Author's notes: So, I've tried a hand with incorporating some mythology into this. It's sort of like how Alkahestry is based off of the early Chinese alchemic studies and such, but this is more related to Chimera myths… eh, anyway. I've gotten a few new story faves and alerts on this, which have made me very happy. Thank you, everyone~!

State Chimera

"Hey, Granny." Edward smiled slightly. "It's good to see you."

"You, too, Ed. I must say, you had us quite worried. It is good to see that you're alive." Pinako paused for a moment. "But I see you haven't grown much since the last time I saw you. You're still as short as ever."

"What was that?" Edward snarled. "You're one to talk. You're half my size."

"I was once tall, Edward, unlike you who has always been and will always be short."

"I find that highly hard to believe."

Winry sighed, frowning at the two. "Calm down. It's the first time you've been home for awhile, Ed, so relax. You don't want to have another fit, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Edward couldn't remember having any 'fits'.

"Your stomach, remember? You don't want it acting up again, and you certainly don't want to be coughing up blood." She put her hands on her hips, staring down at the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"Come." Pinako spoke up. "Let's talk inside, and then you can explain everything."

Edward, Alphonse and Winry followed the short woman inside and into the lounge. The older of the two Elrics slumped onto the couch, letting his hood fall. Pinako gave him a slightly surprised glance.

"So Winry wasn't joking…"

"What do you take me for, Grandma?" The mechanic huffed. "I wouldn't lie about something as serious as this." Although, Winry supposed that the phrase 'oh, and Edward's part cat now' probably sounded like a joke.

"Unfortunately, this is all too real." Edward unwrapped his tail from around himself, flicking it to try and ease the cramps left from it being wrapped tightly around him for so long. "And what's worse, the people who did this to me? A bunch of amateurs. To them, I was nothing more than an experiment to see if it was possible to create a human Chimera. Out of ten 'experiments', only two of us survived. They're such amateurs because they couldn't even figure out how to properly put my organs back together."

"Masaru told me about what happened to you in that place…" Winry looked at the ground. "He said that you could only watch as everyone else died from organ failures as a result of the transmutations." Edward didn't seem to react at first, until his ears flattened against his head, and his tail stilled, dropping down onto the couch beside him.

"I'd rather not remember, but I can't forget." His voice was nothing more than a weak-sounding mewl. It scared those present in the room. It was a tone they had never heard the Fullmetal Alchemist use. He was always so headstrong and cocky, always so optimistic and determined. To hear him sounding so weak and helpless, it was frightening. "I'll never forget any of them. I can remember their faces, their first and last names; I can even remember what they told me about their lives, their families, their friends." He shook his head. "I wish I could've done something to help them. Anything…"

"Oh, Ed." Winry hugged the Chimera suddenly. "You did everything you could. You were in the exact same situation as they were."

"But I survived."

"I can't say I understand," Pinako spoke up, "but if you really want to do something for them, you could always reveal the experiments that killed them."

Edward's ears and tail perked up in surprise. Winry released him. Revealing the experiments, though, would reveal what had become of him. He wouldn't be treated as a human anymore. Some people would see him as an animal, some as some twisted cross, and others simply as an inhuman monster. That was if he was even allowed to live. He hadn't expected for everything to return to normal. Actually, he had originally planned to live out the rest of his days in hiding with the other Chimera in Central, but when he had been unexpectedly uncovered by Mustang, his men and Al, that plan had been scrapped.

"But… then brother would be found out." Alphonse remarked. "He could be killed!"

"Al's right." Winry shook her head. "It's too risky."

"It was only a suggestion." Pinako added, before leaving the room.


Edward went off for a run that night. It was something he found quite enjoyable since he'd become a Chimera. It was part of his nature as a cat. Animal instincts and all. As annoying as they were, they were quite helpful in a pinch. He paused at the rocky riverbanks, looking into the water pensively. It wasn't something cats were fond of, water. Well, domestic cats anyway.

He could smell someone across the river. The chimera turned his ears to listen to their footsteps. Their breathing was quick, labored. Not like they were exhausted, but like they were scared. Scared of what?

Me. Edward looked up, his eyes wide. A light was shining at him from a flashlight, right into his eyes. Being cats' eyes, the light reflected back out of them, making it look like they were glowing.

"You monster! Take this!" The man across the river yelled. "I've been following you since you passed my house! You won't be pulling any funny stuff in our town!"

"Wait! You don't under-" Too late. The man raised a gun – a hunting rifle from the looks of it – and fired twice. Edward yowled as the bullets lodged into his left shoulder, stomach and right shin, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water. The currents pulled him downstream, choking him and pressing in on him. Up became down and down became up. All sense of direction was warped. The animal part of him panicked, and fear gripped the human side. His automail was weighting him down, too, making it even harder to try and save himself. The metal limbs felt like they were only dragging him to the bottom of the river bed.

Suddenly, something had grabbed hold of him, just as soon as he started to lose consciousness. In a split second, air was returning to his lungs and his head was above water. A moment later, he was lying on a riverbank, panting and wheezing.

"Shh." He was faintly aware of a light-haired figure crouched over him. "Try not to move too much. I've gotta get those bullets out of you. But not here. That guy will come back to make sure you drowned. You know anyone in town?" Edward forced himself to nod. He didn't trust his voice right now, especially when it sounded like he was trying to cough up a fur ball. "Can you speak? Who are they?"

"Ro…ck…bell…" He coughed harshly, spitting up water.

"Rockbell?"

Edward nodded. He was faintly aware of pressure being applied to his wounds. His mind was so fogged up, he really wasn't sure what to think. He didn't even register the fact that this person had seen his ears and tail.

"Alright, come on." He was lifted up, and let out a pained mewl. His stomach and shoulder were hurting especially badly. "Aye, you're heavier than you look, you know?" Edward raised his right arm as if that explained everything.


"Who the heck is knocking at this hour?" Winry groaned. It was almost midnight. Who would have the hide to wake her up? Alphonse eyed the wrench in her hand with slight fear. She was planning on hitting whatever poor guy had something so important that he felt the need to knock at midnight. Alphonse felt for him. He really did. When she opened the door, however, the wrench fell to the ground.

There was a man in his late twenties standing there, his messy, platinum blond hair soaked and plastered to his face, which had black, tiger-like stripes that appeared to be tattoos along his cheek and jaw bones, as well as above his eyes. He had a ripped, brown jacket over his shoulder, while his dark shirt and black pants were soaked, just like the rest of him, sticking to his skin. The man's eyes were odd. There was no white to them, just a pure crystal blue with a black pupil. They were kind of… bizarre.

In his arms was a familiar, blond haired Chimera boy. Brown fabric – presumably from the jacket – had been tied around his right shin, stomach and left shoulder. The Fullmetal Alchemist was soaked to the bone, shivering in the arms of the unfamiliar man.

"Edward!" Winry choked. "What happened to him?"

"He was spotted by one of the townspeople. They mistook him for some sort of monster and shot him, causing him to fall into the river."

"Can't you stay out of trouble for one night, Edward?" She exclaimed. "Take him to the operating room, Al. I'll be right back."

"R-right!" Alphonse was worried. Edward didn't look too well. He seemed to be on the verge of hypothermia, as well. He took his brother from the man. "Wait in here, I'll get you a towel as soon as Winry gets back."

"Take your time. I won't freeze. You take care of the kid."

Alphonse didn't argue, quickly taking his older brother into the surgery room usually used for automail attachments. As soon as he had laid the Fullmetal Alchemist down, Edward was coughing up blood, holding his stomach with his right hand.

"Brother, you're always getting into trouble…"

"Save the lecture, Al." He groaned. The small teen's teeth were beginning to chatter, and his skin was pale. Alphonse wasn't too sure how to help him. Luckily, Winry and Pinako entered the room a moment later, shooing the younger Elric brother from the room.

"We'll take care of him, Al, don't you worry." Pinako assured him. "Now, you take care of our guest. He did save your brother, after all."

Alphonse was worried. He couldn't help that. Edward was his older brother. He was the only family he had left! He hated feeling so useless – like the Colonel on rainy days, he supposed. He couldn't do anything to help Edward right now. So, he did as he was told. Alphonse grabbed a clean towel from the bathroom on his way to the lounge, handing the towel to the man standing in the middle of the room.

"Ah, many thanks." He said, before drying his hair and face with the towel. The odd spikes his hair was left in were kind of amusing, but this wasn't a time to really be amused. "I should apologize. Showing up at your door at such a late hour…"

"Oh, no," Alphonse shook his head quickly, "it's no trouble. After all, if you hadn't, who knows what would've happened to Brother…"

"Oh, is he your younger brother?"

Al laughed. "Oh, no, you see, I'm the younger brother."

"Oh, I apologize, I thought…" The man looked up, sighing.

"I'm Alphonse, by the way."

"Jiang. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alphonse."

"Your name…" Alphonse tilted his head. That didn't sound like an Amestrian name at all. "Where are you from?" Jiang laughed.

"I didn't expect it to be so obvious. I'm from Xing, across the desert. I came here looking for my family." He paused. "You see, I was living here for awhile, but I returned to Xing to set up a living for us there. But, when I came back, I found that my family had disappeared." He sighed, looking down. "Was I too late?"

"I'm sure they're fine." Alphonse assured him. "They might have had to move or something. You'll see them again." Jiang smiled slightly.

"Thank you, Alphonse." He paused. "On another note, your brother, he is what you call a Chimera, correct?"

The Elric brother hesitated. Yes, that was true, and it was obvious, but why did this man need to confirm it? What did he want? Where was this conversation heading? "Yes, he is, but why…?" Jiang held up his right hand. Suddenly, it rounded off into a paw, covered in platinum blond fur, the color broken by black tiger-stripes. This transformation continued up to his elbow before it ceased. Then, suddenly, it disappeared and his arm was back to normal.

"In my country, we refer to ourselves as 'Qilin'."

Alphonse was stunned. He had nothing to say. Wordless. Another Chimera? This was getting to be too much. It was like a whole new world had been opened up ever since Edward had become a Chimera. Which, that may have been so. Perhaps Chimeras weren't destroyed, but rather… turned a blind eye to? How could someone do that? Those people could no longer live normal lives because of what had happened.

"The silence is unnerving, Alphonse." Jiang spoke up.

"I… I'm sorry. It's just…" He paused, unsure of what to say. "It's all too much… first brother, and then all these other people, too… I can't believe someone could be so heartless as to…"

"Heartless?" Jiang looked insulted. "Don't make me laugh, boy! It is an honor to be a Qilin!"

"Maybe in Xing, but here, human Chimeras are illegal! It's human transmutation!"

"Then I shall find my family and return home before your misguided people lynch me."

Alphonse didn't know what to say. He really did not know what to say at all.