Chapter One
Coldness filled the musty room as silence was only broken by the soft sound of breathing. A figure stood quietly in the center of the darkness, awaiting her return. The door opened letting in a blinding light from outside. A cry came from in the room, near the back where a baby lay wrapped in blankets. A new figure stepped in. She was back.
"Did you get it?" The figure asked. He stepped forward reaching out his hand. The girl took a bag from her pocket. It was small and light, carrying the tiny parcel inside it. She handed the bag to him. He emptied its contents into the palm of his hand and smiled with delight as he fingered the blood-red powder that had been inside the bag. "You've done well, Dagger Alchemist." The girl dipped her head in gratitude for the praise.
"Thank you, sir." She said. The man put his hand on her shoulder.
"You've been serving me well. I think it's about time I let you go," he took his hand from her shoulder and walked over to a small table. He picked up a map off of it and showed it to the girl. "Do you see this?" He pointed to a red mark located over a large forest area. The girl nodded. "Tomorrow some travelers will be going through there. I want them eliminated. I want you to earn your freedom. Kill the Fullmetal Alchemist." The girl bowed to him.
"Yes, sir,"
Morning came damply as showers sprinkled the forest. The girl, known commonly as the Dagger Alchemist, kept in wait of her victim. She was soaked to the skin but she didn't care. She had to earn her freedom and that was all she was focused on. She usually didn't do assassinations but she couldn't refuse her master again. As she heard footsteps drawing near she reached for her knives. Each one was etched with a small array inside of a circle, a different design for the different knives. She picked out her weapon of choice- a large dagger made of glass. She listened as the footsteps grew louder. In a few moments the Fullmetal Alchemist would be dead. In a few moments she would be free.
She swiped her hand over the circle on its blade making it like a mirror. She tilted it back as she pressed herself against the nearest tree. She saw shadows in the reflection, one much larger than the other. She pressed her fingers to the blade, changing it back. The footsteps stopped. Had they seen her? Impossible. Her grayish outfit camouflaged her when she was next to the bark of the trees. She held her breath as they began to talk. She couldn't understand what they were saying; her heart was pounding in her ears. She felt her pulse quicken when she knew she had been discovered. She swallowed hard. Carefully she tried to listen to what they were saying. They were coming to see who was there. All instinct told her to abandon the mission, to follow them and strike later, but her mind was set on freedom. No, she had to attack, and she had to do it now. She waited quietly while they came in closer. Once she was sure they were close enough she jumped out from behind the tree, the dagger in her hand swinging into the right arm of the smaller of the two. She pulled it out. No blood. She looked up at the startled face of the Fullmetal Alchemist and stood, frozen to the spot, as it struck her. How could she have not realized it? How could she not have known? Was she really that worried about her freedom that she wasn't thinking? She dropped the dagger and climbed the tree she had been hidden behind, leaving the two boys standing there, dazed. She jumped from tree to tree until she was out of sight.
"Brother, do you think that was her?" Alphonse asked. Edward Elric kept his eyes fixed on the spot where seconds ago a girl had stood with a dagger ready to kill him. He didn't move. "Brother?"
"I don't know but I'm going to find out." He said. He ran in the direction the girl had just gone, his right arm dangling limply. He knew he would be faster being on the ground but he also knew the protection of the trees was in her favor. He quickly caught up to her. She was sitting on a large tree limb, clutching something around her neck. He stood directly under the tree but she didn't seem to notice.
"Why did I ever have to let myself be enslaved by him?" The girl cried out in anger. "Why, damn it!"
"Who," Ed called up to her. She gave a startled gasp and looked down. "Who's 'slave' are you? Actually, who are you?"
"I am a State Alchemist, like you are. I'm known as the Dagger Alchemist." She said. Ed grunted.
"I mean your name, you idiot!" He yelled. She turned away, jumping down from the tree.
"None of your business," She began to walk away but a cry from behind froze her in her tracks.
"None of you are going anywhere," a woman jumped down from one of the trees with a baby in her arms. "Not until I know how you became a human!" She extended her finger into a pointy lance and aimed it at the girl's neck.
"How did you get her, Lust?" She asked. Lust smiled.
"Answer my question or you'll never see your eighteenth birthday." Lust sneered. "Or should I say, Amber's first?"
"Don't you dare!" She yelled, turning around. Lust withdrew her finger from the girl and put it against the baby's head. "Edward, you know who I am, now you need to know who she is."
"I already know. She's the homunculus called Lust." Ed said.
"No, I mean the baby." She walked up to Ed. "My baby. Our baby," Edward froze. Lust paused for a moment.
"Well, this is even better. Now I have something you'll both want to protect." She taunted.
"So you are her," Ed mumbled. "You are Ruby." She cringed.
"That name is so painful. It hurts to remember." She said. She looked at Ed's limp arm. "I'm so sorry. When I was ordered to assassinate the Fullmetal Alchemist I didn't realize it was you."
"Enough," Lust said. "Tell me where you got the Stone that made you human!"
"No one has to say anything," an old man came out from behind a large tree. He seemed like any day could be his last yet he walked with steady steps. "Lust, hand me the baby."
"What are you doing here, Envy?" Lust asked. The baby cried out loudly.
"Give her back to me!" Ruby cried. "She's only a baby, she needs me, please, give her back!"
"Do it, Lust." Ed called. "My brother is on his way. I may be crippled but he won't be."
"I'm no fool; I know he has to use circles." Lust said. She screamed as Envy, now in his preferred form, tackled her to the ground. He took the baby from her, pushing her down as she tried to stand up. "What the hell are you doing?" She yelled. Envy handed the baby to Ruby, turning to keep Lust distracted.
"Ruby, come with me," Ed took Ruby's hand. He pulled her along until Envy and Lust where far behind them and they had found Al.
"Thanks," she panted. Ed sat down beside her on the mossy ground.
"So, what's her name?" He asked, taking the baby in his good arm and laying her on his lap. "And is she really mine?"
"Yes. Her name is Amber." Ruby put her hand just under her neck, covering something.
"What's that?" Al asked. Ruby looked down.
"My pocket-watch, I keep it on this neck band to remind me of how I'm like a dog kept on two short leashes."
"Two leashes?" Ed asked.