(To those of you who are about to read this, feel free to do so, but this is an old story of mine. I am moving it from my original account to this new account, which is mainly for old stories that I do not wish to keep on my main account, which is named Dylexa. I won't have anything good up there for a while, sadly. I am working on it though!)

CHAPTER ONE:

A soul, a midget, and a duck

He's short
He's blond
And he's partly made of metal
Who is this kid?
Why did he join the military at such a young age?
Does he realize
those golden eyes of his
Will see more hell than he could bear?

"I can't believe Mustang is making us travel with an escort," a young, short teenager with a head full of long blond hair that was braided back complained as he and a man in a suit of armor stood at a train station, waiting for their escort to finally come. Their train was about to arrive.

The boy was wearing a red hooded jacket that reached his knees, with a black shirt and pants underneath, along with black boots. Pale gloves the color of snow covered his hands.

"What do we do if she doesn't come by the time the train arrives?" The "man" in the suit of armor sounded much younger than the blond haired boy, despite the huge difference in their size.

"We'll ditch her. I never wanted an escort anyway."

If anyone knew better, they would know that these two males are the Elric brothers. Edward Elric, the blond haired boy and the older of the two, is a state alchemist. After losing his leg trying to bring back his mother, who died from being ill, and sacrificing his arm in a horribly desperate attempt to bring back his younger brother, Alphonse, the two have been on a quest to get their bodies back, since Alphonse is now a soul inside a hollow suit of armor, and since Ed's left leg and right arm are now metal.

"We can't just leave her, brother!" Alphonse cried in a frustrated tone. "That's mean!"

"Well, it was mean of Mustang to send an escort in the first place!" Edward snapped back. "What the hell do we need an escort for? We can take care of ourselves just fine!"

Human transmutation is a forbidden art, and the punishment is severe. Something the Elric brothers learned the hard way.

"Well, Mustang is an adult. He probably knows better…maybe we do need an escort."

"I'd agree with you if it weren't for the fact that you were defending Roy Mustang." Ed smirked. "Anyway, what do you think our escort looks like? Mustang didn't give us anything at all to describe her, except 'she has a strangely familiar resemblance to you Ed! Not too much, but there's one trait that you two share! Har! Har! Har!'" Ed stuck his tongue out in disgust of how mean Mustang's laugh sounded. It felt as if Roy were taunting Edward about something like a note being stuck to his back without the young teen knowing it. Mustang often teased Edward about stuff like his height.

"Could be your hair," Al offered. "Or your temper."

Ed winced at the second comment from Alphonse.

"Hey, I'm just saying. You get mad really easy, brother. Especially when someone notices that you're short!"

"I AM NOT SHORT!"

"You're not proving your point very well," Alphonse remarked.

"I don't care."

"Let's just keep an eye out for someone."

The two boys scanned the train station for several minutes, searching for someone with blond hair, or maybe someone in the familiar uniform that the usual state alchemists always wore.

That's when they heard the ringing of a bell.

"That's a train," Alphonse said, bewildered, "and I think it's ours."

Alphonse's hypothesis was correct. Train number twenty-four, the train the Elric brothers were taking, was just pulling in. The doors opened slowly, and people started walking out right away.

"Well, let's get on," Edward said, grabbing his suitcase, obviously in a hurry to get on their train so he could ditch their escort.

"Brother! Wait a minute!" Alphonse scolded. "That's just rude! We should just wait!"

"Ugh!" Edward dropped his suitcase dramatically and started pouting, crossing his arms like a little kid.

God, it's hard to believe that I'm the younger brother sometimes, Alphonse thought to himself, feeling quite annoyed that his older brother was acting like a toddler. Alphonse thought that it should have been the other way around, but unfortunately, he couldn't get his way right now.

It was true, Alphonse did not want to have a total stranger following them around and cramping their style. What if this escort was a real big bitch? What if she was actually a spy?

But despite all these paradigms that Alphonse was having about their escort right now, he tried his best to be patient. It was the least he could do anyway, and besides, Alphonse did not like to be rude…unlike his older brother, who was often the bolder and more stubborn brother. If their mother would have been alive today to see her first son, she would have said something like "he's your father's son alright, Alphonse."

Alphonse had actually never seen his father very much in his life, since the man had abandoned the boys and their mother when Alphonse was only four, but he knew that Edward was probably more like their father than himself, despite the older brother's strong contempt for the man.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME! GODDAMN TRAIN!"

The Elric brothers turned their heads in the direction of the shout. Running in their direction was a young girl who looked around Ed's or Al's age, wearing average clothes, including a long sleeved red shirt the color of blood, and dark blue jeans that were as baggy as a three-hundred-year-old man's face. Black combat boots placed on her feet hid under her jeans as well, and she was gripping a black backpack, trying desperately to keep it shut as she ran towards the train. Long, raven-black hair sprouted from the top of her head, sticking out all over the place as if she had just gotten out of bed and covered her face. From the part of her face the boys could see, it was obvious too them that she hadn't slept in days, because underneath all that hair, the brothers could see dark circles right under her green eyes.

She was almost a couple inches away from the brothers when she tripped, since her left shoelace was untied. All of the contents from her bag spilled out, and the girl cussed loudly.

Alphonse, being the polite young boy, quickly rushed over to the girl and helped pick up her belongings, and quickly but gently putting them back in her bag. The girl grimaced, closing her bag and got back on her feet, completely forgetting that her shoe was still untied. Alphonse saw that despite how old she looked, she seemed a bit shorter than normal…this reminded him of his brother. If Al had had his original face, he would have smirked.

He was sure that this young woman was their escort.

"That's the first time I actually tripped on my shoelace," the girl says, her voice making her sound like she was now seventeen instead of fifteen. She pulled back a bit of her hair, revealing normal sized ears with two studs in the two tiny holes, one a silver rose and the other a blue jewel. The two earrings reminded Alphonse of his old childhood friend Winry, whom he and Edward had lived with, along with her grandmother after the boy's mother had died (Winry had pierced her ears about four to five times already).

"They're untied all the time, and I've never tripped on them until today," the girl continued. "Thanks sir. I appreciate the help. My name is Rain Halpern, but obviously you can just use my first name. Some people shorten it out and call me 'R'. More for the young boys to call me it...seems like it makes them feel like that I'm not a girl hanging out with them, since most little boys prefer their own gender's company, or perhaps it makes them feel better that I at least sound like I'm a tomboy…but anyway, before I talk your ear off, I assume that you're the Fullmetal alchemist." Rain smirked after this, as if she had just thought of something funny. "Suites ya too."

"Actually, I'm not-"

"Alphonse, hurry up!" Edward walks up to the two, looking even more impatient than a boy his age should look. "I wanna ditch our escort!" He then sees Rain, and frowns. "Shit, this is her, isn't it?"

"He's the Fullmetal alchemist," Alphonse finished, pointing to his brother. "Not me."

Rain snickered,

"I know. I'm not dumb. Roy told me to mess with the 'Short Devil'," Edward flinched at the short comment, "he told me that Edward hates it when people mistake you for the Fullmetal alchemist, Alphonse Elric."

"What did you call me?" Ed glared at Rain, his golden eyes seeming as sharp as daggers. "Short Devil, right? So you think that you're tall? Midget?"

Rain smiled confidently. "I may be short, but I'm taller than you at least, you pixie. C'mon, let's get on the train before it leaves! I'm not paying for new tickets!"

Dumbfounded by Rain's boldness, the two brothers followed her on the train.

…

As train number twenty-four dragged on through the country like scenery, the three kids sat in awkward silence, unsure how to start conversation. Rain's grass-green eyes were pinned to the window, while the brother's eyes were pinned to their feet.

"So, um…why were you late?" Ed finally asked, breaking the invisible plastic that kept the three silent. "I mean, if you're late, you'll be left behind. Obviously anybody, including a state alchemist would know that."

"Interesting question," Rain said, pulling her dark eyes away from the window. They shone in the light. "Why was I late?" She smiled as Ed just stared at her as if she had grown a foot on her shoulder.

This chick is weird, Edward thought. Why would Mustang send such a weird girl to be our escort?

"I'm always late," Rain admitted, running her girly fingers through her shiny black hair. "Mustang threatened to fire me a couple of times, but he never has. I think he's just bluffing. He knows that even the Fuhrer likes me too much to get rid of me!"

Ed and Al exchanged glances before looking at Rain again.

"How long have you been working for the military?" Alphonse asked.

Rain shrugged,

"Well, I'm fifteen, so…I'd say about two years…but to be honest, I've really done nothing compared to you Ed." Rain's green eyes shone with admiration. "Mustang told me your whole story…I respect you Ed…"

"Oh, well…" Ed figured out what Rain was talking about and frowned at the memory of the day the two boys had tried to bring back their mother, the most important person in their lives. He remembered the agony he had gone through….the real sad thing was that Ed was only eleven, and Al was only ten when the whole mess happened. "…thanks I guess."

Rain nodded shyly. "Look, I know that me being with you guys probably pisses you off a lot, but I promise I won't get in the way too much. Unless I'm protecting you guys from bastards who want to kill you, I'll just be like a shadow who talks way too much, since that's almost exactly what I am….I mean, if I were you guys, I'd try pretty hard to get rid of my escort. It's annoying really, having people you barely know follow you around everywhere, poking their little noses into business that's better left between you two! I mean, seriously! What the fuck, Mustang!"

God, this chick doesn't even take a breath to speak, Ed thought. I shouldn't have gotten her going.

But that last comment Rain had made gave Ed an idea.

"So…if you believe this so strongly, then how about you go back home?"

Rain rolled her eyes. "I'm not that dumb, Elric. I may be against the whole idea, but being the Ekitai Alchemist, it's my job to just follow orders, and not question against them…something you should do more often."

Edward's face turned a dark shade of red. "I follow orders just fine."

"Oh, do you?" Rain smirked at Ed's dumbfounded look, "because, last time I checked, Mustang said you don't really follow orders that well."

"How much did that bastard tell you?!?"

Rain just smiled.