X-mas is over... I hope you guys had a good X-mas and stuff. Anyways, things get weird in this chapter. You know what the disclaimers are. I am so sorry to those who don't like ACDC about this chapter's title. I didn't want to totally spoil stuff, but whatever. Again, I am sorry.

Just as Al, Ed, Winry, Pinako and Noelani were about to go to their temporary guest room, the phone rang.

Winry said, "I'll get it," and ran to the phone and picked it up, "Hello?"

There was a slight pause.

"Oh, it's you," Noelani could hear a bit of annoyance in her voice, "Yeah, he's here. Ed! It's Mustang."

Ed rolled his eyes, "What does he want now?" and took the phone, "Yeah? What are you callin' me for?"

Apparently, not too many people liked the colonel.

The expression on Ed's face quickly went from annoyed to serious. It was silent on this end of the line for a few minutes. Mustang must have had something important to call about.

Finally, Ed hung up without saying anything. He looked at Alphonse and told him, "Mustang wants us back first thing tomorrow. He specially requested Noelani to come with us."

"Why?" both Al and Noelani said in unison.

"I don't know. Most of the stuff he said was either gibberish or nonsense, but it sounded pretty serious."

Noelani was suspicious. Why was she especially needed? She wasn't even in the military! Whatever it was, it probably wasn't good.

All of them went to sleep, but Noelani felt like she had just closed her eyes before Al woke her up.

"Come on, we're leaving."

"What time is it?" Noelani groggily asked.

"4:30" Ed said as he walked by, "The first train leaves at 5 o'clock."

Noelani woke up and went to the bathroom to put on clothes she had put on the bed beside her. Her outfit was again simply a black shirt, blue jeans, and black boots, incase she needed to ride. She also had a red hoodie and put up her hair in a braid. Oddly enough, she looked like Edward, except she had blue jeans, longer darker hair, and bright silver eyes. Also, she was much taller. After looking in the mirror, she laughed at their likeness, and then left the room to find Ed and Al waiting in the bedroom. She hadn't told anyone yet, but most of the clothes she had were all from Central. When she first arrived, all she had was a few valuables she would eventually trade in for money. When she bought the clothes, she didn't know that they were for boys, except for the shirt and boots. She didn't think about it for long, because Ed and Al were ready to go.

So, they all walked carefully through the house. However, it wasn't exactly quiet due to the clunking of Al's armor. Noelani got her stuff she laid by the door, and they left. It was a chilly December morning, and it was still dark outside. The air was filled with the feeling you get after the holidays are over, and you know it will be another year before they come again. Noelani whistled for Arabia, and she came trotting from around the back of the shop. Noelani saddled up Arabia, and they were off. When they arrived at the station, the sun still hadn't risen, but the sky was gray with the early twilight. After they got tickets, they sat on a bench in silence.

"I'm sorry about last night." Noelani said as she stared at the ground.

Ed had to lean around Alphonse to see her. He sat back and said, "Nah, don't worry about it."

"Like I said before," Alphonse added, "They have issues."

"Hey!" Ed said, insulted.

"Well, it's true!"

Noelani smiled at the brothers' spat. Then, she heard the whistle of a train.

"It's almost here."

When the train arrived, Noelani guided Arabia onto the train. This time, Arabia was less frightened to go inside the train car, and no whinny came from her when they closed the door. The train ride was rather uneventful. Noelani looked out of the window most of the way, but didn't press her face against it. It was daytime and easier to see, thus they talked a little more.

"Look! It's a stag!" Noelani said.

Ed and Al barely got a glimpse of the stag. It was drinking from a pond and had huge antlers, but other than that, that was all they could see.

"Unlike the deer around here, all reindeer have antlers, even the females," Noelani still stared at the passing landscape.

"What? Were there reindeer in the desert?" Ed asked sarcastically.

"No!" Noelani laughed, "I only saw my first one this year. Besides, there are eight different species."

"Where?" Alphonse asked.

"Long story short, I went to the country just north of here, found a… special one, and brought it back. She's in Central… somewhere. I'm assuming in the park, like Arabia was."

"What kind is she?" Ed asked as he looked out of the window.

"I'm not sure, but she's one of the larger species. She already gave a colonel a ride!"

"Are you serious!" asked Ed as he sat bolt upright.

"Yep!" she described the moments before she met the Elrics, including the snowball fight.

Ed got a very sneaky look on his face.

Noelani looked back out the window, "I wonder what the colonel wants…" she said dreamily.

"Who knows? Probably something stupid. He exaggerates everything." Ed replied.

"Or it could be something important," Al said, "He's not always slacking off. If he decided to call us that late in the night, he must have had something serious come up that made him stay late."

Ed just sighed.

When they arrived in Central, the sun had risen. Noelani went to Arabia's car and got her out. People stared at the girl holding a horse in the middle of a train station.

"Mustang said he'd have someone come for us," Ed said as he looked around.

"Who?" Noelani asked.

"I'm not sure, but knowing Mustang, I think I have a good idea," He looked around some more, then said gloomily, "Yep… It's Armstrong."

Noelani looked in the same direction as Ed and instantly saw who he must be talking about. An immensely tall man stood waving at Edward.

"Edward Elric! How good of you to come so early!" he said as he enthusiastically walked over to Ed. Ed however, looked like he wanted to run away or kill himself.

"Hey Armstrong!" Al seemed happy enough to see him.

Armstrong was not only eight feet tall, but muscular. He looked like he could squish Ed like a bug. He also had a sliver of blonde hair on his otherwise bald head and had a blonde mustache.

"And who is this?" Armstrong said loudly.

"I'm Noelani, sir," answered Noelani, a little shakily.

"Yes, of course! The colonel wanted to see you! I'm Major Armstrong!" he shook hands vigorously with her.

After the handshake, Noelani felt like her brain had liquefied, "Why?" her voice was still quiet.

"I think it'll be better if he explained," he said more calmly.

"I'll bet," Ed said moodily.

"Well, before we go, I need to release Arabia." Noelani said.

"Then I'll go ahead and take Edward and Alphonse." Armstrong replied.

As they split up, Noelani sighed. She could see why Ed wanted to run away from Armstrong. She mounted Arabia and put her in a trot, but they couldn't go any faster without the risk of running over someone. However, when they got out of the station, Noelani put Arabia in a canter. The city was a bit empty, due to the early time, but a few people were awake and going to work, or whatever it was they were doing. When they got to the park, it was completely empty. Arabia slowed down to a trot, then a walk, and then she stopped altogether. Her ears were flying in every direction as if to pinpoint a location of a predator.

"What is it?" Noelani asked. She knew this to be Arabia's, "Something's following us, and I don't like it" signal.

Without warning, Arabia flew into a gallop. Instead of staying on the path, she went into the woods. Noelani leaned down against Arabia's neck and held on. Noelani wasn't going to stop Arabia if there was something wrong. Finally, they got out of the woods and into a clearing, but before Noelani could feel relieved, Arabia reared up and neighed. Noelani sat up to see a strange person in front of them.

The person said in a monotone, "Hey! What it, will ya?" she had long black hair tied up in a ponytail and wore a black skirt and a black shirt that showed some of her stomach. She appeared to be in her mid to late teens. She had red eyes with slit pupils and had a red tattoo of two intertwined snakes forming the figure-eight-like infinity symbol centered on her bellybutton.

After staring for a few seconds, Noelani said quietly, "Sorry."

Arabia laid her ears down against her head as if to say, "Well, I'm not!"

The girl simply narrowed her eyes at Noelani, glanced at Arabia, and ran off.

After the girl vanished, Noelani dismounted and stroked Arabia's neck before taking off the saddle, packs, and bridle, "Behave, and make sure nobody messes with you or our stuff."

Arabia nuzzled Noelani in confirmation.

Noelani patted her good-bye and walked out of the park. Then she remembered why she had come to Central in the first place, "Holy crap! I'm so late!" and ran all the way to HQ.

End of chapter 6

What d'ya know? This one didn't turn out to be as long as I thought! Well, I just introed a major character. Dum dum dum!