The hot summer sun beat down on the busy people wandering the streets of Rivia. Standing out among the crowd were Edward and Alphonse Elric, scanning the buildings for a hotel.

"Pardon me," a gentleman approached them, "you don't look like you're from around here. Perhaps you need a place to stay?" He seemed anxious, as if he might not have much business.

"Do you own a hotel?" Al asked. Ed examined the man closely. The man grinned.

"Yes, one of the finest in Rivia," Ed and Al followed the man to the hotel building. When they arrived, they seemed less then happy with what they saw. "It might not seem like much, but we're one of the only hotels still around. Not many people visit Rivia, so this is the best you'll find." Edward sighed, eying up the building in such desperate need of repair.

"I guess we have no choice then. Is there at least a decent restaurant around?" The man pointed across the street to a busy-looking place with a small building and many out-door tables.

"That's the only place you'll find open on a Sunday, but it's still the best place any day." The man said. Ed and Al walked over to the restaurant, sitting at a small table with a shady umbrella. A voice called from inside.

"Naomi, can you take table seven's order?" A young teenage girl walked out from the building, wiping sweat from her forehead. Ed was collapsed on the table, his dark clothing absorbing the mid-day sun's heat.

"My name's Naomi and I'll be your server today. Can I get you something to drink?" She asked, pulling a pen out of her apron and looking at her order pad. Ed sat up straight and stared at Naomi, who did the same when she looked up. Naomi shook her head. "We have soft drinks, water, iced tea, lemon-aide and iced coffee." She listed the drinks, looking away from the curious stare of Ed.

"Ruby," he murmured. The girl looked at him.

"Pardon?" She did look a bit like Ruby. Her hair was brown, though long. She looked as Ruby might have after the year that she'd been gone, though she seemed normal; not homunculus as Ruby would be.

"Sorry, you reminded me of someone, that's all." Ed held back a sigh.

After Ed had finished eating, Naomi returned with the bill. As she was turning to walk away, he noticed something gleam around her neck. He shook the thought away. Naomi was just a waitress who had probably lived here her whole life. It couldn't be her anyway; she'd gone to stay with the other homunculi. When they had returned to the hotel, Ed sat on what he guessed was the bed.

"Brother," Al sat on the floor, not unused to it. "She looked a lot like her, didn't she?" Ed pulled from his pocket the small picture of Ruby, attached to the back half of the locket he'd given her years ago.

"All that time we searched for her, and the one time we take a break we come across her." Ed said, staring down at the picture.

"We don't know if Naomi is her, brother. She might just look like her." Al tried to convince himself more then Edward. He thought she looked like Ruby, too.

"Either it is her or Ruby has a twin." Ed said. "But the only thing I can't figure," he began to wonder, "is why she doesn't have the mark, you know, the one under her eye."

"That just shows it isn't her. There's no way she could have become human without a Philosopher's Stone, and if she had somehow found a way to get one, wouldn't the military have found out about it?" Al argued. Ed sighed.

"We'll just have to see. The owner here said that was the best place to eat around here, anyway."

A shadowy figure crept along in the darkness of the night, watching as Naomi left the restaurant. It followed her to a house where she stopped to get her key. The figure stepped closer, crushing a can that lay on the street. Naomi turned around.

"Who's there?" She asked. No answer came and she shrugged it off, opening the door. The figure stepped closer, peering through a window of the house Naomi had just entered. Slowly, he crept away.