A/N: 7/8/12

This is the last chapter. I hope it doesn't leave the story too short, but I want to focus on one of my other works for now. I think I've pretty much written this one into the Manga/Brotherhood storyline as a side story and a puzzle piece to the whole. If you've enjoyed this, please let me know. I've also got a rough sketch started and hope to finish cover art for this as well. J

Chapter 12: To Live Again

"Edward!" Winry's screams echoed through the church igniting fear within the stomach of the young alchemist desperately trying to reach her.

"She's down here!" Running on pure adrenaline, Edward led Mustang through the bowels of the church of Lito following the sound of the girls anguished cries. They rounded a corner only to come face to face with a mob of wavering dead.

"Move it, Fullmetal!" Mustang screamed and Ed got out of his way as the Flame Alchemist ignited the moldy, decomposing corpses in their path. Edward took this opportunity to run into the room Winry's voice carried from.

"Keep them busy Colonel!"

"Will try!" Mustang growled as a new wave of creatures came from the darkness, this time, human-turned beasts. He snapped and his flames licked at the monsters but failed to stop them as it did the dead. He leapt backward to regroup.

While Roy kept the creatures at bay, Edward came face to face with a horrific site of his own. There in the floor was Winry, his knife in her side. His eyes grew wide with fear as he noticed the transmutation circle made of her blood.

"This is unexpected." Ila pouted. "You and your brother were supposed to die on the battlefield with the rest."

"Ed!" Winry cried as the youth ran to her side. He didn't know what to do, if even touching her would cause more of her blood to spill. He placed his hand on her abdomen around the blade.

"No, you can't pull it out…it's, it's," It exhausted her to talk, "It's the only thing keeping me from bleeding out." He knew she was right, the steel blade, though it pierced something vital inside her, it also kept her life from escaping too fast.

"I'm so sorry, Win, I'm sorry…." His mind raced with possible solutions to this disastrous problem but nothing materialized in his genius mind, nothing but possibly losing the girl in front of him. "Don't move, Ok?"

"Can't move…alchemy." She all but whispered. He realized her extremities were limp on the floor.

"Ila!" He stood and glared at the girl. "She's no threat to you, undo this!"

"I suppose you are right. But it will hurt" She touched the array on her chest and it sparked and then the one on Winry mirrored the same.

"Ahhh!" Winry screamed as the sensation of the blade piercing her side sparked through her body's nerves. The injured mechanic raised her left hand to the blade. "Branch of my uterine artery… or renal, not sure." She mumbled and sorted out the anatomy texts in her mind to try to deal with this.

"Please move her off of the array, Edward, I need to begin."

"Ila, she needs a doctor, I'm taking her!" He gently tried to pick her up and she groaned causing him to lace his hands under her shoulders and pull her body from the circle in that fashion. He realized he wouldn't be able to carry her without causing her tremendous pain as long as the knife was still embedded in her side.

"Oh, no, no, no!" The white girl leapt at the alchemist, kicking him to the side with force. "I need her, Edward! I need her body to live again!" She clasped her hands together and then stretched them in front of her and electricity shot at the youth, hitting his right arm, his metal arm.

Edward felt the shock move through the metal, enter the port and then maneuver through the wires to his own nerves. He buckled over in pain and it did not stop. Ila kept it coming until he was face down, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"Just stay down, Edward!" She strode to the transmutation circle of blood and got herself ready to activate it.

"I, I, don't understand," Ed panted and looked up through his bangs. "That's a human transmutation circle?" He tried to buy time, he hoped Mustang would finish off the monsters any second.

"Did you and your brother ever figure out what goes into the making of a philosopher's stone?"

"Yes." He answered quietly. They had deciphered Marcoh's notes. He knew exactly what was used to power the stones. Human lives.

"You didn't notice the shape of the valley, the shape of the battlefield, did you, Edward?" A fierce grin cracked across the girl's face. Edward inhaled sharply. "A perfect circle." She got on her knees, preparing to activate the array. "First a stone- sorry army, sorry ghouls of Ratzul. Then I'll bring my sister back!" She looked toward the shrouded corpse on the altar. "Stay put, be good and I'll heal the girl too, I can't have an injured body." She laughed and lowered her hands to the floor.

Snap.

One little sound took Ila by surprise. The next thing she felt was enormous heat and then searing pain as her clothing then her skin started to burn. She fell backwards shrieking as the flames Roy ignited bloomed around her small body. She fell right into the altar, setting ablaze the old shroud covering Keren. The dehydrated and mummified corpse underneath this shroud soon succumbed to the flames as well.

In a last ditch effort, Ila transmuted the ground beneath her into a spray of water that extinguished the flames. However, the damage was already done, the girl collapsed in a black heap at the base of the still burning altar.

"Just in time?" Roy stumbled inside, evidently having destroyed the creatures in the hall. He was rubbing his neck.

"Late." Ed snarled and rushed back to Winry's side, soon followed by the Flame Alchemist. "Win?" He raised her head to his leg. "Win?"

"I'll find some help, don't move her!" Roy knew that there was a medical tent on the military's side of the battlefield, he just hoped he could retrieve a doctor before the girl bled to death.

"I'm so sorry." Ed stroked her forehead.

"What are you sorry for?"

"Not stopping her, not being here faster…damn-it…not putting you back on a train out of Resembool."

"Idiot." She smiled. "You can't be responsible for EVERYONE." She scrunched her eyes as a wave of pain hit. "Ed?" She realized that someone was missing. "Where's Al?"

"Don't worry about him." He didn't want to worry her any more.

"Edward?"

"He's, he's here…I hope." He patted the metal belt buckle, turning it around to reveal the blood seal. Winry's eyes grew large as she realized that Al must have lost his human body once more.

"You're burnt!" She held her hand to his face, which indeed was raw and red, his fringe and braid singed. "And shot?" She winced as she saw the blood trickling down his shoulder. "Crap! You broke the knee joint too?" She realized his left leg, the leg she was resting her head upon could not bend. "Moron." She exhaled and closed her eyes.

"Win!" Ed shook her, trying to rouse her. "Don't sleep!" She opened her eyes just in time to see the blackened corpse of Ila rising up over them behind Edward.

"Ila!"

Winry's scream launched Edward's fighting instincts. As the burnt girl almost placed her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to transmute his body into an explosion he lurched to the side, and grabbed hold of the girl's waist, pulling her down. She recovered and quickly leapt from him to Winry and activated the circle etched on the mechanic's chest.

"Ahhhh!" Ila's let loose a guttural yell as the transmutation rebounded on her decayed, burned body. She was thrown back toward Edward. "You! You changed the array!" Her one un-singed eye turned toward the boy and in a second, she was on top of him clapping her hands together, then taking them apart, sparks leaping wildly.

"I guess I'll have to make do with YOUR body!" She screamed and began the transmutation.

Winry had a clear view of this. With only seconds to react, she did the only thing available to her. She took advantage of the fact that Ila thought she was no longer a threat. She took advantage of the fact that she had a perfect weapon. She used all her remaining strength and pulled that knife from her side.

"It's been a long time since I was a boy!" Ila laughed manically as she lowered her hands to Edward's body. She felt a horrendous pain in her chest and was shocked to see the business end of a long dagger sticking through the blood seal over her heart. "Noooooo!" She screamed and before her hands touched the alchemist, she fell to the side allowing Ed to quickly come to Winry's aid.

"Bitch!" Winry yelled as she stood over the burnt girl, who was now writhing in the center of the transmutation circle on the floor. As soon as Edward made it to her, she began to sway and fell into his arms. He gently lowered her to the floor.

"I'm sorry!" Ila sobbed as she felt her soul lose its anchor to the girl's body. "Keren!" Finally, the body grew still, the knife still sticking out of her back.

"Winry!" He held her in his arms, he knew nothing could stop the blood now. He knew she was dying. "Why you do that? Why'd you do such a stupid thing?" He stroked her face as she smiled.

"I couldn't let her do this again." She smiled. "Not to you…not to anyone…anymore." She closed her eyes.

"Win! Wake up! Wake up!" He shook her once more. She responded, opening her sad blue eyes to look into his golden ones a last time. "There's got to be something I can do!" He ran his left hand through his hair, all the knowledge in his mind came flying at him and the only solution he knew, the only thing he could do was something that most certainly would kill her. "Alchemy." He clapped his hands together but before he released them he spoke. "Winry! Please, tell me! Describe the anatomy so I can see it!"

"Artery. Braches off the uterine. Muscle. Intestine, maybe….dunno." She couldn't speak any further.

Edward didn't know a lot about medical alchemy. He did know that what he was about to do could kill her, but if he did nothing, she'd die anyway.

"Do it, stupid. I know you can." She closed her eyes.

He placed his hands upon her wound, utilizing the energy he knew how to manipulate, he concentrated on not deconstructing the material of her body, but he visualized her anatomy and then concentrated on constructing or repairing the tears and stopping the bleeding. He didn't notice that the red array over her heart slowly faded away and disappeared.

"Winry?" He lowered her to rest on the ground and was relieved to see she still breathed albeit labored. He tore her bloody dress open to observe the wound and found a red scar where the knife punctured her side. She'd need a transfusion, he knew he'd have to get her back to the camp fast. "Alphonse." He said out loud and he lifted the unconscious girl into his arms and left the room to search for his brother's old armor. The altar's flames spread to the carpet and curtains. He knew that soon the church would fall in fire, he didn't have much time.

Edward found his brother's armor in a side room. As he placed Winry down, he felt extremely lightheaded and the room began to spin. "Fuck, not now!" He realized his own wound, his arm drenched in red and hoped he had enough in him to restore Al and get them out of the building. He took off the metal buckle and removed it from its leather strap. He placed it as if it were a puzzle piece, inside the armor and he transmuted it permanently in place. Edward concentrated, clapped his hands together then upon the seal. The armor glowed blue and then the light disappeared. The alchemist noticed that a dark blue color encroached his peripheral vision leaving only sight dead center-lack of oxygenated blood to his brain was causing him to pass out. "Fuck! Al! Come on!" He shook the armor but nothing happened. He had failed. Al, his baby brother was gone. He let his soul slip away on the battlefield. "Al?" He felt the tears fall down his face as he turned from the silent pile of metal he hoped would become reanimated and he turned to his gravely ill mechanic. He stumbled and fell, no longer able to walk and crawled to her. Edward tried to pick her up and carry her out but that was no longer within his wounded body's capability. He fell beside her and stared up at the ceiling and watched the fire roll in. He let his head fall toward Winry's direction and as the blue cloud enveloped his vision, he held her hand.

"Sir?" Riza Hawkeye hurried to catch up with the Colonel after they exited his car. It was a lovely morning: the sun was shining, the birds were tweeting. She hoped that he would slow down. "Did you finish your reports to main brass?"

"As much as I'm going to do right now." He entered the building and smiled at her attempts to get him to finish his work. That would have to wait. Right now, he had his subordinate to see. "Are you coming or not?"

"Yes, sir." She followed him up the stairs of the hospital and around a corner to a row of rooms.

The big blue blur slowly transformed into a big white blur as he opened his eyes and they adjusted to the sunlight. A figure appeared in his line of sight and as his lenses focused and cleared this image, the smirking face of Colonel Roy Mustang came into Edward's view.

"Havoc owes me 600 cenz." Mustang cackled. "He's awake today and not tomorrow."

"Huh?" Ed's head felt like a bowling ball. He struggled to sit up and failing to do that, he raised his automail hand to his head. "You're betting on my recovery? Bastard."

"It was the only thing that carried us through all the sadness." Mustang mimicked a pout.

"It's good to see you awake, Edward." Riza smiled and clutched her clipboard to her chest.

"At least you're genuine, thank you Miss Hawkeye."

"Well, now that I've seen you are on your way to recovery," Roy turned toward the door, happy that he won his bet and more than happy that Edward was going to be alright. "I have to finish up cleaning up the mess of this whole incident." His eyes turned serious. "It's good that you made it, Fullmetal."

"Colonel!" Edward remembered how he left the church of Lito, how he left Alphonse and Winry and suddenly a pang of worry struck his belly and he needed to know. "My brother?" He managed to sit up in his bed. "Winry?"

"Ed." Riza's cool voice carried into his ears as the soldier pulled a pillow off the floor and placed it behind him and gently led him to recline. "Fine. They are fine." She smiled.

"Interesting enough, on my way back to get you and Miss Rockbell, we were met with the curious sight of a suit of armor carrying you two out of the burning church." Mustang stopped walking toward the door long enough to finish this story. "You two were a complete mess. Blood everywhere, but the medic was able to replenish what you had lost. Winry was released yesterday, I'm sure she'll be happy to know you are awake."

"Alphonse?"

"I'm sure he's mulling about somewhere, I'll check for you." Riza waved to him as she and the Colonel exited the room.

It didn't take long for the floor nurse to locate the suit of armor and get him back to his brother's room. Al stood at the end of Ed's bed and just stared at him for the longest time. Edward cracked first.

"I thought I lost you, again Al!" He tried to get out of bed, but Al was quick and stopped him.

"Stop moving so much! You'll start bleeding again!" He pulled up a chair and sat. "It just took me time to move again after you replaced the seal. When I came to, I thought you both were dead!"

"Winry?"

"You healed her!" He was interrupted by a small figure in the doorway.

"What about me?" The mechanic ran into the room and sat on the edge o the bed.

"Are you, are you ok?" Edward motioned toward her side, where she was wounded.

"Just fine, I told you you could do it." She smiled, however, her lovely smile quickly turned to a frown as her right hand felt the bed next to her.

"Edward, where's my leg?" She couldn't find the automail limb.

"Your leg?" He threw back the covers to see that his prosthetic limb, indeed was missing. "I paid for the damn thing only to have it seize up!"

"And your hand! Where's the sensor padding?" She grabbed his beaten metal arm and inspected the palm of the hand. "It took me a fucking YEAR to make that! I'm NOT doing that again!"

Alphonse sat back and enjoyed the brawl between his brother and Winry. Normal. Yes, things definitely looked like they were returning to normal. Well, at least the normal the Elrics knew.

Far away from Ratzul and in the center of the country of Amestris was Central City. To the military, it was known as Central Command and the home of the Fuhrer King Bradley. The Fuhrer sat at an enormous desk in an even larger office. He wondered what his wife was going to have for dinner that day. The ringing telephone broke the monotony of his domestic thinking.

"Yes." He uttered into the receiver. The voice on the other end quietly poured information into the leader's ear. "Just the townspeople then? Not many military casualties?" He listened as the voice went on. "And Mustang? He's like a bug, I just can't squash him." He slammed down the receiver. Bradley sighed, then stood. He calmly strode across the room and opened a side door in his office which led to a long, dark staircase. He traveled a long time before he came to the room he sought and to the person he needed to relay this information.

"Was the transmutation completed?"

"No." The Fuhrer uttered with no emotion.

"Casualties?"

"The entire population of Ratzul, about a thousand. About a handful of military as well. Will that be enough?"

"Oh, yes. That will work just fine." The figure on the throne grinned.

"Humans are so predictable. A little nudge here and there from Lust and Envy and that Ishvalan almost created a stone. THAT would have been something to see!" He laughed.

"No stone was found, he failed." Bradley interrupted. "But Envy said the bloody cross was made, exactly where you needed it- in that field."

"Mark it down in history with the others." The figure came into the light, a fair, bearded man. "You know what's left…"

"I do. Briggs."

"Good." Father sat back in his chair and watched as the Fuhrer retreated back to the dark stairway. "The points in the array are almost complete."