Hey, it's the sequel! BUT, I will NOT be joining the trilogy craze, I assure you! I hate how all stories come in threes ever since Lord of the Rings was such a success. So there will be at least one more after this story is done. –sigh- Not to say I don't enjoy it, though! I love Robyn too much to stop writing about her! And Kris! And Harley!

Ed: Hey! What about us?!

Oh yeah, and Ed and Al, of course. But I could write any fanfics I want with them. Robyn is special! Right, Ed?

Ed: -blushes- Hmph.

Oh yeah, and I don't suggest reading this if you haven't read The New Neighbors (#1) or A Strange Arrival (#2). Of course, go ahead if you want to, but don't say this story's stupid because you're confused. Links are on my profile. I'll give summaries to anyone who's too lazy to actually read the stories and asks me nicely.

-sings- Not mine, not mine, Fullmetal Alchemist is not mine and never waaaaaas!

On wit' da show!

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A New Beginning

Chapter One – Old Friends

Al smiled as he looked at Robyn and Ed on the train seat across from him. They were both sleeping peacefully even through the clattering of the train. Robyn had her head resting on Ed's shoulder, and Ed's head was resting on the top of hers. For the first time in years, Al could actually fall asleep with them, but he didn't want to. He was too anxious.

Okay, so Robyn actually looked more like Thomas than herself, but Al knew that wasn't going to last once they got to Resembool. The homunculi had been destroyed and there was no reason for her to continue disguising herself as Thomas anymore. The only reason she was still dressed as Thomas was because they were all so exhausted, and she hadn't had the time to change her appearance.

The train suddenly ground to a stop, jerking both Ed and Robyn out of their sleep. Al quickly clambered to his feet and grabbed the suitcase, impatiently waiting for Ed and Robyn to follow.

"Jeez, Al, what's the rush?" Ed asked, casually picking up the other suitcase and heading towards the door of the train.

"I think he wants to see Harley," Robyn said with a smile, and Al blushed. He knew it was true, but he didn't know it was so obvious to anybody else. He hadn't seen Harley for about three months, and when he had seen her before, he didn't have a real body. He wanted to find out everything about her that he hadn't been able to before. What did it feel like to have a hug from her after weeks on the road? What did she smell like? What did she-?

Al shook his head quickly in an attempt to clear it. He was thinking too far into this. He just had to go and show Harley what he really looked like. He couldn't go thinking about her like that.

"Shouldn't we go see Winry first?" Ed suggested, and Al hung his head in shame. Winry had been their friend much longer than Kris or Harley, and he was completely forgetting about her. Winry was the one who had stood by their side ever since they were kids. She deserved to be the one to see them first.

"Yeah," Al agreed with a sigh, feeling frustrated at the fact that for once his brother was right and thinking more politely. "Let's go see Winry first. Then we can go see Kris and Harley."

"And Ben," Robyn said with a quick smile. "I bet he's has grown since the last time we stopped here."

"I bet he has," Ed agreed with a grin as they started walking up to the Rockbell house. He then reached over and grabbed Robyn's hand while Al walked slightly behind them.

"You did it!" a female voice screamed, right before Al felt himself fall to the ground with a pair of arms wrapped tightly around him. He could tell it was Winry from the smell of oil that had suddenly invaded his nostrils.

"Let me see your arm, Ed," Winry demanded, and Al felt the pressure loosen from his chest. He pushed himself back into a standing position just in time to see Ed peel off his right glove and wave the flesh fingers in front of Winry proudly. Winry screamed again and wrapped her arms tightly around Ed's neck. Al nearly laughed when he saw Robyn standing off to the side with a pout on her lips and her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

"And what about your leg?" Winry asked as soon as she had pulled away from Ed. At the mention of his leg, Ed blushed slightly and looked down at the ground. Winry immediately sensed something was wrong, and bent down and peeled up and peeled up his left pant leg before he could protest.

"The stone gave out before I could get my leg back," Ed explained as Winry looked at the automail in surprise. "But it's okay," he said hastily, hoping to stop any tears from spilling out of Winry's eyes. "At least this way you don't lose a customer."

"Yeah, I guess," Winry said slowly, pulling Ed's pant leg down again and standing up to look him in the eye. "And you're really okay with this?" she asked, and Ed nodded quickly.

"Well, why don't come in?" Winry said quickly. "I bet you're all tired, and- Oh, Al, I'll bake you a pie!" Al laughed and ran into the house with Winry. Robyn turned to go with them, but then looked over at Ed.

"Ed?" she said softly. "Ed, what's wrong?" she persisted, wrapping her arms around his waist. Instead of responding like he usually did by hugging her back, he pulled out of her grip and clenched his hands tightly. "Ed?" Robyn said softly, touching his shoulder concernedly.

"I'm so damn selfish," Ed muttered as he looked down at the ground. "The stone had enough left in it to get one more limb back to normal. That should have been your leg. I didn't even think about how it could have helped you until now."

"Oh, Sunshine," Robyn sighed with a slight smile before wrapping her arms around him again. This time Ed didn't pull away. "That's sweet, but I wouldn't have let you. I paid the toll with this leg so that I could see you again. I knew perfectly well what would happen to me, and I was okay with it if it meant I could be with you again."

"You two better hurry up in here and help us cook this pie!" Winry called from inside the house. "If you don't work, then you don't eat!" Ed sighed and wrapped his arms around Robyn's shoulders before pushing her slightly away from him.

"That doesn't mean I still don't wish you're back to normal," Ed muttered softly, gripping her shoulders.

"I know," Robyn replied softly. "And the same goes for me. Now let's go inside before those two make the whole pie without us." Ed nodded and the two walked side-by-side into the house

T-H-I-S--I-S--A--D-I-V-I-D-I-N-G--L-I-N-E

Al squirmed nervously in his seat, staring at the empty pie plate in front of him. He didn't want to look rude by leaving Winry after not even spending a whole day with her, but he wanted to go visit Harley. Winry smiled at him as she started stacking the plates.

"You want to go see Harley, don't you?" she smiled kindly as she grabbed the plate in front of Al. Al blushed and sank deeper into his seat, starting to wish that he hadn't told Winry so much about Harley. He nodded sheepishly, making Winry's grin widen.

"Well, go on," Winry laughed, motioning towards the door. "Just be back before midnight, okay? There's still a lot of celebrating to do." Al considered her for a moment, and then excitedly jumped to his feet.

"I have to go see Ben," Robyn whispered, slightly rising from her seat. Ed grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"Let them have a little bit of time alone first," he whispered back. Robyn sighed, but understood Ed's point and stayed put. She knew she would have plenty of time to see Ben later. Al glanced at them quickly before excitedly dashing out the door.

He set a brisk pace as he walked the familiar path to the new kissters house. The homunculi had destroyed the first kissters house when they were forced to run to Resembool. After that, Kris had just decided that it would be easier to move into a new house in Resembool rather than going through the hassle of having Harley hide inside Al to get back to their old town again. Of course, that had made things easier for Ed and Robyn when they both had to get their automail fixed.

Al nervously knocked on the door before starting to rub his sweaty palms together. He couldn't hear the thumping of feet, but he figured that was because Claudia would freak out if people stepped on cracks. The door suddenly swung inward, revealing Harley with her long pink hair flowing around her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, cocking her head to one side as she looked at Al. Al would have grinned at the fact that she didn't recognize him if he weren't so nervous.

"It's me," he said softly, looking Harley in the eyes while continuing to nervously rub his hands together. "I'm... I'm Al. I got my body back." Harley's eyes widened considerably before she quickly threw her arms around Al's neck. Al felt blood rush to his face before he suddenly realized how nice it felt and wrapped his arms around Harley. He would have spun her around in a circle if he didn't realize that would take her out of the house and make her freak out.

"Oh, Al, I can't believe it," Harley whispered as she pulled away from him, cupping his face in her hands. Al couldn't stop himself from grinning broadly as her thumbs rubbed gently against his cheeks. Her hands then ran up his cheeks until her fingers were entwined in his short tan hair, making goosebumps run down Al's spine.

Harley smiled warmly at him and finally pulled away from him, making Al suddenly feel cold from the loss of her body heat. Harley then reached down and grabbed his hand to pull him into the house.

"I really missed you, Harley," Al said softly as she pushed him on the couch and sat down next to him.

"I really missed you too, Unicorn," Harley said, and then paused. "Wait… I can't call you that anymore, can I?" she said softly, tapping one finger against Al's forehead. "You don't really have a horn anymore."

"You can call me that if you want," Al said softly, feeling himself blushing again. He just couldn't seem to stop himself when he was around Harley.

"No," Harley said firmly, shaking her head back and forth. "You're just Alphonse Elric now, like you should have always been. I won't call you Unicorn anymore." Al nodded silently.

"So are you going to stop travelling now, or something?" Harley continued. Al sighed and rested his head on the back of the couch.

"I don't know if Brother can stop travelling," he muttered. "But… with Robyn around, he might just stop and start to take it easy now. I know that I would like to just get a nice home somewhere around here and relax."

"That's it?" Harley said, cocking her head to one side. "Just relax? That's all you want to do with the rest of your life?"

"Well, no," Al admitted sheepishly, feeling his blushing problem attack him with full force. "I would like to get married and raise a family someday. But that's probably years into the future. I mean, I am only seventeen. There's plenty of time for that later, right?" Harley smiled and nodded in agreement.

"So tell me everything that happened since I last saw you," Harley pleaded. Al smiled and launched into his story.

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Okay, I'll admit it, it's a little short. Sorry! But that's mostly so that I can save the fun part for the next chapter. –evil smirk- Harley and Al are just too cute, though! I want to focus more on them than Ed and Robyn in this story, though of course there will still be plenty of bits with Robyn and Ed in here. You'll just have to wait and see… ;)