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6

"There's no way," Edward grumbled, staring angrily at the milk in front of him.

"You have to," I said, rolling my eyes. "Your bones are weak as it is. You need it."

"Who said my bones are weak!" He snapped.

I rolled my eyes. "Suit yourself," I said irritably, walking away from him.

We were all still exhausted after my rescue from the Homunculi den. We had all made it out all right, but not without a lot of questions and confusion being opened up.

"Explain it again, please," Alphonse requested, shaking his metal head. "I'm sorry. It's just so confusing."

"When Edward and you came to get your body, Al," I explained again, "you really did rip me out of a different universe. A different doorway opened up, you could say. I don't know why, but I have a feeling it's for a reason."

"Do you remember the universe you came from at all?" Edward asked, subtly pushing away his milk and scooting next to me on the couch, enthralled.

"Only a little bit," I admitted sheepishly. "But it was much different than this one. There were little devices people carried around, and I remember that with one click, you could access all of the information known to humanity!"

Ed's eyes widened. "What a resource!" He exclaimed. "Imagine it, Al. We could learn all about the Philosopher's Stone in a day!"

He leaned back on the couch, looking wistful. "Your world sure sounds a lot more interesting than ours," he mumbled.

"No, I wouldn't say that," I murmured. "We didn't have alchemy. What we didn't have in alchemy, we had in technology, I think."

"What a strange world," Alphonse said dreamily.

I shrugged, and got up to clean up the leftovers of lunch. I sighed when I picked up Edward's still-full glass of milk, and drank it myself. I really didn't understand his indignance against drinking it. The creamy flavor coated my mouth, and immediately I felt refreshed and relaxed.

"Mmm," I said exaggeratedly. Ed made a show of rolling his eyes at me.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" I called, washing the dishes in the sink.

The door opened, and Roy Mustang stalked into the room. He raised an eyebrow at the messy state it was in, but didn't comment.

"I've come to talk to you about being a State Alchemist, Violet," he said formally. "I was there to rescue you, I know all about your sudden realization of alchemy."

I continued washing the dishes, avoiding his eyes. "I'm sorry," I said timidly. "I'm not interested."

"You know something the rest of us don't," he said. "Your close encounter with the Truth has given you knowledge we can't even dream of."

"And puts an exceptionally large bounty on my head!" I remarked, setting down a newly washed plate with a little too much force. A hairline crack formed in the porcelain, and I sighed, letting out a deep breath.

I turned around, meeting the man's stormy eyes.

"I'm not going," I said firmly. "That's that. You can't force me, I believe."

"No, I can't," he said. "But I can strongly urge you to recon-"

"I'm not reconsidering!" I yelled. "Please, leave!"

He sighed, turned around, and walked out of our room without another word.

Edward and Alphonse slowly turned to look at me, sweat beading on Ed's forehead.