"What are you guys talking about?" Winry asked, glancing up from her tinkering. On the coffee table sat a collection of gears, screws, and metal plates that would soon make up the basic structure of an automail arm. Edward and Alphonse were hanging out with her in the living room, something they did frequently, and they'd been talking for a while; however, Winry would zone out every few minutes to concentrate on her work. Now, the brothers seemed to be in a disagreement of sorts.
"Al's imaginary friend," Ed told her, rolling his eyes.
"She's not imaginary!" Al shouted, stomping a foot on the ground. "Ana's real, and she's my friend!"
"Then why hasn't Mom heard of her? Mom knows everyone," Ed retorted smartly.
Winry wasn't at a complete loss at the topic. For the past week or so, Al had apparently been hanging out with some new friend named Ana and would cheerfully talk about her frequently. Winry hadn't met her, and from what Ed said, Winry gathered that he hadn't either and thought his brother made the whole thing up. Al wasn't really the kind of person to make things up like that, but when Winry had asked her grandmother if she knew a girl who lived in the area named Ana, Pinako had shook her head. Pinako would know most definitely if the girl had been raised in Resembool. If Ana was new to town, regardless of whether she lived there permanently now or was staying in the one inn, Pinako would have still heard about it. Small towns like Resembool were rife with daily news and gossip.
"Does she live nearby? Maybe we could visit her," Winry suggested. To be honest, she was curious about this mysterious stranger who had befriended one of her closest friends.
Al's cheeks reddened. Looking down in dismay, he mumbled, "I think she lives around the playground. I asked, but she never said for sure. I just meet her there sometimes or she finds me when I go to the river.
"Then we'll go find her," Ed declared resolutely. "If we see her, we'll believe you. But if she's not there, then you're lying."
Winry scowled at the blonde, "You dummy, just because she isn't hanging around those places doesn't mean he's lying. She could have stayed home."
Ed stuck his tongue out at her. "You don't know anything, gear-head."
Instinctual rage set Winry's glare ablaze. The girl grabbed her trusty wrench and chased Edward out the door. Al trudged after them both to go play referee.
In the end, the trio went to the park and the river. Al had described what Ana looked like, an older teenager with dark features like tan skin, big brown eyes, thick black hair that reached past her shoulders.
They knew what to look for.
They never found her.