Wow, I can't believe that someone actually didn't have anything to criticize me about last time! Yaaay! I am a happy, happy girl! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Also, this time I found my music off of this really big index. It's HUGE! Anyway, it's called "Josh's Anime Sheet Music Master Index." They have a growing collection of 1,313 pieces! If you click on a title, it'll take you to the website where he found it. It is an index, after all! He also has some pieces that he made himself. One of them is Chrono Crusade's "Sangeki no Kioku," of which I listened to while writing this chapter. Anyway, please enjoy the next installment of "The Struggle Of Two Souls!"

Chapter 4

"I wonder why Elk was wandering around in a place like this?" Ed thought aloud to himself. He then thought of the mysterious little girls.

"We've never seen those two kids with Elk when we still lived in Resembool, either…" he murmured. Ed stopped walking for a minute.

"And what about those ribbons? And their eyes? Something's just not right about them, Al." Al nodded.

"It is kind of strange, I have to agree there," he said, looking back down the road. "Maybe we should go back and ask her what this is all about?" he added.

"I don't think that's the best thing to do," Ed said as he, too, glanced back at the road behind them.

"Do you have a better idea?" Al asked. Ed frowned at him.

"No, but…" Ed sighed and turned to face the way they had just came. "Okay, you win. Let's go talk to Elk. But I'm still unsure about this. What if there's something she's hiding and we get her mad for trying to get into it?"

Ed didn't even want to think about what Elk would do to him if she got angry. Still, he was still curious about why Elk had come to a town as unlikely as this one. Maybe there was something that she was hiding. Ed started to run up the road. Elk soon came within sight again, as well as earshot, and he heard the little girls talking to her.

"Elk? Why are you looking for the Philosopher's Stone?" one asked. Ed stopped walking. She was looking for the Philosopher's Stone?

"You see, I lost something of mine a long time ago. Something very important," Elk said.

Another girl piped up, "But Elk, I don't remember you losing anything!"

"That's because… you weren't there when it happened," Elk murmured, barely audible to Ed at this distance. She touched her chest.

"But why do you need the Philosopher's Stone to get it back?" one of the children asked.

"What I lost you can't get back by simply looking for it. This thing isn't as easy to get back as it sounds," Elk said mysteriously. Ed let out a small gasp. Had she attempted forbidden alchemy, too? If so, what had she paid?

She had no automail limbs, Ed was sure of that. So, what was this possession that she had lost and needed the Philosopher's Stone to get back? Could it be more valuable than an arm, a leg, or even a body?