Bwahaha. I was evil with that last chappie, wasn't I >:D

Hazel opened her eyes and found herself in what was possibly the cleanest building in the town, the hospital. She groaned and caught the attention of a nurse who was folding blankets as quietly as she could so as not to disturb the patient. She looked over her shoulder at the girl and smiled sweetly.

"Finally awake?" she asked in a voice as overly sweet as her smile. Before Hazel could answer, the nurse spoke again. "I'll go get your friends." She put down the blankets and stepped outside. Hazel closed her eyes and tried to remember what had just happened. She remembered Ed spazzing from being called short yet again, and then she remembered sensing something behind her, then a clang of metal on metal, and then... nothing.

"Hazel!" came Al's voice from not too far. The girl opened her eyes to see David, Mr. Miller, Edward, and Alphonse all standing in the doorway to her room. Upon seeing her awake, David's face spit into a huge smile and he ran as fast as he could to her bedside. He probably would have jumped on the bed if it weren't for the miniature railings on the sides.

"Hazel's okay! Daddy, Hazel's okay!" the boy said excitedly, his head turning to Mr. Miller, to Hazel and back again.

"You're going to get whiplash if you keep doing that." Hazel said weakly. She tried to sit up, but immediately got very dizzy and had to lie back down.

"You don't want to do that sweetie." Came the nurse's voice from behind Mr. Miller, "That's a nasty wound in your head." She pushed the man out of the way and walked into the room. She then busied herself with the blankets again.

Nasty wound? Hazel touched one side of her forehead and found gauze. It was moist with blood.

"What happened?" she asked, rolling onto her side to face everyone. David looked at his feet and the others' faces became solemn.

"You were shot at." Al said finally. Hazel's eyes widened, but then she relaxed as she thought of something.

"In the head? No way, I'd be dead if that had happened." She told him.

"Well, actually, the bullet hit David's arm, and it ricocheted over to you. The angle caused it to just graze your forehead, but it still knocked you unconscious." Ed told her. Hazel blinked. It must have been the bullet she had sensed behind her, and the clang must have been it hitting David's automail. She considered shaking her head, but decided that wouldn't be good so she just looked at Al.

Somehow she had managed to be completely ignorant of the fact that he was a metal suit armor until that moment. Hazel stared at him. How could a suit of armor be someone's brother? She knew there had to be some reason buried in the brothers' past that would explain it (and probably Edward's automail too), but that was one thing her vision hadn't told her. Alphonse was a certainly well-made suit of armor. A bit dirty, but anyone got dirty after spending more than five minutes in this little town. She imagined what he must look like when he was clean and shiny.

"Um, is something wrong with me?" came Al's voice, jarring Hazel from her thoughts.

"Oh, um, no, sorry." She saved herself, nearly blushing. She rubbed the side of her head that wasn't covered in gauze. Suddenly, though, she heard footsteps from out in the hall that sounded as though their owner was running.

"Excuse me, please, I need to get through here." Came a voice all too familiar to Hazel. A man pushed his way past Mr. Miller and between the Elrics. He came to a stop by Hazel's bedside after pushing David away without even looking at him. He was handsome, definitely, and pretty tall – over six feet – but Hazel knew what he really was.

"Oh, my precious daughter! I got here as quickly as I could the moment I heard you had been hurt!" the man cried, throwing his arms around the girl and hugging her so that she was forced into a sitting position, which made her feel nauseous. Ed was painfully reminded of Maes Hughes for some reason.

The man tuned on his heel to face Mr. Miller.

"How could you let something like this happen to my daughter? I should put your little bar out of business for this." He warned the bartender. Mr. Miller looked at his feet.

"I-I'm sorry sir. I fell asleep, you see, and I don't know how this might have happened, and-"

"No excuses!" the man shouted. He then turned on the Elric brothers. "And just who the hell are you two?" he demanded. Al tried to shrink into the shadows, but Ed stepped up to the man.

"I'm Edward Elric. That's my younger brother Alphonse." He informed Hazel's stepfather, trying to look as tall as possible. The older man noticed Ed's silver watch.

"What business would you have in our town?" He asked.

"We got off at the wrong stop. We'll be on our way tomorrow when the next train comes into the station." Edward said, looking up at the man. At those words, the man's face started to lighten up.

"Well in that case, you may stay here as long as you like. We don't get outsiders very often, especially State Alchemists. You'll have to forgive me for being suspicious. My name is Michael Johnston, and I'm Hazel's father. Are you friends of hers?" He asked, smiling.

"Eh, you could say that. I mean, we just met her today so it's not like we know her all that well." Edward said, trying to sound casual. Michael just smiled and turned to the nurse.

"Well, if it's alright, I'll just take her home now." He said. The nurse looked up and smiled in her overly sweet smile.

"Of course sir. Just make sure she gets plenty of rest and doesn't move around." The nurse told him.

Michael picked Hazel up and held her like how one would hold a new born infant. He walked past everyone and out the door, holding his stepdaughter's head so that she could not look back at anyone in the room.

"Bye Hazel." David said quietly after she and her stepfather had left.

"Don't bother son, she can't hear you anymore." Mr. Miller informed the boy, looking down.

"Brother, do you think she'll be alright?" Al asked, stepping out of the shadows.

Edward said nothing.

MOMENTS LATER!

Michael put Hazel down in her massive bed.

"You stupid bitch." He spat at her. "I told you to never leave the house without an escort again. But you did. And what do you do once you get out? YOU GO AND MAKE FRIENDS!"

Hazel buried her head under the covers, trying hard not to hear her stepfather's words.

"You don't deserve friends, how many times do I have to tell you that? You killed your own mother, so you have to pay. And if you get one drop of blood on those covers little girl, you're going to wish that bullet had killed you!" He yelled as she completely covered her head. When she didn't respond, he spat in the bit of her hair that he could see peeking out of covers and walked out.

Hazel just lied there, feeling the slime slide down her scalp towards the pillow. She couldn't help but wonder what Ed and Al were doing, if they were having a better time than she was. Wait. Of course they were having a better time than she was. They most likely deserved to have friends. They didn't kill their mother. Their mother was probably still alive.

She felt the spit hit her pillow.

MEANWHILE!

Ed patted the back of his head, he could have sworn there was a drop of water rolling down it. But there wasn't, so he ignored the feeling. He and Al were following Mr. Miller back to the bar, David lagging behind slightly.

"Is something wrong David?" Al asked, looking at the little boy. David looked up at the suit of armor.

"I miss Hazel mr. metal man." He answered. Al sweat dropped at what the boy called him.

"I'm sure Hazel's going to be back very soon. Don't worry." He reassured him, although he wasn't exactly positive himself. She wasn't supposed to be out in the first place and she had been caught.

"No she won't. Hazel never comes back right after her daddy finds her. And if she does, she's a lot of the times with a big man that won't let me play with her. It's not fair." David told him, crossing his arms and staring hatefully at the ground.

Al inwardly smiled and remembered times before his mother had died, when he still had a body, and he and Ed would play with Winry. He hated when they had to go inside for the night, or if one of them was sick and they couldn't play. His reactions were often very similar to David's.

"Al! David! Come on, you're lagging behind!" came Ed's voice. The two looked up and realized that they had stopped walking and Ed and Mr. Miller had gotten ahead.

"Coming!" Al called. He looked down at David who was still staring at the ground. "Let's go." He said to the boy.

"No. I'm not going nowhere without Hazel." He declared, jutting his bottom lip out as far as it would go.

"David..." Al sighed.

"I'm not going nowhere." The boy repeated, stamping his foot into the dirty street, causing little puffs of dust to swirl around his foot. Al sighed again as he heard his brother call out for them.

"Well, if you're not going to come on your own, I'll just make you." He declared, picking David up and carrying him all the rest of the way to the bar.

Once they had all gotten inside, Mr. Miller instinctively went behind the counter to fix Ed a drink.

"So, you really got off at the wrong stop kid?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, what can I say? These things happen, right?" Ed replied, shrugging and trying to look cool. Al inwardly rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess. But it's like Michael said. We don't get outsiders very often, let alone State Alchemists. Why, last time one of you guys came to our town, it turned out that there had been a mass murderer hiding out in our town for the past three years. Of course that was a long time ago, I don't think David had even been born yet." Mr. Miller patted his son's head and handed Ed his drink.

"Is Hazel going to be alright?" Al suddenly piped up. "I mean, she said her stepfather abuses her, and he caught her. Is he going to do anything to her?"

"Ah, don't worry. Hazel's been able to live with that man her whole life, and she's still alive." Mr. Miller pointed out.

"Yeah Al. Besides, what can he do with a state alchemist in the town?" Edward said with a rather cocky tone.

"I guess you're right." Al said, although it still didn't feel very reassuring.

MEANWHILE!

Hazel was sitting up in bed, brushing her hair. Her wound had nearly stopped bleeding and it didn't make her feel dizzy to sit up anymore. In fact she could even stand up, although she did have to suffer vertigo for a few moments.

That's the only good thing about head wounds. She thought, they're mostly just blood. Besides, father has hurt me worse than this. She poked the gauze on her wound.

Hazel looked out the window. The sun was setting. Just a few more hours and she could sneak out undetected. Except this time she wasn't going lie on the roof and stargaze like she usually did. Those Elrics were going to help her escape this town for good, and dammit, she was going to make sure of that. As soon as it got dark...

She looked out of her window again. The sun was now completely behind the hill that she could see from outside her window, the sky was a vibrant pinkish orange.

Just a few more hours, Hazel, just a few more hours.

LATER!

Edward stared at the ceiling above the lumpy, dusty bed he was laying on. Mr. Miller had been kind enough to offer them a room above the bar, and he and Al graciously accepted.

It was getting darker and darker outside, stars were starting to appear in the sky. Ed could already hear the voices of drunks below in the bar, but thoughts of Hazel kept drowning out the babbling. Was she alright? Had her father done anything to her? Was her head alright? Why did he care so much? Was it love? No, no. it wasn't that. He just felt like she needed to be protected.

He got up and walked over to Al's bed.

"Al." he whispered. "You awake?'

"It's not that late brother." Al said, sitting up. He looked at his brother. "You're thinking about Hazel too?"

Ed nodded.

"Let's go." The older brother said, putting his red coat on.

"Go? Where?" Al asked, standing up.

"Where else? To go help Hazel."

:tears: I can't come up with decent last names. I mean, Miller? Johnston? Those were names of my teachers last year!