I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Word count:7,112, without author's note

Release date: October 26, 2009

The Elric brothers finally arrived in the town of Levy. One of them was a suit of armor. Alphose or Al as he was called by everyone was the suit of armor, having lost his body when his brother and him tried to bring their beloved mother back to life. The shorter of the Elric brothers was Edward or Ed for short. He had bright blond hair; it was braided to a few inches past his shoulder. He had an automail right arm and left leg, but you couldn't see that. He wore a red cape that covered his arm and gloves, long pants and boots covered his feet. He looked just like any other person this way. The automail had given him his name in the military, Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed was just happy to finally be off the train. He could finally get something to eat. They had been on the train for several hours. The two of them had come to Levy as a stopping point. They were traveling around looking for a way to restore their bodies. Recently it seemed that they didn't have any breaks. They refused to make a Philosopher's Stone, they wouldn't sacrifice a human to restore their bodies. They weren't monsters. So here they were looking for an inn.

"Brother?" Al asked, looking over at his older brother.

"Yes Al."

"When are we going to check in at an inn? I know you're tired. It looks like it might rain too. You know how your auto-"

"I'm fine Al. I want to get something to eat first. The rain doesn't bother me." Ed said. They both knew he was lying. His automail always hurt him when it rained. It hurt where the nerves of the automail attached to the nerves of his body. Ed just didn't want to admit that he was in pain. The continued to walk down the street. They stopped once to eat, nothing fancy just a simple sandwich and drink. Al tried to get Ed to order some milk, but he knew it was pointless. Ed hated milk, with a passion. He almost hated it as much as being called short. They continued walking down the street, still not finding an inn.

"God damn! Doesn't this damn place have one inn?" Ed shouted angry. A few people turned their heads to look at the two, giving them strange looks. They shrugged it off as seeing a suit of armor walking around.

"Brother calm down. We have only stayed on this one street." Al said trying to calm his older brother down.

"Shut up! This is the main street in this town, there should be a God da-"Ed's yelling was cut off. Something collided with him, knocking him flat on his butt. He rubbed his head, looking around for the thing that knocked him over. He quickly found the source. It wasn't a thing but a person. The girl looked to be about his age, fifteen, sixteen. She had dirty blond hair, so dark it was almost brown that hung to the middle of her back. When she opened her eyes, he saw blue-green-you couldn't tell which, it all depended on the way the light hit them-eyes. She wore a plain yellow t-shirt and shorts. He thought that she could be considered pretty til the words that came out of her mouth.

"Hey shorty, what the hell? Why weren't you looking where you were going?" She stood up, dusting herself. Edward stood up too. Damn she's taller than me.

"WHO YOU CALLING SHORT YOU OVERSIZED GORILLA GIRL?!" Edward yelled huffing and puffing. He noticed that she was lean but had some muscle on her. Brother what did you just do? Al thought to himself a few feet away.

"Who are you calling an oversized gorilla girl, you shrimp?!"She yelled. Her fists were at her side already shaking. Al thought that now was a good time to intervene before the two got any worse. He walked over quickly, stepping between the two. I feel like I just entered a battle zone. He thought.

"Brother calm down. This is just a big misunderstanding." He turned to the girl. "Excuse me, but I'm sorry that my brother called you an oversized gorilla girl. I'm sorry to point out though that you ran into us, miss." The girl seemed to do a one-eigthy from this. She looked around realizing that she had indeed ran into Edward. She had been running and indeed not been looking where she was going.

"Opps. I'm sorry, I was in a hurry and wasn't looking where I was going and well I guess I sorta just ran into you." She said looking elsewhere, she really hated to apologize. She looked up briefly before looking away once more. "I'm sorry I called you short. It's just I was upset that I fell and blamed it on you." Al nudged Ed.

"I'm sorry I called you an oversized gorilla girl. You're not really that big. You aren't much taller than me." Ed said unhappy that he had to tell her that she wasn't much bigger than him. But wasn't it okay for girls to be short at their age? I don't know. Girls are a mystery. Ed thought briefly.

"It's okay. You guys aren't from around here are you?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"No. We were just looking for an inn when we bumped into you." Al answers. Before he added. "You wouldn't happen to know where one is would you?"

"Yep. Right this way." And with that the girl turned around and began walking the opposite direction. The brothers quickly took after her, not wanting to lose their chance of finding a place to sleep for the night. The both made sure to remember where they were going so they could leave the town without getting all mixed up. They finally stopped infront of a biulding. It was about four stories high, simple, but it looked nice. "It shouldn't cost you too much, but it's a decent place to stay. The beds are comfortable and they're clean." She said.

"Thank you for helping us. Sorry again for running into you." Al said, trying to be nice.

"It's alright. I shouldn't have been running. Well have a nice stay." The girl said before turning around and leaving.

"She was nice. You really shouldn't have called her a gorilla, brother."

"She should have been watching where she was going. And she shouldn't have called me a shorty." And with that they went to rent a room.

It was a nice night, not to cold or hot. Edward Elric lay on his bed, relaxing. Al sat up against the headboard of his bed reading an alchemist book. He had read it maybe a hundred times but he had nothing better to do. The peaceful night was disturbed when they heard shouting. They both got up and looked out the window. What they saw surprised them. The gentle people from the town, the ones they had saw tending to shops and restaurants had the girl who they had ran into earlier pinned against a wall. Her back was to the wall, she was facing the crowd. They were but a couple of feet from her, cutting any escape off. The boys rushed into action, leaping out the window. They managed to push themselves into the crowd, through an opening. When they finally reached the girl, Al stood infront of her. Ed ready to fight if need be.

Ed could tell that there was something wrong with people. Their eyes were glazed over. They didn't seem to care that they had been pushed around when the boys had run through the crowd. The ones they had knocked over were right back up again. They looked like a pack of wild animals, ready to strike. They each carried a weapon, even the small children. Yes right in the front of the group was a child of about four with a very sharp knife pointed towards them.

"What's going on here? What are you all doing ganging up on gorilla girl for?"-He heard a mutter of damn shorty jackass-"I mean sure she likes to knock people over, but why you all going after her, like you want to kill her?" Ed asked, looking at the people. He noticed an old woman who looked like she was about to die was creeping closer. She had a hammer in her hand. He really didn't want her to use that on him.

"Kill, kill, kill." Were the only words he heard in return. The crowd got this savage look on their faces. Their eyes went wild, he felt like he was looking at a hungry monster stalking its prey. He could see the old woman take another step closer. The whole crowd seemed to do the same. Ed was about to put up a wall when he heard a cry. He turned around to see if any had escaped his attention to see the girl charging forward. She reached him and screamed.

"Move!"She yelled as she punched the ground, a large crack in the earth separating them from the crowd. The mob was shaken and most of them had fallen over. A large cloud of dust rose up, making many cough. Ed had to cover his mouth. He felt someone grab his hand and he went to push it off. He looked up to see the girl, her other hand held Als. She began running; at first she was slow, since the boys didn't get it at first. When they did they took off after her.

They ran through the now empty streets. All the lights were off, the people gone. It seemed a lonely and desperate place. Ed wondered what had had happened to all the people to get the look in their eyes. It reminded him of the creature they had brought back when they tried to bring their mother back to life. Finally they reached the city limits, but they didn't stop running. This confused the boys, where was she taking them. Why wasn't she the same as the others? Both Ed and Al were confused. When they finally stopped they were among trees. You could see the town, but barely. The once nice night was shrouded in darkness; it seemed like a bad omen.

As always Ed was the first to speak. "What the hell is going on? First everyone is fine and now they're like wild animals, ready to attack." He yelled, swinging his arms around. Al nodded next to him. He was wondering the same thing. The girl sat down on a rock, she looked like she was mentally preparing herself. Relief seemed to ooze from her every pore.

"Well I was trying to save you two. I didn't want the townspeople to kill you two. Well they wouldn't kill you so much as hand you over to that man. I figured that if I let myself get caught, I would be the sacrifice and you two could travel on tomorrow. And if you didn't leave tomorrow you'd still be fine. It is another month till the next sacrifice. You should have been leaving by then." She stopped momentarily in her rambling. Ed and Al stared at her for a second. They didn't like the word sacrifice. She was about to begin talking again, but was interrupted.

"What do you mean sacrifices? There's sacrifices? Why aren't you gathering sacrifices? Why didn't you warn us? What the hell is going on here?" Ed shouted, confused.

"Miss please explain why the townspeople are acting so strange and what about this man?" Al asked, in a quieter voice.

"Well this man somehow put alchemy over the people. I think he drew a transmutation circle around the town. I wasn't affected because I came here months ago. You don't get put under the alchemy spell once you enter the place. You had to be there when he created it. I only know because I've been here a few months, it's been in affect for quite a while. A few people know about this. They have saw what happens. As long as they don't report it to the authorities or tell the tourists they are allowed to live. The alchemy spell allows him to take over the people once a month. He uses this time to gather sacrifices. These people are never seen again. I think he experiments on them. I know you're going to ask why I haven't told people and it's the same reason as the others. I didn't want to die. I have goals I want to accomplish, but now they'll probley never happen. I helped you escape, I'll be killed. I can't leave. Someone I knew tried to leave and get help once; the man sent some creature after him. The creature brought him back, dead. He was bloody and his limbs were tore off. It was one of the worst sights I've ever seen. No one knows what to do. Most don't even know it's going on; they don't remember what they do when he calls them to bring him his sacrifices." The girl sighed, she looked very tired. She had her head in her hands.

"Why then? Why did you try and take our place?" Al asked. He was confused. Why would this girl want to save them? They didn't even know her. Yea they had met her once, they bumped into her. So why would this girl try and save their lives. Ed had similar thoughts running through his head.

"I don't know. I never met one of the other sacrifices. I only saw who they were. I never met them beforehand. I guess when I met you two, I couldn't just let someone I had met died. Armor boy here was so nice. You even apologized for something that your brother did. Shorty here isn't so bad either. I guess I didn't think you two deserved to die. And well maybe I never helped the others, I was too afraid. In a way it was away to attone for letting those others be taken. I feel guilty about it. I let my own goals get in the way of what was right and wrong. I don't know, honestly. It could be anything. Part of me tried to save you because I have no other way out. I wasn't ever going to leave anyway. I'd rather die young instead of seeing this for the rest of my life. So trust me I didn't just save you to save you. I did it mostly out of being selfish. But now that we're all going to die, it really doesn't matter anyway." The girl said, her voice sounding hollow and defeated. She sounded like someone who had seen way to many horrors, like she just really didn't care if she died ot not anymore.

"Well I'm going back. So are you coming or not, gorilla girl?" Fullmetal asked. He looked over at Al, who nodded his head. They knew that they had to stop this from happening any longer.

"What's the point? We're going to die anyway. Actully if we leave now we might actully have a chance on getting out of here. I'm leaving. And if he sends one of his monsters, I'm killing myself. At least my death would be quick and painless." The girl said, looking up. She had a fierce gaze. She truly looked like she didn't care about those people. But Ed and A l knew that she did. Her guard had been dropped a minute ago and she showed that she really did care for the people of the town. She was trying to cover that up now. She looked much different now than she did earlier. They realized that that was the side a mask. Well maybe she did like to yell, but she wasn't all smiles. It was something to make people believe she was different, but really she was a scared girl who was blaming herself for what happened in this town.

"We'll be fine you really shouldn't have tried to save us. We can take care of ourselves. And I mean if you're going to try and just give up and die really at least go out in style." Ed said. He turned to leave, Al close behind.

"Do you want to die? If you leave now, you might be able to leave. Sorry but I have a goal that needs to be completed. So I have to stick around and live. I'm taking my chance to leave. Fine go die if you want."She said. Inside she really didn't want to see someone else die. These two didn't deserve to die. She thought that they deserved to live. So why were they throwing their lives away? She really did want to help the townspeople, but she couldn't. The best solution was to go get the military. She was sure that they would come for something of this magnitude. She would leave after this and complete her goals.

"No I also have goals and vows that must be fulfilled, but I just can't leave this town like this. Especially not when I have the power to help them. Its not right to leave these people. We dogs of the military just can't allow this to continue." Ed said walking away. Dogs of the military? They couldn't be state alchemist could they? I have to admit they're brave. But bravery doesn't get you anywhere. They're just brave idiots. She thought. She watched them walk away.

"Brother do you think it was right to just leave her there? She could be trageted by those monster things." Al asked, before they reached the town.

"She'll be fine. We'll take down the man before he can send anything." Ed vowed, as they entered the town.

The two of the managed to not run into anyone. Finally after a while of searching they found the large mob of people. This time they all had their weapons by their sides. They were also much quieter. They weren't talking and the savage look was gone. They almost seemed like normal people at the moment. Al and Ed wondered why they were so quiet. They all seemed to be waiting for something. They're waiting for the man the girl mentioned. Ed concluded.

A few minutes later a man came out a house, it was a modest house. Nothing to fancy or showy. Just something that wouldn't draw attention, no one would think a murder who had alchemy cast over a whole city lived there. The man himself was nothing special. He had black shaggy hair. He had coal black eyes, those were what bothered Ed. They seemed to see through things. They looked like a madmans eyes. He was normal height. The man looked among the crowd once, his eyes narrowed after he saw no sacrifices.

"Where are my sacrifices? You were supposed to bring me those two boys who arrived today. They were easy, just teenagers." He seemed to snarl. His voice was deep and it sent chills through both boys spines. None of the mob spoke.

"What happened? Now one of you tell me the story. My pets, where are my sacrifices?" He asked again, looking among the crowd. His eyes fell on a young woman. He pointed at her, using in his finger to draw her closer. "You what happened?"

"Master, one of our own distracted us. She offered up herself instead. We thought she would have been a better sacrifice." He cut her off.

"Then where is she?" He yelled.

"She and other two ran away. The boys came down to see the commotion. They were trying to help her." She whispered. The man thought for a moment.

"I'll send the monsters. You my girl will have to be my sacrifice this time." He said, turning around and walking through the door. The young woman followed after silently. She didn't even look back. When the woman was through the door and had closed it, the mob began to disband. They all seemed lifeless shells that didn't care. Ed and Al knew that these people wouldn't be like this tomorrow. They'd be happy and lively. Their eyes would shine, they would have a bounce in their step. The brothers silently vowed to never let this happen to this town again.

Once the mob was completely gone, the two brother's dropped from their perch on a nearby rooftop. They looked around, making sure there was no one out. Ed opened the door to the house, cautiously. He silently jumped for joy when the door didn't creak. Ed and Al walked through the house. They noticed how the house looked normal. A picture here and there. Ed noticed how there was a picture of a little girl on a shelf, another with the same girl with a family. He noticed how she looked familiar, but he couldn't just place the face. They entered the the living room. A chair was in the corner, a tv against the far wall, just kinck-knacks here and there. But the most surprising thing in the world was a hole in the floor. A trap door was in the middle of the room, the door was clearly seen and open.

Ed and Al looked over into the underground room. It had an eerie look, the lighting was bad. You could see shapes and things. A few noises were coming from below-moans and creeks. Ed and Al looked looked at one another, nodding. Ed went down the ladder first, looking around as he went. When he finally got down, he waited for Al. Al was by his side not long after. They took a quick look around, noticing how they were in a room. This room had selves on one side, the shelves were lined with books.

The books seemed to be about the human body, a few on animals. The medical books were right next to the books on alchemy. There were a few books on a table in the middle. They were open ones. Ed saw how an alchemy book and medical book were side-by-side. Things were circled and compared. A notebook was next to them, notes about the two books were written. Ed realized that this was research. That the girl was right, the man was experemiting.

"Brother?" Al asked, hesitantly. Ed didn't turn his head, he was to busy looking over the guys notes. "Brother, take a look at this." Ed turned his head in the direction of Al. He was facing the towads the latter. Ed would never forget what he saw. Cages lined that back wall. Inside were creatures of every shape and side. Some looked like a cross between humans and animals, others looked like humans morphed into other things. One creature looked like it had once been a human girl, but now seemed to be a creature with wings and claws. The only thing that reminded Ed that she was a girl, was her hair and face. She had the face of a young child, and her hands were small. Ed walked over and noticed a tag on the cage door. It read: Experiment 8, failed, age:6, experiment couldn't fly, her mind stopped functioning as a human one should, date of termination:October 10th.

Ed and Al were appalled. The way these people were being treated were like experiments. They knew that they had to help the other woman who the man had taken before she ended up the same as this girl. They both realized that today was October 10th. The girl-creature was supposed to be taken care of tonight. The monster! He's more of a monster than the things he creates. Ed thought, anrgy. His hands were knotted in fists. Al was just as angry. They both turned to the door on the other side of the room, towards the door. Before Ed went through the door he whispered:

"We'll bring the bastard who did this down. He will pay for won't allow this to happen to anyone else." Ed could have swore he heard a child-like voice say thank you.

When the brothers entered the room, they saw the young woman from the street chained to a table. There was a transmutation circle drew around the table. There were a few wires hooked up to her. She had a heart rate moniter hooked up to her. She was breathing quietly, her breaths filling the room, the beat of the heart rate moniter the only other sound in the room. The man from earlier appeared out of the shadows. His gaze wandered over the brothers, calulating. He stared at them, the brothers stared back, hatefully.

"My, my, my what are you two doing here? I was going to send one of my pets after you two. Did you bring the girl with you? How did you two get down here anyway?" The man asked, rubbing his chin. His head was tilted to the side, as if in thought. "Not much of talkers are you? Or are you just scared that you're going to become my pets?" He asked, his expression smug.

Ed being Ed didn't respond with words. No, his answer was to run forward. He rushed forward, using transmutation on his automail arm, transforming it into a knife thing. The man didn't even seem to care, he raised a gun and fired a shot. Al had saw the gun and pushed Ed out of the way, the bullet bouncing off of him. Al moved to try and swip the transmutation circle away, but was pushed backwards by Ed being thrown into him. Ed had once again rushed forward, but when he got close the man had somehow fired alchemy at him, sending him flying into Al. Ed and Al went flying into a wall, Al against the wall.

The man prepared to fire another shot at Ed, since he was still getting his bearings after crashing into Al. When the man raised the gun, he was plowed over. Ed had looked up just at that moment to see the girl slam into the man. Ed was surprised. But before the girl could get up and move, the man being quicker, shot her. Her scream eoched through the room. Ed and Al both hurried up and got up. Ed rushed forward, punching the man, effectively knocking the gun from his hand. Ed looked over seeing that the girl had been shot in the stomach, her wound bleeding. Before he could go to help her, the man charged at him. Ed dodged, preparing to hit the man.

Meanwhile Al was untieing the chains around the other girl. He finally managed to get all the chains untied. He lifted her up in his arms. His eyes wondered over to the bleeding girl on the floor. His body quickly moved over to her. He tried to help her.

"No. Get her out. The man's alchemy will still affect her til she gets out of this house." She exclaimed. Her words coming out in gasps. She could barely talk. Her breathing was ragged and uneven.

"But you need help. Your bleeding really bad. You might di-"

"I don't"-gasp-"care. Just get her out of here." She mananged to shove away the hand Al had extended to her. Al finally complied, reluctantly, running out the door and out the house.

Ed watched from the corner of his eye as his brother left. He knew he had to hurry up this fight, if the girl was going to survive. The amount of blood she was loosing was extremely bad for her health. He knew that she could die from it. I need to hurry up and finish this guy. During his moment of distraction, the man was able to cut Ed's arm. Ed looked at his arm to see how bad he was cut, he frowned when he realized that it was about a four inch long cut and was deep. And damn does it hurt! He thought. The man managed to punch Ed in the face, knocking him into the transmutation circle.

"You'll be my new sacrifice." The man said about to clap his hands together and put them on the ground. Before he could do it though, the girl from earlier hit him over the back of the head, managing to knock him out. She fell backwards, passing out from blood loss. Ed hurried up and picked her up. He thought about tieing the man up, but realized that it might cost the girl her life. He managed to get her up the ladder and out of the house, quickly. Ed noticed the mob from earlier, he thought about running away from them, but Al waved him over.

"We need a doctor, this girl's been shot. Is anyone here a doctor or knows where the local hospital is?" Ed yelled getting impatient, when the crowd was just staring at him. After a moment of silence an old woman stepped up.

"I'm a doctor. Please come this way." The woman lead them towards her house, quickly. The brothers follow, being followed by the crowd. When they enter the old woman has them place her on a table. "Please go get the sissors in the cabinet over there, while you're at it get the first aid kit. We're going to have to fix her up the old fashion way." The woman murmered. Ed listened to her, hurrying up to do as she asks. The old woman started boiling water, placing herbs in it. Edward brought the medical kit and the sissors.

"What now?" He asks to no one in particular, confused.

"Cut her shirt open. I need to have the bloody material out of the way, so I can extract the bullet and sew her back up. Now chop chop." The woman snapped, continuing to add herbs into the boiling water. She bustled around the room gathering a needle and thread. Ed did as she said cutting the girl's shirt away. He saw how her wound was still bleeding. "Here take this and try and stop the bleeding." The doctor said, handing him a towel. Ed did as she said. Finally the woman appeared, she took a scapel and opened the wound a little wider.

"What are you doing? She doesn't need a larger hole." He yelled, looking over at the woman like she was crazy.

" I can't reach the bullet with this small hole. It needs to be removed. I don't think it hit any thing vital. Her biggest problems are bleeding and infection." The doctor said, pulling a pair of forceps(what hopitals use, they're like pliars) out. She reached in and a minute later she pulled out a bullet. The woman quickly put it down on a tray. She carefully wiped away some of the blood. Using the needle and thread, the woman sewed up the wound. Then the woman carefully spread the herb mix on her handywork. "Sit her up gently." Ed did as he was told and watched as the woman bandaged the girl. Maybe I should learn to do that. I could avoid hospitals more this way. Ed thought.

While the elder brother, was helping save the girl's life, Al got the job of telling the townspeople what had happened.

"You're telling us that once a month we became controlled by a madman who used us to capture tourists and let him experiment on them? I don't remember doing that." A man asked. There were crys of ' yea what he said' through out the crowd. Al was just not getting through to these people.

"I'm telling the truth. The man used alchemy on you people. Why would I lie?" Al asked.

"Well we don't believe you. Nevermind we'll just leave you to whatever you crazy people are doing." The man said, leaving. Several others left along with him. Out of the people who stayed, Al knew were either the people who knew about what was going on or truly believed him. The one woman they had rescued tonight stayed.

"Will she be okay? I mean no one really knows all that much about her, but we know that she wasn't a part of this. She wasn't born in this town, she's not part of the tradegy here. She just wound up in it all. She desperately tried to help us several times, but we always told her to be quiet. We didn't want trouble." A woman said, sadly. Her head facing down.

"So that gives you an excuse to just let people die here? Why didn't you try and stop it. Surely you could have told someone passing through on a normal day. Tell them to get the military! Yet look what you allowed to happen. You allowed people to become experiments and when someone finally tried to help she nearly dies in the process."Edward yelled. He had finally some out of the house. He had heard the crowds words. And he was livid.

"What do you know? We couldn't have done anything. We didn't want to die. That girl in there she sat by as well. Sure she tried to help. She even tried to tell someone once, but one of the local venders who knew dragged her off the street. But still she's the same as us. She did nothing. She didn't want to die. What would you have done? You would have done nothing, just like us." A man yelled, his temper getting the best of him.

"That's where you're wrong. I wouldn't have done that. I would have stood up and fought. We just saved your asses. Anyway you people have a chance now to live on with your lives never do this again. What are you going to do wallow in your past? You all should move one, start anew." Ed said. He began walking by the people.

"You never answered our question. Is she going to be alright?" The woman who had been taken as the sacrifice asked.

"She should be fine." Ed asked, walking back towards the man's house, Al not far behind. When they got there, they were surprised. The whole house was in flames. You couldn't go near it.

"Damn it, what happened? Did he escape and set his house on fire? Or did one of the townspeople who understood what was going on burn it? What about the people he had experimented on?" Yelled Ed. He punched the ground angry. He had at least wanted to see if he could maybe help those people. Now he would never get a chance.

"Brother, it's not your fault. You had to make sure that girl was safe. You saved her life. Be happy that you at least accomplished that. You also saved the girl who was going to become the sacrifice. This town will never have this problem again. They're safe." Al said trying to comfront his brother. He wasn't happy about this either. He felt that he had failed the people who were locked in those cages. Ed knew his brother was right. But he felt guilty as well.

"You're right." Ed said, the two of them went back to their inn. They knew the townspeople were taking care of the fire. Neither of them slept that night.

The Elric brothers were waiting at the train station a few days later. They had called the Colonel. Ed remembered how that conversation had gone. Roy had been surprised and demanded details.

Flashback:

"So you're telling me that someone took control over the town with alchemy?" Roy asked over the phone.

"Yes Sir. He was using people to make experiments." Ed was still pretty messed up over it. When he had tried to sleep every night, he would have nightmares. One's of seeing the little girl-creature. It reminded him of what happened in Central city with Nina and Alexander.

"Did you find the man's body?" Mustang asked.

"No. The place was too badly burned to tell things apart." Ed said, hoping to get off the phone.

"Well Fullmetal what else did you find? How are the townspeople?" Mustang asked.

"Most who were under the alchemy don't believe me. The other's are truly sorry for what happened. I don't think they should be punished." Ed answered.

"Thank you for this information Fullmetal. I expect to see you in Central in a few days." The colonel said. Ed didn't answer.

End of Flashback.

Ed and Al sat on a bench now. They were happy that they could finally leave this place. They could see the train pulling up. Ed stood up, grabbing his briefcase. When the train finally got to them they got ready to board. They were about to, when a voice called out to them.

"Hey shorty! Wait up I'm coming with you!" A voice called. Both boys turned around to see the girl who had gotten shot. The one they had run into. She had a pack thrown over her shoulder.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHORTY, GORILLA GIRL?" Ed yelled at her. She chuckled.

"You of coarse. So what time does the train leave? I'm ready to go." She said, placing her hand on her hip, rolling her eyes.

"You are not coming with us gorilla girl. We do dangerous things and you are not cut out for that." Ed said, frowning.

"Yes miss, we wouldn't want you to get hurt. Aren't you just now allowed to get up and move around? We could hinder your recovery." Al said, trying to be polite. He looked over at his brother. The girl was clearly unhappy with their decision.

"Yeah. You really shouldn't be coming with us. Anyway don't you have things you have to accomplish? I doubt you could do hanging with us. So just go home gorilla girl." Ed said, hoping she'd just leave. Ed all of a sudden felt some thing hit him upside the head.

"My name isn't gorilla girl! My name is Aria, Aria Renaldie. You got that? I am going with you. I am not staying in this town any longer. I can finally leave and that's what I'm doing." She yelled, after hitting Ed upside the head. Al stared at her, she reminded him of Ed. They both had tempers.

"I don't care what your name is. You are not going with us! If you want to leave this town so bad then leave, but you are not going with us. You got that gorilla girl?" Ed yelled, getting in her face. Al stepped back a few feet. He did not want to get any closer. Scratch having tempers, they have anger management issues. Al thought, from a few feet away.

"What are you stupid? You must not have a brain in that short body of yours. My name is Aria, shorty. Call me that. A-R-I-A! Aria! Learn it!" She yelled, right back.

"Who are you calling short? You gorilla girl!"

"I am not a gorilla girl, I am a perfectly normal size for my age. You are the one who is short. I thought boys were supposed to be taller than girls. You are not. You are clearly short than you should be for your age." Aria said, looking quite pleased with herself. Yes I shut that shorty up. She thought. Ed glared at her. Al knew that this wasn't going to end well. Ed all of a sudden clapped his hands together and slammed them on the ground. A cage rose up out of the ground around Aria. She looked surprised. "Hey that isn't fair. You can't do this." She yelled.

"Well you insulted me. And if this gets you to stay still for awhile, while we leave then its okay. Well we have to leave. Good-bye." Ed said, beginning to talk towards the train.

"You really wouldn't leave a poor girl who has just recently been shot would you? I mean I did help you guys out. I saved your life. If I hadn't distracted them, they wouldn't have woken you. You would have been captured and turned into sacrifices. You owe me, at least enough to let me out of this cage. If you let me out I promise not to travel with you." She said. Aria smiled at them.

"Brother you should let her out. She did promise to stop trying to go with us." Al said, looking between his brother and Aria.

"Fine, but you are not coming with us." Ed said. He undid the alchemy. He turned around and began walking towards the train. He felt a presence beside him, at first he thought it was Al, but when he looked over and saw Aria, he stopped. "You promised that you wouldn't go with us." He said, annoyed.

"I'm not going with you. We just happen to be going the same way. You're heading to central too, right? Well I'm heading that way, so we just happen to be traveling the same way." Aria said. Al looked at the two. They both had stopped and were facing each other. They were both staring each other down.

"Brother, lets just allow her to come with us. We are all just traveling the same direction, she'll just be hanging around with us. I mean the more the merrier right?"Al said. He looked towards his elder brother.

"Come on, we're going to miss our train." Ed said simply, turning around. He got on the train, followed by Al and Aria.

"What's your names? I don't feel like calling you armor boy and shorty." Aria asked, looking up at Al.

"I AM NOT SHORT!"

"My elder brother is Edward Elric and my name is Alphose Elric, but I'm normally just called Al. Most people just call Edward, Ed." Al answered, getting on the train, followed by Aria.

well people are going to kill me. i started another story. but i have this one planned out. im making sure to keep planning a few chapters ahead. i know what i want in this fic to happen. well i like this story. also to ike1440 thanks. u helped alot. u helped to encourage me. well people please review. also this is eventully going to be an EdXAria(oc) fic.