Disclaimer; Anything FMA related belong to Hiromu Arakawa. Alice Anderson, James Anderson, Clive Robinson and this story belong to me! No steal!

Enjoy !

Prologue;

The crash thundered through the air from inside the gothic, gray and gloomy mansion. Roy Mustang, The Flame Alchemist, marched inside, panic covering his flushed features. He was followed closely by the team of soldiers he was assigned with to find and arrest the sick and twisted Mr. James Anders who lurked somewhere in his mansion.

"Damn!" The colonel cursed, holding his gloved hand up in front of him. "Where the hell is he!?" He snapped, looking sharply over his shoulder at the men behind himself. They all either looked around or simply shook their heads. "Well look harder! We need to find him, fast!" The soldiers all glanced around in a blind panic. Roy murmured unreadable curses as he stormed forward, much faster than the other soldiers. Damn, damn, damn! he kicked everything in sight mentally, he needed to find this man before-

The scream that slithered like a serpent to the soldiers set them all quiet. In unison, they all looked at the grand pair of doors at the end of the crimson hall-way. "There!" Roy yelled, sprinting towards the doors, closely followed by his men. Kicking the door open, Roy ran inside, only to stop dead at the sight in the middle of the empty, monstrous room.

The old man, , was knelt on the floor, holding the petrified statue in his arms. "So... this is what its like" he muttered in a gruff tone, his white hair clinging to his sweat-ridden skin. The statue he held was one of a women, her hands clawed at her face, her mouth and eyes wide open, a picture of pure horror written in her features. Roy growled deeply. "We're too late" He grumbled. He stalked forward until he got to the man, his fingers poised above his head.

Mr. Anderson looked back over his shoulder. His mouth spread into a malice filled grin and tears stung at his eyes. "He-Hello, Mr. Mustang. H-How do you like my new garden feature? Quite the terrifying, no?" He cackled madly, stroking the statues dead cheek with one hand whilst the other was clasped around something in his palm. Roy grunted. "You turned your own wife into stone, you sick bastard" Roy muttered, his fingers itching to snap. Mr. Anderson clamped his lips shut, his smile tickling his face. "Oh yes. Oh, yes, yes. I am sick. WAH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He threw the frozen body aside, spinning around to Mustang. He pointed at his wide and insane eyes. "I did this. It was me, what are you going to do about it!? I made my bed and am willing to lay down in it! After all, I did what I wanted to do!"

Anderson held out his arms. "So, take me away then, my saviour!" he cackled, causing Roy to stammer back. The alchemist shuddered for a moment before noticing the mans hand was still clasped around something. "Whats in your hand!? Open it, slowly!" Roy ordered, nodding his head at the men behind him. The soldiers stiffened up before running over to Anderson and restraining him. Anderson obeyed, he opened his withered hand and a small, red object fell from it, rolling across the floor and landing at Roy's feet. Roy felt his face tense at the sight. He abruptly bent down and scooped the object up. "Is this a phil-"

"Oh no, on the contrary. It is an incomplete stone. I used it to turn my wife into a lovely decoration... Heeee... Tell me something Mr. Mustang,"

Roy glanced from the stone and to the man, not saying a word.

"Would it matter to you, if someone you hold dear got hurt?"

Roy glared at the man, before turning away from him. He didn't answer. He didn't feel the need to, after all, the answer should be obvious to any human being. "Take him away"

"I love my daughter you know, " Anderson stated, completely out of the blue. Roy froze, his whole body tensed up. Wait-His daughter! Roy whipped around to face the old man. "Where is she!?" he snapped, marching forward and gripping onto the mans shirt. "I love her so very much, my precious, my angel, my little princess-"

"Where is she!?" Roy repeated in a much more threatening voice. He curled his fist, prepped to punch when he noticed the brown bundle on the floor behind Anderson and his men. Lowering his fist, Roy stormed past Anderson and to the bundle. As he came closer, he noticed that the bundle was in fact shivering. He bent down beside it and gently pulled the covers away. Roy's eyes widened when he saw the child beneath the sheets, arms and legs bound and a gag around her mouth. She looked up at the colonel with frightened eyes. Roy spun his head round to the old man.

"What the hell-"

"Yes, I do love my little girl, oh so very-"

"Get him the hell out of here!"

"Yes sir!"

Roy turned back to the girl, helping her sit up, he untied her and pulled the gag away. She gasped loudly, curling up into a tight ball and staring up at Mustang with hurt eyes. Roy held the girl in his arms, somewhat unsure as to what to do. He felt her shivering against him, the thin, cream dress clearly not keeping any warmth in. The colonel pulled off his trench coat and placed it on her shoulders. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" he looked down at the child as she shook her head. Roy sighed as he gathered the girl in his arms as he stood up.

The child clutched onto his shoulder, shaking violently. "What's your name?" Roy asked softly, keeping the girl close in order to keep her as warm as possible. She gulped hard before answering. "A-Al... Alice" she whimpered and buried her head into Roy's chest. Roy blinked, still unsure as what to do. He wasn't really a great father figure, if Hawkeye was with him at this moment in time, it would be fine, Hawkeye would know what she was doing, she was quite a motherly figure when it came to cases involving children after all. But Hawkeye wasn't here and Mustang was stuck with this child until he could find someone to look after her.

He stalked rapidly out of the building, not wanting to keep Alice there any longer. Once outside, he could see his men loading Anderson into the back of a car, ready to take him away. Upon noticing Mustang, one soldier marched over, followed by another man dressed in a smart suit and top hat. "Colonel Mustang, sir!," the soldier saluted, "this man claims to be-"

"Oh please, I'll handle this" The man in the top hat patted the soldier on the shoulder being gesturing him to go away. The soldier nodded before wondering aimlessly back to the car. The man chuckled, lifting up his hat politely. "Hello, Colonel. My name is Clive, Clive Robinson. I work at the Amestris Dramatics Club, well, travelling club anyway" Clive looked down at Alice, who was now squirming Mustangs arms to get to him. Clive opened his arms to her. "Hey kiddo"

Roy noticed Alice trying to reach for him, he looked up at Clive cautiously. "You know her?" Clive nodded, smiling brightly. He ran a gloved finger through his brown hair. "Yeah, I'm her coach. She comes to my club when we're not travelling, which is a lot when we stop here in the east. I heard that something was going on at her house and so I thought I would see what the problem was, so I... Where's Carol anyway? I haven't seen her yet"

Roy pulled a sympathetic face as he felt Alice go limp. "Carol passed away, I'm sorry" Roy bowed his head respectfully. Clive's smile faded. "Oh... I see, her father got arrested, yes?" Clive's hazel eyes wondered up from the floor and to Roy. Roy nodded sharply. "Yes. And his daughter needs someone to care for her" Roy glanced at Alice who was staring at Clive, a desperate look shone in her crystal eyes. Clive smirked. "I'll take care of her! She can travel with me! I don't mind! I'm piratically a father to all the other kids who come along with me!"

Roy's eyes wondered up in a thoughtful manor. "Well-" he was cut off when he felt a tug on his shirt, he looked down to find Alice pulling on his clothes and staring at him with pleading puppy eyes. Roy sighed, smiling at the girl. "Fine." The girl nodded happily, giving Roy a brief hug before jumping out of his arms and running into Clive's. Her pale and thin arms wrapped around Clive's stomach as she burried her head into it. Roy raised a brow at the girl, his finger resting on his chin. She seems a little happy to be leaving her old life just like that. What happened to make her so grateful about leaving?

"Mr. Robinson" Roy placed his hand by his side as Clive's attention was brought back to him. "Just call me Clive. What's the matter?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to talk to you about what you heard about what was happening here..."

I hope you enjoyed it! It was a nightmare writing it! (stupid computer kept bloody deleting it!) I'll update this after only two, that's right guys, TWO reviews. Why you ask? Because two is a very good number and I must say I like it!

TTFN

(Review!)

X.