Anastasia Rostov gave a tired sigh as she began to close up the bookshop she worked at in Central City. The twenty eight year old grand duchess in disguise began to straighten the bookshelves as she reflected on her life.

She had come to Amestris under the guise of 'Annette Rochester' to study pediatric hematology. She had made this life altering decision for many reasons. The main reason was to find a cure for her beloved brother Alexei, the heir to the Drachman throne. If you had told her fifteen years ago, that she'd be doing this she'd have laughed at you and told you that you were ridiculous and that Grigori Rasputin was all that her brother needed to live a normal life. At the age of fourteen, this image was shattered. The fourteen-year-old Anastasia discovered that her mother, Alix Hesse Rostov was having an affair with Rasputin. Her mother told her that the only reason she was having the affair was that Rasputin wouldn't treat Alexei with his alchemy unless the empress had sex with him.

The second reason was to restore her older sister Olga's honor. When Anastasia was seventeen, she was one of two witnesses to her then twenty three year old sister Olga getting sexually assaulted by Rasputin. The assault was Rasputin trying to undo her blouse and feel her up. When Olga tried to tell her mother, her mother didn't believe her. Anastasia stood up for her eldest sister, and backed her up to no avail. Olga was banished from the palace, and from that moment on was unable to marry. This offense against her sister fueled Anastasia's rage against her mother and Rasputin.

The event that brought Anastasia's anger to a boiling point was the murder of her baby cousin Elisabeth Hesse. Eight year old Elisabeth was the second witness to Rasputin's assault on Olga. Rasputin threatened Anastasia and Elisabeth with death if they told anyone. Once Olga told Alix, Ana stood up for Olga and only caught pneumonia that lasted for a month. Young Elisabeth was not so lucky. The child had told her father, Ernst Hesse, the empress' older brother, and Ernst almost got Rasputin arrested. For this transgression, Rasputin killed little Elisabeth by cursing her with pestilence like he did with Anastasia. However, the disease that the child was struck with was typhoid that killed her in a fortnight. At Elisabeth's funeral, she confronted Rasputin and in private he confessed to cursing Elisabeth with Drachma's form of Alchemy. Anastasia told her Uncle Ernst, and a week later Anastasia left her life of royalty and privilege and became Annette Rochester, Amestrian medical student.

There was one minor reason. When Anastasia thought about it, she thought it was petty. In her youth, Anastasia heard that her parents were planning on marrying her off to her first cousin Prince Louis Battenberg II of Breton, Viceroy of Jingpho. While Louis was a nice man, was only a year older than herself and a pleasure to be around. The fact that he was her cousin really turned her off from him as a possible suitor. She knew it was common for some children who were born from parents -who's families had incest in the family history- to have genetic diseases and deformities. She had observed it. She knew that the cause of her brother's hemophilia had originated from their maternal great grandmother Queen Victoria of Breton (who had married her first cousin).
She was picking up some books that customers had tossed on the floor, when she heard a knock on the window. Anastasia cleared her throat and got her accent ready as she walked to the front of the store.

"Excuse me, may I come in?" the soldier asked through the glass. An eerie smile was on his face.

"I'm sorry sir, but we're closed." she said in a perfectly imitated Amestrian accent.

"I think it would be in your best interests to let me in madam. Now, I will ask again, may I come in?" the soldier asked again.

Anastasia nodded quickly, and opened the door. She felt as though she had to obey the soldiers, she felt that she'd get punished if she did not. The soldier came in and sat on one of the love seats in the shop.

"Are you Annette Rochester?" he asked her. Anastasia cleared her throat again.

"Yes I am." She said in a faked Amestrian accent.

"I'm so glad I found you Annette. I require your expertise. Please have a seat." the soldier said indicating to an armchair in front of him. The twenty-eight year old woman sat in the chair with a fake smile on her face.

"I know everything about you Annette." he told her. Anastasia's heart began to race. She had been found out.

"You do?" she asked.

"Yes, I know about your beloved baby brother. His name is Colin, and has hemophilia?" the soldier asked.

"You are correct sir." she replied.

"I am confused about something. If your family is Amestrian, why do they live in Creta?" he inquired.

"The air is better for Colin." she responded.

"I see." the soldier responded.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Anastasia asked.

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer. I have an opportunity for you to help your brother." he told her.

"You do?" Anastasia asked. Her blue eyes became wide.

"Yes ma'am, also with this research you will be paid. Your salary will be a lot higher than it is here at this meager bookstore." Archer told her.

"What kind of pay are we talking about here?" the woman inquired.

"Let's see here. Since you graduated with honors, your salary will be 12,650 cenz an hour." the lieutenant colonel proposed.

"Sir, that is quite generous." the doctor responded as a smile appeared on her face.

"Well not only are you helping your family, but you are helping the state of Amestris, and the world. Annette, you have an opportunity to go down in history." Archer explained to her. Anastasia sat there and thought about the situation for a moment. It sounded a little too good to be true. What were the real motives of this Amestrian soldier? She wondered if he meant to kill her, or do something else that was horrible. She also thought of the possible good that could come of this. She could find out secrets about Amestris that would greatly interest her father, and the nation of Drachma. Maybe she could find out something that could bring down Amestris! She fantasized about finding the Achilles' heel in Amestris' seemingly perfect military and government. She then thought of going back to Drachma and telling her father. In the woman's fantasy she saw her father leading the Drachman army into battle, and the Amestrian military being defeated, and then Amestris would become a part of Drachma. A smile then appeared on her face.

"I am going to assume that from the look on your face that you want the job?" Archer asked her. Anastasia snapped back to reality when she heard his voice. The smile left her face and she looked back at him.

"Of course I'll take the job! I can't thank you enough for this opportunity!" She told him as she shook his hand. What she did not know was that her life would take a rather odd turn and change forever.