Part VI

Revelations

Eventually the three teenagers came upon a large pond with trees and other plant-life gathered near its edges. The sun was beginning to set, and they had talked a good deal since the train incident. And this time, it wasn't all sneering and pointing fingers, but a fairly legitimate conversation, at least, by comparison with the previous talk. This had left Fionnuala in a rather contented state of mind. She was enjoying a friendly talk; Edward had finally cooled his head, and Alphonse could finally stop playing referee.

"How about we stop here for tonight?" Suggested Alphonse, looking to the oasis.

"Looks comfy." Fionnuala said with a cheery smile, and quickly she entered the tiny wood. Quite expertly, she began to arrange a campsite in a clearing.

"Really know what you're doing, huh?" Edward noted shrewdly.

"How very observant of you." Replied Fionnuala. "Aren't you guys supposed to be my hosts?" She looked up to see Edward staring quizzically.

"Your point is?"

"Do they not teach you anything of etiquette back at military HQ? I'm merely pointing out that you should be more like a gentleman, and help set up camp."

With that explanation, Edward quickly gave his reply. "I seem to remember that your job was to help me with my 'duties'. I suppose a little manual labor will do for now."

Fionnuala chose to say nothing, and resumed work preparing sites for a fire and a place to sleep. Alphonse and Edward walked into the clearing to help, the former promptly joining Fionnuala in cleaning an area for a campfire.

"I'm sorry about my brother. It was wrong of him to say that."

"It's alright," Fionnuala cheerfully replied. "It was just a lame attempt at regaining his dignity." There was something about how brightly she smiled as she answered that frightened Alphonse.

"Hey, I heard that." Edward's voice suddenly came from the opposite side of the clearing.

"Good. Think about it for a while." Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she took a long breath, and then pushed some dry leaves into a pile for kindling. "You know," she said to the younger brother. "You shouldn't apologize on his behalf all the time, Al. He is your older brother."

"Yeah, but he'd never admit he was wrong, unless it was something really bad."

"That may be, but I don't think it would hurt him to 'clean up his own messes,' so to speak." For a while she paused to think. "Anyways, I don't mind helping, really. It's kinda my job now, isn't it?"

By the time the sun set, they had a fire going; Edward had laid out his coat to sleep on, and Fionnuala had her blanket spread out.

"It's been a while since we slept outside, huh, Al?" Edward said as he stared into the newborn flames.

"Yeah, it has."

"Let's go see if there are any fish in that pond." The brothers got up and brushed themselves off.

Fionnuala looked up. "You mean you guys don't have anything to eat?"

"Usually when we're out doors," replied Alphonse, "we just eat fish."

"Well, if you guys bring a few vegetables and spices in the future, I can cook something. But if you guys want fish, I can make something to go with it."

The brothers looked surprised at each other for a moment. All they ever did was put fish on a stick, and toast it; that was it. "Sounds good," Alphonse said finally.

"Alright. See you later."

So the brothers left, and went to the lakeside. There they transmuted a small net. While finding a good place to cast the net, they watched questioningly as Fionnuala came to collect water from the pond. Eventually they caught themselves six small fish, and satisfied with their catch, they returned to camp. When they arrived, they found Fionnuala at work boiling something in a small bowl. But that wasn't all that was there. Three cups were laid out near the fire, and small torch like structures, set up at various point around the camp, were smoking.

"Oh, you're back," said Fionnuala looking up with a smile.

Edward glanced around. "What's all this?" He asked.

"It's late summer, so this place is teaming with stuff to eat. If we were staying out here for a few days, I'd hang out a few herbs to dry for later, but we're obviously not. But there's more than enough for a meal. Do you guys usually toast your fish?" The brothers nodded in reply. "Good, 'cause there isn't much else we can do with them. Next time we're buying vegetable oil and frying it." She peered over the fire at their catch. "Looks like you guys were lucky. Go ahead and find some branches for the fish." Quickly, they did as they were told. Though they did not say anything, they both were intrigued with how different Fionnuala was from the awkward girl they met the day before.

In little time, the threesome were sitting around the fire, each with fish, a cup of sassafras tea, which tastes a little like root beer, and a bowl of what turned out to be applesauce.

"What are the torches for?" Alphonse asked curiously.

"Smoke keeps insects away."

"I see."

"I must admit," Edward chimed in, "that this is pretty good eating for being out in the middle of nowhere."

"I'm glad you like it." Fionnuala replied. As they ate, Fionnuala watched as Alphonse would tear off a piece of fish, lift up his helmet slightly, and then toss it inside. "Why don't you take off your helmet to eat, Alphonse?"

"Umm.." He turned nervously to his brother.

Ed sighed. "She's gonna find out sooner or later, Al."

Fionnuala was confused, but then she realized that this may be part of the mystery enshrouding the Elrics. Suddenly, she became very attentive and curious.

Alphonse hesitated, and looked at the ground. "Please don't be frightened, Nuala."

Fionnuala watched with concern as the shy Elric lifted off his helmet. She half-expected to see a burned or scarred face by the fuss he was making, but her eyes widened as the truth came in to view. He had no head at all, or a body by the looks of it.

"But how?"

"His soul," Edward quietly replied, "is alchemically bound to the armor. It's a long story."

Fionnuala now understood a little more why Riza and Colonel Mustang had warned her about the brothers. "Wow. I don't really know what to say."

Alphonse quickly put his helmet back on. "You're not scared of me?"

Fionnuala's wide eyes melted to sympathy. "Well, it's not something I see everyday. But that doesn't mean that I think you're a freak or anything. Being made of metal doesn't make you bad person, does it?"

Alphonse was speechless, and simply stared at the ground.

Something rustled in the bushes. The younger Elric stirred from his sleep, or in his case, a light state of dormancy. "Ed, what are you doing?" He turned over and sat up, but his brother was sound asleep, his head resting peacefully on his bright red coat. It was late, and the threesome had put themselves to sleep a hour or so ago. Alphonse looked to the other side of the fire, to where Fionnuala had laid herself down on her blanket. But to his surprise, there was no girl lying there. Where did she go? He thought. Quietly as he could, he stood up and looked about. The fire had gone out, and the pale moonlight barely illuminated his shadowy surroundings. He walked the perimeter of the clearing, looking behind trees and into the distance. No Fionnuala.

Worried, he began to wonder if she had run off, or taken away. Her things were still here, so it was doubtful that she ran. "Brother!" He whispered urgently, shaking his brother's shoulder.

Edward groaned. "What, Al?"

"Fionnuala's gone! I can't find her." He replied, just managing to whisper.

"What!" Edward quickly sat up. "Did she steal anything?"

"Brother! Of course not. She didn't even take her things."

The suspicious elder brother stopped himself, his eyebrows skewed questioningly. "That's weird. Did you check the pond?"

"Not yet."

He stood up, and the two quietly made their way through the growth to the pond. As they approached, they made out a figure on the opposite side of the lake, simply taking small steps. But when they were just about to step into the open shoreline, they realized the figure wasn't walking on the other side of the lake, but rather on the lake.

"Al! Get down!"

"Ah!" Alphonse felt himself pulled behind a bush. The brothers crouched and peered through the spaces between the leaves.

"Shhh. It's coming closer."

"Is that Nuala?"

Edward's eyes widened as he realized the girl with whom they had spent the last day was now walking on water, walking backwards for that matter.

"AH! She's an alien!"

"What!"

Both the brothers were flabbergasted; unable to determine an explanation for this phenomenon. They watched as the levitating Fionnuala turned, and knelt down. Then she seemed to press her hands to the water. Yellow light glimmered, and steam began to hiss.

"Wait a minute, Al. She's using alchemy."

The younger brother looked at her again, harder this time, as she lightly skimmed the palm of her hand over the water. "You're right." Then, she stood up, and looked straight in their direction. She was about 20 feet away, and had looked towards the water's surface the whole time, so that they had never gotten a glimpse of her face. It was then that they realized that she had removed the blue ribbon that she kept tied around her head, and there was something on her brow. Some shape.

She smiled pleasantly. "Nice of you two to come out."

Alphonse laughed nervously as he stood up and walked to the shore, his brother following him.

"Clever method, I have to say," Edward said. "Pretty showy, too."

"What do you mean?" Fionnuala replied confused.

"You didn't even have to transmute the water to walk on it. All you did was rearrange the molecules to condense, and become a near solid surface."

Fionnuala scoffed and gave a half smirk. "Pretty quick, aren't you?"

"The steam gave it away, didn't it, brother?" Asked Alphonse.

"Because the closer the molecules are, the more they bounce off each other, creating friction, which results in heat." Finished Fionnuala. She pressed her hands to the water; the light came again, and soon steam rose from all the water between her and the brothers. "Give it a try."

Tentatively, they both took a step onto the water, and as expected, their feet stayed on the surface. Edward leading, they walked towards her. "But you can't draw a circle on water, so that must mean..."

Fionnuala grew nervous as she felt his piercing gold eyes fixated upon her forehead. He stopped and crossed his arms. Eventually she bent her head in embarrassment, rubbing her fingers on the place where he stared.

"Bit of a weird place to have a transmutation circle tattooed."

"What!" Alphonse exclaimed.

"It's a long story," she replied, sitting down.

"We're not exactly in a hurry." Alphonse said as the brothers sat down as well.

Fionnuala looked up, her bangs brushing over the symbol that permanently stained her brow. It was made up of two black ellipses, and four blue triangles. "I was having a hard go at life on my own, and a girl, Ariana, older than I, offered to help me out. She gave me food, and allowed me to stay with her and her friends for protection and company. Turned out, it was a gang, and their form of branding was to get a tattoo on the forehead: cover it up, except at night when the gang was at work. I was hesitant, but I needed security, so I agreed. I chose to get a transmutation circle, so that I could at least use it. For a while, things were alright, but then I realized how far the group would go to get what they wanted. We would beat up harmless, innocent people, and it scared me. So I ran, and a few years later I'm in East City. I'm not exactly proud of how naive I was."

"Don't feel bad. You made the right choice," said Alphonse encouragingly.

"It doesn't bother you that I'm a former delinquent, does it?" She asked softly.

Alphonse shook his head intently. "Of course not. Having a tattoo on your forehead doesn't make you a bad person, does it?"

Fionnuala's eyes widened, but then she smiled. "Thank you, Alphonse."

"Well, it's good to know you've got some guts," Edward interrupted sharply. "Getting out of the mess and everything."

Her expression switched from contentedness to irritation. "Why thank you, Edward."

"What's wrong, Noodleface? Did I say something?"

"Midget."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING..." But the enraged teenager couldn't finish, because before he knew it, Fionnuala had liquefied the water beneath him, and he fell straight through with a splash. The other two could only laugh.

Dear Keeper,

It's been my first whole day, and whole it certainly was. I write this message to you very late at night near some pond between East City and Durham. We should be in Durham, but Edward had to jump off the train to chase some guy. Long story. Anyways, I've learned a lot today. Turns out, Alphonse has no body save for his armor. His soul is attached to the armor via alchemy. It was hard to believe, certainly, but his lack of a head was enough to convince me. But I can't think any less of him, since he's so kind and considerate. And he accepted me quite well when I told the brothers of my past back with the gang in Palm. I ended up explaining the whole story when they saw me using alchemy on the water.

I've also discovered something for myself today. This morning, I would have done anything if it impressed the brothers, especially Edward. Sucking up, and figuring out ways to look good, it was more than degrading. It wasn't until I started being myself that things looked up for the better. I think the brothers respect me a little more since I've spoken what's actually on my mind. I guess what I really mean is, if someone does not appreciate you for who you are, it's a waste of time to try proving otherwise. Instead, hold your head high, shine your true colors, and then you'll be something worthy of regard. Good night, Keeper.

With all sincerity,

Fionnuala