(I actually had a bit of time to write this, but it's considerably shorter than most chapters I write [I hate revision it gets in the way of everything]. And thanks LonelyFairy! My only reviewer but it did help inspire me to write more =) So the second chapter is dedicated to you.)

Who Is Lucy?

Five days passed. They weren't exciting but they passed.

Lucy was put up in the room directly above Edward and Alphonse. Edward had half wanted the girl closer, to keep an eye on her, but it was better than nothing. The problem was she needed to find a better place to stay in about a month, she had four weeks from the day she moved in. She was just grateful she had a place to stay at all.

Winry helped Lucy write out a résumé to hand out to different places, in the hope to find a decent job. Unfortunately, Ishballans were rarely hired if they covered their eyes, and Lucy was adamant that she was not taking off her sunglasses, she gave no reason as to why. But they were hopeful.

They also insisted that Lucy widen her wardrobe, though she insisted on long sleeves and jeans. By then the boys had learned of her left automail arm, but only Winry was aware of her left automail leg, though the circumstances around these were not known to her. And she was not about to push the matter.

Over those five days, Winry found herself getting closer and closer to the girl. She was fun, happy go-lucky and pretty sharp with her words when the time called for it. More than once she was face with racism of some kind, there had been many effected by the different attacks, but she would answer quickly and efficiently, leaving such people with a blank expression and no come back. Alphonse found himself drawn to Lucy for just the same reasons. She appeared to be fairly honest, and she was very sweet. Edward however found himself almost repulsed by these. He did not believe for a moment that she was truly like that. He found her glaring at some people as they walked passed, her mouth set in a straight line, or a comment was muttered that no one else could hear. They were never directed at his friend or brother, but there were things about her that did not add up. The most obvious one was the fact that she almost never answer her name the first time around; Edward was convinced that was not her real name. To make matters worse, she never offered a surname.

Though they did find out more about her. The fact that her father and mother were both killed, and that she planned on finding her father's family in Central. The problem was the only family member that knew of her existence was her father's cousin, a man who was like a brother to her father, hence why she always referred to him as her uncle. He had a wife and child, and was certain to look after her. But she always insisted she wanted to make her own way, without interference from her family.

Other than that… they knew very little about where she came from or even what she really was.

On the sixth day, when Alphonse and Winry went to go pick her up, all they found on her door was a note that she had left early. They didn't know what to make of it, but left it. She didn't always need them, maybe she wanted to become more aquatinted with the streets.

Edward was far more sceptical.

The sixth day came and went. The seventh came. She was still no where to be found. Not even the people at the desk had an ideas.

"I'm getting worried," muttered Alphonse, as Winry headed back to her shop.

"Why?" shrugged Edward, leaving for the library, "she's a grown woman, she can look after herself."

"Yeah… but she's new here… and I get the feeling she came here to run away from something."

"Isn't it a good thing that she's not hanging around us then?"

"Older brother," scowled Alphonse.

Edward shrugged. "Just come on."

Alphonse jogged to keep up, dodging around the many people around them. "Her family doesn't know she exists, she refuses to see her uncle who does and she's hiding from something! I mean… what could it be?" Alphonse frowned ignoring Edward's scowls and angry sighs. "She said she only had her mother remember… back home…"

Edward paused, then nodded, remembering the conversation. They had been sat outside one of the cafés, for a short lunch during their job hunting, Winry had headed home for a while for her work, she had a client arriving. Lucy had looked a little misty eyed talking about her family. But rather… she hadn't said she only had her mother to look after her, she had said "after dad died… I only really had mum to protect me."

"Protect her…" muttered Alphonse to himself, dodging out of a heavy set man's way, "what would she need protecting from?"

"Found out something she shouldn't have?" shrugged Edward.

"She was seven when her mother died, big brother, what could she have found out before them."

Edward nodded. He wasn't really paying attention. Then a thought struck him. He remembered something… Ishballan's opposed Alchemy, said it was against their god, Ishbal. But her father had been a state alchemist… that made no sense unless he had been from Armestris. But she was too dark for him to have been. So that had to mean…

"Biracial…" he murmured to himself, stopping suddenly in the middle of the street, Alphonse running into him.

"What?"

Edward looked at his brother frowning again, this time thoughtful. "She's got to be biracial. That's why she had to be protected, not looked after. Some people don't accept mixed children that easily. I mean there are a lot of biracial people but it tends to be with similar races. The problem is… from one from Ishbal and someone from here… that difference is usually too big for someone to general accept," his idea was gathering momentum, "so her people might not have accept her, firstly because she was half Armestrian half Ishballan and secondly her father practised blasphemy- hence the need for protection."

"But she's so dark," Alphonse looked confused.

"Not dark enough. She can't be full Ishballan. Which also might explain why she covers her eyes."

"What? Why? Red eyes aren't that uncommon around here-"

"No no no, think about it, a biracial child might have red eyes, but it's also likely that they could be green or blue or even gold or brown! That one someone like Lucy… that would be unusual."

Alphonse nodded slowly. It made sense. Though of coarse Edward would have come up with it. He could put things together so easily. What troubled him was the fact that Edward was still suspicious.

"That might explain why her family don't know about her… and only one uncle does…" Edward added to himself slowly, walking again, Alphonse catching up to him.

"I wander who her uncle is…"

"So do I," he agreed, then added quickly, "so I can clear up once and for all how trust worthy she is."

Alphonse sighed and shook his head. He paused and looked up at the library.

"Look," Edward stood beside his brother, there were fewer people where they stood, "it's a side effect of being in the military for so long… it's not that I think that she's untrustworthy or a bad person… I just want to make sure she's not a threat. I don't want to see this city fall to ruin because of people with grudges."

"You think she might be one of them?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, "but I'd rather verify it than jump to conclusions."

He didn't want to say out right that Alphonse had been wrong in bringing her into their lives. That she made Edward feel uneasy and he didn't like how close she was getting. He didn't want to say it… but it was the truth, and he couldn't lie to his little brother forever.

"Listen, I'll talk to the others, all right? If not today then soon, maybe I can dig up something on the chemical alchemist today, find out what happened to him or something. It'll help. We can get down to the truth of the matter and I'll be nicer to Lucy."

Alphonse looked at his brother sceptically. "All right… but older brother?" Edward looked at him. "Curiosity killed the cat… it might not kill you, but we need to be careful of what we find… right?"

Neither wanted to mention the experiment of their mother. Both were remembering it all too clearly.

Edward clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'll be careful, don't worry. Besides, I work under the flame alchemist… the one aiming for the top- very little can burn me."

Alphonse laughed, and nodded, smiling brightly. He lead the way into the library, feeling a little lighter. As long as he had Edward's word that he would try and be safer, then that was all he needed.

On the other hand, Edward was going to get to the bottom of the matter. Once something like this caught his eye, he wasn't about to let it go. Besides, that nagging feeling wouldn't leave him alone, and it was beginning to frighten him.

"Hurry up!" complained Alphonse, "we're meeting the others for lunch today."

"Good!" replied Edward, catching up to his younger brother at the entrance, "I haven't seen Gracia and Elysia for ages."

*

It had taken for what felt like an age, but she had found his grave. It was still pristine white, fresh flowers were laid out on his grave stone, there was even a picture of his family on the headstone. The name stood out, almost taunting her.

"Maes Hughes," she murmured to herself softly, "Maes Hughes… uncle Maes…" a sad smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Auntie May… teased you about that all the time…"

A lump caught in her throat. Uncle Maes… he had come to visit her constantly after the death of her father… even more so after the death of her mother. He'd always ask where she was, why she didn't have a permanent place to stay, telling her to stay with them. But she was stubborn. She wanted to find her own feet, no help. And when she had decided maybe she should settle down… calm down a little bit… a little over four years previously… he had been taken away from her. There was no way she was going to impose herself on his little girl and young wife. It wasn't fair.

She had come to the funeral, stood away from the party, waited hours before she even approached the grave… then left immediately… no tears.

That day had been a haze… a dream. She could hardly remember any of it- but it was from those hazy memories that she found her way to the grave stone. Put her flowers down… paid her respects.

Still no tears.

"You're a bastard," she said quietly, kneeling down, "you're little girl is nearly eight now… your wife hasn't seen a single man since… You said you'd show me round… that you'd show me your office, introduce me to Roy Mustang…"

The lump was still there. But no tears.

"No chance of that now, buried six feet under… you git…" She put a hand on the stone. "You know… I still can't believe you're gone. I keep thinking someone is going to say it was a terrible mistake, and that they've found the real you. Or you'll come, saying you had lost your memory but now you're back… for good. Not in the least bit dead…"

She rested her forehead against the head stone, fingers tracing his name.

"You were so full of life… you made up for mum being so depressed all the time… dad wasn't- he was like you. I couldn't imagine dad dead either… both of you the same. Full of energy, zest, life… just living! It's hard to believe…"

She swallowed hard. Still no tears.

"It's hard to believe that you're not here any more…"

And still no tears. She wanted to cry. She wanted to sob her heart out, scream at someone, mourn for the loss of her last proper family. She had cried at the death of her father, she had cried when she had lost her mother. Why couldn't she bring forth tears for the last person who had treated her like their own daughter. He may have been uncle Maes, but he acted like 'Daddy Maes' a lot of the time too. Telling her off, cheering her up, trying to keep her on the straight and narrow. It was too late now. They had both lost their chance.

She stood up suddenly. "I'll come back," she said, "your lecture is not over yet you know." She cracked a smile, but that hurt.

She left quickly.

On her way out, she half wandered about Alphonse. He hadn't seen her for a while… he was probably worrying. So was Winry most likely. She'd see them soon. But not yet. She wasn't ready to.

Walking through the streets back to the hotel, she bumped into a little girl.

"Oh shi-shoot," she corrected herself, looking stunned. The girl looked up at her. "I'm so sorry," Lucy bent to her height, "you all right sweetie?"

"Uh huh," the girl replied. She looked about eight, she had her hair up in two pig tails… dirty blonde, with big blue eyes. "Are you ok, onee-chan?"

"Hummm? I'm fine."

"You look sad though."

"Oh… I do?" The girl nodded. "I visited a family member's grave today, that's probably why."

"That's sad," said the girl, "I did too, but daddy went away a long time ago, so it's not sad any more. Now I just go visit him and I can talk to him."

A lump bunched up her throat again. "You're definitely stronger than I am."

"Ally!" called a motherly voice.

"That's mummy, she's probably mad with me now. You cheer up, onee-chan, your family won't want you to be sad forever. That's what mummy says."

"Your mummy's a wise woman," Lucy smiled getting up, "I'll see you yeah?"

"Ok, see you onee-chan."

The girl waved and ran to catch up with her mother.

Lucy didn't bother turning around. She carried on walking.

That girl was Elycia's age… uncle's Maes' daughter. It was heart wrenching to hear of so many people who had died.

She reached her hotel not long later. In a daze she asked for her key at the desk, and was told she had a message. It wasn't urgent, so Lucy simply accepted the written version of it, and left for her room.

Once there, she locked the door, undressed and climbed into bed. It was two in the afternoon- but she didn't want to move any more.

She was emotionally drained.

*

"Ellie what have I told you about talking to strangers," Gracia sighed, clasping her daughter's hand. She was by no means suspicious of the girl her daughter had been speaking to, she looked nice enough, it was the principal of the matter.

"But she looked so sad, mummy," Elycia said, "she said she had to go visit her family member today… she had to visit their grave."

Gracia looked surprised. "Oh dear… was she ok?"

"She was sad, but I told her that her family would not want her to be sad forever, and when you visit it shouldn't be sad either- it should be like you're really visiting them and you can talk to them."

"That was nice," Gracia smiled. Her eight year was far more intelligent than people gave her credit for. "But no talking to strangers."

"Yes mummy…"

"Gracia! Come on!" Rose called, her little boy on her hip, looking around with big eyes. "The boys'll be getting impatient."

"Yes yes," laughed Gracia, "but knowing Ed, he's already started."

The two women laughed together as Gracia caught up. Rose promptly put little Leo on the ground beside Elycia, who took charge of the young boy immediately, taking his hand, making sure he didn't wander off.

The four of them walked together, mothers keeping an eye on their children, children keeping an eye on each other. It wasn't long till they found the boys in question.

Gracia couldn't believe how much Edward had grown. He was a young man now… tall, strong and relatively good looking. He still had his hair in a long blonde plait, and his golden eyes were still impatient and eager. But he had grown in other ways so much.

'I hope you can see this, Maes,' she thought, smiling softly, 'they've grown up so much… all of them.'

As they approached the café where they were to be meeting the others, she could see Winry and Edward fighting over something (Winry had Edward in ` headlock), while Alphonse looked on laughing. Rose and the children had caught up with them, Elycia helping Leo into his seat, Rose trying to separate the two fighting young people.

Gracia smiled to herself, life was good. Life was peaceful. She wished it would last forever.