Hello, dear readers! Just a couple things to note: This episode is once again split into two chapters as it is very long already, and the name "Feline"

is pronounced like Feh-LEEN, not Fee-LINE. Remember, it is a name, NOT an animalistic term when it is used in this chapter.

Thanks so much for reading!

-GirlWonder29


The crime scene was grim.

No doubt about it. Shreds of what used to be clothing, and a large pool of what was now dried, congealed blood in the street.

The body of the victim was covered with a simple white sheet, as an apparent sign of respect for the deceased.

How much actual respect had gone into this action, Carys didn't know. However, she was admittedly grateful. Although bodies didn't exactly make her squeamish, she did prefer not to be right up close to them.

Not to mention she felt horrible that someone had died in the very area she and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes were surveying.

Carys sighed. "Four murders, and the killer gone from each and every crime scene."

"Just stay focused." Hughes advised her. "We need all the help we can get for this case."

"Makes sense," she agreed. "Although I can't say how much help I'll be on this."

"You're one of the only alchemists available at the moment. And Roy recommended you. By the way, how are your injuries?"

Carys winced. "I'm much better than I was then, believe me. And I even got a couple days off work just to recuperate after the hospital."

"Sounds fair," he responded. "Katherine did quite some damage, didn't she? She's so small and quiet most of the time, I was actually kind of surprised."

Carys shrugged. "I wouldn't underestimate her. She can be...alarming when she's pissed. And I wasn't even fighting back-but let's get back to the investigation. Who is this guy? Do we know anything at all about him?"

Hughes shook his head. "Not much. All we have to go on so far is he kills by some form of...explosion, like a human detonation from the inside."

"Interesting," Carys murmured. She stooped down to her knees to examine a scrap of cloth on the ground; one of the only remains of a rather unfortunate victim.

"We also know that he seems to be targeting...well, targeting..."

"Targeting what?"

Hughes' face turned dark as he replied solemnly, "State Alchemists."

Carys' blood ran cold.


"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Well I don't know, but this is where the people in the last village said we could find him."

The Elrics were in a small village in the East, still on their search for Dr. Marcoh.

"And before that, we were told we could find him there! What's the point?" Edward demanded. "Damn Colonel. Why couldn't he have just told us exactly where he is? Why the stupid wild-goose chase?"

"He probably didn't know that he had moved, Brother," Alphonse reasoned. "Who knows when the last time they saw each other was."

"Yeah, well why does he have to move around so much? I swear, we've visited every village from here to East City, and every time, he's moved on somewhere else!"

"Are you forgetting the fact that he's a deserter and a fugitive? Of course he's going to be difficult to find!" Katherine said, exasperated.

"I know, I know, but still…"

"Why don't we talk to some of the villagers? They might have seen him." Alphonse suggested.

"Fine. Here goes nothing." Edward muttered.

They approached a young woman running a fruit stand.

"Excuse me." Katherine asked her. "We're looking for a doctor. His name is Dr. Marcoh, we were told he lives around here. Do you know where we could find him?"

The woman frowned and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I've never heard of him before."

Edward clenched his fists in frustration. "Great. NOW what are we supposed to do?"

"If you need a doctor, I'm sure Dr. Maruo would be happy to help you." The woman told them.

A man, probably the woman's husband, came up behind her. "Dr. Maruo? Oh yes, he's amazing! He fixed up my arm when I broke it last year." He told them

"He works miracles. No matter what's wrong with you, he can make you better. You just go to see him, and there's a glowing red light, and you're cured!"

Glowing red light? Katherine glanced over at her brothers to see if they had picked up on the significance of the woman's words.That sounds like who we're after. Of course he's not going by his actual name. I should have known that.

"That sounds like exactly who we're looking for! Where could we find this Dr. Maruo?"

"Oh he lives just north of here, on the edge of town." She pointed.

"Thank you so much!" Katherine told the woman, excitedly.

"Let's go." Edward was already hurrying in the direction the woman had been pointing. Katherine and Al ran to catch up with him.

This could be a major breakthrough. Katherine thought to herself. This could be how we finally get our bodies back…


"I keep thinking I should be on lookout," Carys mused, the tiny orange-yellow tabby cat pacing along beside her.

They were taking a little walk around East City on a break.

"I mean, the Elrics are gone, and things seem just the slightest bit more quiet. But this new information about the so-called serial killer?" She shook her head. "It's a frightening development."

Naturally, she found herself talking to no one in particular-well, no one really except for her new friend, Ms. The-Cat-Al-Found-&-Gave-Me-To-Look-After-And-I-Love-Cats-So-I-Said-Yes.

"I should give you a name," she realized. She bent down beside the cat, stroking its head while it stretched out and purred.

"I know that you're Al's cat, but still. He didn't exactly have enough time to give you a proper, official title."

The cat looked up at her with big, soft eyes.

Carys tilted her head. "You know, you sort of remind me of someone." she laughed. "And now here I am, thinking that a cat reminds me of someone I lost."

She stopped, and shook her head.

"But no matter. Maybe you'd like to have her name?"

The cat merely meowed in reply.

"I shall take that as a 'yes'. Unless there are any objections?"

The cat meowed again.

"Thank you. No objections necessary. I rest my case."

She straightened up, then began to walk again, calling along to her companion from over her shoulder: "Come on, then, Feline!"


It was a long walk to the doctor's house. That was fine, Katherine was enjoying the quiet that had fallen. Living with two brothers and travelling constantly, silence was a luxury, except at night. And at night came the nightmares.

They had been especially bad lately. On several occasions she had woken up in the middle of the night dripping in sweat, and shaking with fear. She didn't remember what they were about, just that they kept coming.

The peace was suddenly broken though, as her brother grabbed her arm and yanked her off her feet and into a nearby bush.

"Hey-"

"Shh!" He pointed to the road. "We're being followed."

Katherine peeked out from their hiding spot. Sure enough, a little farther down the road stood a tall man with a golden moustache. He was wearing a military uniform, and looking around in confusion.

"Hey, he was one of the men that came with the Fuhrer's group to the east. Did he follow us all the way from the city?" Katherine asked, incredulously.

"He must have. Why else would he be all the way out here?"

"But how did we manage to miss him? He's so big and...sparkly." Was the only word Katherine could think of to describe the soldier.

The man, having lost sight of his quarry, turned and walked back the other way.

"I guess maybe someone in the military heard we were following Dr. Marcoh. They must want to track him down too." Alphonse said.

"Well, he's gone now. We should hurry to the doctor's house, before he comes back." Edward replied, jumping to his feet.

"Yeah. But give a girl some warning next time, before you knock her off her feet, okay, Ed?" Katherine said as she straightened her hood and brushed the dust off her jacket.

"Sorry. But otherwise he would have noticed. We're not exactly inconspicuous."

She shrugged. "Whatever. Let's get going."

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the doctor's house from there. Katherine took a deep breath, then knocked lightly on the door.

" ? We're alchemists, we're looking for-"

She was cut off as the door was flung open, and Katherine found herself looking down the barrel of a gun leveled directly at her face.


"Now, I know that you guys are apparently some gang of notorious thieves," Carys cracked her knuckles, smiling at the group of people facing her: at a guess, about 5 men and 3 women.

"Yes? And what are you going to do about it, small fry?" Their leader, dressed in a black face mask demanded.

Carys sighed.

"Oh, believe me. I'd love to stay and chat about all the gruesome details, but Feline here-" she gestured at the cat behind her.

"-And I were having a nice, peaceful walk until you guys showed up. So I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do." She stepped forwards.

"You can't do nothing! We are the notorious Black Eye Gang!"

Carys smirked. "Let me tell ya, the only thing you're going to be notorious for in the next few minutes or so is for the fact that I decided to take the time to catch all of you!"

And with that she sprung forwards, ring glinting green, her fist headed straight at their leader.

"Ozone."

Carys had to resist the urge to groan.

She was sitting in Mustang's office, and likely about to get the lecture of the week.

Ugh.

"So." Mustang raised an eyebrow at her from behind his desk. "As Hughes has informed me, you know about the killer on the loose," he placed his fingers together.

"Yes, Sir."

"And you know about his track record. All victims have been Alchemists of the State."

"Yes, Sir."

"So, then. What do you think you're doing, showing off your alchemical powers like that? He's only going to track you down that much quicker."

"Well, it's not like he wasn't going to anyways," Carys objected. "Plus, I was helping to catch a criminal gang. So what if I went a little overboard?"

"That's exactly the problem." Mustang sighed. "You have hardly any awareness of the risks, as usual."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"It means, Carys, that you need to start being on your guard. Too much of your time is spent running around with little to no concern whatsoever as to the consequences of your actions. Take your little fight with Katherine, for example."

"It wasn't like that!" she protested.

"Oh, really?"

"No," But she sounded uncertain, even to herself. "It wasn't."

"Well, then." he leaned back in his chair. "Even so, my point still stands. And I'll still advise you to stay alert. And try to tone down the...er, mischief for now."

"'Mischief'?!"


How do we get ourselves into situations like this? I can't even knock on a door anymore without someone pointing a gun at me.

Katherine raised her hands above her head.

"Okay… we don't want to hurt you. Please put the gun down." She told the man on the other side of the door.

"How do you know my real name? No one around here knows that, except-" Then he saw the chain of Katherine's pocketwatch. His eyes widened. "You're with the state! No! You won't take me back there! I won't let you!" He cried, distraught.

"We're not here to take you back to the military. We just want to talk." Katherine tried to reassure him.

"You're lying!" His finger tightened on the trigger. Katherine drew back. "Or maybe you've come to silence me. But you can't kill me! It won't happen!"

Katherine backed away. Marcoh was getting more and more nervous, and one twitch of his finger would propel a bullet directly into her brain. She really didn't want that to happen.

"It's all okay." Alphonse stepped in front of his sister.

"Alphonse…"

"Just relax. Shoot if you want, but I won't die. You might get hurt though, so please put down the gun." Al told the doctor. He stepped forward, his hollow armour clanging as it hit the barrel of the pistol.

Dr. Marcoh's eyes widened.

"I know who you are… you're the one they call the Fullmetal Alchemist." He dropped the gun. Katherine let out a sigh of relief, thanking god for her brother's quick thinking.

But Edward was not so level-headed. He marched up to the doctor.

"No! For the last time, I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

Dr. Marcoh frowned. "I see…" He turned back to Alphonse. "You're his brother, the Sky Alchemist, then?"

"Wrong again. That would be me. His sister." Katherine raised her hand and gave a sarcastic wave.

"Oh. Well then." The doctor paused nervously.

"We just wanted to talk to you. Colonel Roy Mustang sent us." Al explained.

sighed, then stepped aside, out of the way of the entrance to his home. "Come inside, then. I'll see if I can tell you what you want to know…"


"You want to do some pistol training?"

Hawkeye raised her eyebrows at Carys' request.

"Yes!" Carys nodded enthusiastically.

"You've never displayed an interest in this field before."

"Well, maybe I've had a change of heart." Carys countered.

The lieutenant sighed. "Well, alright then. Let's go."

They strode over to the practice area, where Carys could already see soldiers lined up, with their pistols, each one in their own little stall.

They were all aiming at the circular targets right ahead of them.

Soon, Carys found herself doing the exact same thing, with a pistol in both hands, and pointing it directly at the circle.

She had been no particular prodigy at this sort of thing-which Hawkeye already knew full well-but she still knew the fundamentals, and had a decent shot.

Sort of.

Aim. Eyes on target. Breathe, and...pull the trigger!

Bam.

Dead-centre.

"Not bad," Hawkeye commented. "I see you've improved since the last time."

Carys smiled to herself, remembering.


"How do you use this thing, anyways?" 13 year-old Carys grumbled. She fumbled the gun yet again as she lined up for the shooting range. "This isn't gonna work."

Evidence of her previous failures already lined the outside of the circular target.

"I'm surprised to see you here,"

The voice surprised her, and she turned too quickly, dropping the gun.

"Aw, man!" she bent down to pick it up, but Hawkeye's hand was quicker. She took up the pistol, examining it.

"I'd advise you not to play around with these," she said.

"I wasn't playing around!" Carys insisted. "I was trying to shoot!"

"Then why didn't you?"

Carys flushed at this. "Um, I...I...don't know how to use it," she mumbled shame-facedly.

The lieutenant smiled. "Here, I'll show you."

She lined up her arm and took a deep breath before firing once, twice, three times.

Perfect shots, every single one of them. All right in the middle of the center board.

Carys' jaw dropped in awe at this marksmanship. "How'd you do that?"

"Here." the lieutenant handed it back to her.

"Bend your knee slightly. Relax your shoulders." she instructed. "Lean more forwards."

Carys assumed the stance as Hawkeye directed, pointing the gun at the target.

"Deep breath."

Carys gulped in a large lungful of air.

"Now...fire."

She complied, and the bullet went rocketing straight into the second closest circle.

Carys was amazed. "I did it! I actually hit it!" "Well done," the lieutenant praised.

Carys grinned.


..."I suppose so," Carys agreed. "But as luck would have it, I can actually hit the board now."

"Right," Hawkeye nodded. "So when are you going to tell me why we're really here?"

Carys stiffened, but just for a moment before relaxing.

"I didn't want to admit it," she muttered. "But with all this talk of the killer on the loose for State Alchemists...A part of me can't help thinking that I or someone else I know will be next."


Dr. Marcoh's home was small and cluttered, he shuffled stacks of paper and books aside to make room for them all to sit around his kitchen table.

"So you were the Crystal Alchemist, right?" Katherine asked him, still a little wary seeing as a few minutes ago the man had been threatening to shoot her.

"Yes, that was my title. Before I deserted the battlefield with my research. The military would be all too happy to get that back."

"That's why we came." Edward told him. "We're looking into human transmutation. Your research could be hugely important to us."

But shook his head. "No, I can't share that research with you." There was pain in his voice.

"What? Why not?" Edward demanded.

"It has left too much blood on my hands. It's too dangerous."

"What do you mean?" Katherine asked.

"The way the military used my discoveries, especially during the the Eastern Rebellion. It was inhumane, horrible."

"The uprising in Ishval?"

"It was a massacre. So many dead...and no logic to it at all. I was responsible for all of it, so I left, and became a doctor to try and make up for my terrible crimes." The doctor's voice was soft and uneven. "Now, I can't provide you with what you're looking for, so if you'd please leave." He stood up.

"I'm a State Alchemist. I have a right to that research, and whatever else you might know." Edward countered.

"This is too much for you to handle, boy. And I haven't been a part of the military for years, your rank, or your 'rights' couldn't matter less to me."

"Edward...maybe we should just leave." Alphonse said.

"No! We've come too far to give up on this when what we're looking for is right in front of us." Edward stood up, fists clenched.

"Foolish children. Did you join the military because of the allure of the power and access it would give you?"

Katherine stood up to join her brothers. "Our reasons are none of your concern. And we are not children, no matter how young we might look. We've been through far too much for that. All we want is to know anything you might know. We aren't trying to hurt anyone, we just want…" She wasn't sure how to finish this statement, without revealing too much.

"Well then, you don't want my research, girl. With this, someone always gets hurt." His face twisted into a pained expression.

"Wait, Dr. Marcoh." Alphonse spoke. "I just thought you should know that you did help people with your work. In a town called Xenotime, there's a little girl named Alisa. You saved her life from the toxic red water that polluted the town. The red water's gone, and she's healthy."

The doctor looked up. "I remember her! She was just a little baby then. How old is she?"

"She's five years old. She's a sweet kid."

smiled. "I'm glad. Thank you." He said to Alphonse.

"So you see? We just want to help people, like you do, Doctor."

He sighed. "I still can't give you my research. But suppose I could show you…"

He opened a small cupboard and pulled out a container filled with a red liquid. Katherine gasped.

"Red water?"

"No, it's clearer than that stuff. What is it?" Edward asked Dr. reached to grab it, but the man stepped back.

"Let me show you." He tipped the contents of the container onto the table. The siblings watched in awe as the liquid hardened into a perfectly smooth, red, stone.

"That's amazing." Katherine murmured to herself. She was burning with questions, her mind already working it's way through the possibilities of how the stone might work.

But she didn't get a chance to ask about any of them, as at that point the door was thrown open with a bang.

All of them turned, to see who stood in the doorway.

There, looming over them all, gun in hand, was Brigadier General Basque Grande.