Edward and Al walked down the long hallway.
"Ed, are you sure you want to do this? You can lose your title for this." Alphonse told his brother.
"It doesn't matter if I don't know the truth." Ed said rushing forward faster.
He opened a big metallic door. Inside, were dozens of deformed creatures inside; Chimeras. "Wh-what is…"
"Over here boys." Shou Tucker's voice was heard in a lit room in the distance. The boys didn't know how he knew it was them. They went to where the voice was. Tucker came into light as they got closer.
Edward and Alphonse saw him staring down. Another deformed animal was at his feet. It had long brown hair at its forehead. The rest was a snowy white. It's size was roughly the size of a small bear.
"I told you I'd let you see it, so here it is; The talking Chimera." Tucker said "This are Edward and Alphonse, their your friends."
"Ed…Edward…friend…?" The chimera said struggling to speak. "Al…phonse… friend?"
"Wow, it speaks! That's amazing Mr. Tucker. With this you'll pass the test for sure!" Alphonse said
Edward moved closer to the being. He pet the creature. It whined softly as he did.
"Yes, I know. It was lucky that I made the decision to do this. I was really in a corner." Tucker said "I made an astonishing discovery! The other Chimera was too old to adapt to its body. I am sure this one will be just fine."
The Chimera whined at Edward. It was sniffing in Ed's pocket and took out his pocket watch. It clattered to the floor.
"Big…Brother…"
Edward's eyes widened in fear. 'N-no…It's…'
"Edward…why does it hurt here?" The Chimera looked up at him. "Please tell me…Big Brother…"
Edward got to his feet never taking his eyes off of the Chimera. "Don't worry, your big brother is here." He whispered to it.
"Mr. Tucker…" Edward said
"Uhh yes Ed?" Tucker asked
"When exactly did you say you made the last talking chimera?" He said with his fist shaking.
"Hmm, I believe it was two years ago, why?" He asked
"And when did your wife leave you?" Edward asked
"Just around the same time, she couldn't handle being with an Alchemist like me. Why do you ask that?"
"Just tell me one more thing… Those letters, Nina sent… did any of them ever reach her?" Edward asked now looking at him.
Tucker looked down. "I hate persistent people like you Edward."
After he said that Ed snapped. He grabbed his collar. "You asshole!!!"
"Uh! Ed, what are you…" Al asked
"This sick bastard used his wife as material for his Chimera!!!" Edward yelled
"A-and this time?" Alphonse asked feared of the answer.
"His own daughter and his dog!!!" Edward yelled again.
Alphonse was taken aback.
"Why…Why did you do it, damn it!!!" Ed asked in great anger
"I just had to see if I could." Tucker said "I knew my life would be ruined if I did do it and if I didn't. So I chose science."
Ed punched him in his face so he fell to the floor.
"What are you doing Edward, I thought you of all people would understand." Tucker said in astonishment.
"You thought I would understand using your daughter as material?!!! How would you even think that-"
"-Isn't that what you were doing with your Mother?" Tucker asked as he looked at him with a crazy look.
Edward's eyes widened.
"You wanted to see if you could bring her back. So you tried to." Tucker said
"SHUT UP!!!" Ed said slamming his Automail fist into his face, slamming even harder after every punch. "I-AM-NOT-LIKE-YOU!!!!"
"Don't brother, you'll kill him!" Al prompted.
Ed yelled as he was about to punch him again, but was stopped by a tugging at his sleeve. Edward looked back. He saw Nina grabbing on with her teeth.
"No…Big brother." Nina said
Edward got up and knelt so he was eye level with Nina. "Nina, just bear with me, this may hurt a little."
"Ed! Your not planning to separate them, you don't know how!" Alphonse said
"Go ahead, Edward! Do to her what you did to your Mother!" Tucker said
Ed flinched, he was about to punch him hard this time. However, Alphonse stopped him.
"You see, even your brother agrees with-" Tucker was interrupted
"Tucker, If you say one more word, I won't hold back in beating you." Al said
A long silence followed, broken by the banging of the doors. Two other soldiers accompanied Brigadier General Gran.
"What is the meaning of this?! Assaulting another officer?" Gran yelled in his booming voice.
"Spare me, sir. He used his own daughter." Edward said
Gran looked down at Nina, "Is this it? The talking Chimera?"
"Yes, sir" Ed said
"Take Tucker away, along with his creation." Gran ordered
"Yes, sir!"
The doors closed on the van, which held Nina.
"So what'll happen to Mr. Tucker?" Alphonse asked
"He will be under trial in a couple of days and then sentenced. Boys, this night never happened. Do you understand?" Gran said looking down at Edward.
"So your going to sweep all of this under the rug aren't you?! I knew it!!! And your going to use her as a goal for your monster arm-" Edward was knocked out by Gran's heavy metal fist.
"Ah, Brother!" Al yelled
"The boy needs to learn to respect his superiors." Gran said as he entered his van and left.
Ed got up, "I…I cant let her become a test subject!" he clapped his hands together making a reverberating sound as he did. Someone stopped him.
"Lieu- Lieutenant Colonel." Ed said looking up. "What are you doing?! Their going to use that girl as a test subject!!!"
"No she will not." Mustang said as he let go. "She will be under mine and Major Hughes' jurisdiction."
"But…what can…" Ed said
"Don't worry, If we can find a way to give her back her body, that will be our first priority." Mustang assured Edward. "But right now, I want you to go to your hotel and not worry about it tonight."
"Can…can you give her her body back?" Ed asked shaking out of fear or the cold, he didn't know.
"Well, I can't say that I can or not. All I can say is that we will try as hard as we can." Mustang said, "Come on, we'll bring you two back."
-----------------
"Al…" Ed said sitting in his bed. "Do you think that she'll be alright? Nina I mean."
"I don't know, hopefully." Al said truthfully.
"I just don't want her to be a test subject." Ed said looking up
"But, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang gave you his word." Al said
"I… I just wonder how he'll do it." Ed said, "Lets go to sleep now Al."
"Uh Ed…" Alphonse said
"Oh yeah, sorry. You can't, can you." Ed said, "I forgot."
"It's alright." Al said
"Al… if they can give that little girl her body back, then we can get yours back as well." Ed said
"Yeah," Alphonse said. After that, Edward fell asleep.
The monster that was once Nina and Alexander was sleeping soundly in a giant well-formed circle with many difficult looking markings in it.
Two men looked at each other from corresponding sides of the circle.
"We promised each other, right Hughes?" Mustang said to the other man.
"Right we would only use this as last resort." Hughes said "Are you sure you got the transmutation circle right?"
"Yeah," he said bringing out a red stone " One use, and its very weak."
"Two need to work together to bring it's full potential out." Hughes said
"They must be skilled in all forms of alchemy. Are you ready?" Mustang said
"Lets go." Hughes said
They both put their hands out. The circle glowed a bright blue. As it did, the animal stayed asleep. The stones that they held in their hands disappeared. The animal rose up, what looked like lightning swirled around it. When the light cleared a small girl was revealed.
Both of them were out of breath. "We…we did it. I have to remember to thank our old friend." Mustang said knowing Hughes knew whom he was talking about.
"I wonder what happened to the dog." Hughes said
"I'm not really sure. Maybe her will overpowered it. I'm not sure how this will effect her though." Mustang said
"Well… now that we're done, I'm going home to kiss my little girl goodnight." Hughes said
"Hold it Hughes." Mustang called "You take the girl."
"Me?" Hughes said looking surprised
"I don't have the accommodations for a young girl, you do." Mustang said
Hughes looked puzzled
Mustang laughed "Don't worry, you won't have to take care of her for long."
"Wow, that takes my mind off of things." Hughes said
"Good luck Hughes."
"Ed, wake up." Al said
"What, what is it?" Ed said
"Lt. Col. Mustang is here." Al said
Ed shot up. "Did you do it?!"
"Kinda quick on the uptake, huh Elric?" Mustang said
"Well, did you do it or not?" Edward asked
"Don't worry, she's just fine. She's at Major Hughes' house now." Mustang said
"Al!" Edward said getting his coat on.
"Okay," Alphonse said following his brother.
"Hold on Ed," Mustang ordered
Ed stopped "What, can't this wait?"
"No, it can't. Now listen, Nina will not remember what conspired in the last twenty-four hours. I ask you, for her sake, do not bring up Tucker or anything concerning the incident last night.
"We understand." Ed said "Right Al?"
"Right, of course we won't say anything." Alphonse said
"Good, I'm trusting the two of you." Mustang said "Come on, my 2nd lieutenant will take us."
"Okay," Edward said
The car rumbled as they went through the streets.
"Boys, I need you to do something for me." Lt. Col. Mustang said,
"Yeah, what is it?" Ed asked
"I need you to take Nina with you as you travel." Mustang said
"Wh-what? You want us to take Nina?" Ed asked
"Why can't she be placed in a foster home? Or with Mr. Tucker?" Alphonse asked
"We can't… for the obvious threat that would present to the girl, and the fact… that Shou Tucker was executed."
Both the boys were speechless
"Executed…?"
"The court didn't want to embarrass themselves with a trial, due to the heavy evidence he had against him, and went on with the execution." Mustang said
Edward didn't know what to say.
"As for a foster family, we can't have that either. Nina needs to be protected from anyone that would want her power."
"Power, what power?" Al asked
"You see, even though she has regained her human form, she is still considered a chimera. Scientist all over would ask too many questions. We can't have any questions."
"Why not?"
"You see, She was recreated by…other means." Mustang said shifting his eyes quickly to a black dot that was almost invisible.
Edward caught it. "I see, so you were holding out on me."
"For good reason Ed." Mustang said
"If that's the case, then why not. Who knows, it'd be fun having a little kid." Edward said
Alphonse was completely lost.
"We're here, sir." Hawkeye said saluting
"Thank you Lieutenant." Mustang said he walked out of the car and into the walkway of Major Hughes' house. He was pushed aside by Ed and Al.
"Nina!"
A mesh of brown hair tackled Edward down.
"My back… why is it always the back?" Ed asked himself, as he was spread eagle on the floor.
"Hiya little big brother!" the smiling little girl that was on Ed's chest.
"Nina…" Ed was stunned to see that the deformed chimera he saw a couple of hours ago, has turned into the young girl he once knew.
"Don't cry big brother, it didn't hurt that bad did it?" Nina asked
Ed didn't notice, but he was crying silently. He shook his head and regained his composure. "Don't worry Nina, your big brother's alright." He said smiling. "How about you, are you alright?"
"She's just fine Ed. " Hughes came into the room with Elicia in his arms. Gracia was right behind her. "She's been helping me with this little cutie here."
"Really, that's good." Ed said
"Hughes," Mustang said coming in.
"Right, Nina can you go with Gracia and help her out in the kitchen?" Hughes asked
"Okay, Mr. Hughes." Nina said, as she was lead by Gracia to the kitchen.
"Ed, Al, we need to talk to you." Mustang said as he went to the other room. Ed and Al followed with Hughes behind them.
"Alright, so how did you do it? How did you get a Philosopher Stone? Or is it something similar?" Edward asked
Mustang didn't look at Ed, "Try to understand Ed, we can't tell you." Mustang said
"Why not?!" Ed asked "You know damn well what the stone means to us! We need any information at all!"
"You don't think we know that Ed?" Hughes said, "We know you boys are looking for the stone. And you know we'd never withhold any information from you that would benefit you without reason."
"So what's your excuse?" Ed asked
"If your so bent on thinking that we just want to watch you squirm, then you won't listen to any excuse we have." Mustang said
"You know, he's right. We have no reason to believe Lt. Col. or Major Hughes would do that without reason." Al said
"Yeah, I guess your right." Ed said
"However," Mustang said, "It might benefit you better to search for it yourself."
"What do you mean?" Ed asked
"It would be better for you to understand what the stone is yourselves, rather than rely on what me and Roy say." Hughes said
"Then how about we make a deal Mustang?" Ed said getting up. "Me, and Al, search for clues pertaining to the Philosopher Stone."
"Fine, but you report everything you find to me and me alone. And of course, you bring Nina along with you." Mustang said
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten." Ed said smirking.
Mustang reached into his shirt pocket. "By the way, Fuher King Bradley has given you your official title."
"He has proven he has a good sense of humor with this." Hughes said
Ed received the piece of paper.
I bestow the name "Full Metal" upon Edward Elric in the name of Fuher King Bradley.
"Full Metal?" Edward asked
"Along with the pocket watch you receive, you are also given a second name. Such as, my name is the Flame Alchemist."
Edward smiled "Full Metal Alchemist, tell him I like the feel of it."
Nxh592: Alright, Chapter 1 is done! Tell me what you think of it, and I might continue the story. You know what I say, Stay Tuned!!!