One day, Zira was sitting next to Ed. Roy was across from the two with Riza, and Al was on the other side of Ed. Havoc was beside Riza. It was early in the morning, and they were all eating breakfast.
Roy noticed something as they sat there for a bit. He noticed that Zira looked different, like she wasn't from there. He only noticed now because in the time he had known her, he never really noticed, but now he did.
She was tan, with extremely light, blonde hair. To him, she looked like she might be from Ishval.
"Would you mind me asking where you come from?" Zira looked up from her food. She didn't answer him. "Well?" He asked.
"None of your business," Zira said.
Roy gave her a look, but didn't ask again. Riza almost glared at Zira, but didn't.
---
Zira walked home. It was like her usual walk home, except for one thing: She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. She turned around to make sure no one was there, but there was someone. A boy.
"Hi," he said softly. "Why are you following me?" Zira asked. "Oh, I'm sorry, I have to go this way to reach my home, I didn't mean to scare you if I did..."
The boy spoke as if he were afraid of Zira. She sighed. "It's alright... But next time, could you warn me? I'm really uneasy about things like that." "Sure, again, I'm really sorry..."
"Don't be, I really shouldn't be so paranoid..."
---
Zira didn't sleep well. She barely even slept at all. By the next morning, she looked as though she had no sleep whatsoever.
"You look tired..," Al said. She and Al had become friends, pretty good friends at that, so naturally, he was worried for her. "I'm fine... I couldn't get comfortable last night..."
It was the truth. She kept feeling like someone was there, watching her. It was almost a suffocating feeling for Zira. Not to mention, her automail kept locking up, making her unable to adjust it.
"Oh, well maybe you can sleep better tonight," Al said. "Yeah, maybe..." Ed looked at her. She sighed. "Something wrong?" He quizzed. "No, nothing... I'm fine..."
Today was the anniversary of when the war happened, when Zira's father figure died... The one person she had...
"Don't look so down Zira... I mean, today is the day that the Ishvalan war ended, that's gotta be something good to think about..."
Her eyes went wide. For weeks she hadn't said a single word about even being Ishvalan, much less what had happened to her... However, that would change today.
Tears rolled down her face, her hands in fists. "Zira?!" Al exclaimed, worried. "I'm fine... I'm fine..," Zira lied. "You're crying, what's wrong?" Zira began crying into her hands, shaking her head. Al hugged her, trying to comfort her. "It's okay, don't cry..."
Zira finally stopped crying. "Ed, why would you say that?! You made her cry," Al said. "I didn't try to make her cry," Ed said. "It's fine..," Zira said.
"You're from Ishval, aren't you?" Roy asked from behind Ed, who jumped, not knowing Roy was there. Zira nodded. "I apologize for anything that happened..," he said.
Zira didn't look up at him... She couldn't...
---
She ran, as fast as she could. It hurt so bad... She almost couldn't bear it. "Please don't follow me... Please don't follow me..," she said quietly to herself. Her escape wasn't easy, but she did it. She made it to Amestris, and it was much colder there than in Ishval. She wasn't used to it at all.
She shivered. It was night, so no one was around to see her. Her legs hurt, but not as much as what was left of her arm. Her stomach growled, while her eyes could barely stay open.
"Someone... Help me..," she said, as she curled up somewhere, against a wall, closing her eyes, hoping for help, that she wouldn't get... Not for a long time...
