1908

It was quick, too fast for Chiui Youngsen to see. One minute, her beloved parents and brother were getting away from a fire that come out of the blue. Next, her apricot eyes were looking down at their bodies in front of her, blood everywhere. She didn't know why this happened, and neither did her family.

But she knew that someone, someone out there, had planned this all along, to take away the family that Chiui held close to her heart. And now...Chiui couldn't think of this anymore, so she allowed the tears, which were at the verge of running, do their job.

She was only eight at this time, which was such a young age to experience something horrible like this. Chiui had never had any deaths in her family, so her parents and younger brother, Yosung, were the first three to start it.

She then stood up, feeling her knees trembling as she did so. She was on her knees for so long that they ached. Her eyes then averted to the burning house in front of her, which was the main place that this all happened at. She burst into tears when the house finally collapsed, taking all of its life with it, especially her parents' and brother's bodies.

Just a few minutes later, Rai, Chiui's grandmother, saw the fire and came rushing to the spotted Chiui there, choking on her tears. Rai took Chiui into her arms and calmed her down.

After Chiui told Rai what had happened, Rai started to cry, but stopped after a while had passed.

"I...wasn't expecting this to happen, child." Rai addressed to Chiui as she looked at the burnt remains. "Your mother and father, especially your brother...they were so young. Why did it have to be like this?"

"I don't know." Chiui responded, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "I'm thinking the same thing. Do you think it was an alchemist or-"

"Let's not come to that conclusion just yet, dear." Rai interrupted. She knew the redhead's father's parents despised alchemists, and passed it into Chiui's father. But Rai and Chiui's mother were different.

"Okay..." Chiui sniffed. She then fell silent for a moment, looking down at the floor. "So I guess I'm going to be living with you, Grandma?"

"Yes, dear." Rai spoke up. She then continued to hold her little granddaughter in her arms before walking to her house, which was only a few seconds away.

"It seems...to be the saving grace of this tragedy..."

It was now 1915. Chiui had caught herself crying again, and in public no less. She didn't mean to do so, but she hated how that haunting memory of hers kept on coming at the most random times.

Just a month ago, Rai passed away unexpectedly, leaving Chiui to defend for herself now. Chiui was now fifteen, and knew that it was about time, she started defending her own self...now that she was the only surviving member of the family.

She then looked around, hoping that no one saw her. Thankfully, no one did, so with a relieved sigh, she continued her way down the street.

"...Excuse me, but what seems to be the problem?"

Chiui jumped at the voice that suddenly questioned her. Curious of who it was, she turned around. Her eyes widened when she saw a short teenager, around 16, and a tall, sturdy body of armor looking at her. The teenager with the red coat had golden hair, which was put into a small braid. His bangs started from an arch in the middle and spread out like wings. He was wearing a black colonel suit, and had gloves on his hands.

Chiui blinked, for she somehow recognized him. "Oh, um, nothing's wrong, sir." she smiled nervously. "I...just have some things on my mind, that's all." She then continued walking, and quickly turned around when she saw the teenager and the armor following her.

"...Why are you following me?" she questioned, starting to get concerned.

The guy stopped in his tracks. "Well, Colonel Roy had told me that he saw a young woman with long, bright red hair, with white streaks at the tips of her bangs and end of her hair. He added that he's met you before."

"Huh?" Chiui smiled in bewilderment. "Roy? That name doesn't sound familar. I don't think I've met him..."

"Well, you'll recgonize him when we get there." The body of armor spoke up, and grabbed her hand. She quickly gasped in response.

"G-Get where?" Chiui locked her orange eyes on the glowing eyes of the armor, which scared her. "Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see." It replied. "...We apologize for having to do this, but it's Colonel Roy's orders."

Chiui looked around the main office of the building, nervous and confused. On her left was Edward Elric, the mentioned teenager from before that Chiui got the name of. On her right was Alphonse Elric, which she was surprised to find out inside the body of armor, that his soul was put inside there. It made her feel pity for him and Ed.

"So you're Chiui Youngsen." Ed spoke up, catching her attention. "You're the one whose brother and parents died in the fire, am I right?"

Chiui's eyes widened as she nodded. "Y-Yes, that's correct. How do you know that?"

Ed exhaled, and rested his hands on the back of his head. "Roy told me. He said that he had heard about the fire and a family torn apart because of it. So he had done some research and found out that it was your family that had been killed by the fire, leaving you to be the only survivor."

"Also, we know of Rai, your grandmother. " Alphonse added. "She was a colonel here before she retired. I heard that she…"

"She passed away." Chiui nodded solemnly. "…She and I were the only members of our family left. And now, with me being the last one, it makes me feel scared inside just thinking about it."

"I can see why." Alphonse responded. "That's why we had brought you here. I apologize again for us confusing you at all."

Chiui looked at him, surprised. "Oh, you didn't confuse me. Well…yeah, you guys did a little bit, but I was just…surprised."

Ed and Alphonse got quiet for a moment, thinking of what else there was to tell the redhead. The blond alchemist then locked his eyes on Chiui. "Oh, and one last thing. You'll be more surprised to find out that Roy's your cousin."

Chiui blinked. "He is….? How?" Shen then gasped when she saw that the bandaid around her forehead was taken off and now in Alphonse's hands. "H-Hey! I need that. This mark embarrasses me—"

"That's what we meant." Edward spoke up. "That mark is the same as the one on Roy's glove."

"But what does it mean?" Chiui questioned, covering her forehead with her hands. "All I know is that it just has a triangle, slamander, and a little fire on top."

"Well, that is the 'Flame Alchemist' mark." Alphonse explained. "Roy is the one and only 'Flame Alchemist' there is, and a pretty strong one at that. But it seems that there might be more than one of them, and we suppose that it's you."

Chiui's eyes widened in shock, and her mouth dropped partially open. She blinked, and thought over what Alphonse told her. "…But how is that possible? I…I've only heard of alchemy from my mother, who was an alchemist, but her husband's parents depised her of being one. She didn't list any types of alchemy, let alone it being passed down in the family."

Ed and Al glanced at each other in surprise. Al cleared his throat."Well..that's common in our world. But for her to not list any types of alchemy and not say if it was passed down to you or your brother, that is mostly unusual."

"She also might have not said it because she was afriad his parents would discover that one of her kids is an alchemist themselves." Ed theorized. "….Or that she's been wanting to say it to her kids for a long time, but never got around to it."

Al nodded in comprehension, for he believed those might be the cases. "Besides that, Roy will inform you more about it when you meet him. And speaking of which, if we don't do that, we'll be toast." Al then closed the conversation there, leading Chiui to Roy's office.

…

"Well, well, it's nice to finally meet my cousin." Roy smirked when Chiui, Ed, and Al entered his office. "I didn't know that there would be another 'Flame Alchemist', though."

Chiui noticed him looking at the mark on her forehead. "And I didn't know that there was a 'Flame Alchemist' before me as well." she attempted a compliment at her dark-haired cousin.

Roy only nodded as he got up from his desk, walking over to Chiui. "...I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your family, though. I just heard about it when I assigned this runt and Al to find you."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Edward yelled, and Alphonse tried his best to calm his big brother down.

Chiui laughed nervously. "...It's alright. I'm guessing you knew Rai, my grandmother?"

"...I did." Roy smiled, but then it soon changed to a frown. "...I hadn't joined the military yet, but she was one of the best colonels there were in Central. A lot of people admired her and made them want to join the military. But then she retired, and we never heard from her again."

Chiui fell silent for a moment. "Were you shocked when you found out that she passed away?"

"Yes, but she had lived a happy life, and died a peaceful death. But I wasn't as surprised by a good friend of mine that got killed years ago..."

His sentence trailed off into the distance, causing Chiui to tilt her head in concern. "Something wrong, Roy?"

Roy blinked, cancelling his train of thoughts and looked at his cousin. "Oh, no. Just had something on my mind, that's all."

"Okay." It was now Chiui's turn to be silent, as she thought over the confusing and awkward encounter she had with the Elric brothers. "...Say, Roy, why did you order them to bring me here? I know they told me that I'm your cousin, and you wanted to speak to me and meet me for the first time. But I feel like it's something else that you wanted to see me for."

Roy thought that over for a minute. "...Well, I was thinking of that symbol that you have on your head." He pointed to it, and Chiui got nervous, covering it with her hands again. "And there's nothing to worry about. You might be worthy to join the military."

"B-But...why?" Chiui's voice cracked. "I don't know anything about fighting and being a colonel."

"...Well, I'll teach you." Roy smiled, resting a hand on his cousin's arms. "I'm sure you'll be a good fighter. It'll also help you avenge your family's death, right?"

Chiui felt tears welling up in her eyes as a warm, reassuring smile crossed her lips. "...Right."

"Well, then." Roy clapped his hands together to move onto a different subject, causing the redhead to flinch. "I have something to do for right now, so I'll leave you with Ed. How's that?"

Chiui glanced over at Edward and Al, seeing if they approved of it. To her, it seemed that they did, but deep inside, Ed didn't like Roy's choices all that much.

Once Roy dismissed them, the three made their way into the hallway. Ed was silent until he came up with a good idea. "Say, I should introduce you to First Lieutenant Hawkeye! That'll be sure to pass the time."

Chiui looked a tad nervous when he mentioned her. "Oh, I'm sure it would." She remembered her grandmother, Rai, telling her about Hawkeye, the Lieutenant she used to work with before her retirement. She had described the blonde as a strict, but kind person. But the word "strict" is what made Chiui uneasy.

"Something wrong?" Alphonse questioned Chiui, who blinked.

"Oh, no! Not at all." Chiui smiled, laughing. "...I'm...just looking forward to meeting Hawkeye, that's all."

"Did someone mention my name?" a femine voice called, and Chiui and the other two quickly turned around.

It was Lieutenant Hawkeye. Like Roy, she was wearing a navy blue military outfit. Her blonde hair was put into a high ponytail. Chiui forgot that Rai had mentioned that as well.

"You must be Roy's cousin, Chiui." she told the teenager before Chiui could let anything escape her lips. "He told me about what happened."

"I see." Chiui didn't know what else to say to that. "And Roy said that he'll be training me, so I'm fine with that."

"I'm sure you would." Hawkeye nodded, and smiled. "I guess he's glad to have a cousin that's a Flame Alchemist."

"True." Chiui smiled, then tried to think of what else to say, but nothing clicked into her brain. "...Anyways, I was going to take a walk around the building until Cousin Roy is done with his errands."

"Good idea." The First Lieutenant smiled as well, and made her way back into the office where she was working. She looked over her shoulder at the redheaded teenager. "It was nice meeting you.

"Same to you!" Chiui waved goodbye to her, and Hawkeye did the same. Once Hawkeye closed the door behind her and resumed to her work, Ed, Al, and Chiui made their way down the hallway.

"...Say, speaking of training, are you and Alphonse trained by Roy?" Chiui asked Edward, and she flinched when Edward got a disgusted look on his face.

"...No, thankfully." Edward muttered that answer. "We were trained by . We call her 'Teacher'."

"...Okay then." Chiui nodded. "Did something happen to her? Is that why you used that past tense?"

Edward and Alphonse became silent, thinking of what happened. Edward remembered when he told Izumi about what happened when he and his brother tried to bring back their mother from the dead, how it didn't go as welll. Edward had to face the "Truth", and didn't like it at all. But Izumi had to expell them for trying to transmutate a human, since she had stick to the rules, which were unfortunately strict.

"...You can say that." Edward spoke up, having disappointment in his face.

Chiui could see the said expression on his face, and left it at that. She then heard someone making their way down the hallway, but it sounded fast and tiny. Once she saw the figure come into view, she saw it wasn't a person...it was a puppy.

"Black Hayate! Come back here!" A voice called to the said puppy, and made his way into view as well. Chiui noticed the man to be slightly shorter than she was, and had short black hair and glasses. Due to how he was running and the nervousness hinted in his voice, he seemed to have a fretful personality...but she didn't know if that held true or not.

Chiui didn't notice Black Hayate at her feet at first, but when she heard a little yip, she moved her eyes down to lock them on the puppy. She smiled warmly at seeing him, and couldn't help but pick him up. As she ran her hand smoothly across his head, she remembered her childhood, how she told her parents how she's always wanted a puppy. But her father didn't allow it, since Chiui's mother was an alchemist, and the puppy might be harmed.

Father, why did you loathe Mother's alchemy so much? she grumbled to herself, and then noticed that the puppy wasn't in her arms anymore, but in the black-haired Sergeant Major's arms.

"Oh, gosh. Thank you very much, m'am." The man smiled, and bowed. Chiui felt her cheeks flush a bit, since she wasn't used to be thanked as much.

"Oh, it's no problem." Chiui smiled. "The puppy's quite cute. And he seems to be friendly."

"He is," The man agreed, and petted the puppy's head as he did so, "His name is Black Hayate. Second Lieutenant Hawkeye adopted him a year ago, since I had found him in the streets and couldn't keep him where I live. He's learned to follow her strict rules, though..." he laughed nervously.

He then remembered something, and locked his black eyes on Chiui's. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself." He extended his hand out to her. "My name is Kain Fuery, but you can call me Sergeant Major Fuery if you want to."

Chiui smiled, and took his hand, shaking it. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Fuery. My name is Chiui Youngsen. I'm Roy's cousin."

When she mentioned that, Fuery's happy, optimistic expression suddenly changed to that of worry. "...Oh, well, you're quite lucky, then." he smiled, and noticed that Black Hayate was tapping his paw on Fuery's arm. "Oops. Well, sorry for the short talk, but I have to go now. Hayate is getting hungry."

And with that, he left the trio's sight.

Chiui seemed to be completely confused of why Fuery's expression changed, but Edward and Alphonse didn't seem to be surprised at all. "...Why did he get nervous like that-"

"It's a long story." The two Elric brothers said at the same time, and didn't say anything else.

"...Okay then." Chiui sighed, and looked over at Roy's door. "I wonder when Cousin Roy is going to be done with his errands."

"Well, he tends to take his time on them." Alphonse explained. "So an hour or so from now would be a good time to wait."

"Alright." Chiui nodded, and exhaled once more.

...This is going to be a fun, yet strange day...