A/N: Eep! I haven't worked on this story in forever! I'm so sorry to everyone who has been waiting and waiting to see what happens next! I've just had so much going on that I haven't had much time for anything at all. But now that school's out for summer, I promise I'll try my hardest to continue writing! So, moving right along, here's chapter 9!

"Kerria? Earth to Kerria?" Kashi waved her hand in front of her friend's blank face.

"Huh?" Kerria blinked. "Oh, sorry. I was staring off into space again." she laughed sheepishly.

"Geez, you've been doing that a lot lately. What's going on?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just…tired I guess." It wasn't a complete lie; Kerria hadn't been able to sleep ever since the night when she and the Tringham brothers came face-to-face with the leader of the terrorist group who had kidnapped Kashi not too long ago and caused so much chaos. So many things had been on her mind lately, but no matter how much she wanted to, Kerria knew that she couldn't say anything to her friends. She had to act normal so they would not get involved.

At that moment, Ed and Al came into the room.

"Hey Kerria and Kashi, we've got some good news!" Al said cheerfully.

"Good News?" Kerria and Kashi questioned.

"Yeah," Ed grinned. "There hasn't been much going on lately, so Mr. Sarcasm decided to give us all a day off tomorrow!"

Kerria smiled. "Well that was nice of Mr. Mustang to--"

"YES! DAY OFF!" Kashi jumped up excitedly, punching her fist above her head. "Let's have a party to celebrate!"

"A…A party?" Kerria stared at her friend wide-eyed.

"Yeah! We can eat sweets and have fun and…and…drink alcohol!" Kashi shouted excitedly.

"A-Alcohol?" Al blinked. "B-But we can't do that, we're all underage!" he waved his arms in frantic protest.

"Aw, who cares? No one will know!" Kashi grinned. "So it's settled! Tomorrow we'll all party at your house!"

"Hey! Who said you could come and trash our house with your party?" Ed yelled at Kashi.

Kashi just grinned even wider and said, "I did!"

Kerria laughed to herself, a little excited about what the next day would be like.

Kashi showed up the next day just as she had promised, her hands full of snacks. She greeted them with a cheerful exclamation of "Hey guys, ready to party?"

Kerria forced herself to smile and clear her head, at least for the moment. She decided that if her friends wanted a party, then the least she could do was enjoy it. "Yeah, let's have some fun!"

Kerria stared curiously at the tall, glass bottle in Kashi's hands. They had all been munching on sweets and doing random things under the influence of large sugar intakes almost all day, so now it was time for the "main event".

"Behold!" Kashi raised the bottle above her head and Kerria could see a strange, clear liquid sloshing around inside. "This is the main event of the evening!"

"But what is it?" Al asked innocently.

"Aw, damn, don't tell me…" Ed started.

"That's right! This, my friends, is the greatest beverage of all time! This…is sake! And I'm going to make you all drink it!" Kashi laughed evilly and pulled the cork off of the drink with a loud POP! "Now, who wants to try it first?"

Kashi eventually suckered everyone into drinking at least half their weight in sake, and it was at this moment that Ed discovered…he was the only one in the house who wasn't completely drunk. He sat back and enjoyed the show as the others continued to make fools out of themselves. Al and Kerria were fine until about their fifth drink, and were now acting as if they had suddenly transformed into a pair of kittens; meowing, rolling around on the floor, and rubbing up against random objects. Kashi was the first to go haywire, and she was running around the house as if she were even more hyped up on sugar than before; only this time, she seemed to be having strange hallucinations. She ran around the entire house claiming that pink monkeys were invading. "Edward!" She exclaimed, ceasing her running to stand in front of him. "Th-The pink monkeys are coming! They're…everywhere!" At that moment, it seemed that the sake had finally gotten to Ed, as he suddenly found himself acting completely out of character. He scooped Kashi up into his arms as if he were a prince out of a storybook, and he appeared to have stolen Major Armstrong's sparkles!

"Fear not, Dear Kashi…for I shall not let the pink monkeys harm you." He said in a voice so prince-like, it was hard to believe he was the same Edward Elric.

"Oh, my hero!" Kashi cried, her eyes sparkling.

The four of them continued being crazily drunk all through the evening, and finally fell asleep later that night.

Kerria slowly opened her eyes and tried to remember just where she was and what had happened in the past few hours. She looked around and realized she was on the living room floor of the Elric's house; she could see Ed and Kashi sprawled out and fast asleep on the couch, and next to her on the floor was Al, also sound asleep. Kerria suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head and concluded that everyone must have had way too much to drink that night. She stumbled to her feet and looked to see what time it was; it was after 1:00 in the morning. Kerria shuffled sleepily into the kitchen and poured herself some water to drink. After drinking the water, her head started to feel better, so she decided to go sit out in the backyard and get some fresh air. Kerria had never seen the backyard of the house before, but she had heard from Ed that Al planted a garden out there, so she decided to check it out.

"Wow!" Kerria breathed. As soon as she opened the door to the backyard, she was met with the bright glow of a garden filled with beautiful, blue flowers. "How amazing…I wonder what flowers those are." Suddenly she felt someone's presence behind her and turned around just as Al walked up and put a blanket around her shoulders. "A-Alphonse…?"

"It's called Firefly Grass," Al explained. "Pretty, isn't it? It only blooms at night."

"Oh…I see. Did you plant them all yourself?"

"Ha ha…I guess you could call it a hobby." The two of them went and sat down together on one of the benches on the porch and gazed at the stunning flowers. "You know…there's a legend that says if you hold Firefly Grass to your chest and pray while it's in bloom, then the person you're thinking of will be able to feel it, no matter how far away they are."

"Really? No matter how far?" Kerria asked. Al nodded and gave her a smile. Kerria looked up and gazed off into the distance at the giant Cherry Blossom tree in Central Park; the petals on the tree were already half gone. She began to wonder just how far away the terrorists would take her once the huge tree was finally bare and her time with the Elrics was up. She wondered if the legend of the Firefly Grass could even reach that distance, and before she knew it, her eyes began to sting with tears.

"Kerria?" Al saw a few tears start to stream down her face. "Wh-What's wrong?"

Kerria shook her head and sobbed, "I-I'm sorry. It's nothing, really, I just--" Before she could finish, Al had grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Kerria could feel his hot face against hers and she could tell he was blushing fiercely.

"You…you don't have to hide things from me." He told her. "I-If it's something that's bothering you…then…you can tell me about it." Kerria smiled to herself and decided that now was the perfect time to set something straight which had been bothering her for a while.

"Um…A-Alphonse? Actually…there's something that's been on my mind for a while…" Al released his hold on her and gave her a look saying he was ready to hear what she had to say. Kerria could feel her own face start to heat up as she continued. "You…you said something…in your sleep…that one time when we…ahem…uh, well…you know."

"Y-Yes?" Al could already tell where this was going, and his face turned even redder.

"W-Well…did you mean that? That you…l-lo-" Kerria was so red, she was sure she must have looked like a tomato by now.

"Oh…you…heard me?" Al's expression suddenly changed to a mixture of worry and embarrassment. "I-I-I didn't mean for it to b-b-bother you, I just…I…" Kerria's heart was beating so fast, she was afraid it would burst out of her chest, and judging by the way Al was gazing downward, she could tell he was feeling the same. Finally, Al gathered his courage, looked up at Kerria, and forced his words out. "I-I…I really do. I love you, Kerria."

Kerria smiled as a few more tears streamed down her face. She knew that what she was about to do next would make it even harder for her to leave when the time came, but her heart just would not listen to reason. "I…I'm so glad." she sobbed. "Because I…feel the same way. I love you, too." She tried to wipe away her tears, but they just kept coming. Apparently, joy mixed with sorrow makes twice as many tears. Al stared at her for a moment, not knowing what to do. Then it finally came to him. "I-I'm sorry…I just…can't stop cry-" she gasped as Al's hand reached out and gently brushed the hair out of her face. She looked up at him through her tears and she could see the blurry outline of his face. Slowly, he leaned forward, resting his hand on her cheek and gently pulling her face towards his. Kerria closed her eyes and braced herself for what she knew was coming. Finally, Al closed the distance between them, and the two of them shared a kiss for the first time. A surge of warmth rapidly filled Kerria's body, sending chills up and down her spine. Kerria completely lost herself in the moment, which seemed to last forever. When Al let her go, she slowly opened her eyes and gazed at him, smiling. She tried to say something, but her mouth had suddenly forgotten how to form words. She wanted to tell him how much she wished they could stay together, and she wanted to tell him everything that had happened, but she knew that she shouldn't.

"You still look like you have something on your mind." Al sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's bothering you?" Kerria realized that she wouldn't be able to hide what was going on for much longer, but she had to in order to keep everyone, especially Al, out of harm's way. However, there was one thing she could tell him about.

Kerria took a deep breath. "Well…I had…this dream…and through that dream I regained all of my memories."

Al gasped. "Y-You mean…?"

"Yes. I know where I came from. Well…I'm not quite sure exactly where…but I do remember this much: I was born an orphan and I didn't have many friends. I was passed around from family to family, but nobody ever really wanted me; I was always pushed onto people, and for that they hated me. When I turned 16…that was when the men came."

"Men?"

"Yes. They told the family I was living with that I was to be sent somewhere else, and they took me away. I don't know where it was exactly. The first night I was there, they put me in a small room with hardly anything in it…I cried myself to sleep that night, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of a huge door…that's how I ended up here."

"A door?" Al asked in surprise. "A big door…Kerria, do you remember what it looked like?"

Kerria nodded. "It was really tall and had lots of strange shapes carved into it."

"That's…Could it be…?"

"What is it?"

"Kerria," Al started. "I think…you may have come from…the other side of the gate!"

"The gate? What's that?"

"I think it's the big door you saw…those men must have somehow transported you through the gate and into our world! But…why would they?"

Kerria realized then that the men she remembered must be the terrorists, and that must be why they were after her. They were the reason she was here in the first place! But…why did they send her here, and what did they want with her now?

"So…is that why you were crying before?" Al asked, breaking the silence. "Because of that dream?"

"Ah…Y-Yeah. It's been on my mind for a while…and I guess it got me a little worked up." Kerria laughed a little to try and assure him that it was the only thing that had been bothering her, even though she knew it was a lie.

"I see…well the good news is, now we have a better idea of where you came from." Al smiled, and then began to turn red as he added, "And the really good news is…you won't be going back, will you?"

"Eh?" Kerria gave him a questioning look.

"W-Well…" Al blushed even more and looked down at the ground. "I mean…you didn't like your life back then, right? So…that means you'll stay here…with us…a-and…with me?"

Kerria fought back tears and finally managed to answer with a slight smile, "Y-Yeah…of course I will."

Another lie.

"The gate?" Roy looked up from his newspaper and gave Ed a questioning look.

"That's what Al told me." Ed stated. "He said that from what Kerria told him, it seems like she came from the other side of the gate."

"Hm…well that would explain a lot," Roy pondered. "It sure would explain why the terrorists are after her." Ed nodded in agreement. "Not only that, but I looked into your little idea about the terrorists being involved in those serial killings a while back."

"Oh, really? And?"

"I couldn't find anything linking the two, but after hearing what you just told me, I think there just might be something." Roy reached into his desk drawer, pulled out one of his case files, and started looking through it. "Ah, here it is. Now, do you know how long Kerria was in Central before she started living with you and your brother?"

"Um…a month, if I remember right."

Roy smirked and chuckled to himself. "Well, what do you know…it's just as I thought. Take a look at this." Roy handed the file to Ed.

Ed scanned the paper for a moment, and then gasped, "The murders…they started almost right after Kerria appeared in Central!"

"So, Kerria appears, the murders start, and then right after they mysteriously stop, terrorists go after Kerria. It's too perfect to be a coincidence, if you ask me."

"But…something's still not right." Ed pondered. "Why did these terrorists start killing in the first place, and what do they want with Kerria?"

Roy sighed. "I don't know, but I've got a really bad feeling about all this."

"Yeah…same here."

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed chapter 9! I had lots of fun writing it...especially the Al X Kerria scene. I'm sorry to say it, but this story is coming to its end soon. I loved working on it, though, so I just might write another fic whenever I get the time! Look forward to the next chapter!