Yunimori's Profile

Read pt. 1 for notes.

Begin.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Edward started. His breath stopped. He could swear that for a moment, his heart stopped too. He stood. The alchemist looked down at the Chimera-Homunculus child with wide eyes, and remembered.

[i]“Yes, your passage fee. Equivalent Exchange, right?”[/i]

The young man grit his teeth to suppress the shiver that ran all through him. He schooled the look of horror away from his face and hardened his gaze.

“So. You've seen It too, huh?”

Unconsciously, his one good hand drifted up to clutch at his automail shoulder, at the shorn-off stump where a real, flesh arm had once been.

“I figured those couldn't be normal wounds,” he nearly murmured. “They're too...clean.”

“But your story still isn't straight with me.” His voice rose to a more inquiring tone, softer than the pitiless, interrogating tone he had used upon finding out Yuni's origins, though his gaze remained suspicious and calculating. “Your 'Sin' name is Agony because you...take other people's pain. But what do [i]you[/i] get in exchange? Don't tell me you really healed me out of the kindness of your heart.” [i]Did she really?[/i] Why was he so leery of a child, a little girl, a innocent who'd been transmuted...

[i]Nina...[/i]

Because she was a Homunculus, that was why. Meeting Envy had taught him a valuable lesson: What you see is rarely what you get with Homunculi.

“And when you say you don't want anything to do with the Philosopher's Stone...well that's just contradicting yourself, isn't it? Even if you're [i]not[/i] allies with Envy and his little band of freaks, don't you Homunculi still need the Stone to turn yourselves into humans? That's what you want it for, right?”

He was becoming more at ease with her now. He could feel it. He could feel the caution, the battle-readiness, bleed out of his limbs and he did [i]not[/i] like it. Sense and experience were telling him to not not not let his guard down. And yet...

[i]Look at her. Under the pain, under the power, the fur, the lost limbs, under it all, she's just a little girl.

“Ed...ward...Big Brother?”

Just a little girl.[/i]

Yuni sighed, her fingers playing with her crutch, turning and twisting the thin stick on her lap. “It's...complicated,” she finally admitted, reluctance tinging her tone. “I'm not exactly like the others...though I guess that's kinda obvious from just looking at me, huh?” She smiled faintly, a humorless chuckle making her concave chest rise sharply.

“When I take away pain from others, I store it. Pain is my blood, my life, and I can use my own life to hurt others, if I need to.” She looked up at the blonde, a sad plea in her eyes. “But I don't [i]like[/i] to. I'd rather take away the pain, let myself hurt, than let other people suffer when I have the ability to make it stop.”

She looked into the boy's eyes, seeing herself reflected in their golden gaze. “As for the Philosopher's Stone...I really [i]don't[/i] want anything to do with it. It probably wouldn't work on me, anyway,” she added, almost under her breath. “If I went back to being human, I wouldn't be able to heal the way I can now. And...even though it hurts, I don't want to give it up. There's too many people that I can help by being the way I am now. I couldn't help [i]anyone[/i] when I was human, so why would I WANT to be that way again?”

She was so earnest about this that she was actually leaning forward, closer to the young man than was reasonably comfortable. “Think about it, Alchemist. If I had been human tonight, would you have lived, or would you have died? I'm too small to carry you, and I would never have been able to find help in time. Would you have rather had me that way, or as I am now?”

Suddenly realizing that she was possibly invading the blonde's private space, she leaned back, curling her single leg under her, so that she seemed to lack both her legs. “I'm only nine years old, Alchemist,” she said softly. “I've only been a Homunculus for three of those years. There's a lot about what the Olders are doing, or what they want, that I don't understand, but I know what's best for [i]me[/i]. The Philosopher's Stone is bad, in more ways than one. It's not a contradiction for me. I never was like everyone else, and I guess I'll just stay that way.”

Let it be officially known that Yuni was beginning to get tired of being questioned on the issue of the Elder Sins, the Originals, or, as she called them, the ‘Olders’. The only one of them that she had civil relations with was Wrath, and on rare occasions, Envy; still, Wrath was only a few short years older than her, and Envy...well...that palm-tree of a Homunculus would have killed himself before telling her anything. What passed for ‘civility’ with him was usually a dagger-sharp glare and a grunt, anyway.

For a long moment, Edward said nothing. He simply stood where he was, studying Yuni from above, golden gaze as guarded and impassive as a lion watching the plains for any sign of movement. And for a long moment, there was silence.

If she wasn't like the others, then why did she honor Envy so? Why did she wear his clothes and refuse to let him be insulted?

[i]She saved my life.[/i]

Equivalent Exchange. His pain was her life. She had done it to recharge her own blood. To increase her own power.

[i]I'd be dead right now if it weren't for her.[/i]

She knew too much. She was too wise for her years. A monster in a child's visage; wearing a mask, just like the rest of them.

[i]She's only nine years old.[/i]

She had a terrible power. Absorbing the pain of anyone and everyone she could get her hands on, and then inflicting that same pain upon anyone she chose. She was dangerous. Not to be trusted.

[i]She's just a little girl.[/i]

She lacked the desire to be human.

[i]She's telling the truth.

She's telling the truth.[/i]

A long, slow breath left the alchemist's chest. It was soundless, and longer than a sigh, but some of the tension that had burrowed into his shoulders and sternum bled away. Edward briefly closed his eyes.

He realized that during the course of this conversation, his chest was still exposed. He had had a lot more pressing matters on his mind than the goosebumps prickling across his skin.

Ed reached over and clapped his flesh arm against the hand of the limp, broken automail one. His one good hand then reached up and hooked one side of his slashed shirt and jacket with his thumb, bringing it towards the other side with the tips of his fingers. Blue lightening crackled up and down his front, mending the torn black tank-top and jacket back together without a trace of the damage caused by Yuni's claws.

Without a word, Edward turned, backed up a few steps, and sat down on the floor, right beside Yuni. He pulled his knees close enough to himself that he could comfortably drape his arm across the both of them. He didn't look at her as he spoke, his voice low.

“Well...I still don't know too much yet about the Homunculi, but I do know about the Stone. I know that there's much better ways of getting what you want than seeking it...hell, [i]anything[/i] has to be better than that.” Another long, deep breath exited the boy, this one sounding more like a sigh. “As long as you're not trying to make the Stone, and you're not helping those others do it...then I guess it's okay.”

He had failed to specify exactly [i]what[/i] was okay, but as he turned to face the girl, as the warm smile spread slowly across his face, it started to become a little clearer.

“By the way, my name's Edward Elric. Yuni...thank you for saving me.”

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Yuni's eyes had widened greatly when Edward mended his clothing. Alchemy held a deep fascination for her, and the way he used it It made the process seem even more like magic to the tiny girl.

Her eyes widened even further when the blonde backed up and sat down beside her, so close that she could feel his body heat coming in contact with her own chill flesh. Such a move had been unexpected, to say the least.

[i]“...then I guess it's okay.”[/i]

A few simple words of acceptance, of encouragement, were enough to give Yuni quiet joy. And then, Edward smiled at her, and it was as if Yuni's empty, grey world had gained sunshine, burning away the mists of loneliness and banishing them back to the darkness from whence they came.

Words like that were rare for the young Homunculus, a smiling face even rarer. And to think that she had been the recipient for both at the same time...it was more than she knew how to deal with.

A timid, flickering smile found its way onto Yuni's face, and she stared silently at the golden-eyed boy for a moment before her smile burst into full bloom, becoming a beaming grin, her murky eyes coming to sparkling life.

“I'm glad I did, Edward-sama,” she said, soft, tired voice taking on a happy tone. I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on knowing you.

Then, in a movement that certainly qualified as one of those 'I'm-probably-gonna-regret-this-later-but-I'm-doing-it-anyway' moments, Yuni reached out with her thin, chill arms and hugged the Fullmetal Alchemist lightly. She didn't want to freeze him, nor did she want to drive him away, but to the child, actions spoke just as loud, if not louder, than words, at least for those she trusted.

And with his smile, Edward Elric had gained her hard-to-earn trust.

Read pt. 1 for notes.

Begin.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Yuni sat and watched the blonde as he stood, stared, and started asking questions faster than her brain could form answers. After the first two, she didn't even bother to open her mouth, until he finally decided to calm down; or rather, the blood slowly seeping through her clothing [i]forced[/i] him to calm down.

A thin smile twitched momentarily on her lips, and she released her tight hold on her body, leaning back and using her stick-thin arms to support her meager weight as she looked up at the incredulous blonde, clouded green eyes staring unabashed into golden ones.

“First off, my name's Yuni, and you're in the Alchemist Cafe,” she said, voice never raising itself above her normal almost-whisper. “Second, I'm not a true Chimera, and that [i]wasn't[/i] alchemy. Homunculi can't use alchemy...well, except for Wrath-kun, of course,” she quickly amended.

She now scowled faintly at the blonde, scars on cheeks stretching as she mimicked the way his own face had been a moment earlier. “And last, don't call Envy-sama an asshole. I know he [i]is[/i], and more than likely [i]deserves[/i] it, but...just don't call him one, okay?”
Yuni still had no true fondness for Envy, but for some reason, she didn't like people calling him names, either. Talk about a love/hate relationship.

Yuni almost ignored the last question the boy had asked her, but thought better of it. She leaned forward again, her piece said, and slowly wrapped her arms around her torso again. “ I'm fine,” she said, this time not looking at the blonde. “The bleeding will stop in a few minutes, and I'll just have to wash my clothes again.” Actually, she sounded more upset about having to clean her otherwise-spotless clothing than she was about being wounded.

She looked back up at Ed, face guardedly expressionless. “Would you mind going over to the window and getting my crutch, please, so I can get up? And then...please tell me your name? I don't wanna keep calling you 'stranger'.” She wrinkled her nose at him, sounding like the tired child she was. She didn’t regret what she had done for him, but...by all things good and holy, could he speak any faster?

The alchemist bit down on a sharp inhale as Yuni said those words: [i]Homunculi can't use alchemy. Shit. Shitshitshitshit.[/i] Talk about falling out of the frying pan and into the fire. His golden eyes turned molten as his whole expression seemed to clench, half grimace, half scowl.

“So you're a Homunculus.” The awe for her 'transmutation,' the panic at finding himself inexplicably in new surroundings, and the concern for her well-being were all conspicuously absent from his tone. It had grown cold, dropping to a level, dangerous growl. “Of course you're allies with Envy. And who the hell is Wrath? How many of you people [i]are[/i] there, anyway?” At that moment, he sounded more like an interrogator than an angry teenager.

“However...” The growl vanished from Edward's voice, and his hard eyes seemed to soften just an inch. “You saved me. Why? What did you stand to gain? And if you're friends with Envy and the other guys from the Fifth Lab, how come you don't know my name? I thought all your crew had been keeping [i]tabs[/i] on my brother and I for the past few years. Waiting for the proper moment to bait us into making the Philosopher's Stone for you.” His tone grated on those last few words, but his gaze still lacked the coldness it had possessed earlier. There were still way too many loose ends here...

Edward did as she asked, though, moving to the window seat to retrieve the child's crutch, though he didn't for a moment take his eyes off of her. His gaze was much less angry now as he crossed back over to the girl, more calculating and studying, but still filled with distrust and discontent.

The alchemist knelt down before the child. The closer he got to her, the more his movements seemed to slow down, become more fluid and less aggressive, as if she were a frightened animal and he was trying not to startle her into fleeing. (Nevermind that she couldn't have gotten very far with only one leg.)

He was well within touching distance now, and perched on his automail knee, he held the crutched out to the bleeding, malformed girl. Up this close, it was easy to see how much his expression had softened. His eyes still danced with suspicion, but there were other emotions in his face, too. Confusion. Curiosity. [i]Concern[/i].

Edward's voice dropped to a near-whisper, coming close to matching Yuni's own.

“And if you can just regenerate those wounds...why not your leg and ear?”

He suspected. Those golden eyes said he knew. Ed's instincts were good, his mind was sharp, and he was open to the impossible happening. But he never, ever assumed anything was Truth until he confirmed it with his own eyes, ears, and hands.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

“I'm [i]not[/i] friends with Envy-sama,” Yuni said, taking her crutch from the blonde with a shake of her silver head. “I'm not friends with [i]any[/i] of them except for Wrath. He's the only one that doesn't hate me.” [i]Or just simply want me dead,[/i] she added silently, thinking of red stones in a certain pair of alabaster hands.

She eyed the boy, distrust evident in her stare now. She had easily picked up on the momentary chill that had gone through the boy, and she recognised hatred when she felt it. And, although he had gone from icecube to concern in a matter of moments, she wasn't going to let her guard down again.

“I don't know you, I don't know anything about the Olders and that dratted Philosopher's Stone, [i]and I don't want anything to do with it[/i].” She never raised her voice, but the fervent tone of her voice belied the passion she felt. She glared at the blonde for a moment, before her face, too, softened, and she sighed, closing her eyes.

“Why wouldn't I help you? You were bleeding to death...” Murky green eyes opened once more, gazing sadly at the blonde. “And it's my job to take pain...my job-name is Agony, after all. It's just a bonus that I can heal at the same time.”

She chuckled lightly, holding her crutch in her lap and reaching up to rub the jagged scar, still raw-looking, that stretched across the side of her head, where her ear used to be. “But not everything can be healed, Alchemist. There are some things that can't be hidden from Truth, and Tolls are taken for your Sins. They never go away.”

Yuni gave a wan smile, then pointed a skeletal finger in the direction of the boy's mechanical arm, extraordinarily careful not to actually touch him. “Sort of like why I couldn't fix [i]that[/i] for you. Some things just can't be fixed.”

Her ear twitched, and she turned her head to one side slightly. “And you never did tell me your name,” she reminded softly, tail thumping against the floor. She wanted to change the subject, get off of the dangerous ground they were treading.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Read pt. 1 for notes.

Begin.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

It was her voice that did it.

Hers was most definitely a voice he had never heard before. If it was unfamiliar, that meant he was not caught in a nightmare, nor was he being haunted by apparitions of the dead. The fact that he wasn’t seeing ghosts allowed him to come to the realization that he probably wasn’t actually dead. Relief bled through his veins, quelling the young man’s slight trembling and silencing the rising keen in his throat. The relief, however, was accompanied by a spreading, burning feeling of shame. Of course he wasn’t dead; he’d just been through the wars. There was no way in [i]hell[/i] he was going to die before getting Al his body back, anyway.

Being snapped into the realization that he was not dead and not hallucinating didn’t make the situation any less confusing, however.

Edward blinked incredulously at the pale figure, still quite unable to make her out with any kind of useful clarity. Since her ear was flattened to her head and her silver locks were obscuring her face, for the moment all of Yuni’s feline features went completely unnoticed by the bleary alchemist.

[i]“I've not even [b]started[/b] making the blood stop yet.”

Wait…what?[/i]

Then the child launched into a rather rapid request. Edward blinked yet again, mostly out of confusion but also out of an effort to will his eyes to focus.

“Huh?”

Her cold hands pressing onto his bare chest sent a slight shiver up his spine, but their presence there caused the gears to click into place. The pain was gone because she had made it go away, and now she was offering to heal his wounds.

Well, duh. That was a bit of a no-brainer.

Ed knew he would have time to pelt the girl with questions into what the [i]hell[/i] kind of alchemy was she using on him later, and if it was really going to make all of his wounds just [i]disappear[/i], could she also teach it to him, please. Right now, he was in no position to deny help.

“Sure,” the alchemist conceded groggily. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.”

Edward stopped straining to look up at the girl, relaxing and letting his head fall back. His golden eyes slid closed and his face fell slack. He tried to concentrate on the blessed, soothing feeling rippling out of her hands and through his body instead of addressing the harrying, nagging worry of trusting a complete stranger with his physical well-being.

[i]He said yes. [b]He said YES.[/b][/i]

A relieved, thankful sigh forced its way out of Yuni's lungs as the boy acquiesced. "Thank you..." she whispered hoarsely, barely believing that he was letting her do this.

She closed her eyes, letting her tense shoulders relax, and opened up, so to speak. The flickers of pulsating darkness that clung to the healing power in her hands grew stronger, leaving only a faint blue sheen surrounding the blonde. Yuni leaned forward slightly, her hands trembling as they rested on the boy's flesh.

“Come.”

One word. But that one word was the signal for the unleashing of Yuni's power. The red-black taint that hovered like a swarm of insects over the boy suddenly gained purpose, diving deeply, albeit painlessly, into the wounds inflicted on the blonde's body, forming a thick tangle of tentacle-like structures that stretched from healer to healee.

Yuni sucked in her breath as the taint began the transfer process, feeling bones bend and break, muscles and skin pucker then rip apart like tissue. Her own body began trying to start the healing process, but Yuni stopped it willfully, directing all of her healing energies to the young man lying before her.

With closed eyes, Yuni imagined his ribs knitting, no trace of the break apphrent; his skin and muscles closing back together, leaving no scars, his flesh becoming spotless, no blood evident. She [i]willed[/i] her imagination to become reality, as the darkness that connected her to him stretched and bulged, gorging on the wounds.

It wasn't long before a prickle in the back of her mind told Yuni that the young man's part of the process was complete, and the tentacles withdrew, disintegrating in the air as Yuni sucked in the last vestiges of the wounds.

Only then did she release the light that had hovered protectively over the boy all this time. Almost immediately, it was drawn back inside of her, setting to work on the daunting task of healing her own body. Yuni leaned back slightly, her eyes remaining closed as she hugged herself tightly, slowly putting on her 'everything's fine' expression, making sure it would stay on her face before opening her eyes.

The white of her clothes, so reminiscent of Envy's, were slowly becoming stained as she turned her head to look at the boy, raising one hand shakily to move silver bangs out of her face. “It's done,” she said, voice soft. “Thank you, whoever you are.”

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

It was a very, very good thing that Edward’s eyes had closed. He no longer hovered in the state of half-consciousness he had experienced upon waking, and thus wasn’t bound to be quite as jumpy, but the sight of black tentacles connecting his body with Yuni’s would have been enough to make [i]anyone[/i] burst a blood vessel. For someone who had seen the Gate as Edward had, however, the freak-out factor would no doubt be multiplied exponentially.

Ed flinched as he felt that…[i]something[/i]…burrow under his skin, and bit his lip as he became aware of the very distinct sensations of his own broken body melting back into a state of health. It was a truly unsettling feeling, mostly because such a shifting of bones, organs and tissues [i]should[/i] have rendered him catatonic from agony. And that wasn’t just conjecture, either. Edward [i]knew[/i] the structure of the human body. He knew exactly in what way those broken ribs snapping back together should have made fire scream through his body. He knew how the flesh of deep gashes knitting back together as if sewn by a ghost’s hands should have made him writhe.

Pain was easy. Pain, he understood. But this…this was [i]unreal[/i].

Not to mention very, very, very intriguing.

Two very different parts of Edward Elric’s brain were screaming at him in a clashing cacophony that nearly made his ears ring. One the one hand, he had Instinct, yammering in an unintelligible, unignorable whine how utterly [i]strange[/i] and [i]wrong[/i] this whole process was, how it [i]should not[/i] be happening no matter how good it felt. One the other hand, there was the Scientist within Edward, the curious, intellectual part of him that was screaming to know how, [i]how, HOW[/i].
It was the scientist that won over the instinctual apprehension. It was the curiosity that inevitably relaxed Ed as Yuni completed the healing process.

[i]This could be the answer. This could be what we’ve been searching for. Someone who really knows how to do Human Transmutation…someone who can do it without summoning the Gate.[/i] (He just hoped to every God-he-didn’t-believe-in that the universe wouldn’t spite him [again] and he wouldn’t suddenly see the Gate when he opened his eyes, just because he had thought that.) [i]And the proof…I’m feeling the proof for myself…![/i]

A sigh escaped the young man as the child whispered that she had finished the process. An uncertain, but grateful smile appeared on his face, and Edward opened his eyes.

Wonder overtook his golden eyes as he examined his own form, partly as a fellow scientist appreciating a truly great work done in the field, and partly out of sheer bafflement at a feat so absurdly impossible. He sat all the way up, marveling first at the fact that he [i]could[/i], then at the fact that his head didn’t spin, and then at the fact that all the blood on his torso was [i]gone[/i]. Gingerly, Ed’s one flesh hand patted down his abdomen, visiting the spots where wounds once broke the flesh. Now, there was only smooth, unmarred, unstained skin, with nary a scar or drop of blood. It was as if he’d never been injured at [i]all[/i].

“Wow.” It was a very unscientific thing to say, but hell, he just couldn’t help it. “This is…[i]wow[/i]. That was an [i]amazing[/i] transmutation. What kind of al…chem…”

He had looked up.

And he could actually see clearly, now.

Ed’s eyes widened. He fought down the urge to scoot back and scramble away from the child at once; even so, he stood up in quite the hurry. He stared. And stared. And tried to keep his feet rooted to the floor, tried to keep the mingled horror and anger away from his face—after all, this girl had just saved his life—but didn’t fully succeed in either. He took a step back.

“You’re…a Chimera.”

Silence. The cat had his tongue. No pun intended.

“So how did you…?”

Wait. Wait. [i]Hold on one fucking second[/i]. Wasn’t he just in the Fifth Laboratory? It was logical to surmise that he might meet a Chimera there. But his new surroundings were…where [i]were[/i] his new surroundings?

Ed’s head jarred back and forth as he scanned the area like a hyperactive squirrel, his braid flipping around as he tried desperately to get his bearings. “Where the hell am I?” he blurted.

The young man whirled back around to face Yuni, this time with a disapproving scowl. “And why are you dressed like that Envy asshole? Who’re—”

He finally noticed the spreading red stains on her clothes, and his eyes widened all over again. He took a step towards her.

“Are you okay?”

Alright. So she was a Chimera. So she was dressed like a Homunculus. So she was capable of a level of Human Transmutation that he had never even [i]dreamed[/i] was possible. This was all very weird, very unsettling, and very much made every alarm bell Edward possessed go off on Red Alert.

But she was also a pale, sickly-looking, [i]maimed[/i] little girl. Who was bleeding.

And she had thanked [i]him[/i]?

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Note: [U]Stranger Companies[/U] is a collaborative short story between myself and my older 'sister'. She has a Deviantart account, but requests that it be kept private, therefore no link will be given.

[B]This story was meant to be an exercise in creative writing, as well as an exercise in collaborative writing, please keep that in mind before any comments are made![/B]

Setting: The Fullmetal Alchemist Universe
Characters: Edward Elric and an OC
Relationships: new acquaintances
Rating: PG to PG-13 for gore

Edward Elric and FMA are NOT mine or my sister's, they are the respective property of Hiromu Arakawa and Bones Studio.

Begin.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Had Edward been conscious, he would have doubtless gone wide-eyed and scrambled away at the sight of a death-pale, silver-haired, chimera amputee child leaning over him.

Had he been semi-conscious, he would have doubtless had a small heart attack at the feel of cold hands searching his person, much like the greedy hands of the Gate, longing after human warmth that they could never have, debating the best pieces of his body to claim for themselves.

As he was, Edward was so far gone he had no idea that his person was being flitted over by an odd Chimera-like girl, and it was probably better that way. It would have made for a terrible first impression for Edward to associate Yuni with the greedy hands of the Gate's guardians.

Awareness returned to the alchemist in the form of an odd sensation rippling through his body, something like being drenched repeatedly with ice water yet also akin to having raw magma pumped through his veins.

His teeth clenched, head rolling and pushing against the floor, causing his neck to arch and strain. The sensation only intensified as more awareness returned to him.

“Ghyrgh...”

His eyes and teeth clenched in a grimace; his mouth opened up again in a breathless gasp, and not long after he clenched his teeth again, almost biting his tongue in half.

And gradually, the magma-burn and ice water-bite of the energy running through him began to fade, slowly replaced with an all-encompassing, soothing feeling...like the pleasant chill of a soft hand running over his forehead, assuaging away a childhood nightmare...or the spreading warmth of that first sip of hot cocoa after a long day of playing in the snow...

Slowly, Edward opened his eyes.

Several things went through his head in the span of just a few seconds.

The first sight that greeted him was hazy and distorted, and the first thoughts that assailed him were that his vision was still blurry from blood loss, and wait, when had he fallen?

[i]But the pain was gone.[/i]

He couldn’t feel the gashes that the other disembodied armor, the Slicer Brothers, had carved into his sides. The snapped ribs, Envy’s handiwork, no longer seemed broken. He tried firing messages from his brain to his automail, tried to convince the deadened arm to move, but it refused. He surmised gloomily that the machinery was still busted, even if his flesh parts all seemed…[i]fixed[/i].

He tried to sit up; Ed managed to lift his head and shoulders off of the ground before his brain abruptly reminded him about the lack of proper oxygenation it was receiving, and he sunk to the floor again with a grunt.

It was only then that Ed’s fogged mind started to process who—or [i]what[/i]—he was seeing.

All he could really make out was the figure of a little girl, pale, paler than death: ghostly white with silver hair hanging in her eyes, eyes that shone an obscured aquamarine even from behind the bedraggled locks. She was bent over him, her little hands pressed to his chest, her face locked onto his in an intense look. Concentration…or was that…accusation?

She looked very much like a ghost. And as Edward felt very much like he was dead, with that unnatural, soothing feeling spreading through him when he [i]should[/i] have been immobilized by pain, he surmised that the Gate had finally gotten its wish. His life had ended.
A look of abject terror abruptly burst onto the young man’s face.

[i]Al—No, no, Al, I need to get his body back, need to—[/i]

That little girl looked familiar; the way she looked at him—intense, imploring—reminded him of an old nightmare—

[i]Nina.

“Why couldn’t you save me, Edward Big-Brother?”[/i]

A low, garbled moan started unbidden somewhere in the back of Ed’s throat, the first rising of what was destined to be a keening wail of horror and despair.

[i]Nina—Nina—no, please, oh God, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry--[/i]

Thus, with this rush and tumble of thoughts flitting through his head, it was no surprise that only a few handfuls of seconds after his eyes opened, Ed’s drained form twitched and jerked as he frantically tried to get away from the pawing grasp of the child’s hands. He wasn’t making more than a few inches of progress, however, his blood loss keeping him quite rooted. A faint trembling began in his extremities, threatening to engulf the alchemist from the tips of his fingers to his very core.

Said child watched carefully as golden eyes blinked open, remaining unfocused for long moments. He shifted under her, his head rising, and she instinctively pressed her hands against his chest a little harder, though it seemed to be entirely unnecessary, as he was still too weak to do anything.

Then his face twisted into a mask of absolute terror, and he tried desperately to get away from her, keening like a frightened child, the look of concerned concentration on her face gave way to irritation. “Hold still,” she growled, her single ear lowering flat against her head as she rose slightly, using what little strength she had in her bony arms to keep him pressed to the floor. “I've not even [i]started[/i] making the blood stop yet. Do you wanna die?”

Murky eyes flashed from underneath the tangled silver mane, giving the blonde a look that, it seems, only those of the female persuasion have the ability to give. She didn't wait for the young man to answer, continuing on in her soft, wind-whisper voice. “Now you're awake, I can ask you. Can I take away your wounds? I took the pain without asking, but I [i]needed[/i] it, and I couldn't really ask you. But will you let me finish? I can't make your blood come back, but I can stop you from bleeding any more.”

She spoke in a hurried rush, as if she were afraid he would refuse her, and wanted to get her entire request out before he said no. The entire time, she kept her hands pressed on his chest, feeling the warm life of his skin under her fingers, though the digits never lost their chill. The tainted light flowing over him had diminished slightly, as Yuni prepared herself for the hardest part of her job...that is, if the boy agreed to it. Some people she had encountered were...strange, refusing to let her treat their wounds, even when she took their pain. She didn't understand it. Why would a normal person want to be hurt if there was something that could fix it?

She looked into the young man's eyes, feeling slightly frightened of their golden stare, but unable to turn her own eyes away. She blinked, eyes turning ever darker, ever murkier, as she stared, trying to will the blonde to answer her in the affirmative.

[i]Let me do my job, lion-eyes...Let my existence mean something tonight. Please...[/i]

Her plea remained silent; she simply couldn't force herself to let a stranger know how much she needed this. A reaction as strong as that of a drug addict in the first stages of withdrawal suddenly smelling the smoke of the drugs they so coveted was coursing through her body, and it shamed her even as she tortured herself with the twisting of the boy’s pain in her body.

Note: [U]Stranger Companies[/U] is a collaborative short story between myself and my older 'sister'. She has a Deviantart account, but requests that it be kept private, therefore no link will be given.

[B]This story was meant to be an exercise in creative writing, as well as an exercise in collaborative writing, please keep that in mind before any comments are made![/B]

Setting: The Fullmetal Alchemist Universe
Characters: Edward Elric and an OC
Relationships: new acquaintances
Rating: PG to PG-13 for gore

Edward Elric and FMA are NOT mine or my sister's, they are the respective property of Hiromu Arakawa and Bones Studio.

Begin.

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[LEFT] [I]“No stranger company doth man keep, than the thoughts of the unknown.” –Anonymous[/I]
[/LEFT]

It wasn’t late, yet at the same time, it was. It was too late for her to still be up, for instance. Though most (normal) people were still conscious at this hour, Yuni had found herself slipping off to sleep earlier and earlier, usually before the last vestiges of daylight gave way to the gloom of late twilight. Never mind that she never actually [I]slept[/I], just drifted in and out of full awareness. A sort of limbo for the mind, it allowed her to recharge enough to get through another day, but she was far from rested. It was becoming [I]her[/I] normal.
However, tonight she was unable to drift. To ‘sleep’, if you could actually convince yourself to call it that. The near-silence of the night didn’t lull her, as it usually did. The sound of frogs and crickets singing their nightly sonatas set her teeth on edge, but Yuni didn’t understand why. She had always taken comfort in those sounds; why was tonight so different?

Yuni rested the side of her head against the cool windowpane, her small, frail body curled up on the sill, a meager protection against the nightly chill. She stuck out like a sore thumb against the darkness, the paleness of her hair and clothing shining brilliantly in the moonlight; a ghost with heart still beating.
The tiny child felt tense, her blood racing through her veins, making bones vibrate and muscles tremble. She felt [I]on edge[/I], as though her body waited for something to happen, some dreadful circumstance that her mind had no foreknowledge of.
A low, throbbing pain arced its way through her diaphragm, nestled just below her lungs, caused partly by the tense stance she took. Unable to relax, her murky green eyes kept drifting from the window to the doorway and back, a jittery, nervous tic that refused to be still.

Her head thumped quietly against the windowpane in frustration, a slight grimace making the circles under her eyes all the more evident as skin stretched, parting wispy fur. [I]So tired...just want to [B]sleep[/B]. Why so tense? What’s going to happen....who’s coming?[/I] Many thoughts, disjointed, yet running along the same lines. Yuni didn’t know if her nerves, frayed from lack of rest, were playing tricks on her, or if she was tapping into some sixth sense, which was alerting her to...well...[I]something[/I]. She wasn’t sure if what was coming was good or bad, but she was on high alert, jumping at the slightest sound. Preparing for the worst.

[I]What’s gonna happen?[/I]

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[I]Squeak Thud.[/I]

The door to the Alchemist Café flew open, the handle banging on the opposite wall with the force of it.

[I]Tunk. Tunk. Th-thunk tunk thunk.[/I]

Clunky, booted feet stumbled through the door. The clunking of boots-on-wood stopped for a moment, giving way to the sound of labored breathing. White-gloved hands planted against the wall, propping up a short, blond-braided figure in muck-smeared black slacks and jacket.

Golden eyes scanned around the Alchemist Café, not seeming to see very much. The eyes looked to be filmed over with fever or injury; their focus faded in and out as their owner tried with all his might to keep himself together.

Something pale and small, near what was probably a window, caught the boy’s eye. He lurched towards it, fighting to recover his balance from a spinning head as he approached it. It had moved. It had to be a person.

“Al…where…”

A grunt and grimace of pain caused the teenager to clench his teeth; one hand flew up to clutch fiercely at his ribs, while the other dangled uselessly at his side. Red liquid seeped onto the white glove. The flow of blood would not be staunched.

He was closer to the person now, close enough that he should have been able to make out her face, but his vision was getting worse, fading and tunneling. He grimaced more fiercely, trying to focus, trying to find—

“My brother. Where…”

The determined, pained voice trailed off. The blackness finally overtook his vision. Edward Elrics’ eyes rolled to the back of his head as he pitched sideways and collapsed onto the floor of the Alchemist Café.

If she hadn't already been on edge, the sudden appearance of the frightening, nonsense-spouting figure in the doorway would have set her off. As it was, Yuni nearly jumped out of her skin as the blonde-haired young man came stumbling into the cafe, her claws shooting out in a reflex defense mechanism. She said not one word as the boy walked, or rather, staggered towards her, milky eyes turning dark with suspicion and unbridled fear. She dared not; self-preservation instincts were hard to ignore. And everything within Yuni was currently screaming at her to be silent, to not reveal her presence.

Only when the boy moved almost within touching distance did the smell hit her. [I]Blood. Pain. Lots of it.[/I] Almost immediately a change came over the tiny, abnormal Homunculus. Her gaze, normally so soft, became sharply focused, and every hair on her body stood on end. Her eyes widened impossibly as the blonde slumped to the floor, his captivating golden eyes turning to liquid white as unconsciousness overtook him.

Without thinking, Yuni slid off of the windowsill, not even bothering with the worn-out stick she used as a crutch. The boy was only a few feet away, and Yuni could scoot herself that distance in less time than it would take to find her balance while upright. She moved faster than she had in a long while, the overwhelming scent of pain driving her wild. She had avoided it in others for too long, and now her very purpose was making her slightly crazy in the need to take it.

Tiny hands, chill as an opened grave, flitted like pyreflies over the unconscious young man's body, touching a spot here, diving under a fold of clothing there. She stared at him, eyes turned into milky green, bottomless pools, as she sought out the sources of his pain, his wounds, finding the best and easiest ways to remove them from him.
Other scents rose from the young man, but Yuni didn't want, or need, to take the time to analyze them. Her fingers finally found the edge of the jacket the blonde wore, and without a further thought, she ripped it open, claws slashing mercilessly through the fabric. [I]There.[/I]
The scent was undiluted now; a myriad, sickening odor that reminded Yuni of death given a sweet overtone. Her eyes strayed to the blonde's face, remaining there as her hands pressed down firmly in the middle of his chest, the easiest place to draw his suffering from.

Barely perceptible blue light, a red-black taint flickering around the edges, surrounded her fingers, washing over the boy in waves, practically covering him from head to foot as she sought to draw out ever ounce she could from him. Her motives weren't entirely for his benefit, though she did feel concern for this odd stranger that had nearly frightened her out of her wits. No, part of her reasons were purely selfish, the part of her that couldn't deny her purpose having remained dormant for far too long to keep her in what passed for 'health'.

“Let me take it,” she whispered, though from the look of things she wouldn't be receiving permission, or an answer of any kind, for that matter. Yet she asked anyway, as was her quirky custom. Later, she would wonder privately if she had expected an answer from the young man, or if she were begging to Another, a Being that many never even knew existed, yet seemed to have his hand in just about everything that surrounded her life; and, she would find out, this young man’s as well.

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