The Open Gate

The young girl ran towards her parent's bedroom where the scream had been heard from. Her long blonde hair was still tangled from sleeping. Her golden eyes filled with fear. She threw the door open and the first thing she saw were her dead parents laying on the floor at the foot of their bed. She gasped and a green haired boy laughed from a dark corner of the room.

"I told them not to betray me." He laughed again.

The girl dropped to her knees and through the tears she glared up at him. "I will never forgive you, Envy."

The blonde haired girl sat strait up in bed, tears running down her cheeks. It had been seven years since her parent's death but it still felt just like yesterday. As she crawled out of bed she glanced at the clock. It was five in the morning. She groaned and rubbed her eyes. It's too early. She thought to herself but she did not go back to bed. Since the death of her parents the girl had left the small town. Never planning on returning, she had no family so she was on her own.

She yawned as she pulled a brush through her blonde hair that reached down to her waist. Then braided it. She slipped into her short black skirt and a white t-shirt. Grabbing her state alchemist watch from the bed side table she opened it and carved into the back cover was a single word: Envy.

She had become a state alchemist because she had wished to seek revenge for her parents' death. She wished to know why they had been targeted by the Homunculi in the first place.

As she shoved her arms into her red sweat shirt sleeves her left hand was sliced by a concealed knife. She quickly pulled her hands back out and looked franticly around the room for something she could use as a tourniquet. With no luck in her search she ran out into the hallway of the hotel she was staying at. The girl grabbed the sleeve of a person walking past her and they spun quickly around.

"Do you mind?" the man asked rudely and swatted her hand away.

"Please, do you have a towel or something?" the girl quickly asked as blood started to drip onto the floor.

"Not for you!" He said and stomped off in the opposite direction.

She stared wide-eyed at the cruelty of the man. Then she looked at her bleeding hand. She didn't understand why this life was chosen for her, why people always treated her as if she didn't matter.

"You can use this." Someone said beside her and she looked up. A brown haired girl held out a roll of bandages for her. She was around the same age as the blonde haired girl. The blonde girl graciously took the bandages and tightly tied them around her hand.

"Thank you." The girl said quietly.

The brown haired girl smiled kindly, "do you need any more help?"

Just then a woman with short black hair worriedly ran up behind the brown haired girl. "Leigha, what do you think your doing?"

The girl who was referred to as Leigha quickly turned around. "I-I was just-" She stuttered as the woman grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the blonde girl.

"I told you we were leaving." The woman stated and pulled Leigha into one of the rooms.

The girl stood dumbfounded, then walked back into her room. That was very strange. She thought to herself then pulled on her sweat shirt. The pain in her hand started to subside as she shoved her watch into her pocket. Looking to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything she grabbed her small red leather suitcase and walked back out into the hallway.

When she stepped out of the hotel she saw the sun just starting to peak over the horizon. With her yearly assessment coming up she decided to take a trip to Central. She was not fond of the large city but she didn't mind seeing the Colonel again. He had been so kind to her when she came to Central when she was fourteen, she could not believe that it had been over a year already.

About half an hour later she walked into Colonel Roy Mustang's office. He looked up from a paper he was signing and grinned.

"Welcome back." He said as he stood up, he motioned for her to sit in a chair across from his desk. She happily sunk into it and sighed.

Colonel Mustang pulled out her records and paced as he read the contents. "So I'm guessing you're here for your assessment?" he looked up from the papers at her.

"How's military life going for you?" she asked leisurely.

"Fine, why?" Mustang asked her.

She shrugged and stared out the window.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"What's wrong with me?" she asked jokingly and she laughed a little. On the inside though she felt like crying.

Mustang looked at her confused. "Rough morning?" he asked.

"Can we just get the assessment over with?" she asked and stood up.

After the assessment she had to go back to Colonel Mustang's office to get her license renewed. "You're all set, Blood Alchemist." Mustang said.

"Thanks." She said as she signed a paper he held out for her.

Quietly the Colonel leaned close to her, "if you need anything just ask."

She smiled at him. "I'm fine." Then she walked out.

As she descended the enormous amount of steps in front of the military building she stared at her feet. With her hand in her pocket she played with the chain to her pocket watch as she thought. Just then a person walking up the steps rammed into her left shoulder. She almost lost her balance and she spun around, grabbing the person's arm.

"Walking with your eyes open might keep you from running into people!" The boy snapped and turned to face her. The girl's eyes widened and the boy's jaw dropped. The blonde boy felt as if he was staring into a mirror.

"Brother, wait up!" a brown haired boy called as he ran up beside the blonde boy, trying to catch his breath. He looked from his brother to the blonde girl. They looked like twins. The boy closed his eyes and shook his head trying to diminish the initial shock of the discovery.

"Who are you?" he asked slowly.

"Brother, we don't have time for this." The brown haired boy said and dragged his brother the rest of the way up the steps.

Confused by the strange encounter the girl decided to wait for the blonde boy to come back out. She found a shady spot under a close tree and relaxed. About an hour later the girl yawned and stretched. She was about ready to leave when she heard the Colonel's voice.

"So you're giving up on getting your limbs back?" the Colonel asked. From where the girl was sitting she could not see who he was talking to but she could hear everything clearly.

"We're not 'giving up' we are just deciding to end the search. I would rather have my brother with auto-mail then to have no brother at all." An unknown voice said and the girl recognized it as the brown haired boy.

"I can live with auto-mail." Someone else said, the girl wasn't sure who that was.

"What are you going to do now then?" Colonel Mustang asked.

"I don't know, maybe relax for a while. Find a nice place to stay out in the country." The brown haired boy said.

The Colonel laughed, "I can't imagine Fullmetal relaxing."

The girl stood up to move to get a better view but she caught Roy's eye. He motioned for her to come closer. She reluctantly walked towards the Colonel and the two brothers from earlier. As she walked she was very aware of the three sets of eyes watching her.

"I thought you would have been long gone by now, Blood." The Colonel said when she arrived beside him.

"I was just getting ready to jump on a train and head south." The blonde haired girl said quietly as she stared at the ground.

The blonde haired boy watched her closely. He wondered how she could get a name like the Blood Alchemist.

"Do you three know each other?" the Colonel asked causally.

"I don't believe we've ever met." The brown haired boy replied.

Colonel Mustang smiled, "well then I'll leave you three to get to know each other." He said quickly then raced up the steps before anyone had time to protest.

After a few minutes of awkward silence the brown haired boy spoke, "we are the Elric brothers, I'm Alphonse and this is Edward."

The blonde girl smiled at the brown haired boy. "I'm Rina Kinoshi." After another silence the girl asked. "Why Fullmetal?"

Edward finally removed his eyes from her and rolled up his right sleeve, revealing a metal arm. "My left leg is the same." He informed her, "It was a war accident."

Rina had seen people with metal prosthetics before. He seemed different though, behind his deep golden eyes there was unimaginable pain.

"I'm going to miss my train if I don't get going; I guess I'll see you around." Rina said then she headed towards the train station. When she arrived she found that the next train headed south wasn't leaving for a few more hours. Rina sighed deeply and decided to find somewhere to eat. She found a small café and grabbed a table. When she finished the last bite of the wonderful sandwich and bowl of soup, Rina found that she still had two hours to wait. So Rina decided to take a walk around Central since she didn't know when she would be back.

While walking past an ally way something caught her eye and she turned, face to face with Edward. Rina gasped at the surprise encounter.

"Hello Rina." He said calmly. "I thought you were getting on a train."

Rina blushed, he had caught her lie. "Uhh… I am but not right now." Trying to change the subject she asked, "Where's your brother Alphonse?"

Edward smiled a little. "You know you didn't have to lie to me."

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"Alphonse is doing his assessment right now so I'm just waiting." Edward said as he watched a large white cloud float by.

Just then Alphonse came running up behind Rina. "Brother, guess what! I passed my assessment! Isn't that great?"

Edward smiled at his younger brother, "That's wonderful, congratulations."

Alphonse turned and looked at Rina confused, "I thought you were leaving."

"I am but my train doesn't leave for a couple more hours." Rina replied.

"That's good." Alphonse said quietly and he hid his face behind his bangs.

Suddenly Alphonse jerked up, looked her strait in the eye, and then smiled evilly. Edward tensed. "Rina run!" Ed screamed just as Alphonse pulled out a knife.

Rina didn't have enough time to react. Alphonse pinned her arms behind her with one hand and pressed the knife to her throat with the other. Alphonse slowly transformed into Envy, and Envy laughed.

"Gottcha." He whispered in her ear.

Edward used alchemy to change his auto-mail arm into a blade. He ran at Envy but just as he got close Envy pressed the knife closer to Rina's throat and a small stream of blood trickled down. Ed stopped dead in his tracks. Envy released Rina and she collapsed onto the ground, clutching her throat.

"Long time no see, Edward. So how have you and your brother been?" Envy sneered.

Ed ran at Envy, his right arm in front of him ready to stab Envy. At the last second Envy jumped into the air, dodging Ed's blade. Envy landed in front of Rina, he placed his hand around her throat and lifted her. She grabbed at his hand and fought as best she could, trying to get him to release her.

"Let her go, Envy!" Ed ordered. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"Obviously you don't know her then." Envy's grip tightened, and Rina gasped. "You're no fun, at least your parents fought back before I killed them."

"I'm goin' kill you!" Edward screamed and he ran at Envy's back.

"You know that never works." Envy said calmly and he threw Rina at Ed.

She slammed into his chest and they both fell to the ground. "Until next time, Edward." Envy laughed and disappeared.

Rina lay limp on Ed's chest, Ed could feel something warm and liquid like running onto his stomach. Then he realized something horrible, he couldn't move his auto-mail arm. He sat up almost instantly and saw that his right arm had gone through Rina's stomach and exited her back. He quickly pulled his arm out and laid her on the ground.

"Rina!" he screamed. Her eyes shot open and she gasped for breath. Clutching her stomach she sat strait up. Slowly she attempted to get her feet underneath herself. "Don't move!" Ed ordered as he looked around to see if there was anyone near. "I-I'm going to try and find help." Edward tried to remain calm, he didn't know what to do and he hated to admit it but he was truly scared. She was losing a lot of blood fast.

Rina grabbed his arm as he tried to stand. "Don't trouble yourself."

"What are you talking about you're hurt, I have to get help!" Edward was now panicking.

"You don't understand." Rina looked down at her wound and the bleeding had already almost stopped. "Watch."

They both stared at her wound as it slowly healed in front of their eyes. Until finally all that was left was a scar. Rina looked at Ed and he seemed confused.

"I've always been like this." She explained. "The Philosopher's stone, I have one inside of me."

Ed's eyes widened and he jumped to his feet. "You have a Philosopher's stone?"

"Yeah." Rina said looking up at Ed.

Rina stood up and brushed herself off. "You should go find your real brother, I'm sure he's worried about you by now."

Rina followed Edward back to pick up his real younger brother. When Alphonse saw that both Rina and Edward were covered in blood he panicked and Edward had to quickly reassure him that they were both okay.