Chapter 13 - 13 Ash

Edward nodded his head at her words. "I promise, we won't die until we get our bodies back. But only if you promise not to run away from us again. We need you here Nova." He compromised with a smirk. Nova looked at him with wide eyes. The hell kind of compromise was that? She nodded after a moment. "Alright, I promise.. I won't run." Edward nodded his head, glad she wasn't fighting him on that. "Good. Cause if you do  Al and I will hunt you down and bring you back, kicking, screaming and biting." He teased with a grin. Nova smirked some and nudged him. "I know." She slowly began to pull away from him and stretched. "We should see if dinners been made, it feels about that time."

Edward grinned cheekily at her and poked her forehead. "Yeah, we probably should go see if it's time." He agreed and sat up, stretching his arms out before standing, holding his hand out to her. Nova giggled when he poked her forehead and went to scratch the top of her head. That's when she realized her beanie had been taken off, and she glanced at Edward. "Stealing beanie's?" She teased, easily finding it and putting it on, then taking his hand and getting up from the bed. "Only when you're sleeping." Edward teased back, putting his shoes back on. Helping her stand, the two left the room, greeting the others once more. Looking at Nova, he smiled a bit, she was looking better. Nova smirked and stretched again before following Edward back into the living room.

Al had begun to play with Elicia since Edward and Nova had gone to the bedroom, but that was a while ago. He figured his brother had laid down or was just sitting in the room with her. "It's funny.. Even now, she's like a puppy." He murmured to Maes quietly. "When we first found Nova, she was an orphan running from a man. When we tried to ask her, she got scared and ran away. She came back though, more often when we were outside with mom. We knew she wasn't entirely human, but we didn't care either. She had easily become part of our family, then one day she didn't come back.." He spoke quietly about their first encounter with Nova as young boys. Maes looked at Al, he was sitting on the couch with a book in his lap, lazily reading it as he enjoyed his day off with his family. Listening to Al, Maes frowned a bit. "How long did she stay with you guys?" he asked softly, not wanting to pry, but he was curious.

Al glanced at Maes, then lowered his head. "Two or three years I think, before our mom got sick. We started getting into our dad's alchemy books and Edward would read them to her." He said to him, not minding. "My brother was the first person she'd run to." Maes nodded his head in understanding  giving Al a gentle smile. "That explains the bond between them." He murmured softly. "You're lucky to find her when you did. It seemed you two and your mom gave life to her when she was most lost." Al wore an invisible smile and nodded some. "Whatever she hasn't told us, I'm sure she'll tell him." He murmured. "There's still so much we want to ask her.. But we don't want to bring up any bad memories." He said, at a loss. Maes nodded his head, lightly patting Al's shoulder. "She'll also tell you too, Al, I'm sure of it. I'm glad you get a chance to have time with her again. Al nodded, then went back to playing with Elicia for the time being.

Al glanced up when he heard Ed and Nova and smiled, she was definitely looking better. Edward waved to Al and sat next to him on the couch. He could hear the Hughes in the kitchen, where supper was being prepared from what he could smell. "Sorry for leaving you here all afternoon, Al." he apologized softly. Al shook his head at his brothers words. "It's okay, I played with Elicia and got to talk with the Lt. Colonel a bit." He said, content with how the afternoon turned out.  Nova smiled some as she sat down next to Edward. Maes heard the kids reunite and smiled at that. It was nice that they could relax here and not worry to much about the world, even if it was just for a moment. Nova glanced in the direction of the kitchen, before looking up at the ceiling, a lot was on her mind after the events of the last couple of days.

Her side was still sore as well. It was the first time she had used her alchemy like that, even if she had studied it. Edward looked at Nova curiously, wondering what she was thinking about. A rumble of thunder sounded as a rain storm approached. "Come on guys, dinners on." Maes called to them, helping his wife set the table for everyone. "Shall we?" Edward looked at Nova with a smile. Nova glanced at Maes when he called them for dinner, then nodded to Edward and got up from the couch to sit at the dining table to eat. Nova sat quietly as the others conversed, joining in more than she had that afternoon but not too frequent. Even Al was included once again as he sat on the couch. When it was time to lay down, Nova laid with Elicia and hummed to softly, unable to sleep as thunder rumbled and rain beat down on the building.

Edward passed out on his bed, sleeping deeply until the next morning. With a groggy sigh, Edward twitched awake as he mumbled something incomprehensible in his partially awake mind. Nova hadn't slept a wink with the overhead storm. She was either woke by the thunder or nightmares that followed. She had quietly and carefully left Elicia's room and went out onto the couch in the living room, picking up a book and read through most of the night, distracting her mind from her anxiety. Maes had left early to the office, though he rather stay at home and have breakfast with his wife and guests.

Al lifted his head when he heard his brother. "Brother..?" He asked quietly and curiously. Edward mumbled as he slowly blinked his eyes open. "Morning Al." he groaned, burying his head into the pillow. His stumps have been aching all night with the rain, and he wasn't feeling any better now. Al wore a concerned expression through his armor. "It's your stumps isn't it brother.. Are you going to be okay today?" He asked, worried. Nodding his head, Edward groaned as he slowly sat up, rubbing his joints. "Yeah... you know this always happens when it rains like this." He muttered with a sigh. "How are you doing?" Al slowly stood. "I'm alright." He murmured. "To be honest, I'm worried about you and Nova. I could hear her up all night, I don't think she's even been to sleep once." He admitted quietly. It was easy to hear someone when the rest of the house was quiet, even if they didn't make much noise.

Edward frowned, nodding his head as he slowly got dressed. "Looks like it was a rough night for everyone... sorry Al." he gave his brother an apologetic smile. Al shook his head and helped Edward how he could. "It's alright, I just wonder why she didn't come in here." He murmured. "I guess we're staying put today, unless the rain let's up." He teased lightly. "Take it easy, okay?" He voiced, concerned. Nova finally set the book down and got up from the couch to offer Gracia with breakfast. At this point, she wasn't even really tired anymore. Or that's what she told herself.

"Seems like it... come on, let's see if we can help out around here." Edward suggested as he got dressed. He wanted to go back to bed again, but he knew he couldn't just let his stumps affect him, he never let it happen in the past. Al nodded lightly and followed his brother out of the bedroom to do just that. Edward spent the morning in annoying pain, and he glared at the rain as he rubbed his shoulder. The morning went by slow, the trio really doing to their own things, while also playing with Elicia. He wanted to ask Nova how she was doing, but he didn't want to seem like he was crowding her at all. Nova had seen how Edward was acting, and it didn't take rocket science to figure out he was in pain. By that afternoon, and after they had eaten lunch, Nova gently took his human hand and led him to the couch before sitting down. "Take a break, no need to push yourself." She murmured, concerned, and silently praying for the rain to stop.

The next few days with by without much happening, and the teens were out walking around with no real destination in mind. They'd been gone for some time today, and Nova suggested heading back to the Hughes's house.

Edward nodded, giving her a smile. "Yeah, did you want to go out and get something to eat before we did?" he offered, wondering if she would up for that, unless she was just tired. Nova blinked, realizing she hadn't really eaten and nodded lightly. "That sounds good.." She murmured sheepishly, and let him lead her to a nearby restaurant where they could eat. Ed gave her a smile as they entered the restaurant and got themselves a table outside. He got something simple but filling and leaned back a little in his chair. "Are you feeling better after finding out how many people want to protect you?" he asked softly, understanding that what she found out might have been overwhelming.

Nova ordered the same thing as Edward ordered and lowered her eyes. "I dont know.." She murmured. "It also means they'll be in danger if they get caught.. I'm worried about their safety, even if they can handle themselves." She murmured softly as she waited for her meal. Ed gave her a smile and shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn't worry too much, Nova… from what we've learned about them, they can take care of themselves, and know what they're doing." He offered her softly. "Besides, isn't it better to have people like them on your side? Besides me, Al, Winry, and granny, now you have two guys with inside information, and a woman who genuinely cares for you. "I think you're lucky to have so many people who want to look out for you, Nova." Al told her softly with a smile.

Nova fiddled with her beanie a little as Edward spoke. "I know i should be grateful but three of them are still military.. It's hard for me.." She murmured softly, guilty that she was having such a hard time trusting Roy and Maes. She trusted Riza.

Edward shook his head a bit, understanding what she meant. "Let them prove it to you then. I can say for sure, that Hughes is a good guy, it's hard to see him as military most of the time, to be honest, and Mustang is just complicated." He admitted. "But we know they wouldn't betray the trust they've earned. They've looked out for us a lot and they keep our secret safe." Al told her softly. They weren't trying to convince her to trust them, but telling her that they could be trusted.

Nova understood what they were saying and smirked some.She glanced at the boys and nodded lightly. "I will definitely give them a chance."

A couple of more days days passed as everyone rested from the excitement they faced. There were sightings of Scar at during that time, but Roy hadn't seen him, and the library burnt down, leaving everything in ashes and rumors of Scar also disappeared along with important books. It was a mystery as to how the fire started or how it related to Scar, but everything seemed to be kept quiet.

Ed and Al were lazily walking about, not sure what they should be doing. They had no new leads on where to go to get their bodies back to normal. "I mean… how hard is it to find something out?" Ed complained to his brother with a sigh. "I don't know, brother, maybe we should go see the Colonel, maybe he's heard of something?" Al offered, knowing it was one of the last things Ed wanted to do. Begrudgingly, Ed had to agree, since it was no use trying to figure it out by complaining.

Nova had been sticking with the boys over the last couple of days. She was walking them as they talked about going to see Mustang and smirked some. "Or we could to the library and see if Dr. Marrow has left any notes on the stone." She murmured, feeling a little edgy that day for some reason. The brothers looked over at Nova, thinking about what she said. "Yeah, he said he worked for the state before, right?" Ed said, somewhat remembering what was said.

"I guess it doesn't hurt to check it out." He mused and nodded a tad. "Alright, let's go with that." He agreed, giving her a smile as their group made their way to the library. Nova smirked some and nodded, following the boys to the library since she really didn't know where it was. At least she was able to avoid going to see Mustang for the time being. When the trio got to the library, they were in for a shock as the building laid in ruins before them. There was still smoke sizzling from the building and there was ash and rubble everywhere they looked. "Awe man, what the hell happened?" Edward complained, pouting as he stared at the one chance they had to not meet with Mustang.

"It looks like a fire caught the entire library…" Al murmured softly. "Ha, maybe Mustang got dumped by one of the girls and decided to burn the place." Ed remarked snidely.

Nova stared at the ruins and stifled a frown. She could smell the smoke from the sizzling embers and brought her arm to cover her nose. There were other scents lingering though.. One familiar and two unfamiliar, but the smoke and ash were making it hard for her to recognize the faint scents. Nova ducked under the caution tape and slowly walked through the rubble. No one else was around except them. "Nova what are you doing?" Al and Ed shouted at her. Even they knew not to go into a scene like this when the possibility of someone coming back was a high possibility.

"Do you sense something?" Ed asked after watching her a bit, wondering what she was picking up. All he could smell was ash and fire.