Chapter 1

It was very dark in Resembool, but that was expected because of the storm. Thick purple and grey clouds masked the sky, blocking the sun completely and casting a gloomy shadow upon everything. Cold rain fell in sheets that were being blown sideways by the equally cold wind, soaking anything and anyone who was outdoors, but everyone was cooped up inside, waiting for the storm to pass. Only one person was outside amidst the chilly rain and slicing wind, but she didn't care about that. She had to get away, very far away, because if they caught her, she would be locked up or worse. Warm red blood trickled down her forehead, mixing with the rain and getting in her eyes. She pushed her wet hair out of her eyes only to have it slither back into her line of view and stick to her pale skin. No one was outside, so nobody watched her slip in a mud puddle and strike her head very hard against the stone wall. She slipped into unconsciousness, the wind howling in her ears while more blood washed down her face and mixed with the rain and mud.

Winry Rockbell hurried outside, nimbly avoiding the large mud puddles scattered across the yard. She had ordered some equipment for automail, but hadn't been able to pick it up when it arrived yesterday because of the storm. She squinted her eyes as the sun glared down happily from the blue sky and turned towards the station. Her dog Den barked cheerfully at a bird passing by overhead and ran ahead. Soon, her barks turned into a warning. Winry sped up her pace and met the canine near the stone wall. She was barking at something lying in the mud. Winry approached slowly, unsure of what the 'thing' was. The mud was stained in the weirdest way, like someone had spilled blood on it and then mixed it up. The blond mechanic now saw that it was a person; a girl who was badly injured and covered in mud and dried blood. Forgetting about her new equipment waiting at the station, she picked up the girl and began carrying her home. She didn't weigh all that much, but Winry was strong after working on machines for so long so it didn't bother her.

"Back so soon Winry?" her grandmother, a small woman named Pinako asked.

"Well, I kinda got distracted…" Winry replied as she entered the house.

"Oh my. Where did she come from?" Pinako gasped when she saw the girl. She helped her granddaughter lay the girl out across the couch. Blood caked most of her face, but was really thick around her forehead. After sponging her face clean, the old woman saw a very large gash across most of her forehead.

"I found her by the side of the road. What should we do?" she asked.

"Well, first we should make sure that cut doesn't get infected and that no other parts of her are injured. We'll work out the rest later," Pinako ordered.

The girl was moved from the living room into a spare bedroom. Her clothes were tattered and stained with mud, blood dotting it here and there, but looked like they were some sort of hospital clothing. The girl didn't stir, even when the two women began stitching up her forehead. Just in case, they gave her a sedative. What caught Pinako's eye was the peculiar markings on the girl's hands, and a strange tattoo on her back. The wings of the tattoo were so lifelike that she thought she would pull away a feather if she touched them, but the markings on her hands were the most interesting: two identical transmutation circles, by the design of them, were carved into the backs of her hands.

"Winry, are Ed and Al still in Central?" she asked.

"Last I remember, yeah," Winry replied.

"Call them and tell them to come here as soon as they can. I think they'll want to see this," the old woman showed Winry the girl's hands. The blond nodded and ran to the phone.

Edward and Alphonse Elric walked into their apartment in Central City, dropping their groceries on the table. After the whole 'Shamballa' incident, they had managed to both close the permanent Gate and find a way back home. Edward had reapplied as a state alchemist and Alphonse was currently looking for a job, though he was also considering applying for a state alchemist's certification. Edward was still using automail, but Alphonse had his body back, so things were okay. The phone's ringing broke the easy silence. Alphonse, the one closest to it, answered.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Al? It's me," Winry's voice replied.

"Oh, hi Winry. What's up?" he asked, pleased to hear his old friend's voice.

"Look, uh… you and Ed need to come to Resembool. We have something here that we think you should see," she faltered a bit.

"Tell them that they need to come as soon as they can!" Pinako's voice called from somewhere in the background.

"I'm getting to that; calm down!" Winry barked. "So… yeah, I think you heard her. How soon do you think you can come?"

"Brother, how soon can we get to Resembool?" Alphonse asked, placing his hand over the mouthpiece.

"I dunno. I guess tomorrow we can leave…" he grimaced, looking at his automail. He had gotten in a fight the other day and it had gotten pretty banged up. He figured he should just go back for maintenance now and get it over with.

"We'll leave tomorrow," Alphonse replied, a wry grin on his face as he studied his brother's automail.

"Okay, see you when you get here. Oh, and tell Ed that if he messed up my automail again, he's going to pay. Bye!" Winry chirped then hung up.

"Might as well go select a cemetery plot…" Edward sighed, sitting down heavily in a chair. Alphonse laughed dryly.

Two days passed before the girl woke up. Den was keeping watch by the bedside when she stirred. She barked happily, announcing that the guest was awake. The girl panicked and scooted away, fear written plainly across her face.

"Den, what are you barking at?" Winry asked as she entered the room. Her face lit up when she saw the girl, then fell slightly when she saw how scared she was of Den's barking. "Shh, Den. That's enough!" she hushed the dog.

The girl relaxed a bit and looked at Winry. She then looked around the room, as if she didn't know where she was. She fingered the sheets of her bed and focused her attention on them. They were soft and a little warm. She brought it up to her cheek and rubbed the fabric against her skin. This thing was safe.

"How are you feeling?" Winry asked. The girl gave her a blank look. Winry cocked her head to the side and studied the girl, who mimicked the movement. The blond rightened her head and the girl did the same. "What's your name?"

Another blank look. Winry sighed. The girl copied that as well, and then smiled. She thought it was fun.

"Can you speak?" Winry asked. "Speak," she repeated, tapping her mouth.

"Spee-kk…" the girl repeated.

"Okay, let's try something else. I'm Winry," she pointed to herself. The girl pondered a bit before responding.

"Win… ree…" she repeated, trying the word out. "Winry!" she exclaimed, pointing to herself.

"No, no. I'm Winry," the blond corrected gently.

"Winry?" the girl pointed to her. She nodded and grinned.

"Good, you can speak, just not in sentences," Winry grinned. "I guess that means your memory has been erased… maybe that cut on her head… do you think she might've lost her memory when she got that cut?" she asked her grandmother, who had been standing by for the past few minutes.

"You said you found her by the wall. Maybe she slipped in the mud and hit her head on the stones. I guess we won't know until it returns," the old woman puffed on her pipe. "Bring her downstairs. Maybe we can get her to eat something."

Winry led the girl downstairs and into the kitchen. Den had fallen asleep near the foot of the stairs and the girl cringed in fear, hiding behind Winry.

"Are you scared of Den?" she asked. The girl whimpered. "It's okay; she won't hurt you," the blond bent down and ruffled the dog's ears, showing the girl that it was okay. She was hesitant at first, but eventually pet the dog, which remained perfectly still. "Can you say Den?"

"Den?" the girl repeated. The dog barked and she laughed. "Den!" she repeated as the animal licked her face.

"Can you say Pinako?" Winry asked. The girl paused, but still pet Den.

"Nako?" she tried.

"Pinako," Winry repeated.

"Pin-nako," she tried again. "Pinako?" she asked. Winry nodded and pointed to her grandmother.

"Pinako," she repeated, associating the word with the object, or rather person, to whom it belonged.

"Now that she knows our names, let's find one for her," the old woman grinned.

"I'm glad we left before that storm passed over Central," Alphonse sighed. Rainy weather always made him a bit gloomy, like most people. Besides, he much preferred the sunny landscape of his hometown.

"It's just a bunch of water; I don't see what the big deal is…" Edward grumbled. They trudged through the village, taking in the landscape. Nothing had changed, really, since they were last here. They picked their way to their friend's house, waving at the occasional neighbor who passed by. Soon, the yellow building they knew so well rose in the distance. As they walked closer to it, Edward clutched his right arm. Winry was going to kill him. But it wasn't his fault! The gang had jumped him. He was the victim and he had only acted in self-defense… well, he couldn't deny that he liked punching the lights out of each gang member. If only the leader hadn't had automail too…

"Can't say I feel sorry for you," Alphonse chuckled. "It's your fault for fighting them."

"Hey, they jumped me, not the other way around! Would you rather I fight back or crawl home battered, bloody, and probably semi-conscious?" he snapped. Happy barking alerted them and they looked up. Den was running around the front yard of Rockbell Automail while a figure, probably a girl because they could make out the skirt of a dress, chased after her. The dog turned, stopped, and then barreled for the brothers, barking for all she was worth.

"Hey Den!" Alphonse chirped. He half caught the dog and knelt down so she could lick his face.

"See you at my funeral…" Edward sighed, shuffling up the hill to the house. He noticed that the figure was gone, but shrugged it off. Perhaps she was a customer, or a relative or friend of one. "Hello? Winry? Aunt Pinako? We're here," he called, cautiously poking his head through the door.

"Hi, Ed!" Winry bounced into the room. "I'm so glad you two finally… what with that look?" she asked suspiciously.

"You're in trouble now, Brother," Alphonse snickered.

"You broke it, didn't you," she stated. Edward flinched. "You idiot! How can you keep doing this to me?! Do you know how hard I work on your automail?! I don't see how you can break it so easily!!" she threw any nearby object at the blond alchemist. He dodged everything save for a toolbox, which hit him square in the face.

"I'm sorry, but it really wasn't my fault this time!!" he screeched.

"Winry, who's that girl?" Alphonse interceded, pointing to further his question. Cowering behind the doorframe was a girl who was probably close to him in age (really, not physically, which meant she was probably around seventeen). She shrunk behind the wall hen she caught him looking at her.

"Oh, she's… the reason we called you up here," Winry sighed, smacking Edward on the side of his head before walking over to where the girl had been. "Its okay, Amaya. They won't hurt you," she coaxed the girl out into view.

Edward rubbed his head and sighed. The reason he came all the way up here was because of a girl? That… didn't make much sense.

"Amaya, this is Edward and Alphonse. Ed, Al, this is Amaya. I found her by the side of the road a few days ago. She was injured so we took care of her," Winry explained.

"Lemme get this straight… you found some random person by the side of the road and decided to take care of her?" Edward asked.

"She's lost her memory. In case you haven't noticed, she acts like a child though she looks to be around your age," Pinako said.

"Well, what do you want me to do? I can't restore her memory," Edward sighed.

"Sit down before I kill you," Winry ordered. Edward obliged and she began taking apart his ruined automail. Looks like he was going to be here for a while. He glanced over at Amaya, who was playing with Den. She had rather long black hair, almost as long as his, and pale skin. He tried to ignore the fact that her body was… well formed. She glanced up at him and studied him as Winry took apart his arm. Her silver eyes watched for a few moments before returning to Den.

"Actually, there's something you might want to look at," Pinako said. "Amaya, would you come over here please?" the girl nodded and walked over. "Take off your gloves," the old woman instructed. The girl shook her head and hid her hands behind her back.

"I know we told you not to take them off, but it's okay now. Ed and Al are going to try to help you get your memory back," Winry said gently. Amaya slowly brought out her hands and took off the black gloves. "Now show Ed your hands." She hesitantly held out her hands in front of Edward. He studied them closely.

"I'm not a palm reader," he drawled. Amaya turned her hands over.

"Circle," she said. He looked at her hands again. On the back of her hands were strange transmutation circles. He had never seen anything so… interesting: it was a standard circle, intricately inscribed with runes, but what caught his eye was the pair of wings protruding from a star. He had never seen a transmutation circle quite like that before, but what really bugged him was it was carved into her hands.

"It's a transmutation circle," Alphonse stated. Amaya hastily pulled her gloves back on and looked at the ground.

"I can see that. What's it for?" Edward asked. Both Winry and Pinako shrugged.

"We were hoping you could tell us, mister state alchemist," Winry replied. "Leg?" she demanded.

"M-my leg is fine! It was just my arm that got messed up!!" he floundered. Winry pursed her lips and pushed up his pant leg. That limb was fine after all. "Told ya," he grinned.

"Amaya, go play outside with Den, okay?" Pinako suggested. The girl nodded and ran outside, Den close on her heels.

"So where is she from?" Alphonse asked, sitting next to Edward.

"We don't know. She didn't have any identification or anything when I found her, and her memory's gone so she can't tell us," Winry sighed, draping the damaged prosthetic over her arm and walking away. Edward scratched the back of his head. "She wasn't even able to speak, though she has learned some words since waking up. Mostly names of people and a few objects. She can talk, but not in sentences."

"So her name's Amaya?" Edward asked.

"Well, that's what we call her, though I'm sure she has a real name," Pinako grinned. "She mostly just mimics what someone else does. That's how she learned what she knows now."

"Do you have even the slightest idea where she's from?" Edward grumbled. He didn't like this very much.

"Well, when Winry found her, she was wearing what looked like a hospital gown, so we're guessing she broke out and wandered off," the old woman answered.

"You're going off a 'guess'?" Edward asked sarcastically. "She could be a mass murderer for all you know!" something tugged his braid very hard and he yelped in pain.

"Mass murderer!" Amaya exclaimed. "She… could be… mass murderer!" she pointed at Edward and giggled.

"She thinks you're a girl," Alphonse snickered.

"You're a girl," she repeated. Alphonse laughed while Edward sighed. Life was going to get interesting again…

A/N: okay, this is formerly Catch Me As I Fall, but i've deleted that story and re-vamped it so it's better. i have an actual plotline to follow now and things will make more sense (hopefully) R&R pleeeeeze!!

until chapter 2...