I leaned against the wall of second library branch, panting heavily. My skin felt like it was on fire. The gusts of warm air stung my skin as though my entire body was one gaping paper-cut. Forcing myself to go through three forms-five technically, since I returned to my original form after each, had taken a desperate toll on my body. The first three changes went well-I had gone from a hawk to my human form to favor a faster mode of transport as a falcon. But when I returned to my human form a little ways from Central, that blinding agony had returned. Every change was met with unbearable pain-even the hair growing out of a forming scalp had left me screaming. I of course, had to change into a different person before entering Central. I thought it wouldn't hurt, seeing as it was just going from one human form to another, but it had felt like my skin was boiling. I had had to transmute a mirror to see what uncontrollable changes my body had made for me. It hadn't been pretty, which had forced me to excruciatingly change every little detail, one at a time.
My skin had not stopped stinging. I felt nauseated. I dropped to the ground heavily, my now blonde hair plastered to my face. I wondered if this was what my old caretaker had mentioned.
"Damn her." I growled. But I was too sick to be angry, or even scared that this was happening to me. I did not want to face the fact I would have to somehow undergo at least two more changes to sneak in to get the medicine.
My vision blurred. Damn it, I was so cold. Surely I could rest for just a little while. I closed my eyes. Something wet stung my cheeks-I was crying. That realization was the last I had before the dizziness overtook me. I didn't fall asleep-I blacked out.
I woke up to wonderful, wonderful health. The pain was gone, as was the sickening cold, and the dizziness. I sighed, aware I smelled horrible. My hair-blonde? Oh right. My blonde hair was plastered against my shoulders, my clothes sticking to my body from a cold sweat. My vision sharpened, and I swore. The full moon held high in the sky. I had slept through the entire day. I stood up. My legs wobbled, and I had to rest a fore-arm against the bricks to keep from falling. I took a few deep breaths and steadied myself.
My throat was parched beyond parched. A desert had more moisture. And my stomach was complaining loudly.
I sighed, resigned to the stars and the moon. I would have to wait until tomorrow to raid the laboratory. But…I would be able to search for it, at least. Central was huge-it would be hard to find a secret entrance to a laboratory. Faintly, I wished I had indeed brought the Elrics-surely they'd know their way around better than I. But for now…I clapped my hands together, slapping them onto the ground. A spout appeared, and I twisted the nozzle to bring myself fresh water. I cupped my hands, catching the water in them and drinking. I found myself unable to stop drinking the water for at least a few minutes.
When I was through, I clapped my hands and touched the spout again, and it grew into a makeshift shower. I rinsed myself (fully clothed, of course), unable to take the horrid smell of sweat.
"Amy! Come on slow poke!" Rachel called to me, her blonde hair tossing in the wind as she trotted away on her grey pony. I grinned.
" I'll show you slow poke, you runt!" I shot back, but my tone was teasing. I loosened the reins in my hands, and asked Mirka into a gallop. I stuck my tongue out at my little sister as I passed.
"Ha! Who's the slow-poke now?" I taunted, shouting over my shoulder. The wind roared in my ears, and Mirka let out a buck, unable to contain herself. It only made me laugh harder.
"Better watch out sis, Tai and I are going to catch up to you!" A shout from behind me. I glanced back and saw that Rachel was indeed catching up. Both her and her horse's expressions mirrored each other-utmost determination.
"Yikes! Mirka, we better get going!" I laughed. The mare flicked an ear back to me, and on my signal, stretched out further, her hooves flying faster.
"Hey! No fair!" Rachel cried as we pulled away, faster and faster. I sank into the saddle as we reached the end of the field, Mirka coming to an immediate stop without me having to touch the reins. We turned around to see Rachel and Tai coming up behind us. They stopped, both pony and human glaring at me.
"You only won because Mirka has longer legs." Rachel pouted. I grinned.
"Whatever you say, Rach."
I smiled at the unexpected memory. Re-motivated, I focused, biting my lip. Without pain, thankfully, hair turned red and grew long. The curves became less noticeable. I slid into my original form with ease. I focused once again, bracing for the pain. It didn't come. Black fur rippled painlessly up my legs to cover my body. My hips re-arranged themselves, and I fell to the ground on all fours as my hands and feet turned into paws. My nose and mouth grew into a long dog muzzle, and my ears slid up the sides of my head, becoming pointed. A long, black bushy tail sprouted out behind me, pulling disturbingly on my spine. The change complete-I was a jet black husky, easily mistaken for a wolf. Black to hide in the shadows in the night.
Alright then. Time to get down to business.
...
"Damn it! What do you mean she's not here?" Edward snapped earlier that morning.
"This is all your fault, brother! You're the one that made her angry enough to leave!" Alphonse growled back.
"It's not my fault she's an oversensitive brat!"
"Brother that's enough! If you had gone and apologized, this wouldn't have happened!"
"Hey..guys? ITS TOO DAMN EARLY IN THE MORNING TO BE SHOUTING!" Winry snarled, wrenches appearing out of seemingly no where and hitting both boys on the head.
"Winry, Amy's gone!" Alphonse reported.
Winry blinked.
"What?"
"She's gone and abandoned us." Edward said matter of factly.
"She didn't go and abandon us! You drove her away!" Alphonse snapped. Edward glared.
"I did not drive her away! She left because she didn't want to be here!"
"Yea? Did she TELL you that? Because as far as I know the last time we saw her was-
"Will both of you boys SHUT UP!"
Nervously, the boys turned towards a raging Winry.
"Edward, since it's your fault she left, it's your job to go find her and bring her back!"
"Damn it! It's not my fault! Why do you always listen to Alphonse?"
"Because Al is more mature than you are, Ed!" Winry snapped. Edward blinked.
"Wha-
"Now go find her!" Winry snapped, shoving Ed towards the door.
"How the hell am I supposed to find her? She could be any animal she wants to be!"
Both Al and Winry glared.
"Well then I guess you're just going to have to figure it out." Winry snapped. She turned her glare towards Al. Al visibly tensed.
"You go too, Al!"
Al sucked in a breath. "Yes ma'am!" he responded nervously, positively running out the door.
"And both of you!"
The boys tensed, turning towards her with pale faces.
"Be back in time for dinner!"
The door slammed shut behind them.
"Brother, she's scary." Alphonse noted.
"Yes, she is." Edward agreed. They both started off down the road.
"Brother? Where do you think she's gone to?"
Edward looked over at Al.
"Our best bet would be Central."
...
The sun once again shone its light in the sky. It had taken all night, but I had found it. The scent was too familiar to miss. My dog body was exhausted, and hunger plagued my stomach more than ever. But I had found the area. I slipped into my own form, leaning against the building, exhausted. An alchemist had reconstructed the side of the wall-but the scent had tipped me off. I focused, and shed a layer of fur off of the dog tail that was left behind from my last change. I grabbed the fur and tucked some into my shorts pockets and my hoodie pockets. I clapped my hands together, and touched my clothes. The color black spread all across my clothing, taken from the fur. Now wearing pitch black clothing, I brought the hood up and covered my head.
Deciding to be smart, I transmuted the wall next to the door, creating a hole just big enough to crawl through. Warily, I stepped in. Immediately, the scents of the lab chemicals I had so hoped to escape enveloped me again. Reluctantly, I sealed the hole off, leaving a small dot in the wall so I knew where to escape to. I clapped my hands together once more and placed them on the wall to my right. It retracted, revealing lit stairs. I sealed that wall too when I stepped through onto the steps, feeling more and more claustrophobic. But I had to find out more-about what I had become. And this was the only place to do it. Warily and feeling very much alone, I followed the steps down, doing my best to muffle any sound I made. The descent took seemingly forever, with my own fear filling my nose the further along I went. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and bolt away, the memories of pain and entrapment running themselves over and over in my head, giving me reasons to leave. Almost crippling my ability to move forward. But then I came upon the bottom of the steps, and I knew it was too late to turn back. I focused. On her. Disgustingly.
The first thing that changed was my height. I shot up to almost six feet tall, my hair turning platinum blonde. My hips grew wider, my curves became more obvious. I clapped my hands together and touched my clothes, changing them to grow bigger as I grew. My facial structure changed, my jaw-line becoming wider, more prominent. My nose became more petite. My lips grew flatter, and my teeth changed shape.
I could barely hide my disgust. I was that wretched woman. No, I just looked like her. An exact copy in body, not soul and mind. If I even had a soul anymore. I clapped my hands together once more, changing my clothing to look like lab clothes. I held my head arrogantly high as she would, and opened the door, stepping in with a sweeping stride. The lights blinded me for a moment. The long, winding hallway I remembered running down as a cheetah stretched out before me. I knew my way from here. I pulled my shoulders back and strode down the hallway, ignoring the security camera. . Wait…
I looked down, and saw my feet were still bare. Deciding to fix the problem, I clapped my hands together and touched the floor, creating shoes out of the components. They were a bit stiff and scratchy as I slid my feet into them, but they worked. I continued my stroll down the hallway, taking a left the first chance I got. So far, so good.
The second door on the right stared at me. The door was of course, encrypted with a keyboard pad for a key. No matter. I touched my palms together softly, and reached for the doorknob. It groaned, and then a soft pop sounded. The doorknob turned smoothly in my fingers. Once again, more stairs. And the smell of chemicals permeated the air putridly.
I closed the door behind me softly, and began my way down the stairs. My new long legs were hard to get used to, I noted. The stairs twisted sharply to the left unexpectedly, and I nearly fell. Should have remembered that, I thought wryly, a little humor finally breaking through my nervous brain.
I came upon a seemingly dead end. But I knew better. One wall led to the cages. Another wall led to the experimental building-the place they took us to perform their horrible experiments on us. Another led to the research materials. I turned to the right, clapping my hands together and placing them on the wall. It fell away, illuminating a brightly lit, open two story room. I walked in, and the wall automatically closed itself behind me. It was cheerily enough built. It looked the same as any other library, with bookcases everywhere, desks scattered throughout, and a staircase leading up to a second floor. The place was eerily quiet. Every warning bell in my head was ringing, but I ignored them. I went to the nearest bookcase and scanned the shelves. It seemed to be arranged according to the kind of alchemic research-this bookcase alone held papers and files about water and fire alchemic research. A door caught my eye on the left wall. I walked over to it, stepping up a couple of steps before turning the handle. It was dark.
I stepped inside, reaching to turn on a light. The door slammed shut behind me unexpectedly, and the lights flickered on. Shock swept over me as the light lit up a classroom sized area. But that wasn't what drew my attention. In the center of the room, a blonde girl stared up at me from the bars of a cage. Happiness, unbelieving happiness, leapt to my throat when I recognized her. But then, horror. Horror swept into me. I had made a terrible mistake. And now I realized why there hadn't been any guards or anyone to stop me from coming this far.
"We've been waiting for you, two-four six." The real Sarah Daniels stepped out from behind me. I was trapped.
A/N Hooray for cliffies! :) I'm having a lot of fun with this story. :) Lots of plans for this one. :) It took me a while, but I finally found a way to separate diferent sections effectively. :) Hope you guys liked the new chapters!