Ed woke up to a whistling sound coming from the kitchen. He sighed and glanced out of the window. It was dark and cloudy outside. He sat up and stretched and let out a big yawn. He took out his watch; it was 4:56 in the morning. He lay back down and tried to get back to sleep, but it never came. So he decided to see what was happening in the kitchen.
Ashton was in the living room curled up in a rocking chair, enjoying a cup of tea. She heard some one grumble. She looked towards the doorway to find Ed. His hair was messy and it wasn't in its usual braids. She sat up right away. Ed took this as a time to sit down.
"I'm sorry did I wake you?" she asked. Ed shook his head and rubbed his one of his eyes. Ashton looked down toward her cup. "I heard a sound and I couldn't go back to sleep so I made some tea." She continued. Ed turned to the window. "Do you think it's going to rain?" he asked. She shook her head. "Not for another day or so." She answered.
It was silent for a few minutes. Ashton finished her tea. Ready to get a refill she stood up and offered Ed a cup. He said yes and they went into the kitchen. Ashton fixed their cups and joined Ed at the table. The sun started to rise. Ashton smiled.
"What was the smile for?" Ed asked. "No reason. My mother and I would watch the sun rise and sun sets together." She answered. "What happened to her?" he asked. She looked away. "She left, one day my father quit coming home. He use to come home every weekend. But a few weeks had past and he never showed up. We got a letter saying that he would be home soon. Well "soon" turned out to be a long time. My mom grew tired of it and she left. I never got to say 'goodbye'. But James was always there for me. So were Chester and Harris." Ed absorbed the information. He was now learning about her and why she seemed depressed. Sure she did very well of hiding it but deep down he knew something was wrong.
Ashton studied Ed a little. He seemed very determined and stubborn. He was also understanding and nice. She looked into his eyes. They were like doorways to his past that she knew he wouldn't talk about it anytime soon. She was growing fond of him. She smiled a little more at the thought that she was the friend of the Fullmetal Alchemist. There was more to him than that. Sure he was a famous alchemist, but he was still only human.
Suddenly they heard clanking sounds coming from the hall. Al walked through the doorway. "Good morning brother. Good morning Ash." He said. Ed waved his hand in response while Ashton only smiled. "Are you ready to start using alchemy today, Ash?" Al asked. Ashton looked at the bracelet. She gave a big sigh. "You bet." She answered, "Just let me get breakfast ready." She quickly got up and started cooking.
Ed watched her every move. Breaking the eggs, stirring, and flipping, she really put her spirit into cooking, just like he did in alchemy. They were alike. Both of their mother's were gone, disliked Mustang, loved eating, and they both put spirit into their work. In less than 10 minutes breakfast was ready. It was a quick one. Eggs and toast were on the menu and milk for Ashton and juice for Ed. Ed put down his fork and downed his juice. He waited patiently for Ashton to finish. She finished shortly after he did. Then they went outside.
"Ash, take off the bracelet." Ed said. Ashton was going to question him, but thought better. After all, he was the teacher. She hesitated, but took it off. Al had just finished drawing a transmutation circle. "Okay," Ed started to say, "We're gonna start with something simple. Pick up some sand and put it in the center of the circle." Ashton did so. Knowing that alchemy was equivalent exchange, she was curious to what she was going to create. "Okay, this seems to be enough," he started to say, as he examined the dirt, "Something simple, like a doll." "A doll?" she asked as she raised her eye brow. Ed nodded. "We made a doll our first try." Al said. Ashton stood there, dumbfounded. "Just concentrate on a doll." Ed said.
Ashton kneeled down, took a deep breathe, and put her hands in the circle. She concentrated on making a doll. Ed stepped forward to watch. The sand was swirling, looking rather eerie. He remembered when he and Al tried this, it scared Winry. He chuckled. He turned his attention back to the sand. She seemed to be doing fine, but it turned back into a pile of sand. Ashton opened on eye to look at it. She sighed.
"I don't know what's happening. It starts out fine, but then… O gosh!" She said, frustrated. Al turned to Ed. "What do you think, Ed?" he asked. Ed thought for a few seconds. "I don't know. Ash, put on your bracelet." He said. Ashton did so. "Okay now try again." He coached. She replaced her hands on the transmutation circle. "Concentrate." She thought. She thought of the form of a doll. A few seconds later she opened her eyes to see what was happening, she saw doll, in a blue dress with brown hair. She smiled. "Wow, it really is an amplifier." She said gleefully.
Ed crossed his arms. "Brother?" Al asked, as they entered their room. "I don't get it. She can use alchemy, but right when it gets to the point of forming it breaks apart." Ed said. He sat on the bed and sighed. The trees swayed and he could hear the wind howling a little. It was going to rain later on in the day. He knew it.
A knock came on the door and Ashton entered. She held the doll in her hand. "Hey, um, lunch is ready." She said. Ed nodded. "We'll be there in a minute." Al answered. She nodded slightly and left. "Brother, do you think what happened yesterday could've gotten to her, so she couldn't concentrate on using alchemy?" Alphonse asked. Ed lowered his head. "I don't think so. Remember, she's always had this problem. Remember the night that Nina was killed? Remember how I didn't have any control? It seems that something more is bothering her." Ed paused after that. Alphonse looked towards the door. Ed noticed, and got up and exited the room. The younger brother followed.
Ashton was sipping a cup of tea, she seemed bothered. She heard Edward and Alphonse enter. She stopped sipping and slightly smiled. "Why don't you go ahead and fix your plate." She said to Ed. Alphonse sat down. Ed hurried and fixed his plate and sat down and began to eat.
"I'm still going to try and use alchemy without the bracelet." Ashton said after a few silent minutes. Ed stopped chewing. Ashton could hear him swallow. "I think that would be wise. You never know what's going to happen as an alchemist." He answered. Ashton's eyes lowered. "Yes." She simply said. Then it just hit Ed, she wasn't eating. Why? He wondered. He was about say something but Alphonse was a step ahead. "Ash, why aren't you eating?" She shrugged. "Guess that there are too many thoughts running through my head. And besides, I'm not hungry." She answered. Ed was going to say something, but once again he was interrupted, by a knock on the door. Ashton went to answer.
It was the children next door. Wendy, the girl, was holding a letter. The wind began to howl louder. "Oh, Wendy, Neo, what are you doing out here? Especially in this weather?" Ashton asked in concern. "Well we were looking for our cat and a man came by with this letter for you, so we said we would give it to you." She said cheerily. Ashton took the letter gently, and observed it. She finally took her eyes off of it and looked at the children. She kneeled down and raised her finger. "Well, I thank you two for giving me this letter, but in this weather you must go home. You cat has instincts so it'll find some place to be safe and will come home again. But you two head home right now, alright?" The children nodded and ran towards their house.
Ashton closed the door and turned around to find Ed standing right in front of her. He smiled. "You sound like a mother, you know that?" he asked childishly. "Yeah, well, it's the least I could do." She said. Ed's eyes turned toward the letter. Ashton began to read it. She suddenly gasped and dropped the letter. "What's wrong?" Ed asked quickly. Her eyes began to tear up. "H he's gone! James disappeared." She stammered. Ed picked up the letter. "He just disappeared with out a trace. That's impossible. He was just there. I saw him. He was there when I left." She continued. Ed finished reading the letter. "He disappeared the day I left." Ashton finished. "Ash." Ed began, but she ran to her room. Alphonse entered the hallway.
"Brother," Al began to say, "How do you think…" "I don't know. Her mother, her dog, her bird, and now her butler. It's strange." Ed interrupted. Al sighed. "It's a wonder how she even acts cheerful. Everything she held dear is slowly being taken away. Almost like us." Al said. Ed quickly replied. "Not everything has been taken away from us, we still have Aunt Pinako, and…and…" "…and Winry?" Al interrupted. Ed turned away and whispered, "Yeah, and Winry." The brothers grew silent after that. Al heard Ed sigh. "Do you think she'll be alright, Brother?" Alphonse asked. "Who, Winry? Yeah she's pretty tough." Edward answered quickly. Alphonse shook his head. "No, I meant Ashton." he answered. Ed blushed at the thought that Al must have figured out his attraction to Winry. He quickly went to check on Ashton.
Edward knocked on her door. He heard her faint voice tell him to go away. He entered anyways. She seemed to not notice his presence. He looked around. It seemed to be an ordinary room. She had pictures on her dresser. One seemed to have caught his attention. It was a family picture; Ashton seemed to be at least five. Her bangs weren't red but black, her hair was in pigtails and her mom and her dad, Colonel Mustang, were holding her hands. A blue parrot was on her shoulder, and a golden retriever was at her side. He noticed a tall man, with slick black her. He must be James.
Ashton stopped sobbing when she felt Edward's presence. She looked at him, he didn't notice though. She found him staring at her picture. "That's us before my dad left. Everything seemed to have fallen apart after he was gone." She said. The wind howled louder. Then a scream was heard. Ashton quickly looked out of her window. She saw Wendy holding on to the tree by the lake. She noticed that Neo was on a branch.
"Oh my God! Neo! Wendy!" she screamed as she jumped off of the bed and ran out the door. Ed quickly followed. Ashton ran out of the door to the tree. It was incredibly windy. She had trouble keeping balance. "Wendy!" she yelled. Wendy looked at Ashton, she was crying. Ashton ran quickly to her and grabbed her. "Alphonse!" Ed yelled for his brother. Alphonse seemed to know what he wanted. Al ran to the girls and opened his armor. Wendy seemed to shout in fear to find that he was just a suit of armor. Ashton almost lost her balance when she discovered that he had no body.
Ashton's surprise was interrupted by the young boy's scream. Ashton looked up, Neo was dangling off of the branch. Before she could even think about it, she climbed into the tree. She crawled onto the branch. "Neo! Take my hand!" she yelled. The terrified boy took her hand and she raised him onto the branch. "My cat!" he screamed. Ashton looked back. The cat was running into the cabin. "It'll be fine!" she told him. Suddenly the branch broke and they were blown into the lake.
Edward noticed and ran to the lake and transformed it into ice. Ashton and Neo fell onto it. But then the branch fell and broke the ice. Neo screamed. The crack was nearing them, Ashton picked him up and ran, but she slipped and fell. Ed tried to follow her along the bank of the lake. The ice broke into big pieces, leaving the two people stranded on one. Ashton got up and jumped from one piece to another. She finally reached the edge. She let Neo get onto solid ground. Al ran to him and put him inside his armor. Ashton slipped off of the ice into the freezing lake. She struggled to stay up, but all of the rush had worn her out. She still struggled, the wind made the waves in the water. Ed ran frantically, trying to get to her. He jumped on the ice burgs and finally got close enough to her. He got her out of the water just before she gave up.