Chapter 2: Discovery and Decision

The door swung open as fast as a door knew how. Kara and Julia rushed into the house making sure that the coast was clear. Looking down at her feet, Kara could see the horror staring into her eyes.

"Kara... Julia... I saw it," Isaac said with eyes wide opened.

"What did you see," Kara asked anxiously.

"I saw.. I saw," Isaac trailed off. He had lost so much blood from the alchemical reaction he was barely conscious.

"Kara come on! We have to get him to our house and fix him up while stopping the blood loss," Julia said calmly but with a hint of worry.

"Ok, then let's do it," Kara said determinedly.

A few moments later, Isaac was laying on their kitchen table still unconscious. "Aunt Julia," Kara asked with some apprehension.

"What is it child," she answered.

"You don't think.. that Isaac will die from the surgery we're about to give him... do you?" There was a moment of pause from the older woman.

"Kara my dear niece, this surgery is the safest one I can offer Isaac since he's lost both of his legs. I'm looking at probably a 95% chance of survival, but that's only if we do this all in one wave." Kara looked down for a moment.

"Well, it's not a 100% chance, but I'll take it nonetheless." With that being said, the two women got to work. After three days and three nights, the antiseptic finally wore off and Isaac regained consciousness.

"Wha... where am I?" Isaac got up off of the table and stepped onto the floor of the kitchen. "Looks like I'm at Julia and Kara's place." Isaac looked around and saw the two women sitting on the couch.

"Um... Granny Julia.. Kara?" Kara turned around abruptly to see Isaac's tall, thin body standing right in front of her.

"OH ISAAC YOU'RE ALIVE! OH MY GOSH I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE BACK THERE BUT YOU DIDN'T AND YOU CAME THROUGH! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!" Kara ran as fast as she could to him and wrapped her arms around him in a long-awaited embrace.

"Um.. Kara. Not to be y'know rude or anything, but you're kind of crushing me."

"Oh haha sorry about that," Kara said embarrassedly while retreating. After about an hour of conversing, the doorbell suddenly rang. It was ten o'clock in the evening.

"Oh goodness who could it be calling at this hour?" The door opened to a man in military uniform and a glove with some weird symbol on it.

"Who are you," Julia asked defensively.

"Ma'am please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Colonel Roy Mustang and this woman over here is my trusted assistant Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. How do you do," Mustang said boisterously.

"Roy, I can speak for myself thank you very much," Hawkeye said with a glare.

"Yes well, sorry for calling at such a late hour, but I heard a rumor of some child prodigy of swordsmanship and alchemy." Mustang looked around the room with haste and suddenly found the boy he was looking for. "You! Isaac Carter!"

"Ahh me? What's going on Kara and Granny Julia?"

"Beats me," both Kara and Julia said with a shrug.

"Isaac was it? Sit down." Isaac looked at the Colonel with a puzzled look on his face but did as he was told. He wondered what business any military official would have coming to his small town let alone a notorious, high-ranking Colonel.

"So, I see your legs there," Mustang pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Oh crap he knows?," Isaac thought to himself.

"Don't worry about it, I know all about situations like yours because I actually have to young boys who were in the same situation as you not too long ago," Mustang said happily.

"Colonel... Mustang was it? Might I offer you a drink," Julia asked earnestly.

"Ms.. Julia was it? Certainly.. any beer will do," the Colonel said delightedly.

"So apparently, he's a drinker," Isaac thought to himself. "Though I probably could've deduced that from the moment he walked in here and the way he responded to my prosthetic legs."

"So Colonel Mustang. What brings you to this town so far out from Central," Julia asked.

"Well ma'am, the reason I'm here is because I'd like to ask Isaac to join the military," Roy said getting to the heart of the matter. "So Isaac, would you be interested in joining the state military?"

As that thought floated around Isaac's head, he reflected back to the dying promise his mother wanted him to fulfill.

"Well, have you decided?"

"I have and I think that it would be best if I did join the military. I want to help this country become a better place and I want to see if anything 'interesting' happens in Central City."

"But Isaac you're only fifteen years old! You do know that in the military they merely expect to be sent out like some machine and then kill without any remorse."

"No Aunt Julia. That's where you're wrong. They don't justify murder. All of that is done by Fuhrer Bradley and his mindless puppets who do his bidding." Isaac reassured himself of this remembering his father and what drove him to his supposed death. His mother told him that during the war in Ishval, the Fuhrer ordered his father's unit to go into battle willingly knowing that they'd be sacrificed. "Aunt Julia, I'm sorry, but this is something I have to do. For me, my mother, my father, for you and Kara, and for my country."

"Well seems like we all know where we stand on this issue," Mustang said smugly

"Isaac, in order to prove you want to become a State Alchemist, we'll need to register you as soon as possible. When would be the soonest time you could get out to Central City," Lieutenant Hawkeye asked.

"He can't for at least a week! He has to get used to his new prosthetics," Kara yelled defiantly.

"No Kara! Listen to me! I need to go. Don't you see that I have to do this for you and Granny! I'll do whatever it takes," Isaac said strongly. "Lt. Hawkeye and Cl. Mustang, I intend to ship out to Central City tomorrow morning on the first train possible."

"All right Carter. Don't disappoint me and who knows.. when you register, you may just run into those two brothers."

With those words, Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye departed the residence to head back to Central City. As dawn approached, Isaac went back to the house where it all started and collected all of his materials that he would need. He brought his sword, his father's alchemy texts, and a few gallons of water he would use to try to perfect his ice alchemy. Right before he was about to leave for the station, he saw Kara at the door weeping.

"Hey.. Kara? Are you all right?"

"Why do you care? All you want to do is go out and get hurt without even telling me goodbye? Is it because I'm not good enough to know what you have to say?"

Isaac was stunned by this accusation. "Listen Kara," he said crouching down to her. "I never intended to have all of this happen so fast but it all just did.. because I acted on some stupid whim."

As he apologized, Kara regained her strength. "That's ok. I understand because I know it's what has to be done. With that in mind, there's something I'd like to ask of you. Take me with you on your journey! I want to help you."

Isaac pondered this for a moment but finally came up with an answer. "All right I suppose I can let you tag along. After all, it'll be fun for us going on an adventure.. but wait. How are we going to get the money for the train tickets?"

"It's fine, I have a fair amount of money from taking some summer jobs a while back so we'll be good until we get to Central."

"So it's settled, We're off to Central City!"

To be Continued in Chapter 3!!