For starters; I would like to mention I am appreciative of the great response I got on the first chapter, and officially thank the three who reviewed: neoko-chan, Megan May, and KingofHeartless'09.
Also, anyone who wants to guess on what may happen in future chapters is welcome too, and I appreciate what you think, whoever gets closest will get an honorable mention.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeep! Was what awoke the slumbering teenager from her bed. She stretched and went downstairs to the kitchen to eat before getting ready for the day.
"Morning Mom, Dad. How are you?"
"Morning dear, sleep well?" Her mother asked while setting down a plate of eggs and toast.
"Yeah, just going to eat before getting ready for work." She went to take a bite of her breakfast to silence, her parents exchanging a glance.
"Paige, what are you talking about? You don't work, you go to school." This confused Paige while she looked around the kitchen, noticing that instead of the stainless steel appliances there were cast iron. She then looked at the paper her dad was reading. East City Press, December 27th, 1908.
"I am confused, I guess my dream seemed so vivid. But care to explain what you mean?"
"Are you ok hun? Need to stay home from school?" Her father asked as he put down the newspaper.
"No, I'm fine. Just what am I supposed to do today will help."
Her parents shared another look over the table and then her mother spoke, "You are going to go to school today, your friends should be here in about an hour to pick you up on the way. After school you come back here to do your homework. Your friends will help you with your schedule if you need it."
"Thanks. I think I will finish eating then go get ready." And she stayed quiet while she ate then went up to her room and immediately looked out the window to see the landscape of East City in Amestris, from Fullmetal Alchemist. She then looked at her nightstand and noticed that the box she got from my great-great grandfather was open, and that the black sphere was gone. Quickly moving to sit on her bed, the young woman collapsed.
"Oh my god. During my dream last night I must've said it out loud!" she groaned and stayed silent in thought before getting up and picked up the white sphere thinking about smashing it. Then she stopped, and looked at it then out the window again. She put it back in the box and wedged it between two of her books on the shelves above her desk. She decided to get dressed and opened her closet pulling out a long sleeved white shirt, a knee length black skirt, and a navy, or rather military, blue vest. She went to brush her teeth and put on her uniform with black flats that she never had before. Doing her hair and make up, she grabbed her bag which was a little weighty and went down to the living room, noticing this time around the differences in the house. Cotton instead of leather sofas, radio instead of TV, less ornate lamps, just little things that a person half asleep wouldn't normally notice.
"Ah Paige! So beautiful in your uniform! You trying to impress someone?" Her father asked, adding the last part in a threatening tone.
"Maybe, I don't know if anyone likes me. You will meet them if I do though Dad."
"That's my girl! Your friends will be here soon. Don't get into trouble." He said while heading back up the stairs while her mother cleaned the kitchen. Waiting in the living room she thought about what was going to happen around this time. Ed and Al were still living with their sick mother, the Ishvalan Massacre ended, which meant that Mustang and all his subordinates were younger. She was disrupted from her thoughts with knocking at the door, which she stood to answer. At the door were three girls, one she recognized the other two she didn't.
"Hey Paige! Ready?" A blonde asked. She was the one that Paige had seen pictures of, Catherine Elle Armstrong, younger sister to Alex Louis, the Strong Arm Alchemist, while the two dark haired girls she knew she would find out.
"Yeah Catherine," and she yelled good bye to her parents before closing the door. She then turned back to the girls and said, "Girls I'm sorry but I have a serious case of selective amnesia and I can't remember your names. Help?" She said in an apologetic tone.
The girl that was about 5'8, unusually tall, with long straight dark black hair, pale skin, and onyx eyes. "I am Aurora Valvos."
The other girl was short, just over 5 foot with shoulder length, wavy dark brown nearing black hair. Her eyes were really soft, the kindness showing through here sky blue eyes. "I am Alaine Fuery." They were walking down the road at this point.
"Ah, that's right. I don't know what I did, but the dream I had last night really messed with my head." Paige giggled lightly, which they accepted. It was then that Catherine spoke,
"Hey. There is a new café, just opened the other day. Would you want to go there for lunch?" All of them agreed and by the time they got to the school, which was white marble with the military banner hanging down the front of the building like in southern command in South City. They went in the front door and Paige just followed them to a room that they entered, which she assumed was a homeroom.
"Class, I hope you all had a good break. Just to remind you, new semester starts today. When I call your name if you could come up and get your schedules please. Miss Catherine Armstrong." The list went through, some names Paige immediately turned to look at, including the 2nd name called; Denny Brosh. After this happening several time, Catherine put her hand on Paige's shoulder and asked with concern,
"Are you alright?" a nod was taken as Alaine went up to get her schedule. Once the whole class had their schedules it was an explosion of noise as friends started comparing schedules.
"Heck yeah! We have all our morning classes together!" Catherine exclaimed loudly and excitedly. She lowered her voice after a glare from the teacher, Lieutenant Sall. She added afterwards, "Then after lunch we all have at least one of us in their classes. Can't wait to go to lunch today though!" and they talked about how the classes would be until the bell rang and the class filed out, the group of four girls going up a flight of stairs and down a hallway.
A bell rang that signaled the start of class and a man of dark skin and hair. He stood at the front of the room and wrote on the board in very neat manuscript "Master Sergeant Sung Turion; Literature" then he turned and addressed the class. "If this is the wrong class leave now." No one moved. "Good, that means you can all read, which is an important component for this class. You will all receive copies of the books we will read. After each section you will have a quiz, discussion or project on it. After each work, there will be a test." He passed out the syllabus. "In there is a list an tentative dates on everything, assignments are as listed unless I state otherwise. Am I understood?" the whole class yelled out "YESSIR!" and he continued. "First we will be reading a few works of Homer. Can anyone tell me what his most famous works are?"
A few hands rose, including the group of girls. He called on a young woman in the back, her dirty blonde hair tied back and honey colored eyes showing behind a pair of frameless glasses. "Sir, The Iliad and The Odyssey, Sir."
"Correct. Name."
"Caya Hawkeye, Sir."
"Hawkeye, any relation to 2nd Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye fr-"
"Sir, yes sir! Older cousin sir. Sorry for the interruption, but that is a private matter sir."
"Right. And again you are correct. Anyone know what the books are about?"
This time he called on the brunette from earlier, Denny Brosh, "Iliad is about Helen going to Troy and her husband trying to get her back, based off of the Trojan War. Odyssey follows Odyseus after the Trojan war ended and him trying to get home, SIR!"
"Correct." He passed out copies of the Iliad. "Now, you have the rest of today's class and whatever you don't finish for homework, read the first 10 chapters for tomorrow. Questions?" No one raised their hands. "Notes may be helpful. Get to it!"
Scrambling of students getting books and paper sounded then it was silence as everyone started reading the classic tale. When the bell rang everyone packed up and left, heading to their next class; for the group of four girls they went up to the third floor and went in one of the smaller classrooms in the building, at the bell there was a total of 12 students and the man at the front of the room wore a white lab coat and glasses which hid his pale blue eyes. His graying hair was pulled into a low ponytail and wrinkles and laugh-lines covered his face. "Welcome to the first day of Advanced Biological Studies. Here you will be learning about the basics of the kingdoms and how everything interacts with one another. If you will notice, there are specimens in cupboards and the drawers are labeled: what does this tell you?"
It was Paige that raised her hand, no one else. "It is because this is the lab, as well as the lecture classroom."
"Very good. What is your name?"
"Paige Clabaugh."
"Like Paige said, this will be you lecture class as well as your lab class. Grades will be combined. We will start with plants, after plants we will move onto fungi then animals. After we finish all of that, it will be ecology which should take us to the end of the year. Thursdays will be lab days, occasionally continuing to Fridays if they are long enough. Now we will start with the basic cell types. If you have your textbook, open to page 14." He then started writing on the board, listing out the cell bodies before a man who was dark haired and green eyed asked,
"Sir, what is your name?" the professor chuckled and turned back around.
"I guess I forgot about that, didn't I? sorry class, my name is Dr. James Patton. I get excited about this stuff. Any other questions?" there weren't any. "Ok, as I was saying, in the basic cell, there are the following organelles. The nucleus is the power house, it hold the DNA, the material in which every living thing is made of…" he continued lecturing until the bell rang in which he called out after the students, "Read chapters 2 and 4." As the teenagers dispersed.
They group of girls went to the first floor and just made it to their seats in time as the bell rang and the teacher, a man dressed from the waist down in military attire but only had a black button up shirt for the top. "I am Master Sergeant Reid Martin, I am here to teach you geography. You will learn and be able to draw the whole country from memory for your final, including every detail, town, and parts of the neighboring territories as well. I am a map maker and advisor for the military for what routes to take for campaigns." He turned and pulled down a map of the country.
"I am going to leave it up to you guys about what areas we cover when, there will be a test over every section though. You have to vote though. There are 26 of you here so I should count 26 votes at the end of this. Raise your hand for which section you want to learn. West!" a few hands were raised. "South" a few less hands. "North" only had four hands, one of which was Catherine's. "Central." The teacher asked with a sigh. About half of the remaining hands went up. "East." The remaining hands went up, which included Aurora's, Paige's and Alaine's. "We will start with East then study Central, and revote after that. I will be teaching you not just the geography but also the history of these regions. To the east, past the border, is the Xingese Desert, and beyond that is the Kingdom of Xing. As you all know, desert are dry that experience extremes in temperatures. In the desert there used to be a city, does anyone know what it was called?"
Alaine was called on, "It used to be the city of Xerxes."
"Correct. It is claimed that it was destroyed in a single night, though no one knows if it is true." The lecture continued about the desert until the bell rang in which the group of four girls went to their lockers and dropped off their bags before leaving the school for the café, which Catherine was talking about.
"It is a small place out of the way from the main roads. It is called Little Paradise and it is supposed to have all this great food that isn't too expensive. It should be just around this corner." We turned the corner after walking a few blocks and saw this small café that was painted a light green color, that had chairs and tables outside. The girls went in and looked at the décor which was painted like a jungle and trees and plants everywhere. They sat at a table and looked over the menu. They decided what they wanted and went up to order. They all got a pair of either soup, salad, or sandwiches and were told that their numbers would be called over the intercom, so they sat and waited.
"What do you guys think?" Catherine asked excitedly looking around.
"It is really nice. Let's see how the food tastes." Alaine commented looking around the semi full café. It was about 15 minutes before Aurora's soup and salad was ready. She went up and got it, followed soon after by Alaine's order. Several minutes later Catherine's was ready. They all waited to eat, despite Paige's protests. When Paige was called she went up and wasn't paying attention as she was responding to Catherine's "hurry" she walked into someone's chest.
"I'm so sorry, I should have been watching where I was going," she quickly exclaimed looking at who she hit coming face-to-collarbone with a blue military jacket. She took a step back to see a lightly tanned complexion with royal blue eyes, blonde bangs, and brown hair underneath. The man had a cigarette, unlit, hanging out of his mouth loosely. Paige nearly fainted right then.
"It's ok, no harm done." The man said looking down at her. "By the way, I'm Jean, Jean Havoc." He added holding out his hand. She took it and he brought it up to his lips, kissing the back. "May I have your name?"
"Paige, Paige Clabaugh." She said with a blush across her cheeks.
"Are you alright Paige?" he asked his blue eyes shining.
"Yeah, I am fine." She responded tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Umm, I know this is sudden but would you like to do something this weekend?"
"Um, yeah, I would like that."
"Friday night, around 7?" He asked easily.
"Sounds great."
"I'll pick you up, where do you live?" he asked grabbing a piece of paper and a pen from his jacket. She paused, how dumb would she look if she didn't know her address, luckily her friends were watching and Catherine came to save the day.
"She lives at 3629 Elm Ridge. She just moved in the other day." And Paige shot her a grateful look.
"I know right where that is, and I will see you Friday at 7, dress kinda nice, ok?"
"Yeah, I will. See you then Jean." And he shot her a wink before leaving with a bag of food. Paige went to get her food and walked back to the table with her sandwich and soup. They all started eating before Paige asked, "So do we want to do something after school?"
They all were silent before Aurora spoke up, "We could go annoy my uncle. I heard he has a new subordinate."
"And I could say hi to my brother as well." Alaine added taking a bite of her salad. They all enjoyed their food and headed back to the school 15 minutes before lunch was up. Once back, they grabbed their bags again and Alaine and Catherine went upstairs for their design class while Aurora and Paige went to the back of the building for Alchemy training. At the front of the class stood Basque Grand.
"Welcome students. You are here because you want to learn more about alchemy, know that this is an introductory class and very few of you will be asked to join the Advanced Alchemy class I teach. Here you will learn the basics and for your final will choose a type of alchemy and test on that, which will determine whether or not you will be invited back. I am Colonel Basque Grand, yes I did participate in the Ishvalan Massacre. I will tell you only what the government allows. Today we will go over the basics of alchemy." And that is how their lecture went, by going over the basic rules of alchemy. After that Paige went to the second floor for music, meeting Catherine there while Aurora went to see Alaine for Advanced Math Methods.
"Paige, have you practiced your music at all over break?" Alexis nearly sang as she sat down at a piano in the room.
"Uh, yeah let's go with that." Paige giggled lightly getting out her viola. The teacher came in and handed out sheet music to everyone.
"Class, look through your parts for a few minutes and we will try playing through it. We will take the pieces one at a time. You have about 15 minutes." And she went to her office to grab something before practice. Everyone was silent for a little bit before some people started running through parts of the song. When the teacher came back she held her baton up to get everyone's attention and then everyone got quiet and got in their positions to play. It was less than half way through the song before she was yelling stop and then turned to the woodwinds.
"From measure 97." She gave the count before playing through it. That is how the rest of the class went, with her working on sections.
The last class of weapon training all four had together. They all met up right next to the armory. They walked in and sat on a bench, waiting on the teacher. In came a well built man. He was easily reaching 6'2" with broad shoulders and well muscled arms. He had shaggy light brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a pair of black semi-casual pants and a black workout shirt on under his blue jacket marking him a military man, possibly.
"You will learn to use weapons in hand-to-hand combat and distanced in this class. You will choose one of each to use for the semester." He passed out packets to each bench. "Look through them and write down your three favorite of each. For next class I will assign what you will be training with and who will be training with you. Once you are done, turn in your paper in and you can leave. See you tomorrow." And he sat down in a chair by the desk and waited. There was a shuffling of papers as the students went through and looked at the list of weapons. The girls all left at different times, but waited in the hall till they were all done.
"So, what did you girls choose?" Aurora asked as they walked towards their lockers.
"I chose the pistol and the long rifle." Alaine stated shyly.
"I picked the sniper rifle and a short sword." Catherine said.
"I still don't see why you are in this class Catherine. You are strong enough to defend yourself not to mention your parents and older siblings are ridiculously strong."
"I still would like to learn this type of fighting. What about you Aurora?"
"I chose sniper as well, Riza will teach me well, and then throwing knives which Hughes will teach me no problem. Paige?"
"I chose bow and then multi-daggers." She said quietly to surprised looks.
"Why are you doing such old weapons?" Catherine asked while we were leaving the building and heading towards the military headquarters.
"Well I think it will be fun to be able to use those types of weapons, more skill to use, ya know. No offense to you guys." She added quickly not wanting to insult her friends.
"It's no problem. I think it is cool at least." Alaine said as they turned the block to see the headquarters. They walked up making small talk and were stopped temporarily by a guard until he recognized Aurora and Alaine, then let the four girls in. they went to the second floor of the building and to the third set of double doors on the left. Aurora pulled the doors open and walked in.
"UNCLE ROY!" She called as she ran up to see him.
"Aurora?" He asked before being tackled out of his chair. Meanwhile Alaine went to her older brother and quietly said hi. Catherine and Paige stood by the door and looked around. Catherine was pulled in by Breda and Paige was left standing there, staring in awe for the scene in front of them. It was then that she heard a person behind her so she moved out of the way.
Past her walked the man she met earlier today, Jean. He sat at one of the desks with a pile of papers. Once Roy got his niece off of his person, he stood up and looked down at her and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Besides the fact I want to see my favorite uncle, I want to meet your new subordinate. So do my friends." She added looking back at us.
"Very well. Havoc!"
The bi-haired colored man stood, "SIR!"
"Relax, I want you to meet my lovely niece Aurora. These are her friends, Alaine who is Kain's little sister, Catherine is Armstrong's younger sister, and this is-"
"Paige, how are you?"
"You know her Havoc?" Roy asked amused.
"Yeah, I ran into her getting lunch today."
"Very well." Jean walked over and took her hand and led her to his desk. He sat her upon it and took his own seat. They were talking and joking, her sincerely laughing at his jokes and him not once making a move to look up her skirt or at her breast. It was when Catherine exclaimed about the time that they all left. Jean stood and helped her off his desk and smiled at her. He kissed the back of her hand again and said, "I will see you on Friday, don't forget." She smiled and gave him a wink.
"I won't forget Jean, I am looking forward to it." She whispered in his ear before grabbing her bag off of his desk.
After they left the building, Catherine looked slyly at her redheaded friend. "You are looking forward to your date aren't you?"
"Yeah, he seems like a really great guy. I am excited. Only two days left. Would you guys want to come over Friday after school to help me pick out clothes? My parents and I have plans tomorrow."
"OF COURSE!" they all exclaimed excited. They continued to talk about what would happen Friday while walking to Paige's house, where they dropped her off and continued. Alaine lived with her aunt on the outskirts of town since Kain lived in the dorms. Aurora lived with her parents in a house in the upper district and Catherine was living in her parent's vacationing house, which was still amazing, by herself.
Paige went inside and went up to her room, happy to see Mafdet on her bed. She realized that her parents worked somewhere so she did her homework. Once she was done she read a book that was on her desk, but then realized there was a alchemy book on her shelf so she took that off and started looking through it, stopping where it said "Biological Alchemy" which she was sure was taboo. She decided to read it later as her parents were home. She went down and greeted her parents and asked them about work as they put their stuff away, learning her mother worked in a flower shop and her father was a high level civilian that worked for the military doing chemical research.
"How was your day, classes go well?" Her mother asked while starting dinner. So Paige reiterated her day and then told them about her date Friday.
"Jean Havoc, he is the one with the blonde bangs and brown hair right?" her father looked over to her. Paige nodded worried. "He is a good guy, I think you two would be good together. I approve." Paige sighed and thanked him.
"You're welcome dear, now help your mother and we will talk more later." For dinner they had pasta and salad and enjoyed themselves talking about their plans the next evening, which was going to the Symphony and dinner.
Paige went to bed, thoroughly enjoying her first day in the Fullmetal Alchemist world, and couldn't wait until she met Envy as well. She fell asleep thinking if the dream she had that made her come here would actually happen.
Please Review!
I love them more than Roy likes Fire!