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

Edward

Following Ayana's instructions, he pulled himself back to the physical world and opened his eyes. Al was standing in front of him, waiting eagerly, and Ayana was on the couch next to him. She opened her eyes and immediately let out a groan as she stretched and rubbed her legs again.

He gave her playful look. "Maybe next time you shouldn't stay in there for hours like that. Look, we tried to tell you earlier but since you were… well… gone, I don't think you heard us. We got a lead on that panda girl today. Apparently, she's heading north."

"North?" She asked. "Like, snowy north? Damn, I hate the cold. When do we leave?"

He hesitated. He'd wanted to leave first thing tomorrow, but that huge, unexplored library was lurking on the edge of his brain. He was intrigued to know what kind of information a library of that size, much less one in another world, would hold. He had to get in there.

She must have read his mind because she sighed after he didn't respond. "Come up with something good to give to the spirit, and we can check it out in the morning. You too, Al. Having multiple options to trade will give us better odds." Al nodded excitedly.

As Ayana went to bed, he and Al stayed up briefly, discussing possibilities. They eventually settled on a few bits of knowledge to try. Having nothing more to discuss, he crawled into bed for the night.

As he lay there, he couldn't shut his mind off. Sure, seeing Al's real body at the Gate had been one thing, but seeing his brother walking, talking, hugging him, and watching him laugh and enjoy himself, had been amazing. He hadn't seen his brother that happy in years. And having no automail had been pretty awesome, too.

He thought about Ayana's desperation to find the portal, and to go back home. He found himself wishing that she'd somehow decide to stay. He'd gotten used to her company over these past several months; in fact, he enjoyed having her around. It depressed him to think about a future that she wasn't included in.

He wondered if she had thought about these things, too.

He woke early the next morning; the excitement for upcoming trip to the library didn't allow him to sleep in. He could sense Al's anticipation, too, and they almost woke up Ayana so they could get there faster. It was hard, but they waited patiently. When she was finally awake and ready, they sat in a triangle and meditated together.

She pulled them in near a mountain, next to a lone, scraggly tree on a cliff. There was a giant, weird-looking bunny waiting for them. Its body was blue, with light green accents. It's ears were thin and transparent, almost like dragonfly wings.

"Bum Ju." Ayana greeted the spirit. "We need a ride up to Wan Shi Tong's library, do you mind giving us a lift?"

The spirit trilled happily in response. Ayana grabbed their hands and he watched, dazed, as the world around them shifted and blurred. Suddenly they were in the forest underneath the library. The bunny appeared next to them shortly after.

Ayana approached and climbed on its back, and she waved at them to join her. They did, and he was surprised that their weight wasn't too much for the spirit as it began beating its ears and lifted them into the air. They ascended slowly as the bunny aimed for a large open window.

Once they passed inside, he was shocked to see the library was upside down. But even as he watched, everything spun around and was suddenly right side up. Or were they upside down, now? This world was bizarre.

The spirit landed on a stone bridge in the center of the library, and they climbed off its back. He and Al gazed around in amazement at the sheer number of books here. There were fox spirits roaming around, sorting volumes, dusting shelves, and overall tidying up the place.

"Wow." Al breathed. "We could spend our entire lives here and still not see every book."

A dark shadow flashed overhead, and he watched a giant owl spirit, black with a white face, swoop down and land in front of them. His eyes regarded them unhappily. "The last human who said something similar is still here." He gazed pointedly over to the side, and Ed followed his stare and saw a human skeleton leaning against the bookshelves.

Ayana stepped forward. "Wan Shi Tong, we'd like to request the use of your library. We have some information to trade with you."

The spirit's eyes narrowed. "Those are the old rules. Humans are forbidden here; even one as notable as the Avatar. Besides, what information could you possibly know that I don't, he who knows ten thousand things?"

Ed caught Ayana's gaze as she looked at him expectantly. He stepped forward to address Wan Shi Tong. "Do you know what alchemy is?"

The spirit regarded him thoughtfully. Apparently, he didn't, but he had no desire to admit it.

Finally, he conceded, "No. I do not know what alchemy is. Please explain."

So Ed did, describing how alchemists can take an object, deconstruct it to its base elements, and then reconstruct it into something else. The spirit looked like he was trying hard to hide his fascination.

After he finished explaining, the spirit considered his words. "I did not know this." He replied simply.

Ed opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he felt Ayana's restraining hand.

Wan Shi Tong regained his composure and locked eyes with him. "Fine. You may peruse my library. But do not take anything. I will know." And with that, he spread his wings and swooped away.

Ayana let out a huge sigh of relief. Apparently, she hadn't been expecting it to be that easy. Al looked at Ed, and his eyes were gleaming. "Where should we start, Brother?"

He grinned back and grabbed Al's hand, and together they ran over to one of the shelves. They spread out and examined the spines, looking for books that looked interesting.

He was disappointed to find that many of them were written in other languages. But still, there were a lot that he could read. He found one entitled, "From Fire Islands to Fire Nation: A Complete History" and grabbed it, perusing its pages with interest. Al had found a book of his own and was reading, as well. Ayana was still walking the shelves, scanning the titles.

He abruptly felt guilty as he realized that he should be helping her look for information on portals. He snapped his book shut, replaced it, and began searching. After several rows he hadn't found anything even remotely related. "Isn't there some kind of organizational system here?" He called down the row to Ayana.

"Don't know, I've never been here before." She called back. Al had put his book back and was scanning the shelves again. Bum Ju stood nearby, serving as their watchful guardian. Wan Shi Tong was nowhere in sight.

Ed watched one of the foxes walk by Ayana, and she bent down to speak to it. It nodded at her words and scampered off. She followed it, and he and Al hurried to catch up. The fox led them down a winding staircase and past several bookshelves before turning down an aisle. It reached up and grabbed a book in its mouth, then trotted over to Ayana and handed her the volume.

She sat on the ground and opened it in her lap. He walked over to join her and tried to read over her shoulder, but the words were in another language. There was a picture, though, and it showed two beams of light in a rocky valley between several mountains. A giant tree stood between the columns of light, and there was an abundance of rivers crisscrossing the rocky terrain.

He pointed at the picture. "Is that what you're looking for?"

"Yes, but they aren't the right portals. These are the ones to my world." She shut the book in disappointment. The fox sat nearby, watching. She addressed it, "There aren't any books about other portals? Or other worlds?" The fox's eyes fell as it shook its head sadly.

Ayana's shoulders sagged. She muttered quietly to herself, "So, even 'he who knows ten thousand things' doesn't know of the existence of other worlds."

Ed pulled the book from her hands gently and handed it back to the fox. He wrapped her hands in his, and she looked up at him. He could see the disappointment in her eyes.

"Don't worry. It's out there, and we'll find it. One way or another." He gave her a confident smile, and she returned a small one of her own.

She allowed him and Al time to explore for themselves before they left, which he greatly appreciated. He found the Fire Nation book again and read some more, fascinated with learning some of the history of Ayana's ancestors. He also found several other books with topics equally as interesting. He wished he could take some of them back with him to read later, but Wan Shi Tong's warning echoed loudly in his head every time he thought about it. The books probably wouldn't be able to travel with him back to the physical world, anyway.

By the time they returned to Amestris, it was already mid-afternoon. He thought that was strange; it didn't seem like they'd been in there that long. But then again, Ayana had said last night that time works different there.

There was only one more train scheduled to go north that evening, and they were able to make it to the station in time to catch it.

"So why are we going north, again?" Ayana asked.

"We got a lead on that alkehestry girl, she was seen heading north. Major Armstrong gave me a letter of introduction to give to his sister, who's the General at Fort Briggs. Hopefully she can help us out." He answered.

"Okay. Great." She replied, but she sounded distracted. She looked deep in thought, probably from their trip to the library.

Together they boarded the train and found a car that was fairly empty. Shortly the whistle blew and the train began to move.

"We haven't seen snow in a long time, have we, Brother?" Al asked casually.

"Yeah, it's been a long time. We didn't get much snow back home. Remember that one winter, Al, when we got hit with a huge storm that left several inches of snow overnight? Man, it sure was fun, throwing snowballs at Winry and building snowmen!" He and Al laughed at the memory.

Al turned his head to address Ayana, who sat across from him, "How about you? Do you see a lot of snow back home?"

"I really only see it when I visit the waterbender tribes. They live in the north and south poles. I don't know how they stand it, snow and ice all year round. It's too cold for me." She replied. "The first time I visited the water tribe in the south pole, I was still fairly young. The local kids took me out into the tundra to catch penguin otters. Apparently, they make for good sleds if you can convince one to let you ride it. I never found out if that was true, though, because none of us could catch one that day." She laughed, and her eyes looked distant at the memory.

"So, there's something I've noticed." Ed interjected, changing the subject. "All the animals in your world are crosses of the animals in ours. Penguins and otters, cats and alligators, and I'm pretty sure that dark spirit Bue is a bear and a crocodile mixed."

She thought about it for a moment, then met his gaze. "You know, I didn't notice that until now. But it's not all of them, right? You have wolves here, don't you? And owls and foxes?"

"True. Okay, so not all animals."

"So, you don't have turtle ducks, here?"

They spent the next hour or so of the train ride comparing the different species of animals between their worlds. He decided the best one she mentioned was a platypus bear. Just the mental picture of what it must look like made him laugh.

The conversation trailed off as the sun set outside and threw the train car into the eerie glow of the artificial lights. Ayana soon fell asleep, and he followed shortly after.

Ayana

The train was starting to slow down when she felt consciousness returning to her brain. She was still half out of it, vaguely aware that she was sore from the bench seat and the angle she was sitting at. With a jolt, she awakened fully as she realized she'd somehow ended up with her head on Edward's left shoulder, and he had his head resting on top of hers.

She opened her eyes but didn't move, deciding she enjoyed this more than her sore muscles hurt. She found Al looking at her, and she could feel the amusement in his gaze. She gave him a little smile, and he giggled back softly. She glanced out the window and could see the sky just starting to turn pink. Sunrise wasn't far off.

Edward was snoring softly. Not wanting to wake him, she decided not to move until he did. She spied his hands in his lap, folded together loosely. She reached out and laced her fingers between his, grabbing his left hand into her right. He didn't react. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, reveling in his touch.

She was phasing in and out of sleep for the rest of the ride. She was in a half-conscious doze when the train slowed further, and she heard Al's armor clank as he moved. She heard him whisper to Ed, trying to wake him up gently. After a few more of his brother's proddings, Ed's body stirred and he lifted his head away from hers but stiffened quickly as he realized she was leaning on him. He didn't push her off, though.

She fought through the fog, trying to come fully awake. She felt him squeeze her hand gently, and she squeezed back. Or, at least, she tried to. She wasn't sure if she dreamed that part or not. Maybe she was dreaming all of it. Her attempts at surfacing from sleep failed, and she drifted back down into unconscious bliss.

It seemed like only a few minutes later when she felt Ed shaking her gently, calling her name. She opened her eyes and sat up, stretching and yawning. Releasing his hand, she chanced a glance at him, hoping she wasn't going to see annoyance at her falling asleep on him. But all she saw was a small blush and a faint smile.

The train had stopped, and the sun was blazing above the horizon. Together the three of them stepped off the platform and into the snow.

"Wow!" Al exclaimed as he gazed around at the snow-covered streets and buildings. Ed reached down and made a snowball. He chucked it hard at Al, and it splattered as it impacted his breastplate.

"Hey! That's not very nice, Ed!" Al chided, but he bent down and made his own snowball, which was much bigger than Ed's, and hurled it at his brother. He danced out of the way, laughing.

She watched from a safe distance. They threw a few more snowballs at each other, earning themselves glances and whispers from some of the locals passing by. But they didn't seem to notice, or maybe they just didn't care. Finally, they stopped, and each demanded that they had won the fight.

She laughed at their antics. "Don't we have somewhere to be, boys?"

"Hey! Who are you calling little!?"

"Brother, she didn't say anything like that!"

Edward glared at them both and crossed his arms in annoyance. She just giggled at his reaction.

"We're headed to Fort Briggs, right? Let's go, the sooner we start walking, the sooner we'll be out of this cold." She headed in a random direction down the street, hoping the Elrics would follow. Sure enough, she heard Al clanking behind her and Edward's stomping feet crunching the fresh snow as he hurried to catch up. She slowed her pace to allow them both to come up alongside her. She really didn't know where they were going, so she was hoping one of them would take the lead.

They saw a man nearby, loading a wagon with supplies. Ed approached him and called out, "Good morning, sir. We're headed to Fort Briggs, is there any chance you could point us in the right direction?"

"Briggs?" The man turned and assessed the three of them with his green eyes. He was bundled up so thick that his face was all that she could see. It was weathered, but kind. "It's up that way." He pointed vaguely in the general direction of north. "I'll actually be passing pretty close to it if you'd like to hitch a ride in my wagon. You'll have to wait until I'm finished loading up, though."

"We'll help you load your stuff in exchange for the ride. Sound like a fair trade?" Ed offered, and the man gladly accepted.

They spent the next half hour or so helping him load his crates, and then jumped in the back. The man climbed up to the front seat and snapped the reins, coaxing his mule into motion. The creature snorted unhappily but began plodding forward all the same.

Despite the sun being out, it was chilly here. The sinister mountains in the distance steadily drew closer as their massive peaks reached for the blue sky. The wind was picking up, blowing snow in their faces. She could keep herself warm by using her energy to heat her body in a special technique of firebending her father had taught her, but it was a large drain on her stamina to keep it up for any long length of time. She decided to tough it out for now. She could always use it later if she got too cold.

The ride took a few hours, and nobody talked much. They were all too busy shivering, except for Al. This was the one time that she envied him for not being able to feel anything, but she immediately felt guilty for thinking such a terrible thought.

The weather was getting steadily worse as they continued. The sun had disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds, and the world had turned into a dull gray snow globe. The visibility was beginning to deteriorate as the wind howled, whipping the snow as it blew. Finally, they passed a snowed-over, narrow path, and the man pulled the reigns to stop the cart. Turning in his seat, he pointed at the trail.

"That will take you straight up to the fort. Make sure you stay on the path. Its military territory past here, and you don't want to get shot."

That advice gave Ayana a feeling of foreboding. Together, they all jumped from the cart into the snow and thanked the man for the ride. As they started down the path, he shouted at them.

"Hey! That's not automail, is it?"

They all turned to look at him in surprise. Ed's automail was concealed, so the man couldn't see it. Sharing confused looks, Al finally pointed at himself.

"Yes, you. Is that automail?"

"No." Al responded in a confused tone.

"Okay, you should be fine then." He snapped the reigns, and the cart began moving down the road again. He waved over his shoulder, shouting, "Remember to stay on the trail!"

They shared apprehensive glances, but there was nothing for it now. Together they started down the path.

She was glad the boys were in front of her. She didn't know how they could see the trail, but she trusted them. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other, stepping in Al's giant footprints in an effort to minimize the amount of snow in her shoes. Maybe she should have bought boots for this trip.

The wind gusted and knocked her staff into her head. It didn't hurt but it startled her. Grumbling, she adjusted the strap and kept trudging. She hoped they found this place soon; the weather was getting really bad now.

Suddenly she sensed another chi nearby. It was human, and it was over to their right side, slightly ahead of them. She'd stopped walking without realizing it and peered through the gray dullness, trying to see whoever this was. Ed and Al hadn't noticed she'd stopped and kept pushing ahead. She snapped back to her senses when she saw a shape moving towards the brothers with one of its arms raised, like it was about to attack.

"Look out!" She yelled as she moved to earth-bend a wall between the adversary and the Elrics.

They both turned at her shout, eyes widening in surprise at the sudden wall and the massive shape now moving around it. She thought she heard one of them yell something about a bear. Bears don't have massive arms like that; plus, she could feel that it was human.

She ran forward, which was difficult in the knee-deep snow, and the figure materialized out of the gloom. It was a very tall man, broad shouldered and muscular, with a mostly bald head. He had a mohawk that ended in a long black braid, which whipped in the wind behind his back. He had two long, thin tendrils of a mustache trailing from his upper lip. His right arm was automail, but it looked to be specialized since it wasn't a regular arm. It looked more like a crocodile mouth because it had long and serrated teeth inside its hinged jaws.

She saw the flash of alchemic energy as Ed changed his arm to a blade just in time to stop the man swinging down in an attack. She could hear them shouting at each other, but the words were lost to the wind.

Jumping over to them, she began firebending to try to keep him away from Ed, who seemed to be having trouble with his arm. She danced her way over to his side as she continued to whip fire and earth chunks at the man.

"What's wrong?" She shouted at him.

"Something's wrong with my automail! I can't move my arm!" He shouted back.

"Stay back, then!" She hollered over the wind, then advanced on their foe, who was blocking her attacks with his giant automail jaws. He rushed forward to make a grab for her, but she summersaulted out of the way.

Turning back to face him, she watched in horror as he closed on Ed and grabbed his automail with his crocodile arm. The serrations sawed into the metal mercilessly. Ed was screaming at him to stop as he clapped his hands and touched the weapon as a last ditch effort to free himself. The alchemy didn't work, though; nothing changed as the jaws continued to chew through his arm.

"Brother!" She heard Al call from somewhere in the storm and watched as his helmet flew out of nowhere. Ed deftly caught it in his free hand.

"Thanks, Al!" He yelled as he shoved the helmet at the jaws. The helmet's hair caught in the blades, jamming the mechanism.

The man grunted and pulled back, releasing Ed. He landed on his feet and quickly backed away towards Al's shadowy figure, gazing around at his surroundings in surprise. Ayana looked around too and found that they were surrounded by more soldiers. She'd been so focused on the large guy that she hadn't even noticed their approach.

Cursing herself for her lack of awareness, she jumped to land in front of the brothers and immediately bent a massive wave of fire that rippled out in all directions, carefully bending it around Ed and Al. The soldiers all yelled in surprise and backed off, but did not lower their guns.

"Ayana! Don't! We're going to get ourselves shot if we keep fighting!" Al reasoned with her. "These must be soldiers from the fort!"

She didn't take her gaze off the men, but she did grudgingly raise her hands in a surrender gesture to copy what Ed and Al were doing.

The wind had died down some during the fight, and visibility improved enough that they could now see a massive wall in front of them. They had indeed found the fort.

"Captain Buccaneer!" A voice full of authority called from up on the battlements of the wall. She squinted through the snowy mist, trying to see who had spoken.

A woman with flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes stood there. She was gazing down at them, and she looked like she wanted nothing more than to squish them like insignificant bugs. This must be General Armstrong. But Ayana was surprised to see that she didn't look anything like her brother.

"Who are these people? Spies from Drachma?" Armstrong demanded in a strict tone.

"I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Ed shouted up to her. "We're not from Drachma! I have a letter of introduction from your brother, Alex Louis Armstrong!" He reached into his pocket and held up the letter. One of the soldiers approached him and took it, and then hurried back to the fort to deliver it to his general. "If you read that, you'll know you can trust us!"

They waited as the soldier disappeared inside the fort, then reappeared a few minutes later up on the wall and handed the letter to the General. She took one look at it and promptly ripped up the envelope. Ed squawked in protest.

"It's from Alex all right. But I don't need a letter to tell me about a person's character. I prefer to judge them for myself. Buccaneer! Bring them into the fort!"

"Right way, General!" The mohawk man saluted, then motioned to his comrades around him. They all formed ranks around the three and marched them inside the fort. Ayana was glad to be inside; it was much warmer in here. She wasn't sure they were exactly in a good situation, though. She felt more like a prisoner than a guest.

They were taken to a workshop manned by an automail mechanic. She took a look at Ed's malfunctioning arm and told him he needed to have specialized automail that could withstand the cold. She advised him to send for Winry.

After she'd finished up with him and detangled Al's head from the croc arm, General Armstrong surprised everyone by bursting through the door. A white haired, tanned man entered behind her.

"Tell me why you would bypass the Command Center to come see me here." She demanded. Ayana could see why this woman was a general. She carried herself with power, and her voice left no room for argument on who was in charge. "I also want to know why your armor is empty."

Ed and Al shared a look and whispered a few words to each other, softly enough that Ayana couldn't hear.

"That's something we don't like to talk about. If that information got out, I could be court-martialed." Ed said aloud to the room.

The General scoffed. "Even I have secrets like that! Spill it!"

And so, grudgingly, Ed and Al told her about how they're trying to get their original bodies back, and they're looking for the alkehestry girl and her panda. They relayed their hope that she could help in that endeavor.

General Armstrong didn't seem pleased with their explanation. After ranting for a little, she finally stood and ordered sharply, "Major Miles! Put them to work!" With that, she swept out of the room.