The next day outside Mustang's office

"Keep your voice down, Al." Ed had his ear pressed against the door of the Colonels office and was listening hard to what he was saying to the new state alchemist.

"Hear anything good?" Al whispered.

"Only fragments of sentences."

"What do you think they're doing?"

"Mustang's probably giving him the file with his new alchemists nickname." Ed tried to listen harder and talk softer. "And giving him the overview of what of what to expect in life as a state alchemist."

"What?"

"I said Mustang's probably," he stopped. The sound of footsteps could be heard from inside the room. Edward pulled back from the door as if it had shocked him. Quickly he pushed his confused brother down the hall and behind a corner.

"That was close!" Ed squeaked as if he swallowed helium.

"Just remember that was your idea." Al peaked out his head from behind the wall. They youth stood outside the Colonels door holding a small stack of papers. After taking another look at it, he turned and walked toward them. A little nervous Al zipped back behind the corner.

"He's coming this way, Brother!"

Ed straightened up and at least tried to pretend his heart rate was normal.

"Ok, then lets see if we can make a new friend."

"I'll be right behind you to hold you back if he makes any 'short' comments."

"Haha."

The brothers went around the corner together and were almost face to face with the new alchemist.

"Oh, hello." He said.

"Hi there." Al said politely.

"So, where you off to? Maybe we could help ya get there." Ed offered.

The wild-haired teen didn't respond, instead he looked them over carefully.

"Blonde hair, red coat and a suit of armor, I'll presume you two are the Elric brothers. Which one of you is the Fullmetal alchemist?"

Puffing out his chest with pride Ed pushed his brother aside to be in the spotlight.

"That my friend would be me! Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." He said in such a way to make sure the importance of his title was obvious.

"Pleasure to meet ya."

There was a short pause, and jumping to conclusions (no surprises there) Ed snapped.

"YOU'RE TAKING A QUIET TIME SO YOU CAN MENTALLY INSULT ME ABOUT MY HEIGHT AREN'T YOU! I'll bet you're thinking 'Oh the infamous Fullmetal alchemist is such a pipsqueak, what's next?' WELL I MAY BE UNDER TALL BUT I STILL CAN KICK SOME SERIOUS BUTT!"

"Brother! Take it easy!" as usual Al grabbed his brother from under the arms to keep him from going over crazy.

"Um, I wasn't going to say anything about your height." Ed stopped flinging around. "I was just waiting for the big guy to introduce himself."

Al let go of Edward who was going as red as his coat.

"Oh sorry, I'm Alphonse Elric, Ed's younger brother."

"Pleasure to meet you too."

Ed breathed a serious sigh of relief that he didn't hear anything like, 'shouldn't it be the other way around?'

"There's been something I wanted to ask you." Said Al, hoping he wouldn't sound rude. "How exactly do you say your name? I've seen it spelled before so is it Chant-ih-clee-ear?"

Much to Al's surprise and slight embarrassment, he laughed.

"Oh, boy! I haven't heard anyone mess it up that awful in a long time! No, no, it's said Shaunt-ih-clear. But don't feel too bad, I think I have yet to meet a person who's gotten it right the first time."

"Hey, well, ya know, I," Al stuttered.

"Don't worry about it." Chanticleer told him.

"So what dorm are you staying in?" Edward managed to wriggle his way back into the conversation. "Let me see your file and I might know how to get ya there."

Chanticleer gave it to him without question. He was really glad that he had met someone so friendly and helpful so quickly.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Al was looking over Ed's shoulder. "He's in the room across from us!"

"Well that works out just fine don't it?" Ed smiled, 'up' at the new alchemist. "If you want we can take you there right now."

"You'd do that?" Chanticleer said, now excited.

"Of course, Al and I are always on the lookout for new friends since we have so few here. By the looks of you could use a few pals as well, Dawn."

Blue eyes stared at him from behind untidy hair.

"How . . .?"

"I read it when you handed me the file. I guess I should give you a proper greeting then."

Ed extended his automail arm.

"I'm Edward Elric, it's a pleasure to meet you, Chanticleer Ranora, the Dawn Alchemist."

The Dawn looked at Ed's outstretched arm, then into his eyes. He swallowed hard and shook Edwards' hand firmly.

"It's an honor to meet you, Fullmetal."

Al watched the whole thing in silence. Somehow this sort of kindness was something the young man needed. Al felt as if there was a secret behind him, something pushing him forward, just like how he and his brother searched for the Philosophers stone. And yet, he was so humble, this new respect was something he'd obviously never previously received. He didn't feel as if he deserved it, he didn't even seem to expect it. A mystery lay hidden in the past of this person, one day Al hoped he could learn what it could possibly be.

Five days later


Edward woke up a little earlier than usual, looked at the clock then rolled on his back. While concentrating on keeping the Sandman at a fair distance, a loud noise made him jump high enough to check the wattage on a light bulb.

"COCKADOO!"

"What was that!" Alphonse sat straight up and looked around confused.

Ed didn't answer. His heart rate mimicked that of a scared rabbit and heavy breathing interfered with his speech.

"What the heck does he think he's doin'?" he panted after a moment of deep breaths.

"Cockadoo!"

"Oh come on!" Ed yanked the sheets back and stomped to the door.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna go give that early bird a piece of my mind!" Ed growled, he didn't even bother closing the door behind him. Trudging across the hallway he pounded on Chanticleer's door once and flung it open.

"Could you show some respect for people sleeping?" Ed snapped, still a little groggy.

Chanticleer had his window open and was sitting on the ledge with one leg over the side. Outside, shadows were being eaten by the suns morning glow.

"Oh hi, Ed. Lovely mornin' ain't it?"

"Whatever you say. Is there any way you can make it go back down?" the Fullmetal said with a harsh scowl.

"Sorry I can't but it was gonna come up in about twenty minutes anyway! And I've got the fidgets!"

"Why couldn't you wait!"

"Mustang wanted to show me something for an assignment but we needed natural light. Twenty minutes became too much to bear so I brought in natural light to get the day started."

"You're not going to make a habit out of this are you?" Ed said with a prayer.

"Don't worry I wont"

"Thank you now I'm going back to bed."

"No you're not." Chanticleer got off the ledge and closed the window.

"Oh yeah? And why is that?"

"Because you're going on this assignment too."

"WHAT!" Al's surprised voice joined Ed's. "What does he want all of us for?"

"He figured that since this is my first 'mission' I'd better hang around with an experience alchemist. I mentioned that the three of us had become friends so he thought it best if you tagged along. You know, in case things got hairy."

"You're kidding right?" Edward begged.

"No, but I need someone who had been to many places and new the countryside pretty well."

"Why's that?" Al asked.

"Well," Chanticleer lowered his voice. "I grew up in a pretty small town and never ventured very far. It was only about five years ago to be honest that I actually started to travel a bit. And on top of that those trips only led me to other small towns, so I guess you could say I'm kind've naïve when it comes to new places and 'blending in,' I think that's the term I want."

"Fine, I'll go get ready." Ed grumbled. Chanticleer on the other hand had already put on his jacket and was quickly tying up his boots, apparently very eager to get started.

Mustang's assignment had taken them four days but Chanticleer acted as if that wasn't long enough. The three of them had successfully recovered a military document that had been stolen by a childhood rival of an officer; Al found it quite amusing when Chanticleer used alchemy on a birch tree, turned into a dryad and it hugged its branches around the thief and didn't let go until other authorities arrived to arrest him.

On the train ride home Al played cards with the Dawn, who smoked him six times. He couldn't have cheated like Ed had once done because he had no sleeves to hide cards in.

"Oh I give up!" Al threw down his cards after his seventh loss.

"What's that?" Ed sat up from a short nap.

"This guy has beaten me at every game we've played! And he doesn't cheat like you."

"You gonna hold that against me for the rest of your life?"

"I bet Ed couldn't beat me even if he did cheat." Chanticleer reshuffled the deck and was laying out the cards.

"Don't count on it!" Edward sat up straighter. "I could beat you while still half asleep!"

"Then lets waste no time getting started."

(Eight games later . . .)

"There's no way that's possible!"

Chanticleer laid down the winning hand once again and leaned back to enjoy victory.

"You have to be cheating somehow! There's no way anyone is that good!"

"Either that or you're just that bad."

Ed began a retort but Al interrupted.

"Take it easy, brother. It's not like he's a train robber making fun of you so you don't have to get so upset."

"Train robber?" Chanticleer looked confused.

"Actually," Edward scratched his head in deep thought. "I think this is one of our few train rides that no one has busted in with a gun."

"Yeah, that's something we should be thankful for isn't it bro... "

The sound of a gunshot interrupted his sentence.

"I SWEAR IRONY IS ONE OF THE HOMUNCULI AND HE'S FOLLOWING ME EVERYWHERE!" Ed exploded.

He stood up quickly and franticly looked left and right for the source of the noise. Other passengers had done the same thing. He was about to yell for everyone to remain calm but Chanticleer pulled him back into his seat and was, huh? Laughing?

"Ed relax. It was just, it was just." He couldn't finish for laughter choked his words.

"Why should I relax?"

"That was me!"

Now it was the brothers' turn to be confused.

"How did you possibly," Alphonse began.

"I can manipulate sound waves and turn them into anything I want. I did that while I coughed and made it sound like a gunshot.

This was quite the day for interruptions because Ed was about to express his amazement but the train had begun to slow down.

"You're going to give me a full explanation on how you do that when we get back to Central."

"That sounds more like a command than a request." Chanticleer said grinning.

"Yes it is! Al!" Ed looked at his brother. "Don't let me forget."

Back at Central


"So who's going to give the report to Colonel Mustang?" Alphonse asked.

"I vote Ed."

"No you don't, tornado hair! This was your mission. We just tagged along as your guard buddies."

"That's weird."

Four eyes were on Al.

"What did I say that was so weird, Al?"

"Usually it's the two of us that under the watch of someone else and now we are the ones doing the watching."

"I'll contemplate that later, but for now . . ." Ed shoved the recovered document into Chanticleer's hands, pounded on the door to the Colonels office, grabbed Al's arm and ran down the hall in a cloud of dust.

"Hey guys wait!"

"Enter." Came a voice from behind the door.

A shiver a fury worked its way down the Dawns' spine. I'll get 'im for this. He thought.

So, the mission was a success and it's plain to see that Ed sucks at cards.

Ed: I WOULD'VE BEATEN 'IM IF YOU HADN'T STACKED THE DECK!

Me: Who, me? Bats eyes with innocents Next up in The Rising Dawn,

Ed: AND DON'T HAVE ANYONE POKING ANYMORE SHORT JOKES AT ME!

Me: (holds up frying pan and Ed runs away.) Al accidentally hits a sore spot in the Dawn and now he refuses to talk with the Elric brothers. What is his secret? Why is he getting so upset and why do I end these previews with questions?