A/N: I went back and edited chapter 3 after realizing that Ayana wouldn't know what a gun was, since they don't exist in the Avatar universe. No important content changed, I just reworded things to reflect this. Also, first Avatar State occurrence is in Ch. 19, so it's coming up soon!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Legend of Korra

Alphonse

Later that evening, after the aftermath of the fight, he sat on the stoop outside the butcher shop watching Ed wash Martel's blood off his breastplate. Ayana sat in front of him, leaning against one of his legs.

"Did you see Greed had an ouroboros tattoo? It was on the back of his hand." Ed said thoughtfully. "That must mean he's connected to those people we ran into at the Fifth Lab."

"He definitely had the same weird feeling with his chi." Ayana added. "He's not human. Al, you called him a homunculus. What's that mean?"

"It means he's an artificial human created by alchemy." Al answered her. Her eyes widened.

After a moment, he spoke softly. "Ed, I remember. After King Bradley killed… killed her, I got my memories back."

Ed met his gaze in excitement. "Really? What'd you see?"

"Nothing that can help us get our bodies back. I'm sorry, Brother." He lowered his head in shame. It felt like another dead end; like nothing ever turned out in their favor. He was, by nature, a positive person. He was always trying to see the silver lining in any situation. But tonight, he felt defeated.

"That's okay, Al." Ed reassured him as he handed him his now-clean breastplate.

"It feels like we haven't made any headway." He voiced his despair as he fastened the latches on the plate. He figured sharing his feelings would help him feel better.

"That's not completely true. Remember what the Fuhrer told us in Central? About how he was trying to get information on the ouroboros guys?"

Ayana looked up in confusion. "When did he say that?"

"In the hospital, you were still conked out. Anyway, Greed had the tattoo, he's obviously connected to the people from the Fifth Lab. So why did the Fuhrer kill him? Why not capture him to interrogate him? It just doesn't make sense."

Al considered his words. Ed was right, it didn't make any sense, no matter how you looked at it. There's something else to this. Something more than meets the eye. He made a sighing sound. "Well, what do we do now?"

"We have to go see Winry. Ed's arm looks a little worse for wear." Ayana laughed as she pointed at Ed's mangled automail. "She's going to murder you, you know, for wrecking her automail for the third time in less than three months."

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Ed shot back, but Al could see the twinkle of amusement in his eye. "She won't kill me, not when I have you to protect me!"

"And what makes you think I'll protect you? Why should I risk getting wrenches thrown at my head?" Ayana giggled. "Nah, I'd rather she throw them at you. Better you than me."

"Aw, c'mon. If she threw one at Al, you'd defend him, wouldn't you?"

Al put his hands up. "Hey, don't bring me into this!"

Ed threw his hands up in defeat, shaking his head. "Fine, I'll take one for the team. I'll take Winry's flying wrenches."

"Sounds good to me!" Ayana laughed and pushed herself to her feet with an airbend. It still amazed Al when she did things like that. At first, he had thought she was just showing off, but he'd since figured out that it was so ingrained in her life that it was just natural for her.

He got to his feet as well. "Let's go inside, it's getting dark out here."

Edward

They took the next available train back to Rush Valley. It wouldn't be too long of a ride, but was still a few hours. Ayana tried to convince him to play cards with her, but she insisted he take his red coat off to do so. He's no good at cards; that's why he cheats, and he had no desire to lose to her, so he refused. She'd pouted about it for a bit but got over it quickly when Al came back from the diner car and brought her a cookie.

Why didn't he think of that? He couldn't let Al beat him to the punch like that again.

She was sitting next to him as she gazed out the window. He'd let her have the window seat this time. Her hands were on top of her knees and her head leaned against the glass, watching the world go by. She was wearing a tank top, and he could see the mostly healed puncture marks from the attack in the Fifth Lab. That had been too close a call. He'd almost lost her. She could have died, and it would have been entirely his fault.

Without thinking about what he was doing and before he could stop himself, he'd reached his hand up and gently brushed her long, wavy hair away from her shoulder so he could see the scars better. She turned to look at him, and he felt the heat rush to his face as he met her eyes. They were hazel, mostly green in the middle, with a thin ring of blue around the outside of the iris, and starbursts of brown around the pupils. Her eyes were beautiful.

He realized he was staring and looked away quickly. "Your shoulder. How's it feel?"

She had humor flashing in her eyes, but otherwise didn't react to his touching her. "Not too bad, anymore. Sort of itches sometimes, but that'll stop when the scabbing goes away."

"That's good." He responded, but he still wouldn't look back at her. She turned her eyes back out the window. He knew that Al saw the entire exchange and was glad he didn't say anything about it. At least, not yet. He decided to say something else before Al could. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something." Ayana turned back to him again, looking curious. "What you said when teacher told you about the portal. You said something about convergence. What were you talking about?"

She looked surprised and moved her gaze to her feet. "I said it out loud?"

"Yeah."

She nodded, then looked up at Al, who was listening, too. Then she gazed back at him. "Harmonic Convergence. It's a celestial phenomenon when the cosmos align. This causes the spirit portals to warp and merge, and there's a huge spike in spiritual energy across the planet. Remember back when I told you about Raava and Vaatu?" They both nodded. "Vaatu is currently imprisoned in the spirit world. During Harmonic Convergence, his power will be amplified enough to allow him to break free from his prison. Obviously, that is very bad, and cannot be allowed to happen. But it can't be stopped or prevented. Therefore, I must be there when he breaks free, to fight him and imprison him again for another ten thousand years. Its why I need to find a portal as fast as I can."

He sat silently for a minute, processing what she'd said. Al asked, "When will this happen?"

"I don't know. I don't remember. I hadn't memorized the date and time before I wound up here. I do know it's still months away, though. Sometime next spring or early summer, I think."

"And what happens if you're not there when he breaks free?" Ed asked. He knew he probably wasn't going to like the answer.

"I'm not sure, one of two things, I guess. Either Vaatu will begin spreading darkness and chaos immediately, or he'll hunt me down and try to destroy Raava. Neither option is favorable, and I don't want to have to find out which one he'll pick. I need to be there waiting for him. But we've made no headway at all here; this world just isn't as connected spiritually as mine is. I wish I knew how I got here, at least that would be a clue." She sounded so frustrated and sad.

Gah, to hell with it. He decided he didn't care what she or Al thought, so he reached over, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it in what he hoped was a reassuring way. "We'll find something, okay? Don't worry. And besides, we do have a lead, the one that Teacher gave us. At least now we know someone else out there knows about this stuff, even if it is that bastard Hohenheim. We'll figure it out."

She squeezed his hand back, but she still had a sad smile on her face. "Thanks, Edward." He felt his heart skip a beat when she said his name. She turned to look back out the window.

And she didn't let go of his hand.

Ayana

They finally arrived in Rush Valley and, sure enough, Winry nearly killed Ed when she saw the condition of his arm. Ayana tried hard to keep a straight face, lest she get scolded and whacked with a wrench, too. But it was humorous to watch them go at each other. Eventually Winry kicked the boys out, telling them to go find something to do while she went to buy some parts she needed to finish his arm. Ayana offered to help her, and Winry gladly accepted.

They left the automail shop and headed down to a few supply stores, chatting the whole way.

"So how are you liking it here, Winry?"

"So far its great! Mr. Garfiel is so nice, and I've learned a lot from him. I've got a decent customer base established already. I do miss Granny, though."

"I'm sure she's happy for you, knowing you're doing so well here."

"Oh, I know she is! I call her often. Just talked to her yesterday, in fact. Oh, this shop will have the bearings I need, let's stop in."

They visited various other shops for a few other parts. They ran into some issues when a few of them were closed due to damages to the buildings. It looked like a tornado had gone though. The locals were talking about some huge fight that had caused the destruction. But they still managed to get what they needed and headed back to Garfiel's. By the time they came back, the sun was starting to set.

"Hey, guys, sorry it took so long. There was some kind of fight on main street so it took a while to…." Winry trailed off as she caught site of Ed sitting at the table with Mr. Garfiel and Al. He was holding his broken, disconnected automail in his other hand.

Ed was lucky Winry's hands were full, or he'd have a few more bruises from wrenches.

Getting over her anger, Winry started working on his arm. "So, what's the plan after this?" she asked them.

"We're going to head back to Central. We got some things to do there." Ed responded.

"Can I come too? I want to visit the Hughes' again, and Mr. Garfiel gave me some time off!"

"Yeah, sure, why not." Ed waved dismissively.

"Oh, we're going to Central? Great!" A new voice spoke excitedly. Ayana turned to see three strangers standing outside, peeking in the large, open window. They froze when they met her gaze. She figured they could sense the same thing she did. Their chi was strong, which she hadn't encountered with anyone else in Amestris, besides the homunculi. She wondered what made them different.

"I never said you could come with us!" Ed complained, completely oblivious to the fact that no one was listening to him.

The three strangers crawled through the window one by one. The man who appeared to be the leader approached her. "I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Ling, and these are my servants, Lan Fan," He gestured to the young woman on his right, "and Fu" the older man on his left. "We're friends of Edwards. And who might you be?"

"I'm Ayana." She responded. Ed was muttering denials at the strangers being his friends, but no one seemed to be listening.

"The Dragon's Pulse is strong with you. Where are you from? Are you from Xing, perchance?"

"What's happening?" She heard Ed whisper to Al. He failed miserably at keeping his voice quiet, but if Ling heard, he didn't react.

"I'm not from Xing, no. I don't even know where that is."

"It's across the desert to the east. Xing is our home country; we're here visiting. Tell me, then, if you're not from Xing, where did you learn to read the Dragon's Pulse?" She must have looked surprised because he added, "I can tell you feel it. How could you not, with how strong yours is?"

She didn't know what this Dragon's Pulse was, but the way he talked about it, he had to be referring to the flow of chi. "I was born with the skill and perfected it with the aid of the monks and acolytes in their temples back home."

"Interesting." Ling looked thoughtfully at her. Ed and Al were staring at them, apparently still trying to figure out what was going on. Winry ignored them all and continued to tinker with Ed's arm. Ling continued, "We are taught the art of reading the Dragon's Pulse from a young age, but I wouldn't say we are born with it. It's a skill, not a hereditary condition. At least, for us it's not."

Ed was obviously annoyed with being out of the loop because he interrupted. "What the hell is the Dragon's Pulse?"

"It is the art of reading the flow of energy in the world. Every living being emits this flow, called chi." Fu answered Ed. Then to Ayana he said, "In all my years, I've never felt a chi like yours before. There's something foreign about it." Ayana saw Ed and Al tense and share a look, but none of the Xingese people noticed. "If you don't mind, please answer the Young Lord's original question. Where are you from?"

Ayana couldn't see a way out of this. They could sense it, so lying about it was pretty pointless. Besides, if their country was more connected to the energy and spiritual flows of the world, they might be a good resource for finding a portal. Perhaps they already knew the location of one.

But there were other people here, like Mr. Garfiel, that didn't need to hear this conversation.

Sensing her hesitation and making an accurate assumption on her reason, Ling gestured towards the door. "Perhaps we could take this somewhere more private?"

"Works for me." She replied. They started moving towards the door with Fu and Lan Fan trailing behind, when Ed piped up.

"Now hold on a second! You guys mooch food off me, blow my arm off, attack my brother, then waltz in here and think I'm going to let my friend run off with you? No way, I'm coming too!"

Ling shrugged. "Suit yourself." He walked out the door with his servants. Ayana waited for Ed to get up, then followed the others outside. Not surprisingly, Al followed as well.

They had all jumped up to the roof of Garfiel's shop. They stared down, waiting expectantly.

"How they get up there so fast?" Ed exclaimed.

She shrugged and said in a quiet voice so the Xingese couldn't overhear. "You guy had a run-in with them earlier, do you trust them?" Ed shook his head no emphatically. "Okay. I can't hide the fact I'm from another world because they can sense it. But I can hide the Avatar stuff. Can you get us up there with alchemy? If I airbend, I'll give myself away."

Al nodded and clapped his hands to raise the ground beneath their feet. She and Ed stepped onto the roof and sat beside Ling, who was dangling his legs off the edge. Al stayed standing on his alchemized platform.

The foreigners watched her eagerly, waiting. "I'm from another world. But you already knew that." It wasn't a question.

"Yes." It was Fu who responded. "Like I said before, your chi has a foreign feel to it, one I've never felt before."

"I never imagined the existence of other worlds could actually be possible." Ling stated, more to himself than anyone. He looked up at her and asked in a louder voice, "Where do you call home, then?"

"I travel a lot, so I don't really have a home. I suppose if I had to choose, I would say I'm from Republic City, which is located in a place called the United Republic of Nations." She would have said she was from the Fire Nation, but she didn't want to explain the meaning behind the name.

"Interesting." That seemed to be Ling's favorite word tonight. "I'm looking for something, you see, and perhaps there's something in your world that may help. I'm searching for the secret to immortality."

She laughed humorlessly. "You're a straight shooter, aren't you?"

"I don't like to waste my time." Ling responded seriously. "Can you tell me if there's anything in your world, like a Philosopher's Stone, that would grant immortality?"

She could see now why Ed didn't like these guys. "No, alchemy doesn't exist in my world, and neither do Philosopher's Stones."

Ling's eyes probed her. "And there's nothing else instead? Your world has nothing similar?"

The closest thing to immortality was her, with the Avatar's reincarnation cycle. But she wasn't about to tell him that. "No. I'm sorry I can't help you."

Ling didn't look away. He kept her gaze with his, weighing her words. Finally, he replied, "Alright. Thank you anyway." He moved to get up, but she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait. It's only fair I get to ask a few questions of my own."

"What could you possibly want to know from us?" He responded with a twinge of curiosity. He settled back down, though, and she removed her restraining hand.

"You're the first people I've met in this world who even know what chi is, much less how to read it. I'm hoping it means that your country and culture are more connected to the spiritual aspects of this world. I need to find a way home, and I'm hoping you may know of the existence of any sort of portal."

Ling put his chin in his hand, thinking. Seeing her lord not answering, Lan Fan spoke instead. "There is a legend among our people, of a Great Portal to the West. The story is centuries old. It was described as a source of great power. Personally, I've always believed it to simply be a story."

"There's more to the legend than just the portal's existence," Fu joined in. "The story goes, a group of traveling merchants found the portal ages ago. When word reached the empire, many clans sent their warriors through it, hoping to claim the great power within for themselves. However, this angered the spirits inside. One day, the great Yosono Kami came through the portal and appeared before those gathered there, demanding we leave the portal alone and go back to our country."

Ayana was thinking hard. Portal to the west of Xing? That's pretty vague, but Amestris fit that description. Could she really be so lucky? Out of all the places in the world, was there a portal somewhere in this country, and she just hadn't found it yet? She looked up at Fu and asked, "Who's this Yosono Kami?"

"It roughly translates into your language as 'god of the elements'."

She felt Ed stiffen beside her as he shared a look with Al. She hid her expression from the Xingese, not wanting to give anything away.

Fu continued his story, oblivious to Ed's reaction. "Our ancestors did not heed Yosono Kami's warning. They continued to enter the portal. And so, Yosono Kami returned with a fury. They say he was so angry, his eyes burned hot with white fire. He bent the elements to his will, destroying the village that had been erected around the portal with rockslides and fire, floods and tornados. Our warriors were no match for the god, and those that survived fled back to Xing. After destroying the village, Yosono Kami returned to the portal and closed it, preventing anyone from passing through ever again. The decimated village was abandoned, and the location of the portal was lost to the sands of time. It is said that someday, Yosono Kami will return and reopen the portal to allow our people to gain the mystic power within. Some clans have different versions of the legend, but the details are essentially the same."

There was a poignant pause as everyone absorbed the story. 'Eyes white with fire' sounded an awful lot like the Avatar State. And causing rockslides, fires, floods? There was no doubt in her mind that this legend had a lot of truth in it. Now she was confident of the existence of a portal in this world. Just knowing it was out there somewhere gave her great relief. That was half the battle, knowing she wasn't searching for something that didn't exist. Now she just needed to find it.

"You said you were trying to find a way home." Ling stated. "Even if you do find this portal, it won't do you any good. Only the god can open it. Assuming it's not all simply a myth."

She inwardly laughed. If only they knew. But she couldn't tell them that, especially not if it would make her a god in their eyes. She didn't want people treating her like a deity. Also, they'd realize their 'god' was essentially immortal, and that was what Ling had said he was searching for. What would he do if he found out she was exactly what he was looking for? Aloud, she said, "Perhaps the legend has some inaccuracies. If I can find the portal, I'll see if it truly is closed, and go from there. Thank you for your time."