This chapter has been updated! Still the same idea, nothing should have changed except for more detail and more explanations. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Edward was the short one, Kyara was the spunky one, and Al was the sweet one. What was I, then? Did I even belong with that group? Of course I didn't. It was all a lie. Our friendship was just the bridge to the completion of my mission. It was strictly professional.

They didn't know anything about me…and truthfully, I didn't know much about myself. The only thing I did know about myself was what my master, Greed, had told me.

"Your father killed your mother when you were only at three years old… then he abandoned you… and, well, I took you up from there….Now leave me alone." That is all he ever said about my family. I knew there was more to the story. I just didn't know what. There were things hidden from me about my past; perhaps it contained all the answers to why, sometimes, weird things would happen to me, things I couldn't explain.

Greed was the one who had taken me in when I was so young, but for punishment of living with a homunculus, I was forced to do what I was told. He taught me everything he knew. Everything I knew about the world came from him. There was nobody else to look after me. Sometimes, he didn't have the answers, so I would have to find out for myself. My curiosity for information got me into trouble at times. What else what I supposed to do, though? There weren't really any other options. You could say that's how I ended up here.

"Rose, c'mon!" the short blonde female said, beckoning me to get on the train before it took off towards the city. The military Head Quarters was there: my target. I nodded and pulled off my best fake smile and filed onto the train with the three others. The train's whistle blared and we began to move. I had to admit, I was pretty excited to be going the HQ building, even if it was for an ulterior motive. I quickly banished my nervous thoughts. There were more important things to worry about. 5:00…

I sat next to the window and watched the station leave my sight, resting my head on the window, which rattled my head from the jerking tracks. Kyara moved in next to me, with Edward and Al sitting across from us.

"I'm so excited! Kari is gonna be there!" she said with excitement. Kari was their long time friend they picked up on one of their travels, and now worked at Head Quarters. A Kyara put it, Kari was a "hopeless romantic". I didn't know the meaning of the words. Sounded like an oxymoron to me.

"Yup… so is that stupid big-headed fire snapper…." Ed said begrudgingly. Roy, the Colonel, wasn't quite Ed's cup of tea as far as friendships go. In fact, it seemed like he didn't want to go to HQ at all because of him, considering the look he gave to the scenery passing by in the window beneath blonde strands of loose hair. He certainly was odd looking, but with a fairly built body and facial features. Maybe that's why Kyara was attracted to him.

"Brother, don't worry about Roy. He doesn't pick on you as much as you think, and he'll probably be busy with Kari anyhow…" Al said, trying to calm down the short-tempered psychotic midget. We called Al the tin can. His body was completely made of metal armor. I still didn't know exactly how it happened, but none the less, he was Ed's brother. At least, the soul inside of the armor was. His words came out as an echo inside the large metal chasm. Ed said it was from an experiment that he and Al had conducted and had gone wrong. From the way he told me that one night, though, it seemed like there was more to the story that was just too painful to tell. I personally didn't know much about alchemy. I focused my special crafts otherwise.

"Yes! I heard from Kari herself that she has been developing feelings for Roy for a while now… how I love young love!"

"Kyara, how do you find out these things?" asked Al, who seemed sincere. Kari shrugged with a sly smile.

"We girls have our secrets… don't we, Rose?"

At first, I didn't register that she was talking to me. When a silence fell over the cart, I quickly snapped out of my trance and nodded in agreement, not realizing what I had agreed to. Kyara seemed pleased, and picked up the tattered book next to her, leaving Al equally confused.

I could see Ed blushing out of the corner of my eye, trying to look distracted by the outside scenery, but taking occasional glances in Kyara's direction. I knew he liked Kyara, ever since he had saved her from a 30 foot drop in Lior. The rest of the night, whenever they looked at each other during our complimentary dinner, their cheeks would turn noticeably pink. Al would look in my direction, and I could sense him smiling inside. I couldn't help giving him a smirk. He was about the only one that I could tolerate out of the three; he was the most mature, even though he was the youngest.

The train ride seemed to drone on for days, yet it only had lasted a few hours. Time passed slowly, and I found myself checking the clock regularly only to bring more agony upon myself. The whole time, Kyara babbled on about HQ and all the "interesting" people, only to return to her book until she had something interesting to say. The military dogs sounded quite boring to me, but that could have been because of my lack of interest in ordinary people. The only ones that sounded interesting were those that I would soon enough have to worry about.

I found my eyes were getting heavy, and attempted to find a comfortable position. However, each time I found myself drifting off into sleep, Kyara would come up with something new to talk about and jerk me awake. Ed and Al, unlike me, entered these conversations, which only encouraged her to talk more. I prayed to any god out there for some mysterious bullet to lodge its way into my head for a quick and painless release from my helpless torture. The odds of that, disappointingly, were slim to none.

Finally, as the hours passed, night had fallen over the sky. The windows turned black, and I could see the reflection of the cart in the window. I averted my eyes from the pale, brunette looking back; she looked depressed and sullen, her eyes so brown they almost looked like black holes. Kyara was asleep, as were Ed and Al. I, on the other hand, decided to look around for another place to be. I was trained throughout my life to be nocturnal.

I crept out of our cabin, sliding open the door. The hallway was empty and the lights in each person's quarters were out. All life around was silent, save the train engineers. I gently shut the door behind me, careful not to wake the others.

I needed to get out of that crowded room, and away from Ed's disturbing snoring, (how the other two were able to get to sleep so easily must have been some immunity of theirs), so I climbed up through the escape route on the roof and onto the top of the train.

The wind whistled in my ears and traveled through all strands of my hair as I sat up outside of the train. I instantly felt my mind clearing, remembering what my purpose for being here was. I told them so many lies, I thought to myself… but they would never know. They would never know the real me, and I doubted they would want to. As far as I knew, my secret was still safe. I promised Greed I would never tell a soul of my connection with him; partly because I didn't have anyone else to turn to if I said no, and partly because he threatened to "accidentally" drive a knife into my skull if I did. These threats of his had come something of a normal occurrence to me. I hardly flinched anymore, yet I could tell that he would not have hesitated to follow through. There was something dark and strong inside of him, and part of it had been driven into me as well. I felt myself slowly becoming like him every time I obeyed his demands. What I was forced to do was not good, either. Well, they were good to him. Just no one else.

I met up with the threesome a week before now on the road. My story was all planned out: I was a traveler who ran out of money and didn't have a ride, and they were to be guilted into giving me one to the nearest town. They asked where I was from and I told them I didn't know. That was the first lie I told them. Everything I said was carefully constructed by Greed… and none of it was true. I actually did know where I came from, in a way, and I wasn't actually traveling. Greed planted me there at the time so they would see me as they were driving down the road; I had to choose my words carefully to ensure they would take me into their hospitality. I even convinced them that it would be beneficial to them if I travelled with them. I even told them that I was good with combat; that was probably the only truth, besides my name. They agreed to let me tag along, and since then, I've been trying to help them find the most precious item known to existence: The Philosophers Stone.

The Philosophers Stone: a magical stone that carries the essence to do any form of alchemy, even the forbidden practices, while defying the property of equal exchange. That is, instead of giving an equal amount of matter and result, one could create anything they wished without giving something in return. The ways in which the stone is made has been said to be unthinkably cruel, and the fact that it still existed was questioned by scientists everywhere. Some considered the stone a cheat code to life. One could create whatever they desired without having to pay a single atom of matter. I personally wasn't too interested in the object, but in order to gain the group's trust and keep my life, I had to accept their terms and help out. Luckily, they needed an extra somebody who could help fend off the people that got in their way, and I happened to be that somebody. I had exceptional training for combat… including killing. Combat was a skill set I used less of. Killing, however, was a specialty of mine.

"Rose?..." I heard a small voice utter through the opening below. I jumped and reached my hand to my belt, ready to pull the hilt of my dagger out in defense. I slowly put it away, realizing that it was only the Chatty Cathy. I sighed and smiled in my convincing way.

"Hi… what are you doing up?" I asked quizzically. She got up through the space and rubbed her eyes, yawning like a dog worn out from digging bones all day. She shivered from the rushing wind and held herself, only wearing a thin cotton tank, shorts, and combat boots. Her blonde hair was in a short ponytail, the red streaks darker in the moonlight.

"Well… I saw your seat empty… and then I went outside the room and saw the top open. As I guessed, here you are." She said and smiled gently. The smile… … the smile made me feel so guilty I had to lower my gaze from it. No matter how many times I saw it, I still had to look away. She actually thought I was her friend. Here came the shame that Greed failed to prepare me for when getting me ready for my mission.

I had never had a friend before because Greed obviously didn't count as anything more than a master, which is probably why I was the way I was. He kept his thoughts and his secrets to himself. Even if I bothered to ask him, he would simply ignore me. That, or find a way of shutting me up.

Kyara told me stuff she couldn't tell Ed or Al, which made me feel… like I meant something to her. I was always following the orders of Greed unwillingly, but this was a whole new type of loyalty. I had a secret to keep, and not one that I was forced to. I could have told Ed and Al… I could have done anything with the information she gave me… but I didn't. I had a choice. I had a choice and decided to take it to the small sliver of goodness in my seemingly non-existent heart. It's different when you have a choice… you feel like a different person… something greater than yourself.

There was one small, yet important exception: Greed made me tell him everything, like he was going to once I met up with him in Central. Every single conversation, every single fact, every word they would tell me… they would go strait to Greed. I was a horrible person… but it had to be done. For my sake, and theirs. Besides, what would he do with the information anyways? It seemed fairly harmless.

"Yeah! I guess I just needed some fresh air… and a break from Ed's unbearable snoring…" I said and giggled awkwardly. She laughed as well. There was a long silence as we both looked at the trees passing by us, their details fuzzy like a blurry picture.

"I think we'll be there soon… in the morning, maybe." She said and began inching down through the hole again. "See ya then! Don't stay up too late!"

She disappeared. My smile faded into the night as I lay onto my back and stared at the stars. So many… so many stars… so many lies… and for the first time, I wondered:

Will I ever have control over my own life?

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