Chapter 4

So This Is Leaha ...

When the three came back holding the battered Leaha, Pinako's jaw dropped along with her pipe. "Oh my ... take her to the back room right now! Winry, I'm going to need your help with that leg. Ed, you go call her uncle, I'm sure he'll want to know what's happened."

"Sir, we found Leaha." Ed spoke into the telephone receiver.

"Good job. Wait ... how do you know what her name is? She never tells anyone what her name is." Mustang's voice suddenly took on a new note. "What's going on?"

"I found her pocket watch earlier today. She dropped it while running from Scar. By the way, he's dead." Ed added and heard a sigh of relief.

"What about Leaha? Why isn't she the one calling?" Mustang prodded.

"She got hurt when Scar apparently ambushed her." Ed replied, trying to avoid saying just how badly she'd been hurt, but Mustang cleared his throat, a signal to say more. "Scar got her leg. That alchemic reaction went off when he had a hold on her ankle. Winry and Pinako Rockbell are working on her right now to make sure she doesn't bleed to death."

"Fullmetal, you and your brother stay in Risembol. I'm going to be coming on the early morning train."

Pinako and Winry came out of the back room about two hours later. Winry's face had a slightly green tinge to it as she rested quietly in a chair.

"Is she going to be okay?" Al asked quietly.

"She will be ... eventually. The bones were shattered to a ways above her knee, so we basically had to remove everything from her mid-thigh down, much like Ed's leg." Pinako shook her head. "That must have been one of the hardest operations I've ever done."

"It's that bad?" Ed inhaled sharply as he came in. "Mustang will be here on the first train in the morning."

"I wonder if Leaha will be awake by then." Winry wondered as a muffled moan could be heard from where Leaha was resting.

"There is no way that she could be awake by then with the amount of drugs in her system and all of the trauma that she's been through." Pinako stated.

"Hey ... wake up." Ed just growled and turned his head away from the voice. He had slept in a chair at the foot of Leaha's bed while Al stayed at the train station. "Wake up!" The voice demanded again.

"Whaaa!" Ed yelped as something damp, cool, and soft hit his face. "What!" He yanked what turned out to be a wet washcloth from his head.

"Where am I?" The voice, which belonged to Leaha, asked harshly.

"The Rockbell's house. They're friends of mine. You'll be okay." Ed noticed a bit of worry in Leaha's dark eyes. "I called Mustang last night. He should be here soon."

"Why would you call him?" Leaha asked warily.

"I sent them to find you." Mustang's voice came from by the door. "Thank you for finding her in time." He whispered to Ed as he moved to Leaha's side. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, sir." Leaha replied tentatively, as if afraid of reprimand. "I completed my mission, sir."

"Ed, would you mind?" Mustang gestured for him to leave. When the blonde was gone, the Flame Alchemist sat down on the foot of the bed. "You've fulfilled protocol as a soldier, now as your uncle I want to know how you're really feeling."

"Alright. My stump hurts like mad and I feel like an incompetent moron." Leaha grimaced. "I don't want to be stuck in office doing paper work because I can't walk. How can I stay a certified alchemist?"

"Simple, the same way that Edward does." Mustang chuckled. "In all sixteen years of your life, you've never heard of automail?" He taunted. "Really ... how could one not think of it ... it's just so simple ..."

Making a face, Leaha threw another damp washcloth, hitting her uncle squarely in the face. "The thought slipped my mind. Thank you for refreshing my memory, sir." She grinned and made a jaunty, two fingered salute.

"Hey, I wanna see too!" Al whined quietly as he, Winry, and Ed tried to peek in the door's key hole.

"The only other person I know of who can talk like that to Mustang is Hawkeye, and she rarely does." Ed muttered as he moved out of the way so Al could look.

"Well ... he is her uncle." Winry replied just as softly. "Blood is thicker than water don't you know."

"He's leaving!" Al hissed as he almost tripped over the two blondes. "Get out of the way! He'll see us!"

Franticly, the trio rushed to the porch and pretended to be in mid-conversation as Mustang walked out into the sunshine. "Do you know where your grandmother is?" He asked. Trying not to laugh, Winry pointed towards the back yard. "Thank you. Oh, and by the way ... you three really need to work on your eavesdropping skills."

One Week Later

"Are you sure that you're okay?" Winry asked as Leaha stood on her new automail leg.

"For the millionth time, yes! Don't worry, it takes more than this to keep me down." Leaha smiled lightly as she tied her glossy black hair into a ponytail. Normally, it would be French-braided to prevent any distraction in a fight, but no such activity was in her near future. "I think I'll be wearing pants more often." She grumbled. "I feel like I'm trying to make people ask about what happened to my leg." The sun coming in the window glinted off of the deep gray metal limb which was left in view by the jean shorts.

"Even if you're feeling better, you should wait a bit longer before going back to Central. It takes a while to get used to automail." Ed called through the door. "But if you want to go today, hurry up, the train's leaving soon!" A dull thud followed the tirade.

Questioningly, Leaha looked to Winry. "He banged his head on the door post. He always does that when he gets frustrated with me." The mechanic smiled evilly. "Maybe would should braid your hair." Several more thuds were heard along with a low growl.

"Nah ... I'll have enough time to do it myself on the train. Besides, I don't want to hear Ed complaining the whole way to Central." Leaha smirked.

"I wouldn't!" Ed whined. "I just want to get going!

On the train to Central, Ed and Al sat in a booth across the aisle from Leaha, who was trying to rest. "How can girls take so long to get ready to go anywhere!" Ed complained to Al, glancing at Leaha. "You'd think they'd look better for wasting all that time."

"Brother ..." Al started, but the warning was too late. Leaha had already gotten up and dumped her glass of water over the blonde's head. "You should be a little more careful about what you say." The younger of the two brothers laughed.

"I thought the older sibling was supposed to be smarter and wiser." Leaha smirked (Ed swore it must be genetic). "You really should act your age instead of your hight."

"Grrr ..." Ed's features darkened as he ground his teeth. He wanted to attack her, but Ed knew by now that it was smarter to restrain himself when it came to Leaha. She'd cream him if it came down to a fight. He learned that the hard way. "You and your uncle are really a lot alike aren't you? And I don't just mean that you look like a girl version of him either."

Suddenly serious, Leaha leaned towards him. "He's my biological uncle, but as far as I'm concerned, he really is my father. Roy raised me after my parents died in the Ishballan Rebellion when I was six, so when it was all over ... I moved in with Mustang." Leaha sounded indifferent, but a glisten could be seen in her eye ... a single tear. "He's the only family that I have left."

I know that this wasn't very long, but I'm trying to ease into some more action, so please bear with me.