Act.2-The Meeting and the Promise

Her footsteps made dull thumping noises against the ground as she ran. "Not good. Not good not good not-DAMMIT!" The blonde nun ran down a street, just to find a dead end. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the monster was gaining on her.

"Okay, new method!" She leapt onto a trashcan and shot at the lion/monkey combination. It growled and moved back in a recovery attempt. That gave her the time to run around it, out into the street again. Unfortunately, it could forget its own injuries very easily. The chimera dashed forward and she ducked behind a street light, narrowly missing an injury. She shot again, and then ran from her life. "God, I'm sorry if I offended you but PLEASE LET ME SURVIVE THIS!" She screamed as she attempted to escape.

"We still have an hour, right?" Edward asked. Alphonse nodded. They were already walking to the train station, about to embark on yet another new journey. All three of them had had their share of adventures, and so this was nothing out-of-the-ordinary. Ed had traveled in this world before he met Al and Az, but it was always worse to have to hear his own thoughts instead of having someone to talk to. Al, his brother Al, wasn't around anymore, and that was whom he had spent the majority of his life traveling with.

"Az, still with us?" Al looked back and saw her walking there, smiling. "Ok, just checking." Edward paused and then did the same thing as Al, starting at her. Al's back had turned by then. The girl blinked at him, her cheeks slightly red.

"Is something wrong, Ed?" She asked pleasantly. He smiled and shook his head, facing forward again. After it was over, he heard Al mumble something, covering it up with a fake cough. The golden-eyed boy glanced over at him.

"What was that, Al?"

"Oh, nothing." He just laughed and sped up slightly. Edward and Azmaria exchanged another glance, for neither of them had heard what he said.

"WATCH OUT!" The scream came a moment to late. A gun made contact with Edward's head, knocking him over. Azmaria made an odd squeaking noise and went over to him, supporting his head with one hand.

"It's bleeding…" she said. Edward didn't seem to care. He immediately rose, searching to destroy the perpetrator that had thrown the gun. What he didn't think would be there was a chimera, yet one was standing there.

"Damn it!" It lunged forth at them, and he held out his arm, hoping that this version of automail could hold out, too. The rest of his effort was concentrated on keeping Azmaria safe. He moved in front of her. "You are definitely not getting any closer to her, or anyone else."

"Edward, I'm going to…" He heard Azmaria's voice, the calm beneath the waves, and a moment later, he felt a familiar rush. It was the rush of returning power. There was no use in protesting now; he just needed to get the job done.

Clapping his hands, he slammed them onto a lamppost nearby, changing it into a weapon. Azmaria gasped, but he knew that he couldn't be distracted by it; it was his fault if she was at all suffering.

Edward leapt back as the chimera lunged at him. He swiped at it in an attempt to damage it. The creature growled at receiving a new wound and sought revenge. Now Edward was the target.

He jammed the weapon into the creature's mouth and it stopped moving. Had he just…killed it? The weapon was removed and the creature fell over limply. There was an eerie silence as they all watched the animal, checking for any and all remaining signs of life. After a long moment, they realized there were none; it was most definitely dead.

"Alright, who are you?" An annoyed female voice rang out. "What was that you just did? Alchemy? How are you doing it?"

"Hey, you could at least say, 'Thank…'" His words faltered as he finally saw the perpetrator's face. It was that sight alone that made him stop in his tracks and stare, eyes wide with shock.

This had happened to him many times before. Most would think that after the fifth time, the shock would wear off. For Edward, that was completely untrue. No matter how many times he saw a familiar face, he was still brought to a standstill from the shock that ran through his body.

The person standing in front of him looked exactly like Winry Rockbell.

The only difference was the short hair. As always, an unseen force kept his eyes locked on her. It was mostly disbelief that kept him there, but there was also confusion. He never knew exactly when something like this would happen.

"Winry Thompson, militia in the Magdalan Order." The blonde girl nodded, introducing herself to Al, Az, and Ed. In turn, they all told their names to her. By this time they were on the train, heading for London and hoping that there would be answers.

Most of the time, Edward kept a cautious eye on Winry. The similarity was uncanny and it was possible that maybe, just maybe she had an answer. Ten minutes after that thought initially took form in his mind, it was shot down.

"Were you using alchemy back there?" She asked him this in a cautious voice. When the contract had fist been made he knew it was a very rare occurrence, so he was not incredibly surprised by her confusion.

"Yes," A simple answer was enough although her eyes were asking more questions than her mouth was. Whenever this subject, the reason he could use alchemy, was brought up, he blocked it from his mind. There was vividness, a single memory, which always returned at the mention of 'contract.' Multiple times he had tried to push it away and it only returned to him, hanging around like a mist.

"Ah. Must be important, if you can use it…" Her voice trailed off. Important? Did she mean that the contract was important, if she knew anything about the contract? Or did she mean that the person in the contract was important?

At the mention of the word 'important,' he looked over to Azmaria. The young girl was resting peacefully, exhausted. Transmuting the weapon hadn't been a big thing, yet it still drained her of any energy. There was also the fact that it drained a part of her lifespan although a majority of it remained intact. Now her small body lay in an odd position on the seat. Edward idly wondered how she could sleep like that and coaxed her body into a resting position, putting her head on his lap for space's sake.

"She'll hurt herself sleeping like that…" He said mildly. Heiderich glanced over at the two and smiled wordlessly.

"Edward, don't feel so guilty about it," Al stated. Ed only stared at him.

"How can I not feel guilty? I'm taking her lifespan in exchange for my alchemy." He felt a little pang in his heart as he said that. Thinking about someone dying was bad enough, actively doing it was hell for him. Sometimes there was no choice, like there had been today. It was normal for him to feel guiltier after those times.

"Well, I'll tell you the truth about something if it makes you feel any better." Al's offer was a comfort, although Edward was partially afraid. There was always the chance that he would say something like 'She's going to die soon anyway.' The blue eyed boy took a deep breath and he suddenly realized that it was not going to be something bad.

"What is it, then?"

"Well, think about it. She loved you enough to make this promise with you. In her eyes, you've already done more than enough for her. So don't feel so guilty." Alphonse smiled. For some odd reason, that all made a lot of sense.

"I haven't done a thing for her." There, the truth. Honestly, he had no idea how to react to the fact that he was loved. He hadn't ever been told someone loved him, and the stranger part was that he was killing her. How the hell could she love someone that was killing her? The question gripped his mind as Alphonse reacted with a slow sureness.

"You really are an idiot, Edward. You love her back." That was all it took.

"No, I don't!" It was a near shout, one that broke the peacefulness of that moment. But it also didn't feel right to Ed. He felt like he was lying and trying to get himself out of a bad situation. There was the feeling of dishonesty as he turned away, subconsciously hiding his eyes from the other person. His rage couldn't even sustain itself.

"Edward…" There was a moment's pause and then Ed felt Al's hand collide with his head. He muttered under his breath, cursing Al. At least Winry and Azmaria were asleep. That made this slightly more bearable. "You are an idiot." Ed looked down at Azmaria and felt his cheeks redden.

"No, I don't. She's not that attractive or anything." At that moment, she blinked her eyes open, staring wearily up at Edward.

"Ed, why are you here?" She sounded disoriented.

"We're on the train." He replied simply and stared out the window. A moment later, the statement processed through her mind. Suddenly, she was aware of what was going on.

"Ahh!" She sat upright quickly and glanced around. "Ed, I'm really sorry, I think I just fell asleep…" She trailed off as Edward put a hand on her head.

"Az, you were tired, don't worry about it." He watched her as she took out the pocket watch. At the sight of it, his stomach lurched. One glance would tell them both how much damage was done. The pocket watch was unchanged. "You're still doing fine," he said, and she managed a smile.

"A minute ago, I was dreaming about before the contract…" She said, yawning. He blinked and nodded.

"Things really were different back then, hmm?" The conversation ended at that, and they both found themselves trailing off into their own memories and locking themselves within them.

Act.2-End

A/N: Sorry, that sort of fell apart at the end. It might be sort of awkward, all this new information and such, but the story between Edward, Azmaria, and Heiderich will reveal itself over the next chapter or two. Not to mention you'll also find out exactly what a 'contract' is, and, most importantly, find out what Ed's been doing for two years! Oh, and as a side note, PLEASE Review. Reviewing is proof that people are actually reading this.