Zian stood on the edge of a skyscraper looking out over the city. He watched as hundreds of other people hacked, bashed, and blasted their way through shadowy figures.

"Xaine! We could use some help down here!" one of them yelled up in his direction

'Who's Xaine?' he thought. 'And why do they seem to know me?' He felt a heavy gale begin to blow, pushing him off the building. As he fell, watching the ground rush up to meet him, his eyes widened. He began to scream, and soon after, hit the ground.

Zian's eyes opened as he gasped. He sat up, hitting his head on the ceiling of his dorm room.

"OW!" he yelled, flopping back down on the bed.

He heard laughter from the bunk under his.

"Thanks a lot, Lenny!" he groaned, rubbing his head.

Zian's younger brother Leon sat up, a pained look on his face. This was his sad attempt at looking angry.

"It's LEON! Not Lenny." he growled, rolling his eyes.

Zian laughed.

"Whatever. I'll call you Lenny if I want, little bro."

Leon looked absolutely miserable now.

"Come on, bro! Can't you at least call me Leon at school?" he begged. Zian nodded.

"Whatever. I'll try to keep your image... Though as a freshman you don't really have one..."

As Zian talked, he pulled off his black sleeveless shirt, then slid into his blood red military-style uniform. He didn't like that he had to wear a school uniform, even a simple one like this, but it was better than getting yelled at and getting detention. He sighed. At least he got to wear black pants.

He flipped his skull necklace out from under his shirt, and clipped some heavy chains to his pants. Finally, he pulled on a pair of black leather biker boots. He snapped the clasp of the boots shut and walked out the door, laughing to himself as he saw that Leon was still fighting with his overly-long hair in front of the mirror.

He took a deep breath of the fresh air, looking up at the perfectly clear sky, then began to walk toward the square. From there, a couple of his friends would meet up with him and they'd head to class. Nothing special.

"Hey Zian!" one of his friends, Kayla, called. She waved him over. "Sorry... The others are really sick today, I heard." she said as he walked over to her. She leaned forward. "So I guess it's just you and me..."

He smiled.

"Yeah, pretty much."

He was thinking heavily as they talked. Nick and Kyle had been fine last night, spending the night watching some random TV. Maybe it was all that anime he'd watched last night, but it seemed really weird that his friends had gotten sick only a couple hours after he'd left their dorm. Almost suspicious.

'Damn, man. Pull yourself together. That anime is REALLY getting to you.' he thought.

Kayla stared at him, looking worried.

"Are you okay, Zian? You look a bit... I don't know... out of it." she remarked. "Are you feeling all right?" He laughed.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired still." he lied.

The last thing he needed was for Kayla to start thinking he was psycho. They separated to go to their classes, saying a quick goodbye. Zian frowned as he walked, thinking.

'Maybe I'm not crazy...' he thought. 'You never know, it COULD be something major...'

He quickly made up his mind, slipping out of the class building through a side door. As he did, he caught sight of Nick and Kyle. They were a different major than him, and so wore all-black versions of the same uniform. They had strange, blank stares, looking like they were asleep on their feet.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Zian called. They walked over, seeming to snap out of their trance-like state.

"Hey Kyle, it's Zian." Nick said, almost weakly. He sounded as tired as he looked.

"Damn, guys. If I'd known anime marathon night would drain you two that much I wouldn't have-" He stopped talking. He did so because each of his friends had grabbed one of his shoulders.

"Hey guys, what gives?" he complained as their grip tightened.

There was a sharp jerk on each arm as his 'friends' twisted them behind his back, then there were several loud cracks, and Zian screamed as he felt sharp lances of pain up each arm, then nothing.

"What the hell? What the hell?" he screamed as they threw him against the wall, then began to punch him as fast as they could. Each hit was followed by another, accuracy not mattering, but bringing a few sharp cracks as his ribs were broken. When they stopped, he slowly slid down the blood-splattered wall of the alley, unable to do anything else. He couldn't even speak anymore.

He was left leaning against that wall, feeling faint. A strange shadow seemed to cross over his supposed friends' faces as they turned, walking away.

Nick kicked Zian hard in the mouth as he left, a sick twisted smile on his face. Zian felt blood drip from between his lips, and noticed that Nick and Kyle had very quickly disappeared. As he felt his eyes begin to close, he saw people running towards him, led by Kayla. She looked more than concerned. She seemed... almost... devastated.

Zian woke, feeling a pain in his arms only slightly less intense than the bone shattering. Kayla's concerned eyes stared into his.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He considered it. A pain in his arms, a cut from one side of his mouth, and exhaustion? Definitely not okay.

"Not really..." he said, being completely honest. She sniffled, and he realized she had been crying. He sat up on the hospital bed, ignoring the pain, and put his arms around her. He knew right then that something was wrong. He saw a glint of steel. Kayla cried even harder.

"They... They had... Had to..." she broke off. He held her close, trying to calm her down.

"Listen. I'll be fine." He told her. He really didn't care too much that he had metal arms now.

'Honestly?' he thought. 'It's awesome.'

The pain rushed through his arms again, and he gasped, vision turning red as he fell to his hands and knees.

His eyes widened as he realized what had happened to him.

He had heard of automail, but didn't know he would ever need it. Of course, he hadn't expected his friends to turn on him and try to kill him, either. He slowly got up, Kayla still looking worried. Worried was actually way off. She looked terrified.

"So what happened?" she asked. "And why were you out back like that?"

"Nick and... Kyle..." he said. "They jumped me... for some reason... Broke both my arms... Beat the hell outta me..." he answered, swerving around the second half of her question.

She shook her head, rejecting the entire story with that one movement.

"It can't be! They're our friends! Why would they do something like that?" she asked.

"They looked... Different..." he whispered.

She shook her head again. "This shouldn't be happening... They swore to me this wouldn't happen..."

He stared at her.

"Who said this wouldn't happen?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes, her own strangely purple colored ones meeting Zian's bright green, bringing back memories from years ago. For a moment, he wished they could go back to the time when everything had been going right for both of them. Back when they would hang out until it was too dark to do anything but sleep, when everything had been simpler.

"The... alchemists..." she said.

"And who're the alchemists?" he asked, feeling like he was stumbling upon something very major.

"They're a secret group in this school... They practice transmuting... Almost like magic..." she answered. "They also tend to test new recruits through fights..."

'Oh, so that explains it!' Zian thought, somewhat bitterly.

He remembered, only a few months ago, when Kayla used to sneak out and visit him. He had noticed her new cuts and bruises every day.

Kayla began to cry again. "And now that I've talked, they'll kill me!"

"Listen to me, Kay. Listen. For old times' sake." She stopped and looked up.

"I won't let them touch you." Zian said. "Just one thing."

"Anything... If you'll forgive me." she whispered.

"Tell me everything you know about this alchemy or magic. Whatever it is, teach me. I get the feeling we'll have to fight fire with fire." he said. "I may not mind having two automail arms, but that doesn't mean I don't want revenge."

She nodded, seeming too miserable for words. There was a knock on the door.

"Young lady, it's been over twenty minutes!" a voice complained. Probably the doctor.

Kayla jumped.

"I'm sorry!" she called back. She locked eyes with Zian and nodded, then turned and left. As she did, he let himself slip into unconsciousness. Tomorrow, he would begin to get revenge.