A/N: Sorry for leaving this so late. I got writer's block, but finally managed to fix this chapter up. Tell me what you think! :)
Reyna's POV
A Few Months Later...
Reyna is 11. Edward is 14.
I had erased all traces of my family and my friends. The local police came and investigated, and I told them about my father's abuse, and how Keto was only attacking in self-defense. I told them that Keto stabbed my father and died of blood loss later. They didn't question me. After all, I was just the poor, abused, little girl that was mentally traumatized. I couldn't have harmed anyone. I was a witness, too paralyzed to move.
I pressed charges against my dead father, so Keto was officially given a hero's funeral. I didn't stay for it. His rich parents wouldn't have let me come anyway. One of the two only things I brought with me was the knife I stabbed my father with. Although I shuddered to think of what it did, it is a symbol of me breaking free from the chains my father had imprisoned me with. It was also a piece of Keto, quite literally, since I had transmuted it from the iron in his blood.
The other thing I took was my father's silver locket. Inside was a picture of my mother, dark-haired and blue-eyed, smiling. My father had thrown in away years ago, discarding it in the cellar. I had showed it to Keto, who agreed that she was beautiful. I had asked him for a picture of him too, and his smiling face occupied the other frame. The locket was dear to me, and I couldn't bear to part with it.
I was going to keep my promise. I was going to travel the world. I was going to push the borders of alchemy further than it had ever been pushed.
One Year Later, In the Central State Alchemy Building…
Reyna is 12.
3rd POV
The girl cut an impressive figure, somehow. She was averagely sized and willowy, with dark hair pulled back into a snake-braid. Her cheeks were pale and smooth as unmarked vellum, and her icy blue eyes were the color of the Arctic sky. She was surprisingly young and quite pretty, and although her face still retained some of its childish qualities, her expression was a hardened, impassive mask. She wore a black silk cloak and gloves. When she raised her hand to brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the examiner noticed the glint of a knife at her belt.
"Name?" He asked briskly. He was an older man and had been doing his job for quite a few years now, weeding out the wannabe's and the one's with true potential. He was skeptical of this girl, but she gave off this aura that made his spine prickle.
"Reyna Isabelle Kyser." She spoke in a whisper, but her voice somehow managed to carry throughout the room.
"Age?"
"Thirteen."
The examiner looked at her curiously, and couldn't help but ask. "Aren't you a little young to be applying?"
Her lip curled. "Hardly. I believe that age is irrelevant in alchemy."
"Of course, of course." He said hastily. "But since you are a minor, I must request the names of your current guardians."
"I have none."
"Name of your last guardians, then?"
Her voice was cold as steel again. "Father, Andre Kyser. Mother, Isabella Kyser."
"Right then." The examiner set down his papers and leaned back in his chair. "Time for the practical part of your examination. Show us what you can do."
"With pleasure."
She held up her hands in a triangular and framed the examiner within them. Her eyes glowed.
Nothing happened for a few minutes, and then the older man began to feel terribly tired, so very tired. His eyelids drooped. Maybe he could take a nap, just for a little bit, just for a little bit...
And then, when his mind buzzed with sleep, a voice cut through the sloth, cool and sharp as a blade.
"You belong to me," Whispered the voice. "Your body, soul, and spirit responds to my wishes. Your will is mine."
What a beautiful voice, thought the instructor.
When he awoke, he was lying on his back on the other side of the room, and the entire board of other state alchemists behind him were whispering behind their hands.
Reyna was looking calm and collected and in control. She stepped forward, and spoke, but his time increasing the volume.
"My fellow alchemists," She began. Her voice was loud and powerful, persuasive and insistent. "You see what I have accomplished today. I believe that I match up the State Alchemist standards. However, I leave the choice up to you." She bowed. Her voice was like honey, slow and sweet and flowing smoothly.
All of the examiners gathered into a group. There was some arguments, but eventually they all sat down, and the chief examiner stepped forward again.
"I have to admit, congratulations, Reyna. Creating and perfecting such a technique at such a young age... I take my hat off to you."
Reyna smiled.
"Alchemists! I present to you... the Puppetmaster Alchemist!"
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