July 1927

It had been over three years since Ed and Al closed the portal between worlds once and for all. Truthfully, Ed missed alchemy. And Winry. He tried not to think about her because it hurt too much. He hadn't even kissed her, like he had planned to. He hadn't really planned to return to this world, but once it became inevitable, he didn't have time to go back to her and it would have made it harder to leave, anyway. And yet, he still regretted it. Not to mention his auto mail needed maintenance.

He wasn't reckless like he used to be. He was twenty-one, for Pete's sake. He sometimes felt like a father with a teenage son. Alphonse was sixteen and surprisingly flirty with the girls. As much as he didn't want to, he'd had to give "The Talk." Which, it didn't really make sense to Ed why it had to be him to tell Al, considering he'd never even kissed a girl, but he was all Al had.

Ed winced at the memory of having that awkward conversation.

"Are you all right, brother?"

Ed laughed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said and looked out over the railing of the ship they were on. He gasped. "Al! Look!" Al followed Ed's gaze and saw it.

"The Statue of Liberty!" he shouted. The brothers stared at it in awe. They were finally in sight of America.

Ed and Al bought a two-bedroom apartment in the middle of Manhattan Island. Ed found the hustle and bustle of the city strangely relaxing and often walked the streets for many nights after they moved in.

Al was taking the summer off to prepare for his junior year in high school. American schools put an emphasis on literature and the arts, so Al constantly had his nose stuck in a book. He was starting to remind him of Schezka.

Ed was actually hired as a teacher at the school Al was going to attend. He was going to teach Chemistry and Physics. He just hoped he'd be able to handle all those teenagers.

They'd been moved in for about a week. Al was, once again, stuck in a book.

"I'm going out for a walk, okay?" Ed asked, tucking in his shirt before he went outside. "Make sure you're in bed before eleven, okay? We're going to be up at eight tomorrow and I don't want you to be tired."

"Sure thing, brother," Al said, turning the page of his book. Ed rolled his eyes and smiled as he left the apartment.

After a few hours of walking, Ed was just about to head back to the apartment, when a girl rushed past him, knocking into him.

"Excuse me," Ed said, then gasped a little when he saw that she was in tears. She ran down to the next street and turned. Ed was wondering what her problem was when he noticed a few shady-looking men change course and follow her. "Wait a second, that's a deserted alley." Ed didn't take the time to think about it. He ran after them. Those men had nothing good planned for her, he just knew it.

He turned the corner to a scene he was expecting. The girl had just seen the men and was backing up into a corner of what seemed to be a loading dock for big trucks.

"Hey, cutie," one of the men was saying. Ed didn't like his tone of voice. "Why so down? I bet we could cheer you up."

"Piss off!" the girl shouted. Whoa. She was a fireball.

"Come on, don't be so—"

"She said no!" Ed yelled. The men turned to him.

"Who's this twerp?" another one of the men asked.

"I'm not familiar with that term," Ed said, rolling up his sleeves, "but I have a feeling it's not a compliment."

One of the guys put his hand behind his back. Ed narrowed his eyes. That guy was pulling something on him. Ed gasped when he heard a yell.

"What the-?"

The girl had jumped on the back of the man who had moved, and Ed soon realized that he had been pulling out a knife. Ed rushed in and a few punches later, the men chickened out and ran for it.

"Humph," Ed scoffed. "That wasn't much of a fight."

"Thank you." Ed turned around and got a better look at the girl. She was a little young, maybe eighteen. Her dark hair was pulled back in a pony tail and her bangs fell into her face. Her hair in and of itself was unusual. Most girls here had short hair. Hers was as long as Winry's—

"No problem," Ed said, trying to not think of Winry. "I'm Edward."

"I'm Natalia," she said. "Honestly, I don't have anywhere to stay, so I was going to see if I could get in backstage." She gestured to the loading dock. "But they've already closed for the night."

"Backstage?" Ed asked. "This is a theater?"

"Yeah," Natalia said. "We are on Broadway, after all."

"So you don't have anywhere to stay?" Ed asked. She looked at the ground.

"No," she said. Come to think of it, her clothes were rather dirty and she could definitely use new shoes.

"You can come with me if you want," he said and turned back towards the street. He smiled when he heard her footsteps begin to follow.

"Al! Why are you still awake?" Ed bellowed when he saw his brother in the same position he'd left him in, with a different book. "It's after midnight!"

"And why did you bring a girl home?" Al asked, tossing the book aside and standing. "Hi! I'm Alphonse!" He began to put his arm around her shoulders, but Ed shoved him away.

"She's too old for you," Ed mumbled. "I think." He cleared his throat. "Al, this is Natalia. I helped her get rid of some bullies and she needed a place to stay. I'm taking the couch."

"Oh, no, you don't have to," Natalia said nervously. "I can take the couch."

"Really, it's not a problem," Ed said. "I'll go find some clothes that might fit you. I think Al's too tall, so you'll probably be stuck with some of my clothes." Al snickered.

"You just called yourself short," he said. Ed flinched.

"Go to bed, Al!" Ed ordered.

"Good night, shorty!" Al called and ran to his room, locking the door behind him just before Ed got to the doorknob.

"You'd better be glad we can't use alchemy anymore or I'd break down your entire wall so you'd have NO PRIVACY!" he shouted before turning back towards his room. "You can follow me," he said to Natalia. She set down the photo she'd been inspecting before following him through the door to a small bedroom. "It's not much, but it gets us by."

"It's better than the streets, at least," Natalia supplied quietly. "Thanks again for this. I wish I could pay you or something." Ed tossed a night shirt and some sweat pants onto the bed while keeping hold of a pair of his own and turned to face her.

"Pay me? Nah," he said, heading back towards the door. "You gotta get yourself back on your feet before you can think about debt. And besides, I can't just leave you outside. Look what almost happened to you back there. Although I think you could probably handle a one-on-one fight just fine." He winked at her and she blushed, but a smile crept up her face.

"I guess," she said. "I took a stage fighting class, so it kind of helps you picture what the real thing is supposed to look like." Ed chuckled.

"Definitely comes in handy, no?" he said and left, closing the door behind him. He yawned and stretched on his way over to the couch. He pulled a sheet out of the closet and set up the couch for sleeping, then changed and turned out the lights.

He laid there awake until he heard Al's snores from the other room and the light in his own room had been extinguished. Then he let the sound of his brother's snoring send him to the world of dreams.