Dawn Of A New Era

It was a bright, sunny day over Amestris on this Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1918. Over the horizon, Central Command was easily visible. It had been four years since Edward and Alphonse Elric defeated the Homunculi and Father, and since Alphonse reclaimed his body. Ed and Al returned to Resembool and were invited, with open arms, to live with the Rockbells, Winry and Pinako. Since then, Ed and Winry had settled down, and begun dating. Now that Ed had no alchemy to fight with, Winry had nothing to worry about. Alphonse took Ed's place as a State Alchemist, claiming the name Armor Body Alchemist, as a reference to his days as a walking, hollow suit of armor. He was based out of Central Command, alongside General Roy Mustang, Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong, Major Riza Hawkeye, and Miss Fuhrer Olivier Mira Armstrong.

"Colonel Armstrong, what a nice surprise. And you've brought Major Hawkeye with you. What brings you here at these hours?" asked General Mustang. General Mustang had regained his eye sight due to Dr. Marcoh's Philosopher's Stone, but not until he allowed Jean Havok to reclaim his ability to walk.

"General, we're here with urgent news from the Elrics," said Hawkeye.

"Well? What is it?"

"They're coming for a visit!" yelled Hawkeye and Armstrong simultaneously.

"That's the urgent news!? You guys had me worried!" exclaimed Mustang.

"Well, that's how Alphonse told us to tell you. He just called us not too long ago. They're leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

"Yes. Thank you Major. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some important paper work to get to."

"Yes General!" The two stepped back, saluted, and walked out. Mustang was left to think.

Hmm... Fullmetal and Armor Body are coming to visit. Should be nice.

"Al, are you almost packed? I wanna go to bed, and I can't until you're done, or else we'll both end up forgetting something." asked Edward.

"I'm almost done, brother. Go on. We'll be fine," answered Al. He had finally gotten his full look and capability back. He no longer needed a cane to walk, nor did he look like he needed to eat a sandwich. He was happy to be able to eat and sleep again. He was finally a normal human again.

Al finished packing and heard a knock at the door. He looked and saw that it was 11:39 PM.

"Who would be knocking at this time of the night?" He answered the door. Al was face to face with a boy, no older than 16, with crimson hair, that covered the middle of his face down to his nose. He had oceanic-looking blue eyes. He was wearing a black collared jacket over a white t-shirt and a necklace with a cross pendant attached to it. Al also noticed that the boy's left arm was missing. "Can I help you?" asked Al.

"I... My name is... Food" said the boy.

"Your name is Food?" asked Al, very confused. As he finished talking, the boy collapsed into Al's arms. Al was barely able to catch him. Ed came down the stairs wondering what was going on.

"Al, who's at the door?" asked Ed. He saw the boy in Al's arms. "Al, who's that?"

"I'm not sure. But I think he needs food, brother." Al carried the boy to the sofa and laid him down. The boy awoke to a bowl of soup.

"Eat up. You look like you need it," said Ed. The boy grabbed the spoon, brought himself closer to the bowl, and, slowly but surely, began to eat. When he finished, he looked up to thank his saviors and then realized who he was looking at.

"You guys are... No way. I'm in the home of the famous Elric Brothers?! The saviors of Amestris?!" said the boy with a huge grin on his face.

"Whoa, let's not go crazy here. I'm Edward Elric. And this is my brother, Alphonse."

"You know, before you collapsed, you said your name was Food... that's not right, is it?" asked Al, with a concerned look on his face.

"Haha, no. My name is not Food," answered the boy with a satisfied look. "My name is Isaac. Isaac Hamilton. I traveled here from a city right next to the Fort Briggs. I've been walking for countless days with very little to eat. And, now that I'm here, I've almost reached my goal. Tell me, does Winry Rockbell still live in these parts?"

"Are you kidding me? She lives in this house! Why do you need Winry?" asked Ed.

"Well, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I have no left arm. There are no automail engineers in the north that I'm over-satisfied with as I am Ms. Rockbell. So, I traveled all the way down here to ask her to make me a new arm! I lost it about three hours before my departure," said Isaac.

"May I ask how you lost it?" asked Ed.

"I'd honestly rather you didn't..." answered Isaac.

"I knew it. You attempted the Taboo, didn't you?" asked Ed.

"Ed! Stop. You shouldn't ask people questions when they just said they don't want you to!" yelled Winry at Ed from the bottom of the stairs.

"Winry! You're up," said Al.

"You're Winry Rockbell... You're not at all what I imagined." Visions of a muscular, sweaty woman played through Isaac's mind. He snapped out of his daze and looked Winry right in the eyes. "Ms. Rockbell-"

"IT'S WINRY!" yelled Winry, slamming a fist on top of Isaac's head. "People start calling me Ms. and it makes me feel old. I'm not even 20 yet."

"Uhmm... I'm sorry, Winry. I didn't mean to upset you. But I have a question to ask you," replied Isaac.

"I'll make you automail. Since Ed got his arm back, I haven't had any practice with arms, so it may take me some time to think up a design, but I can suit you up." Winry had a big smile on her face. You could tell she was eager for the challenge.

"I don't need anything special. I just want an arm that allows me to pick things up and set things down and use my Alchemy."

"So you are an Alchemist. Not just some random kid who wanted a loved one back," said Ed.

"Well, you've figured it out, so I might as well tell you. Yes, I did commit the Taboo. But I had good reason. My mother died in child birth along with the child she was birthing. That was when I was five years old. She was a renowned State Alchemist. They all said that if she'd lived, she could've become the leader of Briggs when Miss Armstrong was appointed the Fuhrer. So, in honor of my mother, I began learning Alchemy when I was seven. I used my Alchemy in the same way my mother always did: helping others. I fixed dings in people's houses. I made light posts for the city I lived in. And then, Miss Armstrong heard of me. She wanted to make me a State Alchemist. So I took the test, but I failed. So she had me enlist, and personally appointed me to Briggs. Then, one day about, three years ago, our neighbors to the north, Drachma, attacked Fort Briggs, hoping to take it over. This was my first war encounter of any kind. I'd never even fought anyone. So I hid. Like a coward, I ran and hid. General Armstrong, however, found me. She looked at me and said..." Isaac began remembering Armstrong's words from that day.

"Are you hiding in the middle of a fight Soldier?! I trained you better than this! You were almost a State Alchemist because of me, and you're HIDING?! How can you call yourself a Briggs Soldier?!"

"General Armstrong, sir, I've never-"

"I don't give a DAMN! I don't care if you've never wiped your own ass! As long as you are under my command, you are to be fighting when everyone else is!" Armstrong turned around and took a breath. She then said, much more calmly, "If I don't see your face on that battlefield, Soldier... Then I'd better never see your face again. I never thought I'd be saying this to a Hamilton. Especially not after how your mother served us."

"She made me realize how stupid I was being. After she said that, visions of my mother passed through my mind, and I realized how ashamed she'd be if she were there. I got angry. I got so pissed at myself that when I went to the battlefield, it took me three minutes to kill ten Drachman soldiers. In twenty minutes, the fighting was over. And in one battle, I had over sixty confirmed kills. But, the Drachmans did take something from that fight. They took the last bit of family I had. After they retreated, I looked for my dad and I couldn't find him. I couldn't find him because he'd already been drug to the Briggs morgue. My father died in that battle. So, to reclaim the only family I had left, I trained up my Alchemy. It took me a few years, but I finally felt comfortable. I comitted the Taboo. I was sent to some weird place where they took my arm. And they told me..."

"You attempted Human Transmutation? Your Alchemy's so weak, you would've barely been able to Transmute an arm! You're going to see A LOT of Truth, just because I like your tenacity, heh heh."

"I was grabbed by these weird hands and sent through these doors. So many things, so much information was shoved into my brain all at once. I just wanted it to be over. I awoke with one arm, and some demon standing infront of me. I didn't know what it was. It scared me. I ran out of my house and decided to head this way."

"So you were left with no family. I feel bad for you," said Alphonse. "When Ed and I did it, we at least had each other."

"We should be getting to bed. Isaac, we have a guest bed upstairs in Al's room. You can use it, if Al is okay with sharing his room," said Winry.

"That's fine! We can get to know each other! You'll probably be hanging around us for awhile if Winry's going to get you some automail, so it'll be nice to learn some about each other," said Alphonse.

"Thank you guys very much. I owe you all so much!" exclaimed Isaac with a smile on his face.