Al was sitting on the bench beside Serah, who has been traveling with him and his brother for around five months. The young Elric knew that his brother was wary of the Ishvalen at first, but the older Elric had grown used to having the silver-haired girl with them. Al has noticed how Ed slowly changed in his attitude towards Serah, the heated arguing between the two lessened and had somehow turned into somewhat of playful bickering. It felt good to not be the peacekeeper between Ed and Serah all the time now, but he does wonder about the reasons why their attitude towards each other have changed. Al stared at the ground between his feet, his brother is looking for a place for them to stay the night. Right now they are staying the night in a small village, before leaving for North City. Deep breathing caught Al's attention, he turned to Serah who was holding her hands, she let out warm air as she tried to warm her fingers from the cold.

"Serah, are you cold?" The Ishvalen blinked as she turned to the younger Elric.

"A little, while I have been in Central for years now. I'm still not used to the cold, usually, it isn't this bad but this far up north." Serah turned her gaze back to her hands as she rested them on her lap, letting out a soft sigh she looked up and stared ahead of her. Al hummed in understanding, following her lead as he turned his head. The young Elric and the Ishvalen fall quieted, both lost in their thoughts while they waited for their missing companion.

"Hey, Serah?" The Ishvalen hummed, lacing her fingers together.

"Why did you agree to come with Brother and me?" It was something, he has been wondering about for some time. Ed told him that Colonel Mustang had ordered Serah to be his guard, the day after the Ishvalen joined them.

"Well, excluded Colonel's orders. There was something about Ed, while he made me mad when we first met. There was something about him that made me want to learn more about him."

"Yeah, his temper." Al snorted, Serah pulled one leg up and loosely wrapped her arms around her knee as she huffed slightly but yet she completely agreed with the younger Elric. While Ed does have a temper, it wasn't that which made the Ishvalen know more about the young State Alchemist. In fact, it was the aura she sensed around him, the strong and wild and yet calm hurricane-like aura that kinda pulled her in. Al turned towards Serah, blinking as he noticed the soft and thoughtful expression. The look on the Ishvalen made him pause, it made him realize that there might be something different that was the cause for her to agree to travel with him and Ed. But what it is, he doesn't know… yet anyway.

"Serah, you seem…" The Ishvalen hummed softly under her breath, blinking as she felt Ed's aura came close to her and Al.

"Hey, I got a place for tonight. You coming or what?" Serah stood up and grabbed hers and Ed's luggage, gazing at Al for a brief moment.

"It was the look in his eye, Al." She murmured under her breath so Al was the only one who heard her. He didn't think that she would tell him, but he is glad that she did. It means a lot to him that she would share something private, after the short time they have been traveling together.

"Coming, let's go, Al."

"No way! The Lieutenant taught you how to shoot a gun." Al gaped at the Ishvalen who reached out and grabbed a sandwich with a nod while staring at the younger Elric.

"Yeah, Maes and Riza agreed that since I wouldn't learn about how to use Alchemy by Colonel, it would be a good idea for me to learn how to use a firearm."

"Guns can kill."

"And so can Alchemy, it depends on how you look at it. A gun or Alchemy is a tool used by a person, it's the person who chooses how to use it." Serah narrowed her eyes, glaring slightly at the sandwich in her hand. It caused the brothers to stare at each other in concern, the Ishvalen had told them a bit about the Civil Ishvalen War. And the Elrics have read the history books on Amestris where they learned about it as well, but it wasn't the same as hearing about it from someone who survived the War.

"Um, what else did you learn?"

"Outside of Lieutenant teaching me about firearms, Maes taught me about throwing knives and swords and I learned about martial arts from Armstrong."

"Perhaps, we could spar sometime," Ed mumbled, gazing to the side away from the silver-haired girl. Serah stole a glance from the corner of her eye at him before smiling softly.

"I would like that." She took a bite of the sandwich, Al's eyes brightened.

"No!" Silver hair strands flew over Serah's shoulders as she sat up immediately, she pressed a palm to her fast-beating heart. The images of her parents and brother flashed in her mind, she pulled her knees to her chest as she wrapped her arms around her legs. Ed slowly sat up, pushing him up on his elbows. He glanced over to the Ishvalen from his bed, concerned as he frowned. After blinking the sleep from his eyes, he noticed Serah's tensed shoulders.

"Serah?" Ed sat up completely, lifting a leg, and rested his elbow on top of his knee. His frown deepened, seeing her flinching, hearing his voice. The young Alchemist was concerned, she hasn't had a nightmare before since she went with him and his brother.

"Are you alright?" Al asked from his seat against the nearby wall, a long moment passed before Serah slowly lifted her head. Her bangs hid her eyes from view, Ed sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for waking you, Ed."

"It's fine." Ed had moved off his bed and stood in front of Serah's, the Ishvalen took a look and saw him standing right beside the bed.

"Scoot over, Serah."

"What? Why."

"Because I would like some sleep tonight." Al grinned, seeing his brother blushing as he rubbed the back of his neck. Ed thought that it might help her by sleeping next to someone, Serah mentioned once, normally her little sister Elicia sneaks into the silver-haired girl's bed. so the Ishvalen is kinda used to have someone beside her while sleeping. Serah moved closer to the window before Ed lifted the blanket, and crawled onto the bed. The State Alchemist laid down on his side with his back to Serah who turned her back to him, Al continued to grin, as the Ishvalen and Alchemist fell asleep again with their backs to each other.

A/N

I apologize for not posting a chapter lately, but I have been working on the outline of the stories. And before I go on vacation, I wanted to update one story. The next update might either be 'Rainbow' or 'The Crimson heart'.

Another thing, I will complete the current stories here on FF but the upcoming stories that I have planned will be posted on AO3. My username on that site is the same as it is on here, Moon Magic 006.