Author's Note
Before you guys start reading the story, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ THIS NOTE.
Just a few warnings before you read my story. First of all, this is an OC-insert, meaning that the story is mostly cannon, with original dialogue and original scenes mixed in. There may be a few instances where my character "steals" lines from other characters, but the reason is that the presence of my character changes certain events so that they happen differently than they did in the anime/manga. If this isn't your cup of tea, I wouldn't recommend reading this.
Second, this is an Edward/OC story. I have nothing against Edward and Winry as a couple (on the contrary, I find them adorable :3), but the idea of giving Edward a different love interest jumped into my head and I decided to go with it.
Lastly, I know that there are plenty of you guys who, when you see a strong OC, automatically dub them a "Mary-Sue" character. I tend to dislike perfect characters as much as the next girl, but, sometimes, when I come up with an OC, they come out seemingly perfect, so I give them as many insecurities and weaknesses as possible while at the same time trying to make them seem believable. Hopefully, I succeeded in doing that with this character.
Anyway, that's it for warnings. Please enjoy! Leave a review if you can! I like to know what people like/dislike about my stories :)
Chapter One: The Pure Alchemist
A petite figure could be seen walking down the hallway leading to Roy Mustang's office. At first glance, anyone would mistake this person for a boy. After all, they were wearing tan trousers with a matching newsboy cap and a white button-up shirt that was a little too big for their body. Beneath the cap was a head of shaggy, blonde hair, which fell into crimson eyes.
But, if you looked more closely, the male image that this person projected would start to fall apart, as you noticed that their chest wasn't as flat as it first appeared; that the hair was actually tucked into the hat, with just enough strands hanging down to make what bit of hair that was visible appear to be normal; that the features which appeared masculine at first were actually rather feminine, with just a tinge of virility.
Most people would think that this was weird, a female disguised as a male, but everyone at Central HQ had grown used to it. Reconnaissance was something that Danielle Baldric excelled at, so it was to be expected that Roy often sent her to gather information. If she went out on these missions looking as she usually did, she was relatively easy to spot. So she had come up with the ingenious idea to dress up like a newsboy to keep prying eyes off of her. It ended up working very well. Most people that saw her walking around downtown like this never realized that she was actually a girl.
Dani stopped as a familiar man dressed in a military uniform stepped out of Roy's office, followed by two others. One was relatively short, with golden blonde hair pulled back into a braid, wearing a red coat with a black Flamel emblazoned on the back. The other was a tall suit of armor with the same Flamel painted in red on its left shoulder plate. Trailing behind the armor, at the base of the helmet, was a red thread.
She waited until the trio had disappeared around the corner before she continued to Roy's office.
She poked her head inside the room to see the Colonel staring out of his window while his adjutant, Riza Hawkeye, stood stationary by his desk.
"Was that Maes that I just saw leaving with the Elric brothers?" she asked.
Both occupants turned towards the sudden voice, startled by it.
Roy frowned at the familiar face poking into his office. "Where the hell have you been? I expected you back hours ago," he scolded her.
Dani smiled sheepishly as she stepped out so she was standing completely exposed in the doorway, her hand reaching up to rub the back of her head. "Sorry, I got kind of distracted," she apologized.
She pulled off her newsboy cap, allowing her blonde tresses to fall to the middle of her back. With her hair exposed, she looked more like the girl that she was, with her long bangs framing her face. Her hair was parted to the left so that her left eye was partially obscured, allowing her just enough space to be able to see clearly, without pieces of her hair constantly hanging in her vision.
"You didn't tell me Isaac McDougal was in town," she said.
"That's because we didn't know until an hour ago, when he started to make a mess," Roy replied, before frowning. "Wait, how do you know about McDougal?"
Dani blinked, realizing too late that she had slipped up. "Uh…"
"Did you break into the military records again?"
"No, of course not," she said in as innocent a tone as she could muster. "You told me not to, don't you remember?"
Roy crossed his arms over his chest as he turned to face Dani completely, his lips turned down in a scowl. "Then why is it I'm having trouble believing you?" he asked in a slightly scolding tone. As long as he had been an authoritative figure in Dani's life, he hadn't quite gotten scolding down.
"Because you have trust issues," Dani replied without missing a beat. "And you really should see a psychologist about it."
Roy sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. He obviously wasn't in a very good mood if he was already becoming irked. Usually, he played along whenever Dani teased him, throwing insults back at her and the like.
"I'm really not in the mood for this right now, so just…go back to the inn," Roy ordered her.
"But don't you want to know how I know that Isaac is here?" Dani goaded.
"You saw him fighting the Elrics, or you saw him being escorted to prison," he said, as if he already had the answers.
Dani looked towards the ceiling as she put a gloved hand to her chin, looking thoughtful, although there was a flippant undertone in the way that she held herself. "No, I'm pretty sure he had already escaped when I saw him," she muttered. "I mean, he was heading to Central Prison, but he wasn't with anyone."
Roy frowned. "The prison? Why would he go there?"
Dani dropped her hand to her sides, tucking it into her pant pocket as she lowered her gaze to look at Roy. She held a blank expression now, as if she couldn't believe that he had just asked that. "I don't know," she said, slowly and derisively. "Maybe to find some new recruits for his antimilitary campaign."
He blinked, finally realizing just how stupid his question had been.
Riza picked up the phone and started dialing. "I'll call the guards up at the prison."
"Are you sure that he actually went there?" Roy asked.
"Well, considering I followed him there…" Dani said, trailing off as she noticed his eyes widening in a combination of shock and anger.
"You what? Why the hell would you do that?"
She shrugged. "I was curious."
"Haven't you heard the expression 'curiosity killed the cat'?" he snapped.
"Yeah, but, since I'm not a cat, I figured it didn't apply to me," Dani replied cheekily.
Roy opened his mouth to retort, before seeming to decide against it. Instead, he just shook his head and gave an irritable groan. Dani grinned impishly, feeling quite satisfied that she had left the Roy Mustang speechless. Now, she could end the day feeling as if she had accomplished something, seeing how rare it was that Roy didn't have a comeback.
She pulled a folded envelope out of her pocket, holding it between two gloved fingers. "Well, now that I've told you about Isaac, I guess I should give you this." She flicked her wrist lazily, and the envelope flew across the room at Roy.
He raised his hand and caught it before it could hit him in the face, which was where she had been aiming. He blinked as he looked down to examine the weighted envelope in his hands. When Roy raised his gaze back to the doorway, to thank Dani for delivering it, she was already gone, having left as soon as the envelope left her hands.
He sighed heavily. "Why does she always do that?"
The next day, Dani strolled the streets of Central City. She still hadn't dressed in her usual clothes, instead having chosen to wear a red hooded jacket over a black tank top and a pair of black trousers. She still wore the same white nylon gloves as yesterday, although it didn't really matter since she kept her hands tucked in the pockets of her jacket.
She didn't have a particular reason for why she wasn't wearing the clothes that she usually wore. Well, she did, but the reasons were more mischievous than practical.
After confirming that Isaac McDougal had indeed broken into Central Prison yesterday, the Fuhrer had Roy initiate a search of the entire city. Since she knew that the Elric brothers were there, after seeing them yesterday, Dani decided that she would mess with them while she looked for Isaac.
In the two years that she had been working for the military under Roy Mustang, she had never had the pleasure of meeting the Elrics. For some reason, whenever they came to visit Roy for a mission assignment, she always ended up being out of town for a mission of her own. Roy assured her that this wasn't on purpose, but she wasn't sure if she believed him. Either way, being the same age as Edward Elric, she was curious to meet him. She had heard stories about his and Alphonse Elric's exploits over the years and wanted to see if they lived up to the hype. Not to mention that she was growing bored of her usual playmates (or victims, as Jean often referred to them, and it really was more appropriate). At any rate, she thought it might be fun to have friends her own age for once.
Dani turned onto a mostly abandoned street and paused as she spotted her targets standing amongst a mass of blue. Military personnel had been swarming the city for the past hour, as if there were a parade, which Dani was pretty sure wasn't the case. Unless the Fuhrer had decided to throw one in Isaac's honor in an attempt to appease him.
…Honestly, she wouldn't put it past him.
She smirked at that thought as she almost skipped down the street to where the Elric brothers were standing.
As she neared them, she realized that they were staring at the body of a military workman. It looked like he had been boiled from the inside out. His skin was bright red, and there was steam still rising from his body. Dani knew from reading Isaac's personnel file (something which Roy did not need to know about) that this was one of his favorite tactics, the other being his ability to freeze people.
"How awful," the younger of the two muttered in a hollow voice.
"A steam explosion," Edward explained. "When you rapidly raise the temperature of water, it then expands with an explosive force. And the human body is seventy percent water…"
"It's definitely a horrible way to go," Dani agreed.
The Elrics jumped at the sound of her voice and turned, obviously having not noticed that she was standing next to them, her head tilted slightly as she observed the steaming corpse with a curious look on her face (scientific curiosity, mind you), as well as a hint of pity in her eyes.
"Who the hell are you?" the eldest Elric demanded.
Dani turned her gaze on the two brothers. She noted that the older brother, Edward, was only an inch shorter than her (because of his elevated shoes). The younger one was almost two times her size. She had to bend her neck back almost all the way just to look him in the face. Well, she said face, but actually it was just a helmet with a large, conical horn in the middle of the forehead, and a pair of parallel vents beneath each half-moon eyehole, and a fang motif just above the protruding chin. She noticed that the eyeholes were animated with this white glow with a red outlining. Dani supposed that it was a result of the soul binding.
She looked back down at Edward, who had taken to glaring at her suspiciously. She guessed that she had forgotten to clear her earlier curiosity from her face before she started staring at his brother.
She smiled in an attempt to pacify him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare." She looked back up at the youngest Elric. "It's just, you're much taller than I expected you to be," she observed with a slight hint of awe in her voice.
The armor clanged as Alphonse started in surprise. "Oh, uh…y-you know me?" he stuttered.
"You're Alphonse Elric, right?"
"How do you know that?" Edward asked.
Dani once again lowered her gaze to look Edward in the eye. His suspicion had doubled after she had revealed that she knew who they were, or at least one of them. But, she supposed, if you knew of one Elric, you knew about the other.
"I'm a friend of Roy's," she explained. "He's told me a lot about you."
"The Colonel?" Alphonse asked, surprised.
She smiled. "Yeah, I don't call him by his title," she said. "It seems like, every time someone does, it just makes his head swell. I have to make sure to cut his ego back down to size every chance that I get just so he can continue to fit through the door."
Edward snorted at that, and even Alphonse let out a little chortle.
Dani grinned, pleased that she had managed to make them laugh. "So, I take it you guys are looking for Isaac too?"
"Yeah, and I think it's time that we got back to it," Edward decided. He turned and started to walk away, motioning for his brother to follow him. "Come on, Al."
"Oh, okay," Alphonse said before he bowed to Dani. "It was nice meeting you."
Dani nodded, smiling, and watched as he hurried to catch up with his brother. Neither of them got very far before there was an explosion from an alley a few buildings down, causing everyone out on the street to stop and turn. Dani noticed several objects shoot out of the dark cloud rising from the alley and, upon closer inspection, realized that they were busts of a very familiar face.
"Looks like you're in luck," she called out to the brothers. "I think Armstrong just found him."
The Elrics took off towards the alley without sparing Dani a second glance. She stared after them for a moment before the corners of her lips turned up into a small smile. She finally took her hands from her pockets and ran after them. She made sure to keep a distance between them, however, so that they wouldn't notice her. They didn't know who she was. If they saw her following them, they would tell her to run back. But there was no way that Dani was missing this fight.
They ran through the front of the alley, where Armstrong and Isaac were having a staring contest.
"Major!" Alphonse cried once they were there.
Dani noticed Isaac's shoulders tense before he spun around, tossing a canteen filled with water at the two running up behind him. An alchemical light formed around the canteen before it burst, and a cloud of steam came spilling out. Alphonse grabbed his brother and spun them both around, so that the steam hit him instead of Edward.
Having been standing far enough back, Dani didn't bother to move as the steam moved towards her, knowing that it would be cooled by the time that it reached her.
The cloud reached her at the same moment that she felt someone run past her. She turned and just barely caught sight of a blue coattail before it disappeared around the corner. She took a brief pause to get her bearings before she hurried after Isaac.
She slid to a stop when she realized that she could no longer see him. She looked up and down the street, searching for a hint as to where he had run to. When she didn't find anything, she relaxed out of her tensed pose, placing her hands on her hips as she stared down the street with a frown on her lips.
"Now I know how Roy feels when I walk out on our meetings when he isn't looking," she muttered to herself.
"Damn it!" Edward cried as he and the others came running up behind her. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know," Dani admitted.
He put his hand to his head and wined, "Aw, man. It's going to take forever to find him again."
"Maybe we don't have to," she muttered, staring ahead thoughtfully.
The Elrics looked at her.
"Huh?" Edward expressed, while Alphonse asked, "What do you mean?"
Dani just glanced over at them before turning to Armstrong. "Do you know what Isaac was doing in that alley in the first place?" she asked. It didn't make since for him to risk going out into the open like that when every soldier in the city was out looking for him. So he must've been doing something important for him to risk being discovered.
"I'm not sure," the Major replied. "When I saw him, he was bent over something. What that was, I could not say."
She nodded and started walking back to the alley. "Let's go find out then, shall we?"
"Who died and made you the boss?" Edward asked, obviously annoyed about some girl that he didn't know giving out orders.
"Nobody," Dani replied. "I became the boss all on my own."
There was a hollow snicker from behind her, followed by an irritable grumble from the older Elric, something about bossy women. But, despite her being so bossy, she heard three pairs of footsteps following after her.
She smiled to herself as she led the way into the alley.
Dani approached a pile of rubble from where Armstrong must have burst through the alley walls, in an attempt to surprise Isaac. She noticed what looked like lines of chalk on the ground, so she knelt down and started moving the debris. Armstrong was quick to join and help her, tossing the larger chunks aside while Dani dealt with the smaller ones.
Once they had cleared the debris away, Dani sat back on her feet and stared at the chalk circle.
"A transmutation circle…" she muttered.
"What's so weird about that?" Edward wondered from where he stood behind her, his arms crossed to further demonstrate his irritation.
"Normally, nothing," Dani said. "But Isaac already has one engraved on his gauntlet, and a tattoo of one on his hand."
"Then why did he draw this one?" Alphonse said, easily picking up on her meaning.
She nodded. "Exactly." She leaned forward and set to work putting the debris back over the circle.
"Why are you covering it?" Edward inquired of her.
"We don't want him to know that we found it."
"You think he's coming back?" Alphonse asked.
Dani glanced over her shoulder at the Elrics for a brief moment before saying, "He drew this for a reason. It's only logical to assume that he'll come back for it."
"For what reason do you think he drew it?" Armstrong wondered.
She looked at the Major from the corner of her eye. He was watching her closely, probably trying to decipher what she was thinking. He had a habit of that. He was always staring at her, asking her questions, like he was trying to figure out how her brain worked. Actually, now that she thought about it, a lot of people did that. There weren't many people that Dani knew of that were able to follow her train of thought, Roy and Riza being the only ones. Truthfully, it was disconcerting.
Dani turned her attention back onto her work. "I don't know," she confessed. "But I have a feeling that it has something to do with why Isaac went to visit Solf at the prison."
"You sure know a lot," Edward observed.
She didn't say anything. Instead, she just rocked back onto her feet and stood up, dusting off her gloves as she stared down at her work. If she was remembering correctly, then she had managed to put the rubble back exactly as it had been before they moved it.
"What do you think we should do?" Armstrong asked, confident that she had a plan.
Dani turned to the three, her hands immediately going to her pockets. "Right now, there really isn't anything we can do except wait for him to come back."
"And, when he does, we ambush him," Edward added.
Dani grinned, happy to know that someone else seemed to understand her tactics. "You two should wait on both sides of the alley so you can corner him," she suggested. "In the meantime, Armstrong and I will see to it that the guys on the street are kept busy."
She didn't bother waiting to see if the Elrics agreed to her plan before she motioned for the Major to follow her as she started back out of the alley.
Armstrong bowed briefly to the Elrics. "Good luck, Elrics," he said before he went to follow Dani.
"Wait," Edward called after them before they had gotten very far.
Dani stopped, but she didn't turn around. When the Major paused with her, she nodded for him to go on. He looked between her and the Elrics, seeming hesitant to leave her alone with them, as he must've sensed the distrust that Edward held toward her, but he had known Dani long enough to know that she could take care of herself. So he nodded in understanding and continued out onto the street.
She watched Armstrong for a moment before she turned to face the Elrics. "Yes?"
"Who are you?" Edward asked, his lips turned down into a frown.
Dani raised an eyebrow at the question. "I told you, I'm a friend—"
"A friend of the Colonel's," he interrupted her. "Yeah, I know. You said that already. But who are you? From what I can tell about the Colonel, he isn't the type to make friends with regular civilians, especially not some random teenager. And then there's the fact that the Major is so willing to go along with your plans like that. So, the way I see it, you're either someone important, or you work for the military."
For a moment, she just stared at him, soaking in the logic in Edward's observations. "Roy's right," she finally said in a thoughtful tone. "You really are too smart for your own good."
Edward glared. "Are you going to tell me or not?" he snapped.
"I will. Just not right now."
"Why not?"
"I'm still trying to decide if I like you."
Edward blinked, adopting a look of surprise at her response.
At his new expression, Dani allowed the grin that she had been fighting back to spread across her face. She then turned to continue her way out of the alley, her hand raised in farewell. "Be sure to keep a sharp eye out, you two," she called back to the brothers.
The Elrics watched the strange girl until she had disappeared from view, having turned the corner, presumably to go join the Major.
"What the hell is up with her?" Edward muttered.
"She must have her reasons for keeping her identity a secret from us," Alphonse said. "At any rate, the Major seems to trust her."
"Yeah, I guess." He shook his head, dispelling any thoughts about the strange girl from his mind. He needed to focus on the task at hand: catching Isaac. He motioned at his brother as he started to move towards the mouth of the alley, where the girl had just disappeared. "Come on, Al. Let's get into position."
Dani and Armstrong managed to keep everyone busy by sending the soldiers on wild goose chases all throughout the city. It was common knowledge amongst the military that Dani could locate any alchemist that was in the same general vicinity. No one knew how she did it. Even Dani was sort of iffy about it. All that she knew was that it was one of the many tricks that everyone born within the Baldric bloodline had up their sleeves.
Dani stood in the middle of the street, her arms crossed, feeling quite proud of herself.
"How much longer do you think it will be before he makes a move?" Armstrong asked, standing at her side with his arms behind his back.
She opened her mouth to answer when a sudden electric jolt rushed through her. She turned toward the alley that she had felt it from, the same alley that Armstrong had attacked Isaac in, and watched as a pillar of red alchemical light shot up into the sky, quickly joined by several other pillars from different areas of the city.
"Apparently, not long at all," Dani muttered.
"But how…?" Armstrong gasped. "An alchemical reaction on this scale…"
Before Dani could give her theory, the temperature suddenly dropped several degrees. Knowing that Isaac was about to begin his attack, Dani looked to the pillars of light, making a mental note of where each of them were. It wasn't until she had created a map in her head with a marker at each location that she realized what Isaac was planning to do.
"Armstrong, go make sure that the Elrics are all right," she instructed him.
"What are you going to do?"
"Isaac has several transmutation circles placed throughout the city. He needs them all intact if his plan is going to work."
Armstrong nodded, realizing what she was planning. "Be careful," he urged her.
She grinned mischievously. "Come on, Major. When am I ever careful?"
He shook his head in amusement before he turned away, running to the Elrics' aid. As soon as he was gone, Dani took off towards the nearest circle.
It had been a long time since Dani had seen so much action. Roy tended to keep her missions mild, whenever he would give her one that was not for reconnaissance, so that there was no danger of her getting hurt. That didn't mean that things didn't sometimes go sour. Still, she had never been in a situation like this before and, if she were honest, she kind of enjoyed it.
She hurried into one of the alleys that she had marked on her mental map.
Just on the street, there was a brigade of military personnel trying to keep the ice wall that had, at some point, sprouted at bay using dynamite, but she knew it wouldn't do much good. She had to destroy the circle before any more people got hurt.
But, apparently, that was going to take longer than she thought.
There was a pillar of ice over the circle, protecting it. She could use her alchemy to melt it, but she had a feeling that it would take too long. She needed to find another way.
"What do you think of my flames now, you bastard?"
Dani turned at the familiar voice, an idea quickly forming in her head. She ran back out of the alley to find Roy standing in front of the brigade, his flames having melted away a pretty good portion of the mountain of ice, although it was quickly reforming. He was soaked, something which Dani found hilarious, but she would have to make fun of him for it later. Right now, she needed him.
"If you're done throwing a hissy fit," she called out, "I could use your help over here."
Roy turned to her with an irritable frown. "And where have you been?"
"Getting to know your boys. Now, come on."
He followed her into the alley, where the pillar of ice stood. He didn't even bother to ask what she had planned. It was pretty obvious what she needed him for. He spread his feet slightly in that familiar stance and snapped his fingers on both hands, creating a monstrous wave of flame which consumed the ice within seconds.
"Go! Now!" Roy ordered as soon as the flames had formed.
Dani ran towards the flames, stopping just on the edge. She waited until they died out before she dropped to one knee. The ice was already starting to reform over the transmutation circle, meaning that she didn't have much time. So she reared back her left arm and slammed it into the concrete, ignoring the painful vibrations that traveled up her arm to her shoulder. The concrete cracked under her fist, breaking the energy of the circle.
She gave a sigh of relief as the alchemical light flickered out of existence.
Dani stood by the window in Roy's office, staring out at the courtyard, where she could see a few personnel walking around. She was dressed in a pair of tan trousers and a short-sleeved white shirt under a black jacket. On the back was the same Flame Alchemy transmutation circle that Roy had on his gloves.
"How's your arm?" Roy asked.
She glanced over at Roy, sitting behind his desk, before turning her gaze on her left arm. Only her hand was visible now, and, since she had yet to put on her gloves, she could see the smooth metal that replaced her flesh. She curled the metal fingers into a loose fist, her hand clanging slightly with the movement.
"The vibrations knocked a few screws loose. Other than that, I'm fine," she assured him. "Nothing that a screwdriver wasn't able to fix."
"And your shoulder?" Riza joined in.
"A little sore," Dani admitted. "But it should be fine."
"Still, I want you to take it easy," Roy said. "I don't want you injuring yourself any further."
Dani rolled her eyes at his overprotectiveness. "Yes, father," she said as she turned away from the window. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her gloves. She slipped them on as she started heading for the door.
"Where are you going?"
"The hospital to visit your protege," she replied. "I saw Armstrong walking by a minute ago with a bouquet of roses. I don't think Edward could survive one of his healing sessions, no matter how strong he is."
Roy stood up and turned to Riza, who stood by the wall behind him, as usual. She seemed to know already what he was going to ask for, as she pulled a manila envelope from the top of her clipboard and handed it to him.
He walked around his desk and held it out for Dani to take. "Here, take this with you."
Dani took the envelope from Roy's hand, frowning curiously. "What's this?"
"You said you like them, right?"
A look of understanding passed over Dani's eyes, and the corners of her lips turned up into a grin. "Thank you, Roy."
"Just don't make me regret it," he warned her.
She nodded enthusiastically, still grinning broadly. "Yes, sir."
When Dani arrived at Edward's room in the hospital, she could already hear yelling from inside. It didn't take her long to recognize the scream as having come from Edward.
She opened the door, half dreading what she would find, only to be met with the sight of the Major striking poses next to Edward's bed. While normally Dani would find this disturbing, considering the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt, she was too busy being amused by the look of distress on Edward's face. She settled into the doorway to watch for a few more moments, her arms crossed, the manila envelope that Roy had given her hanging loosely from her gloved fingers.
"Would you get out?" Edward finally shouted, having taken as much as he could.
Dani decided to take pity on him and spoke up. "All right, Armstrong, I think he's had enough," she said.
The commotion died down quickly at her command, as everyone turned to look at her.
"You…" Edward said, staring at her in surprise.
Dani grinned and pushed away from the door frame to step further into the room, moving to stand with Armstrong at Edward's bedside. "Hey," she greeted him lightly. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," he replied a little tensely. "Just a few cuts and bruises."
"That's good to hear."
There was a short silence, as Edward stared at her with an increasingly tense expression. Dani just returned his gaze for a moment, before deciding that it was time to give him the answers that he had been wanting since yesterday.
Dani turned to Armstrong and asked, "Would you mind giving us a minute?"
"Not at all," the Major replied.
"Thanks."
He nodded, giving her a look that clearly said "good luck," as he grabbed his previously discarded jacket. He left the room without another word, closing the door behind him.
Dani sighed lightly, resigning herself to face Edward's inevitable inquires. She turned to face said Elric, whose tense gaze hadn't wavered in the slightest. Meanwhile, the other Elric, Dani realized, stood awkwardly to the side, looking between them as if he expected them to jump at each other's throats at any minute.
"After everything with Isaac, I never got the chance to introduce myself. So…" Dani trailed off as she held out her hand, smiling. "My name is Danielle Baldric, but everyone calls me Dani. It's a pleasure to meet you, Edward."
Edward stared at her hand apprehensively before taking it. Dani's grin widened when he did, glad to see that he didn't completely distrust her. He noticed this and quickly took back his hand, so that he could cross his arms over his chest in a stubborn manner.
Unperturbed by this, Dani turned to extend her hand to the youngest Elric. "You too, Alphonse."
"Oh, uh, nice to meet you," Alphonse said as he accepted her hand, and he did so much more easily than his brother had.
Dani smiled up at him before turning back to Edward, this time holding out the envelope.
Edward blinked down at it questioningly before taking it. "What's this?" he asked.
"The other half of my introduction," Dani replied vaguely.
He glanced up at her, annoyed by her apparent inability to give straight answers, before breaking the seal on the envelope. He pulled out a piece of parchment, tossing the envelope onto the edge of his bed. He held the paper in front of him as he read from it. "'I, Colonel Roy Mustang, hereby appoint Danielle Baldric, otherwise known as the Pure Alchemist, as the associate of Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric…'" He trailed off, looking up at Dani in shock.
"You're a State Alchemist?" Alphonse gasped, just as surprised as his brother.
"Sort of," Dani said.
"What do you mean, sort of?" Edward demanded.
"I have the title, but I'm not certified."
"Then how did you get the title?" Alphonse asked, confused.
"Because I took the exams, although unofficially," Dani explained. "After that, the Fuhrer decided that I'd make a good State Alchemist and so gave me the title."
"Gave it to you?" Edward repeated incredulously.
Dani nodded, and she made no further attempt to expound on her situation with the Fuhrer. Instead, she went on to say, "Anyway, up until this point, I've been doing mainly reconnaissance missions for Roy, and occasionally for Maes and his department."
"And now you're being appointed as my partner," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Roy has told me a lot about you and your cause," she said. "You're looking for the Philosopher's Stone, right? I want to help."
Edward tossed the paper onto his bedside table. "Thanks, but we don't need any help."
"Regardless of whether or not you need it, I'm offering it to you. You only need to decide whether or not you want to accept it."
His lips turned down into a contemplative frown as he leaned back on his pillow, watching Dani, taking in everything that she had said and analyzing it. After a long moment, he asked, "Why do you want to help us? What do you get out of it?"
Dani shrugged. "Well, for one thing, going off with you guys will get me away from Roy. While I always enjoy bugging him, his reactions are getting kind of boring."
"And the other thing?" he asked, his tone suggesting that he did not accept her first answer.
She smiled mysteriously. "Personal reasons."
Edward frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer.
Dani took that as her cue to leave, before Edward could really start hounding her. She waved her hand briefly in the air as she headed for the door. "I'll see you at the train station tomorrow," she said before stepping outside, closing the door behind her.
Dani stood in the loading area of the Central train station, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her Flame Alchemy jacket. She was finally dressed in her usual mission clothes, which consisted of a white tank top and black trousers held up by a pair of thin brown belts worn parallel to each other. The chain of her State Alchemist pocket watch, which she only ever wore on away missions, was affixed to the two belts.
"Dani!"
She turned to the already familiar voice and saw Alphonse and Edward Elric walking towards her, the latter of the two looking a little reluctant as he practically dragged his luggage behind him. But at least he didn't seem as mistrusting as he before.
"You're here," Alphonse pointed out, surprised.
"Of course I am," Dani replied. "I told you I would be, didn't I?"
"Honestly, we thought you would bail," Edward admitted.
Dani held up an index finger in indication. "One thing you'll soon learn about me: If I say that I'm going to do something, then you can be sure that I will see it through, no matter the cost."
Edward scoffed. "You sound like we've already given you the okay to come with us."
The corners of Dani's lips twitched as she struggled not to smile. "You're right," she amended. "I'm being presumptuous." She turned to Edward fully, giving him her complete attention. "So what is it going to be? Am I going to be able to use my ticket to Reole, or will I be giving it away to that couple over there for them to exchange?"
Both Elrics looked over as Dani indicated a young couple saying their tearful goodbyes. While she had been waiting for the Elrics to arrive, Dani had noticed the woman crying. She discovered that the man was going away for business. They weren't able to afford a ticket for the woman to join him, so she was being forced to stay behind.
Edward rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully. "We spent all day after you left talking it over," he said. "Against my better judgment, I let Al talk me into letting you join us." Before Dani could smile at his decision, he pointed at her, saying, "But this is only an experiment. If you cause us too much trouble, Al and I will be going after the next clue on our own."
Dani nodded, grinning. "Fair enough."
He stared at her for a brief moment before he motioned for her to follow him as he turned towards the train. "Let's get going."
"Actually, I'm going to need a moment," Dani said.
Edward turned to ask what she was talking about, but she had already run off towards the couple. He and Alphonse exchanged looks as they watched her approach them and give them what looked like a ticket. The couple stared at the ticket in shock as the man accepted it. The woman bent down and hugged Dani gratefully. Dani returned it briefly before the woman released her, and she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as the couple thanked her.
"She's definitely a strange girl, isn't she, brother?" Alphonse said, impressed with her kindness.
"Yeah…" Edward muttered.