Well here's chapter 5! I got 3 reviews for chapter 4 and I've been smiling for the entire day. I'm dedicating this chapter to Evil Robina because you've faithfully reviwed every singe one of my chapters for this story.

Darkeness of Yami: Wow! You gave me an insanely loooooooong review. I think that's the longest I've ever recieved. Thanks for the tips and don't worry Al's gonna show up as soon as they return to Central (which will be very soon because I'm planning a tiny disaster).

Ed and Aria sat on the edge of the fountain until the sun was totally gone and it was almost dark. Somehow, the windows of the tiny stone houses were lit up. Even though Aria had repeatedly said that there was nobody living here. She had also said that she sometimes came here when she wanted to escape from reality.

Aria had said that this place felt as if it was a separate reality. It felt as if time no longer flowed here, instead it stood in suspended animation. It was why Aria liked it so much.

Ed's stomach began to growl. He blushed when Aria looked at him. She laughed and then stood up.

"I have a house that I stay in when I come here," Aria said. "I have some canned food. It's probably not the best but it's better than nothing."

Ed nodded and smiled gratefully at Aria. He was glad that she was so prepared although he did wonder how she had all these places to stay. It occurred to him that she might have stolen them but he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. She didn't seem like the person who would steal a house, or anything for that matter. He remembered that she had told him that she used to travel a lot with her father. Maybe they bought houses wherever they stayed for longer periods of time.

They walked to a larger house that was directly in front of them. The door was made of a hard wood and it was very dark. When they entered the house, it was lit up by invisible lights. They were in the kitchen and there were no door, just a flight of stairs going upstairs.

"What's upstairs?" Ed asked.

"The bedroom," Aria answered. "This house was built for one person or a couple to live in. Most of the houses are of this size. Each only has three rooms: a kitchen, a bedroom, and an office plus a bathroom. Most of the people were alchemists so they had offices for their research. I have a small one upstairs."

Aria walked over to the pantry and pulled out a large can. She placed it on the counter and pulled out a pot, bowls, and spoons. She placed the pot on the stove and touched the rings, they sparked and a small fire started. She poured the contents of the can into the bowl.

After she was done she walked over to the table that Ed was sitting in. He was watching her curiously. Aria closed her eyes and breathed out loudly.

"You're wondering how I preformed alchemy without a transmutation circle aren't you?" Aria asked.

Ed nodded; he wanted to hear the explanation for this. He was sure she had seen the gate.

"Well if you think I've seen the gate then you're wrong," Aria said. "I was just born like this. My mother ingested some of the red water when she was pregnant with me. My dad wanted to make an ultimate alchemist out of me. Although, I think he was expecting a son."

Ed smirked at this. Of course a father would want a son to teach alchemy to. Female alchemist were few and far in between. It didn't help that most hid themselves away so that they wouldn't suffer criticism. Female alchemists weren't accepted very well by the men. That was one of the reasons why there might only be one or two female state alchemists at a time.

Aria sniffed the air and then stood up. She walked over to the stove and removed the pot. The fire extinguished itself when the pot was removed. She poured the contents of the pot into the bowls and placed a spoon in each bowl. She carried them over to the table and set one down in front of Ed. She sat down across from him

He looked at her curiously. He wondered how she could have smelt the food when he couldn't. Aria gave him a teasing smile and placed her left index finger on her nose.

"The red water gave me heightened senses," Aria said.

Ed nodded and picked up the spoon. He placed it in his mouth and immediately felt better. It was chicken soup. Just as Aria had said, it wasn't the best food ever but it was better than nothing. At least it wasn't cold.

Ed quickly finished his soup while Aria was still only halfway done. He felt a lot better now and smiled gratefully at Aria. This was the umpteenth time she had done something nice for him. He couldn't think of anything nice that he had done for her. Compared to him the girl was a saint.

After another five or so minutes, Aria was done her soup. She picked up the bowls and carried them to the sink. She picked up the pot and placed it in the sink along with the other dishes.

She let the water run and took a sponge and put dish soap on it. She scrubbed away and made quick work of the dishes. Ed watched her with fascination. He had never watched a woman washing dishes. It had never interested him when his mom was alive and he was too scared when Winry was in the kitchen. Aria however was different. She carefully washed every inch of the dishes and then placed them on the counter.

She seemed so motherly while she did this. Ed wondered what she would be like if she wasn't an alchemist. She would probably been the housewife-type, always willing to please her mother and father.

"Well, that's everything. Let's go upstairs," Aria announced.

Ed was so fixated in his watching her that he barely heard her. When he registered what she had said he stood up and grabbed his trunk. He noticed Aria had a smirk on her face. She had seen him staring at her.

Both Aria and Ed had forgotten that there was only one room in the house and that one room only had one bed. If Roy found out about this, he would have a field day. His precious Shadow Alchemist had forgotten an important detail.

When they got upstairs, they were immediately in the room. Ed and Aria blushed and looked away from each other when they saw that there was one bed. Aria sighed and decided that she would sleep on the couch or give up sleep altogether.

"Look," Aria began. "We can't both sleep in the bed because that would be inappropriate. You can have the bed and I'll take the couch."

"Not gonna happen," Ed shot back. "You're the owner of this house so you should have the bed. Besides, I don't need the sleep because I slept on the train."

All of a sudden the lights went out and thunder boomed in the sky. Lightning lit up the room. Ed and Aria jumped onto the bed and clutched each other. That was the only fear either of they had: thunderstorms.

The pair didn't notice the position they were in until after about ten minutes of being paralyzed by fear. When they noticed how they were, they jumped back about a foot from each other. Ed was blushing more than Aria.

"I don't think either of us is going to fall asleep tonight," Aria said.

"Yeah, it's just too hard to fall asleep," Ed agreed.

"Since we're not going to be sleeping, we should get to know each other."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know the life story. If you're my new partner then I need to know more about you."

"Couldn't you just look up the records?"

"Yeah, but that wouldn't tell me who you are, that would just give me a record of your accomplishments."

Ed and Aria sat across from each other on the bed, cross-legged. Ed's arms were crossed across his chest while Aria rested her palms on her knees. She looked like she was meditating.

"Fine," Ed said finally. "I'll go first. I was born to a mother and a father just like everybody else and I have a little brother. He's a year younger and his name is Alphonse. When I was really young, my father left and never came back. Al and I were left alone with mom and she started to get more depressed each day. We didn't notice it as little kids, instead we practiced alchemy. The first thing Al and I made was a doll for our childhood friend Winry. She got scared by it but eventually accepted the gift.

"When I was about seven and Al was about six, our mom died. We studied Alchemy under Izumi Curtis after that. When I was eleven and Al was ten we tried human transmutation. We wanted to bring mom back but we failed. That's how I lost my arm and leg and Al lost his whole body.

"When I was twelve I became the youngest state alchemist and began to work under Mustang. I think that's the whole story."

Aria stayed quiet for a while. She didn't know what to say. His story was so sad and hers wasn't that bad. She didn't know if she should tell him. It might make him mad and think that she didn't care.

"Well," Aria began, "You have to promise not to judge until you hear the end of my story."

"I promise," Ed confirmed.

"Okay, this is how my story goes. I was born here in the underground fifteen years ago. I showed a talent for alchemy from a young age and my father was so proud. My mother was worried that he would somehow corrupt me. When I was three years old, I came down with an illness and died. My father brought me back with human transmutation. He never paid anything for it because he gave up some of the red water for the toll.

"My mother was angry at my father because she believed that the dead should stay dead. Soon after she died under unknown circumstances. Everyone believed my father had killed her but he denied it up until we were separated. When I was five, the underground was abandoned because homunculi had discovered that there was red water here.

"I travelled with my father until I was seven years old at which point he promptly abandoned me. He had gone mad from exposure to the synthetic red water. I was alone for only a night when Bradley found me. He had tracked down all the other successful human transmutations and put us in a lab in central. He didn't want word getting out that we exist.

"The only time I was allowed out of the lab was to attend my grandmother's funeral. After that I went back to be poked and prodded with needles. I overheard from on of the workers that I was the only one left alive. They were going to experiment on me until there was nothing left. It fascinated them that I was the same human that I had been when I had died.

"Bradley had gotten his hands on some of the natural red water and they force-fed me it. When drinking it orally didn't give them the results they wanted they began to inject it into my blood. They were trying to create a homunculus. They failed with the natural red water so they were going to try with the synthetic stuff. When I heard that they were going to do that, I knew I had to get away. I had a week before they began experimenting on me.

"I wandered around the lab looking for a way out. I discovered that there was no guard in front of the doors between eleven at night and midnight. They left it unguarded for an hour every night. Two nights before my fate was sealed, I ran away and never looked back.

"Some of the guards saw me and tried to get me back but I made quick work of them using my alchemy. The next day I ran into Mustang and he saved me. He hid me away for years until he was sure that nobody would remember me. I was eleven at the time. He trained me in secret so that I could eventually become a state alchemist.

"Three years later I became a state alchemist and Mustang became my superior. Bradley took me on missions that involved killing innocents. My alchemy was useful for that. I was Bradley's lapdog. With a flick of his wrist I was poised to kill. Except it wasn't just him that I had to deal with. Many nights I was left alone with lower ranking soldiers. Nobody cares about them so they were free to do as they wished. Several times they tried to rape me. One succeeded but when Bradley found out, he was gravely punished.

"When Bradley was killed and Mustang became Fuhrer, my life became a lot nicer. I often got to accompany him and Riza when they went to visit people. They treated me like their own child. Roy still treats me like he would his own daughter. So there you have it, my story."

Ed sat in shock for a moment. He had never heard such a sad story. He didn't know how to react. Aria had suffered so much in her short life and she had every right to hate to world but she didn't, Aria always smiled and was always kind to people. It made Ed re-evaluate how he had been living his own life. He was always complaining and taking things for granted.

"So," Ed began searching for the words. "Does this mean you're a homunculus?"

Aria laughed and shook her head. She had heard that question many times. She was nowhere near being like a homunculus.

"I'm nothing like them," Aria said. "I'm mortal and they're not."

"Okay good," Ed sighed. "I don't have to worry for my life."

"Nope, you're safe. I can't say the same about Roy."

The two of them burst out laughing. A weight had been lifted off their shoulders. Both of them had been worried about the other finding out too much. Now that they had no secrets, they could work together.

"Wait a second," Ed began. "That means all the other stuff you told me before were lies."

"Yeah, everything except for the effects of the red water was lies. I didn't want you to find out about my past. I was worried that you'd hate me."

"I couldn't hate you," Ed said quietly.

Ed had whispered so quietly that he basically mouthed the words. Even Aria's amazing hearing couldn't pick it up. Aria laid on the bed and shut her eyes. She wasn't asleep, just relaxing.

Ed joined her and they relaxed together. Eventually sleep overtook them and they fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

So there you have it, Chapter 5! I hope that it was good enough for all of you! Do you think the relationship between Aria and Ed is moving too fast? What do you want to happen betweeen them? Do you want them to fight? Do you want one of them to almost die and then the other confesses their love? Tell me what you want to happen because if I like your idea it's guaranteed to go in there. Heck, even if I don't like it but it's a good idea then I'll put it in. Oh and please leave a review my wonderful readers.