Am I the only one with a hate/love relationship? I didn't think so.

The Lovely Daaaarlings!

Kaijukote: Heehee, yes! I did! XD
Aww, yay!
Shiori is definitely stuck-up. I wanted to dwell more into Jacob, but alas, I find little chance to. Lawlz at the Gregory/Izumi bit! That's very true.
Maeeeesss!!! T.T
Thanks for the awesome reviews! xD

Lani99: Lawlz! Seriously. o.o
Thanks!!
Aaaaaahh.. I see.. I'll be sure to remember that! XD

atemfan1: Tank chew!! x3

Want to be a Lovely Daaaarling? Review! Bwahaha!

FullMetal Alchemist isn't mine. It belongs to a Japanese woman named Hiromu Arakawa. I'm Irish. And named Taylor. Yeeaah...

Chapter Twenty-Five:
Izumi-Say-Whaaa?

Jacob smirked, landing hard on the ground after being tossed into the air. He panted a bit, before slipping blades from underneath his sleeve, holding them in between his fingers.

We had started sparring two hours ago. Two. Hours.

Taking in and letting out a deep breath, I ran toward Jacob. He took off toward me as well, and sent his blade-filled hand at my face. Ducking, I kicked my foot at his face. He ducked backwards and grabbed hold of my arm, slamming me into the ground. Wrapping my legs around his arm, I shoved him down, kicking him into the ground below me. As he tried recovering, I flipped backward, standing back up.

He groaned, rubbing his face as he began to get up. "Could you have done that slower..?"

My expression turned deadpan, "Yeah, cause when I'm going to slam a guy into the ground, I wanna give him enough time to defend himself."

We both controlled our breathing as we headed toward the dojo. I sighed, stretching, "I still don't see why you've stayed here, Jacob. You're better than I've been and yet you stay."

Jacob shook his head as he placed his blades back in his sleeve, "Not everyone can't wait to leave home, Riley."

I paused; Was that how you could describe me? Wanting to leave home..?

Sighing, I headed to my room, "It's not that I want to leave home.. I just have a job and people to look after."

"Now you do. But you remember back then.. You wanted out of here more than anything."

"I guess so..," I said, sighing as opened the door. "See you after I change.. And deal with Shiori.. Who the hell does that kid think she is anyway..."

Jacob smirked, chuckling, "She's Gregory's niece, actually."

"Surprise," I muttered sarcastically as I headed into my room.

. . .

I stood in front of the porch of the dojo, staring up at Gregory, Shiori, Daisuke and Jacob. It was around lunchtime, and I was heading back to Ed and Al. "I'll see you guys later," I said.

As Gregory nodded his head in reply, Daisuke grinned, "Sorry we didn't get to know each other during your stay.."

Deadpan with my emotion, I replied simply, "You're sorry about that?"

He blinked and laughed nervously, as Jacob smirked. "Take care, Riley."

I nodded and glared at Shiori, who was already glaring at me. "Go die, brat," I said bluntly. Her eyes widened in surprise and offense and as she began yelling insults at me, I turned and walked away. Hehe...

Now, it was just a matter of time till I got back. Hopefully Ed didn't blow up too much.

. . .

I let out a long yawn as I walked out of a bakery, after eating. I had decided to eat before I got all the way back to Izumi's. You know, in case she thought I should just "starve like the rest of the pain-hungry mutts of the military!"

..Okay, so she never said anything even remotely like that, but come on. She totally would if given the chance.

As I stepped outside the bakery, a flash of white and black ran past me. I blinked, stopping in my tracks curiously. Not even a minute later, a blur of yellow ran after it.

A short blur of yellow.

"E-Ed?.." I muttered, surprised. Looking to my left, I saw Al, as expected. "Al!" I exclaimed, waving my hand at him. He either decided to ignore me or he didn't notice me as he continued running by me. I, however, took it as the first option so, angrily, I jerked my foot out and watched as the big metal robot fell to the ground in a loud heap.

Sitting up to his knees quickly, Al looked over his shoulder and saw me. "Riley..!"

I stared down at him simply, hands on my hips as I pursed my lips. "Hn.. Just WHAT is going on, Alphonse?"

He sighed, "It's a long story.. I'll explain everything later!" Jumping up to his feet again, he took off. I shouted his name, but he just ignored me. For real, this time. My brow twitched and I began to chase him. But the thing is, despite his abnormally unusual height and noise; I managed to lose him amidst the crowd at the intersection. Pathetic, I know.

I looked around, pissed as I tried to find any sign of Ed or Al. But no. Groaning, I ran down a randomly chosen road and began looking down there. As I came to a corner, this.. Thing, comes around the corner and shoves past me. "H-Hey, watch it!" I shouted, turning around to look at the guy. My eyes widened when I noticed something odd about him.

He had a tail.

Tail?.. That meant.. A chimera..! Forgetting about the Elrics, I ran after him, "Hey!" He glanced back to see me, and sped up. What was a Chimera doing around there? I continued to run after him, when he made a sharp turn down another road. I sped up, turning down the road as well. Great. Another intersection. I spun around, looking for him. I couldn't find him. There was no way he could've gotten so far! Then again, it was a Chimera, so it could be possible... But damn it, did I have to lose everybody today?

Walking down the road, I looked around constantly for Ed, Al, or Chimera-Dude. Whichever or whoever came first. Either way, I was getting some answers. "Aaaaaah!"

Pausing, I looked up to see a black-haired kid tumbling off the roof of a house I was passing by. Black-haired..? That black and white flash that passed me, maybe? I ran over to the edge of the house and held my arms out wide. I could've used alchemy, yes, but I didn't feel the need. He wasn't that far from the ground, and besides, I wasn't going to perform alchemy in front of tons of people. He looked young, he'd bounce back. Well, not literally. I hope. The kid fell off the roof, and came tumbling down.

And bam.

Right. On. The. Face.

Damn it.

Groaning as I laid on my back, the kid let out a yell of surprise as he sat up, raising his stomach from my face. He blinked a few times, looking down at me as I rubbed my head, sitting up. "Could you watch it next time, kid?..," I muttered.

He was silent, and as I finally managed to open my probably damaged eyes, I heard, "R-Riley!" The boy and I both looked up to see Ed bent over the roof. His eyes were firm on the kid. "Grab him!"

My head turned to the kid and he quickly gained a fearful look, "Y-You're with them!"

"Eh..?" I mumbled incoherently. Before either of us could do anything, a yell was heard from above. I looked up to see that Al had ran into Ed, and both were falling from the roof.

Close your eyes, people. Imagine a boy falling from a roof, and a beautiful, heroic warrior saving him. Now, imagine a car falling on them.

That's what I imagined.

Letting out a loud yelp, I grabbed the kid's arm and yanked him up as I jumped backward, narrowly missing the brothers. "You've lost your damn minds!" I shouted, glaring at them. Yeah, Ed was being squashed by Al, but I didn't really care.

. . .

The boy looked at his hands as we all sat in silence back on the roof of the house(Why, I have no idea!). Al had explained everything to me as Ed sat with him for a while. I was, well, surprised I guess. It's not everyday you find somebody with your arm and leg...

It's not everyday somebody has your arm and leg.

The kid looked over at our arms and legs before asking, "How come both my arms and legs look so different from yours?"

Ed paused as the three of us shared a glance. Ed looked down at his right hand, "That's because.. This arm and one of my legs aren't real."

"Well that's dumb!" Kid started, "What'd you do with the real ones?"

Looking over at him, Ed replied, "It's.. Hard to explain."

He leaned toward Ed like a curious little kid. "Where are they now?" He asked.

Ed's eyes widened, silent. I sighed, looking over at them as Al intervened, "Well, what about you? Are you sure you don't remember how you got that scar?" He shook his head in response, and the brothers stood, walking to the top of the roof, talking.

"Did I do something wrong?" Kid asked, looking back at Ed and Al.

Shrugging as I stared into space, I glanced over at him lazily, "Identity Theft?" He blinked, confused. I sighed and laid my back on the roof, hands behind my head. "So, do you have a name?"

He paused, staring into space before shaking his head, "I don't know."

"You don't know..," I mumbled, repeating him. Smiling, I sat up excitedly. "Well I'll give you a name!"

He blinked a few times before smiling, "Really?!"

I nodded, "Of course." Pausing, I looked over at him, examining his face. Hm... He looked like a.. Stephen.. Or Christian.. Or...

Just as I had decided on the perfect name for him, I heard something going off, along with an alchemic reaction. Eyes widened, I looked back behind me to see a stone arrow heading our way.

Stone arrow..? Armstrong?!

Within seconds, it hit the chimney beside us, and I had to guard Kid(Since he didn't have my chosen name for him yet) from debris. "Major! What the hell are you doing?!" Ed shouted. Looking further, I could see Armstrong tossing another rock into the air. He punched it and sent it our way.

I held the kid to me again as the arrow hit closer. Unnoticeable to me, we had been inching closer and closer to the edge because of the explosion impacts. When I was able to notice it, the kid had already slipped. He let out a yell as he began to fall off the roof, reaching for us. "H-Hey!" I shouted, reaching out to catch him.

"Riley!!!" Ed shouted, which was soon followed by a hand grabbed hold of my ankle.

As I began falling, I was going to glare at him for stopping me. It's not like I nose-dived off a roof or something. I wouldn't have fallen if he didn't do that!

But when I looked up at him?

Heh...

There I was, hanging upside down. Off the roof. Apparently, I tripped off the roof in the process of grabbing at the kid, and didn't notice it. And Ed came to the rescue. Sighing, I pouted a bit as I looked into the window I was hanging in front of. A boy, about nine, stood still in his room as he watched me, wide eyed. Huh.. You'd think he'd actually be fairly freaked out with this sort of thing. There's a freaking girl hanging upside down outside his wind-...

Upside down...

I let out a loud 'eek' of surprise as I quickly cross my arms over my chest, holding my shirt back up against my stomach. I glared hard at the kid as I screamed, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

Ed quickly made a step from the house, and gently let go of me as I caught myself. Landing on the step, I looked over at Armstrong to see Frank Archer standing there as well. "What do you wanna do with him?! He's an innocent kid, he's totally lost his memory!" Ed shouted as we both landed on the bottom step he created.

Archer threw the kid over his shoulder as he said, "This kid may be a material witness to everything that happened in Lab Five. He's coming to South Headquarters for questions."

"What kind of answers could you possibly get from a guy who doesn't even know or remember his name?!" I exclaimed, glaring at them. Leave it up to Archer to do something like this.

Archer sent me a cold look before smirking, "Fortunately, we've found an appropriate substitute as far as his identity goes..." He trailed off as he grabbed the kid's ankle and held it up. On the bottom of his foot, was the Ouroboros mark. Our eyes widened.

"That mark.. It's what the Homunculi have," Al stated.

"Give me a few good hours with him and he'll lead us to the ones who destroyed Lab Five," Archer said, before the two turned and headed away. I paused in my anger; If this kid was a Homunculus... Maybe Archer could be lead to the other Homunculi...

I came to a dead stop when I saw a payphone booth open, and a uniform clad body on the ground next to it. My eyes widened.

Maes...

Maes Hughes was dead.

I couldn't believe it, but.. Was I siding with Frank Archer? And if so, doesn't that make me the same despicable military officials my parents hated?

That's it. I'm getting too deep. Archer's an ass, we kick it, we save the day. Problem solved.

By the time I had come to the conclusion that I would just ignore my deeper thoughts, Al and Ed were talking with Armstrong. "Say we do investigate. And say we find some way to prove that those are indeed your limbs. Then what?" He had a point. Ed and Al's eyes widened, as if struck by a bat. "What would you do, Ed? Would you tear them from his body and sew them on yourself?"

Ed let out a small disappointed sigh. "Of course not," He muttered in response.

"Then you're better off never knowing the truth," Armstrong stated. And, I completely agreed.

. . .

"What did you boys do to him?" Izumi asked. She stood in the kid's room as Ed and Al stood behind her. Winry, Hannah, Sid and I stood in the hall, looking in through the giant hole in the wall.

I of course had to resist the, "Lovely what you've done with the place," comment.

"We didn't do anything," Ed replied.

Al stepped forward. "Why are you making such a big fuss over him anyway, Teacher?" Izumi turned a bit, glaring at him. I paused; That was harsher than even the looks she gave me. "Maybe it's the best thing for him. They might be able to track down his identity and besides.. He's not human," Al continued. Izumi's hand twitched at this. I glanced to the others. Winry and Hannah seemed surprised, while Sig's eyes twitched. Al continued about the homunculi, but I had tuned him out. Izumi and Sig, they both acted odd when it came to this kid. I mean, I didn't see how they acted when the kid first arrived, so I wouldn't know if that had just gotten attached overtime. But, Hannah and Winry are saps. Huge saps. If anyone got attached, it'd be these two. And they acted a lot differently than Izumi and Sid.

Something was up.

I tuned back in and saw Izumi walk up to Al, and shove him. "Do you have the slightest idea how a Homunculus is brought into this world, Alphonse?" Izumi asked.

"Take it easy..," I heard Winry mumble.

"Do you take me for a fool?" She spat at him. "That I'd be so blind as to not realize exactly what this child is?" Ed's eyes widened in surprise, but Al hadn't faltered. It was silent for a moment, until Izumi kneeled over, coughing up blood. The others exclaimed her name as Sig rushed to her side, picking her up. He turned, running out of the room. I looked over, watching him run down the hall. Something was definitely up.

. . .

"So she's been sick all this time?" Winry asked. We all sat in a hall, just outside Izumi's room at the hospital. I was sitting far from them, thinking quietly to myself.

"Yeah.. She always comes off so strong, sometimes we forget..," Al replied.

Hannah looked over at me curiously as the brothers and Winry talked. "Riley.. Ever since you got here, you've been pretty quiet.. What could you possibly be thinking about?"

I sighed, glancing to the side of my eye at her. "Honestly?" When she nodded(After some hesitation of course), I shook my hood, "I think I know something about Izumi they don't."

"What..?" Hannah murmured.

I bit my lip; Should I even bothered telling them? "Hannah, could you get Winry out of here for a minute? I need to talk to Ed and Al..."

Hannah paused but nodded and looked up at Winry. Offering to get everyone drinks, she dragged Winry with her for some extra hands. Ed blinked, watching them leave. I sighed and they looked over at me, so I lowered my hand from my chin, crossing my arms, "I think Izumi attempted Human Transmutation..."

Their eyes widened. "What?!" Al exclaimed.

Ed was silent at first, but quickly retorted with, "And what lead you to that?"

I looked up at the ceiling, thinking it over. "Think about it.. This kid, he's a homunculus. Don't you think Izumi and Sig took him pretty quick? They reacted strange when Al said that kid wasn't human.. They both seemed to take it pretty hard.. Izumi... I'll go so far as to bet on it that she's missing an organ. And you know how human transmutation works..," I trailed over, nodding to Ed's limbs.

They both fell silent. As they mulled it over in surprise, Winry and Hannah came back. Winry sighed, sitting down. Seeing Ed and Al's faces, she asked, "Maybe we could take her to a hospital in Central..?"

"I'm afraid that'd do no good.." We all looked over to the voice to see the doctor.

Winry shook her head. "No offense doctor, but city hospitals have more equipment-"

"He means her illness isn't curable..," Ed trailed off, still thinking about what I had mentioned. Sure, I felt bad, but they needed to know...

. . .

The others and I stood in a doctor's office. Izumi and Sig were still in Izumi's room. "All of her internal organs, from here to here," The doctor motioned to, basically, below the dummy's stomach, "Are missing."

"Missing..? How?" Winry whispered. Hannah's eyes widened in shock.

"It looks as though somehow they were just taken away. Amazingly, her other organs adapted to picking up the slack. But still, I-I don't know how she survived this long."

Al paused and looked back to Ed. "Brother.. Do you think Riley's right?"

Ed, who was facing away from everyone, instantly replied with, "You heard what the doctor said.. Like they were just.. Taken away."

"So... She tried to do the same thing that we did..," Al mumbled.

I sighed, quiet, when the nurse ran in, swinging the door open. "Doctor?"

She then proceeded to show us an empty room. Izumi had escaped. How exciting.

. . .

Winry, Hannah and I ran after Ed and Al, when we reached Southern Headquarters. Ed and Al looked to Sig, before looking at the building. Stone pillars shot outward, making it look nothing more than deformed trees. They quickly ran inside as we reached Sig. Sighing, I took off my backpack(bringing Maes' blades in my pockets with the intention of actually never using them), and ran after them. "Riley, wait! It's too dangerous!" Hannah exclaimed.

Of course, I ignored her.

I began to reach the doors of Headquarters, when explosions occurred to the side. I stopped in my tracks, knowing exactly what kind of explosions they were.

Sulfur.. Curious, I ran around the building. Rubble laid everywhere, and dust began to settle.

I covered my mouth as I wandered through it all, and finally came to the hole. Peering inside, I saw a man with black hair, and the same Chimera I saw back at the town. Glaring at them, I clapped and placed my hands on a rock. It began to heat up as I threw it at them. Just as it exploded, the man and Chimera turned, sensing it, and dodged just in time.

The man chuckled, "Well well, looks like there's another pyro around here." He finally turned around fully and my eyes widened as my breath got caught.

"Zolf J. Kimblee..," I mumbled under my breath.

There in front of me.. Was the man that killed my parents.

OHMAHGAW. I am SO excited about writing the next chapter! 8D I love the Riley/Kimblee hate.(I also like Kimblee. Therefore it's fun to write him more. X3)

So stay tuned for the next chapter.. (Imitates Kent Williams.)

THE RILEY, KIMBLEE SHOWDOWN!!

Teehee.

Stay Responsible. Don't Flame and Drive! Rawr.