A/N: guys please, if you've read it, tell me what you think!

New Faces

Monday to Wednesday passed without a hitch. Lucy got on with her job, finishing on tuesday at two instead of four for her automail's basic repairs (she had put it off for a long time, but she was able to pay Winry back for the repairs all in one go that way). Edward came to visit her on Monday and Wednesday when she got off and a break on Tuesday to get more answers off her. And still many of her colleagues were convinced something was going on.

On monday he asked about how her mother died, which she explained with no qualms. Yet again he was left rather shocked at a seven year old having to identify a body. But as she reminded him, they were very strange times.

The tuesday, he tried to get her to answer what her real name was. Instead, she promised that once he found out what her father's name was, full name that is, he would find out hers fairly quickly.

On the Wednesday, the day she finished late to make up for what she missed on the Tuesday, he asked what other jobs she had had. Out of more curiosity than anything else, but it also gave him an idea of what he was capable of. He hadn't expected the variety she had answered with: a mechanics assistant, a doctor's assistant, a bounty hunter, a waitress, a test subject. a body guard… and more besides, but she could not remember them all. Clearly the girl was capable of a lot.

On the Thursday, Edward had dropped by during her short lunch break to tell her he would meet her later, that he had to see Mustang about something. He wasn't very forth coming about what it was. She shrugged it off and told him he'd see her then.

As such, at the end of her last shift, she bade her friends good bye and left quickly. Outside, she paused and smiled to herself.

"Bookshop…" she murmured softly, "might go see Winry after… thank her for the repairs." She looked at her left arm, moving it gently. It was much smoother now, nothing rattled or squeaked and the suspension was more or less perfect. The same went for her leg.

She grinned to herself, as she made her way towards her favourite bookshop. It was a second hand bookshop, so the books could be story books or factual. From the impossible to science in it's purest form. It wasn't her favourite bookshop for nothing.

As she walked through the streets, she hummed a quiet tune to herself, not really paying attention to where she was going. Which was probably why the turn of events came about.

She neglected to take note of a tall male, a little older than herself, and walked straight into him, sending her stumbling back a little. She blinked a few times, then pushed her glasses up her nose and looked up at the young man with a bright smile.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't see-"

"Lucy?" the young man said.

Lucy looked at him properly, and scowled. "What the hell…" she murmured.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the young man smirked.

"I travel, Ace," she retorted, "why wouldn't I come to the capital."

Ace snorted. "Girl like you wandering the streets? Shouldn't be allowed, don't they know how dangerous you are?" he laughed, "mixed bitch like you? I thought they would have locked you up the moment you stepped off the train."

"You can talk," she smirked, "you and your band of…" she glanced behind him, there was a group of about five men, "band of morons," she finished. She looked up at him, meeting his dark green glare straight on.

He was much taller than herself, reaching just over six foot. He had a lithe muscular build, with dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes. He had classic Armestrian features of a small slim nose, wide mouth but almost thin lips and bold masculine features. His skin too was fair, and tanned easily under the summer sun. He annoyed her.

Now his features were twisted into a glare. "You've got guts," he snarled at her, taking a step forwards, "you've always had guts."

"Argh, get lost," she snapped side stepping him, "I've got no more use for you."

He snapped out his arm blocking her way suddenly. "What was that?"

She turned and looked at him, eyebrow raised. "I…" she began slowly, "have… no… more… use… for… you… understand?"

"And that means what? No one uses me!"

"Really? I did… as far as I remember… I used you then I le-"

"You little bitch, you shut your damn mouth."

"Or what? You'll shut it permanently? Bollocks- you don't have the balls."

"You sure about that?" he snarled, pushing his face into hers.

She took a step back, dropping her bag. "Certain," she retorted.

Which is when something even less expected happened. A hand rested on her shoulder, causing her to look. She found herself looking into the blue eyes of a complete stranger. He was about as tall as Ace, with short blonde hair, bangs in his eyes, and a nasty expression on his face… directed at Ace.

"What you getting involved for, blondie," snarled Ace.

"Honey," the stranger said, not looking at her, "is this man bothering you?"

It took Lucy a moment, but she caught on. She smiled up at the young man and shook her head. "No… he's not…" she looked at Ace, "he was just leaving."

Ace blinked. Once… twice… three times. Then smirked. "So… you're involved with this stupid bitch eh?"

The stranger put his arm around her shoulders. "And what?" he snapped, "even if I am, it's none of your business. You can't treat a girl like that."

He chuckled. "And I wouldn't dream of it, but that-" he pointed at Lucy, "that's ain't no girl… you get out what you still can… she's a harpy."

Lucy moved towards him, but the stranger held her back shaking his head discretely.

"Get outta here," the young man snapped.

"Yeah yeah, I'm going," he looked at Lucy, "see you round… sweetheart…"

Lucy growled in the back of her throat, but didn't move. She clenched her fists, she could feel the gears in her left hand jarring and her knuckles in her right hand straining. She glared at Ace's back as he left, his goons following.

Once he was out of ear shot, Lucy almost screamed. The people around her looking at her then walking around her in a wide breadth.

"That's piece of shit!" she yelled, "that goddamned son of a bitch! When I get my hands on that bastard I'm going to kill him! He's so fucking chicken! Walking around with those idiots… he knows I can take him one on one, but one on six! That pathetic piece of-" she stopped herself and calmed down, and turned back to the boy who had helped her out and bowed at the waist.

"Thank you so much for stepping in… my pride was getting in the way of my reason. I'd have been in big trouble if I'd actually fought… they have no issues with beating up a girl like me."

"It's all right," the boy sounded embarrassed, "c'mon, stand straight."

Lucy stood up and looked at him. He smiled at her brightly.

"Thank you," she said again, much more calmly.

"It's fine… i learned a long time ago its better to help people than just to let things go." He put out his hand. "Russell Tringham."

"Lucy," she replied, taking his hand.

"You're not from around here… you're accent's wrong."

She chuckled. "I've been travelling since I was eight," she explained, "I lost my real accent a long time ago, now it's a mix of everything. What about you?"

"Oh I'm just here to visit a friend," he said, sounding proud, "you may have heard of them actually, the Elric brothers."

Lucy stared at him, stopping dead as she went to pick u her bag. "Elric? As in Edward and Alphonse Elric?"

"The one and only," he said happily, "of coarse everyone's heard of them, so it's not really surprising."

"Uhmm… actually…" she started.

"LUCY!" came a loud angry voice.

She jumped. Then sighed hanging her head. She knew this was going to happen. She didn't know how… but she had felt it in her gut.

Storming through the crowds of people came the figure of Edward Elric, looking… annoyed would have been an understatement. He looked ready to kick anyone who got in his way into next year, let alone next week.

"Yes…" she said weakly, picking up her bag, hauling them onto her shoulder, glancing at Russell who was looking utterly bewildered.

"Why is it the minute I hear about a fight between a girl and a guy in the middle of the street I immediately think it's you?"

"You're paranoid?"

"So why is it you?!"

"How can you tell it was me… we're not arguing."

"Everyone around here is refusing to come near you by about three feet… I'm fairly sure you got into a fight with someone- I want to know why!"

"Hey I can fight my own battles you know," Lucy snapped, "why you getting so worked up anyway? I would have thought if I disappeared your life would have been easier."

"Yes- I- well… you see- YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!" Edward threw up his hands in irritation, "it'll be a wrench at my head if something happens to you! You know what Winry's like!"

"Yeah well I didn't need your help anyway, your friend helped me out."

"My fri-" he finally noticed Russell, "Russell? What- how…" he shook his head, as though he had finally lost it. "It's good to see you mate… but I didn't expect to see you again like this."

"You're telling me," grumbled Russell, "I just helped her out because she looked like she was about to take on six guys."

"What? Lucy!"

She just glared at him, crossing her arms. "Get over it… he saved my hide as well."

"Besides that," Russell grinned, "why have you never introduced me to her before?"

"I met her little under three weeks ago," shrugged Edward, "she's a human version of Al's kittens. Brought her in half starved and half dead."

"Don't look half dead now," Russell commented, "miss Lucy, you looked ready to take them on and then some."

"Should see her in the morning," muttered Edward, "she's a zombie but she could take out Major Armstrong."

"Jealous," smirked Lucy.

Russell intervened here. "Anyway, miss Lucy, I believe you were on your way somewhere when that… man interrupted your walk?"

"Wha'- oh yeah, bookshop."

"Would you like us to walk you?"

"I'll be ok," she promised, smiling at Russell. It was the sort of smile she directed at people she didn't know well. It wasn't faked, but it wasn't her real smile either.

"But what if that-"

"Ace? The man is an idiot," Edward could practically see her rolling her eyes from behind those glasses. "He's all talk believe me. The next time he tries to have a go at me won't be until next week. And that's if he bothers at all." She shrugged. "Put up with him for about two months, I learned quick. Anyway, considering you know the Elrics, I'll probably see you round," she smiled at Russell again.

"Yeah… probably will, see ya," smiled Russell.

"You going to Winry's later?"interjected Edward, clearly feeling left out.

"Yeah, I've got to show her how the repairs are going," she flexed her arm, "she's good."

Edward looked pleased, "I know."

"Hey- don't go getting a big head now… Winry did it not you."

He just glared at her and turned around. "C'mon Russell, Al's gonna want to see you as well."

Lucy burst out laughing, and waved Russell off before leaving herself. Russell stood stock still for a moment, then chased after Edward. It was a little strange for him to see Edward treating a girl like that, and becoming so generally angry about the whole thing. Though it seemed like there was something more going on there.

"Hey, Ed?" said Russell slowly, having caught up with the older boy.

"Yeah?"

"Is…"

Edward sighed. "No nothing's going on between us, yes I am sure and no we are not hiding it by our arguments."

"How did you-"

"Asked that twice this week."

"Ah…"

"So how's Fletcher?"

"Oh I've already seen Winry and Al, Fletch decided to stay with Al in the library while I went to find you."

"What happened back there anyway?"

"Well I think it started by her bumping in to him…"

*

It was two hours later at about half six that Lucy finally left book shop. She had no books with her, but she had a few added to her list that she wanted to get. Most were alchemy books.

To her surprise, Edward was waiting for her outside.

"Hey," she said, pausing to pull out and light a cigarette, "didn't think I'd see you till later the way you blew up at me."

"Didn't think I'd get another chance to try and get more information out of you."

"I guess." She paused to light the white stick between her lips, the tucked her lighter a way and started walking. "So who is Russell Tringham anyway?"

"A friend of mine…" Edward replied slowly, catching up with her, "he impersonated me years back, but… it was complicated. And he's helped out since. He's got a brother too, Fletcher. Same age as Al… now anyway."

"So… family friends?"

"Mmmhmm…" Edward paused, "anyway, I'm asking the questions."

Lucy sighed. "Fire away."

"From what I heard from Russell… Ace is a man from your past… who was he exactly?"

"Why…?"

"You almost fought him, he was willing to beat you up and you treated him pretty badly… well… he deserved it, but you still did. And it'd be nice to know where you came from."

"You sure you want to know?"

"All the sordid details."

"All right," she shrugged, "you asked… but it's not that interesting really."

*

Her last visit in Rush Valley, the girl calling herself Lucy was about eighteen. She had come back purely for the reason of touch ups to her increasingly disintegrating left arm and leg. It had been too long since she had someone take a look at it. She hated the fact that the quality of her automail was so bad that she needed it to be looked after every few months.

She dumped her rucksack between her feet and stretched. She was tired, the journey had been far too long. But now that there was peace, it was far easier to travel from place to place without too many questions being asked. That and it had been about ten years since she had started travelling on her own. She had grown up and the world had grown up with her.

There was a whistle her way. "Hey baby."

"Hey douche bag," she replied without thinking, bending over to pull out her map.

"That's not very nice," the boy sauntered over to her, hands in his pockets, as she straightened again clearly concentrating on the map in her hands, he was looking smug, "you don't even know me."

"And you know me?" she looked at him finally, raising her eyebrows. She flicked her eyes over him quickly.

His blonde hair fell in his face, obscuring his green eyes a little. His firmly masculine features were set to a cocky smirk. He had a slight build, but it was muscular and solid. He was a good looking guy… unfortunately he was aware of it and took advantage of it.

"No but I'd like to."

Lucy snorted, shouldered her rucksack and moved on. The boy seemed surprised and chased after her.

"Awh come on- I was just kidding."

"So why you still following me?"

"Because… I…" he stammered then laughed, "damn girl, you know how to put a guy in his place!"

"Believe me, boy, I can do worse," she replied in a low voice.

"Awh c'mon…" he caught her arm, "I know we can be good for each other."

Lucy paused, and looked at him. He grinned at her happily. A smirk appeared across her face. "Tell me, boy, how well do you know this city?"

"Born and bred here," he replied easily, dropping her arm, "I know everyone here."

"What's your name?"

"Artemis, but you can call me Ace."

"Ace is it? I'm Lucy," she held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you," his cocky grin was back.

"I look foreword to… getting to know you," she replied, turning away from him to walk into the heart of the city. It took a few moments, but Ace had caught up with Lucy and was chattering more to her. She simply listened, asking only a few questions. Taking advantage of his flirtatious ways.

Over the next few weeks, the two spent a lot of time together. Ace got a lot of attention for showing around the pretty mysterious new girl. Introducing her to the best mechanics and so forth, getting her an appointment with some of the best.

However, Lucy just rode along on the crest of the high wave of Ace's fortune. Ready to leap off the minute it looked like it was about to crash. She knew taking advantage of the playboy's weakness was not good thing to do. But she did not particularly care. She'd get what she needed… he might get what he wanted. If she felt like it.

Two months went by, Ace was beginning to get impatient. He tried impressing her, seducing her, getting her drunk. Nothing worked with her! He felt like he was getting somewhere with her. He could make her laugh, she was always holding onto his arm, and she had kissed him before. But more than that he was getting no luck what so ever.

Then one morning, a month after she arrived, Ace arrived at her room at ten in the morning. In order to surprise her. He knocked on her door, knowing she'd be awake at that time, practising or training or… something. But there was no answer. He knocked again. And again. And again.

Nothing.

Furious he stormed down the stairs and confronted the man at the lobby.

"Oh Miss Lucy?" he sounded surprised, "she left early this morning."

"Left? What do you mean left?"

"She's checked out and got on the early train. She didn't say where to."

"What?!"

"Oh- are you Ace by any chance?"

"Yeah…"

"She left this for you."

He handed over an envelope. Ace snatched it out of his hand and walked out fuming. He tore it open. Inside was a slip of paper. All that was on there was the stain of lipstick where Lucy had kissed it.

Ace scowled, scrunched up and paper and threw it away.

"She just had something important to attend to…" he muttered to himself, "that's right… she didn't want to leave… that's why she left the kiss… there was no way she could have left so early without saying bye to me."

As he walked away, he smirked to himself, hands in his pockets whistling as he walked.

In the shadows, a figure of a slim short girl in sunglasses and long sleeves sighed heavily, shoulder's heaving, shaking her head.

"He's never going to learn…" she said to herself sadly.

*

"You really don't like males do you?" chuckled Edward. By this point they had reached Winry's shop, the two were standing outside as Lucy finished off her second cigarette.

"No… just not males like him… he needed a taste of his own medicine."

"By using him for all he was worth then pissing off with only a note?"

"Yeah… and?"

"Strangely… that makes sense to me."

Lucy shook her head laughing. "Ah Edward," she said gently, "you know… sometimes I think you confuse me more than I confuse you."

"What makes you say that?"

"You were actually worried about me today weren't you."

Edward's face turned stoney. He shrugged. "So?"

"I just think it's odd…"

"So does everyone else… Russell asked me if we were…" he coughed then held up two fingers on each hand in quotations marks, "'involved' as it were."

The two young people looked at each other and started laughing, almost hysterically. While there was a sort of stalemate going on in their dislike of each other, just to keep the peace, the two did appreciate the hilarity of the misunderstandings that came from the fact that Edward still looked out for Lucy and insisted on his daily question. If they really understood what was involved, they could never have jumped to such a conclusion.

"C'mon," grinned Lucy, dropping the stub of her cigarette, still chuckling, "Winry needs to check on my limbs and your stomach."

"Oh yeah," Edward reached out and grabbed her left elbow, "you mentioned left arm and leg?"

"Yeah… my left leg is automail," she replied, "didn't you know?"

He shook his head. "Guess it never came up," he shrugged, "and I don't look at people's feet."

"Guess," Lucy grinned at him, and took hold of his hand, this time his right hand, "just come on you lazy bum," she pulled him into the shop, "I'm starved."

Edward followed complaining she was pulling him too hard. But strangely enough, he wasn't too bothered about the fact that she was being so familiar with him. Maybe it was because by now… she had almost earned the right to. She had become one of them after all. Sort of anyway.