Chapter 2

Despite her hopes, Trisha never got to see Van before she passed away from the disease that had slowly eaten away at her. Although she'd known about her disease for years, it had progressed so suddenly in the last few months of her life that she never got the opportunity to prepare her sons for the inevitable. Instead, she woke up in her room one afternoon and learned that Edward and Alphonse had found her passed out on the kitchen floor when they'd come back from an afternoon exploring the outdoors. It was then that she'd told Ed and Al about what was happening and tried to use her time left in this world to make sure Ed was fully prepared to look after Al until their father returned to them. Cleo spent most of her time sleeping next to Trisha, refusing to move from her position on the pillow unless Granny Pinako needed her too.

The few weeks Cleo had told her she had left flashed by for Trisha and the boys and far too soon, Ed and Al found themselves sitting in front of Trisha and Cleo's headstone. Ed was filled with grief and anger at their father. The last thing Trisha had told him was that their father would be back before they knew it but Ed knew the truth. He and Al had been, unknowingly to Trisha, sending letters to every single person in Hohenheim's address book, begging their father to come home and help make Trisha's passing kinder for her but they never got a response back and Ed knew they'd never see their father again.

Alphonse, on the other hand, still held onto the same hope that their father would return their mother had held onto so strongly in those last few weeks and Ed hated how obvious it was. As they sat and waited for their father to come home in front of their mum's headstone, Ed only felt that anger slowly overcome his grief over his mother the longer they waited there. As he silently fumed, Ed started going over alchemic recipes he and Alphonse had uncovered in their father's journals, trying to remember if there was a way they could get the only parent they had who'd ever loved them when he recalled one that was promising. So, when Alphonse complained about being cold and hungry as the sun started to set, Ed told him not to worry. He had an idea that could help them bring their mum and Cleo back.


Six months after the day of Trisha's funeral, Edward and Alphonse were on a train bound for Dublith and neither were able to contain their excitement. They'd met one of the strongest and scariest alchemists they'd ever come across, Izumi Curtis, and begged her to be their alchemy teacher. It hadn't taken them long to figure out that her Spirit Animal, a Black Bear named Koda, was highly appropriate for her as Izumi was as fierce, strong and brave as a bear. She stood her ground and refused to let people trod over her.

Her husband, Sig, was one of those people whose Animal was one that you would never have guessed. He looked like someone who could crush your head in between their hands and like a person you would never want to meet down a dark alley but he had the sweetest Golden Retriever, Suna, as his Animal. Until the boys had seen Sig with a sick or enraged Izumi, they had no clue why he had such a dopey, loving dog as an Animal. The Curtis' owned a butcher shop in Dublith where Sig put his skills as a butcher to use while Izumi was content with being a housewife and formidable alchemist.

Neither boy had been especially impressed to find out that they had to spend a month on an uninhabited island by themselves and decipher a riddle before Izumi would actually take them on as students. They'd watched in disbelief and fear as the boat that had brought them to the island sped away with Izumi on board, leaving them with only each other and their wits to help them survive for the month. The possibilities of being eaten alive, falling off a cliff or dying in some other horrible way were swirling in the brothers' head as the boat disappeared from sight and neither so much as twitched from their spots for the next hour as they tried to comprehend what they were about to go through.


The last thing on either brothers mind while they were struggling to survive the wildlife and environment for the month was their future Spirit Animal. In fact, the only thing on their minds – other than survival – was the riddle Izumi had demanded they figure out: 'all is one and one is all'. So when a half-starved and severely frustrated 9 year old Edward started dreaming of an animal, he dismissed it, even when he continued to have the same dream. After all, he was only 9 and it wasn't the first time he'd dreamt of an animal for a couple of days only for the dream to not happen the next night and for his excitement to be destroyed. However, once he'd had the same dream four nights in a row, he started to slowly believe it was the Dream. Only after the seventh night though, did he tell Alphonse about it.

"Really, Brother?! That's great! How long have you dreamt about it? What animal is it?" Ed had to chuckle at his youngest brother's excitement. Anyone would think Alphonse was the one who had been Dreaming of his Animal rather than Edward. He held his hands up in a calming gesture, hoping to get Al to stop bouncing around for a moment so he could answer the questions he was asked.

"I think I've dreamt about it for a week now but it's hard to tell since the days seem to merge together," Ed said, voice a little hollow as he remembered they still had to figure out that stupid riddle. "I didn't tell you just in case I was wrong and it was another round of false dreams. I didn't want to get my hopes up and tell you only to be let down," Ed pointed out rationally, purposely not answering his youngest brother's last question. Al had cried every time he'd figured out their dreams had been just that; dreams. Al had noticed Ed's avoidance at his last question and wasn't about to be ignored.

"What Animal did you dream of?" Al asked, whining a little. Ed laughed at his brother's childish behaviour, grateful that Al was acting his age, even if it was only for a moment.

"I'm not telling you." Seeing his brother open his mouth to argue, he added "Trust me, you won't mistake it for one of the animals here." Sensing that his older brother wasn't about to let up, Al decided to drop it but only for the moment.

He knew Ed didn't want to tell him because then it'd make it real and would only hurt more if it wasn't. But that didn't stop him from hoping that it was real. His brother needed this. So, he changed topics and got Ed to start brainstorming the answer to Teacher's riddle to distract him. They felt so close to an answer but decided to take a break when Al pointed out that it was nearly dark and they still needed to gather firewood and hunt for their dinner. They moved out together, checking their traps and collecting firewood as they went. They were lucky tonight and had caught three big rabbits and some sort of bird that looked nice and fat. Ed made short work of them and carried their carcasses back to their camp while Al struggled under the weight of all the wood they'd gathered.

"No way." Al heard his brother breath a moment before he walked into him, Ed having stopped short of their fire pit. Al let out a curse as he tried and failed at keeping his armful of wood in his arms. He was about to berate Ed when he saw what had caused his older brother to literally stop in his tracks.

The most beautiful wolf either of them had ever seen sat in the centre of their rather pitiful camp. Her white fur almost glowed in the growing darkness and she stared at the two of them as they stood there stunned with eerie eyes that seemed to pierce their very being. When Ed started moving forward in a trance-like state, Al found himself reaching forward instinctively to stop him before his mind caught up to his actions and he stopped himself. After all, there was only one reason there would be an Arctic Wolf on this island that wasn't making any moves to attack either of them and that was because this wolf was his brother's Spirit Animal.

Al watched with bated breath as Ed cautiously reached a hand forward and almost gasped when the wolf ducked its head under his hand and initiated the bond between the two of them. The moment Ed buried his hand in the wolf's fur, Al really did gasp – even dropping his armload of firewood – because something he'd never heard of happened. Both his older brother and the wolf glowed silver, lighting up the dark campsite so much Al could've mistaken it for daytime for a moment before the silver died out. Al saw that Ed's eyes were as wide as Al's probably were, which told Al that he hadn't forgotten about this phenomenon, and he withdrew his hand from atop the wolf's head. Al rushed over to his brother, almost tripping over the discarded firewood in his haste, stopping only when he'd reached Ed's side. He hadn't given the wolf any thought until he was right there in front of it and couldn't stop himself from glancing at it with a little bit of fear.

"Brother! Are you alright?!" Al cried, seizing the hand Ed had touched the wolf with and examining it before giving the rest of Ed a complete once over. "What happened?" There were no visible wounds that Al could see but neither brother could even hazard a guess about why Ed and the wolf had glowed. Said wolf was sitting next to Ed pleasantly and didn't look either injured or concerned about the glow.

"I'm alright, Al, I swear. The only thing that happened was I got startled," Ed soothed his fussing brother the moment his own heartbeat slowed down to an acceptable rate. The wolf looked up at him, a patient gaze in its eyes as Ed felt a grin stretch slowly across his face. "Al! I got my Spirit Animal! She's here!" Ed exclaimed, grabbing Al's arms and jumping up and down in uncontrollable excitement. Soon Al's expression was matching his own as Ed's excitement rubbed off on him. "Look at her! Isn't she the most beautiful Animal you've ever seen?!" Ed gushed as he let go of Al and knelt in front of the wolf, his wolf, and started running his hands through her fur. He noticed absently that his hands trembling slightly but he ignored that in order to focus on how soft his wolf's fur was. The wolf was leaning into his touch, eyes closed and tongue almost lolling out of her mouth as she drunk in all the attention Ed was lavishing on her.

"She's lovely, Ed. She really is. You're so lucky! You got your Spirit Animal and you're only 9!" Al exclaimed, hardly believing that his brother seriously had his Animal. He knew he'd wake up in the morning and flip because there's a giant wolf in their camp before he remembers what happened. "What's her name?" Al asked, a little demandingly and pouted a little when Ed laughed.

"I don't know. She hasn't told me yet. You remember mum telling us it can take a couple of days for your Animal to complete the bond by telling you their name. Mum told us that Cleo didn't tell her what her name was for nearly a week, remember?" Ed said and Al barely managed to shove his feelings of grief over their mum and the jealousy he felt as he watched Ed interacting with his Animal. Al reminded himself that his Animal would appear when he was ready and felt himself smiling as he watched Ed gushing over the wolf. He could already tell the two of them would be as close as Cleo and their mum was, if not closer. "Anyways, we can talk more about my wolf after we get this fire up and running and dinner cooking. I'll leave one of the rabbits for her to eat," Ed declared as he shoved Al in the direction of their semi-forgotten dinner, the wolf padding silently behind them.

Ed couldn't make heads or tails of his emotions as he and Al picked up the firewood and the rabbits and bird that had fallen prey to their traps. He couldn't believe his Animal had appeared; the moment he had waited for had finally come! He was half-convinced that this was an extremely lucid dream and he would wake up with only Al for company on this desolate island. The other half of him was absolutely elated that she was finally here, that his dreams was, in fact, the Dream every kid longed for and wasn't the universe screwing with him again. Though he knew Al had been wanting his Animal as much as he had, he never could explain to his younger brother just how stronger the want for his Animal had grown since their mother's passing.

Ed had heard from numerous adults about how they'd never even realised how incomplete they'd been until they'd met their Animal and had the hole they didn't know they had filled. There was something indescribable about how it felt to have a creature who would love you unconditionally, who wouldn't judge you and would always be there for you no matter what happened in your life. It was a little scary knowing that he would have someone he couldn't hide anything from. His wolf would know every single thing about him; the good, the bad and the questionable but the fact that she would still be there for him helped soothe his fear of abandonment

He'd never admitted it out loud but ever since his mother and Cleo had passed away, Ed had been acting as mother, father and brother to Alphonse and the pressure had slowly been killing him. Granny Pinako and Winry helped him with Al and remind him they were both still children but he'd mostly only had himself to rely on up until now. He loved Al and would never give him up or begrudge him anything but he just wanted to have someone whose sole concern was for him and he despised himself for that feeling. But now he had his Animal, someone who would be there just for him and help him with everything and he would never feel like it was him against the world again.

"Hey, Ed?" Al's voice interrupted Ed's musing and the older blonde realised he'd been sitting in his usual dinner spot. He hadn't even noticed himself walking over there and the smell of roasting meat had him looking over to the crackling campfire, where he saw the rabbits and bird slowly being roasted. He flushed as he realised he'd spaced out enough that Al had had to do everything himself so they wouldn't waste the animals Ed had skinned and gutted for their dinner. The feeling of his fingers tangled in soft fur had him looking down to see his wolf asleep next to his feet.

"Sorry, Al," Ed apologised sheepishly. "Is something wrong?" He asked, looking around to see if he could figure out what was causing the slightly confused look on Al's face.

"I don't know if something's wrong, per say, but I noticed while you were spacing out," Al gave him a teasing grin that had Ed grinning back guiltily, "that your wolf's fur and eye colour looks like they've changed. Unless I'm just imaging things," Al said and Ed's brows furrowed in confusion. "Her fur was pure white and her eyes were brown when we first saw her, right? Because her eyes match yours and her fur looks like its tinged with gold now." Ed frowned as he recalled his first look at his wolf before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, they were. Wait," Ed said as Al's words sunk in, "did you say they've changed?" Ed asked and Al rolled his eyes before gesturing to his wolf, obviously telling him to look for himself so Ed did and found that his brother was absolutely right. If Ed wasn't mistaken, his wolf's eyes were now the same shade as his own and her fur would've matched his own hair if it weren't for the fact that the first inch of her fur was still pure white.

"Have you ever heard of an Animal changing their colouring like that before, Brother?" Al asked and Ed shook his head, both in answer to Al's question and in disbelief.

"I've never heard of it happening before. I mean," Ed said, going into ranting mode, "I've heard of Animals who have shared similar personality traits with their humans and similar colouring. You know as well as I do that Granny's hair used to be the same colour as Den's fur when she was younger but I have never heard or read about an Animal whose entire colouring changed like hers did!" Ed exclaimed. He hated not knowing the answers to a mystery and lacking the ability to find those answers out. He saw his wolf was looking at him with amusement and he found himself sticking his tongue out at her.

"Maybe that silver light had something to do with it?" Al suggested, mulling over everything he'd read and heard but coming up with nothing. "Maybe Mrs. Curtis might know," Al offered when Ed's mouth twisted as he couldn't give an answer.

Ed pondered the idea and concluded that if anyone knew the answer, it would be her. Their – hopefully – soon-to-be teacher was the single most powerful and knowledgeable alchemist the two boys had ever met. Granted, the pool of alchemists they could compare her to consisted of each other and their father and they only had the stories their mother had told them about Hohenheim's alchemy to compare too since neither remembered actually seeing his alchemy in action. However, Izumi's method of performing alchemy with no circle was something neither boy had ever seen, read or heard of.

"It's possible she might. She's our best chance for an answer, unless my Animal decides to talk to me before the month's up and knows the answer. You can ask Mrs. Curtis if that doesn't happen, 'kay?" Ed decided, nodding enthusiastically.

"Hey! Why do I have to ask her?" Al's voice rose a few octaves.

"You want to know!" Ed pointed out.

"It's your wolf!" Said wolf growled at Al, who quickly corrected himself. "She's your wolf!"

"I'm honestly good with living without that knowledge if it means not being beaten up by that crazy woman!" Ed informed him. "What if it's something really common that both of us should probably know and we ask her?"

"Considering this is a new development for both of us, if we asked her than she'd probably not beat us up. Especially if we flatter her somehow while asking," Al rationally pointed out and Ed had to concede that point.

"It doesn't matter anyway. We won't get to ask her anything if we don't solve that damned riddle," Ed grumbled, refusing to admit Al had won. The smug look on Al's face told Ed that his younger brother knew he'd won anyway. "Have you had anymore-" Ed suddenly stopped in the middle of what he was asking when he'd heard a foreign voice.

"Ayala," the soft-spoken voice resonated through his mind, causing Ed to jolt violently enough that he nearly fell off the log that had been serving as his seat. He could hear Al still but his brother sounded muffled, like Ed was under water.

"Who are you?" Ed demanded as he shook his head, trying to clear his head of the intruding voice. Though he was certain he'd never heard the voice before, it was somehow as comforting and familiar as his mother's. For his efforts, Ed was rewarded with a lilting chuckle.

"I would be the wolf next to your feet. My name is Ayala," the voice explained and Ed found himself gaping at the gold-tinged wolf sitting next to him and was rewarded with the same lilting laughter as before.

"ED!" Al's shout of his name got through to the older Elric that time and Ed jumped in surprise.

"Ayala," was all Ed managed to gasp out as he tried to get over the two most recent shocks of the night. "Ayala," Ed repeated, voice stronger this time and he managed to drag his gaze away from his wolf – Ayala, he had to remind himself – so he could meet Alphonse's worried eyes.

"I-what?" Al asked, thrown by his brother's response.

"Her name," he said, as he gestured to his wolf. "is Ayala." Al's confused face was priceless.

"Really? She told you already?" Al asked excitedly. Being told your Animal's name after only a couple of hours was rare. Most animals waited at least a day.

"Yeah, she told me." Ed looked ecstatic and Al couldn't help but grin with equal enthusiasm. However, Al thought he could sense something amiss with Ed's mood.

"What's wrong?" Al asked, frowning a little in concern but Ed waved it off.

"Nothing. Just another thing I might have to ask Mrs. Curtis about," Ed said with a light chuckle. "Don't worry about it. Let's just have dinner and go to sleep. Maybe we'll have figured out that stupid riddle in the morning," Ed scowled as he remembered they still hadn't puzzled out that riddle yet.

He gave Al a reassuring smile as he pulled the cooked meat off the fire before serving it up. Ayala got an entire cooked rabbit to herself and Ed made sure to throw the bones that remained far enough away from their camp that they wouldn't have to worry about foxes or the like coming too close. Though, he snorted internally, they wouldn't have to worry about that with Ayala around anyway. The affirmative growl in his head had him grinning madly again because it reminded him that he had his Animal and he felt another wave of excitement rush through him.

Once he'd disposed of the bones, he and Ayala joined Al around the fire for another hour or so as they tried to puzzle out the riddle before Al decided they should call it a night. Ed reluctantly agreed so they doused the fire and curled up on their leaf mattress. To both their surprise, Ayala made herself quite at home in between the two of them, allowing Al to take advantage of her body heat as well. It took Ed a little bit to convince Al that Ayala wasn't going to bite him if he touched her but they soon managed to fall asleep all curled up together.

A/N - here's the revised chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I'll see you next week when I post chapter 3!