Hey! I just edited the first chapter to add Roy's POV. It's just a slight variation, so it doesn't change the previous story that much.

Anyway, please be open-minded and let me know if you like it! :)

Enjoy!

(I don't own anything except Maya and her mysterious past)

"Fate is never fair. You are caught in a current much stronger than you are; struggle against it and you'll drown not just yourself but those who try to save you. Swim with it. and you'll survive" -Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

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Chapter I - The Gate

Hurriedly getting past people in front of me, I was making my way to the taxi. A yellow taxi cab had luckily stopped in front of a tall glass building to drop a customer. As my black heels clicked quicker to get to the other side, a silver car honked at me, indicating my carelessness. I finally crossed the street and made my way to Park Avenue. Before I asked the taxi driver to drop me, the heel of my shoe almost made me trip. If not for the job interview, I would have never wore such formal wear. Hope I get this job. After that, my only goal in life will be accomplished. Earning enough money to buy and care for four cats and four dogs. I looked at the driver again, only to find out that another customer had pushed past me to get into the taxi. Great, I just have to walk home now.

I heard my phone bling and saw mom's text. Today is your 23rd birthday Maya, come home early. Rushing to find another taxi, I brisk walked through New York's streets but had to stop for the cars to drive before crossing the street. Even though everyone had stopped on the sidewalk just like me, an old woman in a oddly dressed attire was moving towards the cars. Frightened that she might get hit, I ran to grab her hand and pulled her to the side.

"Oh my! That was close. Thank you for the help, dear" the old woman said.

"Your welcome. Be careful when you are crossing the street" I said as I smiled at her.

She lifted her purple cloak up to reveal her face and her clothes. Along with her elegant cloak, she was wearing a yellow blouse that was topped with a red stone along the center of it, to give it a sophisticated look. The clothes seemed too rich for a middle class citizen, and too abstruse for her age. She had white hair that shined like silver in New York's lights. She then smiled through her wrinkles that were enveloped throughout her face and looked at me in the eyes. For some reason, her look frightened me.

"You have beautiful brown eyes, dear" she said.

"Thank you" I replied as I held her hand and helped her walk to the next street.

"Stop me right here. Thank you for helping me walk. Sorry to bother you, dear," she said and handed me a silver ring that had a stone with a blood red color in the middle, "Keep this as a token for my gratitude."

"Oh, no. I cannot keep this" I tried to hand her the ring back, but she stopped me.

"Keep it" she said, narrowing her eyes.

Before I could go after her, my hands and knees hit the rough road as she suddenly pushed me. I was shocked and was about to question her for her change in attitude, when my head turned around to face two headlights coming towards me rapidly. I tried to get up and move out of the way, but my feet were frozen in the ground. The lights kept coming closer and closer, but I could not move. I realized that this was the end. I was going to die.

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Mustang's POV

I put on my ironed shirt and looked in the mirror. The outfit was just perfect for the occasion, formal and neat. It always worked for me since ladies were into classy men. Yet, something seemed missing. I reached into the closet and pulled out a black tie. After a couple of tries, I yanked the tie out of my neck and threw it on the bed.

In the corner of my mind, I knew that a simple tie was not the thing missing. She was missing. Someone who would always be there for me. I had been with many women before, with different personalities, looks, interests, and motives. But I only wanted them to pass my time. Yes, most of them were beautiful, but only by looks and not by heart.

"Look, look at this!" Hugues had said for the hundredth time while shoving a photograph too close to my face, "Doesn't my wife look so happy? She's pregnant, you know!"

"Don't you want to brag about your family like me? You should get a wife soon, you know" Hugues had continued, "how long will you be dating one chick after another?"

I had never thought of getting a wife before. The idea of a having only one woman for your entire life troubled me. I had always thought that if you're bored with something, it can always be replaced, like a new model of a car. I mean, why would you keep an antic, dilapidated car when a new brand with high technology is on the market?

As time passed, I knew Hugues was right. A car can be old, but its sentimental value only increases the older it gets.

But the latter was also true. What if she gets bored with me? After all, the women only wanted me for my looks and status as a State Alchemist. Despite my flagrant and overly sensual behavior towards the women, they didn't seem to mind it at all. More than willingly, they spent their time with me, some even sacrificing their womanly virtue. Next thing you know, they went out of my life just as quickly as they had come.

I put on my shoes and locked the door behind me as went I to meet my date. Maybe I'll find her this time.

o0❤0o

Maya's POV

I closed my eyes in the fear of getting hit by the car. I expected to find darkness since my eyelids were closed. But instead, the entire space began to swirl and arrange itself into distinctive patterns and shapes. Just I thought the space in front of me would continue to act like a kaleidoscope, everything was filled with light. So much light that I felt my head throb. What's happening? Where am I?

I felt the light getting more intense and I struggled against the headache. Just as I thought the light was the brightest, everything went white. Not like the white of the moon or the white of milk. It was pure, like snow, like that of an angel's feather. Am I dead? Am I in heaven? Will I not see mom and dad again?!

As if on cue, the entire space in front of me filled with voices, pictures, and emotions everywhere. To my right, I saw my dad lift me from the ground after the four-year-old Maya fell from her bicycle. To the front, mom was braiding the long black hair of a 11-year-old girl and saying, learn to do it yourself, Maya, I will not be with you forever. The girl grimaced when she heard her mom say this.

These are my memories! Why am I seeing them now?

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Maya...Happy 19th Birthday Maya...

Mom, dad, where are you? What am I seeing right now? Where am I?!

It grew louder. Happy 22nd Birthday Maya!

It was silent again. The voices had stopped. I felt something smooth and cool brush against my right cheek. Afraid, I held there for a couple of minutes. I tried to open my eyes, and this time, I succeeded. I found myself lying down on a yellow marble floor. I got up and tried to see where I was, but there was nothing to see. Just the yellow marble floor and me. I was alone.

After several minutes, a huge white circle enigmatically appeared on the yellow floor, which had a triangle, some strange symbols, and something written on it. On one end of the circle, I saw a flame emerging. On the other end, water was beginning to form. The flame started getting bigger and bigger, while the water still stayed the same.

I started to move away from the circle, when my back hit something. I turned around and saw a huge black door that reached several feet high standing in front of me. To either side of the door, black pillars were covered with figures of what seemed were sculptures of humans. On the top, the figures repeated themselves, but were slightly bigger than the ones on the sides. Although these features of the door were enigmatic enough, my attention was drawn towards an eye that was inscribed in the middle of the door. Inside the eye were symbols of fire, water and other elements. Maybe it was just my imagination, but there was a crack on it and the door was slightly open.

Curious, I walked towards it. As if it could sense me, the door began to open itself with a loud click. My eyes widened in shock and horror as I saw hundreds, no, thousands of deep purple eyes looking down on me. The eyes kept coming closer to me, when beams of black shapes with black fingers began to envelope around me. I tried to resist, but the more I tried, the more harder it was to move. I heard the creatures laugh and scream excitedly as I was dragged into the door and it was closed behind me. The place soon became too dark while the creatures kept hoping on top of me.

A bright red light suddenly started shining, which made the creatures back away from me. When I tried to look around for the source of the light, I realized that I still had the ring that the old woman had given me and it was the one emitting the light.

The redness grew and became enormous and was followed by specks of flames and huge amounts of water. Something held on to me again and began to move me. The fire stayed the same, but the red light and the water grew larger and larger in size and held on to me stronger. It seemed like the water was reacting with the flames, making the water blaze. With that, the source that was moving me became faster until my head was so heavy that I became dizzy.

Before I blanked out, I managed to let one thought escape my mind. What is going to happen to me?