this is the last chapter of REACTION. thank you all so much for staying with my story for this past year!

I go back to the apartment where we are housing the baby for now until Hughes gets the funeral arrangements fixed and their house rearranged for them to get a place for the baby. He said it shouldn't take them more than two days to get everything complete but two days is too long for me…

I open the door and find Fuery looking over Al's arm as the baby drinks from a bottle.

"Baby." He says, tail wagging as he goes in to give the kid a smell.

Al looks up and smiles at me.

"Welcome home, Brother. The Lt. Colonel told me how to make some milk for the baby so I warmed some up… What did the Fuhrer want?"

"He wanted to make sure the baby was going to cared for and a report of what happened… I told him I'd have to write it out."

"Mmm." he says, pulling the bottle from the baby. "Stop doing that. You won't starve, I promise."

Fuery sniffs the baby again and looks at me with a confused look.

"Baby smells… Colonel…" He sniffs the baby again. "Colonel blood…" He looks at me, confusion still deep in his eyes. "Ed-waaaard…"

I go to the couch and get on my knees in front of it. Fuery moves his face so that he's in front of me and I sigh, trying to figure out how to word this correctly. Fuery butts his head to mine, knowing that something is wrong.

"The Colonel is dead… he's gone."

Fuery turns his head and twitches his ears. "Gone."

"Yes."

"…Mission?"

"No he's dead…"

"Come back?"

"No…"

"Bye-bye?"

I sigh and put my hands on either side of his face so that I can look into his eyes.

"The Colonel is dead."

Fuery looks at me with his confused expression when it finally registers and his eyes widen, humanity appearing in those haunted eyes again and he sits up.

"D-dead…" I nod. "No… NO!" He gets off the couch and runs to a corner, glaring at me like I had taken away his food. "No! Colonel alive! Colonel no die!"

"Please don't do this, Sergeant Fuery…" I ask in a whisper.

"You say he come back! You bring him home! You promised! YOU PROMISED!"

He began to howl in a haunted sorrow and all I could do was watch. This man, who was so brutally turned into a chimaera leaving him with only half of his humanity, was in shambles. My legs wobble and give out as I feel failure pile upon me again. I fall to my knees, seeing Roy's face flash before my eyes, blood stained and smut covered as he looks at me with such confidence.

You have always been a son to me. You have always made me proud. I trust you…

"I'm so sorry, Fuery! I'm sorry! I failed! I know you hate me but I promise I'll fix you and get you back! I'm sorry!"

"Ed…" Alphonse says.

The baby begins to cry and I cover my ears, crying harder.

"Get it out of here! Take him away from here!"

"Who?"

"The baby! Take him away! We can't keep him here! We just can't! Please, Al, please, take him away… Make him go away."

I hear Alphonse get up and leave the apartment. I keep crying, holding my stomach because I feel like I'm about to heave. I suddenly feel Fuery's nose on my face and look at him. He licks my tears and snuggles his head under my chin.

"Ed no cry."

I hug him close, crying even harder.

~*~Alphonse~*~

The baby cries halfway to Mr. Hughes' house but quiets down when I start to sing to it a little. I'm not as good as brother or Mom and my voice is hollow from the armor but it seems to calm him down until I get to the door. I knock on it just as the baby finds the hair from my helmet and pulls on it, making my head fall off! I fluster to get it back when the door opens.

"Alphonse."

I stand up quickly, putting my head back on, and look at Mr. Hughes. He looks like he may have been drinking a little and he leans on the doorjamb.

"Is there something you need?"

"May I come in?"

"Yeah, sorry…"

He leaves the doorway and I follow him into the house. He looks at the baby and looks at me.

"Why is he here with you?"

"I hate to do this before you have everything ready but can you please take him? Ed is… heartbroken. We're not fit to take care of anything, Mr. Hughes."

Mr. Hughes looks at me with a sad expression but holds out his arms and takes the baby from me. He swaddles him and then look at me.

"Have you named him yet?"

"No."

"Well, we could make it simple and just call him Roy."

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

"I know but it's simple… Well, I really couldn't tell you what Roy would have wanted to name him."

"What about putting some letters together? Like R for Roy… um…"

"E for Edward."

"And M for Maes!"

"Rem? That's a bad name. Let's just change the M to an N. Ren."

"Ren… Ren Mustang. I like it."

"I do too. Ren Alphonse Mustang." I look at him and he smiles. "We can't forget you, Al."

"Oh, no, I'm fine, Mr. Hughes!"

"Al, no one would be able to do anything without you. Ed wouldn't be able to go on without you, Roy would have never seen his son without you, and this baby would be in a lab somewhere without you. You are an important person, Alphonse Elric; don't let anyone tell you different."

I feel a little embarrassed but I'm glad that we have a name for him now and I don't have to keep calling him something vague.

"Thank you Mr. Hughes and I'm sorry that we have to give him to you earlier than expected."

"I'm surprised that you kept him this long. I know Ed is tough but this was a little more brutal than usual."

"Mmm. Brother tries to act tough but he's not." I touch Ren's face. "I'll see you later."

"Uncle Al and Uncle Ed… Has a nice ring to it." Mr. Hughes said, leading me to the door. "We'll take good care of him."

"If you need help we'll help you."

He nods and I leave to go back to the apartment.

~*~Edward~*~

"Ed… Edward… Brother, wake up…"

"Ed-waaaard."

I feel myself being lifted and carried somewhere. I moan a little but don't open my eyes as I feel myself being set in the bed. Al takes off my shoes and pants, leaving me in my underwear and puts the sheets over my body. I feel Fuery get in the bed.

"Edward sad."

"Yes, he is. Keep him safe."

Al leaves the room as Fuery puts his head on my shoulder and I turn over, laying on him instead, his fur more like hair and feeling soft.

"I promise to get you back to normal after the funeral, alright? I've been pretty selfish…"

"Ed is sad. Fuery sad too… Fuery see Colonel at grass place?"

I open my eyes and look at him as he looks at me.

"Grass place?"

"Um… uh… Fun-er-al?"

"Yes. You deserve to be there. Then I'll turn you back and you can visit his grave with dignity."

Fuery barks and licks my face. "I like Ed!"

I smile a little when Fuery's ears suddenly perk up and he climbs off the bed. He puts his front half under the bed, his tail wagging, and then climbs back on, something in his mouth. It was a military jacket.

"Colonel!"

I touch the jacket and then pull it to me, automatically smelling it. God it was horrible, it smelled just like him. That cheap ass cologne lingered in the wool along with his aftershave and overall smell. I never realized how much I recognized his scent or that he even had a scent. Tears fill my eyes again and I mash my face into the jacket.

"I miss you Roy… I'm sorry I couldn't save you…"

~*~Maes~*~

I show Ren to Gracia and she smiles at me.

"He's very beautiful. I'm sorry about Roy, sweetheart. I know you miss him very much."

"He wasn't supposed to die like that. He was supposed to become the Fuhrer and change this country around… It's hard to know that I won't be able to call him up or talk to him when I need to. God, I miss him."

Gracia wipes the tears from my eyes gently with her thumb and I smile, looking down at Ren, who is looking at us very intently.

"If nothing else, Ed said that he got to see the baby… I'm glad it is a baby."

"I wanna see, Daddy." Elysia says, tugging on my pants leg.

I bend down and show Ren to her as she smiles big.

"A little brother!"

"Yes, and he'll need you to help take care of him. Do you think you can help Daddy and Mommy do that?"

"Uh huh!"

"Good girl." I stand up and turn to Gracia. "He looks like he might need a diaper change."

She makes a face and takes Ren from me.

"Just like when Elysia was born; you're useless for nappies."

I grin at her and take Elysia's hand to put her to bed.

When I get her in bed Elysia snuggles in.

"Daddy, what's my brother's name?"

"His name is Ren."

"I like that name."

"Me too… Go to sleep sweetheart."

"MAES! MAES, HURRY!" I hear Gracia yell and I run to where we are keeping the crib.

"What is it? What's wrong?!"

Gracia points to Ren and I look at him. He looks fine, just playing with his feet and looking innocent.

"What is it?" She points up and I look. "What is that?"

"I… I dunno… You try."

"Try what?"

"All I said was that I loved him and he was good baby. He clapped."

I make a face at her and look at Ren as he sticks his foot in his mouth. I pull it out and pull his shirt down a little and look at him. He gives a baby smile and I gush just like I do with Elysia.

"Daw, there's nothing wong wif the wittle guy! Who's Daddy's wittle baby boy?"

Just as Gracia says, Ren actually claps and a stream of fire comes from his hands, going to the roof and nearly singeing me. I pull back and gasp as he giggles and puts his hands in his mouth. I pull his hands back and if I hadn't been scrutinizing him, I would have never seen the transmutation circles under the palms of his hands.

"Maes?"

"Well, if nothing else, he really does take after his father." I say with a sigh and look up at the ceiling, where two charred marks are. "This will be troublesome." I look at Ren again. "What are you?" I ask, the same question that I asked when he was growing in Roy.

What is he, indeed.

oops. did i do that? did i leave this story with a cliff hanger? *3*... for the record, babies aren't cognizant of their surroundings of that level until they are about three or four months old *3* ta ta~