I'm soooooooooo sorry I haven't updated in I don't know how long! My procrastinating led to my mom forgetting to pay the Internet bill so I was stuck. Anyway, I made Winry and Aysa acquaintances in this chapter since I have something planned for her and Rose...probably. If I will, I have no idea how I'll do it, though.

And again, sorry for not updating in a while, but since winter break is on Thursday for me(yay), I might not update in a while again. If I do though - like Starry Dreams of Other Worlds says - consider yourself lucky!

Jeez. Can't believe how soon Christmas will be here. Only nine more days! Can't wait!

Anyway, here you go!!

Declaimer: I do...NOT own FMA

Chapter 5: Dogs, new faces, & broken automail

The trio roamed through the grassy plains of Resembool. The crisp breeze from the wind and the poofy clouds had reminded Aysa of her town back home. But then that soon made memories about her family, so she pushed the thought away.

"It's great to be back, isn't it brother?"

Ed turned to the suit of amour, "Sure is Al. Hope Aunt Pinako and Winry won't mind if we visit."

As they continued to walk, the three alchemist came upon charred pieces of wood, as if something had been burned all the way down. It was the lone indication that told Aysa the burnt rubble pile was formally a house. Aysa whistled in amazement as she bent down to the wreckage.

"Who's house was this? And who burned it down?"

"It was ours. And we did."Aysa turned to the source of the muffled echo. Al and so was Ed's facial expressions were both unreadable. Yet, Aysa had no idea why. But if she knew about the brothers' history, Aysa would know why they were acting the way they were. Aysa pressed on.

"Why would you do something like that?"

There was a pause of silence for a moment. Neither of the Elrics wanted to answer her. So to make a long story short, Ed just dropped the subject. The tone was sober as he replied.

"We better get going." With no if, ands or buts about it, Ed left the scene with Al following close at rear of him. Aysa had a dumbfounded expression on her face as the pair left her. When it came to stuff about the brothers, they would always try to avoid any conversation about them. And to tell you the truth, it really started to get on Aysa's nerves. She groaned and ran up in front of Ed and Al, blocking them from going any further.

"What is with you, Ed? I mean, every time I mention anything about you and Al's back round, you get all defensive about it."

Ed frowned and yelled at her. "Why don't you back off. It's none of your business about what happened between me and Al." He shifted to get around Aysa, but she got in front of him yet again.

"Um, hello? Did you already forget what Colonel Mustang told us? He said that we were partners. So it kinda is my business!"

" I don't care what the colonel said! As far as I'm concerned, you and I aren't partners!"

Aysa sighed loudly, "You just don't get it, do you? Wake up Fullmetal Head. No matter how much you and I hate it, we're stuck together."

"Yeah, well just because it has to be that way doesn't mean I have to like it."

Aysa realized that she and Ed were going nowhere with this pointless argument, so she just decided to drop it. "All I know is that the colonel must've chose us to be partners for a reason. And it's obviously not so we can argue and try to kill each other along the way."

Al was pleased to hear this from Aysa since she and Ed were always bickering about things that weren't worth the time. He figured that these were the last words that he'll hear from either one of the two.

Ed soaked in what Aysa had said for a moment before yelling rudely at the brown haired alchemist. "Alright. You win. Now get out of my way!" Aysa let him pass her but not before sharply eyeing Ed as he did. After Al went through, Aysa followed them close behind.

After making a couple of stops for people who greeted the Elrics and met Aysa (who at first thought Aysa was Ed's girlfriend which of course made Ed and Aysa go into full rage), the trio had finally come to Winry and Pinako's house. The sound of a dog's barking filled the air and sent a chill running through Aysa's skin.

"Ah, here comes Den," Al said.

"Uh, D-Den meaning small little puppy or Den meaning big, grown, vicious dog?" A black and white dog with automail on one of his front legs came from behind the house and dashed toward them. Aysa backed away a step as the dog came and barked at her.

Al bent down and petted Den, calming the dog. "Den's not vicious. Why do you ask, Aysa?"

Aysa stuttered, "N-no reason. Just wondering."

Ed smirked, "Don't happen to have a fear of dogs, do you?"

"No!" Aysa frowned and yelled in order to hide her lie. She never did like dogs. Plain and simple.

"Well you don't have to worry about this dog, Aysa. Den won't hurt you." Al stated as the dog came up to sniff and inspect the girl. Den didn't even have to smell her in order to get that she was anxious. He examined her for one more minute before he nudged her arm. At first she didn't get what he wanted, but it wasn't until Al told her that he apparently wanted her to pet him did she start to falter.

"Um, maybe some other time..."

"But I thought you weren't afraid of dogs," Ed ridiculed.

"I'm not."

"So then in that case, petting Den should be no problem." Aysa glared at Ed as he gestured her to the dog. She hesitantly stepped toward the dog and motioned her hand to pet Den, but her body had won over her mind.

The hand finally reached out on its own terms but still paused occasionally. Her mind began to race as the thought of what might happen if the dog decided to have a change of attitude and try to bite her came into view. The patience was starting to wear thin as even the dog let out a groan to signal Aysa to quicken the pace. Her mental battle took a pause as she heard Ed try to rush her in a mocking tone.

"Hurry up. We don't have all day."

"Hey, I'm going, alright?" With one last final attempt to end this whole dilemma, Aysa lunged out her hand, landing right on the top of Den's head. It was the first time Aysa had even laid hands on a dog, and she wanted it to be her last. Even before five seconds went by, Aysa swiftly took her hand away and forced a crooked smile.

"See. No big deal."

Ed could see straight through her attempt to make it seem as if petting Den wasn't even worth the time. He shrugged as he and Al headed toward the house. She kept on her smile until she knew for sure that Ed and Al were gone far enough not to see her sigh in relief. She looked up when Den nudged her hand again, wanting to get more praise from his new "friend."

"Sorry, buddy. But that was one of those one time things."

Den whimpered and hung his head down as Aysa hurried away from the dog. She came up just in time to see a wrench being hurled out an opened doorway like a boomerang, hitting Ed dead in the face and as a result, causing him to fall flat on his back. Aysa chuckled and said to herself, "He had it comin' to him." She paced slowly toward the pair, not giving a care about Ed's safety unlike Al.

The suit of amour waved at the open door as he stood in front of his knocked-out brother to keep him from any other type of harm. "Winry! Calm down!" A girl with sea blue eyes and blonde hair tied up high in a ponytail came up to the door holding another wrench firmly in her hand, ready to do another blow even to Al if necessary.

"Ed! Where have you been? I told you not to get too wrapped up in your military business until you forget to visit us! Outta my way, Al! I'm not finished knocking some sense into him!"

"Winry! Beating Ed isn't going to solve anything!"

Then a small old lady came up to the side of the raging blonde with a pipe in her mouth. "Well, well. Look who finally decided to show up." Al was about to greet Pinako, but was interrupted by Ed who had recovered from Winry's wrath.

"What the heck was that for, Winry?"

"For taking so long for you to come and visit us!"

"So what?! That doesn't mean you have to hit me with a freakin' wrench!"

Pinaoko sighed as the two continued to argue. She then saw a girl walk up the porch steps with a short brown hair and steel blue-gray eyes with a beanie on her head.

"And who do we have here? A friend of yours?" The pairs' bickering stopped as they, Al and Pinako looked up at her. To make it better, all spotlight went on Aysa - which she hated.

Not sure of what to say, Aysa said what came to mind. "Uh, hi...?"

Winry examined the girl before yelling at Ed, "Oh, so that's what you've been doing? Trying to find a girlfriend?!"

"WHAT?!" Both Ed and Aysa yelled in unison.

"What's wrong with you people?! Can't I go anywhere around here without people telling me that she's my girlfriend?! Just because I'm traveling with her doesn't mean I like her!"

"Besides, why would I want someone like him as my boyfriend?! He's not even five feet!"

"Would you shut up already about that?!"

Winry stared blankly at the two before Al helped her out, "You have it all wrong, Winry. This is Aysa. She's Ed's new partner assigned by Colonel Mustang."

Pinako took a puff from her pipe and questioned Aysa, "So that must mean you're part of the military too. Are you also a State Alchemist?"

Aysa nodded in response to her question. "Yeah. Aysa Lockhart's my real name, but Floral Blossom is my second name. And I was assigned, by force, to be with Ed." Aysa made sure she stressed the importance of the "by force" part.

"So, you don't like him?" Winry asked in a steady voice.

Aysa shook her head, "Nope. Just partners." Winry was glad she got that response. And she wanted it to stay that way - with them just being partners.

Pinako began at Ed and Al, "So, I'm guessing we need to fix your automail up?"

Ed smiled nervously at her, "Come on. Can't we just drop by without asking anything from the two of you?"

Pinako took another puff from her pipe before replying, "I've known you two forever. Which is long enough to know that you never visit without a favor to ask us."

Ed and Al laughed nervously as Pinako and Winry just smiled. Pinako began again, "Exactly. Now, which one needs to be fixed? Right arm? Left leg? Or have you just been reckless and need fixing on both parts of your automail?"

"Just the arm," Ed pouted.

Aysa lifted an eyebrow, "Left leg? You mean Ed also has automail on his leg?"

It had slipped the minds of both Elric brothers to mention that Ed indeed did have automail on both his right arm and his left leg. "Sorry. Guess we kinda forgot to mention that part, didn't we?" Al sweatdropped.

'Apparently,' Aysa thought as she saw that the group was going inside. She was about to go in with them before she realized that she had forgotten about her own automail that needed to be taken care of.

"Hey, do you mind if you could fix mine, too?"

Winry looked quizzically at her as she stopped at the doorway. "You have automail also?"

Aysa nodded and replied, "The right one." She rolled up her sleeve and revealed the damage she had received from her and Ed's little match. Both Winry and Pinako inspected it.

"This automail doesn't look well made." Winry stated.

"Yeah. My mechanic does a lousy job at automail. And not only that, he charges so much for everything. If you ask me, I think he's a ripoff. But he's the only mechanic that I know of."

Pinako added, "Not only is it not well made, but the piercing on it looks like you got into a little scuffle."

Ed was about to answer what he and Aysa did and how the damage got there, but before he could answer, Asya beat him to it. She put on a smile as she answered. "A stray dog came and bit into my automail. It was a pretty strong dog - especially if he could puncture right through it . Lucky for me my guard was up." Aysa told this lie for a reason. She knew if she told Winry and Pinako about how she and Edward were fighting the way they were, it would probably worry the both of them, but mainly Winry. That was one thing that she didn't need.

Ed and Al looked puzzled at Aysa, but from the looks of things, it appeared that she knew what she was doing. Especially, when she turned and mouthed the words, "go with it" to the Elrics. For that matter, they decided not to say anything.

Aysa asked again as Winry and Pinako got through with checking the automail. "So, you don't mind, if you change it, do you?"

Winry turned to her grandmother, "What do you think?"

Pinako smiled, "I think the more, the merrier. And you don't have to worry about us charging for a thing."

Aysa smiled at the elder, grateful that she had someone with more skills to fix her automail and that it wouldn't cost her. "Thank you, ma'am."

Pinako just shook her head and smiled, "No need. And please, just call me Pinako."

Ed's automail would be the first to come off. The Rockbell's were now assembling a new arm for Ed. Seeing how it would probably take about up to a week for everything to get done, the Elrics and Aysa were ready for a long stay at the Rockbells, in which Winry and Pinako didn't mind at all. Ed and Al were sparring in the late afternoon sun while Aysa sat next to the table inside the Rockbell's home, with her automailed palm on her chin. Due to the fact that Den and Aysa still weren't even acquaintances, Den laid on the other side of the room.

'This day isn't turning out the way I thought it would. Mustang assigned me to that Fullmetal Head, my automail got pierced, and Ed can't even tell me anything about he and Al's past.'

Aysa sighed. "All this, and I'm still not one step closer to finding the Philosopher's Stone." Den, sensing her stress, came up to her slowly and rested his chin on her lap. Aysa looked at him, but did nothing more. He let out a whimper and gave her puppy dog eyes. The girl couldn't help but to smile at Den. Without any hesitance, she lightly stroked Den's head and said teasingly, "Alright. You happy, now?" Den wagged his tail in response.

Winry soon came into the room and paused the forming friendship of Aysa and Den. "Hey."

Aysa turned, "Oh. Hi, Winry." She looked at the blonde and noticed that Winry had now changed into some proper clothing suited for doing work on automail or any machinery for that matter.

"I'm taking a little break on Ed's automail, so I figured that I might as well come and spend sometime with you." Winry wiped some sweat from her face and then decided to pull up a chair and sit next to Aysa. "So, how long have you and Ed been partners?"

"The colonel assigned us today. Even though I have no idea why. We both hate each other and we can't go through one moment without arguing. And sometimes, I swear he can be as stubborn as a mule."

Winry laughed at her comments. "Well, that's Ed for you. But believe me. Once you get to know him, he's not so bad."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Aysa mumbled low enough for Winry not to catch. It was quiet for a moment, which was perfect for Aysa. It gave her a moment or two to decided that if anyone were to tell her more about the Elrics, it would be Winry. Aysa couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know about them here and now.

"Winry? Will you answer me this?"

"Alright." Winry blinked as she replied kind of puzzled.

Aysa took deep breath before she continued, "For some reason, Ed won't tell me anything about why he has automail and why Al is stuck in that suit of amour. Do you know anything about what happened?"

For some reason though, Winry caught a guilty look in her eyes. Aysa looked at her for a moment before asking, "You okay?"

Winry lightly nodded and replied to Aysa. "I'm fine. It's just that - Ed and Al have been through so much over these past years."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Deep down, Winry wanted to tell her "no," but she knew she had to tell her. She herself didn't know why, but she just felt like she had to. That it was the right thing to do. Reluctantly, she took a deep breath before she began.

"It all started when their mother died."

Hooya!! That's my new word... Anyway, I am done!! Happy I got that over with! Anyway, on the next chapter, Aysa finds out all about the Elrics!! And do I smell a little bit of jealousy from Aysa? sniffs Oh yeah.

ATLgurl gone and out!!