Fullmetal Alchemist doesn't belong to me. It is Arakawa-sensei's property, not mine.

Hi everyone! I really, really owe you all a big apologize. I'm truly sorry that I haven't been able to update this fic. Between school and all the other activities I do I haven't had time for anything, and then I just didn't really want to translate the chapter. I'm on summer vacation now, though, so I'll be updating more frequently! I'm really grateful for all the reviews, favorites and follows. If you're still following this fic, I hope you'll like this chapter! I've been stuck translating it (I actually wrote it pretty fast), so I don't exactly know how it turned out. I promise you that the next chapter will be arriving soon, though!

Quiet Leaf: Thank goodness you pointed out about those mistakes. Turns out, in Spanish "terso" means "smooth", so I confused the words when I was writing the chapter xD "Mayor" is "Major". I knew that the spelling was similar, not identical, but my English corrector didn't say anything about the word "mayor" so I thought that perhaps it was identical and I was wrong. If you hadn't told me I would've never figured it out, I'm so embarrassed, but thank you, nonetheless :) Kimblee is going to play a pretty important part on the fic. I hope you'll like this chapter and thank you for the review :D

Wereallconnectedasone: I guess you will have to see in the next chapters :) Thanks for the review!

lilaclily00: Rebecca is actually a character from Brotherhood xD albeit a very secondary one, she's Riza's bestfriend. That's why I thought she'd be perfect for Hughes' role. Soy de Venezuela :) tu español es bastante bueno, sobre todo tomando en cuenta que vives en un país de habla anglosajona. Siempre es una alegría conocer a una hermana latina :D Thanks for the corrections, I had doubts about those words. I just have a good vocabulary because when I'm writing in Spanish I'm always looking for synonyms (that's a thing that I learned on school: if I repeated a word in the same paragraph they would make me write it again) and that habit stays with me on English. Thank you for the review!

Guest: Me alegra que hayas seguido la versión en español :) espero que te guste ésta. ¡Gracias por tu review!

English is not my mother language. If you find a mistake, whether it's spelling or grammar, feel free to advise me and I'll fix it when I can :)

I hope you like the chapter. And, please, leave a review! They're free :D

«Do you understand that we will never be the same again?

The future's in our hands and we will never be the same again»

―Bastille, Things We Lost In The Fire.

Four years ago

Riza Hawkeye had never felt so uncomfortable in a town as she did in Resembool.

The afternoon's sun shined through the cloudless sky of mid autumn, while a fresh breeze whispered happily between the trees and large fields. The meadows, green as the vigorous grass of summer, were rejuvenated by the cool wind, just a few dried leaves revealing the season where Amestris was. The idyllic sight, with the sunlight returning the warmth snatched away by the low temperatures, looked like a paradise taken out from the pages of a fairy tale book. If she tried, she could even hear the soft melody that hummed peacefully the trees, blending with the dancing air.

It was unsettling.

"It's incredible that after all that has happened, there still exists a place like this in Amestris" commented a figure behind her, his deep voice harmonizing with the whisper of Resembool's mellow hills. Riza nodded absently, increasing her pace, tucking her hands inside the pockets of the military's coat. The weather was perfect to, with only a snap of her fingers, the grass to start burning, morphing soon into agonizing ebony ashes that disfigured in screams and the smell of burned corpses...

The woman, with a blink, forced herself to come back to reality, breaking the chain of thoughts that was taking place in her mind. She released an almost imperceptible sigh while a bird sung happily, flying carelessly above their heads.

"Do you really think that we're going to find the famous alchemist of the rumors, Lt. Colonel?" spoke the voice again, jogging slightly to keep his steps matched with hers. The woman lifted her face, her hazel eyes casting a glance to her partner.

"I don't know, 2nd Lieutenant" she sighed, meeting with the obsidian eyes of her subordinate. Their hard boots left a trace of trampled grass, hurting the endless meadows. It was as if the town's lands had the knowledge that none of them belonged there; as if they knew who they were and the crimes that both had committed. Riza clenched her fists inside the pockets of the coat, frowning "The locals were pretty kind, though; nice enough to tell us where this alchemist lives"

"I'd say that they were rather perplexed" cut the Second Lt., the corners of his mouth rising slightly "The military's not welcomed in such a peaceful place"

"Do you believe that there can exist a bloodless place in Amestris, Second Lieutenant?" Riza inquired, feeling lightly fatigued at the memory of the faint fear that, hidden, had danced through the eyes of the town's inhabitants. Suddenly, above Resembool's gentle emerald hills the figure of a building silhouetted against the horizon, the pale yellow of the walls contrasting with the sky's deep blue "Look, I think that's the place" she pointed while she started to climb the slight hillside that led to the house. The path was neglected and mistreated, as if no one had had the intention to head towards there for a long time. As they approached the residence, the Lt. Colonel's experimented sight noticed that the walls were peeled, and there were holes in the roof and windows. A worn out sign announced, with discolored letters, Automail.

Roy frowned.

"Seems that no one has been around here for a while" he commented, voicing out loud the woman's thoughts. If Riza tried and deteriorated more the house in her head, transforming the immaculate blue sky into an opaque and grey rainy day, she could imagine that she was returning to her father's house.

She closed her eyes while both arrived to the porch. Those were memories that she preferred to keep buried in her mind.

Opening her chocolate eyes, the woman approached the house's door, green as the grass under them, that in other time she was sure that would've given her a beautiful and welcoming sensation at visiting the place. The knocks that hit the wooden surface resounded, hollow, in the construction's silence. The Lieutenant Colonel waited for a couple of seconds, but when it was clear that nobody was going to answer she sighed, disappointed.

"There isn't anyone at home" she affirmed, turning back. Nevertheless, her subordinate stopped her, deepening his scowl.

"Wait a minute, Lt. Colonel Hawkeye" he asked, reaching the gate. Turning the knob hard, the house's entry opened with a shriek that made Riza blink multiple times while a disgusted grimace was being drawn on her face, interrupting the placid peace of the town. Roy shook his hand, stiff of the force used to access to the inside of the residence; however a satisfied grin danced on his mouth "Someone hasn't oiled the door for a long time..."

"May I ask why you have decided to invade private property, Second Lieutenant?" asked the woman with a slight smile, passing to the house hall, although she already had the answer to her question. The man shrugged, but a sly smirk escaped from his lips.

"You never know what's behind an old house, Lt. Colonel" he explained, entering after her. The gesture on his features vanished as he straightened up "If there's someone in this place, it should've heard us with that door..."

Riza examined the inside of the house, the furniture covered with grime and the area sunk in gloom, the darkness caused by the closed curtains. She started to venture more, detecting some stairs that climbed to the second floor and an adjoining large room: it had a long table that indicated the dinning room in a side, and sofas in the other, identifying the parlor. A fireplace rested in the middle of both spaces, and the woman realized that it was specifically there to bathe all the area with warm and light. She adverted that her footsteps and Roy's were lifting vast clouds of dust that, judging by the smell, had been reposing there for a long time.

"A person can live in a house that in the outside is completely wrecked," she announced, analyzing the kitchen vaguely, that was as desolated as the rest of the building "but it's impossible for so much dust to accumulate if someone lived here"

The ebony-haired man sighed, disappointed.

"I guess then that there isn't anything left in here for us..." he said, pacing around, giving a sidelong glance to the stairs, as if he was weighting the prospect of going upstairs "Have you considered the possibility that the locals tried to trick us, Lt. Colonel?"

"No" she admitted, frowning, remembering the damaged sign in front of the old house while she backed on her steps "But our reports said that her grandmother was an automail mechanic, didn't they? Outside there was a..."

The woman interrupted herself, stopping short. Carefully, she bent down to the wooden floor, sorrow barely brushing her face while she touched it; it was of a warm mahogany that looked like the tree trunks on summer, and Riza imagined that, being clean and polished, it'd provide a welcoming sensation to each one of the people who'd arrive to the house. She removed the thick layer of dirt that covered it, her hand staining with a deep gray. Without having any veil between her and the floor, she identified the object that caught her attention. Her features twisted into a scowl; her gaze, now alert, analyzed the place again.

"Lieutenant Colonel?" called her Roy, beginning to climb the stairs, polluting the air with a smell absolutely different to the cool breeze from outside: it was a sickening fragrance, stagnant, as if the sun nor the wind had touched it once.

"I've just found a stain of dried blood on the floor" she informed him, standing up completely and shaking her hand against the military's coat to clean it "It seems that it has some time there. Looks like you weren't wrong about bursting in this place, Second Lieutenant"

The man's muffled voice reached her from upstairs "I told you that you never know what's hiding at the back of an old and worn out door" he reminded her humorously, however Riza could hear the tension behind her subordinate's words. The woman started to revise the sectors of the first deck of the building, feeling her short blonde hair getting dirt with the dust particles that floated, free, in the air. The sunlight, resembling golden threads, leaked through the closed curtains and the holes in the windows.

The Lieutenant Colonel frowned when she encountered an open door that she hadn't seen previously. The wood, dark as night, contrasted with the rest of the house, and lead towards some stairs that faded into a basement immersed in shadows. When she advanced, she realized that the gate was out of its hinges, forced from the outside. She aimed her gaze to the stairs in gloom and, carefully, proceeded to head for the basement.

Each tread creaked, the sound painfully loud to the blonde's ears. After a couple of steps, she couldn't see a thing, her eyes blinded by dust and shadows. Blindly, and sighing for thinking that it wouldn't be as dark as it seemed, the woman searched for a light switch; however she didn't find any (and she honestly wouldn't be surprised to discover that the electricity didn't work). Praying internally that there were no flammable substances nor gas leaks, she ignited a little flare on her hand, making it dance over her fingertips, covered by the glove where it was engraved the transmutation circle. The fire bathed the room with light, revealing broken lamps on the ceiling.

Riza exhaled deeply while she focused on going downstairs, trying to notice if there was, indeed, someone inside the basement. The room proved to be as empty as the rest of the house, though, with the exception of a diagram drawn on the ground that looked like a big transmutation circle.

The Lieutenant Colonel was so stunned that she lost the control over the dancing flame on her hand, making it disappear and immersing the place in shadows again. She uttered a gasp while she tripped with the last stair, falling over the ground. With her hands trembling and trying to activate the transmutation circle to create another light's source, she got up. When things were visible enough again, she stepped back, horrified, recognizing the circle graved on the ground.

"What the hell does this mean?!" the woman whispered, detailing it with her hazel eyes, wishing to be wrong.

In front of her lied, damaged and covered with dust, the transmutation circle to make the Human Transmutation.

The gelid's sundown wind whispered throughout the hills threatened by the growing darkness of the night. The shadows increased gradually, stretching out and rising from the corners where they had been confined during the day. Roy's black cloak fluttered behind him, the approaching night attempting to reach the fabric's color-scheme.

Riza didn't take long in identifying the house on the hill that the locals had indicated to them, confused on seeing both again. Making an effort to recompose herself after the shock given in the old construction, the woman had asked them, without being short of breath, about the owner of the Rockbell residence, the famous alchemist.

"Oh!" had realized a chubby woman, interrupting her conversation with the two men that had previously granted them directions "You mean Winry, don't you? No wonder that you found her house deserted, she doesn't live there since a year ago. People say that she stopped living there because some kind of terrible accident happened, but I believe that it was because the poor girl couldn't bear being alone in that big house"

"Did she leave town?" had inquired Roy, rising an eyebrow. One of the men that had been chatting with the woman shook his head, scratching the back of his neck.

"No" he'd denied, smiling embarrassed "We apologize for giving you the wrong directions. You said that you were looking for the Rockbell residence, not Winry. Nowadays she's living with the Elrics. Search for the cemetery and further on you'll find their house. It's white and pretty modest, much smaller than the Rockbell's"

Riza had nodded, handing them over the best smile she could make at the moment in gratitude, assuring the men that had given them directions earlier that there weren't any hard feelings at all. Both had turned around, following the instructions that the locals had suggested them. Now, they'd just passed the rows of gravestones that wrapped the cemetery with shadows, the ground verdant like in the rest of Resembool's meadows, the trees lulling the deceased into an eternal sleep. Up ahead, as the natives had guaranteed them, was a house on a hill, the lamps in the inside on, even though it still received some beams of light from the agonizing sun.

The Lieutenant Colonel increased her pace, climbing the hill, that was much more precipitous than the one that led to the Rockbell house. Her subordinate followed her closely, his steps as severe as hers. Despite the growing night, the woman could detail the building perfectly: the neat and smooth white that covered the walls; the windows clean and open, making way for the fresh breeze and the sunlight; the roof, as red as a ripe apple; the yellow flowers on the window's ledges; and a vacillating swing hanging from the robust tree next to the house, being pushed by the wind that ran free throughout the hills.

"I assume that we won't find this one empty" Roy commented, tension disguised behind his words. Riza nodded curtly. Both went over the path, maintained and preserved, that ended in the house's door.

When they arrived to the green gate that welcomed them graciously, the blonde was almost running. Catching her breath, she lifted her hand, knocking on the wooden surface a total of three times. The hammerings reverberated in the silence, but unlike the ones made in the Rockbell house, these were answered seconds after by a woman who opened the door softly.

"May I help you?" she asked with a good-hearted smile. Her long walnut brown hair rested over her shoulder, tied loosely with an elastic band at the end. Through the open door, the hall's light poured over their faces, lighting up their surroundings.

"Are you Winry Rockbell?" demanded Riza as politely as she could, while she put a hand over Second Lieutenant Mustang's shoulder, who seemed impatient to burst into the house. The woman's graceful features contorted into an expression of astonishment, stepping back. Then she shook her head, moving forward to observe them better.

"No, my name's Trisha Elric" she informed, introducing herself; the Lieutenant Colonel could see that she worried her bottom lip, though, unsure about letting them in "What's doing the military here?"

"We've received information that the alchemist Winry Rockbell lives here. We're looking for her" the blonde clarified, sightly more relaxed at the woman's calming emerald gaze "My name's Riza Hawkeye, Lt. Colonel Riza Hawkeye, and this is my subordinate, Second Lieutenant Roy Mustang. We need to know with strict urgency if Winry Rockbell is here"

Trisha opened her mouth to answer, her face hardening lightly, when a black bolt passed next to her, running as if it was pursuing desperately the dying sun. Second Lt. Mustang jumped, startled, analyzing the green innocent hills and barely touching with his hand the grip of the gun in the holster that he'd attached to his waist. The Lt. Colonel hurried to snap her fingers, looking around frenetically to know what was attacking them and from where.

The blonde took a couple of seconds before realizing that the thing that had escaped from the house had been a dog. She lowered her hand hesitantly. The man at her side relaxed his arms, nevertheless the alert kept dancing in his obsidian eyes. The woman at the doorstep sighed, exhausted, an apologetic smile forming on her lips.

"I apologize about Den. She's really a good dog, it's just that sometimes...she doesn't like to live here" she explained, observing the spot that was the animal extinguish between a sea of meadows and hills. The Lt. Colonel stepped forward with the intentions to apologize, but Trisha stopped her, raising her hand "Don't worry, Lt. Colonel Hawkeye, this has occurred a couple of times already. We're going to take care of that afterwards"

Riza wondered vaguely how they could know where to search the dog precisely when Roy overtook her, looking over the brunette's shoulder to see the inside of the house.

"We?" he asked, rising his eyebrows "Does that mean that Winry Rockbell is here?"

Before Trisha could answer, a voice traveled from the corridor, steps descending hastily the stairs. Breathless, a boy stood next to the woman, his short blonde hair messed by the race. His face was twisted into a concerned expression.

"Mom, has Den run away again?" he questioned, his childish voice sounding as tired as his mother's. The woman bent down to be at his height, smiling sadly.

"Yes, honey, Den has escaped again. Don't worry, I'm positive that she'll be back for dinner" she assured him, however the statement gave the impression that it was more like a doubt that both shared. The kid nodded slowly, not convinced at all. Lifting his gaze and blinking, his exotic golden eyes, veiled by a green mist, acknowledged the presence of two strangers, tall and wrapped in robes as dark as the approaching night. Riza smiled to him kindly; the infant kept staring blankly at her, though. Second Lieutenant Mustang cleared his throat, wincing uncomfortable.

"Who are they?" the child inquired cautiously, looking at them suspiciously. The blonde woman was surprised by his cold answer, nevertheless she recomposed her face. Trisha seemed taken aback by her son's attitude as well; however, out of the three adults, it was Roy the one who responded him, narrowing his eyes (so fast that Riza doubted in first place if he'd done it).

"We're part of the military" he explained changing his demeanor, smiling slightly and indicating vaguely with the hand his uniform "And we're looking for a very important person, someone famous. We're searching for a famous alchemist, Winry Rockbell"

Though the black-haired man had spoken with a soft and velvet voice, the child jerked away from them, looking at both as if suddenly they suffered an infectious disease that banned them from human contact. The infant looked at his mother with alert and desperation, moving back to the house. The woman straightened, smiling apprehensively and making reassuring motions towards her son.

"Calm down, Alphonse. What kind of behavior is this one? Your brother's generally the one that behaves like this" she said humorously; that didn't seem to serene the boy, though, that giving them one last sidelong glance returned running upstairs. The brunette smiled apologetically for the second time in the evening, although in her green eyes danced a spark of concern.

"Let me guess: he doesn't act like that normally" Riza almost sighed, sneaking a look of the stairs. Then she turned her hazel glance to the woman on the door again. Unlike her, Roy didn't remove his eyes from the stairs. Low murmurs reached her ears, muffled by the house's walls: there were definitely more people on the construction. The man frowned.

"Your son recognized the name, Mrs. Elric. And you did it too before" he said, approaching to her and narrowing his eyes "Moreover, the last name Elric seems familiar to me. It was written in one of the photographs that I saw in the second floor of the Rockbell house. You were a close friend of theirs, weren't you?"

The brunette woman held his gaze, her facial expression converting into a serious and impassive one. The Lt. Colonel tried to hide her astonishment, however a slight flame of pride crackled inside of her for her subordinate.

"You have nothing to search for in this house or in the Rockbell's" Trisha claimed, a strange determination in her peaceful green eyes. She pursed her lips, looking at Riza "Please...just go away"

The Lt. Colonel scowled, straightening and trying to steady the beats of her furious heart. There was something in the woman's request that tempted her to turn around and leave, pursuing the last rays of the dying sun as the dog had done previously, and forget the name of Winry Rockbell, bury it in her memory and make it disappear. She stepped forward, nonetheless, ignoring the knot that was starting to create itself in her stomach, forcing herself to remember the house covered in dust, the dried blood on the wooden floor and the transmutation circle hidden in the dark basement.

"I'm afraid that we can't do that, Mrs. Elric" refused the blonde with authority, confronting the other woman's conflicted face. A brief wave of regret washed the features of the Lieutenant Colonel for less than a second before she stepped forward again. Roy remained behind her, frowning "If you keep preventing us the entrance to the residence, or eluding the alchemist's name, we'll be forced to..."

Riza interrupted herself when she heard the noise of slow and trembling steps descend the stairs. Silence fell between the three adults, the words snatched away from their mouths. A worried expression started to make its way to Trisha's face. Suddenly, the movements ceased, replaced by laborious and deep breaths. Moments later, the pace resumed, and the Lieutenant Colonel could see, with unease and restlessness, the shadow of a person approaching the entrance, to draw later the figure of a little girl.

The woman felt the sharp gasp of the Second Lieutenant behind her. She stepped back taking an intense breath, her hazel eyes widening, horrified. However, Trisha's features softened, though certain sadness tinted her expression. The little girl lifted her face, her cheeks white like porcelain. Her hair, of a blonde as clear as the sunrise's light, fell freely over her back, smooth and soft. Something in her eyes, though, made Riza shudder inside. They were blue, clear like the summer cloudless sky and radiant as two forget-me-nots; they were empty, nevertheless, dancing in agony and anguish.

Riza had the impression that she was looking through the eyes of a corpse.

"What have I told you about going downstairs alone?" Trisha asked softly as if she didn't want to alter the infant while she advanced to her, bending down to be at her height "You have to ask Ed, Al or me for help. It's still too soon in the rehabilitation for you to be going downstairs alone, okay?"

The little girl nodded so nonchalantly that it hurt physically the Lt. Colonel, and even though a small smile graced her lips it didn't reach her eyes. The blonde woman worried her bottom lip, stepping forward with a weak and trembling pace. The child's gaze fixed on her, and Riza repressed a shiver. She looked, instead, at the exposed limbs of the girl, at the metallic shine that could be seen in two of them, contrasting with her light clothes.

The nocturne wind crossed through the house's hall, indicating that the forgotten sunlight had died out.

"What have you done?" inquired Riza in an almost indiscernible whisper, and the girl's body paralyzed. In her eyes something else was seen besides the emptiness, and the Flame Alchemist recognized the emotion without any trouble: it was fear. The gaze of the young blonde went to their uniforms, and she stepped back, losing balance and falling to the floor.

Second Lieutenant Mustang voiced her thoughts out loud.

"It was you..." he murmured, his obsidian eyes widening "you're the famous alchemist...Winry Rockbell"

Riza accepted kindly the steaming cup of tea that Mrs. Elric offered her, the dancing vapor that raised from it chasing away the night's fresh. She thanked her absently, despite the fact that the cold there was light and pleasant compared to Central's autumn nights. The woman didn't remove her stare from Winry Rockbell's shape, though, crouched in the chair where she was sat. Trisha proceeded to take the place next to the little girl, observing the Lieutenant Colonel.

"We didn't know that the rumors' famous alchemist was just a little girl" began the blonde woman, addressing the brunette "We were rather astounded. And even though it was incomplete...she made the Human Transmutation with success."

At the mention of the transmutation, Winry's body quivered, jumping a bit while she lowered her face. Riza ignored the pain caused by the sight of the young blonde shrinking into herself more, though a part of her felt relieved that her bangs now covered her dull and sad eyes. She thought in how when she was little she would look at herself in the mirror's smooth surface and wish for her eyes to change into a more exotic color, like her father's aqua blue eyes. When those orbs started to show madness instead of love, though, Riza began to appreciate her warm hazel eyes, just like her mother's. Now, scrutinizing the little girl's, so beautiful and yet so dull...

She sighed lightly.

"She has more than enough to be a State Alchemist" the woman stated, and immediately Trisha's features darkened and the girl's eyes obscured. Riza ignored their reactions, nonetheless "If she becomes a State Alchemist, she'll have to fight like a soldier when it's needed. Likewise, that position brings with it multiple privileges, and she will be granted with the permission to make top-level investigations that she wouldn't otherwise be allowed to do. That...that probably will be the only way that she can recover her body"

Trisha's eyes widened with surprise before turning to Winry. The little girl lifted her face slowly, observing the blonde woman. A few moments in silence passed before the infant spoke up, her voice weak and dull.

"Lieutenant Colonel..."

The Flame Alchemist's features softened.

"Just call me Riza, Riza Hawkeye"

The girl remained silent, her eyes hesitant, as if she was struggling between holding Riza's gaze or hide herself with her bangs. The Lt. Colonel frowned, realizing that her kindness wasn't welcomed with any inhabitant of the house.

"Riza..." she began, her eyes lost and empty "...have you ever killed anyone?"

Suddenly, the blonde woman wasn't in the dinning room of a warm home in Resembool, surrounded by meadows and trees that hummed, and a spring-like wind that danced lively all the year, the stars glowing like miniature suns. No, all of sudden she found herself facing the exhausting Ishvalan sun, the sand whipping her features without any mercy, screaming with hatred that her blonde hair, ivory skin and weapons of mass destruction didn't belong there. Unexpectedly, the smell of burned corpses invaded her nostrils, and the screams in agony stunned her, the fire's heat making her feel dizzy―or perhaps what made her sick was living each day, each second, with the knowledge that she wasn't more than a killer of innocents, of disarmed civilians that the only think that they asked for was mercy.

She blinked.

"Yes" she answered, avoiding their gazes. For an instant, the Lt. Colonel thought she saw the spark of another emotion that wasn't sadness in the eyes of the young alchemist.

"I hate soldiers" replied Winry, lowering her face. Trisha put a comforting hand in her shoulder, squeezing it in a signal of support. The blonde woman saw that the sweet and kind eyes of Mrs. Elric transmitted to the child that it wasn't necessary to keep talking, nevertheless the girl ignored her "My parents...my parents were taken away to the battlefield and there they were killed. They weren't even supposed to fight, they were doctors. That's the reason. I... I tried to bring them back, but..." her voice broke like a piece of glass "...why would I join the military if they're the ones to blame for the whole situation?" she inquired with a tiny voice. Riza straightened, looking through the window the hills covered in shadows.

"I'm not trying to force you to do it. I'm just showing you the possibilities. If you come or not...that's your decision. You can choose if you want to keep going or hold back at some point. You can end your life immersed in desperation, or join the army and look for an opportunity there..." she answered, without stopping to stare at the night's darkness, her hazel eyes fixed on the shadows of the outside, illuminated very slightly by the stars' soft light "You shouldn't blame the military for something that was your responsibility. If there's the possibility of recovering your body, you should keep going...don't you think so?"

The ghost of a smile touched Winry's lips, and her eyes were far away, perhaps in a time when she didn't know what sadness was.

"That's what Ed and Al always tell me" as soon as the smile came it was gone, replaced by a dull and tortured demeanor "I think I deserve this. The transmutation..."

Her voice shattered. Trisha closed her eyes painfully, nonetheless she managed to smile to the Lt. Colonel, exhausted.

"Do you want more tea, Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye?" she asked, though Riza's cup hadn't been touched. The woman shook her head, smiling in gratitude and getting up from the chair. She walked to the kitchen's door, where Roy would be waiting for her in the outside with the other two Elric kids.

"Miss Riza..."the aforementioned turned back at hearing Winry's dull and monotonous voice, stopping short "...why did you become a soldier?"

Riza observed Winry. The rumors' famous alchemist was just a broken girl with a lost and empty gaze that longed for the return of her family, and for that committed the most forbidden sin in alchemy. Her long, blonde hair fell over her back, the automail limbs contrasting with her ivory skin. Purple circles surrounded the dull eyes that seemed to belong to a dead person, that reminded Riza of each child she'd killed. Despite her decrepit state, the blonde woman found the strength to smile warmly.

"Because I have someone to protect"

Riza tasted Resembool's night air, and observed with wonder the spectacle that extended throughout the sky. Stars, of all sizes and colors, scattered through the firmament, with a mystic glow that not even gems reached. The shapes of Trisha Elric and her two sons silhouetted against the golden lights of a house on a hill, watching them depart. The Lt. Colonel sighed with a light smile on her face, her gaze fixed on the majestic night sky.

"We never have a sight like this in the city, do we?" her subordinate sighed too next to her, his obsidian eyes secretly delighted by the scene. Suddenly the soft gesture of happiness in the woman's face was dissolved.

"Do you think she will come, Second Lieutenant Mustang?" she inquired without removing her eyes from the sky full of stars. Roy chuckled.

"She'll come, Lieutenant Colonel" he replied. Riza raised an eyebrow.

"But her eyes looked so dull..."

"Hers? Yes, perhaps. Truth be told, it was as if I was seeing the eyes of a dead person" the man smirked "But you didn't see the eyes of the boy with golden hair. Not Alphonse, the one we saw at first, but the oldest of the two. Edward Elric. Those eyes...they had flames burning in them"

The blonde woman pursed her lips, transforming them into a tense line. Roy widened his smile, raising his eyebrows.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you look under the star's light, Lt. Colonel Hawkeye...?" he asked charmingly, however he was interrupted by a black bolt that crossed the hills, leading to the Elric's home. The woman didn't frighten at the return of the dog that had escaped previously, and sighed.

"Let's see if you say the same with all the paperwork that awaits for us in the quarters, Second Lieutenant Mustang" Riza had to restrain a satisfied smile at her subordinate's resigned sigh. With the back of her eye she noticed that a fourth shadow joined the other three shapes in the Elric's residence doorstep, welcoming half-heartedly the dog's arrival. The woman wondered if the fire that Roy saw in Edward Elric's eyes would be enough to wake up the young alchemist from the cold and lonely resignation of the dead in life.

One year later.

Winry watched the house in front of her, surrounded by Resembool's green hills that always gave her serenity and warmth. She observed painfully the peeled yellow walls, the worn out sign that spelled "automail", the broken windows and the green door where she had gone through many times in the past, jumping into her parents' arms. She thought about the photos that were inside, the workshop where her grandmother had always been so immersed in work. She thought about all her memories, all the feelings...how her father kissed her on the forehead before going to sleep, how her mother hugged her after returning from school and how her Granny scolded her...

Finally, she remembered the fateful night that had costed her more than just two limbs. She closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she could see the three pairs of eyes as blue as forget-me-nots, just like hers. Sepulchral, they examined her without any expression, accusing her, pursuing her, the warmth that they'd provided forgotten in their graves, under the flowers that the blonde always made sure were there.

When she looked at the front again, she saw her home.

"You don't have to do this, Winry" Alphonse begged her over, exchanging his gaze between her and the torch in her hand. The blonde shook the head, sensing the weight of her new silver watch, what identified her as a State Alchemist and marked a new stage on her journey. She couldn't shouldn't come back.

Trisha studied her, pain dancing in her green eyes; there was acceptance too, though, as if since the moment when Winry went to Central to make the test she knew this would happen. The night wind shook the meadows, waving her blonde hair and making the fire stammer. The cold caressed her face, illuminated by the fire's amber light.

Edward remained silent. Winry observed how he tightened his jaw and clenched his fists. The young alchemist scrutinized the torch and breathed deeply. She held back the tears from the memories that the old house recalled. She looked at the construction.

"I don't have a home to return to anymore" she whispered, and the girl noticed that, beside her, Edward tightened even more his fists. Closing her eyes, she threw the torch towards her home. Al gasped, and Den started to bark and struggle against him. Trisha lowered her gaze, moving her eyes away from the scene.

But the alchemist observed how the fire expanded slowly through all the house, helped by the early morning autumn wind. Soon, the flames licked the walls, trying to reach the starry sky without success. The flares' heat kissed her cheeks gently, like a lighthouse in the dark. Inside, everything was being consumed by the inferno, transforming into ashes. Her room, her parents', Granny's workshop, the family's photos...everything was being destroyed, succumbing to the fire.

The basement's cold was still there, though, the breathing of the being she'd created kept misting the air. Its monotonous movements, its stretched arm; the picture was still vivid in the back of her eyes. Nevertheless, the blonde didn't move her gaze away of the dancing flames.

Edward started to bit his lip so tightly that Winry feared that he would split it. Silent crystal tears rolled through Al's cheeks, and the blonde thought she saw Trisha's eyes starting to water―it all could be a trick of the flares, though. Den stopped barking, observing crestfallen her home being eradicated to its foundations.

Winry grinned slightly.

"Stop worrying your bottom lip, idiot. You're going to end splitting it," she scolded him "just like your fists. As tight as you are clenching, you're going to end cutting your circulation"

Her friend's golden eyes drifted to her. They were bright and burning, full of passion, as the flames in front of them.

"Stop nagging me, woman" he complained, but the blonde saw the tension hidden behind his words. Winry smiled gently to Alphonse, who had his face full of tears, his eyes begging her to not do this, to not torture herself, that there were other ways; and to Trisha, whose benevolent gaze observed her sorrowfully. Then, she turned back.

Winry took a last look of the house. Of the memories that she abandoned to the fire. Of the sin that she tried to erase without any success. Of the flames consuming everything they touched.

Finally, she watched the silhouettes of Ed, Al, Trisha and Den, that were shaped against the fire's blazing light. She worried her bottom lip, holding her own tears, feeling the cold wind wave her hair. The gazes of the three Elrics were fixed on her.

Her new silver watch was heavy in her pocket, perhaps too heavy. Don't forget. October 3rd, 1911.

She turned back, walking to the train station. She silently bid farewell to the meadows, the stars, the Elrics and her home. Winry had always despised goodbyes, observing someone else's back disappear into the distance. This time was no exception. Only for the first time, she was the one who was going away. Behind her, the dawn's grayish light touched the horizon, the aurora burning the edges of the sky. Just like she had burnt her home, now lost in the fire.

Now, she didn't have a home to return to.