The Black Angel's back!

-

There was no poof of smoke, there was no loud bang. She didn't appear in a flash of light.

She simply appeared, soundlessly, suddenly, and it took them a while to realize what their eyes were telling them.

"You are the friends of Winry Rockbell?" the Black Angel asked in the silence.

Ed was the first to recover.

"Yes! Where is she?" he demanded.

"She is in the world of Ryon."

Rae gasped.

"What?" exclaimed Lin, "she's in our world? How-"

"I do not know, but there she is, and so we must fix it. I am on my way to see what I can discover. It would help if you would do the same. Look for information about other worlds, the rules of passing in between the worlds, and the rules governing the worlds."

She disappeared then, just as suddenly as she had appeared.

They blinked, and then Ed rushed out the door.

"I'm going to check the library!" He yelled over his shoulder.

"Nii-san! Wait!" Al yelled, dashing to the door.

" Where are you going!" asked Lin.

"I'm going with Nii-san! Don't worry, I'll be back soon!"

"You'd better!" Lin yelled after him.

She was rewarded with the bright smile he threw her, and then he was gone.

Lin stared out the door, still swinging from its hinges from the shove that Ed had given it.

"Rae?" she asked, "do you remember that poetry class we had to take?"

"Yes." Rae said, puzzled.

"Do you remember that poem about promises?"

Rae searched her memory, and then shook her head.

"Well," Lin said, "I think it went something like:

"Have you ever tried?

To protect someone with promises?

Made them promise

To come back safe

As if the promise

Itself

Would protect them

Protecting them

With promises

It's like trying to

Protect them with chains

You try to pin them down

So that they

Can't escape

So that they

Cannot leave you

I don't want to chain you

But

I don't want you

To leave me

And I don't

Want you

To be hurt

So protecting you

With the chains of a promise

Might be

The lesser of two evils

So make me a promise

That you'll always

Come back to me."

It went something like that, I think."

"Hmmm." said Rae, "now that I think about it, it does seem rather familiar."

Lin was silent. A thoughtful look crossed her face, and then she asked, "Do you think there's any truth to it?"

"..I don't know. Maybe."

"It seems kind of selfish, though, doesn't it? Shouldn't they have the right to decide what their fate is?"

Rae smiled.

"But you can't make them promise. You can only ask them to promise."

Lin looked at her, and then she smiled.

She turned back to the door.

"Yeah, you're right."

"One question though. Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I just made him promise to come back soon."

Rae smiled a knowing look in her eyes.

"Well, if you're going to protect him with chains, make sure you don't bind him too tightly! After all, love isn't a prison; it's the loop of rope around you, which keeps you from falling, that you can take off anytime."

Lin gave her an annoyed look.

"Don't talk like that. It's not like I'm in love with him or anything,"

"Of course it's not." grinned Rae.

"Stop smiling like that!"

Rae giggled.

"Knock it off!"

Rae giggled again, and her smile grew bigger.

"RAE!"

-

Winry had decided to talk a walk.

There were a couple reasons for this. One was that she had no idea what else to do other then sit there and worry, or sitting there day-dreaming about Ed (which happened more then she'd like to admit.)

But the main reason was that she had no idea whatsoever what was happening back home, she didn't even if Ed had torn himself away from his research long enough to notice that she was missing.

Winry slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.

Be fair Winry. If they knew you were in trouble, they'd come running to help. You're just angry because they don't communicate with you as much as you would like.

And don't I have the right? She responded to herself. Years could go by without them ever sending a letter or coming by, and while we're waiting for them to show up, we worry. We imagine all the horrible things that could happen.

So when I heard the news that they were back in Central, I came to see them. And then this happened. Just my luck.

Winry sighed.

Or just their luck, since it seems to be worse than mine.

She shook her head in an attempt to clear it of the depressing memories that thought conjured up, and started to look around.

Another reason Winry had decided to talk a walk was she was curious to see the town. When she'd first come here, it had been night, and the town had reminded her of something from a horror film. Though there had been some lamps burning, the darkness still covered most of the town from her view. And the empty streets, along with the silence, didn't help at all.

. Of course, her nervousness wasn't helping either.

Now, in the board daylight, it was a direct contrast.

The crowded street was filled to overflowing with people, who were chatting loudly and cheerfully, advertising their wares; children were begging their parents for toys or for sweets, and the sun shone over it all.

Winry's attention was drawn to a bald man in purplish robes, standing by the side of the road.

What he said was lost in the roar of the crowd, but it apparently appealed to those who could hear it, because a large crowd was gathering around him.

His mouth was moving, and his eyes were shut in concentration.

A flame the size of a human being appeared in front of him.

There were a couple shrieks, but they seemed to be more excited then terrified.

The fire shifted and took the form of a bird, a bird made of fire. It flapped its wings, and soared up into the sky, seemly into the sun, then came back down and again floated in front of the man. Then it turned into a burning red rose. And then lastly, it became a shapely woman made of fire, who posed seductively and blew a kiss at the audience before vanishing.

The man in the robes bowed, a trifle unsteadily, strength probably diminished from the performance.

There were a few boos and cat-calls, but these were mostly drowned out by the clapping, and the clinking of coins landing in the bowl beside him.

A wizard street performer? Winry thought to herself, I've never heard of anything like that before. But then, I've never actually seen magic before either. This whole world is different from anything I could imagine.

She noticed a library across the street.

Those are always good sources of information. Maybe I can mind something that will help me there.

-

Ed and Al walked in the door, with stacks of books taller than they were, in their arms.

The stacks were so tall they blocked their field of vision, so that Ed couldn't see where he was going and walked into the wall; fell down with the stack collapsing on top of him.

"Ow." came the moan from underneath the pile.

"That's why you shouldn't walk with piles of books bigger than you are." Lin teased.

Ed shot up, sending books flying everyway.

"Who are you calling an ant so small he could easily be smashed by a book!"

"Who said anything even close to that!"

"Lin, Nii-san, calm down. We can't bring Winry back by fighting."

Lin bit back a comment about Ed missing his girlfriend, and nodded.

"Fine."

"Whatever."

Ed reached down and picked up one of the books that hadn't been sent flying and started to read.

Al and Rae also picked up books, and started reading.

Lin said, "Aren't one of you going to give me a book? It's not like I can reach it myself."

"Oh, sorry," Al said, picking up a heavy book and handing it to her.

She winced, both at the thickness of the book and the strangeness of its title.

"Are you sure you can handle that? It's pretty complicated." Said Ed.

Lin shrugged.

"I'll be fine. The books Rae brought home from magic school were way more complicated then this, and besides, how hard can it be to understand when people are talking about other worlds?"

"Probably about as hard as understanding the title of that book."

Lin looked at the book again and sweat dropped.

"I may have a problem then…" she muttered, and then shrugged. "Oh well. It's not like I have anything better to do."

-