"That's him, your target," the leader of Melissa, an anti-military rebel group that I was forcefully part of, hissed in my left ear. "You'd better not screw this up, girl. You know the consequences."
"Yes, I know. I'll be locked in a dungeon, starved for a week, and then just as I'm being fed my meal after that week of starvation, I'm whipped and go through a slow, torturous demise. I've seen it before, haven't I?" I whispered back to the bastard beside me as I tucked my lengthy dirty-blonde hair up in a cap. "I won't be able to pull off this charade for much longer, sir," I spat out the last word like the most foul-tasting food on the face of this planet. "I already have to wear the baggiest shirts out there. I'm fourteen; you should know. You were present at my birth."
"No, you're thirteen, you **** idiot," he spat back. "Just get your *** on that ****ing train or else."
"Yes, sir," I took my ticket from his hand, and climbing out of the thorn bush, I stomped onto train number 135.
"Hi, may I please sit with you?" a boy covered in scum, scratches, and scars asked the armored boy and his spaced-out traveling companion, a young man with gold hair and matching eyes in black trousers and a black shirt.
"Sure," the one in the armor moved over to make room, unconsciously taking note of the dirty child's use of "ore" for "I". "Ore" is considered very masculine and used only by males, and he himself used "boku". It was odd to hear a boy about a year or two younger than him using the same pronoun as his older brother.
"Thanks," he smiled gratefully as he sat down. "So, where are you guys headed?"
"What's it to you?" the older boy by the window snapped protectively.
"Nii-san!" the armor exclaimed. "It was a simple question. I understand how frustrated you are, but that's no reason to take it out on someone else." He turned to the one he shared his seat with. "Sorry about that. We're headed to Xenotime to visit some friends."
His sky-blue eyes widened in surprise. "That's my destination, too. That's pretty weird, huh?"
"Yeah," the sulking young man mumbled. "It's a bit too weird for my taste. What's your name, anyway?"
"Ore wa Oliver, (I am Oliver.) what are your names?"
"My name is Alphonse Elric, and that's my brother, Edward Elric."
"You're Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist?" Oliver turned towards Ed.
"Yeah, what of it?" the state alchemist's razor-sharp voice pierced the air in the empty train car.
"I'm just surprised, that's all. I wasn't expecting to meet such a skilled state alchemist on my way to my mother's house," he put up his hands in a defensive gesture.
"You live away from your mom?" Al asked, astonished.
"Yeah, my parents divorced when I was little," Oliver's eyes fell as if remembering something painful.
Alphonse nodded understandingly, whispering, "Our father left about ten years ago and never returned. My brother hates him for hurting our mom. His name was Hohenheim. Have you ever heard of him?"
Oliver looked up, shocked, eyes glittering wetly. "No, I'm sorry. My father and I don't get along very well, either, but that's because he's practically a tyrant."
"I'm sure he only acts that way out of love for you," Al attempted to reassure his new acquaintance.
"Thanks, Alphonse, but I highly doubt that."
The two fell silent for a time, lost in their own thoughts on their parents and pasts.
"Hey, Oliver," Edward spoke up and startled the others.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know the Tringham brothers?"
He shook his head.
"Oh, okay. Where does your father live?"
He heard our conversation? Oliver thought to himself. "My dad lives in a coal mining town that used to be run by some Yoki person. That's why I'm always so dirty."
"Why are you covered in cuts?" questioned the sixteen-year-old state alchemist.
"I'm a klutz," Oliver chuckled in an embarrassed tone. "I even tripped on a thorn bush on my way to the train station."
"Ouch," Ed commented. "Have you ever heard of a rebel group called Melissa? We're trying to take out their leader."
The young boy thought for a minute before answering, "It's not ringing a bell. The leader must be pretty ruthless to have a state alchemist after them."
Al nodded. "All we know is that the leader is male and has killed three civilians who supported the military."
"That's horrible!"
Ed agreed and said, "Be careful around us. He may already know we're on to him and send assassins to kill us."
Shuddering, Oliver pointed out, "You say that so casually. I'd be terrified."
After that the conversation died out, and Ed and Oliver eventually fell asleep.
At about midnight that night, Al's head/helmet was lifted from his body.
"It's just as he told me. The inside actually is empty."
"What's going on?" Al cried out before another seal besides the one binding his soul to the armor was inscribed on the inside of his shoulder. He tried to tell his brother that someone was trying to enter his body, but no sound came. They've cut out my voice. Alphonse struggled to lift his arm and wake Ed, but he'd lost control of his body. If not for the fact that a soul resided in the armor, Al's body would've been ordinary armor again. The unseen figure slid silently inside the armor, put the helmet back on Al's 'neck', and picked up Ed.
Waking suddenly, Ed shouted "Al, what the heck are you doing?"
Just as Al attempted again to speak, a feminine voice came from within Al, echoing, "I control your brother's body now, Fullmetal Alchemist, and he can't speak."
"What do you want with us?"
"I'm a member of Melissa come to bring you to my leader."
Ed clapped his hands together, placed them on the floor, and came up with a gothic-style spear. "You're gonna regret messing with us." He rushed towards the armor, thrust the spear tip under the helmet, and used the weapon as a lever to send the helmet flying.
Good move. "It'll take more than that to defeat me!" The anonymous member aimed a kick at the short state alchemist's head, but he ducked just in time. She thrust a metal-covered hand at his diaphragm, and he passed out.
When Ed awoke, he was clutched in Al's controlled fist, tied up like the catch of the day. They were trekking across rocky terrain towards a tiny shop in the middle of nowhere.
"Why are you doing this?"
"I'm being ordered to," she replied coldly, stepping into the shop.
The shopkeeper noticed Ed wrapped in rope and said, "Nice work. The leader will be pleased."
"Whatever." She dropped Ed lightly to the floor.
"I have orders from him to you. You must stay inside that suit of armor so the enemy," the shopkeeper nodded towards the fuming Edward, "doesn't get any ideas."
"Fine," the girl inside Alphonse huffed. "I'm gonna go do some stuff."
"Like what?"
"You don't need to know that." She stepped out the door and began the long walk towards town.
The girl erased the second seal she'd drawn the previous night.
"Why are you doing this?" Al demanded despite his relief at being able to speak and control his own body. He stopped right where he was.
"Doing what, kidnapping your brother or erasing the seal?"
"Both."
"I kidnapped your brother so that the leader wouldn't kill me. I erased to seal, because I hate that organization and think you're one of the nicest people I've ever met."
"So, you're Oliver?"
"Sorta. Watashi wa Hikari." ('I'm Hikari.' Watashi can be used by males or females.)
"You weren't going to visit your mother at her house, were you?"
"Nope, I wish."
"Everything you told me last night was a lie?" The fury was evident in his voice.
"No, not everything. My father is a tyrant, I'm klutzy, and what our leader does is horrible."
"Who is your leader?"
"My blood father is the leader, but as far as I'm concerned, that man is no father!" She shouted, hatred surging through her voice. "As for my mother, she's dead. Her name was Melissa."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I want to take my dad and his organization down, but I can't do it alone. I think I can trust you."
"I'm not sure if I can trust you," Al accused her. "Come out and show me what you really look like."
She struggled to climb out, but when she did, a girl dressed in baggy boys' clothes with shoulder-length blonde hair and sky-blue eyes stood before Al.
"Here I am," I lifted my arms submissively. " I'd tucked my hair up under a hat to disguise myself as a boy."
"Alright, where are they keeping my brother?"
Hikari whisked out a handful of newspaper clippings. "These are the clues they gave me. It's decoded on the back to spell out 'Shiroi Mountain', and that's where your brother is being held."
"I still don't trust you 100%."
"I don't blame you," she sighed as a yellow bird with a long red tail came to rest on Alphonse's shoulder. "Hi, Chidori, I have a job for you." Hikari turned back towards Al. "If you need to tell your brother anything, just write it down. Chidori here will deliver it to him."
A shocked Al wasted no time at all scribbling a message to Ed saying that he would rescue his older brother and calling the military police.
Two brutes threw Ed into a hole in the middle of a mountain cave. He looked around, noticing transmutation circles written on the walls and floor.
A man in dark clothes, the group's uniform, with a straight-across haircut and bushy mustache stood above the bars on the hole's top and said, "Those symbols prevent people outside from hearing you and make sure you can't move around much, so don't even think of trying anything."
A few hours later, that same man called out, "Target practice," and a barrage of arrows assailed the chained up Edward. He dodged all but one that impaled his right automail shoulder. Things continued on like this for hours that seemed to drag into years. The only relief came at mealtimes and when Chidori snuck into Ed's makeshift cell with Al's note and a pen attached to its legs. He laboriously scribbled a reply and set the bird free before falling asleep, a miracle after the day's events.
When Al finished reading Ed's reply aloud, Hikari hissed, "That's just like my father. Come on, we've got to hurry."
"You seem pretty confident about taking your own father down now that I'm with you, Hikari. Why is that?" Al asked as we hurried to the Shiroi Mountain hideout.
I panted, "If I don't follow his orders, he'll kill me. I feel safer with some backup, and I'm the only person in the group against their will."
"Oh."
We fell silent again, and I began thinking about Ed. His fighting was amazing, and he was so confident and unafraid. I sort of admired him and knew I hadn't even seen the beginning of his power. Face burning already from running so far, my cheeks heated up even more. A powerful desire to rescue him surged through my veins. The electricity of it almost outweighed my hatred for my dad's organization so sickly named after my sweet mother. Tears of confusion and desire to see my mom again spilled down my grimy cheeks, and I played her lullaby in my head.
"Are you alright, Hikari?" Al checked up on me, noticing my tears.
Unable to speak from physical and emotional overload, I nodded and then switched to shaking my head. Frustrated with myself, I shrugged and kept running.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was the highest mountain in the world," I gasped for air as Al and I sprinted up Shiroi Mountain.
"We can take a break if you need one," offered Al amiably.
"Thanks, but if we don't hurry, who knows what dear old Daddy could come up with to put your brother through?"
It was just as bad as I'd expected. Only a few hours into the torture and my father was already using the prisoner for target practice.
"Remember the plan?"
"Yep, and remember, my dad is the man with an eye patch, haircut like freshly mown grass, and mustache that resembles a rat."
We split up at the entrance to the cave. Al worked on freeing his older brother as I distracted Dad.
"Yo, old man!"
"What do you want? Don't call me old man, or I'll kill you," he growled like the beast he is inside.
"I was just thinking, and, uh, I quit!" I called across the cavern cheerily.
"You know what happens to deserters, right, girl?"
"**** it, I'm your daughter, and you don't even use my name! I know what happens: the bastard we call our leader tortures and kills them," I cried out.
"Men, grab her!" he commanded, and in an instant, goons in dark clothes surrounded me.
They all attempted to tackle me at the same time, so I jumped, stepped on one guy's back, and launched a kick towards my father's head. He caught my foot in midair and threw me to the ground. Immense pain shot through my right leg as I landed with a sickening CRACK! A shadow fell over me as I tried not to cry out in agony. The sadistic bastard would adore that. I braced myself for the next hit when I felt the ground beneath me surge into a tsunami of earth. Ed surfed on one of the waves and came down on my father, dealing a huge, non-fatal blow to my dad's shoulder with his blade/hand. Right on cue, the MPs burst in, guns in hand, and arrested every member of Melissa. Quitting Melissa moments before was to my great fortune, because I escaped arrest. Edward ran over to the hole he'd been held in to help his brother get out of said hole. None of the MPs could lift a fourteen-year-old with a broken leg, so Al carried me on his back down Shiroi Mountain.
"Thanks for the save, Edward," I whispered to him, my face red and flaring. "Thanks for trusting me, Alphonse."
"No problem," replied Ed.
"You're welcome, Hikari. After all, we're friends now, right?" Al asked me.
"I guess so. You know, you're my first actual friend, Al."
"So, it's safe to assume you were Oliver?" Ed commented, and I nodded. He gave me an evil smirk that sent chills down my spine. "You're a cross-dresser?"
"NO!" I shouted. "I didn't want to dress as a guy. It was either that or be killed."
"Sure, cross-dresser. Then what's your favorite outfit?"
"My mother's emerald-green gown. You're the one wearing a braid," I accused him, still red-faced.
Edward was speechless with anger, and I laughed from my place on Al's metallic shoulders. From that point on, I no longer associated the name Melissa with pain, torture, and heck. Melissa once again became the mother who left this world years ago, the mother I loved boundlessly. The military police ensured that my father would be locked up in a high-security prison and that a home for me would be found as soon as possible. That didn't matter as much; I just found delight in having companionship and freedom.
Five months later, I'm living with a wonderful woman named Haley, a girl my age, Luna, and a dog named Oliver in a small town a few miles away from a village called Resembool. They are my adopted family and the second-best thing to ever happen to me. The first, of course, was meeting Ed and Al Elric.