Swish.

Race's feet trailed through the water.

Tomorrow.

She tilted her head up, gazing at the stars as they were swallowed by storm clouds.

Tomorrow I'm leaving.

I won't return.

Never never.

---

She had snuck onto the train.

It wasn't very crowded, so at least it was quiet enough for Race to think. Besides the clattering of the train, the rain pelting against the windows and the roof, and the occasional thunder. But that was only three different noises. Usually there were six, or on a good night seven or eight. But this time it was only three. Did normal people live with only three noises?

Someone was sitting in the aisle across from her. He had brownish blonde hair and strangely vibrant blue eyes. Race flipped her black hair out of the way and called out to him. "Where you goin?" she asked.

"Dublith," the man answered, pushing up his glasses.

"Oo," Race sighed. The name interested her, so she decided to stop there.

"What do they call you?" she asked, scooting closer to the aisle seat.

"Hm? Oh, uh..." The man seemed taken aback by her question. Wasn't it polite to ask what you were called?

"I'm Kurt," he answered. "Kurt Jasan. You?" Race tiled her head.

"Me?" Race questioned. "What about me?"

Kurt sighed. "I mean, what's your name?"

Name, she thought. She could just ask for their name. "Race."

"Race?" Kurt began shaking, a hand pressed to his mouth, like he was about to laugh.

"Huh? What's wrong with that?" Race snapped.

"N-nothing. Where are you going?" Kyle asked, ignoring Race's tone - and still chuckling.

"Duuublith," Race cheered, swinging her legs, which were now in the aisle.

"What are you there for?"

"Eh, I think a difference in perspective."

"You mean, a change in perspective?"

"Yeah, like... I wanna see somethin' different."

"Oooh, so like a change in scenery."

"Yeah! Just like that." Race glanced around.

There was a moment of silence. Then, "Where are you from?"

"Dunno," Race answered. Her legs stopped swinging, and she crossed them. "Just came here. I think she said something like... what was it? Resembool? Anyways, where are you from?" 

Kurt froze, like he didn't know how to answer. He answered nervously, "C-Central City." He pushed up his glasses, even though they were already in a seemingly fine place.

Suddenly the train called for Dublith, and it began slowing down significantly.

"This is our stop, I guess." Kurt stood up once the train came to a stop and got off, Race following closely behind. He seemed to have moved on from when Race asked where he was from.

"Wow! This is all so new!" Race raced around, adoring everything she saw. Kurt chuckled.

"Like it here? I personally think it's a bit to automail-crazed, but whatever. I don't come here often."

"Auto... mail?" Race sounded out the strange word.

Kurt suddenly began panicking. Race, having not been around people before now, thought something was seriously wrong.

"What's wrong? Do I need to help?" Race hurried, not wanting to already lose her first friend.

"I had no idea the train came in this late! My meeting is about to start!" And he rushed off, leaving Race alone in the town of Dublith.

At first Race was scared to move. What if he came back? What if she moved and when Kurt came back he couldn't find her?

"Agh! Fine, I'll go," she muttered to herself, earning a few odd looks.

Walking around Dublith, she saw a whole bunch of strange things, like something one of the locals called a clock, but Race called it a huge ticking white thing. Or something along the lines of that.

It was reaching midday, and was getting a bit hot and humid out. That's when she saw the two strangest people she had ever seen. One was tall, and was wearing silver - armour, Race thought - and the other was wearing a red cloak, gloves, and long pants. Wouldn't he be hot, thought? Race thought puzzeldly. There was a girl with them, who had her long blonde hair in the exact same hairstyle as Race's. She had lots of metal things on her ears, and Race wondered if they served the same purpose as automail.

"Uuuugh... Kurt, where ARE you..." she muttered.

"Looking for someone?" said a voice suddenly. Race looked up at the man. He looked to be about 23, and he had the reddest hair Race had ever seen - yet, at least - and kind, dusty green eyes.

"Uh, yeah." Race nodded. "Have you seen him? He's about this tall and has these bright blue eyes that-" Race broke off, not knowing what word to use.

"Did he say anything?" the man asked.

"N-no," Race thought for a moment. "Oh! He said he had a meet or something..."

The man laughed kindly. "Well, he probably had a job."

"A what?"

The man tilted his head slightly, a puzzled expression on his face. "You know, where someone goes to earn money so they can get food?"

"What's money?"

"It's something you can get things with, like food. Didn't your parents have jobs?"

"I dunno. I never saw 'em. I was always alone, so I never had money to get food. I always ot it myself."

"You mean..." The man finally seemed to understand. "You stole it?!"

"Uh, steal... steel?" Race muttered before remembering what the lady had said the word meant. "N-no! I mean... I hunted. I hunted it myself."

"Oh."

"So... What do they call y- I mean, what is your name?"

"I'm James. James Crowe." James stuck out his hand before pulling it back awkwardly. "Sorry, I forgot you didn't know what that was!" he laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Eh, it's okay. I'm Race."

"Race? That's it?"

"That's it," Race echoed.

"Wait, did you say that you hunted? Like, killed the animals yourself?"

"Yeah..."

"What'd you hunt with?"

"Uh, sticks and stones and traps and stuff."

"Did you put them together yourself?"

"Yeah! Wanna see one?" Before James could protest, Race whipped out a long, brown stick. It had small little curlicues carved into the handle, and the sharp end was seemingly coated in stone and sharpened to a deadly point. A little star was engraved on either side of the head, and that was surrounded by flawless curving lines.

"How'd you..." James asked. People were beginning to crowd around the two, wanting a glimpse at the beautiful weapon. It couldn't have been more than a couple of feet long, since she had hidden it in her bag. Then again, her bag was fairly long.

"How'd I make it? Well, I made it the same way I made all my weapons. I sorta uncovered this on accident, but it was so easy I kept on using it." Race demonstrated by clapping her hands together and placing them on the ground. Blue lightning flashed around where she had placed her hands down, and a thin stone stick rose up out of the ground, details swiftly curving down the object and flourishing on the head. Race grabbed it and stood back up, since the stick was only a foot long or so.

"What was that?" asked a new voice.

"What was what?" Race turned around, meeting the stranger face-to-face. "Can't everybody do that?"

The stranger, who was the guy in the long cloak from earlier, shook his head. "I know only one other person who can do that."

"Really?" Race tilted her head. "Huh."

"Do you remember anything? Like, about how you are able to transmute without a circle?"

"Huuuuh?" What the hell did "transmute" mean? "Without a circle?" What was he talking abou?!

"Brother, I don't think she knows what you're-" said the armoured guy with a strangely high-pitched voice.

"Of course she does! She can transmute with her bare hands, she should obviously know."

"Uh... all I know is that if I put my hands together and place them on something, it turns into what I want."

"You don't even know what it is?"

"She, uh, grew up alone, in a sense." James added helpfully.

Race watched silently as the two strangers started whispering - most likely about her. She had only come to the city for a... what had Kurt called it? Oh yeah, a change in perspective. She never asked for this.

---

[ YO GUYS! So glad to finally get this up. This has been in my drafts for a long time, and I found it like two days ago. So I'm finally putting it up! YAY

ENJOY ]

[ EDIT: Okay, I made a few changes. I know exactly where I want this story to go now, but I didn't when I started writing this, back when I, uh... actually DID start writing this. So I modified the story so it would fit better. THATSALLBYE ]

[ OHANDTOMCOFORDAYS ]