The train whistle blew inside the train station. Ed and Al sat on a bench, waiting for Danielle to purchase food for the trip. She walked over to Al and handed him the food.
"So where are those two?" she asked, looking around the station.
"No clue," Ed replied. "We were actually on time, and for what? To wait?"
"The train will be leaving soon," Al reminded them. "So if they don't get here soon, we'll have to leave them."
"More room for me to sleep," Ed commented. Danielle tossed him a dirty look.
"We can wait a couple of more minutes," she said, looking up at the clock. "Hey! That's for the trip! You can't have any now!" She smacked Ed's hand that was searching in the bag of food she had bought.
"Hello," said two cheery voices behind them. The three turned to see Isabelle and Aleeya walking up to them.
"Sorry we're late," Aleeya apologized. "We had to finish up some business."
They all climbed onto the train. Ed sat down beside Al. Danielle turned to sit down as well, when Isabelle and Aleeya pushed past her and sat in the seat facing Ed and Al. Danielle stood up straight and looked at them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, were you going to sit here?" Isabelle asked.
"No, no, I'll just take the seat behind you guys," Danielle said through gritted teeth. She turned and sat behind them.
An hour passed by. Danielle was laying down in her seat listening to the others.
"So anyway, how did she get accepted into the Military?" Aleeya asked, tossing back her long red hair. "I mean, what was that whole thing with the electricity?"
"Why didn't she do it for her Exam?" Isabelle added, flashing her electric green eyes. "If she could do it all the time, then she would have. I think it was just a fluke, don't you?"
Danielle's face grew red. She sat up in her seat.
"Well, she can do it all the time. And she's very good with it. It's quite impressive," Ed replied.
"Well, I bet she's not as impressive as you, Edward," Aleeya said dreamily.
"Yeah, the 'Fullmetal' Alchemist," Isabelle sighed.
"Well, I don't like to brag, but –" Ed laughed. Danielle looked over the seat, ready to crush him, but she stopped. She was looking at Ed. He was smiling; something he hadn't truly done in a long time. Danielle decided to let him enjoy the moment. She turned back around .
"May I sit here?" Al asked, standing at Danielle's seat. Danielle nodded and Al sat across from her.
"How long until we reach Windal?" Danielle asked.
"It should be another hour. It's East, near Youswell," Al replied.
"Oh. I've never been there. Of course I haven't been a lot of places."
"Where is Pyre?"
"It's a ways northeast of New Optain," Danielle said. She laid down in the seat.
"Are you okay?" Al asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"I saw you look over the seat at Ed. I'm glad you didn't say anything. I didn't want to hear you and Ed fight."
"It's not like I enjoy fighting with him. He's just so – arrogant sometimes. And naïve. And stubborn!"
"Yeah, Ed is kind of at a low point today. He was too busy talking to Aleeya and Isabelle to pay any attention to me."
"Men are all the same. Find a pretty face and they're captivated."
"You really think that?" Al asked.
"Most of the time," Danielle sighed. "I just never seem to be able to make people happy."
"That's not necessarily true," Al protested.
They both sat in silence for a long moment, both searching through their own thoughts. On kept retracing itself through Danielle's mind.
'Why didn't you stop it? You knew what it was, why did you let it happen?' Colonel Mustang's voice echoed through her head.
"The only way to make others happy, is to first make yourself happy," Al said, breaking the silence.
"Wow, Al, have you ever thought of being a philosopher?" Danielle laughed. But his words seemed to hit her somehow, and she kept them in the back of her mind.
"You said that all men are the same. Well all girls are the same, too," Al said.
"I don't think so," Danielle said.
"Well, that's because you're a girl. I meant that girls are hard to read. You can't tell when they're angry or sad."
"Well, you can read me like a book. I don't see what the problem is."
"That's because you give your emotions through your eyes. And I'm good at reading that. But sometimes it's still a mystery."
"Well, if you ever need help deciphering a girl's feelings, tell me and I'll be glad to help," Danielle smiled.
"Okay," Al laughed. "I'm glad to see that you're happy again.
"Thank, Al," Danielle said. "I'm going to call the Colonel on the switchboard and tell him that we're almost to Windal."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Al asked as she stood up. "A few times I was on the train, some bad things happened."
"Don't worry, I'm a big girl. I'll be fine," Danielle smiled. She walked down past the others, through the back doors.
"Where is she going?" Aleeya asked.
"To call Colonel Mustang," Al answered.
"Why does she get to? She's not the leader!" Isabelle complained.
"Colonel Mustang probably asked her to since he trusts her," Al replied.
"And why is that?" Aleeya said.
"Well, he is her uncle, so –" Al started.
"Her uncle? No wonder she made it into the Military! That explains everything!" Isabelle exclaimed. She and Aleeya smiled to themselves.
"Colonel Mustang?" Danielle said, holding the phone up to her ear. "We're almost to Windal. It should be about forty-five more minutes. Yes, sir – everyone is on board." She listened to Colonel Mustang closely. "They what? Are you sure? Yes, sir. Good bye." Danielle sat the phone down.
"So Bradshaw's been bribing those two? And that's why they were late," she said to herself. She closed the door to the switchboard room. She walked down the line of private apartments, when she heard something hit the wall inside one of them. She slowly slid open the door of one of it to investigate. Nothing was in there. She looked around and then walked over to the window. Someone touched her shoulder. She clapped her hands together, making her electric whip and swung it behind her. She threw the person into the compartment seat.
"Ed?" she yelled in surprise. Ed laid on the seat looking up at her.
"Your whip didn't hurt me at all. Shouldn't electricity hurt?" Ed said. Danielle let go of the whip and it disappeared.
"Why are you back here?" she asked.
"Because Al told me you came back here," Ed said.
"Why did you leave your two new best friends? I'm sure they're dying to hear you brag some more," Danielle said, aggravated.
"What's that suppose to mean!" Ed yelled, more for the reason that he was being yelled at.
"Did you know that both of them were reported to be talking to Lieutenant Bradshaw?"
"So?"
Danielle turned from him.
"Well if you don't think they're trouble, then go and continue being happy!"
"What is that suppose to mean?" Ed replied.
"Why are you still back here?"
"I was making sure you were okay!" Ed exclaimed. Danielle continued to look at him.
"I don't need you to look after me. Besides, nothing going to hap –"
The window shattered as someone slammed through it and threw Ed against the wall. It was a man with white blond and brown hair. He wore dark glasses, with a large x-shaped scar across his face.
"It's been a while, 'Fullmetal' Alchemist," the man said. "It's time you accepted your fate." He raised his tattooed arm to Ed. Electricity wrapped around it and pulled him back.
"How the hell did you get on here?" Ed asked.
"Who is this guy, Ed?" Danielle asked, holding the man back.
"He's the guy who's been killing State Alchemists left and right. We call him 'Scar'."
"Mustang told me about him," Danielle said, continuing to pull on the electricity. "We can turn him in."
"It's not that easy," Ed said.
"Another State Alchemist?" Scar exclaimed. "Where's your watch?"
Danielle blushed. "It's none of your business where I keep my watch!" she exclaimed. Ed looked at her.
Scar twisted back and grabbed Danielle by the throat. He held her against the wall. His tattoo began to glow red; his hand grew hot. Ed hit him away from Danielle. She grabbed her throat. Ed swung at Scar again, but Scar dodged him. He grabbed Ed's coat and threw him against the wall. Danielle pulled him away. She clapped her hands together and tied his hands behind his back.
"This guy is crazy," Danielle gasped.
"You have no idea," Ed said. Scar struggled to break free. "He's gotten close to killing me."
"You will not escape me this time," Scar said.
"Sorry to tell you, but I don't think you'll be –" Danielle started. Scar kneed her in the stomach. She gasped and let go of her rope, and it disappeared.
Scar grabbed Ed and threw him up, against the compartment ceiling. Then he turned to Danielle, who was on her hands and knees, trying to catch her breathe. She looked up at him, helplessly, as he grabbed her and threw her out the window.
"No!" Ed yelled, before Scar turned and kicked him.
"Brother? Brother! Are you okay?" Al called to Ed, who was lying on a bench outside the train station.
"What happened?" Ed moaned, grabbing his head. "I feel like I got run over by a truck."
"I think we arrived just in time," Al said. "Scar was about to finish you off when I decided to go back and check up on you guys. Scar jumped out the window and onto the roof. He must have thought three was too many for the moment."
"Did you go after him?"
"I tried, but when I got onto the roof, was gone."
"That bastard. He almost did us both in – where's Danielle!" Ed asked, glancing around.
"I don't know brother."
"Scar threw her out the window!" Ed explained.
"What!"
"How far are we from the time when found me?"
"About twenty minutes, probably thirty miles." Al said. "But there's not a train going back that way for a while."
"Then we'll have to walk," Ed said.
"Hello, this is Colonel Mustang," the Colonel said, answering his phone. He was scanning through papers that had been placed on his desk.. "Ah, 'Fullmetal', you must be in Windal by now. Calm down, Elric, what's wrong?"
Lieutenant Hawkeye and Major Armstrong turned to listen. The only noise was from Black Hayate, who was digging in the wastebasket.
"You don't know where she is?" Colonel Mustang asked calmly. "Do you have a general idea? I see. Well, I want you to take the others and start searching there. Check in the town nearby, as well. She may be there."
Hawkeye and Armstrong watched as he set the phone down and folded his hands together.
"It seems we've had a mishap on the train. Danielle is missing and Edward is still dazed."
"Do you want us to go search?" Hawkeye asked. Mustang thought for a moment.
"My biggest concern," he said, " is that the news is the crazed alchemist has left Windal. I fear he may have jumped to another city. And the one closest to Windal, is in the area Ed described as the place they were attacked."
"What are your orders, sir," Armstrong asked.
"I guess this counts as our first assignment?" Aleeya asked.
"We have to find our fearless leader," Isabelle said sarcastically.
"This isn't what I expected when I became a State Alchemist." They both looked over at Ed, who stared off down the road they were about to take.
"What's the matter, Ed?" Aleeya asked.
"I'm just worried," he replied.
"About that fake? I personally think we're better off without her."
"I wish you would stop putting her down!" Ed said angrily. Al looked at him.
"Sorry, we didn't know you had such strong feelings for her," Isabelle muttered as she crossed her arms.
"She and I are alike, and that's what gives us a connection. That's what makes us friends," Ed smiled.
"We're going to find a map," both girls said, walking off to find a ticket clerk.
"Wow, Ed, that was a great speech. Short, but great," Al applauded.
"Yeah, well, I had to get them to shut up somehow. Come on, let's go. I really don't want them to come," Ed said, grabbing his and Danielle's bag, and running toward the exit.
"But I thought you liked them," Al said, keeping up with his brother.
"Are you kidding me? They talk too much."
'So Danielle wasn't right about you, Brother. She'll be glad.' Al thought to himself. They both continued running down the road. 'I just hope she's okay. And I know you do too.'
Preview of Next Episode
"Brother, she won't wake up!" Al exclaimed. Ed took her from Al, who was covered in blood.
"Edward, behind you!" Al yelled. Ed turned and saw Dayus, holding his scalpel. He had a deranged grin on his face. He stabbed at Ed, but Al jumped in front of him. The scalpel bent against his armor.
Dayus pulled another chain, dropping another operating table onto Al. Ed fell back, Danielle still in his arms. He gasped.
On the table were animals – dead animals. Each cut open and missing organs.
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