I Do Not Own Fullmetal Alchemist


"What happened here?" Ed ran to the first man he saw. "Are the Hughes family alright?"

Ed saw Maes sitting on the bumper of an ambulance. He immediately ran to him. Al saw Gracia and Elicia standing beside Maes.

"Are you alright?"

Maes smiled while a paramedic was bandaging his right shoulder.

"Yeah. It's no big deal."

Nearby Orianne sat on a gurney. A paramedic was shining a light in Orianne's eyes. A policeman came up to Maes as the paramedic finished up with him. Gracia saw him and took their daughter away.

"Sir? I've got a few questions for you." He asked, "Could you describe what the murderers looked like?"

"Murderers?" Ed said, "Someone was trying to murder you Hughes?"

Maes shook his head. "Not me. Orianne. They were both dressed in black."

Ed remembered the thief who tried to kill Orianne.

"All I could see were eyes. They had masks on and gloves. One was female and the other was male. Both about the same height— five foot five. One of them had grey eyes and the other had dark eyes."

"Why would anyone want to kill Orianne? She's just a kid!"

"Brother," Al hushed. "Let the policeman finish questioning Hughes."

"Did they say anything? Do anything odd?"

"Neither of them said a word. But they were extremely fast. I didn't realized the girl threw a knife at me until they were gone. They seemed very careful."

The policeman wrote down some notes and replied, "So far, my team hasn't found hardly any trace of them. No finger prints, and no DNA. I must admit whoever these people are, they are very good at covering their tracks. The only thing we know is that the window was forced open with some type of tool. As far as we know, the tool might have been specifically made for that kind of job. And the weapon that stabbed you is very unique. We're going to have it analyzed."

"That's no excuse!" Ed blurted out balling up his fists.

"Do you know anyone who would want to kill that girl?" The policeman ignored Ed.

"Not that I know of. Orianne just came here yesterday," Maes replied.

Elicia came up and tugged on her father's pajamas. "Are those bad people going to be coming back?"

Maes's face softened. "No sweetheart. They won't."

"It's time for bed Elicia," Gracia announced, picking up Elicia.

Elicia waved to the Elrics and her father as they were escorted into a police car. The policeman said goodbye to Maes and the Elrics. Ed stood in front of Maes with his eyes staring at the ground.

"Sorry we asked you to take her in. I didn't know you'd be harmed because of her."

"None of us knew. It's not your fault." Maes shifted his arm in a sling, wincing. "What are you going to do about Orianne?"

Ed replied, "I guess we'll have to take care of her now. We can protect ourselves with alchemy."

Al went to get Orianne from the paramedic. The paramedic asked if they wanted to admit her into the hospital. Remembering what had happened to Orianne, Al declined. The Elric brothers returned to the military's Temporary Living Quarters—TLQ. Orianne got the couch.

Once again, Orianne found Ed's room and curled up beside him, a blanket around her head. Ed turned his head to look at her. She was sleeping. Ed turned his head so that he wasn't looking at Orianne. He relaxed and fell asleep.