It was a bright, hot day in Ishbal. The desert sun beat upon the sand and it reflected the sun's rays making it sparkle like the most precious gem. Stone and adobe houses lined the streets and cast cooling shadows upon the people that walked past. People hung beneath these shadows and drank water that was carefully guarded from the sun's heat. In the middle of this glorious city lay a huge market full of many different kinds of business from hand-woven clothing to food to jewelry. Men, women and children crowded every one of these little shops looking at the items or buying food for dinner.
In among this bustling crowd was a boy that was quite different from the other Ishbalans. His clothing consisted of a brown and black hooded robe and woven sandals. Around his neck was a black and brown beaded necklace. His hair was black and pulled into a long braid. In fact you could consider him Ishbalan except for one thing-the eyes. His eyes were bright blue-green that shown in the sun. Normal Ishbalan eyes were deep red.
He walked down the marketplace street with a small amount of money in his pocket and smiled excitedly at all the activity. It was his first day in the market by himself and was allowed to buy things he wanted. The boy wandered from shop to shop, looking at all the neatly crafted items and shiny candies. When he came to a jewelry dealer's stand, he found the perfect item. A small, wooden box painted with red lacquered paint. In the middle was a gold-plated lock with tiny pieces of rose quartz around it. To it went a silver key to lock and unlock it with. It was too expensive but he had learned valuable haggling skills from his mother and, with his cute looks, got it down to a price he could afford.
He thanked the woman and put the box underneath his robes to hide it from prying eyes. The boy walked away from the market at a fast clip towards his house on the edge of Ishbal. As he was walking, he noticed moving black objects in the distance and they were headed straight towards Ishbal. He flung open the door and ran to his mother who was sitting on the chair in the main room.
"Momma! I got something for you!" He pulled out the red box and handed it to her.
"Ohhh… it's beautiful. Thank you Saku!" She set the box upon the table and gave her son a hug.
"Mama? I saw black things coming toward us. Do you know what they are?"
"Black things?" Saku's mother thought he was playing a game and so played along.
"What did they look like?"
"Come and see!" Saku led his mother outside where the black things now had a definite shape. They were only a little way off and they were full of people.
"Don't worry Saku… it's just the military."
"What's a military?" Saku looked up at his mother and frowned. He had never heard of a military.
"You'll understand when they get here." But she was concerned. The military never came with so many soldiers. Something must have happened. They went back inside and waited. The normal routine was that as soon as the military came, a soldier would come and knock on the door. If no one answered, they were to go in and check. If no one was there, they were to leave and go check other houses. After everyone had been gathered in the central square, soldiers came and patted down everyone then left. That was ordinary around Ishbal nowadays.
But this was anything but ordinary. She soon heard the knock and came to open the door. As expected, a soldier was waiting and looked about the room for others. Saku ran to his mother's side and grasped her hand. She and Saku made their way towards the Central Square.
Her suspicions were confirmed.
The soldiers were carrying rifles instead of normal handguns and what was more was that a few State Alchemists had come as well. She recognized all but one from the Ishbal war a few years earlier. The one she did not recognize was a short, blonde haired boy of about seventeen dressed in red and black. What really caught her was that, when he was scanning the crowd, she saw his eyes were gold. To her, this was very odd. She drew Saku closer to her side as one of the higher military officers took the platform.
"Ishbalans. Due to some recent events, we are sending you all to a new location for the time being. Please bear with us."
"What happened!" Most of the Ishbalans were angry at this sudden statement. Make them leave their homes? They could not after all the military had done to them.
"Please calm down or we will be forced to take serious action! All of you will be escorted to the new location tomorrow! Pack your items and be ready to leave tomorrow morning!" The Ishbalans instantly quieted and the military began to organize people. Saku was now curious. Why were these people making them move? He ran from his mother's side and pushed to the front of the crowd just in time to see the alchemists walk past. He saw a tall man with short, black hair and a patch over one eye walking next to a man with the biggest muscles Saku had ever seen. Then a boy shorter than the rest marched by. His long blonde hair was pulled into a braid and he wore no uniform. Saku was intrigued in this boy. He reached out a hand to touch him when the boy, seeing him out of the corner of his eye, turned around. Saku shrank back. Was he going to be punished? He waited for a harsh word but it never came. Instead, the boy smiled a sympathetic smile, ruffled his hair and walked on. Saku stood up and looked on after the boy. He turned and pushed back through the crowd to where his mother was but, when he finally made it there, she was nowhere to be seen.
"Mom? Momma where are you?" Saku called but there was no reply. He began to run up and down the main streets calling for her.
No response.
She must have gone back home...
He ran at top speed down the road and took a sharp left. He then climbed up a ladder leaning on the nearby building and jumped from roof to roof back to his house.
Saku reached his house in a matter of minutes and leapt from the top of the house to the bottom and landed in a heap. He shook his head and stood up. He stealthily pushed the door open and saw to his horror his mother on the chair, bleeding from a cut on her cheek. There were two soldiers in the room. One was looking at the curtains and one was examining the little box he had bought for his mother earlier that day.
"It's a beautiful box is it not, Ishbalan?" Saku saw his mother grit her teeth but said nothing. "Answer me!" He reached out and slapped his mother across the face. She still said nothing. "Fine..." He put the box down and took his rifle from his shoulder and aimed it at her. "I'll just use you for target practice."
"NOOO!" Saku flung the door open and leaped at the man but the other officer grabbed him by his hood and dragged him to the floor. The other officer, hearing the disturbance, lowered is gun and looked at the new person.
"So? We have an Ishbalan runt? Is he yours?" Saku sat up and rubbed his head only to see his mother horrified and on the brink of tears.
"I said is he yours?" He yelled and grabbed Saku's mother by her robe and made her look into his face. Tears started streaming down her face and the soldier smirked.
"Telling from your expression, he is." He took his gun and pointed it at Saku. Saku froze. The gun was inches from his face.
I'm going to die?
Then things started happening all at once. The officer who had dragged Saku down screamed and for a split second, the man with the gun's attention was pulled away from the current situation. Saku tried to get up and run but the soldier saw him out of the corner of his eye and fired.
The bullet never hit Saku.
All he felt was something splat his head and he turned to find his mother on the floor, blood pulsating from a wound in her chest. Saku went cold.
"Mom? Mother? No… this can't… this isn't..." Crystal tears sprung from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. His mother had saved his life but it had cost her dearly. Saku fell to his knees and crawled to his mother's side. The soldier who had shot her stepped back as he came near. Saku turned her onto her back and looked into her eyes. They were dull and lifeless.
"She's gone..." Saku whispered, "She can't be gone..." The tears came in gobs now and Saku let out an ear-piercing cry. His only family was gone.