So sorry it's been so long since I updated this x.x I've been busy with school and all that crap. But anyway, here's the chapter!

-Kouta's POV-

"I'm leaving!" Mayu called as she walked out the front door for school.

"Come home early!" Yuka said all motherly-like. This is good for Mayu. she thought, She's been getting brighter everyday after starting school. She looked on the floor where I lay, sleeping, with his face in a pillow. She stood up and started beating his head into the pillow with her foot, "How long to you plan on sleeping and wasting time! Wake up!" Since Mayu came to stay, as much as we hated it, we got her number and called it and then we met her mother and changed her address to the Kaede House. And since spring she had transferred to a middle school near here. The Elric brothers were still looking into whatever it was they were assigned to do, I don't really know, I'm just housing them.

I didn't like the way her mother let her transfer so easily, Mayu's mother, that is. As much as I hate to say it, I don't like the fact she simply let her stay with us, complete strangers. Like a normal parent would.

I don't get it, how could anyone let their kid go so easily?" I asked Yuka, still laying on the floor. "I thought there'd be more disagreement on her part."

Yuka nodded, "Yeah, I heard a missing person's report was never filled." she said. "So, you've decided not to ask any questions, right?"

"Yeah... but... Living expenses are a burden. If we don't save more... yeah, I better get a job." I said.

What Yuka said next scared me, "You should increase the girl count here."

I think I screamed because the Elrics ran in like the house was on fire and they stared at me like I was insane, "It's not as if I like to let them in!"

Yuka stood up, "We need to get to school, too. Hurry up and get ready." She stood up again and hit my face with her foot when I didn't budge. "Come on and get up already!"

We also started going to college. "Have you gotten used to school too, Nyu?" I asked her.

"Uh-nyu!"

"Not, it's not 'uh-nyu' it's 'uh-huh'"

Yuka spoke up, "Even better - 'yes'"

"Yes!" Nyu said enthusiastically. She's also been able to remember some words. The Elric brothers weren't going to be home and we couldn't just leave her there on her own, so we just took her to school with us.

"Don't take out that bow, okay?" I said, "If people see those horns you'll be taken away and experimented on."

"Yes!" she said again.

I saw Yuka sported an annoyed look, "Oh yeah, Yuka!" I said, remembering something. Her face brightened suddenly.

"Eh? What? What?"

I lifted a finger know-it-all-like, "You're not as smart as I thought."

She almost growled at me, "What do you mean?"

"Well," I said, "you're at the same college as me. And besides the medical school, the others aren't that high-leveled."

She looked down, her hair shaded her eyes from sight, "I also tested into really high levels." she said.

"What?" I asked, surprised.

She looked at me, tears in her eyes, "Yeah, that's right! It means I'm just as stupid as Kouta!" she shouted suddenly, which I cringed at.

"Okay! I was just kidding."

-Al's POV-

Saito(1), a woman studying the Diclonius, led us through the halls to 'Number 35's' room. They walked into a lab-type room with a glass window showing a vault. I saw several arms sticking out of it like the ones I'd seen come from Nyu, I doubted that she could be a Diclonius, though, they were blood-thirsty killers, as I had heard. "This is Number 35, also known as Mariko." Saito said. She pushed a button and spoke into a mic, "Mariko, it's mommy, you have some guests."

There was a pause and a child's voice came in through a speaker. "Who are they?"

"They're the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother." Saito replied. "Remember? I told you about them and that they were coming."

The voice came through again, "Hello. I'm Mariko."

Ed smiled, "I'm Edward, the Fullmetal Alchemist."

I spoke, "And I'm Alphonse." Neither of us had ever seen a Diclonius(2), and it didn't look like we were going to because Mariko was the only one they were letting us speak with.

Saito removed her finger from the button and spoke with us, "The Diclonius are a race of humans with usually invisible hands called 'vectors'. Mariko here is the strongest of them. She's the only one yet whose vectors we can see." That proved my theory that Nyu wasn't a Diclonius, I could see the arms and Saito just said Mariko was the only one whose arms could be seen. "Some Diclonius won't harm specific people they feel attachment to, like Number 7, or Nana. She's grown attached to Kurama and even calls him 'Papa'. She seems to be the only one without the blood thirst most have." Another thing to prove that Nyu isn't a Diclonius... well, she did act pretty violently on the beach, but that was in self defense, right?

We stayed for several hours, learning about the Diclonius and talking to Mariko who turned out to be really sweet. (3) When Brother and I got home, everyone else was back and eating dinner. "Sorry we're late." Brother apologized. Both of us finished our food and Ed headed to wash up first. I retreated to our room and read an Alchemy book until Brother got out.

I walked into the washroom and dropped my clothes on the floor before stepping into the bath. (4) I sank into the warm water and blew bubbles from my nose when it went under. All I really needed was a good soak. After cleaning myself, I wrapped myself in a towel and walked down the hall to the bedrooms, leaving little puddles from my feet and dripping hair. I dried myself off in the room and put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I let my hair stay down, hanging loosely around my shoulders. Brother's hair was longer than mine, but mine wasn't the normal length of a boy's either. It was long enough for a pony-tail, but didn't look too long for me. It was nice out so I decided to go for a walk, Mayu decided to tag along with me.

After we were a fair distance from the Kaede house, she spoke up, "Alphonse..."

"What is it, Mayu?" I asked.

She looked at me, "I... um... saw Kouta and Nyu in the bath together... and it brought back some memories I don't want to have..." I was surprised she was comfortable with talking to me about this.

"You shouldn't think it was all Kouta, Nyu probably ran in and surprised him. She really doesn't know that's not okay to just do that." I said.

Mayu held her hands close to her chest. "My step-father used to touch me... I ran out on him one time which is why when we first met all I was wearing was my sweater and underwear..." I blushed. Again, I didn't think she'd be so comfortable talking about that with me. I didn't know that was it, but she didn't talk about anything before. "I hated him so much.. My mother hates me because I supposedly took all of his attention from her... "

I frowned. "Well, you shouldn't be thinking about that, we won't touch you inappropriately at all."

She suddenly hugged me, "You're so nice, Alphonse..." She said. She quickly let go and we continued walking.

-0-0-0-

-Kouta's POV-

Professer Kakuzawa stared for the longest time at Nyu. He had asked a question and she cluelessly shouted 'Yes' and now he was staring at her like she just murdered everyone in the room. "What's the professor doing?" I whispered to Yuka.

"I don't know where I heard it from, but it's a relief, the vaccine hasn't been completed. It's no use." I heard him mumbling.

I was overcome with fear. How does he know about Nyu? I thought. What is he talking about? This could be bad. We should get out of here. I began picking up my things and whispered to Yuka, "Yuka, let's go."

"O-ok."

I stood up, "Sorry, this girl doesn't really understand us. We're going to leave now." I took Nyu's hand and started walking towards the exit, not looking to see if Yuka was following, "Let's go, Nyu."

"Nyuuu! Nyuuuuuu!"

"Stupid!" I scolded her, "Shhh, don't speak!"

Just as we reached the door Kakuzawa stopped us, "Wait." Yuka and I turned to look at him. "That girl is an acquaintance of mine. Where are you taking her?" He asked.

-Al's POV-

It was another day of visiting the institute. Saito showed us an x-ray of a Diclonius' brain. It had a gland on the back that gave them the vectors. Each Diclonius had a certain amount of vectors and each a unique distance they could send them. Mariko's was 11 meters. We also learned that the one considered the "queen" - being the only Diclonius that could reproduce on her own without planting the "Vector Virus" in someone - named Lucy, had escaped some time ago and they hadn't seen her since. She was blood thirsty and would kill any human in sight.

Brother sucked all the information up, as did I. These Dicloni were quite interesting.

-0-0-0-

"What do you mean she's not here?" Brother yelled at Kouta. One of his teachers was supposedly Nyu's uncle and had taken her home to her parents, "How stupid are you? You believed him? You didn't even bother asking anything?" Brother continued shouting.

Kouta shrank back at ever word.

"Brother don't be so harsh." I said. "We can just head back to the college and find out something about him."

"I'll go." Kouta volunteered. "I'm the one who left her with her screaming my name out..."

Brother volunteered to go too. So I was left at home with Mayu and Yuka.

-Kouta's POV-

Ed and I jogged towards the school. It was starting to get late, so it wasn't likely we'd find Nyu anywhere nearby if Kakuzawa had taken her away. But you never know until you check. "His office is this way." I said as I led Ed down the hall. I reached the knob, and when I started to turn the knob, it open and smacked me on the face, "AH!"

Ed snickered at my misfortune. A woman in a white lab coat stood on the other side of the door, "Oh! I'm sorry! You startled me! What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"U...Um... the Professor..." I stuttered.

She tilted her head. "He's not here. Why? Did he call for you?"

I nodded, "Uh.. yeah."

I she turned around and walked back into the room. I heard her sigh before she said, "Well, 'kay." She stopped and turned towards me and Ed, "Well, follow me. 'Cause he's in the underground lab." The both of us followed her downstairs "So, what brought you here?" She asked.

"Uh... I've given up custody of an unidentified girl to the Professor and we got worried." I said.

Ed nodded, "Kouta here is pretty stupid."

"Ah ha ha! Yeah, that would cause worry." The woman said, "Why did you pass her to the Doc in the first place?"

Ed replied this time, "He told him that girl is his niece."

She stared at the both of us for a moment, "He doesn't have a brother."

Ed laughed, "I told you!" I rolled my eyes.

"By the way... the professor.. what is he doing?"

The woman paused again, "There were patients who caught an illness that resulting in horns on their head" Both Ed and I looked to each other in surprise. I think I gasped or something because she looked back at me, "What? You sound pretty surprised."

I looked away, "No.. it's nothing."

She looked ahead again, "What Doc is doing is developing a vaccine to cure them completely. This, and the expulsion of those already infected to the extent of growing horns. Those infected far beyond cure are isolated within an institution and get killed." I glanced at Ed, and his eyes seemed to widen in fear, as if he just found out something very, very frightening. Scarier than what this lady was going on about.

"You're joking, right?" I asked.

She smiled, "Of course." I looked back at Ed and he still had the same expression, he had stopped waking in fact.

"Ed, you coming?" I asked.

Ed blinked and shook his head, "Yeah, I'm coming."

"Look, it's here." The stairs led to a hall which led to a door. The woman walked to it and opened it, "Doc!" She gasped, "It's not here, it seems..."

Ed and I came up behind her and looked around. She took a step forward but stopped and looked down, "Huh?" She jumped higher than I think anyone could ever jump, screaming the entire way. I looked on the ground and saw a disembodied head laying on the ground. Ed and I stumbled backwards, but quickly caught ourselves.

"W-what...? What's this octopus-bald head?" She readjusted her glasses, "That was a darn bad joke, heh..." She rolled the head over with her foot so the face was facing up, "Doc?" Her eyes grew huge, like Ed's were earlier. She screamed loudly and dropped to her knees.

I began thinking, I just cant' guess the cause for why he died... and.. horns? The same as Nyu, but.. "Why... did it become like this?" I asked.

The woman shook her head, "How should I know? Some time ago... he was saying horned people must be killed..." She sucked in a shaky breath, "It's kill or be killed... like this." She brought her hands to her face again, "But still... why does he have horns?"

Possibly... if Nyu did it... there's no way...no.. I thought. Ed turned and started walking out, "I'm heading home." he said, "If Nyu escaped then she'll come back like she did last time."

"You're right..." I agreed, following him out, "We're leaving now, okay?" I told the woman, she simply nodded and the two of us walked out and back home.

(1) That chick that considers Mariko as her daughter that Mariko later rips in half.

(2) He doesn't know Nyu/Lucy is a Diclonius because they don't know what one looks like

(3) Mariko really is innocent, but doesn't realize what she does later on is a bad thing. She's like a kid and thinks of it as just playing.

(4) Alphonse fanservice anyone?