Kerria continued studying alchemy, and the more she practiced it, the more she liked it. Sometimes, Ed and Al would help her practice and give her tips on how to improve. Kashi and the Tringham brothers also stopped by every once in a while to chat and to check on Kerria's progress. Kerria felt lucky to have so many good friends cheering her on, and each time they praised her, it urged her to work even harder.

Kerria began to get better and better, as expected. However, one particular day, while Al and Kerria were preparing lunch, something happened that nobody could possibly have seen coming. Al was chopping up some carrots to put into the stew Kerria was making; his mind suddenly wandered for a few seconds, causing his hand to slip and the knife to cut into his hand. He cried out a little in surprise and pain; Kerria turned to ask him what was wrong.

"Oh, it's nothing." he answered, holding up his hand to show her the cut. "I just cut myself a bit is all." His voice was calm, but the cut was very deep and blood had begun to stream from the wound and down his hand.

"Ah! You're bleeding!" Kerria pointed out. Al looked down at his hand and gasped at the blood that hadn't been there a moment ago.

"Y-Yeah. Maybe I should bandage it up real quick." he said, turning to go get the first aid kit.

"Actually…" Kerria started, uncertainty in her voice. Al stopped and looked at her questioningly. "Can I…try something?"

"Try something?"

"Yes. I was reading earlier, and I found something in one of my books about healing alchemy. I've been waiting for a chance to try it, so…"

"Hm…healing alchemy? I didn't think that was possible." Al pondered. "But if it was in a book…okay then, give it a shot." He held out his bloody hand towards her. Kerria smiled a little and took a piece of chalk from her pocket. She quickly drew the healing transmutation circle she'd memorized from the book onto the palm of her hand, then placed it gently on top of Al's injury. A cool, blue light surrounded Al's hand, and the cut immediately began to heal. But then, the unexpected happened. Kerria studied Al's hand for a few moments, and then suddenly everything around her started to fade away and numerous thoughts and images began to surround her. Kerria felt as if she was watching a movie, and stood staring at the pictures before her. She saw 3 young kids: two boys and a blonde-haired girl, and she watched as they laughed and played together in the grassy plains of their hometown. Then she saw a house, with a warm air about it and the welcoming, smiling face of a woman who always seemed to be around. Suddenly, the visions became more vague and harder to see, but still brimming with emotion. Kerria saw disaster, death, pain and suffering, and then everything became clear again and the bold image of a large suit of armor came into view. Kerria could somehow tell that the armor wasn't what it seemed; in a way, it was almost…human. She focused on the image and knew immediately that it would be burned into her mind forever.

"Kerria? Kerria!" Al's voice cut through the image and Kerria blinked a few times as she snapped back to reality.

"Wh-what…was that?" she stammered. She looked down and realized that her hand was still resting on Al's, and that his cut had completely healed.

"You did it, Kerria." Al told her, gently squeezing her hand. "But…then you zoned out for a minute. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Kerria nodded. "It was the weirdest thing. All of these pictures just started running through my head all at once. I think…they were memories."

"Memories?" Ed asked. They had all just sat down to dinner, and Kerria was explaining what had happened earlier that day while Ed was still up at Central Headquarters.

"Yes," Kerria replied. "But I don't think they were mine."

"How do you figure that?" Ed continued to question her. "I mean you did lose your memories right?"

"Yes, I did. But what I saw…it wasn't from my point of view. It was more like I was watching everything that had happened to someone else."

"What did you see?" Al asked. Kerria began to list in great detail everything she had seen, and the more she talked, the more serious the Elric brothers' expressions became. After Kerria finished, she noticed their appearances and looked at them questioningly.

"Kids playing…a warm house…" Ed muttered.

"Tragedy…sadness…a suit of armor." Al continued his brother's thoughts.

"Yep, it all sounds too familiar to be a coincidence." Ed said seriously, turning to Kerria. "Kerria…what you saw…those must have been Al's memories." Kerria gasped and looked at the brothers in shock. Suddenly, all she could think about was just how horrible those memories were, and the fact that they were Al's memories made her feel even worse. She glanced over at Al; he was avoiding her eyes and staring down at his plate instead. Kerria blinked back tears as she stared at his painful expression. Ed sighed and cleared his throat before turning to Al.

"Al…I think it's about time we tell Kerria," he said slowly. "about our past. I think she deserves to know." Al nodded, and then looked up to meet Kerria's gaze. It was then that the brothers realized a few tears silently streaming down her face.

"I'm…sorry." she sobbed. "I didn't mean to pry or anything. I feel like I saw something I shouldn't have."

"No, really, it's okay." Al shook his head. "It's not your fault that you saw all of that, and you really do deserve to know." Kerria wiped away her tears and smiled a little at the two of them, silently indicating that she was ready to hear what they had to say.

The two brothers smiled understandingly, and then they began to tell Kerria exactly what happened in their past. They told her about their childhood years in Rizembool, and how their mother had died from sickness when they were still young. They told her about how they had sought out a teacher and learned how to improve their alchemy in order to bring their mother back. Then they told her about that fateful night when their human transmutation failed, and Ed ended up losing his leg and arm, while Al became nothing but a soul incased in a suit of armor. They also explained all they had gone through to find the philosopher's stone and return things to normal. Kerria could tell that it was hard for them to tell her all of this, but at the same time, she was glad that they trusted her enough to tell her.

After dinner was over and the explanations were finally done, Kerria went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. As she washed, her mind swarmed with everything Ed and Al had told her. She still just couldn't believe the pain they had been through; especially Al. Kerria thought of what it must have been like, being only a soul trapped in a suit of armor; she knew it must have been so hard for him. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Ed behind her.

"I'm sorry for telling you so much at one time like that." he said solemnly. "I just thought you should know."

"I know," Kerria assured him. "and it's okay. It's just hard to imagine…everything you two must have gone through."

"You should go talk to Al." Ed suggested. He could, in some way, sense that Kerria knew Al had endured more than he had, and that Al was the one she felt sorry for the most. "He's up in his room reading, I think. But I know he'd probably like it if you went and talked to him." Kerria nodded and smiled a bit. She started to walk away towards the stairs, but then turned around.

"Hey, Edward? I wanted to ask you something." she started. Ed looked at her curiously and she took that as an indication for her to go on. "If this bothers you, you don't have to answer. But, why is it that Al is whole again and you still have an automail arm and leg?"

Ed chuckled grimly and held his automail right arm out in front of him, staring down thoughtfully at his reflection in the gleaming steel. "Well it's a long story, but in the end this was the price I ended up paying for getting Al's real body back. I don't really mind it, though. Automail isn't so hard to deal with compared to having no body at all. Truthfully, I'm just glad he's finally happy." Kerria smiled at Ed, touched by his words. The Elric brothers never ceased to amaze her with their brotherly love for each other. It sometimes made her wonder if she ever had a brother or sister, and if she ever cared for anyone like that. Kerria thanked Ed and told him goodnight, then she turned and headed up the stairs.

When she finally reached the door to Al's room, she took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. She heard Al's voice from inside tell her to come in, and so she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Oh hi, Kerria." Al said cheerfully, looking up from the book he was reading. "What's up?"

"Um…well I just…" Kerria started, not sure what to say. "I just wanted to check on how you're doing." Al laughed slightly and gave her a smile.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "But more importantly, you were actually able to perform healing alchemy earlier, weren't you?"

"Oh, yeah." Kerria said in astonishment. "I was so worried about you, that I almost forgot."

"Worried about me?" Al asked, surprised by what she said; his face immediately began to turn red as she nodded, a concerned expression on her face. "Ah…well…thank you. I mean…you didn't really have to worry." Al stammered. "Not that…I'm not happy you're worried about me! No, wait…I mean…I didn't mean to make you worry…" Kerria giggled to herself, thinking how cute he looked when he was flustered. Al quickly cleared his throat in an attempt to regain his composure before continuing. "But anyways, I'm really impressed that you could do alchemy like that. I've never tried it before, that's for sure."

"Hm? Why is that?" Kerria questioned.

"Well…I just always thought it couldn't be done because…" Al stopped in mid-sentence as he went into deep thought. He had always thought that healing would be considered human transmutation, which was of course the worst thing any alchemist could try to perform. He and Ed learned that lesson long ago and they knew it well. So then why was Kerria able to do it? And why did she see his memories? Could that have been the price that was required to achieve the transmutation, or something else? So many questions kept appearing, but none of them were being answered.

Kerria looked at Al questioningly, noticing that he seemed to be off in his own world. She wished to learn more about her past as soon as possible, and so she decided it was time to start training hard…for the state alchemist's certification exam.

"Wow…so you're really going to try and become a state alchemist?" Kashi asked excitedly. Kerria and Al decided to follow Ed to Central Headquarters again in order to talk to Kashi and Roy about the idea of Kerria joining the military. Kerria asked Kashi for her opinion, to which Kashi replied that she thought it was a great idea. Roy on the other hand, wasn't liking the idea of a young girl like her joining the military. Kerria insisted that she could handle being in the military, if that meant she could possibly find out where she came from and regain her memories. After hearing how determined she was, Roy chuckled to himself and made a comment; something about having too many children in the military. Then, he finally agreed to let her take the State Alchemist exam. Kerria beamed with pride and promised him that she would do her best. As they all turned to leave the room, Roy motioned for Ed to stay behind. He nodded and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk as the others walked out the door and closed it behind them.

"Do you really think it's a good idea…encouraging a 16 year old girl to join the military?" Roy questioned.

Ed shrugged. "Not sure, to be honest. But I think she can handle it." Roy nodded in agreement, but he still looked slightly uncertain. There was a short pause, and then Ed continued, "But I don't think you would want to talk to me in private just for that…so what else is going on?"

Roy smirked slightly. "You know me too well Fullmetal…it's almost annoying." After Ed shot him a glare he continued, "The murders in the area have stopped for the moment. But everyone's still uneasy. Something about it just doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't seem odd to you that a serial killer would just stop killing all of a sudden?"

"Hm…true. But what could it mean?"

"I don't know…but hopefully we can find out. Keep on your guard, Fullmetal."

Ed nodded and stood to leave the room.

When they got back home, Kerria went up to her room to study more, excited and a bit nervous about the exam. She decided to try and find the book about healing alchemy she had been reading before; she thought it was strange that Ed and Al had never tried it, and she figured the book might say why. However, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find it anywhere. She went downstairs and asked Ed and Al if they had seen it, but they both replied that they hadn't.

"That's so strange. I know it was right there in my room." Kerria pondered to herself. "So where could it have gone?

A cloaked figure hurried through the streets of central late at night, walking swiftly and quietly to make sure he wouldn't be seen or heard. His cape trailed behind him as he quickly darted into a dark alley. There, he met up with his companions, who were all equally cloaked and partially hidden by the shadows.

"Well?" the leader of the group hissed.

"Sir. The plan was successful." the newly arrived figure announced. "The book was effectively delivered and removed." he bowed slightly and outstretched his arms, revealing a book he held in his hands titled, "Healing and Medicinal Alchemy".

The leader nodded in satisfaction. "And the girl?"

"She was able to perform it, sir. Just as we suspected. However, she is also preparing to become a state alchemist."

At this, the leader grinned. "A state alchemist, huh?"

"Should we try to stop her, sir?"

"No. This makes things all the more interesting. Burn the book and continue to keep an eye on the girl."

The gathered figures bowed and went off once again to obey his orders.

The next day, Kerria and Kashi went into town to have lunch together. The two had grown to be good friends and were excited about getting the chance to work together in the military.

"Uh…Kashi?" Kerria stammered as she watched her friend gobble down half an ice cream sundae in about a minute.

"What?" Kashi looked up from eating. "I haven't been able to eat great stuff like this in forever. Fuhrer Mustang gives me so much paperwork that I have to skip a lot of meals."

"W-wow, really? I never knew you had it so hard."

"Heh…yeah. So are you going to wear a miniskirt with your uniform like mine?" Kashi asked, a big grin on her face.

"I…I'm not even a state alchemist yet." Kerria said with uncertainty in her voice. "I don't even know if I can pass that exam."

"Don't even say that!" Kashi shouted, waving her spoon at Kerria. "I know you'll do great, from what Ed and Al have told me. I'm really excited to see what you've learned. They've been teaching you right?"

"Yeah," Kerria nodded. "They've both been a big help. If it wasn't for them, I would have never even learned alchemy.

"Yeah, you'll do fine," Kashi assured her. "and I have just the thing for you to wear!" she winked at Kerria smugly. The two girls laughed and continued to talk and joke to one another, enjoying the afternoon. They were so busy chatting and having fun that they didn't even notice the dark figure staring at them from the shadows of a nearby alley. He grinned to himself as his gaze locked on Kashi. At last, he had found a new plan.

A/N: phew I managed to write another chapter. I'm actually pretty proud of myself...the story seems to be coming along well. My only fear at this point is that I may be making Ed just a bit OOC. But other than that, I like how it's going. Also, thanks to everyone who's reviewed! It's really encouraging me to do my best and work hard to write new chapters even with school and everything else going on! Thank you, guys and look forward to the next chapter!