Chapter 5: A Special Reunion
Dayna's mind was in frenzy when she came to HQ the next day.
Did she really see Ed in the rain that night?
It looked like him, but he seemed different. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see his emotionless, golden eyes and the burning, red tattoos all over his body. It was really hard for her to concentrate on all the work happening around her.
She was helping out with the break-in, but she just couldn't keep her mind focused.
"Hey there Dayna? Are you all right?"
She snapped out of her daze to see Havoc standing there.
"What? Yes, I'm ok"
"This is the damage done to General Mustang's office. Something's were smashed and other things were burned, it's a real mess"
"What about Ed's office?"
Havoc led her to the next room.
"This one isn't as bad. Nothing's been burned, so we think that whoever was in here had an accomplice and they didn't want to make that much of a mess"
Dayna looked around the room, seeing all the things that were on the floor and the furniture that was ripped. She walked over to a broken floorboard that was just uncovered by someone who had moved a toppled bookcase. She bent down and opened up the hole to see that there were books in there, she removed them and looked inside. They were notebooks and they were all handwritten.
'This is Ed's writing'
She gathered the books in her hand and walked over to the desk. She set them down when she noticed something else, broken picture frames. She reached down and picked one of them up and noticed that the pictures had been removed.
Dayna was wondering why the pictures were gone when she started to sneeze and cough quite a few times.
"Dayna? Are you coming down with a cold?"
She looked to see Hawkeye in front of her.
"No, I'm fine. Must have inhaled some dust in here"
"Find a clue in the picture frames?"
"No, I don't think so. They're empty, the photos are gone"
"What are you doing with those books?"
"They're Ed's. I found them hidden in a floorboard; whoever was in here didn't want them destroyed. I'm going to take them home with me"
"All right, I'll see you tomorrow"
* *
Dayna felt more at home where she was staying than anywhere else. It was Ed and Al's house; they were living together. It had been awhile when she last lived there, she had been transferred to East City for a year and had recently retired from the military.
She often stayed up all night, waiting for Ed and Al to come through the door and welcome her home, but they never came.
It took her a while before she fell asleep.
**
A person was sitting on a rooftop across from the little white house. Pride had followed the girl here when he finally spotted her walking down the street. He jumped down from the roof and made his way toward the house, he climbed up the drainpipe to the window he last saw her in and peered through the window. He saw her sleeping and looked at the window; it was unlocked. He reached up, pushed it open and climbed in.
He moved on all fours across the floor. He made his way to the bed and stared up at the girl sleeping, he climbed, carefully onto the bed and sat down. Pride looked at her hair, shining from the moon's light coming in from the window. Ever so slowly and carefully, he leaned forward to watch her sleep. He breathed in and realized that she smelled like flowers. He looked down and saw her chest moving up and down under the covers, he lay his head down and listened to her heartbeat. It was a soothing sound and feeling. He was so preoccupied with what he was doing that he didn't even see her eyes open.
Dayna opened her eyes and felt something heavy on her chest. She moved her head to see a blond-haired boy face first in her chest! She jerked out of bed and was about to scream, when a pair of hands whipped out and covered her mouth.
"I'm sorry…please don't scream. I didn't mean to break into your house"
Dayna found herself staring into a pair of golden eyes and realized it was the boy she saw in the rain.
"I'm sorry. I'll take my hands away, if you promise not to scream or yell"
Dayna nodded in promise and he moved his hands away. She noticed that other than him having a strong grip, his skin was strangely cold; not overly cold, there was still some warmth.
"How did you get in here?"
"The window. I wanted to talk to you"
"Why?"
Pride took out the photos and laid them on the bed. Dayna looked at the pictures,
"You were one of the ones who trashed the offices the other day"
"Yes, but I didn't want to"
"Why did you want to talk to me?"
"You're the girl in this picture and the way you looked at me the other night, it looked like you knew me"
Dayna stared at her odd guest, confused of what he wanted. He then asked her,
"What's your name?"
"Dayna. What's yours?"
"I'm Pride. Dayna, that's a pretty name"
Dayna gasped at the comment and her eyes welled up with tears. She started to cry and Pride tried to comfort her.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"That was the first thing you said to me when we first met"
Pride looked confused.
"Why does this boy look exactly like me?"
"Because it is you. Don't' you remember?"
"No. I don't remember anything from my past"
"Well, I'll help you"
Dayna talked to Pride. She told him about whom the people were in the pictures and his relations to them. She told him that the other boy was his brother Al and that they were friends and they've known each other very well for the past four years. She told him about their journeys together and all of what they went through on their quest for the Philosopher's Stone.
Pride was enjoying all the info and stories that he was getting when he looked over at Dayna's alarm clock.
"Oh Shit! I have to go or else Brother's going to break my arms!"
He jumped off the bed and headed for the window.
"Wait! Will I see you again?"
"Yeah, I'll come to you. I want to find out more about my past, just remember to leave the window open"
Dayna nodded in understanding as Pride leaped out the window and disappeared.
She wished that he could stay longer.