"Think illogical, Alyssa." - Morpheus, Splintered book 1

Chapter 7 a new day

Ed and Al were dragged back with Hughes after they returned from dropping Mikasa off at the hospital. After being introduced to the family, Gracia prepared dinner. Wide-eyed, Ed gazed over her appetising food. "Eat all you want boys, don't be shy." Gracia said pleasently. "Wow! Thanks!" Ed grinned widely before digging in his food, "you weren't kidding this is great!" He complimented. "Mr. Hughes, how is Mikasa doing?" Al asked while Ed chomped down on food. Gracia was confused for a second before Hughes explained the situation. He omitted a few parts for his young daughter's sake.

"Such a sad situation for that poor girl." Gracia replied with sympathy.

"I know. On the ride to the hospital, she wouldn't say much. She huddled to the door the whole ride. It's understandable though. The girl's lost and hurt, being in a car at night with strangers probably wasn't very comforting." Hughes said sadly.

"I agree. I wonder where she is really from..." Al mused.

"Some country no one knows about. I'm not sure exactly where she's located, but somewhere off the south Asia sea." Hughes said. "How would she get here though?" Ed asked, mouth full of food, which Al scolded him for. "I asked her that. The girl response wasn't clear, so I'll presume she doesn't know."

"Amnesia maybe?" Ed suggested.

"Most likely. Hopefully she'll remember clearly in the morning." Hughes replied as he wiped his daughter's face with a napkin. And then, he noticed Al not eating. "Oh come on, Al, how are you going to eat like that? Relax and take it off your armor." Hughes urged Al. Both brothers froze for a second, a flash of panic across their faces. "Oh, that! Well you see he can't. It's apart of his alchemy training! Don't worry. I'll eat enough for both of us!" Ed said quickly, shutting down the topic.

Later after the children had gone to bed, Hughes sat on the couch. Many things plagued his mind, stealing his comforts of sleep. Of course, Gracia noticed when she decided to check on her husband. "Maes dear, what's wrong? Can't sleep?" She asked, concerned. Hughes looked away, "I guess not..." He murmured. Gracia sat down beside her husband on the couch and studied his solemn expression, "I know what's in that head of yours. You're worried about those kids, aren't you?" She stated. Hughes sighed, leaning back on the couch. "You do know what they call state alchemists? Dogs of the military. Not exactly the most popular bunch. I can't imagine enduring that at their age. And Mikasa, I can't imagine what it must feel like to be lost, weak, and with no memory anyone to rely on." He sighed again. Gracia smiled softly at her husband. Always caring and thoughtful for others... "Those boys can handle themselves, and Mikasa will probably feel better in the morning after a decent meal and treatment." She said encouragingly.

Hughes smiled.

"Yeah, I hope so."

"Don't worry Al, we'll get our bodies back soon."

"I sure hope so."

Ed stared at his brother for quite some time. A metal, hallow shell... "Me to." The alchemist whispered. Eventually, Al raised his head and spoke, "I wonder did something bad happened to Mikasa. Maybe she traveled with her family and got separated?" Al theorized, gazing at the moon illuminating from the window. "Seems likely, but it doesn't explain why the girl claims she from a country that doesn't exist. Guess it's a different type of amensia? I'm not sure." Ed sighed.

"Whatever the case, I hope she is being taken care of." Al said softly, concerned still about the poor girl. Ed nodded, keeping whatever sentimental feelings to himself.

The next morning, Al fought a vigorous battle with Ed. "Come on Brother, it's time to wake up! We need to return to the hospital!" The metallic armor exclaimed, shoving his dead weight brother. "Noo... More sleep." Ed slurred. Al grunted, obviously annoyed, and within that moment, Al walked away from the bed and ripped the curtains wide open. "Ugh! Al what the hell you do that for?!" Ed shouted as he blocked beams of light from shining on his face. "I hate when you do that!"

"Uh-huh, love you too, Brother." Al ignored his brother's incoherent grumbling. There was a knock on the door, and then the door opened, revealing Hughes. "Oh Ed, you're still not up? Come on, Gracia is cooking breakfast."

Ed perked up, suddenly awake. "I'm up! I'll be down stairs now!" Ed grinned, jumping off the bed and then rushed past Hughes. Al laughed. "Sorry , Ed really loves Gracia cooking." Al explained as they walked down the steps. "It's quite all right Alphonse." Hughes smirked.

When they reached the dinning room, Gracia was just putting Hughes's plate down. "Good Morning, Alponse." She grinned.

"Morning, Mrs. Hughes."

The family ate, discussing daily objectives, news, work. Eventually, the plates began to empty and time began to run out. "Come on Ed, finish quickly so we can have time to stop by the hospital." Hughes urged as he stood up. "Wait! I-I'm Coming!" Ed shoved the last mouthful of eggs before going upstairs to get ready.

Ed crinkled his nose at the familiar smell of disinfectant. He hated hospitals with a passion: The food, smell, and the terrible needles. Today though, there wasn't much activity. There weren't any people in the waiting room and doctors weren't seen. Hughes, Al, and Ed walked up to the receptionist desk where three nurses sat.

"Excuse me, what room is Ms. Kayantai residing?" Hughes asked.

The nurses seemed to take the question as a joke. "The Japan girl? She's in room 319, but you'll have to check in with her doctor at room 346 first." The front nurses said, an amused grin plastered on her wrinkled face.

Ed glared at the nurses, "hey, shut up! That's rude and damn disrespectful!" He shouted before marching to room 346. Hughes and Al followed, catching up with the angry teen when began to bang angrily on the door. "Brother! Don't-" the door swung open. A tall, elderly doctor in a long white coat looked around the rim of his glasses at his guests. "Yes?" He spoke in a gruff, eastern accent. "We're here about Ms. Kayantai." Hughes explained. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Meas Hughes. I dropped her off here last night."

"Ah yes! The redhead, amnesia pateint. Come right in. I have news that should be addressed." He said, taking a few steps behind the door. They followed andThey followed and took seats while the doctor ruffled throught a filling cabinet.

"As you are aware, she says her name is Mikasa Kayantai from a place called Hiroshima, Japan. However, I tried along with my assistant to locate this place and we were unable to find it on any map. She only only point to a empty spot of ocean around Xing." He turned around and handed Hughes a thin folder, then took his seat and ran his fingers through his thin gray hair. "After aaking her general information, we conducted a medical examination. She is very malnourished, but there is several deep stretch marks which indicated she was at a worse state, but rapidly gain extra weight. There is evidence of bones that had been broken and then healed back slightly wrong. There are healed scars on the soles of her feet that indicated she did not often wear shoes."

"The disturbing part is what she believes happened. She doesn't speak perfect Amestrian, so we asked her to draw what she remembers." The doctor pointed to the folder. "Those are her drawings in order."

Ed and Al leaned closer to all look at the folder as Hughes opened it and slide the papers out. The drawings were rushed and the people stick figures. Buildings and people were labled in Amestrian so they could know what exactly the scences depicted. Some sheets had one panel or two panels. The first seemed to be Mikasa rushing to school. Oddly, the figure of herself was labeled "I" but had black hair instead of red. In the second, it showed her tripping on a sidewalk edge which protruded from the ground. She fell behind a stone wall and the contents of her bed spilled onto the sidewalk.

In the third, there was suddenly an bright explosion behind the wall. She used her arms to shield herself as she was flung throught the air with debris from other buildings.

In the forth, she was pinned under the stone wall, surround by debris that covered in raging fire. Then showed to be in the middle of crawling out from under the wall and crawling through the flames. Her figure was crying blue tears and covered in red blood. She was limping her way home (indicated by a arrow at the bottom which said "home") while the world burned around her.

In the fifth, she knelt before the last wall of a destroyed burning house that burned. She had her arms up to her eyes, crying. The wall had four shapes burned into the stone. The shapes was labled: "Mother" , "Brother", "Father", and "Pet".

The sixth showed a new character carrying the crying, bleeding Mikasa away from the burning house. The new character had three labels: "neighbor", "Warren-san", and "friend".

The last was one sheet with a series of panels. It was her and Warren living throught the ruins of the town. Scrambling for food, struggling to survive, seeing docotrs in crowded tents. The last panel showed Mikasa in a bed bleeding from her mouth while Warren looked on sadly.

All three were quiet for a long time. "A disaster must've happened at her home. Is it possible she is from the Ishvalan War? No, she's too young for that." Hughes suggested.

"Maybe a terrorist attack in her hometown?" Al suggested, staring at the stack of pictures with sympathy. "We couldn't locate any record of any massive attack like this. We asked her more information, and she answered: "bomb" and "World War 2." However, there is no bomb that could destroy a whole city on this scale and there is no such war by that name.

Ed felt incredibly sad seeing the images. "I don't know about you all, but this is an awful situation." He stated. "Can we see Mikasa now?"

"Yes, of course." The doctor stood, "there is one more thing though. When she got here, she wasn't very cooperative. Understandable, and since she could only understand 60 percent of what we asked her. It took alot of effort and coaxing just to get that information out of her, but when she tried to escaped an injection, she grabbed the bed pole and warped it with alchemy."

All three gasped. "An alchemist?" Hughes said, tilting his head.

"Huh, she didn't even know what alchemy was before I explained it to her." Ed explained, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'm confused as well. It frightened her, too. After that, we decided to just sedated her so we could continued her examination." He said pointing down the hall.

They thanked the doctor before leaving the room. "Alchemy? I would've never guess." Al mused. "Those pictures. Is it a terrorist attack? Or something else? And none of the stuff she claimed is documented. Not even her home."

Ed frowned deeply. It became too confusing to figure out. "All we can say is that something terrible happened to her. Maybe it was too terrible and now she is seeing the world in a warped perspective." Ed suggested.

At room 319, Hughes happily knocked on the door.

...

No answer.

After a few seconds, he knocked louder.

Still no answer.

Hughes hmmed, and tested the knob. Thankfully unlocked, he opened the door by just a crack."Mikasa, it's Hughes, and I brought Ed and Al along. We came to check on you like we promised." The man spoke through the crack, yet received no answer. He peeked around and noticed long, bright red hair pooling over the cot. "Oh, she's still asleep." Hughes said as he swung open the door and stepped inside.

"At least she's getting the sleep she needs." Al smiled.

Hughes grinned quickly reaching into his coat pocket, "but Mikasa it's time to wake up! I'm dying to show you the pictures of my adorable wife and daughter before I have to go to work!" He gushed, pulling the covers away from Mikasa's head and shoving the pictures in her face. The sudden action woke her up with a jump. She blinked several times at the pictures in her face. She nodded at Hughes' ramblings for a long time before glancing over at Ed and Al with a "help me" expression.

"Okay Hughes, I think that's enough." Ed stood between the badgering male and young girl. Hughes pouted, and Mikasa couldn't help but to giggle.

"How do you feel, Mikasa?" Al asked stepping up.

Mikasa felt amazing. The bath had taken off all the layers of grime, dirt, and dead skin, leaving her brand new. A nice nurse helped Mikasa clean and combed out her hair so that it hung in long, clean strands of bright red. Not to mention lighter than previous. The new clothes given to her were somewhat big, but they were clean and new so she was thankful for that. Even the toothpaste tasted amazing! And so, she grinned at Al happily. "I feel great!" She answered causing Al to sigh in with relief.

They talked for a little bit, mostly asking questions about her health and if she received good treatment. After a while, Hughes excused himself to use the phone, leaving Ed and Al alone with her. Mikasa answered truthfully, but she omitted the part where everyone said her memories were wrong. Even in the midst of their conversation, Mikasa couldn't shake the urgency to find Warren and continued to tell Ed and Al how they needed to find him.

Ed had been part of the conversation, but he still couldn't shake his curiosity about her alchemy. With her strange past, was there any way she knew something? He peered at Mikasa with suspicion, "so, would you care to explain how you suddenly knew how to perform alchemy?"

Mikasa shrugged, "I know no alchemy." She answered.

Ed pointed to the warped post. "The doctor said you transmuted that post. I can see it."

She shrugged again. "I not know. I need find Warren-san. He in Hiroshima. Find Hiroshima." She repeated. To Mikasa, it seemed like Ed cared more about how she used 'alchemy' than actually helping her.

"First I want to know why you're telling me you don't know anything about alcehmy when the doctors alreadt saw you. Did you know anything about alchemy or anything else? What color was the light of your alcehmy? Where did you learn it?" Ed stated, continuing to ask more guestions about alcehmy. Mikasa couldn't answer a single one. She felt herself becoming frustrated She's tired of everyone disregarding her statements, especially her memories! The girl threw off the covers and started to gather clothes and random objects from the table.

"I need go home! Find Warren-san!" Mikasa snapped.

"Home? Your home is far away from here!" Ed retorted with his arms crossed.

"Shut up!" She headed for the door.

"Hey! You can't leave!" Ed exclaimed, snatching her wrist.

"Let go! Mean boy!" She hissed.

Ed glared. "Everyone has told you multiple times that there is no Hiroshima! There is no Japan! We're trying to help but you're not making any kind of sense! Make some sense won't you? Damn!"

A sharp pang shot through Mikasa, leaving her stunned. Nothing's making sense, everyone finds her a nutcase and she had no where to go and... Life is just horrible. And then this fool is completely insulting her. "Let go!" Tears dripping down her cheeks, Mikasa yanked her wrist, unaware of the abrupt spark between her wrist and Ed's hand.

Ed immediately pulled away, a pained expression on his face. He watched the girl disappear out of the door. "Hey!"

"Brother! That was cruel!" Al glared at Ed.

"Well, what do you want me to do, Al!? Play looney?! It's going to be impossible to help her if she keeps rattling on about Jaban-"

"JAPAN."

"Whatever! We can't find any place like that!"

"That doesn't mean you should shout at her! It's not her fault. That is how she believes, and she went through a lot, brother! We can't judge her for that. Now go and apologize! That's what a real alchemist would do. " Al pointed at the door, waiting.

Ed scoffed, and walked out the room.

Meanwhile, Mikasa wondered through hallways, wiping tears from her face as she avoided staff. She managed to run as far as she could from that room. She didn't want to look at that fool ever again! Who could be that impatient with a tremendous bad temper? Suppose she's did provoke him, but goodness! Eventually she found a row of telephones and attempted to dial the red cross from memory. She got an operator, and like everyone else, had no idea what she was talking about. Mikasa ended up arguing with the women in Japanese until she heard the click on the other end.

The girl dropped the phone and her head. Tears streamed onto the clean white tiled floor. She was stuck here with nothing. She could make it right? She could survive...

"But I alone..." Mikasa whispered.

Ed grumbled to himself, trying to swallow the guilt residing in his gut. The aftermath of his actions made Ed feel shameful, but it wasn't his entire fault! Mikasa created the issue within the first place, and if she only answered...! Damn it! Thankfully he found Mikasa yelling in some strange language, presumably Jaban. She dropped the phone, and Ed heard her sniffling.

Now Ed stood in his shame, accepting the guilt and leaving denial. "No luck contacting Jaban, huh?"

Mikasa looked over her shoulder with a glare, eyes red and puffy. "Stop making fun me!" She whined, preparing to leave.

"Wait." Ed grabbed her wrist.

"Let go."

"Look, I'm trying to apologize, but I can't if you run off again."

Mikasa scoffed.

"I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to snap on you and judge your ideologies. I want to help you, really, just let me." Ed finished, face sincere in his words as his golden eyes stared directly at her .

Mikasa studied the alchemist for a minute, and then sighed. She turned around, "it's okay, Edo-kun." She said with a smile.

Ed raised ab eyebrow, confused. "Ed what now?" What did she just call him?

She giggled. "It's the suffix for boys who are friends." She answered.

"Oh... Okay?" He scratched the back of his head, uncertain. "Uh, guess we better head back then?" Ed suggested.

"Yeah." Mikasa nodded.