"So, you're gonna help me find Kurt?" Race asked as she followed the two new strangers.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," the shorter one said reassuringly.

"Mmmmkay!" Race chirped.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to introduce ourselves." The shorter one whirled around, a smirk on his face and a prideful thumb at himself. "I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and this here is my brother, Alphonse Elric."

"I'm Race. Nice to meet you," she added with a strange tone of dignity in her voice.

"...Race?" Alphonse repeated.

"Yeah. The lady teaching me named me."

"How long ago?"

"Uh, a few days ago, I think."

"Why just a few days ago?"

"'Cos I was on my own."

"Can you stop being so vague?" Edward growled.

"Brother-"

"Wait... what does vague mean?"

Edward groaned, turning back around. "Come on Al, let's just take her to Teacher."

"No, I wanna find Kurt!" Race insisted.

"How do you know 'Kurt' wants to see you?" Edward snapped.

"Because he said so." Race crossed her arms, peering down at the shorter boy.

"Oh really?" Edward crossed his arms and met Race's gaze.

"Yeah. In his own way, but he still said it."

Edward sighed and moved on. "How old are y- ugh, I'm not even gonna bother."

"I'm fifteen," Race said.

Edward's eyes widened, surprised that the girl actually said something right.

"And what about you?"

"I'm fifteen, and Al is fourteen."

"You? Fifteen?" Race began snickering.

"ARE YOU CALLING ME SHORT?!" Ed roared.

"No. I never called you short, only Edward. Your name isn't 'Short,' is it?"

"WHY WOULD ANYONE'S NAME BE SHORT? DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU'RE SO SMART? YOU CAN'T FOOL ME!"

"I don't think I'm 'so smart.' I just think I'm average. And I wasn't trying to fool you..."

"YOU- WH- ugh. I'm done," Ed sighed.

"Oh, I get it! You think you're the smart one since you've had a name longer than me!"

"What the- Wait! That's not it at-"

"Did you live your entire life in the woods? Surviving entirely on your own?"

"N-not really... Not for my entire life at least."

"Hmph! That's what I thought." Race continued walking, with both brothers having to half-run to keep up.

---

"This isn't Kurt." Race crossed her arms, glaring at the woman standing in front of her.

"No, but she can help fi-" Ed began, but got cut off as the woman kicked him across the room.

"Don't drag me into your own messes!" she yelled. She then turned to Race, a sweet smile on her face. "Don't mind them. Did you need help finding someone?"

Race, needless to say (but I'm saying it anyways), was beyond confused, seeing how the woman had just declined Edward's offer - rather violently, as well. Yet here she was, asking the very thing Ed had, even though she had said she wouldn't.

"Uh, yeah." Race blinked.

"Well, what's his name?" the woman asked, her voice sweet and comforting.

"Kurt."

"Just Kurt?" Race nodded.

"Hm. That sure helps," the woman added, mostly to herself. "Oh! On the topic of names, I'm Izumi." Izumi stuck her hand out. "Sorry, I guess I forgot to introduce myself earlier. And you are...?"

Race shrugged. "It's okay," she answered, without taking Izumi's hand. Izumi pulled it back after realizing that the girl was not going to take it.

"Alright. We'll look for Kurt, but first I need to talk to these two." Izumi's voice sounded nice, but her expression said quite the opposite as she glared daggers at the brothers.

"Okay." Race left, telling Izumi that she was going on a walk. As soon as she stepped outside Race's body went tense, and as if a silent cue had shot through the air, a man stepped out of a shadowed alley. He had black hair, cat-like violet eyes, and pale skin. He sent shivers down Race's spine, like she had seen him before somewhere.

"So. You've finally found your way back to society, Grace," he sneered smoothly.

"Wh-who? What?" Race stammered.

"Race!" Race looked towards the voice and saw James running towards her.

"James?" Race glanced back towards where the strange man was, but found that he was gone. She turned back to James.

"I've been looking for you everywhere! There's something I need to clarify," James panted. "Are you sure his name is Kurt?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Do you have his last name?"

"Jasan. Wait, why are you asking me-"

"Kurt Jasan?" James stepped back a little. "He's your..."

"My friend? Yes." Race tilted her head. "Why?"

"..." James didn't say anything. "It doesn't matter. Just... don't go looking for him. He can't be trusted."

"Why not?" James didn't answer.

Race sighed. "Fine. Don't tell me. If you don't, then I'll go look for him. I'm going back insi-" Race turned towards the shop where she had met Izumi before James grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't!"

"Wh-what?"

"Don't... don't go after him." He sighed, putting his hand to his face. "I'll tell you.

"Back when I was in high school-" (A/N: OHGOD) "we were in the same class. Our school was... different, I guess you could say. Every class had 24 students, and every student had a partner that was selected by random that they had throughout the entire year. Kurt, as you can imagine, was my partner. Usually, thy had boy-girl pairs, but that year the boys outnumbered the girls by one, so Kurt and I were stuck together." Race imagined Kurt and James being literally stuck together and started laughing.

"N-not in that way! I mean, we were stuck with eachother," James corrected her quickly. "Anyways, we grew to be close friends. Towards the middle of the year, some of my old friends moved to my school and I started hanging out with them. I introduced them to Kurt and my old friends - Aiden and Thad - and I thought they were getting along fine. Then I see... well, Kurt started acting weird after that. I kept asking what was wrong and such, but he wouldn't say anything. Three weeks after Kurt met my friends, almost exactly, they were murdered."

"They were what?" Race asked genuinely.

James sighed. "Killed."

Race's mouth made an "O" shape and she looked down slightly.

"On the day that they were killed, Kurt was late to school. Do you know what he said?" James' voice hardened. Race shook her head.

"He said, 'Thanks for introducing me. I haven't played that in a while.'"

A heavy silence fell over the two. The sun was beginning to dip under the horizon, and a golden light filled the space. Clouds that just so happened to be drifting over the sun were lit up fantastically, with golds, purples, and blues. This scene lasted only for a moment before the sky turned purple.

"S-sorry for keeping you out this late. I'll go." James turned and left after breaking the uncomfortable silence. Race turned back towards the meat shop, lost in her thoughts.

Kurt wouldn't do that. He couldn't. But there was nothing against it.

Had Kurt killed Aiden and Thad?

----

A/N: YES IM STILL ALIVE

Sorry! And Rin_chan32 better stop fUCKIG MESSAGING ME

IM TRYNA WRITE A BOOK HERE

But yeah, anyways! I am so sorry for the wait. I'm going to try to update more, but seeing as right now I only have access to my phone right now, I don't think I'm going to get much done. I've also been a bit busy with schoolwork (already after only two days!) and I kinda have a bit of writer's block. PLEASE FORGIVE ME

I'll be back with a better chapter hopefully!
Bye!
-Rainflight