Hello, Hello! This is Jasper here with the long-awaited 8th Chapter (Have I been writing this that long?) of Heated Hearts! you'll have to forgive the agnsty last chapter but I thought I'd turn my attention to Al and his love life (or rather the one I'm creating) And so I advise you to read carefully and if you don't understand, please feel free to PM me and I'll explain. Hold on tight. It's a complicated ride!

Throughout the choas of the Mustang household, Al was left to himself, seeing as though Roy and Ed ran off somewhere, as did Kimiko and Nikki. They'd only been there for one day and his older brother was already causing problems. Al chuckled to himself. 'That's Ed for ya.' He thought with a smile. While the younger Elric brother sat underneth one of the many Dogwood trees in the courtyards garden, James silently crept beside him.

"This is my favorite part of the intire manor." she suddenly said, startling Al. He turned to see the same girl he saw earlier in a whole new light. She was wearing a pale seagreen sundress with simple ocean blue sandals to match. Al was dazzled by her look and his mouth was slightly ajar.

"You know, you really shouldn't hold you're mouth open like that. Unless you want a repeat of today's preformance at the train station." James suggestively said to the cute little blond infront of her. Al blushed slightly and closed his mouth. James giggled.

"Might I ask who you are?" Al asked in a curious and cute manner. James smiled and cleared her throat, as if she was preparing to say something grand.

"I'm James. James Von Canntz. James Von Canntz, The Third!" she proudly proclaimed holding a hand on her chest. She then proceeded to whisper, "It's a family name, no matter what gender you are!" Al chuckled at her and said, "It's very nice to meet you, James. I'm just plain, old Alphonse Elric. But most people call me Al." She smiled, seeing as he had a sense of humor and sat down beside of him.

"So... where are you from?" James asked, not liking the 3 second silence between. Alphonse looked at the girl beside him and said, "Rismbool. It's a really small town with only a few people in it but everyone's really nice there. What about you, James"

"I'm from here in Colltin Falls. My mother and father left me here with my Auntie Micha." James lower her head and looked at the ground as she finished, saying, "My mother and father didn't want me. I wasn really sick when I was little"

Alphonse listened to James explain how they found out she had narcolepsy, a sleeping disease were she fell asleep at random intervals of time. Her narcolepsy was one of the biggest obstacles she had faced in life. She explained how she and her aunt's house was falling apart and how the only thing she could do was go to school and work. Then she told Al of her love of alchemy.

"Ever since I was little, I remember Auntie using alchemy to fix some of my thing that I had broken, like dolls and such. I always wanted her to teach me but she never did. 'Perhaps when my sweet is older', she would say to me. And I would always say, 'That's not fair!' ...Heh, those were very good days"

Al, looking at the girl as she continued on about her Auntie to this day, noticed the dark circles underneth her eyes. It must have been from constant sleep. James noticed him staring into her eyes and blushed, regaining her composure, she continued on about her Auntie Micha. About how she would forget little things and how she was constantly nagging her to stop working and let her start doing alchemy again.

"I can't let her keep working, Al. I just can't! If I did, I don't even wanna think about what could happen..." Just Al was about to reassure her that everything was gonna be fine, she grinned and said, "That's why I've started to study alchemy for myself! But I don't know what kind of alchemy I wanna do. What do you think, Al"
Al smiled and said, "Well, it would be good if you did some type of water alchemic to start off with. It's really easy to d-" Al clapped his hands over his mouth. James grinned mischeviously. Al gulped. James leaned close to Al and put her hands on his shoulders. Al gasped and tried to pull away but James would let him.

"You know how to do alchemy, don't you, Al?" James asked in a eerily innocent voice. Al looked into her eyes and knew it was over. Al nodded and proceeded to tell James about how he and his brother tried to bring their mother back to life and how he was stuck in a suit of armor for 1 and a half years. About how Ed sacrificed having real limbs to let him have his body back and how they now just help people out with their alchemic skills.

"Wow." James said as Al finished his very long story. "And I here I am thinking I've been through a lot! You two are so brave! I mean really, you are"

"Well," Al grinned and blushed "Thanks, but Ed did most of the hard stuff. As a matter of fact, he sealed me to the suit of armor with his own blood. That's how he lost his arm and leg... I'm grateful he did that though. Otherwise, I'd be somewhere on the other side of The Gate"

"The Gate? What's that?" James asked with a curious and cute look on her face. Al explained to her how The Gate was pretty much a portal to a whole new world, a world where alchemy didn't exist but the advances in technology were phenomenal. He also eplained how there were people in this world how looked just like them but with totally different personalities. James's eyes were wide in wonder as Al continued to explain the principal of the Gate. As Al finished his story, he looked over to see that James... had fallen asleep. Wait... She was asleep?! "Crap..." Al mumbled to himself as he tried to shake her awake. "James? Ja-a-a-ames?"

No response.

Alphonse began to panic as he looked around for someone to help him. 'C'mon, Al!' he thought to himself. 'You need to get her home or somewhere!' Al's inner muses where interupted by a very soft sigh. Al looked down at James and saw her shift against the bark of the tree. She looked so... iinnocent/i when she slept. Al smiled sadly and then got back to the matter at hand. How to move her with out waking her.

Alphonse wrapped one of his long arms around her back and hooked the other arm underneath her legs, gently lifting her off of the bench they were sitting on. Gingerly picking her up, Al began to walk towards Mustang's Mansion. 'Geez, this is gonna look awkward...' Al thought to himself as James snuggled her head in his chest. Al just looked down and smiled at the girl in his arms.

As Al came up on the house, he say Rhonda standing on the stairs. 'Uh-Oh!' he thought to himself as he came closer to the house. This is was going to be fun to explain.

"Umm... Lady Mustang?" Al called as he came into the main drive of the mansion. Rhonda looked and smiled at the teen.

"Why, hello, Alphonse. What's the matter?" She asked in a concerned voice as she saw that he was carrying James in his arms.

"Well you see," Al said as he walked up the stairs "James and I were talking in the garden and she sort of went to sleep... Do you know where I can take her? Like her house or something"

Rhonda smiled and brushed her fingers lovingly over the forehead of James. She sighed and motioned Al to follow her into the house. Al obediantly followed her into the main room of the Mansion. She pointed to the cream colored couch and whispered, "Lay her here and then come with me"

Al nodded and slowly laid James onto the couch. He then turned to follow Rhonda, who was already halfway up the hallway. Al briskley walked to catch up with her.

"Thank you so much for bringing her here, Alphonse." Rhonda's long legs were carrying her gracefully down the hallway as she spoke.

"You're welcome Lady Mustang. I would've never considered leaving her somewhere, you know?" Al said breathlessly from walking so fast to keep up. Rhonda turned to face him and smiled. In her mind, Al was just the type of person she would have loved for Nikki to be with. But if course, love cannot be plotted.

"Please, Alphonse," Rhonda said stopping to turn towards the young man she was addressing. "Mrs. Mustang or just Rhonda would suit me fine. No need for such a formal tone with me. While your here, you will be treated as family, ok"

Al nodded and smiled at the older woman. As she began walking again, Al was once again, falling over himself to keep up. 'Roy and Nikki look nothing like their mother...' Al thought to himself as he looked at Rhonda. Her hair was bright red with flashes of tangerine running throughout along with on streak of sophisticated grey. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of deep-honey brown and her cheeks and nose were spirinkled with freckles. She looked much younger than she was.

"Mrs. Mustang," Al asked, too polite to call the older woman Rhonda "This is quiet an odd question but, I've noticed that Roy and Nikki look nothing like you... Is there a reason for that"

Rhonda led him in the extra sunroom and motioned him to take a seat. As Al sat down, she sat beside him. Rhonda smiled at the young blond and said, "That's not an odd question at all, Alpho-" "Please just call me Al, ma'am." Al said, unintentionally interuppting Rhonda. Rhonda raised an eyebrow, smiled and continued.

"Ok then, Al. Like I was saying, that's not an odd question. Lot's of people ask if I'm their stepmother or something. When they were younger, both Roy and Nikki had bright red hair like me." Rhonda was grinning as she reached for a photo album that was laying under the coffee table in a wooden chest. Quickly skimming through the pages she found a picture of a much younger Roy mustang, grinning and holding up a pile of ashes. Complete with flaming red hair, and missing front teeth. Al gasped and giggled at the picture.

"This is Roy when he was five. His father had just taught him how to used the flame alchemy. That's the first block of wood he was able to burn... or so it was." Rhonda said, smiling fondly at the picture, running her fingers along the edges in a loving manner. She snapped back to reality and flipped to a picture of herself in a rocking chair holding a brand new baby girl with wisps of red hair adorning her hair and freckles covering her nose. The younger Roy, who's hair had turned a deeper shade of red, was waving his hands frantically behind her. All you could see was his ecstatic face and his arms.

"This is when Nikki was about... 3 months old, I think. She was a tiny little thing! I remember Roy going completely spastic when we brought her home. saying things like, 'She'll never get bigger! She's so small!' That was when he was about 10. His hair started getting darker and he was getting tall like his father"
Al kept looking at the pictures in complete and utter shock. By looking at the Mustang siblings now, you would have never guess that the had looked like they did when they where younger. Nikki looked like a porceline doll with her bright red hair and freckles, huge green eyes shimmering in the sun.

'Wait? Nikki's eyes are green in this picture... what's going on here?' Al thought to himself, flipping through more pictures only to see that her eyes were still green. He was almost tempted to ask Rhonda himself, but decided against in, thinking that it would be rude. Luckily for him, she knew what he was thinking.
"It's ok to ask questions, Al." Rhonda said softly, startling Al out of his thoughts "Nikki's eyes turned purple after her trip to the Gate. She didn't have freckles when she came back either. It pained me to see her without her freckles and green eyes but then I notice why they were gone... she gave them away"

Al was puzzled by the statement, asking, "How did she give away her freckles? I'm not following you, Mrs. Mustang"

"Well you see, Al," Rhonda said, sipping on the tea that one of the maids had brought her. "You know the rule of Equivalent Exchange, right?" Al nodded to show his that he understood. "Well, Nikki's exchange for coming here were her eyes. Well, the color anyways. She gave the color of her eyes-" Rhonda closed her eyes and slowly opened, "To me."

Al let go a startled gasp and looked at the pictures for conformation. And sure enough, starting back at him from the picture was Rhonda Mustang, with shimmering violet eyes and then back at the one siting in front of him, who's eyes were glowing jade green. Rhonda was smiling sadly as Al looked into the eyes in the picture and then the ones infront of him.

"I understand now but-" Al stopped mid-sentence as he heard a scream come from the room where James was laying. Acting only on instinct, Al dashed from the table and ran down the hallway to find James sitting on the floor, trembling and looking around the room in confusion.

"James!" Al gasped, kneeling at her side "Are you ok?" James was shaking, convulsing with fear. Al could do nothing but watch and hold James closely to his chest. Rhonda came flying around the corner, her dress flying behind her. She looked at the scene before her and imediately rushed over.

"Is she ok, Al?" Rhonda asked. Al nodded and continued to hold James in his arms. James was frantically weeping about her Auntie being "Swept into a gaint door". Rhonda looked at Al and frowned.

'So this is what it comes down to, huh?" Rhonda thought as she called a servant to prepare a car to take James home. "I had a feeling this would happen. I'm so sorry... James Michelle Mustang."

OMG! What's going on here!? James is a Mustang? But how? What is to become of Al and James relationship? Why is Rhonda so sorry? You shall all find out in the next chapter of Heated Hearts! Ciao, everyone!

-Jasper Insanity