Finding shadows the homonculi hadn't occupied already was difficult. Then she decided to do the opposite, and hide in the light. After all, the darkness couldn't look into the light without being blinded.
She found it irritating, how he treated his children, the sins. But she had never liked him or her obligation to him anyways, was glad to leave it behind.
Her wounds were healing slowly. It had been one hell of a fight, but in the end she had been able to flee and leave them behind, wounded. And because they had bigger fish to fry, they let her. But she knew they'd still search for her. When she heard the stories of the female state alchemist who went missing during an intelligence mission that had gone wrong, she nearly laughed. Yeah. Nice story. And it brought the fuhrer the ability to make the military search for her or her remains. Nice plan.
But he underestimated her, as usual. She had changed her appearance again, cut her hair short and dyed it whitish-blond. The priestesses of a holy temple had taken her in, and she had used the normal story of memory loss. She was badly injured and had no memories. Of course they believed her and she could stay.
She learned the rituals of the temple and began taking part in the daily life there. But she always had an open ear for gossip. Watching from the sidelines had been something she had wanted to do for a while. She heard tales about Alphonse and Edward, proud and glad.
"Miss Cana. Please put more clothes on, the wind up here can be very chilly. We don't want you to fall sick."
They called her Cana, which means 'gray' in Latin. She looked around Central city from the roof of the temple and nodded absently. The young priestess sighed, putting a wool blanket over her.
"Are your memories coming back, Miss Cana?"
She slowly shook her head. "No... I am just feeling weirdly sentimental."
"The day of the solis defectio is close. Will you join us in our prayers?" (solis defectio means eclipse of the sun)
A soft smile graced pale lips and the woman called by many names nodded softly. "I would like to."
…
Ed and Al hadn't met her again. The message that her mission had gone wrong and she went missing had hit them pretty hard. When Al had his time at night, he often thought about her. If she was alright. If she was still alive at all. If they would see her again. He felt uncomfortable with the thought that he and his brother couldn't help her. It hurt to think about.
The time came that they fought against the homunculi. The day of the solar eclipse. But they won. And when they returned to Resembool, a letter waited for them. An anonymous letter.
"Where it came from?" Pinako repeated Al's question, taking a deep breath from her pipe. "It arrived with the mail. It's addressed to you two, so neither Winry nor I opened it."
Ed looked at his brother and nodded, opening the letter.
To the Elric brothers
There is a young woman without a memory residing at our temple in Central City. We priestesses call her Cana – it means gray – because her eyes are the most unusual gray.
One thing she remembers, so she said, was the name Elric. And the title Fullmetal.
Hopefully you know something about Miss Cana. Living without memories is simply torturous.
Hopeful greetings,
the priestesses of the Ilia Temple
"Brother?" Al asked.
"Maybe it's her." Ed said.
"You want to travel to Central to meet her?" Pinako asked neutrally.
"Yes."
A/N: The next chapter will probably be the last one. Thanks for reading! Please review!
