causing his eyes to burn with pain.

"Wait… they… hurt."

Ed was impatiently twiddling his thumbs and glancing around apprehensively, expectant for Al's return. "Where the fuck is he?" Ed shouted, angry at his brother's blatant lack of concern for everyone else's feelings.

"Yelling about it doesn't mean he'll hear it Fullmetal…" Roy mused from his place on the floor (if that's what you can call the material portion of the whitespace…). "Just wait and he'll come back just like the rest of us…"

"Shut up Colonel Shit, I'm not an idiot." Ed yelled back at him, "I just want Al to get back soo-" Ed was cut off mid sentence as Al materialized near the group.

"Al! What happened? Why are you still in the armor?" Ed shouted at Alphonse's blank eye sockets. When his questions seemed to warrant no reply, he shook the armor. "Al? Alphonse! What the fuck happened to you?"

The gate had still not disappeared, but all were watching Ed as he tried to rouse Al, so none of them noticed as a fairly small boy slipped from the doors of the gate and made his way over to the group. He stood behind them, and peered through their midst to the proportionally giant armor between them.

"Was I really that big?"

It took them a second to place the voice without the metallic ring, and they all turned about slowly, aside from Ed, who took a while longer to scoot his torso the 180 degrees. They all gaped at the small boy packed between them; everyone had seen Al once or twice in separate photographs, but this was a completely different scenario. The boy was not the skinny sack of bones that Ed and Al had seen in their different visions, but a toned and handsome boy that looked like Ed in many ways—many of which were simple things such as the creases in his forehead and the definition of his face. His skin was still pale, his hair long and un-trimmed, looking about ready to collapse; but there was a hope in his eyes that made Edward glad to see his brother as happy and content with his new body as he was.

"Um… Yes… Al…" Ed was the first to speak, and then tried to move into a kneeling position to get a better look at his brother. His brother grabbed him by the elbow and tried to support him, though Ed's head still only came to about stomach height. He looked up his brother, and sighed. "It looks like you really did outgrow me Al… I'm never gonna live this one down…"

"It's okay, brother, I'm sure you'll catch up now that my body's not relying on you." Al said, and released Ed's arm unconsciously, letting him topple back to the floor. "Oh! I'm sorry brother, I didn't , mean to…"

The Colonel and Hawkeye chuckled at the two, while Izumi and Hohenheim just watched the two brothers with a bemused smile playing at their features. Al and Ed glanced over towards the group, and his mouth fell open when his eyes came to rest on the Colonel.

"You really shouldn't stare like that Fullmetal, it's unbe-"

"- Holy fuck, Colonel! Can't you feel that?" Ed interrupted as he kept staring at Mustang.

The Colonel glanced down at himself and found nothing out of the normal. "What are you talking about Fullmetal?"

"Look at your damn arm!"

This time everyone turned their head to look at mustang's arm, which was beginning to dissolve in small stream of matter leading off to the nether. Their eyes flicked back to their own bodies, and found that they were being similarly disassembled, and began to panic. Winry looked to Ed with a wide look in her eyes, comprehending the implications of their return to Amestris.

"Ed, what's going on! You haven't gotten your arm back!"

Ed just smiled very uncharacteristically back at her, a look of serene acceptance on his face. "Alphonse has his body back… That's all that really mattered... At least now I can live without regrets."

"But Brother, we promised we'd get our bodies back together! I'll give my body back if it means you have a chance at getting yours back!" Al yelled back at him, distress clear in his soft voice.

The calm look in Ed's eyes turned to one of stern command and pure venom dripped from his voice as he spoke back to his brother. "I swear Al, if you even think that EVER again, I'll leave and never come back so you won't even have to think about me ever again! That has to be the stupidest thing you've ever said, and there's no way I'm going to let you give it back."

"Well then, that saves me some trouble." The grinning silhouette said from his familiar seat in-front of the gate, the all so frequent grin marring his indiscriminate features. "Times up."

One by one, they began to dematerialize completely and move back through the white to where-ever they had been before. Edward just sat while he watched his brother move towards the silhouette and attempt to grab it by the shoulders. He shook it brutally and demanded it open the gate again and return his brother's arm and leg to him. Hohenheim moved towards him, and grabbed Ed by the scruff of his shirt, bringing him towards Alphonse and the phantom. Gently, he moved his hand to Al's shoulder and pried him from the silhouette. Closing his eyes and reaching deep within his body, he thrust a hand inside his own chest and pried out another pure crimson stone.

"I'm sorry Milton, Thompson, Alwalot, Barnwell, Keyston, Brington, and all those others I don't have the time to mention. You're moving to your final rest, along with me. This should be plenty compensation for my son to get his limbs back…" Hohenheim glared at the figure with pure hatred and disdain in his eyes, as he proffered the stone. The moment the stone touched the ethereal surface of the silhouette's 'body' his eyes widened in amazement and the shock. As if electrocuted, he quickly withdrew his hand and grabbed Ed, who was sitting near him, throwing him away from the gate. "No! You don't mean that! NO!"

The black arms of the gate chased Edward even as he flew towards the few remainders in the whitespace. As he landed, Hawkeye and Winry secure their arms around his waste in a futile attempt to keep the arms at bay. Al sprinted towards them, disappearing even as he did until there was nothing let by the time he had reached them. The final look in his eyes before he fell through the void was one of pure fright; not one for him, but for his brother and those who remained. Izumi soon followed suit until Winry and Hohenheim were the only ones who remained, and Hohenheim had sunken to the floor clutching his head and yelling frantically at himself.

"Girly… You should let go of him unless you want to go with…" The partially formed man smirked, as the tentacle began to separate Ed from her. As her grip loosened around him, tears began to stream from her eyes at the thought of how devastated everyone would be that she had not been able to save him, and how angry they would be, and… and how much it would hurt to loose him. The gate gave a jerk, but Winry clung to him, the tears pounding down her face with renewed vigor.

"…inry…" Ed mumbled unintelligibly, as he reach his remaining arm down to wipe the tears from her face.

"Edward, just don't let go!" She screamed. Why is he smiling? Why the HELL is he smiling when he's about to get killed? She screamed inwardly, hating him for every bit of discomfort that he had put her through with his entire foolhardy endeavor.

"Stop crying Winry… I promised that the next time you cried it would be tears of happiness…" He mumbled again, a little louder. "Just let go… Just go back…"

"No Ed! I'm not going back! Not when you're stuck here! How could any of us?" She yelled back at him, fighting to keep her tears down.

He reached his hand out to brush against her cheek once more, and said, "Just promise you won't cry anymore… And I'll promise I'll come back…"

Another jerk broke her hold on him, and he pulled forward so that his arm was the only thing she was left holding. She looked at him with wide and teary eyes, never separating her dark blue ones from his bright golden ones. "Ed… I just can't… Don't… You can't leave us!" She yelled back at him again. The looked in his eyes became hazed and he nodded at her.

"Goodbye, Winry, and tell Alphonse I'm sorry…" He said as he jerked his arm from her grasp, before being towed backwards toward the portal by those awful black hands. Winry sunk to her knees as she watched him sink through the surface of the gate until only his face was visible. She tried to get up to move towards Ed again, but didn't feel her feet under her. In fact, she couldn't even tell how long it had been since it had returned to 'their' world.

As the last of her head melted away into oblivion she yelled out to Edward, "Don't worry Ed! We're coming back for you!"

It had only been a few seconds between her leave of the white plane and her return to earth. She was greeted by jovial faces and expectant grins, a look of confusion passing between them when they saw her red eyes and helpless expression. She fell to the ground and stared, unable to believe that Ed was gone… That she hadn't even been able to tell him that…

"Winry, where's Ed? Father looked like he was about to get Ed's body back… What happened to them?"

She just stared at Al for the longest time, and then fell onto him, surprising all of the group by the volume and depth of her tears. They all looked on in astonishment as Al's grip tightened around Winry and she cried harder. As if he understood something that none of the rest of them had, they all looked to his eyes for confirmation and explanation, of which they found none. He just held Winry tighter, and rocked along with her.

A/N: Sorry for the kind of somber ending, heh heh. I was originally planning to have it go on longer than that, but it just didn't seem right to go any farther than that :D. I'll try to get a new chapter up in the next week or so, but no promises! Please read, review and tell me what you thought of it! Also, feel free to point out any and all errors that are just getting under your skin, or something you just plain out didn't like. I live to please the readers!

Thanks all!