Edward Elric has undergone one of the most bizarre experiences in his life, and now everything's topsy turvey. What is he to do? How can he carry on his reputation as the Fullmetal Alchemist? For how long will this unlucky shadow be cast over his back? "I'm telling you Al, it's a curse..." Ed-Win, Roy-Riza. R&R!

Disclaimers. I do not own any of the characters in the following, save but the few I have made up. Same goes for the plots, the cities, and everything. I wish I did own FMA, but that'll never happen. -; So, on with the fic. This will be my first under FMA, and it may be a plot that some people have already started writing about. What exactly? Well that, my friend, you'll have to find out for yourself.

If you like this fic, by the way, then you're more than welcome to read my InuYasha fic, "Aishiteru, Kagome", if you're interested. Domo Arigatou! bows

Unlucky

Prologue: Mametsubu Renkinjutsushi

"Well, I guess we'll be leaving now," came a voice as a young, blond haired boy of fifteen stepped from the Colonel's office. Right behind him was a larger person, a boy of fourteen in a large suit of armor. The door closed behind them, and the two walked down the stairway down to the main entrance.

The older boy, Edward Elric, was quite short for his age, just about a mere five feet or so. It just also happens that this boy was "short" of temper and patience. He walked out the front doors, out into the bright sunlight. Behind him flowed a short braid of golden hair, amber eyes glancing to the pristine blue sky. His coat, which he wore at all times, went from a shadowed crimson to a bright cherry hue as he stepped into the sunlight, contrasting with his black garments trimmed in white. His brightest accessories were a pair of white gloves, and a silver chain hanging from his belt. The chain led to his pocket, in which was embedded a pocket watch. The item proved that you were a State Alchemist, a 'dog of the military'. Ed was no such thing. If he was a 'dog of the military', and did all that he was told, he'd never find the Kenja no Ishi.

The other boy, Alphonse Elric (And yes, they're brothers), was much taller, over six feet tall. There was a catch, however. He wasn't actually in the suit of armor. Well, he is, but he isn't. At a young age, both boys had lost their mother, a fair woman named Trisha Elric. In their obsession with alchemy, they have gone and done what no other alchemist has ever done. They had tried a human transmutation, and survived it.

But at a severe cost that would change their lives forever more.

Edward had lost half of his left leg, Alphonse, his whole body. In an attempt to save his younger brother, Ed had sacrificed his right arm to draw a blood-seal transmutation circle on a suit of armor, thus enacting a soul attachment. Now, Ed has two fake limbs made of automail, and his brother is a living suit of armor.

Ed sighed, taking out his pocket watch, and glancing at the time. 1600 hours. Four o' clock in the afternoon.

"Hurry up, Al, or we'll miss our train!" he called, hop-skipping into a full run.

"Er, wait up, Brother!" the boy called as he tried to run as fast as he could. "Niisan!"

Ed had soon stopped, lying on the ground as he had unexpectedly crashed into someone's larger form. Rubbing his head, Ed looked up.

"Hey, buddy, watch where you're..."

He blinked as he saw a tall man, bald with a blond mustache and a strand of hair sprouting from his head. He wore a dark blue hued uniform with silver gauntlets on his hands. This was the Strong-Arm Alchemist, Alex Louis Armstrong. The muscle built man offered a hand, helping Edward up.

"Are you okay, Mr. Edward Elric?" he questioned.

"Oh, it's you, Major!" he laughed nervously. He had almost yelled at the Major...

"Where are you heading in such a hurry?"

"Ah, well..." Ed looked around for an excuse. He hasn't told anyone that they'd be visiting Resembool... "We're...going to meet somebody!" He rubbed the back of his head as Alphonse stood behind and merely watched the conversation.

"Ah. Well then, I'll accompany you Mr. Edward. I'm to keep watch over you boys, remember?"

'Aw, damn!' What's to do now? They couldn't go anywhere with him around! Ed pondered for a second as the Major began to walk to the station.

"Brother, what're we going to do? We can't tell the Major that we're going..."

"We won't. C'mon, this way!" he hissed, tiptoeing into a nearby alley. "Run!"

Al followed, the two brothers racing down the dark, dingy area. They came upon a dead end, a small brick wall. Clapping his hands together, Ed placed them on the wall. There was a flash of light, and the wall had disappeared, the two running through the now brick colored archway.

They continued to run as they heard Armstrong pursue them, and quickened their pace. Before either had known what had happened, Edward had disappeared into the floor, and Al tripped. The suit of armor looked around frantically, searching for a sign of his older brother.

"Brother? Niisan? Ed?" His voice squeaked slightly in panic as he anxiously looked for the shorter boy. "Ed? Where are you?"

"What's happened here?" Armstrong questioned as he finally caught up, doubled over, panting slightly. "Where's Mr. Edward Elric?" He looked puzzlingly up at Al.

"I don't know! He just...poofed! He disappeared into the floor!" Alphonse looked around more, sprinkling more haste into his search.

"Hmm..." The tall man examined where Ed had disappeared, frowning. "He disappeared, all right. But he didn't fall through the floor. This is alchemy. And how complicated it is," he observed, wiping his finger across the floor. A white, chalky substance smeared across the concrete. The remains of a Renseijin, it was. "We need to contact Colonel Mustang."

Ed felt his heart and stomach plummet to his feet like a stone as he felt everything fall away from him under his feet. He yelled frantically as he fell, trying to make sense of things. Why was he falling? Wait...how was he falling? He looked around, seeing nothing but darkness in the rushing air, which just happened to stress his breathing and make his eyes sting and water.

'Just what the hell is going on?'

As if in an answer to his thought, he felt himself fall to the ground with a crash. Not a very light landing, either...

"Ow...my back!" he croaked, aching as he sat up. Rubbing tears from his irritated eyes, he looked around at his surroundings.

It seemed to be an old abandoned place, like a warehouse or something. And according to the bolted doors and planked windows, someone didn't want him to get out. He got to his feet, golden orbs examining the text on the boxes and machines. Apparently, he was still in Central.

Dusting himself of, he walked around, looking for a sign of life, of the person who transported him to this vacant building. He had some questions for the person who had the nerve...

He didn't get the chance to finish the thought. A bright light rushed from his right, a creature knocking him over. He blinked up at the monster gnawing on his metal limb, gritting his teeth under the pressure. The oversized beast that had Ed's arm hostage in its jaws was a chimera.

The creature had glowing crimson eyes, its face hidden behind a mask of a giant bird's dirty ivory skull. Red, blue and green feathers decorated its head, and its behemoth body was white in colour, littered with black stripes, two long tails swishing behind it. Long obsidian claws gripped at his sides, causing wounds in the flesh of his torso.

"Back down," came an icy female voice, which had sent chills down Ed's spine, hairs on his neck standing on end. He leaped up as the tiger-bird chimera stepped away from him, the boy slouching, holding his sides.

Before him stood a young girl, one he had met a long time ago, near the beginning of his journey with his brother. What shook him even more was the smaller girl standing next to the first. He felt as if his body has become numb, that his heart had stopped beating.

The first girl, who looked about fourteen at least, had long black hair, green eyes slightly clouded as they gazed upon Ed, who was now kneeling on the ground, blood seeping through is gloves. She wore a pale sea foam green dress, plain and simple, frilled along the edges and the sleeves. This was Clause, the girl from Majhal's villager, a place they had visited on their way to Central, when the boys' journey had all begin.

Beside Clause was the younger girl, who couldn't be more than five. The only problem was that, the last time he saw her, she was dead. The girl was about half his height, with light brown hair tied in pigtails, golden brown eyes as clouded as Clause's. It was Nina, the young girl that was transmuted into a chimera by her father, and was then blown up and murdered by Scar, the Ishbalan State Alchemist hunter.

Ed sat there, stunned, looking at the two all too familiar young girls.

'Why? Why are they here? What's going on? Answers! I need answers! But, where would I get them? How can I get them? Nina's alive! But how? She's dead! I saw her body blown to bits, blood smeared on the wall in an alleyway. She couldn't be... And Clause lived a far way from here! What the fuck's going on?'

"Edward Elric," Clause spoke, her voice eerie, echoing, and without emotion. "The Fullmetal Alchemist. Is has been awhile. A few years, is it not?"

"Big brother is here now. Now he will disappear without a trace," Nina muttered, her hand clutched in Clause's. The chimera perched next to the girls purred restlessly, tails swatting the ground.

Ed blinked; his thoughts muddled together, his breath ragged with fear and confusion. Did he do it? Did Professor Tucker manage to create a Homunculus? Then this Nina is definitely not the real thing. But Clause... What was the deal with her?

"Sleep now, my little Mametsubu Renkinjutsushi," Clause muttered, and she pointed one hand forwards. The chimera stepped forwards, swinging its overlarge paw.

"Clause...hey, wait...What did you call me...?" Ed didn't finish his question as pitch black darkness swept over his unconscious mind.

Bringing a nearby cat next to the unconscious alchemist, the tiger-bird chimera removed Ed's red coat, and then removed the automail, quite forcefully, from Ed's severed limbs. Now more blood, since the chimera tore the base automail from his flesh as well, seeped from his body.

Clause drew a transmutation circle around Ed and the feline, placing her hands on the ground. As Nina followed suit, the ground glowed, and there was a flash of light. Now, there was nothing in the Renseijin but a pile of clothing and smears of crimson blood.

Without a sound, the two girls and the chimera left the warehouse, and a sound shuffled from the far corner of the room. Footsteps could be heard as the creature approached the vacant garments. The pile stirred slightly, a small mew coming from the inside. The human picked up the cat in a bundle, taking it into another room in the back of the warehouse building.

A/N: Here's some terms in the prologue you might need to have translated, if you don't already know them:

Mametsubu Renkinjutsushi

-Pea-sized Alchemist

Niisan

-Older Brother

Kenja no Ishi

-The Philosopher's Stone

Renseijin

-Transmutation Circle

So, here's my first part of my first FMA fanfic. Please, R&R! I'll keep on writing for the enjoyment of it all, but having reviews and comments to help me out would be welcomed greatly. All of you readers out there, you're my editors. Please help when you can! - Arigatou!

And, I know that using Nina and Clause as the villains to evil, and I couldn't come up with an enemy. It seemed evil enough to me, so...Please don't hurt me! hides

Anyway, I should have then first chapter up within the next week or two.