On a street there lived a girl named Phoenix. Phoenix isn't a punk rocker or even a popular teen she is just a shy girl with a big imagination. She started to watch Fullmetal Alchemist because it seemed to be interesting and one of her friends recommended it to her. So one day she started to watch it and she became so involved with the story she actually started to cry a little for the characters which is a hard thing to make her do. After she finished watching the entire show she went to bed with a heartache. She usually didn't have dreams but tonight she had one about a huge black gate in a white room that seemed to have no walls just the color white taking the place of the walls. She turned around as fast as she could to see if there was another way out but to her amazement there was another gate of the same size and shape. Both gates were black and enormous and both had a drawing of a circle with small pictures in and around it. As she was staring at the gate in front of her she finally looked to the ground to find a bright red cloak with a black symbol on it and when she bent down to pick it up she remembered everything about the show she had just watched and realized that these were the gates from Ed's world, her world, and the world of the dead.
She awoke so fast that she was dizzy when she sat up. Her heart was racing and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She didn't know why her heart was racing but what she did know was that it was just a dream. So she laid back down on her bed and stared into the blackness that had filled her room from the darkness of the night. For awhile she thought about how cool it was to have a dream like that and she decided to tell her friends about it in the morning. Eventually she fell back to sleep and this time she had another dream but when she looked around she realized it was the same one with the two black gates and Ed's bright red cloak.
This time she decided to enter the other gate since it was just a dream. She slowly walked to the other gate, bent down, and picked up Ed's red cloak. She touched the gate because it had no handles and it slowly opened and she stepped in.
Boom, crash, slam, and gun shots were the first things she heard. She was afraid to open her eyes because she was scared but she opened them anyways. She looked at her hands and found that she had the hands of a small child and that she was wearing a torn, rouged dress. She stood up and looked out the window above her. The window and the house were made of what seemed to be a hard clay and stone and the temperature was scorching hot. She figured she was in a dessert town. When she looked out the window she saw tan colored people with red eyes dressed in tunics running from soldiers with blue uniforms holding guns. Everything clicked once she turned around and looked in the mirror. She was Ishvalan child and this was... the Ishvalan War.
She was scared for her life. So she was thinking about everything that happens in the war to see what she should do or even what she could do. Her first thought was terrible because she knew that this was a war of extermination and her chances of surviving were slim to none. So she panicked; terrified to even leave the room. Phoenix trembled with every step on her way to the door which seemed like an eternity. When Phoenix reached the door she remembered that she could survive because of a small group of Ishvalan people that lived. This little memory was enough to push her forward and help her fight for her life.
Phoenix opened the door and sprinted. She ran through the house. There seemed to be no one inside but when she got to the bottom of the stairs. She collapsed and fell to her knees sobbing. There was a women, man, and child lying in there own blood on the floor. She thought that maybe the family had gotten out in time but this scene made one of her worst nightmares come alive. She tried to stand up but she couldn't. Than another louder boom had gone off closer to the house this time and she was forced to get on her feet to survive this horror of a dream. So she ran as fast as she could out of the house and ran in the opposite direction of the solders she had seen through the window. Phoenix turned a corner and stopped in her tracks because there were two soldiers. She felt like she couldn't move once again and stared as frozen has ice at the backs of the men. They turned and faced her; they had a startled look on their faces almost a look that showed they didn't want to do something that they were about to do and they ran straight toward Phoenix with there guns pointed at her. Phoenix ran back the same street she was just on. As she was dodging bullets here and there she was startled by how she could dodge them so well. She thought in a brief second while she was running away from the solders that she was lucky that they weren't alchemist because she would of already been dead. She ran as fast as she could but it wasn't enough.
Phoenix felt a shot of pain rush up her left arm but she kept running than another shot of pain went up her left leg and then another shot of pain in her right leg. She dropped to the ground on her knees than her face. She realized by how much pain that she had been shoot three times but she wasn't dead and that gave her hope. The solders stopped running and walked over to Phoenix, who had closed her eyes and held her breath because that was her only chance of surviving... to play dead. One soldier knelled on one knee and bent down to look at her than he started to cry. Tears were going down his face and he was whispering that he was sorry for everything over and over again until he almost shouted it. He stood up again and looked at his partner and said with tears in his eyes "Why, why do we have to do this?"
His friend looked at him back with dead eyes and said "These were our orders and we follow orders! So now can you just make sure she is dead so we can go back to camp!" The other solder sniffled and bent down for the last time. By the time the soldiers were done talking, Phoenix had held her breath for so long and with her gun shot wounds... she had no pulse.
The crying soldier looked for a pulse but he couldn't find one and cried a little harder and whispered once again "I'm sorry for everything." and with that he and his partner walked away with there guns in hand.
After a few hours or so Phoenix slowly opened her eyes and she was still in agonizing pain. This is when she realized that this wasn't a dream. She was on her stomach and with her right arm she dragged herself into a small alleyway and hid in a box. As Phoenix was in an out of conciseness she heard more explosions, gun shots, and the sound of the marching feet of soldiers.
After two hours of hiding in the box Phoenix decided to to come out and look for help. The sky seemed to be darker than before because it had been filled with smoke from the war and the fact that the sun was setting. She tried to stand up but the gun shot wounds hurt too much. All she could do was walk every so often than fall to her knees. She turned corner after corner left and right, which meant that most of the solders had gone back to camp for the night, than she came to a large white tent with a red cross on it. She entered the tent no matter what side of the fight the medical tent was used for. She looked inside and saw both Ishvalan people and solders. She also saw far down on the other side of the tent a man and a women that had blonde hair and looked some-what familiar to her. After a minute of squinting and trying to figure out who they were. Phoenix realized that they were... Winry's parents... the Rockbells. Than she collapsed on the ground.
She found her self on a bed with Mrs. Rockbell looking down at her. "Your OK child!" said Mrs. Rockbell in a soft voice "You went through surgery all fine and we got those nasty gun shot wounds fixed up all right and now you should just rest."
Phoenix said feeling completely better "How long have I been out?" Mrs. Rockbell said with a confused face "Well about two days!" Phoenix than said "and how long have you been helping in the war?" Mrs. Rockbell looked extremely confused and said "You need your rest now! Your in a safe place!" but Phoenix wasn't kidding around and said in as serious of a voice as she could "I need to know because...well... a" Mrs. Rockbell said "Well if you really want to know I have been helping in this war for a very long time! Now get some rest!" and those as her finally words before she went to go help another patient. Phoenix knew this wasn't good, not for her and especially not for the Rockbells! So she got off her bed and walked straight for the exit at the end of the tent. When she was out of the tent she heard Mrs. Rockbell shout to a few helpers to look for her and they were all heading to look outside. Phoenix panicked and stood right outside of the tent only wishing to be someone else, anyone because all she knew was that she didn't want to go back in the tent.
Mrs. Rockbell and a few others ran out of the tent and stopped in there tracks. They stared at Phoenix with panic in their eyes and they all knelt down and Mrs. Rockbell said "Please don't kill us we are helping the Ishvalans and your people! Please just please don't kill us we want to help everyone!" Phoenix was so confused and she looked down at her hands and realized that they were bigger and she also saw that she was caring a gun and she had a blue uniform on. She realized that she was... a soldier!
Phoenix said "OK, just this once I'll let this whole operation slide just because your helping my men but just make sure not to help anymore Ishvalan people!" She didn't want to say that but if she had told Mrs. Rockbell to help everyone it would be out of character. Mrs. Rockbell stood up and wiped her tears away and said "Thank you! Thank you so much!" and walked back inside.
Phoenix walked away with her gun propped against her shoulder and was awed at how she transformed into a solder like that. When she was about a few feet away from the tent Phoenix heard two loud explosions and she knew right away what had happened. The Rockbells had been killed by Scar.
Her first thought about her transformation was that maybe she was always a soldier from the beginning of this journey but the pain from before was real. She truly felt the pain of the bullets tearing apart her skin and making there way to her bone. She kept walking and as she did she almost wanted to cry every five minutes because of all the dead bodies that were lying on the ground. Some were shot in the head and some in the chest but all hit their target. Eventually she turned a corner and saw two solders walking and talking. She than realized by the sound of their voices that these two solders were the ones that shot her. Phoenix slowly walked up to them and smiled. She said while trying to not look at them "So, you two heading back to camp." and one of them said with a laugh "Ya, are you?" Phoenix than said "Ya, I was ordered back to camp to."
After their little conversation the soldier closest to her whispered to her "Don't you think this is all wrong? Us shooting random and inocent people!" Phoenix panicked and whispered the only thing that had came to her mind "These were our orders and we follow orders." The soldier jerked his head back into a straight position and had a scared look in his eyes and Phoenix knew why. He had heard those words before and only him.
After twenty minutes of walking they finally arrived at the camp where hundreds of solders were walking around and talking to each other. The first and only thing Phoenix wanted to do was find Roy Mustang and talk to him. So after a while of walking around she spotted Roy in his white Alchemist robe talking to Hughes. Just the sight of Hughes made her want to cry because she knew of his fate. She wiped away her tears and started to walk over to them. When she reached them she almost hesitated to tap Roy on the shoulder put she built up her courage and tapped. When Roy turned around Phoenix kept her cool. Both Roy and Hughes looked at her confused because they had never seen her before but before they could ask any questions she said to Roy with her hand raised to her forehead "I work with Fuhrer Bradley and he wanted me to tell you something very important!" Roy laughed and said "Get on with it! What does he want with me?" and Phoenix said "Well its top secret so come with me!" At this point Roy was extremely confused because why would King Bradley want him but he went with her anyways because those were his orders. Eventually Phoenix had lead Roy far enough away where she felt safe to talk.
The first thing Phoenix said was "Protect Ed and Al!"
Roy looked at her with his eyes as wide as they could be and asked "Who are Ed and Al? Who are you and why do I need to protect them?" Phoenix looked at him with a worried face because she didn't want to tell him everything but than she said "Ed and Al are two boys and you will need to protect them in the years to come. So whatever you do must be to protect them. Just remember those two names and my wish. We must go back now they will be looking for you!" Roy had a confused look on his face but snapped out of his daze to follow her back and when he caught up to Phoenix he wanted to ask more questions but didn't in the end.
When they reached the camp they both went their separate ways. Roy went back to talk to Hughes and Phoenix walked around until she got enough information from ease dropping to figure out that there was a train station in a dessert city close by. So after that news, she headed North toward the city. Phoenix started to walk away form the camp and as soon as she was far enough to not be seen she started to run because she didn't want to remember the bloodshed and she defiantly didn't want to be a associated with the war in anyway. As she was running as fast as she could go. She closed her eyes from the oncoming sand and when she opened her eyes again she realized she wasn't on the ground anymore she was a bird flying in the wind. By this time she figured out that she could shape shift and this didn't scare her she was actually happy she could do this because she knew this could come in handy. About a couple of hours later she saw the town she was looking for and she was so happy because for some reason her body started to ache and not from flying since it didn't hurt her arms, she felt the pain in her heart and from that she guessed that being in an animal form her body must not recognize the animal DNA and reacts by causing extreme pain in her heart and chest.
When Phoenix arrived at the train station she transformed into the form of a man, for the first time. She believed a single man riding a train seemed less suspicious than a single girl. So as she past a few hooks on the wall of the train station outside a store and she grabbed a black jacket, reached into the pocket , grabbed a handful of money, and kept walking to go and buy a ticket for the next train going to the Elric brothers' home town of Resembool.
After a few hours of waiting at the train station Phoenix boarded the train for Resembool. It was going to be a two hour ride and this meant that she was going to have a lot of time on her hands to think about her next few moves. As the train blew its whistle and started to leave the station Phoenix started to think and look out the window, that she was sitting next to. The scenery slowly changed from desert to rolling hills and the train moved closer and closer to Resembool. Phoenix was thinking that maybe when she got there and Ed and Al wouldn't be born yet or maybe they would be already with Lzumi or worse their father could be walking out on them. She was wishing the whole ride that she didn't have to face Hohenheim because she felt a disgust for him just running out on his family and for the dumbest reasons.
The train came to a stop in the town of Resembool. The sky was clear and there was a nice breeze that carried the scent of fresh flowers through the air. Phoenix walked out of the train station and transformed into herself but not on purpose. She had never chosen what she turned into but if she thought a little or wished a little to be something else she was usually that. Her true form or her natural-self was her wearing her favorite pair of jeans, an old pair of sneakers that she wore everywhere, with a gray t-shirt, and a gray and white striped robe. Phoenix had dark blonde hair but in the sun her hair would change to a lighter blonde. Her eyes were hazel and she had smooth skin.
As she walked a little further down the dirt road leading away from the train station she passed a tall man wearing a black hat that had blonde hair with a large brown coat carrying a brown suitcase. She walked a little further down the dirt path when she realized that she knew that man. He was Hohenheim, Ed and Al's dad. She froze where she stood because she knew her mind wanted to keep on walking, it wasn't worth getting mad over, but her heart told her with all the pain and suffering Ed and Al go through; she had to say something. So she did. Phoenix ran to meet up with Hohenheim and grabbed his coat. He looked at her, shocked. Phoenix pushed him against the tree next to them and held her hands onto his shoulders so she had his attantion. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and asked him "Why...why...why did you have to leave them?" Phoenix already knew but she wanted to hear it from him.
Hohenheim's expression was of surprise and confusion. He said in a confused tone "Do I know you? How do you know I'm leaving anyone? And...why do you care?"
Phoenix dropped to her knees. She had tears running down her face and she started to think she was weak because she had cried so many times since she started this whole crazy adventure that she couldn't escape. Hohenheim knelt down on one knee beside Phoenix and put his hand on her back even though he didn't even know her. Phoenix said clearly because she didn't want to cry anymore "Why did you have to leave them? We both know that they would see you not age and be very confused but their your sons! How could you just leave them waiting for most of their lives? They need you!"
Hohenheim smiled but was trying to figure out who on Earth she was. He said "I don't know who you are but I'm leaving them because I don't want them to see me stay young while their mother grows older and I want to fix things that I have done wrong in my past! Now, can you at least tell me your name?"
Phoenix was sitting down by now and she looked up at him and said "My name is... Phoenix." with out even trying to come up with a fake name. Hohenheim smiled and stood up and said "Well, Phoenix I must know who you are. Do I know you? How do you know me and what I'm doing? Do you work with the government?" Phoenix stood up and smiled this time and said "You don't know me but I obviously know you. No, I do not work for or with the government. I can't tell you where I'm from or why I'm here or even why I know what you are doing but I hope to see you later."and with that Phoenix stood up, waved good-bye and started down the dirt road again. Hohenheim looked back at Phoenix and waved as she walked away.
He said in his head all the way to the train station "What did she mean by later!" he vowed to himself to find out as he went on his journey but for now he put the thought in the back of his mind.
Phoenix walked for about a half hour and came up to a gate that ran further down the road and as she followed along the gate she could see in the distance a house and this house was the one owned by the Rockbells. The house was square and it was painted green and yellow. Right outside the house there was a big wooden sign that said Auto-mail. She kept walking until she came to the stairs and she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a minute or so a little old lady came to the door and said with a big smile "How may I help you?" Phoenix smiled back and said "I don't need any auto-mail, well at least not today! May I come inside?" Pinako extended her arm and Phoenix came inside. "Do you have news about my daughter? Did something happen to Sara or Urey?" Phoenix put on a fake smile and laughed " No they're still helping in the war. I believe it's going to end soon! So, they should be home real soon!" Phoenix didn't like lieing but she couldn't bring herself to tell a mother their child had died even if they died while helping others. They sat down at the table in the kitchen.
"OK then why are you here?" Pinako asked and Phoenix asked in return "Is Winry or the boys here by any chance?" Pinako looked a little confused "No, are they in trouble? Did they do something wrong?" Phoenix said "No, it's just...I need to tell you something and I don't want them to hear. In the years to come something dramatic is going to happen to Edward and Alphonse and they will need you in their darkest hour. I know you will help them because I know you treat them like they're your grandchildren. I just want to make sure you will be prepared for everything that's going to happen."
Phoenix looked down at the table because she knew she didn't have to tell Pinako this but she also knew that she needed to plant a seed of trust with her. Pinako was surprisingly taking this well she wasn't as confused or surprised like everyone else she had talked to so far. Pinako than said "Well, the kids should be coming back any second now from playing!" Phoenix started to head for the door but than Pinako pulled on Phoenix's rope and Phoenix turned around and bent down to face Pinako. Than Pinako leaned close to Phoenix's ear and whispered "Thank you and watch yourself."
Phoenix than headed for the door more confused than ever. As she opened the door there they were Winry, Ed, and Al staring up at her. She was shocked to see Edward and Alphonse in person they were cute and adorable. She almost wanted to cry when she saw Al in his real body. They ran inside and smiled at Pinako and handed her a small bouquet of flowers that they had picked. Pinako smiled and said "Why don't you go home now boys your mom will be waiting for you!" Phoenix turned around and said "I'll walk them home!" Pinako than said "OK! Ed, Al go with...! Wait what is your name?" Phoenix laughed and said "Phoenix! Phoenix is my name." "OK! Ed and Al go with Phoenix! She will walk you home!" Ed and Al were a little cautious at first but went out the door. Phoenix waved good bye to Pinako and Winry. As she closed the door she saw Winry holding onto her strap of her shoulder bag and she was staring at phoenix with an almost confused face or maybe she was even a little scared.
Phoenix turned around and saw Ed and Al sitting on the stairs. She walked past them and walked down the dirt road. Ed and Al soon followed. They kept their distance which was reasonable because they didn't know her. She even heard a whisper here and there from them about how they were guessing who she was. After a while they came to their house. Before they got to the door Phoenix knelt down and and faced Ed and Al. They stopped and stood in place. Phoenix put her hand on Edward's shoulder and said "Watch your brother. He is the only one you got. No matter how tough things get or even if it seems like you can't find the answer. Find one!" Than she grabbed Al's shoulder and said "Al, don't ever get discouraged! Keep fighting!" They looked scared and she didn't want to scare them but she knew that they would remember those words, and her, and that's all she wanted right than.
Trisha, their mother, opened the front door and bent down. Ed and Al came running and gave her a hug. As they ran inside Trisha stood up, smiled, and said "Thank you! may I ask who you are?" Phoenix also, stood, and smiled "Your welcome! My mom is one of Pinako's friends and I thought I would walk the boys home." These were the only things she could say since she was pretty much talking to a dead man walking. After the confrontation Phoenix started to walk toward the town area. She needed to find a job so she could pay to stay in a hotel for the about the next five years. She was scared this meant she would be 19 by the time the boys would be leaving for Lzumi since she was 14 at the time.
When she arrived in town she transformed into a small boy. She knew it would be hard to find a job and than make friends and than say in five years "Well, bye!" that would drag too many people into her life. She needed to keep a low profile for the time being.
She stayed in the nearby forest for cover and when she wanted to eat something she either found stuff in the forest or stole from stores in town. It was hard at first to think that living like this would be her new life but she hoped that tonight when she fell asleep she could wake up in her world.