Memory Love

[Amestris – Youswell Mining Town]

Shinobu ran quickly through the desert, the wind kicking up sand around her as she ran. There were few times when the signs of a sand storm started appearing, but that just encouraged her to run faster than before. By the time Shinobu stopped it was nearly dusk, the sun was setting behind her and as it did she looked back to the east…to where her home for the past five-ten years lay just beyond the horizon. But quickly focused back toward the west, towards her destination of Amestris.

When Shinobu looked forward again, she saw the outline of a small town no more than half a mile away. She smiled to herself and, once she caught her breath, started running again.

After about five minutes Shinobu was right on the edge of the town, once in the town she could already feel the tension of the country she was in. Despite the tension clearly in the air, Shinobu enjoyed the sight of the town that looked so strange to her, so new and different. Wooden buildings of various sizes filled both sides of the streets, some with signs on them indicating an inn, or a pub, or a restaurant. At the other end of the town was a train station, and to left of that was another street that led to the coalmines.

Shinobu, eager to get to Central, made a beeline to the train station. The ticket master was reading something and didn't see her walk up.

Shinobu knocked on the wood of the desk to get his attention, once it was got she said, "One ticket for Central City."

The ticket master pulled out a ticket but before he handed it to her, he stuck out his empty hand. "Two-Hundred Sens."

Shinobu's eyes became wide as she realized that she didn't have Amestrian money. She had money from Xing with her! Shinobu pulled out her wallet anyway and slowly handed the ticket master Two-Hundred Yen.

"This isn't our currency…" The ticket master said with a weird look on his face. "You got into the country and you somehow got here, without exchanging your money?!"

Shinobu sweatdropped and laughed nervously.

Just then a boy of maybe thirteen walked up and tapped Shinobu on the shoulder. He had short blonde-brown hair, green eyes, and wore miners' clothes. (Except the hat) He had a bandage across his nose; making it known that he was a hard worker.

"What's going on?" The boy asked Shinobu and the ticket master.

The ticket master handed the boy the money that Shinobu had handed him. "This isn't our currency."

The boy looked at the money and nodded. "It's not…" He handed Shinobu her money and then looked strangely at her. "How'd you get here?"

"I crossed the Great Desert from Xing." Shinobu said without much enthusiasm, fatigue was catching up with her.

The boy sighed and hung his head. "Another one…?"

"Huh?" Shinobu was confused; she knew that some of the people from Xing came here soon after the Emperor fell ill but didn't know that they had come through here.

"Do you know a girl named May Chang?" The boy asked.

Shinobu nodded. "She's my adopted sister…why?"

The boy sighed again. "No reason." He stuck his hand out. "I'm Khayal. My dad runs a local inn."

Shinobu shook Khayal's hand. "I'm Shinobu. I'd like a place to stay for the…" Shinobu dropped to the ground, asleep. Fatigue had caught up with her fast.

Khayal, freaking out a little, sighed. She's just like the other one… "Hey dad, there's another one from Xing out here!"

Khayal's dad, a strong built man and older version of Khayal, walked out and picked Shinobu up. He carried to the inn and laid her down in a room, deciding that she could pay in the morning.

Shinobu woke up the next morning, actually afternoon, and found that she was in a soft bed. She had thought she was back in Xing in her bed, in her room, for a moment…but then when she noticed sunlight pouring through the curtains in the window knew she was not. She was in the country of Amestris.

Shinobu sat up and looked around the room, for a place that she had never been to, she felt right at home. I can't explain it…but it's like I've been here, in a place like this, before. She shrugged and stood up, she could tell by how much light was in the room that it was late into the day.

Shinobu walked out of her room and found that there were only a few people in the pub area, some kids were playing and some women were talking…but that was it. She had no idea where the men would be at this hour, and why the women were sitting around talking.

One of the women greeted her and Shinobu nodded in response as she walked out of the inn and into the town. Khayal was sitting with some other boys his age, a map of the town was in the middle of the groups' circle.

Shinobu walked up behind Khayal and started looking at the map.

Khayal, noticing Shinobu's presence, glared up at her. "What do you want?"

Shinobu glared right back at him. "If you must know, I need Amestrian money before I can start exploring this country."

Khayal sighed and stood up. "Fine, lets go find my dad. He knows this stuff better than anyone."

Shinobu followed Khayal over to the mining area; his dad was in cave number 8, the farthest one. Not too much longer after they started of toward that direction, there was a loud noise coming from the direction they were going.

The two started running toward the mine faster, and when they got there they saw that cave number 8 had collapsed. Khayal almost jumped across the gorge that the collapse had left, yelling for his dad, but someone caught him before he could.

Shinobu thought for a minute then thought of something she could do. Shinobu shrugged off her cloak and pulled out two suntetsu's from her pockets. (Suntetsu = Hidden Knife) With one she drew a pentagram in the dirt and stuck it in the middle. The other one she threw across to the pile of rubble, hard enough to where it would stay implanted in the rocks. Khayal and the others were taken off guard by the suntetsu flying by their heads, but didn't move as it did.

Shinobu quickly put her hands down on the pentagram in front of her and another pentagram, nearly twice the original's size, appeared on the rubble. The rocks quickly maneuvered back into place, where they once were, and the cave was fixed in no time.

Khayal and the others, though they had seen this once before, stood in shock as the cave was fixed. Khayal looked back at Shinobu with a stunned face.

Shinobu smiled back. "A way to thank you for letting me stay the night and helping me to get Amestrian money."

Khayal and the others celebrated as all of the miners who had been trapped inside slowly made their way out of the mine. Once the miners were all back, Khayal's father agreed to help Shinobu convert her money and didn't charge her for the night before.

"…and One-Hundred of your money would be Three-Hundred of our money…so…you have…" Khayal's dad said as he calculated how many Sens to give Shinobu. "One-Thousand Seven-Hundred and Fifty Sens." He said as he handed Shinobu her money.

Shinobu stared in amazement at how much money she had. She had only brought Five-Hundred and Fifty Yen with her in the first place, now she has over twice that amount in Sens.

"Um, are you sure I don't need to pay you for last night?" Shinobu asked, still in shock.

"Yes!" Khayal said for the umpteenth time. "You saved a lot of lives today, Shinobu, you don't need to pay us anything."

"And you can stay here tonight for free too." Khayal's dad said as he put the money from Xing in a safe.

Shinobu smiled at the humbleness and generosity of the Amestrians. "Thank you. I'll heading to bed now." She said as she stood up.

A happily drunken man nearby said, "Whys not stays and haves a drinks?" The drunken slur on his voice was obvious, as was the rank stench of alcohol on his breath.

Shinobu declined kindly and walked into the room that Khayal's family was letting her use for the night. She leaned against the door after shutting it and thought of Xing, about how different it was here than there. Public intoxication was illegal in Xing, women were working in the afternoon, and somebody would've woken her up at the crack of dawn back there. Although she smiled, Shinobu was sad about not being at her home.

After a moment or two Shinobu jumped into the bed and shut her eyes, allowing sleep to come to her until the next day.

Shinobu was standing in the middle of what looked like war zone. Buildings all around her were broken and strewn about, some places were still smoldering. She looked all around her, searching for something to tell her that this wasn't all around her…but to no avail. The genocide surrounded Shinobu like a pack of wolves to a fox.

Shinobu looked down, not able to look at the genocide any longer and found that she was wearing a uniform that two men in her other dream had been wearing. A silver pocket watch hung from a belt loop of her pants, the white gloves she was wearing were decorated with intricate designs, none of which she knew.

There was a high-pitched screaming from behind her and Shinobu turned to see what it was. A woman, blood covering her from head to toe, walked with a little boy in her arms. Shinobu could see that the woman had red eyes, and there was a part of her skin that was shown from beneath the blood.

The woman had dark skin and red eyes, just like the child, and only one word came to Shinobu's thoughts; Ishbalan.

"Get out! Get out of Ishbala's land, you sinner! State Alchemist!!" The woman shouted loud enough to make Shinobu annoyed.

Shinobu didn't respond to that, but instead raised her hand and said, "You will join that child in death soon enough."

Then a greenish glow came from beneath the woman and a column of rock rose up and ran the woman and the already dead child through. The woman's high-pitched scream could be heard for miles.

"That's enough, Elemental Alchemist." The Colonel from Shinobu's other dream said to her.

For a reason that she couldn't explain, Shinobu responded to being called "Elemental Alchemist". "Just doing my duty to the Fuehrer." She said coldly.

It was only then did Shinobu realize that she wasn't in her own body, but in the body of another. She would never act so coldly towards anyone, and never take an innocent life. That woman had not even attacked her and didn't seem like she was going to.

The Colonel nodded. "Lets go back to the camp…Iron-Blood is waiting for us to get back."

Shinobu(?) nodded and followed the Colonel back to the camp.

Shinobu woke up earlier than usual and curled up into a ball and cried. She partially knew why this country had given her such a bad feeling. There had been massacre in this country, and it seemed like the "State Alchemists" had been involved.

Shinobu sat up and dried her tears. Though she's a little scared what the Amestrian alchemists would do if they found out she was from Xing, she knew she had to continue forward to discover who she truly was though…she just hoped she hadn't been involved in that massacre.

Next Time:

Amestris – Central City;

Central City, Amestris…this is where the military is stationed and also where the State Alchemists are. But maybe not everyone in the military is so bad…one is even a flirt!