Golden Haired Spirit

Ed watched from a safe distance from inside of Appa's saddle while Katara and Toph taught Aang some bendy tricks. Then, out of nowhere, there was a very loud yell.

"Sneak attack!" Sokka ran towards Aang, who easily stopped the idiot boy. What moron gave away his position when trying to be sneaky? Apparently, Sokka did. Ed reminded himself mentally to never go on any important missions with Sokka. Toph and Katara seemed to be arguing about something, then they angrily flung mud at each other. Ed made the wise decision to stay on Appa and stay out of the freak show. Sokka, Toph, and Aang started to walk in the direction of a nearby village, while Katara stormed off elsewhere.

"Hey!" Toph called up to Ed. "We're going to go have some fun. You coming with us?" She sounded slightly agitated from her quarrel. What type of fun was she talking about? What did these weirdoes do in their spare time?

"Uh, no thanks. I've got things to do." Ed yawned and stretched his arms.

"Whatever." Toph said, then the three walked to the town and out of view. Ed slid down Appa's tail and relaxed in the nearest spring. It was a hot spring (go figure) so it felt almost too hot on his automail, but it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with. His hair flowed freely in the water, which irritated him. Without his hair up, Sokka had called him a girl a total of eleven times already.

Once he was cleaned off, Ed almost got out of the water, but realized Katara was sitting not too far away next to a boiling pot. She was furiously stirring the water with her strange bending power. She was clearly upset.

Hmm. Should he say something? Everything's going to be okay? He rarely talked to girls, but when he did, they just ended up physically hurting him in the form of large wrenches. Couldn't they be easier to understand? Girls could be really mean to each other. With guys, all you had to do was slug each other in the face until you reached an agreement. Right? Maybe he should try really hard to make the girl who had saved him feel better. With a few right words, she'd cheer up. Honestly, how hard could it be?

"Hi! Got any spare hair ties?" Well, his hair was annoying him, and maybe she had an extra. Katara spun around, prepared to defend herself against any attackers, but realized it was only Ed.

"Oh, I thought you were with the others. Sure, I have some." Katara got up and walked over to Appa. Ed got out of the water, put his clothes on, then sat down next to the soup. Katara came back and tossed Ed a red tie. Quickly, Ed braided his hair and smelled the soup. He could hardly wait to eat it, but they had to wait until the three slowpokes came back. It was awkwardly quiet.

"Hey, thanks again, for saving me." Ed said, for three reasons. One, to break the silence. Two, maybe hearing those words would make her feel better. Three, he meant the words, he really did.

"I'm a healer, it's what we do. We help those who need it."

"…Alchemist, be thou for the people, eh." Ed said to himself. A healer sounded kind of like an alchemist.

"What?"

"Nothing, just a memory. Where do you think those three wandered off to?" Ed's stomach was starting to growl. As if on cue, Toph came back laughing. Sokka and Aang were holding sacks, and they too, were laughing.

"Where did you get all of this money from?" Katara glared at the three.

"Toph got us money. She just scammed some of those sneaky gamblers in town." Aang said innocently.

"She used earth bending to win the game!" Sokka sounded way too enthused.

"…You cheated." Katara frowned.

"I cheated a cheater."

"You can't do that! What if you were caught? Ed, tell them how dangerous that was." Katara, like the rest, still pronounced his name funny. What was so hard about a two-letter name? And why had Katara turned to him? Probably because he was the only one who stayed behind. Damn, he missed out on all of the fun conning the con men. He'd definitely wanted to go next time if they went again. Oh, crap, Katara was staring at him.

"Eh, if they don't get caught, they don't get caught." Toph smiled, but Katara looked like she wanted to rip off Ed's head.

"How can you say that? I thought you were sensible." What about Ed made Katara think he was sensible? It was only the other day an insane asylum would've gladly taken him in. Besides, he used alchemy to cheat once when he arm wrestled a cheater with automail in Rush Valley.

"You guys need money, and I'm not making anymore." Ed dared to glance at Katara.

"What do you mean you're not making anymore money? Got a job, you lazy bum." Sokka sneered.

"You made money? With your weird bending?" Aang asked.

"Alchemy." Ed corrected. "Yes, but only once." Yeah, only once, in this land at least.

"Well, make some more so we don't upset poor Sugar Queen." Katara prepared to protest Toph's statement, but Ed quickly answered before she could speak.

"I can't. It's illegal."

"But you're the one who just said-" Toph was starting to look angry. Why couldn't Ed meet one girl that wasn't capable of killing him?

"There's a difference between petty swindling and counterfeiting money." Ed crossed his arms.

"You know, stealing is a crime. I bet the Fire Nation doesn't treat thieves like you too kindly…" Good thing Sokka had no idea that stealing was the least of Ed's problems.

"Would you get over that, already? Besides, I'm pretty sure kidnapping and binding someone against their will is illegal. Anyway, stealing money doesn't harm the economy, but creating a whole bunch more does. I've already made too much, so go ahead and cheat." Ed reached for the soup, but Katara swatted his hand away.

"I can't believe you're taking their side!" All Ed wanted was some of the soup, he didn't care where the kids were getting money from. "I'd rather you make money than them risking their lives with gambling. Who cares if the Fire Nation's economy falls?" Ed sighed. He hoped he could get the concept of why making money was bad into their thick skulls.

"Once you beat the Fuhrer Lord…"

"Fire Lord." Aang corrected.

"Sure, whatever. This place is going to be chaotic. You don't want a bad economy while you try to restore it."

"You know what I hear? Blah, blah, politics, blah." Toph supplied.

"Fine. I don't want you pulling off any more of these scams." Katara said while she menacingly held a ladle in her hand.

"Why, you fun hater?"

"I don't hate fun." Katara put the lemur on her head. "See? Fun!" Ed groaned. Katara was trying way too hard.

"Katara, I'll personally make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams." Aang took off his headband and revealed a blue arrow on his forehead. Ed wondered why that was there.

"You've got a little something on your head." Ed's statement seemed to ease some of the tension.

"That's my arrow."

"Your…arrow?" Maybe it was some type of bendy enhancer.

"Yeah!" Aang rolled up a sleeve and slipped off a shoe to reveal that his whole body was wrapped with blue arrow tattoos. Strange. First, people with eye tattoos on their heads that caused freaky explosions, and now, a twelve year old kid who was covered with thick blue arrows. What kind of sick person made a little kid get tattoos covering his whole body? That had to hurt like hell.

Katara finally allowed everyone to eat, but she just stood there with her arms crossed and a foot tapping. She looked like a stern mother who was thinking up punishments for naughty children. After all, these kids were traveling the world alone, someone had to be responsible. Even when Ed's mother had died, they still had people looking after him. Granny Pinako and Teacher were there for him and Al, maybe even Mustang, well, his subordinates, anyway. All these kids had were each other.

It was early in the morning when Ed heard Toph, Sokka, and Aang sneaking off towards the town. Ed tried to sneakily follow him, but he remembered Toph would be able to sense him coming because of her echolocation bendy power.

"Guys, wait up!" Ed ran and stood next to Aang.

"What's the matter? You don't wanna hang out with Katara and talk about how much you two hate fun?" Toph mocked.

"All I wanted to do yesterday was take a bath, eat, and sleep. Is that too much to ask for after finding out you're in some foreign land, and then being attacked by you weirdoes? I'm bored, so I'm coming with you."

"Alright! Just make sure to put your hood up." Aang spoke almost too excitedly. For someone who was supposed to defeat a crazed fire freak, he seemed too much like a child. Ed put on his hood and soon understood why Aang had told him to stay hidden; there were wanted posters of him plastered on buildings everywhere. They were all very similar to the poster he saw of himself on that wanted poster board. Bright yellow hair and an evil grin.

"I don't look like that." Ed muttered to himself.

"Guys, look at this." Sokka spoke with a sing song voice. "He's got a big reward. If we turn him in, we'll have plenty of money…" Ed ripped the poster out of Sokka's hands, then gave it to Aang.

"What does it say?" Ed asked Aang rather sheepishly. He hated not being able to read the strange writings.

"Ha ha! The shrimp can't read."

"WHO ARE YOU-" Toph's hand covered his mouth, then she elbowed Sokka in the ribs.

"You," Toph pointed her finger at Ed's face. "can't be drawing attention to yourself. And you, Snoozles," Ed quickly found out who Snoozles was because Toph had jabbed her finger in Sokka's direction.

"I can't read, either!" Toph waved her hand in front of her eyes to exemplify the point.

"You have an excuse, he doesn't."

"I can read, just not in your stupid language." To break the tension, Aang began to read what was on the poster.

"The Golden Haired Spirit…" Aang began, but Ed cut in.

"My hair is blond! Not gold, not yellow! Blond! And what a lame name they gave me. I question the intelligence of the people here."

"Right. Anyway, very dangerous. Has been known to mimic spirit powers in the form of bending all four elements. He has taken on a physical form and claims to be the spirit of the Avatar. If found, it seems the best way to keep him from attacking is to feed him. A 600 gold piece reward will be given to anyone who can capture the being. A 40 silver piece reward will be given to anyone who has any knowledge about this dangerous spirit. Take caution when apprehending him. Description; long gold hair, gold eyes, wears strange red and black clothing, and is unusually short for a spirit." Ed tore the paper from Aang's hands and shredded it into little pieces.

"Not. Short." Ed remembered he couldn't be seen and somewhat retained his composure. "Looks like I need a change of clothes." They hurriedly walked into a clothing store, while Aang walked directly in front of Ed in an attempt to hide him. They quickly bought Ed a new Fire Nation outfit, which he struggled to get on. These people's clothes were strange and unfamiliar to Ed, so it took him awhile to figure out where everything fit.

His clothing looked very similar to Aang's, since he had to wear long sleeves to hide his automail arm. Ed didn't feel right, having to abandon his comfortable black pants and shirt, and his dear red cloak. What upset him most was taking off his boots because they had made him look taller.

Aang found a large bandana with the Fire Nation emblem on it to hide Ed's hair. Ed took the bandana and took it into the changing room so no one would see the flashing lights when he used alchemy. He clapped his hands and touched the cloth. The Fire Nation symbol transformed into the flamel symbol, and Ed was satisfied with the results. Ed stuffed most of his hair into the bandana and walked out to greet the trio.

"It doesn't cover all of your hair, but it's going to have to do." Aang said after a quick glance.

"I look and feel stupid."

"You only have to cover your hair when we're around other people. Now, let's go!" Ed grabbed the bag that he had stuffed his clothes into and followed the eager kids. Sokka kept on picking things off of Ed's bag, like the weirdo he was.

"What are you doing?" Ed finally asked. Sokka held up his hand to reveal he had been grabbing stray blonde hairs.

"You're a strange one."

"This hair is worth a lot of money."

"…Right…"

"Really. Come with me!" Ed, Toph, and Aang followed Sokka into a large official looking building, which was filled with Fire Nation officers. Ed and Aang hung out in a dark corner, so they didn't attract attention to themselves. Sokka waved the blonde hairs like a madman.

"I've been attacked by the Golden Haired Spirit! Look! Here's some of the freak's hair!" Ed tried to contain himself while Sokka raved. Everyone in the room crowded Sokka to see the hair.

"Was it really the spirit?" One official questioned.

"Oh, it was horrible! The vile spirit came from behind and threatened us with his freaky spirit powers. Then, he took all the money we had!" So, Sokka still hadn't gotten over that yet; what a child. "We gave him food, and he finally left us alone, and we came here as quickly as we could." The officer took the hair and inspected it.

"This is definitely the spirit's hair. Boy, which way did the monster go?" Sokka pointed in a random direction which was thankfully not the way Appa and Katara were. "You're lucky you weren't hurt. Hopefully, we'll be able to detain him soon. Here." The man gave Sokka a small sack of silver coins. Sokka bowed, and the four quickly left the building, while a large search party was sent off in the direction Sokka pointed to.

Toph was amazing at gambling with her earth bendy thing. If Ed had never seen her control the earth before, he would have never guessed she was cheating. They had made a lot of money that afternoon, it had been a fun day. The only thing that could make this day better was if Al were here, and punching Mustang wouldn't be too bad, either. Just as they were about to leave town, Ed had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, how would you like to make 600 gold pieces?" Ed smiled, which was followed up by three more grins. Ed changed all of his disguise clothes back into his regular ones. He then had two sets of rope tied to him; one around his hands, and the other around his waist.

"Alright, you guys collect the money and I'll break out at night."

"Are you sure about this?" Aang seemed to have a sudden change of heart.

"I'll be fine. These people don't know who they're dealing with. Besides, I don't want to deal with Katara when she finds out what we were doing today." A quick 'oh shit' look spread across everyone's face.

Sokka held the rope attached to Ed's hands way too enthusiastically, and Ed could tell he was clearly happy about turning him in to the authorities. Aang held the rope around his waist, while Toph walked beside Aang with her arms crossed.

"Out of the way! Deranged captured psychopath coming through!" Sokka announced boisterously. Ed simply groaned and watched as people stared at him with both fear and amazement.

"What's going on here?" An official followed by several officers ran up to Sokka.

"We caught the Golden Haired Spirit." The guards quickly went into a defensive fighting stance. "Relax. He's bound tight, I tied the knots myself." Ed rolled his eyes.

"Come with us." The officer motioned Sokka to follow, and the guards continued to prepare themselves for an attack. They were led into a small building, and the officer threw Ed into a holding cell.

"I can't believe you managed to capture this dangerous spirit. How did you do it?"

"Easy." Sokka answered. "All you have to do is keep him fed, and he's as calm as a koala-lamb."

"I am amazed. You just caught a criminal we never thought we would actually capture, so, uh, we don't have the reward money with us. Come back tomorrow and we'll give it to you."

"Okay." Sokka seemed to be glad Ed was going to spend the night in a prison cell.

A few boring hours had passed since Aang, Toph, and Sokka left. The officer in charge of guarding Ed had demanded answers about who he was, and what he was doing here. Ed remained silent, but noticed there was a new poster on the wanted board.

There was a crudely drawn picture of Toph, followed by a bunch of characters Ed couldn't read. This could end up bad when the group came back in the morning to collect the reward for Ed's capture.

"Hey, Pops, who's that?" Ed nodded at Toph's picture. His guard was shocked that Ed had finally spoken after hours of silence.

"T-that's the Runaway. She's a terrifying girl that pretends to be blind. Why do you care, spirit?" Ed didn't answer the guard, and decided to go to sleep. He would need his rest in case the plan went bad, which was now very likely.

In the morning, there were at least ten bowls of rice scattered in his cell. These bastards were way too superstitious. The rice was bland, and the meat that was in it was very dry; weren't they supposed to keep the bad spirits happy? Giving Ed bad food wasn't a good way to keep him happy.

A bunch of people stormed through the front door, which caused Ed to nearly choke on his rice. Two people were thrown into the cell next to him, and the people were familiar. It was Katara and Toph! What were they doing there? Ed glanced at the door and saw someone standing in the doorway.

"Not again." Ed muttered. It was the freak with the eye on his forehead.

Alright, I have some bad news. This will be my last update for a while. I'm going to an anime convention this weekend, and I work tonight, and a few days after the convention. Expect your next chapter next Thursday. Sorry, guys. *Please don't kill me.*

This chapter, along with the others, are written late at night. If you see any obvious mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me about them.

beth96108: Thanks for your review! Yes, making Ed crazy was probably one of the most fun things I have written.