"Uh...Riza? Nick?"

"yeah, nee-chan?"

"Why is the ground glowing?"

"YOURE THE ONE WHOS BEEN WATCHING FMA! YOU TELL ME!" Nikki fumed.

"I haven't been watching the latest ones!" She replied, shakily. Deitlinde Erkhart had cornered them, a couple of her goons at her side. The girls looked down and then back at Deitlinde. She smirked and gestured her men to collect them, but they never made it. They stepped onto the circle as the symbols sent a flare skyward. Deitlinde knew that for the gate to open, an exchange was needed. She fired three rounds into the light, and ran in, having heard three pained gasps.

She found herself floating in a white void. The three girls were below her, falling towards the circle on the other side. She then noticed that she was static, unmoving, and she could see her two henchmen floating dead beside her, and the fact that Truth was coming nearer. Much too near.

It dawned on her then. Three girls had gone through, alive. She had shot her henchmen in blind haste, and she herself had become part of the exchange. She struggled to get to the other side as it began to close, without her, but to no avail. Truth unraveled her body.

"Ow... Ow... Ow... Get off me please... Ow... ow... ow..."

Tara pushed herself up on her elbows and looked around as Riza rolled onto her back. Then she noticed that her body was pretty much crushing Nikki's stumps.

"AH! GOMENASAI NEE-CHAN!" she cried, getting up immediately and helping her to sit up. They looked around at the scene before them and Tara practically squealed.

"AAAAAAIIIIII! IT'S THE ELRIC BROTHERS! AND ROY MUSTANG! AAAAAAIIIIII!"

Nikki sighed and took a good look at the seemingly exhausted Elric brothers and and one very very surprised Roy Mustang.

"I... I can't believe that worked..." he muttered, staring past Nikki and Tara and letting his gaze land on Riza, who locked eyes with him in that instant.

In a rare show of complete relief, joy, and whatever else she felt in that moment, she lurched forward and threw her arms around his neck and sighed. He was caught off guard for a moment, but then he realized that the nightmare and the sleepless nights were over, and he hugged her and held her close to him. He sighed and smiled, inhaling the sweet hazelnut scent of her hair.

"Please don't ever die again." Roy whispered. He ignored the sniggers tossed his way by the older Elric.

"I'll try... Roy." She said, instead of calling him Sir, like she had before.

Nikki and Tara sighed at the sight. Mission complete. But then again, now they were the ones out of their element, and in a strange world. They were stranded with no way of getting back.

"Excuse me, but I think we should get out of here. She needs help." Alphonse said politely, pointing to Nikki's severed arms that had begun to bleed again.

She smiled and waved the stump at the others.

"Hi. I'm Nikki and That's Tara... Haha.."

"That... REALLY REALLY HURT!" Nikki hissed, flexing her news arms, courtesy of one Winry Rockbell. Said blonde sighed and apologized, explaining something about ports and nerves and something she really couldn't have cared less about hearing. She was too busy focusing on the dull, throbbing pain just above her now mechanical elbows.

"well, if you're too much of a girl to take the pain, I guess our sparring session will hafta wait." Ed said haughtily as he walked by. Tara stole an accusing glance at Nikki, who fumed.

"I'LL TAKE YOU ON RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, ELRIC! YOU SHRIMP!" Tara sighed as they walked outside and began to duel. It didn't take much to see that although Nikki was prone to complain about every little thing, she was actually very tough and resilient, as was Edward.

Duck, jump,swing left,crouch, chest kick, block, recover, jump, swing right.

It was very hard to keep track of Ed's moves and to also counteract them, but she was doing alright, since he hadn't laid a scratch on her yet, and she had already bruised his eye.

He grinned. It'd been a long time since he'd had a good sparring partner. Used to spar with Alphonse, but ever since he'd gotten his body back, he hadn't been much of a challenge. This girl was proving to be quite the opposite, as the fight went into another stage.

"You ready to call it quits, little girl?"

"What? You already tired, Shrimp-puff?"

Ed proceeded to throw a tantrum and Nikki took that as an opportunity to deliver a swift KO kick to his jaw, which sent him flying.

He hit the ground hard, and when he got up to face her again, he was knocked back down via a wrench to his forehead, and when Nikki began to laugh at him, she met the same fate. A fuming Winry stood before them with her arms crossed and a glare that could have frozen the devil himself.

"What the HELL do you think you are doing?"

"Uh... Sparring..." Nikki said with an upward infliction, shrinking away from the angry blonde. She noticed that Ed was actually taller than Winry now, and figured that Ed was still a little sensitive about his height, though that was completely besides the point. Winry smirked an evil smirk.

"Oh? I'll tell you what you're doing. YOU'RE RUINING MY AUTOMAIL!"