Fullmetal Blood

Days

We're on our way in search of the Philosophers' Stone. I'm sitting beside Edward, who's staring out the window, looking kinda mad . . .

"Brother," Al's sitting across from us. We look up. "The stories about this priest in Lior. Do you think they're true?"

"The ones about the miracles?" Ed goes back to frowning. "They say he can transmute flowers out of thin air, right? It could just be some sleight of hand, some cheap trick like that."

"But what if it's not?" Al asks.

"Right," I grin, watching Ed smirk, "If it's not, I suppose all that leaves is the real thing. Huh, Al?"

"Yeah?" he replies.

"I think I have a good feeling about this one," Ed practically reads my mind.

"Me too," Al says.

*****

The train ride is boring. We end up reading Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman, taking turns reading aloud.

*****

As I try to take a nap on the train ride, a memory floods my mind. I was getting my automail fixed. Mom and Dad had to look in on something, so they sent me and Eli ahead to the Rockbells for the repairs. I remember a small blonde boy sitting in a wheelchair in a dark room by an open curtain. Winry had quickly pushed me into the back room before I could comment.

In the middle of Winry repairing my automail, I heard quick knocks on the door as well as Den barking. I could hear the sound of Pinako's voice, but could not decipher the words.

The door slammed open and I heard three people enter. "Hey! What is this? You have no reason to come barging in here!" Pinako had screamed, startling me and Winry.

"We went to your house, we saw the floor, what was that?!" I heard my father scream. "What did you do?!"

I could faintly hear a young boy talk too quiet to catch his words.

A long talk had followed, too quiet to hear from the back room, but still audible enough to hear my father, mother, and Pinako's voices.

"Whatever that thing was, it wasn't human! Alchemy created that abomination! It nearly killed them! And you want to throw those boys headlong into it? Would you really have them go through that kind of Hell again?" Pinako yells.

"I wonder what's happening out there . . ." Winry trailed off.

I shrugged.

Winry finishes with my automail and I head out into the hall with the, at the time, 2nd Lt. Hawkeye.

My father and mother came through the doors. "We're leaving," Mom had said.

"Yes, sir," Hawkeye had replied.

As we drove off, Hawkeye asked a strange question, "Will they be coming?"

At the moment, I had no idea who "they" were. Or what was going on. Mom, Dad, Eli, and Hawkeye wouldn't tell me.

"They'll come," Dad said.

"That boy. I've never seen anyone look so defeated," Hawkeye said. My thoughts trailed back to the boy in the wheelchair.

"That's what you saw?" Mom asked. "No. There was fire in those eyes."

That memory leads me to the memory of my State Alchemist exam.

Führer King Bradley had come.

"Ah, would that be a steel prosthetic?" he had asked.

"Happened during the Eastern Conflict," I had replied, using the lie my father had told me to say.

"I see. So you had a rough time of it in Ishval, hmm?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm quarter Ishvalan. You might know my brother, Elias Fridley," I replied.

"Ah, yes," the Fùhrer had laughed. "Thank you. You may proceed with the examination."

"Do you need something to draw transmutation circles with?" A guard asked.

"No thank you," I smiled. "I'm good." I sliced my finger with my automail and sprayed blood onto the floor. Many observers gasped. I sealed the wound with Alchemy and many "ah"s sounded.

Then I made my spear. With an iron arrow used from my spilt blood. My parents looked proud when one guard said, " She's not even using a transmutation circle."

"My, that's quite something," the Führer had said. I spun it in my hands skillfully and flipped over him, gently tapping him in the back when I landed with the point of my spear. The guards were in a tizzy.

"Gotcha," I grinned. "You should be more careful coming to these, by the way."

"You're one feisty girl. But you still have much to learn about the world," the Führer had chuckled. As he walked off, he muttered, "Who knew there'd be two twelve year olds in one day. Quite a surprise indeed."

Just at that moment, my spear sliced in half. He was carrying his sword. "When did he even draw his sword?" I mumbled as he chuckled and walked off.

Which led to another memory.

"Here's your pocket watch, State Alchemist," my dad grinned. "And here's your certificate of appointment. Well, congratulations. The whole family is now a bunch of dogs of the military."

"Blood," I read my codename off the paper. "The Blood Alchemist. Awesome! It's got a nice ring to it! I think it'll suit me just fine!"

*****

Eventually, I fall asleep, resting against Ed, who's leaning against the window with his arms around me.

"Hey, wake up, we're almost there," Al says.

We wake up and Ed blushes when he realizes I'm sitting in his lap. I blush bright red and Alphonse laughs.

"So that's Lior," I say, looking out the window. Could it really be there? I think. The key to getting Al and Ed their bodies back? "The Philosophers' Stone," I say aloud.