Finding Home: Chapter 1

Clap! A boy with yellow hair pulled back in a braid transformed his metal arm into a sword.

"Brother, you're not supposed to use alchemy!" said a large suit of armor.

"Lighten up Al!" shouted the yellow-haired boy to his brother as he charged toward a black-haired man in a blue uniform. And it wasn't the type of uniform you would expect to see on a colonel…

"Brother," shouted the suit of armor, "it's only a basketball game!"

"I don't care Al," said the yellow-haired boy whose name was Edward, "this is an opportunity to get some of Mustang's respect!"

Just as Edward was about to come into contact with the black-haired man named Roy Mustang, he passed the ball to a woman with her blonde hair pulled back in a clip. "Riza, it's yours!" shouted Mustang.

Riza caught the ball and dribbled off as Alphonse, the suit of armor, began to chase her down the court.

"You're going to get it someday, colonel," said Edward to Roy.

"I wouldn't count on it Ed," said Mustang. "All sport is deception."

Ed looked at Roy, "Hey, wait a second... Didn't you just tell me that all war was deception?"

But by the time Ed finished his sentence Roy was gone. "Hughes!" said Mustang, "Winry's got the ball!"

Riza looked at Mustang while shaking her head. "The only reason Winry has the ball is because you weren't paying any attention when I threw the ball to you!"

Winry, a blonde girl on the same team as Ed an Al, was busy dribbling toward her basket with both Riza and another black-haired man named Maes Hughes chasing after her. Wrench after wrench was falling out of Winry's red uniform as she ran.

"What the heck is she doing carrying around all those wrenches during a basketball game?" asked Roy.

"Don't ask," said Ed, "she's Winry."

Roy then quickly ran off to join his teammates.

"Hey!" said Ed, "That was cheap!"

"Act quickly and you will end it quickly too," said Mustang.

"Hey... Wait a second!" shouted Ed.

Winry then attempted to pass the ball to Al, but Roy intercepted it before it reached him. At least he thought he intercepted it.

"Ah!" shouted Alphonse, "my head!" No one seemed to notice that they were now playing with Al's metal head instead of a basketball. The orange basketball had already rolled off of the court.

"Hey that's traveling!" shouted Winry as Mustang ran down the court with the "ball" You can probably imagine how hard it would be to dribble a chunk of metal anyway.

Mustang continued to speed down the court, unaware that he was running with Al's head. Or maybe he just didn't care that he was running with Al's head.

Al now sat helplessly in the corner. "Why does it have to be my head?" said Al.

Just as Roy was about to make a shot, Ed jumped out in front of him. "The ball's mine, Mustang," said Ed.

"Oh, yeah?" said Roy, "Then why do I have it...shrimp?"

Ed breathed heavily. "BAHHHH! WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN INSIGNIFICANT SPECK! I'M NOT A PUNY LITTLE ANT YOU CAN BURN WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS!"

"Seek to irritate and never fall for an enemy's taunts," said Mustang.

"WILL YOU STOP IT ALREADY!" Ed screamed. "I'VE HEARD YOU SAY ALL THIS STUFF BEFORE!"

"I see you have learned nothing from me," said Mustang.

Meanwhile, as Edward and Roy were fighting over Al's head (which they still didn't notice wasn't the ball, which was strange seeing as a defensive basketball player is always supposed to have their eyes on the ball) Riza walked over to the corner and picked the actual basketball up. "Men," mumbled Riza to herself.

"Um, Riza?" asked Al, who was sitting nearby.

"Yes Alphonse?"

"Um... about my head..."

"Well," said Riza, "we'll see how long it takes for them to notice that I have the ball and that they have your head."

Riza dribbled over to the basket and shot a two-pointer, making it on her first try. As the ball hit the ground both Ed and Roy looked towards it

"Hey!" said Ed, "This is another one of your cheap jokes isn't it colonel?"

"Actually," said Mustang, "it isn't."

Ed looked at the "ball" in Mustang's hands. "Um... Colonel... You're holding Al's head."

"What?" Roy looked at his hands, seeing Al's head. "Guess I got a little too aggressive."

"Um, guys? Can I have my head back now?" Alphonse asked.

"Of course you can," said Riza as she snatched Al's head from Roy's grip. "Men are idiots."

"Got that right," said Winry, who had been sitting in the bleachers.

"Hey, where's major Hughes?" said Al as he put his head back on.

"That's lieutenant colonel to you!" said Hughes from the opposite side of the court. He had been sitting on the other set of bleachers.

"Why haven't you been playing?" asked Ed.

"Oh," said Hughes, "I took a break to look at some pictures of my darling daughter Elysia. Do you want to see?"

"Uh, no thanks," said Ed as the others sighed. Typical Hughes.

All of the sudden there were multiple noises echoing throughout the gym.

"Ed? What was that?" asked Winry.

"I don't know," said Ed, "let's go check it out."