As she peered warily around the corner of a shadowy alley, Raven had to wonder if she was making a mistake. She knew that the guards would eventually find her- they always did- and drag her back to that hellhole. She would put up a fight of course, but in the end, it would be all to no avail. Still, she had to try.

After making sure the coast was clear, she darted across the street and into another deserted alley. Raven knew she was kidding herself in what she was doing. She had already tried to run away twice this week and countless other times before, but the ending result was always the same. Cornered, knocked unconscious, and then it was back to the prison of a temple.

But today was different somehow. For some unfathomable reason, she had woken up this morning and resolved to try again. So here she was, racing across the small city of Lior, hoping that this time she wouldn't be caught.

"There she is!" a voice called from behind, pointing to her retreating figure.

"Well that was fast," Raven mumbled to herself, ducking down a side street and off the main road.

She could hear them behind her, slowly gaining on her tail. Raven sighed, wondering how long it would take them to realize that she knew the streets better than they did. Using it to her advantage, she sprinted into a part of the city she knew that they were unfamiliar with.

"Where'd she go?" she heard one distantly ask.

"This way," another responded, and their voices grew fainter as they went off in the wrong direction.

Raven smirked. It was almost too easy, but she couldn't drop her guard. She peered over her shoulder to double-check that they were gone, turned down a random alley, and crashed into something.

The force of the impact knocked her to the ground, and by the sound of the "oof!" that came from in front of her, she assumed that she had run into a person. She looked up at the stranger. He was a boy, perhaps her age, though it was hard to tell due to his lack of height, with his long blonde hair neatly braided and bangs that framed his face, and striking amber eyes. She could tell he had muscle by the way his red coat hugged his arms. What Raven found odd about they boy was that he was wearing gloves, a long-sleeve coat, and a black shirt and pants when they were in the middle of the desert. This guy was asking for a heat stroke.

He blinked once in confusion as he took in her fair skin and deep moss green eyes lined with eyeliner. Her black hair hung down to the middle of her back, with bangs that were silver on the left side, and black on the other. She wore a pair of dark grey skinny jeans, black boots, a long black shirt, and a short, long sleeve army green jacket. The sleeves were too long, and they covered up her hands entirely, ending just below her fingertips. Her clothes may not have been suitable for wearing in the desert, but she was used to the heat by now. The boy stared, and then remembered why he was sprawled out on the ground.

"Hey! What the hell? Watch where you're going-" he shouted, but was cut off as Raven clamped her hands- still covered up by her sleeves- over his mouth.

"Shut up or they'll hear you!" she hissed at him.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?" he asked, his voice muffled through the fabric of her jacket.

"She's over here!" someone yelled from behind.

Raven looked around to see half-dozen guards surround them, blocking her off. They had her cornered.

"Them," she answered darkly, then sighed. "Nice going, short stack."

A vein pulsed in the boy's forehead. "Who are you calling a short stack?" he shouted.

Raven uncovered his mouth, seeing that there was no point in trying to get him to be quiet anymore. Besides, she thought, I doubt that he could keep his mouth shut long enough, even if he tried.

"Come on," a guard said, sounding annoyed. "Cornello is waiting for you."

Her eyes narrowed into thin slits. "You can tell Cornello that he can drop dead for all I care!" she retorted, getting up.

"Cornello?" the boy said, also getting to his feet.

"Yeah, Cornello. You know? Tallish, kinda fat, bald, liar, conman..." Raven stated, her voice dragging.

"How dare you speak of our savior- your uncle!- that way!" the guards charged at her.

Raven's eyes glinted like daggers. "He. Is. Not. My. Family!" she hissed through her teeth. She traced a transmutation circle with her finger on the wall of the building that formed the alleyway. The wall elongated, and a shot a wide cement beam into the guards. It continued pushing and thrust them with bone-cracking force into the wall opposite the building. The breath whooshed out of their lungs and they cried out in pain, and then slumped to the ground, unconscious.

The blonde gasped quietly in awe and surprise, and then broke into a grin. "You're an alchemist, aren't you?"

Ignoring him, she walked over to the limp figure of the leader and examined her work. Then, she began rummaging through his pockets until she found what she was looking for.

"Uh, hello? Are you even listening to me?"

Raven pulled out a small, black, rectangular, remote control. There was a dial with numbers on it, and a large grey button. She took a few deep breaths, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do.

"Hey! Hello?" the boy walked over to her. "What was that all about? What do you have to do with the prophet Cornello?" He placed a hand on her shoulder the instant Raven wrapped her sleeve-covered hand around the remote and crushed it in the palm of her hand.

She squeezed her eyes shut in pain and winced as currents of electricity shot through her. She gave a small gasp, but managed to stay standing. The same could not be said for the boy however. By grabbing hold of her, he also felt the electrical shock through her. He cried out once, then let go of her and fell to the ground, his gloved hand smoking and singed around the edges.

When it was over, Raven peeled her eyes open and pushed past the screaming headache that always followed behind the shocks. She gazed curiously at the twitching boy on the ground, wondering if he was alright. She was just about to check if he still had a pulse when he leaped up, his expression annoyed.

"What was that for?" he demanded, dragging himself off the ground for the second time.

"It's not my fault you were an idiot and touched me when I crushed this," she retorted, and let the scraps of metal fall out of her fist. They landed on the hard-packed dirt with a dull thud.

"Maybe you should have told me what would happen!" he challenged.

"Maybe if you hadn't stuck around, none of this would have happened," she shot back.

"I only stayed because I saw that you were an alchemist," he huffed.

Raven put her hands on her hips. "What? You've never seen an alchemist before?"

He rolled his eyes. "I am an alchemist. A State Alchemist. But I was told that there weren't any other alchemists in Lior..." he looked at her through curious eyes.

"That's because no one's supposed to know about it," she stated, he mouth set in a grimace.

The boy was quiet for a while, then asked, "So, who are you anyway?"

She smiled a little. "My name's Raven. Raven Guardel."

His eyes went wide. "Raven Guardel? The Iron Haste Alchemist?"

Raven cocked her head to the side. "Have we met before? How do you know my name?"

He grinned. "You're famous! You became a State Alchemist when you were only thirteen years old, then went missing two years ago. Is this where you've been all along?"

"I can tell you later, but right now, we'd better move. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna be here when they wake up," Raven jerked her head toward the passed-out guards.

"Right," he agreed. "I'll take you to where we're staying. We can talk there." He began to lead the way.

"'We'?" she raised an eyebrow, but followed him anyway.

"Yeah. Me and my brother, Al. We're the Elrics. I'm the older brother, Ed. You may know me as the-"

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric," Raven finished for him.

He paused. "You've heard of me? No one else in this desert has."

"Just because I'm not in Central anymore, doesn't mean that I don't still keep up with what's going on," Raven half smiled.

Ed returned the smile, and resumed walking. "True," was all he said until he led her to the Pilgrim's Quarters, where travelers visiting Lior stayed. It was risky for Raven to be hiding out so close to Cornello's temple, but she figured that right under his nose was the last place he'd expect to find her.

"Don't worry, you'll be safe here," Ed said, as if reading her mind.

They went inside and up a set of marble stairs to the traveler's rooms. She was ushered into a room at the end of the hallway that was small, yet somehow cozy. It was decorated and plusher than her own room, Raven noted with envy. The drapes on the windows were thrown aside, letting the golden rays of sunset filter in and fill the room with warmth.

"Brother? Is that you?" a childlike voice said from the adjoined bedroom.

"Yeah, I'm here, Al," Ed replied lazily. "We got company."

There was a heavy thudding and creaking noise gradually coming nearer to them. A large suit of armor walked over to them, several feet taller than Ed, maybe about ten feet altogether. Raven assumed that this was Ed's brother, and grinned.

"I can see why you emphasized the fact that you're the older brother, Ed. I never would've guessed that this is your younger brother," she said jokingly.

"We hear that a lot," Al laughed while Ed's eye twitched as he tried to control his anger.

"I'm Raven Guardel," she introduced herself.

"I'm Alphonse Elric, but I bet Ed already told you that. You can call me Al," he insisted.

Cocking her head to the side, Raven glanced over him curiously. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing a suit of armor? We're in the middle of the desert here, so it must get pretty stuffy in there I would think."

The two brothers shared a slightly panicked look, much to Raven's surprise. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to offend you-"

Waving his armor-clad hands in a dismissive gesture, Al responded quickly, "No, it's fine, really. It's just- uh- I have to wear it. It's part of my alchemy training," he explained.

She blinked. "Are you a State Alchemist too?"

Shaking his head, he answered no, only his brother was State Certified. "So, how did you two meet?" Al inquired, getting back to the subject at hand.

As Ed relayed the story, Raven plopped down onto a couch, exhausted. It was nice to have a place to relax after running around the city all day. Never in her entire lifetime would she have guessed that the Fullmetal Alchemist would find her- or anyone from the outside world, for that matter. For once, she felt grateful that she had paid attention to Cornello's meetings on updates within the Amestrian Military.

"... then she got me electrocuted when I touched her. After that, I brought her back here to talk, and here we are," Ed finished. "Hey," he turned to the half-asleep Raven, "why did you get shocked when you broke that remote thing?"

Raven hesitated, then shrugged mentally. "Because of this weird device on my arm." She could picture it, just above her elbow, was what could have been mistaken as a thick metallic bracelet. "When the button is pressed on the remote, this thing reacts to it, and sends electrical currents throughout my body," she explained.

Ed's eyes narrowed. "Why do you have it in the first place?"

"Because Cornello's a psychotic bastard," she said matter-of-factly. "Not only do I get to be a dog of the military, but I'm also the dog Cornello gets to kick around for his own pleasure. With this on me, he can tell me what to do, and if I don't obey his orders, I get electrocuted. There's only one remote left," her voice dropped, "and guess who has it."

"Cornello," Ed finished darkly. "But I don't understand one thing." Raven waited. "That guard back there. He said that Cornello was your uncle. So why would he do something like this to his own family?"

Her eyes glinted dangerously, just as they did in the alley. "We're not related. The only ties we have with each other involve a lot of hate."

"Then why would he say that you're related?" Al asked.

She shrugged. "I guess he needed an excuse to explain why he showed up with a girl that was perfectly obedient and had no parents. It would look pretty bad if people found out that their 'great prophet' had kidnapped me and practically made me his slave."

"Kidnapped?"

Raved nodded, but didn't elaborate. Her past was something she never enjoyed talking about.

"Heh," Ed was mulling over what she had just said, when his eyes flashed. "Have you ever tried to get that thing off your arm?"

"No, I just love the feeling of 70000 volts of electricity frying me," she rolled her eyes. "I've tried smashing it, taking it apart, using alchemy... nothing worked."

Ed stood up and walked over to her, an idea forming in his mind. "Would you mind if I tried something? Can I see it?" He reached an arm out to her.

A wave of panic spread throughout Raven. "Yes, I would mind," she swatted his hand away with more force than necessary. "And no, you can't see it."

He blinked in surprise. "Uh, why?"

"Because number one, I don't know you. Number two, I don't like people touching me. And number three, you're puny," she stated, crossing her arms.

Ed ground his teeth together. "Who are you calling a puny runt that's the size of a pea?"

Raven tried not to laugh at his tantrum with little success, and after a moment of hesitation, Al joined in with her. "Is he always like this?" she giggled.

"Yeah, pretty much," Al chuckled.

His brother glowered at them. "You're missing the point! I might be able to help you, if you'll let me," he insisted.

Her laughter died in her throat. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't need your help. I can take care of myself," she replied stubbornly.

"Really?" Ed said sarcastically. "Then why are you still here?"

She blinked once in surprise. "If you want me to leave..."

"No! What I mean is, why are you still here is Lior? You're an alchemist. You should be able to sneak out of here without a problem."

"I should, but I can't. If I get outside the city's perimeters, I get a shock strong enough to knock me out. I wake up, and I'm right back where I started," she explained.

"I see..." Ed murmured, and Raven could tell that he was scheming something. There was a look in his eye that screamed mischief.

Al looked over at him. "Brother... what are you thinking?" he asked cautiously.

Ed grinned widely. "I think it's time we take a little field trip. We're going to see Cornello."

Raven's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "Are you crazy? The reason I ran away was to get away from him, and now you want me to go knock on his front door? That shock you got must have caused some brain damage."

"Don't worry. I have a plan," he said confidently.

Raven turned to Al. "Should I be worried about this?"

"With Ed, you never know," Al said, and Raven could almost hear the smile in his voice. Maybe, just maybe, she figured, she could trust them.