Legal Stuff, no of course I do not own FMA or any of its characters or whatever.

Rain battered against the window as boy shivered and wrung out his hair. The rain obscured most of the view but the boy had his face pressed against the glass trying to get a glimpse of his surroundings. He hated when it rained. The world turned cold and it made the world lifeless and grey.

"How far is Hawkeye Manor?" he asked the driver.

"Only a few minutes 'till we get there, why do you going there anyways? As far as I know, nobody ever visits that place."

"I'm going to study alchemy under Mr. Hawkeye, do you know what he's like?"

"Alchemy, huh? Dunno much about Mr. Hawkeye though but if you're studying alchemy with him then I'd say you have a good teacher." The driver said to the boy confused expression.

"And why's that?"

"Well from what I hear, Mr. Hawkeye stays in his house all day work on his alchemy, never saw him once. Only time I heard from him was when he called and asked me to pick you up, probably still too busy working."

The boy turned back to the window and resumed his stare out into the darkness. He thought about living with his new teacher, about being leaving home. He wasn't scarred but was going to miss the familiarity. He stared out across the empty plains, there didn't seem to be anyone else living in the area. And then he though about the loneliness, and the rain seem to fall harder around him.

-

The drive had been long and the rain had stopped and now the clouds had cleared the moon illuminated the night. The boy was shaking with anticipation and more than eager to stretch his legs. When the car finally rolled to a stop in front vast lawn overlooked by a dark imposing estate the boy jumped out and with brief thanks to the driver and took off in the direction of the estate.

It was as he approached did he notice the state the manor was in. It was worn and seemed to have been neglected for sometime. Various kinds of weeds grew unkempt on the lawn, there were cracked windows and the lone dry spot on the porch was covered with a layer of dust fallen leaves.

-

No sooner had he reached to knock did the front doors swing open and a dark imposing figure appear illuminated by a dim fire burning inside. The man was tall, unshaven with long unkempt blond hair that fell in front of a pair of piercing auburn eyes that continuously scanned the lawn as if taking it in for the first time.

"Hmmm…. younger than I expected." The man said finally looking down at the boy. "I'm Mr. Hawkeye, your teacher. You must be tired from your trip here, go get some rest. Then tomorrow I'll evaluate your will to learn."

"Ah…. sir? What do you mean will to learn?" The boy asked curiously.

"Well you see, I am… preoccupied with my research now, and I won't have much time to spend teaching you the trivialities of alchemy. So I'll leave it to yourself to learn the basics, if you can accomplish that I'll see what I can do with you. We'll start tomorrow morning. I have a daughter about your age, she'll show to your room."

Hawkeye moved aside and the boy noticed the young girl standing behind him. She was around his age and had short cropped blond hair and the same auburn eyes. No, he though they were softer and gentler too.

The boy held out his hand and smiled, "Hi, my names Roy Mustang it's nice to meet you."

She took his hand and gave warm smile, "Hi, I'm Riza and its nice to meet you Roy."

Sorry for the slow start this turned out to be a lot longer than expected. Please R&R, read and review, thanks.