hey... um yeah here you go....

Escape

Dawn had finally fallen upon the Elric's house. Everything was silent and all were asleep except for one, and that one person was Akiko. For the first time since The Accident she had slept without nightmares. And if it weren't for the fact that she really needed to use the restroom she'd still be asleep.

Little by little Kiki pushed herself into a sitting position in the fluffy bed, and after the dizziness passed and the world stopped spinning, she looked around the room. It was relatively small, but not claustrophobic small. The medium sized bed she sat on was pushed up against the farthest wall from the door with the headboard in a corner. There was an average sized window in the wall next to the bed that revealed a driveway and a large weeping willow tree that was within jumping distance.

A few feet from the foot of the bed, was a plain closet door, and a couple feet to the left of it was a large desk scattered with historical and mathematical papers and transmutation circles. Across the room from the desk, and in the opposite corner as the bed, was three huge bookcases filled to the brim with tons of books of varying sizes.

Movement from next to the bed caught Kiki's eye, and immediately her head turned toward it. Because of all the blood she lost Kiki's eyesight blacked out from the sudden movement. She gave a small shout of surprise as the room seemed to spin and she plummeted toward the ground.

But just before her face met the floor she was stopped in mid air by a pair of strong arms.

"Are you ok?!" she heard Al's worried and surprised voice ask.

Akiko's vision swam in and out of black and gold as the rest of her body slid the rest of the way off the bed and into Alphonse's lap. Finally the room stilled enough for her to focus on his face.

The first thing she noticed was that his hair was down and the second thing was that he was shirtless. Isn't he freezing his butt off! She thought incredulously. I'm cold and I have on a shirt and pants AND I was under like four blankets! …Although he does have a really nice chest and Abs… and not to mention he's the cutest guy I've ever seen in my life—No! No! No! Don't think things like that, you can't afford to get attached to anyone, especially not someone as nice as him, it's too dangerous!

"I'm fine, just let me go!" she pushed away from Al's arms—he was too kind, too close, too warm, and Kiki couldn't get his addicting woodsy scent out of her head! She wanted to let him hold her and tell her she wasn't alone, but it wasn't safe! They would find out and she wouldn't do that to him, she couldn't!

Al tried to calm the thrashing girl in his arms but she pushed off his chest with one of her feet and she flew out of his grasp in a blonde flurry and onto the cold floor. Teary and remorseful, cerulean eyes locked with his for less than a second before she weakly staggered to her feet and tried to reach the door, but she was off balance from her injury and rammed into the wall, then the bookcase and finally tripped over the desk and collapsed in front of the door.

"AKIKO!" Al jumped to his feet and sprinted over to her.

CLAP!

Al froze as unexpectedly the wooden floorboards morphed into makeshift hands and seized his body. Al's astonished amber gaze met with Akiko's ashamed and distressed, soft cobalt eyes.

"H-how…?" he whispered in dazed voice.

"You have-… to let-… me go…!" She whimpered earnestly and out of breath.

"If they find me here- they'll kill you, and I can't let them do that to you! " She said with determination in her voice as she tried to make him understand and pulled herself up by the doorknob.

"Wait! You don't understand! We could help you! My brother and I are—" Al tried to say.

"Please… forgive me, Alphonse." She whispered without looking at him and with that she began to turn the doorknob. Am I destined to always hurt those who are kind to me? Am I destined to curse everyone I care about with death? She asked god. Will I never have my own life?

"Wait, please don't leave! Your not healed!" Alphonse fought against the wood that held one of his arms. If only I could get my other arm out! Then I could free myself!

"Al are you ok, what's going on in here!" shouted a voice from the hall.

Suddenly the door flew open to reveal Ed with his Automail transmuted for a fight. His eyes met with Akiko's ashamed and determined gaze then flew to his brother's distraught eyes and trapped body.

Without a second thought Al's brother burst into action. He dove at Akiko but she slammed herself into the wall and out of his way just in time. After basically falling out the door the mysterious alchemist clapped her hands and sealed the door shut with four or five layers of wood hoping it would stop them, then let out a slightly relieved sigh and half-crawled, half-walked toward the stairs. He may hate me but at least he'll be alive…she thought to herself.

Akiko stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the wall behind her explode.

"HA! You're not the only one who can do THAT! Now tell me why you attacked my brother, you ungrateful—!" Ed was cut off as Al burst through the hole in the wall and pushed past him.

"Kiki Stop! We can help you!" Alphonse grabbed her arm just as she got to the stairs, and then he pulled her backwards against himself. "You'll die if you leave now… we can help you, I promise… just at least wait until your healed!"

She struggled with her the last of her strength tried to throw herself toward the stairs.

"You don't understand! They'll come!" she sobbed as she sagged into Al's arms.

"We'll be here to protect you Akiko. It's ok, my brother and I will—" he tried to reassure her.

"YOU DON'T GET IT, ALPHONSE! They CAN'T be killed!" she yelled at him with her eyes clenched shut with frustration and clutched at his bare arms, trying to shake him but only managed to waste her strength.

"No matter how many times you hit them, or cut them, I even tried to blow them up! But they just keep coming back again and again…!" Al hugged her tighter as she cried.

"No one is invincible, Kiki. Who ever they are… they have to have a weakness… and we'll find it if you'll just let us help." As she started to calm down she wrapped her arms around his neck and Al slid a arm under her knees and picked her up.

"I don't want any of you to get hurt because of me…" She said as she looked up into Al's eyes and the tears finally slowed to a stop.

After wiping a hand over his Automail and returning it to normal Ed walked up to his brother. Just like his younger brother Ed's hair was still down and he hadn't put a shirt on after waking up from his sleep.

"Care to explain what this is all about, Al?" He said with a slightly confused and ticked off face. They woke me up and made me leave Winry for THIS?

"E-Ed!? I'm not waiting any more I'm coming up!" Winry's voice sounded from the bottom of the stairs, and AL gave his brother a confused look.

"Care to explain THAT, brother?" he said with a nod toward the ascending mechanic.

"OK my thing is Totally different then yours!" Ed said defensively. "At least me and Winry didn't manage to break a hole in the wall!"

Al gave his brother a sickening look and glanced at Winry in her pink and fluffy nightgown, then back at Ed. A crimson blush covered Ed's face, and he conked his little brother over the head with his fist.

"I didn't mean THAT!" he hissed.

"Well what was I supposed to think when you say something like that then you come up here wearing basically nothing!" he said under his breath at his brother as Winry came to stand with them.

"Well for one thing, IF we had we wouldn't be wearing anything at all!" Ed said just before Winry got to them.

"Oh my gosh! What did you guys do to the poor girl!?" Winry gasped when she saw her patient

All of their attention suddenly went back to the girl in Al's arms. Unknown to the brothers she had fainted during their short conversation. Winry grabbed one of her limp arms and checked for a pulse.

"What happened to her? She's a wreck," Winry brushed Kiki's blonde hair out of the way and placed a hand on her forehead, "she's on fire! And not to mention she's unconscious!"

"She woke up and fell out of bed but when I caught her she freaked out and started thrashing around! Then she started saying that we had to let her go, and that they were coming and were gonna kill her and us!" Al tried to explain.

"And don't forget about her other 'surprise' Al." Ed added when his brother finished.

Winry looked at the hole in the wall then at Ed with a worried look on her face.

"What surprise?"

The two brothers looked her dead in the eye, with a look she hadn't for a long time.

"She's seen The Truth, Winry… She's been to The Gate." They said at the same time.

An overwhelmed look came over Winry's face. "But that would mean…"

hope you liked it... blah, blah blah

-MiMi