Chapter 4: New Beginnings

Twelve Years Ago
Central City Warehouse District
Raid on Morishita's Laboratory

Dr. Morishita's face made the abrupt acquaintance of the surface of a laboratory worktable, and was held firmly in place by a gloved hand gripping the back of his neck and the barrel of a revolver pressed against his forehead.

"I strongly suggest you start talking, Doctor," growled Roy, the owner of the hand. "Tell us where the girls are!"

"Like I told the other soldier, they were in the basement!" whined the alchemist. The right half of his face was scrunched against the lab table, propping his thick glasses askew. "I don't know where they are now." He sounded generally distressed at the loss of his test subjects.

"We know someone took them. Who are you working with? Where would they have gone?!" demanded Riza, the owner of the gun. She cocked it for emphasis, causing Morishita to flinch at the sound.

"There's no one here but me!" he insisted. "They may have gotten out on their own. They're normally secured, but then you people barged in here and ruined everything—" He gulped as the pressure from the hand on his neck and the gun to his head became more forceful.

"'Secured!'" spat Riza. Her voice held icy menace. "What exactly did you do to those children, Doctor?"

"I didn't harm them," he countered stubbornly. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I made them stronger, smarter. Gave them all sorts of wonderful abilities." Despite his predicament, the man was grinning with perverse pride. "If you let me up, I'll show you."

Above his head, Roy and Riza's eyes met. Morishita was clearly insane, and neither wanted to trust him, but they needed any information he could give them. "I promise to behave," the man added plaintively. "I can't do anything like this, after all." He gestured with his hands, bound at the wrist with handcuffs inscribed with transmutation circles that would negate any alchemy he might try to perform.

Riza nodded in agreement to Roy, and he let the man up slowly, keeping one hand poised to snap flame at him if he tried anything, while she kept her gun trained at his head. Morishita straightened his white lab coat and adjusted his glasses, then took a few steps across the room and pressed one bound hand against a recess in the wall. With a click, a section of the wall swung open, revealing a hidden room full of cages containing animals of all shapes and sizes.

"You see," purred the alchemist. "All of nature—and more—lies under the command of alchemy. These creatures have strength and senses far beyond those of mere humans. From these animals came the abilities I gave my test subjects." He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he flashed a leering grin. "Don't you see? I gave them wonderful gifts!"

Present Day
Central City Residential District

"Alexander, fetch!" Nina called, throwing a red rubber ball to her dog. Alexander, somewhat hazy on the concept of fetching, picked up the ball in his mouth and joyfully bolted in the opposite direction from the four-year-old girl, who chased after him across the backyard, giggling.

"He has her well-trained," Kayla observed from her seat on the back step, taking a sip from her mug of tea.

"So cute…" murmured Brooke over her own mug, sitting next to Kayla on the step. "I wish I had an adorable little sister. She even came with her own dog!"

"That's not a dog, that is a bulldozer with four legs," Kayla griped good-naturedly. "The only reason he hasn't tried to run you over is because he's afraid of you, Miss Big Bad Wolf," she added with a mischievous smirk.

"What? That can't be right! Hey Alexander, come here!" Brooke protested, motioning for the dog to approach. Alexander froze and stared at her with eyes wide in fear, then gave a submissive "yip" and retreated to the other side of the yard. "Oh, how embarrassing," she muttered.

"At least your animal side is something cool. Nobody's intimidated by birds," Kayla sighed. She paused, noticing that Nina had stopped chasing Alexander and was standing in front of the older girls, staring curiously. "What is it, Nina?"

She broke into a shy smile. "Um, why do you both have…" She trailed off and pointed toward her neck.

"Our automail collars?" asked Brooke. The young girl nodded. "They help us make sounds when we talk. Otherwise no one would be able to hear us."

"Watch this," added Kayla, unfastening her collar. She continued speaking, her lips moving normally but no sound coming out: Now you can't hear me, see?

Nina cocked her head at Kayla, her expression confused. "I can still hear you," she countered.

Kayla and Brooke's eyes met in surprise. "Wait a minute…" said Brooke. If we talk like this, you can hear us? she finished the sentence silently, which normally only Kayla would be able to hear. Nina nodded slowly, pointing at her head.

The older girls broke into delighted grins. "She's just like us! This proves that we're connected somehow!" Kayla declared excitedly. "Hey Nina, can you try to talk to us that way? Think of something you want us to hear, but don't say it out loud. OK?"

The little girl nodded again. Several moments of unbroken silence elapsed. "Keep trying," encouraged Brooke. "It probably takes practice."

Nina's small brow furled in concentration as another minute went by. Finally, both older girls heard a tiny voice in their heads: Will you play with me?

"Yay!" Kayla and Brooke cheered together and gave the little girl hugs. I mean, yay! Brooke added silently with a laugh.

We don't have time to play right now because we have a test today, but we'll play later, OK? added Kayla. And oh! It has to be a secret that we can talk this way. Mom and Dad can know, but nobody else, got it?

Nina nodded with a grin. OK! I'll play with Alexander until later. She bounded off to rejoin her dog in the middle of the yard, retrieved the rubber ball, and threw it to him. Fetch, Alexander!

"I don't think he can hear you like that," Brooke laughed.

But the four-year-old was off in her own world, chattering nonstop as she ran around the yard after her dog. This is fun! I like to play! Alexander is so cute! Let's all play later! She segued into a nonsensical nursery rhyme, the silent words ringing loudly inside their heads.

As the song continued on and on, Kayla rubbed her forehead. "OK, I'm starting to think this may not have been the greatest idea," she observed to Brooke, who nodded regretfully.

-o-o-o-o-

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the four parents were having a meeting over coffee.

"I did everything I could to find an exemption, but I don't see any way around it," sighed Raven. "It applies to all home-schooled children. They won't be able to graduate unless they complete a 40-hour internship with the military—period."

"Surely there's a religious exception or something," Vincent countered. "Can we say we're pacifists?" But Raven was shaking her head.

"Even if we could, that would put us on the military's radar," Lavinia pointed out. "We could find ourselves under suspicion for anti-government activities, which would be even worse."

Raven ran her fingers through her long black hair. "The girls are going to have to do this, one way or another. Our best bet is to try to find them an assignment that keeps them out of Central Command and exposes them to as few soldiers as possible. That will minimize the chance of someone figuring out who they are."

"Well, both of our families have relatives in the military," Vincent acknowledged. "We can try to work something out with Maes, but I'm not sure what to tell him. Rick, is there a chance your brother could help us instead?"

Rick frowned. "That might not be a good idea. Command has never really trusted him since Ishval, and they keep him on a tight leash. If he tries to intervene on the girls' behalf it might attract more attention, not less."

Lavinia scowled. "It's disgraceful. To be treated like that just because he refused to kill civilians!" The other adults nodded gravely.

A long, discouraged silence elapsed. "I guess it's down to Maes, then," Vincent sighed. "We'll just have to talk him into it."

-o-o-o-o-

Back at Central Command, a folder full of papers landed on Roy's desk with a thump. Above the desk stood a scowling Edward, arms folded over his chest. "There's our translation of Tucker's research notes, Bastard. Can we go look for Nina now?" Next to Ed stood the armored form of his younger brother Al, his smile embarrassed yet hopeful.

"Not so fast," Roy replied, picking up the folder and sighing as its haphazardly stacked papers spilled out. "First give me a verbal report of what you found."

Ed rolled his eyes, his scowl deepening. "Fine. He talks about three different kinds of alchemy: There's the regular kind like we use in Amestris. There's alkahestry, which is what they use in Xing, mostly for healing the human body. Then there's something called azothestry, which is all about capturing the power of animals. It's a lost art from ancient Xerxes that Tucker was trying to resurrect, and that's what most of his notes are about."

"OK," Roy nodded. "Go on."

Ed sighed, beginning to relax as he continued talking; despite his impatience he had found the research genuinely interesting. "Well, he mentions the Philosopher's Stone in passing—he calls it the pinnacle of regular alchemy, like you'd expect. But he spends most of his time talking about 'Animal Stones,' which are the pinnacle of azothestry. He thinks they could be even more powerful than the Philosopher's Stone if they could be harnessed."

Al chimed in, "We're not sure whether this next part is meant to be taken literally, or if it's some kind of symbolic code. He says that the Animal Stones aren't actual stones, but living animals that appear in our world once every 100 years. There are four of them: a dragon, a fenris wolf, a blue phoenix and a gold phoenix. He also calls them Guardian Animals."

Roy considered the boys' words. "And Tucker was working on capturing the power of these animals?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah, that's what it sounds like. There's a lot of information about how to use this azothestry stuff to create chimeras." His face collapsed in a frown. "But nothing about how to return one to being a normal human."

"That doesn't surprise me." Roy stared down at the papers in his hands, his expression dark. "I was hoping there would be something new here. But everything you've told me is almost identical to a case my team worked on twelve years ago."

"Wait a minute!" Ed protested. "Are you telling me that you knew all this stuff already? We wasted all that time for nothing when we should have been out looking for Nina?!" The teenager was gritting his teeth, his hands balled into fists.

Roy was holding up his hand. "Calm down, Fullmetal. You haven't heard my report yet." He propped his elbows on the desk and sat back, breaking into a smile. "Nina's been found, and she's fine. We're not sure how, but she's no longer a chimera."

"WHAT?!" both brothers exclaimed, their words tumbling over one another in their excitement. "Where is she?!" "Who found her?" "Does Grand know?" "How could that happen?!" "You're sure she's fine?" "When can we see her?!"

"Stop, both of you! One at a time. And keep your voices down." The boys quieted, staring at Roy expectantly. "Nina and her dog were found by a civilian—they were already separated at that point, apparently," Roy continued. "The civilian's family has agreed to take care of her and keep her hidden. Grand and the rest of the military don't know, and we're going to keep it that way. That means no visitors, not even you two—I mean it, Fullmetal," he cut off the boy's protests before they began again. "For her protection and the family's. That's an order. Got it?"

"We understand, Colonel," Al interjected. "Don't we, Brother?" he elbowed Ed gently in the ribs and gave him a meaningful look.

Ed was clearly livid. "I guess you're not giving us a choice," he scowled at Roy, "and you're telling us we have to take your word that she's OK." Then he slammed his hands down on the desk as he leaned forward, staring angrily. "Wait a minute—why the hell didn't you tell us the news about Nina first?!"

"Because if I had, I never would have gotten your report," Roy answered, wearing the placid smirk of an untroubled conscience. Behind the boys, Riza appeared at his office door. "What is it, Lieutenant?" he inquired, cutting off Ed's next rant.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is here to see you," she answered crisply.

"Excellent. You boys are dismissed." Roy began to stack the papers neatly and replace them in their folder, paying Ed and Al no further attention.

"Wait a minute! We're not done here—" Ed protested, not moving.

"Come on, Brother," Al pulled at Ed's arm to get him to leave, flashing him another meaningful look. Only then did Ed reluctantly allow himself to be ushered out, still scowling at Roy.

"Hey there, boys!" Hughes greeted Ed and Al cheerfully as they passed one another in the outer office. Al returned the greeting while Ed silently fumed behind crossed arms, watching as Hughes disappeared into Roy's office with Riza following and closing the door behind them.

-o-o-o-o-

"You see Brother, this is much easier than trying to argue with the Colonel," Al whispered to Ed a few minutes later. Ed grinned in approval. Both boys had their heads cocked toward a hastily-transmuted megaphone attached to a pipe in the floor of the supply closet they occupied, which led into the ceiling of Roy's office one floor below. The adults' voices were slightly muffled, but the brothers were able to hear them clearly enough.

"—told me she's adjusting just fine," Hughes was saying. "But they could use a few things, like we talked about."

"I've already picked up some clothes and shoes that should fit her," Hawkeye replied. "And a few other items that might be useful. A hairbrush, some books, a couple of dolls…is something funny, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes?"

"I just never pictured you as the maternal type, Hawkeye. Your instincts are being wasted in the military! You really ought to find yourself a husband, start a family—"

"Hughes," Roy cut him off abruptly. "That's enough. The Lieutenant will give you the clothes and other items to take with you. If there's nothing else…?"

"Fine, fine," Hughes conceded cheerfully. "I'll stop by my brother's tonight and give you a report on Nina in the morning." There was the sound of a door opening. "Oh Lieutenant, I don't suppose you happened to pick up any dog food…" The voices dwindled out of the boys' hearing range.

Ed clapped his hands, and with a glow of blue light, the megaphone melted into the floor. "Hughes is going to see Nina tonight, Al!" he declared excitedly. "And we're going with him." Al nodded determinedly.

-o-o-o-o-

The sun was setting as Hughes pulled his car away from Central Command and onto the road. He hummed absently to himself as he drove, a box full of children's clothes and toys on the passenger seat beside him. A smile crossed his lips as he pictured the usually stern and humorless Hawkeye shopping for little girls' dresses. She definitely had a soft side, no matter what Roy thought. If his friend had any sense he would definitely—

His thoughts were interrupted as he drove over a bump in the road and the bottom of the car scraped noisily against it. It had been driving oddly ever since he'd left work, feeling strangely weighted down. Maybe the suspension needed to be fixed; frowning, he made a mental note to get it checked over the weekend as he pulled up to his brother's house and parked the car.

He was halfway up the front walkway when, from behind him, he heard the noisy slam of his car's trunk opening followed by a clanking noise that sounded suspiciously like Alphonse Elric's armor. "Oh no," he murmured as he froze in place. "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is." Slowly, he turned around to face the scene.

Sure enough, before him stood the Elric brothers, Al standing with his hands clasped apologetically while Ed nonchalantly brushed off the sleeves of his red coat. "Hey, Hughes!" Ed barked, folding his arms over his chest. "We're here to see Nina, and we're not taking no for an answer!"

Hughes' shoulders slumped in anticipation of the hell Roy was going to give him for this tomorrow, and he let out a long sigh. "All right, I guess what's done is done," he grumbled. He turned and resumed walking up the walkway, motioning for the boys to follow. "You two might as well come on in. I'll introduce you to my brother's family."

-o-o-o-o-

"BIG BROTHERS!" Nina squealed as soon she saw Ed and Al, and took off in a run toward them. Undecided who to hug first, she attempted to throw her small arms around both of them at once, an effort made even more comically impossible due to Al's size. Her dilemma was solved when Alexander bounded joyfully after them and plowed Ed to the ground, at which point Al scooped the little girl up and planted her on his shoulders as she giggled loudly.

By now Ed had managed to sit up and was scratching the dog's head affectionately. "You stupid mutt, I'm even glad to see you right now," the boy chuckled, fighting back tears of relief and happiness. He'd done plenty of crying over what had happened to Nina, but he didn't want to lose his composure in front of this houseful of strangers. Who were all, he realized suddenly, staring in bewilderment at the bizarre spectacle the brothers were creating. Ed felt his face redden as he quickly pushed himself up from the floor.

"I've got to hand it to you boys, you know how to make an entrance," Hughes observed drily. He quickly introduced them to the house's occupants: Hughes' brother Vincent, whom Ed noted bore an uncanny resemblance to Hughes himself; Vincent's wife Lavinia; their teenage daughter Kayla; and Kayla's friend Brooke.

The two older girls were studying the boys with shy curiosity. "Nina told us about her 'big brothers,'" volunteered Kayla, a slim girl with bright auburn hair wearing a sweater and a long flowered skirt. Her voice had a subtle metallic edge; Ed noted that both she and Brooke wore automail speaking devices of some sort. "But she didn't seem to know who you two were exactly, and based on her description…" Kayla trailed off as her eyes flickered toward Al's armored bulk, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"We thought you were imaginary friends," Brooke concluded with a smirk. She was a few inches taller than Kayla, with broader shoulders and short brown hair, wearing jeans and an untucked button-down shirt, and seemed less shy than her friend.

Al laughed as Ed broke into a smile. "Well I guess if you'd never met us, we would sound kind of unbelievable," Al admitted. An awkward silence followed; to dispel it, he began to playfully teeter Nina back and forth on his shoulders, eliciting a renewed round of giggles.

Ed turned to Vincent and Lavinia. "We can't thank you enough for protecting Nina. After what her father did to her—" Hughes interrupted him with a cough and a warning look; evidently he didn't want to discuss the whole story. "Uh, anyway, we're just so relieved that she's safe," Ed finished.

"It's our pleasure, Edward," Lavinia answered with a smile. "Nina is part of our family now. Why don't you boys make yourselves comfortable and visit with her for awhile? I've got some lemonade in the fridge." She began to withdraw to the kitchen.

"Um, thank you Mrs. Hughes, but please don't pour one for me," Al called politely. Lavinia's gaze swept curiously over Al's armored form, but she nodded and asked no questions.

Vincent clapped his hand on Hughes' shoulder. "Maes, do you mind following us into the kitchen? There's something we need to ask you."

-o-o-o-o-

At the kitchen table some minutes later, Hughes took a generous swallow of lemonade before setting down his glass. "It's not exactly a problem, but I wish you'd tell me why. An internship at Central Command is perfectly safe, even for girls their age."

Vincent and Lavinia smiled tactfully over their own glasses. "Trust me, Maes, you'll feel differently when Elysia turns fifteen. You won't want to let her out of your sight around that many athletic young men either," Vincent countered.

Seeing Hughes frown, Lavinia added hastily, "We're not insinuating that the military would let its soldiers behave inappropriately! I'm sure they're all perfect gentlemen, at least when they're on duty. But these girls have been home-schooled their whole lives, and they're sheltered. We just don't think they're ready to be thrown into that environment right away." Their excuses sounded lame and overprotective, but they couldn't take the risk of telling Vincent's brother the truth. It wasn't that they didn't trust him—especially after watching him act without hesitation to protect Nina from the rest of military—but the more people who knew their secrets, the more dangerous it would become for everyone involved.

Hughes pushed up his glasses, still frowning. "You can't shelter those girls forever, you know. They're going to have to learn to fend for themselves someday."

"Someday," Vincent conceded. "But they just need a little more time." He hesitated, then smiled again and played their trump card. "Besides…you owe us a favor for Nina."

Hughes rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. "You really know how to fight dirty, don't you? OK, fine. I'll see what I can do." He drained the last of his lemonade, then stood up. "Just promise me you won't try to keep the girls locked away forever, OK? Having automail doesn't make them helpless. Hell, look at the Elric brothers." He gestured back toward the living room, where playful shouts from the boys were alternating with Nina's giggles. "You wouldn't know it to look at them, but those two are more mature and responsible than half the soldiers in my division." He paused, his gaze wandering thoughtfully in the brothers' direction. "Actually, that gives me an idea." He turned and strode back into the living room. Curious, the other adults followed.

Nina was perched on Ed's shoulders as he trotted around the living room in leisurely pursuit of Al, who was lumbering in a circle making roaring noises. "We're catching up to the dragon, Nina! Get ready to slay him!" Ed grinned while Nina shrieked with laughter. Kayla and Brooke were perched on the staircase, chuckling at the boys' antics.

Hughes waited patiently for Nina to finish "slaying" Al before interrupting. "Boys," he began, clapping them on the shoulders, "I think you'll both agree that you owe me a big favor for bringing you here."

Al nodded. "Of course we do, Lieutenant Colonel!"

"…OK," Ed added more cautiously, squinting suspiciously at Hughes.

"And I know how you're going to pay it back." Hughes inclined his head toward Kayla and Brooke and grinned. "For the next week, these young ladies are going to be your interns. Take them with you in the field—somewhere outside of Central Command—and find them something to do." On the staircase, the girls' eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait, what?" Ed objected. "We can't do something like that!"

"Sure you can. I'll clear it with your commanding officer."

"But we don't have time!" the blond boy protested. "We're usually traveling, and we do a lot of stuff that's dangerous—"

"You also do a lot of boring library research and inspections right here in Central City. Make the time. Unless," Hughes raised his eyebrows and smiled diabolically, "you'd like me to tell Colonel Mustang how you violated his orders and came here? I'm sure he'll think of lots of interesting jobs for you to do when he hears about that."

"Do we get a say in this?" Brooke protested.

"No," Lavinia and Vincent answered in unison.

"This is ridiculous!" Ed fumed.

"Brother, let's not be rude," interjected Al quietly.

Ed turned to the girls, who were both glaring at him. "Nothing personal," he added while Al smiled in embarrassment. "It's just, we have things to do."

Over Hughes' shoulder, Vincent coughed. "Mature and responsible, you say?" he murmured as Hughes made a face.

But then a smile stole over his features. "What do you think, Nina?" Hughes asked innocently as he turned to the four-year-old girl. "Don't you think your big brothers and big sisters should all get along?"

"Oh, that's just blackmail," Kayla muttered under her breath. Beside her, Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Yay! Let's all play together!" Nina responded happily, hopping up and down a little in her enthusiasm as she looked back and forth appealingly between the two pairs of teenagers. Over her head, Ed and Al's eyes met, the older brother fuming while the younger one shrugged uncertainly.

"Fine!" Ed threw up his hands and sighed. "I guess if we have to do this, we have to do this."

"Great! Then it's all set," Hughes gushed as he clapped the boys on the shoulders once more and grinned, cheerfully ignoring the fact that besides himself and Nina, no one in the room looked even remotely happy.