This is a remake of a previous story I wrote "Elemental Alchemist." Many things have been changed, characters and situations have been modified/added/removed, and I also tried to improve the syntax.
The original story was based off the first anime but this one is based off the manga, although there is some inspiration for the first anime. Like the State Alchemy Exam and the opening dialogues.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist and its characters/story/terms/etc are owned by Hiromu Arakawa. All OCs are owned by me unless stated otherwise.
Chapter 1: Alchemy Exam
*a family photo shows Hohenheim holding a toddler Ed and Trisha holding an infant Al. Hehenheim's face is blocked by a glare*
"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.
*Trisha Elric is hugging her two sons, now children*
To obtain, something of equal value must be lost."
*Ed and Al are a little older, both are holding up fish and smiling at the camera*
That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth.
-Alphonse Elric
Ed groggily stepped off the train with Al just a few steps behind. Ed yawned and stretched. The rising sun shone beautifully off the morning dew; it was a beautiful morning in Central city, not that Ed gave a damn. He was more concerned about his disrupted sleep schedule.
"Why the hell are we here again Al?" Ed asked his brother.
"Colonel Mustang said the Fuhrer wanted you to help monitor this year's state alchemist exam," Al explained matter-of-factly. "He said one of testers couldn't come because of a mission."
"Damn Mustang, making me take a train when I should be sleeping," Ed muttered under his breath.
Al decided to just let Ed be mad at Mustang rather than blame the Fuhrer, who was the real one who wanted to have Ed come.
Ed and Al left the station and saw the crowd of people going to work; it was still early so the crowd was small. Ed looked around and saw the military's main headquarters where the test was taking place and began heading in that direction.
"What are you going to do until the test is over Al?" Ed asked his big, little brother.
"I guess I'll go to the library and get some research done," Al responded to his little, big brother.
"Be sure you take notes."
When Ed and Al got to the HQ the brothers parted ways. Al headed for the library while Ed scaled the stairs of the HQ building. When Ed got inside he noticed Lieutenant Hawkeye.
"There you are Ed," Hawkeye said. "Follow me."
Lieutenant Hawkeye began walking toward the testing room. "Thank you for coming out on such short notice Ed."
"Yeah sure no problem," Ed replied with a yawn.
"Lt Colonel Vann was supposed to come out," Riza stated. "But she had to go to North city."
Hawkeye took Ed to the testing room, it was large room full of desks, each had a potential State alchemist but only one, maybe two, would get the job.
On the other side of the room were the test givers. Among them were Fuhrer Bradly, Colonel Mustang, Major Armstrong, and some other high ranking officers. Ed took his seat and the Fuhrer stood up.
"You may now begin the test," the Fuhrer announced.
With that the room became filled with the sound of scratching pencils.
Ed sat and sat and sat… Ed had sat in that same spot so long that suddenly the ceiling had become very interesting. He stared at it for what seemed like ages then checked the time only to find the test began less than ten minutes ago. After another eternity (aka 5 minutes) Ed became so bored he'd rather be watching paint dry or grass grow or some other cliché boring activity. He tried to take a nap but he was no longer tired, it's as if his exhaustion went away just so he could be tortured by mind-numbing boredom. When the test finally ended he was allowed to leave but that was just the first portion of the test. Ed left the building and headed for the library to find Al, until his stomach began to growl.
"Well Al can't eat so he won't mind if I get lunch without him," Ed muttered to himself.
--
Meanwhile in the library, Al sat around a pile of slowly growing alchemy books. Most of what he found was basic knowledge so he just set the books aside and kept looking. Al sighed as he closed his current book. He skimmed through some of it to find it was all stuff he knew. He put the text down and began searching for another but found the alchemy books were quickly running out. Suddenly he heard a woman's voice.
"Can I help you?"
Al looked up to see a woman in her early twenties. She had long light brown hair and blue eyes. She wore casual clothes that consisted of a navy shirt, a short sleeved white coat, tan shorts and a pair of black boots. But what caught Al's eye was her jewelry. She wore a very simple silver bracelet on each wrist and the bracelets were etched with transmutation circles.
"You're an alchemist too?" Al asked.
"I am," the woman replied. "I'm actually taking the State Alchemy Exam; I've been working here part time while I was studying for the test. And you're probably not going to find much good stuff here. All the advanced alchemy books have been checked out; there are a lot of people studying for the exam."
"That's too bad," Al replied, standing up. "I'll help you clean this up."
"But you can use my books, I had to brush up on my alchemic theory," the woman explained.
"Really thank you, let's go che-"
"First you have to help me clean up your mess."
"Oh right."
When they had finished putting the books away the woman had Al follow her to the front desk. She ducked behind the desk and began digging through a drawer.
"Oh I don't think I got your name," Al spoke up.
"It's Katherine," the woman responded, standing up holding the key she was looking for. "Katherine Regal and you are?"
"Alphonse Elric, but you can call me Al."
"Elric?" Katherine said to herself. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"You probably heard of my brother, Edward Elric."
Katherine pondered for a moment when suddenly she remembered the name. "Wait… THE Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist, Hero of the People, Edward Elric?"
"That's him."
"No way," Katherine was getting very excited. "He's a legend among alchemists. I can't believe I'm talking to his brother. You have to introduce me to him sometime."
"Uh, first can we just get the books," Al asked.
"Sure no problem," Katherine replied.
Katherine turned around and used her key to open a cabinet. She reached in and pulled out a few alchemy tomes and put them on the desk in front of Al, and then she locked the cabinet and hid the key again.
"These aren't the best we got but I got the most advanced ones I could get a hold of," Katherine explained.
Al picked up one of the books and flipped through it. It was defiantly a more advanced book then the others but it was about alchemic theory, there wasn't much about the philosopher's stone. Al quickly skimmed the others they were all pretty much the same.
"Sorry, but I don't think these are going to do me much good," Al replied.
"No I understand," Katherine replied. "My particular style of alchemy required a lot of specialized studying, so I mainly focused on general alchemic knowledge for the test because it was my weak point."
At that moment a muscular man wearing a sleeveless white shirt, to show off his biceps, walked in and set some books down on the counter.
"Hello Katie, lovely as always," the man said is a flirtatious voice as he flexed his bicep to try and impress Katherine.
Katherine smiled brightly. "Thank you very much Mr. Eros. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Come on Kit, I told you to call me Samson," the man replied, with concentrated arrogance and pride practically pouring from his mouth as he talked. "How about your beautiful self comes out to dinner with me tonight?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Eros but I'm going to have to decline," Katherine replied in an overly sweet tone. "I have to get ready for the next part of the State Alchemy Exam and I advise you do the same."
"Don't worry, I'm practically guaranteed that job," Samson replied with extreme confidence. "And when it's mine I'll be back to sweep you off your feet."
Samson turned and slowly walked out of the room.
"Good bye Mr. Eros," Katherine replied giving a small wave. She then whispered to Al, "Is he gone?"
"Yeah he's gone," Al answered.
Katherine sighed and dropped the extremely nice persona, "I can't stand that man. He's so arrogant."
"Then why are you so nice to him?" Al asked.
"Kill them with kindness."
--
The next day of the State Alchemy exam had some. Ed once again reported, this time for the interview portion. They had gone through a few but none had been memorable.
"Next is Samson Eros," the Fuhrer announced.
A muscular man, although not nearly as muscular as Major Armstrong, walked in and took a seat.
"Tell us Mr. Eros," Bradley said in a calm voice. "What makes you think you are State Alchemist material?"
"Well sir, not to brag, but I'm the best," Samson replied. "Back where I'm from I'm not only the strongest but I have the best alchemy too. If you put me on the battlefield I'll take out a platoon, no problem."
"What exactly is your motivation?" Roy asked.
"Well, at first I just saw it as a challenge," Samson replied. "But now my motivation is love. I believe the only way to win the favor of my fair maiden to impress her and show her that I'm responsible."
"So what does everyone say about Mr. Eros?" The Fuhrer asked the other testers.
"I was moved by his tale of love," Armstrong said. "And a man strong like him will make a good addition to our military."
"He's too cocky," Roy replied. "That arrogance will get him killed in battle."
"For once I agree with the Colonel," Ed added.
Fuhrer Bradley considered it for a moment. "Alright Mr. Eros, report to the practical test tomorrow."
"You won't be disappointed sir," Samson said as he left the room.
"You can't be serious sir?" Roy asked the Fuhrer.
"He's confident in his abilities," King Bradley replied. "If he can back it up then he's got promise, if not then he'll fall and hopefully seeing the others will put him in his place."
"That's a little cruel," Roy replied.
"If he stopped here he'd just come back again next year," the Fuhrer said. "This way he'll at least get the idea that he's Not State Alchemist material, but he might still surprise us. Anyway, next is Katherine Regal."
Katherine calmly walked in and sat down. Samson had an aura of pride and arrogance, while Katherine had an aura of calm confidence about her.
"So Miss Regal," the Fuhrer asked. "What can you offer to the military?"
"Well sir, I have put in many years of study to become an alchemist," Katherine replied. "I've been trained to use both unarmed combat and alchemy in battle."
"Why do you want to be a State Alchemist?" Ed asked.
"I made a promise to my brother," she replied.
That line struck a chord with Ed and made him think of Al.
"My brother was going to be State Alchemist," Katherine continued. "But he can't achieve that dream anymore. So I promised him I'd finish what he started."
"I don't think we need to hear anymore," the Fuhrer spoke up. You may come back tomorrow for the last part of the test."
There were several more interviews and less than half made it through. Finally they arrived at the last interview.
"Brandon Wallace."
The man in question stepped in and took a seat. The man was in his early twenties with short dark brown hair and brown eyes. His clothes consisted of light green shirt, tan pants and brown boots. He had a very professional posture.
"Mr. Wallace," Fuhrer Bradley began. "I hear you're a relative of a State Alchemist, is that true?"
"It is," Brandon spoke up. "Andrea Vann, the Torrent Alchemist, is my older sister. We studied under the same teacher."
"If that's true then you are looking promising already," Bradley replied. "But you'll need to bring more to the table then that."
"Do you have any skills other then Alchemy?" Armstrong asked.
"I also practiced fencing in my free time," Brandon answered. "I took the basic principles and taught myself how to fight with different kinds of swords and various melee weapons."
"Why do you want to be a State Alchemist?" Roy asked.
"Various reasons I suppose," Brandon replied. "My teacher recommended I join to improve my alchemy and seek new techniques. I also promised someone a while ago that I would. And partially because of my parents, they never had this kind of opportunity, so I wanted to take it and make them proud of me."
"Very good," the Fuhrer said. "You can come in tomorrow for the practical portion of the test."
"Thank you very much sir," Brandon said politely before he left the room.
"It seems there are some very interesting candidates to choose from this year," Fuhrer King Bradley said to no one in particular as a dark figure watched from the shadows.
Well the first chapter is done. So far it's looking better than the original "Elemental Alchemist." Hopefully it stays that way.
On a side note, I really like the name I picked for Samson. I normally try to pick names with some kind of meaning. He's named after the biblical strongman Samson because he's tough but Samson is also Hebrew for "sun" in this case it means Samson is like the sun, because he thinks everything revolves around him. And his last name Eros has two meanings, on one hand it's Hungarian for "strong," on the other its play on words referring to the Japanese term "ero" basically meaning "perverted," because ultimately all he wants is to get into Katherine's pants. He was meant just to add some variety to the first two chapters but he may return in the future.