Lin ducked through the crowd, desperately trying to keep the speck of black hair in sight. She ducked and wove and sprinted, forgetting everything, her tiredness, her hunger, and her rage at the short squirt that had delayed her.

Everything blurred to the sides, and she saw nothing but that moving spot of black.

"Wait!" She called, "please wait!"

They didn't hear, they kept walking.

Desperate, she yelled, "Hey you! You in the purple!"

Purple? a voice in the back of her mind asked, I thought Rae was wearing a blue jacket...

But her mind demanded that the voice shut up, because she was slowing down, she was tearing around-

It wasn't Rae.

It was just some girl who looked a bit like her, being tall, with black hair.

"Yes?" she asked.

Lin stopped and just stared at her.

It's not her. it's... not-

"Sorry. I thought you were...someone else."

"Oh, that's okay. I hope you find who you're looking for!" she waved and walked away.

"Yeah, bye." Lin mumbled, kicking a piece of trash that was lying near her foot.

She began to walk again, this time with her head drooping and her feet shuffling.

As she had noticed before, the buildings were tall, and in good shape, and the people were smiling.

But Lin didn't notice this now.

She looked up and saw that she couldn't see the stars, because the buildings were so tall and the lights so bright.

She looked at the people and thought that they looked like jerks, and they were probably laughing at her.

Lin found herself at an intersection, and began to cross it, through she barley noticed.

Suddenly, for the second time that night, she bumped into someone, sending both of them tumbling backward onto the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she yelled.

The person she'd bumped into, a tall man with white hair, just looked at her, made a sort of grunting noise, and started to stand up.

Incensed, Lin jumped up.

"Hey, don't ignore me! Old man! Jerk!"

He sighed.

"Just get out of my way. I don't want to deal with you."

Lin growled and moved forward, only to be startled into jumping back, a pair of brightly lights blending into each other, and a loud honking noise.

They both leaped out of the way, which left them standing on the opposite sides of the street, the thing roared past, taking her breath away, it was so close air rushed off it to meet her.

The two of them stood in the street, panting.

"That ..was close." Lin said, sighing.

The man gave a small nod, then said, "I don't like this place."

Lin chuckled softly, "I don't either. Nice to see that we agree on something."

He glanced up and down the street.

"We should get out of the road."

"Oh, right!"

She leapt up to the sidewalk, balancing on the edge.

When she looked back, the man was gone.

Lin shrugged, and started walking again.

It really doesn't matter, I still need to find Rae.

It was night when Rae woke up.

before trying to get up, she tried to pull herself together, to evaluate her condition.

Her mouth and face felt numb, and when she shifted, her stomaugh protested, and she found herself on her hands and knees.

Panting, she pushed herself up, only to sway, and fall back on the wall.

When she blinked, she realized how blurry everything looked, and that it was all colored yellow green.

She stepped forward again, and slipped and fell, into a mud puddle that covered her with its filth.

Rae lay still, wondering how much longer she had left, groaning at how cold, how horribly cold the water felt against her cheek.

Someone spoke nearby.

Startled, she hurriedly pushed herself up.

She swayed, nearly falling back into the puddle, but managed to steady herself by leaning on the alley's gritty brick wall,

She was once again thankful for her gloves and her large, oversized clothes that covered most of her body. Not only did they hid her from prying eyes, it saved her skin from feeling the wall too well. She was in enough pain as it was.

Another voice sounded nearby and she forced herself to step forward, fighting her legs.

"I can't...let anyone...touch me...I can't let anyone else be hurt." she whispered weakly.

"Do you regret your choice?" came a quiet voice head of her.

Rae slowly lifted her hand to see a woman materialize out of the shadows.

She stood tall, shrouded by the shadows, her dark skin helping her blend in, so that only her pale moon-silver hair and red hair could be seen clearly.

Rae stared at her for a few seconds, then let her head hang.

"No," she said quietly, "I still saved her...and even if...I have to...live for all...of eternity with this curse and this blessing...I still...I still saved her. I know it's selfish,... but even with... this guilt...even with what happened to him... I still saved her...if she...if she had..."

Her gloved fist clenched.

"No, even now, I wouldn't change my choice."

Something close to a sad smile flitted across the woman's face, but it vanished at the sound of a voice coming closer.

She turned her head toward the shadow-filled corners of the alley and whispered,

"Keep walking ahead child, keep walking ahead."

and then vanished as quickly as she had come.

Night had arrived, shadows were falling, the stars were glowing, and Alphonse Elric couldn't sleep.

Not that that he could really sleep anyway.

But usually, he was content to force his armored body into a too-small bed, talk with Ed for a while, and then lie awake in the darkness while Ed snored softly.

But tonight, he just couldn't stay still. Maybe it was the fact that Ed had been rather worn out by the celebrations, and had fallen asleep faster than usual.

So, Al had slipped out of the room and went for a walk.

The celebration was over, and most of the people had gone home.

Al passed a couple people on their way home and was greeted by them in various friendly ways. He responded politely but warmly, and they went on their way. He came to the main plaza.

As he approached, he realized he could hear shouting.

As he entered, he saw a girl, with short black hair punching a wall.

She then winced and massaged her hand, all the while mumbling things under her breath.

"Um, can I help-" Al started to say, the girl swung around to face him, and he realized that this was the girl who had bumped into Ed earlier.

"Hey, it's you." She realized it too, apparently, "Where's that small guy you were with?"

Al, out of habit, glanced over his shoulder to make sure Ed hadn't heard that before realizing he was still back at the inn, and that was the whole point of the question.

"Ouch!"

The girl was massaging her hand again.

"That must be pretty painful." Al observed.

"No duh." snapped the girl.

Al winced, then looked around.

There was a fountain in the middle of the plaza, full of water.

Al walked over to it, pulled out a piece of chalk and quickly drew an array.

The girl was looking at him, probably wondering what he was doing.

Al activated the array.

There was a flash of light, and a small block of ice sat on the edge of the fountain.

Al picked it up, wrapped in a banner that happened to be lying nearby, and handed it to her.

"Here," he said, "this should help."

She stared at him, surprised, and then smiled and took it.

"Thanks."

She sat down, with her back to the side of the fountain.

She sighed, then looked surprised when Al sat down next to her.

"Um, I know it's probably none of my business," He began, "So you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but...why did you punch that wall?"

She looked at him, then sighed again, this time in a slightly irate way.

"Because," she said, "I am...angry, unhappy, dissatisfied, and severely ticked off."

"Why?"

"Because my sister is missing!

She's run away, and I can't find her! No matter where I go, no matter whom I ask, I still can't find her!"

"What does she look like?" Al asked.

"Um...she's tall, taller than I am, with black hair like mine, only longer, and gray-blue eyes. People say they look like the sea but I wouldn't know, because I've ever seen it yet.

Why do you want to know?"

"Well, hopefully Nii-san and I won't have to leave for a few days, so we could help you look for a while."

She stared at him as he continued talking,

"Also, since she's missing we could tell the police."

"No, that's okay, we don't need to tell the police!" Lin said quickly.

Al looked at her. He was going to ask her why, but he saw the sincere, worried look on her face.

Al sighed.

Well, she must have her reasons.

"Okay, if you say so. I'd still like to help you though."

Her head dropped even further down.

"Thanks," she said miserably, "but I've been chasing her forever, it seems, and if I can't find her..."

She looked down at her feet, and shut her eyes.

Al looked at her then stood up.

"You know," he said, "Central may look really big, but it's actually not that big! And if there's two of us, that makes it even smaller. And-"

"But I'm not sure how long she'll stay in here!" She said, jerking her head up.

"Well, Nii-san and I are going to have to leave in a couple days, but we'll keep an eye out for her! And we travel pretty much all over the place, so we'll be in the same city, sooner or later."

She looked at him in disbelief, and then she laughed.

"You're a hopeless optimist!" she said, and smiled at him, "I'm glad I meet you tonight." She held out her hand, "Catalin Attlins is my name. Call me Lin," she winked, "what's yours?"

"Alphonse Elric. Pleased to meet you!"

"Same here!"

"So, where should we look first?"

"Well..." Lin stood up, "the best place to look for her would be-"

She swayed slightly.

"Are you alright?"

Lin placed her hands on her stomach and it growled at her.

"Just hungry and tired."

"In that case, I think maybe you should go home. We can look tomorrow morning."

"But-"

"Don't worry, if you tell me of some good places to look, I'll go look now."

"Are you sure?"

"It's okay. I don't get tired."

"Well, okay...she'd probably try to avoid people right now."

"Where should we meet tomorrow?"

"How 'bout right here?"

"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye!"

She walked a couple steps away, then turned around and yelled

"Al!"

"Yes?"

"Thanks!"

"Huh?"

"Meeting you has reminded me, that there are people in the world besides Rae and me that aren't jerks. And I really needed that."

"Ah, it's not that big a deal," Al said, waving his hands, "It's just that...my brother is nearly always getting into trouble, so I know what it's like to worry about family members."

Lin grinned.

"Rae would probably say the same about me. What's your brother's name?"

"He's Edward."

"Alright, 'night Al!"

"Goodnight!"

"See ya!" she called back, as she turned the corner and vanished.

Al looked after her for a few seconds.

If he had his flesh body, he would've smiled.

He turned around.

Okay, let's see. If she's trying to avoid people, I want might want to check the back alleys...but I don't want Nii-san to wake up and worry because I'm not there. Hm...

He started walking.

Maybe I should go back, just for a little bit, and leave a note for him.

Suddenly, a racket broke out from an alley ahead of him.

A female voice cried out and sounds of running.

Al sighed, and the sound echoed throughout his metal body.

"It looks like this will be a long night. Unless...?"

Avoiding people...alleys..?

He broke into a run.

Rae slipped and nearly fell, but somehow managed, to the jeers of the men chasing her.

She didn't know where they had come from, and she didn't know how she was managing to run.

She didn't care anymore.

One of the men got close enough to step on her oversized cloak, and she tripped and fell to the cold pavement.

They laughed and reached down and ripped off her cloak, and her gloves.

They would've done more, but a pair of large metal hands reached down and pulled them away.

They swore and yelled at him and tried to fight him.

Behind them, she unsteadily fought to stand, ignoring her would-be tormenters being pinned down by the twisting pavement.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked, echoing throughout her fevered brain, and she couldn't understand, her world was spinning, faster and faster, and she began to fall forward, only to be caught by cold metal arms, her cheek landing against one arm.

Al had time to realize that the girl fit Lin's description exactly, but that was all he had time to notice before the world went black, and a girl's voice whispered,

"I'm sorry..."