It was when that incident occurred that my father's warnings came back to me.

"Alchemy is a science not to be messed with," my father answered the question of a gullible five-year-old. "it shouldn't be taken lightly-or even at all."

"But daddy, you were an alchemist once yourself, right?" With his hands holding me carefully atop his knee, my father, who was the strongest man in my eyes had a glint of something forlorn in his own. Something that I, even as a five year old could sense.

But he only smiled, supposedly because he understood I was at a learning age.

"I was. But listen carefully to daddy, Eliza. When people achieve power, whether it's the person with the power or not, someone will always be greedy. Having power can tempt anyone to make bad decisions with it."

I blinked, eagerly waiting for a finish.

"One bad decision can cost you your life, or worse, someone else's." His strong palms bumped me against his abdomen. "Daddy loves you too much, Eliza. That's why…"

"... Promise to never use alchemy."

But I was a rebel. Fate practically tattooed being difficult to raise from birth in me. It wasn't like I was mean or meant to hurt others-I was simply just too curious for my own good. Anything I got my hands on I'd pull apart at the seams just to dissect what it was made of and how it was put together.

Putting it back was a bit harder, however. Building and fixing was my little brother's specialty, Abel Elric.

To be honest, I felt out of place growing up; pushed out of proportion from the rest. I had the hair and eyes of my mother, and my father always commented on how I resembled our deceased grandmother sometimes in the face, but other than the scariness of genetics, I had nothing going for me.

My eldest brother, Allen, went off to the city to train in special forces at only fourteen. My younger brother, Abel, could tinker closely to my mom's level at a young age, and Ivy, my youngest sister, had the harmonious voice of an angel as well as a love for all things living. I wrote in a journal to pass the time, but I wasn't even that great at writing. I had nothing to make me… Me. Even Rex, my best friend was gifted in agility and physical relations.

Until I met him. A traveling man in the woods of Resembool with hair as ebony as a precious stone. He greeted me with a smile, and meeting him would be my first encounter with alchemy itself.

I often spent time at my uncle's house to seek advice and reassurance when I fell into a depression. It was good for me to get another's outlook and opinion whenever I thought my parents hated me for the trouble I got into. Uncle Al was kind and always listened carefully to my troubles. Until one day I had it with who I was, and I made the risky decision to run away.

I had no provisions to aid me on my journey, as I darted out the door on an impulse. It was just me, the clothes on my back and the rumbling of an approaching storm towards my nine-year-old self. The rain began to pour, and quickly, I became drenched and encased in a vicious suit of shivering cold. I had walked and ran for three hours to get as far away as possible-I was already out of my sorts from a developing cold.

But I couldn't go back. I genuinely thought I was the worst of all.

That was when the reflection of square glasses gleamed into my attention. I was greeted by a young individual. He had gentle eyes the color of a grey-ish blue, with thick, curly black hair that had been deemed impossible to perfectly tame. Under my dire need of medical attention, he took me into his small hut.

And introduced to me the one thing I was never allowed to learn.

Alchemy.

For three days, he sheltered me in his little wooden house. The first day he treated my cold, the second he taught me my first transmutation.

"Focus your mind," he started, standing behind my wary self and holding my hands in his own. "Imagine the atoms shifting-forming into a replica of the horse shoe you see before you."

My eyes wavered, and my heart thumped louder and louder. I was a curious child. My curiosity caused trouble. Yet I knew that by doing this I would directly disobey my father…

… But what was so bad about alchemy? If I knew how to perform transmutation, I could actually be someone. I could feel special, and apart of something.

That feeling was worth it to me. I followed his instruction and clapped my hands together; the world instantly becoming one with my mind and body. With a press against my circle I worked hours to draw to perfection, the pile of aluminum screws laying atop it with a surge of power bursted in light. A clang to the wooden table before me had me wearily peel open a lid.

There it was.

A perfectly shaped aluminum horseshoe.

For the first time, I felt my spirit become uplifted. Something wondrous mystified me, yet left me starstruck with excitement. I found something I could do, and so easily, too. I had thought alchemy was a piece of cake-nothing like how hard I heard the rumors say it was.

The concern only flooded in at the sensation of his hands shaking over mine.

I traced my eyes upward. He wore a confused expression, as if something nearly impossible just happened.

"... Extraordinary."

For the rest of that day, he continued to teach me the laws and physics of alchemy. I had never been so alive and interested in something in my life. I wanted to be an alchemist. I felt it was my destiny.

Then day three came. With instructions on how to find material on alchemy, he sent me off back to Resembool to face my most definite worried-driven family, and possibly the rest of the small village. It wasn't long that I was found with spine crushing embraces and the harshest scoldings I would ever experience. But I was changed. I hid the horseshoe in my cargo pants pocket.

In secret, I pursued alchemy behind their backs.

My studies were low key, and I strived to become better and better strictly within the rules so that I would make no fatal mistakes. I nearly escaped being caught on a few occasions. I could never imagine what my father would do or say if he discovered my hand in such a forbidden art. Disobeying him after him and my uncle told their story so many times… But I couldn't stop, and with the discovery of all types of alchemy, I did something unforgivable.

I taught Rex my knowledge upon being begged, and instead of being my secret, it became our secret. With that secret, we committed a taboo that would ruin our lives forever.

It was when that incident occurred that my father's warnings came back to me.

Then started the beginning of the end of my everything.