AN: This takes place right after manga/brotherhood. I know from personal experience that to see the name 'Elric' is to immediately think 'Mary-Sue', but please, hold on for a bit. While it may not be too terribly different, it's probably not what you're thinking. This is rated T for language, and possibly violence in later chapters.
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Talia Elric had made many, many mistakes in her life, and she regretted many, many, many things. To ask her to choose the worst among them would be like asking a mother to chose her favorite child.
One thing that she did not regret, was taking that transfer. As Talia glanced sleepily out of the window, she smiled. Civilization was already starting to grow thicker and more common outside of the train windows, a nice departure from the backwater prison she had spent the last several years of her life. Of course, the term 'prison' was metaphorical, although quite often it felt like a much more fitting title then 'work'.
It had all started when she got a phone call from Central. A phone call from an old friend who simply suggested that she take a long, out of the country vacation very soon. Being the kind of person that she was, Talia immediately started preparing to head straight to Central, but met an unhappy surprise.
Colonel Roy Mustang was staging a coup. Troops from the ever-faithful-to-Central (bootlickers if you asked her) Western Headquarters were being sent to assist the forces in Central. Oh sure, she would have gone with them eagerly, but she sure as the hellfires below wouldn't have helped Central Command.
Of course, knowing this, they had practically placed her under arrest. Until that strange light had come and everyone...died. But then, they weren't dead, and word came from Central that the command structure had been 'reordered'.
A man called Grumman was Fuhrer now. He was from the East, so Talia knew very little about him. That's why she was quite confused when she was offered a transfer back to Central and a promotion to boot.
Colonel. The word sounded quite odd to her. Over in the West, ranks were only granted when one was particularly vicious during wartime. At least, that was how she made her way to Lt. Colonel. Damn, now that her thoughts were going down that path, sleeping would only result in nightmares. Nightmares of sand and blood and villages quite literally being torn apart.
Hoping to distract herself, Talia pulled out her silver pocket watch and flipped it open. Then she sighed. An hour till they got to Central at least, and the sky was already growing dark. Wait, if the sky was growing dark, why did the clock say...
What? Talia blinked in confusion as she noticed that the tiny needles were not moving. It was... stopped? But her watch never stopped. Never. Thinking about it, that watch was stopped at exactly the time when everyone in Amestris felt their souls being torn from their bodies. Creepy. Explainable, but still creepy. Pocketing the timepiece, Talia stretched and swung her feet up onto the seat so that she could sit with her knees pulled into her chest. It was getting rather sold on the train as the light and warmth of day slowly fled over the horizon, and one more thing that she was starting to regret was not wearing her military uniform. As damnable as the thing could be at times, it was very warm. She had originally hoped that going under civilian cover would assure her a safer and more pleasant journey, but there were so few people on the train that it hardly mattered. After what happened, everyone wanted to stay at home with their families.
Talia probably would too, if she hadn't left her family and everyone she knew oh-so-many years ago to join the military. She swore that she would make something of herself. "Well," she thought derisively, snorting quietly, "I certainly did that."
Sometimes she thinks that her life would have been better had she just stayed in Resembool and been a nobody alchemist whose only mission in life was to help those around her. Had she just listened to her parents...Aunt Pinako...her sister, Trisha...Master Hohenheim. As a matter of fact, everyone she knew had begged her not to go. She ignored them, and look where she ended up.
Well, if quiet contemplation was only going to go down this path, she might as well read. Only, that would mean moving, and she was rather comfortable where she was. She was so very warm, and so very tired...
"Hey Ma'am." A quiet voice reached into the warm and thankfully dreamless dark of sleep and plucked her out. Talia opened her eyes and blinked a few times to clear the sleep.
"You idiot, you woke her up." A female voice admonished quietly. Talia looked over her knees to see two children or around five or six peeking around the edge of the seat, one male one female. The little boy blushed and pulled back behind the seat so that only his eyes were showing.
"Can I help you?" Talia asked calmly, her voice relatively free of the slur of fatigue. Waking up fast was a necessary skill after all, when one spent half of their time fighting.
"We were wondering if you knew what time it was." The little boy asked quickly, poking his head back around and seemingly reassured by the lack of annoyance in her voice. Talia shrugged apologetically.
"Sorry, my watch is broken." She replied. The little girl huffed.
"See Finn, I told you. All of the watches broke back on the Bad Day." The little girl scolded the little boy, Finn.
"Okay, I'm sorry. Let's get back before Mom wakes up." Finn said sheepishly, then turned to Talia.
"Thank you Ma'am, have a nice evening." He said, nodding slightly then disappearing around the side of the seat, quickly followed by the girl Talia now presumed to be his sister. Talia let out a small smile. Children were still children, wrapped up in their own little lives, protected from the harsh reality of the world.
Geez, when did she get so philosophical? Turning to glance out the window, she noticed that the sun was no longer visible, and the landscape outside was colored muted twilight. Even though it was dark, she could clearly see the train station growing closer and closer.
Talia shifted, placing her feet back on the floor and winced. That'd teach her to fall asleep in these wretched seats again. The train started to slow and she stood, turning and reaching up for her carry on. Her small apartment in West City was never really home to her, and she traveled so often that she never really accumulated much in the way of possessions. The only thing that she really had were books, and those were being shipped separately.
As the train slid to a halt and Talia, along with the few other passengers on the train, filed neatly out and onto the mostly deserted platform. There was a squeal of joy and Talia looked over to see Finn and his sister racing towards a man who was crouched with his arms open to them and an overjoyed expression on his face. He was decked out in military blue. and wearing the stripes of a Warrant Officer. It was only then, seeing an honesty display of affection, stepping onto the solid ground that was familiar yet foreign, free to move about as she wished with absolutely no one watching her every move, that it struck her.
She was free of that hell-on-earth that was called West HQ. She was free of that asshole of a Lieutenant General. She was free, at least temporarily, of the battlefield that was the Creta/Amestris border. She was free of the house arrest and the babysitters and-
"Storm?" Well, maybe not the babysitters. The voice sounded a mixture of relieved and disbelieving, not to mention very familiar. Turning to face the sound, Talia knew why. It had been a few years since she had seen him, and he had gotten older. He still had that air of conniving self-importance around him though, and a pretty blond figure still stood stoically by his side.
"It's been a while." She greeted without much emotion. Talia hardly ever showed any emotion these days, a far cry from her childhood, she supposed.
"To think, you a Colonel. Keep it up and you'll almost be respectable." The Flame Alchemist drawled. In spite of herself, Talia's lips twitched up into a slight smile.
"I hope not, Brigadier General." Talia replied, "I do have a reputation to uphold after all." Captain Hawkeye nodded to her.
"It's been too long, Colonel." The blonde said, smiling. Talia grinned widely, for what felt like the first time in years.
"Indeed it has."
AN: Alright. So, please tell me if the character has caught your interest yet. I'm sorry of the chapter was a bit boring, but I had to get introductions out of the way first. Also, I apologize for any grammar or spelling issues.