Author's Note: So this story idea popped into my head after a long stretch of viewing FMA. Just started jotting it down...thought I'd put out the first chapter and see if anyone bites :) So read and enjoy...review if you want more, or have questions.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist has never, and will never be mine, but I can play with it as much as I like ;)
And away we go...
Chapter 1: The Fate of Elysia Stone
So far this night had not been going well, and it was getting worse. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, did not want to sit and listen to the Lt. Colonel give him a hard time for the escape of the Freezing Alchemist. How was he supposed to know the guy had another transmutation circle on his hand, damn it.
"So who was that guy?" Ed asked, as he dreamt about knocking the smug smile off that bastards face.
"You'd know that if you'd listened to the briefing like I told you to, but noooo, you had to go charging right over," LtCol Roy Mustang responded, still smirking.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah...I get it, alright. I'm sorry, k...whatever," snapped Ed irritably.
"Next time a superior tells you to pay attention, you might just try it," said Mustang with a small derisive laugh.
"Fine," Ed replied with a sigh.
Mustang then went on to describe the culprit that he and Al had tried to catch earlier. Apparently he used to be a State Alchemist, but he defected after the Ishvalan war. When the LtCol brought up bringing him in dead or alive, Ed immediately informed him there was no way he was going to kill anyone. LtCol Mustang said that was fine, his mission was just to help them contain the Freezer. He then asked how Ed and Al's search was going, which was a sore point for Ed.
"Maybe if you ever gave us time to look!" Ed snapped at him just as the door the the LtCol office opened up. Standing there was another officer, who immediately started talking to Roy about the case. He then turned to Ed and Al.
"Hey you two are the Elric brothers, right?" he asked enthusiastically before coming up to Al and vigorously shaking his hand. "Wow! It's an honor to finally meet the youngest State Alchemist ever. You're a real legend around here. I'm LtCol Maes Hughes, a pleasure."
"Uh...you want Edward," Al responded nervously. "I'm actually his younger brother, Alphonse."
"What!" exclaimed Hughes. Turning to Ed he said, "You're the Fullmetal Alchemist. Sorry, I had no idea you'd be so..."
Ed hated it when people seemed surprised that he was the Fullmetal Alchemist, especially when they commented on his size. If this LtCol Hughes called him small, he was ready to let words, and maybe fists, fly. He was saved the effort when Mustang interrupted asking what Hughes was doing there.
"Actually, I'm here on official business," Hughes replied. Turning to Ed and Al he continued, "You, Elrics. I understand that you two don't have a place to stay. Which means you'll have to come with me." At this he put his hand into his coat and pulled out a picture of pretty lady holding a young girl in her arms, which isn't what the Elrics were expecting. "My wife, Gracia, and my daughter, Elysia. We'd love to have you," gushed the suddenly sappy LtCol.
So with that the Elric brothers were swept off to the Hughes residence. When they got there they were greeted at the door by both wife and daughter. At the sight of his daughter, Hughes knelt down to give her a big hug and begin his sappy gushing again, using his beard to scratch and tickle the side of the little girls face causing her to giggle. After finishing his enthusiastic greeting of his daughter he introduced the Elric brothers as their guests.
"Big brother. Little brother," little Elysia exclaimed as she first pointed to Al then Ed. This of course did not sit well with Ed.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Edward Elric, and this is my younger brother Alphonse Elric...get that? Younger brother," Ed said as he struggled not to snap at the little girl.
"But younger means little," she stubbornly replied. "You're little." This of course set Ed off, but luckily Al got hold of him, telling him to let it go cause the Hughes' were being so nice to let them stay there.
"I hope you boys are hungry," Hughes said as he entered his home with his giggling daughter in his arms. "Gracia's cooking is delicious!"
The glorious smell of good food got Ed to forget his anger, and remember his stomach. He didn't need to be told twice to dig in. When Mr. Hughes commented on Al not be able to eat while wearing the armor, both brothers were suddenly nervous, and Ed spewed some excuse about Al not being able to take it off as a part of his Alchemy training. After that the dinner went quite pleasantly. When they had all finished they moved to the sitting room while Gracia cleaned up.
"Daddy, daddy. Look!" exclaimed Elysia running over to Maes with a beautifully carved wooden horse.
"Oh! That is so pretty Elysia," he replied enthusiastically, scooping her up into his arms. "Where did you get it?"
"Sissy sent it," she happily replied.
"She did, did she?" he said in that gushy voice.
"Mhmmm. She sent you and mommy a present," said the happy little girl, making the toy horse gallop on her daddy's shoulder.
"That's right," said Gracia from the doorway to the kitchen. "The package arrived earlier today with a letter. Elysia insisted we open the package, I'm pretty sure she knew there was a present inside for her, but I was waiting to open the letter till you got home," she added with a warm smile.
"Wonderful! What did Elysia send us this time?" Maes asked his wife.
"One moment, I'll go get it," she said, and she went down the hall to another room. As she left Ed turned to Hughes with a confused look on his face.
"Elysia?" he asked looking at Hughes then the little girl in his arms. Maes gave a small laugh at Ed's confusion.
"Not this Elysia," he said still smiling. "Our little princess's namesake, Elysia Stone." At this statement Al gave a little gasp and Ed's eyes widen in surprise. "I take it from your responses that you two are familiar with Elysia Stone?" Hughes asked.
"Yeah, we met her and her brother over two years ago," answered Al.
"We were trying to track down an alchemy book their father had checked out of the Central Library," Ed continued to explain with a thoughtful look on his face as he remembered that one encounter with the two Stone siblings.
-Flashback-
All Ed and Al could do was stare as they stood in front of a ginormous gate. They were at the front gate to the Stone Estate in the hope of finding a particular Alchemy book, one that supposedly had information on the Philosopher's Stone. Ed had thought that by becoming a State Alchemist it would be easier to dig up material on the mysterious stone, but they hadn't found much in the ten months since his certification. It didn't help that the bastard, Mustang, kept giving him assignments, not leaving him and Al much time to continue their search.
"Didn't they say someone would come out to greet us?" Ed asked his younger brother a little agitated. He tended to become irritable when having to wait, patience was not his strong suit. "How much longer do you think we need to wait before we just hop the fence and head straight to the house?" he continued with a mischievous smirk.
"Brother," replied Al, hoping Ed wasn't being serious. Not a moment later someone could be seen walking down the drive towards them and the huge gate. "Look," Alphonse said pointing to the figure. As the person approached they could see it was a tall, lean man with dark hair and eyes, like Mustang, but his hair was much longer and he had pulled back into a low ponytail, and he was dressed in a very smart, black suit. As he approached the gate slowly swung inward, timed so perfectly that it parted before him without him having to slow his pace at all.
"Good afternoon Messrs. Edward and Alphonse Elric. My name is Edgar and I am the Butler of the Stone Estate," he greeted them with a slight bow. "I apologize if you were waiting very long, we were not expecting you for another twenty minutes. Please follow me to the estate and I will let my master know that you have arrived early," he said as gestured for them to enter with a graceful sweep of his arm.
The walk to the Manor was made in silence as the two brothers kept looking all around at the grounds of the Estate. In fact, when they turned a bend and could see the Manor itself Ed stopped dead, causing Al to almost knock him over when he bumped into him from behind. Neither boy had seen a house so big before, and could hardly believe it was someone's home.
Once inside Ed resisted the urge to crane his neck to look at everything in the large foyer, or the rest of the house for that matter, as they were led to a sitting room to wait for the master of the house.
The Elric brothers had called yesterday to enquire about the possibility of seeing the book. They were pleasantly surprised when they received a call back and were informed to come by the next day around tea time, as the Head of the Stone family wished to meet the Fullmetal Alchemist. This was perfect in their minds, as it was Lord Liam Stone who was the last person to check out the book they had been searching for from the Central Library.
They had only been in the sitting room for a few minutes, with Ed pacing the whole time, when they heard the sound of music drifting into the room. Curious as ever, Ed poked his head out into the hallway to determine where the beautiful sounds were coming from. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to check it out Ed left the room with Al hot on his heels exclaiming, "Brother, he told us to wait in that room."
"It'll be alright Al, were just going down the hall a bit. I want to see where the music is coming from," Ed said, shrugging off Al's concerns.
Not very far down the hall there was a door left ajar, allowing the beautiful, ethereal musical tones of a piano and voice to drift from the room. At first when they looked into the room it was hard to see anything as it was so brightly lit by sunlight streaming through the ceiling high windows. As their eyes adjusted to the intense light they saw the glowing figure of a girl playing the piano set before the high windows. She was also the one singing words neither of boy understood, but they could feel the depth and emotion from her tone. So caught up in the music and the ethereal sight of the girl bathed in sunlight that the brothers were quite startled when they heard a gentle cough behind them. Ed spun so quickly he almost lost his balance and he heard Al give a startled squeak.
Standing in the hallway behind them was Edgar the butler and next to him a young man, only a few years older than Ed. The young man was tall and well built with a handsome, if not aristocratic, face, and the blondest hair they had ever seen, it was practically white. He was smiling at them which crinkled the corners of his grey eyes, giving him a warm, friendly look.
"S-sorry, I know we were told to wait in that other room, but we heard the music and got curious," Ed quickly rambled in explanation of them being in the hallway spying on the girl playing the music.
"That's alright," chuckled the young man. "No harm done, my sister's music always draws people in...ha ha...I've even told her she could probably tame a dragon with her tunes. Come on, let me introduce you," he said as he walked past them into the bright room.
After they entered the brothers were able to get a better look at the girl who had been playing. She looked to be about Ed's age with the same white, blond hair as her brother that fell to her shoulder blades and a charming, gentle face. When she spotted them move into the room she stopped her playing to turn to them, a smile lighting up her face and her sapphire eyes.
"Liam! You're home!" she exclaimed as she jumped from the piano to give her brother a big hug.
Edgar cleared his throat then, reminding them of his presence. "Lady Elysia, in your excitement you may not have noticed, but we do have visitors present," he said stressing the word visitors while gesturing to the Elric brothers. At this a light blush spread across Elysia's cheeks and she extricated herself form her brother, who was quietly chuckling at his sister's embarrassment.
"Lord and Lady, may I introduce our guests, Messrs. Edward and Alphonse Elric," Edgar said with a formal air. "Messrs. Elric, I formally introduce to you Lord Liam Rune Stone, head of the Stone family, and his sister Lady Elysia Aura Stone," stated Edgar, finishing the introductions.
Ed was surprised when the young man was introduced as the head of the family. He had thought that Liam Stone was an older man. The younger-than-expected Liam must have seen Ed's confusion and guessed the cause.
"My father's name was also Liam, whom I am guessing you thought you were going to be seeing today," he stated. At Ed's nod he continued, "Unfortunately my father passed away almost a year ago."
Ed noticed Elysia look down at this statement and could understand the sorrow she must still be feeling at the loss.
"We're sorry for your loss," said Al in his sincere, echoey voice.
"Thank you," replied Liam with equal sincerity.
"So you're the Fullmetal Alchemist," Elysia quietly stated looking straight at Edward, which was a pleasant surprise for him since people tended to think it was Al.
"Yep, sure am!" he said proudly with a big grin, recovering quickly from his surprise.
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Edward, and Alphonse," said Liam extending his hand to each Elric brother. "Edgar, I believe we will take our tea in here today," he stated to the butler before turning back smiling to the Elrics.
"Yes, my lord," Edgar replied before departing to bring them their afternoon tea.
When he left the room both Stone children looked at each other and gave an exasperated shake of their head.
"I'm sorry for all the formality," Liam said smiling again. "Edgar is a stickler for proper etiquette and formality."
"Uh, sure, no problem," Ed replied, glad to see that it was just the butler who seemed to have a stick up his ass.
"Please have a seat," Liam said gesturing to the sitting area to the side of the piano and in front of the windows, which provided an excellent view of the grounds. As he sat himself he looked at Edward and asked, "I'm curious, what is it like to be a State Alchemist, and at such a young age?"
"Er...It's alright," Ed answered not really wanting to get into the real reason he joined the military. At his response Liam gave a hearty laugh, causing Ed and Al to look at each other uncertainly.
"No need to be evasive about it Edward," said a still smiling Liam. "I know that they call State Alchemists the 'Dogs' of the Military, and, as I'm sure you're aware, my father was once one. My sister and I know plenty about it."
At this Ed gave a smile of his own, relaxing a bit more, and said in his sarcastic tone, "Yeah, it's definitely not all roses and rainbows." This caused Liam to laugh again and Elysia giggle lightly. Ed was starting to really like these two.
They spent a bit more time hearing about some of the adventures he and Al had since joining the Military until Edgar returned with the tea. As they sat there enjoying the hot beverage and delicious treats Liam shared a bit more about himself with Elysia contributing a bit here and there. Ed learned that Liam was in fact three years older than himself, making him sixteen, and Elysia was actually Al's age, so she was eleven. They also found out about Liam and Elysia's mother. They had lost her the same way Ed and Al hod lost their own mother. She had passed away from some disease when Elysia was only three, so she didn't remember her really. As the tea wound down Elysia moved back over to the piano and began playing a lovely, soft tune and added the melody of her voice by humming along.
After a moment of appreciating the beautifully light sound Liam turned to Ed and said, "Edgar informed me when you called that you were enquiring about an Alchemy book. Can you tell me a bit more what it is and why you're interested in it?"
"Well...it uh, was a book your dad had checked out from the Central Library a while back, and it could have some valuable information in it about something my brother and I are researching," Ed said, trying not to give away to much information about what exactly they were hoping to find within the text.
"You told Edgar the book was titled 'Alchemiae: Alta Artis', correct?" Liam asked.
"Yeah, it's supposed to be some really old text. I'd never heard of it before stumbling across a reference to it in another alchemy text," Ed answered. He remembered how excited he and Al became when they thought they might have a solid lead on the stone, that was until they discovered it was already checked out and had been for some time.
"Since you phoned I have had some of the staff help search the library and the study for the text, but I'm sorry to say it hasn't been found yet," Liam stated. Though he sensed Liam was being sincere, Ed could feel his anger rising. They finally thought they had found something that could help them in their search, and now that hope was gone. "I will have them continue to search, and if it turns up I will be sure to let you know," Liam added seeing the disappointment on Ed's face and Al's slumped shoulders. At this all Ed could do was nod his head and give a mumbled thanks, while Al added a "we'd appreciate that."
Not feeling like there was much more reason to stay longer, and feeling less sociable and more moody, Ed felt it was time to leave.
"Thanks. We appreciate your time and effort in this matter," Ed said standing up. "We best be going now, come on Al," he added. At this proclamation the music stopped, and Ed realized how much less pleasant the atmosphere was without the beautiful tune softly playing in the background.
"It was a pleasure to meet you both, and I apologize again for not having been of more help to you," Liam said with an apologetic smile as he too stood and shook their hands one last time. Elysia was now standing by her brother's side looking straight a Ed with what he thought was a knowing look, like she could see exactly what he was thinking, which made him more uncomfortable. Before Al could even finish his goodbyes Ed practically dragged him out of there, leaving the butler to hurry along behind them to see them back to the gate.
Ed had never heard anything from Liam Stone after that encounter, in fact after a couple of months he had already forgotten about the book and had moved on to tracking down a new lead.
"How are Elysia and Liam?" asked Al, bringing Edward out of his thoughts and back to the present.
Hughes gave a bit of a sad sigh at the question, looking down at his daughter who had fallen asleep in his lap. A light gasp turned Ed and Al's attention to Gracia, who had returned without their notice, as she stood there looking at them with sad eyes and her hand over her mouth.
"You must not have heard," Maes began sadly, still looking down at his beautiful little girl. "Almost two years ago...Liam died. He had apparently contracted the same illness that killed their mother. He never told Elysia, he didn't want her to worry. Unfortunately she was the one to find him one morning, and in her distraught state she fell down the stairs. She hit her head and the damage it caused left her blind," he said in a low voice, as if afraid talking about such a terrible thing would disturb the little one in his arms.
When he finally looked up at the sad and shocked faces of Ed and Al, they could see he had tears in his eyes, and a quick glance to Gracia revealed she too was crying. After a moment to collect themselves, Gracia came over and placed on the table a beautifully detailed vase carved out of some type of dark stone inlaid with fine gold lines to accent the design.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Gracia asked in an attempt to pull them out of their sad thoughts.
"Yes, it is," replied Maes giving his wife a fond smile. "I think it's time to put Elysia to bed," he said as he stood with the sleeping girl tucked snuggly in his arms. Gracia joined him as he moved to take their daughter to her room. When they left Ed and Al just sat there staring at the vase thinking about the information they just heard. It wasn't long before Hughes came back into the room.
"I'm sorry about having to tell you boys about this," he said as he sat back down across from the brothers. "She has great taste though, don't you think?" he added with a nod to the vase.
"Yeah," said Al in a soft voice, then as if just realizing something he sat up a bit more and leaned forwards. "Gracia said this came in a package, so that must mean that Elysia isn't in Central, right?" he asked looking a Hughes.
"You're right," he replied. "Not long after her loss, she left to travel East, to Xing."
"Xing!" both brothers exclaimed at the same time surprised.
"Yep. The Stone family has quite the established trading company, and a lot of the business they do is with Xing," supplied Hughes. "In fact that was why Liam senior resigned his commission as a State Alchemist. His own father passed away and it was left to him to run the family business and become Head of the house."
"Is that how you know the Stones, sir?" asked Al.
"Yeah, I met Liam not long after I joined the military," he said with a small laugh and the light of a fond memory in his eyes. "You could say he took me under his wing, me and Roy."
"Mustang!" Ed questioned, hardly believing that someone who could have raised the two Stone children could ever have been friends with the Col bastard. This just made Hughes laugh even more.
"Yes, LtCol Roy Mustang," Hughes said still chuckling. "We sort of became like
younger brothers to him, since he had been an only child. I was sad to see him leave the military. He was a fine officer, but I know it was the best thing. It kept him out of the Ishvalan war and let him spend more time with Celia, his wife, and the kids." It was then that Maes noticed the time. "Well you boys should head off to bed. Don't need Roy getting upset with me if your too tired to work tomorrow," he said in a light, joking tone as he stood up.
Later in the guest bedroom Ed lay there staring at the ceiling. Too many thoughts bouncing around his head for him to be able to sleep.
"Brother, are you still awake?" Al asked.
"Yeah Al," Ed replied still a bit lost in his own thoughts.
"I can't believe all that has happened to Elysia Stone," Al said bringing up one of the many thoughts Ed was having himself. "I mean, she's lost her whole family. We lost mom, and dad left, but we still have each other. I don't know what I would do if I lost you too brother," he said softly.
"Me either Al," Ed replied. Al sensed his brother didn't really feel like talking about it and decided to change the topic.
"That quiche Miss Gracia made looked a lot like mom's, huh?" he said fondly.
"Yeah, almost as good too," Ed informed Al.
"Really!" Al exclaimed. "In that case, I'm definitely adding it to the list of things I'm going to eat when I get my real body back," he stated happily as he quickly put it down in the little journal he kept with him.
"Right. Put it on there, right near the top."
"Brother?"
"Hmm"
"I sure would like to get our old bodies back soon."
"I know. Me too."
Out in the sitting room Maes Hughes sat alone thinking. Then his lovely wife came out to find him.
"I know what your thinking about," she stated as she came to sit next to him. "Your wondering if Elysia is really as okay as she said she is in her letter. I'm sure she's doing just fine. She even seemed to be hinting at coming home soon. It will be wonderful to see her again," she said comfortingly to her husband.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sure she's fine, and it will be great to have her back home," he replied, but Gracia could still see there was something on his mind.
"You're not just thinking about Elysia, are you? You're worrying about those boys too?" she asked gently.
"You do know what they call the State Alchemists, right? The 'Dogs' of the the Military. Not exactly the most popular bunch. When I try to imagine what that must be like, enduring that at his age," he replied. Gracia looked at him with understanding, then she stood and took his hand, leading him back to their room to go to bed.
AN: I hope you enjoyed chapter 1. Want more...review and let me know...muah!