Chapter 2

Who We Are

"You hear that, Al?" Edward asked his brother as they walked the streets in Central late at night, the sounds of yelling and cheers echoed from a bar nearby.

"What's that brother?" Al asked him, his metal suit clumping as he walked.

"That's the sound of my victory for tomorrow's exams. The list of wannabe State Alchemists was up in Mustang's office this afternoon. Psh, what a bunch of phonies." Edward cooed as he took a bite out of his muffin. They pasted a small tattoo shop where a group of teens were inside getting a new tattoo or their hair rearranged by a skinny bald guy. Ed peered in and saw a girl with her arms covered in tattoo vines as she sat in the chair frozen as a girl with black hair and piercings in her eyebrows and ears was drawing something on her neck. Ed tried to get a closer look but one of the smaller boys noticed him and he realized it was the boys he met outside of Central Command. Was the person he bumped into their sister? Edward and Alphonse waved back and Al took the first move by opening the door, the smell of ink and burnt skin flew into Ed's nose, the smell making his stomach queasy.

"Welcome you too! Oh, hey now, I love that metal look, kid." The bald man said winking at Al before returning to work on the older boy, Michael's arm. Edward peered over to the girl and saw that she had a black feather on her neck, a beautiful raven's feather that seemed to fall to her shoulder. Edward noticed a bluish grey strand of hair on the girl and he smiled. He knew who she was. Edward sat happily next to one the twin boys and noticed they each had a green strand of hair on the left side, the older one, Michael, had a orange one.

"Where do you want the next one, Amy?" The woman asked as she tossed her black hair back.

"Back shoulder." The girl, Amy, replied.

"Are you the one who bumped into me?" Edward asked.

"Yeah. So?" Amy sniffed as the woman started tracing the pattern on Amy's shoulder.

"You didn't apologize." Edward replied.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you but you probably get that a lot since you're so short." Amy sneered as Ed saw the woman color in a tree on Amy's shoulder.

"Well if you must know 'Amy', I know that's not your real name." Edward glared at her, 'Amy's' body turned cold and frozen as Ed spit out the truth to her. How did he know? "Considering I recognized your twin brothers I must say you put on a good show, Princess."

Renee wanted to kill him, to lunge at him and rip his throat out. Beth, the tattoo artist was finished with her final tattoo for the week as she cleaned up her work area and handed her a mirror to look at the shoulder tattoo, God how she loved covering herself in words of bravery and ravens. The tree was curly but still frightful as a raven was perched on one of the branches another was in flight flying from the tree. The words: Sometimes you gotta fall before you fly was written beautifully above the tree like clouds. Renee was happy with both tattoos.

"I did some research on your family after I heard they couldn't find your body. They say the Blanche family is famous for keeping quiet and laying low but then a guy I helped said he saw you jumping buildings and noticed the blue strand of hair you're famous for and told me about it." Edward gleamed.

"So… What do you want to know?" Renee asked the little punk while she handed Beth a small pouch of money that she kept only for her tattoos.

"Why all the tattoos?" Edward asked her as saw the circles on her hands and words written on her wrist.

"It shows what I've been through. I was caught in vines and I couldn't get out until your country destroyed mine. The ravens show I'm brave. I have a habit of pretending I'm flying."

"What does that mean?" Al asked her.

"Sister likes to jump from buildings and perform some pretty risky tricks using alchemy." John told him as he watch Greg, the other artist finishing Michael's tattoo on his arm.

"We all do that dorkface." Michael snorted as Lenny giggled. Edward looked at them in shock. Little kids were jumping off of buildings?! They had to be at least ten or twelve!

"You want one?" Renee asked Ed but he shook his head.

"I don't like those things much. Yours look beautiful but I don't want to decorate my body with that kind of art."

"Why because your arm and leg are made of metal?" Renee asked, her lips curled in a smile.

"How did you know that?"

"We saw you doing one of those random acts of kindness in a small town a few months ago." Michael replied as he looked in the mirror smiling at his tattoo. "Thanks Greg, it looks great."

"It's a good saying, Mike." Greg replied as he wiped sweat off his face. Ed saw a peak of Michael's tattoo in the mirror, his heart racing. They say we're crazy, but it's who we are; written on his arm, the words burning into Ed's mind. Yes this group was crazy, yes they were daredevil freaks but Renee scared him the most. Renee was a alchemist and if he was correct, she took the written exam to become a State Alchemist before they bumped into each other. He didn't have a problem with her being one, sure Bradley needed a daredevil to jump off of buildings or work in risky conditions only the bravest would do but could she kill someone? Could she watch someone die in front of her and keep herself together? Edward's fingers went numb as the painful memory of almost losing Al that one night, the night they thought they could cheat death and bring their mother back.

"Well… this was a long day; we should be heading back to the hotel and getting some rest." Al asked as he got up waking his brother up from his flashback. "It was nice to meet all of you." He pushed Ed out of the store and half dragged him to the hotel before he slammed him into the brick wall near the hotel. "YOU CAN'T TELL ANYONE WHO YOU SAW, GOT IT?" Al yelled at him.

"Saw who?" A man asked. They both turned and saw Roy Mustang with a paper bag in his hands, his face looking concerned.

"Oh just some old friends from back home." Al laughed as he dropped his hands and Ed sniffed, he hated Mustang.

"Fullmetal?"

"What he said. If you excuse us I have an exam to pass tomorrow to renew my State qualifications so I'll be on my way to getting some sleep." Ed replied coldly.

"Not so fast, Fullmetal." Roy said grabbing Ed's shoulder. His eyes narrowed as Ed glared at him. "Have you heard anything recently about the Blanche family?" Edward's body shuddered but he kept his mouth closed like Al asked.

"No, why?" Edward asked him. Roy took a step back his face changing to a frown, a grieving frown. He adjusted the bag and took off into the night without another word. Both of them look back at Roy who turned the corner towards his new apartment. "What was that about?"

"Don't know… hey let's get you something to eat." Al replied as they headed inside to the hotel only to see that Renee and her family of thugs were heading up the stairs to their rooms, the circular tattoos on her hands giving her identity away. Ed and Al followed them before Michael slammed Edward into the wall, a knife pressed up against his neck.

"Michael, seriously?" Renee replied as Michael chuckled and took the blade off Ed's neck. "What are you following us for?"

"We're staying on the same floor so might as well have something to eat together before we go to bed." Edward replied as he glared at Michael. Renee raised one of her eyebrows and unlocked the door to their room, a large suite with three bedrooms and a master sitting area with built in kitchen. Renee called up room service and ordered almost everything on the menu before grabbing a seat by the radio and turned it on to the news station.

"So…" Edward said looking around the place, the walls covered in maps of the country and flags from their own once was country. Lenny and John peered through the large glass window as the city was lit up and cars drove down the street below. "My boss has been keeping a sharp eye on your case lately. I don't know why but he asked us tonight if we heard anything about it."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Michael asked as he lit up a cigarette and offered one to Ed who declined.

"Roy Mustang." Edward replied as he watched for flinches from any of them. Renee didn't move but inside the butterflies were fluttering again. So he was worried about us.

"Roy is sort of an old friend." Michael replied. "We haven't seen him in six years but I sent him a few letters every so often to let him know we're still breathing. He was on a vacation and his car broke down at our palace so we took him in and he ended up staying with us until he had to leave for Ishval. Why do you care?"

"He seemed worried that's all." Edward asked.

Roy looked through the documents over and over again checking for anything that could scream out a sign the Blanches were alive. His small dinner table was covered in research notes, reports and pictures of the palace but nothing was matching up. They found the mother and father but everyone else simply vanished… Michael Blanche, age twenty four; John and Lenny Blanche, age eleven. Finally, Renee Blanche age twenty one. All of their pictures contained smiling faces but Roy was looking at their hair. Each Blanche member had a weird strand of color on their left side, it was tradition to have one dyed by what they represented, at least that's what Michael explained to him six years ago. Michael had orange, the color of honesty. Lenny and John each had green, the color of knowledge . Their mother, Elizabeth had white, the color of purity. The King had gold, the color of leadership and loyalty. Finally, Renee had a weird color. It was a mixture of blue and silver to make an icy frozen look, the color of bravery and strength. Roy was mesmerized by their tradition that he even wanted to fit in and get a strand dyed but then again the army wouldn't have it.

Roy's mind fumbled with questions like why are they hiding if they're still alive, where are they and how did they escape. He gave up and threw the papers back into the file he stole from the office as he looked at Edward's file. He knew Edward heard about the Blanche family, Edward has been all over the country the past six months so he had to know something. Rumors were spreading that the Blanche family might be in Central. Edward could've spotted them but he wouldn't tell Roy because Roy was a dog of the military. Edward was the black sheep, a little rebellious but still safe enough not to be questioned by Bradley. Still… Mustang wanted answers. The exams were tomorrow; maybe he could wiggle information out of the black sheep by bribing him with a pass to the library or a week's extra pay. Whatever Edward Elric knew, Mustang was prepared to hear it, even if that meant the family really was dead after all.