I'm looking for a promise we made that day

A promise we made that over-stretched time

But not our minds

How did we grow so far apart, yet so close?

Edward and Alphonse quickly boarded off the train and into the small town's station. They looked around at their surroundings and saw few people boarding off the train; it really was a small town.

They headed into the other direction, toward the end of the town. Edward reached into his pant's pocket and pulled out a small paper with directions written on it.

"Alright the directions she gave me say that their house is the last one at the end of town by the big river. That shouldn't be hard to find."

The brothers nodded in each others direction then made their way out of the station and to the end of town. One their way, they saw few people besides some small children getting out of school and playing and adults in conversation with others to kill time. On occasion they would see some small stores, stands, and markets.

In a matter of moments, they found themselves at the end of town at their main destination. They stood in front of a reasonably sized house that stood in front of the town river. The house had flowers in the windows and impressively decorated. The river it sat by had clear, shimmering water and behind it was a small forest. The brother's proceeded to walk toward the beautiful house and knocked on it's front door. Minutes later, the door was answered by a tall thin woman with tan skin, blue eyes, and dark brunette hair. She wore regular skinny jeans and a black tank top. She looked back at the boys seriously for a moment as they nervously looked back at her.

"She looks like she's going to kill us or something…" Edward thought in his head.

Suddenly, the woman's expression changed into a soft smile as her eyes changed from serious to kind.

"Ahh you must be the Elric boys. Am I right?" She said in her sultry voice that was soft yet firm.

The boys sighed in relief and nodded yes in a reply. She continued to smile at the boy's and continued to talk.

"Nice to meet you boys, I'm Fumiko, but you might have already guessed that."

"Yes ma'am." Alphonse said.

"Aria has told me a lot about you two and your letters." She slightly bent forward to get a closer look at Edward. He backed up a little with a bewildered look on her face.

"W-what?"

"Aria wasn't lying when she said how handsome you are. You must be Edward."

Edward widened his eyes as he tried to confirm what he just heard, "What do you mean?!"

"Whoops! I don't think I was supposed to say that!" she said as she placed her hand over her mouth. She quickly changed the conversation.

"Well! Let's get you 2 settled in!"

"W-wait! What did you…"

"Come in!" Fumiko quickly stepped farther into the house and waited for the 2 boys. Edward tried to get more answers, but to no avail.

They stepped into the house as she led them to the guest room which they would be staying in. The room was about medium size with one bed, one dresser, a nightstand, and it's own small bathroom.

"This will be your room for the time being. I was aware of your situation when putting it together so I assumed that you wouldn't need 2 beds. Is that ok?"

Both the brothers stood embarrassed and softly replied, "Y-yes ma'am…."

"Oh please you don't have to call me ma'am. Just call me Fumiko or Ms. Fumiko. Which ever you prefer," She smiled. "I'm not like Izumi who will beat you to a pulp if you do something wrong. Speaking of which, your secret is safe with me so Izumi won't know until you meet again I suppose."

She held out her hand and shook Alphonse's hand, then Edward's. She shook Edward's automail hand, which surprisingly did not startle her. Edward spoke firmly, "Thank you ma'am….err….I mean, Fumiko." They both smiled and let go of each other's hand.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get settled in. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me. Come see me after your done."

Fumiko left the room and Edward started to unpack his belongings and setting them in the dresser. Alphonse sat on the bed and began to speak to him, "They have a pretty nice house. This must be a pretty peaceful place to live in."

"Yeah it's ok but I bet it gets boring sometimes.""I guess…I wonder where Aria is."

"Yeah that's what I was wondering too. Maybe she's in town doing something."

"We'll have to ask Ms. Fumiko when we talk to her."

Edward soon finished unpacking his things and the brothers made their way to the kitchen to meet with Fumiko. When they entered the kitchen, they saw her sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. She realized they were there and she got up from her seat, "Please, have a seat you 2. Edward would you like some coffee?"

They both sat on the opposite side from where Fumiko sat as Edward replied, "Yes please."

Fumiko grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured coffee into it from the coffee cup. She took the cup for Edward and hers and went back to the table, placing Edward's cup in front of him. He took the cup and took a small sip of the steaming, hot coffee. "Thank you."

"It's nice to see you two. So why the sudden urge to visit?"

Edward finished his sip of coffee and replied, "I thought it would be nice to see Aria after such a long time and I wanted to check out your town's library.""What about our library? You think your going to find something one the Philosopher's Stone?"

Edward silently gulped, "Um…yeah….""Well I and Aria are the only alchemists in town. But I never go to the library so they could have something.""Do YOU know anything about it?"

"Nope sorry kiddo. All I can say it's some pretty risky business from what I've heard from."

"No kidding. And we barely have any answers. We just keep ending up with more questions about it."

"I'm sure something will pop up on your journey.""I hope so…"Fumiko's face started to become more serious as she talked to them, "I also heard about your little situation with your human transmutation." Edward gulped once again and spoke nervously, "You heard from Aria?"

"No. From Roy."

"God damn him…" Edward swore under his breath.

"Anyways, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm not going to scold you. You have enough on your plate. You along with Aria."

Edward looked back at her curiously as Alphonse interrupted asking, "We never really got her to tell us what happened to her. What happened?"

Fumiko sighed with solemn stretching over her face.

"Have you two ever heard of that alchemist who murdered many people by experimenting on them with alchemy?"

Edward answered seriously, "Yes. His name was Ian Smith Right?"

"Yep, he's the one. Anyways, he disguised his self as some General, Richard Sanders, and for a while worked with Aria's parents who were state alchemists.""So does that mean…." Alphonse added.

"That's right, he's the one who killed Aria's parents."

Both the boys were surprised and now curious to find out the rest of this tragedy.

"How did he do it? And when?" Edward asked.

"I wasn't there but poor Aria was…she saw the whole thing and remembers exactly what happened. From what I heard from her and Roy, Ian turned both of her parents into chimeras. And this was sometime after they had left after seeing you 2 and your mother apparently."

Horror shone itself in Edward's eyes as he comprehended this, "That would explain why she never replied to my letters for a long time…"

"Exactly. Ian got away with it too."

"What?! How?!" Edward exclaimed.

"He left before the military arrived. Before they were transformed, her parents managed to get in touch with the military police. But they were too late…all that was left was a sobbing and terrified Aria and her dead father's chimera body. There wasn't even a trace to track him with and they're still looking for him. We don't know about her mother, but her father could not take the transformation and it killed him. We don't even know if Aria's mother is still alive or dead. If she's alive, she must still be a chimera."

Edward slowly calmed down as he listened, but anger started to surge through him as many thoughts crossed his mind.

"How…could someone do this….?" Alphonse said with sadness in his tone.

"The man was crazy." Fumiko answered.

"So is that when Colonel Mustang took her in?"

"Yep. She was about 6 and stayed with him for until she was 8. Then I took her into my care seeing she was old enough to train under my standards now. I've had to help her learn about her traditional alchemy which has not been too easy since she's not my blood relative. But she's been a fast learner and mostly learning her own alchemy with me training her in fighting. I hope it's just enough to prepare her…"Edward curiously asked, "….prepare her for what?"

Fumiko sighed deeper and answered the saddening question, "Ian could come back for her anytime. He has unfinished business with her and he's not weak. Even I might not be enough to keep him from her."

"What does he want with her?!" Edward continued with his questions.

"She holds some very powerful blood and power inside of her, the affect of her family's alchemy. The whole reason he disguised himself to get to them. He wanted her power. And he still does."Edward looked back at her worrying. This was too much. So much had happened to her and they never knew. Until now, at least.

Fumiko stood up from her seat and stared back at the brothers.

"Well, now you know. What are you going to do?"

They didn't answer, they didn't know how to handle something like that. Now the question was, do they stay and protect her or do they act like they never found out what happened. To them, the answer to that question was obvious. But…how?

Fumiko faintly smiled, "If you want, you could help. But please try not to talk to her about it. It still haunts her to this day and I don't want her to be hurt like that ever again."

Suddenly, Edward rapidly stood up from his chair, "I'm going to the town."

Alphonse stood up next, "Let me come with you brother."

"No Al, you stay here. I'll only be a little bit."

Edward stomped out of the house and quickly made his way into town. He needed to blow off some steam.

"I can tell your brother really cares about Aria." Fumiko said to Alphonse.

He replied, "He doesn't want to admit it but I'm sure he does. I bet what he wants most right now is her…"

"Then why doesn't he take her with you guys? I'm sure Aria would love to journey with you guys."

"He's afraid of putting her in danger and hurting her, I can tell. He doesn't want to get her mixed up in our mess. But even I don't think that would be the case, Aria could probably handle herself."

"She can. Maybe he'll learn that before you 2 leave. But I think Edward needs Aria right now just as much as she needs him."

"He's too afraid he'll rub it in my face….since I'm not human right now….but I don't mind. I just want by brother to be happy…"

"He'll learn. I just hope he won't learn too late…"

"I'm just afraid he's going to do something stupid…"

When I touched your heart…I yearned for you. I love you…more than anyone.

I want to protect you…but how can I do that…

When I'm caught up in my own sins?

"Aria, this man is Richard Sanders. He's going to be staying with us for work." Tamera informed her daughter. She stared up at the man her parent's stood by, introducing him. He was a tall man with a glasses, white hair, and clear blue eyes. He smiled back at Aria who looked back at him with curiosity.

"It's nice to meet you Aria." He said through his smile. She nodded her head then looked back to her mother, "I'm going to go write a letter to Ed now."

Her mother looked back her, "But we just got back from seeing them. Don't you think it's a little soon?"

"It's never too soon mommy."

"Ha ha ok. Go ahead and I'll call you when dinner is ready."

"Ok!" Aria yelled back as she ran up to her room to start her first letter to Edward.

And so on…

So far in the year, Richard stayed with the family and helped them study and continue their research on alchemy. During that period of time, Aria's parents had also begun to teach Aria their family's alchemy.

Aria stood outside with her parent's as her mother prepared her alchemy. She looked as her mother gracefully begun to activate the transmutation circle's in her palms.

"Mommy?"

"Yes dear?"

"Why do we not have last names like everyone else?"

"Because you, I, and your father have mysterious powers with alchemy. I and your father are important assets to the military just like our family always has. It's only a way to keep us safe, that's all. Were all a family, even though we have no last name's to bind us."

"Oh…can I have one?"

"When you find that special person you want to be with, you will be given their last name. You do not have to carry our burden of being in the military, you are free to do what you want when you get older."

"Is this why I don't have a grandma or grandpa? Or uncle and aunt?"

"Yes, most of our family has sacrificed their selves to their own reasons. We are all that's left."

Then, a dim light shone from her mother's palms, "Are you ready Aria?"

Aria bit her bottom lip and nodded her head. There was nothing to be worried about, or nothing to hurt her, it was just….different.

Tamera took both her hands and Aria's hands and pressed their palms together, lacing their fingers. Then she softly placed her forehead on Aria as they both closed their eyes. A great, bright, light shone from both their hands, then is dispersed. They slowly separated and looked at each other calmly; Aria looked down at her palms where a small transmutation circle dimly shined, then faded into her skin. She smiled and looked back at her mother who smiled back at her.

"Just like I explained, whenever you use alchemy, these transmutation circles will appear on your palms. But there is one thing I forgot to mention…"Aria looked back at her, puzzled.

"What is it mommy?"

"Your power is very strong. But it will always be at it's strongest when you are reunited with the person you love."

"You mean like you or daddy?"

Her mother shook her head, "Not exactly. I am talking about the person just for you. The one whom you will love the most and be together with." She took her daughter's hands and repeated the position they were in while they used the alchemy.

"When you are united with that special person, like this, you can use your alchemy to your full extent. This will also help them be stronger as well."

She separated once again from her and then hugged her, "You will find out who that person just for you is. Then you will be very happy with them always. They will fight with you and stay by you forever."

Later on, as Aria trained with her parents while they worked with Richard. Soon enough he had become part of the family. Aria enjoyed being around them all while they worked and helped her learn alchemy. She was about 6 years old now.

Aria ran around the yard surrounding her house. She was making her way to the small house in the back of the yard that was used as her parent's and Richard's research area. When she got to the house, she was met by Richard who stood outside the small house by himself.

"Richard! Have you seen Mommy and Daddy? I made a new letter for Ed and I need them to send it to him."

Richard continued to stand there, very still. He looked down at the ground with no expression on his face. He slowly lifted his head to look down at Aria who looked back at him with confusion.

"Richard…are you ok?"

Slowly, a grin stretched across his face. It almost looked demonic. "Yes. I'm quite fine Aria. If you follow me, I'll take you to your parents."

"Oh good! Thank you!"

"Follow me."Richard turned and opened the door to the small house. Aria looked inside and strangely, it was very dark with a dim red light shining from the back of it. He walked inside with Aria following after him.

"Why is it so dark in here Richard?"

"It's better for our research."

"Oh."

Soon, they were in a small room where the red light was shining from. She walked around the tall man and stood in front of him. She quickly ran back behind him as she was startled by 2 large beasts that quietly stood by the back wall. They were very tall and large, they looked like as if they were two large lions. One had gold fur while the other had brown fur. They didn't do anything but sit there and stare back at Aria with their eyes which seemed familiar to her. They both wore large collars on their necks with leashes hanging off them.

Richard walked toward the two beasts and grabbed the leash of the one with gold fur.

"There's no need to be scared Aria, these are just 2 chimera that I created today. They're friendly."

Aria continued to stand still with fear.

"You can pet them if you want. Go ahead."

Aria hesitated but slowly walked up to the one with gold fur as the other chimera watched. She lifted her quivering hand and set it on the chimera's head. She looked into it's clear green eyes as they stared back into her hazel eyes. Then, the chimera closed it's eyes and placed it's forehead against Aria's. It opened it's eyes once again and looked deeper into Aria's.

Aria's eyes widened with horror as Richard noticed she did. She stepped back a little and looked at the other chimera with hazel eyes. It stared back at her, but this one seemed to be in a lot of pain. She started to step back as a horrifying expression stretched over her face. Tears started to well up in her eyes and ran down her small cheeks.

"M-m-mommy…?! D-daddy?!"

Richard changed the expression on his face from calm to furious. He reached out his arm to grab Aria when suddenly, the chimera not being held by it's leash, jumped out at Richard's arm and he bared his teeth. He quickly sunk his teeth into his arm as he paused, both he and Aria watched the blood run down from his arm onto the ground.

Then, horrifyingly, the chimera ripped of his right arm and dropped it to the ground. He yelled out in extreme pain as he used his other hand punch the other chimera out of the way. It slammed into the back wall from where it stood before. Still in pain, it used all the strength it could to stand back up and fight.

This sight was to much for Aria, she stumbled back and fell onto her tailbone as she watched in horror of what had just happened. She continued to cry, but she could not scream. She was frozen with terror as she whimpered under her tears and breath.

Just right when the chimera was about to jump on Richard again, he was pushed away by Richard's fist. As Aria watched, the other chimera with gold fur walked up to Aria and placed her forehead to hers once more. This time, a light flashed and everything went black.

"Little one…little one…wake up."

Aria opened her heavy eyes to see a strange man in a military uniform looking back at her. He held her in his arms like he was cradling her; she quickly opened her eyes all the way and sat up to look around. They were outside the small research house by her family's house. The place was surrounded by other military officers, they all gathered in the yard and in and out of the small house. She looked back at the man who held her as he was still looking at her with sympathy. He was a tall man with raven black hair and deep black eyes; in front of his face was a shock of hair.

"Are you ok Aria?"

"Wh-who are you?"

"I was a good friend of your parents. My name is Roy Mustang."

Aria rapidly realized what was going on as memories from before slipped into her head. She struggled until Roy finally put her down. She ran into the small house as Roy watched her. His eyes showed that he was sad, but his expression remained solemn. A woman with short blonde hair and piercing brown eyes walked up to his side.

"Will she be ok sir?"

"I'm not sure Hawkeye. This is too much for such a young girl."

Hawkeye looked to the direction he looked to, "This is like what happened to the Elrics."

"They are all too young." Roy added.

Aria ran into the small house into the back of the room it had. She ran past all the officers until she arrived in the room. Everyone else had left to give her some privacy.

She looked across the room to see one of the chimera's from before laying on the ground. It was the brown-furred one, her father.

She walked up to the corpse of the chimera that once used to be her father. She knelt by him and placed her hand on it. She began to cry wildly, screaming out and burying her face in her arms onto her father. Beside her father's chimera corpse, the whole crime scene gad seemed to vanish, along with her mother. The blood and amputated arm were gone, along with a lot of the many papers that filled the corners of the room.

"Why?!! Why did this happen?! Don't leave me!!!"

Roy and Riza watched from the back entrance of the room. They stood quietly as Aria cried continuously.

In my solemn hour…

I wish to hold your heart close to mine…

So that I will never be lonely again…

Where are you?