The prespectives of characters will change throughout the fanfiction, just to make it a little more interesting. And a heads up, Ishballa is mentioned, and since it is a religion that isn't roughly explained, please (1) don't be offended (2) don't expect me to be one-hundered percent accurate. Thanks for your support.

I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Society and The Calling

Even after all of these years of being placed into lines by the military and being discriminated against the people of Amestris, I was still forced to travel underground and the dark shadows of the buildings walls. After the fall of Fuhrer King Bradley, wars seemed to be less of a tradition with the State and it was safe to say that both our countries would continue to remain in peace. But I would be the only one among my people who have thrown me out for the wrong that I have been inflicted of. Not even my younger sister brought up enough courage to rescue me after being stranded, almost limbless, in the desert. They had at least enough sympathy to patch me up after the experiment with my master seemed to be a fail, but even so, I used whatever energy I had left of myself to go to the one place where it all began.

"There has been a myth, long ago, that has said that a whole entire city had been wiped out with a red luminous light and has been forced to share its homeland with the dead. It was a time in the past where us alchemists had been called upon to rid of the plague and the innocent lives that have been jeopardized by the town folk with the assumption of witchery. Although most has been destroyed by alchemy, it can be resurrected once again."

"To create, something in equal value must be lost." I silently quoted from an anonymous alchemist. It was the theory where you could get something else with the same resources and with the words spoken, it was as though my teacher was standing right beside me, patting me on the back with good regards.

However, I had nothing. And even so, I had been blessed with what I carry on my arm and both legs. Without these mechanical limbs, I would have been hopeless and may have rot in the desert. But I had been graced enough by the mechanic who had let me rest several days after to regain strength. He fed me, gave me a shelter, clothing, and then I left him without even a response. I'll admit that I have regretted it mercilessly, but I had to leave. I can't exactly tell why I felt this way, but something in the depths of Lior was calling out to me in equal agony, wishing for me to come find them. With every step I took, I could feel his cry growing louder and louder, but tonight—whatever it was—had been silenced, but I knew he was alive somewhere. I simply had to find out where and what it was; it needed me.

Riding on train was without a question the most ludicrous move I could possibly make, but even the maintenance wouldn't last long enough for her to cross the entire desert. I also needed water, which was quickly running out of my canteen bottle that hung at the hip of my belt. On my way off the bus, only few old geezers had given me nasty stares and one of them had enough nerve to spit onto my sand-covered boots as I tried to shove past the passengers who were in a hurry to escape the compartments. One of them was reserved near the back, but I guessed that they had arrived before anyone had boarded. I guessed that it must have been someone from the military, but nowadays it was hard to declare anything against people. That was, of course, you were a person who lived on old traditions and customs. My people called me after an angel, but now I wasn't so sure that it was suitable for me to bare such a heavenly name. I would have to work on an alias to get by strangers.

"Angels were the messengers at one time, were they not? You should not take it so lightly, young Malaji, for it is your right to give the message of hope to others when they need it."

The old man who had told me this had disappeared after I had been introduced to my master, and it was he who had told me that my name was something that gave me a title, something to be remembered as. There are, of course, many other reasons for names, and one may disagree with another just because of what they are accustomed to, and since I have been kicked out of my own customs it is up to me to find a new identity. For one, they would think of it as something light and careless, but to be known as something for the rest of your life, that was where I had to agree with the old man. A name shouldn't be taken lightly; it should have meaning and of great importance.

The train's whistle wheezed out with a high-pitched tune, followed by a reckless voice bursting out into flames of anxiety. My head tilted up as a middle aged man frantically jerked his head from left to right, while a woman no longer than I was had inched herself away from him, either from embarrassment or fear. The dog at the edge of her foot had its ears covered with its paws as its tail was curled up like a wine cork remover, but whatever the man was stressing about had nothing to do with me. My crimson eyes, hidden beneath my sunglasses, darted forward as I walked into the city that bore my destination; all that was left for me to do was to find the entrance to the burial grounds that once lived on the surface.

As I casually walked through the streets, I was given a few casual glances from strangers, but I acted as though I hadn't noticed they existed. The more I came within the city, the less people seemed to be attracted by the blood-covered irises, but once I spotted a boy trying to reach for a cup by the wine fountain, I sighed and noiselessly crept up behind him, seizing the cup as he managed to take grasp of it. It easily slipped through the fingers of my hand and I scooped up a glassful.

"Thanks, kid."

"Hey, I was going to get some of that! Took me forever to finally reach it…"

I patted his head fiercely, messing up his hair as my fingers fumbled into it. He groaned in irritation as I took another swig from the cup.

"You're not going to need this stuff for another … at least twelve years kid. This stuff is for people who need a little pick-me-up through hard times."

"You adults think that you've got to worry about everything and think we shouldn't have to just because we're … we're…"

I tilted my head to the side as he glowered, refusing to finish the end of his sentence. It finally hit me after a third taste of wine before I realized what he was frustrated over and chuckled lightly.

"Puny?"

Finally, he ducked his head away from my hand and slapped the half-filled cup of wine to the ground. His face was glowing a dark shade of red and I couldn't help but snort.

"Don't get me started! I've gotten a growth spurt the past couple of weeks!"

"Yeah? Well, you're still a little man to me. You barely reach my hips and you're about… what? Nine?"

"TEN AND THREE QUARTERS!"

I sighed softly and started to retrieve the cup, but before he reached it, he snatched it from the tips of my fingers and darted for the fountain again. As he filled the cup again, he was about to open his mouth wide, but I snatched it from his careless fingers and took another chug and exhaled with relinquish.

"If I didn't get that cup any sooner, you would have set yourself up for an instant kiss."

My eyes trailed to his face, still a light shade of red, but clearly full of disgust. He was at one of those ages where children still believed that they got cooties from kissing, and as I expected, he responded with a cry of disgust and his arms folding bitterly against his scrawny chest as he stuck his tongue out at me. I shook my head in what may have looked like disbelief, but in fact, it was quite the opposite. Typical child. How nice it must have felt to be so free of expressing one's thoughts without having to worry about the outcome. One of these days he would have to learn sooner or later that what he did meant that it would cause another reaction.

"What's your name, kid?"

He jerked his head away and spat, trying to seem tough, but instead it came out like dog drool and I suppressed another urge to laugh. I hadn't had a good laugh for a long while and I slowly started to guess that the wine was starting to kick in. Honestly, I had never really experimented with alcohol and already I could tell by the smell that it was a fairly strong sense of sensation. I could feel my cheeks lightly heating up, knowing that it wasn't from the desert's dryness. I grew up in a desert myself, so this place was nothing foreign, simply a few new faces and different styles of buildings and culture.

"I don't tell strangers my name."

"That's pretty bold for you, kid." I said, amusement playing in my tone. "What if I told you my name was Ciro?"

I hadn't known where I had gotten the name from, but the boy seemed to be formulating something through his head while his chocolate brown eyes focused on the ground. It was almost hard to believe that this was the same boy moments ago that had burst out into anger and frustration, only to come to a complete silence as something caught his interest. Still too young to be bipolar, I thought. But one could only imagine what could be going on in his head; even his reactions were something to wonder about.

Suddenly, he broke into a bright grin as he lifted his head. It wasn't until then that I remembered the meaning of Ciro came from an old language that meant sun.

"Then I guess I have to tell you my name, huh? Well, I'm—"

"LUCAS!"

"Yikes!"

Before I could understand what was going on, the young boy ducked behind me, hanging onto my jean-covered legs as his head edged out to the side, just barely showing one of his eyes to a young woman with pink highlights. A frown was placed on the surface of her tanned face as her arms were folded against her average-built chest, half bending her body towards his direction without giving me a second glance. I could feel the young boy's grip tighten against my fabric, grabbing an additional clutch of my skin by the ends of his fingers that sent a wave of unpleasantness. So I was looking at his mother, how sweet.

"Lucas, you weren't trying to take a drink from the fountain again, were you?"

I involuntarily exhaled out a snort, wondering when a child of any age would ever admit to something that could get them into trouble. I knew, for a fact, when I was his age that I was doing so many things that I shouldn't have, that my people should have sent me to exile at the second notice of an absence. I guessed that my package deal had been a paid interest to my "toll" for going against the will of Ishballa. Had I not tapped into the world of science, I would have lived with the people who used to love me, but had I not I would have never been able to venture out and meet new people who required help.

The woman had been staring me for a long moment, probably trying to debate something within her own mind, but as she finally decided to open her mouth a deep voice cut her off with a field of panicked yelling. His hands were waving in the air while his face was pale of horror and shades of blue worried stripes glowing out like a candle. Behind him was a trail of puffs from the sand, followed by a young woman who was several strides behind him, accompanied by an almost equally panicked dog that seemed to have no idea what was going on, but probably didn't want to loose sight of its master, despite the fact that the puffs must have been bulging into its nostrils and wide eyes.

"ROSE I CAN'T FIND HIM ANYWHERE! ARE YOU SURE THAT HE DIDN'T RUN OFF SOMEWHERE WITH—"

He came to a screeching halt, feet coming together like a pin while his arms stretched out and waved into circles so he would catch his balance. Just as he did, the young woman seemed to not have seen him stop and accidentally bumped him to the ground, but didn't have enough momentum to bring her self down with him. His eyes gazed up towards the boy hanging onto my legs while I took a better look at the wheezing pup and then to the supposed owner. Her golden hair floated out like feathers in a bobbed-cut, while her big onyx eyes slowly shut as she tried to catch her breath. She was the palest Amestresian I had ever met, but then again, I hadn't met that many to begin with. Most of my people were tanned.

"…Lucas," the man breathed.

...If you had a good laugh with the end of the chapter you get Brownie/Kudos Points!

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