•••

When Ed came to, he was lying on the ground.

He contemplated just staying there for all eternity. He was tired- he had just fought the homunculus known as Father, after all, and that had not been easy.

But, he decided to find something with a bit more shelter before he rested. He began to get up when he notice a very strange fact.

Well, not very strange, but it was a familiar sight that he had hoped he would never see again.

His right arm was automail; the model Winry had made for his time in Fort Briggs. It was in one piece, whole and as new as when she had built it.

Just to check, Ed clapped his hands together and touched them to the pavement.

It bulged a bit, then a miniature Al was formed from the cement, roughly four inches tall.

Wait! Edward bolted to his feet. Alphonse! If he had his automail back, then that meant that Al was back in Amestris!

But where was he?

Ed put the pavement back to normal and checked his surroundings. He was standing in an alleyway, surrounded by bags of trash, and huge bins for them. Through the entrance or exit, he could see bright lights flashing. It was really dark, but he could tell he was not in Central anymore.

Ed looked down at himself. His clothing was still destroyed from the battle with Father, and while it was almost oppressively hot, it made him slightly uncomfortable.

He could fix it, he just needed to find some fabric and then he'd be all set and-

He had no money.

"Curse you Truuuuuuth!!!" He howled. This was the epitome of not thinking ahead.

Not that he could complain. Oh, wait, yes, he could, and he would.

Ed wrapped his arms around himself and left the alleyway.

Strange machines that looked like cars but were definitely not. People who laughed in his direction once they saw his plight, wearing weird clothes and holding weird glowing rectangles in their hands.

Oh, and not to mention the hundreds of flying little cat balls.

This was not even remotely close to anything he had ever seen in Amestres before.

There was a burst of laughter from behind him. Ed whipped around, but it was just a bunch of high schoolers, all messing around together and laughing hilariously.

"Hurray for the last day of school before summer vacation!" One of them cheered.

Ed stared at them. Summer??!

It was not summer.

Nope nope nope.

They were supposed to be headed into fall. That was when Ed had left.

He really was in a different world. Ed sank to the ground and put his head on his hands.

One of the high schoolers, a girl, noticed him and quickly broke away from the group. She quietly handed him a small roll of bills and gave him a sweet smile.

Ed held the bill in shock. What was he supposed to do with this? Did she think he was a beggar or something?

The blonde hurried after her friends. They had crossed the road but were still in sight.

Ed watched as she rushed right into the path of a large thing. It let out a loud, blaring sound and she froze, lit up by the lights coming from it.

One of her companions yelled something. "Shiemi!!"

Despite being somewhere new and strange, Ed knew when someone was in danger. He clapped, the sound ringing, and slammed his hands into the ground. A huge wall of stone and concrete erupted under the vehicle, forcing its front half off the ground and up.

The girl fell to her knees, staring up at the electricity like energy flickering up the structure. Her group surrounded her again, reaching for her and asking her questions in loud, worried voices.

She looked down at the ground, her eyes tracing the slight disturbance that showed the passing of the transmutation energy.

Ed stood, holding the small roll of bills. As she locked eyes with him, he gave her a small nod, then turned and walked away.

•••

Shiemi shook her head again. "I've already told you everything."

The girl sat in a chair in a small interrogation room. The walls were gray and gloomy, and she couldn't tell if anyone was watching or listening on the other side of the one way glass.

It was a creepy thought.

Yukio sighed. He had asked for her account of what had happened, like the ten other exorcists had, but she had already told them exactly what she had seen.

Except the boy. The blond boy in the ragged clothing that stood alone. He wasn't Japanese, but he didn't look like a demon.

Yukio looked hard at her.

Shiemi shifted. She wasn't very good at telling lies, but if she didn't look the person she was talking to in the eyes, she could manage.

Sadly for her, Yukio knew this fact. He gave her a hard glance, then let it go.

"Rin and the others are waiting outside," he told her. "You're free to go. If you remember anything else, please tell me immediately. "

"Yes, sir," Shiemi stood from the chair she was seated in and gave a polite bow. "I'll see you tomorrow, sir."

She left the small interrogation room hurriedly. Those places made her very uncomfortable.

"Shiemi!" Someone in the hall outside called her name, and she looked up to see her other classmates.

"H-hi, guys," Shiemi twisted her fingers together as her friends surrounded her again. Rin, with his blue eyes, black hair, and eager expression, Bon and Konekomaru, Shima, Kamiki, and even Takara.

After they had made sure she was all right, the group split up. Rin alone remained, a bright look on his face as he waved to all the others as they left.

It was one of the things Shiemi liked about him.

"Anyway, that was weird," he said to her, later, as he walked her home.

Shiemi nodded, not really listening as she tried to keep up with his longer strides.

Rin slowed down to her walking pace, but when she looked up at him, he was watching the sky and not her at all. She felt her face flush slightly and let her gaze fall to the ground.

Then again, if she didn't tell someone..

"Do you remember seeing anyone?" Shiemi asked, softly.

Rin looked back at her abruptly, but didn't stop. "No, not really. I looked back, and you were in the road. Why were you so far behind anyway?"

"I stopped to help someone," Shiemi watched his face closely. She might not be the best liar, but everything Rin thought lay on his face in plain sight. "A boy with blond hair and golden eyes."

He shrugged. "You're a really nice person, Shiemi. I don't remember seeing anyone that fits your description, though."

"Oh," Shiemi faltered a bit. Was the boy even real, then?  Maybe it had been a test of some sort, sent by the gods. If she hadn't tried to help the boy, then the wall that stopped the semi might not have saved her.

But what ghost took money, though?

This was so confusing.

Shiemi hugged her arms around herself and sighed.

•••

Ed grinned in triumph.

This whole situation was sucky, yes, but he would overcome it!

He had used the money the girl had given him to buy red fabric, which he had then promptly turned into his familiar coat.

Despite the sweltering heat, now that he was no longer wearing half a shirt, people stopped pointing at him as he went by. He had enough left over to buy some food too, although it wasn't all that much.

After that, he had found his way to a nice, quiet forest, and had decided to camp out for the night.

Things were looking up.... until he considered the fact that he still had to get the most powerful object in that world, and if people were the same interdimensionally, that wouldn't happen without a fight.

Oh, well. Ed thought drowsily. It had been a long day full of confusion and fighting and he was tired. I'll worry about that later.

He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

Behind him, a huge shadow stirred, evil demonic intent oozing off of it.

It seemed to consider the human in front of it, but as it prepared itself to strike, a sharp whistle broke the night sky.

The achuuchi left the boy and flew away in the direction of the noise.

Trouble was brewing in the quiet woods, and Ed was about to get sucked into it headfirst.