Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me. If it did...well, i don't really know, but it doesn't. Enough said.

Author's Note:

I am terribly sorry for not updating this in so long, everyone. For some reason the ideas would not come to me- but that is most likely because I was stressing out over school and summer school and only had time to worry about one of my fanfics- Figure of Sheherazade. And then when I finished with this chapter a few days ago I was terribly insecure about this and for some reason couldn't bear to update it yet.

...Yeah, I know. I shouldn't be so afraid of posting stuff on this site. But what can I say, I am very cautious with certain things. Plus there was the fact that this chapter was somewhat shorter than the last one and I couldn't find a way to make it longer. :(

But I hope those who have been waiting for this aren't too disappointed by it. I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this will enjoy it. Sincerely.

And let's not forget everyone who had reviewed my last chapter: Bar-Ohki, Wandering Hitokiri, Diaph Annie, werxa, SistersGrimm, Tierra, Funky Editors 12, Cerulean San, and inu 4ever. Thank you So much for all your reviews, for they were uplifting and good for my writer's soul. It is always great to hear from readers, whether new or old. :)

And now, to get you guys away from my silly paranoia and into the new chapter. Enjoy, and don't forget to review, please! :)

Chapter 3: Hints

Plod. Plod. Plod.

A pair of thick black boots thudded softly in the moist dirt just outside the inn. They kept onward, as though aimless in their direction, until eyes saw a lone girl kneeling at the nearby river with a dented bucket.

Feet quickly moved behind a tree, the eyes still observant.

His face was not sneaky; rather, it was sly and knowing. A little smile curved on his lips as he watched her draw water, his eyes drinking in the subtle strength of her pale arms with a sort of satisfaction.

He bared his teeth, emitting a sound that she couldn't have possibly heard even if she tried. Only a few moments passed before a dark shape flapped and landed on his arm with a clumsy swoop. He slowly stroked it around its ears as he continued to watch the girl.

His smile widened at the sight of the coin glowing in her hands.

"She is wonderful, is she not, Ern? Just as I remembered." His whisper to the creature was soft, murmuring.

"But they are here, too."

His ministrations stopped abruptly, and beady eyes looked up at him in silent questioning.

"Between her...and them...and me..."

A fresh smirk curled around the edges of his mouth, and he raised his arm to the sky.

"This will be quite interesting."

The bat flew into the dark reaches of the night, his wings illuminated by the silvery light of the moon.

She stopped her scrubbing as a twinge of pain shot from her palm to her elbow. Dumping the rags in the bucket, she slowly raised her calloused hands and winced at the raw, red blisters forming on them.

Another look at the length of the hallway made her sigh.

She would have to make do without sleep again. Dipping her hands in the slushy water of the bucket to cool the blisters, she thought over the amount of work left to do. Maybe if she didn't do the parts covered by rugs and tapestries…Winry closed her eyes.

A memory of a neglected errand, Mr. Boss's fury, a crude strip of hardened leather in one of his hands as she cowered in the corner of a wall…her eyes snapped back open.

No. It would do her no good if she left anything unfinished.

Though she did leave their room dusty for the night, Winry thought with a smidge of guilt.

Even so, it wasn't really her fault…the moment she had gotten back to their room, bucket in tow, they had shoved the door in her face and said they were too tired to be bothered at the moment.

Or rather, the shorter of the two had said all that. What was his name again? El…no, wait, it was Ed.

It didn't matter what his name was though. In her opinion, he was far too annoying.

'That's enough thinking for now,' Winry decided, and she went back to work scrubbing the hallways. With a twinge she realized that she never had a chance to get her mop back. Well, no helping that now.

A shaft of moonlight shone through the window and dazzled the silver chain around her neck into a twinkle.

"Hey!" A none-too-gentle prodding into her spine. "Hey, girl! Get up!" A sharper jab into her back, and her eyes shot awake.

Winry yawned, and then jerked as she found out where she was.

She was curled up into a corner of a hallway, her wet rags pressed to her chest and making her shiver with the chill the water gave her in the early dawn.

'Just one…spot…left.' Bleary, her eyes turned to the last spot that had to clean the night before- a fist-sized speck of dust and cobwebs right above her head on the wall. Reaching up, she gently wiped it off.

"Girl!"

Oh, right. It was dawn. She had to work at dawn. Mr. Boss usually called her at-

Oh, no.

Winry panicked and looked into the face of the bearded cook who had teased her the day before. He was now scowling down at her with intense disapproval.

"The boss called you a little while ago, girl," he spat, and he stomped away to the kitchens.

Mr. Boss- what?

She jumped off the floor and ran fast as her bare, dirty feet would allow her.

Up the steps…turn towards the left…Mr. Boss will be very angry…so angry…

Winry burst through the door and almost fell heaving to the carpet.

"Took ya long enough, girl," his surly voice growled. Terrified, she hunched her shoulders in and kept her eyes on the floor.

"Look up when I'm speakin' to ya!"

She complied, and his angry, scorching gaze made her shiver. But it wasn't only that that made her afraid.

In his hands was that awful leather whip.

Her shudder made Mr. Boss grin- a cruel, twisting action that crawled above his chin. "Dat's better. Now, did ya serve those two guests breakfast yet?"

"N-no, sir." It was always better to cut straight to the point with Mr. Boss. But…she had to serve them breakfast?

'This isn't good.'

Another scowl. "Then get to it! And don' let me hafta tell ya again!" He snapped the whip in front of him, and Winry backed up against the door. "Now git!"

"Y-yes sir."

She ran away to the kitchens.

Knock. Knock.

What was that? A woodpecker tapping around somewhere?

Knock. Knock.

He groaned and sat up, running a gloved hand over his tired face. What the hell…he never got up this early. Who was that at the door?

Just then some more knocks sounded, and he huffed and stretched. Sleep was impossible now. Great.

The dust made him sneeze when he got off the sofa, and that made him even crankier. Grumbling, he dusted off his clothes and shook his feet to get some feeling into them.

"I don't remember asking for no damn bed and breakfast-"

Knock. Knock.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Honestly, didn't people know the value of patience these days? He sighed and pulled open the door.

"Yeah yeah, what do you-" Anything and everything rude that he was about to say took only a second to die in his throat as a strange feeling jolted through his head.

'Well what do you know...'

"Why Winry, what a surprise." The girl in front of him frowned at his usage of her name, and it secretly amused him. "What's all this?"

In her hands was a silver tray laden with…well, it looked like food, but…

"Brother? Who's at the door?"

"Just one of the servants, Al," he shot over his shoulder. "Nothing to worry about."

A soft sigh told him that his brother was going back to sleep in the bedroom, so he turned his attention back to the girl. "So, is that really for me?" 'And my brother,' he should have added, but he didn't bother.

The conflicting emotions were easy to witness on her face, and he coolly watched as they calmed and smoothed over each other into a blank stare.

"Your breakfast," she muttered, and she pushed the tray straight into his hands, making him stumble.

"…I see." Even though the food on the tray smelled edible, he still couldn't help the small frown that came over his face. "This going to happen every morning?"

"Yes." He wanted to say something, anything that could force something of a conversation, but she was already moving down the hallway.

He had missed his chance.

'I hate this,' were Winry's only thoughts as she devoured her scraps of food. Breakfast was never much of an enjoyment like she heard other people say it was, but she found that she liked it better whenever she ate outside.

It was because of this that she was seated behind a wall of the inn, her arms covered in bumps from the cold. She didn't mind it though. No one else ever came here, and she liked being alone.

"Caw! Caw!"

Two blackbirds landed in the snow and stared at her. She stared back, and one of them hopped a little in her direction.

"Caw!"

"I only have a little today…"

"Caw!" the bird repeated, and Winry sighed in defeat. Ever since she had fed them some of her own food a few weeks ago, they had always come back for more whenever she came out here for meals. But even with all those horrible rumors surrounding them, and their annoying pestering for her meager scraps, she found that she didn't really mind. They were only birds after all.

"Here." The birds leaped at the small pile of food she laid before them, and she used her fingers to eat the rest from her bowl. Some scuffles ensued near her as two more birds joined the feeding. One of the birds became daring and hopped on the rim of her bowl.

She shooed it away with her hand. "Leave it alone. This is all I've got."

Instead of paying heed to her words, the blackbird flew and circled back, this time getting a peck at a near-burnt sausage she was plopping in her mouth. Her brow furrowed at this, but she said nothing and just swallowed the sausage whole.

"All right, that's enough. See you guys later."

She stood up and dusted the snow off her ragged smock.

It was time for work.

Ever since its discovery by man, silver has been known as the "pure" metal. Its color, when untarnished, is that of an almost pure white- white, the age-old symbol of purity and light. It is partly for this that it has been so valued and cherished by those who can get their hands on it- namely, the wealthy.

But there is a second meaning behind its other name. For centuries silver has been said to have the ability to "purify" those of the darkness, creatures whose origins are not those of man or the common beast. How or why this is said, no one truly knows-

He clamped the book shut. Thanks to constant reading and rereading, those words were already ingrained into his mind.

With a sigh, Edward sat up from his lounging position on the still dusty couch. After a glance at the bedroom door where Al slept, he tapped his fingers first on the sides of his thighs, then the couch, and then finally in each palm.

It was no use- he was bored.

A peek out the window told him that even though the thick fog and mist gave the appearance of an early night, it was only afternoon.

'…Wonder if the sun ever shines bright and cheery in this place…'

The thought made him snort.

But there actually were more important things to think of here. For instance…that girl.

His eyes narrowed. Everything about that girl screamed that she was hiding something, but he couldn't exactly tell what. Though she did smell somewhat like blackbirds…

"Hey Al," he called out. "You okay in there?"

No answer. His brother was fast asleep.

The sun was setting, and the kitchens were busier than ever. After all, it was common fact that robbers and gangs did most of their business at night.

"S-sorry! Excuse me…" Winry looked up from the dishes she was washing and noticed a girl dodging the plates being hurried out to the bar. "I-I didn't mean to-"

"Just git outta the way, girl!" a waiter shouted rudely, and he pushed her to the side. Winry watched for a second, then wiped her hands on her smock.

Rose was the new worker here. Apparently she was "found" just yesterday, but Winry couldn't remember seeing her around anytime before this morning. But as the story went, Mr. Boss had let her in, given her some sweeping jobs on the second floor all day yesterday, and now put her to work in the kitchens. That was probably the only good thing about Mr. Boss: he may have everyone here working their bones off, but Winry could never remember him turning away anyone who looked like they needed somewhere to stay.

The dim sound of crying and yells echoed in her mind for just a second, but then she shook her head and looked down at Rose. Rose may be a little bit clumsy, but she'll get used to life around here. Besides, maybe…

"Are you…okay, Rose?" She leaned down and reached out a hand, and felt a little thrill in her heart when Rose took it and smiled. No one had ever really given her such a smile before.

"Thank you…" No one had ever really thanked her before either.

'Maybe she could be a friend.' Winry tried her own feeble attempt at a smile, then merely nodded her head. "You…should be careful. No one here likes anyone who gets in the way."

At this, Rose's eyes saddened. "Sorry."

Winry felt a bit guilty, but decided to let it go. "You'll be alright in a few days, as long as you never break Mr. Boss's silver."

Rose looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Whoever breaks Mr. Boss's silver around here gets a finger taken off. I saw it happen before. Twice." Why was she saying this? All she was doing was scaring her even more. But Rose had to know the truth, or else she may not even survive around here…

"A- A finger? How- Why would he do such a-" What happened next wasn't entirely Rose's fault. It just…happened. But all the same, the arm that Rose had stretched out in her panic collided with a tray a waiter was carrying past them. The tray bounced off her arm, then fell back on Winry…

And then crashed to the floor- bowl, spoon, cups, and all.

The result was immediate. Death-filled silence ran throughout the entire kitchen, and every face turned to the corner where Rose and Winry stood, staring open-mouthed at the cracked silverware.

"I didn't do it!" cried the waiter who had carried the tray. He backed away, his finger accusing the two girls in front of him. "It was those two! I was just doin' my work, and then them girls knocked me over! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!"

Winry knelt down and picked up the silver, gathering each cracked utensil into her apron. Rose, on the other hand, burst into tears.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to- I-I'm so-"

She ignored Rose. Crying would not be good enough. It was never good enough. In front of Mr. Boss, tears were nothing but useless drops of water, water that he would rather trade for ale.

When finished, she walked out of the kitchen, her head bent. Everyone in her path sprang out of the way, as though she were touched by plague. For a moment, she considered calling out to Rose to follow her, but then thought better of it. If Rose followed her, she would find out. And no one, no one, should find out. If so, then…then…

'You will die.'

He was getting hungry. Whatever happened to that bed and breakfast?

Oh, right. Breakfast. Which here was probably synonymous with "get your other meals yourself." Lovely service here, wasn't it?

Edward grumbled to himself. This was just peachy. While he wasn't expecting a top-class hotel, this inn seemed entirely inconsistent with its services. But then all sorts of crooks visited this place, so maybe he shouldn't be so surprised at the shabbiness around here.

And then there was the fact that the inconsistent serving may prove better for Al for a while. Seeing as how his instincts were synced with the quarter moon, Al's condition tended to be unpredictable- sometimes it would be three days, an hour, or a whole week…he only hoped it would never stretch as far as a month.

He slumped, then shot straight up. Was that…

Was that a woman…crying?

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it shouldn't even be his business. But if this place turned out to be fishy and a certain pyro-summoner found out that he hadn't done any investigations on his part, then his life would start making an even sharper turn for the worse…plus, he had to get dinner anyways. Maybe just a peek?

Wait, he knew nothing about the inner workings of this place. What if he got lost?

Growwwwwl.

That answered his question.

With one more glance at the room where Al slept, Edward was out the door in a matter of seconds.

She made sure to walk fast down the hallway, but not too fast. She didn't want to drop any of the silverware in her apron, or else there would be more to do…Winry then paused to look around. Should she stay here, or go upstairs? Or should she just go outside?

No, going outside was too risky. There were windows, and if Mr. Boss caught her outside during this time then she would really be in trouble. There was less of a chance of being caught if she went upstairs.

That thought through, she nodded her head and then padded her way up the staircase. Maybe she should go that floor where those two were staying- they were the only ones on that floor, and they didn't seem to ever come out of their room…it shouldn't be hard to find a lone room there and fix this mess in a blink.

A turn on another staircase almost brought her in view of Ed.

She ducked behind a wall not far from where he stood. When she peeked out at him, she saw that he was wandering around, as though looking for something. His hands were on his knees, and he was peering in corners.

She ducked again when he straightened and reached up to scratch his head.

"Hmm…I thought I heard the crying on this floor…"

Her eyes widened. 'He heard Rose crying? But how?'

This wasn't good. If he heard it then Mr. Boss might've-

'I need to hurry!' Only the knowledge that she didn't want to meet up with this boy right now prevented her from running the rest of the way to the third floor. And then that feeling, that cursed feeling- it was surging through her head again. Why now, of all times?

His footsteps were coming closer. Did he feel it too? Was he going to find out where she was?

He stopped right next to her corner, and Winry thanked whoever it was that needed thanking that she was submerged in darkness. A breath fell on her cheek, then her hair…and then he moved away, down the staircase that led to the first floor.

She was safe. But there was no time to waste. She should do her deed now, but this was Mr. Boss's floor, and any area around him was never safe.

Winry ran.

He could smell that servant girl- once he sniffed a scent, it never escaped him.

But there were more important things on his mind right now- the state of his stomach and the whereabouts of that crying woman. Whatever hide-and-seek that servant was playing, he had no time or interest to be a part of it. But she did have the scent of fear tinging her skin…what was that all about?

Edward shrugged. She must have forgotten something and was getting in trouble with her boss over it. Must have been something like a bowl, or a bucket, or maybe even a mop…

He halted in his tracks.

'It can't be.'

Her head was pounding. It was pounding ever since she had set foot here, on this floor. It was pulsing with something that should have been painful, and yet wasn't…

She gasped and fell to the ground.

'What…what is happening to me?' Winry held a hand to her head and tried not to shut her eyes against the feeling overwhelming her.

To her confusion, her feet seemed to have minds of their own. Instead of taking her away from the source of this feeling, it was carrying her towards it. In only a matter of moments she was stumbling through the door, her head now feeling like it was thickening with something other than blood.

No one was here, but she knew this room- wasn't this where those two were lodging?

What was the meaning of this?

Grrrrrrrrr. Grrrrrrrrr.

The door slammed shut behind her.

Grrrrrrrl. GRRRRRRRRR.

Breathless and gasping, Winry turned…

And looked straight into the eyes of a wolf.

"Another drink," he requested, placing his cup on the counter. The bartender hurried to comply.

The eyes behind the dark mask shifted upwards as he lifted the drink to his lips, and the bare peek of an incisor showed through a mysterious grin.

Fate was in motion, and neither he nor anyone else alive could stop it.

'What fun.'

Author's Note:

So...how was it? I depend on you readers for insight, and I greatly appreciate any that is given to me. So please review! ;)