Hey, welcome back! I'll keep this sentence short, since I don't want to get killed by all of you who are trying to find out what happened to Ed and Al. (Dodges a rock) Hey, wait until after the chapter, okay?

Disclaimer: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. I merely wish I did.

Edward woke up on the shore of the lake, coughing and sputtering. He didn't know how he had survived, but he wished he hadn't. Al was gone, and he didn't want to continue living without him. Ed kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to look and see that Al wasn't there. Maybe this was all just a bad dream that he'd wake up from soon. Maybe.

"So, I see you're awake, FullMetal boy?" Edward knew that that voice belonged to Pisces. He clamped his eyes shut even harder. He didn't want to see her. He didn't even want to hear her.

Pisces lifted his chin with her hand and looked into his face. "For goodness' sake, son, things aren't as hopeless as you're making them out to be."

"Get away from me," mumbled Ed, "I don't ever want to see you again."

"Very well," said Pisces, standing up. "Oh, by the way, I think this belongs to you." Ed heard her plop something big and heavy down by his right side.

Edward finally opened his eyes to see what it was she had dropped. It was his auto-mail arm. How dare she remove it. He reached out to grab it with his right arm, since that arm was closest. Wait, right arm?

Edward sat up and examined his right arm. It was fully flesh and perfectly restored. He quickly drew back his left pant leg to see if the same thing had happened to his leg. It had. He was back in his normal body, but at what cost? Al.

Edward started to cry when he thought of Al's name, when he heard some coughing and sputtering from somewhere left of him. He turned and looked, and saw a child lying face-down on the shore a few yards distant.

Who is that? Thought Ed. He got up and walked over to the child, then flipped him over so that he could see his face. Wait, that hair, those eyes, it was…

"Al!" Ed cried.

"Brother?" said the child, who then suddenly realized what had happened. "Brother, I'm back in my normal body!"

Edward threw his arms around Al and sat there crying his eyes out for quite some time without saying a word. When he finally spoke, all he could do was keep repeating, "I thought I'd lost you…I thought I'd lost you…"

Al didn't say a word through all of this. He wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure what had happened, since everything had happened so fast.

"I hope you boys are able to forgive me now," said Pisces, suddenly walking into the scene.

"I'll never forgive you for what you did!" shouted Edward, "You nearly killed my little brother!"

"I did no such thing," said Pisces, "These waters are healing. You needed to regenerate your bodies if you wanted to fight Aries."

Edward was silent for a moment, but was still clinging to Al, for fear of losing him again. "Why didn't you tell us that these waters were healing before you threw us in?"

Pisces chuckled. "Do you honestly think you would have believed me if I had?"

"I suppose not," Edward consented, "I'm still not totally sure if I can trust you though."

"You had better make up your mind about that soon," said Pisces, "Aries has plans to capture you."

"What would she want with me?" asked a shocked Ed as he put his hand to his chest.

"You are the greatest threat of al the water signs…Scorpio."

Edward gasped. "Wait, you're not saying that I'm one of the…"

"…The signs of the zodiac?" Pisces finished. "Yes, you are indeed, you and your brother both. That is why they water healed you. A water sign cannot drown."

"Wait, you're saying that we're the other two water signs?" asked Ed.

Pisces turned her head and looked directly at him. "That is exactly what I'm saying."

Both boys gasped, and were silent for a brief moment. "But…" Al finally ventured, "We can't turn into water like you can. How can we be water signs?"

Pisces chuckled. "You two can turn into you watery forms, or your bodies wouldn't be healed now. You had to convert to your elemental forms to do that. Since you had had no experience with doing so before, I simply placed you in an environment where you were surrounded by your native element to make it easier for you. You also needed that surrounding water in order to heal your bodies, since you had both lost so much. Your bodies are made entirely out of water, unlike a human being's, so you needed water to regenerate."

"Unlike a human being's?" said Ed, "We are human beings."

Pisces chuckled. "It must be difficult to find out that you're not human after being raised as one. None of the signs are human. We are a different creature entirely."

Edward and Al sat silent for a moment, then Ed said, "How do you explain the fact that we were born to human parents? Wouldn't that make us human?"

"The signs of the zodiac can have children with human beings. Chances are, one of your parents was human, and the other was one of us."

Edward clenched his fist, and mumbled under his breath, "Father, I hate you now more than ever. Not only did you leave us and Mom, but you never revealed to us our true nature."

Al tried to talk some sense into Ed, but he shouldn't have wasted his breath. He knew his brother never listened to reason when he was mad. That must've been the Scorpio in him.

Al turned to face Pisces. "Can you teach us how to convert to our watery forms?"

Pisces shrugged. "It's an inborn ability, but I suppose that I can try and coach you through it."

Ed and Al finally stood up. It was strange; Ed was once again the taller of the two.

"Show me how to do it," said Edward.

"Okay," sighed Pisces, "I'll try. Stick out your hand, so you'll have an easy focal point. Good, now close your eyes, and just relax. You're doing fine. Okay, now try to feel your hand turning into its watery form."

"I can't do it!" Edward shook his head.

"Yes, you can," said Pisces, "Don't think so hard, just feel it. Relax, and feel it."

Edward kept his eyes closed, took a deep breath, and proceeded to try again.

"Relax," reminded Pisces, "Just feel it." Edward did his best to follow her instructions.

"Brother!" cried Al, "Your hand turned into water!"

Ed opened his eyes, but didn't see any different in his hand. "I don't see anything," he said.

"No, of course you don't," said Pisces, "You lost your concentration when you opened your eyes. It's also more difficult for you at this time of the year than at any other time."

"What's so special about this time of the year?" asked Ed.

"This is the Scorpio month," said Pisces, "Your weak point."

Ed clapped his hand over his forehead and sank down to his knees. No wonder he'd bee feeling so low all day! Aries must've planned on him coming out here like this, to have him come during his weak time.

"I'm not going to get any weaker, am I?" asked Ed, a bit concerned about keeping his image.

"Actually, yes you are," said Pisces, "You'll continue to get weaker each day as the moon waxes. When it's full, you'll be at your weakest time."

"And when does the full moon occur?"

"November 3rd."

Edward sat down and sighed. His weakest day would have to be on his birthday, wouldn't it? Apparently, the signs of the zodiac couldn't necessarily celebrate their births as a joyous occasion. At least, not with a ruler like Aries, they couldn't.

Edward stood back up. "Since this is the strongest day I'll have all month, I want to make sure to learn how to transform today. Coach me again."

Pisces continued coaching Edward. Soon, he had transformed his hand into his native element, followed by his arms and soon his entire body. Al couldn't believe it when he saw the watery mass that was his brother.

Finally, Ed came back to his human form. "That feels strange, yet so… refreshing," he said.

"Changing into our native elements is how we regenerate ourselves," said Pisces, "That's why if feels so refreshing.

"Can you coach me now?" asked Al, eagerly.

Pisces smiled. "You won't take long to coach. It's not the Cancer month."

"So, that means that I'm Cancer?"

"Indeed, you are."

Al thought it was weird to be called the name of one of the signs of the zodiac, but he figured that he'd better just get used to it.

Pisces began coaching Al through the transformation process. He was able to transform his entire body on the first try, without much coaching. That was really easy, thought Al, Brother must really be suffering from the effects of the Scorpio month.

Ed yawned. "Can we call it a day? I'm really tired."

Pisces chuckled. "Sure, I'm getting a little tired myself."

"Where do we sleep?" asked Al, "Even I need a bed now."

"Not necessarily," said Pisces, "Not if we sleep in our elemental forms."

"Do you meant hat we can sleep in our watery forms?" asked Ed.

Pisces nodded. "Actually, it would be safer that way. If we all converted to our watery forms and slept in the lake, Aries wouldn't be able to get to us until we came back out."

"I'm all for that," said Edward, who converted to his watery form and jumped into the lake. He was soon followed by Pisces.

Al stood for a moment and watched the sunset over the lake. He had always liked water, but had never known why. He had even always gone to the river every time he had gotten into an argument with his brother.

Yes, this water felt like home to him, but it was so weird to be changing back and forth between human and watery forms. Oh well, he sighed, he would just have to get used to it. He then changed into his watery form and jumped into the lake.

Hope you liked that chapter better than the last one. Heh, sorry about that cliffhanger back there.

Hehe…Are you wondering where Ed's and Al's birthdays came from? Ed's birthday is the same day as one of my friend's (Hi, Nicholas, if you're reading this!) Yes, he's a Scorpio.

As for Cancer, I could have used my birthday, since I'm technically a Cancer, but I'm on the Cancer-Gemini cusp, and I didn't think it a good idea to stick Al there. He's not nearly as talkative as I am (since I'm on the Gemini cusp). So, I gave him my cat's birthday. Heh, yes, really! She's as much a textbook Cancer as you can get, cat or no!

Anyway, check back soon, as I'm sure to have an update sooner or later. In the meantime, review!