Hey people! I'm back with a brand new chapter! Don't have much to say today except for the fact that I went to a local Anime Con today and had a blast! Loads of people cosplayed from Naruto too...got mehself some nice things and well, had fun with my friends but onto the chapter at hand, I only own Amber and ze plot. Nothing more, nothing less...

Chapter Six
Walking the Road
Al

We've just started the journey to Jaen and fortunately, Ed and Amber aren't fighting...yet. Night was starting to fall all around us and unfortunately for us, it was a new moon. I looked at my brother and Amber wondering if they were so determined to not argue in front of me that they didn't notice the darkness that was surrounding us.

"Eh...brother? Amber?" I called out after a while. They both looked at me with questioning eyes, wondering what I had called them for. "It's dark and there's no moon up...we need some light," I said softly, pointing up to the moonless sky. Brother quickly smirked and clasped his hands, ready to try and outdo Amber or something...

"Don't waste Alchemy like that," I heard Amber say as light showed us the dirt path to follow much clearly now. I looked over to Amber and she was holding an old tree branch with fire at its tip. "Be practical," she finished saying as she kept leading the way.

"But I could've made a nice lantern!" brother yelled.

"But that would've been too much Alchemy for something as simple as that...besides, you need to start the fire for the lantern and you're no Flame Alchemist," Amber scolded while looking over her shoulder at us. "Could you carry my suitcase Al?" she asked softly.

"No problem Amber!" I said while taking the bag off her hands and following her.

"Why do you always have to argue with me!" brother yelled from behind us.

"You're the one with the short temper," Amber muttered as we reached an intersection.

"Answer me!" he yelled from behind us.

"This arguing is going to get old..." Amber said as she moved the light to a nearby sign to read it. "Hm...something's not right..."

"What do you mean?" brother asked, suddenly, unbelievably clam.

"There's never been a fork in this road. It's always been one way, I even checked a map myself before leaving," she said while looking over her shoulder at my brother. "And you are not Ed..." she said while punching my brother. "At least, I think so..." she murmured. "If I'm wrong, I'm never going to hear the end of this..."

"Why would you say that?" he yelled. "I am Ed!"

"You never clam down that easily," she said while handing me the lit branch. She's right though...brother never clams down that fast.

"You win this round alchemists...but it won't be so easy next time..." said "Ed" as he disappeared within the trees. Suddenly my brother flew out of the woods and landed at our feet, face on the mud.

"Well?" he asked, irritated. Amber and I sighed, he was still angry, this was a good sign.

"This way," Amber said as she took the path on the right, brother and me following right behind her. The rest of the trip was silent but this time it wasn't tense. Amber stopped abruptly, stretching her arm out to stop us as well. "There was a landslide...we're gonna have to go around and enter through the other side since there are sharp rocks at the bottom, meaning that we can't jump."

"How can you tell?" brother asked.

"Look at your feet," Amber said while taking the branch from my hands and hovering it over the ground. We saw that from where we were standing, there was a sudden drop. "Since I'm connected to the elements so to speak, I can pretty much tell what happened."

"Show off," brother said under his breath.

"This way," Amber said while taking a left and disappearing through the trees. "There's a small path around here we could use," she said as we finally caught up to her. We kept following her until the sky above us started to "light up" meaning that sunrise was just starting. She blew off the fire on the branch and stopped. "Gimme a moment..." she said as she dug a hole in clear patch of grass. She put in the branch, clasped her hands, placed them on the ground and a small tree replaced the branch. "Everything needs a second chance," she whispered as a little wind blew our way, I could tell by the way everything moved around us, including the stray hairs in Amber's face. "Let's go...we're about an hour away from Jaen," she said softly as she proceeded to walk again. We walked alongside each other, brother and Amber on either side of me, silent again. After about an hour, we finally were out of the woods, the sun was up and before us stood the little town known as Jaen.

"So," I heard brother begin. "What are we supposed to do here?"

"Investigate some minor object disappearances," Amber said as she started to head to the town.

"You mean robberies," brother corrected her as he followed.

"Same thing," Amber said as she stopped in front of a restaurant. "I'm hungry...do you want anything Ed?"

"You're asking me?" he cried.

"Forget I said anything," she muttered as she stepped inside. "Probable table for three," I heard her say to a random waiter who sat her down quickly. He looked Amber over several times before handing her a menu to which she seemed slightly grateful for.

"I think we should join her brother," I said while looking at him. He let out a frustrated sigh before stepping inside, dragging me in with him. We sat down across from her and she quickly closed her menu and passed it to Ed who took it with unreadable eyes.

"Thanks for deciding to sit down," Amber said while playing with her napkin. "This town has got shady dudes in places you wouldn't think off."

"How would you know?" brother asked rudely. Well, they're not at each other's lungs again, that's good. The same waiter that had attended Amber earlier came back but with disappointed eyes at the sight of brother and me. He asked us what we wanted and both, brother and Amber ordered the same thing, Eggs sunny side up with a side of bacon. Their orders came, ate quietly and paid for their meal before we headed outside again. "So, what do we do now?" he asked in a civilized tone.

"Well," Amber began, in the same tone as he. "I think we should ask around a little and get some info on what we're dealing with. But before that, we should rent two rooms at a nearby inn for the night."

"Wouldn't one be cheaper?" I asked.

"Probably, but it'd be safer if we took two..." Amber said while putting her hands in her skirt pockets.

"What do you mean by that?" brother snapped while raising a brow.

"I'd prefer it that way, that's all," Amber said while walking ahead of us. We ran up to catch up and finally settled to stay at a nearby inn. Brother and I paid for Amber's room since she ended up having a little less money on her than she thought. We went to our rooms, which I requested to be placed near each other in case of any situation, and Amber went straight to hers to shower. In the end, brother did the same and we met up at the hall, Amber's wet hair up in another bun.

"You should let your wet hair get some air you know," brother commented. Amber sighed and in a flash, let her hair down, used Alchemy to dry it and put it up in another bun but with a bang falling loosely on the right side of her face. The movements were so fast that brother and I couldn't tell how long her hair was but we shrugged it off. "You could've let it dry out outside!" he yelled.

"Didn't feel like it..." Amber said simply as she made her way downstairs with us close behind. We found ourselves outside again and Amber started leading the way, accidentally bumping into a little boy. She apologized and he kept going to wherever it is he was going as Amber, brother, and I began to ask around for information on the robberies so we could later discuss our findings. After two hours, I started to make my way over to an outdoor coffee house we'd agreed on meeting at to see Amber drinking something as she waited for us. I looked around and saw brother headed over to Amber as well. I sat down next to Amber while brother decided to skip out on the chair. "What do you two have?"

"I've heard that it's mostly food and clothes," I said while looking at brother and Amber in turn.

"Same thing," Amber said softly as she took a sip of what seemed to me was hot chocolate.

"Me three," brother said with a sigh.

"What else can we do?" I asked as they both shrugged.

"I'm tired from walking all night," Amber said as she got up and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I'm going to take a small nap, wake me up if you figure anything out," she finished saying as she left.

"I don't like her..." brother murmured.

'Not yet...' I added in my thoughts. The only reason they say they don't like each other is because they're both big headed alchemists, an obstacle in the partnership/friendship they should have. "I do, she's nice."

"To you maybe," brother said while taking her chair. "Let's go around to see if we find anything else..." he said as he got up and started to walk away from the shop. It started to rain lightly all around the place and I quickly took cover inside a shop. Brother came in right after me, remembering why I couldn't be outside in weather like this. I then heard two hands on me and turned around to see Amber there, a small smile on her face.

"Hey," she whispered. "This is to keep you dry. It only works on the rain though," she explained, a light surrounding me. I could tell that brother was afraid of what she'd done but once the light faded away, I was still in the armor. "You worry too much Ed," she said while turning to him. "I know how to keep a soul in armor."

Ed

"You could've said something!" I yelled at Amber after scaring me with Al. She just shrugged it off and stepped outside. Al and I followed and watched as she stood on one side of the street, her head high as she looked up at the rainy sky, the drops landing her closed eyes, falling down her cheeks, tracing the curves and contours of her neck and shoulders as they continued moving downwards. It's weird seeing her so calm, it's like she doesn't care that she scared me to death by performing Alchemy on Al.

"I made a mistake...I'll admit it," Amber said, her body not moving at all. "I'm sorry for not clearing it up with you first. Now, can we get going? I want to get this over with," she finished saying as she walked away.

"So do I," I muttered. The faster we get done with Roy's orders, the faster we get to Ishbal and the quicker we get rid of Amber. At least, that's what I think anyway.

There you have it peeps, chapter six of Steel and Ice. I hope you enjoyed and if you could, I'd love a review. The feedback is always nice.

Last note, one of my closest friends, Hideto-sama posted a fic with Amber, Edward, Al and other anime/game characters. It's tittled Sweet Illusion or Harsh Realities(among those lines...) if you want to check it out.

Laters!

Laski