Katrina stepped up the creaking stairs, to the top floor, taking care to watch her step. Mama had often lectured her about over exerting herself. "Suppose you'd have fallen and hurt yourself?" she would always ask. Katrina rolled her eyes at the thought and leaned on her crutch as she descended upward. She was 15 years old and had been crippled all her life. Her left ankle bone bent, turning the sole of her foot outward. This enabled her to stand straight on her left leg. While it caused everyone else to pity her, Katrina never viewed her deformity as a horrid burden, although it did slow her down a bit. She couldn't run and play well with her cousins. So she was often left alone where she would read in the peace and quiet.

Katrina adored her books. Her favorites were of adventures and magic. Her books were her window to the outside world and too many others. Unfortunately, since reading was her greatest pastime, she was soon running out of new materials. So she started searching the house for something else to do. That was when she started making trip upstairs to the attic. Her mother never had the heart to throw anything away. There were stacks of boxes of old photos and clothes and keepsakes from relatives from generations back. It was funny though, it all seemed to come from her mother's side. She never remembered seeing much from her father's side of the family. There were only a few things around the house, such as a photo of her father and her grandfather, when her father was still a child, but not much more than that.

After finally reaching the top of the stairs, Katrina set to the most difficult part of her trip to the attic, the ladder to the attic door. Her ankle made it difficult to balance on the latter while lifting the door through the ceiling and carrying her crutch at the same time. She had to rely on the strength of her upper body. She tucked her crutch under her left arm and placed her good foot on the first step of the ladder and stood of it. Her left foot dangled under her. She reached her right arm to the farthest step she could reach, and her left as far without dropping the crutch. She took a breath and lifted her body and brought her right foot two steps higher. She paused for a second than did the same again. With one more left after that she reached the door. She lifted the door up so it flipped back on the attic floor. She placed her crutch aside by so to use both arm in pushing herself up to sit on the attic floor. "Success!" she said happily to herself "How about THAT, Mom?" Katrina closed the door and proceeded to look around.

It didn't take her long to start rummaging through the old boxes and baskets. Perhaps she'd find an old book of her grandmothers. After a few minutes of sorting through some familiar things, Katrina spotted something in the corner of room. It was covered with a white sheet that caught the light from the sun through the window. "Hmm…what's that?" Katrina limped over to the window and removed the sheet. It was a brown trunk. She didn't remember seeing this before. There was no lock, but it obviously hadn't been opened for years, for it creaked when Katrina opened it. The dust from its contents hung in the air for a minute before she could peek inside.

There was what looked like some old clothes, an old fashioned brown coat, some trousers, a shirt, looked like they might have been from the 20s. But something caught Katrina's eye. She pulled out what looked like a coat…or perhaps it was a cape. It wasn't like anything Katrina had ever seen in the attic. It was bright red, which was how it stood out from anything else in the trunk. Katrina turned the fabric around in her hands to get a good look it. There was a rather peculiar black symbol on the back of it. It looked something like a cross with something weaving around it, kind of like a snake. There was also a crown and wings on the top. "That's odd…" Katrina said softly. Perhaps it was some sort of religious symbol. It was odd, yet strangely beautiful. The teenager slipped off her sweater and tried on the coat. She looked in the old full length mirror that was kept up there. She un-tucked her long blonde hair from the coat and it hung loosely around her shoulders. Then she put up the red hood. The girl smiled at her reflection, remembering "Little Red Riding Hood" and pushed the hood back again. She liked this coat.

Katrina brought her attention back to the trunk, hoping to find more interesting things. It was then she came upon some old papers. They looked just notes and perhaps some letters. She rummaged a little more and found a couple of books. They were both black and leather bound. She opened to the first page. It was all hand written in ink. "A journal…" Katrina said. She considered on putting the book back in the trunk but curiosity got the better of her. And besides, whoever wrote it probably wouldn't mind…by now anyway. So she read the first entry.

June 13th 1924

As much as Brother thinks it's childish and somewhat dangerous for us to be keeping journals, I feel it is important for us to document our history, travels and accomplishments. My memories are especially important to me. One of my worst fears is I will wake up and not remember my past. Not remembering those four years I had spent traveling with Brother was an awful feeling that I hope to never experience again! But if it should happen, I will have this journal to help me remember.

It's hard to imagine that we've been in this place for about a year. It's so different from back home. I'm trying hard to adapt. Brother seems to be doing okay, but he has already been here longer than me. Not being able to use alchemy was certainly a challenge for me at first. It was like a part of me that had been taken away. The ways of the world here are so different. Much different than where we grew up as boys. We went by one law. "Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost." That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. This those days, we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth.

Alphonse Elric

Katrina's eyes widened and read the name again. "Alphonse…Grandpa Al?"

(A/N: So what do you think? I have more coming soon!)