Lost Soul, Distant Goal
A Fullmetal Alchemist Fan-Fiction
All characters of FMA © of their original owners
Part I
"Yeah? And?" Retorted a disgruntled Edward Elric.
"Just keep an eye out while you're out and about," Colonel Mustang coolly replied. "He's becoming particular problem, they say, so I'm informing everyone to report any information he or she picks up."
"Pfft. I'm already a dog of the military, so now I gotta fetch the newspaper and all the latest gossip for you?"
It was another one of those argumentative meetings that Mustang held in his office with Edward each time he swung back into East HQ. Edward Elric sat on the sofa, his elbow residing on the armrest while he leaned his cheek upon his fist. He avoided the gaze of the clever Colonel who now sat untroubled in his chair. The young alchemist wore the typical expression that he frequently presented in the private presence of Mustang: annoyance.
"Come now, Fullmetal. Must you always make a point of compensating for your height with attitude?"
Edward's eyes shifted towards Mustang to send a hot glare across the room. This was particularly annoying. Usually at least something interesting occurred at these meetings. But in this case he had been summoned from what would have been a somewhat relaxed afternoon with his brother, just to be told that some lunatic was running around miles and miles away from Central.
Edward said nothing in reply, choosing to keep his eyes fixated on the wall.
"Fine then," Mustang said with an amused sigh. "I'll take that as a yes. It seems rather useless to converse with you with the mood you're in now."
More like taunt me, thought Elric.
"Very well. I have no orders for you currently, so you may go and plot out your little goose chase for the Stone. You are dismissed."
Feeling as though he was an animal being released from an obnoxious vice trap, Edward rose from his seat, retrieving his red coat from the table and pulled it on. Without a word, he stood upright as he turned to the Colonel for a farewell salute, and then proceeded out the office doors and down the hallway. What a waste of time, he thought as he made his way towards the exit down the hallway, his footsteps echoing into the distance.
Edward stepped into the outdoors and paused before proceeding down the stairs. His gaze drifted downwards to fall on Alphonse who was sitting on the stone steps, apparently holding very still so as not to disturb the little sparrow that had chosen to rest on his knee for a moment.
"Having fun there, Al?"
Edward's gigantic younger brother turned his iron head, immediately causing the bird to flutter off. "Brother! How did it go?"
"Nothing big," Edward said lazily as he descended to the step his brother rested upon, and sat there beside him. "Just a spontaneous and, not to mention meaningless, note to keep watch for some criminal who's fortnights away from here."
"How exciting," Alphonse replied with sarcasm.
"No kidding," said the displeased Alchemist, who now leaned back with his hands on the stone behind him for support and gazed up into the blue sky. In his fleeting moment of daze, he remembered to tell the more encouraging side of the story.
"Anyway, the good news is I don't have any assignments, so we can do whatever."
"In that case, let's just walk. We should probably buy some food to eat on the next trip we make."
"I'll go for that," said the elder brother, sounding a little more cheerful at the thought.
Thus the brothers, though curious in appearance, went on a casual stroll through the streets of the city.
"Alright. Eastern civilization, here I come," a young girl said quietly to herself as she saw the sign that dictated her destination. She was in her mid-teenange years judging by her appearance; her attire fell in line with her age. She wore a brown, halter, empress-cut shirt with denim pants, which were cut to fit nicely over her black boots. About her neck was tied a light-blue ribbon, coming into a bow on the back of her neck. The tails of the bow fell for at least 3 feet. Wrapped upon her head in a cruder fashion was a strip of blue raw silk, which covered her forehead and came around beneath her curtain of hair.
With her newfound morale of finding a new place of interest, her pace quickened as she proceeded down the path, its color not far from that of her dirty-blonde hair that flowed behind her. Who knew what sort of things she had to expect in this city in the eastern region of the country?
Gradually her pace slowed as she entered the city streets, allowing her to observe her surroundings. It was certainly an interesting sensation. Couples spoke softly to each other as they shopped, children ran and giggled and laughed. Smells filled the air. It was all so vibrant! In the flurry of activity, she continued her journey, becoming more and more observant of her surroundings.
Fionnuala (fi-NOO-la) was the girl's name; informally known as Nuala(NOO-la). Long and far she had walked to find what she sought. The Eastern region of Amestris, at the time, was her next set place to explore. And as she wandered the streets a thought struck her.
I should find an inn to stay at, she thought. And I could do with some food. The very idea of food was accompanied by a growl of her stomach. Rolling her eyes, she pressed on, but along the way something distracted her mind. Next to a large fountain, a little girl, seeming to be hardly at the age of 7, was crying into her hands. By nature, Fionnuala were concerned and approached the child and kneeled to be eyelevel.
"Hey there, little one. What's wrong?"
It was a little difficult to interpret the girl's words through her sobs, sniffs, and coughs, but the main point got across.
"Daddy told me that I could get the necklace he had bought for Mom's birthday, and while I was running back with the necklace in my hand, I tripped, and the necklace landed on the rock edge of this fountain." She pointed to a shattered amber stone with a sliver chain that lay on the ground by her feet. "And now it's broken." She sobbed even more.
"Now, now," Nuala replied, with a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Everything'll be fine."
"How?"
With a wink, she responded, "I'm an alchemist. I'll fix it up for you. But remember, you won't always have someone that will solve your problems. However, I'll do this just for you." Picking up a nearby stick, she drew a symbol in the dirt around the shards of the stone and its chain. A transmutation circle. And just a glow of yellow light and a few moments was all it took for the necklace to be as good as new.
"Here you go," Nuala said with a smile, holding up the pendant.
"Thank you so much! Mom will be so happy!"
"You're most welcome," she replied with a grin. "Now hurry, before your parents get worried."
"Okay!" And with a scurry the little one ran off, Nuala's smile following her.
Quite unexpectedly, a fairly young voice spoke from behind her. "Well, well. Not too shabby." Turning around, Nuala found herself in front of a rather large suit of armor, and next to it a considerably smaller boy with long blonde hair and gold eyes.
"My thanks for the compliment," she said, recognizing that it was the boy who spoke. "Can I help you?"
"There's no need," replied the boy. "I saw you draw the circle and got interested."
Suddenly, a disarmingly innocent voice issued from the armor. "Yes. Brother's curiosity is quite insatiable these days."
Fionnuala almost did a double take when she heard the armor speak. The voice did not at all match its embodiment. Surely someone so great in size could not have such a young voice? However, she quickly resumed the conversation as normal so as not to make them feel awkward.
"So, I'm assuming you two are alchemists? Perhaps doing work for the military?"
"Well, at least one of us is a State Alchemist," replied the smaller.
Suddenly, it hit her. Nuala had heard about two brothers, one of whom was an alchemist of the State, and both had seemingly incurable deformities. "Wait a minute..." she said, flicking her gaze between the two, and eventually fixing it on the armored one. "That must mean... that you're the Fullmetal Alchemist everyone talks about!" Immediately she snatched up the hand of the larger and began to shake it. "This is a meeting I'd never thought I would honored with!"
The armor giggled nervously. "Well, not exactly."
"For the love of... I'M THE FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT?"
Stunned, Nuala take a step back, staring in blank confusion. The smaller boy was clearly annoyed; his arms crossed and his eyes staring angrily into the distance.
"Apparently I have made some terrible mistake..." she said thoughtfully, reconsidering the situation. "Oh! I thought that whole gossip about the Fullmetal Alchemist being smaller than most was a huge ironic joke!"
The one greater in size bent his head down in embarrassment. Yet again, she had made another mistake. Though the answer to this one came quite quickly.
"WHO DID YOU SAY WAS A SUPER-ULTRA SHORT KID? You should at least have a little feeling towards people's height." The golden-haired boy was furious. His face turned more and more red with each shout. By now some of the people in the street were staring, curious for the reason of the commotion.
"Wow. I never met someone so sensitive. For all the talk of being 'Full Metal', you sure let people get under your skin easily." Amused with the irony she had unearthed, Fionnuala shouldered her pack and stared disapprovingly at the angry face that glared at her.
"Um? Guys? I think we should move. People are starting to get wary."
The armored one had a point.
"I'd be more than happy to move," muttered the other brother. The three walked on towards the gate to Eastern HQ, where at least there was some peace and quiet. Though before a conversation could continue, Colonel Mustang's voice shot from the doors of the HQ.
"Fullmetal! Who do you have there?"
'Fullmetal,' as Nuala knew him for the moment, hesitated. "An alchemist that we came across in the street," he finally said audibly for the Colonel to hear from the doors of the HQ.
What a baby, Nuala thought, seeing that he obviously didn't want her involved in any further activity. But the next thing said surprised her the most.
"Why don't you bring her in? We'll have a chat." All stared at the Colonel. He was interested in having a conversation with Nuala? A stranger?
Fullmetal broke the silence. "Very well, Colonel."
"Good. Come on in." Mustang reentered the building just as the gate before the threesome opened.
"Don't get your hopes up," said Full Metal.
"Huh?"
"You heard me. Colonel Mustang has a hobby of finding opportunities to poke fun at me. He's not gonna let you in on special position, or anything of the sort. He'll just take advantage of the situation to have a bit of fun." He sighed with exasperation.
"Alright," Nuala replied with a confused tone. The people here were some bunch of characters. Her attention turned to the gate, and once it had opened far enough, she, Fullmetal, and the metal-clad brother all entered the building. What did the Colonel hold in store for her?