The first chapter to Julia's story...

Geez, this is kinda sad... :P

Enjoy, folks! Julia belongs to ME.

I am visiting my sister in the hospital at the time. My sister, Vanessa, who is older than me by five years, has been sick for as long as I can remember. The doctors said she suffers from a "terminal illness", which basically means that she is always sick, and there is no cure. As we've grown up, her sickness has only gotten worse and worse.

Vanessa is the only person I can talk to. I don't know what I'll do if she doesn't get better. To make matters worse, these past few months, she's been in the hospital, unable to even move due to the illness. I can't help but worry about her. I love her. She can't die.

We're talking. I don't know how my sister does it—how she's so bright and cheerful. How many times have I sat by her and burst into tears, to have her comfort me? Vanessa promises she'll be ok. She really is just incredible. "Julia?" She asks me suddenly. Her voice is so much weaker than it was just yesterday, and another stab of fear slices into my heart. I look up at her and smile. "Yes, Vanny?" She smiles fondly at the nickname. "Will you sing for me?" She coughs weakly into a handkerchief, then immediately goes to move it away. Still, she can't hide the sight of the blood that's stained it. "You have such a beautiful voice.." I smile at her, and immediately comply, singing one of her favorite songs. She smiles and closes her eyes, simply listening to me.

And then she breaks into a coughing fit. Immediately I stop singing and move to try to help her somehow, but she waves me off with a hand bloodied from her coughs. "No, no… keep sing…ing.." She chokes out in between coughs. I sit back and comply. I owe her this much, right?

She keeps coughing. Every now and again, there's a small break, but then she starts coughing again. Every time, blood comes out. I keep singing for her, though. It's like she's expecting something to happen. What's going on? I feel confused, and so scared.

Then, all of a sudden, she stops coughing. The breaths she takes are slow and rattling, like something off of a horror film. It's even scarier than the coughing, but the scariest part is the heart monitor she's hooked up to. Because her heartbeat keeps slowing down. As I continue singing, I press a button that's supposed to call in the doctors, tears quickly filling my eyes.

By some miracle, the doctors let me stay in there while they try, in a mad, frenzied way, to restore her heartbeat to normal. I just hold Vanessa's hand, crying my eyes out and singing desperately, as though my voice could somehow save her.

And then, the heart monitor lets out a low, flat, continuous beeeeep. Vanessa's hand goes slack in mine. Her eyes dim and the doctors pull a sheet over her, covering even her sweet face. My sister is dead. She's only 12 years old! This isn't fair! Only old people die, right?

The doctors and nurses bring me into the office behind the front desk. Most know me from all the times I've visited Vanessa—too many to count—and they are kind and comforting. After all, my tear-streaked face answers any unasked questions.

I sit there and start to study my alchemy again. Vanessa and I were going to become state alchemists when we grew up—she promised. I look through the stuff I've already memorized, because the familiarity is comforting.

Time ticks by. Soon, it's long after closing hours. Only a couple of nurses and I are there, waiting for my parents. Finally, finally, they show up, five hours after my sister's death.

I can't say that I completely blame them. I mean, they're doctors, so they have a very busy schedule. It just feels sometimes like they could, or at least could have, spent a little more family time with me and Vanessa, is all.

There's no tears or comforting hug when my parents show up, of course. They're very professional. They talk together quietly, already preparing for Vanessa's funeral—as though it's a stranger's! I mean, I know they must be used to death, but this is just crazy.

It's then that I realize that I need Vanessa back. And I know just how to do it.