(A/N: Here's chapter sixteen of 'The Flower Princess and the Alchemist'! Edward, Alphonse, and Orihime stop for an unexpected visit to Dr. Marcoh and something unprecedented happens. Find out what it is later in this chapter. Enjoy!

sacke110: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it. I think it's stated somewhere, I think around the Soul Society arc, that, although Orihime can heal herself, it takes more time and energy for her to heal herself than to heal someone else. Which also explains why she doesn't simply heal her broken arm after she was beaten by Yammy. How much time and energy is never stated, just that it takes longer, uses more spirit energy, and fairly more difficult.

risedragon0009: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked the Orihime vs Scar fight and the realism I played into it. Honestly, if Orihime had more battle experience prior to the fight, she would've won, or at the very least, not be as wounded as she was. But the secondary reason, if you think of it romantically, is a gender flipped version of a rescue romance. You know, instead of boy saves girl from death, girl saves boy from it, or at least tries to in this case. Essentially, it would kickstart the romance between Edward and Orihime. Though, the romance would still be slow and gradual and full of drama and all that involves the concepts of romance, it would be traced back to that very moment Orihime protected Ed from Scar. I was so happy because I've been planning for quite a while to start their romance like that. And i'm glad you didn't think Ed's jealousy wasn't OOC of him. I was kind of afraid he was.)

Seeing is Unbelieving

Orihime was enjoying a nice, quiet train ride towards Resembool. She was so excited to meet Edward's mechanic and the place where he grew up. She felt like a little kid on a field trip. She remembered how insistent and stubborn she was to come along with them, despite Edward's protest.

(FLASHBACK)

Once the laughter died down, Orihime looked Edward straight in the eye, taken note of the flappiness of the right sleeve of his signature red coat. She remembered that man, Scar as Ed called him, destroyed his right arm, his robot arm.

"What's the next course of action?" she asked, glancing over at the two boys, curiously.

Both brothers hesitant, staring at each other for a brief moment before turning back at bed ridden girl.

"We're going to pay a visit to my mechanic," Edward answered.

The ginger haired beamed. "Your mechanic? Sounds great!"

"Yeah…," Alphonse spoke, slowly, unsure on what to say. "Brother and I think it's best that you stay here and get some rest, Orihime."

The girl pouted. "Why?" she whined.

"Because you're too injured to be out of the hospital!" Ed said, more forcibly than he intended.

Orihime scoffed at the ridiculous notion. "Did you guys forget I can simply heal myself?" And to prove her point, Soten Kisshun activated, forming an orange dome shield around her. She could already feel the healing process taking effect, albeit slowly. It was always took much more concentration and spirit energy to heal her own injuries than that of her friends.

"Even so, you still can't come," the blond alchemist rejected, his eyes boring into hers, intensely.

The auburn haired girl wasn't one to back down either. "I told you I'm fine, Edward!" she argued, heatedly.

"Then who's going to look after Nina?! Did you forget? It was your idea that we keep her with us instead of sending her to Hughes or someone else reliable than a couple of adventurous teens like us."

Orihime blinked her eyes, her expression twisting into one of thoughtfulness. "Then… We'll simply take Nina and Alexander with us," she said, simply, as if it was the most obvious solution.

"What?!" Ed yelled, flabbergasted. "No!"

"We can't take Nina with us, Orihime," Alphonse interjected. "It's too dangerous!"

The ginger haired girl raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Dangerous? I thought we were only visiting your mechanic?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Look, you guys," she said, cutting Al off. "I didn't want to tell you this, but I'm just worried about Nina, okay?"

The Elric brothers' expressions softened.

"We know, Orihime," the soul binded armor replied, understanding in his voice. "We are too."

"That's not all I'm worried about," she continued. "It's my first time doing something like that, and I just want to keep an eye on Nina to make sure there are no aftereffects."

What she was admitting was partially true. However, whether Nina was going to live or not wasn't the issue. Orihime already knew the little girl was going to survive. The problem was that there was something inside her that the auburn haired girl just couldn't ignore anymore. That burning feeling she felt inside her soul when she was trying to split apart the fusion of her and Alexander's souls.

It was easy enough to disregard it as something Shou Tucker did when he transmuted her and her dog into a talking chimera. But now… Now, she wasn't sure that was the case. The flame just kept getting stronger and stronger, and Orihime could feel Nina's spiritual pressure increasing, slowly but gradually. Right now, it was slightly above average human level, even for someone as young as her. It was almost as if there was a flickering flame burning inside her soul, waiting to burst through in a blaze of spirit energy.

The ginger haired girl was both confused and concerned for the girl. If she does somehow gain spiritual powers of her own, what would she do? She should she prevent Nina from discovering them, or let her embrace her new destiny? A twisted destiny that forced upon the poor girl by her and the girl's father.

The more she thought about, the more guilt and remorse gripped at her heart. She knew she did the right thing by saving her, but she didn't think there was a possibility of the off chance that she'd might gain spiritual powers of her own. In fact, she didn't think anyone from this world could.

The only thing Orihime could hope for that she was just being paranoid and that there was no reason for Nina to unleash her inborn, innate powers.

As fearful as her rumanitions were, the ginger haired girl didn't let it show on her face, staring at Edward with a determined gaze.

Edward glared at her long and hard before sighing in defeat. "Fine. But it's your responsibility to look after her until we hit Resembool."

Orihime smiled, widely. "Yay!"

(END OF FLASHBACKS)

Orihime's eyes darting to Edward's and Nina's sleeping forms. Edward always looked so worry free and peaceful when he sleeps. So different from his usual grumpy self.

The little girl, though, had awaken up from her short coma only yesterday, and, thankfully, she didn't remember being turned into a talking chimera. So that was one problem to avoid, she hoped. For the time being… She was sure Nina would remember it one day, and that what she was dreading. At least now, it'll give her time to joy a semi normal life before it all goes straight to hell.

Although, Nina was a bit disheartened when she learned that her father had moved away as Edward put it. She knew he was lying to protect the little girl. Shou Tucker was supposed to be sentenced to jail, but was, unexpectedly, killed by Scar instead.

Orihime didn't know what to feel about that. She didn't like the man very much. He experimented on his own daughter for crying out loud! But now Nina was orphan with no one to look after her because the ginger haired girl knew she couldn't keep her with them forever. She's going to have to drop her off somewhere one day.

Well, she'd figure all this out when the time comes.

Edward wake up to the sound of a child's laughter. He turned his head towards the sound to see Orihime and Nina drawing something on a black notepad.

"Looks like you lose again, Nina," Orihime teased the little girl.

"That's no fair!" Nina pouted. "You know this game more than I do!"

The ginger haired girl let out a bark of laughter.

"What are you guys doing?" Edward asked, curiously, grabbing both girls' attentions.

The brown haired girl smiled brightly at him. "We are playing tic tac toe," she answered, her eyes beaming.

Ed hummed in disinterest and yawned as the train came to stop. He was suddenly crushed against the window by Major Alex Louis Armstrong. To put simply, the Major was assigned as their bodyguard while they travel to Resembool in the case that Scar comes back to finish the job. Orihime found his hammy enthusiasm really entertaining and funny. And the way he rips his shirt off in exeraggated joy even more hilarious.

"Marcoh? Dr. Marcoh? Is that you?" Armstrong called to a man. He was tall with wrinkles around his face, and some gray hairs, indicating his old age. Or at least, he was getting there. "It's me, Alex Louis Armstrong, from Central!"

The man's eyes widened in recognition before they turned into absolute fear. Without a moment to spare, he sprinted away from them as if his life depended on it.

"A friend of yours?" Ed asked the Major.

"He's from Central. A talented State Alchemist. He was researching the possibility medical applications of alchemy. But after the Ishvalan Civil War, he went missing. He just disappeared," he explained.

A flicker of determination flashed across Edward's golden eyes. Without warning he bounced off his seat.

"Where are you going, Edward?" Orihime asked as she watched him leaving the train.

"I'm going after that Dr. Marcoh. He might know something about bio-alchemy," he replied as he leapt off the train.

As Orihime waited for Major Armstrong to haul Alphonse and Alexander out of the cargo hold, she could help but feel a bit...tense. The air around here was thick, heavy. It felt different from East City or anywhere else for that matter. Something ominous was polluting the atmosphere making the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in quite some time. She bit her inner lips as she tried to stave off her anxiety.

"Hey."

The ginger haired girl had to keep herself from jumping and screaming when Ed placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. She steeled her worry filled trouble and faced him with a carefree smile.

"It's time to go…" He seemed to pause for a second. "It's something wrong, Orihime? You seem a little anxious," he said, a hint of concern filling his voice.

When he called out to her, she didn't answer, and when he placed a hand on her shoulder, her body stiffened a bit before relaxing when she recognized it was only him. There also seemed to a bit of anxiety and trepidation that crossed her face for a split second before it, too, contorted into her usual carefree, happy expression.

"Uh…? Orihime's brain was wracking for an explanation for her uneasiness. "The sky is just weird today," she replied, lamely.

Ed gave her an incredulous look. "The sky is weird?"

She nodded her head, vigorously. "Yeah! It's like it's ripping apart. Like there's an earthquake in the sky! Can you believe that?" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with exaggerated alarm.

"No, I can't," he thought, deadpanned. The blond alchemist had to prevent himself from glaring at the girl and her absurd imagination. "You can drive a man nuts sometimes, you know that?" he sighed.

The girl only let out a sheepish laugh.

But deep down she was relieved that he didn't take her seriously. She didn't want to cause him to worry for nothing. He already had enough to deal with. She just hoped that it was only a false alarm.

The five of them began searching for Dr. Marcoh, and thanks to Major Armstrong astoundingly accurate drawing of the doctor, they were able to track him down at the far side of town.

Orihime stopped Edward from opening the door, frowning at him. "Don't open door without permission, Edward," she scolded him. "That's rude."

Golden eyes rolled in exasperation as ignored her warning, and opened the door anyway. As soon as he did, he was met with a gun to his face, much to his fear and dismay. He let out a surprised yelp as he barely managed to dodge the bullet, his whole body shaking in fear.

The ginger haired girl shook her head, as if sighing at Edward's impatience. If he had just waited for someone to open the door that wouldn't happened.

"Alright, tell me what you three are doing here!" Dr. Marcoh yelled at them, his gun shaking in his fear stricken hands. "Have you come to take me back?"

Armstrong approached the man, his remaining hand up in a peaceful manner. "Please, doctor, calm down," he said, trying to soothe the man's fears.

"I don't ever want to go back! Anything but back!"

"That's not it. Please, listen."

"Then you've come to silence me then?!"

"No, nothing like that…"

Orihime could see the Major beginning to lose his temper as the frightened former State Alchemist was shooting out his accusations and fears about the reasons why they were here. Something inside him seemed to snap, and he unceremoniously tossed the crate holding Alphonse at the poor man, cutting off his frightful rants.

"Unless you want my time, please calm down!" the Major shouted, angrily.

"Big brother Al!"

"Alphonse!"

Nina and Edward exclaimed worried as the Al was thrown like a sack of potatoes, comically crushing Dr. Marcoh.

The group gathered around in a table in Marcoh's small house. Nina was playing quietly in a corner with Alexander.

"So, you changed your name and decided to live in hiding way out in the countryside?" Major Armstrong questioned the doctor. "If the rumors were true, you took top secret research materials with you."

Dr. Marcoh clenched his hands together. "I couldn't handle it anymore," he said, his voice trembling with remorse. "Order or no order… To have to dirty my hands researching that thing was too much."

"And what thing was that?" Edward asked, his curiosity piqued.

The doctor tensed, his eyes filled with misery and sorrow. "It took so many lives… During the Civil War, so many innocents died because of it. I could spend my whole life trying and never atone for the horrible things I've done. But I had to do something, so I came here to be a doctor to save lives instead of taking them."

"Doctor, what exactly were you order to do research on?" the Major asked.

There was a melancholic pause. "The Philosopher's Stone."

All the occupants' eyes widen in shock and awe at the revelation, except for Nina, who was oblivious to the whole conversation.

"The top secret materials I took were my research documents and the stone itself."

"You mean you still have it?!" Edward shouted, a mixture of exhilaration and agitation hidden within his tone. "You mean it's here?!"

Orihime knew that the Philosopher's Stone was something Edward and Alphonse were searching for a long time. She felt happy for the boys as they were getting one step closer to their goal. She could even see the joy and excitement radiating off them.

The former State Alchemist silently reached out into his coat pocket, and pulled a vial containing a bright red liquid.

"How could that be the stone?" Ed muttered, voice filled with disbelief. "It's a liquid…"

The doctor uncapped the vial and poured it onto the table. Edward, Alphonse, and Armstrong stared in fascination as it formed into a spherical shape instead of spilling across the table. Orihime, on the other hand, stared at the object in horror.

She could feel the cluster of spirit energies emitting off the stone. It was jumbled, mixed but uncoordinated, and overall, it was alive! The ginger haired girl could sense souls that occupied the stone. Their pain and despair… It was overwhelming. And worst of all, if the spiritual pressure of an average person is almost unrecognizable due them lacking any spirit energy… To be able to feel such a large amount in one object… That must mean there are dozens, if not hundreds of human souls residing in that stone!

"The Sage's Stone. The Grand Elixir. The Celestial Stone. The Fifth Element. Just as the Philosopher's Stone has many different names, it can come in many different forms. It's not necessarily a stone."

Nobody seemed to notice the unrestrained spiritual energy oozing from the stone, like Orihime did. And since it's leaking out freely and constantly without being suppressed, no doubt it's going to attract attention. Unwanted attention.

The auburn haired girl abruptly leapt off her chair, her sudden action startling the four men in the room.

"Orihime? What's wrong?" Alphonse asked, his hollow voice dripping with concern as he witnessed gray eyes widen in dreadful trepidation as they locked onto the stone.

Orihime swallowed the lump in her throat. "Dr. Marcoh… Did you…?"

Her question was cut short when the sound of a screeching howl caught her attention. Her eyes widened in recognition. She knew this all too familiar sinister, hair raising shriek. She ignored the looks of confusion she was receiving as she glanced out the window, apprehensively.

"What was that howling?" Nina questioned, her eyes wide with fright. Alexander whimpered in fear, tucking his tail down and pressing his ears against his head.

Edward scrunched his eyebrows, puzzled by the girls' jumpy behavior, staring at them incredulous. "What howling?"

When the screaming rang again, the little brown haired girl squealed in both surprise and terror and ran towards the blond. She held onto his only remaining arm, as if trying to shield herself from whatever it is that was frightening her.

This confused the blond alchemist even more. "What's wrong, Nina? Why are you so scared?" Ed asked her, his tone laced with worry.

He got his answer as the sound of a large explosion rang loudly outside. The force of it was strong enough to slightly shake the house.

"What was that?" Alphonse questioned in alarm.

"Could be a terrorist attack?" Major Armstrong inquired.

"If so, we have to stop them before they get innocent people involved in their crappy causes," Edward growled.

Edward stared at the giant crater laid out before him. "This must be where the explosion came from," he muttered.

"But there's no one here," Alphonse observed, his voice laced with confusion, looking at the large hole from his place on Armstrong's shoulder. "How can that be? Do think it was a bomb?"

Ed shook his head, negatively. "If it was a bomb, the ground would've been charred, but instead it just looks like someone just punched a hole in it."

This whole thing was puzzling him. Edward tried checking the area for footprints or any signs of an alchemical transmutation, but nothing came up. Just like he said, it just looked like someone punched the ground. But they must've really powerful to create a hole this huge. And it didn't seem like any of the civilians saw anyone or anything coming out of the crater. But how can that be?

"Don't go near that!"

The blond alchemist tilted his hand towards Orihime. Her expression was twisted into a mixture of anxiety and alarm.

As he opened his mouth to question her, Edward's golden eyes widened in shock as several civilians were bisected right before his eyes, their bloods staining the ground.

He could faintly hear the sound of the screaming townspeople as they suddenly witnessed a few of their own get viciously torn apart by an unknown force. His mouth stared at slack jawed as their remains mysteriously disappeared, only leaving the splotches of blood on the ground.

"Edward, look out!"

He pushed onto the ground, rather roughly by Orihime. He watched in shock and bewilderment as part of her yellow shirt ripped across her left shoulder, tearing the skin underneath. She let out a short scream of pain as she clutched her shoulder, trying fruitlessly to stop the bleeding.

The ginger haired girl stood in front of the mystified blond, protectively, gray eyes narrowed, dauntlessly. "Edward, stay behind me."

"What the hell's going on, Orihime?" Ed yelled, showing his alarm and frustration. "What's happening?"

"I'd tell you right now that we are not in ghostbusters," she answered, rather calmly.

He frowned. He couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious.

Luckily, he supposed, Nina answered his unasked questions for him.

"Big brother, what's that?" she asked, pointing a shaking finger in front of her, her blue eyes wide with fear.

Golden eyes glanced around him, but he couldn't see anything. "What's what? What are you looking at Nina?" he questioned the girl, his voice shook with confusion. "There's nothing there."

"Look!" Nina shouted, her finger waving in front of her, frantically. "It's like the sky is forming into a shape of big, scary spider! See? Right in front of us, big brother Ed!"

When the she saw the shimmering of what looked like the outline of claw coming at her, she let out a fearful scream. Good thing, Orihime activated her Santen Kesshun to block the oncoming attack.

"Don't bother, Nina," Orihime told the frightened, little girl as she clutched Alexander's fur for dear life. "Edward, you can't see it, can you?"

Edward knew that the question was directed at him. "See what?" he yelled, clearly getting frustrated at the lack of plausible answers. What the hell were Orihime and Nina looking at? And Alexander was constantly barking at whatever imaginary being was standing in front of them.

Ed wracked his brain, trying to figure out what was going on. There's no way he'd believe in ghosts or some other nonsense like. The notion that ghosts actually exist was scientifically impossible. It must be some alchemist using his alchemy to cloak his appearance.

"Of course you can't see it. You can't even feel it's aura. It's my fault for getting you in this mess. I knew I should have followed my intuition." Orihime muttered. Her voice didn't sound condescending at all, but rather it was laced with condemned contrition and hardened determination. "Just stay back, Edward, and watch your brother and Nina. I'll handle this!"

Orihime glared at the Hollow sneering down at her. She knew she felt a Hollow nearby, but she choose to ignore it thinking that maybe it was just her imagination. Or it was simply powerful enough or didn't know how to control its spiritual pressure, causing her to feel it from her world. How naive she was to think that Hollows wouldn't exist in this world too. The only question is… Was the Hollow accidentally transported into this world like she was, or was this some poor soul that fallen into despair and ultimately hollowfied. Either way, she needs to destroy it before it causes any more harm.

The Hollow was a simple mixture of what seemed like a spider body with a tail of a centipede. Each of its six clawed shaped legs dug into the ground, twitching impatiently. A hole in the middle of its chest was a definite indication that the monster glaring hungrily at her was a Hollow.

The mouth of its hollow mask curled up into a gleeful, maniacal grin as it opened its mouth. "Take care of me, huh?" it spoke in a haughty voice, chuckling evilly. "Such a gutsy woman, aren't you?" It laughed even louder. "It's been such a long time...a very long time since anyone was actually able to see me. And the first person that does is a woman, no less."

Without warning, it shoot a strange fluid from its mouth. The ginger haired girl stared wide eyed as it connected with her left shoe. She tried pulling her foot away from the substance, but to no avail. She let out a short painful yelp as the Hollow's claw sliced across her left thigh, tearing her flowing pink skirt and leaving a gash that was too deep but not to shallow either. It's almost as if the Hollow was trying to slowly torture her to death instead of making it quick like it did with the civilians earlier.

The auburn haired girl ignored her friends worried filled, frantic, confused cries as she glared defiantly at the Hollow before her.

"Yes, I'm going to enjoy killing you," the Hollow announced, a maniacally gleam in its eyes. "Why don't make this a game for me, little girl? I rather like the idea of chasing down my prey as they run in fear for their life, especially the women." A clawed leg reached over placed itself under Orihime's neck, forcing her head up. "Please do make this exciting for me. If you don't…" It lifted its head up, spitting out that fluid in the air, but it was larger than it hit her with and exploding into a rain shower, hitting everything it touched. She quickly activated her triangular shield to protect herself and her friends from the foul substance. The Hollow glanced back down at her, menacingly. "...Well, you don't want to involve your friends, do you?"

Orihime gritted her teeth, begrudgingly know the Hollow was right. There was no way she could fight it here without getting innocent people involved.

"Edward, everyone, stay here and don't move," she instructed, seriously. "Don't follow me. I'd promise to come back alive."

"Come back alive?" Edward questioned, his voice filled with anger and worry. "What are you talking about?! What the fuck is happening, Orihime?!"

"How'd you get all those cuts?" Alphonse asked, fearfully. How can they fight an enemy they can't see?

Unfortunately for the Elric brothers, the auburn haired girl didn't answer their distraught questions. She merely removed her feet from her left shoe, turned around, and dashed away, not before snatching the Philosopher's Stone from Dr. Marcoh's hands with a quick 'sorry' in her wake.

"Wait!" the doctor shouted after her. "Where are you going with the stone?"

Edward growled under his breath, getting extremely frustrated with Orihime's odd behavior, glaring at the direction she left in. "Damn girl. Is she out of her fucking mind?" He glanced over at Major Armstrong. "Major, you look after Al, Nina, and the doctor," he ordered. "I'm going after Orihime."

"Understood," the Major nodded.

"Careful, brother," Al said as he watched Ed run off in the direction Orihime went.

Orihime ran through the streets of the small town, trying desperately to find an isolated place to confront the Hollow. She quickly shielded herself from another one of the Hollow's attacks.

She clutched the Philosopher's Stone she held in her hands, knowing, without a doubt, that it attracted the Hollow to this town in the first place. A stone that houses hundreds of human souls is like giving a Hollow a huge cake. A human stuffed cake.

The ginger haired girl hid herself in an alley, her brain wracking frantically with ideas on what to do with the stone.

"What should I do?" she contemplated, glancing around and keeping her guard up in case the Hollow finds her. "How can I suppress the spiritual energy in the stone?" She slapped her hand into her forehead, feeling hopelessly lost. "If only Rukia was here, she'd know what to do." She stared at the red vial containing the stone, gravely. "Maybe I should just reject it out of existence…"

Suddenly the wall of the building exploded. Her Santen Kesshun protected Orihime from getting crushed from the rubble. She tried move away when a claw came straight her, however, when she tried to move her left… The muscles in her leg was rather sluggish for some reason. The claw managed to graze her left ankle.

In retaliation, the ginger haired girl shot Tsubaki at the offending appendage, cutting off one of the Hollow's legs. The Hollow roared in pain. "You little bitch!" it screeched out, furiously, destroying the rest of the building in a fit of rage. Luckily, with the Santen Kesshun still activated, it prevented the destroyed building from squashing her.

Orihime navigated herself through the rubble. She barely managed to sidestep another attack, the claw barely grazing her right forearm. As if knowing she'd dodge the attack, the Hollow sprayed it's fluid at her, sticking her back against a large rock.

"Gotcha!" the Hollow smirked, maliciously. Its claw flew towards her in an attempt to kill. Unfortunately for the Hollow, it smashed against her Shiten Koshen, causing its attack to backfire and a orange beam to slice through two of its legs, leaving one back leg left on its right side and two legs on its left out its original six legs.

The Hollow screamed in pain. While it was withering, Orihime used her Koten Zanshun to destroy the rock entrapping her. However, when she tried to run away, her left leg remained frozen. In fact, she felt numb, she could barely feel it.

"What's going on?" she cried out her confusion as she tried using her hands to move her frozen limb.

"It looks like it's finally starting to take effect." Gray eyes shot towards the Hollow as it glared at her, menacingly. "My claws have a special poison in them that causes whatever it cuts to become paralyze. Can't have my prey outrunning me for too long. This a battle you'd lose!"

"Santen Kesshun, I reject!" Orihime quickly chanted, swiftly blocking another oncoming attack. Nevertheless, the resulting collision caused the girl to flew back a few feet and land on her back hard.

She let out a yelp of pain as she clutched her right torso. She hasn't fully recovered from her last fight with Scar. She didn't fully heal herself as she told Edward and Alphonse as not to worry the boys. Though, she did manage to heal most of her internal injuries. She lifted up her shirt to see, thankfully, that it wasn't bleeding, but the skin was an irritating red color.

Gray eyes glanced around… With all this rubble, it'd be pretty hard to fight. She'd needed to find smoother ground. She half dragged herself into an empty street, being grateful that no one was around. She could feel her right arm becoming numb as she clutched her right torso with her left hand.

"I need to finish this fast," the auburn haired girl panted out, feeling exhausted. She snuck behind an abandoned truck and crouched down. "Soten Kisshun," she whispered, the orange healing dome forming around her. Hopefully, she could heal herself enough to stop the bleeding. She needed to focus all her spirit energy to attack. She's the only person who could destroy that Hollow. She couldn't afford to die!

Orihime deactivated her healing dome, but stayed put where she was to allow her body to rest and replenish her spirit energy. She immediately froze when felt something on her shoulder. She craned her head around so fast, it almost sounded like her neck snapped.

The auburn haired girl sighed in relief when she was met with the golden eyes of Edward Elric. His face was set in a deep scowl.

"What hell is wrong with you?" Edward yelled. "Why'd you run off like that?" His eyes softened when he to in her form. Parts of her clothing were torn up and there were cuts across her arm and leg. "What happened to you, Orihime?" he asked, concerned.

She clenched her right arm, unable to look him in the eye. How could she tell him that there was a vicious, invisible monster with a white mask and a hollow hole in its chest that's wrecking havoc, and that nobody could see it except her?

"Edward, you shouldn't have followed me," Orihime finally spoke, soberly.

Edward frowned. "Orihime," he said, staring at the girl, intensely. "What...are you hiding?"

The auburn haired girl bit the inside of her lips. "I'm not… I'm not hiding anything."

"Orihime, I know you're lying," Ed stated, he placed his only hand to hold the girl's shoulder, prompting the girl to tilt her head towards him so they were staring eye to eye. "Why don't you trust me and Al, and tell us what's going on?" he questioned, crestfallen.

Orihime felt a slight bit of guilt swell inside her. "It's not that I'm trying to hide anything," she replied, despondently. "It's just- Edward, run!" she suddenly shouted with a panic filled voice

"What?" he said, confused. His golden eyes widened in pain as he felt something sliced across his left shoulder. The large gash went from his left shoulder to the middle of his chest.

The only thing his brain could register was the overwhelming sense of pain going across of his shoulder. His mind was too numb to let out an agonizing scream. The only thing he could was his body hitting the ground with a soft 'thud'.

What just happened? What attacked him?

"Edward!" Orihime screamed, horrified. Her triangular shield sprang to life to prevent the Hollow from killing the blond. Her Soten Kisshun enveloped the blond alchemist. "Just hang in there, Edward," she whispered, tenderly, trying to keep herself from panicking as she saw the blond alchemist drifting off. "I'll heal you."

This was her fault. Why couldn't she do a better job at protecting her friends?

"Wh-what...just...happened?" Ed choked out, painfully.

"Don't talk, Edward," she replied, softly. "You need to save your energy."

She limbly stood up.

"Where...are you going?"

The ginger haired girl gave him a subdued smile. "Don't worry about me, Edward. You just stay here and relax. I'll finish this."

She walked out from behind the abandoned truck, leaving a passed out Edward under the healing effects of her Soten Kisshun.

"So, you decided to finally come out, huh, little girl?" the Hollow sneered at the girl. "Good, I was getting impatient. This game was starting to make me lose my appetite!" it shouted, sending its claw straight at her.

Orihime's Shiten Koshen mercilessly deflected the Hollow's attacks. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to finish it off as it predicted that it's attack would backfire, and jumped into the air to avoid the oncoming blast.

Nonetheless, she fired Tsubaki at the airborne Hollow, effectively cutting it in half and destroying it.

Once satisfied when the Hollow disintegrated into nothing, the ginger haired girl collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. She had used her Shiten Koshen three times in a row in one day. That's taking a large toll in her spirit energy. Well, at least the Hollow was defeated.

Orihime limbly dragged herself to where to left Edward. She had to make sure he'd survive. She couldn't live with herself if he died because of her incompetence.

One dreadful thought plagued her mind though… Were there more Hollows out there in this world? And if so, how did they came to be? And where were the Soul Reapers?

Or did they came into this world the same way that she did?

(A/N: Here's the end of chapter sixteen of 'The Flower Princess and the Alchemist'! I hoped you enjoyed it! As you can see Nina is starting to become spirits [somewhat]. The first signs that she's becoming spiritually aware.

There's not much else to say, except, yes Hollows exist in this world [kind of]. It's not yet revealed whether they transported into the world of FMA the same way Orihime did, or they are just poor, unfortunate souls that have fallen due to regret and despair. Either way, it's bad, seeing as the only that could stop them is Orihime. At the moment. But they would become more important later on.

And to add on to it, it's never explicitly stated that Hollows only exist in Orihime's world [if you dismiss the whole 'the author created their world' concept]. I can't believe I forgot this [and I believe most Bleach fans did or still do as well] is that, in hindsight, any dead person, soul, ghost, or whatever you want to call them, have the potential to Hollowfy. Remember, all Soul Reapers, Hollows, Arrancars, etc., were once living human beings. Yes, I know... It's so mind blowing that they were alive once! It's just that they live for such a long time that they forget their time as a human in the World of the Living. Shoot! I would, too, if my previous life was boring and insignificant compared to my new life. And especially, if I lived for that long. You expect me to remember something that happened centuries ago? Uh, no... Unless, it's something drastically life changing.

However, this is not confirming Hollows exist in the FMA world. I'm just saying any and all souls have a chance to turn into Hollows, if they don't pass on, according to the rules of the Bleach universe.

Well, that's all. Please leave any comments, questions, and suggestions in a review and thanks for reading!)