Chapter Two

"Yes, two leashes. I can't go into detail right now, though" Ruby sighed, pulling her knees in close to her chest. "I need to figure out what to tell him, what to say,"

"Tell who?" Ed and Al asked in unison. Ruby shook her head.

"Never mind, it isn't for you to deal with." It didn't keep their curiosity subsided but they didn't ask more since she obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"Anyway, we were on our way back home, to Resenbool, when you... Inconveniently got in our way," Ed said. "Why don't you come with us? I'm sure your sister would be happy to see you." He handed the baby back over to Ruby and put his arm around her shoulder. Ruby stared down at the ground, tears loosely flowing from her eyes. She wanted to go with them and see her sister again, but the thought of him stopped her. As long as Edward was still alive, he wouldn't let her be free. She wanted freedom more than anything else, but she knew too well what loosing a loved one is like, and imagined it would be ten-times worse to kill them herself. No, killing Ed wasn't an option.

"Ruby," Al poked her in the arm. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm okay." Ruby looked at Ed's eyes. In all the time she'd spent staring into them, she'd never paid attention to their details. The way the golden-brown color seemed almost yellow in some places. "You have beautiful eyes, did you know that, Ed?" Ed blushed at the unexpected compliment.

"Thanks, I think," he responded. They both stood up, Ruby carrying Amber in her arms. "So will you come with us?"

"I- I can't, I want to but-"

"But what? Why won't you tell me who is making you so skitterish?" Ed was beginning to get annoyed at Ruby's secrecy. "If you tell me, maybe I can help."

"No, you can't help. I don't think I want you to try, either. I don't want you getting hurt, like I was." Ruby turned around, pushing the memories away as best as she could. Ed and Al stared at her.

"What do you mean, like you were? Did he do something to you?" Al asked. At the thought of this Ed got angry, grabbing Ruby's arm and turning her around.

"If whoever it is did anything to hurt you I want to know so I can kill the little punk!" Ruby pulled away.

"Just drop it, alright?" She sighed. "I really don't want to keep talking about it, so drop it now or I'll kill you just to shut you up!" Ed shook his head.

"Fine, but quit talking about him yourself, then," Ed started walking away through the trees, turning around just before he was out of sight. "Come on, already!"

"Edward Elric, what on Earth did you do to your auto-mail this time!" Winry hollered. She pulled her wrench out from seemingly no where, aiming it at Ed's head.

"Hey wait a minute, I didn't do this, she did!" Ed yelled back, dragging Ruby through the door. Winry dropped her wrench, staring blankly as Ruby cradled the crying baby in her arms.

"Ruby," Edward said, "attacked me from out of no where. Don't go hitting me with that damn wrench again."

"Ruby? How long have you been with Ed and Al?" Winry asked. "And that baby?" Ruby smiled, hugging her sister tightly.

"They just found me today." Ruby fell to her knees. Winry and Ed got down next to her.

"You okay?" Ed asked. He put his hand on her forehead. "You're not sick."

"No but I'm starving! I haven't eaten in two days." Ruby sighed, trying not to mention him in front of Winry.

"C'mon, let's get you into my room. You can lie on my bed and I'll get you some soup." Winry and Ed helped her up the stairs to Winry's room, sitting her on the bed.

Thunder cackled outside, waking Ruby from her dreams. She looked out the window, pulling the covers up to her chin as she watched the rain pour down from the skies. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the door creaked open.

"I thought you might be awake," Winry whispered. Ruby sighed, flopping herself down onto the pillow.

"It's just you," she sat up again, moving over to make room for Winry to sit down. "I thought it was some evil thunder-controlling electricity freak." Winry laughed.

"Sorry to disappoint you," she looked down at the foot of the bed where Amber was nestled among about fifty blankets. "Edward told me about her."

"Yeah," Ruby whispered, "at first, I was afraid he wouldn't like her, but he seems to be okay with it now."

"Of course I'm okay with it." Ed stepped in from the doorway.

"How long have you been there?" Winry asked, reaching under one of the pillows and pulling out her trusty wrench- again.

"Not too long." Ed sat down near Amber. "Hey Winry mind if I talk to Ruby alone for a minute?" Winry stood up.

"Sure,"

"What do you want to talk about?" Ruby asked. Ed moved over so that he could hug Ruby with his newly-fixed arm.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I should have been there for you; I should have helped you take care of her all this time!" Ruby rested her head on Ed's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Edward, everything turned out okay." She nuzzled her face into his chest seeking comfort from the fears tugging at her like so many ropes.

"It's not okay," Ed said. "I let you go, again, and I didn't even know you were going to have my child. I should've been there to take care of you and I wasn't." He pulled away from her. "I want to make things right. I want to help take care of you now, and I'm going to start with killing the bastard who made you his own personal slave."