11. Germany, day 7

"Miru, why is it that you always come back with your shoulder all bloodied up?! What do you do, tear off the automail each time? You can't keep this up, you know." Al reprimanded me. Noah was about to attach the automail again, and I was getting used to the pain, but it still hurt like hell!

"Sorry… I won't be doing this too often anymore, 'kay?"

Noah paused in cleaning the blood on my shoulder.

I gave her a look saying clearly 'don't tell them anything.'

I like to think I have power.

Thankfully, she didn't say anything about how I wasn't going to come back next time I left.

I blanked out when she reattached my metal arm.

Ouch.

I spent an hour simply wandering around town, avoiding Hughes, and searching for the Hunter. I still couldn't find him… I decided to actually seek Hughes out, and ask him if he's seen anyone with that 'aura'.

"So, have you?"

"Well no, but your name isn't Je--,"

"My name is of no importance. If you haven't seen him, then I'll leave." And so I did. I headed back to the Elric's house, to be met by a scream.

"Noah?!" My voice matched the one beside me. Ed had sprinted in, barely winded. His braid was beginning to come undone as we ran to the kitchen, the source of the scream.

Something nagged at the back of my mind. Something important.

It slipped through my fingers like a bar of soap and disappeared without a trace as we met up in the kitchen. Noah was facing the open window, her back to the table and something clutched in her hand.

"Noah, what happened?" Ed asked, rushing to her side. Going around the table, I could see the terrified look on her face, and knew that nothing normal had happened. If my suspicions were correct, then—

My wings filled half the room. I closed my eyes and raised my head slightly, blanking out the strange faces Ed and Noah had made when they saw my wings again.

It was there. Just a trace, a tiny spoonful, but it was there.

The smell of death.

"The Hunter was here…" I whispered. "Noah, what are you holding?" I turned to her, my eyes now open.

Noah stretched out her hand, offering me what looked like a bookmark. It was the source of the smell of death.

I took it. Looked it over. Inspected it. Finally, I read the words covering both sides of the silky thick ribbon.

Did

You

Know,

Shingami

I had to flip it over here. But still, I knew what it was going to say.

Only

Eat

Apples?

At the end of the ribbon, there was a red apple-shaped piece of metal, cut to look like a bite has been taken out of it.

"Guys, next time I leave, I may not come back…" I started.

"…You will come back though, right?" Al asked, doe-eyed. I nodded at him. I couldn't trust myself to speak. Everywhere I go, I have to leave some friends behind. First Haru, Min, Kyo, Tohru, and the rest. Now Ed, Al, and Noah.

The latter of the aforementioned stepped up and gave me a big hug. I returned it, and once she let go, Ed and Al glomped me simultaneously.

"Guys, if you don't let me go, I won't be able to…" I stopped speaking; one, because they don't know my ACTUAL purpose in defeating this Hunter guy, and two, I was on the verge of tears.

Who knew when I'll come back? If at all?

"You'll come back." Ed said in a strained voice. The two blondes pulled away, the elder still holding my shoulders and looking me straight in the eye. I realized he seemed about to cry as well. "I know you will."

I gave a small smile. Why did partings have to be so sad?

Ed dropped his hands and stood back a little. Then Noah said it.

"Good bye."

Those two, sad, irritable words. The ones trying to seal my fate.

I turned to her. "Not 'good bye'," I looked in all three's eyes, my gaze switching from one to the other slowly. "See you later."

Without a final word from any of them, my wings rushed out, and I thought of the next place I was to go.

Al and Noah began openly crying, consoling each other and actually thinking that she was gone, and wasn't coming back, as if she had died. Sure, they had only known her for a week, but her presence was something new and intriguing. Indeed, it even brought the boys out of the lab in the basement.

Ed stood off to the side, his eyes fixed on the spot that Miru had disappeared. It seemed like her imprint was still there, in the air where she stood.

The wind blew, almost too dramatically for the moment. Hair flew in Ed's eyes, forcing him to close them.

Another angel stood before them.

"God damn!" The girl exclaimed.

Ed blinked.

Noah and Al looked up.

"Another one?!" Noah started.

The girl mirrored Ed's wide eyes. "What do you mean?" She asked hesitantly.

"Uhmmph," Al had covered Noah's mouth with his hand. Ed shot the gypsy a meaningful look.

"Um, is this about—Oh shit, did I miss her?! Did she leave already? Did she find him?!"

By now the girl was clinging to Ed's shirt, eyes wider than before.

"Miru, you know her, right? I need to know where she went!" She shook him.

"She left, we don't know where she was headed!" blondie told her, desperate to get the strange girl off him. Finally, she let him go, turning to fake-punch a tree.

"SHIT!! I KNEW I should have figured out the puzzle sooner! Damn girl always has things turn out her way!"

Suddenly she cringed, and a hand flew to her heart.

Al immediately moved forward. "What's wrong?"

"My chest REALLY hurts… I'll see you all again, I bet!"

With that as a goodbye, Min spread her wings. She deemed that her heart hurting was with the fact that she was here; like how Miru couldn't see when she was in Furuba.

But then, why didn't Min get hurt at all when she flew there with Miru?

In a blink, the girl had gone. Her grin as she left was imprinted into Noah's and the Elric's minds; this was certainly an encounter they were going to remember.

Epilogue

Nowhere in the middle of Somewhere

The girl walked down the street, weaving through the crowds. The sky was dark, and yet the stars weren't visible; they were blocked out by city lights.

'Finally, somewhere modern,' She whispered to herself. She had the look in her eyes of a weary traveller. She seemed like she knew where she was going, but if you watched long enough, she would glance around like a little kid looking for her mother.

Her eyes flashed in the headlights of a passing car. Her gaze was fixated on one thing; one person, walking ahead of her.

That person was about 17. Dressed as if he were going to a dinner party in a tan coat and red tie, and someone most likely his sister walking beside him. It seemed that they were simply heading home from a short shopping trip.

They had been recognized immediately, and followed. Neither seemed to show any sign of being so, yet the follower knew; the boy should have been alerted to her presence by now.

She clutched the silk bookmark in her hand. Her eyes drooped a little.

She hadn't been walking for too long, just for half an hour at most until she spotted the couple. And yet, she was so tired. Exhausted.

Sounds of the foreign language surrounded her, enchanted her, flowed through her.

Shouts reached her ears vaguely, she noticed a little boy. Tears. He was crying.

A piece of metal was shoved in a nearby man's face. A gun.

She saw it happen before it happened. Predicting that the man was going to try to get the gun away from him, he would most likely hit with his dominant hand, his right, and send the gun flying.

The boy was going to get shot.

As quickly as her fatigued legs could move, she jumped in and held the little boy away from the gunman, her back to the danger.

As she had guessed, the man smacked at the gun. The teen holding it fired.

A tearing pain, surprisingly very accurate. She could feel the bullet ripping the edge of her side, not deep enough to be lethal, but enough for her to scream and black out.

The boy was safe, at least.

"Light, mitte!!"

A/N: Well... This story is complete. Thank you for your time. Special thanks to Freakageek for the support and story ideas! I'm definitely going to do a triquel. Or whatever you call it.

Guess where Miru went!

Anyways, I'll be working more on my Naruto fanfic, Two Months To Die, so don't expect the 3rd for a while.

See you later!

Sarii