Alicia lifted up her bat and aimed resolutely where she thought the piñata was. It had graciously been lowered a few feet from where it had been originally positioned—much to Ed-nisan's dismay when he had realized that, of the people playing, only he and Alicia were left for the first round. He had been so mad that the bat had been thrown out of his hand on the swing and nearly hit Uncle Roy. Roy had looked at the bat, looked at Edward, and then promptly snapped his fingers and burned the bat to ashes.

The bat Alicia was now holding had been the spare. An older bat that was a little bit heavier than the other one. She struggled with it for a while, finally just swinging it up to rest on her shoulder. She planted her feet roughly shoulder length apart, just as her Daddy had taught her, and swung the bat with all her might, yelling at the top of her lungs.

The piñata made a muffled yelp.

Alicia dropped the bat immediately and quickly slipped the blindfold off her eyes. In front of her sat the short, black-haired man, Fury, holding his shoulder and looking dazed, his glasses skewed slightly on his nose.

"I told you not to stand so close to the piñata," said Havoc in a joking voice. "You never know when little girls will have killer swings." He dropped down in front of Fury and carefully unbuttoning his shirt halfway down and peeled it back over his shoulder. There was a raised red welt on the flesh, beginning to turn darker in the center.

"Definitely gonna have a bruise," said Breda walking up to the pair on the ground. "Up, its gonna need ice."

"Come on, I'll help you," said Havoc.

"Th-That's okay. I can do it," stuttered Fury, his cheeks slightly red.

"I'll get ice," burst out of Alicia's mouth. "I'm sorry I hit you. I'll get ice."

"No, really, it's okay. I-It's just a little bump and-"

"I'll get ice," Alicia yelled again, spinning around and running for her mom.

"Mommy. Mommy. There's ice in the cooler right?" She tugged on her mother's sleeve.

"Yes, dear. And I believe your Uncle Roy already went to grab some," she replied calmly.

"'Kay!" Alicia yelled, sprinting off in the direction of the cooler. People passed by in a whirl as she ran.

There was Armstrong, shining pink sparklies at Hawkeye as she sat on the bench, sipping tea and listening quietly as he went on about Armstrong family traditions. Winry, Al-nisan, and Sheska sat in a circle on a picnic blanket. They were playing some game with dice and cards. To the left of them, only barley out of hearing, stood Ed-nisan and the General Lady. Mom had said it was impolite to call her that but the General Lady had just laughed. She said her name was Dustine Harrier, but that Alicia could call her whatever she liked. Alicia stuck with the General Lady.

The General Lady and Ed-nisan stood squared off against each other. They were yelling at the top of their lungs, both with faint smiles on their faces. Alicia didn't understand why no one else saw the smiles. They all tried to avoid being with both the General Lady and Ed-nisan at the same time. But she liked watching, her eyes swinging back and forth between them, even if she didn't always understand them.

"Uncle Roy!" she shouted, spotting him up ahead of her.

He blinked up at her from his bent position over the cooler. Standing up with the ice in one hand, he tipped the lid of the cooler down with his foot, and leaned back against the tree.

They were at a beautiful spot at the edge of the forest. The trees hung down over them, branches heavy with vibrant mixes of red, orange, and yellow leaves. The air was crisp with cool breezes and you could see the sunset perfectly. The creek was a quietly laughing run of water just out of sight through the trees.

"Young lady, would you please be careful with my subordinates? I might need them." She looked up to find him arching an eyebrow at her.

"Yes sir. Sorry. I really didn't mean to hit him," she answered.

"I know you didn't. It's just that-" He broke off abruptly looking into the forest.

"Is that a bird?" Alicia asked excitedly, having heard something like a 'chirp-click' at the same time Uncle Roy had.

Uncle Roy looked at her quizzically for a second. "I don't know."

"They let's go see," bubbled Alicia, clapping her hands and zipping off into the forest.

"Alicia, wait!"

She thought that maybe she'd tripped when something hit the back of her head and the world went dark.

01/26/06 2:39