Guys. Guys. I feel horrible, guys. Horrible.

Upon looking over previous chapters, I came to the harsh realization that it took me one year to write five chapters. An entire year. This is unacceptable, and I plan on 2012 being much more productive than 2011. Hopefully ughI'maGodawfulwriter.

But upon beginning my new HP fanfiction, As Good As Spring Itself, I have opened the well of my… Well, whatever I have up there that's making this shit up.

The Lovely Daaaarlings!

CloudEnvyKunoichi: Ah, an England! And bah, I wouldn't worry much about the accent, though I give props to anyone who can fake them! Yes, Toph! I'm really excited about her. She'll be my first female cosplay, lawl. I am indeed watching Legend of Korra! Liking it a lot so far, but I'm trying hard not to compare it between the first series. Are you watching it?
And I knew there was an error in this chapter, I could feel it in my veins asdfghjkl- you saw nothing. (Intense Frown Here.)

katsekala: Haha, I thought I'd keep the other version of Riley away for a little bit longer.

AnimeVamp1997: Oh jeez, the fates don't play around with cliffhangers, do they? And I HAVE NO REGRETS for loving Blackburn. NONE.

Meatbun Attack: He mostly just wants to find Riley's doppelganger. If the doppelganger is dead, than Riley is most likely dead in Amestris as well. If that's the case, it'll provide him with answers. Otherwise, he just wants to see her again. Remember, it's been two years and he misses her and Al both, and Al's doppelganger gives him some sort of comfort and stability. He hopes Riley's will too.

Cmbgoncrazy: Hurr, you'll have to wait another chapter, actually. This one's all about Riley!
I had your cat with me the whole time! He was helping me write that chapter. A muse, you could say. (I do find that creepy, though. Kind of funny, too. xD) I do hope he's alright, though. Didn't get into any messes, or anything?

IceFire Dragon Alchemist73: Noooo, noooo! Blackburn's her godfather, not her actual father!

Mercedes Wolfcry: Thank you! Glad you liked it~

Shiinku: I MISSED YOU TOO, SHIINKU.
Thank you! My writing has indeed changed since the first story. I'm really happy someone noticed. I'm also very happy that the emotion is there for so many people. And yes, the pain isn't quite so bad knowing things will look up (eventually!)
Don't worry too much about the OCs at the dojo – the only two you'll be seeing through most of the story is Shiori and Daisuke. And Riley has grown, hasn't she? xD We'll both be seeing which turn she takes, because I have no idea right now.
Thank you, again! I've been worrying a bit about how in character I'm keeping Ed with this sequel, as I don't have a lot to go off of. As far the gate bit, when someone in the FMA world dies, they cross over to the gate. When they die in that world, that's it. Hughes is dead in the FMA world, and has 'crossed over' to the gate. However, if he was dead and gone in the 'real' world, he would be gone in the FMA world too. I believe that's how it goes, it's quite confusing. x.x
I really hope it does do some magic for Blackburn. He's one of my favorite characters I've created and I've always wanted to give him more dimensions. And the dream was pretty hard for me to write. xD
Your review most certainly did bring a smile to my face. A huge, dorky smile that sat there for a few hours. And then a few days later, I'd remember it and smile some more. So thank you!

Mizunou: Thank you, I'm glad it's okay! Because I really enjoy Blackburn. xD I think Ed's pretty nervous about what he'll find, too. We'll have to wait and see~

Silver Levi: My butt has gotten up and updated. Glad you like the story~

ninjapanda: Thank you! I hope I do, too! xD
The question about Riley's hands is a very good question, and I'm pretty happy someone brought that up. I have thought it over, and I'm in the planning stages revolving around that one fact, actually. To let you know, her circles are under the skin, and they are in contact with her blood.
And good luck with becoming a writer! Or, if you decide to do something else, good luck becoming that. :3

Want to Be a Lovely Daaaarling? Review! Bwahaha…

I've also noticed TSA was in two community archives and now I'm really embarrassed. (Blushing.)

Riley and all other unofficial content in this story belongs to me (including Tesser Hills. Tesser Hills is all mine.) FMA doesn't belong to me. Sadface. But Blackburn does. Happyface!

Chapter Four
The Repetition of History

"Asshole!"

"Your voice is incredibly annoying."

"Why you…"

I sighed, glancing toward the door at my right. It was amazing how far voices could travel at the dojo. It was irritating too – no one could ever reach a state of deep sleep, what with someone falling, breaking something, or yelling at someone else. The Dojo was hectic, loud. Maybe that was why I needed to get away and clear my head, because the chaos was most certainly not helping.

The decision to leave was kind of a quick one. It was the planning that took two days, and the arguing about Daisuke that took us a third. After my episode in the main room, Gregory was adamant about Daisuke tagging along with Shiori and me. I thought it unnecessary but after hours of arguing, Gregory won. At noon, the three of us would be on our way to Tesser Hills, the first stop on our journey.

Grabbing my bag, I swung the strap over my shoulder and headed for the door. I glanced back before I left. There was a subtle way the sun highlighted every inch of my room that was almost melancholic. The curtains against the single window gave way to a light breeze, flowing around in the air and casting moving shadows on the walls.

A small part of me hoped I would never see that room again.

Leaving, I walked around the porch and wound up in front of the dojo, where I saw the two people I had heard long before. They were glaring at one another, though Farin was doing it much better. Louis never was one for expressions and it showed through his lack luster anger. "Knock it off," I finally spoke, running a hand over the back of my head, "You both know you aren't getting anywhere with this."

They looked toward me upon hearing my voice. With a dramatic sigh, Farin's shoulders drooped. "How do you expect us not to kill each other then? Yelling at least distracts us from homicidal urges."

Before I could respond, someone spoke from behind me. "You could try kissing. I heard it worked for Riley and her boyfriend." My eyes widened and I spun on my heel to locate the voice. As I thought, Shiori stood there with a sly smirk attached to her cheeky, bratty little face. She turned her gaze from the two students up toward me. "Didn't it, Riley?"

I watched her for a moment. Unless she was joking about Ed and I, unlike what the look in her eye implied, someone had to have told her about that. But who? Gregory didn't even know. Eyes narrowing, I recalled Hannah's last visit the previous month, where she and Shiori had spent an entire day out shopping together. "…Or you could just hold in your anger and use annoying children as punching bags," I hissed, frowning down at the girl.

"I hear kissing works much better!" She replied. Glaring, I reached out for her but she giggled and took off around me.

That was it, Shiori was going into cargo. "Get back here, you foul-mouthed brat!" I shouted, turning to watch her run away. She continued giggling, and my fists clenched. "I can change your train ticket to cargo! Don't think I won't do it, kid!" I yelled louder as she turned the corner. "You'll sleep with the sheep tonight!"

What on Earth made me decide to bring that brat with me?

. . .

I stepped toward Gregory's office (or my office) as quietly as I could. Noon was approaching and I knew he'd want to see us off, for Shiori's sake. Placing my hand on the door, I began to slide it open and spotted him at my mother's old desk in the corner of the room. With narrowed eyes, I stopped moving, watching him.

After my parents died, my mother's desk was abandoned. No one wanted to go through it. Gregory had to go through my father's desk because he was head, and the head had files required to run the place. That was hard enough on him. I remember Jacob and I spying on him as he cleaned that desk. It was the first and only time I'd seen him cry. To be going through my mother's desk was more than odd.

He opened one of the side drawers, and took out a picture frame. The wood around it was old, from what I could tell, and he had to wipe dust from the glass. Gregory's expression faltered slightly as he looked down at the picture, and I spotted his knuckles going white from his grip. He heaved a sigh, shaking his head. "What a fool…," He mumbled under his breath. Finally, I knocked on the door. I could see him jump from the noise as I walked in, but he hid his surprise. "Riley," He began, slipping the picture back into the drawer.

I watched him a moment more as I fiddled with the straps of my bag. Glancing around the room, I gathered the courage to speak. "We're heading out."

Gregory nodded, stepping out from behind the desk. "Ah, all is set then?" He questioned.

Furrowing my brows, I replied with a simple tone, "Yes. What were you looking at?"

A flicker of emotion crossed his face as he looked to the desk. "Nothing. I just think it's time we cleaned her desk. A decade is a good enough wait period." I hid my frustration. Gregory was many things, but a liar was not one of them. Turning his gaze onto me, he furrowed his brows. "Riley. Are you sure about this trip?"

I sighed. This was one of the many conversations we had over the past three days. He was more reluctant than anyone about my temporary absence. While I had thought it was due to my responsibilities to the dojo, he seemed too persistent for that to be the problem. I never asked about it, however. Chances were, I didn't want to know, but my curiosity was getting the better of me. "Yes, I'm sure. Why do you keep asking?" I questioned him once and for all on the matter, hoping my tone made it clear that I wasn't going to let up.

But he shook his head, refusing to answer. He walked around the desk, looking around the room. Anywhere but me. "Nothing. It's nothing, I'm just worried," He mumbled.

After a few seconds of silence, I crossed my arms over my chest. My bag moved as the strap hung around my shoulder, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "You should know by now you can't lie for shit, Gregory. What are you afraid of?"

Finally, he sighed and turned toward me. "History repeating itself," He muttered out in response.

This confused me more than anything. Gregory seemed tired, exhausted even, by the conversation, but I pressed on. He was hiding something from me, that much was obvious. "What history? Gregory, just tell me already," I said with a sigh that matched his.

Sitting at his desk, Gregory looked up at me with a blank expression. He watched me a moment before clasping his hands together. "A few years before you were born, something similar happened to a man I knew. He lost his family, much like how you lost those Elric boys. He left for a while – said he needed a break, to clear his head. I think he lost himself, in the pain most likely. He didn't return with good intentions," He explained, his voice low.

I took a seat in the chair across from the desk, frowning as I took in his words. Did he really think I'd lost myself so much? "…So, what, you think I'm becoming a threat?" I asked him.

He didn't hesitate as I would've hoped. He looked me in the eye and without a second's thought, he stated, "I think you're on a path that could make you or break you." I snorted at this. It was typical of him to work his way around a question he didn't want to outright answer. I don't know how long we sat there, but it felt like hours. Gregory was fiddling with his hands as I thought over what he said with a grain of salt.

Finally, I stood and motioned for the door. "Well, Shiori wants to say goodbye to you before we leave." He gave me a look of acknowledgment and stood as well. He began walking toward the door, but I called his name before he left. He turned to face me, and I looked away. "…I'm sorry. About the argument we had other day."

Silence passed over us. I tried to keep a straight face as Gregory examined my expression. After several painful seconds, he nodded. "We were both at the end of our rope," He sighed out, looking toward the ground. This made me even more curious. Whatever he was thinking about, it had nothing to do with our argument or Shiori or anything current. It was the past. That was the only time he got that look. "People do many things they normally wouldn't when they feel they've lost everything."

I didn't reply as he turned his back to me. Gripping the door, he slid it open and left the room without another word. "…" I glanced toward my mother's desk before making my way toward it. After a moment of waiting to make sure he wouldn't burst through the doors, I slid the drawer open. Amidst the messy paperwork and spare change, there was a picture frame. Its wood was indeed rotting, as I thought it was, and the glass was cracked along the edges.

The picture itself was a small snapshot of a group of adults. I recognized my father in the corner of the image with an unusually proud look in his eye. My mother stood beside a bed, holding the hand of a woman I'd never seen before. This woman was beautiful – light colored hair and slanted eyes that seemed to hold a sacred emotion in them. They were all looking at one man. Radley Blackburn sat at the edge of the bed, holding a crying baby in his arms.

I had never seen the look that was on Blackburn's face from anyone before. I couldn't quite place it either – fear? Hope? Love? Looking toward the baby, I realized it was most likely all three. There was no mistaking it. Radley Blackburn was a father. Gregory's words echoed in my mind, and I felt myself frown. Was Blackburn who he was talking about? He thought I was turning into another Blackburn?

That wouldn't happen.

Glancing toward the door of the office, I felt my grip tighten on the picture frame. I could hear faint footsteps leading to the door so with great speed, I took the picture out of its frame, folded it up, and slid it into my jacket pocket. I didn't know why, but I wanted to know more. I had to know more.

Just as I shut the drawer, the door opened and Daisuke's head peered in. "Riley? Are you ready? We should be leaving soon."

I looked up toward him and nodded. "Let's go…," I mumbled, sparing one last glance around the office. He watched me for a moment before leaving the room, and I wasn't far behind. We walked along the porch together in a comfortable silence.

We reached the entrance of the dojo, and the steps leading to the path into the nearest town. Gregory and Jacob stood there with Shiori, who spoke to Gregory with excitement. I couldn't blame her. She was about to travel Amestris, after all. Hearing us approach, Shiori glanced back toward us before throwing herself into Gregory. Her arms wrapped around his waist, unable to reach any higher. "I'll see you soon, Uncle," She said, her voice muffled by his overcoat.

Gregory nodded as he placed a hand on the back of her head. "Behave, Shiori." Despite the firmness of his tone, his expression was more tender. It was obvious he cared about his family. Shiori pulled away from him, facing him with a small but empty pout.

As she turned toward Jacob, who ruffled her hair and joked with her about the 'big scary train,' I looked up at Gregory. He was frowning down at me and at first I thought it was irritation, until he sighed. "You look so much like your mother," He said, slipping his hands into his pockets. I blinked in surprise. No one had told me that before but more so, where was this coming from? "You act like your father," He muttered with a quirked brow.

I couldn't help the smirk pulling at my lips. "Unfortunately, huh?"

One of his hands clapped onto my shoulder as he looked me in the eye. "You would do well to remember what the dojo has taught you. How we raised you." There was a desperate look on his face and even though it made me worry, I nodded. He tightened his grip on my shoulder and glanced toward Shiori and Daisuke. Looking back to me, he said, "I expect you three to return intact."

"Don't worry," Shiori droned from behind me. We both turned to see her crossing her arms with a smug smirk, "I'll take good care of these two idiots, Uncle."

My brow twitched. "Cargo, Shiori. Cargo," I growled toward her.

Daisuke gave a nervous laugh at this, patting Shiori on the shoulder as he waved his other hand toward us. "N-Nonsense, no one's sleeping in cargo," He said, trying to reassure Gregory about his niece's well-being.

I heard a sigh from Gregory's direction, and I glanced back to see him shaking his head. "Daisuke's going to go insane with you two," He mumbled, returning my glance with an amused one. Snorting, I waved his hand off my shoulder and stepped away. It was time to leave.

"Riley." I stopped to look toward the voice, and spotted Jacob standing there with a grin. "Have fun," He said as he shifted in his stance, "But come back."

We looked at one another for a while in silence. He stood much taller than me, but he still looked like the boy I grew up with at the dojo. Bald head and all. "I will," I replied, nodding. Turning away, I stepped toward Daisuke and Shiori, and we set off down the path.

. . .

It was quiet in the train as it pushed onward along the tracks. Daisuke was across from me, watching the moving scenery outside. I couldn't look. I tried, two years before, and broke down in tears at all the memories. I was surprised I wasn't clamming up as much as I thought I would. Crossing my arms, I turned my torso and threw my legs onto the booth. As I leaned sideways into the cushioned back, Daisuke began looking around.

He frowned a bit, turning toward me after he didn't see what he was searching for. "You think Shiori would be back from the bathroom by now. Should we check on her? Maybe she gets ill in motion," He murmured, his brows furrowed in concern for the girl.

"What?" I asked, looking to him as though I'd tuned out long ago. I had, really, hoping the ride would go by faster.

Sighing, Daisuke repeated his words, "Should we check on Shiori? A bathroom trip shouldn't take this long."

I snorted, closing my eyes once more. "Bathroom? Who said anything about the bathroom?" I questioned as I rested my head on the cushion as well. The warmth was nice and comforting. With a simple tone, I stated, "She's in cargo."

Daisuke paled as his own thoughts imagined her stuffed in a crate two sizes too small. Stiffening, his eyes widened. "Th-That's child abuse!" He yelped, his voice higher than I've ever heard it. I shrugged, causing him to hyperventilate. He began looking around for anyone of authority, when a voice, faint but there, echoed through the train.

"Riley Mauler, I hate you!"

People sitting throughout the train looked around in confusion, trying to pinpoint what was clearly a child's voice. What little color was left on Daisuke's face left in a flash. My eyes remained closed, however, as I slid further down the wall so I could reach a laying position. "She'll get over it."

"G-Get over it…?" The boy across from my both sent me an incredulous stare. "She's in cargo!"

A long ways down the train, at one of the last carts attached, was the cargo hold. It was packed with crates stacked to the ceiling, cages of restless chickens, and sheep. It was dark, with two small windows at the very top of the side walls. The floor was a cold tile, harsh to the cart's inhabitants. Feathers were everywhere and the noise echoed through the cart tenfold, bouncing back and forth.

Shiori sat amidst it all. Fuming.

I know this chapter is on the short side, but it was needed in order to keep the story going. Plus it was kind of hard to write. x.x

Be Responsible. Don't Flame and Drive! Rawr.