I do not own FMA or any of its affiliates. Please enjoy.

(SPOILER: Emily is a character of my own making. She is not apart of the original FMA world, and neither are her parents or uncle.)

Chapter 1:

Blood was everywhere, it seeped into the braided carpet and ran out over the stone floor. Long streaks of it that began in star-burst at the top ran down the walls of the small room. The thing that most disturbed young Emily was the blood that seemed to continually seep from her parents, who where carelessly thrown over each other in a heap in the middle of their small living room. Her silver eyes where wide with terror as she sat on her knees in the growing puddle of blood that was once her living room carpet. Her brown locks fell around her shoulders limply, some of the silky tresses where now sticky and red with fresh blood. Her face was streaked with tear and brown muck, a sick mixture that hid her usually pretty features.

There was a man there after a while, trowing a gray sheet respectively over her dead parents and blocking the sickening sight from her vision which was still slightly blurred with tears. A blonde woman in a starched blue and white uniform was wrapping her in a coat and muttering soothing words in her ear which she ignored. Voices where all around her as her small home slowly filled with people. One man who seemed to be in charge patted her head. He had odd white gloves with transmutation circles on the palms and nicely kept black hair. His uniform matched the woman's, and pretty much everyone else in the room but for herself and a strange golden haired boy with a bright red coat and a tall man in armor. The man who had patted her head squatted down before her and met her silver eyes with his deep blackish brown ones.

"Do you know what they where after? The ones who did this to your parents." He asked in an authoritative voice. She shook her head slowly and pointed towards her fathers study.

"They went in there." She croaked, her voice sore from crying. He nodded and placed one hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tenderly

"Perhaps it would be best if we got the girl away from here Colonel Mustang sir." the blonde woman had appeared at her side and was saluting the man, Colonel Mustang. He nodded and pointed towards the open front door with a wave of his hand.

"Havoc is outside, He can take her to Central and we will find a safe place from there, you never know, they may return for her." He stated and gave her a gentle smile, "Don't you worry, we will protect you." He assured her warmly. All she could think was: why didn't you protect my parents? Blindly she allowed the woman to lead her out of the dimly lit house and into the shockingly bright light of the midday sun. A blonde man with a haircut that resembled something a three year old would think of and a fine coat of stubble on his chin was leaned against a very important looking black car with the symbol of Amestris embezzled on the door. He was halfway through smoking a cigarette and simply allowing the ashes to fall between his slightly scuffed military boots. She was led to stand before the back door of the car and then told to wait there as the blonde woman spoke in quick whispers to the blonde man. After a moment the man seemed to materialize before her eyes.

"Hi there, the names Havoc, Jean Havoc." he held his hand out politely for her to shake. She looked at the hand for a second, ungloved and scarred with tobacco stains at the tip of his two longest fingers, this man was a military official, not an alchemist.

"Emily Hagraven." She stated as she accepted his hand and gave it a quick shake. It felt odd to be so formal at a time like this. She could still smell the blood and rotting smell of death that was seeping from her home like a black cloud. A flash of red from the front door of her home caught her eye and she turned her head to see the strange red coated boy who was leading the armored man outside with a sour look on his face. Havoc waved them over with a smile that caused him to drop his now spent cigarette. She moved closer to the car, running one finger over a chrome door handle, tying to do anything but look at what once was her home. Suddenly the three of them where walking towards her, the man in the armor looked meek and scared to her, nervous energy seemed to jump from his shiny frame as they drew closer and closer. she noticed that te boys eyes matched his hair in an eerie too perfect way that made her wonder if maybe they where fake.

"Emily, this is Edward and Alphonse Elric. They will be joining us on our trip to Central." Jean Havoc stated through his new cigarette that he was busy lighting with a fancy looking lighter.

"H-hi Emily, nice to make your acquaintance." the Armored man held out a hand to her and she watched as it shook slightly," My name is Alphonse Elric."

"Nice to meet you Alphonse." she said with a forced smile as she reached to accept his hand.

"Why are you being so formal and stiff! You just had a terrible thing happen to you, you can at least cry." The blonde who she assumed was Edward Elric jumped between them quickly, stopping the polite shake before their hands touched, "Come on we have to get to central before Winry." he muttered as he shot a glare at Alphonse.

"Sorry brother, I wasn't thinking." Alphonse looked nervous once again as her rubbed the shiny helmet like someone would rub their head. She thought this was odd as the front door was opened for her by the kind Havoc. She gave him a polite nod and slid into the leather covered passenger seat. After a moment the car sagged with the weight of his armor as Alphonse climbed in the backseat behind her, followed by the sour and sullen Edward. Havoc climbed into the drivers seat beside her and smiled.

"Everyone ready?" he asked as he cranked the car, sending the vibrations from the engine up her spine. She slumped in her seat and rested her head against the glass of the window. Her eyes watered as the car pulled away and turned to go down the driveway. She watched the small cabin drift away from her in the rear-view mirror. As they pulled onto the main road the first of many more warm tears slid down her cheek. She tried to be quiet as she cried but the sobs she kept from escaping her throat caused her body to shake. She bit her lip and pulled her knees up to her chest as the tears cut warm lines down her cheeks. The other three seemed to politely ignore her tears as trees and houses fell away from her blurred vision to be replaced by concrete and brick buildings. The ride was quiet after her tears finally stopped. She was sitting a little straighter and even looking around in awe at the large official looking buildings as Havoc drove them towards the very heart of Central city.

A menacingly large white building loomed over the heart of Amestris and Central city. She looked upon it in awe as they drove closer and closer. Large bright green yards where separated by paved drives and perfectly trimmed hedges. large trees sat in the middle of each of the four yards with tables set up in octagons around them. She saw a few groups of blue and white uniformed soldiers running across a couple of the yards as their commanding officers called out orders to them. She noticed a few people at a group of tables with their noses in large books, a couple of the people had transmutation circles on gloves like the Colonel. She heard Edward groan from the back seat as they drew even closer to the large main building. Havoc shrugged and chuckled as a angry looking blonde girl approached their slowing car.

"Edward Elric!" The girl shouted as she leaned close to the back window, "What did i hear about your automail!" Emily briefly wondered why almost everyone was a blonde as the two exchanged loud angry sounding words from the backseat. She turned to look but stopped short when she caught Havoc's eye. His look he was shooting her said: stay out of it.

"Thank you for the ride Mr. Havoc." Alphonse's child-like voice called as he pulled his blonde brother from the car and away from the other girls wildly swinging wrench. Emily raised one eyebrow but kept quiet as Havoc waved goodbye to the three as they made their way into the large building.

"The boss is in for it this time for sure, He busted a valve in his arm and that Winry is so picky about that automail." Havoc chuckled as he pulled out of the drive for the Command center and back into the busy streets of the city. She frowned as she thought carefully over his words.

"Automail? wait is Alphonse your boss?" she asked as she scratched the dry muck from her cheek. She felt like she would never be clean again, even after a hundred baths.

"Oh no, Al is a sweet kid but Edward is who i call boss." He said with a smile as he flipped his spent cigarette out of his open drivers side window. She raised her eyebrow, sure the shorter guy had worn a coat in the middle of the summer, and gloves on each hand to boot but she didn't think he seemed like an amputee.

"When did he loose his arm?" she asked as she leaned back in her seat with her eyes fixed on him.

"When he was just a kid, I think he was eleven." Havoc shrugged, "he lost a leg too, Winry came through for him though. She built him automail and installed it in less than a month. He was pretty impressive too, managed to learn to use them like normal limbs in less than a year. It usually takes at least tree to go through the therapy he managed to fight his way through." He was smiling as he said each word, and she thought his eyes seemed to sparkle as he spoke.

"You sound like you have a lot of respect for him." She stated as they pulled up to a large apartment building.

"Yeah." He cut the car off and pulled the key from the ignition," I guess you're right, the kid lost everything but his brother, and he almost lost him. Now he is well on his way to being one of the best state alchemists I have ever seen." He shrugged and looked past her to the building beyond her window, "Ready to go meet the family you will be staying with?" he asked.

"Staying with?" she asked as her head turned quickly to scan the building. It was plain enough looking, just a red brick building with rows of evenly spaced windows and a fire escape running up one side.

"Oh yeah, the Hughes family. Nice people and Mrs. Hughes makes the best home made meals you have ever tasted." He patted her shoulder and opened his door. She waited a moment before following suit and stepping out of the car. She followed him up the cracking stone steps and into the surprisingly cool main hallway of the apartment building. there was an old-fashioned looking staircase that lead up to the floors above them. She studied the wrought iron railing as Havoc moved to read a sign on the wall nearby.
He tapped her shoulder as he stepped on the first of many steps. She turned away from the shiny metal to look at his face, which seemed bare without a cigarette hanging from his lips. He pointed upwards wit the wave of his hand.

"They live on the fourth floor. their apartment number is 407." she nodded and allowed him to lead her up the three flights of stairs until they came out on the fourth floor. They came out across from a door marked 402. The rest of the doors but for 401 lined the other side of the hallway leading off to their left. She followed him, after his quick grumble about non smoking buildings, down the hallway until they reached the correct door. He knocked upon the dark wood of the door three times in a quick succession. After a pause the door creaked open to reveal a lovely older woman with light brown hair she had pulled back in a bun and the most beautiful green eyes Emily had ever seen.

"You must be Emily." The woman smiled at her warmly the way a mother would, sending a pang of sadness straight to her heart.

(End of chapter 1. Please review, the next chapter will be posted in twenty four hours. Hope you enjoyed!)