Hey everyone! I cannot express how much I have loved working on this story! There are two reasons why you want to read this. One: Because the story is basically already written. Aside from some editing and my beta going over the chapters, you have yourself a full-fledged FMA story- just waiting to be told! (That means no waiting for three months to get an update!) Two: Because there's at least a %1 chance that you'll like it :)

Here are some details about the timeline: My writing will reflect brotherhood more than the original, even though I love both pretty equally. It's going to fall sometime after Ed joins the military, but he'll still be 14 at this point. This is definitely parental Roy/Ed, but I did add some lovely adventures for our other favorite Elric brother, Alphonse. I also put a twist on the homunculus story, as the ones from the show/manga are not present in this fic. I tried to make it captivating, exciting, scary, and ultimately leave you with some serious feels.

Lastly, I want to dedicate this fanfic to my father, who passed away seven years ago this month. My passion for writing this story comes from my own love for the greatest man I knew. Please know that I'm not asking for any pity reviews. I just want to express what this fanfic has meant to me. I am beyond thrilled to be posting the first chapter this month, in memory of him. Hope you guys enjoy reading as much I've enjoyed writing!

Chapter 1:

Edward Elric was known for being a lot of things. Being short was the most common description from amongst his peers, but he didn't particularly care for that one. There was also stubborn, hot-headed, loud mouthed, and downright rude to anyone that pissed him off. After all, he was practically still a kid and tended to exhibit more childish behaviors when he was upset. His compassion and innocence often made his job difficult for being only fourteen, but he was no ordinary kid. His past and pure ingenuity for alchemy made him a top state alchemist. He was known as the "people's hero," which might have only attributed to his cockiness; but even his superior, Roy Mustang, often wondered if there was anything the Fullmetal alchemist couldn't do.

Currently, he and Al were on a mission in Ayyrosut, a small town right outside of Central. He had given the Colonel a hard time at first, thinking that Roy was just sending him on a wild goose chase for some kind of military gain. Ayyrosut was mostly forgotten about, and nothing ever happened there. He would have continued to fight the mission if the Colonel hadn't revealed that there was a group of terrorists who had been causing havoc and kidnapping children all around Central and East City. They left a path of destruction wherever they went, and a lot of people were starting to get hurt. At first, this made Ed mad because he hadn't been informed of these attacks sooner, but Roy had assured him he didn't have jurisdiction on the case until now. Hughes had been handling it over in investigations, but they recently discovered these men were using alchemy, which now put Roy in charge of finding them. Under normal circumstances, a boy Ed's age would not have been sent on a mission regarding terrorists, but he was nowhere near normal. Roy had already sent out quite a few of his best alchemists to other cities that were likely to be attacked. He didn't want to put Ed on the case at all, but he was a soldier, and age didn't matter when it came to his duties as a state alchemist. For Ed and Al, the Colonel couldn't have been more right about the suspicion in Ayyrosut. They braced themselves for the ambush they were about to make as Ed recalled the words Roy had left him with.

"Don't you die on me, Fullmetal. You know how much I hate paperwork."

Some days are always better than others. Today was not that day, Roy noted. There were mounds of paperwork, threats to be dealt with, and subordinates being downright useless. Roy Mustang was used to dealing with many daily tasks, but for whatever reason, today's work was piling up by the minute. He was fairly confident he had men working under him, but today it felt like he was taking care of everything by himself. He let out a few curses as he remembered why he was so short-handed. Havoc had the day off. Apparently he took his "serious" girlfriend out of town for the weekend. Sure, the colonel knew she was just another blank space on Jean's long list of 'it didn't work out' girls, but who was he to interfere with his subordinate's personal life? Whatever makes you happy, Havoc, he thought. Then there were Fallman and Breda- which one of them is sick again? The other lieutenant had a family matter to care of. Armstrong had offered his services to the colonel, but when he realized he couldn't keep the emotional alchemist from stripping every time he read a report about some tragedy, Roy determined the extra time he would have to put in was far worth it. That didn't leave very many men left. Fury was assisting him currently, so at least things were getting done. After all, it wasn't like his lieutenants had abandoned him. No, they would never turn their backs on the colonel. Today was just another boring day at the office, and he knew his men could use some time off. His only other lieutenant that stuck around was Hawkeye. She never left his side. Never took a day off. Somehow never managed to get sick- and the most loyal of his subordinates. He cared for all of his men, but Riza was special to him. Everyone knew this, and they all wondered if the two were ever going to acknowledge their feelings for one another. It didn't matter to Roy. He knew how his first lieutenant felt about him, and she was aware of his affection as well, and for now, that was truly enough.

But back to today. Today was crap. Today sucked. Roy placed his hands in his head, unaware that he was staring to doze off. His head hurt. His writing hand was starting to go numb. He just wanted to go home. Please, he thought to himself, please don't let something else go wrong today.

What a silly thing to ask for.

It was probably around 9:45pm when a certain young alchemist barged into his superior's office with a report from the recent mission. It caught the dozing colonel off guard, and he attempted to pretend that he wasn't just caught sleeping.

"F-Fullmetal. I, uh, didn't expect you back so soon."

The only response he received from the usual snippy teen was a stack of papers in his face and a distracted response of, "You need to read this."

He grabbed the report from Ed and watched as the boy took a seat on the couch, staring intensely at the floor and seeming utterly exhausted. He appeared to have come directly from the train station.

"I have to say I'm surprised to get a report so soon. Normally I have to pester you for at least two days before I get anything tangible."

This time he received no response at all. It appeared that Ed hadn't even heard the colonel speaking to him. He just sat there, his auto-mail arm clutching his side. That's when Roy was certain something was off. What has he done this time?

"Fullmetal. Are you all right?" The last thing that Roy wanted to deal with was something being wrong with Ed, but he couldn't deny that he cared for the boy too much to ignore the obvious signs. Ed finally looked up at him, realizing he was being spoken to.

"What? I'm fine...Just read the stupid report!"

Roy sighed. Well, he still has his spunk at least.

He sat down and began to read:

Al and I were able to find and ambush one of the hideouts for the terrorists. They had taken quite a few hostages, but we were able to free most of them with ease. It seemed like they were just causing trouble for the sake of it, but I'm pretty sure there's a bigger motive going on. Anyway, there were five men that we could see and we took out four of them with no problem; but it turned out the fifth guy knew alchemy, which explains why they had already gotten so far with their weak plan. It caught us off guard, but we managed to control the situation. Al ended up—

A sudden coughing fit from Ed pulled Roy away from the report he was reading. He cautiously waited until the boy seemed fine again and was content to continue, until something red on his carpet caught his eye. Red. Blood. Ed's blood. Panic and anger shot through Roy simultaneously as he practically jumped out of his seat and ran to inspect the blond, who was swaying in his seat as if he were going to pass out any minute.

"What happened, Fullmetal!?" His voice was commanding and probably a little louder than necessary. Ed seemed to be taken back at this sudden outburst, looking embarrassed for some odd reason.

"I—I just thought…I mean I know I don't normally ask—but I…"

Before he could make sense of his fumbling, Roy grabbed the boy's coat and jerked the left side up to reveal a blood soaked cloth that had been pressed firmly against his stomach. He peeled back the material a little to inspect the wound. It didn't necessarily look life threatening, but the fact that Ed was now coughing up blood showed that the kid should have gotten himself to a hospital a long time ago. Ed grimaced in pain as the Colonel's temper could no longer be contained. His bad day had caught up to him and he had finally reached his breaking point.

"Edward! Why the heck are you sitting in my office with an injury like this? You should be at the infirmary right now getting that taken care of!"

"But I—"

"Let me guess, you're fine. Is that it? Do you have some crazy notion that the great Edward Elric, 'Hero of the People,' can't die? That you can just keep up this reckless behavior forever?"

"What's your problem all of the sudden?" Ed stood up to face off with his superior as they continued their screaming match. "You know I don't think that!"

"Then what is it, Edward? What is it that make you so careless? So selfish?"

Ed was fuming. "I AM NOT—"

"Yes, you are! You're selfish because there are people in your life who care about you, but you don't even bother to take care of yourself! What would Al do if you died? How will you give him his body back lying in a grave, huh?"

"Would you just listen to me! Al is—"

"I don't care about Al right now! I care about the fact that I have to take time out of my already hectic schedule and piece of crap day to take care of a little brat. Do you think that I'll just catch you every time you fall? I'm not your lifeline, Edward. It's time to grow up and start acting like an adult. I can't continue to allow children into the military who refuse to respect their commanding officers."

That statement hurt, no stung, as Ed processed the words that had shamed him more than his sins of committing the ultimate taboo. Tears threatened to fall, but there was no way he was going to show weakness. He didn't have to stand here and keep listening to this any longer.

"Shut up! I can take care of myself!"

"Right, because bleeding out on my couch qualifies as taking care of yourself."

"That's it! SEE IF I EVER ASK YOU FOR YOUR HELP AGAIN!"

The statement puzzled Roy just enough to cool his temper down a little.

"You didn't—"

But the younger alchemist was already heading across the room towards the door. He threw the door open as Roy yelled back to him.

"Get back here Fullmetal! I'm not done with you!"

Ed stopped and slowly turned to face the colonel once more, bearing the saddest expression that Roy had ever seen him make. His eyes narrowed at him, but they weren't full of anger. Just pain. He choked out his next few words, as if he were going to breakdown any minute.

"Y-You didn't even read the whole report, did you?"

And with that final statement, he took off running out the door, and Roy swore that he had seen tears in his subordinate's eyes.

There you have it! I know Ed probably wouldn't have actually ask for help, but I needed him to be a little more mature than his normal, reckless self. The first couple chapters are a little short, but they get do get longer and much more exciting. Also, I am really unsure of what to rate this story. Violence is the biggest thing, so I may change it to 'mature' in the later chapters. If you think it needs to be higher or lower though, let me know!

Thanks for reading this much! I'd love to hear what you thought, especially since chapter two is all typed up and ready to go :)