Author's Note: Man, I love the end of this chapter. Magiere rocks my socks, and she's not even MY character. xD So um... yeah. Chapter Three. Nothing very special to say, other than I haven't started a new chapter, so chapter four won't be released until at least next week. ...That is, unless I get grounded from the Internet or something...

Disclaimer: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, but I do own Erin Burke. Magiere Taylor is property of my dear friend. ...OH MY GOD. A BORING DISCLAIMER! -faint-

Chapter Three: A Feeling of Things to Come

Edward grumbled angrily beneath his breath, still miffed that he owed someone. He lifted his gaze from the wood floor of Erin's room and glanced at Magiere, who gave him a bright beam of triumph. He shook his head and ran his gloved hand through his bangs before he looked around the room. It wasn't the best of hospitals. Magiere had told Ed that he'd have to pay for the hospital, seeing as her injuries were partially his fault. Miffed, he had chosen a dinky little one to spite her. Magiere, however, merely huffed and accepted it. The wood was normal hardwood with one off-white rug on the floor. There was a window, a bedside table, a bed, and a small table/desk in the room they were currently in. And that was it.

His golden eyes wandered back to the bed and the sleeping form there. Though he really disliked her, he felt bad that he had caused someone to get hurt for his own selfish reasons. What was wrong with him, he wondered? Groaning quietly, he slumped down into his chair and leaned back a little, resting his arm over his eyes to block out the light. Lately Ed had been having strange moments where he did things uncharacteristically mean. Granted, he wasn't an extremely buddy-buddy person in the first place, but even so... He lifted his arm slightly to look at the girl again. She was hugging her second pillow possessively, like a spoiled brat child hugging the best teddy bear in the store. He snorted and mused that he wouldn't be surprised if she had been spoiled like that as a kid.

Even if he wasn't friendly to the people he didn't particularly like, he wasn't cruel to them. He wouldn't let an innocent girl no older than himself get shot thrice. ...Would he? Edward closed his eyes and remembered Clause, the girl from Mahajal's town. He hadn't liked her annoying attitude at all, but he still went after her when she ran off. And in the end, she'd turned out to be kind of cute. Ed's eyes remained closed as he rose his eyebrows. No, he wouldn't have left an innocent girl to get hurt. He shouldn't have done that... but he had, and it bothered him.

"Brother?" Ed let his arm drop back to his side with a sigh and looked over at Al, giving him a cheeky smile.

"Don't worry 'bout me. I'm just reluctant to holding up my end of the bargain," he lied, nodding to Magiere. He blinked when he realized she wasn't where he'd indicated. Then he heard the sound of Al gasping. He turned to find Magiere lifting the helmet up and peering inside, her feet sliding along the floor from Al's hands pushing her away. The younger alchemist finally succeeded and she lost her balance, flailing and yelping as she stumbled back.

Once she regained her footing, she shifted her weight to one hip and put her hand on that hip. "Hey now, I was just trying to see what you look like," she explained, sounding rather pouty about it. She shrugged and held out a hand to each of them. "Magiere Taylor. ...But you probably already know that, seeing as you listened in on the fight."

As Alphonse shook her hand, he replied, "We're really sorry, Magiere. We thought you'd be able to handle it until it was too late. You two are, after all, very talented alchemists." When Ed turned sharply towards his brother to make a remark about that statement, Al looked to him. Though his metallic face bore no expression, Ed took the hint and reluctantly shook Magiere's hand.

"Yeah. Before we knew it, Erin was eating bullets." Ed said this rather rudely, and Magiere glared at him, letting go of his hand on the spot. She returned Al's shake and then let go, giving him a polite half-hearted smile.

"Well, obviously not talented enough to handle one Rebel." She twirled one of the thick strands of hair that hung in front of her ears, sighing. "I guess this is why the new recruits needs teachers... supervisors... whatever they are."

Ed rolled his amber orbs and shook his head. "No, you're talented enough. Erin just got too cocky and blew it."

"Well I thought it would work. I'm sorry that I didn't use my awesome skills to look into the future, but I'll take a mental note to try that next time," came the venom-laced sarcastic voice of Erin from her bed. She tried to sit up and her arms gave out quickly due to the soreness of her torso. So she settled for rolling onto her side to face the three of them, glaring at Edward for his remark. Ed narrowed his eyes right back at her, though it was a bit half-hearted. He felt kind of guilty, seeing her unable to even sit up to give him a proper glare. Finally he just looked away, cursing her and cursing himself and cursing those damn Rebels.

Magiere, who didn't want a fight to spark between the two, announced, "Well, let's go to the Library, shall we? And don't forget..." She paused to give Edward a stern look, saying that if he didn't hold up his end of the bargain, she'd tell. "...We have to bring back some books for Erin to study." She turned to smile at Erin. "You just work on getting better for now, okay?"

Erin's expression softened to that of confusion, having no idea what was going on. "...Huh?" she asked, looking back and forth from Ed to Magiere. "When had they made plans to go to the Library?," she wondered. Erin gave a small wave of parting to Magiere and nodded. "Thank you, Magiere." Magiere gave a curt nod and turned to walk out, the Elrics reluctantly following behind.

As Magiere walked ahead, humming happily to herself, Al turned to look at his brother. He looked as moody as ever with his hands stuck in his pockets and his eyes set in a firm glare on the ground. "...Brother?" Ed's head snapped up to look at his younger brother, blinking in question. "Why...?" Al paused, not sure how to word his question. He sighed and tried again. "Why did you let it go too far yesterday? Weren't you paying attention?"

Ed's eyes widened for a moment, then looked guilty. He looked away from Alphonse's face, honestly unable to answer him. Edward couldn't describe it, but there were instances when he'd think a really malicious thought about someone, or almost enjoy something like watching someone in danger. As a matter of fact, last night he'd been hoping Erin would get hurt. And though he'd felt really guilty, in the back of his mind there had been a pleased feeling when she was hurt. Ed grunted in annoyance, clenching his fists in his pockets. He had no idea what was going on with himself. "I kind of zoned out, Al," he muttered, looking to the side.

Al watched his brother determinedly study the scenery as they walked along, though he knew his brother had seen the city many times. Alphonse wanted to press on and know what was really wrong, but he could kind of sense that Ed didn't know, either. So he left the matter be and nodded. "Alright." He made sure to change his tone slightly, to let Ed know he knew there was more to it and they would probably discuss it later.

Magiere pouted up ahead, crossing her arms. She whirled around and walked backwards as she asked, "If you don't mind me asking... what have you got against Erin?" She tilted her head at him slightly, blinking her hazel eyes curiously at him. Al looked at him, too, also wondering.

Edward glanced at her, then frowned and watched the city go by again. "I do mind you asking," he replied, falling silent once more.

Magiere slowly rose her eyebrows as realization dawned on her face. "...You've never really met her before, have you?" At Ed's grimace, Magiere's eyebrows furrowed. "Have you?"

Seeing his brother was probably going to snap at Magiere, Alphonse answered, "No, he hasn't." Magiere looked at him, blinking in slight surprise. She then gave him a small, sweet smile that clearly displayed her thanks.

Returning her attention back to Ed, Magiere said, "Look, I know you might have your reasons for disliking her, but I try to keep from making it a habit to judge people by one mistake or slip-up, or if I don't even really know them." She gave him an encouraging smile and Edward looked at her.

"You don't know her, either. You just met yesterday," he said flatly, taking his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms.

Magiere smirked at him and shrugged. "And that's why I'm not judging her." She laughed merrily at his surprised expression, turning back to face forward.

Alphonse chuckled at the two and looked to his brother as he said, "She certainly told you, didn't she?" Ed's cheek twitched again.

"...Oh, shut up."