FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, GOLDEN EYES

By Born of Starlight

Sorry it took so long. I had this huge conference thing I had to go to. Gah...! Twenty-five pages of paperwork! Three days in a very exciting hell:::sighs: Yeah... I'm currently applying to be a foreign exchange student, and thus far things look pretty good. Wish me luck! I don't find out if I get to go anywhere for another couple of weeks. One week at the least. Also, I won't find out where I'd be going until February. And that's my explanation. Excuse? Well, that's why it took so long, anyway. Sorry!

Disclaimer: Yeah. Don't own it, but I hope to see the movie in Japanese, if that's where I get to go...! (I'm so tired! Oh my God, this weekend was so taxing, both physically and mentally!)

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Chapter 5

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Dust sprinkled down onto her face, and a ray of artificial light shone down into her eyes.

"What the hell…?"

"What is it, Havoc?"

"I think it's a cat. It has eyeshine something fierce, anyway!"

"Get out of my way!"

Edward.

Korin tried hard to say something, but she just hurt to much.

Two hands, one flesh the other auto-mail, tried to lift the iron beam away from her little cave in the rubble.

It didn't budge.

"Step aside, Edward," said a deep voice. "This form of weight lifting has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!"

With a groan, the beam moved. Ed reached in and pulled her out. Armstrong them let the beam slide back into place.

Korin looked up at the people crowding around her. Her eyes fell on Havoc.

"A cat…?"

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"Well, at least we know you haven't grown any since last time…" Pinako couldn't keep the exasperation out of her voice.

Korin rolled her eyes while Ed snickered. "Yeah. Even mine lasts longer than five days…!"

"Shut up, Edward." An evil smile spread over Korin's face. "Or should I say 'grow up'?"

"Are you CALLING ME SHORT?"

Korin grinned. It was the first time anyone besides Edward had seen her smile. Mustang, standing nearby to help restrain her (her arm and right leg had to be replaced completely), thought she should smile more often.

He didn't know that she couldn't.

Korin was also thinking about her smile. Why was it that only Edward could partially bring back what she had lost? The smile faded.

With a sigh, Korin looked up at the two auto-mail technicians. "Let's get this over with, okay?"

Pinako gave a sharp nod. Winry went to get the stuff they would need.

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Korin bit back a scream of pain. She had promised herself this wouldn't be like last time: no shouting insults, no crying, no screaming secrets.

Korin felt her back arch involuntarily as knife-like pain stabbed into her shoulder.

"Hold her down!" Winry's voice sounded far away.

Korin opened her eyes and saw several people above her. She was starting to shake violently, literally vibrating.

"God! How can someone so small be so strong?" Hughes said.

"You jerk! I'm NOT THAT SMALL! I know of at LEAST FOUR PEOPLE BACK HOME SHORTER THAN I AM!"

So much for not shouting insults… The shuddering increased tenfold.

"Someone make her stop shaking, we can't work on her until she stops!" said Pinako.

Ed took charge of Korin's shoulders. He stood behind her head, a hand on each shoulder. Her copper hear was darkened with sweat and her eyes didn't seem to want to focus on anything.

He knew the feeling.

Korin could feel a scream coming up to tear out her throat.

She tried to bite it back, but it forced its way out anyway.

Her thrashing grew in power as the yell escaped.

Ed was trying desperately to hold her shoulders still. Hughes was holding her left arm down while Winry worked on her right. Mustang held her left leg still while Pinako tackled the remaining limb.

"We have to make her stop moving!" Mustang's voice sounded strained.

"Well, what do you suggest? Knocking her unconscious with a wrench!"

Just then, Korin found her voice again. Too bad.

"Why does this hurt so much? By all rights I shouldn't be able to feel this!"

"Why not?" Korin wasn't sure who asked.

"BECAUSE, you idiot! I just barely count as a HUMAN ANYMORE! YOU CAN'T MAKE A PHILOSOPHER'S STONE WITHOUT TAKING A HUMAN LIFE, YOU KNOW THAT! IN ALL SENSES OF THE WORD, I TRULY AM A MURDERER!"

Ed knew he had to stop her before she gave away anymore of her secrets. He also knew she needed to stop moving. So he did the only thing he could think of.

He kissed her.

Korin froze as she felt his lip on hers. She stopped breathing, stopped thinking.

Everyone else froze too.

When Ed pulled away, it was to find Winry snickering behind her hands and Pinako's eyes twinkling at him. However, his favorite reaction was Mustang's…

Roy Mustang's mouth was hanging open. Ed winked. "I finally managed to shut you up, huh bastard?"

Mustang snapped his mouth shut and glared at the younger alchemist.

Ed looked at the old woman working on Korin's right leg. "You almost done? I don't know how much longer she'll be in a state of shock."

A few minutes later, Korin started blinking again. It was alright though, because the last bolt was being tightened.

"EDWARD ELRIC!"

Ed had to jump away as Korin lurched towards him. Everyone got out of her way. None of them had forgotten her words. "I truly am a murderer…"

She launched herself across the room. She was faster than Ed. She slammed the young man into the wall, hard, and raised her mechanical arm to punch him.

The ringing of metal on metal brought her to her senses. Ed's own metal hand held her clenched fingers away from his face.

Korin sank to her knees and sobbed.

Mustang came and crouched next to the girl. "Did you really create a Philosopher's Stone?"

Still sobbing, unable to speak, Korin pointed towards Ed. Mustang looked at the boy. Edward couldn't meet his eyes. "She gave to me when I was fighting Scar." He reached into his pocket and pulled the iridescent stone out into the light.

"I though it would be red. Like the blood spilled to create it." Roy turned cold eyes on the girl. "You do understand that I'll have to arrest you for mass murder, right?"

"Wha--? No! Colonel!"

"Not now, Fullmetal."

Korin didn't protest as Mustang pulled her to her feet. And she didn't protest as Mustang and Hughes led her out of the room, leaving two shocked women, and one very furious boy, behind.

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:coughs: Right... :is completely embarrassed: Yeah... Alright, I know I've got a lot to answer for, don't I. Ed? Kissing? Yeah. REALLY gross. (Wow, that sounded incredibly immature...) It was so hard to write, and it was awkward, and embarrassing! Don't have any idea why I did it. I've read someplace that you should write what the general public wants to read. Well, romance is really not my thing, but a lot of my friends are typical fangirls. They disgust me. Lol. Not really, but whatever. So, yeah, this is only the second thing with a romance in it that I've written. Oh, and Korin's reaction. Yeah... Long story. Um. Quite a bit of Korin's past never made it into this fic, and one such part that didn't make it, explains why she was so...shell-shocked. Ed reminds Korin of one of her friends. That particular friend died quite recently. She...had feelings for this friend, and he died in her arms (yeah, yeah...shut up, I know it's clichè). She...is going to...well... Gah! I can't explain anything without giving stuff away!

Reviews! Why so few reviews, people? Just one for last chapter!

Delightfully Wicked: You're "all 'HOLY CRAP!'d" out? I'm sorry. Is that bad? Or was it a good 'HOLY CRAP!'d' out? Whew... Don't yell at me, onegai! It...gets worse from here. The EdxOC pairing? Shit, I feel stupid...! I loath CanonCharacterxOriginalCharacter pairings, and here I've gone and written one:::smacks herself on the head: I mean, they're okay if they're done right, but I don't know if I've done it right! Grr...! Did I do it right...?