OH MY GOD HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN!? LIKE TWO YEARS!? DANG! I've been lazy/busy!
The brothers were heading back to Riesembool for maintenance once again. Ed had neglected his limbs and eventually the joints and gears rusted inside, causing him to not be able move his arm altogether and his walk a bit awkward. Both of them were sitting in their seats watching the scenery rush by, yet, they were quite uneasy.
Since their departure from East City, a young girl had been following them. At first, they classified it as a coincidence, but after three or four stops, they began to have their suspicions. And to prove their point, she began to watch them very closely from across the car after the forth stop, making Ed swallow a lump of nervousness logged in his throat.
"Brother, she's really starting to creep me out." whispered the younger Elric.
"Gee, I didn't notice," The young blonde snapped with a clearly annoyed tone in his voice. He peered over the seat again, and the girl appeared to be observing the autumn trees zipping by, "But why is she following us?"
"I don't know, but she's watching us again." Al stammered, pointing behind his shoulder. The armored boy did not need to look back to know, he could feel her eyes burning the back of his head.
This wasn't the only border she crossed; whenever they left for the food car, it was merely five minutes later and she was sitting in the table behind them. Also (This one REALLY creeped them out.), whenever they stopped for a latrine break, she would either be sitting in the bench next to the restroom entrance, or nearly walk into the men's with them! And when they got back on the train, they could see in the corners of their eyes her running back to her seat from theirs. They couldn't decide which was worse.
It wasn't until another hour later that they finally reached Riesembool. Now, it was time for the real test, and sure enough, she took the bait. There she was again, a safe distance behind them. This caused the two to groan inwardly.
"Maybe she's a foreign spy," Alphonse suggested, "her clothes are a bit strange for this country."
"No, a spy wouldn't be this plainly obvious. Not to mention she almost followed me into the bathroom several times!" he growled as he swung his suitcase over his shoulder. They began to walk into the town center were a cluster of people were gathered for the annual autumn festival.
"Well, let's see if she follows us to Winry's. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet." Al whispered.
"Alright, fine." he responded, clearly getting impatient. At first, she began to move closer the duo, but as they passed through the market district, they seemed to have lost her. Both seemed to walk a little easier.
"Finally!" Ed chirped with relief. He then set his luggage down next to him to take one last look at his busted arm. His mouth quickly dropped into a frown.
"Winry's gonna murder me for this."
It was an hour walk to the Rockbell house and as they arrived, Ed was ready for any flying objects. However, his efforts were meaningless and got clobbered anyway. Ed walked through the door, rubbing his sore head. As it turned out, Winry needed some new parts for his limbs and fortunately didn't have to start from scratch. However, some of the parts had yet to be delivered still. So, as it seemed, the Elrics were stuck there for a week until the parts shipped in.
Later, it was nearly dinner at the Rockbell's and the sweet aroma of food was in the air. The brothers helped set the table ( well, Ed tried. You know, having only one arm and all.) and granny was preparing stew; Ed's favorite. Finally, the table was set, and everyone could help themselves (Al helped Ed with his plate). However, before anyone could dig in, a knock at the front the front door was heard. Many groans were exchanged and Winry got up to answer, but Ed said he would get it instead.
Ed slowly made his way to the door, thanks to the spare leg they lent him. There was another vigorous pounding at the door and he had become slightly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm coming! Hold your horses!" he hollered. He opened the door and froze in half-thought. At the door was the very same girl from the train. She opened her mouth to say something, but he slammed the door in her face and attempted to sprint to the dining room. He failed miserably when his spare knee locked up and he fell flat on his face in the doorway. He quickly picked himself up and hoppled over to Al.
"Al! It's 'her' again! What do we do!?" he whispered close to Al's helmet.
"What? So she did follow us! Well, Maybe we should try to talk to her. She might need our help." Al suggested.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Winry asked with curiosity, "And who was at the door?"
"Well," Ed started, "on our way here, there has been this strange girl following us on the train."
"And now she's at the front door!" Al finished.
"Well, maybe she just needs help with something," she suggested, " Or maybe she's one Ed's fans, you know, 'Hero of the people, Edward Elric'!"
"Maybe," said Ed as he pondered on the thought, " alright Al, we're gonna talk to her, but be cautious, we don't have any idea of who she could be."
"Alright." nodded Al, as he rose from his seat.
Ed slowly limped to the door with Al close behind him as he reluctantly turned the doorknob.
"Who are you and what the hell do you want?" Ed barked bitterly.
The girl's eyes appeared to be shocked and somewhat hurt. Alphonse, being the more sensible of the two, saw this and reacted.
"Brother, please calm down." he cooed, trying to get his brother to see reason.
Ed understood what his brother was trying to say and calmed down, but he still was very unhappy. He closely watched the girl with suspicion, making her feel uncomfortable. Al took this opportunity to speak up.
"Please excuse my brother's rude behavior, -SHUT UP AL!- but why are you at our house? We clearly saw you following us on the train. What is your business with us?" Al questioned politely.
"Yeah, and why were you sitting in our spot every time we got off the train!? Were you screwing with any of our stuff!?" Ed scowled, pointing an accusing finger at the young female.
"So… you saw me?" squeaked the girl, looking down at her feet.
"Oh, please! Who could NOT see you!?" Ed screamed.
"I'm… I'm sorry. It's just, you guys are like my heroes. You see, I'm not exactly from here. And so, I really wanted to meet you. Especially you Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist," she explained, then putting her eyes on Edward, who's expression did not change, "I wanted to tell you both that I understand your guys' pain. And I really hope to see you back in your original bodies." BIG MISTAKE.
The brothers stared at her, dumbfounded, for a while before taking action.
In the end, the brothers ended up beating her senseless in fear that she was in league with the homunculi. They then had her sent to Colonel Mustang in Central for interrogation. After Ed's automail was repaired, they decided to help with the case as well. The result was her being deported to Xing. It wasn't too long after that she began to follow a certain prince…