Ace: Blah blah, not answered reviews today. I'm too busy.

Envy: With what?

Ed: Yeah, what's more important than us?

Ace: CAN'T TALK, MUST WORK!

Zoey: *sigh* Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Ace: Thanks Zoey. Let's get on with the story, shall we? *twitch twitch*

6: The Ice Queen with the Broken Edges

Isabelle Valentine was not a person who gave off warm vibes. It might have been because she hailed from the icy lands of Briggs, or maybe because she disliked the long drawn-out affair of the train ride to Central. Her legs, sheathed in bell-bottom jeans and brown leather riding boots, were drawn to her chest protectively, and she leaned her head against the window, ignoring the passing landscape in favor of doodling absently on the fogged-up glass from her breathing. Scowling at her creation, she obliterated it in one swift motion of her arm. For one long moment, the reflection of an unnaturally pale girl with extremely light blue-gray hair and washed out ice-blue eyes stared at her accusingly before she looked away pointedly, fingering the translucent sleeve of her white blouse, its buttons open to reveal navy blue spaghetti straps underneath.

She wasn't as strong as Zoey was. She couldn't just push aside their past like Zoey had; she needed the cold metal slap of the cross around her neck to bring her back to reality even though she did not believe in the power of a god. She needed the cross the same way she needed the icy emptiness of Briggs even though she hated being cold. By giving herself to a church, she was insulating herself from alchemy. By living in the far north of Amestris, she was safeguarding herself from another disaster.

Having grown bored with her clothing, she closed her eyes but stayed far from the realms of sleep. Unlike Zoey, who fidgeted whenever she didn't immediately have something to do and inevitably ended up destroying something of relative importance, Isabelle was perfectly content in such an occasion to simply close her eyes and do nothing. Really, by now, she should've known better than to try that. Her mind, deprived of much of its stimuli, began to wander aimlessly, searching for something to occupy herself. It settled on a nightmare.

Isabelle did not like alchemy. She was only fourteen for Pete's sake! She couldn't change the world with what feeble results she was producing. No, that job would inevitably fall to Zoey, what with the way she had instantly gravitated to wind alchemy, provided she wasn't recruited as a dog of the Military first. Fed up of how their alchemy teacher, Zoey's older brother Zane, continually asked Zoey to demonstrate her talents to help Isabelle, the girl impulsively decided to get herself well and truly lost. She ran to the stables, threw a bridle on her horse, an albino she'd named Frostbite, and rode off into the desert. She and Frostbite made good time, reaching the oasis at the old Xerxes ruins with the horse still raring to go.

Bored and feeling like breaking yet more rules, she began walking into the ruins, Frostbite following her loyally. She let her hand trail against the sandblasted walls merely for the hell of it and delighted in the forbidden thrill it gave her. A nervous whicker from Frostbite brought her attention to the fact that A) she had acquired an equine stalker and B) she wasn't alone out here in the middle of nowhere. She froze nervously, very much aware that she wasn't supposed to be here, and after a moment of consideration, she dropped the reins to the floor, ground-tying the horse. Frostbite had been well trained and wouldn't move from that spot until she came to collect him, which was a good thing. She didn't need his horseshoes announcing her presence when she was sneaking around. If there was one thing Isabelle had learned, it was that in the desert, there was little difference between friend and foe.

"Come on!" Roy protested, "Are we really that scary?" Zoey opened her mouth to reply, but the alchemist predicted her reaction and growled, "Don't answer that."

She laughed. "Fine. Just promise me it'll be Riza taking the offensive stance, not you. I'm sure we'd all appreciate if he still had a body left to live with."

"Please," Envy added flippantly, squeezing her fingers in a silent thank-you. "I'd rather not live the rest of my life as a burned cripple."

The three laughed at that, but Zoey gasped, remembering something important. "Oh shit! I was supposed to go to Izzy's today! She's probably at the train station right now!" The female alchemist began struggling to get up, but the homunculus pressed her back down worriedly.

"Relax," Riza said. "I asked Ed to go to the train station and pick her up on the way back. What's the worst that could happen? Izzy's mature enough not to destroy things."

"Not if she makes the connection," Zoey murmured faintly, looking at the hands she had lying in her lap.

"What connection?" Roy asked confusedly.

Izzy peeked around the corner cautiously, watching the small group that had come here. Warily, she backed up when the blond boy broke off from the group. A smile lit up his face when his sharp golden eyes somehow picked her out from the shadows, but he said nothing and even helped hasten the others away. She was grateful for his help, even if she hadn't asked for it. In fact, she was in enough of a good mood to ride Frostbite back, intending to intercept Zane and given another attempt at a successful foray into alchemy.

The frozen touch of metal against her bare chest was enough to violently shock Isabelle from her stupor, just in time for the train to pull into Central. Keeping herself close, she hopped elegantly onto the platform, the blue strands of her hair dancing around her face until she swept them behind her ear. Hastily, she scanned the platform for her friend, who was conspicuously absent. When I find Zoey, she vowed silently, I will wring her neck myself. Of all the nerve to abandon me at the station when I wrote in advance! Then she saw something more painful than anything she could have possibly imagined. "What are you doing here?"

"Izzy ran into Fullmetal at the Xerxes ruins the same day of the accident."

The blood drained from Roy's face. "Oh God. She's gonna rip him to pieces."

"Isn't that a little… drastic?" Envy asked hesitantly.

Zoey shook her head. "It was Edward's work that made us what we are today. She's gonna be pissed enough at him to do something impulsive."

Riza looked nauseated. "That's why she never come to visit us. As cold and hard as it must be for her up at Briggs, how could she have handled meeting Ed?"

Ace: Don't you just love how it goes from Envy being in danger of dying straight to Ed all in the matter of a chapter?

Ed: No.

Envy: Yes.

Zoey: Meh.

Izzy: Who are you people?

Zoey: AND NOW, WE OFFER CAKE FOR REVIEWS!

Ace: YAY CAKE!

Ed: *sweatdrops* Is it just me or is Ace a little off today?

Envy: Oh, no, she is off right now because she's trying to help her friend get together for her big debut as ImmortalDawn18 later. If you like any of Ace's work, please go read something of Dawn's when she puts the stories up, which will all be beta-ed by Ace. Thank you and good night!

*all run away*