Ed and Al sat outside of Satera's bedroom door listening with horror as the woman inside screamed. Neither brother said anything for a while until Al scotched a bit closer to Ed as though sensing his discomfort…or maybe because he was as freaked out as his older brother and wanted some comfort of his own.

"I know this is going to sound lame," Ed began almost quietly, "But I'm really freaked out right now. I mean, I get Winry being there but was it a good idea to have Toshiro there as well?"

"We might not know anything about Toshiro." Al agreed, "But I think he's a pretty nice guy once you get pass his coldness."

Ed grumbled to himself sulkily,

"I still don't like him."

If Al could have rolled his eyes at that, he would have.

"You just don't like him because he scolded us for going off running after the pocket watch when he had it. It was our own fault, you know."

Ed huffed, but didn't say anything.

A few hours passed and Satera's room had grown quiet over the sound of the rain that pelted up against the roof.

The door opened and Winry came out looking rather pale.

"You guys can come in now…if you want."

Ed and Al shot up.

"Is everything alright?" Ed asked her with concern.

"Y-yeah." Winry let out a sigh of relief, "The baby is healthy and Satera seems fine. Toshiro really knew what he was doing. I was kind of surprised."

They entered the room to see the white haired boy standing in front of the happy couple. Riddel was holding a small baby in his hands, a boy.

"I-it's a baby." Al said dumbly.

"It's okay." Ed managed, then his lips twisted into a smile, "It's okay!"

Toshiro actually smiled slightly, though it came off as more of a smirk. To be honest his legs felt like jelly now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

"Geeze, who would have thought you could be so useful in this sort of situation, Toshiro?" Ed laughed and Toshiro shot him a glare, though it seemed kind of half-hearted.

"If you don't mind," Toshiro began, "I'm going to go wash up."

"You don't want to stay?" Riddel frowned.

"I'll come back." Toshiro said after a moments hesitation, it didn't quite feel right to intrude on the new family, "But my hands are covered in blood and fluids."

Riddel smiled slightly,

"Alright, just know you aren't intruding. You probably saved my wife's life, and the life of my son."

Toshiro looked away, slightly red in the face. Quietly he exited the room, only to let out a sigh once he was on his own again. That probably had to be the single most terrifying incident of his life. He nearly fell to the ground, but leaned up against the wall stubbornly to keep his balance. He cursed a moment when he realized he'd left Hyourinmaru in Satera's room. He'd taken it off once the new mother had gone into labour.

He slowly made his way to the washroom and turned on the sink, cleaning off the mess. He let out a small sigh, relishing the cool water on his skin. Once he'd cleaned himself up a little bit, he turned off the water and dried off his hands. He'd probably need a shower later, he thought to himself. The smell still lingered on him. He cringed a bit, wondering what Unohana would have said about the delivery. He'd run some diagnostic kidou over Satera and the baby and hadn't found anything wrong. He checked to make sure she still had enough blood in her system. There had been so much and Toshiro was worried that something might have gone wrong because of that.

Silently, and with a stoicism that would have made Byakuya proud, Toshiro returned to Satera's room.

The rising sun seemed to be the cue for Dominic to return with the doctor. They both came bursting into the house, huffing and puffing. It was rather comical when they found out the baby had already been delivered.

"Hey there, little guy." Dominic said, leaning over his grandson with a wide smile on his face, "I'm your grandpa. That's my grandson, ain't he the cutest little thing."

Satera smiled at the old man's antics while Al and Ed were watching with disbelief.

"He's turned into the doting grandfather." Al whispered to his brother.

"I miss the cranky version." Ed mumbled.

Toshiro just rolled his eyes at the brother's antics and watched as the doctor gave Satera a checkup.

He hummed slightly, a smile on his face,

"Well, both mother and child are in perfect health. The post delivery service was handled well." His eyes turned to Toshiro who just gave a small nod.

"Even adults get scared of being in charge of delivering a baby, you're really something else." He commented, and Toshiro decided not to correct him on his age.

"You said you trained under a medical professional?" the doctor asked, "Might I ask who he or she was?"

Toshiro nodded,

"Retsu Unohana. She mostly specialized in battlefield wounds, but I did see her deliver a baby once."

The doctor's eyebrows met his hairline,

"Battlefield wounds? She helped out a war effort?" he inquired.

"Yes." Toshiro nodded, but didn't elaborate further.

"If he had come out on the day he was supposed to none of this would have happened." Riddel laughed slightly now that it was all over.

"I'm pretty sure we have my brother to thank for that because he touched Satera's tummy. Ed's impatience rubbed off on him." Al explained.

"It's my fault now?" Ed asked incredulously causing everyone, minus Toshiro to laugh.

Dominic then turned to Toshiro and Winry looking them over critically.

"Everyone, especially you two, really helped us out." He bowed his head forwards, "I am in both of your debts."

"No need to be so formal." Winry denied as Paninia gave her a nudge with her elbow, a wide grin on her face.

That was when a sly grin made its way onto Ed's face,

"So, now that you're in a good mood, why not consider taking on an apprentice, huh?" he asked Dominic and Toshiro raised an eyebrow at his antics.

"No." Dominic said adamantly, the mood of the room suddenly turning serious, "I'm grateful you helped us deliver the baby but this is another matter all together. I don't take on apprentices." He said with finality, "Besides, a young girl like you shouldn't make her family worry. You probably have people waiting for you back home."

Winry looked down sadly while Ed let out a tisk,

"He won't budge." The blond boy said.

Al turned to Winry sympathetically,

"He is right though, if you left, Granny Pinako would be all alone in Resembool."

'Thunk!' Dominic fell out of his chair in surprised, causing Toshiro's attention to drift to the old man once again.

"P-Pinako, as in Pinako Rockbell of Resembool…"

"You know my grandmother?" Winry asked curiously.

"Your grandmother!?" Dominic gabbed, then scooted back towards the wall, causing even Riddel and Satera to look at the old man with surprise.

"Um…" Winry said hesitantly, "Did something happen between Granny and you?"

"Don't ask!" he exclaimed suddenly, "You'll reopen my old wounds! The memories are too awful. That wild woman, the pantheress of Resembool!"

"The what!?" Ed and Al exclaimed in unison.

Dominic cleared his throat, as though trying to restore some of his dignity.

"Either way, I don't take on apprentices. And now that I know you're that woman's grandchild I want to take you on even less. What I mean is…well," he sighed, as though coming to some sort of decision, "If you must be trained then I suppose I can introduce you to a good engineer who lives at the bottom of the mountain who might take you in." he said getting up and giving Winry a small pat on the head.

"Can I come up here and watch you work sometimes?" Winry asked hopefully.

"Humph," he breathed, "If you're gonna get in the way then don't bother coming. But…" he scratched the back of his head, "If you want to come up here to visit my grandson then I can't stop you. The little pickpocket can come too…if she changes her ways."

Paninia gave a small, happy smiled.

"He's a softy inside." Ed whispered to his brother.

Riddel sat at the dinning room table with Ed, Al and Toshiro looking over his shoulder as he wrote out a rough map of the area.

"Alright, once you take the road through the mountains you'll be at the town of South Hood. You can take a carriage there to Rush Valley." Riddel explained.

Toshiro looked over the map analytically, noting how it was in the opposite direction. But with the bridge out going that way and taking a carriage probably would be the faster option.

"While you're there, ask the towns people to repair the bridge." Riddel said to Paninia, getting up and handing her a boxed lunch.

"Okay, I will." She promised.

As they packed gathered their things and moved to leave, Riddel called to Winry one last time,

"When you reach the bottom, go see an engineer named Garfiel. He's does good work and he's looking for an apprentice."

The mountain road was exhausting for all but Paninia who was used to the harsh mountain roads, and Toshiro who had inhuman stamina. During the carriage ride, however, all but Al fell asleep, exhausted by the events of the previous night.

Even Toshiro, who was used to staying up all night on missions or just to complete paperwork was fast asleep. He was, however the first to wake even before the carriage reached a sudden halt.

"You weren't sleeping." Toshiro said to Al vaguely.

The suit of armor straightened rigidly,

"Oh, uh…yeah."

Toshiro raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, he just stared at Al until the youngest Elric decided that Toshiro was probably waiting for him to elaborate.

"Uh, it's because of my body." Al said quickly, "For some reason I don't sleep."

Toshiro frowned,

"That shouldn't be." He said slowly, "I can sense you're alive, thus you must have a body somewhere…that would require for you to sleep. Yet you say you don't need it?"

Al froze,

"What do you mean you can sense I'm alive?"

Toshiro lay back in his seat, trying how best to explain this,

"The dead and the living have a different sort of presence. To be alive one must already have a body, thus I can assume that somewhere you also have a body. If you weren't sleeping or eating then your body would probably be rotting somewhere."

"W-what?" Al squeaked, "I-I mean it makes sense…"

"Even though you are separated you should still be feeling pangs of hunger and tiredness." Toshiro continued, "But you don't. There must be a reason, something out there that is satisfying these needs. But what?"

Al looked thoughtful, or as thoughtful as a suit of armor could.

"I hadn't thought of that before…but what could be keeping me alive? And why?"

Toshiro shrugged, he had a feeling he'd stumbled onto something important. Perhaps he could ask Edward as to what sort of binding ritual he used on his brother when he woke up later. Toshiro didn't know much about alchemy and he wasn't going to delude himself into thinking he could come even close to Edward's level of knowledge any time soon. He had to grudgingly admit that the short blond boy would probably have a better understanding of what happened that he would.

When they got to the station, the train was already starting to move.

"Oh no, the train!" Al cried.

"Eh, bye Winry, bye Paninia!" Ed said quickly, following his brother who was taking off into a run.

Toshiro followed after them, actually passing them and jumping onto the back of the train first, then Al. Ed tossed his suitcase to his brother.

"Be careful out there!" Ed called to Winry.

"You too!" The blond girl said, "Train hard!"

"I will!" Ed said as Al helped him onto the back of the train and over the railing, "Make sure to call granny soon. She's probably worried about you!"

Winry fumed,

"I don't need you of all people to tell me that!"

Ed just laughed and gave her a wave,

"Make sure you steal some of that old geezer's secrets so you can make me a better one of these!" he called one last time pointing to his auto-mail arm.

"Will do!" Winry shouted back.

The two brothers and Toshiro found a back compartment and began resting in one of the seats. Ed fell asleep immediately causing Toshiro to frown somewhat. How could he sleep so long? He'd taken a nap after Riddel and Satera's baby was born. Then he'd slept during the carriage ride…His sleeping habits reminded him of Matsumoto. Toshiro let out a small breath and looked out the window at the passing scenery. He wondered what the soul society was doing about his disappearance.

It would be interesting handing in a report on what he'd gone through since arriving in this strange world. He wondered what action, if any the soul society would take. It wasn't as though this particular world should have been their problem to begin with, really. This world, from what Toshiro could figure wasn't supposed to need Shinigami to keep its self balanced in the first place.

Yet here he was. Dragged to this world where people used human sacrifices in their attempts to gain immortality, sealing away human souls and interfering with that balance. Toshiro grasped his blade, which sat on his lap. He still wasn't entirely certain as to how he ought to proceed.

The train jerked to a stop and Ed fell out of his seat and onto the floor,

"Whada!?" Ed exclaimed, eyes landing on Al, then Toshiro. His body relaxed when he remembered where he was.

"Brother…" Al moaned with exasperation.

Ed got up off the ground,

"So we've stopped, huh?"

"I'll get our bags." Al paused, "We should probably look into getting some clothes for Toshiro while we're at it. He can't just go around in the same clothes all the time."

Toshiro grimaced. He'd been washing his uniform every two days and letting it dry during the night, but Al was right, he probably would need something more to wear. At least one other outfit if possible.

"I can do a few odd jobs once we get to your teacher's house. You two already pay my expenses, I don't want to impose further."

"It's not really a huge imposition or anything." Al quickly denied, "I mean, you have helped us quite a bit already…"

"Just let him do what he wants, Al." Ed said getting up and giving a bit of a stretch.

Al let out a sigh, getting the feeling that if he kept pressing the matter he'd lose. He took their bags off of the overhead rack.