Author's Note: This is my first attempt at an FMA fic, I've been dying to do one for years! Please R&R! I don't own any of the characters no matter how much I wish I did :P

Florida, USA

"Do you really have to go back to college?"

"Reagan, do you really have to go back to school?"

"Yes…"

"And I have to go back to college."

"It's not fair Grace, why can't we just be free spirits and fly away from it all?"

"Because we aren't meant to fly with wings, but with our minds."

"What does that even mean?!"

"I read it somewhere, you'll figure it out."

Grace hugged her sister tightly and laughed as Reagan scrunched up her face in thought. She sighed, Reagan wasn't even thinking, her eyes weren't glossed over like how when she was normally in deep thought. Her sister's sharp emerald eyes were trained on her anime covered laptop, go figure.

"You'll get wrinkles if you keep your face like that Reagan."

"Maybe I'll look as old as you do!"

Reagan pulled away from Grace laughing and started running away as Grace tried to tackle her.

"Get back here you midget! You'll pay for that!"

"WHO YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU NEED TWO MICROSCOPES TO SEE SINCE ONE AIN'T ENOUGH?!" Reagan spun around screaming as Grace tackled her.

'Ha! Reagan fell for the bait! It always works.'

Oof.

Grace adjusted herself so she was sitting square on Reagan's back pinning her down. No matter how much Reagan squirmed and wriggled, she couldn't get out from under Grace. With a huff, Reagan stopped moving.

"That was cheap…"

"You called me old."

"You called me a midget!"

Chuckling, Grace started to carefully run her fingers through her sister's golden hair and braid it back, just like she did a hundred times before. Reagan huffed a few times trying to blow her bangs out of her face.

'Stupid bangs, they never make it into the braid.'

"I'm so jealous of your hair. It's so beautiful and soft. It's just like dad's was."

"That ex-military bastard left us, Grace. Let him die in your thoughts already." Reagan snapped at her sister. Yet again, their father was a sensitive topic. He and their mother fought about everything for so long after he got back from service years ago, then one day he just slammed the door and left. Grace always thought he would come back, or at least be there for her. She was only four when he left, but she still hoped he would return. Reagan couldn't care less, she was glad he was gone. He deserved all of her hate in her mind. She may not have the memories Grace had, but she had watched enough Disney movies to know "ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

"Whether you like it or not, he is our biological parent, at least respect him, Reagan."

"If you stop talking about him right now, I'll consider it."

"You are such a brat."

"Grace," Reagan sighed and turned to half look up at her sister, "I don't want to have this fight before you leave. It would suck. Majorly."

"Fine, truce then?" Grace playfully bowed and extended a hand to her sister. Reagan snatched her hand and jumped up shrugging.

"Sure."

Grace smiled and hugged her.

"Here help me finish packing my stuff and loading it into my car."

"Fine."

After the last bag was loaded into the car, Reagan turned to watch her sister hug their mother tightly and shake hands with their step-dad. He tried to be a good man, but he was no father type, and Grace was too dead set on only having one father figure she never tried to accept anyone new.

"Try to get away with just a handshake and I'll punch you." Reagan joked as Grace pulled her into a bear hug.

"I would never, we're sisters. There is no Grace without Reagan." She smirked and punched Reagan playfully in the arm.

"Damn right there isn't. Now give 'em hell! Show them the power of the eldest Ryan!"

"You make it sound like I'm embarking on an epic quest, it's only a legendary one." Grace smirked. That was Grace in a nutshell, totally the gamer girl with the brains of a major nerd. She had only been to college for a semester now, but was already one of the most popular girls and had a ton of boys after her. She took after their mom so much with the soft green eyes that put a puppy to shame and the wavy red hair that almost always made her look like a leprechaun; not to mention the killer temper that followed if someone pushed her too far. When they were younger it was easy to see them as siblings, but now, it was obvious to see who took after which parent.

"Of course, my lady." Reagan bowed as Grace smacked her in the back of the head.

"I'll be back to annoy my flea-sized sister soon. Oh, and when I come back I'm taking you to that Con you have been talking about, I'll even cosplay with you. You can even pick the people, just remember that not all of us are micro-shrimp." She smiled and got in the car to drive off as Reagan started to creatively rant.

'Damn that red headed witch! I'm not short for the last damn time!'

RING. RING. RING.

The house phone blared throughout the noiseless house. Reagan turned over in bed covering herself with her blankets.

"Damn telemarketers, what do they want with us at midnight…" She grumbled trying to block out the noise.

Footsteps shuffled into the kitchen and answered the phone. Soon the silence in the house went from comfortable to unbearable as the sounds of crying crept into Reagan's room.

"That's not a telemarketer…" Quickly rubbing her eyes and quickly shuffling into the kitchen. She froze at the door. Her mother say on the ground clutching the phone like a lifeline as her step-dad held her close rubbing her shoulders. Her mother was listening intently to whoever was speaking as she tried to keep her tears to a minimum.

"Okay… thank you sir… I'll inform them." As her mother hung up the phone and turned to her, Reagan caught her breath, her mother's eyes were dull with no sign of the light they normally had, her skin was pale as tears carved rivers into her cheeks. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Mom?..." Reagan inched carefully over and down to her, careful not to move to suddenly and risk breaking her. This was so unlike her, she was always strong, never sad or afraid. She hadn't cried in years, at least not in front of Reagan.

"Baby girl…" Her mother clung to her like a wet sheet, tears flowing freely as she whispered one word into Reagan's ear. The word that broke her own heart and stopped it cold.

" It's Grace."