Chapter 2

First Encounters

The train was close to Central now. The conductor yawned and gazed out the window with anticipation. He could even see the lights of Central emanating a hazy glow in the distance, a beacon in the cloak of night. Yes, the train was so close.

But the train would never make it to its destination.

The conductor spotted something out on the tracks ahead, a shadowed figure blocking the train's path. What in blue blazes, he wondered, baffled as he narrowed his eyes.

A woman!? What was a woman doing on the track?

His questions were of no importance. He needed to warn her somehow, get her out of the way before they plowed right into her.

The conductor pulled the horn and the train blared. She did not move. What was she, suicidal?

"She's not going to move," the conductor realized in horror. He hurried and pressed the brakes, fearing that the old train might not respond fast enough. The train screeched and began to slow. The train barreled onward at too fast a rate. Just as he had thought, it wouldn't be enough to save her.

The conductor looked out at the woman as the train barreled down towards her. "Move!" he yelled helplessly.

The woman waited until the last second and jumped into the air, vanishing from his sight.

"What?" the shocked conductor exclaimed in disbelief, questioning if he'd seen something supernatural or was simply going crazy after these many years. He leaned out of the window and looked up, searching. The last thing he saw was something shoot out from the roof and impale his head. The conductor's body fell limp over the window, arms dangling lifelessly.

Lust glided in through the window and stood within the train. The locomotive was already slowing to a stop so there was no need for her to mess with the controls. It would not do her any favors for the train to reach Central's populated city.

"Good," Lust smiled. This would give them enough time.

She walked into the passengers' car. The confused people there looked up at her curiously, no doubt wondering why the train was slowing to a halt and where this strange, dark-haired beauty had come from. Lust didn't spare them a glance. She walked gracefully past their seats into the other car. She knew where she was going. She knew where to find Edgar Ronin.

She reached Ronin's private room where soldiers were keeping him in custody. Only two guards stood at the door, nowhere near enough to keep her out. They turned to her and she was not what they had expected.

"Miss," the closest one addressed her. "You can't be back here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Lust smiled and in her deep, sensual voice replied, "Not until I get what I came here for."

The guard, sensing the threat, maneuvered his gun to aim at her. Sadly for him, no mere mortal could match the speed of a homunculus. Lust's hand shot out, deadly fingers spearing his body. She withdrew, spatters of his life's liquid sprinkling the air as his body fell to the floor, dead.

The other guard's face distorted in delicious fear and he went for his gun, but he too met his demise before he could fire a single shot.

Satisfied, Lust opened the door and was greeted with a hail of bullets from the two guards stationed inside. Her body danced back with the force of each annoying bullet.

The guards ceased fire, waiting for her to fall.

Lust never fell.

Her body worked to heal itself, pushing the bullets out and closing the skin with red electric currents of light. Lust met their terrified gazes with a cold one of her own. Before they fired again, Lust claimed their lives just as easily as the first two.

"Hello, Love," Lust greeted the middle aged man cowering in the corner.

"Please don't kill me!" he begged.

"You disappoint me," Lust frowned at the pathetic alchemist. "You were supposed to make me a Philosopher's Stone. I even gave you one so you could make me another." This was a lie. The stone Lust had given the man had been a fake. But Ronin didn't know that. He'd followed her wishes blindly with false promises of gaining power. Foolish man, he was a means to an end.

He licked his lips nervously and stammered, "I tried! I was close but the one you gave me lost its power somehow. And then the military sniffed out what I was doing."

Bored of his excuses, Lust impaled him in the shoulder, causing him to cry out pitifully. "You weren't close enough."

Voices could be heard as people approached them, catching her attention for the moment. She needed to leave.

"You weren't close enough to save your life," she finished, turning back to him with the intent of finishing this quickly.

Ronin had taken advantage of the distraction and had drawn a transmutation circle on the floor using his own blood. Lust, realizing how careless she'd been, went in for the kill.

There was a flash of blue light as Ronin activated the array.

(-Ed-)

Edward lounged on the wooden bench at the station, blowing his bangs out in a gust of breath. People meandered around them, their murmurs casting a background noise as the young alchemist zoned out.

Al, sitting next to him, commented, "The train should be here any minute." A hint of excitement lilted his words. Ed was anxious to get things rolling as well. No matter how depraved Ronin's research methods might be, the man could have been on to something. The key to getting their bodies back could be hidden within his notes and, although Ed's stomach churned with the knowledge of what Mustang imparted on him, he'd search through every nook and cranny. But for that to happen…

The train needed to get there already.

"Yeah," Ed responded, gazing out into the night dully. He slid lower in his seat, hands deep into his pockets.

"Brother, what do you think we'll find in Ronin's research?" Al asked, obviously trying to energize him out of his lethargy.

Ed kept staring out into the distance as he answered, "I don't know, but I hope we find something. It's about time we caught a brea "

He was interrupted by a massive explosion on the outskirts of Central. The blast lit up the night and caused everyone in the vicinity to panic. Some of them screamed, and some ran when the aftershocks of the explosion rumbled underneath their feet. The brothers held their ground, both of them now standing up to stare tensely into the distance.

"What was that?" Al asked in alarm.

Edward racked his mind for every possibility and came to the only logical conclusion. "The train! Come on, Alphonse!" Ed sprinted out of the station with Al following close behind.

(-Lust-)

Lust stood carefully, using a tree to hold herself up while her body was in the process of healing itself. In the next minute she would be fine, but anger coursed through her.

The sin glared at the burning car. The other passengers and workers not caught in the blast were escaping the train in mortal terror. Scraps of burning metal littered the scene, smoke permeated the air, and the sounds of screams drilled into her eardrums. Annoyed by it all, Lust closed her eyes.

"Oh, well," she sighed. Ronin was dead now. There was no point in being angry at a dead man.

She allowed herself to rest until her body fully healed. Then she could easily flee the scene and none would be the wiser.

"It's you!" came a surprised familiar voice.

Lust turned to meet Edward's accusing glare. Her eyes narrowed at the boy, "Edward Elric. It's just one surprise after another tonight." She should have left sooner. She didn't need a confrontation with the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"It was you!" Edward shouted. "You did this, homunculus!"

Lust crossed her arms, "In a way, I suppose you could say I caused this."

Giving him no time to react, Lust attacked the surprised alchemist.

(-Taylor-)

What is that smell?

An unpleasant, smoky aroma invaded my nostrils. That was the first thing I became aware of. It smelled like someone had a bonfire going and were using weird things as firewood. I could almost feel the heat from it too.

…that's strange.

Curious, I opened my eyes to a night sky filled with dazzling stars. Pretty, I thought dazedly and tried to sit up. The world swam and I laid back down. Nope, my stomach told me that was a very bad idea. Better not get up for now.

As I rested on my back, I concentrated on the senses that would tell me the most about the setting around me. My ears weren't incredibly useful. Even though noises were coming to me it was like I heard them through a filter. The noises were muffled and indistinct, giving me no clues. As far as I could tell, from seeing the sky and feeling the prickling grass underneath me, I reckoned that I lay outside somewhere.

But where was I exactly? Had that whole thing…meeting Truth and traveling through the gate… Had that really happened? Surely I had dreamed it all after falling off of the castle roof. Perhaps damaged my brain a little in the fall? But then, how was I still alive after a fall like that? And more importantly, why hadn't anyone come to help me? Had they really just left me out here? Where were Mom and Joeli? What the hell was going on?

More than a little puzzled and frustrated, I managed to roll over with success. What I saw I didn't comprehend. Through my bleary vision I took in the shapes, the gleaming metal from the wispy light, the long bulky cars, and pieced it together within my mind. Train, I thought. It looked like a train. But it was on fire. Why was the train on fire?

There was screaming and voices I could make out, now that my ears were adjusting, but I didn't understand what was going on. Shifting around to gain a better view, my eyes scanned the crowd. Everything seemed so surreal. Cast in an orange haze of firelight, people ran off of other sections of the train in a frenzy. I didn't blame them. But what was up with the train? There were no tracks near Blarney Castle. So I searched the crowd further, hoping I could find someone to help explain to me what was going on.

My eyes stopped on a woman standing away from the group of people and closer to my position, near the line of trees. What stood out the most was her attire: a formal black gown with matching gloves. The other passengers were dressed casually as far as I could tell. Was this woman going somewhere important? Was she important or something? Then I noticed that she was hurt, picking herself up off of the ground. A gaping hole in her stomach bled profusely. Now, that should have been the most amazing part, her having such an awful injury and being able to stand. But what topped the cake was when her wounds began to close. Little red electric charges sprouted from the wounded area, dancing around the flesh until it sewed together both skin and dress. Astonished, I checked her face. I was shocked to realize I knew her.

"No," I breathed in disbelief. No matter what my eyes were telling me, that couldn't be who I thought it was. If that was true then that meant what I had been through, all of it, it had actually happened. It couldn't be. It didn't make sense! No. I had to be dreaming. No matter how real everything seemed, it just couldn't be.

Waist deep in denial, I tore my eyes away to find the crowd had two newcomers. They stood out like sore thumbs, seeing as how one of them was very noticeably a giant suit of armor.

Wait…

Oh God, no…

But another look at the armor's companion confirmed my fears. The other was a boy about my age in a long familiar red coat, his golden hair tied back into a braid.

It was them.

I think I started to hyperventilate at that moment. It's not every day you see fictional characters come to life. They looked so similar to what I had seen before, but more realistic, more solid, but undeniably them. Either this was the most lucid dream I'd ever had or…

But, it's impossible… I thought doubtfully. How could I believe so easily that I had just witnessed a homunculus healing herself? Or that the Elric brothers had arrived to help the passengers?

I decided then and there that it all had to be in my head. If I kept thinking about it I would start screaming and that would not help matters. I would just go with whatever happened next until I could wake up from this nightmare.

I glanced back to…Lust (I couldn't stop my mind from faltering over the name). She had healed herself fully. Now she simply stood there. Whatever thoughts that were going through her mind, I could not fathom. I could barely understand my own. I wondered what she would do next. She hadn't noticed the brothers; they hadn't seen her. My gaze flicked back and forth between the two parties. Should I do anything? Warn someone? Ask for help? Something? Could I even say a word? I felt like if I tried to open my mouth nothing would come out as if I'd swallowed cotton, that same feeling you get when you're dreaming and wanted to scream but couldn't make a sound.

And boy did I want to scream. And cry. And crawl in a dark corner, shut everything out, and wait for this to be over. As it was, I couldn't look away, nor close my eyes. Ludicrous as it may be, I feared to miss a single moment. I didn't want to be caught up in the chaos, to get hurt, to be noticed by moving suddenly. Wasn't that silly? This was only a dream. What did I have to be scared of?

The happenings around me went on without my interference. Edward looked at Lust for the first time with a surprised expression. He quickly told Alphonse something and jogged to where Lust stood. Al stayed behind to do crowd control. I think he was trying to keep them away from the coming danger.

Edward (God, it still felt so weird to say, even in my mind) went to Lust. They started talking but my ears hadn't adjusted enough to get good sound and they were too far away to hear clearly anyway. Neither of them looked very happy about the other one being there, big surprise. Words were exchanged, and, startling me, Lust lunged towards Ed.

What should I do? I thought frantically, trying to sit up by using my shaky limbs. Who cares if someone saw me. That's it. I wanted out. Lust and Ed were now fighting in earnest and I didn't want to become a casualty. Dream be damned, instinct was hard to override and mine screamed at me to flee and not look back.

Struggling against my tired body's protests, I got halfway up when my hand pushed against something sharp, probably shrapnel from the train, and I retracted it with a hiss. I peered at the torn flesh as blood pooled in my palm from the stinging cut.

Funny…dreams weren't supposed to hurt.

"Hey!" I heard a hollow voice echo. I looked up to see an intimidatingly large suit of armor running towards me. "Are you alright?" he asked, kneeling. His size astounded me. He was so much bigger in person.

"Alphonse?" I choked out before I could stop myself.

Al seemed taken aback, but quickly refocused on his task. He reached for me with large gauntleted hands and helped me sit back on my knees. "Let's go," he said.

"But…Ed's in trouble," I protested in a daze. Wasn't he worried about him? Why was I worried about him? None of this was real anyway.

I had surprised Al a second time, but he glanced up anyway, gasping at the predicament he found Edward in. "Brother!" Al called.

Ed fended off Lust the best he could, using a spear. Where had the weapon come from? Did he…transmute it? "I'm okay! Just get those passengers out of here!"

"Right," Al nodded, going to help me again. His attention was turned to me, so he didn't see what happened next.

Gluttony jumped out from the trees and landed on Ed, making my heart leap in my throat. He fell to the ground with a loud thud, the spear snapping in two from Gluttony on top of him. His arms were busy keeping the homunculus's hungry mouth away from him, so he remained defenseless against Lust. She knew this and was about to strike him with fingers that could kill.

Dream or not, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop!" I screamed, throwing my hands down. A sharp tug pulled in my stomach as red crackling energy appeared under my hands and shot out towards the others. As if sensing my desires, it went in between Lust and Ed, the ground rising up to form a rocky, eight foot tall wall and effectively stopping Lust's fingers.

I stared in wonder at what I had done. I had created a giant wall…with alchemy? Did I just use alchemy? No….no, no, no, no…

Al looked down, still holding onto me, "How did you…?"

Lust glanced at us and her expression was anything but friendly.

And that's when shit got real.

(-Ed-)

While Ed struggled with Gluttony, he caught quick movement from his peripheral vision; Lust prepared to strike him. With his hands full of one homunculus, that left nothing he could do about the other.

A stone wall grew up from the ground, halting Lust's attack and making Ed blink in shock. It was created by alchemy. Any later and he'd have been turned into a human shish-kabob.

He would have to thank Al later for that.

Ed moved and, planting the soles of his boots into the homunculus's fat belly, thrust Gluttony into the air behind him. Fluidly, he jumped up and spun on his heel to face his hungry opponent who struggled to clamber to his feet. Ed needed to strike while his guard was down. A clap of hands later caused the ground to lift over Gluttony and cover all but his head, leaving him immobile.

"All in a day's work," Ed grunted, pleased with himself. Ignoring Gluttony's frustrated snarling, he glanced up to find Al hovering over a girl close to the train. He gaped as, from the other side of the wall, Lust shot out and knocked Al off of his feet. He went flying yards away from the force of the blow, landing in the dirt with a series of unsettling clangs.

"Al!" Ed yelled. He knew that he wasn't hurt but it still unnerved him whenever he saw his little brother take blows like that. He started forward to go to his brother's aid but stopped when Gluttony shifted. The sin began to eat his way free. Ed thought in disgust, That can't be healthy. The tears he made with his teeth allowed Gluttony enough leverage to writhe against his earthen prison. Cracks formed on the bonds one after another. Ed cursed, clapped his hands again, and used the material around them to condense the matter holding his captive.

From his hunched position, he searched for the other homunculus. Lust had the girl by the neck, lifting her in the air. The girl's eyes narrowed as her airways were constricted by Lust's tight grip. All Ed could wonder was why? Why was she going after the girl? Why wasn't the homunculus going after Al or himself?

"Hey! Get away from her!" Ed shouted, seeing as he couldn't do anything more in his position. It was either keep Gluttony contained by continuously reconstructing the bonds or try to save the girl, but the latter would mean facing two of the Homunculi. The girl's life was more important though. Damn it, could Al recover fast enough and make it there? What should he do? Stay, or go?

Lust paid no heed to Edward's warning, appearing to say something to the girl. Then she lifted her arm with elongated fingers, readying herself for the killing blow.

"No!" Ed shouted at the same time the girl did. The girl wrapped her hand around the arm that held her up. As soon as she did a visible red current ran up Lust's arm and engulfed her in its energy like a rebound from a transmutation. Lust let out a shrill scream of agony, dropped the girl, and staggered backwards until she fell to the ground. Lust writhed in pain, her skin burning and melting grotesquely as smoke rose from her heated flesh.

Did the girl do that? Edward wondered in awe.

Gluttony let out a wild cry, snapping Ed's attention back to him. "Crap!" Ed started. Gluttony broke free of the bonds and Ed had just enough time to bring his arms up to protect himself.

The sin slammed into him, hard enough to knock the breath out of him. He stumbled back, steadied himself, and prepared for the next attack.

Instead of going for Ed again, Gluttony had dashed over to Lust the moment Ed was out of the way. "My Lust!" he called, standing over her. He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. He roared, "You'll pay for hurting my Lust!" Then Gluttony bounded off into the woods from wince he came.

Ed held his position until he was certain they were gone. Only then did he turn his head back to the girl. She was on her knees, breathing hard. Al had come back and kneeled next to her. He glanced up and caught Ed's gaze, "Brother!"

Edward pushed off of the ground and bounded over to them. With him now standing in front of the two, Al kept glancing back and forth between Ed and the girl, silently asking for assistance. Ed eyed her, checking her over for injuries. She was around their age, small, yet curvy. Her red-brown hair reached to her waist in a tangled curtain, halfway hiding her dirtied khaki, cargo pants and lime-green hoody. She looked up at Ed, still breathing in pants as if she had run a mile. Her skin was pale with a scattering of freckles, her lips full, and her eyes were a wide, mossy green filled with exhaustion. Red marks marred her neck and would surely leave bruises. Couple that with her bloodied hand, and that was the extent of her injuries that were visible.

Ed knelt in front of her, the girl's eyes following his movements.

"Did I do good?" she asked him, and Ed realized something. Her expression, it was scared.

Ed gave her the most gentle smile he could muster, "Yeah." He may not have a clue to how she had done it, but this girl had saved them. That was good in his book.

A small smile played on her lips. "Good," she said in a weak voice, eyes sliding shut. She fell forward and only by his quick reflexes was Ed able to catch her before she landed face first on the ground. He rolled her over in his lap and brushed her long hair out of the way, fearing the worst. He watched in relief as she breathed in and out.

"What do we do now, Brother?" Al asked while gazing at the passed out girl.

Ed's eyes were locked on the girl's face, his brows furrowing as he contemplated the enigma before him, "First, we make sure everyone got back to the city limits safely. We don't want any stragglers out here in case the Homunculi decide to come back. Then we get her to a hospital."

"And then?"

"I hate to say it, but I think we should call Mustang."

Hiya. This was a pain. My computer keeps bugging out on me. Stop it computer. Bad computer.

This took me longer than I anticipated. I've had the first...four chapters I think, rewritten already before I started posting these, but for some reason when I go back to edit these one last time I end up editing a lot of stuff about three times over but whatever, it's good now. I know it might seem unfair to you guys who've been following my other stories, that I'm working on this instead of my ongoing ones, but this was faster and easier to do for me. However, I have been working here and there on many other things, but it's slow going I'm sad to say. Ugh, college is kicking my fluffy butt right now and I'm not keeping up well with my classes. And by the time I'm finished going to classes or studying or dealing with daily things, even if I have some free time, I just don't want to write sometimes. Sorry my excuses are lame, but I'm sure some of you are wondering why I haven't been updating stuff. Remember, good things come to those who wait!

Speaking of my classes, GEOLOGY NEEDS TO GO DIE IN A HOLE! SPANISH TOO! STAB IT WITH A KNIFE! I WAS NEVER MEANT TO LEARN THESE THINGS! I AM AN ENGLISH MAJOR! WHY MUST I PUT UP WITH THIS TORTURE?! JUST BURN EVERYTHING! DROWN IT IN GASOLINE AND BURN IT ALL TO THE GROUND! LET THESE SUBJECTS DIE, DIE, DIEEEEEEE!

...I feel slightly better.

See you party peoples next week. Two weeks? Three?! I have no idea! It's a mystery! Whee, just like life! LIFE IS A MYSTERY! EVERYONE MUST STAND ALONE! I HEAR YOU CALL MY NAME! AND IT FEEEELS LIIIIKE...HOME!

I have officially gone insane...and I am okay with this.