Shining Stars (A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFic)

Recovery and Exams

It had been a year since the incident when Cheryl had suffered from the result of human transmutation and she was better than ever. William had taken her in as promised and became her foster father, working on the farm while tending to her while she recovered.

As the doctor had said, cutting the minimum time of recovery would result in coughing up some blood, which happened rather frequently before stopping halfway through the year. The eyeless girl took the time to get used to her automail and get around without the ability to see. Aura Perception was sight in some way but it did take a while to get used to seeing emotions through colors while everything else was black and white.

When she could walk again she focused on building up on her physical abilities by helping out on the farm since her foster father couldn't get everything done with only one pair of hands. She focused on practicing alchemy, reading whatever books she could find on the subject, William having to either read it to her or she had to read books written in braille. She saw glimpses of her sister from time to time, Rachel was at the gate as always, watching over her like a guardian angel of sorts, always accompanied by Alphonse.

Then the day came when she was fully healed, getting the ok from James, the doctor having had her run some errands from him during the one year time period. She was preparing to leave and travel the world, all the while studying and training to be a state alchemist as she got dressed in her room, slipping on her blue shirt, black pants, white belt, her brown boots and her cloak. Her automail, which was refined to look more like actual limbs, was coated in a paint that matched her skin tone and made it look and feel like real skin since she was very self-conscious about the automail.

Her eyes remained closed while she was outdoors, for very obvious reasons and only opened them when it was just her or her foster father. The eleven year old walked down the stairs donned in her new attire, heading to the door where William was waiting for her, with something in his hands. Judging from what she could sense about it via his emotions, it looked like a box.

"Are you ready to head out?" the purple eyed farmer asked, smiling. Cheryl nodded.

"Yep. My bag's all packed."

"Good," he then held out the small box to her, "it's a farewell gift. It isn't much but I hope you like it." The young girl tilted her head a bit before taking the box, . She removed the lid and inside was a dark blue mask with the eye holes covered, with silver and gold designs along the edges and with a butterfly at the side. She smiled widely, slipping it on and it was a perfect fit.

"Thank you Papa," she said, giving him a hug. He smiled and hugged her back before opening the door and they both rode on the horses down to the train station where the locomotive was waiting. The brunette slid off the horse as did William and gave her foster father one last hug before she got onto the train.

"Bye papa! I'll come visit soon!" she called out as she waved from inside the train, her arm out of the window, smiling widely. The farmer smiled as he waved back, he would miss the girl he considered the daughter that he never had, but he knew that she would be fine, after all, she always kept her promises.

Cheryl sat back down in her seat, watching as the scenery past by as her home village Crystalhedge got smaller and smaller in the distance, then she looked up at the sky, at the white fluffy clouds that looked so much like sheep, despite not being able to see them, and smiled. 'I'm finally doing it Rachie, I'm traveling the world and I'm going to become a state alchemist,' she thought, really wishing her sister was there with her right now before smiling wider. This was going to be a great adventure and she would no doubt remember it for the rest of her lifetime.

~ A couple of years later...~

Cheryl adjusted her bag over her shoulder, tugging her dark hood over her head further, covering her blue top with a dark blue butterfly embroidered onto the right side of it, shoving a hand into the pocket of her black pants and glanced around. The mask she had was slightly worn but was otherwise in good condition, considering she refused to remove it, for obvious reasons. Then she stepped off the train she was on, the footsteps of her brown boots echoing slightly in her ears as she arrived at Central Station.