For Her. For Him.

A/N: To my reviewers, TrulyWished, thanks, and yeah, those who know the story know things aren't great from this point on. Nomme de Plume, yeah, I made Archer more of a villain than Scar, as he now makes an appearance here. nette, They're in Lior, and glad that you liked the proposal. I'm really leaning toward a sequel (I kind of want to write how these two deal with parenthood, with plot naturally) so I wanted them to take a step toward a traditional relationship. Hikaru! Glad you like Raine, and Marta's around for this chapter too, though it isn't as a huge part. milky, no, there's no real hiding here. 4thcry, thank you so much, and you're kind of the reason I'm considering a sequel. You put the bug in my brain and it just won't shake loose. Kumiko, I know updates aren't coming as fast. They've been a pain, actually, but if I can't manage daily, I try to make sure it isn't too long before there's another. To Amethyst-eyed Koneko, when you get this far, since you started reading this late in the game, may I just say I'm glad you decided to take on a story at 30-some chapters in length, and that you've been dutifully leaving me reviews since you started reading. Thanks. Oh, and the Reine, Raine, thing, I Raine is just a French name that means queen. (I just liked it better than Reine)

Also, as for the the last chapter with Archer, I wanted to flesh out his relationship with Roy. They have a past, and I wanted him to seem at least a little less evil twelve years in Roy's past, I didn't quite have the stomach, though, to go into a lemon, it just didn't work for that chapter. I might be done with their past.

Chapter 35

Lior

Reaching Lior, the two alchemists had little options but to part ways. Al, on orders from both the fuhrer and Colonel Archer was forced to remain behind, though Ed and Mustang had been grateful that Marta and Raine, as non-military members who would not be missed, could go along with Ed as he scouted the town. Somehow, and no one really asked exactly how, Marta had managed to find a motorcycle and sidecar.

As they parted, Ed grabbed hold of Al’s hand. “I haven’t forgotten the deadline you gave me,” he said to his little brother. “You wanted to be able to feel the babies. I’m going to get you your body back so that you can.”

“Brother, you’re so close… you can’t--”

“Can’t isn’t a word in my vocabulary.”

Ed was determined not to show tears, not now, when his brother and fiancé needed him to be strong. He’d faced off against Scar before, he’d been to Lior, and in his condition, he was probably safer than he might have been just showing up as the Fullmetal Alchemist. Scar had taken a liking to Al, even if not to him, and Ed doubted he could hurt Ed and two unborn babies for Al’s sake if not for Ed or the babies’. As for the people of Lior, from what Ed could remember, they wouldn’t have dared to hurt a pregnant woman, and as long as that was how he appeared, he felt reasonably safe.

Ed donned the brown wig that draped over half of his face while his brother once again rubbed over his belly.
“Don’t you two try to make an appearance too soon,” Al said to Ed’s stomach, before carefully hugging his older brother. Then, he moved to Roy, whose cold façade was breaking down by the second.

Roy offered Ed his hand, but Ed smacked it away, wrapping his arms around the colonel. “If anyone sees, blame it on me being sick or having a crush on you. I don’t care. I’m not just shaking your hand, damn it.”

Though they were relatively certain that no one was seeing this tearful goodbye, Ed honestly meant it when he said didn’t care. If this really would be the last time he’d see his colonel, damn anyone who tried to stop him from at least hugging the man. Roy patted Ed’s back, doing so in a way that the teen knew meant he returned the gesture but to any observer looked awkward and stunned.

“Take care of yourself, Ed.” Roy moved his hands to rest over the two babies. “Take care of them, too.” With a smile, he added, “If you have to, find something to hide under or behind. Shouldn’t be do hard for a shrimp like you.”

“Bite me, you dirty old man.” Ed ended the embrace and looked to the two women at the motorcycle.

“Ed, I need your watch. Orders.” Ed handed Roy the silver time-piece.

“Yeah, I guess if someone spotted that, it would be a dead giveaway.”

Ed looked up into the black eyes, then forced himself to look away as Raine and Marta helped him into the sidecar. It had shocked everyone when she’d announced she was going along, but she said that despite her need for revenge, she felt she’d get it one way or another, but wanted to be of some protection to Ed because he needed her more.

Marta started the engine, while Ed tried to make out what Roy was saying to his sister, something about taking care of Ed.

Raine made her way back to the motorcycle, no sooner straddling the roaring machine than Marta took off, leaving a cloud of dust in the moonlit compound.

********

It wasn’t a long journey, but long enough to have Ed’s body aching all over. When they pulled into the streets of Lior, the people looked at them strangely, and why wouldn’t they? After all, it wasn't often three--what appeared to be--women were seen riding a motorcycle into town. Realizing the streets of Lior were not truly designed for the motorcycle, Marta found a place to store it for the night while Raine and Ed made their way to an all-too-familiar café.

“Hello ladies,” the mustachioed man behind the counter said. “Those barstools can’t be too comfortable on you, miss, in your condition. Let me see if we can find something back here at least to prop your feet on.” The man returned with a crate, handing it to Raine who set it underneath of Ed’s feet. “So how far along are you?”

“Thirty-four weeks,” Ed answered, in a whisper-like voice. “With twins.” He rubbed his belly with his gloved hands.

“What are you doing traveling in your condition?”

“I didn’t have much choice. I live not far from here and my home was destroyed by a fire, so I need to find a place to stay.” His house had been destroyed by a fire, so he didn't entirely feel like he was lying, though the lie felt more about that being home instead of his place with the colonel in Central.

“Don’t you worry about that,” the man said as Marta approached behind Ed. “We’ll find you somewhere. We’re not going to have you staying in a barn. You ladies with her?”

“I’m her sister-in-law,” Raine answered, with a rub of Ed’s shoulder.

“Sister,” Marta replied, taking a seat beside him.

“Good to know she’s got family here.” Ed couldn’t help but notice as a hush went over the crowd. There was a group of robed people walking through the streets, behind them, a figure holding a tiny child. “The Holy Mother,” the café owner explained.

Ed’s yellow eyes looked up at the woman. “Rose.”

As though she heard him, the woman looked down at Ed, a baby, a few months old, in her arms. Ed, daring to risk it, pushed the brown wig out of his face, hoping she might recognize him. Though someone behind her tried to urge her onward, Ed took the risk of standing from his seat and pulling just a bit of his blond hair from beneath the wig, only to tuck it back in before anyone else could see it. Rose said nothing, but seemed to realize who he was.

“Rose,” a man behind her said. “We need to keep moving.” Rose ignored him and outstretched her hand to Ed. “Rose.” The man who had been nudging Rose alonge stepped from behind her and looked Ed straight in the eye. “What are you doing here?”

Though Raine and Marta had no experience with this man, they saw the scar on his forehead, stepping to either side of Ed, daring Scar to do anything to the pregnant teen. Ed did his best to ignore Scar. He didn’t understand why she had this role, but Rose seemed to be important in all of this, so he kept his attention focused on her. Besides, Marta would have strangled Scar and Raine dismembered him before he actually got to attempt anything on disguised blond.

Rose looked at Ed questioningly. Why didn’t she speak? He was standing in front of her, appearing to be disguised as a pregnant woman, and she could say nothing?

Her hand clasped his right, as though verifying that beneath the glove there was a metal hand. She looked down at his stomach, as though wondering what was in it, what he had used to simulate pregnancy. Taking her hand, he pulled it to his belly, actually hoping that the two rambunctious babies would move for her to feel. When they did, he heard her gasp and start to withdraw her hand. Her eyes stared at his stomach, then moved to his face. He nodded his head. Yes, Rose, that really was a baby you felt.

Ed looked up to the dark-haired baby in her arms, squirming in its position, looking less than comfortable. Rose shifted the child in her arms, allowing Ed to see its face more clearly.

“Rose,” Scar said, “we must go.”

Rose grabbed hold of Ed’s right hand, pulling him with her on their journey through the streets. He turned and signaled the women with him to follow behind. His right hand clasped tightly by Rose’s left, he found himself placing his left at the small of his back.

“I must say, Edward Elric that you have this act down pat,” Scar said, earning a gasp from the woman beside him, one Ed almost didn’t recognize after those years since Youswell.

“Lyra,” Ed said. “Why are you in Lior?”

“I wanted to do good with alchemy, after what I did under first lieutenant Yoki. I thought I could be of some real help here.”

They walked in silence along the length of a brick building, but once there was a space between the buildings, Scar took the opportunity to pull Edward aside, away from the crowds of people wanting to see the Holy Mother.

“Why are you here?” Scar asked.

“I’m here to find out what the hell is going wrong in this town. Namely, why there is an Ishballan alchemic drawing that surrounds it. You are willing to sacrifice these people to create the stone?” Scar looked at Ed in shock. “Yes, I know that’s what that symbol on your arm means. So, tell me, are you willing to go that far?”

“I have no intention of using the people of Lior for my transmutation. I drew that symbol some time ago, waiting for the final pieces of the stone to find it.”

“The military!” Ed clapped his hands and held Scar by the neck. “You intend to use the military as ingredients?”

“Ed!” Marta yelled as she slithered her way through a crowd that was still preventing Raine from getting to him.

“Stay back. He will kill you if he gets near you,” Ed said to her before feeling Scar trying to transmute Ed’s arm. “Keep trying, you bastard.” Ed clapped his hands again and backhanded Scar. His human limbs might have been exhausted, but it was nice to get to flex the ones that weren’t.

“Why can’t I disintegrate your arm?”

Ed clapped his hands again. “Did you know there are numerous combinations I can transform it into, many metals? You need to know the composition to disintegrate it.” Unfortunately, Ed didn’t move fast enough and Scar grabbed his left arm.

“I know the composition of human flesh,” Scar said, triumphantly, though there was a look in his eyes that Ed only half-caught that seemed to say he wouldn't do it.

“No!” Ed shouted, hearing an echo of it coming from behind from two female voices. But before either of the women could do anything, a force from Ed sent Scar hurtling backwards against the brick wall, tearing Ed’s shirt as he did, revealing half of the stomach, much to the confusion of the older, marked man.

Ed looked down at his left hand in wonder. That certainly was something he’d never been able to do before. Marta immediately restrained Scar with her body, careful to keep clear of the tattooed arm while Raine came and inspected Ed.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, still staring at his hand. “That’s never happened before. It was like something was trying to protect me.”

“You…” Scar sputtered out. “How are you…”

“Alchemy.”

Scar looked over the top of the tinted glasses that covered his red eyes. “It’s unnatural.”

“Yeah, well tell my body that. It’s done everything it can to accommodate them.”

“Them?”

“Twins. I have two children in there.” With a more serious tone, he added. “And I will kill anyone who tries to hurt them.” Scar started to outstretch his hand, the right one, but Ed saw on his face he had no intention of using the hand for anything than satisfying his curiosity. “You can touch, but other hand.”

“What about me? Can I touch?” a voice said as long talon-like fingers pierced the weak metal Ed had transmuted his hand into, binding him to the wall behind him. Lust stepped out of the shadow, Gluttony behind her.

“Can I eat him?”

“Don’t you dare!” A third woman--Lyra, Ed realized--said.

“Tell me, shrimp, would you like to have a cesarean right now? Because you will if you or anyone else moves” With an evil smirk, she continued. “How did you manage that much power? It was something new, even for you. How did you do that? Was it them? Who was their mother… father…?”

With his hand somewhat free from Marta’s grip, Scar reached into the cloak he wore and pulled out a silver locket. “Do you remember this?”

Lust froze, her fingers retracting.

“Lust?” Gluttony said as Lust began to tremble and back away. He wrapped an arm around her and leapt up the building, eating his way through a wall. “I’ll get you for hurting my Lust!”

Ed felt Raine’s arms and another set of arms supporting him. He looked to his right to find Lyra looking at him intently. “You’re carrying twins?”

“A little boy and a little girl,” Ed said, too exhausted from his panic and that burst of energy to even care who he was telling.

“A little girl?” she asked.

********

Back at the mobile command base, there was shocked surprise as the fuhrer and his secretary had arrived, and Mustang’s anger had not gone unnoticed. Sitting on a chair a bit too big for him, Wrath listened as his so-called “parents” talked.

“I think he knows something, Pride,” Sloth said.

“He will be easy enough to eliminate. And if we send in the troops in time for Scar to start the creation of the philosopher’s stone, then we solve our little Mustang problem.” Pride made his way to the door, the eye patch covering his Ultimate Eye, which Wrath had learned about the last time he’d misbehaved in front of the bastard. Evading the man was pointless. He could anticipate every move, every erratic attempt the young homunculus had made. “I have some business to attend to, concerning your son, all alone in that town.”

Pride left, and Wrath knew he had to take his chance. “When he says your son, does he mean Edward?”

“Yes, Wrath,” the water creature said, placing a human-like hand on his head. “Edward is in Lior right now with the master. She’ll see to it that he is taken care of.”

“He isn’t hers to take care of! I want the rest of his body. I want to be complete!” Using his alchemy, Wrath did what he could to disappear from the woman who could slip through any crack. He transformed into wall after wall, making his way down to the dungeon, where he knew the fuhrer was headed, remaining a part of the wall as he felt the liquid body of Sloth slither by.

“Lieutenant Colonel Kimblee and Major Shou Tucker, I want you to be aware that we have received reports that a state alchemist has been killed in Lior. Very tragic circumstances,” the fuhrer explained. “We are unaware as of yet whether he was ripped apart by chimeras or if he was blown to bits. Perhaps you two would be able to be of some service to determine which?”

“My chimeras are not designed for attacking, only for defense,” Tucker hoarsely whispered.

“I’m sure they can be persuaded to do otherwise.”

With a smile, Kimblee spoke up. “Well, if the little alchemist isn’t dead yet, he will be soon enough.”

“Very good.” Pride walked out of the lowest portions of the mansion that served as center of commands while Wrath made his way back up the levels, carefully, since he knew that Sloth would still be looking for him. Becoming a part of the outer wall, he watched as a puddle of water moved stealthily across the ground, searching for him. He moved inside, into the room with the colonel, who was considerably less drunk than their first encounter, his men, and Al.

“Peekaboo,” Wrath said as he transformed into his human form.

“Wrath,” the colonel said, in surprise, while his men looked mortified.

“You should know they’re sending Kimblee and some chimeras to do away with your boyfriend and incite a war. Ed’s to be a martyr for the state so that they can send you all into the city as components for the philosopher’s stone. And right now, Dante is with Ed, probably eyeing him up as an ingredient. Now, I’ve got to get back.” He looked at Al. “Mother is waiting for me. And she has sensed the presence of her real body here. She’s avoiding this floor as much as she can. I don‘t know who has it, but Pride will be after that person to get it back since she can't. He's gotten attached to her, as much as he can.”

“And who is Pride?”

“Who do you think?” Wrath said as he jumped into the wall, vanishing from the room. He knew they suspected. It was written on the faces of those men how much they despised Sloth and Pride, which was why they were a liability to the homunculi. The only thing keeping them alive tonight was the certain death they faced tomorrow, and Wrath knew it.

Just before he was out of earshot, out of the wall, he heard Al announce he was going into the city to face Kimblee. He honestly wished the tin can good luck.