"Run away! Get away from here! Hurry!"

The village leaders screamed at the citizens to get them to safety. Of course, no one listened to them. It was every man for himself.

The village was burning in flames and bandits on horses rode through the crowds. They were either being killed by the bandits or the fire.

A small girl tried running through the people on her thin legs. "Mommy! Where are you?" she yelled. No one listened to her cries as they escaped. Tears spilled down her ash covered cheeks as she tried to find her mother.

A rock on the path caused her to trip face first on the dirt path. "Hey little girl," a voice said. The girl turned around to see one of the men terrorizing her village staring down at her. She pushed herself on her elbows and tried to crawl away. Before she could, the man grabbed her by the collar of her brown dress.

"Where do you think you're going? You won't get awa- gah!" The girl fell to the ground. Beside her was the bandit with a large bruise forming on his cheek.

"Don't harass little girls! That's the lowest of the low," a new voice said. The girl turned to her side to see a boy with long blonde braided hair. He wore a red coat with a strange symbol on the back and white gloves. His gold eyes were fiery from determination.

"Who the hell are you?!" the bandit asked harshly. He got up and grabbed the blonde boy by the collar.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist." The blonde kneed the man in the stomach and delivered a hook punch to the jaw. In pain, the man released the Fullmetal Alchemist and struggled to run away. He knew he didn't stand a chance.

"Hahaha! Look at him go!" the blonde laughed.

"Brother! Where are you?!"

A giant suit of armor ran to the boy with many buckets of water in hand. "I'm here. Is everyone out?" the boy asked. The armor nodded and gave the boy some buckets. "We need to hurry."

The girl took a bucket of water as well. "Who are you?" the armor asked.

"M-My name is Maria. Let me help you," the girl said.

"We can't! It's too dangerous," the blonde said.

"We can't just leave her here alone, brother!" the armor yelled.

"Al."

"Here." The armor opened the chest plate and pushed Maria inside.

"Who are you guys?" she asked.

"I'm Alphonse and that's Edward," the armor responded.

Alphonse began running in one direction and throwing the water on some of the nearby fires with Maria bouncing inside.

Edward set the buckets on the ground and clapped his hands together. A spark of light came out as the water rose out from the buckets and onto the fires on higher rooftops. It didn't take long until the village fire died down.

Edward and Alphonse met up soon after. "We're finally done," Edward sighed. Alphonse nodded and opened the chest plate for Maria to fall out of. She giggled as she wiped off the dirt on her face.

"We should take her to the next village. Her parents are probably waiting for her," Edward said. Maria's eyes saddened and Alphonse noticed this.

"What's wrong?" Alphonse asked.

"I don't know where my mommy is," she said.

Edward and Alphonse exchanged glances as the blonde patted Maria's head. "I bet she's looking for you in the village. Come on," he said with a smile.

Maria smiled and Edward picked her up, placing her on his shoulders. She laughed as they walked towards the next village.

It wasn't far away, so they were there within minutes. Outside the village, Edward set Maria down.

"Can you stay here?" the little girl asked innocently.

"We can't. We're looking for something," Alphonse said.

"What?"

"The Philosopher's Stone," Edward said after a long silence. The girl was so young, so telling her their plan couldn't do much harm. She'd probably forget soon after they left.

But she never did.

Author's Note

...I feel like I'm ruining FMA by writing this story...I don't know why, but I feel like I'm off on the plot...Oh well...I hope you guys enjoyed it! This story will be 3 chapters long.

Until next time, sayonara~!