6am again…man when staying in one place and when you don't have too cook….since Ed can't cook….I remember the last Edward cooked…almost burned down the kitchen….Nina was frantic. I remember those days….Nina. I got out of bed after thinking of that. I looked out a window near my bed. The sun was just rising over the hills in mountains. I could see Lt. Havoc patrolling the grounds with Lt. Breda. Guess the colonel meant it when he said that they'll be keeping us safe. I got my school uniform on and put my hair into a pony tail, which was very rare since Ed wears his hair in a pony tail…the last thing I want is the colonel calling us twins….well Edward would mind it. I walked down to the common room. As I figured no one was there. Maybe I'll go…but he's probably sleeping, but Al must be awake. I walked out of the common room and I was on my way to my grand staircase when I heard my voice and nearly jumped out of my skin…well not my name.

"Heart!" a voice said. I literally gave a high pitched squeal and turned around and saw the colonel wince a little at my squeal before going to his military like expression…which is no emotion at all.

"Colonel, you gave me scare. I was going to give Edward a visit before I have to start teaching for the day." I said, while smiling.

"Not right now, Edward needs his rest." The colonel said….bullshit…Ed needs his rest…yes I know he does or is it…

"Or is it you don't want me finding the truth! Why didn't you tell me that East Headquarters was blown up! And you took me away from Edward yesterday right when he was about to tell me something. Do you not trust me?" I practically yelled. I couldn't be more mad. Why wouldn't he tell me? The colonel opened is mouth to say something. No…don't try. "Forget it colonel. I'm not listening!" I said as I walked away and down the stairs. He didn't call after me, which surprised me a I'd probably done something I'd regret later if he did. I sat in the Great hall for an hour before people started coming down, then a half an hour later Ron, Harry and Hermione came down.

"Hey Laura…something wrong. You seam cross." asked Ron. Me cross? Why would I be mad…I was just lied to!

"No I'm not cross…why would I be cross. Oh heads up Alchemy is gonna be outside today. We are going to be sparing." I said causally as I took a bite of a roll as roll. Ron looked confused while Harry and Hermione looked at each other then back at me.

"SPARING!" they said loudly…they practically screamed it. I looked at the staff table and the colonel eyes and mine met. Yes I having a fight with my superior but I am still just kid. Course…we gave our youth up long ago.

"Laura…you there? Earth to the alchemist!" Ron said Oh right reality is going on! "Right…time to go right?" I stood up and stood up on the Gryffindor Table. " HEY LISTEN UP!" Everyone got quiet. The teachers looked shocked. Mustang looked embarrassed. Ha serves him right. "Alchemy class is outside today and don't bother on bring wands…actually don't bother bringing wands to my class at all! That is all." I finished at I stepped down. "So you guys coming. You can bring your wands but not my fault if they break." I said walking away from the table. I looked up at the ceiling….which had the sky above it. Guess it was a projection.

"Laura, wait up!" I recognized Harry's voice. I turned around. And he was running to catch up.

"What?" I asked.

"You really can't be serious…we are going to be doing hand to hand combat?" asked Harry as we exited the building and started walking to the grounds.

"Harry, Alchemy is a science but you also need to be able to move yourself easy in combat." I said.

"Combat!"

"Harry magic isn't the only way to fight! If your wand is knocked out of your hand you can use alchemy but since you have spells shooting at you, you have to move fast. Now just go stand over there…I'm a teacher now." I said putting my hand to my forehead. Today was turning out to be bad day and it's all of the colonel. I leaned against the tree waiting for everyone to arrive to class. Why…Arg! First, the fight with the colonel and, now the fight with Harry. After the next class I'm going to go visit Ed. I look towards the lake and on the other side of the lake I see a train. I can't help but smile. I remember the first time I met Edward and Alphonse was on a train to Central….4 years ago.

Flashback

"Brother! The train is full!" Alphonse said as he and Edward just got on the train on time before it left. The train was like every other train. It had red wood benches and the cushions were black. Everyone in the train was adults well three people. Edward, Alphonse…and me.

"Well we can sit there. There's room for two there." Edward said. He walked over to the bench…that I was sitting at. I had my hair in a pony tail back then. I wore blue pants and a red top. I also had a black jacket that went a little lower than my butt. I was looking out the window, basically spacing out on thought. My eyes were hazel with a touch of sorrow in them. "Excuse me, Miss?" I was 11 then. I looked up and saw Edward. That was the first time I saw Edward. He wore what he wears now but his face looked much more childish and his shirt could be zipped up, and I saw Alphonse behind him. "May we sit here?"

"Uh yeah, sure!" I said Ed and Al sat down. Who knows why I let them sit with me. Maybe it was fate. A minute went by in silence. My mind was pre-occupied with certain things.

" My name is Alphonse Elric and this is my brother Edward." Alphonse said gestating to Edward. Now at the time, I was curious why he was wearing armor but I didn't think about it allot.

"Laura, Laura Shale" I responded and shook Al's hand with my right and Ed's with my left. When I touched his hand, it was ice cold…like metal…like mine. My eyes widened when our hands touched and I could see his too. I quickly retreated to my hand.

"Brother?" Al said. He was wondering what happened probably. Both Ed and I were quiet. I didn't want to talk about what we just found out about each other so I said something.

"So why are you guys headed to central. You're my age right? What could central do for you?" I asked with half a smile. I could never really smile back then.

"Yeah, I'm 11 and Al's 10. Hopefully, central has the answers we're looking for. Why are you going, Laura?" Edward said.

"Same as you are looking for answers...well not the same answers but you get the idea." I said. At least I don't think they're the same answers…Ed and I talked. About stuff, this and that. Then suddenly Al spoke.

"Brother…do you think I'm scary?" he said. I looked at Al like he was crazy. I've only known him for 10 minutes and he a lovable piece of junk. I mean he's not junk….arg you know what I mean.

"Al, soft as a lamb." Edward said.

"He's right. I've never met a kinder person." I said. Al's eyes were bright with happiness. Then we heard voices behind us.

"Mommy, that man is scary. He must really like Armor a lot" A little girl said to her mom who were on the bench behind us. Ed got this angry look on his face and looked over to the other side. He saw people staring at us.

"Nothing to see here folks! Nothing at all!" Ed said as he sunk down to his seat and Al look way embarrassed. Oy…Edward. "Jeez, no one told me we were riding the normalcy express." I heard laughing and looked behind me and saw the girl waving at Al. I turned to Al.

"See! She's not scared of you. Isn't that right?" I asked her. She nodded then she look towards Ed and stared for a long time. Edward knew what she was staring at instantly. He peeled back his sleeve reviling his automail. I knew it! I felt an automail…and he felt….

"Cooler than skin, eh?" Ed said. The child nodded and smiled. And we all did too. If Ed could be comfortable with his automail…I could be with mine! After a while we all fell asleep. Ed, Al and me really connected in less than half an hour. I was asleep then. I heard Ed. "Who did you say was small like a grain of rice and doesn't show up in your eyes?!" I opened my eyes and saw Ed yelling at a guy that had a simple grey suit on. I learned then never ever call Ed short.

"Hey! I just repeating what the colonel…" he started to say while he was backing up. Suddenly three guys wearing black pulled a gun on him. He had a gun too. I stood up and looked at them. I wasn't sure what to do or if the was anything I could do. The man that Edward yelled at dropped his gun when he saw outnumbered. One of the black guys knocked him out.

"Alright Hands up. No heroes today, or someone's gonna end up with a bullet in their head." One of the men said. There was panic around the train. Ed, Al and I just looked at each other putting our hands up. A few minutes went by and the men in black started patting people down to check if they had guns. Then one of the guys looked towards us and started walking towards us, the other guys followed. This didn't look good.

"Brother…" Al said softly.

"Don't worry" said Ed.

"Helmet, take it off." Said the 1st men in black. All three of them had their guns out.

"LOOK, OVER THERE!" Ed shouted. All three of then looked in that direction. Ha amateurs. Ed kneed the middle guy in the face. I punched the guy on the left with my automail knocking him our and Al hit the guy on the right on top of the head knocking him out. I smiled at Edward and Al. Wow we make a great team.

"What do you think you're doing?" said a man. We looked at him thinking what the heck?

"They'll want retribution." Said the man. Everyone started agreeing with the man. Saying "what are we going to do now?" and things liked that.

Al and I looked at Ed, since it was Ed's actions that started this all. "Well, Ed?" asked Al.

Edward looked at Alphonse. "I don't know. I didn't plan that far." He said. Sweatdrop. We just knocked out three guys of who knows how many more of them they are and he doesn't have a plan! I noticed that one of the men in black was starting to become conscious again. At that moment I thought it wasn't a big deal, but then I saw him raise his gun.

"Ed!" I shouted. Ed and Al turned around and saw the guy raising his gun. He was raising it to the little girl. The little girls mom protected her best she could. Al reacted first. He stepped on the man making him drop his gun, but all was just in time because once Al stepped on him the gun was fired. It hit the wall, but that was a very very close call. Ed picked up the gun.

"You guys ok?" Ed asked. They simply nodded. Edward looked at Alphonse and me then back to them. He crouched down a little, so he could talk to the little girl. "Don't worry. You big brothers and sister are going to take care of this." Edward said while smiling. She simply nodded. Edward looked back at Alphonse and me. He opened his mouth to say something but then we heard a voice.

"Hey, over here!" said a man. It was the same man who called Ed short. He was tied up.

"Hey, it that guy." I said. We ran over to him. Ed started to untie his arms while I untied his feet.

"Who the heck are you guys?" said the man.

"Just two old fashion alchemist." Said Edward.

"Actually three. I'm an alchemist too." I said, looking up at Edward and the man. I finished untying his legs.

"You don't say? Well, I'm state warrant officer Falman." Said Falman.

"You're in the military? You sure don't look like it." I said.

"Well, there's a reason for that. We've got somebody on board….front car type." He said.

"So that's why these guys are here…and they mean to take us all down with them." Edward said. He finished untying Falman's hands. We all stood up at once. Kind of weird how we did stand all up at once, but hey does that really matter? I guess not. "Al you go with him to the other cars. Laura and I will go up top." I looked at Edward. Did he really mean that we were going to stop these guys? Edward had a very serious look on his face. He really meant that we were going to do this.

"Ok." I said will full confidence. Edward was the first on get on top of the train. He helped me get up. I stood up on the train. First thing that struck me was the pure beauty of the landscape. The second thing that I realized…was that I had never walked train walked before! "Edward…have you ever done this?" I asked not really moving. He was already ahead of me.

"No, but I'm not going to allow these terrorists to take this train. They're targeting the military and their brining civilians down with them. Well, I'm not going to allow that. You coming Laura?" Ed said reaching his right arm towards me to help me. Edward's right. If they're after the military then they should only attack them. Even if they didn't mean to hurt us, that guy almost shot that little girl…No! I won't allow that to happen. I looked at Edward and grabbed his right hand with my left hand.

"You bet I am." I said I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. We started walking train. It got easier with each step. We had already past two cars. Then the conversation, I was trying to avoid came up.

"So…how'd you get you automail?" asked Edward. I was right. He did figure it out.

I looked at Edward and he was just looking straight ahead, so I did too and kept walking. "I could ask you the same thing Edward…but I got it…in an alchemy accident." I didn't want to tell him that I had committed the forbidden act…the taboo….that I had attempted Human Transmutation.

"Did you see the gate" Edward said softly.

My eyes widened. He just took a guess…but only….then…he must have seen it too. "Yeah…I did see it. Maybe we can learn more about each other once we get to central, but first let's get these guys!" I said. Edward looked at me and nodded. Then I looked ahead. We were coming fast….on a branch! "Edward look out!"

"hm?" Edward looked ahead…right when the branch hit him. It him with such speed that it knocked him off the train and into a cliff!

"Edward!" I yelled. I ran over there as…best I could run on top of a moving train. I ran to the edge and I saw Edward looking up at me with another man holding him. The other man had black pants on and a purple top; he had some facial hair and green eyes. He looked up at me.

"My god, you look like the major himself." The man said. I could feel my heart skip a beat…he…he knew dad?

"You knew my father?" I asked. He simply nodded.

"My name is Major Maes Hughes." He said.

"Laura Shale" I replied. Why I said my last name I don't know. He said he knew my father. Hughes just smiled and looked at Edward.

"You must be Edward Elric. Mustang told me about you and your brother." He said.

"The lieutenant colonel?" Ed said. Mustang…he was the guy I was going to see in central.

"Yeah, He's always bragging about that promotion too." Hughes said. "Well, we better get moving." Ed and I looked at each other and nodded.

Of the engine…cart. You could hear guys being punched inside. Ed and Hughes were taking care of it. Ed climbed up to me. "So how'd it go?"

"We knocked them out cold!" Edward said giving me thumbs up.

"Great, so we're going after the main guy now right?" I asked Ed as I climbed onto a ladder to cross the…thing. I was in deep thought when I heard a gun shot. I looked up and saw a guy… then he shot at me. I ducked before anything. "Ed you ok?" I yelled.

"Yeah. Hang on I'll get rid of this guy." Ed yelled over the noise of the train. I heard a thud and a cannon was suddenly on top of the train. Ed must have done a transmutation. Ed climbed up on the train and shot the guy with the cannon. I climbed back up. "Nice shot!"

"Hey!" Ed and I turned around and looked at a man who looked like the captain. "Careful that water is the life of this train!"

"Sorry!" I yelled. I looked at Ed he looked like he was in deep thought. "Ed?"

"Water…hehe" Edward said and got a weird grin on his face. He had an idea. I walked up to him and he whispered his idea in my ear. It was a very good plan. And now to put it in action!

There was suddenly a rush of water in the first cabin. Edward gave me the thumbs up from where he was. He got the water in the first cabin through a transmutation. I jumped into the cabin filled with water. I swam to where the hostages were. I closed the door and waited for the water to dissipate from the room. "Please stay down. You guys are going to be fine." I said while watching the door. I didn't look at them I had to stay focused on the plan. Suddenly I saw all the water wash away. I looked out the door and saw that Al finally got here and opened the door. All the water flowed out of cabin. I saw the main bad guy and let me tell you…he looked like one!

"Look on the bright side bald. You probably needed a bath." Said Hughes. Well I heard his voice. I heard something clash with metal, a gunshot then a scream. Hughes! I ran out of the door. I saw Bald looking into a cabin. He didn't notice me.

"After I kill you, I'm going to kill every damn passenger on this train!" Bald said.

"Not happening!" I yelled getting his attention.

"What a stupid little girl? You want to interfere? Fine you die too!" He said facing me. I was not afraid of him. I was about to lunge at him when..

"Me first!" yelled Ed. Edward cam flying down from the top at Bald. They ended in a kind of stance I can't explain. (those who have seen the episode know what I'm talking about) An automail…Bald had an automail and of course Ed did. Bald's….looked like a gun. Ed's was fine…very well made. It was sliver, mines silver too but its not as shiny. I don't take good care of it. Only make sure it doesn't rust.

"An Automail! When did the military start taking in brats like you?" Bald said viciously.

"We're not with the military!" I shouted.

"Well, let me tell you something about it. I was in this blasted Military and then I wanted a upgrade on my model. The higher up didn't like it. They didn't want me to be more powerful than my commanding officers!" He looked at Edward. "Come on kid you understand, you have an automail just like mine." He said.

"No I don't understand! Another thing, don't think my automail is anything your trash!" Ed yelled breaking his automail. Damn. Ed's automail was good! Bald fell backwards and when he turned around to run…Al punched him. He was knocked out cold. We did it…we won. I walked to Bald to make sure he was knocked out. I started laughing…we actually did it…we beat them. I looked to Ed to my left and he started laughing also and Al started laughing to and he was to my right. Hughes started laughing too. "Well I'll be. That's something new."

"So you three want to become state alchemist?" Hughes asked. Hughes was now dressed in a military uniform as so was most people in the station. We were finally at central. We were near the beginning of the train while the bad guys were all tied up at the other end.

"Yeah, I guess this was a big step…" I started to say…then BOOM! Ed, Al and I turned around to look down the train. There was Bald burned to a crisp and a man, probably 20s. He was dressed in a military suit. He had black hair and black eyes. "That flame…" I said.

"The damage to your skin isn't nearly as bad as it feels." The man said.

"Who the hell are you?" Bald whispered out.

The man smirked. "You can call me Roy Mustang. Or just Lieutenant Colonel. Hell, you can call me the Flame Alchemist. Whatever you do, remember the pain." That's when I first met the colonel. Let me tell you…first impressions do matter!

"So he's the lt. colonel…" Edward said and started running off to the colonel.

"Ed!" I ran after him.

"Hey!" Ed ran to the colonel with me following behind him. The colonel looked at him. "You put us in danger! You knew!" Ed said.

"Come on Kid? You think I run this country? Besides, the general heard that you did all that and a you three can now take the exam." He said.

"But you always said we could take it!" Ed yelled.

"Come on, do you really think the military would let a kid take the military exam." He said. He then looked at me. "You must be the girl that the general was talking about."

"Oh, I'm Laura Shale." I said. His face changed when I said shale. He smiled.

He walked over to me and…

break flashback

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and smiled. It was the Colonel. He looked straight ahead with a stern face.

"Heart, you must understand…" he started to say but I interrupted him.

"I know…you were just doing you job…just trying to protect me." I looked at him and he was smiling down at me. "Now if you excuse me colonel I need to teach!" I said as I saluted him walking where everyone was. "Now what we're today is sparing." I heard some whispers. "I know this isn't normal, but is essential that you have good reflexes. Now team up. Teams are of two. One person from each house." I'll be walking around to check on you. "And no magic!" I yelled at the slytherns. "Begin." The students teamed up pretty quick. Harry teamed up with Malfoy. I knew that would happen. Half an hour passed and it was going quite well. I had to help everyone with their form except Harry and Draco. I was helping Ron and his teammate Blaise. "You see when you swing you have to…" BOOM! The whole class stopped and looked in the direction of Draco and Harry. I ran to them. Draco was knelling on ground holding his hand and there were pieces of a burnt wand on the ground. I looked at Harry who was looking up on a hill. I looked up there and smiled. It was the colonel.

resume flashback

He walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me on eye to eye level. "You're father was a great man." He then walked to Ed and told him that it was still his decision to take the exam or not…I wasn't paying attention to that. I turned around to see the colonel leave. He…knew dad.

end of flashback

"Colonel…."