1. Death of a Loved One

"No! She can't have died," muttered Ed. "She can't have died!" he shouted, tears forming in his eyes. "We've known her since…since…we've known her so long, I can't even remember where or when we met!" Ed dropped to his knees and wept. "A…and n…now she's…g…gone! Just like th…that! This can't be real!" He punched the floor. "It… it has to be a d…dream! Wake up! WAKE UP!

"Brother, this isn't… it isn't a dream!" Alphonse said not bothering to fight back his tears. "I know it's hard to believe, but… Rikku isn't coming back! Not now, not ever! Not even Alchemy can change that!"

Maybe I should back up a bit. Winry, Alphonse, Edward, and I, Rikku, have been friends since, like, the dawn of time. I know, I know. You're probably thinking, 'How can the, seemingly, main character be dead already?' but don't worry. I will get to that part later. And besides, this isn't just my story. You'll see.

Edward's 11, Alphonse and I are 10, and Winry is 12.

"Rikku! Come on! Ed's doing Alchemy!" shouted Al from another room.

"Really? Cool! Hold on, I'm coming!" I answered. I found the room Ed and Al were in.

"What are you transmuting?" I asked.

"It's a surprise for you," replied Ed. " I think you'll really like it. Okay. I'm done drawing the transmutation circle. Now stand back." Ed stepped towards the edge of the circle of strange designs. "Here goes nothing." He clapped his hands together and, as he knelt down, slapped them against the ground touching the circle. All of a sudden, the room flooded with the bluish light that came from the circle. Almost as fast as the light appeared, it disappeared, leaving a small object in the middle of the circle.

"Oh…wow Ed! It's sooo pretty!" I exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it in my life!" I picked up the necklace. It was a gold locket in the shape of a heart. I opened it. On one side, there was a picture of Winry, Al, Ed, and I.On the other side therewas a little saying: "Grow up and be strong; never let the words of another get you down!"

" I really want to learn more Alchemy, so I can make better things for you too."

"I could teach you, if you want me to," Ed offered.

"That would so great! I mean...I can do little stuff, but not anything like this!" I said, still amazed at the locket. "But it would take forever to get to where you are."

"But, Rikku," Al chimed in, " remember how fast you learned when you put your time into it? The only reason you don't know as much Alchemy as Ed and I is because you started working on the Craft instead," he continued.

"Oh yeah, the Craft," I said. "Hey Ed, if you teach me Alchemy, maybe I can teach you the Craft in return."

"That would be great!" Ed said.

"I'm sure you could get as good as Ed in a fraction of the time." said Al.

"He's right Rikku." said Ed.

"And I wanna learn the Craft too! Can I Rikku?" Al asked.

"Okay!" I said, "Now, I'm ready to learn Alchemy!"

Alchemy is a strange thing. But Ed and Al were right, I did pick up fast. There are some key termsany alchemistshould know. For instance, a transmutation or Alchemy itself.

Let's start with Alchemy. Alchemy is the ancient art of creativity. For something to be made, something of equal value must first be given up. That is the first and main law of Alchemy; equivalent exchange.

A transmutation circle is required by everyone. Everyone that does Alchemy at least.Onlythe best can useAlchemy without them, and that'sbecause they cheat.'How can they cheat?'alot of peopleask. Well here isthe answer; some people have a small transmutation circle hidden somewhere on there body. Like tattooed on their skin, or stitched on their clothing. Those cheaters. They're only the best because of their "amazing ability." Anyway…

Apparently, there is one more kind of Alchemy; it is extremely forbidden. When Ed and Al tried to research it, they were turned away and told, 'That information is for State Alchemists only." However, they did get the information from the books their father left them.

Human Alchemy is the art of creating human life. Someone in ancient times studied it, and killed himself in the process. Unfortunately, he was killed for no reason, because Human Alchemy is, so far, useless. And dangerous. Although I have a feeling someone is still researching it secretly...

And finally, a State Alchemist. Someone works for the military by using Alchemy. "A dog of the military," as some of the State Alchemists would put it themselves. It's amazing, the numbers of Alchemists the military has. They only let a few in each year. They must have been here a long time.

Edward Elric is twelve, I'm eleven, Alphonse Elric is eleven, and Winry is thirteen…

"Hey, you want to go to the old warehouse?" I asked.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Ed.

"Guys, I'm not sure…" Al said slowly.

"Yeah, I agree with Al," answered Winry. "After all, your mother should be home soon," she continued.

"Aww…come on lets," I whined. "We'll be back before your mom gets home."

"Yeah Winry," said Ed. Jokingly, he continued, "Don't be such a baby Al!"

"Brother!" Al said.

"Only joking around! Come on it's just a warehouse. It's not like it's haunted or anything." That was Ed.

"Well, I guess not," said Al reluctantly.

"Whatever," said Winry, "you go, but I'm not coming. I'll just take apart…"

"You don't have anything to take apart anymore. You've taken everything you own apart! And you've put it back together again," I said.

"Fine, but I'm not coming!" She turned away and stormed off.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Al.

"Dunno…" Ed and I chorused, shocked at her leave.

A large truck with the word, "MIKA" printed on it came barreling up a hill on the road Ed, Al and I were walking.

"Think that's his name?" I asked.

"Probably," Ed answered.

"He looks unfriendly," said Al.

Al was right. He had tattoos all down his arms and an evil grin on his face, and was looking straight at me.

"Back up! I don't think he's going to stop!" I yelled. We backed off the road.

He did stop but it was all of a sudden. I was surprised he didn't get whiplash.

"What's up baby?" Mika said to me. "Wanna ride?" He reached for my hand, but I took a step back.

"Back off," I said warningly.

"What's wrong baby? I'm Mika. What's your name?"

"Leave her alone," Ed growled.

"None of your business," I answered Mika.

"Ooooooh this should be fun," Mika said.

"What?" I asked puzzled.

Mika took one last reach for me. He grabbed my arm. "Come here!"

"Hey let go of me!"

"Leave her alone!" shouted Al.

"Put her down!" yelled Ed

"Why?"

"Leave me alone, you freak!" I screamed.

"Sorry sweetie but you're struggling too much. I'm gonna have to do this."

"Rikku!"

"Rikku? That's a nice name," Mika said. I was struggling again. "Why you…"

"Let her go!" Ed shouted.

"Meet me at the warehouse if you want to see her again. That's where you were going anyway wasn't it?" Mika said.

"How'd you…" Al started to say. I kept struggling. I bit Mika on the arm.

"OUCH! Why do you have to do this baby? I'm sorry I have to do this…" Mika hit me in the stomach really hard with something metal. I blacked out.

When I woke up I was in someplace dark. I couldn't see anything.

"Oooooooohh…" I moaned. "Oh my God I feel like hell." My stomach hurt like crazy, I was in some place that was dark, and my arms were being pinched by something.

...Chains.

"Hey you freak! Let me go!" I shouted into the darkness. "Where are my friends?"

"Don't worry baby…"

"Quit calling me that!" My anger was building.

"Don't worry… baby… your friends will die soon. All I want is you…" Mika said from some place ahead

"What? You don't even know me!" I started to panic. I found a loose spot in the chains, and started struggling.

"But if you want me to kill you too, keep struggling in those chains."

I paused for a minute. He said he was going to need me for something, didn't he? So he wouldn't kill me I thought. I started fighting again with the steadily loosening chains.

"If you wish…" Mika said. "I'll kill you now, so you won't have to deal with the pain of your friends' death." Mika stepped out of the darkness and pulled out a gun. Just as he pointed it at me, a door flew open.

"Ed! Al!" I shouted.

"Leave her alone!" Ed yelled.

"And what will you kiddies do if I don't?" Mika asked distracted. He lowered his gun.

"I'll… I'll…" Ed stuttered

Meanwhile, I was still fighting the chains and finally broke free. Mika turned around and looked at me. The evil look on his face petrified me.

" You don't want to move," he growled at me.

I finally calmed down enough to start running. I ran towards Edward and Alphonse, but Mika reached out and grabbed my, unfortunately, long hair.

"Ouch! Let go of me!" I started fighting again.

"Sorry baby but I just cant do that," said Mika.

"Put her down!" shouted Ed.

"Leave her alone!" yelled Al.

"Well since we have three requests, I guess I could," Mika muttered suspiciously. "You want her down?" Mika had an evil grin, " Fine. I'll put her down," he continued, indicating the gun.

"Oh my God!" I shrieked.

He raised the gun…

"L…l…leave her alone!" Al yelled.

His finger was on the trigger…

"Noooo!" Ed shouted.

CRACK! He fired. "Unfortunately, now I must continue my search…" It was becoming hard for me to hear… and see. I was still alive, but I didn't know how long I could stay that way.

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away!" Ed shouted.

"Ed you can't! You need a…" Al was cut off. Ed clapped his hands and a flash of light emitted from an imaginary circle. Something snaked out and grabbed Mika.

"transmutation circle," Al finished.

With a look of surprise, Mika snapped his fingers, and in a burst of flame, disappeared.

"Rikku!" Al shouted worryingly.

Everything went blank….