Author's Note:

Huh, people seemed to (for the most part) like the last chapter. Now that I think about it, Nightingale could probably pass for an Amestrian Officer if she changed out her red uniform for a blue one and you ignored the combat skirt.

DivineWhiskey: (Love the name) Good eye. I had plans to have Jaune witness the horrors of Ishval in some way or another. He'd never be a combat-focused Alchemist and I wanted to tie his story to Scar's in some way. I figured that this would do nicely.

MM Browsing: Dear God, man. You are killing it with the reviews. Was I the Drifter, I'd give you a god roll Spare Rations. Good on you.

Jim Sherman was someone I thought of, spur of the moment. His last name Sherman comes from the Sherman Tank used in WW2, thus following the naming convention pattern amongst the Amestrian Military. (I.E. Mustang's last name from the P-51 Mustang and Hawkeye's coming from the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, both from WW2 as well)

As to the things you've recommended regarding dust weaving, I am following the rule set about in the World of Remnant series: Dust loses its potency as soon as it leaves Remnant's atmosphere, so that means no Dust in Amestris. That does give me a few ideas for the sequel though.

My logic is that the same restrictions on Dust could also be said for Jaune's aura and semblance. He won't lose either, rest assured, but it will be severely reduced. Something of an enhanced healing factor and his semblance would be similar to his RWBY canon one where he can enhance others, but it would be more useful in healing others.

Regarding the Sequel:

Your idea regarding the Grimm coming through does give me a few ideas for the inciting incident and motivation as to why Jaune would return, so thanks for that. As for him getting one of his arms back, I'll have to refuse. By the end of this story, I want to show him having fully accepted his metal limbs. Besides, whichever limb he'd have returned would be emaciated much like how Ed's arm was after it was returned to him. He's also much happier in Amestris, so he'd only stick around long enough to stop any further Grimm invasions, via killing Salem herself. I have a few ideas on how to pull that off. All I'll say is that good and evil cannot exist without the other.

The title of the AOT/FMA: B story I mentioned is Dedicated Hearts made Fullmetal by Justsomeone19. It's a pretty good read. Go check it out.

Midnight49: For your first question, see the third paragraph onward in my response to MM Browsing. As for if he'll ever meet Jim Sherman, I think he'll serve a similar role to Marcoh in the sequel. Someone who's aware of a conspiracy but with little to no power to affect it.

Haxorus knight: Pretty sure I answered this question in the previous chapter's note. No Remnant until the sequel, if I get there. Maybe a vision when Jaune goes through the Gate of Truth again near the end of the story, who knows?

digreg: I'll pretend I understood that. If you're saying that Sherman's escape from Ozpin's brotherhood pissed them off, then most likely. I might bring him back in a sequel if I ever write it.

With those major points mentioned, enjoy.

February 1905

Jaune Arc awoke slowly to the faint chatter of conversation and what sounded like oil sizzling in a pan. He groaned as he turned his head about to inspect his surroundings.

Sterile white tiles decorated the walls while small rectangular windows dotted the far wall. Opposite that wall was a staircase set into the wall that led up to where Jaune could hear the conversation.

"Got everything, Winry? All set for school?" A man asked.

"Yep, all set," A young girl said with an enthusiasm that made the man laugh.

"All right then. I'll get her to the school and make sure the Elrics are up too," an elderly woman's voice sounded fainter as she spoke. The sound of a door open and close followed her statement.

Jaune could hear the faint rumble of conversation between the elder and the girl continue outside the basement windows before it faded. He closed his eyes.

So damned tired.

"I wonder if that boy will wake up soon," a woman's voice filtered down to the basement, causing Jaune's eyes to feebly open.

Jaune opened his mouth to say something only for a dry rasp to escape it. He descended into a coughing fit that only served to wake him up even more. He barely registered the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs until a man in a white surgeon's smock appeared at his side and rolled him over. Jaune's coughing fit died down and he sucked in a breath. He was rolled back to his previous position.

"Easy there. You've been out for a while," the man said, which drew Jaune's eyes up to him. At his inquisitive gaze, the man continued. "My name is Yuri. Yuri Rockbell. You're currently in my family's clinic in Resembool."

"Resembool?" Jaune coughed again. "That anywhere near the kingdoms?"

Yuri's confused face did little to ease Jaune's nerves. "Kingdoms? Do you mean Xing?"

Jaune's head fell back onto his pillow with a sigh. Footsteps from the staircase drew his attention to that direction to see a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman descend. Jaune choked on his spit. The woman could pass for one of his sisters!

Yuri noticed his shift and turned back to see the woman approach, her hands tying her own sterile smock on. "This is my wife, Sarah." He looked at Jaune. "Sarah, this is…" His face turned sheepish. "Sorry, in all that excitement just now, I forgot to ask your name."

"Jaune… Jaune Arc," he rasped as he fought to sit up.

Yuri and Sarah rushed to help. "Easy. You've been out for a week."

"A week?"

Sarah nodded with a smile. "You gave our daughter Winry quite a fright when she was out playing with the Elric boys. She said you dropped out of the sky directly in front of her and hit the ground pretty hard. We got you down here and operated on you within the hour."

"It was touch and go a few times, but we managed to stabilize you," Yuri said as Jaune looked down at his chest, where he could see the edges of bandages cross his torso and disappear under the sheets. Yuri cleared his throat and stood up straight. "You must have gone through something fierce because you had lost a lot of blood by the time we got you."

Jaune looked up at him in confusion. "Lost-? What do you mean? I wasn't in any combat before-" Jaune froze as his memories started to come back.

Finding Sherman's transmutation circle. The Gate. The knowledge shoved into his head.

The Truth.

His lip started to tremble as he looked down at his covered body. "Doc, be real with me: did I lose anything?"

Yuri exchanged a glance with Sarah before his gaze returned to Jaune. "When we got you in here, everything of your arms below your shoulders was missing. We managed to stitch you back together, but when we went out to see if a pair of limbs had appeared near your location, we couldn't find anything. I'm sorry."

Jaune's breathing increased as he stared down at the sheet. "Show me," he croaked.

Yuri pulled the sheet down Jaune's body and Jaune's breathing went into overdrive as he stared at where his arms used to be. "Shit. He's hyperventilating. Sarah, get the sedatives." Yuri held Jaune down as the boy began to tremble and struggle.

"Here." Sarah rushed over with a sharp and a bottle. While her husband held Jaune down, she drew a small amount of sedative and stuck it into Jaune's neck.

Jaune struggled for a half a second before he fell back onto his pillow, his vision blurred by hot tears. He fought to stay awake as he focused on his stump, but his vision slowly went dark and he passed out.

Another three days would pass before Jaune could wake up and stay calm without the need for sedatives. Another two would pass until the Rockbells let him have solid food again.

Jaune opened his mouth to accept the offered amount of stew. He gagged as the heat stung inside his mouth until a glass of water replaced the spoon and he gulped the drink down.

"Sorry about that. I usually put a bit of milk in my stew after I'm done to make it easier for the kids to eat," the woman who had introduced herself as Pinako Rockbell said.

"It's fine. My sisters often put me through crazier culinary endeavors," Jaune said as he shifted. "My younger sister Erina kept saying that she wanted to go to Vale's main culinary school. She fed us some of the most… unique dishes most of us had ever had in our lives." He looked down at his lap. "It's likely that I won't ever see them again."

"Considering I've never heard of some of the places you told us the other day, I wouldn't be surprised," Pinako said as she gave him another spoonful, which Jaune took without complaint and chewed quietly.

"I wonder if I'll ever fit in here." He glared down at his stumps. "Especially with no arms. I'll just be a burden to your family until I either leave or die."

"You will do neither of those things," Pinako said harshly as she set the bowl and spoon aside.

Jaune looked up in time to receive Pinako's small but forceful slap to the face. "What the hell? Isn't this patient abuse?"

"Not when my patients are sounding like suicidal morons, then I feel that it is my duty as a doctor to knock some sense into them." Pinako pulled her hand behind her back and looked Jaune in the eye. "Listen to me, boy. It would go against everything my family believes in to turn our backs on you. You need our help and we are all too happy to give it." Jaune looked down at his lap at her words. "Besides," Jaune looked up at her. "Winry has become rather attached to you in the brief time you've been here." Pinako smiled fondly. "She's taken after me and her parents. She's constantly worrying about you and she's already tried to design automail for you."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Automail? What is that?"

Pinako froze as if she had been struck by lightning. She smacked her forehead with her palm. "Gah! Goddamn it! I knew we forgot to mention something when we formally introduced ourselves the other day. How could I forget the most important part of our livelihood?" She hopped off the stool she was on and rushed over to a closet under the staircase. "Give me a moment." She disappeared into the shadows of the storage area while Jaune could only watch on in bewilderment. A light clicked on and he could hear Pinako muttering under her breath. "Where did I put that thing? I know I put it somewhere." She let out a triumphant laugh as she exited the closet covered in dust while she hefted a metal limb. She tossed it up onto Jaune's leg and he coughed when the dust flew up onto his face. "Oh, sorry." Pinako fanned the dust off of Jaune and brought his attention back to the limb. "This is automail. My own grandfather got me into it over fifty years ago. This was one of my first pieces."

Jaune examined the limb on his leg. "You want to attach this to me?"

"Oh, heavens no. Not this one anyway." Pinako picked the limb up off of Jaune's leg and tossed it onto the chair. "Each automail limb needs to be both custom-built and maintained." She tapped Jaune's right stump and he twitched. "They're attached to the nervous system directly and they respond much like how a regular organic limb would respond." She hummed to herself as she brought her pipe out and chewed on the end. "We'd be able to replace both your limbs and get you back into acceptable shape as early as next year if you stick to the therapies we assign you."

"I would be able to function, much like any other person?" Jaune asked as he stared at the automail.

"You'd probably be about as able as a regular civilian. You'll have to build yourself back up."

Jaune nodded, his face shifting to one of determination. "I'll just have to live with that. No sense in crying about it."

Pinako smirked. "'Atta boy." She slapped his leg as she turned to the staircase. "I'll get started on the metal requisitions. As soon as my son and his wife get back from their business trip, we'll get started on building the parts." She looked back at Jaune as he now had the fire of determination in his eyes. "We'll get you back in tip-top shape in no time."

Jaune set his head back and smiled. Things were finally starting to look up for him. He paused in his revelry when his stomach growled and he frowned. "Shit. I didn't finish my stew."

March 1905

Jaune groaned as he came to. Several doses of sedatives and painkillers flowing through his system made his head feel as if it had been stuffed full of cotton and then had a jackhammer run loose among his grey matter. The aftereffects of the medications had him fading in and out of consciousness all night to the point that the Rockbells had come by every five

He glanced down at his stumps and grinned through his discomfort. The first parts of his automail had been implanted over the past twelve hours and he now sported two automail docks that he could see under his bandages.

Tiny footsteps heralded the arrival of the Rockbell's six-year-old daughter Winry. "Jaune!" The tiny blonde called as she rushed over to him, a bowl of oatmeal in her hands.

"Hey, kid." Jaune groaned as he tried to pull himself up.

"No, let me!" Winry said as she worked the back of the bed, turning the wheel that set the bed in a reclining state.

"Thanks," Jaune croaked. He relaxed against the bed as Winry dragged over a stool and pulled herself up onto it.

"Dum-dum. You'll tear your stitches." She berated him with a pout on her face. Jaune chuckled at her words. "Hey, don't laugh! I'm being serious!"

"I'm sorry, it's just hard to take you seriously with such an adorable expression on your face. You look exactly like-" He froze as he began to remember his family. "-my sister."

Winry may have been just six years old, but she knew the expressions of sorrow people could have. "You shouldn't be upset." Her words were quiet, but Jaune heard them. "Granny always tells me that you shouldn't cry for people who've passed away. It'll just make them sad on the other side."

Jaune grunted. "They're not dead." Winry looked at his melancholic expression with concern. "They might as well be, seeing as how I'll probably never see them again."

"Then that's even more reason not to cry!" Jaune looked at her in surprise after her outburst and Winry flushed red. "If you can find a way back to them, then you won't be sad, right?"

Jaune smiled and chuckled. "Fair enough. For now, though, I'll settle on making it through attaching my automail and then I'll see where things go."

Winry smiled and nodded. "Yep!"

"Winry, what are you doing down here?" The two of them looked up to see Yuri walk down the stairs.

"Grandma wanted me to see if Jaune was awake and bring him some food if he was."

"You shouldn't bother him too much, Winry, he's recovering," Yuri said as he shooed Winry towards the stairs.

"I'm fine, doc. Our conversation actually is helping. My head doesn't feel like it's stuffed full of cotton anymore."

"Is it?" Yuri asked, stopping near the staircase while Winry watched through the guardrail. "The sedatives must be filtering through you faster than normal."

Jaune tilted his head. "Oh, yeah. Maybe my Aura had something to do with that."

"Speaking of which…" Yuri stepped up beside Jaune. "Does this… Aura of yours have a healing factor?" At Jaune's nod, Yuri gained a thoughtful expression. "That would explain how your stitches began to heal soon after we closed your wounds. Are you feeling any pain?"

Jaune shook his head. "I'm fine right now. I think I'm just instinctively blocking it out with my Aura."

Yuri shook his head. "You are one strange customer, Mr. Arc. I can only assume that your Aura is helping you recover even quicker. I'll have to check it in a few days, but if you keep up this pace of recovery, you might be fitted with automail as soon as two months from now."

Jaune chuckled as he lay back in bed. "Here's to hoping, Doctor. Here's to hoping."

May 1905

Jaune grunted as he tossed another sandbag up onto the pile. Rain poured down from above and added to the massive flood just behind the makeshift levee.

"Get some more sandbags here, on the double!" Jaune yelled to the other volunteers.

"There's more coming, but I doubt it'll be enough!" One of them yelled from near the hill.

Jaune looked up at where the inhabitants of Resembool had gathered on the higher grounds. He could see Winry cling to her grandmother just a few people away from Edward and Alphonse Elric, both of whom Jaune had only formally met mere days ago. He turned back to one of the trucks and grabbed another full sandbag. He swore when he felt something tear in his shoulder, right next to the pink flesh that connected to his automail. The next thing he knew, he found the sandbag hefted out of his hands and tossed to another of the volunteers by Yuri, who guided Jaune aside.

"You're going to tear out your automail at this rate. Get to higher ground before you rip the ports out of your shoulders!" Yuri yelled over the crash of the overflowing river.

"If this thing overflows, it'll be a moot point!" A harsh crash served to reinforce Jaune's words and the two of them looked over to see the levee fall apart under the force of the water. "Case in point!"

"Everyone, get to higher ground!" Yuri called.

Jaune looked over the group, trying to think of ways to turn this situation around, but froze when he saw someone passing through the fleeing volunteers. "Hey, you there! Get back before you get swept away!"

The woman Jaune had yelled at ignored him as a fresh surge of water flew over the levee. She rocked back with the force of the surge but ignored that as well before she clapped her hands and shoved them underwater. The next thing anyone knew, several walls rose from the water and formed a more solid-looking levee.

Yuri turned to Jaune. "Jaune, isn't that like what you did with the Elric boys a few days ago?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah… It's Alchemy." He looked down at his hands as a beefy man approached the woman and held an umbrella over her head. "Just like mine. No transmutation circle." He sighed and a cloud appeared over his head. "And just when I think that I've found my Semblance with my circle-less alchemy. Life is cruel."

Yuri could only offer an awkward pat on the back.

"All right, that should hold for a while." Everyone looked up at the stranger's words.

"Lady, who are you?" Someone in the crowd asked.

"Just a housewife who was passing by!" The woman said cheerfully. The image was ruined a split second later by a river of blood falling from her mouth.

"What the hell? Are you all right? Do you need a doctor?" Jaune asked as he approached.

The woman took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped away the remains of the blood. "It's nothing. Just an old injury acting up. Thank you for asking though."

"Is it so strange to be concerned with the health of a stranger?" Jaune asked.

The woman laughed. "Fair enough." She offered her hand. "I'm Izumi Curtis. This is my husband Sig." She indicated the taller man with a jerk of her thumb.

Jaune took her hand. "Jaune Arc." His eyes glazed over as faint wisps of his white Aura bled through the skin of his shoulders and crept down the metal of his arm. The aura slid onto Izumi's skin and disappeared into her hand.

All parties nearby stared down at the joined hands before Izumi yanked her hand back and stared at him. "What the hell was that?"

Jaune's eyes kept their glazed look as he stared at Izumi. "You're missing something. Something important to life."

Izumi and Sig froze. "How do you know that?" Izumi asked.

Jaune shook his head and the glazed look in his eyes disappeared. It was quickly replaced by a look of confusion as he looked down at his hands. "How do I know that?" He asked himself before his eyes widened and he looked back at Izumi and Sig, the latter of whom looked ready to tear Jaune apart over both his actions and comments. "Gah! I'm so sorry!" He bowed to them. "I don't know why this is happening. I've just been recognizing what's wrong with people ever since I got my Automail!"

"Your Automail-?" Whatever Izumi had to ask fell to the background as the two hurricanes known as Edward and Alphonse entered the conversation as soon as they ran up.

"Hey, old lady, could you be our teacher?" Edward asked, displaying his usual lack of tact and sense.

A vein popped in Izumi's forehead as she clapped her hands and sent the Elric Brothers flying with a transmuted earth fist.

This did nothing to dissuade them as they ran back to the three, this time with Alphonse joining his brother in begging. "Pretty please, old lady?"

Another vein popped in Izumi's hand as she cracked her knuckles. "I'm a little hard of hearing, so I didn't quite catch that. Care to repeat yourselves?"

The brothers exchanged a nervous glance before they folded their hands in front of their faces and gave their best puppy dog eyes. "We'll try again!" Ed said.

"Please, please, teach us, pretty lady?" Al asked.

"No way," Izumi said, turning her nose up.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't take on students. Besides, I'm in the middle of a trip."

"But please!" Ed yelled as he and Alphonse jumped at her, holding onto her arm.

Izumi tried to shake them off, but the two held on. "You brats! Where are your parents?"

"Unfortunately, they don't have any," Jaune said. "The Rockbells have been taking care of them for a little while, but they're mostly on their own."

Izumi's anger faded at his words and she looked down at the boys clinging to her. "How am I supposed to say no to that?" She asked quietly before she put the two down. "Fine. I'll take you both on as my apprentices."

The boys both stared at her with joy as they jumped up and down. "Thank you, teacher!" Alphonse said.

Jaune placed his hands over their heads, causing them to yelp when they jumped up to meet his metal fists. They turned to him as they clutched the bumps on their heads. "Don't you two have packing to do then?"

Edward's eyes widened. "Damn it, he's right. Come on, Al!" The two brothers zipped off, with Alphonse trailing behind his brother.

Jaune laughed at their retreating back before he grew serious and turned back to Izumi and Sig. "I can tell by your skills that you won't let them down. All I ask is that you keep them from hurting themselves in the process. Edward's already starting to show the signs of being the reckless one."

Izumi gave an unladylike snort. "And I suppose you're their mother hen?"

Jaune shrugged. "Someone has to be. Why not the man who was raised in the same household as seven sisters?"

Izumi choked on her spit. "Seven? By the Truth, what was your mother made of?"

"Stronger stuff than me, I know that." Jaune stared up at the sky. He felt the rain slap against his face and closed his eyes. "Not that it matters right now."

The next day, Jaune stood across from the boys and the Curtis' in Resembool's train station. "You boys got everything you'll need?"

The Elrics nodded eagerly.

"Don't stay away too long, you hear? Winry was a crying mess when I told her you two were headed out for a while." The boys glanced down at the floor, their expressions changing to guilt until Jaune patted them on the head. "I'll keep her busy with her automail studies. You know how she gets with that."

Edward scowled. "Great. Like we need another gear nut running around. Granny was enough for me."

"Oh? Is someone getting jealous of not having Winry's attention? That's so cute," Jaune said with a smile. He laughed when Edward tried to jump up and slap him while his own face was cherry red.

"Shut up, you crazy alien!"

"Alien?" Izumi asked, her eyebrow raised.

The Elrics and Jaune froze. The taller of the three blonds turned to Izumi. "Well, that's something of a long story, you see. It all started with-" Jaune was cut off by the whistle of the train.

"Izumi, time to go," Sig said from within the carriage.

His wife sighed and nodded. "I see that it is." She turned back to Jaune. "You'll have to tell me that story later. Would you be willing to make the trip to Dublith?"

"I wouldn't be opposed to it."

"Oh, you could refine your own alchemy, too, Jaune!" Alphonse piped up.

"Your own alchemy? How many secrets do you have, blondie?" Izumi asked. The final call from the conductor made her shake her head in annoyance. "Whatever. Feel free to stop by Dublith. Ask around for the Curtis Butcher's store and you'll find us."

Jaune nodded and quickly gave the boys one last pat on the head before they entered the carriage. He waved at them as they leaned out the window and waved back. He stood on the platform until the train turned around a hill and disappeared.

"Excuse me." Jaune turned around to find one of the station's messengers standing just behind him. "Aren't you the boy staying with the Rockbells?" At Jaune's nod, the man sighed in relief. "Great. Could I give you this letter to deliver to one Yuri and Sarah Rockbell? It's apparently government business." He handed over a trifold letter sealed with the Amestrian coat of arms.

"Is it classified?" Jaune asked after looking it over.

"No. Go ahead."

Jaune broke the seal and quickly looked it over before his eyes widened. "Oh, fuck all kinds of ducks." He nodded to the messenger and ran out of the station.

Did I ramble? I feel like I rambled a bit and threw the story all over the place. Comments, reviews, and ideas are always welcome.