Hi! I'm back! Thanks sooo much for all of the FREAKING AWESOME reviews. It means so much to me. The chapter was really hard for me to write, but I managed as best I could. Meh. It's not my best, but I like it. REVIEW!
Disclaimer: I didn't put one on the last chapter, but I hate them so this is also my last. I don't own FMA or FMAB, get it?
When Keari awoke, she found herself lying on a faded orange couch. Where am I?
"I see you're awake,'' said a voice to her right. She glanced over and saw Ed leaning against the wall. Keari sat up, realizing that her right arm automail was hanging limply at her side, useless. She nodded at him, preoccupied with her calculations of the cost of new automail. "Damn," she muttered; it was far too much. There was no way she could afford it. Not even if she worked for the next five years at the market. She couldn't do it.
"Marcoh! She's awake," Ed called moving farther into the room. It was bare, with white walls and sparce furnishings. She lay on a couch, covered by a red flanel blanket that was the only splash of color in the room.
A man, Marcoh, appeared in the doorway, closly followed by Al. Marcoh's dark hair was graying and his creased face betrayed weariness, as if he were worried about something. But, there was kindness in his eyes, and Keari immediately felt reassured in his presence. "Marcoh?"
"I haven't seen you in a while, Keari." He smiled tiredly, slightly amused. "You were hurt fairly badly when those two," he gestured at the brothers, "brought you to me. Of course, those two are full of surprises." Hmmm. She wondered what he meant by that.
"Keari!" Al exclaimed, bypassing Marcoh and rushing over to stand next to the couch, armor clanking. "Brother and I were so worried about you! You were caughing blood, and Marcoh said that you had broken some ribs. He used alchemy to heal them some." She raised her eyebrows at him, looking around the large suit of armor see Marcoh. She hadn't heard anything about medical alchemy since- No! She couldn't think about that now.
"Everyone always said you were an amazing doctor." She smiled crookedly at him. "I guess now I know why."
"What were you even doing there? In the alley." Ed asked, raising his eyebrows at her. "It kind of screams 'creepy.'"
Keari scowled at him reproachfully. I realize that it wasn't my brightest decision, but you don't need to point it out! "I was taking a short cut home. People have been disappearing, and I didn't want to be next." She attempted to mimic his eyebrow raising, but failed miserably, only managing to scrunch up her eye.
"Disappearances?" Al asked, sounding alarmed.
"Yes," Marcoh spoke up. "They started about a month after I arrived here."
"It's always at night. Always on the old north road," she added, trying to come to a conclusion.
"You don't think it was them? Jockall's gang.'" Al asked Ed who was drumming his finger on the top of a small end table. Marcoh started and walked stiffly over to the couch I was lying on.
"I think it was. They were stupid enough to do something like tha-" A tall, abnormally muscular, man marched grandly into the room. He had a perfectly groomed, blonde mustache and an equally blonde curl of hair on his head, but other than that he was completely bald. Keari had seen some pretty buff people in her time, but he blew them all away. He was wearing the standard, blue military uniform, a state alchemist pocketwatch dangling from his pocket.
"You have finally returned to consciousness!" he bellowed poetically. "I must say how valiantly you fought those fiends back in the alley. It was most eye opening how someone of your stature could fight so wonderously!" Tears started forming in his blue eyes as Keari stared in horror at the man. How was it possible for someone to be so dramtic? How? She looked pleadingly at Ed and Al.
"Does he do this often?" she blurted before she could stop herself. She blushed as she realized how impolite she must have sounded. She was normally able to keep her mouth shut so this was strange for her.
Ed laughed, tugging at a white gloved hand. "Yeah, way too often." Now that Keari had a chance to study him, she realized he looked different than when she had seen him before. He was missing something... His red coat! The long red coat he had been wearing, she realized, was what she had originally thought was a blanket, covering her.
"Oh! I'm sorry; I didn't realize I was stealing your coat." She stood unsteadily from the couch, blushing again. She was still wearing the pants and shirt she had left the house in; the only thing missing was her blue jacket. Without it, her automail arm was completely exposed.
"It's fine," Ed said, walking over to her. He stooped to pick up his coat off the couch. When he straightened, he jerked his chin towards the state alchemist. "That's Major Armstrong." He grabbed her elbow, steadying her.
"YES!" bellowed the major, practically sparkling. Keari could almost see them. "I am Major Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist."
"Wait," she said, considering what he had said, "If you are a state alchemist, and Ed says you do that far to often," Keari looked with wide eyes at Ed, "Then you must have some connection with the military!"
Ed scratched the back of his head nervously. "Um, yeah. I'm-"
"What?" Armstrong yelled, glaring intimidatingly at Ed. "You haven't given the lady proper introduction! Allow me, miss," as he finished, he moved his gaze to Keari. "This is Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. And, that," he moved his gesture from Ed to Al, "is Alphonse Elric, Edward's younger brother."
Her mouth dropped open in shock. The Fullmetal Alchemist? Here? "You're the Fullmetal Alchemist?" she asked Edward, brows furrowing. I suppose he does have the automail for the name, she thought drily.
"Yes. I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist." He raised his eyebrows at her as if daring her to challenge it. She wondered why he acted as though most people didn't believe it. If Keari had learned anything over the years, it was that nothing was as it seemed. Although he didn't look dangerous, and neither did she, Keari had seen him fight and knew he had some mean skills in alchemy. He didn't even need a transmutation circle. Of course, neither did she.
"Alright," she said simply, smiling at him slightly. Her small smile turned into a full blown grin at his shocked expression. "What? You look like no one's ever said that before."
He shook his head then smiled. "No one ever has," Ed replied.
"Alphonse it a nice name," Keari added, realizing that everyone had been ignoring Al. Poor guy. It was strange how people kept ignoring him when he had such a large physical presense. It was as if there was a child inside the armor. How silly, she thought to herself, there's no way Al was kid even though his voice was so high.
"Thanks, Keari," Al said politely, his voice echoing... hollowly. Strange.
She laughed uncertainly, sensing Ed's eagerness to ask her some questions. Apparently, she hadn't been the only one to realize that because Armstrong walked over to Doctor Marcoh, saying, "I haven't seen you in so long, I must have you regail me with the ever amazing details of your time away from Central!" With that, Armstrong dragged Marcoh out the door, shooting Edward a warning glance over his shoulder.
Ed let go of her arm to go shut the door. Once he had, Ed turned to face Al and Keari again. "I have some questions for you. Will you answer them?" he asked.
"BROTHER!" Al exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips disapprovingly.
Keari shook her head, irritating strands of blonde hair falling into her eyes. "No, Al," she sighed, "It's okay." She looked directly into Ed's eyes, blue meeting gold. "I will do my best to answer your questions, but I don't promise I'll answer all of them."
Ed chuckled, looking away from her gaze. "If that's all I can get."
She nodded.
He rattled off the first question. "You seemed to know Jockall. How?"
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "When I first came to this village," she said, "he started tormenting me. He would throw rocks at me and pull my hair, little things like that. This was, of course, before got his little pack of followers." She looked disgustedly at the ground, memories replaying through her head.
"If they were so awful, why didn't anyone do anything about them?" Ed asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"No one believed it was them." Keari pursed her lips, "Now, I guess, they won't be causing anymore trouble. I mean, you kicked their asses."
Al and Edward laughed at her phrasing. She knew she didn't seem the type that would curse, but, to be honest, she had a problem with not cursing. She was trying cut back on it, though. She had lived alone so long it didn't really matter what she said so she had never had any reason not to, but now, being that she was among people, she had to try to stop. Her mother had raised a polite girl.
"Guess we kind of did," Ed said, patting Alphonse on the arm cockily. She would have to kick his a-butt, Keari thought. He had it coming.
"I have a few questions for you, too," Keari mentioned, gaze sliding over the blonde boy lazily. People always said her gaze was unnerving, with the unusual silver flecks in her ice blue eyes; she half hoped they had that effect on Ed.
He looked away from her, pursing his lips, "I suppose it's only fair. As you said, I'll try to answer your questions."
A grin played across her lips. She hadn't talked to anyone for so long it was kind of nice. Of course, she had exchanged meaningless pleasantries with the village folk through gritted teeth, but no one had ever stopped to talk to her meaningfully. There was never anything useful on their lips. She really loathed pointless conversation. Keari, she told herself, smiling slightly, you know you have absolutely no social life when you enjoy an intarigation. (A/N: That's not spelled right, I know. I'll look it up and change it later.)
"What?" She turned to Ed, finding him staring at her in confusion. "What are you smiling about?" he asked, glancing warily at Al.
"Heh," she said, groping the darkest corners of her mind for an excuse, "I was... Um, deep in thought?"
Edward raised his eyebrows, but before he could say anything, Al replied easily, "Oh, okay. Brother just thought you were laughing at us. It's no big deal." Al seemed to have a way with people.
Keari smiled at the brothers, remembering her own family with a pang. "It's amazing," she mused aloud, "the bond you two share, I mean.
Al made an embarassed noise, and Ed blushed a deep red. Once he'd recovered from his embarassment, he asked, "Can we get back to the questions?"
She nodded.
"Good. I was wondering, why were you alone here? When we asked, Marcoh told us you didn't have any family in town. Why are you living on your own?"
Her face darkened noticably as she replied in a monotone, "My family's dead. They died a long time ago."
"Oh," Al said quickly, sounding alarmed with the change in her demeanor, "Sorry. If we had known we wouldn't have asked." He held up his arms in front of him as if in surrender.
She forced a smile, thinking to herself how fortunate it was that she was so good at smiling through the pain. "I know. It's fine, really. You didn't know. And, besides, it happened a long time ag-" She was interrupted by Armstrong, bursting through the door, tears in his eyes.
"Oh, miss Keari!" he said, with a flurish of his arm his shirt lay on the ground, exposing his abs. He had very large muscles, she had to admit, but did he really have to strip? "I heard your tale of sadness. Your poor, dead family! Allow me to cheer your mood by-"
"I'm fine!" she squeaked, eyes as wide as golf balls. "I'm okay, really! You don't need to do this!"
Armstrong reluctantly replaced his shirt.
"So what are you going to do now?" Al asked.
"I don't know. I'll probably to find someone to fix my automail, but I doubt I'll be able to afford it." She barely registered saying the last part out loud. She met his gaze, "I'll be okay."
Edward's eyes lit up. He grinned conspiritorially at her as he said, "I think we can help you out with that."
Sooooo? What's you think? I did cut some stuff, but I needed to make room for a little of my OC. She will be more involved as it goes along. These first few chapters are just setting up the plot. It's hard starting in the middle, but it works with this story, trust me. This is based off of the first anime, but will have some Brotherhood aspects to it. Eh, I hope this works. This was based off of the Brotherhood episode but had the motives of the 1st one.
PLEASE REVIEW! I will sick Scar on you if you don't! Perhaps our favorite palm tree too...
