A/N: Heya, guys!

Mati: What's this? An update?! Who would have thought?

Piper: We posted this pretty soon after finishing, so there may be some mistakes. Please tell us if you see any. Thanks.


Chapter Twenty-Six

"What is that?!"

We had gone upstairs so that I could put my luggage away, and Winry had gotten a good look at Nina. She stared wide-eyed at Nina, who gave a small whimper and tried to hide behind me. I gave her a small reassuring pat.

"She is Nina. Basically...her father combined her with a dog in order to keep his State Alchemist title." I gave a grimace. "The dark side of alchemy."

She looked horrified. "What kind of father would do this?!"

"Yeah, he was messed up…Nina can still think and talk, though..." I turned to Nina. "This is Big Sister Winry. Wanna say hello?"

Nina peered out from behind my legs and scrutinised Winry, then spoke up. "Hi...Big Sister...Winry." She looked up at me. "Call you...Big Sister...Lina now?"

I noted that her speech was becoming less halted. Maybe she was improving? "Okay. Big Sister Lina works."

Winry hesitantly stepped forward and kneeled in front of Nina. She looked at me, uncertainty in her eyes, and I smiled. "You can pet her, if that's what you're wondering."

There was a pause before Winry's hand reached out to rest on Nina's head. She began to gently pet Nina, who gave a small whine and leaned into the touch.

"Hey there, Nina…" Winry said quietly, never taking her eyes off of the girl chimera. "It's nice to meet you…"

"...Play with me…?"

Winry started to reply, but was interrupted by a voice coming from outside. "Winry! Our regulars are here! Winry!"

Winry's face turned annoyed. "Good...I can yell at Ed for not calling…"

I gave a laugh. "Go ahead." She walked towards the balcony. Outside, Ed and Granny Pinako were squabbling. "HEY! ED!"

I winced at the resounding clang, suddenly feeling sorry for the victim. Nina jumped, hair practically standing up, and gave an alarmed bark.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call before you come in for maintenance!"

"WINRY, YOU JERK! YOU COULDA KILLED ME!"


"Yeah, sorry. It got broken."

"What do you mean, 'it got broken'?! That was my masterpiece! A state-of-the-art automail prosthetic. Gah! Just let me see the damage so I can fix it and get you out of here!"

Ed gave a laugh. "Yeah...when I said 'broken', what I meant was 'smashed to bits'."

I saw the look on Winry's face and excused myself, taking Nina with me. Had to move fast before-

CLANG!

Geez, Ed. Maybe you could have broken the news to her a bit gentler?

I walked outside, quietly closing the door behind me. It didn't matter, anyways; everyone's (especially Winry's) focus was on the Elrics.

For a second, I just stared out at the valley. Everything seemed so calm; I never got this when I was with Ed and Al (Although, really, I should have known that). It was a nice change…

With a small sigh, I went to the side of the house and sat down on the grass. I took the opportunity to think of all the things I was worried about. Needless to say, I thought about a lot of things.

The sound of the door opening jerked me back to reality. I jumped, caught off guard, and looked up to face Ed and Armstrong, who was carrying Al. Den was right next to them. Armstrong set Al down and left, probably to see if he could do anything. Ed plopped down between me and Al, fuming. Den sat down next to Nina, giving her a friendly nudge.

"Sheesh…" Ed groaned. "What's with that violent woman?!"

Al laughed. "Don't act like you're surprised…"

"How long?" I asked Ed.

Al answered instead. "Three days."

I groaned, already feeling impatient. "Great, what're we going to do for three days?! There's no library…"

Ed spasmed next to me, no doubt feeling the same way as me. Den copied him. "I hate having to wait!"

Al laughed at us. "Well, it's a chance to take it easy, right? We don't get that much relaxation usually…"

I pouted at him. "There's a difference between relaxing and having absolutely nothing to do."

"Well, Ed, you could visit Mom's grave." Al suggested. "I don't know what you could do, Lina."

"Play?" Nina asked. Not a bad idea, actually…

"Looks like I'll play with Nina, then." I said, shrugging.

"Visit Mom's grave, huh…?" Ed mused, looking at Al. "But what about you? You're in no condition to go anywhere."

"I don't want to have to ask the Major to carry me, so I'll just stay here. We're leaving for Central as soon as the automail's finished, right?" Al asked. "You shouldn't miss this opportunity to go pay your respects."

Ed was silent for a while. "You're right…" He got up, stretching. "I guess I'll go over there for a little bit." With that, he walked off, waving behind him. Den got up and ran after him. "I'll be back soon."

I stood up as well, looking at Nina. Since we had time to burn… "Okay, then. What do you want to play?"


A/N: As always, reviews are loved! We'll try to start on the next chapter today! Ciao!