Lots to say before I start, but I might as well get it over with...

1) Yay!! Winter break has OFFICIALLY arrived for me XD I hope everyone has a good Christmas!!

2) HayateIzumi---Sorry for not posting sooner... ToT Being on this site and trying to keep a story going for others is a bigger responsibility than I originally thought...

TaysGoinGhost---Thanks for taking an interest in my story! Although I need to pay wwaayy more attention in Language Arts class than ever before since I know my grammar is going down the drain... Also, thanks for replying nicely to my review!!

3)Just a warning before I start..

As most of you might know, I'M NOT THAT GOOD AT FIGHT SCENES!! I find myself on Google looking up Writing Fighting Scenes every so often, cause it seems like I don't know any combat moves but punches and kicks. So if I happen to repeat a same move from another chapter of this story or just keep using the same moves over and over and over and over again...my bad.

And last) I haven't seen the first twenty episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist in forever, AND I can't watch them on the computer since I have FREAKIN' DIAL - UP!! TOT So if I mix some things up in this chapter, my bad about that too...

Now that that's over with, here's the story!!

After the declaimer...HAHAHA!!

Declaimer: I own nothing from this show/chapter/what ever you want to call it BUT AYSA! Muhahaha! I own someone! Just the thought of it makes me kinda feel higher for some reason...Have no idea why, though... The only ones I have higher authority over are my dogs.

Daisy: True, but yet, you don't see US picking up our poo...

O-o

Chapter six: Losing to Emotions

Aysa treaded through Resembool's grassy plain as she came over to Ed and Al's sparring match. Her body carried her across the plain, but her mind was completely focused on what Winry had just told her while inside. Aysa finally understood everything. Colonel Mustang did tell her that their lives were alot alike, but she never knew their lives were nearly exactly alike.

'Colonel was right. Even though I hate to admit it - and I mean really hate to admit it - Ed and I have more in common than I thought. Except...'

Aysa stopped and glanced up at the brother's match. Ed had suspended in the air ready to do a front dropkick. It was blocked by Al with no sweat as he pushed the kick off. Ed did a back flip in mid-air and landed gracefully back on the Earth's soil.

Aysa continued as she furrowed her brow, 'He still has a brother.' Bullets of jealousy shot through Aysa's insides. To her, it wasn't fair. The two partners had both done the ultimate taboo of alchemy. So why was it that Ed still had Al while Aysa was left alone by herself? It was then when she realized that she had no one to blame but herself. She knew it was her fault that her brother was gone, not Ed's.

If she had just listened to Zane on that stormy day, then all this - her losing an arm, joining the military and becoming a State Alchemist, the quest to finding the Philosopher's Stone and her having to travel with Ed - all this wouldn't have happened.

In fact, she probably still would have been at her Teacher's house scrubbing the floors, cleaning the rooms or even going through her Teacher's underwear. Either one of those three choices would beat losing her brother, losing her arm and going to seek something that many alchemist would kill or have killed for.

However, Aysa was still bitter toward the fact that Ed's brother was still alive. But she couldn't let her emotions get the better of her. She pushed her thoughts to the side as she continued to walk toward Ed and Al.

"What's up?" Ed was about to give an additional hit to Al, but Aysa's voice caused him to pause as he and Al turned.

"Huh? Oh, hello, Aysa. What brings you here?" Al asked.

Aysa smiled, "Just wondering if Ed wouldn't mind for a rematch. Last time he got lucky, but this time maybe different." Aysa figured another good match from Ed should clear her thoughts.

Ed gave her a short answer as he crossed his arms, "All it'll be is a waste of time."

"What?" Aysa looked at him puzzled.

Al helped her out, "Your automail is still damaged. If you and Ed do the rematch right now, Ed would have the upper hand."

Aysa stared up at the suit of amour for a minute then just shook her head and smiled, "Doesn't matter. All it does is make me even more fired up. So how 'bout it Ed?"

The male alchemist just sighed as if annoyed. He still figured that this would be a waste of time, but replied, " Just remember that you were the one that asked for this and not me." He then turned to his taller younger brother, "Al, you got a minute?"

The suit of amour nodded, "Sure. I don't mind."

"Good. This shouldn't last long at all anyway."

Aysa scoffed at his remark and mumbled low enough for him not to hear, "That's what you think." The two alchemist took their positions, ready to start. The atmosphere filled with anticipation as the pair readied themselves.

Before the match began, Ed offered to Aysa, "Why don't you start the match since I went first last time, rookie."

Aysa half smirked at this comment, "Thanks, short-stack."

And the rematch began! As promised, Ed let Aysa give the first move of the match. Aysa started with hand to hand combat. She charged with clenched fist ready to strike. However, before making contact, Ed caught the attack. Aysa's eyes widened in alarm. Knowing that now she was going to have it, Ed just smirked.

He then gave a sidekick to Aysa's side with his automail leg. She recoiled back and gritted her teeth as she clutched her side. Pain delivered by the hit was unbearable as it flowed through her side. A loud, yet familiar bawl overflowed Aysa's ears. She glanced up just in time to see Ed lunge at her. She narrowly evaded his rapid punches and kicks as he came forward with every move. In return, Aysa did a back flip to avoid an attack and landed on her two hands. Legs broad, she spun like a brisk, rotating propeller. Ed began to stop to avoid the attack, but to no avail. Her boot struck Ed forcefully on his cheek bone, with the impact of the hit sending him flying to the side. He landed with a hard thud on Earth's soil. The pain from the hit stung Ed's cheek as he staggered to his feet. He gnashed his teeth together and glared at Aysa. The female fighter just stood to her feet with ease. It was Aysa's turn to smirk this time! She was about to strike again while Ed was down, but instead, her mind recollected on something else. It was the words Winry had told her inside.

'It all started when their mother died.'

Aysa shook her head to snap out of it. She didn't have time to remember what Winry had told her. Not at this moment, at least! She had to concentrate solely on the match at hand. She tried her hardest, but despite her uphill struggle to focus, what Winry had told her while in the house reeled through her mind like a clip from a movie.

The air became grave as Aysa heard the words Winry had just spoken. Aysa forced the question that she was trying to speak out her mouth, "Dead? What happened to her?"

Winry answered her solemnly, "Right after their father, Hohenhiem, left them, she became sick." Mother dying? Father leaving? This started to become all too familiar to Aysa. But she had to know this all the way from the start. So she replied,

"Probably you should begin from the beginning. Before their mom died and father left them."

Winry nodded, agreeing with her, "Alright. When Ed and Al were born, they lived with their mother and father: Trisha and Hohenhiem. Everything was fine, but it wasn't after Ed and Al's father left did things start to go wrong. Al was only an infant when Hohenhiem left so he hardly understood anything that was going on at the time. But Ed was old enough to know everything that happened, and because of it, he hates his father for leaving them."

Aysa glanced down from her reminiscing, 'What's the point in hating your father? Hatred's not going to bring him back. Just move on...' Because of not paying attention, Aysa got a rude awakening from Ed's fist striking her in the face. She fell on her bottom from collision. Shaking her head to rid the pain, she shot a glare at Ed,

"Hey!"

Ed smirked at his fallen foe, "Had enough?"

She growled at him and shot back up with Winry's words revisiting her as the match resumed.

Aysa noticed that Winry's serious look brightened for some reason after speaking the depressing part, "But it wasn't long after that before Ed and Al started to get into alchemy. They would always transmute things - they even transmuted a doll for me." Winry paused to remember that special day. It was probably the best birthday present she had ever gotten from the brothers.

Winry continued, "Sometimes I think they would transmute objects because of their rising interest in alchemy. Mainly though, I think Ed and Al did transmutations just to see a smile on their mother's face."

Aysa let out a smile of her own at this statement. She thought of Ed being a momma's boy and did a mental chuckle in her mind. 'Never knew Fullmetal Head had it in him.'

Winry carried on, "So they began to live without their father, and everything was going well. But soon, Ed and Al's mom became so sick one day that the brothers had found her collapsed on the ground."

Aysa listened intensely on the edge of her seat.

"The doctor told us that she wasn't sick just recently - she had fallen ill right after Ed and Al's father left them. And not long after all this happened, she died. Ed and Al were both crushed. I know how it feels to lose someone that you love - both of my parents passed also." Winry's cheerless face returned yet again.

Winry's parent died also? This whole conversation was turning out to be way more than Aysa expected it to be.

Aysa forced a weak grin to Winry, "Hey, I know what it feels like to lose people you love, too. My mother and brother died not too long ago."

Winry stared shocked at Aysa, "Really? I'm sorry to hear that.."

Aysa shook her head at Winry and gave her a half hearted smile, "Don't be."

Aysa drew back from a strike Ed had tried to land. She knelt down and took hold of her rose. Clapping her hands together, she placed them on the ground. Blue alchemic light erupted from the soil as green vines came up from under Ed and latched on tightly to his left leg. His eyes widened as he tried in vain to tear away from the plant's grip.

Aysa smiled and said mockingly to him, "Gotcha."

"Let go of me!" he demanded through his teeth as he tugged hard on the vines.Aysa held up her index finger and swayed it from left to right,

"Tsk-tsk. There's no point in trying. Once my vines latch on something, they don't let go." Regardless of what Aysa said, Ed continued on trying to pry free from the vines' hold.

The female alchemist just sighed at Edward's useless attempt. Ed was a persistent boy, she had given him that. And Aysa knew that he would stop at nothing to get free from the tight grip, 'He's a Fullmetal Head, alright. No doubt about it. But I never knew his stubbornness would lead him to go so far...Just to see someone he loves again.'

"When Ed and Al's mom died, they came to live with Grandma and I. Shortly after they arrived, Ed had mentioned something about alchemy being capable of bring people back from the dead. But Grandma told him that it was a forbidden science - the ultimate taboo of alchemy. Since that day, though, I was a little uneasy. I couldn't help but to begin to wonder if Ed and Al were both going to do something that they would soon regret. I didn't want to believe that. I wanted to consider that Ed and Al knew better than that. I thought - no, I knew that Ed and Al wouldn't try to toy with alchemy."

"But you were wrong, weren't you?" Aysa replied to Winry. There was a gap of silence in the room for a moment before Winry replied to her,

"Definitely. I don't know much about what happened between Ed and Al that night. But all I remember is a suit of amour at me and grandma's doorway. He sounded just like Al, and he was holding Ed who was covered in blood. His right arm and left leg were both missing. I was so scared for Ed, but once Grandma saw Ed and the suit of amour, she knew exactly what occurred between the brothers. She knew that they tried to resurrect their mom. But all Grandma and I could think about was saving Edward. We did, luckily." Winry then gave a light chuckle,

"Where would Ed and Al be without us?"

Aysa smiled.

Aysa continued to look on as Ed struggled to let the vines release him. Finally, by transmuting a rock nearby into a dagger, he cut through the plant.

"'Bout time you freed yourself. And those vines weren't even one of my strongest plants."

"Did I ask you?!" The two alchemist's "sparring" match raged onward. Punches, kicks, and alchemic light from alchemy danced through the air. At one point, it would seem as if one of the two had the upper hand, but out of nowhere, the tables would turn at the peak of the match. In the heated battle, the conclusion to Ed and Al's history ran through Aysa's mind.

"After Ed had gotten automail fitted on him, he later told us that he was going to join the military. And sometime later, Ed and Al both heard of the Philosopher's Stone. Knowing that it could give their bodies back, Ed and Al went to search for it. It'll be a long journey, but as long as Ed and Al have each other, I know they'll find it."
'As long as they have each other...' That part seemed to haunt Aysa for some reason. Why? Because she didn't have any one but herself during the search for the Philosopher's Stone. The fact that Ed's brother was still living couldn't leave Aysa's mind despite how much she tried to ignore the feeling.

Any new feelings she began to have, her fighting ability seemed to increase with it. Every ounce of hurt she felt toward losing her brother, she put in a powerful kick. With every ounce of jealousy she had toward Ed, she put in a dominant punch. To make it sound a tad bit more better: Aysa was basically losing to her emotions. She tried to remember her own words about moving on, but Aysa couldn't. Right now, all she wanted to do was give Ed one good blow to the face more than anything.

It was starting to get more difficult to land any moves for Ed. Blocking moves that Aysa gave became tricky because of her enhanced agility. Even Al who was watching from the side lines noticed Aysa's combat skills increasing dramatically too. Ed had tried to punch fiercely at Aysa with his left arm. With no troubles, she evaded the attack. Aysa saw her moment to attack. She grabbed the arm Ed had tried to punch with and twisted it violently. He yelled from the surging pain in his arm. Aysa then did an uppercut, striking directly under his chin. Holding his left arm, Ed staggered back and landed on the ground. Aysa came up to him with a glare on her face. She looked pretty mad,

"I hate your guts, ED!!"

"What are you talking about?! I didn't do anything to you!!"

"Ugh, just drop dead!!" And before anything else was spoken between the two, the female alchemist stormed off, leaving two clueless and dumbfounded brothers.

O-o I know what your thinking. 'Aysa's got some anger management issues.' I kinda thought that too while I was typing this. BUT in the next chapter, Ed will find out why she just went off on him like that. By the way, sorry Al wasn't in this chapter alot. I am really sleeply right now and don't know what the hecj i'm tipYiNG. The last part seemed kinda off to me, but oh well. I'm trying to not make Aysa seem like an "Angst Sue," but it's pretty difficult for me. -Sigh- Mary Sue Litmus Test, here I come...

Oh, and I didn't know how Winry referred to Pinako (Grandma, Grandmother, etc.) So I just made her say "Grandma." Sorry if I'm wrong!

ATLgurl, gone and out!!!