Author's Note: This is my first try at an FMA fanfic, please be nice! The first chapter takes place before they are about to head to the mining town, and YES, this paperclip fanfic will be in chronological order
Disclaimer: Don't own FMA, don't sue me
Chapter One: Saya
"Al, come on!" Ed tapped his foot impatiently against the pavestones. "We don't have all day!"
It was a pretty nice day outside actually. There were only a few clouds, and there was a nice meadow surrounding the town. It was rather beautiful scenery.
"Just a second." Al stood up, holding his hands behind his back. "Yosh, let's go!" He walked past Ed, who had suddenly stopped tapping his foot. He looked back. "Nii-san, what's wrong?"
Ed got a stress mark on his head. "Al… put down the kitten."
Al got blue lines on his head. "Eh? What kitten?" he asked innocently.
Ed just glared at him. Al started sweating (how does he do that? he's a suit of armor for pete's sake), and finally hung his head in shame. "You always know what I'm up to, Nii-san."
"Just hurry and put it down already," Ed growled. "We need to lea- YEOW!!" The kitten had jumped out of Al's hands, dug its claws into Ed's head, and jumped into a tree. "GET DOWN HERE YOU DAMN CAT I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU A LESSON ABOUT DIGGING YOUR DAMN CLAWS INTO MY SCALP!!" Ed roared. He jumped… and missed the branch.
A girl's voice laughed. "Idiot, you're just a bean. You're too short to reach that branch," she said, walking out from behind the tree where she had watched the whole thing.
Al started sweating again. There was an uncomfortable silence, then Ed twitched a few times. Suddenly he spun around. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN OVERBOILED BEAN THAT YOU WANT TO MASH?!" he roared, launching an attack.
"Nii-san!"
Suddenly, Ed felt a slender hand smash his windpipe and his vision disappeared for an instant. He stumbled back a bit, gasping.
"How rude," the girl said. "I was just passing by and you attack me like that. I never said I wanted to mash you either."
Al laughed nervously. "Ahahaha… Nii-san's just sensitive about his height…"
"Well I don't see what's wrong about being short," the girl shot back.
Ed's vision returned. He stood and actually looked at the girl for the first time. She was dressed in black boots and dark brown pants. A belt at her waist showed numerous pouches, and two small bells that rung slightly with every step she took. She had on a black, long-sleeved top and a dark-green vest made of some light material, and short brown hair blew around her face. White gloves covered her hands. Sharp blue eyes met his. "You are the Elric Brothers," she stated. It wasn't a question.
"Yeah, that's us," Ed replied, feeling his guard rising. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" the girl repeated. She put on a thoughtful face. "What do I want…?" She fell into a 'thinking' lull.
Silence…
More silence…
More silence and Ed twitching…
"JUST HURRY UP AND SAY SOMETHING, DAMMIT!!" Ed yelled.
"Oh, that's right!" The girl smiled. "I want to travel with you until you find the Philosopher's Stone!"
Silence…
Ed turned his back on her. "Out of the question," he said. "Al, let's go."
"Ah! N-Nii-san! Wait for me!"
The girl walked to the tree and sighed. Watching them go for a second, she ran after the brothers. "Hey, hold on one second! Hey!"
She caught up with them. "C'mon, why can't I join you?"
"We don't need a burden like you," Ed snapped.
"I'm not a burden!" the girl snapped back. She fell behind them, before grinning. "Fine, I'll show you what I can do then," she muttered. Clapping her hands together, she put them palm down onto the ground.
The light of the transmutation caused both brothers to turn.
Al gasped. "Brother, did she…?"
Ed narrowed his eyes. "Yeah…"
The kitten mewed as the girl walked over to the cage that both brothers were trapped in, and she grinned at them. "Changed your minds yet?"
"No, not really," Ed replied. He transmuted a hole in the bars of the cage big enough for Al to walk through and kept going.
The girl made a face. She stood right in front of Ed. "What's the big idea here?" she demanded. "I want to join you 'till you find the Stone. Is that so much to ask?"
"You would mean extra time and expense, for one thing," Ed told her. "For another, you also have a kitten."
"I can pay for myself!" the girl snapped, blue eyes flashing. "And I wouldn't slow you down at all!"
Ed got a stress mark. "Do you have any idea what you're asking!?" he demanded irritably.
Suddenly, the girl's eyes darkened. "I know…"
Ed started really getting mad. "How can you know anything?! And anyways, you haven't even told us your name, an-"
The girl's piercing blue eyes cut him off as they glared at him. Ed suddenly felt a shiver run down his back… there was suddenly nothing but a hard, cold light in her eyes. "I'm Saya. SAH-ya. Got a problem with that?"
Ed smacked his head. "Fine. Saya. Whatever. You can't come with us." He started walking before he realized something was wrong. "Al?"
Al looked uncomfortable (or as uncomfortable as a suit of armor can look). "Well… I don't see why she can't come along, just for a little while."
"What the hell are you talking about, Al?"
"She can use alchemy, and she's pretty good at fighting too."
"She's too young to be on something like this!!"
"And how old are YOU?" Saya demanded.
"Thirteen," Ed growled. It was a change, to be having a staring contest with someone who was shorter than him for a change. She grinned.
"Well that would make us the same age now, wouldn't it?" she grinned.
Silence…
"You're thirteen?" Ed asked in astonishment.
"And short and proud of it!" Saya laughed.
Ed was running out of excuses… "Well, what about the cat? It can't come."
Saya looked at the cat still purring on top of her head. "It's just a koneko that follows me around. I've tried to leave it behind a lot, but it just never goes away. I don't feed it."
Ed's eyebrow twitched with annoyance, before he finally turned around and started walking. "Fine… It's not like I have much choice anyways."
Saya whooped and jumped in the air. "YATTA!!" she yelled. "Thanks Ed-kun and Al-san! Thanks!!"
Al chuckled. "You can just call me Al," he said. "No need for the 'san'."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Okay then… thanks Al!" Saya smiled. She whooped again and did a cartwheel right there in the middle of the road.
Ed sighed. Taking on a hyperactive and… seemingly dangerous… girl on looked to be nothing but a problem in the future.
"So Saya-san, where do you come from?" Al asked.
Saya didn't answer for a second, before she shook a finger at him. "You can just call me Saya," she said mischievously. "No need for the 'san'."
Al chuckled at hearing his own words again. "Fair enough. How old did you say you were again?"
Saya jabbed her thumb at Ed. "I'm the same age as your chibi aniki up there."
Ed twitched. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING CHIBI?! YOU'RE AN INCH SHORTER THAN I AM!"
Saya laughed. "At least I don't make a fuss about it like a two-year-old!"
"WHAT?!"
"Nii-san! Calm down! She's just teasing!" Al chided.
Saya poked Ed's nose. "He's right you know," she pointed out.
Ed got a stress mark on his head. "Oi, don't push it."
"So where do you come from Saya?" Al asked again.
"I'm a country girl, born and bred!" she grinned. "Came from a village that used to be on the East border."
"'Used to be'?" Ed asked.
"So where are we headed?" she asked cheerfully, not answering the question.
"Well, if we don't find a ride, it'll probably take us most of the day to get to the nearest town with a train station, then we're going to go to Reisenbol," Al answered. "Nii-san needs to get his automail repaired."
She looked interested. "You have an automail mechanic up there?"
Ed grinned. "The best there is!"
"D'you think you could introduce me?" she asked casually. "I need to get some repairs and updates."
"Saya-san, you have automail?" Al asked.
She grinned. "Both arms and legs! And what did I tell you about the 'san'?"
Al chuckled.
Ed narrowed his eyes. "You have automail on all your limbs?"
"Yep!" Saya took off her gloves and lifted her pant bottoms. Metal glinted in the sunlight off her hands and ankles. "All the way to my shoulders and hip-joints," she stated.
"What happened?" Al asked. "Were you in an accident or something?"
Saya pondered the question seriously. "You could say that," she answered indirectly. "I was caught in an explosion of fire when I was about three. My legs were blown off during that, but a military officer found me and took me to an infirmary. He was very kind, and covered the expenses for my automail, and he's taken care of me since then. He even let me take the State Alchemist exams last year and-"
Ed had blue lines on his head. "Hang on… what would this man's name happen to be?"
"Mustang-san," Saya replied cheerfully. "He really is a kind man, even though he's pretty lazy and can get really scary sometimes. I heard though, he's been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel."
"He's never told me about you!" Ed said indignantly. "You're a State Alchemist?"
Saya shook her head sheepishly. "My feel for alchemy is more instinctive instead of based on actual knowledge. I did the best practical and I was able to sit in the three-legged chair, but I screwed up the written part really badly."
"What sort of alchemy do you do?" Al asked.
"I do healing mostly," she answered. "'S how I get my money. But I can work with most other things too."
"How can you do healing alchemy without knowledge on the human body?" Ed demanded.
"My mother was a doctor," Saya retorted. "She's pounded her medical knowledge into me ever since I survived the explosion. She died a couple years ago though. I build off what she gave me."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Al said.
Saya shook her head. "No, it's fine."
Ed narrowed his eyes. "Is that why you're looking for the Philosopher's Stone?" he asked suspiciously.
Saya stared at him in amazement. "WHAT?!" she yelled. "Don't be an idiot! She died… I accepted that last year. I want to find the Philosopher's Stone because…" She glanced at them uncomfortably. "Promise you won't laugh?"
The brothers promised.
Saya took a deep breath. "I… I want everyone close to me to die of old age."
Ed stared at her in astonishment for a moment, before a chuckle forced its way out his lips.
Saya got a stress mark and hit him on the head. "You said you wouldn't laugh!"
"No, I'm not laughing at what you said," Ed laughed. "Just how you worded it."
"But it's true!" Saya retorted. "I don't want anyone around me to die from being sick or being wounded aga- wounded."
Al placed a hand on her shoulder. "Saya-san… how did your mother die?"
Saya looked troubled, but she quickly tucked it behind a smile. "You don't need to know that!" she grinned. "It would only make you depressed, and that's not good!" She ran ahead, jumped on a tree branch and punched the air. "Live happy and free!" she roared.
Ed sweatdropped. "Al… we're not headed to Reisenbol yet though. We need to get to Central. I got a summons from the Colonel, didn't I tell you that?"
All thought for a moment, then sweatdropped. "Oh right… I forgot."
"Central!" Saya sang. "Central! Gonna go see Mustang-san and Hawkeye-san!"
"You have a very nice voice Saya-san!" Al admired.
Saya flushed and laughed. "I got it from my mother, or that's what she always used to say. She used to sing me to sleep every night with a special lullaby that she wrote."
"Really? Can we hear it?" Al asked.
Saya paused for a second, thinking it over. Then she shrugged. "Sure! I can't sing it as well as Mama could though. She'd make it come to life.
If you can hear my voice from very far away
It means that we are very close
No matter the dis'tnce or time
I'll always be right next to you
And I will never let you fall into the dark
My precious child is who you are
I'll never be far away
I'll always be right next to your heart
And you'll be next to mine
So stand and walk! Be strong and ready
For tomorrow's another day
To be filled with joy
Filled with happiness
Another treasure box to be filled!
So remember my words, dear child
Live happy and free
Saya sighed when she finished. She closed her eyes and laced her fingers behind her neck. "Before the explosion, Mama always said she wanted me to learn something out of that song. I thought about it for a really long time, and after she died, I think I figured it out. It means I've always got to move forward through life with a smile, no matter what happens. I've lived that way since I figured it out, and it's worked really great!"
"I did seem to notice that you have an unusually cheerful disposition," Al commented.
"More like dangerous and hyperactive," Ed huffed. "It's like a time bomb that you don't know how much time there is till the next explosion."
"Nii-san!"
Saya smiled. "It's okay! I'm used to comments like that. Mustang-san says it all the time. Hawkeye-san does too, though she says it suits me."
Al chuckled. "It really does, Saya-san."
Saya waved a finger at him. "What did I tell you about the 'san'?" she clucked. "It's 'Saya'."
"Oi!" Ed suddenly yelled to a passing car. "Oi! Can you give us a lift?"
Okay, so if you like it, please review! TT I really don't know how well this is going to work out… I'm trying my best here! Four reviews then I will give the next chapter!
