Lila here! I just want to thank everyone to put in their opinion on the cover! I bet you've noticed the cover has already been changed, (I mean, it's been months since it was changed but yeah) but I wanted to show what the other would've looked like if chosen. This was probably the hardest cover I've ever made, and it was even harder to choose since both covers spoke to me differently.
The one that is now the cover I liked as it showed the Elric brothers mostly while Scarlett was slyly in the middle as she truly helped a lot. Yet this cover above I liked because we could see how both brothers were connected to her and it showed more of her because she is the main OC after all.

Anyway, here's another chapter! Please don't kill me....😭
~ Saturnthehero

Scarlett's P.O.V.

"You'll never win, I hope to remind you." I grumbled, still squirming to get out of my captor's arms.

"I think we already have." He smirked back. "Greed will become immortal, and you'll be the alchemist to do it. That's a great honor."

....Take caution; the real battle begins now...

I snapped my head up and looked around the sewer tunnel for the face to the voice, but as I suspected, no one was there.

...Do not worry.....I shall always be with you......

I've heard this voice before, but WHERE? This hasn't happened before so,....

Now, .....use this chance to escape your captor's grasp.....

I noticed the guy's attention was on something in front of us- a person.
Feeling sweat drip down my eyebrow, I took the chance, just as my concise said, and bended my leg and kicked the guY RIGHT WHERE IT COUNTS!

He let out a grunt, but that's not what got him to let go of me, it was the person he was looking at, because that S.O.B 'King' Bradley.

"What the-?!"

"Bradley?!" Al had the same question as I did!

"Ah Alphonse Elric, Black Shadow Alchemist." Dressed in black, the elder man smiled at the two of us. NO FUCK OFF BRADLEY. I WANNA SAVE MYSELF!

"I'll hold off these fiends while you look for FullMetal." Bradley ordered us once he set us free from the burly Chimera's grasp.

"I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE BRADLEY! I'm taking down Greed by myself!" I challenged, but before I could walk the walk against the Fürer's glare, Al picked me up and started racing out of the underground.

"Al?!? W. T. F. ????" I cried in anger, and as I went to say another sentence that was not ladylike when I heard the voice in my head.

It is for the best child.....live, and fight for another day.....

I peered behind Alphonse to see if the voice was coming from behind us, yet just like before, no one was there.

FUCKIN GHOSTS AND SHIT, LEAVE ME ALONE.

Ed's P.O.V.

"We have to go after Al and Scar!" I had my foot on the edge of the broken wall, the same one that took the two most important people away, and the same hold to which Greed fled through. I was about to jump into the sewers, but Teacher stopped me.

"Those two can handle themselves." She assured, but that didn't stop me from keeping my head just ousted the hole; waiting for some sort of sign.

"AL FOR THE LOVE OF ALL ALCHEMY- JUST PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!! IM NOT A CHILD!"

"Your legs are too short though, so you'll fall behind." I heard Al respond from somewhere in the caves.

"BOI DON'T TEMPT ME."

"Yeah. They're fine." My heart slowed its pace, and I felt a smile grow on my lips once they came into sight out of the dark.

Thank God, they're safe.

"Brother!" Al called out, and I hopped down into the sewer and ran to the two. He put down grumbling Scarlett, and I laughed myself into a hug with the two of them.

"Whoa, Ed! What's with the hug?" Scarlett chuckled, then I realized what I was doing and I let go of her.

"Nothing." I said dismissively.

~*~

The train wasn't supposed to come for another hour, but since the whole fiasco with Greed, Teacher didn't want us around in her home.....

...And she's very persuasive...

"When you're in Dublith again, come visit."

"I don't think Teach would want us around...." Al sadly said, but then Sig curt him off.

"You idiots. She seems like she's angry, but she really cares about you two. She is just scared for you." That's when I had an epiphany.

"Shit. Al! Scarlett! We're not leaving just yet!" I dropped my bag and raced off to Teacher's house with Al on my heels.

Scarlett's P.O.V.

"Wow." I whistled as I watched the two boys run off back to Izumi's "I don't think I've ever seen Ed run that fast. Except for hearing the word 'food'." I heard Sig let out a laugh next to me.

"Indeed!" He agreed, then there was a comfortable silence between us as we waited for the Elric brothers to return. "I must admit, I didn't expect those two to return to Izumi and I with a girl in tow."

"Nobody seems to expect it, yet here I am." I flashed a smile up to the man. Who returned the gesture and placed a hand on my unruly hair.
I really need to brush it. After facing off against Greed, it got really tangled.

"Izumi tells me how different Edward has been. Before he came here just a couple days ago, he wanted nothing more than to learn, learn, learn. Now, I don't know..." Sig trailed off as he gazed the way both brothers raced down.

"Those two still want to learn everything this world has to offer, but, there's something else. They're not in such a hurry. They're taking their time."

"Huh, didn't know I had that effect on people." I shrugged. "Honestly, those two changed all on their own. I may be by their side, but it's up to them to get their bodies back to normal- that's not a journey I can make."

"Maybe not, but don't think for a minute you don't point them in the right direction." Sig advised me, yet when I looked up to him with a look of confusion, he elaborated, "they may have to take this journey alone, but they'd be lost on that path without someone like you. You changed them. I can tell, and you can't fool this old geezer.

"Your path is your own, so naturally, those two chose this path, though they knew it wouldn't be easy- perhaps even impossible. How many times would they have given up if someone wasn't there to lend a hand, share a smile, and point the way down the right path when a fork in the road appeared?"

I was a but dumbfounded by Sig and stared; eyes filled with awe.

"I guess you're right." I admitted.

~*~

"Pick up the pace Ed." I groaned as the boy was taking his sweet goDAMN TIME WALKING AROUND.

"W-What are you taking about?" He laughed nervously. "I'm going as fast as I can to Winry so she can fix my arm..."

".....thaaaaat you dun broke." I giggled as his face went pale. "Oh don't give me that look! She's not that bad!"

"You haven't seen her when you've broken her automail..." Edward whined as the drama llama he was.

"Come or I'll start dragging you." I chuckled, and began to laugh harder when he stopped I his tracks- making me grab him by his coat hood and drag him through Rush Valley as he protested.

"DING DONG ED BROKE YA AUTOMAIL." I greeted Winry and threw Ed in to see Winry seething with anger. Shutting the door tightly, I could hear her anger.

"YOU HAD ONE JOB EDWARD!!"

~*~

"I can't believe you threw me to the wolves..." Ed whined as we sat at a table at a restaurant near where Winry works. We had to wait a day or so while she rushed to find specific parts to fix Ed's arm. Right now it was held together with duct tape, screws, and angry tears- which made me laugh the entire time Ed screamed. It was just me and him, since Al said he wanted to look around a bit.

"Technically, the minute you broke your arm, you knew you where done for." I chuckled as we continued to bicker back and forth. "Anyway, did you learn anything from Izumi?" He froze for a minute, and cautiously looked around the restaurant.

Then he switched to a seat next to me; cupping a hand around my ears he spoke softly.

"Let's not talk here; but yes. We learned something I think you should know." His breath tickled my ear, and made it itch horribly, but I nodded. Paying for our food, I took Ed's automail hand within my own and dragged him to the hotel room that we got for the night.

"It's getting pretty dark." I anxiously glanced out the window.
Ed seemed bothered too; shifting in place and setting his eyes to the door in wait for it to open.

"I'm gonna go look for Al." He finally said after twenty minutes, and started towards the door. Putting on his red jacket in the process. And just like that, he disappeared through the open door.

"Oh, and don't go anywhere." His head popped back in with a playful grin on his lips. "I don't need you getting lost too."

"Oh shut up and go look for your suit of armor." I rolled my eyes. Then he was gone once again.

My eyelids drooped and my head lolled as I tried to stay awake. STAY. AWAKE. DAMN IT. just as the thought came to mind, my body fell sideways onto the bed and I lost conscience...

...It is them.....They come to your dreams with illusions...

They come to bring shape to your mind....

"Who are you?!" I whirled around in the darkness trying to find a face to the voice.

You already know me, sweetheart...

A chill shot up my spine as the voice whispered in my ear. They must be behind me!
Yet when I turned around, the surrounding color changed drastically to white and blinded my eyes. Covering them for a second, they adjusted to where I could see.

No one was behind me, sadly, but there was a door.

Was this the Truth? Was this my door?

"......no." I concluded."This isn't my door."

....How perceptive......

Startled, I turned back around again, and there it was. It called to me. My door of Truth.
I turned back to see the other door, and it was still there, but I noticed the eroding parts along the side.

"Whose is that?"

The question burned within me.

And it frightened me as well.

Edward's P.O.V

Geez Al. Once I left the hotel room where we were all staying, (because I'm low on money and the rooms are more expensive than they look) I found Alphonse playing with a couple kids at the playground.

"Where's Scarlett?" He asked when we were headed back.

"I left her back in the room. She looked a bit too tired to be walking anywhere else." I explained, and he replied with an 'oh.'
The trek back was silent, but it was a soft silence that I think both of us could understand.

"Scarlet! We're back!" I called out as we entered the room, but there was no reply. I looked around the kitchen/living room portion of the hotel room, and saw no red hair. Only grey love seats and brown wood coffee tables. Granite countertops and silver kitchen sinks, yet nothing red.

"Scar?" I called again, this time entering the bedroom, and my heart calmed. She lay on her side whilst sleeping. Her face was calm, and neutral. I quieted Al as he entered the room too.

"Brother," Alphonse asked once I scooted Scarlett further onto the bed; creating enough space to comfortably lay down too. "I like Scarlett. She's the best friend we could have." He seemed giddy. Wow- did I just use that word? Ew.

"Yeah, well, she has been on some crazy trip with us." I smirked and turned my head to look at Scarlett's sleeping face. Her hair slid in front of her face; obscuring my vision. "I just can't believe she hasn't left yet. Ya know? Said 'I can't take this shit!! You both are on your own!' And storm out the door."

"She's a whole different brand of alchemist, brother." I learn Al making his way closer to the bedside.
"And I think you fancy her."

"WHAT." I whisper-yelled back.

Maybe it was the room temperature, or the fact that I could literally feel Scarlett's breath on my arm.

Maybe it was a fever beginning to take hold of me, maybe it was from embarrassment of my brother calling me out,

But I blushed a deep red, and though I didn't snap an angry remark back, I didn't deny the comment either.

Heyoo. It's me.
So I wanted to announce before ending the chapter that FMAContests HAS THEIR VOTING OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. So if you really like this series, and want me to post another chapter soon, go vote for both Hiding in the Shadows and Living in the Light now!

...please? (T-T)

~Saturnthehero