We'd been escorted by Fuhrer and Alex back to Izumi's place and the Fuhrer was talking with her as we were sat outside. Edward was cleaning Alphonse's chest plate while I worked on one of his other pieces.
"Something I forgot to mention. Greed had an Uroboros tattoo," Edward spoke,
"I'm not sure I follow," Alex said,
"Think back, the 5th laboratory, the philosopher's stone, remember the guys I told you and Colonel Hughes about," Edward explained, Alex flinched at hearing Hughes' name for some reason, I noticed and glared suspiciously, "Colonel Hughes? I…" Alex spoke, he then put one hand on Edward's shoulder and the other on mine as I was working next to Edward, "Listen, Edward Elric, Reaka Morden. Do not, do anything rash." Alex warned,
"Sure," Edward replied in shock,
"Well then, goodnight," Alex walked off, I watched him leave as I frowned. Why did he react that way when Edward mentioned Hughes' name, had something happened?

I looked back at Alphonse's leg that I was cleaning, I didn't say much as I was still trying to process my thoughts about my memories partly coming back…
"Brother. They're back, all the memories of when my body was taken away. I remember." Alphonse spoke, we both looked at Alphonse as I finished cleaning his leg,
"What did you see?" Edward asked,
"Hmm, well it was definitely weird, but unfortunately I didn't learn anything about how to get our bodies back," Alphonse explained.
"That's ok," Edward smiled as Alphonse fixed his armour back on.

Edward picked up the bucket and put his hand on his lower back, aching from the labour and the hard day,
"So, I guess we haven't made any progress," Alphonse sighed,
"No, that's not entirely true. Remember what the Fuhrer told us back in Central? About the unrest among the ranks of the military?" Edward spoke, I wrapped the cloth up in my hand as I looked at him,
"Mm hm, and it all had something to do with the philosopher's stone and the Uroboros guys. He said he was trying to gather info on them." Alphonse spoke,
"Well, Greed was obviously connected to them somehow. But if so, why did the Fuhrer slaughter everyone? If he was trying to figure out what they are up to, why didn't he catch them and make them talk?" Edward questioned, Edward had turned around in thought as I looked away,
"Yeah, good point, it also seems a little weird that the Fuhrer himself would lead an attack against such a small group." Alphonse explained,
"Sure does. No matter how you look at it, none of this adds up. We've been warned, but we need to get closer." Edward looked at Alphonse as I nodded.

We headed back to Izumi's, and I stayed quiet as we entered the house once again and Izumi put her hand on my shoulder,
"What's on your mind?" Izumi asked,
"I gained some memories back…" I explained as Edward looked at me,
"Your parents?" Edward questioned as I nodded,
"They were murdered. I don't know why; I found their bodies. They were just killed by a thief." I frowned and closed my eyes, "I then ended up living with a scholar for a long time. I don't remember much after that…" I explained as I frowned.

"Like I told the boys Rea, its ok to hurt," Izumi smiled, I nodded, and she wrapped her arms around me as I started to cry again, I held onto her for a bit as she just gently rubbed my back, "want me to fix your top?" Izumi asked as I looked up at her,
"Thanks." I nodded and Sig gave me a jumper as I went to the next room to change and brought my top back as Izumi went to fix it.

I saw Edward's depressed look as I smiled gently, tears were still present on my face from before.
"What's up?" I asked,
"Winry's going to kill me tomorrow when she sees my arm," Edward held up his automail arm, I blinked in shock then laughed, not realising how bad it was from the fight with Greed,
"You should take more care of yourself then," I giggled. "Thanks Edward," I smiled, Edward gave a small smile. I wrapped my arms around his neck and smiled as his hand landed on my lower back gently.

I stretched and let go of Edward as I moved back,
"We need to go to bed, want help removing your arm? Or are you keeping it on?" I asked Edward as he looked at it,
"I'll keep it on, should be fine." Edward mumbled; I chuckled as he smiled.

We both went upstairs as Alphonse stayed down and I moved into Edward's room with him to help wrap a cloth around the automail, I had learned a few bits over the years from Pinako, I made sure that nothing would break apart while he was sleeping,
"Winry might just hit you over the head with her own work if she gets the chance." I chuckled as I turned towards him, Edward sighed and nodded as he stood, "need help with anything else?" I asked as Edward half looked at me and I saw his cheeks tinge.

Edward pulled me towards him, and I smiled gently as he moved his head to kiss me, I rested my hands on his chest as I smiled into the kiss and ended up pushing him back on the bed gently. Edward's hand let go of my arm and it moved behind my head and into my hair as I felt him pull at it gently. I groaned and pushed him to lay back on the bed fully as he was taken back, my body was fully on top of his as my legs were straddling his body.

I pulled back from the kiss and looked at him gently, I brushed his bangs back and around as I smiled,
"What do you want help with?" I asked gently, Edward smirked, and he suddenly pushed me over and rolled on top as I tried not to yelp too loudly,
"I want to get to know you." Edward muttered, I frowned in confusion,
"You do know me though?" I questioned as Edward propped himself up on his one arm. Edward leaned down and kissed me gently, I moaned into the kiss as I felt him nibble at my lower lip gently. Edward pulled back and he nudged my face with his own to turn away as he suddenly kissed my neck. I arched my back into him as the sensation sent shivers down my body, I resisted the urge to moan as I felt him nibble and lick at my neck. I couldn't make much noise as I felt him bite my earlobe,
"Rea." Edward whispered in my ear as I turned to face him, I felt my core tingle as I tensed my lower body,
"Yes?" I looked at Edward,
"You drive me crazy…" Edward pouted slightly as I chuckled, and he clearly looked frustrated as he moved onto his back and then suddenly moved and leaned forward over the bed as I sat up.

I looked at Edward as he looked bright red and I smirked, I knew what happened as I rested my hand high on his leg,
"Are you going to sit there for a bit?" I smirked as Edward just nodded, "need any more help?" I asked as Edward glanced at me and I smiled sweetly,
"I'm okay." Edward nodded as I stood up and put my hand on his shoulder, I noticed his eyes looked over my body, waist, and hips again as he then shifted and looked away, he had been incredibly nervous around me for a long time, now he was feeling more comfortable with me.
"I'm down the hall if you need me." I smirked and felt Edward's hand grab my upper thigh for a moment,
"Have a nice sleep." Edward spoke as I felt his fingers stroke the inside of my thigh as I flushed, he was definitely feeling comfortable with me as I couldn't help but smile.

I moved away and to the door as I could see Edward smirking at me now,
"See you tomorrow." I nodded as Edward agreed,
"Bye." Edward waved as I left the room.

I thought about how much Edward would know about the human body, he did study both the male and female bodies for his human transmutation, so he probably knows a lot about my body type already. I flushed as I got ready for bed, I was aroused by his actions not long ago. Over the time of my life, I had been with a few men, and it would get better over time… sometimes… but a lot of the time it was just boring, but I knew what I was doing. It would be interesting to know what Edward knew about the female body.

I slapped my hand to my forehead, I shouldn't be thinking such things, I know I'm physically fifteen but I'm over four hundred years old… Edward is young, I lay there thinking. Was this right? I wasn't appropriately aged for anyone any more… I guess Van did the same thing with Trisha. I also couldn't believe that out of all the people in the world, I was falling for his son. I sighed as I lay there. He was special… and I wanted him to be comfortable to talk to me and say anything around me, and I think that message was reaching Edward.

We woke up early the next day and got on an early train to head back to Rush Valley, Edward had managed to bring my sketchbook back as he had found it where I first was grabbed. I left the picture of Izumi and Sig to find on my bed before we left so they could keep it. I started to draw a picture of Alphonse sat opposite me. Edward could see the drawing because he was sat beside me.

When we made it to Rush Valley, we found the shop that Winry was working at quickly, it was with an eccentric mechanic called Garfiel. Garfiel was a big, bulky man with black hair and small sharp eyes. But his personality was far from what some people would call manly, I loved him, he was so nice.

We found Winry working on a piece of automail as Edward took a deep breath and put on a brave face, Alphonse and myself were trying to be happy behind Edward but I knew it wasn't going to go well.
"Hello there, Winry!" Edward smiled, "You look like you're in a very generous mood today!" Edward smiled,
"Hi Ed, Hi Al, Rea! What're you doing showing up like this?" Winry smiled, she looked at us as I waved, and Edward pulled out his automail arm. Winry's face didn't change until she smacked him around the head and started to look over his arm. I couldn't help but laugh as Edward was on the floor.

Edward was moved to lay down on the table while Winry worked on the arm, I dropped a bag of all the pieces with it next to her, she quickly glared at me for a moment as she was just being protective and worried about us as a group,
"Even Paninya's holding down an honest job now and you three still can't stay out of trouble," Winry snapped, I winced and stepped back as she glared at me,
"Paninya's got a job?" I smiled,
"Yeah, she's given up her former life as a pick pocket and now she earns her job fixing roofs and doing other odd jobs around town. And what about the three of you huh? Made any progress yet?" Winry asked, we looked away and I put my hand behind my head,
"Yeah, we have, its slow going, though," Alphonse spoke,
"We're still moving ahead little by little, I guess." Edward sat up,
"Good, glad to hear it," Winry spoke.

"All right, I've done all I can for now." Winry spoke,
"Thanks Winry," Edward smiled,
"I'm missing some parts, so you'll have to make do with a patch job, I'll go get what we need but until then, you've got some time to kill," Winry explained, I left my backpack with Winry, so I didn't have to carry anything with me. I was wearing my skirt with some shorts underneath and a dark blue tank top and black boots.

We left Winry to work, and Edward had his automail in a wrapped up as he couldn't use it as well now.
"Kill some time, huh? Yeah, how do we do that in a town entirely made of automail shops?" Edward was bored already, I smirked and nudged his shoulder with my own as Edward glanced at me, we both stopped as we noticed Alphonse wasn't with us,
"Alphonse?" I looked to my right and we both saw him kneeling in an alleyway,
"Did you find a stray cat or something?" Edward walked over.
"Ah… well, no," Alphonse held up a boy who had passed out as Edward spat out his drink in shock.

We could tell he wasn't from around here,
"Reminds me of when we found you." Edward muttered as I glanced at him for a moment,
"Food…" the young man spoke as we sighed, Alphonse picked him up as he was semi-conscious, and we took him to a restaurant.

As we were at the restaurant he seemed to perk up and ate a lot of food,
"I feel so much better, you guys are life savers! Thanks a lot! Your treat, right?" the boy smiled, he was wearing unusual yellow clothing, long black hair in a ponytail and I noticed the sword on his back,
"When did I say I was paying?" Edward glared,
"Let's not quibble over something so small!" the boy laughed,
"Who're you callin' small?!" Edward snapped,
"How lucky I am to have found such hospitality, so far from home." the boy smiled and wiped his face with a cloth,
"Far from home?" I asked, as I leaned my chin on my hand,
"You mean you're not from here?" Alphonse asked,
"That's right, I came from Xing!" the boy smiled,
"Oh, Xing, that's… the country that's East of the desert?!" Edward was shocked,
"Yea, and crossing that desert was rough, let me tell you." The boy said,
"Why in the world would you take that route?" Alphonse asked,
"I wanted to visit the ruins of Xerxes, that route goes by them," the boy explained, I froze up, I hadn't been there for years and years, it was where I first woke up.

"The Xerxes ruins? I heard there's next to nothing out there," Edward spoke, I sat back and frowned, staring at the table in thought, I knew I was from there… I remember waking up and seeing Van and another man for a moment before passing out again. The next thing I remembered was waking up on the boarders of early Amestris… I don't know how I got there, but many years later I ended up finding Van, he said he had been to Xing for a long time and came back to make amends for what happened. When he realised, I couldn't remember anything, he left and didn't tell me what happened, he downright refused to tell me. Whether it was because he didn't want to cause anymore trauma for me, I don't know…

"I wanted to see for myself. Anyway, I was headed here to do some Alkahestry research," the boy said,
"Alkahestry research?" I asked, Van had mentioned that style of alchemy to me, but I didn't know much about it.
"Yes, I believe it's what you here in this country call Alchemy. In Xing its known as Alkahestry, it's mainly used in the medical professions." The boy explained,
"Huh, different countries, different customs, I guess. Here Alchemy is mainly used as military. It's not hard to see why; even now we still have skirmishes with the boarders of Aerugo to the south and Creta to the west. North of us is the huge country Drachma, we have a tenant of non-aggression pact with them, and Briggs Mountain stands between us, making invasion difficult our relationship is still dicey at best." Edward explained,
"Yep, sounds like you guys have got your hands full, all right," the boy agreed,
"Things began to move more toward militaristic when the current Fuhrer King Bradley first came into power." Edward explained,
"I have to say I'm getting curious about Alkahestry, a branch of Alchemy that's medically specialised?" Alphonse looked at Edward,
"I'm curious too," Edward smirked,
"By any chance, are the three of you alchemists?" the boy asked,
"I'm not but these two certainly are. This is Edward Elric a State Alchemist, and this is his younger brother Alphonse, and I'm Reaka," I pointed at Edward, Alphonse then myself. I had noticed he had been watching me since he perked up, kept glancing in my direction as he ate, might be something to do with his culture but it did weird me out.

"My names Ling Yao, it's a pleasure," Ling stood up, as we all shook his hand,
"So, Ling, what else can you tell us about Alkahestry? We'd sure love to learn more," Edward smiled,
"Nothing, yea sorry but I'm not actually a Alkahestrist." Ling explained,
"If you don't practice Alkahestry why come all the way to research it?" Edward glared at Ling as you smacked your forehead.
"Well, see I'm looking for something. It's possible you three have heard of it before. The Philosophers Stone?" Ling spoke, we all froze up. Ling started to glare at me in particular, Edward seemed to notice, "I'm very eager to find it. Do you know anything about it?" Ling asked,
"No, we can't help you," Edward spoke then stood up and grabbed my hand in the process to pull me away,
"You wouldn't be lying to me, now, would you?" Ling smirked and clicked his fingers.

Suddenly, I had a dagger held at my throat and Edward looked back and noticed he had one too as he glanced behind and saw a masked person in black, the man with the dagger to my neck also had a sword under Alphonse's arm as I looked around,
"So, do you have something to tell me?" Ling asked,
"Why the interest in the Philosophers Stone?" Edward asked as he turned to look at Ling again,
"I want to achieve Immortality," Ling spoke, I looked around and glared at him, "Out with it, what do you know?" Ling stood up,
"Immortality, nonsense," Edward glared back at the person holding the dagger,
"Not to me it isn't, tell me, Reaka… what's going on with your body?" Ling put his hands on his hips, I looked at him in confusion, could he tell I was different? Edward tried not to react as obviously he knew about me being immortal and we knew it potentially wasn't a good thing.

"In any case, I can't say that I care too much for your way of asking questions." Edward pushed the dagger away and tried to attack the man, but he was quick to jump in the air then kick Edward back. Alphonse did the same to the man with his dagger on my neck but the other man against him kicked Alphonse back towards Edward also, I stood there in shock as the two men both looked at me,
"I don't want to cause a fuss, so I'll behave," I put my hands up in defence, I didn't feel confident fighting these two, I barely did well against Scar and with these two jumping around, I barely had a chance.
"Oh, thanks Rea!" Edward yelled,
"Well, I don't really have the skills to fight, do I?!" I yelled, then froze as I felt Ling's own blade by my neck,
"We need to talk," Ling appeared behind me as I cringed,
"Oh, crap…" I muttered as the two others chased Edward and Alphonse away, Edward knew I'd be okay as I couldn't die, but I didn't want anything to happen to Edward or Alphonse.

Ling guided me away to somewhere quiet and we stood in an alleyway as his blade was pointed at me,
"How did you become immortal?" Ling asked, I sighed as his blade slashed against my cheek and the wound healed quickly, but my face showed shock and anger,
"I don't know." I growled,
"How could you not know?!" Ling yelled at me,
"I have very few memories of before then." I glared as Ling frowned and put his blade away, he walked a step closer and looked over my face,
"That's disappointing…" Ling muttered as bombs went off in the distance,
"Edward…" I muttered and looked way for a moment,
"Do they know?" Ling asked,
"Who?" I looked at him,
"The two you are travelling with." Ling answered, I nodded and smiled,
"They are trying to help me become mortal again." I smiled as Ling looked confused suddenly,
"Why would you give up your immortality?" Ling asked,
"Because I'm fed up with seeing those I love die before me." I smiled sadly, Ling paused and took a moment as he looked at me, "it's not all it's cracked up to be. Trust me." I explained as we heard the commotion nearby on the rooftops.

We left the alleyway and found our way to the area where the brothers and Ling's two bodyguards were fighting,
"Okay! Good work, guys!" Ling smiled,
"Why you! What are you so chipper about?!" Edward snapped, I sighed deeply as Ling smiled,
"You guys've got some pretty impressive skills. I know, come work for me and together we can take over this country. What do you say?" Ling asked,
"I've had enough of your idiotic chattering! Just go back to Xing!" Edward yelled as he ran over to us.

"Look there they are!" A man called,
"Look at the mess you've made! You practically destroyed our town!" another man yelled,
"You're covering the damages!" another man snapped,
"And your restaurant bill, too!" the man from the restaurant spoke.
"H-Hey wait! Just hold on a second! This guy and his little entourage should be paying for everything!" Edward pointed at Ling,
"So sorry! I no understand much language of this country, ok? Bye-bye now!" Ling disappeared,
"Hey! You get the hell back here!" Edward yelled, I smacked my forehead and looked around for the other two,
"They've gone!" I was shocked,
"What!" Edward and Alphonse yell in shock.

"You've gotta be kidding… how am I supposed to fix this place up with only one arm?" Edward asked,
"It's ok brother, I'll take care of it," Alphonse clapped his hands,
"What? So, you can do Alchemy without a transmutation circle now?" I asked,
"Yeah, I think it's because of the memories I recovered," Alphonse looked at Edward and myself, I smiled at him,
"Well, that's more convenient now," I spoke.

Suddenly Edward screamed and fell on the floor, I laughed as I realised what he was so upset about, Alphonse was a little confused. Alphonse had the height and the alchemical ability now. I pulled Edward off the ground as Alphonse worked on fixing everything for the people. Edward looked at me and put his hand on my cheek for a moment,
"Everything okay?" Edward asked as I frowned, a bit confused by what not long happened, but overall, okay,
"He knew I was immortal… just by looking at me." I frowned, Edward looked shocked and almost angry as I looked away, "he wasn't going to do anything I don't think. But he wanted to know how I became like this… obviously, I can't answer that question." I chuckled as Edward nodded sadly.

Once Alphonse had finished fixing everything up, we started to make our way back to the shop Winry was at,
"We're back!" The three of us smiled,
"Hello, we meet again!" Ling waved, Edward ran over and knocked him on the head with Edward's broken automail arm,
"What's your sorry butt doing here?!" Edward yelled as Ling fell on the floor and picked himself up,
"Now, now, we're all friends here, right?" Ling smiled,
"That's how you treat your friends? By sicking your dogs on them? Those two didn't go easy!" Edward glared,
"Let it go. I promise I'll give them a talking to later. The girl's name is Lan Fan, the old man is called Fu. Their family has served mine for generations, they're quite good at what they do," Ling explained,
"Oh, so you shake down strangers for food, yet you can afford two personal attendants?" Edward glared,
"Well, I am the emperor's son, after all," Ling spoke, I blinked.

"Emperors… Son?" I muttered,
"That makes you…" Edward looked at me, "A PRINCE!" We all yelled then started to laugh.
"Not the reaction I anticipated," Ling spoke, I looked at him,
"Sorry! We just didn't see that coming!" Alphonse laughed, I laughed,
"Yea, the guy who collapsed on the road and then mooched food off us is the son of an Emperor!" Edward laughed, as a dagger appeared by him. Edward and Alphonse jumped out of their skin, I just carried on laughing,
"You will not speak badly about Master Ling," Lan Fan glared, I smirked,
"Oh, please calm down," I pulled the dagger out of the table and flipped it in the air a few times,
"We were only shocked about hearing something completely outrageous," I smirked then snickered to myself,
"I'm glad you find this so funny," Ling smirked,
"Sorry, just never expected to meet someone who turned out to be a Prince," I explained and thrown the dagger in the air, and it landed on the centre of the table that Ling was sitting at.

"But your probably right. It's not that big of a deal. The emperor has a lot of sons. It's like this… My country Xing is broken up with 50 different clans, with an Emperor at the top reigning over all of them. The daughter of each clan chief becomes the emperor's wives and bares his children. The current Emperor has 19 daughters, and 24 sons, I come in at number 12 in that line up." Ling explained,
"43 kids? That's incredible," Edward was shocked,
"He must have a lot of stamina…" I smirked, Edward and Alphonse looked at me, Edward shook his head at my comment as he chuckled a moment later,
"Sorry… was thinking of something, just ignore me. But anyway… it must be tricky to see who succeeds the emperor right?" I asked,
"Indeed, it is that's the problem we're facing right now. The emperor's health has become to deteriorate recently. Each clan is doing they can do to curry favour... and I'm no exception," Ling explained,
"You want to up your chances by discovering the secret to immortality?" Edward spoke, I clenched my fist,
"Exactly, ok. The Philosopher's Stone, what information can you offer?" Ling asked,
"Not happening! The stone isn't a tool for some political game," Edward snapped, looking away,
"Oh, then I'll have to stay with you until you tell me!" Ling hugged Edward,
"Oh no, you don't! Get off of me, freak!" Edward yelled and smacked Ling a few times with his broken automail arm until…

"I'm back," Winry called, Edward froze as Winry looked over to him and saw his automail arm broken off, "What happened to your arm!" Winry yelled and started beating Edward up, "Edward Elric, you careless little jerk! How could you do this! You know how tired I get of this!" Winry yelled as I pulled her off him,
"I think that's enough beating on the 'careless little jerk" I quoted, Winry glared at Edward as I held her back, he was laying on the floor, leg twitching as I chuckled.

Edward was moved to sit on a crate as Winry had his arm on the table, Alphonse stood to the side as I was sat on the crate with Edward,
"So… where are you headed to break your automail this time?" Winry asked,
"You just assume I'll break it?" Edward sighed,
"We were thinking about doing some digging in Central." Alphonse spoke,
"You guys are going back to Central? I wanna come too! Take me with you!" Winry smiled,
"What do you want to go there for?" Edward asked, as he lifted his head,
"I'd like to go see the Hughes family again," Winry smiled brightly,
"Don't you have a lot of work from here though?" I asked,
"It's ok if you want to go, Winry. You should take a break every once in a while." Garfiel smiled,
"Oh really, thanks so much Mr. Garfiel!" Winry beamed,
"Ok, we'll all go!" Edward smiled,
"Central, here we come!" Alphonse put his thumb up as Winry grinned at us.

"Oh, we're going to central? How exciting!" Ling appeared at the window,
"I told you you're not coming with us!" Edward screamed at Ling. I smiled at everyone, something so simple, but something I took pride in. I took pride in having friends such as these, they had their flaws, but I loved them all.

I knew that I was definitely in love with one of this group, my heart pounded at the thought as I smiled at him…