(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!)

Hello peoplez! Yeah, Dylexa is back! I decided that the start to my story "The Ekitai Alchemist" just wasn't working out too well, because it was aiming in the direction of being based off "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" and I really didn't want that, because really, it's hard to write constant chapters based off things that I already read or saw...trust me, you guys can't tell, but I had a chapter three completed about a month ago, and I was on the constant thought of "This thing sucks...I can't publish thisshit!" So yeah, this story is going to be a bit different...I guess you could say that it's going to be like another version of the FMA series...okay...that's what a fanfiction is...but you get the point.

WARNING: I have an OC in this story, but really, I encourage you to read it. If you don't like my story because of the OC, I feel kind of sad, but i guess I understand. I try as hard as I could though not to make my character a Marry Sue, and my grammar is just great, so I urge you to read it! And also, the plot gets really cool too! Trust me, I'm making it full of twists and turns and blood and gore and just all that stuff I know you love!

Also, I might change the name to this story, because really, I couldn't think of anything else to name it...and really, I'm too excited to think of a better name! Besides, this name does suit it, I just might wanna change it later!

Edward: Just shut up already!

Dylexa: Well, excuse me! This isn't just your story you know!

Edward: I don't care! I'm bored!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, or any other character from the show. Thankfully I do not own Edward, so I don't have to take care of his lazy ass either.

Edward: HEY!

Claimer: I do own Rain Halpern, the Ekitai Alchemist, and I do own this fanfiction, so do not steal. I will hunt you down and kill you with my water gun...trust me, water guns work. Water. Guns. Work.

Edward: No they don't.

Dylexa: (squirts Edward with a water gun)

Edward: (groans) please tell me that was water.

Dylexa: All I'm saying is that you might want to take a shower.

Edward: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SQUIRT ME WITH!

CHAPTER ONE:

Blood and thunder

"Just stay safe, goddammit. You'll make me look bad if you die."

He ran. That was all he could do in defense. He had no choice anymore...his moves of attack were futile.

Blood and rain soaked through his clothes, chilling his body. The sticky red liquid that dripped from the cut on his head stung in his eyes, and all he could see was crimson. His feet made a split splat sound as he tried to flee from his attacker. He didn't even notice that the rain drops falling down on him had started to fall even harder. His life was too important to worry about that anyway.

Split splat!

Split splat!

Split-!

His feet splashed into a puddle as he halted to a stop, dirty water rushing into his shoes. Rubbing the blood from his eyes, he looked at the shadow that hovered over him.

Before he could do anything to protect himself, his neck tightened, trapping the air from his lungs. It was a mystery to how he had managed to let a small cry escape his lips, because he could hardly breathe.

Strong hands tightened their grip around his neck for a moment before pain exploded through his back as he was thrown at the wall nearby.

The man tried to get up, but his attacker was swift. He had grabbed the man's head with his right hand before he could blink.

"I will give you a moment to pray to God," his attacker said. He was tall and muscular, and his skin was brown. His hair was white and cut short, and a pale 'X' shaped scar had been burned across his face. The man saw that he was wearing sun glasses. Beneath the right orange sleeve of his jacket, the man saw strange tattoos on his arm.

"W-why are you k-kil-lling me? What have I-I done to you?"

His voice had been quivering in such a horrible way that it was making it quite difficult for him to speak. He didn't even bother to put up a brave act. He knew that nothing would help prove wrong against the fact that he was going to die today, so there was no point in trying to hide his fear any longer.

"You have defied God. There for, you must be eliminated," the man with the scar said, his grip on the first man's head tightening.

Before his victim could scream for help, blood and bits of brain squirted out from his skull, and a bright blue light illuminated the alley. The scarred man's victim fell to the ground, and a puddle of blood almost immediately began to form around his head the moment it had slammed to the ground. The pounding rain immediately washed away the blood from the dead man's skull, and made the puddle of blood surrounding his head watery and less red.[1]

...

"You heard the news? The Silver Alchemist [2] is dead."

"That's the third one this week! Wonder who's gonna come down next?"

"I dunno, but if the Colonel or someone else doesn't catch the killer soon, it could be just about anyone."

As a young teen walked by in the building of Central command, she couldn't help but over hear these comments the people who worked here were throwing around. She did her best to ignore them, since she had already heard of the gruesome death this morning, but a small chill still went down her spine when she heard the last sentence spoken.

I guess I gotta keep my eyes peeled. For all I know, I could be that bastard's next target.

The girl had the average looks of an Amestrian girl; black hair that went past her shoulders, pale skin, green eyes. Although many people she had known throughout her life seemed to tower over her, but that didn't really matter to her. As long as she was healthy, she didn't care. She didn't care much for her looks, as long as she was still alive.

Just as she was about to take another step, a picture of a small girl with light chestnut hair, who was no older than two or three, was shoved in the girl's face. She blinked in shock.

"You like the new picture of Elicia?" The man who was holding the picture of his daughter, Elicia, asked with a giddy grin. "Just took it yesterday."

The man who had asked this was named Maes Hughes. He was of average height, and he had muscular arms. He looked identical to the girl both in the picture, and the girl he was showing the picture to now, having green eyes that hid behind square glasses, and jet black hair that was brushed back.

The girl studied the picture of Elicia carefully for a minute, not wanting to be rude. Even though Maes had tendencies to show off his daughter a bit too much, his young friend had enough manners to pay attention, even if she was in no mood to do such. She was raised to be polite after all, and to not pay attention to a friend was most definitely a rude thing to do.

"It's nice to know that your daughter Elicia will grow up with a father who loves her so much," the girl said with a small smile. "She's cute. She's really starting to look like Gracia. And she's got your eyes too, Maes."

The girl's name was Rain Halpern, also known as the Ekitai Alchemist. She had been working in the military for about two years now. Her time was a bit boring, since the only work she really had to do was research to maintain her tittle as a state alchemist, but she was thankful for the peace.

"Thank you, Rain!" Maes put his photo back into his coat pocket. He looked down at Rain with what seemed like worried eyes. The smile that had been on his face moments ago was now gone, replaced by a serious frown.

"Is anything wrong?"

Rain wished she hadn't asked. She knew what was coming. She hoped that Maes had not heard the news yet of the recent murder.

Her hopes were soon gone when Maes spoke again.

"Don't you think that it's a bit dangerous to be living homealone the way you are? Especially since there's a serial killer on the loose," Maes started, sounding too much like a parent that Rain didn't want to have to listen to. "You know you're more than welcome to stay with my wife and I."

"Don't think it'd matter. Besides, it's not like I can'tfight...don't you think that it'd be putting your family in danger, letting me stay at your house anyway? I'd just cause more of a hassle than necessary."

Maes's frown worsened.

"B-but thank you," Rain added, making sure to remember her manners. "I appreciate it, but I think that as long as I keep my doors and windows locked, I'll be fine. Besides, I live in the military dorms...I'm sure that will keep him away, right? It's not like I sneak out at night, anyway."

"I guess that's true." Maes gave up, but seemed unconvinced. "But you know...I actually heard that Roy might send you out on your first real mission soon."

Rain looked at Maes, flabbergasted. First this man asks her to stay with his family, then when she declines it he immediately tells her that there's a good chance that she might be sent away?

"...then why did you ask if I wanted to stay at your place if I'm just going to beleaving soon?"

Maes shrugged. "I didn't say that this will happen. I said that this might happen. Don't want to leave you in the dust if it doesn't happen."

"But it's still not a 'no', is it?"

"Just thought I'd give you the heads up."

"Well, okay. Thanks."

The two talked a little more about unimportant things, like the ridiculous amount of hours that they were given of work, and the 'dramatic' drop in the amount they were getting paid. Stupid taxes.

Finally after about fifteen minutes of chatting, the two bid their goodbyes and walked in opposite directions. They had work to do, and none of it would get done if they were just standing around, babbling.

...

"Still working on those papers, I see, Mr. Flame Alchemist. You can always just burn those, you know."

The man that Rain had spoken to was none other than Roy Mustang. Most people he knew actually towered over him as easily as they did with Rain, but he was still tall enough to tower over Rain, so nobody really talked about his height much. His dark hair covered his eyes a little as he was leaning over the vast amount of papers sprawledacross his desk.

"Miss Halpern, please don't mock Colonel Mustang's state name," said one of Roy's subordinates, Riza Hawkeye. Her long blonde hair was bound into a bun with a berate, and her brown eyes watched Rain carefully, like...well, a hawk.

"Sorry Lieutenant," Rain apologized with a sheepish grin. "Won't happen again."

Rain knew that Riza was probably just upset about the serial killer out and about, because Rain had always mocked Roy's name like that. She even teased Roy about his state name when Riza was around, and she almost never complained about it then. Why wouldn't she be worried? Her job could be at stake, since she was almost always by Roy's side to protect him. This serial killer was known to kill only state alchemists, and Roy was obviously one of them. He was a very well-known state alchemist as well, so that only put him at more risk.

Rain was also able to tell that from the look in her brown eyes, Riza cared about Roy. Rain wasn't sure in which way Riza cared, since Riza was very good at hiding her emotions most of the time, but she didn't think it really mattered. She most definitely cared about Roy, that was for sure.

Roy wrote something down quickly before looking up at Rain.

"I could pay you 5000 cens to do half of this for me," Roy grimaced.

"Fat chance. Besides, I thought you wanted to turn in papers that had good quality, not something that'll get you fired."

Roy chuckled. "Point proven."

Rain looked at Roy for a minute, watching patiently as his right hand moved in a left-to-right motion. She waited for a moment more before she spoke, figuring that Roy was much too busy to deal with her.

"Well, I guess I'll get started on my own work then."

Roy put his pen down, and Rain saw a spark in the man's eyes.

Something was going on. Rain had only seen that spark Roy's eyes a couple times she worked with him in these two years.

"Actually, that won't be necessary."

You were right, Maes. The Flame is chasing me away.

"And may I ask why not, Sir?"

A pause, and Roy smirked. "I guess you can call it a promotion. I'm sending you on your first mission."

Yup, the Flame is too hot to stay near, so I have to get farther away now.

"My first mission, huh?"

Roy nodded. "You won't be alone though. I'm sending someone with you."

"Sir..." Rain frowned. She wasn't into the violence, so it'd probably be easier to avoid it with someone traveling by her side, but she wasn't exactly comfortable, traveling with someone she barely knew. She never worked well with others anyway...she'd usually take up all the work, leaving the others in the dust. "...I don't really think I need the protect-"

"I didn't say they were going to be there to protect you. I know what you're capable of...if I didn't think that you'd be safe traveling the world, I would have requested for your tittle to be taken away long ago." Roy was smirking, as if confident.

Rain crossed her arms. What in the world was Roy planning?

Despite the fact that she was still stuck traveling with someone, she felt a bit better that they weren't there to protect her. She hated getting help from people and believed in working independently very strongly.

She stayed quiet, waiting patiently for Roy to continue to speak.

"You and Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, are to check out the town, Aquroya [3], and are to invest into the disappearances of the people there." Roy handed Rain a manila envelope. "There's more information on the mission inside."

Rain looked at the envelope for a minute before putting it into her coat pocket. She decided that now wasn't the time to look at it. "Thank you sir...but...did you say that the Fullmetal Alchemist was coming with me as well?"

Roy nodded. "Once he and his brother arrive, I'll explain that you will aid him on his trip to Aquroya. There's a train leaving tomorrow night at ten. Your tickets are in the envelope. Make sure you give the brothers theirs."

"Yes sir."

"Now I suggest you get ready for the trip...pack a couple items you want to bring with you, say goodbye to anyone if necessary...I don't know how long it'll be until you return here, but I'm sure it's going be a while. By the time you're ready, I'm sure the Elric brothers will be here."

Rain bid a small goodbye before leaving Roy's office.

"I've heard that some of the missing people were found dead and covered in blood," Riza said as soon as she was sure that Rain was out of earshot. "Are you sure they could handle the mission?"

"They'll be fine," Roy said confidently. "You know these kids."

"Still...I'm pretty sure that they've never had to solve a murder case."

Roy looked at his papers, scribbling something down. "When Edward and Rain joined the military, they expected these kinds of missions to be thrown at them sooner or later. You can't say that I'm going too hard on them, Riza."

"They're still children, sir."

Roy stopped writing. He read over what he had written slowly and carefully, checking for any mistakes. He stayed quiet for a while.

"Sir?"

Roy sighed. "They've gotta grow up sometime, Hawkeye."

...

"Look at this picture of Elicia! Isn't she cute?! She's been so cute lately! I just love her!"

For the past fifteen minutes, Maes had been showing off dozens of pictures to the two startled boys, babbling on and on about the famed Elicia. It seemed like he hadn't even stopped to take a breath yet.

"Um...Major? While we'd like to stay and hear about your daughter, we didn't really come to chat," Edward said. He was remarkably shorter than his younger brother, Alphonse, who already was taller than most people. Edward had golden hair and golden eyes. He was still very young, but the constant frown that was pasted across his face proved that he was much more mature than most children his age. The dark past that he shared with his brother had molded him into who he was today.

"Yeah, but maybe we can see some more pictures another time," Alphonse added, being careful not to make it sound like that they didn't want to hear another word about Elicia. Even if thanks to Maes, the brothers had learned fifty pages worth about Elicia in under half an hour, he did not want to seem rude. Even though he looked tough with his soul trapped inside that heavy suit of armor, he was quite sweet and thought of others.

Maes seemed to understand. He put his picture away. "Oh yes, I forgot that Roy had asked you guys to come to Central Command today. He's probably expecting you guys right now, isn't he?"

Edward nodded.

"Well, alright then...don't want to get you boys in trouble...but one more thing." Maes looked grim. His hazel eyes shone with worry, and the grin that was on his face moments before was now replaced by a frown similar to Edward's. "You boys watch your backs, alright? Don't do anything crazy...I know how reckless you two can be..."

Edward and Alphonse looked at Maes in shock, but both agreed to be as careful as they could. With that settled, Maes wished them a farewell and left the two brothers without another word.

"What was all that about?" Edward asked as soon as Maes was out of ear shot.

Alphonse shrugged. "I'm sure Mr. Hughes has his reasons. He's probably just worried about us, brother."

"I guess that could be it."

The two brothers were silent all the way up to Roy's office. When they got there, they saw that the door was already open. This struck them as an odd thing, but they did not think much as they walked in.

"About time you two boys came," Roy said in a taunting way that made Edward's blood boil, "I was worried you weren't coming."

Riza rolled her eyes at Roy. He was acting childish again...

"Well, we didn't come to see your ugly face," Edward muttered, earning a slap on the back from Alphonse. Roy had not heard what Edward said, yes, but Alphonse hated it when his brother spoke rudely of people like that. He knew that their mother would not have liked Edward's harsh attitude either.

Edward glared at his brother for a second more before speaking. "You said you had a mission for me, right? That I'm supposed to investigate into the disappearances in Aquroya."

Roy nodded. "There's been a slight change in plans, but it's basically the same."

"Well what's the change in plans?"

"Um..."

The brothers looked behind them to search for the new voice. It was a young girl, holding a black back pack that matched her hair.

Rain's pale cheeks turned a rosy pink when they looked at her.

"Boys, this is Rain Halpern, the Ekitai Alchemist. She will be aiding you two on your mission," said a calm Roy. "Rain, these are the Elric brothers."

Rain grimaced. With her face still flushed, she shook Alphonse's hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Edward. I can see why they call you the Fullmetal Alchemist..."

Edward winced. This had always happened with him and Alphonse on their journeys, so he was used to this by now...they always mistook Alphonse for Edward. Even worse, people would almost laugh, or would be horribly shocked, when they realized that Edward was the older brother. Not only was Alphonse taller than Edward, but he seemed much more mature than Edward. In a way, he was.

"Um...it's nice to meet you too...but I'm actually Edward's younger brother, Alphonse," Alphonse said, feeling sorry for Edward. He pointed to his older brother.

Rain looked at Edward, then back at Alphonse. Her cheeks turned a new shade of red that didn't even seem possible to show up on skin.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry..." She looked at Roy as she shook Edward's gloved hand, and Roy chuckled. Rain was looking horribly confused.

"I know. I'm disappointed too."

"Hey!" Edward shouted angrily. His face turned just as red as Rain's, but his face was red out of rage.

"Roy, stop teasing the poor kid," Riza sighed. She looked tired, and felt quite sorry for Edward, having to be taunted like this. Sometimes she felt like she was Roy's baby sitter.

Roy stifled a snort, but he couldn't force down the smirk on his face. Edward had been so angry at Roy that he had forgotten about Rain until Alphonse spoke up.

"So basically, she's coming with us to help us on the mission?"

"That's right," Roy said.

"Wait a second!" Edward roared, making Alphonse groan. "We don't need any help! When the hell did Roy say that this kid was coming with us?!"

"He told you right after he introduced me," Rain said softly, keeping her voice steady and relaxed.

"Colonel Sir, we don't need any help! Al and I can do just fine on our own!"

"Ed, quit being rude!" Alphonse scolded. "I'm sure we could use the help!"

"We'd just be carrying around unnecessary weight!"

Roy, Riza and Rain waited for the two brothers to settle down before Roy spoke again.

"Edward, whether or not you think that you do not need the Ekitai Alchemist's help doesn't matter to me. Even if I didn't want to send her out, I've got no choice. I've been ordered to send her out."

Edward heaved out a tired breath. "Fine. Let's go, Al."

He stormed out the room without another word, letting Alphonse and Rain trail behind.

"I'm sorry about my brother's attitude," Alphonse said, feeling genuinely guilty as the three got outside.

To Alphonse's surprise, Rain smiled.

"No need to be sorry, Alphonse. I felt the same way your brother was acting when Roy first told me, so I really can't blame Edward."

"But that's no excuse to act rude!"

Rain shrugged, quickening her pace when Edward quickened his.

Alphonse, quickening his pace as well, said nothing more, deciding that he'd just be babbling if he continued to complain about his brother's attitude like this. Besides, Edward was almost always like this to people...Edward just didn't know how to be socially polite like him.

Alphonse couldn't help but feel sorry for Rain...and for himself. Listening to Edward's constant complaints aimed at Rain was going to be a pain for both of them, he could tell. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, listening to Edward when he was mad or in a bad mood...he had learned that by experience throughout the fourteen years of his life.

This is going to be a longtrip.

...

[1] I'm sure Scar will be an important role in the story, but I don't know how much. I just know that there will be a scene with Scar and the kids later, so...yeah...also, I wrote that to grab your guy's attention! He may not be in the place the kids are going to, but that doesn't mean that he won't be not here!

[2] I know the Silver Alchemist is a real dude from FMA, but he was killed by Scar and played almost no role in the story, so I decided to use him. I don't know what he was like, so this guy was a bit different from the real Silver Alchemist I can imagine. I mean...he seemed pretty cowardly in my story...

[3] I know that's a real town in the first Anime, but it's actually gonna be completely different in this story. I needed a name of a town, and i thought it'd make sense to use one of the towns from the show...ugh, now all I gotta do is remember how to spell Aquroya...that's gonna be fun...kill me...

You guys have no idea how hard I worked on this! I'd stay up until two in the morning, holding a cup of water that was warm and gross, and yawning trying not to get used to my new bed time system! It was so much fun, but now I'm gonna take a nice...long...nap...

Oh yeah, and one more thing! Well...this is a bit stupid to ask...but my birthday, July 12th...it's coming up...and it'd be great if you guys actually reviewed...it'd be a nice birthday present, you know? I work long and hard on this stuff, and while I have fun, I'd really like to see what you guys think of this. It'd be like a kick in the teeth to not get any reviews after working so hard on this...I put my life into this! My heart and my soul! (Lol, get it? I put my soul into this!)

Alrighty...oh yeah, but if anyone does a review with "Birthday bash" I'll put your names up in the beginning of the next chapter...10 reviews at the least guys!

Ack, I'm really desperate, aren't I? Well, bye bye!