December 25th. 6 days left.

On the couch at Alex's apartment, the child laid asleep, head on his mother's lap as Akari slowly stroked her child's hair with a smile on her face.

Out from behind Sakura Pedals arrived as Yae appeared from behind.

"I assume it went well Ms. Akari."

"It went amazing Yae. I couldn't have asked for any other way to reunite with my son." Said the pink haired mother recalling the moments after the reunion

Yesterday: December 25th. Christmas Morning

After the initial minutes of crying and sobbing, Alex finally calmed down and slowly let go of his mother, only for Akari to immediately hug him back.

"No. Don't let go. I can tell your not done yet."

"T-This, is just the beginning." Alex shakily said as he decided to keep the hug going as he spoke some more.

"Why? If you were still alive, then why? Why'd you stay away for so long?"

Akari struggled to say this next part but eventually talked.

"In my head, I thought if I had immediately went to see you after you massacre, you wouldn't have believe it was alive. You would've treated me simply as a vision toying with your mind."

Alex hated to admit it, but she was right. He would've been way more pissed had he seen Akari alive a day or week after the massacre had happened.

"Then, why take 6 years? Why not 1 or 3?"

"I, wanted to make sure I came back at a time when you were more willing to think I wasn't an illusion. It just, took me 6 years."

"So, basically your anxiety and fear were the reasons."

"Yes. But..." Akari smiled and cupped her child's cheeks. "All that matters now, is that we're reunited Alex. After 6, long years."

"Yeah. Why don't we catch up?' Right after Alex said that, he would faint and fall into his mother's arms.

[Back To The Present]

"So your not caught up yet?"

"No not yet Yae. Though, I'm sure I'll be caught up soon enough."

Yae nodded as she eventually walked away to relax as eventually Alex slowly woke up.

"Good morning Alex. We're home." Said Akari as Alex sat up.

"I'm sorry for fainting."

"It's alright. Emotions were high."

"So, I guess its time we both caught up on what's happened in our lives right?"

"Mhm. I'll go first since not much happened. So, to be clear, I had become Admin a couple of weeks before you were born."

"How the hell did you even become an Admin?"

"Surprisingly, the admin before me bestowed her title, powers, and the admin before me."

"W-Wait. There's more admins!?"

"Yep. There have been many admins in the past. Each admin passing down their title to the next. Somehow, I was chosen as the next one, so, here I am."

"I-I see."

"Being Admin gave me the ability to control time and space on basically anything. Bodies, objects, and myself. So, back at the massacre wheb you had slashed my and your father's backs open, once I was sure you were gone, I reverted time on my body and the wound was gone."

"Wow. That's a nice ability to have."

"So, after the massacre, I had lived out the next 6 years camping out in the forest. Along the way, I had come across a small purple box. The auta it emitted was very dark but full of sorrow. As I opened it, out came a giant white and red fox. It's name was Hellmaru and it immediately began to attack me. Thanks to Admin Book, I was able to beat Hellmaru. As I did, a pink fox haired girl appeared unconscious on the ground as Hellmaru disintegrated."

"Yae used to be a giant fox?"

"Well, not quite. After me and Yae introduced ourselves, Yae told me that Hellmaru was a Kitsune spirit that currently possessed her. The reason it was in the box was cause Yae had sealed herself away to prevent Hellmaru to rampage the land. Though, when I defeated Hellmaru, it turns out that I had helped Yae tame the beast."

"Oh. Well that's nice."

"Mhm. So Yae is now currently in control of her Kitsune spirit. As a gift, I gave Yae some of my powers so she can also manipulate time and space, though, obviously not as much as I can."

"Alright."

"Anyways, that's my story. What about yours?"

Alex sighed and took a decent minute until he finally talked.

"Well, life sucked after the massacre. News outlets and the media immediately began ostracizing me out from the nation. Though, I couldn't really go anymore. So, I lived a homeless life in Lastation for what I thought would've been forever turned out to be one week."

"How'd it so quickly?"

"Cause of "him"."

"Him? You don't mean."

"Yeah. Bradley saw me, and immediately offered me an opportunity to change my life around, so, I accepted. Without needing to take the State Alchemist Exam."

"So at age 7, just one week after slaughtering an entire slum, you were has become a State Alchemist and Assassin?"

"Yep."

Akari just sighed. "I'm not suprised Bradley would do something like that, though, in your posotion, I would've accepted since that your only chance to turn your life around."

"Continuing on, after accepting, from ages 7 to 9 I would work a numerous amount of assassinations, earning money ans eventually living in a dorm. Wasn't great but it was manageable. Age 10 though, was different."

"Hm? What happened at age 10?"

"I went to war."

The moment Alex said that, he could IMMEDIATELY feel the anger and rage emitting from Akari.

Alex honestly forgot that Akari is quite literally is the MOST scariest person when pissed off.

And he ain't just saying that cause she's his mother as Alex can vividly remember Akari making tough brutes quiver in fear.

"H-Hey calm down! Let me explain mom!"

Akari voraciously calmed down though still kept and upset expression.

"Fine."

"Thank you. Now, I wasn't forcefully taken to war. Bradley had come up to me one day and informed me that HQ forces were being shipped to Ishval to help the Amestrian Army win the war a 2nd time. All Bradley said was that he as well as Roy and Riza was going so he told me it was my own decision if I wanted to go or not. Eventually, I told Bradley I was willing to go and so I was taken."

"But why!? You were ONLY 10! A 10 year old shouldn't be in a war! Who knows what could've happened to you!"

"Mom. It's fine. I, actually liked it."

"H-Huh?"

"Mom. I was the hero of the Ishval War."

Chapter 26: End