Chapter 1!
Edward Elric stood in front of Colonel Mustang's desk as he stared at his new assignment paper. He and his brother's search for the stone were proving to be more difficult than he imagined; which of course made him irritated and cranky, and now of all things… "You want me to babysit a criminal?" Edward sighed, agitated that the Colonel hardly gave them any time to even search for the stone. "Not babysit, Edward. You're going to keep an eye on him while he tries clearing his name of 'murderer'." explained the Colonel. "Why even give him a chance? If he's a murderer than why would you let him out of prison?" wondered Ed. "That's why you're going with him. He said he's innocent and we don't have a lot of proof to convict him of murder so he was told to either find the real murderer or be executed." He said bluntly.
"So you want us to go with him in case he decides to try and hurt someone else?" confirmed Alphonse. He was a bit tired too but he didn't feel as irritated as Ed was about the stone. "That's right." replied Mustang. "You'll find him waiting outside the building with some other officers. Go now and complete your assignment without too many problems."
With that, the young alchemists left the office and headed out the building. They made it to the exit and walked down the marble steps outside. There they saw the so called murderer in handcuffs surrounded by three officers. One of the officers greeted Edward, "Good morning sir. This is the criminal here. His name is Kye and is suspected of murdering soldiers from the military." The officer stepped aside so Edward could see the culprit. Kye was just a bit taller than Edward. He wore a paperboy hat as his short blond hair covered his eyes, a white button-up short sleeved shirt, tan shorts and brown laced up boots. His hat covered most of the boy's face.
"We'll take it from here. Thanks for escorting him down here." said Edward as the officers left the three boys in front of the building. It was silent for a while until Alphonse spoke up. "So, where exactly do you plan to search for the real murderer?" the boy spun around turning his back to the brothers, "I don't know, I don't even have any clues." Edward sighed. "Well that's suspicious. First you say you're not the murderer and you were told to search for the real one but now you don't even have a clue of who it could be. If you ask me, you just used that to buy you some time before they executed you." He said coldly. He couldn't stand the thought of being anywhere near a criminal, much less a murderer.
The boy spun back around and snapped, "You think I killed all those people? You're just like the rest of these idiots! You just go on small details and hints and end up being completely inaccurate! You don't even know me so how can you possibly accuse me of anything, you growth stunted, wanna be alchemist, pipsqueak!" Alphonse sighed and grabbed Edward's hood before Edward exploded. "What'd you just call me! You're one to talk; you can't even preform alchemy so what would you know! And for a boy you're pretty short yourself!" "Calm down, Ed. You can't accuse him of murder yet." said Al. The boy sighed as if he wanted to say something. "What now?" said Ed. "Never mind."
Alphonse tried breaking the awkward silence, "We haven't introduced ourselves yet, I'm Alphonse Elric and this is my brother Edward Elric, he's the Fullmetal Alchemist." Edward was still too furious to respond. The boy sighed, "My name is Kye and I'm not an alchemist but I've heard rumors about you Edward. It's true what they say about your height but your attitude and personality is completely different from what I heard." Edward growled, "I am not short! And if you hadn't gotten on my bad side I'd probably actually match the rumors' descriptions you narcissistic murderer!" "I'm narcissistic! You're the one who thinks he's tall, strong, and smart, which is everything you're not! For instance, you think I'm a murderer! That doesn't make it true!"
"Stop fighting!" Alphonse finally yelled, annoyed that the two of them just argued instead of helping Kye clear his name. Kye grabbed the sides of his head and growled, "How am I supposed to catch a murderer! This is impossible! I don't even know where to start!" "Why'd they take you into custody anyway? How did they find you?" wondered Ed. He tried to calm at this point. "I happened to be at the scene of the crime when the military arrived." He replied. "But why were you there?" asked Al. Kye was getting irritated, "I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, okay? Let's just get going so I don't get executed!" Kye spun around again and the three boys left Eastern Central Command. As Edward and Alphonse walked behind Kye they noticed how quiet he was. His story a few seconds ago was more than a little fishy.
After hours of walking around Central City looking for clues, the trio stopped at the train station to decide on their next stop. Kye mumbled to himself, "Let's see…Oh, wow, who knew Resembool was so far? But it's been a while so…" "What?" wondered Ed. "I want to go to Resembool?" "Uh, no." replied Ed bluntly. "Why not brother; we could go see Winry too?"
Edward pulled his brother to the side as Kye turned back around to look at the map, "Think about it Al; What would Winry do if she found out we had brought a murderer to her house?"
Alphonse could imagine Winry beating Edward with a wrench and then they'd start arguing. "Oh, I see." he replied.
"Sorry, Kye but there's no way we can go to Resembool, besides you won't find anything there that'll help you out of all this all they down there." Said Ed. "That's what you think. I know of someone who might be able to help me there; oh and by the way, That Mustang guy said you had to take me anywhere I decide so…we are going to Resembool!" Edward looked away, "Well, I guess if Winry doesn't find out we're in town…"