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“Nii-san, what do you think about Sensei’s plans?” asked Al as the two brothers walked into their room for the night.

“We can’t really go against her, Al,” answered Ed. “She’s right in thinking that we need to tune up a few things. We’ve relied on alchemy too much in the past four years and we committed our sins and we’re paying for them.”

“What will Winry say if she finds out?”

“I’ll ask Sensei if I can send a letter to her tomorrow.” Edward stripped his shirt and climbed into his bed and pulled the blankets over his nicely toned chest. “Al—“

“Hai.”

Ed paused for a second. “Do you think we can trust Kuro?”

“Why not? Sensei trusts her, why shouldn’t we?”

“Well—it just wouldn’t be the first time Sensei hasn’t made a mistake. Look at what happened with Wrath.”

A light knock sounded from the door and opened. In the doorway stood Kuro. She looked very shy and blushed a deep scarlet when she saw Edward without his shirt. “Your arm—“ she said softly. “What happened to it? When I asked Sensei, she just said that you had done something terrible.”

Kuro stared at her meat and picked at it. Izumi placed her eating utensils down and looked at her new student seriously. “Something wrong, Kuro?”

“It’s nothing,” Kuro answered, shaking her head. “I’m just thinking that’s all.”

“About what?” Izumi asked, daring to go farther into Kuro’s history.

Kuro looked up at Izumi and looked at her with an innocent expression. “Why is Alphonse-san always in a suit of armor?”

“When Ed and Al were younger they did something that no matter what, cannot be forgiven,” answered Izumi vaguely.

“We attempted a human transmutation, that’s all,” answered Ed seriously. “We were young and didn’t know what would happen if we tried it.”

“Kuro, you tried it once too, didn’t you?” asked Al.

“I lost my little brother because of it,” said Kuro. She turned her head away and her body began to tremble.

Edward stood out of his bed and walked over to her. He slowly reached his hands out to her and quickly pulled her against his chest. His hands wrapped themselves around the young girl. He became glad to see that she was just barely shorter than himself. “Hey—we all make mistakes in our life. Just some are more severe than others. All you can do in life is to live like tomorrow you’re going to die and make the best of everything. A lesson you’ll definitely learn personally while living here with Sensei and she’ll be sure to carve it into your mind. Kuro—I’m sure you know this by now, but alchemy is not to be experimented on lightly.” His grip tightened as he remembered how he nearly lost Al and his own life.

“You don’t have to trust me,” said Kuro in no more than a whisper. “I’ve done things that I should be killed for.”

“Don’t say that!” cried Ed. “No one’s perfect. The world is imperfect. That’s why everything in it is so damn beautiful.” Ed covered Kuro with his body as he heard gunshots. “Al!” he yelled. Kuro silently whimpered in fear of losing her life. “Kuro, pull yourself together. Al, stay with her!”

Ed gave Kuro to Al and ran down the stairs two at a time. He stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened in horror and shock. There, in the middle of the floor lay Mason dead. The shadow never left the man’s face, no matter how long Edward stood there. He turned to see Izumi and Sig back to back, fighting the group of hooded intruders.

“Sensei!” cried Ed after what seemed like an eternity. Two men charged at him. Both held knives. Instinctively, he transmuted his auto mail into a blade.

“Ed, go up and defend Kuro and your brother!” ordered Izumi. She knocked one of them out with just simple, yet effective hand maneuvers.

“Al can handle everything,” said Ed confidentially. He sliced through both opposing blades and kicked both men in the face with his metal leg.

“Ed, Sig and I can handle this!” cried Izumi. “Your orders are to go back upstairs and get Kuro and your little brother out of here. Go!” She clapped her hands together and placed them on the floor. Vines wrapped themselves around the remaining men. “This won’t last long, so you’d better get out of here” For a second, her eyes became soft and just as quickly; they regained their usual coldness.

Ed clenched his teeth and ran back upstairs. He kicked the door to his room down. He found his room empty and his window open. Without a second’s hesitation, he jumped and landed in the yard. He ran down the street, looking for any sign of Al or Kuro. It didn’t take long for him to hear screaming of men and metal against skin. In the distance stood Al and Kuro fighting their way through the rest of the mob.

“Al!” cried Ed. “Get Kuro to the train station! Take her to Resembool!”

“What about you, Nii-san?”

“I’ll be fine handling these bastards,” answered Ed calmly. “Now, go!” He transmuted cages around the group of men.

Al took hold of Kuro’s hand and led her away. After getting to the train station, Kuro pulled her hand away. Her eyes filled with sadness and anger as Al looked into them. “Why are we leaving Sensei?” she asked. “She’s being attacked too!”

“Nii-san will go back and help her,” said Al. “The top priority for both Sensei and Nii-san is your safety.”

“I can handle those bastards too!” cried Kuro. She ran back. Al followed her. Kuro kicked the door to the meat shop down and transmuted the floor where the remaining men stood into tar.

“Kuro, go back to the train station!” yelled Izumi.

“I won’t leave!” cried Kuro. “I don’t know you . . .and yet you saved me from possibly a life of pain and suffering at the hands of these low life bastards . . .. So I won’t leave, even if they kill me.” She stood and looked around at the mess in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of Mason’s lifeless body. “Is he—“ she couldn’t finish her sentence. It hurt too much to see a nice person killed. She turned away and focused on the floor.

“Dead? Yes, it is unfortunate, but nonetheless, his life is over,” said Izumi sadly. “He was a good person and his memory shall live on with us.” Tears formed deep within her eyes.

“Izumi . . ..” Sig muttered deeply. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Alphonse, go and find your brother,” ordered Izumi calmly.

“Hai.” Al ran back into the streets and searched for Edward.

“Sensei—I’m sorry,” said Kuro through her tears.

“For what?” Izumi asked as she looked over at the teen.

“I—I brought this tragedy to you by staying here,” Kuro answered. “Mason-san died because I stayed here.”

Izumi walked over to her and slapped her across the face. Kuro looked at Izumi with defiant eyes. “Never say anything like that again,” she said roughly. “His death is not your fault, nor shall it ever be.” Kuro looked away. “Look at me!” Kuro snapped back to her former position. “When a life ends, there’s nothing you can do about it. The dead cannot come back as I’m sure you’re aware of now.”

“What about creatures who call themselves Homunculus?” asked Kuro, “I’ve seen plenty of them lately. Why do they come after me?”

“Kuro, do you know the real reason a Homunculus is created?” asked Izumi seriously.

“No clue,” answered Kuro. “I really don’t care how or why. I just want to know why they’re chasing me and if I can kill them I will.”