Disclaimer: I still don't own FMA or it's characters, despite what's happening in my mind. I do own my original characters...and they're all mine!

Anyhow my dears, I'm updating rather soon because I have some frightening news for you guys...at 10:30 tomorrow morning I will go under the knife and have...my wisdom teeth removed (at least it's only the top ones...bottom ones aren't there yet :) ), so I may be incapacitated (doped-up) for the next few days, and I didn't want you, my faithful readers, to be waiting too long (I read fanfics myself...I know how it feels). Now that you know that...enjoy the chapter.

Ed, Al, and Calien resumed the search for evidence by searching the bedroom that they had slept in. Suddenly Calien shouted, "hey, I think I found something here..." Indeed she had, it was a brown leather-bound book. It was the doctor's journal. She opened it to the last entry and read aloud to the boys.

It read as follows:
"It has now been a year exactly since my wife died. I have created the legendary Philosopher's Stone and I will use it, and the ingredients of a human, to bring her back. If my studies are correct, it should help me to bring back her soul, and I'll create a body for her. David has acted very strangely since his mother passed away. He seems very lonely, there are no other children around here for him to be with...I do hope that isn't detrimental to him. He will be happy again, we all will be, once I put this family back together."

Calien closed the book. The three children ran downstairs to the lab. When they got to the bottom of the basement stairs, they noticed that the air smelled of blood. There were many test tubes lining the walls of the room. In the center there was a large transmutation circle drawn in blood on the floor. Ed flashed back to the large transmutation circle that he created with his own blood, in attempts to bring back his mother. There was blood splattered across the circle as if someone had been stabbed.

Ed bent down to look at the circle, and said what he had been thinking, "this is like the circle we used to try to get...mom back," he said with pain in his eyes. Calien rested a hand on his shoulder, then noticed somthing on the ground. It was pieces of what appeared to be a red stone. Ed picked it up and looked at it frowning.

"He made a fake one, not realizing that he needed a human being to make a real one...then when he tried to bring his wife back, it broke apart, doing nothing for him..." he said solemnly. He knew what it was that they brought to life when they tried to call their mother back from the dead. Ed knew what had happened. The doctor had been sucked into the reaction when the stone broke apart, like Al had, but there was no one to help the doctor and attach his soul to something, like Ed had been there for Al, to save him. The boys were disappointed that the stone had been a false one, but they had to find that creature, Ed was sure that it was all that was left of David's parents, his mother. His father had been given to bring it back, but it wasn't really Mrs.Ramsey, it merely resembled her. They would have to kill it...send it back to the grave.

When night fell over the woods, the three went outside to search for Mrs.Ramsey. They split up, each one going their own direction and agreed to go back to the house at midnigt. Al walked around for a long time, finiding nothing. He was just as much a child as Edward and Calien were, the forest frigtened him. His brother was brave enough to do this, so he didn't want to show his fear. He thought of when they had tried to bring back their mother. He shuddered inside. He wondered if Ed and Calien had found anything. Al smiled to himself as he thought of his brother and their friend. They were funny together the two of them, but they were also very strong for their ages. Al loved Calien, she was so gentle in everything that she did...she always reminded him of his mother. She always remembered that he was a person, like Ed did. He was happy thinking about them, it made him forget about his fear of the forest at night.

Edward also found nothing. His thoughts were on Al for a while. Ed knew his brother well and was sure that the poor boy was probably scared. He chuckled a little. "Even if Al did find her, he'd be able to handle it," he said out loud to himself. In the silence his voice startled him. It was cold, and he thought of Calien wearing a t-shirt and skirt, she must be freezing he thought. He wondered if she had been impressed by the way he dealt with David. The thought of David made Ed's stomach turn. He had wanted to kill him so badly, it was good that Al stopped him. He wanted to make it so he could protect Calien for the rest of her life. Being the oldest out of the three, Ed took the responsibility of protecting his little brother and Roy's little girl. She was special, she could warm up a room with a smile. He was glad that she was with them.

Calien was also by herself, but not for very long. The cold air hung close around her warm body. She hugged her arms against her to stay warm. She thought about Roy, and what he was doing back at Central now that she was gone. She missed him every day...she loved him so much. She thought of Maes, Gracia and their baby. Finally Ed and Al came to her mind. She loved them also, and she wanted to help them get better. They suffered every day and they were just kids, like she was, they didn't deserve all the pain that they dealt with. She could see it in Ed's face that he was hurt when she was hurt. He nearly wept in the bedroom while he was holding her, promising her that it would never happen again. Ed always wanted to protect the people he loved...because he couldn't protect his mother. He was just too young. Calien wondered what the boys would be like when they grew up. They both seemed so much older already. She worried about them.

Suddenly there was a glowing white light in the clearing up ahead. Calien peeked out from behind a bush and saw Mrs.Ramsey. She had seen a large picture of her in the doctor's lab. The creature looked just like the picture, except corpse-like. The skin was tight around the bones and her eyes were glowing blue. Calien felt absolutely terrified, but this creature was in pain, she could tell. It needed to be returned to its grave. Mustering all of her courage, Calien stepped out from behind the bush. The creature looked at the tiny girl and was frightened. It began running. Calien knew that if she chased it, she wouldn't catch it.

Her mind raced, "Melissa!" She cried out after it, it stopped and turned. It was then enraged. It began attacking her. Calien wanted to run, but she stayed and fought, not only the creature, but her own fear. Quickly, she transmuted the ice blade to protect herself, because otherwise she was unarmed. The creature attacked her but Calien moved fast enough to get out of the way in time. She threw the blade at the creature's back and it stabbed it, coming out the creature's chest. It wailed and fell to the ground. Ed and Al had both heard the commotion and ran in the direction of the noise. When they arrived they found Calien on her knees in the grass. The clearing was stained in blood, when the creature had fallen to the ground, it was almost as if the transmutation had been undone and the body exploded in a mist of blood.

"Calien..." Ed whispered. She turned and looked at them.

"Ed! Al!" She got up and ran to them. The blood was all over her and smeared on her face and arms. She threw her arms around the boys and hugged them. The boys knew what had happened, Calien had found Melissa Ramsey.

They walked back to the house. On the way, they talked about the things that had happened to them since they had been together.

Calien smiled taking Ed's hand in her right, and Al's in her left...the way they had walked with their mother..."we'll always be together," she said with a smile.

She shivered, and Ed stopped and looked at her, "are you cold?" He asked.

"A little bit, but I'm alright," she said gently.

Ed took off his red coat and put it around her shoulders, "but..Ed, won't you get cold now?" She asked him.

"No...I'm not cold..." He nearly whispered. His coat was warmed from his body and it seemed to swallow her up, because it was so big on her. Both of the boys laughed at her in it, she was like a child in her father's coat. When they got back to the house they decided to stay the night again and then leave the next morning. This lead had gotten Ed's hopes up. They would have to travel on and find another lead on the stone. Calien knew the boys were disappointed, but she couldn't sleep. The house frightened her now, more than before. Al fell asleep quickly, but Ed was too deep in thought to sleep. He was remembering his home. He wanted Calien to see where he came from, the simple beauty that was Resembool. He smiled to think of it. Winry would love Calien.

"Ed?" Calien whispered.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"I can't sleep..." She said in a childlish manner.

He smiled, "why not?" She told him how uncomfortable the house made her.

"Ed, if you hadn't stopped David, I could have been really hurt..." She whispered, not wanting to say that she would be raped.

"I know...I'm just glad I was able to stop it," he said quietly.

"You won't get hurt anymore, Calien...I promise, no one will hurt you ever again. I'll kill them before I let them hurt you." He put his arms around her and talked softly trying to relax her. Finally, she was asleep.

The next day, Ed went into David's room and glared at him, "I could have killed you..." He said with disgust in his voice. David didn't answer. Ed clapped his hands and slapped the ground. The cage disappeared and David came to attention.

"You're leaving, have you found my father?" He asked expectantly. Ed explained what happened.

He turned to leave and looked over his shoulder, "I hope you learned that you shouldn't do that to people..." he growled angrily. He slammed the door and left.
They had a few other leads in the north and spent 6 months looking into each one. Finally, they were out of leads for the area. They had to pick another direction, and Ed decided to go to Resembool, to show Calien his home.

So there you have it, Ed, Al, and Calien are on their way to Resembool. I'll be back to normal soon, but just incase I can't do it this weekend I wanted to give you guys a chapter to hold you over till next time...Also so that certain people won't have a certain overweight animal sit on me ;) .