She'd always lived in darkness. Well, not always, but it'd been so long since she'd seen true light. Not the minute changes she could tell in the lights. She'd been told her eyes were clouded over now. Not that it mattered.

She was blind.

Not that it mattered.

She quietly thanked the person who had chunked a few coins into the hat she'd been wearing. Although she'd since then taken it off and it was now in front of her. She leaned against the wall—that broken wall—and pulled at her shredded clothing.

"Brother! Please, can we keep her?"

"Hell no!"

"But-"

"No!"

She remained silent, but she continued to listen to the bickering. From what she could tell, it was a pair of close brothers, with nothing more than brotherly bickering. Serious, but not deadly.

"But it's so cold outside, Brother!"

"Yeah, like my joints couldn't tell."

Joints. Speaking of which, hers hurt. It was bad enough that her arms and her body were cold; she could tell it solely in her attachments. They weren't suited for cold weather, but it was all she could afford. She was surprised she could've afforded automail. It wasn't even close to the best model, but they worked.

"So, we can keep her?"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Just overnight?"

"Fine."

The two bickering souls were in front of her now.

"Did you hear that, Ms. Kitty? You get to stay with us tonight!"

"Only one night."

"Thank you, Brother!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oh, Brother, about Colonel Mustang."

"Yeah?"

"He wants to see you now that you have your alchemy back."

"Again? Whatever."

Colonel Mustang? Alchemy back? She remembered someone talking about a state alchemist losing his alchemy. She didn't remember the guy's name. Allmetal? Halfmetal?

Fullmetal.

"Huh? Did you say something, Al?"

"No?"

She pulled her knees closer upon realization that she'd spoken her thoughts aloud. She hadn't meant to draw attention to herself. Now she was about to catch the attention of two strangers. One of them possibly a state alchemist.

"I know I heard someone."

"What about her?"

She assumed that one pointed at her.

"Maybe. Hey, you call for me?"

She remained quiet.

"Did you or did you not, Lady?"

"Brother, your tone…" She guessed this was the younger, whispered. "It might be scaring her."

She heard the two shuffle to turn away from her, trying to keep their voices down, trying to keep her from hearing them.

"Do you think she's a refugee from when we fought the Homunculi?"

"Looks like she's been attacked."

"Her automail is ruined. I wonder how it's even working."

"Excuse me, miss, are you alright?"

She did not answer, or even move. She was tired. How long had it been since she'd slept? A week? Two?

"Al, let's take her to the hospital. She doesn't look good."

That reminded her, she felt dizzy. The smell of blood was strong.

"But what if she doesn't want to go?"

"I'm not going to let her die."

"Brother-"

"Al, I won't let someone die from something I couldn't prevent."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It does to me."

Still dizzy. Not like this wasn't the first time. The dizziness would go away. It always did earlier.

She vaguely remembered being picked up by warm arms. Ah… warmth.

That reminded her that she was cold.

This is war.

"Her name?"

"Yes sir… it'll help with the medical records."

"I'm not sure. We found her bleeding out on the side of the road."

"Then it might take longer to treat her fully. We'll need to search the records for someone that matches her description."

"Sorry to have troubled you."

"Don't worry, sir."

She opened her eyes, even though her world remained dark. The lights were bright, and she could hear little bits of conversations beyond the door. The sheets were noticeably scratchy, causing an itch to overcome her entire body. Even what was covered in the hospital gown. From simply breathing, she could smell the overwhelming scent of the chemicals that flowed with the air that circulated throughout the room.

The two outside were speaking in low voices.

Not that that mattered that much.

"-She has a file here, Major Elric. We found it after we cross referenced the hair color."

"Alright then, who is she?"

"It doesn't say."

"Then shouldn't you figure that out?"

"Ah, yes, sir."

"I'll admit that didn't take long."

"You said to hurry, so I did."

"Yeah, yeah."

One of the sets of footsteps faded away, as the owner of the other grasped the knob of the door. She closed her tired eyes once more, not caring to pretend to look at the body that walked into her hospital room.

"You still asleep?" The voice called out. She could hear the annoyance and tiredness of the voice.

No, I'm putting a puzzle together. The thought crossed her mind bitterly. Instead, she opened her eyes halfway, and gave a soft groan as an answer.

To which he gave a grunt in reply to. He didn't want to be here either apparently. But that's what he gets for helping a girl that he found on the side of the road without asking if she even needed help. He would wait for her to answer of what she was doing.

"Now that you're awake, can I get your name, it'll help you get out of here faster."

She didn't reply, and instead gave another groan, and turned over, having her back face him. She could smell oil and blood on the boy who stood in her room. They were minute smells, but she knew they were there.

"I'm serious, a soon as we get your name, you can leave this hospital."

That reminded her how much she hated hospitals. They always smelled like death and chemicals. Like a morgue.

"…Sarah…"

"So, she can talk, and that means, it was you that said my name."

No, that was the cat your younger brother was holding, and begging you to keep.

"…I don't trust strangers…"

This earned a scoff from the older brother, "Get over yourself."

"Brother!" The younger entered the room, loud metal scraping the floor with each step. "Be nice. She has a right not to trust people, we don't know her story." The younger brother gave a soft laugh to break tension, "But it's not like we're going to hurt you."

She remained quiet. She had to admit that she didn't feel any form of angry alchemy clinging to the bodies of the two brothers. Frankly, she didn't feel any sort of alchemy from the younger, but could feel a transmutation lingering on him. It was strange.

And that reminded her: she said she wasn't going to trust another Alchemist.

However, the feeling she got from the two, wasn't hostile.

"You hungry."

"…Don't have money…" She clutched at the rough cloth on her body, dipping into the sheets further.

"That isn't what I asked."

"What Brother means is that if you're hungry, we'll get you something… I mean it-"

"As long as she doesn't eat like Ling, it won't cut into our funds. Besides, the state is paying for this room because of the recent events."

She remained silent, her head dipping further into the sheet, covering all of her deathly pale skin.

"So… I'll… Just…" The younger brother crossed the room carefully, "Go tell the doctors your name!" And she heard his footsteps exit down the hall, echoing softly.

"…Name?..." She figured that if he knew her name, she would at least know who to avoid in the future.

"Hm? Edward Elric."

"…Fullmetal… Alchemist."

"Yeah, that's my state alchemist title."

"…Alchemists… scare me."


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