FMA: Elric-Taylor Team-Up

Prologue

Their story started fourteen years ago on July 17, 1900 in Resembool, Amestris, when Erika Taylor was born to her parents, Samuel & Natalie. She was the second born, after her older sister, Mikayla, who was ten years older than Erika. Mikayla was their parents' favorite child, while Erika & Jenna were the "mistake children", as their parents referred to them as. Mikayla, despite being the favorite, loved her sisters & acted more like a parent to them. Jenna was born a year after Erika on September 8.

Unlike Mikayla and Jenna, who had inherited their mother's medium brown hair and their father's brown eyes and peach skin, Erika had inherited their father's black hair and their mother's pale skin, though Erika's was a bit paler. Erika also had heterochromia of her eyes, meaning they were two different colors, combining her parents' eye colors. Her left eye was green and her right eye was brown. Erika was also small and skinny for her age, only a little taller than Jenna, though her height didn't seem to bother her the way Ed's short stature bothered him.

Besides Mikayla, Erika & Jenna did have other people who cared about them. Their mother's sister, their aunt, Trisha Elric, lived nearby with their older cousins, Edward & Alphonse. They also had their best friend, Winry Rockbell, her parents, & her grandmother, Pinako. Ed & Winry were both a year older than Erika & Al was three months older than Erika.

Trisha, despite only being their aunt, treated all three Taylor sister like her own daughters & Ed & Al thought of them as sisters. Despite all that their parents had done, Erika & Jenna grew up happy with their sister, the Elrics, and the Rockbells.

One day, in 1904, when Erika was four and Jenna was three, they were at their cousins' house when Ed, who was five, and Al, who was four, decided to show Erika dn Jenna their dad's study. Van Hohenheim had left a couple of months ago, a topic which still brought a furious scowl to Ed's face.

Ed showed Erika and Jenna their dad's alchemy books, showing them that he and Al had already started learning it. At Erika and Jenna's insistence, Ed and Al started teaching them what they knew, the Taylor sisters quickly getting the hang of it. Their works, along with Ed and Al's, impressed everyone they showed, mainly Trisha and Mikayla.

However, good things can sometimes come to an end.

Later that year, an illness swept through Resembool, taking Trisha with it. Ed and Al were devastated and while Ed tried to be strong for his brother, there were many times where Erika would hear him crying when he thought no one could hear him. After Trisha's funeral, for a while, Ed and Al locked themselves in their house, only coming out for meals with either the Rockbells or their cousins. But soon, they were back to spending time with their cousins and best friend, except that they would always be reading alchemy books, which Winry didn't really understand.

About a year later, in 1905, tragedy struck again. Erika's parents, while on a trip to Central, were involved in an accident that took their lives. After the initial shock wore off, Erika found that while sad their parents were gone, they weren't devastated, seeing as their parents hardly cared for their younger daughters at all. Mikayla became their official guardian at fifteen and life continued as usual, with them, like Ed and Al, getting periodic check-ins from Pinako.

The next three years passed by in a blur. Ed and Al dove into alchemy, spending every waking moment not with either Winry or their cousins, locked in their house. At the same time, Erika and Jenna split time between their cousins, Winry, Mikayla, and the alchemy they now adored.

Unfortunately, tragedy seemed to follow all five of the younger children. At the beginning of the year, Winry's parents had been killed while away to serve as doctors in the war. In an attempt to cheer Winry up, Ed, brought up Human Transmutation, something he and Al had read in one of their alchemy books. Pinako shot that down quick, though it was clear the subject was still on Ed's mind.

The beginning of the simmer also took another loved one, the oldest Taylor sister. She had been in town, getting things for dinner when the store was robbed. Robberies didn't happen much in Resembool unless someone passing through decided to do it. This time, Mikayla was in the wrong place at the wrong time. In trying to de-escalate the situation, Mikayla paid with her life.

Erika, who had been with Mikayla to help bring stuff back, witnessed her older sister die as the crooks got away. For a long time after, Erika was virtually catatonic. Ed, Al, Jenna and Winry couldn't get Erika to respond. Eventually, Erika did start talking again, but she was noticeably less for a long time after, well after her and Jenna's care was transferred to Pinako.

Soon, Erika recalled what Ed had told them about Human Transmutation. Erika ended up pulling Ed aside to talk to him about it, finding out that this had been what he and Al had been studying since their mom had passed. Erika brought the subject up to Jenna, who, after a lot of convincing, agreed they should try. So, they began studying it as well, keeping it from their cousins and Winry, though Erika suspected that Ed knew what they were doing.

Later that summer, Ed and Al met Izumi Curtis and convinced her to take them on as her apprentices. When they returned in the winter five months later, they became a little more withdrawn. Erika suspected they were fully throwing themselves into their study of Human Transmutation, though neither boy confirmed this.

Two years later, in early 1910, Erika and Jenna found their own alchemy teacher a woman named Amelia McCarrin. She agreed to teach the girls and brought them maternal love that they hadn't felt since their sister died. But Amelia was also very secretive. She refused to divulge information on how she could transmute without a circle, why she lived alone, why she couldn't hear, and why Erika should never ask about Human Transmutation.

While Erika and Jenna were with their teacher, Ed and Al attempted their Human Transmutation. This failed, resulting in Ed losing his left leg and Al losing his whole body, which Ed sacrificed his right arm to attach Al's soul to a suit of armor. When Erika and Jenna returned seven months after leaving, in the year 1911, they learned about what happened to Ed and Al, finding out that Ed had gotten automail replacements, gone to Central and become a State Alchemist at age 12.

Despite this information, Erika and Jenna, decided to still attempt Human Transmutation. In 1912, they made their attempt, failing. Erika lost her right leg while Jenna lost her body. Erika than used her left arm to bind Jenna's soul to one of their sister's mannequins. Jenna than took Erika to Pinako and Winry so they could help. Pinako was not happy that Erika and Jenna had been as stupid as Ed and Al, but of course, still patched Erika up. Pinako eventually sent a letter to Ed in Central, who caught the soonest train he could with Al back to Resembool.

When Ed saw Erika and Jenna, he was at first furious, shaking Erika as she sat despondent. Once Al and Jenna got him to calm down, Ed sat next to Erika and gave her a similar pep talk that Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang had given him. He brought up the State Alchemists and by the time he was done, Erika's mismatched eyes no longer held despair, only determination. Erika decided to undergo surgery for her own automail replacements.

A year later, when Erika and Jenna prepared to leave, the only things they took were what could fit in Erika's suitcase. Erika also began wearing Mikayla's locket, which held a picture of her, Erika and Jenna inside, under her shirt. They also took a family picture with their parents, though that was more out of a sense of obligation than sentimentality.

They went to Central, and, after a lot of assistance from her cousins and Roy Mustang, Erika passed the State Alchemist test along with the discovery that she could do alchemy by clapping her hands, like Amelia and Ed. Erika was given the title of Lightning Bolt, both for her preferred lightning based alchemy (though she also did other alchemy similar to Ed's) and, as the Fuhrer, King Bradley put it, her electrifying personality.

At age thirteen, Erika was the second youngest State Alchemist, just after Edward. This is where the story truly begins.