AN: I don't own FMA or any related characters - and I don't own the pink lunchbox as well. I just own the idea.

Attention! Time skip! Some ages are given in the chapter but for more information...
Riza & Serena: 32 & 31
Jade, Phil: 32
Roy, Maes, Nerissa: 33
Nick, Victoria, Laila and Cai: 14
Owen: 17

Seri3991 (chapter 163): Okay Greed, you are officially back to a man. I'm definitely gonna have my fren's head for suggesting this. Greed belongs to me only.
Greed: Huh?
Nerissa: My, my, it seems he lost his wit.
Nessa, good job but dont over do it.
Nerissa: I protect my fellow citizens.
Hey Al, how've u and Mei been doing? *smirk*
Alphonse: Fine.
In the anime, the only time when Roy and Ling properly met is when they captured Gluttony. In my opinion, they should've met each other more often.
Ling: I agree. It was always … exciting.
So, Team ME doing well?
Jade: Can't complain. I get to spend a lot of time with my family.
Now I'm gonna find Alex and challenge his sparkles.
Olivier: My old ones will so win…
Before that...
Truth: You're planning to lower yourself to a simple human?
Ed: What do you mean simple? That's all I've ever been. A simple human who can't even save a little girl. Not even with alchemy.
Truth: Are you sure? Think carefully now.
Ed: Who even needs alchemy, when I got them?
It's nice to see Ed remember Nina to the very end. See ya! *runs of*
Ava: See you tomorrow!

CallousVulpix (chapter 163): Ummm. Excellent chapters as always? *grimaces and ducks down with hands over head* I'm sorry...;-; I always have favored loyalty, but I just got so caught up in stuff. I decided that my summer mission would be to read all the Royai fanfics, starting backwards. Sadly, I lost my place about 200 in. I blame the fact my 3DS can only keep one tab open. (The reason I couldn't read and review on this lovely story.)
Ava: No problem. Good to have you back!
Since I lost my place I came to the decision it would be a good time to get caught up. Which was difficult since I work from 8:00-4:30. My paperwork is on par with Roy's. 10,000 papers go through my hands each day. (Staples are my enemies and my hands are covered in papercuts.) I file, scan, get the mail, shred, and am basically the one who does what needs to be done.(The office slave.) So I get tired and have to retire to bed early.
Ava: trust me, I know the problem
But I'll relieve to you some of the high points of the chapters I did not get the chance to review on.(Don't worry I'm not going to thoroughly review each chapter as previously done, since I missed so many.) "The AFL had maybe a no-killing-policy but Riza Hawkeye had a no-dying-policy." That line brings a smile to my face every time I read it and I burst out laughing when I first read it.
Ava: I loved to create it as well.
"Victoria's unruly hair that- according to Laila -attacked everyone once the owner was asleep." That line amused me also.
Ava: This line was a quote of myself when I drove to France with my sister some years ago. Her hair is really dangerous^^
Well I have to go to bed so that I can get up and to my job. Maybe I can properly review the next chapter.
Ava: I would be really happy to read another of these great reviews
Oh and Stevens reminds me of me.(Except I don't have completely green eyes.)
Jade: Uh-oh…
I'm too tired to use different languages so- Until (hopefully) tomorrow!
Victoria: Darauf hoffen wir auch. [We hope so as well.]

mangagirl135 (chapter 163): ...You mean chopping all of their heads off via guillotine? If that's what you meant, think that's a great idea! It sounds like a lot of fun! And then we can burn the bodies... What? like fire.
Victoria: That's exactly my plan. Great minds truly think alike.
OH! BEFORE I FORGET! Ava, can I have all of the information on Lynn? Both appearance and personality-wise. I've been meaning to ask you, but I keep forgetting... ; It's a bit embarrassing, to be honest.
Kay: Lynn was a truly hot chick^^ she looked a lot like Riza, just taller, leaner and … paler. She had silver hair and purple eyes. Her hair was wavy – not as curly and bouncy as mine … that's what I always envied her for.
Roy: And her character … on the one hand, she easily got mad at people who hurt other people and always wanted to help but on the other, she could be pretty mean to other people like me as well. She was not as soft and shy as she seemed to be.
Good luck with getting better, Vicky!
Victoria: thanks!
Kay, I like your idea. Isn't there something that would cause you to have to bathe in milk? Has anyone else ever heard of this? I think skunks are tomato juice or something... Not, of course, that I would know. (So we're gonna spray Ed with a skunk and force him to bathe in milk. It's a plan, guys! Anyone else have any painful ideas? I think we could try out anything you want... ) Okay, I'm just being weird now. I'll shut up.
Kay: I'll think about more ways to torture him.
Ava, I command you to keep being awesome! *dramatic finger point* :D
Ava: If I can manage to work under such a pressure…
Lyra out.
Ava off to bed

They said that the female commanders always knew when one of their followers fell. Olivier had known that Serena would never return to Briggs the day she had been attacked by Envy, Charlotte had had a bad feeling when Lynn had called her in the morning of the day of her death and Isabel Millers, former lieutenant general of the Southern area and former commander of Kay Hamilton had known that she would never see her state alchemist alive.

This time, it was Serena's turn to know it before she got the call. It had been a strange feeling that had accompanied for the whole day when she had checked Jane Stevens' reports. Maybe it had been obvious that the young woman had made the same mistakes as those before her: she had gotten too close to a dangerous truth. She had been a little bit too smart for her own good and this had sealed her fate. She had been diligently investigating Victoria's strange illness because this had been her mission when she had come across something far too dangerous.

Serena knew before anyone else knew and she acted like the innocent and optimistic girl she had been a long time ago before she had buried this version of her. She locked her door and walked over to her closet before she took out her field uniform – the one she had never worn before. Serena wasn't really close to anyone from her own organisation – with the exception of her family members and some of her old comrades from Briggs – but as a leader, she saw it as her duty to bring her subordinates home – dead or alive wasn't that much of a matter in this case. Her hair was bound to a low ponytail in the same way her sister wore it and her ribbon was red as blood. She traded her skirt for tight black pants and her white blouse had to leave in favour of a plain black sweat-shirt. Her formal black blazer was discarded for a leather jacket she had bought a long time ago and as she wrote herself her order – a clear advantage of being a leader, this was for sure – she took her old gloves for Water Alchemy from her top drawer. She hadn't used this kind of alchemy for a long time but she knew that this was like breathing – easy and somehow even unforgettable. She wrapped thin bandages around her wrists to support them before she hesitated as she took Kay's old gun from her desk. She had been the one to take it after her return because Riza had enough guns and Nerissa loathed them.

"Whoa, Serena," Edward said as he ran into her on the hallway. "What's going on?"

"Mission," his superior said calmly as she kept walking. "Tell Jade that she's in charge while I'm gone. Oh, and have Max make the antidote for the strange stuff in Vicky's blood, will you?"

The young man stared after her as she walked down the staircase to the garages and slowly, he realised that something had to be terribly wrong if Serena entered the field. Up to now, she had never intercepted. She had allowed other people to involve themselves if the risk wasn't too high but even though she was really impatient, she had never left her save office and her position as leader to go on a mission. Even in times when everyone had feared that the CSS could attack, she had shown her strength by refusing to act without thinking long enough about it.

Edward turned to Nerissa who had an expression of sorrow and pain on her face. "What's up?" he asked while he leaned against a wall. "Why is Serena in such panic?"

"Stevens called. It didn't sound good from what I overheard," Nerissa said quietly. "Sure, she managed to attain the antidote to whatever freakish stuff those bastards used on Vicky but … the price was high. Probably we will lose our first comrade today."

"Stevens … died?" the man asked in shock. "I thought that she was supposed to be back tomorrow!"

"Yes," the former lunatic said softly. "But sometimes, life doesn't play like it was supposed to. I don't know any details but I assume that she found more than she was supposed to. Some people – like my late sister Lynn for example – tend to do this and usually, the price is their life. Stevens was a great agent – probably the only one who could put up with Timms without planning to kill him one day – but she was a soldier before and we never got to beat this soldier mindset out of her. The idea of dying for the greater good, for the good of her country was very appealing to her in many ways."

"And so, she just went on this mission to die there?" Edward asked while his eyes widened.

The wiser woman shook her head. "I don't mean it like that," she said slowly. "I merely mean that she was never as opposed to dying at the line of duty as you or me. She wasn't suicidal, quite the contrary, but I saw it with Lynn and Kay: both had accepted the possibility that they could die in uniform a long time ago and even though they were hardly to be called suicidal, they always knew that this fate was waiting for them. You may argue now that Kay was very desperate after the war and it's probably true that she considered killing herself back then but she never did because she had something to live for."

"And you really believe that Stevens had no one to live for?" Edward asked. "That just cannot be true! I met her once or twice – she was so optimistic, so full of life!"

"Humans lie in many ways," Nerissa replied as she looked out the window. "I, for example, lie with every fibre of my being – or did you really forget what I can do once I get angry enough? And sometimes, I believe that every single out of us humans lies with every breath we take."

"Optimistic as always," he muttered as he dragged her down the hallway. "Honestly, Nessa, you have the most optimistic and positive view on our kind. It's really amazing."

"I do not appreciate your sarcasm," she said dangerously softly.

He rolled his eyes. "You appreciate nothing I do," he muttered.

She sighed deeply as she grabbed some of the folders from the empty desk in her two-man-office. She had it all to herself because even though she had been cleared from all the charges against her, she was still considered as one of the most dangerous agents. She took one of the reports and started to read it. "I just came to realise that it would be fatal to glorify every little thing you do," she said calmly. "It would be poison for you, correct? You could get too arrogant."

"And why are you worried that I could get myself killed that way?" he asked while he frowned.

"Unlike me, your life has never been ruled by any rules," she said calmly while she raised her gaze from the report. "As daughter of one of the most powerful and impressive alchemists Amestris has seen in a long time, I am duty-bound to follow my father's path and to make sure that his legacy will not be wasted." She crossed her arms. "Believe me, Elric, sometimes I really envy you for your freedom."

"You are crazy if you really envy me," he said darkly.

"This is an established fact by now, right?" she smirked while she threw him a green scarf and shrugged as he looked at her with confusion written on her face. "I originally bought it for Catherina but she has a really similar one I didn't know and I thought that Winry or Mei could like it."

"Alright, the mission can start now," Elicia said as she checked her bag. "I … um … may have borrowed some chemicals from school but I don't think that anyone will notice that they are missing."

"Jun Li will most definitively never notice that I stole some of her shuriken and kunai," Cai said as he held up some of them. "She has simply more of them than any other sane person."

"I borrowed some of Victoria's bandages and other stuff like that," Nick said. "I just hope that my sister doesn't kill us the next time she sees us."

"Vicky will be worse than any of our parents," Laila said. "What did we tell her, again?"

"That we visit Edward and Winry in Resembool," Cai shrugged. "She somehow believed us."

"This will cause a lot of trouble," Elicia muttered as they boarded the train to the western area.

"Of course it will," Nick said calmly, "but I still think about working for the secret service when I am older, so this will be a great preparation for my future."

"Sure – especially if we manage to get killed," Laila said as she flicked his forehead.

"No, because in the end, our talents are pretty much different," Cai said calmly.

"And variety is the source of success," Nick said with a smirk as he sat down. "The only thing we lack is a professional healer and I know a little bit about this as well."

"If something happens to me…" Laila stopped and like most leaders, she would never finish this sentence because it had never been necessary for her to state this last wish. Anyone who knew her story knew that she wished to be buried alongside her biological parents one day.

"Understood," Nick said friendly because he knew of this wish because he had been the one to help Laila up after breaking down whenVictoriahad nearly died so many months ago. They had spoken a long time about death and destruction that day and somehow, it had helped them both to face this possible outcome and consider their possible future together.

"Thank you, Nick," the blonde said softly before she kissed his cheek. She wore her favourite yellow shirt with a white scarf while her hair was down for once. "You're the best brother a girl can wish for."

The black-haired boy nodded slowly. Sometimes, he considered himself as the luckiest one out of his generation. He had no burden to carry – not the legacy of a dangerous type of alchemy from the past like Laila or the burden of a future too great and too dangerous like Victoria.

A week later

It was strange for Nerissa to celebrate her birthday. The 2nd of October was hers and Kay's birthday after all and to celebrate the day of their birth when the other twin was dead felt wrong. Of course, Kay had been missing from Nerissa's life since the age of six and therefore, the blonde was used to being alone on her birthday and since Serena hadn't returned from her little trip yet. But even though most people would assume that Nerissa was used to being alone by now, she still didn't like to be alone. Loneliness was something terrible for the girl who had been abandoned once too often.

"Happy birthday, Nessa," Edward grinned as he barged into her office. "But you really don't have to worry – you're still a really good-looking woman, granny."

She glared at him. "Did you come to insult me or do you have the reports I asked for?" she sighed.

"I just came to congratulate you, boss."

She huffed. "First things first: Jade is in charge, remember this because she has nothing else to do … and you dare to come here without the folders I need?"

"I am really shocked that you honestly want to work today," he said.

"It's just another day to me."

"Just another day? Woman, it's your birthday!"

"It's the 2nd of October 1923 – this is a normal day for me, just like every other day."

"Girl, you're thirty-three today! You have to wait eleven years before you get to the next double number!" he said as he shook her.

"Elric, this is an absolutely normal day to me! Stop making such a fuss for crying out loud!"

"Is this a bad time?" Miles asked as he appeared in the doorway.

"No, of course not!" Nerissa said exhausted.

"Happy birthday," he said. "You look great, really."

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Don't lie and don't congratulate," she huffed.

"It is your birthday," he said. "And I came from Ishbal to congratulate, Nessa."

"And as nice as this is, Teddy, I haven't celebrated my birthday in many years," she stated as she got up and took some folders from her shelf. "Next year, I make sure that I am out of town on my birthday. This is nothing I actually want to celebrate. There are more important dates when my birthday, boys. And frankly, I have far too much work to do right now. Speaking of which … Elric, these folders have to be on Jade's desk in ten minutes and I just can't leave my desk alone today. Do me a favour?"

The younger agent rolled his eyes as he grabbed the folders. "Consider the job as done," he said amused before he disappeared into the hallways of the building.

Miles waited until the door was closed again. "How do you feel today?" he asked quietly.

"Great," she said as she smiled faintly up at him.

"You are lying," he said while he looked at her, "and you should know that I always notice this, Nessa. You are suffering again … and I guess that this time, it's because of Kay."

She sighed deeply while she allowed herself to hug him tightly. "Yeah," she admitted. "It's about her that I don't want to hear any congratulations. I mean … I hated her, I really did. But the longer she is gone the more I came to realise that in truth, I really cared about my foolish little sister. In the end, we were pretty much alike, I guess."

"So, what are you going to do tonight?" he asked while he looked at her. The main reason why he had came to Central for her birthday had been that he was worried about her. She had a bad tendency of doing stupid things when she got too emotional – and her birthday could do this to her. He had heard from some passing agents that Serena was out of town and at some unknown location for the great leader and decided to take a solo-mission which had never happened before. And because it was more or less common knowledge that Serena kept Nerissa in line when the older one was too emotional because everyone feared that she could get suicidal if she felt too desperate.

"I am going to read some books and drink some tea, nothing too special," she said calmly.

"Oh, alright," he said. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out with me tonight…"

"I can always change my plans," she chuckled. "You pick me up at eight?"

"Sure thing," he said.

There had always been something very strange and bizarre about Serena, now that Jade thought about it as the blond woman stood in her office with a strangely defeated and broken expression on her face. Her mission – to bring back the body of her lost agent – had obviously gone wrong. She waited for the head of security to announce her next steps because no matter what that happened, she had always stood up and made sure that the mistake wouldn't happen a second time. Therefore, she had never truly admitted that she had made a mistake because this would have meant to admit defeat.

"…Serena?" Jade asked softly as she watched how her shoulders trembled. "What…?"

She raised her empty gaze. "I … I have no idea," she whispered.

Her eyes widened. "Se-serena…" she whispered as the blonde broke down and fell to her knees.

"This time, Jade, I … I truly failed my country…" she said. "I … I lost an agent…"

"Things like this are terrible but they happen," Olivier said calmly as she turned around from her place at the window. "And you, Serena, you are no weakling, right? You are a fighter! So yes, even though you lost someone you were trusted with, you have to keep fighting. To give in now would just mean that you surrender and allow whoever caused Stevens' death to win this battle of minds. And the Serena Hawkeye I worked with for so many years would rather die than allow this to happen!"

"I … I don't give up! I'd never give up! Giving up is something I never learnt to do!" Serena said. "Don't you dare to call me a weakling, Olivier Armstrong! I am not out of the game yet!"

"That's what I thought," the smaller blonde said as she turned to leave. "No former subordinate of mine ever went down without a proper fight after all. I see you tomorrow when you feel better."

Catherina watched how Nerissa got ready for her diner with her boyfriend before the red-haired woman turned around and sighed deeply. "Poor girl," she said softly while she ran her fingers through her husband's thick red hair. "I mean … she always misses Kay but today, it has to be killing her inside."

"You'd know how it feels to lose half of yourself, huh?" he asked.

"Exactly," she said. "And no matter how hard she tries, nothing can even claim to numb this pain."

AN: Starting today, everyone can ask questions about the characters' background and other things if he/she wants to.
I have a lot of background prepared and I will probably never get to fit it into the story somehow.