Edward pried his eyes open and blinked to clear his hazy eyes. It took him a few seconds to recall what had happened in the hours before he passed out; as soon as he had, he sat up suddenly, regretting doing so when his head began to reel. He tried to bring his knees to his head to prevent another fainting spell, but winced from a shooting pain in his right thigh. Unable to move for the time being, partially from pain and partially from fatigue, Edward laid back on the couch that he had been placed on and stared up and the ceiling.

"It's about time you woke up."

Edward turned his head so that he faced the couch across from the one he laid on. Shina met his gaze and grinned. Bandages were wrapped around her left arm, as well as various other places, and she was sitting with her elbows resting on her knees. Edward glared at her for a moment or two then heaved a heavy sigh.

"Sorry about that," the brunette said, motioning to Edward's bandages. "Guess I got carried away. That often happens when I fight…My blood starts boiling, or whatever it is." Both of them laughed lightly and an unnerving silence covered the two alchemists. Shina stared at her feet and decided to bite the bullet. "Hey Ed…Why do you have automail?" She looked up and saw that Edward looked aggrieved but not surprised.

"I knew that you would ask that sooner or later," he replied, shifting into a sitting position. "I suppose you have a right to know. It's a long story, so I suggest you get comfortable." When Shina didn't move, he began his story.

Edward told Shina about how his father left Alphonse, his mother, and him when he was only a year old and how his mother died when he was ten. Edward told her about how he and Alphonse used some of the money their father left them to find a master of alchemy and hire her as their teacher; and he told her about how they tried to bring their mother back through human transmutation. "We were so stupid!" he half-yelled. "We thought that we could bring her back, that nothing would go wrong. But it was a disaster. Al lost his whole body and I lost an arm and a leg." Edward buried his face in his hands, one mechanized and the other flesh and blood. "We were so stupid…"

"Ed…" Shina knew there was nothing she could say to make him feel better. Looking around the room for something to help him, her eye caught a glimpse of what that something jut might be. She walked over past Edward to the shelf behind the couch that he sat on. She grabbed one of the books on it, thumbed through the pages for a moment, tore one out, then walked back over to the blonde alchemist. He looked up in surprise when he saw her handing him the sheet. "Here," she said blankly. "It's not much, but I thought you might like it."

Edward took the piece of parchment and looked it over. It was a sketch of him through what must been Shina's eyes. He was in mid-run with one hand curled into a fist, which he held in front of his chest, and his automail hand was transmuted into a blade and thrown behind him, ready to swing at his target. Even though it was just a sketch, the picture was excruciatingly detailed, right down to the nuts and bolts on Edward's automail. Something was written at the bottom of the paper.

i Here Ed-

Thanks for a great alchemy battle. I haven't had a fight like that since I joined the military. Even though I kicked your ass, I'll go to Central with you and Al.

From, Shina /i

Edward looked up at Shina blankly. She smiled.

"I drew that while you were still unconscious," she explained. "I know I said that I'd go with you only if you beat me, but it's been a while since I had that kind of a challenge."

"Seriously?" Edward asked, still not trusting what he heard. "You'll go to Central with us?"

Shina shrugged. "Sure. But we're going to want to hurry." Edward looked at her askance. She pointed at the clock behind him. It was ten forty nine.

"OH CRAP!!!" Edward jumped up and ran upstairs to get Al. Shina dashed into her room and packed a small bag. She ran back downstairs into the living room to grab her last belonging. She reached up to the most-loved book on the shelf and put it gingerly in her case—her sketch pad. When she went into the entry room of the small cabin, she found that Edward and Alphonse were already standing in the doorway. Olivia was waiting to say goodbye to them. Shina smiled down at her twelve year-old sister and gave her a hug.

"I'll be back in a few weeks," she said. "Take care of yourself."

"I will," Olivia replied. Edward and Alphonse said their thanks and the trio ran down to the Ginshale train station. Olivia waved good-bye until they were out of her sight. She smiled to herself, looked up at the sky for a moment or two, and walked back into the house.

center /center

"There's the train!" Alphonse yelled over the clamor of the busy station.

"And it's already leaving!" Shina responded. "Come on, we gotta run!!" Edward was the first to reach their target. He ran up onto the stairs and pulled (more like jerked) Shina by the hand onto the train. By the time they had heaved Alphonse on, the train was moving at a slow pace that was becoming more rapid by the second. They all let out a sigh of relief and found an empty booth to stay in until they reached Central. Edward and Alphonse sat on one side with Shina across from them.

The first part of the journey was uneventful. Alphonse tried to perk everyone up by telling some jokes, but no one was really in the mood to laugh. Shina gazed out the window and traced the outline of the diamond-shaped stone in her palm repeatedly. Alphonse stared at the floor; Edward stared out the window like Shina, but after a few minutes he slumped back into the chair and fell asleep.

Suddenly, there was a loud commotion from the front of the train and a blood-curling scream echoed through all the cars in the train. Edward woke up immediately and Shina walked into the isle. She stared at the door and was about to walk over to open it when the train lurched to the right and screeched to a sudden stop. The momentum got the best of her and Shina fell forward, hitting her already injured arm on the corner of a suit case with terrible force.

"Damn it!!" Shina cursed, holding her arm in pain. Alphonse went over and helped her stand while Edward looked around the car; luggage was scattered everywhere and people were in a panic. Some were crying, some were yelling, and others looked just plain psychotic.

"What i was /i that?" Edward asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Shina said, heading towards to door. She opened it, only to be greeted by a thick cloud of dust and the sound of people making frantic noises in fear. She looked around when she noticed a stepladder leading up to the rooftop for the train. Once she had climbed up, she looked around over the dust and found a horrible sight. The first two train cars were completely obliterated, the first few behind them bursting with flames. The tracks were all in pieces, and there was no way that anything could be repaired immediately, even with alchemy.

Edward poked his head out the door and called up to Shina. "Hey! Do you know what happened?"

Shina didn't reply. Edward repeated the question and she yelled back, "Ed, come up here." The blonde alchemist furrowed his brow and obeyed her request. When he got up to the roof, a sour look came up on his face.

"Hijackers," he muttered. "They've probably got something against the military."

Shina tore her gaze away from the wreckage and looked around. "There's no way we can get to Central unless we go on foot, but judging by the landscape, we're pretty far away from there." Edward looked around and realized that she was right. The terrain was all rocks and desert. There was absolutely no way that they were close to Central.

"We should tell Al what happened," Edward suggested. Shina nodded and started down the ladder with Edward right on her heels. Once back inside the car, they found that people had calmed down, but everyone was curious about what happened. They were leaning out windows in an attempt to see the train wreck, and some were even jumping out windows and running over to the front cars to report to the other passengers what was going on.

Once Shina and Edward had told Alphonse what was ahead, he shook his head and stated, "If we're going to get to Central at all, we're going to have to start walking. We might run into a car of something that will be willing to give us a ride."

Shina snorted. "A car? In this place? I don't think so. But Al's right. We should get going and stop wasting time just sitting around here. Let's go." Shina turned on her heel and walked over to the open doorway and disappeared in the cloud of dust. The two brothers looked at each other and then followed Shina out into the barren wasteland, not knowing how to get to Central at all from that point.