hello, hello, hello!
this is actually my first modern AU for Fullmetal Alchemist. this idea came to me when I was watching Haikyuu! and even though volleyball has nothing to do with ice hockey, I thought about putting the FMA characters in high school and putting a select few in a hockey team. what do you get? this. XD

because this is modern and I want it to be realistic, Edward does not have automail - but he does have prosthetics! they just aren't called automail and they look different. their appearance will be explained later on in the story but if you look up 'prosthetic arm' and 'prosthetic leg' on Google Images you should find a few ideas on what his prosthetics will look like.

final edit: 24/08/2016

enjoy and please don't hesitate to review,
- royal

Ice Hockey

a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction
written by: royalvite.

CHAPTER ZERO

( prologue )

.

Roy had never really taken an interest in ice hockey before.

It was the middle of the school year and he had just gotten off at Central City's train station after travelling home from his school in the East, when suddenly he had been dragged into his best friend's car and driven to some place he didn't really want to go to by said friend's kindly mother. It had shaken him at first - he had just expected to flag down a taxi and get back home to his mother as he usually did after school every day - but apparently his resume had been rather forcefully edited that day. Of course, it was one Maes Hughes to blame for this.

Many of Maes Hughes' personality traits had mixed together to create a student who was going to get far in life. One of those traits happened to make him rather adventurous, meaning he was practically a magnet for new opportunities and interesting activities to take part in. While it wasn't something Roy particularly loathed about him, he had found it exceedingly frustrating in the past.

And Roy would have forgotten about that if he wasn't being forcefully settled into a middle-row seat at some stadium near Maes' house.

"What're we doing again?" Roy inquired tiredly, taking the container of popcorn that Maes offered to him. He observed his best friend's soft hazel eyes turn to him, shimmering in excitement behind those rectangular glasses of his, but they seemed to morph into bitter disappointment. Maes recoiled back in his seat and slapped a hand against his heart

"I thought you were smart!" he cried out in mock-hurt, as if emotionally damaged by Roy's oblivious expression. "Why don't you just take a look around? Once you actually open your eyes and unclog your ears, you'd be able to identify what we're watching today. Don't worry, you'd think it's interesting. I wouldn't have taken you here if I thought you wouldn't like it."

Roy decided to take his advice, if a little reluctantly, and took the time to study their current location. It was with great revelation that he realized he was in the midst of a crowd in an ice hockey tournament - the thick white sheet of white ice with those red lines painting the surface in a near-familiar pattern was a dead giveaway. The entire arena was surrounded by thousands upon thousands of seats for the observers, where a surprisingly small amount of people sat waiting for the match to begin. Wasn't a stadium of such a grand scale supposed to be for national tournaments?

This clearly wasn't national. Otherwise, there would be more people attending. Roy raised an eyebrow at how empty it was.

He was unsure of how interesting an ice hockey tournament could really be, but he said nothing; after all, he had never watched one before, not even on TV. How could he voice a negative opinion on a sport he was clearly inexperienced in? "Ice hockey? Really?" he said, cocking an expectant eyebrow and glancing at Maes. "It's freezing in here. Why didn't you tell me to bring an extra layer?" Even from the sidelines, he could feel the chill of the ice engulfing his body, sending uncomfortable shivers down his spine.

"I didn't think you'd need one," Maes responded meekly, "but I have an extra hoodie if you want it." The younger pulled a thick bundle of navy blue out of his black backpack and passed it to Roy, who took it and weaseled it over his head. "It might be a bit small because it's a little too tiny for me, but you're shorter than me so I thought it would fit."

Roy scowled as he slipped the hoodie over his head. Indeed, it was a little claustrophobic, but it did keep him warm. Greedily, he nestled into the soft blue fabric. "I'm not smaller than you," he grumbled, "we're the same height, idiot." When Maes said nothing more, Roy contentedly chewed on a piece of popcorn and observed the stadium.

There were no players in view (obviously - it hadn't started yet) but everyone seemed thrilled; chattering excitedly, with their cameras already out of their cases and. But it wasn't their actions that puzzled him, it was the amount of them. For an ice hockey match, there were fewer people than he had expected there to be. And he also noted that at least three-quarters of them looked to be the same age as them, if not younger.

When he asked Maes about this, he had just smiled. "It's because the match is between two school teams, stupid. One team happens to be from my school - the one you're transferring to next week - and the other is from the Southern Academy."

"So... an ice hockey match between Central Academy and Southern Academy?" Roy repeated, his onyx eyes widening by a fraction. This was bound to get interesting. No doubt was both teams going to be quite good (at least, he sure hoped they were), but both him and Maes were automatically on CA's side already. After all, it was his new school (well, kind of), and Maes had been going there ever since they split at the end of primary school. "Do you know who's better?"

"I've never seen the Southern team play before, but I know that Central's team are pretty damn amazing," Maes responded distantly. His gaze was clouded over by his thoughts now, yet he still appeared snapped into attention. "I'm friends with a few of the members as well as the captain. I'll point them out to you when they come into the arena if you want-"

But he was cut off by the electrical crackle of the loudspeakers and an older voice boomed overhead, making Roy and Maes jump out of their skins in minor fright. Immediately, the entire ring quieted and only a few incoherent mumbles could be heard. Roy furrowed his brow, his gaze now on the ring. Was the match starting now?

"Hello and welcome! I am your commentator for today's inter-school match, Sig Curtis from the Eastern Academy!" the man behind the speaker called out, his voice large and excited. Roy nearly choked - this was Mr. Curtis? His food technology teacher from his school? Why was he here?! Maes appeared to notice Roy's shocked reaction to hearing his teacher's voice and softly laughed but said nothing more.

"First on the arena we have the six players from Southern Academy," Sig announced, a little calmer now. It was now that Roy saw the people walking out across the ice on their skates as if they were walking in boots on the normal ground. From what he could see just by peering over bouncing heads and through the plastic sheet that protected the observing crowd from a flying puck, they were intimidating... and large. Holy shit, were they big...

They all wore extravagant colours of bright red with navy blue stripes, with the logo of a roaring orange dragon on the center of their jerseys. Because of all of the padding beneath their matching knee-length socks and their shirts, they appeared thicker and more rugged than what was under all of that protection. And on those skates, they looked a whole lot taller as well. In their hands were matching silver hockey sticks and Roy could just about see identical fierce expressions on their faces behind the cage on their helmets.

"They look terrifying," Maes commented and Roy hummed absently in agreement.

"Now, Southern Academy's ice hockey team have been known for their merciless determination and unmistakable strategies when it comes to playing a match. Their captain has a track record for being fierce and assertive, but also fantastic at keeping his team motivated for their upcoming matches. They have taken win after win because of their unmistakable skill and have become seen as a formidable enemy on the field. Playing against this talented team has been a challenge for their opponents in the past. Let's see if they have what it takes to take yet another win today."

Roy raised an eyebrow, exchanging an uncertain glance with Maes. There were no doubts that they were tough - Hell, he could practically smell it radiating off them - and they were pretty damn large. Briefly, Roy wondered how people so big could have such perfected balance on those thin ice skates (he was too lanky and he had no feet co-ordination whatsoever, so he had never even bothered trying to skate).

"Jesus Christ," someone behind the pair muttered bitterly, "I don't think the CA could even begin to take them on. Do they do weight-lifting as their daily training routine or something?"

"Sure seems like it," someone else responded just as sourly. "I think they'll end up squashing little old Ed by the end of the match."

Person #1 laughed quietly. "Perhaps."

"Playing against Southern Academy today, we have the school that has proudly kept the record at the top of the country's inter-school ice hockey leaderboard after taking it from the Northern Academy - Central Academy!"

Maes clapped along with many other members of the crowd as yet another team of six walked nonchalantly onto the arena, arranging themselves into a row opposite the SA team. The first thing that Roy noticed about them was that, unlike the Southern Academy (who's players were all pretty much the same height and shape), this team had a rather odd range of sizes. He was actually rather surprised to see that one of Central Academy's players were at least two heads shorter than the rest. It was like watching an eight-year-old play ice hockey with a bunch of sixteen-year-olds.

They all wore the same thick pads and the same black leather ice-skates, but their team colours were royal blue with a stripe of yellow-gold instead. Roy liked that colour contrast a whole lot more than the red and blue of the Southern Academy team. On the chest of their jerseys was the logo of some sort of dragon intertwined with two diamonds. The sticks they held weren't silver, but a pallor golden colour, with black handles and unreadable white writing boldly slapped across the sides. Maes found great amusement in pointing out that the shortest on the team had a stick nearly half the size smaller than the rest.

It wasn't funny, but Roy still laughed.

"Central Academy players are renowned for their raw talent and incredible teamwork. Watching them occasionally makes one think that they are communicating mentally - they seem to know exactly what their teammate was going to do and where they were going to pass the puck before they actually do it. Their captain, despite often being nicknamed 'The Mother' of the team, is fierce when it comes to keeping them in shape. No doubt will today be a tense match if they're at the top of their game." The loudspeakers crackled and Sig seemed to go silent. Wasn't the match supposed to start now? Where was the starting bell-

Just then, the loudspeakers crackled and Sig's voice died into silence with a faint whirr of energy. Roy frowned at this. Wasn't the match supposed to start now? Where was the starting bell-

Suddenly both teams split out from their line and circled on their half of the ice-surfaced arena, with the more thickly-padded member (most likely the goaltender) gliding ahead of them all to hover restlessly in the goal. "They're warming up," Maes told Roy helpfully, "by shooting at their own goaltender and lapping their half of the stadium. Look, Southern's goaltender is massive! Holy cow!"

But Roy's attention wasn't on the Southern team - in fact, it wasn't really on the entirety of the Central team either. Instead, he was focused on one member and one member only. That one member had entrapped him from the moment they walked out onto the pitch because of the contrast of their size beside the others. But now he (it wasn't exactly rocket science to be able to tell that he was a male from his body shape, even if it was layered by pads) was moving, Roy felt his breath rip away from his lungs.

The movements used in ice hockey were beautiful. He knew this already. Effortlessly gliding across the ice, their feet moved with stunning grace like that of a trained ballerina, their hands guiding their sticks with expert precision as they twisted in an out of each player in their way in order to intercept the puck and claim it as their own. They had to move as fast as lightning if they wanted to achieve perfect success. It was a striking thing to watch, especially for someone who was new to the whole 'ice hockey match' thing.

But that one player didn't just glide. No, not at all. He practically flew. It was as if his skates weren't even touching the ice, he moved so lightly. Roy was silently in awe as he circled his team's half of the ring, his hockey stick held close to the ice as he whipped across to intercept the puck. His air of superiority and grace that no one else seemed to match made Roy wonder whether he was the team captain or not.

The lithe ice hockey player visibly put heavy pressure onto his right skate, effectively spinning his entire body in a sharp, effortless circle before his stick hit the puck. It shot across the ice at a speed that could outweigh that of a lightning bolt and even the goaltender was left dumbstruck as it shot through his legs and collided with the back of the net. Roy was unable to hear him clearly but he was sure that the smaller player had laughed.

His gaze flickered onto the SA team and he frowned as he realized just how professional they looked in contrast to CA. While Central were just shooting across the ice, intercepting and shooting the puck into the goaltender willy-nilly, Southern were actually taking turns and making it seem like a robotic routine instead of a ten-minute warm-up before the match.

Maes' hand slid into his field of vision and Roy snapped his head to look at his best friend. The younger was pointing at a random member of the Central Team, one of the ones he hadn't really paid attention to. Said player appeared thicker-set than the others under all that protective padding yet his balance on those thin skates was as perfected as his teammates'. "That is Heymans Breda," Maes told him, "but we just call him Breda. He's in my class for a lot of lessons - he's really smart, too, and he lets me copy his math homework."

Breda wasn't particularly fast, Roy noted, but the way he used his stick with one expert hand gave him a certain air that practically shouted 'practice'. It wasn't a natural talent, it was trained talent, and Roy found himself bored watching him straight away. He didn't seem like the most interesting person alive judging by the way he played. Though what right did he have to think that? He'd never even met Breda before. The heavy-set ice hockey play could be the most creative and unique person ever to exist.

Next, Maes motioned to the goaltender. "That's Jean Havoc. He's not smart, but he's in my science class and he's damn good at causing accidental explosions when we do practical chemistry. He's loyal, too, and he's funny."

Roy noted that Jean's reflexes were immense. Nearly every puck that flew his way was blocked by his hockey stick, no matter where it went and how fast it was going. In fact, the only ones that hit the net had been the short stuff's shot and the ones he let through when he apparently wasn't paying attention. Also, Maes found great amusement in pointing out that he was a whole lot taller than the actual goal and could probably block it all if he lay in front of it and stretch out. Roy had heartily agreed with this.

Then he pointed out a small (but not the smallest) member of the team, one who was moving rather nervously for someone who was doing a sport so fast-paced. His skate occasionally slid on the ice at an awkward angle and the one Maes had introduced as Breda would often laugh whenever he tried not to panic at the unnatural movement. "That's Kain Feury. He's really shy and he's a super big dork, but he's really smart and he's really good at computers. People say that he's the one who fixed the lighting for this place when they broke during practice one time."

Roy immediately liked Kain (even though he'd never even met him before). He looked intelligent even from underneath all that protective padding and from the sound of it, he was actually very knowledgeable. Something told Roy that Kain didn't exactly find ice hockey as exciting or as thrilling as the rest of his team did. Perhaps he was sensible and was more concerned about his own safety?

"That's Riza Hawkeye," Maes then pointed to a member of the team who moved almost robotically and was quite obviously female, "she's downright frightening to talk to and if she had a gun, she'd shoot you with it for getting in her way. Her fierce determination and scarily logical attitude were what got her into the position of captain of both Central's ice hockey and volleyball team."

Roy could hear her shouting even from where he was sat: 'Jean, remember to lay your stick out flat!' or 'don't skate into each other, idiots!' It was clear that she was frightening, bossy and scarily demanding... which was suitable for the captain of an ice hockey team, he supposed. He would have to flirt with her sometime to test her out.

"Now the last two, I haven't really talked to before. They're the youngest - they're both fifteen, not sixteen like the rest. I see them around sometimes, but other than that, I only ever see them when I come with Jean and Breda to watch them practice for their ice hockey tournaments. Even then, I don't talk to them a lot. That," Maes motioned to the taller of the remaining team members, "is Alphonse Elric. From what I know, he's like a mother hen when it comes to his older brother and his health."

Onyx eyes focused onto the tall, gangly ice hockey player with curiosity. He remained around the smallest of the team like he was attracted to a magnet, always staying at least two minutes within a certain range of him. When Alphonse moved, he was graceful and natural-looking, though he didn't seem particularly fast most of the time and occasionally his skate would slip awkwardly on the ice.

"The short one is Edward Elric, the older of the two. I don't actually know... well, anything about Edward, apart from the fact that he's short, he always wears gloves to school and that he's damn good at ice hockey. He's apparently got some kind of advantage in the power of his hit but Breda and Jean didn't tell me when I asked about it. They said it was something private... anyway, I don't think you two would get along. He may be a genius, but he's pretty antisocial when it comes to new people."

Roy curiously focused his attention to the shortest member of the team - now dubbed as Edward apparently - and observed in both shock and in awe as he chased who he thought was his younger brother across the ice. Both were moving effortlessly at lightning speed, though Edward seemed to be quicker and easily caught up to the taller.

They were all interesting, every single one of them, but Roy couldn't stop staring at Edward. He didn't know why this stranger captivated him so much, or why he left him breathless even though he hadn't seen his face before. He didn't want to think about those gay - why are they gay anyway, it's not like he's a homosexual - whispers echoing in his eardrums but, at the same time, he didn't want to stop listening to them.

Why did someone who he had never met make his heart race so fast?

He wasn't sure whether he looked forward to meeting Edward Elric next Monday morning.

that's the end of the prologue. please mind that it's only short because of that.

now I know I should really update 'Fractured Mind, Broken Soul' but this wouldn't leave me alone so I just had to have a try writing it! there are plenty of school!AU fics but I think ice hockey is a new twist on these types of fics! I'm actually quite proud of this and I'm sorry if it gets boring!

regarding reviews... tell me what you think! remember that putting a little more detail instead of a simple 'please update!' or 'cool' makes an author happier. just please do NOT give me flames because I will punch something (I won't actually, but still). do you like the plot? any pairings ( apart from the obvious (; ) you'd like to see? just tell me! it will be a great help.

aiming for 10 reviews!

thanks for reading,
- royal