Disclaimer: Nope!

A/N: I love the way this story is turning out, and I have a lot of good ideas and I hope that everyone else likes them too.

Anyway, I'm starting chapter two the same day I posted chapter one, but I won't post it till I get a review, so if it comes late, you'll know why. Well without further delay here's chapter two of Lessons in Alchemy. Enjoy and please review if you're reading, I don't want any ghost readers.

Lessons in Alchemy

Chapter 2: Hidden Feelings Within Fevers

"Ash, are you okay?" Asked Ed, hovering over his new friend. Her eyes flickered open and saw his sad expression. Ash tried to sit up but she and Ed's heads collide. She laid back down, rubbing her head.

"Are you okay?" He repeats and she nods.

"I think so…what happened?" The girl asked, sitting up, this time making sure to avoid Full Metal's head.

"You were screaming and holding your head. You were yelling something about making the voice go away and then you fainted. Are you sure you're okay?" He placed a gloved left hand to her forehead and drew back suddenly.

"You're burning up! You must be 104 degrees!" He exclaimed, picking up the telephone and dialing a number.

"Yes…This is Edward Elric, Full Metal Alchemist, I need to speak to General Roy Mustang right away; it's an emergency!"

"…… Yes. Hello General Mustang, this is Full Metal; I need an ambulance over here right away…yes. I'm at 6719 78th Street in the Days Inn Hotel. Uh huh… as soon as possible…thank you sir. Bye."

He came back to her bed, and forced Ash to lie back down. "It's ok Ash, Mustang is sending over help soon. It'll be okay," he coaxed, trying to make sure she wasn't scared. He didn't know her very well then; she lives in a haunted shack all alone, stole food; beat up the local gangs… but his hostility made her smile.

"Really Ed, I'm fine," she said, sitting up again, hating how he kept pushing her down, but this time he didn't.

"What voice were you talking about Ash?" asked Ed, staring at her. She shrugged, because she didn't even know. This whole thing was strange, and she could only remember it happening once before.

Her amber eyes fell on the alchemist before her and immediately she felt indebted. "It's a voice that I hear in my head, and last night the man who has the voice was at my window, that's when these voices started, last night. It's all so strange, but it's happened to me once before, when I was a child. I must've been maybe five at the oldest and I was coming back from school when I found my door locked. I started banging on the door so my mom would let me in when the voice of a middle-aged man filled my ears. He said "Don't expect to ever find a way in, your parents are dead." I climbed through a window and I saw their bodies on the ground, both of them, but they didn't have a scratch on them. Even an autopsy couldn't tell us what killed them, I suspected alchemy, but alchemy was prohibited in my town until a few years ago. If I remember correctly it happened on October 10."

Ed followed the whole story quietly, but at the end his eyes grew big. "October 10?" He asked and received a nod. He looks at her, shocked, but then turns away. "That's a sad story, I'm sorry to hear about it. Where do you think the voice is coming from?"

"I wish I knew…" was the girl's only reply.

X

General Roy Mustang hung up his phone and smiled. "Looks like Full Metal has himself a little girlfriend," he thinks, before picking it back up and dialing the ambulance.

He explains the situation and hangs up the phone. After a moment of sitting there, he finally thinks up an idea. He pages Hawkeye.

"Hawkeye, please come see me immediately," he says, and almost at once Riza (A/N: I hope that's her name, I think it is. Lol) is at his door.

"You wanted to see my sir?" she asked, saluting him.

"Yes, I need you to do a bit of spying if you will. Full Metal and Al are staying at the Days Inn on 78th Street, and I believe it's time to start my plan.

"I want you to see what's going on with Full Metal and report to me immediately after it turns midnight. Don't be seen by anyone or Full Metal will blow his top. Understand Hawkeye?"

"Yes sir," she said, saluting him again before she walked out.

X

"Ed? Ed? Where are you?" Ash screamed, looking around for the alchemist that was just there. "ED?" Suddenly she began to feel nauseated as she looked around.

Everything was growing darker and the room was swirling. Ash tried to steady herself but couldn't find a footing.

"ED! Where are you?" The girl screamed again, as the voice started.

"He's gone. You'll never see him again. Say goodbye to your dear Ed," he says, followed by evil laughter.

"STOP IT! Don't you dare go after Ed, it's me you want isn't it?" She screamed to the voice, but it doesn't answer her. "I'm all alone in a dark room, and your friends are gone," she thought, staring around her.

X

She awoke to see Ed hovering over her and smiled. "It was just a dream," she thinks.

"Ed! I'm so happy to see you!" The girl exclaimed, practically throwing herself into his arms. He looks down at her, tangled in his arms, surprised, but hugs her back for a second before gently pushing her off him.

"Are you okay? You suddenly just fainted…" He said, looking at Ash.

She thought back to the creepy dream, "what if my only friends left me?" she thought. "Yeah, I'm okay. I guess it was just the fever…" this part she spoke.

Ed got up from the end of her bed and walks over to the window. Pushing the curtains back, he looks to see if the ambulance is here yet.

"I called Mustang thirty minutes ago. That bastard probably never called. What if she gets worse…" he thinks aloud, but quietly enough so that Ash can't hear him.

"Come on, I'm just going to have to take you to the hospital myself. If we stay here, you won't get better."

"No! You really don't have to do that, you've done enough really!" She argued. "Really, you've already gone through so much trouble for me."

"Well that damn bastard didn't call and now no one knows you're sick!"

"I'm fine, I feel bet-" She stopped mid-sentence and got quiet.

"Shhh… Did you hear that?" The amber eyed girl asked. Ed shakes his head. "Hear what?" He asked.

"It sounded like a gun being loaded," she whispered back, motioning for him to stay quiet and continued to listen for further sounds.

But before Ed could say another word, the window breaks and someone jumps through, clothed in all black, with a veil over their face, making their eyes the only thing able to be seen. Ash screamed and never took her eyes off the intruder, who has a gun. The man walks over to the two of them.

"Get the hell outta here!" Ed screams, his mechanical arm changing into a dagger. Ash gasped as she sees this, not knowing about his auto-mail. The intruder holds up the gun and points it at Ed.

"NO!" she screamed, every part of the dream coming back to her. She flinched as they all heard the sound of the bullet being fired. "Ed…" she whispers, finally taking her hands away from her eyes, tears pricking her eyes.

She gasped again as she saw the bullet deflected by Ed's right arm; it flew out the broken window. Ash pulled herself off the floor and stood up, pushing herself against the wall to keep her balance. "Ed?" she whispered again, watching him stand only a few feet away from the intruder.

"What do you want?" He asks the intruder, making sure to always see the girl out of his peripheral vision, while keeping his eyes on the intruder. The man just smirked and looked at Ash.

"You stay the hell away from Ash or you'll be scattered into six hundred pieces by the end of the day," He says, moving closer to her.

Ash was starting to feel worse and she guessed that her fever was getting higher. It soon became hard for her to stand and the room started spinning. Ed and the intruder were now fighting. He used alchemy without a circle, which surprised Ash, while the ninja looking man used nun chucks.

Ed tries several times to stab the man with his dagger arm, but he is nimble and able to easily dodge. After a few minutes, Ed starts to get tired and is staggering a little.

"Ed are you okay?" she suddenly asked, walking closer to him.

"Stay back Ash!" he says, turning towards her for a slight moment, giving the man enough time to tackle Ed. On the ground, he pulls out a dagger and stabs Ed in the side, before leaping away nimbly and proceeding to the other side of the room.

"ED!" Ash screamed, running to his side. "Are you okay?"

He sits up and rubs his eyes, hardly noticing the scratch on his side. "Ash how are you? Did he hurt you?"

"No, be careful Ed, you're going to get even more hurt…" she says, but he doesn't listen. He jumps up and rushes for the intruder, but he easily jumps over Ed's head, doing two flips in the air, and lands right next to the girl.

"Thanks, Full Metal, for your little girlfriend. I believe she'll be quite useful for us," said the voice of a woman, and she snatched Ash in her arms and jumped out the window…

Ok, some freaky girl just kidnapped Ash, and why is Ed being so nice to her? Who is the girl, and why does she want Ash? Find out soon!

Fox Kitsune :Savannah: