Flaming Earth Alchemist
"The military cannot continue to fund these fruitless expeditions…." A man with short black hair that matched his eyes stood behind a desk, looking out the window as he spoke. A golden haired youth sat in a chair on the other side of the desk, drumming his fingers impatiently its metal surface. It was the same every time, he and his brother would give their reports, and the colonel would proceed to lecture them about not finding anything and/or destroying half the town they were in trying to save it.
"Well, sir, if there's nothing else you want, Al and I have some things we have to do," the youth said irritably, pushing back his chair and rising to his feet. The boy walked swiftly to the door and opened it. He turned to walk out the door, and jumped back at the sight of a girl standing in the doorway.
The girl was whip thin, and wearing loose fitting jeans with a blue spaghetti strap tank-top covered by a white, long sleeved, white dress shirt whose sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. The girl looked to be Ed an Al's age with milky white skin. Her bottle green eyes were framed by wisps of jet black hair that fell out of her braid that draped casually over her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, gently brushing hair out of her face, "I didn't mean to scare you."
"I'm not scared!" exclaimed Ed defensively, "You just surprised me, that's all."
"You could have fooled me, Fullmetal," said the colonel from his chair, "you nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw her.
"Well what the hell is she doing here?" asked Ed angrily, "You conveniently forgot to mention that you were expecting company."
The colonel shrugged nonchalantly, "I wasn't expecting company any more than you were Fullmetal."
"Um, sir," the girl interrupted, hesitantly, "You were supposed to have papers sent to you telling you I was coming." The colonel simply stared at her, so she continued uncertainly, "I'm the Flaming Earth Alchemist, and I've been transferred to your department."
"Flaming Earth Alchemist…"said the colonel thoughtfully, surveying her thoughtfully over his clasped hands, "I've heard interesting things about you. As for the paper work they were supposed to send, I haven't…"
"Sorry to interrupt sir."
The colonel looked up to see the blond haired, blue eyed lieutenant who was constantly by his side standing beside his desk. "What is it lieutenant?" he asked casually.
"I found this under your desk yesterday after you left," she said as she handed him an official looking document.
The colonel read the first page, stopped and read it again. He surveyed the girl before him intently, his chin resting on his hands. Then, he said casually, straitening the stack of papers in front of him as he spoke, "Everything appears to be in order. I'll read over your papers later."
"Can we go now?" an impatient Ed interrupted, arms crossed. The colonel nodded. As soon as Ed turned to leave the colonel said, "Not so fast."
"Forget something, Colonel?" asked Ed through clenched teeth.
"Relax, Fullmetal, I just wanted to let you know that from now on Flaming Earth will be working with you. Wherever you go she goes and so on."
"What?" Ed exploded, "Why? We don't need her!"
"Brother, please calm down," pleaded Al.
Ed ignored him and continued, "Al and I have done fine on our own! We don't need any help!"
"Yes, Fullmetal, you've done a fine job causing destruction and mayhem wherever you go. However, you still have shown no evidence that you've made any progress toward finding the Philosopher's Stone. Perhaps a new set of eyes will help point you in the right direction or at the very least keep you from blowing any more towns up."
"But sir-"
"My decision is final."
Knowing that it was pointless to argue further Ed turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.
"Ed! Wait!" Al called as he ran after his brother.
A few blocks later Ed was still fuming about what had just happened.
"Can you believe that guy, Al! 'My decision is final.' He thinks he can run our lives, well he can't!"
"Brother, please calm down. I'm sure he didn't mean-"
Al was interrupted by the sound of an explosion from the next block over. Ed and all raced toward the sound and came to a building with flames shooting out of the windows. Ed and Al's attention was attracted by a woman on one side. "My baby's still in there!" she yelled.
"Don't worry mam," said Ed placing a hand on the sobbing women's shoulder, "We'll get your child out of there."
"Are you crazy!" yelled one of the bystanders, "You can't go in there! It's too dangerous!"
Before Ed could respond a soft voice said from beside him, "He does have a point." Ed turned to see the Flaming Earth Alchemist standing beside him. "It's much too dangerous to go in there by yourself," she continued. Ed opened his mouth for an angry retort, but before he had a chance to say anything she continued, "So, I'm coming with you."
Ed stared at her for a few seconds in surprise, and then slowly nodded.
"Al, you stay here and help keep these people away from the building. We'll go in and get the kid."
Al nodded that he understood and without another wordEd and Flaming Earthwent over to the burning building. When they reached the door of the building Ed reached out and grabbed the handle and turned. No sooner had he begun to open the door than he was yanked away from it from behind. Ed had no sooner cleared the door than flames shot out of it exactly where he would have been standing. Ed stared at the flames in shock as his brain registered what almost happened.
"It's never a good idea to open a door when a building's on fire unless you know there's no flames waiting behind it," said a voice from above Ed. He looked up to see Flaming Earth looking down at him. "Right," said Ed, only half listening, "Well, guess we won't be using the door."
"Why not?" asked Flaming Earth calmly. In response Ed simply stared at her in disbelief. Flaming Earth laughed at expression on his face and went over to the flames shooting from the door. "I'm called the Flaming Earth Alchemist for a reason," she said calmly, facing the flames. She stared at the flames for a few seconds, concentrating. Then, she clapped her hands together and put them right up close to the flames so she appeared to be touching them. Instantly, the flames parted leaving a flame free path for them into the house.
They entered the house and made there way to the fifth floor, there they found the child huddled in a corner of his room, crying. "It's ok, little guy," said Ed softly, holding out a hand, "we're here to rescue you."
The child gratefully held out his hand. Ed picked him up and they raced toward the door. When they were half way to the door the roof caved in, sending sparks everywhere. Ed glanced at Flaming Earth who raised her hands in the air as if to say "Don't look at me." Ed looked franticly around the room for an exit and spotted an open window on the other side of the room. He raced over to it and looked to see if there was a way down. The only thing he saw was the sheer side of the building and the sea of people watching anxiously down below.
"Hold him," said Ed as he hastily shoved the child into her arms. Then, he turned around and clapped his hands together. The child began to cry again, "It's ok," said Flaming Earth consolingly, "Ed will get us out of here." The child continued to cry so she continued, "Listen, I won't let the flames hurt you, ok." The child stopped crying and looked up at her. "If any flames come near you I can make them go away."
There was a flash of light and she looked up and saw Ed climbing out the window. She went over to the window and looked down to see a series of stair steps going down the side of the building. "See," said Flaming Earth to the child in her arms, "I told you Ed would find a way to get us out of here." With that she gently handed the child to Ed and climbed out the window.
They made there way to the ground, and as soon as they reached it they were greeted by thunderous applause and cheers. The child leapt out of Ed's arms upon seeing his mother. "Mommy!" he yelled as he raced into her open arms.
Ed turned to Flaming Earth, "Thanks for helping out back there. I gotta admit your skills come in handy. I'm Edward Elrick, by the way, and this is by brother, Al." He held out his hand.
"Nice to meet you," she replied, taking his hand and shaking it, "I'm Phoenix Marvel."
"Phoenix, interesting name," said Ed casually. Then, he continued, "Al and I better get going." Ed turned to leave then paused, "You coming?"
Phoenix blinked in surprise, "You want me to come with you."
"Well, we do have a lot of books to go through, and Al and I could always use the extra help. So, what do you say?"
Phoenix smiled and nodded, "Lead the way."