"Colonel are you really sure, I
mean is her house the best place to do it what about the park or
maybe the school" riza was cut of by the stern look on the
colonel's.
Slowly colonel mustang rose from his seat and started
pacing behind his desk
"it won't be easy anyway but..."
he stopped pacing and started to rub his temples, his head had
started to hurt from all of this thinking and worrying.
"You
know it's defiantly their bodies?" He looked at riza hopping she
would start laughing at any minuet and say that this was all a big
joke, a big terrible joke that they all decided to play on
him.
Slowly riza shook her head, mustang felt a painful twinge in
his chest his little sister was now homeless, again.
"You
could always tell her colonel, about you being her brother then maybe
she wouldn't feel so hurt" colonel mustang shook his head at
riza's words,
"if the homunculi found out she would be in
danger and if I did tell her she would only ask questions about why
she never grew up with me and I could never tell her why"
mustang
trailed off and looked out the window and frowned in deep
concentration.
Music blared from a row of houses. In
the back garden a teenage girl sat in the middle of a large
transmutation circle with a rose placed atop of her crossed legs.
The
rose's petals changed colour with beat of the music, ranging from
blue all the way to yellow, green, purple and black. The girls long
black hair floated around her like it was being blown around by Gail
force winds.
Her light blue eyes twinkled as she looked at the
rose,
"I think that's enough for today" she whispered
slowly taking her hands of the transmutation symbol on the ground.
Instantly the music ceased and the rose stopped changing colour, the
girl's hair fell back to her shoulder blades. She gave a small
sigh, grabbed the rose off her lap and leapt to her feet, brushing
any stray dirt off of her jeans; she tucked the rose in her waist
band and walked towards the house, the dry, dead grass crunching
under her bare feet. She leapt into the back porch way and slipped on
a pair of sandals.
Her skin screamed in delight as she walked
through the back door and into the shade of her house.
She had
been out there for over three hours practicing her techniques.
Tucking a lock of stray hair behind her ear she made her way to the
living room and collapsed on the sofa, rolling over her eyes began to
close, letting her body relax and her breathing slow, forgetting all
about the rose still tucked in her waist band she feel asleep hopping
that when she woke up her mum and dad would be back from their
mission at the military.
Both of her parents were state
alchemists as was she, her mother was known as the nature alchemist
and her father was known as the sonic alchemist.
By watching
carefully she had picked up a few things from them and put them into
practice.
For the first few weeks nothing happened no matter how
hard she tried, the earth wouldn't speak to her like it did to her
mum and music wouldn't make her feel a peace like it did to her
dad.
Month after fruitless month went by and still nothing
happened.
It was only one day when she was practicing in the
garden did something happening.
Her father had started to play
Beethoven's 17th symphony, she sat in the garden, in the same
transmutation circle as she was today. A daisy head lay on the floor
in front of her and she was concentrating on turning it purple, four
hours had passed by with nothing but when the music reached her ears
she felt different. Concentrating on the music and the flower she
activated her transmutation symbol. Seconds after she heard a scream
of delight and hurried footsteps
"OH MARTIN SHE DID IT, LOOK AT
HER SHE'S AN ALCHEMIST!"
From that moment on the girl realised
that if she used both her mothers and fathers techniques
she
could achieve alchemy!
The girl stirred slightly as the rose
thorns dig into her side but she still didn't wake up.
Roy
mustang parked his car outside a row of houses, he was after number
15.
Unclipping his seat belt he slipped a piece of paper out of
his pocket and looked at it.
Printed on the paper was the photo of
a girl, she looked remarkably like Roy.
She had coal black eyes
and shaggy layered black hair that reached to her shoulder
blades.
Her skin was of a similar colour to the 24 year old mans
and her eyes held a similar sparkle in them.
In the photo she was
smiling, a mischievous, cheeky little grin that Roy had used all too
often.
He pushed his fringe out of his eyes and got out of the
car.
Locking the door he slipped the photo back into his pocket
and crossed the road.
'5, 6, 7, 8, 9,' he mentally counted
his way up the street until he reached the house he was looking for.
Pulling open the front gait he strolled into the lavish garden.
The
odd thing was not that these plants shouldn't be able to grow here
but the fact they had blobs of multi coloured paint on them.
Ignoring
the urge to touch the peculiar markings Roy pressed the front door
bell.
A loud thud and then a groan answered the bell ring before
the door flew open, reviling the girl from the photo. The teen gave a
cheesy grin and stood aside for Roy to pass her and enter the living
room
"hello colonel mustang what can I do for you?" She asked
sitting down on a slightly blood stained sofa. Roy looked over at the
patch of semi dry blood and then to his sister, a black rose was
tucked inside her trouser waistband, it stalks a vibrant red colour
from her blood.
Roy cleared his throat and looked at the floor
briefly, the fact that she was still smiling made his stomach knot
horribly "Annabel I'm sorry but"
he gave a slight pause
before continuing "your mum and dad are dead"
Roy weighted for
the glass cracking sob but it didn't come.
What did come was a
laugh it was rather childish and high pitched
"y...your
lying...that's a good joke colonel you almost had me"
Roy
looked up at his sister, tears streamed down her face as she stared
at him expecting this all to be some sort of joke.
Roy closed his
eyes trying not to see his sister's heart brake but although he
couldn't see it he could hear it. An ears splitting sob pierced the
air as a pair of arms flung themselves around his neck.
He
hesitated slightly before pulling Annabel into his lap and hugging
her just as tight.
Hours passed by with the two staying like
that, Annabel cried her heart out until there was nothing left to her
but a broken and disturbed sleep.
Roy carefully picked up
Annabel's body, her arms were still wrapped tightly around his neck
and her
face was snuggled into his shoulder.
He placed Annabel's body on the sofa like she was a china doll
that would shatter into a thousand pieces any second.
Making
sure his sister was still asleep he crept up to her room to gather
some of her positions.
Annabel's room was strange to say the
least.
The walls were a brilliant sunshine yellow and the carpet
was a light orange.
A small single bed stood in the corner of the
room absolutely overflowing with stuffed toys, the bed spread was
yellow with orange sunflowers dotted across it in a diagonal
pattern.
Next to her bed was a dark yellow wardrobe with orange
door handles and massive sticker of an orange sunflower. Roy walked
over and pulled open the wardrobe door and pulled out a few clothes.
Not bothering to be neat he piled them into a duffle bag he had
fished from the bottom of the wardrobe.
This whole thing would have gone a
lot quicker if Roy hadn't decided to spill the beans about them
being related but he wanted to console her and tell her she wasn't
alone.
At first she did nothing but scream at him but after about
an hour she seemed to accept his reasons
for not saying before
this time.
Roughly pulling the bag closed he snatched a random
teddy off her bed and head back down stairs.
Annabel was still
fast asleep on the sofa when Roy came in. Her eyes were red and
puffy
and tear lines streaked her face. He cursed silently to
himself as he scooped his sister back off the sofa; gilt had started
to bubble in his stomach.
From now on she would have to be with
him every day and if she couldn't Hawkeye would have to watch her.
He exited the house quickly and walked to his car.
It wasn't
that he minded having her around; in fact he was enjoying the
thought of getting to know his sister, the thing that bothered him
was that she could be targeted by the homunculi as a hostage.
He
pulled open the passenger door and gently placed her in. His face
hardened as he looked at Annabel's peaceful face. 'I won't
let anything happen to you, I promise you Annabel'
placing
the duffle bag at her feet he clipped her seatbelt in and closed the
door.
Annabel's head lolled to the side so that every time she
breathed a small cloud would appear on the window for a few
seconds.
Roy smiled before climbing into the driver's seat and
starting the engine.
