Author's Note: This is the final chapter, people. Thank you to everyone who has read, and even more to those of you who have reviewed! It's been a great eleven weeks XD

Chapter Eleven

The sisters moved the body outside of the house, closed the door on the night, and sat down to enjoy the food they had brought with them. And they lived happily ever after.

- from the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood"

The first thing Nina was aware of was a rhythmic beeping, in time with her heart. It soothed her, in a way; she felt as though she might slip away again at any moment, with such a lullaby to send her on her way. But gradually she became aware of another sensation that caused her sleepy mind to fight the waves of weariness. It was a warm, familiar smell vaguely reminiscent of ink and paper, like an old, favorite book. The muscles around her mouth worked, and she managed to mumble, "Dad..."

Slowly, Nina pulled her heavy eyelids open, to find herself in a sterile, white hospital room. The source of the beeping was a monitor off to the left of the bed she lay in, and the source of the smell was even now leaning over her line of vision. It took a great amount of effort to force her lips into an upward curve, but she finally managed a small smile.

Her father answered her with a much wider smile. "How are you feeling?" he asked softly, looking very relieved that she had woken.

"Sleepy," Nina admitted. She blinked several times, feeling dull and stupid, then gathered her wits enough to ask, "What happened?"

Her father's smile instantly vanished, and he took on a worried expression instead. "It seems you were pulled into the Gate. You, Trisha, Maes Mustang, the Homunculus, and that other woman too. But you made it out alive, Nina. You and your sister both. That's what's important."

Nina couldn't understand why he acted as though he was preparing her for a hard piece of news. "Huh?" was as coherent of a question as she could manage.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, then said in an even lower voice, "It...It took your hands, Nina."

Nina remembered the splitting pain in her wrists, and lifted a heavy arm up to her eyes. A clean white bandage was wrapped around her arm almost up to her elbow, and the distinct lack of a hand was painfully obvious. Nina lowered her arm, wondering why this didn't bother her as much as she thought it should. Looking back up at her father, it was obvious that he thought she would be quite shaken by this turn of events, but all Nina could ask was, "Trisha?"

"She's just over there," he replied, gesturing over his shoulder. "She hasn't woken up yet. Both of you lost quite a bit of blood back there, but you'll be fine before you know it."

The mention of blood reminded Nina of the circle she and her sister had drawn. "Dad," she said, feeling a bit more awake than before, "what happened to the Homunculus?"

At this, her father's smile returned. "You and Trisha got rid of it. Couldn't have done it better myself."

Instead of feeling warm pleasure at these words, Nina only felt a guilt that burned on her cheeks. "Dad, it was all my fault!" she burst out. "Trisha went to confront the Homunculus, and I wasn't there to stop her; I couldn't protect her like you've always told me to! Because of me, she risked her life and lost her arms. It's...It's all my fault..." She was unable to control the tears that welled up in her eyes and poured forth.

"Sssh," her father murmured soothingly, brushing her tears away with his warm left hand. "The circumstances were out of your control, and you did the best you could."

"B-But I c-could've saved her," Nina sobbed, unable to quell the tears that shook her body. "I c-could have ign-nored those images, a-and pulled her b-back. I c-could have..."

Her father sighed, his hand a comforting weight on her forehead. "You're just like me, you know? I felt just as guilty when your Uncle Al lost his body. But in my case, I really was partly to blame. None of this was your fault, Nina. It was the Homunculus who caused all of this. You did wonderfully; you were very brave through all of this. I'm very proud of you, Nina."

"Really?" Nina sniffed, looking up into her father's face as he wiped away the last of her tears. She knew she didn't deserve such high praise; she had been scared to death half the time, and completely clueless the rest of the time. But her father was smiling at her, and said he was proud. She couldn't help smiling just a little.

"Now, calm down and get some sleep," he gently admonished. "I've called Mom, and she'll be here on the first train tomorrow. But for now, you need your rest. I love you." He bent forward and kissed her forehead, his beard tickling her and making her smile widen.

"I love you too, Dad," Nina managed to murmur before she fell under heavy waves of sleep again, the sounds of the monitor fading away into the darkness.

When Nina woke next morning, she felt much more coherent. Trisha, who lay in a bed a few feet to the right of Nina's, was awake as well. They shared no more than a few words, making sure the other was all right, commenting on how the pain had lessened somewhat, and wondering when someone would come to see them. After that, they fell silent, Nina alternating between dropping into a light doze and staring blank-minded up at the ceiling. Nurses or doctors came in from time to time, checking things or changing their dressings. Nina tried not to look when they removed the bandages; the red stains on the cloth made her feel sick.

At around ten o'clock that morning, both of their parents came for a short visit. Their mother kissed them, asked them how they were feeling, and repeated the sentiments their father had expressed before. All too soon, they left again, and the two sisters were alone in their room again.

It was amazing how much time could pass by when one was only staring up at the ceiling. Nina dimly supposed it was the painkillers that made the two of them so quiet, but there also seemed to be some kind of barrier between the sisters. Something needed to be said, or asked, or done, but she wasn't quite sure what. And she was much too sleepy to figure it out, so that day passed with neither of them doing or saying much.

Their parents came to visit later in the day, and this time their mother addressed them both very seriously. "Nina, Trisha," she said. "Both of you have lost your hands, and this is going to make even everyday life very difficult for you. Now, I can give you automail if you want, but I think you're aware of how painful a process that is, and how much maintenance you'll have to do even once the operation is completed. I'd more than understand if you don't want to do that, and we could probably make something work-"

"No," Trisha interrupted softly. "We would only be a burden to everyone if we didn't get automail."

"And besides," Nina added, "how can we do alchemy if we don't have hands?"

"The installation process is more painful than you could possibly imagine," their father spoke up, laying a hand on his right arm. "It's even more painful than losing your limbs in the first place. Don't make this decision unless you're absolutely sure it's what you want, because you won't be able to turn back once it's started. Ever."

Nina shared a silent look with Trisha, then said firmly, "We want automail."

"Yeah," Trisha agreed.

Their mother smiled wryly. "You're just like your father."

The next day, as their mother was preparing for the operations, the sisters received a visit from their fellow soldiers. Mustang, Bones, and Dirk filed in, all three wearing civilian clothes. Nina realized she had never seen any of them out of uniform; they looked strange in shirt sleeves and pants.

Bones brought an enormous bouquet of flowers that Nina suspected came from his garden, and Dirk brandished a paper bag, singing out, "Chocolate chip cookies! My wife baked them just this morning!" He stood at Trisha's bedside, chatting with her happily and sipping tea from a disposable cup he must have procured from the hospital cafe. Bones joined him as well, smiling to see that Trisha was cheerful even with the striking absence of her arms.

Mustang, however, hung about Nina's bed, looking a little awkward and apparently casting about desperately for a topic of conversation.

Nina smiled, saving him by asking, "So, what's happened in the military over the past couple days?"

"Quite a bit, actually," Mustang replied, looking relieved to have something to talk about. "The Fuhrer and your father made it back here shortly after we went into that Gate thing; apparently they realized something was fishy before they got very far. The Sect leader Hunley actually called a truce; he was there when the Homunculus came out of the Gate. From what my father tells me, he was horrified that all of the Sect's fights have been fueling the Homunculus' plans to create the Philosopher's Stone, and realized he needed to put a stop to all this fighting as soon as possible. Of course, he wouldn't back off completely; he and my father are working out a compromise to take some of the power away from the government and give it back to the people."

"It sounds like it's for the best," Nina commented. "Oh, Lieutenant Colonel-"

"Colonel, actually," Mustang corrected with a grin. "All of us have been promoted for our 'services to the State, which can never truly be repaid.' Well, at least they tried."

Nina laughed. "So I'm a Lieutenant Colonel myself now, huh? It feels strange to be in such a high position at my age."

Mustang laughed good-naturedly. "You and your sister must have broken a record or something. But you two deserved the promotion more than anyone else; you were simply amazing!"

Wishing to change the subject and hide her burning cheeks, Nina noticed that he had tucked a book under his arm. "What's that you're reading?" she asked.

Mustang showed her a little sheepishly. "'An Introduction to Alchemy.' I never really understood alchemy before, but after going through that Gate thing, well...a lot of things started to make sense. I haven't tried a transmutation yet, but...well, maybe when you get out of the hospital, you could give me a few pointers."

"Sure, I'd love to, Lieuten- I mean, Colonel!"

"We're out of uniform; you can call me Maes," Mustang said with a grin, waving the title aside.

Instead of grinning back, Nina's smile slipped away. "What happened to your hand?"

Maes looked at his right hand, which was heavily bandaged. As far as Nina could tell, it seemed his last two fingers were completely gone, and the middle finger was reduced to half its length. "Those black things almost got my hand, too," he said regretfully. "It'll look a little strange, but at least my trigger finger is intact."

"It's a pity you can't get automail replacements. The surgery would be too delicate."

Mustang stood contemplating his missing appendages for a few moments, then dropped into the chair beside her bed. "Nina..." he began slowly. "I...I think I owe you an apology."

"For what?" Nina furrowed her brow in confusion.

"When we were going to rescue your sister...I suggested abandoning her in favor of stopping the Sect. I shouldn't have asked you to do such a thing, but...I've never had a sister, so I didn't...understand how hard such a thing would be." He turned the book over and over in his hands as he spoke.

"That's okay," Nina assured him. "Everything turned out all right in the end."

Mustang looked relieved. "You know...through all this, I almost feel as though I do have a sister now. Two, to be more precise."

Nina suddenly realized as he said this that something had changed in the way she thought about him. Before, she had spent all of her time wishing he would look at her and smile, that he would notice her. But something had changed during their adventures together. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but somewhere along the way her silly little crush on him had given way to friendship. Ultimately, she preferred having Maes Mustang as a friend.

Once the men had left, the hospital room seemed very empty. The scent of Bones's bouquet pervaded the room in a soft, soothing aroma of several different types of flowers combined. If she had been able, Nina would have tried one of Mrs. Dirk's chocolate chip cookies, but as it was she would have to wait until one of their parents could help her. It was so strange to not have hands. She kept on forgetting they were gone, and would start to reach out to do something, only to find that her hand was gone. At times, she almost thought she could feel them still, even when her eyes told her they weren't there.

Both sisters were silent for a time, then Nina ventured, "Well, at least things seem to be calming down now. Looks like we won't have to fight any more battles with the Sect."

"Yeah," Trisha softly agreed. After several more minutes of silence, she said hesitantly, "Um...Nina?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm...I'm sorry for...you know...running off on my own."

Nina looked over at her little sister, who was currently staring out the window in the opposite direction. "Why did you do it?"

"I...I wanted to be special. I wanted to be the one to get the Homunculus, so that everyone would say what a great alchemist I was. And because I did that...because I was stupid..." Her voice broke, and Nina realized belatedly that Trisha was crying.

"I don't think you're stupid," Nina murmured, but the sobs that Trisha could not contain drowned her out. Nina watched helplessly as her sister's entire body shook with tears that had probably been kept just under the surface for the past few days. She felt at a loss for what to do or say that would reassure Trisha.

Watching Trisha cry reminded Nina of other times when she had cried this hard – at their sister's funeral...when the family cat had died at last...that one time when the 'big boys' at school had teased her... Each time, Trisha had come to her big sister, thrown her arms about her, and sobbed into her chest until her tears were through. Looking over at Trisha now, Nina realized that her little sister could no longer do this, for she had no arms. Trisha continued to cry, unable even to wipe away the tears that rolled off her chin and down her neck.

She might not have arms...but I do. Nina looked down at the bandaged stumps of her arms, and nodded to herself. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she dropped onto the floor. The room spun at first, but she steadied herself and staggered the few steps over to Trisha's bed. Perching on the edge, she clumsily put her arms around her sister's shaking form and held her close. Trisha buried her face in Nina's chest, muffling her tears.

Nina found tears building up in her own eyes as she said, "You know...you really are my Cornerstone. I don't know what I would ever do without you. So...don't you ever leave me, Trisha Maria Elric."

"I won't if you won't, Nina Martel Elric," Trisha replied, and Nina caught the slight hint of a tease in her muffled voice. When she spoke again a few moments later, her voice was serious again. "Sis...if I die...promise me you'll never try to bring me back. I don't want you to turn into another Miranda Farland."

"I promise," Nina whispered, closing her eyes and resting her cheek against Trisha's forehead, where she could smell Trisha's hair and feel her blood pumping through her temple. She and her sister had lost parts of their body, as their father and his brother had before them. Yet at the same time, they had gained something in this adventure of theirs, so really it wasn't so much a matter of loss as it was equivalent trade. Perhaps she was only being optimistic, but Nina thought they had almost gained more than they had lost, like their father before them. They were following in their father's footsteps, becoming a part of his legacy: the legacy of loss.

The End