Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist and blah blah blah. I do own Lana and Sarah! GO ME!

Chapter 4

The Return

Ed and Al walked up the stairs, and knocked on Grams' door. It opened, and there stood Winry. She stood there in awe, and wrapped her arms around their necks. After letting go, she asked them, "Today's the day, huh?"

Ed nodded. Her train would come in about three hours. He sat down on the stairs, and waited. His eyes started to droop, and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

When he woke up, the sun had just started to set. He sat up, and looked around. She hasn't come yet. He sat there for a while longer.

In the distance, he could see a shadow. The shadow kept getting bigger and bigger until he could see a girl…no wait…a woman.

The woman had just noticed that he was sitting on the stairs. She started running and waving her arm. He stood up, and ran towards her. They hugged.

"Ed, you have no idea how much I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too."

They let go of each other. Lana wiped the tears from her eyes. Ed took a good look at her. She had changed quite dramatically.

Instead of her long, black hair, it was very short and brown. Her usual happy expression was now lost and confused.

"I got my new leg," she said, and he looked down at it. Her leg looked exactly like his hand did.

"You look so…different. Did you get shorter?"

"Not that I know of, but I think that you just got taller. I like your hair better without the braid, though. It makes you look older."

"Sister!"

Sarah ran outside, and grabbed on to Lana for dear life. She hugged her back.

"I've missed you, too. But I this time I'm staying. Well, at least until Ed decides whether or not I can help him search for the Philosopher's Stone."

"Well, I...guess."

"Great. Now, Sarah, can you please let me and Ed talk?"

She nodded and ran back inside screaming, "LANA'S BACK! LANA'S BACK!"

Lana sat down on the ground. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a bunch of little red stone-shaped blobs.

"How…but…where?"

"I made them. It was difficult, but I figured it out. They aren't the real thing, but it's an exact replica. They also work just like the real stone, except there are more limitations. I can't make anymore because I would have died from the fumes. Well, here are about twenty incomplete Philosopher's Stones."

He touched one of them. The Stone moved so much like Jell-O. She placed it back into her pocket. He sat down next to her.

"I don't remember the last time the sun looked so beautiful. I was stuck inside for the past three months. I haven't seen just the sun. I either saw it through a window or in a picture," Lana said, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "Right now, it looks so amazing."

"Yeah. It does."

Ed sat there staring at the sun until it was pitch black. By then, Lana had fallen asleep. He picked her up, and carried her inside. Sarah was sleeping on the couch. He didn't want to wake her up, so he crept past her quietly.

Entering the bedroom, he walked over to the bed, and laid her down. She mumbled a few words, and then rolled over to make space for Ed. He laid down, and wrapped his arm around her.

"I love you, Lana."

Next Morning

Lana opened her eyes. She turned and saw Ed's arm around her. Trying her best to not wake him, she faced him, and whispered:

"I love you, too, Ed."

She leaned up, and kissed him gently on the lips. He smiled slightly, and shifted positions, not stirring. She smirked, and nuzzled into his arm. Ed opened his eyes and looked down at her. She had fallen back asleep.

Looking at her face, he noticed that there was a faded scar on her cheek. He touched it lightly, and she opened her eyes.

"Good morning."

"Mmm…morning."

"Where did you get that scar?"

"You don't remember?" He shook his head. "That was when Taylor…"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that. That was the night before you left, right?"

She nodded. She looked down at her hands. She balled them into fists.

"You know that I'm sorry Ed. I never wanted to kiss him. It happened so fast that I never even once stopped to think about how you felt. I thought that everything around me was falling apart, and I couldn't escape it. I never thought that I would actually have left, but I was wrong," she said, closing her eyes.

"Yeah. I know exactly how you feel. And you don't have to keep apologizing for it. I already forgave you over a year ago."

Lana sat up. She rubbed her side, and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked. She shook her head.

"When I told you about that bruise, well it wasn't exactly a bruise. When I was in that building that collapsed, Scar was there. He hit me with that red light. I was supposed to be dead, but somehow, I only lost my leg. It turns out that my bruise here was actually sort of like a barrier that my parents once used. It's complicated, but I seemed to of inherited that barrier."

"Wow, so you can block off his attacks?" He said, smiling.

"It's not a good thing! When my parents had it, they were miserable. My mother would pass out all the time. You see, these barriers are consuming our energy. They will wear us down until we die. The only way to stop it is with a Philosopher's Stone. That's why I made plenty of the imitations. You have to place four in my back."

"Four? Well, why do you need four?"

"Since the real Philosopher's Stone is quadruple the power, I need four times the imitation stone. So will you please do it and get it over with?"

Lana pulled out four stones from her pockets, and handed them to Ed. He stood up, and she laid face down on the bed. Ed pulled up her shirt, and carefully placed one on her back. It spread out, and evaporated into her skin. She started to glow brightly red, and the wave of pain overcame her.

She tried her best not to show her pain, but Ed could see it in her eyes. The glowing faded, and Lana relaxed.

"You didn't tell me that it would hurt you!" Ed said, looking at her body.

"If I had told you, would you have still done it?"

"Well…I…no."

"Good. Now that we have that clear, let's carry on."

Ed placed the second one on her back. It, too, spread out and evaporated into her skin. She again glowed bright red, and cried out in pain. Ed wanted her pain to be short, so he placed the next one on as soon as the light died down.

By the time they were finished, the bruise-like barrier pulsed, then disappeared. Lana was crying into her pillow. Ed ran his fingers through her hair, trying his best to calm her down.

Her crying turned into heavy breathing, and she fell asleep. Ed walked into the living room, and entered the kitchen.

"Where have you been, Ed?" Winry asked, finishing her breakfast.

"Oh, Lana and I were just…talking."

"Well, where is she?"

"She's still in her room. She's not feeling very well."

"Okay."

Lana came into the kitchen. She pulled out a plate, and grabbed some breakfast. She smiled at everyone.

"How are you feeling, Lana?" Winry asked. Lana placed her fork down, and looked at everyone. 'Had Ed told them about what happened?'

"I'm…fine…I guess. Why?"

"No reason. So what were you doing while you were gone?"

"Well, I helped out this elder couple with their housekeeping and such. Then, I lived in a hospital for about three weeks. I had to file all of the papers. I visited my old house, and stayed there for the first month. Some people had helped me in Central. They were wise about living and I stayed with them for most of the time. That's really about it."

"Wow. That must have been difficult, living with many different people in one year."

"I guess. I mean, many people are so giving even though there is famine in streets. They should just be lucky to have a home. Please excuse me."

Lana stood up, and walked back into her room. She jumped out of the window, and grabbed a case she left there last year. She opened it, and pulled out a sword. Cleaning it, she marveled at how it seemed to glow in the sunlight.

Placing it back into the case, she went back inside. Grams was sitting on the couch.

"Just where have you been?" She asked quietly, smiling.

"Oh, well…I was just…getting some fresh air."

"Oh, I see. So that sword of yours has nothing to do with you going outside?"

"You know about that?"

"Of course dear. Grams like me knows everything."

Lana walked back into the kitchen. Winry was smiling and talking about the new auto-mail leg she was using on Ed.

"So, I guess that we can put it on today," she looked up at Lana and smiled, "Lana, do you mind helping me with his leg?"

"Sure, I don't mind. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, I need you to form the metal together like you did to your leg. We're going to do it in about fifteen minutes, so I would suggest that you get ready Ed."

He nodded and went back into Lana's room. Winry took Lana back to where she kept the leg. Lana looked at it, and felt how cold it was.

"Do you ever think that there will ever be something better than auto-mail? You know, something more advanced," Lana asked. Winry just shrugged, "I want to be the person who makes something more than an auto-mail arm or leg. I want to create something that is more complicated than that. I want to create a limb that looks and feels the same as a real limb. So far, I have failed."

"Really? I've never met anyone who cared about auto-mail as much as I do! This is awesome! You and I could work on it together! Oooohh, this is too good!"

Lana smiled. Ed came out of her bedroom. He sat down in a chair, and pulled his leg off. He set it down on the table. Lana came out of the room, and sat down next to him. She sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I never knew that Winry was SO into auto-mail. She is really wise about the mechanics on how things work."

"Yeah. I once caught her trying to take my watch apart. I nearly killed her. She saw the writing on the inside. The date in it was supposed to keep me from forgetting. My parents were killed in a fire. Al is the only thing I have left in this world. I need him, and he needs me."

"Al isn't the only person you have left. There's Winry, Grams, Sarah; and then there's me. You guys aren't alone. You still have a family, but you just haven't noticed it yet."

Lana grabbed his hand, and squeezed it. She leaned her head onto his shoulder. Winry came out with the leg. She looked at them, and smiled.

'I may have once loved Ed,' she thought, 'but now he's truly happy. I'm happy for them.'

Winry took the leg, and put it in place. She took the tool, and turned it. Ed grimaced in pain, and his grip on her hand was even tighter. Lana took her other hand and pulled the hair out of his face.

"Ed, do you think that you can stand up?" She asked, releasing his hand.

He nodded. With the help of Lana's arm, he stood up, and they walked over to the couch. There, he fell asleep. Lana sat there, placing her hand on his forehead.

'Well, at least he doesn't have a fever.'

She kissed his cheek and walked over to Winry.

Winry was sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea. She looked up when Lana walked in.

"Lana, do you truly love Ed?"

"What?"

"Well, do you?"

"I…well…yes, why?"

"Would you die for him?"

Lana nodded. She had no idea where this was going.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I wanted to see if you actually loved him. I can tell when people lie, so I had to ask you."

"Oh."

Can you see that teeny weeny button that says 'GO'? Well, it is lonely and it wants you to press it. Then you type out a review and click the other button thats lonely.