Hah. You have just fallen to my foolproof plan! This is what I do. I Write a summary telling you absolutely nothing about the story inside, and you click, unknowinly falling into my trap. In all seriousness, I do this because many people don't take much notice to OC stories, but please, don't be bias. Read my story and tell me what you think, even if this is a - bleugh - OC story. If you enjoy OC stories, please disregard this and enjoy.

With a Roll of the Dice

Arthur Hahn was a very cautious and paranoid man, which made the situation he was currently in very peculiar indeed. If you were very cautious, it would not be very wise for you to take over a military warehouse and use it for illegal activity, all with Central's military headquarters across the street. However, he was very secretive about what he did, and the military was completely oblivious to the fact that the abandoned warehouse was in use. Arthur had paid some of the alchemists he knew to make tunnels leading all over town, and as added protection, alchemically welded shut the enormous steel doors. It was amazing how much business he received under these measures, from gamblers to young and budding alchemists looking to make a bit of extra money. Many of them were extremely cocky, and didn't think of the fact that almost every week at least one person was killed. Even with this danger factor, two young girls returned every Wednesday, from a tunnel leading from eastern Central, not too far away. Not much was known about these sisters, apart from their names and the fact that they were sisters, six years apart. The youngest, no older than nine, did not partake in what so many people had died doing, instead, cheering on her older sister who did, risking her life for the prize money.

As Arthur counted the money that had been left throughout the week for betting, the two girls in question walked through the eastern tunnel, giving Arthur a small smile each in greeting. The older led the younger to the third highest row in the concrete stadium – like seating, who sat down where her sister told her to, quite content with a shiny green apple and a battered leather diary.

"Okay, Rem. You know the deal. Sit where I can see you and I'll take you out for lunch. Get involved and—" The eldest was cut of by the younger sister, Rem.

"… And you will kill me, because you don't wanna pick up all of the pieces of me, I know okay?" Demitri gave a snigger as her nine year old sister sounded to mature.

"Okay, fine. Read your book, see if I care." She said in mock tragedy. The younger smiled and took a bite of her apple. The eldest gave her younger sister a quick kiss on the forehead, and walked over to Arthur, giving him a small nod. He nodded in return and gave her a portion of her money in advance. If she won today, she would get threefold. She examined some five hundred cenz, not a lot, but enough for her and her sister to get by for another week.

"Five hundred, Hahn?" She asked him, impressed. "Got more punters, have ya?" Arthur was never a talkative man, and gave a vigorous nod in answer. The girl shrugged, and looked as the punters in question became quietly filing into the warehouse, paying the ten cenz to get into the fight to one of Hahn's burly guards. No one ever tried to cross him. He examined the heads in the crowd, and once he felt he had the sufficient number of spectators, he clambered behind a concrete podium, no doubt made too by alchemy, and cleared his throat. The murmurs of the patrons almost immediately subsided.

"Welcome everyone to today's fight between two very notable alchemists, Demitri and Halbert." Arthur said in a voice just loud enough to hear, before stepping out from behind the podium, his short speech finished. The girl known as Demitri twitched as her full name was spoken, but she had been so deep in though that she had not noticed the very large, very burly man at the other end of the ring, grinning at his young opponent. In a few minutes, they would be in a battle, not unlike wrestling, but with a key difference. They would be battling with alchemy. Halbert sniggered. What did they take him for? He was going to be fighting a teenager. A girl teenager, by that. He wasn't going to go easy on her, if that was implied. He would kill the girl if necessary. Little did he know that Demitri was thinking the exact same thing.

A siren sounded as a warning bell, and the two stepped over the raised concrete barrier into the ring. Jeez, Arthur. What is it with you and concrete? Demitri thought. It could be used to her advantage, and she surveyed the warehouse. She mentally checked that she had everything required to kick this guy's ass, as Halbert unsheathed a massive sword with a transmutation circle etched into the handle. Demitri let out a low whistle. That was a good idea. The second siren sounded for the start of the match, and Halbert didn't waste any time at all. He lunged at Demitri, wielding the sword, but she simply moved to the side and he overbalanced, the sword diving into the concrete. As he grinned, she realized that it was intentional.

"C'mon, little girl. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. Just quit now." Halbert said in a patronizing tone. Demitri twitched. Who was her to call her 'little girl'? She was only a head taller than him, which was good considering he was a massive freak of nature.

"But its so much fun thinking what I'm going to do to when I catch you." She shot back, her eyes lighting up with violence. Halbert grinned as he activated the transmutation circle on his sword. A transmutation circle flashed red and the ground beneath them shook and split. Demitri lost her balance and fell over backwards, but saved herself by making her palm come in contact with the concrete with enough force to launch her back upright, in a crouch with both palms flat on the ground.

There was a light purple flash from each of her palms, sending a crack in the ground, straight to Halbert's sword, shattering the silver metal. A look of horror swept across his face as he realized he now had no hope, with his only weapon destroyed. Demitri gave him an evil grin, advancing as she pulled something from her pants' front pocket, a single white and grey dice, made from what appeared to be marble. On all faces were transmutation circles of different designs, and before anyone knew it, it was tossed into the air, landing with a thud on the ground. The circle that was facing the ground flashed the same colour as her palms did, and a gigantic concrete boa constrictor emerged from where the dice landed, sending it shooting back at its owner, and the snake faced Halbert, wrapping around his heavily built body in coils, before sinking back to where it came from, dragging Halbert with it as if the concrete had turned to water. It solidified, leaving him half sunken into the concrete, and Demitri gave a satisfied grin as the crowd began to cheer, others booed, but most of them had put their money on Halbert.

This victory was short lived as two concrete statues of muscular bald men emerged from the concrete floor of the warehouse, and grabbed onto either side of Demitri, immobilizing her. The crowd, including Demitri was confused, but that confusion turned to panic when it was realized that the two steel doors that shielded the tournaments from unwanted attention were not there anymore. Over the panic, one voice in particular could be heard to Demitri.

"You see? This technique of villainy stopping has been passed down the Armstrong lines for generations!"

---

The spectators immediately scattered, but they had no hope outrunning the military. In less than ten minutes, those who weren't smart enough to go through the central tunnel and collapse it behind them had been arrested, and were being loaded onto military busses, along with Demitri. She could have broken free of her confinements, but she didn't. She couldn't leave without her sister, who she could no longer see. She would wait until they arrived at Central Headquarters so she could find her. And if a few wings of the building happen to blow up in the process, it wasn't her problem. She was roughly shoved to say the least into the millitary vehicle, but hey. Who was she to complain? Apparently she was a criminal. Demitri remained smiling as though it was her own personal joke. They may have bound her hands together so she couldn not practice alchemy withough transmuting her hands, but they had never seen the circles on the bottoms of her feet.