The tension between Ishbal and the government had already been high but, it all poured over when an Ishbalan child was shot in an inspection. This sent the Ishbal over the edge, and into a full out war with the state. A war that would leave the once peaceful and thriving city of Ishbal in ruins. Almost as if it had never existed. The scars of war can never disappear we just learn to live with them, and in time hope to understand them.

Nikooru opened her eyes slowly to a room filled with sunlight. It irritated her. She put her arm over her eyes. The sunlight irritated her not to say she wasn't already awake anyways. Nikooru usually never slept too well due to her past which haunted her in her dreams. Nightmarish dreams where she would always wake up gasping for air as if the dream itself was drowning her in her painful past.

She slowly sat up in the bed. She glanced over to see Ed sleeping soundly on the bed in the left corner of the room opposite of hers. She was jealous that he could sleep so soundly. Alphonse was sitting a corner with his head tilted down. A sad expression appeared across Nikooru's face for Al never could sleep sometimes though she wished that she never could sleep.

Nikooru appeared to be 16 she had blonde hair with green eyes, a light tan with a few freckles on her cheeks. Her hair grazed about an inch past her shoulders with bangs that she swept to the side of her face. She had narrow shaped eyes. Oh yeah and she was also one inch taller than Ed which always irritated Ed.

She looked at her hand drifting into thought… zoning out.

After going to a desert city named Lior in hopes of getting closer to the Philosopher Stone. Ed was making his way back to give his report to the Colonel. While they were in Lior Ed and Al had gotten rid of a power corrupted priest named Cornello. Nikooru was the only one though that really seemed to know their location which was very close to where Ishbal had once been. She hated being so close to Ishbal for personal reasons. It saddened her which made her hate it.

There came a slight clingy sound this was the sound of Al moving his head in Nikooru's direction.

"You're up early," Al said.

"Well aren't I always? I swear Al you say that every morning"

"Huh… well you are always up so much earlier than Ed. You never do seem to sleep well. Nightmares?"

"Nah it is just this damn bed I just can't get comfortable…"

"….."

"Yeah well sometimes it is nightmares."

"You're not very good at lying"

"Sure," Nikooru said sarcastically.

"What are you two being so damn noisy about? I can't sleep with you two jabbering away." Ed said as he sat up. "Guess I am up now."

"Well aren't you grumpy." Nikooru sounded irritated. Nikooru and Ed both weren't morning people even though Nikooru always woke up so early but, she couldn't really help that. Thus making them clash in the morning but, this couldn't be helped either.

Nikooru's eyes narrowed as she held her gaze at Ed.

"Don't look at me like that stop."

Nikooru held her gaze.

Ed turned his head away from Nikooru for what seemed like forever to him but, was really only like a minute. Nikooru's gaze hadn't changed at all.

"Okay that's enough." Ed sighed.

"I win. That was unusually fast" Nikooru said with a grin on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"You just gave up so fast usually we fight for longer."

"Well maybe if you hadn't woken me up so early in the morning," Ed's face twitched with aggravation.

"Now that is more like the Ed I have come to know," Nikooru replied with a smile.

"So where are we off to today?" Nikooru asked.

"Well we are heading back to Eastern Headquarters."

"Ahhh… yes but, that is still so far away. It will still take forever by train."

"heh…The longer the better…"

"Oh I get it you don't want to report to Roy. You know I don't think he is that bad."

"Well you're not the one who has to work with that egotistical bastard"

"Suppose not..."

"Hey… guys…"

"He thinks he has me on a chain but, he doesn't I won't let any one control me."

"That's what he said." Nikooru smirked.

"I don't get it did. ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME?"

"No no Ed I wouldn't do that." Nikooru replied while laughing.

"GUYS"

"What Al?' Nikooru and Ed both said in unison

"Oh well… our train leaves early so it was probably a good thing you woke up early but, we really should… get going." Al.

Ed quickly got out of bed, and reached into the pocket of his red jacket which was thrown on the floor. He flipped open the top quickly to check the time then shut it and sighed.

"What wrong Ed?" Nikooru asked.

"Oh it is nothing." Ed said defensively. "Well lets get going"

They all began to grab their pack their things up in a very slothful way. It was about an hour and thirty minutes later when they had actually gotten out of the hotel they had been staying at, and started heading towards the train station.

"So where to next Ed?" Nikooru asked with a grin across her face.

"Well I don't know why you are smiling but, the next place to go is called "The City of Water"

"Eh?"

"It is a tourist attraction… our train passes by it so I figured we would stop by for a day or so."

"The city of water really, Ed. How romantic?" Nikooru's eyes grew big with fake enthusiasm. She blushed and, then grabbed Ed's arm. She rubbed here head back and forth on Ed's arm which wasn't to comfortable because, his red coat was smudging her face. "C'mon stop that Nikooru" Ed said as he began tugging at his arm trying to get it away until he succeeded. "Awww…" Nikooru said with a fake sadness.

"You two if someone saw you they'd probably think you were dating or something" Al said with a slight giggle in his voice.

"Oh so your brother hasn't told you yet we are going out silly Ed I can't believe you haven't told him yet"

"THAT'S because were not!" Ed growled.

"How long are you going to keep acting like we aren't Ed really? I am sure if you told Colonel Mustang you had a girlfriend that he would be impressed."

"Then he would make some smug comment about it …. Wait a second were not going out though." Ed was starting to get a bit confused. Nikooru was very good at confusing people, or shall I say tricking them. She had a personal knack for it.

"Yeah were not I would never go out with a guy shorter than me no matter how cute he is. It is just one of those personal rules to bad for you Ed." Nikooru said as she sat straight up showing off how tall she was. She then patted Ed on the head.

"You just love to piss me off don't you."

"Yeah your so cute when your pissed off"

"Quit calling me cute."

"Hey it is a compliment."

Ed blushed for some odd reason he couldn't help it. He quickly turned his face in the opposite direction but, Nikooru had already seen so had Al.

Then Nikooru tilted her head and sighed. Ed was surprised when he felt something laying on his shoulder. He turned to see Nikooru lying there with a solemn expression on her face. Ed blushed at first, and so did Al. After a minute of looking at Nikooru it made him sad but, more importantly it made he wonder about Nikooru's past… They had talked to each other about their past before but, Nikooru still felt mysterious to Ed. This wasn't the first time they had seen Nikooru's solemn face (Al had also noticed). Ed wondered what made Nikooru look so sad he had come to a conclusion that it must have been something in her past but, what was it. Nikooru in a way reminded him of himself in a weird sense sometimes he hated her for this. It reminded him of his mistakes and how stupid he had been that night so many years ago.

This lasted until Ed and Al started to play a game of cards to lighten the mood. Nikooru had passed out on Ed's shoulder, and drool from her mouth was running slowly down Ed's coat.

"I win again Al."

"No fair brother how come you keep on wining?"

"I don't want to play anymore." Ed said as he leaned back tossing his cards down.

"C'mon brother one more game"

"No Al"

Al sighed. "Hey look it looks like we are finally here" Al said with excitement rushing back into him.

Ed moved a bit towards the window causing Nikooru's head to slide off his shoulder onto his lap. Ed jumped. Now Ed's face was bright red.

"What is it brother?" Al said turning to see what had made his brother jump. Al gasped.

"Al what should I do" Ed asked frantically.

"I don't know Ed umm…. Ummm… maybe you should no no no…" Al stumbled over his words.

Nikooru was still sound asleep on Ed's lap while Ed was beginning to sweat.

"Wake her up" Al said as if it was the greatest idea in the world.

Ed began to shake Nikooru's shoulder while saying "Hey wake up Nikooru C'mon wake up Nikooru" While doing this Ed accidentally ended up pushing her off his lap, and straight onto the floor thus waking the beast.

Nikooru was pissed and irritated not to mention the fact that she had fallen right onto her facing causing her to have a bloody nose.

"What the fuck can I not even get some decent sleep around here?" Nikooru yelled as blood began to run down her face.

Ed wasn't about to fight a battle he couldn't win. Like Roy had once told him "Choose your battles wisely Fullmetal." He hated taking advice from Roy but, this seemed like one of those times where it somehow came in handy.

"I am sorry Nikooru" Ed said followed by Al also apologizing.

She then let out a sigh, and went to go clean up her face. As she did every one on the train gave her weird dirty looks. She thought to her self "Now what the hell are these people's problems."

When she returned to her seat next to Ed she had tissue paper stuffed up her nose but, when she got to her seat there was no Ed.

"Huh where'd they go?" Nikooru looked around puzzled until she hit her hand on her head insinuating that she was stupid. "No, duh they left because, were here."

She got off the train to see Al chasing after Ed. What's going on she thought as she walked to where something was on the ground. "Playing cards? Huh?" She said as she picked up the cards, and began to chase after Ed and Al.