Authors Note:

So, I was re-reading this fic in preparation of adding another chapter and realized just how much I didn't like the way it was written. So me being the fickle as hell writer I am I went back and re-wrote this entire fanfiction. The major plot points haven't changed - but continuity of characters has been vastly improved as well as grammar and hopefully overall feel. All pages up now are altered so provided there aren't any major mistakes this should be the final version.

Thanks to everyone who read up until now! I can't believe you put up with my first version...that was soo bad. I hope you enjoy SHION version. 2.0! I'd really suggest you read through the whole thing again, ( I know, I ask to much. T.T) just because I did make some important ( to me at least ) changes to help with flow, O.C. identification and general continuity of the story.

It makes sense now. ^w^.

So please enjoy and tell me if I messed up somewhere! Thanks again for reading!

Everything burned.

The walls, the stolen tapestries, the air, her body even.

Heavy charcoal colored clouds filled the small room with the choking stench, pulling the breath from the lungs of those trapped there and filling them instead with soot and scorching poison. Through watery eyes a curled up victim of the inferno caught sight of something at the door, a deep blue uniform smudged with filth and blackened at the edges where the flames had gently brushed against it.

The dark haired man took only a moment's pause as he stared at the lost child who'd been abandoned in the deepest part of a slave traders den – nothing more than collateral damage not worth risking their lives for.

Her darkening eyes recognized help, the child reached out desperately, trying to hold onto a distant form that had begun to vanish into the smoke.

"General!"

With a gasp she jerked back, the title recalling her from a memories vision to stare in fear at the scarred hands of her adulthood. Around her fire still raged; held at bay just outside a thin circle of compressed wind that acted as both her sword and shield.

And when she at last lifted them, the sight before her eyes was engulfed by the full horror of an entire world on fire.

"AHH!"

With a gasp the room came into focus, the blue radiance of a desert moon the only light her eyes could see. Curled in bed the young woman buried her head in her hands, shaking with every gasping breath as pale auburn hair fell over her shoulders. The dark cool of the silent night surrounded her – far removed from the flames of her memory. But it could only do so much to relieve the tension she felt. Sienna placed a hand on her chest, only surprised for an instant when no rapid thumping registered against the tips of her fingers. She should know better; the woman hadn't felt the sensation of a racing heart outside of the realm of dreams in many years. So she steadied herself with deep breaths in the closed room and before too long her nerves quieted enough that she could hear the pounding of footsteps rapidly approaching via the stone steps leading to her high chamber.

"A dream…and again I'm scared awake..." She murmured with hot irritation as she reached for the ring on her bedside table. The hurried feet were now almost at the threshold.

"ENTER!" Sienna ordered only a moment before the door flew open –having known full well from hard learned experience that her subordinate would burst in (yet again) before she received permission. At least this way the stubborn woman could at least retain the illusion of control.

"General!" A young Colonel saluted, breath heavy from her run upstairs. Col. Merion's normally controlled chestnut locks hung uncharacteristically loose around her shoulders – despite the rest of her uniform being near immaculate.

She must have just gotten out of bed herself. Sienna determined before she asked curtly; "What is it, Merion?"

"It's bad ma'am!" The Colonel stammered out, saluting once more out of sheer nervous energy. "Major Geiger has gone AWOL! He was last seen making for the Inkula desert – headed east. Geiger injured several soldiers while fleeing." For a moment Colonel Merion paused, as if hesitant to continue her report. But any chance of cutting the meeting short ended with her superiors withering stare. "M-Ma'am. He's also taken a number of troops with him."

"How many?" Came an equally hesitant query.

Blinking strongly as she rallied her nerves, Merion continued. "At least thirty – among them Sergeants Hancock, Wolf, Schmidt, and Tang and Privates Collin, and Wilson. There are several others not accounted for – we're not yet sure if they're AWOL or injured."

With a slow sort of weariness the formerly slumbering ( even though it had been a horrible dream ) leader rose from her bed. She wasted no time in crossing the room for the standing wardrobe as her subordinates waited at the door. Quickly drawing open the door she removed her sleep-shirt and started changing into the uniform that had come to define her over the years, continuing the briefing as she did so.

"Thirty. That's a large number of troops."

"My apologies." Colonel Merion responded, her voice sincerely upset.

The general only cast a glance at the remorseful woman. "I won't bother asking how they got away – considering who we're dealing with that much is obvious. I'm just hoping there weren't too many who opposed him - if so the infirmary will be a little crowded to say the least."

Finally ready, General Sienna Shrike turned toward her bedroom door where she was eagerly awaited by a cadre of nervous soldiers, the bulk of the group still huddled in the stairwell behind the Colonel - all afraid of the retribution that might befall them if they take even one step into her private domain despite the fact that they were the bravest of the greater group in having even come that far up the steps.

As Sienna pulled her hair up into its familiar coiled braids she gave her first definitive order.

"Shut down Citadel. Every entrance needs to be sealed! And I want a count on how many of my men are gone!"

"Ma'am!" The group responded, saluting quickly.

As they raced off she stood alone with her colonel and after a long pause the younger woman gave a deep sigh, once again her face filled with regret that she made no attempt to hide from her commander. "General… I didn't think he'd go this far."

Shrike adjusted her long side-swept bangs, hiding her feelings behind a shimmering curtain of rich brown. "I did. It's just...I thought I had more time. I knew he would move but not so soon. Perhaps I was just unwilling to see an unpleasant truth."

In her usual nervous gesture she raised a hand to her mouth, lips resting slightly on a curious red stone crowning the silver ring that sat in its normal place, adorning her left thumb.

"We will be needing backup – I'll trust Colonel Skorpion to hold down the fort until we return."

"Ma'am!" Merion responded with enthusiasm.

The haggard innkeeper stared back…hollowed eyes boring deep into Ed's soul as he slowly and cautiously uttered; "Have you seen…my hotel?"

A cold shiver down his spine Ed hazarded a glance to his left. Alphonse had his head lowered, fingers twirling in embarrassment. The glint of sunlight off his helmet was blinding compared to the darkness of the remaining lobby. A small bird flew in the gaping hole, pecked at the carpet, and then flew away.

Ed turned slowly back toward the innkeeper, almost swearing he could feel the burn of righteous anger about to erupt.

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY INN! AND DON'T YOU DARE SKIP TOWN WITHOUT FIXING THIS!"

After he jerked back in shock from the withered old man, Ed quickly regained his composure and threw out a winning smile. "Sorry about all this, but I'll have it fixed in just a second!" And with a mischievous grin he clapped his hands together, the sound echoing with a strange ring. "Don't worry! It'll be better than new!" As his hands made contact with the lobby floor the material of the earth itself began to writhe and reform as it crashed into incredible new shapes that molded into stairs and bricks, tiles and fine fabrics. Using the rubble itself Ed drew on all his artistic merit to re-craft the small town building.

And for a moment, the innkeeper's eyes were wide in amazement and Alphonse gave a relieved sigh.

That was until he took a good look at the innkeeper who stood in open-mouthed silence.

Giving a cool smirk, Ed admired his handiwork. The proud shapes and awesome forms of his creation lorded over the much increased space.

"See! Like I told you! Better than –"

Feeling the burn of ever hungry flames Ed halted mid-sentence.

"ARE YOU DEMENTED!" The old man screeched. " THIS IS A SMALL INN!"

A wrinkled hand shot out, grabbing the alchemist by the ear.

"OWWWW! OW! OW! OW!" Edward yelped, hopping on one food as he was dragged around like an errant schoolchild by the furious business owner who continued to yell into the tortured appendage.

"WE'RE PRIDED ON OUR HOME-TOWN RUSTICNESS! NOT FREAK ART!" He proclaimed, jabbing his free hand at Edwards 'repairs'. Edward took a closer look at the various monsters and spiked ramparts that now adorned the hall, only then coming to realize how out of place they seemed. In an attempt to explain himself Ed gave a nervous smile. "Uh…I thought it looked cool?"

The innkeeper gave a low growl, teeth grinding in seething anger.

"Uh…Sorry?" Ed tried again.

"GET OUT!"

In a moment Ed found himself flying through the air. After a weightless ( and stunned ) moment he hit the cobblestone street and tumbled end over end until he collided with something equally hard. With a grimace he rubbed his head and looked up at Alphonse before blinking with shock.

"WHA~~" He glanced back over where Al had been before pointing at his brother accusingly. "You left me behind!"

The innkeeper - not quite done making a scene in front of his neighbors - charged out through the hole, waving a gnarled finger at the brothers.

"You two…" He hissed. "Don't you dare leave town until this whole mess is taken care of! I'm going to get a proper carpenter to fix this monstrous mess and you're going to be paying the bill, understand!"

The young alchemists groaned and Edward quickly jumped to his feet, hoping to defuse the situation. "If you give me a-"

The flames returned; the old mans eyes gleaming with fire. "UNDERSTAND?"

"Sir~~" The two complied dejectedly.

Alphonse sat on the brick wall of an old bridge, his body - or what passed for one - faced toward the continued cobblestones that lined it and up which his brother walked, shoulders hunched forward and a sour look on his face.

"Any luck?" Alphonse wondered, knowing better than to expect a good answer.

Scratching his head Edward sighed. He'd been all over the city but unfortunately word of his deeds traveled faster than he did. There wasn't an innkeeper in the city who wanted him and his brother as boarders.

"Looks like it's under the stars tonight." Edward explained. "Sorry."

With an accepting wave of his hands Al jumped up. "Don't worry about me – I don't get cold or anything so it's really okay! It's just…won't you be uncomfortable?"

"I'll be fine;" Edward sniffed before giving a solemn shrug and a wry grin. "We've both been through worse, right?"

Alphonse nodded. "Yeah."

After a futile kick at the empty road Edward stretched. "I'm starved after all that. At least the other stores will talk to us right?"

"NO!" An angry grocer yelled, slamming his doors shut.

Ed twitched. "WHAT?"

At another storefront a manager crossed his arms to bar the way. "No way! Not in my store!"

Edward pulled at his hair after the fifth food-bearing establishment turned him out onto the empty, foodless road. "Oh come on! I can't even get food anywhere either!"

Trying out his military clout, Edward tried again - this time holding his state watch out in front of him like an enchanted token.

"Out!"

Ed hit the pavement on his back this time, opening his golden eyes to stare up at Al framed against a clear blue sky.

"I guess that's it then." The younger brother sighed.

A laugh reached Ed's ears, causing him to sit up. The sound crossed the street toward him - a young woman with reddish tinged brown hair curled up into two twisting spirals like spiked pinwheels – one on either side of her head. For a while she stared at them from behind half-moon glasses she smiled, reaching out a hand to help Ed up.

"Really! To piss off old Granger you must have done something indeed."

Brushing the gravel from his red coat, Ed took a moment to glower at the ground.

"Yeah well, I got into a fight this morning and made a mess of things."

The woman nodded. "A fight? I hope not with each other though?" She wondered as she looked them both over. "I heard about some ruckus earlier but I didn't imagine a little kid like you was behind it though." She laughed again.

Ed's eye twitched. "Little kid…"

Smiling, in a sort of carefree way she patted him on the head. "They say big things come in little packages!"

"That's it!" Ed snapped. Temper flaring up, he took a look at the woman in front of him and true to his nature yelled the first thing that popped into his head. "LITTLE? Who're you callin' little, beggar hag!"

The woman gave an angry smirk. "Obviously you…shrimp."

"WHAT DID YOU-"

Al came to the rescue, lifting his brother off of the ground easily by one arm while Ed flailed violently, yelling all the while.

"Sorry ma'am!" He apologized quickly, adding. "It's a little bit of a sore issue."

"I can see." She responded dryly, watching as Ed was returned, much calmed, to the ground. "What's your name?"

Straightening his jacket, Ed gave her a serious look. "Edward Elric. And this is my brother, Alphonse."

With raised eyebrows the woman smiled. "Oooh? The Elrics? One of you is the Fullmetal Alchemist then?" Her gaze turned to the gleaming armor. Al pointed at the still pouting golden haired boy. After a disbelieving stare she cleared her throat, adjusting her glasses nervously. "What brings you here?" She asked, hoping a change of subject might defuse the situation.

Edward calmed as he explained. "I'm meeting someone in Central – but that guy hasn't told me what it's about yet. We just mean to stay here a night to rest before we head on."

"That guy?" She mused before shrugging. "Well at any rate, I have shopping to do."

A low growl from Edward's stomach found its way into the conversation.

After a roll of her eyes she gave the shorter of the two brothers a kind smile. "Stay here a minute, kid."

The brothers watched her for that moment, then looked at each other. Ed shrugged. They continued to watch as the shopkeeper that had so thrown the promising young alchemists so coldly out onto the street gladly ushered the so - called 'beggar woman' in, treating her as if she were a highly valued customer despite the threadbare appearance of her worn tweed pencil skirt and moth eaten sweater. After some hustle and bustle in the store she re-joined them, carrying sandwiches and fruit that she distributed to the two waiting boys.

"Here…that should hold you a while."

As soon as the Elric's were laden down with food she gave a diabolical smirk. And seeing as his arms were so stuffed that he couldn't move she soon took advantage of the situation. In a flash her hand was on Ed's head - his eyes nearly bulging at the audacity.

"Now eat up little man!" She cooed. "You need your strength!"

"YOU!" He growled, unable to flail.

Letting go, she gave him the first serious look in their short acquaintance, meeting his fierce glare. With his attention gained she lifted his head just a bit to look at him through steely gray eyes.

"Kid. A word of advice. Always remember that the toes you step on today could be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow."

Then with an unexpected smile she walked by, leaving him standing silently.

"Take care, Fullmetal." The strange woman called back, positively bouncing away as if they were old friends.

Both Ed and Al stared after her.

"Um. Brother?"

"Yeah Al?"

Alphonse made a worried noise. "So...that was weird huh?"

Edwards eye twitched. "Like no ones business. But at least that's one less problem to worry about."

With their newly gained loot the two made out in search of some place, preferably dry and fairly covered, to spend the night.