A/N: Before we get this chapter rolling, I just want to apologize about how late this chapter came out. I was originally gonna post it either yesterday or the day before, maintaining a two week update schedule for this story, but school ended up kicking my butt and I typed this up pretty late. I'll explain more at the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Fullmetal Alchemist. Those belong to their original creator, Hiromu Arakawa.

The sun was shining above the canyons in a brightening blue sky as Sabrina rushed out the back of Gabriel's Automail Market and towards the sandlot a few yards away. An embedded circle in the sand with a wide radius served as the perfect spot for a sparring match, with a view of the rising mountains and canyons of Rush Valley in the background. Despite the early hours, the heat was already starting to pick up, which was why Sabrina had wisely chosen to change into a white tank-top with black shorts to show off her automail, which shone a metallic white in the sunlight. However, she kept her feet bare, as she wanted to test the full extent of her mechanics. Besides, she couldn't feel burned from the warm sand beneath her feet, as not only was the titanium heat resistant, but she could barely feel anything beyond her lower limbs as it was.

Sabrina stepped into the circle and took her place, posing in a strong stance and placing her hands on her hips, waiting impatiently for her friend to join her. A minute of stillness passed, with Sabrina shifting from side to side as she ran fighting tactics through her head, until Jamie finally stepped out and walked towards her. Much to her dismay, the boy remained in his long-sleeved shirt and pants, along with a pair of black combat boots to add on.

"Really? You planning on passing out from heatstroke halfway through or something?" Sabrina asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

Jamie shrugged as he entered the ring and remained silent, taking up a battle stance across from Sabrina and giving her a hard stare. The girl paused, waiting for a response, before cracking a smirk and following suit. "Whatever. Gives me an advantage I suppose," she said.

A humid breeze blew in from the cliffs, scattering sand and sending up plumes of dust as tension fell between the two. Slowly, the teens began to circle around the inside of the ring, keeping their distance from each other equal as they kept their gazes locked on to the others. Sabrina concentrated, keeping her weight even as she slid across the sand.

An opponent with less patience will be at a disadvantage, she mentally reminded herself. If I can just keep up my patience and let Jamie attack first, I'll be able to plan his attacks and strategize as I go.

It was a tough gamble, as Sabrina knew her friend tended to have a greater amount of patience than she could ever gain in a lifetime. This flaw was proven against her, for as time passed and Sabrina was sure she had treaded around the circle three times, she began to feel irritated at Jamie's consistent poker face, and she felt urges to rush forward and kick that annoying face of his in. However, she knew that would place her on the losing side immediately, and so she took deep and steady breaths, forcing herself to calm down as she focused on relaxing the tension in her body, feeling through every muscle as she-

Oh screw it.

With a battle cry, Sabrina charged forward, raising a hand to aim a chop at Jamie's shoulder. As she approached, Jamie quickly slid away from Sabrina's blow, counteracting almost immediately with an attempted punch. Sabrina leaped back to avoid it, but her opponent swung again, barely missing her chest as she reared back in surprise. She narrowed her eyes, regaining her focus just in time, as Jamie continued his onslaught of swipes and thrusts, with Sabrina barely able to avoid each attack.

This isn't like Jamie at all, the girl realized, gritting her teeth from the constant effort. Usually his strikes are thought-out and calculated, but now it's like he's just rushing to get this fight over with-

A sudden swing from the left grazed Sabrina's cheek, wrenching her back to reality as she stumbled back and lost her concentration. She blinked, her guard faltering for a mere moment, then going rigid as she saw Jamie's right hand curled into a fist, heading straight for her face.

I don't have enough time to move out of the way!

Instinct kicked in and Sabrina braced herself, digging her feet into the ground and raising her left hand in preparation to catch his. The boy's fist collided with her palm and a loud SMACK echoed through the canyons, the force strong enough to send Sabrina skidding back a few inches, leaving drag marks in the sand. For a few moments, the two were locked in a standstill, blazing olive green eyes locked with cold steel blues in a mixture of tension, determination, and impatience in the boy's case. Then, as one, they leaped away from each other, once again taking their places at the edges of the ring and reverting to their starting points.

Sabrina winced and held back a grunt of pain as she glanced down at her battered hand. She realized that both her hand and her wrist had gone numb, as she saw her fingers twitch uncontrollably, and she noticed a deep imprint with a dark bruise around it from Jamie's ring. She grimaced and flexed her fingers, regaining feeling with jolts of pain as she turned back to her opponent, who looked unfazed and appeared to be waiting for her to strike first again.

Fine by me, Sabrina decided, curling her fingers into tight fists. I'm done playing around. If you want this fight over quick, I'll end it for you right here!

With no warning, Sabrina shot forward, focusing on pumping her legs and keeping her gazed locked on her target. She saw Jamie shift his stance, pushing one foot forward and crouching down, making the girl hold back a grin.

Just as I thought!

Sabrina pushed herself harder, rapidly closing the distance between her and Jamie. At the last second, right as Jamie began to pull back his arm, she switched course and suddenly leaped to the side. At the same time, the boy lunged forward, his fist careening and hitting the air where Sabrina's abdomen had once been. She saw his body visibly tense as he seemed to realize that not only had he missed his target, but his back was wide open, making the girl's eyes gleam.

Gotcha! Sabrina grinned triumphantly as she raised her hands to bring them together, preparing to make the finishing blow. However, as she became so focused on winning the battle, she lost all attention to her footing, and so she didn't realize her metallic foot hitting the sand at a wrong angle and slipping until she felt her entire body uncontrollably pivot to the side. With a cry of alarm, she flailed her arms humorously and stumbled, taking a few clumsy steps back before regaining her balance. A sigh of relief escaped her lips and she felt pleased that she hadn't fallen over.

That is, until she realized Jamie had whirled around and was flying straight at her. Before she could react, the boy slapped his right hand to her face, catching her nose between his thumb and index finger. With a sharp push, Sabrina's head was forcibly snapped back, and she gave out a muffled shout as she felt Jamie forcing her body to fall back with her head.

A cloud of dust and sand billowed around the girl as she was flung onto her back, hitting the ground hard and making her eyes squeeze shut to keep from gasping out. She lay still, panting heavily as she felt Jamie slowly lift his hand away from her face, defeat weighing her down. She blinked open her eyes as a shadow fell over her and the victor gazed down, his expression set in a hard stare as he stood rigid and tall, silhouetted by the sun's beaming rays of light shining down onto his back.

"I win."

Sabrina scowled, rubbing a finger under her nose to feel for any pains from Jamie's facepalm. "No fair. You used a submissive move," she half-whined.

Jamie snorted and slumped down next to her, crossing his legs and rubbing his right wrist. "You were about to use alchemy, weren't you?" he pointed out. "You can't complain about me cheating if you try to do it yourself."

"Hmph," Sabrina grunted then pushed herself to a sitting position, patting the sand off of her back. "In a real-time fight like that, I would be dead if I didn't use my skills to my full extent."

"Still, that wasn't a real fight, so you cheated," Jamie countered.

"Oh hush," Sabrina stretched out her legs and looked them over, flexing her metallic toes and rotating her ankles. "Least my automail didn't hurt at all during the spar," she noted out loud, quickly changing the subject. "Some joints still feel a bit stiff though, so I'll have to oil those down. Right after I wash the grime off." She made a face as she ran her thumb down her leg, leaving a streak of metallic white through the dust and a speck of dirt on the tip of her thumb.

A momentary silence fell between the two before Sabrina pushed herself to her feet, patting the sand off once more and turning to face her friend. "So now that that's out of the way, what's your plan for today?" she asked. "I was thinking of helping out Gabe at the shop after a quick shower."

There was no reply for a long time and the silence lasted on. Sabrina noticed her friend had turned away from her and was avoiding her gaze, his face hidden by his bangs. She could feel a sort of tension emanating from his body, judging by how his shoulders seemed to have stiffened up, and she chewed her bottom lip, anxiously waiting for a response. When there was none, she cautiously spoke up.

"Jamie…" Sabrina hesitated. "There's something on your mind, isn't there? You've been acting weird all morning. Is there… something you want to tell me?"

Again, no response. Sabrina paused for a few moments before nervously going on, unsure if she was treading into private affairs. "Y'know bro… You can tell me what's going on. I'm here for-"

"I want to go to Meridius."

Sabrina stopped short. Jamie had said his words so sudden and quick that she barely heard a word he said. "Er… come again?" she asked.

Sabrina barely noticed Jamie's hand clenching into a fist. "…I want to go to Meridius," he slowly repeated, his voice low. "I want to see my hometown again."

Sabrina paused, biting her lip again as the request settled in. That's right… He's wanted to go back to his birthplace for a while now, she thought. I'm not sure it's the right time though.

"I know it's been a long time since you were there," Sabrina spoke up after a tense silence, choosing her words carefully. "But Meridius is towards the West. Its closer to Central, but it's still pretty far away. Besides, we just got done with our automail rehabilitation process not even a week ago and even then we're ending it a year early. Maybe if we just wait a bit-"

"You don't understand!" Sabrina jolted as Jamie snapped. His tone was harsh, but it calmed down considerably when he spoke again. "I can't wait any longer. It's been twelve years since I've even stepped near it. I was hoping to at least see what it was like a few years ago, but that was set back…"

He drifted off, but Sabrina silently finished what he couldn't say.

That was set back because of me.

"That town was supposed to be inherited to me," Jamie continued, his voice barely wavering. "I deserve to know if anything's changed. I deserve to know if the people I remember are still there. I deserve to know what became of my family's home."

Jamie ended abruptly and Sabrina considered if the stoic boy she always knew was close to tears. It pained her to see her close friend in such an unusual state, and she noticed the conviction as he spoke. There was nothing that could change his mind. He was past the turning point.

"When do you plan on leaving?" she softly asked.

There was a pause before Jamie mumbled, "Tomorrow morning. With or without you."

The words stung a bit. Sabrina always knew that Jamie could be more independent than her, but she had almost forgotten how cold he could get with his introverted attitude. She figured he was merely being determined and stubborn, and whether that was true or not, she knew she had no other options to choose from but one.

"Fine then," Sabrina shortly replied, turning and facing away from Jamie. "You better go inform Gabe of our change of plans. Just a warning, but he won't be happy with our limited amount of time."

With that, Sabrina stepped out of the battle ring and headed towards the shop, forcing herself not to look back to see if Jamie was getting up and following. As she approached the back door, she paused, her fingers lingering on the doorknob, and looked down. Despite the fast and rough sparring session, her feet still shone a metallic white in the sunshine, emphasizing her disability.

It's my fault the two of us are even here in the first place.

Insecurities plagued her mind and Sabrina clenched her teeth, attempting to will the strong thoughts away.

In fact, if it weren't for me, I would still have both of my legs and Jamie would have his arm. He'd be at his home by now while I would be searching for my parents. Maybe I would have found them by now. And Auntie wouldn't have-

A brush against her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts and Sabrina blinked in surprise, looking up to see Jamie leaning past her to pull open the door.

"Before Gabe hears the news, I'm going to get myself cleaned up," he said. "Move over, you're blocking the way in."

Sabrina blinked a few times in confusion, lightly stepping away to allow Jamie to walk past her before she made sense of his words. "Wait a minute! I called the shower first!" she called to his back.

"Victor wins the spoils," Jamie replied over his shoulder.

"That's cheap!"

"That's real life for you."

"C'MON!"

A/N: And there's the second chapter! Yes, this one was a bit shorter than the first, but I promise the next will have more content. We also get some conflict between Sabrina and Jamie and a hint of their backstories. Pretty exciting~ w

But like I was saying earlier, schools been on my tail as of late. It's a reason why I might go on a little haitus from Fanfiction for a bit, even though we've barely scratched the surface of this story. Sorry guys, but college's been preparing me for upcoming finals, and with rehearsals for a play coming up, I'll barely have any free time until December. I'll try to make the next chapter worth the wait, especially since Ed and Al will be introduced. WEWT