This is a story which I collaborated on with my very good friend of mine, fellow FanFiction author marianthelibrarian22.
Seriously. She likely wrote more of this than I could have been able to.
I could never have done ANY of this without her.
But! Anyways, we sincerely hope you will enjoy reading this fiction, and our outlook on one of the greatest animes of all time, Fullmetal Alchemist.
(This is not to be confused with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood).
This is starting from Episode 11: The Elric Brothers Part 1, and will be split into two parts for this episode.
As always, read, like, review, and most of all: enjoy!
-GirlWonder29
"Oh, for god's sakes, Ed! What exactly did you do to piss the Colonel off this time?"
Ed scratched his head and looked down sheepishly.
"There...may have been a desk chair involved."
Katherine glowered at her brother, who shot her a nervous grin. "AGAIN? Brother, why do you insist on making enemies with half of the superior officers in the military? Do you have a single ounce of common sense?"
Ed frowned at her " I can't help it! He's just so… pretentious all the time! Besides, what's he going to do? Kick me out of the military? I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!"
Her brother's arrogance only irritated Katherine further.
" No, what he'll do, Ed, is give us a babysitter to follow us around while we go on our mission!"
She stated angrily, nose to nose with him.
Al, who had been watching his siblings go at it from his bed sat up when he heard this. "What do you mean? Is Havoc or one of those other soldiers going to come with us?"
"No, not them, some "Ozone Alchemist"" She spat out the title like it had a bad taste. "I've never heard of them, but they're apparently going to accompany us to Xenotime, to 'keep us out of trouble' according to Mustang."
"What? That's not fair!" Ed whined. "We don't need anyone to keep us out of trouble."
"I think the people of Aquroya and Liore would disagree."
All three siblings jumped, then turned to see Roy Mustang standing in the open doorway to their room.
"We helped those people!" Ed protested.
"Yes, and caused the military one hell of a headache in the process."
"Well, that's not our fault!"
"I don't care whose fault it is, but trouble seems to follow the three of you around like an overeager dog." He paused, and admitted "Not that Carys Ansel is much better, but maybe you'll have some kind of neutralizing effect on each other."
"Carys Ansel? SHE'S the one coming with us?" Katherine exclaimed. She recognized the name, but hadn't known her official title. "She's barely older than Ed and I! Why's she our stupid babysitter?!"
"Don't think of it like a babysitter, Katherine, think of it as...a traveling companion." Mustang smirked, then turned to leave. " You'll meet up with The Ozone Alchemist at dawn tomorrow before you leave for Xenotime. And that's an order, Sky Alchemist." He added, as Katherine opened her mouth to argue.
And with that he left, pulling the door shut behind him.
"I. Can't. Believe. Him!" Ed growled through his teeth.
"Well he does have a point, brother. We do tend to find trouble wherever we go. Besides, maybe this Ozone Alchemist won't be so bad." Al reasoned.
"I don't care about what she's like! It's the principle of the whole thing! It's like we're being punished for trying to do the right thing!"
" I don't think that's what he's trying to do!"
"Oh yes he is! It is so like him to pull something like this!"
"Brother, I…"
Katherine watched her brothers bickering. I hate it when they do this. She thought, It's so pointless. At least when I fight with one of them it's for good reason. And now the noise was giving her a pounding headache.
"That's ENOUGH!" She yelled, and her brothers fell silent. For a moment, the only sound was her automail lung hissing and clicking inside the left side of her chest. "Stop fighting, you two. We're all stuck in this situation, we may as well make the best of it."
Ed and Al shared a nervous glance. They both knew that their sister, while as small as her twin, was a force to be reckoned with when she was angry.
"Okay, Sister, we're sorry, but who is this Carys? You sounded like you knew her. We'd at least like to know who we're going to be travelling with." Al finally spoke. "Will she get in the way?"
"I don't know her personally, but I've heard of her. I didn't know her title until now though." She explained. "She was certified a year before Edward and I, she was 13, the youngest recruit before us. As for why she's coming with us or how much of a problem she'll be, I have no idea. But we can't let her interfere, we need a plan."
The Elrics stood in silence for a moment, thinking.
"Why don't we actually meet her first? It'll be much easier to make a plan when we know what we're dealing with. Maybe we won't need one at all." Al suggested.
"Always the optimist, aren't you, Al." Katherine remarked, more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Still, you're not wrong." She walked over and flung herself onto her bed, her metal arm and leg clanging together. "We should get some sleep if we need to be up before dawn. Goodnight, Alphonse. Goodnight, Edward."
"Goodnight, Sister," They replied in unison, as Edward turned off the light and climbed into the bed on the far wall, and Alphonse sat on the old couch.
Staring at the ceiling, Katherine couldn't help but feel sorry for the Ozone Alchemist. She'll certainly have her work cut out for her keeping control of us. She thought, smirking. After all, we're the Elrics, we're a team.
The sun was barely peeking up above the hills when the Elrics arrived at Central's train station. Ed and Al held their luggage while Katherine tugged nervously at her blue scarf, trying to hide the scar that covered the left side of her face and neck, pulling up her hood for good measure. There was barely anyone around at this time of day, but she still felt more than a little self-conscious.
"She's late." She said.
Ed yawned sleepily. " Where is she? I could be in bed right now."
"Clearly she's not looking forward to having to look after three kids for a month either."
"We're not kids, and besides, it's like you said yesterday, we're all stuck with this, she could at least show us the courtesy of showing up on time so we don't miss our train"
"Hi, are you the Elrics?"
The siblings turned to see a grinning dark haired girl dressed in a military uniform: a light gray scarf tucked under her collar and her jacket top left open. She was young, as Katherine had mentioned, and fairly tall-well, at least compared to Ed and Katherine. "I'm the Ozone Alchemist, Carys Ansel. You must be Ed." She said, extending her hand for Alphonse to shake.
"Wow, I can see why they called you the Fullmetal Alchemist! And you must be the Sky Alchemist, right?" She added, turning to Edward. " Our specialties are quite similar, we should talk sometime."
Katherine was used to being confused with her brother, after all, who would let a girl, especially such a young one into the military? But just because she was used to it didn't mean it wasn't still irritating.
"Excuse me," She interrupted, " But I'm the Sky Alchemist, Katherine Elric. This is Edward." She gestured towards Ed, who also looked a little annoyed for having his title messed up. "Alphonse is our little brother, he's not part of the military like we are."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't-we don't see a whole lot of female state alchemists. Nice to see more of us joining though!" She flashed Katherine a gin, mollifying her. Then she turned to Ed. " And you're the famed Fullmetal Alchemist! It's strange, somehow I imagined you as...taller."
Katherine cringed. Wrong thing to say, lady, she thought, here we go…
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PIPSQUEAK TOO SHORT TO BE SEEN WITHOUT A MAGNIFYING GLASS, HUH?!"
"That's not what she said, Edward," Katherine and Al sighed in unison, restraining their brother to keep him from launching himself at the slightly taken-aback Carys.
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, um…" She trailed off nervously, as Ed stopped struggling with his siblings and stepped back, crossing his arms and looking away sulkily. "So you're their, um, little brother?" She continued incredulously to Al.
"Yes, it's kind of a long story…" Al replied nervously.
"Oh well I-Is that automail?" She asked. Katherine's left sleeve had been pushed back when she was holding on to her brother, exposing her glinting metal wrist. Katherine tugged it down quickly, but Carys had already seen it.
The Elrics exchanged a glance. They had assumed that most of the military knew their story at this point, but apparently not this girl.
"Yeah, it is. Most of my left side is made of automail." Katherine explained, blushing. She was incredibly self-conscious about her automail parts and the attention they drew. Then, turning to her brothers, she added, " You know, she's going to be tagging along with us for the next little while, she may as well know the full story."
Just then their train blew its whistle, and the four of them rushed to board it, Carys peppering them with questions "What story? Does it have something to do with the Stone? What is going on with you guys?"
So as they settled into their seats, Katherine told her about their parents, about their mother's illness, the failed human transmutation. It must have been the thousandth time she had told the story, but it still hurt to relive the memories. She could almost feel the throbbing pain that had filled the left side of her body as it had been torn apart on that night, and she had to fight to keep her voice from shaking as she remembered Ed, already missing a leg, giving up his own arm to save their little brother, while she watched helplessly, bleeding and barely alive the floor.
Carys' eyes widened as she listened. Katherine had no idea how much she'd known about the three of them before, but clearly most of this was news to her. Finally, when the story was done, Carys opened her mouth to speak, and Katherine braced herself for one of the many painful and difficult questions that were usually asked.
However, Carys' reaction was more than a little unexpected. "Wait, so you breathe with a metal lung? That's SO COOL. How does it take in oxygen? Does it use alchemy?"
Katherine barely had time to nod before the questions started up again. " Really? Wow! How does that work? What kind of transmutation circle do you use? Is that why you're the Sky Alchemist?" Suddenly she stopped, "Oh, god, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking you so much about this."
"No, it's fine. People are usually so busy feeling sorry for me, they don't usually ask me about my alchemy. It's kind of refreshing." Katherine smiled. "I used a special transmutation circle inside the automail that changes the air's composition around me into almost pure oxygen. A little like what Colonel Mustang does when he makes his fire. I've found other ways to use it too." She clapped, and a cloud appeared in the air. 'It's good for stealth and stuff."
"Also for almost suffocating people." Edward teased.
"Shut up brother." Katherine punched Ed's good arm with her metal one. "I didn't kill him, I just made him… think twice about who he was messing with."
"Ow! Hey, I'm already missing an arm, don't break my other one."
"Quit whining, I didn't hit you that hard."
About an hour or so later, the sun was up, and the group sat silently. Katherine had let her hood down, and her scarf had slipped down off of her face. A little girl in the seat behind her was peeking shyly at Al in his hulking suit of armour, and was enthralled by Ed's metal arm. She looked up at Katherine, and then gasped.
"What happened to your face?"
Katherine didn't reply, she just looked away quickly and pulled her scarf back up, embarrassed. The girl's mother pulled her away and started to scold her for bothering the other passengers.
Carys had apparently fallen asleep in the seat beside Katherine. She glanced at her, then back to her brothers across from her.
"Well? What do you guys think?" She asked, indicating their sleeping companion. "Will she be a problem?"
"I don't like her." Ed muttered, still sulking from their first conversation. "Calling me a pipsqueak… I'm not that short."
"I think she's nice. She doesn't seem like she'll get in our way much at all." Al said. "She probably won't be as overbearing as some of those other soldiers that follow Mustang."
"True. Besides, we outnumber her 3 to 1. If she wants to keep us from doing something, she'll have to be pretty resourceful. I don't know why Mustang sent her." Katherine added.
At that point, the conversation was ended as the train pulled into the station where they would catch another train to Xenotime with a hiss, waking Carys up. They gathered up their belongings and left the train, Katherine pulling her hood back up over her face as they set off for the town, and another clue as to the location of the Philosopher's Stone.
Carys was in a rather wistful mood when she woke up.
The dream had brought her back home, to the rolling hills, tiny rivers, and pine trees she missed so much. And her only true family left: Aunt Mara Lyn, Grandma Susan.
They would still be in that stone house beside the fishing brook, and awaiting the day when she came back home to them.
And she missed Toby, of course, her only friend in the world-well, besides the team over in Central, if they counted at all.
Her dream had sent her a comforting, yet lonesome feeling, and she found herself inching closer beside the other girl, who flinched very slightly, and pulled up her hood to her right side.
"Hey."
"...Hi."
"Don't get nervous, I won't bite you," she joked.
Katherine gave her a tiny smile in return, which Carys took as encouragement to keep talking.
"Sorry I got so personal earlier." She thought back to that morning with a sharp pang of guilt. She really had been overpersonal. She had been assigned to look out for the Elrics, not interrogate them. She continued: "It was none of my business. It was extremely insensitive of me. I apologize."
Katherine's one visible eye widened for a fraction of a second, and she shook her head quickly.
"It's fine! I accept your apology. And I've had worse, trust me."
Carys nodded knowingly.
Those scars had come with a great deal of pain, she was certain of it.
And she had seen the curious look of the little girl earlier, and Katherine's reaction.
"Sorry," Carys replied. "It must be hard." She looked solemnly down into her lap.
"It's fine," the other girl repeated after a moment or two. "And at least I have these two boneheads here to keep me company." She gave Ed and Al an affectionate gaze as she finished.
Carys felt another stab, this one of bittersweet nostalgia.
If only you knew… She thought longingly to herself.
"So how do you use your alchemy?" Katherine inquired.
Carys slowly clenched her right hand. "I…"
She doesn't need to know about it right now, she thought stubbornly to herself.
She relaxed, and let the hand unfold in her lap.
"...I use this." she held up her hand for Katherine to see the band on her index finger, its emerald stone engraved with alchemic symbols.
"This ring helps me manipulate the water density in air and change it according to what I need."
"Interesting," Katherine complimented.
"Thank you." she put her hand down self-consciously.
"So do you know why the Colonel sent you along with us?" she questioned.
Carys looked to the side.
"Well…"
"Carys Ansel, State Alchemist, reporting for duty!" Although the words sounded sincere, her expression was not, to say the least.
Colonel Roy Mustang merely twitched an eyebrow at her attitude.
"Ozone Alchemist." He replied petulantly. "Today I have a special assignment for you."
"Hmm, an assignment? Aww, I was hoping you'd start talking about those miniskirts again."
He scowled.
"I will disregard that statement if you would just sit and listen."
"Ooh, scary." Cerys grinned crookedly. "Alright, I'm listening. Go on, Colonel."
"Yes. But before I continue, there will be absolutely no objections, understood?"
"Yeah, yeah." She flapped a hand.
"I'm assigning you to keep an eye on the Fullmetal Alchemist."
"OK...wait, what?!"
"You heard me."
"The Fullmetal Alchemist? Are you kidding me?"
"I rarely 'kid', Ozone."
"I have no time for this!" She protested. "I have...you know what I still have to do!"
"Yes, I am fully aware. But this is an assignment which you will not back down from."
She tried to find another way out.
"Um...you know I hardly qualify-"
"On the contrary, I think you'll be fine. It might even do you some good to get out of this office once in a while."
"What's that supposed to mean? Just because I broke some chairs while racing down the hallway is no good enough reason to get me out of the office-"
"My point exactly. We can't keep up with your 'destructive energy' all the time and you should understand that."
"...Fine, whatever you say." she huffed.
"Report back to me when your mission is complete."
She got up to leave, hidden reluctance making her seethe on the inside.
"Freaking Colonel," she muttered under her breath. "He knows I have to find...her."
"...I don't know. Perhaps he just thought it would be good experience."
Yeah, right. As if the Colonel would ever have such a simple motive as that.
"Maybe," Katherine pondered. "So where do you come from?"
"Other than Central? Westersnow. But I...moved there from Aranta. How about you?"
"Resembol."
"The sheep wool trading region?"
"That's right…"
The two girls found themselves talking more and more as the train continued to roll its way down the tracks, and they found that maybe this trip would be a little more bearable than they thought.
They arrived almost an hour later in Xenotime. It had once been a prospering mining town that had made its living off of selling golden wares, but clearly the mines had dried up, and the town had seen better days.
'Which is why they're all the more likely to be developing a Philosopher's Stone."
Ed pointed out when Al commented on how run down the area looked.
"He's right." Katherine chimed in. "Their mines no longer produce gold, but a Philosopher's Stone would allow them to transmute it instead."
"But that's forbidden! Why would they risk it?" Carys asked, shocked.
"People will do anything if they're desperate enough. Besides, why would anyone bother to look into a small secluded town like this place? And since they already have a history of mining gold, it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary." Katherine pointed out.
Just then there was a loud crash from their right, followed by a man's voice yelling "Alisa!"
The four of them ran towards the source of the sound, to reveal a little girl trapped underneath a mining cart by one of the quarries. Katherine could see that she was crying, as a group of several large men tried hard to lift the cart off of her, to no avail.
"What happened?" Ed called to them. " Is she okay?"
One of the men, who had been kneeling in front of the cart turned.
"It's my daughter, she's trapped!"
Katherine ran towards the crying girl, Ed following close behind.
"Don't worry Alisa, we'll get you out of there." She told the girl, kneeling in front of her. "Just hold still for a minute, okay?" She held out her right hand comfortingly.
The little girl nodded tearfully, and took Katherine's outstretched hand. Katherine turned to look up a her brother, who clapped his hands together, then placed them on the cart. There was a flash and Alisa cried out, clutching at Katherine's hand. Then, the light faded, and the cart was gone, as Ed had transmuted it into a solid block of metal just in front of where he stood. The men stared in awe at her brother, silent except for a few impressed murmurs.
"There. Are you hurt?" Katherine asked Alisa, who shook her head. Then, the girl suddenly reached out and touched her face. It was then that Katherine realized that her hood had fallen away, and her scar was visible to everyone.
She tried not to flinch as the girl touched her left cheek.
"You're pretty," was all the admiring Alisa said.
Katherine blushed a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Oh.. thank you! I, um… So are you!" The girl giggled and smiled, as she got up off the ground.
"Alisa! Thank god you're okay." The man who had called to them before came and scooped her up. "Thank you." He said to the twins. He barely seemed to register Katherine's unusual scars. "That cart wasn't going to move, I don't know what we would have done without you."
"Really, it was nothing." Ed told the man. "It was just some simple alchemy, that's all."
"It wasn't nothing, you saved my daughter. I can't thank you enough. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
"Well… we do need a place to stay while we're in town. Do you know anywhere that could take the four of us?" Ed asked, pointing at his three companions.
"There's a nearby tavern that I'm sure has room for you four. And let me cover the cost it's the least I can do."
"Oh, you don't have to, we can cover it ourselves." Ed told him
"No, really, let me do this. Besides how would a couple of kids like you guys afford that?" Then he saw Carys' uniform. "Oh, are you with the military?"
"Well, yeah, we-oof!"
Katherine cut Ed off with a jab to the ribs. "Actually, no, just Carys here, and she's just supervising us. We're really just a couple of kids looking to learn more about alchemy."
She shot her brother a warning look. Nice going, Ed, let's tell the people trying to break the law with the Philosopher's Stone that we're State Alchemists. Then they'll definitely help us.
"Oh, alright then, that's fine." The man started to head up the quarry back to the road where they had come from, still holding his daughter in his arms "The tavern's this way, follow me!"
"'Just supervising'?" Carys crossed her arms.
"Don't be upset, I just had to tell him that to let us in, otherwise we would have been kicked out." Katherine paused and groaned at an unpleasant memory. "Like always."
"Huh." Carys tilted her head to the side. "Well, at least it got us in."
She strode ahead faster.
Carys was pleased to find that she didn't have to slow down.
The Elrics (while decidedly smaller, with the exception of Alphonse) had a brisk pace, much like her own.
She smiled to herself wistfully as she thought of what Toby would have said about her long strides. "What's the hurry, Carys?" he would have asked, shaking his head in affectionate exasperation.
That was Toby for you. A true dreamer at heart, but a rather practical thinker on the outside.
Or at least, that's what people thought.
The man lead them into a pleasant enough tavern, with cheery lighting and many loud voices.
"I mean it. We sure were lucky to have a real-life alchemist like you show up when you did," the girl's father said, as they were seated at a round table.
"You mean me?" Carys asked excitedly. "The Ozone Alchemist?"
"...Uh, no."
"NOOOOO!" she wailed in exaggerated disappointment.
"There, there," Katherine murmured, awkwardly trying to pat her on the shoulder.
"I'm sure someone will know who you are someday."
Carys grabbed her hand, emotional. "You really think so?" Her eyes shone.
Katherine, somewhat confused at this moment in time, merely shrugged.
"Sure."
"Then I will not give up until they do!" she stood up on the table, much to the chagrin of Edward, whose plate had been stepped in by her left foot.
"I can't begin to thank you enough," the man continued to thank him, as Carys jumped down from the table.
"And don't forget about his metal father!" the little girl piped up.
Al went completely deadpan at this statement, making Ed snicker behind his hand.
"No, you've got it all wrong." he corrected. "Al's not my father, he's actually my younger brother."
"'Younger brother'?" Alisa echoed. "But he's so much bigger than you are!"
Now it was Edward's turn to deadpan. He went almost completely white with shock, while Al, Katherine, and Carys chuckled.
"Anyway," Al started. "We're both just glad you're OK, Alisa."
"Definitely," Katherine added. "That's the most important thing."
Just then, the door to the tavern burst open, making Katherine jump, and a man with dark hair burst in. "Alisa! Alisa, are you alright?" He asked, sounding a little bit panicked.
Alisa's face brightened at the sight of the man. "Uncle Belsio!" She cried gleefully, and went to greet him, but her father stopped her, his face clouded with anger. She turned to look at him, confused. "Daddy?"
But her father ignored her and turned to the man in the doorway. Katherine could feel the tension building in the room. "You've got some nerve showing your face here now, after almost getting my daughter killed!" Then he turned to his daughter, who looked to be on the brink of tears. "Listen to me, Alisa. No matter what he says, you are not to help him work."
"No, Daddy!" cried Alisa, tearing free. "None of that was Uncle Belsio's fault. I'm the one that begged him to let me help him!" Then she bent double, her body shaking with wracking coughs.
"I'm sorry, Alisa." the man's face went from angry to gentle. "Here, drink this."
He handed her a glass of water, which she drank, but it did little to stop the coughing fit.
Katherine got up from where she was sitting and went to kneel beside the girl. "Here, this might help." She clapped her hands together and changed the composition of the air around them into mostly oxygen, making it easier for Alisa to breathe. The girl's coughs subsided, and she smiled at Katherine. Katherine returned the smile, then hurriedly went back to the table with her brothers, still fidgeting nervously with her scarf.
Belsio still stood in the doorway, watching silently with a pained expression on his face. "I am sorry." he said, before turning to leave.
Alisa looked up at her father."Uncle Belsio told me that your lemon pies were always the best, Daddy. And that it was a shame all the lemon farms were shut down.I thought maybe, if I helped him, I could taste your pie."
"Don't worry! As soon as we create the Philosopher's Stone, we'll be rich and we can buy our fruit from some other town!" one of the other villagers told her.
Katherine stood up quickly at the mention of the Stone.
"Philosopher's Stone?" Ed asked, eagerly.
"Of course! You three must be here to help Mugear with the stone right? That is if your, uh, supervisor won't object?" The man asked, shooting a nervous glance at Carys.
"Oh, no, I'm not really involved in what they do, I'm just, well, here...:" Carys trailed off.
Way to sound convincing. "It won't be a problem. we just want to help you, the military won't be involved, we promise." Katherine explained, lying through her teeth.
At this the townspeople began to chatter animatedly.
"Please do everything you can!"
"Work as quickly as possible!"
"Please save our town!"
"Wow, that's a lot of pressure on us! I guess we'll go visit Mugear now and see what we can do." Ed told the crowd, getting up to leave.
"Wait!" Alisa's father held out a hand to stop him. "Can we know the names of our saviors first?"
"Certainly!" Ed replied enthusiastically. "We're the Elrics. I'm Edward, the Fullmetal Alchemist, this here is Katherine, Sky Alchemist, and Al, our younger brother."
So much for pretending to not be a part of the military. Katherine thought.
The room had gone strangely silent.
"The Elric brothers? State Alchemist, hero-of-the-people Elric?"
"Yup!" Edward said, sounding happy to be recognized, and completely oblivious to the angry and sceptical looks starting to show up on the faces of the surrounding crowd.
"Get out!" Alisa's father roared, picking Edward and Katherine up by their collars and tossing them out the front door with their suitcases, leaving little choice for Ed and Carys but to follow suit.
"Hey! What was that about?" yelled Edward, rubbing his head where he had whacked it against the hard ground.
"The real Elric brothers are already up there with Mugear, trying to save the town! Come back when you're ready to tell us who you really are!" He slammed the door shut, leaving the four of them to sit out in the cold.
"Now why would someone want to steal our names?" Edward wondered aloud.
"Yeah. And 'Elric Brothers?' What about me? I guess a girl isn't worth the mention." Katherine said, sounding more than a little hurt. "I'll show them."
"I say we find out! let's break into Mugear's mansion tonight, and see what we can find." Edward proposed.
"Yeah, that's a good plan. And maybe we'll find some information on the Stone while we're inside."
"No, that's a bad idea. A very bad idea." Carys interjected. "Mustang sent me to keep you three out of trouble, you can't go breaking into someone else's home!"
"She has a point, you two, maybe we need to think this through some more." Al said.
"Well how else are we going to figure out what's going on here?" Edward demanded.
"I don't know."
"So it's settled then. Let's go." Katherine started off towards the mansion on the hill, her brothers following suit.
"I can't let you guys do this." Carys stepped into their path.
"And what exactly are you going to do about it?" Ed challenged.
Katherine watched Carys' gaze jump from one sibling to another. Well, she thought, this should be interesting.
I hate being the bossy one.
Carys thought, irritated.
It was like the Elrics were trying to make her the bad guy here.
Still, she had no choice.
Her primary goal was to make sure that the trio were safe, well, out of trouble at least. So far, all she had virtually done was stand on the sideline.
And she was already sick of it.
'Just a supervisor'?
Yeah, right.
It was time to start taking things into her own hands, especially after her agreement with the Colonel.
The man may have seemed extremely condescending at times, but he sure knew how to strike a deal.
"Stand aside." Ed demanded, crossing his arms.
"No." she retorted, standing her ground. "I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. If you've got a problem with that, take it up with the Colonel."
"Oh, I will." Edward scowled. "And the first thing I'm gonna do is tell him not to set us up with any more babysitters!"
That struck a nerve with her. She hadn't been part of the military for more than 3 years only to have a younger boy dismiss her as a 'babysitter', even if that boy was the famed Fullmetal Alchemist.
She raised her fist, revealing the emerald ring.
Ed got into a lower stance, placing his hands tightly together in front of him as if praying.
"Guys! Wait." Katherine stepped in between them. "Don't fight. Please."
"She's right, Brother." Al agreed. "Think about this."
"I am thinking about it," Ed retorted. "And if she's not going to move in the next minute, I'm still going to be walking up to that laboratory, whether she likes it or not!"
"We'll see about that." Carys smirked, despite the boiling tension.
The situation was getting rapidly out of hand. Katherine knew they wouldn't get anywhere by starting a fight with Carys, especially if they wanted to get back on Mustang's good side. Besides, the people of Xenotime had already taken a strong disliking to them, and somehow she didn't think that Edward and Carys fighting in the middle of town would make matters any better.
"No, we won't. Edward. This is idiotic." She stared him down.
Come on brother, use your head for once!
"Carys, we'll stay away from the mansion for now. But tomorrow, we need to start investigating what's going on here. Got it?" She had gotten good at playing the peacekeeper, after 15 years of living with Ed and Al. Carys relaxed slowly, letting her hand drop to her side.
Edward however, was not so easily pacified. " Get out of my way Katherine! Let me show Mustang's stuck up watch-dog exactly who she's dealing with."
"Who are you calling stuck up, you little twerp?" Carys jumped back into her fighting stance.
"Don't call me little!"
"Oh, please. You barely come up past my waist. Fighting you will be like fighting a child!"
"Shut up!"
"STOP IT!" Katherine yelled as loud as she could, then clapped her hands.
Her brother and Carys both dropped to their knees and covered their ears as the air pressure around them rose painfully quickly.
Katherine let them sit for a minute, then gradually returned the pressure to normal. The two alchemists sat panting, and if looks could kill, both would have died the most painful death imaginable on the spot.
"Edward, we can wait until morning." She shot her brother a meaningful look. "Carys, so far I like you, but if you hurt either of my brothers that will change, very quickly, and trust me, you don't want that." She may have been reserved and cautious most of the time, but if she thought her family was threatened, that caution was thrown to the wind. "Are we clear?" The two nodded, and stood up. Alphonse, who had been watching anxiously from the sidelines, let out a sigh of relief.
They headed off towards the hills to find a place to make a camp for the night, a feeling of edginess still lingering. The Elrics let Carys walk ahead of them, as they whispered quietly amongst themselves.
"We need to get inside that mansion, Mustang be damned." Ed muttered.
"But we said we wouldn't. We told Carys!" Al pointed out.
"I know what I said, but Edward's right. I only said that to keep you two from blowing up half of Xenotime." Katherine said. "We need to wait until her guard is down, then make sure she doesn't follow us."
At this, Edward's face broke into a wicked grin. "I have an idea…"
Carys groaned, rubbing her head.
"What in the bloody name of Amestris happened?"
She had been lying on the cold ground of what appeared to be a small broom closet.
It was dark, and one look around told her that there was no such shortage of dust and an assortment of cobwebs surrounding her.
She stood up quickly, swiftly swearing vengeance on whoever was responsible for one monster of a headache.
"Hang on a second," she muttered. She put her hand to the throbbing on the back of her head.
She had a faint recollection of images come to mind: air swirling violently, and dirt flying at her...yelling, voices...the feeling of something very hard and metal impacting with her skull...a twisted grin on a boy's face-
"OH, HE IS SO DEAD!" she slammed her hand against the closet door. One twist of the knob told her that it was locked. She forced her body against the frame.
It shuddered, but didn't give under her weight.
Something told her that alchemy had come into play there, and yet another image flashed into mind: An apologetic look from a girl with a hood, and someone saying something like, "...Didn't have to hit...so hard, Brother!"
"Nah, she'll be fine...tough skull...keep her from getting too damaged. Besides...could probably use some sleep."
"...THEY ALL ARE SO GOING TO BE UNDERGROUND BY THE TIME I GET THROUGH WITH THEM!"
First, to find a way out of this damned closet. She'd never hear the end of it if she let such a trivial thing defeat her.
"I'm going to have a talk with Mustang about any of these future assignments." she muttered.
But for now, the Elrics were likely at the mansion by that point.
And soon enough, if she could help it, she would definitely be joining them.
"Yep. I don't think I ever want to 'supervise' again."
"You know, you really could have been a little less rough with her." Katherine chided.
"Oh, let it go already. She'll survive, and it worked, didn't it?"
"I guess so. Still..."
Carys had only been trying to do her job. Katherine understood that, but what else were they supposed to do? Even so, Katherine couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt thinking about how they left her, unconscious and stuck in an old abandoned shed that Edward had sealed shut using alchemy.
"Are we really going to break in?" asked Alphonse, eyeing the huge walls that surrounded the mansion.
"It's the only way to clear our names and find out what's going on here." Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the wall, creating a door for them to pass through.
They came through into the library. There were hundreds of volumes filling the towering shelves. Ed picked one up and examined it.
"These books are all on the Philosopher's stone. This must be where they're doing their research"
"Maybe this wasn't made obvious by the walls and the armed guards, but you're really not supposed to be in here." Katherine whirled around, and found herself face to face with an adolescent boy with an arrogant smirk on his face. Behind him, she could see a smaller boy, peeking through the doorway anxiously.
The older one eyed Katherine, with her face half hidden underneath her hood. "Hey, sweetheart. You lost?"
Katherine shuddered internally. What a creep. Then, something occurred to her. "Hey, are you guys the ones-"
"Stealing our names?!" Ed cut her off angrily.
"Oh, so you're the real Ed then, in the suit." The boy replied calmly, brushing his blonde bangs out of his eyes.
"Me?" Alphonse asked. "Oh, no, I-"
"I'M ED, YOU IDIOT!" Ed roared.
At this point, the little boy in the back spoke up. "So you're the...older brother? And who is she?" He pointed shyly at Katherine.
Katherine glared at Edward's impersonator, who towered over her.. "I'm Katherine Elric." She stated. "The Elric sister you apparently forgot about."
"Oh really? I never heard about the sister before. What a shame. You look like you're cute under that hood." He leaned closer to her.
At this point, Katherine had had enough. She drew back her arm and punched the boy in the face, hard.
He flew back and landed several feet away, in the open doorway where the little boy stood. "Ow!" He wiped off the blood that had begun to trickle from his nose. "That actually hurt." He sounded surprised. "Your sister's tough for a girl." He told Ed and Al.
"FOR A GIRL? WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?" Katherine demanded.
But the fake Edward barely reacted. "I'd suggest you keep it down. Unless you want to let everyone else know you're here." Then he strode up to Ed and stood eye to eye with him-or at least as close as he could get considering he was more than a foot taller. "Now, I don't want to fight you, so why don't you run along back home, and let us do our work."
Ed crossed his arms and glared. "I don't think so. I don't take orders from anyone."
"Really? I thought a dog of the military would be used to be taking people's orders."
"I might consider it, if you got on your knees and begged."
"What, so we can see eye to eye?"
This was apparently too far, and now it was Edward's turn to take a swing at the boy. But this time he was prepared and easily dodged several of Ed's punches all while wearing that same condescending smile, and then striking back. Ed took the hit and spun backwards into a bookshelf. He raised his right arm to protect his head from the cascade of falling books, exposing his metal wrist..
"Automail, huh? I figured you were a little young to have seen any action."
"You have no idea." Ed flipped backwards, Aiming a kick that caught his opponent under the chin.
The boy's head snapped back and he stumbled, catching himself as he fell to the floor and springing to his feet. "You've got talent for such a shrimp."
"Insult my height one more time and I'll-"
"And you'll what, half -pint?"
Ed charged. "You're about to find out!"
Katherine had a feeling this was going to end badly. The guards would certainly hear the noise, They would be caught. When will my brother ever learn to pick his battles?
The boy jumped out of the way of Edward's attack, sending him sprawling to the floor. "You know, I'd always wanted to see what a genuine certified state alchemist could do. So far I'm not impressed."
Well, There's no going back now, at least I can give my brother a hand. Katherine thought to herself, and then stepped forwards. "This must be your lucky day, because you've got two State Alchemists here."
The boy turned to her, surprised. "Really? You too, sweetheart? I'd have thought you'd be too delicate for the military. Why don't you let us boys sort things out ourselves?"
"Because if I did, nothing would ever get done." She charged and clapped her hands. The boy let out a laugh, and then gasped, clutching at his throat. "A little hard to breathe when there's no oxygen. Now, Ed!" She yelled to her brother, who had picked himself up off the floor, and now grabbed the boy from behind, throwing him to the ground.
He rolled, then got to his feet. "Nice, you don't need a circle." He turned and ran down a row of shelves. "But neither do I!" There was a red light and a column of stone shot out at Katherine. She would have been crushed, but Al grabbed her, tackling her out of the way.
"He has a Philosopher's Stone!"
Edward took her place, running at the boy. "Sister, give me some cover!"
"On it!" She clapped and the room was encased in fog, obscuring Ed and his foe from view. There were several loud crashed, until both of them came flying out of the fog bank. Katherine saw that her brother had the other boy by the throat.
They slammed into the ground, Edward pinning his opponent down as he gasped and clawed at his neck. "Tell me why you took our names, and tell me what you're doing here. Or ELSE!"
Just then, there was a noise from behind them.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The guard pointed his rifle at Edward. "Step away from the Fullmetal Alchemist, boy, or I will put this bullet straight through your skull."
Dammit! This was bad. I knew we would get caught.
Edward didn't move. Katherine's heart pounded, and she fumed at her brother's stubborn stupidity. Listen to the man with the gun, Ed… not even you can survive being shot point blank.
"Now, kid." The guard demanded, brandishing his rifle. Ed still didn't move. "I SAID-"
Then the man's face froze, mid-bellow.
What the- He slumped to the ground, revealing another figure standing behind him. Katherine saw who it was and inwardly groaned. "Carys?"
Great, things just went from bad to worse.
The Ozone Alchemist glared at the Elrics. "More guards are coming." Her face contorted into an expression more rage-filled than Katherine had ever seen.
"AND YOU'D BETTER PRAY THAT THEY'LL BE EASIER ON YOUR ASSES THAN I WILL!"
Katherine gulped nervously. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen anyone look so angry. We are so screwed…